Hi Folks,

I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season and that your New Year will be Happy and Prosperous.  As you know, we have a new grandbaby and we are blessed to have all of our family here so this season is very merry and very busy for us.

Here are a few things I have collected this week. 

Odds and Ends - from WorldStart.com

I was just searching online and I found some interesting articles about upcoming programs, etc. I figured for sure that most of you would be interested in them as well, so I thought I would do an "odds and ends" type of article for today's Tip of the Day. Hope that sounds okay with everyone else as well. Here we go!

First, I'm going to talk about "the next version of Windows." Now, this is a process in its very beginning stages and this information was only released last week. It's nothing to go crazy over just yet, but it is good to know about. For this section of today's tip, all you need to know is a codename and that just so happens to be "Fiji."

Microsoft always chooses a new codename for each new product they create and the one for the next version of the Windows operating system just happens to be Fiji. This version will follow Windows Vista, but supposedly will be released before Windows Vienna (codenamed Blackcomb), which is another version currently underway at the Microsoft offices. Although Microsoft themselves won't really comment on Fiji, there are suspicions that it will be a pretty minor release. Some are saying it will be like a second version of Vista, with only a few small changes.

The second news story of today is that of a Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0 Beta 1 review. If you're an avid Thunderbird user, you have probably been waiting on this for some time now. It's been awhile since any talk about this even came up and frankly, it's just time for some changes. Now, as I already said, this is still in the beta stages and the full release is still a ways off, but when it does come around, it promises a good amount of brand new features.

This version of Thunderbird is still being tested by the developers and it will be until the new features are completely stable. The most noticeable change will be the interface, which will be a GUI. The icons have also gone under some serious construction. They have been cleaned up and redesigned. The developers have also focused on the user friendly factor and have made Thunderbird much easier to use.

There are several other features that are said to come along with the new version and although it may take awhile to be able to enjoy them, it's promised that they will all be worth the wait. The final version of Thunderbird 2.0 is said to be released early next year.

Okay, I have one more feature for you! We here at WorldStart have done a couple other articles on this program before, but this new one is worth repeating. The program is called Skype. Some of you may be familiar with it and those of you who are, can enjoy a brand new version of it right now. Skype 3.0 was released on December 13, 2006 and it has quite a few new features to brag about as well. A few items have been added that you can use for free, along with a few others that cost you a little bit of money. You can check out all the new features and download the 3.0 version right here. Just click on the Download Now button and you'll be all set to go.

So, how does all that sound? These are three different programs that are on their way to making your computer lives so much easier. All of them have a little ways to go before they'll really be something to talk about, but until then, they are certainly interesting to speculate, don't you think? Go check them all out!

~ Erin

Hard drive warning messages signal trouble

Question: On boot up, I get a message: "Smart failure predicted on primary slave. Warning: immediately backup your data and replace your hard disk drive. A failure may be imminent." The warning first appeared about a month ago when I used this drive as my primary drive. I installed another one, which is now my primary drive. Where does this message come from? Is the warning real?

Answer: Yes, this warning is very real.

Modern hard drives have built-in monitoring tools. These tools are referred to as S.M.A.R.T., or Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology.

These tools look at the internal workings of a hard drive. When they detect a problem, you should get a warning.

Any number of things can trigger a warning message. It could be a result of overheating inside the drive. Or, it could have to do with the time it takes the hard drive to spin up.

When you receive a warning like this, act fast. Back up your data immediately. Of course, you should already be doing this.

I would not continue to use the drive. It could die at any time. Hard drives are relatively cheap. Plus you can replace a hard drive fairly easily. I have instructions on my site.

I sometimes receive questions about hard drive monitoring tools. It is nice to have a  warning before things go amiss.

However, I wouldn't rely on them to protect my data. Why? There are two kinds of hard drive failures. The first is predictable. This is what S.M.A.R.T. helps detect.

The second is unpredictable. You could drop your laptop. Or something inside your machine could fry your hard drive. When this happens, it is too late to protect your data.

Also, there are problems with S.M.A.R.T. Not all hard drives and motherboards support it.

And the technology relies on several sensors. Legally, a manufacturer could include only one type of sensor and claim S.M.A.R.T. compliance. If so, you might get a  warning on specific kinds of failures. Others would come out of the blue.

S.M.A.R.T. isn't the only warning service. I have two programs on my site that also will watch your hard drive. They take information directly from the drive.

• HDD Health
• HD Tune

Christmas is only days away, and there are probably people still on your list. Need some quick last minute ideas? Then tune in to tomorrow's Kim Komando Computer Minute. To find the radio station nearest you that broadcasts my Minute, use the map on my site. If there isn't one near you, don't fear: Kim's Club subscribers can download the Minutes directly from my site!

Multiple Image Resizer .NET v2.0.2.0

by Mitch Keeler on December 12, 2006 at 12:48 pm · Comments
Categorized by Download, Freeware / Related Information

When it comes to image management, maybe I am still in the dark. I like to take high resolution photos, but it is a pain to resize the images I wish to shrink down to size. What is a guy to do in this situation? Well I found a freeware program that will do all the hard work for me. The Multiple Image Resizer .NET is the way to go.

Here is a little more information about the freeware download from the author of the application:

Multiple Image Resizer .NET allows you to process individual images or folders of images. You can resize, add borders, crop, overlay text, overlay images and/or rotate and flip images. MIR .NET handles a variety of input and output image formats. Now includes batch image processing via command line using scripting language. Built-in Update Checking feature. Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0.

Want to know what else the Multiple Image Resizer .Net does? All you need to do is check out the features. Want to see it in action? There are screenshots available as well.

Now this program might not do everything under the moon, but it does make my job of resizing multiple images a very easy and now even fun thing to do. No longer do I have to keep going to each picture one by one. I can knock them all out in a few seconds with the help of the Multiple Image Resizer .NET.

New Year's Savings at Fry's today:

Front Page:

Pioneer Internal DVD Writer - $35
Pioneer External DVD Writer - $70

40 DVD - $9

250 Gig External hard drive - $70
Great for backing up your data!