Today marks the official start of my month long love affair with my Palm Pre!  From all of my other discussions of my Palm Pre I caught the attention of Verizon and TheMotherhood.com, who have graciously given me a Palm Pre Plus to check out for the month!  So hang on for the ride folks cause this month is ALL about the Palm Pre and how it can help your life.  Seriously, I don’t know how I survived without this phone.  Since I obsessively check the app catalog about 3 times a day to see if there are new apps, I realized that I haven’t even mentioned all of the wonderful apps I have downloaded and use (and LOVE) on a regular basis.  So get your Pre’s out and let the downloading commence.  Here are my top 5!  (tomorrow stay tuned for the rest to round out the top 10)

Twee – This is a Twitter app that looks absolutely beautiful on the Pre.  I love the fact that I can have all of my Twitter accounts on there.  The navigation at the bottom works smoothly and is very slick, I can see my @mentions, DM’s, lists, search users and trends, it is seriously the BEST Twitter app on the Pre (and there are certainly a few to choose from).  Support has been very quick to respond as well.  I asked a question and received an answer on Saturday night!  Way to work over time Twee developers. 

Absolute Fitness – Since I recently had a baby (ok if you consider 9 months ago “recent”) I’m trying to lose that baby weight!  I’m down 5 official pounds from when I really started trying to lose it.  Down at least 20 lbs from the day I brought my little Michael home from the hospital.  Anyway, Absolute Fitness was EXACTLY the Pre app I was looking for to aid my weight loss goals.  Everyday I am able to keep track of what I’ve eaten, and the exercise I have done.  I’ve never been much of a “calorie counter” but I’ve always just wanted to keep track of what I eat and if I’ve exercised that day.  This does that, and THEN some.  You can add customized meals, exercises, foods, etc.  You can also keep track of how much sleep you got, how many glasses of water you have had, and it will show you a break down of what you have eaten compared to what you should be eating for the day.  Excellent app!

Evernote – This app is Free, and is seriously the best app EVER!  I used to keep about 20 different tabs open in my Internet Explorer with things I wanted to refer back to.  Or I would favorite the various websites, only to never remember that I added it to my favorites.  Now when I find an article I want to refer back to, or a recipe I like, or items that I’m shopping for I just highlight it in my browser and clip it to Evernote.  Now, back to the Pre, I can access those notes anytime anywhere.  When I go finally get to IKEA I can refer to Evernote to remember exactly which cabinet I liked.  When I’m in the kitchen baking I can pull up the recipeI remembered I wanted to try right on my phone.  I don’t have to turn my computer back on, or find that website again.  It’s all right there on my phone for me to access whenever I want!  I seriously can’t believe it’s free.  I’d soooo pay for it!

IShelf – Let’s face it… I have a lot of DVD’s.  I LOVE movies, and I love TV.  So we have quite the collection.  iShelf appeared in the app catalog and I immediately downloaded it and started entering my collection.  The only drawback at first was that I wasn’t able to enter who was currently borrowing the disc.  The developers listened and added that functionality!  So now I can pull up the movie and see if it’s currently being loaned out and to who.  This is definitely helpful for us who can’t remember who has what.  We will never lose  movie again!  I also love browsing through the collection to decide what I want to watch that night.  Another great thing about this app is that you can create a “wish list” where you can pull up just about anything and put it on your wish list.  For example my list has a kitchenaide mixer, a trampoline, a dishwasher… you get the idea. 

Shopping List – I have downloaded just about every single Shopping List app in the app catalog.  This is the one I like for my regular weekly grocery shopping.  I’ll talk about another one for other kinds of shopping tomorrow.  I can create a template for meals I make on a regular basis with all the ingredients all ready added and it will add them all to my shopping list.  Also I have entered all of the aisles of the grocery store I usually frequent and the items that I purchase.  So all I have to do when creating my shopping list is to go into the list, start adding items from a store and start checking off all of the items that I am going to need for this particular trip to the store.  It is soooo simple and when I get to the store it’s sorted by aisle so I never have to go back to the produce section from the other side of the store because I didn’t see carrots down at the bottom of my list. 

