Computer Tips #17

Use quotes -- "like this" -- around a set of words in your query/search to match the words exactly.

Computer Tips #16

Highlight and delete all email addresses that are included in a message. Please protect your email friends by doing this so that spamers do not have access to their addresses. When forwarding a message use the BCC (blind copy) option . . . by doing this the spammers will see a name but not an email address.

Computer Tips #15 - Erase Files Forever

This is one of those high value freebies that come by once in a while but not too often. Share this with your readers right away because it will expire January 31, 2010.  This is a software that truly and completely removes data that you want to delete.  When you delete documents, pictures, cookies, or your internet history, it is still there on your hard drive -- it is not completely gone. You don’t see it, the computer tells you it’s gone, but it is still there. That’s not good if you truly want that data erased permanently.  East-Tec Eraser can do that. They are giving away the 2009 version. We don’t always have to have the latest and greatest to get things done, right?  Especially when this software costs $49.95 regularly.

Find out how to get it here thanks to the guys at TechSupportAlert.com.

Distribute Cycles

Before I read the book Storm Cycle I did not know about computer cycles.

Does your computer spend most of the day running screensavers or otherwise wasting its computing cycles? Why not use those spare cycles to help solve some huge problems?

Distributed computing is a science which solves a large problem by giving small parts of the problem to many computers to solve and then combining the solutions for the parts into a solution for the problem. Recent distributed computing projects have been designed to use the computers of hundreds of thousands of volunteers all over the world, via the Internet, to look for extra-terrestrial radio signals, to look for prime numbers so large that they have more than ten million digits, and to find more effective drugs to fight cancer and the AIDS virus. These projects are so large, and require so much computing power to solve, that they would be impossible for any one computer or person to solve in a reasonable amount of time.

The concept of distributed computing has been around for more than a decade.
There are currently hundreds of worthwhile projects that pool the resources of personal computers and game consoles all over the world. To find a cause meaningful to you and contribute your cycles to a worthy endeavor go Distribute Computing.

Computer Tips #14 - Top 4 Was To Protect Your Computer

1. Keep your firewall turned on. Learn about firewalls.
2. Keep your operating system up-to-date. Learn about operating system updates.
3. Keep your anti-virus software up to date. Learn about antivirus software.
4. Keep your anti-spyware technology up to date.

Save the Internet

When we log onto the Internet, we take a lot for granted. We assume we'll be able to access any Web site we want, whenever we want, at the fastest speed, whether it's a corporate or mom-and-pop site. We assume that we can use any service we like -- watching online video, listening to podcasts, sending instant messages -- anytime we choose.

What makes all these assumptions possible is Network Neutrality.

Network Neutrality -- or "Net Neutrality" for short -- is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet. Put simply, Net Neutrality means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from blocking, speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination.

Who wants to get rid of Net Neutrality?

The nation's largest telephone and cable companies -- including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner -- want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all.

But as a consequence of a 2005 decision by the Federal Communications Commission, Net Neutrality -- the foundation of the free and open Internet -- was put in jeopardy. Now cable and phone company lobbyists are pushing to block legislation that would reinstate Net Neutrality.

Writing Net Neutrality into law would preserve the freedoms we currently enjoy on the Internet. For all their talk about "deregulation," the cable and telephone giants don't want real competition. They want special rules written in their favor.

Learn how to tell apart the myths from the realities in this report, Network Neutrality: Fact vs. Fiction.

Who's part of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition?

The Save the Internet coalition is made up of hundreds of groups from across the political spectrum that are concerned about maintaining a free and open Internet. No corporation or political party funds our efforts. We simply agree to a statement of principles in support of Internet freedom.
The coalition is being coordinated by Free Press, a national, nonpartisan organization focused on media reform and Internet policy issues.

What can I do to help?

• Sign the Save the Internet petition.
• Call your members of Congress today and demand that Net Neutrality be protected.
• Encourage groups you're part of to sign the "Internet Freedom Declaration of 2007".
• Show your support for Internet freedom on your Web site or blog.
• Tell your friends about this crucial issue before it's too late.

If you are interested in Saving the Internet, write about it on your blog, then link to Mr. Linky below by using the permalink to your post.

Blogging Tips #1 - Tracking Your Blog in the Blogosphere

Are you curious who reads you? Do you want to know more about the people who link to you? Are you curious if someone is writing about the things you’ve said?

Bloggers love feedback. Whether it’s comments or emails, knowing that someone else out there was touched in some way by our writing gives us fuel to continue blogging. So how do you track what others are saying about you? What if there exists a whole group of fans who link to you, talk about you, but don’t send emails or leave comments?

The following is a primer on how to track conversations in the blogosphere.

Permalinks, Addresses and URL’s
The first thing to learn is your website URL. URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, and is the “address” of your site on the Internet. A permalink is the the address, (or URL) of a specific blog post. When searching, learn to type in your main or homepage url to find people linking to you.

For best results in searches, skip the www.

Technorati
This is the big daddy of blog search. Technorati allows you to search by url, by tags, and in a directory.

Step 1: Claim your blog. Technorati has to know you are there to track what you are doing. Claim your blog, sign in to an account, and list a bunch of keywords that people can use to find your site. There are over 6,000 Mom blogs already in Technorati, so be creative with your tags.

Step 2: URL search. Find Posts that link to you. Type the URL of your blog into the box and click search. What comes up are all of the blogs that currently link to your blog. You can rank them by freshness, or authority, and it is the most comprehensive list. Not everyone is listed, but Technorati is a great way to find out who is linking to you.

Step 3: Searching in Tags. Tags are labels that people put into their post. Wordpress and Typepad allow you to customize your site to add Technorati tags, and it is a powerful way to push your posts to a larger topic. Check out “pregnancy” as a tag or “after school snacks.” As you can see, there aren’t many posts for after school snacks (only 22,000), but it does tell you when someone last wrote about them. The more specific you are in your tags, the better chance you have of being found. Pregnancy has more than 354,000 tags so the more specific, the better.

Step 4: Search in Directory. The tags you wrote when you claimed your blog places you in categories in the directory. While a tag search looks for individual posts, a directory search looks for blog descriptions.

Google Searches
The simplest way to track your blog in Google, or any search engine, is to type http://www.yourblogurl.com. This should bring up a list of all the pages cached in Google that link specifically to your website. This works fine for high ranking blogs, but it’s not complete, and doesn’t tell you a time reference.

For great ways to use Google to search out all kinds of topics, check out their cheat sheet.

Google Alerts
Log in to Google (create a personal account if you do not already have one) and create Google alerts. These emails track keywords, names, and websites you enter and forward them to you when Google first caches them Google alerts work both to tell when someone is linking to you and when they are speaking of you without a link.

BlogPulse
Search engines all have different algorithms, so for fun, type your name and blog into different search engines to get different results:
Sphere
Blogger
MSN Live
Ask.com
Dogpile
Blogpulse

There are literally hundreds of different ways to track yourself in the blogosphere. Find the sites you like best and join in the conversation.

Computer Tips #13 - Click Save

When you download, click Save, not Run to avoid potentially downloading viruses to your PC. Doing this ensures that your antivirus software checks the files before you open them.

Computer Tips #12 - r u tuned out?

Gone are the days when kids were safe just as long as they were at home and under your nose. Today's children can access the world from a growing number of portable gadgets, and depending on what they do with this ability, could potentially invite a world of danger into their lives.

