Easy Computer Help: Computer Training & Tips to Learn Computer Basics
• Sunday, June 8, 2008 - Why Computer Surge Protectors are An Absolute Must
Computer surge protectors are a critical component to protecting your computer -- this is a lesson many people learn the hard way. Without one, a PC is vulnerable to the elements, like lightning storms, and even to unexpected electrical dangers like power spikes that sometimes come from the power grid itself.
I've seen this happen many times with my clients -- one in particular comes to mind: one day, one of those spikes hits their system and boom!
It wasn't pretty, and it took time and money to move all of their data onto a new system. But this time, they got smart and bought a computer surge protector to keep their new system safe.
Computer surge protectors don't cost a whole lot of money, and they can save your oodles of time and tears by keeping your hardware safe and preventing you from spending a ton of money on a brand new PC when there should be plenty of mileage still left on your old one.
Most computer surge protectors come with multiple outlets so that you can plug all of your components into a single, protected strip. Convenient and safe -- those are my new watch words!
To find a computer surge protector, you can go online where you can quickly find a large selection to meet every need and purpose. You can also find information about how our power supply can affect the performance of your PC, even in more subtle ways. It seems even small surges can wear down your system prematurely and cause it to act up, and bigger spikes can destroy it completely.
Shopping for computer surge protectors can be a bit time consuming because there are many brands and styles to choose from. My advice to anyone searching for one of these units is to figure out how many outlets your need and the amount of protection that you're looking for. This helps narrow your search enough to to find the best computer surge protector for your home or office.
The websites that you can shop at also provide reviews and ratings about the different types so you can see what other users have to say about the products. It's nice to be able to collect this info from the privacy of your home, instead of having to base my choices on what some bored and poorly trained salesperson in a big box electronics store says.
Beyond a computer surge protector, it's an even better idea to use a UPS (like a surge suppressor but with a battery) I've found a couple of good articles with tips on computer ups brownout protection, and answers to questions like "can I be on my computer in a storm?"
If you think that your PC is safe from power surges, think again. Many of my clients have thought the same thing until they lost everything. Don't make the same mistake that they did; shop for your computer surge protectors now and save yourself plenty of grief later. |
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• Sunday, June 1, 2008 - Understanding Chat Rooms
Many of us have anxiety when talking to new people, something that is perfectly natural.
We may worry if we have something on our faces that they're staring at, if we look good, are making a good first impression, and an endless list worries. Fortunately, in the world we live in today, we can meet and chat with new people without even having to look them in the eye.
Chat rooms are a great way to meet new people that you never thought you could before.
Some of these online meeting places pinpoint their members to a specific category. For example, you can join chat rooms that are specifically about music or for a particular age group so you aren't meeting people younger or older than you.
Even if you aren't looking for love or someone to meet, a chat is a great way to just talk to other people, find out things about them or get their opinion on different things.
A lot of people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and even beyond are on a quest to find the love of their lives. If you are looking for love there are plenty of chats designed just for you.
You can go into chat rooms with the hope that your true love is there. Many rooms are actually geared solely towards certain ages. This is a great resource for someone interested in a partner of a specific age. They simply log into the chat for that demographic and they're ready to start making small talk.
When we are behind a computer screen, we have time to think about the things that we will type. This gets rid of any worries about stuttering or repeating unwanted words due to nerves. You can just relax and talk.
With a keyboard in front of us as our means of communication, it can be easier to get your point across, and if you get "rejected" you can simply leave the room or find someone else to chat with. We become braver and the conversations sometimes take on a risque twist since the embarrassment factor no longer exists.
Chat rooms make it easy for someone who is shy or hesitant to strike up a conversation.
They are great for anyone of any age. Kids can go into safe chats and chat about their favorite video game and make Internet friends all across the globe. Kids should have parental supervision when they are on the computer due to the growing problem of Internet predators.
A lot of children's online rooms for chat have supervisors known as moderators who can kick out any suspicious people, so no matter what chat you go in, you will be safe.
Even if you're just looking for someone to talk about your favorite hobby, your favorite sports team, or the upcoming election, you'll find chat rooms where you'll fit right in.
You never know -- you may even meet a new friend in a chat! |
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• Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - Just a Few Advantages Of Internet Banking
I first discovered the advantages of Internet banking back in the late 1990s. You see, I had a very irregular schedule that did not allow me to always deposit checks in a timely fashion. This could be a big problem when I was getting my paycheck right before rent was due. I was living check to check, so sometimes a delay of a day or two in depositing could be a big issue.
To make things easier, I set up an Internet bank account. One of the advantages of Internet banking is that you can look at it anytime -- day or night. You don't have to wait for when the bank is open. You can check funds, make transfers, and even deposit checks in some cases.
I was able to set up my payroll check to deposit directly into the bank, and I could get online and verify that it had been deposited whenever I needed to.
Of course, I never realized the full advantages of Internet banking until I became a businessman.
In college, I only had to deal with a few home utilities bills and that sort of thing. In the long run, none of it really mattered that much. Worst comes to worst, I would pay a bill a little late or not be able to pay over the Internet and have to send it out in the mail instead. This was a hassle, but wouldn't have been the end of the world.
When you run your own business, however, it's really different. There are so many different things to keep track of that the difference between online banking and traditional financial management can be the difference between a few e-mails and a giant pile of paperwork.
When you count month after month, day after day, this adds up to quite a bit of work that you save by banking online.
Another advantage of Internet banking is that your resources and records are much more accessible. A lot of people used to worry about not having a paper trail when they bank online, but in reality this isn't the case.
With modern Internet banking, in fact, it is just the opposite. At the touch of a button, you can get a printed record of any transaction you want. You can keep your own records in an offsite backup account, guaranteeing that even if your computer crashes, you will be able to access your financial records.
Considering your financial records can be one of the single most critical things in your business, and given the way a computer's hard drive can fail without notice, this can be one of the greatest advantages of Internet banking in my opinion. |
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• Monday, May 26, 2008 - How To Download Free Computer Games at Home
Ever since the 1970s, the world of video and arcade games has been huge. It began with simple stuff like Pacman, Asteroids, Centipede and Pong.
