Hewie's Views and Reviews
By Hewie Poplock

Welcome to this issue of Hewie's Views & Reviews. Be sure to visit Hewie's Favorites at http://www.hewie.net/ .

In this issue:

++++ Power and Computers
++++ Connecting to the Internet with no power
++++ A Warning
++++ New additions to Hewie's Favorites

++++ Power and Computers

Recently I went through Hurricane Charley here in Orlando, Florida. Although my home sustained no physical damage, we were without electricity for 3 days. Living in Florida is an electrical nightmare, but add a hurricane and it gets worse.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about power and your computer. Most people think that power surges are the most danger to their computer. While surges cause a lot of damage, power sags are much more prevalent and cause more damage. You may notice a sag when your lights dim a bit, but you don't loose power. To protect yourself from these sags, you need a line-conditioner or an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). A UPS will help with power sags in one of 2 ways. Some of the more expensive units may have line-conditioning built in. This is a preferred unit. It will compensate for the power sags. Other UPS unit will simply go to battery when the power sags enough to warrant it. Line conditioning is preferred as it will not wear the battery down or time out when the battery is drained. When the power goes completely out, a UPS will switch to battery and keep power going to electrical items that are plugged into it until it uses all of its power. The larger the unit, the longer it will provide power.

I worked with a person who sold used UPS units several years ago, when they were very expensive. I purchased several units and even have my TV and VCR on smaller units. I hate to see flashing 12 o'clock displays and have to restore my settings. However in the past few years, I have replaced units with much more inexpensive, new units. The office supply and computer stores frequently have sales along with some substantial mail-in rebates for brand name UPS units.

Batteries generally last 3 to 5 years and frequently are warranted for a year. I have some last as few as 2 years and some have lasted over 5. If the unit has to go to battery often, there is a good possibility that the batteries will need replacing more often.

When my power goes off, or sags, I am entertained by the constant chirping that the UPS units convey when they are operating on battery. It is not unusual for a unit to chirp (go to battery) for a few seconds several times a day. If it appears that my power may be off longer than a few minutes, I will shut off equipment that plugs into the UPS. I do not plug unnecessary equipment into a UPS. For instance, my printers, my palm cradle, and scanner are plugged into a surge protector which is plugged into the wall, not a UPS. If the power goes out, I can wait to use those items.

All electrical equipment should be plugged into a surge protector if not plugged into a UPS. However, do not consider that you are protected from all surges. There are sizes for surge protectors, but a direct or almost direct lighting surge will not protect even the best units. You should purchase a good quality surge protector, but remember that price is not the indicator to look at, but the protection that it offers. I recommend that you select units that have a light to indicate protection. Most cheap protectors do so once, and then become strictly an extension cord. When the light goes out or flashes, the unit is no longer protecting you.

++++ Connecting to the Internet with no power

I highly recommend that if you have a laptop computer, that you keep it charged. When I lost power during Hurricane Charley, I was able to use my laptop (sometimes referred to as a notebook computer). I have one of the newer models that use the Intel Centrino chipset, which give me 4 to 5 hours of usage without power. AMD has similar chips. If you are considering a new laptop, you might want one of these units as opposed to a faster, but standard chip. OK, I have a charged battery, but without power, how do I connect to the Internet? I usually have broadband through my cable and RoadRunner. With no power, I didn't have my router, network, or even the cable modem. I suspect the cable was also out.

However, I did have phone service. Most laptops have a modem built in, or you can buy inexpensive PC-card modems. To be able to use a modem and your phone service, you will need to have an ISP set up to connect to the Internet. You should do this prior to an emergency situation. If you have RoadRunner, you may sign up for their phone access. Right now it is totally free, but later this year they say that it will cost about a dollar per hour after 10 free hours a month. In order to sign up, you will have to give them your information along with a credit card number. You have a small script that has to be downloaded and installed. I suspect that your broadband provider may offer similar alternative access. This is also a nice feature if you have to travel. If your hotel doesn't provide wi-fi, free or not, you can still get your e-mail the old slow way.

If your broadband service doesn't include phone service, you might want to install software for free or inexpensive phone access to access the Internet. Such services as NetZero http://www.netzero.net/ have services that provide 10 hours per month, or unlimited service for about $10. The free service does require you to view ads, but it is free.

