These are just some of the features that you get to enjoy with Picasa

Beautiful web albums
Show your photos at their best. View full-screen slideshows, see your pictures arranged on a global map, enjoy video playback, and more.

Search and Explore
Picasa Web Albums lets you browse and search photos in public albums — perfect for scoping out your next vacation destination. Or visit our Explore page to discover what’s new, interesting and popular.

Get organized
Picasa automatically finds all the photos on your PC, wherever they are, and will organize them in seconds.

Be creative
Use Picasa to design and print beautiful photo collages, create fun video slideshows, add photo text or view your favorite photos on your desktop or screensaver.

It’s free to use
Picasa is free to download, and Picasa Web Albums provides 1 gigabyte of free storage — that’s enough space for 4,000 wallpaper-size photos.
Download Picasa 3

Sharing made simple
Publish your favorite photos online with one click. Create stunning online photo albums to share with friends and family, or public albums for the world to see. Get notified when your "Favorites" post new photos.

Edit to perfection
Improve almost any picture with Picasa’s one-click fixes for common problems like red-eye, color, and lighting. Or, use tuning and effects to make your best photos look even better.

Focus on people
People matter in your photos. Our technology lets you automatically organize your online photo collection according to who’s in each picture.
See name tags in action »

Order photos & gifts, or print at home
Picasa makes it easy for you to get the best out of your color printer. And Picasa Web Albums gives your friends the ability to download full-resolution pictures, so they can do the same. When ordering online, choose freely between major retail services.

In my opinion, Picasa is a powerful tool and is comparable to iphoto on the MAC. Give Picasa a try and I can assure you that you will not be left disappointed. I have attached a short video clip that I found on youtube.com.

George Orozco

Well, I would like to introduce Drive Snapshot disk imaging software. This program is a disk imaging utility that does an excellent job of taking a well….a snapshot of your drive at it’s current state. This is not to be used a a daily backup utility but more of a square one utility. This is how I would recommend you use this applications.

1. Do a fresh install of your operating system.
2. Load all of your hardware drivers
3. install all of the applications that you are really going to use. (do not install applications if you are not going to use them)
4. Update windows with all of the current updates.

Now that you have a solid installation of windows with all of the fixin’s., you now install and run snapshot and create an image of your drives current state. Most likely you will need to use a blank DVD to burn the image or you could even copy the image to an external drive. Now every time you need to re-install your OS, you can restore from this image in a matter of minutes and with a couple of clicks your system is up and running.

Give Drive snapshot a try for free for 30 days. All you really need is to create a image of your drive once so you will have 30 days to do this. If you like the program please buy it. If you do not or cannot buy it at least you have a snapshot of your drive that you can always use to restore from. You nothing to loose! well except your data and valuable time if you do not give this app a try.

http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm

George Orozco

There has been allot of hype lately regarding the Conficker worm (Virus) that could possible infect 15 million PC’s  or even more on April 1st 2009 just in time for April fools day. The reality of this worm is that it’s not a joke.

First spotted in November 2008 by computer security researchers, Conficker attacks computers running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows XP or Vista operating systems. Conficker is made possible by a security flaw in the Windows software that allows an infected machine to spread the worm to other Windows computers through the Internet. Microsoft issued a fix for the problem months ago, but millions haven’t installed it. Conficker can also be spread by infected removable disks or USB drives. If a machine is already infected, getting a cure can be difficult, because Conficker will block the computer from visiting websites that provide antivirus products.

What can you do to protect yourself against this worm and any other viruses in the wild. I will explain the essential steps that you can take to protect your systems from attack of these nasty little viruses if you are using a Windows OS.

Windows updates

Keep up to date with windows updates by clicking here This is number one in the priority list of keeping your system safe from security exploits that allow hackers to infect your system.

Antivirus

Install an antivirus and keep  it up to date. Your antivirus will be of no good if it does not know how to detect the new viruses that are in the wild.  Most users install an antivirus and never update it. I advise updating your antivirus at least twice per week. Most antivirus programs can automate this process for you. This is probably the biggest mistake people make when installing an antivirus.

Email

Do not open email attachments from people you do not know. Actually, do not open email attachments period! Most often, your friends and family members might be forwarding an email they received from another person that could contain a virus and they will send it to you without knowing it contains a virus! It is best to share photos via an online photo sharing sites like Picasa, flickr, photobucket to name a few. Send and receive emails in plain text. This is probably the best security email option that you can implement. Yes I know.. your emails will no longer have all of the glitters and smiley faces but you will limit the possibility of virus being spread via email by using text only emails.

User habits

This goes without saying but the more danger you expose your computer the greater the risk of getting infected. Do not visit sites that could possibly contain bad scripts such as Adult websites, gambling sites, file sharing sites. Do not download and share songs, photos, videos using peer to peer sharing sites like limewire edonkey or torrent sites.

