Tech Tip Friday

11/4/2011-Videos buffer and pause for 10-15 seconds. Is it supposed to do that?; eHow.com; PowerUp Electric Power Module for Paper Airplanes; Iris; "Alpha"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:22:30 -0600

Episode 180:
Question: Connie asks, "When I try to play a video (such as on YouTube) it buffers and pauses for 10-15 seconds. How do I fix this?"

Answer: Good question, Connie. Video requires faster Internet speed than audio. The higher the video quality, the greater the speed required. If your computer downloads video faster than the video plays, you won't experience any buffering except maybe at the start. On the other hand if the video plays faster than it can be downloaded, you'll get periods of buffering while your computer downloads more video. So...

What's happening is that the videos you're watching on YouTube require more speed than you have available, or (if the buffering happens at the start of the video) it's compensating in advance. If it's buffering at the start only, there's nothing to fix; in fact that kind of behavior is desirable. On the other hand, if a 5-minute clip is punctuated by randomly spaced 10-20 second pauses, then you can avoid them one of two ways: 1) faster Internet (that one can always work), 2) buffer half or more of the video manually. You can do this by clicking Play, then before the video starts to play, click Pause. This doesn't work all the time, but if it's going to, you'll see a timeline growing next to the play button. When it gets beyond halfway, click Play and you should usually be able to watch anything all the way through. In the illustration I've provided, the red line denotes what has already played, the circle shows where we are right now, the light gray segment shows how much of the total video has been buffered, and the darker gray at the far right hasn't been downloaded yet. Notice also that a triangular play button is visible, rather than a pause button.

Cool Site: eHow.com: This week's site is one we've seen a couple of times as part of our answer, but it hasn’t had its own spot yet. eHow.com is a website where users can learn how to do things. Things you can learn about cover a number of topics like food, home projects, money, family, style, and way more. Just today, the site featured a video of how to make apple cider donuts which really sound great, by the way, an article about putting old wood to good use, and planning family meals, which might be great for newlyweds. You can find articles on Arts and Crafts, and I even found a whole section on making paper airplanes. The site is free to use; I didn't see anything that wasn't family-friendly, and doesn't even require a login, but is ad-supported, so be prepared for that.

Cool Gadget: PowerUp Electric Power Module for Paper Airplanes: This week's gadget is going to be Zak-approved. I mentioned paper airplanes a bit ago, and he's kind of gotten into making them, and this week's gadget again from Vat19 is called the PowerUp Electric Power Module for Paper Airplanes. It uses 3 AA batteries which you put in a charger. You make the paper airplane and then attach the PowerUp to the front so that its propeller sticks out the back of the plane. Then plug the charger into the PowerUp. The propeller will immediately start to spin and in a few seconds when it gets up to speed, you unplug it and your airplane will take to the skies under its own power. The PowerUp is very light, with a propeller shaft made of carbon fiber and will accommodate most any plane up to 8-inches long. One charge can last as long as 2 minutes, but because there's no steering, they warn that you'll need a large area. It runs $20, which is a bit pricey, but hey, you're bonding with your kids, or at least your inner child.

Cool App: Iris: The new Apple iPhone has a very cool voice recognition feature called Siri. Well, Android users, rejoice, because there's a free app called Iris that will let you do what your iPhone-toting brethren have been doing lately. If you didn't notice, and I didn't until I saw them both written side-by-side, Iris is Siri backwards. Iris lets you ask your Android phone anything you want. It will then speak to you and give you an answer. The app's speech recognition is still a bit rough so be sure to speak clearly and with a small space between each word for best results. You'll have to install Voice Search and TTS Library, but according to the Android Market, most phones have these preinstalled. Skip the video review, though - trust me on this one. In addition to general answers, you can use Iris to make calls, text your friends which may be handy while driving, surf the web, look up contacts, and more.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Alpha: Today, Geek is Greek. This week's cool app, Iris, is what they call alpha software. That means that the software developer has only just begun testing it. In something programmers call the Software Development Lifecycle, alpha means that the programmers have tested it on their equipment and are making the program available to more people so that it can be tested more widely. It's kind of like when you look at a problem the same way over and over and you can't find the answer. Someone else comes up behind you and sees it immediately. It's the same with programmers. They try to anticipate what people will do accidentally and handle it but can't anticipate everything, so Alpha is the first round of this wider testing. Beta is the second. So, please understand, that if you use software that's classified as Alpha, it will probably have bugs, and need to be updated frequently.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Take Five Tech Tip Friday on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/techtipfriday

Watch our latest show on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tech-tip-friday

Today’s show on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18474176

eHow.com:
http://www.ehow.com

PowerUp at Vat19:
http://www.vat19.com/dvds/powerup-electric-power-module-paper-airplanes.cfm

Iris:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dexetra.iris

Software Release Life Cycle (includes Alpha) at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle

10/28/2011- My computer keeps turning off on its own. Why?; Livescience.com; Pick Punch; ActionWorks; "OLE"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:22:15 -0600

Episode 179:
Question: Justin says, "My computer keeps turning off on its own. Is that a Windows or a hardware problem?"

Answer: Good question, Justin. This can be either one because if Windows bluescreens, your computer will automatically reboot and this looks like the power glitched. So, to figure it out, what we need to do is to isolate the hardware from Windows. Turn your computer off and unplug it. Then push the power button to drain the power from the system. Then plug it back in and turn it on and go into the system setup. This is usually done with the F2 key for instance; but which key to hit should be on the screen. When you get in there, that's hardware only. Let it sit for an hour or two to see if it restarts. If it does, then it's a hardware problem. If not, restart your computer in safe mode. Turn it on, then press the F8 key repeatedly until you get a menu from which you can choose safe mode. Start in safe mode and then just let it sit again. If it doesn't crash, then it's a Windows problem.

Cool Site: LiveScience.com: This week our cool site will help increase your knowledge of science. LiveScience.com is a really cool website with current news on space (my favorite), animals, technology, health (and since they cover all health related topics, there may be articles there about things you haven't covered yet with your kids), environment, culture, and history. For instance, I learned that between 2008 and 2009, Emergency Room visits increased 10%; that 85% of ER patients had some form of health insurance, and that 8% of those visits weren't urgent. I also learned that you can spot a psychopath by his speech patterns. The site has a search box and you can sign in with any number of social networks, but I didn't find anything special that was different if you did. If you need to know whatever's current about a scientific topic, check here.

Cool Gadget: Pick Punch: My son plays guitar and sometimes, he can't find a pick. This week's gadget lets you make picks out of just about anything. It's again from Vat19, and is a guitar pick punch. This gadget works just like a hole punch does on paper, but it punches out the shape and size of a guitar pick. It's sharp enough to punch picks out of old credit cards (a good recycling), plastic drink lids, although I'm not sure how good the resulting pick might be, any thin plastic items. This bad boy will set you back about $25.00. Yes, you'll have to punch a bunch of picks to make your money back, but the nice thing is that each pick you punch will be unique.

Cool App: ActionWorks: You know, one of the things I have to do each week is put my phone on silent while I'm at church. Then I have to turn the ringer back on so that I can hear when I get a call. But I can't count the number of times that Monday came and my phone was still on silent. This week's app can take care of this. It's called ActionWorks and it's for Android. What it does is let you define conditions like time, location, or starting another application. You can then define a series of actions that will happen based on those conditions. The example given at the Android Marketplace is this one: Conditions: App launched - PDF Viewer; Time - 7 p.m. to 11 p.m; Location - Home Actions: Display brightness to max, go into silent mode, set screen timeout to 10 minutes, block all incoming calls, display the reminder "Wear your glasses." So, if you're at home, it's 7 p.m., and you launch the PDF viewer, all these Actions will automatically occur. Once you close the PDF viewer, leave home, or the time is past 11 p.m., all your normal settings will be restored. With this app, you can set up your android phone to automatically go silent when you go to church on Sunday and/or Wednesday and then sometime later return to normal. The only real limit to what you can do with this is your imagination. The free version has a 7-day trial of the full version after which it reverts to the free version's limited feature set. The full version runs about $5.

It's All "Geek" To Me: OLE: This week we have a term that you might hear at a bullfight; OLE. This is a Microsoft technology that stands for Object Linking and Embedding. It was originally designed to let you create compound documents, so that for instance you could put pictures into a Word document or Charts in a PowerPoint presentation, or cut or copy really any kind of data and paste it into another program's data. It was the forerunner behind something called the Component Object Model, and it became the foundation behind their ActiveX technology.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Take Five Tech Tip Friday on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/techtipfriday

Watch live on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tech-tip-friday

Today’s show on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18385008

LiveScience.com:
http://www.livescience.com

Pick Punch at Vat19:
http://www.vat19.com/dvds/pick-punch-make-your-own-guitar-picks.cfm

ActionWorks:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.sigmacel.actionsworksfree

Ole at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/ole

10/21/2011-What does 'Remote Access Service Error 602' mean?; Khanacademy.org; USB Drink Warmer; Acceleread; "Handle"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:22:05 -0600

Episode 178:
Question: JC asks, "What does Remote Access Service error 602 mean?"

Answer: Good question, JC. This is an indication that some other program has taken control of your modem and is preventing Windows from talking to it properly. My first inclination is to restart your computer and try again. If that doesn't help, you can try exiting out of every program you can find, even looking in the system tray down by the clock. If you can't find it, try starting your computer in safe mode with networking and see if you can connect to the Internet. Another thing to try is to shut down your computer, unplug the power cord, push the power button like you're going to turn it on, then plug it back in and turn it on. That will drain the computer of power completely and reset all the electronic components. If none of those work, your modem might be out.

Cool Site: Khanacademy.org: This week's site sounds like it belongs on Star Trek. But KhanAcademy is a website where you can learn just about anything. For Free no less. Their library of more than 2600 videos covers everything from math to physics, finance, and history. They have over 200 practice exercises to help you learn what you want, when you want, and at your own pace. For instance, their algebra section covers everything from basic algebra through algebra II. They have sections on Art History, Banking, Biology, and Calculus. The History section is a bit slim, but not bad. For college-bound folks, there's an extensive section on SAT Preparation. If it's math and science-related, it's probably there. This site's great for our homeschoolers, but really for anyone that's having trouble in school. It's cheaper than a tutor.

Cool Gadget: USB Drink Warmer: This week, our cool gadget comes from Vat19.com. I don't know about you, but I like to have a cup of coffee while I work, especially in the early morning. Now I've seen drink warmers that run off everything from electricity to batteries, but I've never seen one that ran off USB before. That makes sense for this one, though, because it's also a 4-port USB hub with a backlit LCD Alarm Clock. Not only that, but it includes a thermometer to tell you the temperature of the warmer pad in either Fahrenheit or Celsius. It runs about $17.00. Like most USB Hubs, this one has a place to plug in an AC adapter, but it doesn't have one. For that, you'll have to make a run to Radio Shack.

Cool App: Acceleread: This week's cool app is for the iPad. It's called acceleread and bills itself as "The best way to turbocharge your reading." Acceleread is intended to help you become a better, faster reader. According to the site, most people only read at 1/3 their potential speed because we stopped learning how to read in the 6th grade. This app is intended to help you learn techniques to make your reading more effective, to unlearn old habits that hold you back, to absorb more words at once, with better understanding and retention of the material. It helps you curb any unintended mind-wandering and how to dynamically adjust your reading speed to match the material. You can test your reading speed after going through the exercises to see how much difference it has made. The app costs $7.99, in contrast to speed reading classes that might cost much more. It's only for iPad, though.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Handle: This week, our term is almost a throwback. Back in the 70's when CB radios were popular, users would talk and be identified by a name they made up instead of their real one. That name was called a handle. Well, the term got carried over into the online world. Any name you go by online other than your own is called a handle. So, if I’m known online as baconsuit, then that's my handle.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Take Five Tech Tip Friday on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/techtipfriday

Watch on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tech-tip-friday

Today’s show on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18223868

KhanAcademy.org:
http://www.khanacademy.org

USB Drink Warmer at Vat19:
http://www.vat19.com/dvds/usb-drink-warmer-4-port-hub.cfm

Acceleread:
http://www.acceleread.com/

Handle at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/handle

10/14/2011-Network card for Windows 98?; BeAGuide.About.com; ManyCam; MrNumber; "Hexadecimal"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 5 Nov 2011 15:28:06 -0500

Episode 177:
Question: Jim asks, "Do you have a network card for Windows 98?"

Answer: Good question, Jim. Yes, I have one. There are some challenges, though. The primary challenge is in finding drivers for Windows 98. Look, if your computer works, and does what you want, keep it, and keep it running. I have a computer at home that started its life running Windows 98. The motherboard is so old it doesn't even have a built-in network adapter. We just retired a computer at our church that is still running Windows 98. It was retired because we got an opportunity to upgrade to one running Windows XP, not because there was anything wrong with it. But the big problem is finding drivers, because for instance, floppy drives have largely gone away and have been replaced with USB flash drives. Windows 98 drivers don't often exist for these devices, and Windows ME was the first version to support them natively. So, just be aware you're going to run into problems finding device drivers. If you do find them, make sure you save them on a CD somewhere so that if your hard drive dies, you'll have them. I recommend that procedure for everyone, even if you don't have an older system, because at some point, your computer will be old.

Cool Site: BeAGuide.About.com: The past few weeks we've featured websites that help you make some extra money. This week we're continuing the theme with about.com. Who hasn't done a Google search and had one or more results come up from about.com? That only happens because people write for the site. If you're particularly knowledgeable about a topic, then go to beaguide.about.com and get set up as a guide. Then, you can begin to write articles and about.com will pay you for them. According to our source for this, makeuseof, you can make $500-$8500 per month based on your performance. Not only are they looking for writers, but they are looking for videographers as well. The process for becoming a writer for the site is an application process wherein you submit an online application to be a guide on a particular topic. They want people who are experts in the topics they need articles for. As a guide you work online and set your own flexible schedule. There's a two-part online orientation and evaluation program that potential guides go through. The site's staff is available to help you get story ideas, build an audience, and improve the reader's experience while reading your articles. You'll need 10-15 hours per week to devote to writing if you get selected.

Cool Gadget: ManyCam: This week's gadget is a software gadget - and it's free. ManyCam works with your webcam to let you do some really fun and interesting things. I'll have an example when I post the video for today's show. One of the things you can do with the program is to share your webcam with multiple applications simultaneously, which you normally can't do. You can add text to the video window, you can add animations to your window; and the greatest thing… You can add graphics to your image. You can do green-screen type effects (without a green-screen), you can don a pair of sunglasses, or googley eyes, or a hat, even a whole new 3D head on the image of your face in the camera. You can even make it look like it's snowing. I almost forgot, you can also draw on the video. New effects can be downloaded from their website or you can create your own. You can even broadcast videos, pictures, or a playlist instead of your webcam image.

Cool App: MrNumber: This week's app is for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. It's similar to last week's app, in that you can make sure that callers are aware when it's OK to call you and when you're busy. But this goes further and lets you block unwanted calls from telemarketers, stalkers, anyone. You can blacklist numbers that you never want to get calls or texts from. A log tells what was blocked and why. There's a reverse phone number lookup feature that works differently on the different platforms. On Android and Blackberry, you can have that feature for free if you choose to share your contact list with Mr. Number. If not, it's $1.99/month. If you have an iPhone, you pay $0.99 for every 20 reverse lookups, but there's no sharing option.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Hexadecimal: Today's term is hexadecimal. This is a term you are definitely familiar with if you've ever done much programming, or web design, or anything like that. Hexadecimal is a numbering system like binary or decimal. Decimal is what we use all the time. In the decimal number 123, the 3 is the one's digit, the 2 is the ten's digit, and the 1 is the hundred's digit. Each of those digits is ten times larger than the one to its right. Binary and hexadecimal work the same way. With Binary, each digit is only two times the size of the one to its right, so you'll have a one's digit, a two's digit to its left, then a four's digit, etc. With Hexadecimal, each digit is 16 times as large as the one on its right. So you'll start with a one's digit, then a sixteen's digit, and so on. Now, with hexadecimal, we run out of number characters at 9, but still need 6 more single-digit characters, so they use the letters A-F to represent the numbers ten through fifteen in a single character.

Links

Tech Tip Friday’s Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Watch live on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tech-tip-friday

Today’s show on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18009363

Be A Guide on About.com:
http://beaguide.about.com

ManyCam:
http://www.manycam.com/

MrNumber:
http://mrnumber.com

Review of Mr. Number on PC Magazine:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383797,00.asp#fbid=Z2enwwq-Q0e

Hexadecimal at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/hexadecimal

Hexadecimal Tutorial:
http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/binary/bin_3.html

10/7/2011-What is 'the cloud'?; Voice 123, LightWedge Book Light; Sleep Ringer, "File Association"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 5 Nov 2011 15:22:44 -0500

Episode 176:
Question: Hugh asks, "Just what is 'the cloud'?"

Answer: Good question, Hugh. Generally, the cloud refers to any computing service that is delivered over the Internet whether that's email, backup, or whatever it is. The reason why it's called cloud is that in block diagrams of network systems, the Internet is represented by an image of a cloud because it's something you as a network owner have no control over.

Cool Site: Voice 123: This week, we're continuing the theme of websites where folks can make an extra buck or two. If you have ever been told you have a good voice for radio, then check out voice123.com. This is a website for voice talent and people looking for voice talent. You go to the website and set up an account. Then, you record some demo material and post it. Companies looking for voice talent to for instance, be the voice of their voicemail system, or narrate a presentation, or whatever else, can then come to the site to locate you. They can find you by information in your profile including which type of voice or voices you can do, any special characteristics, and other things. So if you have a radiogenic voice, and you want to try to make some spare money, give it a try. As talent, setting up your account is free and just takes a bit of time.

Update: This site has two levels of membership for voice talent: Standard and Premium. Premium membership costs you, the potential voice talent, $295/year. It almost guarantees you work, though, because you get info on different projects all the time. Standard membership is free, but you can only audition if invited by the voice seeker, so you won't get much work that way.

Cool Gadget: LightWedge Book Light: This week's cool gadget is also from vat19.com. My son, Daine told me about this site and said that I'd be able to find gadgets for a long time to come. So far, he's been right. This week's cool gadget is the Lightwedge Book Light. It's a book light, like it says.

Eddie: What's so cool about that? There are all kinds of book lights.

David: True enough, but most book lights suffer from spillover. The glow of the light can be seen all over the room, or airplane, or wherever. The Lightwedge Book Light is designed to specifically light up only the pages of your book. It comes in two sizes: one for paperback books, the other for hardbacks. The reason for two sizes is in the way the Lightwedge confines its light to the page. It does that by directing the light into a page-sized acrylic plate. You lay that plate over the left-hand page and it spills just enough light over onto the right-hand page to make it readable. Of course, you read the left page through the acrylic plate.

Cool App: Sleep Ringer: This week's cool app is for Android and Blackberry phones. Sometimes when you have your phone on silent, you get a call you really need to answer anyway. This week's app, Sleep Ringer, is a $2 app that lets you make a list of contacts whose calls and/or text messages will always ring through, even when your phone is on silent. That way if you're out at the movies and leaving the kids home alone for the first time, you can put the phone on silent but if there's a problem and the kids call, your phone will ring anyway. Because you might disturb people, you'll probably want to keep your list empty except when needed, but when it is needed, it sounds like a good thing to have. Again, it's called Sleep Ringer, and it's for Android and Blackberry.

It's All "Geek" To Me: File Association: This week, our all Geek to me term is File Association. It refers to the mechanism used by Windows and the Mac to know what program to run when you try to, say, open a word processing document. The File Association mechanism assigns a default program to each type of file to establish a relationship. This relationship is used to know not only what program to run, but what icon to display for the file as well. Sometimes malware breaks file associations to embed itself into your system.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Watch live on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tech-tip-friday

Today's show on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17872471

Voice123:
http://voice123.com

Download Audacity Here:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Also download Audacity using Ninite:
http://www.ninite.com

LightWedge Book Light:
http://www.vat19.com/dvds/lightwedge-led-book-light.cfm

Sleep Ringer at MakeUseOf:
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/sleep-ringer-calls-selected-contacts-ring-phone-silent-android-blackberry/

Sleep Ringer:
http://www.sleepringer.com/

File Association at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/file_association

9/30/2011-What does instant (beta) mean?; DifferenceBetween.net; TelePen Telescoping Pen; KeepRecipes; "Backbone"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 5 Nov 2011 15:18:40 -0500

Episode 175:
Question: Eddie asks, "On Google.com, what does instant(beta) mean?"

Answer: Good question. In general, whenever you see the term Beta, it means that the program or feature you're using is still in development and not quite ready. The "Instant" refers to that feature of Google's search box that attempts to predict what you might be searching for as you type and instantly and automatically provide search results matching your entry.

Cool Site: DifferenceBetween.net: Ever wonder what the difference between rugby and football is? What about the difference between cricket and baseball? This week's cool site is differencebetween.net and it has the difference between what looks like hundreds of things that are similar, like till and until, further and farther, and many more. The articles are listed under the broad categories of Technology, Objects, Science, Language, Business, or Miscellaneous, where "sports" is located. There's a search box if you want to use it, but I just like browsing. The site is free to use, and if you like to write, they're soliciting writers to write for them. The articles are anonymously authored, however and as such may not be useful if you're looking for material for a research paper.

Cool Gadget: TelePen Telescoping Pen: From Vat19 comes our cool gadget this week. Seems like when I need to write something I have either a pen or paper, but not both at the same time. Well for a mere $8 plus shipping you can get the Telepen. It's a pen that telescopes from 2” to just over 4.5”. It comes with 3 refills which is great, and so that you don't lose it, it's attached to a keyring. Don't worry about how many keys you've got on there, because you can pull the pen out completely. Just put it back when you're done, then back in your pocket it goes. Now if I could only find some paper.

Cool App: KeepRecipes: We save and share recipes all the time, but it's sometimes tough to share paper recipes with far-flung friends and family. Enter this week's cool app: KeepRecipes. KeepRecipes is an app for iOS devices that lets you find, share, and save your recipes right from your iPhone. You have to set up an account at their website, then you can download the app and start saving and sharing recipes you hear about on TV or the various food websites like AllRecipes, Blogher, Epicurious, and others. If you've bought a digital cookbook (I didn't know there was such a thing), you can load its recipes right in and not have to enter each one manually into the app. You can add pictures of your culinary creations, and browse by such attributes as ingredients, type of diet, style of preparation, and so on. That way, if you're trying to see what you can make from what you have on hand, you can.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Backbone: We've got an anatomical-sounding term this week. It's backbone. Well, in addition to the one you know about, the kind of backbone I'm talking about here refers to a high speed network connection usually made of fiber-optic cable that connects the major sections of the Internet together. It might also be a dedicated, leased phone line that connects two or more offices of a company.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Take Five Tech Tip Friday on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/techtipfriday

Watch on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tech-tip-friday

Today’s show on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17675130

DifferenceBetween:
http://www.differencebetween.net

TelePen Telescoping Pen:
http://www.vat19.com/dvds/telepen-telescoping-keychain-pen.cfm

Keep Recipes at MakeUseOf:
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/keeprecipes-capture-clip-recipes-websites

Keep Recipes:
http://keeprecipes.com

Backbone at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/backbone

9/23/2011-AOL thinks I'm in the UK, but I'm in Texas; VehicleFixer.com; Reefcase; Multiply7; "Install"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 5 Nov 2011 15:17:33 -0500

Episode 174:
Question: Johnny asks, "For some reason, even though I live here in Texas, the AOL software thinks I live in Wales in the UK. How do I fix this?"

Answer: Good question, Johnny. Now, I don't have just a great deal of experience with the AOL software. You might try your favorite search engine, or help.aol.com, to see if they have what you need. If you can't find anything else and you have your CD or a downloaded installation file, just try uninstalling and reinstalling AOL. This might reset it. Now, we went around and around with this for about an hour and then finally after an uninstall and reinstall, Johnny's back in the USA.

Cool Site: VehicleFixer.com: Everyone's trying to save money nowadays, I know I am. And this makes online learning sites just that much more in demand, especially when the site offers practical information. This week, our site of the week is vehiclefixer.com. This site has videos that teach you how to do all kinds of maintenance tasks on your car. Its subtitle is "Find your inner mechanic". The site includes a search box that you can use to find your car or problem. I did a search for Chrysler and found out how to remove and replace the door panel on the PT Cruiser. Each page has a section called "Ask a Mechanic Online", which is powered by Just Answer, where you can enter a question that will be answered by a real auto mechanic. I'm not sure how they select the mechanics, so you may want a second opinion, but at least it's a start. The videos on the site are culled from YouTube videos about auto repair, but YouTube has so many videos, it's good to have a site that aggregates them.

Cool Gadget: Reefcase: I saw this one on TV this morning and I haven't been able to find out much more than the commercial says about it, but this week's cool gadget is called the Reefcase. It's a waterproof phone case for your smartphone. The nice thing about it is that the reefcase still allows you to use your phone even though it is completely enclosed and sealed inside. This case is basically a plastic frame with silicone membranes on the front and back. The silicone is strong and flexible enough that you can still use your phone and not type two characters when you only mean to hit one. The bright yellow case comes with a lanyard and safety float so that if you should drop it in the water, you still won't lose your phone. It looks like a great idea for boat owners, in particular. We'll have in the show notes a link where you can get one. They run about $20, but if it saves one $150 or more smartphone, it just might be worth it.

Cool App: Multiply7: This week, our Cool App is an educational game. It's called Multiply 7 and is for Windows Phone 7. This app shows multiplication problems falling like bombs. It's up to the player to type in the right answer to destroy the bomb before it destroys you. You get a reward (a Tarzan yell) after every 10 correct answers. It's a freebie, but because it's not a US-based developer, the grammar may be a bit weird.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Install: This week's term is all about new software. Back in the DOS days, you could just copy files from a floppy to your hard drive and use the program. And one class of software, portable software, still works that way. But normally, with Windows and all modern operating systems, you can't use software until it has been installed and that is our term for today: Install. To install software means to run a program whose name is typically setup, that puts all the application's files in all the right places; it sets up all the right permissions so that appropriate users can access the application; and then it places shortcuts to the program in places like the Start Menu and Desktop.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Take Five Tech Tip Friday on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/techtipfriday

Watch on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tech-tip-friday

Today’s show on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17517968

AOL Help:
http://help.aol.com

VehicleFixer.com:
http://vehiclefixer.com/

Reefcase:
https://www.buyreefcase.com/

Multiply7:
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/wp7/download-multiply7.html

Install at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/install

9/16/2011-I opened an email and now this program wants money to fix problems?; ConstitutionDay.cc; Electronic Boggle; Breezy; "System Requirements"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 5 Nov 2011 15:10:52 -0500

Episode 173:
Question: Gayle asks, "I opened an email from an employee who was out yesterday and now I've got a program telling me I've got a bunch of errors and it wants $60 to fix it. What happened?"

Answer: Good question, Gayle. We have here a rarity. First off, no legitimate anti-malware or system cleanup type utility will ever just pop up automatically, tell you that your computer's about to blow up or something, and then demand money to fix the problem. This is yet another example of the social engineering that goes into malware attacks. They used an address that was enough like one you recognized to trick you into opening it. Even savvy users can be tricked by that one, but the thing that makes this one rare is that it's being spread via email. That's rare nowadays. What we'll need to do is run MalwareBytes and SuperAntispyware to clean it off. Go to DAConsult.com, click on Antimalware Toolkit, then scroll down and get the programs found there, run their scans and let them remove whatever they want to. Once that's done, you'll want to update your regular antivirus software and run a full scan to be sure.

Cool Site: ConstitutionDay.cc: Well, tomorrow is officially Constitution Day which commemorates the birth of our government. Many schools will be teaching about the Constitution today and this site is one that can help. Most of the links on Constitution Day.cc point back to a former cool site of the week. But you'll find activities and lesson plans geared toward upgrading your students' awareness of the Constitution. There's a poster contest, there's a "What's your Constitution IQ" interactive quiz. There's a link to a Real or Fake quiz, a link where you can get free Pocket Constitutions, and there's a free Constitution iPhone app link or you can just go to the apple app store. It's called "The U.S. Constitution & Fascinating Facts About It".

Cool Gadget: Electronic Boggle: Remember the game of Boggle? Well, it's been re-released in a new travel-friendly form that earns it our cool gadget of the week. Gone is the hourglass timer, replaced by an LED that counts three minutes as Green, then Amber, then Red, and a beeper that sounds the end of the three minutes. The letter dice are still there, but now you needn't worry about losing them. Simply give the game a half-twist and it expands for shaking the dice. Twist it back and the dice form up into the familiar 4x4 Boggle square and the timer starts. The game is completely self-contained. It can fall, get bumped, whatever, and you needn't worry that it'll become scrambled differently, or that you'll ever have to contend with lost dice.

Cool App: Breezy: Folks love smartphones but most suffer from a lack of printing capabilities. When you want to print, you have to transfer files to your computer and then print them. This week's cool app, called Breezy, addresses that issue and is available for Blackberry, iOS devices, and soon for Android. Now, because this app is available for multiple platforms, the show notes will only link to the website. But you're going to need the website because Breezy works with your computer and printer. You download the Breezy Connector, and it connects your printer to Breezy's servers. When you need to print files, Breezy takes over and sends the file to your computer, where it gets printed. If you're not near your computer, then Breezy has a Partner Network of businesses that will let you print on their printers. Free printing plans are available, with limited file types and watermarks on your documents, or $2.99/month for expanded file types and no watermarks.

It's All "Geek" To Me: System Requirements: This week, we're talking about System Requirements. This is a term that refers to what you need to have in your computer to successfully use whatever you're looking at purchasing. Software always has a section in its description, or on the box that lists what version of Windows you need, how much disk space should be available, how much memory you need to have, etc. in order to use that program successfully. The article we'll have linked in the show notes lists several good things in addition to those you should know or give to friends before going shopping.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Take Five Tech Tip Friday on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/techtipfriday

Watch live on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tech-tip-friday

Today’s show on UStream:
The audio for this show was terrible. I’ll sync the audio show to this video and post it at a later date.

Constitution Day:
http://www.constitutionday.cc/

Electronic Boggle at BoingBoing Gadgets:
http://boingboing.net/2011/09/11/new-boggle-travel-friendly-all-in-one-game.html

Boggle in our Bookstore:
http://astore.amazon.com/davidandersoncon/detail/B001MV7DQA

Breezy:
https://www.breezy.com/

Breezy at MakeUseOf:
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/breezy-print-documents-smartphone/

System Requirements at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/systemrequirements

9/2/11-How do I get malware, anyway?; List Brew; Cell Drive; Photo Safety+; "Splash Screen"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 5 Nov 2011 15:06:14 -0500

Episode 172:
Question: Many people ask, "How does malware get on my computer in the first place?"

Answer: Good question. In fact, I get this question from just about everyone that ever gets a malware infection. Ed Bott has an article on this that reminded me of this question, which is why it was chosen for this week. We'll have a link in the show notes to it so that you can read the whole thing. The reality is that both Windows and Macs are vulnerable to malicious software. Linux will also not be immune, either. My expectation is that the first Linux malware will appear on the Android platform because of its current commercial success. So with that in mind, please understand that you the user usually install the malware, or its enabler by virtue of social engineering ploys. Bruce Hughes of AVG Technologies said, "users are four times more likely to come into contact with social engineering tactics as opposed to a site serving up an exploit." In fact, the article goes on to say that of the top 10 threats only one exploited a Windows flaw, and that flaw had been patched in 2008. The rest were installed as a result of user activity prompted by social engineering, in other words, tricking users in one way or another into installing the malware. You might say that Satan used social engineering ploys to get Eve to eat the forbidden fruit - it's the same kind of idea.

Cool Site: List Brew: This week's cool site is called Listbrew. The site exists to let you make lists to help you get and stay organized. What the lists are for are entirely up to you and depend on what you want to organize. Maybe you need to make a grocery list, or a list of things you need to do. To use the site, you have to create an account. That's necessary because your lists are stored on listbrew's servers. Once you log in, the site has basically three areas. The main area looks like a notepad and is where you enter your lists. A box to the upper left of the notepad is called My Lists and gives you a place to see your lists on the notepad, where you can edit them as necessary. There's a red X you can click once a given list is no longer required that lets you delete it. New lists are created by clicking the New List button underneath that window. Below that you'll find a My Account box that lets you choose settings like font style and background color. It also lets you change your account information like changing your password, or view and change other information related to your account. Now, you may be wondering why you'd use something like this rather than say, a piece of paper. Well, because how many times have you written a list or note down, only to lose the piece of paper?

Cool Gadget: Cell Drive : Well, we love our gadgets. The problem is that they all have batteries that need to be charged, and we've talked about several different kinds of charging technologies in the past. Today's cool gadget of the week is the CellDrive; so named because it's a 4 or 8GB USB flash drive with a battery built in. While the cell drive is plugged in, the battery is charging so that when you need that little bit more talk time on your phone, you can plug the CellDrive in and get it. It's got adapters for several different phones, and it can even be used like a really short cable to sync your phone up to your computer. The 4GB version runs about $50 and the 8GB $60. Not chump change, but for what you get, it's worth it. Eddie has a USB-based charger for rechargeable AA batteries.

Cool App: Photo Safety+: For this week, we've got something called Safety Photo Plus. You use it to keep your iPhone photos private. We've got lots of photos on our iOS devices, and you may have pictures you don't want people to see, such as product prototypes. With this app you can put those photos in albums that you can put inside what looks like a combination lock. It looks like a safe, where you enter your combination, which is four digits, and then you can move your photos into these protected folders. If your grandchildren accidentally delete your pictures, or if you lose your phone or it's stolen, you don't want the person who has stolen it to necessarily have pictures of your family, your house, or your car's license plate, or just whatever. This will keep those pictures safe. It's one more password to remember, but what else is new?

It's All "Geek" To Me: Splash Screen: This week's term is Splash Screen. It's sometimes also known as a loading screen, because it appears when an application is loading. That animated screen you see when you boot your computer right after your manufacturer's logo goes away is an example of a splash screen. Often, splash screens show the title of the application you're loading. So the next time you start a program and you see a logo of some kind first, now you'll know what that's called.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Watch live on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tech-tip-friday

Today’s show on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16754699

Ed Bott on ZDNet: How does malware get on PCs and Macs?:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/trojans-viruses-worms-how-does-malware-get-on-pcs-and-macs/3491

Listbrew at MakeUseOf:
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/listbrew-create-multiple-list/

Listbrew - Online List Manager and Notepad:
http://www.listbrew.com

Safety Photo + at the iTunes Store:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/safety-photo/id456637671?mt=8

CellDrive USB Flash Drive & Gadget Charger:
http://www.usbcelldrive.com/products/cell-drive-mobile-charger-flash-drive/

Splash Screen at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splash_screen

8/28/2011-What does 'no dial tone' mean?; freemusicarchive.org; LiveScribe SmartPen; Do It Tomorrow; "Social Media"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 5 Nov 2011 14:49:02 -0500

Episode 171:
Question: Margie asks, "I'm trying to connect to my dial-up Internet account and the computer says 'No dial tone'. What can I do?"

Answer: Good question, Margie. Most often, this error message means that your modem has gone out. First make sure your phone line actually works, then try this: shut your computer down, then unplug it. Without plugging it back in, push the power button. That drains all the electricity out of the system. Plug it in, turn it on, and try again. If nothing changes, try swapping the cord between the modem and the wall socket, you don't have to power down for that. If neither of those works, then your modem has gone out and needs to be replaced. A standard desktop modem runs $20-$30 plus tax and any applicable installation fee. That ought to get you going again.

Cool Site: FreeMusicArchive: Do you ever have a need for royalty-free music? If you do, then you need this week's site; free music archive dot org. This site has dozens or even hundreds of royalty-free MP3 files that you can use however you want. If you're looking to compile a music-on-hold mix; maybe you're creating a podcast and need some podsafe music; maybe you're doing civic theater and need just the right musical cue; or maybe you just like to sample the music of otherwise unknown bands. Each song has a play button and you can listen to as much or as little as you like. You can search or browse their music by genre, join in their forum to talk about the music you've found, or you can browse by curator. Different organizations contribute to the archive and add their own music for searching. These organizations are called curators by the site and include for instance, Creative Commons, which means that music licensed that way should be available. Once you've found something you like, just click the download button to download an MP3 of the song for free. Because this is an ORG, they subsist on donations and so, have a donation page. They have Facebook and Twitter accounts to leverage the social media sites to generate buzz. The site itself is directed by WFMU, the most renowned freeform radio station in America, and all downloads are absolutely legal. If you find an artist you like, their profile page will contain a "tip" button where you can give the artist a donation personally, and that page will also contain their appearance schedule so that you can experience the band live.

Cool Gadget: LiveScribe SmartPen: Well, school has started, and continuing that part of our theme for this month is this week's gadget, Livescribe. In the past, you could take a tape recorder to class and record the instructor's lectures. You still had to take notes, though. When study time came, you had two islands of data: the notes you took and the recorded lecture (if you could find the tape). If you wrote something in your notes and then later had no idea what you meant, or weren't sure of something, then you could put in the tape and either replay the whole thing, or shuffle back and forth until you found where the instructor was talking about what you wrote. With Livescribe, this occurs automatically. Livescribe is a pen that, used with special notepads, will record what the instructor is saying while you take notes. These two items are automatically linked together, so that to hear what was being said when a particular note was taken, you simply point at the note and hit play and what the instructor said will be played back, so you can remember what was being said. You can transfer the recordings to your computer and play them there as what they call a "pencast". Right now, they are offering specials on the pen and pads, but at $99 they're still a bit pricey. But check out the videos on their website at www.livescribe.com to see if smartpen technology would help you.

Cool App: Do It Tomorrow: I want to present "Do It Tomorrow". Sometimes I laughingly say that I want to put off procrastinating, because I just think that's so funny. But there is an app called Do It Tomorrow and it is very popular because over 500,000 people have downloaded that off of the Android Market alone. They also have a website, David and listen to this, it says, "Do you love procrastinating? Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow? That's the spirit! Do It (Tomorrow) is the todo app for you.

Planning out your entire week is a bummer - Do It Tomorrow lets you give yourself reminders for today, but makes it really easy to push things off to tomorrow." It's got a full notebook, it's very simple to use. If you've got something you need to do tomorrow, you can post that; it's gonna bring up a reminder, and what I like about it is that once you've done that item, it's gonna fall off, you don't have to do anything else. That way you can get busy procrastinating what you're going to do tomorrow. It's very simple, just easily check off your tasks, as completed or just delete them altogether; or you can move them if you want to further procrastinate. You know, when the kids get back in school, there are so many things that you need to do; places to be at certain times; and until you get that schedule on track, you may need Do It Tomorrow. This really cool app is available on the Android Market. They have a Facebook and Twitter page, and you can also log onto tomorrow.do for a version that runs in your web browser. Pretty cool.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Social Media: Social media is this week’s term. The term refers primarily to Facebook and Twitter, but can include other sites like YouTube that give users community building features, which can be as simple as a chat room. The main feature is that of creating a community around similar interests.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Watch live on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tech-tip-friday

Today's show on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16754699

Free Music Archive:
http://www.freemusicarchive.org

Livescribe recording pen:
http://www.livescribe.com

Do It Tomorrow at Android Market:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.adylitica.android.DoItTomorrow

Do It Tomorrow Website (NOTE: Won't work with Internet Explorer, even 9.0)
http://tomorrow.do

Social Media at socialmediadefinition.com:
http://socialmediadefinition.com

Social Media at Webster's:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media

8/19/2011-Where's the underscore key?; HowToLearn.com; Ceton InfiniTV, "Analog"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 5 Nov 2011 14:49:01 -0500

Episode 170:
Question: Amanda asks, "Where is the underscore key?"

Answer: Good question, Amanda. Often we hear of folks whose email addresses have an underscore in them. Until you find out where that is, it'll be tough for them to get an email from you. The underscore key is the shifted dash or hyphen key. It's located on your keyboard between the 0 and equals sign keys. If you don't hold down the shift key though, you'll get a dash rather than an underscore. Some other keys you may want to take a look at while we're here are the tilde and backquote. These are both on the same key, just to the left of the number one key. The tilde is a little sideways "S" commonly seen above the letter n in Spanish.

Cool Site: HowToLearn.com: It's back-to-school time and with that in mind, this week our cool site is how to learn.com. The site's subtitle is, "How to learn anything fast". Here, you'll find several free resources like a personal learning styles inventory, an Eye-Q reading inventory that helps you determine if you see the page properly, articles about things like the prevalence of autism, free email newsletters, resources for home schooling, memory improvement, teachers, and all kinds of things. You can find information about the learning experts at the site. The site has a bookstore with one title in particular I found interesting that lists natural diet-based remedies for learning disabilities. You'll find sections that are tailored for grade school, college, adult learners, and a section for teachers only. I've mentioned two free inventories, but there's also a phonics inventory, and lots more. It's mostly free stuff, HowToLearn.com.

Cool Gadget: Ceton InfiniTV: Our regular listeners know I'm a TV buff, and I like the idea of using a computer of my own as a DVR so that my programs aren't locked away somewhere else. Before the digital switchover, you could buy a TV tuner card, drop it into a computer, and begin watching and recording TV programs on your computer. Well, after the digital switchover, that has become somewhat more limited. Recording high-def programming is difficult or impossible unless you have the cable company's DVR. But today's gadget is the Ceton InfiniTV 4. It's a PCI-Express add-on card that you can put in your computer and record not one, but up to four programs in high definition simultaneously. Not only that, but you can stream those recordings to other computers in the house and to Xbox 360s as well. Playstation 3s can share these recordings also, but the experience is different. The company is also producing a USB version of the InfiniTV that can be moved around, so that if you don't have a dedicated computer that you use as a DVR, no problem. Both devices retail for $299, and require you to rent a device called a CableCARD from your cable provider.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Analog: This week's term is Analog. It refers to a means of perceiving or storing data in a way that is continuously variable. This is different than digital because digital data relies on periodically storing a value that is continuously changing. A similar situation occurs in music when you transition from one note to another by slurring the note, which corresponds to analog data, versus an immediate switch from one note to the next, which corresponds to digital data. Analog data is actually more accurate than digital.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml
Today’s show on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16754699

How To Learn:
http://www.howtolearn.com

Back to School sites at HowToLearn:
http://www.howtolearn.com/best-websites/best-back-to-school-websites-august-2011

Ceton InfiniTV 4:
http://www.cetoncorp.com/products.php

Analog at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/analog

Analog at Webster’s:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/analog

8/12/2011-Shutdown, hibernate or sleep?; Simplee.com; Logitech K400 Touch Keyboard; "OOF"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 5 Nov 2011 14:48:59 -0500

Episode 169:
Question: Liz asks, "Which is better for my computer: shutdown, hibernate, or sleep?"

Answer: Good question, Liz. I'm often asked whether or not to leave the computer on all the time. This is a question that has changed somewhat over time, but like most things, it depends on how you use your computer. If your computer is on all the time, you can set up defrag, updates, and virus scans so they happen during the middle of the night, so you can use your computer immediately when you walk up. On the other hand, you can choose one of the three methods to turn your computer off. Shutdown turns the computer completely off, and requires a full reboot to start back up, so it takes the most time. When you put your computer to sleep (which closing the lid on a laptop usually does), your computer restarts the fastest, but isn't completely off, either. It just kind of freezes, stops, and keeps power flowing to memory. So if the power goes off, either because your laptop's battery runs down, or you have a power outage, you're still stuck doing a full reboot. If you choose to hibernate instead, your computer will shut off completely, but before that happens, Windows will copy the entire contents of memory to one file. When you turn it back on, it'll reload memory from that file. This takes longer than waking it up from sleep mode, but not generally as long as a full reboot. As for me, I normally tend to put the computer to sleep. I'll hibernate it if the battery is very low and I don't want to turn it off. And I just reserve turning the computer off for when I'm about to turn it right back on.

Cool Site: simplee.com: Medical bills aren't easy to understand. There are charges and fees and co-pays and deductibles and lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Plus, your health insurance policy may include benefits you never take advantage of because you don't remember you have them or when the deadline is to use the benefits. Well this week's cool site is simplee.com and it helps you keep track of all this information. Now, don't worry about privacy because simplee is HIPAA-compliant. Not only that, it's free to create an account. Then simplee will guide you through the process of getting your health care accounts set up. That way simplee can access your health plan information and present it to you in a more meaningful way. When you return to the site, you'll find a dashboard that tells you things like how much deductible you have left to pay, how many doctor visits you've made, how many transactions you've had, including pharmacy, how much you've spent and how much your medical care has cost. If you have an FSA or HSA, you can see your balances in simplee. The page also includes a message area so you don't miss important deadlines. Simplee will even check your medical bills and alert you to miscalculations, potentially saving you money. When you visit a doctor, simplee will store the billing details of that event online - remember, HIPAA-compliant - and it will organize that information so you can see what you owe, how it was calculated, what the visit was for, and whether it's paid for yet. There's more, but just visit their website simplee.com.

Cool Gadget: Logitech K400 Touch Keyboard: There's a class of computer called the Home Theater PC. My wife built one for our house. Not only that, you can connect most any laptop to a flat screen TV and play videos or stream Netflix movies to the TV using Media Center in Windows Vista or 7. In any case, you'll need a wireless keyboard and mouse, and that's where this week's gadget comes in: the Logitech K400 Touch Keyboard. It's a smallish keyboard that has a touch pad, like a laptop has, built right in, except this one supports multi-touch so you can use gestures like pinching. It even stores standing up, which I have to say, is how we store our keyboard at home. This keyboard includes multimedia keys, so you really don't need a wireless mouse unless you just really hate the trackpad. The keys have large, bold lettering on them so they're easier to see by the light of the screen. The review I read at everything USB mentioned that it would be better if the keys were backlit. But Logitech estimates the battery life at a year, and the keyboard has a ten-meter range (that's 33 feet to you and me), though I suspect that this is only with fresh batteries. As the battery gets low, the range will decrease. It also includes Logitech's unifying receiver that supports up to six wireless devices, and runs about $49.

It's All "Geek" To Me: OOF: Today's term sounds more like what you'd see on Batman during a fight. Our term is OOF. It's an acronym used in some businesses to mean Out Of Facility. Microsoft uses this term internally, for instance. Another meaning I found was Out of Office, and you may see this term in your email program. When you're out, you can enable the Out Of Office message so that people who email you will know you're out and won't answer immediately. That way, if there's an issue that really needs looking into, they'll know to try to get hold of you some other way. Businesses generally do this, but I don't recommend this type message for home users, because it broadcasts to everyone that you're not home.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Simplee:
http://simplee.com

Simplee at MakeUseOf:
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/simplee-track-medical-bill/

Logitech K400 Touch Keyboard:
http://www.logitech.com/en-hk/keyboards/keyboard/devices/8276

Logitech K400 Touch Keyboard at Everything USB:
http://www.everythingusb.com/logitech-wireless-touch-keyboard-k400-21282.html

OOF at Acronymfinder:
http://www.acronymfinder.com/Out-of-Facility-(business-slang)-(OOF).html

Watch the show at UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16597791

8/5/2011-Speed up a slow starting computer, Spendful.com, Victorinox Slim Flash Premium Performance Drive, "Socket"

david@daconsult.com — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 07:51:57 -0500

Episode 168:
Question: A question I get a lot is, "My computer starts slowly. How can I make it start up faster?"

Answer: This is a good question. There are some things to look at, but first we have to understand a little bit about how your computer starts up. Your computer's startup sequence has basically three stages. The first stage begins when you push the power button. The second stage begins when you see the Windows logo. The third stage begins when you log into Windows and your desktop begins to come up. The first stage is usually pretty quick. If the second stage is slow, try a defrag & optimize using the Auslogics defragmenter. If the third stage is slow, and you have a brand-name computer, consider uninstalling some of the Value-Added software put on by the manufacturer, like Google desktop for instance. Disable online backup utilities unless you are actually using that service; and take a look in the show notes for this week where we'll have a link to an article from Lifehacker Australia called "The Complete Guide To Speeding Up Your PC's Startup". In that article is a link to a program you can download that will let you delay the startup of some programs so that you can use the hotkeys on the keyboard, or really use Google desktop, or whatever, and still get to work faster.

Cool Site: Spendful: Well, maybe the guys in Washington need this week's site. This week's site, Spendful, helps you get a handle on where your money comes from and goes. This of course, is great information to have when you're creating a budget, and that's just what Spendful, located at www.spendful.com is for. When you first visit the website, you're prompted to enter your email address and a desired password. This sets you up an account and then you are asked to give your budget a name and starting balance. This could be your checking account balance maybe? Then you get to the next page and you can put in estimates for various income and expense items. Ideally, you'd do this at the beginning of the month. As the month progresses, the site lets you record the actual amounts of these items on the dates you did them, and it shows you how you're doing with a Profit/Loss summary on the left side of the screen. You can change any of the numbers on the screen by simply clicking the old number, typing the new number, and then press the enter key to save the value. Click the "X" at the left of any item to delete it. You can use this as a tool with your kids and their allowance, or you can use this to begin putting together a budget for yourself. There's a little gear at the bottom of the profit/loss area labeled "budget options" and when you point at it you can copy this month’s info forward to next month, or download this month's information as a CSV file, or clear the month's entries. The real challenge here is just like any other financial application: do or will you enter the data every day as it happens? If not, it really won't work for you, but it really can help.

Cool Gadget: Victorinox Slim Flash Premium Performance USB Flash Drive: This week's gadget is a flash drive, which isn't all that cool in and of itself, but this one is made by Victorinox, the Swiss Army Knife guys. As a teen, I had a genuine Swiss Army Knife that was sharp enough to shave with, and so I have a real soft spot for Victorinox. Their "Slim Flash Premium Performance" flash drive comes in sizes ranging from 4-64GB and prices starting at $39.99. You have a choice of five colors, but red isn't one of them, and the drive has the appearance of a Swiss Army Knife. The USB port pulls out like a pocket knife blade so you can plug it in. If you have Windows 7 or Vista, you can use the included software to encrypt all data on the drive, which really helps offset the cost of the device. It can be used without the encryption feature on all versions of Windows that support flash drives. The really great thing about the encryption feature is that when you use it, your data is password-protected so that you can put sensitive data on the drive without having to worry about it falling into the proverbial wrong hands if you should happen to lose it. But the software provides more than just encryption. It also features an automatic backup function, a bookmarks and favorites manager, a password manager, and synchronization both of documents and folders as well as Outlook and Outlook Express files.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Socket: This week's term is socket. This doesn't refer to the socket you plug your computer into, nor does it refer to a kind of wrench, but rather a software component that represents a connection between two computers. Programs can open sockets between your computer and programs on other computers, like how Internet Explorer opens a socket between your computer and www.techtipfriday.com, for instance, when you want to check the show notes. Another term you may have heard is winsock, which is short for Windows Sockets.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Ninite:
http://www.ninite.com

Auslogics:
http://www.auslogics.com

The Complete Guide To Speeding Up Your PC’s Startup at Lifehacker Australia:
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2008/11/the_complete_guide_to_speeding_up_your_pcs_startup-2/

Spendful:
http://www.spendful.com

Spendful at MakeUseOf:
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/spendful-budget-tracking-saving/

Victorinox Slim Flash Premium Performance Flash Drive at Swiss Knife Shop:
http://www.swissknifeshop.com/victorinox-slim-flash

Socket at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/socket

This show at UStream (Bonus! WOOT!):
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16450005

7/29/2011-Multiple Antivirus Programs?, CollegePackingList.com, Farstone TotalRecovery, "Clean Room"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 11:00:37 -0500

Episode 167:
Question: Sonny says, "My CA Antivirus expired, so Microsoft Security Essentials installed, and then I got AVG Free. My computer is still running very slowly. Do you know why?"

Answer: Good question, Sonny. It's not a bad idea to have more than one antimalware product available because none of them are entirely foolproof. All the different, legitimate, antimalware products will stop something that the others won't, or will be stopped by something that wouldn't stop the others. One thing to consider, if you do get an infection, it already has most likely compromised whatever you were using, making its usage somewhat less useful than it could be otherwise. The one thing you don't want to do is to have more than one program that's constantly scanning every program you run. Let your antivirus be that program. Uninstall, or disable the constant scanning feature for any others. Yes, that makes you more vulnerable to attack, but it's a pretty fair compromise between safety and usability. You could put something inside a steel cube with 2-inch thick walls and no one could steal those contents, but legitimate users couldn't get at those contents either. So, there's always a trade-off. If you have all three of those programs installed, I'd recommend uninstalling everything that has expired to free up computing power. You might even want to consider something like Revo Uninstaller to help with the uninstallation.

Cool Site: CollegePackingList: Well, maybe it's because we're moving Telyssa from Lubbock to Amarillo this week, but makeuseof showed me a website that looks extremely helpful as folks get ready to move their kids off to college. It's collegepackinglist.com, and is an online list. You log into it with your Facebook account, and the site is free to use. Items you can add to your list are classified by category. The categories are Dorm, Kitchen, Classroom, Bathroom, Clothing, and Miscellaneous. Most of what you'll need to get moved to the campus is already listed, but if you have specific requirements, the site allows you to add these into the predefined categories. This way, you can make sure you've packed everything you need to take with you. But what if you don't already own everything you need to take? What if you have stuff still to buy? Well, collegepackinglist includes a shopping list, too. Both lists can be saved, shared with friends and family, and printed for offline use.

Cool Gadget: FarStone Total Recovery: When Windows won't boot, it locks away many of the important data files you need to get at.

Eddie: Like that college project you've been working on for 6 weeks?

David: Exactly, and this is where Farstone's TotalRecovery flash drive comes in. It's a bootable USB Flash Drive that includes Windows-based backup software. Because it's Windows-based, you can connect an external drive of any kind, or a network device, CD/DVD, whatever. The only real requirement is that your computer's BIOS be able to boot from USB. For computers that are 3-5 years old or newer, that's not a problem. Computers that are older than that, maybe. Several things are great about this particular $42 goodie. First is that it's totally portable: it'll boot any computer that can boot to USB drives. Second is that it includes a restore program that can restore your backup to dissimilar hardware. In other words, you don't necessarily have to restore your backup to the same computer. That way, if your project is on a computer that won't boot, you can use this to make a backup that you can restore to a computer with different processors, memory, video, etc. Cool!

It's All "Geek" To Me: Clean Room: Have you ever seen pictures of where processor chips are made? That's this week's term: Clean Room. You see, processor chips and hard drives are easily destroyed by dust. So that's why they are put together in rooms that have as little of it as they can. Some clean rooms only allow for 1000 particles of dust per cubic foot of air. But the cleanest only allow 100 particles of dust per cubic foot. Clean rooms used for chip production are refilled with filtered air every 6 seconds and require workers to wear special suits, called bunny suits; that keep the rooms from becoming contaminated with all those nasty skin cells and hairs that people leave everywhere. Now, I'm goofing a little, but I'm serious: one hair inside a hard drive and it will fail early.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Revo Uninstaller:
http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

College Packing List:
http://www.collegepackinglist.com

Farstone TotalRecovery at EverythingUSB:
http://www.everythingusb.com/farstone-totalrecovery-usb-18639.html

Farstone TotalRecovery:
http://www.farstone.com/hardware/total-recovery-usb.htm

Clean Room at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/cleanroom

Clean Room at El Andar magazine:
http://www.elandar.com/toxics/stories/diagram1.html

7/22/2011-Can't get to banking website, AppUp.com, BioFuel Caffeinated Popcorn, "W00t"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 20:04:35 -0500

Episode 166:
Question: Miss Hattie says, "I'm having trouble getting to my banking website. The bank's representative has been here, and everything is set as they said it should be. What else could be wrong?"

Answer: Good question, Miss Hattie. I'd suggest doing three things. First, run your antimalware scans. It could be that some fairly innocuous program has put an add-on onto your system that's gumming up the works. While you're at it, make sure that if you have any extra toolbars whatsoever, you disable or uninstall them because these can have a deleterious effect on banking websites. If those two suggestions fail, you can try either using another browser, or resetting Internet Explorer's settings. To reset the settings, go to the Tools menu and choose Internet Options. Click the Advanced tab, then under Reset Internet Explorer Settings, click the Reset button. If you do the reset, you'll have to restart Internet Explorer and redo the stuff the bank said to do that should make it work. That's why we try this last.

Cool Site: Intel AppUp: Did you know the average smartphone user has 27 apps? We're all familiar with Apple's iTunes AppStore, where you can get application programs to run on your iOS devices. You may have heard about the Android Market for your Android-based smartphone, and you may even have heard about the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace. But each of those is for phones. What about the many folks that bought netbooks? Netbooks don't have optical drives. How do you get new programs? Well, you can of course download anything, but what if you want to play Fruit Ninja, or Angry Birds? What then? You could go to this week's cool site: AppUp. AppUp is a site put together by Intel that brings the Application Store concept to Netbooks, laptops, and other kinds of computing devices. What you do is to visit appup.com, and then click where it says Download Intel AppUp to get started. The Intel AppUp(SM) center will be installed on your computer, and you can get started looking for your favorite apps. The apps themselves are based on Adobe Air, so that also has to be downloaded. The apps cost from free to $10, with about 35-40% free, the rest are for pay. Angry Birds is $4.99. Apps downloaded from the AppUp Catalog have a 24-hour try before you buy feature, and you can use apps you bought on up to 5 different devices. Pretty cool!

Cool Gadget: BioFuel Caffeinated Popcorn: This week's cool gadget was suggested by one of my guys, who found it on ThinkGeek. Now, because it was on ThinkGeek, it's really geeky. Check this out; it's called BioFuel Caffeinated Popcorn, I told you it was geeky. He brought some to work the other day and let us try it. I brought some to the station today for Eddie to try. The taste of this is similar to Kettle Corn, but with a distinct aftertaste of coffee. Now, I'm not a big fan of Kettle Corn, and I didn't much care for that aftertaste at first, but I found that strangely, one grows accustomed to it fairly quickly, so give it a few handfuls. The process of making it is also similar to that of Kettle Corn. Not everyone should consume caffeine, so the bag carries warnings to that effect as well as a generic, "Keep out of reach of children" warning. Three, 5oz. bags will set you back $5 at ThinkGeek when they get it back in stock. You can also find this unique caffeine delivery system at biofuelfoods.com. Of course, we'll have links to these in the show notes. So, if you're hungry and sleepy at the same time, this is for you.

It's All "Geek" To Me: W00T: This week's word has been one of our cool websites. It's Woot. Now, woot.com has been a cool website of the week in the past. Back then, I just thought this was what they called their website. But now, I find that woot is a variously-defined slang interjection of joy. Woot is most properly spelled W - zero - zero T, and some folks will argue that this is the only proper spelling. It was one of Merriam-Webster's words of the year in 2007. Wikipedia adds the following, "Others have theorized the term is an acronym for 'We Owned the Other Team'.[1] It has also been alleged that 'w00t' is a contraction of the phrase 'wonderous loot' used in Ultima Online and 'Wonderful Loot' in Everquest whenever a player found large quantities of/or rare valuable items in game. W00t is also somewhat like the Scots word 'hoots', which is used in a similar manner - an exclamation signifying surprise, disbelief, or kindred reaction. Another supposed origin is as an expression used by a hacker (see security cracking) who has just broken into a computer system, obtaining 'root' access: 'woot, I have root!'". So, woot! It's a good thing.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Intel AppUp:
http://www.appup.com/applications/index

BioFuel Caffeinated Popcorn at Thinkgeek:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/e6b9/

BioFuel Caffeinated Popcorn:
http://www.biofuelfoods.com

Woot at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W00t

7/15/2011-Cursor in upper left. Is everything gone?, HomeSchoolingInTexas.com, Seagate GoFlex Wi-Fi Hard Drive, "API"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:14:15 -0500

Episode 165:
Question: Sarah asks, "I had to force my computer to reboot and now all I see on my screen is a blinking cursor in the upper left. Have I lost everything? What can I do?"

Answer: Good question, Sarah. When you see that, it most often means that your computer is trying to boot from a USB drive that's not bootable, usually a flash drive. So what you should try first is to unplug anything except your keyboard and mouse that happens to be connected to a USB port, especially if the device is a flash drive or external hard drive. If your computer is in a desk or place that makes this difficult, unplug the other end of the USB cable at the devices themselves. Then try to boot up again and see if it gets past that point. If that was all it was, then it should go on and boot normally. If it doesn't, then your hard drive may be bad or going bad at least because your computer still can’t find a bootable drive.

Cool Site: Homeschooling In Texas.com: With all the problems that public schools have nowadays, many parents are seriously considering homeschooling their kids. Many more might like to, but aren't sure how to get started, or what requirements may exist, and just whether or not it can work for their family. I haven't homeschooled my kids, partly because my wife and I both work, so it doesn't work time-wise for us, and also because I'm hoping my kids can be missionaries to their classmates. But... homeschooling does work for many families, and maybe yours is considering it. If so, check out this resource: HomeschoolingInTexas.com. This site is mostly made up of links to other sites, and like any website with lots of links, some of them don't work anymore. But there are links to articles on topics like how to get started, curriculum you can use, I found a link to a site that does class rings, caps & gowns, diplomas, etc. And this particular site also does diplomas for 500 or more schools as well, so it would look exactly the same. You'll find articles linked up discussing the issue of socialization, one of which illustrated how much more often home-educated adults 18-24 have taken college-level courses: 74% of homeschooled go on to college; compared to 46% of the general US population. I was surprised at the size of the gap; I would have thought that the general population number would be higher. But this site's info doesn't stop with Getting Started. Other sections of the website cover How to Homeschool, How Do I Teach..., Beyond the Basics, and Support.The How to Homeschool and How Do I Teach sections cover what it sounds like they'd cover, how to do homeschooling, and how to teach various topics effectively to different age groups. Beyond the Basics looks at information for parents who have special challenges like: large families, caring for babies and toddlers, single and working parents, military families, special needs homeschooling, teens, and gifted children; as well as the practical matters of making school fun, getting organized, saving money, etc.. The support section covers things like support groups for homeschooling parents, local & state events and resources, publications to help give you some ideas, humor, email lists and sites like the Family Unschooling Network. All in all, if your family is considering homeschooling, look here first.

Cool Gadget: Seagate GoFlex Satellite Portable Hard Drive: Last week we looked at a Wi-Fi enabled flash drive from Kingston. This week's cool gadget was also mentioned last week, the Seagate GoFlex. In case you don't remember, this is a Wi-Fi enabled external hard drive. It's great for serving up content like pictures, movies, or music while you're on those long trips, and this device comes with a car charger for just that very purpose. You can fill up that 500GB hard drive over USB 3.0, the fastest USB around. Then put it in the car, push the power button, and in under a minute it'll start making its data available to any three Wi-Fi enabled devices in the car, including iPads, iPods, Android phones/tablets, Windows phones, even laptops, for up to 5 hours between charges. It has a built-in web server but doesn't use any kind of media synchronizing software; just the same drag and drop you're already used to doing when you want to copy files from one drive to another now. It runs about $200.00. The link we'll have in the show notes includes a video of the drive in use, which by the way, works best with iOS devices (your basic iWhatever) because it comes with an app for them.

It's All "Geek" To Me: API: This week, we've got a term you very well might not have heard: API, which stands for Application Programming Interface. It refers to a mechanism that programmers use to ask Windows to do things for their programs, like draw pictures on the screen. That way, everyone who wants to draw a picture on the screen doesn't have to reinvent the wheel to get it done; and Windows has thousands of APIs that programmers can use so that everything looks and acts consistently. A side benefit of that consistency is that once you as a user learn how to find a file to open, or how to choose a printer to print on, it always works the same way.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Homeschooling in Texas:
http://www.homeschoolingintexas.com/

Homeschooling Grows Up: Socialization:
http://www.hslda.org/research/ray2003/Socialization.asp

Family Unschooling Network:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FamilyUnschoolingNetwork/

Seagate GoFlex Satellite Portable Hard Drive at Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/16/seagates-goflex-satellite-portable-hard-drive-streams-content-o/

API at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/api

7/8/2011-How do I extend the range of my wireless network?, Kaboose.com, Kingston Wi-Drive, "CD-RW"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 9 Jul 2011 10:58:36 -0500

Episode 164:
Question: Randy asks, "My house is kind of L-shaped, and the router is on one end of the house and the bedrooms are on the other. I don't get a great signal in the bedroom area. What can I do?"

