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02/28/2009: MRT, What is the Click of Death, and a bit of Huh?

Alright kiddies we have a post, so I am expecting some comments…….  I will not be holding my breath. :)

The first up was the tool MRT.  Somehow that stands for “Malicious Software Removal Tool”.  If you have your system to automatically update your windows system, you get a new one of these every month.  You can run it anytime you want by going to Start->Run and typing in “mrt”.  Hit return, or click “OK”, and you should be good to go.  Follow the promts and let the program work.  BTW, the malware that we found on the clients computer that stopped malwarebytes was vundo.  Vundo is a pretty nasty piece of malware, but MRT delt with it nicely.

We had a bit of discussion about something known as the “Click of Death”.   If this happens to you, your best course of action is to power down the drive and call someone who can help.  It isn’t garanteed that you data is lost, but things odds are against you.

I managed to beat Mike in the price of a Jet Direct card.  I found a vendor selling those things for 9.95/each with free shipping.  I purchased 2.   I will let you know if I was ripped off or not.

Neither Mike nor myself could fathom why Microsoft would open a Retail Store, but strangers things have happened.  So what do you guys think?

If you have a geek in your life that has not seen Triumph of the Nerds, you owe it to them and yourself to watch it.  It is probably the best documentary going on the very brief history of our personal computers.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Harold Pulcher

The other guy on the show - Computer 101 On LAKE, 97.7

 
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2008/07/19: Getting caught up on posts….

Just trying to get the mp3’s up for your listening pleasure….

Harold - The other guy on the radio show.

 
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2008/07/12: Getting caught up with the posts

Just trying to get the mp3’s available…

Harold - The other guy on the radio show.

 
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2008/07/05: Getting caught up….

Just getting caught up with the posts….

 
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2008/06/28: Getting caught up with the posts….

Just making a post so that we can get the mp3 of the show into the non-podcast type people.

 
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Show 2008/06/21: VPN’s and why would you want one…

We talked VPN’s this week. There is a ton to talk about on this subject, but we did the best we could in the amount of time that we had. We used a couple of terms that stood out, so I figured I would define them for you and let you guys ask us more in depths questions in the comments or in email.

So what is “Telephony” and how am I supposed to say it. The quick and easy answer for me is from wikipedia.com. The web page is pretty good and I don’t disagree with any of the material as far as “Telephony” is concerned.

However, I would not put total faith(or a bet) on all the information in wikipedia. It’s greatest strength is also it’s weakness. The strength is that the web page is open for anyone to edit and make changes. This allows the internet as a whole to be able to contribute to the content. Hopefully, the experts on the subject will be the ones making the content. If someone disagrees they can challenge the content and get it corrected. The problem with some subjects are that they never get challenged. Someone could put up a bogus page and if no one challenges it, then information will not get changed. Just a bit of advise.

Terry gave us some really good reason why VPN’s are needed. The basics is that VPN is a way to extend the reach of your office. Whether the office is a home office, a small standalone store, or some major corporation with overseas locations. Sometimes the setup can be complicated, but a VPN will allow you to securely access and manage your computers and data.

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!Check us out on iTunes and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Harold Pulcher

The other guy on the show - Computer 101 On KLAKE, 97.7

 
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2008/06/14: Robots, Robots, and more Robots….

We started out mentioning one of the greatest nerd news sites around Slashdot. Go check it out. There are a couple of things though. One they have a ton of stuff, and two you may have to wait to get to the info that they are reporting. If something get “Slashdotted”, pretty much the whole world is about to beat up their webserver. More than one site has gone down due to the traffic. Getting “Slashdotted” is both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time.

I don’t know how we got on the Robot kick, but we did. You may be wondering how this relates to Computers and Computer101 in general. I will agree that it is a stretch, but every robot has at its heart a computer. At some point I imagine we will get around to doing a car episode for that very same reason. Unless you are driving a 1980 MGB(like myself), you are pretty much driving a computer around. Lots of fun stuff todo with that.

We mentioned Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway, and his goal of providing people with the ability to live a normal life after a sever accident. The Luke Arm is the latest creation. Youtube has a video showing this new arm. Go watch it I am sure that you will be impressed. They also did a piece on this over at Make Magazine. I love that magazine, and you guys should probably check it out.

