WOOT! for the Masses

Have you ever went to a retail store looking for a specific item. After searching the entire store, you find that special item on the clearance rack for 60% off? Success, one point for the consumer. Leaving the current score at 4312 vs. 12 in favor of the retail store.

What if you could even the score a little bit? Well you can, and you can do it with a woot! At woot.com you can purchase an amazing deal everyday of the week. In the months that I have been following woot, I have seen name brand computer systems, projectors, home stereo components, printers and many other devices sell for 30-60% less then your typical retail store. Not to mention $5 dollar shipping charges per item for every item no matter how big.

Now your next question is, why the name "woot"? Well, imagine you were just completing the analysis of a scratch off lottery ticket and you found yourself to be a $10,000 winner. Now jump out of your chair and yell, "Woot!". How do you feel? That is exactly the feeling the the staff @ woot.com are trying to simulate. A more in depth analysis of the word woot can be found @ answers.com.

So take time out of your busy schedule and take a stroll on down to the newly renovated woot. Gaze upon the item of the day and find yourself slowly but surely becoming a wooter.

Cheers!

--Doc

Ruffles My Feathers...

A friend of the family came to me as a last resort to fixing her laptop problem. She believed that the laptop was infected with a virus and/or spyware. She consulted two professional computer repair techs, their answers were simple, reformat and reinstall the OS. In many instances, I may have offered the same solution. But, in her situation being that she is a school teacher and it being mid session, this is not a viable solution.

On my first inspection of the laptop, it did not appear to be acting out of the norm. I just began my normal maintenance routine. Cleaned useless icons off of the desktop, disk cleanup, removed pointless programs and obvious spyware from Add/Remove Programs, changed unnecesary services to 'manual' from 'automatic', cleaned out temporary internet files and internet history, and lastly made some tweaks on the Windows OS to gain some more performance. It wasn't until I went onto the web via Internet Explorer that I noticed anything abnormal. It was then that well known websites were unable to be displayed. I made a few attempts to access Lavasoft's website to download the renown Ad-Aware Software but my attempts were futile. So I took a new approach to this endeavor. I rebooted the laptop and proceded to enter "Safe Mode with Networking" by pressing 'F8' just before Windows began to boot.

Safe mode can prove to be a very handy tool to battle spyware and viruses because the operating system only boots the necesary processes required for the OS to function. This is important because if a computer is infected with spyware or viruses, there is a good chance that the infection will not "Activate" while in safe mode, leaving it in a dormant state.

While in safe mode I was able to open IE and navigate back to Lavasoft's website with no problems what so ever. I downloaded and installed Ad-Aware Personal SE. I updated it, scanned and it found about 40 critical objects, good start.

Next step was to get Grisoft's AVG Antivirus from their website. Now, the only downfall is that AVG uses windows components to install that are not available in safe mode. So I used safe mode as an avenue to download the software to the desktop. Rebooted, installed, updated, and scanned. Found 5 viruses, it was able to clean them.

Here is what ruffles my feathers! 2 computer "Professionals" both looked at her laptop and said that the hard drive needed to be reformatted and the OS reinstalled. One of the "Professionals" came to his conclusion by installing Microsoft's Beta Antispyware software onto the laptop. He figured that if that software couldn't fix it, then there was nothing he could do. First off, never count on beta software to fix any problems, especially from Microsoft. Lastly, he didn't even attempt to see if it was a virus that was causing her woes.

Total time spent at the keyboard freeing her computer from the grasps of viruses and spyware, approximately 45 minutes. It's "Profesionals" like that, that ruin the reputation of IT Profesionals everywhere. If you "Profesionals" are reading this, please pick a new carreer, I here waste removal is nice this time of year.

Cheers!

--Doc

Update!

Site Update - I added a few advertising links. The ones from google are nice because they are focused on the topic that I am discussing as you may have noticed already. I posted the one from brinkster because I like the picture of the guy rock climbing. Also Brinkster is a great webhosting company, good prices and great tech support. Thats who is hosting this blog as well as 4 other sites I am affiliated with or I own.
Also, I set up a site feed. That means that this site can be viewed through newsreaders that will automatically update the user when a new post has been made. It is a real nice little feature. For more information click this link and then follow the one that says Blogger Help.Doc's Blog Site Feed

Personal Update - I gave my notice at the Library. My last day as webmaster for the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library is April 15th. After that I plan to manage my business full time. This is a huge step and quite a risky one but I feel that I am ready for it. In preparation for my big jump, I am trying to pack my chute as well as possible, by finishing up ITRealm and finish up my business website webICS.net
A few big projects I am currently working on, are a restaraunt website with built in online reservation system, staff management & a meet the staff section, and dinner menu display and management. Another project I am working on is a income property management site for a client. So he can show apartments or commercial listings that he may have available for lease. I am also working on two highly potential projects with the engineers @ Bizingo llc.

Cheers!

--Doc

Getting What You Need @ the Best Price...Free!

