According To Jim Warholic

Repairing Apple iMac G5 Motherboards

2008-07-09T00:52:00.000-07:00

I had to get the lead out when it comes to repairing the Apple iMac G5 PPC motherboard problems. Beware, don't try this repair yourself, unless you have help or experience with all types of handy tools at your disposal. Also, beware of the time commitment involved with this Apple computer repair. "Be prepared," is the old Boy Scout motto, and that is no lie when it comes to tackling this Apple product repair yourself.

Before Apple iMac G5 PowerPC Motherboard Repairs Picture

This is a close up view of the Apple iMac G5 Motherboard with the bulging, leaking, and exploding capacitors problem. This Apple G5 PPC motherboard is three years and two months old. The symptoms of the problem were: video shaking, video disappearing, video lockup, system lockup, intermittently could not power down, intermittently powering up problems, and strange program lockups. Here is a YouTube Video from someone else that shows a very similar Apple iMac G5 startup problem with the video display. Note the vertical lines in the video display.

After Apple iMac G5 Motherboard Repairs Picture

Apple iMac G5 Motherboard PowerPC capacitors replaced. This picture shows the locations of the new capacitors installed. Note: Heights and Diameters of new capacitors are slightly bigger than the originals. Upgraded to 1,800 uf 10 volts from the original 1,800 uf 6.3 volts. Cover still clears all components. Important notes are as follows. It appears as though lead free solder was used and a polymer was coated on the assembled motherboard on the bottom. A very hot soldering iron is required. Doing it yourself is not for the faint at heart.

Everything has to be disassembled in order to get to the bottom of the motherboard. The cover is easy to take off by simply turning the three screws completely counter clockwise on the bottom of the computer's lower edge and then lifting up the rear cover. See this YouTube Video for what is inside the iMac G5 Computer. However once the cover is removed, the rest of the computer disassembly is an enormous task for most non technical people and requires special tools. Apple never intended for the end user to remove everything that I removed in order to get to the root of the matter. Spline or Torx are not necessarily needed, though it would be helpful. I had some precision screwdrivers that fit somewhat precisely in the fasteners. Some additional notes: Not only do you need a super hot soldering iron, but you also need to grind off some of the polymer resin that is on the bottom of the circuit board to get to the lead free solder in the first place. While removing the 20 capacitors I experienced broken leads from capacitors that were falling apart and leads that pulled out of the capacitors themselves because of the extra heat that is required to melt the lead free solder in the first place. I had to use a Dremel in various ways. Prior to removal it was first necessary to grind off the polymer resin and some of the excessive lead lengths from the old capacitors with a small grinder tool attached to the Dremel, and then drilling out some holes with a number 72 carbide drill, when the leads broke off in the holes of the printed circuit board. When replacing the capacitors it is important to note which are the positive and which are the negative leads when installing in the board. New capacitors generally have a long and short lead (short lead is usually the negative lead) along with a negative indicator written on the side of the cap itself. Do not install capacitors in backwards or you will blow up the new caps and possibly damage the circuit board. The circuit board has the positive hole marked on the printed circuit board itself. Here is a how-to demonstration of how to replace capacitors.

Believe it or not, I have to say the finished project has worked like a champ. As a matter of fact, I have used the same iMac G5 here to do the pictures with a program called Skitch, and posting this article using Firefox running on the iMac too.

Note: I inspected my work a couple of weeks later, and decided to replace the five other capacitors also. I found some evidence online that these other capacitors go bad too. The 20 capacitors that I first replaced all looked good. Upgraded these five additional caps from the original factory installed 1,000 ufd, 16 vdc caps, to 1,000 ufd, 25 volts DC, operating temperature range: -55º to 105ºC. I picked up both sets of capacitors at Halted Electronics a surplus store in Santa Clara, CA. They also have some new electronic components available at the store too. Generally speaking, it is usually OK, and advisable, to increase the DC voltage rating of the capacitors while maintaining the same MFD, microfarad rating. Don't cut corners. As a suggestion, if you see any of the capacitors that have problems, it is highly advisable to replace the entire group of caps at the same time. If one or two of the caps are in the failure mode now, they would more than likely all be destined to fail in a very short time.

Another interesting bit of information regarding noisy iMac G5 fans and internal temperatures that I discovered after the G5 motherboard repair, it became apparent, the computer fans were running a lot quieter. No more Hoover Vacuum cleaner sounds. Also, the overall temperature of the computer is operating at lower temperatures in my opinion. I found this free Temperature Monitor program for keeping track both instantaneously and in a graph chart form, of what the CPU, Hard Drive, and Smart Disk drive temperatures are operating at. I did not have the program installed prior to the problem, but after I repaired the printed circuit board, I installed the temperature recorder and discovered that the CPU temperature does not get much above 65 degrees C, even with a warm ambient room temperature. The average temperature of the CPU is somewhere in the 58 degree C range (136 degrees Fahrenheit). Note: I keep my computer running for days and weeks on end.

I am still a bit ticked off that I had to go and do this myself. I had the Apple extended care warranty, but I missed out on the free repair by two months. If I had the problem occur two months earlier, Apple would have covered it free of charge. Apple never sent a message concerning the problem. It took some investigative work to find out that they had issues with the capacitors leaking, but they downplayed the severity of the problem.

This should not happen with a product three years old. In Apple's defense I can tell you that I found evidence that many other computer manufacturers also had the capacitor problems from buying low cost capacitors from a stolen electrolytic capacitor recipe from Taiwan. See this video showing computer circuit boards with bulging, leaking, and exploded capacitors on board from a variety of computer manufacturers. While I am a fan of Apple products, I just have to say this is not one of their stellar computer products moments. I'm sure it was a business decision to not have a product recall, but I think they should have had one. Of course, I guess you could say, I'm a little biased on this issue.

Yes, Apple was nice enough to take a look inside the iMac at the local Mac Genius Bar, and give me a heads up on what the problem was, though it only took a five second look inside for the Apple guy to tell me that I need a new motherboard, and oh by the way, the total cost (approximately $750.00) was going to be two thirds the cost of a brand new computer. The Apple guys suggested I buy a new Apple desktop computer, one that is faster and better.

I said, "not today."

Here's what you get inside the Apple iMac G5 Desktop computer. CD/DVD in the upper left, two fans in the top center, hard drive top right, two memory slots available for up to 2 GB of two 1 GB DDR PC 3200 memory sticks, power supply in the lower section, and the mother board in the middle. Look closely, and you can see the on board battery for the motherboard.

Printout this PDF file of the Apple iMac G5 Motherboard Repair article for reference before you take a bite of your Apple apart. O pun the back door.

As one last thought before the night is over, lead free solder is a pain in the rear. Repairing all types of electronics is going to become increasingly difficult with these high temperatures required to remove and install new components in their place. We are becoming more and more, a disposable society.

Also, I think it is quite comical reading the Apple repair extension program especially the section about not fixing the desktop computer yourself, now that I have fixed it myself. And, the one that says if you don't have any of these problems there is no need to do anything, "just wait for it to break after warranty," my two cents added.

Read it for yourself. I guess I am breaking all the rules here.

