March 29 Sen. Klobuchar introduced legislation concerning online file sharing software such as LimeWire, BitTorrent, and uTorrent. I have personally seen many computers files and software damaged because uses of these programs. It can also overwhelm networks. Also thieves can sometimes retrieve private data from your computer. Many times these programs are installed by kids of the owners of the computers to download music, video, and games from other computers. This software may also possibly get you in copyright trouble, even if used correctly due to flaws in the software. I advise NOT to use most peer to peer file sharing software. I’m not sure how much the legislation can do, but I don’t think it will hurt.
When people look for computers (or phones, or internet access) they may know what they want it for now, but not what they want it for in the future. Of course you could buy something now and buy something else when you need it, but it could be more expensive that way.
It used to be some people would say they only use their computer for word processing and maybe a game like solitaire.
Then it became, use it for email, and web browsing. -internet access
Then add a digital still camera, you want to store and view photos with your computer. -larger hard drive, maybe a better monitor
Then add downloaded or streaming digital music and video. – high speed internet access, large hard drive for downloaded content, good video card, good sound system
I personally started off using computers for games, word processing and drawing (and printing).
These days I use them for my digital photos and video from my cameras. Keeping track of bank accounts, keeping accounting books, and taxes. Download music from iTunes and Amazon. Watching video by others-streaming, downloaded, DVD, or TV tuner. I use Word processing more for email and web sites rather than printing. I don’t play much for games on my computer anymore, but use my friends Nintendo Wii once in a while. I’m trying to print less and less and have been converting paper, film, and tapes to digital form stored on hard drive and/or DVD. I didn’t think I’d join social networking web sites or send text messages on the phone, that changed.
My parents as recently as a couple of years ago weren’t planning on watching video on a computer, now they do.
If you see a feature or something new, you may not use it now, but that will likely change.
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Print these days?
Do you really need to buy a printer these days?
Many times we don’t send letters in the mail anymore, so there isn’t much need to print for that.
Email doesn’t need to be printed, since most of us have large storage for email. Just back things up if they are important.
Why print a web page? – book mark it or save it.
Do you really need to print a report, or can you email it or post it on a web page?
Photos we mostly keep and share on computers and digital photo frames. For those that we really want printed, we can have printed professionally, most the time cheaper than printing ourselves. I’ve used online photo stores such as dotPhoto.com, and Shutterfly to print and they have turned out very well. Targets photo prints usually turn out well. Walmarts prints are not as good.
You can hand write small notes and addresses on envelopes if only sending a few.
When you do need something printed you could pay to have it printed at a library or at a print shop.
I bought one from Samsung.
Color Laser printers are still a little bit bigger (sometimes really big) and more expensive to buy and maintain.
Inkjet printers are usually cheap to buy, but the ink cartridges are expensive since they don’t last long usually.
In my personal situation, I do have a laser printer. I usually only print a few times a month so I leave my printer turned off most of the time. Toner doesn’t dry up, since it is already dry.
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Common Loons in Minnesota Video
Minnesota’s State Bird the Common Loon. This video starts off with Lake Superior near Baptism River & Tettegouche State Park. Later goes to Long Island Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern MN. The video ends at the Mississippi River in Brainerd MN.
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Aitkin Fish House Parade
I added a video of the Aitkin Fish house Parade Nov 27 2009
Photos from the fish house parade
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Paper to Paperless
In an effort to go paperless I decided I needed to scan in my receipts for my business.
To do this I searched the web to find information about it. I found that the IRS accepts organized scanned or photocopied receipts. I also found Neat Receipts a scanner and a program (Neat Works) for organizing receipts, business cards, and documents. It is available for Windows and Macintosh. I bought the Macintosh version from a seller on eBay.
I am in a long process of scanning years worth of receipts and documents in an effort to free up space in my apartment. I remove any staples. I scan them in. If I don’t need the original paper copy I shred it.
Update: Disclosure 2-12-2013: We now benefit financially from links of this product on this site.
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LED Bulbs
I am slowly switching over from fluorescent to light emitting diode (LED). My new notebook and monitor from Apple have LED back lit Displays. These are bright screens (adjusts to make less bright) and with good color and quality.
As my compact florescent lights go out, I am recycling them and replacing them with LED replacement bulbs (with many LEDs inside). Some of these are not as bright as the compact florescent bulbs so you have to look at what you buy.
LEDs are very efficient. They do not produce the heat that florescents do. LED Bulbs may run at less than 3 watts which is a lot less than flouresent. They last a long time, one I bought was estimated at 30,000 hours. They also do not contain mercury.
LED are slightly more expensive to buy, however there will be savings in electricity use.
One bad thing about the culture with computer technology and computer science is that people involved are sometimes called geeks or nerds. Companies that name themselves this are helping keep this problem going. I do not consider myself a geek or a nerd even though I’ve been called both. This stops a lot of people from persuing these fields. Even though more and more people are using computers and IT, not that many people seem to try to be advanced at it. People in these fields are also sometimes called by their title such as techs or professionals. That is a better way.
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Slow Computer?
(Windows)
Slow computers are often caused by too many programs or processes running. These programs can be spyware or bloatware.
Bloatware can be removed using the uninstall feature in Windows Control Panel.
Spyware once in a while can be removed in the uninstall, but many times needs to be removed with an antispyware program.
Sometimes programs need to be removed in safe mode.
Running disk defragmenter can also speed things up sometimes, but these days this usually isn’t the problem.
An antivirus may slow down a computer, however it is a must for Windows. Choose an antivirus that does not have high system requirements and make sure your computer meets those requirements. Only have one antivirus on your computer. You may have to tweak the preferences on the antivirus.
Many times the computer is so slow it is best to use the recovery discs/partition/os disc to wipe everything out and start fresh – make sure you back up your important data files first if possible.
Many times on the hardware side, more memory can help speed things up (using any os). There can be other hardware slowing things down, but this is the most common.
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Scams, Solicitation, and Phishing
- There are many scams, unwanted solicitations, and phishing schemes.
- They can be found on the web, come in your email, your mail, and on the phone, even to your door. Many times they come from companies or individuals you haven’t heard of. Sometimes they are from well known companies and organizations.
- My personal Examples of unknown company:
- Non-local Advertising Companies: I received a phone call saying it was from Crow Wing County. Turned out it was a company that called itself Universal Adcom/ Premier Impressions calling from another state. I fell for this. There was an actual product, but there was limited distribution, so there were no results. They were very hard to deal with and very pushy. It was hard to cancel and they kept calling me many times after canceling.
- I dealt with several other non-local advertising companies that had similar situations and no results, however they were easy to cancel. I will no longer deal with them.
- Things I learned:
- Beware when caller id is blocked.
- Don’t answer or answer and be very cautious.
- Beware of businesses that you haven’t heard of and are not local.
- Don’t do a deal with someone that forces a deal done the same day.
- Say no thanks Hang up.
- If they call back consider calling the police.
- My personal example of problems from well known companies/organizations:
- The Better Business Bureau in the Twin Cities solicited me about joining. I had a person from there that said I needed to join telling me a story about how someone got killed. There was some miscommunication that she thought I had an employee, so she also quoted me a higher price to join. She kept calling me to join later a couple times. Later another nicer person from there called about joining but the bad thing from before and the price still high made it a no go.
- Beware of Introductory prices for Internet, Cable and Telephone. Many times bills go up in price, sometimes more than double.
- Beware of Free (especially mail offers)
- Beware of contracts for Internet, Cable mobile/land line phone. Sometimes a may be cheaper to pay out of a mobile phone contract then to continue with that company. Many times people buy more phone minutes than they actually use, costing them money.
- Internet Scams:
- Fake antiviruses, Fake Antispyware. Utilities that aren’t needed.
- File sharing – people share files that are actually trojans, and spyware that may look like music or video
- Work at home, and other easy money – There actually are some people that work at home, but there are many schemes on the internet, in newspapers, and on TV
- Beware of the content you go to: Porn Sites and Illegal file sharing sites are some examples of sites that cause more trouble than just what they are.
- Email/mail/phone/text scams:
- Taking care of money/Nigerian/out of country letter
- Lottery winning
- Bank account frozen/verifications – Banks hardly ever do this. These are almost always scams.
- Certain forwards from people you know may also be scams.
- Fake invoices/bills
- Avoid publicly posting/submitting personal information, if possible. Telephone numbers and addresses can be used to send solicitations. Social Security number, and credit/debit card/bank number be very careful who you give to and if given on the internet make sure it is a secure connection. Birth date with year should be careful too.
- Make sure your email provider/email program has a good spam and phishing filter.
- Look at web addresses and names carefully
- Look for misspellings in names, addresses and content
- Be very careful about meeting someone. If you do decide to meet, consider meeting in a public place.
There will be more on this topic in the future.