Reminder for AVG 8.0 upgrade

Many of you have received notification from AVG that there will be no more upgrades to AVG 7.5 after the end of this month.

Last month I did a full writeup on the new AVG 8.0 and what my recommendations are. You can view it here.

One question that I have been getting now is: "Once I have the new AVG Anti-virus 8.0, can I get rid of CounterSpy?" The answer to that is yes. You won't need it any longer.

NOTE: I have put together a complete guide to downloading, installing and configuring the new AVG Anti-virus 8.0. This guide is free for my readers. You can get it in PDF format here. The guide is full of screenshots and very clear instructions, so that protecting your computer with the new AVG will be a piece of cake for you.

Another note: if you need help with getting AVG installed and configured, I can do that for you remotely. This is a service that I will be announcing on Monday, but you can see a sneak preview here.

How to have LOTS of home pages

I know that some of you already know how to do this. But for those of you that still only have one website as your home page (the site that comes up each time you open Firefox or Internet Explorer)...this is for you.

It's nice to have a particular page come up each time you open your web browser. But what if you have three websites that you check regularly? or a dozen? You can set them all to come up each time, and still have only one window open in Internet Explorer or Firefox. You do this through the use of the tabs.

(I am going to use Firefox for this example, but the newest version of Internet Explorer - version 7 - does the same thing.)

Okay...so you open Firefox, and you see the page you always like to see. For example, a local news page:















We are going to assume that you want to always open that site, plus two other sites. Here is how to do it.

Click File - New tab. Up in the address bar, type the address for the next website (we'll say it is another newspaper site, such as www.quoddytides.com), and hit Enter. You should now see that site open in the second tab.

Do the same thing for a third tab - for this one we'll use some big-city news, The New York Times (www.nytimes.com).

Now you should see 3 tabs - one for each of those three sites (click the image to see it full size):



Now there is one more IMPORTANT step - you have to tell Firefox to use these 3 pages as your home page. Click on Tools - Options and choose the "Main" section. Click the button that says "Use these pages" and click OK to close that window.

Now close Firefox completely, and open it again. There are your 3 tabs. While you are reading the first one, the other 2 are loading in the background, and will be ready for you to click on them at your convenience.

You can always change your home page preferences by deleting some of them or adding more (although the more you have, the longer it will take for them to load - you can experiment with that based on your internet connection speed). And always remember to "lock in" your preference with that last step.

In order to avoid missing any computer tips, I recommend making my blog one of your home pages (www.ComputerTutorFlorida.com/blog).

Do a Google search on a specific website

Probably the most common function performed on the internet each day (after email) is going to Google and doing a search. Everyone knows how to do that.

What if you want to do a Google search - but just on a specific website, instead of searching the entire internet? It's easy.

Let's say you remember a blog post I did about AVG 8.0 a few weeks ago. You know it is somewhere on my website, but how to find it? Like this:

Go to Google, and type in this search:

site:www.computertutorflorida.com avg

Note that there are no spaces between "site:" and the website. The only space is immediately after the website URL, before the search term.

That search will bring up all of the pages on my site that contain "avg". Of course, you can use any combination of key words or phrases for your search, just like you can any regular Google search.

This week's video shows a very narrow walkway on the side of a mountain. If you have a fear of heights, you have been warned. My motto is simple: it doesn't really matter where this leads; I know I don't need to go there.

Today you discover...StumbleUpon

Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest ones. Once you have tried the outstanding StumbleUpon, you will agree.

The premise here is that there are a lot of amazing websites out there that you would really, really like to see - you just have to find them. How do you sometimes find something, when you don't even know you're looking for it? You just stumble upon it.

Here's what you do. Go to www.stumbleupon.com, and click the "Join StumbleUpon" button to set up your free account. Take a few minutes and check off your personal preferences - this is the key to finding websites that appeal to you.

Then go back to the home page and download the StumbleUpon toolbar for Firefox or Explorer, depending on which you use to view websites (keep in mind, I am generally against adding toolbars because they are usually useless and annoying; this one is an easy exception).

