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Castellini on Computers
Free Weekly Email Newsletter
November 28, 2007
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In this week's issue. .
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*** Tip of the Week
*** Geek Speek of the Week - (Simple
definition of common computer terms)
*** Computer News...and
comment
*** Last week's Poll results
*** Adam's Comments - Stuff
from the digital world that is rolling around in Adam's head.
*** Email
of the week
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We
will be back live tomorrow with a fresh new webcast episode of
Castellini on Computers. We took a long break for Thanksgiving and we
are back and ready to take on your computer questions.
Technology news has also been stacking up this week and we have a lot to share in the newsletter, so read on and enjoy!
Much of our newsletter problems have also been resolved. Make
sure you add the following address to your accepted or non-spam list (without
the spaces and use @ symbol instead of the word 'at') so that the email will get
through to you: response26262629 at zinester.com.
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Email your questions to us
and we will answer them live on the air or on our daily website
updates!
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Custom Computer Help from Rick and
Adam
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We have been posting a new how-to video every week since November and
the feedback has been tremendous. Now YOU have the opportunity to get your own
customized video tutorial about a topic that you are having trouble with or just
want to learn.
To learn more, visit: www.HelpMeRick.com/videohelp
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Tip of the Week
Visit our HelpMeRick YouTube Channel
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View the Video Here
Castellini on Computers has had a YouTube channel for over a year.
Every time we create a video tip, we post it on YouTube. If you want to
go back and review some of our past video tips, visit www.YouTube.com/casttv. |
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Geek Speek
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If
you love eBay and you use Mozilla Firefox, you must download the
MyTimeZone extension. If you don't use Firefox, this tip may just get
you to start.
Mozilla FireFox is a great program all on it's own, but what make it
superior are the vast number of extensions available for it.
One extension we recently found was the MyTimeZone extension.
This extension is for eBay users everywhere. It does two wonderful things.
1. It shows all eBay times in your time zone.
2. It shows a real-time counter that counts down to auction end on any auction that you open.
In the options menu of the extension, there are several other features
that you can enable, but these two mentioned above will change the way
you use eBay.
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MyTimeZone for EBay
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Computer News...and
comment
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Google to offer versatile online storage
Google has yet another service in the works that will change the lives
of computer users everywhere. According to leaks, the company plans to
start an online storage service that will be accessible from any
computer with Internet access.
The hope here is that people will begin to use their
Google online storage accounts the same way they use their USB flash
drives now.
Rather than backing up data to disks for transport
between locations, the information will be uploaded to a Google account
where it can be accessed from anywhere else. Other uses for this
include sharing files instantaneously over great distances.
Outdoorsmen find new use for Google Maps
Two
stories down and they are both about Google. This week Google began
offering Terrain maps as a part of its Maps.Google.com service. As with
all new services offered by Google, they are incomplete but the service
will improve faster than competitors will be able to keep up.
Cyber Monday likely just a myth
How many news stories did you hear that touted the Monday after
Thanksgiving as the biggest online shopping day of the year? It may be
worth a little research to see where those reporters did their research.
The folks at Snopes.com did a little research
as did many others who track online spending. It seems that there is no
such thing as Cyber Monday. While shopping is higher, it is not a
significant spike comparable to Black Friday. The week or two prior to
Christmas is often much higher than "Cyber Monday."
XP SP3 to enable ReadyBoost
ReadyBoost is one of the bigger gimmick features found in Windows
Vista. Microsoft advertises the feature as the ability to use a USB
flash drive as RAM to speed up a computer. In reality, many argue that
the feature does exactly nothing.
Microsoft has partnered up with a number of USB flash drive makers to
license the ReadyBoost technology though. So, this week they announced
that the next service pack to Windows XP, due out next year, will
enable ReadyBoost support.
In an unrelated, yet related, study this week. One study found that
Windows XP with SP3 beta was nearly three times faster than Windows
Vista with a beta of SP1. Hmmm....maybe the researchers used all the
anecdotal evidence we have presented at HelpMeRick.com for the past
year.
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Poll
Results
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What is the best Thanksgiving Pie?
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Next week's poll:
Which gadget or appliance spoils you the most?
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Pumpkin 65%
Mince Meat 11%
Other (please tell us which one by leaving a comment)
23%
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Adam's
Comments
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I am back in full eBay swing.
After two consecutive years of waiting in line for hours to get my
hands on the hottest toy to scalp on eBay. I was beginning to think
that this year would be dry as there wasn't supposed to be a hot toy in
limited supply.
As it turns out there are two "toys" that are quickly rising in value and I bought the last of them available in town.
I have a very tolerant wife who has watched me come home every day for
the past few days with arm loads of goodies to eBay. I have spent over
$1000 on stuff to eBay since Thanksgiving. It looks like I will make it
all back after my fourth sale (I have 10 items to sell).
I love eBay. It really is the ultimate capitalist tool. Anyone can do
it. Success involves real money and the return is all but guaranteed if
you do your research.
EBay's increase in fees and a few other strict changes have taken a
little of the fun out of what eBay used to be, but it still remains one
of the only sure ways that a resourceful person can make money on the
Internet.
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Email of the
week
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Hello Rick,
How
can I delete the user account control in Windows Vista? The pop ups
are driving me nuts.We use avg ,ad-aware and Mozilla Firefox.they all
work great. msconfig does not have a check for uac HELP!!
Rod
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Hi Rod,
Ah,
the wonderful world of Vista. Unfortunately, I say that with extreme
sarcasm. More than a year into using Vista, first as beta, then as the
real thing, it still hasn't grown on me at all. You
can find the answer to stopping the annoying, and mostly useless User
Account Control (UAC) by visiting our web site and reading the how-to steps found by clicking here. Good luck.
Rick
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Castellini on Computers &
HelpMeRick.com ©2007
Rick Castellini and Adam Cochran
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