And for those that want to check out their iMac G5 for the extended service, here is the quoted information from Apple support.

iMac G5 Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues

November 2, 2006

Frequently Asked Questions

The iMac G5 Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues applies to first generation iMac G5 computers that have video or power-related issues as a result of a specific component failure. If your iMac G5 is exhibiting any of the symptoms listed below and your computer's serial number is within the noted ranges, your computer may be eligible for repair, free of charge. If Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) determines that your iMac G5 computer is eligible as part of the program, the repair will be covered by Apple for up to three years from the original date of purchase even if your iMac G5 is out of warranty.

This is a worldwide Apple program.

Affected systems will exhibit one of the following video- or power-related symptoms:

Scrambled or distorted video

No video

No power

Note: If your iMac G5 is not experiencing any of these symptoms, you do not have to contact Apple or any Apple Authorized Service Provider.

Which iMac G5 computers are affected by the iMac G5 Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues?

The program is available for certain first generation iMac G5 models that were sold between approximately September 2004 and June 2005 featuring 17- and 20-inch displays with 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz G5 processors.

The affected iMac G5 computers have serial numbers where the first 5 digits fall into the ranges noted below.

Serial Number ranges:

W8435xxxxxx - W8522xxxxxx

QP435xxxxxx - QP522xxxxxx

CK435xxxxxx - CK522xxxxxx

YD435xxxxxx - YD522xxxxxx

Some second generation iMac G5 computers have serial numbers that fall within the upper band of the ranges listed below. Only first generation iMac G5 computers are affected by this program.

Where do I find the serial number of my iMac G5?

The 11-digit serial number is located on a label under the foot of the iMac G5. There is a bar code underneath the serial number.

To view the label, hold the sides of the iMac and gently lay the computer face down on a soft, clean towel or cloth.

Is the iMac G5 Repair Extension program available for other Apple computers?

This program applies only to the systems noted in this FAQ. Other versions of the iMac G5 line are not part of this program. Click here for more information on how to identify iMac G5 models.

How can I tell if my computer is affected by the component failure identified for the iMac G5 Repair Extension Program?

An Apple technical support representative or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) will need to physically examine your computer to determine if the component failure identified for the iMac G5 Repair Extension Program affects your computer and, if so, arrange for the repair.

How can I participate in the iMac G5 Repair Extension Program?

To participate in the program, please bring your iMac G5 to the Mac Genius Bar at your local Apple Retail store or Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP), or call your local Apple Contact Center.

Apple Retail Store

Apple Authorized Service Provider

Apple Support Contact information

What if my computer exhibits symptoms not caused by the component Apple has identified for the iMac G5 Repair Extension Program?

It is possible that your iMac G5 may exhibit video or power issues that are unrelated to the component failure identified by Apple as part of this program and are not covered under this program. Apple or an AASP can help you troubleshoot these issues. If your iMac G5 is not covered under warranty or an extended service agreement, such as the AppleCare Protection Plan, repairs for other issues will be made at your expense if you request that they be made.

I have a remanufactured iMac G5 that fits the description noted. How can I determine whether my iMac G5 qualifies for the program?

If your iMac G5 is one of the models listed and exhibits one or more of the symptoms above, please bring your iMac G5 to the Mac Genius Bar at your local Apple Retail store or Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP), or call your local Apple Contact Center. An Apple technical support representative or an AASP will examine your computer to determine if the component failure identified for the iMac G5 Repair Extension Program affects your computer and, if so, arrange for the repair.

Is there a cost for participating in the iMac G5 Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues?

If Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) determines that your iMac G5 computer is eligible as part of the program, the repair will be covered by Apple even if your iMac G5 is out of warranty. Customers are responsible for transportation costs to eligible ASPs/retail stores.

How long is the iMac G5 Repair Extension Program available?

The program covers affected iMac G5 computers for up to three years from the original date of purchase. Apple will continue to evaluate the repair data and will provide further repair extensions as needed.

Does the iMac G5 Repair Extension Program extend the warranty coverage on my iMac G5?

No. This program does not extend the standard warranty coverage.

Are there any known safety issues caused by this component failure?

No.

Can I determine if my iMac G5 has the component failure and fix it myself?

No. Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) must evaluate whether your iMac G5 computer is eligible as part of the program and then conduct the repair.

If my iMac G5 is still under warranty, how does this program affect me?

If your iMac G5 is eligible for the program and within its warranty period, you will have your system repaired at no cost to you. If your iMac G5 experiences the symptoms described above and is determined to be eligible under this program by Apple or an AASP after your Standard One Year Warranty expires, the program covers affected iMac G5 computers for up to three years from the original date of purchase.

PowerBook G3 Wallstreet Old World Mac Linux Installation

2008-04-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm about five to eight years behind the curve on working with an Apple PowerBook G3 Wallstreet laptop.

Wallstreet PowerBook G3 With Mac OS 9 Installed

A friend gave me the PowerBook to play around with a little. First things first, I decided to totally wipe out and reformat the hard drive. I had a Mac OS 9 CD that I had never used from an older Power PC 6100 computer that I owned during the 90s. Talk about a blast from the past; I remember purchasing the new OS 9 software, but never got around to installing it on the 6100 PowerPC. The operating system software disk sat in the desk for years after I had retired the old 6100 to the garage.

Well, now was the time to put this Mac OS 9 disk to good use. Plopped in the disk to the CD drive that is located on the right side of the PowerBook, as a slide in unit. The left side has a battery that also slides in or out. Believe it or not, the battery actually holds a charge. After I wrote all ones or zeros (can't remember which it was) on the hard drive, I then formated it. Wow, a great big 4 Gigabytes! Ha ha... Any case; first needed to check if I had Internet access. Plugged in the Ethernet cable, clicked on "Browse the Internet" and I see Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.5 Macintosh Edition comes up on the screen. However, the Apple start page does not even display a single thing. Oops, it does show something, but you have to scroll all the way to the right side of the screen.

I had to get something better than Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.5 for this PowerBook. So, it was on an Internet quest for a browser for Mac OS 9 that would be able to display properly. Well, guess what, there really aren't any browsers that can pull their own weight for the old OS 9 software. iCab is actually one browser that looks like it is supported for OS 9. It is a simple browser, but hey it's free. There are other web browsers available that are legacy softwares that can be still downloaded. For example Netscape version 7.0.2 is still available at VersionTracker to download, and can be used with OS 9. The downside to using the old legacy web browsers is that there are a number of pages and websites that will not display properly with these old guys. Here is a link to an Apple forum discussion about Mac OS 9.2 Browser availability.

Back to the PowerBook.

The processor speed on this PowerBook is 266 MHz. This one has 128 MB of memory. Just enough to boot and do a few other things. Supposedly you can upgrade the memory to 512 MB with two memory cards, one 256 MB on the top and one 256 MB on the bottom of the CPU card. There is some doubt as to whether this really is the case for total memory. Apple states in their specs, depending on models, that some of the PowerBook models could go up to 512 MB. I don't know for sure on this one. See: the Apple PowerBook page for more information. User manuals can still be downloaded from the Apple website.

Over at PowerBook Medic you can download, for free, a number of legacy Apple repair manuals for taking apart and repairing many of the older Macs. These manuals are great to learn how to change a hard drive or simply add more memory.

Speaking of taking Macs apart; I think this particular PowerBook has a problem with the PRAM battery. It tends to freeze up unexpectedly.

What is the PRAM Battery for?

