Computer Support Blog

If you spend time going through the corporate biographies of executives in the tech sector, it is very easy to get bored.  The story with so many executives is a familiar one: they went to business school, they took a business job, and they became a business leader.  Wow, someone started on a career path and they ended up at the end position of their chosen career path!  This is a pretty predictable story and one that plagues so many corporate biographies.  So, it is the atypical executive who stands out.  Gurdeep Singh Pall is just one such executive!

Gurdeep Singh Pall is the Vice President of Information Platform And Experience at the Microsoft Corporation.  In that role, Pall developed and promoted the Microsoft Lync system which has made video telecommunication more of a reality than ever before.  Pall is responsible for many important aspects of Microsoft’s Bing platform as well, including its research and development and promotion.  His real passion seems to be for working on the Bing platform’s speech recognition, mapping and mobile applications.

Part of what makes Gurdeep Singh Pall’s story so interesting is how he ascended to the position of Vice President, Information Platform & Experience.  He began at Microsoft as a software engineer, like so many people do.  Like visionaries in the field like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates before him, Pall had a vision to solve a complicated computer problem and he helped to design the LAN Manager Remote Access Service.  With that heady accomplishment, he moved to the Windows NT development team where he made several valuable contributions to the emerging OS through several of its incarnations.  In 1996, Pall was recognized for his achievements in pioneering VPN, the virtual private network.

After that, the software engineer became more of an executive.  Microsoft promoted Pall to the general manager of Windows Real-Time Communications and he served as the Vice President of the Office Lync And Speech Group.  There, he continued to use his engineering experience as he guided the team to the release of Lync.  Pall holds over twenty patents for technology he developed, most of which is in the emerging field of voice over internet protocol.  He helped pioneer the computer telecommunications field; when we have actual video phones, no doubt they will be based upon programming Pall developed!

Gurdeep Singh Pall has had an interesting career with Microsoft rising fast in the company because of his innovative ideas and technical acumen.  It is hard to imagine what he will come up with next!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

With the holidays behind us and the new year nicely underway, many of us are looking for a way to take off the holiday pounds.  Technology exists to aid you in weight loss.  There are specialized computer devices that help you count calories as well as smartphone applications designed to help you plan your diet and exercise regimen.  Arguably the best is Calorie Count.

Calorie Count is a comprehensive website that helps you to lose weight in a healthy fashion.  The site functions as an informative tool, an online journal and a social network.  The three primary functions of the site come together for the user to provide a powerful weight loss tool that offers you the best chance for a healthier lifestyle.  Calorie Count helps users lose weight by keeping you focused on your specific weight loss goals while rewarding your accomplishments.

The informative nature of Calorie Count is unparalleled on the Internet.  Calorie Count offers you over 231,000 foods with their entire nutritional breakdown so you may see the exact impact of every food you eat.  The truly valuable aspect of Calorie Count’s extensive database of nutritional information is that it allows you to log and chart each day along every possible vector.  In simpler terms, the Calorie Count tool allows you research every meal, drink and snack you want to put into your body and the program provides you with custom graphs exactly what you are consuming.  If you need to eat more protein, for example, you can tweak your meals until you find the right balanced food that will provide you with the protein you are lacking without pushing you above the recommended daily allowance of other nutritional elements.  Because users are able to add information, this database is constantly expanding!

The nutritional breakdown tool is a powerful one, but it works best when synergized with Calorie Count’s online journal.  When you create a Calorie Count account, you have the option to start an online journal.  Take that opportunity!  You can keep your journal private, but Calorie Count’s online journal is a day by day, meal by meal record of your journey to weight loss.  After you enter all of your medical data, Calorie Count uses your journal to calculate not only all you take in, but how many calories you burn through every activity you perform throughout the day.  Using the journal function, Calorie Count provides you with recommendations on how best to exercise for your body type and health concerns!

Finally, at least for the space we have here, there is a social network function to Calorie Count.  Calorie Count connects you with other people who are trying to lose weight, so you may provide support, ask questions and share your triumphs for positive reinforcement.  Even better, nutritional experts are available on the site to help you meet your goals.

