My Favorite Programs

Below are a few of my favorite programs for the PC:

1. AVG - Anti-Virus Program - Freeware


2. Qnext - P2P Program - Freeware


3. Super Ad Blocker - Popups, Spyware, Adware - $30


4. PC Doc Pro - Registry fix-it tool - $


5. Registry Fix - Registry fix-it tool - $


6. www.Speedtest.net - Internet connection speed test web page - Free service

I have now finally switched to an iMac and I feel as though I've died and gone to heaven. It only took about 20 years to make the switch and now I'm wondering why I didn't make the switch sooner. Oh yea, now I remember. I was raising a family and now that they are on their own and not at home with me, I've now got the extra money to go Mac.

I'll start making a list of the programs that I find are indispensable for the Mac as I use them.

Roadside Assistance for vehicle brake downs

Have you ever called for Roadside Assistance when your car broke down? Believe it or not all of the questions that are asked by the RA rep must be answered in order to quickly and effectively get RA service to your location. I know that it is hard to focus on just answering the RA reps questions because your mind is most likely on other things like I'm going to be late and what do I do while my car is being fixed, but take a deep breath and just answer the RA reps questions so that your RA experience will be quick and efficient in getting a Service Provider to your location. I've included some of the generic questions that are asked by the RA rep and if you have the answers to these questions before you call for Roadside Assistance then the call will take on average of 3-4 minutes for setting up the service for a Jump Start, Flat Tire Change out, Lockouts & Fuel Delivery's. The average time for a tow is between 6-7 minutes for setting up the service if you have the following information available before you call for RA service.

1. A good Call Back phone number.
2. Your Roadside Assistance Policy Number.
3. The Year, Make, Model and Color of the vehicle that needs service.
4. The Location of the vehicle with city and state (Exact address of your location would be the best or at least the nearest cross streets where two roads intersect with each other, like at a stop sign or stop light).
5. If the vehicle needs to be towed, then you will also need to provide the Name, Address, City, & State of where to tow the vehicle to which might be one of your own choosing or one that your insurance company provides to you that will be an insurance company authorized service center for accidents.

Notes: You should always be away of the State you are in, the road you are on, the exit you just past and the one coming up and also the mile markers on the side of the road if your on a highway otherwise be aware of the cross streets as you pass by them in town or the nearest store to your vehicle so the rep can locate an address close to your location.

Two things come to mind with this situation, and they are "Garbage In, Garbage Out" and "Help Me to Help You", so it's important to be aware of your surroundings and to have the information needed before you call for Roadside Assistance if your want to expedite your Roadside Assistance service.

CYL...Patrick

Life Lessons & Things To Think About

I'm tired of hearing the media refer to the term "Hackers" as though they are criminals, when in reality when I started using computers in 1984, Hackers only had access to (Bulletin Board Systems) BBS's which were Bulletin Board Systems operated from the command line in DOS and the only reason that we tried to break into a BBS was to prove that they were not as secure as they through or said that they were. The BBS's then became what is now known as the Internet. The best definition of the difference between a Hacker and a Cracker that I have come up with, is this:

Hacker: A Hacker is a person who breaks into a system to prove that it can be broken into and to show the other person that there are leaks in the system so that they can plug them up and make them better to keep the bad guys out (kind of like why did you climb the mountain? Because it was there).

Cracker: A Cracker is a person who breaks into a system to delete, steel, manipulate the data that is there or to create general havoc for either a company or individual of the data that is found there.

Instead of giving Hackers a bad reputation, companies should put hackers to work preventing the crackers from getting into their computer files. Think about it, what better people to keep the crackers out than the hackers who just like to help companies by building a better mouse trap in keeping the crackers out of their computer systems.


I've read that several companies have adopted the practice of using hackers to make their systems more secure against the crackers out there which I think is a great idea and I hope that other companies follow their example.


I've helped raise 4 children and I'd like to pass along some of my wisdom, now that I've gone through the raising process with them, such as:


When ever one of my teenagers had friends over and one of them did something that was unacceptable to me as a parent such as if I found a beer or alcohol bottle in the trash or around the house, I would always talk with the teenager that had their friends over and my philosophy was 3 strikes and their out. Meaning, I would give my kids the opportunity to take care of it them self the 1st time and if it happened a second time, I would demand the name of the child who cause the infraction along with the number to the child's parents and then I would call them myself which is the 2nd strike. Then if it happened a third time, then that friend of my child was not welcome to my house or to be with them when they were driving or to drive with them in their vehicle.


My children were not allowed to ride in a car that didn't have a seat belt for them and they could not overload their own car with their friends. There must be a seat belt for every passenger or the passenger had to make other riding arrangements with another friend.


After they graduated and was able to drink on their own, I volunteer my services to act as a taxi service for them and it didn't matter what time of the night it was. I would pick them up from the bar or house if they drank with friends. I figured that I would rather pick them up after drinking than attend their funeral because of a error in judgement on their part. I would tell myself that "Pain is temporary (getting out of bed and picking them up) and Pride is forever (not having to attend their funeral)".


