Well, today we talked about a variety of subjects. How to get an inexpensive solution for Microsoft Office type products, alternative browsers, and some basic networking vocabulary.

Microsoft Office can be purchased for Home or Student Use for about $150.00 from your nearest comptuer retailer. OpenOffice can be downloaded from openoffice.org. This is a free alternative to MS Office.

Pages can be purchased from your nearest Apple Retailer or online at www.apple.com.

Firefox can be found at www.mozilla.com/firefox. This is a great browser to use as an alternative to Internet Explorer for most of your browsing needs. NOTE: this is a different URL than the one mentioned on the show. This one is just more official.

Now get ready for your vocabulary test!

DNS means Domain Name Service. This is easily described as the phone book of the internet. It connects you to the server you’re going to by translating the name you type to an IP address.

IP Address refers to the number that every computer on the internet has which defines the network it belongs to. Routers tell your computer how to get to another computer by knowing what IP address belongs to which network.

Confusing? Let us know what you want us to talk about and what we need to spend more time on. We’re here for you! Send me an email at computer101@easttexasdailynews.com

Remember, you can subscribe to the podcast of this show on iTunes.

Below you’ll find the link to today’s show.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to write!

Mike Squires
Host – Computer 101 960am, KIMP

 

 02/23/08 Office, Firefox and Vocabulary [24:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted: February 25th, 2008 under After Show.
Comments: none

Thanks for listening to the show! In case you missed it, we’ve got a link at the bottom of this post to a commercial-free podcast of today’s show.

We talked about viruses and spyware. (I’m still not sure if I’m spelling viruses correctly. Wouldn’t it be virii?)

Don’t know.

Email us and let us know what you think. computer101@easttexasdailynews.com

A couple of helpful links:
www.mcafee.com
www.symantec.com (aka. norton)
www.grisoft.com (aka. AVG)

Remember, Harold and I believe it’s best to just get the Anti-virus products and stay away from the extra big security suites if you can.

Spyware/AdWare detector:
www.safer-networking.org (This gets my vote for most valuable free software on the Internet!)

Sned us your questions or comments, or just let us know what you think about the show. Email us anytime at computer101@easttexasdailynews.com!

Missed the show?

Add us to your iTunes podcast subscriptions.

Mike Squires
Host of Computer 101 on 960am KIMP
Mount Pleasant, TX

P.S. Here’s another way to listen to the show…

 

 02/16/08 Viruses and Spyware [24:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted: February 16th, 2008 under After Show.
Comments: none

Well, that’s another show on the books. I appreciate you listening!

We mentioned a few websites, so I thought you might like a link to them.

For memory upgrades:
www.crucial.com
www.kingston.com

Want to buy a computer online?
www.dell.com
www.apple.com
www.hp.com
www.gateway.com
All of these companies carry good warranties and have fine products. Both Harold and I (and Colvin and Associates) have used them all in professional settings.

All of those sites have good deals on 19″ LCD monitors, too. I can’t stress enough the importance of a good monitor for your overall computer experience. They get cheaper everyday, but don’t wait for the best price. Treat yourself now and start enjoying a better monitor.

Again, we really appreciate you listening to the show. Tune in next week and listen to us answer your questions. I want to know what you want to know. Email me at computer101@easttexasdailynews.com and we’ll answer your questions on the air.

If you missed any part of this week’s show, you can listen to it on our podcast at:
http://computer101.colvinassocs.com/comp101_020908.mp3

Mike Squires
Host of Computer 101 on 960am KIMP
Mount Pleasant, TX

 

 Buying a new computer [24:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted: February 9th, 2008 under After Show.
Comments: none

I hope you enjoyed today’s show. It’s amazing how one question can spark so much talk. We’ll try to get to more subjects/questions in future shows. Right now we’re at a one question per show rate.

Harold went to the Wal-Mart after the show today and found an 8GB flash drive for $68. I can’t believe how inexpensive they’ve become over the past few years, since their introduction in 2000-2001. My first USB flash drive cost around $100, but was only 4MB!

Some of the links we talked about were:

Online Backups:
http://www.mozy.com
(here’s a commercial grade backup service I use)
http://www.dataprotection.com

Flash Drives:
http://www.sandisk.com

Here’s that Lego “jump drive” I remembered. It’s actually a project to make one yourself. Looks like it will be a while before my 128GB Robot comes to life:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/05/lego_flash_drive.html

We also didn’t make a distinction between backups and archives. Of course, backups are generally for disaster recovery: the important data you’re going to need on your new computer tomorrow if your current computer dies today. Archives are generally for moving data out of the way that you don’t want to get rid of, but you don’t need access to on your next computer. It’s not a bad idea to decide which data is fit to archive, make a copy of it and store it somewhere. Then you’ll have less data to worry about on your computer.

If you missed some part of the show, check out the podcast on:
http://computer101.colvinassocs.com/comp101_020208.mp3

or click the play button below!

I hope this episode helped you think about how you backup your valuable/precious data, but I want to know what you want to know. Email me at computer101@easttexasdailynews.com with any questions about your computer or how to use it and maybe we’ll talk about it on the air!

 

 Computer 101 960am KIMP- 02/02/08 [24:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted: February 3rd, 2008 under After Show.
Comments: 1