PC Doc's Blog

And now, (ANOTHER) word from our sponsor

2012-02-01T06:57:00.000-05:00

Actually, I am the sponsor. One of my little ventures is called Boothbay Region For Rent By Owner or BRFRBO. I guess the name says it all, but let me add that the Boothbay Region of Maine has become a very special place for our family. We purchased a small summer cottage back in 1974 in an area known as Ocean Point , which is in East Boothbay which is in Boothbay.

On this web site we have listed 25 rental properties including some year-round homes. Boothbay, as you may know, is on the ocean. I honestly believe that if you go there once for a long weekend or a vacation, you will want to return. Please check it out. Click on the photo or link below the photo to see our web site.

BRFRBO

MailStore Home – Easy Email Archiving, Backup and Migration

2012-01-27T14:23:00.000-05:00

I am excited about the possibilities of this FREE program. I read about it on technibble.com. I just downloaded it and will try it on my desktop PC, the one that runs Windows XP SP3. Here's why: In the early 2000s and maybe late 1990s I ran Mozilla Thunderbird as my e-mail client of choice. This was way before Google Mail. In 2005 I switched over to Microsoft's Outlook, IMHO the Cadillac of client e-mail programs. I use Outlook now and back in the old days I used it as well.

Here is my situation. I saved all of my Thunderbird e-mail from those years. I have always wanted to import that e-mail into Outlook, but Mozilla would not come up with a way to export their Thunderbird e-mail in a format that could be imported into Outlook. Microsoft, on the other hand, never came up with a method to import Thunderbird e-mail into Outlook. Replies from both companies were basically a finger-pointing exercise, each saying the other should do it. To the best of my knowledge, neither ever made it a possibility.

So this program, "Email archiving, backup & migration", holds some promise for me. I am not sure when I will try using it to import my Thunderbird e-mail into Outlook. After all, how important can this be in the big scheme of things? (Yawn!). If and wehn I do try, I will report back on this blog.

In the meantime, perhaps some others of you out there might be able to make use of this program. So do check it out if this appeals to you, at http://www.mailstore.com/en/mailstore-home.aspx.

Wanna buy a Mac?

2012-01-25T14:14:00.000-05:00

I have decided that I do not want to keep my MacBook Pro 17" laptop. I have found that it is not compatible with me! That is about the size of it. "It just ain't Windows!" In spite of all the derogatory talk about Windows over these many years, and the very positive talk about Apple products, I am here to say that the Mac is NOT as user-friendly as Windows. Okay, disclaimer: I have owned my Mac for 2 years, used it for less than one, and have had umpteen years of experience with Windows. I am comfortable with Windows, and I am not comfortable with OS/X, which is, I think, the name of the operating system on my Mac.

The MacBook Pro cost so much ($2800 when I purchased it and then I added MS Office for Mac). K-ching! More big bucks.

The machine seems to me to have been designed for a lefty. One look and you will see why I say that - everything but the hardly-ever used CD/DVD drive is on the left side. To close a window, one has to click the upper left hand corner of the window. It is all backwards for a Windows guy.

A Mac is much like a PC. It has updates - frequently. Presumably to fix problems? The system hangs from time to time and I have to shut it down and re-boot. It is much like a PC in these matters.

Anyway, I would like very much to divest myself of this asset. I bought it so that I could expand my PC Doctor service offerings. I have never done that and am not now motivated to do so. If you really want to see what all the shouting is about and really want a Mac laptop, this is one well-configured machine, in excellent condition, and I will let it go for a fraction of its original cost to me. It has almost a full year of extended warranty service left. I have never used the extended warranty. Please write me if you are interested. pcdoc@brpcdoc.com.

Fixing Those Ailing Laptop Keys

2012-01-20T06:47:00.000-05:00

I have never seen this subject covered before in the media, but it is one that deserves some attention. This is from the New York Times.

"Q. How hard and expensive is it to replace stuck or broken laptop keys yourself if you don’t want to drag the computer into a repair shop?

A. Laptop keyboards vary by manufacturer, so the task of fixing one yourself also varies in complexity and price for parts. Several sites sell replacement keys and other necessary hardware to do the job, and most charge about $5 a key. So if you have the time, patience and technical fearlessness to tackle the job yourself, it can cost you less than $20 if you just need a few keys replaced.

Sites like replacementlaptopkeys.com and laptopkey.com steer you through finding the right parts for your laptop model. Both sites also have video installation guides to illustrate the repair process. General computer-repair sites like laptoprepair101.com and ifixit.com may also provide useful information."

Hackers zap Zappos: Info from 24 million users stolen

2012-01-16T15:18:00.001-05:00

Yet another one of these. This is from foxnews.com.

"Popular online shoe retailer Zappos.com said late Sunday that hackers had accessed its network, stealing customer account information from as many as 24 million customers.
Credit card information was not stolen, company CEO Tony Hsieh said in a statement sent to users, but email addresses, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers, the last four digits from credit cards -- and more -- may have been compromised.
"We were recently the victim of a cyberattack by a criminal who gained access to parts of our internal network and systems through one of our servers in Kentucky," reads a statement posted on the company's blog. "We are cooperating with law enforcement to undergo an exhaustive investigation."

MRT Time!

2012-01-13T15:06:00.000-05:00

January's MSRT is now available if you have applied the latest updates to Windows on your systems. It is comforting to run it once a month and to get this result.

TuneUp Utilities 2012

2012-01-11T15:33:00.001-05:00

I love TuneUp Utilities. I have been using it for many years. I last commented on it in this blog back in 2010. See http://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/and-answer-is.html.

I recently acquired the 2012 version and it is the best version I have ever used. I think I use most every program included in the suite, but I do have my favorites. Ask me if interested.

You can find out more about TuneUp Utilities 2012 here.

Bubble Wrap Fun

2012-01-06T10:01:00.001-05:00

MVPS HOSTS File for January 2012

2012-01-05T14:45:00.000-05:00

The subject file is available now.

Those of you keeping up with this important security assist will find what you need below. If anyone has any questions, write me at pcdoc@brpcdoc.com.

The MVPS HOSTS file was recently updated [January-05-2012]
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

Download: hosts.zip (146 kb)
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.zip

How To: Download and Extract the HOSTS filehttp://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts2.htm

HOSTS File - Frequently Asked Questions
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hostsfaq.htm
Note: the "text" version makes a great resource for determining possible unwanted connections ...
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt (594 kb)

Get notified when the MVPS HOSTS file is updated
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/updates.htm

Consumers turn to do-not-track software to maintain privacy

2012-01-04T09:36:00.000-05:00

A friend sent me a link to this article, and I found it most interesting. I have always used Ad Block Plus as a Firefox extension. I always just let it run and never checked its logs, if it has any, as to what it had blocked. So the idea of a blocker like Do Not Track Plus and Ghostery, that actually show you, on a real-time basis, what has been blocked, was fascinating to me.

My friend had installed Do Not Track Plus and was quite pleased with it. I decided to try Ghostery instead mostly so we would have 2 opinions on this type of FREE software and perhaps compare notes.

I had Ghostery downloaded and installed in a matter of minutes. In my first hour I was amazed at how many different companies were tracking my every move, Ad Block Plus notwithstanding. The photo below gives you an idea of how it works. When you go to a web site Ghosteryy will display, in a small purple box, for a few seconds, all of the companies that are trying to track your moves and, I hope, blocks them all successfully. It is quite amazing to see so many. A few minutes after I went to the web site pictured below and captured the screen, I went to the AARP web site and saw 12 companies listed as wanting to track me! Wow! Who knew?

These Firefox extensions are very easy to install, and, in spite of some warnings, I still have both Ad Block Plus and Ghostery installed. I have not experienced any problems.

Here is the whole article if you wish to read it

Users desert Windows XP in near-record numbers

2012-01-03T07:55:00.001-05:00

The first sentence says it all for me: "Exodus accelerates over last four months as users move to Windows 7".

Well, golly, who'd guess that our old XP iron is getting tired, new PCs are amazingly affordable, Christmas was somewhere in that last 4 months, and so many people have outgrown their machine bought back some years ago with an XP that was a mere shadow of what it is today.

Anyway, that is my opinion. I am down to one XP machine, and it too is getting tired. It shows this with issues or problems that I have never seen before. Fortunately for me, I am experienced enough to figure these out and to keep "old faithful" running. I realize that for many/most of you the easiest way out is to buy one of the new inexpensive machines and to move on to Windows 7. Some have even abandoned their XP machine in favor of a smartphone and/or a tablet.

As for me, I am getting to be a tightwad in my old age, and I plan to try to stick it out with my IBM desktop PC, running XP, as my primary device. Of course, there's always my MacBook Pro laptop, running some strange and completely different operating system, that I use most every day!

Exodus accelerates over last four months as users move to Windows 7

Sudoku Puzzle Solved

2012-01-02T16:45:00.000-05:00

A voice out of my past, an old friend named Ron from Vermont and a former IBM co-worker, saw my Sudoku plea and came to my rescue. I don't think Ron and I have seen each other or even made contact in over 25 years!

The key to moving forward and also to directly solving the puzzle was determining that the last box in row 3 had to be an 8. Once that box was filled with the 8, the rest fell in place easily.

I have learned something. I need to either learn to think deeper than I usually do, or I need to print the tough ones off and use pencil and paper to determine the "possibilities" for each box and proceed from there. However, even then I still need to learn to look at these puzzles a little differently and look ahead more than I had to do with the EASY puzzles.