These days you can immerse yourself in much more advanced graphics such as Halo, GTA IV and Age of Conan. It's absolutely amazing how much this entertainment arena has changed over the years, going from simple, 3-color graphics showing fairly small two dimensional maps to nearly photo-realistic three dimensional worlds that seem to go on forever.
But one aspect always remains the same. Kids and countless adults continue to love and enjoy a variety of video games. The cool part is that now you can download free computer games right off the web! Who doesn't like free video games?
You have a computer right? Well, if you're like most people, you spend a good part of your day on a PC or Mac. This is just the norm in this day and age.
So many people work on a computer of some kind day-in and day-out.
But did you know you can download free computer games any time you choose? It's just one of the countless perks provided by the Internet.
Now, let's examine the numerous benefits of downloading free computer games. First of all, video games are generally expensive.
I don't care if you invested in a Wii, Sony Playstation 3 or X-Box 360, the video games themselves can break the bank. Forking out 50 or 60 bucks seems utterly ridiculous. That must be like a 500,000 percent mark-up.
Despite this, people buy these expensive video games every day. What they may not know is that you can download free computer games online too. This is actually a great way to save some cash. Especially if you have small children.
Don't introduce them to Playstation or X-Box. Simply download free computer games online and show them to your kids. They can literally play whenever they choose and there are games to suit all age groups.
Maybe you have no clue where to begin when it comes to downloading computer games on the web for free. No problem! Check out these nifty websites that offer all you need to know; takegame.com, games2download.com and retro64.com.
These websites are excellent and can easily assist you with attaining free computer games on a whim. Stop wasting your hard-earned money and start downloading for free. |
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• Sunday, May 18, 2008 - How to Chose The Best Computer Speakers For You
As a computer trainer, I get asked a lot of computer questions, and one question I get asked is which are the best computer speakers to buy.
I succeed in my business by trying to give honest answers and not automatically directing people to the most high-tech and sophisticated audio there is. As an honest businessman, I have to say there is no simple answer.
If you are an ordinary user, the best computer speakers for you might just be the ones your computer came with. Most laptops come with computer speakers that have a pretty high level of fidelity. What most don't have, unfortunately, is much bass.
If you are only using your speakers for casually putting music on in the background, a little bit of gaming, or voice over IP, what you have is probably just fine. If you want a little bit more body, you can add a woofer to fill out the sound a little bit, but there's no need to spend a lot of money on a sophisticated audio setup.
On the other hand, different people have different tastes. In gamer magazines, the best multimedia computer speakers reviews consistently go to speakers with a lot of bass. It seems that gamers really like low-end power -- no doubt to stimulate the impact of explosions hitting nearby, or the growl of hideous monsters in some strange underground dungeon.
If you find big bass to be thrilling, by all means go out to your local audio store and invest in some bass. Just don't make the mistake that most people do by assuming that more powerful speakers are automatically better.
Having too much bass without enough mid and high range can actually distort the sound of music.
Of course, if you are a serious music listener, a great way to find the best computer speakers Is to look them up in consumer reports. You can spend as much as you want on high quality audio components, and you are generally rewarded for the money you invest.
Nonetheless, even if it is supposed to be the best computer speaker out there, don't buy it without listening to it first.
Some speakers, for example, have too warm a sound for some users. Others feel a little bit tinny. Different audio speakers are directed towards different listeners, so there really is no one best choice.
The best computer speakers, like the best music, is a matter of opinion. |
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• Saturday, May 17, 2008 - Portable Media - Changing the Way We See The World
It seems everything is portable these days, even your music and movies.
Movie night used to be something that families did once a week, and music came from the radio. Towards the end of the 20th century, CD players and tape decks made music more portable, but they could still be bulky and hard to use at times. When it came to movies and television, you had to be at home to enjoy.
Those days are gone, as some of the amazing portable media available today makes it seem like the future is already here.
Of course, these days, when it comes to music, everybody wants MP3 players. They are smaller than anything that has ever been out before, and weigh next to nothing. Because of digital technology, these tiny pieces of portable media can carry hundreds of different songs with no CD or tape required.
The music is simply downloaded from a computer onto the player and it is ready to go. If you look around on any given day, you will see all type of people with this form of portable media.
Cell phones are not just for phone calls any longer, as they're yet another form of portable media. It depends on the phone you have, your service provider, and what type of service you pay for of course, but many have found their cell phones to be about a lot more than just phone calls.
Many have easy access to the Internet, and you can even watch television and movies on a phone. Of course, this isn't always practical, but it certainly works when nothing else is around. You can even play games on some phones, and that can take up a lot of time while stuck somewhere with time to kill.
Another type of portable media is the DVD player. These days, they can be carried around, or they can come installed in new cars and vans.
These are great for children when they are in the car for long periods of time, or when they are away from home visiting someone who might not have a DVD player for them to use. This is probably not the end of what people can come up with in the way of portable media.
Considering the speed that media is coming down in price -- thanks to something called Moore's Law -- I imagine pretty soon we'll have comfortable, lightweight glasses or sunglasses that are a complete personal home theater, storing dozens or even hundreds of movies without being any more heavy or bulky than a normal pair of glasses.
Pretty soon, the days of having to go home to see your favorite TV show, or to check your email may be long gone. Instead, you can have anything you need at any time, anywhere you may go. |
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• Thursday, May 15, 2008 - Could Computer Addiction Be Affecting Your Life?
Internet access is cheaper and faster than ever before, and that means more and more people can afford to have one or more computers with Internet access in their homes. Computers are great for working from home, and you may not be able to do so without one.
Not everyone who has a computer needs it for work at home though, and most use it for other things. Many spend hour after hour online, and this can cause problems with the dynamic of any family. Computer addiction is a very real thing, and it has caused a lot of problems in even the most close-knit families and relationships.
Computer addiction is something a lot of people don't take seriously, but it can be a very real thing. Some come home from work and barely glance in the direction of their spouse before they log on and check their email. This is something that starts small and can end with one spouse spending all of their free time in front of their computer screen.
