This is a practical way to prolong the life of a laptop, especially if all you need is a web browser/email program. This may also make buying a 2nd-hand laptop a bit more appealing. I don’t recommend buying a 2nd hand laptop if you want to do MORE than browse the internet, though. Get one that is more than sufficient for your needs if you can! But some of us just want some freedom from the indoors and the DESK! Which is what prompted Trent to dig a laptop out of the closet and make it work for him (and save a dollar… The Simple Dollar blog isn’t about depriving yourself of things you want to save money, it’s about getting the things you WANT without spending more than you HAVE to and pocketing the rest.)

Mr. Wonderful thought that since I have been working on the computer more, especially for art, I needed a professional-sized, high-resolution monitor.  Being a professional, he would know! So I gave in.

WOW, what a difference.  I am now looking at you through a HUGE monitor.  (A Hewlett Packard model  HPw2408h, if you want to know.) I love it. The color is so rich and clear and the desk area is so wide, I can have several windows open and usable at once! No minimizing!

But then we played some sound through the built-in speakers.. it was AWFUL.  Remember those old transistor radio speakers?  Sounded like that.. very tinny.  I am not a music type person, so after listening for a while, I got used to it.. but those first 10 minutes or so were just terrible. I decided that if *I* noticed them, they must be pretty awful.

When I mentioned this to hubby, he asked if I wanted to take back the monitor.  I told him no.. I got the monitor primarily to look at,  not listen to so this would do… maybe just get some nice speakers.  Well, he came home last night with some *serioius* computer speakers.  (Altec Lansing VS2421 for those of you taking notes.)

These things have a subwoofer box that goes under the desk, the left and right speakers up on stands (for free and clear sound) and a controller that sits here on the desk for power, volume, treble control, aux input (for listening to mp3 player through speakers!), headphone jack and a built in mic for chatting or recording.

I have to say, I am very pleasesd with the whole set up.. monitor and speakers.  Sitting here computing, drawing and listening to videos and music is a much better experience.  Thank you, honey!

All you need is an “adaptor”…something to interpret a wireless signal into something that the computer can read. These are called “wireless adaptors” or more recently, “dongles.”  Ideally, you want one you can plug into the USB port of your computer.  Depending on the type of adaptor you choose,  a wireless adaptor can cost anywhere from $10 to $30.  The biggest difference in brands seems to be sensitivity and range, so read packaging or catalog descriptions carefully to compare.

The main thing you need to know before you go out the door is what kind of wireless signal does your computer need to support?

• If you are hooking up your desk computer to the wireless network, look at the router (not the modem)… printed somewhere on there (or in the paperwork) is the type of signal it broadcasts. (Mine is “Wireless-N” and is printed on a sticker on the bottom of the router.)
• If you are adding a wireless peripheral to your computer, like a wireless keyboard or wireless headphones, look on the box or paperwork for that device. (I am adding a wireless graphic pad to my desktop computer, which uses a “bluetooth” signal.)

After you have purchased your adaptor, installation is very simple.  They all come with a disk of “drivers” (the software for the adaptor) and a quick start guide.  Just follow the directions and you will be set up for wireless computing in a jiffy!

Witchy Tip:  First, let me say that for computer novices I strongly recommend Mcaffee and Norton and other paid-for programs.  They are specifically designed to be user-friendly and they update regularly and automatically.  I personally use these for my own computers.

That being said, who can blame anyone for trying to save a little money where they can?  There are many free antivirus programs which provide quality protection for your computer that is on par with big name antivirus programs.

If you would like to investigate free antivirus protection for your comptuer, I would recommend you review articles by PC Magazine and check out the reviews and downloads at Cnet’s DOWNLOAD.COM.  Write down the names of two or three programs that interest you, then search the internet to see what people are saying.

When you have made your selection, go to that product’s website (or a respected download site, such as Download.com) and download and install the program onto your computer.  If you have questions or problems, look around the product’s website for a FAQ (“Frequently Asked Questions”) page first.  If your question or problem is not addressed there, contact the product’s support staff or join their forum if they have one!

Witchy Tip:  Do not run two antivirus programs at the same time.  Since they access the same parts of your computer, they may conflict with each other and disable the programs or slow down/crash your computer.

Whether you choose paid or free antivirus protection for your computer, make sure that you update frequently!  Use the program’s auto-update feature. This keeps your computer protected from the latest known virus problems on the internet.

Surf Safely!

Turns out that just because a cord fits into the little slot does NOT mean that the cord is appropriate for the device. I had picked a cord that was for another device and it allowed too much power to go through! *sizzle*

If I had labeled my cords using a label and a Sharpie pen, (or one of these handy cord tags) I would have been sure to have the right one and not risked losing all my pictures.

So this is my tip of the day! Label all your cords! I already do that for the incredible amount of cables coming out from the back of my computer so I know what cord goes to what, but I haven’t done this for my portable devices. I found out the hard way about not having the correct cord for the correct device. If the external drive cord had a label on it, I wouldn’t have chosen the first cord out of the drawer that fit in the back of my drive.

Do you already label your cords? How do you do that? How do you store your detachable power cords? Share your cord labeling and storage tips with us!

(BTW: I am about to cry over the possibility of losing my pictures. I am hopeful that the folks at my husband’s office can recover the pictures for me. If not, I will have to pay a data recovery service to have a go. Keep your fingers crossed!)

To use Google, go to google.com and type in what you are looking for and click the “Google Search” button. A listing of websites which contain the information you’re looking for will show. Just click on the website in the list that is most likely to answer your query.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I would like to direct you to Google Guide, a website devoted to teaching people how to use Google. If you are a total beginner, click the “Novices Click Here” button. The basic what’s and how-to’s are explained in a nice tutorial.

An example search: I would like to know what an “RSS feed” is. I go to Google.com and type in “RSS feed” and click the “Google Search” button. This page lists my search results. As you can see, there are several sites to choose from which explain RSS!

Google is not the only search engine out there, it’s not even the first search engine on the internet! But it is definitely the biggest. In fact, the verb “google” has come to mean “look up something on the internet” no matter which search engine you use!

FYI, some other search engines are: Yahoo Search, MSN search, Ask…If you want to see more, look up “search engine” in a search engine!

Witchy Says:  Since different search engines seek and sort results in different ways, you can sometimes find information on one that you can’t find on another. There are engines (programs) that search the same terms in several search engines at once! If you are having trouble finding something, try Dogpile.com… it will give you results from Google, Yahoo, MSN and ASK at once!

SimpleHelp.net is a good place to check out when you want to know how to do something specific. They also have lots of Macintosh information for those of you Apple lovers out there!

HelpwithPCs.com offers tutorials and study notes to help you get the most out of your PC. And it’s for people like us!

Sometimes it’s hard to have a chat about the weather with our online friends from other countries…their temps are Celsius and our temperatures are gaged in Fahrenheit. There are online converters all over the web that translate Celsius to Fahrenheit and back. I have this one bookmarked: Fahrenheit to Celsius converter by National Weather Service in Buffalo, NY.