Have you ever needed a specific piece of software to open that important file? For many, I am sure that it had something to do with Microsoft Office or Adobe Acrobat? Well, you clicked the right link to find out some FREE alternatives to some of the industry's most expensive software, and I am not talking about software piracy.

One of the biggest problems I face when working with small business owners, is that they need to open Word and Excel documents, but they can not afford to buy Microsoft Office for each machine in the office. This expense can rack up as high as $500 per computer. But there is a solid alternative, it is called OpenOffice.Org and it is developed and distributed by the community. When I say community, I mean a community of programmers that pool together ideas and functionality to a product. In most cases the outcome is an easy to use, very functional, and quite impressive piece of software. With OpenOffice.org, they stood up to those standards.

OpenOffice.org is packed with many features. It allows you to use it as the default program for opening and editing Microsoft Office Documents. OpenOffice gives you the ability to make professional text documents, create highly functional spreadsheets, impressive presentations, and intense 3D drawings. For more information about OpenOffice.Org, please visit their website. Please, if you try it and are satisfied with it, don't hesitate to donate. Every penny helps.

Another problem that many businesses face is creating PDF (Portable Document Files) documents. Because of the free software from Adobe, Adobe Acrobat Reader, PDF documents have become an industry standard for distributing information and forms. Because of the importance of PDF documents, Adobe has created a dominant need and desire for their software, Adobe Acrobat, that allows you to create PDF files. The only catch is that Acrobat costs around $279 for the standard version, but there are alternatives.

One alternative that I have found to be extremely effective is PDFCreator. It installs on your computer as a print driver. What I mean by that, is when you choose to print a document from a program like Microsoft Word, you can select PDFCreator as the printing device. This will then activate the PDFCreator and begin creating your PDF document, which you can then save and use it how you please. The best part about this piece of software is that it is effective and free. For more information, please visit their website.

--Doc

New Technique for Dealing with Spam

Now I know many of you have signed up for a newsletter or two at some point, and before you know it you have 20 spam emails a day entering your vulnerable inbox. Well, any type of newsletter is usually one of those instances where you should feel uneasy about handing out your precious email address.

Newsletter providers, although they can be very helpful, may often sometimes travel down that dishonorable road and sell your information to a greedy spammer. So if you find yourself at a loss because it is a MUST! to have that American Chopper newsletter, here is some help for you.

Many email providers offer options called "Email/Message Filters". These filters act as the "Air Traffic Controller" of your inbox. Yahoo for instance allows you to filter emails from specific places. The beauty of this is you could have your favorite newsletter set up to be forwarded to your non junk email account or a specific folder set up for your newsletters. Then this way you never have to sift through 25 spam emails to get your favorite newsletters.

--Doc

The information gurus at Google Strike again!

Next time you are on "Who wants to be a Millionaire", you can feel at ease, because when it comes time to "phone a friend" you already have a sure thing at your finger tips. Google recently announced a new service available called 'Google SMS'. SMS being the acronym for 'Short Message Service'. Google's new service allows anyone with text messaging capabilities on their cellular phone to get information about anything, quicker than they can type "GOOGL".

This new service has many uses. You can search for the number of your favorite pizzeria parlor on your way home from work to place a pickup order. You can look up the definition of sedition (Conduct or language inciting resistance or rebellion against lawful authority) to settle a dispute from a friendly game of scrabble. Most interestingly you can even use it as a study aid to validate your answers from converting english units such as inches into metric units such as centimeters. For more information on uses and tips for using this new service, please visit the brilliant minds of google @ www.google.com/sms

The most beautiful part about this service is that it costs mere pennies. For instance, I only get charged what it costs to send and receive a text message and with verizon its 10 cents to send a text message and 2 cents to receive.

I give this new service a 5.0 out of 5.0 stars. Congrats to the brains at google, keep up the good work.

--Doc

Upholding the 1st Amendment: Creating a Blog

A 'blog', is short for web log which is a journal or diary that is viewed and stored on the internet. It can serve as a "soap box" for activists, a record of events or news for businesses, or even a gateway for a couple to show off their newborn to friends and family. Virtually a blog can be whatever you deem it to be. The most interesting fact about a blog that many do not realize, is that a regularly maintained blog can be an added source of income. So today we are going to teach you how you can create your own, you will be amazed to find out how simple it really is.

For advanced users, you could create your own blog through website design and server side scripting, which basically is a whole lot of work that I don't even want to do. For the lazy (me!) and the non programmers, we have the very capable and simple to use Blogger.com.

Blogger.com is a product of the legendary Google Corporation. So, now that you know that, I am sure you feel a little bit more comfortable with the idea of having your own blog since Google strives to only release products that are easy to use, effective, and fun. To begin we'll start by navigating to blogger.com, to do this you can click the link above or type www.blogger.com into your address bar above. Next we will click the link that says "Create Your Blog Now". Next step is the account setup; username, password, display name or "pen" name, email address and the acceptance of terms, "Continue". Here we have "Name Your Blog" and this is where we are going to pick a name for the blog and also a web address that the blog can be found at. This is when it begins to be fun, selecting a template. As I am sure you realized, this template is the basis that Blogger.com uses for the look and feel of your blog. You can always change this template at a later date if you are not satisfied. Finally, the horizon is visible, and your blog is created.

