Tech Teach

Today we covered some of the things that Internet Explorer offers, sort of like the Desktop class. We started with the Address Bar, where you type in a URL (Universal Resource Locator) that you already know. Examples of this would be: www.google.com; www.target.com; www.yourbanknamehere.com. If you have previously typed an address here, Internet Explorer will remember it (until you delete the History) in alphabetical order in a drop-down list which you can scroll through with the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Some add-ons will place a Search Bar below the Address Bar in Internet Explorer. (Firefox has a Search Bar to the right by default.) The Search Bar is what you want to use if you don't know the exact address of a web site. You might use terms like "blue mini-vans" or "plaid fabric with gold" in your searches. Google is one of many search engines. Bing, Yahoo, Excite are also search engines. But, the Search Bar does come with some risk. Make sure that the web site you are going to is the one you want. Some scammers will try to get you to go to places that are slightly misspelled. "golden1credit" is not the same as "goldenlcredit" for example. Internet Explorer comes with the Smart Screen Filter that is supposed to check out web sites before you go to them. Google has a double chevron pointing to right indicating that you can see a thumbnail of the site before you go to it. Then you can get a preview of the site.

If a page is using HTTPS (secure), the Address Bar will turn green and have a closed lock in the address

In the upper right corner are the Minimize, Maximize and Close buttons. Minimize sends the window to the Taskbar, maximize makes it fill the screen and Close exit the program. You can also use the F11 key to engage kiosk mode which makes IE fill the whole screen.

Also in the upper right are the Home, Favorites and Tools buttons. They are the house, star and gear. If you click on the Home button, IE will take you back to your Home Page. If you right-click on the Home button, it will give you options for displaying various toolbars, locking those toolbars, showing tabs on a different row (below the Address Bar), and adding or changing your Home Page. You can have more than one Home Page and each will open in its own tab.

The Favorites button (star) will allow you to add the current page to your Favorites and in that window, arrange the Favorites in an order you prefer. The "Add to Favorites" button has a little arrow that gives you more options to import and export your Favorites and to organize them.

The Feeds button is for setting up RSS feeds, but there's not much call for those anymore.

The History button is for looking at sites IE has visited before, but you may not have Favorited them. You can look back, up to three weeks, and see where your browser has been and go back to those sites.

The Tools button (gear) contains options to print, zoom, safety settings, view files that have been downloaded, manage add-ons, developer tools, pinned sites, Internet Options, and About IE. Also, this is where the File menu has moved to. Seems to be mostly for things that didn't fit anywhere else: Add site to Start Menu, Full Screen (F11 mode), Save As, Find on this page, Suggested sites, and Caret Browsing (puts a moveable cursor on the screen to select text). The Internet Options item is the same as the one from the Control Panel where you can change your Home Page and delete the Internet temporary files and history.

If you have the Status Bar turned on, it will be at the bottom of the screen and shows you what files are being displayed for the web page you are loading and the address of a link if you hover the mouse. It also offers a place to change the zoom settings, which work just like the to zoom in and out.

In the upper left, IE has Back and Forward buttons. If you right-click (remember, right-click on everything, sometimes you'll get a hidden menu of things you can do), you will get a list of the web sites IE has visited and you can click on the one you want to go back, or forwards, to load again.

Some keyboard short cuts:
History:
Home:
View Favorites:
Tools:
View downloads:
Change zoom: or (plus and minus signs)
Set zoom to 100%: (zero)
Bring up File menu:
Control and any underlined command will do that command, such as in the FIle Menu any of the underlined letters plus the key. So that print the page is , these commands are the same across IR and Firefox.

