jeremyfrombenton

I am tired of endless security updates, viruses, spyware, Internet Explorer flaws, firewalls, blue screens of death, backing up Outlook…….

My laptop and my desktop no longer have Windows XP or Vista. I now use Linux. The wireless, Bluetooth, QuickLaunch buttons, printers all work without any driver installation or downloads. Once you install Ubuntu from a cd-rom, you have nearly everything you need, including Firefox, OpenOffice, a bittorrent client, Gimp (for photo editing), are all installed automatically. At this time, anti-virus and anti-spyware software aren’t necessary like in Windows. Most importantly, linux is FREE.

You can try it out without installing anything to your computer by downloading and burning a ‘live cd’ version that will run the complete operating system. If you like what you see, you can click on the Install link and follow the prompts. You can even ‘dual-boot’ linux and Windows if you aren’t ready to commit to 100% linux just yet.

Ubuntu can be found here. Linux Mint can be found here.

I hope the following tutorial will clear up any misconceptions on how to figure something out via the internets.

1. Find your computing machine (desktop or laptop).
2. Get you some internets or internets2.
3. Open up your internets browser (Internets Explorer, Firefox, Opera, etc.).
4. Go to a search engine website (google, yahoo, msn, etc.).
5. Decide on something to figure out. In this tutorial, we want to figure out ‘how to solve a rubik’s cube.’
6. Type your question into the search box. For example, type in the following question: how do i solve a rubik’s cube?
7. Hit enter.
8. You should see a plethora of links on how to solve a rubik’s cube.
9. Click on a link. If you are not totally satisfied that the selected site can lead you to success in your endeavor to conquer the rubik’s cube, try a different link. Keep trying until you have solved the rubik’s cube (do not remove the stickers- that’s cheating).
10. Think of a different question, go back to number 6.

So you like the free internets radio stations? Here’s how you can record (A.K.A. rip) these radio stations to your fancy computer machine as individual songs so you can listen to them later.

1. Download and install Winamp (let Winamp be the default application for playlists).
2. Download and install Streamripper (after install, you may want to change the default save-to directory).
3. Go to shoutcast or icecast to select some radio stations.
4. Click on the ‘Tune In!’ or the ‘M3U’ link for your selected station(s). The playlist should load in Winamp automatically.
5. The stream should start automatically, if it doesn’t, hit ‘Play’ in Winamp.
6. In the Streamripper window hit ‘Start’ (if not visible, right-click on the SR icon in the system tray by your clock and hit ‘Start’) .
7. Once the ripped song is finished, Streamripper will place that song in the directory you selected in step 2 (or on the Desktop if you went with the default) and automatically begin ripping the subsequent songs that play until you hit ‘Stop’.

If you have the slow internets, check out this tutorial: Streamripper Tutorial. Enjoy your audio files- complete with ID3 tags.

Google talk is great if you want a simple, free, pc2pc voice communications program. Both ends need a microphone and speakers. Most new laptops have a mic built-in, but the quality is sometimes not that great. External microphones are typically better and range in price from really cheap to really expensive. I have a $16 Altec Lansing headset that I use occasionally. I rarely do voice over internets calls, but this is a nice thing to have if you are low on cell minutes or are already sitting in front of your rig paying bills, uploading pictures to vistaprint, or playing SNES online with your joes.

Finding a twenty in your pocket is fun. Setting up networking in Windows: not so much. It’s usually a pain to get everything working and theoretically you can network between XP and Vista machines. Still interested? Well, good luck with the following:

1. Complete the original ‘Setup a wireless network’.
2. Be sure your Windows User Account is password protected. If it is not, password protect it by going to Start and clicking on Control Panel. Click User Accounts. Click on your user account. Click on Create a password if you aren’t password protected. Accept the settings and move on. Do this for all computers on the network. Having your user account name on all computers sometimes makes the process easier.
3. In Windows XP, hit Start and click Control Panel. Click on System. Click on the Computer Name tab. Here you rename the name of the network (Workgroup) to something other than WORKGROUP (all computers on your network should be named the same). When you are finished click Apply, then OK. In Microsoft Vista, hit Start and click Control Panel. Click on System and Maintenance. Click System. Click See the name of this computer to see your computer’s name and domain. Click Change Settings: A new window will be displayed. Here you rename the name of the network (Workgroup) to something other than WORKGROUP (all computers on your network should be named the same). When you are finished click Apply, then OK.
4. To share a folder, right-click on a folder and click Properties. Click on the Sharing tab. Enable Sharing by accepting any warnings Windows gives you. Type in a name for the shared folder (Videos, Pictures, Music, etc.). Set a password if you wish (I would wish that). Accept your changes and move on.
5. To share a printer, hit Start and click Control Panel. Click Printers and Faxes. Right-click on the printer you wish to share and click Properties. Click Sharing. Type in the share information as needed and hit OK, Apply, Yes, Sure, Affirmative, or whatever it takes to get out of there. Remember exactly what you name this share because when you want to print over a network, you have to type the printer name in exactly.
6. To add a network printer, go back to the Printers and Faxes box you visited earlier from the Control Panel. Click on Add a printer. Select Network Printer and click Next. Type in the name of the printer from step 5. Click Next, OK, etc. and… hopefully it worked. If not, restart the computers and try step 6 again.
7. Hit Start and click Network. Your shares should pop up. If they don’t restart all computers, enter your passwords to log in to Windows and try again.

Once again, I wish you luck. If you need further assistance, Google it.

Real player used to be the way to listen to music online, but thankfully now there are alternatives. I have tried many programs and formats and have decided that using foobar2000 and shoutcast radio stations is the easiest and least taxing on your computer and internet bandwidth. Here’s what you do:

1. Download and install foobar2000 from filehippo.
2. Go to shoutcast.com and browse the different stations and genres. You can even search for a music or type by keyword. For example I searched for ’80s’ and ‘.977 The 80s Channel’ was top on the list.
3. Once you pick a station, right-click on the ‘Tune In!’ button and select ‘Copy Shortcut’ (Internet Explorer) or ‘Copy Link Location’ (Firefox).
4. Open foobar and go to ‘File’, then ‘Add Location’. You can also hit ‘control+u’ on your keyboard at the same time.
5. Delete anything in that text box, then right-click and hit ‘Paste’.
6. Sometimes foobar will create a list of several addresses of the same link for that station, just delete all but one of those links (it doesn’t matter which one you keep).
7. Double-click on that address in foobar to start the online radio stream. Once you click on it, it will display the station name instead of the address from then on.

You can add as many as you want and they are all free. I recommend any of the ‘.977′ stations for starters.

There is an awesome feature in Windows called a “Recycle Bin.” It works like this, you delete a file and it goes to the recycle bin. When you empty the recycle bin, the file disappears, but the file is still on your computer. The file will remain on your hard drive until the computer needs that space for something else. So, if you have accidentally deleted files and emptied them from your recycle bin and cannot find a copy anywhere or you reformatted your computer and need some of those old files back, you could go to Best Buy and pay the Geek Squad at least $259 to try to find those files, or you could find them yourself using software off the internet. There are many programs to choose from in all price ranges. Undelete by Diskeeper is only $29.95.

Once you purchase, download, and install your recovery program, run a scan and you should see a list of available recoverable files. From what I remember when I had to do this a couple of years ago, the process is pretty straightforward. If you find and recover that deleted file yourself, you just saved yourself about $230.

…any computer you purchase new is good enough and fast enough for general-use computing (email, internets, Word). You just need to decide on screen size, hard drive size, etc. Both AMD (Athlon, Turion, Durion) and Intel (Pentium, Core 2 Duo, Celeron) processors are fine. AMDs are less expensive, the way to go for a basic computer. Don’t worry too much about RAM because you can upgrade that easily if needed. 1 gig of RAM is enough for most people.

If you are purchasing from a store, don’t let places like Best Buy, Circuit City, or Staples talk you into unnecessarily spending hundreds of extra dollars in software. For example, in Best Buy recently, I saw a middle-aged woman shopping for an inexpensive desktop computer (a $299 Gateway). She didn’t need a high-end gaming machine, she just wanted to send email, type letters, and surf the internets. I overheard an associate tell her that since she had broadband cable internet, she needed to spend $500 over the price of the computer in software and labor that she could easily get and do for free. Here’s my advice on what to do after you buy a new computer and say no to the Best Buy sharks.

1. Decide to keep Microsoft Vista or downgrade to Windows XP. If you choose to keep Vista, or whatever your new computer came with, continue to the next step. If you want to downgrade from Vista to XP, click here. So many people are wanting to go back to XP that Dell has started offering XP instead of Vista on their site.
2. Uninstall any Norton or McAfee software and download and install Avast! anti-virus and Windows Defender anti-spyware. Norton and McAfee are OK, but they seriously slow down your computer.
3. Download and install PC Decrapifier. This program automatically removes the bloat-ware, program trial versions, and spyware that is pre-installed on your new computer and also seriously slows it down. Amazingly, Best Buy’s Geek Squad charges at least $49 to remove their own spyware. PC Decrapifier is free.
4. Get your Windows Updates (shortcuts located in the Start menu or in tools in Internet Explorer) and restart your computer. Repeat this step until you get all of the updates.
5. Purchase and install more RAM yourself if your rig still isn’t as fast as you want it to be.
6. For desktop computers, consider a wireless mouse/keyboard and a surge protector. For laptops, consider these items.
7. Download and install any other software you need or want.

1. Find your laptop or desktop computer and make sure you are wireless ready. This means an integrated wireless adapter for laptops or a wireless adapter like the Linksys WMP54G Wireless-G PCI Adapter for desktop computers.
2. Get you some high speed internets (DSL, cable, satellite, etc.).
3. If your internet service provider didn’t provide a wireless router, get the Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router.
4. Once you have the above items, connect your high speed internet connection’s network cable to the WAN or internet port on the back of your wireless router.
5. With a network cable, connect your computer to a LAN port (there are usually four of them) on the back of the wireless router and login to the router by following the instructions packaged with the router.
6. After you have logged-on to your router, find the wireless security settings where you: name your network, choose WPA security, and type in a password. Also password protect the router in the administration settings. These security settings keep others from accessing your wireless network.
7. Unplug your computer from the router, wait for Windows to detect your wireless network, and enter the password you chose earlier. If you have wireless built into your laptop, make sure the wireless switch is turned on, usually located on the front of the laptop.

Congratulations, you just setup a secured wireless network yourself. Best Buy’s Geek Squad charges $199 in labor plus equipment charges to setup the wireless network. You just did all that yourself in steps 4-7. Now that you saved that money, go do some Christmas shopping on your couch in your undies.

I pay all my bills online through US Bank’s free Bill pay feature. You can pay everything from Ameren bills, water bills, credit cards, and everyone else that comes calling every month. US Bank prints the check and physically sends it to the payee for free. You can set it up to pay all your bills automatically every week, 2 weeks, month, etc. If you have the means, I highly recommend signing up with your bank.

The Proctor and Gamble CEO does not give his profits to the church of satan. Liz Claiborne is not a satanist. All of Bill Clinton’s friends and acquaintances have NOT mysteriously died. Oliver North did not warn Congress about Osama back in the 80s. Mars is not going to be as big as the moon. This post does not contain a virus that will destroy your house and everything in it. Those coupons you received for Outback Steakhouse from Bill Gates are not real. Your cell phone will not be inundated with telemarketing calls 31 days from now. Most importantly, nothing bad will happen to you if you do not forward this post to 10 people.

As you have noticed above, I have included links to the proof that those hoaxes and myths are false. So, from now on, if you find yourself in a panic about the formaldehyde in those Magic Erasers you just bought (not true), go to snopes.com and verify the authenticity of that email you just forwarded to 73 of your closest friends and family members.

If you spread chain letters, please put the email address in the ‘Bcc:’ (blind carbon copy) section instead of the ‘To:’ section. This prevents all the people that read your chain letter from seeing everyone else’s email address.

I deleted Vista and installed XP because Vista was slower, less capable of connecting to wireless networks (including my home network), and I had numerous program compatibility issues. I have installed XP countless times, so it made since to use my faithful XP Pro installation CD and leave Vista behind. If you choose to do the same, here’s what to do:

1. Admit you have a problem (with Vista) and choose to leave Vista (for now).
2. Backup any files you need on your computer (pictures, email, favorites, settings, etc.) to a USB flash drive, CD or DVD, or external hard drive.
3. Download the XP drivers for your made-for-Vista machine. For example, my laptop is a HP dv2415nr, so I went to HP’s website and found drivers for the HP dv2000z that work with my laptop. I think this is just a catch-all model for any dv2xxx machine. I found these drivers by googling “hp dv2415nr xp drivers” and by visiting HP’s support forums. I finally hit gold when someone on a forum had the same model as myself wanting to do the same thing. It took me a couple hours of research to find the correct drivers. Save all the drivers you can find for your model to a USB flash drive or CD. The most important drivers are your network card and/or wireless card drivers. Once you can access the internets on your freshly installed XP machine, you can download the rest of your drivers.
4. Put your XP installation disk in your machine, follow the prompts to delete the Vista partition (c:), create a new partition in the unpartitioned space, format with NTFS, and follow the remaining prompts to complete the installation . Note: I don’t encourage people to delete the recovery partition if you have one for obvious reasons.
5. Start installing your drivers in the following order if applicable (restart if prompted to): chipset, video or graphics, network, wireless, audio, and then any other.
6. Re-install programs that you use. I recommend these.
7. Enjoy computing again.

If you like the looks of Vista like I do, download a Vista skin for XP. It looks very much like the real thing.

I have spent countless hours researching and testing software programs. I have narrowed my research down to the following programs for Windows:

• PC Decrapifier (removes the pre-installed bloat on new PCs)
• Avast! (anti-virus)
• Windows Defender (anti-spyware)
• Malwarebytes (better anti-syware)
• CCleaner (clean temporary files, history, and cache;  program uninstaller;  registry cleaner; manage startup programs; don’t install the Yahoo! toolbar during the setup process)
• Firefox (web browser)
• Open Office (contains clones of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)
• Audacity (audio editor)
• Foobar (audio player)
• Media Player Classic (installs with the next program below)
• K-Lite Codec Pack (essential codecs that lets you play any media file)
• Image Resizer (simple right-click on a picture program to resize images; not compatible with Vista)
• 7-zip file compression (use this instead of winzip)
• Soulseek (file-sharing program with NO spyware)
• uTorrent (torrent downloading program)
• Karen’s Relicator (file backup program)
• TweakUI (make safe tweaks to Windows)
• InfraRecorder (CD and DVD burning software)
• Everest (tells you all the information about your rig, e.g. RAM, video card, processor, etc.)
• Network Stumbler (detects and lists wireless networks in your vicinity)
• Eraser (permanently deletes files- use this because I can find files you emptied from your recycle bin years ago)

So, you bought yourself a shiny new HP laptop. Here are the accessories I recommend:

• Laptop case (I use a military messenger bag with padded dividers in the middle for my rig). - $24
• Wireless mouse - $20
  
• Mobile surge protector - $12
• Personal computer endorsement for your homeowner’s insurance for computer coverage (my insurer, USAA, covers any computer damage, accidental or hardware failure, up to $2000 minus a $100 deductible - $18/year
• If you can’t get the insurance coverage, carefully consider the accidental damage warranty from the retailer you purchased from.
• Backup disk of your operating system and a disk of your necessary program setup files. - $1
• A usb flash drive for backing up your files. - $25

Total = $100 +/-

So, you don’t use Windows Messenger and you think you stopped it from starting up by unchecking that box in the Messenger options page (because you have found it impossible to uninstall it)… but you really didn’t. It is still running in the background. I have researched this for you and have a solution.

Click on start, then run. In the run box, copy and paste or type the following:

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\inf\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

Hit OK and restart your computer. Congratulations, you have removed Windows Messenger.