Manually installing drivers using DriverEasy

I don't know about you, but when we get to certain levels of computer tech things, I start to run into 'magic' territory. This refers to an aphorism from SciFi author, Arthur C. Clarke, commonly known as Clarke's third law, which says "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" (1968, p. 255). 

And technology is now shifting into the magic territory for me. I remain good at applications, but the background computer stuff is becoming more difficult to keep pace with.

However, I do know that I need to regularly update the drivers on the PC, to patch known bugs and security issues. I installed DriverEasy a while ago, as that piece of freeware kit checks my system and flags when new drivers become available. I have not bought the "Pro" version: I am continuing to use the free version.

The only drawback of the free version is that (a) you have to separately download each driver update, (b) then install it, and (c) there are no instructions in the software on how to do that. A search online finds some instructions, but the instructions make the process appear INCREDIBLY complicated. However, it does not need to be as complicated as it is made out.

So what happens when I used the freeware version of DriverEasy is that I will get a pop-up saying that new drivers have been found. So far, so good. Then I need to install all the updated drivers. In the freeware version, I am forced to update each driver individually. 

Thanks to CIHIRIS (2019), I now know to (a) click on the Update button beside the driver I want to update and tick "Manually Install". I will then get taken to a download window. While there, I will get a "buy Pro" ad, which I just 'x' closed, then (b) a temp folder will open containing the downloaded driver, so (c) I will locate a file with the suffix "*.inf", which I will (d) right-click, and select "Install" from the pop-up menu. I get a message asking me if I want to allow this driver to make changes to my system. I allow it. The driver installs. And that's it. Driver updated. 

Then I simply rinse repeat for all the others on the list.

Easy when we know how.

Sam

References:

CIHIRIS. (2019, April 4). Driver Easy Manual Install Drivers [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/iMQzE9QrcsY

Clarke, A. C. (1968). Clarke's Third Law on UFO's. Science, 159(3812), 255. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.159.3812.255-c

read more "Manually installing drivers using DriverEasy"

Google drive security update

In August 2021, Google quietly announced a security update. A security update was to be applied which would "make Google Drive files more secure by updating their links to include a resource key and may lead to some new file access requests" (August 2021).

I host some files on my blog in my Google Drive. I definitely do not want to have to be faffing around with giving everyone who asks a key so they can get access: the whole point of having a separate drive area for downloads and links on my blog was so I didn't have to respond to requests. That would just be a flaming nuisance!

This Google 'security' update was to be applied unilaterally across all personal accounts, and Family Link accounts. While we could 'turn off' this unasked for security update for a personal account, Family Link accounts did not have that flexibility. All files affected would be auto-encrypted, and all those with whom the file was being shared would need a key to access the file.

At least if we have a personal account, we can turn this off relatively easily. All we need to do is:

1. In our browser, navigate to https://drive.google.com/
2. At the top of the page we will find the security update banner. Click See files
3. If we only have a single drive, we will see all the files which are about to have the 'resource key' protocol applied
4. All we need to do now is to click "Remove security update" in blue from the end of each line item (and if we have multiple Google drives with impacted files, we will need to click on each drive, one by one and do the same)

It is a bit of an imposition that Google tells us how safe we need to be instead of letting us decide whether we want to opt in. I find it patronising.

But at least we can turn it off.

Sam

• Reference: Google Drive Help (August 2021). Security update for Google Drive. https://support.google.com/drive/answer/10729743?p=update_drives_user&visit_id=637653938463207608-4271302110&rd=1#zippy=%2Cwhat-happens-if-i-dont-apply-the-security-update-to-my-files

read more "Google drive security update"

A framework for CACGs

Osborn & Zunker (2016) propose a framework for use in when delivering online career guidance. Their framework is for use after the client has interacted with an inventory, and - while it is very simple - it asks good questions:

"Ask the client about their interaction with the system. What was their experience, their reactions to the way the system work, and their satisfaction with what they found?

"Have the client read through the results and highlight descriptors and/or occupations that are of particular interest.

"Ask the client to talk about how the descriptors relate to what [they] already knew about [themselves], what new knowledge was found, and how that relates to the career decision being made.

"Move on to the list of highlighted occupations, and have the client describe what is appealing about each of those occupations. The counselor may choose to take notes or write on the report beside each of the highlighted options.

"Compare the reasons given for liking specific occupations to determine themes and further clarify self-knowledge, e.g., 'It's really important to you that your career choice offers you opportunities for advancement and independence.'

