** Issue #2 September 1st 2006**
Contents:
3) Why you should be using FireFox
4) Would you like to be on the web
In my last newsletter I discussed my backup procedure. If you missed it you can read it here. Just for effect, and a little humor I'll say it again. "You can never have enough backups!" I'm here to tell you that you will never fully appreciate a good backup plan until you've lost something valuable.
I did mention internal and external hard drives to store disk images, though I wasn't very clear about what to look for if you don't already have one. Generally the size of a backup image will be 50% of the used space of your drive. If you have a 120GB drive with 60GB free space your used space is 60GB and an image created of this drive will be roughly 30GB. That said, the number of images you can keep depends on the size of the backup drive. I suggest you buy or use a drive that is at least equal to the drive you wish to back up. This will allow you to keep your last three images on the backup drive. Computer part pricing is a little weird. If you visualize a valley you have the pricing structure of computer hardware and hard drives. The newer or older a product is, the more it will cost. The latest greatest drives are very expensive, and as the lower capacity drives become obsolete their price also rises. Everything in the middle is the price point where you will get the most for your money. Currently the 80GB to 320GB drives are the sweet spot, so if you're looking for one you may wish to start there.
If, after reading the August 15th newsletter, you are considering a hard drive purchase check these:
Seagate 80GB Internal IDE HD - $52.99
Seagate 120GB Internal IDE HD - $64.99
Seagate 250GB Internal IDE HD - $84.99
Seagate 300GB Internal IDE HD - $139.99
Beyond Micro 80GB USB External HD - $64.99
Beyond Micro 160GB USB External HD - $79.99
Beyond Micro 250GB USB External HD - $90.99
With that wrapped up let's talk about a few other backup choices. There are other lower capacity backup options. Two that come to mind are Google's Gmail and InBox (Thank you to reader Paul). Both are free services, but Gmail requires an invitation.
Gmail is Google's entry into the world of free webmail. Similar to Yahoo mail, Hotmail, and the like. The difference is that Gmail has 2.7GB of storage, a clean interface, and allows POP3 access so you can use your favorite email client. The kicker is Gmail is so well liked and offered so much storage that people began finding ways to use this new found storage. Enter Gmail Drive and the Gspace Firefox extension. Gmail drive is a small program that maps your Gmail account to "My Computer". This means that when you open My Computer you will have a new 2.7GB drive listed. Saving items to this new drive actually saves them to your Gmail account. The Gspace extension for Firefox is similar, but it works within Firefox.
InBox is a website and email provider. Their free offering is a 5GB mailbox/storage area/photo album. InBox requires you to install a toolbar for Internet explorer to transfer files. Inbox does offer a synchronize feature, that isn't available if you use Gmail.
| Gmail | Inbox | Advantage |
|---|---|---|
| Free with invitation | Free registration | toss up |
| Can add as a drive to My Computer | Can not add | Gmail |
| Can access through FireFox browser addin | Can access through Internet Explorer addin | Gmail |
| Can access files from any computer thru internet | Can access files from any computer thru internet | toss up |
| No synchronization | Synchronization | Inbox |
| No photo album feature | online photo album | Inbox |
| Free data backup | $9.95/month data backup | Gmail |
| 2.7GB of storage | 5GB of storage | Inbox |
Based on the comparison above it appears that it's a toss up. My personal preference is the Gmail solution. The issue is backup and I know that Google takes steps (backup) to protect your data. I'm also not a fan of Internet Explorer. This rules out Inbox for me. The storage space differences between Gmail and Inbox are not of any real concern. If you need more Gmail space you can send yourself an invite for another account. If you run out of space with InBox you could sign up for another account.
Both of these are great ways to add an additional layer of backup to your very important documents. They also allow you the convenience of access from any computer with internet access. If you're interested I suggest you try both and make your own determination. I have quite a few Gmail invites. If you would like a free Gmail account shoot me an email and I'll give you an invite.
Another option you can use is a USB flash drive. A USB flash drive is simply a small device, usually the size of your thumb, that plugs into a USB port and contains flash memory. These come in sizes between 32MB and 5GB. If you are an avid shutterbug, 5GB is only enough to store several hundred photos. Just like the options above, you must prioritize what you save on a USB drive. A key feature of this approach is you can take it with you.