Thanks Ron!

Sudoku - help needed!

2012-01-02T11:42:00.000-05:00

I love Sudoku puzzles. I read a few years ago that doing Sudoku puzzles might help keep my brain active and delay the onset of dementia or other memory issues that we senior citizens seem to suffer. At this point I hope that is true but really don't care too much. I have become a Sudoku fan and really enjoy doing the puzzles.

I use http://www.websudoku.com/ for its free puzzles, and for a year or so I have been doing the EASY puzzles. I got to the point where I could do all easy puzzles and got my time down to around 8 minutes. I think the web site says the average time for their easy puzzles is around 6 minutes. Okay, I never said I was fast! I can just complete them all successfully.

Lately I have been trying the MEDIUM difficulty puzzles, and after a while I have run into a stone wall. I can do most of them, and it takes me 20 minutes now to do the medium puzzles. BUT, I have run into two MEDIUM puzzles so far that have me stymied.

I would like someone who can solve this puzzle to please give me a hint. One possibility would be to give me the next move and to explain the logic and how the answer was determined. Another would be to just explain the logic necessary to determine the next move, and I would be perfectly happy with that. Anyone?

I should mention that since I have been doing all of these online that I do not have a pencil and paper to use. Some people suggest writing the "possibilities" for the boxes inside the boxes with a pencil in a small font. Then, examining all the possibilities would help determine the next move. That may be true and may indeed be what I have to do, that is, get me a pad and start filling in possibilities. If that is the way to proceed, fine, but I am hoping there is yet (at least) one more trick I have not learned. Anyone?

Please write me at pcdoc@brpcdoc.com if you can help.

And thank you!

Here is where I have run into a wall. It's kinda neat that all 3 incomplete rows contain the same numbers. I have not run into anything like this so far. The numbers in blue are the ones I have entered so far.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T07:45:00.000-05:00

I wish each and every one of you a very happy 2012. I thank you for supporting this blog.

How to Digitize Your Old Photos

2011-12-30T07:05:00.000-05:00

This is a very timely article for me. We have raised 4 sons and up until 2001 all of our photos were of the ole paper variety. Fortunately most of them are in albums, so we have a head start on the pocess of organizing and digitizing them. There are, however, many hundreds that are stored away in boxes. Lots of these are not just of our boys but family photos going way back to our parents and our own time as kids. Most of the latter are black and white, but if digitized and stored and organized properly, will make a nice gift to our sons for them to cherish long after, well, you get the idea. (DON'T FORGET TO BACKUP THESE GEMS!)

I had bought a used scanner on Craigslist about 2 years ago, but used it very little, and when I wanted to use it this week, it no longer powers on. I am not sure what the problem is, but expect to be looking for another scanner. I will probably go the used route again. These things are pretty cheap. Mine is a Microtek Scanmate 4800, not a terribly new machine, but it did a very nice job for us the few times we used it. I see the exact same machine on Ebay for around $24 with free shipping, so I am tempted. This time, however, I think I will consider all options, including more modern used equipment and new machines as well.

I didn't mention the fact that this used scanner has a slide attachment so one can digitize the old 2x2 inch slides as well. I have boxes and boxes of slides from my Mother and Father's possessions and I am sure I will find many of those interesting.

Anyway, if you have similar interests, you should find some good advice in this Steve Morgenstern article I found on techlicious.com.

How to Digitize Your Old Photos

PC Doc's Security Baseline

2011-12-28T14:15:00.000-05:00

I think every 6 months or so I should publish this post, especially for those of you who may be new viewers. For those of you who are familiar with my security baseline, I continue to use the same portfolio of free products I used 6 months ago. There are no changes.

I hope you are using these programs. Keep them updated before running!

From time to time I refer to my security baseline. My security baseline is merely a list of programs I use (all free) and recommend for anyone to use to keep their systems secure. This applies to YOU if you use Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7.

Remember, all of these products are FREE, but will do as good a job as any fee products you may use. I make that statement and stand by it based on 43 years of experience with computers.

1. Microsoft Security Essentials - V2 now available. If you have V1, upgrade now (FREE!) This is a very impressive anti-virus program and can replace any you have now. DOWNLOAD HERE
2. Windows Firewall (Standard part of your operating system. Check the Security Center to be sure it is on.)
3. MVPS HOSTS File - download the current month's version and update monthly DOWNLOAD HERE
4. CCleaner - check for newer version than you may already have. Run weekly. DOWNLOAD HERE by clicking on Download Latest Version in the upper right hand corner of the page.
5. Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware - run bi-weekly. DOWNLOAD HERE
6. SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition - run bi-weekly in the off week after #5. DOWNLOAD HERE
7. Spybot Search & Destroy - run monthly just before downloading new HOSTS file. I am testing the new Beta version 2, and I recommend, for now, downloading Version 1.6.2 under "old versions". DOWNLOAD HERE

I will be happy to assist you with any or all of the above installations. This can be done remotely.

Questions? Comment below or write me, pcdoc at brpcdoc dot com

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T10:45:00.000-05:00

I wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas!

Suggestion # 2 for backing up your data on a remote server

2011-12-21T10:51:00.001-05:00

Okay, so assuming your first small step in backing up all of your system's data worked, what's next? BTW, if it did not, or if you have questions, here is a good place to test the support organization of your backup firm. Mine is SOS Online Backup, and IMHO support is their strong suit. They were all over, in a hurry, any issues I experienced, and came up with the workable solution in all cases.

I would suggest that you split up your MY DOCUMENTS folder into separate backups by backing up a folder at a time and then thoroughly checking out the results. After my initial test backup's success, I then started, one at a time, to go after the biggies, namely MY PICTURES, MY MOVIES, MY MUSIC, and MY OUTLOOK MAIL FOLDERS. I started with the smallest of these 4 folders and ran each one separately. Backing up takes time, and I typically allowed these biggies to run overnight and even multiple days if necessary. Remember, upload speed from your Internet Service Provider is typically a lot slower than download speed. In the case of Comcast, their advertised download speed is 15 MB and upload speed is only 5 MB per second. Speed tests of your connection can be done here: http://speedtest.comcast.net/ With Comcast your download speed can be far greater than the 15 MB advertised because of their burst mode for downloads, but their upload speed will always come in around 5 MB.

After successfully backing up each folder, be sure to check its contents completely.
This is what mine looks like now.

Note that I have backed up about 77GB of my data. I have a total of about 95GB in MY Documents. I will do further downloads a folder at a time until I have everything backed up completely. If you have any questions, please write me.

Suggestion # 1 for backing up your data on a remote server

2011-12-16T15:09:00.002-05:00

Okay, so you have selected a vendor to provide you with online backup. I have picked SOS Online Backup. If you picked someone else, that does not affect my suggestions.

You have in mind exactly what you want to backup. It might be a long list of folders, or it might be something as simple as "MY DOCUMENTS", which of course contains many other folders.

I suggest you start small. Simply pick one rather small folder and its contents to be backed up and then go ahead and run your first backup. The reason I suggest starting small is to familiarize yourself with the software and how it works. Watch it work, displaying as much information as your vendor will allow. In fact, watch it from start to finish. See how it works and try to understand it. When it is finished save the information that has been presented to you by the backup program. You can use this as a check to make sure everything worked okay.

Once finished, take a look at the vendor's server where your data has been backed up. Open up your data folder on the server and review its contents. If you have to, manually count the items that were backed up and then compare this to the folder on your system that you just backed up.

Do you have a match? Contents of the folder on your machine match exactly the contents of the folder on the server? They should be the same.

If you find this explanation to be too complicated, please call me and I will step you through it. It is very important that you get off on the right foot.

Backing up your data at a remote site

2011-12-15T06:34:00.000-05:00

I have one machine in my house that is the central repository for all of my important personal data. Here I am talking primarily about MY PICTURES, MY MOVIES, and MY MUSIC.

These three folders account for roughly 75 GB of data. Additionally I have about 25 GB in other personal data. Included in this extra 25 GB are all of the files I have determined to be important enough to keep down through all of my years working and playing in data processing.

I have written in this blog about my Western Digital 1 TB MyBook external hard drive. For the past several years this (and before it several smaller drives) external drive has been my primary backup.

The MyBook drive is still running. Two things: I have found that 1 TB isn't all that much when used to backup data from several home computers, including mine, and TWO, it is bound to fail sometime AND it is LOCAL.

I have long recognized the need I have, and maybe you have the same need, to maintain a backup of my data on a REMOTE system.

I wish I could have had the luxury of testing the major remote backup offerings like SOS Online Backup, Carbonite, and Mozy. But being one person with my small commercial venture, I did not. I instead attended a Webinar sponsored by SOS Online Backup, and some time later came to an agreement with SOS's management that enabled me to use their product with terms and conditions acceptable to me.

So here I am at the end of 2011 telling you that I am an SOS Online Backup user, and I am satisfied that I have all 75 GB of my most valuable data backed up somewhere in The Cloud.

If it is not intuitively obvious to you why I wanted to have a remote backup site, it is because my primary data and all of its backup was right inside my house, and if anything happened to my house, I would lose all of that data.

I have learned a lot about remote backup, and I will be happy to share my experiences and make recommendations to you over the next month or so. You shouldn't go into this blind and you should not rely solely on the management of the backup company to take full responsibility for your data. You need to be involved and take that responsibility.

