This is probably the best site I’ve seen that gives you an inside look at Linux. LinClips.com is a Linux resource which illustrates desktop Linux distributions through screencasting. Each distribution video clip is approximately two minutes in length.

What I like best about the site is that you don’t have to download and burn a Live CD/DVD to see what it’s like. If you’re just curious what Linux is all about, this is a good place to start.

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Directv is increasing programming prices an average of $3 starting 3/1/06. The good new however is that the HD Package is going down $1 to $9.99.
Total Choice w/Locals $44.99
Total Choice Plus w/Locals $49.99
Total Choice Premier w/Locals $99.99

Scroll down to view a scan of the fax from DirecTV.

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On March 1, 2006, DIRECTV will be migrating over to a new hardware Lease Program. . . . The DIRECTV Lease Program will be our primary hardware model to ensure our customers always have access to the most state-of-the-art, up-to-date equipment!

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One of the least reliable computer devices ever was the 3 1/2″ floppy disk. I know that I personally lost a few files from bad disks and people in college were losing files all the time. It was a bad technology. That’s one of the problems with disks . . . they can break. So, what should you do to back up your files? Here are three suggestions:

1 – Burn them to CD/DVD
Most computers today have either a CD or DVD burner. With CDs, you can back up probably all your documents and a lot of pictures to one disc. If you’re planning on backing up a lot of pictures or mp3s you’ll want to have a DVD burner since they hold a lot more data. This is a good solution if you have a lot of school papers or other important documents that you want to keep safe. A downside to this solution is that discs can scratch or get lost. You want to make sure you write what you copied on to the disc after the burn is complete. I can’t tell you how many CDs I have that I have to stick the in drive to figure out what I put on it.

2. Copy them to a USB Drive
Some of the newer storage devices are USB Flash Drives (also known as “Jump Drives”). These little devices have really grown in popularity over the past year or two. They are small enough to fit in your pocket and sometimes are able attach to your key chain. They come in various storage capacities, with the most popular being 256 MB, 512 MB, and 1 GB. One of the best things about these little drives, besides their small size, is that there are no drivers required. Which means you can plug them right into a USB port on any computer (PC or Mac) and it will be ready to go in seconds. This option is really good if you’re moving back and forth between multiple computers and are working on larger or multiple files. One downside is they are easy to misplace due to their small size. Another problem with them is their key chain attachment. The two that I’ve owned have either had the cap break or has fallen off and gotten lost. Other than those two problems these little devices are great pieces of technology.

3 – Email the file to yourself
One of the quickest and easiest backups is to email the file(s) to yourself. With the increased storage size with the free email accounts (gmail, yahoo, hotmail) and bigger attachment sizes this has become, in my opinion, the best way to backup your files. All you do is send an email like you normally would, but address it to yourself. I’ve used this method probably a hundred times. You probably don’t want to save any financial records or other sensitive personal information this way, just to protect yourself from the chance of your mail provider’s servers being hacked, but for everything else I recommend this. What I like most about it is that it gives you an off-site, non-physical (at least to you) backup of the file. The importance of this is important to understand. You could have the file(s) saved to your computer, laptop, CD, and jump drive, but if your house burns down and all of these burn with it, you’re out of luck. This option protects you from even fire.

If you have any other ideas for backing up files, please leave a comment.

I’m starting to think of Firefox as the best browser ever. Every now and then, I find something new that blows me away. This happened again with an extension called IE Tab. Its website describes the extension this way: “This extension is derived from the famous extension IE View, but they are quite different. While IE View always open IE-only pages in newly launched windows of Internet Explorer, IE Tab can open them in tabs of Mozilla/Firefox.”

The reason I like it so much is there are some sites that don’t look right in Firefox. IE Tab load Internet Explorer in a Firefox tab!!! This means you don’t have to open up IE, type in the address, and wait for it to load. You can either right-click on a link and choose “Open this link in IE Tab” or you can click the icon at the bottom that shows you what web engine you’re currently using (see pictures). This is really helpful if you run a website, blog, or list items on eBay!!!

Check it out at the Mozilla Update page.

A lot of people are unnecessarily wasting money every time they print something. If you have an inkjet printer (which is the most popular type of home printer) you probably can print in either color or black and white.

