TIPS FOR A SLOW DAY

(Run originally 3/19/04 on our old site)

Tom Pry

This has nothing to do with memories and everything to do with coping with today’s internet. I like to pass this on every once-in-a-while, to nag the hell out of those who’ve seen it before, and to serve as hot news for you later arrivals.

TIP #1 I’m sure you go bonkers with the pop-up ads here on the Journal, plus those on other web pages. Here’s how to eliminate them, both here and other such ad-laden sites. Go to http://toolbar.google.com and do the quick download and automatic install. It’s got a great pop-up ad stopper, plus helps you get quick answers when someone says, “Honey, quick: who was the 7th Avatar of Vishnu?”

I’ve been using the Google toolbar since it was first introduced about 10 months ago, and love it! Right now, mine shows over 1400* pop-ups stopped – and I had to re-install it at the beginning of the year.

TIP #2 Most popular anti-virus programs – Norton, etc. – are equally effective. The big problem comes in keeping the virus/worm definitions up to date. One of the editors of PC World, no less, was telling this week how, contrary to his usual way of working, he did NOT start the day with an update. The result? An infected PC from an e-mail.

Let me introduce you to Panda Titanium. It’s less expensive than The Big Boys (Symantec and such), about $40 a year. It gets high marks from all users, corporate and individual. Why? Because it UPDATES AUTOMATICALLY, everytime you go on the ‘net, not just daily: I’ve seen the cute little Panda on the taskbar indicate an update taking place as many as 3 times a day lately as new definitions are added (there’s over 65,000 of those little suckers in the database right now).

You can download it for free here--
http://www.pandasoftware.com/register.asp?CodigoProducto=13&TipoLead=2&TipoUsuario=1&Tipo=1&Ref=WW-TIT4-DES&Idioma=2&Country=Us&sec=down
(does not include automatic updates, but IS current) and then, if you like it, order it online and they’ll give you the codes to insert that start the thereafter-automatic update process. We’re now on our second year with it and wouldn’t have anything else.

Any questions?

Have a great – and annoyance-free -- weekend!

*UPDATE: Now ready to renew for our fourth year. Pop-ups Blocked count is now at 5158. Google also has – free! – tools available for cataloging your images, sharing them with friends, AND sharing your writings with the world via Word. Details on request.