How to Buy Inexpensive Quality Computers and Electronics

This is a simple guide for getting the best price on computer parts and consumer electronics.

1. Make a habit of continuously visiting the websites listed below and try to keep from buying an item at the first advertised bargain. Do this for about 1-2 months; this will accustom you to the types of items they usually have listed and the prices they are listed at. This way you'll know if you're getting a good deal.
2. Read the comments and forums on Slickdeals. The feedback from users will usually confirm a truly "slickdeal".
3. Research product reviews on Google to see if a product is actually worth buying.
4. When a product goes on sale for the 2nd or 3rd time, and all the research points to buying it... go for it!

Tips

• Dell products are always on sale. So if you're looking at a Dell computer, keep track of what computers go on sale until you find one you actually need.
• Rebates take a long time to come in.
• Remember "Cheap is not always Good" and some brands like Gateway and Compaq offer you a low budget cost, but a high cost on hassles.
• Acer offers you a great product too, with a low price guaranteed.
• If is a laptop you need to buy, nothing gives you better performance for the price than Toshiba, in other words is the best option for Laptops.
• Get accustomed to the terms: i.e. YMMV= Your mileage may vary, B&M = Brick and Mortar (meaning at the store only), PM = price match, BB= Best Buy, OD= Office Depot, BYOKAD (Bring Your Own Keyboard And Mouse)
• If you live near/in Portland, OR; consider FreeGeek, or their thrift store.
• Try online stores such as Newegg.com, Geeks.com, or other online stores. The prices there are usually much cheaper than in physical stores.
• If you really want a great computer with only what you need or simply the best you can get, just Do It Your Self, is not as cheap as it could be but as an IT let me tell you, it could be your best option.

How to Transfer Cassette Tape to Computer

Audio cassettes opened up a world of portability unimaginable in the days when LPs ruled the roost. Now, however, cassette tapes have fallen by the wayside (or, in many cases, have been thrown to the wayside from moving vehicles), and, unlike LPs, they don’t look like making a comeback anytime soon. This poses a problem for those of us who would like to preserve important conversations or good songs that are currently stored on cassettes, not only because audio cassettes eventually deteriorate or get “eaten” by your tape player, but also because cassette players are becoming increasingly rare. Fortunately, you can easily transfer audio from cassettes to your computer, where it can be stored in formats such as WAV and MP3 or can be burned to CDs. In fact, $6 could get you everything you need.

1. Get your supplies together. You have several options. See the “Supplies You'll Need” section below for a list of these.
2. Rewind or fast-forward your cassette to the desired spot.
3. Connect the red and white RCA plugs to the appropriate, color-coded output jacks (line-out) on your cassette player or stereo receiver. Or connect one end of a double-ended 3.5mm stereo cable into the headphone output of your tape player.
4. 

   

   Cable Converter
   Connect the other end of your chosen cable to the “line-in" of your computer sound card. The 3.5mm Stereo plug is just like the plug of an earphone that you use in your Walkman or iPod. Adaptors are also available which allow you to use your computer’s USB port. For more details on the options see the “Things You’ll Need” section.
5. Turn on your computer and cassette player.
6. 

   

   MS Sound Recorder
   Open the sound-recording software you want to use. You can use just about any sound recording software. Microsoft Sound Recorder, which is standard in Microsoft Windows, will work for brief snippets, but it can be quite tedious to adjust the amount of time it will record (the default is only 60 seconds; you have to prepare your file beforehand by hitting the Record button each time it reaches the end, until you get a file large enough to hold the audio you'll be recording; then hit Rewind before recording), and it may not serve you well if you need to do extensive editing. If you do want to use Sound Recorder follow these instructions: click “Start” - “Programs” - scroll to and click on “Accessories” – scroll to and click on “Entertainment” – select “Sound Recorder”. You could also use a free sound recording like Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net). If you use this sound recording software, you can touch up the audio (raise volume, clear some static areas) and even export to mp3.
7. Click the record button in your sound recording software. (In Sound Recorder and many other programs, this is the button with the red dot.) Start recording before you hit “play” on your cassette player so you make sure you don’t miss anything at the beginning.
8. Press “play” on your cassette deck. The computer will record the audio coming from your cassette player.
9. Click the “stop” button (typically a black square) when you are finished. If you want to record for a long time (a whole cassette, for example), you don’t have to sit around and wait for the recording to finish. Your recorder will continue recording after the tape stops, and you can just cut the silent portion when you edit the recording. You do, however, want to make sure your recorder will record for long enough to capture all the audio you want. If it doesn’t, simply record each track one at a time.
10. Save the audio file by clicking “File” – “Save”. A new window will open and you can give the file a name and choose a location on your hard drive to save to.
11. Edit your recording. You may not need to do any editing, but if you want to cut out silences, erase some tracks, or change the volume, for example, most sound-recording programs will allow you to do so. When editing, it is a good idea to keep the original file as a backup and change the names of edited files when you save them in case you find you made a mistake. When you’re sure you like the edited file, you can delete the original to save memory space on your computer.
12. Burn audio to CD if desired.

How Registry Cleaners Work

Registry cleaners are one of the most misunderstood of all Windows utilities. Although they are extremely effective and powerful, they are often used for totally the wrong reasons. Here is a complete tutorial of how these software tools work and how they can help you.

Although there are a lot of them on the market, all registry cleaners have been created to do the same job - to fix a part of your computer called the 'registry'. This is a big database which stores all sorts of information for Windows, including all the settings for your software and information about your hardware, such as how much hard drive space you have remaining. Because of the amount of information stored inside the registry, it's one of the most important and frequently used parts of Windows, with 100's of registry files open at any time you use your PC.

This is okay, but the big problem is that since Windows can only focus on so many things at once, it often gets confused and saves many of these registry files in the wrong way, making them damaged and incredibly difficult to read. Imagine the files as being like books with all their pages in the wrong order - your computer has to take longer to read what's in the file, making it run slower and a lot less stably. This is a big problem and is one of the major causes of a slow system & computer errors... And to fix it, you just need to use a registry cleaner.

Registry cleaners are simple software tools designed to clean out the registry database. They work by scanning every single registry file and then fixing any of the bad files that they find inside there. This allows your computer to read all the files it needs whenever it needs them, making it a lot more reliable and stable. To get a registry cleaner to do this, you just need to be able to download a good cleaner (we always use one called "RegAce"), install it and then click on the big "Scan Now" button in the center of the screen. This will start the cleaner scanning through your registry database and will instruct it to find all the damaged files that are causing your system problems, allowing you to quickly make the most of your PC again.

ree Kaspersky Antivirus 2010 License For 180 Days

Yesterday, I shared how you can get yourself a free activation code for Kaspersky Internet Security 2010. Today I have another promotion to share, and this time it’s of Kaspersky Antivirus 2010.

The KIS 2010 promotion I shared had lots of stuff to do before you actually got your free activation code and required a bunch of instructions and screenshots. But this one doesn’t.

MSN China, in collaboration with Kaspersky, is offering a free Kaspersky Antivirus 2010 activation code to users. Just follow the three simple steps below to get your free Kaspersky activation key.

1. Visit the KAV 2010 giveaway page and press the big orange button.

2. Enter your Windows Live login information and sign in.

3. Copy the key and use it to activate your Kaspersky Antivirus 2010.