Speaking of computers in your car the DARPA Challenge seems to coming to a head. Really neat stuff. You probably haven’t heard of DARPA before. Just so you know there was a DARPA Challenge back in the 70’s. We pretty much got the Internet from those test.

Here a like to the iRobot site that we mentioned on the show. Mike and I both have plans to get us at least one of these.

Now if you would like to try your on hand robotics here are a few links that you are gonna need:

If you need some help in your robotic endeavors there are tons of places to help. Some of them a lot more local than you think. ETRB - East Texas Robot Builders has a site. Been a while since it has been updated, but send them a note. I am pretty sure you will get an answer. If you are in the Dallas area, the Dallas Personal Robotics Group is active and going. I attended with a friend of mine a few months ago. The guys over at Revision3.com have a show called System. They just recently did a show on Building an Android. They didn’t really build an android, but they have a base and really cool little bot that you could build and play with yourself.

On a final note, we talked about scamming scammers. One of the oldest and best scam the scammer sites is 419eater.com. I will tell you know, if you think you want to do this…DON’T. It is dangerous, you could end up dead. The story is funny and a good read, just don’t try it yourself.

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!Check us out on iTunes and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Harold Pulcher

The other guy on the show - Computer 101 On KLAKE, 97.7

 
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2008/06/07: Does a FAQ really have frequently asked questions and how is the best way to Dispose of your Computer.

We have a computer give away coming up. Terry Colvin(yep he is the Colvin in Colvin & Associates) informed Mike and myself that we will be giving away a complete computer system. However, to find out how to sign up you will need to listen to 960 KIMP for details. We will not be giving the sign up details out on the during the show(live or podcast). So listen up and get you some computer goodness.

On the topic of FAQs, or Frequently Asked Questions, there are a few that we like and some that we hate. Unfortunately, the ones that we “don’t like as much” are ones we have to use every day. We can’t get away from them, so what are going todo. Grin and bear it I guess.

  • On the top of the FAQ’s/Knowledge base that we don’t like: Microsoft
  • On the top of the ones we like: Dell

Like a ton of folks in mine and Mike’s generation, we both have played a ton of video games. Mike saw the documentary first. I didn’t see it till it was aired on G4tv.com. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a really great documentary. This is a good flick regardless whether or not you have actually ever played the game.On a side note, if you know where there is an active and playable Robotron 2084 game, let me know. I want to go get me some retro gaming.

Our final topic on the show was what should you do with your old computer. There are two big issues with your old computer.

The first and the most important to most of us is your data on your hard drive. Most people have a ton of data that if it were to fall into the wrong hands could be at least embarrassing, and at worst expensive. For instance, MIT conducted a study on Data Recovery. They purchased 158 drives from eBay and attempted to recover the erased data. On one disk they found over 5000 credit card numbers.

So how is one supposed to erase those drives? There are a couple of answers to this.

  • On the show we mentioned that you can just keep your drive. Doesn’t hurt, doesn’t take up much room, and no one can get you data.
  • You could take it apart. If you think the CD Christmas ornaments look cool. Check out what you get out of the inside of your hard drive. Destroying it yourself pretty much guarantees no one will get you data.
  • Use a program that will security erase your hard drive. Here are a couple: http://www.active-eraser.com/, http://www.eraseyourharddrive.com/, and there are more out there.

The second issue is all the nasty things that your computer has inside it. With all the solder, and other stuff that the computer is made of there are a ton of pollutants that will leach into the ground if you just throw it away. So just don’t. Head over to http://www.epa.gov/e-cycling/donate.htm to find out where and how to dispose of your old computer in an earth friendly/helping others way.If you really want to be scared in the Eco-world. Check out treehugger.com(http://treehugger.com/). Blame Mike as he brought it up.

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!Check us out on iTunes and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Harold Pulcher

The other guy on the show - Computer 101 On KLAKE, 97.7

 
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05/31/2008: Tribute to WKRP, and some of our favorite blogs…..

So this week Mike had the brilliant idea of paying homage to the arguably the greatest radio based sitcom in our history. The episode in question is entitled “Fish”. The episode is so titled due to the main story line where Herb dresses up in a “carp” suit as sort of a play on pronouncing WKRP. The part we are interested in takes place in the studio as a secondary plot line.

