Tracker Tom's Digital Disptach
Another virus hoax:
www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/life.is.beautiful.hoax.html is a link that will explain the details about the latest virus hoax. I'm sure by now, just about everyone in cyberspace has received an email about the "Life is Beautiful" power point file attachment.
Remember - It's a jungle out there!
Upgrading to XP?
Thinking about upgrading or recently have? Having problems locating your old folders for Outlook Express? Easy fix actually - just jump over to
www.updatexp.com/tip21.html - and you'll be all set.
Another big scam:
This one is just about as creative as the Nigerian scam. Check it out at
www.freemaninstitute.com/419lottery.htm -
don't get taken!
Don't be fooled!
Identity theft is on the rise and the Internet is being used as the tool of preference these days. Please read the article at
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,92511,00.html for more details.
Another Microsoft Issue:
Seems like another "issue" has arised with Microsoft's operating systems. You can read a story about it on the CNN web site by going to
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,92212,00.html - then you'll need to go to the Microsoft web site.
At the site you can click on the "Windows Update" link under the "Resources" category.
Spyware:
I can't impress upon you, my readers - enough, about "Spyware". It's getting totally out of hand. If you have found recently, that your computer seems to bog down quickly, that you are receiving an inordinate amount of pop-up screens, then - your computer is probably infested with files that should not be there. These Spyware files track your surfing habits, down load pop-up screens to your computer's hard-drive, and basically wreck havoc on your computer.
www.lavasoft.com
This Web site offers a free program entitled "AdAware". Download it, install it and then run it - at least twice. The program will find the obnoxious files, and then destroy them for you. After running the program for the first time, reboot the computer and run it again.
I've had exceptionally good luck with this program and it has improved the performance of many a computer that I've installed it on.
Tom DiFrancesca III is a freelance columnist, he can be reached at tomdifran@ureach.com or www.trackertom.com
Webmaster Tools:
I know there are a lot of people out there tackling the job of creating Web sites. I have found an extremely useful site that offers a bunch of great "add-ons" for Web sites and most of those services are totally free! Please check out
www.bravenet.com - I use them all of the time now.
Tom DiFrancesca III
Internet Safari
www.trackertom.com
Earth Village
For those of you readers who are a little farther along the Internet evoluntary chain - you might want to check out Earth Village @
www.earthv.com - this Web site is chock full of product technical information and useful data pertaining to the Internet.
Video Rentals
I'm supposing by now that most of you have seen the banner ads promoting "Netflix"
www.netflix.com - which is a service that will rent to you DVDs, through the mail. I actually used the service while living in Florida last year and it worked really well. You pay a set monthly price (a couple of options are available) and then you can receive an unlimited number of DVDs each month. You just have to return the ones that you have viewed (no time limit, no late fees!) in a pre-paid mailer - in order to receive more. By logging onto the Netflix Web site, you create a "que" of movies that you want to view - eventually, you receive each one in the mail for your veiwing pleasure.
I can see how this service can be a real benefit to those who live in rural areas of the country. No long drives to town to visit the local video store or to return the movies - just pop open the mailbox and enjoy!
Tom DiFrancesca III
Tracker Tom's Internet Safari
www.trackertom.com
Laci Peterson
I've written about Laci in the past and about the Web site that has been created in her memory. There has been an addition made to the site - pages upon pages of poetry and prose that have been written about Laci and submitted to the webmasters of the
www.lacipeterson.com site - check it out, it's very touching.
Tom DiFrancesca III
Tracker Tom's Internet Safari
www.trackertom.com
If you enjoy reading Christian themed poetry, I have posted a collection of pieces that I have written over the years. You can read them at
www.4U-LORD.com/inklings - the Web site is entitled "The Shepherd's Ink".
Tom DiFrancesca III
Tracker Tom's Internet Safari
http://www.trackertom.com
Visit
www.googlealert.com - this free service will do a daily search for you on any keyword. The new results will be emailed to you. I suggest setting up a free Web based e-mail account that you don't mind getting SPAM on - I'm suspecting you'll get some. You can periodically log in, check your search results AND dump any SPAM that is shown up - all of this without tying up your primary e-mail account.
For a test - I typed in "DiFrancesca" to be searched daily, SO if any new pages are indexed at Google with my last name on it (or a relative's), I'll be notified.
I think that is pretty cool.
Happy exploring!
Yahoo is expanding:
Click here for news story
ABC News has a good story about Yahoo purchasing Overture - a search engine service. It seems that Yahoo wants to compete directly with Google - in my opinion the best search engine on the Web. I'll be interested to see how things pan out.
New Blog site:
I've switched my blog over to blogger.com - it seems to be a much better service than the one I originally signed up with. I'll try to get some of my older posts from "BlogEasy" copied over to here, in case anyone wants to refer back to them.
