A Nine-Year-Old Has Passed Microsoft's Certified Professional Exam!

If that don't beat all!

You can read more about this story by clicking here!

Personally I don't think one has to go through the enornous cost involved with being legitimately certified - but hey that is just me!

I Can Create A PDF File!

Didn't even know this until I was messing around with Microsoft Word (I was looking for their resume template) and I saw the option to be able to turn a MicrosoftWord document into a .pdf file!

Of course I had to try it out and with the exception of a few formatting issues I was able to save the Microsoft Word document as a .pdf file! And I opened it up as a .pdf file just to make sure that I was able to do it!

This is great news for me because now I can make (and edit) my own .pdf files without having to buy the (very expensive) PDF Software!

Of course I'm dying to be able to open some of the .pdf files that I already so that I can edit and annotate them - so I may end up buying the PDF program anyway! - LOL!

The Kitchen Sink!

I have been noticing for the past few days that I have been having problems getting in to my Google Adsense account and just being able to use the Google search engine.

It was quite annoying to say the least so when it happened again to me today I decided to find out more information about why this was happening.

First of all when I try to log-in to my Adsense account, I get this certificate warning kind of thing and the name on the certificate is kitchensinks!

Here is a screenshot:



I tried doing a search on them and so far haven't come up with anything but I have found some sites with people reporting that they are having the same problem - although a solution hasn't been found yet.

Here is the one relative link that I could find links:

• Warning-New Hack!

10/26/08 Update!

I have been posting around to see what more information I can find.



11/12/08 Update!

For the past few weeks I haven't been having this problem as much. It has popped up on occasion but not nearly as much as it did before! I have been able to view my Adsense and I have also been able to use the Google search engine again! Can't say that I did anything in particular to solve this problem although I did get an interesting education about a computer's "host" file - which I edited (and also saved a backup copy of the original) and now my browser(s) are working much better now!

So There I Was, At My Computer......

when the power went off!

We were right in the middle of hurricane hanah for my area - which is right near Philadelphia!

So there I was online with the computer and then everything went black!

The power outage lasted about 20 minutes and when everything came back on my computer monitor had the blue box that said it would shut off in 5 seconds!

Of course I panicked thinking something was wrong with my computer but it all ended well in the end.

I just shut my computer down for about 5 minutes and then re-booted it and now every thing is back to normal!

Are You Still Using A Dialup Modem For Your Internet Access?

Then don't you feel bad because there are still a lot of people who are using a dialup modem for their internet access. Not everyone can afford the added expense of having a broadband internet connection.

Just think about it. If you have a dialup modem for your internet access that means that you are basically just paying for your phone bill and paying another bill for your internet service provider.

I was thinking about this when I read a blog post about AOL raising their fees!

Let's just face it - not everyone can afford to have a high speed internet connection!

OK, I Admit It - I'm Very Impatient As Far As My Computer Is Concerned!

I was online but had something to do so I got offline and left my computer running. About a half an hour later when I came back to the computer the contents on the screen were enlarged!

I didn't want to re-start my computer because it takes it some time to warm up so I tried some other methods that didn't work.

I thought if I went to the control panel and changed the size of the type that that would work. Long story short I didn't want to mess up the settings that I already had so I didn't do anything in the control panel.

So I ended up re-starting the computer! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Here Is Something That Everyone Should Try!

I got this idea from The Computer Brother.

Do a google search on your own name. Why? Because you may be surprised at what the search engine will turn up on your name! You could be finding websites that are posting about you, revealing things like your personal information.

I have done this myself and so far it seems that I am ok!

Audio And Video - Sorry!

As much as it pains me to say not everybody has a high-speed internet connection. There are still a lot of people who are still using a dial-up modem as their internet connection. That means things like audio and video are slow to load - if they are able to load at all.

If you have these on your sites, please remember that not everyone is able to view them. It would be nice if everybody had a high-speed internet connection but everybody does not.

So if you do have these kinds of things on your site please place them so that they don't load right away. Give people the option of being able to click on a "play" button in case they do want to see or hear the video and/or audio that you may have on your site.

Problem Solved?

I had an interesting problem with one of my files today.

You know how everybody always advises to have a backup copy of one's file? Of course I don't. Well I have some backup copies of some things but not all of them.

