Owner: Techboyardee URL:http://techboyardee.com Join Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:35:10 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Techboyardee is a technology blog that is the brainchild of an IT professional and a graphics designer. You will find tutorials, reviews, and thoughts on computers, technology, gadgets and the internet Site statistics:Click here
Kurt Vonnegut 1922-2007 2007-04-14 03:08:08
I just saw that Kurt Vonnegut
passed away at 84 the other day. What a great loss for this country as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century is gone. Vonnegut is well known for books such as “Slaughterhouse 5″ and “Hocus Pocus”. There’s really not much I can say about this great writer. The world will now definitely be a less interesting place now that he’s gone.
Off Topic but due to his greatness I felt it should be posted on all of my blogs
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Wireless Printing 2007-04-14 01:19:57 My latest eBay acquisition arrived today. The Dell 3300 Wireless
Print Server which I will be setting up in the not too distant future. I’m going to an all wireless system here and I want that so all of the laptops in the house (ok, so there will only be 2) can print to it. Don’t worry, I’ll be back here with pictures, screenshots, and instructions.
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Whats on my new computer 2007-04-09 21:37:50 I got my 120 GB hard drive the other day and I finally got Windows installed and updated so I’ve spent the last couple of days installing all of the programs I wanted. I enclosed a screenshot to show you what I put on here. I’ve been a fan of Microsoft Office since I’ve been on a computer so of course I put Office 2007 on here. The copy I got didn’t have a few essential programs so I had to go to the 2003 version for Frontpage and Visio. It’s got a few programs that I’m not sure what they are for. Infopath and Groove are totally new to me so once I figure out what they are for I will let you know.
Some essential free downloads were highlighted in the picture. I got Avast Anti-Virus, Trillian, Firefox, Ad-Aware, and the Gmail Notifier. Gotta have those. I also added Adobe Acrobat 7 (love being able to make pdf’s) and the Macromedia Suite. I’m really looking forward to getting into dreamweaver and fireworks. I have no clue how they work so
New Hard Drive for the Notebook 2007-04-06 17:36:01 Thats right, UPS showed up at the door this morning and dropped a box off. My first thought was “Just one box?” because I’m waiting on a wireless Microsoft notebook laser mouse (try saying that real fast) and a PMCIA slot SD card reader. I was happy to open the box and find an IDE hard drive after I sent 2 Serial ATA ones back. I did go back and look at the eBay auction for this particular hard drive and it was supposed to be a Serial ATA. He could’ve told me KMA and I would’ve been stuck with a hard drive I couldn’t use. He didn’t and replaced it with one I could use. Check out the stuff he’s selling.
So, now that I’ve given the back story I’ll get back on subject. I’ve got the 120 GB hard drive in and I’m installing Windows XP on it. I’m currently at 88% of formatting. Now I’m just debating whether I’ll go for a Vista or Media Center Upgrade for it.
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New, exciting software 2007-04-04 03:18:43 I don’t know if you are up to date on new software but there are a couple that I am excited about. The first is Trillian Astra. I have been using Trillian for a while to chat with. It lets you integrate all of your IM’s in one buddy list. AIM, yahoo messenger, and MSN. The new version has alot of new features and looks really nice. It even includes GTalk (the gmail chat service) and myspace IM. There’s no release date as of yet but you can learn more about it here. You can also get the original version of trillian here.
Another thing I installed and tried out the other day is the 2007 Beta version of Ad-Aware. I gave you a tutorial on how to install Ad-Aware a while back. Now they have a new version coming out soon. The Beta version is out now. It looks nice. I love the new interface. You can sign go sign up to be a Beta tester for the new version.
Technorati Tags: trillian, trillian astra, ad-aware, ad-aware 2007 beta Read more:exciting
IT job interview 2007-04-03 22:55:23 Well, I had my interview
yesterday. It was for a Help Desk position at the local community college. The first part of it was a test. There was a dell notebook set up with instructions. I had to get online by manually configuring a static IP address and DNS servers with parameters given. I did all of that and still couldn’t get online. I couldn’t ping either. I went and disabled the Windows firewall but still nothing. Then I unplugged the cable a plugged it back in and then was able to get online. Odd.
I then had to create a User account with a password. Very simple on a Windows XP machine. Then I had to take an excel spreadsheet that was open and average a row of 5 fictional grades. I did that and had to save it with my name as the file name. Simple.
Then I had to go to a motherboard and identify 10 parts that were labeled on it. I think I got at least 8 of them. The ones I wasn’t sure about it were the spots where the video cards and stuff plugged into. I know what t
iPod confuses me 2007-04-01 17:43:16 You know, I’m pretty technologically knowledgeable but these new iPod
s are confusing. A friend of mine bought one and I was going to help her put some CD’s on it. I installed iTunes which was no problem. Hooked up the iPod and put the CD in the drive. A little popup windows comes up and asks if I want to add the songs on this CD to my iTunes library. I check yes and it goes through the process of adding the songs. Once it is done I search around and find the option to sync iPod. I do that. Then I look on the iPod and there are no songs on it. I don’t know where they are or anything. This is a confusing piece of technology. With millions of people having one of these it can’t be that hard. If you have any idea what I’m doing wrong then please let me know.
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how to have a safer password 2007-03-28 07:08:04 I don’t know about you but I use one password for a lot of different websites I visit. I think it’s pretty safe. I did just find an article at One Man’s Blog about password safety and cracking. Here is the list of tips to password safety.
1. Randomly substitute numbers for letters that look similar. The letter ‘o’ becomes the number ‘0′, or even better an ‘@’ or ‘*’. (i.e. - m0d3ltf0rd… like modelTford)
2. Randomly throw in capital letters (i.e. - Mod3lTF0rd)
3. Think of something you were attached to when you were younger, but DON’T CHOOSE A PERSON’S NAME! Every name plus every word in the dictionary will fail under a simple brute force attack.
4. Maybe a place you loved, or a specific car, an attraction from a vacation, or a favorite restaurant?
5. You really need to have different username / password combinations for everything. Remember, the technique is to break into anything you access just to figure out your standard password, then compro Read more:safer
Google Pack Update 2007-03-28 01:50:56 The other day I wrote about Google
Pack and the great group of free software they include. Today they updated it and I’m not sure it’s for the better. A couple of apps were replaced. They got rid of Ad-Aware and replaced it with Spyware Doctor. I’m gonna download it and see how well it performs. I am a big fan of Ad-Aware so I think it’s a shame that it’s not there. From now on you can still get Ad-Aware from my sidebar here (remember the tutorial here).
Another thing I’m going to really miss is the free 6 months of Norton Anti-Virus. They put something called the Norton Security Scan. I’m not sure what this is but it promises to “Detect and remove viruses, worms and Trojans”. I guess you run this and then go get Avast for your anti-virus needs. I’ll be trying this out in the next couple of days too.
All in all I’m not impressed with the changes in the Google Pack
. I’m willing to check out the new products and giv Read more:Update
Trillian Astra is coming 2007-03-26 18:32:57 I just discovered that Trillian
’s newest version, Trillian Astra
is coming. Cerulean Studios has a new sneak preview website up that tells all about the features of the newest version coming out. They don’t have a download link yet but as soon as they do I will try it out and let you know what I think of it. I have been using Trillian for a while now and love how it integrates most of the instant messenger platforms. Astra apparently will add myspace IM and Google Talk. Since I have both of those but rarely use either this will be nice. Go check out some of the features of Trillian Astra
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Microsoft Software 2007-04-20 03:45:19 I got a copy of Microsoft
Small Business Server 2003 R2 in the mail the other day. I must have signed up for it a while back. I’m always up for free software. I’m not sure what it is but I think it has something to do with Mobile devices. Only problem is that I don’t have a server to load it on and I’ve already promised my desktop computer to a friend. I think I’m gonna have to build a new computer. I’m gonna do it piece by piece though so it doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg. And of course I’ve found a cool blog that I will use to help. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but it’s called Free After Rebate. They post great deals on stuff (mainly computers and software) that are free after mail in rebate. I’ll keep you up to date on the progress.
Technorati Tags: microsoft, small business server 2003 r2, free after rebate blog Read more:Software
Computer Shopping 2007-04-19 23:36:53 I’ve been doing a little computer shopping lately. Not for a new computer but for stuff to go with my network. I just recently got a Wireless Print Server so the laptops can access the printer. If you know me you know that I like to save money as much as I can. To do this I use coupons whenever I can. I love that I have found a site that has coupons for all of my favorite stores. One of my most frequent stores to visit is best Buy so when I found that they had Best Buy coupons I was thrilled. Nothing like saving money.
Technorati Tags: coupons, best buy coupons, coupon chief Read more:Computer
, Shopping
batteries 2007-04-20 20:51:10 When I got my new digital camera recently, it was a pretty good deal. It didn’t come with a battery. I thought it was the same as my old one, with rechargeable AA ones. No such luck. Now I had to go looking for digital camera batteries
online. I finally found the type I needed. I didn’t know about the low cost batteries website or I would have just checked there first. They have a wide selection of batteries so you can bet that the next time I need a battery I will check it out.
Technorati Tags: digital camera battery, batteries, cheap, online
You may have noticed a change 2007-04-28 03:41:02 Thats right. This place looks a lot different. After seeing the Crunch themes on my friends blog Geeky Speaky I really liked it. I like the 2 sidebars and full size posting area. I loved it so much I put it on my other blog. I also did my first experimenting with Fireworks by customizing the header. of course when I got it in it was all screwed up. You know who I turned to for help. Thats right, my friend Suni who has a large role in this blog. She designed the last theme. I’m real happy with this theme and I’m happy with the header I did. I love the logo she created for this blog too. I’m hoping to post more regularly here too.
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How to decide what you need 2007-04-24 04:36:48 I am a person who loves technology and gadgets. That is one of the reasons I started this blog about all things technology. I’ve recently found another website that helps you decide. It’s kind of like a consumer reports website where they try things out and compare them for you. Say for example you want a new TV and you are faced with the burning question of “plasma vs lcd” then you can check out Test Freaks and find out. What a great idea. I would love to be able to offer that service but don’t have the budget for it so I may use these guys to bring you informative comparisons here. Let me know what you would like to know more about and I will research it here for you.
Technorati Tags: test freaks, technology shopping, comparisons
Another computer done 2007-04-22 01:28:23 A friend at the hospital brought me his computer to fix. I don’t know who fixed it before but they had installed some illegal copy of Windows XP called the Borg Edition. I don’t know what it is but it was definitely a Star trek themed copy of XP. I had to format it and install Windows XP home fresh. Once I got it activated it (after a phone call to Microsoft to get that done) I did all of the windows updates. I then installed the basic software of Office, Ad-Aware, and Avast Antivirus. I think it’s good now and ready to go back to the owner.
Google Updating Page Rank 2007-04-28 19:37:58 Ok, I was just informed about Google
Updating Page Rank
today. If you have a blog or website you know how important this is. You also know that this is something that just happens. No one knows and no one can predict it. It just happens. There are a couple of places you can check to find your page rank. Theres an iwebtool page and an urltrends page. Go on over there and you’ll see what your page rank is.
Technorati Tags: google, page rank, updating
How secure is your network? 2007-05-01 21:36:30 Working as a network
administrator for a while I know the importance of network security. A lot of people have top notch anti-virus software and backups but then totally forget about it when sending email attachment. Data security is very important as well but it is usually forgotten when planning your networks security system. Luckily SecureZip and now they are offering free downloads. All they ask for is your email address.I love that they automatically protect your email messages and attachments. They even automatically integrate with Microsoft Outlook.
Just go to www.securezip.com and put your email address in and you can download and install it. Thats right, it’s that easy. SecureZIP - The next generation of ZIP. Not only do the protect your email messages and email attachments but they protect data stored on your computer. They protect your files and I’m pretty sure that they are the first “ZIP” that offers that. At least they are the first one that I know
A new auction site 2007-05-04 04:29:52 I found a new auction site and it seems like a really great idea. It’s called bid4prizes and the bid prices are ridiculously low. They are registered in cents not dollars. HDTV’s are bidding for less than 1000 cents (that’s 10 bucks). You still pay for taxes and shipping if you win but you still come out way in the plus. You just sign up and provide your cell phone number, then send in your bid via text message. Thats pretty ingenious if you ask me. I’m going to go over there and see if I can find something I really want. I know I will and with the prices so low I can actually afford something like a new phone, new TV, or maybe a new car. How sweet would that be.
My Office Depot Experience 2007-05-04 04:23:17 Yesterday I went to Office Depot
. I needed a new card reader for my SD memory card and they had one I liked. It basically turns an SD card into a thumb drive. They didn’t have it on the shelf so I showed the sales paper to an assistant manager. She stumbled around in the stock room for about 10 minutes and came out with one for a memory stick duo. Oh, I skipped the part where she explained to me that it didn’t come with a memory card. I informed her that I knew this. Ok, now she comes out with the wrong one. I pay for it and decide to open it in the car to make sure it works. of course it’s the wrong one. I take it back and she tries to tell me that it’s the only one for 10 bucks. The one I needed for an SD card is 25 bucks. I show her the ad that plainly states they are all 10 bucks. I then get her and another manager to look it up on the computer. The other assistant manager tells me I’m right and gets me the one I need. The first manager sure needs to w Read more:Office Depot
Have you submitted your site… 2007-05-10 23:26:15 &hellip
;to the GeekySpeaky directory? I have. You can definitely find this one over there. I can’t figure out why you wouldn’t submit your site there. Have you seen the rankings of that directory? The alexa rank is under 16,000. That means that there are only 16,000 more popular sites on the internet. The whole internet. You can get a free link there, you just have to do the reciprocal thing where you put their link in your sidebar. You can go the paid route but since the rankings went up the price did too. The featured link with a screenshot went from 10 bucks to 40 bucks. 40 bucks is a small price to pay to have your site featured there on a pr5 directory. Thats the route I went and have never regretted it. I have the featured link over there. If you don’t want to pay 40 bucks you can pay for a 25 buck one. It’s a sweet deal too because your website is up there at the top just without the screenshot. I suggest that if you really want to boost your traffic you Read more:submitted
Deals online 2007-05-10 23:12:48 A friend of mine was telling me about how she bought a new notebook computer. She was asking about wireless routers and a mouse. I was looking around for a deal for her and found this one for 12 bucks after the rebate Thats a pretty good deal. I found that at tigerdirect. It’s a great site if you want to find some deals. I do a lot of shopping online
and have found that it’s great for computer deals. I just found an external hd drive at a good price.
Technorati Tags: tigerdirect, deals, online deals, hd drive, wireless router
Tomorrows Chatroom 2007-05-14 03:27:38 I’ve talked about this over on my other blog but never really mentioned it here. I host a weekly chat room that is mainly bloggers just chatting. I usually try to get a special guest to come and talk to us. Tomorrow night though is different. Payperpost is having another one of their town hall meetings where we get to ask the CEO anything you want. After that is over you can come over to my chat room and talk to fellow Posties about anything you want. Here is what you need to do to join the chat room.
1.) Go Here to register for the chat room.
2.)Go Here to join the chat room.
The chat room uses Flash so you might need to make sure your computer can access Flash based sites.If you’re not sure about it click on the button below.
Technorati Tags: chat room, payperpost, town hall meeting
A new allowance system 2007-05-20 19:29:36 When I was a kid my dad would give us an allowance
every month. It was in the form of cash. Todays kids are definitely in the 21st century with the ways they can get allowance. It’s called PAYjr Visa Buxx and it’s like a credit card for kids 13 and up. They even have a new system called design your own card. It’s a great system which teaches the kids about financial responsibility and even lets the parents control what they spend it on. It’s great with sites like amazon and ebay out there that the kids can use their cards to spend stuff on. I think this is a much better system than the cash we got when I was a kid.