"Determine next steps. Review the model for using assessments, and the purpose for using this particular assessment. Was the stated need met completely, partially or not at all? Were additional needs discovered (e.g., a need for information about training opportunities or scholarships) during the process? Is a different assessment or a follow-up activity on the system warranted? What will help the client move towards making the career decision?" (p.152).

Considering this type of framework can help us make more use of our sessions together.


Sam

• Reference: Osborn, D. S., & Zunker, V. G. (2016). Using Assessment Results for Career Development (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.

read more "A framework for CACGs"

Ethical considerations for online career development

There are some ethical issues we need to consider with online career practice:

Quality. We need to ensure that all the materials we use are of good quality. We need to ensure the validity of what we use meets "the same set of standards used for other psychometric measures. For instance, the validity of scoring standardized instruments includes the weighting of items into scales and assurance of error-free scoring. However, errors in these two processes are difficult to identify in computer-based assessment. Thus, career service providers might not be aware of potential errors and subsequent misleading results" (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 150).

Evaluation. We need to ensure that we have evaluated the validity by obtaining test validity evidence; or that we let the client know that the test cannot be evaluated for quality.

Reliability. As CACGs can be delivered globally, we need to consider whether items have been normalised for local populations: those of us outside the USA are unlikely to have "high internal consistency" (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 150). If tests have not been normalised for our populations, we need to advise the client of this, and have a discussion about the results and the likely meaning as applied to our own context.

Unfamiliar tests. As practitioners we need to be able to discuss any test that our clients come to us with. If it is a test that we are unfamiliar with, we can use the structures introduced in Week 2 and 3 to help us learn about a new inventory, to attempt to establish validity, reliability and to find evidence of population normalisation. Only then can we discuss the test within the boundaries of our own practice: or refer the client to another practitioner who does have experience with that particular instrument.

Standards. We need to ensure that tests our clients do provide "Evidence of valid testing standards [which is] clearly delineated in promotional materials of CACGs and online assessments as well as in professional manuals" (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 150).

Security. Advise clients of the potential for security breaches during online test use, and suggest more secure alternatives wherever possible. Remember that Cambridge Analytica harvested some 64,000 Facebook profiles by using quizzes which users had to agree to allow the test access to their Facebook profile (Iles, 2018). A more secure practice is to get students to create an additional email account to use only for test results, with minimal profile information.

Some things for us all to think about carefully.


Sam

References:

• Iles, J. (12 April 2018). Cambridge Analytica took my data - here's how you find out if they took yours. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/103029596/cambridge-analytica-took-my-data--heres-how-you-find-out-if-they-took-yours
• Osborn, D. S., & Zunker, V. G. (2016). Using Assessment Results for Career Development (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.

read more "Ethical considerations for online career development"

Have I been pwned?

Pwn is leetspeak - gamer/coder term for 'elite' or in-group terminology - meaning 'own', but with a strong dollop of hostile takeover and gloating over 'what was yours is now mine'. Outside gaming, being 'pwned' usually means that someone has hacked our email and/or password(s).

We all know that we should have a different password for every site. But realistically, how many of us do that? I used to have a low-risk password that I used for many sites, but as the number of sites I have become a member of has grown, I did start to vary them more.

But life grows complicated when you have hundreds of site memberships, and therefore between 100 or 200 passwords. To date I have not invested in a password manager, because two factor identification where I live is difficult (terrible mobile and internet connectivity).

Well, last year I got one of those annoying emails saying that my account had been hacked, and that the 'porn' I was watching was going to be made public (yeah, whatever). The worrying thing was that it had one of my passwords in the email. Dammit: sent to my email address with my password. Security breach!

OK: it was my low risk password, but still. I spend a whole weekend creating individual passwords for all the sites that I thought I might have used that password for (probably about 100 sites, I reckon). It was a pain in the butt. But it did teach me that I really do need a different password for every site.

Then if there is a breach, at least the damage is very tightly contained.

We can check if our email addresses have been pwned at a UK website developed by internet security guru, Troy Hunt, here. If we think we may have had a security breach, we can also check our passwords here.

And if any of you want to read more about the pwned phishing email I was lucky enough to receive, there are a couple of Reddit threads here and here.


Sam

References:

• HIBP (2019). ';--have i been pwned? Retrieved from https://haveibeenpwned.com/
• HIBP (2019). Pwned Passwords. Retrieved from https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords
• Reddit (December 2018). The Blackmail Email Scam (part 2). Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/9srjen/the_blackmail_email_scam_part_2/
• Reddit (December 2018).The Blackmail Email Scam (part 2). Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/9srjen/the_blackmail_email_scam_part_2/###

read more "Have I been pwned?"

Newsletter Issue 233, April 2013

Sam Young Newsletter

Issue 233, April 2013

Hi guys,

Are we likely to see The Death of Print sometime soon? Read on below.

Is your PC or laptop fit for the job ahead? or do need to go undertake the Seven Tips for a Faster PC? 

Customising Recent Files & Places   TLAs for SMEs        Tips, Short & Hot Keys        Hot Linx

Don't forget, if you want to be taken off my mailing list, click here to send me a reply e-mail and I will remove your name.

 

The Death of Print?

A Mashable (http://mashable.com/2013/01/16/e-books-vs-print/) article by Josh Catone in January this year cited some stats on ebooks, relating for the first time, in 2011, that ebook sales outperformed print; with ebooks increasing the performance gap in 2012. A Texas library announced plans for the US's first solely electronic library. Scholastic did a study on children's' ebook habits, with almost half of all kids aged 9 to 17 having read an ebook, and the number who said they will continue to read print books rather than ebooks declined from 66% to 58% (http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/kfrr). 

Bit of a trend happening then.

Now I love books. I am so enamoured with the written word that I suffer withdrawal symptoms if I can't get my word-fix. I have been known to read toilet roll packets and the contents of the pantry if a dearth of books unexpectedly occurs. A small stack of paperbacks has always accompanied me on trips overseas.

However, over the past five years, I have bought more ebooks and talking books than printed books. My textbooks I prefer to get as pdfs or Kindle versions, so that they become searchable. Talking books I prefer for light reading and non-fiction, because I listen to them on my nano. For the first time two years ago I went overseas without a printed book. I survived three weeks with only my nano and Kindle (actually, I had one relapse and borrowed a book from my husband's cousin - but only because it looked interesting and I hadn't read it!).

I have probably have a couple of thousand books, so we are not talking about someone who only has three tatty paperbacks on the spare room bookshelf. I am a collector of - my favourite - printed words. But more and more, the print books I buy are special books - almost art pieces - that I intend to keep, or books to continue building my favourite author collections, usually in hardback.

There is some talk already about print books eventually becoming an expensive niche product like vinyl records: crafted artisan collectors pieces... and I can see the day coming where whether a book is published in hardback or paperback will depend on audience pre-orders for that particular author. 

Apparently Readers' Digest's parent company has filed for "Chapter 11" bankruptcy in the US. Even they can't make money, with all their ads plastered around inboxes and mailboxes around the planet. I think it is harder getting off their mailing list than anyone else's.

In an article by Daniel Gross in February this year (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/05/the-death-of-print-buildings.html), he noted that three US newspaper buildings - housing collectively the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News, the NY Democrat and the NY Chronicle - are to be sold. Gross notes that newspaper advertising income has halved in the past ten years, and is now level-pegging with 1983 $, with circulation falling to 1996 levels. Papers are selling off assets at an alarming rate. Journos are being cut. Newspaper content is being increasingly mashed, is advertorial or is press release content. Increasing use of free online news services is also taking revenue from the papers: fewer people are buying a paper.

Some papers have decided they will become purely online, such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The NY Times has tried to reverse the revenue drain by putting their content behind a paywall, but only time will tell whether people will continue to pay for news that can be picked up freely elsewhere. The last time the NY Times tried this, their revenues took such a dive they had to do a U-turn, so it will be interesting to see if the time has come.

I now get my news from Pulse. It is a news accumulating ap (http://www.pulse.me/about/) that picks up loads of different news-feeds based on what I am interested in, and gives me a range of shorts that are very easy to pick up the key ideas from. I can then mine more deeply for things that catch my eye. No more print newspapers for me: I like things to be searchable, and loathe having to get rid of all that paper afterwards. I keep pestering the magazines I get for ezines. Takes so much less room, and the articles are accessible forever on my PC.

A shake-up in the entire printing industry seems pretty certain. How great it will be, and how much material will just segue into new formats will remain to be seen.

The one thing I am absolutely sure of is that I will never be short of something to read :-)

More reading:

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/death-of-print-media
• http://listosaur.com/history/10-trends-and-events-heralding-the-death-of-print-media.html 
• http://unionosity.com/media/the-future-of-print-media-bay-area-edition/
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/paywalls 
• http://www.blogworld.com/2010/07/25/the-death-of-print-media/

Seven Tips for a Healthier & Safer PC

With winter nearly upon us, the change of season usually prompts us to think about health in all matters. That also means thinking about running through a few health checks on your PC to ensure its WOF is up to date.

My suggested list of maintenance checks, largely thanks to WindowsSecrets, are: 

1. Backup your data REGULARLY. Download Microsoft's SyncToy 2.0 from http://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/download/details.aspx?id=15155, set up folder pairs with your removable hard drive  and regularly run (weekly is generally recommended).
2. Temp files. Delete all your temp files. This is really easy - go to http://windows.microsoft.com/en-nz/windows-vista/delete-files-using-disk-cleanup and follow the instructions. 
3. Empty Recycle Bin. Clean out the rubbish from time to time. Makes the house smell fresh :-)
4. Defrag. defragging is still good maintenance in all versions of Windows - run it after you have done the first three steps. Windows defragmentation utility — defrag.exe — is adequate in XP, moderately good in Vista, and more refined in Win7. Vista’s and Win7's Task Scheduler automatically runs defrag.exe weekly during system-idle times, determining whether defragging is needed by estimating the percentage of fragmented files. If fragmentation is low, it skips 'til the next  week. A percentage in the high single digits or greater should trigger automatic defragging. However, you can verify that it’s working properly by entering defrag.exe in the search field above the start button in Windows 7.
5. Antivirus. AVG is still a great free piece of anti-virus software for private use. Download it from http://download.cnet.com/AVG-AntiVirus-Free-2013/3000-2239_4-10320142.html. Ensure you download all the updates, and run it regularly. I have used this on my home PC for fifteen years without one single infection.
6. Malware. Windows Defender Offline (WDO) for Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 & 8. Download at http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/pc-security/mse.aspx. WDO is Microsoft's most powerful anti-malware consumer tool. It's a self-contained, downloadable utility that operates completely outside Windows. After you've downloaded and launched, it swill walk you through creating bootable media (from a CD, DVD, flash drive, etc.) and installing the WDO files. You then restart the PC with the bootable disc/drive. Because WDO is both operating system and AV scanner, neither the Windows installed on the system hard drive nor any other software is active. Everything on the hard drive is effectively inert. This lets WDO detect malware that is in one way or another well hidden in the Windows system. Because it's completely standalone, WDO can't conflict with other security tools you normally use. Scan regularly.
7. Malware. Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows XP, Vista & Windows 7 (or go for "Windows Defender" - not "offline' if you have Windows 8). Download at http://windows.microsoft.com/is-is/windows/what-is-windows-defender-offline. Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is Microsoft's all-in-one, consumer-security tool. It targets both types of malware - malicious software and potentially unwanted software. It's a free download (site) for XP, Vista, and Windows 7. MSE provides always-on, real-time protection for your PC. It detects and removes a wide range of malware. It's also highly automated, operating with little or no user intervention. Do nothing aside from checking for updates from time to time.

That lot should keep your computing fit and healthy until spring!

Thanks to Windows Secrets for a lot of this information. Go to https://windowssecrets.com/newsletter/microsofts-six-free-desktop-security-tools/ and https://windowssecrets.com/best-software/a-windows-system-that-never-needs-defragging/ to read Window's Secret's original updates.

Customising Recent Files & Places

PC Magazine has published yet another handy MS Office 2010 tip. This time a "how to" on ensuring all files or places you use regularly are pinned to your application list, and a shortcut to opening the list itself. 

You need to first activate the open file shortcuts in Office 2010. Enter the 'Backstage view' to do this (ie click the File button): File | Recent | Tick "Quickly access this number of recent [files]". 

You may also want to change the number of recent files you want listed. Once done, you only need key Alt, then F (for the File menu), then the number your desired file is on your list - ie, 1 for the most recent, 2 for next most etc. 

Also you can "pin" a file or folder so that it will always appear in your Recent Files list, even if you haven't opened it recently. The left side lists files, the right folders. Click the push pin to 'pin' them. You can remove files from your recent file list by right clicking over them and selected "Remove from list". Great for those files that you rename.

So easy!

Go to http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l=265741&a=265729&po=2,00.asp to view PC Mag's original article. 

TLAs for SMEs

Here are this newsletter's TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) for you:

• </3, Broken Hearted. Text language
• RPM, revenues per pageview. The (surprisingly initialed) formula of revenue generated per online pageview. Not sure how we got to M for pageview, but there you go.

Please feel free to email me with any TLAs that you want to get the bottom (meaning!) of.

Tips, Short+Hot Keys

In this newsletter, we look at all you can do in Windows with shortcuts:

• Windows "Create a shortcut (while dragging the file)" Ctrl & Shift 
• Windows "Create a shortcut icon for a selected file in a selected place" Ctrl & Shift & Drag A File 
• Windows "Display the shortcut menu for the selected item" Application Key (Also The Right Mouse Click) 
• Windows "Show the shortcut menu" Shift & F10

Hot Linx

Did you realise that Amazon's future is probably not in selling directly, but in being the shop-front for third-party stores? Check out http://www.wired.com/business/2013/01/amazons-future-not-selling-stuff/

Heard of skeuomorphism? This is where we borrow a historic, but redundant thing… like horseshoes for good luck or our PC save icon being a floppy disc. Check what Sacha Greif has to say about skeuomorphism at http://sachagreif.com/flat-pixels/ 

A great TechRepublic tip on animating clipart in PowerPoint at http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-steps-to-animating-clipart-in-powerpoint/3631?tag=nl.e064&s_cid=e064&ttag=e064 

Did you know there was a list of questions you could walk through to help differentiate pseudoscience from the real thing? It’s an oldie but a goodie by Forbes. Read all about it at http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2012/11/08/10-questions-to-distinguish-real-from-fake-science/

---

                                Catch you again soon!! E-mail your suggestions to me here

read more "Newsletter Issue 233, April 2013"

Newsletter Issue 145, March 2008

Sam Young Newsletter

Issue 145, March 2008

Hi guys,

We have part two of our job seeker series by Ron McGowan on How to Market Yourself below.

Read twelve tips to save you money or stress in Consumer Diary Tips. 

Computer Health Tips   TLAs for SMEs        Tips, Short & Hot Keys        Hot Linx

Don't forget, if you want to be taken off my mailing list, click here to send me a reply e-mail and I will remove your name.

How to Market Yourself – Part 2

In Part One we defined exactly what skills and experience you have to offer employers or clients and why they would be interested in them. Like a salesperson who is being trained on a new product or service, you should now know your product (ie, you) inside out.

The next step is: Where are you going to sell it?

As part of analyzing the skills and experience you’ve picked up in the past you may have identified some characteristics of the companies where you’ve had success. Or you may have identified certain types of projects that you really enjoyed working on. If not, go back over Part One and look for the types of companies you’ve worked for and projects you’ve worked on that you really enjoyed and that brought out the best in you. Then look for similar companies or projects where you can duplicate this success.

Employment seekers sometimes overlook this. They get so focused on finding their next gig that they don’t pay enough attention to finding opportunities that are a good fit for them. You also want to be looking for opportunities where you can build on the experience and success you’ve had. For example, if you did a project for a legal firm that was successful and that you enjoyed, why wouldn’t you try to build on that experience and success by marketing yourself to other legal firms?

Most commentators on the workplace will tell you that at least 80 per cent of the employment opportunities are never advertised. This is why so many people who are looking for work are struggling. They approach finding work in essentially the same way as their parents did. They scour the mainstream media and popular Internet job sites and when they can’t find work, they give up or settle for low paying service jobs. They simply don’t know how to tap into those hidden employment opportunities.

You need to take your connectivity to what is going on in the economy and in your field to a much higher level than the average person. You need to become a news hound and sniff out those hidden opportunities. You can test yourself on how well you are doing this by your reaction to news about your field that appears in the mainstream media. If it is news to you, you’re not as connected as you need to be. You should already be aware of it through the database of news sites and other sources that you monitor regularly.

Talk to successful employment seekers and you will find that they are very well informed about what is going on in the economy and in their field. Market research is one of those areas, like getting regular exercise and eating sensibly and so on that everybody agrees is important. Talk to those who are struggling in today’s workplace and you will consistently see that they approach market research passively or simply don’t understand how important it is. They’ve probably heard that most employment opportunities are hidden but they have no idea about how to find them.

Can you identify the fastest growing sectors in the region that you want to work in? What are the key trends in the areas you want to work in? Can you identify some significant projects that are underway or will soon be started that might provide employment opportunities for you? Are you right on top of what is going on in your field? What skills are most in demand in your field? Do you have them? If not, how can you acquire them?

If you were asked to take on the “program chair” position for the professional association that you belong to, how easy would it be for you to identify topics that you know would be of interest to the members as you put together the program for the year? Name the best media sources; web sites, blogs, newsletters, journals, etc, for keeping you connected to what is going on in your field. How creatively and diligently do you monitor these sources? Which companies have recently landed significant contracts that might provide an opportunity for you? Can you identify some key players in your field who have recently been promoted or taken on new assignments? Could your skills and experience be of interest to them?

Recruiters, headhunters and H/R managers are increasingly turning to the Internet to fill jobs or find staff for projects, which is one of the reasons why many employment opportunities are never advertised. How easy would it be for these people to find you on the Internet? Have you ever thought about what a search on the Internet would reveal about you? Do you realize that it’s becoming common practice for managers and business owners to do an Internet search on candidates as part of the hiring/screening process?

Are you doing any Cybernetworking? Do you know about web sites like LinkedIn, Visible Path, Zoodango, ZoomInfo, Ryze and Xing? Have you ever used these sites? Do you know that employers are increasingly using them to find candidates? Which blogs do you subscribe to? Have you thought about creating your own blog? Are you aware that recruiters often monitor blogs that are related to the field they’re searching for to find experts? They find candidates by looking for postings from people who obviously have the background they’re looking for and who communicate well.

Finally, a potential by-product of being well informed about what is going on in the economy and in your field is that you may spot unmet needs. Maybe you can create your own work opportunity by going directly to an employer with an idea whose time has come.

Part Three next time :-)

Author Bio: For over a decade, Ron McGowan has helped thousands of US graduates and professionals find work. His book, “How to Find Work in the 21st Century” is currently in use in America in colleges, universities and secondary schools (go to http://www.trafford.com/00-0131).

Consumer Diary Tips

Consumer Magazine put out a diary each year, and in this year's diary, they list a tip each month. You may have already adopted many of these ideas, but if not, you may glean some benefits. They are:

1. Watch your speed. By travelling at 100kph instead of 110kph, you can cut your fuel bill by around 13%.
2. Water heating is the single largest energy user in most homes. Insulate your hotwater cylinder with a wrap, and insulate the pipes near the cylinder.
3. Keep your coffee beans fresh by buying in small quantities from a shop that has high turnover. Keep the beans in an airtight container somewhere cool, dry and dark. Don't refrigerate or freeze them.
4. Photo-editing software can turn a poor photo into a masterpiece. It will let you correct lighting, colour balance and contrast, as well as crop, flip and magnify images.
5. Heat pumps are the most efficient way to use electricity to heat your home. They'll deliver at least $3 worth of heat for every dollar spent on electricity.
6. A new fridge freezer could cost half as much as the same sized 15 year old model. Savings on running costs could pay for the new fridge within 10 years.
7. What the interest rate is really telling you is the level of risk involved in the investment. Usually the higher the interest rate, the higher the risk.
8. We use 22 million plastic bags per week, and they may not break down in landfills. Take your own bag, or reuse last week's bags, next time you go grocery shopping.
9. For vegetables that are easy and rewarding to grow, Consumer's top five picks are: silverbeet, lettuces, beans, tomatoes and carrots.
10. Shop around and compare prices - even if you don't make bookings online, you can use the internet to find good fares. Take these to a travel agent and ask them to match or better them.
11. Cut back on processed foods, including takeaways. If you eat them on one day of the week, watch your sodium intake for the rest of that week.
12. Buy bubbly when you are ready to drink it. Sparkling wines generally don't improve with age, so don't be tempted to buy up large for the future.
13. If you use a self-tanning lotion, you'll need to apply a sunscreen when you go out in the sun. Self-tanners don't protect against UV.

For more useful Consumer hints, go to www.consumer.org.nz

Computer Health Tips

Our PCs get choked with gunk from time to time, so need a tune up. Some simple maintenance tasks follow:

1. Check that your antivirus is up-to-date. If you are running AVG, double click on the icon in the system tray & click "Check for Updates".
2. Go to Internet Explorer (if you are still using that) and go to Tools | Internet Options | General (tab). Under Browsing History, click the Delete... button. By Temporary Internet Files, click the Delete... button; by Cookies, click the Delete... button. Click Close. Back at the General tab, under Browsing History, click the Settings button. Change "Check for newer versions of Webpages" to "Every time I visit the webpage". Click OK. Click OK again on the General tab. Close Internet Explorer.
3. Go to Start | Settings | Control Panel | Add or Remove Software. Check that none of the following programmes are listed (and if they are, remove them): Yahoo Toolbar, Yahoo Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, MS Instant Messenger, Google Toolbar, Microsoft Live Messenger. Shut down & restart before going to the next step.
4. Download Ad-Aware freeware by Lavasoft at http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/. If you already have it on your PC, check for a newer version before running. It will take about an hour. Then delete all the spyware it lists.
5. Go to Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disc Cleanup. Select the drive you want to clean up (usually C:\). The application then calculates all the items it can safely remove. If you have backup CDs, tick all the things on the Disc Cleanup tab (if you don't have your CDs, leave your Office Setup Files box unticked).
6. Run a defrag; go to Go to Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disc Defragmenter.

That's it. Your PC will hopefully be running a bit more speedily now.

TLAs for SMEs

Here are this newsletter's TLAs for you:

• UWB, Ultra Wide Band or digital pulse wireless. A wireless technology for transmitting large amounts of digital data over a wide spectrum of frequency bands with very low power for a short distance.

Please feel free to email me with any TLAs that you want to get the bottom (meaning!) of.

Tips, Short+Hot Keys

In this newsletter, we are going to look at some nifty tricks using right click in Office 2007:

• Excel, Word, "Open as Read-Only appears as an option" on Shift & right click
• Word, "insert a picture into a document with image's fully qualified file name" click Insert menu (er, tab) and then click Picture, From File & Shift

Hot Linx

For those of you interested in finding out what "web two point oh" means, find out from the mediated culture web video at http://www.mediatedcultures.net/mediatedculture.htm

If you are stuck for meal or cocktail recipe ideas, check out http://www.recipematcher.com/ to find a match with what's in your pantry or booze cabinet. Very useful!

Trying to develop a mission statement? Then go to http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/games/career/bin/ms.cgi and regenerate an IT mission statement a few times for some light relief.

Wanting a holiday on the cheap? Then this is the site for you! Go to http://www.couchsurfing.com/ and sign up. Find a couch to crash on overseas and register your couch as a swapsie. A great idea for reducing the cost of backpacking and getting the real gen on the locale.

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                                Catch you again soon!! E-mail your suggestions to me here

read more "Newsletter Issue 145, March 2008"

Newsletter Issue 133, June 2007

Sam Young Newsletter

Issue 133, June 2007

Hi guys,

Think of the power of Virtual Earth combined with Google, the Yellow Pages and your physical neighbourhood... read Real Neighbourhoods on the Internet below.

If you have taken the plunge to upgrade to Office 2007, or if you are planning making the upgrade and need to think through staff training, read Office 2007 Menu Fix. 

PC Security Baseline   TLAs for SMEs        Tips, Short & Hot Keys        Hot Linx

Don't forget, if you want to be taken off my mailing list, click here to send me a reply e-mail and I will remove your name.

Real Neighbourhoods on the Internet

Heather Havenstein Framingham reported in Computerworld on the first of June that a company called Fatdoor.com, based in California, had created a "website that mirrors the real world to let users to connect with their neighbours".

OK, so that doesn't sound that exciting. But when you realise that this is not anonymous interaction; this is local people connecting directly with their physical world neighbours and businesses, this opens a completely different dimension to networking.

The CEO and co-founder of the company, Raj Abhyanker, launched the company with Chandu Thota,  lead developer for Microsoft's 'Virtual Earth' mapping and location tool. Teamed with this fairly substantial duo as investor and company Chair is Bill Harris, the former CEO of PayPal and Intuit. Bill Harris says "We're trying to build something on the internet that mirrors the real world. We call it a local community network. It is a social network that is based around the place you live and the ... people you know. It is not an anonymous activity; this is a social network for adults."

Abhyanker wanted to use the web to "enhance neighbourhoods, to give the power to the few who are very active to use for the common benefit of all neighbours."

Fatdoor is built using Virtual Earth maps, showing specific house and businesses as icons. The icons can be "claimed" by browsers to hold their online profiles, which can be viewed by others in the neighbourhood looking for specific services, to start a club, form civic groups for various projects, produce a neighbourhood newspaper, or for whatever other purposes they want to grow this concept into. As browsers add content, their neighbours can learn about local events or business deals, eventually fostering an active, self-regulating neighbourhood similar to Wikipedia.

It will be interesting to see how much advertising will be allowed by the neighbourhood groups; or whether they can in fact keep it out.

Fatdoor has been released to Silicon Valley residents for now, with later releases planning on expanding the site cities and towns throughout the US. The site will first list all businesses in the local Yellow Pages and then allow each of those companies to personalise the listings, he says. Users can then add reviews and comments about the businesses.

Watch this space, I think!