Losing weight is never easy; Calorie Count is a powerful weight loss tool that requires diligence, but provides all you need to lose weight!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

The Internet is home to innumerable cool websites, most of which are free to use.  As the computer pervades almost every aspect of life in the United States, few off-line pursuits have been as threatened as the lifestyle of a visual artist.  Artists face an escalating threat from the Internet in that the rise of the computer has developed and propagated new forms of visual art, threatening to make traditional visual art obsolete.  While there are many websites for visual artists, including art-themed social networks, no site works as hard to present and develop art careers of contemporary artists like Art.net.

Art.net is a gallery for professional artists and it is entirely free to visit.  As a virtual gallery, Art.net has a distinctly anti-commercial feel to it.  The site won a lawsuit against the state of New York over freedom of speech issues in part because as a non-commercial website, it did not have a way to authenticate visitors’ ages!  The purpose of Art.net is not to sell artwork; it is to display artwork and provide a common platform for artists to share ideas as they improve their proficiency in their medium of choice.

Currently, there are over 450 artists who have virtual galleries on Art.net and just as humor is subjective, so too is art.  While many of the artists on Art.net have embraced some form of digital art, most use their virtual gallery space to present images of physical projects that exist in the real world.  Art.net is a great site to spend hours carefully combing through the works of artists that you might not have a chance to see elsewhere.  While many of the artists do have galleries or studios, most of the artists on Art.net do not have standing showings in the real world like they do on this site.  Browsing through the virtual galleries can open your mind and expose you to some great new artists.

Art.net is not preoccupied with any form of ecommerce, which sets it apart from sites like DeviantArt.  What Art.net offers art enthusiasts is incredible access to the artists you see when you visit the site.  Art.net provides each artist with a mailbox and most every artist’s gallery includes a direct link to e-mail them through the site.  Art.net in no way restricts its users from contacting artists to make offers on any pieces an artist has presented.

If you are on the other side of the creative process, Art.net offers a decent level of exposure to artists at a very reasonable price.  Because the site is entirely nonprofit, a $60/year membership fee is charged to keep the servers running.  In exchange, you get seemingly unending storage space for your art and a platform that has been running since 1994!

There are many individual artists’ websites, but there is no multi-artist platform on the Internet so concerned with the pure creation and presentation of art as Art.net.  That commitment makes Art.net exceptionally cool.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

The Internet has many redeeming qualities when it comes to the spread of information, news and cultural phenomenon.  It also is the repository of so much data, videos and music that it has a way of bringing out the dark side of human nature.  Joseph Conrad called that instinct the “fascination with the abomination” and that phenomenon is alive and well on the Internet.  In fact, with the way music spreads virally over the Internet, music fads represent some of the greatest modern examples of “fascination with the abomination.”

The Internet is an important tool for the music industry.  But while the music industry works hard to promote talent, underground communities with an affinity for music and the esoteric have made the Internet a place where some of the strangest music ever can become a phenomenon.  Just as William Hung managed to score a recording contract by getting a cult following after a terrible American Idol audition, so too do others find a strange success in being terrible when their music is presented online.  Here are some of the most notable:

One of the earliest weird musical Internet breakouts was the Buckwheat Boyz.  Long after the band itself disbanded, the Buckwheat Boyz became an Internet phenomenon when their song “Peanut Butter Jelly Time” (which mostly consists of those four words repeated over and over again to music) appeared as accompaniment in a Flash video with a dancing banana.  The phenomenon became an allusion on Family Guy!  There have been two toys based upon Brian in his banana costume, one of which is one of the most sought-after Family Guy action figures!

Sometimes, the weird phenomenons propagate themselves, like the Hampster Dance.  The Hampster Dance started as a single website page that featured animated hamsters and other rodents dancing to music.  It became so popular that the phenomenon generated not one, but six album releases!

Arguably the most significant Internet phenomenon related to music is still developing.  Rebecca Black, a thirteen year old girl, recorded the song “Friday” which certainly garnered most of its attention by those who are fascinated with the exceptions to the rule.  Critically regarded as one of the worst-written songs of all time and performed using so much post-production equipment as to almost completely obscure Black’s actual voice, “Friday” is a musical travesty.  And yet, when Black uploaded the song and video to the Internet, it garnered a huge amount of buzz.  The video for “Friday” had over thirty million hits on YouTube and the digital download of the song has sold over one hundred thousand downloads.  Black’s music career may have started as the object of Internet mockery, but between her sales numbers for the single and a Glee-cover version of the song, Rebecca Black has good reason to be happy.

