"The Computer Guy" Newsletter

Serving the South Western Denver Metro Area

(Ken Caryl, Littleton, Columbine Hills, Highlands Ranch & Denver Area)

Business and Home Computer Services

303-933-3319 ● jay@computerguysw.com ● www.computerguysw.com

Thanks,

Jay Funk  “The Computer Guy”

Get more from your satellite or cable lineup, no matter how many channels you have. 

Watch your favorite TV on your schedule, at your convenience.

Life's too short for bad TV. TiVo® finds and records the shows you love, automatically, and gives you the power to control live TV in ways never before possible.  A TiVo box combined with the TiVo service gets you all the entertainment you care about -- not just your favorite TV shows, but even movies and digital music & photos, so you can enjoy it all when you want to. It's truly amazing and ridiculously easy to use.

You can get a TiVo box starting for as low as $49.99*. Each one works with any TV setup - from a simple antenna, to cable, to digital cable or satellite. Find out which TiVo box is best for you.  The genius behind the TiVo service is obvious with easy-to-use features like WishList™ searches and Season Pass™ recordings.  Put it all to work for just $12.95^T a month or $299 Product Lifetime

Take off with your favorite shows!
Planes. Trains. Minivans. Take your favorite shows to go on DVD or your laptop.  Only TiVo goes everywhere you go.

Use your home network to access your digital music collection and digital photos.  Use your TiVo® remote to browse your entire library of MP3s and play through your home entertainment system.  Display your beautiful digital photos in full glory on your TV screen. It's great for showing off photos of the kids, or for setting the mood at your next theme party.

I am now an Authorized Dell Reseller.  What does this mean for you?

I sell Dell Computers as a "convenience" to my customers.  The discount I receive from Dell, I pass along to you. 

I only bill for my time (labor) which usually includes:

·         Assisting you to determine the proper specifications and ordering

·         Initial System Setup and Configuration including Windows Updates, Antivirus Installation and Updates, etc..

·         Software Installation

·         Files Transferred from Old Computer: My Documents, Email, Address Book, etc...

·         Printer Software Installation

·         Delivery, Setup and Training

The three antivirus programs I currently use are:

1)      McAfee VirusScan

2)      PC-cillin 

3)      AVG              

Due to major problems lately with the Norton products, I have stopped using and recommending.  Too bad, they use to be the very best.  Another product I am currently reviewing is Kaspersky.  In testing I found there Internet Security firewall software has a problem that causes Windows XP to repeatedly crash and reboot.

If you want to run one of the free online virus scans available on the internet, go to my web page www.computerguysw.com. 

At the bottom of the home page you will find links to many of the free online scanners.

Here are some links to web pages with important information:

·         How to outsmart computer viruses - stupid virus tricks what to look for

·         What is “Phishing”?

·         ConsumerReports.org AntiVirus Software Ratings

An Internet firewall is a piece of software or hardware that helps screen out hackers, viruses, and worms that try to reach your computer over the Internet. If you are a home user or small-business user, installing a firewall is the most effective and important first step you can take to help protect your computer. It is important to have a firewall and antivirus software turned on before you connect to the Internet.

·         Microsoft Frequently Asked Questions: (Click Here)

If you use the internet, you need to protect yourself against malicious programs that change your Internet settings and exploit your private information. Anti-Spyware detects spyware programs, tells you where they're located, gives you a risk rating, and recommends what action you should take. You can then disable the program or permanently remove it. If you inadvertently remove any programs you later want, you can get them back.

The top Anti-spyware programs I recommend and use are:

1)      Windows Defender            Price: Free for now        www.microsoft.com

2)      Spybot 1.4                         Price: Free                    www.spybot.info

3)      Ad-Aware SE                     Price: Free                    www.lavasoft.com

4)      Webroot Spy Sweeper      Price: $30                     www.webroot.com

When you spend time online, download, or install/uninstall programs, your hard drive can get cluttered with temporary files and other files you don't use. A great way to clean up the files you don't need is by using a Window's utility called "Disk Cleanup". Simply go to START, ALL PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, SYSTEM TOOLS, then click on DISK CLEANUP. It will ask which drive you would like to cleanup. The default is generally the "C" drive. Doing this regularly will help you keep your hard drive cleaned up!

With use your hard drive can become unorganized (or fragmented). To defragment, close all open programs and then go to START, ALL PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, SYSTEM TOOLS, then click on “Disk Defragmenter”.  When the defragmenter program opens, click on the ANALYZE button to determine if a defragment is necessary.  If it is recommended, click on the DEFRAGMENT button to start the defragment process.  Warning! This can take hours to complete and you don’t want any programs open.