A-Data PD9 512MB USB2.0 Flash Drive - $14.99
A-Data PD9 1GB USB2.0 Flash Drive - $24.99
A-Data PD9 2GB USB2.0 Flash Drive - $39.99
Transcend 4GB JETFLASH 110 USB 2.0 Drive - $89.99
If you are connected to the internet I hope you've heard of spyware! Spyware is software that is installed on your computer, usually without your knowledge. It's called spyware because it is used to spy on your internet activity and display pop-up ads on your computer. The people who haven't experienced spyware are few and far between. Where does it come from?
Recent studies have found as much as 70% of spyware is actually found on search engines. People search for free screen savers, cracks for software, or other terms. When the search results show on their screen they start clicking and spyware is installed by some of the seedier sites.
Google has realized this, and as of August 9th they have taken action. Now when you search Google and click on a site that is known to contain spyware a warning will alert you. You then have the option of learning more about spyware, searching again, or continuing to the original site. This is a big step on Google's part, but only a drop in the spyware bucket. A big "high five" to Google!
3). Why You Should Be Using Firefox
Standards
Everyone who surfs the internet knows that they open a browser and type the address of the site they want to visit. What you don't see is what is going on behind the scenes. The web has similarities to the human race. We are all basically the same, but each of us has differences and many of us speak different languages. The web appears to display pages in your browser and let you view videos or listen to music, however behind the scenes the web is based on many different languages. You don't need to know the details, but some acronyms you should be aware of are html, css, javascript, php, asp, and perl. All of these are languages that computers speak. Your browser "hears" these languages and translates them to something you can understand. The problem is these languages are based on standards, which are set by an organization called the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C. The W3C determines what your browser "should" hear, and what it should do when it "hears" it.
Most users are familiar with, and use, Internet Explorer because it came pre-installed on their computer. Those who are using MSN, AOL, Maxthon, and several other browsers are actually using Internet Explorer with a different user interface. Presently Internet Explorer accounts for approximately 80% of the browsers in use.
Of the top three browsers; Internet Explorer, , and Opera, Internet Explorer has the worst track record of following the W3C standards. Microsoft has always tried to keep things proprietary, and this continues with Internet Explorer. What does this mean to you? The page you see is not necessarily what the designer wanted. If it is then they have went to great effort tweaking and tricking Internet Explorer into displaying what it should by default.
ActiveX Controls
Many years ago Microsoft came up with an idea of allowing programs, called ActiveX controls, to run within Internet Explorer. ActiveX controls are not part of any standard and can only be used in Internet Explorer. They believed that this would allow web designers to create better sites with more features. They were somewhat correct, but they didn't account for people who would write ActiveX controls for purposes of infecting your computer, stealing passwords, or showing popup ads without your consent.
Customization
When you surf the web with Internet Explorer you are stuck with what they give you. You can't change the look of the program, or how pages are displayed. You can change some basic things like which icons appear in the toolbar, but beyond that you don't have many options.
A large target
Since Microsoft's Internet Explorer has such a large market share, and it is so tightly integrated into the Windows operating system it has become a target for malicious software. We've all fell victim to a screen of popup windows containing advertisements for everything from grass seed to things you don't want your children to see. Every program has security holes. Programs are written by humans and we all know that we make mistakes, but Internet Explorer has more than it's fair share. Microsoft is also not known for always being up front about security holes or releasing patches as quickly as they should. If you are using Internet Explorer, AOL, MSN, or one of the other variants you are walking around with a large target on your back that says "Infect my computer".
Enter FireFox
FireFox was released in November of 2004. It has been downloaded over 200 million times as of today. Firefox is based on a concept called Open Source. This means the program is written and maintained by hundreds of ordinary individuals, not by a company with an agenda, and the code that makes up the program is "open" to the public. This allows thousands of people from all over the world to add, changes, and review the code. This results in a program that is more secure and more compliant with the W3C standards. The people who are responsible for Firefox are very concerned about security and patch security holes very quickly.
