CrexTechs Blog

According to Wikipedia, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndiation.

How can something that is supposed to be "really simple" be so befuddling?

I know that RSS is used to feed information to users from sites that update regularly, like blogs, without the user having to go to each individual site.

One can get updates through email, which is what I usually do and an option we offer on this blog.  We use Feedburner's email subscription service.   Clicking on the link on the bottom of the left column takes you to the Feedburner subscription screen where you input your email address and then type in those funny letters to insure that a real human is signing up.  To further insure the security of your email, you receive a confirmation email from Feedburner. Once you click the link in the confirmation email, you are signed up and will automatically get CrexTechs blog updates.  How easy could it be!!  The down side is that this update comes to you usually the next day.  RSS promises much more timely updates.

We also offer RSS through a link on the page (right column under Links).  While I maintain this blog, it has never been clear to me how RSS works.  And what one has to do to subscribe via RSS.  I recently wrote to our Web Guru, Bryan, who set up this blog as well as our website, to ask him how RSS works.

Here is my email to Bryan:

Hi Bryan, I am writing a blog posting about RSS feeds--trying to understand how this works, so I thought I'd write about it.  I went to our blog to click the link for the RSS and got code.  I was expecting an RSS subscription screen.  Am I just dense and don't get how this works or is the code not supposed to be showing up?

From Bryan:

What happens when you click that button is totally dependent on how your computer is set up. (When I hit the RSS button in my browser on the CrexTechs blog it automatically opens in my "feed reader.") RSS is just an .xml file ("code") that has the most recent updates in a standard format that "readers" like Google Reader or NetNewsWire use for updates.

Most browsers these days pull links out and put it in the menu bar, but the link is also buried at the bottom of every page of the blog in the footer information. You'd take that link (or any one like it on the web) and copy and paste it into whatever reader you use to subscribe.

Some sites use a service like FeedBurner to provide a page with more options like this one for Red Rock, but that's a third party thing and can actually make it trickier to figure out how to subscribe if you don't happen to be using one of the readers they support.

Does that help?

Thanks Bryan, it sort of helps, I think.  So I have to cut the link and paste it into a reader that I choose.  Not sure where I find the reader but when I figure that out, I'll add an addendum to this post!!  It's just reassuring at this point to know that you know--it is so good to have a Web Guru!

This came to us directly from the Sunbelt Security Newletter. We are passing it along to you as we are now using ClearCloud and think you should too!!

One bit of warning:  If you save attachment files to the temp file, ClearCloud will delete these so be sure to do SaveAs and save to a different location like your desktop,  MyDocuments or Downloads.

SunbeltSecurityNewsVol. 3, #77 - August 25, 2010 - Issue #77

Sunshine under the ClearCloud

Plenty of people are discovering blogging as a great way to have a website without the cost of having a website.  Whether you feel passionately about an issue you want to rant about on the net or you want to post your family history research, your poetry or your latest travel journal and pictures, or you make hand tooled leather purses that you'd like to sell, blogging could be for you.  And you can do it cheaply, if not for free, on any one of numerous blogging sites (Google free blogging sites).

We developed this blog (because we feel passionately about computing!!) using WordPress software, and host it on our own server.  There are plenty of blogging sites out there that will host your blog for no charge using their easy-to-learn blog publishing tools that allow almost anyone to create and easily maintain a blog.  You can even send blog posts via email, Facebook and Twitter!!

My favorite free blog site is Blogger.  I have created blogs on Blogger for a number of writer friends who want to post stories or chapters of their books.  Some (the lucky few who are published) use their blogs to keep fans posted on where they are doing readings and book signings.

I created and maintain a blog for my local garden club on Blogger.  We post meeting minutes, pictures of events, a roster of officers, a listing of upcoming meetings and links of interest to gardeners.  We also post recipes and links for member endeavors.  Check us out at

http://burnettgardenclub.blogspot.com/

I helped my friend Mary with her blog on Blogger.  She makes homemade soaps and is able to use her blog as her web presence which includes linking to PayPal's shopping cart program.  Checkout her blog at

http://www.logcabinsoaps.net/

Now I have learned that you can make a book out of your blog postings!  I think this is a fantastic idea especially for people who use their blog to post family stories and pictures.  Just think of the great coffee table book you could make of you blog posting about your travels through Europe!! Here are a few links to companies that provide this service (we do not have experience with these companies so can't recommend any of them specifically):

http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook

http://blog2print.sharedbook.com

With CrexTechs' custom Mini-courses you too can learn to blog in no time!! Call or email for details.

