Now this is a topic close to my heart … well, my head actually … as I write these tips I find myself with a real corker of a head cold. So let’s get medical for a sec …

FICTION: Men are wimps and complain more about a cold than anyone else in the family.

FACT: Men, being the pillars of society that we are, have the strength to ward off all but the nastiest germs. By the time we catch the cold it has developed into a special super strain that IS WORSE than anyone else in the family had!

FICTION: Because of this, men seek and get more sympathy than other family members.

FACT: We have it tough! A Scottish survey found 72 percent of women believe men make an unnecessary fuss when they’re sick, and 22 percent of women said men expected to be nursed. Only 12 percent of the woman said they felt sorry for them.

With that off my chest, we’ll go on this month to look at viruses of the IT type, a HUGE cost-saver if you have family overseas, a time-saver for one of those apparently simple tasks, and a life-saver when it comes to protecting the life blood of your work - your email.

Enjoy!

What’s the difference between a modern anti-spyware program like WebRoot SpySweeper with its newly-acquired anti-virus capabilities and a modern anti-virus program such as Norton 360 which has anti-spyware capabilities? The answer is “not a lot.” In essence, they are both now anti-malware scanners.

Every computer security developer wants their product to address all security threats, not just individual categories of threat. So do you still need an AV program plus an anti-spyware program and an anti-trojan scanner?

For the majority of average users the answer is no. A single competent broad spectrum anti-malware product is enough. Leading the pack here would be AntiVir, NOD32, Kaspersky, BitDefender, Norton and a few others.

In the free domain, AVG anti virus 8.0 free edition has now been released for download, providing protection not only from viruses, but also giving spyware detection and safe search utilities. AVG anti virus 8.0 is packed with features like real-time protection, daily updates, and integrates to fight spyware through their combination anti virus and spyware engine together. The free version is missing the Anti Rookit features found in the license version.

Sources : techmixer and techsupportalert

SKYPE has introduced its first plan for so-called unlimited calls to overseas destinations.

There are no long-term contracts - just a monthly fixed rate to dial landline numbers, including monthly packages to North America for $3.95, Europe for $4.95, and Asia for $5.95.

Consumers can choose from three types of subscriptions - 34 countries, several countries in a region or a single destination. The offering is extended to mobile calls in some countries.

All calls have a limit of 10,000 minutes per month or more than five hours of talk time per day.

Source : Australian IT

Remember tackling the apparently simple task of printing a folded booklet? Now is it page 1 on the left with page 7 on the right? And should the right side be printed upside down? Grrrr!

Booklet Creator is a free web service that allows you to upload a PDF file and have it converted to another PDF file that, when downloaded, can be printed as a book. That is, double sided with alternating pages.

There are some minor restrictions: the file can be only 10MB maximum and the document must be in portrait mode.

Source : techsupportalert

Is your email your work or business lifeline? What steps have you taken to protect this vital data?

Amic Email Backup, is a free email backup solution to designed to create backup or archive files of your email data and handles Microsoft Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook, Eudora, IncrediMail, Pegasus, The Bat, Poco Mail, Netscape Messenger, and Opera Mail.

As well as archiving email messages, Amic Email Backup will backup your address book, settings, mail and news accounts, message rules, blocked senders lists and the signatures, bundled together into the backup file. Email restoration via Amic is performed with just a few clicks.

Wizard mode will walk you through creating, restoring, and/or scheduling your backup. Standard mode is for tweaking and customizing. The email backup can also be moved from one computer to another, handy if you’re moving all of your information to a new computer. You can even use the Schedule feature to schedule email backups daily, weekly or at any time period of your choice.

This free email backup application is suitable for the home and small business computer user to save the email folders and settings easily, either manually or automated at periodic times.

Source : techmixer