  • Here is the episode in all its glory: WKRP’s “Fish”
    Since all the rage these days seems to be Hyper-Caffeinated drinks, we decided to give them a go. Mike was drinking full throttle. While I was drinking Monster Khaos. It seems that I was the real guinea pig as I had the stuff that was laced with Taurine. Turns out that is so named because it was first discovered in Ox/Bull urine. This turns out to be how Redbull was named. All I really know is that Mike is not as good a friend as I thought.We talked a bit more about blogs. It seems that we have a couple of tout, so here they are:
  • My personal blog: http://pulcher.biz/blog

    Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!Check us out on iTunes and subscribe to the podcast.

    Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

    Harold Pulcher

    The other guy on the show - Computer 101 On KLAKE, 97.7

 
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05/24/2008: Derek, some relationship advise, and turn off or not?

Yes!!! We have a winner: Derek is the winner.

We will get information from Derek and get him his memory.

I spoke with Amanda directly, and she understood that we were just giving her a hard time. Actually, she was surprised that we were that easy on her. I know we really didn’t answer her question per say. The inter-operability of Windows, Mac, and Linux(UNIX variants in general) is not all that complicated. However, it is way more than we can normally get into on the show. Send us a note and we would be happy to talk with anyone on how you can integrate all of this stuff.

We had a bit of a discussion about music players. This seems to be a recurring topic. More so, because Mike and I both have a bit of music in our lives. Anyway we mentioned a couple programs that you may want to try out.

  • EJukeBox - http://www.audiosoft.net: I haven’t used this, but Mike thought it was really good. May have to give this one a try.
  • Winamp - http://www.winamp.com: I have to admit that after mucking about with iTunes, and have reinstalled winamp. There are a number of things that I just don’t like about iTunes. Winamp is just really simple to use.
    The last thing we talked about was whether to turn off or not. This has probably been one of the longest running arguments in the computer biz. I thought we did a pretty good job of doing the short and sweet routine on both sides of the argument.

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!

Check us out on iTunes and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Harold Pulcher

The other guy on the show - Computer 101 On KLAKE, 97.7

 
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05/17/2008: Connectivity, Blogs, and some fun

Yes, Yes, and Yes the memory giveaway is still on. No one has capitalized on the great opportunity to refresh an old machine for a few more month or years. So send us an email. Use the Email Us! Link on the left-hand column.

There was a terrible fight all week long. Not between me and the Mrs., but between me and my inner geek. Unfortunately, the cruise lines no longer give Mechanical or Bridge Tours to the average type people. I was able to get a quick tour of the kitchen and some information on how much food stuff a ship the size of the Conquest will consume. According to the head food type person, the ship gets restocked every 7 days with 40,000 liters of booze. This is not counting beer or wine. This is alcohol. I am not that big of a drinker, even when I was in fighting shape.

I don’t know these people, but if you wondered what it was like on a cruise ship here is a clip. It seems the sea were a bit rough, but it is still better than a great day at work. If you ever go on this cruise you must use these guys as guide on Grand Cayman.

We talked a bit about jumping on the internet for free. There are a ton of great places if you just look for them. To help in the search check out http://www.wififreespot.com/. If you look around, you may be surprised at were you can find a Hotspot.

Our next topic was about Blogs and why do you care. No really, I didn’t care about blogs at all until a client said he wanted one on his site and wanted it customized. Let just say I am no expert, but the client is happy. Happy clients are always good.

If you are interested in blogging yourself here are few places to start. Most are free for the basic stuff, and low cost for the high end features.

If you have your own server where you can load software, here are a couple of sites that offer up software packages that you can install and make your blog do whatever you are capable of making it do.

That is about all for this time. We do on occasion mention acronyms and other shorthand words on the show. I figured it was time to throw up a link to them, so you ya go:

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!

Check us out on iTunes and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Harold Pulcher

The other guy on the show - Computer 101 On KLAKE, 97.7

 
icon for podpress  Standard Podcast [24:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

05/10/08: Your Files and You….

This week Mike and I got into a bit a discussion about where to store documents and files that you created. I may not have the nicest things to say about Microsoft(even though Colvin & Associates is a Partner), but their formalizing of the “My Documents” concept in the base install of the operating system is really good.