As you can imagine, this type of computer addiction leaves the other spouse feeling neglected, could even lead to divorce if something does not change.
Adults are not the only ones who can fall into a computer addiction. There are a lot of teens who spend more and more of their time online instead of hanging out with friends, playing sports, and being with their families. Some of them play games, but many more of them have a addiction to computer instant messaging, message boards, and sites like MySpace.
Not only are they not interacting with real people in real life, they are neglecting homework and forgetting what it is like to be sociable with others that they meet face to face.
If you are spending more time looking at your computer screen than sitting on the couch watching a movie with your spouse or your entire family, you may want to consider the possibility that you have a computer addiction.
Try coming home from work one day without touching your computer to see how it makes you feel. If you discover that you can't stay away from it, can't stop thinking about it, or start feeling like you're missing a huge part of your life, you may want to consider whether you have a computer addiction.
This is when you might want to take some time to think about what really means the most to you, and then make the changes you need to make. You don't have to give up surfing online or playing games, but there is always something to be said about doing things in moderation, since this can lead to a lot more harmony in your home. |
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• Thursday, May 15, 2008 - Understanding How To Download Music Videos
I've always loved music -- no matter what I am doing, I usually have some playing in the background. I like all kinds of music. I like rock, pop, jazz, and even some classical.
Nonetheless, sometimes the music alone is not enough to convey the whole message. That is why I like to download music videos.
Music videos are an art form, if you ask me. When they are done right, the music and the images go together to tell a story or create a seamless and beautiful scene.
Even though MTV doesn't seem to show videos as often as they used to, with all the downloadable music videos on the Internet you can still watch them whenever you want to.
There are plenty of different ways to do music video downloads. One of the easiest ways is to download music videos from YouTube. You Tube is great because it is so convenient and so fast. Basically, you can find anything with one quick and simple search.
After that, it will "stream" the music video directly to your computer (streaming is kind of like watching a TV broadcast instead of a DVD -- it comes to you "live" as it's playing, instead of being completely saved on your computer first). Nothing can be easier. There are, however, some disadvantages to this method of downloading a music video.
The biggest one, of course, is the low resolution, or picture quality. Almost everything shown on You Tube is at an extremely low level of resolution. That is what makes it such a fast way to download music video, but the problem is that a lot of the details that make the music videos so nice the first place are gone.
That is why a lot of more serious fans download music videos off of some other service. There are several other ways to do it. If you don't mind paying some money, there are literally dozens of sites that will let you download music videos online. Usually, you pay a subscription fee, or maybe you pay per download. Either way, all you have to do is enter your information and you can download music videos to your hearts' content
If you want to, you can always download free music videos from bit torrent. This can take a little more time than any of the other methods I have discussed, but it is worth it. Basically, if you look long enough and are willing to put in the time, you can download anything from bit torrent.
You can download games, programs, movies, and of course, music videos. It is a pretty low risk way to download, but you should still take some precautions. You should always scan the files for viruses before opening them, and don't go too crazy with the downloads or your ISP might notice what you're up to.
But as long as you're careful, you'll be fine, and enjoying your ability to download music videos! |
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• Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - Understanding the Basic Computer Term "Driver"
In this article, I'm going to explain a computer term that, like so many computer terms, isn't very well understood by most people. And in many cases, isn't understood at all.
Of course, as always, remember that's not a criticism -- if you didn't understand what a driver was before this, it's just because it was never explained to you the right way before.
Let's see what I can do to fix that.
A driver is a special type of software that's needed to get different pieces of hardware to work right with your computer.
Didn't make sense yet? Bear with me.
First off, just to make sure we're all on the same page, let me briefly explain the difference between "hardware" and "software".
It's actually pretty simple -- "hardware" refers to all of the physical pieces of equipment, like your mouse, your computer's screen (or monitor), the hard drive, etc.
"Software" is all of the parts of the computer that you can't really see or touch. Software would include things like Microsoft Word, your email program, Windows or the Mac OS, plus all of your personal files like letters, photos, music, and more.
One way to think about it is like this: hardware is like your brain, the physical part of your body, while software is like your mind or your thoughts -- the non-physical part of yourself.
Software runs on hardware, just like your thoughts "run on" your brain.
Make sense? Now let's talk more specifically about drivers.
Here's the easy way to think about what a driver is. Imagine that every piece of hardware, including your printer, your mouse, and so on, speaks a different language.
So one speaks French, another one speaks Italian, another one Cantonese, etc.
So when you plug in a new printer and turns it on, your computer says "hi" and the printer replies in a foreign language the computer doesn't understand.
So it needs an interpreter.
And when I say interpreter, I mean just like in the real world, like if a foreign diplomat comes to the country but doesn't speak the local language. They need an interpreter to help them communicate with the locals.
That, basically speaking, is what a driver is -- an interpreter that helps your computer talk to a specific piece of equipment. And (generally speaking) you need a different interpreter for each piece of equipment that you hook up to the computer.
Make sense?
Now in some cases, the driver may be "preinstalled" on your computer (in other words, the computer already has the interpreter ready and waiting in case it's needed) and in other cases, it needs to either be installed from a CD, or downloaded off the Internet, and then installed on the computer.
But either way, the computer needs that driver before it can talk to the printer or whatever other type of device you may have hooked up to the computer.
Hope that makes sense. |
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• Sunday, March 23, 2008 - How to Choose When Buying a Computer - Is Asking "What is the most popular computer" the Right Question?
First off, I've found that a lot of people start thinking about how to chose what type of computer to buy by asking "what is the most popular computer?" and letting the answer to that decide the question for them.
Well, this isn't necessarily the best idea.
Just because something is popular doesn't necessarily mean it's the best -- for example, fast food restaurants are popular places to go, but I think we all know they don't serve the best food in the world.
Here's the thing to remember when thinking about how to chose when buying a computer -- you should generally avoid the big brand names.
Yes, this might surprise you, but in my opinion, it's usually not a good idea to buy from one of the big brand name companies (there's one exception that I'll get to in a minute).
