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Newsletter arriving?

After spending the last three weeks searching for a solution to our newsletter woes, I decided to completely rework our old system. Friday’s newsletter is on its way tonight, and I hope you are all getting it soon. Please be patient as we work through this horrible problem. Turns out that if we want to move to something a little more reliable and flexible, it would cost us upwards of $200/month, and since we don’t have any email or web sponsors, we need to keep running the newsletter as is.

Again, thanks for your patience.

Ubuntu – Day 13

Haven’t used my computer at all today except to write this blog entry. I will answer some email later, but again, Ubuntu does that without any problems at all (except that I miss my Cloudmark spam filter). I have one more day before I return to my Windows machine and use it as my primary again. I did hook a regular mouse to this laptop and it makes it easier to run the machine than relying full time on the touch pad. Thankfully, this laptop has a button that can turn the touchpad off when I’m typing since my palms tend to rub on the touchpad and then throw me out of the box where I was typing.

Tomorrow night, I will give a longer summary of my 14 day Ubuntu report and how I feel it would work for other computer users.

Ubuntu – Day 12

Over the past two weeks, we have been working diligently to come up with a solution for our newsletter problems. We can’t apologize enough for the delay in getting the news to your email box…remember that you can come here to read the newsletter as well.

In my ongoing quest for finding an email newsletter solution, I discovered that Mozilla Thunderbird email program will handle RSS feeds (search our site for RSS for more info) very capably. I plan to write a tip on that in the future. Since I’m using Thunderbird as my email program on this Ubuntu machine, I have been able to become more familiar with it. And the features it has on Ubuntu are the same as Windows. I’m actually becoming quite used to it and might switch to it on my PC as well.

Ubuntu – Day 9

After using this laptop for a solid week plus, I see pluses and minuses in laptop use. The Ubuntu continues to roll along perfectly. With Ubuntu, for the moment anyway, there is no need to install anti-virus or anti-spyware software because there are very few problems with Linux being hammered on like Windows. I’m running the base install of Ubuntu with no extra security software at all…definitely one reason that it is so fast compared to Windows Vista and XP. I did download and install the new Google Earth for Linux last night, and it works flawlessly in Ubuntu. I don’t use Google Earth often, but it is nice to have it and to see Google make a Linux version speaks volumes…in my opinion.

Ubuntu – Day 8

Week two with Ubuntu starts today, and still no shakes, dry heaves, or headaches after leaving Windows last weekend. I’m enjoying the Ubuntu and even have the spam a little more under control with Thunderbird email. Normally, I don’t play games on my computer, but I do like puzzle games that challenge my mind and help me wind down after a long day troubleshooting Windows’ problems. Ubuntu comes with a literal plethora of small, fun games. I like one called “Same Gnome” that challenges you to clear a game board of small orbs by lining them up as the same color. Sounds simple, but it is fun and like all good puzzle games is addicting.

Ubuntu – Day 7

Today marks the one week mark that I quit using my Windows Vista machine and started using Ubuntu exclusively. I pledged to use Ubuntu only for two straight weeks to really put the operating system through the paces of daily use. After a rough start with email and fighting spam, I am almost in a groove of using this free and robust operating system. I think that Microsoft has the work cut out for themselves over the next few years to maintain their huge share of the operating system pie.

Ubuntu – Day 4

I’m going to do a short written update to my Ubuntu trek, but record my first official “Shotgun Podcast” here shortly.

After only three days, I gave up on Evolution email as my email program. I like the program a lot, but unfortunately, I get way too much spam not to have a better anti-spam solution. So, I downloaded and installed Thunderbird today which while not perfect and far from my Cloudmark Desktop solution on my Windows machine, it is much better than the Evolution method.

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 software and don’t plan on it anytime soon. The Evolution program that comes with Ubuntu works very well, and I will test its anti-spam solution that is built-in and learn to tweak it over the next two weeks.

If anyone reading this knows of a fast, accurate anti-spam software for Evolution in Ubuntu, please let me know.

My last post….

Today will be my last post from a Windows machine for at least two weeks. I decided that in order to really test out Ubuntu Linux (which I have been glowing about for the past few months), I will use the machine as my sole computer for the next two weeks. I’m going to leave my Windows machine cold turkey and rely soley on my laptop running Ubuntu. I will access files, as needed, on my Windows’ machine, but only via my network through Ubuntu.

The mysterious expanding Outlook Express book!

I received an email this week from someone who had a mysterious address book problem.

Their Outlook Express address book had tons of email address for people they didn’t know. Pretty scary. If you are an Outlook Express user, you may want to take a look at your own address book, it is likely happening to you too.

There are two possible explanations for this.

1. Address book Gnomes. These weird little bearded men with pointy hats creep into your home late at night and add strangers to your address book using magical powers.

2. You have the “Automatically put people I replay to in my Address Book” box checked in Outlook Express.

What’s nice is that the solution for either problem is fairly simple.