Answer: Good question, Randy. I generally tend to recommend locating the router near the center of the house. However, for some houses, that's not really practical. My router for instance, isn't located near the center of the house either. In those cases, you can run into signal strength problems with systems on the other end of the house, as you seem to have. When that's the case, I recommend running a standard network wire between the router and somewhere near the other end of the house. This way, you can install a device called a wireless access point to extend the range of your network. When you do, be sure you give the same SSID (wireless network name) and security code as you used on the router so that your computer can automatically roam to the strongest signal just like your cell phone does. If you've forgotten, you may have to give a call, or check the router's settings with your browser.

Cool Site: Kaboose.com: I found this week's cool site when I was looking for computer lessons. Kaboose.com is just chock-full of neat stuff. It's VBS time and just in case you're looking for craft ideas, the site has a whole section on crafts, where I found a cool recipe for homemade ice cream in a bag, which we'll have in the show notes. It takes 2 Zipper bags, five minutes of shaking, and a few other simple ingredients to get a scoop of genuine homemade ice cream. This section also includes videos for how to make some of the crafts, so if you're not particularly sure how something should be made, that may help. You'll find a section on parenting which is where I did find some free computer lessons. The site is supported by ads, but all its content seems to be free. There are sections on health, food, games, holidays, and summertime. A section called Just for Mom has articles and videos that are geared toward mothers. With all that, it's not surprising to me that the site has a search feature. They have several email newsletters you can subscribe to like a recipe newsletter, weekly parents' newsletter, a crafts and activities newsletter and a couple more. I should mention that while the site is not specifically a Christian site, but with the exception of horoscopes and coverage of Ramadan in the holiday section, I didn't notice anything that would seem to be antagonistic to faith, so I would classify the site as family-friendly overall. And free.

Cool Gadget: Kingston Wi-Drive: This week's cool gadget is going to be on my kids' wish lists: the Kingston Wi-Drive. This is a Wi-Fi enabled flash drive currently for Apple iOS devices like the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, etc. and it gives you 16 or 32 GB of storage that you can use to put your media on before a long trip, like summer vacations. This particular device is kind of pricey ($130-$175), and it's one more device to have to carry, but it's battery-powered and since Kingston is a memory manufacturer, this device is based on flash memory as opposed to less expensive, higher capacity media servers like the Seagate GoFlex, which although it costs $200, has a 500GB spinning hard drive because Seagate is a hard drive company. So, that device has a lower cost-per-gigabyte, but the spinning drive means shorter battery life, so that's something I like about the Wi-Drive. This gadget is slated to become available sometime this month and will at some point be able to stream content to Android devices, it's just not clear to me whether that will happen before or after the product launches. So, while I like the device, I wish the capacity were higher. Even so, the iPad maxes out at 64GB, so you'll still be at least doubling your internal storage.

It's All "Geek" To Me: CD-RW: This week, we have a term that's more of an acronym: CD-RW. It stands for Compact Disc - Read/Write. When it comes to compact discs, you can write to two different kinds. The first is called CD-R, for Compact Disc – Recordable. This kind of disc cannot be changed after it's written. They are best for long-term storage, but if you need to be able to erase the disc and rewrite it, you need a CD-RW. By the way, the RW in CD-RW can also mean rewritable.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Kaboose:
http://www.kaboose.com/

Ice Cream in a Bag Recipe:
http://crafts.kaboose.com/ice-cream-in-a-bag.html

Computer Lessons:
http://parenting.kaboose.com/education-and-learning/learning-resources/brain-computer-lesson.html

Kingston Wi-Drive at Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/01/kingston-wi-drive-wireless-storage-for-ios-preview-video/

CD-RW at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/cdrw

7/1/2011-Do I REALLY have this many viruses?, HomeAndLearn.co.uk, Apple Wireless Charging System, "Server"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 9 Jul 2011 10:58:35 -0500

Episode 163:
Question: All of a sudden, my computer says it has a bunch of viruses and I can't find any of my files. What's up?

Answer: Good question. Most likely, you have a virus. This is something I’m seeing a lot now. The virus is a scareware type of program that finds a bunch of bogus viruses. The twist is that now, the bad guy is setting the hidden attribute of all or many of your files. Each file on your computer has 4 attributes, Archive, Read-only, Hidden and System. Files marked as hidden and system can be rendered invisible in Windows. A virus can then offer to “recover” your files for $39.95, or whatever. So, how do you fix it? This may be one of those times that you want to have someone take a look at your computer, but... If it has just happened, you can try to use Windows System Restore to put your computer back the way it was before you contracted this virus. The really bad thing with this one is if you do get rid of the virus, that won't unhide your files. Furthermore, some files are supposed to be hidden to prevent accidental modification. You can use a program called iReset that lets you reset these attributes by dragging a folder or file and dropping it on the application. I'm going to try to work up a script that can fix this issue relatively automatically because many folks want something like this.

Cool Site: HomeAndLearn.co.UK: One of the questions I get sometimes is "Where can I get some computer training?" One of the places I'd recommend is this week's cool site, Home and Learn. It's at www.homeandlearn.co.uk, which should tell you that the site is in England. So, be prepared for spelling differences, and a pound sign instead of a dollar sign, and such. But, cultural differences aside, you'll find lessons on Beginning Computing, Word, Excel, Web Design and several programming other programming courses. Most of these are aimed at beginners. I looked specifically at the beginning Microsoft Word course and found that the site covers Word 2000, 2003, 2007 & 2010. So, whichever version you need or have to practice on, they've got it covered. The lessons start from Writing your first letter to Creating Word Macros and programming your documents to do things.

Cool Gadget: Apple Wireless Charging System: Do you remember the old crystal radios? They never needed batteries, because they were powered by the radio signal they were receiving. Well, I may be the "King of Free", but Apple is the King of Cool. The computer and gadget maker has now patented a device based on a similar principle to the one behind the crystal radio that is able to charge your other gadgets wirelessly with a range of up to a meter away. This way, you don't have to connect yet another cord to a gadget to charge it. We've talked before about inductive technologies that require you to put your device on a mat or something, and those are great, but it looks like a future iPad, iPod, iWhatever, will have a way to charge the device that only requires getting close to the charger.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Server: This week, we look at the term Server. This is a term that occurs in a couple of different contexts: software and hardware. In a software context, a server is any program that is designed to handle requests from other computers. Those "other computers" are called clients, and the server sends the clients what they request. Because one computer can run several server programs at once, they are often run on computers that are specially designed to run 24x7 for several years, and that's exactly what server means in a hardware context.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml
iReset Download:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/iReset.shtml

Home and Learn:
http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/

Apple Wireless Charging System:
http://www.geek.com/articles/apple/apple-patent-wireless-charging-system-with-1-meter-range-20110616/

Server at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/server

6/24/2011-Do you prefer wired or wireless?, Youthworker.com, Joystick-ID, "Source Code"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 9 Jul 2011 10:58:35 -0500

Episode 162:
Question: Which do you prefer, wired or wireless network connections?

Answer: Good question. The answer unfortunately is: It depends. The thing is that your usage needs are going to be what determines whether you need wired or wireless. Here are the pros and cons. Wired connections are more secure, more reliable, and potentially faster than wireless connections. But, wireless connections are easier to set up and more flexible in terms of adds/moves/changes because while wired connections are tied to a wall jack, you only just need a good signal to get your wireless working. The situation is in many ways analogous to the difference between cell phones and land line phones.

Cool Site: YouthWorker.com: This week, we look at another site related to youth workers, called youthworker.com. This site is run by the same people that have brought Youth Worker Journal to print. You'll find practical youth ministry ideas and insights, discussions of important theological issues, Bible resources, youth culture updates, youth ministry games and activities, reviews of the latest youth ministry books and music, information about youth camps and retreats, professional development articles and resources and much more. The site seems free, except for the magazine and you can subscribe to it right online. They've got curriculum, music and movie reviews, and all kinds of stuff to help with your youth ministry.

Cool Gadget: Joystick-IT: This one's on Daine's wish list. Ok, if you have an iPhone or iPad, and you want to play a game that needs a joystick, you have to contend with a virtual joystick. Well, no more. Now, at ThinkGeek you can get the Joystick-IT, a joystick for your iPad/iPhone; your i-whatever. You stick it on top of the virtual joystick, and it works just like you'd expect. It has a suction cup on the bottom and is very soft so it won't scratch your device's screen. It is really simple since it seems all mechanical. There's nothing electronic about it, which is great because that means no batteries to change or power draw to run down your i-whatever. The iPhone model is $17.99, the iPad model is $24.99 or 2 for $36.99 over at ThinkGeek.

It's All "Geek" To Me: SourceCode: This week's term is Source Code. Hardware is useless by itself. It all needs software to make it work. That software has to be written in one or more computer programming languages. That program, as written by the programmer, is called source code. Since computers don't understand the source code, it is always transformed by a program called either a compiler or an interpreter into something that the computer can understand. So, source code is a description of program in a human-readable programming language.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Youth Worker:
http://www.youthworker.com

Joystick-IT at Geek.com:
http://www.geek.com/articles/games/thinkgeek-unveils-the-joystick-it-arcade-stick-for-iphone-20110616/

Joystick-IT at ThinkGeek:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/cellphone/e8f5/?cpg=cj&ref=&CJURL=

Source Code at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/sourcecode

6/10/2011-What's the difference between Wi-Fi and Mi-Fi?, YouthMinistryIdeas.net, Samsung W200 Digital Camcorder, "Hypertext"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 9 Jul 2011 10:58:34 -0500

Episode 161:
Question: James asks, "What's the difference between Wi-Fi and Mi-Fi?"

Answer: Good question, James. I always understand when industry terms are rhymed to come up with what is really a brand name, but I also know that it will create a certain amount of confusion among folks. Wi-Fi refers to the short-range wireless communications standard used by all newer laptops that works at home with a wireless router, and at wireless hotspots. It's technically called 802.11. Mi-Fi is a brand name for a Verizon product that combines a wireless router and a 3G connection. Unlike most general-purpose home routers, the Mi-Fi only does wireless, there are no ports to plug network wires into, although there is a USB port to plug into the computer or the charger. But that's what it is: a Wi-Fi-only router that connects to Verizon's wireless cellular 3G Internet service.

Cool Site: YouthMinistryIdeas.net: I'll admit it. Our youth programs are going through a bit of a transformation. We have a new pastor whose background is in youth ministry, so we're picking his brain looking for ways to cast a wider net. YouthMinistryIdeas.net is a site to help you do that, with ideas for all kinds of games, activities, and lessons to teach youth that stimulate them to think about things in a more spiritual manner. For instance, one of the games was a takeoff on the Top Chef show that led into a discussion of the difference between gourmet food and McDonalds and how Jesus wants us to develop a taste for spiritual gourmet food. That's just one idea. Another was a "Survivor" themed lock-in. But be forewarned: while there is much free content on the site, the Survivor lock-in costs $10. On the right hand side of the page, near the bottom (unfortunately) you'll find a list of topics so that you can get at just what you're looking for.

Cool Gadget: Samsung W200 Digital Camcorder: Ok, this week's gadget is on my wish list. Cisco bought then killed the Flip pocket video camera. Well, if you're still in the market for such a thing Samsung's got your back with a $160 Full HD waterproof (to 3 meters) pocket-sized video camera. Now, a lot of folks have smartphones, and I probably should be salivating over one of those instead... but they are expensive and if it's raining, I wouldn’t want to risk tearing it up. Something else, the coating that keeps it waterproof also keeps condensation from forming on the viewfinder screen. The camera has excellent low-light performance, and has a 5-megapixel sensor, and can shoot up to 1080p at 30 frames per second. It doesn't have any internal memory, but does have an SD-Card slot and you can record across SD-Cards. The battery only holds a 2-hour charge, and it has an HDMI connector, and a USB connector to transfer video files.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Hypertext: This week's term is part of something we use all the time, but may not know: Hypertext. Hypertext is the word behind the HT in HTTP that you see in your web browser's address bar. Hypertext was originally an idea to make it possible to read articles and then by clicking words in the article, read another article related to the one you started from. So, you'd be reading an article on space, and when you run across the term solar system, you might click it and see an article on the solar system. In that article, you might see the planet Saturn and, clicking it, get more information about Saturn, and then when you see the word vehicle, you could click it and find out about Saturn Automobiles. You get the idea. You click links to see new articles. The most common expression of Hypertext is the World Wide Web, but earlier programs like Apple's HyperCard and others pioneered the concept of hypertext.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Youth Ministry Ideas:
http://www.youthministryideas.net

Samsung W200 at Geek.com:
http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/samsung-w200-a-waterproof-flip-alternative-20110421/

Hypertext at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/hypertext

5/20/2011-Computer no longer boots after buzzing sound?, YouthPastor.com, 3D Organ Printer, "Format"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 9 Jul 2011 10:58:33 -0500

Episode 160:
Question: Shirley asks, "My desktop computer was making a buzzing sound, and now won't power on. What could be wrong?"

Answer: Good question, Shirley. All computers nowadays use fans of some sort to keep cool. On a desktop computer, you'll find at least 2 fans, one on the processor, and the other in the power supply. You may also commonly find fans on the video card and the back of the computer's case. Any one of these can cause the computer to make a low buzzy/vibraty sound, which can get very loud. That happens because the bearings in the fan are wearing out. At some point, the system will become quiet again, but it will be because the fan has stopped altogether. If that happens, heat can, but may not, build up on the inside of the computer and damage other components. If you don't feel comfortable opening up the computer’s case, I'd suggest taking it to a shop you trust to have this checked, but if you'd like to know which fan is making the noise, open the computer and run it until the noise starts. Locate each of the fans and then use your finger to stop the fan by pressing on the center of the fan. When the noise stops, that's the one. Once it's been replaced, you're good to go. Now, if the fan in question is on the video card, then you may have to ultimately have a new video card because those fans are usually harder to find than a new video card.

Cool Site: YouthPastor.com: Have you seen YouthPastor.com? It's a site that has been around since 1997 and has been dedicated to giving youth pastors free youth ministry resources. Some of the resources they have available are a job center, free lessons, searchable directory of ministries, and game ideas, which is how I found the site. In the Job Center, churches can post their openings, and people looking for a position can post their resumes. They have 208 lessons arranged by category, and 336 games listed online. Both of these lists can be searched using their respective search functions. There's a topical index of Contemporary Christian Music so that youth workers can incorporate music into lesson topics. There's a recommended reading list that connects you to several books at Amazon.com, many of which are only a penny. The site also offers several other areas, go check it out. It's a really great place to start when looking to enhance your youth programs.

Cool Gadget: BioPrinting: This week we've got one of those hi-tech medical gadgets to talk about. We all know what a printer is. Well for prototyping things, there's a device called a 3D printer that can take a drawing file and turn it into a finished item. Now, researchers at Wake Forest University Institute for Regenerative Medicine have begun working to create artificial organs for transplant. This printer uses cells rather than plastic or some kind of foam to print, and I use that term loosely, organs. They have succeeded in printing tiny hearts that begun to beat when finished. They've also been able to create full-size versions of organs like bladders that are much less complicated. Just imagine being able to have a new organ printed from your own stem cells. No more anti-rejection drugs. It's years away, but an awesome technology.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Format: This week's term has one definition, but a lot of applications. Format. The word generally refers to the arrangement or layout of something for use. In computing, we're talking about things like the way a page is laid out for printing, or about the way data is arranged inside a file, or most commonly, about the way a disk is prepared for use. Formatting a disk is a process wherein data areas are set up, and a root directory structure is prepared, and other housekeeping tasks are performed. Normally though, the disk's data is not wiped off, so if you should happen to accidentally reformat a disk, you can usually recover all the data that used to be there.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml
YouthPastor.com:
http://www.youthpastor.com

3D Organ Printer at Geek.com:
http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/3d-printers-could-be-used-to-create-custom-organs-2011053/

BioPrinting Technology at Wake Forest University:
http://www.wakehealth.edu/Research/WFIRM/Our-Story/Inside-the-Lab/Bioprinting.htm

Format at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/format

Format at Webster:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/format

5/13/2011-How do I connect another computer to my Cable Internet?, Disney Jr.com, Handlebar Bike Lock,"GIF"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 9 Jul 2011 10:58:32 -0500

Episode 159:
Question: A listener asks, "I have cable Internet service, and now I have another computer I want to connect. What do I need to do that?"

Answer: Good question. This is the time of year that kids come back home from college, and they bring their laptops with them. Now you have two computers and can't both get on the Internet at the same time. To fix this issue, you'll need two things. One is a wireless router. You can pick one up at Wal-Mart or just about anywhere, I personally recommend the Linksys WRT160, but just about any of them will do. If your cable modem is hooked to your computer with a network wire (it looks like a really heavy-duty telephone cord), just open the router box, pop in the disc, and do what it tells you. The instructions are illustrated with animated pictures that show you just what to do. That gets your router hooked into the network. If you have kids with laptops, you only have to give them the password so they can connect. If the computer in question is a desktop system, then you'll need to pick up a USB wireless adapter while you're at Wal-Mart getting the router. It's best to get a router and adapter that match brands, but that's not nearly so important now than it was in the past.

Cool Site: Disney Jr: This week, our cool site is Disney Junior. This is one of those Zak-approved sites, and it's done up in typical Disney fashion. Your kids can watch videos and episodes online at the site, sure. But that's just the beginning. The site has games and activities themed around each of the shows. There are prize certificates to be won and pages to print out and color. You can send e-cards to family and friends and learn to read along with stories about their favorite characters. This morning there was a recipe for a snack that looks like daisies, but is made of green beans, wheat tortilla, cheddar cheese, meatless pepperoni, and black olives. They also have recipes for birthday party food that is also themed around the various shows. In the "For Grown-Ups" section, you can find crafts and other fun ideas for stuff to do with your kids. So if you and your kids enjoy the Disney Channel's Disney Jr. line-up, check this site out.

Cool Gadget: Bike Handle Lock: From Geeek.com this week is a prototype from a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design named Jaryn Miller. He says that people who ride bicycles don't like to carry locks around with them, so sometimes their bikes get stolen. He's designed handlebars that transform into a lock. That solves the problem of forgetting to bring the lock, which is convenient for the rider, and it deters theft because the would-be thief would have to break the handlebars to steal the bike. It's a simple invention, but very often the simplest designs are the best. After all, look at the wheel itself - pretty simple contraption. By the way, this lock system also has a ring that will grab the back wheel, so when you combine that with having to break the handlebars to steal the bike, a potential thief will probably just grab the bike next to yours.

It's All "Geek" To Me: GIF: This week, we'll look at the term gif. Yes, JIF is the "correct" pronunciation. GIF is a picture format developed by CompuServe in 1987, before the Internet, back when 1200 baud dial-up was considered fast. It is therefore very compact but you can only have a palette of 256 colors. By contrast most photos need a palette in the millions of colors to depict everything well, so while this format is good for web graphics, it's not great for photos. However, unlike regular photos, a gif can include multiple frames, like videos and film, and therefore can be animated. If you're one of those folks who pronounce it GIF, that's OK because pronunciation of words is largely a matter of agreement, anyway. I mean, if you're understood, that's what’s most important.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Disney Jr.:
http://www.disneyjr.com

Bike Handle Lock at Geek.com:
http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/bike-handles-that-transform-into-a-lock-2011053/

GIF at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/gif

How to Pronounce GIF at The Atlantic:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/02/tech-etymology-animated-gif/70504/

5/6/2011-Insert boot disk?, KidsKnowIt.com, Sony Bloggie 3D Camcorder, "Troll"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 9 Jul 2011 10:58:31 -0500

Episode 158:
Question: Chuck asks, "I have a message on my screen that says, 'Insert boot disk and press enter.' Where do I get a boot disk?"

Answer: Good question Chuck. Normally, when you start your computer, it goes through several self-tests and then tries to find Windows or Linux, or some other operating system to start up. That search usually ends with your computer finding Windows on your hard drive and then starting it up. However, in your case, the computer looked everywhere it was told it should, but couldn't find an operating system to start, so it's asking you to give it one. This message usually means one of two things: 1) Your hard drive isn't listed as one of the places to look anymore, or 2) Your hard drive has a problem. You can remedy the first situation by going into something called System Setup. It usually requires you to press some key right after turning your computer on, like F2 or the Del key. When you get in there, look for something called the Boot order or Boot Device Priority. Make sure that the hard drive is on the list somewhere. The second problem usually means there's a problem with your hard drive and you should probably have it looked at by someone. On the other hand, if you've just had a new hard drive installed, then either your old drive's data wasn't copied over, or you'll have to put your Windows disc in the DVD or CD drive and reboot. Some computers come with one or more Recovery Discs that among other things contains Windows. If you don't have a Windows Disc, this one should work. Vista and Windows 7 discs have features to let you repair your drive relatively automatically if that becomes necessary. Use their features if you haven't put in a new drive, and maybe it will start normally after you reboot.

Cool Site: KidsKnowIt.com: This week, our cool site is KidsKnowIt.com. This is actually a network of sites chock-full of educational activities for, as they put it, the young and the young at heart. All the sites in the kids know it network are free and cover topics like astronomy, biology, math, memory, geography, geology, spelling, music, games, history, dinosaurs (and the site approaches dinosaurs from an old earth perspective), and a site of educational movies each of which ends with a short interactive quiz. The site has a character, Nanna KnowItAll, who does a science-related video podcast that you can access. There's a featured animal and a featured dinosaur. Clicking the animal or dino will bring up an article about the feature. There's even a virtual world called Miamiopia, in which you create a balloon character, because Miamiopia is where balloons go when they escape human hands. Your character then completes learning activities to earn virtual coins. Those coins can be spent in the shopping district to buy things like clothes, wigs, and other accessories.

Cool Gadget: Bloggie 3D Camcorder: From Gearlog.com this week is an announcement that Sony has a new digital camcorder that shoots in 3D. This is pretty cool, because the videos don't require special glasses to see them in 3D. It is also a 5.15 megapixel still camera. You've got a 4x zoom, face detection, Sony's SteadyShot to help reduce blurring from camera motion. It has full HD (1920x1080) resolution and 8 gigabytes of memory to store pictures and videos. You can export your photos and videos to 3D photo frames, 3D TVs and the Nintendo 3DS, but best of all, it's only $250. That can be a lot of money, but for 3D?

It's All "Geek" To Me: Troll: This week's term doesn't relate to a kind of motor for your boat, nor to a mean character that lives under a bridge: it's Troll. A troll refers to someone on Facebook or other social website who uses that space to make mean or otherwise offensive comments. Often those comments don't have anything to do with the topic at hand. They are generally a nuisance in online communities and sometimes stir up arguments among other users of the site. Their activities are discouraged, and may even go against the site's usage guidelines, so they may get removed from the site, and webmasters actively remove their comments.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Kids Know It:
http://www.kidsknowit.com

Bloggie 3D Camcorder at Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2011/05/sony_releases_bloggie_3d.php

Troll at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/troll

4/29/2011-Why does my new monitor have black bars?,Gasbuddy.com, Laser Spark Plugs, "SMTP"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 9 Jul 2011 10:58:30 -0500

Episode 157:
Question: David asks, "I got a new monitor and now some of my games have black bars on each side. What happened?"

Answer: Good question David. From the earliest days of CRT screens, whether used in TVs or Computers, they all had the same aspect ratio of 4:3, which means that the screen is roughly square. In the last 10 years or so, we've had widescreen TV's and monitors, that are at a ratio of 16:9. Because of the difference in Aspect Ratio, some programs that were designed to be displayed only in the more square 4:3, will center themselves on the wider screen. This results in the black bars you're seeing. You can change that by adjusting your display resolution. You'll right-click the desktop and choose either Properties on XP or Personalize on Windows 7.

Cool Site: GasBuddy.com: Well, the price of gas is on everyone's mind right now. Our cool site of the week this week is GasBuddy.com. The basic premise of the site is to help folks find the lowest prices for gas for a given ZIP Code. This is helpful as everyone is gearing up for summer travel, or just getting around. Features of the site include a heat map showing what the prices are like geographically for both the US and Canada. For instance, the cheapest gas in the country is found in Wyoming, and is around $3.65 or less almost statewide. There are tips to helping with your mileage, a trip cost calculator, a blog, and mobile apps for your smartphone. The site has a new opinion poll each week. This week I found out that 29% of respondents don't use a phone while driving, 27% use one, handheld. Each week the site has a prize giveaway, which has been a $250 prepaid gas card for as long as they showed. You have to create an account in order to win, and post gas prices from around the area where you live. This is how they collect their data. They give you points for participating in the site's activities, like voting in a poll, updating gas prices, etc. and for every thousand points, you earn another chance at that gift card. But for those weeks you don't win, you're at least helping other folks find the best gas prices.

Cool Gadget: Laser Spark Plugs: Continuing the theme of what to do about rising gas prices, our cool gadget this week comes from Gearlog.com, who reported that a team of researchers working both with Toyota and a spark plug company, has developed tiny lasers that can be used to ignite fuel. The lasers are 11mm long. The idea is to make them into replacement spark plugs. They can ignite leaner mixtures than conventional spark plugs. Conventional spark plugs can do it, but the higher spark energy burns up the electrodes too fast to really be economical. More work is needed, so don't look for them at your parts store too soon. There are problems like the soot problem inside cylinders fouling the optics, possible timing issues, and of course when they first come out, they'll be expensive and probably used in some type of racing car, where races can be won or lost by making one less pit stop to refuel the car. But yeah, laser spark plugs may be in your future.

It's All "Geek" To Me: SMTP: This week we have an acronym: SMTP. SMTP stands for Simple (yeah, right) Mail Transfer Protocol. This is the protocol that is used when we send email. When you send an email, your message goes to an email server, this is known as your outgoing mail server. That server uses SMTP to send your message to the recipient's mail server, where it's stored until they pick it up using a completely different protocol. So, if you have ever had to set up Outlook Express, Thunderbird, or some other email program that you don't need a web browser to get to, you have had to know the name of the Outgoing Mail Server and might have seen SMTP after it. That's what it means in a nutshell: SMTP – Outgoing email server

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Aspect Ratio on MythTV:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio

Change your Display Resolution in Windows XP:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-xp/help/setup/change-monitor-resolution

Change your Display Resolution in Windows Vista:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-screen-resolution

Change your Display Resolution in Windows 7:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Change-your-screen-resolution

GasBuddy.com:
http://www.gasbuddy.com

Laser Spark Plugs at Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2011/04/tiny_lasers_could_make_gas_pow.php

Laser Spark Plugs at Treehugger:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/04/lasers-could-replace-spark-plugs-reducing-emissions-better-fuel-economy.php?campaign=th_rss

SMTP at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/smtp

4/8/2011-What is Netware?, KidsGardening.com, Circuit Board Ties,"Launch"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 9 Jul 2011 10:58:29 -0500

Episode 156:
Question: A listener asks, "What is Netware and why is it trying to install?"

Answer: Good question. Netware is the name of a brand of network, made by Novell, that was popular from the late 80's until the mid to late 90's or so. After Windows NT 4.0 came out, its popularity began to wane, but that was due more to the Internet and the difficulty of writing programs that ran on Netware servers than to Windows NT. In any event, most all networks don't use or need Netware's protocols. But, even Windows 7 still has support for Netware's protocols, and I have seen some computers that have malware on them that also had these protocols installed, even when there was no reason to have them there. So, I'd remove them. There are three components you'll find: Client Services for Netware, NWLink IPX/SPX, and the NWLink NetBIOS helper. Remove the Client Services for Netware first, then the IPX/SPX piece. That "Helper" will uninstall along with it, and can't be uninstalled separately.

Cool Site: KidsGardening.com: Do you have a green thumb? Mine's brown-everything I touch dies except the weeds: I've got a green thumb for them. I might be able to learn something from this week's site: kidsgardening.com. This is a website that is set up for parents, kids, and teachers to help kids learn about science and nature through gardening. Teachers will find a library of classroom projects that includes items like "Building Soil Nature’s Way" that explores decomposition and soil health, "Hooked on Hummingbirds" that studies hummingbirds. For instance, did you know that hummingbirds can fly 600 miles nonstop? I didn’t. There’s one on how to make paper, which is kind of cool. There's a section on hydroponics, news, a primer for parents to help them use gardening to teach their kids. You can find a greenhouse guide for your school, which is an overview of how to run a school greenhouse program and how to actively involve students in the maintenance and investigations in the greenhouse. It's run by the National Gardening Association, and given the way that food prices are going up, planting a garden might not be so bad an idea. I just might be able to get a green thumb after all. By the way, according to Answers.com, that saying, "green thumb" comes from Colonial and Early America where tobacco farmers would use their thumbnails to cut the flowers off the tobacco plants. This increased the weight of the leaves, and is still done today, albeit mechanically. But this thumbnail process would eventually result in the chlorophyll staining the farmer's thumb green, hence the saying.

Cool Gadget: Circuit Board Ties: This week, our gadget isn't much of a gadget per se. But Etsy.com has some really cool ties that look like printed circuit boards. When I checked, they only had one left, but maybe they'll get more soon; because the ties are either Kelly green, hunter green, or black with metallic copper and silver accents that make it look just like the real thing. They also come in three widths, normal (3.5"), narrow (2.75"), and skinny (2"). They run $30. This is really for the geek in your life who has everything else, but not if you're looking for an Easter gift. The site says that due to sudden high demand, they can't ship more until the end of April, though.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Launch: Our term for this week is Launch. Not a rocket going up, but maybe a website. Launch can refer to the date your website goes live. The other thing it can refer to is starting up a program. This definition would be synonymous with Open.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Uninstalling NetWare Client Services on Windows XP:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4829255_uninstall-client-services-netware.html

Kids Gardening:
http://www.kidsgardening.com

Origin of the saying "Green Thumb":
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_origin_of_having_a_green_thumb

Circuit Board Ties at Etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/67362486/circuit-board-tie-metallic-copper-and

Launch at NetLingo:
http://www.netlingo.com/word/launch.php

4/1/2011-Where to get new printer driver?, Thinkingfountain.org, Nanogenerators, "Systray"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 9 Jul 2011 10:58:19 -0500

Episode 155:
Question: A listener asks, "My printer does crazy stuff and I want to get a new driver. Where should I get that from?"

Answer: Good question. When it comes to drivers, you can really wind up finding a Trojan Horse program if you're not careful. In most cases, I recommend getting any drivers you need from the website of the manufacturer of whatever printer you have. You can sometimes get device drivers from Windows Update, but I don't recommend it unless you can't find the driver on the manufacturer's website. Use Google or Bing to find out the manufacturer's true official website. Then, when you get there, look for a link on the page that says something like support or support and downloads. You then usually have to identify the model of printer you have and which Windows you use. Once you do that, you should be able to find the driver. When it's a printer, I usually get the largest download I can find because it's usually the one I need. It's usually got all the drivers, extra software, and whatever.

Cool Site: Thinking Fountain: We've got a great website this week for homeschoolers, or anyone who just wants to see some neat ideas around science. The Science Museum of Minnesota has a site at www.thinkingfountain.org, that has dozens of ideas that help kids learn to think. We like watching Cake Boss and they are forever using something called fondant. Well, this site has an article that's about fondant. You get a recipe that's structured into an activity, and then there are questions at the end that give you things to think about. These questions encourage further involvement with whatever topic the article is about. That's probably the reason they call it the Thinking Fountain. The site has a search box, an A to Z index of ideas, and theme clusters where ideas have been gathered by topic. There are galleries of photos where you can show what you've done, activities and ideas, like how to recycle clear plastic lids as shrinking art like the Shrinky Dinks we had as kids, book summaries, and surprises.

Cool Gadget: Nanogenerators: From the SyFy channel's DVICE website, we have a gadget that may represent the future power source of our gadgets. It’s called a nanogenerator, and it relies on a property of zinc oxide nanowires that when flexed, create electricity. This is nanotechnology, so it's extremely small. You stack five generators on top of one another and you get the energy of a couple of AA batteries. The article doesn't say how many nanowires are in a single generator, but it does say that 500 of the nanowires can fit on a single strand of human hair, so it can’t be too big, and it's thought that at some point in the future, all our gadgets will be able to be recharged just by using them. Like for instance recharging a laptop by typing on it. Recharge your iPod by taking it on a jog. This is cool technology. It just needs to be mass-produced.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Systray: Our term this week represents something that's on your Windows desktop right now. It's Systray, which is short for System Tray. The system tray is the name of the place where the clock shows up on your screen. You'll notice that down in the system tray, Microsoft calls it the notification area, different icons appear. When you click most of these, a program of some kind will open Windows 7 and Vista make that area smaller than in XP, where it can get pretty big. By the way, it's shortened to systray because that's the filename of the program that makes it show up.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

HP Printer Drivers:
http://www.hp.com

ThinkingFountain:
http://www.thinkingfountain.org/

Plastic Lid Recycling as Shrinking Art:
http://www.thinkingfountain.org/r/reducereuserecycle/reducereuserecycle.html

Nanogenerators at Dvice:
http://dvice.com/archives/2011/03/new-nanogenerat.php

Systray at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/systray

3/25/2011-Windows is suddenly 'not genuine', TeamCrossword, 5-in-1 Connection Kit for iPad, "Crop"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:42:52 -0500

Episode 154:
Question: David asks, "All of a sudden my Windows is saying it's not genuine. It always was before. What's up?"

Answer: Good question, David. Good name, too. The message you're seeing should normally be accompanied by some other symptoms as well, like a black screen, and a computer that shuts itself down after about an hour or so. This can be caused by a number of factors. First, it may be correct. If your Windows didn't come with your computer, or when you bought it, it wasn't still shrink-wrapped, it may be counterfeit. But you got your Windows XP from a legitimate source, so that's not it. Microsoft has a utility you can try. We'll have the link in the show notes eventually. This utility can help you discover what's wrong and why your Windows looks non-genuine. That said, the first thing I would do is disable any antivirus software because I've seen that cause the problem. Check that the date and time on your computer's clock is accurate, or at least close. In particular, check that the calendar isn’t set into the future.

Cool Site: TeamCrossword: This week's cool website is for those of you who like to play games on Facebook, specifically crosswords. Teamcrossword.com is an online crossword game that lets you solve crosswords either alone, or with help from friends you invite. You log in with your Facebook account and then you can start working crossword puzzles. If you need help, you can post a link to the puzzle on your friends' walls, or you can just make a puzzle public and then anyone can join in to help. If you don't see one you want to work on, you might jump in on one of the public puzzles someone else has made available. Or maybe you got a link from a friend to join in on his puzzle. It's free, and if you're a wordsmith, check it out.

Cool Gadget: 5-In-1 Connection Kit for iPad: One of the biggest drawbacks to most of Apple's small devices is also its biggest draw: its simplicity. That simplicity comes at a price: the iPad only has one port to plug things into. You can plug devices into it that do all kinds of different things, but you can only plug one of them in at a time. Well, this week we have a gadget to help: the 5-in-1 Connection Kit. With this $45 gadget, you can connect your iPad to the TV for playback of video, an SD or Micro SD card, keyboard, USB device or charge it through the USB port. Now you've got ports, and as long as your digital camera's cards have a DCIM folder, you can move your photos from the camera to the iPad in a flash. It works with the iPad and iPad 2, as long as you have iOS firmware versions 4.1.0, 4.2.1, or 4.3 only. If you have others, you'll need to get one of those to use this gadget. By the way, they suggest only using one device at a time. I suspect that this is because more than one device will draw too much power, which will at best shorten your battery life, and at worst not work.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Crop: This week, we turn our attention to the term crop. Not corn, not wheat, or anything like that. In fact, that kind of crop adds something; the kind of crop I'm talking about today is more of the opposite. It's a digital photography term, referring to cutting away the extra parts of a photo, leaving only the parts you're interested in keeping. Cropping is used for instance to remove people from one photo to put them into another, like in that Microsoft "to the cloud" commercial where the lady creates the family photo she could never actually take.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Windows Genuine Advantage Diagnosis Tool from Microsoft:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/3/3/533A40BE-936B-4267-B043-2F04233A78A6/MGADiag.exe

Windows 7 displays "Windows is not Genuine" with an error code of 0x80070005:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2008385

TeamCrossword.com:
http://www.teamcrossword.com/

5-in-1 Connection Kit for iPad at USB Fever:
http://www.usbfever.com/index_eproduct_view.php?products_id=2287

Crop at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/crop

3/18/2011-Retrieve a forgotten wireless password, Zefty.com, FaceInfected.com, "Address Bar"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:42:44 -0500

Episode 153:
Question: Donna asks, "I've forgotten my wireless password. Can I get it back?"

Answer: Good question, Donna. In the early days of wireless networking, people didn't often enable security on their networks. It wasn't necessary because it wasn't everywhere. But now, wireless security has gotten stronger and easier to implement, so that the CDs that set up your wireless router will automatically set up security. This makes it easy to forget what the password is. You only have to enter it the first time you connect to a wireless network, and it becomes easy to forget the same way speed dial makes you only able to call some people from that phone. Well, another thing that can happen is that your router can lose its settings and when that happens, it'll revert to its factory defaults. There are two ways to fix it, and both of them require a network wire. One is to just use the CD that came with your router and re-setup everything fresh. This is the best option when only one or two devices use your wireless, because you'll have to set these devices up again. The second option is to go into the router's setup; usually with Internet Explorer or some other browser. You can then usually find that password under Wireless Security somewhere.

Cool Site: Zefty.com: If you have kids, one of the areas you have to teach them about is money management. This week's cool site, Zefty might be able to help. With zefty, you sign up for an account and you sign up your kids also. Zefty works kind of like a bank. You as the parent hold the actual money, but your child's Zefty account works like a checking account and keeps up with the balance. So, when your son or daughter wants to go to the movie or whatever, they can write a ZeftyCheck, print it out and take it to you to cash. You then reconcile the check which updates their Zefty account balance. In the process, they learn how checks work. After deciding how much allowance they should get, you could if you want, set up that amount to be automatically deposited into their Zefty account. This illustrates the concept behind direct deposit. If they want to do something special, they can use the ZeftyCalc tool to find out how many weeks' worth of allowance they'll have to save to get it. This teaches savings rather than using credit to get what you need and want.

Cool Gadget: FaceInfected: Social networks are all the rage these days. What the web was for the Internet, it looks like Facebook is becoming for the web. But that fame comes with a price. Bad guys have begun to infect Facebook pages with viruses so that when you go there, you get the virus. This week's gadget is a website gadget: Faceinfected.com will let you scan your facebook page for malicious links. You have to give it access to everything for it to work, but then in short order it will let you know whether or not your page is infected. It starts by checking your links and presents buttons below that where you can choose to scan messages, private messages, and links. I'm not sure what the difference is between the initial link-check and the one you get when you click "scan links".

It's All "Geek" To Me: Address Bar: This week's term is one that does cause a certain amount of confusion: the Address Bar. The Address Bar is a text box you'll find in your web browser. All of them have one, and it is here that you'll see the address of the website you're visiting. Its contents usually begin with http://, but may begin with something slightly different, depending on which site you're visiting. In the address bar, you can also type where you want to go on the web and press the Enter key to go there. You don't usually have to enter the http:// part because the browser will put it there itself if you omit it. Where folks sometimes get confused is in distinguishing the address bar from search boxes that may also appear in your browser window. Making things worse, some address bars also let you enter search terms and will redirect you to a search engine when you press enter. But the search boxes you have either on the Bing or Google web page, or in some toolbar that was added to your browser are not the same as the address bar. Most of the time nowadays, these search boxes will appear below the address bar, so this should help you differentiate between them.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Zefty.com:
http://www.zefty.com/

Faceinfected:
http://www.faceinfected.com

Address Bar at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/address_bar.htm

3/11/2011-How do I open a new Word document in an old Word program?, KidFunVid, Microsoft Mathematics 4.0, "ZIP"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:42:26 -0500

Episode 152:
Question: Eddie asks, "Someone emailed me a Word document. I have Word, but when I try to open the document it asks if I want to go online to find a program that can open it. Why is that?"

Answer: Good question, Eddie, I guess after all these shows, you deserve a turn. Most likely, they have Office 2007 or 2010, and you're using Office 2003 or earlier. If our listeners have the newer versions of Office and plan on sharing your work with others, you might ask which version of Office they have and save the file in a format that's compatible, right upfront. But now that two versions of Office have come out using these new formats, it’s also good for those of us using the earlier versions (I still use 2003 myself) to get Microsoft's Office Compatibility Pack. It's a free download that will let your version of Office open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files created in the new versions of Office. We'll have a link to the download in the show notes for anyone who's interested. If you don’t have Office at all, you can download viewers for PowerPoint and for Word. You can also just download Open Office if you need an office suite and don't have one.

Cool Site: KidFunVid: YouTube can be really fun. But by itself, YouTube doesn't let you choose videos by audience. The audience I'm thinking about is younger kids. To address that problem KidFunVid.com aggregates YouTube videos that are appropriate for young children. The site is very simple to use, with tabs at the top of the page for Home, with a few of their newest videos listed, an About/Contact page that tells you a little about the site, and gives you a form you can use to contact them and suggest a video, make a comment, etc, and the other eight tabs let you alphabetically browse what's been linked there. They have an RSS feed so you can stay informed about the newest videos as they are added, or you can subscribe via email.

Cool Gadget: Microsoft Mathematics: Our listeners may not know that, among other things, I'm a math teacher. Specifically, I teach an algebra class at Lon Morris College. Well, this week's gadget is a software gadget. It's a free download from Microsoft called Microsoft Mathematics 4.0. What it amounts to is a graphing calculator application. It works on everything from Windows XP Service Pack 3 to 64-bit Windows 7. This thing can graph equations, it can do calculus, it can solve algebraic equations, convert units, do statistics, geometry, trig, and more. The graphs can be either 2D or 3D, and 3D graphs can be animated. You can print out the results, get step by step solutions for algebra problems, even save your work or export it to Word. Maybe you've forgotten how to do your kids' math; but this calculator probably remembers. I've recommended it to my students, and we'll have a link to it in the show notes.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Zip: This week's term is Zip. Talking about a file, zip is a means of combining several files into one. The zip file itself is compressed, so it's smaller than the several files contained in it. Because of this, it's faster to send from one computer to another, plus it takes less room to store. On your Windows computer, you can create and use zip files just like any other folder. They're called Compressed (zipped) Folders and on XP, the icon looks like a folder with a zipper on it.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack at Microsoft.com:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466&displaylang=en

KidFunVid.com:
http://kidfunvid.com/

Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 at Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9CACA722-5235-401C-8D3F-9E242B794C3A

Zip at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/zip

3/4/2011-Outlook Express has stopped deleting mail, NiNite.com, Creative Labs' D100 Bluetooth Boombox Speakers, "End User"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:42:13 -0500

Episode 151:
Question: Joanne asks, "My Outlook Express won't delete mail anymore. How can you fix that?"

Answer: Good question, Joanne. One of two things is happening here: either your Deleted Items data file has become too large, or it has gotten corrupted somehow. Now, if your file has gotten too large, you can compact it. Just open Outlook Express, click File, then Folder, then Compact All Folders. We'll have a link in the show notes for today in case you missed it. On the other hand, if the file has become corrupted, then the best thing to do is to shut down Outlook Express and delete that file. When you restart Outlook Express, it will recreate an empty one for you. Since that procedure is a bit more involved, we'll have a link to it, again, in the show notes.

Cool Site: NiNite.com: We love free software here at TechTipFriday. And this week's cool site is all about free software, not to mention free time. Ninite.com lets you just check a bunch of boxes and then two clicks later, off you go. The Ninite installer will fully automate the setup of the applications you've selected. No clicking next, no clicking finish, no extra toolbars to uninstall when you're done; just pure, unadulterated free software. To be fair, Microsoft Office 2007 is a trial version, and there may be others like that, but I didn't see them. If you want to know whether something's been updated, just run your installer again. The latest versions of the software you choose will always be set up on your computer. You don't have to set up an account, and it doesn't matter if you have 32 or 64-bit Windows. Ninite knows. I made a quick list of 11 programs, some of which I already had, to put Ninite to the test. It skipped four, installed one that I didn't have, and updated the rest, all in about 9 or 10 minutes. The installer was small, only around 300k. It began downloading the first app, then while that one was installing, it downloaded the second. When the installation of the first item finished, it just started right in on the second one, and so on. For IT Professionals, there is a Ninite Pro that has several additional features and doesn't necessarily require visiting the website first. This site almost qualifies as a gadget, too.

Cool Gadget: Creative Labs' D100 Bluetooth Boombox Speakers: For this week's cool gadget, I found Creative Labs D100 Bluetooth enabled boombox speakers. Pair these speakers up with your phone or other Bluetooth device, and you can get great bass response from the D100’s twin 3-inch speakers. They run $70-$75 and come in blue, green, black, and pink. The only bad thing about it is you can't use it as a speakerphone. They don’t have a remote, but I don't call that much of a drawback. With the Bluetooth, you can keep your music player in your pocket as you move around the room, which is cool; but if your player is like mine and doesn't do Bluetooth, these speakers have an aux jack so you can plug them in. It runs on a couple of AA batteries, which are not rechargeable, but you get 10-15 hours from a set of alkaline batteries.

It's All "Geek" To Me: End User: This week's term is End User. The End User is nothing more than the person the device, service, or software was designed to be used by. So when you use your computer, you are the end user. When you listen to this show (and thank you for it by the way), you are the end user. You are the final consumer of the finished product. For instance, when I sell a computer with Windows on it, Microsoft wrote Windows and sold a copy to a distributor. I bought that copy of Windows from the distributor, and used it as part of the computer that I turned around and sold to the End User, who agrees to the End User License Agreement. Being the final link in the supply chain makes you the End User.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Fixing Outlook Express at About.com:
http://email.about.com/od/outlookexpresstips/qt/et_does_not_del.htm

How to Compact Outlook Express Folders:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5873007_compact-outlook-express.html

NiNite.com:
https://ninite.com

Creative Labs' D100 Bluetooth Boombox Speakers:
http://reviews.cnet.com/portable-speakers/creative-d100-black/4505-11313_7-34130382.html#reviewPage1

End User at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/enduser

2/25/2011-How do you shut down a hard-locked computer?, Upstartly.com, Microsoft Sharedview, "Deprecated"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:41:42 -0500

Episode 150:
Question: Belinda asks, "How do you shut down the computer when it locks up so badly that the mouse locks up?"

Answer: Good question, Belinda. Sometimes your computer will freeze up completely. This usually happens at the most inopportune of moments. When it does, you really only have one choice: push and hold the power button until the system shuts down. You can then wait a few seconds and turn it back on, or you can unplug the power cord and then push the power button. What that does is to make the system try to start up using the power it has stored up. It won't be successful, but the power will be drained out. If you have a laptop, you'll also have to unplug the battery to do this. The thing is, by that time, you'll have waited long enough anyway. Ok, after that, you can just restart normally, but be aware that your computer will probably want to run check disk when you do restart because it wasn’t shut down properly.

Cool Site: Upstartly.com: Have you ever have an idea for a business but were afraid to try it? Well, this week's cool website can help. Upstartly.com is a site that gets your business idea validated before you start. You create a page on the site that describes your business idea and send it out to potential customers or users. They then will validate your idea by sharing it with someone else, paying to be on a private beta, or committing to buy your product or service by preordering with a credit card, which will be charged after you launch then you get the money. Here's what the site says about why you should use it:

quote:
"Launching a start-up is risky and can be very difficult. Most investors want to see traction before they fund you. Upstartly lets your startup have traction even before you launch. You can walk into a meeting with…potential investors and tell them: "My idea is validated because I already have users willing to pay for it: I even have their credit card info and will charge them as soon as I launch". I'm pretty sure that would blow away any investor."

The site has 31 different startup ideas on it and some of them are kind of cool. The pages you create have three sections: The Team, The Pitch, and a Validate this startup section where people can subscribe or share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, or Hacker News. Not sure on that last one, but there you go. This looks like a new site, but it also seems like a pretty good idea. What do you think?

Cool Gadget: Microsoft SharedView: This week I've found a free software gadget. It's from Microsoft and it's called SharedView. SharedView is a program that lets you share applications with your work team. This is a great tool for folks who don't office together, but still need to work together on documents and what have you. With this free download which, by the way, requires a Windows Live account to use, you can share whatever you're up to with up to 15 different participants. Each of them has a different color mouse so that participants can point around on the screen and everyone can see what is happening. It also adds a "Work with me" toolbar to Microsoft Office applications. Here's how it works. You start the program, which puts a big bar at the top of the screen. Then, to create a session, you sign in with your Live ID, and then send invitations to the session. You can send invitations by email, you can send a link, or they can just join with your email address and a password generated by the program. The folks you invite do have to have SharedView installed, but fortunately it's free, so that's no big deal. You can add handouts that your participants can download if they like, and once folks join in, you can share any currently open application with them. If you are the host of the session, you get to drive. In other words, everyone else can only just see what you're doing. They can request to take control of the application and if you agree, then they can make changes to the document. In Word, these changes can all be tracked, and you have the capability of reasserting control at any time. You also have a chat box into which you can type messages that go to everyone else in the session and appear as small popups on their screens.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Deprecated: This week's term is Deprecated. It refers to a feature of a program or even maybe a programming language that is still available to be used right now, but it won't be staying around for much longer. Deprecated features are generally either features that no one uses, or that have been superseded by something that's better, or easier to use, or whatever. Planned obsolescence.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Upstartly.com on MakeUseOf:
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/upstartly-realize-potential-startup-launch/

Upstartly:
http://www.upstartly.com

SharedView at Microsoft:
http://connect.microsoft.com/content/content.aspx?ContentID=6415&SiteID=94

Deprecated at Wiktionary:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deprecated

Deprecated at TechTerms (suggested by yours truly):
http://www.techterms.com/definition/deprecated

2/18/2011-What is Verizon's Mi-Fi?, AlamoHeroes & TheAlamo.org, USB Missile Launcher, "Webmaster"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:41:33 -0500

Episode 149:
Question: Robert asks, "What is this Mi-Fi thing Verizon's got and how do I use it to connect things to the Internet?"

Answer: Good question, Robert. Verizon's Mi-Fi device is kind of new, and kind of not. They've had it for a while, hence the kind of not, but now they're more available. They are potentially as fast as cable for Internet speed and act as their own Wi-Fi router. It connects you to the Internet, and then you may connect up to five different devices to it via Wi-Fi, in other words, 802.11B, G, or N. They are portable and also can connect to a computer via USB. If your devices have wireless capability, you can connect them to the Internet through the MiFi. If they don't you need to connect them with USB, or some other way. We can help you there. But be forewarned: your data transfers are NOT unlimited and the maximum amount per month you can purchase on a single plan is 10GB for $80. Exceeding that will cost you an extra $10 per GB, and if you get the lowest cost plan, you only get 1GB of data transfer per month. Each additional GB costs an extra $20, and Windows Updates always count against your data allowance, regardless of which plan you're on.

Cool Site: AlamoHeroes.com & TheAlamo.org: I heard last week that we here in Texas are now teaching the story of the Alamo from a "neutral perspective". This bothered me so I thought that this week, we'd look at a site that tells it like we remember, when we remember the Alamo. AlamoHeroes.com is that site. It’s a little short on content, but stories of the major players are there. The second site, this week it's a two-fer, is TheAlamo.org. This is the official website of the Alamo. You'll find just about everything there about the Alamo and the history of the battle, including the myths surrounding the battle, like for instance, the myth that there were no survivors. There were women and children who survived, as well as a very few men who didn’t fight against Santa Anna. So if you want to really remember the Alamo, check out these sites. As a bonus, check the show notes for a link to Travis' famous letter, including the postscript wherein he expresses his belief that the Lord is on their side, which He was, by the way.

Cool Gadget: USB Missile Launcher: OK, this week's gadget is a toy, but it's more of a joke. It's from dreamcheeky, and it's a missile launcher. It's USB powered, and has a built-in webcam for better aiming. It comes with software that lets you pan the launcher from side to side and tilt it up and down. Then with the press of a button, you can launch one of four soft foam missiles up to 25 feet. The site doesn't have a video of the launcher in action, so I can't confirm whether the missiles rotate so that you always shoot the top one, or whether they are simply shot in sequence. But it's a great time-waster, and it looks like fun.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Webmaster: A while back we used this term during our All Geek To Me segment, and never defined it. So this week, our term is Webmaster. A number of Christian sites use the term Webservant to describe the same thing. A webmaster is someone who is in charge of a website. You may have to create web pages, maybe even write some programming code, articles to update the site, that kind of thing. You may also have to respond to email from the site's visitors as well. So, if you have a website that you keep up to date, you're a webmaster.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Verizon MiFi Info:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/mobilehotspot

Alamo Heroes:
http://alamoheroes.com/index.html

The Alamo Official Site:
http://www.thealamo.org

The Travis Letter from the Alamo:
http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/adp/history/bios/travis/trvsltr.html

The History of the Alamo:
http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/adp/history/hframe.html

USB Missile Launcher at DreamCheeky:
http://www.dreamcheeky.com/storm-oic-missile-launcher

Webmaster at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/webmaster

2/11/2011-My laptop's mouse quit working, StoryTimeForMe.com, Chew-Chew Train, "Shareware"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:41:20 -0500

Episode 148:
Question: Jordan says, "My laptop's mouse quit working. What can I do about it? I've tried turning it off and taking the battery out, but it didn't help."

Answer: Great question, Jordan. Windows can be operated without a mouse, believe it or not; but it's a tough slog. Since you have a laptop, it sounds like you're talking about a touchpad mouse. You've rebooted the system, so it's not a driver crash. Taking the battery out with the computer off resets the hardware, so that's not it. By the way, those are great first steps to take, and I would have done them too. If you have another mouse you can plug in, you can try uninstalling and reinstalling the touchpad driver in Device Manager. But before you do that, try this: in the olden days, 3 years ago, that touchpad wouldn't have had a button to switch it on and off. But more and more, current laptops have a button to turn the touchpad on and off. If you have one, it's generally located somewhere between the top of the touchpad and the spacebar. It often has a light to indicate whether it's on or off. If you see something like that, push it and see what happens. If that doesn’t work, try the uninstall/reinstall with Device Manager.

Cool Site: StoryTimeForMe.com: This week's cool site is storytimeforme.com and for our listeners that have small children, this site will be great. I've got a little one that needs to start learning to read soon, and I think he's going to like this. Storytimeforme is a site that helps teach kids to read by reading story books to them. The story books are animated, but the animations are just enough to hold the child's attention rather than distract. The books are read aloud and the words are highlighted as they're read. On my laptop, the highlighting lagged just slightly from what I thought it should, but overall was good. The stories center around three characters Ben the mouse for readers typically 4 to 8 and Fern the fox for readers 1 to 4. A character called Flame the dragon has one story aimed at 1 to 4 year olds but is likely a new character with more to come. You click the character you want to read about and the next page lists the stories, a very brief synopsis, category, intended age group, episode number and running time when the story is being read to the child. Stories can be read to your child but you or they can stop the reading and read the books themselves. Turning the pages is automatic when the books are being read aloud, but when you're reading them yourself, you turn the pages by clicking on a corner and dragging the page over. The books are read right inside your web browser and requires flash.

Cool Gadget: Chew Chew Train: This week's gadget may not be a high-tech gadget, but is definitely cool, especially for toddlers. The Chew Chew Train looks similar to Thomas, just without the face. It disassembles into a cup, plate, bowl, small tray, spoon and fork. It's good plastic (as in without those bad chemicals we've found about lately), you can put it in the dishwasher, and also comes in a pastel pink/purple combination as well as the more typical blue/red combination. It runs about $20 from vat19.com.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Shareware: This week's term is Shareware. Computer software is licensed and distributed in several different ways. The one we're most familiar with is commercial, where you have to buy the copyrighted software and you get a disc. With few exceptions, you can't legally copy it or give it to others, even in your own household. Freeware is copyrighted, but free forever. It may be feature-limited with a paid version offering more features. Shareware is copyrighted software that is full-featured and unlike commercial copyrighted software, you can give copies to anyone you please, but the author asks that after a reasonable time period, if you find the software useful, you might pay them something. Sometimes an amount is suggested, other times it's totally up to you. So shareware is software that you can share freely, but should pay for if you use it regularly.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

StoryTimeForMe at MakeUseOf:
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/storytimeforme-interactive-reading-books-for-kids/

StoryTimeForMe:
http://www.storytimeforme.com

Chew Chew Train at Craziest Gadgets:
http://craziestgadgets.com/2011/02/10/chew-chew-train-transforming-dinner-set/

Chew Chew Train at Vat19 (buy it here):
http://www.vat19.com/dvds/chew-chew-train-dinner-set.cfm

Shareware at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/shareware

2/4/2011-What's this problem with Intel processors?, UJam.com, the Skin Gun, "Slashdot"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:40:43 -0500

Episode 147:
Question: James asks, "What's this I hear about a problem with Intel processors?"

Answer: Great question, James. The 6-series chipset for the just-released, second-generation Core processors and the C200 chipset for the Xeon processors have a bit of a problem. In some cases, the hard drive controller can degrade over time, causing your hard drive to slow down. A fix has been created and is being sent out. The processor is not affected by this issue. If you've bought a new computer since January 9th, then check out our link in the show notes to determine whether or not your computer is impacted by this issue. If your computer is older than that, you're in good shape.

Cool Site: UJam.com: This week, we have a site for folks who would like to make music, but don't have anything but a voice and a microphone. The site requires you to set up an account before you can do anything, and this is a pain in the neck, but the form is very simple to fill out and you get instant feedback whether your entries are OK or not. Your login confirmation is sent back in email. After you confirm, you log in and you can start making music. Use your voice and sing, hum, or whistle a melody into the computer. You can upload a melody from an audio file on your computer. Or you can take a song that already exists and change it in UJam. By the way, if you play an instrument, it can also be used for recording the music. Sessions you've saved can be reloaded to continue working. You can also change your voice into an instrument, like an electric piano, change the style of the music, give it a different genre, or what have you. Finally, you can share your creations by downloading them as mp3 files. In just a few minutes, I was able to doodle-dee-doo a little bit and turn it into a tune.

Cool Gadget: The Skin Gun: This week, the SyFy channel's DVICE site has a story that was just too cool to pass up. Medical science just continues to get better and better. There's a new, still experimental, procedure that can be used to treat burn victims. It's called the skin gun, and how it works is that the doctor extracts adult stem cells from a patch of the victim's good skin; then they spray the stem cells over the burned area. The guy in the video that's in the article has second degree burns over a large part of his arm. They did the treatment on Friday and the burn center declared the burns healed the next Tuesday. All this was done without scarring or readily noticeable discoloration of the affected area. Take a look at the video from National Geographic. It's amazing!

It's All "Geek" To Me: Slashdot: This week's term is Slashdot. Rush Limbaugh claims that he can bring down any website just by mentioning it on his show, because then too many people will try to access the site at once. This is called slashdotting the site. The term originated in 1998 when a press release was published at Slashdot.org. Worldwide interest in that particular topic (couldn't find out what that topic was) was so great that the web server at Slashdot couldn't keep up with the demand, causing the site to become unavailable for a time. So when a site is slashdotted, it becomes unavailable due to excessive traffic.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Chipset Problem with Intel 6 Series:
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/sb/CS-032263.htm

UJam:
http://www.ujam.com

The Stem Cell Gun:
http://dvice.com/archives/2011/02/healing-burns-i.php

Slashdot at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/slashdot

1/28/2011-Clicking email links with web-based email, Bored.com, Day Shade Night Light, "SDRAM"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:40:30 -0500

Episode 146:
Question: Leslie asks, "I am clicking a link that's supposed to send an email and I get a window asking for me to set up an email account. I use Yahoo! for my email. What's up?"

Answer: Great question, Leslie. That kind of link is called a MailTo link. When you click a mailto link, it starts the default program on your computer that handles email. You use Yahoo!, which is web-based email. Normally, that would mean you can't get there from here. However, I read that if you install Yahoo! Messenger, it will make it possible for you to change your default email program to Yahoo! mail. We'll have a link in the show notes to the procedure.

EXTRA: I tried to set this up on another computer, and haven't had success yet. In my case, it seems to have problems with Internet Explorer 8.

Cool Site: Bored.com: Bored.com is the cool site of the week. This site features lots of games that you can play when you get bored. I found a roller coaster designer game that requires you to make a roller coaster track that passes by a number of coins. When you run the coaster, you get points for each coin the coaster hits. You also get extra points if the riders like the ride. There are puzzle games, shooting games, strategy, escape, action & arcade games. There are games designed for girls. The site is advertising supported, so you'll see a lot of ads. I never click ads unless I'm already familiar with the site they link to. I found a number of spelling quizzes. The one I took must have glitched because I thought I chose the correct spelling. That's how they do it, you have to choose the correct spelling from two different choices. One of the choices is right, and the other is wrong. I found a list of interesting facts such as the origin of the term Second String. It comes from the middle ages, when archers would often carry a second bowstring in case the first one broke. So, Bored.com: cool site if you're, well, bored.

Cool Gadget: Day Shade Night Light: This week's gadget is not necessarily a new idea, but it's a good one and the best looking one so far. It's a patio umbrella that's solar powered. The top of the umbrella has embedded solar panels. During the day, the panels charge batteries in the handle. All the while, it's providing shade for you, your outdoor guests, and your patio furniture. Once the sun goes down, the stored power is used to turn on large, flexible organic-LED (OLED) panels that turn the umbrella into a light so that you can keep right on socializing into the evening. The OLEDs are super-bright, but dimmable so that you can adjust the light level to your liking. I don’t think it's available just yet, but if so, it's from Yanko Designs and it's called the Day Shade Night Light.

It's All "Geek" To Me: SDRAM: Our term this week is SDRAM.

Eddie: That sounds like an acronym.

David: You're right, it is. It stands for Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. Random Access Memory is called RAM, the kind of RAM that needs power to maintain its value is called Dynamic RAM. When that Dynamic RAM is synchronized with the processor, it's called Synchronous DRAM. This is the kind of memory that's in your computer. Now, there was a type of memory that was actually called SDRAM that we don't use anymore. It was followed by DDR, then DDR2, and now DDR3 but this same basic type of chip is still being used even in today's fastest memory.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Changing your Default Email program to Yahoo!:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070422143234AAQuegk

Bored:
http://www.bored.com

Coaster Maker at bored.com:
http://www.bored.com/game/play/93/Coaster_Maker.html

Spelling Tests at bored.com:
http://www.bored.com/badspelling

Solar Powered Patio Umbrella:
http://www.goodcleantech.com/2010/11/a_solar_powered_patio_umbrella.php

Day Shade Night Light at Yankodesign.com:
http://www.yankodesign.com/2010/11/16/is-it-light-is-it-night/

SDRAM at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/sdram

1/21/2011-Which Windows do I have?, RawScripts.com, USB Rechargeable AA Battery/Flash Drive, "Wallpaper"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:39:05 -0600

Episode 145:
Question: A listener asks, "How can I tell whether I have Windows XP, Vista, or 7?"

Answer: Great question. Knowing which version of Windows you have is important because when you call for technical support they'll need to know so that they can direct you. This is less necessary when the support tech can log onto your computer and see your screen. Look at your start button. If it has the word "start" on it, it's XP. Click the start button. When the menu opens you'll see a search box above it. If that box says "Start Search" you have Vista. If it says "Search Programs and Files", it's Windows 7. There's a program at Microsoft's Sysinternals site, and we'll have a link in the show notes, that will put several pertinent bits of information on your screen background, like your computer's name and which version of Windows it is.

Cool Site: RawScripts.com: This week's cool site is RawScripts. Maybe you are an aspiring playwright or screenwriter. Or maybe you are just planning to write a play for your youth group to perform or to make a video to post to YouTube or something. You can use your word processor to write the script, or you can use a site like RawScripts.com. You log into RawScripts with either a Google or Yahoo! account and then you can write all you want. You can insert slug lines (which give the location and time of a scene), character lines, actions, transitions, and other types of lines, all automatically formatted to standard screenplay specifications, which is nice for me because I don't know what those are. You can save your screenplays and even share them among your friends to get their input. When you've finished, you can print it out (of course), or you can have RawScripts send you a PDF of your screenplay. The biggest drawback I can find about the site is that it doesn't really like Internet Explorer. You'll need a plugin to edit scripts with it, but other browsers like Firefox, Chrome, or Safari will work fine without one. By the way, we'll have a link in the show notes to Wikipedia's category of Film and Video terms.

