WyzGuys Tech Talk

When I got my Android phone it was obvious to me that I needed something to handle the hundreds of spam messages that were making finding important emails in my smart phone inbox an exercise in futility.  I went to the Android Marketplace and signed up for SpamDrain.  Nothing to download or install, they just grab you email messages and filter out the spam before it drops into your inbox.  What I didn’t realize was that it would also keep ...

I am working with a Google Gadget that is supposed to allow me to publish my most recent web posts via my RSS feed at FeedBurner.  This posting is, in fact, a test case to see if it works.

I found instructions for this at the Digital Inspiration web blog.

Let’s see how it works.  My test page is at www.wyzguys.com/BlogFeed.html

…….time passes…….

Huh!  Not working as advertised.  I suspect I may be doing something wrong, but exactly what I am ...

One of my clients handed me a computer where all of her work and personal files in Documents, and Pictures and the like were missing.  in addition, all of her programs were missing as well.  She is running Windows 7 Professional.  Her fear, as well as my own, were that they had been deleted.  As it turned out, they had been “hidden” by the malware.  The file attributes had been changed to “hidden.”  Going to Windows Explorer, Tools, File, Folder ...

“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition” – Rudyard Kipling

Sophos has written about a new Firefox security threat.  It comes as an email advicing there is a new update.  The email reads:

Subject: New version released.

Message body:

Important notice
A Firefox software update is a quick download of small amounts of new code to your existing Firefox browser. These small patches can contain security fixes or other little changes to the browser to ensure that you are using the ...

I occasionally will publish a joke in this space.  These are courtesy of Carl Wegener from Glenbrook Lumber.

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you would have $49.00 today!

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you would have $33.00 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you would have $0.00 today.

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank ...

A tip of the cap to “Short Lady” on Computerworld’s Shark Tank.

Originally the WWW prefix was used by the scientists at CERN (the European laboratory for Particle Physics) to distinguish Web files from other Internet documents. Today, it’s a completely unnecessary part of a Web address. (Personally, I can’t forget to stop using it 🙂

The word "boot" or "booting" comes from the concept of bootstrapping, or pulling oneself up by the bootstraps. Before PC’s, computer operators would run ...

When I went to the Android mobile phone platform, one of the things that was really annoying was the amount of SPAM messages I was getting in email.  The server side SPAM filter provided by my email host was still catching 90% of the 800-1000 spam messages I receive every day (yeah that’s right – 1000).  That still left 50 to 100 spams getting to my phone, and those of you who have a smart phone know that it is ...

Microsoft offers periodic major upgrades to its Windows operating systems.  These are called “Service Packs” and are usually of a combination of improved security, bug fixes, and feature enhancements.  If you have not taken the latest service packs for your computer, Microsoft has this handy Service Pack Center site.

To find out the service pack version you are running, go to the Start Menu, right click on the Computer or My Computer icon, and select Properties.  The service pack ...

My son took me out for a round of golf yesterday, for System Administrator’s Day, which is tomorrow.  Well, I like to think it was for SysAdmin Day.  We got shoehorned into an afternoon tee time between a threesome that was walking the course, and shooting poorly enough that it was likely we would be waiting for them often.  Behind us was a tournament, champing at the bit to get started.  It looked like it would be a slow afternoon ...