I believe I wrote some time ago about the owner of a small company which had all of its financial data stored offsite. When their local computer failed and they had to restore their data, they found out that the data they needed was not there at the remote site! They had to manually enter a full year's worth of data into their financial systems in order to restore their books. You mustn't let this happen to you and this is where I will be making some recommendations, so please stand by.

In the meantime, I have to say I have no experience with Carbonite or Mozy or any other backup service except SOS Online Backup. They now hold my precious 75 GB of data that I do not want to lose, and I feel good about SOS and I feel my data is safe and that they will continue to backup any additional data as I add it to my system.

A little extra insurance

2011-12-14T10:51:00.001-05:00

A little extra insurance, especially when it's free, can't hurt IMHO. I just downloaded 9 Windows XP updates from the Tuesday Microsoft update. One of these was MSRT (the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool). If you do nothing but install it, a quick scan will be run on your behalf and this will be done stealthily, so you'll not be impacted, and that's good.

But, I recommend you take the bull by the horns and run a full scan under your own control. It'll run a long time, but what the heck, once a month won't hurt. And although it runs like the wind, it won't impact your system performance much.

To run it, click on START, then RUN, then key in MRT (note: no 'S') and click on OK. When the MSRT program starts, select FULL SCAN and let it run. If any problems are found, you will see the results.

Collageit

2011-12-08T20:00:00.000-05:00

That's Collage It! As in make a collage using your own digital photos. I will have more to say about this in later posts, after I get more experience, but in the meantime I give a thumbs up to this simplistic product which does so easily in so many ways what many of us would have liked to have done for years. At least speaking for myself, an amateur photographer with almost 40,000 personal digital photos, this is a tool whose time has come.

You can try it for free, but the free version puts a watermark on the final product that you create. For only $19.90 (at least that is the price today at http://www.collageitfree.com/purchase.html). I do not know if this is a seasonal sales price or not, but give the freebie a whirl to see how easy it is to use and then decide for yourself if you want to buy the Pro version for $19.90. The fee Pro version removes their watermark.

Collageit

Top 26 Stealth Home Energy Hogs

2011-12-07T14:26:00.000-05:00

Ouch! Those set top boxes are really hurting us. Very interesting article about the electrical use, on and off, of the many electrical devices we have about our houses.

Top 26 Stealth Home Energy Hogs

Lavasoft's Rogue Gallery

2011-12-05T09:59:00.000-05:00

I referenced Lavasoft's Rogue Gallery once before as a good place to visit to keep a finger on the pulse of what was happening out there in the wild with news of new rogue programs. These are the kind of programs that so many of you have called me about and asked me to help get rid of. In the past week, Lavasoft has posted news of 10 new Rogue programs, with the second group of 5 being posted today. So, for today at least, and espeially during the holiday season, I recommend that you visit this site. I hope you won't find something familiar to you. In other words do all you can to avoid rogues!! Running Malwarebytes and also Superantispyware on a weekly basis for the next month or two would be a good idea. We all like to shop online, and doing that opens a few doors for these bad guys. In fairness to Lavasoft, since their product is Ad-Aware, run that too if you have it installed.

From the Lavasoft Rogue Gallery home page:

"The Rogue Gallery, powered by the Malware Labs at Lavasoft, is a resource dedicated to keeping computer users safe from rogue security software. By providing a comprehensive database of current rogue security applications, you have the ability to clearly see what programs are considered rogue – and avoid them.

Navigate the Rogue Gallery by displaying the latest threats or by searching for specific programs, listed in alphabetical order. Use the "Submit a Rogue" link to quickly and easily send any suspicious programs directly to Malware Labs to be analyzed."

DO CHECK OUT THIS ROGUE GALLERY TODAY AND KEEP COMING BACK!

The New Smartphone Threat to Your Privacy

2011-12-02T13:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, I am STILL not a smartphone user. I realize this puts me in the other 1%! For me it's really a matter of cost, but I digress. For those of you in the 99% who care about smartphones, this is something you might be interested in:

"The Web is abuzz about a newly revealed privacy threat to smartphone users––a "keystroke logger" program from a company named Carrier IQ that constantly runs in the background, without the user's knowledge. The software records personal information and events ranging from phone numbers dialed to the content of text messages and information typed in to presumably secure websites."

More here....

12 Things You Didn’t Know Facebook Could Do

2011-12-01T16:11:00.001-05:00

From the New York Times.

"The designers and engineers who build Facebook are anything but complacent about their success. They face a constant threat from the career-centric LinkedIn, specialized upstarts like Instagram’s mobile photo network and now Google’s fast-growing Google+, an attempt to improve on Facebook’s core design that has picked up tens of millions of users in its first few weeks.

Minh Uong/The New York Times

So Facebook has been adding features to make the reigning social network more useful and convenient."

Read more

Technical Resources Online

2011-11-25T13:10:00.001-05:00

I came across a new resource today that I thought I would share with those of you interested in solving PC or Mac issues on your own. It is listed first below, but I thought I'd add a couple of others that I also use quite regularly.

The Podnutz Forums

The Windows Secrets Lounge

Annoyances.org

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T06:45:00.003-05:00

And lest we forget, thanks to the men and women who cannot be home with family.

Latest MVPS HOSTS file

2011-11-23T06:28:00.000-05:00

The latest version of the MVPS HOSTS file is available today.

Be sure to get yourself a copy!

November 23 HOSTS File available today

City's Water Control System Hacked Because of Three-Character Password

2011-11-22T10:13:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is the last post on this subject. The message should be clear by now - put your own house in order by revisiting your own passwords!

This comes from maximumpc.com, but I have seen it covered in several other sites as well.

"There is a lot of emphasis on computer security these days. Strong passwords, encryption, the whole nine yards. Apparently no one told a community called South Houston in Texas, USA. According to various confirmed reports, the municipality was using a simple three-character password to protect its Internet-facing SCADA system, which controls water and sewage systems. This system was accessed by a hacker known only as pr0f as a proof of concept. Yikes."

Read more here

25 Worst Internet Passwords

2011-11-21T06:05:00.001-05:00

I sincerely hope that you don't find your password on this list. Seriously, it's time we all took the advice of all the experts and change our passwords to something else - at least one that is not on this list!! Check out my blog posts of the last week to see more on this important subject.

I found this on foxnews.com.

"If “password” is your password, chances are you’ve been the victim of a hack attack.

“Password” is the least successful, according to SplashData’s annual list of worst Internet passwords.

The list, notes Mashable.com, is somewhat predictable. Sequences of adjacent numbers or letters on the keyboard, such as “qwerty” and “123456,” and popular names, such as “ashley” and “michael,” all are common choices. Other common choices, such as “monkey” and “shadow,” are harder to explain.

As some websites have begun to require passwords to include both numbers and letters, it makes sense varied choices, such as “abc123″ and “trustno1,” have become popular choices.

SplashData created the rankings based on millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers. Here is the complete list:

1. password
2. 123456
3.12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon
11. baseball
12. 111111
13. iloveyou
14. master
15. sunshine
16. ashley
17. bailey
18. passw0rd
19. shadow
20. 123123
21. 654321
22. superman
23. qazwsx
24. michael
25. football

SplashData CEO Morgan Slain urges businesses and consumers using any password on the list to change them immediately.

“Hackers can easily break into many accounts just by repeatedly trying common passwords,” Slain says. “Even though people are encouraged to select secure, strong passwords, many people continue to choose weak, easy-to-guess ones, placing themselves at risk from fraud and identity theft.”

Facebook Hoax Claims to Support Wounded Soldiers

2011-11-18T11:50:00.001-05:00

This comes from techlicious.com.

"Internet security company, Sophos, is reporting that a popular post making its way through Facebook that purports to support wounded soldiers is, in fact, a hoax. The text of the post is a variation of the following:

"When filling out your Christmas cards this year, take ONE CARD and SEND it to this address: A Recovering American Soldier, c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20307-5001. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these soldiers could get to bring up their spirits! Feel free to repost. This is a wonderful thing to do !!"

While the heart of the post seems to be in the right place, those cards will never reach an American soldier. Hoax-busting site Snopes.com reports that the U.S. Mail will not deliver any letters or packages addressed to "Any soldier" or "Any wounded soldier" at Walter Reed, for the safety and well-being of patients and staff.

Instead, the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center asks that all holiday mail for unnamed service members through the American Red Cross's Holiday Mail for Heroes, at this address:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Cards must be postmarked no later than Friday, December 9th in order to be screened and delivered in tie for the holidays.

If you're concerned about Internet scams and hoaxes, be sure to read our Internet Safety & Security articles on Techlicious.

Suzanne Kantra
Founder, Techlicious"

Browser Wars: Chrome vs. IE9 vs. Firefox

2011-11-17T13:35:00.001-05:00

Browser wars, shmowser wars! This article is from pcmag.com.

Browser Wars: Chrome vs. IE9 vs. Firefox

Yes, Google's Chrome gets high marks, but I will stick with Firefox until/unless Google decides to add a left side of the screen Bookmarks toolbar. This is something that is in each and every other browser, but for some reason Google refuses to add the feature to Chrome.

Some of us have been asking for this ever since Chrome came out, and release after release we expect to see it, but it never comes. Here is the last (most recent) post in the forum where we ask for it!

Google Chrome Help Forum

Great buy at Costco

2011-11-16T17:13:00.000-05:00

I was at Costco today and they threw in a brochure of specials for the Thanksgiving weekend of 11/25-11/27.