From one of my favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes, "Where do we go from here?" Well, I can only think of two good things to do, create your profile and post your first entry into your blog. From the blog creation, blogger.com takes you directly to your first post. Once you complete your first post, you should create your profile.This can be acheived by clicking the link in the upper right that says "Back to Dashboard". From here there is a link on the right hand side that says "Edit Profile", click it and be prepared to be as creative about yourself as possible.

Look at that you have created your very first blog and indirectly created a portal from your brain to the world. Thanks to the engineers from Google, it was easier than asking a girl out on a date for the first time. Till next time, happy blogging.

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Now, if you are looking to make this blog a source of income, there are a few things you have to keep in mind. First off, you have to have an interesting topic to talk about. Second, you have to perfect your writing ability and keep a consistent style. Third, you have to be responsive to your readers and spread the word of your blog to all your friends and family. Finally, you have to ad Google Adsense to your blog. For more information on Google's AdSense, go to your Blogger.com dashboard or directly to the source @ www.google.com.

--Doc

Spam: Don’t let it take over your inbox

For those of you who do not know what I mean when I use the word spam; spam is unsolicited email. Spam has many faces as well. It can be anything from “Lowering your mortgage rates” to sexual stimulants and enhancement drugs. Spam has become a major problem to many computer users. If it hasn’t been a problem to you personally, I am sure you know someone who it has. My mom for instance, has received over 200 spam messages over the course of one weekend. It got so bad that it took her computer anywhere between 15-20 minutes to download her email messages. That’s when I decided to sit her down and teach her a few things about spam.

So the next question to address is, how do spammers get your email address? That’s easy; they get it directly or indirectly from you. Have you ever browsed a website and signed up for a promotional sweepstakes and it asked for an email address. Or have you ever signed up for a “Free” Newsletter. In most cases, those “free” services aren’t really free. There are companies that specialize in gathering user’s information in order to sell it to hungry spammers.

What you can do:
• Have multiple email addresses. In our modern time, it is common for someone to have more than one email address. Not to mention there are so many companies that offer free email addresses (i.e. Yahoo.com, Hotmail.com, Lycos.com and soon Google.com). The reason you want multiple email addresses is simple, you designate one email address for junk mail. The tricky part is how you determine whether or not to give your main email or your junk email address. Give out your main email for:
o Friends & Family(As long as they don’t send annoying forwards)
o Businesses that disclose a privacy statement
o Schools
o Trusted Sites (i.e. Google, MSN.com, ebay.com and so on…)
o Business contacts or business purposes
o Online businesses that carry the BBBOnline logo (http://www.bbbonline.org/)
For all other email requests, give out your junk email address.

• Use email filters. Most email providers provide email filters that you can configure through your options page. For instance if you get harassing email messages from a specific person each time, you can filter out any incoming message with that persons email address in the “From” line. Or you can configure the filter to search the subject line for specific keywords like ‘debt’ or ‘mortgage’.

• If you use Outlook 2003, there are updates available from Microsoft that enable outlook to have spam filtering features. If you don’t have the latest version of outlook, there are many 3rd party programs that offer spam filtering capabilities. Just go to www.download.com, do a search for “spam” and try a few out.

Utilizing these tips will greatly reduce your chances of receiving spam, if not eliminate them all together. But just remember this; they can’t spam you, if you don’t give them your email address.


-- Doc

Windows XP Tweak: Speed up Disk Cleanup

Have you ever noticed how running disk cleanup has become a time consuming process? The reason for this is that the disk cleanup utility has to scan your entire system in search of old files that you may wish to compress. In my opinion, you should not compress any files on your system for one reason, if you ever need those files in the future, it can take twice as long to read them. Ultimately succeding in slowing down your computer.

So in this edition of "Windows XP Tweaks" we are going to teach you how to disable "Compress old files" in Disk Cleanup. In order to perform this tweak we have to edit your systems registry. As always I suggest that all users backup their registry before making any changes to it. For more information on your system registry and backing it up, please visit The System Registry.

• Step 1: Click the "Start" menu and then click "Run...".
• Step 2: In the text box type "regedit" and press "OK".

• Step 3: In the left frame of the window that appears is a "file" tree. We need to navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\Volume Caches
  To do this we are going to click the "plus" sign next to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", then the "plus" sign next to "SOFTWARE", and etc... till we reach "Volume Caches".

• Step 4: In the left frame we are going to right click on the entry under "Volume Caches" named "Compress Old Files" and select "Delete".
• Step 5: Reboot the computer and run Disk Cleanup.

Till next time, Ciao.

--Doc