By no means am I saying that the “My Documents” folder was a creation of Microsoft. People have been asking the “Where is my stuff?” question for as long as they have been using computers. A number of people had already adopted the concept. For instance, as long as I can remember I have had “software” directory on every computer that I setup. Whether that is Windows, Apple, or some form of UNIX. It is where I put all the software/drivers/etc that I do not have media for. Microsoft just formalized it for Windows, so even the brand new user will get the idea that putting stuff into one location is a good idea. I am not sure what the Mac equivalent is, but I know they have it.

In case you were wondering here is a bit of information on filename and folders:

  • The following characters are invalid in a windows filename:” * : < > ? \ |
  • A single filename can have up to 255 characters. Good luck if the string gets that long.
  • There is no limit to the number of folders within folders within folders. However, some programs may have a problem when the length of the full folder path gets above 255. As an example full path to logoff.exe(a program) is \windows\system32\find.exe. When the number of characters gets just above the 255 number, weird things will happen. The filesystem will actaully go to 32000 or characters. Windows however, doesn’t like paths near that large.

We had a bit of a discussion about management of Music and Picture files. Here is a list in no particular order of free programs that should help with that problem:

  • iTunes: I put this first to make Mike happy. It is widely used and a lot of people like. I have a couple of problems with it, but it is one of the best out there.
  • winamp: Been around a long time, has a large community base and a ton of plugin.
  • Windows Media Player:This should be included with your windows installation. I would recommend to perform an update on you computer, select the “Customize” button and make sure that you have latest version on your machine.
  • RealPlayer: This has been around a long time as well. It is now hooked up with Rhapsody. I do have a bit of a problem with this player as it trys to sell you stuff all over the place.
  • songbird: This is for the more adventurous of you guys. A cool music manager, but it takes a bit of work as it is a work in progress.

And now for some Picture management:

  • Picasa: This google sponsered app does just about everything you need to local management. It even will plug into the Google Web Albums.
  • Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition: They are gonna wanna try to make you upgrade. You can if you like, but the starter edition gets you a long way to where most folks want to be.

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!

We’re on iTunes now! Check us out and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Harold Pulcher

The other guy on the show - Computer 101 On KLAKE, 97.7

 
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05/03/08 Computer Hygiene

This week we pretty much talked the entire show about Computer Hygiene and how a person should go about making your computer less toxic. I am one of the worst people about this. I clean things as i need, but I really need a cleaner keyboard. I just can’t find one that I really like. I guess I am getting picky in my old age.

I think we did a pretty good job of going over most of the stuff in the show, so I am just gonna throw some links your way this week.

  • A couple of sites that back up my keyboard toxic claim:
    • cbsnews.com - Yep, they did a piece, but I am sure that most people missed it. If you look at the date, this is from 2005.
    • clitheroelancs.co.uk - Seems that AOL went around an collected keyboard “stuff” for a month and this is what they found.
    • There are lots more out there just like these….
  • A few keyboards that might strike your fancy:
    • daskeyboard.com - The keyboard of geeks everywher, or so they would have you believe. The blanks keys are a feature. The claim this helps you type faster.
    • pfusystems.com - These guys are all about the hack and no nosense keyboard use.
    • apple.com -The slickness that is apple, always shines through.
  • A couple of places that you can grab up a domain or two:
  • Incase you don’t know what “Chocolate Rain” is, you may need to watch this so you can use it yourself in polite conversation.

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!

Check us out on iTunes and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Harold Pulcher
The other guy on the show- Computer 101 On KLAKE, 97.7

 
icon for podpress  Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

04/26/08 McCain, Things we should all do on our computer, How-To clean and LCD screen

This week we led off by making equal fun of John McCain. I know, I know this is a computer show so we really don’t have to give equal time, but we thought it was funny and so, there ya go. If you do a search for “Younger than McCain” there will be a ton of sites out there, but here is a video to give a clue as to what you are gonna find.