Text Messaging and Email Abbreviations

121 - one to one
420 - code for buying or smoking marijuana
ADN - any day now
AFAIK - as far as I know
AFK - away from keyboard
A/S/L - age, sex, location (often asked by predators)
B4 - before
B4N - bye for now
BAK - back at the keyboard
BF - boyfriend
BFN - bye for now
BG - big grin
BRB - be right back
BTA - but then again
BTW - by the way
BWTG - big way to go
CID - crying in disgrace
CNP - continued (in my) next post
CP - chat post
CU - see you
CUL - see you later
CYL - see you later
CYO - see you online
DBAU - doing business as usual
DD - dear or darling daughter
DF - dear or darling friend
DH - dear or darling husband
DS - dear or darling son
FUD - fear, uncertainty, and doubt
FWIW - for what it's worth
FYI - for your information
G2G - got to go
G - grin
GA - go ahead
GAL - get a life
GBU - God bless you
GF - girlfriend
GFN - gone for now that
GMBO - giggling my butt off
GMTA - great minds think alike
GTG - got to go
GTRM - going to read mail
HAGN - have a good night
HAND - have a nice day
HDOP - help delete online predators
HHIS - hanging head in shame
HTH - hope this helps
IAC - in any case
IAE - in any event
IANAL - I am not a lawyer (but)
IC - I see
IDK - I don't know
IMHO - in my humble opinion or in my honest opinion
IMNSHO - in my not so humble opinion
IMO - in my opinion
IMPE - in my personal opinion
IOW - in other words
IPN - I’m posting naked
IRL - in real life
ISP - Internet service provider
JK - just kidding
JM2C - just my two cents
KWIM - know what I mean?
L8R - later
LD - later, dude
LDR - long distance relationship
LLTA - lots and lots of thunderous applause
LMIRL - let's meet in real life
LMBO - laughing my butt off
LMSO - laughing my socks off
LOL - laughing out loud
LTR - long term relationship or later
LULAB - love you like a brother
LULAS - love you like a sister
LYLAS - love you like a sister
M/F - male or female
MOS - mother over shoulder
NP - no problem
OLL - online love
OTOH - on the other hand
OTP - on the phone
P911 - parent alert
PAW - parents are watching
POS - parents over shoulder
RAK - random act of kindness
RENTS - parents
ROFLMBO - rolling on floor laughing my butt off
RPG - role playing games
SHID - slaps head in disgust
SO - significant other
SOMY - sick of me yet?
SOT - short of time
SUP - what's up?
SYS - see you soon
THX - thanks
TIA - thanks in advance
TTYL - talk to you later
TTYS - talk to you soon
VBG - very big grin
WB - welcome back
W/E - whatever
WFM - works for me
WIBNI - wouldn't it be nice if
WTGP - want to go private?
WTG - way to go
YM - young man
YW - you’re welcome
YVW - you're very welcome
ZZZ - tired or bored

For more email and text messaging abbreviations, go to Logged On and Tuned Out.

Computer Tips #11 - Vista Tips - Search Elsewhere

Internet Explorer's default search engine is MSN.com. Boo! Click the drop-down menu next to IE's magnifying-glass icon and select "Find More Providers…" Adding Amazon, eBay, and MTV make searching much more fun. There is a list of over 20 providers to choose from. Click on the name of the search company you wish to add, and a bonus -- you can add as many companies as you like.

Computer Tips #10 - Vista Tips - Extend Activation

Are you testing out Vista's features and compatibility but not sure if you want to go ahead and activate it? Microsoft understands. It has built a software licensing manager into the new OS that lets you extend the activation period. At the Start menu's search bar, type slmgr-rearm to get another 30 days. You can do this a maximum of three times before Microsoft blocks further extension periods. Once you're locked out, that's it.

Computer Tips # 9 - Email Ettiquette

Important information for Forward Junkies

Almost all emails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are just cookie tracking emails. This is how telemarketers and spammers get email addresses. Any time you see an e-mail that says forward this on to your friends, sign this petition, etc. It most probably has an email tracker program attached. It will track you're email as well as all the people you forward to. Many times the original host sender gets a copy each time the email is forwarded so they know what email addresses are active. Then the host will use these active email addresses to harass you with spam &/or to sell your name & email address to the highest bidder.

Check it out: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.htm.