Here's why: dollar for dollar, you're generally going to get a worse deal than if you go with a reputable "generic" or "white box" store.
A lot of people have low price as the first thing on their list when they're trying to figure out how to chose when buying a computer. So they go with a cheap brand name and spend a few hundred dollars on it, and they think they're getting a good deal.
But what they don't realize is that it's common for a lot of the big brand companies to sell very out-of-date computers in their lower price ranges, and from what I've heard, they also often sell computers with parts they know are bad!
I'm not kidding about this -- most of the big computer companies out there, when they sell their least expensive computers, are trying to unload old inventory that's been collecting dust on their shelves for a long time.
They sell it to you as if it's new, and maybe it is in the sense of never purchased before, but it's hardly new in terms of the technology.
And the more disturbing part of this is that from what I've heard, those computers often have parts in them that are *known* to be bad parts!
You see, when a chip manufacturer like Intel makes a computer processor (the "brain" of the computer), they test it to make sure it works.
Makes sense, right?
But inevitably, many of them fail these tests. Now you'd think these bad parts would be thrown away, but no -- from what I've heard, what happens is they still sell them to the big computer companies at a discount, and those companies put them into their computers anyway.
What you can do with a bad processor a lot of the time is set it to run slower, and while it may not be running at full speed, it works well enough to pass the tests.
But the parts are still bad! Sure, they may work OK for a while (maybe just long enough to make it through the warranty period) but they have more little "glitches" and end up breaking down sooner.
So if you can find a reputable local company that sells computers they assemble themselves, you'll get a well built computer for a lot less because you're not paying for the brand name.
I can't help you find a local store like that everywhere, but those of you reading this who live on the Big Island of Hawaii can go to Falcon Computers in Kona or Falcon Computers in Waimea.
These are two branches of a store that offers computer repairs in Kona and Waimea, as well as a good place to buy a computer in Kona or Waimea on the Big Island
A family-owned store like that is the only place I'd buy a Windows PC, personally.
So earlier I mentioned there was an exception among the big brand names -- if you've been reading my newsletter for a while, or know me, you might have already guessed which one it is -- Apple.
Apple is the only big brand name computer I personally would buy (I'm writing this on a MacBook Pro). I do this partially because I've used a lot of different types of computers over the years, and really don't enjoy using Windows much.
But I also do this because Apple doesn't deliberately put bad processors in their computers, or try to sell out-of-date computers as new. Some people complain that Apple's Macs are overpriced, but that's actually not the case -- when compared apples to apples (excuse the pun) they tend to be in the same price range as a Dell or HP of the same general specs.
So bottom line is, here's how to chose when you're buying a computer: if you want to stick with Windows, then support a local business and go to a good store that puts your computer together for you from parts.
And make sure you ask them to put Windows XP on it, not Windows Vista (for reasons covered in this 3-part article about the problems with Windows Vista).
Or get away from Windows and switch to a Mac.
Either way, you're getting a better deal.
Hope that makes sense and helps with your decisions on how to chose when buying a computer.
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• Sunday, March 23, 2008 - How Does Wireless Internet Work - A Simple Explanation
In this article I'll help you understand the answer to a computer terminology question I find a lot of people asking: "How does wireless Internet work?".
Before I can answer this question, I have to mention that there are two basic types of wireless Internet: a wireless Internet connection through a device called a router (this type of wireless Internet is called WiFi), and then there is wireless Internet access through the cell phone network.
Wireless routers are very common in homes, offices, and "wireless hotspots" like you find at coffee shops, airports, and elsewhere. These are basically just small electronic "boxes" that hook up to your Internet connection so you can share the connection between several computers, or simply to give you the freedom to place your computer wherever you want, and not just next to the cable or phone outlet.
The cell phone data network (wireless Internet through the cell phone network in other words) of course is very widespread -- pretty much everywhere where you can get a cell signal -- and can be used not only with a cell phone but also with a growing number of computers.
Now if you want to get really technical, these two types of wireless Internet work differently. But in a general sense, if you simplify things and explain them in a basic way that will make sense to the average person, they both work along the same general lines.
So how does wireless Internet work? One way to think of it is by comparing it to a portable phone.
With a portable phone, something most of us have in our home, the phone has two parts: a handset and a cradle.
The cradle gets plugged into the phone line -- the connection to the phone network -- and takes that connection and broadcasts it via radio waves more or less in all directions.
If the handset is within range of the signal, it picks up this signal and relays the telephone connection so you can make or receive a call.
Wireless Internet, whether its via a cell network or a wireless router, works the same basic way: you have a connection to the Internet, which is sent out wirelessly to a receiver of some sort, very much like a portable phone cradle sends out the telephone connection to the handset.
The broadcast can come from a wireless router hooked up to a cable or DSL Internet connection, or the broadcast can be from a cell phone tower hooked into the cell phone network and relaying the Internet connection.
On the other end you have a "handset", which is a receiver in a computer, smart phone, or other device. This could be a WiFi card in a laptop or desktop computer for the one type of wireless Internet, or a receiver in a cell phone or laptop using the cell data network.
So that basically answers the question "how does wireless Internet work?". |
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• Saturday, March 22, 2008 - Is The Video Professor Honest?
If you watch TV at all these days, it's hard to miss the constant barrage of commercials by the guy who calls himself Video Professor. Some people see his commercials and start asking themselves, is the video professor honest? Really, I can't answer that question for you, but the question does seem to come up pretty often.
There's a couple of things that I find kind of interesting. First off, he only offers a 10 day guarantee, which seems a little unfair, considering that in some parts of the country, the guarantee has expired by the time you get your video lesson CDs. I suspect this has a lot to do with the video professor complaints you hear about so often.
You can contrast this with other companies who offer up to a 365 day money back guarantee.
Another thing I find puzzling is the way he only seems to have one testimonial from one person who clearly (if you watch his commercials carefully) is not a real customer, but someone they gave a free demo to at a mall someplace. You'd think an honest company that had been in business for so long would have no problem finding testimonials from happy customers.