Cool Gadget: USB Rechargeable AA Battery/FlashDrive: Everything USB is the source for this week's gadget. It looks like a prototype because neither pricing nor availability was announced in the article. But still this is a really cool concept. It's a Double-A battery.

Eddie: Oh really.

David: Yes, but this Double-A battery is rechargeable.

Eddie: I can get those at Wal-Mart.

David: But this one recharges with USB. You twist the end of the battery, and out pops a USB adapter that you can plug into your computer. What's more is that while the battery is plugged in, it doubles as a flash drive. So, it's a USB Flash drive, that's also a AA-sized battery. The link in the show notes has pictures. Since this is just a prototype, there's no telling what kind of battery life it might actually get, no information on recharge times, or whether it will ever actually become a product, but this is a really cool concept.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Wallpaper: This week's term is Wallpaper. The very first Mac computers, Windows, and even a Commodore environment called GEOS, had something called the desktop pattern. They were typically monochrome, so this pattern was just repeated over and over all across the desktop. Remember, "Desktop" is the term for the part of the screen that appears to be behind all your icons and windows. When Windows 3 came along back in the early '90s, the desktop pattern got an upgrade: a picture of your choice could be put in front of the pattern. The pattern stuck around until Windows 2000, and its function is still in XP, but you can't get to it anymore, and it was removed entirely from Windows Vista and 7. But Wallpaper is still with us, even though Windows now calls it the Desktop Background.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

BGInfo at Microsoft:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897557

RawScripts:
http://www.rawscripts.com

Slug Line defined at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenplay_slug_line

Film & Video Terminology at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Film_and_video_terminology

USB Rechargeable AA Battery/Flash Drive at EverythingUSB:
http://www.everythingusb.com/aa-usb-battery-flash-drive-20828.html

Changing Wallpaper at Microsoft.com:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Change-your-desktop-background-wallpaper

Desktop Wallpaper at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_wallpaper

1/14/2011-How do I change which program opens Word documents?, MarineTraffic.com, EasyFeet, "Operating System"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:38:56 -0600

Episode 144:
Question: Philip asks, "When I open a Word Document as an email attachment, it's all gibberish. What's wrong?"

Answer: Great question, Philip. There are two possibilities here. Either the attachment is corrupted, or the wrong program is trying to open the file. Assuming that Microsoft Word is the right program to open the file, you can test both problems at once by saving the attachment to your desktop first. Then open Word and go to File Open and try to open the file you saved. If it looks the same, the attachment is corrupted and you may have to have the sender email it again. If it looks OK, then the wrong program is opening the file, most likely WordPad. WordPad comes with Windows and can open many Word files, but it only does well with the simplest documents. How you fix that is not difficult, but varies based on which version of Windows you have. Check the show notes for links to instructions for different versions of Windows. Microsoft even has a fix-it for that particular problem.

Cool Site: MarineTraffic.com: Have you ever considered taking a cruise? Or do you know someone who is going on a cruise? This week's site is marine traffic.com. See, most larger ships have GPS trackers onboard, and this site puts that information on a map for you. So if you wanted to know where, say, the Disney Magic is right now, you can find it. Not only that, but if it's in motion, you can find out how fast it's going and in what direction. You can see its track as it has traveled from port to port, and you can access a gallery of pictures of the ship. The thing is, it's not limited to passenger ships. You can find information about most ocean-going vessels including cargo vessels, tankers, tugs, yachts, and more. If you have an Android smartphone you can get an app to get real-time information right on your phone.

Cool Gadget: EasyFeet: This week's gadget I found while watching something I recorded a while back. It is not electronic in any way, but it’s definitely a gadget. It's called Easy Feet. It's a brush for cleaning your feet. It's made of plastic and shaped like a shoe. It has suction cups on the bottom and you use these to stick the brush to any smooth area of the bathtub. You then put a little lotion soap or shower gel, or something on the part that cleans the top of your foot. Then, one at a time, you slide each foot into the device. You scrub it back and forth and the brush bristles clean and massage your feet. It's got a pumice stone at the heel to help smooth your heels while you clean. All in all, a pretty cool thing because feet are kind of hard to clean. It runs about $15 for two (buy one, get one free). The website has videos that illustrate the Easy Feet in use.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Operating System: For our term this week, we look at Operating System. Computer software falls into two broad categories: Application Software - hence the word of the year, "app", and System Software. The Operating System is the most basic part of that. It manages all of your computer's hardware. It displays windows on the screen and the mouse pointer, runs applications programs and manages how you work with them. It makes all your devices available like the keyboard, mouse, monitor, hard drives, everything. Windows is an Operating System. Mac has its own Operating System. This term is sometimes abbreviated OS.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

How to change or select which program starts when you double-click a file in Windows XP at Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307859 (Note that this link should start the Fix-It)

Change or set file associations for Windows 7 or Vista:
http://www.winvistaclub.com/t19.html

How to Change File Associations on a Macintosh:
http://www.fileinfo.com/help/mac-change-program.html

Marine Traffic:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/

EasyFeet:
https://www.buyeasyfeet.com/

Operating System at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/operatingsystem

InfoWorld’s "Evolution of Hard Drives" Slide Show:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/storage/the-evolution-hard-drives-886?source=IFWNLE_nlt_daily_2011-01-08

1/7/2011-What's the difference between malware and spyware?, Wi$eUp Women, GoSmart Phone Clip, "Spider"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:36:46 -0600

Episode 143:
Question: Jerry asks, "What is the difference between malware and spyware?"

Answer: Great question, Jerry, because you hear these terms all the time. The difference is that malware is a blanket term for any malicious software. Malware has two large subsets, viruses and spyware. Viruses and spyware really do much of the same stuff, but the difference there is that viruses incorporate a means to spread themselves, while spyware uses external means to spread, like email or peer to peer networks like limewire.

Cool Site: Wi$eUp: This week's cool site is WiseUp. It's at wiseup.tamu.edu, and so is a project of Texas A&M. The site's title is Financial Planning for Generation X & Y Women. It's a site that teaches money management principles in eight lessons, which are free when you register for the site. It's designed with a female audience in mind because it gets some of its funding from the US Department of Labor's Women's Bureau, but the lessons are good regardless of your gender. The lessons range from money basics, to credit and investing, to achieving financial security. After taking the class, you can return to the site for bimonthly 1-hour teleconferences on current financial topics. These include Q&A sessions from listeners. You can also submit your questions to their financial experts who volunteer their time to respond. The teleconferences are recorded and available as MP3 downloads. You'll find polls and money news on the site as well. The address is wiseupwomen.tamu.edu.

Cool Gadget: GoSmart Phone Clip: This week's gadget comes from CraziestGadgets.com. Lots of folks have smartphones with GPS capability, and this is an adjustable clip that lets you mount your phone on the steering wheel. That way, your GPS rides along at eye level and you can operate it if necessary without taking your hands from the wheel. Depending on where your instrument panel is, it might get in the way, so take a look at this one in the show notes. Without needing tools, you can adjust it to fit just about any phone and is said to be smaller than most dashboard mounts. Even if you don't have a smartphone, you may be able to use this so you don't miss calls while fishing for the phone, and in any event, having the phone mounted right in front of you is better than having to hold it in one hand and steer with the other, especially when using a phone that doubles as a GPS.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Spider: This week's term is spider. I'm scared of those things. This is not the kind that you kill with a can of spray. No, a spider is a program used by search engines like Google. It finds websites and then follows every link on every page it can find on that site. This lets it glean information about what the site contains. That information gets put into the search engine's database so you can search for it. They return every so often so that they can determine how many sites link to pages on other sites. The more links a site has from outside websites, the higher it will rank generally. Revisiting the site also helps the search engine's database stay up to date because web pages change often. For instance, back in the late 90's, Microsoft said they changed one page on their website every four hours on average. Now, it's probably much higher, but that's what a spider is: a program used to crawl the web looking for information so we can find it better with search engines.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Wi$eUp:
http://wiseupwomen.tamu.edu/

GoSmart Phone Clip at CraziestGadgets:
http://craziestgadgets.com/2010/12/17/gosmart-clip-puts-your-smartphone-on-the-steering-wheel/

Spider at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/Spider

12/31/2010-Christmas/New Year Hiatus-Best of Take Five with Eddie Baiseri-Tech Tip Friday

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:36:38 -0600

This week's show was a repeat of a previous show or was preempted. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

12/24/2010-Christmas Hiatus

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:33:44 -0600

This week's show was a repeat, or it was preempted by a Christmas special. Merry Christmas!

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear not! for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger". Then suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace, goodwill toward men."

That's the true meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown. (That's my favorite Christmas special of all.)

12/17/2010-Compacting Outlook data files, Speckle, Cosmic Color Ribbon, "NVRAM"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:33:41 -0600

Episode 142:
Question: Pam asks, "Outlook popped up a message saying I needed to compact my file. How do I do that and why do I need to?"

Answer: Great question, Pam. The reason you need to compact your file is that when you delete data from most databases, the actual file the database uses on your disk doesn't shrink; and Outlook is a database program of sorts. It downloads your mail and stores it in what amounts to a database file. When you delete emails, they go to the Deleted Items folder. When you empty that folder the messages go away, but the space they took remains and is marked as reusable, so that as you receive new emails, they are stored in that reusable space until it is exhausted. Then the file grows again. OK, with all that said, Outlook is telling you that your database file has a lot of space that's considered reusable. The way to get that disk space back is to compact your email file. Starting with Outlook 2007, the compaction can occur automatically. If you use an earlier version, you'll have to do it manually yourself. On the File menu, click Data File Management. Click the personal folders (.pst) files that you want to compact, and then click Settings. Click Compact Now, click OK, and then click Close. We'll have a link in the show notes to these instructions on Microsoft's website. That article will have links to help you if you have an earlier version, too.

Cool Site: Speckle: This week's cool site is Speckle. It's found at speckleapp.com and this site is one that helps you organize projects. You set up a free account and then start creating projects. You can invite others to participate in the project and you can collaborate with those individuals to complete the project. If you're a college student with group projects to do, this might be a tool you could use to help everyone communicate as you work. Each project consists of one or more lists. Each list consists of one or more individual tasks. Each of those tasks can have several statuses that ideally should convey the completeness of the task. The default statuses are Started, Done, Checked, and Live, but you get to make up your own when you set up a project. If you just want to try out the site, you can get a demo account. If you decide you like the app, you can change the account information, which is minimal: Name, email address, and password. The statuses are simple check boxes and when you check/uncheck them, the background color changes and the project completion percent increases or decreases. It's very simple, and very functional, and hey, it's free. Give it a shot.

Cool Gadget: Cosmic Color Ribbon: Have you seen Christmas lights synchronized to music? They do this at Six Flags, there's a guy in Rusk that does his as well. I personally really enjoy watching these shows myself. If you've been looking into this look no further than Light-O-Rama. They make a full line of professional grade equipment to animate your Christmas lights. But new this year (I think) is the Cosmic Color Ribbon. It's a 16.4 foot flexible circuit board that houses 150 Super Bright LED lights. Each group of three (red, green, blue) lights is considered a single pixel and can be set to any one of 2 million colors of varying intensity. It has its own 150 channel controller built-in, and it's smart enough to recognize whether it's been connected to a Light-O-Rama or DMX-512 light control network. You should see the video on their website. It would only be scratching the surface to say that these pixels can be made to chase, blink, or do rainbow color effects; these lights can be programmed to do just about anything. It runs $250 direct from Light-O-Rama.

It's All "Geek" To Me: NVRAM: This week's term is a technical one, NVRAM. It's actually an acronym, that means Non Volatile Random Access Memory. Whoopee! No wonder it's an acronym. But normally, random access memory, RAM, is volatile. This means it will lose its contents if the power goes off. So, Non-Volatile RAM is memory that will hold its contents even if the power is off. The most familiar example of this type of memory is the memory used in USB thumb drives. You can plug the drive in, and after you've saved something onto it, you can unplug that drive, which causes it to lose power. When you plug it back in, it still has the same contents because it's not volatile.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

How to Compact Outlook 2007 Data Files on Microsoft.com:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291645

Speckle on MakeUseOf:
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/speckle-web-based-task-management/

Speckle:
http://speckleapp.com/

Cosmic Color Ribbon on Light-O-Rama:
http://www.lightorama.com/CosmicColorRibbon.html

Hughes Holidays (The guy in Rusk I mentioned):
http://www.hughesholidays.com

NVRAM at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/NVRAM

12/10/2010-How do I make a backup?, Guitaryst.com, Microsoft Tactile Touchscreen, "Volume"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:33:38 -0600

Episode 141:
Question: Sarah asks, "How do I make a backup?"

Answer: Great question, Sarah. I have a rule of thumb that regular listeners will have heard before: a file doesn't exist until there are at least two copies. How you make that extra copy can be as simple as plugging in a USB thumb drive, right-click a file, point to send to and then click that new drive. Some programs, like Quickbooks, have a built-in backup function. Each version of Windows has its own backup function. Search the help and you'll find information on how to do backups. Be sure you understand the computer's file system before you try to do a backup because it doesn't do much good to backup a folder that doesn't have your information in it. Until you get to that understanding, you might want to just backup the whole computer. For that, you'll probably need an external USB hard drive or an Internet-based service. Both of these generally come with their own backup software to help keep your data safe. The quality of backups varies, and how you backup and restore the data can vary also, so I can't give much in the way of specifics, and you can find free backup software available on the web at home.vembu.com. We'll have a link in the show notes to this site.

Cool Site: Guitaryst.com: This week's site is for the guitar players in our audience. Guitaryst.com (spelled with a "y") is a site and an application that combines guitar tablatures with Internet music sites like last.fm so that you can learn to play the song along with the music. The song plays in the background and the tabs appear on the screen. You can search for songs and if they are in the site's tab database, then you're all set. There's not much else to do here, but if you're an aspiring guitarist, well, then that's probably enough. MakeUseOf reports that this site will make an iPad app available soon as well. Oh yes, and did I mention? It's free.

Cool Gadget: Microsoft Tactile Touchscreen: One of the biggest drawbacks to touchscreen keyboards is that they don't provide normal feedback when you press the buttons. Well, Microsoft has patented a new kind of touch sensitive screen that includes a layer of plastic that reacts to ultraviolet light. When one wavelength of light passes through the plastic, it stiffens. Another wavelength softens the same spot. This is called shape memory technology – the plastic remembers its former shape and under the right conditions can be coaxed into and out of that shape. Microsoft plans to use a modulated UV light to give texture to the touchscreen that matches the image beneath. This way you can type and really feel the keys. This is helpful, because without that, even touch typists have to look at the keyboard while they type.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Volume: This week's term is Volume. The most obvious usage refers to the loudness of sounds. But in computer jargon, Volume refers to a drive; a particular data storage device. That can be a hard drive, a USB attached drive, a specific compact disc, a tape, or a diskette if you still have one. The drives just have to be formatted so that the computer can read them. That's a volume: a disk, removable or not.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Vembu Home Backup software:
http://home.vembu.com

Guitaryst on MakeUseOf:
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/guitaryst-learn-guitar-tabs/

Guitaryst:
http://guitaryst.com/

Microsoft Tactile Touchscreen on NewScientist:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19776-microsoft-develops-shapeshifting-touchscreen.html

Microsoft Tactile Touchscreen on Gizmodo:
http://gizmodo.com/5700525/microsoft-enters-the-tactile-touchscreen-world-with-unique-uv-light-interface

Volume at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/volume

12/3/2010-Can you use two antimalware products simultaneously?, PurpleMath.com, Handheld Attack DVR, "Insertion Point"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:33:36 -0600

Episode 140:
Question: Vivian writes, 'I was listening to your program"... "when you mentioned Microsoft Security Essentials. Can this program be used if you already have other security programs installed? I am running Avast! for which I pay an annual fee and occasionally use Spybot S&D."

Answer: Great question, Vivian. Yes, you can use Security Essentials, but I don't recommend it when you have another program like Avast!. Avast! runs all the time and scans everything you do. Security Essentials will do this also. Spybot Search and Destroy has a component that does this too, but it's pretty easy on your system. If you combine the three, they'll slow things down probably worse than most viruses do.

On the other hand, when your Avast! subscription runs out, you can switch to Security Essentials and save the renewal fee.

Cool Site: PurpleMath: Who hasn't struggled with Algebra from time to time? If you have kids in algebra class who need help, or maybe are homeschooling, take a look at Purplemath.com. Purplemath is a site dedicated to teaching algebra. There, you'll find lessons written with the student in mind, that demonstrate reliable techniques. You'll also find forums so that you can ask questions and benefit from answers to others questions. The site also reviews other math related sites so you can find useful information maybe easier than you could with a search engine. The site also has homework guidelines telling a student what kind of things your math teacher is looking for, and a study skills self survey to help you see how your personal study habits measure up. Schools and individuals can license the sites lesson content for offline use. A CD is available for individuals to buy if you like, or you can just use the website for free.

Cool Gadget: Handheld Attack DVR: This week's cool gadget is for someone who wants to protect themselves but doesn't want to carry a gun. This little device that looks like and isn't much bigger than a can of pepper spray is in reality a video recorder that emits a 90db alarm and blinds an attacker with a powerful LED light. You can put an SD card up to 32GB into the device and then you've got a witness and a picture of the crooks as well as pretty airtight evidence of what happened. The unit records color video and sound, so you'll have both. It runs about $90 from Amazon. Now, one issue you might run into is that 640x480 isn't necessarily very high resolution, but should still be enough to establish what happened.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Insertion Point: This week's term is Insertion Point. The Insertion Point is that place in a line or word processing document, where the next character will be inserted or even deleted. If you're reading a book, you have a place, as in "I don't want to lose my place"; well this is the word processing equivalent. A blinking line, also called a cursor, will mark your place so you know where to look. If your mouse pointer changes to the shape of an I-beam when you're pointing, you can generally click there to move the insertion point to that box or location within the box.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

PurpleMath:
http://www.purplemath.com

Handheld Attack DVR at Coolest Gadgets:
http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20101202/handheld-attack-dvr-personal-protection-witness/#more-50282

Insertion Point at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/insertion_point

11/26/2010-Bad keyboard and mouse?, MedHelp.org, Nostromo Gaming Keypad, "Drag"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 3 Dec 2010 07:07:58 -0600

Episode 139:
Question: Bro. James asks, "My keyboard and mouse seem to have quit on me. What can I do?"

Answer: Great question, Brother. Bro James had two questions last week, so I split them. OK. Here's the answer. First, determine whether your keyboard and mouse is USB or PS/2. Look where they plug into the computer. If they're round in shape, and purple or green in color, then they’re PS/2. Now, it might be that the keyboard and/or mouse are USB, but plugged into purple or green adapters, and then into the computer. If that's the case, try taking them out of the adapters and plugging them into USB ports. That ought to get them to work. Try this: shut down your computer. Unplug it. With the computer unplugged, push the power button. That'll fully discharge it. Plug it back in and turn it on. If the keyboard and mouse work then, it was just a glitch. Otherwise, if it's PS/2, then your motherboard has issues. You can replace the keyboard and mouse with a USB keyboard and mouse. That's the least expensive solution, but I can't guarantee how long your system will continue to work.

Cool Site: MedHelp.org: This week's site is MedHelp, which stands for medical help. You've heard of WebMD, well there's a lot of good info there, but when you either sign up for an account at MedHelp, or use your facebook account, you get access to a lot of medical information and more. See, yesterday was Thanksgiving and we've been feasting, and people tend to gain weight during the holiday season, well the reason this site makes the cut is that they have several online applications that let you track your weight, track what you eat every day and the calories you're consuming (you might be surprised), blood pressure, diabetes, blood counts, sleep, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, allergies, asthma, the list goes on and on. It really does. There's a symptom search, a drug interaction checker, a pill finder, and iPhone apps including a version of the sleep tracker. You'll even find info for the four-legged family members, with an Ask-A-Veterinarian section.

Cool Gadget: Nostromo Gaming Keypad: If you've got a gamer on your Christmas list, then this week's gadget is for you. Razer and Belkin have teamed up to create a special keypad that lets gamers get that extra edge while playing against others, especially in multiplayer online games. This ergonomic gamepad has a thumb operated 8-way joystick with fire button, a rubberized soft touch wrist rest, 16 programmable buttons and configuration software that lets you program the buttons according to your needs. You can also switch the key mapping on the fly from any one of 8 stored maps. You can program each button for an unlimited number of steps, and you can program it for up to 20 games. The keypad is backlit so you can see the keys even in the dark. It runs $70 from Razer.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Drag: This week's term is a drag; literally. Drag is a term that describes a mouse gesture where you first point at something on the screen, then press and hold the left button. You then without letting go of the button, move the mouse and the object you were dragging will follow. When you position it where you want, release the button to drop the object. Dragging is usually used to copy and move things around.

Internet Exclusive!

At the end of this week's show, I outlined (badly, I thought) a bit of the story behind the first Thanksgiving celebrated in America. The story itself came from Rush Limbaugh's book, See, I Told You So. He himself reads it on his own show the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, as well as George Washington's first Thanksgiving address. With all apologies to Mr. Limbaugh, I'd like to include here (without any intent of copyright infringement), the story from pages 69-72 of that book. Please note that because this book was written during Bill Clinton's presidency, it contains references to him.

11/19/2010-New computer specs?, BFAds.net, USB Star Trek Communicator, 802.11

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 23:11:59 -0600

Episode 138:
Question: Bro. James asks, "If I think it’s time to get a new computer, what do you recommend?"

Answer: Great question, Brother. Given the time of year it is, it's a good time to consider replacing your computer, especially if it's over three years old or so. In that case, I'd recommend these minimum specifications:

Windows 7 Premium (most likely not a problem)

3 Gigabytes of RAM

320 Gigabyte Hard Drive

Intel® Pentium™, Core i3™, or i5 or AMD® Athlon® processor

Remember, these are minimum specs. Whatever you can afford beyond this will increase performance.

Cool Site: BFAds.net: Next week is Black Friday, and I don't know about you, but that's the one day a year that I get in touch with my inner shopper. It's interesting to watch folks wrestle over stuff, but I really like the planning that goes into it, trying to be sure to get the bargains you want for yourself and those on your Christmas list. Well, to help with that part, check out this week's cool site, bfads.net. On the site, you'll find sections for hot deals, guides, and scans of the actual Black Friday ads for this year. You can even download PDF copies of the ads that you can print out and then mark up! You can check online deals, see store hours, submit an ad, and connect with Facebook and Twitter. The site has a contest that is about as easy as possible to enter: if you live in the US and fill out the form once, you might win, and your eligibility remains even if you win, but the contest, which started on the first, ends next week, so hurry. There's a search, to help you can find the ads for the places you care about, there's a mailing list you can subscribe to, and an RSS feed. When you view an ad online, you'll see dots on the page that you can point at for more information, or click to go to the store's website for a description of the item and to verify their current price.

Cool Gadget: USB Star Trek Communicator: Here's one from ThinkGeek that I'm kind of hoping to find under the tree: a USB microphone Star Trek Communicator. For the Star Trek fan on your list, you can now get a replica of the communicators from the original series. It's compatible with Skype, MSN, iChat and other instant messaging applications. It’s an officially licensed collectible that has a microphone and earphone, a speaker that produces sound effects from the series, a volume control and mute button, and a 6-foot USB cable. It runs about $35.00. Now if only it were Bluetooth.

It's All "Geek" To Me: 802.11: This week's term is a number: eight-hundred and two point eleven. It's actually pronounced "eight oh two dot eleven" and will normally have the letters "a", "b", "g", or "n" after it. 802.11 refers to the wireless communication standards used at Wi-Fi hotspots. All laptops newer than about four or five years have this capability. The first one was 802.11b, but today, you'll likely only find 802.11g and 802.11n in stores. N is the fastest standard and the one with the longest range.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml
Black Friday Ads:
http://www.bfads.net

USB Star Trek Communicator at ThinkGeek:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/usb-gadgets/bd48/

802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, and 802.11n at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/80211b
http://www.techterms.com/definition/80211a
http://www.techterms.com/definition/80211g
http://www.techterms.com/definition/80211n

11/12/2010-My CD Drive Won't Open, Yummly, Water-Powered Digital Clock, "CMYK"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 08:43:12 -0600

Episode 137:
Question: Allie Faye asks, "My CD-ROM drive won’t open when I push the button. What can I do?"

Answer: Great question, Allie Faye. If your CD-ROM drive won't open like it should, you can get around that by straightening a paperclip, then look underneath the door for a small hole. Push the paperclip through the hole and it will eject the tray. Then you can use the drive. Now, this is intended much more as a workaround than the normal way you should use the drive, so if you have to use this trick to open your drive very often, you might consider replacing the drive; they don’t cost too much.

Cool Site: Yummly.com: Well, you mentioned Thanksgiving getting short shrift during this holiday season, and so when I ran across yummly, I thought it'd be a good candidate for this week. Yummly.com is a search engine for recipes, claiming to be "The most powerful way to search for recipes". You can search or browse recipes, you can filter the search results by ingredient, calories, allergy, course, cuisine, and several other parameters. While it may be just the time of the year for this, they even have a tab for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas. The Thanksgiving tab has premade searches for things like turkey (328 recipes), including deep fried turkey and a great-looking Crock Pot Turkey and Shrimp Creole dish. You'll also find premade searches for Desserts, for Sides, Appetizers and Soups. It looks pretty awesome.

Cool Gadget: Water-powered alarm clock: This week's gadget is an alarm clock. This one is digital. It has a large LCD screen that shows the time, temperature, and day of the week. What makes this clock cool is that it doesn't need batteries.

Eddie: So what does it run on?

David: Water, plain tap water. Fill it up with water and it'll run for the next several weeks. The clock will keep time for a couple of minutes while you change the water, but it works based on a chemical reaction between the water and metal bars inside the reservoir. Because of this the manufacturer doesn't recommend drinking the water after you drain it out. This clock looks cool because the water reservoir is made of clear plastic with a cap on the back for filling, and that reservoir is wrapped around the sides and top of the clock. This clear reservoir lets you put food coloring in the clock for a festive appearance.

It's All "Geek" To Me: CMYK: This week's term is an acronym: CMYK. It stands for Cyan – Magenta – Yellow – Key Black. This term refers to the printing technology that allows us to print in color. It's not the only method for printing color, but it's the one most of our printers use. All the colors we see when we print are based on combinations of Cyan a sort of blue, Magenta, which is reddish, and Yellow. The page beneath is assumed to be white for the purposes of color combinations, and is therefore used wherever you need to see white in the image. Theoretically, combining all three colors in equal amounts will produce black, and HP's oldest DeskJet color printers did that. But that's not generally done because the composite black thus produced usually comes out more charcoal gray than black. So a pure black ink is used instead. Besides, most printing is black text on white paper and it made better sense to use black ink when it's called for and color inks where they're called for. By the way, it's because of that tendency that you'll find black ink or toner cartridges are larger than the other colors.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Yummly:
http://www.yummly.com

Water-powered alarm clock at CraziestGadgets:
http://craziestgadgets.com/2010/11/05/water-powered-digital-alarm-clock/

Water-powered alarm clock at Vat19:
http://www.vat19.com/dvds/digital-water-powered-alarm-clock.cfm

CMYK at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/cmyk

CMYK at WikiPedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMYK_color_model

11/5/2010-CHKDSK Percentage Drops Back, PresentBee, iHat/HoodieBuddies, "Vaporware"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 08:43:11 -0600

Episode 136:
Question: Kenneth asks, "I was running CHKDSK (check disk) on my hard drive and it went from 75% done back to 50%. What's that about?"

Answer: Great question, Kenneth. First of all, let me assure you that this is a fairly common occurrence. I've noticed that 75% seems to be the spot where if it's going to drop back, it will. When it does, it generally drops back to 50% and works its way back up. If or when it gets to 76%, it usually won't drop back again. The reason it has to do this is because of the repairs it is making at each stage of the process. I couldn't find anything that says what kinds of tests are being performed at various percentages, but if it makes a repair, it may determine that it should rerun parts of the check on that newly repaired data. The need to rerun parts of the check accounts for the percentage dropping back.

Cool Site: PresentBee: We joke about our gadget segment, how it's my wish list, but now it's the holiday season, which I count as running from just before Halloween thru New Year's day, and so most likely, you'll need to find a gift somewhere in there for someone that you may not be sure what they want. Well, if you and they have a Facebook page, you can check out Present Bee.com. After you log in with your Facebook account, you can search for that friend or family member you need a gift for, discover and discuss gift ideas with people that know them, and then they've got links to help you buy that perfect gift. The site never posts anything to your Facebook wall page, and they won't disclose anything to the person you’re trying to buy for, so your gift will remain a surprise.

Cool Gadget: iHat and Hoodiebuddies: Craziest gadgets this week has given us a two-fer. Our first gadget is called the iHat, and it's a ski hat with wireless speakers built into the ear covers. Now, the picture of it doesn't show it on someone's head, so I don't for certain know what it looks like, but as the weather cools, you can be warm and wireless with your music. It runs about $50 and as such is more than I want to pay, but the 30-foot range means that you don't have to be tethered to your iPod to listen to your music. Yes, you could just tuck the iPod into the iHat's pocket, but what fun would that be?

This second gadget was chosen because it's in the same vein as the iHat, and it's called HoodieBuddies. This is a hooded jacket with iPod speakers built into the strings of the hood, and this one runs about $45. In the pocket of the sweatshirt is the plug for the iPod, and the ends of the hood strings have ear buds that you wear. Is that cool or what? People might look at you funny, but you've got your tunes, and actually, this is something of a safety feature, because some people have been targeted by thieves because of those white iPod earbud wires. This hides the whole thing, so no one has to even know.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Vaporware: Techterms.com comes through again this week with "Vaporware." You've heard of hardware and software; well vaporware is what a new hardware or software product is called between the time it is announced by the company until it's finally released. For instance, concept cars shown at car shows will never actually be available, but pieces of their technology will be incorporated into future models. Well, sometimes that happens with computer stuff, too. A company will sometimes show something at a trade show, and then may never release that product. Often, they plan to, but can't get it just right. Sometimes the announcement draws a big yawn from the rest of the industry and the company doesn't see a big enough market, and so stop work on it. Vaporware: almost here today, maybe here tomorrow... or not.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

Present Bee:
http://www.presentbee.com

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com

iHat at CraziestGadgets:
http://craziestgadgets.com/2010/11/03/ihat-has-wireless-headphones-built-in/

HoodieBuddies at CraziestGadgets:
http://craziestgadgets.com/2010/06/27/hoodies-with-headphones-built-into-the-strings/

Vaporware defined at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/vaporware

10/29/2010-.NET Framework updates failing?, CVMaker.in, 90-Degree Rotating Memory Card Reader, "Script"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 5 Nov 2010 07:06:14 -0500

Episode 135:
Question: Geraley asks, "I've got three or four updates to something called .NET Framework that refuse to install. What can I do?"

Answer: Good question, Geraley. I've noticed that the .NET Framework is kind of fragile. The .NET Framework is a collection of software components that work together to help programmers write Windows programs. The components themselves make it possible to write programs that put forms on the screen, manage the computer, use databases, and lots of other things. But as I said, it's a bit fragile; and when something breaks, it's not always noticeable. The biggest thing you usually notice is what you have seen: updates for it won't install. The absolute most-read forum article on my website is about how to uninstall and then reinstall that framework, over 17,600 reads since February of 2008. Basically, what you have to do is to uninstall every piece of .NET, then reinstall it. Be ready for this to take as much as four hours, because you'll need to get several downloads before you even get started. Check the show notes for today for a quick link to that article, but you want to get all of the downloads first, because this process will temporarily break any program, like Quickbooks, for instance, that relies on .NET. Is it something you can do? Yes, as long as you have the time it takes. Just be sure to read all the instructions, and get all the download files before starting anything.

Cool Site: CVMaker: Most everyone needs to have a resume, but what if you aren't good at typing them? There's a site called cvmaker.in that you can use to create a resume in one of two styles, elegant and executive. You have to sign up to use the service, but it's easy and free, and when you do, you can create your own curriculum vitae, or resume. You can create more than one, because different job types might require different sections, or different combinations of experience might be more relevant. If you're worried about security, the entire session is carried out in a secure session. Sections you can add to the Basic information that goes on your resume are Work experience, Qualifications, Education, Interests, and References. You can add your own free-form sections to your resume as well. You can then drag those sections around on the screen to rearrange their order, and when you're done, you can download the whole thing as a PDF file. As a PDF file, you can print it out or email it to a prospective employer. After you have that PDF, you can delete the resume, and according to the site's privacy policy, no data is retained by them afterward.

Cool Gadget: 90-Degree Memory Card Reader: From the website craziestgadgets.com, I found a truly useful little gadget. It's a USB Memory card reader, big deal, right?

Eddie: Don't most laptops have a memory card slot now?

David: Yes, but those are on the right or left sides of the laptop. So when you try to use the slot, you may have to move the laptop around or pick it up, or whatever. Well, this card reader plugs into a USB port on the side of the laptop, and the card slot is set at 90 degrees from the USB plug, so it faces up. It's slim, allowing it to stay plugged in most of the time. It also revolves 180 degrees so the card slot can always be on top, or to get out of the way of neighboring ports. It supports SD and MicroSD memory cards, and costs about $40, which is a bit pricey for a memory card reader, but that convenience may be worth it to you.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Script: This week's term is Script. Scripts, aside from their use in movies and TV, are little text files that contain commands which are read and executed by a program called a scripting engine. Scripts are useful because they allow administrators to perform the same set of commands over and over, like when we log into a network. Scripts can be used in web pages to make those pages do some of the interesting things we all expect. Scripts can also be used by bad guys as well, either to infect your computer or others. Scripts have come a long way since the days of DOS, when all we had was batch files. They were great, though for setting our computers up the way we wanted whenever we turned them on. We still have batch files, but we don't depend on typing commands at a command prompt so much anymore, so scripts have evolved to be executed by Windows in a programming language.

Links

Tech Tip Friday’s Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

.NET Framework at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework

Manually Uninstalling .NET Framework 2.0:
http://www.daconsult.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=34

CVMaker:
http://cvmaker.in

90-degree Memory Card Reader at CraziestGadgets:
http://craziestgadgets.com/2010/10/27/180-degree-memory-card-reader/

90-degree Memory Card Reader at GeekStuff4U:
http://www.geekstuff4u.com/rotary-usb-card-reader-mr-c25-series.html

Script defined at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/script

10/22/2010-What is an RSS feed?, GraceThruFaith.com, Sterishoe, "String"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 5 Nov 2010 07:06:06 -0500

Episode 134:
Question: What is an RSS feed and how do I subscribe to it?

Answer: Great question. In the same way that a web page is just a text file with special formatting, an RSS feed is just a text file with special formatting. As a text file, you can open it up in Notepad and read what it says. RSS feeds work using a program called an RSS reader. Internet Explorer 7 and 8 and Outlook 2007 and 2010 include RSS reader functions, and Opera and FireFox also have this feature as well. RSS feeds are supposed to be updated pretty frequently. For instance, our show notes are available as an RSS feed. You subscribe to an RSS feed by going to a web page that has a feed. Click the link and your browser (I'm looking at Internet Explorer) will load the feed. On that page will be a link you can click that will subscribe you to that feed. From that time forward, your browser will download that RSS file on a regular basis and you can get back there by just going to your feeds menu. Check out the show notes for lots of information on using RSS to stay up to date on the stuff you really care about.

Cool Site: GraceThruFaith.com: This week, we've got a great cool site in http://www.GraceThruFaith.Com. Last Sunday, I had to prepare a sermon because my pastor was out of town and I found this site. Gracethrufaith is the website of Jack Kelley, author of such books as "Children's Stories of the Bible, The Adult Version", "The Stories of the Patriarchs", and "The Seven Churches Chronicle." He has many articles on prophecy and we'll have links to a couple of them in the show notes, like "The Powerful Delusion" and "Seven Things You Have to Know to Understand End-Times Prophecy". Everything on the site is available free, although donations are accepted and welcomed. You'll find a gift shop on the site where you can preview any or all of several sermons or lessons in .mp3 format, and you can choose one for download. The site has an RSS feed that you can subscribe to and keep up with the latest articles. I promise you, this site is a treasure trove of information.

Cool Gadget: SteriShoe: This week's gadget is the sterishoe. You know, there are a lot of products out there that are designed to kill foot fungi. But putting your feet back into those same shoes just puts the fungus back on your feet. And then there's the issue of foot odor. Well, the sterishoe is a shoe-shaped germicidal ultraviolet light. Just put it in your shoes for 45 minutes and the UV light will (they claim) kill 99.9% of germs that cause foot odor and infections. It runs $130 for a set of two, and replacement UV bulbs are about $12. This is great for diabetic foot care, or for someone who has really heavy foot odor, that kind of thing.

It's All "Geek" To Me: String: This week, our word is string. This is a programming term that's working its way into more general usage. It refers to character-based data, and so is also referred to as a character string. Your name is a string, for instance. Your Social Security or Phone Number is a string. Consider a string is in contrast to numeric data. A computer can use numbers as either a string of characters, or as a number you can do math on.

Links

Tech Tip Friday's Show Notes RSS Feed:
http://www.daconsult.com/downloads/rss.xml

RSS at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS

RSS Tutorial – How to subscribe to feeds:
http://rss-tutorial.com/rss-how-to-subscribe-to-feeds.htm

YouTube video of Subscribing to RSS Feeds with iGoogle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQCdW0NXRBo

YouTube video of Subscribing to an RSS Feed in Internet Explorer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q04v9H_mWZ8&feature=related

Grace Thru Faith:
http://gracethrufaith.com

The Powerful Delusion:
http://gracethrufaith.com/ikvot-hamashiach/the-powerful-delusion/

Seven Things You Have to Know to Understand End-Times Prophecy:
http://gracethrufaith.com/ikvot-hamashiach/seven-things-you-have-to-know-to-understand-end-times-prophecy-part-1/

Sterishoe at Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=8&MaxResults=30&search=sterishoe

Sterishoe:
http://www.sterishoe.com

String on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/string

10/15/2010-Repeat

Fri, 5 Nov 2010 07:05:25 -0500

This week's show was a repeat of a previous show, but I don't know which one.

10/8/2010-Sharing Microsoft Access Databases, Cakesy.com, Sun and Moon Jars, "Edutainment"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 5 Nov 2010 07:05:11 -0500

Episode 133:
Question: Kristin says, "At work I have a contacts application in Microsoft Access that I want to share with my coworkers, but I don't want them to accidentally mess it up. What do you recommend?"

Answer: Great question, Kristin. Microsoft Access is a wonderful program that lets you do tons of stuff with your data, but you have to have Microsoft Office Professional in order to use it. If that's your case, I recommend splitting your database into two parts, and there's a wizard that can do this for you. With your application split up, the data can be stored on a central computer that everyone can see, and you can put the part with the forms and reports on each person's computer. That part can be tailored for each user according to what they need. In the end, you get a more efficient application. We'll have a link in the show notes to Microsoft Office training that you can take online.

Cool Site: Cakesy: My birthday was yesterday, and people can't always be where the folks they care about are for the celebrations of their lives. We've seen lots of websites that let you send eCards, but Cakesy is a site that lets you send a virtual cake to your friend. You go to the site, and choose one of 4 different cakes. Next, you type two lines that express your wishes for the occasion. Choose the kind of frosting that cakesy will use to write your wish on the cake. Click the Bake My Cake button and cakesy will create a picture of your cake, complete with personalized greeting. Each virtual cake has its own web address. You can deliver that virtual cake via Twitter or Facebook, or you can copy the web address and send it as an email link, either as an image, or as a web page. It's free and there are no calories in a virtual cake-so have all you want.

Cool Gadget: Sun and Moon Jars: After last week's gadget came from ThinkGeek, I decided to go back there to see what I could find for this week. I found some jars. But these aren't just any old jars. No, these jars are lights. They're solar powered, so you can teach your kids about practical uses of solar energy. During the day, the jars store up power in built-in batteries. When it gets dark, a sensor turns the light on. The light is about night-light brightness, and that’s what it's for. You can choose a sun light, which is yellow, a moon light, which is blue, or a pink moon light. The website says this light is pink, but it looks purple in the picture. They run about $30. They require direct sunlight to charge the batteries, but the fact that they are in a frosted, enclosed jar, means that they are all-weather. The frosted glass diffuses the light, so these lights give off a gentle glow that can be used to illuminate a dark hallway, a kid's bedroom, or a garden path. There's a switch inside the lid that lets you turn the light off and override the sensor, but otherwise, there are no controls visible at all.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Edutainment: This week's word is a combination word. It's edutainment. It refers to software that both educates and entertains at the same time. A lot of software whose target audience is kids falls into this category. Software like the Reader Rabbit series, Math Blasters, and Oregon Trail entertains while it teaches; but it doesn't stop at software: TV shows like Sesame Street, and radio shows like Adventures in Odyssey also fall into this category.

Links

Microsoft Office Training:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/training-FX101782702.aspx?CTT=97

Cakesy:
http://www.cakesy.com

Sun and Moon Jars on ThinkGeek:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/994a/?pfm=homepage_Featured_6

Edutainment on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/edutainment

10/1/2010-Can't open Office 2007 documents, Expedition Titanic, Enterprise Pizza Cutter, "Ripcording"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 5 Nov 2010 07:05:02 -0500

Episode 132:
Question: I have Microsoft Office 2007 and people tell me they can't open documents I send them. What can I do?

Answer: Good question. When Microsoft released Office 2007, they changed all the file formats. They have always changed their Access database format. But with Office 2007, they changed all the file formats. This wreaks havoc on other people who only have the older version. You have two options to get around this problem. The first is for the person receiving these files to download a free converter pack that Microsoft has on their website. This will allow them to open the new formats. We'll have the link in the show notes at daconsult.com/forums. The second option is for you to save the files in the old format. To do that, click the Office button, go to Save As, and in the Save As dialog box, where it says "Save As Type" change it to the earlier version. Send them that copy.

Cool Site: Expedition Titanic: This week's cool site is Expedition Titanic. It's a site that brings together in a really cool way much of the information available on the Titanic's sinking almost 100 years ago. You can explore that part of the ocean floor where the ship currently resides. The site has a really interesting flash-based interface. You start at the top of the water and then as you drag the scroll bar down, presumably toward the ship, factoids appear that are related to that depth. Once you get to the bottom, a link takes you to a depiction of the site with animations and other factoids located all around. It connects with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr. There's even a link to their partner site, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. They've got videos posted on YouTube, 3D pictures of the area compiled by side-scan sonar. I personally don't get into the whole Titanic thing, but it's a hobby of sorts for some people, and in any event, this website is really cool. You've gotta check it out, expedition titanic.com.

Cool Gadget: Enterprise Pizza Cutter: Oh, my birthday is coming up soon, and this one's awesome! It's a pizza cutter.

Eddie: What's so awesome about a pizza cutter?

David: This one's shaped like the Enterprise from Star Trek - Yes! See, the saucer part (the Primary Hull) is a 4-inch cutter wheel and the rest of the ship is the handle. It's an officially licensed Star Trek collectible. It has a laser-etched stainless steel blade. It's 8.5 inches long, and weighs 277 grams. What's more, it's exclusively designed and manufactured by ThinkGeek. It comes in a padded gift box, and just looks cool. It's $24.99, but hey, it's a collectible.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Ripcording: This week's term is one I hadn't heard before: ripcording. It's a combination of recording, which it what happens when you capture audio and save it as digital audio files, and ripping, which is converting audio such as from a CD into MP3 files. This term refers to downloading audio or video streams off the internet. With a stream, there's no file to download, but if your computer can simultaneously play the stream and save it at the same time, that's ripcording.

Links

Office File Converters and Viewers at Microsoft.com:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/office-online-file-converters-and-viewers-HA001044981.aspx

Expedition Titanic:
http://www.expeditiontitanic.com

Enterprise Pizza Cutter on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/09/beam_me_up_--_a_slice_introduc.php

Enterprise Pizza Cutter on ThinkGeek:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/dea2/action/214c60f/

Ripcording on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/ripcording

9/24/2010-ConstitutingAmerica.org, Nokia Star Trek Communicator Flip Phone, "Trackback"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 18:04:47 -0500

Episode 131:
Question: Glen asks, "I use Wildblue and Gmail. When I send an email, the reply is chained/linked back to the original that was sent. For instance, when you reply to this email, the reply will not come back to me as a new stand alone email in my inbox. It will come back as a new email but will combine with the original that was sent. We could reply to each other multiple times and my inbox will only have one email in it. How can I turn this setting off?"

Answer: Great question, Glen. I'm not sure you can do what you're wanting to - using GMail alone. I checked everything under Settings in GMail, and couldn't find anything that looked particularly relevant. On the other hand, using GMail's POP or IMAP access and a program on your computer (Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, etc.), replies you receive will all appear as separate messages.

The reason for GMail doing this is that it's creating threads. The idea is to keep conversations together, but it can be a bit disconcerting, especially if you're used to email software that works as you've indicated you'd like this to work. I personally prefer it that way, too.

To enable POP or IMAP access:

1. Make sure you have an email program installed on your computer.
2. Sign into GMail.
3. Click Settings at the top of the page.
4. Click Forwarding and POP/IMAP
5. Choose your settings.
6. Click Configuration instructions under Configure your email client.
7. Follow those instructions.

That should get you going.

Cool Site: Constituting America.org: I heard about this week's cool site from the Huckabee show. The site is run by Janine Turner and her daughter Juliette. The site's mission is "to reach, educate and inform America's youth and her citizens about the importance of the U.S. Constitution and the foundation it sets forth regarding our freedoms and rights." That's really cool. The site sponsors contests for young people, and that's why they were on Huckabee. This site has links to our founding documents and the Federalist Papers, a store, a newsletter you can sign up for, and a blog where you can have your say about what's going on. There's a reading schedule called "90 in 90 = 180" where you can in 90 days read the Constitution and the Federalist Papers. There's a link where you can donate to help the site’s mission, and links to several of their videos on YouTube.

Cool Gadget: Nokia Star Trek Communicator Flip Phone: Last year, Nokia worked with Paramount on the Star Trek reboot. They put out a Star Trek-themed version of one of their phones that had a few sound effects, a wallpaper or two and such. But now we find out on Gearlog and YouTube that they went so far as to make a prototype flip phone that looks just like one of the communicators from the original series. It has a large screen on the inside, a black body with the Starfleet logo on the back, and the flip lid looks like the metal antenna from the original Star Trek. The bad thing is that while this phone is cool, it seems never to have gotten past the prototype stage because Nokia only made 14 of them. That's too bad, because I know a few folks that would have one tomorrow if it were available today. Every flip phone made is a nod to Star Trek anyway: remember the Motorola StarTAC? Check out the show notes for the link with video.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Trackback: If you read news sites or blogs, you've probably seen this week's term: trackback, and wondered what it meant. Let's say I find a blog article I like and want to respond to it on my blog. If I just put a normal link in my article, only search engines will know I wrote that follow-up. But if I use a trackback, my blog will tell the other blog about the link and the original may even show the link to my blog. So a trackback is a way for one blog to tell another blog you linked to it. It's a webmaster thing.

Links

Gmail:
http://www.gmail.com

Constituting America:
http://www.constitutingamerica.org/

Nokia Star Trek Communicator Flip Phone at Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/09/nokias_star_trek_communicator.php

Trackback on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/trackback

9/17/2010-Marking GMail messages unread again, ConstitutionDay.com, Toshiba 3D TV System, "Core"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 18:04:44 -0500

Episode 130:
Question: Paula asks, "In Gmail, if I want to read a message, but still keep it new, how can I do that?"

Answer: Great question, Paula. In all the email programs I'm familiar with and Gmail is no exception, your unread messages are shown in bold. Once you read the message, of course, its bold formatting goes away. Sometimes, though, you start reading a message, but don't get to finish it. The thing that happens still, is that the message is marked as though you’ve read it. In many programs, you can right-click on a message and choose to mark it as unread again, but Gmail is web based, so right-clicking won't do any good. Instead, click the check box next to the message you've started reading, but not finished. Click More Actions, which will pull down a list. Choose "Mark as unread" from that list, and Voila! The message shows as unread again.

Cool Site: ConstitutionDay.com: Today is Constitution Day, the 223rd anniversary of the signing of our current Constitution. So I thought it only fitting that our cool site of the week would revolve around our Constitution. It's constitutionday.com. From the main page of the site, you can get at the free webcasts Hillsdale College is doing/has done for today. You'll find the full text of the Constitution there, as you might expect. Also the text of the amendments is available there. Additionally, the site contains articles on each of the Constitution’s signers. So, go there today and check it out. The site isn't large. What I've mentioned is all that's there, but that's great if you want to then slide over to the Hillsdale site because the speeches take a while to watch.

Cool Gadget: Toshiba 3D TV System: As promised last week, we've got another 3D gadget for you. At the CEDEC 2010 conference, Toshiba showed a digital display that does 3D without the need for special glasses. Now, I've seen 3D displays that didn't need glasses before, but it had a kind of grid on it and the effect wasn't all that great. This display is awesome! It has a technology that Toshiba calls "integral imaging" that allows you to see the 3D content from up to 9 different angles. The display uses lenses to project a slightly different image in each of those 9 angles, allowing your eyes to create the 3D effect in a way that mimics what happens naturally. They'll be used for advertising and games first, but later as TVs and PC monitors.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Core: This week’s term is Core. When you're looking at computer specifications, you see terms like dual core, triple, quad core, and now six-core, and maybe you've wondered just what a core is. Well, from the time computers started until just a few years ago, a CPU chip, a processor, only had one processor core. That core does all the computing that happens inside the processor. It's made up of two parts, the ALU (arithmetic logic unit), and the control unit. The ALU performs math and comparisons, and the control unit moves data around and keeps the ALU busy. If two numbers have to be added, for instance, the control unit gets the numbers to add, then tells the ALU to add them, then it puts the answer wherever it belongs. A single core can only run one program at a time. It can switch very quickly from one program to another, but at any instant in time, only one program is actually being worked on. When you see terms like dual core, it means that there are two ALUs and two Control Units in that processor. That lets the processor truly work on two programs simultaneously, so it can get almost twice as much work done. So, the core does all the processing work, and more cores means more processing.

Links

Marking messages "read" or "unread":
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=12516

Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts:
https://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6594

ConstitutionDay.com
http://www.constitutionday.com

Toshiba 3D TV System on Ubergizmo:
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2010/09/toshiba_glasses-free_tv_system_on_display.html

Processor Core at PC Magazine:
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=processor+core&i=49765,00.asp

ALU definition at PC Magazine:
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=ALU&i=37691,00.asp

Control Unit definition at PC Magazine:
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=control+unit&i=40319,00.asp

Dual core at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/dualcore

9/10/2010-How do you change the computer's language to Spanish, Instructables.com, 3D Shot Cam, "Permalink"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 23:05:19 -0500

Episode 129:
Question: Violeti asks, "How do you change the computer's language to Spanish?"

Answer: Great question Violeti. Your computer has the capability of operating with multiple languages, but there are limitations. You can enter text in different languages with any version of Windows, but making things on the screen appear in Spanish requires either a corporate version of Windows, or a Spanish version. But if you have the licensing version of Windows XP Pro, you can install the Multilingual User Interface pack. For Vista and I suppose Windows 7, these are built into the Ultimate and Enterprise versions. The only other way to do it is to buy a Spanish version of Vista or Windows 7 and install that. This is one of those questions that comes up whenever people have to prepare a computer in one country for use in another where the language spoken isn't the same. For example, a computer donated to a missionary. If the off-the-shelf English version of Windows is donated, then while the missionary can use the computer, he'll almost have to buy another copy of Windows in the country he's been called to if he wants to use it as a teaching tool.

Cool Site: Instructables: Did you ever want to know how to do something? Well, at instructables.com, you can find out how to do almost anything; from making homemade buttermilk biscuits to an air-powered pirate cannon. Each how-to article is illustrated with photos and are generally written in a step-by-step format that allows you to get a good idea of what you need to do. The site has an Answers section, which is like a search engine that lets you ask how to do something, and if there's an article on it, you'll be directed there. They have lots of contests going on, like "Make it Stick" - a Gorilla Glue contest, an LED contest, a Back-To-School contest, and many more. Each contest has a deadline and you can see how many entries have already been submitted. You'll find forums on their various topics, so that you can discuss your projects with others. You can submit your own articles for others to use and learn from, but you have to sign up as a site member first. As with most websites, membership is free. You can also upgrade that membership to a Pro membership for a fee, and then you can download PDF versions of the instructables articles. You can spend a lot of time there, but the best thing about it is that it's all educational - mostly all, that is.

Cool Gadget: 3D Shot Cam: 3D is all the rage now: 3D movies, videos, TV's, monitors, and now cameras. The Takara Tomy company is releasing a simple 3D digital camera next spring in Japan. I hope it comes here soon after. The camera has two lenses which allows its 0.3 megapixel sensor to capture a 3D digital image. It uses SD memory cards up to 8GB. The big drawback is that there's no way to view the pictures you took without printing them out. But when you do, and then insert the pictures into one of the two included stereoscopic viewers, you'll get a full 3D image. Of course, at only a third of a megapixel, those images won't be terribly detailed. The camera is slated to run about $70. More on 3D next week.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Permalink: This week's term is "permalink". You'll see this one in blogs, and it's just a combination of "permanent" and "link" the same way permafrost is permanent frost. In blogs specifically, a given post or article can appear on a main page, but may move around later. If I want to be able to get back to the article in the future, I need a link that will always work. That's the function of the Permalink.

Links

Get the MUI Pack Update:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/2/e/62e61f10-e106-4f4c-a862-63eec2b41efb/readme.htm

Change Vista's Display Language:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-the-display-language

Instructables:
http://www.instructables.com

3D Shot Cam on Ubergizmo:
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2010/09/70_3d_shot_cam_takes_simple_3d_pictures.html

Permalink on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/permalink

9/3/2010-How to disable MusicMatch Jukebox, Zooniverse.org, Zoll PocketCPR, "Portal"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 22:59:40 -0500

Episode 128:
Question: Ellen asks, "I put a CD in my computer the other day and MusicMatch Jukebox came up to play it. It said I needed to be connected to the Internet first. Why?"

Answer: Great question Ellen. I don't really use MusicMatch Jukebox, but if this behavior isn't OK, then switch to another program like Windows Media Player. You can set it to play most every type of media file and also CDs and DVDs. To do that, just open Windows Media Player and then on the Tools Menu, choose Options. Click the File Types tab, then click the Select All button to choose all media types. When you click OK, that will switch your default media player to Windows Media Player. After that, you should uninstall MusicMatch, which may not deactivate completely. We'll have a link in the show notes to a step-by-step type article to uninstalling and deactivating the MusicMatch Jukebox.

Cool Site: Zooniverse.org: Last week, we had GalaxyZoo:Hubble. Two weeks ago, we had MoonZoo. This week's cool site is Zooniverse.org. This is the third in the Zoo series of sites, and the site itself is three years old. "The Zooniverse’s aim is to provide a home for a whole suite of projects which will enable anyone with a web browser to contribute to science." The Zooniverse is your portal to all these projects: GalaxyZoo:The Hunt for Supernovae, GalaxyZoo:Understanding Cosmic Mergers, Solar Stormwatch, GalaxyZoo:Hubble, and MoonZoo. The site's activities are on Twitter, and the site features an online store, the ZooShop. You'll also find a blog and a forum at the site, which has over 315,000 volunteers. You can sign up and take part in any or all of the projects going on at the site. It's run by the Citizen Science Alliance, and as a result, many education resources have been made available. By the way, if you want to go to the site and participate in making good science better, just sign up for an account. It's free.

Cool Gadget: Zoll PocketCPR: This week's gadget is a lifesaver - literally. Zoll's PocketCPR device is intended to be used by someone who's already trained in CPR. During an emergency where CPR might be called for, it's easy to get flustered and forget what to do, even if you know. This device reminds you what to do with visual and audio instructions. You put this on the victim's chest before you get started, and you'll be given feedback as to whether you're doing it right. While the PocketCPR is FDA approved, Zoll also makes an iPhone app that isn't and should be used for training and practice only. The PocketCPR runs $149 and the iPhone app is $3.99 at iTunes. It runs on batteries that will last about 12 hours and the batteries have a 5 year shelf life. If they're low, the unit will say "change batteries", but you'll have about a half hour of battery left. You can use it with both CPR techniques: with and without mouth-to-mouth. Pretty cool.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Portal: A bit ago, I said that the Zooniverse site is a portal to their projects. But what in the world is a portal? Besides a door, I mean. A portal is really nothing more than a good page to start browsing the web from. The more general-purpose a portal is, the more it will resemble a search engine, but the search engine will be a feature of the site, not its whole reason for being. You'll also find some more limited scope portals out there, like the Zooniverse, that are dedicated to one or a few topics. So, a portal is really just a good jumping off point.

Links

How do I disable MusicMatch Jukebox? On AskDaveTaylor.com:
http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_disable_musicmatch_jukebox.html

Zooniverse:
http://www.zooniverse.org

Zoll PocketCPR at Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/09/perform_cpr_correctly_with_poc.php

Portal on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/portal

8/27/2010-How to tell if you have 32-bit or 64-bit Windows, GalaxyZoo, DAK PC Interface Mixer, "Piracy"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 08:20:38 -0500

Episode 127:
Question: Sandra asks, "How do I know if I have 32 or 64-bit Windows 7?"

Answer: Great question Sandra. This is a question that comes up a lot when you are setting up a new computer using your old printers, cameras, and other devices. Remember that if you have 32-bit Windows, you need 32-bit drivers. If you have 64-bit Windows, you need 64-bit drivers. They've got to match. If you find yourself having to download a driver from a website like HP.com, you'll have to know what your Windows bit size is. To find out, click the Start button, then right-click Computer and left-click the Properties option. Another way to get there is to click Start, then click Control Panel, then System and Security, then System. From there, look for the words "System Type." Whatever follows those words answers the 32 or 64 bit question.

Cool Site: GalaxyZoo: This week's cool site is GalaxyZoo. Want to see some really awesome pictures from the Hubble telescope? Check out this site. Hubble has generated so many pictures, Astronomers need your help. The site has Hubble Space Telescope pictures that include pictures of many galaxies. These galaxies each have a characteristic shape, which tells a lot about star formation within the galaxy. People are better at discovering strange things and classifying galaxy shapes than computers are; and they've noticed that your classifications of the galaxy shapes are just as good as those completed by professional astronomers. You can help by classifying the galaxy pictures, and in the meantime you'll find out what things are important to astronomers. You'll find a blog at the site, a forum, a media section which links to press releases and articles related to the site, and a couple of sections on "the story so far" and "the science". Finally, there’s a "How To Take Part" section that tells you how you can be a part of the classification effort. Check it out, see if you can help.

Cool Gadget: DAK PC Interface Mixer: Do you remember the DAK catalog? I used to get that thing all the time. In fact, my first CD player and a tape deck I still have came from that catalog. Well, that catalog has gone online, at dak.com and while I was looking for a good USB turntable for the gadget, I ran across "13 reasons not to buy a USB turntable" and had to check it out. See, vinyl LPs are back, and in a big way! But whatever old albums you have are full of pops and scratches. The Interface Mixer lets you connect a record player to your computer to record your albums to MP3 files. While you're at it, you can remove pops and scratches in the music, separate the tracks, do a timed recording, burn CD's with no pauses between songs, tag the MP3 files as a batch, and remove talking and applause from the recordings you make. It seems pretty awesome. Besides that, you can use the interface mixer to make MP3s from cassette tapes too. Just connect a tape deck instead of a turntable. Anyway, it's pretty cool and you can get it in a package with a turntable, too for around $70.00.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Piracy: This week's word is Piracy. This happens whenever someone installs and uses commercial software that they haven't paid for. Copying music or games to disc and then giving it to friends to install is a form of stealing. Now, some types of software: freeware, shareware for instance, can be copied and shared freely, but commercial software shouldn't. But by far, the most common type of piracy is buying one copy of a program and installing it on all the computers you own.

Links

Answering the 32 or 64 bit question:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02033168&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3811075

GalaxyZoo:
http://www.galaxyzoo.org

DAK PC Interface Mixer:
http://www.dak.com/reviews/2020story.cfm?Ref=G&PM=LPCD&type=GSrch&Srh=usb_turntable&gclid=CM67nOvmxaMCFQuenAodx1LDYw

Piracy on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/piracy

8/20/2010-How to add two laptops to your Internet connection, MoonZoo.org, Verbatim Insight 500GB External Hard Drive, "Trojan Horse"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 08:09:53 -0500

Episode 126:
Question: Elza asks, "I want to add two laptops to my High-Speed Internet. I already have a wireless router, but these computers will be in another room, so is that all I need?"

Answer: Good question Elza. Whenever you need to connect another computer to your high speed Internet, you need a router, like you already have. The router has four ports for wired connections and wireless connections for as many computers as can receive the signal. Now, that "receive the signal" can be the tricky part. If you can, locate your router as near to the center of the house as possible. Or if you only use your computers in one area of the house, then locate it near there. In most houses, you can get an acceptable signal to go about 50 feet or so. The actual range you get will depend on the composition of the walls between the router and the computers. Your footage will vary, but the closer the better. Going between floors of in a multi-story house is another issue. The computers that are on a different floor from the router may have problems connecting, and will generally be less reliable, but it should work. What happens sometimes is that people forget the information they used to set up their routers initially. The things you need to know or remember are: Your SSID – this is the name of your wireless network. If you don't have security set up on your wireless network, this is all you need and Windows can tell you that. If you do have security set up on your wireless network, then you also need to know your security key. The security key will be long and cryptic if you let the software that came with your router set it. If you set it up, you should know what it is. I can't be too much more specific because you find several security protocols in use out there, each with its own standard for the key. The newest of the Linksys routers save or offer to save that information in a file on your computer. If you saved the information, you can just open that file and find the information you need. We'll have a link in the show notes for default router passwords.

Cool Site: MoonZoo: This week’s site is MoonZoo.org. It's a site where you can explore the moon as never before. NASA has a satellite in orbit around the moon called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. It has been sending images of the moon's surface back for a while and these images have been put online at Moon Zoo. The images from the satellite's camera have enough resolution to enable you to see, if you're careful, the Apollo landing sites and other space exploration stuff that's been left there over the years. You can even see Neil Armstrong's footprints as he explored the Little West crater, which gave us our first look into a lunar crater. There's a tutorial where you can see how you can help NASA analyze the orbiter's photos. There's a forum and a blog - common features of many websites now. You can also find a timeline of moon exploration, how the moon has been seen in culture and history, just about anything you might want to know about the moon will be here. Great for homeschoolers.

Cool Gadget: Verbatim Insight 500GB External Hard Drive: Over at PC Mag.com we have a great back-to-school gadget: the Verbatim Insight 500GB External Hard Drive. External hard drives are great for college or high school students who often have big papers to write. Sometimes these papers have pictures and even videos attached to add to the bulk. The thing about this drive that makes it cool is an exterior display that tells you how much free space is left on the drive, even when the drive is off. Now, the display only updates when you plug or unplug the drive. It fits in a shirt pocket and has only one mini-USB plug for the included cable. It has a 5 year warranty and unlike some other external drives that have a free space meter, this one doesn't require drivers to make the display work. They run from $85-125. We'll link to PC Mag's review in the show notes.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Trojan Horse: This week's term is Trojan horse. In Greek mythology, the city of Troy was besieged for years and had always been impenetrable. So, the Greek soldiers, apparently admitting their inability to breach the city, left a large wooden horse outside the city gate and withdrew. The citizens believed it to be a peace offering and brought it inside the gate. That night, Greek soldiers hiding within the horse came out and opened the gates so their comrades outside could conquer the city. In your computer, a Trojan horse program works similarly. It masquerades as something that's not harmful, but hides its intentions. Once installed on your computer, usually with your permission, it begins to download and install other software without your permission. Trojan horse programs won't replicate themselves like viruses do but then again, they don't have to.

