Microsoft’s free consumer antivirus is now available. So far, I like it. It’s lightweight and does not seem to change any performance with my computer.
You can find it at http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
When I first saw Macally’s G-S350SU, I had to have one! I am certainly not a Mac lover but I will admit, Apple is amazing when it comes to hardware design, it looks and feels like an Apple product. This little enclosure is the perfect addition for anyone’s computer but especially if you have a Mac Pro or MacBook Pro. The brushed aluminum case matches a Mac Pro perfectly and even has a cool blue led power button.
With that said, I still have good and bad to point out about the features of this drive enclosure! Not only does this drive plug in to your computer via USB, it also has an eSATA plug which will give you speeds as fast as having an internal hard drive. Seriously, if you have a computer with eSATA and transfer a lot of files, use it because the data transfer is much faster than USB. Ok now the bad… I would like a little internal fan. This drive enclosure gets a "+" because there are air holes for air flow, but a "-" because there is no fan to cool down the drive. Given the fact that most external hard drive enclosures are sealed with no air holes and no fan, this drive enclosure is still better than most. Heat is the number one reason for hard drive failure. By the way, if the eSATA part did not give it away, this drive enclosure is for SATA drives only. Overall, I feel this external hard drive enclosure is superior to most, in fact, I liked it so much I bought two. The base price for this guy is $50 but amazon.com lists it here under 3.5" Sata Case
Before the suspected new iPhone comes out (check the date), I need to sell my old one while it still has value so I decided to buy a cheap phone to hold me by. I decided to go with the Nokia 2610 from AT&T. Why did I choose this phone? The total cost for a refurbished 2610 for a prepaid account was only $10. Yes only $10 given you get a prepaid account. Well actually you don’t have to keep the prepaid account or even pay any money to start it up. I actually did pay for a prepaid account because I needed the SIM card for a GPS tracker I am using.
Not much to say about this phone. This Nokia is the same Nokia you could buy 4 years ago. I did not notice anything new or special about the phone but for $10, I am more than happy. This model does have speaker phone and it does live up to Nokia’s reputation for great reception. This is a great way to get a phone when you need one for something temporary. The next time you kid decides to kill their phone buy getting it wet, make them use this $10 phone as punishment. Oh, and one more thing! I’m pretty sure you can only get this deal online.
This tip assumes you have successfully installed your new hard drive and the jumper settings are correct.
Most people think they have to use the software CD that comes with their purchased hard drive simply because they don’t see the hard drive in Windows when they turn on the computer. This is simply not necessary because Windows has a tool built in to add a hard drive. All you need to do is right-click on My Computer or Computer depending if you have XP or Vista respectively, and select "Manage." This will bring up the Computer Management console. From there, click "Disk Management" in the left column. All of your drives will load. You will see your newly installed disk, right-click on whatever number it is and select New Volume and follow the steps. My mind is fuzzy at this point, but after this, you may need to right-click again to the area of the right of the disk number and select format.
I told you once how to remove startup programs to speed up your computer but it can get annoying having to that over and over each time you install something new.
WinPartol 2007 is free and will fix this problem. WinPartol is available in a paid PLUS version that includes other stuff but it is not needed for what I am about to tell you. The free version will not only manage startup programs, but it will tell you when a new program adds itself to try to start up. This way, any time you add new software, WinPatrol will alert you if it tries to start when your computer starts. If you like WinPatrol, I suggest you pay for the full version.
You can get WinPartol here
Looking for a good monitor for your computer setup? Look no further. I bought the Sceptre X24WG-1080P, 24 inch, 2 milisecond, widescreen monitor to replace my main 22" monitor and I probably would not write a review if I had not decided to use my old monitor as a second. What sold me was when I compared it to my what once was really expensive, NEC monitor that is about 3 years old. After viewing colors and a really true black I could not believe I had been using my other monitor for so long.
As far as gaming, the 2 milisecond response time is amazing. I played Crysis on this monitor and never noticed any ghosting at all. The monitor is full 1080P so I would emagine High Def movies would look amazing although I refuse to buy any HD format until a winner prevails. Looks like it will be BlueRay soon! All I need is DVI but the Sceptre included DVI and VGA. The actual resolution is 1920×1200 and the contrast ratio is 4000:1.
One other thing. I have my monitor mounted on the wall so it is not an issue for me but I hear this monitor is wobbly on it’s stand.
Here are the full specs:
Model
Brand
SCEPTRE
Model
X24WG-1080P
Cabinet Color
Black
Display
Screen Size
24"
Widescreen
Yes
Maximum Resolution
1920 x 1200
Recommended Resolution
1920 x 1200
Viewing Angle
160°(H) / 160°(V)
Display Colors
16.7 Million
Brightness
300 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio
4000:1
Response Time
2ms
Display Type
WUXGA
Connectivity
Input Video Compatibility
Analog RGB, Digital
Connectors
D-Sub, DVI-D
D-Sub
1
DVI
1
HDMI
No
Convenience
User Controls
Power on/off, OSD (On Screen Display), Contrast, Brightness, Clock, phase, Selection, Auto-adjust, Color Temperature, Audio Volume, OSD H-Position, OSD V-Position, Display Mode Detection
Regulatory Approvals
CSA, CSA-US, FCC Class B
Built in TV Tuner
No
Built in Speakers
2 x 2W
Features
Wall Mount Bracket (optional): Height 100mm x Width 100mm
Manufacturer Warranty
Parts
1 year limited
Labor
1 year limited
You can get this monitor for around $350 at NewEgg.com
I just updated my iPhone to the new version 1.1.3. There are some very cool features but we are still missing some well needed features.
What we got:
-Ability to make web sites booked marked on the main screen. You can now bookmark a web site and add a link on your main iPhone screen. Cool I guess, makes it easy for me to get to Google quicker.
-Ability to move icons. This is nice.
-Pinpoint yourself on a map and some other cool mapping features. You can make a pinpoint in real time with your actual location and map yourself somewhere.
-Ability to send a single sms message to multiple recipients. Nice.
-Windows 64 bit support. Finally!
-Apps. The SDK will be released soon and we will be seeing cool software.
What is still missing:
-Copy and Paste. What is Apple thinking. We need a way to copy and paste right away. I suspect that we would have this if it were Apple’s choice but I suspect there is no way to create this on their touch screen without it affecting the way their current touch system works. Although there must be some way because any Windows Mobile phone can do this.
-Video. We still have no video. All Apple has to do to is make the software tell the camera to take more pics in succession. No hardware modification needed.
-Microsoft Exchange Server support. I think there is no way we will get this but I would really like to see real Exchange support not this imap junk.
-Voice Dialing. We are still missing voice dial. I hope some company creates this with the sdk.
That is all I can think of right now. I cant wait to see some of the cool software from people from the sdk.