We mention a few things that everyone needs to their computer:

  • Max out the memory of your computer. XP in general can only access a maximum of 4GB of RAM. Even at that the 32bit version will not allow you to use all of the RAM due to the 32bit Addresses scheme. It gets sort of geekish, so I will leave at the tech details. If you care to know, then drop us a line. We would be happy to chat. Here a few of the links we mention on the memory side of the house:
  • Crucial.com - We love this link. It is easy to use and has neve given me any bad information.
  • Kingston.com - a great choice as well. The have a long history of providing quality memory.
  • Ramjet.com - These guys cater to Mac’s, but I have purchased memory for all sorts of stuff from them.
  • The next big thing is get a listing of what is on/in/attached to your computer. The best tool that we have found(that is also FREE!) is Belarc Advisor. These guys have a complete line of software for managing companies computer inventory, but the part we are interested in at the moment is free. Get your free download, Install it and let it run. The program will generate a web page and then you need to print it out. This is really good stuff for talking to any tech guy about what computer you have.

If anyone is interested in the Book we are trying give away, drop us a note at the email link at the top left of the page. If no one claims it soon, I will probably take it off the list, as I may have need of it myself. :)

The last really big thing we talked about was a question from a guy named Sam about cleaning LCD screens. Well, here is a list of what we went over:

  • DON’T USE PAPER TOWELS!!!
  • DON’T USE ACETONE, OR ANYTHING WITH ACETONE IN IT!!!!!
  • Do use the softest CLOTH you can find. The microfiber ones are great. The lens cleaner that you get with your glasses are terrific. I have even heard of people using baby wipes. I don’t recommend the baby wipes, but the guy insists that they make his computer smell better. I figure he has other problems.
  • Do use a mixture of Isopropyl Alcohol and Distilled Water.
  • Here are a few “Smart Guys” that seem to know a thing or two about cleaning LCD’s. I figured I would mention them, but they are not by any means the “authority”. They more like examples of the large number of sites that I found while verifying my information:

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!

We’re on iTunes now! Check us out and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Harold Pulcher
The other guy on the show - Computer 101 On KLAKE, 97.7

 
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04/19/08 Itunes, Obama funniness, and Passwords

We had the bright idea this week. We figured that since we had a real live Podcast thing happening, it might be a good idea to tell you guys how listen to it. I am pretty sure that most of you have heard of an iPod, Apple, or just Podcasts in general.iTunes does come with QuickTime. It is included with the download. QuickTime videos are some of the sharpest and highest quality on the net. Not that windows media player can’t do the same, it is just that quicktime started this way. I know, I sound like Mike now.This is Computer101, so here is what you need to do listen to us:If you have iTunes already then skip to step 14:

  1. Go to the iTunes download site
  2. On the left hand side of the page, pick the stuff you like. Personally, I never have any thing send me email, as I get too much aalready. However, there could be some good info there. It is totally up to you.
  3. Enter in your email address, if you are willing
  4. Click the “Download iTunes Free” button, and save the file to a location that is easy for you to remember, like My Documents. It is about a 60MB download so it may take awhile depending on your connection.
  5. Once your download is finished, then go to where you saved the file and double click on it.
  6. Click Next, Accept the License Agreement, and Click Next again.
  7. This screen allows you to tell iTunes how invasive it can be on your system. Since I have a number of different media player on my system, I usually uncheck every thing. The only problem I have with the defaults is that it adds the Updater to your startup programs. Not a really big deal, but the fewer startup programs you have the better. Pick your options and click on “Install”
  8. If you are running Vista, you may have the User Access Control pop up. Click continue to allow the program to do what it needs to do.
  9. Click “Finish” after the installer is done. If you don’t want to start iTunes immediately, them make sure you uncheck the box before you click.
  10. When iTunes starts you have a couple more things to do. So, accept the license agreement(again).
  11. The Setup assistant should now start, Click Next. Click Next to let iTunes search your hard drive if you like
  12. I would not let iTunes “keep my iTunes Music Folder organized”. This is the default. Mike may disagree, so I am expecting him to chime in here on that. Click Next.
  13. Click Next, Select “No, take me to my iTunes Library”, and click next again. iTunes will scan your drives for music, when that is done(or you hit “stop”).
  14. Click the “Podcast” item on the left hand side. If this is your first time a popup will display and ask if you want to go to the podcast directory. You want todo this so click on “Go To Podcast Directory”.
  15. On ther right hand side click “Power Search”
  16. In the title box type “Computer 101″, and in the author box type “mike” <– our leader type guy.
  17. Click the Search Button
  18. Hopefully “Computer 101 on 960am/KIMP” is the only entry that comes up. Look to the right and click the button labeled “Subscribe”.
  19. There will be some whirling around. When/If the confirmation box comes up click “Subscribe”
  20. Listen to the greatness that is Computer101

