If you are like most people, you might eat out several times a week (if not every day) at work. While you may be eating cheap, spending ~$5 a day can really add up. To see how much this is costing you as opposed to bringing your lunch, take a look at the Brown Bag Savings Calculator.

When you just play around with the numbers you can really see the true impact you can have by brown bagging it. On top this, something you bring from home is most likely going to be more healthy than fast food.

Now, I am not saying you shouldn’t eat out as I understand there is a social aspect to it, but taking a look at the “what if” scenario can be eye opening.

If there was any universal immutable truth to the internet, it’s that things vanish from it all the time. Those pages you bookmarked last year? They may be gone. Those forums posts that contained a wealth of useful information? They may be gone as well.

There are several different ways to archive web pages.

You could use ScreenGrab for Firefox. But the problem is that you can text-search anything in an image.

You could use PDF Creator and "print" pages to PDF. This does allow text searching, but the PDF rarely looks anything like the original page and any images present look "off."

What truly works are MHT files. I’ve mentioned this before but have a few extra goodies to make it even easier.

What’s the difference between an MHT and a regular "Save Page As.."? The MHT is an actual single-file archive that contains all the code and images. It’s a great way to archive web pages that contain information you want to save.

Firefox does not have native ability to read or save MHT files, however with UnMHT, you can. It will even read MHTs saved by Internet Explorer, and IE will also read MHTs saved by Firefox. In addition to that, UnMHT has the ability to save all open tabs at once – something that IE 8 doesn’t do.

See video below for details on how it all works.

Caret Browsing is when you use your keyboard to navigate a web page as you would if you were in a text editor or word processing application. This style of moving within a document is nothing new as it’s been around for a very long time, however most don’t know it exists in web browsers. IE and Firefox both have the Caret Browsing feature, accessible by pressing F7 on your keyboard.

The best use of Caret Browsing is to precisely select blocks of text. When you use your mouse to highlight text, often it will occur that the browser selects something you didn’t want to. With Caret Browsing, the browser enables a cursor that you can move with your keyboard and get right to where you want to be, highlight, select, copy and then paste into your preferred text or document editor.

See video for details below.

The web browser is the most used application on your computer, period. Even when you’re not using it, it’s probably minimized to the taskbar/dock/panel.

Unfortunately web browsers still to this day have a fair degree of suck factor. Here are 5 reasons why web browsers suck:

1. Plugins are the browser’s own worst enemy

I call them plugins. Call then "add-ons" or "extensions" or whatever else you want. They’re plugins.

Plugins are a wonderful way to seriously screw up your browser in short order.

In Internet Explorer 8: In Manage Add-ons there is absolutely no way to uninstall anything there. Not possible. This sucks. You can "disable", but not uninstall. This is because add-ons in IE are "tied" directly to external programs. So in order to get rid of it, you must actually go uninstall the program that uses IE – assuming you know which to uninstall.

In Mozilla Firefox: Many plugins create SQL tables internally to the browser in order for them to work. On an uninstall of many different plugins, files are left behind and the SQL tables remain – in several different places. And darned if you know which tables within Firefox you’re supposed to drop. Thought you could kill this stuff with a registry/file cleaner? Wrong. Has to be done manually. This is assuming you actually know where to look.

And, of course, whenever a new version of the browser is released, plugins break.

2. Proprietary crapola

Internet Explorer is the one to blame for this catastrophe. The fact there are still web sites to this day that are "IE only" is simply ridiculous.

And if you put a tag on your site that says, "Best viewed with Firefox", that’s just as bad. You should be ashamed of yourself for doing such a thing.

3. Copy/paste text from a web page is still a nightmare

Sometimes all you want to do is copy a little piece of text rather than type it out. Good luck with that, because you’ll need it.

Some web pages have it so you can copy/paste text easily. But on others when you attempt to highlight anything this huge BLOCK of text is copied. Then when you try to adjust the highlight you made, it gets even worse.

Let’s say for the moment you’re successful in copying some text to the buffer. Okay, we’re good, right? Wrong. On paste into something as simple as Notepad these huge SPACES happen. "Wait, wait.. I didn’t copy any big-ass spaces.." Well, Mr. Browser thinks you did.

Out of frustration you just have to type out whatever you wanted to copy yourself.

4. Printing web pages is still terrible

Some web sites make it easy to print things. For example, many bank web sites smartly offer PDF versions of bank statements for print-out. This is great because PDFs always print exactly the way you see them.

But let’s say you’re not on a bank site and you want to print something out. The text is either too big or too small on the printed page, the graphics (should any exist) look terrible, and what is that font that printed? That’s not what’s on the web page..

