Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Some of Your Favorite Sites Will Be Gone Tomorrow

I’ve lost track of how long I have been doing this newsletter/blog. I know that I started sometime back in the 1990’s on printed paper, then via e-mail, now via a blog that is seen all over the world. As I am retired, you have to know it is a labor of love.

At the beginning of every new year, I like to re-explain my goals for this newsletter. I write this blog/newsletter mainly for computer non-nerds…in other words, the rest of us that just want to get the most out of our computers without going into all the heavy-duty tech stuff. We just want them to work and be easy to use!

However, sometimes having a little background on what is happening in technology keeps your computing knowledge current so you can make informed decisions about the computers and equipment you buy and the best software to use to be productive…or important stories that affect all of us, like the protest blackout coming tomorrow.

I also recommend interesting Web sites, and software (usually free) that you may find handy.  Again, I hope you find this blog/newsletter to be interesting and of some use. And now…on with the show! JRC

This Internet blackout has been brought to you by the U.S. Congress

Parts of the Web will go dark tomorrow to protest SOPA and PIPA, legislation that will do little to thwart piracy but could make your favorite websites disappear

U.S. online piracy bill headed for major makeover

U.S. legislation aimed at curbing online piracy, which had appeared to be on a fast track for approval by Congress, appears likely to be scaled back or jettisoned entirely in the wake of critical comments over the weekend from the White House, people familiar with the matter said.

Symantec accused of using 'scareware' tactics to sell full-version products

The complaint alleges that misleading 'scare' tactics are being used by Symantec in its Norton Utilities, PC Tools Registry Mechanic, and PC Tools Performance Toolkit products. The claims also suggest the software range always report harmful errors, privacy risks and other issues that exist, regardless of whether they actually exist.

Hotmail Improves Yet Again, This Time with Newsletter Filtering

Hotmail has been on a rapid update cycle of late, and if you are using this service, I suspect you've noticed the improvements over the past year especially. This week's update concerns an improvement to Hotmail's SmartScreen feature, which is used to identify and separate junk email from legitimate email. But with this update, SmartScreen does even more: Now it also separates email newsletters from other email.

10 tips to make your Web browser less annoying

Regardless of which web browser you use, in all likelihood there are some things about it that you don't like. Some "features" you might have to learn to live with, but in other cases you can fix the problems and make the browser work more the way you want it to. This article provides ten tips for making IE, Chrome, Firefox and Safari less annoying.

Ten little things to secure your online presence

Here’s some basic advice on the tools and tricks you can implement immediately to secure your identity and online presence.

How to rip DVD movies using freeware HandBrake

Most countries allow you to make backup copies of DVD's you own. HandBrake is a free tool which comes with plenty of features for beginners and intermediate users alike. This free cross platform, open source program can *convert a DVD into formats such as MP4, MKV, AVI or OGM that can be played on your PC, Mac, Linux box, iPod, PSP, Apple TV, Television, iPhone, or mobile phone. Just follow this guide.

Calibre - A Must for All e-Book Readers - Free

You've finally bought that Kindle or Nook or Kobo that you've been dreaming about, and you've purchased dozens of e-book bestsellers. Then, delighting in libraries offering more than 1.5 million free, public domain works--plus thousands of magazines and newspapers. Now, how to get them from your computer to your reader? What if they are in a different format than your reader? You need Calibre.

Automate your DropBox operations and experience with DropBox Automator

Most of you may be aware of DropBox, the free cloud storage service that lets you upload and save your files in the cloud. You can sign up for the service and install DropBox on any of your device and instantly start sharing your files over the cloud. This article will tell you about one more free service called DropBox Automator, that will make your DropBox experience even better by completely automating your DropBox file operations.

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