Technorati Tags: visa buxx, visa, pay jr, allowance, ebay, amazon
The Police are finally back… 2007-05-25 15:46:16 &hellip
;At least for a reunion CD and tour this year. The police cd is coming out soon and has 2 discs with all of their old tracks. How great is that? I am only 33 so I was a kid when The Police
broke up. Sting has been a solo artist almost my whole life and my whole adult life. Now I might be able to see the Police live in concert. That is, if the shows don’t sell out too fast. I have a sneaking suspicion that they probably will. I do love The Police though and their old songs. I can’t wait until the police cd comes out. Did I mention that it’s 2 discs. Thats right, 28 songs.
I love being part of the generation that I am but it does have it’s downside too. Being a kid during the 70’s and 80’s meant I was never old enough to go to any concerts and most of the best bands of that era are not around anymore. A lot of the time when they do reunions too it’s definitely not what you hoped for. I think this one will be different because everyone kno
I’m jealous 2007-05-25 15:32:41 A friend of mine just recently emailed me to tell me that she went to the Tigerdirect store. She said she picked up a 1 GB flash drive for 10 bucks. I went to their website but it wasn’t there. It must be an in store product. Now I’m definitely jealous. I love the tigerdirect store but the closest one we have is in Raleigh which is 1 and a half hours away. I guess it’s a good thing though because I’d probably be broke all the time if there was one in my town.
Technorati Tags: tigerdirect, usb drive, tigerdirect store
iPhone launch 2007-06-30 15:31:18 Well, yesterday was the big day for the iPhone
launch. It’s Apple and Steve Jobs attempt to get into the cell phone market by combining the iPod, cell phone, and computer into one device. I did see in the paper that the AT&T store here where I live still has some available. I know people were lining up all over the country to shell out 500 to 600 bucks for one of the innovative phones yesterday. Apparently the amount of people buying them overwhelmed the phone company because people were still waiting today for the phone to be activated. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the phone isn’t functional at all if it isn’t activated. Glad I didn’t shell out that kind of money for something I would have to wait a couple of days to use.
Technorati Tags: AT&T, apple, iphone, steve jobs
My printers out of ink 2007-07-06 13:24:19 Well, it’s out of color ink and almost out of black. I hate when it does that because the price of inkjet cartridges is ridiculous. I’m pretty sure the last time I bought ink it was over 50 bucks for the set. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it but the price of printers
has gotten really cheap. I even heard of people buying a new printer rather than replacing the cartridges because it was cheaper. A certain computer manufacturer (that rhymes with bell) will even give you a printer that only works on their brand of ink. It’s an ongoing scam. Luckily there are websites out there where you can get printer cartridges up to 75% off. I’m gonna go check it out now to see if I can save some money on my printer. Luckily it’s a name brand and not one of the (bell computers) brand printers.
Technorati Tags: printer, ink, scam
Marketing made easy 2007-07-19 18:35:36 Marketing can be a very enjoyable job but it can also be very unrewarding too. Especially in the new world of Email Marketing. Now theres a new service called Polite Mail that makes the process a whole lot simpler. They even use a great plugin for outlook. That way you can do all of your emailing straight from outlook like you are used to. It keeps track of your emails and tells you who opens it, who forwards it and everything. If you have to send out email newsletters to thousands of contacts (or even hundreds) this will make the process a whole lot simpler. It even adds smart features like automated CAN-SPAM compliant opt-out and undeliverable management, list management and professional template creation tools to help with the process.
In my last job as an IT professional this would have come in real handy sending out updates to the company on the status of the IT department. I don’t really need it in my current position as a security officer but maybe I will one day. I&rsquo Read more:Marketing
Are you a better blogger 2007-07-19 18:34:53 I discovered an article called 101 steps to becoming a better
blogger. I decided to take that and make it into a series over on my other blog. The series will have a post for each step and do about 2 a week. I thought this would be a neat way to come up with some good content and get a lot of you involved. Well the first article is up so head on over and check it out. Step #1 in 101 ways is up on the other blog and it has some good information.
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