Sunbelt Software's Vipre Anti-virus program is our anti-virus software of choice but don't be fooled, one anti-virus program is never enough.  Vipre recommends, and we concur, that you should also run an anti-malware program such as Malwarebytes at least once a week and whenever your machine starts behaving oddly.

We worked on a machine this week that had its ability to run programs knocked out.  When ever we tried to open Vipre or Malwarebytes to run a scan, the programs would not run.  Other types of files were not affected, only "executable"  files including all our internet browsers.  These program files end with the extension  .exe --this extention tells the computer that this is a program that needs to execute.  A quick Google search let us know that this was probably an e-mail worm call Sircam.

We were able to finessed the machine into opening and running Malwarebyte.  The worm causing the problem was found along with other malware.  We ran Vipre to be sure we got everything and all the bad stuff was gone.   Malwarebytes saves the day!!

You might ask, if Malwarebytes saved the day, why use Vipre at all?  The answer is that Vipre is a great sentry program that scans efficiently and unobtrusively in the background as you use your computer and can run a deep scan of your machine when you are not using it.  Both programs are good but overlap is what we want to keep our machines "clean."  There is so much bad stuff out there that no one program can be expected to do it all, as much as we'd like it to.

I run Vipre daily though my machine is almost always "clean."  But I have recently started going to potentially troublesome sites like Facebook and Yahoo Games --just got into playing Bejeweled which requires Internet Explorer (a favorite target of the cyber bad guys).  I have noticed that Vipre is starting to find stuff to clean up on my machine.  I have to admit that I do not run Malwarebytes as often as I should.  I resolve today to start running it weekly.

You can get Malwarebytes (freeware and payware versions are available) at  http://www.malwarebytes.org/

I recently received a forwarded email from a friend with a subject line that instructed me to print out and place in your car. Thinking that this might be something I should know about, I opened the email (I have lots of virus protection so I took a chance) and read about 5 things I never knew my cell phone could do.  I was a bit skeptical and so I did what I always do when I get these forwarded emails offering some bit of crucial information, political insight, or tear-jerker story.  I checked it out on Snopes.com.

If you have never used Snopes.com, I suggest that the next such forwarded email you receive, you copy the subject line and paste it into Google.  One of the first sites that should come up on your search will be Snopes.com.

Snopes will give you the text of the email or a variation of the email, tell you the date it first hit the web and what is know about the origin. Then each point the email makes will be covered as to accuracy.

I emailed my friend after I read what Snopes had to say and I sent her the link.  She thanked me as she always does when I send her the Snopes link.  One day she will check out Snopes first to be sure she is not only sending her friends accurate information but relying on accurate information herself.

Check out what Snopes had to say about this particular email.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/cellphones.asp

We just helped a woman regain control over her Hotmail account.  Needless to say,  she was delighted.  Can you imagine loosing control of your email account to a hacker who can rifle through your emails to learn what bank accounts, credit accounts, eBay accounts, PayPal accounts, etc you use and attempt to hack those, or use your contacts as marks for future phishing expeditions.

If you continue to have difficulty, give us a call.

Here are some warnings straight from Vipre:

CrexTechs has three radio ads running this month on WXCX Red Rock On Air Radio out of Pine City.  We'd like to make this information and the same offers available to our readers who may not have heard the ads.

Here is the text of our ads. To redeem offers, just mention you read about it on our blog or mention WXCX or Red Rock On Air.

Slow computer?  Give your desktop or laptop a tuneup at CrexTech in Grantsburg.  We can add memory to increase speed and upgrade you to a better anti-virus program. Get support with a paid Vipre anti-virus subscription purchased through CrexTechs. Mention WXCX and receive half off a spyware cleanup and a one year Vipre subscription.  That’s a $70.00 value for just $35.00. Visit us at CrexTechs.com and CrexTechs.com/blog.

Get rid of that old computer, monitor and printer cluttering up your garage or basement.  Recycle your old computer at CrexTechs in Grantsburg.  Drop that old computer system off for $20.00 recycling fee.  We take towers, monitors, printers, keyboards.  Recycle your Laptop for $15.00.   Mention WXCX and get a coupon for an equal amount off your next service at CrexTechs.

