Podcasting

The Wayne Show

I started a podcast on 7/13/07 (Friday the 13th) which is a natural progression to this site. The show is entitled "The Wayne Show". The theme of the podcast is: Computer related discussion, product reviews, tech tips and recommendations done with humor in a radio broadcast format complete with music. This site is hosted by Podshow.com and can be accessed by going clicking here.

It can also be accessed with Itunes by inserting the following feed when prompted: http://pricecomputersupport.info/blog/?feed=podcast.

I'm very pleased with the show and invite you to give it a listen.

-Wayne

Back from Vegas

I'm back from Vegas and none the richer. It's been awhile since I have traveled to Vegas so I thought I'd leave a short list of things not to do.

• Don't go without eating as it's a 5 hr flight!
  
• Don't keep the 1 qt plastic bag holding your 3oz liquids in your bags!
• Don't sit in the row forward an exit row as you can't recline your seats!

I made all those mistakes

Wayne

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Off to Vegas

It's time for me to make my annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas chasing dreams of striking it rich. But before I go, I though I'd test out Bloggers new video upload feature. This is me Sunday night before the trip.

Does your computer need fixing?

Simple steps to follow when it's time to service your PC

 

 

Hiring the wrong computer repair service can not only be incredibly frustrating and expensive for you, but you could also end up loosing ALL of your irreplaceable files, photos, music, e-mails, and other important documents! 

 

#1. Demand someone who has a long-standing reputation. Let’s face it; there are a lot of other computer repair technicians out there, but most are new or just getting started. You want to make sure you avoid hiring a fly-by-night technician between jobs that sets up shop one day, and is out of business within a month or a year. Only deal with computer technicians and repair shops that have a proven track record.

 

#2. Demand that they have specific knowledge or expertise on solving your particular problem. Do NOT let someone practice on your machine. If they have not worked on your problem before, they should TELL you that in advance. There is too much risk involved financially and in your data and equipment. 

 

#3. Demand that your technician backs up your system BEFORE working on it. This is just common sense. Don’t let them touch your machine before your entire system is securely backed up just in case something goes wrong.

 

#4. Demand that your machine comes back with the same settings, look, preferences, and applications that you had on it prior to dropping it off. There are a lot of second-rate shops with inexperienced technicians who will end up causing you more problems than you bargained for. Very frequently, these inexperienced technicians will recommend that you wipe out your hard drive and re-install Windows to fix a problem. This means you loose all of your settings and preferences, as well as loosing all of the software programs you have installed. This should ONLY be done as a last resort.

 

#5. If you rely on a one-man-band operation, you might find yourself without any help when they go on vacation, get sick, or when they are simply too busy servicing other customers. Although having multiple technicians on staff is not a guarantee of fast, reliable service, but you are far more likely to have someone to talk to when you have a problem.

Another reason you want a computer service that has multiple technicians is because no one computer guy no matter how good has infinite knowledge about every type of software, hardware, and platform. Multiple technicians mean multiple skill sets and a higher likelihood that your computer problem will get resolved faster. 

 

Following these simple five steps will not 100% guarantee that nothing will go wrong, but to do otherwise will welcome disaster!

 

Wayne

 

SPYWARE

Antivirus and Spyware Utilities currently selling on E-BAY

Windows Registry Blues

How important is it to keep your windows registry well maintained?

Microsoft designed the Windows operating system with a central system database called the Registry. The Registry keeps track of everything about your system including almost everything that you add to it. By keeping a system database Windows allows all the software in your system to interact and work together to deliver the rewarding and enjoyable experience that you've come to love but it does come at a price.

Designing a system that's as complex and simple to use, as the Windows operating system is an understated achievement despite the criticism it often gets. Microsoft was however unable to eliminate the need for ongoing maintenance. They took the easy way out and built in the need to maintain and repair the system regularly to keep it running at its optimum performance. Fortunately software is available to perform this ongoing maintenance for you. Maintaining your Registry is easy if you have the right tools.

Microsoft knew that they would have to provide some way to edit the Registry so they provide a utility called Regedit that allows you to change almost every piece of data stored in the Registry.

In the wrong hands this tool can be a nightmare. It comes with no docs and its use is not straight forward and in some cases irreversible. My advise: If your not a computer geek or professional do not use regedit!! Even if you don't, over time your computer may start to slow down and start acting sluggish.