Extensions
has addins for increased functionality called extensions. The difference is these extensions must be checked and approved as spyware free and safe before they are allowed to be posted for download. Microsoft has no way of doing this with ActiveX, and that creates a problem for them. Extensions are available to spell check, customize menus, alter what parts of your favorite pages display, backup your bookmarks, show the weather in the corner of the browser, and many more. There are actually thousands of approved extensions which allow Firefox to do almost anything. You can explore my favorites here.
No more pop ups
has a built in pop-up blocker. You don't have to buy, download, or install anything extra. Firefox also uses tabs, which allow the program to open multiple web pages with only one instance of Firefox running, which isn't possible with Internet Explorer. Each page opens in a tab. To change pages you click on the tab for that page. This is cool and saves you time. Firefox can also have more than one home page. Let's say that you have 4 website's that you always have open. Your email, company website, a favorite internet discussion site, and Google. You can have Firefox open these 4 (or more) pages every time you start Firefox. Firefox also comes with an integrated search box for Google, Amazon, Ebay, and Wikipedia.
What about IE7?
Microsoft is about to release a new version (version 7) of Internet Explorer. I've been using the latest test version for several weeks. I see some improvement, but not enough. With IE7 Microsoft has finally added tabs, but there is no way to control where they display on the screen or what order they appear. IE7 has increased standards compliance over the current version, but still not enough. IE7 has redesigned the interface. I HATE IT! It's truly a poor design. The back and forward buttons are in the upper left corner, which means they are farther away from the scroll bar and areas you would generally use your mouse. The stop and reload buttons are in the upper right corner, far away from the other navigation buttons. What I've found is I spend a lot more time moving the mouse from one side of the screen to the other, when I should be reading a web page. There is no way to change this or customize the display to eliminate this!
My plea to you
If you aren't using Firefox you are not enjoying the web to it's full potential. It's like buying and ice cream cone and only being allowed to eat the cone. Try for a week. Look at some of the extensions available. Try them out. Look at the themes. Try them out. You will be more secure. You will have less spyware. You will see what the web designer intended you to see. You will thank me!
4). Would You Like To Be On The Web?
Every day you hear someone say "check out my website", "send me an email", "go here to see my pics", or "you have to see this". They have taken it upon themselves to get on the web. The web is a large part of our present and future communications. The web is world wide and available to almost everyone through one means or another. The web offers you the ability to reach a few or a million with ease, and allows you to communicate your thoughts, pictures, ideas, or any other information you wish. You can have a home on the internet for yourself, your church, soccer team, wedding, social organization, pictures, or anything else you can imagine.
Several things are required to be on the web, which I'll explain in a moment, but continue reading the whole article. I'm going to save you some money! Can you say FREE?
To get on the web you need a domain. www.davescomputertips.com is mine. A domain acts as an address. When you type in www.davescomputertips.com your computer checks a domain name server, which is like a phone book. The DNS tells your computer where Daves Computer Tips is and your computer displays the page. A domain usually costs around $10 per year.
The second part of the puzzle is a host. Whatever you put on the web must be stored on a computer and must be connected to a super fast internet connection. This computer and connection must be protected to prevent hackers and other bad things from happening. Hosting service costs can range from $5 a month to hundreds of dollars a month.
Here is the good part! Microsoft has a new service called Microsoft Office Live. They are offering the basic service for FREE! Here are the details...
Free Domain - they will register the domain name of your choice and renew it for free each year. As an example you could register www.thesmithsinny.com for the Smith family in NY. You could register www.greaterlexingtonbaptistchurch.com if you belonged to a baptist church in Lexington, or www.bettystravels.com if your name was betty and you wished to share your travel experiences and pictures. Free!
Free Hosting - they host your site for free. No money. No catches. Currently they are offering 30MB of storage space. You can fit quite a lot of content in 30MB. As another example my entire site is under 1MB. If you outgrow the 30MB limit you can upgrade to a paid account or change to another hosting company of your choice.
Free site designer - This is a program that lets you create the underlying code for a web page. You design your page just like you would a document in Microsoft Word and it writes the necessary code behind the scenes. This allows you to make pages without any knowledge of html and be up on the web in minutes.
10GB data transfer - Microsoft allows 10GB of data to be transferred from your site to the browsers of your visitors. This is quite a lot and should serve you for a very long time.
