Use Google Alerts to your Advantage
Posted by admin on Sep 27, 2008
Google Alerts can be used to send an email to you whenever a search shows new results. For instance, you can use it to keep track of your personal identity. Go to www.google.com/alerts and serach for your own name, using the comprehensive search. You will also need to choose the frequency (I chose weekly) and enter your email address. You will be sent a confirmation email to approve the alert. Now, any time the search results change, you will be sent an email so that you can check out when your name is being used.
Another great way to use Google Alerts is to keep track of your website ranking in Google Search. In the search terms, enter your domain name (in our case, icscomputers.ca) and choose the comprehensive search. I again, chose weekly notification, and entered my email address. Whenever someone links to your site, or the search results for your domain name change in any way, you will be notified.
Sometimes the Best Things in Life ARE Free
Posted by admin on Sep 24, 2008
Here is a list of some of the best – and FREE! – programs you can find.
If you are a customer of ICS, then you know that our favourite anti-virus program is AVG, and for many home users, the FREE version is plenty good enough. You can download it at free.avg.com
If you are attempting to switch from Norton to AVG (or any other antivirus program for that matter) we suggest that you download and run the Norton Removal Tool first. This little utility published by Symantec removes all the remnants of any of Norton’s products. You can find it at symantec.com
Another great little program for doing a bit of housekeeping, is a little gem called CCleaner (it used to be called Crap Cleaner). We still cannot beleive that it is free… since it does so much that would normally take hours to do. You can use this link to get your very own copy.
If you use Microsoft Office at work, and would like to use it at home… but cannot justify the $199 for the Home & Student version, then consider OpenOffice. This great office suite is created by the same community that gave us Linux… and its FREE! Download your copy at OpenOffice.org
Ever need to create a bz2 archive? What about any of the compression formats that WinZip does not support? Download and install 7-zip, and you will never have a problem with a compressed archive again. Get it at 7-zip.org
Minimize greedy RAM gobblers and find memory holes in programs using a great little tool from Kerkia called Minimem. Originally designed for Firefox, the author has re-coded it work with any program. Get it at kerkia.net
Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor is a sidebar gadget for Windows Vista that displays informaiton about your current Wi-Fi connection, as well as nearby hotspots. You’ll be able to see how strong the signal is, and get your IP and MAC addresses. You can get that from Microsoft’s Vista Gadget link or directly from Xirrus.
Sprout is the quick and easy way for anyone to build, publish, and manage widgets, mini-sites, mashups, banners and more. Any size, any number of pages. Include video, audio, images and newsfeeds and choose from dozens of pre-built components and web services. Try it out at sproutbuilder.com
