For the show broadcast between August 3rd and August 8th, 2008

Something happened, and we don't know what...  Apparently, the audio went missing, but the show notes are here!!!

Benjamin covered all sorts of topics this week, and one of them was the CherryPal, which definitely sounds like a Pokemon, but is actually an incredibly small computer. This computer uses almost no energy and is very small due to the fact that it uses cloud computing, which Benjamin described on the air. More details can be found at www.cherrypal.com

Benjamin also talked about the changing face of news. It seems many people are turning to the internet more and more for their news because they believe that modern journalism is “out of touch.” Benjamin gave three great websites to check out for news. They were www.drudgereport.com, www.worldnetdaily.com, and www.dailykoz.com.

Working to protect us all from accidentally breaking the law, Benjamin covered many ways that you can un-knowingly get yourself into a lot of trouble, such as illegal downloading of music and movies, copyright infraction, disabling copy-protection on files, and accessing your neighbor’s internet without them knowing. Two sets of laws that he talked about were the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the No Electronic Theft (NET) Act.

Another thing that Benjamin worked to protect us from is Spam! No, not the meat, though we could definitely use protection from that as well. However, in this case, he was talking about computer spam. He gave us many tips on cutting down on spam. One thing you can do is to search for your e-mail address in each of the big search engines and contact any page that has your e-mail address up and tell them to take it down. Additionally, be careful where you put your e-mail. Make sure that you trust whoever you’re giving it to. Don’t ever reply to spam, unsubscribe to spam, contribute to a charity in response to an e-mail, or forward a chain e-mail that tells you to add your e-mail.

Another e-mail threat that Benjamin discussed is links in e-mails. You do NOT want to click on links in your e-mails because they may lead you to a site that will upload malware to your computer or steal information from it. You should also be careful with opening attachments, since they can carry viruses and Trojans. Make sure to frequently update your anti-virus software and to stay up to date.

Benjamin also covered passwords. They are meant to keep other people out of your files, but what if you forget it? Most websites that require passwords will be able to e-mail your password to you, but what can you do if you forget the password to log on to your computer? First, reboot your computer by repeatedly pressing F8 on the keyboard when you see the manufacturer’s logo appear during reboot. Next find SAFE MODE in the options and press enter. Log onto the Administrator account when the log-in screen comes up. A dialog box will appear telling you that your computer is in safe mode. Thank it for stating the obvious and telling you that you are OK and then click YES. Go to Start, then Control Panel, and click on the USER ACCOUNTS icon. All of the accounts on your computer will be shown. Select the account that you want to remove the password from. Select the REMOVE PASSWORD link. If you want to add a new password, select the CREATE A PASSWORD link and put in your new password.

Benjamin even touched down in the political world this week as he talked about McCain and Obama. Obama is a very tech-savvy individual at the age of 46, while McCain can hardly get on the internet. The fact that he is 71 means he is not an odd man out due to his lack of computer-literacy, but being college-educated and white puts him in the minority since he can’t use his computer. Benjamin noted that this may be a problem for a person who is looking to run a country that practically LIVES on its computers.

Benjamin also talked about a recent e-mail he had gotten from the “FBI.” They claimed that he was in the middle of a hefty transaction with a financial institute in Nigeria, but the large amount of typos in the e-mail showed that it was definitely NOT legitimate. It appears that e-mail threats are very common and are usually part of mass e-mails and scams. Many people will make attempts at extortion through hollow threats. You usually don’t need to worry about these e-mails. Check for typos. False e-mails usually have a quite a few of them. However, if they DO reveal lots of personal information about you then you need to alert the police.

Benjamin got quite a few e-mails this week, and most of them were, thankfully, not threatening. Harold asked how he could un-install Vista and install XP pro without running into any problems. Frank asked about a good web host he could use for the website he is starting up for his real estate business. John wanted to speed up the boot time on his computer. Lastly, Sidney asked how to hook up here USB drive at work since it won’t work at home.

AUDIO OF THE SHOW
You can download the audio from the show, right here!  Just click on the appropriate link, and enjoy!  The files are low bandwidth, so you don't have to wait for hours to download one segment!

Instructions:  Right click on the link you wish to hear, and choose "Save as..."  Save the file to your local hard drive, then run the file from there.  It's really the best way to listen to files that are on-line!

Hour 1
Audio missing... we're looking for it now!!!

Hour 2
Audio missing... we're looking for it now!!!