Amazon slated to stop production of Kindle Fire?

Advanced System Care Tutorial and Help Sheet

The following tutorial is a quick guide to using Advanced System Care on your computer to remove malware.

Step 1:  Launch Advanced System Care (ASC)

ASC may be launched in any of 3 ways.

1.  Double click the ASC logo on your desktop. 

2.  Single click the tray icon if ASC is already running.

3.  Click the "start" button and single click the ASC button (you may have to navigate to "All Programs" then to "Advanced System Care")

Advance System Care will load with this Screen:

Step 2:  Click the "Check for Updates" link in the lower right hand corner, click "next", if there are updates available they will download and install, click "finish".

Step 3:  Click the top circular button "Maintain Windows"  All 4 boxes on right hand side should have a check in them, if not, check them off.  Click the "Scan" button on the lower right hand side.

Step 4:  When ASC has completed scanning problems will be highlighted in orange, click the "Repair" button on the lower right hand side.

Step 5:  Upon completion of repair all orange text will change to "Problems Fixed", you may now exit ASC by clicking on the grey "X" on the upper right hand corner.

Have a happy and SAFE compute. :)

100 Megabytes of free online file storage

Need to send a large file to one person or a group of people?  Drop.io is simple real-time sharing, collaboration, and presentation.  Use drop.io to privately or publicly share your files and collaborate in real time by web, email, phone, mobile, and more. Create each drop in two clicks and share what you want, how you want, with whom you want.

Drop.io was easy to setup, I had my drop setup in less then 5 minutes (check it out here drop.io/pgmdata).  Not only is it a great way to share large video files, mp3s, pictures and software, it has a slew of other useful features.  Users are not confined to having only one drop, they may set up as many as they wish. Each drop has an associated voicemail account so that users may leave voice feedback and an available free conference call function as well.  The administrative process was straight forward and easy to use, you can allow users to add directly from your drop or limit them to just downloads, you can even charge users to download your content.  One of the things that I found extremely surprising about Drop.io was the fact that you can even creat anonymous drops (Pirates will love this feature). 

No catches, 100% free, fast, extra features.  What is not to like about Drop.io?  Go give it a try.

Have a happy compute. :)

Increasing Your Computer's Lifespan

Here are a few tips to increase the useable life of your computer system:

Add more RAM.  RAM or Random Access Memory is probably the quickest and most cost effective way to give your computer that new PC feeling. Inadequate RAM is one of the leading causes of a sluggish PC.

Upgrade to a bigger, faster hard drive.  For about $60 you can buy a 500 gigabyte 7200 rpm drive to dramatically improve your system performance and increase storage.

Clean out your system.  Most computers come preloaded with a plethora of unused software, so go through your installed programs in the control panel and remove what you don't use.
De-fragment your hard drive to reorganize all of your files. Archive any documents you don’t plan on using to CD or DVD and store in a safe place.

Maintain Your Computer.  Perform periodic software updates, keep antivirus/anti spyware updated, run a system checker to locate any trouble spots that maybe be bogging you down.

Don't be an early adopter.  You shouldn't be the first on the block to have new operating systems and shouldn't rush out to buy Windows 7 for your high school or college student. (Most Windows Vista and Mac Snow Leopard buyers will attest to this)

Buy a high capacity battery.  Laptop batteries wear out over time, so buying a new battery that has a higher capacity can bring new life to your laptop. Buy generic batteries and search online for the best prices.

Give it four years.  Generally speaking a computer system should last around to three to four years, but a year or two may be stretched with a good upgrade and good maintenance.

Fan Check False Alert

Reports say Fan Check is a virus, and should be avoided at all costs.  I have investigated deeper and found no malicious behavior on this application,  however, as some other web sites report it seems more likely that the rumor about Fan Check has been used to lead users to various malware and spyware ridden sites.

There are no reports on the reputable virus sites, McAfee, Norton, AVG, etc.
The virus supposedly infects your computer and all the contacts on your friends list. 

In it's default state Fan Check only has permission to:

1.  Access my home and profile stream (Wall)
2.  Publish to streams

To put these permission in to context, if I am your friend I am able to write on your wall and read who has written on your wall, with these permissions every one of your friends would be a virus.

According to sources, merely becoming a fan will “infect” your Facebook account, which is next to impossible with these settings.  All other reports about the virus seem to be created by spammers themselves. Google() lists the phrase “facebook fan check virus” as a popular trend, but there lies the problem; if you actually try to search for this phrase, you’ll be bombarded by sites containing malware.

Most sites believe that this is merely a two part hoax: on one hand, you have an application that lets you see who’s been interacting with your Facebook profile. On the other, spammers and malicious hackers are feeding the rumors around this application to lead people to search for a solution, and getting their computers infected by malware in return.

In my humble opinion if you feel unsure you should unistall the application – or any other Facebook application.  Furthermore, don’t search for the “Fan Check Facebook virus,” as it is most likely a hoax and WILL lead to infection futher fueling the false panic.

How to uninstall an application in Facebook:
 
Roll your mouse over settings
Click application settings
from here you can either edit the permissions or click the x to delete the application entirely
 
Happy Computing :)

Easy Backup of Outlook 2002 and later

Works for all versions of outlook 2002, 2003, 2007, with win98se, 2000, XP, Vista (Does not apply to Outlook Express)


1.  Go to www.microsoft.com/downloads
2.  In the search box put in pfbackup and click enter, click the first link it finds
3.  Click the download button and then choose run
4.  After file installation is complete open outlook
5.  On the file menu choose backup
6.  Click the options button
7.  Click browse and choose where you would like your backup to be saved, click open
8.  Click ok
9.  Click save backup, close outlook
10. Check your save location to verify file was written (very fast)

Free Internet Phone Calls

Free 3 minute internet to phone calls, great for when you don't want to give out your number, or when discretion is required. :)
Give it a try, it is absolutely free, all you need is a microphone, speakers and an internet connection.
Free Icall Internet Phone calls