* Gearhead: Still on the DPC trail * Backspin: Software bugs revealed? Probably not * Gibbsblog: The past 7 days
Gearhead: Still on the DPC trail
I don’t believe it! My problem with deferred procedure calls has again vanished and my PC’s CPU utilization has gone back to normal! Over the last few weeks DPCs in my Windows XP system have driven processor utilization from a normal 2% range up to 40%, basically killing the overall system performance. Then, after a few days it fell back to about 2%. I have watched my PC go through this cycle about three times.
To read this week’s Gearhead, click here.
Backspin: Software bugs revealed? Probably not
A couple of weeks ago I raised the question of the computer industry’s soft underbelly. I cited a few of the dirty secrets industry insiders know but which are hidden from the hoi polloi (for example, the fact that computing is hard and the industry markets a different story), but wondered what others thought.
To read this week’s Backspin, click here.
Gibbsblog: The past 7 days
How Stupid Are Hackers? Not as Dumb as Wells Fargo Seems to Think They Are …
I just got an alert from my bank, Wells Fargo (it was a real alert, not a stupid phishing attempt) and in the alert it referred to an account of mine thusly:
You’ve reached your pre-set balance threshold of $x,xxx.xx for Acct. XXX-XXX6666.
Sharing Keyboard and Mouse Between Mac and PC
In a recent Gearhead I discussed my quest to streamline my physical computer workspace which began with reducing two desks to one and then trying to use a KVM switch to reduce the number of monitors, keyboards, and mice I had. I then realized that what I needed was to share just my keyboard and mouse because have multiple monitors on my desktop would be a) convenient, b) I already have ’em so I might as well use ’em, and c) it would make my office look like mission control (that is, if a mission control ever looks like a multi-screen extravaganza inside an explosion of books, journals, products and all the other detritus that has washed up on the shores of the Gibbs Institute).
RE: Goodbye DPCs, hello (simple) groupware
Was your flummoxing rise, then fall, of DPC activity due to the installation of a driver that you didn’t know about? You’re aware, of course, that some Microsoft Update activity will take place whether you asked for it or not. Perhaps Microsoft installed a buggy little something that was supposed to fix a buggy little something else, then retracted it a few days later? Rumor has it that this type of activity is still recorded in the logs, so it should be a straightforward search on the appropriate dates. If Microsoft Update isn’t the culprit, then perhaps a Gearhead / SysInternals (ooops, Microsoft) collaboration on researching this type of DPC activity could be arranged? Perhaps the power of two Marks (you and Russinovich) can deflummox us all?
