NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article, August 2005
Bass’s Computing Factoids
There are unrelated things I pick up in e-mail that are terrific
but not long enough for an article. Here are a few of them
Compiled by Steve Bass, Contributing Editor, PC World;
and author of PC Annoyances, 2nd Edition
stevebass@earthlink.net
(click to email author)


Find a Human
Here's a list that's going to come in handy one day. You'll find out how to bypass and defeat voice mail hell with ways to, well, Find a Human. For instance, at Bank of America, hit zero twice, after the menu choices play. At American Airlines, for example, press zero twice, then say "agent." http://snipurl.com/find_em

Pizza in 2010
It's a funny take on privacy -- until you realize that it's not that unlikely... [Flash, need sound] http://snipurl.com/pizza_order

Spyware Stats
Are you curious to see what spyware has been detected by Counterspy? Check out this cool, real-time (refresh to see that new data is coming in) list of the top ten threats caught by Counterspy. For instance, out of 36K scans in the last week, iSearch.DesktopSearch, a nasty bit of spyware, was detected in 34,000 scans. Check the site at http://snipurl.com/SunbeltSpyware

And if you've been hit by spyware, and don’t have AWS protection, you know how frustrating (and potentially costly) it is to remove it. I'm using counterspy and so far (knock wood), I'm free of the spyware. There's a 15-day trial at http://snipurl.com/ms_beta and you can also determine if you have the current definition library by checking here: http://snipurl.com/MS_Beta_check

Plan Ahead. Way Ahead...
If your train catches fire, do NOT stop on a flammable trestle. http://snipurl.com/coaltrain

Tag? No, Nextag
Say you're shopping for a digital camera and want to predict when the price will drop. You can make your best guess with the help of Nextag, a nifty shopping site that gives you a comprehensive pricing history. Check the examples below. (And as a buddy who told me about the site said: "Truly, this Internet thing is truly amazing sometimes.") http://snipurl.com/NextagSony http://snipurl.com/NextagNikon

Google's New Home Page
Some of you won't waste any time changing your home page from Yahoo or even http://www.MyWay.com to Google's new offering. http://www.google.com/ig

Here's a guided tour through the new site:
http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/000685.html and you can read about my experience with MyWay here: http://snipurl.com/Home_MyWay

Quick -- Duck!
What do you do when someone yells "duck" and you're not a birder? You watch this very cool video of a young magician. (1.6MB WMV). http://snipurl.com/slider

Steve Bass is a Contributing Editor with PC World, a 23 year veteran of PIBMUG, and a founding member of APCUG. He’s also the author of the second edition of PC Annoyances: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things about Your Personal Computer, O’Reilly Press. Check out a sample chapter at http://snurl.com/sample_annoyed2. It’s available on Amazon at http://snurl.com/annoyed2. Visit Annoyance Central at: http://snipurl.com/AnnoyCentral

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