Need a new laptop?  Look no further than CrexTechs in Grantsburg.  Our Lenovo IBM laptops are fast, rugged and ready to meet your wireless computing needs.  As a Lenovo retailer we can service your laptop quickly and troubleshoot your Lenovo or any machine, laptop or desktop, remotely over the internet. We build custom Windows 7 desktops too! And can service any machine here in our shop. Visit us at CrexTechs.com and CrexTechs.com/blog.

We also have two refurbished IBM Think Pads running XP with 1.6 ghz Intel Centrino processor and 33.4 gb and 51.1 gb hard drives at really great prices! Come on in and see them.

I have lots of those cheap little power strips around the house that I plug stuff into--ours is a 70 year old house with inadequate outlets.  I have thought that these little strips give me some protection against power surges as they have little built in breakers that will pop and have to be reset from time to time.

I know now that this is not true.  They are convenient and cheap but they really offer no protection, especially for your electronic equipment.

We are advised by most electronics manufacturers to unplug all appliances when they aren't being used including TVs, sound systems, microwaves and computers (and especially toaster! and other small kitchen appliances).

I only unplug when I'm going on vacation but significant power surges can take place every day and can blow out computers, monitors, printers, TVs as well as toasters, microwaves etc.   (Toasters can actually heat up due to shorts caused by a power surge and cause house fires when left plugged in--this is one of the leading causes of house fires.  Unplug those toasters when not in use!)

Most of these electronics items are not covered by homeowners insurance -- they don't amount to enough to cover the deductible of most policies.

So the question is, what protection is enough protection for computers and other expensive electronics?

Some computer users need to know that if there is a power outage, their computers will stay up and running, at least long enough to be shut down properly--they need battery backup.

Other users, most users, don't need battery backup but we do need to know that if there is a significant power surge, our computers will not be "blown away" or adversely affected in other ways.  All computer users need more than those cheap little power strips to be certain of this.

When shopping for a "surge protector" you will want to look at the "joules."  Protecting against up to 2400 to 2800 joules of surge is great coverage.  We recommend at least 1800 joules.

If you don't know what a joule is, here is a definition: a single joule is  a unit of electrical energy equal to the work done when a current of one ampere passes through a resistance of one ohm for one second.

Okay, so that wasn't very helpful.  Suffice it to say, a joule is a small unit of energy.

Small surges that can be accommodated by the appliances themselves are very common (though this can shorten the life of the appliance).  Spikes that can cause significant wear and tear or damage your equipment are quite common too.    The life of your electronics can significantly shortened by failure to protect against daily common power surges.

CrexTechs sells CyberPower surge protectors as well as battery backups.  Check out our offers at http://crextechs.com/blog/category/forsale/

Keep in mind that surge protectors suffer wear and tear and can fail over time and will be burned out by large surges caused by electrical storms and transformer malfunctions.

Here are a couple of website that can give you some more information on power surges.

For an "reader friendly" explanation check out:

http://vagabonders-supreme.net/SurgeElectric.htm

For a more in depth discussion check out:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltage_spike

We just want to remind our readers that right here at CrexTechs in Grantsburg you can a buy new or refurbished desktop or laptop computer.  We will set your new machine up with the software you use and with state-of-the-art  anti-virus protection.  We can even build a computer to your specifications if you have specialized needs!

We also sell lots of other stuff!  Stuff even the hard-core techie can use.   We have new or refurbished hard drives,  RAM, cards of all sorts, power supplies, fan motors, cpu coolers, the works.  And, for those who are, what we fondly call, less-than-technically-savvy, we have surge protectors and power backups, keyboards and mouses,  screen cleaners, laptop cases, cables and cords of all kinds, and a sympathetic ear not to mention a tech-savvy person who can come out and show you a few tricks for a reasonable hourly rate.  We also do remote troubleshooting and problem solving.

Check out some of the things we have for sale at http://crextechs.com/blog/category/forsale/

Let us know what you need and we will let you know if we have it or can get it for you.  We are here to serve all your technical needs!

Call CrexTechs at (715) 463-2365

or visit us at 506 West Saint George Avenue in Grantsburg

(just off  State Road 70 and West Olson Drive)