Now, whenever you open Firefox or Explorer, you will see the toolbar up there with the "Stumble!" button. Click it. Click it again. And be ready to bookmark the websites that you find interesting.

Also - sometimes you will see a website with a link that says "Stumble this". You might even see that link on this blog occasionally :) When you click that link, it adds that site to the list of StumbleUpon sites and enables other Stumblers to find it too.

Happy Stumbling!

How to track your gas mileage online

Obviously, one of the big concerns on everyone's mind these days is the cost of gasoline. Right now it looks like things will get worse before they get better, so a lot of people are looking for ways to conserve fuel as much as possible. Well, it's hard to know if you are using less gas or more gas unless you somehow keep track of it. That's where Fuelfrog comes in.

Fuelfrog (link) is a free web service that helps you keep track of your gas mileage. Just go to the site and create your free account. Then, whenever you fill up with gas, enter the date, how much gas you purchased, your current odometer reading, and the price of the gas. Fuelfrog will keep track of your miles per gallon, and will also track trends, averages, and total costs.

If you use Twitter, you can enter all of the data from your cell phone immediately after filling up. Just another example of how information is power, and how the internet is all about making that information more accessible and usable.

Microsoft Word - how to select text vertically

Everyone knows how to highlight text in a Word document. You just click right before the beginning of a word, and then hold the mouse button down and drag to the end of the section that you want to highlight. Of course, there are some people that do it backwards - highlight from the end of the section back up to the beginning. This is called horizontal selection, and you would use it if you wanted to change the font of those words, copy and paste them to another location, or do something else with them. Forward or backwards doesn't really matter; either way works fine.

Here's something I bet you didn't know: you can also select the text vertically. Go ahead and try this. Open a Word document that has a page full of text. Now, with the mouse act like you are going to select the first couple of paragraphs (like I mentioned above). But while doing that, hold down the ALT key on your keyboard.

Interesting, huh?

This week's video is about a guy who goes into different retail establishments and tries to get a clerk to help him with his purchase. Why is he not successful? I'll give you a hint - his nickname is "Mumbles". This guy is talented - he almost seems to have developed a different language.

What is the new Google Friend Connect?

Google is - once again - about to change how we use the web.

Recently Google announced their new service, called Friend Connect, means that any website will have the opportunity to become a social networking site. There are millions of computer users that visit Facebook or MySpace every day for the purpose of connecting with other people; the ability to go to any website and interact with others visiting the same website will be a fundamental change.

For example, you're thinking about taking a trip to the Grand Canyon. You come across a website that describes several different travel packages. Visiting that website at the same time is someone who happened to have taken one of those packages last year - that's a person with whom you might want to chat.

The general effect is that the web will be more "open" - more like a big room with lots of people talking with each other and looking at various websites on display, rather than lots of little rooms with a website in each one. There's not a lot we can do about this; it is just the evolution of the web. I think it will be a positive effect.

Collection of Monty Python videos

Well, this post is sort of computer-related...the fact is that most computer geeks are also big fans of Monty Python. If that's you, you will love this site that offers lots of their sketches on video:

http://monty.python.videowall.sytes.org/

Yahoo email - important tip for forwarding

Okay, you have heard me rant about Yahoo, and also about forwarding emails. I'm not going to beat those dead horses again. Anyone that keeps using Yahoo, and keeps forwarding all those emails, is going to do it regardless of what I say anyway.

What I want to mention today is that there is a right way and a wrong way to forward emails when you use Yahoo's free email service. If yours is set up the wrong way, it's very easy to fix.

The wrong way to send a forwarded email is as an attachment. You could be doing this without even knowing it. If this is what you are doing, then every person that receives your email also receives an attachment (the forwarded email) that they have to open if they want to see what you sent them. Some people don't open attachments, because that is the easiest way to get a virus. Not to mention it's just inconvenient.

The right way to forward an email is inline. That means that the content that you are forwarding is right there in your email, and no one has to open anything else in order to see it. Safer, and much more convenient for the recipient.

