Another parental reminder

We mention this tip as often as possible on our show, but I felt it was necessary to bring it to the attention of our web visitors again: Parents, please install and use only Mozilla Firefox for your web browser. Kids, especially teens, plus Internet browsing with Internet Explorer spells disaster. Too many Internet degenerates target their spyware and virus spreading programs at teens and teen related web sites. Also, teens...

Bresnan Security Suite

Our local cable Internet provider, Bresnan, starting sending out notices about their new security suite from Computer Associates. Computer Associates is one of the older technology companies and produces great software, and I haven’t seen the product yet, but based on the description in the email, I wouldn’t jump on board. As with most suites, they are usually too big, too slow, and don’t protect you well...

The Top 10 Free Porn and Poker Web Sites

Let’s all face it. We don’t have to agree with it or even like it, but the porn and gaming (poker) industry push the boundaries of the Internet and sometimes that translates to a better Internet experience for all of us. From experience with my business, I can tell you that computer users who frequent free online gambling sites, porn sites, and free music downloading sites have the worst running computers....

Spyware’s on the rise – Rules to keep ...

We have posted a number of tips for getting rid of spyware, but most spyware is totally preventable. Most of it comes as gullible, over confident teenagers surf the web. Here’s a list of rules you can print out and post by the computer to keep the computer safe. These are not in order or importance. 1. Use Mozilla Firefox to surf the web 2. Do not click on anything that claims that you have won something 3. Do not click...

Splashtop Instant On – Instant Off

On last week’s web show, I talked about how excited I was with a new technology called Splashtop. Adam sent me the site earlier last week, and since then my mind and ideas have been flying. Splashtop was developed by a private company called Device VM. They work with hardware and software developers to bring their ideas to the market. Splashtop is being billed as a computer’s alter ego to the operating system (aka...

You can change your Internet Home Page – Vid...

When you buy a new computer, the Internet browser comes pre-configured with a home page (first web site you see when you start your web browser). For PC’s, it is usually MSN. For Mac’s it is Apple.com. If you download Firefox (which everyone should be using), its default home page is a Firefox branded Google page. Sometimes your Internet provider’s web site takes over as your home page if you run one of...

Find Ann Coulter in Firefox

Have you ever followed a link from Google only to find that the page it leads you to is full of text that you must read through in order to find the terms you searched for? In Firefox and most other browsers, you can press the F key on your keyboard while holding the CTRL key down and you will open a find tool. This tool works like a miniature search engine for the page you are on. Simply type the term you are searching for...

It’s the basics baby…5 of them

A customer of mine commented earlier in the week that he was “amazed” at my knowledge of computers. I thanked him then replied that all of my knowledge could fit in the head of a thimble. And it’s true. Many days I stew over how much more I would like to know and learn about computers, technology, programming (which I know butkus about), web design, and web marketing. One reason I have been successful in...

Giving up on Ubuntu

No, I’m not giving on Ubuntu…I still think it is the best operating system to hit the computer world since Windows 95. My client that I installed Ubuntu for last weekend, decided that doing her AOL email in a Firefox windows was too slow (she has 256K DSL). Unfortunately, that was her only complaint and she wants to return to AOL’s proprietary browser/email with Windows XP. Curse AOL, they thwarted a...

Ubuntu – Day 5

I haven’t ported much of my data to this computer from my Windows’ computer, but haven’t missed any of it yet either. I do have this system hooked into my home network so I can access shared folders on the Windows’ machine if I need those files. I mentioned on the show today that one of the huge reasons I like Mozilla Firefox is the availability of “extensions”. Extensions are little...

Ubuntu – Day 1

I haven’t touched my Windows’ machine all day and won’t for the next 14. However, one program I already miss from my Windows’ computer is my wonderful anti-spam software called Cloudmark Desktop. Adam and I talk almost weekly about Cloudmark Desktop. We have both used it since we discovered it at the old Comdex computer show five or six years ago. Currently, they don’t have a Linux version of the...

Magnifying Your Screen

With today's higher resolution screens, some computer users have trouble making out some items on the screen. Microsoft has a built-in screen magnifier that works OK, but isn't perfect or necessarily intuitive. Recently, I found a great application, called the Torian Screen Magnifier , that magnifies any portion of your screen by simply moving the on-screen magnifying glass over the area you want magnified. It is...

Ubuntu on the road

I continue to experiment with the Ubuntu operating system. This past weekend, my family and I made a quick trip to the South Dakota Black Hills and I took my Ubuntu laptop along for the ride. My Ubuntu laptop is an older Compaq (almost six years old) that was destined for the trash heap by its previous owner. It no longer performed well for them and required reformatting and upgrading to run Windows XP and other software at...

Mozilla Firefox Revisited

By Rick Castellini 2002. Revised by Adam Cochran 2007 Earlier this summer, my co-host, Adam, decided to do an 'on air' review of a product. The product he chose is Mozilla Firefox, an alternative web browser. Being on the radio and downloading, installing and reviewing software was a new experience for us, but the impression was instant and impressive for both of us. Mozilla loads most web pages much faster...

Is this a test?

Today I had an appointment that spanned almost every area of what I do on a daily basis. The appointment lasted roughly three hours. In that time I… Helped setup a new iMac. She is making the switch from Windows and wanted some of the features that she was used to in her PC. I set her computer to ask for her password whenever it was turned on or came out of sleep mode so her kids couldn't get online without her...