Ray's Computer Tips
Free Monthly Newsletter
Published by
Super Win Software, Inc.
January 2009 - Issue #38
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Contents
Posting Guidelines
Top 9 Posters
The Best of Websites of Interest
Wikipedia.com
MissingMoney.com
The Good Clean Funnies List
Rip-off Report
How Stuff Works
eBay
Internet Movie Database
YouTube
TruthOrFiction.com
TripAdvisor.com
A Treasure Trove of Websites
Questions on our Discussion Board
Computer Q&A Board
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Posting Guidelines
Here are some guidelines for making posts on our discussion board at http://regvac.com/forum/.
- Text Formatting - If you want to make some text of your message bold, a different color, or a link, here is what to do. Go to the More Post Options section. First highlight the text that you want changed, and then click on the appropriate button. Some people are just clicking on the buttons without highlighting text and then it just shows the opening and closing tags without any text in them.
- Stay On Topic - Please keep posts in a thread on topic. If you want to start another topic, please do so by starting another thread. Do not post an additional question in a thread that is not about the first question. Do not post an answer in a thread that does not have anything to do with or little to do with the first question. I do delete messages that are off topic.
- Reply to Answers - If you posted a question and someone answered it, please post a message in the thread telling if that answer worked or not. If you figure out the problem on your own, please post a message in the thread telling the thread what the solution was. There are many threads on our boards where a solution has been given but the person who asked the question never tells whether that solution worked or not.
- Respect the moderator (that's me) - I will ban people who do not listen to me, who call me a liar (directly or indirectly), or who criticize me. Please, remember that I am the host. If you want to rake me over the coals, start your own discussion board and criticize me to your heart's content.
- Be courteous - Please always try to be courteous. If you want to criticize people, please do so somewhere else.
- Do not send emails to me - I started the discussion board to decrease my load. It allows other people to answer questions that otherwise I alone would have to answer. Many people know more than I. The discussion board allows them to answer your question. It also allows others to see the answers. When you send emails to me asking questions or making comments that could be on the board, it increases my load and deprives everyone else.
Top 9 Posters
A couple of years ago (maybe longer) I recognized the top posters. Now again I want to recognize the top posters. They have been a great help on our discussion board and I should have recognized them a lot sooner. Below are the top 9 posters. If you have spent any time at our discussion board, you have probably seen their posts. They do a great job of answering questions and have taken a load off of me. Thank you.
1 - dlwolff0 (457 posts)
2 - Snakeyes (139 posts)
3 - billrobb (128 posts)
4 - Jogor (82 posts)
5 - plonkeroo (80 posts)
6 - alanturk (69 posts)
7 - quinland (58 posts)
8 - onemaddude (55 posts)
9 - rarrows (53 posts)
Thanks go out to everyone who has participated in our discussion board. There are 1995 members and 5075 messages. As many of you have said, the discussion board is a great place to get your computer questions answered.
Best of Websites of Interest
These are the best of the Websites of Interest articles from previous issues of Ray's Computer Tips.
Wikipedia - from Issue #1
Imagine a website where people write articles about subjects they are knowledgeable about and where readers can edit those articles. This is what is known as a wiki. One of the best wikis is Wikipedia at www.wikipedia.org. Don't let the fact that it is a free encyclopedia put you off. This is an interesting and quality place to spend some time. Each day it features one of its articles, lists various news items, lists what happend on that day in history, and lists the newest articles. I like to visit it daily to read its featured article. It also has a search engine and random page generator. Two other good sites produced by Wikipedia are WikiBooks and WikiQuotes. Check out Wikipedia and enjoy.
MissingMoney.com - from Issue #3
Are you rich and don't know it? Here is a website that will tell you if someone wants to give you money. It brings together the unclaimed property lists from most of the states of the US and allows you to search through them. We are not just talking about long lost rich uncles who left you a fortune, but also things like, former employees who could not get your last paycheck to you and government agencies who owe you money but can't find you.