There are many factors that can reduce your computer to a crawl. Viruses, Trojans, worms and spyware are amongst the better known causes. Prevention and cure software for these kind of threats are now installed on most computers and most users appreciate that steps should be taken to avoid them. There are also some lesser known and understood causes of failing performance.

• Installing software, not liking it and deleting it. (fragmenting your hard drive)
• Software that didn't uninstall properly.
• When uninstalling programs deleting files common to other programs thus making them unstable and not run properly.
• failing to defrag your hard drive on a regular basis.

Fortunately there are tools to automate this process some of which are free like Spybot and Ad_aware. There are also reputable sites that will scan your computer for free. Naturally they are hoping you will buy their product once you see what a good job it does. But what the heck it's a freebie. To visit one of these sights click here.

I'll review some of my favorite cleaners in a future post.

Click on my name below to see my other site.

Wayne

MM3E

Do you know what MM3E is? If you're into online selling it's Undoubtedly the best script run selling "all inclusive" package I've ever seen! This program has modules for everything.



That's what makes it so great! It's module based. There are modules for web design, shopping carts, email management, member management selling tools and many many more! And as new modules comes out you just plug them in instead of having to buy a whole new program.

So why am I mentioning this? A business associate of mine (and close friend) Robert Goulet is an affiliate of this program. I understand he is giving back to his buyers almost all of his commission as a bonus incentive to buy from him. But if your seriously interested in this package you need to act fast as there is only about 5 days left to the feeding frenzy.

This is a screen shot of the main control center:

This is what Rob had to say in an email to me:

WHAT’S ALL THIS MM3E Hype??
If you’re on anyone whos anyone’s Internet Marketing mailing list, you no doubtedly have been inundated with every level of hype, gimmick and promise to purchase the MM3E product!


Hey, I’ll give you some money back…

read more here:

Thanks,Rob

My First Video Blog

Windows Media

This is my very first Video Blog so don't laugh! It certainly will not be my last. You now can put a face and voice on my Blog. In future posts I'll discuss the mechanics behind creating and uploading a video blog. It isn't as straight foward as I had thought but there are lots of helpfull folks out there if you know where to look.

Wayne

Yoggie Pico

Searching the web today I found the following article of interest. Yoggie Pico, "A complete security antivirus utility on a pen USB device that has its own built in processor." Pretty neat.

Wayne

I've posted the article below.

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Yoggie has announced the unveiling of its new Pico USB stick used to protect your PC from incoming data through mediums such as your wireless adapter, LAN or Bluetooth. Similar to the Gatekeeper series, Pico is a Linux based software running on the small thumb-sized device with a built-in 520MHz processor and 128MB of RAM to keep those protection-processing resources out of your computer and in the device.


In an enterprise network, most of the protection for computers is provided by separate appliances protecting the whole network. At home any type of spam protection or firewall software usually runs directly on the computer, taking up memory and processing power. With the Pico this is all taken care of within the stick which simply plugs into your USB port.
The Yoggie Pico runs 13 different applications providing protection from hacks, viruses, malware, worms and other attacks while frequently checking for updates to protect against new vulnerabilities. There is also no complicated installation and by simply plugging it in, it will automatically start filtering traffic.


The device comes in two versions; the Yoggie Pico Personal and the Yoggie Pico Pro. Both have the same protection features but the Pro version targets enterprises with a VPN client to remotely manage notebooks on the road. We expect to see the Yoggie Pico available in September of this year, with the Personal retailing for $179 and the Pro for $199 each. Both come with 2 years of licensing and can be extended for $30 (Personal) and $40 (Pro) per year.
The Yoggie Pico is available for pre-order from the Yoggie website

<http://www.yoggie.com/node/40> now with orders shipping June 10th, and will be available through other retailers sometime in September.

Google Software Packs

THERE is probably no technology company around (except perhaps for Microsoft) that gets more attention than Google. There are good reasons for this. The Internet has become an indispensable part of our business and personal lives. Google makes the Internet easier to use by offering great productivity tools that are free of charge.

What most folks don't know is that Google offers free software packs for download that can really enhance your daily computer life.



The three that I find most usefull are:

Google Desktop: Helps you find something your looking for on your computer by indexing all your data, including word docs, e-mail, photos, online articles and other Web pages. Then all you have to do is type in a keyword.

