Good riddance

Saddam
assumes
room
temperature
and the
world is a
better
place.

This looks like fun!

Merry Christmas

This is the first Christmas since 1992 that we have been able to be with our family here in Florida. We are enjoying that. We also have Johanna with us (Jo is from Ecuador and lived with us in Maine for a year). She brought Paul with her, who is also visiting from Ecuador. We are looking forward to a wonderful time with family and friends, and hope you do the same.

No computer tip today, but I do have a video to share with you. Six year old Heather Martin sings about her big brother Shaun, who is overseas fighting for our country in Iraq. The lyrics to her song are below. Thanks to my son David for telling me about this video.


You were almost sixteen when I came into the world.
Mom and Dad had you first then 3 more boys I'm the baby girl.
I sure have a lot to look up to in you,
you're really smart and funny with a big heart too.
After one year of college you knew what you had to do.
It's just like you wanting to help with the war.
So you joined the army when I was only 4.
This time of year we talk of big plans
but you're over seas in some distant land.
You can't be here for Christmas, I don't understand.

Chorus:
When are you coming home, Shaun?
When are you coming home?!
We lit up the house like we always do
but it doesn't seem bright 'cause we can't have you.
In my prayers I ask God to keep you safe.
And I'm trying to be really brave.
Tell me that the fighting's through.
Come home!
I really miss you.

It's hard to enjoy the holidays without you.
But we're so proud of you and all the red white and blue.
Remember that Jesus is your best friend,
And someday our families will be together again.
Wow! You know we'll have a great big party then.

Chorus

I want to show you how tall I've grown
and introduce you to my new friends at school.
Maybe we could go and get some ice cream together
but I really don't care what we do.

You can also see a news story about Heather and her song here.

Microsoft saves the day once again

Are you stuck at work just before the holidays? Do you have a lot of small gifts to wrap?

Do you have MSWORD on your computer? Got a printer?

That's all you need to make cool graphic wrapping paper!!!

Read the full article here

Visiting some kids in need at Christmas

On Sunday afternoon December 17, I was part of a great event. My wife and two kids (they're both in college but they're still kids to me :), along with a group of people from our church, helped out at a Christmas party. We've all been to Christmas parties before, but this one was a little different.

This Christmas gathering was held at a juvenile detention center in Pasco county, about 30 minutes north of where we live. This facility houses both boys and girls (separately) that range in age from 8 to 18. Can you imagine - how messed up must your family be, to be in jail at age eight? A lot of these kids don't even have what we would think of as a "family" - most of them don't get visitors at all. So Christmas time is an especially difficult time for them.

Our group stuffed over a hundred huge Christmas stockings with all kinds of goodies and brought them out to the kids. We had a big Christmas dinner, sang Christmas carols and gave the kids their gifts. They all got their own stuffed stocking, and they also got a couple of new televisions and DVD players, along with some DVDs.

What impressed me was how well-behaved the group was. You wouldn't have known that they were being detained here because of breaking the law. They were very grateful, and said so many times. It was a wonderful experience, and it made me thankful that my children have never gotten into trouble or had the problems that some of these kids have experienced.

I encourage you to take a little time and volunteer for something like this. It really puts the Christmas season back into perspective.

Make a website shortcut on the desktop

I know some people who don't use the "Favorites" or "Bookmarks" feature of their web browser. For example, if they want to go to this blog page, they would actually click in the address bar at the top of the window, and type out "http://scottjohnsonflorida.blogspot.com". What a waste of time!

A faster way is to store often-visited websites in your Favorites (if you use Internet Explorer), or Bookmarks (if you use Firefox). When you are at the website you want to remember, do a right-click in an open area. In the menu that pops up, choose "Add to Favorites" or "Bookmark this page". Then, whenever you want to get back to that page, just click on it in your list.

However, if you commonly want to visit one particular website, and you want to get their as quickly as possible when the only thing showing on your computer is your desktop, there is a faster way.

First, go to the website you want to visit frequently. Then, drag the web browser window down so that you can see part of your desktop also. Now, find the icon in the address bar (this will be the little icon just to the left of the "http". Drag that icon to the desktop and drop it there.