5. Slow!

Believe it or not, there was a time when IE was a really fast browser. That was way back at version 3. And it was wonderful.

Believe it or not, there was a time when Firefox was a really fast browser. That was way back at version 1.5. And it was wonderful.

Both are now are memory hogging, plugin-infested lumps of digital slowness.

Want to know why Google Chrome and Safari appear to run faster? It’s not because of less memory consumption or faster scripting. It’s because you’re not using the same plugins as in your IE or FF.

Unfortunately most don’t like Chrome or Safari.

Am I saying to run IE or FF with no plugins at all? Well, if you can browse that way, I’d say go right ahead. Ditch the toolbars and any plugins installed to breathe life back into the browser. It will speed up quite a bit. That is until you open up a few tabs with some Flash, and then.. it.. gets.. slower.. and….. slower…… and, well.. it would be faster for you to go to the kitchen and make a sandwich.

What do you hate about web browsers the most?

Let us know by writing a comment or two.

Generally speaking, most people are smart enough to know what’s real and what’s b.s. But when it comes to an internet “most” list, this is where people go completely stupid, simply assume that what they’re reading is absolutely 100% true, and never bother to ask why certain things on a “most” list are higher or lower.

Example 1: Most stolen car lists.

Lists of this type can be found easily, such as this one, this one, this one, this one, and so on.

A huge reason rarely mentioned about why certain cars are stolen more than others is because some are left outside while others are garaged. Obviously, the ones left outside will be stolen more often because they’re more accessible to thieves. And most-stolen lists don’t account for owner stupidity, such as leaving the car unlocked, windows rolled down, etc.

Example 2: Most used OS lists.

This one particularly applies to Linux users. On lists of most-used Linux, Ubuntu is usually on top. But that doesn’t mean it’s right for you. Maybe Fedora, Slackware or openSUSE is better suited to what you want and/or need. Following the lemming mentality of “If everybody else is using [this distro], I will too” concerning the Linux you choose to run may work against you.

And if you’re asking, “How would I know which to pick then?”, the best answer I can give is to examine the community forums for a particular distro to see the typical problems reported, and moreover how the community treats those who need help. You can also do the old-fashioned way of trying out distros until you find one that suits you best.

Example 3: Most used application lists.

Rarely do I trust any “top” or “most” list for apps because it oftentimes skips software titles from SourceForge or other open source alternatives.

The best example I can give is instant messengers. Searching for most used instant messenger on Google will not reveal (not in plain sight anyway) multi-protocol software titles like Trillian, Pidgin, Digsby, Miranda, Adium and the like, so you really have to know what you’re looking for in that department, so to speak.

Explained better: Just because many people use the Windows Live Messenger service does not mean everybody is using the Windows Live Messenger app. Several could be using one of the multi-protocol software titles above and connect that way.

Other most-used app lists will show paid titles first (and sometimes nothing else).

The next time you’re reading a “most” list, use common sense and don’t take it as absolute truth. Granted, some of these lists have legitimate proof to back up their claims (and I sincerely appreciate that when it happens), but many of them don’t.

Your presence on the internet either falls into one of two categories: Known or Not Known. You’re most likely in the “Not Known” category.

The advantages to being known gives you social perks. And if making money on the internet sounds good to you, your presence can equal cash later on.

In this article we’ll talk about how to brand yourself on the internet.

Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required.

One thing I pay keen attention to when writing articles for PCMech is not to use internet jargon (a.k.a. slang or “netspeak”). The only time I would use it is only if I’m forced to.

Internet jargon can easily turn into a bad habit quickly. And as anyone knows, bad habits are tough to break. If your use of jargon gets out of control, it will make you look stupid. Furthermore, communications will be more difficult. Continued

The last time I used IE 8 I had to stop using it because it was reported that it broke Windows Update. But being that I just reinstalled XP on my older Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop I decided to give IE 8 a go to see what had been improved since it’s in Beta 2.

My particular laptop was a good test bed for this because it’s an older machine with a 1.5GHz Celeron M with 1GB of RAM, and testing newer software on older hardware is a good test to see if performance has improved or not. Continued

Buying advertising online is certainly a pretty guaranteed way to build up not only traffic on the Internet, but also your brand. And many times, building brand awareness is every bit as valuable as building raw traffic numbers to your website.

If you’re going to explore the area of advertising, though, you need to be aware of some basic terms. This is true whether you want to puts ads on your website for revenue reasons or whether you want to purchase advertising for your website.