Just enter your name in the box, put your state (even though it searches all of the states), and click on Go.
My last name is a very rare name and yet it found two people with my last name that had unclaimed money. Too bad I don't know them (probably long lost relatives). I also did a search for my wife's last name (another rare, but not so rare, name) and it found 70 people. She knew one of them.
For the states not listed in the search engine, there are individual links to all fifty states.
So why not go to www.missingmoney.com and see if it holds a missing fortune for you. Surely, someone reading this newsletter will find a treasure.
The Good Clean Funnies List - from Issue #4
The Good Clean Funnies List is a website of good clean jokes. This site has been putting out jokes every weekday since 1998. The jokes are all rated with a five star system by readers. If you are in search for some good clean humor, check out http://www.gcfl.net/.
Click on the Archive Index link at GCFL and you can view every joke.
Click on the Mailing List link at GCFL to subscribe yourself to their list.
Rip-off Report - from Issue #5
Do you ever wonder if a business or offer on TV is legit? Do you want to report a company or individual that has ripped you off? Do you have questions about an offer on the internet? Do you want to know what you can do about someone who has ripped you off? Do you just want some interesting reading? Rip-off Report at www.ripoffreport.com is the place to go.
This site is packed with over one hundred thousand reports. A search box at the top of the front page allows you to search for a company or individual. Links along the left hand side lead to reports and advice, and the most recent and popular reports are listed on the right.
The reports consist of posts written by someone who was ripped off and by anyone else who wants to respond. The top post explains the rip off. Below that are posts from others who have experienced similar problems or who have advice. The original complainer also can interact in the posts.
Some of these complaints are just disgruntled employees or customers who want to vent, so don't take everything on this site as a valid complaint. You can usually figure this out by reading the responses. If a company has many complaints of the same type, it probably is a valid complaint. Many of the valid reports have actually resulted in the filing of a lawsuit.
Rip-off Report can provide for interesting reading but it also may just save you from losing your shirt.
How Stuff Works - from Issue #6
Have you ever wondered how a digital camera works, how blood works, how hybrid cars work, or how chocolate works? www.howstuffworks.com is packed full of explanations and pictures on how these things and hundreds more work. The HowStuffWorks brand is recognized as the leading source for clear, reliable explanations of how everything around us actually works.
If you want to know about a specific thing, a search box allows you to find it. With the amount of articles on this site, you are sure to find it.
If you just want to go browsing through the topics, there are tabs across the top which take you to each topic with the click of a button. The topics are Auto Stuff, Science Stuff, Health Stuff, Entertainment Stuff, People Stuff, Computer Stuff, Electronics Stuff, Home Stuff, Money Stuff, and Travel Stuff.
I could spend a whole month on this website, but if you don't want to spend that much time, stop by every day and check out the feature artilces listed on the front page.
The only down side of this website is the abundance of advertisements, but they have to pay for it somehow.
So the next time your child bugs you with a million how questions, take him to HowStuffWorks.com.
eBay - from Issue #7
If you want to buy or sell something, the first place to go on the internet is eBay (www.ebay.com).
When it comes to buying things, eBay has such a wide and extended variety of items that no matter what it is, you probably will find it on eBay.
Items are sold in two ways on eBay: Buy It Now or auction. If you don't want to go through the auction process to get the item and it has a Buy It Now price listed, you can buy it immediately for the Buy It Now price. Brand new items usually are sold with only a Buy It Now price.
Some items can be bought either through auction or with the Buy It Now price. In these cases, the auction price starts somewhere below the Buy It Now price. With some items the Buy It Now option is removed once the first bid is placed. Bidding on the item instead of buying with the Buy It Now price allows you to buy it at a cheaper price, unless the bids go over the Buy It Now price or someone else buys it using Buy It Now.
The auction price may have a Reserve on it. This means that the item will not be sold until it gets above the price that the seller has set as the Reserve price. If the auction price is below the Reserve price (only the buyer knows what the Reserve price is) it will say, "Reserve not met".
