GuruNews, Volume 10 Number 1, 1-8-10

Fri Jan 8 18:29:56 PST 2010

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Vol. 10, No. 1                           

1-08-10

1 Welcome to the New Year  

2 Can they fix this in 2010?

3 Google weirdness, online suicide, Windows scaremongering, 2010 tech

4 Calorie counting tech

5 AOL

Well, here we are.  It’s January 8th in what many are already calling “the Teens” (which actually don’t start until 2011, but I digress) and so far we’re snowed in, freezing cold and still watching bowl games.  And I get more Spam than actual email.  Not an auspicious start, to be sure.

It’s also time for the annual reader poll.  What did you like last year?  What did you dislike?  Too much or too little of anything?  Any features you’d like to see added?

Email me directly or email the team using the webform at www.thepcgurus.com and let us know.  All emails will be considered and good or popular suggestions for new sections could well start showing up soon.

Any feedback is always appreciated and taken into account.  I try every year to provide timely or educational articles, but I’m always willing to add another genre.

This year also marks the newsletter’s tenth anniversary, which will come in April.  For that entire month I’ll be digging back into the archive to find our best articles, email questions and cartoons from the past.

The Tech News and Download sections will remain current since both are a bit stale when old.

Regardless, the newsletter will continue into the foreseeable future but it’s up to you to make it better.  After all, if it weren’t for the readers we wouldn’t have a reason to be here.

Patiently waiting for email…

Kevin Mefford, Editor

microdome at thepcgurus.com

Terry Wise

www.ratland.com

Tech News of the Week

Top Google searches of 2009.  Who knew it was so difficult to find Facebook that people had to Google it?

http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist2009/overview.html

There once was a service call Web 2.0 Suicide Machine that claimed to completely kill your accounts on social networking sites.  Facebook killed it:

http://tinyurl.com/yzl4qyv

News site trumpets Windows plummeting market share.  Wow, it’s all the way down to 92.2%:

http://tinyurl.com/yjlku8n

Ten technologies that will “rock” 2010.  Hopefully readable formatting in the Washington Post is one of them:

http://tinyurl.com/ybhydon

Download of the Week

Besides cold temperatures and snow, January is sometimes known for snugger fitting clothes due to holiday over-indulgence.

"Calorie Counting" is an application that might help you shed those extra holiday pounds.  Get it here: 

http://tinyurl.com/pcguru01-07 

Carlita Lupino

Cards57 at gmail.com

Email Question of the Week

Editors note:  I’m going to do something unusual this week.  I answered an email question over the holiday break that did not get delivered due to a bad email address.  Apparently the reader made a typo in the address when the question was submitted, so this week I’m using the submitter’s first name.  Nothing else, just the first name.  Hopefully she’ll read the newsletter and will get her answer.

Q:  i goofed and deleted something that i need to get my aol up and running again. im thinking it was a port. i didnt have high speed until recently and i was trying to get it connected. i can get online, but only with ATT. i am on hubbys right now. i so appreciate your news letters. thank you. Freda

A:  Freda,

What you deleted was probably Port Magic, which is unneeded.  Likely the problem is the software is still trying to use dial-up.  When you bring up the AOL main connection box there are a couple of buttons on the lower left.  I don't remember what they are, unfortunately, but one of them will let you set modem or connection options.  From there you can select to connect using broadband and that should fix it.  

If you are on broadband you don't need the AOL software anyway, just go to www.aol.com using IE and log in from there.  

Hope that helps and keep us posted...

Kevin Mefford

microdome at thepcgurus.com

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 2001-2010 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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