Our favorite photo organizer program is Picasa…and has been for a long time! We wrote our first article about Picasa in 2005 and then went on to write many more articles, created still relevant video tips, help Picasa classes, and even published a how-to CD at one point. In fact, today (May 2019), Picasa still graces my desktop computer and… Read More »Picasa no longer supported by Google, but…
Since 2009, Office Depot (and merged partner Office Max) along with Support.com were knowingly scamming customers into paying for repairs or “fixes” that were absolutely not needed. I won’t go into the gory details, but you can read the full story here. Just know that large retail outlets that sell goods and services don’t always concentrate on providing the best… Read More »Bogus Repair Requests at Office Depot costs them $35 million
Please, please, please read, listen and watch ALL newscasts/articles/Facebook posts or videos with a critical eye. These past few days the news and Internet have been dominated with this ‘huge ransomware attack‘. Let’s start by talking about math. It is estimated that there are between 2.5 and 3 BILLION computers in the world today. The biggest number of affected computers… Read More »Perspective on Ransomware “attack” 2017
Internet Explorer has been the single largest factor in computer security problems over the past 10 years. Consumer education and awareness follows closely behind. Combined, these two factors create a security nightmare. This story outlines yet more evidence to problems stemming from Internet Explorer and its monetary effect on companies like Google. Remember that the AOL and MSN browsers use… Read More »Yet another reason why I recommend using anything but IE
PC World columnist, David Coursey, writes this week that the hassle of upgrading a Windows XP computer to Windows 7 isn’t worth the time and price. It pretty much mimics the exact advice I gave to Windows XP users when Vista came out 2 1/2 years ago.
Software developers build software for the future, so older computer simply cannot run the newer software as efficiently. Especially when talking about operating systems like Windows.
Bottom line: If you are Read More »PC World columnist says don’t upgrade from XP
The Nintendo Wii, a gaming console you hook to your TV, became a runaway success since its release two years ago. About 9 months after its release, Nintendo released its wildly successful and popular Wii Fit with balance board. The balance board does a fantastic job of measuring balance, weight, center of gravity and more.
In the CNN article I linked below, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security may employ the Nintendo Wii to test how fidgety Read More »Airport security may screen you with a Nintendo Wii
Ran across this interesting news story today. Scientists are starting to use small, 83 gram digital cameras capable of taking up to 10,000 pictures on animals. In this case, the camera was mounted on an albatross and they found that these albatross were feeding with killer whales…similar to buzzards and lions on the savanna. Following is the full article. BBC… Read More »Tiny digital camera mounted on an albatross…really
I’ve written many times about passwords and their importance in keeping you safe online. Search the site for passwords to read them and also take a look at this article from the Gmail Blog at Google. Official Gmail Blog: Choosing a smart password.
Microsoft released an updated and completely re-tooled version of their computer security product. It is now called Microsoft Security Essentials. I have not had a chance to try it out yet (wasn’t accepted into the beta testing this summer), but through my reading it is getting much better scores than their awful Live OneCare products they sold for a couple of years.
Overall, it supposedly runs much faster than OneCare and protectsRead More »Microsoft’s Security Essentials
The issue of net neutrality is rearing its head again lately. In a nutshell, net neutrality means that anyone who pays for access to the Internet should get full, unfettered access to the Internet. Opponents want to allow Internet providers to charge for priority access to the Internet. In other words, if you forward an email with a funny joke or pictures of your family, it would take longer (albeit not much longer) for it to reach its destination unless you paid extra to have priority treatment.
On one hand, some compare it to shipping or mail services. If you pay more, it can get there faster. However, we have that now already with Internet service. If you pay more, you can get a fasterRead More »Net neutrality – It isn’t a political issue