This is one reason I don't open (and read) forwarded emails.

Computer Tips #8 - Vista Tips - 13 Dynamite Shortcuts for IE7

1. Open a link in a new tab in the background -- Ctrl-Click
2. Open a new tab -- Ctrl-T
3. Open a new tab from the address bar -- Alt-Enter
4. Switch between tabs -- Ctrl-Tab
5. Close current tab -- Ctrl-W
6. Switch to a tab -- Ctrl-Number
7. Open quick tabs -- Ctrl-Q
8. Add site to your favorites -- Ctrl-D
9. Put focus on the information bar -- Alt-N
10. Give focus to the address bar -- Alt-D
11. Go to the toolbar search box -- Ctrl-E
12. Open your search query in a new tab -- Alt-Enter
13. Bring down the search provider menu -- Ctrl-Down Arrow

Computer Tips #7 - Vista Tips - Yahoo! Messenger Gets Vistafied

That's right, the ever so popular Yahoo! Messenger now works with Windows Vista! So, if you're an avid Yahoo! Messenger user who now uses the Windows Vista operating system, you're in luck. You no longer have to live without Yahoo! just because you have a Vista computer. The new release is still in the beta stage, but it works great and it has tons of new features that will just blow you away. Let's check them out.

First of all, the new version of Yahoo! Messenger comes with a brand new specialized interface that really focuses on all the features Vista has to offer. It also comes with several new skins to choose from that are good for an entire instant message window or an individual conversation. There are more emoticons to choose from, you can send files up to 2 GB in size, and there's even a new spell checker that works as you type.

There's also a new feature called Contact Zooming that gives you even more detailed information about all of your friends, there are new mail alerts and notifications, and there's now an option to connect with your friends with free SMS messaging or PC to PC Calling. And that's just the tip of the iceberg!

Computer Tips #6 - Scan Personal Documents

Paper is so 1908. In 2008, there is no reason not to have a searchable PDF of every important document you own: your birth certificate, driver's license, marriage certificate, tax forms, divorce certificate, and so on. Most scanners scan to PDF natively.

Computer Tips #5 - Vista Tips - Remove Personal Data from Pictures

Picture and documents have hidden data (called metadata) about the type of equipment used, as well as personal information about you. You can remove these details by right-clicking the file icon and selecting Properties. On the Details tab, click Remove Properties and Personal Information. You can remove several properties at a time or all of them by the check boxes next to a property.

Computer Tips #4 - Vista Tips - Turn Off Annoying Prompts

Vista added the 'A Program Needs Your Permission to Continue' prompt to help prevent you from inadvertently installing malware or making unauthorized changes to your computer. It's annoying to see that dialog box constantly pop up. You can turn it off by deactivating User Account Control in the User Accounts Control Panel.

Computer Tips #3 - Vista Tips - Take Smarter Screen Shots

Windows could always capture an image of your desktop (with the PrintScrn key) or an active window (type Alt-PrtSc). With the Snipping Tool, in the Accessories folder, you can snip a portion of the screen, or part of a Web site, document, or picture, and save it as an image file. Keep it handy by checking the option to display an icon of it in the Quick Launch toolbar.

Computer Tips #2 - Monitor Flickering

Every so often on my old computer, the monitor will start flickering. At first, it doesn't seem to be so noticeable. After a few minutes, it's irritating. Don't call the Geek Squad just yet; you can fix this all by yourself.

Depending on the version of Windows you are using the terminology may be slightly different.

Windows 98
Go to Control Panel.
Click on Monitor... Configuration... Advanced Options... Monitor.
The number should read 60. If not, change it to 60.

Windows XP
Go to Control Panel.
Click on Appearance & Themes... Change Screen Resolution... Advanced... Monitor tab.
The number should read 60. If not, change it to 60.

Windows Vista
Go to Control Panel.
Click on Appearance & Personalization... Personalization... Adjust Screen Resolution... Advanced Settings... Monitor.
The number should read 60. If not, change it to 60.