Quality does not guarantee success, but the Internet has sprouted a whole subculture that makes successful music of poor quality.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

Tax season is officially upon us!  Sure, you could procrastinate and wait until April 15 to get your taxes in at the last minute or you could make a change this year for the better!  Maybe you are waiting a few weeks to earn enough money to pay a tax service to prepare and file your taxes for you.  Whatever your excuse for not filing your taxes the same day you get your last W-2 in the mail, you are out of excuses!  For those who make less than $58,000 in adjusted gross income, the IRS now has a surprisingly cool product that makes procrastination seem utterly passé.  The program is called Free File and it is part of the federal government’s attempt to make paying taxes easier and more hip.

Free File allows you to use your computer to pay your taxes and it boasts the fastest speed for a return for any free service, which makes sense as the program is directly through the IRS!  Free File may get you your tax refund within ten days when you select direct deposit as your refund option.  Fear not!  If you use the Free File software and determine you actually owe the federal government money, you still have until April 15 to pay your taxes!

Off your computer, you need your W-2, 1099 and other tax forms ready and organized.  It helps if you have your prior year’s tax return as well.  On your prior year’s tax return, you will be able to see what your adjusted gross income was.  If you have not gotten a significant raise or taken on more jobs, your adjusted gross income is likely to be in the ballpark for this year.  If your adjusted gross income is less than $58,000, you may use the Internal Revenue Service’s Free File.

If you qualify for the income threshold, you must establish an account for Free File directly through the IRS website.  While the usual concerns about Internet security persist, Free File is more secure than most tax filing systems as the IRS is cutting out the middleman.  Because you are transmitting your data directly to the IRS, there are fewer opportunities for data thieves to access your personal financial information.

More than just a means for filling out tax forms, Free File brings the power of reputable tax calculation software to bear.  The IRS teamed with twenty tax computing companies to offer tax calculation software free to citizens using Free File.  As a result, you no longer have to pay to use software that helps you calculate your tax debt and refund.  Free File calculates your taxes and files your taxes, ensuring accuracy, speed and efficiency.

It is a weird system of government that expects citizens to pay taxes but then makes paying taxes such a complicated process that only a paid professional would understand it.  The IRS makes the process simple again with powerful, free software through Free File.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

The influx of new technologies for computers has not made everything better.  If you owned your PC for many years, it is entirely probable that you have an old mouse or keyboard that you like.  Perhaps it is an ergonomic keyboard that you are very comfortable with.  Maybe you have a customized computer mouse that matches both your grip and your sense of style.  Many of the older computer peripherals like mice and keyboards connected to the computer through specialized PS/2 ports.  Many PCs and laptop computers today are manufactured without that special port.  As more computers adapt the USB interface format exclusively, those who have favorite older peripherals are compelled to upgrade their accessories in addition to their systems.

Fortunately, StarTech is here to help consumers who have the computer accessories they were happy with and do not want to change!  StarTech manufactures a PS/2 mouse to USB adapter.  They also have an adapter that transforms any PS/2 keyboard into a USB-compatible device.  These are very simple devices, but both are very cool.

The StarTech PS/2 Mouse to USB Adapter is a white plastic and metal device around 1 ½” in length.  It is a solid adapter that features a female PS/2 Mouse port and a male USB connector.  To use the adapter, simply plug the male end of your favorite older computer mouse into the female end of the adapter.  The adapter and mouse will now plug into any female USB port.  Through this adapter, you will be able to use any older mouse on any plug-and-play capable computer or computer device.

In an identical fashion, StarTech’s PS/2 Keyboard to USB Adapter allows you to continue using your favorite older keyboard on your newer systems.  Color coded purple like the standardized PS/2 keyboard jack, StarTech’s PS/2 Keyboard to USB Adapter features a female PS/2 port and a male USB jack.  Simply plugging the USB jack of the adapter into any USB-compatible device allows you to then plug your favorite keyboard into the jack and continue using it.  In this way, you may use your already-purchased ergonomic keyboard or keyboard with sentimental value on your new, faster computer.

Just because technology is changing, you should not have to give up the devices you already own and love.  StarTech’s PS/2 Mouse and PS/2 Keyboard adapters allow you to use the peripherals you enjoy with the benefits of your new computer device!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

The odds are good that if you have done any sort of financial transaction on the Internet, you have a PayPal account.  The spin-off of eBay has helped make eBay even more money than the auction site was making on its own.  By charging anyone who received money through PayPal, the financial company has generated enough revenue for itself to make PayPal a multi-billion dollar company.  PayPal has become the online financial powerhouse it has by taking money out of small businesses – like independent vendors who sell on eBay – and from the multi-billion dollar banking and credit card industries.  Now, Dwolla is entering the market to take a bite out of the credit card companies and PayPal.

