• by Bill Jimenez

    Subscribe to My Monthly Newsletter

  • Schedule Remote Computer Support

    Schedule

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Pages

How do you know if you got the best price on an item?

Posted on February 16, 2009 by wjimenez275

Have you ever purchased something only to wonder if you could have gotten it cheaper if you’d only waited a little longer? There is a great tool called PriceWatch that can be used to monitor the price of an item you’re shopping for through Amazon and notify you when it reaches a price you want to purchase it at. If you use Internet Explorer, PriceWatch has hooked up with Price Protectr to track prices of things you’re thinking about buying, and save money even after you buy at over 150 stores. PriceProtectr will warn you if the price of a product that you recently bought online is reduced, so you can claim a partial refund under the store’s price guarantee policy.

Filed under: Instructional | Leave a comment »

Verizon adds ‘friends’ plan for unlimited calls to 5 people – Alt+Save with the Gadgetress – OCRegister.com

Posted on February 13, 2009 by wjimenez275

Jealous of T-Mobile’s Fave 5? Now, Verizon Wireless has its own version of the favorite-friends calling plan, called Friends & Family, an uninspired moniker that the company has trademarked.  Verizon users can pick any five numbers — including non-Verizon friends and landlines — and call those same 5 numbers anytime without using up monthly minutes. Family plans get 10 numbers.

To qualify, customers need either an individual Verizon plan with at least 900 minutes or be on a family plan with at least 1,400 minutes. Users can add the plan for free at any time and the numbers can be changed at any time without penalty. New numbers will go into effect the next day.

The phone numbers must be regular 10-digit U.S. numbers and can’t be directory assistance, 900 numbers or customer’s own wireless or voice mail access number.

The Friends & Family plan, which is available beginning this Sunday, is definitely not as catchy as T-Mobile’s ‘Fave 5′ name, which has inspired some entertaining commercials. But Verizon’s is more flexible. T-Mobile’s Fave 5 lets you change each of your “friends” just once per month.

Hmm … is Verizon becoming a me-too company? Today’s friend plan comes a day after Verizon began offering unlimited plans for its prepaid users, a feature smaller players like Boost Mobile and Cricket Communications already offer. What’s next? Verizon rollover minutes? Let’s hope!

http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/2009/02/12/verizon-wireless-adds-friends-plan/10533/

To add numbers to the Friends & Family list, visit My Verizon to set up your Friends & Family numbers, and change them online whenever you want. If you are not already registered you will need your cell phone number, your cell phone and your billing system password, if you have one.

On the My Services Tab in My Verizon, Account Owners can activate the Friends & Family service, and add and remove numbers from the Friends & Family list.  Account Members may view the list, but may not edit the list.

You can find more information on Verizon’s FAQ page.

Filed under: Instructional | 2 Comments »

Fake Parking Tickets link to Malicious Download Site

Posted on February 4, 2009 by wjimenez275

Since email links aren’t working very well any longer, they’ve moved off-line to get you to download viruses/trojans.

In a scary online-offline Internet scam, hybrid cars in North Dakota have been tagged with fake parking citations that include a Web address hosting malicious software that drops a Trojan onto the computer.

The yellow tickets found on the cars in Grand Forks, North Dakota, read “PARKING VIOLATION This vehicle is in violation of standard parking regulations. To view pictures with information about your parking preferences, go to” and gave a Web site, according to a blog posting on the SANS Internet Storm Center site.

The site referenced shows photos of cars in parking lots in that town and prompts the visitor to download a toolbar to see purported photos of the ticketed car. Downloading the executable installs a Trojan and displays a fake security alert when the system is rebooted. The fake alert prompts the computer user to install a fake anti-virus scanner, SANS said.

Filed under: Instructional, Stay Safe | 2 Comments »

Have you ever needed to share someone’s computer?

Posted on February 3, 2009 by wjimenez275

Have you ever been speaking with  someone and they describe what’s going on their computer but you’re just not understanding what they’re saying, or they’re running a program and have a question about something but can’t really express in words what they need?

