“I’m a PC… I’m a Mac”….

The famous commercials by Apple have had a huge impact in the number of converts from the Microsoft Windows world into the world of Apple’s Mac OS. Apple’s ads went from being funny, to slanderous and just plain mean. What started off as a marketing campaign has begun to have a crippeling effect for Apple and the opposite is starting to happen where long term Apple Fans have began to make the change back to Microsoft Windows because of a change in the fundamental philosophies that Apple was once proud of.

The entire time the world kept on asking why Microsoft wasn’t fighting back. Microsoft’s philosophy, “we are better than that.”

Well you can only push so far until the gloves come off. Introducing the beginning of a $300 Million dollar marketing campaign by Microsoft. Introducing the “new” version of Windows, Microsoft Windows Mojave.

Microsoft invited over 150 Mac, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Linus users into a market research facility in San Francisco. They then asked, “What do you think about Vista?” Needless to say, Windows Vista wasn’t as popular as Microsoft had hoped. The participants were then shown a new Windows product in the making, codenamed “Windows Mojave”. I can only imagine that some of the features shown were Flip 3D, Movie Maker, DVD Maker, Parental Controls, Security, Compatibility, Windows Media Center, Dream-Scene, and many other Vista Features.

Asked what they thought of “Windows Mojave”, and people couldn’t wait to go buy it for themselves. Some people even called it futuristic and a Mac killer. It’s plain to see that Mac’s days are numbered…

To see the incredible work, go to: http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/

It is my pleasure today to introduce you, for many for the first time, to Microsoft Windows Live Writer. Live Writer is an offline blog authoring program and is part of Windows Live, which also includes Live Spaces, Messenger, SkyDrive, PhotoGallery, and Mail.These programs were designed by Microsoft to combine your Online world with your Windows Desktop offline world.

Before using Windows Live Writer, I would type all of my posts inside of Microsoft Word, so that I could use that I could take advantage of the powerful tools that Word has. I would then copy and paste the post inside of Wordpress. From there, I would use Wordpress’s limited picture capabilities to add a picture, and then post my entry.

Now within Live Writer, I can create my post, use the editing tools, and insert pictures, tables, maps, videos, and much more. Not only that, but Live Writer also downloads my CSS files for a true WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) experience. Once I am finished with my post, I can publish it, all from Live Writer. I believe that the true power of Live Writer is in it’s flexibility. The program offers a host of Plug-ins and at the time of this posting, there were 84 available. Lastly with Live Writer you can access any previous post, make changes, and then republish your post.

The only shortcoming of this program is that you can not, as far as I know, take advantage of your Wordpress Plugins. Also SEO is very limited. Still I would recommend you give it a try by going to http://get.live.com!

I am by trade a ‘Computer Geek’. I am the one that everyone calls to fix their computer and instead of a thank you, all I hear is, “I swear it wasn’t working before you got here.” One of the most common questions I get, and one I’m sure you have wondered yourself, “Which Antivirus Program should I use?”
With so many programs like Norton AntiVirus 2007, McAfee VirusScan Plus 2007, and others, it can become very confusing. Now for the bad news:

• Price: Most antivirus software must be purchased for a price between $20-$60.
• Updates: The programs is only automatically updated for 1 year, unless you purchase another upgrade. Also, the updates are about once a week, meaning that you might be susceptible for a week after a new virus comes out.
• Hard Drive Space: A great number of AntiVirus programs are what is called “Bloatware”, meaning that there are so many features that they take up a huge amount of hard drive space.
• Memory: All those bells and whistles become very resource intensive, meaning that your computer now becomes slower than a turtle.
• Computer Performance: Because the program is so big and takes up so much memory, opening files and programs will take along time.

So as you can see, having a traditional antivirus program does keep you safe, but the trade-off might not be worth it.
The program I have been using for years now, and one that I have now installed on hundreds of computers for family, friends, and clients, is AVG AntiVirus. Why use this program? Here are the benefits:

• Price: Free, not bad huh?
• Updates: Updates a free and happen daily, meaning that your protection is always up to date.
• Hard Drive Space: Although there are many features in this program, when installed, it takes up very little hard drive space compared to it’s competitors
• Memory: AVG barely takes up any memory at all. You won’t even notice it’s running
• Computer Performance: This program is set to run a complete computer scan daily. Because it takes up very little memory, you won’t even realize that it’s running.

I would highly recommend this program. I’ve been using it for years and have never had any problems with it. For more information and to download it, go to their website at http://free.grisoft.com