Final thought, It is your responsibility to keep your system safe and up to date and failure to do so can and will result in your system being infected and the infection of other computers. Keeping your system up to date is a simple thing to do and if done regularly, you are affectively joining the fight against these low bum hackers who want to infect as many computers as they can.

George Orozco

There has been allot of hype lately regarding the Conficker worm (Virus) that will be put into the wild on April 1st just in time for April fools day possible infecting 15 million PC’s  or even more. The reality of this worm is that it’s not a joke.

First spotted in November 2008 by computer security researchers, Conficker attacks computers running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows XP or Vista operating systems. Conficker is made possible by a security flaw in the Windows software that allows an infected machine to spread the worm to other Windows computers through the Internet. Microsoft issued a fix for the problem months ago, but millions haven’t installed it. Conficker can also be spread by infected removable disks or USB drives. If a machine is already infected, getting a cure can be difficult, because Conficker will block the computer from visiting websites that provide antivirus products.

What can you do to protect yourself against this worm and any other viruses in the wild. I will explain the essential steps that you can take to protect your systems from attack of these nasty little viruses if you are using a Windows OS.

Windows updates

Keep up to date with windows updates by clicking here This is number one in the priority list of keeping your system safe from security exploits that allow hackers to infect your system.

Antivirus

Install an antivirus and keep  it up to date. Your antivirus will be of no good if it does not know how to detect the new viruses that are in the wild.  Most users install an antivirus and never update it. I advise updating your antivirus at least twice per week. Most antivirus programs can automate this process for you. This is probably the biggest mistake people make when installing an antivirus.

Email

Do not open email attachments from people you do not know. Actually, do not open email attachments period! Most often, your friends and family members might be forwarding an email they received from another person that could contain a virus and they will send it to you without knowing it contains a virus! It is best to share photos via an online photo sharing sites like Picasa, flickr, photobucket to name a few. Send and receive emails in plain text. This is probably the best security email option that you can implement. Yes I know.. your emails will no longer have all of the glitters and smiley faces but you will limit the possibility of virus being spread via email by using text only emails.

User habits

This goes without saying but the more danger you expose your computer the greater the risk of getting infected. Do not visit sites that could possibly contain bad scripts such as Adult websites, gambling sites, file sharing sites. Do not download and share songs, photos, videos using peer to peer sharing sites like limewire edonkey or torrent sites.

Final thought, It is your responsibility to keep your system safe and up to date and failure to do so can and will result in your system being infected and the infection of other computers. Keeping your system up to date is a simple thing to do and if done regularly, you are affectively joining the fight against these low bum hackers who want to infect as many computers as they can.

George Orozco

About 1 year ago I was selling some electronic goods on the site Craigslist.org when I recieved an email from a person who used the user name cherryk40. This person emailed me with interest in purchasing the item that I was selling on Craigslist. I was selling a Digital camera for the price of 350.00 USD. Here is the exact email that was sent to me.

“I’m interested in the immediate purchase of this item i will be paying
you a sum of $450 i will want to complete the transaction in a very
timely manner and i will like you to ship out the item through via
USPS EXPRESS MAIL SERVICES(EMS SPEEDPOST)if you can do this,email me
with your paypal id so that i can proceed with payment right away.let
me quickly say that i will be sending this unit to my son in WEST
AFRICA ,he need this item urgent for his birthday gift, i will be
happy if u can email me back now.”

So right off the bat I knew something was a little fishy. Something just did not sounds right in the email and the fact that this person was willing to pay me 100.00 more than the asking price was a bit weird. Anyway, since this person was willing to pay me via Paypal I was willing to go ahead with this transaction as long as the funds were deposited into my paypal account prior to me shipping the item. So I gave this person a FAKE paypal account name just to see where this would go. Sure enough no later than 30 minutes I got an email from Paypal informing me that there were funds pending to be deposited into my account but due to NEW security measures, the funds could only be deposited into my account once I provided a tracking number.

So let’s examine this for a second.

1. I gave a fake paypal account name but funds were ready to be deposited into my paypal account?
2. I need to provide a tracking number in order to have the funds released and deposited into my account?
3. This person is willing to pay me 100.00 more than my asking price?
4. I need to ship the item to some place in West Africa?
5. Send the item via USPS express mail.

Hmmm… Did you spot the scam?

This is how this scam works. The buyer does not need to have your correct paypal account name as he/she never actually deposits money to your account. They all ready have your email address so they wait for a while and send you a spoof email with paypal logos and the works making the email look legitimate from paypal.

These people then make a very generous offer and tell you they are willing to pay you way over what you are asking price. Why not! it’s not like they will actually pay you anyways.

They want you to ship the item to some country like Africa where trying to get local officials to investigate this fraud is nearly impossible.

Now here is where they get you, in the spoof email from Paypal, it indicates that you have funds waiting for you but due to NEW security measures you must first provide a tracking number. This means that you must have shipped the item by now. Opps. now the package is in the process of making it’s way to it’s new home in Africa. You will get another spoof email from paypal thanking you for your prompt shipment and that your funds will be available within 24hours. Note that you sent the item via USPS express mail so within the 24 hour time, your goodies are far out of the country! You sent the item, got a bunch of fake emails, and no money.