Links

Default Router Passwords:
http://www.routerpasswords.com/

MoonZoo:
http://www.moonzoo.org/

Verbatim Insight 500GB External Hard Drive on PC Mag:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355980,00.asp

Trojan Horse on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/trojanhorse

8/13/2010-Why are my desktop icons gone, but I can still see them in Explorer. VirusTotal.com, Sharpie Liquid Pencil, "Netiquette"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:38:45 -0500

Episode 125:
Question: My desktop icons are missing, but I can open my desktop folder and see them. What's wrong?

Answer: Great question. I can think of a couple of possibilities here. Some people are like me. I put everything on my desktop. Others like for their desktops to be empty or very nearly so. Because of this, Windows has a switch that turns off the desktop icons. Right-click the desktop, point to "arrange icons by". Check to be sure that "show desktop icons" is checked. In your case, this is probably going to be the answer because you said you can open the folder and see the icons. Another possibility is a corrupted profile folder. Your Documents and Settings (Users in Vista and Windows 7) folder has all or most all your stuff. It calls that your profile. If Windows notices that your profile is broken in some way, it can log you on using a temporary profile, which will be based on the default profile. That default profile won't have much in it so it will look like your icons are missing.

Cool Site: VirusTotal: Have you ever wondered whether or not a file is a virus? Or, have you ever wondered if a website might infect your computer with a virus? Well, this week's site will help you detect these threats. Virustotal.com is a web service that gives you the opportunity to upload a suspect file or submit a web address. Files sent are scanned with several up-to-date antivirus engines to quickly detect whether or not a file is infected. Now, you shouldn't use the site to just check that your antivirus is OK because the detections may vary between what you have and what they use. Besides, it's possible that an infection you have allows it to hide from your antivirus, which would otherwise detect it. No solution is 100% effective in finding all viruses and malware. It's too much of a moving target. But VirusTotal comes close because its virus signatures for all engines are updated in real time, so as soon as new signatures become available, they get used. The site cautions that, while results from multiple antivirus engines are far more reliable than those from a single engine, this is no absolute guarantee that a file is completely harmless. If in doubt I suggest scanning the file again tomorrow. The site allows you to send files by email for scanning, as well as using the website. Firefox users can get their browser add-on that scans every file you download and also checks URLs. The site has a community section, which is a forum for users of the service, and a search box that you can use if you can't find the file itself.

Cool Gadget: Sharpie Liquid Pencil: Well, it's back-to-school time. Wow! Where did the summer go? This week's gadget is just the thing for folks who like the erasability of pencils, and the permanence of pens. Sharpie is making a new "liquid pencil". Do you remember erasable pens? I loved them. This is similar but the reverse. Sharpie's pencil uses a liquid graphite and you can erase it if necessary, but you need to erase quickly. After three days, the liquid graphite dries and can no longer be erased. While not technically available until September, you can find them on Office Depot's website, where for $4.99 you can get two pencils and 6 erasers.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Netiquette: This week's term is Netiquette. Sounds like etiquette, doesn't it? Great, you get it. Netiquette, simply put, is Internet Etiquette. All social interactions have rules that define what "acceptable behavior" means. For instance, writing emails in all caps is bad netiquette because it's the equivalent of shouting. The main areas where good netiquette is hugely important are email, online chat, newsgroups: in other words, the areas where people interact with one another most directly. You want to make a good first impression, and not inadvertently doing things that annoy or frustrate others is part of that and that is the big thing that netiquette refers to, how not to annoy others on the Internet.

Links

VirusTotal:
http://www.virustotal.com

Sharpie Liquid Pencil at Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/09/sharpie-liquid-pencil-writes-and-erases-like-a-pencil-dries-lik/

Sharpie Liquid Pencil on GearLog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/08/pen_or_pencil_sharpie_says_bot.php

Sharpie Liquid Pencil at Office Depot:
http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/730116/Sharpie-Liquid-Pencil-05-mm-Opaque/

Netiquette on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/netiquette

8/6/2010-Where did Easter Eggs come from?, AmericaSpeakingOut.com, Thought-Controlled Prosthetic Arm,"Kludge"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:38:19 -0500

Episode 124:
Question: Pam asks, "Where did the idea of ‘Easter eggs’ in programs come from?"

Answer: Great question Pam. Regular listeners to the program will remember that we talked about the concept of Easter eggs back in April, but we didn't go into it much more than that. No one's really certain when Easter eggs began to appear in software, but we have seen them going back as far as 1971. Sometimes these can get elaborate. I've seen the "Hall of Tortured Souls" game in Excel 95. In Excel 97, this game gave way to a flight simulator. Try this one: Start a game of Solitaire. Hold down the Alt and Shift buttons, then press the number 2. You win! One of the things Easter eggs used to be used for is detecting copyright infringement. If someone were to copy your software and just change the names of things, then when you get in court, all you have to do is to activate the Easter egg to prove they did it. The name itself is said to be a reference to an Atari game from 1979 called "Adventure", where a secret message was left by the game's programmer.

Cool Site: America Speaking Out: Lately it seems, nobody in Washington is listening to us and nothing we do matters. Well there's a website that will at least give you a way to sound off. That site is America-speaking-out.com. The site was set up by House Republicans to give the average citizen a place to share ideas. Ideas about how to fix the things that are broken in the country. You can sign up for an account, or sign in using your Facebook account. You get points for sharing ideas, for voting thumbs up or thumbs down for the ideas of others, or for posting a response to others' ideas. You might be surprised what other people think. I don't know what the points can be used for, but maybe they'll come up with something soon.

Cool Gadget: Thought-Controlled Prosthetic Arm: SyFi's DVICE is the source of this week's gadget. Not really a gadget per se, it's a prosthetic arm. But whereas the best prosthetic arms we have now are controlled with your feet, this one is controlled by your thoughts. Surgeons will implant sensors on the patient's brain. The arm will read those signals and move accordingly. It's also supposed to be able to send signals back to the patient as well. Quadriplegics will be the first candidates for this new arm because they don't have the option of using their feet. If it works as advertised, it should begin to change everything.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Kludge: This week's term is kludge. It refers to a means of solving a problem that's functional, but not terribly well-designed or thought out. It's similar to the term hack, in that both terms refer to nonstandard ways of solving problems. The difference is that whereas a hack can be considered elegant, a kludge is not. Kludges are generally temporary and tend to become unwieldy over time.

Links

Easter Eggs on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_(virtual)

America Speaking Out:
http://www.americaspeakingout.com/

Thought Controlled Prosthetic Arm:
http://dvice.com/archives/2010/08/tought-controll.php

Kludge on Webopedia:
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/K/kludge.html

Kludge on PC Magazine:
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,,t=&i=45831,00.asp

7/30/2010-Can you delete tweets?, AttendVLS.org, iSafe Backpack, "Botnet"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:36:33 -0500

Episode 123:
Question: Question from Class, "On Twitter, can you delete tweets? Is it like E-Mail? Do those messages take up space on my computer?"

Answer: Great questions. For any of our listeners who aren't familiar with Twitter, it's a free "micro blogging" service. Twitter lets you send messages (called tweets) of up to 140 characters to other Twitter users who "follow" you. To follow someone means that you receive their tweets. When they post something, you get it, possibly as a text message on your cell phone. You are able to delete the tweets you have posted. You can't delete the tweets you've received from others, but you can choose to stop following them if they do something you don't like. You might get some spam from time to time, but you can report any spam tweets you've received right on your Twitter page. Tweets are all stored on Twitter's servers, so they don't take up any space on your computer at all.

Cool Site: AttendVLS: Most or all of our listeners' local churches are having Vacation Bible School, really winding down at this point, I guess. Well, the Kentucky 9/12 group took a look at Vacation Bible School and wanted to do something similar to educate our kids on History, the Constitution, and our Founders. They came up with Vacation Liberty School and their site is at attendvls.org. First of all, I love the concept: if the schools won't teach the truth of our founding, we'll teach it ourselves. At this site, you'll find videos of VLS in action, you'll also find lots of resources to plan your own VLS: a detailed lesson plan, links pointing to many original sources of information like the Constitution, the Declaration, the Bill of Rights, the National Constitution Center, and many others. Vacation Liberty School is intended for kids Ages 10-15, and is intended to help them experience for themselves many of the things that make our nation great. One paragraph from their website says,

quote:

At a Vacation Liberty School your children will be sent on daily journey back to the founding of our nation and learn the truth about our history and the impact faith had on both the founding fathers and the foundation of our country.

Learn the role of Faith in the Revolutionary War and discover the Black Robe Brigade
See how faith influenced Samuel Adams and other founding fathers
Learn the story of the Constitutional Convention
Learn the story of the Constitutional Convention
Understand what "equal justice" means
Realize through activities the balance between liberty and tyranny.

This is an awesome site to check out as we head into the election season, and the great thing is it's mostly faith-based. At every turn, the faith of our founders is emphasized; the values and principles they espoused are taught. Read their curriculum. I can almost guarantee you, you'll learn something you didn't know.

Cool Gadget: iSafe Backpack: From Gearlog comes this week's cool gadget. It's almost back-to-school time and it'll be time to get a new backpack. Consider the iSafe backpack. At $60 it seems a bit pricey to me, but the great thing about this backpack is that it has a built-in panic alarm. If your son or daughter is being bullied or something, a quick yank on a strap activates the panic alarm. They offer several different models of backpack, all including the panic alarm and a replacement policy. When you buy an iSafe backpack and wear it out, you can send it back and get a new one at a 50% discount. The alarm will go off for up to 2 hours solid, or you can pull the alarm, replace the pin, and then pull it again later. This is useful if you're lost in the woods or something and need to make noise but you don't know for how long.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Botnet: This week's term is Botnet. Certain viruses and malware have the ability to turn off your firewall, or open holes in it. Hackers use such malware to run programs on infected computers. The programs may simply send several hundred spam emails, or they may attempt to infect other computers with viruses. The programs the hacker executes on your computer are called bots. The computers controlled by the hacker's bots are called a botnet.

Links

Attend VLS:
http://www.attendvls.org

iSafe Backpack at Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/07/keep_your_kids_safe_with_the_i.php

iSafe Backpack:
http://www.isafebags.org/@home.asp

Botnet at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/botnet

Spotlighting the Botnet Business Model:
http://blog.trendmicro.com/spotlighting-the-botnet-business-model/

7/23/2010-Weird sounds from the computer, ReasonableFaith.org, Antenn-Aid, "Metadata"

david@daconsult.com — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:48:54 -0500

Episode 122:
Question: Sylvia writes, "I wrote you about a year ago and you were so gracious to help me with that problem. Now I have another situation and I don't know what is causing it. For several weeks my computer has been making humming or racing sounds while I'm on the internet. I can't really describe it but it is weird. It didn't do this in the past but it does it every time I'm on the internet and it even affects my printer. It does that racing noise and takes longer than usual to print something. I know this may sound vague or strange but have you heard of anyone's computer doing this? Thank you David for whatever info you can provide."

Answer: Good question Sylvia. The sound you're hearing can be coming from three possible places. The first is the optical drive (CD or DVD). The second is a fan. Humming is usually a fan, especially if its a "bumpy" hum, but racing is usually the optical drive. When you hear that sound, look for a light on the CD/DVD drive; if it’s on or blinking, you might try putting a disc in the drive to see if that helps. Once we figure out where the sound is coming from, we'll know what, if anything, to replace. The third is a floppy drive if you have one. I've seen situations where for no apparent reason, the floppy drive light will come on and stay that way while the drive bumps and hums for a few seconds and then it stops.

Cool Site: ReasonableFaith: Have you ever wondered how to answer the objections of atheists? If so, take a look at ReasonableFaith.org. This is the website of Dr. William Lane Craig. He's written several books, the latest being On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision. I've read portions of that book and it's got great arguments that don't necessarily depend on first believing that the Bible is true, which atheists won't. If you haven't read it, you'll find the first chapter of the book on the site. There's an excellent Q&A archive that gets a little technical at times, but is great. You'll also find a newsletter, podcasts, a blog, a forum for discussions, and many different articles. If you register to use the site, much more material will be made available to you, like the forums for instance. Registration is free and doesn't require much time. For those who are interested, the site also has information on how to set up a Reasonable Faith chapter at your school or church. If you'd like to see Dr. Craig in person, his speaking calendar is also available at the site. ReasonableFaith.org

Cool Gadget: Antenn-Aid: Their site says "Apple made a boo-boo. Make it all better". If you're not familiar with all the brouhaha, it turns out that Apple's new iPhone 4 has a design flaw. A week or so ago Apple CEO Steve Jobs came out and said that the problem was in software. It's not. What happens is that if you grip your iPhone 4 a certain way, your signal strength will fall off and calls will drop. Apple says they'll give free bumpers to any iPhone 4 user that wants one. This week's gadget isn't included in that giveaway, but Antenn-Aid is a bumper that's similar to the duct-tape remedy others have mentioned. It's little more than a piece of duct-tape dressed up as an adhesive bandage. As such, it claims to be for entertainment purposes only and may not work. But many people say that the duct tape thing works, and this looks better than that. You get 6 for about 5 bucks plus shipping.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Metadata: This week's term is metadata. You often see this term around music files because when it comes to some kinds of files, you have data, and then you have the data about the data. By that, I mean that you have the music file, and that's the data. On the other hand, you also have information about the song. Information like Album Title, Artist, Track Number, Musical Genre, and even the Album Art are all data items about this file. That's the metadata. Pictures might have the date and time they were taken, the kind of camera used, even your GPS coordinates when the picture was snapped. That's metadata - the data describing the data.

Links

Reasonable Faith:
http://www.reasonablefaith.org

Antenn-Aid:
http://antenn-aid.com/

Metadata on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/metadata

7/16/2010-Verisoft Access Manager thwarting Windows 7 Upgrade, EmulatorZone.com, PSX64, "Mashup"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:55:55 -0500

Episode 121:
Question: Jeff asks, "I'm trying to upgrade my hp laptop running Windows Vista to Windows 7. It says I need to remove something called Verisoft Access Manager, but I don't see it listed in control panel. Can you help?"

Answer: Great question Jeff. Your problem is quite a common one. I've fixed it before, but it's a bit technical. I'll have a link in the show notes so that you can go to hp's website, download the Verisoft software and then install it. You'll also need another program, called Revo Uninstaller to help you out. Install both programs and reboot. Then use the Revo uninstaller to help take the Verisoft software off. Remove everything Revo finds. That may get you where you need to be. Let me know how that goes for you.

Cool Site: EmulatorZone: This week, we've got a cool site that's seriously retro. At emulatorzone.com, you'll find downloadable emulator software to let your computer run everything from old Atari 2600 games to Xbox, Wii, and Playstation. All those old games we used to play as kids, can now be played on your computer again. I've been playing some of my old Commodore 64 games and some of the old Atari games. I know it sounds silly, but with all of the advances in games that are available now, I find myself playing Atari Space Invaders or Zork. The site has forums, a brand new blog which doesn't get updated often, an RSS feed, articles and links to other sites. But the main purpose of the site is to call attention to the emulators, and that's just cool.

Cool Gadget: PSX64: In keeping with the retro theme our cool site begun, Synthetic Dreams has a card available that will let you connect Playstation controllers to a Commodore 64's joystick port. You do have to have a real Commodore 64 or any other of the older game systems that use a nine-pin joystick. This is cool because I didn't know that anyone was still making anything for the 64, much less something new. The PSX64 also comes with a game called Shredz64 that is a Guitar Hero clone. The game uses this interface connected to a real Playstation Guitar controller. The interface also supports 4 different macros up to 127 button presses each. It runs $39 and is available at the Synthetic Dreams website. Why do we care about all this old stuff? Because the Commodore 64 is (still, I think) the best selling computer system of all time.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Mashup: This week's term is mashup. This term originally described a song that combined two different musical styles. For instance putting the words of one song to the tune of a song of a different style is a mashup. As time has gone by, it's become more the combination of two dissimilar styles of video, or web applications, or whatever. So a mashup is a combination of dissimilar things into something that works.

Links

Bioscrypt Verisoft Access Manager:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-49006-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&os=2093&product=3185028&sw_lang=

Revo Uninstaller:
http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

Emulatorzone:
http://www.emulator-zone.com

Synthetic Dreams PSX64:
http://www.synthdreams.com/psx64.php

Shredz64 in Action (Part 1) on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyCMM6e1Lbo

Shredz64 in Action (Part 2) on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52gcC3Sn-Gw

Mashup on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/mashup

7/9/2010-Facebook Scam, Earthcam.com, WetCircuits, "XML"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:01:11 -0500

Episode 120:
Question: A listener asks, "I got a Facebook email from someone I know. It was a sob story about how they had taken a surprise vacation to London and got their luggage stolen. The thieves got almost everything they had and they were stranded there. I sent a message back saying I'd be praying for them and to let me know if there was anything I could do. I got a response asking for $1800 to be sent via Western Union. I didn't do it, but have I messed up? Have I exposed myself to any viruses, spyware, or identity theft?"

Answer: Great question. OK, the first thing I'd say is that you're glad you didn't send the money, because this is an absolute scam. As I spoke to this listener, I was told that the Facebook friend's account had been compromised, the password had been changed and now the true person whose Facebook account this was couldn't even get into the account anymore to tell anyone this is a scam. Knowing that the account is compromised, you next want to verify that you don't have any malware, just to be sure. That way if there is something, you'll know where it came from. Update all your anti-malware software and run full scans. Then maybe try an online scanner like Trend Micro's Housecall, just to be sure you're in the clear. Most likely you don't have any exposure, but just be sure. To help the person who can't reclaim their account, go into Facebook. Click Account in the upper right hand corner of the page, then click Help Center. Once you get into the help center, look under Using Facebook and click Security. We'll have a direct link in the show notes directly to this page. From this page, you can report the breach.

Cool Site: Earthcam.com: This week's cool site is earthcam.com. Lots of people have webcams. Most laptops today come with them already installed. But several places have set up webcams that just focus on one thing, like the entrance to Chicago's Wrigley Field, or the Sixth Floor at Dealey Plaza. At earthcam.com, you can take a look at the views of hundreds or thousands of webcams from all over the world. The site also puts together videos and slide shows like the one showing some stunning fireworks pictures from July 4th. You'll find a search box where you can look for whatever you're interested in: traffic cameras, cities, famous landmarks. Some people put webcams on their pets, others on their bosses, so some of them are kind of pointless, but if you'd like to take a trip around the world without ever leaving home, check out earthcam.com.

Cool Gadget: Wetcircuits water resistant power strip: This is probably the coolest thing I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. We need surge protection for our computers; even better, use an uninterruptible power supply. But what about places like garages or outdoors where a power strip might get wet? This power strip works even if you get it wet. I mean, you can turn it on and immerse it for up to two hours before there's any danger. You can also stick a pair of tweezers into the outlets and you won't get shocked, even when that outlet is wet. It won't short out, you can take a light and plug into the wet outlets and it'll turn on. This thing's awesome. I don't know if it does surge protection, but even if not, the waterproof aspect is cool.

It's All "Geek" To Me: XML: Our last podcast-related term is XML. XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language. It refers to a specially formatted text file that can be used to store and transport data. XML files use tags similar to web pages that define the layout of the data stored in the file. It's intended to be easy to learn and use. XML is the format that is used to write RSS feed files. You can create and edit these files with Notepad if you want, so you don't need some special program to work with them. It's easier if you just see XML, so check the show notes, where we'll have a link to a whole series teaching XML in detail.

7/2/2010-Broken USB port, Roblox.com, Bringrr, "RSS"

david@daconsult.com — Wed, 7 Jul 2010 20:57:38 -0500

Episode 119:
Question: Question from Kathy: "I accidentally backed my chair over my printer cable and it broke the USB port. When I tried to restart my computer, the power comes on, but it won't boot. What can be wrong?"

Answer: Great question. Check that USB port very closely. It has a piece of plastic that keeps the contacts where they belong. The other thing that plastic does is to make sure you can't plug into it wrongly. If that breaks, you should make sure that the contacts don't touch each other or the sides of the USB port. If this happens, it creates a short and since USB is a bootable technology, your computer may not be able to boot. To fix it, you'll need to have that port repaired. If you have a USB hub, I suggest replacing it. If this is a port that is built into your computer, then you will have to have it serviced. It may mean the replacement of the motherboard, or it may mean the complete removal of that USB port. Removing the port will be less expensive than replacing the motherboard.

Cool Site: : This week, we're taking a break from apologetics to look at a little something that's just for fun on this holiday weekend. Roblox.com is "a kid-friendly place on the internet where your children can exercise their creativity in a moderated online environment." What that means is that you and your kids sign up for accounts (there are both parent and kid accounts) and the site gives the kids a virtual online building game with moderated interactions. The site is designed for kids from 8-18, but is open to anyone. You choose an avatar and give it an identity. You can then start to create things in this almost infinite playground. Your avatar has an area and a toolbox. Using the tools, you build things just like you might with Lego or some of the other plastic building bricks. You can create games, places for others to explore, all kinds of stuff. Members can earn badges and ROBUX with which they can shop the online catalog for more tools, building materials, stuff like that. You can play alone, or with others, it's completely up to you. The site can be enjoyed completely free, or by joining the Builders Club for at most $6 per month, the ads go away, and the kids are able to get better stuff from the catalog. This is really the model that most sites are beginning to employ: free basic service, and paid premium service.

Cool Gadget: Bringrr: A few weeks back we looked at the Zomm, which makes sure you keep your cell phone close by. What if you just want to be sure you've got it with you when you get in the car? Gearlog has an article about the Bringrr. Bringrr is a device that plugs into the car’s power outlet (we used to call them cigarette lighters). It pairs to your cell phone via Bluetooth, and when you start your car, it looks for the phone. If your phone is in your car, Bringrr will beep and light up in blue. If it doesn't find it, an alarm goes off and the light changes from blue to red to let you know you've forgotten your phone. It runs about $35, which is a lot more expensive than a note stuck on the back of the front door, but it's also a lot harder to ignore. They have a second model that incorporates a car charger for $10 more, called Bringrr Charge.

It's All "Geek" To Me: RSS: This week, we're going to continue our terminology related to podcasting. RSS stands for Rich Site Summary, or Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a specification for a file called an RSS Feed. An RSS Feed is a text file that your web browser or another program downloads periodically. The file follows a specific format, which we'll talk about next week, and contains articles. The articles can be about anything, and many news sites or blogs have this feature. Twitter has it also. You subscribe to the feed, and your feed reader lets you know whenever new stuff is available. An article can have an enclosure, similar to an attachment in an email, and this is how podcasts are distributed.

6/25/2010-What kind of computer should I buy?, Pizap.com, Playstation Move, "Podcast"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 2 Jul 2010 07:34:56 -0500

Episode 118:
Question: I'm replacing my computer. Do you recommend getting a desktop, laptop, or a netbook?

Answer: Great question. The answer really depends on what you expect to do with it. If you want a computer that gives you high power at a lower cost, with maximum expandability, you want a desktop, especially if you're not planning on taking it places. On the other hand, if you want a computer that will go wherever you go, you don't want a desktop. Instead, you want one of the other, more mobile options. A netbook makes a good second computer. They're powerful, their batteries last forever, you know, but that's partly because they're small and don't have a built-in optical drive. The regular notebook system can replace a desktop and go with you. Because of that, they are currently the hottest selling class of computer. So, which should you get? It's up to you really, but use those guidelines to help you decide.

Cool Site: Pizap: This week's cool website is Pizap.com. I can't pronounce it, but I can spell it. If you have Adobe Photoshop, you can do some really creative things with your photos. What if you don't? Well, there's pixlr, which we've looked at before, and several other sites, like Pizap. Pizap lets you upload your photos, then add stickers to them, change your hairstyle, put on a pair of glasses or some funky sunglasses, or any of a few dozen other things. One of the things that makes Pizap different is that it's designed to be used with social networking websites like Twitter, Facebook, Friendster, MySpace and several others. You can also download or email your creations. Even better, it's all free because the site is supported by advertisements.

Cool Gadget: Playstation Move: The Wii has been a real game-changer in the gaming world. Last week, we had the Xbox's Wii act-alike. This week, we have Sony's Playstation Move. The Move is a couple of different controllers that work with the Playstation Eye, which is a camera, to allow you to either navigate the Playstation 3's interface or play games. The navigation controller will be $30, while the gaming controller will run $50. There will be a charger base that charges two controllers for $30. When the devices become available in mid-September, they'll be supported by up to 20 games. Sony will be making some bundles available that include the controllers, chargers, and games. Check out the show notes for videos showing the Move in action.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Podcast: This week's geeky term is Podcast. Looking back at our previous show notes, I found that we have often used this term without really defining it. The term podcast comes from the combination of iPod and Broadcast, but don't feel left out if, like me, you don't have an iPod. A podcast is nothing more than an audio or increasingly, video file that's been placed on iTunes or a website for download. The audio or video files are generally, but not always, produced by amateurs. For instance, all or almost all previous Tech Tip Friday shows are available at daconsult.com as .MP3 files. Ideally, they should be episodes, and have a method for subscribing and automatically downloading new episodes. We'll look at that part next week.

Links

28 Online Photo Editing Websites to Have Fun With:
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/resources/28-online-photo-editing-websites-to-have-fun-with/

Pixlr:
http://www.pixlr.com

Pizap.com:
http://www.pizap.com

Playstation Move on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/06/sony_divulges_prices_for_the_p.php

Hands on with the Move on PCMag:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361640,00.asp

Podcast on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/podcast

6/18/2010-Is my Windows really genuine?, Apologetics.org, Microsoft Kinect, "Rootkit"

david@daconsult.com — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:58:29 -0500

Episode 117:
Question: Geraley asks, "All of a sudden, Windows has started saying it's not genuine. Why does it do that?"

Answer: Good question Geraley. First of all, let me reassure you that this particular message is not a fake. That message in and of itself is not spyware. There are three reasons that I have seen why Windows would say it's not genuine. The first reason, and one you should always check first, is malware. See, the message is not malware but I've found that malicious software will often do things that break Windows Genuine Advantage, so I never trust this message until I check for and get rid of malware. One thing this means is that you won't be able to use Microsoft Security Essentials to get rid of the malware, as it requires you pass genuine-ness checks. Check out our AntiMalware Toolkit, and use one of the online scanners to check it out first. The second is if it's true. To be properly licensed, your computer needs to have three things: 1) An installation disc, 2) a Certificate of Authenticity which should be stuck to your computer's case somewhere, 3) A copy of the Manual; in many cases little more than a brochure. If you have all that, and you know you don't have any malware, then the third reason is if you have a pre-release edition of Windows 7. Those just recently timed out and are considered non-genuine.

Cool Site: Apologetics.org: This week's website is apologetics.org. Regular listeners will notice that we've been concentrating on this kind of site for the past month now. This is partly because I've been looking for information lately on Intelligent Design, just exactly what it is, and what it isn't. Apologetics.org is the official website of the C.S. Lewis society. There's a blog, a list of resources, a listing of events, a small online store, and feedback and donate links. The site is almost entirely dedicated to debunking Darwinism, but what I read takes more of a logical and philosophical rather than scientific tone. The site appears to have recently undergone a redesign and all the menu links don't work quite right, but hey, it's the C.S. Lewis society. That's just cool all by itself.

Cool Gadget: Microsoft Kinect: Microsoft goes through phases with their product names. The first phase was using version numbers just like everyone else. The next phase was using year numbers. That basically went away with Windows XP. There was the "Active" phase, where everything was called "Active"X, "Active"sync, "Active" something. Now, with the release of their phone, the Kin, they've started a new phase. This past week they unveiled something they call Kinect. It's like Wii for the Xbox 360, but it doesn't require controllers. Pricing details won't be available until its release in November, just in time for the Christmas rush, but there are already several games available that can take advantage of it. Just check out the show notes for links to all the details.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Rootkit: This week's term refers to a type of malware. This week's term is rootkit. A rootkit is a type of malicious software that is designed to give an unauthorized individual full access to your computer. Rootkits are also designed to be hard to detect. It's a type of malware that is very akin to the old-school viruses we used to see because they started up before DOS did and they hid from us. The term is a compound word "root" meaning administrator; "kit" meaning the software that makes up the malware.

Links

Antimalware Toolkit:
http://www.daconsult.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=76

Apologetics.Org:
http://www.apologetics.org/

Google Search Results for "Kinect":
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=kinect&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=CPpg_5BsaTNbDAofAzQS3rZWfAwAAAKoEBU_QClmL&fp=793ccc8bd068d8a9

Kinect on Xbox.com:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect

Kinect coverage from Gearlog/PCMag:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/06/microsoft_rechristens_project.php
(Note: Check the YouTube related videos for some cool stuff from the show)

Rootkit on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/rootkit

6/11/2010-Get a real mouse for a laptop?, GodAndScience.org, WD TV Live Plus, "Tethering"

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:50:53 -0500

Episode 116:
Question: Karen asks, "Do you recommend that people get a real mouse for a laptop?"

Answer: Great question, Karen. Laptops used to not come with any pointing device at all built-in. If you wanted one, you could buy a mouse, or Microsoft made a little trackball you operated with your thumb. Toshiba popularized the pointing stick, a little joystick between the G and H keys. Finally, the touchpad came out and it won the war of the pointers, as I like to say. With that said, the answer is really up to you. I personally have always loved the touchpad interface that laptops come with now. I think I'd like a touch-enabled screen, as well. But I find that many people are more comfortable working with a real mouse, whether it's an inexpensive wired one or a wireless model that costs a bit more. "Different strokes for different folks," as they say. Be aware of this if you do choose to buy a mouse for your laptop: you won't be able to work effectively with your computer sitting on your lap. You'll need a place to operate that mouse wherever you are. That may not be a big deal for your situation. Maybe you aren't looking at working on a plane or bus or something of that nature. I also suggest trying out several mice in a store where you can actually hold the mouse in your hand. You already know what a regular mouse feels like, but many of the mice that are sold as laptop companions are tiny and may take a little getting used to. So, do I recommend buying a mouse? Yes, if you want one or if you just don’t like using the touchpad.

Cool Site: Evidence for God from Science: Our cool site this week is GodAndScience.org. It's a site run by Richard Deem who used to volunteer for Reasons To Believe that seems to be geared toward helping the atheist see the truth of scripture and that God exists. There are articles on Design vs. Evolution, Abortion, Common atheist myths, Criticisms of Christianity and much more. Some of the articles get pretty heavy into molecular biology, like one on the problem with the origin of homochirality. These were way outside the envelope of what I know, but fortunately the article had plenty of terms with "pop up" definitions available. A "pop up" definition is one you can access by pointing at a marked word. The definition pops up over the word on the page. But the site's not all pointy-headed science. You'll find movie reviews, a discussion forum, a humor section, and more. It looks like a great resource.

Cool Gadget: WD TV Live Plus: This week, we've got a multimedia gadget from a company not normally associated with multimedia. That company is Western Digital, and this week's gadget is the WD TV Live Plus media player. It supports HD content in full 1080p. If you have Windows 7, this unit supports using the "play to" feature to send your media to the TV. It also supports Netflix, YouTube, Flickr, Pandora and others. You can play content stored on a USB drive or a network drive. While streaming a DVD to the TV, you can control the menus on the DVD with the included remote control. The biggest drawback to the unit is that it doesn't have wireless networking capability, but that's understandable. Wired is faster anyway. It runs about $150.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Tethering: This week, we've got a word that you really may have heard and not known what it meant: Tethering. To "tether" means using your cell phone as a modem for your laptop or PDA. This gives you Internet access anywhere you can get a data-capable cell signal. Tethering got its name because it used to require a cable. Now, with Bluetooth technology, it can be done cordlessly, you just need tethering software. Just be sure to check your cellular service plan first. Some don't allow it, others charge an additional fee. Even if tethering is allowed on your phone and included in your bill, you often find limits on the amount of data you can transfer per month.

Links

Mobile Computing: Safer Pointing Devices from PC World:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/112163/mobile_computing_safer_pointing_devices.html

Evidence for God from Science:
http://www.godandscience.org

Evidence for God from Science on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Evidence-for-God-from-Science/66146097899

WD TV at GearLog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/06/western_digital_unveils_new_se.php

WD TV:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=832

Tethering at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethering

What is tethering at About.com:
http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/phonesformobileworkers/f/what-is-tethering.htm

How to Tether at SmartDeviceCentral:
http://www.smartdevicecentral.com/article/howto+roundup+modem+tethering/215961_1.aspx

6/4/2010-AntiMalware recommendations, 4Truth, Zomm Bluetooth Alarm, "ASCII"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 4 Jun 2010 22:30:42 -0500

Episode 115:
Question: A listener asks, "Which antimalware package do you recommend?"

Answer: This is a good question, for a number of reasons. The first thing to note is that I don't recommend just a single antimalware product. In fact, having a few is a good thing. You just don't want more than one of them scanning everything that you do because that would slow down even the fastest computers. You do, however, want one of them doing that. I've used Microsoft Security Essentials for a bit now, and find that I like it pretty well. It finds most everything I've thrown at it. The best thing is, it's free and doesn't try to do too much. Some programs like Norton 360 really try to do way more than just antivirus and antispyware. They wind up slowing your system way more than necessary. For home use, I really recommend checking out our antimalware toolkit where we have links to three free programs you can try out. Try them all if you want, but not all at once.

Cool Site: 4Truth: This week, I've found another site with apologetics information: 4truth.net. 4truth is a site run by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. It has information on evangelizing cults, about other denominations, new religions and world religions. Many of the articles on the site are in PDF form, so you'll need Adobe or Foxit reader to read these. The good thing about PDF's is that you can download and print these for use in Sunday school or evangelism classes. There's a big section for Youth and how to deal with the various belief systems they might encounter. The blog has answers to questions like, "Can God kill Himself?". This particular question was asked by a skeptic, and yet it's a question you might face. It's a good site to prepare to meet the outside world. The rapture's coming soon - it almost has to be. Even if not, we're commanded to be prepared.

Cool Gadget: Zomm Bluetooth Alarm: This week's gadget is called the Zomm and is made by a company of the same name. It is a Bluetooth device that, when paired up with your cell phone, will make sure you have it close by. If you get over 30 feet away from your phone, the Zomm will start to vibrate, flash, and sound an alarm. It's a great gadget if you tend to set your phone down and then forget about it. Now, if that was all it did, that would be cool, but it wouldn't be worth $80. It also adds speakerphone capabilities to your phone, but this last feature is probably the most important. Let's say you find yourself in danger and need help. Press the button in the center of the Zomm for 9 seconds and it will sound a panic alarm. Keep holding the button down and it will automatically dial 911. If your situation doesn't allow you to speak, the Zomm will play a recording asking the operator to send help immediately. This way, you get many of the same features of that "I've fallen and I can't get up" device in a more portable form. It would be really great for seniors. They'll be available in July at Best Buy or we'll have a direct link to their website in the show notes.

It's All "Geek" To Me: ASCII: You might have heard how a computer can only store 1's and 0's. You might have thought to yourself, "If that's true, how can computers store things like words or text?" This week's word begins to answer that question. The term is ASCII (pronounced ASK-key). It stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, and it defines how letters are encoded as numbers which can be stored in a computer. It defines 256 characters which run the gamut of most languages based on our alphabet. Remember how you used to do that cipher where the number 1 represented the letter A, 2 represented a B and so on? Well, this is the same idea, only a capital 'A' is represented by the number 65; a little 'a' by the number 97. Of those 256 codes, the first 128 are standardized. The second 128 aren’t and can be used by different computer makers in whatever way they see fit. Why 256? In binary, a single byte can only hold numbers from 0 to 255, or 256 possible values.

Links

AntiMalware Toolkit:
http://www.daconsult.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=76

Foxit Software:
http://www.foxitsoftware.com

4Truth:
http://www.4truth.net

Zomm on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/06/the_zomm_has_arrived.php

Zomm:
http://www.zomm.com

ASCII at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/ascii

ASCII Table:
http://www.asciitable.com

5/28/2010-Clean 'My Recent Documents', Rational Christianity, Smartti iON USB Charger, "POP3"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 4 Jun 2010 21:56:29 -0500

Episode 114:
Question: A listener asks, "How do I remove entries from the 'My Recent Documents' list?"

Answer: Good question. The My Recent Documents list is a menu item on the start button of Windows XP. In Vista and Windows 7 it's called Recent Items, but Windows 7 doesn't show it by default. The entries you find on that list are just shortcuts to the files they represent. If you delete one, you don’t delete the file it pointed to. On the other hand, if you've already deleted the file, there's no point in having a shortcut to it anymore. So, click the start button and point to the My Recent Documents (or Recent Items) list. When it opens, click your right mouse button on the shortcut you want to get rid of and choose Delete. It's really that simple. On the other hand, if you want to empty the list altogether, then go to the show notes for today and we'll have a link there to an article over at Microsoft's website that tells you how to do just that.

Cool Site: Rational Christianity: If you have questions, your pastor should always be your first stop, but if he's unavailable, or if you're the pastor, check out this site. It's a good place to go when you get a question you're not sure how to deal with. At Rational Christianity dot Net, you'll find answers to about 200 questions that answer objections to Christianity, the resolutions of many supposed contradictions, reasons to believe, and other answers for skeptics. In stark contrast to most of the websites out there, this site's design is very simple and seems to be modeled on Google. No graphics, minimal text on the main page. There's a search box, but I found it more useful to just browse the articles. All the articles I read had a list of links at the bottom for more information and expansions of the views expressed there. As an example, one article called "Who are the sons of God and the Nephilim?" showed three different views (I only knew of two), the pros and cons of them and an assessment of their strength. This article had links at the bottom that point to more information by people who argue for the various interpretations.

Cool Gadget: Smartti ION AC Charger: This week's gadget is for anyone who's ever run out of battery power in the middle of a phone call. We have the Smartti ION AC Charger. It is a credit card-size ultra slim power bank (USB type). 5V. It's designed to provide high-quality, power-on-the-go, backup power for your iPhones, iPods, cell-phones and all devices with 5V or less. The iON features a Li-ion rechargeable internal battery cell, built-in standard USB input for recharge, standard USB output (included), standard barrel connector (included), iPhone/iPod connector TIP (included), soft carrying case (included) and power-level indicator. It runs about $30, but is worth a whole lot more than that when your battery gets low. This is a Dad's day gadget he can really use.

It's All "Geek" To Me: POP3: This week's term is POP3. With Father's Day coming up, POP's a good one, but this one is an acronym. POP3 stands for Post Office Protocol version 3. It's the language your email program uses to go out and get your email and deliver it to you if you use a program like Outlook Express to get your email. If you read your email with Internet Explorer or Firefox or some other web browser, you are using webmail, not POP3. While there are pros and cons to both methods, what happens is that your email comes into your Internet Provider's mail server, and the POP3 server takes that mail and puts it into your mailbox. Later, you start Outlook and it goes out to the mailbox and gets your mail so you can read it, and that process is called POP3.

Links

Clearing the 'My Recent Documents' list:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307875

Rational Christianity:
http://www.rationalchristianity.net/

Smartti iON AC Charger at VirTech:
http://www.virtech.ca/detailProduct.php?str=SM-19CHARGER¤cy=USD

POP3 on Techterms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/pop3

5/21/2010-Insert vs. Overstrike mode, Cookin' For College, Robot USB Hub, "Modifier Key"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 25 May 2010 23:35:44 -0500

Episode 113:
Question: A question from class: "What is the difference between Insert and Overstrike mode?"

Answer: On your keyboard, you'll find a key labeled "INS" or "Insert". When you press the key, nothing seems to happen. But what happens is that the computer switches from Insert to Overstrike mode. When you use a word processor, or perhaps enter text into other kinds of programs, the difference will become apparent. The default is Insert mode. In this mode, you'll find that when you type new text in the middle of a sentence, the new letters you type cause the old text to move and spread out to make room for that new stuff. On the other hand, when you press Insert, you switch into overstrike mode. In this mode, typing new text in the middle of a sentence will cause the new letters to overwrite the old ones, letter by letter. This is most often not what you want to happen, and becomes an annoyance. The good thing is that this key is a toggle. Press Insert again, and the mode will change back. Microsoft Word has an indicator in the status bar at the bottom of the screen that tells you which mode you're in. It says OVR and is usually grayed out. This indicates Insert mode. If OVR appears in black, it indicates Overstrike mode.

Cool Site: Cookin' For College: This week's site, Cookin' For College is the website of an Internet based cooking show done by a college sophomore in Georgia. The show's on YouTube, with Facebook, and Twitter pages also. The first paragraph on his opening page says, "A cooking show dedicated to helping college students and more make fast, affordable, and flavor packed meals." His name is Arthur King and of course, he knows all about college students that have no money. Arthur ultimately wants to get a cooking show on the Food Network and has pitched his show to Paula Deen's people, so maybe it'll happen. Anyway, you can find many good recipes here that are quick to fix. Because YouTube limits video submissions to ten minutes, the episodes are quick to watch and generally have around a $10 budget. Recipes include Roast Beef Melt, Chicken Parmesan, Spinach & Mushroom Quesadillas, Home Made Chicken Fingers & Sweet Potato Fries, and many more, including tips for some of the recipes.

Cool Gadget: Robot USB Hub: From coolest-gadgets comes today's cool gadget. It's a USB Hub that looks like a robot. Great for a kid's computer, or anyone who likes robots. The arms and legs of the robot are the ports where you plug your USB devices. The arms and legs are articulated, which is nice because to plug something into one of the feet, you'll have to sit your robot down. It accepts an AC adapter but doesn't come with one. Several colors are available: black, red, pink, blue, yellow, and a sort of teal or turquoise. They're cute as all get out and run about $19.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Modifier Key: Our 'All Geek To Me' term this week is Modifier Key. Now, this is just a fancy, but accurate, name for the Shift key on a typewriter. On a typewriter you only have one modifier key. On your computer, you have at least three: Shift, Ctrl, and Alt. Each of these keys does nothing on its own. But when you hold down one or more of the modifier keys and press another key, something can happen. That "something" may be as simple as typing a capital letter, or it may be as complex as restarting your computer. The most famous of all is Ctrl + Alt + Del. This uses two modifier keys, control and alt, which you press and hold while you press and then release the delete key. So that's what a modifier key is: a key that modifies the "normal" operation of another key.

Links

Turn on Overtype mode at Microsoft:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA101732591033.aspx

Cookin' For College:
http://www.cookinforcollege.com/Cookin_For_College/Welcome_To_Cookin_For_College.html

Robot USB Hubs at Coolest-gadgets:
http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20100518/lovable-robot-usb-hubs/#more-42024

Robot USB Hub at Neatoshop (Buy one here):
http://www.neatoshop.com/product/Robot-USB-Hub

Modifier Key at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/modifierkey

5/14/2010-Registry Cleaners,TowerWatch.com, IDAPT Charger, "Screenshot"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 14 May 2010 20:31:50 -0500

Episode 112:
Question: David asks, "Is there a particular registry cleaner you recommend?"

Answer: Hi David, good name and better question! I'm personally not too fond of registry cleaners in general. You could use the one built into CCleaner, but make sure it makes a backup first. You don't want to get into a situation where the cleaner has broken your registry so that Windows won’t even boot. That's the reason I really am not fond of them. The registry is the database that holds Windows together. As such, its proper operation is very important. It's better to have entries in there you no longer need than to accidentally remove some that you do. A potentially more important factor is whether or not the files that make up the registry are fragmented. If so, there will definitely be a drag on system performance, because the registry is constantly being accessed. Your regular defragmenter won't defragment the registry, though, because its files are going to be in use. Check the show notes for links to CCleaner, and a Registry defragmenter.

Cool Site: TowerWatch: Here's a site for anyone who's ever wanted to be a better witness. It is geared toward reaching those in the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, but since many cults deny essential doctrines of Christianity, the information could be useful with more than just this one belief system. Articles presented here speak on subjects such as defending the Deity of Jesus; proper interpretation of certain key verses, Hebrews 1:8's application to Jesus of a verse in Psalms that there referred to the Father, failed prophecies, and others. This site also is helpful because the goal is not to simply win a debate, but a soul, and done wrong, it is quite possible to win the debate but not the soul. In fact, since this is one topic of study I find interesting, I've found that when people leave a cultic belief system, they are just as likely to leave it as Christians as they are to leave it as atheists.

Cool Gadget: IDAPT Charger: From gearlog.com comes the IDAPT Innovative Solutions charging station. If you've got more than one cell phone in the house, you've got more than one charger. If your kids have portable game machines, portable DVD players, portable gadgets of any kind, really, chances are you have a tangle of wires all over. Enter the i2 and i3 charging stations from IDAPT. The i2 simultaneously charges 2 devices, while the i3 charges 3. The chargers are universal, because they feature interchangeable adapters to plug into your devices. The adapters, called "tips" are labeled as to which device they are intended to charge so you don’t ruin your phone trying to plug it into the wrong tip. The tips themselves plug into the charger base using a common modular connection. To interchange them, simply push the buttons on either side of the tip and it pops out. Snap another tip in, and you're ready to go. The company even makes a tip that can recharge a single AAA and a single AA battery together. The i2 comes in 6 colors, the i3 in 9. The chargers run around $40 (give or take) and the tips start at about $10 each.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Screenshot: This week's term is screenshot. Sometimes an error message comes up on your screen and you don't want to write it down, but you do want to show it to someone who might be able to help. Take a screenshot. A screenshot is nothing more than a picture of all or part of your computer screen. Pressing the Print Screen key on your keyboard will take a picture of that screen and put it on your Windows clipboard.

Links

CCleaner:
http://www.ccleaner.com

PageDefrag at Sysinternals (defragment your registry, and other files):
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897426.aspx

TowerWatch:
http://www.towerwatch.com

IDAPT at Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/05/idapt_charges_all_comes_in_ran.php

IDAPT Innovative Solutions (My Daddy day!):
http://www.idaptweb.com/index.html

Screenshot at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/screenshot

5/7/2010-Cookies,OneForty,ToastedNotes,"Clipboard"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:40:30 -0500

Episode 111:
Question: Barbara asks, "Will cleaning out my cookies help memory?"

Answer: Thanks for the question Barbara, and it's a good one. It underscores the admittedly blurry line between RAM and disk space, and their effect on your computer's speed. I guess I'd better explain cookies first. Cookies are small text files that websites save on your computer's hard drive. They are most often used for customizing your experience on a website. For instance, the Weather Channel will show your local forecast on their home page if you enter your ZIP code. That's because the ZIP code is stored in a cookie on your computer and read back when you return to the site. Other sites store similar information. If you sign up for an account at daconsult.com, when you return and sign in, I use a cookie to know that it's you who signed in. Cookies can be deleted without any harmful effect on your computer. In normal use, they can only be read by the website that created them. They can be used to track where you've visited, but only within a particular advertiser’s customer base. They only use memory while you are visiting a particular website, and the disk space they take up is minimal. So, the answer to your question is, not really.

Cool Site: OneForty: Find. Rate. Collect. Share. This is the basic motto of this week's cool site oneforty.com. It's a site dedicated to the collection of Twitter applications. The name comes from the maximum length of a tweet. If you need to use Twitter on your phone, you can find an application to do that here. If you have multiple Twitter accounts like me, you can find a dashboard program to help you use both accounts more effectively. There's Twellow the Twitter Yellow Pages. There are Toolkits that are just collections of Twitter applications. Rate and review the applications. Create your own toolkits or just look at toolkits made by others. Twitter applications are available there in any of several categories like Advertising, Business, Games, Music, Productivity, and Travel, but those aren't all. So, anything you need to use Twitter better, you should be able to find on OneForty.

Cool Gadget: ToastedNotes: You've heard of Post-It(r) Notes, well from our buddies at BimBamBanana comes ToastedNotes. It's a clamshell case that holds five pads of sticky notes. The case is shaped like a huge piece of toast and the sticky note pad, since it's yellow, looks like a butter pat on top of that piece of toast. It's way too expensive, at $58, but the idea is unique. It'd sell a lot better at $7.99.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Clipboard: This week's term is Clipboard. We're all familiar with clipboards in the real world. We use them to hold things we're about to use. Things like rosters and lists. We take things off our desk, clip them onto the clipboard, and use those things later somewhere else. This is the idea behind the clipboard used on the Mac and Windows. The clipboard is a temporary holding area that holds one item that you've cut or copied from somewhere, and which you plan to paste into what you're working on. The clipboard exists in your RAM and can hold just about anything: sentences you plan to move from one paragraph to another; pictures you plan to send in email; or even files you plan to copy to a flash drive or CD. Keep in mind that the clipboard can only hold one item, though. If you don't paste that item somewhere, it's gone the next time you cut or copy

Links

Cookie Information on Microsoft.com:
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cookies.mspx

HTTP Cookies on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie

OneForty:
http://www.oneforty.com

ToastedNotes at BimBamBanana:
http://www.bimbambanana.com/index.php?p=toasted_notes&side=visProd&prod_id=407

Clipboard at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/clipboard

4/30/2010-Problem with the spooler subsystem, SocialGo.com, Synology DS-110j, "RAID"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 11 May 2010 06:35:17 -0500

Episode 110:
Question: James writes in, "When I try to print to this one printer, I get a message saying the spooler subsystem has encountered a problem and needs to close. After that, I can't print because it says I don't have any printers. What's up?"

Answer: Great question, James. The spooler subsystem is the part of Windows that handles printing. This is why you can't print after the error, and if you open your printers and faxes folder, you won't see anything. To fix the problem, just restart the spooler service. Click Start, then click Run and type

net start spooler

and click OK. The driver for the printer you were using when this happened may have become corrupted, and you might need to reinstall or update it from the manufacturer's website. In case you were wondering why they call it a spooler check the show notes, where we'll have an explanation of that term.

Cool Site: SocialGo: Our listeners who are pastors may like this week's site, SocialGo. SocialGo is a site and a service that lets you create your own social networking website. They have a free version available that includes ads, but the paid versions start at $25 per month and add a ton of features including the ability to have your own custom web address. Your social network can integrate with Paypal, Facebook, and Twitter, and this is the service I believe is behind Fox News Channel's FoxNation site. For your social network, you can have Photo Sharing, Video Chat, Messaging, Activity Feeds, Event Management, Member Billing if you're creating a pay site, Access and Moderation controls, and several other features. The created site has many of these features right out of the box, and they make it easy to add more as needed. I've set up a sample you can see if you go to techtipfriday.socialgo.com.

Cool Gadget: Synology DS110J: This week's gadget is the Synology DS110j. This is a networked hard drive enclosure. You do have to add your own hard drive, up to as large as 2 terabytes. Some places will install your drive for you if you buy both together. It has features like a bittorrent client, backup software that can back up all the computers on your home network, photo and video sharing and storage, its media server integrates with both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Because it's basically a computer running Linux, several Linux programs have been ported to it. It's completely manageable through its built-in web server, and it comes with a CD that has several utility programs (like the backup program) that let you easily access the functions of this device. Did I mention you can also connect your USB printer to it? By all accounts a pretty cool gadget.

It's All "Geek" To Me: RAID: Today's term is raid, not the bug spray, but the acronym. RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Drives. It's a technology that spreads your data across multiple hard drives so that the failure of one drive doesn't cause you to lose data. What RAID does in a business environment is help keep your file server running, even though you do have a bad drive. RAID gives you availability, but it's not the same as backup, because RAID doesn't create secondary copies of files. The term RAID will generally be followed by a number. Check the show notes for the meanings behind those numbers.

Links

SocialGo:
http://www.socialgo.com

Tech Tip Friday at SocialGo:
http://techtipfriday.socialgo.com

Synology DS110j:
http://www.synology.com/us/products/DS110j/index.php

Synology DS110j Review:
http://wijnands.blogspot.com/2010/01/synology-ds110j-review-to-create-some.html

RAID at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/raid

RAID at Wikipedia (Includes discussion of level 6):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

RAID Article at Intel:
http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-006130.htm

Web Exclusive: What is a spooler?
The term Spooler comes from the textile industry, where it referred to a machine that transferred yarn from bobbins to spools prior to weaving. This allows the weaving machine to operate at full speed and the bobbins to be fed in by people as necessary. In your computer, some devices like hard drives, lend themselves well to being used by more than one program at a time. Printers don't. Imagine if you had two programs or two computers trying to talk to the same printer simultaneously. You'd get a mix of output from both programs on the same page. That would be useless. The print spooler lets programs or other computers save their print data to disk in what's called a print queue. When the program completes printing, the spooler sends all the data to the printer at one time.

4/23/2010-Repeat

Tue, 11 May 2010 06:42:17 -0500

This week's episode is a repeat of our show from March 12. Eddie was out of town and I forgot when she was leaving. So, due to scheduling conflicts, we weren't able to bring you a new show this week.

4/16/2010-What is a 'session'?, Litebrite.com, Star Wars Mimobots, "OCR"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:05:26 -0500

Episode 109
Question: Marvin asks, "On my email website, it sometimes tells me something about my 'session' and then I have to log in again. Why does it do that?"

Answer: Good question, Marvin. A little explanation is in order here first. When the web was invented, web servers didn't need to know anything about which computers were asking them for web pages. Visitors can come and go at any time. The problem with that approach was that there was no context for a site visitor's clicks. Over time, the concept of a session was created. It allows for context so we can have web-based applications that require context like email and games without forcing people to log into and out of every website they visit. With the session concept, the web server looks at your computer's address and for 20 minutes say, maintains whatever context information the site designer wishes. As long as you continue to interact with the website, the timer stays near zero. But when 20 minutes elapses without any clicks from you, the web server expires the session and forgets whatever context it used to know about your computer. I've been saying 20 minutes because
that's Microsoft's default, but website designers can set different times. Suppose you open an email message, read it and then without closing the message, go to a movie. When you return, your session will have expired. Clicking "back to inbox" won't have any meaning to the web server anymore, so you'll have to log in again.

Cool Site: LiteBrite.com: Do you remember the Hasbro toy, Lite-Brite(r)? I had one, but I could never make it work right without putting the patterns over it, and the problem with that was that once you've punched all the holes in the paper, you don't have a guide to re-create the picture again. But now you can create pictures on a virtual Lite-Brite(r). Just go to litebrite dot com. That address takes you to a page on Hasbro's website where you can choose from one of eight colors with a ninth one that will remove the peg. You can choose to insert a single peg at a time, or you can choose "Power Peg" which places three pegs of the same color in a row. You can print out your creation, or share it by e-mail. The only drawback to this site is that there aren't any patterns to overlay onto the board.

Cool Gadget: Star Wars Mimobots: Mimoco is a company that makes designer USB Flash drives. They've got several lines of drives based on Star Wars. They come in capacities from 2-16GB and start at $29.00. Their newest line includes "Stormtrooper unmasked": the stormtrooper’s helmet is the drive's cap. When you take the cap off the drive, you can find out whether you got Luke or Han Solo. You can choose R2-D2, a Jawa, or Obi-Wan Kenobi. They also have some other characters, like Darth Vader and Darth Maul, the Ewok, and some others. But they're out of C3PO. The drives come pre-loaded with desktop wallpapers, avatars, icons, and screensavers.

It's All "Geek" To Me: OCR: This week's term is one you might have seen if you have a scanner - OCR. OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. When you scan a document, the scanner produces a picture of the document, like taking a photograph. You can read a photo of a document, you can fax a photo of a document, but what you can't do is edit a photo of a document like you can a word processing document. For that, you have to use OCR software. OCR software looks at the picture of the document and figures out where the text is. It then takes that picture of the text and examines it closely to figure out which letters are in the picture. Once this is done, a word processing document is created containing the recognized text so it may be edited. But I have to caution you that the process is dependent on which fonts are used, and how straight the document is fed into the scanner. Even then, you want to compare the recognized document against the original to uncover any irregularities in the recognition.

Links

Session Management on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Session_management

LiteBrite:
http://www.litebrite.com

Star Wars Mimobots at GearLog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/04/star_wars_mimobots_series_5_th.php

Star Wars Mimobots at Mimoco
http://www.mimoco.com/mimo_news/mimobot-brings-new-hope-usb-ports-everywhere

OCR on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/ocr

4/9/2010-Repeating titles in Excel, Virtual Bubble Wrap, Roxio Easy VHStoDVD, "SMART"

david@daconsult.com — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:22:34 -0500

Episode 108:
Question: Geraley asks, "In Excel, how can I get certain rows to print on every page?"

Answer: Good question, Geraley. For those who are unaware, Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet program has a feature that lets you say that the top several rows and/or the leftmost several columns should repeat on each page of a printout. This is due to the fact that most people structure their spreadsheets so that headings are at the top and left of the sheet. Go to the sheet you want to print. Now, the next step of that answer depends on which version of Excel you have. If it's the 2007 version, find the page layout tab in the ribbon's page setup group and click print titles. If it's the 2003 version or earlier, click File, then click Page Setup. That will open up the Page Setup dialog. Now, go to the Sheet tab and what you're looking for is called "rows to repeat at top" and you can set it there. We'll have links in the show notes to articles on the Microsoft Office website that show you how to do this for both Excel 2007 and Excel 2003 and earlier.

Cool Site: Virtual Bubble-Wrap: Who doesn't like to pop bubble-wrap? It's a great stress-reliever. What to do if you're all stressed out and no bubble wrap in sight? Fear not, you can find virtual bubble wrap online at virtual-bubblewrap.com. Go to the website and click the "PopNow!" link. You can then click to pop the bubbles, or engage what they call "manic mode" where no clicking is required to pop. The site is supported by donations and ads, so they'd like a dollar or two, but you can play the game all you want at no charge. You can also put the game on your non-commercial blog or website for free. For a fee, commercial websites can license a version of the game that has their logo on it. Just a little something to waste a bit of time, but I like it.

Cool Gadget: Roxio Easy VHStoDVD: Today's gadget I actually own, and that's why it's this week's cool gadget. It's from a company called Roxio, and is called Easy VHStoDVD. It consists of a USB-based video capture device, a short USB extension cable, and another short cable that has RCA audio inputs, an RCA composite video input, and an S-Video input. You can plug anything that has those outputs into it, although it's designed to be used with a VCR. Currently, I'm using it with my son's Playstation 3 to capture copies of our Blu-Ray movies. I should mention that this method is absolutely legal because it uses the "analog hole" and doesn't bypass any copy protection. But the reason for this device's existence is to make copies of your VHS tapes. The quality of tapes degrades over time, so before you lose altogether those videos you took of your kids with your old VHS camcorder, you can capture them into digital form with the Roxio Easy VHStoDVD. If the gadget itself was the only thing you got, that would be great, but the package also comes with software to let you burn your videos to DVD, complete with menus.

It's All "Geek" To Me: SMART: This week's term is smart. It's an acronym, as you might have guessed, and it stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology. It's a technology in your hard drive that keeps an eye on the health of your drive. Windows and disk diagnostic programs can read this information and get an idea when your hard drive is going out before you lose data.

Links

Rows/Columns on every page, Excel 2007:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA102432191033.aspx?pid=CH100798601033

Rows/Columns on every page, Excel 2003:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HP052018111033.aspx?pid=CH062527881033

Virtual Bubble-Wrap:
http://www.virtual-bubblewrap.com/

Roxio Easy VHStoDVD:
http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/easy-vhs-to-dvd/standard/overview.html?rTrack=b_easyvhs

SMART on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/smart

4/2/2010-How much memory do I need?, Wolfram Mathworld, Cisco Valet Plus Router, "Easter Egg"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 3 Apr 2010 09:09:59 -0500

Episode 107:
Question: Marvin asks, "How do I know if I need extra memory?"

Answer: Great question, Marvin. In general, more is better, and it's often an inexpensive way to boost your computer's performance. The best way to know if you need extra memory is to do two things, and then observe two things. First, you want to run malware scans and be reasonably sure you don't have any malware that's artificially slowing your system down. Second, defragment your hard drive. Once you've done those two things, observe the system's speed and your hard drive light. If your computer's slow and the hard drive is just running constantly, then your system is probably swapping a lot of information into and out of memory. It does that because you don't have enough memory to accommodate what you're doing at that time. Occasional swapping is no big deal, but every time it happens, your computer slows down briefly. What you don't want is for this to be happening constantly. Crucial.com has an article we'll have linked in the show notes about how much memory you need in a rule-of-thumb kind of way. But please be aware, that more memory won't have any effect on your Internet speed. If your Internet connection is slow, it's slow. Web-only addition: When observing system speed, don't do so using your web browser (Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, etc.) because most of what you do using your web browser is dependent on the speed of your Internet Connection. To speed up your Internet connection, your ISP may provide speed-boosting software. Additionally, there is one optimization you can make to your Internet packet size, but the default packet size is already pretty well optimized.

Cool Site: Wolfram Mathworld: ""The Web's most extensive mathematics resource" will help you remember all the algebra, geometry, trig, statistics, calculus, and diffie-Q that you left behind years ago! And you'll probably learn a lot you never knew along the way." – so says 100bestwebsites.org. If you’re doing homeschooling or just tutoring your math student, even if that student is you, this site is a must. Wolfram is a company that makes a software package called Mathematica, which is all about doing math the way you would do it longhand. The Mathworld site has definitions and examples of all kinds of math terms. Have you ever heard of the Potato Paradox? I hadn't, but it's interesting. Also of interest is the section on optical illusions. I didn't know they had so much to do with math.

Cool Gadget: Cisco Valet Plus router: Gearlog.com has this week's gadget listed. It's the Cisco Valet Plus router. Cisco, whose consumer line of products used to be a company called Linksys, now calls their wireless routers hotspots, but this goes beyond just a name change. Router setup has typically been something that non-techies have found somewhat confusing and have often resulted in insecure setups. Different schemes have been implemented to make the process simpler and easier, but I'm not sure how much easier Cisco's Valet process can get. The Valet series of router comes with a USB flash drive. What you do is to go through the wizard to set up the router. You’re then prompted to put that flash drive into your computer and the configuration information is copied over to it. To set up another computer to use your wireless, just plug the flash drive in and follow its wizard to securely connect almost instantly. The software that comes with the router lets you set up parental controls, and lets you assign a secondary set of credentials so that friends can use your Internet connection without having access to the rest of your network. It runs about $150, but the non-plus version will save you $50.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Easter Eggs: In software, an Easter egg is a hidden message, an inside joke, credits, or a special feature found in software that takes some special control sequence to get at. You'll find them in all kinds of software, from a hidden game in Excel 95 to HP scanners that play "Ode to Joy".

Links

AntiMalware Toolkit:
http://www.daconsult.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=76

Computer memory requirements: How much memory do you need?
http://www.crucial.com/support/howmuch.aspx

How much do you need? At Tom’s Hardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram,1190.html

Wolfram Mathworld:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/

Illusions at Mathworld:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/topics/Illusions.html

Cisco Valet Plus on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/04/cisco_valet_plus_router_no-brainer_set_up_fast_throughput.php

Cisco Valet Plus Reviewed at PCMag:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362115,00.asp

Cisco Valet Line of devices:
http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/products/valet_stcVVcatId551965VVviewcat.htm?icid=mk_enus_hpt_00001

Easter Eggs at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_(media)

3/26/2010-Netscape/Windows 7 Incompatibility, Kids Astronomy, Provide Chat, "Cybersquatter"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 05:09:44 -0500

Episode 106:
Question: Shaloam David, I am a KBJS listener and appreciate your Tech Tip Friday program. I just purchased a new Laptop PC with Windows 7 and had a modem installed only to find out that my ISP ( Netscape) will not work with Windows 7. I sure would have appreciated the salesman telling me that before I purchased it. Would you address this for unsuspecting listeners before they purchase a PC? I wish I had come to Jacksonville and talked to you before I bought a computer. Sincerely Orbin.

Answer: Thanks for the observation, Orbin. One thing you might try is if you have Windows 7 Business or Ultimate, install the Windows XP Mode and see if it works there. I'm not sure whether XP Mode can see your modem. But.. Strangely enough, Netscape in particular chose not to upgrade its software for Windows Vista. They never explained why that decision was made. However, if you're looking at buying a new computer, you might want to run Microsoft's Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. The reason for this is that even if you are planning on replacing your computer, you'll have some software, like the Netscape software, that may not run in Windows 7. You also may have some devices like printers that may or may not work with Windows 7. I once sold a computer to a lady that had Vista Home Premium on it and she wound up having to replace both her perfectly-working printer and scanner; all because Vista drivers weren't available for them and weren't forthcoming from the manufacturer. We'll have a link to Netscape's statement on its decision not to support Vista (and hence Windows 7) and the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor in today’s show notes.

Cool Site: Kids Astronomy: If your kids like astronomy or if you’d like them to like astronomy, then check out kidsastronomy.com. It's operated by the KidsKnowIt network and is an "absolutely free astronomy resource designed to teach children about the exciting world of outer space." On this site, you'll find games that teach astronomy, desktop wallpaper images featuring cool images of planets, galaxies, nebulas and such. These are artistic pictures, rather than, for instance, Hubbell photos, but actual astronomical photos may have been used as elements within the images. You can send e-cards, make your own planet or solar system, and see what's going to be in the sky tonight. You can also color pictures online and then print them out. You can solve a sliding puzzle, do word searches, or a shape match, crossword puzzles, or even a quiz. The site has an online astronomy academy where you can complete lessons for a certificate of completion. One course is for ages 7-11, the other for ages 12-18. In the teacher's corner, educators and homeschoolers can find 25 different worksheets in 6 categories that could be used for homework or maybe extra credit. All in all, a pretty awesome site.

Cool Gadget: ProvideChat: Do you have a website? Have you seen those sites that have a picture on the screen that says "click here to chat"? Most of the sites that offer chat for your website don’t have a free version available, or require you to host everything on your own server. Providechat is different. It gives you a free chat application that you can put on your website. The nice thing is that there's a free plan that allows for one operator and one department. That's the plan I use, and the one that the smallest businesses would need. There's nothing to install on your webserver, you only have to include a link and they provide the code to put it on your page. After that, you log in, set a few parameters and then you’re ready to go.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Cybersquatter: Today's term is one you may not have heard. The term is cybersquatter. During the land rush of the 1800's, people took over land and became known as squatters. Then along came the Internet's "land rush" of first-come-first-served domain names. People did, and do, register domain names that are common misspellings of other common sites, hoping to capture visitor traffic when people misspell an address. Another type of cybersquatter buys a domain name, hoping to resell it at a huge profit. Right before MSNBC started, Microsoft and NBC announced their joint venture into broadcasting. Somebody beat them registering the domain msnbc.com, and made out like a bandit because that was the domain they wanted for the new network.

3/19/2010-Is my router bad?, RateMyDrawings.com, Brando Flat Vase, "GUI"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 05:09:01 -0500

Episode 105:
Question: Jeff asks, "I think I need a new router. Do they go out? How do I know?"

Answer: Good question Jeff. Do routers ever go out on you? Yes, they do, but it's usually subtle. You might lose one in an electrical storm, but for the most part they're pretty solid. In my case, I changed mine after several years of service, and it still works, but I got a good price on the upgrade.

You can tell that your router is going out by how many times it loses synchronization with your broadband device. See, once in a while, a router will get out of sync with your cable or DSL modem. When it does, you just unplug both devices and plug them back in to reset them. If you have to do that much more than twice a day, it could be a sign that your router is going out, but it could just as easily be a case of your cable modem going out. I have had rashes of synchronization loss before, so you want to watch. It might get better on its own, depending on why it got out of sync. You might need to change your broadband modem. When you can't connect, call your broadband provider and see what diagnostics they can run. That'll help determine which device is really going out.

Cool Site: RateMyDrawings: Do you draw very well? (Let Eddie answer) I don't. I draw stick figures and they say, "So this is a picture of a... pizza?" Well, this week’s site is all about drawing. It's at rate my drawings dot com, and it has sections where you can learn to draw by watching videos, you can draw in your web browser, you can enter your drawings in competitions and win prizes, share them on your blog, and a really innovative feature called drawchat. With drawchat, you can collaboratively create drawings with other artists. This is really a great site for homeschoolers to help you teach your kids art. For that matter, art teachers could use it as well.

Cool Gadget: Brando Flat Vase: I'm not much on flowers and plants and stuff, but I do like to buy roses for my wife, especially the $3/dozen variety available in Tyler. This gadget comes to us from shinyshiny.tv. They call it the Flat Vase. It's made of plastic, so when empty, it's flat. It comes with various prints on the bottom part of the vase, and also in a couple of different shapes. It's not something you’ll exactly be proud of, but if you need a cheap alternative, check this out. It works like any other vase, just add water and flowers. As you add water, the vase spreads out, creating a base. Then you pop the flowers in and enjoy. Check the show notes for pictures.

It's All "Geek" To Me: GUI: Chewy, ooey, gooey. Yes, today's term is pronounced as gooey, but is spelled G-U-I. It stands for Graphical User Interface. See, you're the user and the method you use to interact with your computer is called it's user interface. You can interface with your computer generally one of two ways, either by typing commands at a command prompt or by using a mouse or something to point at pictures of things and click them. That's what a GUI is – a graphical way of working with your computer.

Links

RateMyDrawings:
http://www.ratemydrawings.com/

The Flat Vase at ShinyShiny:
http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2010/03/the_flat_vase_t.html

Brando Flat Vase:
http://gadget.brando.com/the-flat-vase_p01258c038d001.html

GUI at Techterms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/gui

3/12/2010-How to Clear Cache?, Computer History Museum, Wii Push Up Bar, "Drop Down Menu"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:33:27 -0500

Epsiode 104:
Question: Beth asks, "How do I 'clear my cache' and what does that mean, anyway?"

Answer: Well, Beth, that's a good question. For anyone who doesn't know, to "Clear the cache" means to delete your Temporary Internet Files. When the World Wide Web was invented back in 1993, almost no one had high-speed Internet. No, a 28.8Kbps modem was about all most folks had. See, you can't display a picture from the web without downloading it first. But since that took so long, you didn't want to do it any more than necessary. So if the person clicked their "Back" button, you didn't want them to have to re-download everything they'd just done. So one of the decisions Mozilla made with their first browser, called Mosaic, was to temporarily store copies on your computer of everything on a web page and web browsers ever since have done exactly that, even though it's largely unnecessary now. But; that's what the cache is and what it means. Now, how to clear it? In Internet Explorer, and other browsers are similar, click Tools, then Internet Options. Different versions of Internet Explorer use slightly different terms, but what you're looking for is a delete button on the General tab. If that's not there, look for one labeled Settings. You should find what you're looking for. We’ve got a link in the show notes to an article at WikiHow that shows you how to clear your cache for many different browsers.

Cool Site: Computer History Museum: My first computer was a Commodore VIC-20 that I got while I was in High School. I'm pretty sure that thing's a museum piece now. This week's cool site is a place you might get to see a Vic: the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. At computerhistory.org, you'll find information on how to visit them of course, but you can also find out about their exhibits. Not just the ones you'll see if you visit them, but they also have some online exhibits you can check out right from the website. In Visible Storage, you'll find out about printers to store output on paper, punch cards, processors and such. There's a "This Day in History" article. Today's is about Fairchild Semiconductor, the company the two founders of Intel came from. There's a lot more there than we can talk about, but overall, I plan to spend some more time at the site.

Cool Gadget: Wii Push Up Bar: Don't you just love the Wii? My daughter has one, and I hope she brings it with her for Spring Break. My pastor and his wife use Wii Fit to exercise, and today's gadget can help. I found this one on Ubergizmo, and it's called the Wii Push-up Bar. It's a pair of handles attached to a frame that fits on the Wii Fit balance board. The handles are adjustable, because the frame has two extra holes, giving you some variety in your grip for targeting different muscles.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Drop Down Menu: Today's term is "drop down menu". A drop down menu is a feature of a webpage or application where you have a horizontal list of menu items. When you click or point to one of those menu items, a list of other items drops down, hence the name. Most of the time, we leave off the "drop down" part, and just call it a menu.

Links

How to clear your browser cache at WikiHow:
http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser's-Cache

Computer History Museum:
http://www.computerhistory.org

Wii Push up bar on Ubergizmo:
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2010/03/wii_push_up_bar_for_your_exercise_needs.html

CTA Digital:
http://www.ctadigital.com/

Drop down menu on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/dropdownmenu

3/5/2010-Identity Theft?, PC Mag, Microsoft Security Essentials, DDOS

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:30:16 -0500

Episode 103:
Disclaimer: This week's show contains what might be construed as legal advice. Please note that I am not a lawyer. Therefore, the advice I've given is personal advice, not legal advice. If you have any further questions, please consult the FTC, a Law Enforcement agency, or an attorney.

Question: A listener who shall remain anonymous says, "I had a popup that came onto my screen that said I had a bunch of viruses and it would get rid of them for $29.95. I agreed, and it did. But now, I just got my credit card statement and I see a $190 charge I don't recognize. What can I do?"

Answer: Well, the first thing you should do is call your credit card company and dispute the charge. Credit card companies usually want you to work with the merchant first, but that presumes the merchant is acting in good faith - this one's not. The next thing would be to file a formal complaint with the FTC and/or the Texas Attorney General's office. You might also want to put a fraud alert into your credit files at the three bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion because they might use your credit card information for identity theft. We'll have links in the show notes for the Credit Bureaus, the FTC, and the Texas Attorney General. We'll also have links directly to the complaint-filing pages for those last two.

Cool Site: PC Mag: Today's cool website will focus on a site which along with its sister sites, has contributed often to our Tech Tip Friday shows. That site is PCMag.com. You may remember seeing PC Magazine in stores. They, like many magazines have transitioned away from paper publishing, at least mainly, to web publishing. This has allowed them to embrace web-based media of all kinds like audio and video podcasts. They also have how-to articles about things like building a second computer for the kids. You'll find reviews of software and hardware that you might be thinking about buying, and they have labs where they can test the things they review. For instance, I found a review of free antivirus software there. I have these all linked in the show notes.

Cool Gadget: Microsoft Security Essentials: Here's a free software gadget to check out. Microsoft has released their Security Essentials software. It requires XP, which must at least be at the Service Pack 2 level, any service pack level of Vista, or Windows 7, and supports Windows 7's XP Mode. The website includes how-to videos covering installation, running a scan, and what to do when a threat is detected. When you first install the program, it will want to update itself and run a scan. Let it, because it seems that it will keep trying until that first scan is done and this will slow your computer down. You must have an Internet connection that's active when you install because your computer must pass Windows Genuine Advantage verification. But it's free, it scans everything automatically, and I have seen it find things some of my other anti-malware recommendations didn't. Microsoft has gone green in the way you know that you're OK. By that I mean that when the castle-shaped icon for the program is green with a check mark in it, everything is OK. When it's red with an 'X' in it, there's a problem.

It's All "Geek" To Me: DDOS: This week's term is an acronym: DDOS and it stands for Distributed Denial-Of-Service attack. A basic denial-of-service attack happens when malware monopolizes your computer so that you are denied the use of its services. A Distributed Denial-of-Service attack happens when malware on hundreds or even thousands of computers try to access the same website for the express purpose of keeping that server so busy it can't respond to legitimate requests.

Web Exclusive

This week's show contains outtakes to lighten things up a bit. Wah-hoo!

Links

FTC website:
http://www.ftc.gov

FTC’s Submit A Complaint form:
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

Texas Office of Attorney General:
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/

File a Complaint with the Texas Attorney General:
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/complain.shtml

Experian:
http://www.experian.com

Equifax:
http://www.equifax.com

TransUnion:
http://www.transunion.com

PC Magazine:
http://www.pcmag.com

Free Antivirus/Antispyware Reviews at PCMag:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2356509,00.asp

Microsoft Security Essentials:
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Microsoft Security Essentials reviewed at PC Mag.com
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2353386,00.asp

Distributed Denial Of Service Attack @ techtarget:
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci557336,00.html

2/26/2010-Can smartphones get viruses?, Giveawayoftheday, Joby Gorillamobile, "Cold Boot"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:26:07 -0500

Episode 102:
Question: Kendrick asks, "Can smartphones get viruses or spyware?"

Answer: Kendrick, thanks for the question. The simple answer is, "Yes, they can". The real question at this point is whether or not there are any such viruses. Smartphones present challenges to malware writers in that unlike computers, smartphones have no really clear leader. I mean, Windows is on most computers, and is thus the most low-hanging of fruit. In the smartphone arena, the Apple iPhone is dominating and so I suspect will be the first one infected. The other challenge for malware writers is that a smartphone's operating system is in firmware, making it harder to infect in the first place. Also, it's not difficult to completely reset a phone to its factory defaults. And, since a smartphone usually synchronizes with a computer, this can often be done with little or no data loss. What this means is that almost any malware infection could be cleared in just a few minutes or so. So, while they can get viruses, and probably will in the future, I don't think it's a big threat today.

Cool Site: GiveawayOfTheDay: Ya like free stuff? I do too, and while I hate to repeat myself, this one bears it. For a site where you can download free, legal, full versions of commercially produced software, try giveawayoftheday.com. On Giveawayoftheday.com you'll find one commercial software package. You have twenty-four hours to download and activate it. If you don't, you just missed it. It's free, but you've got to get it when it's available, that's the only catch.

Cool Gadget: Joby Gorillamobile: This week's gadget has a silly name, but is still pretty cool if you have an iPod Touch. This is a tripod for your iPod Touch, but it's no ordinary tripod. It has knobby, flexible legs that you can wrap around things, or shape however you want. That way, if you're watching a movie on your iPod Touch, you can set it up so you don't have to hold it the whole time. If you're sitting in the back seat, you can wrap the Gorillamobile's legs around the headrest in front of you for movie watching. It retails for $39.95, and they have models for iPhones, and PlayStation Portables or other handheld devices as well. Check out Joby's website. We'll have a link in the show notes for this little guy.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Cold Start: Starting the computer by turning the power on. When you turn the power off and then back on again, you'll bring the computer up from absolutely nothing. I've seen situations where you have to wait a bit after turning the computer off before turning it back on so that the capacitors can discharge. There's a trick you can do, though. If you turn your computer off, then unplug the power cord (pull the battery, too if it's a laptop) and push the power button like you're trying to turn it on; you'll notice the lights blink on, then off while the computer uses the power in the capacitors to try to boot. Then plug it all back up, reinserting the battery if it's a laptop, and when you turn it on, everything will have been fully reset.

Links

Giveaway of the day:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

Joby Gorillamobile on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/02/joby_announces_gorillamobile_f.php

Cold Start on PCMag:
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=cold+boot&i=39953,00.asp

2/19/2010-Vista computer constantly 'Hibernating', Jan's Illustrated Computer LIteracy 101, Wowwee Paper Jamz, "E-Reader"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:19:12 -0600

Episode 101:
Question: Annette has a question about Vista. When I turn on my Windows Vista computer, it says "Hibernating" and that’s all it does. What do I do?

Answer: Great question. What I'd suggest is to turn your computer off by pressing the power button and holding it in until the computer goes off. Then turn it back on and press the F8 key repeatedly until you get a black screen with a menu on it. From that menu, choose 'Last Known Good Configuration' and see if that allows the system to come up. If so, go to the show notes for this show and I'll have a link to Microsoft's instructions how to turn Hibernation on and off. Turn hibernation off, then back on to reset it and see if it restarts, hibernates and resumes OK.

Cool Site: Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101: I couldn't tell you how many times I've heard someone say, "I'm not computer literate", which reminds me that we'll have classes at the Jacksonville Public Library starting up again soon. But I've found a website that you can use to get yourself up to speed at your own pace. It's called Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101. Here, you'll find lesson topics covering things like kinds of computers, types of storage, lessons on Windows, Word, Excel, the Web, Powerpoint, and Access. There's quite a bit there and it appears to cover everything we cover in the classes and then some. For Microsoft Office, the site uses the 2003 version of each program. This is not the version you'll get if you buy it now, but it's the version many businesses and offices have. We'll have a link to this site as well as a Microsoft site of free classes that will let you take the knowledge gained from this site and translate it to Office 2007 in the show notes.

Cool Gadget: Wowwee Paper Jamz: Wow wee this thing's cool. This week, we have the Wowwee Paper Jamz series of musical instruments. Capitalizing on the popularity of games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, the Wowwee company has developed for a Summer release, paper... yes paper... musical instruments that look and play like the real thing. The guitar will sell for $24.99. There will also be a drum kit, and a cardboard amp to round out the band. You've got to see the video! They use capacitive touch technology to let you play chords like a real guitar, you strum the strings like a real guitar, just no sore fingers. Couple this with online lessons (I'm sure you can find them somewhere) and for less than $50 you can learn to play guitar. It's just awesome what they can do with paper these days.

It's All "Geek" To Me: E-Reader: From the Cranky Geeks Video Podcast comes E-Reader. This is a handheld device specialized for reading electronic books. An example would be the Amazon Kindle, or Apple's new iPad.

Links

Using Last Known Good Configuration:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Using-Last-Known-Good-Configuration

Jan’s Illustrated Computer Literacy 101:
http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/index.html

Microsoft Office First Steps:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX102704851033.aspx

Wowwee Paper Jamz on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/02/hands_on_with_wowwee_paper_jam.php

E-Reader at TechTarget.com
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/e-reader.html

Cranky Geeks:
http://www.crankygeeks.com

2/5/2010-"Media Test Failure" message, The Twitter Tag Project, SolBatt II, "Buffering"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:42:03 -0600

Episode 100:
Question: Jeff writes, "I tried to install some software, and now when I start my computer I have a message on a black screen that says something about, 'media test failure'. What does this mean and what can I do to get rid of it?"

Answer: Jeff, this is a great question because most of the time, you shouldn't see this message. What it indicates is that for some reason, your computer is trying to boot from the network and it can't. Normally, this isn't something you would use except in a business setting. In that setting, with the right preparation, you can boot from the network to setup Windows in a very hands-free manner. But at home, you don't use this method to set up new systems, and besides, you said you had just installed some software, so Windows was already set up. This looks like one of those times you'd want to call for professional help to determine why your computer is not booting from the hard drive like it used to.

Cool Site: The Twitter Tag Project: The Twitter Tag Project is a cool site to use in conjunction with Twitter. It began life as a virtual game of Tag, played using Twitter, hence the name. It has become a platform for several of the site author's Twitter and web projects. You have to have a Twitter account to play, good thing they're free. You fill in your account name and the account name of the person you want to tag, then click submit and it'll bring up a web page with a link you click to send the tweet. There are other things, though. There's Mr. Milestone that tweets you every 100 or 1000 followers. There's Follow Friday. This is a neat application because one of the cultural things of the twitterverse is to send tweets on Friday of people others might like to follow. When you fill in your username, the Follow Friday application will analyze the last 200 tweets you’ve been sent and set up tweets for you to use on follow Friday.

Cool Gadget: SolBatt II: This week's gadget is for all your USB charged devices, like the iPod. The SolBatt II is a solar powered battery charger. It uses the built-in solar panel to charge a lithium-ion battery. Once charged, you can plug in a USB cable to transfer that stored energy to your iPod or other gadget. So, the power comes from the sun, gets stored in the battery, and then transferred to your USB-charged gadget. A red light lets you know that first phase is happening; a green light lets you know the power transfer is in progress. Hmm power transfer. Sounds kind of 'Star Trek' doesn’t it? Anyway, this charger is available now and costs about $30. We'll have a link in the show notes for this device.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Buffering: This week's term ties into last week's. This word is buffering, as used in streaming media. When you stream media, like this station's broadcast at KBJS.org, what you hear is 8 or 10 seconds behind what you'd hear on the radio. That's because your computer tries to stay that far ahead so that if the data slows down, your playback isn't interrupted. But sometimes, your playback will pause and the computer will say "buffering". That's because the data was being played faster than it was being received and the computer ran out of stuff to play. It waits until its buffer is full again before it restarts where it left off. Of course that puts you farther behind, but that only really matters if it's live.

Links

PXE at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment

The Twitter Tag Project:
http://www.thetwittertagproject.com/

SolBatt II at Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/02/charge_your_gadgets_with_the_s.php

SolBatt II at Scosche:
http://www.scosche.com/products/productID/1905

Buffering on Microsoft's Windows Media site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/broadcastdelay.aspx#BufferingStreamingMediaData

1/29/2010-Disappearing/Reappearing Icons, Science at NASA, Apple iPad, "Streaming"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:13:21 -0600

Episode 99:
Question: Kathy asks, "I logged into Windows and all my stuff was gone from my screen, but when I restarted the computer it all came back. What could have happened?"

Answer: Good question Kathy; and I mean that. It's anybody's guess. Windows does weird things sometimes, but what this sounds like to me is that for some, apparently temporary, reason your user profile wasn't able to load correctly. Now, your user profile is found in the Users or Documents and Settings folder, and it has your desktop, my documents, pictures, etc. Sometimes it happens that a profile gets corrupted, but those don't tend to come back by themselves. Because yours did, something must have been preventing you from opening it when you logged in the first time.

Cool Site: Science@NASA: One of NASA's websites is located at science.nasa.gov, and is a great resource if you're a homeschooling parent, or just a space buff, like me. The main topics you'll find there are Space Science, Astronomy, Living in Space, Earth Science, Physical and Bio Sciences, and Beyond Rocketry. You'll find headlines on their main page. Just a moment ago I was reading an article about the two Voyager spacecraft. If you remember, they were launched in 1977 and provided great amounts of valuable data about the outer planets. Did you know those two probes are still in operation? I didn't. Seems they're about to reach interstellar space and they've found evidence of another magnetic field that helps insulate our solar system from cosmic rays. The site itself has an email newsletter, and a podcast. You'll also find satellite tracking there as well as programs that can track the Space Shuttle if it's in orbit, or the Hubble, or any of several other satellites. These are downloadable applications you run on your own computer that use data, some of it real-time, from NASA's databanks.

Cool Gadget: Apple iPad: Well, the big announcement this week was the Apple iPad; but it's an announcement, not a shipping product, so you still can't buy it. But Apple says it will be available in March for the Wi-Fi models and April for the 3G-cellular-capable models. There's a video on their website that explains much of what it's about. This device is only a half-inch thick, but it has a 10 hour battery life; it's got an eBook reader, it can use almost all iPhone applications. It slices, it dices. Apple has put up in addition to their App store and iTunes store, an iBooks store where you can buy eBooks. It has multi-touch that allows you to pinch windows closed for instance. I'm not sure about that whole onscreen keyboard thing, though. It will come in a 16GB version for $499 up to a 64GB version with all the bells and whistles for $829.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Streaming: You've said this one, and maybe the listeners didn't know for sure what it meant. This week's word is streaming, as in streaming media. See, you can enjoy Internet media two ways: either by downloading the file to play, or by streaming it, and the difference lies in the immediacy of it. If you download a media file, you have to wait until the download finishes to listen to the song or watch the movie. For instance, podcasts are typically downloaded. On the other hand, with streaming, the show plays while it is being received. It's the only good way to enjoy live events as they are happening, because there’s no file to download.

1/22/2010-"Delayed Write Failed" message, Faith Comes by Hearing, LaCie's Key-Shaped USB Flash Drives, "Motherboard"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:38:46 -0600

Episode 98:
Question: Bert asks, "I have a message on my laptop screen. The title says 'Delayed Write Failed'. What does that mean?"

Answer: It may mean bad news. Great question Bert, because it depends which drive is being referred to later in the message. In short, this message means that the computer has some data that it needs to put on disk (geek-speak: "commit to disk") and for some reason it can't. If the message refers to a network drive or an external drive that's come unplugged, whether accidentally or on purpose, it may be able to proceed if you plug it back in. On the other hand, if the message is talking about a drive you haven't unplugged, then it's an indication that the drive is going out. Now, that's not all it could be, but since this is a laptop, it most likely is. Backup whatever you can as fast as you can.

Cool Site: Faith Comes by Hearing: From one of Eddie's retweets from Wednesday comes this week's site. It's Faith Comes By Hearing.com. This is the site of an organization that produces free audio Bibles for distribution in both the US and abroad. In San Antonio, a church surveyed its membership to find out how many of them had actually read the New Testament and found that most hadn't. You can download a free audio Bible from their website, and you can listen to their podcasts. You can follow them on Twitter and they have a newsletter. You can find streaming audio that will let you choose the language, book, and chapter you want to listen to. The Bibles are available both in dramatized and non-dramatized formats. Right now, this particular organization is putting audio Bibles into Haiti in the Haitian's own heart language.

Cool Gadget: LaCie's Key-Shaped Flash Drives: LaCie makes a line of USB flash drives that are shaped like keys. After all, they're also called USB keys. All these flash drives come in 4GB through 16GB models and they fit on a keychain. The cases on these things are metal, partly due to the key metaphor and partly for strength. They're intended to be sturdy. They've got a fast read speed, at 30 megabytes per second, and at 10 megabytes per second, they’re no slouch at writing, either. By the way, three of the four different models come in 32GB capacities. Prices start at $19.99 for a 4GB key and up to $99.99 for the 32GB key.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Motherboard: This week's word is a hardware term. The Motherboard, also called the System board, is the main circuit board inside your computer. It's the one that everything else connects to. It has the processor, the memory, all the drive connectors and everything else. The expansion slots are also found here. Into them, you plug expansion cards, also known as daughter cards. If you took the side off the computer's case, you'd find that the motherboard is the largest circuit board in your computer.

Links

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article on Delayed Write Failed:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330174

Faith Comes By Hearing:
http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/

LaCie’s New USB Keys:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/01/ces_lacie_unveils_new_usb_keys.php

LaCie’s iamakey and itsakey:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/03/lets_get_literal_lacies_new_us.php

Motherboard on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/motherboard

Follow us on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/techtipfriday

1/15/2010-Copying DVDs from external hard disk, Watchman Fellowship, Western Digital USB 3.0 MyBook, "Screensaver"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:01:00 -0600

Episode 97:
Question: Kathy asks, "I have some DVDs I made from a VCR tape. Can I copy those DVDs to an external hard drive and burn copies from there?"

Answer: Great question, Kathy. If you have the DVDs already, you can use the CD/DVD burning software you got with your computer to make an image of the DVD as a single file. That file's called an image. You can then turn around and burn that image to as many blank DVDs as necessary. For listeners that don't have an external hard drive, you can still do this by using your burning software to copy the DVD. Choose the number of copies to make, and your software will take an image of the original DVD and prompt you to swap discs as often as necessary to make the copies you want to make. That image is deleted when you finish making the copies, so it doesn't take up a bunch of space on your hard drive when you're done.

Cool Site: Watchman Fellowship: Have you ever wondered what defines a cult? Have you ever wondered how a particular set of beliefs differs from orthodox Christianity? What about people you may know who believe differently than you? What's their eternal destiny? What do you need to say to help them know the truth so that truth can set them free? Watchman Fellowship can help. They are at www.watchman.org and on their website you'll find a wealth of information about cults and less-than-orthodox belief systems. Being in a cult doesn’t necessarily have a negative connotation. Here's what they say, "By using the terms "cult," "occult," and "New Age," Watchman Fellowship is in no way implying that the followers or leaders are necessarily evil or immoral people. It simply means that such groups seem to promote doctrine or practices which may be considered outside the realm of historic Christianity." There are articles on Scientology, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Moonies, and many others. I found articles on Star Wars, Oprah, Mitt Romney, Dan Brown, and that's not all. Some of the articles are in PDF form, so you'll need a PDF reader program like Adobe Reader or Foxit Reader, my own personal preference. If you are a Pastor of a church, they have a Pastor's Packet they'll send you. If ministry to cults is where your heart is, Watchman.org is a site where you can go to get started.

Cool Gadget: Western Digital USB3.0 MyBook: When USB came out, it was all about universality. About being able to connect anything and have it be recognized and "just work". But it wasn't as fast as FireWire, which did a lot of the same things. USB 2.0 came along and the speed limit jumped from 12 megabits per second to 480 megabits per second. USB 3.0 runs up to 10 times faster than that: 5000 megabits per second. Western Digital has a line of their MyBook USB hard drives that uses USB 3.0. The drives come in 1 and 2 terabyte sizes and you can get them with or without a USB 3.0 adapter. It is compatible with USB 2.0, but then you won't get the speed.

Eddie: What kind of speed can you get?

David: According to Western Digital, you can transfer a 24-gigabyte HD movie in 13.3 minutes over USB 2.0, but with USB 3.0, that 13.3 minutes becomes 2.7. That's seriously fast. And you should have enough space to backup every computer in the house. They run $179 for the 1 Terabyte model without the USB 3.0 card, to $279 for the 2 Terabyte model including the USB 3 adapter, but those are list prices. Street prices should be a little less. Just be sure whether you're getting the package with the adapter or not – depending on what you want.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Screensaver: This week's word is screensaver, and they were created to prevent a problem with CRT monitors. If you leave any image on a CRT screen too long, it will eventually be permanently burned into the screen's phosphors, so that you can see it nearly all the time. The screensaver is intended to help prevent this by constantly changing the image on the screen, often in entertaining ways. It can also be used to secure your computer when you have to walk away for a bit, if you set it to require a password to go away. Screensavers aren't really all that necessary nowadays because monitors turn off after a while, or don't exhibit the problem.

Links

Watchman Fellowship:
http://www.watchman.org

Cult Index:
http://www.wfial.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=archives.index#top

Western Digital USB 3.0 MyBook on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/01/my_book_delivers_super_speed_w.php

USB 3.0 MyBook on Western Digital:
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=776

Screen Saver Defined:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Screensaver&ei=DfxOS9XdEoiINrfKpJIJ&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAkQkAE

Follow us on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/techtipfriday

1/8/2010-To upgrade to IE8 or not to upgrade?, Light-O-Rama, Cyber Clean Cleaning Slime, "Desktop"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 9 Jan 2010 11:20:55 -0600

Episode 96: Happy New Year!
Question: Sylvia writes, "My Yahoo page is telling me my browser needs to be updated because my current one won't work on there soon. I know someone at work who had nothing but problems after she downloaded an updated version. That's the main reason I haven't done anything yet. What do you say about it? I apparently have to do it or I won't have a browser soon."

Answer: I am using Internet Explorer 8 and it works fine for me. Usually, if folks have trouble with it, it happens right after installing it, and it may take an uninstall followed by a reinstall, but then everything seems to smooth out. Internet Explorer 8 is the default browser that comes with Windows 7 and the lowest one it supports and so Microsoft's got to make it work... or else, you know. I really like it though.

Cool Site: light-o-rama: We've just come through the Christmas season, and some folks still haven't taken down their lights, which is just fine by me, because I love Christmas lights. Now, I'm a geek, so I really like when someone goes to the trouble to synchronize their lights to music. If you've ever wondered how to do that, check out lightorama.com. On the site, you'll find downloadable how-to articles that answer questions like, "What do I need" or tell you how to install a starter kit, or troubleshoot it when it doesn't work right. There are forums and a wiki if you should decide to take the plunge when the other end of this year comes... or even earlier. I've seen some sites that had 4th of July displays synchronized to patriotic music. You’ll find an online store here because light-o-rama is also the name of their product for lighting animation. But if you have even a minimal interest in this hobby, the most fascinating feature of the site, as far as I'm concerned, is the video section. Each year, light-o-rama holds a contest where they give away around $4400 in prizes and store credit annually. So if you like synchronized Christmas lights, give the site a look.

Cool Gadget: Cyber Clean Cleaning Slime: I the 70's we had a toy called slime. It came in a plastic trash can, felt gloppy and kind of oozed when you held it. It also picked up whatever particles it fell onto and when it got too dirty you had to throw it away. Alas, that slime went the way of the pet rock. But now a use has been found for the substance. Cyber Clean is a slime that you can use to clean your keyboard and other devices. You take it out and let it ooze between the keys and then when you pull it off, the gunk comes with it. It's been available at retail stores since November and only costs about $5.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Desktop: Communication is a great thing that happens when one person uses words to paint the picture that's in his mind on the canvas of someone else's mind. The quality of that communication is represented by how closely the two pictures match. Today's word is a bit more basic than some we've done, so you may well know what it is; but I still hear it referred to as the screensaver from time to time, among other things. Today's word is Desktop. In Windows, it has the Recycle Bin picture on it. It also has your background picture on it, and it's what you see when your computer finishes starting up after you log in. Everyone logs into Windows, but at home that’s automatic if you only have one user set up. When someone calls for tech support, I usually understand what they mean if they don't use this term. But if you do I'll always understand.

Links

Light-o-Rama:
http://www.lightorama.com

Cyber Clean Cleaning Slime:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/01/cyber_clean_its_cleaning_slime.php

Cyber Clean Website:
http://www.cyberclean.tv/

12/18/2009-I can't get Flash to load, can you help?, Windows 7 News, Windows Movie Maker 2.6 for Vista and Windows 7, "Virtualization"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:02:53 -0600

Episode 95:
Question: Harry says, "I can’t get Flash to load on my computer. Can you help?"

Answer: Great question because I've had several calls on this one lately. I've even had problems with it myself. I've had so many questions on it, I've created a step-by-step article with links and put it in the Forums. I really think that their website may have been malfunctioning, but I'm not sure. The first thing to check is whether you have the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows. This is a piece of information that you might want to hang onto for future reference if you find it. If it's 64-bit Vista or Windows 7, you have versions of Internet Explorer that are both 32 and 64 bit. The 64-bit version says so in the title. I hate to keep coming back to that, but it'll be an issue for a while longer yet. If you're sure you're running the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer, the best thing you can do is check out the show notes because the fix is kind of involved. The show notes are on the web, but I'll have a link to this particular article at daconsult.com.

Cool Site: Windows7News: I've been doing a bunch of ramping up for Windows 7 lately as you can imagine, and if you're getting a new computer for Christmas, it'll have Windows 7 on it. If you want to know a great site to find out more about what's going on with Windows 7, check out windows7news.com. This site has news about Windows 7, sure; but it also has a lot more. You'll find guides on how to use Media Center, tips, tricks, and tweaks for it. You can download wallpapers, watch videos, or download themes for Windows 7, Vista, and XP. There are frequently-asked-questions pages and a forum where you can get your questions answered. You'll find rumors and utilities too.

Cool Gadget: Windows Movie Maker 2.6: This week's gadget is a software gadget. It also happens to be free for the download. For Windows 7, Microsoft chose a more minimalist attitude: there's no included email program, and they also didn't include a video editing program. Windows Live Movie Maker can be downloaded and is good for putting clips together and posting them to YouTube, but it doesn't do much in the way of editing the clips you have. By far, the best version of Windows Movie Maker is the one that comes with Vista Home Premium and Ultimate, but some systems can't run it. So Microsoft made a version of it called Movie Maker 2.6 that they've made available for download. It won't install on Windows XP though, sorry.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Virtualization: This week's word is one you may not have heard much about yet, but you will over the next year or two: Virtualization. When you see that term, think about a simulator. Normally, we're talking about a simulated computer. This used to be impractical, but computers today are much more powerful than they were 3-5 years ago. One physical computer that you can touch, with virtualization, can appear to be three or four different computers because many of them are running as simulated computers. That way, instead of a business buying four inexpensive servers, for example, they can buy one that's a bit more expensive and with virtualization, make it appear to be four servers. And it looks that way flawlessly. Microsoft distributes some of its trial software as simulated computers. The "Windows XP Mode" of Windows 7 is an example of this technology in action. This is definitely part of the future of computing.

Links

Flash Problems:
http://www.daconsult.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=199

Windows 7 News:
http://windows7news.com/

Windows Movie Maker 2.6 at DownloadSquad:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/02/11/windows-movie-maker-2-6-available-for-vista-windows-7

Windows Movie Maker 2.6 Download:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=D6BA5972-328E-4DF7-8F9D-068FC0F80CFC&displaylang=en

Virtualization at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/virtualization

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/support/virtual-pc-2007.aspx

Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7 (Includes information on Windows XP Mode):
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/

12/11/2009-How to get good 3G signal, Declaration Foundation, Brickhouse Security GPS Trackers for Free, "Splog"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:20:55 -0600

Episode 94:
Question: A listener says, To get a good cell signal in the house we have to stand near a window. I just recently went to our cellular provider and got a 3G adapter and aren't getting a good signal. How can we make it better?

Answer: Great question. A lot of people are getting cellular 3G devices to use for their home Internet connection. After all, it's portable and in general is faster and doesn't cost more per month than satellite; but if you don't get a good cell signal, it won't work right if at all. So, I'd say that the thing to do to help your connection is to get a USB Extension cable so you can move the cellular modem around to get the best signal. I think that'll help.

Cool Site: Declaration Foundation: As I mentioned last week, I continue to be amazed at the amount of information from the time of our nation's founding there is available on the internet. There seems to be a real reawakening out there about the principles that we started out with. To that end, this week's cool site is the Declaration Foundation at www.declaration.net. The Declaration Foundation is chaired by Alan Keyes, former Ambassador and Presidential candidate. In the resources section, you'll find links to documents, articles and speeches, and website links that trace the ideas leading up to the Declaration of Independence from the Magna Carta forward. The site doesn’t seem to have gotten any new content since late 2007, but what is there seems to be worth the trip.

Cool Gadget: Brickhouse Security GPS Tracker: Well, 'tis the season. Many churches and other organizations put nativity scenes out, only to have the Baby Jesus stolen from it. Well, Brickhouse Security has a GPS tracker that can be used on these items. The great thing is that they're giving them away. You visit their website to apply. If selected, they'll give you a GPS tracker for free. You might also be selected to receive a surveillance camera, also free.

It's All "Geek" To Me: SPLOG: This week's term is definitely a slang term: SPLOG. It means SPam bLOG and refers to a blog site set up for the sole purpose of increasing page ranking in Google. The reason is that with Google, the more sites that link to yours, the higher your page will rank in their search results. This is important, because most people don't look beyond the first three pages of results when they do a web search. The bad thing about splogs is that they don't add any useful content to the web, and actually just clutter it up.

Links

Declaration Foundation:
http://www.declaration.net

Brickhouse Security GPS Tracker at Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/12/finding_jesuswith_gps.php

Brickhouse Security’s Online Application Form:
http://blog.brickhousesecurity.com/baby-jesus-gps/

Splog on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_blog

Fight Splog:
http://www.fightsplog.com/

12/4/2009-My default email program changed, how do I change it back?, Pilgrim Hall, Sharp's Splitview Technology in Mercedes-Benz's, "Dither"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 3 Dec 2009 15:05:15 -0600

Episode 93:
Question: Pam asks, I use Outlook for my email. For some reason now, when I press the email button on my keyboard, the computer starts Outlook Express instead. How come? More importantly, how can we fix it?

Answer: OK, great question. Well, you'll be glad to know that the fix is really easy. Most of the time, an internet or email button on the keyboard will just start the default web browser or email program. Additionally, if someone accidentally happens to start a program like Outlook Express, it will check whether it's the default or not. If it isn't it will ask if it should be the default or not. If you're like me, and you just click "yes" without looking at it very closely, the default program will change, and I think that's what happened here. The problem can be repaired from within Outlook, but the best thing to do is to go to the Control Panel, open Internet Options, click the Programs tab, and where it says Internet Programs, it lists the current default programs for editing web pages, for email, newsgroups, internet calling, calendar, and contacts. Right now, email is probably set to Outlook Express. Choose the programs you want to use from the drop-down lists and click OK to both save the changes and close the window. If you want to try out the changes before you close the window, click the apply button only and then try out your changes.

Cool Site: Pilgrim Hall: Since Thanksgiving was last week, I was curious about some of the Thanksgiving proclamations of our previous presidents, so I went to Google and found pilgrimhall.org. Pilgrim Hall is a museum located in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Their website has the standard stuff you'd expect from a museum's website, but what I was looking for was Thanksgiving proclamations, and I found them. The text of each Presidential Thanksgiving proclamation is available on this site. For example, did you know that while George Washington issued two such proclamations, our second President, John Adams, in 1798 and 1799 issued proclamations calling for a day of "fasting and humiliation"!? Imagine the uproar if a President issued such a proclamation today. They also have the text of the two Thanksgiving proclamations issued by the Continental Congress in 1777 and 1784. I am constantly amazed at the amount of information that's available on the web from the time of our nation's founding. I've got another one we'll look at next week.

Cool Gadget: Splitview Technology: This is being shown at the LA Car Show this week. Sharp developed this technology five years ago, and it's now being included in some Mercedes-Benz cars. The splitview system is an LCD screen that shows one image to the driver and another image to the front seat passenger. In the case of Mercedes-Benz, the driver sees navigation data, while the passenger can watch a movie both on the same screen! This is cool, and it would be illegal to use a regular screen in Texas and maybe some other states because you can't have a DVD movie setup that's visible to the driver while the car is in motion. This is much better and safer, too. I just wish Chrysler had it because I'm a big fan of theirs.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Dither: Here's a word that's gotten a lot of use lately: dither. As it's been heard lately, it means indecisiveness; but this term is used in digital audio and computer graphics as well. In graphics, this word means fooling your eye by using a pattern of just a few colors to approximate more colors. It's a common technique in printing also. Check the link in the show notes which will illustrate this because as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. You've seen this before, but now you'll know what it's called.

Links

Pilgrim Hall:
http://www.pilgrimhall.org

Pilgrim Hall’s listing of Thanksgiving Proclamations:
http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ThanxProc.htm

Splitview in Mecerdes-Benz at Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/12/la_auto_show_mercedes-benz_spl.php#more

Dither at ColorCube:
http://www.colorcube.com/illusions/dither.htm

11/27/2009-Should I change my password now?, Internet Movie Database, Whirlwind Cup Warmer, "Toolbar"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:00:47 -0600

Episode 92:
Question: Mike asks, "I accessed my online banking while my computer was infected with a rogue antivirus program. Should I change my password?"

Answer: Wow, great question, Mike. That sounds like a great idea. The main reason that malware exists nowadays is for identity theft. As a result, the best course of action would have been not to visit your banking site while you were infected. Sometimes, you don't know when you got infected, or you don't know for certain you weren't infected the last time you accessed it. So, yes it's a good idea to change your password. In fact, it's a good idea to change your passwords regularly anyway; but especially after cleaning up from a malware attack.

Cool Site: The Internet Movie Database: If you've been listening a while, you might be aware that I'm something of a movie buff. Well, the best site that I've found for answering questions like, "Where have I seen him or her before?" is imdb.com, the Internet Movie Database. The site's main page has listings of the top movies at the box office, what's opening this week, what's coming soon, and what's being released on DVD. Did you know that Tuesday was Katherine Heigl's birthday? It's there. There's a ton of information on the main page, like a Holiday Movie Guide, but the center of the site as far as I'm concerned is the search box. You can search titles, names, companies, and more. Want to know the names of all Pixar movies? Search for it here. I personally just leave it set for "all", and it'll search across all categories for what I've typed. What I like most is to read the trivia and goofs sections for movies I'm watching. But IMDB isn't all about reading, no, no. Set up a free account on the site, and when you notice a goof, for instance, you can post it. They will check it out and if it's confirmed include it in that section for that movie. I've contributed a few goofs, because I like to watch for such things, and you can too. For each movie or other entry, a forum is set up so that you can discuss things related to this item with others. I love it.

Cool Gadget: USB Whirlwind Cup Warmer: On EverythingUSB.com, I found a really cool coffee mug. What makes this mug really cool is that it keeps your beverage hot using a built-in warmer. It uses a rechargeable lithium battery, and you plug it into a USB port to charge it up. It'll keep your coffee or tea at around 40 degrees Celsius - that's a hundred and four to you and me (Fahrenheit). It has a snap-on lid, but it's not really travel-ready because that lid is solid. Of course, an enterprising fellow with a power drill could remedy that situation... Hmm... You might not want to, though, because the coolest feature of this mug is this button on the side. When pushed, the button activates a stirring mechanism at the bottom of the mug. It also has an LED battery level indicator. It'll set you back $37.00.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Toolbar: This week's word is Toolbar. A toolbar is a strip of buttons in a program. You normally find toolbars underneath the menu bar of a program. Some programs like Microsoft Office, let you move the toolbars around. Toolbars are used to provide quick access to a program's most frequently used functions, like open, save, spell-check, print. The buttons themselves usually are small and only have icons on them. Often, if you hover your mouse pointer over the buttons, a yellow sticky-note of sorts called a ToolTip will pop-up to tell you what the button represents.

Links

The Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com

USB Whirl Wind Cup Warmer:
http://www.everythingusb.com/usb-whirl-wind-warmer-cup-18024.html

USB Whirl Wind Cup Warmer (Use this link if you're interested in buying one):
http://usb.brando.com/usb-whirl-wind-warmer-cup_p01281c035d15.html

Toolbar on Techterms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/toolbar

11/20/2009-Pre-Black Friday Special

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:19:59 -0600

Episode 91:
Eddie: Next Friday is "Black Friday" and some of our listeners may be buying a computer for Christmas, but are mystified by all the specifications. Can you help?

David: Sure. When comparing computers the main components to consider are Processor, Memory Size, and Hard Drive Size. Let's go through them in reverse order. I recommend going with a hard drive that's 320GB or less. My experience has been that hard drives larger than 320GB tend to fail sooner than 320GB and smaller drives, so if you're looking at a huge drive, because most of them are, make sure you consider getting three-year's worth of warranty, whether that comes standard, or requires purchasing an extended warranty. Also look into some sort of backup. But in general though, bigger is better when it comes to hard drive size, up to 320 GB. By the way, Google's study on hard drive reliability found that drives fail most often before the first 6 months and then at two and then three years old. If a drive is older than that, it tends to last a long time.

Eddie: OK, so what about memory?

David: Memory should be maximized, but if you are looking at more than 4GB, you'll definitely get 64-bit Windows. I recommend generally 2 to 6GB for average users. Both Vista and Windows 7 can get by on 1GB. If you’re looking at one of those new netbooks, then 1GB is OK. Otherwise, go for at least 2. The reason is that, as we've discussed before, Windows can borrow hard drive space when your computer's memory is too small for what you're doing, but it comes with a performance penalty and the more of it you need, the greater that penalty.

Eddie: Processors are such a technical topic, what do we need to know about them?

David: As to the processor, Intel processors will be a bit more expensive than AMD processors for approximately the same thing. But now, it's getting harder and harder to compare processors. It's kind of like asking which kind of pie is best between, say, apple pie and pizza pie. They're both pies, they're both food, but apple pie makes a better dessert while pizza pie makes a better entree. The difference between processor brands is a lot more subtle than this analogy makes it look unless you get very technical. Each company does things to enhance the performance of the processor in different ways and I think of that kind of like how a NASCAR mechanic tweaks his team's car to try to win the race. Different teams will do many of the same tweaks, and if you're a mechanic, the different tweaks really mean something. If you're a fan in the stands, you just want to see who wins. So what I thought I'd do is give you a progression of the processor models from the generally least powerful to the most powerful for each manufacturer. For Intel, that progression is Atom, Celeron, Pentium, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Core i7, Core i5, Core Extreme. For AMD, the progression is Sempron, Athlon, Athlon FX, Athlon II, Athlon II X2, Phenom X3, Phenom X4, Phenom II X2, Phenom II X3, Phenom II X4, Athlon II X4. I'm an Intel devotee, so I'm not as certain about the AMD products. Check the show notes for this listing.

Eddie: Finally, which version of Windows 7 do you need?

David: With Vista, the Business edition subtracted features from what Home Premium offered. The nice thing about Windows 7 over Vista is that as you go up the line, you only add features. Well, if your computer will be used only at home, you want to get the Home Premium version. If it'll be used for work, you want the Professional version. If you want all the bells and whistles that Windows 7 has to offer, both for home and business use, you want the Ultimate version.

Links

Retail PCs: Intel or AMD? At PCMag.com:
http://blogs.pcmag.com/miller/2009/11/retail_pcs_intel_or_amd.php

Google’s Hard Disk Failure Rate Study:
http://labs.google.com/papers/disk_failures.pdf

Web Exclusives

Here's that list of processors in order from least to most powerful for each manufacturer

Intel

Atom
Celeron
Pentium
Core 2 Duo
Core 2 Quad
Core i7
Core i5
Core Extreme

AMD

Turion
Sempron
Athlon
Athlon FX
Athlon II
Athlon II X2
Phenom X3
Phenom X4
Phenom II X2
Phenom II X3
Phenom II X4
Athlon II X4

Now, the rundown of what I think makes a good specification:

RAM: 2-6 Gigabytes (GB), bigger is better
Hard Disk Size: 200 Gigabytes - 1 Terabyte (TB), if over 320 Gigabytes, consider a 3 year warranty
Processor: Use the list above, models lower in the list are more powerful, get the most powerful you can afford
Windows 7: Home Premium for home use, Professional for business use, Ultimate for either

11/13/2009-YouTube on Vista?, Widgetbox, WiFi Body Scale, "BitTorrent"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:48:33 -0600

Episode 90:
Question: John would like to know why YouTube videos don't play on his Vista computer.

Answer: The first thing I can think of is that your version of Vista might be the 64-bit version. If you have over 4 gigabytes of RAM, you definitely have the 64-bit version. This version is superior to the older, 32-bit technology in many ways, most notably the amount of memory Windows can see. YouTube videos play using a plug-in component in your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, whatever) called Flash. There isn't yet a 64-bit version of Flash available, so the best thing to do for now, is to use the 32-bit version of your browser. The whole 32-bit, 64-bit thing is one of those technical things that makes folks' eyes glaze over, but it’s something we'll have to be aware of until everything becomes 64-bit. We'll have a link in the show notes to Adobe's statement on this problem.

Cool Site: Widgetbox: Social networking is all the rage nowadays. Widgets are just boxes you can put on a website, Facebook page or whatever that display something of interest to your site visitors. Widgetbox is a website that lets you create many different kinds of widgets. You can put these on your website or your Facebook page to add slideshows, countdowns, videos from YouTube or Vimeo, whatever you're interested in. They have 171,272 different widgets, and if they don't have what you want, you can create your own. Several of their most popular are a Super Mario game, Baby-Ticker - The Baby Countdown Pregnancy Ticker, which is cool because it lets you see an animated image of your baby during your pregnancy; cyber-pet, an electronic pet; a Mario Time Trial game; and Maukie - the virtual cat.

Cool Gadget: Withings WiFi Body Scale: This week's gadget has a big "weird factor" to it. For anyone who has battled with their weight, you know that it’s good to have peer support. It's nice to hear, "Have you lost weight?" from time to time. You've got Twitter followers that care about what’s going on with you. How to combine those? The WiFi Body Scale can be set up to let your followers know when you step onto it. Not only that, it will include how many pounds you've gained or lost. Hmm. Whaddaya think? Too much information?.

It's All "Geek" To Me: BitTorrent: BitTorrent is a peer to peer file sharing mechanism that works similarly to how springs and tributaries fill a large river. Like many Peer-to-Peer programs, you need a program called a BitTorrent Client to download files using it. BitTorrent takes advantage of the fact that most ISPs have slower upload speed than download. With most Internet providers, you can download a "river-full", but you can only send a tributary, or even a spring's worth. For a file you want to download, BitTorrent gets chunks of the file from as many different computers as it can find. These small chunks don't take long to send. That way, you can download large files faster because your Trinity River is being filled by many smaller springs and tributaries of data.

Links

Adobe’s note on Flash Player Support for 64-bit Systems:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/000/6b3af6c9.html

WidgetBox:
http://www.widgetbox.com

Withings WiFi Body Scale on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/11/wifi_scale_tells_twitter_follo.php

BitTorrent on Techterms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/bittorrent

11/6/2009-Random reboots, PCMag.com, Quirky's Beamer, "P2P"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 20:35:14 -0600

Episode 89:
Question: My computer is doing strange things like rebooting randomly. What can I check?

Answer: Check antimalware and updates, then look at capacitors. Actually, there's so much malware out there now, I just check for malware the first thing for almost any problem. I also check that Windows Updates have been installed. Now, in regards to that, I turn on the Microsoft Updates. In XP, you go to Windows Update and click the Go button next to where it says "Try Microsoft Update". In Vista, you click the link that says "Get updates for other products" near the line that starts with "You receive updates:" Be aware that once you make that switch, you can't really go backward from that. The thing it does do is expand automatic updates to include just about any Microsoft software you have on your computer, like Microsoft Office. Once you're reasonably sure that there's no malware onboard, then open the side of the computer and take a look at the tops of each capacitor on the motherboard and any other cards that may be installed. Capacitors are those round doo-dads (technical term), actually can-shaped, that you see on the board. Good capacitors are nice and flat on top. If they look like they've swelled, or are leaking, then those capacitors are bad. Most often that means the board is going bad. If you're really good, you might be able to solder a new capacitor in place of the old one, but I just replace boards.

Cool Site: PCMag.com: If you want a good source of news and reviews about computers, check out PCMag.com, from the editors of PC Magazine. I don't think the magazine itself is being printed anymore, but they do have an extensive online presence. In fact, I regularly find our gadgets on one of their sister websites, gearlog. The site features news articles and reviews of software, phones, computers, laptops, digital cameras and all things tech just like the magazine had done. They also have podcasts you can subscribe to, video podcasts like CrankyGeeks you can watch or listen to, tips, tricks, and downloads. Some of the tips and solutions I saw were, "Why won't my microphone record?" and "How to take better pictures". Downloads included HomePatrol that uses your webcam as a motion-detecting surveillance camera. I didn't see any prices, but the presence of the word "free" attached to only some of the lists makes me think that not all their downloads are free. But overall, if you want to bump up your knowledge about technology-related topics, this is a great site to spend a few hours.

Cool Gadget: The Beamer: This week's gadget is from the "Why didn't I think of that?" file. Quirky is a site that develops and sells community developed concepts. The Beamer is a case for an Apple iPhone that comes with a built-in flashlight. The flashlight runs on a coin-cell battery and is rated to run for about 10 hours before you have to replace it. But those 10 hours will go by slowly, because when you push the button that activates the light once, the light stays on for 10 seconds. If pushed twice, it'll stay on until you push it again to turn it off. But doesn't the iPhone screen light up? Couldn't you use that as a flashlight? You could, but the Beamer's light is placed on the back of the case, where the iPhone's camera lens is. If you're in a darkened place, you can use the light to illuminate your photo subjects similarly to how a flash would, which of course, the iPhone doesn’t have. The bad thing is that the case is only available for preorder right now. When 500 people have committed to order the Beamer at $32, Quirky will manufacture the cases and send them to the buyers.

It's All "Geek" To Me: P2P: This week we'll talk about the acronym P2P. This acronym stands for "Peer To Peer", and means a network setup where all of the computers act like servers and all of them act like clients. In other words, they share. In a business network, some computers will be designated as servers and are a centralized place to put and manage files. Other computers, called clients, access those files. With peer-to-peer, any computer can have files (or printers, or whatever) that they share with any other computer on the network. Sometimes this uses special software, like LimeWire or Kazaa, which by the way, I don't recommend because those in particular are fabulous avenues for malware infections. But, P2P means Peer To Peer, where all computers are treated equally.

Links

PCMag.com
http://www.pcmag.com

Why won't my microphone record?
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2344564,00.asp

How to take better pictures
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346715,00.asp

Beamer on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/11/quirkys_beamer_iphone_case_tha.php

Beamer on Quirky:
http://www.quirky.com/products/18

P2P on Techterms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/p2p

10/30/2009-Windows 7 Spectacular, Part 2

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 3 Nov 2009 04:25:50 -0600

Episode 88:

Windows 7 Is Here!

We couldn't fit it all into one week, so here's week 2's notes about Windows 7:

"Homegroups" is a feature that makes networking easier. You choose what you want to share, add a password, and other Windows 7 computers can join the homegroup. When they do, all that stuff you wanted to share instantly becomes available to them. For security, you can choose whether other people are allowed to change your stuff or not.

OK, you can use the libraries and homegroups features to enjoy music and videos on other Windows 7 computers while you're at home. What if you're not at home? In that case, you can use the remote media streaming feature to listen to your favorite tunes from a hotel room. It takes a little bit of setup the first time you use it, but after that, it just works.

When you have problems, can you describe what you were doing before it happened? With the new Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder, you can record how to reproduce the problem you're having and then email that result to someone like me who can help you fix it. That way, if you don't know all the right words to accurately communicate your problem, it doesn't matter so much because when your computer guy gets the recorder's report, he can see what you did. The Problem Steps Recorder doesn't record your keystrokes, so if the problem you're having only happens when you type certain things, you'll have to either annotate the report or just tell the technician.

Finally, and there are more features than we could cover in a month, many people didn't upgrade from Windows XP to Vista because they were concerned about compatibility. These concerns were warranted in Vista's early days, and still are but to a much lesser extent now. The main thing seems to be drivers for the 64-bit versions. But, if programs won't run right in Vista, or websites don't look right with Internet Explorer 8, and you have Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, you can download Windows XP Mode. In this mode, you can seamlessly run Windows XP programs in Windows XP! This is not a downgrade, it's a simulated second computer running regular, everyday Windows XP. So there's no reason I can think of not to upgrade as long as you have the right hardware. For Windows Vista owners, I'd say this is a no-brainer. If you bought a new computer recently that came with Vista and a free upgrade voucher, now's the time to redeem that voucher. They'll only be honored until I believe March of 2010, and are on a first come, first served basis. Now, how to upgrade: If you have Vista, you can do an actual upgrade as long as you're going from 32-bit Vista to 32-bit Windows 7 or from 64-bit Vista to 64-bit Windows 7. Don't worry which one you have, both editions are in the retail upgrade version box. There's a special family pack of Windows 7 Home Premium, available on Microsoft's website, and also in retail stores. The family pack lets you upgrade three computers in your house to Windows 7 Home Premium for only $30 more than the cost of a single copy. If you have Windows XP, you'll have to migrate to Windows 7 rather than upgrade to it. An upgrade is not an available option. Upgrading means you install Windows 7 and all your files and settings are there when you get done. Migrating means that you have to make a backup of your files and settings prior to the installation. After you install Windows 7, you put those files and settings back where they came from. Check the show notes for links to everything we've talked about, both this week and last.

Links
Remote Media Streaming:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/remote-media-streaming

Problem Steps Recorder:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/How-do-I-use-Problem-Steps-Recorder

Windows 7's XP Mode:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-xp-mode

Upgrading From Windows XP to Windows 7:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7

Upgrading From Windows Vista to Windows 7:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-vista-to-windows-7

Windows 7 System Requirements:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/system-requirements

Windows Help Site (General):
http://www.windows.com/help

Windows 7 Help Site:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help

10/23/2009-Windows 7 Spectacular, Part 1

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:47:57 -0500

Episode 87

Windows 7 Is Here!
Yesterday saw the launch of the much-anticipated Windows 7. I went to an event last Thursday in Dallas where Microsoft showed some of the features that make the new Operating System so great. Some of these features are only available when you pair Windows 7 with Windows Server 2008 R2.

Microsoft loves its own products generally. I've only known of two products that representatives of the company ever really disparaged at industry events: Microsoft Bob back before Windows 98 came out, and Windows Millennium, referred to by them as "Windows not-for-ME". Well, we can add Vista to the list now. Even though Windows 7 is built on Windows Vista, Microsoft has now begun to speak ill of it as they did at this event. Glad they caught up with the rest of us.

The first features they demonstrated were Shake, Peek, and Snap. Shake is a feature where if you have a bunch of different windows open on your desktop at once, and you want to clear the clutter, you grab the title bar of the window you want to work with, and then move your mouse from side to side a few times like you're shaking the window. All other windows will minimize. Do it again and they'll all come back. Peek is a feature that uses Aero - that glass look that Vista has - and it's activated by a button on the bottom of the screen down by the clock. When you click that button, the windows on the desktop will all go transparent, so you can take a peek at the desktop if you need to. Many folks don't know that you can drag things from one window into another window, like dragging files from your camera to your "My Pictures" folder. One of the reasons for this is that many people are not comfortable moving windows around and resizing them. Snap is a feature where if you drag a window to the left or right edge of the screen, it automatically resizes itself to take up just that half of the screen. You can also use the Windows logo key and the right and left arrow keys to do the same thing. We have links in the show notes to descriptions of these features on Microsoft's website which even include how-to videos.

Other features that weren't demonstrated were discussed as scenarios. Two of these were in regard to printers. If you've ever plugged in a USB printer to your computer, you know that Windows detects that event and sets up the printer. If for some reason later, you have to unplug that printer from its USB port, and then forget which one it was hooked to when you plug the printer back in, Windows thinks that's a new printer, instead of the old one. When that happens, you can't print because your default printer is copy 1, while your current printer is now copy 2. With Windows 7, your computer will no longer be fooled by this sequence of events and it'll just change the port accordingly so that it just works. That seemed to be one of their mantras for that day, "It just works". Another scenario related to printers has probably happened to most laptop users out there. At work you have one printer, and at home, you may have another. If you're at home, using your laptop for home stuff, and then print, you might find yourself printing to the work printer; but since that printer isn't available at home, nothing happens. Most folks, not realizing where the computer is trying to print, will try again in that case, myself included. You get upset, but no harm done . . . much. You then walk into work the next day, fire up your computer, and then you hear the printer kick in, dutifully printing each copy of all that stuff you told it to when you were at home. Windows 7 has a feature called Location Aware Printing that knows when you are at work, and knows when you are at home. If you have Vista, you may know that when you connect to a network, it asks whether this is a Home, Work, or Public network. Location Aware Printing uses that knowledge and resets your default printer as you move from home to work, and back. That way when you print, your job goes to the right printer the first time.

Another new feature revolves around the Search feature built into Windows Vista, enhanced for Windows 7. For a long time, we've had My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, My Videos, etc., but some programs, like iTunes for example, organized things their own way, making it hard sometimes to know just where your stuff was. Well Windows 7's libraries feature is a great improvement, because it doesn't matter where things get stored on your computer, or even on other computers in a homegroup which is another new feature. You just open the library, and there's your stuff. It will still be stored all over the place, but you can get at it from one central location. But they've even one-upped themselves here, because you can create your own libraries to catalog the stuff you're interested in keeping up with.

Links

Microsoft Bob on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob

Microsoft Bob:
http://toastytech.com/guis/bob.html

Windows ME on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Me

Windows 7 Snap:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/snap

Windows 7 Peek:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/aero-peek

Windows 7 Shake:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/aero-shake

Location Aware Printing:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/location-aware-printing

Windows 7 Libraries:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/libraries

10/16/2009-Excess heat inside the desk, The National Constitution Center, Technosource's Rubik's TouchCube, "Golden Master"

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:09:19 -0500

Episode 86:
Question: I opened the door in my desk where my computer is stored. There was a lot of heat in there. Is this OK?

Answer: Many companies make desks that hide your computer. They do fine as long as there's sufficient ventilation in the back and at the sides and as long as your fans are working. Many computers have vents on the side and these should be given space so air can get through. Most of those desks have large openings in the back that allow the hot air to exit the cabinet and give you a path to connect the wires that are an inevitable part of owning a computer. All that said, anytime you open the door and the heat inside is noticeable, that's not good. Heat can kill computers. One of the things that might happen is that the computer will slow down. Often slowdowns are due to malicious software, but when heat builds up, the processor itself, if it's an Intel, slows down until it can run without overheating. I'm not sure what AMD processors do. To sum it all up, the situation you have isn't good, because the heat's slowing your system. But in general, these enclosed desks are fine; just watch the heat.

Cool Site: National Constitution Center: It's the "Which Founder Are You" quiz that, more than anything, makes this the Cool Site this week. This quiz was put together by a psychologist, so it's probably better than average in terms of accuracy. When I took the quiz, I was William Paterson from New Jersey. You've probably never heard of him - I know I hadn’t. I know him now, because each delegate to the Constitutional Convention has a short 2-3 paragraph biography on the site. The center itself is a museum in Philadelphia two blocks from Independence Hall, and is the only museum devoted to the Constitution. They have podcasts, news releases; you'll find a trip planner, and information about their exhibits. Currently, they have an exhibit about Princess Diana. That really doesn't make sense to me, but they also have information on Constitution Day. They have a Facebook page and you can follow them on Twitter. Take the quiz and let us know which founder you are.

