Screensavers

If you're looking for a new screensaver for your computer, one thing you DON'T want to do is go searching on Google for "free screensaver". Just about everything that comes up in that search result will be loaded with spyware, and could really mess up your computer.

Incidentally, screensavers have really gone through an evolution. With the original (really old) CRT monitors, you had to have a screensaver to avoid having the icon images burned into the screen. Then, with the newer CRTs, the problem of phosphor burn was no longer an issue so you didn't really need a screensaver other than to have something interesting on the screen when the computer wasn't being used. Now, with almost everyone using the new LCD monitors, screensavers are again necessary to avoid the icon burn-in problem.

I have recently found a few great screensavers that are safe to use, and free. They also are all along the "clock" theme. Here they are:

The first one is called PolarClock. (download)
This is basically a black background, and a series of incomplete circles. Each circle represents a component of the date and time, and the circles complete as time passes.


The next one is called Fliqlio. (download)
This one just resembles a big digital clock that occupies your entire screen.


And finally, we have WorldClock. (download)
As the name implies, this is a selection of clocks, and each one resembles a different time zone.



In this week's video, this little kid hasn't quite gotten the hang of drinking from a hose -

Think you're a nerd?

You are not a nerd, unless you have one of these.

Windows Activation headaches continue

Even with Windows Vista, Microsoft continues to use its flawed activation procedure, annoying and frustrating customers (but when was that ever an issue for Microsoft?). More details here.

Alternatives to Office

Without a doubt, Microsoft Office is the choice of most businesses and individual users when it comes to word processing (Word), spreadsheet (Excel), and presentation (Powerpoint) software. When virtually everyone uses a particular program, you might find it difficult to use something completely different. If you send a file to someone else, they need to be able to open it. So most people just use Office to avoid compatibility issues, even though it is expensive and sometimes rather slow.

However, there are alternatives.

Lotus Symphony is a suite of applications that includes document creation and editing, digital presentation, and spreadsheets - much like Office. One big difference is that Symphony is free. And you can use Symphony to create or edit documents in Word, Excel or Powerpoint format - so anyone with Office can still open your files. I have not used Symphony, so I don't know how it compares in speed.

Another option is Open Office, which is also free. Again, this software is compatible with the programs in MS Office. I used Open Office a few years ago, and it seemed to be pretty slow. However, that may have been the fault of my computer. Or, more recent versions may be faster. The advantage of Open Office is that there are more software choices - this group includes programs for word processing, presentations, spreadsheets, drawing, database and advanced math.

There are other alternatives as well, depending on your preferences. CNET has a good article on this, as well as a comparison chart, here.

This week's video - a chair that assembles itself

Goofy motorcycle

This doesn't look like a Photoshopped image, so I think it is probably an actual motorcycle (you can click on the picture to see it larger). But it raises a few questions for me.

1. How could anyone ride like that for any length of time?
2. Why would anyone want to?
3. Your arms are already outstretched - how do you make a turn, since one arm would have to go even higher?
4. Is this street legal? Should it be?

Still considering Comcast?

I have written here before about Comcast, and their reputation for "less than stellar" customer service. If you are still considering them for your ISP, I recommend that you read about this recent customer's experience. It involves a 75 year-young woman, and a hammer.

Read it here.

Open a file with a different program

Question: I recently had my computer hard drive replaced. Now, whenever I click on a movie file, it opens in Windows Media Player instead of RealPlayer. How do I get my movies to open in RealPlayer instead?

What you need to do is change the file association. In other words, whatever type of file you are trying to open is currently associated with a particular program (in this case Windows Media Player), and you want to associate it with a different one (Real Player) instead. The file type is designated by the extension, which is the 3 letters (or numbers) after the "dot". For example, if you double click on a photograph file named "birthday.jpg", then the program that opens up and shows you that picture is the program you have associated with the ".jpg" extension.

Let's say for example you want to view a movie file with the extension ".avi" (this is a common video file type). First, you have to find that file on your computer. But don't double click it - instead, RIGHT click on it and from the new menu, choose "Open with". Then, click on "Choose program". This will open a new window with a list of programs. You should see RealPlayer there. Click once to highlight it, then put a checkmark in the box that says "Always use the selected program to open this type of file". Then click OK. Your movie file will open in RealPlayer, and that type of file will open in RealPlayer from now on.

This week's video...I don't quite get the practical value of this skill, but he is obviously very good at it -

Homework solution

Interesting history quiz

This quiz came from one of the blogs that I read on a regular basis. Try to answer all the questions before looking at the answers.

Who said it?

1) "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

A. Karl Marx
B. Adolph Hitler
C. Joseph Stalin
D. None of the above

2) "It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few...and to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity."

A. Lenin
B. Mussolini
C. Idi Amin
D. None of the Above

3) "(We)...can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people."

A. Nikita Khrushev
B. Jose f Goebbels
C. Boris Yeltsin
D. None of the above

4) "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own...in order to create this common ground."

A. Mao Tse Dung
B. Hugo Chavez
C. Kim Jong Il
D. None of the above

5) "I certainly think the free-market has failed."

A. Karl Marx
B. Lenin
C. Molotov
D. None of the above

6) "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched."

A. Pinochet
B. Milosevic
C. Saddam Hussein
D. None of the above


Now click here to see the answers.

Random image slide show

Do you know how easy it is to make a blog? Just about anyone can do it. This site that I use is actually owned by Google. All you have to do is go to www.blogger.com and sign up for a free account, then start publishing your material for the world to see.

There are many thousands of people uploading material on this site every minute, and that includes pictures. One interesting thing to see is JUST the pictures, in slide show format, as they are being uploaded. You can now see this here. It is just a continuous slide show of unrelated images from every category. It's about as random as you can get!

If you see a picture that is particularly interesting, you can click on it and go straight to the blog where it is posted. Blogger filters out objectionable content in this service, but they also have the disclaimer that some inappropriate material may slip through by accident (I have not seen anything like that though).

This week's video is just two guys doing a funny comedy act. Wow, they are pretty funny and there is no vulgarity involved - how did that happen?

Is your PC secretly connecting?

One of the biggest threats to computers around the world today is the wide proliferation of botnets. This is an abbreviated term for a network of computers that are all acting in "robot" fashion - following their programmed instructions to do damage and create chaos.

Imagine if your computer got secretly infected with spyware that ran in the background undetected. That spyware caused your computer to, on command, send out thousands of spam messages while you were at work during the day. You come home at night and everything is fine (or appears to be fine anyway). Unless you had a program designed specifically to catch this kind of activity, you would not be aware of anything being wrong - so it would continue unrestricted.

Now, imagine hundreds of thousands of computers just like that around the world - all programmed to perform a specific malicious action at the same time. This use of large groups of "zombie" computers has become the favorite tool of spammers and other scum. It's a good reason to have a quality antivirus and antispyware program running all the time. In the meantime, you can check and see if your computer is connecting and doing something online without your knowledge. Here's how:

Click Start - Run and type "cmd" (without the quotes) in the text field and hit OK.

In the new window, at the cursor prompt, type:

netstat -b 5 > activity.txt

After a couple of minutes, click Ctrl + C.

Go back to Start - Run and this time type: activity.txt and click enter. This should bring up the activity file in Notepad. Look through there and see if you see any unusual program connecting to the internet without your permission.

This week's video - just some idiots falling down a hill