Your Mac has a microcontroller/memory chip which stores data that is important to its successful startup and operation. This data is maintained when you shutdown or unplug the Mac by a battery which provides power to the chip. This chip controls the Parameter RAM (PRAM), Non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), the real-time clock and Apple Desktop Bus (ADB). Also the chip sends a constant signal to the power supply, and if this signal is not within specifications, the Mac will either shutdown or freeze.

Read more from: Mac PRAM, NVRAM, CUDA/PMU & Battery Tutorial What, When & How?

Here is another website that has information on what to do if your Mac shuts down unexpectedly and how to zap the PRAM circuit if it becomes corrupted.

Now, on to another Mac note. This particular PowerBook model came with a UH276 Macally CardBus PCMCIA to USB adapter for Mac. The CardBus PCMCIA to USB adapter for Mac is no longer manufactured but We Love Macs website has the cardbus drivers available for downloading for OS X v 10.1, OS X v 10.2, and OS 9. The We Love Macs website also has the cardbus PCMCIA driver download available for the PC.

I have a number of internal hard drives just sitting around and thought I would see if this particular Mac could read and write to an external/internal drive. What I have is a $25.00 to $35.00 universal hard drive adapter from Apricorn that is designed for serial SATA or PATA parallel IDE hard drives to USB. You simply plug the universal adapter in the drive and then the USB cable into the computer. In this case, plugged it into the cardbus PCMCIA USB pigtail.

Once I installed the drivers for the cardbus, and rebooted the PowerBook, the external harddrive showed up on the desktop. See screen shot of the desktop with external drive on the display screen monitor. Cool; I was able to format the drive, and read and write to it. This particular drive was 120 GB in storage space.

So, now I had a fresh install of the operating system, and started playing around with it. I was able to browse the web and do a number of items. However, there are many limitations with this particular machine. It was at this time, I decided to try a different direction for the PowerBook.

Ubuntu - Xubuntu Linux for Old World Macs

Ubuntu is one of the easiest Linux distros to install. I have experience installing Linux on a PC, and thought it shouldn't be too difficult to install on a Mac PowerBook G3. Well, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the old world Macs. First off, you don't simply install the Linux with a click of the mouse. You can't just put a disk in and automatically go through the installation process. No, it requires doing a few things prior to even loading Linux. For example, you have to prepare the hard drive with the proper formating and partitioning. With only 4 GB of harddrive space, there is not much room for installation. The reason is, you need to have the Mac OS 9 operating system installed first on one partition, and set aside another section of the hard drive for Linux.

After downloading and burning a boatload of CDs with lots of Ubuntu versions and Xubuntu (which is a streamlined version of Ubuntu, designed for less memory and smaller hard drives) versions, I discovered that there were only a limited amount of the versions that could be installed. The one I had successfully installed, after a dozen attempts, was Ubuntu v 5.10 Breezy Badger. It only took me two days, working in some spare time, to get it to load. I had to learn a little bit of Linux commands along the way. I have to say, I found the Flyback Transformer website that was quite helpful for Installing Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy Badger on an Old World Powerbook G3 Wallstreet.

I also have to say, this whole experience was an exercise for learning. There are even a few typos in the install procedure that are easily overlooked which were time killers. I suggest you read the entire procedure, including the comments from beginning to the end, before you try and tackle it yourself.

Here are a few important notes to be aware of:

Make sure you format the hard drive with hfs standard formating.

Make sure the filesystem for your os9 installation is hfs standard, and not hfs extended. It appears to make a difference; and the default file format for os9 is hfs extended.

If you don't do this to begin with; when you go to make new directories, and copy files from one location to another within the Linux OS area, you won't be able to do it, and you won't know why. This tripped me up for the longest time. Also, I partitioned the hard drive for 1.1 GB for OS 9 and approx. 3.0 GB set aside unformatted for Ubuntu Linux. Reason for 1.1 GB was the need for more software in the OS 9 installed side of things.

The video was a little buggy. I ended up adding this line of code to the special BootX software addon that allows you to boot either Mac OS or Ubuntu Linux.

video=atyfb:vmode:14,cmode:32

Note: That video command line is slightly different of what the Flyback Transformer website has.

Also, pay particular attention to typing details. For example the procedure calls out for copying and renaming the "initrd.gz" file to "image.ramdisk.gz." However, later on the file naming is accidentally reversed, with ramdisk first instead of image first.

Copy the “initrd.gz” file from the Breezy CD’s boot folder to the top level of the System Folder. Rename the file to “image.ramdisk.gz”.

cp boot/initrd.img hfs/System\ Folder/ramdisk.image.gz

note it should be:

cp boot/initrd.img hfs/System\ Folder/image.ramdisk.gz

Now for some additional feedback. Once I had finally figured out the installation procedure, I made another discovery that proved to be a little difficult to overcome. Remember I said the only installation that I could get to work was Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy Badger. Well, this version is no longer supported for updates, and there seemed to be no easy way of updating to a newer version of 6.06 or 7.10 Ubuntu or even Xubuntu. With that being said, I once again wiped away the harddrive and reinstalled Mac OS 9.

Additionally, I could use this internal drive as the main drive and then add on an external harddrive with the USB cable. As the prices of solid state harddrives come down, or even the price of USB drives that do not require an external power cable, it would be very easy to add on for storage capacity. I saw an 80 GB hard drive at Newegg.com for $54.00. Memory upgrades would cost somewhere between $50.00 and $120.00 to max out the memory. I could install OS X, up to version 10.2 I believe. That would add another $50.00 dollars or so to the price. Add to that a new PRAM battery for $30.00, and you can see you could put a little bit of money into this machine. This places the total somewhere around $200.00 to outfit it. Yes, you can spend less, especially if you have an old hard drive just sitting around. Also, it is important to note that this Wallstreet PowerBook had the CardBus PCMCIA card for USB. That makes it much easier to add an external hard drive. If you have to replace the internal hard drive, the costs could be significantly higher. Also, bear in mind, the hard drive for the operating system needs to be no more than 8 GB in size. So if you install a new hard drive, make sure you are less than 8 GB for the partition for the operating system. You can have more than one partition, so storage can be increased.

So, is it worth doing something with this PowerBook G3 computer? It all depends on what you want to do with it. Good luck on your quest. From the Internet marketing business solution.

Obfuscate Encode HTML or JavaScript

2008-04-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

Obfuscation is the concealment of meaning in communication, making it confusing and harder to interpret.

In cryptography, obfuscation refers to encoding the input data before it is sent to a hash function or other encryption scheme. This technique helps to make brute force attacks unfeasible, as it is difficult to determine the correct cleartext.

In network security, obfuscation refers to methods used to obscure an attack payload from inspection by network protection systems. See Wikipedia for more obfuscation information.

There are many applications for encoding HTML code or JavaScript from prying eyes. In the case of HTML code; converting HTML code to some form of encryption can help conceal information from robot eyes. For example, email addresses that are simply displayed or set as a email link on websites will get significant spam if the email addresses are not concealed from the email harvesting robots. Even form mail is susceptible to spam bots. By using some form of encryption within the form mail itself, can help alleviate the spam gathering robots from being able to gather information automatically online.

One of the best free online HTML encryption and JavaScript obfuscation programs can be found at iFrame.in (Not sure what the status is with the current website at the moment) This tool was great because it allows you to obfuscate/encode your HTML or JavaScript. The way it works, is you simply copy your HTML or JavaScript code into the form window, then click the obfuscate button, and it outputs the code in four different formats.