Which is not to say they're dishonest! Who knows, really? I'm not a customer of his, so I really have no way of knowing if the video professor is honest or not. I just know it is a question that gets asked, and these are a couple of the thoughts that come to mind.
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• Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - What is Spam & What Does Spam Stand For - Tips to Avoid Email Spam
I find a lot of people asking me questions like "what is spam?" "what does spam stand for?" In this article, I'm going to explain the term spam where it comes from (what it stands for) and give you a few tips to avoid email spam.
Do you hate spam? I’m not talking about the food, but the seemingly endless stream of annoying commercial emails that flood most people’s inboxes. The content of the messages range from mortgage rates to enlarging various body parts, to pornography, and their numbers grow every day — up to 500 percent in the eighteen months prior to March, 2003. As of April, 2004, over eighty percent of all email was spam. Since then, it's risen as high as 95%!
Spam is named after a classic skit from Monty Python's Flying Circus, which took place in a diner where everything on the menu had spam in it. During the whole skit, a chorus of vikings keeps chanting a song about spam, drowning out conversations.
Yes, it's a little random (that's Monty Python for you) but it's very funny. Years later, the skit reminded someone of how email in your inbox can get lost in all of the junk mail (the conversation gets drowned out by "Spam! Spam! Spam!"), so they started calling junk email "spam" and the name stuck.
It can be hard to avoid getting your email address on somebody’s list. It’s not uncommon for many people to receive 50 to 100 pieces of spam in a single day -- some people get hundreds a day! -- and the problem is growing worse.
Fortunately there are ways for individuals to reduce the amount of spam they get. Here are a few good tips:
- Never try to unsubscribe or ask to be removed. Those emails may include a link or a reply address to unsubscribe, but 95% either simply don’t work, or you confirm to the spammers that they have a live one.
- Never order anything advertised in spam, visit the website, or in any way respond to the ad. Every order or inquiry encourages the spammers to send thousands of more ads.
- Try to avoid entering your email address on dubious websites as much as possible, and if you do, consider getting a second email account with Yahoo mail or a similar service and enter that address instead of your main email. Most websites offering contests, joke lists, free greeting cards, etc. harvest and sell your email address.
- Never sign an online guestbook. As an experiment a while back, I created a new email address and entered it on about five guestbooks. Within 24 hours I was getting spam, and it grew to dozens a day within a week.
- Try to avoid opening an unsolicited ad while connected to the internet -- this can alert spammers that they have a live address, so if your email application has a “work offline” option, often found in the file menu, select it before opening suspect emails, or disconnect from the internet entirely.
If you use a web-based email service like Yahoo Mail, check your mail options for a setting to turn off graphics in emails, or to display mail in plain text only. This keeps the spammers from knowing you've opened the message.
- Avoid forwarding emails to large numbers of people: Not everyone realizes that when you forward a message, the email addresses of everyone who receives the message is visible to every person who reads it.
If any of the recipients is a spammer, or if one of a friend's computer is infected by certain viruses, they can harvest all of those addresses, including yours.
If you do send an email to multiple recipients you can avoid revealing email addresses by entering addresses in the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) area instead of To or CC — this will hide the list of addresses from everyone else.
You should also copy and paste just the message into a new message window rather than hitting the forward button — this trims the message down and protects the privacy of others.
As for dealing with the spam you already receive, most email programs allow you to create “filters” or “rules” that move incoming email into a specified folder or even right into the trash.
Setting filters up can be complicated, but the newer versions of many email programs, including Mozilla Thunderbird and Mac OS X Mail make it much easier. The programs have a free spam blocker built right in, and recognize patterns in spam, and use your address book as a white list of legit senders.
Any spam that shows up in your inbox can be marked (and automatically deleted) with a click, and the more spam you mark, the better the program gets at automatically taking care of them so you end up seeing a lot less junk than you used to.
Many internet providers also provide a free spam blocker which filters email before it gets to your computer. The problem with this is that they often block legitimate mail and you may never know about it. Because of this, I recommend using filtering software on your own computer, such as the above mentioned programs.
Ultimately, spam is a fact of modern life, and isn't entirely avoidable. If your current email address is about to collapse from the amount of spam you get, you might be forced to get a new one. After that, if you follow the tips above, you'll have a good chance of keeping it under control.
Worth Godwin is a computer coach with over 13 years experience helping computer users in Plain English. He's also worked "in the trenches" as a hardware and software tech, solving real-world computer problems.
Worth has an easy email newsletter that you can join now for free. When you join, he'll send you free computer tips, translate basic computer terminology into plain English, and you'll get easy audio and video computer lessons for free.
You can start getting free lessons immediately by just typing in your name and email address below right now:
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• Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - What is RAM, What is a Hard Drive: A Plain English Explanation
When it comes to a computer, there are so many computer terms like RAM, megahertz, gigabytes, etc. that people can find confusing. Having a better understanding of some of these terms can help you feel more comfortable using your computer, and ultimately get more out of it.
A lot of people I talk to seem to be apologetic about their lack of knowledge. It's too bad people feel that way; they really shouldn't. What I tell them is that while they may not know as much as I do about computers, there's nothing wrong with that, and they probably know a lot of other things I don't know much about.
All you need is someone who takes the time to explain things to you in a way that makes sense.
One term many people confuse is memory or RAM. A lot of people ask "are RAM and memory the same thing?", and don't understand the difference between RAM, memory, or hard drive storage space.
RAM is a type of memory -- it stands for Random Access Memory (don't worry, you don't need to remember that!).
It is a temporary working space the computer uses to get work done, which gets emptied when the computer is turned off.
Here's an easy way to understand this computer term: Think of it like a work bench or table.
You have a project you're working on and you do your project on the bench and when you're done, you clear it off.
The hard drive is the main place your computer uses to store information. It looks like a rectangular metal box which contains a non-removable disk (as opposed to something like a CD Drive where you can take the disk out).
It is the disk inside the drive which stores everything on your computer -- every picture, every music file, every email, and every Word document. Not only that, but Windows or Mac OS X, the operating system that makes the computer run.
To continue our analogy, think of it as a set of shelves where you store the tools or materials for your project -- when you want to work on something you choose the things you need from the shelves, put them on the bench and work on the project.