Norton Security Scan & Spyware Doctor Starter Edition: includes a special edition of Norton Security Scan, as well as another program, Spyware Doctor, to help you evaluate your computer's vulnerability to security risks. The two apps combined will detect and remove viruses, worms and Trojans; detect, remove and blocks all types of Spyware; run and schedule scans to keep your system healthy. This is not the full-featured version of security and anti-spyware software which you'd have to pay for, but this is certainly a good place to start, especially if you have a small-business or home-office operation.

Toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox: Has a multitude of cool utilities that will save you time and frustration. Included is a pop-up blocker, a language converter for converting foreign web sites, and a spell checker that works in web based email.

These are only a few of the applications found within the package. Whats really cool is that if you don't want an app you can delete if from the pack before download. And even if you download an app that you already have, if it is older than your present app it will NOT install.

Wayne

Norton 360

Even though Norton Antivirus programs are the most widely known, I've always shy'd away because of there intrusiveness. They in twine themselves into the registry so much that if they become corrupt it is almost impossible to fix short of reloading the operation system.

I’m happy to report that they have listened and everything I didn’t like has been fixed in there new release which also has a fresh name change. It’s called Norton 360.

Posted below is an article describing all the new features. I plan on purchasing this product and will report my findings in a later blog.

Introducing Norton 360 - All-In-One-Security! Click Here


Wayne
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I've been using spyware and other security software for almost two decades but far too often, I have wondered whether the cure was worse than the disease.

Symantec is a case in point. Older versions of its Norton Anti-Virus and Norton Internet Security programs have slowed down my machine and interrupted my work flow by asking me to decide what to do with every suspicious file or email it ran across.

I'm happy to report that the company reformed its ways. Its newest product, Norton 360, has no noticeable impact on system performance and has left me blissfully almost unaware of its presence.

That doesn't mean it's not doing its job. It's just being quiet about it. The software, which costs $69.99 per year for up to 3 household PCs, is designed to protect users from viruses, spyware, phishing attacks and other security threats.

It also has a two-way firewall that blocks incoming threats and outbound threats – malicious software that "phones home" to send personal information to a rogue server. There is also a "PC Tuneup" feature that removes temporary files left behind by Windows or your browser and defragments your disks to speed up drive access.

In addition, there is now a backup feature that allows you to automatically backup to an external drive or to an online server run by Symantec (you get two gigabytes of online backup free and can purchase additional space). I'm a big fan of online and other off-premise backup strategies because they protect you even if the unspeakable happens such as fire, flood, hurricane, earthquake or worse.

Unlike some backup software, this product doesn't try to compress or otherwise alter your files. That leaves you with a backup that you can access from any PC even if it's not running Norton 360.

Because Norton 360 is so unobtrusive, I was wondering if it was even working until I discovered its view statistics option that told me that it had detected and blocked two viruses and one piece of spyware. It also informed me that it had automatically completed 53 security and program updates to make sure my protection isn't out of date.

For Internet Explorer users, the program is able to help protect you from malicious websites by checking against a database of known bad sites and analyzing sites on the fly to see if they contain code that could lead to "drive-by downloads" of malicious software that could jeopardize your security or harm your PC. Unfortunately, this feature doesn't work with Firefox, Opera and other browsers besides Internet Explorer.

I also used the program to defragment my disk drive, which puts all of your files in contiguous areas of the drive so that the drive heads can access your data more quickly. Earlier versions of Norton products used to give you feedback as they defragmented your drives but in the spirit of leaving you alone, this one doesn't tell you anything other than that it did a defrag. Personally, I wouldn't mind having a little more reassurance that it's doing its job as long as that didn't slow down my PC.

Unlike some competitive products from ZoneLabs and TrendMicro, the new Norton product doesn't have wireless network protection. It also lacks features to clean up the Windows registry (which can sometimes slow down a PC) as well as other system performance tweaks you'll find in other packages such as Iolo's System Mechanic.

Parental controls, ad-blocking and anti-spam tools are not included with the product but you can add them by downloading the Norton Add-on pack. Actually, I think this is a pretty good idea. The company kept the product leaner and faster by leaving out features that a lot of users don't need while making them available at no cost for people who do need them. Perhaps Microsoft could learn from this example.

Overall, I give Norton 360 good marks for being easy to install and configure, and knowing when to stay out of your way and not slow you down - which is exactly the kind of progress I like to see when it comes to security.

By Larry Magid © MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.