As I find more websites that do a good job encoding html and javascript, I will list them here. Feel free to suggest any online tools or software programs that can be downloaded for free, or are affordable, that do a good job obfuscating HTML and Javascript code. Here is a free and easy to use HTML Encoder and Decoder, plus the Text Escape tool for escaping extended characters. HTML Encoder - Encode URL, Text and Decoder This online application converts HTML or text to javascript. You can use it for small or larger amounts of text in the web page to be converted to javascript. Note: No encoder will fully hide the information if someone really wants to figure it out. However, this encoder makes it much harder to see from quick prying eyes and the online robots.

Do you feel like your website is obfuscated from the search engine results pages? Well, you might be doing things that are making it difficult for the search engine robots to find your business website online. Professional Web Services can help your business today. For a free Internet marketing evaluation contact us. Professional marketing, advertising, and more sales for your business with Professional Web Services.

Ubuntu and Xubuntu Installation Requirements

2008-03-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

For those of us that have older Intel Pentium I, Intel Pentium II, Apple PowerPC, and AMD microprocessor computers just lying around, collecting dust, wouldn't it be nice to be able to put those computers to good use using new easy to use graphical interface desktops with free Linux operating systems such as Ubuntu and Xubuntu, especially for Internet browsing and free online word processing and spread sheet use or even as a business server application?

The following question was asked by a reader.

Would it be alright to install Ubuntu on a 3 GB Intel Pentium II 333 MHz processor?

Installation of Ubuntu Linux Software all depends on what you want to do with it. Do you want it for desktop use with graphical installation, or as a server (non-graphical installation)?

www.ubuntu.com

Minimum System Requirement

Though, the minimum system requirement is: 256 MB of Ram and 3 GB of available hard drive space for Ubuntu, my gut feeling is you are tight on your available hard drive space. Here are some more system requirements information on the bare minimum requirements and the recommended minimum requirements for installation in order to be able to run well.

Note: The minimum requirements are only likely to allow a server (non-graphical) installation to run well. The recommended minimum requirements should allow you to run a graphical installation of Ubuntu well.

FYI, I have Ubuntu installed on an AMD Athlon 40 GB machine for testing purposes. This is actually a dual boot machine between Windows 2000 Professional and Ubuntu; with an 80GB hard drive partitioned down the middle.

I have a number of Open Source programs like Open Office, and even powerful graphics, photo organization, and picture editing programs such as Google Picasa installed on the Linux Ubuntu system and am using a little over 6 GB of storage on the Ubuntu installed side.

However, with that being said, you could install Xubutu, which is designed for installation on older computers with less disk storage and slower processors. Xubutu is designed to use less system resources.

www.xubuntu.org

For Xubuntu: To run the Desktop CD (LiveCD + Install CD), you need 128 MB RAM to run or 192 MB RAM to install. The Alternate Install CD only required you to have 64 MB RAM. To install Xubuntu, you need 1.5 GB of free space on your hard disk.

Once installed, Xubuntu can run with 64 MB RAM, but it is strongly recommended to use at least 128 MB RAM.

Xubuntu on Wikipedia

For those with an Apple PowerPC you can download version Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon or Xubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft. Turn your old Apple laptop into a new useful word processor and Internet browser.

Best regards, Jim Warholic

PS - Installation of Ubuntu is easy.

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Recover Corrupted Digital Pictures from CF Memory Cards

2008-01-27T11:32:00.000-08:00

Some but not all of my pictures on a CF card for my digital camera are corrupted.

Know of any free software to try and recover the corrupted ones?

That was a question a friend sent me the other day.

Well, as is typically the case with technology issues today, it is called trial by fire learning.

Started off with finding the following page:
Recover Lost Digital Photos from Corrupt Memory Cards

This lead to ZAR Zero Assumption Digital Image Recovery

ZAR 8.3 now includes the (freely available) mode to recover digital images. Generally, the program should work with any media type (e.g. CompactFlash, MemoryStick, SmartMedia and so on) accessible by means of the operating system. You need to use your camera or the appropriate card reader you normally use to transfer images from the camera to the PC.

Current version (ZAR 8.3) supports digital photo recovery for the following file formats:

JPEG

TIFF

CRW - Canon RAW data

MOV, AVI movie

WAV - Waveform audio

CR2 - Canon CR2 RAW format (see notes below).

ORF - Olympus RAW format

I also found the following open source software. The free digital file data recovery software is available for Windows, Apple Mac, Linux, and even DOS operating systems.

PhotoRec is a file data recovery software designed to recover lost files; including video, documents, and archives from Hard Disks and CDRoms, and lost pictures (thus, its 'Photo Recovery' name) from digital camera memory cards. PhotoRec ignores the filesystem and goes after the underlying data, so it will still work even if your media's filesystem has been severely damaged or re-formatted.

PhotoRec is free. This open source multi-platform application is distributed under GNU Public License. PhotoRec is a companion program to TestDisk, an app for recovering lost partitions on a wide variety of filesystems and making non-bootable disks bootable again. You can download TestDisk & PhotoRec here.

For more safety, PhotoRec uses read-only access to handle the drive or memory support of the storage device you are about to recover lost data from. Important: As soon as a pic or file is accidentally deleted, or you discover any missing pictures, do NOT save any more pictures or files to that memory device or hard disk drive; otherwise you may overwrite your lost data. This means that even using PhotoRec, you must not choose to write the recovered files to the same partition they were stored on.

Good Luck on your data recovery.

Note: There may be something worse than corrupted images on a camera memory card when it comes to your business. You could be loosing a lot more sales for your business than you think, by not having a website that is search engine friendly. Is your business-to-business or business-to-consumer website search engine friendly? Find out today with a free Internet marketing and search engine optimization evaluation.

Godaddy 1000 Emails SMTP Relay Limit

2008-01-17T16:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry Godaddy, the last straw for virtual dedicated server with a Plesk Control panel.

About six months ago I started receiving the following email message.

*****************
YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR DAILY SMTP RELAY LIMIT
*****************

Dear James,

You have reached your current SMTP relay limit of 1000 per day on the following hosting account:

Hosting Services

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your hosting server will be unable to send email until the daily SMTP relay limit is reset. The daily SMTP relay limit is reset on all accounts at midnight MST.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you need to send more than 1000 emails per day from your hosting server, you can request an increase through Customer Support. However, increase requests must be justified and must not violate our anti-spam policy.

If you have any questions, please contact Customer Support:

+ Online Support: https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/
support.asp?prog_id=GoDaddy&isc=gdbb727
+ Email: support@godaddy.com
+ Phone: (480) 505-8877

Thanks again for being a GoDaddy.com Hosting customer.

Sincerely,
GoDaddy.com

I followed all the procedures per Godaddy recommendations for preventing unauthorized use of my email servers from sending spam from others. Made sure my email relays were closed. Made sure I did not have any catchall email accounts. This however did not stop the problem and the incoming messages from Godaddy. I sent an email to Godaddy, but was surprised to find out that this was going to be a $75.00 charge for trouble shooting the problem, with no guarantee that it would be fixed. Not good enough for me. After doing a search online, I saw that others were experiencing the same exact problem related to Godaddy virtual dedicated hosting. So, sorry Godaddy, love your domain name registration, but virtual dedicated hosting with Plesk control panel leaves a lot to be desired. Yes, I had other complaints with the Plesk control panel. Future reference, go with a Cpanel over Plesk. Cpanel control panel offers a lot more options to make your web life a lot easier from a webmaster point of view.

