I love to fine useful bits of knowledge, especially when they are free.  Check this page out for some free MS Office Excel 2010 training videos.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/excel-skills-builderlearn-how-to-create-spreadsheets-and-workbooks-use-formulas-and-perform-data-analysis-FX102592909.aspx?WT.mc_id=eml_enus_RM-ExcelSkillsBuilder_GetFreeButton

I hope you enjoy it!

For those of you who use Firefox or Chrome, Gmail, the AdBlock Plus extension and are experiencing problems accessing your mail via the browser.  Here is the simple solution for you:

AdBlock Plus was causing the issue of not seeing GMail content in the email messages.  All you have to do is update your AdBlock Plus+ subscriptions.

• In Firefox – Go to:

Tools > Add Ons > AdBlock Plus Options > Filters > Update All Subscriptions

• In Chrome – Go to:

The Wrench Icon > Tools > Extensions > AdBlock Plus > Options > Update Now

AdBlock Plus was causing the issue of not seeing GMail content in the email messages and for the Chat app to not display correctly.  Updating the subscription will clear the message content to be viewable immediately after you refresh your email.  The credit for this solution goes to user waynecz in the Google Forums for this answer!

OK, so the other day after my Google Apps domain was upgraded to be a Google account I was then all of a sudden dealing with a conflict between my personal and business accounts.  If you are in this same boat there is a little known advanced feature that will enable you to sign into multiple accounts from a single browser session.  Go to the following URL:

https://www.google.com/accounts/b/0/MultipleSessions

Visit this site from after logging into each of your accounts that you want to share the browser session with and enable it.  Log out of all your accounts, restart your browser and voila!  Many thanks to the Google developer that made this possible.

Enjoy!

We all want ways to do things faster and more efficiently. Many people are unaware of shortcuts that are built into the OS that allow you to preform certain common and useful functions. I ran across a post over at addictivetips.com today that summarized the best shortcuts in Windows 7.  Some of these will also work in older versions of Windows as well.

http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/30-windows-7-hotkeys-ultimate-guide/

I have seen too many times a system being compromised because of weak passwords.  Here is a list of the top 250 hacked passwords.  If you use anything close to one of these I urge you to change it asap.

http://www.duosecurity.com/docs/top250gawker.txt

About.com has a nice short article about how to create a secure password.

http://netsecurity.about.com/cs/generalsecurity/a/aa112103b.htm

In these tough economic times making the stuff you already have last as long as possible is important.  This is true for everyone I know anyways.  Many still have a computer which is running Windows XP and need it to hang on for a few more years.  Microsoft is cutting back their support though for the decade old OS, so there are a few things that you should do to make sure you are continuing to be supported with new security patches.  Fred Langa over at Windows Secrets wrote a good article about this today that I want to share.

http://windowssecrets.com/2010/08/12/01-Preparing-Windows-XP-for-the-long-haul/#story1

The topic of online security is a large one and will be the subject of many discussions to come.  This post is about one service that should be part of your total security solution.  Many people think that if you just have an Anti-Virus program installed on your computer you will be safe.  In truth this is only one small aspect that needs to be considered when thinking about online security.   The beautiful thing about the OpenDNS service is that when used correctly it will help protect all devices connected to your network without the need for anything to ever be installed on your computer.  OpenDNS has recently released a new product to simplify the usage of their service and is targeted to the home user called FamilyShield.



Setup instructions are provided to you after signing up for the free service.  If though you need professional assistance in setting up your network and devices to use OpenDNS please Contact Us and we will be glad to help.

Today there was an article published from Windows Secrets regarding online storage and backups.  They look at several services available now including Dropbox which I have mentioned before.  Check it out here:

http://windowssecrets.com/2010/06/24/01-SkyDrive-takes-on-the-online-storage-arena

With our lives becoming increasingly connected to activities tied to our computers.  It becomes imperative that the important data is backed up to prevent loss when there is a failure of your system.  Today I want to let you know about two online providers which we here at Computer Gurus use and recommend.

The first is a service called DropBox.  It is extremely easy to use and provides multi-platform support, so you can benefit from it no mater what type of computer you are using.  Watch the video for a good overview of what it can do for you.

If  you want to try DropBox for free, please sign up using this link and we will both receive an extra 250MB of storage space.

https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTUyMjkyNjk

The second solution which we recommend will suit the more advanced needs of power users and businesses.  It is a service called JungleDisk which is owned by the reputable company Rackspace Hosting.  This software is also multi-platform and they have multiple solutions to fit your needs.  They are extremely cost effective and backups up your data efficiently. Check them out at: https://www.jungledisk.com

If you need professional assistance in setting up your backup solution please Contact Us and we will be glad to help.

Mal-ware, rogue-ware, or what ever you want to call it is by far the most common issue that is seen today plaguing Windows based computers.  The good news is that there are several Free programs out there which will help you keep your system in top shape.  Some of these products touch on both areas.  With Anti-Mal-ware tools we recommend using multiple tools to clean your system.  From our experience so far there is not one tool that will catch and fix it all.  With the tools marked as Anti-Virus it is recommended to install only one product of this type at a time.

Anti-Mal-ware:

Scan and remove:

• http://www.malwarebytes.org (Alternate Link)
• http://www.superantispyware.com (Alternate Link)

Proactive protection:

• http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html (Alternate Link)

Anti-Virus:

• http://www.free-av.com
• http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free
• http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials

We strongly recommend these utilities for everyone with a Windows computer.  Each product has a free version (some restrictions apply) as well as paid products which offer more features.

If you need professional assistance in cleaning your computer of Viruses and Mal-ware please Contact Us and we will be glad to help.