Make sure that you frequently update the list of local access numbers for the service that you set up. The companies frequently change them, and it very frustrating to need to use a dial-up service and not have a current usable phone number. This happened to me when traveling recently. I was in a town that I knew had RoadRunner phone access, but the access number had changed and I couldn't get on line to retrieve an updated list.

When you lose power and are using a laptop, you need to find a friend or business that has power to recharge your battery. Some units may recharge using a chord that plugs into your car's cigarette lighter. You might want to purchase this seldom used accessory. However, make sure that your laptop model will charge though such a cable. Not all of them do.

I used a battery operated black and white TV, which I got free from one of the office supply stores in a special deal. Since it had a radio as well, I was able to listen to a local radio show for computer users from Cheapguys Computers http://www.cheapguys.com and hosted by the owner and James Thompson of NewSkills http://www.newskills.us Training Center. My thanks to James and NewSkills, as they had power and offered to anyone listening, free access to the Internet at their location. On my third day without power, I spent several hours at NewSkills Training Center catching up with my e-mail and plugging in my laptop to be recharged.

++++ A Warning

I have some friends that have switched to Internet based phone systems. There are many advantages to using such a service, but a drawback was well illustrated during the recent storm. When there is no power, you have no phone service. When I mentioned this to my friends that use such a service, the response was to use my cell phone. For several days after the storm cell service was almost impossible to use. The cell towers also lost power, and the emergency services requested that cell phones only be used when absolutely necessary, to be available for police, fire, and other services. This makes me re-think doing away with my land line for cell or VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service.

I hope that those of you in Florida came through Hurricane Charley with little effects. All of you (us) need to plan on when we will have surges, sags, or outages, not if we will. I haven't mentioned the importance of having back-ups of your data. If you lost your home to a storm or other catastrophic event, and your backups are in the same room, they may also be lost. You should store a recent back-up at a remote location. Swap back-ups with a friend or relative or keep it in your bank's safety deposit box. Keep your back-ups up to date.


++++ New additions to Hewie's Favorites
Free CRM
http://www.freecrm.com/
Hosted software solution for customer relationship management and sales force automation

Double-Tongued Word Wrester
http://www.doubletongued.org/
Growing dictionary of old and new words

Wordcount
http://www.wordcount.org/
Interactive presentation of the 86,800 most common words in the English language

Better Business Bureau of Central Florida
http://www.orlando.bbb.org/
Alerts you to scams and deceptive advertising, handles complaints, and provides callers with reliability reports

Digital Clock
http://www.lares.dti.ne.jp/%7Eyugo/storage/monocrafts_ver3/03/index.html
Real time clock. University of Poland science students have finally finished their digital clock they have been working on for 4 years

Used Cars
http://www.samarins.com/
What to look for buying a used car, illustrated maintenance tips, how to sell a used car, car reviews, illustrated auto glossary, links

Brainy Betty
http://www.brainybetty.com/
Download Free PowerPoint backgrounds and templates, business resources, educational resources and inexpensive sets

Speed Trap Exchange
http://www.speedtrap.org/index.html
A Registry of speed traps in North America

West's Case Updates - Cyberlaw
http://www.swlearning.com/blaw/cases/topic_cyberlaw.html
Landmark Federal Court Decisions Dealing with Internet Disputes

Home Electronics Journal
http://www.homeelectronicsjournal.com/
Free e-zine after registering contains the latest buyer information from the world of consumer electronics

CouponCabin
http://www.couponcabin.com/
CouponCabin has free coupons, promotional codes and deals to 500 online stores

NutraSanus
http://www.nutrasanus.com/
Natural health and nutrition guide offering information on natural herbs, vitamins, supplements and remedies for common and not so common health concerns and ailments

NutriSystem®
http://www.nutrisystem.com/
Effective & Safe Weight Loss Program. I used it before and am on it now

Web Hosting Stuff
http://www.webhostingstuff.com/
World's largest searchable directory of web hosting services. Over 5894 web hosting plans to choose from

Spyware Warrior
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm
Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites

Windows XP A to Z
http://www.windowsxpatoz.com/
Find tweaks, tips, articles, downloads, wallpapers for Microsoft windows xp