So, I moved on to a new hosting company. That will be a future article.

By-the-way, my suspicion of the problem with the Godaddy Virtual Dedicated server account is to do with something called email dictionary attacks. What spammers are doing is inundating in a matter of seconds, a dictionary attack to try to find other emails on a particular domain name. I believe they are using a form gateway to get into the server, however briefly, and launch the dictionary attack. This causes the SMTP gateway to get flagged for the Godaddy account. At that point, you have no recourse than to wait it out till midnight for Godaddy to automatically reset the SMTP email relay gateway, so you can then send and receive emails.

Networking Windows XP, 95/98, and Network Printer

2008-01-02T21:12:00.000-08:00

Wow, What a Way to bring in the New Year!

Needed to help a buddy hookup a network between two Windows XP computers (one a Toshiba laptop, and the other a new Dell Vostro desktop), two old Dell Windows 95 computers, a System 2000 computer, and a networked Brother MFC FAX/Printer/Scanner/Copier. Well, he had a network working with NetBeui, using a network HUB, and a strange Bridge setting on the Toshiba laptop XP system, but when the new Dell Vostro desktop was installed, the network stopped working.

After my buddy had spent four hours on the phone with Dell Tech Support, they decided to send out a repair guy to try a new motherboard. This was after Tech Support tried everything under the sun software wise to get the system to function. My friend is still in the stone-ages for Internet connectivity. He is on a Dial-Up Modem. No high speed service is available where he is located. To far away for DSL from the phone company, and no high speed cable service in his area. Satellite communications is still questionable as far as he is concerned. So, can you image when the Dell Tech support person got online and tried to control his new computer? Slow as molasses for the mouse movement. Got to hand it to Dell, the person went none stop for four hours straight, even though the problem was not fixed.

The Network Problem

Sometimes the Dell Vostro would show up on the network and sometimes it would not. This was the case with even looking at itself on the network. Sometimes it was there and sometimes it was not. Dell tried turning off Windows firewall protection and Norton Internet Firewall Security but that did not seem to change anything. So, that is when they decided to go to the next level, and try the hardware. Because of the holiday season, it was going to take a couple of days to get the motherboard. So, we put our heads together and tried tackling the network issue ourselves.

Since the network was on an old network HUB (read about: The difference between Hubs, Switches, and Routers), I decided to try a couple of spare routers, using DHCP to supply IP addresses to the computers and the network printer. Low and behold, we thought the problem was fixed, but such was not the case. The network still bombed out. Back to the original problem after trying it for some time. The problem was still the disappearing computers on the network. Funny though, the old Windows 95 computers could talk to the Dell Vostro with Windows XP operating system, but not the other way around. Also tried swapping network cables with no change in the problem. FYI, my buddy ordered the Dell Vostro with Windows XP operating system instead of Windows Vista by choice just before the holidays. It arrived a couple of days after Christmas.

I decided to call it a night. My buddy however, started digging through the documentation. Apparently when he turned off Norton Internet Security it started working much more reliably. The network was stable for a couple of hours and he thought that was it. However, after leaving it on overnight, it was discovered that the network was nonoperational again in the morning. So, the service call was still scheduled. Dell contracts out to independents in the local areas for service. The guy came out with a new motherboard and swapped it out a day latter.

Finally, everything seemed to stabilize, but we also tried a different router and setting Norton Internet Security Zones for trusted sources (the other computers' IP addresses) and everything was talking with each other.

Microsoft I figured probably had Windows Updates available for the XP system, even though it was a week old. This was indeed the case. On a dial-up modem it only took four hours to download and install!

Computer Lessons Learned

Technology is changing so fast, that even the customer service techs have trouble keeping up with the new software. The support people are not fully aware of the full spectrum of protection that Norton Internet Security software was doing on the computer from a network standpoint.

Computers are supposed to save time. Ha Ha. Think about all the problems you have had with your computers over the years. Do they really save time? I think not, but in some ways the computers have filled our times with other activities. Internet browsing, searching for products and services, comparing prices, shopping for the new car, and even to the point of replacing TV for online videos.

Just like anything purchased anymore, the customer needs to become more of an expert and pay particular close attention to details.

By-the-way: Networking Mac OS X and Windows XP and Windows 2000

I decided that I would hook up a Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Mac OS X computers that I had together. Took a bit of research online about sharing between the software platforms, but after finding out how to do the settings, everything seemed to function. For advice on how to: Networking Mac and PC, do a Google Search. Good information is available online.

Welcome to the New Internet World

Internet marketing by Professional Web Services

Learn Skitch in 3 Minutes Flat

2007-12-21T16:58:00.000-08:00

This Skitch Video shows you some of the cool things you can do with the program. I'm still waiting for an invite but based on what I see, it allows you to do so many things with ease. Can't wait to take it for a test drive on my Mac.

For those that would like to see some actual examples of how the program has been used check out the posting: Repairing Apple iMac G5 Motherboards. You can do all types of things with this program such as screen shots with comments, arrows, highlights, and graphics added. Really cool.

If you are reading this and have an invite for Skitch; how about sending me one at my Fridays e-mail contact. I would be eternally grateful. Thanks.

Update: I'd like to personally thank the Plasq Crew for an invite to Skitch.

Oh by-the-way, here are a couple of examples of what you can do with Skitch. See the Tumblr posting: This is the Whopper! 300 Ounces of Gold. And also, check out: My What Big Pipes You Have!

Learn more about developing your business website to gain new customers now.

Right Minded Marketing

2007-11-13T17:40:00.000-08:00

Internet Marketing

Left and Right Minded Internet Marketing

Adele Revella is the developer of the acclaimed Pragmatic Marketing® seminar, Effective Product Marketing, wrote an article titled, "Right-brained or left-brained marketing"

Laura Ramos, Forrester Research’s analyst for B2B Marketing wrote a research paper, entitled "Segmentation vs Personas, Where Should B2B Marketers Start?." Laura reports that B2B marketers are way behind their B2C peers in developing effective messaging and marketing strategies, and that the source of our problem is that we don't use both sides of our brain.

The emphasis should be to use both right-minded and left-minded marketing approaches when targeting the B2B Buyers and technology companies.

For both right and left minded approaches to Internet marketing, contact Professional Web Services. Ask for your free Internet marketing evaluation today.

Comcast Modem Chat Session

2007-10-27T16:12:00.000-07:00

Comcast eSupport Chat Transcript

James > Can I hook up another extra modem on my current system, by just getting an extra IP address and calling my extra modem number into Comcast central?

Allan > Hello James, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Allan. Please give me one moment to review your information.

Allan > No, you would need to have a second subscription to the Internet service.

Allan > Which would double your monthly rate.

James > Are you sure of this? Because when I talked to the the install guy last year, I thought he said I could do that.

Allan > Yes, I am sure. If you would like to have a second cable modem, you would need to contact our Sales department, and have them create a "second house key", which will allow a second cable modem to connect. This will result in a second charge for the internet service.

Allan > If you simply want to get a second computer connected to the internet, you could set up a home network.

James > OK thanks for that info. What then does other dynamic IP addresses do for you?