5 email accounts - Once you have a domain you can have email for that domain. In the above examples I used the domains www.bettystravels.com and www.thesmithsinny.com. You can have any email address you want for those domains. You could have the email address of bob@thesmithsinny.com or betty@bettystravels.com. What a great way to personalize your email!
Free! Free! Free! No ads! No money! Microsoft does require a credit card to sign up. This is only used to verify your identity and prevent spam and phishing abuse from originating from their servers. It's for your protection as well as theirs. This is a great opportunity to experiment with your own website!
Sign up free at Microsoft Office Live!
Antivirus/Firewall Software
NOD32 - Currently the best available antivirus. Small, fast, low system resource usage, and consistent 100% ratings in the Virus Bulletin test!
Sunbelt Kerio Firewall - You shouldn't be on the internet without a firewall that offers inbound and outbound protection. Sunbelt Kerio is my firewall choice. The best protection with a good user interface and informative dialog boxes. Sunbelt Kerio Firewall recently received the Reader's Choice Award from Windows IT Pro magazine.
CD/DVD/mp3/Video Software
Acoustica Audio Converter Pro - This program converts audio formats and bitrates. Perfect for those with portable audio players or large music collections.
Adobe Premier - Premier is the Cadillac of video editors. This is the application if you want to make professional videos.
Adobe Premier Elements - Elements is the consumer version of Premier. It costs 1/6th the price, but is very capable of making videos that will impress everyone.
Ashampoo Burning Studio - My current pick for a low resource, easy to use CD/DVD burning application. Easier to use than Nero or Roxio, with a low memory footprint and much smaller installation requirement.
Computer Hardware
CyberGuys - The place to get those hard to find cables and accessories for your computer!
Dell Computers - My current pick for new laptops and desktops.
Newegg - Newegg.com is known for great service and awesome pricing on computers, upgrades, and electronics. If you're looking for computers, computer parts, or electronics you owe it to yourself to start here!
UpgradeMemory.com - Need to add memory? Upgrade Memory provides memory upgrades for almost any computer, camera, or mp3 player you can imagine. Use their site to find exactly which memory you need.
Computer Maintenance Software
Acronis Disk Director - My favorite tool to partition, format, and resize hard drives.
Diskeeper - My current favorite defrag program. As files are written and erased from the hard drive they begin to leave "spaces" behind. When the drive is written to again files are broken up to fill in these spaces. This causes the drive to go to several different locations to read an entire file, which slows performance greatly. Diskeeper has several advanced features such as; automatic defrag, scheduled defrag, and the ability to defrag the MFT (Master File Table) and paging file.
Registry Mechanic - A very thorough and efficient registry cleaner and defragmenter. A definite must to maintain peak performance and stabile operation.
Computer Utility Software
Acronis True Image - My pick for computer backups. Whether you choose file or image based backups (you should use both!) True Image will perform better than any other application I've used. Disk images created with True Image are generally 10-20% smaller than those from comparable programs. If your time and files are as important to you as mine are to me this is a must have.
Roboform - This program is the next best thing to sliced bread in my book! This program integrates into Internet Explorer and firefox. It generates uncrackable passwords at the click of a button. How do I remember these complex passwords? Roboform allows you to save passwords and personal data in an encrypted format. A master password (yes only one password to remember!) allows access. Roboform in IE and FireFox works like a super powered bookmark. You click the site you want to go to and Roboform opens the site, enters your username and password for the site (if required) and as if by magic clicks the submit button. If you shop online Roboform can enter your personal information and credit card information in one click. A real time saver with great security thrown in to boot!
WinRar - Is what is commonly called a zip utility, similar to the more widely known WinZip. WinRar is faster and works with more formats for about 1/2 the price of WinZip.
Desktop Utility Software
Bootskin - Change the screen that appears when you boot Windows (the one with the moving bar graph). There are hundreds of free skins available online.
Cursor XP Plus - Change the cursors on your computer. Hundreds of cursor packs are available online for free. Cursor XP Plus adds shadow and transparency effects also.
Icon Packager - Change the icons on your computer. Icon Packager puts you in control to change every icon with the click of a button. Tired of the plain icons built into Windows? There are hundreds of Icon Packs available online for free, which will add a truly personal feel to your computer.
