Carputers News and Computer Tips

PC World reporter Christopher Null tried to buy a computer with Windows XP preinstalled on it from the United States’ nine biggest PC makers. His findings: You can get one, but be prepared to fib.

The biggest issue with “downgrading”, in our opinion?  Before trying (on your own) to replace a factory install of Vista with a retail copy of Windows XP, make sure that there are Windows XP drivers available for all of the hardware in your machine.  The first place to look would be the computer manufacturer’s website.  If you don’t find everything you need there, you could run a program like SIW to positively identify all of your hardware.  Once you have identified the hardware you can try to get drivers from the hardware manufacturer(s)… 

Here are two lists of web-based, no-install applications worth perusing and trying:

From the netHACKZ website, 15 Killer Web Apps That’ll Rock Your World, and from the SmashingApps website, 21 Online Free Web Based Applications That You Probably Would Love To Use Every Day!

Web-based applications are a double-edged sword of sorts.  They are platform-independent which makes them good for users of multiple computers and/or non-Microsoft operating systems.  They do require internet access, which makes it tough to be productive while offline.

There are still worth a look, in our humble opinion…

Nelson Doyle, on Webupon:

Delivering the best of the best free music on the Internet is what these Top 45 Music websites are best known for and now, they are presented to music lovers the world over as an easy reference guide to bookmark.

In addition, Mashable has compiled a list of 30+ awesome streaming music sites along with a list of 30+ sites for free, legal music downloads we know you’ll enjoy.

Regardless of your choice or taste, what would life be like without music?  Getting it free is the icing on the cake!

Laura Milligan writes on the Teaching Tips blog:

Beyond Google, Wikipedia and other generic reference sites, the Internet boasts a multitude of search engines, dictionaries, reference desks and databases that have organized and archived information for quick and easy searches. In this list, we’ve compiled just 100 of our favorites, for teachers, students, hypochondriacs, procrastinators, bookworms, sports nuts and more.

If you’re an information junkie, there’s much here to be had…

Here’s a classic example of why - an article that makes for an interesting read.

What happened when ‘Penelope Retch’ answered her spam e-mail… What would be the experience in 10 countries when everyday people, armed with a PC and e-mail account McAfee provided for the Global S.P.A.M. Diaries project, clicked through the spam and chronicled the results?

We’ve found the best anti-spam measure (besides being very careful about giving out your email address) is a free GMail account from Google.  You can use it to check and filter almost any other email account you may have, and their spam filter is the most effective we’ve ever seen or used.

If you want to try this, but need help setting it up, contact us!  We’d be happy to help!

Actually, it has been out of beta for about a month.

IBM says:

IBM Lotus Symphony tools enable users to create, edit and share word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

This is a free office suite that, while not as feature-rich as Open/Star Office, is still more than most home users will ever need. It will save in MS Office 2003 (and previous) formats. It is supported on XP and Vista, and a couple of different flavors of Linux.

Direct download link…

The Investintech website (this company sells PDF conversion software) recently posted a good article about free MS Word alternatives - including web-based applications.   

Those of you that are running the free (and pay) versions of AVG 7.5 are probably getting messages about upgrading to version 8.0.  Virus definition updates and support for the free version of AVG 7.5 will end as of 05/31/2008. There is a free version of AVG 8.0, but it is not easy to find, and the update messages steer free users towards the pay version.

The free version of AVG 8.0 is available from this web page. Use the second link down, which will pull the file directly from AVG’s servers.

It is strongly recommended that, when installing AVG 8.0 Free, a custom (rather than default) install is selected.  We would suggest NOT installing the “Web Shield” nor the “AVG Security Toolbar”.  Users have reported better performance without having these options installed.  

As always, if you need assistance or have questions about securing and protecting your computer or network, contact us!  We’d be happy to be of assistance! 

Samer (creator of the most excellent Freewaregenius blog) did a recent comparison of many of the free applications that can be used to convert .pdf files into editable MS Word .doc files.  His verdict?  Online service Koolwire did the best job overall.

Easter Eggs in computer-speak are hidden features in software.  They can also be found on movie DVDs as well.  Some examples can be found in this Lifehacker post, this PC World magazine article, and on two websites - eggheaven.com and eeggs.com.  Happy hunting!

Edit 04/04/2008:

The IT Security website has a great article entitled The 101 Coolest Easter Eggs Hidden in Your Software, DVDs and Video Games.