Now, whenever you are looking at your desktop, you can just double click that icon. Your default web browser (either IE or Firefox) will open immediately to that website.

This weeks's video: Fake lifeguard takes a bathroom break

You need CounterSpy

I have mentioned this in my newsletter previously, a few times: spyware is a more widespread problem than viruses now. If you don't have an antispyware program on your computer, you are inviting trouble. The one I use and recommend is CounterSpy. You can download it here and use it free for two weeks. Then, it only costs $19.95 for the first year and $10 per year after that. A great investment against future headaches!

How to safely trash your computer

Hi Scott,

I love getting your newsletter. I wonder if you answer questions in the newsletter. If so, here's one from me: I'd like to send my old computer to the recycle bin but first I want to take personal information off the machine. Can I simply remove the hard drive? What does the hard drive look like? How do I destroy it?

Excellent question. With new computers being so inexpensive now, lots of older computers are being replaced. Too many of these old machines still have working parts - and they contain all of your data. This could be data that doesn't really matter, such as your Spider Solitaire high score. Or, it could be your passwords or private financial information. The safest procedure is to make sure that none of that data is available to someone who might somehow come across your old computer after you have discarded it.

How to do that? First, make sure that the data you want to save is secure on a flash drive, CD or some other form of backup (how to do that is a separate lesson). Once you are sure that you have saved the data that needs to be saved, unplug the computer and open up the case. Locate the hard drive - it is approximately the shape of a small paperback book, but smaller. It will have two cables connected to it: one cable is quite wide, with about 40 pins being plugged into it. The other cable is about an inch wide, with 4 pins. Unplug both of the cables from the drive, and remove the drive itself from the computer (it is probably held in place by 2 or 4 screws).

Once the drive is removed from the computer, take it and store it in a safe place. The reason I recommend this is that you may have forgotten some data that you really need, and someday you might want to retrieve it from this hard drive. Just stick it on a shelf in a closet somewhere - it won't take up much space. You could even take a sharpie marker and write on it "old Dell computer" or something else descriptive.

Now your computer computer can be safely discarded (or recycled) and you don't have to worry about your data falling into the wrong hands.

This week's video clip: A simple left turn - in Moscow

Junk food heaven

If you like junk food, this story is like reading about someone that won the lottery. A container about the size of a tractor-trailer washed ashore on the outer banks of North Carolina recently, and it was filled with Cool Ranch, Nacho Cheese, and spicy Nacho Doritos. Local residents were eager to "help with the cleanup" - one man was said to have filled up his truck with the snacks. Most of the bags were undamaged.

I'll bet she buys lottery tickets

I read a story recently about the bleak existence of a young woman in Dallas. Here are some of the highlights:

DALLAS – Off a bleak and empty interchange midway through the Dallas sprawl stands a Burger King. It's past midnight, the rain sizzles on the parking lot blacktop like frying bacon. A young woman is working the lobster shift at the drive-through window. She is overweight and wears pink lipstick.

"Nothing special," she says of herself. "Nothing much."

From the car window, the whole fast-food experience is a numbing routine. Pull up. Order from the billboard. Idle. Pay. Drive away. Fast food has become a $120 billion motorized American experience.

But consider the life inside that window on Loop 12 in West Dallas. There is a woman with children and no health insurance, undereducated, a foot soldier in the army of the working poor. The fry cook sneezes on the meat patties. Cigarettes go half smoked. Cameras spy on the employees. Customers throw their fries and soft drinks sometimes because they think it's funny.

"I hate this job," Castillo says with a smile. "I hate it." It is her third drive-through job. First it was Whataburger. Then McDonald's. Now here.

Castillo works from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. She earns $252 a week before taxes. There is no chance of overtime, because the boss doesn't allow it. To make ends meet, she and her husband work split shifts, he at an auto parts place during the day and she at the Burger King at night. And so the children, ages 7 and 8, are alone for a half-hour in the morning, left to wash and dress themselves.

Castillo arrives at her two-bedroom rental house on a tough street at 7. She takes the boys to a McDonald's for breakfast at 7:15 – the same place she used to work – before dropping them off at school at 7:45. A man named Carlos works the window there. They used to work there together.