To check this, go to your Yahoo account and click on Options. In the next screen, click on General Preferences. In the General Preferences section, scroll down to the "Message Actions" group and look for "Forwarding Messages". You want to click the button that says "Forward as inline text - Original messages will be copied directly into the body of your outgoing messages." Then click Save. Your recipients will appreciate this change, even if they don't thank you for sending those email forwards.

Some of the best email hoaxes

And by "best" I really mean the ones with the highest "Nonsense Factor". These are all taken from the archives of Snopes. The sad thing is, they are all still in circulation and there are still people every day that read them, believe them, and then forward them.

1. The US Government plans to track homeless people by implanting RFID chips in them.

2. Comedian Andy Kaufman has returned, 20 years after faking his death (I wish this one were true - I loved his style of humor).

3. The BabyInk body art chain specializes in baby tatoos.

4. Florida's governor asked residents to reduce electrical usage during Ted Bundy's execution.

5. You can purchase human flesh through a company called ManBeef.

6. The 2003 California wildfires left the US facing a severe toilet paper shortage.

7. A website offers for sale a device for performing laser eye surgery at home.

$300,000 watch that doesn't tell the time

Newest craze for the uber-wealthy - spend $300k on the latest fashionable watch to come out. Oh, by the way, the watch doesn't tell the actual time - it only tells you if it is day or night (last I checked, a quick glance out my window could do that).

Oh, this other bit of news - the manufacturer has sold out and is on back-order.

I am trying out Twitter

Do you use Twitter? It sure is getting a lot of publicity these days, especially among bloggers. I am trying it out to see if it is something I want to use. My last 5 "tweets" are in the sidebar on the right.

What is Twitter? Basically, it is a service that allows you to update what you are doing at any given time. You can send updates, called "Tweets", and anyone that is "following" you will receive notice by email or text message. You can also see my Tweets at this website: http://www.twitter.com/pctutor (or my viewing the sidebar to my blog).

You can post Tweets at the site, or from your phone (standard text message rates apply - glad I have unlimited texting on my plan because my teenage daughter has been known to exceed the 3500 mark on certain months).

I am not 100% convinced that it is something I need. Yet, it is hard for me to ignore without at least trying it. If you want to "follow" me, click the link on the right and then set up your account. Or, if you already use Twitter, you know how to add me to your Follow list - my user name is pctutor.

Update: Twitter is not a service that I will be actively using at this time. I may use it in the future.

The world's first digital camera

Digital cameras these days are small enough that you can just about take one in your wallet. Virtually all cell phones have a camera built in, and some of them can take pretty good pictures. It wasn't always that way though!

The first digital camera was introduced by Kodak, all the way back in 1975 - that's when Gerald Ford was in office. Interestingly, the disposable razor came out that same year.

The first digital camera weighed several pounds, and recorded pictures on to cassette tapes. And get this - you think you have to wait too long for the camera to actually snap your photo now...with this first camera, it took a full 23 seconds to take your picture and record it to tape. This produced only a black and white image, and it could only be displayed on a television.

A huge email is stuck in my Outbox!

That's what happens when you try to send an email with a large file attached - it can get stuck. You just got back from vacation in Illinois, and you have lots of pictures of the World's Largest Catsup Bottle; of COURSE you are excited about sending those gigabytes of touristy images to all your friends. But when you click "Send"...nothing. You can't open the email because it is already trying to send. You can't delete it because it is trying to send. But it won't send.

If your Outlook has this problem, a sort of Virtual Constipation if you will, here's what to do:

1. First, you need to stop it from trying to Send/Receive email. This is really the most important thing, because you just can't do anything with it as long as it is trying to push out that big email. Click File, and then choose "Work Offline". Now, Outlook will still run but it won't automatically send and receive on it's regular schedule.

2. Now you have two options. You can delete the email (this is probably the best option, because you really shouldn't have tried to send an email that large anyway). Or you can drag the email from the Outbox to the Drafts folder. When it is in Drafts, you can eliminate some of the attachments to make it smaller if you want to try again.

