With my old set-up, the best I ever got on the Speakeasy Speed Test was 6,168 Kbps.

With the new network adapter, I pinned the meter with a whopping 18,104 Kbps! And pages load SOOOOO much faster. Best 30 Bucks I have spent in a while.

Click on the Thumbnail below to see a screen-cap of my amazing score.

 

 

&nbsdp;

Then, once you have signed up for World Community Grid, Please go HERE to join Team PC Q & A.

While AVG is an axcellent antivirus program, their license only allows installation on one computer. When I networked my old eMachine with my main computer, (see my "Fight cancer with UD" page), I needed an antivirus program for the second machine. Avast was recommended by the folks at PCQ&A, so I'm giving it a try. It's free for home use, was easy to install and so far has already updated itself.

Disk Cleaner is a great little free tool that cleans up temp files, cookies, history, empties the recycle bin and more. Very easy to use!

FindSounds.com

Are you tired of the stock sounds that come with Windows that your computer plays for certain events like receiving new mail or a contact on line?
FindSounds.com has hundreds of cool sounds, nicely categorized, that you can download to your computer. To download these sounds, right click on the URL of the sound you like and then select "save target as". Then select the folder where you wish to save your sound, (i.e. "My Documents / Sounds") and then click "Save".

Get on the Bus!
Another great newsletter!

All of these newsletters offer lots of helpful suggestions and will populate your inbox with something other than SPAM.

As always, "Your mileage may vary, You and You alone are responsible for what you do to your machine and always BACK UP your registry before making any changes."

Over my five years on the web, I've had many ISPs from WebTV, when I first got online, throught freebees like Earthlink and Juno, to my current cable connection, Comcast, but I have always used just one email address that has not changed. And that is my Hotmail address that has followed me everywhere through the years. Don't be a slave to the whims of your provider.
Get Hotmail and you can keep the same address whatever your provider does, and you can access your email from anywhere.

EDIT
Announcing a new email address!

With my domaine name came my own email addy.
I can't print it here or the Bots will SPAM me.
Go up to the menu and punch "Contact" and there you can try out and see my new email address.
I'm very proud of having it and hope folks will switch to it.

Freeware from
SHELL EXTENSION CITY

 

 

Then you can click on the warning flags and for many problems, it offers an "Auto-fix", which, as it says, will fix many of the problems.

I found that my computer had a program that was tracking my internet activity and "Auto-fix" removed it.

It also gives you a rating of how your computer measures up against other PCs of similar configuration. I run this test about once a month.

The JavaScript Source offers hundreds of FREE JavaScripts of all types which you can copy and paste into your homepages.

Have you heard about Yahoo Widgets?

Widgets are small programs that run right on your desktop. There are thousands of Widgets, Weather Forcasts and Radars, Clocks, Volume controls, Webcam Viewers, System Resource graphs, Search boxes and many, many more. They do not use much in the way of system resources, contain no advertising, and do not collect harmful personal information.

Below, is my desktop. (Click to see full size).

 

I finally built a new computer!

Click the cool looking computer case to read all about it.

[Aug. 9th, 2005]
"Cool Web Search" is one of the most insidious types of Spyware. It can change your IE Homepage, invade your email address book, send out spam from your machine, install keyloggers which can "phone home" with your sensitive information, passwords, account numbers and much more.

Check out this article from eWeek.com for the Very Scary details. You Don't want this creature on your computer!

TrendMicro, creators of the popular PCcillian Desktop Security products, offers a free online tool, that detects and can remove this serious threat.

My desktop wallpaper is from an online service called Webshots which offers a Free version with thousands of beautiful photographs suitable for wallpaper and a small program for downloading and rotating screensaver images. The program may be a bit of a resource hog if you're short on RAM, but it can be disabled from running in the background and still be used to get more fantastic photos. I especially like the outer-space shots and the satellite images of earth.

If you look closely at the icons on my desktop, you will see icons for Reboot, Shutdown and Monitor off. These, and many other funtions for your computer can be set up using Steve Gibson's Wismo utility. (Steve Gibson also wrote the "Shields Up" tool, [see below]).

Wizmo is a small program that you can download and then move to your Windows/System folder. You can then click the program and pick commands from a list, (like reboot), pick an icon, and voila, you have a shortcut for the command on your desktop.

The one I use the most is Monitor off. I have my monitor set to automatically shut off after two hours. If I know I'm going to be away from my computer for some time, I just click my Monitor Off icon and shut off the monitor immediately which saves electricity, and wear and tear on my monitor. The program is easy to use and I find it very helpful.

Google is by far my favorite and best search engine.
If you look on my desktop screencap above, Do you see the little Google logo on my lower toolbar? You can add Google Search to your desktop by going HERE.

Lockergnome has started some excellent new forums, covering topics from Windows and Macs, to the internet, webpage design and potpourri. They are very busy and frequented by friendly and helpful people. A great place to ask questions or post interesting finds.

PC Q&A Has a great site and a very active forum where you can post questions about your computer problems and quickly receive answers from friendly, knowledgeable folks.

SpywareInfo.com is the place to go if you want to learn more about intrusive spyware programs and the tools for controlling them.
Quoted from the site's "About Us" page, "This site is dedicated to giving you the tools and knowledge you need to protect your privacy from the onslaught of spyware, adware, and corporate and government surveillance."

Stay Safe Online has lots of tips for keeping your computer safe when surfing the net. Take their test to see how safe YOUR surfing habits are.

Firewall

Zone Alarm is a free firewall program that can protect your computer from invasion from malicious hackers and insidious spyware. Any time a program tries to "phone home", you are warned and can block the contact.

Lavasoft has just announced the release of AdAware 6.0 Free Version. This award winning tool searches your computer to identify and remove Spyware, programs that are often downloaded unwittingly along with other programs that can collect information about your surfing habits and then "phone home" to share this information with unscrupulous advertisers. Kaaza, Bonzi Buddy and Gator are three of the most notorius programs to contain spyware.
Even if you have a firewall, it's a good idea to download AdAware to find and remove any of these programs.

AnalogX developes a lot of cool software. Two of their programs that I use are MaxMem, which restores memory not released by closed processes and CookieWall which helps to control cookies. Check them out!

Interested in building your own webpage?
Want to learn HTML? XML? Style Sheets?
Need to validate your code?
Then check out W3Schools.
AND
They have great computer jokes.

Tachtech features tips, up to date news about Microsoft Updates, new drivers, game cheats and much more. A very well-organized site for all Windows users and especially for gamers.

Find:

"EMS Free Surfer mk II is an intelligent popup stopper, cache cleaner and surfing companion from EMS-Project. It works with IE. FS and its fs-20 inference chain engine do not in any way interfere with opening new windows. No white lists, block lists or anything; just start it and surf in peace. And it's configuration free. There is no return to 'old style' popup stoppers after trying Free Surfer. Free Surfer is just the best free popup stopper in net."

Another excellent Tips and Tweaks site.

Do you ever receive emails that seem to good to be true? Have you ever forwarded such emails to your friends? Maybe the next time you receive one of these emails, you should check out the Museum of Hoaxes before you forward it to all your friends.