As with any auction, before you buy anything from eBay be sure to know how much it sells for in the store and/or how much it is worth to you. The last few minutes of an auction can get wild with the price going up hundreds or thousands of dollars, so don't get carried away and end up paying more than you want.
If you are in the right place at the right time and no one else is bidding, you just may get a great bargain. Also even though many of the brand new items on eBay are more expensive than in the stores, there are wholesalers that sell products cheaper than you can find anywhere else. So if you take your time and are smart, you can save money buying on eBay.
The other side of eBay is selling. Some people have made a fortune using eBay to sell wholesale items. Please beware that this is rare and that there are many companies out there which promise to make a millionaire out of you through eBay but instead rip you off.
A less lucrative alternative is to buy things cheap at garage sales and then resale them on eBay. If you don't mind taking digital pictures of the item and writing a description, you just may make some money after paying eBay's small fee.
Yet another alternative is to use eBay to sell things around the house that you want to get rid of. I have done this. I usually put the starting auction price at a penny and let it go from there. Some things have brought in less than I expected and others have brought in more. Be aware that you will have to ship the item (or list it as pick up only), so know how much shipping will be and state that amount in the listing.
This is just a quick look at eBay. If you want to know more go to their website at www.ebay.com and learn for yourself what eBay is all about.
Internet Movie Database - from Issue #12
Somehow a discussion in church turned to the characters of Gunsmoke. Those who were a little older than I seemed to be well acquainted with each character. "I don't know," I commented. "I used to come home from school and watch those westerns but now they all seem to be a blur. They were an awful lot alike. Many of them had Lee Majors in them...." That turned the conversation to which westerns Lee Majors had been in. Our memories were not too good at that. Someone mentioned Big Valley and a woman was trying to remember the name of another that she said was a play on words. She finally said that she would look on IMDb when she got home.
I had never heard of IMDb, so when I got home, I did a search for it. I found it at www.imdb.com. It declares itself as "Earth's Biggest Movie Database"..."visited by over 38 million movie lovers each month." Then it welcomes you to "the Internet Movie Database, the biggest, best, most award-winning movie site on the planet." OK, OK, I get the point. A lot of people go to this website.
I looked up Lee Majors and found that he had played in Gunsmoke, Big Valley, The Virginian, Allias, Smith and Jones, and 74 other shows and movies.
IMDb has everything you would ever want to know about movies and TV shows.
On the left side of the front page is listed the Top Box Office Hits, Movies Opening this Week, Movies Coming Soon, new DVDs this Week, Upcoming DVDs, and User Favorites (the most visited webpages). Each of these abbreviated lists have a More link which takes you to more details and links to even more detailed lists.
The center part of the front page displays a varying and changing collection of tidbits, like Today's IMDb Poll Question (What is your favorite movie which features the Statue of Liberty in an important part of a setting?), Snapshots, the Movie of the Day, trailers you can watch, a trivia question, and the Movie/TV Quote of the Day.
The right side lists news, someone born today, cool services, and advertisements.
Hidden behind all of this is an extensive database of movies and TV shows which you can get to through links and searches. Entries in this database have information about the movie/show, users' ratings and comments. Before you spend money to see a movie, you might just want to check it out here first.
This is a great website for movie goers, movie lovers, and anyone with a movie question. Check it out.
YouTube - from Issue #13
It took a few extra hours to write this article because I sort of got distracted at YouTube. Did I say distracted? No, really, I was doing research. I watched one video, then another, then another, and, well, anyway, you get the picture.
YouTube is a free website that is loaded with hundreds of thousands of videos. It is located at www.youtube.com. Each day they show around 30 million clips to millions of people. Of the video websites out there YouTube is the most popular.
YouTube was founded in February, 2005 by three early employees of PayPal. Ten months later, with the help of millions of investment dollars and the coincidence that they happened to host a video that everyone on the internet wanted to see (the popular Lazy Sunday clip from a Saturday Night Live broadcast), YouTube became the most popular video website. Later NBC Universal asked YouTube to remove the Lazy Sunday clip and several other copyrighted NBC video clips from their website which they did.
Even though YouTube does not allow the posting of copyrighted clips, they often end up on YouTube because the 35,000 daily uploads are not screened. They stay on the website until the copyright holders make formal requests to remove them.
The videos on this site are uploaded by its members, so you will find just about anything, including taped television segments (there is a ten minute limit), video clips circulating the internet, vacation videos, and amateur productions. I only looked at the most popular videos, so I am not sure what resides in the nether parts of YouTube. Let me warn you that the amateur productions can be a waste of time, but don't let that deter you from trying out YouTube because there are still plenty of good videos to watch. Some of my favorites were the space shuttle lift-off, airshow crashes, and tsunami footage.
So whether you are looking for a certain video, wanting to share your blockbuster video production with the world, or just wanting something to do, YouTube is the place to go.
TruthOrFiction.com - from Issue #14
Is one of your sources of news emails forwarded to you by your friends? If so, you need to check out the TruthOrFiction.com website at http://www.truthorfiction.com
TruthOrFiction.com checks out forwarded emails to find out if they are true or not. Each article ranks the email (Truth, Fiction, Unproven, or a number of other rankings), shows a copy of the email, and explains why it is true or not.
Here are a few of the article titles:
- Australian Government Official Says Muslims Who Want to Live by Sharia Law Not Welcome There-Truth!
- E.coli bacteria found in bagged salads?-Truth!
- Mars is Going to Be the Closest to Earth Then Ever Before in Recorded History-Fiction!
- Young Thief in Iran Punished by Running a Truck Over His Arm-Fiction!
- The Many Uses of Hydrogen Peroxide-Truth! Fiction! & Unproven!
- Free cards to U.S. troops through Xerox?-Truth!
On the left side near the top is a Search link where you can search for forwarded emails. Just find a word in your forwarded email which would not be in other emails (like, a name or city) and search for it. This makes it easy to find information about your email. If it is not listed, you can send the email to them and they will research it.
Even if you do not have a specific item to look up, this website is still an informative place to go. Articles are sorted into topic areas so that you can spend hours casually browsing through them and reading them.
A similar website is Urban Legends at http://www.snopes.com.
So the next time that someone forwards an incredible story to you, head on over to TruthOrFiction.com and check it out before you forward it to all of your friends. If we all work together we can stop eRumors altogether (OK, probably not, but we can try).
TripAdvisor.com - from Issue #15
"Get the truth, then go", that is the subtitle of the TripAdvisor website at http://www.tripadvisor.com. With over 5 million traveler reviews and opinions of hotels, vacations, and more, this website is just what its name says, an advisor for trips.
Like all other travel websites, TripAdvisor has a form to find hotels and flights, but that is where the similarities stop.
The core of TripAdvisor is the hotel reviews. It has reviews of just about any trip destination and lodging. It even lists small, out-of-the-way hotels. Many travel websites use the reviews here. I don't know of a more exhaustive list on the internet.
If you check them out, they may prevent you from booking a bad hotel. Why not learn from someone else's misery?
But there is more than hotel reviews here. One section has Rant & Raves (negative and positive reviews), Hot Spots, and Candid Photos. Another section called Inside Pages gives advice on what to see and do in various cities. Then there are the Top Ten Lakeside Getaways, GoLists (individual events to do or see), Hot Topics in TripAdvisor Forums, The Big Picture Show (where people share their photos), Helpful TripAdvisor Links, Hotels in Popular Destinations, Top Destinations, Recommended Vacations, Best Beach Vacations, and much more.
If you want to share your travel experieces, sign up for free and start writing. You can also sign up to receive their free weekly newsletter by email.
If you travel at all, TripAdvisor is the place to go before you go.
A Treasure Trove of Websites - from our Readers
Here are websites that you, our readers, have recommended in the Websites of Interest section of our discussion board at http://regvac.com/forum/b-websites/
- Medical Websites
- Freeware - Slim Jim - If you've got plenty of time to burn, check out this helpful website.... http://www.econsultant.com/i-want-freeware-utilities/index.html It lists over 450 freeware utilities, separated into about 39 categories for easy reference and to help you find what you're looking for.....SlimJim
- How Stuff Works - gshibu5 - I often visits a very usefull site- How Stuffs Work. Its really a wonderfull site with details of almost anything you want to know, categorised under various heads. For example to know how nuclear bombs work just past this add : http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-bomb.htm
- or-live.com - Ray - Here is a website for viewing surgeries - http://www.or-live.com
If you have been diagnosed with a medical condition which requires surgery, this is a good website to go to and find your surgery or newer surgeries to correct your condition. The video that I watched was an hour long and spent most of the time explaining the surgery in lecture style. This website is for doctors and so the terminology is technical. They explained the different problems and why their surgical procedure is better.
This website has live presentations of surgical procedures (what is usually live is the lecture and not the surgery itself) and archived live presentations (which really are not live). Many of these presentations seem to be used to promote new ways of doing certain surgeries.
- Learn how to draw - Ray - If you want to learn how to draw, http://www.drawspace.com is the place to go. This website is full of lessons on the different aspects and levels of drawing.
- Social Shopping at Crowdstorm.com - Ray - Crowdstorm is a social shopping network that helps you find what to buy by measuring the buzz around products. You can also see recommendations from friends and people you trust.
http://www.crowdstorm.com
Please, help out this discussion board, our newsletter, and Super Win Software, Inc. by listing our products on this site or, if they are already listed, voting for them and leaving your comments.
Use the "add a new product" button at the above site to add our programs which you like. If you need text to give for the details, the pad_file.xml file or pad_file.htm that is in your program's folder has some descriptions.
Thank you.
- Another Social Shopping Site - Kaboodle.com - Ray - Here is another social shopping site. These sites let you see what others like and think about almost everything.
http://www.kaboodle.com
Again, please help us out by listing and voting for our products.
- Free Translation - Ray - If you ever need a quick translation from one language to another, here is the place to go - http://www.freetranslation.com/ The free translation is not the best but it does give you an idea of what was said.
- Free Publications - Ray - The Federal Citizen Information Center (1-888-8PUEBLO) is located online at http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/ Some publications can be viewed on their site, others can be sent to you for a dollar. It is a great place to find cheap reading material.
- Cell Phone Reception - Ray - http://www.cellreception.com has reports about what cell phone reception is like in places across the US (enter a zip code to find reports), where most cell towers are located (enter a city and state and a map is shown with towers on it. You can click on a tower and it will tell you who owns it. You can scroll through the map finding new locations), and where dead zones are located.
- How to Geek - dragonfly - Many Interesting subjects about running your computer faster and more efficiently. http://www.howtogeek.com
- NASA Earth - Ray - Jonathan Rolfe in response to my article about Google Earth wrote me and said:
"Ray, you might look at NASA's Worldwind also. You can do it with both the Earth AND the Moon. It is FREE. Your taxes already paid for it. http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/"
I did go and try Worldwind. It starts out with a picture of the earth like Google Earth does but that seems to be where the similarities end. Navigating the earth is harder in the NASA version. There are instructional videos on Wikipedia which tell how to use the program but when I tried to view them it froze up at 73% and so I never could watch it. I am sure that they would have helped me.
It does seem to have images from many satellites and not just one but they don't seem to have the resolution that Google Earth has. I am sure that they show more than what Google Earth shows but I could not figure it out.
It also allows you to cruise the Moon and a few planets, like Venus.
- travel web sites - billrobb - I'm looking for a website with readers recommendations for tours in Asia. Any ideas?
- Dual Pane Windows Explorer - halfquid - This site has a free version for download, that allows for a dual pane of the Windows Explorer. You can drag and drop from one pane to another, or from a CD or Flash Stick.
The site is...http://zabkat.com
Also, for those who need to hide files that only you may access, (with a password) The following site has a program called "Cryptainer", which creates and hides a secret drive.
http://www.cypherix.com
- Optimize XP, and Vista if you bougt that dog - Saint Satin Stain - http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html
- Jigzone.com - Ray - Jigzone.com (http://www.jigzone.com) has jigsaw puzzles that you can work on their site. It scrambles the pieces and then times you as you drag them into place. When a piece matches or is properly lined up with another piece, it clicks and locks into place. When you finish the puzzle, your time is compared to the best time and the average time for that puzzle.
There is a puzzle of the day, several puzzles along the top, and a whole archive to choose from.
A puzzle take around 5 minutes to complete.
Give it a try.
- Instructables.com - Ray - Instructables.com at http://instructables.com is a place to find instructions for just about anything. People who want to show how to do something post the instructions here. The subtitle of the website is "The World's Biggest Show and Tell".
The site has the following categories: Art, Crafts, Food, Games, Home, Life, OffBeat, Ride, and Tech.
There are instructions on how to make wind turbines, an electronic map, a wind harp, senior remote, solid wood digital clock, cheesecake, and much, much more.
The instructions for an item are divided into step-by-step screens with pictures and instructions.
- SketchUp is 3D for everyone - Ray - SketchUp is 3D for everyone - http://sketchup.com
Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create, modify and share 3D models. It's easier to learn than other 3D modeling programs, which is why so many people are already using it. We designed SketchUp's simplified toolset, guided drawing system and clean look-and-feel to help you concentrate on two things: getting your work done as efficiently as possible, and having fun while you're doing it.
You can choose from two versions of our software. Google SketchUp is free for anyone, and allows you to build, view and edit 3D models. Google SketchUp Pro adds the ability to share your data with other software, get email technical support, and create professional presentations—both print and digital—from your models. You can download both versions of SketchUp right from this website.
- WeirdConverter.com - Ray - WeirdConverter.com (at http://weirdconverter.com) is simple: it is like a currency converter, but for completely unrelated items. For example:
WEIGHT
How many NASCAR Winston Cup Tires in an African Elephant?
How many kegs of beer in an Airbus A380?
LENGTH/HEIGHT
How many Shaquille O'Neals in the Great Wall of China?
How many giraffe's necks in the Weinermobile?
VOLUME
How many bathtubs in an average human stomach?
How many dump trucks in an Olympic Swimming pool?
- Major Geeks - rharris270 - Major Geeks is a website that lists many free and some commercial programs. It also provides news about updates to many programs, problems/fixes, and some general topics. On the left side of the homepage is a list of types of software. I have had good luck with software obtained via Major Geeks. Note that the WinRescue series of programs are listed under "registry", not under "backup", which contains things like disk/parition imaging tools. http://www.majorgeeks.com/
There is a also a MAC-related website: http://mac.majorgeeks.com/
- GiveAwayOfTheDay.com - Steelbone - Take a look at http://www.giveawayoftheday.com, especially today. There is a good dvd burning software that can be downloaded today for FREE!
- Speed Traps - Ray - Here are two websites that list known speed trap locations: http://www.copspy.com - http://www.njection.com/speedtrap
- CHOKTI.com - Self-guided Tours for Global Nomads - Ray - Audio & Video tours, photos & maps to all those places, near and far, that you love to visit or have always wanted to travel to.
Use the map and the links under it to navigate to anywhere in the world and watch YouTube videos that people have posted from those areas. http://www.chokti.com/
- Get Better MPG - Ray - Increase the miles you get from a gallon of gas just by changing your driving habits. http://www.cleanmpg.com has articles telling how to get more miles to a gallon (it is called hypermiling) and forums for people to share their experiences.
- Online Investing Brokers - Cassandra - Site for posting and reading customer complaints and comments about online brokers. Also has some fees and services in more or less standardized format for comparison. http://www.broker-reviews.us/
Questions on our Discussion Board
Thanks for reading,
Ray Geide
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