3. When you have the offending email out of the Outbox, go back to File and choose Work Online again. Now you are sending and receiving - everything is "regular" again, so to speak.

If you do have a large file (like a video), email is not the best way to send it. There are services that allow you to upload a large file and then send a link to your friend so that they can go and download it. Or, you could just upload a video to YouTube and send the person the link to view it online.

If you have dozens of vacation photos to share with family or friends, Picasa is definitely the best way to go. But that's another tip for another Monday.

This week's video displays some amazing archery skills.

5 things you need to know about email

Think you know how to email? Well, you probably do. Just about anyone can type an email and hit the Send button. And a lot of people know what is acceptable and what is not. But I still get email from long-time computer users that violates some of the basic standards of email etiquette. So here are the 5 most important things to know and follow before you send your next email.


1. Don't use all caps. When you type in all caps, you are yelling at the person you are emailing. Whether or not you perceive it that way does not matter; that's the way it is. If you would not yell at your recipient face to face, don't yell in your email. Of course, if that is the impression you want, then type at the top of your lungs.

2. Use a meaningful subject line. This is just common courtesy. I want to know what an email is about before I open it. And a week from now, when I have to go to another folder and find that email, it sure makes it a lot easier if there is a subject line that gives some indication of the email content.

3. Don't forward junk email to everyone in your address book. In fact, if an email includes instructions that say to forward it to everyone you know, immediately delete that email. That's Rule #1. Whatever you are sending, your recipients have seen it before. Probably multiple times. It was a hoax the first time, and it's still a hoax. If I receive one of those junk email forwards, my first response is a polite "Please take me off this list - I get way too much email already." (If you are concerned about being polite because the sender is a friend, there is now a free service that will send them an anonymous email for you.)

4. Reply. This seems like a no-brainer, but I know certain people to whom I can send an email, and I really don't expect a response. That's just rude. Responding to an email (at least one that requires a response) is the absolute minimum you should do. If possible, respond quickly, or at least in a reasonable amount of time. I also recommend that you quote the original email, so that your recipient remembers the context of your conversation.

5. Don't put multiple email addresses in the "To:" field. Have you ever gotten one of those emails where the first full page is nothing but email addresses? Well, doesn't that look professional. If you do find it necessary to send an email to a large group of people, send the email to yourself. Put everyone else's email address in the BCC field. Since BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy, no one sees anyone else's email address (they won't even see their own). Here's what it would look like to every recipient:

From: pctutor@gmail.com
To: pctutor@gmail.com
Subject: Here's my meaningful subject line

Email is really not complicated; at least it doesn't have to be. If we all follow the basic rules, it will make the experience a lot more enjoyable for everyone.

Stumble It!

By far, the easiest way to create a playable DVD

Here's the problem: you have some movies on your computer that you have downloaded from the internet. You can watch them on your computer, but you want to be able to watch them on your big screen television. Let's face it; if you want to watch The Bucket List, Jack Nicholson's screen presence is just too big for your little 19" monitor.

So you need to get that movie on to a DVD disc that will play in your regular ol' DVD player out in the other room. How to do that? Not that easy. There are lots of different programs that will say they create DVDs, but typically they are expensive programs and not all of them are geared toward beginners. And even when you do it right, they don't always work.

You want something that does the job, is easy to use, and is FREE! Now you have it.

The program is called DVD Flick. You can see it at http://www.dvdflick.net/ (that's dot.net, not dot.com). It's a free download, and it really could not make DVD creation any simpler. You put in your blank DVD, run the program, choose your movie file, and click the "Create DVD" button. I hate to say it, but you don't even need a computer tutor to show you how to do this!

One downside - the process takes a while, and it pretty much ties up your computer in the process. A 2-hour movie file might take 4 or 5 hours to burn to a playable DVD, so you should just start it running before you go to bed, when you are done with your other work. And when you wake up in the morning, there's Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman waiting for you.