Every morning, the boys' order is the same: one sausage, egg and cheese biscuit; one bacon biscuit; two hash browns; and two orange juices. Castillo could take free food home from Burger King, but the boys like McDonald's better.

"Regrets, yes, I got some," she says. She wishes she would have worked harder in school. Not gotten pregnant at 13. Again at 14. She wishes she would have thought about life instead of letting it come at her, one dead end job at a time.

Since this story was originally published in the New York Times, I presume the purpose was to cause us to feel sorry for this woman. After all life has dealt her a tough situation, right? Maybe she should be entitled to some government program so she could make some progress and improve herself.

Sorry, I don't feel sorry for her. She made her choices and now she is living with them. It is not the government's responsibility to fix her problems. My taxes should not pay for her lack of planning.

I do feel sorry for her two kids, however. They couldn't choose their mother, and they didn't ask for this life.

Who's kissing under the mistletoe?

Protect your private data

Do you have personal data stored on your computer that you want to keep private? Perhaps you have a folder that stores all of your tax returns, or a folder that holds a record of all of your passwords to the various websites you visit. Maybe you have a list of Christmas presents to be purchased, and you don't want your kids to see it. Whatever the reason, you have a folder that you don't want anyone else to access. Here is how to protect it in Windows XP.

Find the folder (but don't open it). Right-click on the folder and choose Properties. In the new window that opens, click on the "Sharing" tab. You will see a check box that says "Make this folder private". Check that box, and click "Apply".

If you don't already use a password to log on to Windows XP, you will have to create one in order to privatize this folder. Choose a password that is not easily guessed - a random mix of numbers and letters is best, and the longer the better. Of course, you want to make sure that YOU can remember it. You will also now need to log on to Windows with this password.

This week's video clip: bloopers from a fishing show

Picture frames from CD jewel cases

Here's a clever idea - take those old CD jewel cases that you aren't using, and make something worthwhile from them. Complete tutorial, with video - see it here.

A geeky Christmas decoration

Well, if you like to celebrate Christmas in true "Computer Nerd" style, this is about as nerd-like as it gets...a wreath made out of old computer parts.

Instructions (they are brief - this ain't rocket science)

Wow, did you hear about this?

There are some amazing stories circulating on the internet and by email right now - and apparently they are all true! Here are some of them:

UPS Uniforms reported missing - believed to have been acquired by terrorists, who are planning to use them to gain unauthorized access to certain sensitive and vulnerable areas.

Ashley Flores, a 13-year old girl from Philadelphia, is missing - she has been missing for two weeks and we need your help to find her!

The "Life is Beautiful" virus - it is being distributed as a PowerPoint presentation that is attached to an email. The standard antivirus programs cannot destroy it!

Applebees is giving out free $50 gift certificates - all you have to do is forward this email to 9 of your friends!

Lipstick danger - some major brands of lipstick contain lead, which causes cancer! To test it, put some of your lipstick in the palm of your hand and rub it with a 24k gold ring. If the lipstick color changes to black, it has lead in it.

ATM panic button - did you know, that if someone forces you to go to an ATM machine to withdraw money, you can just enter your PIN number backwards, and the police will be immediately dispatched to that ATM machine.

As you can probably figure out, these "news" items all have one thing in common - they are all false. These are just some of the stupid hoaxes that continue to get forwarded by email, causing unnecessary alarm and clogging up the internet and millions of email inboxes.

If you get an email that says "Forward this to everyone in your address book", you should not forward it. You should delete it. It is almost certainly a hoax.

The same goes for email petitions. While some email petitions aren't necessarily a total fraud, they are essentially useless in effecting change.

If you get one that you just think has to be true, just do a search at www.snopes.com - this is one of the largest databases of internet hoaxes and urban legends. Or, you can send it to me and I will check it out (BEFORE you send it to all of your friends).

This week's video: an interesting trick

Computer Tip newsletter update

I think I have figured out the best way to distribute my newsletter on Monday mornings. I am planning to do it via Google Groups. If you are already a subscriber to my weekly email newsletter, you shouldn't have to do anything.

I am currently in the process of getting my subscriber list approved by Google. They want to make sure I am not just using their service to send spam to this large list of email addresses. I don't know if their approval will happen in time for the Monday newsletter or not, but it should be pretty early this coming week that it should be resolved.

Regardless of how the email is sent, the newsletter content will appear each Monday right here on this blog page. I also update the blog with other items throughout the week as content becomes available, so check back often. You might even make this blog site your home page, or one of your home page tabs in Firefox.

Christmas shopping has begun

The Friday after Thanksgiving is supposed to be the busiest shopping day of the year. I can imagine what the malls will be like around here - shoulder to shoulder, no parking spaces, more traffic than usual...

I am happy to do my shopping on the internet, thanks.

Maine weather - in Florida?

When we were planning our move to Florida, some people said, "Hey, take some of that cold weather with you!". Well, it looks like maybe that is what happened - central Florida actually had some snow overnight. Prior to this, the last time it snowed in Florida was in 2003. I do remember seeing some flurries here once before, back in the mid-80's.

I guess things are finally starting to look up for the Florida snowmobile dealers.

Didn't get your Computer Tip newsletter today?

The Computer Tip newsletter usually goes out on Monday mornings. Today, only a few of you (about 100) received it. I am working on the problem and hope to have it resolved within 24 hours. In the meantime, some of you might receive it multiple times while I get it worked out - my apologies for that.

Update (November 21, 2006 7:00 am) - fixing the newsletter sending process is taking longer than anticipated. You can check here for updates as they take place. Hopefully it will be fixed shortly.

Googling from your cell phone

How did we ever get along without Google? For millions of people every day, Google is the first choice for information of any type. Did you know that you could even use Google when you don't have access to your home computer or a laptop? You can use it with your cell phone.

Here's an example of how:

Let's say you are vacationing in Clearwater, Florida (a great vacation spot, by the way :) and you want to find the nearest Starbucks for a quick $5 cup of coffee. You don't need a computer, you don't need a phone book, and you don't need to go out and flag down the nearest BMW driver. Just type this as a text message:

Starbucks 33759 (33759 is a zip code in Clearwater - if you don't know the zip, you could just type the city and state)

Then send that text message to this number: 46645 ("google" without the "e"). Within seconds, you will receive back a text reply that lists each Starbucks in that area. This will include the address as well as the phone number, so you can call them if you want.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Here are some other queries you can do on Google, right from your cell phone just like the Starbucks example above:

Want to know the weather for Waldoboro, Maine?
Text message weather 04572 or weather waldoboro, me and Google will reply:
Weather:

Waldoboro,ME
39F,Clear
Wind:N 0mph
Hum:76%
Sa:31-49F,Mostly Sunny
Su:27-43F,Mostly Sunny
M:25-42F,Partly Sunny
Tu:29-43F,Mostly Sunny

Want to know where a certain area code is located?
Text message 614 (just type the area code by itself) and Google will reply:
614: area code for Columbus, Ohio

Want to translate an English word to another language?
Text message translate automobile in german and Google will reply:
Google Translation:
'automobile' in English means 'Automobil' in German.

Want to know George Bush's birth date?
Text message George Bush birthday and Google will reply:
Q & A
George Bush
Date of birth: 12 June 1924

There are other things you can inquire from Google via your cell phone. You can read about them, and try them out, at this link.

This week's video: Some kid getting excited about getting a certain Pokemon trading card for Christmas. To me, he almost seems demonic in his excitement. View it here.

Where Scott works

Okay, I have had a few people ask what I am doing these days. Now that I don't have hundreds of people calling me regularly to fix their computers or teach them how to use some piece of software, what am I doing to fill my days? Here's the story.

Even before moving to Florida, I knew I wanted to go into the mortgage business. There were a few reasons for this:

1. I knew that I could not bring all of my clients to Florida with me, no matter how much they may have wanted to come. So, to continue in the computer business, I would be starting from scratch to build up a base of business again.

2. I was actually getting a bit bored with the computer work. Not with the computer customers, mind you - meeting people and working with my customers was always a great joy. But the work itself had become not very challenging. I would generally see the same problems over and over. I needed to do something that would challenge my mind again.

3. I love to help people. That was partly my reasoning for becoming an EMT in Maine a couple of years ago, and it was a big part of why I enjoyed being the Computer Tutor. In mortgage work, I help people get money that they need. In some cases, I help people get into a house that they want - maybe the first house they have ever owned. There is a reward in that.