It is about time.

Dwolla is using new technologies to provide its users with direct access to their bank accounts while protecting their private information.  The stated goal of Dwolla is to provide the flexibility of cash for the virtual world of the Internet.  Your Dwolla account is intended to give you a common source of payment online and in the real world without ever having to touch cash again.

What makes Dwolla different is its security and transparency.  Dwolla has unprecedented security controls that prevent identity theft by keeping your account numbers from ever getting to identity thieves.  In this way, Dwolla is very much like PayPal.  Unlike PayPal, Dwolla’s privacy controls allow users to restrict how much information is available to those they pay through the service.  With PayPal, you have access to quite a bit of information – at the very least e-mail address, name and address – of the person with whom you are doing business.  While that makes sense for virtual transactions that involve physical items shipped between two people, it makes less sense for charity donations and person-to-person transactions.

The real difference with Dwolla is in its fee structure.  Users pay $3.00 a month for their Dwolla account, which gives them access to a $500 line of credit and instant access to their own bank account.  If you use credit money and you do not pay it off by the end of the month, there are fees.  However, Dwolla encourages the small sales.  By eliminating transaction fees on all purchases less than $10, Dwolla fosters support for the small transactions that have been becoming more costly with each passing year.  The CEO of Dwolla argues that transactions like paying for a cup of coffee with your credit card are forcing vendors to charge more for their products and services.

Dwolla wants to turn that tide and help users get the most out of the money that should, by rights, be theirs.  The $.25 transaction fee on all charges above $10 is minimal when compared to PayPal’s oppressive fee scheme.  That is probably why eBay will resist incorporating Dwolla for as long as it legally can.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

Entering a new year is traditionally a time of introspection, which is why so many of us make New Year’s resolutions to try to change parts of ourselves and our lives with which we are unhappy.  One of the most common New Year’s resolutions that people fail to achieve is to lose weight and keep it off.  Lose It! may help you lose weight and stick to a program if you have found it challenging to lose weight in the past.

Lose It! is an interactive weight loss website and now an application for smartphones.  Lose It! helps you monitor your diet and exercise and achieve specific weight loss goals that you set for yourself.  Unlike specialized computer devices designed for weight loss, Lose It! is a comprehensive software application that includes both personal weight loss plans and a community component.

Lose It! is a blend of a computerized weight loss journal and a social network centered on losing weight.  You may access Lose It! through the Internet or through the LoseIt! app on your Apple iPhone or iPod Touch.  Once there, you will discover that LoseIt! is an all-encompassing weight loss solution.

First, LoseIt! helps you manage your weight by creating specific weight loss goals that you record within your profile.  Your profile is more like a medical file than like a profile on other social networking sites.  As a result, your profile through your LoseIt! account includes your weight loss goals, any medical conditions you need the program to take into account and your journal.  The journal function of LoseIt! is the cornerstone to using LoseIt! to lose weight.  There, you record each and every item you eat, ideally right before you consume it.  LoseIt! then factors the caloric intake of what you are eating and calculates the amount of calories you may consume for the remainder of the day.

To get the most out of LoseIt!, you have to be very vigilant with your journal records and you have to not be shamed by your computer.  Interfacing with a computer program instead of a human being may prompt you to be more realistic about both your achievements and your progress if you are serious about your weight loss goal.  Each time you exercise, you must update your LoseIt! journal as well.  By keeping accurate records and following the suggestions LoseIt makes – like “stop eating for the day!” – you have a much better chance of achieving your weight loss goal.

LoseIt! also maximizes your chance of weight loss success through its social network capability.  Because weight loss goals are so common and the challenges to losing weight are shared by so many people, LoseIt! helps dieters to network.  Through LoseIt!’s chat functions and bulletin boards, you may exchange recipes, discuss issues and make goals with other dieters.