Computer America Show line up for the week of 27 August, 2012

Monday ---------- Hour one: Jumala.com. Jumala, from Blade Games World, makes building a game into a game itself. Anyone can design unique, visually stunning, 3D game experiences, even players with no technical skills. Players choose a template to get started and then let their imaginations guide them to create their own video game. The new update, now available for download at Jumala.com, dramatically enhances the overall game play experience with enriched graphics and more intuitive game play mechanics. For the first time, thousands of game content items are customizable so players can alter color, size, and even sound effects to fit the theme of their game. Plus, players now earn rewards, unlock skills, and get in-game currency simply by creating and exploring within Jumala. The more players create, the more exciting and engaging the game creation experience becomes. Visit the Jumala Website Monday ---------- Hour two: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News and answer your computer questions! Tuesday ---------- Hours one and two: Christopher Breen. Chris is the Senior Editor for Macworld Magazine and a Computer America correspondent. Join us as Chris talks about the latest news and products from Apple. Wednesday ---------- Hour one: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News and answer your computer questions! Wednesday ---------- Hour two: Dick DeBartolo. Dick joins us every last Wednesday of the month. Dick is Mad Magazine's maddest writer and one of our favorite correspondents! Dick is known as "The Giz Wiz" and he certainly lives up to the name's reputation! Dick finds some of the most unusual items on the Internet and shares the with up! Visit the GizWiz website Thursday ---------- Hour one: NETGEAR. You have WiFi in your home or office but the wireless router is too far away for a great WiFi signal! So what do you do? Buy another router? You can't because it needs to be next to your computer. But you CAN get a Range Extender! In fact, you can get a range extender for every room in your home if you like. Hear all about NETGEAR's WN1000RP model as well as other NETGEAR Range Extender models and how they can improve your overall wireless network's range! Visit the NETGEAR Website Thursday ---------- Hour two: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News and answer your computer questions! Friday ---------- Hours one and two: Michael Miller. Mike is one of Computer America's Special Correspondents. Michael Miller is a proven and successful non-fiction writer on a variety of technical, business, and lifestyle-related topics. He has written more than 100 books in the last two decades that have collectively sold more than one million copies. His best-selling books include The Ultimate Web Marketing Guide, YouTube for Business, and Facebook for Grown-Ups for Que Publishing. He has established a reputation for being able to explain difficult concepts to everyday readers in easy-to-understand language. Tonight we talks about the world of Electronic Book Publishing, eReaders and the ins and outs of getting your book published! Visit Mike's Website Saturday ---------- We are broadcasting LIVE on BlogTalkRadio this Saturday! Tune us in at 3pm, ET with a very special guest! Now, every Saturday at 3pm, ET, you can hear a NEW, LIVE Computer America Show! You can listen just by going to our Home Page and use the streaming link there, OR just go to our BlogTalkRadio page and tune us in every Saturday! Hear us on BlogTalkRadio!

Sounds like something that would happen to me....

I was checking out at the local Wal-Mart with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those 'dividers' that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed.

After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the 'divider', looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it.

Not finding the bar code, she said to me, 'Do you know how much this is?'

I said to her 'I've changed my mind; I don't think I'll buy that today.'

She said 'OK,' and I paid her for the things and left.

She had no clue to what had just happened.

( But the lady behind me had a big smirk on her face as I left)

Farmer John's Chicken Problem

Farmer John lived on a quiet rural highway. But as time went by, the traffic
slowly built up and became so heavy and so fast that his chickens were being
run over at a rate of three to six a day.

So one day Farmer John called the local police station and said, "You've got
to do something about all of these people driving so fast and killing my
chickens."

"What do you want us to do?" asked the policeman. "I don't care, just do
something about those crazy drivers!" So the next day the policeman had the
Main Road’s workers Go out to erect a sign that said:

SLOW: SCHOOL CROSSING

Three days later Farmer John called the policeman and said, "You've got to
do something about these drivers. The School Crossing sign seems to make
them go even faster!" So, again, the policeman sends out the Main Roads
Workers, and they put up a new sign:

SLOW: CHILDREN AT PLAY

That really sped them up. So Farmer John called and called and called every
day for three weeks. Finally, he asked the policeman, "Your signs are doing
no good at all ... Can I put up my own sign?" The policeman said, "Sure, go
ahead." He was willing to let Farmer John do just about anything In order to
get him to stop calling to complain.

The policeman got no more calls from Farmer John. Three weeks later,
curiosity got the best of the policeman and he decided to give Farmer John a
call. “ How’s the Problem with those drivers. Did you put up your sign?"
"Oh, I sure did,” replied Farmer John, ”and not one chicken has been killed
since then. I've got to go. I'm very busy." He hung up the phone.

The policeman was really curious and he thought to himself, "I'd better go
out there and take a look at that sign … it might Be something that WE could
use to slow down drivers."

So he drove out to Farmer John's house, and his jaw dropped the moment he
saw the sign. It was spray painted on a sheet of wood....

NUDIST COLONY Go slow and watch out for chicks!

FIVE RULES FOR MEN TO FOLLOW FOR A HAPPY LIFE:

1. It's important to have a woman who helps at home, cooks from time to time, cleans up, and has a job.

2. It's important to have a woman who can make you laugh.

3. It's important to have a woman who you can trust, and doesn't lie to you.

4. It's important to have a woman who is good in bed, and likes to be with you.

5. It's very, very important that these four women do not know each other or you could end up dead like me.

Thanks to Gary fro this one!

Computer America lineup for the week of August 20, 2012

Lineup for the week:

Monday ---------- Hour one: CityMac.  This is an Apple store that's privately owned. Craig talks to the store's owner about how he views the industry and why people should consider alternate computer stores like CityMac which has now grown into 3 locations! Visit the CityMac Website

Monday ---------- Hour two: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News and answer your computer questions!

Tuesday ---------- Hours one and two: Linux Show.  Every third Tuesday of the month, we have an all Linux show!  Joining Craig and Ben once again is Larry Bushey, the Creator and host of the "Going Linux Podcast." Visit the Going Linux Website

Wednesday ---------- Hour one: Clickfree.  When it comes to making backups, Clickfree is about as easy as it gets!  Just hook up a Clickfree external drive to your computer and it does the rest!  Also hear about the new directions Clickfree is taking and its latest products! Visit the Clickfree Website

Wednesday ---------- Hour two: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News and answer your computer questions!

Thursday ---------- Both Hours: Steve Stockman, author of "How To Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck" tells you how to shoot great videos that everyone will want to watch!  Steve will be focusing on "Back to School" videos tonight! Visit Steve Stockman's Website

Friday ---------- Hour one: NETGEAR.  You have WiFi in your home or office but the wireless router is too far away for a great WiFi signal!  So what do you do?  Buy another router?  You can't because it needs to be next to your computer.  But you CAN get a Range Extender!  In fact, you can get a range extender for every room in your home if you like.  Hear all about NETGEAR's WN1000RP and how it can improve your overall wireless network's range! Visit NETGEAR's Website

Friday ---------- Hour two: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News and answer your computer questions!

Sunday ---------- We are broadcasting LIVE on BlogTalkRadio this Sunday!  Tune us in at 3pm, ET with special guest, Michael Miller! Our normal Saturday Show on BlogTalkRadio will be heard LIVE this Sunday at 3PM, ET and only this Sunday.  We will resume the normal Saturday Show the following week! Mike is one of Computer America's Special Correspondents. Michael Miller is a proven and successful non-fiction writer on a variety of technical, business, and lifestyle-related topics. He has written more than 100 books in the last two decades that have collectively sold more than one million copies. His best-selling books include The Ultimate Web Marketing Guide, YouTube for Business, and Facebook for Grown-Ups for Que Publishing. He has established a reputation for being able to explain difficult concepts to everyday readers in easy-to-understand language.  Visit Mike's Website

Computer America Show for the week of August 13, 2012

Lineup for the week: Monday ---------- Hour one: E FUN.  E Fun makes a variety of consumer electronic products including the NextBook Premium SE series! It's everything you liked in a tablet but now it's even faster, sharper and smarter. The new Premium8SE comes equipped with new Android Ice Cream 4.0 OS, you can surf the net, play games, or stream videos smoother than ever! Its sleek compact design, new 8 inch TFT color display, Wi-Fi, is just amazing. Premium8SE also comes with 25 free preloaded eBooks. Visit the E FUN Website Monday ---------- Hour two: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News and answer your computer questions! Tuesday ---------- Both Hours:  It's Gamer Tuesday!  Joining us is Computer America's Gamer Correspondent - Grayson Hamilton.  Grayson is pursuing a career in video game journalism.  Tonight we talk about computer games and the latest news regarding gaming software and hardware!  Topics will include a follow-up on the OUYA video game console, How Do We Fight Piracy, and The Give and Takes of Downloadable Content!  Please join us! Visit Grayson's Website Wednesday ---------- Hour one: SaneBox.  Joining us is Dmitri Leonov of SaneBox to discuss the solution to email overload. SaneBox allows its users to spend less time in their inbox by filtering emails via unique algorithms.  There are no plugins, downloads, or new UI to learn. If you know how to use email folders, you know how to use SaneBox - it's as easy as reading a folder and dragging an email into one.  Hear how you can rReduce your spam effortlessly! Visit the SaneBox Website Wednesday ---------- Hour two: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News and answer your computer questions! Thursday ---------- Both Hours: Charles Tendell.  Charles is a Certified Ethical Hacker and one of our Computer America Correspondents! Topics to be discussed include: -FaceBook scans chats and posts for criminal activity. -How software piracy can endanger your mobile device. -Mass Router Infection Possible: Black Hat. -Strike Back At Hackers? Get A Lawyer. -Hackers Take Credit Card Skimmimg Mobile. -Mountain Lion's dictate raises privacy concerns. -Digital forensics cost LinkedIn 1 million dollars. -Pentagon bankrolls new worm. Visit Charles' Website Friday ---------- Both Hours: David Perry.  David is a long time friend of the Computer America Show and is one of our regular Computer America Correspondents.  David is The Global Director of Education for Comodo.  David will talk about Comodo Kiosk, Cloud Backup, The Comodo Web Browser called Dragon, and also what David saw at the DefCon conference he just went to in Las Vegas! Visit Comodo's Website Saturday ---------- Both Hours: Charles Tendell.  Charles is a Certified Ethical Hacker and one of our Computer America Correspondents! Topics to be discussed include: -FaceBook scans chats and posts for criminal activity. -How software piracy can endanger your mobile device. -Mass Router Infection Possible: Black Hat. -Strike Back At Hackers? Get A Lawyer. -Hackers Take Credit Card Skimmimg Mobile. -Mountain Lion's dictate raises privacy concerns. -Digital forensics cost LinkedIn 1 million dollars. -Pentagon bankrolls new worm. Visit Charles' Website

May Your Hard Disk Never Become Floppy!  See you next week!

Run Corvette, Run!

A Florida senior citizen drove his brand new Corvette convertible out
of the dealership. Taking off down the road, he pushed it to 80 mph,
enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left.

"Amazing," he thought as he flew down I-95, pushing the pedal even more.
Looking in his rear view mirror, he saw a Florida State Trooper, blue
lights flashing and siren blaring. He floored it to 100 mph, then 110,
then 120. Suddenly he thought, "What am I doing? I'm too old for
this!" and pulled over to await the trooper's arrival.

Pulling in behind him, the trooper got out of his vehicle and walked
up to the Corvette. He looked at his watch, then said, "Sir, my shift
ends in 30 minutes. Today is Friday. If you can give me a new reason
for speeding--a reason I've never before heard -- I'll let you go."

The old gentleman paused then said: "Three years ago, my wife ran off
with a Florida State Trooper. I thought you were bringing her back.

"Have a good day, Sir," replied the trooper.

Calls from Microsoft

Going to take a minute or three about something that's been coming up of late.  People are getting phone calls from someone (usually with a non-English accent) saying they are with Microsoft and that Microsoft has detected a virus on the computer.  They ever offer to clean it for you.

This is a scam to gain entry to your computer and use it to attack other computers, use it for an e-mail spam server or steal or your login and password information.  Microsoft will rarely if ever call you.  It costs too much money.  Most likely, these people are just going through a list of numbers cold calling people.

The only thing you should do in this case is hang up.  They can not gain access to your computer unless you allow them to do so.  You should only give access to your computer to people you trust.

If you think your something is going on with your computer, update your anti-virus and full scan.  Then update your anti-malware and run a full scan.  Yes, this can take a long time, but it's worth spending that time now rather than trying to backup all your data and re-installing Windows later.

