Why you shouldn’t use the same username and ...

I have had several clients tell me that they use the same username and password for everything so they don't forget. While this is a personal decision, I just thought I would provide one good reason why it's not a good idea to only use one username and password. Let's say that somehow a bad guy gets a job working for your ISP (Internet Service Provider) or perhaps he gets a job working for your newsletter about...

New business model, same old AOL

I noticed in the news that AOL has officially made all of its services free. They have also lowered their rates to $9.95 for dial-up service. Their pitch is that all of their content including email is now free. They are really trying to get people to sign up for their free email. So, I figured, what the heck. I will sign up for it if it's free. Just so I can review what a free AOL service is like. If you haven't...

Google News Alerts

We talk frequently of the new and useful tools that Google offers. One of the best is the Google News service. Google uses their powerful search technology to bring you news stories from many angles. If you really are a news junkie, you can use Google Alerts and RSS to get those news stories routed to your email or customized portal page like My Yahoo or even Google’s cutomizable home page. To use the Google Alerts or...

Interview with Paul Forster, CEO of Indeed.com

We talked with Paul Forster of Indeed.com on the show today. Indeed.com is a job hunting site that lets users search the largest job database available on the Internet. Click the link to listen to the interview and learn more about this extremely helpful and easy to use web site. Some of the topics we talked about included:  ·          Vertical Search vs. Google and...

RSS: What it can do for you

Last week we briefly explained Really Simple Syndication. And a little about how it works. This week week we will take look at what the average user can do with RSS. You may have noticed a little icon on our site. You may also have noticed the little orange icon at the bottom or top of your web browser on certain sites. If you see either or both of these icons on a site or in your browser while visiting a site, you will...

RSS – Really Simple Syndication

RSS has been around for quite a few years already, but we have not brought it up as an official tip. We purposefully held off because we wanted the technology to mature and for the technology to truly become usable. We also delayed the idea a little until we perfected how we were going to offer this exciting web technology on our site. This week, we just want to introduce you to the topic and then next week give you the...

Norton causes problems…blah,blah,blah

This is going to be a short one because I have to get to the digital photography user group soon. I just wanted everyone to know that I saw two computers with exactly the same problem today. They were connected to the Internet, but couldn’t view the Internet. In other words, they could get windows updates and use programs like Yahoo! Messenger, but they couldn’t view web pages. Here’s what I did to fix the...

Sending pictures via email

Computer users are always grateful to learn new tricks of the trade. One ‘trick’ that was implemented with Windows XP more than five years ago continues to escape many computer users…send pictures via email efficiently. Sure you might be sending digital photos as attachments, but can you send more than one at time? Are you resizing your photos before sending them so they don’t require horizontal and...

RSS – Really Simple Syndication

Admittedly, I’m always a little late to some technologies. Sometimes because of a time factor and other times because it takes me awhile to figure out a use for the technology. One technology that has been around a few years that I’m just starting to take advantage of is RSS. RSS allows any web user to ‘subscribe’ (for free) to an automated feed from a web site. At first, I thought, "hmm, why not...

I can get on Yahoo! but I can’t connect to t...

Let me begin by saying that it is never the purpose of our Shotgun articles to make fun our clients or make anyone feel ignorant. We often use examples from our daily adventures simply to point out common problems, misconceptions or new problems to watch out for. Today I had a client who told me she couldn’t get on the Internet, she could only read her Yahoo! email. When I hear something like this, I know that the...

Picasa 2

What can you do with Picasa 2? Picasa 2 is a free program made by Google that allows you to organize your photos without any effort on your part. Besides organizing photos it also has some great creativity tools including gift CDs, slide shows, and blogging tools. HOW TO GET PICASA: 1. Either click on this button, or go to www.picasa.com and click on the Free Download button. 2. After downloading, install the program by...

Our Top Internet Information Sites 2005

We started publishing this list about three years ago. I fully admit that I am an information junkie and enjoy finding the answers to questions as soon as they come up. I tend to use a core group of sites to find my information. In this list you will see some perennial favorites and some new ones that I started using over the past year. In no particular order, my favorite information gathering web sites...

Learn To Identify Search Engine Ads

A search engine is a website or part of a website that allows you to search either the entire Internet, or a given website for specific information. Google, Yahoo, Excite and Dogpile are just a few of the common search engines that search the entire Internet for information on any word or topic you type into their search box. As you may well imagine, it is not an easy thing to create software that searches the entire...

Learn about Your Favorite Hobby or Share your Expe...

With over a half billion people online worldwide and growing by more than one hundred million annually, the Internet is a great place to congregate and discuss hobbies, politics, sports and more. Are you interested in Model A Ford restoration, raising cockatoos, RV traveling, cross breeding tulips, or programming Access? These and thousands of other topics are freely available for discussion on the Internet. In the beginning,...

The efficient way to email your digital photos

I often get emails from family or friends who have recently been on vacation or been involved in some other event and they want to share a handful of photos with everyone in their address book. Some of the email works out great, but other email doesn’t quite make it through the way sender intended. Emailing photos can be one of the most troublesome things you can do with your email for several reasons. 1. ...