The moral of the story is DO NOT sell to anyone that is not willing to meet you face to face and if you do have to sell a high ticket item to someone who is not local make sure that the funds are within your possession and cleared prior to mailing anything!

I hope this helps all of you out there and will make it for a more enjoyable, safer selling experience.

George Orozco

At first I thought she was kidding but she was dead serious! I responded, well, it’s not different than bringing home pens from work right? She replied, well, no that is not stealing. I then asked her, how about when you make duplicate copies of CD’s and DVD’s, is that not stealing? my friend replied, NO! it’s not the same and it’s not stealing.

I asked her if she ever used the internet while at work. She replied yes. I then asked her, well is that not stealing? you are using company time and resources for your own personal use while on company time. She giggled and just said, well it only takes me a few seconds to check my email. I asked her how many employees are employed at your work, around a thousand she replied. Hmm.. Multiply a few seconds by 1000 on an average of 5-10 times per day and that totals allot of wasted company time I told her. To my surprise my friend still replied “Well it’s not the same and it’s not stealing”

Just then, my friend got a cell phone call from someone who was asking for a copy of a DVD to be made for them. My friend gladly agreed to duplicate a COPYRIGHTED DVD and create a copy for her friend. I am sure that the creators of the DVD did not intend for their material to be duplicated and distributed freely by others.

So, the question is, have our ethics changed with the introduction of computers and the internet? Do we only view stealing of physical items as True Stealing? But it’s ok to download someone else’s music, duplicate and pirate DVD movies just because technology has provided us with the ease of accomplishing these tasks?

Here is the definition of theft taken from Wikipedia

“In criminal law, theft (also known as stealing or filching) is the illegal taking of another person’s property without that person’s freely-given consent”

You decide, and let me know what your definition of theft is.

George Orozco

The red arrows indicate changes flowing from a running program into your computer. The box labeled Hard disk (no sandbox) shows changes by a program running normally. The box labeled Hard disk (with sandbox) shows changes by a program running under Sandboxie. The animation illustrates that Sandboxie is able to intercept the changes and isolate them within a sandbox, depicted as a yellow rectangle. It also illustrates that grouping the changes together makes it easy to delete all of them at once.

Benefits of the Isolated Sandbox

• Secure Web Browsing: Running your Web browser under the protection of Sandboxie means that all malicious software downloaded by the browser is trapped in the sandbox and can be discarded trivially.

• Enhanced Privacy: Browsing history, cookies, and cached temporary files collected while Web browsing stay in the sandbox and don’t leak into Windows.

• Secure E-mail: Viruses and other malicious software that might be hiding in your email can’t break out of the sandbox and can’t infect your real system.

• Windows Stays Lean: Prevent wear-and-tear in Windows by installing software into an isolated sandbox.

Download Sandboxie now and give it a try!

I highly recommend this product to everyone especially if you have youngsters in the house.

George Orozco

To download and set as your desktop wallpaper, follow these instructions.

• Click on any of the wallpapers
• right click on the wallpaper and click on select as background

Now you can enjoy your new Windows 7 wallpaper. Enjoy!

Wallpapers

GB versions

US versions

Australian versions

George Orozco

Google Voice is currently open only for GrandCentral users Learn More Get an Invite

Google number – One number for all your calls and SMS

• Call screening – Announce and screen callers
  
• Listen in – Listen before taking a call
  
• Block calls – Keep unwanted callers at bay
  
• SMS – Send, receive, and store SMS
  
• Place calls – Call US numbers for free
  
• Taking calls – Answer on any of your phones
  
• Phone routing – Phones ring based on who calls
  
• Forwarding phones – Add phones and decide which ring
  

Google voicemail – Voicemail as easy as email, with transcripts

• Voicemail transcripts – Read what your voicemail says
  
• Listen to voicemail – Check online or from your phone
  
• Notifications – Receive voicemails via email or SMS
  
• Personalize greeting – Vary greetings by caller
  
• Share voicemail – Forward or download voicemails
  

Voice features – More cool things you can do with Google Voice

• Conference calling – Join people into a single call
  
• Call record – Record calls and store them online
  
• Call switch – Switch phones during a call
  
• Mobile site – View your inbox from your mobile
  
• GOOG-411 – Check directory assistance
  
• Manage groups – Set preferences by group
  

Google is paving the road to online telephony and setting the standards for others to follow. I am an avid user of Skype  and I love Skype but it looks like Google is really exceeding the standards and going way beyond the features that Skype currently offers. I might just make the switch to Google voice sooner than I expected. Google voice is still in the Beta mode and only open to select users. If you would like to be notified of when Google Voice will be available, you can register here.  As you can see, technology is changing the way we communicate and in return changing our lives into a more connected world. And to think this is only the beginning of telecommunications. hmm… what will the next 20 years bring us?

George Orozco