4. I love putting "deals" together - it requires some creative thinking, and a little skill with math. I have to look at all angles of a situation - what the customer wants, what the customer qualifies for, what the company allows me to do, and how I can put all the factors together to come up with a solution that works for all parties involved.

So, after getting "sort of" settled in here in Florida, I started doing some research and interviewing with mortgage companies. In early October, I accepted a position of Mortgage Professional with Foundation Financial Group in downtown Tampa. It's quite a bit different from going to work down the hallway at my home office in Maine! I am on the 19th floor of the Bank of America building (remember in January of 2002, right after 9/11, when a small plane piloted by a teenager flew into a building in Florida? That is the building where I work now).

It takes me about a half hour to get to work each day. I get there between 8 and 8:30 am, and I usually leave around 7 pm. That's Monday through Thursday. If I get a week's worth of work done in those four days, Friday is optional. I really like the attitude of the company and management - do your work, meet expectations, and no one will bother you about coming and going when you want. Of course, having just started a month ago, I work every Friday as standard procedure. I still have a lot to learn and it is too soon to be thinking about days off.

The target market that FFG concentrates on are people that have had some credit problems in the past, and might have trouble getting a loan now. These are people that aren't usually "deadbeats" - they just ran into some hard times, got laid off, maybe went through a rough divorce, or had some medical bills that caused them to get behind in paying some bills. Now they are back on track and just need some help in figuring out what to do. I do a lot of credit counseling, helping people get incorrect or unverifiable items off their credit report, and teaching them what they need to do to increase their credit score. In fact, I have discovered a "secret weapon" that many people don't know about - it's a way to increase someone's credit score by 10-30 points in a matter of a few weeks or a month, without any cost to the client.

Anyway, that's what I do now. So don't be too surprised if you see a text ad or banner ad here or in my email newsletter that offers my readers help with getting refinanced! In fact, if you have had some credit problems in the past, or even if you have good credit, or you want to get out of an adjustable rate mortgage, or you need some cash out or a lower monthly payment, give me a call at 1-866-822-5333, extension 3525. I am happy to discuss what we can do for you.

The NEW free version of AVG Antivirus

(Note: today's post is the Computer Tip for Monday, November 13. Starting next week, the "Computer Tip" and Video Clip will appear here on my blog, instead of in the newsletter. If you are a subscriber to the newsletter, you will continue to receive it. The newsletter will basically just be a link to the current blog entry.)

For quite some time, the antivirus program that I have used and recommended is AVG. It does a good job, it is not bloated like Norton so it doesn't slow down your computer, and it is also free for personal use.

You may have gotten a notice from AVG recently that the free version 7.1 will be discontinued. I have received many emails about this, asking "Does that mean I have to buy the paid version now?". The answer is no.

All you need to do is get the new free version, which is version 7.5. You can get it at this download link. When you get to that page, you will see box that says "AVG Free for Windows installation files" and under that will be a link to download the actual file (the file name will end with .exe).

When you click on that, the file will start downloading (it is a fairly large file, so it might take a while if you are on a dialup connection). If you are using Firefox, choose "Save to disk" and the file will end up on your desktop, where you will double click to install the program. If you are using Internet Explorer, just choose "Run" and the file will automatically start installing when the download is complete.

You do not need to remove the current version before installing the new one.

Under "Component Selection", just leave all boxes checked.

Finally, you will need to restart the computer when the installation is finished, so be sure to save all of your open documents first.

If you are still using CounterSpy as your antispyware program (which you should), then you don't need to download the AVG anti-spyware program. And you don't need to download the "Trial Version" of the AVG paid antivirus program. Just get the free version, and you will have what you need.

You don't need to do this immediately, since the current free version will be supported until January 15, 2007. However, I recommend doing it as soon as possible so that your software is always as up to date as it can be.

This week's video: the magic of pen twirling

Transferring my blog to this site

I am finally making the transition - the only thing I really use the site for is to host my blog, and I can do that here for free.

The interesting thing about using this space is that it is interactive. If you read something here that you like or dislike, you can post your comments about it.