This is like when you run a program; the computer loads the program from the hard drive into memory (the temporary working space).
So the larger the shelves, the more you can store -- i.e. the more programs you can have installed, the more songs or pictures or videos you can save on your computer.
Most people with a computer made in the last few years have far larger hard drives than they'll ever use. Few people ever fill them up, unless they are keeping a lot of large files such as sound files or pictures, or especially video files.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that's true, video is worth at least a million words, and the files can be that much bigger!
If someone tells you you need more memory, or your computer gives you an error message about being low on memory, this usually means you don't have enough RAM. This can slow your computer down drastically.
Think of the bench idea again: if your bench is very small, you can't fit everything you need on it to get your work done, so you're constantly wasting time moving one piece of the project off the bench to make room for the next piece... if you can really work at all.
Both RAM and hard drive space are measured with the same terms: bytes, kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), with newer drives even being measured in terabytes (TB). Since both RAM and hard drives are measured in the same way, this may be one reason people confuse the two terms.
You don't need to understand exactly what those computer terms mean, but understand that each one is basically a thousand times larger than the one before. So a kilobyte is 1,000 times larger than a byte, a megabyte is 1,000 times larger than a kilobyte, a gigabyte is a thousand times later than that, and so on.
The reason you buy a computer one year that has a lot of RAM, and two or three years go by and suddenly someone tells you you don't have enough memory, is because each year the average size of programs, and the amount of memory they need, gets larger.
It's as if the tools you use on your workbench keep growing every year so you eventually have to get a larger bench.
If your computer seems to be running more slowly recently, or you've been having odd errors, it could be that you need to upgrade your memory. This isn't always the source of these problems, but RAM is very inexpensive these days and adding to what your computer has can add life to your Mac or PC.
Hopefully this clears up the meaning of these basic computer terms for you, and made a lot more sense than it used to!
Worth Godwin is a computer coach with over 13 years experience helping computer users in Plain English. He's also worked "in the trenches" as a hardware and software tech, solving real-world computer problems.
Worth has an easy email newsletter that you can join now for free. When you join, he'll send you free computer tips, translate basic computer terminology into plain English, and you'll get easy audio and video computer lessons for free.
You can start getting free lessons immediately by just typing in your name and email address below right now:
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• Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - How Does Wireless Internet Work - A Simple Explanation of Computer Terminology
How Does Wireless Internet Work -
A Simple Explanation of Computer Terminology
In this article I'll help you understand the answer to a computer terminology question I find a lot of people asking: "How does wireless Internet work?".
Before I can answer this question, I have to mention that there are two basic types of wireless Internet: a wireless Internet connection through a device called a router (this type of wireless Internet is called WiFi), and then there is wireless Internet access through the cell phone network.
Wireless routers are very common in homes, offices, and "wireless hotspots" like you find at coffee shops, airports, and elsewhere. These are basically just small electronic "boxes" that hook up to your Internet connection so you can share the connection between several computers, or simply to give you the freedom to place your computer wherever you want, and not just next to the cable or phone outlet.
The cell phone data network (wireless Internet through the cell phone network in other words) of course is very widespread -- pretty much everywhere where you can get a cell signal -- and can be used not only with a cell phone but also with a growing number of computers.
Now if you want to get really technical, these two types of wireless Internet work differently. But in a general sense, if you simplify things and explain them in a basic way that will make sense to the average person, they both work along the same general lines.
So how does wireless Internet work? One way to think of it is by comparing it to a portable phone.
With a portable phone, something most of us have in our home, the phone has two parts: a handset and a cradle.
The cradle gets plugged into the phone line -- the connection to the phone network -- and takes that connection and broadcasts it via radio waves more or less in all directions.
If the handset is within range of the signal, it picks up this signal and relays the telephone connection so you can make or receive a call.
Wireless Internet, whether its via a cell network or a wireless router, works the same basic way: you have a connection to the Internet, which is sent out wirelessly to a receiver of some sort, very much like a portable phone cradle sends out the telephone connection to the handset.
The broadcast can come from a wireless router hooked up to a cable or DSL Internet connection, or the broadcast can be from a cell phone tower hooked into the cell phone network and relaying the Internet connection.
On the other end you have a "handset", which is a receiver in a computer, smart phone, or other device. This could be a WiFi card in a laptop or desktop computer for the one type of wireless Internet, or a receiver in a cell phone or laptop using the cell data network.
So that basically answers the computer terminology question "how does wireless Internet work".
Worth Godwin is a computer coach with over 13 years experience helping computer users in Plain English. He's also worked "in the trenches" as a hardware and software tech, solving real-world computer problems.
Worth has an easy email newsletter that you can join now for free. When you join, he'll send you free computer tips, translate basic computer terminology into plain English, and share easy audio and video computer lessons with you for free.
You can start getting free lessons immediately by just typing in your name and email address below right now:
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• Saturday, March 8, 2008 - Don't Make the Mistake of Using Custom Software Samples When You Can Get Custom Drum Tracks Online
Don't Make the Mistake of Using Custom Software Samples When You Can
Get Custom Drum Tracks Online
This article is for the benefit of you, the songwriter/composer. Undoubtedly you need professional sounding drum tracks for your music. But how to get great sounding drum tracks without breaking the bank?
Many folks think they see the solution to the problem in drum pattern software samples, such as the BFD premium drum module.
People have the impression that this is the right solution because, admittedly, the drum samples involved in the software tend to sound very good. That is, generally the drums are well-tuned and recorded well.
But there are drawbacks.
The biggest two drawbacks to using drum sample software are:
- Canned”, uninspired results -- drum tracks that sound disconnected from your music.
- Large amounts of time being wasted putting together “custom” tracks slice-by-slice with individual-hit drum samples.
Most of these drum sample software packages give you pre-made loops you can use.
Most also give you the option to construct your own beats using separate, single-hit drum samples.
You might be able to occasionally find a pre-made pattern in the package that basically fits your song.
But even if a pre-made drum pattern works partly, there are inevitably parts of your song that could use a little bit of variety..
