>>>I didn't see the tape, but it doesn't surprise me. It does remind of one approach that I saw used to get one to buy someone's "freeware", however. The software installed an ad window that appeared anytime your browser was opened. According to the product's documentation, the only way to get rid of it was to "buy" the "gold" version of the product. Fortunately, I knew what was running in my task list on startup and when I spoted a new program running after the installation, it didn't take me long to rid myself of the annoying ads.
>>
>>
>>Oh, I hate those corps that pull slimy ad attacks like that. A similar one is the website that disables the back button and then starts forking multiple copies of their website. They get into my /dev/null file quickly.
>>JLK
>
>Jerry,
>
>I personally think that everyone should know what's running in their task list. Maybe I'm paranoid about it, but I try to run a pretty lean system (not much in the sys tray, etc.). One reason, is that my box at home is pretty out-dated, so I need every ounce of power I can get. The side effect it has is that it helps me sniff out problems like this one, not to mention if all of a sudden the computer starts acting strangely, like a virus may have someone gotten in, I can check to see what's going on.


That's two of us!
I've had folks call me because my one of my apps was "running slow".
I am supporting nearly 30 applications that I have written with VFP in the last 5 years. I have about 300+ users. It amazes me how many of them load the screen savers that use 95% of the cpu resources, and keep open 6 - 10 apps all the time, even if they only use them once during the day. Four or five gaming apps, several WordPerfect and Quatro Pro files, Lotus Notes, a couple of mainframe connections, and other stuff. No wonder apps are running slow.
We are slowing upgrading users to 730MHz+ boxes that have 256MB RAM, but it seems they just keep more stuff open. And WinXX doesn't multi-task very well as it is, depending on how the time-slicing is set. I don't even do that on my Linux boxes, even though they can multi-task extremely well and still sustain the speed of an app.

I just saw a study that said that folks who use their computers to multi-task are not as efficient as folks who do one task to completition before moving to the next. I think part of it is how much the PC slows down with so many apps open at once, and another part is something we all experience as programmers: when you are deep into the logic of a program and you are interrupted, it takes a few minutes to get your mind around the code again.
JLK