Monday 23 August 2010

Results5 Virus

I've been pretty lucky when it comes to viruses, but a couple of weeks ago I managed to get infected with what's known as a 'browser hijacker'. Basically, that's a virus which diverts you from the web page you wanted to visit, to something else. What was curious about this one, was that it only affected Google search results; I'd click on a link (in Google) and get re-routed to a completely random site. This happened whether I used Firefox or IE8. Very annoying!

I searched around the interweb looking for solutions as none of my virus checkers (AVG and Adaware) had picked it up and it seems that it's fairly common, but with no easy fix which I could see. Some of the geeky forums would suggest editing registeries and doing other stuff which I wasn't keen on trying.

Anyway, I think I fixed it, but not sure which of the following did the trick.

1) did a DNS flush (cmd: ipconfig/dnsflush)
2) reset my router
3) Uninstalled Firefox
4) Installed Google Chrome

I don't think it was steps 1 or 2 which worked as I was still getting re-directed after both these steps.

After uninstalling Mozilla I closed everything down and re-booted, then used IE to download Google Chrome. Hey presto! No more re-directing......I don't like the layout of GC, so I then re-installed Firefox and pleased to say I'm still clear of results5.

What I can't understand is why the folks at Google can't find a solution. A cynic, which I am, wonders whether they're quite happy to see IE and Firefox getting dumped in favour of GC, making them less enthusiastic to find a fix. No, surely they wouldn't........would they?

Thursday 5 August 2010

Lotta Lovin'/In My Dreams


Over in the land of Facebook, I noticed Gene Summers posted a picture showing the demo of Lotta Lovin'. Gene described it as an ecetate, which as far as I know, is usually single sided (the true "master" copy of a recording). Due to the acetate being made of a different material, they usually degrade after just a few dozen plays.

I got in touch with Gene and asked him for some more information on it and at the same time dropped an e-mail and picture to my mate Derek Henderson to see if he knew anything about it, who in turn forwarded it to other Vincent buffs to see what they knew. Caused quite a stir, as nobody knew of the disc, whether it was the demo Gene recorded at home in early '57 (and which eventually appeared on the Lost Dallas Sessions CD), or was it actually a studio cut done at either Sellers Studios or WFAA? David Dennard in Texas (compiler of 'The Lost Dallas Sessions' CD) was able to confirm that Gene Summers had recorded his demo's at the Sellars Studios, but had them transferred to disc at WFAA, a different studio close by.

Well, sadly, the disc wasn't owned by Gene Summers; he had seen it for sale on flea-bay and as it was similar to his own demo from the same studio (Twixteen/Fancy Dan), he had copied the picture of the disc label, but hadn't bought it. There's another connection here between the two Gene's, as Lotta Lovin' was written by Bernice Bedwell who also wrote a couple for Gene Summers. It would be nice to find out who the new owner is and get him to put us out of our misery!

It seems most likely that the home recording Gene cut was transferred from tape to disc at WFAA. This was organised by Tom Fleeger (Gene Summers' manager at the time). Flip side of the demo/acetate is 'In My Dreams'. Gene took the demo to Ken Nelson at Capitol so he could check them out and Lotta Lovin' would go on to be a hit. The commercial release had the wonderful 'Wear My Ring' on the flip - a true double 'A' side.