Computer America Show line up for the week of 6 August, 2012

Lineup for the week: Monday ---------- Hour one: Scheduled: Jumala. What is Jumala? Create an infinite variety of games, invite your friends or Jumala's entire community to play them, or perhaps you'll copy someone else's fully baked game and completely change it. At Jumala, it's YOUR game, YOU decide! Visit the Jumala Website Monday ---------- Hour two: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News and answer your computer questions! Tuesday ---------- Hour one: Microsoft Streets & Trips. Explore the open road with Microsoft Streets & Trips. Tailor your trip with America's #1 travel and map software, generate maps and directions, and find interesting stops along the way-all without an Internet connection. Let Streets & Trips help you find the adventure-not get lost finding it. Visit the Streets & Trips Website Tuesday ---------- Hour two: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News and answer your computer questions! Wednesday ---------- Both Hours: Sandy Berger. Sandy is our Consumer Electronics Expert Correspondent on Computer America. She talks about the latest technology gadgets and trends in the industry with us. You don't want to miss this show! Visit Sandy's website Thursday ---------- Hour one: SlimWare Utilities. Please join us in welcoming SlimWare Utilities to the Computer America Show! Chris Cope is the CEO of Slimware Utilities and he is here every month as our new Chief Technical Correspondent! Every month, Chris will tell us how to maintain your PC, keep it running smoothly and keep it running as fast as it was when it was new! We'll talk about updating drivers, making backups and so much more! And with SlimWare Utilities, you can do all of it for FREE!! Visit the SlimWare Utilities website Thursday ---------- Hour two: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News and answer your computer questions! Friday ---------- Both hours: It's the second Friday of the month and that means it's time for Bond... Ralph Bond joins Craig and Ben with computer news and special topics. For many years, Ralph was Intel's Consumer Education Director and he continues to be the voice of Intel for Computer America's Intel Digital Minute. Ralph is now with Autodesk and he is an official Computer America correspondent. Every second Friday of the month, Ralph joins Craig and Ben to talk about the special Technology News stories he selects. Join us! Visit Ralph's Website Saturday ---------- Both Hours: Sandy Berger. Sandy is our Consumer Electronics Expert Correspondent on Computer America. She talks about the latest technology gadgets and trends in the industry with us. You don't want to miss this show! Visit Sandy's website

Abe and Esther

Abe and Esther are flying to Australia for a two-week vacation to celebrate their 40th anniversary. 

Suddenly, over the public address system, the Captain announces, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am afraid I have some very bad news. Our engines have ceased functioning and we will attempt an emergency landing. Luckily, I see an uncharted island below us and we should be able to land on the beach. However, the odds are that we may never be rescued and will have to live on the island for the rest of our
lives!"

Thanks to the skill of the flight crew, the plane lands safely on the island. An hour later Abe turns to his wife and asks,"Esther, did we pay our American Express card yet?" 

"No, sweetheart," she responds. Abe, still shaken from the crash landing, then asks, "Esther, did we pay our MasterCard yet?" "Oh, no! I'm sorry. I forgot to send the cheque," she says. 

"One last thing Esther. Did you remember to send cheque for the Visa this month?" he asks.
"Oh, forgive me, Abe," begged Esther. "I didn't send that one, either." 

Abe grabs her and gives her the biggest kiss in 40 years. Esther pulls away and asks him, "What was that for?"

Abe answers,  "They'll find us!"

Fast food, freedom of speech, and looking in from the side

I've been watching this event unfold on Twitter for a few weeks now. I finally got so tired of seeing Chik-Fil-A in my timeline that I started unfollowing people. I really think there are much more important issues at hand than what some company (whose nearest franchise is a 200 mile round trip and on my only visit made the order incorrectly) thinks about same gender marriage.

But today's fiasco with Wendy's got me thinking about how one short statement can be so taken out of context and twisted into something unrecognizable.

People are bashing President Obama for his "You didn't build that" speech when his own words are quoted exactly. Then the Other Side comes along and gets all upset about it. But the quotes are exact. There's no room to wiggle on this one. He said what he said and those words will stand as long there's an Internet (or something like it) to preserve those words.

Now, you have Wendy's and their little tweet about "ALL." I guess I must be incapable of reading things I want to see into what others type. I just read what they posted. Twitter makes espousing on forever difficult because of the 140 character limit. Words have to be chosen carefully and well written. Otherwise, there is miscommunication and confusion. A simple statement can read the wrong way. Like the tweet today about "black car drivers."

The whole Wendy's thing just smacks of people trying to pick a fight.

Yes, I've watched a few TV shows set in England and the UK, so I know that the statement is, in it's longer form, to be "the driver of a black cab." Just like if you watch Top Gear and they speak of "white van man." It's not a man that's white, it's the van. Common color for taxis in the UK: black. Just look at episode of Touch of Frost, anything with Inspector Morris, or the occasional episode of Torchwood. The ubiquitous black cab is everywhere. And, usually, there's a man driving it.

Maybe it's time for a small suggestion: Take a step back, read the words as actually posted and try to go for the positive meaning. If you still aren't sure, a politely worded inquiry may be in order.

One more thing, support your local businesses. Here in my small burg, we have McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell. Except for the occasional large Coke and the morning sausage McMuffin, I try to stay out of them. Haven't been in the Taco Bell in over two years. We have at least three great places for Mexican food. I can think of five or six places for a great burger. We have two local pizza places. No need for the Domino's.

Thank you for your time.