Allan > You can use a hub, switch, or router. Use of a hub or switch will require to you purchase a second IP address from us, which is $4.95 per month.

Allan > A properly configured router will not require an additional IP address.

Allan > The additional IP address allows additional computers to get online, when using a hub or switch.

James > I understand that from a router standpoint that I don't need additional IP addresses. So, what is the reason to have more than one IP address? Is it possibly for gaming? When two people want to be hooked up but with unique IP addresses from the same location?

Allan > The Comcast service comes with a single IP address. When your computer is connected directly to the cable modem, that IP address is assigned to the computer. When you have a router connected to the cable modem, the router will receive that IP address, and then the router will assign separate IP addresses to the computers connected to the router. A Hub and a Switch do not have the ability to assign IP addresses. So when you have a hub/switch connected to the cable modem, the single IP address that Comcast provides will allow one computer to get online. You would need to get a second IP address for the second computer.

James > Does having an extra IP address, and hooking up the extra computer through the hub or switch keep the speed to each computer faster than one IP address and using a router?

Allan > There is no significant difference between using a hub, switch or router.

James > OK, that answers my questions. Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

Allan > You're most welcome.

Allan > Analyst has closed chat and left the room

Thank you Comcast for an excellent and fast response to my questions. I was very impressed with the eSupport Chat Session.

Read the Comcast Home Networking 101 information page.

Read more about installing two or more Comcast Modems at the same location.

Jim Warholic

Business Internet Marketing Solutions

Two Comcast Modems or More at the Same Location?

2007-10-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

Can I install more than one Comcast modem at one location?

The simple answer is yes, but it is going to cost you for a second connection.

The following was a submitted question to me.

Message: My wife and I have two rooms with our respective offices. Our house is new and installed with cable TV/Internet cable connections in the walls of each room. My wife's computer is connected to Comcast through a cable modem with a router. Right now I have set up a wireless connection to her computer through a wireless router in her office but the speed is diminished on my computer. The only other way to connect to Comcast through her modem would be to run an ethernet cable through the attic from her router to my office which could be dangerous.

It seems that every Comcast modem has its own unique MAC address. I do have a another Comcast modem the same as my wife's modem which I purchased on EBAY. Is it possible to clone the MAC address on my wife's Comcast Modem into a router in my office and connect the purchased Comcast modem into the cable connection in my office and be able to get on the internet? Thanks

Regards

H.

Answer: Hello H,

What I think you're asking is,

Can I hook up another Comcast modem using the front end of a router, with the cloned address of the other Comcast modem?

First off, you are right, every Comcast modem does have its own unique MAC address.

The router is meant to be on the output of the Comcast modem, not the input of the Comcast modem. Routers make the Comcast modem think that there is just one unique IP address on the output of the modem. But, in actuality, the router routs the information to each computer on the Local Area Network (LAN). The input from Comcast Central goes into the modem from the coax cable, and not the other ethernet cable for the LAN network.

I too have an extra Comcast modem. When I upgraded to digital voice with Comcast, they installed another modem with phone built-in. My original modem was purchased by me at a local store. When the service guys did the install, they had to call in the new modem to Comcast Central.

My understanding is that only one modem of that address can be installed at a time. If you think about it, this makes sense, otherwise the system would not know which modem is handling the information. However, if you want to pay for another Comcast account, I think you can get two Comcast modems hooked up at the same time but with unique MAC addresses. Gamers, who like lots of speed have done this. Comcast then splits the coax cable and runs it into both modems. Then you have two outputs (one from each modem). Note: just as your router assigns a unique IP address to each computer, the Comcast DHCP system assigns an IP address to each modem.

As far as speed is concerned with your current wireless setup, what is your Internet speed with the current setup?

Compare your speed at both computers.

How far is your wireless computer from the office router?

Certainly the best connection is to have a cable going to both computers from the router. Many times the problem with wireless is the location of the router or the location of the antennas on both the computer and the wireless router, and that they are behind shielded walls or just long distances.

So, as it is, I think you have a spare second modem that can only be used if you pay for another hook up.

Read other posting with a conversation with Comcast for additional modem, router, switch, and hub information for a Comcast home networking system.

Jim Warholic

Marketing Solutions

Setting Up Business E-mail and Personal Email Accounts with POP

2007-10-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

Do you work from home? Do you have a business email account? Do you have a personal email account? Would you like to keep your business and personal emails separate, but easily read and respond to both at the same time, and with the same software email client program? If you answered yes to any of these questions, the following will give you a quick overview of what you need to do on your home office computer.

Many options are available for just about any email address today. Most free online service providers of email have the option to be able to write and respond to emails online and on a home office computer using POP. POP is a type of protocol for sending and receiving email. Don't worry what POP exactly means, but any email client can be used to set up POP email. Email clients are software email programs such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Thunderbird, Mozilla, Netscape, Eudora, Apple Mail, and others. If you have a free Google Gmail account, which I highly recommend, you can use POP mail to send and receive on your local computer, in addition to also being able to send and receive email online.

For some excellent examples of how to configure POP for Gmail, take a look at the following:

Mail Clients

Outlook Express (Windows)
Outlook 2002 (Windows)
Outlook 2003
(also available: Gmail POP Service animated demo)
Entourage 2004
Entourage X
Eudora 5.1^{(and higher)} (Sponsored & Paid Mode)
Eudora 5.1^{(and higher)} (Light Mode)
Eudora for Macs
Netscape Mail 7.x
Netscape Mail 6.2
Netscape Mail 4.5, 4.6, or 4.7
Apple Mail
Mozilla 1.7
Thunderbird 0.x
Thunderbird 1.5
Other

If I am using one of these email clients, how do I respond using my business account when it's a business email, and how do I respond using my personal account when it's a personal email?

Once again, there are many options on each specific email client. Depending on the email client, you can have separate identities, and have separate accounts under each identity. Typically separate identities as in Outlook Express are completely different viewable login areas within the the email client program. This means that you would have to switch identities to be able to read and send emails from each specific identity. Each identity can have more than one account, with multiple email addresses being imported to the specific identity, but this requires quite a bit of filtering and sending a message will not necessarily be the email address that you really want to use to send a specific email from a specific address. For example, if you use one identity only to receive all your emails from both a personal and a business account, into one inbox, then it is most likely that the header of the email, (the part that shows the "Send From:" and "Sent To:" information) will not be exactly the correct addresses that you want to show for a business account response or vice versa.

Thunderbird e-mail client, which is free and highly customizable, with multiple identities and multiple accounts, does things slightly differently when talking about identities and accounts.

Idenitities

An identity in Thunderbird is a collection of settings for sending mail. An identity is defined by:

A name.
An e-mail address.
The account that the identity belongs to.

Note: Technically, an identity in Thunderbird is a collection of preference settings in your profile.

Thunderbird allows you to create identities that look exactly the same, but if you do that you might find them confusing to use.

Use more than one identity when you want to send mail using more than one From name or e-mail address, or more than one SMTP server, or more than one signature, or more than one choice for any of the settings that Thunderbird provides in identities.

Thunderbird e-mail client requires you to create a separate default identity for each account, but you can make these identities look exactly the same if you want to. For example, you receive some of your mail from Gmail and some of your mail from the company you work for, but you always want to send mail using your company From address. In your Thunderbird Gmail account, change the default identity to specify exactly the same details as in your work account.