Don't do anything I wouldn't do and If you do, don't get caught. Otherwise you won't like the consequences of your actions (meaning punishments imposed by your parents or the law depending upon the severity). - Patrick Julian


Good judgment comes from experience... experience comes from bad judgment!


A picture is worth a thousand words but Video is Action and Actions are louder than words. - Patrick Julian


I learn from my mistakes once and I try not to make them twice. - Patrick Julian


If they'll cheat with you, they'll cheat on you. - Dr Phil


The Best predictor of future behavior is past performance. - Dr Phil


You're either part of the problem or part of the solution. Become part of the solution and stop being part of the problem. - Patrick Julian


If you want the last word in an argument, apologize. - John Tesh


When you discover the world around you, You discover the world within you.


I heard about a new device from Amazon.com called Kindle which looks pretty good and I like the Wi-Fi option that is built in. However, I think that it's priced too high. I think that it's going to be like the iPhone was when it first came out, which is to say that after the hype wore off and those of us that didn't want to pay that much money for a cell phone, waited for the price to be lowered so that it's affordable to the masses. So I'll just wait until the price comes down to under $200 since I have to pay $10 for every book that I download on top of the device so that I can use it.


Failure is measured by how long you stay down when you don't succeed.


I'd rather be Single & Happy than Married & Miserable. - Dr Phil


Never ask a question that you don't already know the answer. - Dr Phil


A right fighter will die a lonely person. - Dr Phil


Failure is just a road to success.


If you change your choices, you change your destination.


In school I learned that a reporter should ask the following questions:
1 Who
2 What
3 When
4 Where
5 Why
and How
if these are all addressed, then you have just told a story about what it is that you're talking about.


Cause & Effect


We retain

10% of what we read

20% of what we hear

95% of what we teach

Video Editing on the computer

PC's:

VideoReDo Plus is a video editing program that works great if all you need or want is down & dirty video editing, meaning that if all you want to do is get commercials or just the program that you recorded with your PVR, then this is the best program that I've found so far. If you are looking for a program with more bells & whistles, then you might consider using another great program called Ulead Video Studio (I use version 7 and I think I've seen version 11 on the Internet).

Pro's

1. Marks the commercials within a recording so that you can then get the show without the commercials.
2. This program is really fast since it doesn't have to re-encode the newly created .mpg file.

Con's

1. The program identifies the commercials by the video signal fading to black and sometimes the individual shows fade to black also between scenes within a given show, so what I do is run Ad Detective and then view the findings first and mark the beginning and ending sections throughout the entire program and then cut the individual selections after viewing the automatic cut marks so that you can then splice them together for the final product.

Download the program at http://www.videoredo.com/

Mac's: This is a no brainer now that I'm using an iMac computer (thanks for the tip David). After using the elgato - EyeTV 250 plus for 2 months now, I've decided that this is the device to use for video editing on the Mac since it does everything the PC does and also the cons from the listing above. The coolest thing that can be done with this device is that you can go through the recording one time (instead of twice with the PC) and mark out the segments you want to merge together and also the commercials you want to keep and then export the commercials individually and then merge the other segments from the show to create a 45 minute show without commercials from the recorded 1 hour show with commercials. Way Cool.

Qnext

I've been using a great P2P program for quite awhile now and that program is Qnext. I started using the program when it first came out and they have since upgraded the program and the functions are still easy to use which is great. In my opinion one of the great features of a well designed and written program is how easy it is to use for the average user. I've check out several P2P programs in the past and I keep coming back to Qnext. Probably, the reason is because it is so easy to understand and use. Now with that said, I want to point out some pro's and con's that I have noticed while using the program.

Pro's:

1. It's so easy to share files or folders with other people (both publicly or privately).
2. This program really works well.
3. You can be logged onto your Yahoo, AIM, MSN and ICQ accounts while you're viewing and or downloading files with other people so that you don't miss your friends on those other services.
4. You can transfer files that are too big to transfer as an e-mail attachment.

Con's:

1. I would like to send a link to a person that I've shared a file or folder with, so that they can just click on the link and then start downloading the file (like when using an FTP program) instead of having to download and install the Qnext program in order to see me online so that they can download the file.
2. The downloading process seems to be slower than when I use an FTP program with my son.

After downloading and installing the Qnext program and creating an account for yourself, search for my User ID or (UID) which is 200796 with a screen name of WSNH and I've shared my CD collection with everyone, you can only listen to themn (because of copyright infringement issues) and that's the way I set it up in the program. But this way you can listen to the music and if you like it, you can then purchase the song online from someone like iTunes or Amazon or purchase an entire album on CD at your local music store like I do. I figure that if it like the song, then I'm going to buy it.

Download the program at: http://www.qnext.com/

CYL...Patrick