I had a file saved in the .wri format. It was a pretty big-sized file but I was working on it and then deleting the information on it as I worked on it so that the file size would be smaller. Well I opened that file today and besides the first few paragraphs there was a lot of "jargon" on it - just some box symbols that went all the way down the pages! So I thought for sure that all of that information was lost and that I would have to start over again from scratch.

For some reason I decided to open the file in another format - .wpd which is the Corel Wordperfect program. I can't believe that this actually worked but it did! I usually don't use the Wordperfect program because my needs have been met by the Windows Write program. But I'm glad that I have Wordperfect because now my file has been saved so that I can continue to work on it!

Nice (and happy) surprise!

You Find Out Something New Every Day!

I can't believe that I am now just finding out that my computer keyboard has little "stands" on them. I just found this out a few minutes ago when I was typing on my keyboard and it seemed like the keyboard was even - so I turned it over and found these little stands on each side of the keyboard that I can use to prop up my keyboard on - which I am doing right now!

It's Time For A New Computer Mouse!

I HATE when things go wrong! As as you can probably tell from this blog I will like hold on to things forever!

My computer mouse has been giving me some trouble for a while now. It's a computer mouse that is a trackball computer mouse and I have been told that they have come out with new and upgraded kinds of computer mouses - since I have had mine for ages!

Since it is a trackball computer mouse the trackball has been sticking for some time. I have had to take the computer mouse apart and clean the inside of it more than just a few times!

So its time to get a new computer mouse!

Ever Wonder What Happens When The Lights Go Out?

So here I am at my computer on a very windy day and then it happens............the lights go out! Rather I should say the power goes out!

I'm sure that most people have had this happen to them while they were at the computer.

This just happened to me this afternoon! I was busy at my computer and it was a very good computer day because my internet access wasn't slow this time. The next thing I knew everything went dark - including my computer while I was online!

So I resign myself to the fact that I would have to wait for the power to come back on and as soon as I got up the power came back on again!

Of course I had to re-start my computer but I'm grateful because that is all I have had to do! I remember reading a story one time about some guys who left their computer on and there was a thunderstorm which knocked out their computer system entirely!

I Never Knew That Sending A Fax Could Be So Hard!

I know that I have done it before with my Lexmark All-In-One because the activity log shows that I did and I rember about that fax. It was quite a few documents and they were all received successfully!

So this particular night I had some documents that I wanted to fax and I went about setting them up to be faxed. The problem with the fax number though was that it went through a tirade of messages and menus before a fax could be sent and my fax sending mode would beep and I guess that the fax got tired of waiting and the call would disconnect!

After trying again a few more times I came upon the idea of dialing the number myself and waiting for the faxing mode to kick in. The only problem with that was that when I pressed "send fax" the fax would dial the number while I had already dialed it!

Frustrated I got out the manual for the fax program and thought I could change the settings to when I wanted to send the fax. The only problem with that was that I didn't know how long it would take until the recipient's fax mode kicked in!

Then I thought that I would try another fax program. The only problem with that was that it didn't allow me to send multiple documents and it had the same problem as the other fax program in that I couldn't delay the time that the fax "kicked" in!

How did I solve this problem?

I simply looked for another fax number for the recipient that was only their fax number and I sent the fax THAT way! So far it looks as though it "took" but I'm going to call the place to check to make sure that they got the fax!

Can It Really Be THAT Easy To Guess Someone's Password?

I was watching this movie on tv last night and to make a long story short the main character had to get into another person's computer so that he could stop a catastrophe from happening. Of course the clock was ticking and he had to get into the computer right away! But the computer had to have the password / code typed in to gain access to the computer and of course the main character didn't know what it was so he had to guess.

He tried a couple of times but it didn't work. Then he thought about what the person loves and then typed that in - that didn't work. Then he typed in what the person hated - and that worked!

Even though I kind of enjoyed watching the movie I thought to myself that it couldn't possibly be THAT easy to guess somebody's password!

Listening To The Radio

Is this a lost art?

I am currently listening to one of my local community radio talk stations. While I'm also at the computer it can be a bit distracting but I am becoming very interested in this local radio station. To make a long story short the station that I used to listen to got their format changed and the staff was let go and this came as quite a surprise to me! Luckily I was able to find the current radio station that I am listening to now which is WURD - 900 AM.

I talked to one person who has told me that they don't even listen to the radio anymore which I kind of found shocking!

I have my favorite jazz station that I use for background music and of course I listen to my local news station and I have a few other radio stations that I listen to including my local PBS (Public) station. I have even started listening to my station on the Internet when my AM reception is bad.

