MadMania

Back in the old Mac OS 9 days, when an application wanted to get your attention, it would just sit quietly and blink without interrupting what you are doing (like Windows did).

However, ever since Apple shipped Mac OS X ten years ago, this has not been the case. Now when an application wants to get your attention, it, like Windows, just pops a window up in front of whatever you are doing (they call this ‘stealing focus.’) Unlike Windows, this behavior cannot be turned off (in Windows XP you can use a free Microsoft tool called TweakUI).

While I was searching messageboards for a possible solution/hack to fix this issue I came across this entry by a similarly frustrated user:

“YES AAAAAAAAAH THIS IS A REAL AGRESSION TO THE NERVES ! ! !”

A lot of you out there ask me for computer advice. I don’t mind; I like feeling important, and giving advice helps me do that (so does making my own blog).

Probably the question I get the most often is, “What kind of computer should I get?”

My answer is, always, “You should get an Apple Macintosh.”

The usual reply is, “But I don’t want to spend that much money.”

Then I say, “Then by a Lenovo.” It’s a cruel second answer, I know, as Lenovos cost about the same as Macs. But the truth is, when it comes to hardware, if I wasn’t an Apple guy I would be a Lenovo guy (it’s not a perfect analogy: I buy Apple hardware because it comes with the Mac OS).

But sometimes it’s not a question of money; sometimes people tell me this:

“I’d like to encourage viruses and spyware to run rampant on my computer while simultaneously preventing my most important programs from installing and / or running.”

Of course I point out that they could simply run an unpatched version of Windows and use Internet Explorer to visit sites that offer free hacked software.

“Isn’t there some other way?” they ask me.

Yes, yes there is. You could install Sophos Antivirus. Sophos is just such a program. While there is legitimate debate over whether it is pronounced SAW-fos or SO-fos, there is no debate that Sophos Antivirus will prevent you from installing, say, Hewlett Packard Web JetAdmin software. If you are wondering what nefarious deeds HP WJA is used for, it is used for remotely managing large numbers of HP printers. Wicked!

However, I don’t mean to insinuate that Sophos can only prevent you from managing your printers remotely. It can also prevent you from installing remote computer management software.

Right now you are probably thinking, ‘I would still like to install and run viruses, though.”

Not to worry; Sophos won’teven keep itself from being infected by viruses, let alone keep your PC from running them. Don’t believe me? Have a gander at this: