September 6  Our thanks to John at St. George Island Realty for hosting our SGI web cam.  We are also upgrading our cam at Panama City.  Thank you for the e-mails for our SGI cam...  the word got out and we now have a great location for the SGI beach view.  A note from my August 6 blog...  after talking to Cingular reps for a month I tried Nokia phones and have had improved results..not great, but really noticeable lack of dropped calls!  We are still a fringe market along the coast, but the Nokia phones seem to work better than my high end Motorola and Sony-Erickson models.

August 6 One of the great things of running your own web site is sometimes you can voice your own frustrations in public.  I have lived in the area of the "Forgotten Coast" for almost 10 years and have weathered the changes of numerous cellular phone companies as they come and go through our area. If your travel plans take you to St. George Island, Alligator Point, Wakulla County or St. Teresa, you should just leave your phone at home!   Two providers Nextel and Cingular stand out with anything you can call coverage.  Nextel, though expensive, does the best job.  I have found my Cingular experience so frustrating that I could throw my $499.00 Sony-Erickson into the Bay.  The coverage map for Wakulla county shows dark green around the edges with the light green in the middle of the county....right where Crawfordville is!  You can pick up great coverage about 3 miles north as you enter Leon county.  Get used to dropped calls... and as for raising the bar, heck I'd just like to have ONE on my signal strength meter.  GSM, E-mail, Great commercials, pictures and text messaging aside, just give me an old analog bag phone, PLEASE!  PS...upon working with Cingular....if you are having problems in the beaches area, call customer service (800-CINGULAR) and ask to be transferred to tech support...report a network trouble issue...the more trouble calls we can log for the beaches area will generate more action, as per tech support!

Great Link:  HearUsNow.org 

July 6  Buying a computer? Buyer Beware!  You are safe when you buy from name stores such as Best Buy or CompUSA.  But be sure when you buy gear from the little shop on the corner you get all the things you are supposed to.  Example:  Be sure to get a Microsoft Certificate that verifies your copy of Windows is the "real deal".  Also you should get the drivers disk that came with your mother board.  This disk will have your Audio, LAN, Video, and other important software. If they install a modem for you...did you get the drivers disk for the modem... every hard drive has a date on it...opening the case and looking at the date could verify you are getting a new drive or a recycled one.  Built to order machines usually always cost more than name brand ones.  But you get to customize what goes into the box, so it is a trade-off.  Just take care, and be sure you get ALL  you are paying for!

April 6   Spring is here!  So are the thunderstorms!! UPS is just not another name for Brown and not all surge protectors are equal.  You may not be home when the lightening strikes your system.  But with some common sense and a few dollars you can protect your computer investment.   I see computers every week that have been zapped by a power surge.  Some are caused by storms and some from your local electric company.  Either way, a surge protector can help put something between your sensitive computer/data and the incoming power.  Surge protectors come in all sizes and prices.  I tend to stay away from the $19 specials, but they do offer some protection.  Remember....Important...that these "power strips" have to be ON for the protection circuitry to be operational.  So do not use them to turn your computer or peripherals on/off!  Also, power surges can sneak into your system by way of your phone line.  So invest in a surge protector that features a phone line jack protector.  Now if you have the bucks...go for the UPS surge protection.  These start at about $79 and go up to $300.  The UPS features a battery back-up which will keep your system running when the power goes completely off.  Now do not think you can work for an hour on the battery  system, but the battery allows you to weather those 1 or 2 second outages that wreak havoc with sensitive computers. Leaving on vacation...well nothing is safer than just unplugging everything...power, phone, or Ethernet cables from your system.  Be safe. Do not let your motherboard or modem be your only protection this season.

April 1  Have you just plugged in your new Wireless Internet Transmitter?  Read the directions carefully as you may be broadcasting your home broadband service and network throughout your entire neighborhood! All WiFi units come with "Default" settings right out of the box.  These settings will NOT give you a secure connection.  Be sure to read the documentation and learn how to change the SSID and enable WEP and other security functions on your transmitter. On a recent trip down I-10, I turned on my WiFi  enabled PDA and watched as it tried to connected with unsecured transmitters several times an hour.  People can connect to your home system and use your Internet service without you ever knowing it!  If all this seems too much for you and you want wireless Internet in your home, contact a consultant or knowledgeable geek friend to help you add safety and security to your new toy.

March 15 February and March have been "Spring Cleaning" months for a lot of computer techs.  The viruses circulating around the country have brought many machines to our repair desks.  However, what I hear about almost everyday is ..."my machine is getting so slow"...what can I do?  

Of course a virus can slow a computer down, but more often than not, the problem is the result of many months of regular use and "misuse".  Downloading or visiting web sites can bring uninvited programs called Spyware to your computer.   Spyware can broadcast information about you and your Internet habits to servers that will collect data about you! Be careful about adding programs to your computer.  That cute little bird that pops up and tells you "good morning" gobbles up your computer memory as does weather programs, atomic clocks, tool bar add-ons, etc.  Beware of any program that leaves an icon on your tray.  My best advice is to check with a tech before adding a program that did not come with your machine.  Be very careful about the sites you visit. Just passing through some sites can "infect" your system.  The dreaded pop-up ads can come from clicking on a link or accepting a "free" program.  Try this....download a program called Ad-aware 6.0 http://www.lavasoft.nu/ there is a free version on this link.  Be sure to update the program before you run it, to have the most recent "bug" files, then scan your computer.  You may be shocked at the results of what is hiding on your hard drive! Finally, learn about defragging your hard drive.  Windows comes with a simple tool that will help keep your machine running smoothly.

February 15 Virus season is really bad now and I do not mean the sniffles and fever.  Most everyone has heard of computer virus attacks, but there is sometimes a lot of confusion as to how to protect yourself from "catching the bug".

Just because you have anti-virus software on your computer you may not be safe. There are several things to check out that may save your data and you headaches later!  (1) Be sure your anti-virus (AV) database in the software is current.  New AV versions will update automatically and older versions rely on you to visit the site and download the most recent anti-bug data files. (2) You are not even really safe with the auto update versions.  Some companies update their databases twice a week and some will update almost every hour.  This can leave a large window of vulnerability for your supposedly "safe" system to catch a new virus.  (Currently 1 of every 12 e-mails contain some sort of virus)  (3) Never open an attachment in your e-mail. Some people do not even know they are infected and their machines send out the virus to the names in their own address book.  So getting an e-mail with an attachment from a close friend or relative may not guarantee it is a safe thing to open. (4) Scan your computer weekly.... with your anti-virus files current. Finally, there are other things besides viruses that can ruin or complicate your computer life.  Next time I will write about Spyware, Trojans, and cookies.  Many of these things can not only send your personal information out on the web, but they can cause your machine to run slowly as they tie up your resources.

Remember, check your anti-virus software for expiration dates and how the AV program updates.  You are only as safe as your last UPDATE!