There’s a great program that I use that allows me, with the permission of the other user, to gain access to their computer to see what’s going on. I gain control of the mouse and keyboard, or let them keep control so they can show me what’s going on. Did I mention that it’s free?

Crossloop is a free remote assistance program that allows you to run programs, open documents, download drivers, alter settings and even delete files on the remote computer.

The program works by connecting via the CrossLoop server. The server has 128bit Blowfish encryption, making it  safe from hackers and other ne’er-do-wells.

It’s easy to setup and run and it has saved a lot of time in troubleshooting issues. You can download the program from here (http://www.crossloop.com/ipage.htm?id=download).

They also have a service with support people online from all over the world to assist you when you have a problem. The helpers set their own rates and if the Helper was unable to solve your problem or your problem continued after the session and within 48 hours of your final payment, CrossLoop will refund the payment you made. The rates for Helpers vary by many factors depending on the type of issue and experience of the Helper you choose.

A nice program worth looking into if you’re constantly called on to help others, or if you need help yourself and don’t know who to turn to. – Crossloop

Filed under: Instructional, PC Maintenance, Quick Wins | Leave a comment »

Beware of Valentine’s Day Emails

Posted on January 30, 2009 by wjimenez275

Multiple security vendors, including MX Logic Inc. , Trend Micro Inc. and Panda Security, have issued alerts about new Valentine’s Day-themed spam campaigns that try to dupe users into installing the Waledec bot.

Subject lines for the spam, said Sam Masiello , vice president of information security at MX Logic, are “short and sweet,” and include “Me and You,” “In Your Arms” and “With all my love.” From the spam, users who browse to the embedded link reach a site with a dozen hearts, any one of which download an executable file when clicked.

“Clearly the old Storm folks are working as hard as they can to build up their new botnet, and are following the old tried-and-true methods of centering their social engineering tactics around holiday themes,” said Masiello in a post to the MX Logic blog .

“But it still impresses me that tactics like this continue to work and be so effective, despite how many times it gets recycled,” Masiello said in an interview today.

Storm used Valentine’s Day spam in both 2007 and 2008 to hijack PCs.

via New botnet resurrects Storm’s Valentine’s Day ruse – Network World.

Filed under: Quick Wins | Leave a comment »

Great Tool for Sending Notes to Yourself – JOTT

Posted on January 23, 2009 by wjimenez275

A couple of months back I recommended a great online service that allows you to call a toll free number to send a message to yourself or a contact. The service transcribes your message and sends the text and the sound file to your email or your contact’s email. You can read more about the service here – JOTT.

Beginning February 2nd, they are doing away with the free, basic version and going with annual plans. They’re still low cost and very much worth the price, but what I like is that they have a pay as you go plan. If you don’t use the service a lot, though once you start using it, you’ll use it more often, you can purchase a chunk of minutes and your usage will deduct from those minutes. This is very reasonable. Also, they don’t round up minutes. If your message is 23 seconds, they just deduct 23 seconds, not 25, not 30.

Still a great product for a very reasonable price.  You can get to the site here.

Filed under: Instructional | Leave a comment »

Some Cool Technology I’ve Been Playing With

Posted on January 22, 2009 by wjimenez275

LeapFish is a multi-dimensional metadata search engine that combines the best of the web in a single search. It searches Google, Yahoo, MSN, Amazon, and Youtube. They recently released its new click free search interface that delivers search results as you type. The brand new search engine  now offers one of the world’s fastest search services with instantaneous results as each character of a search term is entered. Give it a try.

YouMail provides you with a free cell phone voicemail service that allows you to better express your personality and be more productive. YouMail users can personalize greetings based on caller ID – recording greetings themselves, or easily choosing from a large and growing library of user-generated greetings and away messages. YouMail users can also access their cell phone voicemail over the Web or in their e-mail, to easily share special voicemails and save them forever. The service is free. When someone calls and goes to voicemail, they are actually leaving a message at YouMail. The program notifies you via text that you have an an email, and/or you’ll get the message in an email with a link to the voicemail, which you can listen to online.

