Being a technogeek is hard work

By MIKE BERMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
25-FEB-04

Never let anyone con you into thinking that being a technogeek is easy. Case in point: replacing a cable modem.

Now, you'd think that all you'd have to do is disconnect your old modem and hook up the new one. Well, think again.

Yours truly did just that, hooking up a brand spanking new Belkin High Speed Cable Modem to a standard desktop computer. The intention was to replace an old Motorola Surfboard modem that the cable company had installed and to save a few bucks (on rentals) in the process.

Now, in order for the modem to work, you have to call your service provider _ in this case Charter Communications _ and give them the MAC and serial numbers from the modem. Once that's done, you should be up and running, right? Wrong! In fact, I discovered that you shouldn't hook up the new modem until the new one has been "installed" by the cable company, which can take up to 48 hours.

How do you know when the new service has been installed? Your old modem stops working. No signal. Nothing. Loss of communication.

Then, you can attach the new unit, which you've been panting over now for at least two days, and it should work perfectly.

Sort of make you yearn for the old days of 56K, doesn't it?

While we're on the subject of things that give geeks like myself angina, I can't let this week go by without warning those of you who may be using a Web site service provider (such as Yahoo or HyperMart) that these folks offer absolutely no virus protection for any mailboxes connected to your site.

This means that the virus can replicate itself by sending messages from that address (in this case mberman(at)jocgeek.com) to anyone who has sent e-mail to that mailbox, and they can't do anything about it except to advise you to install adequate virus protection on your PC.

Hey folks, my PC isn't the problem. Yours are.

Because of this, I have gotten into the habit of checking that mailbox two or three times per day, killing out everything that's in there, 90 percent of which say "hi", "Hello" or bear other subject lines we've learned to fear.

Because of the way Outlook is configured, and because of spam and virus protection installed on my system, legitimate e-mail sent to me is still getting through, but why should this be happening in the first place?

So, a word to the wise, especially if you operate a Web site using a third-party service provider: check you mailbox often and clean it out, or soon it will be full of these menacing messages.

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