Certain parts may benefit from a change in the bass drum pattern, for example, or maybe looser hi-hats or some extra snare hits.
At any rate the chances drum pattern software or a sample package containing a loop that has exactly what you need for that situation are very slim.
Confronted with this situation you are likely the think something like “I need my drum tracks to sound more organic than that”, or perhaps “this loop or that loop won’t cut it because I need the drum part to highlight the vocal rhythms on the third pre-chorus”.
Of course these are legitimate concerns as you want your music to sound alive, not contrived.
And at this point you may decide that you need to construct the drum parts yourself, hit-by-hit, slice-by-slice, using single-hit drum samples. Admittedly, you’ll probably get a better result this way as you at least have control over specific cymbal crashes, adding bass drum notes, fills, etc.
There is a big problem to this approach however: It takes up huge amounts of your precious time.
If you have been through this before, I don’t need to tell you: putting together “custom” drum tracks using single-hit drum samples will take up so much of your time that you are likely to compromise your artistic needs in the end anyway.
You will put in so many hours, and the tracks will sound better than just using factory loops, but you will probably give up realizing that they will never really, truly sound and feel like custom drum tracks that were played by a real person for your song.
You would look at how much time you have put in to them, and settle for your cobbled-together tracks because you couldn’t bear to do such tedious busy work anymore. You wouldn’t even end up with the result you wanted . It would only be closer to that goal than the factory loops -- closer, but no cigar!
They say say time is money, which everybody knows is true.
It seems like you'd save money painfully cobbling a drum part together slice-by-slice from a drum pattern /sample software package, but in reality its just not worth the time you'd waste, and the frustration you would feel.
As you look at it that way, its obvious that approach would really end up costing you.
A much better idea is to take advantage of a recent development, the appearance of online session drummers.
You can now get real, custom drum tracks from session drummers over the Internet and save a whole lot of money over conventional recording methods.
Conventional recording methods tend to involve having to pay several people (renting the studio, carting the drums there, paying the producer, the engineer(s), drummer, etc.). All that can really add up.
With an online studio drummer you only pay one person, which obviously saves you a bundle.
Be sure to shop around -- all online drum track providers are not equal. Of course you should base your decision on which session drummer would musically fit your project best, but you must also compare the actual sound quality provided.
Compare the sound quality of tracks on the websites, and compare the gear being used by each online studio drummer.
You will see that some session drummer web sites are providing noticeably drum tracks with better sound quality than others, so choose carefully.
Remember, drum pattern software sample packages would make your music sound very stale. Pre-made loops won’t sound like they were for your song, and piecing a drum part together from sample slices will drive you mad with wasted time yet still sound uninspired and “canned”.
Don’t go with drum pattern software samples are “canned” goods! Go for fresh, custom drum tracks online.
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• Saturday, March 8, 2008 - Understanding Computer Terminology: What's the Real Meaning of Web, Internet, and Email?
In this article I want to help you understand the computer terms Web, Internet, and Email.
Now you may think you know what these computer terms mean, but I've found that in fact, most people misuse and misunderstand 2 or 3 of those words every day!
Now please understand me -- it's not your fault if you sometimes get computer terminology wrong. It's just never been explained to you the right way for you to really get it, and chances are, you've been hearing other people misuse the terms too, since it's pretty common to mix them up.
Let me see if I can make it easier for you.
Let's start with email -- this is the one that most people get basically right, although they still misunderstand one important thing about it (more on that in a minute).
Email is, of course, "electronic mail" -- a pretty simple concept to get. Its the computer equivalent of a traditional letter. Traditional mail through the post office is often called "snail mail" these days because it takes days to get to the person you're sending it to, unlike email which can take seconds (although sometimes can take hours).
Even snail mail is pretty amazingly fast compared to how it used to be back in the day, when it could take weeks or months to get to someone.
Just like regular mail, email has a sort of post office that it goes through - something called a "mail server".
There are two types of mail server - POP and SMTP. But I prefer to use the terms incoming and outgoing because it makes more sense than the technical terms.
Don't worry about what the letters POP and SMTP stand for. Just remember:
POP = incoming, for mail that's coming in to you
and
SMTP = outgoing, for the email you're sending out.
Let's talk about the word "Web" now.
The Web is what most people think of as "the Internet" -- it's the web pages, or pages of words, pictures, and sometimes sounds and videos even, which you go and visit using your "web browser".
A web browser is just a program that lets you look at web pages -- most Windows people click on the blue E, which is Internet Explorer (made by Microsoft and given away with every copy of Windows, which is why most people use it. NOT because it's the best option).
Most Mac people with fairly new Macs use Apple's web browser Safari, which has an icon that looks like a little compass.
Other people, both Mac users and Windows users, use a different program called Mozilla Firefox.
For a lot of good reasons, I strongly strongly recommend that Windows users do NOT use "the blue E" -- Internet Explorer -- the main reason is because it is very unsafe and is almost a guarantee that your PC will get infected with something nasty.
Mac users should not use "the blue E" (Internet Explorer) either, but more because it's very out of date and just doesn't work with many modern websites anymore.
One way to think of a web browser is like a car that lets you drive around on the "information super-highway" as they used to call the Web back in the 90s.
Some brands of cars are safer than others -- you could almost think of Internet Explorer as one of those old Poison Pintos, and Mozilla Firefox as a Volvo -- not a guarantee to save you from harm, but a lot safer than a Pinto!
One point of confusion some people have is that sometimes you can use web browsers to read your email. Like if you use Yahoo mail or Hotmail.
In that case, you are looking at your email through what's called "webmail" because you are using Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple's Safari to view your mail.
It's kind of like going to the post office and reading your mail there. Throwing some of it away, and then putting the stuff you want to keep back in the post office box for storage.
Using an email program like Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Eudora, or Apple's OS X Mail, is more like reading your mail at home, and storing the stuff you want to keep at home instead of at the post office.
Now let's talk about the last computer term: the Internet.
This may be, out of the three terms I've been talking about, the one that is most mis-used.
Here's the thing: the Internet contains BOTH the Web AND email.
