San Diego Craigslist Community Miss List Pic!

For the scoop on the Craigslist (owned by eBay!) versus Listpic war there is an interesting article from Wired.

Listpic is a web site that presented craigslist using displaying the pictures from the listings in a thumbnail layout. This saved time as you did not have to click on each posting to see the picture.

From the “About” page in Listpic:

“When looking for furniture on Craigslist, the main thing I wanted to do was browse through all the photos. I didn't know the exact furniture I wanted, but I knew what I liked once I saw it. I ended up clicking in and out of all the listings with pics. It took forever and made me go crazy! I stopped right there and thought to myself, there must be a better way of doing this”

Now Listpic is a competitor to Craigslist. Time will tell if they gain market traction.

I miss the the graphical view of Craigslist and regret that the parties could not work out their issues.

Windows XP could not start because

A client got the following error message,
“Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE”

I did some research on this error and it shows the XP hive was corrupt. BAD NEWS!

His PC would not boot to XP. He had NO ,Backup or Windows XP CD.

Well, I though for sure that we were looking at a reload of XP with a potential loss of his data.

Since he was using a Toshiba OEM version of XP I could not simply us my XP CD to repair his files. I booted to the XP recovery tool and looked at his hard disk files. My plan was to use the recovery files that manufactures place on the hard disk to return the PC back to when it came from the factory.

No such luck, Toshiba does not use this recovery technique.

OK maybe I can use the CD to boot to “safe Mode” and restore the XP settings to the last good recovery point.

For once things came out better than expected as it booted to safe mode XP! I then restored the XP files to the last known good restore point and then tried to boot from the hard drive to XP.

A minor miracle the laptop booted to XP with no loss of data!

Unfortunately, the client did not want to invest in the time to run disk diagnostics to see if the drive was failing or an external disk drive to create a backup boot hard drive.

If you get a new PC this Christmas remember to put ALL of the CD's in a safe place. You may need them one day!

AOL Free Account - Save at least $120 per Year!

Why are you paying $10 a month for an AOL Account? If you have Internet access (DSL or Cable) your AOL services are available using the same software for free!. The only thing you lose is the ability to call the AOL help line, for that you pay $120 a year!

This link from the AOL site will show the differences between the free and the $120 a year account and you can use this page to change your plan Change AOL Plan.

In Summary:

"AOL® High Speed Essentials - With the AOL High Speed Essentials, you can enjoy unlimited access through your existing high speed connection, and you'll have 10 hours of dial-up access from AOL each month if you need it for just $9.99 a month. You'll also get great features like Premium Support, AOL® Premium Security Suite, AOL My eAddress, AIM Phoneline, 5 GB of X Drive storage, AOL® Radio, and AOL Video.

AOL® Free Services Option - With the AOL Free Services plan, you can enjoy unlimited access to AOL for free while you are connected to the Internet through a separate Internet provider (not AOL). You will also get the AOL Security Suite and access to AOL Radio. "

The "free AOL"gets you AOL mail and free anti virus software.

The AOL desk top runs slow and requires at least 1 gig of Memory. I really don't like using AOL as my default web browser, but you can make your own choice.

You don't have to be in San Diego to take advantage of saving $120! I just did a computer tune up for a client and saved her the $120 by switching to the free AOL. It paid for my "Computer Concierge Service"!

San Diego Wildfire e-mail Scam

IRS Warns Taxpayers of New E-mail Scams!

From an IRS news release,

“A new scam e-mail that appears to be a solicitation from the IRS and the U.S. government for charitable contributions to victims of the recent Southern California wildfires has been making the rounds. A link in the e-mail, when clicked, sends the e-mail recipients to a Web site that looks like the IRS Web site, but isn't. They are then directed to click on a link that opens a donation form that asks for personal and financial information. The scammers can use that information to gain access to the e-mail recipients' financial accounts. The IRS does not send e-mails to taxpayers soliciting contributions to a charitable cause.”

Most charitable solicitations via e-mail are scams.

If you are interested in the “charity” do a Goggle search then use the Google results to go to the official site!

NEVER enter your personal information on a web site you followed from an e-mail link. It is easy to get tricked by these low life thieves.

The complete press release from the IRS can be found at: IRS News Release

Was the link really to the IRS?


(Yes it is, how did you know?) Don't be fooled by the art work. Logos and the art work can be cut and pasted to create a look very much a like the real site in a snap!

"Think Global, Contribute Local"