If you receive mail that was originally sent to more than one e-mail address, then you might find it convenient to create identities for all those e-mail addresses. Then you can reply to a message from the same address that it was originally sent to.

Do not use more than one identity when one of your accounts already has an identity that you can use. This is because when you write a message you can change the From address to any identity from any account. There is usually no point in having duplicate identities in different accounts (unless they are default identities).

An identity specifies:

Settings used when you start composing a message
Settings used when you send a message

Identity P

Compose settings

HTML or plain text
Reply format

Send settings

From address
Signature
SMTP server
other settings...

Read more about Mail Concepts.

If you want to create an automatic forward, using a business email address, and having emails forwarded to your personal email address, you can do that, but be aware that if you respond from your personal email address on a forwarded message from the business address, the Send From will be the personal e-mail address and that is what the person will see on the other end when the e-mail is received.

A solution to this situation, is to have two accounts, one for business, and one for personal information messages, and make sure you are using the correct one for business, and for personal use.

If you have multiple email accounts online, and don't want to have to login to each specific account, you can set up forwards to one account, and just note where the email came from. Then respond using the appropriate e-mail identity or account.

Gmail Notifier is a notification program that runs locally on your computer that lets you know when you have a message at one specific account. Use this to monitor the main e-mail account, where all your emails arrive. Another option for automatic notification is to use ePrompter which runs automatically in the background, and can be configured to allow up to 16 e-mail accounts to be monitored at the same time, and will let you know with a small color coded circle (and/or sound) showing when an email arrives, and display the number of e-mails that arrived inside the circle. Both ePrompter and Gmail Notifier are very easy to set up and use. ePrompter's wizard allows you to very easily create additional color coded account dots that will monitor all your different e-mail accounts.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask your questions.

Marketing and Advertising Solutions for getting your business discovered online with Internet marketing services by Professional Web Services. Contact us for a free Internet marketing evaluation today. Start gaining new customers and increase your business sales.

My Blogger Wish List

2007-10-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

I like Blogger

I just wish Blogger had a simple way of creating static pages, that did not necessarily show up as a blog posted page.

Anyone that has been blogging for sometime will tell you, that there is certain information that a person or company would like to have readily available through a link on the blog itself to a separate page with the same branded template image as the main home page. Other times, it would really be cool if a person could have a unique page or pages that have a different template style. For example: maybe all the blogs posted under a particular label; a person would like to have a different image at the top of the page header to separate and visually identify the postings. There are Blogger workarounds and hacks that place in different pictures or images depending on certain parameters, but it would be nice to have maybe a different customizable template area for the static pages and/or labeled categories.

Additionally it would be cool if a person could easily blog to a different subdirectory area of the website when using Custom Domain Name Blogger publishing on another hosted account. While FTP publishing does allow multiple separate blogs under one domain name, custom domain name publishing does not provide the ability to create separate blogs under the main area of the website. Which means you can not have mondays.ws and mondays.ws/coolwidgets as a place to blog directly about coolwidgets. This would be a very handy feature to be able to easily add another subdirectory area under the current blog as a person would have with a unique category area and static pages on a regular website. You can however have other sub domain names with the same custom domain name using Blogger Custom Domain Name option. For example: backflag.com is the domain where I post short snippets using Tumblr as the free online publisher engine. But I use marketingstrategies.backflag.com as the custom domain name publishing option with Blogger to the sub domain marketingstrategies, for information about marketing strategies. Keep in mind that subdomains are typically viewed as separate websites and it is important to note from a search standpoint (see note below about having different websites).

Static Page Workaround for Blogger

Probably the simplest static page workaround for Blogger at this time is to go to the earliest blog posting date and post a new page with backdating it to this earliest time. Turn off comments and backlinks under post options for this posting if you want, and set the date to the oldest date. Then simply link to it.

The Strength of the Free Blogger Service

The strength of the free Blogger service is the ability to customize the html and css (cascading style sheets) code in order to create your own unique branded image. Other blog hosting services that offer free hosting such as Wordpress, provide some of the features such as static pages but have severe limitations on what can be altered and customized with the css and the html.

The ability to use hundreds, if not thousands of free templates set up for the Blogger service is one of the features that I have come to love. Just about any webpage or website template can be converted to a Blogger template with having an understanding of the Blogger drive engine and placing the proper coding from Blogger into the template design area. This feature really makes it much easier to brand the blog to the current site design. Read about Blogging with Professional Web Services.

Additional Blogger Wishes

I love the new Blogger with XML. I wish we could use the XML features on the non Google hosting services. For example: currently one of the Blogger options is in the classic design template mode for ftp publishing to a paid hosted provider with full customization. We have our website at www.pwebs.net for Internet marketing services. We publish a blog using Blogger at: www.pwebs.net/internet-marketing.html about the Internet marketing industry, in which we write about various aspects of Internet marketing. Currently we are using ftp publishing for the blog, and a customized classic template design. There are some pretty cool features that XML has, as compared to the standard ftp classic design template. If the XML new Blogger templates could be used for other than the free Blogspot account hosting or the Custom Domain option (see below), then it would make it much easier to customize and manage the information for publishing.

I know I said this before but it bares repeating. Blogger currently allows you to use the Custom Domain name option, but hosting still takes place on Blogger servers, and only allows one blog per main domain name without subdirectories as compared to ftp publishing (see above). A person can create Sub Domains for different blogs using the custom domain name option, but these are considered separate websites, and if information was substantially the same between these Sub Domains, the Search Engines would more than likely not look too favorably to having created additional subdomains. For example: www.jimwarholic.com could have a subdomain as info.jimwarholic.com with unique information at both areas and this would be OK. This is no different than Blogger hosted services with millions of subdomains at blogspot.com, such as eclectic-marketing.blogspot.com and professionalwebservices.blogspot.com.

One of the reasons I have come to really like using the Blogger service is because Google allows you to use javascripts in the templates themselves. Wordpress free blog hosting restricts javascript from being added for additional features. Wordpress states it's because of security issues. I am not convinced that javascript is the problem as opposed to simply Wordpress engineers taking the time to allow javascript to be used securely in the first place. Listen, I am not bashing Wordpress, because I too have a Wordpress blog with Jim West as the blog name, and I like posting there from time to time, but I am simply stating the main differences that I see between Blogger and Wordpress.

One reason to choose Custom Domain Name Blogger publishing over FTP publishing is the speed at which a page publishes using the custom domain name option. Whereas on an ftp account, hosted somewhere else, it can involve quite a delay with ftp publishing timeouts on very large blogs. Custom Domain Name publishing is also easier to add widgets and other items for the novice blogger. Expert bloggers can also customize the templates quite extensively.

In this world, nothing is ever perfect as it is. Everything man-made can always be improved. Not everyone will have everything they want. What are some of your thoughts on the Blogger wish list? What features would you like to see added? One last thing that I forgot to mention is I would like the labels to be able to automatically show up when using classic template designs for ftp publishing, just like in the XML template designs provides the sidebar widget to display the labels. Currently for classic templates you have to create the list manually for the sidebar areas.

Internet Marketing Strategies and Services for businesses on the web.

Upgrading a Computer Hard Drive And Back Up Software

2007-07-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

Is your computer hard drive running out of capacity? Are you wondering what you are going to do when it maxes out? Well, I've got the solution for you.

