Window Shopper

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Computers seemed to be a hot item today. That has little surprise in it although I think if I had gone out today, it would have been for other items as gifts for Christmas. I do realize that people save enormous amounts of money on a day like this assuming they actually get their items. I suspect that many people went home with only some of what they were after and others went home disappointed altogether. We would have not faired well today at the store. We, that is my husband and I, are quite slow these days. I think we would have to have hired someone to do the running for us.

Now there’s a thought. People who are young, speedy and able to grab hold of the preferred items would be handy, very handy. Of course, you would likely spend the money that you had otherwise saved in hiring said people. However, it is a thought. That could be someone’s new line of business. I can think of so many products and items that we could own if only we were much more speedy of foot ourselves. Computers do come to mind. Lots of computers are much cheaper on the shelves only today. And now I have to admit something. I have never in my life owned a Mac computer. I have no clue about Mac memory, Mac notebooks, Mac hard drives, Mac anything. It is a total mystery to me. All I ever heard was that they were different as night and day from the standard PC and laptops. I have no clue.

Should I now try to find out? I have no idea.

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Today, I received an email with a subject line that said “Notice from Department of the Treasury” that stated that the IRS had calculated my fiscal activity. My, isn’t that interesting. And they mentioned something about having found out that I am eligible for a tax refund of $189.60. Nice figure. Not a lot of money but it would help a bit. Of course, I wouldn’t be buying provisions for a trip to California anytime soon. There just would not be enough money for that and for the trip too. So, my dreams have once again been devastated by a lack of money. Oh yes, I needed to submit my tax refund request in the next 6-9 days by clicking on the text that read “click here”.

Okay, anyone? This is a spam email that just happened to have an inviting amount of money attached to it so that you would go to the website, wherever it is, and put in all your information. Did I click on the link? Of course not. It was a sad attempt to get information, an act called a “phishing” expedition. At some point, all your information is then sent to whoever is looking for it, gathering info on lots of people. They can then scam you, steal your personal info or simply make your life hard by sending out viruses, worms or any other nasty programs into email that you open unknowingly.

A good example of that is an email I received today that had two nasty items in it. Since I did not open the attachment with the email, it did no bad things to my computer. That particular email was sent supposedly by United Airlines. It said that I had used my credit card to purchase a ticket and that the attached file had the information concerning that purchase. Before I ran out and purchased travel insurance, I decided to check it out a bit. It was a nasty little bugger. But wait. I had not bought a ticket to anywhere with United Airlines. Not only that but I don’t have a credit card. They blew it. Now, people who have credit cards and are worried about such unknown purchases on their cards will likely open the email. That would have released whatever thing was in the email attachment. However, you do not have to be defenseless here. But you must have an anti-virus program running for this to work.

I right clicked on the attachment. That brought up a box with choices. I chose to “save as” and put it onto my desktop for easy finding. Then I closed that and went to my desktop. I right clicked on the item which gave me the option to have the offending item on my desktop scanned. When it was finished, it notified me that there were two items inside the attachment that were hazardous to my computer. At that point, I deleted both the item on the desktop and the email that brought it to me. I am now not worried about anyone taking my credit card account and purchasing a ticket on an airline.

With a little bit of savvy, you can keep your computer free of such emails that threaten your computer. Oh and just so you know, I knew that the IRS had not sent the email. It had a few non-IRS-like phrases like “If u don’t receive your refund”. See anything wrong here?

1) The IRS never emails citizens. Everything is by snail mail. That makes it more official.
2) They do NOT use a single letter for a word. (”u”)
3) They do NOT use a contraction. (don’t)
4) How do they know they have the right person? This email did not address me by my name. All correspondence from the IRS has the person’s name, usually several times, in it. This email was to “undisclosed recipients”.
5) The IRS does not spell things wrong. “your records must show wether” and “the maner of
section; and the realtionship” (wether=whether, maner=manner, realtionship=relationship)
6) It was sent as a “noreply” which could be suspicious coming from a place like that when they actually want to hear from you.

Both of the examples are spam and have destructive capabilities to your lives or computers or both. Always check the email out if it looks even remotely suspicious. Your computer will be safe from such things as long as you do not panic, make sure it is not toxic to your computer and before you click on any email link, stop and think if this would really pertain to you. Most of these people believe you will click on the link because of fear or curiosity. Often, they are right. Too many people lose their computers or their bank account balances due to such people and the scams they pull. Don’t you be a victim.

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On a blog called All Techno Blog, I found this keyboard that the person who has the blog says is a new kind. Uh no. They say that the keyboard and the computer are packed together and that this is quite new to computers. Uh no. As I recall, the Commodore was like that. And my husband still has his Color Computer which is totally in the keyboard. So, I thought I would like to say something about it. But captcha (or whatever that abomination for checking humans is called) being what it is, it would not allow my comment to go through. I tried it nine separate times to get my comment to go through and it refused me each time. Now, I had not been on that blog before so it’s not like I have been banned or anything. It simply was not allowing me access.

So, in order to have my say about that subject, here in it’s entirety is my comment to that blog person:

I’m not going to cough or politely say something to make things better here. This is not new at all! My husband still has his old Color Computer. It still works. It is STILL in the KEYBOARD. Now, I may not know much about computers but even I can see that the statement about something new is ridiculous.

Okay. Off my soapbox now. Nice pictures.

Now, is this comment mean hearted or slamming? No. I am after all giving them a link from my own blog to theirs. It is simply about me not being able to comment on a blog when it is obvious that others are able to do so. Is that fair? Nope. Is it fair that I am left out? Nope. Of course, I have no idea what is wrong with the captcha thingy. It just did not work for me. So, in this post is the link for the item they are trying to get you to see. Have at it. Hope you can comment where I could not.

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Now I admit this happens to be one or two phone companies in rural areas of the U.S. However, they are predicting that this is about to be a trend. You remember, if you’re old enough that is, the phrase “Can’t get blood from a turnip”? Well, Frontier Communcations plans on trying to do just that. Isn’t it enough that the gas companies are and will be sucking the money right out of the bank accounts? The lenders took us for all they could get. The gas companies followed along. The retailers and discount stores plus the grocery industry is working on taking more. And now, this particular phone company plans to charge by the gigabyte once you go over your limit per month….not per day, per week, per month. And how much is that? 5 gigabytes a month. My goodness, I could use that much on Youtube in one day. Download a couple movie and you are out of business for the rest of your month unless you want to pay out a dollar, maybe two per gigabyte.

This will eventually change the face of internet use forever if they are able to get away with this. The plan is to start charging a dollar or two for every gigabyte used over the 5 gig. limit. Are you kidding me? Most people will not be able to be online if that occurs. Then where will their precious profits go? This is STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. Talk about “byting” the hand that feeds you. What a waste of resources that outfit is. Oh and look at this. They are willing to provide HIGHER usage for those who live in urban areas as if those who live in rural areas aren’t good enough. COME ON HERE!!!!

They will also be willing to sell higher packages of usage for a higher price, of course. HELLO!!! And then Time Warner is trying out the same thing in Texas. Outrageous. They want to charge the heavier users instead of letting the lighter ones pay all the bills. Well, now that is about the only sane thing to be said about it. However, is it worth it to the rest of us. For instance, we would be in the rural area meaning we would not be able to have as much as, say, Joe Bigshot in the city. And why is that? Because we don’t have as many of their precious customers around us as the big cities do. BAH! All this is is another way to scrape more money out of people who are financially bleeding as it is. The poor guys are the ones it hits hard just like always.

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The truth is that it can’t get any better than this! Well, maybe if you own the company but for those who do not own a software company, have I got a deal for you! From the inventors of .ZIP comes a free software program called SecureZIP Express. You can download and encrypt documents and it’s all free. These can be compressed or decompressed with ease. You will find that it’s a great way to save space especially on your latest CD or thumb drive. It comes with a digital certificate that allows you to exchange files with someone else without the problem of forgotten passwords. You do not need them! With the digital certificate, the only one that will be able to open the file is the person you sent it to. You can relax. This software has no spyware or toolbars in it. It’s licensed for non-commercial use. Now that’s what I call secure!

Thought I forgot about the contest, didn’t you. Nope. Here it is. All you have to do is download and install the FREE software and then decrypt the message! That makes you eligible for a chance to win these fantastic prizes: Honda Scooter, gas cards, Wii games, bicycles and much more. Just head on over to www.DecryptandDrive.com to get the details I have not told you yet. What? You think there’s a string? Well, yeah. You can’t win if you don’t enter. And you are still a winner because you will have that great software for free.

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I was starting to notice that we have a different kind of advertising going up in the stores, television and all over the place. I’m talking about what they call digital signage and it seems to be sweeping around the area where we live. It means that we have clearly defined advertising where before it was just a poster or a sign. I suspect that we will be seeing more of those. The big one that I noticed is at the stores, they have ads concerning their latest sales items, promoting different holidays and so on. While it may seem like just a commercial, I have watched a couple of them. Not bad. I got a couple of ideas for gifts that way.

In New York Times Square, when they show the street, there’s a huge blinking sign and one that shows the network’s news show right there. Sort of like in the movies, you see the great big television shot of someone talking to the masses in the street. It’s like that. The ones in the store were informational. Guess that’s what the others would be too.

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It is with a great deal of pleasure that I can safely say that the price of gas has gone down here to the lowest we have seen in a while now. At the lowest priced pump in our area, the tag reads $3.29 as of yesterday. Nice. Not nice enough to happy dance but certainly on the way to being a happy dance moment. That moment would come only when the price got below one dollar so it is unlikely that I will ever have to do that dance but the thought is good anyway. The problem is that we may not see this price going down much longer.

OPEC cut production again. Of course, that tends to cause shortages like the one in the southeast that has been going on for a couple weeks now and no one sees it letting up anytime soon. Okay, I will ask the question. What happened? Why is there a shortage on the east coast that no one else seems to be having? Guess I missed the media hype on that one. If anyone can answer that, I will certainly listen.

Prices on food and goods should go down now that gas prices are declining. Yet, I get the feeling that we are in for a rough Christmas season anyway. So, now would be the time to get in on those sales and the online extreme bargains. Do your research. That should be my second line on this blog, I say it often enough. Do your research. You can find good deals even in these sad times if you do a little work. Computers are marvelous inventions. They can be used for many things and research is one of them. Then go shopping. Get those deals that will not be there in December. A case in point would be the Wii console. Not a shot those will be available in December unless you happen on that one guy that still has one left to sell. Right now, they are still available in several locations in brick and mortar stores and online. But Christmas is coming on fast. Too fast, if you ask me. ACK!

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We have a problem. My laptop has a key that has no cap on it. That happened a couple of weeks or so ago. My husband tried really hard to put it back on but it just would not go. Apparently, the clip that holds it on broke. At this point, I am typing with all the keys but the B key with caps. The B key has a small cone on it that is really soft so it doesn’t hurt to type with it. However, at some point, I am certain that it will get shorter and shorter as time goes on.

My husband did try to order the key cap and clip. And once again, there is a however. And that is why I am writing this post. Apparently, the key caps for this particular laptop cost dearly especially if you have no clue which key cap clip to buy. There are four. If you do not get the right one, you have a problem. So, he thought about buying them all and finding the right one. Ah no. That didn’t work just as soon as he noticed how much each key cap clip would cost. The fact is, he went on eBay to find these things. And here is the incredible part. In buying for this particular laptop, it actually costs more for ONE key cap and clip (if you buy all four because you don’t know which one) than it costs to actually replace the keyboard itself.

Okay, that made no sense whatsoever. However, it is true that the keys, individually, are going to cost more. Got that. But they should not cost that much more but they do. In effect, it would have cost him over $24 to replace ONE key cap and buy FOUR clips to get the right one. It did cost him $20 to buy a complete replacement keyboard. That is ridiculous but true.

So, if you have problems with your laptop keyboard and you want to replace any portion of it, make sure to check the prices of the keys individually and compare that to a complete replacement of the keyboard. Now, if anyone has a clue how to install the keyboard, I could sure use the tips.

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Now, first of all, I am not an expert in computers. Frankly, if my husband does not tell me what’s wrong with my computer, I have no clues at all. So, take it slowly here and from a layperson’s point of view. For over a year now, my PC has been working just fine. At least, I thought so. We upgraded to DSL some time ago and it changed a lot of things with our computers. But then, I noticed that my computer wasn’t really as fast as all that. It was not one single thing. I did all the clean outs that you have to do. We have programs to clean out viruses and worms so that wasn’t it either. Sometimes, the computer just gathers a lot of information, duplicate logs and so on. My husband put in a program that cleans out all that too.

What it came down to was that my computer memory simply was not enough. I got online and bought some. It was to be shipped out by August 1st. Hey, my computer was going to be fast once that memory got put in there. I was looking forward to it. Uh huh. August 1st was the day that I went into the hospital the first time. After I got out, I was a bit busy. It hadn’t come yet anyway. The PC sat without me being on it. Then….I ended up back in the hospital. This time, I wasn’t going to be able to get to the PC, possibly for months. And guess what? The memory came while I was in the hospital the second time. The memory is nicely installed. However, I have yet to try it out. I have not been on that computer since sometime in July, I believe. Ah well.

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For years, I had a PC which as you all know is not portable. My bro-in-law was in the hospital this spring or summer, I cannot now recall, and had his laptop with him for the first time after loads of previous trips to such places. It did help him a whole lot though he did not have an internet connection that time. Well, small steps there. At least he did have a laptop with him. I find that to be awesome. For those who have laptops, you already know all this. For those who didn’t have laptops, we have found that to be incredibly handy.

My husband was talking about something today that was strange but great. He was saying that if you had a laptop that did not have enough memory for you, then you could extend the laptop memory with a flash drive plugged into the side of the laptop. I had never heard of such a thing but you know what? That sure would help in a pinch. I doubt I would want to have it that way always. But it would be great until new laptop memory was purchased. As I understand it, vista is a bear and needs awesome amounts of memory for it just to function. That means that if you had a laptop with 1 Gig ram, you would want to add an additional 1 Gig to have enough for the program. That seems pretty hoggy to me. But then, I have heard little nice about vista anyway.

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