Computer Tips and Tricks

Well it’s a new year and 2010 is upon us. Do you have a New Year’s Resolution?

Well I don’t know about computer maintenance being a resolution, and I think that most people would think that’s a bore. One thing to think about though, If you use AVG Free Anti virus version 8.5, it is no longer supported. In fact, it was probably not supported at the end of November. AVG version 9 is here and you need to go download it and install it to keep current. If you don’t upgrade, you are vulnerable to viruses on the web and increasingly so as time goes by.

Bad things happen when your Anti-virus programs expire!

Nowadays, you also need to install a Spyware or Malware program to compliment your anti virus program. Malware is short for Malicious software. I always like to install Malwarebytes and Super Anti Spyware and I encourage others to use those.

Make sure that daily scans are running and that Real-time protection is turned on. Also, please, oh please, start using Firefox for your web browser instead of Internet Explorer. You don’t have to use Internet Explorer and I encourage others to make Firefox the default. It’s definitely a safer browser and you can also now count on using added software (called extensions) to help increase your trust of certain sites. The added extension is called Web of Trust, and will actually show you what sites are good and what sites are bad.

This helps you make sure you know what you are Clicking.

Check out the image below; it show that when you search Google, you will find either a green, red, or yellow circle after each entry.

Green is good in this case, yellow, means to use caution and that the site has a weak reputation, and red is not a good site to be entering. Even if you do click on the site that is not trusted, you will get a popup from that site that gives you a warning. If that is not enough, and you still want to go there, well you are on your on.

Some sites in the web of trust are unknown, which means that it has not made it in the database of listed sites yet. In my case, you can trust my sites listed below…

Links:

http://www.mypcnetwork.com    My PC repair Website, If you need help, give us a call

http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html?part=dl-10044820&subj=dl&tag=button&cdlPid=11014801    Download AVG Version 9 here

http://www.malwarebytes.org   Download MalwareBytes

http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html   Download Super Anti Spyware

http://www.getfirefox.com   Mozilla Firefox web browser

http://www.mywot.com    Web of Trust Download

Do you use Google? Local news sites affiliated with newspapers or TV stations? I saw this report over at chris.pirillo.com talking about the decline of news content via the newspaper in favor of online media sources. A new report just out says that 44% of Google users just simply skim the headlines and never read the full story. I have discovered, personally, in this rich media age with Twitter, Facebook, Snackr and others that I do the same thing.

That’s why I like Newser.com. I can just see the top headlines, and when I click into a story, it gives me just a summary of the story. Then, if I want to dive deeper into it, I can click on the source links to read the full story, (if I want to).

I have a friend who uses Weatherbug on his pc, but the reality is that takes up system resources on his system all the time and actually sends back his tracking cookies to the site, which can be misused.

I think it would be better to use Google for your Weather forecasts you need it.

Just go to Google and type in weather and your zip code to get the above.

Instead of visiting other weather search sites, you can display weather reports for the U.S. and selected cities around the world directly in Google. Google displays the current temperature, conditions, humidity, wind speed and direction, and a four-day forecast with graphics.

Next to the weather report is a link allowing you to add the forecast to your iGoogle page. Plus, underneath U.S. weather reports you will find links to external sites such as AccuWeather, The Weather Channel, and Weather Underground, offering more detailed weather forecasts and radars if desired.

The cool thing is that less memory is used on the system, increasing performance.

Everybody searches stuff online with Google right? Well maybe sometimes you might use Ask.com to search for stuff. I have found a site that pays me money to search on Google.com and Ask.com.

It’s called swagbucks.com. Why not get free stuff while you search because you are searching for stuff anyways right?

Use my referrer link to sign up and get started.

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/netman42

You can use your Swagbucks to buy anything from music to musical instruments to Xboxes. If you set up your default search bar to use swag bucks, then it just becomes second nature to use.

When you use the search about 3-5 times, you get a buck. When you refer Swagbucks to your friends you get a buck when they get a buck.

So get started and start earning Swagbucks. You might as well get paid to surf.

http://www.mypcnetwork.com

http://www.computertipstricks.com

This Valentine’s Day you may want to think twice about opening any e-greeting cards adorned with cute puppies and vibrant red hearts or e-mail messages promoting hot new gifts for your sweetie.

There are good chances this precious e-greeting card may not be from the love of your life or secret admirer, but from a computer hacker, intent on stealing your identity, rather than your heart.

I found this article over here at Computerworld

Be careful out there.

Have you ever received a link to web page that someone wants you to see but the link is so long and doesn’t work. Most of the time on those long links, the link exceeds the page width and has a carriage return in the middle of that which the link doesn’t understand. When ypu click the link, you get a 404 error. To save aggravation from those busted links, use Tinyurl. You can paste in the long link and what’s cool is that you can preview that before you send.

I saw this article written by Rick Broida over at PCWorld and it reminded me of a simple tip that you may or may not know.

If you hit the Control key and use the scroll mouse wheel at the same time, you make the text bigger or smaller, depending on what you need in you web browser. If you don’t have a scroll wheel, just use the Ctl + or Ctl – keys together to do the same function. This one is simple, but effective if you are showing someone some text over your shoulder or across the room.

The website printwhatyoulike.com is a great find. If you get aggravated with printing banners and ads on the web document you want to print, try this site. You can just select the item that you want to print and print it without all the extra stuff. Save a ton of ink. You can also just select an item to remove from the document if that makes it more convenient. Check it out.

There are a bunch of keyboard shortcuts that everyone should know for using on your favorite browser.

CTRL+A - Select all items on the current page

CTRL+D - Add the current page to your Favorites

CTRL+E - Open the Search bar

CTRL+F - Find on this page

CTRL+H - Open the History bar

CTRL+I - Open the Favorites bar

CTRL+N - Open a new window

CTRL+O - Go to a new location

CTRL+P - Print the current page or active frame

CTRL+S - Save the current page

CTRL+W - Close current browser window

CTRL+ENTER - Adds the http://www. (url) .com

SHIFT+CLICK - Open link in new window

BACKSPACE - Go to the previous page

ALT+HOME - Go to your Home page

Technorati Tags: browser, shortcuts

Adding to your music library is as easy as a simple Google search if you know a bit about some advanced searching hacks in Google. Here is the simple way to make this work, just copy and paste this text below in the Google search field:

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(wma|mp3) “<creed/weathered>”

The above entry is going to do a search of directories on the Internet with mp3 or wma files that are by the band called “Creed” and in particular, I’m looking for the song called “weathered’.
Just simply change the entry for BAND/SONG at the end of this statement to get what you are after. If you want just entries from that particular band or artist, simply put that name in there and leave the slash and the song off.
Ok, go ahead and give it a try and happy listening.
Technorati Tags: mp3, music, google

Tags: music, mp3, google

Technorati Tags: google, Hacks, mp3, music