One item that caught my eye was this:

Seagate 2TB Freeagent Goflex Desk External Drive. Regular Price is $99 (that is a really good buy as is), but Thanksgiving weekend price is $30 off for a selling price of $69.99!

I just can't believe how low these external hard drive storage devices are priced. If you need a local backup device, you can't beat this deal. Seagate is top shelf!

The argument against this might be to consider offsite storage. More on that later.

Make your passwords unbreakable but memorable

2011-11-15T11:27:00.000-05:00

This is an excellent article by Kim Komando. I encourage all of you to read it and implement some of her suggestions. Having strong passwords is very important these days. See yesterday's post!

Make your passwords unbreakable but memorable

What To Do When Your Email Gets Hacked

2011-11-14T06:30:00.000-05:00

I sure have seen a lot of this lately. That is, I have received many e-mails from people I know that contain just a one-liner url (web site address link). This article comes to us from the techlicious.com web site and it contains some very good advice. Even if you have not been hacked, I recommend that we all at least check out this article. The best and easiest thing you can do is change your password, and while you are at it, make the new one stronger.

What To Do When Your Email Gets Hacked

Veterans Day

2011-11-11T08:55:00.009-05:00

A HUGE thank you to all of our veterans, on this their special day.

You Can’t Tell a Vet Just By Looking

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carrier didn’t run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth whose behavior is outweighed in the cosmic scales by four hours of unparalleled bravery near the 38^th Parallel in Korea.

She is the nurse who fought against futility in Da Nang and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years.

He is the POW who left one person and came back another.

He is the drill instructor who has never been in combat, but has saved countless lives by turning no-accounts into Marines.

He is the parade-riding legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the white-haired guy bagging groceries at the supermarket, aggravatingly slow, who helped liberate a Nazi death camp.

A vet is an ordinary and extraordinary human being — someone who offered his life’s vital years in the service of his country.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known. We will never be able to repay the debt of gratitude we owe.


- Author Unknown -

YouTube’s Rules for Video

2011-11-11T04:46:00.000-05:00

From the New York Times:

"Q&A: YouTube’s Rules for Video

By J.D. BIERSDORFER

Is it possible to download videos from YouTube?

Several browser plug-ins and utility programs around the Web do let you grab copies of your favorite clips and stash them away on your hard drive. But even though the site hosts many clips showing how to download YouTube videos, the official YouTube FAQ states that doing so is against the site’s terms of service agreement and is a violation of the video-owner’s copyright.

Some video pages found on YouTube may have an official button to download a copy of the clip from the site. In that case, YouTube does allow you to take a copy for yourself."

A Guide for PC Buyers Not Looking for a Tablet

2011-11-10T06:35:00.000-05:00

I am personally holding out for at least another year and will await the arrival of Windows 8 and more touch screen capability and affordability, but if you are in the market for a laptop, here is some good advice from Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal.

A Guide for PC Buyers Not Looking for a Tablet

Five Great Internet Banks

2011-11-08T19:47:00.000-05:00

Well, I have to say this is very interesting. Have you checked the interest rate your bank is giving you on a savings account? Paltry in my case. These appear worthwhile checking out. (Puns were not intended!).

This comes from pcmag.com:

Five Great Internet Banks

15000

2011-11-07T06:20:00.000-05:00

Sometime over this past weekend, the hit counter at the bottom of this blog's home page went over 15000! Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see it.

This came after 668 posts over 3 years, 8 months, and 25 days! This was my first blog post: http://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/hello-world.html

So I thank you, whoever you are, for stopping by and checking out my tiny space on the web.

If you have any suggestions for improvements, please tell me what they are. Write me at pcdoc@brpcdoc.com.

If you have comments on any blog post as we move forward, note that comments are allowed on the blog. Just click on the word COMMENT at the end of each and every post.

If you have found value in this blog, please let me know. Write me at pcdoc@brpcdoc.com.

When I started out I was writing about things I knew about, like how to clean up a hard drive or how to tune your system, or how to secure your system against the many predators out there, but I soon found out that I couldn't keep that up. I just don't know that much! So I began turning into a "clipping service", checking out various technical web sites and reporting back on things I considered might be relevant to at least some of you. It is tough, without feedback, to know if this is valuable to any of you, but I guess the fact that there have been over 15000 hits to the site speaks to that in some small way.

One other thing: I would welcome guest blog posts. If you have something you think would be of value to the (mostly Windows) readers of the blog, let me know and we can work to get your information posted. I will credit you with the post. Write me at pcdoc@brpcdoc.com.

Thank you for your continued following and loyalty to this blog.

How to Become a Great eBay Seller

2011-11-04T09:34:00.000-04:00

I am not a great eBay seller, but I'd like to be, so I found this list of tips very interesting.

The intro to the article talks about wanting to raise some money as the holidays approach. Good idea that drew me in further. See what you think.

"With the holidays around the corner, I've started eyeballing the piles of unused stuff I have squirreled away in closets around the house as a source of cash. I know I can get good price on eBay if I price it right and create an enticing listing."

10 Tips for Being a Great eBay Seller

Uptick in tainted ads hurts consumers, advertisers

2011-11-03T13:30:00.000-04:00

Yet another warning: BE CAREFUL! They still are out to get you! This article appears on usatoday.com today.

"The online-advertising industry is scrambling to quell a long-standing problem that has taken a turn for the worse: the spread of malicious ads on the Internet's top commercial websites.

Several new twists have made so-called malvertisements a fast-rising threat to consumers — and a big headache for publishers, advertisers and ad networks, say technologists and security researchers.

The spread of infected online ads has spiked tenfold over the past year, according to research disclosed by security intelligence firm RiskIQ at a recent Online Trust Alliance conference in Washington, D.C.

RiskIQ documented a peak of 14,694 occurences of malvertisements in May of this year, up from 1,533 in May 2010. Each corrupted ad could have infected the PCs of thousands or millions of website visitors, based on how long the ad ran, says Elias Manousos, CEO of RiskIQ."

Read the entire article here

Should I click that update button?

2011-11-02T07:49:00.000-04:00

This comes from the Call That Girl blog, and contains some very good and valuable tips. I recommend reading the article, which is not too long.

"First you may ask, what are “update buttons” They usually sit in the lower right corner of your screen right next to your clock. Sometimes they just sit there and don’t do anything. Sometimes they blink constantly warning you to do an update. And you may wonder…which ones are good to do? In today’s blog I will alert you to some udpates you should be doing and some you should not be doing. Most of our clients do not click any update buttons or alerts to update and that usually need to be done and some can safe you from getting a virus!

Update buttons for the most part, should be done and the software you have installed have asked for your permission to do the update. Many times, the update button is just there and doesn’t ask, so you have to do the all manually. It’s probably a good idea that once a month, you roll your mouse over those icons and see what your computer would like to do."

Specific Product Recommendations - read here

How to Remove a Rootkit from a Windows System

2011-10-31T08:58:00.000-04:00

This highly technical article from technibble.co m is not for the faint of heart. If you consider yourself technically competent, you should read this over and, if and when necessary, use it. However, a word of caution: if you are not technically competent, make a mental note that you saw this post and inform your local PC Doc if/when you have issues with your Windows machine.

How to Remove a Rootkit from a Windows System

Windows XP was great, but is ten years too long?

2011-10-27T14:33:00.001-04:00

As far as I know, we still have until 2014, when Microsoft will drop support of XP. This article comes to us from itworld.com.

"October 26, 2011, 11:46 AM —

flickr/Will Clayton

At one time, 80 percent of all desktop computers ran Windows XP. The breakout OS appeared on October 25, 2001, making it 10 years old. But is 10 years too long for any OS?

Of course, Service Pack 2 in 2004 revamped plenty of XP modules, particularly security. Should Microsoft have tweaked the interface and called SP2 a new OS? They didn't, and no other major OS came out of Microsoft until Windows Vista appeared in 2006. Vista had the smell of New Coke and the Ford Edsel, so XP kept on going until Windows 7 (and beyond). Windows 7 likely will stay below 50 percent market share when Windows 8 appears in a year or two.

Since technology is all about change, bolting new tech onto old OS frameworks can be painful. Those fancy new SATA disks? Gluing those onto an XP box strains patience. 3D graphics? Large amounts of RAM? XP lets us down. But that doesn't mean we don't still love it in many ways and for many applications. And Microsoft will support it for three more years because of enterprise demand."

Router Tips to Make Your Wireless Faster

2011-10-19T09:09:00.000-04:00

I highly recommend this article. I believe most home routers have been installed "just to get the darn thing working" without much thought to the items reviewed in this article. Check it out and maybe try one or two or more. This is from pcworld.com.

Router Tips to Make Your Wireless Faster

Verizon Tracks the Websites You Visit and Sells Your Data

2011-10-17T06:02:00.000-04:00

I take this article from techlicious.com at face value and have not checked out Verizon's Privacy Policy on my own. If there's any good news here it's at the end of the article where it says "Fortunately, you can opt-out of this data collection by visiting www.vzw.com/myprivacy or calling 1-866-211-0874".

"I've gotten used to the the boots I've looked on Zappos following me around as I browse the web, but Verizon Wireless has taken this tracking to a new level with its updated privacy policy.

Under the new policy, Verizon will be tracking the websites you visit, the apps you use and the location of your phone, and then using this information to provide targeted mobile advertising. Verizon will also be sharing this information with third parties, though they claim it will be on an aggregated basis that won't reveal personally identifiable information.