 

Office 2007 Menu Fix

For those of you who have already taken the plunge into Office 2007 and are being driven insane by not being able to find things because of the new Microsoft menu structure, there is hope at the end of the tunnel.

An US company, Addintools, has produced an additional 'ribbon' (aka menu tab which launches a sub-menu bar) for Word 2007, Excel 2007 or Powerpoint 2007 which mimics the Office 2003 menus.

Addintools' download is under 3MB with a 30 day trial available. Individual software for Word 2007, Excel 2007 or Powerpoint 2007 is available for US$15.99 each or as a package for US$29.95. Installation is easy and once you have downloaded and installed the software, shut down and restart for the new Office 2007 ribbon to appear in each application.

You can customise how you want the ribbon to show. The default is a new tab called 'Menu' before Office 2007's Home tab. There is also an option to have all the menus show up under a single 'All' pull-down list. With the default options, your Word 2007 will look quite different. The Menu tab has a reasonable facsimile of the Word 2003 menu and toolbar with the Office 2007 features added where appropriate.

As a replacement for the Office 2007 interface, Classic Menu for Office 2007 works well. Network administrators can make it available for influential users who don't want to change the way they work when the company deploys Office 2007. It can also serve as a 'half way house' for people who are having trouble making the change. However, you can have the Office 2007 ribbon and tabs remain unchanged, so you have the best of both worlds; the Office 2003 menus available as a backup to 2007.

But wait, there's more! Any of the items on 2003's Menu tab can be added to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) at the top, either individually, menus only or the entire ribbon ('how to' instructions in the next newsletter).

Thanks to Woody's Office Watch for first writing about this product.

PC Security Baseline

According to the June issue of Windows Secret's newsletter, we no longer need dedicated antispyware software. They report "the antispyware tools in ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite continue to improve, and the Apr. 10, 2007, PC Magazine goes so far as to say that the ZoneAlarm suite 'blocked and removed spyware better than the best standalone antispyware products'."

They feel that purchasing the ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite (US$50) is the best way to go. This suite includes software firewall, antivirus, and antispyware as well as other OS and privacy-protection features. It recently received an Editor's Choice from CNET, which cited its "perfect balance between best-of-breed security protection and ease of use."

Norton Internet Security 2007 (or 'NIS 2007'), is the only major alternative to ZoneAlarm, receiving an Editor's Choice designation in the April's PC Magazine.

So now the security requirements preferred by Window's Secrets are:

• A hardware firewall (eg, Netgear's RangeMax 240 WPNT834 router);
• A software security suite (eg, ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite); and
• A patch-management system for staying current with the latest updates (eg Microsoft Update).

TLAs for SMEs

Here is this newsletter's TLA for you:

• MHWS, Mean High Water Springs. This is the average predicted levels of tidal levels at Standard Ports in New Zealand

Please feel free to email me with any TLAs that you want to get the bottom (meaning!) of.

Tips, Short+Hot Keys

In this newsletter, we look at all you can do in PowerPoint with the Tab key:

• PowerPoint "Switch to the previous program" Alt & Shift & Tab
• PowerPoint "Switch to the next program" Alt & Tab
• PowerPoint "Select the previous toolbar or switch to the previous tab in a dialog box" Ctrl & Shift & Tab
• PowerPoint "Select the next toolbar or tab, or the next tab in a dialog box" Ctrl & Tab
• PowerPoint "To select an object, Esc if embedded within text, TAB key to cycle forward (or SHIFT+TAB to cycle backward) through the objects until sizing handles appear." Esc & Tab
• PowerPoint "Display a topic from a thumbnail" F6 & Tab & Enter
• PowerPoint "Go to the last or previous hyperlink or move between frames or move to the previous option or option group or select the previous field or button in the e-mail header" Shift & Tab
• PowerPoint "Select the next or previous button or menu on the active toolbar or (with an object selected) select an object " Shift & Tab

Hot Linx

For those of you who enjoyed the Fry & Laurie series Jeeves & Wooster, check out the wake up call at http://voco.uk.com/

"Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the software downloads and web sites that actually save time. Don't live to geek; geek to live" at http://www.lifehacker.com/

Those of you needing a Kiwi ISBN number for a document, or a batch of numbers, can register an application online at http://www.natlib.govt.nz/services/get-advice/publishing/isbn/isbn-application

If you have plenty of time to watch the world go by, then check out http://www.cheddarvision.tv/ , and watch cheese grow mould :-)

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                                Catch you again soon!! E-mail your suggestions to me here

read more "Newsletter Issue 133, June 2007"