Stay tuned tomorrow for favorite apps #6-10!  Also…. to kick off this month right I’m giving away a $25 Verizon gift card every week for 3 weeks… the 4th week is going to be the SUPER DUPER giveaway of a Palm Pre Plus!!  Even if you win one of the gift cards you are still eligible for the Pre giveaway.  So go ahead and enter today! 

*I wrote this review while working on a Verizon Palm Pre Plus campaign by TheMotherhood.com on behalf of Verizon Wireless and have been given a Palm Pre Plus (and prizes for giveaways) to facilitate my review.

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Comment on this post to enter to win the $25 Verizon Gift Card!  Good Luck!  Ends Saturday February 13th at 9 PM.

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At 2 years old my daughter was able to fully navigate web pages and games using my laptops touchpad… on her own computer she was even better with a mouse. Now at 4 she knows how to handle her computer games and DVD’s with care, put them away, and generally is a computer wiz. She even opens up Notepad sometimes so she can type words and math problems. I’m not mentioning this to brag (well, ok maybe a LITTLE bit to brag), but I’m telling you that you can teach your children valuable computer skills and it can start at a very young age. My next few posts are going to talk about specific ways you can teach your children how to use a computer from the time they are 6 months and up. Also what they should be able to do at each stage, so lets jump right in!

6 Months – 1 year

 The first thing you want to do is to allow them to sit on your lap while you are doing your computer work. This will allow them to observe what you are supposed to do with a keyboard and mouse. Second thing to do is to purchase the CHEAPEST keyboard and mouse you can find. You can let them play around and you won’t worry about them destroying your hardware. Third, get age appropriate software and help them use it.

We recently purchased Giggles Software for Babies. I have to say … WE LOVED IT! Here is some video of Michael playing with the Giggles…

At this stage it’s really only about them getting used to the cause and effect of using the keyboard to make things happen on the screen. Also it is helpful for them to learn mouse skills as they see how their motion with the mouse can move something on the screen in the same pattern. What else I really like about the Giggles software is that it also helps them learn Shapes, Colors, Letters, Numbers, Music, etc! So when they type A an “A” and an apple can show up on the screen. There are many different playing and learning modes, and even my 4 year old had a blast “showing Michael” how to use the computer.

Want the really good news?? Giggles has decided to let me give away ALL 5 of their programs to one lucky winner! In order to enter just post a comment on this post with which program you think your child would like the most! For extra entries you can become my fan on facebook or follow me on twitter and tweet the following phrase…

My baby is going to be a computer genius thanks to Giggles and @tech4mommies enter the giveaway! http://bit.ly/9nFihL

Don’t forget to come back here and comment that you tweeted or became a fan.

Good luck! Giveaway will end Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 8 PM.

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A phrase I use quite often is “when in doubt… reboot”.  I would say about 80% of computer problems can be solved with a simple reboot.  Whenever my computer is acting a bit funny, whenever something has broken and there is no explaination, reboot.  Before you call any support person, before you start to freak out that your computer is broken, reboot.  This goes for EVERYTHING!  Your printer isn’t working … reboot, your wireless network isn’t working… reboot, your satellite TV isn’t working right… reboot. 

The easiest and quickest way to accomplish your reboots is to pull the power out.  Obviously if you can shut it down nicely that would be prefered, but sometimes you just have to pull the power cord out of the device.  Especially with wireless routers and printers.  Sometimes pressing the power button on a printer really doesn’t shut it down all the way.  Only removing it’s power will truely bring a printer down. 

PC Boot Options

When rebooting a PC you have several options to try and troubleshoot the computer.  First, if the computer is completely frozen, sometimes the only way you can get it to come down is to press and hold the power button on the computer until it shuts down.  Do not let go of the power until the computer comes all the way down.  Now that the computer is shut down you have some options to bring it back online.  To get to these options, as the computer is booting up when you see the black screen start pressing f8.  Press f8 repeatedly until you come to the boot options.  If you get to the windows loading screen you are too late.  Here are the safe mode boot options…

Safe Mode with Networking – This is the one I like to use the most.  It is safe mode, but with the added benefit of still being able to get things online (such as updates to antivirus or malware removal software).

Safe Mode – Just regular safe mode will load windows with only the basic drivers and utilities it HAS to have to boot.  Safe mode is really great for troubleshooting issues that programs could be causing since those programs will not load in safe mode.