Cool Gadget: Technosource Rubik's TouchCube: Where do I find these expensive toys? Anyone remember the Rubik's Cube? It was introduced in the 70's and is still one of the best selling toys in history. My son Daine has a couple and while I always used to need a screwdriver to solve one, he can actually work the thing. Well, now it's the 21st Century, and so now we have an electronic version of the Cube that, instead of twisting it, you slide your finger across the row and the computer inside moves the pieces. You can get hints for this cube, and even have it solve itself – no screwdriver needed. It comes with a charging dock. There's a video on YouTube of this thing in operation.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Golden Master: This week's word sounds like it came from the TV Show Kung Fu. Our term is Golden Master and it refers to the final version of software that is sent to the duplication houses for mass production. In other words, the software company writes the software, does all their testing, and then when they get the software as ready as they can, then they make up a CD or DVD and send it to the duplicators. They don't do the duplication themselves. This term was used by Apple for a long time, and now is used by many different software vendors.

Links

National Constitution Center:
http://www.constitutioncenter.org

Which Founder Are You Quiz:
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/FoundersQuiz/

Technosource Rubik’s TouchCube:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/10/hands_on_technosources_rubiks.php

Golden Master on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/goldenmaster

10/9/2009-Recognizing rogue Antivirus Programs, The Antiphishing Working Group, Intelligent Forms' Log Pillow, "Technophobe"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 8 Oct 2009 17:21:49 -0500

Episode 85:
Question: Vicki asks, "How do I recognize a rogue antivirus program?"

Answer: Vicki, this is a great question because according to the AntiPhishing Working Group, in the first half of 2009, the number of rogue anti-malware programs grew by 585%! A rogue anti-malware program will generally masquerade as one of these: Antivirus, Registry Cleaner/Optimizer, or Antispyware. Now, to answer your question, the very best way to know is by whether or not you installed it. If you didn't install it; if it wasn't installed by a computer professional, then chances are good... it's bad; in other words, if it just showed up one day out of the blue. Another tell-tale sign is an inability to get to anti-malware websites like Symantec.com. These programs don't want competition because they'll be exposed for what they are. If the program will "find" bad software, but not clean it up without paying first, it's bad. If you can't run the Windows Task Manager - it might be a bad guy. If you can't find the program listed in Control Panel under Add/Remove Programs (Programs and Features in Vista) it's probably malware. Now, all these are just indications. To be more certain, you can go to Google and search the text of the messages you are seeing, or the name of the program. Read some of the results to find whether or not the programs are bad. But probably they are. To get rid of them, check out the forums for my AntiMalware Toolkit. If it will let you get there, you can find a free program or two to help you get it removed.

Cool Site: The AntiPhishing Working Group: Last week, we introduced listeners to the Antiphishing Working Group, and this week it makes our cool site of the week. By the way, I noticed the FBI had a big sting, dubbed "Operation Phish Phry" going on that I hope will bring a bunch of this to a halt. But this website is dedicated to getting rid of Internet scams and phishing. On this website, you can report phishing scams you receive. You can also find resources to help you if you've become a victim of one of them. There's a Crimeware Map, showing the percentage by country of Crimeware and Phishing attacks. The US is the most often targeted, even in this recession. Just last week, over 90% of the phishing attacks were here. Crimeware was over 39%. There are links to protective resources for both businesses and individuals. One of the questions I get a lot is, "Why do people do these things?" The simple answer is always money. The site has an education area where you can find out a ton of stuff about electronic crime or e-crime; how to protect yourself, and what you can do about it. So, great site for online safety.

Cool Gadget: Intelligent Forms' Log Pillow: This week's gadget is not much of a gadget. It's an accessory for one of your gadgets, your laptop. Using your laptop on your lap makes your legs hot, and using it on a pillow makes the laptop hot. Enter the Log Pillow from Intelligent Forms. It consists of six fabric tube-shaped pillows that snap together. When assembled, they look a bit like a log cabin. It disassembles for storage and travel, or there's a hook that you can grab to carry the thing. But it provides good ventilation and levels your laptop because it's actually slanted toward the back. The logs are filled with buckwheat hulls and are made of natural fiber fabrics. If you want one, they're about $70, and we'll have links in the show notes. Of course, if they stuffed it with something cheap and sold for $10, I'd be right there. Oh well.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Technophobe: This week we're looking at Technophobe. The word refers to someone who is afraid of and doesn't like technological things, primarily computers. We all probably know someone like that.

Links

Anti-Malware Toolkit:
http://www.daconsult.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=76

Antiphishing Working Group:
http://www.antiphishing.org

Intelligent Forms Log Pillow:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/09/work_in_your_jammies_with_the.php

Intelligent Forms:
http://intelligentforms.net/products/laptop-pillows/log/

Technophobe on Webster.com:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/technophobe

And if anybody cares... I didn't get the LifeCam we talked about last week! Boo Hoo!

10/2/2009-Upgraded hard drive, now can't burn CDs?, Woot.com, LifeCam Cinema, "Phishing"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 3 Oct 2009 22:07:41 -0500

Episode 84:
Question: Jeff asks, "I'm using Windows XP and I upgraded my hard drive. Now I can't burn CD's. Can we fix this?"

Answer: Sure, Jeff. Sometimes when you upgrade your hard drive, Windows re-detects everything. Kind of like a brain transplant. Well, when that happens Windows might not realize that your CD or DVD burner is supposed to be used to burn CDs or DVDs. It knows that you can, not that you want to. The first thing to try is to open My Computer, right-click your burner, click Properties, then click the Recording tab. On this tab, you'll find a checkbox labeled Enable CD recording on this drive. Make sure it's checked. If it is checked, we'll have to keep looking. If not, checking the box and clicking OK will probably fix your problem.

Cool Site: woot.com: Here's a website for people that need to shop, but are indecisive or don't have much time. Woot.com is a different sort of shopping site. They have one deal each day. It's a different deal each day, but just one and when they're gone, they're gone. If they don't sell out, they replace that deal with the next day's deal at midnight, Central Time. Every item they sell is in stock and ships in 2-3 days. If they sell out, their "I want one" button instead reads, "Sold Out". If you miss a deal, you just missed it. It's discontinued at day's end. If you're lucky, they say, they might be able to get more later, but no guarantees. They have contests, a podcast - they call it a wootcast - and forums about the deals they've had where they invite comments from users of the site. There's a blog with many different kinds of entries, but which usually focuses on their deals.

Cool Gadget: Microsoft LifeCam Cinema: OK, you know how much I love media stuff: music players, personal video players, video cameras, and stuff. Well, Microsoft has put together a webcam. They have a whole product line called LifeCam, but this one I think is the best yet. The LifeCam Cinema is a High-Def webcam. No way! Yes, Way! This webcam has 720p 16:9 image. Now, that's the lowest possible High Definition format, but the LifeCam Cinema doesn't stop there. It has a really neat technology called ClearFrame that reduces noise and enhances image quality, especially in low-light conditions. It has auto focus which while common on a standard video camera is something you don't often find on a webcam. It has a glass lens instead of the standard plastic lenses of most webcams, an aluminum body for light weight and durability, and a digital microphone rounds out the hardware features. These little gems will set you back more than most webcams, with a suggested retail of $79.99, but you can find them for as little as $57.99.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Phishing: We're going phishing this week, but not with a boat or a rod and reel. This kind of fishing is spelled with a "PH" rather than an "F". The goals are similar: throw out some bait and see what you can catch. This kind of phishing is the kind that is looking for personal data: credit card numbers, usernames and passwords, stuff like that. How it works is that you will receive an email message from what appears to be your bank or eBay, the IRS currently, or someone else. The email tells you something like, "If you don't verify your information, you won't be able to access your account." The hope is that you'll click the link in the message which will take you to a bogus webpage. When you enter your information and submit it, they steal your identity.

Links

Woot.com
http://www.woot.com

HD Done Right:
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/digitalcommunication/hd-done-right/default.aspx

Microsoft LifeCam Cinema:
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/digitalcommunication/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=008

Phishing on Techterms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/phishing

The AntiPhishing Working Group:
http://www.antiphishing.org/

9/25/2009-Does the 'Virtual Memory Low' popup mean I need more memory?, Microsoft At Home, Netgear Cellular-enabled router, "Defragment"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:00:32 -0500

Episode 83:
Question: Glen asks, "I get this message every once in a while that says, 'Virtual Memory Low'. Does this mean I need more memory?"

Answer: Well, Glen, great question. First, I want to assure you that nothing is actually wrong with your computer. Memory (or RAM) is a finite resource but regardless of how much RAM you actually have, Windows lets each program think it has 2 gigabytes. When more RAM is needed than is available, Windows swaps old data to a file on disk to make room; if that old data is needed later, it'll be swapped back in. Because this process creates memory that doesn't really exist, it's called Virtual Memory, and the file that Windows uses is called a "swap file". When Windows manages the size of the swap file, it tries to make the file as small as possible to conserve disk space. That message you get says that Windows is enlarging the swap file. It doesn't take long, but if you get an "out of memory" error from a program during that time, just try again to do whatever you were doing after the message goes away.

Cool Site: Microsoft At Home: Did you ever wonder if your password is weak? Would you like to test it? Would you like to know how to optimize the performance of your computer or add memory? These are just a few of the things you can do at the Microsoft At Home website. I have to admit that the memory article is a bit dated now, but it's still useful because it shows how to know when to add memory. You can learn about new security features in Windows 7, to be released in less than a month. You can also download game demos and learn many ways to more effectively use your computer. Areas of interest include pictures, videos, music, security and troubleshooting. By the way, check the show notes: I've got a link to a Tim Hawkins video on YouTube about troubleshooting.

Cool Gadget: Cellular Enabled Router: You've no doubt seen the commercials about Sprint's MiFi that lets you connect up to 5 users to their cellular network. And for a couple of weeks we've been considering cellular wireless Internet access. Well this week, we'll talk about the Netgear Cellular-enabled router. With this router, you plug a USB cellular device from your cell carrier into the router and then you can connect 4 wired or many wireless computers to the Internet. The nice thing about this is that while you can use it in your home, just like a cable or DSL router, you can take it with you in the car or RV, unlike wired connections. You can use it in places where Cable or DSL isn't available. Cable and DSL are noticeably faster technologies, so they aren't going away anytime soon, they just aren't portable.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Defragment: On last week's show, we talked about fragmentation. This week, we turn our attention to Defragment. Remembering the magazine article that starts on one page, then says "Continued on Page something-or-other". This article is fragmented. If you defragmented the article, when you ran out of page, you'd just turn the page and the story would continue. In the case of computer files, defragmenting puts for a given file, all the little blocks of data in a row so that they can all be quickly read from one end to the other. That's how defragmenting speeds up your computer, but you really don't have to do it more than 3 or 4 times a year, because it's a very intense process in terms of how much it works your hardware.

Links

Microsoft At Home:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/

Tim Hawkins – Tech Support on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkLq1j1kOaU&feature=related

Computer Trap Shoot 2006 on YouTube [You’ve got to see this! (Websclusive Link)]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXUIlULqUGQ&feature=related

Sprint MiFi (Scroll to bottom of page):
http://www.sprint.com/business/?id12=UHPCHP_Link_ShopBusinessSolutions

Netgear Cellular-enabled router:
http://www.netgear.com/3g

List of compatible USB Cellular Modems:
http://www.netgear.com/3G_uSB_Modems

Defragment on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/defragment

9/16/2009-What is a 3G Card?, Microsoft Office First Steps, Flashbag, "Fragmentation"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:19:55 -0500

Question: After last week's show, Erwin from Hawkins wrote, "Yesterday on your segment on KBJS you mentioned using a "3G card" for Internet service. What is that and how does one use it? Is it a subscription service?"

Answer: First of all, let me say that it's good to hear from you. The 3G card (for 3rd Generation) is a cellular wireless device. It can also be called an EVDO card, or AirCard. You get it from your cell-phone carrier. They can connect via USB to any computer, or to a notebook computer via USB or its expansion card slot, whether that's a PCMCIA or ExpressCard slot, it depends on the notebook. It acts like a telephone modem, and dials into the cell service to connect you to the Internet. You own the card, but subscribe to the cellular service at about $70/month for "unlimited" data plans. If you get a good cell signal in the places you're looking to use it, it's a good investment because it's fast. It's still not as fast as Cable or DSL, though. In the show notes we’ll have a link to a YouTube video of one of the commercials about it; and to a longer one that tells much of what I've already said, but shows more than I have here. The one drawback of the last video is that it shows the Alltel service, which is now all Verizon.

Cool Site: Microsoft Office First Steps: If you've gotten a new computer with Microsoft Office on it lately, it has come with the 2007 version of their suite. It's got some features that are great for new users, but not so much if you've been used to older versions of Office. I don't have the 2007 version, but people like my wife that do use it don't seem to have much problem with it once they get used to it. Because this version represents a fairly radical departure from what we've come to expect in Microsoft Office, you may find you need to take a bit of training on it. The Computer classes we teach for free at the Jacksonville Public Library aren't updated for Microsoft's 2007 Office System yet, but Microsoft has its "First Steps" series of self-paced classes available on their website. You'll need to look into the show notes for the link, it's kind of long. There are classes offered on the major programs, Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint, with 9 to 11 classes for each program. Each class doesn't cover much, making them ideal for new users. In fact, the website's mission is to let you "learn Microsoft 2007 Office from scratch." If you already know about Windows and just want to become familiar with the new Office System, check out these online classes, direct from Microsoft.

Cool Gadget: Flashbag: I don't know why someone didn't think of this sooner. The Flashbag is a USB flash drive that has a built-in micro pump. What happens is that as you copy pictures, music, and other stuff onto the flashbag, the pump inflates the rubberized cover. As you delete its contents, it deflates. It keeps its shape after it's unplugged so you can get a visual idea how full it is. It's not available to buy yet, and may never be, for that matter. An LED display might be more practical, but would require power.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Fragmentation: This week's term is fragmentation. When you save things onto your hard drive, the files are stored in chunks. The size of the chunk depends on the size of your drive. When you delete a file, the space it used to occupy is marked as empty even though the file is still really there. When a new file is saved, Windows might decide to use some of that new empty space. If the file fits completely, fine. If it doesn't, another free space will be chosen to continue saving. So what you have is a file in two parts. Windows knows where the parts are, and will reassemble them when needed. It's a similar process to reading a newspaper or magazine where an article begins on one page, and after a few paragraphs or so, says, "continued on page" whatever. That article didn't all fit into the allotted space in the publication and to read it, you're directed to another page for the conclusion. Next week we'll talk about the remedy for this situation.

Links

Bill Curtis Found the Internet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZXpm4zXIoE

Internet Anywhere – even in a moving vehicle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CCAwEbdsdw&feature=fvw

Microsoft Office First Steps:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX102704851033.aspx

FlashBag on PlusMinus.ru:
http://www.plusminus.ru/flashbag.html

Fragmentation on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system_fragmentation

9/11/2009-Why can't I use my wireless anywhere?, Project Gutenberg, Dish Network Media Center Tuner, "Blogosphere"

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:29:43 -0500

Episode 81:
Question: My notebook has wireless, how come I can’t use that wherever I am?

Answer: This is a good question and one I used to get a lot. It's unfortunate that the word "wireless" doesn't necessarily convey any idea of distance. "Cordless" conveys a notion of short-range like a cordless phone in your house. Wireless usually makes us think of our cell phones, which can be used long-range. In the world of networking, wireless means anything more than about 50-60 feet. When notebooks began to include wireless, there was a confusion of those usages. A normal notebook can only use wireless in a wireless "hot spot" where the owner of the place has installed compatible devices for Internet access. Most, but not all, of these are free, and you can use your laptop, notebook, or netbook wherever any of these hotspots are. That being said, a few notebooks and netbooks are available now that have cellular wireless built-in in addition to WiFi. Verizon has a netbook, and Dell sells a notebook with one. But for everyone else, if you want to be able to connect to the Internet from just about anywhere, you'll need what’s called a 3G card. It plugs into your notebook and gets you connected to the Internet through the cellular network. Another, highly restricted, option is called tethering, where you connect a smart phone to your notebook and use the phone's data plan to get Internet access. Most carriers restrict this, because they'd rather sell you another plan.

Cool Site: Project Gutenberg: A few shows back I mentioned rediscovering books. Well, I've found a site that can help you build your library of classics in e-book form. An e-book is an electronic book that you can get access to in any of several formats. One of the things about this site is that the books are free. They're free not only as in free of charge, but also free as in freedom. You may do as you wish with most of these 30,000 e-books because their copyright has expired. Some copyrights aren't expired in other countries, so read the first page of the book and be sure if you don't live in the US. Because the copyrights have expired, the books are necessarily old, some I saw dating back to 1617, but most were late 19th and early 20th century publications. I'm looking for some of the history books just so I can compare them to my son’s books.

Cool Gadget: Dish Network Media Center Tuner: This past week there was a big consumer electronics show called CEDIA, they have it every year. One of the things shown this year was from Dish Network and is a TV tuner for Dish Network that can work with your Windows 7 computer. Finally, we'll be able to record high definition digital TV from something besides an antenna. The device was only a prototype, so no word on the pricing or availability yet, but if you have a Media Center PC and Dish Network, you may soon be able to enjoy High Def programming on your schedule. It may even offer, Dish hasn’t decided yet, Video on Demand and Pay per View recording also. I’m not sure why you’d want to time-shift Video On Demand, though unless it was for the pause and rewind features.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Blogosphere: The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions.

Links

Project Gutenberg:
http://www.gutenberg.org

Dish Network Media Center Tuner on Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/dish-network-media-center-tuner-hands-on/

Blogosphere on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogosphere

9/4/2009-Weird Popups, Govtrack.us, iRobot Looj, "Emoticon"

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:11:17 -0500

Episode 80:
Question: Sylvia writes, "Yesterday I started having a box pop up and it continues to do so periodically. Actually more than one box. The first is one that says ccSvcHst.exe-Application Error at the top. Following that box one appears which is titled Symantec Service Framework stating that it has encountered a problem and sorry for the inconvenience. [A]t the bottom are three buttons one... says Debug, another says Send Error Report and the third says Don't Send.
I have tried all three buttons at one time or another and I have restored my computer as well as turning it off completely only to have the problem appear again upon start up. Do I have a virus of some kind? I try to be careful and I have Norton Antivirus on my PC."

Answer: Wow Sylvia. This is a good question. You have done much of what I would suggest to start with. I don't think you have a virus, but the error message refers to a component of your Norton Antivirus. To fix your problem, I would normally start by uninstalling and reinstalling Norton Antivirus. Many times, this will correct the problem you're experiencing. But if you're running Norton Antivirus 2009 or Norton 360 Version 3.0, Symantec released a patch that worked well for most folks, but not everyone. In the show notes I’ll have a link to what I found on the Symantec website. It’s a page that contains a tool you can download to maybe take care of the problem. This patch was just released yesterday. Please let me know how it goes.

As to the buttons on the error message that say Debug, Send Error Report, and Don't Send: the best one to choose is Send Error Report. This sends information on the error to Microsoft so that they can make sure that the problem is not in Windows itself. I suspect, but don't know for sure, that Microsoft forwards this information to Symantec as well.

Cool Site: Govtrack.us: This week’s website, govtrack.us, is one of the sites that allows you to track bills that are working their way through Congress. The information shown on the site is assembled in an automated way from official websites (primarily from the website THOMAS, the official website for the status of legislation run by the Library of Congress, but a full list of sources is on their credits page). You can research and track activities in the US Congress, locating the status of federal legislation, voting records of the Senate and House, information on Members of Congress, its committees, and the Congressional Record. You can track information by picking up a tracker that allows you to get personalized feeds or email updates. To use the tracker feature, you have to sign up for an account on the site, but there's no cost for this service. Want to know what a bill says? Theyve got a viewer there to show the text of the bill. It's better than THOMAS here, because the contents section of the bill shows links to those sections of the bill text so you can jump right to the parts you want to see. You'll find complete status information on bills and a Q&A section so that you can ask questions about bills and get answers from other users. For instance, HR 3200, the healthcare bill we're hearing so much about, has over 70 questions with over 100 answers, while HR 3400, the Republican healthcare reform bill, has 3 questions and no answers. If a group has endorsed or rejected a bill, that information is available here also.

Cool Gadget: iRobot Looj: The company that brought you the Roomba vacuuming robot brings you the Looj. Now, the Looj is, in my mind, less of a robot and more of a tool; but it makes easy work of cleaning your gutters. It can't negotiate turns, but the long, straight sections it seems to handle with ease. It's waterproof up to a foot, and can be cleaned off by just washing it down. It's got a remote control that doubles as a handle. You put the robot in one end of the gutter, remove the remote handle, and use the remote to send the robot down the gutter. Its whirling brush throws the junk out of the gutter and when it's done, it backs up at twice the speed. You reattach the handle, hang the Looj on the included belt clip, and go on to the next item on your "honey do" list. It costs about $170 direct from iRobot with free shipping.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Emoticon: This week's term is Emoticon. The basic emoticon is a colon followed by a closing parenthesis. If you type that and then tilt your head to the left, you see a smiley face. These came about because in an email or other text-based communication you only have your words to express yourself. Sarcasm for instance, is difficult to convey in writing. Other emotions can easily be unclearly communicated in writing. So you can use emoticons to show how to interpret what you write so that you aren't misunderstood..

Links

Fix at Symantec:
http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20090821103237EN

GovTrack:
http://www.govtrack.us

iRobot Looj:
http://experience.irobot.com/Producer.aspx?sid=15&sky=XDD5L9P1&pgi=862&pgk=XL43RQRS&rid=106476&rky=8UNTBNU9&tky=128958428887968750

Emoticon on Techterms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/emoticon

8/28/2009-"Best Of Tech Tip Friday"

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:09:13 -0500

This week's episode was a repeat. I'm not sure exactly which episode was run, but it wasn't the one we recorded for this day.

8/21/2009-Outlook Express only spell-checks in French, ClassicCat.net, Asus' Disney-Branded Netbook,"ActiveX"

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:02:41 -0500

Episode 79:
Question: Mike asks, "I installed Office 2007 on my Windows XP and now Outlook Express can only spell check in French. Any ideas?"

Answer: Well, Mike, upon researching this problem, I found that you aren't the only one having it. This is a common problem for XP users. According to Microsoft, installing Office 2007 causes several files to be replaced, including the spell check files for the English, Spanish, and German languages. The ones that it leaves aren't compatible with Outlook Express. If you upgrade to Windows Live Mail it will work again. You'll also have the latest version of Outlook Express as well. You also can keep Outlook Express, but install a third party spell check tool. The only drawback to this might be that your personal dictionary files - the files that hold terms you've added - might not be usable in both Outlook Express and Word.

Web Exclusive: The reason that this is not a problem for Vista users is because if you have Vista, you have Windows Mail, whose name was changed to Windows Live Mail when Microsoft began distributing it through their Live.com website.

Cool Site: ClassicCat.net: If you like classical music, then check out classic cat.net. This site is a wiki that's jam-packed with information about classical composers and their compositions. The site in many cases also has links to free downloads of the songs that you can keep. Articles on composers include links to other composers' articles as well. If a particular piece has lyrics, these are generally also available. Check this out, because we're not necessarily talking about just classical. Some of the composers are also ragtime or jazz composers as well. But, if classical isn’t for you, then check out the show notes for a link to more free music at Amazon.com. At Amazon, you can find over 500 mp3 songs that are absolutely free. They also feature a free song of the day that you can download and keep..

Cool Gadget: Asus' Disney-Branded Netbook: Exclusively at Toys 'R Us, you can find the EeePC MK90 Netpal. It's a netbook that includes strict parental controls including which websites get visited, how long they spend on the computer, and what programs they put on the system. It's preloaded with Disney software for Music, Photos, and Games. It has a spill-proof keyboard and themes for many popular Disney characters. It's $349 and available in Princess Pink and Magic Blue. There's a Mickey Mouse-shaped webcam and a memory card reader. Two models are available, one with a 16GB solid state drive, the other with a 160GB magnetic spinning hard drive. Looks cool. Have a look at the show notes for a link to a YouTube video demonstrating the device.

It's All "Geek" To Me: ActiveX: A Microsoft technology that allows websites to be more interactive. It lets you view a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet from within Internet Explorer. One of the downsides is that ActiveX isn't terribly secure, and while useful, it can be exploited by malicious websites to do damage to your computer. Be careful, and keep your antivirus and antispyware signatures up to date.

Links

You no longer have spell checking capabilities in some languages in Outlook Express:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932974

ClassicCat.net:
http://www.classiccat.net

Amazon’s Free Songs:
http://www.amazon.com/b/?&node=334897011&pf_rd_p=469729471&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=678551011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=10S7HGD2DZ80J7WWF4R5

Asus’ Disney-Branded Netbook:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/08/asus_releases_disney-branded_n.php#more

ActiveX on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/activex.

8/14/2009-How do I get my email to show up on two comptuers?, Freeware Home, Eon Mini spinal cord stimulator, "Wizard"

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:59:26 -0500

Episode 78:
Question: Elza asks, "I have two computers. I use the same email address on both. Emails come in on one or the other, but not both. How do I get my email to show up on both computers?"

Answer: Great question. I'm surprised we haven't answered it before. In the properties for your email account, on the Advanced tab, check the box that says "Leave a copy of messages on server" Because normally, your email program will erase every message it retrieves for you. But if you check this box, it won't remove those messages and your other computer can also download them.

Cool Site: Freeware Home: So, you need software. How about free software? We like free here on Tech Tip Friday. Anyway, Mary Hunt's article in Woman's Day has yet another gem for us, freewarehome.com. This is a site that is filled with free programs of three types: Freeware, Open Source, and Shareware. Freeware is free software written by enthusiasts and distributed by user groups, or other electronic media. Open Source is software that is published under licenses that allow anyone to freely use, modify, or redistribute the software. Shareware is not technically free, but can be freely copied. The shareware on this site is licensed free for non-commercial use. You can find screen savers, wallpapers, games, educational software for homeschoolers, and so much more. There are system utilities like EKG that generates complex passwords. You'll find backup software like the EASEUS Todo Backup that lets you backup your whole hard drive; business, productivity, Internet software, even pranks and icons. The site is supported with advertisements, so prepare to wade through some of these, but they're not terribly intrusive. No popups, for instance. You should be able to find enough here to fill that new external hard drive you bought anyway.

Cool Gadget: Eon Mini spinal cord stimulator: This is one of the few gadgets we look at that I hope never to need. As an example of American medical innovation, check out the Eon Mini spinal cord stimulator. St. Jude Medical has devised the world’s smallest spinal cord stimulator. It's about the size of a silver dollar, and is implanted in a person’s abdomen or buttocks. A thin wire runs to the spinal cord and this device, which is for use by those with chronic pain, will transform what would be a feeling of pain, into a tingling sensation by disrupting the pain signal traveling along the spinal cord. It can be programmed to alleviate pain in up to eight different chronic pain areas. The rechargeable battery lasts up to 10 years and could allow chronic pain patients to reduce their morphine use and get back to a more normal life.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Wizard: When you think of a wizard, do you think of the yellow brick road? "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" But that's what a wizard is, the man behind the curtain, because in a program like Microsoft Word, a wizard is a part of that program that guides you through some complex task, like writing a resume, or getting you past the "writer's block" of having to do your first few PowerPoint presentations. Wizards are the brainchild of Melinda Gates, which is probably why Microsoft uses them so extensively.

Links

Freeware Home:
http://www.freewarehome.com

Eon Mini spinal cord stimulator:
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2009/08/eon_mini_spinal_cord_stimulator.html

Wizard on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/wizard

8/7/2009-Internet Explorer 8 not working right on certain sites, Phonezoo.com, Microsoft Pressure-Sensitive Keyboard, "Illegal Operation"

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:55:52 -0500

Episode 77:
Question: Pam asks, "I have Internet Explorer 8 and one of the sites I'm trying to get to won't work right. What can I do?"

Answer: Whenever a new version of Internet Explorer or any browser for that matter comes out, it always has some new bells and whistles. Internet Explorer doesn't work right with all websites because of those bells and whistles. Most of the time, if a web browser doesn’t support what a web page is trying to do, it just ignores that feature. Even at that, some sites still don't display right with Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft has attempted to address this issue with a button on the right side of the address bar that enables what they call "compatibility view". Compatibility view basically makes Internet Explorer 8 work like version 7 did. Try that and see if the site works.

Cool Site: Phonezoo.com: You showed me this article by Mary Hunt that appeared in Woman's Day about ways to save money. One of those sites is our cool site this week: Phonezoo.com. See, your cell carrier and other sources have ringtones you can buy, but phonezoo.com has free ringtones you can download straight to your phone. You’ll have to set up an account before you can download ringtones, but again, they're free. They also have photos and you can share your own. The site also features games, but don't expect to download these to your cell phone. I especially liked Rollercoaster Rush. You'll also find some social features as well that allow users of the site to communicate, comment, and rate the photos and ringtones members post.

Cool Gadget: Microsoft Pressure-Sensitive Keyboard: Have you ever been typing and hit the wrong key by accident? Well, Microsoft is demonstrating a pressure-sensitive keyboard. Sure, there are gaming applications for this keyboard. You can for instance, jump higher by pressing harder; and the keyboard recognizes eight different pressure levels. But where it comes in handy for the average Joe typing along in an office, is in that it can distinguish between a key you intended to press and one you just brushed across accidentally and it uses this information to automatically correct your typos.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Illegal Operation: Once in a while you'll see an error message that includes the term "Illegal Operation". This message will make you wonder whether or not it was something you did, because it doesn't say what the operation was or how it was "illegal". What such messages mean is that the program was unexpectedly asked to do something impossible, like divide by zero, and it crashed.

Links

Compatibility View:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/08/27/introducing-compatibility-view.aspx

Phonezoo:
http://www.phonezoo.com

Microsoft Pressure-Sensitive Keyboard:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/06/pressure-sensitive-keyboard-lets-you-express-fury-tenderness/

Illegal Operation at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/illegaloperation

7/31/2009-Typing email in Portuguese (or other languages), Christianwebsite.com, Black & White Digital Clock, "Beta Software"

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:52:16 -0500

Episode 76:
Question: Elza asks, "I need to type emails in Portuguese. Can I do that in Windows XP?"

Answer: Wow, Portuguese. It happens sometimes that families, far flung as they are, need to communicate in other languages. Windows XP supports over 100 languages and dialects. The setup is a bit complicated, but only has to be done once. I'll have a couple of links to that setup in the show notes. The web pages are illustrated to help you get through the setup, which you do in Control Panel under Regional and Language Options. Once you have Windows setup to use additional languages, you’ll have a new language bar that will allow you to switch quickly between the languages you've set up. You can even set up different user accounts to use different languages. So, if you need to type Spanish, French, Japanese, or Portuguese in Windows, that's not a problem, but I believe everything on the screen changes to that language while you're using it.

Eddie: Now, how do you type in that language?

David: This is where it gets interesting. The keyboard layout will switch when you change languages. I'll include a link in the show notes to a page at Microsoft.com that pops up a window (disable your popup blocker for this page) that shows you the keyboard layout for that particular language. But if you want to keep the English language, but just type the odd word or two in another language, then you can choose the US – International keyboard layout. In this layout, when you type the accent mark, nothing happens until you press the next key. If that next character can be accented, it will be. Otherwise, the two separate characters will appear. Again, I'll have a link to Microsoft's articles on this in the show notes.

Cool Site: Christianwebsite.com: For the past several weeks, we've been showcasing Christian websites, and you may have wondered how we found them. This week's site, Christianwebsite.com, has a top ten list of Christian websites. But that's not all, the site features news, prophecy discussions, software reviews, and a forum. They have an e-mail newsletter you can sign up for, a store where you can get great T-Shirts with Christian themes, and a Website of the Day. There's a Top Ten Internet Freebies article as well, and we all love freebies. Log onto www.Christianwebsite.com.

Cool Gadget: Black & White Digital Clock: Here's a digital clock like you've never seen before. Now, we've had digital clocks for a long time. That fact isn’t lost on me. But this clock is different. I've got no idea how to set the silly thing, but it consists of four oversized digits. The digits can be arranged however you want: any angle, on a circle, whatever. They're black in the light, and white in the dark. The big problem is that it's still a prototype, but when it comes out, I'm going to want one.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Beta Software: Commercial software goes through several phases before it is released for sale. One of the first phases is to decide what features to release with this version. Then the programmers go to work. When they think they've got it right, they send out what's called an Alpha version of the software. This version is known to have bugs, but is being released to help them find the bugs that are left. When they think they've found and fixed all those bugs, then they release a Beta version of the software and that's our term for the week. Beta software is software the programmers think is just about ready to go, but may still have some problems. Beta software usually doesn't have major problems, but also may not work. This is why most beta software is offered for free on the writer's website. If you use software that's considered to be in beta, then you should report to the maker of the program any problems you have while using it. That way, they can try to find and fix the problem before the program comes out.

Links

Foreign Language Resources:
http://www.puargs.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54:enabling-foreign-languages-in-windows&catid=41:tutorials&Itemid=56

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/winxp/yourlanguage.mspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb964651.aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/263585

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/97738/en-us

Christian Website
http://www.christianwebsite.com/

Black & White Digital Clock
http://www.popgadget.net/2009/07/digital_blackan.php

Beta Software on Techterms
http://www.techterms.com/definition/betasoftware

7/24/2009-Personal Antivirus, Crosswalk.com, Powramid Surge Protector, "Frozen"

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:50:16 -0500

Episode 75:
Question: Lisa says, "I have a message on my screen that says I have 38 infections, and the name of the program is Personal Antivirus, but I've never heard of it. What do I do?"

Answer: First, know that the "38 infections" are not true. The actual number may be more or less. It's a common tactic used by malware writers: make you think your problem is worse than it is, and you'll buy their program. The real problem is that one Trojan horse program. It may have downloaded more malware, compounding the problem; but usually, running MalwareBytes will be all you need to do to get the system cleaned. You may also have to get another program called SuperAntispyware to get rid of things. Also make sure your antivirus is up to date and run scans with all three programs. If this doesn't take care of the problem, you can call in a pro, or back up your data and restore your computer to how it was when you bought it.

Cool Site: Crosswalk.com: Subtitled "The Intersection of Faith and Life", Crosswalk.com is another site that provides online Bible searches and Bible study tools. Many Christian websites provide these. Crosswalk also has blogs, videos, and just about anything you could want. The site features streaming audio channels, podcasts, fun stuff, resources for homeschoolers, eCards, a mobile site, shopping, and devotionals. It has almost everything that we found at Christianity.com last week, and then some. You'll find email newsletters including UpWords from Max Lucado, Devotions for Dieters, Crosswalk News Update. A couple of news articles I saw there were, "'Debaptism' Takes Root with American Atheists" and "Convert from Islam Shot Dead in Somalia". I had never heard of Debaptism before. The site has resources for singles, resources for your finances, and entertainment news. Really, a whole heap of stuff that can help you live a more Godly life.

Cool Gadget: Powramid Surge Protector: The kind folks at ThinkGeek have found a really cool surge protector. It's pyramid shaped. The nice thing about that shape is that it doesn't take up much room, yet allows you to plug in one of those power bricks into each of the 6 outlets It has a blue light under a dome at the top of the powramid that serves as the power switch and power-on lamp. It's black, has a 5 foot cord and runs about $25 + shipping.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Frozen: This week it sounds like we're working with TV Dinners, because this week's word is "frozen". When your computer is frozen, it means that the computer is unresponsive. Other words for that are "hang", "crash", or "lock up". These terms are often used synonymously, but kind of aren't. Crash is a bit more generic of a term. The way you can tell if your computer is frozen is if moving the mouse doesn’t cause the pointer to go anywhere. You can regain control by pressing the power button in and holding it there until the computer turns off. Be patient, it'll turn off. If you've held it for 15 seconds or more, though, you will have to unplug it. When you turn it back on, it'll be yours again.

Links

DAConsult AntiMalware Tool Kit:
http://www.daconsult.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=76

Crosswalk.com:
http://www.crosswalk.com

Powramid Surge Protector:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/travelpower/a363

Frozen at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/frozen

7/17/2009-How do I print an email without everyone's name on it?, Christianity.com, Icoeye's Save Bookmark, "Hover"

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:44:20 -0500

Episode 74:
Question: Bob asks, "How do I print an email without everyone’s name on it?"

Answer: Great question. We all get email messages that are forwarded from others. Sometimes the messages have been forwarded several times before they get to us. As a result, you can have a big long list of names which if you plan on reading the message or saving a printed version, is just completely irrelevant. There are two good ways to handle this situation. First, if your email program has a print preview feature, then you can preview the message and once you know where things fall, just print out the important pages. This works best for really long messages, or maybe attachments. Second, you can just hit the reply or forward button in your email program. It doesn't matter which, because you're not really going to send the message; but when you start to reply or forward, you'll have an editable version of the message. Delete the names and just print out the edited version. Don't forget to check both the top and bottom of the message.

Cool Site: Christianity.com: Here's a site with tons of stuff to do. Christianity.com has an online Bible, devotionals, blogs, forums, chat rooms, the audio of Chuck Swindoll's Insight for Living, John MacArthur's Grace to You, Dr. David Jeremiah's Turning Point ministries and others. You can sign up for newsletters delivered via e-mail, and have those nagging questions you always wondered about answered by some of the most respected Christian leaders in America. For instance, have you ever wondered if Christians should go into politics? Set in the context of the run-up to last year’s Presidential election, Chuck Colson answers this question with a "Yes, we should". There are video answers to some of the questions, you can leave a prayer request privately and someone at Guideposts will pray for you. There are lots of study resources you can use, sermon preparation helps, and if that wasn't enough, the site even includes quizzes and games! Like I said, the site has tons of stuff to do.

Cool Gadget: Icoeye's Save Bookmark: Not everything has to be high tech or expensive. I have recently rediscovered books. Yes, actual books with physical pages. OK. Well, books need bookmarks unless they're very short. A fun bookmark is available for free at Icoeye. You just download and print out the bookmark. It has a small picture of a floppy disk on the end and the word "Save" next to it. Because after all, isn't that what a bookmark does, save your place? Check the show notes for the link to this kooky bookmark.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Hover: This week's term is hover. It means to position your mouse pointer over a link on a web page. When you hover over a link, the pointer shape changes into a little hand. Often, the link will change appearance in some way, usually by changing color. This term is in widespread usage in Internet contexts, but is gradually replacing the term "point" which means exactly the same thing, but is normally applied to hovering over icons, menus, and other things besides links.

Links

Christianity.com:
http://www.christianity.com

Icoeye’s Save Bookmark:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/03/for_the_save_icoeyes_save_book.php

Save Bookmark at Icoeye.com:
http://www.icoeye.com/blog/?p=75

Hover defined at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/hover

7/10/2009-How do I send large files to someone?, BibleGateway.com, TV Tricklesaver, "Avatar"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 9 Jul 2009 20:11:31 -0500

Episode 73:
Question: Daine asks, "How can I share pictures or files that are too big for e-mail with my friends?"

Answer: With our digital cameras making larger and larger photos, e-mail can't always handle it; so this is a really good question. We've talked about mediafire.com before on the show, and that's a good way to share those large files, but it's not the only way. There are sites like Flickr, YouTube, etc. that let you post media files: Flickr for photos, YouTube for videos. Services like SkyDrive, from Microsoft, allow you to share large files of any type, not just media files. SkyDrive in particular gives you 25 GB of space for free. Individual files may be up to 5 GB in size each. That should allow you to share just about anything with just about anybody. You share files by sending an e-mail from within SkyDrive that includes a link to download the file. With SkyDrive, you can have both public and private files.

Cool Site: BibleGateway.com: BibleGateway.com is a website that has over 100 Bible versions and 50 languages. 20 of those versions are English. Other languages tend to have only one or two versions available, but Spanish has seven. Some of these in some languages are only New Testaments and others are full Bibles. You can search all of the versions by chapter & verse, by keyword, or topic. The site has been around since 1995, and it basically does one thing, and does it very well. You can set which version you'll search by default, and set preferences that limit which versions you can select; good for weeding out languages you don't speak, or translations you don't particularly care for. Reading plans and audio Bibles are available, again in multiple languages and translations. You also can use Commentaries and Dictionaries as well, and if you're on the go (who isn't?), you can use Bible Gateway from your smartphone or PDA, and you can download e-books for some of the foreign-language versions that you can carry around. Finally, if you have a website of your own, you can add the Verse of the Day or a Bible Search box on it.

Cool Gadget: TV Tricklesaver: In today's economy, who doesn't want to save money? Besides, if Cap and Trade passes, our electric bills are going to increase. Well, the folks at TrickleStar have a new gadget, called the TV Tricklesaver. It will turn off any devices connected to it whenever you turn off the TV. This means that if you forget to turn off the DVD player, or the game console, it'll do it for you. Turn the TV back on, and your devices are powered right back up. It costs $34.95, but will eventually save more than that.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Avatar: This week's word, avatar, like many of our words, has different meanings used in the offline world. In the online world, an avatar is simply an image, or an animated character, that represents a real user of the system. For instance, on the Second Life website, you create an avatar that then interacts with the Second Life environment on your behalf. If you have a Nintendo Wii, you create what they call a Mii, which is really just an avatar. When you play the Wii games, your avatar is what you see on the screen.

Links

SkyDrive:
http://skydrive.live.com

Bible Gateway:
http://www.biblegateway.com

TV Tricklesaver at OhGizmo:
http://www.ohgizmo.com/2009/07/08/tv-tricklesaver-cuts-your-power-bills-by-cutting-power-to-your-home-theater/

Buy a TV Tricklesaver:
http://store.tricklestar.com/products/tricklesaver/

Avatar at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/avatar

7/3/2009-What's the difference between sleep and hibernate?, ChristianPost.com, SwissFlash 16GB Laser Pointer, "Zombie"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 9 Jul 2009 20:23:07 -0500

Episode 72:
Question: Pam asks, "What is the difference between sleep and hibernate?"

Answer: With so many new laptops out there, the distinction may be troubling a bunch of folks, so that's a good question. I mention laptops because that's where you usually see this. You can shut Windows down three different ways. The way you choose is most dependent upon personal preference, but also upon how long you plan to leave the computer off, and how much time you're willing to wait when you turn it back on. First, you can just shut it down and turn it off like everyone else has to do. This is most appropriate if you plan to leave it off and unplugged for a couple of days or more. This takes the longest time to shut down and the longest time to restart, and uses the least power while the computer is off – none. Hibernate is a good substitute for shutdown because no power is being used while the computer is off. Shut down and restart is faster than just turning the computer off because Hibernate copies everything in memory to a file on your hard drive before turning off. When you turn it back on, it reads that file and puts everything back into memory as it had been before you hibernated it. That process is generally faster than a reboot but will take longer than simply putting the computer to sleep. Sleep is similar to hibernate, but the contents of memory aren't copied anywhere. The system just powers off except for the memory circuits. These are kept alive to preserve the contents of memory. Resuming the computer from Sleep occurs extremely fast because everything is in place already – it just has to be reenergized. The one drawback to sleep mode is that because your computer's memory is still energized, it is still drawing power from the battery. I have left my laptop in sleep mode for several hours and usually don't notice a difference in my battery. It's not a mode you want to use if you're going to be away from the system for several days, but if you're about to carry it between work and home or even on a short plane flight, this should be fine. Most laptops go into sleep mode when the lid is closed, and hibernate when the power button is pressed. If yours doesn't, check the power settings in control panel.

Cool Site: ChristianPost.com: OK in days like these, it's easy to become, as I have, a news junkie. When you need to know the news with a Christian perspective, check out ChristianPost.com. Some of the headlines I found there were "High Court Refuses to Hear Bible Club Case", "White House: Search for Obamas' Church Home Continues", "Christians Join Forces to Protect Common Values", "Iranian Christians Dispute Election Results". Have you heard these stories elsewhere? Tabs at the top of the site let you choose between a US and an International edition. The site offers a daily or weekly newsletter you can sign up for, and while they offer the same kind of topics as most other news sites, they also offer topics like Church, Ministries, and Missions. There are videos, devotionals, and cartoons. Have a look: www.christianpost.com.

Cool Gadget: SwissFlash 16GB Laser Pointer: As a kid, I had a genuine Swiss Army knife. I used that thing all the time, even handing it down to my kids. Well, now they've gone High Tech. The SwissFlash 16GB Laser Pointer is short on knife features, the blade, the nail file, the scissors are all there, but this one also includes a laser pointer and a 16GB USB flash drive. It's a bit expensive, at $145, but a genuine Swiss Army knife will be.

It's All "Geek" To Me: zombie: A zombie is a computer that has been covertly taken over to perform some nefarious task like sending out spam, attack websites, launch denial of service attacks, etc. You are usually unaware that your computer has been taken over. Firewall and antivirus software can help prevent your computer from becoming a zombie.

Links

What is the Difference Between Sleep (Standby) and Hibernate in Vista:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/10/12/what-is-the-differences-between-sleep-standby-and-hibernate-in-vista/

Christian Post:
http://www.christianpost.com/

Zombie PCs: Silent Growing Threat:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/116841/zombie_pcs_silent_growing_threat.html

Malware on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware

6/26/2009-Why won't DVDs play on my computer?, SermonAudio.com, Casio Calculator Watch, "Leaderboard"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:30:20 -0500

Episode 71:
Question: Richard asks, "Why won’t DVDs play on my computer?"

Answer: OK, great question. To play DVDs on your computer you need three things: 1) A DVD-ROM or DVDRW drive. Because the optical characteristics of DVDs are different than CDs, you want to be sure you have a DVD drive of some sort. If your computer has Vista, you probably have one. But the older your computer is, the more likely it is that you don't have such a drive. How can you tell? The easiest way is to look on the front of your current optical drive. If it has the DVD logo on it, you're good to go. If not, it probably isn't, but that's not the only way to know. Device manager can also tell you what it is, even if Windows misidentifies the drive. OK, so a DVD drive is the first thing. No. 2) You need a player application. Most DVD drives and computers that come with them have this already. You have Windows Media Player, which can play DVDs if you have the third item - A DVD decoder. DVD Decoders come with whatever software comes with your computer or DVD drive. In some cases, the decoder isn't free. What's a DVD Decoder? Because Video DVDs are encrypted, it is necessary to have a piece of software that decrypts that video before you can watch it. You don’t need a decoder to use data DVDs, but you do need one to play videos.

Cool Site: SermonAudio.com: "Faith cometh by hearing" is the tagline of this week's cool site: SermonAudio.com. I see this as a great resource for pastors, but this site is not only for pastors, really it's for anyone who needs to prepare a sermon, or a Sunday School lesson, and if all they did was provide MP3 files of sermons, that would be enough, but they don't stop there. No, they have a Local Church Finder tool that will let you find a church where you are or are headed. They offer an online Bible search, a Hymn Search, Blogs, Forums, a Daily Bible Reading, Surveys, Videos, and Memberships. A Full Membership costs $29.95 per month, while a Plus Membership costs $4.95 a month. Plus Memberships are good if you're a missionary or full-time evangelist family because you can create a website where you can post a blog or put pictures online for your supporters.

Cool Gadget: Casio Calculator Watch: I don't wear a watch anymore, but for a very long time, the only kind of watch I would wear was one with a calculator built-in. I've been a nerd absolutely forever. As it turns out, Casio still makes several Data Bank watch models. The current generation of Data Bank watches sport more than just a calculator. Some of these include infrared so they can replace your remote control. Others are multi-lingual, with the day of week in any of 13 languages. I love these things. Prices start at around $25, depending on where you shop.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Leaderboard: When you think of a Leaderboard, you usually think of golf. But in this context, the leaderboard is a type of online advertisement that is a a good bit wider and just a little taller than the more traditional Banner ad. Like a banner ad, when you click on the leaderboard ad, you are taken to the advertiser's website. Some web designers have found ways to make leaderboard size ads less distracting, though.

Links

SermonAudio.com:
http://www.sermonaudio.com/

Databank Watches on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/06/wrists_on_with_an_18_casio_cal.php

Databank Watches at Casio.com:
http://www.casio.com/products/Timepiece/Databank/

Shop for Databank Watches at MyCasio:
http://my.casio.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=products.section&catalog=Timepiece§ion=Databank

Leaderboard at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/leaderboard

Web Exclusive

How to check if Windows is detecting your DVD Drive correctly in Windows XP.

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type DEVMGMT.MSC
4. Press Enter
5. Click the Plus sign next to DVD/CD-ROM drives
6. If the description includes "DVD", it is being misidentified by Windows.

6/18/2009-What is a blog & how do I get one?; Creationmuseum.org; Remote Control Camera; "Bluetooth"

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:01:07 -0500

Episode 70:
Question: What is a blog and how do I get one?

Answer: A blog is nothing more than a place to say whatever it is you want to say. It's kind of like an interactive newspaper of sorts. You write an article; then others comment on that article. So, the first thing is you've got to have something to say. Once you do, you need a place to say it. One site is blogger.com, another is wordpress.com, and several other options exist. Sign up for a free account on one. Different blogging engines have different features available, but you can customize the setup of your blog, sometimes with a template or theme, other times with the administrative software the site provides. You can embed photos, set tags for your articles so that others who are interested in the topic can find your article, and much more. You can even connect your blog to your Facebook page, with blog entries appearing as Facebook Notes. There are other features available that you might pay for, but those are most useful for people who blog professionally.

Cool Site: Creation Museum.org: Prepare to believe. Powered by AnswersInGenesis, creationmuseum.org is the website of the creation museum located in Petersburg, Kentucky. On this site, you'll find all you want to know to plan a trip to the museum. On June 25, they will host a first-ever webcast at 8:00pm Eastern time called "State of the Nation with Ken Ham". The topic will be The Collapse of Christian America. But aside from that, the site has a blog, a store, and you can also buy tickets to the museum. The site is easy to navigate, and includes links to help you get lodging and find out what else there is to see and do in the area.

Cool Gadget: Remote Control Camera: On the Today show, they showed a new way to interact with your TV that should be out next year. Basically, you are the remote control. You wave at the TV to turn it on, then wave your hands in the air to change channels. When you see the channel you want, you point at the TV and it changes to that channel. To turn it off, you make a clapping gesture. You can also change the thermostat or turn lights on and off. The system is being developed by Hitachi and will add about $50 to the price of TVs equipped with the feature. The best thing is that you don’t have to worry about losing the remote ever again.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Bluetooth: As I was looking back through our show notes, I see we've often mentioned Bluetooth, but never told what it was. Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology that replaces Infrared. Infrared is used with your remote, but has drawbacks, like requiring a line-of-sight between emitter and receiver. Because Bluetooth is a radio signal, it doesn't require line-of-sight. Its drawback is that it only covers about 30 feet, but this adds to its security.

6/12/2009-Are TinyURLs malware?, MyPraize.com, Nova Minoru 3D Webcam, "Digital Signature"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:41:20 -0500

Episode 69
Question: I’m starting to see links to tinyurl. Am I going to get a virus if I click this?

Answer: No, but I thought the same thing the first time I saw one. Some web addresses are extremely long. This makes it difficult to type them without errors, or if sent in email, the recipient’s email program might break the address up and make it unusable. This is where TinyURL comes in. As its name implies, TinyURL is a free service that lets you shorten long web addresses. This lets you send them in email more easily or type them easily if you need to. By the way, if you use Twitter, the conversion of web address in your tweets to TinyURL is automatic.

Cool Site: MyPraize.com: Ever heard of MySpace? Well while Facebook is the current Big Kahuna, mypraize.com is a Christian site that competes with myspace. On its home page, the site seems to promote its music/video offerings, and may be migrating that direction. But it is a social networking site with forums, blogs, and member messaging, which is a term I use to describe email-like messaging between members of a social site.

Cool Gadget: Nova Minoru 3D Webcam: I love this, they now have a 3D - yes - 3D webcam. It comes with 5 pairs of 3D glasses which in itself is something of a bummer. But it works with Skype, Windows Live Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger and others. You can use it to record 3D videos and also take 3D photos. The videos can be uploaded to YouTube for sharing if you want. The camera sits flat on your desk or sort of clamps to your laptop or monitor, and works with either XP or Vista. It’s available now and runs about $89.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Digital Signature: In the real world, what does your signature do? It means you’ve read something, know what it says, and approve. It also verifies your identity. In the digital world, a digital signature also makes sure that you are you. A digital signature also goes one step further, ensuring that the document you signed has remained unaltered since you signed it.

Links

TinyURL:
http://www.tinyurl.com

MyPraize:
http://www.mypraize.com

Nova Minoru 3D Webcam on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/06/the_nova_minoru_is_the_worlds.php

Nova Minoru’s Official Website (you may wish to scroll down quickly – the picture gets the point across, but is somewhat suggestive):
http://www.minoru3d.com/

Digital Signature on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/digitalsignature

Windows Team Blog Page:
http://windowsteamblog.com/Default.aspx

Announcement of Windows 7 Availability:
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/06/02/the-date-for-general-availability-ga-of-windows-7-is.aspx

6/5/2009-Strange Noises, ChristianAnswers.com, Thumb Stadium Game Kit, "Captcha"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 22:43:53 -0500

Episode 68:
Question: This question is from Dale, who writes: When I am online with AOL just checking my email etc. these strange noises come through my speakers. Sometimes a mean dog bark, a screeching cat, a squeaking screen door opening and various other sounds. Sometimes I am up at 2am and the kids have the volume up and all of a sudden..... What and where does this originate? Is there some way to erase it?

Answer: Great question, Dale. Now, I'm not sure about the dog and cat, but the squeaking door is coming from AOL itself. When people who are on your "buddy list" log on or off AOL, it makes that door sound to alert you that this has occurred. From what you've written, I get the feeling that these sounds are heard only when you are on AOL, so I suspect the other sounds are alerts of some sort coming from the AOL software as well. I'm not sure if there's a way to turn it off, but check the menus of the AOL software (or maybe give their tech support a call) for something called "Options", "Preferences", or maybe "Sounds". There you might be able to find how to turn it off.

Cool Site: Christian Answers.net: At ChristianAnswers.net, you'll find answers to all sorts of questions, like "Is there intelligent life on other planets?" In case you're wondering, the short answer is that the Bible doesn't say, but strongly implies that human life is unique in the universe. This site bills itself as, "a mega-site providing Biblical answers to contemporary questions for all ages and nationalities with over 45-thousand files". It is a valuable resource for Sunday School teachers, small group or discussion leaders, etc. because you can look here for the answers when nobody else knows. They may not know either, but it's another source. You'll find areas of the site directed at kids, teens, families, archaeology, evangelism, creation vs evolution, and a store. And because the site has resources written in 42 different languages its content should prove useful to people the world over. The site's not just about answers, though. You can also find movie & DVD reviews. Integral to the reviews is a Moral Rating given by the reviewer. You also get parental advisories as you go so you can determine whether to see a given movie. But that's not all, they also review video games. So there's something there for everyone.

Cool Gadget: Thumb Stadium Game Kit: OK, the kids are out of school for summer. What to do? Well, kids like to play games, I know mine do. It's a bit old-school, but the thumb stadium is a kit that you build. It'll set you back $20 and is a good father-son, mother-daughter project or a good learning project for homeschoolers. The project has four games that you play using the 3 LEDs and 2 buttons Jai Alai, Thumb War, SlapJack, and Reflexy, which is the only game you can play alone. You'll need a soldering iron, some solder, and three AAA batteries to assemble the kit, but everything else is included. Because it's not all that flashy, it probably won't get a lot of play after it's built, but you'll have built a wonderful summertime memory they'll have for the rest of their lives.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Captcha: Today's term is Captcha. When you fill out a form online (like to sign up for the forums), you're often shown a picture that has some letters in it. The picture isn't easy to read, but you usually can. You enter the text in the picture into a box on the form. That picture is called a captcha. Sounds like capture and it lets the computer tell whether you are human or not. What this does is prevent other computers from setting up bogus accounts on the website because it's believed that computer software isn't sophisticated enough to read the picture. Most of them also have a way to do an audio captcha for visitors with low vision.

Links

Christian Answers:
http://www.christiananswers.net/

Thumb Stadium Game Kit on OhGizmo:
http://www.ohgizmo.com/2009/06/04/thumb-stadium-electronic-game-kit/

Thumb Stadium Game Kit at ThinkGeek (buy it at this site):
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/bbe0/

Captcha at TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/captcha

5/29/2009-What's involved with transferring my videos to DVD?, Christian Classics Ethereal Library, DriverMax, "Multi-touch"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:09:26 -0500

Episode 67:
Question: What's involved with transferring my videos to DVD?

Answer: The first thing to worry about is getting your videos from where they are into your computer. To get the videos into the computer, you have several options. One is a firewire or USB 2.0 port which will work with a video camera. Or if you need to connect to several different video sources, you can look into any of Dazzle's products. They even make one that allows you to connect your camcorder, VCR, TiVO, or whatever directly into your iPod or computer. Then you can fairly automatically capture your videos. The big drawback is time. If you have an hour's worth of video to capture, it takes an hour to capture. To help with this, many video cameras now record directly to removable media like an SD card. That way, you can just put the memory card into the computer and just copy the video files onto your hard drive. Once there, you can burn them as a DVD movie by using a DVD authoring program. Windows Vista has one such program built-in. XP doesn't but you should be able to get one either with your DVD drive, your computer, your digital camcorder, or at pinnaclesys.com. We'll have links to this stuff in the show notes.

Cool Site: Christian Classics Ethereal Library: CCEL.org is the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. If you're looking for classic Christian writings, you'll find them here. There's a search feature, or you can browse the available works by Author, Title, Subject, Language, Format, or Tag. Subject classifications include Bibles & Commentaries, Classics, Creeds, Early Church, Fiction, History, Hymns, Mysticism, Reference, and Sermons. Spurgeon's "All of Grace" can be found there among many, many others. If you have a website, they've got tools to allow you to embed things like a daily devotional from "Morning and Evening", a Bible Dictionary Lookup, or a Scripture Search. Now, this one is really cool because it returns all the relevant works in CCEL's library that reference a particular verse. Just check out the site at www.ccel.org.

Cool Gadget: DriverMax: This is a free software gadget that lets you back up, restore, and update the drivers for your Windows XP or Vista computer. You can use Windows Update to update your drivers, but this only works after you’ve installed Windows. What if you reinstall Windows? You'll have to find your CDs and reinstall all the drivers, or at least enough to get to Windows Update, manually. You'll be swapping CDs and rebooting often. Well, with DriverMax, if you ever need to reinstall Windows, you can reinstall all your drivers at once and only reboot once at the end of the process. Now, this relies on exporting your drivers to either a folder or a compressed file while it was working right, but after you download DriverMax, you'll probably do that first, anyway.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Multi-touch: This week's word is "multi-touch" which you may see written hyphenated. Most computer devices that respond to your touch only see one point that you touch. If you press it with two fingers, it will pick one of those and respond accordingly. With a multi-touch device, you can touch several places on the device at once and the computer will respond appropriately to all those touches. You may have seen this on TV, where someone will touch two corners of a window, drag them apart, and the window will enlarge. This type of touch technology is becoming much more common.

5/22/2009-Can my computer be damaged by dust?, Mozy.com, LeapFrog Text & Learn, "Flash"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:00:07 -0500

Episode 66:
Question: Can my computer be damaged by dust?

Answer: As you've noticed, computers attract dust. That's due to the fans pulling the air through the system to cool it. This dust should be removed at least once a year, but more often if your environment is dirty. Dust can hurt your computer if it causes it to overheat. Stray dust can also cause a short which can make devices not operate. One thing I've seen some of is a computer that won't boot. Several times, I've taken the memory out of the system, wiped the gold contacts and blown out the socket. When I put it all back together, everything was fine. The whole repair took less than 15 minutes. What happens is that the processor fan pulls dust down and out the sides and right onto the memory sockets. It piles up there and ultimately results in a short. That doesn't happen often, but some. So, remove the dust at least once or twice a year. That goes for laptops, too. We'll have a link in the show notes to a web page that shows you how to dust your computer.

Cool Site: Mozy.com: Last week we talked about Carbonite. We'll look at mozy.com this week. It's another website dedicated to backing up your computer for under $5 per month. Unlike carbonite, you can back up 2GB of data for free. Not bad. You can also try out the restore features of the system as well. You sign up for an account, then download their software. You choose the files to back up and mozy does the rest. In one case, a stolen laptop was found because the thieves didn't know that all the pictures were being backed up by mozy. When they added pictures, the real owner downloaded them from mozy and turned them over to the police, who were able to find the thief. So whether you use mozy or carbonite, online backup is a good idea.

Cool Gadget: LeapFrog Text & Learn: LeapFrog is known for making educational toys. Their Text & Learn can't actually text anything, it's just made to look like a PDA. It even has a QWERTY keyboard. This could be kids first exposure to that layout, because most toys have the letters in alphabetical order. It has games for 3-5 year olds that teach maps, calendars, and letters. The graphics are simple and so, don't distract from the game's learning. It has two volume levels, low and high. Sorry, no mute. It runs on 3 AAA batteries and costs less than $20.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Flash: Flash is internet software that lets web developers easily add animation and videos to their websites. The software was originally written by Macromedia in 1996, but was bought by Adobe who now works on flash. In general, if you see something that says "loading" when you visit a website, that page is downloading a flash animation. Some sites are almost all flash. Flash is not malware and with you get a message that there's a new flash plug-in available, it's OK to download.

Links

How to Dust a Computer:
http://hubpages.com/hub/dusting-computer

Mozy:
http://www.mozy.com

LeapFrog Text & Learn on Gearlog.com
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/05/hands_on_leapfrog_text_learn.php

Flash on TechTerms
http://www.techterms.com/definition/flash

5/15/2009-Chinese Domain Name Scam, Carbonite.com, Callpod's ChargePod, "Algorithm"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:41:29 -0500

Episode 65:
Question: Dave asks, "I got an email saying that someone was trying, "to use the keyword "my web address" to register the Internet Brand and with suffix such as .cn /.com.cn /.net.cn/.hk/ .asia/ domain names." Is this a scam?"

Answer: Yes, unquestionably. When a person decides to make a website for himself or his company, a domain name is chosen and registered with a domain registrar. The choice is always limited by previous ownership. For instance, my domain is daconsult.com: this means that no one else can get that domain name unless I don't pay the registrar. It also means that someone could get daconsult.net (if it's available) without asking me anything. If there are any problems related to trademarks, that's the purview of the courts, not the domain registrar. In general, it's a good idea to register multiple forms of your domain name. That way, you can do different things with the name in the future, or you can simply protect your Internet brand. In most cases, scams of all types either have a "too good to be true" aspect, or a "dire consequence" if the scammer doesn't hear from you. In either case, they just want your money.

Cool Site: Carbonite.com: We tend to talk about backup quit a bit here, and I've been using Carbonite for a little bit, and generally like it. Carbonite is an online backup service that runs $55/year. Like all online backup solutions, it really requires a high-speed connection because the first backup may take 2-3 weeks to complete. You download and install a small program called an agent, and Carbonite goes to work backing up your files. The files that are or will be backed up will have a little light in the lower left corner of the file's icon. If the light is yellow, it hasn't been backed up yet. If it's green, it has. You can access the files you've backed up from any computer with an Internet connection, or you can restore files back to the computer they came from using Carbonite's backup drive in My Computer. Because most high-speed connections are faster on the download, restores don't take as long as the original backup did. The computer I'm using it on isn't the fastest in the world, so I'm glad they have a "Low Priority" mode to keep backups from slowing that machine to a crawl.

Cool Gadget: ChargePod: Who has one gadget anymore? I mean, we have cell phones, Bluetooth headsets, PDAs, digital cameras, etc. Well, Callpod has a new charger. You plug it into the wall, and charge up to six different gadgets at once. This is great in the kitchen, where you may only have one outlet available. It offers several different charging tips including a generic USB charging tip. But it’s for small devices. It won't charge a laptop. If that wasn't enough to make this thing cool, it's a little shiny disk with blue lights that light up when you plug in your gadgets. It includes an AC adapter for $40. For another $20 you can get a car adapter for it. Each charging tip runs about $10, but if you shop around, you should be able to find discounts.

It's All "Geek" To Me: algorithm: This week's word is a really big word that has a simple definition. The word is Algorithm. An algorithm is simply the sequence of steps needed to solve a problem. About half of a programmer's time is spent making up algorithms. The other half is spent fixing them. Some algorithms are simple, others are quite complex, like blurring or sharpening digital pictures.

