October 29, 2010 – T-machine.org

I just waited 4.5 hours for Photoshop Elements to install.

And what happens?

It crawls to 100%, Adobe finishes the process, then announces:

I didn’t install Photoshop Elements. I won’t tell you why. [So you can’t do anything about it]. But [if you’re really stupid, and] you want to try again, run the uninstall program first, then start again.

…but it *did* install the *one thing* I told it not to: the infamous Adobe viruses.

(and, of course, it installed the UNinstaller … even though it didn’t bother with the main app)

This is why, when Adobe finally goes bankrupt, or is acquired and dissolved into nothingness, I shall be cracking open the champagne and cheering their demise :).

EDIT: incidentally, it’s also why I’m now looking for a pirated copy. I’ve got the legitimate copy sitting in my hands, I’m legal, but Adobe’s sheer incompetence means it refuses to install. I’m pretty sure a hacked copy will “Just Work ™”, and contain fewer viruses.

UK bank that *doesn’t* have stupid online verification?

On many sites, I can’t pay for things online any more, as Halifax/VISA has decided to make it even harder than ever. It used to be I could generate a new one-time password every time I bought something – now they require me to phone an expensive pay-by-the-second 0800 phone number every time I want to buy stuff.

Any suggestions for a UK bank that *doesn’t* force you to type in a stupid, COMPLETELY INSECURE password every time you want to buy something online?

(this is the VISA “we want all our customers to lose all their money” system, introduced a couple of years ago. So far as I can tell, the only purpose of the system is to make it easier for VISA to refuse to pay out fraud claims when it’s their fault. It has zero consumer benefit)

Obviously, none of the UK banks are smart enough to advertise this as a feature on their websites, so googling hasn’t helped me much :(.