I've Forgotten How!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I was going to make copies of one of my W-2's. I have a flat bed scanner along with a printer that are both connected to an A/B switch. But its been so long since I used it that when I tried to make copies from my scanner the scanner wasn't recognized!

I looked through my notes hoping to find some information that I saved about what to do when my scanner wasn't working properly. I'm sure its in there somewhere - I just can't find it - I think I'm trying to hard.

Another thing to complicate the issue is that the scanner has 3 ports - one goes from the scanner to the A/B switch. Another is from the scanner to..............NOWHERE! Now I can't remember whether or not it worked like this before - my mind is totally blank!

So my first thought is that the cable got loose when I was hooking up my new computer monitor so I went back to the back of my computer but I really couldn't find where to connect this cable.

The printer works fine when I switch the A/B switch - but not the scanner! (I even got out the manual to see if I could find some help!)

So I have come to the conclusion that I'm not going to let it drive me crazy for today!

I made the copies of my W-2 by using my All-In-One printer (which doesn't have any printer cartridges that are full - my ink is low)and scanning it and saving it and reducing the number of colors to get it to a more manageable size and then printing it out on the printer that is connected to the A/B switch!

Whew!

Of course I know the solutions here:

• I do have to find out why that scanner isn't working - its a matter of principle!
  
  
• I also have to get some new printer cartridges for my All-In-One

Of course I wanted to make copies using my own equipment as opposed to having to go get copies made (even though the copy store is such a short distance away - actually its within walking distance!).

Well I managed to do that - with some effort!

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2/27/08 Update! - well I turned the computer on and I could hear the scanner warming up so I though that I would give it a try. It was working!

Microsoft Wants To Buy Yahoo!

I wasn't going to blog about this because I figured that it was on the news so much that everyone probably already knew about it. But today that headline was staring me in the face so I decided to post a blog entry about it.

Just in case you haven't heard - Mircosoft wants to buy Yahoo for $44 Billion Dollars! First of all this online article says that Yahoo was never even up for sale - Microsoft made them an unsolicited offer!

Here is what is also kind of surprising is that (so far) Yahoo is not selling! The article says that while Yahoo's stock is going down they are still very popular and are still generating advertising revenue.

Just because someone offers you Billions doesn't necessarily mean that you have to take it! And that's what it seems Yahoo is doing. The article goes on to say that Microsoft could still be able to buy Yahoo by going to Yahoo's board of directors.

I have often read about and seen on television stories about big takeovers but in this case - so far - Yahoo is refusing to sell.

It Seems Like A Lot Of People Haven't Heard Of The Type Of Computer I Have

I have a Pionex computer. (I don't even think the company is around anymore because I did a google search and couldn't find any information concerning the company. The only Pionex-related information that I could find was about a company named Pionex but they were a different kind of company and not a computer company.) I got it some years ago from QVC. I liked the computer because at the time the thing that sold me was the fact that this type of computer was used to test Microsoft's programs - that is what sold me!

Now its been a few years since I have had this computer and except for the fact that my computer monitor is only working sporadically the rest of my computer is holding up fine!

I have so much stuff on my harddrive - I really have to clean that up. I have a lot of programs and files that I have accumulated over the years.

Even when I do get a new computer I'm certainly not going to let this one go! I'm sure that there are a lot of people who still use their older computers even though they may have a newer one as well. I just can't part with mine!

From Flat Fee To Number Of Hours Used?

source
Yahoo News

"Time Warner Cable Inc said on Wednesday it is planning a trial to bill high-speed Internet subscribers based on their amount of usage rather than a flat fee, the standard industry practice.

The second largest U.S. cable operator said it will test consumption-based billing with subscribers in Beaumont, Texas later this year as a part of a strategy to help reduce congestion of its network by a minority of consumers who pay the same monthly fee as light users.

The company believes the billing system will impact only heavy users, who account for around 5 percent of all customers but typically use more than half of the total network bandwidth, according to a company spokesman.

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Personally I feel that as soon as you have a good thing going somebody comes along and ruins it! I remember when AOL switched to a flat rate and they got so inundated with people who wanted to sign up using the new flat rate that for a time AOL was bogged down.

Now comes news of an ISP provider that wants to bill according to usuage. I don't see this having a very good outcome. It just seems that they are wanting to try to charge more.

Call me "old-fashioned" but why would they want to mess with something that is working?

Of course the answer to that is that they want to try and get more money!