Links

Chinese Domain Scam:
http://blog.kbsweb.com/chinese-domain-spam/

Is this a scam?
http://www.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=19852

Carbonite:
http://www.carbonite.com

Callpod ChargePod on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/05/hands-on_callpod_chargepod_6-d.php

Algorithm on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/algorithm

5/8/2009-Website navigation question, Pandora.com, Mr. Brightside USB Keyboard Light, "Burn"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 8 May 2009 10:13:26 -0500

Episode 64:
Question: When I'm looking at a web site, is there someplace on that site I need to go before I put in a new address and visit another site?

Answer: This is a question that came up in the classes I'm teaching at the Jacksonville Public Library. We were about to move to another website, and the question was posed. The basic answer is no, there isn't a particular page you just need to be on when you type a new address into the address bar. See, your web browser (Internet Explorer, FireFox, Google Chrome, etc.) will contact a web server, download a web page, then disconnect; waiting on you to click a link on the page or something. The thing about the web is that the server doesn't keep track of where you've been, or how long you've been there. (Note: We didn't mention it on-air, but some web servers do track those things, because the lack of it has long been considered a weakness.) It just gets requests for pages, and then sends those pages. But what about sites where I have to log in? For these sites, you should log out if you're on a public computer. If you're at home, logging out is a good idea, but it's not necessary. So in general, you can go from site to site at will without worry. Just click the address bar, type a new address, and press enter.

Cool Site: Pandora.com: This site is an interesting form of Internet Radio Station. You create your own personalized Internet Radio station by entering your favorite artist, song, or composer. Then the site uses the genome of that entry to create a station that only plays songs of that type. This is more involved than simply choosing a genre of music because this chooses different artists, etc. where the "genome" of the music is similar to your favorite song or artist's work. I'm using this word "genome". That's because this ties into the results of the Music Genome Project®. For the past 9 years, the Project has listened to tens of thousands of songs, identifying various attributes of music. It continues to listen to new music so as to incorporate that information as well. This site lets you register and save the stations you create, share them with other Pandora users, you can find stations that others have shared, and so on. The site is free and supported by ads, but you can subscribe for $36/year to get rid of them. It doesn't support dial-up but most websites that play music do. Their one drawback? That the licensing doesn’t allow you to do many things you might otherwise want to do, like rewinding a song. In many ways, you've got the same restrictions as listening to music on regular radio.

Cool Gadget: Mr. Brightside USB Keyboard Light: If you aren't a touch-typist, you may find yourself needing a light for your laptop's keyboard. Enter the Mr. Brightside USB Keyboard Light. It plugs into a USB port. They come in Black, Red, Green, and Blue. The neck of this light is flexible, but very short, so if you don’t have USB ports on the side of your laptop just skip this one. The design is patented, and attempts to ensure that the light shines only on the keyboard. You can get a pack of three of these for just over $20.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Burn: Burn is a term used to describe the process of writing to a CD or DVD. What happens is that the laser in a CD-Writer changes a layer of metal in the disc and it creates pits on that surface. There's no actual heat involved, but we do tend to think about lasers burning things. We could just as well say that we're writing to the CD, just like every other kind of drive, but we don't. So that's what burn means: to write a CD or DVD.

Links

Jacksonville Public Library:
http://www.jacksonvillelibrary.com

Pandora:
http://www.pandora.com/

Mr. Brightside USB Keyboard Light on Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/30/mr-brightside-usb-keyboard-light-illuminates-your-keys-taste-i/

Keyboard Light on BiggerAndBrighter.com
http://www.biggerandbrighter.com/book-lights-magnifiers/items/GP035-3PK.html

Burn on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/burn

CD-R on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-R

Web Site Traffic Analyzed on NetMechanic:
http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol4/promo_no11.htm

5/1/2009-Why does my wireless connection keep dropping?, Microsoft Fixit Solution Center, the Don't Sleep Earpiece, "UPS"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 1 May 2009 22:59:11 -0500

Episode 63:
Question: Pam asks, "Why does my wireless connection keep dropping"?

Answer: Traditional radio stations like KBJS and more specifically cell phones have really raised our expectations about wireless communications. Power outputs on cell phones are from .6W to 2W. WiFi adapters max out at only around .1W. This makes their range much shorter and far more susceptible to interference from things like people walking around the room, walls, metal, microwave ovens, and cordless phones. Adding range to WiFi signals generally revolves around putting your router closer to the middle of the house if possible, or adding a high-gain antenna. In a business setting, you would add what's called an Access Point and connect it back to your router with a wire. Another option that I'm personally looking at is changing my router to Wireless-N. I don't usually recommend N for businesses because the standards for it aren't yet finalized, but for a home network, N is the fastest technology with the best range, because its designers took those interference factors into consideration from the start. That's why N uses two or three antennas. There is one more option, but honestly, I have only seen it used twice and in both cases it caused problems. That option is to use something called a range expander or range extender. What this does is you plug it into the wall, push a button, and it configures itself to work with your network. Again, while this sounds good, I've only seen it cause problems, so choose this option at your own risk. Finally, make sure you have the latest drivers for your adapters and firmware for your router. I mention that last because you really want to do that first.

Cool Site: Microsoft Fixit Solution Center: If you have a problem with Microsoft software, check out the Microsoft Fixit Solution Center. There, you'll find quick, automated fixes for all sorts of problems. The main categories are Windows, Internet Explorer, Enterprise Products, Office, Outlook and Outlook Express, Windows Media Player, Xbox & Zune, Games and Consumer Products. You look at the topics and then as you click your way down, you'll find different articles that talk about problems in those topics. Now, there may be more articles about the problem, but all of these will eventually lead to a "Fix It for Me" icon. When you click that icon, a short program will be downloaded that carries out the fix described as the article continues. You can read the rest of the article to find out what the fix is going to do, or how to fix it yourself. This is useful if you aren’t reading the web page on the computer that has the problem. Even so, many of those small downloads can be put on a USB stick or CD so that you can take it to the computer that is having the problem.

Cool Gadget: Don't Sleep Earpiece: From our friends at BimBamBanana comes the Don't Sleep Earpiece. If you are prone to falling asleep while driving or watching TV or reading, then just put this little earpiece on. It acts like a level. When you start to nod, it starts to "hoot" as they say on the site. This wakes you back up. It costs about $60, but might be worth it if you tend to nod off behind the wheel.

It's All "Geek" To Me: UPS: This week's term is UPS. Mostly when we think of this term, we think of the delivery company. But UPS also stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply. It is basically a surge protector with a battery connected to it so that in the event of a power outage, the computer doesn't go off as unceremoniously as the lights did. The battery power may only last 15 minutes or so, but that should give you enough time to save your stuff and shut down until the lights come back on.

4/24/2009-How to hook up a router, Monticello.org, Ford's MyKey, "Online"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:02:41 -0500

Episode 62:
Question: I have a router. How do I hook it up?

Answer: As common as this is, I was surprised to find that we haven't talked about this before. We've talked about routers, but not how to set one up. Fortunately, it's not difficult. I recommend that if possible, you setup your router (and cable/DSL modem when you get cable or DSL) next to one computer that can be connected with a network cable.

Eddie: Can you remind us what a router is?

David: In short, a router is a device that connects computers in your home or business to the Internet. In my experience, you always need one with cable, and sometimes need one with other types of high speed Internet if you have more than one computer to connect. They used to be more difficult to connect than now, but even that wasn't too bad. For both Linksys and Netgear, the two brands I'm most familiar with, the very first thing to do is to make sure your high-speed connection is set up and works with the computer nearest the cable modem. Next, find the CD that came with the router. It will have a wizard that will do all the heavy lifting, and it'll be illustrated and animated, so that with a little care, you won't be able to make any mistakes. There's still a possibility that the wizard won't work, it happened to me this week, but most of the time, it'll get you running in no time.

Cool Site: Monticello.org: These days there seems to be a resurgence of interest in our founding fathers. Some people question whether or not it is correct to say we live in a Christian nation. The first settlers here came in response to religious persecution. But what did the founders believe? Were they Christians or deists? This may not matter unless you are home-schooling, but Monticello.org is the official website of Thomas Jefferson. Did Jefferson really say that? You can find out here. They have a page that lists several quotes that have been incorrectly attributed to Jefferson over the years. A Monticello Explorer takes you on a 3D tour of the house, the Monticello mountaintop, the whole grounds. There's a trip planner if 3D images on your computer just aren't enough, and links to other related sites, like JeffersonToday.org that asks the question, "What would Jefferson do if he could see what's going on now?" For anyone who's an American History buff, Monticello.org is a great site to visit.

Cool Gadget: Ford's MyKey: Have you driven a Ford lately? No bailout-takers, they; Ford has come out with a new key that will be available on the 2010 Ford Focus. Availability on other 2010 model year Ford and Mercury vehicles will follow. The MyKey is intended for use by your teen drivers. When the key is used to start the car, the radio mutes until the occupants buckle up. After that, half volume is enforced. The car will chime as it hits 45, 55, and 65 mph. You can also set a top speed limit. Ford says that this is intended to keep someone from going like 100mph, since in emergency situations you might actually have to exceed the speed limit. You can program the limits and enable or disable features as your kids show their competency and maturity behind the wheel. No word yet on whether or not this would lower your insurance bill, but with the right circumstances, it might. Ford's even thinking about combining GPS with this to let you know if your kids are out too late or in places they shouldn't be. This is one of those cool gadgets though that's scary-cool. Cool as long as I'm in control, a little too "1984" if I'm not.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Online: Eddie: Doesn't everyone know what online means by now?

David: For the most part, they probably do. The current primary definition is, "available on the Internet", but the word can appear in other contexts as well. Online can also mean, "switched on and connected". This is what we mean when speaking of a printer. In pre-Internet days, the term Online Help meant that the resource was located on your computer rather than in a printed manual somewhere. I personally tend to use all three shades of meaning depending on context, so a better definition might be, "available on your computer" because it encompasses all those contexts.

Links

Wireless Router Hookup on eHow:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4424109_hook-up-wireless-router.html

Set Up A Network In A Snap on About.com:
http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2001p154id68763.htm

Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello:
http://www.monticello.org

MyKey on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/04/ford_mykey_warnings_help_teens.php

Online on Techterms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/online

4/17/2009-Forgotten XP Password, ustream.tv, Photo Frame Safe, "Flaming"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:54:59 -0500

Episode 61:
Question: I've forgotten my Windows XP password. What can I do about it?

Answer: With Windows XP, you can probably fix it yourself. This is based on the fact that most of the time, the Administrator account doesn't have any password. Turn your computer on, press the F8 key and choose to startup in safe mode. When you get to the login, choose or type in "Administrator", with a blank password. You'll normally, but not always, be logged right in. Then go into the Control Panel, and under Users, choose your regular login account and remove the password. When you reboot, you will be ready to go. Suppose that doesn't work and you can't log on in safe mode as Administrator. The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows has an option you can use to blank out the password of any account on the system. I really recommend blanking out a password rather than trying to change it, just to be safe. If this happens to those of you using Vista, the program on the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows will work.

Cool Site: UStream.tv: With UStream.tv, a high-speed Internet connection, and a webcam, you can create your own Internet-based shows. On UStream, you can set up a show, complete with its own website, and then broadcast live to the world. You can also record your shows for on-demand playback later. Your shows can be embedded into your own website, your Facebook or MySpace page, or any of several other sites. If your show is at all interactive, you get a dedicated chat room for your show. You can also record the chat transcript for later. They provide metrics that let you know how long you've been broadcasting and how many unique viewers you've had. Your viewers can also rate the shows, so it's a pretty complete Internet Broadcast setup.

Cool Gadget: Photo Frame Safe: I heard the other day that the number of home safes being sold are on the rise. Maybe folks still just don't trust the banks. Well, Bim Bam Banana sells a safe for about $60 that you can hide in plain sight. It’s a photo frame that hides a safe. The safe itself really doesn't seem all that safe, but someone looking for your stuff probably won't think to look there. After all, that's too cliché to be real. But if that's not good enough, they also have safes dressed up like a loaf of bread, two that look like books, or a can of Brut spray. You might actually wind up hiding something from yourself.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Flaming: A flame is an email message that's intended to be inflammatory in nature. Flaming can be a sort of cyberbullying, wherein the parties basically argue and offensiveness escalates between them. A common topic of flaming is the PC vs Mac vs Linux debate. You might also run into a Kirk vs Picard sort of fight. These flame wars also go by the name "pie fights". But, flaming can occur very easily when we write or respond to emails while we are upset about something. This can cause us to be less careful about what we say, which will invite misunderstandings, which can upset the other person and ignite a flame war.

Links

Ultimate Boot CD for Windows
http://www.ubcd4win.com

Password Resetter:
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Reset an Administrator’s Password:
http://www.petri.co.il/reset_domain_admin_password_in_windows_server_2003_ad.htm

UStream.tv:
http://www.ustream.tv

Photo Frame Safe on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/03/photo_fram_safe.php

Photo Frame Safe on BimBamBanana:
http://www.bimbambanana.com/index.php?p=picture_photo_frame_safe&side=visProd&prod_id=415

Flaming on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/flaming

4/10/2009-Working with PDFs, FileInfo.com, Ctrl+Alt+Del Throw Pillows, "Browser"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 9 Apr 2009 21:15:12 -0500

Episode 60:
Question: Jaclyn asks, "Are there different programs for editing Adobe PDF files from the ones that read them?"

Answer: Yes, there are. First of all, a PDF is an Adobe Acrobat file. PDF stands for Portable Document Format, and is most properly created and edited with Adobe’s Acrobat software. If all you want to do is to view, print PDFs and fill in forms created in PDF format, then you can use the Adobe Reader or the, I think much better, Foxit Reader. We've talked about the Foxit Reader before, and so I'll have a link to those show notes in today's show notes. If you need to create PDFs, you can do that online at Adobe's website, or you can get another program like PrimoPDF. I'll also have a link to the show where we talked about that in the notes. Foxit Software also has its own editor program that lets you create PDF files. It's a really popular format.

Cool Site: http://www.FileInfo.com: Suppose you get an email with an attachment and you aren't sure what program to use to open it. FileInfo.com can help. Most files have something called an extension that, in general, tells what type of file this is. A file extension is that part of the name of a file that follows a period. It's usually three characters, but can be more or less. Your Windows may not show them, but they can be turned on. We'll have that procedure in the show notes. So you've got this file that your computer can't open. Look up the file's extension at FileInfo.com and it will tell you what programs are used to open this file. In some cases that will include programs for Mac and Linux as well as Windows. It probably won't have links to those programs, but once you know, you can Google the name and find them. There's a search feature, or you can find them listed alphabetically, or by category.

Cool Gadget: Ctrl+Alt+Del Throw Pillows: OK, these aren't exactly gadgets, but to satisfy your inner geek, check this out: Ctrl + Alt + Delete throw pillows. Yeah, I'm a PC. They'll set you back about 70 bucks, so I figure you really have to want them if you get them, but still, they're cool. The cases are made of Eco-Felt which is 100% recycled bottles. The expense of producing Eco-Felt may account for some of the cost, 'cause as Kermit the Frog famously said, "It ain’t easy being green". The letters are hand-cut, and so may vary a bit from the pictures. You can also save a bit of your green by getting the pillow cases without any stuffing.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Browser: You use it every day (I know I do), but you may not have heard its name. Maybe all you know is that you click this blue E or something like that, and the Internet just comes up. A Browser is a program that lets you visit web pages. It downloads the page; it interprets the HTML web page code, and finally, it presents you with the web page. When you click links, it takes you wherever the link points. Some popular browsers (also known as web browsers) are Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox.

Links

Foxit Reader Show:
http://www.daconsult.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=115

PDF Description on FileInfo.com
http://www.fileinfo.com/extension/pdf

PrimoPDF Show:
http://www.daconsult.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=137

FileInfo.com:
http://www.fileinfo.com

Ctrl+Alt+Del Throw Pillows on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/04/restart_your_sofa_ctrl_alt_del.php

Ctrl+Alt+Del Throw Pillows at Etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23153648

Apple Pillows also on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/03/deck_out_your_sofa_with_apple.php

Browser on Techterms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/browser

Internet Exclusive (sort of)

How to Show File Extensions in Windows XP

1. Click Start
2. Click My Computer (or, if My Computer is on your Desktop, double-click it)
3. Click the Tools menu
4. Click Folder Options... to open the Folder Options dialog box
5. Click the View tab
6. Un-check the box labeled Hide extensions for known file types
7. Click OK

Now, when you open My Documents or any other folder on your computer, you'll see the extensions of all the files.

Note: After performing this procedure, you will be able to inadvertently change the extensions of your files when you rename them. Windows will warn that you might be changing an extension before allowing it, to give you an opportunity to cancel renaming the file.

How to Show File Extensions in Windows Vista

1. Click Start
2. Click Computer
3. Click Organize
4. Click Folder and Search Options
5. Click the View tab
6. Un-check the box labeled Hide extensions for known file types
7. Click OK

4/3/2009-Conficker & Updates, MediaFire.com, ClickFree Transformer, "Tweet"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 6 Apr 2009 07:17:39 -0500

Episode 59:
Question: What's up with this Conficker virus?

Answer: I praise God that this virus, a worm specifically, is one that was pretty much a nonevent. By this time, everyone's probably heard about it, but it underscores the need to be sure that you have all your Windows Updates installed. The reason for that is that Microsoft actually closed the hole in Windows that this worm exploits back in October. They put out a patch that fixed the problem, and only those computers that didn't have the patch were vulnerable to it in the first place. Now this just goes to show how malware writers' tactics change over time. This particular worm would install a modified version of Microsoft's patch that was not only completely ineffective, but also designed to fool programs that checked whether the patch was installed. The program would show you to be patched, but you really weren't.

Cool Site: MediaFire.com: Moving large files from one computer to another has always been a problem. Storage capacities and speeds have increased over the years, but so have file sizes. Digital photos have gone from under a megabyte to seven megabytes or more, and the more megapixels, the more megabytes. We now have music and video files to share with friends and far-flung family. MediaFire lets you do this. You can upload your files for free, and you don't even have to create an account, although that's free, too. Of course, like many other services, they have a paid account that gives more features, but the free features are impressive: Organize your uploaded files into folders, which can also serve as image galleries. Keep private files private, even password-protected. You can share individual files or whole folders via email, instant messaging, or MySpace, blog or forum. So, if you have pictures to share, this is a really easy way to do it. The big drawback is going to be if you have dial-up. There really isn't anything you can do to speed up dial-up very much.

Cool Gadget: ClickFree Transformer: Well, we've talked about ClickFree's products before. In that case, it was DVDs that automatically backed up your pictures, or your music, or whatever. Most external hard drives have software that does backups for you, but I've seen it be time-limited, and sometimes it's difficult to use. Enter the ClickFree Transformer. This is a little pigtail of a device that you plug your external hard drive into. You next plug the Transformer into your computer and it automatically finds your files and backs them up onto that external hard drive. If you've already got other stuff on there, it won't erase it, and you can just take the Transformer-connected drive to another computer and plug it in and back it up, too. The software seems to know the difference between them and if you need to restore instead, well, just click restore before the backup starts -- you have a few seconds.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Tweet: Today's Geeky term is truly geeky: Tweet. Not what a bird does, but what a person does when they write a message on the micro-blog service Twitter. Twitter is at twitter.com, and when you set up an account, the messages you send are called Tweets. A tweet is simply a 140-character or fewer message that answers the question, "What are you doing?"

Links

Microsoft Patch against Conficker:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx

Conficker information on Trend Micro:
http://blog.trendmicro.com/what-will-go-downad-on-april-1/

MediaFire:
http://www.mediafire.com/

ClickFree Transformer Video:
http://www.clickfree.com/downloads/clickfree_video/howitworks_t.php

ClickFree Transformer:
http://www.clickfree.com/products_transformer.php

Tweet Defined on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/tweet

Preparing your computer for sale, ConnectSafely.org, Nintendo DSi, "Bounce"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:30:07 -0500

Episode 58:
Question: I'm getting ready to sell my computer. Is there anything special I should do or know before I do that?

Answer: Good question. The first thing you should do is find all the CDs that came with your computer. Next, you want to get all your data off the computer by burning CDs, an external hard drive, or a flash drive. Transfer this information to the other computer. There is a program included in Vista for transferring your files and settings from one computer to another. You can use a program like PCMover from LapLink and it will move files, settings, and programs. Make sure this data is on the other computer and working (if you transferred programs). Once you know that, use the CDs you got with the computer to erase the hard drive and put the computer back the way it was when you first bought it. At that point, it should be ready to sell. If you want to take more thorough steps, you might securely wipe the drive using something like Darik's boot and nuke to erase the drive before reinstalling. But I would recommend care if your system doesn't have CDs for reinstalling, because some systems use a hidden area of the hard drive for reloading the system. You don't want to accidentally delete that partition.

Cool Site: Connect Safely.org: Our kids are a gift from God, and it's our responsibility as parents to be proper stewards of the next generation. Internet access presents hidden dangers we haven't seen before. Cell phones have cameras now that allow kids to take provocative pictures and post them on the web, and this is happening. I heard a news report about a man who had applied for a six-figure job. He was about to be hired and then the HR department saw his Facebook page, where he had some stupid stuff posted. Another candidate was selected for the job. Connect Safely.org is a website that can provide parents and teens with resources to help them learn to stay safe. The site has tips to help combat cyberbullying, cell phone safety tips, a Top 10 list of safety tips for video sharing. They have videos, PowerPoint presentations, a forum, and commentaries; all dealing with how to use all this personal technology safely and responsibly.

Cool Gadget: Nintendo DSi: This one my son would probably want. You may already be familiar with the Nintendo DS, a handheld gaming system with two screens. They’ve now gone one better and added a camera to it. It plays music and lets you record sound bites that you can then do weird and cool stuff with them. You can take pictures and doodle on them. The SD Card slot lets you load new games from an SD card. The camera also lets you put your face into games written to take advantage of the feature.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Bounce: In the spirit of March Madness, we bring you… Bounce. But this has nothing to do with dribbling a basketball. No, the most common computer-related usage of "bounce" is the undeliverable email message that gets returned. If you've emailed, you've probably experienced this one. Another meaning I’m going to start using is for when you reboot a computer. because when you reboot, the system goes down, then comes back up, just like a bouncing ball..

Links

How to Securely Prepare Your Old Computer for Disposal:
http://www.howtohaven.com/system/prepare-old-computer-for-disposal.shtml

Wipe or Erase Hard Drive Before Disposal:
http://netsecurity.about.com/od/quicktips/qt/erase_drive.htm

Preparing to Sell:
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread2197.html

ConnectSafely:
http://www.connectsafely.org/

Hands On Preview: Nintendo DSi on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/03/hands_on_preview_nintendo_dsi.php

Bounce on Techterms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/bounce

1394 Connection?, CafePress.com, Driving Activity Reporter, "Web 2.0"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:19:09 -0500

Episode 57:
Question: My computer says I have a "1394 Connection". What is that?

Answer: The 1394 Connection represents your FireWire port. If you have two computers with FireWire ports, you can just connect a FireWire cable to both systems and have a connection that's four times as fast as your Local Area Connection might be. When you look at your FireWire port and see that nothing’s connected to it, you might wonder why Windows says that port is connected. I believe it shows up as "Connected" because there isn't a good way built into the port to determine whether or not there is an actual connection so Windows assumes the port is connected because it's working.

Cool Site: Cafe Press: OK, we've officially got a down economy, yeah, I've been hanging out under a rock for the last six months. But if you're the creative type and need a fundraiser, then check out Café Press. On this site, you can set up your own store and sell T-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers, and all kinds of stuff. Now, what makes this cool is that you don’t have to do any of the work except to come up with the art. When something sells, CafePress makes the item and ships it. You get the profits. A basic shop is free, while a premium shop is $4.99/month. In addition to customizable gifts, they also print books and make audio or data CDs on demand. No inventory, no upfront costs (unless you want a premium shop), no order fulfillment worries.

Be forewarned though, the "religion" section includes items from people who don't believe as you do, whatever that might be.

Cool Gadget: Driving Activity Reporter: Hammacher Schlemmer has taken a USB flash drive and combined it with a GPS receiver to come up with a device that monitors where your (or your kids) car has been for the past 100 hours. Now, the AAA batteries will operate the device for about 3 weeks. It has a magnet, so you can stick it anywhere on the vehicle, but inside is probably best. When you want to find out where the car's been and how fast it went getting there, just plug it into a free USB port and transfer the information into your computer, where you can use the mapping software it comes with, or Google Earth to see the tracks. It's not just for spying on the kids, though. I'd like one of these things, because sometimes I forget to keep up with my mileage, and this way, I could check it and make sure I get all my mileage deduction.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Web 2.0: You may never have heard this one, but Web 2.0 as opposed to just Web or Web 1.0, is a term that generally applies to a website that allows you to participate in its creation. Sites like wikis, blogs, and forums are considered Web 2.0 because the user of the site can contribute to it. For example, most blogs allow visitors to comment on the articles the blog’s writer posts. Those comments contribute to the site's content. They're more interactive than just clicking links..

Links

1394 Connection on CNet
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7589_102-0.html?forumID=62&threadID=200508&messageID=2152153

"What is a 1394 Connection?" on WindowsITPro.com
http://windowsitpro.com/article/articleid/22718/what-is-a-1394-network-connection.html

Microsoft's Description of the 1394 Connection
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307736

CafePress
http://www.cafepress.com

Web 2.0 on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

Web 2.0 at O’Reilly books:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

Import/Export Outlook Express Contacts, The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, the Flexible Touch Screen, "Wiki"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 6 Mar 2009 21:02:28 -0600

Episode 56:
Question: Donna asks, "I use Outlook Express for my email. My ISP also offers web email that I use sometimes. How can I get my contact addresses that are in Outlook Express into my web mail?"

Answer: Thanks for the question, Donna. All I can tell you right now is, "it depends". First, check to see if your web mail has an import feature for the address book. Some do, some don't. If it does, then you want to go into Outlook Express and Export your contacts to a form that can be used to import into your webmail. Usually, the "Comma Separated Value" type is going to work. If your webmail doesn't have an import option, one option is to use Outlook Express to send a quick email to all your contacts (be sure and put their addresses in the BCC box) telling them what's up and asking them simply to reply. When they do, add their addresses into the address book. This should be faster than entering the addresses manually, and it lets you make sure you have good addresses for all your contacts. The only other option you have is to either enter them one by one, or wait on them to just send you something naturally.

Eddie: How do you use your webmail?

David: Personally, I tend to use webmail only for replying to messages I've received, so having my contacts online also isn't that big of a deal. Something to keep in mind: if you do this, you'll need to remember to change your contacts in both places as they change. That's kind of a minus, but on the plus side, you'll have a backup of your contacts that's not contained on your computer. So if something happens to your computer, you won't have to worry about losing all your contacts. The second plus is just related to the whole webmail idea and that is that you can access your contacts and email from anywhere.

Cool Site: SPOGG.org: SPOGG is the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. They get the cool site this week because I needed to find out about "in the aisle" vs "on the aisle". I sent them an email and they were pretty quick to respond. The site features a blog, with letters and funny stories about grammar goofs. The blog's writers run the gamut from newspaper editors to English professors. They have a cafepress store, and a book out called "Things that make us [sic]" and [sic] there is spelled S-I-C, like if you were intentionally misspelling a word, either because it was a quote where the word was misspelled, or you just "meant to do that".

Cool Gadget: Flexible Touch Screen: Touch screens are everywhere, but they're typically small like the one on the iPhone. The other thing about them is that they are made with glass. Researchers at Arizona State University have now designed a flexible touch screen. This has military applications, and those applications are the reason it was designed. But with a flexible touchscreen, we have the potential for a newspaper-sized eBook reader to read your news on, that you'd just fold up when you're done and wait until tomorrow.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Wiki: Our "All 'Geek' To Me" word this week comes from the Hawaiian word for super fast – wiki wiki. Wikipedia is the really big one, but a wiki is a website that anyone can edit. The wiki software running on the web server handles the editing process, letting multiple editors work on multiple articles at one time. With an almost unlimited number of writers working on the site, it can grow very fast. In Wikipedia, there isn't any editing that goes into the site's articles before they're posted, but they do seem to be reviewed after they're posted because some of them say things like "this article needs citations" to let you know as a reader that the article may not be finished or accurate.

Links

Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar:
http://spogg.org/

Flexible Touchscreen on GearLog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/03/scientists_unveil_flexible_tou.php

Flexible Touchscreen on Mobile Marketing News:
http://www.mobilemarketingnews.co.uk/Flexible_Touchscreen_2009030210565612.html

Wiki on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/wiki

"Free Public Wi Fi", Birthday Party Ideas.com, IceBlox, "eCommerce"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:28:54 -0600

Episode 55:
Question: Once in a while, my laptop says there's a wireless network around called "free wi-fi". Should I try to connect to it or is it a scam?

Answer: It's not a scam in the sense that no one's out to get money or information from you, but it's also not going to get you on the Internet. When you look at the different wireless networks that are available at any one time, you'll see different icons that identify the type of wireless network it is. Most wireless networks are of the infrastructure type, which means that your computer connects to a wireless Access Point, including routers. The "Free Public Wi-Fi" network is of the Ad-Hoc type which means that it's a computer to computer connection. The thing is, once you connect to it, it'll broadcast to other systems that this network is available, so it spreads virally. The bad part is that it could, but probably won't, allow your computer's security to be compromised. If you'll just disconnect from that network, and remove it from any preferred network lists, it should go away, but check out links in the show notes when I get them fixed for step by step methods to prevent connection to ad-hoc networks.

Cool Site: Birthday Party Ideas.com: This site bills itself as "The World's Largest Collection of Birthday Party Ideas" and that may well be true. If you're busy or have a tough time thinking up ideas for Birthday Parties for your kids, then check out this site. There's a top-ten list that includes such party types as "Princess Party", "Pirate Party", and "Beach Party". There's a form to include your own ideas (in case you ARE the creative type). They've got ideas separated out for Kids, Teens, Adults, and Holidays like Christmas, Easter, Independence Day, or Valentine's Day. The Birthday party ideas cover all aspects of the party from invitations to party favors, activities, games, snacks, the cake and even costumes.

Cool Gadget: Iceblox: The very first game I ever heard described as "addictive" was Tetris. I must confess, I was hooked on the game myself. Prepare to be hooked again. Iceblox is a food-grade silicone ice-cube tray/jello mold shaped like Tetris pieces. It comes in orange and blue and costs $8.50 online. I've really always wanted to try out silicone ice trays because I suspect that they'd let go of the cubes more readily. That they're shaped like Tetris pieces is just gravy.

It's All "Geek" To Me: eCommerce: In society we go through phases and fads. Same goes for computers. Right now, because of the iMac and iPod things get named beginning with "I". Before that, there was a fad where "Active" went in front of everything. But the first fad was putting e for electronic in front of things, just like e-mail does. When we add an "E" to Commerce, we get e-commerce, which refers to doing business on the web. Most often, that means Business to Consumer, like Amazon. But other times it refers to Business to Business commerce, like a wholesaler might. So it really just means doing business on the web.

Links

Houston Chronicle Article on "Free Public Wi-Fi":
http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2006/09/free_public_wif.html

A Word of Warning about "Free" public Wi-Fi on CNet: (This article includes the step-by-step mentioned above)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13554_3-9941355-33.html

Free Public Wi-Fi at wlanbook:
http://www.wlanbook.com/free-public-wifi-ssid/

Birthday Party Ideas:
http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com

Iceblox on Gearlog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/02/ice_ice_baby_geek_your_drink_w.php

Iceblox on SupermarketHQ:
http://supermarkethq.com/product/iceblox

eCommerce on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/ecommerce

Printer with Built-In Wireless, No Phone Trees.com, Star Trek Hypospray come to life, "Default"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:22:55 -0600

Episode 54:
Question: Karen writes, "I bought a new printer with built-in wireless capability. How can I connect to it with both my desktop and laptop computers?"

Answer: In general, you can choose to connect the printer to a computer using USB and also wired or wirelessly to your home network.

Eddie: But what if I don't have a home network?

David: If the printer has the wireless built in, it's not really necessary. But if you have a wireless router that you're using to share a high-speed Internet connection, you have all the makings of a home network. If your printer has both a wireless and an Ethernet connection, then you can choose, but if your printer is located close to the router, I'd say to use the wired Ethernet connection on the printer to connect to the router. In any event, run the CD and let it do its thing and you should be connected in no time.

Cool Site: No Phone Trees.com: Don't you just love these phone systems, "For this, press 1, for that, press 2, for this other thing that sounds like what you want but turns out not to be, press 3"! I just want to get to a real live person. When these first came into use, you could usually get to a live person by just waiting a while, because you still had a good number of rotary phones out there that couldn’t use the system anyway. But who has rotary phones anymore? One site to help you get around these trees and right to a live person is No Phone Trees.com The site has categorized listings for companies from A-Y, no Z's. There’s a search feature so you don’t have to navigate yet another tree, and an alphabetic list of sites. I don't know how often they verify their trees because these things change from time to time. If nothing else, this is a good reference for finding Toll-Free numbers to call.

Cool Gadget: P.L.E.A.S.E.: Like I said last week, Star Trek's getting here as fast as it can. Do you have a problem with needles? Kids usually do. But one company, Pantec Biosolutions, is working to change that. Their painless laser epidermal system can perform injections without needles. The laser creates what they call an aqueous micropore in the skin and the medications pass through it.

It's All "Geek" To Me: default: Default is a preset. It's what you get if you don't choose something else. For instance, there's a default printer. You may choose a different printer, but this one will be chosen for you first. Another example, the rolling hills and sky background of Windows XP is a default setting. In many cases, there's no need to change the default.

Eddie: Then why have a setting?

David: In some cases it's for personalization, like your desktop wallpaper. Other times you can get better performance by changing the settings. Sometimes, you have two programs that can use the same types of files, like how both iTunes and Windows Media Player can play MP3 files. By default, the last one you set up will take over playing MP3 files. If that's not what you want, you can change the default.

Links

NoPhoneTrees.Com
http://www.nophonetrees.com

Needle-less injection System on DVICE:
http://dvice.com/archives/2008/02/please_is_a_pai.php

P.L.E.A.S.E. on MedGadget:
http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2008/02/pleasepainless_laser_epidermal_system.html

Default on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/default

Laptop Battery Life, GuerrillaMail.com, Healing Laser, "Power Supply"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:10:49 -0600

Episode 53:
Question: My laptop’s battery doesn't last nearly as long as it did last year. Is there anything I can do about that?

Answer: Problems with battery life fall into a couple of categories. The first is due to increased power usage. As you use your laptop (or any computer for that matter) it will collect dust. That dust acts as a blanket, holding in heat. This causes your computer's fans to spin faster, or more. In a desktop computer, this means the computer will get louder. On a laptop, everything that uses power shortens battery life, so by dusting the computer, you might be able to make a notable difference in your battery life. The second category of problem has to do with rechargeable battery technologies themselves. Older rechargeable batteries suffered from a phenomenon known as "memory". Over time, the battery would "remember" how much you charged it, and would refuse to accept a charge beyond that point until it was reconditioned by fully discharging it. But that was then. Today's Lithium-Ion batteries run longer and don't suffer from memory issues, but have a more limited lifespan, about 300-500 charges. That lifespan is shortened by heat, all the more reason to keep your computer cool. Its lifespan is also shortened by time, even if the battery is unused. We used to carry extra batteries for our laptops, but now would do so only if you routinely use your computer longer than a single battery charge. If you do have two batteries for your laptop, I suggest charging the spare to about 40% and then storing it in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Sounds silly, I know, but heat accelerates the battery's deterioration. It's similar to the way a light stick can be preserved by freezing it. Finally, since you indicate the battery is about a year old, it's likely that it is starting to go bad, the final stages of which can happen rather quickly. My recommendation is to try dusting out the system, and if that doesn't help, your best bet will be to replace it. Check the show notes online for several links to information about laptop batteries and their care.

Cool Site: GuerrillaMail.com: With all the spam out there, it can be almost scary to enter your email address into forms. For years I, and others like Kim Komando have advocated using a free email address from the likes of Hotmail, Gmail, or Yahoo!. You give out your regular email address to the people you know, and the free address when filling out forms. If the free address gets spammed, who cares? You're only looking at it when you are expecting something. Setting this up takes time and requires you to fill out yet another online form. But… at GuerrillaMail.com, you can get a free, random, email address that only works for an hour. The site shows you a countdown of how long the address will remain valid, and you can get another hour by clicking a link on the page. With GuerrillaMail, you don't have to log in, you don't have to fill out any forms. You just stay on that webpage until the email you're waiting on arrives. There's a reload command on the page, and I needed to use it although it wasn't something that I was supposed to have to do. After the time elapses, the address goes away automatically. You can't send new email messages from the address, but you can reply to messages receive, in case that's needed. One caveat: In researching this site, I tried it out and sent a few messages to a guerrillamail address. They didn't arrive. The site may be having problems, and I'll try again later and post the results in the show notes.

Cool Gadget: Healing Laser: Star Trek's getting here as fast as it can. Doctors in TelAviv have demonstrated a new laser that heals wounds. The way it works is by carefully controlling the heat applied by the laser beam. In this way, the doctor can literally "weld" the wound shut. This produces less scarring than stitches or staples would, and doesn’t require a skilled surgeon. It'll probably even wind up in an EMT's equipment bag. This thing is very cool, and next week, we'll have more Star Trek Tech coming.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Power Supply: The Power Supply is that part of the computer you plug into the wall. Computers use no more than 12 volts DC, and the power supply is the component that takes the AC current and turns it into the appropriate DC voltages. Most desktop power supplies output 12 volts, 5 volts, and 3.3 volts; laptops 19 volts. This is normally what is meant when a Tech Support guy says "Power Supply" although very rarely the term can refer to the wall socket depending on context.

Links

How to prolong lithium-based batteries:
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

Top 10 Laptop Battery Basics:
http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/usingyourlaptop/tp/laptopbattmtc.htm

Proper Laptop Battery Care:
http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/usingyourlaptop/f/laptopbattery.htm

Laptop Battery Care - How to extend the life of your laptop battery
http://www.zbattery.com/laptopbatterycare.html

Apple - Batteries - Notebooks
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

GuerrillaMail
http://www.guerrillamail.com

Healing Laser at DVICE:
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/02/doctors_demo_st.php

Healing Laser on Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=98448&videoChannel=1

Power Supply on Tech Terms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/powersupply

32 vs. 64-bit Windows, PrimoPDF.com, Acer Aspire One, "System Unit"

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 5 Feb 2009 21:53:48 -0600

Episode 52:
Question: What is the difference between 32-bit Vista and 64-bit Vista?

Answer: The biggest difference you'll notice is that your drivers have to match, because some devices, especially cellular modem cards, don't have 64-bit drivers available yet. Remember that a driver is a little piece of software that acts like a translator between Windows and your computer's devices. Your application programs can still be written as 32-bit programs, but your drivers can't be. Other differences are memory size. 64-bit supports far more memory than the 4GB limit of 32-bits. Speed is another difference. With 64-bits cruising around at a time instead of 32, the processor can move twice as much data at any given moment.

Cool Site: primopdf.com: Would you like to create PDF files? In September, we talked about a program to read PDF files, but we left out the creation aspect. Go to primopdf.com and you'll find a free program that lets you turn anything you can print into a PDF file.

Eddie: What was a PDF again?

David: PDF stands for Portable Document Format. It’s the format used by Adobe Reader, many E-Books, and the Foxit Reader we looked at back in September. Because of the reader programs, documents in PDF format are available to just about every computing device in the world. You download PrimoPDF, which is free. You install it, and it adds a new printer. From that point on, anything you can print in Windows can become a PDF by printing it to the PrimoPDF printer.

Cool Gadget: Acer Aspire One: Acer's new Aspire One is one of a class of notebook computer called a netbook. A netbook is bigger than a PDA but smaller than a laptop, has full laptop functionality, and runs the same Windows XP as your Home computer, or they may run Linux. They also usually have a Solid State hard drive, a cool gadget from last spring, and often sport Intel’s Atom processor, yet another cool gadget we talked about last June. The Acer Aspire One comes in several colors, has an 8.9-inch screen, an Atom processor and a gigabyte of RAM. Depending on model, it may have a 16GB solid state hard drive, or a 160GB regular hard drive. You'll get better battery life out of the solid state hard drive model, because it’s not using battery power spinning that drive. You can also get it with either Linux, or Windows XP Home.

It's All "Geek" To Me: System Unit: The term System Unit is one of those technical terms in the same way that "crazy as a loon" or something is a technical term. It refers to the box part of the computer. It's the computer itself, but not the monitor, keyboard, mouse, or anything else you connect to it from the outside. "The box" is OK, but you'll sound more intelligent using System Unit. You should also know that when you take your computer in for service, the System Unit, and possibly your software discs, mainly the Windows disc, is all you need to take in unless your computer has an external power supply.

Links

32 vs 64-bit Windows at Lockergnome:
http://www.lockergnome.com/windows/2009/01/07/32-bit-vs-64-bit-windows/

Primo PDF:
http://www.primopdf.com

Acer Aspire One:
http://www.acer.us/aspireone/

System Unit on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/systemunit

CHKDSK and FOUND folders, LetMeGoogleThatForYou.com, the PowerMat, "Cracker"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:03:02 -0600

Episode 51:
Question: My hard drive has several folders called FOUND with a number after them. Where did those come from?

Answer: Sometimes when you shut down your computer, it turns off before your hard drive is finished working, no one quite knows why. When this happens, the system’s bookkeeping may not be all done. This corrupts the hard drive information. When Windows notices the problem, it runs a program called CHKDSK to try to fix the problem. When it finds that a folder was missing, it doesn’t know what to call it, so it gives it the name FOUND. Because filenames have to be unique within a folder, it adds a number. These folders can usually be deleted, but I always keep them around for a while, until I'm sure I don’t need them anymore. After all, if it found some stuff I've already deleted, what do I care?

Cool Site: LetMeGoogleThatForYou.com: This site's either a hoot or a help, I haven't decided yet. I believe the site is intended to be a joke, but I can also see it being useful in a classroom teaching people how to find things in Google. When you go to the website, you just type into what looks like a Google search box whatever you want to find, then click Google Search or I'm Feeling Lucky. Now, instead of performing the search, you'll get a web address that'll do the search instead. Now, this search has a twist though… it's a bit smart-alecky because when you click on the link it generates, the site shows an animation of a mouse pointer moving over to the search box, typing the search criteria in, and clicking whichever button you clicked. It says, "Now was that so hard?" and then goes on to the results of the actual Google search.

Cool Gadget: PowerMat: This is a mat that looks kind of like a lunch tray that uses magnetic induction power to recharge your devices just by laying them on the mat. Now, the Palm Pre has this kind of charging built-in, but other gadgets will require an adapter to work with this. I think this really represents the future of recharging all sorts of devices, but it is still brand new. See, the really nice thing about the mat is that you don't have to have a bunch of power adapters plugged into an extension cord or whatever. You only plug in the mat and it does the rest.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Cracker: Last week's "All 'Geek' To Me" term, "hacker", had both a positive and negative connotation. This week's word, "cracker" has only the negative connotation. It means someone who either writes malicious software or accesses networks with malicious intent. The thought is similar to safe-cracking, wherein the safe is broken into in order to steal its contents, not because the owner lost the combination.

Links

Let Me Google That For You:
http://www.letmegooglethatforyou.com

PowerMat on PCMag:
http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l%253D%2526a%253D235517%2526po%253D267,00.asp

PowerMat - Official Site:
http://www.pwrmat.com/

"Cracker" on SearchSecurity.com:
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci211852,00.html#

Fake Obama News Sites, GiveAwayOfTheDay.com, LG Wrist Phone, "Hacker"

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:41:40 -0600

Episode 50:
Question: I’m getting lots of emails advertising news sites for President Obama. Are these sites legitimate?

Answer: No, they aren’t legitimate. (Are they ever?) These messages have headlines that make you think, "That can’t be true!", like "Obama refuses to be a president". If you do click the link in the email, you’ll get one of several wonderful malware applications. I know that many of us send emails to our friends with links to news sites. If you get any email message on any subject that’s news-worthy, especially if it seems far-fetched, be leery. If the story is truly legitimate, it will be carried by more than just one news site. So, check Foxnews.com, CNN.com, msnbc.com, or other news site you trust first.

Cool Site: http://www.giveawayoftheday.com: Who likes free software? What about free commercial software? Each day, giveawayoftheday.com offers a free commercial software package. They make deals with the software makers to offer it for 24-hours only. You have to download, install and activate the package that day, but then it’s yours to keep. They certify that software they offer is adware and spyware free. This is a legitimate site, but because they have to have a new package to offer each day, you are probably not going to want them all. So take the ones you want, and skip the ones you don’t.

Cool Gadget: LG Wrist Phone: I saw this on the DL.TV podcast, but at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, LG showed a wrist phone that’s almost Dick Tracy-like. It’s not available in the US yet, but LG says a couple of the major carriers have shown interest in offering it. It’s got a touch screen that is very precise which is good, because you use it to dial. You can use a Bluetooth headset with it, but it also has a speakerphone feature and the microphone is sensitive enough that you can carry on a conversation even with the phone at your side, as if you were walking. Because the microphone is so sensitive, it includes noise cancellation that filters out a lot of the background noise. It plays MP3 music files and includes a calculator and stopwatch. Because you have to dial it with your fingers, it’s pretty large, so it will probably only appeal to guys. In general, ladies tend to prefer watches that are daintier than this could even think of being. We’ve got links in the show notes to several articles on this bad boy.

It's All “Geek” To Me: Hacker: Here’s a word that, as applied to computers, has meanings both positive and negative. Normally when we think of, and use, this term, it’s applied to bad guys. But that’s more of a media usage. It completely ignores the positive meaning. Originally, amateur radio enthusiasts defined the term hacking as creatively tinkering to improve performance. PC Magazine defines Hacker as someone who writes programs in very low-level languages. These languages make the programmer do all the work, so it requires more skill.

Links

TrendMicro Blog Entry about Obama Sites:
http://blog.trendmicro.com/fake-obama-news-sites-abound/

Giveawayoftheday.com
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com

Game Edition of giveawayoftheday.com
http://game.giveawayoftheday.com

Giveawayoftheday.com on About.com
http://freebies.about.com/od/freesoftware/qt/giveawayotd.htm

LG Wrist Phone:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2338690,00.asp

Wrist Phone Full Specs:
http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_gd910-2644.php

Wrist Phone in Action on Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/07/hands-on-with-lgs-gd910-wrist-phone/

Wrist Phone on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR50ZcHrmC0

LG’s Press Release:
http://www.lge.com/about/press_release/detail/21062.jhtml

Hacker Culture on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_culture

Hacker definition at PC Magazine:
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=hacker&i=44047,00.asp

CD-ROM Filter Problems, Daily Audio Bible, LED Lighted Pitcher, "Spoofing"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 09:20:23 -0600

Episode 49:
Question: My CD-ROM drive stopped working all of a sudden. What could be wrong?

Answer: Lately this one has come up a couple of times and it's been the same thing both times. The symptoms are that if you open My Computer the CD or DVD drive doesn't show up. If you right-click My Computer and choose Manage, then click on Device Manager, you’ll see the drive listed on the right-hand side, but it will have a yellow exclamation point icon on it. In that case, your filters are messed up and you'll have to tinker around in the registry to get it fixed. It's not difficult, but you should have it looked at. An experienced technician should be able to check it in about fifteen minutes. I'll see if I can write a nondestructive fix that I can put in the show notes.

Cool Site: www.dailyaudiobible.com: We've talked about this site before, but Brian has spent last year adding several new daily podcasts to the site. He's got Daily Audio Bible, Daily Audio Proverb, which goes through the book of Proverbs each month, a chapter a day. Daily Audio Bible for Kids has his daughter participating in the reading of the New Testament along with him; there's Daily Audio Bible en Espanol for Spanish-speakers; and Daily Audio Bible Hindi for people in India. To me, that sounded like a strange language to choose, but God opened the door, and Brian chose to walk on through. He's also getting up a mission trip to Bogota Colombia, and what he calls the Windfarm Prayer Initiative.

Cool Gadget: LED Lighted Pitcher: At DVICE.com, I found a 60oz pitcher with LED lights at the bottom. These lights can be made to spin, blink, or just glow steadily. The pitcher is clear when the lights are off, but shine up when you turn them on. It runs on batteries, which are included and comes in several dome colors. It's about $11, and, like most gadgets, is one of those things that you don't really need unless you're opening a theme restaurant, but it is cool. Well, you could put sweet tea in one, and unsweet tea in the other. Then set the sweet tea's lights to spin so it looks like it's being stirred. The other one could be steady, so you won't get them confused.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Spoofing: Today's term is Spoofing. The word means, "to deceive". Well, in computers, when one computer takes steps to hide its identity from other computers, like sending an email from an address that doesn't exist, or an IP address that isn't the real one.

Links

Daily Audio Bible:
http://www.dailyaudiobible.com

LED Lighted Pitcher:
http://www.wowcoolstuff.com/60oz_LED_Lighted_Pitcher_p/lp60.htm

"Spoofing" on TechTerms.com:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/spoofing

Online Libel, City of College Dreams, WiFi Digital Picture Frame, "DRM", MacWorld announcment

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:29:03 -0600

Episode 48:
Question: We have a listener who emailed in this question: How could a person erase negative information that someone has written and posted over the internet. For example, libelous statements posted on MySpace, Facebook or other social network?

Answer: For sites like Wikipedia that allow anyone to edit any article, you just sign in (if necessary) and edit. For a forum site, you'd contact the moderator of that site and ask them to correct or remove the information. In my forums, for instance, I can edit or delete anything that's been posted. Most sites that have user-generated content (like forums, or social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace) also have a "Terms of Use" document that describes what can be done with the service. As an example, in Facebook's Terms of Service, under "User Conduct", we find this statement, "You represent, warrant and agree that no materials of any kind submitted through your account or otherwise posted, transmitted, or shared by you on or through the Service will violate or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary rights; or contain libelous, defamatory or otherwise unlawful material." Most sites monitor an email address like abuse@whatever.com. Facebook has abuse@facebook.com. (Here's a link to a page detailing what you should do: http://www.facebook.com/safety/) If all of this fails, you CAN sue for libel. As Christians, we have to take Jesus' words in Matthew 5:40 into account regarding whether we can sue. (Some people aren't comfortable suing anyone, others just don't want to sue other Christians, others say suing corporations is OK since they aren't a person, etc.) I don't know where you stand on that.

But that's my advice. Of course, I'm no lawyer so take this for what it's worth.

To recap,

1. Change it yourself if possible.
2. Report the misinformation to the site's operator/moderator/abuse link or email address.
3. Sue.

Cool Site: http://www.cityofcollegedreams.org: Ben Kaplan runs a site dedicated to helping you get money specifically for college. Now is the time that many folks are headed back to college, so some of what Ben’s got may be best left for next year, but his biggest advice is to start early. In fact for some scholarships, you may already be too late. He’s got a DVD, called "How to go to college almost for free", and you can watch that presentation from the website. The site has a blog, featuring articles like "Advice for the parents of scholarship seekers" and "Scram Scammers!" It’s arranged into four basic areas, each of which focuses on a different aspect of getting a college education: Scholarship Quarter talks about getting scholarships, Admission Heights covers topics like how to choose the right college for you, School Success Village helps you out once you arrive on campus with articles like "Slaying the Beast of Procrastination", and then the Self Empowerment Zone, which seems to center on what to do after college and lifelong learner-type information.

Eddie: Right to Life scholarship.

Cool Gadget: Smartparts 8" WiFi Digital Picture Frame: Digital pictures were the beginning, now just as film photos have frames to live in, digital photos do, too. You may have seen these around, and they're always a bit pricey, but digital photo frames have come a long way. Some even offer Internet Radio and full web browsers, but most folks just want to see pictures. At $150, this frame isn't cheap, but it is wireless-enabled. Not only that, it has a dedicated email address. So, if the grandparents have wireless Internet access at home, you can send updated photos of the kids directly to their picture frame, even while you’re still on vacation. Or if you want to use it as a digital sign, you could email updated content to the frame for display.

It's All "Geek" To Me: DRM: DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. It sounds like a good thing, but unless you are either a record label, or movie studio, it’s probably not, because the rights that are being protected are not yours, but the label's or studio's. DRM schemes limit what you can do with songs or movies you've purchased, because you never actually buy songs and movies, but you license them from the label or studio. This, they say, is necessary to protect their copyright and revenues, because everyday people can’t just start giving away copies of songs. So when you see DRM, think "copy protection".

Final Thought: At Macworld Tuesday, Apple announced that songs purchased from the iTunes store would no longer have DRM, but they announced three different prices for songs, and that for 30 cents a song, you could download DRM-free versions of music you’ve already bought.

Links

Facebook on Safety:
http://www.facebook.com/safety/

City of College Dreams:
http://www.cityofcollegedreams.org

Smartparts Digital Photo Frame:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2336705,00.asp

"DRM" on TechTerms.com:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/drm

PCMagazine’s analysis of the DRM-Free announcement:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2337929,00.asp

10+ Cool things about Vista, Part Two

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:42:12 -0600

Episode 47:
Note that this audio is only the first half. But both halves will have all the notes.

Well, today's Boxing Day or Kwanzaa, depending on which one you want to celebrate, but yesterday was Christmas, and many of you may have new computers to show for it. These probably had Windows Vista on them. Besides, this time next month, we'll be lamenting the loss of Windows XP on new systems. So we thought we'd do a special show or two entitled, "10 things you can do with Vista Home Premium you probably didn't know". We chose this edition of Vista because it is the one you most likely have if you just got a new computer, but the stuff we'll talk about, you can also do in Vista Ultimate.

Only 30% of computers with XP Media Center Edition included TV Tuners. Now, it had the ability to record TV if you had a tuner and that's great, but if you have Vista Home Premium and you don't have a TV Tuner card, I've got two words: GET ONE.

Edit Recorded TV : Windows XP's version of Media Player supports playing recorded shows; but the version of Windows MovieMaker included in XP doesn't support editing them.
Eddie: So what?
David: If you can edit the recordings afterward, you can take out the commercials before you make a DVD of the result.
Set Parental Controls : If you set up standard user accounts for the kids to use, you can set limits that help you manage what the kids can do on the computer. These controls help parents determine the allowable games they can play, which programs they can use, and which websites they can visit and when. Time restrictions on computer use can also be set up and will be enforced, even if you aren't there. Just be sure you don't give them your password.

Extend or Shrink Disk Volumes : For the first time, Windows natively allows you to resize a disk partition without losing the files it contains. Several utility programs are able to do this with other versions of Windows. One I've used has been Partition Magic. Now, because Partition Magic is a single-purpose tool, it can do the job better than Windows, but that's normal. If you have a very large hard drive, the maker of your computer may have divided it into several partitions, two is fairly common, and each of these partitions has its own drive letter, usually C and D. Under the right circumstances, you can delete the D partition, and extend C into the now empty space. I know the feature exists, but haven't played around with it enough to know what "the right circumstances" means.

Use Windows Flip & Flip 3D : If you're much of a power user, you may already know about using the Alt+Tab keys to let you cycle between your open windows. In previous versions of Windows, this only showed the icon for the program. With Vista, the window itself shows up. That's cool, and called Windows Flip, but if you use the Windows Logo key instead of the Alt key, and do a Win+Tab, instead of a list, each window will rotate about 40 degrees or so, so that you can see each window from its left side. That's called Flip 3D. Releasing the keys brings that window to the top. Note that this feature only works when Vista's Aero interface is enabled.
Author Your Own DVDs : By DVD Authoring, I mean creating menus for DVDs of your own creation. So instead of just a video of your vacation, you can burn a DVD with your own "Special Features" section, for instance.

Create Panoramic Photos: First, take several pictures and make sure they overlap a little bit. Using Windows Live Photo Gallery, you can select those photos, and the Gallery will use the overlap to stitch the photos together into a seamless panorama. Here's a plus: because this is a download from http://photogallery.live.com, you can also do this one on XP.

Tag Your Photos: You can do this one in the Live Photo gallery, but also in the photo gallery applet included within Vista. Tags are simple keywords that can be used to describe your pictures. For instance, you might tag all your vacation photos with the keyword "vacation". You could tag family portraits as "family portraits" or Christmas pictures as "Christmas". I'd recommend also adding the tag "2008" to those, because you can use multiple tags to describe each photo and search on them later.

Talk to Your Computer: Microsoft has been working on speech recognition for years, because I've been playing with it for a long time. They even included speech recognition capabilities in Office 2003, but they took it out in Office 2007 because they moved the recognition to Windows. You'll need a microphone to make this work, but the system trains easily enough and you can dictate as well as give commands. Now this isn't Star Trek, but it's not bad.

Use the Snipper to Take Pictures of Your Screen: Windows lets you put a copy of the whole screen on your clipboard by pressing the Print Screen button. If you use an Alt+Print Screen, you'll only get the active window. You can paste that into any program that can accept pictures, like Paint. I've used these techniques for years for documenting errors, program steps, or even settings in certain windows. But with the Snipping Tool, you draw a rectangle around an area of the screen and it's instantly copied into the snipper. You can then annotate by highlighter or pen, and then save the result in several forms or email it to whomever you choose.

Improved Task Manager : For those who like to look "under the hood" the humble Task Manager has a new services tab in addition to the networking tab XP added. A description column has been added to the processes tab, and in the performance tab, a new button called Resource Monitor lets you get more information than you ever wanted to know about the stuff running on your computer. This should prove great for finding malware.

Use Shadow Copies: This one's a bonus you can only do with the Business or Ultimate editions of Vista. Shadow copies are a feature you can use on Windows XP under certain circumstances. They've been enhanced in Windows Vista to be useful even without a Windows Server around. Eddie: What are they? David: Shadow copies enable you to see previous versions of files or folders.

10+ Cool things about Vista, Part One

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:33:00 -0600

Episode 46:
Note that this audio is only the first half. But both halves will have all the notes.

Well, today's Boxing Day or Kwanzaa, depending on which one you want to celebrate, but yesterday was Christmas, and many of you may have new computers to show for it. These probably had Windows Vista on them. Besides, this time next month, we'll be lamenting the loss of Windows XP on new systems. So we thought we'd do a special show or two entitled, "10 things you can do with Vista Home Premium you probably didn't know". We chose this edition of Vista because it is the one you most likely have if you just got a new computer, but the stuff we'll talk about, you can also do in Vista Ultimate.

Only 30% of computers with XP Media Center Edition included TV Tuners. Now, it had the ability to record TV if you had a tuner and that's great, but if you have Vista Home Premium and you don't have a TV Tuner card, I've got two words: GET ONE.

Edit Recorded TV : Windows XP's version of Media Player supports playing recorded shows; but the version of Windows MovieMaker included in XP doesn't support editing them.
Eddie: So what?
David: If you can edit the recordings afterward, you can take out the commercials before you make a DVD of the result.
Set Parental Controls : If you set up standard user accounts for the kids to use, you can set limits that help you manage what the kids can do on the computer. These controls help parents determine the allowable games they can play, which programs they can use, and which websites they can visit and when. Time restrictions on computer use can also be set up and will be enforced, even if you aren't there. Just be sure you don't give them your password.

Extend or Shrink Disk Volumes : For the first time, Windows natively allows you to resize a disk partition without losing the files it contains. Several utility programs are able to do this with other versions of Windows. One I've used has been Partition Magic. Now, because Partition Magic is a single-purpose tool, it can do the job better than Windows, but that's normal. If you have a very large hard drive, the maker of your computer may have divided it into several partitions, two is fairly common, and each of these partitions has its own drive letter, usually C and D. Under the right circumstances, you can delete the D partition, and extend C into the now empty space. I know the feature exists, but haven't played around with it enough to know what "the right circumstances" means.

Use Windows Flip & Flip 3D : If you're much of a power user, you may already know about using the Alt+Tab keys to let you cycle between your open windows. In previous versions of Windows, this only showed the icon for the program. With Vista, the window itself shows up. That's cool, and called Windows Flip, but if you use the Windows Logo key instead of the Alt key, and do a Win+Tab, instead of a list, each window will rotate about 40 degrees or so, so that you can see each window from its left side. That's called Flip 3D. Releasing the keys brings that window to the top. Note that this feature only works when Vista's Aero interface is enabled.
Author Your Own DVDs : By DVD Authoring, I mean creating menus for DVDs of your own creation. So instead of just a video of your vacation, you can burn a DVD with your own "Special Features" section, for instance.

Create Panoramic Photos: First, take several pictures and make sure they overlap a little bit. Using Windows Live Photo Gallery, you can select those photos, and the Gallery will use the overlap to stitch the photos together into a seamless panorama. Here's a plus: because this is a download from http://photogallery.live.com, you can also do this one on XP.

Tag Your Photos: You can do this one in the Live Photo gallery, but also in the photo gallery applet included within Vista. Tags are simple keywords that can be used to describe your pictures. For instance, you might tag all your vacation photos with the keyword "vacation". You could tag family portraits as "family portraits" or Christmas pictures as "Christmas". I'd recommend also adding the tag "2008" to those, because you can use multiple tags to describe each photo and search on them later.

Talk to Your Computer: Microsoft has been working on speech recognition for years, because I've been playing with it for a long time. They even included speech recognition capabilities in Office 2003, but they took it out in Office 2007 because they moved the recognition to Windows. You'll need a microphone to make this work, but the system trains easily enough and you can dictate as well as give commands. Now this isn't Star Trek, but it's not bad.

Use the Snipper to Take Pictures of Your Screen: Windows lets you put a copy of the whole screen on your clipboard by pressing the Print Screen button. If you use an Alt+Print Screen, you'll only get the active window. You can paste that into any program that can accept pictures, like Paint. I've used these techniques for years for documenting errors, program steps, or even settings in certain windows. But with the Snipping Tool, you draw a rectangle around an area of the screen and it's instantly copied into the snipper. You can then annotate by highlighter or pen, and then save the result in several forms or email it to whomever you choose.

Improved Task Manager : For those who like to look "under the hood" the humble Task Manager has a new services tab in addition to the networking tab XP added. A description column has been added to the processes tab, and in the performance tab, a new button called Resource Monitor lets you get more information than you ever wanted to know about the stuff running on your computer. This should prove great for finding malware.

Use Shadow Copies: This one's a bonus you can only do with the Business or Ultimate editions of Vista. Shadow copies are a feature you can use on Windows XP under certain circumstances. They've been enhanced in Windows Vista to be useful even without a Windows Server around. Eddie: What are they? David: Shadow copies enable you to see previous versions of files or folders.

The Current State of DOS Support, Remember The Milk, Gyroscopic Golf Club, "Big Endian/Little Endian"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:25:24 -0600

Episode 45:
Question: I still have old DOS programs. What kind of problems might I run into if I get a new computer?

Answer: The first thing I'd strongly suggest is to upgrade to the Windows version of that program, or investigate switching to another program. I say that for two reasons. One: Support for DOS within Windows is waning. For instance, Windows Vista doesn't support DOS applications that are full-screen, such as many of the old DOS games. Two: Parallel printers, long the standard for outputting paper stuff, are also becoming harder and harder to find. DOS can't natively deal with USB anything. If you have a network, you can print on someone else's printer from DOS no matter how that printer connects to the other computer. That being said, the biggest problem you'll run into there is printer codes. Since Windows and Macs have become so pervasive in the industry, manufacturers don't widely release their control codes. Since the manufacturer generally writes the driver for it, they don't necessarily have a reason to maintain the same codes from printer model to printer model. Finally with regard to printers, computers themselves are less often equipped with parallel printer ports, so those are the main things you can expect when trying to run old DOS programs on newer computers.

Cool Site: Remember The Milk: I heard about this one on The Mike Tech Show. As its name suggests, remember the milk is an online to-do list. You can get this for your iPhone or Blackberry, Google Calendar and Twitter. So what? I can make to-do lists on paper, why is this better? Because remember the milk can send reminders via email, SMS, and several instant messenger applications like AOL IM, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Skype and Yahoo! are all supported. You can track your to-do locations on a map so that you can optimize your stops. You can share tasks and lists, or add a task as easily as sending an email, even on your cell phone and more. You can set up an account for free and use the service, or sign up for the pro service for $25/year and they'll throw in synchronization for your Blackberry, iPhone, or Windows Mobile smart phone, priority email support, and a warm fuzzy feeling.

