Category: span

Panatech PX-500 PCMCIA Sprint EVDO BroadBand Card

Paul

[ad#tmi-right-1-1]The Pantech PX-500 wireless mobile broadband card for Sprint gives you data communication access for your PC laptop anywhere you roam on the Sprint network at faster speeds than ever before. EV-DO rev A compatibility gives you download speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps and beefy upload speeds of up to 1.8 Mbps. Simple to use, the Pantech PX-500 wireless mobile broadband card lets you surf the Internet, send and receive email and text messages, and connect to corporate networks from just about anywhere.

Technical Specs:

  • Dimensions – 4.57 in x 2.13 in x 0.51 in

  • Weight – 1.8 oz

  • Data Download Speed – EV-DO rev A (Up to 3.1 Mbps Down/1.8 Mbps Up), EV-DO rev 0 (2.4 Mbps Down/153 Kbps Up), 1xRTT

  • Download Protocol – CDMA 850, 1900

  • Compatible Carrier – Sprint PCS

  • Network Compatibility – CDMA 850, 1900

  • 3G Data Speeds – Yes

Compatibility Features

  • Device Supports Data Plans – Yes

  • Available For Purchase Without Service Plan – Yes

Saw this card and did a little digging.  I looks like the newest updated software and drivers for this card can also make it Vista and Linux compatible.   Although with any card you will use up more battery life but it is a small price to pay to check email and surf the web. Also if you have an newer laptop or am about to upgrade I’d suggest Getting a Sierra Wireless Compass 597 USB Modem from Sprint! This is good for anyone who wants to surf the web and not have to buy the hardware to do it with.  Both are free to buy and ship with a two year contract. If in doubt please get the USB card that way you know you know you will be able to use it.

Pctv HD Mini Stick and My thoughts!

Paul

Pctv HD Mini Stick

  • Includes mini-remote control and high-gain telescopic antenna

  • Compact size HDTV tuner for easy travel and storage

  • Instantly turn your PC into a personal digital video recorder

  • Record your favorite shows to your hard drive or direct-to-DVD

  • TV Standards – ATSC (HDTV up to 1080i, SDTV) and ClearQAM (HDTV up to 1080i, SDTV) Inputs

Price: Click Link to See the Price

Just saw this and couldn’t resist talking about it.  This would be great on the road.  If you use this on a laptop, then you would have some really good channels as you travel on the road.  No more having to watch movies on your laptop.   You can now see the current events as you travel around the US.  With the Digital change over Coming Feburary 17, 2009.  You’ll want to have a way to watch TV, this would be one way.  Right now Amazon is offering it for 112.22 but that could change so check the link out to find out how much it is.

Warning Signs of Hard Drive Trouble

Paul

For every computer there comes a time when you have a problem with hardware or software. This is for those who want to learn the signs of possible fixes for having hard drive problems. Although if you know you’re hard drive is dieing then you better back it up as quickly as possible. You will of course need to get the back up software to protect your data.  If you have special drivers you will need to backup yours drivers.  If you have an OEM system then you will need to backup the Hidden Partition.

So what are the warning signs of a hard drive failure:

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  • Unexpected freezing of Windows — When Windows Locks up and you have to reboot or getting a Blue Screen of Death.   You have no choice but to restart because you can’t do anything with windows.

  • Losing data files — if you seem to see files being lost or deleted without your direct input.  It might be a sign of a computer virus or it could be a damaged hard drive.

  • Locking up during boot — this is most common when you have a hard drive failure, although if you can restart and not be a problem then just keep in mind that it might be the beginning.  The more frequent you have the lockup boot problems the more chance of the hard drive dieing.

  • Hard drive isn’t recognized in BIOS– Although this can be a old hard drive, if the bios can’t see it then the problem might be a hard drive failure, usually this is meaning you just have to replace the hard drive.  there’s isn’t much you can do with this problem, just replace the hard drive.  Most of the time it is a problem inside the Hard drive bios and you really can’t fix this, you’d have to send it off to possibly save the hard drive data.

  • Clicking, Scratching, Whirling, Grinding sounds from Hard drive — This is the most dangerous signs of hard drive failure and means you need to get your data off ASAP.  If you want to hear some of the waring sounds of a dieing hard drive click here.

Although some of these can or can not be a hard drive failure, some can be driver issure or disk defragmentation and should be check out to rule out these problems.   There can be several problems that might be easily fixed.  If you think it is a failure you might try Spinrite.  The program is made by Steve Gibson and he actually has a “Absolute Satisfaction Guarantee“.  So if it doesn’t work or your not satisfied you aren’t out any money.  I’ve used this in the past for hard drives that are dieing so I could get all the important data off before it died all together.  It is essential that if you can get it working for a short time to get a backup.

Disclaimer: Although spinrite might fix some of the problems associated with a hard drive failure, it might not fix all the problems or any problems.   So it is left up to the user to decide if it is worth it or not to buy it.   I don’t recommend this for every situation or every problem only for the off chance that it might let you get the important data off the computer before you lose it.  Use at your own risk.

Are you patched, Secunia Says NO

Paul

Secunia BlogThink you’ve got nothing to worry about, according to Secunia 98% of computers are not fully patched and are vulnerable to some kinda of attack. [ad#digg-right]So I wanted to talk about this a little and give you a few good ways to make sure you are patched.  There are several ways to get your system up to almost 100%.

[ad#ad2-left]Some things to do is make sure you have your Windows systems updated.  This is easy to make sure, if you have an internet connection you can just check for updates.  If you don’t know how to do it, it is quite simple, Just go here.    If you have Windows Vista all you have to do is hit Start and type in the search box “Windows Update” and hit Enter and you will be taken to the update page.


If you have a system that is off of the Net you could use the Clone of Autopatcher Program to do it for you.   You also need to update all your secondary programs such as Audacity, Open Office, and other programs that you use weekly.

[ad#ad2-right]If you don’t know what you need to update sometimes just having a program check for you can make a really good difference.   The one that I like to use is Appsnap and it actually searches you computer to see what might need to be updated.   I also suggest for the final suggestion is check out my Anti-Virus and Anit-Spyware Resources and make sure you have a firewall and anti-virus software.  This will greatly reduce your chances of getting a virus but that isn’t all you have to be careful on what you click on read this article on Some Important programs to prevent yourself from having viruses and Malware!! Read that carefully to better understand how you can protect yourself in the future.