Carputers News and Computer Tips

With the art.com artPad.  Fun!

From Clif Notes Newsletter, which is one of our favorite websites… 

John Hood, who maintains a great freeware website, did a cost analysis comparing freeware with off-the-shelf commercial software “necessities” for the average home or small-business computer user.  You might be surprised at the results, but we’ve known (and have told our customers about) the potential savings for quite some time.

If you have questions or need assistance obtaining, installing, or using free software, contact us!  We would be happy to be of service to you. 

The OneTipADay blog maintains an Updated List of Places To Watch TV For Free Online.  There’s quite a range of programming available, according to the site. 

Edit 02/22/2007:

The Cucirca.com blog also has a list, plus a later update. 

Joris Evers writes in CNET News.com about an all-too-common mistake many home and small-business users make when setting up their routers.  From the article:

If you haven’t changed the default password on your home router, let this recent threat serve as a reminder.

We’ve seen far too many wide-open wireless networks in our travels to doubt the validity of this concept. 

If you are not sure what steps you should take to secure your wireless router, The DailyWireless website offers a fairly comprehensive set of instructions.  These instructions, along with a read-through of your specific router’s user manual should give you enough information to properly secure your wireless network if you’re fairly technically astute.

In addition, we highly recommend configuring your router to use the free OpenDNS servers.  From their website:

OpenDNS uses its distributed network of DNS servers to speed up your Internet experience, increase reliability, improve security and make DNS smarter for users all over the world. 

We’ve found these statements to all be true in practice.  If you are not sure what DNS is or how it works, OpenDNS has a great Frequently Asked Questions section.

And, as always, we’d be happy to help you with any network setup questions or needs you have.  Contact us if we can be of assistance!  

This is a long, well-written article by Owen Linderholm for the IT Security website which discusses “how the mob could be using your PC to run rackets on the internet and what you can do about it”. 

Some excerpts:

…in the past two years the rapid growth in organized crime in Eastern Europe and a huge increase in sophistication has jumped organized crime on the internet from an irritation to a serious problem.

How is this happening? The basic reason is that almost half all computer users connected to the internet have no or ineffective security protecting themselves and their systems while they web browse or even when using email.

Why? Here’s the bottom line – money and lots and lots of it. Industry estimates for the US are that at minimum several billion dollars were made in the US in computer and internet fraud last year. Some estimates go as high as over $20 billion.

We do a fair amount of malware removal, and, to be honest, we get more than one “deer-in-the-headlights” look from a customer when we explain in layman’s terms how and why their computer was infected.

Carputers specializes not only in malware removal, but in computer system hardening - taking proactive steps to make certain that your computer’s potential vulnerability is minimized.  This includes user training and awareness as well as anti-malware software and PC configuration.

If you have questions or need assistance protecting your computer and your personal data, contact us!  We would be happy to be of service to you.

Daniel Escaca wrote a great article for Free Software Magazine detailing “three lazy writer’s tricks that can relieve you of most of the drudgery involved in creating a fairly large document in OpenOffice.org Writer”. 

Specifically, the article details the lazy way to:

He writes:

The computer can do so much for us if we only let it. I believe we work too hard at times, taking 20th or even 19th century habits into the 21st. We should learn more about what our software can do for us so we can apply our hard work to things that really matter.

We are in agreement - let the computer do the work because that’s what it is there for…

Free Online Dictionary: English, Medical, Legal, Financial, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a Search Engine all in one…

This site also has downloadable add-ins which allow easy access:

• Desktop Assistant for Windows
• Right-Click Browser Add-on
• Add to Google toolbar

Other, similar websites include yourDictionary.com, OneLook Dictionary Search, and Word Source.

The Online Etymology Dictionary offers “explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago”.

The Triponic blog lists their picks for the top three free dictionary / thesaurus utilities.  These programs install on your PC and do not require that you be online to use them.  

We’ve found the cheapest local sources for these (at least in metro Birmingham, AL) are Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Big Lots.  If you buy a CAT5 network cable or USB cable from WalMart, any of the office supply chain stores, or CompUSA you’ll pay about double the price.

These cables can be had even cheaper online, but most people don’t like to wait.