Making a fortune on domain name speculation

Did you know that you could have been a multi-millionaire? All you needed was $100 several years ago, and the knowledge of where to invest. Back then you could have purchased the domain name "business.com" for a hundred dollar bill (that was actually a high price to pay - today you can get a domain name for less than $10 per year). Of course, the guy that made that investment was purely speculating that "business.com" would be worth more than $100 some day.

He was right. A few years later, he sold it for $7.5 million. And you or I or anyone could have made that same investment. Now, the average person would say, "Yeah, that was a great opportunity...probably won't be any more big chances like that again..." Wrong.

The domain name "business.com" was sold again, just last year. This time, for $350 million.

While most of the "quality" domain names have been taken, two things are certain:

1. There is still a lot of money to be made in buying and selling names
and
2. There are still good domain names available. You just have to find them.

Finding a high-quality domain name is sort of like panning for gold. You never know when you will come across the mother lode. A quality domain name is short, preferably 1 or 2 words, easily remembered, easily spelled, and related to a niche interest.

So where can you find good domain names? One place to start is availabledomainnames.com - this guy makes his living buying and selling names. He has a huge inventory of names; in fact, he has so many that he even publishes lists of potentially good names that he won't even bother to buy. For the small investor who wants to take a chance on buying something that may be very valuable in the future, it can be fun and maybe profitable a few years down the road. You can buy it and keep it, or you can even use it yourself to create a blog about a special interest or hobby that you know about.

Even if you bought just one domain name a week, before long you could have a nice little portfolio. It's a lot more likely to make you a fortune than that lottery ticket.

Your heart just dialed 911. Wait, what?

If you're walking down the street and and suddenly go unconscious from a heart attack, one of the things you can hope for is that a skilled cardiologist happens to be nearby and can render the best immediate care. Since that's not likely, hopefully there is at least someone in the vicinity with a cell phone that can dial 911.

Soon, you might not even need to depend on someone else to call for help. Through the use of Bluetooth technology, if you have a medical emergency such as a heart attack or diabetic collapse, a sensor implanted in your body could immediately notify a nearby hospital or emergency response team.

Then, when the medical team arrives, they could have a small computer that receives signals from the victim, that would provide access about the current condition as well as any medical history that could be relevant to treatment. This could be in effect in as little as 3 years.

Of course, that raises just one question for me. How about whenever I get hungry, my stomach dials Domino's for a pizza?

Next Tuesday is a big one!

The second Tuesday of each month is a day that Microsoft calls "Patch Tuesday". That's the day that they send out all of the Critical Updates to users of Windows that subscribe to them (you probably subscribe even though you may not know it). Most people have Windows Updates set to automatically download, and then automatically install at 3 am, so there is really nothing to think about - except to cross your fingers and hope that Microsoft's patches don't cause bigger problems than the glitches they are trying to fix.

This month's big day is a week from today - Tuesday, May 13. The big news is that this newest round of updates will include Service Pack 3 (if you are still fortunate enough to be using XP), and Service Pack 1 (if you have "upgraded" to Vista). Of course, if you are just too excited to wait, you can go and get them yourself right now at the Microsoft website. But remember - if you go and grab the updates manually, you have to use Internet Explorer. Microsoft does not like the Fox.

AVG 8.0 - which version do you need?

As many of you know, for years I have been using and recommending the AVG antivirus program for virus protection, and CounterSpy for protection against spyware. I have always been happy with the way AVG has worked - their programs are well-written, meaning they don't suffer from "code-bloat". In other words, your computer isn't slowed to a crawl in order to be protected (like it is if you use Norton). Perhaps more importantly, AVG has always done a good job of updating itself, as well as scanning and detecting viruses. It is also easy to use. Hard to find a complaint about AVG.