No one really wants to go through and delete information from the past. Installing a second add on drive is a possibility. Another option is to install a brand new C drive, with all your existing programs and data intact.

There are a couple of programs that I am aware of that make it easy to clone a hard drive completely. The program that I have used for backing up information and cloning a hard drive is Acronis True Image. Acronis True Image is a program that once installed on your existing hard drive can be used for daily backups to another hard drive or to install a brand new C drive with all the existing files intact.

For example: I had a computer with a 180 Gbyte disk drive that was getting to the point, with pictures, videos, files, and programs installed, that the days were numbered until I was going to be forced into doing something about it. I decided to take the initiative and replace the disk drive with a new 400 GB disk drive. Using the Acronis True Image software, I first did a fresh backup on the second disk drive I have installed in the computer. Once that was complete, I disconnected the second drive and hooked up the brand new Seagate 400 GB disk drive that I picked up from Fry's Electronics for $89.00. I can't believe these prices on hard drives keep dropping as much as they have over the years.

Once the second drive was hooked up, I ran the True Image software again, and cloned the primary drive, but expanded it to include the total available space to be used on the new drive. Once the cloning process was done, I then removed the first drive, and made the new drive the C drive, then re-attached the other backup drive, and the computer was up and running on the new hard drive.

It is interesting to note that even though most drive manufactures state a certain size hard drive, they usually overstate what the drive actually holds. It seems as though there is a 5 to 10% fudge factor. The Seagate 400 Gbyte drive turned out to be 367 Gbytes formated. But still, it is hard to pass up a deal when you need it.

My recommendation for anyone looking for a new hard drive, try to estimate what you will be using it for. If it is going to be used for pictures and video storage, then by all means up the storage capacity. However, if a standard 200 GB drive is substantially more than enough room for what you are currently doing, save your money for the future. As the price on these hard drives has dropped over the years, it is likely that the price of hard drives will continue to plummet, and the capacities will continue to increase. Then, the price per gigabyte will be less in the future, when you really need the storage.

Jim Warholic is President of Professional Web Services, Inc., an Internet marketing and SEO company.

Free PDF Converter Programs

2007-06-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

Convert Microsoft Documents to PDF Files On Windows OS and Apple Mac

The following are a couple of ways to convert and combine your Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Publisher, Bitmap, GIF, JPEG, PNG, Plain Text, Rich Text, XML and HTM/HTML files and documents, to PDF file format.

There are actually many programs available that can convert documents through a print emulation program. What these types of programs do when loaded on your computer is act like a virtual printer. Instead of selecting your normal printer for printing the documents, you select the PDF Writer program from the printer select area. One of these types of virtual printer programs that I have used is the pdf 995 program that allows you to create PDF documents easily for free. The cool thing about this type of program is the ability to select the print to PDF from virtually any program that you are running. That means, if you can print from a regular application, you can select the print to a PDF file, which converts the output to a PDF file and saves it anywhere you would like. The free version does display some advertising when used, but this really is no big deal. If you want the paid version, you can get it for as little as $9.95 or get the whole powerful suite for $19.95 to provide all the bells and whistles imaginable.

By-the-way, you can also use this as a network selectable printer. That means, anyone that has access to the network can select the pdf 995 printer option and convert their documents to a PDF file. You can also combine multiple documents to form one PDF file.

The latest Apple computer operating systems provide a built in version of a PDF conversion type program. Simply select the print menu from any Mac application, and then select the PDF drop-down menu item. Select: Save as PDF, Save PDF as PostScript, Fax PDF, Compress PDF, Encrypt PDF, Mail PDF, Save as PDF-X, Save PDF to iPhoto, or Save PDF to Web Receipts Folder. This is quite handy for all types of document sharing across Mac OS X and Windows operating systems.

There are some other free online conversion places available, however some of these websites require you to give them your email address so they can send you the file. I have not taken the time to investigate if these sites are trustworthy to secure your information from online spammers or other types of privacy issues. In my opinion, there are other options available for free PDF conversions, that are secure with your email address and files.

Drawloop Technologies

Another way to convert all types of Microsoft documents to PDF files is using the LOOP software available for free as an add-on to the Firefox browser, and they are a trusted source in my opinion. They provide a privacy policy in which you can opt-out at the very beginning of items related to sharing of your email address for purposes of marketing materials being sent to you.

What is LOOP?

LOOP is a free web-based application that allows you to upload, convert and combine files to PDF. You do not need to install software or be working from your desktop computer. LOOP is delivered on-demand and available for use 24/7 through a web browser.

LOOP works with these documents:

Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel
Microsoft PowerPoint PDF

LOOP also accepts:

Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Publisher, Bitmap, GIF, JPEG, PNG, Plain Text, Rich Text, XML and HTM/HTML files

You can read more about LOOP at Drawloop Technologies An import note about the use of LOOP with a browser based system is the great versatility that this brings to all software platforms. The software works on Windows XP or Vista just as easily as it does on Apple MAC OS X because it is Web based through the Firefox Web Browser.

You can get the LOOP add-on and the Firefox browser from the Mozilla website.

PDF files are becoming the standard for document sharing today. Having a file in the form of a PDF can make it easier for customers to be able to read and save sales literature, technical documents, manuals, and various other forms of publicity materials. Give these programs a try. I think you will like them.

Jim Warholic
Internet marketing and SEO specialist.

Hard To Get Started

2007-06-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

Some Mornings Just Seem To Drag On And On

This morning started 24 hours ago. Picked up one of our cars from the shop for a coolant leak problem. They had to replace the coolant pump, which is behind a cover, which is behind the serpentine belt. Decided to also have the coolant hoses replaced. All of this added up to big bucks. Everything was fine, or so it appeared. Brought the car home, parked it in the driveway, and waited for our daughter, the regular driver of this car, to pick it up.

When she went to start it, all that we heard was a whining sound. The starter would not engage to start the engine. Gave it a rest, then tried it again, and the starter engaged this time. But, by now it was too late to take it in to the shop. Sure, I could have dropped it off, using their drop box, but I figured I'll just do it in the morning. I surely would be able to get it started in the morning. Wrong assumption!

I must say, I am impressed with AAA. They were here with-in fifteen minutes of my call for a tow. So, it's back to the shop for round number two or should I say, round #3. It was just last week that we replaced all the struts and got a couple of new tires to boot. Well, you know, when it rains it pours.

Get Started In Your Business

Time to get back to work. That reminds me, sometimes it takes more time online to get things where you want, and the way you want them for a website, than what you originally estimated or longer than what you expected. At times it seems the hardest thing to do, is to get started.

One of the stories that Bob Parson, CEO and Founder of GoDaddy.com shared with the public was when he was asked, "What advice do you have for someone who is just starting a business?" He came up with a list of Rules For Survival. In one of Bob's podcasts I remember him also saying, "that you have to do something you love." His whole emphasis was you've got to have fun doing it in the first place. Many companies that have become household branded names and made it big time online, didn't get started because there was a great deal of money in it to begin with. No, the owners of many of the successful Internet related companies got started because first and foremost, they loved what they were doing. Some of these people dared to dream and created new technologies and new industries where there were none before. They saw an e-business hole, and decided to fill it. In the end, it was their passion, love, and pursuit of a dream that launched many of the Internet companies we have today.

So remember, when life sends you lemons, turn them into lemonade. Dare to dream big today.

Jim Warholic
Internet marketing specialist