According to Verizon, the specific information collected includes:

Addresses of websites you visit (which may include search terms you used)
Location of your device
App and device feature usage
Information about your use of Verizon products and services (such as data and calling features, device type, and amount
of use)
Demographic and interest categories provided to us by other companies, such as gender, age range, sports fan, frequent diner, or pet owner ("Demographics")

Fortunately, you can opt-out of this data collection by visiting www.vzw.com/myprivacy or calling 1-866-211-0874. If you have a Family SharePlan or multi-line account, you must indicate your choice for each line."

MVPS HOSTS File for October available now

2011-10-14T08:54:00.000-04:00

This is a reminder to those of you who use the MVPS HOSTS file as a part of your baseline security package. This should include anyone who has a Windows machine.

The monthly installation process includes:

1) Running a full Spybot scan. Remember to first Update, then Immunize, and lastly run the Search & Destroy. I recommend deleting everything/anything that Spybot identifies as being potentially dangerous.

2) Download the October MVPS HOSTS file here: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm. Once at the site, click on hosts.zip about a third of the way down the page. Download it to your system, unzip it, and doubleclick on MVPS.BAT. That will install the new HOSTS file and provide you with much needed protection. Think of the HOSTS file as a list of web sites known to cause trouble. All of these will be blocked on your system.

Collection of 11 hot PCs

2011-10-13T15:18:00.000-04:00

When I saw the e-mail from Microsoft come in, I thought maybe this will be interesting. What, I thought, does Microsoft think makes a hot PC? Since they don't make any of the hardware involved, I figured it had to be PCs that would make Windows 7 run well, and so I guess that is exactly what it is. If you are interested in acquiring a new PC, this might be a good place to start looking. These are all moderately priced, certainly a lot less that that MacBook Pro I spoke of in yesterday's post.

Meet your new PC

iPhone 4S Review: It's a Sure Thing

2011-10-12T07:54:00.000-04:00

I am still old-fashioned, or maybe just old, and I still use a dumb cell phone. A cell phone to me is a necessity these days, and I am amazed whenever I think back to pre-cell phone days and how we ever got along without them!

The most troubling thing to me about Apple products is their price. Nothing from Apple is affordable, it seems to me. I am typing this on my MacBook Pro 17" laptop. It is a beautiful, powerful machine, but it cost me $2700. That is outrageous for a laptop, but I thought it would help me to learn about Macs and therefore position me in a place where I could help others with Macs who could use a little assistance. I find my Mac to be so foreign to me, compared to any Windows machine, but I am learning. There are very few similarities between Windows and OS/X. My Mac seems to have been built for left-handed people, and I am not left-handed. However, my Mac is right now my go-to laptop and I really am impressed with it. It is very fast, stable, and very easy to use (although the left-handedness of it still drives me nuts!). The 8 hour battery life is nothing short of amazing to me, a guy who was used to having 2 and maybe 3 hour battery life on my Windows machines.

So along comes another new iPhone. Ho-hum. It's apparently not even different enough from the iPhone 4 to warrant having its own unique name. People were expecting the iPhone 5 but instead got the iPhone 4S. I shall not be writing any product reviews of it very soon. Once one bites the bullet and comes up with the money for the phone, he or she is faced with the minimum charge of $70 a month to use the darn thing. As with the iPad, I would love to have one, but I'd rather not have to spend the money to get there, not in this economy. This review comes from pcworld.com.

iPhone 4S Review: It's a Sure Thing

Computer Virus Hits U.S. Drone Fleet

2011-10-11T06:03:00.001-04:00

Just in case you think you have really good protection from viruses on your computer, check this out. This comes from wired.com.

"A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America’s Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots’ every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other warzones.

The virus, first detected nearly two weeks ago by the military’s Host-Based Security System, has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying their missions overseas. Nor have there been any confirmed incidents of classified information being lost or sent to an outside source. But the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech’s computers, network security specialists say. And the infection underscores the ongoing security risks in what has become the U.S. military’s most important weapons system."

More here.....

Facebook Privacy: 11 Settings to Revisit Now

2011-10-08T07:56:00.000-04:00

I don't know about you, but I can use all the help I can get in this regard. This comes from pcworld.com.

"With Facebook's constant stream of changes, keeping up with your privacy settings can be daunting. Here's a rundown of the newest features, what the changes mean to your privacy and how to update your settings."

Watch slideshow here

Forget the iPad, What People Really Want is a Windows Tablet

2011-10-07T12:17:00.000-04:00

Really? I find this hard to believe, but I guess I'd like to see Windows on a tablet. After all, most of us have spent our computing lives on Windows machines and have come to really know it well, even if most of us don't show a lot of respect for it!

Forget the iPad, What People Really Want is a Windows Tablet

(From maximumpc.com by Paul Lilly)

"Take a look around and it's easy to come to the conclusion that Apple's iPad is what the masses want. After all, nobody's standing in line overnight to purchase a PlayBook. Next on the list is Android, though only if the price is right (and Amazon's Kindle Fire is priced right). Where does Windows fit in with all this? Maybe much higher than you think.

AllThingsD dug up some interesting stats and surveys that paint a picture of Windows lust on the tablet form factor. Boston Consulting Group (BCG), for example, recently conducted a survey and found that 42 percent of Americans want a Windows tablet, compared to 27 percent for iOS, 20 percent for Android, 9 percent for BlackBerry, and 3 percent for webOS.

"The interest rises to 53 percent of the market when non-users of tablets are factored into the equation," BCG said.

BCG isn't the only one reporting a preference for Windows. Forrester Research conducted a survey earlier in the year and found that 46 percent want Windows on their tablet, compared to 16 percent who want iOS and 9 percent pining away for Android.

If these numbers are accurate, it means there's a huge opportunity for Microsoft to swoop in and dominate a landscape that currently belongs to Apple.
What's your OS of choice on the tablet form factor?"

STEVE JOBS, RIP

2011-10-06T06:51:00.000-04:00

From Walt Mossberg of the WSJ:

"That Steve Jobs was a genius, a giant influence on multiple industries and billions of lives, has been written many times since he retired as Apple's chief executive in August. He was a historical figure on the scale of a Thomas Edison or Henry Ford, and set the mold for many other corporate leaders in many other industries."

Read more here

A little humor

2011-10-04T19:20:00.002-04:00

On the lighter side!

Tech support: What kind of computer do you have?

Customer: A white one.

Tech support: Click on the 'my computer' icon on to the left of the screen.

Customer: Your left or my left?

****************************

Customer: Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha, I can't print. Every time I try, it says 'Can't find printer'. I've even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says he can't find it..

****************************

Tech support: What's on your monitor now, ma'am?

Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me at the 7-11.

****************************

Customer: My keyboard is not working anymore.

Tech support: Are you sure it's plugged into the computer?

Customer: No. I can't get behind the computer.

Tech support: Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back.

Customer: OK! !

Tech support: Did the keyboard come with you?

Customer: Yes

Tech support: That means the keyboard is not plugged in.

****************************

Customer: I can't get on the Internet.

Tech support: Are you sure you used the right password?

Customer: Yes, I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.

Tech support: Can you tell me what the password was?

Customer: Five dots.

****************************

Tech support: What anti-virus program do you use?

Customer: Netscape.

Tech support: That's not an anti-virus program.

Customer: Oh, sorry... Internet Explorer.

****************************

Customer: I have a huge problem. A friend has placed a screen saver on my computer, but every time I move the mouse, it disappears.

****************************

Tech support: How may I help you?

Customer: I'm writing my first email.

Tech support: OK, and what seems to be the problem?

Customer: Well, I have the letter 'a' in the address, but how do I get the little circle around it?

****************************

A woman customer called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer.

Tech support: Are you running it under windows?

Customer: 'No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his printer is working fine.'

****************************

Tech support: 'Okay Bob, let's press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter 'P' to bring up the Program Manager.'

Customer: I don't have a P.

Tech support: On your keyboard, Bob.

Customer: What do you mean?

Tech support: 'P'.....on your keyboard, Bob.

Customer: I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT!

Kindle Fire vs. iPad: Which is right for you?

2011-10-01T06:12:00.000-04:00

This is a very well done piece comparing the 2 products. A significant point about the Fire is that the reporters did not have any hands-on time with the Fire, so I'd wait to see how it looks and feels up close first. In the meantime, however, this article covers very well what is known at this point in time. From cnn.com:

"(CNN) -- With Amazon unveiling its much-anticipated Kindle Fire tablet computer Wednesday, we may finally have a real tablet war on our hands.

In the nearly 18 months since the iPad went on sale, tablet rivals have come and gone. But Apple's device has remained dominant.

Amazon's new entry, though, might be different. Instead of crafting an iPad carbon copy and asking consumers to choose between them, they've pushed out a stripped-down and simplified device that sells for much less than the iPad 2 while skimping on some of that tablet's features.

If you're in the market for a tablet, though, here's the real question: Which one, if either, is right for you?"

Kindle Fire vs. iPad: Which is right for you?

Everything You Need to Know About the New Facebook

2011-09-26T07:25:00.000-04:00

Timely.

