Personal Technology Tips in Plain English
Windows
Deal Alert: Microsoft Windows 7 Premium $29.99
Sep 18th
Microsoft is at it again.
Last time, it discounted Microsoft Office ULTIMATE down to $59.
Now, it is targeting a huge pool of prospective customers and slashing the price of their flagship product for 2009-10. It is selling complete legal versions of Windows 7, for a mere $29.99.
And it’s not the basic edition. It’s for the Home Premium version of Windows 7!
If you are a student or teacher associated with a university (basically if you have a .edu address) then you pass the first step of qualification for this promotion.
It’s one upgrade that I’m actually jumping on after my less-than-happy experiences with Windows Vista Business to date.
Lucky 7, here I come.
LINK TO WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM DISCOUNT
Deal Alert: SnagIt Now
Jun 1st
When you want to show someone else something that’s on your screen, a way to take a photo of your monitor is a great way. Screen captures do exactly that, minus the camera.
Some screen capture software lets you grab definable regions and/or crop or annotate the images after you take them.
TechSmith, the maker of Camtasia Studio (one of the best video screen capture software applications) is making their SnagIt screen capture software available as a free download this week (until June 5).
Just use this link to download SnagIt software v. 7.2.5.
There’s a newer version available commercially with more bells and whistles, but most users won’t need to upgrade at all.
One more caveat – the SnagIt 7.2.5 being offered free is not compatible with Vista (XP only). You can upgrade to the latest version (SnagIt 9.1) for only $24 vs. paying the full price for the latest version.
If you are still on Windows XP, this is a MUST DOWNLOAD. If you’re looking for the latest version, this is a great discount path to the full version for 24 bucks (well worth it).
Make Sure You Gain An Hour At The Right Time!
Oct 28th
My, how time flies…Daylight savings is upon us.
This year, in 2008, Daylight Saving Time begins on March 9 and ends on November 2nd.
(And for you future minded people, in 2009, Daylight Saving Time begins on March 8th and ends on Nov. 1st.)
The problem is that not all Windows Mobile cell phones – and desktop PC’s for that matter – are up-to-date regarding the recent change in how we do daylight savings here in the United States. If you recall, the US Government figured out that we don’t actually save electricity nor increase productivity by changing the timing of our clocks — so they moved the dates to confuse us all last year.
This year is no different, but you can be a little better prepared so that your cell phone time/date isn’t out of sync for a week or two based on the new daylight savings calendar.
So this is just a reminder to make sure you have applied the updates to your desktop PC’s windows / Vista platform, your Microsoft Outlook and your Windows Mobile device should be fine with your next syncs. The list of Microsoft applications that are affected are: Read the rest of this entry »
Timeshifting Emails: How to Schedule Emails To Be Sent In The Future
Apr 10th
Recently, I’ve been discovering and using productivity tools like reminder services to help organize and keep me efficient. There’s a bunch of websites that allow you to ping yourself in the future via text message, IM, Google Calendar, Twitter, etc. I personally like www.OhDontForget.com but some of the other one’s I keep coming across are:
- www.ohdontforget.com - simple text message reminder service
- www.gottakeepup.com - good for birthdays, anniversaries, other appointments
- www.rememberthemilk.com - more robust service with lists and other features – also IM reminders
- www.sportsTVinsider.com - couch potatoes can remind themselves to procrastinate and be lazy by reminding themselves of games to watch on TV
If you get into the habit of using a reminder service, it can be a real big help. But there are plenty of times where you wished other people are as (re-)mindful as you about things they shouldn’t forget…Or there are different circumstances where you just want to be able to email someone in the future, but know that you won’t be by the computer.
Perhaps some of you may think about using it to email co-workers during that “2nd hour of lunch” so that people think you’re back at your desk already…or even afterhours to make sure everyone knows just how hard you work…while you’re on your way home already! 
Of course there are tons of other possibilities that open up once you can schedule your emails to be delivered in the future… Read the rest of this entry »
GhostBuster: Norton Ghost Price Disappears (Free!)
Nov 28th
Norton Ghost is the industry standard for back-up utilities. It’s a robust program that does what is says it will do and can restore every last bit of data you had on your drive when you need it.
But at $70+, you might question if it’s worth the money for something that’s so transparent (sorry, I couldn’t resist!).
Right now, you can jump on the opportunity to get it for free, albeit, you’ll have to 2 little hoops to jump through – the classic rebate form.
It’s on sale for $50 from Buy.com right now and there’s a $30 straight-forward rebate and then another $20 rebate which requires you to send in a CD, proof or purchase or first page of manual of ANY previous version of antivirus, spyware, internet security tools, back-up, utility, etc from ANY manufacturer…pretty easy — time to dig through your tech dust at the back of the shelf!
LINK TO DISCOUNT ON NORTON GHOST
How to Resize Photo Files In Bulk
Jun 20th
Did you buy that shiny new digital camera because it had a whopping 8 megapixels or more on the feature list in the store? What are you going to do with all those pixels?
If you are posting your photos to the web or sending them via email, you certainly don’t need the bloated file size of all the pictures you took with your camera. Resizing them manually can be a pain in the neck – because you need a photo editing software application as well as the knowledge and time to do it. Yuck – who wants to do all that?
What do to? I have the perfect solution for quick resizing of photo files in Windows XP: Read the rest of this entry »