In the following video I show how to write data to a CD and also how to easily create ISO files. I find that working with optical discs in the GNOME environment to be very easy while not require any additional software at all; the provided environment provides everything needed – a nice...

It is now much more common than not to have a wireless network in your home. Many broadband ISPs are actually bundling routers with their service that acts as a wireless access point. That means that, chances are, you and many of your neighbors are using wireless. So, pop open your laptop computer and have it look for available wireless networks. Do you see a...

You might wonder why it is called a virus. Is your computer getting sick? Is it going to die? Obviously a computer is not made up of cells. It cannot get sick the same way a person does. So, why is it called a virus? [hidepost=1] To understand this, let’s take a look at the biological virus? Let’s look at the definition of “virus” as defined in...

When I turn on my laptop at home and look for available wireless connections, I see a dozen of them. That’s not surprising given the number of broadband connections in my neighborhood, each of which comes with a free wireless router. What’s surprising is the fact that all of them, except a couple, are unsecured. Some of them still have the...

For those Firefox users who require a daily dose of office humor, be sure to install the Dilbert status bar plugin here: [https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/3245/]. This plugin will place a small icon in the bottom right corner of Firefox and upon clicking, display the current day’s Dilbert cartoon. And yes, the garbage man does know everything....

When installing new software, most everyone skips over the End User License Agreement (EULA) screen immediately, but doing this can lead to ad-ware being installed on your computer… with your consent. EULAyzer is a nifty little program which scans license agreements for software you are installing and flags any potentially hazardous programs which may be...

When plugging in your computer, or any electronic equipment, don’t try to save a few dollars by using a cheap “surge protector”. Most inexpensive (i.e. the $5-$10 variety) units will do virtually nothing during a surge and the extra power will be absorbed by your equipment, potentially causing damage. Instead, invest in a good surge protector....

An overwhelming amount of time, your processor sits idle or consumes roughly 5-10% of its maximum computing power. Put those idle cycles to use for helping cancer research with Folding@Home. Folding@Home is a distributed computing project which utilizes your unused processing power to simulate protein folding which, in turn, is being used for cancer...

A Google site (outside of their search engine) with lots of excellent information for relevant questions is Google Answers (http://answers.google.com). On Google Answers, you can ask and get answers to all questions from “what is the name of the song in this commercial?” to “what kind of engine do they put in this tank?”. What makes...

IntroductionMore and more we are bombarded with networking products whenever we go into an electronics store or point our browsers to an electronics website. There are a myriad of products available, all claiming to be exactly what we need, but there are a couple important questions that need to be answered before we buy anything. What do all these different...