Everything You Need to Know About the New Facebook

Mac Days

2011-09-23T16:53:00.000-04:00

I am getting pretty good at using my MacBook Pro 17. I have had to, because my 2 Acer laptops have develped hardware issues, and they are just too darned expensive to get fixed these days. They are darn near disposables, meaning to me that I can buy a new one for less than it costs to have one repaired. That is, of course, a good news/bad news situation. These days I feel lucky to have one working computer. And I have 2 now. I have switched to exclusive use of the Mac for day to day needs. I have found that between it and my old IBM desktop (still going pretty strong), I have all I need. It took quite a long time for me to decide where I wanted to keep my data. I mean which machine would be the primary site. I decided to make my desktop the primary, even though I use it far less than the Mac. The portability of the Mac makes it far easier to use. I can lug it around (it is NOT light) wherever I go, and I am on the go a lot.

I am trying out SOS Online Backup services. I am not yet convinced that it will work for me, but I remain hopeful. I also copy all of my data to my 1TB Western Digital MyBook on a quarterly basis. The size of "My Documents" folder is 94 GB, and it consists mainly of videos (my Flip camera takes them), music, and photos (around 40,000 photos at last count).

My IBM desktop runs Windows XP so I will try to keep it going through 2014, the last days of XP.

I am also changing the way I feel about the need for these darn boat anchors. I just told a customer, who is expecting an iPad for her birthday, that I thought she'd never return to her laptop. Like so many others out there, e-mailing and browsing the web is about all these heavy duty laptops and desktops are used for. Compare them to a tablet like the iPad and the tablet wins hands down.

Just some food for thought on a Friday afternoon. Good weekends all.

Seven Free Alternatives to Microsoft Office

2011-09-22T13:56:00.000-04:00

I haven't heard of some of these, but it's interesting to me that there are so many FREE alternatives to MS Office. This is found on the techilicious.com web site.

Seven Free Alternatives to Microsoft Office

How to Make a Facebook Page for Your Small Business

2011-09-20T07:27:00.000-04:00

I have put off doing this, but I now think it's a must these days. I am hopeful that this article will help me in my attempt to come up with a useful FB Page. I suspect the problem will be that every small (and large) business is doing the same and it will be a quagmire out there in FB-world.

I found this on pcworld.com. I hope it may prove useful to some of you.

How to Make a Facebook Page for Your Small Business

What's New in Microsoft Surface Version Two

2011-09-16T10:26:00.001-04:00

Wow! Here's something I have not heard of before. This is pretty cool and I could see it as being quite useful for lots of applications.

This comes from Maximum PC.

"Posted 09/15/2011 at 12:35pm | by Seamus Bellamy

In the world of tech, concepts come and go faster than poop through a goose. Sadly, some ideas with great potential fade into the realm of vapourware, or see their prime features rolled into already existing products. Worse than this, hardware and software that smacked of half-baked failure from the get-go are routinely green-lit by manufactures to be released on an unsuspecting, and soon to be frustrated, public.

There are however, some concepts that both innovate and thrill those fortunate enough to experience them. Should these concepts be nurtured out of prototyping and released into the wild, wooly realm of the consumer, they stand a chance to change the way that we interact with our world on a daily basis. The Personal Computer is one such product. So too, whether you like it or not, was the iPad: While other tablets may have been around before hand, none had ever managed to capture the public’s imagination or hard earned money in such a manner as to make it an ubiquitous part of our every day lives.

While it may be coming in well under the radar, we’ve got a feeling that as it crops up in more and more locations over the next few years, the latest version of Microsoft Surface could have what it takes to be the next piece of computing technology to change the way we work, shop and live on a daily basis."

Read the entire article here

Things That You Should Know About Outlook That Microsoft Doesn’t Tell You

2011-09-15T13:09:00.000-04:00

"Call That Girl", a blog I have often referred to, is running a series of posts covering Microsoft's Outlook, a very solid, stable, rich e-mail processing program. Outlook is a part of Microsoft Office, the suite of programs that has been available for many years. I have used Outlook as my e-mail of choice for several years, and most companies use Outlook, so it's familiar to many home users as well.

Lisa's first post is quoted below in part and I have provided a link to the rest of it. I encourage all of you Outlook users to check this one out, and if you think the series will be helpful to you, bookmark the web site and check for future posts.

Posted by callthatgirl on September 14, 2011

"Welcome to my Outlook FYI series of blogs. We will be covering these topics in a series as there is just way too much information to handle in one blog. I felt that these FYI’s were important to discuss because so many people use Outlook every day, for so many things. And Outlook is just not for email anymore. I also apologize, there are no “How to” in my blogs, just FYI’s. This blog will just explain things hopefully better for you to understand.

Many of us use Outlook in our everyday computing needs. It’s a wonderful tool, but very misunderstood by the common user. And maybe by some not so common people. Many of us are really married to it and I am all for it because it’s been my favorite software program since 2000, but it can be tricky and problematic."

Things That You Should Know About Outlook That Microsoft Doesn’t Tell You

The future of tablets

2011-09-14T06:08:00.001-04:00

This is an enlightening Tip of the Day from Kim Komando, especially for those of you who do not yet own a tablet (that'd be me) but may be interested in owning one (that'd be me too).

The future of tablets

Live From Microsoft's Windows 8 Keynote at BUILD

2011-09-13T14:27:00.001-04:00

From a PCMag.com article:

"Microsoft’s BUILD developer’s conference kicks off today with a keynote that’s expected to focus on the next version of the company’s core software, Windows 8. The event starts at 12 noon Eastern (9 a.m. Pacific), and PCMag is covering the event live—scroll down to read our up-to-the-second coverage and take part in the discussion.

Of course, Windows 8 is still just a code name—no one knows what Microsoft may end up calling the new operating system when it’s released to the public next year, but we do know that it’s going to be a major revamp aimed at getting Windows to work on as many devices as possible.

Chief among those devices: tablets. Since Windows 7 came out, Microsoft has seen Apple’s iPad completely change the market of personal computers. The iPad has hanged what people think of as a computer, and what they expect from one (though it’s apparently not to blame for dipping PC sales). So far, though, no other tablet device has come close to challenging the iPad."

Live From Microsoft's Windows 8 Keynote at BUILD

64 GB Flash Drive

2011-09-12T09:12:00.000-04:00

I am not the type who just has to have the latest and greatest. I might be that type if I had the money! But I felt I needed this high capacity flash drive because frequently I help people salvage data from a damaged hard drive or an uncooperative system. "My Documents", for example, is itself 94 GB. It turns out there is a 128 GB flash drive available and soon I think we'll see 256 GB and on and on. However, these newer high density devices are rather costly. I found that at $69 this new gadget is affordable and I have a need, so I got it.

Lest we forget, my first PC back in 1981 had 32 KB of RAM. Yes, KB! We have come a long way.

Corporate America to Microsoft: We'll Pass on Windows 8

2011-09-09T18:05:00.000-04:00

I can certainly understand why corporate America would feel this way. It is an incredibly large undertaking to convert thousands upon thousands of computers from one operating system to another, and many companies are just deciding or have already decided, and perhaps even started or finished their conversions, to go to Windows 7 from their rock steady Windows XP machines.

Corp. America to Microsoft: We'll Pass on Windows 8

Keep your PC clean with Microsoft Security Essentials

2011-09-07T16:06:00.001-04:00

Regular readers of this blog know that I recommend Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). It is an excellent and free anti-virus program. There is no need to spend money on Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro, or any other, and I can assure you MSE is as good as or better than most all of the other free anti-viruses. Who knows more about Microsoft operating systems than Microsoft itself? I'd suggest "no one" is a good guess at the answer, so it stands to reason, to me anyway, that I'd want the people who know the system I am using to be my anti-virus program provider, and did I already say MSE is FREE? :-)

My recommended security baseline includes all free programs including MSE. Check it out at PC Doc's Security Baseline.

from worldstart.com by Yogesh Bakshi: Keep your PC clean with Microsoft Security Essentials

September HOSTS file available now

2011-09-06T06:15:00.001-04:00

I hope you are using the MVPS HOSTS file on your system(s). The latest version is now available.

The MVPS HOSTS file was recently updated [September-05-2011]
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

Download: hosts.zip (148 kb)
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.zip

How To: Download and Extract the HOSTS file
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts2.htm

HOSTS File - Frequently Asked Questions
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hostsfaq.htm
Note: the "text" version makes a great resource for determining possible unwanted connections ...
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt (600 kb)

Get notified when the MVPS HOSTS file is updated
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/updates.htm

Published Mon, Sep 5 2011 13:56 by winhelp2002

Rethinking the ‘Never Unsubscribe’ Rule for Spam

2011-09-05T10:17:00.000-04:00

Happy Labor Day!

David Pogue of the New York Times is worth reading and following. This post may be of some interest to some of you. Personally I find that the junk (spam) mail filters in Gmail and those in my host sevices webmail offerings do a very good job. However, I present this here for those of you who may find your spam filter inadequate. Be sure to read the whole post. This only really applies in certain situations.

"When it comes to junk mail, the rule, for 15 years, has been: Never respond. Don’t even try to unsubscribe, even if they give you instructions for doing so. You’re just letting the spammer know that your e-mail address is “live,” and that you’re a dummy who actually opens those messages and reads them. You’ll wind up getting put on even more spam lists as a result.

Well, I think it’s time to revisit that advice."

Rethinking the ‘Never Unsubscribe’ Rule for Spam

Ever wonder where the Windows XP default wallpaper came from?