In Europe, The Hertz is set at 50.


Other reasons your monitor can be flickering is that something -- telephone, stereo, TV, etc. -- can be interfering with your monitor.

Computer Tips #1 - Top Methods Scammers Use to Find Email Addresses and How to Avoid Them

Every day, I receive dozens of emails claiming that I've won millions of dollars from a Yahoo lottery or that Bill Gates want to get rid of some of that cash burning holes in his pockets. How do scammers get hold of my personal email address to send me scams? Here are some of the top methods that they use.

1. Harvesting Data from Fake Sweepstakes Sites

Scammers like to target people who are most likely to fall for their sweepstakes scams. This means that if they can get their hands on email addresses and other personal information from people who actually enter sweepstakes, they might have a bit more success with their scams. One method that they use to get this information is by setting up a fake sweepstakes site. They might even give away a small prize, but their primary goal is to harvest your personal information and use it to contact you with scams.

How can you avoid this kind of trap? Learn how to recognize legitimate sweepstakes before you enter. You should also review how much information to share on entry forms.

2. Buying Email Lists from Sweepstakes Sites

It's possible that a company could hold a legitimate sweepstake and then decide to make some extra money by selling the personal information that it collected. In that case, scammers could easily get hold of a large list of sweepstakes entrants without having to take on the time or expense of running their own sweepstakes.
To protect yourself from having your information sold to other companies and scammers, check out the privacy policy of the sweepstakes that you enter. If the privacy policy is missing, untrustworthy, or it says that your information might be resold, do not enter the sweepstake.

3. Buying General Email Lists

While sweepstakes scammers love to get their hands on lists of people who enter sweepstakes, they will also be perfectly happy to take the chance that someone who doesn't enter sweepstakes might respond to their scam. In fact, those people might be less savvy about the warning signs of scams, making them easier targets. So scammers might buy email lists from any type of company, not just sweepstakes.

For this reason, you should read the privacy policy of any site that collects personal information. Furthermore, you should use a separate sweepstakes email when entering contests, so that you'll know automatically that any win notifications that come to your other email addresses are not legitimate.

4. 'Scraping' Email Addresses from the Web

If you've left your email address in a signature, in a comment on a public forum, on a winner's list, or anywhere else that is publicly accessible, scammers can use programs to comb through the internet and harvest those email addresses.

To protect yourself, avoid leaving your full email address anywhere on the net. Don't use your email address as a username for a forum or website. If you need to share your address online, make it difficult for programs to read by writing it out: myemail AT mydomain DOT com for example, is easy for humans to understand but difficult for computers. Ask sponsors to use only a portion of your email address on winners lists.

5. Sending Scams to Random Email Addresses

Sweepstakes scam emails cost nearly nothing to send. That means that criminals can afford to send blanket emails to random email addresses and hope that someone will receive them. To do this, the scammers start with a popular email service - say Hotmail, Yahoo, or AOL - and then generate massive lists by combining common words and names. For example, the scammers might send mails to the top 100most popular names and each birth year for people between the ages of 18 and 90. If your email address is something like john1970@yahoo.com, you'll get one of these mails.

It's difficult to avoid this method of harvesting emails. The best thing to do is not to respond to these mails, so that the scammers don't get confirmation that the address is active.

6. Hacking Into Online Databases

Some sweepstakes scammers get their email lists by hacking into online databases that have inadequate security to protect your information. This is a dangerous, expensive, and high-risk method for hackers to get email addresses compared to any of the other methods listed here, but it happens in some cases.

To protect yourself, check the privacy policies of the websites you use to ensure that personal data is stored in a secure method, and that your information is not kept for longer than is necessary.

Most Email Addresses Will Receive Sweepstakes Scams

Remember that it might not be possible to avoid scam emails altogether. Learning to recognize the warning signs of a scam will help you avoid any problems from those mails that do sneak through. But following these tips can help prevent you from being overwhelmed with sweepstakes scams.