But many many people, probably most people in fact, talk as if the Internet was a separate thing from email or the web, when in fact the web and email are both just *parts* of the Internet.
Or another way to put it is that the web and email are just certain ways of looking at all of the information that's available on the Internet as a whole.
The Internet is really just a big "network" of interconnected computers that talk to each other and share information. Some of it is presented as web pages, some of it as email, and so on.
But the Web and email are both part of the Internet, and not two separate things.
Hope that helps make sense sense of some computer terminology that can be confused pretty often.
Worth Godwin is a computer coach with over 13 years experience helping computer users in Plain English. He's also worked "in the trenches" as a hardware and software tech, solving real-world computer problems.
Worth has an easy email newsletter that you can join now for free. When you join, he'll send you free computer tips, translate basic computer terminology into plain English, and share easy audio and video computer lessons with you for free.
You can start getting free lessons immediately by just typing in your name and email address below right now:
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• Thursday, March 6, 2008 - What is The Right Way To Get Computer Help? Computer Tips That Make It Easy To Learn Computers
What is The Right Way To Get Computer Help?
Computer Tips That Make It Easy To
Learn Computers
If you're like a lot of people, you feel confused by computers and wish you had more confidence and skill.
You know you're not as good as you want to be, and you end up frustrated by them a lot.
Maybe you feel like you're missing out on something that other people enjoy, and wish you could learn the basics of computers so you can join in but you aren't sure about what you're doing.
If any of this seems familiar to you, then it's important to realize that you're not alone -- a lot of people feel this way about computers.
You also need to understand it's not your fault.
I've been helping people with their computer challenges for a long time, and I've spent years researching exactly what causes people to get stuck, and what makes them feel frustrated and confused.
I've discovered there are 8 main reasons why most people fail when they try to learn computer basics and get better at computers -- and none of those reasons are your fault at all!
If you have always felt like a dummy, it's because the game has been rigged against you -- the traditional ways people try to learn computers are almost designed to make you fail!
Here are 4 of the common experiences people have when they try to
learn the basics of computers:
- You try to learn from someone you know like a neighbor, family member, or someone else who may seem like they understand computers, but who in reality doesn't really know that much and ends up passing on misinformation, misunderstanding, and bad habits.
It's like a 16-year-old trying to get someone a few months older to teach them how to drive: not a good idea.
- You sign up for classes, but end up feeling frustrated and like you've wasted your hard-earned money because the teacher goes at the pace of the fastest student, and you end up like most of the other students: left out and left behind.
- You hire a computer consultant who probably knows what they're talking about, but while they understand computers, they don't understand the first thing about teaching.
They talk in confusing technical terms that they can't or won't explain clearly, and often get impatient or annoyed with you when you don't get it.
- Because of the expense, you only hire a consultant once in a while, and when you do, you want to cover a bunch of stuff in one long lesson to save money on repeat trips.
But you end up wasting your money because you tried cramming in too much at once, so most of it goes in one ear and out the other.
Here are a few important things to understand about how people's mind work and how we learn that is critical to remember when learning any skill, including computers:
- When we learn a skill -- reading, writing, using computer, or anything else -- we have to start off focusing on the little details, or little steps, and work up from there: letters before words, words before sentences, paragraphs before pages.
Most professional computer trainers are way up at a level where they see the big picture and have trouble thinking back to when they focused on the little steps.
Because of this, they have trouble explaining to you and don't really understand why you don't get it.
- Scientific studies have shown people need to learn in short lessons of half an hour or less, with a break between lessons.
When most classes or lessons from consultants run an hour or two long, is it any surprise you forget it all?
Obviously, when you're working around somebody else's schedule, and you're paying by the minute (plus travel time in a lot of cases) it seems to make more economic sense to have a single long lesson that lasts an hour or two, instead of several short lessons.
But in reality, you end up wasting money on those lessons that go on for more than half an hour, since you end up forgetting a lot of what you're taught!
An unfortunate catch 22.
- Repetition builds skill: nobody learns a skill in just one lesson. But because of the cost and today's busy schedule, almost nobody ever gets computer lessons more than once in a blue moon, so they end up stuck in a frustrated rut.
Know how to ride a bike?
I bet if you do, then you had to practice a while before you got good at it.
At first it was a struggle to keep upright, but you kept doing it. Eventually, you could ride around like a pro without even thinking about it. Maybe even with no hands!
And the nice thing about learning computers is -- no skinned knees!
- Focus on one subject, and only go off on side topics if it directly relates and helps understanding of the main thing you're trying to learn about.
Jumping around to a bunch of different things in one lesson is no way to learn.
True, some people are what I like to call "non-linear learners" (think ADD) and they want to jump around a lot or they get bored.
But even hyperactive people (I'm one of them) really learn best with short, focused lessons, and the *choice* to be able to jump from one topic to another -- as long as each short lesson is complete and not a jumbled mess.
These are a few of the things I discovered were holding people back from the confidence and skill that they deserved.
These understandings I gained from my years of studying this problem did lead me to a solution.
Over the more than twelve years that I've been a computer coach, I -- through a lot of hard work on my part, and a lot of thought and care -- figured out how to explain things in plain English.
I use metaphors and analogies, relating the complex and normally confusing terms to everyday, understandable objects like a table, a rug, a car. Things that you can relate to and that make sense to anybody, even a so-called "computer dummy".
I also learned how to bring things down to your level of understanding -- helping you grasp what I'm talking about, even if you're a beginner and still focused on the tiny details -- all without talking down to you.
The thing you'll discover if you approach learning computer basics the right way, with the right computer help, and the right computer tips along the way, is that it can actually be easy to learn computers.
And it can be fun, too.
Worth Godwin is a computer coach with over 13 years experience helping computer users in Plain English. He's also worked "in the trenches" as a hardware and software tech, solving real-world computer problems.
Worth has an easy email newsletter that you can join now for free. When you join, he'll send you free computer tips, translate basic computer terminology into plain English, and share easy audio and video computer lessons with you for free.
You can start getting free lessons immediately by just typing in your name and email address below right now:
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