WatchThatPage is a service that enables you to automatically collect new information from your favorite pages on the Internet. You select which pages to monitor, and WatchThatPage will find which pages have changed, and collect all the new content for you. The new information is presented to you in an email and/or a personal web page. You can specify when the changes will be collected, so they are fresh when you want to read them. The service is free!*

Filed under: Instructional, Internet Items | 2 Comments »

Recording industry to cut back on lawsuits

Posted on January 21, 2009 by wjimenez275

The Recording Industry Association of America said that it will cut back on lawsuits to combat illegal online music sharing because it has enlisted leading Internet service providers to discipline individuals it accuses of pirating copyrighted works.

The trade association said certain Internet carriers, which it did not name, have agreed in principle to impose escalating penalties on customers who ignore repeated warnings that they are breaking the law by distributing free songs. The association is negotiating for sanctions that could include the suspension or permanent termination of Internet service.

Digital rights groups rejoiced over the recording association’s announcement that it will limit its long-running campaign of legal action against individuals such as college students, who often were pressured to pay thousands of dollars to settle the lawsuits.

But the consumer groups said Internet service providers should not be cast in the role of “copyright cops” who can cut off online access based only on industry accusations that are never put to the test in court.

via Recording industry to cut back on lawsuits.

Filed under: Instructional | Leave a comment »

Is your computer sending out spam or viruses without you knowing it?

Posted on January 17, 2009 by wjimenez275

Sometimes computers seem to have a life of their own. In some cases, they do. Your computer may be part of a network of computers that are sending our spam and viruses to other computers, and you don’t even know it.

I’d like for you to read this article from the Free PC Security blog that explains what Bots are and how to find out if your computer is one: Botnets – Are You One?

PC security is critical in this day and age. There are plenty of free tools that will diagnose and protect your computers. I’ve posted a few earlier articles that address this. Take a look back.

Internet Security: What is it and why do I need it? and What Free Security Programs can Protect My PC?

Filed under: Instructional, Quick Wins, Stay Safe | 1 Comment »

What Free Security Programs Can Protect My PC? – PC World

Posted on January 12, 2009 by wjimenez275

What Free Security Programs Can Protect My PC?

Lincoln Spector

Jan 12, 2009 3:44 pm

You really can protect your PC with free software, but there’s a price. Multiple free security programs usually aren’t as easy to use as one pricey suite. Your less likely to get decent support (perhaps I should say even less likely). And they lack features like antispam and child protection which you may or may not need. All of the companies that give away security programs sell more feature-rich versions, which come with better support and additional features.

On the other hand, they’re free. And they have less overhead than the big suites, so they won’t slow down your PC as much.

What do you need? First and foremost, a good firewall (the one that comes with Windows doesn’t qualify) and real-time antivirus protection. (The term antivirus is somewhat misleading. In their current versions, these programs protect you from all sorts of malware, not just viruses.) It’s also a good idea to get a second malware fighter–one that you don’t run in real-time. It’s like going to another doctor for a second opinion–except it doesn’t cost anything.

Start with the Comodo firewall. It regular beats out the not-for-free firewalls in independent tests. It’s not the easiest firewall in the world–it gets in your face an awful lot with questions that would confuse most novices–but PC World readers should be able to handle it.

Comodo recently added antivirus, making itself the first free suite. But I’ve yet to see any independent test results on Comodo’s antivirus, and therefore don’t trust it. So, when you install Comodo, uncheck the Antivirus option and just install the firewall.

That means you need separate antivirus software. Go with Avast. It’s free, uninstrusive, and did very well on AV-Comparitive’s last round of tests.

I’ll give you two choices for extra protection, and there’s no real reason not use both of them. They are SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes. Scan your hard drive with one or the other of them every week or so–and if you suspect something.

via What Free Security Programs Can Protect My PC? – PC World.

By-the-way, the posts of another individual whom  I respect can be found here – http://freepcsecurity.co.uk/. Colin always has some fresh insight on security, which he tests out on his own systems. I’d recommend signing up for his blog.

Filed under: Instructional, Quick Wins, Stay Safe | Leave a comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »