| August Specials
Here are a couple of Specials made possible by some of our sponsors.
iPrint.com is offering a free custom Self-Inking Address stamp. Absolutely Free! All you pay is postage. Get one for each family member. Get one to stamp checks For Deposit Only with your account number.
All kinds of batteries. Laptop, Camera, Cell Phone, Alkaline. All kinds! Free Shipping! Save 10% - Use Coupon Code CJ99 at checkout.
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Reminders
A couple of reminders from previous articles:
- We can still build computers and laptops with Windows XP
- Be sure to use adware and spyware protection such as AdAware and Spybot
- Make sure your computer is set up for Daylight Saving Time changes
- A 17" standard LCD monitor screen is taller than a 19" widescreen LCD!
- Make sure all your computers have battery backups to avoid data loss and damage from sudden loss of electricity.
- Rent a laptop for short term use, instantly. See ad below.
- Be sure to have backups of all your valuable data.
- Fax us your business telephone bill to see if we can save you money. We usually can!
Click for previous Newsletters |
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Spotlight on Products and Services
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Here are links for some products and services we have found very useful. Feel free to click on any that interest you to find out more information. No obligation, of course.
New Sponsor - Shop CompUSA
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Connect to your home or office PC from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. Get $10 off EVERY MONTH!
Faxes sent right to your email! Never miss another fax. Never have to run back to the office!
Dell Small Business has computers and accessories for you
Good, inexpensive host for your web page. Don't have a web domain? They will get you one free.
Vista Print offers Free Business Cards, Free Rubber Stamps, Free....check it out!
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Call us at 410-922-2962
Fax us at 410-609-4677 |
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Dear Steve,
 Aah, August! Only a few short weeks till the kiddies go back to school. Aren't you glad you took our advice about buying your students their computers last month so you could avoid the last minute scramble? And aren't you glad you got those battery backups that kept your computers running during all those July thunderstorms?!?
Maybe we'll get some rain this month!
We have some information this time that, as usual, we hope will be useful to you. A little advice, a few things to be aware of, some warnings, some gotchas . . . you get the picture.
And as usual, please let us know if we can help you with anything for your computing needs.
Don't forget to check our sponsors in the lonely left hand column . . . you might find a bargain or something that you can really use.
Please forward this newsletter to a friend who might be interested. A convenient link is located at the bottom of the page. And if you're not a subscriber (yet), just click the "Join Our Mailing List" button on the left near the top or bottom of the page and enter your email address for your free subscription. |
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"Fee, FIOS, Fo, Fum!"
 Recent articles in various news sources (search for "Verizon cutting copper" on Google) are documenting a little known fact about how Verizon handles installation of FIOS, its new fiber-optic network that includes telephone, high speed internet, and TV. If you order FIOS for your home, Verizon, as part of the installation process, cuts and removes the copper phone lines that brought the traditional phone service to your house.While these copper wires are no longer needed to use the FIOS service, cutting and removing these wires puts you at a great disadvantage. If you should later decide to switch away from the FIOS service and select a competing local phone company, such as Cavalier for example, this new phone company would have no way of connecting your home to their service. These traditional phone companies connect to you through the copper lines that run from the telephone central office to your home. Once these wires are removed, they have no way of connecting to you or of offering their (usually lower-priced) services.
Verizon is required to share their copper phone lines by deregulation laws. But they are not required to share their FIOS fiber-optic network. So, it is to their advantage to remove the copper wires so you are permanently tied to their new service, leaving them free to raise rates since there can be no competition.
According to the news articles, the statement that your current telephone connection will be disconnected is included in the fine print of the contract you sign, but it doesn't spell out that the lines will be cut, leaving you with a permanent disconnection from the copper system.
If you decide to get the FIOS service for your home or office, make sure that any reference to removal of the copper lines is removed from the contract you sign. In addition, make sure that the installing technicians do not cut and/or remove the copper lines. The proper way for them to install the system is to simply unplug and insulate the incoming copper lines in your outside phone box, thereby leaving them available for future use. Make sure that this is what the technician understands he is to do, and make sure he does it.
If you are interested in seeing if the FIOS service is available at your location, comparing pricing, or ordering the service, click the Verizon FIOS ad below and enter your phone number.
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The Updated Vista on Windows Vista!
 In our first newsletter of March 1, 2007, we strongly recommended against buying a computer with Windows Vista operating system, and even more strongly recommended against upgrading a non-Vista computer to Vista. Five months later, we still stand by those recommendations. Vista is more complex than the Windows XP (or earlier) you are used to, has additional security "features" that get in your way, and takes more computer horsepower to achieve the same degree of performance as earlier operating systems.
Just a reminder: Master Software can still obtain Windows XP (home and professional) and can still provide new desktop and laptop computers with Windows XP as the Operating System.
But, we recognize that some of you want or need Vista anyway, so here are a few things to keep in mind.
First, make absolutely sure that your hardware and software will work with Vista. This means that you need to check all the software you are using (don't forget Quicken or Quick Books, music software, CD- or DVD-burning software), especially any business-critical you are using. Specialized software like that used for your business is less likely to be updated to work with Vista.
Check every piece of hardware connected to your computer. Printers, scanners, cameras, Palm cradles, transcribers, and any other external devices may need new drivers which may or may not be available. Check every item, hardware and software, to be sure that it is actually Vista compatible and not just that the manufacturer says it is. Check with each vendor's tech support and look in user forums to see if the items really work and what needs to be done to make them work.
Next, be aware that there are several flavors of Vista. The cheapest computers are sold with Windows Vista Home Basic, but that might not be the best choice. A better choice for home users is Windows Vista Home Premium, but even Premium lacks some of the features you might have grown used to in XP (Windows FAX comes to mind; you need Windows Vista Ultimate, at a much higher price, to get the Fax service back).
Windows also comes in a Business flavor. To compare the features in the various editions of Windows Vista, click here to go to Microsoft's web site.
You should be aware that just like Windows XP, Vista is licensed for use on only one computer. So, if you have three computers, you will have to buy three copies of Vista, one for each. Unlike Windows 98, which could be loaded (not legally, of course) on several computers, Vista requires a separate license for each installation.
When you purchase Vista as part of a new computer, you get what is called an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) license. This license is tied to the single computer you have. If the computer fails, you will be required to buy a new copy of Windows Vista for the new computer. In addition, according to an article in Ed Foster's free gripeline, if your computer's motherboard needs to be replaced you may be required to buy a new Vista license. This is one way that name-brand computer manufacturers can keep their prices low. They get a very low price from Microsoft on their copies of Vista in return to tying them to a specific computer, and they define the computer, rightly or wrongly, as the motherboard. See Ed's article for more details on this (and subscribe to his newsletter while you're at it).
In any case, enter the world of Vista carefully, with your eyes (and possibly your pocketbook) wide open. We have worked with customers where significant extra expenditures for hardware, software, and labor were needed because of the purchase of inexpensive Vista PCs. |
Here are a couple of short articles you might find of interest:
Don't Get Into Hot Water at Public Wireless Hot Spots
If you have a laptop with wireless connectivity (WiFi), you have probably used that feature in a public "hot spot", which is a location that has wireless internet service available. These locations can be hotels, airports, coffee houses (think Starbucks), bookstores, or even some outdoor public locations. However, you might be in danger of opening your computer up to hackers.
An article in the June 14 issue of Windows Secrets, one of my favorite online newsletters, describes the threat and what you can do about it. Some of the precautions you can take are
- Make sure your are connecting to the right hotspot
- Turn off your WiFi when it's not in use (saves battery power, too)
- Install or activating a firewall
- Clean up your network list
- Turn off file sharing
You can read the entire article (and the free portion of the newsletter) by clicking here. You can subscribe to the Windows Secrets newsletter by entering your email address in the box at the top of that page. Each issue has a free version and a paid version. If you send them any money at all, you will receive the paid version, which of course has more articles. Subscribe to the free version for a while to see if you want to send them some cash.
EGreetings!
Letters from the government indicating you were being drafted used to begin "Greetings-", and the reader's response was usually something like "Oh !*&%!" (This is a family newsletter, after all.) A new crop of electronic greetings is likely to make you utter the same expletive.
Many of us have been plagued by a number of emails from ECard or EGreetings or PostCard.com or GreetingCard.org or any of a number of similar sites. In case you weren't aware of it, the links to greeting cards in these emails are not links at all to cards sent by people you know, but are from people you don't know who want you to click on their website to infect you with a virus or spyware, show you some porn, send you some ads, or use your email address to send you more junk mail.
Unless you know the sender and know that he/she sent you the greeting card and know that the website it came from is legitimate, don't click on it! You don't want the kids to hear you yelling "Oh !*&%!" when the computer gets infected. Better safe than sorry.
You Better Shop Around!
Comparison shopping is now even easier using the Internet. Instead of spending $3 per gallon gas running from store to store looking for bargains, there are a number of sites that offer comparisons of prices on many items, just for the cost of a few keystrokes on the old keyboard.
A couple of the sites that offer price comparisons, along with links directly to the stores selling the items, are www.froogle.com, www.mysimon.com, www.shopzilla.com, www.dealtime.com, and www.shopping.com. Epinions, at www.epinions.com, offers user ratings on many products, so you can compare not only prices on a particular model, but user opinions on competing models.
Sites like www.ebates.com give you a rebate for shopping through their site. Sign up for free (please use my email address of ssleven@yahoo.com in the referral block), and you will get a $5 credit after your first purchase. When your rebate account reaches $5 or greater in a quarter, they send you an actual check in the mail!
And of course the Master Software website has a number of links to online vendors that have reasonably priced merchandise that computer users and computer buffs can use. Just click on Recommended Products and Services on the menu on the left side of our website, and see what we have to offer. And check out some of the bargains we have linked on the left side of this newsletter. |
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Hopefully you won't fall into any of the traps mentioned this month, but if you do, we're here to help.
As usual, please let us know what you think of our newsletters. Are they too long, too short, not interesting enough, too deep? And we always welcome suggestions for articles. Please don't forget to visit our sponsors lurking way over there in the left hand column.
And now it's off to water the grass (quick, before it rains!). |
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Steve Leven
Master Software | |
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