Below are some basic terms:

• Impression. An impression is any single time an ad is displayed on a website.
• CPM – Cost per thousand impressions. When buying advertising on a CPM basis (or charging on a CPM basis), you are talking about a certain fixed cost for every 1,000 impressions of the ad.
• CPC – Cost per click. Regardless of how many times the ad is displayed, charge will be based on the number of times the article is clicked on. For the advertiser, this is good because they are only paying for an ad’s performance and actual clicks on the ad.
• PPC – Pay per click. The method of paying for advertising where the advertiser only pays when a user actually clicks on an ad. As you might have guessed, networks that pay on a PPC basis will be talking about CPC, which is the cost per click (see above). PPC ads are open to abuse because of click fraud.
• Conversion. A conversion is where the person clicking on the ad actually does what the advertiser wants them to do (buy a product, sign up for a mailing list, etc). So, the advertiser puts out an ad. That ad is designed to entice the person to do something. If the person clicks on the ad, they visit a website. If the person then does what is desired from them while on that website, that counts as a conversion.
• CPA – Cost per Action. Cost per action is where the charges are based on the number of actual conversions. Ads of this type are common in affiliate programs where pay is based on commission.
• Contextual advertising. This is advertising which appears in context with other content, usually using keywords to determine the ads. Google Adsense, for example, is contextual in that the ads that are displayed usually are related to the content they are displayed next to.

We all love some of the internet-based applications that are out there and what they can do for you. But, what if those kinds of applications could be moved to your computer? That is what Adobe Air does.

In this 101-level article, I’m going to talk about what Adobe Air is and why you might want to take note of it.

Continued

When you make money on the Internet, you most definitely need to be aware of how affiliate programs work. They are common and can be a great way to make money online. In fact, I have employed this option myself many times and have made many thousands of dollars.

When you sell a product as an affiliate, you are selling somebody else’s product. The deal is that the seller will pay you a percentage of every sale that you make. The percentage varies from seller to seller. Some are as low as 1-2% (usually found only in low margin areas like computer hardware) up to as high as 80%. I’ve even seen some sellers provide 100% commission to affiliates. They do this when they are willing to give away all proceeds because they know they’ll make much better money by upselling the buyer to better backend products.

To make money as an affiliate, you need to sign up for affiliate programs. You can sign up one-on-one with any company or seller which offers an affiliate program. You can also go to one of the larger clearing houses of affiliate products, such as:

• Clickbank
• Commission Junction
• OneNetwork Direct
• AzoogleAds

You have to pick and choose products which are suitable to your audience (if you have one). For example, you wouldn’t market real estate products to an audience like we have here at PCMECH. It is also sometimes a good idea to buy and try the product yourself.

If you do not have an audience of your own nor a mailing list, you should turn to Google Adwords. Adwords will cost you money, yes, but if you carefully follow the math and the keywords you use, you can set it up where you are all but guaranteed that for every dollar you spend, you’ll make back more money. You use Google to direct people straight to your seller using YOUR affiliate code so that you get all credit for the sales made.

This post is most certainly not an in-depth guide to making money this way. There is a lot to it, and those who master it can make a goldmine selling other people’s products. Silver and gold members of PCMECH will get additional material on this down the road.

In the meantime, there are some blogs you can read on the subject. UberAffilliate is one blog I would recommend, authored by Paul Bourque.

This chapter is a video presentation.

Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required.

Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required.

The first step to getting into this field is to understand how it works. Here are some questions that I have found many people simply don’t understand:

• How does the internet work?
• When I put up a website, where does it go?
• When I enter a website address into my browser, what is happening?

I have talked to people about this and the confusion is definitely rampant. Most people have never really thought about where a website comes from. Its just the mysterious “they” who do it, I guess. Also, contrary to what Senator Ted Stevens said, the internet is not really a “series of tubes”.

So, let’s take a look at how this all works.

Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required.

I have discussed previously in this book how IP addressing and DHCP servers operate. If you are interested in some of the technologies behind this, back up and have a read. For now, let’s just get down to business and get you sharing an internet connection.

The first thing you might need to do is configure your router. The good thing here is that many routers will automatically configure themselves to work with most cable services. More times than not, when I have set up a simple network, all of my computers can simply get online as soon as I plug them into the router. However, if you are using DSL or if your cable modem provider requires username/password authentication, you will need to perform a little router configuration. Also, if your ISP is providing you with a static (fixed) IP addresses, you will need to configure your router to use this.

Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required.

Situation: Your internet connection dies and you’re not sure whether it’s your computer, router, cabling, reception (i.e. wireless), modem or ISP’s fault.

If your broadband connection dies for whatever reason, you can use a simple 1-2-3 method which 99% of the time works in reestablishing your connection.

After turning OFF everything, you turn things on in this order: Continued