By default, most printers are set to print in color at the medium quality level. What that means is if you’re viewing a website (using Firefox, of course) and click the print button the printer will by default shoot out the page in color. I don’t know about you, but I can read maps and emails just fine in either color or black and white.

To change the default setting for your printer, click on Start > Control Panel. Double-click “Printers and Faxes” and look for the printer you use. Right-click on the printer and click properties. Each pinter is a little different from here, but it will be something like preferences or options that will allow you choose the default print quality (I suggest putting it at the lowest setting) and color (set it to black and white or gray-scale).

If you’re not happy with the settings after a few printouts, feel free to change the settings. You can also choose these same setting every time you print. Again, it’s a little different for each printer, but if you click on the File menu then Print, you should be able to access the quality and color settings for each individual print job. That way if you’re printing out some pictures or anything you need in color you can get it the way you want.

Bottom line, set the defaults to how you normally like things to print. If you mainly print pictures you’ll want the quality to be higher and in color. But if you’re like me and use your printer for general, everyday printing you don’t need it to look its best.

If you have a tech tip you’d like to share or a tech question please comment.

One of the most annoying things about Windows is that over time it can become an overgrown, slow-moving behemoth. If you’ve owned your PC for any significant amount of time it’s very likely that Windows is running slower than it did when your first booted up. There are a few easy steps that can improve the overall performance of Windows and make it load faster.

One of the most important steps you can take is to defragment your hard drive. The information that is stored on your drive are sorted into small clusters. When you save a file or program to your computer, it’s broken down into clusters that potentially can be thrown all over your physical hard drive. What can slow your PC down is the hard drive having to jump all over the disc to load that file or program. Think of the needle of a record player having to jump all over the place to play a song (that illustration is for the older folks among us).

To defragment your drive, open My Computer (it’s in the Start Menu if it’s not on your desktop). Right-click on your hard drive (usually the C: drive) and click Properties.

Click the Tools tab (at the top) and then click “Defragment Now . . .” in the middle.

When the Disk Defragmenter opens, simply click Defragment. It’s that easy.

Another easy step to help speed up Windows loading is to manage what programs start automatically when Windows loads. To see what’s loading at startup, click Start > All Programs the right-click the Startup folder and click open. If you see any programs that you don’t use EVERY TIME you use windows, then there’s no use having them startup automatically. Simply delete them out of the startup folder. Don’t worry. You’re not deleting the program. You’re just telling Windows you don’t need them to load every time it starts up.

There are some programs that will startup even though they’re not in the startup folder. There are two ways to get rid of these. One is to right-click on the icon in the bottom-right of the taskbar and look for a preferences or options menu that might let you to disable it from automatically starting.

Beyond that, you can mess with the registry by running msconfig. You want to be REALLY SURE ABOUT WHAT YOU REMOVE from msconfig. If you’re not careful, you can really mess up Windows. If you’re not sure about something you see in msconfig you can find out information about a lot of things at ProcessLibrary.com.

All in all, these steps are some of the easiest ways to help improve your overall Windows performance. If you have any other suggestions or questions, feel free to comment.

If you haven’t started to use it yet, you need to make the switch to Firefox. In almost every way it is far superior to Internet Explorer. And it’s Free!!! The tabbed browsing is great and makes browsing multiple pages much easier.

I’ve recently discovered some of the keyboard shortcuts that make browsing even more easy. Here’s a few that I use almost every day (Sorry Mac people, I only know PC stuff):
New Tab – Ctrl + T
Toggle Through Tabs – Ctrl + Tab
Find in This Page – Ctrl + F
Select Search Bar – Ctrl + K
Select Location Bar – Ctrl + L
.com in location – Ctrl + Enter (example: type yahoo then press Ctrl + Enter and it automatically fills in http://www.yahoo.com for you)
.net in location – Shift + Enter
.org in location – Ctrl + Shift + Enter

There are many more keyboard shortcuts that might be more useful for you. You can see the list by pressing F1 in Firefox and then clicking “Keyboard Shortcuts” in the contents section. If you know of any other really useful shortcuts, please share them by commenting.