WindowBlinds 5 - This is the icing on the proverbial cake. WindowBlinds changes the look and feel of Windows. By changing the appearance of the task bar, start menu, and any other window or program you open. It adds transparency, shadows, alpha blending, and animations. Hundreds of themes are available online for free.
Internet and Email
1&1 hosting - If you want to start your own website, blog, photo gallery, or have a personalized email address then 1&1 is for you. 1&1 can not be beat for reliability, features, support, and price.
Google Gmail - The best internet based email (webmail) available. Each mailbox has a 2.7GB limit. The interface is superb, and the spam filter is top notch. Gmail has enough storage that you shouldn't have to delete any email. It has a great search function and a feature called thread view, which makes finding emails easy. A webmail account offers several advantages including not being required to change your email address if you change service providers. Gmail requires an invitation from a current member. If you are interested shoot me an email and I'll send you an invite.
Microsoft Outlook - Outlook is the current email client of choice for corporate America. I get well over 100 emails a day. Outlook has a few features I really need such as a plug in for automatic backups, office sounds which offers me some audible feedback, and the ability to change headers. I've used Mozilla Thunderbird and liked it a lot. With the amount of mail I go through I really need the features of Outlook. If you aren't a heavy user, or don't need the features I do then Thunderbird is a great alternative.
- An amazing, free, web browser. If you aren't using it you should be! Highly customizable through addins called extensions. There are thousands of extensions which can allow FireFox to do just about anything you can imagine. More importantly, Firefox is not subject to ActiveX, which is a large part of Internet Explorer, AOL, and MSN. No ActiveX means much less chance of getting spyware! Firefox also conforms to web standards more closely than Internet Explorer, which means you will see what the authors intended, not Microsoft.
Mozilla Thunderbird - A great free email client from the same folks that brought us FireFox. Easy to use and highly customizable through extensions.
Photo and Picture Software
Adobe Photoshop CS2- Photoshop is the Cadillac of graphic design programs. Just as Premier is tops in video, Photoshop is tops in graphic design. If you are a professional photographer or aspiring to be one this is the program you need to learn, use, and love.
Adobe Photoshop Elements - Photoshop Elements is a consumer version of Photoshop. If you are serious about digital photos you will find Photoshop Elements a great program to have at your disposal. Elements provides all the functionality you will need at 1/6th the price.
Picasa - a free program from Google. A great way to get organized, edit, and share your digital photos.
Spyware and Malware Software
Webroot SpySweeper - Daves Computer Tips Seal of Approval Winner! See the test results HERE. Spysweeper provides the best protection of the seven anti-spyware programs tested! Great detection and removal rates with a small real-time protection memory footprint. This is the one you want!
CounterSpy - Runner-up in my Anti-Spyware test. Not only does CounterSpy scan and remove spyware, it also uses real time protection. Real time protection prevents spyware infection. Free 15 day trial. Winner of Computer Shopper Magazine's Best Buy Award!
Spyware Doctor - Spyware Doctor came in third place in my Anti-Spyware Test. Spyware Doctor is a good program and the download is much smaller than CounterSpy. Free 30 day trial.
After spending countless hours surfing the web in search of various funny or interesting things to share with you here are a few of my finds to lighten your day! I go through a lot to please my readers!
Waterbed Prank - It's not in english, but it doesn't matter. Better watch yourself when shopping!
Porta-Potty alert - I hope this never happens to me!
Helicopter Game - How far can you fly the helicopter? *Caution Addictive*
Simon Says - Can your dog do this?
If you wish to share these with your friends please forward this newsletter to them!
7). A Little Help Here Please
Thank you for reading my second newsletter. I hope you found it interesting and informative. If you did, send me an and let me know. If you didn't anyway and tell me what I can do better! I need the feedback!
If you have a website, blog, online photo gallery, or other online presence please add a link to my website. I will gladly add a link to your site on mine!
If you have questions or a tip to share with the other readers send it to me.
The first newsletter was subscribed to by 30 people and read by a total of 70. That is amazing to me! With your help I reached 70 people! Now I must ask for your help again. Spread the word! I strive to make the newsletter readable and understandable for everyone. From the technical to the laughable there is something for everyone! Tell a friend. Email a co-worker. Stalking isn't out of the question. I've set a goal of 500 readers. Help me get there by sharing this with someone and asking them to share.
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