Last Known Good Configuration – Using this option will most likely not help you a good majority of the time.  If your computer fails to load AFTER you see the windows loading screen then Last Known Good will not work for you.  It usually will only fix issues that are preventing windows from loading.  If you happen to install a driver that completely kills your system, this is going to be the greatest thing ever!  It does exactly what it says, it will load the last known set of drivers that booted successfully.

Safe Mode with Command Prompt – This will definitely not be the option for you.  Unless you know DOS, then don’t even attempt this option.  It will boot the computer to the black screen where you can type in DOS codes to try and troubleshoot the computer…. for pros only please.

VGA Mode – This will help with video driver problems, as it will load only a basic video driver so you can try and install a different video driver for your system.

I hope you have a better understanding of how to reboot your computer and other devices, and if you have more questions just tweet me… twitter.com/tech4mommies

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The other day I discussed how to be “smart” out there online.  Now I’m going to talk about some things you can do regularly to make sure your system stays clean… and sometimes when it gets a little dirty…

MBAM – HANDS DOWN the best malware (software that is bad for your computer) removal tool that I know of… best part?  It’s FREE! I would run this scan about once a month, and every time you suspect something is wrong with your pc.  Don’t forget to update the program from the update tab before you run your scan each time!

Antivirus – I already let you know that my favorite Antivirus is ESET’s NOD32.  It is important for you to have Antivirus so it can catch things before they get into your system.  This is especially helpful with viruses that come through your email, and viruses that try to download themselves from a website.  Antivirus should scan at least once a week.  For less frequent computer users once a month might suffice.

Defrag - If you have Windows XP it is a good idea to regularly defragment your hard drive… What exactly does this mean?  See the vocabulary lesson on Defragmentation.  I recommend running a defrag about once every 2 months or so.  More often if you have been cleaning up your programs and deleting files.  Vista and 7 run defrags themselves in the background according to it’s own schedule.

Safe mode – Booting into safe mode is a great way to get your computer cleaned up from any issues that can affect it.  In order to boot into safe mode restart your computer.  As soon as you see the black screen (before you even get to the windows loading bar) start tapping f8 on your keyboard.  If you see the Windows loading screen you’re already too late.  Reboot and try again.  If you’ve done it right you should see a black screen asking which mode you want to boot into.  Tomorrow’s post is going to break down the different boot options, but the one I use most often is “Safe Mode with Networking”.  Once in safe mode scanning your computer can find more things.  So I usually like to boot into safe mode to run MBAM and Antivirus. 

Sfc /scannow – This is a little utility that comes standard in Windows.  What it does is scan your Windows system files to make sure nothing has been changed (which could cause boot and other general problems)  Just click on Start Run and then type sfc /scannow if you have Vista or 7 you may not see a “run” option.  Just type it right into the search in the start menu.  You really only need to try this if you have been having problems booting or been getting a lot of errors.

As always if you have any problems or questions just go ahead and tweet me @tech4mommies

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Consider the hard drive in your compuer like a small CD.  When you install programs and write files to the hard drive it starts at the center and writes the files to the disk one after the other.  Then you go through and delete some files, uninstall some programs, and suddenly there are holes in the disk.  Now as you write new things to the disk it tries to fill the holes first, but this means your program won’t all be located in a nice continuous line.  It will be fragmented.  When you defragment the hard drive it takes the files that should be together and moves them back in a logical manner starting again at the center.  Now read/writes happen to the disk much quicker and you should see a performance increase in your pc.

In order to start a Defrag in Windows XP go to “Start” and then “Programs” then “Accessories” then “System Tools” and then “Disk Defragmenter”.  I like to click on the C drive and then click on analyze.  Then just click on defragment and watch those files get more organized!

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Since I discussed Antivirus I mentioned that I am not that concerned about it because I’m “smart” online.  How else can you be smart to avoid getting those pesky viruses? Here ae some great tips and tricks of the trade…

WARNING YOU HAVE A VIRUS ON YOUR SYSTEM!!!!  -  For the love of all that’s holy please ignore these warnings.  You don’t, I promise, they LIE!  As soon as you see something like that pop up close it immediately.  Sometimes you are not even able to click the x.  I would right click on the task bar (the long bar across the bottom of your screen) and select Task Manager.  Highlight Internet Explorer and End Task!  Those liars are pretty tricky and they disable the nice little red x that is usually your friend.  Clicking on the red x may lead you to an eternal loop of message boxes telling you that you REALLYREALLY  need to install their “antivirus” which is really just a bunch of Malware (bad software) that will completely jack everything up!  So end task and then reopen internet explorer vowing to never visit the site you were just visiting.   

YOU HAVE A VIDEO FROM A FRIEND! – This is typically related to Facebook and other social networking sites.  If it looks suspicious don’t click on it.  If it’s kind of generic, like “look at you in this awesome video” then REALLY don’t click on it.  If it was really from a friend it may look more like ….”hey Sarah!  Remember when we were in High School and made silly videos in the Pit? I just uploaded it, you gotta check it out”… I’d say that is probably pretty legit.  Something that is funny friends will likely just post it to their own profile, and not post it on yours.  That’s one of your first clue’s that it’s not what it claims to be.  If you question it, don’t click on it, just send a message to your friend that posted it, asking if they really posted it.  If they said yes they did, then click away!  It’s safe!  If they say no my account got hacked!  Delete it from your profile, and be grateful you dodged a bullet.

FACEBOOK, PAYPAL, MYSPACE, YOUR BANK, ETC NEEDS TO UPDATE YOUR INFO… PLEASE CLICK ON THIS VERY SUSPICIOUS LOOKING LINK IN MYEMAIL! – Even if it says www.facebook.com it doesn’t mean that the link actually points there… go ahead click on that facebook link….You can put anything you want behind that text and direct the user to a totally different site.  Once in this random site, that looks a bit like facebook, you enter your username and password, or maybe your account number, etc. and now the person that sent you the email has all of your information.  It’s called Phishing.  If you have any questions about an email, don’t click the link, simply open a new browser and type in the address yourself.  Do not rely on a link in an email to get you to the right place.

DO YOU KNOW ME? – Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know.  It’s just common sense.  If you don’t know them, then do you really want them knowing things about you?  If you are curious about it send them a message asking how they know you. 

So be smart out there, and you’ll keep your system clean too.    Stay tuned tomorrow for tools to help you keep your pc clean.

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Congrats to Heather B for winning the ESET NOD32 Antivirus.  Check back often for more great Tech Giveaways!

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I’ll be the first to admit that I typically don’t worry too much when it comes to securing my computer.  I’m smart enough online to not get into too much trouble, so I just don’t worry about it.  My other reasoning for not securing my computer is that the virus scanners I’ve come across have been clunky, and have caused more annoyances and problems then they have solved (I’m looking at you Norton Internet Security and McAffe).  I just want something to scan my computer for viruses, make sure I don’t get any new ones, and never ever tell me that it’s doing so.  I don’t need a firewall, a phishing filter, etc etc etc… Just protect my computer and don’t tell me about it.

I finally found it!  ESET’s NOD32 Antivirus Protection was exactly what I’ve been looking for.  I’ve had it installed on my laptop for about a month now, and it is great.  It updates it’s definitions quietly.  It doesn’t take my laptops resources, it doesn’t give me constant popups questioning why I’m doing this or that.  It just quietly protects my computer from the nasty trojans, viruses, and worms that are running around out there trying to Hack the Planet.

According to their website “That’s why ESET NOD32 Antivirus gives you fast, effective and easy-to-use protection without getting in your way. Smart proactive detection blocks most known and emerging threats hours or days faster than other antivirus technologies. Fast, light and unobtrusive software protects your Internet experience without annoying system slowdowns.”  ESET is quickly becoming the highest rated Antivirus around right now.  It has also tested through the roof against the competition for proactive detection, accuracy, and system performance.

Here is the SUPER excellent news!  ESET is letting me give away a One Year of protection with NOD32 Antivirus!  Simply leave a comment on this post and you are entered!  You can earn extra entries by becoming a fan of Technology for Mommies on Facebook and leaving a comment here that you have done so, or tweeting about the giveaway with this comment…

“I just entered to win a year of Antivirus Protection from @eset and @tech4mommies Go enter now! http://bit.ly/61B7tU ”

Don’t forget to link your tweet here for the entry to count.  Good Luck, and stay safe out there! 

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