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.