GuruNews, Volume 10 Number 2, 1-15-10

Fri Jan 15 18:51:15 PST 2010

Welcome to GuruNews

Brought to you each week by the PC Gurus, a loose collection of volunteers from around the Kentuckiana region.

You can interact with the PC Guru team via our Web site, located at http://www.thepcgurus.com.  On our site you can post your computer questions, comments and rants on the forums, e-mail the PC Guru

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If you're new to the Newsletter you can read back issues at Team member JP Durbin's website at http://www.jpdurbin.net.  There are links to all the old 84 Online issues as well as the new GuruNews missives.

The WHAS Crusade for Children provides year round support for needy children throughout the Kentuckiana region.  Visit http://www.whascrusade.org to make donations online.

USS Rover’s list of streaming computer shows is now available for download in Excel, Open Office and Linux ready formats from http://sheet.zoho.com/public/ussrover/shows. 

To subscribe to this newsletter just drop by www.thepcgurus.com and sign up!

Vol. 10, No. 2                           

1-14-10

1 Feedback  

2 R.I.P Francene

3 Big Box rip-offs, God Mode, digital National Geographic, flexible Google, another cell phone, font search,  

4 Insurance backups

5 New PC

Last week I asked for feedback on the newsletter and boy did I get it.  Most people were happy with the current version but a few offered some suggestions.  Below is a smattering of the emails:

“When you give a web site that has a program called "free" can you give the rest of the information? Most of these sites I have found to be deceptive because the use of the program is for a limited time or is partial until you buy it. I believe you are not in the advertising business, but I have mentioned this before with no response. I don't need a response, just the full up front information about sites and programs you are recommending. Out side of this, you guys are GREAT! I have really benifited from your input, responses to my own needs and the answers you give to others. I know that I really need you. Thanks for being here.”

“I really enjoy & use what the team puts out especially the downloads and the e-mail answer.  Keep up the good work.”

“I would like to see more of downloads, but what I'd really like to see is how to get rid of "Bing". Thanks to all of you guys and gals for helping us poor non-techies!”

“The letter is fine as is. I can't suggest anything. Sorry”

“Also I can't think of any new newsletter ideas; you already talk about new products, but if you need a new section, perhaps one called hot new product(s) of the week.  Again, you all seem to cover these things so that may or may not be necessary, but that's the best I can do.”

I’ll try to address these and other suggestions in the future, especially the free vs. pay question.  The problem lies mostly with the actual software vendors who offer both free and “pro” versions of their software as they make their web sites very confusing.  I know that finding the free AVG is quite a problem from the main site, just as an example.

I’ll also attempt to add downloads to the main article that somehow tie in when possible.  Ranting against the RIAA wouldn’t lend itself to any good downloads but a discussion of security tools could certainly warrant a lot of links.

Also in future issues I’ll be assembling a “dream team” of protective programs to help you keep your PC free of malware and a spring cleaning article listing not only the usual tips for physical cleaning but new tools to clean out old junk, slack space etc.

A web site roundup of new helpful pages, a look at the “services” touted by ads on Facebook and an evaluation of the plethora of toolbars hawked by various companies.

In closing, I’d like to offer my condolences to the WHAS radio family for the sudden unexpected death of Francene Cucinello, as well as my thoughts to her mother and sister.  We haven’t been associated with WHAS for several years but many of us still have friends there and I know I start and end my workday there during my commute.

Francene was like one of my teachers in grade school, friendly and open to the students but stern and demanding when it came to learning our lessons.  Francine was extremely open and giving, but if you danced around answering a question she would pin you like a bug until you gave an honest answer.

I always enjoyed her show and will miss her greatly.

Kevin Mefford, Editor

microdome at thepcgurus.com

Terry Wise

www.ratland.com

Tech News of the Week

As if warnings from your friendly neighborhood Gurus aren't enough, The Consumerist has done an in-depth piece on the waste of money that Best Buy's "Optimization Service" is.  A really great read, and something to be wary of if you head into Best Buy to purchase a computer:  

http://tinyurl.com/yccv4yt

Want to feel like as big of a geek as the Gurus are?  If you're using Windows 7, you can enable what people are calling God Mode (in reality it's a special way to view the Control Panel).  Here are the instructions: 

http://tinyhacker.com/hacks/enable-god-mode-in-windows-7/

Love National Geographic?  The folks over at NatGeo are now offering digital copies of every issue they've ever produced on a 160GB external hard drive for the super-collector with no space:

http://tinyurl.com/y935nv2

Google introduced the Nexus One phone , designed to be purchased and bundled with T-Mobile, or purchased out-right from Google and put on T-Mobile, AT&T or Verizon.  It will run the Android operating system just like the Droid you've seen from Verizon:

http://www.google.com/phone

If you have a Google account, the Docs service which lets you create, edit and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations will also start allowing you to upload files of any type for storage in your Google Docs account:

http://tinyurl.com/yaz5ha9

Need a new font for a newsletter or flyer?:

http://www.searchfreefonts.com/

Daniel A. Williams

daniel at thepcgurus.com

Download of the Week

You never know when misfortune may strike; so it helps to be prepared.  In the event of storm damage or any other disaster, homeowners need to have a record of their possessions for insurance purposes. 

"What You Own Home Inventory 4.11" is designed to help you catalog your possessions.  You can attach photos, spreadsheets and scanned documents to your file and when you are done you can print the saved file.  It's free here:

http://tinyurl.com/pcguru01-14 

Carlita Lupino

Cards57 at gmail.com  

Email Question of the Week

Q:  I am in real estate business and need a new computer. My current computer is a Dell which is 8 years old. Should I go with another Dell or are there better options now?

A:  Personally I always build my own, which is equivalent to a custom built unit from a local shop (not a big box store).  This allows you to actually choose the brands of components that are in it, if you're familiar with manufacturers.

This also gets you local warranty work and tech support, with minimal to no hold times and you'll speak with actual technicians instead of someone reading a script.

If you're more comfortable with a name brand on the outside of the box it really doesn't matter what brand, just don't go cheap.  Those $399 specials you see often aren't even worth that much.  

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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