Nook

OK, although I never thought I, or my wife would participate in the latest technological “fad,” we have.   It’s confession time here.  I bought one; but it is mainly for my wife’s use.  The culprit is an eBook Reader.  Yes, a month or two ago I bought a Nook which is sold by Barnes…

Open to the World, Part 2

Last week we started looking at securing your home network.  Today we will finish our walk-through.  There are other settings for your router I have not mentioned but with instructions in hand you can experiment.  Just be very careful and (maybe) check with a geek friend first. In review: Open your browser and go to…

P@55w0rd Keepers

I wrote a column last year about passwords.  Gee, don’t our digital worlds revolve around them?  If you work with computers on a regular basis you may have a million of them.  You may have them for logging onto your computer, websites, email, bank accounts, online stores, etc.  As I stated last year, “I do…

Wireless or Wired for Your Home?

You live in a home as we all do, whether an apartment, condo, townhouse, single-family, duplex, etcetera. You also use a computer in your home.  OK, I know that last one isn’t true for everyone but if you are reading this I will make that assumption.  You may be thinking about upgrading your internet connection;…

Motorola Xoom – Tablet PC

I have spent a couple of weeks testing out Motorola’s entrance into the Tablet PC market with the “Xoom”.  I have to say that I am impressed.  These are slick devices.  If you are looking into the tablets, this could well be the one to get. First of all it uses the Android (created by…

File Encryption

I have had many emails over time about security of thumb drives.  For instance, I sometimes think about what would happen if I accidentally left my thumb drive lying around somewhere. The finder could open my private files on that drive. That used to be a concern, but for many years I have been using…

Filename Color Enigma

Several weeks ago I got an interesting email from Pat in Port Republic, about something I thought may affect many of my readers.  It also affects all Windows users at some time or another. Pat essentially said that, "…in an attempt to speed-up my computer I ran the Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter programs."  So…

Tech Bargain Finders

I get quite a few emails about where the best places online to buy tech "stuff" are.  For instance, portable hard drives, thumb drives, and memory sticks seem to be some of the most popular right now.  I always suggest shopping in your local "brick and mortar" shops.  It really does help the local economy…