This will only get you the latest mp3. Just to the left of the name there is an Arrow. If you click that, it will show you all t he podcasts that are available. Download all that you want.To listen, just select the Podcast and click the Play button.We really, really, really, really tried to find something funny about Obama. It just isn’t happening. We don’t know whether or not that he “Just isn’t that into funny”, or no one knows enough about him yet to be funny. We found it funny that would couldn’t find anything funny. The best we could was the video “I Got A Crush…On Obama”. The link is a google search. I thought that some of it may be a bit racey for the site and couldn’t bear to put the link directly here. It really isn’t that funny, but she laughs at the end of the video. What do you want for a dollar?On the passwords here is a bit of info on what a really good password consists of:

  • Needs to be at least 8 characters
  • Must not match any portion of your name, your spouses name, your kids name, your dogs name, etc…
  • Should not be the any of the following passwords: password, abc123, 12345678, or the same as your logon name.
  • Should have at least 1 upper case character: A-Z
  • Should have at least 1 lower case character: a-z
  • Should have at least 1 numeric digit: 0-9
  • Should have at least 1 special character: #, $, %, &, |, ?, etc…

With all that in mind it seems funny to me that a number of large Banks will only allow a password of 4 numeric digits. Doesn’t seem all that secure to me, but apparently the Banks don’t listen to Computer 101.I did some searching and found a couple of links that you might be interested in. Keep in mind that this is not a recommendation, just pointers to a couple of password related programs that you may find useful.

keepass.info: Is a program to help you “remember” your passwords. Using only one master password, you can store and retrieve any number of passwords along with what site or system they go to. Just don’t loose or give out that master password.pctools password generator: Is a web tool to help generate strong passwords. This is for the people that do not have a great imagination and have a hard time coming up with passwords on their own. There are a few other tools on the site as well for checking the “strength” of passwords. I just had fun playing with the password generator. For instance I asked for a 64 character password. I don’t think I will be using it, so here it is if you are so inclined: yaqucufepusEchachuwredesaVamEpr7Pepachawr2he9usapredEmudeR7Zezeg

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!We’re on iTunes now! Check us out and subscribe to the podcast.Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!Harold PulcherThe other guy on the show - Computer 101 On KLAKE, 97.7

 
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04/12/08 Hillary, Outlook Express, Phones, and Shared Calendars

So, we started our Equal Opportunity candidate bashing today. Harold found a website that generates funny little sayings about Hillary every time you refresh. Enjoy!

Here are those instructions for fixing a corrupted inbox.

In Outlook Express, first you want to create a new folder. Click on “Local Folders” in the left column. Now right click on the “Local Folders” and choose “New Folder”. This will create a new folder in your local folders area. You then have a chance to label it, so just type something like “Filed”. This is where you’re going to try to back up your emails from your inbox to.

Now click on your “inbox”. Select all the emails in your inbox. You can do this easily by clicking (to select) on any one of the emails in your inbox. Now hit ctrl-A. (That’s hold down the “ctrl”, or control key, then type the letter A.) You should see all of the emails in your inbox as selected now. (They’ll all turn dark blue).

If you right click on any one of those emails and choose “Move…” (or “Move to…”) then another little window will come up where you can select the new folder we just created above.

That will move all the emails out of the inbox, effectively backing them up in another file, since every one of those folders down the left hand side is a separate file, also referred to as a DBX file, since they end in .dbx (i.e. inbox.dbx, or sen items.dbx).

Now you want to get rid of the old inbox. Shut down Outlook Express. (this gets really “steppy”). Double click on My Computer. Choose Tools>Folder Options. Choose the View tab. Choose “Show hidden files and Folders” by clicking the little button to it’s left (these are called “radio buttons” by the way.) Click “Ok” to close the window. Now, in the My Computer window you just opened you have to do this:

Double Click on Local Computer. Double click on your C: drive. Double click on “Documents and Settings”. Double click on Local Settings (this folder will look a little hazy, because it’s usually hidden, but we just selected to “Show Hidden Files and Folders”! Aren’t we clever!). Click on Application Data. Click on Identities. Click on the long serial numbery looking thingy. Click on Microsoft. Click on Outlook Express. Now you’ll see all the little files that make up your Outlook Express mail. Pretty cool, huh?

