Laptop purchase

So this past weekend I was doing my research on laptops. My decisions were narrowed down by price, and well that's it. My final decision was an Acer 15.4" Aspire 5315-2077, and decided to place my order on Friday night. It was 498.00 from Wal-Mart.com and came with the following specifications.

• CrystalBrite 15.4" widescreen LCD
• 1.86 GHz Intel Celeron M processor 540
• 1 GB or DDR2 system memory (RAM)
• 802.11 b/g built in wireless LAN
• Microsoft Vista Home Basis

Complete specifications are available at http://www.revies.cnet.com.
This laptop will be for simple tasks such as instant messaging, and running my live stream and, being the host of my chat room. If you have any suggestions for software I should run on this laptop just email them to me at nj.jerrysmith@gmail.com. Thanks in advanced for any suggestions.

--Jerry Smith

Register your #Jerry nickname

So you have been in and out of my chat room enough to the point where you know you'll be here everyday and you don't want anyone to steal your nickname, or you just plain don't want anyone to steal your nickname. Well then here is a way to register you nickname so that only you ,or whoever you give the password to, can use it.

Steps

1. Log-in to the chat room with the nickname your want to register. To find out how to log-in refer to this post.
   
2. After you have chatted with the nickname your want to register for over 120 seconds enter
   /msg nickserv REGISTER the password you want to use your email address
3. Click "Send" or hit enter
4. A new window should open and say <NickServ> Nickname your nick here registered
5. Just click the little red X under the word "TFLASH" in the upper right hand corner of the chat box
6. Continue chatting as normal

Note: The next time you log-in you must enter the password you supplied in step 2 in the password (optional) box.

Have fun chatting and please donate to WyldRyde (our chat provider) to keep these FREE services running.

How to log-in to my tech help chatroom

So...you need some help logging in to my chartroom. Well you've come to the right place then. All you have to do is follow the 4 simple steps below and you can ask as many questions as you want. Don't forget questions can also be emailed to mailto:nj.jerrysmith@gmail.com?subject=Tech%20Help.

Steps

1. Let the page load and then you should see a gray box that says "To start chatting please enter your nickname". Enter a nickname that you want to be identified as. DON'T use your first name unless you want people to know it. Chose something simple such as Lost@Tech or INeedHelp
2. Click Login, you don't have to worry about entering a password because only registered users need passwords.
1. To register your nickname refer to this post
3. Start chatting by typing your question in the white box next to the send button. Hit enter (above your right shift key and to the left of the quote, apostrophe key) or click on the send button.
4. Wait for our response and continue chatting.

Have fun and please be nice in my chat room because offensive users WILL BE KICKED. No questions asked. Please respect the authority of all ops (@ next to their names) and halfops (% next to their name). Thank you

We run on a WyldRyde server and it is free of charge. Visit there website here. Please donate to them to keep their free service running.

--Jerry Smith

Pandora- Free Online Music

When I say somenthing online is free it really must be because I'm just a fifteen year-old who doesn't have a credit or debit card to buy stuff online. So with that said, Pandora is a free online radio that I found in my travels on the internet. Click on the link below to be brought to their site.

Pandora Radio - Listen to Free Internet Radio, Find New Music

Simple steps to listen to you favorite song:

1. Go to Pandora.com.
2. Let the player load.
3. Type in the name of your favorite artist or song (ie. Greenday or Only One)
4. Hit Enter (above the right shift key and to the right of the quote and apostrophe button)
5. Listen to your song and other songs of the same qualities.
   

View Pandora's FAQ's at http://blog.pandora.com/faq/.

I hope you enjoy this way of listing to music....it is very interactive.

--Jerry Smith

Helping old people with technology

Hey all....here are my top five tips for helping seniors or the technological illiterate people with technology. Don't forget seniors can get very antsy and mad when it comes to stuff they don't know how to do so with that said here are my top five tips.

1. Be calm and talk slow. Seniors and the technological illiterate will NOT know all the shortcuts that we geeks know and live by. Most likely it will take them 3 or more times as long to do the simple tasks that we can do in five seconds. Talking slow and loudly (for seniors) will make this process much easer for them and less stressful for you.


