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Riding Shotgun with Adam

I’m raising my rates – here’s why

While Rick and I run seperate businesses, we each do the same thing. I spend my day travelling to various homes and businesses all over town to work on computer problems and train people how to get more from their systems.

To do this I have been charging $50/hr. for homes and $75/hr. for businesses. Does that sound like a lot? Probably not if you live in a bigger city, but let's compare that to everything else out there.

As gas prices have gone up and everything else has gone up in price right along with it, I have kept the same rates for over two years. I hate raising my rates. But, after doing some math and some research, I don't feel too bad about making the big move to raise my rates.

Are there better options than Microsoft Windows?

I missed a Shotgun article or two this week, but this should make up for it. Here is a great little demo video showing some of the powers of one build of Linux. I don't know much about it, but the video speaks for itself.

What is that man doing at midnight in the back yard?

I don't often accept trades as pay for my services, but one of my clients that I have had for a very long time offered me a nice GPS device as a trade for a couple of appointments.

I have wanted a GPS system for quite a while and this one is perfect for my needs.

After teaching computer classes for the Parks and Rec. departments all day, I finally returned home around 9pm. Although I knew I still had a list of things to accomplish before bed, I had to play with my new toy before my mind could think about anything else.

I visited the Garmin website and learned all about the device then I reset it to remove all of the previous owner's information.

Using “Run” to get places

If you have listened to the show much, you have probably heard us tell people to go into "msconfig." This tip works in Windows XP for sure, but some commands may not work in other versions of Windows.

msconfig is one run command that takes you into the Microsoft Configuration Utility, but there are other handy run commands, here are most of them.

To use any of these click on START -> RUN and type the word or phrase in the box provided.

Add Hardware Wizard
hdwwiz.cpl

Add/Remove Programs
appwiz.cpl

Automatic Updates
wuaucpl.cpl

Bluetooth Transfer Wizard
fsquirt

Time doesn’t stop in roaming areas

I went to Moab today with some folks from church. I love the beautiful drive and there are some nice places to eat there.

In addition to the scenery, I also enjoy the drive because only about half of it has cell coverage. Typically, I don't like travelling through areas without coverage, but when I am travelling with friends I don't worry so much about emergencies.

Once in a while I would think, "I wonder if anyone is trying to call me," then I would stop thinking that and enjoy the drive. After a while, I stopped wondering about my cell phone at all.

It wasn't until I was about 10 minutes from home on the way back that I decided to check my messages. I was only gone for about 6 hours. "You have 18 messages."

Secret Shopper Scams

Luckily I haven't seen anyone personally who has fallen victim to this scam, but in a world where people are always looking for a "get-rich-quick" approach to wealth building, I can imagine that someone in our audience could find this information useful.

Here is an article from Snopes.com all about a new version of an old scam. This one is centered around a secret shopper program. There are several reasons that this scam can be especially tricky, not the least of which is that there are legitimate secret shopper programs. This article discusses how to know the real employers from the scam artists. 

The no porn approach to computer maintenance

There are many things that can slow a computer down, but nothing does more to negatively impact the performance of a computer more than spyware. Even many viruses run undetected, but almost all spyware prevents a system from running at top speed.

Spyware comes from a variety of places, but there are three types of web browsing that will guarantee that you accumulate some of the worst forms of spyware.

Online gambling sites: Not all online gambling sites are sources of spyware, but most of them are.

Online surveys and drawings via popups and spams: Many legitimate companies ask for your opinion through surveys, but surveys can also be lures for spyware. If you get a popup or spam offering a free iPod, laptop, ringtone, etc., consider it a trick to get you to download spyware.

The long-handled old lady grabber

I have written a number of times about tools that make my job easier. I have discussed my Swiss Army knife with a built-in USB flash drive, ball point pen and flash light. The USB hard drive enclosure is also a favorite of mine, but yesterday I found a new tool that I will be getting soon, the long-handled old lady grabber.

Old Lady GrabberContrary to the name I have given it, it is not a tool that grabs old ladies with its long handle. Althought I suppose it could be used that way.

The embarrassing dangers of Picasa

I have learned to be careful when loading Picasa onto a client's computer.

Picasa is one of my favorite digital photography programs. Once you install it, it scans the entire computer for all digital photos. It catalogs them and displays them as thumbnails in order of date created.

The fact that it looks for and catalogs all of the photos on a computer has led to a little bit of embarrassment to a few of my clients.

Yesterday while working with a wonderful client, I installed Picasa to help her manage her digital photos easier. After installing it Picasa displayed a large porn collection. I knew that the photos were not there because of anything she had done so I had her look away while I deleted the photos.

The firewall debate heats up

After my post yesterday, then my article in the newletter, a few people feel that I am way off base in recommending that most people don't need a firewall.

First, Windows XP has a firewall built-in, if you use DSL or you have your cable Internet running through a Router, then you have a hardware firewall. My comments are pertaining to the extra software firewalls like ZoneAlarm and Sygate.

My cool brother-in-law, Nishan, emailed me with a few comments about my articles. He designs and maintains a huge database for a medical billing company in Oregon. In other words, unlike me, he is a true geek. I merely pretend to understand when people talk about SQL, Linux, and Apache, Nishan understands this stuff.