LoseIt! truly incorporates computers and smartphones into your plan to lose weight.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

One of the greatest aspects of the United States is that the United States allows its citizens unrestricted social mobility.  There is no caste system in the United States and potential exists for every person in the United States to develop their talents and lives as they see fit.  However, because of the vast disparities in economic conditions, some citizens are born into circumstances where they cannot easily reach their potential.  In the poorest parts of the United States, Americans remain impoverished due to their poor education, especially when they have an inability to read.  Fortunately, computers may now help combat illiteracy, which is one of the leading challenges in adult education.  Merit Software is a leader in computerized literacy programs and their Reading Skill Builder is a program designed to aid adults who want to learn how to read.

The Reading Skill Builder is a web-based program for Windows, Mac, and Linux computers, making it ideal for any educational institution or home.  Merit Software created an easy-to-monitor curriculum for adult education and continues to refine it with the Reading Skill Builder.

It might seem odd to teach people to read using a computer; after all, if the student can type or read on a computer monitor, they should be able to read a book, right?  Part of the theory behind the Reading Skill Builder is that most adults, by simple virtue of having lived in the world for a few decades, will have a basic knowledge of English characters.  Because most adults will recognize most letters and numbers, the graphic interface on the Reading Skill Builder focuses on combining the letters into words.  In addition to teaching basic reading skills, the Reading Skill Builder strengthens vocabulary through easy word exercises.

The Reading Skill Builder prioritizes reading comprehension.  Because the focus of this literacy program is teaching adults to read, it comes with a very stark interface.  Unlike literacy programs that promote reading for children, the Reading Skill Builder is not cluttered with a lot of imagery.  The stories the Reading Skill Builder presents are not computer-based picture books.  As a result, students must focus on the words and what they mean, as opposed to simply recognizing or inferring based on pictures associated with the story.

For teachers working with adult students, the Reading Skill Builder provides a number of tools for monitoring your students’ progress.  The Reading Skill Builder easily informs you of what your students’ problem areas are, which allows you to adapt your lessons to better educate them.  All of the tests and tools are part of the basic Reading Skill Builder.

Educators who want to use computers to help their students overcome basic literacy deficiencies will find the Reading Skill Builder invaluable.  The Reading Skill Builder from Merit Software educates adults with a mature interface that respects their dignity and desire to learn.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

The Internet is truly a place where magic is alive.  The magic of creativity goes unstifled by the demands of studios, producers or networks, making it an ideal venue for the releases of independent animated projects.  Over the years, those pioneering new technologies and bored animators have captured the imagination of their niche audiences through the Internet.

What is most striking about the most successful animated phenomena on the Internet is how the overwhelming priority of their creators is to make something different and creative.  The most successful Internet animation phenomena have not sought to monetize the works the animators created.  That gives the creators of Internet animation a huge creative outlet that remains free to the fans.  A whole subculture in the animation industry has sprouted of animators who have never been associated with a major, commercially-successful enterprise.  Their works endure solely, purely, as their Internet animated phenomenon.  Some of the most notable are:

Salad Fingers.  Salad Fingers was a web-based animated series that David Firth produced and released in 2004 and 2005.  Firth is a British cartoonist who prioritizes message and content over a flashy style.  Firth created Salad Fingers using the relatively unsophisticated Adobe Flash for the animation.  Salad Fingers went viral in 2005 and is now the subject of extensive merchandising, like t-shirts and toys.  The original nine episodes of the crudely-drawn Salad Fingers remain free online to this day.

Joe Cartoon.  Joe Cartoon is a decent example of how a viral animator’s work may become a gateway to more mainstream opportunities for an animator.  Joe Cartoon was the platform upon which “Gerbil In A Microwave” and “Frog In A Blender” were released.  More than simply disturbing Flash-based animations, they became a phenomenon.  “Frog In A Blender” was downloaded over 110,000,000 times before the hosting site it was on crashed!  Since then, Joe Cartoon has appeared on independent platforms, the television channel G4 and now YouTube.  Having been producing since 1998, Joe Cartoon illustrates a longevity few other Internet phenomena may claim.

Dancing Baby.  The Dancing Baby was a weird bit of animation and most fans of Ally McBeal probably had no idea of its origins.  The appearance of the Dancing Baby on Ally McBeal made the graphic, animated baby a mainstream phenomenon.  However, the programmers who originated the Dancing Baby developed the program two years prior and it was a hit on the Internet!

Because the Internet is clearly here to stay, mainstream culture is growing to accept that animated Internet phenomena are only likely to spread off the Internet and into the real world.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com