Now, remember, we’ve backed up all the email in the inbox. So we could just delete the inbox. WAIT! Let’s go ahead and rename it. It doesn’t take up too much space and you might need it some other time if this doesn’t go well. So, right click on it and choose “rename”. Now call it something like “inbox_old.dbx”. That should do it. Close all your open windows.

Now when you open Outlook Express, the inbox should be empty (it was last time we were here), but the file itself should be rebuilt. If you drilled back down into that folder again, you’d see inbox.dbx AND inbox_old.dbx.

That’s a good way to fix your Outlook Express when your inbox goes nuts. You can do the same with any folder in Outlook Express. Just choose the other folder name instead of inbox. Email us if you have any questions!

We talked about the Treo vs. the iPhone. Really these days it’s more about the Blackberry or the iPhone. What do you think? Post a comment below and get something started…

We also talked a little about shared calendaring. The cheapest way to do it if you already have Outlook (not Outlook Express) is to use the calendar in Outlook in and send events to your colleagues. They can accept them through email. If you want to have live scheduling, probably the most economical solution might be to use an online calendar sharing program, like Yahoo Calendar, Google, or an online Intranet, which has per person associated costs.

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!

We’re on iTunes now! Check us out and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Mike Squires
Host - Computer 101 960am, KIMP

 
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04/05/08 URL’s, HTML Email, and Geek Toys!

We covered the whole gamut today!

You don’t usually have to type the whole “http://www” part of web address to get there.  Those things are mostly implied.  But if you want to get to this page directly, you probably should type the whole thing, since we don’t use “www” in our address.

Harold and I discussed the woes of HTML email.  I don’t usually use HTML for my emails.  I think the English language is colorful enough without having to add hues. (or embolding, or underlines).

We also talked about the toys to get us… I mean the geeks in your life… if you aren’t sure what we like.  I especially like the titanium spork.  It should go well with my uranium mess kit. Check out Think Geek!

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!

We’re on iTunes now! Check us out and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Mike Squires
Host - Computer 101 960am, KIMP

 
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03/29/08 Email

Well, we really mailed it in this morning. (sorry, bad joke)

Harold and I discussed different email opportunities that you have with free email and inexpensive providers. there is a difference between yahoo.com and Yahoo! Small Business type email. You get what you pay for!

Also, dont forget that often times, email domains are the only marketing tool you use when sending emails. Why give extra time to Hotmail when you could be promoting yourself. The five domains we mentioned still haven’t been registered online. We think they would be great for some thriving Mount Pleasant business. Listen to the show to find out which ones I mean!

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!

We’re on iTunes now! Check us out and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Mike Squires
Host - Computer 101 960am, KIMP

 
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03/22/08 Fixing a Laptop and Bit Torrent

Today we talked about some of the issues we face every day as professional IT consultants.

One of our mutual friends had a laptop problem. Well, a family member spilled something on her open laptop and fired the motherboard — literally! A new motherboard off of ebay fixed that problem for just over $100. Don’t throw away those laptops just because you think they’ll be too expensive to fix. Often times they can be repaired for little money.

Harold had a surprise when he left his BitTorrent running. That program can get out of hand if you don’t watch it. Be careful when you use peer-to-peer type sharing tools.

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!

We’re on iTunes now! Check us out and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Mike Squires
Host - Computer 101 960am, KIMP

 
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03/15/08 The Google

Thanks for listening to the show today. As you know we talked about Google. (I like to call it “The Google” as a show of solidarity with our President).

We pomised to tell you how to get there. Just go to www.google.com.

If you want Harold to send you an invite to Google’s email service, send us an email.

Harold says he’s going to post something about Google for us later, so check back and see what he’s got up his sleeve. Probably something technical. But probably cool, too.

Some of the fun apps you can find on Google are:
Sketchup
Picasa
Google Earth
Google Maps (if you’re not using this, you’re missing out! That’s my house!)

Google is my number one visited site. I use it for searching mostly, but the maps are great, too. The above applications are some of the best “freeware” you can find.

Let us know what you want to know. Email us! Let us know how you think we’re doing and what you’d like to hear about. We want to talk about the computer stuff you’re interested in!

We’re on iTunes now! Check us out and subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Mike Squires
Host - Computer 101 960am, KIMP

 
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