2. Be prepared to explain the same thing multiple times. This will mostly apply to seniors because they often have problems hearing. So always tale VERY slow. Also be prepared to
   


3. Having a preprepared list of steps to read from, will make the process of teaching easier. Just type them or even write them up. It will make the speed of the session go so much faster because you won't have to sit there and stare at the screen with that blank stare that we get when we forget stuff.


4. When you are done showing the "student" what they asked you to teach them, ask them to use their computer to make a step-by-step instruction manual. Use the print screen button to take a screen capture of each page as you show them again how to do whatever they asked. Keep a word document (hopefully Microsoft Word) running in the background and then just copy down each screen capture into the document. After you have finished the task, use the simple drawing tools to circle the icons, drop down lists, or whatever they have to click on for that step. Put each picture on its own page and include text (use at least 20 size font).
   
1. Don't forget to save the file in a folder in their desktop and print out a hard copy for them to have.
   
2. Also, if you have a usb key (which most of us have) save a copy there to in case their computer crashes and they loose the file.
5. Show them how to open and print the file in case they loose it. Most likely they will and it will save a second trip to the house if you showed them how to print out another copy.

Bonus Tip!! Now with new technology there is the ability to screen record. Simply install a simple screen recording software
(such as CamStuido) and record the steps to a video file and embed you voice over it. To view an example of that watch this youtube video.

I hope these tips help you with your technological endeavors and make the process of teaching those new to the technological world how easy it is to use these quite simple machines.

Here Chris Pirillo's video of these tips.


--Jerry Smith

Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 5000

Today I was gifted a Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 5000 Keyboard and Mouse. Out of the box it was nice. The keyboard is ergonomically approved. There is a raised palm rest and a bent keyboard. There is also some accessories along the top (Media Controls, Customizable Links, and other assorted controls). The raised palm rest is a issue because my keyboard shelf does not always open all the way and I can't fit my hand under the bar to type so I have to pull out the keyboard all the way and the grip needed for me to do that end ups with grease or lubricant on my hands. There is also and enhanced f-key bar with shortcuts to commonly used items. The mouse is a 5-button laser with a four-way click wheel. There is nice response time and is pretty accurate. My overall first impression was good but I think that the downward slope of the keyboard will be annoying and that adjusting to the side buttons on the mouse will take some time. I think that this was a good gift and that Microsoft makes nice wireless keyboard combos. Check back later for more updates.

View photos here !!

--Jerry Smith

My Computer

I though I'd post my computer specs so you could know what I run and what runs it.

• Brand: HP
• Model: Pavilion a1250n
• Screen: 17in HP vs17
  
• RAM: 2GB
• Processor: AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ 2.00 GHz
• Video Card: Radeon Express 200 Series
  
• Audio: Realtek AC'97 Speakers (Built in to monitor)
  
• Standard HP Keyboard and Mouse
• DVD/CD Drive: (2) HP VD Writer 740r ATA w/ LightScribe and IDE-DVD DROM9216 ATA
  
• Printer: HP Photosmart 8250
• External Hard Drive: Elements 500GB (via usb)
• Web Camera: Creative Live! Cam IM Pro (VF0410)
• Network Adapters: (2) Netgear WG311v3 54mbps Wireless PCI Adapter and Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC
• 16 in 1 Card Reader
• 7 USB 2.0 Ports, 2 Firewire 400 Ports
  
• Thumb Drive: PNY Optima Pro Attache 4GB
• Primary OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit (had for almost 10 months now and no BSOD yet, knock on wood)
• Primary browser: Firefox 2.0.0.12
  
• Antivirus: Grisoft AVG Free Edition
  
• Anti Spyware: Spybot Search and Destroy
• Instant Messing: AIM
• Blog Post Editor: Scribe Fire (FireFox Add-in)

If you have any other questions about my computer feel free to contact me at nj.jerrysmith@gmail.com.

--Jerry Smith

Specification