2011-08-30T14:43:00.000-04:00

I find this article quite fascinating. I have to admit that I never gave the question a single thought. I never really thought it was a photograph at all. This is the picture of which I write:

If it looks familiar to you that probably means you have been a Windows XP user for some time now.

There is an interesting story behind the picture. First and foremost, it is a photograph, taken by a man who is likely pretty rich right now. You can read about the photo, the man who took it, and the location here:

Ever wonder where the Windows XP default wallpaper came from?

15 Add-Ons to Become a Gmail Power User

2011-08-29T11:22:00.000-04:00

This article says, "Many users live their lives in Gmail, all without ever recognizing its full potential. These widgets can help." I don't know about that, but I am a Gmail user, so I thought I'd at least take a look at these. It remains to be seen if I will use any, but maybe some of you would like to try one or more, so here is the link:

15 Add-Ons to Become a Gmail Power User

CCleaner for Mac

2011-08-23T20:03:00.002-04:00

I have been using my Apple Macbook Pro 17 a lot lately, and I always have a funny feeling when I do. I have spent most of the last 40 years being concerned, to varying levels, about security on computers. So it comes as no surprise that I have developed my Security Baseline for PCs. But in Apple's world where they tell me they are immune to viruses and rogue programs, I just can't help feel that one day that will all change. So I guess I won't rest easy until I eventually see (as I believe I will) an equivalent Apple version of all of the program functions provided by my Security Baseline for all of you PC users.

So I was happy to see that there is a version of CCleaner for Macs, and I downloaded it, installed it, and ran it as quickly as I could. Now CCleaner is not really a security program per se, but it cleans out a lot of the junk that accumulates on our systems, and I believe this is a good thing and a part of an overall security system.

So all of you Mac users, visit this site, http://www.piriform.com/mac/ccleaner, and get yourself a very lean, neat system cleaner and give it a try. Run the Analyze step first to see just what it will delete from your system, and then run the Clean portion of your program. Run it weekly and it'll take a minute or less each time and go a long way to keeping your system clean.

What Is the Ultrabook?

2011-08-22T06:04:00.001-04:00

"Since May there has been a nearly constant, subcellular buzz on the Internet about something called an Intel Ultrabook. But what, exactly, are we looking at here?

First, let’s understand how Intel “releases” notebooks. Intel makes chips. That, in general, is all they do and all they ever want to do. However, the company often releases reference designs or plans for future products. These reference designs have included embedded systems for machinery (using Intel chips), point-of-sale systems for stores (using Intel chips) and low-power “in-vehicle infotainment systems” (using Intel chips.)

In short, Intel builds something, gives manufacturers the plans (and guidelines), and then sells them a few million chips that will go inside the hardware. That’s why most laptops are, inside, essentially the same: they’re based on a reference design passed along from chipmaker to manufacturer like holy writ."

Read the rest of this NYT article here

Samsung tablet is the best one whose name doesn’t start with ‘i’

2011-08-18T06:03:00.000-04:00

I am not sure I have seen, to this point in time, anyone claim a tablet was as good as or better than the iPad.

This is worth checking out if you are considering buying a tablet.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

How IBM's 5150 PC shaped the computer industry

2011-08-11T07:19:00.002-04:00

Okay, I am a bit biased. Just a bit. I was around for this and was just as excited as everyone else about the thought of having computer power inside our homes. And we did. As quickly as IBM made these machines available to employees, we had one in our new home. And ours came with TWO floppy diskette drives! Imagine being able to copy files from one drive to another! :-) Of course this was quite an expensive option, but I thought it worthwhile at the time.

My memory being what it is today, I am probably wrong, but I think we paid around $1,100. for our first PC.

How IBM's 5150 PC shaped the computer industry

Bruce Schneier’s Telepathic Takeover of the TSA

2011-08-10T13:50:00.000-04:00

It's about time is all I have to say!

Bruce Schneier’s Telepathic Takeover of the TSA

Giving Microsoft Word a Tune-Up

2011-08-05T07:09:00.000-04:00

I don't use MS Word that often anymore, but I followed the links in this Q&A from the New York Times and it appears to contain some good tips. If you ave noticed a slowdown in Word, these tips probably apply somewhat to any version.

Giving Microsoft Word a Tune-Up

Remote support

2011-08-04T22:59:00.000-04:00

I had a very successful remote support call yesterday with a VT customer.

Being out of state is not too big a handicap. If we are in different places, I can still connect to your machine, if you can connect to the internet, and do a system cleaning and tune up. An advantage to you, the customer, is that these calls are also a one-on-one tutorial. We connect machine to machine via our high speed internet connections all the while both of us are on our phones talking, discussing, tutoring.

If you need help, consider this approach.

Laptop Refresh: Six Ways to Revitalize an Older Notebook

2011-08-03T07:06:00.000-04:00

I know that many of you have the issue of an older laptop that seems to lack the zip it once had. The easiest fix for many of you has been to add RAM (memory) since most older machines came with 1GB or less, and that just doesn't cut it anymore. But there are other things you can do too. If you are the DIY type, you may enjoy this article and even be moved to try one or two of the suggestions in it. This comes to us from PCWorld.

Laptop Refresh: Six Ways to Revitalize an Older Notebook

Rogue Gallery

2011-08-02T21:18:00.000-04:00

This serves as a reminder of a good place to check if you think you may be the victim of a rogue program. There are lots of them out there. This link to the Lavasoft Rogue Gallery will show you the latest half dozen or so.

Lavasoft's Rogue Gallery

E-mail hacked?

2011-08-01T08:34:00.000-04:00

I have seen many wacky e-mails lately coming from friends. These e-mails, while they may contain sob stories from a "relative" who needs money, also come with no message at all, just a link to some wacky web site. Even Google e-mail's spam filter does not pick up on these! (And, IMHO, Google's spam filter is a good one.)

Here is the contents of an e-mail from a trusted friend (although this came through as a clickable link, I have removed the link in case one of you might accidentally click on it:

http://zukunftsmann.de/images/asern.html

The subject of the e-mail was "free trial", and you can see why some people might be drawn into a note with that subject. So, since it was an e-mail from a trueted friend, I opened it up. When I saw the line (as shown above) that was the ONLY content of the note, I knew, or suspected, that my friend's e-mail had been hacked.

Have you seen any of these? As I said in my opening, I have seen a lot of these lately. Moral of the story, never click on any suspect link in an e-mail, such as the link shown above, even if the e-mail is from a friend. But that is just the beginning of what should be your concern. Has this friend's e-mail been hacked? I'm not sure, but I would proceed and take the steps one would take when one suspects his/her e-mail has been hacked. I would always recommend changing the account password to a robust password, and, as noted in the referenced Kim Komando article below, I would go into the account settings and change the alternate e-mail address, if there is one.

Yikes! Email was hacked!

Microsoft ad. Funny, or NOT?

2011-07-29T08:26:00.000-04:00

I enjoyed this funny Microsoft ad. I hope you to too.

Browser Wars: Chrome vs IE9 vs Firefox

2011-07-28T13:21:00.001-04:00

I see these comparisons quite frequently. I don't really know to whom these performance data mean anything. They mean little to me. I am a Firefox user and don't really have anything against IE. In fact, I have IE9 and it is quite impressive. I left IE because Firefox was less likely to be attacked by hackers. There was a time, and maybe it's still here, when the IE installation numbers were so much greater than Firefox, and now Chrome, that the hackers didn't bother us Firefox users. Why trouble a handful of people when you can get so many more while attacking IE users, was the logic of the day.

So I am not sure there is any longer a greater danger using IE, and Microsoft has put so much effort into improving security in IE that I suspect it is just as safe as Firefox in that regard.

Chrome? I just don't like it. I am a big Google faan, but their refusal to make Chrome so unique that they can't even provide a left hand side of the screen Bookmarks list, the way every other browser does, was enough to help me quickly forget Chrome. So admittedly that is my bias and I am unlikely to become a Chrome lover.

The article provides lots of technical data, and perhaps some of you will learn something and maybe make a decision based on what you learn. As for me, I will stick with Firefox for now.

From Pcmag.com, Browser Wars: Chrome vs IE9 vs Firefox

Kudos to Coffee Cup Software

2011-07-27T06:53:00.001-04:00

As a rule I do not like to pay for software, but there are exceptions to the rule. Coffee Cup Software is a company that makes and sells a plethora of software products, all of which are very reasonably priced.

For several years I struggled with a few of the web sites that I have designed and built on my own using a Microsoft product called Frontpage. Frontpage was replaced by newer products from Microsoft, one of which I tried but did not like. I abandoned it and stuck with Frontpage even though it is no longer supported, and has not been for several years now. My web hosting company, Icdsoft, forced me to eliminate all of the Frontpage extensions (nice, exclusive to Frontpage features) because of the fact that Frontpage support had been dropped and they could no longer afford to support the few slow-to-change web site developers like me who insisted on hanging on. This was a painful experience, but I have managed to make it through the transition, removing the Frontpage bells & whistles from my web sites. There were some I had to replace and this is where Coffee Cup Software came in.

Several of my web sites, most notably Boothbay Region for Rent by Owner or BRFRBO, used fill in the blank forms to enable potential renters to inquire of a cottage owner about their rental property. I had been looking to enable CAPTCHA in these forms, but Frontpage did not support CAPTCHA. Now we all know what CAPTCHA is, even though we may not realize it, because CAPTCHA is nowadays used by most web sites to prevent spam. CAPTCHA bills itself with this description, "CAPTCHA: Telling Humans and Computers Apart Automatically". That doesn't tell one what CAPTCHA really is, but just take a quick look at their web site and you will immediately recognize what it is!

In my search for a way to implement CAPTCHA on my web sites, I stumbled upon Coffee Cup Software. They offered a very inexpensive product called Web Form Builder. I decided to try it and the rest is history. I love it. I am not a sophisticated web site developer. My sites are all quite basic, but Coffee Cup's Web Form Builder has added a touch of class to my sites. You see, with CAPTCHA I have been able to eliminate spam completely. Coffee Cup's CAPTCHA is a simple implementation requiring users to enter just 5 cahracters that, in this case, are very easy to discern. Take a look at one example from BRFRBO of what I am talking about here:

BRFRBO CAPTCHA form example

If you picture the form, located at the bottom of the above page, without the CAPTCHA image, you can perhaps see that it was easy to spam the cottage owner since there was no way to force a human to enter the data, and believe me, before Coffee Cup with its easy-to-implement CAPTCHA feature, the owners got plenty of spam.

So many kudos, thanks, and a tip of the hat to Coffee Cup Software! Check them out, not just for Web Form Builder but also for all of their software products.

MVPS HOSTS file for July available now

2011-07-26T07:03:00.002-04:00

The MVPS HOSTS file for July is available now. Do yourself a BIG favor now and download it and install it. This one action can help keep you from becoming infected with one of those ROGUE programs that are so widespread these days and about which I write so often. You can download the new HOSTS file here:

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

Remember to update and run a Spybot scan before you do the install.

Also, if you have not run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool yet this month, this might be a good idea to do that. Remember to run a FULL scan. (START/RUN/MRT).

For those of you who may be new to this HOSTS file thing, I once wrote up instructions on how to download and install the MVPS HOSTS file. There were 5 blog posts that cover the subject, the and first is at:

http://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/hosts-file-post-1.html

If you go to the first post you'll find the other 4. I think I wrote them up on 5 consecutive days.

Also, for those of you who are not familiar with the HOSTS file, please note that I consider it a very essential part of a good baseline security package I hope most of my readers have implemented by now. To review my recommended baseline security package, consisting of all FREE programs, check this out:

http://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/security-baseline-revisited.html

Airbnb Raises $112 Million for Vacation Rental Business

2011-07-25T06:47:00.002-04:00

This is a very interesting new business and web site. I heard about it recently and immediately added my Maine rental cabin to their site. It is a new option for those who own rental properties. It is of particular interest to me because this summer rental season has not been the best for traditional second home owners who expect commitments from prospective renters in terms of weeks, not days. This summer has brought with it a dearth of those traditional renters, and more and more I am getting inquiries for 3 or 4 day weekend types of rentals.

It also opens up a whole new market. Listers can offer traditional B&B type listings for a room or two in their own homes, whereas heretofore they never considered that, or there was no way to advertise such offerings at no or low cost.

Airbnb offers no cost listing services on their web site, so I was immediately interested.

My traditional web site for renters

The Airbnb web site

Finally, my listing on Airbnb

Even if you have never thought of renting out a room in your home for a night or your second home for a few days, take a look at this possibility. We all can use a few extra dollars these days!

Slow week

2011-07-20T16:40:00.000-04:00

What a hot one it is! I am taking a few days off from blogging. I hope everyone is managing, in one way or another, to keep cool.

Malwarebytes Notches 100 Million Downloads, Toots Its Own Horn

2011-07-18T10:53:00.003-04:00

I am very happy to see this news. Good for Malwarebytes. These companies that provide us so much good and free at that, deserve our attention and praise. As you know by now, Malwarebytes is one of my highly recommended (free) programs for the detection and removal of malware. See this June 2011 post of mine for a review of my recommended security baseline, Security Baseline revisited.

I must say, however, that these days whenever I am called to clean up a malware situation, my number one tool to identify and remove malware is the Superantispyware Portable tool.

Malwarebytes Notches 100 Million Downloads, Toots Its Own Horn

There are lots of pluses to Google’s new social networking site

2011-07-15T12:43:00.002-04:00

I got myself a Google+ account a few days ago. As with most things Google comes out with, I tread lightly until I am sure I know what I am doing. I have no real experience yet, and I am not interested in yet another "time sink", as Hiawatha Bray, the author and Boston Globe Staff Writer says below. I have 8 invitations. If you'd like one, please write me.

"I thought Google was supposed to make our lives simpler. Instead, the giant Internet search service has come up with Google+, an impressive new social network that is rapidly becoming another time sink in my too-busy life.

It was easy to ignore Google’s earlier social network efforts. The Orkut service did fine in Brazil and India, but nowhere else. Last year’s Google Buzz began by violating the e-mail privacy of its users and went downhill from there.

But Google+, which launched on a trial basis a couple of weeks ago, has the makings of a first-rate social platform. Google is expanding the service slowly, mostly by invitations from those of us who have already gotten in, so it may take you awhile to score a ticket."

There are lots of pluses to Google’s new social networking site

25 Ways To Ditch Your Cable Bill

2011-07-14T17:24:00.000-04:00

I view this as a timely aticle, the title anyway. Cable rates sure are getting to be outrageous. Anyway, maybe we all can find at least one tip (out of 25) that will help a little bit.

25 Ways To Ditch Your Cable Bill

Windows XP is a Dead OS Walking

2011-07-12T15:43:00.001-04:00

I got scared when I saw the title of this Maximum PC article, but no, nothing has changed. Windows XP will still be supported by Microsoft through April 8, 2014, as we all have known all along. I don't know about the rest of you, but my Windows XP hardware, that is the machines I use to run Windows XP, is getting old and tired. It is entirely possible that I personally may abandon it sooner than the final date. If you or I are lucky enough to keep it going until 2014, it's not like our machines will stop working. It's just that Microsoft will no longer provide updates after that date. Ho-hum.

By the way, I will agree with anyone that Windows 7 is as good as or better than Windows XP. Who knows, however, what the name of the replacement will be in 2014?

Windows XP is a Dead OS Walking (For Reals This Time)

Beware: Facebook Scams Use Casey Anthony and Video Chat as Bait

2011-07-11T07:44:00.000-04:00

From pcworld.com:

"If you see a post on Facebook about a Casey Anthony confession, or a link to download the video chat app, run away. These two new Facebook scams demonstrate why the social network is such fertile ground for attackers to target.

Malware attacks frequently use social engineering to spread and current events as bait. With the recent unveiling of Facebook's partnership with Skype to deliver video chat from within the social network, and the public outrage over the acquittal of Casey Anthony, attackers have the key ingredients they need to dupe victims into installing malware."

Details here.........

Rootkits

2011-07-08T12:25:00.006-04:00

I can't believe it was almost 2 years ago that I wrote this first blog post about rootkits, but here it is:

Rootkits - Be afraid, be very afraid

So there it is, what I believe was my first warning about rootkits.

Today I was reading Kim Komando's web site, as I do every day, and saw a tip of the day article titled ""Removing an indestructible virus"". It is a very interesting and informative article for those of you who may be having system problems and aren't afraid to take them on yourself. If you are afraid, please call me.

Curious, I downloaded Bit Defender's free TDL-4 rootkit removal program here. This program was quick to download, easy to install, and ran quickly. It is only looking for one thing, and that is the rootkit TDL-4, On my system it found nothing, glad to say, but gave me peace of mind.

So hats off to Kim Komando for informing us all with such a good article about rootkits, and many, many thanks to Bit Defender for providing us with such a valuable tool, and best of all it's free!

Facebook introduces Skype video calling

2011-07-07T07:24:00.000-04:00

I haven't tried this yet, but since I recently became a Skype fan I will surely do so as soon as it is up and running. If it's easy to use it is sure to be popular. Remember that Microsoft bought Skype recently? Strange bedfellows! This article is from itworld.

"Facebook on Wednesday announced a new video chat capability it will roll out in conjunction with Skype, in what the social-networking giant said is the first of many announcements of new applications to come in the next couple of months."

Read more here.....

Google+: Dissecting Google’s Answer to Facebook

2011-07-06T15:30:00.000-04:00

This comes from Maximumpc.

"Google+ is officially on the market, and it’s being released in small doses in the form of invites. Much like how Gmail was initially spread in beta, the invite only model creates a sense of exclusivity and belonging. Facebook also used this method to market their network to college students, and eventually became part of the global definition of social media. Whether Google+ mirrors this success is anyone’s guess, but until that time it is time to get to know the features."

Read more here...........

Happy Independence Day weekend

2011-07-01T06:29:00.000-04:00

Have a great 4th weekend.

Do hackers have your passwords?

2011-06-30T08:17:00.001-04:00

Here is a very good tip from Kim Komando. The article, posted below, contains a link to a useful web site. I was surprised that none of my 3 primary e-mail addresses had been compromised, but obviously happy to see that!

Do hackers have your passwords?

"Data breaches aren't really anything new. However, the number of data breaches has recently skyrocketed. A list of them would more than fill this page.

It's likely you have accounts with at least some of these companies. That can put your information with that company at risk. It could also endanger other accounts you have online.
Hackers aren't just stealing this information. They're releasing it online. That means anyone could have your data.

If your email, username or password is exposed, you want to know. That's where today's Cool Site comes in. It's aptly named Should I Change My Password.

The site aggregates all the information databases hackers have released. You can search for your email address or username. If you see it, it's time to change your passwords."

Should I change my password?