GuruNews, Volume 8 Number 43, 12-4-08

[Kevin-PC Gurus]

Welcome to GuruNews



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Vol. 8, No. 43                 

12-4-08

 

1 Christmas Shopping Guide, Part 1     

2 You stored it on THAT?!?     

3 You Tube goes classical, FCC last minute efforts, shallow searches, Vista SP2

4 Stress relief         

5 Networking with Vista

 

With the current state of the economy many of you may be looking at paring down this year's gift giving.  With that in mind for Christmas 2008 we'll concentrate on less expensive gadgets and accessories that will still be much appreciated.

 

Nearly everyone today has a digital camera of some sort.  Most just carry it in a purse, pocket or laptop bag but none of these offers any space for accessories.

 

How about a camera bag stuffed with accessories like a small expandable tripod, a monopod and a lens cleaning kit?  Make sure the cleaning kit comes with fluid that is safe for LCDs and they can clean the screens with it as well.

 

If you can find out the make and model of the camera you can check on the types of batteries is uses, the type and maximum size of memory module and whether lens filters are made for it.

 

A battery charger and three sets of Lithium batteries would be a great gift.  One set for the camera, one for the bag as spares and one on the charger.  Rotate them in that order and they will last a good long while.

 

No one ever skips additional memory when available, and filters allow for different effects for photos like shading and gauzing.

 

Speaking of memory, USB Flash Drives (or Thumb Drives) have dropped enormously in price while growing in storage capacity.  1 GB Flash Drives can sometimes be found for as little as $10 on sale and even 8 GB drives can go for $40 or so.

 

Books are another inexpensive tech gift.  The Dummies series are great for the technologically challenged and can be found on subjects ranging from Windows XP or Vista through web design, digital photography, the Internet, Microsoft and many more.

 

These are great books for beginners or folks who struggle with computers and gadgets because they are written in plain English, not the techno-babble you would see in more advanced books like those from O'Reilly Press.

 

Just gauge your book purchases to match your giftee's interests and level of experience and they will thank you for it, plus you save a little cash.

 

Last for this week lets go shopping for young children.  If you have kids not yet in school or still in the Elementary grades they always like games, and educational games are available nearly everywhere and are very inexpensive.

 

Rather than just head for the nearest software store right off the bat you can research some different titles and read reviews from http://www.superkids.com/.

 

The site is published my an independent group made up of educators, parents and children and accepts no ads for products reviewed on their website, like Consumer Reports for kids.  And as a bonus they offer some free online learning games!

 

Next week we'll cover a few more low cost gifts and look at some that go a little more expensive but won't break the bank.

 

Now stop procrastinating and do a little shopping!

 

Kevin Mefford, Editor

pcguru at microdome.net

 

 



Terry Wise

www.ratland.com

 

 

Tech News of the Week
 

The video-sharing website YouTube will take classical music out of pricey concert halls and bring it to the masses by holding an online competition where the public chooses musicians to play at Carnegie Hall:

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE4B104I20081202

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, who will be departing his post along with the Bush Administration, wants the Commission to act at its December meeting on a plan to offer free wireless Internet service nationwide:

http://www.macworld.com/article/137257/2008/12/fcc_freewifi.html

Celebrities, U.S. politics and TV shows were among the 10 most-searched terms on Yahoo for 2008, the search engine said this week:

http://www.crn.com/software/212201432

Microsoft today said that it is quickly widening the availability of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 beta to testers. Because you haven't downloaded a 250MB update for a long, long time:

http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-40421-140.html

 

Copy us on the good stuff!

 

Matthew Dattilo

thepcgurus at gmail.com 

www.mattstodayinhistory.com

 

 

Download of the Week
 

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday.

 

To relieve the stress of the coming weeks of working and shopping, I decided a few free games might be of use.

 

Gunroar is a vector-graphics game, akin to Asteroids or Star Castle, except turned up to 11 with a throbbing rock music score and a whole lot of explosions. There's not too much to say about Gunroar--it's a fast-action, "shoot everything that moves" game with a unique graphical style, low system requirements, and a great price tag: Nothing.  Get it here: 

 

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/windows/gr_e.html 

 

Scroll down for the download.

 

Tritris let's you play three Tetris games at a time in this challenging offering game.  It's a free online flash game, play it here:

 

http://www.novelgames.com/flashgames/game.php?id=29

 

Carlita Lupino

Cards57 at gmail.com

 

 

Email Question of the Week
 

Q:  I just recently purchased a new computer and a Netgear Wireless-G router Model #WGR614 and a Wireless-G USB Adapter Model #WG111. My old computer is runs Windows XP and the New one runs Vista. When I first hooked up the Wireless Accessories I had internet access on both computers. Then I started trying to link them in a network and lost internet connectivity on the older computer, worked with it a while and got to where it would come and go. I tried powering down and powering up; that did not work. After that it would not connect at all. So, I then removed the software and started over. Now nothing works on the older computer---it will not even attempt to connect to the network or internet.

 

A:  I would concentrate on just getting both computers on the Internet.  Sharing folders on the XP machine with Vista isn't too hard but not vice-versa.  Sharing printers isn't easy at all because they use different drivers.

 

Anyway, to  start trouble shooting the XP machine uninstall the USB wireless adapter in Add/Remove programs from the Control Panel.  Once done, disconnect the USB adapter and set it aside and reboot the PC.

 

Reinstall the drivers and once done reboot again.  When back to the desktop plug the USB adapter back in, let Windows find the drivers and try the wireless connection again.

 

Let me know how that goes and we'll proceed from there.

 

Kevin Mefford

pcguru at microdome.net

 

 

Contact info and legal stuff
 

If you have tech support questions or ideas and/or submissions for our newsletter please submit them by visiting www.thepcgurus.com and click on the "Email the Team" icon. 

  

Copyright 2001-2008 The PC Gurus, all rights reserved.  Publication, rebroadcast or storage is prohibited without prior consent, however you may freely forward this publication to friends as long as A) it is forwarded in its entirety and B) no fee is charged.

 

Information provided in this publication is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied.  Although the information provided is known to work on most systems, it may not work on ALL systems.  Make use of any information supplied at your own risk.

 

The PC Gurus are a group of volunteers who provide support for the PC, Mac and Linux users in the Kentuckiana region.

 

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