CounterSpy, however, has become a somewhat different story. I started using and recommending CounterSpy a few years ago, and it actually does do a good job of detecting spyware. However, the program itself is now very slow, and it uses more than its fair share of memory. Memory usage isn't always a primary concern with other programs, but antispyware software has to be running all the time - which means it uses memory that your other programs could be using. The updates for CounterSpy seem to take forever, and I have found that when CounterSpy is updating, I cannot use most other functions on the computer. So, I have been considering other options for antispyware for a while.

And now along comes AVG version 8.0. I have been using the new AVG version and I am impressed, as I expected. First, a few observations:

The program you will see advertised and promoted heavily is the AVG Internet Security 8.0. They are promoting this one because it is the most expensive, and includes all of their components. You probably don't need that version.

There are two components that make that version the most expensive: AVG Antispam, and AVG Firewall. For most people, those issues are already solved:

- I have no problem with spam because I use Gmail, and their spam filter is excellent. Some people still use Qurb in combination with Outlook or Outlook Express. Some people keep their email address protected and don't get much spam anyway.

- Regarding firewall protection: if you have a home network using a router, the router has a hardware firewall built in so you don't need an additional software firewall. Or you could use Windows firewall (adequate for most people in XP, and improved in Vista).

So, for the majority of users, the version to get is just called AVG Anti-Virus. That is what I am using now, and so far I am very happy with it. It's not free - it costs $35 per year (try it free for 30 days - details below). However, remember that this is antivirus and antispyware in one program (you're already paying $20/year for the CounterSpy antispyware alone). And with the paid version of AVG, you get their tech support if you should ever need it.

Keep this in mind: you must have both antivirus AND antispyware software. You cannot have two antivirus programs running at the same time. You can run more than one antispyware program, but you don't need to.

The question I had to answer for myself was this: I have already been using the free version of AVG, and paying for CounterSpy. To go with the new AVG Anti-Virus and have both programs in one, the net extra cost is $15 per year. Is that worth it? The answer is yes. Here's why:

1. Since both antivirus and antispyware are running in the same program, you have one less program running on your computer. And that one less program is CounterSpy, which is notorious for slowing things down already.

2. You get rootkit protection, which is not offered by AVG free. I won't go into the details of what a rootkit is - you can read about it here if you want. But you do want to be protected for this.

3. Your downloads are screened automatically. Currently with AVG free, you need to remember to scan any downloads before running or installing. Do you scan 100% of the stuff you download? Neither do I. Now it will be automatic.

4. Instant Messaging safety - I don't use MSN Messenger or ICQ, so this doesn't really matter to me. But if you have kids that use a computer on your home network and they use an Instant Messenger program, this matters to you.

5. Safe searching. Check this out - when you do a search in Google, how do you know if the websites that are listed in the search results are safe, or malicious? If one of the listings is dangerous, AVG Anti-Virus will show you a little window like this:

(This is basically the same function that McAfee SiteAdvisor does, but I trust AVG a lot more than I do McAfee.)

6. Free tech support 24 hours a day. Tech support is by email, which I wasn't thrilled about; but when I had occasion to use it, I had a response within 10 minutes that solved the problem.

One other advantage to using this version: since I am using the same version, I have created a complete step-by-step guide that explains exactly how to download, install and configure it for maximum effectiveness. Yes, it is pretty easy to use - but there are a lot of settings in various categories that can be a little confusing. I go through each category, using lots of screen pictures, to show you exactly how to set it up so that it works like a charm. This guide is in PDF format and is free to my readers. To get this free instruction manual, just click here. You should save a copy to your hard drive for future reference, or if you want to forward it to a friend.

The current version of AVG is functional through May. However, don't wait until the last minute and risk having a problem - protecting your computer is too important. You can try it free for 30 days by following these steps:

1. Go to this link (www.tinyurl.com/5uo3gq).

2. Click on the tab near the top that says Trial Versions:

3. Look on the left side of the page for "Free Download" button under AVG Anti-Virus (it's the one on the left - be careful because you don't want the AVG Internet Security download).

When you click that button, the download will begin.

Stay safe!

This week's video shows what happens when a company tries to save money by hiring non-actors to act in a commercial.

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