Cool Gadget: Gyroscopic Golf Club: From DVICE comes the latest golfer's gadget. Now, I'm like Mark Twain who said, "Golf is a good walk spoiled", but for some reason, many pastors like to play golf. Well, for a couple of hundred bucks, you can get a club that will gently teach you to swing correctly. The Gyro Swing has a 20,000rpm gyroscope embedded in the driver's head. A gyroscope tends to resist twisting motions, so this club will generate resistance if you try to swing it any way but straight. It's made by SKLZ and takes 6 AA batteries to spin the gyro.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Big & Little Endian: Remember a few weeks back we talked about bits and bytes and how a nybble was half a byte? Well we geeks are not above being cutesy to give a name to something. Here's one you can use at a Christmas or New Year's Eve party. Ask if they know what Big Endian and Little Endian means. We’re not talking about baseball players in Cleveland, or High School Football players. This kind of Indian is spelled E-N-D-I-A-N. It describes which end is first, the big end or the little end. Here's an example, say you want to write the number one hundred twenty three. In Big Endian, you'd write it as 1-2-3, in Little Endian, you'd write it as 3-2-1. So, impress your friends with your knowledge of Endians.

Links

Remember the Milk:
http://www.rememberthemilk.com

Gyroscopic Golf Club
http://dvice.com/archives/2008/12/the_high-tech_g.php

Gyroswing at GizmoWatch
http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/gyroswing-golf-club-correct-swing-on-the-right-plane/

Remember the Milk
http://www.rememberthemilk.com

Big Endian on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_endian

What to do with ISO files? ;Memory Improvement, Sony Cybershot T500, "P2P"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:12:48 -0600

Episode 44
Question: I got a CD from a friend that has an ISO file on it. What do I do with it?

Answer: An ISO file is similar to a ZIP file.
Eddie: What's a ZIP file?
David: A ZIP file is a file that acts like a folder and can hold several other files. This allows the entire collection of files to be transmitted as a single email attachment, for instance, and that's the kind of thing they were designed for.
Eddie: OK, so a ZIP file is a container for other files.
David: Right. Just like a suitcase. You pack a suitcase, carry it wherever you're going, then unpack it and wear the clothes. You have to take the contents out to use them. An ISO file is also a container file that holds all the sectors of a complete CD or DVD. It's called an image file. One of my son's friends, who asked this, was going to try Linux, an alternative to Windows, that came as an ISO file. The person who downloaded it for him, just burned the file to a disc. But that's not quite what you do with an ISO if you want a working copy of the CD. Because it's a kind of suitcase, you have to unpack it some way in order to use it. You need a program like Nero, Roxio, or any of several free programs that we'll link to in the show notes, to "unpack that suitcase" onto a CD. When you do that, you'll be able to use the CD to boot Linux and try it out.

Cool Site: http://www.memory-improvement-tips.com: Do you forget things? Sure, we all do; but if you want to remember better, try some of the tips over at memory improvement tips.com. Did you know that your memory is greatly affected by the quality of your sleep? According to their website, you can improve your memory in two ways. One is by improving the health of your brain, and the other is by using memory skills. With that in mind, the site features brain games to help you stay sharp, and tips on dietary supplements, sleep, mnemonic tricks, and other things.

Cool Gadget: Sony Cybershot T500. Sony’s Cybershot T500 Digital Camera is this week's pick. It's a point-and- shoot type camera that takes pictures at 10.1 megapixels. That's nice, but that's not the feature that landed it here. It's got a 3.5-inch touch screen, but that's not the feature that got it on the show. It has a 5x optical zoom, face detection, and in-camera photo retouching tools, but as cool as those features are, the one that I found most compelling, and the reason it's on today's show, is that it can also shoot 720-line HD video in widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio. For that matter, while shooting HD video, you can still take a few still pictures. Sony says one, but PCMag's review says up to three. It has a docking station with an HDMI port so you can connect it to an HDTV to look at the pictures you've taken. This camera has numerous features, more than we have time to talk about now. The one thing about this camera that I don’t particularly care for is that even though the rest of the digital photography world seems to have adopted SD, or XD-Cards to store photos, this camera, like all Sony cameras, only supports Sony's own, proprietary, Memory Stick, and Memory Stick DUO cards for photo and video storage.

It's All "Geek" To Me: P2P: P2P stands for Peer to Peer. Networked applications can be either Client-Server, or Peer to Peer. Bittorrent, Limewire, Kazaa, and some others are Peer-To-Peer. In a client-server network or application design, you have a dedicated server that stores files, media, whatever. But in a Peer to Peer design, you don't have a centralized, dedicated server acting as a repository. Each computer is responsible for storing parts of the total. Now, while a peer to peer network in your home is not a problem, peer to peer networks like Limewire are a wonderful way to spread malware. In fact, the worst-infected computers I've worked on have Limewire or some other P2P software on them.

Links

ISO Burning Software:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_image_software

Memory Improvement Tips:
http://www.memory-improvement-tips.com

Sony Cybershot T500 at PCMag.com:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329031,00.asp

Cybershot T500 at Sony.com:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665524088

P2P on TechTerms.com:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/p2p

Reinstallation Disc, Online Monitor Test, Microsoft Arc Mouse, "Hotfix"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:02:41 -0600

Episode 43:
Question: Jack asks, "I've messed up my Windows XP and the computer won't boot anymore. My computer is a Dell that didn't come with a reinstallation CD. To fix this thing, do I have to use a Dell disc or can I use any old XP disc?"

Answer: Great question, Jack, and good to hear from you. The situation you are in stems from the fact that many manufacturers don't include separate reinstallation media, although sometimes they include a program on the hard drive that can make those discs using your own CDs. Listeners, if your computer's manufacturer did this, then please do make those, I guarantee you'll eventually need them. Smaller computer makers, like me, always include Microsoft-branded recovery discs, even if the recovery process becomes a little more involved. The rest just put a recovery image on the hard drive and count on it not to crash before the computer's warranty runs out because that's when their support obligation ends, but I digress. For your problem, you'll need to get a CD that matches the edition of XP you have, either Home, Media Center, Tablet PC, or Professional. You can look at the Certificate of Authenticity on the computer's case to find out which one you have. You must have the same edition, and it's preferable to have one from the same manufacturer, Dell in your case. I've seen cases where one manufacturer's disc won’t accept the Product Key code from another manufacturer. I believe you can get that disc for free from Dell if you can't find one. Other manufacturers might charge a small fee. But when you get it, do what's called a repair installation. Boot from the XP Disc. The first screen it stops on will say something about repairing using the Recovery Console, but that's not what you're looking for. Keep going like you're going to just reinstall XP. When you choose the C: drive, setup will find the copy of XP that's already there. It'll then ask you if you want to repair that one, or set up Windows in another folder. The repair installation will delete every file it's going to replace inside your Windows folder, then reinstall those files from the CD. This will preserve your data and return you to a bootable state. You might have to reinstall some applications, but it shouldn't be too bad, as long as you have the discs.

Cool Site: Online Monitor Test: I heard about this one on the DL.TV video podcast. If you need to test the color performance of your monitor, you need this site. It's free, that's always a plus. While they have a downloadable version of their test, you don't have to use that one. The tests are also available in Flash as well. They can help you determine the best brightness and contrast settings by showing you a screen with black, white and different percentages of gray in between. They can check for stuck pixels and changes in color caused by backlighting. It's a neat test site, but it's not really automatic. You have to choose the tests and observe the results. It can even determine the lag of your LCD TV. You'll need a digital camera to do the test, but most folks have one.

Cool Gadget: Microsoft Arc Mouse: Even though touch-enabled screens are on the rise in laptops, most of us have a touch pad. I personally like them, but I've found many, many folks who don't. These folks usually buy a mouse to connect to the system. The thing about most mobile mice is that they are usually smaller than regular mice, which for me, makes them more difficult to handle. Microsoft has a new mouse, called the Arc that is designed specifically to address these issues. It folds up so that it's easy to carry, yet when unfolded, it's the same size as a regular mouse. It's cordless, which is cool, and it has a clip-in USB-connected transceiver. The clip-in idea is great, because that keeps you from losing the transceiver. Microsoft says this mouse should cost around $60, which is kind of pricey for a mouse, but might be worth it here because the wireless is radio, not infrared based.

It's All "Geek" To Me: hotfix: A hotfix is really nothing more than a fix (or "patch") for a bug in a program. It's called a "hot" fix because it is expected that the program is regularly or currently being used. I tend to use the terms hotfix and patch interchangeably, because they really are. Usually they can also be uninstalled.

Links

DL.TV
http://dl.tv

Online Monitor Test
http://tft.vanity.dk

DL.TV Buying Guide:
http://dl.tv/2008/11/dltv_ep_259_part_one_of_our_ho_1.php

Microsoft Arc Mouse:
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productdetails.aspx?pid=112

Hotfix on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotfix

Outlook problem, Vista Rewired, Luray Caverns, "UAC"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:48:47 -0600

Episode 42:
Question: I use Microsoft Outlook for email on my laptop. I send email from both work and home, where I have a different ISP. What’s the best way to set this up?

Answer: Like so many things, it depends. If you are using Outlook only for work email, then one option you have is to change the outgoing mail server name as you switch from place to place. Another option you have is to set up your home email account in Outlook and then as you switch from place to place, change which one is the default account. Outlook uses the default account to send your email. Finally, and this might be the best option, Outlook supports profiles. An email profile contains all your account information, mail delivery information, and address books. Make a copy of your work profile, change the outgoing mail server to work with your home ISP, then log into the work profile when you’re at work, and the home profile when you’re at home. That way, all the switching is done automatically.

Cool Site: http://www.vistarewired.com: I've been using Vista Home Premium now for a little while, and as bad as I hate to admit it, it’s beginning to grow on me. After Vista’s Service Pack 1 came out, it has become more compatible, which was always my big problem. Our site this week is Vista Rewired.com, a site that has tweaks, how-to articles, and solutions for Vista problems you might still be having. Some of the articles include tips for working with hard disk partitions, which Vista allows to be resized for the first time ever, tips on making Vista start or shut down faster, how to put User Account Control into quiet mode, and many others. I guess we might as well get on the bandwagon, because in just a few months, we won’t be able to get XP at all, and because the next version of Windows, version 7, will be based on Vista.

Cool Gadget: Luray Caverns: Have you ever been to Virginia? This week's gadget is priceless, not because it's free, but because it can't move. The Luray Caverns in Luray, VA qualify as our cool gadget because the folks there have turned the cavern's stalactites into the world's largest pipe organ. They call it the Stalacpipe Organ. An automated system plays the organ live during each tour, but on special occasions, it'll be played live from the console. Luray is located about 90 minutes from Washington DC, in the Shenandoah Valley.

It's All "Geek" To Me: UAC: This is an acronym that stands for User Account Control, the most annoying feature in Vista. UAC was actually designed to be annoying, because Microsoft felt they could always tone it down. User Account Control is designed to help keep malware off your computer by forcing you to confirm that you really want to do certain things that could change how your computer operates. The only problem is that it's annoying to the point that users can begin to ignore it when they shouldn't. I understand that they have toned its alerts down in Windows 7.

Links

Vista Rewired:
http://www.vistarewired.com/

Luray Caverns
http://www.luraycaverns.com/

Windows System Restore problem, pixlr.com, Gunnar Optiks, "Terabyte"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:37:23 -0600

Episode 41:
Question: I tried to use Windows System Restore to put my computer back the way it was earlier. I got the message "Your computer cannot be restored to" the date I picked. What can I do?

Answer: You have a couple of options. One is to boot your computer in safe mode and run the System Restore. This works as long as the failure is being caused by some program that normally is running. If the restore point is just corrupted, choosing another one might let System Restore succeed. It's possible to turn off Windows System Restore and then turn it back on. When you turn System Restore off, it'll delete all your earlier restore points. This will free up hard drive space, but is probably not what you need. Finally, you might disable your antivirus and try again. So, my recommendations in order, are to 1) try another restore point; 2) reboot in Safe Mode and try the restore; 3) disable antivirus, start in safe mode, and retry the restore; 4) after fixing the problem another way, turn system restore off and back on to free up the space used by those unusable restore points.

Cool Site: http://pixlr.com: Pixlr is an online image-editor program. It's flash-based, there’s nothing to install on your computer. Just go to the website, click your country's flag, and get started. It's got several tools that let you do some neat things with your pictures, but according to lifehacker, they're not very sophisticated. You can add text, reduce red-eye, smudge, sharpen, draw on pictures, etc. The program supports layers, meaning that the things you do don't change your original photo unless you save it back to your computer with the original name. The thing I liked about it most is that there isn't anything to download or install in order to use the program, plus it's free.

Cool Gadget: Gunnar Digital Eyewear: Gunnar Optiks is a German company that makes eyeglasses that are designed to cut eyestrain caused by working on computers all day. Great for cubicle-dwellers. Prices range from $99-$189 at their online store. New studies suggest that using a computer all day every day stresses the same areas of your visual system. This results in "blurred vision, headache, eye strain, dry eyes, difficulty focusing the eyes at various distances, double vision, light sensitivity and neck and backaches"
(Also from their website) Gunnar proprietary lens technology lets you spend more time working or playing at the computer without feeling the adverse effects often associated with doing so. Gunnar i-AMP(tm) technology relaxes the ocular muscle responsible for focusing one's eyes at close distances. By putting this muscle more at ease, strain is reduced, and productive time increased. Innovative Gunnar frames and lenses increase the moisture pocket around the eyes, virtually eliminating dry eyes. Patent-pending i-AMP(tm) technology includes a scientifically formulated amber tint to eliminate additional stress placed on the eyes from external light sources such as pervasive fluorescent lighting systems. The unique Gunnar anti-reflective coating has also been specially formulated to contribute to the delivery of the most comprehensive over-the-counter solution available today to address the effects of Digital Eye Fatigue and Computer Vision Syndrome."

It's All "Geek" To Me: Terabyte: Well, regular listeners now know what a byte is, since it was last week's geek term, let's talk about what a terabyte is. Terabytes are trillions of bytes. Our hard drives are currently measured in gigabytes, which is billions of bytes. My computer from 1992 had a drive measured in megabytes, which was millions of bytes. But media-heavy applications, ten megapixel cameras, iTunes, and other digital media are driving up the storage requirements of computers. So, while the largest hard drive I've heard of is 1.5 terabytes, that will increase in the next couple of years.

Links

Lockergnome thread on the problem with Windows System Restore:
http://help.lockergnome.com/windows/computer-restored-ftopict239766.html

PixLr:
http://pixlr.com/

PixLr Story on AppScout:
http://www.appscout.com/2008/11/pixlr_featurepacked_online_ima_1.php

Gunnar Optics:
http://www.gunnaroptiks.com/index.html

10 Steps to Reduce Eyestrain on AllAboutVision:
http://www.allaboutvision.com/cvs/

Terabyte defined on Techterms
http://www.techterms.com/definition/terabyte

XP Activation Problems, fishington.com, Olympus' rugged, waterproof cameras, "Byte"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:23:10 -0600

Episode 40:
Question: I reinstalled Windows XP Professional on top of itself to try to fix a problem, now it says I have to activate, but whether I click Yes or No it just logs me out. What do I do?

Answer: This one came up for me last Friday, and is the source for this question this week. I even had to call Microsoft to get this one fixed. That rarely happens because 1) it usually costs money, and 2) the web usually has the answer, but not this time. It also didn't wind up costing any money, either. Microsoft didn't even have the answer until I got to the second tech, and I'm not sure how she found the answer so fast. But basically here it is: Windows XPs activation relies on Internet Explorer working properly. If something's wrong with it, the activation program won’t load. If that happens, XP acts like you clicked No. Who'd 'a thunk it? When you install Internet Explorer 7, it makes a folder in your Windows folder called ie7. Inside that folder is one called spuninst. Running the program there, also called spuninst, will manually uninstall Internet Explorer 7. More than that, it'll restore Internet Explorer 6 to a working state. After a reboot, activation went fine.

Cool Site: www.fishington.com: If anyone likes fishing or boating, or talking about fishing or boating, then head on over to fishington.com where you'll find a community of people dedicated to helping others enjoy fishing. I'm more into the boating idea than fishing. In fact, when I talk about fishing, it's usually the kind that starts with a PH. The site offers an interactive map which, I must confess, I found to be less than accurate for our own area. Not the map itself, but the search function which was determined to think that Club Lake was Lake Jacksonville. That aside, the site features resources to help you get a fishing license in all 50 states, lets you pinpoint places where the fishing is good, called hotspots. You can also connect and communicate with others who share your love for fishing.

Cool Gadget: Olympus Stylus 1030SW Cameras: I saw this one on Gear Daddy over at MSN Tech & Gadgets. I’d never seen a digital camera that was waterproof, but this one is just that. It’s waterproof to 33 feet and also shockproof to 6.6 feet. But the rugged camera goodness doesn't stop there, no, no. It’s also crushproof to 220 pounds, freezeproof to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, and it’s dustproof, too. You'll get great pictures from the 10 megapixel camera, and it uses XD memory cards to store the pictures. If you use an Olympus-branded XD card, the camera's Olympus Master software can automatically stitch together up to 10 photos into a panorama. I consider this camera a bit pricey at $350, but at least it's tough enough you won’t be spending that money but once.

It's All "Geek" To Me: byte: To know what a byte is, you first should know what a bit is. A bit is the smallest piece of information a computer can store. Bits are represented by a switch that is either on or off. If the switch is on, it's given the value 1. If it's off, it's assigned the value 0. This is where binary comes from. A single bit, or Binary digIT doesn't store much by itself, so they get grouped together in more meaningful groups. Groups of 8 bits are called a byte. Both byte and bit are abbreviated with the letter b, but the abbreviation for bit is b while the abbreviation for byte is B.

Links

Fishington Story:
http://www.appscout.com/2008/11/finally_a_fishing_and_boating.php

Fishington
http://www.fishington.com

Olympus Shock/Waterproof Cameras:
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_digital_sw.asp

Byte Defined on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/byte

Byte Defined:
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid5_gci211721,00.html#

Brief History of Byte:
http://web.archive.org/web/20071227161412/http://members.aol.com/jeff570/b.html

Virus blocking email, GodTube.com, TV Tuners, "Boot"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:14:33 -0600

Episode 39:
Question: Jann writes, "I've got a virus on my PC which blocks me from my e-mails. It's called Antivirus Pro 2009. I found some mentions of it through Google searches but I'm afraid to download what they suggest since everything may be tainted by the virus." What do I do?

Answer: Thanks Jann for the question. When it comes to knowing if a particular program is good or not, you’ll see some red flags. One, if a program is advertised via a pop-up ad, it's probably not a good one. Two, if a program just "appears" on your computer, it’s definitely not a good one. Three, some rogue programs look very close to Windows’ own security center. But since Windows has never included Antivirus capabilities, any program that claims "Windows has detected" this or that virus is the result of a bad guy. Finally, Antivirus Pro with or without a year attached, XP Antivirus with or without a year, these are all bad. I know of only one exception where the name of a legitimate general anti-malware program doesn't have a company name attached: SuperAntiSpyware. This is a great, free, anti-malware program I recommend to everyone. On the forums, we have an article I call my "Anti-Malware Toolkit". In it, you'll find a link to a program called Smitfraudfix. It’s a remover for a class of viruses called Smitfraud. This program will remove Antivirus Pro 2009. We got Jann's problem repaired by the way, and installed both the free version of AVG for antivirus, and the free version of SuperAntiSpyware to get rid of spyware. Today’s show notes will include links to both of these.

Cool Site: www.Godtube.com: You can watch videos on YouTube and you can see some really good ones. But the site, while popular, is not intended to promote Christianity and Christian values. God Tube is. Like YouTube, GodTube is a social network that allows users to comment and discuss the videos that have been posted. Some of what they have is serious, some is funny. It hopefully goes without saying that their content is family friendly. One video I found interesting was a trailer for the controversial "House: The Movie" that comes out today. It’s an R-rated Christian movie, like "The Passion of the Christ" was, but this one takes a form similar to a horror movie. Some folks are upset about this, others realize that God’s Love won’t persuade some folks, but fear of Hell will. This illustrates the social aspect of the site. Doctrinally, the site represents traditional Christian denominations, not just one, so you will find things you disagree with and things you agree with.

Cool Gadget: TV Tuners: A lot of folks have way more hard disk space than they use, especially if you have a new computer. One way to put that space to use is by installing a TV Tuner card. With a tuner card, your computer becomes a Digital Video Recorder. With VCRs and DVD burners, you have to know what date, time, and channel to record, and when to stop recording. That’s usually not a big deal, but with a TV Tuner card in your computer, especially if you have XP Media Center edition or Vista Home Premium. External tuners are available, so you don’t have to open your computer to install one of these. You can record your favorite shows and series straight from the onscreen program guide. You can also receive FM radio broadcasts, like KBJS. Of course, you can also pause and rewind live TV. The way this works is that when you switch to a channel, the computer begins saving what it receives to disk. If you pause, it’ll keep saving what’s been received. When you return, just push play and the show will resume from where it left off. This action introduces a 2-3 second lag in the broadcast, but you will only notice it if you have 2 TVs on the same channel. My tuner card is an ASUS MyCinema card, but there are several companies that make them. Some are single-tuner, some are dual-tuner. With two tuners on the card, you can record one channel while watching another on the same computer. Or you can record two different shows that would otherwise cause a conflict while you watch something else on the TVs tuner.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Boot: Today’s word is "Boot". Not the kind cowboys wear, but what your computer does when you first turn it on. The word comes from the phrase, "to pull oneself up by one’s own bootstraps". In fact computers in the 1950’s used the word "bootstrap" to refer to this process. The Boot Process is what happens between when you first turn on your computer and when it becomes ready to use.

Links

Anti-Malware Toolkit:
http://www.daconsult.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=76

AVG:
http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe

SuperAntiSpyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/

A Good YouTube Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e4zgJXPpI4

GodTube:
http://www.godtube.com/

House: the Movie Trailer:
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=2354b4cc3793d6b1c3b3

MyCinema Tuners:
http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=18

Hauppauge Tuners:
http://www.hauppauge.com/

"Booting" on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting

Boot on Techterms.com:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/boot

Cassette to MP3, Joetheplumber.com, USB Microscope, "POST"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:08:55 -0600

Episode 38:
Question: I’ve got a bunch of old cassette tapes. How can I convert these to CD or MP3?

Answer: This is a good question because there’s more than one answer depending on whether or not you have a cassette deck handy. If you still have a stereo cassette deck that works, take a look at your outputs. You might have a stereo headphone jack, or separate connections for the right and left channels. Your computer will have a one-eighth-inch stereo input with a light blue connector. Go to Radio Shack or wherever and get a cable with a 1/8" stereo connector on one end and whatever you need to connect to the cassette deck on the other. If you don’t have a working cassette deck, you can get a tape deck that connects to a USB port on your computer. The next thing you’ll need is recording software, like Audacity. I like Audacity: it works well, it supports more audio inputs than just microphone, which you’ll need to do this, and it’s free. That’s the right price every day. Connect it all up, fire up Audacity, set its input to "Line In" if you’re using the cable, or "USB", then use Audacity to record what you’re playing on the cassette deck. After that, save it as an MP3 file and you’re good to go.

Cool Site: www.joetheplumber.com: With Election Day just four days away, I thought it would be timely to check out Joe the Plumber.com. As it turns out, this is the website of a real plumber named Joe Francis in Amarillo. He’s a real plumber who services clients only in the Amarillo area, but you can get a Joe The Plumber T-shirt at the site. I must admit, the site’s not necessarily all that cool, except for the name. Appscout.com reports he’s been offered "thousands to hundreds of thousands" for his domain name.

Cool Gadget: USB Microscope: This week’s cool gadget is the USB Microscope. I don’t know who makes it, but you can get one at firebox.com. I have seen USB Microscopes before, and truthfully, they are probably about as cool as this one, because with USB Microscopes it’s really all about the pictures. After all, you can only look through a standard microscope one at a time, but with the USB Microscope, everyone can gang up around your monitor and look at the same time. Even if your friends can’t attend, you can save the images for later sharing, or posting on flickr or even YouTube because this thing does video as well. But when it comes to microscopes, magnification is key. This scope will magnify whatever it’s looking at from 20 to 200 times so extreme close-ups are no problem. It’s a great Christmas gift idea for that geek-in-training you might have hanging around the house.

It's All "Geek" To Me: POST: This week’s word has nothing to do with letters, although it can refer to the articles listed in a blog or a forum. Today, I want to focus on the acronym POST. POST stands for Power On Self Test and is the first thing that happens when you turn on your computer. As part of the Self-Test, the computer checks memory. This is the most visible thing that happens, but the entire system gets a quick checkup. In the eighties when the IBM PC was being developed, memory was less reliable than today. It was decided that the system should check its memory and freeze up if an error was detected rather than jeopardize the accuracy of the system’s results.

Links

Audacity:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Joe The Plumber:
http://www.appscout.com/2008/10/why_joetheplumbercom_loves_joe.php
http://www.joetheplumber.com

USB Microscope:
http://www.firebox.com/product/2161/USB-Microscope?aff=512&awc=550_1225361641_58d602d6f064efcc991237c517bb3145

USB Microscope on Gaj-it
http://www.gaj-it.com/index.php/2008/10/23/usb-microscope-zoom-in-on-your-desk-dustmites/

No Boot, GadgetTrak, SecuriScan, "CMOS"

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:25:07 -0600

Episode 37:
Question: I turned my computer on and instead of coming up like normal, it just goes to a black screen with a line in the corner that’s blinking. What’s wrong?

Answer: Several things could be wrong, but what’s happening is that for some reason, your hard drive isn't being chosen as your boot drive. Make sure you don’t have any USB drives attached to your computer and reboot. In the old days, this used to happen whenever folks left a disk in the floppy drive. They’d get a message saying "non-system disk or disk error" and would call in a panic. Pressing the floppy’s eject button then enter would usually fix the problem. Nowadays, floppy disks are not used, and even when they are, the symptoms are different. I have seen USB drives, especially hard drives that cause this problem. What happens is that the system restarts and goes looking for an operating system to start. If it should look at the USB drive before it looks at your hard drive, it'll hang as you've described. Corrupted boot information on your hard drive is also a reason you might experience this symptom. If you have Windows XP and have an XP CD, you can boot from it, give four commands, remove the disc and it should start. Otherwise, call tech support for your computer and have them take you through it.

Cool Site: www.gadgettrak.com: When I was looking for this week’s gadget, I ran across an ad for this site and checked it out. You've heard of LoJack, and there’s something called LoJack for laptops. But what intrigued me about this site was the ad, which read, "We can tell you where your gadget is, who stole it, and even what they’re wearing." I've had a cell phone stolen, and my son’s had his PSP stolen. We've forgiven them, but I would like to catch them so we could get our stuff back. Gadget Trak is for laptops, cell phones, PDAs, removable media like USB flash drives, and gadgets like your iPod. If you lose a tracked device, you can tell when your gadget is activated, and in some cases, you can even delete the data on the device. This is handy for laptops containing sensitive data. When your device is activated, it communicates with the Gadget Trak servers and they can even show you a map of where the device is located, approximately. Prices vary, and obviously you have to install the software on the device before it’s stolen (or simply lost), but since the FBI estimates that 1/10 of the laptops in the country will be stolen in the first year of ownership, I’m seriously considering it for my new laptop and for gadgets I carry around all the time.

Cool Gadget: SecuriScan Shoe Scanner: I may be an aviation buff, but I don’t’ get to fly very often. I’ve made one round-trip flight since 9/11 and I had to take my shoes off when going through security (thanks loads, Richard Reid). I’ve only done it twice and I don’t like it. It also makes the whole security check process take longer than necessary. I know this because today’s gadget, the SecuriScan Shoe Scanner makes it possible to scan shoes without having to take them off. It was developed at the University of Manchester using electric and magnetic sensing rather than radiation. The developer, Professor Wuqiang Yang is also working on a scanner for abandoned baggage and packages.

It's All "Geek" To Me: CMOS: Your computer has a small amount of memory made of this material. It is just like regular RAM memory, except it only requires minimal power for its contents to be maintained. This memory is sustained while your computer is off or restarting by a small coin-cell battery in your computer. This memory holds things like the current time and what order your disk drives will be searched when you boot up. When you turn on your computer, there’s a message telling you to press a certain key to enter setup. The "CMOS Setup" lets you see and modify the values stored in CMOS memory.

Links

SecuriScan on Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/20/securiscan-shoe-scanner-could-make-travel-safer-security-lines/

Shoe Bomber Article on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Colvin_Reid

CMOS Definition on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/cmos

CMOS on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cmos

DAConsult.com's Bookstore (October proceeds go to KBJS):
http://www.daconsult.com/bookstore

Malware, RealClearPolitics.com, ClickFree, "POTS"

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:04:17 -0600

Episode 36:
Question: I got an email from Microsoft wanting me to download a "private version of an update for all Microsoft Windows OS users". Is this something we should do?

Answer: I’m truly glad you asked this question, because what you have there is a classic example of an invitation to download malware. Here’s why I think this is the case. Notice the grammar in the paragraph: "Since public distribution of this Update through the official website http://www.microsoft.com would have result in efficient creation of a malicious software, we made a decision to issue an experimental private version of an update for all Microsoft Windows OS users." Phrasing that makes no sense is a dead giveaway. After rereading the message, none of it really makes much sense. This malware invitation is trying to confuse people into downloading the malware by preying on their insecurities about computers. The message uses Microsoft’s sites and name to try to inspire confidence that the message is legitimate. The final nail in this one though is that it says it can’t use the normal Windows Update process. Microsoft uses that process to send updates to over half of the computers in the world. There’s no way they couldn’t use it to send this update, too. In the show notes, I’ll have the full text of the message and a more complete breakdown of its flaws.

Cool Site: www.realclearpolitics.com: By my count, we’re just 18 days from Election Day. If you follow politics at all, you’ve probably heard of Real Clear Politics. If you’ve never been there, you can find just about all the political coverage you could ask for. You can also find financial and sports information and political videos from YouTube. Elections are important, and even though Texas isn’t considered a battleground state, we want to encourage you to vote for the candidates of your choice.

Cool Gadget: Clickfree Auto Backup DVDs: We’ve preached backup over and over here, but backups can be somewhat complex. You usually have to install software, then verify that the files were backed up. Well, Clickfree Auto Backup DVDs are about as simple as it gets. These DVDs have about 4.5GB of space, so they can hold 9000 Office Documents, 2000 Photos, or about 1000 Songs. So what, you ask? Don’t plain DVDs have 4.7GB of space? Yes. The other two hundred megabytes hold the backup program that comes on each DVD. That’s right, no software to install, just insert the disc and backup begins automatically. Clickfree makes these discs in three varieties: One backs up only photos, one backs up only music, the other backs up only Office Document files and PDFs. Clickfree also makes USB backup hard drives with the same software.

It's All "Geek" To Me: POTS: You may not have heard this term before, but you’ll see this term associated with communications. It means "Plain Old Telephone System", I kid you not, and refers to nothing more than a regular telephone line. So if you use dial up Internet service, you do so over a POTS line. This is to differentiate it from a corporate-type digital phone line.

Links

Real Clear Politics:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com

ClickFree:
http://www.goclickfree.com/

POTS on AcronymFinder:
http://www.acronymfinder.com/Information-Technology/POTS.html
POTS on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_old_telephone_service

DAConsult.com's Bookstore (October proceeds go to KBJS)
http://www.daconsult.com/bookstore

Virus?, SlipStick.com, CardScan, "Ethernet"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:44:26 -0500

Episode 35:
Question: Becky writes: Hi David: Really enjoy listening to your Friday show on KBJS - it is very helpful!
Please advise the best step to correcting our computer problem - it has been freezing up for months & we get the box that says error message - we are able to exit out that way & try, try again to complete the task at hand. We have a windows XPS 410 purchased nearly 2 yrs. ago. I wonder if we may have a virus?

Answer: Thanks for listening. I'm glad we are helpful. After all, that's been our prayer and goal from the very start. Now, on to the problem you're having...

I think you're probably right. I think you have a malware infection. I'm not sure which one you may have, but I do think you have one.

If you can get there, try to go to http://housecall.trendmicro.com to run a free online virus scan. Unlike some free online scans, this one will remove any infections it finds. Also, go to http://free.avg.com and get AVG if you don't already have it. If you can't get to either of these sites, you definitely have a virus that will either require professional disinfection, or running your Recovery discs. But be aware, running the recovery discs or procedure will probably wipe out everything you have on the computer so get copies of everything you need off it first.

Cool Site: Slipstick Systems: http://www.slipstick.com: If you use any version of Microsoft Outlook then you should know about Slipstick Systems’ website. I had forgotten about this site until recently, but have found it an invaluable reference for all things Outlook. If you have problems or need solutions or add-ons, or just want to know how to do something in Outlook, try this site.

Cool Gadget: CardScan: Do you ever get business cards from people? I’ve gotten them. But who has time to enter the information from all the cards you get, like after a trade show or something. Well, with CardScan you can scan your stack of business cards, and it will put the information from the cards into Microsoft Outlook as a contact so they can be used immediately. The scanner scans business cards in about 5 seconds, puts the info into its own database, which synchronizes with Outlook. The Personal edition uses a portable scanner, but CardScan offers solutions for Executives, Teams, and whole companies. If you have a Mac, they have solutions for it as well.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Ethernet: Today’s term is a networking term that is sometimes mispronounced by folks who are new to networking. Ethernet is a way to connect computers in a Local Area Network (LAN). Today, it uses wires that look like telephone wires, but have eight conductors in the end rather than the 2, 4, or 6 in a phone line. Ethernet gets its name from the phrase "in the ether" because originally, all computers in an Ethernet network heard everything on the network the way the old "luminiferous ether" was thought to propagate electromagnetic waves.

Misdirected Email, SkyAngel, 3D LCDs, "CODEC "

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:39:55 -0500

Episode 34:
Question: Cathy writes, "For several years I’ve been receiving e-mails sent to another user in my Microsoft e-mail account. My husband’s friend did not intend for me to be the recipient of his conversations. Why would Microsoft e-mail put this in my account?"

Answer: The only thing I can think of is that one way or another, those messages were actually being sent to you. The question is, "How?" Without seeing your system, I cannot be certain which of these answers it is, but it's probably accidental, and one of the following:

1. Outlook & Outlook Express can have rules enabled. Those rules include a method to automatically forward received mail to another person. Someone could have set up such a rule on the other user's computer and forgot about it.
2. Outlook & Outlook Express can also be set up to receive mail from more than one email account at a time. It's possible that, again, your husband's friend set the computer up to receive mail from his account and then forgot to undo it when the reason for setting this up passed.
3. The only other thing I can think of is something spam or virus-related.

Now, after I wrote this back to Cathy, I had a similar situation come up in a business, and when we looked, this user had a "catchall" account. Such an account will receive all mail addressed to your company, so the user was getting email from folks whose accounts had been deleted.

Cool Site: Skyangel: All these channels and nothing on TV; nothing good, anyway. If you struggle to find family friendly and faith friendly programming, check out www.skyangel.com. Sky Angel, used to be a satellite network, but now streams its content over the Web. If you have an Internet connection that’s at least 1.5megabits per second, the Sky Angel set-top box will make over 65 channels of both TV and radio available depending on the package you choose. The website has a 25 minute infomercial you can watch. From the website, you can browse the available TV and radio channels, including Faith TV, FamilyNet, The Church Channel, GodTV, Discovery Kids, Fox News Channel, CBS College Sports; and that’s just a quick sample. One thing I noticed while watching their infomercial: the video and audio got out of sync the longer I watched. I became aware of this site from one of our listeners. Now I hope that listener’s problem is not widespread, because this looks really cool.

Cool Gadget: 3D LCD Panels: Gearlog.com is again the source of our cool gadget this week. We’ve all seen 3D before. Of course, the basis of all 3D display technologies is making each eye see an image from slightly different angles as they normally do. Most of these technologies require the viewer to wear glasses to create the effect. I have seen one very expensive 3D display that didn’t require glasses, so it’s possible, but you don’t want to stand too close or it destroys the effect. Well, coming to a cell phone near you beginning as early as next year, 3D LCD displays that don’t require glasses in order to work. A Japanese company is showing prototypes of a small 3-ish inch 800 x 480 display at a trade show called CEATEC. Strip-shaped barriers are placed on the surface of the LCD that force each eye to see different images. They say this can convert 2 dimensional images to 3D on the fly.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Codec: Well, it wasn’t planned, but this has really been a multimedia-themed show. This week’s Geek term is CODEC. Now, this is not Kodak, the camera company; and it’s also not Codex, which is what we think of when we think of a book, as opposed to a scroll. Codec is a combination of coder and decoder. Audio and video have to be compressed so they don’t take up a ton of disk space. It also makes it possible to send audio and video over the Internet, like listening to KBJS or watching Sky Angel programming. Anything that’s compressed has to be decompressed to be used, and programs like Windows Media Player or Apple’s QuickTime decompress video and audio to play them.

Passwords, Weightview, Foxit Reader, "Resolution"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:33:12 -0500

Episode 33:
Question: have lost my Administrator password, is there a way to retrieve the password on XP Home?

Answer: The Administrator account is a special account. All Windows computers have one. You have a couple of things to consider here. First, a lot of the time, the Administrator account has a blank password. I almost suggested you try that, but... then I re-read the message. You mention XP Home. You can only log into the built-in Administrator account when you boot in Safe mode. XP Pro doesn't have this restriction. However, if you need to get at the password, the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows has a startup option that runs Linux and lets you reset or blank out the password. Once you can get in as Administrator, you can set any user's password. There's another program, called Ophcrack that I'll have a link to in the show notes that you can use.

Cool Site: Weightview: Ever wonder what you’d look like 10 or 20 pounds lighter? With Weightview.com, you can find out. I have heard of some folks who put a picture of a pig in the refrigerator so they have to look at it every time they open it. The purpose, of course, is to help give them willpower; but this image is a negative one and not everyone responds to that sort of thing. Weightview shows your goal appearance. As they say on the site, "Our goal is to provide the motivation to enable you to succeed regardless of which diet program you feel works best for you. Do more than just imagine what you might look like. WeightView will help you... With your WeightView image, you can print out results, save it on your screen, pin it on your wall, post it on the fridge, keep it in your wallet, even download the results to your cell phone - we provide a tangible, visual tool to strengthen your motivation and resolve!!" I could use it.

Cool Gadget: Foxit Reader: Foxit Reader: Do you ever need to open PDFs? What are PDFs? PDF stands for Portable Document Format and is opened by what is now called the Adobe Reader, or Adobe Acrobat. It’s used for printed files of all kinds because just about any computer can open and read documents saved this way. The IRS uses this format if you download any of their forms. But the biggest problem with Adobe’s software is performance. If you’ve ever started any Adobe software product, you know how long it takes it to open. You could almost go get a cup of coffee by the time it finishes "loading and certifying" all the little pieces it needs. It also takes up a lot of memory and then doesn’t always shut down when you close the document. Well, today’s gadget is a free software gadget called the Foxit Reader. You can download it from www.foxitsoftware.com. We’ll have a link to it in our show notes, which are now caught up, at daconsult.com/forums.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Resolution: Last week, our Geek term was Pixel. This week, we’ll talk about "resolution". Resolution goes hand-in-hand with Pixel, because resolution is that characteristic of video displays that pixels measure. For example, suppose your screen has 800 pixels across and 600 pixels up and down. Your screen "resolution" would be 800 x 600, and it’s written with the 800, an "x" and then the 600, in just the same way as an 8 x 10 photo is 8 inches across and 10 inches up and down. Common screen resolutions today are: 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, and 1440 x 933. Standard-definition TV sets have a resolution of 720 x 480.

Recycling Old PCs, SurveyMonkey, The "Recycle", "Pixel"

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:17:20 -0500

Episode 31:
Question: I have a Pentium 2, Windows 95 system and would like to recycle it, but first would like to wipe the hard drive clean. How is this done?

Answer: This is a great question. As it relates to recycling, going "Green" for me is less a matter of doom and gloom than a matter of stewardship. If you save energy, you will save money. Recycling of computer parts was even a matter taken up by the last state legislature, who incidentally decided that all manufacturers of computers sold in or into Texas are now required to provide recycling for their brands sold to consumers and home based businesses. We’ll have a link in the show notes to this information.

The second part of the question has to do with wiping the hard drive. We’ve mentioned before that when you delete files, they don’t really go away. The files on your computer have all kinds of personal information about you. Before disposing of an old hard drive or computer, it’s important to wipe your personal data off the drive to prevent identity theft. One job I did required me to drill holes into the hard drives we replaced to prevent their future use. Of course this is overkill if you’re just selling your old stuff. Several free utility programs exist to either securely delete individual files, or the whole drive. One of these is called SDelete from Sysinternals which is a command-line utility that deletes files according to a military spec. Another program called "Darik’s Boot and Nuke" requires you to make a CD first. When you boot from that CD, it blanks every hard drive in the system it can find. You can find this program on the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. We’ll have links in the show notes on daconsult.com/forums to all these. Just be sure if you’re going to resell your computer or give it away, include all the CDs and whatever other stuff came with the computer.

Cool Site: Survey monkey: Do you ever have a need to do surveys? What about collecting the information from the survey and summarizing it? This may not be the only website that does this, but www.surveymonkey.com offers free accounts that allow you to create surveys, collect and summarize up to 100 responses. The surveys are simple to set up and offer several different types of questions. For soliciting responses, you can either put a link to the survey on your website or in an email, you can upload your email and have them send a survey invitation, or create a popup for your webpage that invites visitors to take your survey. If you need more control over your surveys, more than 10 questions per survey, or more than 100 complete responses to any survey, you’ll have to upgrade your account to a paid account. Prices and features vary, so just check their website for details.

Cool Gadget: "Recycle" USB flash drive: I read about this one on Engadget and since we were just talking about recycling, it earned the spot. It’s called the "Recycle" it’s a USB flash drive, It’s available in capacities from 512MB to 16GB, but its hook is that its enclosure is composed of recycled newspapers. This should make it easy to camouflage, but just be sure not to leave it lying around or the cleaning crew may accidentally throw it away.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Pixel: Your computer screen is made up of a grid of square dots. More dots on the screen make for a finer picture: diagonal lines appear straighter and curved lines look smoother. These dots are called pixels. Pixel is a contraction of the two words Picture Element.

Book Recommendations, FlightAware,Media Player Sunglasses, "Blog"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:12:01 -0500

Episode 31:
Question: Robert writes: I would like to better understand computers and would like the recommendation of a beginner's book. I am a user in the workplace, but just a plain user...that's it. Just want to gain a better understanding.
Answer: In general, for absolute beginners and folks who consider themselves a bit more, I like Microsoft's "Step by Step" series and their "Plain & Simple" series. The Step by Step series is a bit more complete, topic-wise, than the Plain & Simple series, but the Plain & Simple series is wonderfully illustrated, making it good for folks who respond to a more visual learning style. After all, a picture is worth... you know. I bought one of the "Plain & Simple" series' predecessor's books and enjoyed it. I'm considering such a book for Vista because I don't use it, but since I sell it, I should be able to support it and I don't have the screens memorized yet. Along those visual-learner lines is a series of books called "Teach Yourself Visually" but I don't know who the publisher is. I've checked this series out before in the bookstores but I've actually never bought one.

Cool Site: www.flightaware.com : Flightaware is one of many websites that lets you track airline flights in real time. My brother is traveling right now and told me about this site. You can track planes in flight by their tail number, or by the airline and flight number, or by airport code. In addition to this, the site offers resources for pilots like flight planning assistance for instrument pilots; plane photos that are keyed to the tail number; commercial services; aviation news; discussions; and what they call squawks where "members submit the links and then vote to decide which stories are important, interesting, or amusing." As an aviation buff, this is pretty great

Cool Gadget: Thanko's All-In-One Media Player Sunglasses: From a Japanese company called Thanko comes the All-In-One Media Player Sunglasses. I read about this one on Gearlog.com. You can use these glasses to play sound or music files, and you can watch videos in several formats. When you watch a video in the glasses, the optics make the image appear to be 50 diagonal inches in size. I’m thankful that things like this get cheaper as time goes by, because this particular gadget costs around $324, but it comes with the glasses, remote control, AC adapter, earphones, a USB cable to charge the glasses and transfer files, and a carrying case.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Blog: Most technological advances carry with them whether directly or as a side effect a different or more efficient way to communicate. The Web is no exception. The word Blog is a contraction of the two words Web Log and it refers to a web site where its owner writes on whatever topics he feels like writing about. Visitors to the blog can add their own comments to each entry and discuss the topics among themselves and with the site’s owner.

Multi-emails, YouConvertIt, Belkin’s Conserve Surge Protector, "Bug"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:19:00 -0500

Episode 30:
Question: When I try to send mail in Outlook Express, why does it send multiple copies of my message?

Answer: This has been a problem for some time with Outlook Express. Normally when you click Send in Outlook Express to send an email, the message is deposited into the Outbox folder until the message is sent, when it’s moved into the Sent Items folder. Each folder, (inbox, outbox, drafts, sent items) in Outlook Express has an absolute size limit of 2 gigabytes. If your Sent Items folder has reached this limit, messages can no longer be moved into it when they’re sent. This causes the messages to stay in the Outbox, where they’re sent again the next time you send mail, and the next time, and the next, until you delete it yourself. Now, determining if this is your problem, and fixing it is kind of long, but we’ve got an article in the forums that details the steps involved at daconsult.com/forums.

Cool Site: www.youconvertit.com : I saw this one at PC Magazine’s website. What if you just got an email attachment you can’t open? Maybe it’s in some strange format and you don’t have a program that can read it. Maybe you want to download that YouTube video you saw. Well, You Convert It can help. You can send them up to 5 files for conversion into another format. Or choose to download videos from YouTube, Video.Google.com, or Metacafe. You can also use it to send files to your friends.

Cool Gadget: Belkin’s Conserve Surge Protector We’ve talked about checking the power your devices use even when they’re off, remember the Seasonic Power Angel? Well, in an effort to combat the problem and expense of what’s called phantom power, in other words, power being drawn even when your devices are turned off, Belkin has come up with a new surge protector. This surge protector has eight outlets, which appear spaced for transformer blocks and a remote control that turns off the surge protector so you don’t have to worry about phantom power.

Eddie: But can you plug something like a clock into it?
David:Well, yes, you can because unlike switching off your normal surge protector, the Conserve’s remote only turns off 6 of the 8 outlets and those 6 are clearly marked on the surge protector’s face. At $50, it’s not cheap, but you should be able to save that much on your electric bills in a few months, depending on what you plug into it and how often you turn it off.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Bug: In software, a bug is a programming error in the computer’s code. It can also refer to a hardware problem. What’s really interesting about this term is how it came to be cemented into the annals of history. In the early days, when computers filled warehouses, catwalks used to be built inside to allow technicians to gain access to the vacuum tubes within. One day the computer wasn’t giving the correct answer to its problem. Dr. Grace Hopper went inside to check the circuits. She discovered that a moth had found its way into the computer, became trapped, and died; creating a short circuit. The term was used earlier, in radar electronics during World War II, and even earlier, in 1889, in reference to Thomas Edison’s phonograph.

U3, Skype.com, Polaroid, "router"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:36:51 -0500

Episode 29:
Question: I bought a USB flash drive that says "U3" on it. What is U3?

Answer: Part of answering this question has to do with how programs get onto your computer. When you go to a store and buy a piece of software; after you bring it home, you take the CD or DVD and put it in your CD or DVD drive and run a setup program. That setup program peppers your hard drive and a database called the Registry with the parts and settings required to make this new software work. When you want to remove the program, you run an uninstaller that removes those parts and settings. That process doesn’t lend itself well to taking a program from one computer to another. So, a new class of software has been developed, called "portable" applications. Portable applications don’t require installation, and don’t leave any files or registry entries on a computer that has run them. They can be copied to any flash drive, like the way we used to copy DOS programs to floppy disks in the 80’s, then the flash drive can be plugged in and used. A U3 Smart flash drive automates the process of working with these portable applications. When you plug in a U3 flash drive, Windows sets up two separate drives. One looks like a CD-ROM and contains all the portable programs. The other looks like the normal flash drive and will store your data. Now, if you need the whole space for data or don’t care about the portable apps, you can remove the U3 part. So far, only SanDisk makes U3 compatible drives, and Best Buy’s Geek Squad may have some, but U3 is intended to be an open standard. Another plus is that the portable apps are compressed on the U3 drive maximizing the amount of data storage space you wind up with.

Cool Site: www.skype.com : Two weekends ago, we took our daughter back to Texas Tech (Wreck ‘Em Tech!) While she’s there, we use Skype from www.skype.com to keep in touch with her. Skype is owned by eBay, I think, and allows you to make calls to other Skype users for free. You can also call phone numbers using a service called SkypeOut and with a SkypeIn number, others can call your Skype account using their home or cell phones. You download the Skype client program and install it onto your computer. You set up a Skype account, and then you can keep in touch with people around the world, even. This is a great service for missionaries that have the capability to use it because it allows them to keep up with the folks at home and vice versa because your Skype account can have up to 10 different SkypeIn numbers assigned to it in up to different countries. Skype is also available as a U3 portable app. I even have it on my Pocket PC handheld. You can get MySpace IM with Skype and it can use your webcam or video camera to do video calls. You don’t want this to replace your home phone because Skype doesn’t do E911, but for $2.95/month, you can make up to 10,000 minutes/month of calls to anywhere in the US or Canada.

Cool Gadget: As you may or may not be aware of, Polaroid in February announced they’d be discontinuing instant print film cameras. That news made me wax nostalgic, remembering summers taking pictures, hearing that distinctive motor sound, and watching with baited breath while our pictures developed right before our eyes. But that’s so 20th Century, because now Polaroid has announced that they’ll be adding photo printing capabilities to digital cameras. Makes sense, right? They didn’t say when this is coming, but we do know that the pictures will be the same 4x3 size our SX-70s had been.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Router - A router is a device that connects networks together. It determines what messages should stay on your local network, and what messages should be sent out to the other network. With the rise of broadband, the "other network" is typically the Internet.

Unerase, AnswersInGenesis, Keyfinder, "SSID"

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:53:54 -0500

Episode 28:
Question: I didn’t make a backup of my files, and I have lost some files that I really need. Is there something I can do?

Answer: The short answer is maybe. The first thing I’d check is whether or not the files are in the Recycle Bin. If not, you can find software on the Internet that can help you recover files that were accidentally deleted. When you look, be sure and use another computer to do so, because everything you do with your computer makes it just that much more likely that you can’t get your files back. You see, when you delete files, you are really only updating the hard drive’s bookkeeping mechanism that tells which blocks of the disk are used or free. Each block of a file stored on disk has a link, like a chain, that says where the next block is located. The last block has a special value that indicates it’s the end. Once the system says those blocks are free, they are likely to be used. Once any block gets used, the file is lost from that point on because it breaks the chain. The more files you accidentally deleted, the more likely this scenario becomes. So, when you accidentally delete a file, the quicker you can recover it, the better. The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows has several utilities for recovering files on it. We’ll link to it in our notes, once they’re updated. Again, for maximum effectiveness, recover files back to a different disk than the one you accidentally deleted them from.

Cool Site: answersingenesis.org : Eddie: It’s back-to-school time, and time to consider what kinds of things our kids are being taught in school, especially in science classes. Evolution and the Big Bang theories are all the rage in science classes these days, but our Cool Site this week gives those of us who believe the Bible’s account of creation some ammunition: David: www.answersingenesis.org has many articles and other items exposing the errors of those theories. They have on-demand videos, cartoons, and other media also. If you’ve never taken a hard look at what the Bible says about the beginning of the universe, this site will make you think. Until I began to consider this issue, I always knew that those theories were wrong, but I didn’t know how to answer the skeptics. One difference with this site versus some other creationist sites you might run across is that all the information on it is peer-reviewed for accuracy and validity of argumentation, so you won’t find yourself using easily deflected arguments to debate, or share the gospel with an evolutionist. Whenever you have to deal with subjects that cause cognitive dissonance, you don’t want to give them a reason to dismiss your five good arguments on the basis of one bad one. I mean, don’t let that stop you, because the Holy Spirit wants to use you, even if you don’t know everything, but the more you know, the more convinced you’ll be of the truth and that, too is important.

Cool Gadget: Another software gadget, the "Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder" is useful when you can’t find the key code for Windows, Microsoft Office, or any of several other software packages not only from Microsoft, but also from Adobe and others. Most folks tend to lose over time the key codes necessary to reinstall their software. In the case of Windows itself, the key is on a sticker on the outside of the chassis. But other products have their keys stored in the registry, in encrypted form so that even if you did know where to look, it still wouldn’t do any good. To use it, just download the program and run it. It’ll retrieve all the product keys it knows how to retrieve and display them on the screen. You can save the output in a text file or something so you can read it later when you need it.

It's All "Geek" To Me: This is a term you’ll find around wireless networks. The SSID is a name that allows you to tell your wireless network from others. Whenever you set up a wireless network, you have to determine the SSID, which stands for "Service Set IDentifier". When Windows tells you that wireless networks are in range, the names of the networks it shows are the SSIDs that have been received. Most wireless products have a default SSID. I recommend changing it from that default to distinguish your network from others in the neighborhood.

Transfer data, fueleconomy.gov, meebo, alphanumeric

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:51:07 -0500

Episode 27:
Question: My computer died and I bought another one. I'd like to get the data off it and onto the new computer. How difficult is it to do that?

Answer: It can be easy, or it can be tough. If both computers work, and you have a network, you can connect both computers to the network and just copy files back and forth. If you don't have a network, you can generally get something called a crossover cable to connect two computers together and make a network to copy files across, or you can use an external hard drive. This is probably not possible, because you said one computer died. In a large percentage of cases, the system has died because of something other than physical failure of the hard drive itself. If that's the case, then the drive can be removed from the first computer and connected to the other one some way. If you can't connect it on the inside, then you can get an external enclosure to put the drive in that connects back to the computer by USB and then copy files that way. Now, if the drive has gone bad to the point that after connecting it to the other computer, it either can't see the drive, or it wants to format the drive, then you've got to determine how much that data's worth. There are some services out there, like Ontrack Data Recovery, that can retrieve the data for you, but these services are quite pricey. Send them the drive, they'll give you a quote. If you say OK, then they'll send you a new drive with your recovered data on it.

Cool Site: fueleconomy.gov : These days gas prices are top-of-mind for most folks. This site is run by the EPA and is actually one you suggested. Ever notice on the car commercials the line, "Your mileage may vary"? Of course, it always does. I don't think I've ever gotten the mileage my cars were rated for. You can find where the lowest gas prices are, gas mileage tips, information on hybrid cars, alternative-fuel cars, a fuel-cost calculator, and more.

Eddie: Did you notice they changed the way they rate fuel economy?

David: Well, I couldn't believe they haven't been considering driving with the air conditioner on in their calculations. The new ratings consider colder outside temperatures, air conditioner usage, and faster speeds and acceleration. They say that for most vehicles, the tests in the new ratings lower the MPG estimates for most cars. Seems strange that they'd change to colder outside temperatures if we're worrying about global warming, but what do I know, I'm just a computer guy. At any rate, they've re-estimated all car models from 1985 until 2007 so you can compare.

Cool Gadget: meebo.com This one's a software gadget. Let's even call it a webware gadget. If you've got kids, you know they like to chat: on the phone, with text messaging, and instant messaging. They've probably got four or five different instant messaging client programs on your computer: AIM (or AOL Instant Messenger), MSN messenger (it comes with Windows), Yahoo! Instant Messenger, Facebook or MySpace IM's, maybe more. Well, all those instant messaging client programs not only take up space on your hard drive, they run all the time. That's how they can tell when someone is online, and how they can begin a chat immediately. Unfortunately, this immediacy comes at a price. Your computer runs much slower because of it. Enter Meebo, a web-based alternative for six different Instant Messenger client programs: AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Messenger, ICQ, and Jabber. The good thing about this software gadget is that it doesn't require any download; as such it can be used anywhere you can use a web browser. Oh, and did I mention, it's completely free. It even works with the Apple iPhone.

It's All "Geek" To Me: Here's a word you've probably heard before. The word is "alphanumeric". It's actually a combination of two words, "alphabetic" and "numeric". Data typed into a program can be numeric, in other words, all numbers, alphabetic: letters only, or a combination of both alphabetic and numeric characters. In other words, any characters on the keyboard, whether alphabetic, numeric, or special characters like punctuation marks.

Windows XP's End Of Life: XP, We Hardly Knew Ye

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 4 Jul 2008 10:29:06 -0500

Episode 23: In a very special "Tech Tips & Rants", we lament the failure of the SaveXP campaign to get a reprieve granted for Windows XP. We look at the options you have available to you now if you still need to use XP. We wrap up the show with a tongue-in-cheek eulogy for our favorite OS.

When I'm looking at the list of programs in control panel, why don't some programs have a size?

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:15:01 -0500

Episode 22: In our latest installment, we look at how Windows finds out how much space a program consumes on your hard drive and how this may not be absolutely correct. We also discuss ways to clean up your hard drive. You've probably seen this week's Cool Site already, but HowStuffWorks.com makes the cut. We talk a bit about its origins and what's available there. This week's Gadget is the Intel Atom processor. This is a tiny processor that's going to be in almost everything soon. 47 million transistors in a package small enough that eleven of them fit on a penny. Wow! (I'd say it louder! - Flo) We wrap up spending a while chatting about USB in our "It's all 'Geek' to me" segment.

Should I Repair or Replace My Computer?

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:50:35 -0500

Episode 21: Our listener asks if a hard drive repair is worth doing. If your computer ever needs to be repaired, we'll give you a quick way to know whether or not you should repair it or replace it. It depends on the cost of the repair, as opposed to the cost of a new computer. With gas prices today, our Cool Site is Driverside.com, where you can get all kinds of information and stuff for your car. We love backup devices, and the Drobo is no exception. This thing is way cool! You've got to hear about this thing! "It's all 'Geek' to me" has info on Java.

Why Does My Hard Drive Show So Much Less Capacity?

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:39:33 -0500

Episode 20: In this installment, we'll take a look at the issue of the capacity shown on the box versus the capacity shown in Windows. Hear how hard drive makers redefine one term to make their drives seem larger than they turn out to be.

Our Cool Site can help you surf faster and keep you off those sites having stuff you don't want to see.

The Voice Interactive Alarm Clock makes our cool gadget list this week, and in our "It's all 'Geek' to me" segment, we cover cache. It's not only good for wallets anymore! (It's a homophone)

What Do You Do With An Attachment?

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:21:25 -0500

Episode 19: What do you do with an attachment? We'll talk about how to work with attachments received in email. This week's Cool Site is www.e-sword.net where you can find Bible software for free. Our Cool Gadget features the Seasonic Power Angel, and our "It's All 'Geek' To Me" segment turns our attention to DNS.

Adding Attachments To Email

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:56:03 -0500

Episode 18: Since the questions for the last couple of weeks dealt with email I thought we'd talk about how to add an attachment to an email. Like so many other things, it varies. This week's Cool Site: www.worldwidetelescope.org If you're home schooling your kids or you just want them to have a greater appreciation for Astronomy, check this site out. This week's Cool Gadget is our most expensive, and least useful ever, but the main criteria is it's 'Coolness', and this one's got it. Don't miss the Sony Rolly Our, "It's All 'Geek' To Me" segment focuses on the term Hotspot

Troubleshooting Error Messages

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:24:41 -0500

Episode 17: In this episode, we answer a question I actually got from Eddie. Her question revolved around an error in Outlook. My on-air answer was a short explanation of how to research error messages yourself using Google. If you're having this problem, the complete show notes give the answer. We have a Cool Gadget: GearJuice: If you travel with your iPod, iPhone, Bluetooth headset, cell phone or other gadgets, you'll want to know about this one. Our Cool Site this week isn't computer-related, it's a podcast I listen to called dailyaudiobible.com. Our "It's All 'Geek' To Me" segment demystifies the term Drivers.

Can Someone Send Email Posing As Me?

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:45:38 -0500

Episode 16: We answer a question from a listener named Cathy: "Can someone act like myself and send e-mails in my name to other people...Our identites are stolen all the time, how about our e-mails?" Plus our regular features, the Cool Site: the Interactive Weather map at weather.com. Our Cool Gadget is a software gadget, Auslogics Defragmenter, and we debut a new segment called "It's All "Geek" To Me" where we explain a computer-related term. This week's is Protocol.

How To Turn Off Error Reporting

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 24 May 2008 01:07:27 -0500

Episode 15: In our first TipCast we shared how you should send Windows Error Reports at least once. Well, if you just want to turn it off, our third TipCast will tell you how.

Backup, Backup, Backup, Part 2

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:26:06 -0500

Episode 14: We've got some statistics about backups. I'm still talking too fast. We introduce the "Cool Site of the Week" segment which is www.speedtest.net, and the "Cool Gadget of the Week", the solid state hard drive.

Backup, Backup, Backup, Part 1

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:17:50 -0500

Episode 13: The importance of backups. The SentrySafe Fireproof/Waterproof USB hard drive. I talk way too fast, but it's because I'm passionate about the issue.

Our First Show on KBJS Radio

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 20 May 2008 10:20:20 -0500

Episode 12. Our first show as a recurring guest on KBJS Take Five with Eddie Baiseri. We introduce David Anderson Consulting, and talk about DVD burners, Anti-Malware, the impending end of sales of Windows XP, the SaveXP campaign, Patch Tuesday, the difference between OK and Apply, and the classes offered at the Jacksonville Public Library.

Help! My Computer Is Slow!

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:55:49 -0600

Episode 11. In this installment, we discuss the two major causes of computer slowdown: Malware, and Hard Drive Fragmentation. We give our Top Ten ways to get malware under control, and then rant a bit about AOL Antispyware.

Recent Developments

david@daconsult.com — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:23:27 -0500

Our 10th episode! We catch you up on recent developments across the computing landscape. Memory prices have dropped, Microsoft announced the impending release of Vista Service Pack 1 & XP Service Pack 3, both Intel and AMD have released Quad-Core processors, and Acer buys both Gateway and Packard-Bell.

Send Those Error Reports

david@daconsult.com — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:18:30 -0500

In our first TipCast, we ask, "Did you ever get an error message in Windows that asked you to send an error report?" If you do send it in, Microsoft CAN direct you to a fix, or provide you with more information about how to repair the error.

NOW What Version of Windows Do I Need?

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:16:51 -0500

Back in August, we did a podcast about the versions of Windows and we said we’d probably have to do another one when Vista came out. Well, it’s time for the podcast, but not for Vista.

Some Useful Tools

david@daconsult.com — Thu, 5 Jul 2007 07:45:29 -0500

In this, our 7th audio episode, we briefly discuss the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows, RecordForAll, and FeedForAll.

Dell Connect vs Remote Assistance

david@daconsult.com — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 11:38:36 -0500

Dell is promoting their remote service, but Windows XP already has a built-in Remote Assistance feature that you can use. We take a look at it.

Which Windows is Right for Me?

david@daconsult.com — Sat, 2 Sep 2006 11:39:37 -0500

For now, there are only a handful of editions of Windows. The Windows landscape is expected to become much more complicated with the release of Vista. But which one should I get now?

Just What is Broadband, Anyway?

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 11:39:56 -0500

The term broadband gets a lot of play these days. Just what does it mean and how does that relate to my life?

New Macintosh Commercials - My Take

david@daconsult.com — Sun, 9 Jul 2006 11:40:15 -0500

Confused by the new Apple commercials out there? Yes, they're humorous, but...

What Kind of Power Protection Do I Need?

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:40:34 -0500

The title says it all! Well, almost. In this installment, we'll take a short look at the types of power protection available to help you find what you need.

Do Macs Get Viruses?

david@daconsult.com — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:40:49 -0500

Is it really true that Apple Macintosh computers are immune from viruses? We look at this topic in our first podcast.