TR Out Loud - December 5, 2008

Sonja Thompson: Hey, everyone! How's it going? As you can see, I'm finally feeling almost back to my old spunky self. That was one long, nasty virus, let me tell you. And I really, REALLY appreciate everyone's get well messages -- they definitely helped speed up my recovery.

I'm Sonja Thompson, a senior editor for TechRepublic, and this is TROLOV - or TR Out Loud on Video - for December 5th, 2008.

If you were on vacation last week, eating lots of turkey - or you were working so much that you didn't have time to make it to the site - then you missed out on some great posts, which of course resulted in some pretty decent discussions. Here are the top five discussions of the week:

#1. "Rootkits: Is removing them even possible?" This posts was written by Michael Kassner, the Host of the Network Administrator blog. So, what do you think? Is it possible to remove rootkits? I'll link to this post and the other top discussions of the week in the blog notes, so that you can find out how Michael answers this question.

And speaking of Michael, he also was responsible for the second most popular discussion of the week, "10 answers to your questions about botnets." Way to go, Michael! In this post, the TR community submitted questions about botnets, and then Michael forwarded them to Dr. Jose Nazario, who is an expert at Arbor Networks. Thanks again for providing us with such great information, Michael.

#3. "My five craziest e-mails," written by Head Blogs Editor Toni Bowers. Yeah, you heard it... it appears that Toni gets some really off-the-wall comments, that lucky gal. She's assembled the top five doozies of all time into this light-heartened and entertaining post. Be sure to check it out.

#4. "10 mistakes new Linux administrators make," by TR blogger Jack Wallen. Everyone has to start somewhere, right? Well, this list will certainly help new Linux admins avoid a few common mistakes along the way.

And the 5th post, of the off-topic variety, was posted by TiggerTwo: "Another Night Before Christmas." Just in time for the holidays, right? This is actually a reprinting of a poem that was written by a Marine. Tigger warns everyone that they might want to grab some tissues!

Despite the Federal holiday in the United States last week, there still were several people who answered questions and posted comments on the site. Here are the members who received the most thumbs up this past week. And due to the extreme number of ties, this time I'm only going to list the top three:

Two people tied for 3rd place: cain1k and Tony Hopkinson
Two people tied for 2nd place: OH Smeg and Jacky Howe
And #1: ThumbsUp2

And here are the 5 most active members - posting in the discussions and questions forums - in the past seven days:

#5: jdclyde
#4: Michael Kassner
#3: ThumbsUp2
#2: Old Mycroft
And #1: boxfiddler

I know that last week, since I was sick and recorded TROLOV from home, I didn't have the opportunity to call Tammy, TR's moderator. This week, she recorded a little video for everyone. Let's check it out. 

Tammy Cavadias: Hi, everyone! You know, we often get a lot of spam from China, but this is the first time I've seen one that's been written in Chinese. Want to know what it says? "Hi, I'm a spammer. Click on me." You know, and I can't say this about a lot of men, but I can say it about my own husband - he has a really hard time remembering things, especially the important things. So, I can't help but wonder what this means when it says, "How to let PowerPoint memorize like a man." Shouldn't that be "memorize like a woman"? Because we don't forget nothing. We remember everything you guys did like 20 years ago. And the question of the week: "Can 365 days of sex fix a marriage?" I wonder if they mean if it has to be with your own spouse? Anyway, that's it for me today.

And now my favorite part of the show - TR community participation. Yeaaaa! But first, I want to show you all a little video snippet of TechRepublic's homemade tech Christmas tree. Everything that you see here, all of the decorations - heck, even the tree itself - is made up of stuff that we had just sitting around the office, except for the lights. Now, we're pretty sure that the TR community is even MORE creative than this, so we'd love it if you all assembled your own tech Christmas tree. Once you've put it together, snap a picture or two, and send them to trol@cnet.com. If we get enough submissions, we'll put together another TR community photo gallery on the site.

Jdclyde sent in a picture of his walk in the woods with ThingOne and ThingTwo. And he also sent in this video entitled, "Why I hunt."

As for the Question of the Week, submitted by TiggerTwo: "What features do you use TechRepublic for?" This question was open for TWO WEEKS, and I'm a little disappointed that we didn't receive more responses. Many thanks to the following members: 

CG IT said: "Well I mostly use the social contact feature... which amounts to about 90 percent of my social contact for the week." CG IT also sends me videos and follows Michael Kassner's blogs on networking.

Hal 9000 responded: "I get a lot of enjoyment reading the answers submitted to my multiple questions on How to Crack NB Passwords, and they are always useful." I also try to keep up on the latest developments in IT that are announced on TR, so I look at most of the links in the newsletters. 

What does Jdclyde use TR for? "Discussions, some serious, many not. To find them, I primarily use the 'Posts by my contacts' page." Jdclyde also answers some Questions, and in the past, he's downloaded a few things from the Download section on the site.

OnTheRopes sent in my favorite response this week: "Although not exactly a singular feature, I use TR to keep in touch with like-minded peers. Being relatively shut in, and now officially retired, TR allows me to have a sense of community that I wouldn't get otherwise.  True, some members think that making 'friends' online is just a bunch of hooey, but I know that I've made friends that I can and do count on in my personal life. To me, there's nothing else like TR out there." Thanks for sharing that, OTR.

Lastly, we have the TR Pet of the Week, and it was a tough selection because we've received so many great pet photos recently - thanks to the Community Central newsletter. This week, the featured PETS were sent in by pgit - not CG IT - but pgit, which stands for "Pretty Good IT." Currently, he has 9 cats, 2 dogs, and a 21 yr old frog. His wife, Geraldine (aka The Ever Lovely Fern), has worked for a veterinarian for the past 30 years, and during this time, they've acquired several  rejects. Here's a photo of Shmimp, who only has three legs, TinyMight is deaf, and Tango was - at one time - horribly mangled. Hats off to both pgit and The Ever Lovely Fern for sharing these pictures and stories, and for showing such great compassion.

Many thanks to CG IT, Hal 9000, jdclyde, OnTheRopes, pgit, and all the other members who sent in pet photos and get well wishes this past week. If I've mentioned your name on today's TROLOV, please let me know if I can hook you up with some TR swag.

If you'd like to earn some free TR goodies, please send me an e-mail with a comment, a question of the week, or a picture that I can use on the show - like a homemade tech Christmas tree (hint hint). Our e-mail address, once again, is trol@cnet.com. You can also leave a voice message on our toll free number, which is (866) 414-CNET, that's (866) 414-2638. OR you can leave a message on our Skype voice mail option, and our Skype ID is tr.out.loud.

I'm Sonja Thompson, and this is TR Out Loud.