Friday, September 10, 2004


Yep, "I still got it"
This was posted by "Hello" and the program listed below "Picasa"
Looks like it works OK.
Check out Hello

Picasa

You might want to check out the Picasa software from Google. This digital photo organizer is an easy way to enjoy your digital pictures without clunky folders and file names. Just install the free download and watch it go to work! Picasa finds and sorts all the pictures on your computer into albums – in seconds. Plus, you can email, print and share images on one quick click. Give it a try!
This is one great program and it is free. Read more about Picasa and download it from here: http://www.picasa.com/content/learn_more.php?sourceid=pic&subid=more&

If that link is dead try this one:
http://www.picasa.com


Tiny Spell Checker

Occasionally you need to check the spelling of words in an application that does not include a spelling checker and you don't want to launch your word processor just for that. This is when tinySpell becomes handy. It is a small utility that allows you to easily and quickly check the spelling of words in any Windows application. TinySpell monitors your typing on the fly and alerts you whenever it detects a misspelled word. It also checks the spelling of every word you copy to the clipboard.

TinySpell installs itself in the system tray for easy access. It comes with an American-English dictionary containing more than 110,000 words. you can read more about it here:

http://www.megspace.com/computers/tinyspell/

Did I say it was free. I installed this checker and I guess it is better than no spell checker at all, but it did not impress me. I may not be the worlds worst speller but I bet I rank in the top ten for sure. If you are a poor speller, I think you would be better off copying and pasting your text into MS Word. Also if you have MS word you can setup your OE mail program to be spell checked before sending. All and all the bottom line is if you don't have a checker at all this one may be the one for you. It is certainly wroth the price. Try it, then if you don't like it, just say "no", and uninstall it.

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

My computer won't boot

Q.
My computer will not boot up and I have all my music and photos on the hard drive. I will just die if I loose them. Please help me.

A.
I hate to say this but you should have had it backed up but you are like most, you did not.

There are lots of ways to retrieve your files and if you are very lucky one will work. I have had very good results by removing the crashed drive and installing it as a second drive. Of course you must have a spare drive to replace it. Load your OS on the replaced drive. After you are up and running on the new (C:) drive you can see if you are able to view the old crashed drive. Most always you can, therefore you can move the files or burn them to CD. Please back them up before the next crash. (it will happen)

If the above will not work, there is software that will try to dig out the files. It sometimes works, but it is costly to buy, about $135.00 or more. Here is one companies page: http://www.stellarinfo.com/disk-recovery.htm There are lots more, do a search on “disk recovery”.

If the drive it self is damaged, (bad motor) you have ran out of luck. You will have to send the crashed drive off to a professional company, but be ready to shell out about a week’s pay or even more for this service.

You should have had it backed up …….. Good luck in the contest !

Safe Mode and F8 ?

Q.
You told me to run “Defrag” while in safe mode.
You told me to keep tapping “F8” while rebooting to enter “Safe Mode”.
I have a blister from tapping F8, the computer will not go into safe mode.
Why ?

A.
I would bet you have a USB keyboard or a wireless one. You must use a PS2 keyboard. The reason is because the USB drivers only load after Windows boots Therefore your keyboard is not active when you need to tap F8. Put the old keyboard on or borrow one from a friend, this will get you going.

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

IE Out'a Here

My darling wife Betty has her own computer. It is hard wired to the router so she can surf with broadband. I’m retired from UPS and it’s a good thing I have lots of time because she always has a virus, the start page has been hijacked, or worse. “Its always something”. (Saturday Night Live)

Today was the day of browser freedom of choice; I’m ending this Internet Explorer (IE) nonsense by installing Fire Fox on her computer. Fire Fox will not pick up all the excess trash that IE dose. Take a look at this page, from there you can find out all the advantages Fire Fox has over IE, as well as download it.

Top 10 reasons to switch can be found here: http://www.switch2firefox.com/whyswitch/This page will let you in on a few secrets that IE would just as soon be kept quiet. Try Fire Fox, I think "you’ll like it". (Gene Autry for Juicy Fruit Gum)

Monday, September 06, 2004

Take the Pop Up Test

Take the Pop Up Killer Test:
http://www.kephyr.com/popupkillertest/

My score was 3 out of 21, not bad because I'm only using the Google Tool Bar and have up graded to SP2 for Windows XP, both having pop up stoppers. This is a fun test, try it with Bill's IE, then try it with another brand like Fire Fox.

Sunday, September 05, 2004

Spoof Email

I think I receive every piece of trash in my inbox everyday. This includes the goofy campaign, ageist or for, the upcoming president election. I also get the “I don’t know what” stuff from the AOL users. I say I don’t know what because I never go to the trouble of opening 6 or 7 attachments that lead me to the original email. I just wonder if they know what they are putting the intended reader through that uses a real ISP. Oh yes I get the story about this poor old lady in Africa that will share a percentage of the $127,000,000 with me. All I have to do to help her is to give her my banking information, including the pin numbers, password, and oh yaw my mothers maiden name. She will transfer the money into my account and just for being so nice I can keep $10,000,000. Do you think people really do this ? I guess they do as I keep getting this type of email.

The new deal on the block is the “Spoof” sometimes known as "phished". These are sent in an attempt to collect sensitive personal or financial information from the recipients. They appear to come from legitimate companies that you may have done business with. The most popular ones are eBay, PayPal, and American State Bank. These emails look very real and they will have the logo from the company included. They will have a link for you to click on that will lead you to their bogus page. Never Ever click the link.

If you receive a Spoof, just click forward and send it to spoof@companyname.com
The company will most likely reply with a thank you and some good advice. Here is a reply I received from eBay:
Hello,Thank you for writing to eBay regarding the email you received.Emails such as this, commonly referred to as "spoof" or "phished" messages, are sent in an attempt to collect sensitive personal or financial information from the recipients. The email you reported was not sent by eBay. We have reported this emailto the appropriate authorities. In the future, be very cautious of any email that asks you to submit information such as your credit card number or your email password. eBaywill never ask you for sensitive personal information such as passwords,bank account or credit card numbers, Personal Identification Numbers (PINs), or Social Security Numbers in an email. If you ever need to provide sensitive information to us, please open a new Web browser, typewww.ebay.com into your browser address field, and click on the "site map" link located at the top the page to access the eBay page you need.If you have any doubt about whether an email message is from eBay, please forward it immediately to spoof@ebay.com. Do not respond to it orclick any of the links. Do not remove the original subject line or change the email in any way when you forward it to us. If you have already entered sensitive financial information or your password into a Web site based on a request from a spoofed email, you should take immediate action to protect your identity and all of your online accounts. We have developed an eBay Help page with valuable information regarding the steps you should take to protect yourself. http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/isgw-account-theft-reporting.htmlTo review eBay's new tutorial about Spoof Emails, please see the following Web page: http://pages.ebay.com/education/spooftutorial/Once again, thank you for alerting us to the spoof email you received. Your efforts help us ensure that eBay remains a safe and vibrant online marketplace.Regards, IaneBay SafeHarborInvestigations Team______________________________eBayYour Personal Trading Community (tm)*******************************************Important: eBay will not ask you for sensitive personal information (such as your password, credit card and bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, etc.) in an email. Learn more account protection tips at:http://www.pages.ebay.com/help/account_protection.html