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Lots of info available for computers. That's what the internet runs on! :) Computers make my life easier and harder at the same time.

Here you will find some of the places I visit and some I am just getting to know. Not everything is covered here, but hopefully most of the basics and some of the advanced. As far as operating systems, I have used Linux off-and-on since it was a beta version back in 1993. My son loves Mac OS X. Currently, I am using Microsoft Windows.

There are some things I really can't live without:

• Web Hosting. Unless you are using free sites to host your web pages or blogs, you need to buy some hosting services. But there are literally thousands of hosting companies. I've done a lot of research and have listed the most reputable hosts. As far as I have found these are the best web hosting options. I've compared the top ones so save yourself some time. It's a lot of work comparing features.
• File Manager. I have been using Altap (formerly Servant) Salamander - File Manager for a long time and it just keeps getting better. It is a dual-pane file manager layout, similar to the old Norton Commander. Too many features to describe them all. It's probably my top pick.
• File Viewer. No question for me; the choice is IrfanView. It can handle nearly any graphic file format, display, print, make thumbnails, and convert to other file formats either a file at a time or in batch mode.
• Password Manager. For security, you really need a different password for everything, and unfortunately many people use the same password everywhere. And of course, the best passwords should be long and hard to guess, but that also makes them hard to remember. That's why I started using Whisper, a free password manager. I only need to remember one password to access all of my passwords. It can generate long passwords for you and you can give it expiration dates on the passwords to remind you to change them occasionally. Whisper is nice, but once it is opened, the program remains unlocked, potentially creating a security risk. In addition, when the passwords are copied for pasting into web pages, the passwords remain in the clipboard: another security risk. So I switched to Password Safe, which auto-locks at a user specified time interval and erases the clipboard when Password Safe is minimized. There is no password expiration date feature like Whisper had, but I prefer the enhanced security features. The need for secure passwords became real to me when I became a victim of attempted identity theft. Fortunately, I quickly changed my login ID and password and notified the credit bureau for a fraud alert on my account.
• Anti-virus software. Several free anti-virus tools are available. This is a "must have" for safe computing, especially when downloading from the internet. I use Avast (my favorite). Some people like AntiVir or AVG.
• Spyware remover. There are several good, free tools for detecting and removing spyware programs that may have invaded your computer. SpywareBlaster, Spybot Search & Destroy, and Ad-Aware are ones I like. I use them periodically. Each has different strengths from the others, so get all three.
• Popup blocker. I use Proxomitron, a very effective and free blocker of pop-up windows and ads. ProxoPatcher is a very nice enhancement to Proxomitron that makes many of the features easier to use.
• HTML Preprocessor. This entire web site is created using the PPWizard preprocessor. It supports powerful macros and the ability to include bits of html code to result in an easily maintained web site. The code for an entire web site can be regenerated in seconds. It runs on any platform through the Regina REXX interpreter.
• Internet Browser. I use Firefox. I really like the session saving feature, which returns me to all my tabs (each with their own history intact) if I need to restart Firefox or my computer. I also like the add-ons that customize it with extra features. My favorite add-ons are
  • Adblock Plus and it's Element Hiding Helper. With these two, I can selectively block annoying parts of web pages, like blinking or vibrating advertisements, which are very distracting to me. I know, that is the intent of the advertisement, to get my attention. But I like very low levels of stimulation. (I tend to prefer no radio, no music, no TV. Just silence and no visual stimulation.) So, my preference is a bland web page that contains only the content I want.
  • Add Bookmark Here. This lets me easily add bookmarks at the location I want in my bookmark list iwth one click.
  • AI Roboform Toolbar. This isn't free, but it is worth the price. So easy to fill in form data or to automatically log me in by filling in username and password. It is password protected so I only need to remember the master password. It can generate very secure and unique passwords for each of my sites, like bank, credit cards, online shopping, etc.
  • Firebug. A complete HTML development environment to debug or tweak HTML design. Fantastic!
  • Tab Mix Plus. Adds many nice features to tab function and other enhancements.
  • Yahoo Toolbar. Keeps many of my Yahoo tools just a click away.
  • DownloadHelper. Lets me download special media that normally won't download, like YouTube videos.
• Text Editor. I had been using the Vim text editor to create this web site. I have used the graphical version, GVim. It is highly configurable through macro plugins. The syntax color highlighting provides a nice visual structure to the code. No wonder it has been consistently voted the most favorite text editor at Linux Journal. But it can be hard for newcomers to learn. Then there's emacs. Very powerful, but can also be hard for new users to learn. I had been using TextPad. It is easy to learn, has syntax highlighting, and has many capabilities. But more recently, I have switched to using Notepad++. It is Open Source and I think I like it better than TextPad.
• URL Shortener. TinyURL is a fantastic free service. If you have long URLs that might "break" in an email, TinyURL will make an equivalent URL that won't break.

Enter a long URL to make tiny: