I”ve been busily adding new pages and articles and revising more at my Terry”s Computer Tips website.

Some of these are new web pages from my older newsletters. I”ve discovered that Google”s search engine doesn”t do a good job on newsletters - there is too much unrelated content on an individual web page.

Google apparently indexes it for a while and then expires it out of their database. Even if I search for items that I know are in some of the issues and click on the radio-button for www.terryscomputertips.com, Google isn”t responding with some of the articles.

Now, with the new web pages, you can more easily access some of my earlier newsletter articles — including updated information where appropriate. I”m converting both the original email versions (from before the days of the subscriber-only email editions) and the on-line newsletters into individual web pages to make them more search engine friendly.

New and revised pages, so far, include the following:
Microsoft Update vs Windows Update
Windows OS CDs vs Restore CDs
Restore Partitions and Restore CDs
Searching the Internet
I Hate spam
CentOS Linux
Hard Drives, Partitions and Drives
Backing Up My System
Backing Up My Data
Linux For Windows Users
Wireless Security
My Computer Security Software Recommendations
Filezilla File Transfer Software
Xandros Desktop Linux
So You Want A Home Network
Free web Design Software - Nvu
Selling Products Online at ProStores
How Do I Create a Web Page?

CentOS, the Community ENTerprise Operating System, is an open-source clone of RedHat Enterprise Linux. Last summer, I installed CentOS 4.1 on my in-house Linux box.

[Aside: in Linux-speak, we talk of "boxes," not "computers"]
This box functions, in part, as a web development tool for me. Its main use is “networked attached storage” for backing up other computers on my home network.

Using the standard Samba program that comes with almost every Linux distribution, and which is designed to make Linux file and printer sharing compatible with “Windows File and Printer Sharing,” I can do daily data backups from my Windows computers to the Linux box.  I have a 160 GB hard drive on the Linux computer dedicated to the backups.

Read more in my article CentOS Linux

FileZilla is open-source, free (GNU General Public License — a.k.a., “the GPL”) software that allows you to transfer files from one computer to another computer using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or the Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). Of course, the ohe other computer must to be running an FTP or SFTP server for this to work.

The FileZilla FTP/SFTP client software is designed for Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, and XP and can be downloaded from the project”s SourceForge.net project page http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla/.

Read more in my article Filezilla FTP / SFTP Client Software Review

Restore Partitions and Restore CDs
Premonition or Just Coincidence?

The day after I drafted the article about not having a Windows CDROM or recovery CDROMs, I got a call from a friend.  Unfortunately, he had experienced the thrill of destructive software, probably multiple viruses and adware.

The signs were bad — antivirus program installed but not running, firewall disabled, occasional warnings from the AV program”s monitoring routine that it couldn”t confirm the integrity of the antivirus programs, AOL starting up automatically when he booted, missing “All Programs” from the Start button, no software in “Add/Remove Programs”, unable to edit, add or change users, browser hijackers infecting Internet Explorer, and multiple strange programs starting automatically.

Read more in Restore Partitions and Restore CDs

You might want to have remote access to another computer on your home network — that one is easy.

More difficult to do — more difficult to do securely — you can access your home computer from the office or from another location.

You might even want to be able to access your office computer from home — with full remote control.

Access Your PC from Anywhere - Free Trial plus $10 Off!

Read more in my article Remote Access to Your Computer

I don”t think there is a major computer manufacturer today who will sell you a computer without an operating system.  You”ll get the current version of Windows, or perhaps the vendor”s choice of Linux distributions, preinstalled on your computer — whether you want it or not.  The manufacturers differ, though, on whether or not they give you original CDROMs of the operating system.

Read more in my article Windows Operating System CDs versus Restore CDs