Many people have asked me about making a PDF, for there are so many applications available on the web. In my experience, PrimoPDF is the best. I’ve used it for several years and have seen it only improve in that time. I install it on PCs as part of my standard load for many clients. It’s so simple to use and using it produces files one can supply to other people that can be read on any PC or Mac and generally cannot be edited. Once installed, one simply “prints” to it as if printing to a standard printer. Once the print job is sent, PrimoPDF opens and asks for the location to save the PDF and presents other options for more customization. Try PrimoPDF if you need to create PDFs. It’s certainly worth being your first application before buying one that does more than most of us need.

(flickr upload by mpd)

As a friend and former coworker put it, I am on a quest for the Holy Grail of convertible-friendly, wireless mobile phone headsets. In my latest effort, I tried the brand spanking new, military noise-canceling technology using, can hardly find them anywhere ’cause they’re sold out Jawbone Bluetooth headset. Alas, it failed miserably. Oh, it’s definitely a great headset and does a wonderful job of eliminating ambient noise. It fails where all others fail: noise from wind across the mic. If you’re a convertible junky like me, you know of what I speak. If you’ve received a call from a convertible junky, you know of what I speak. C’mon folks! It’s time for a wireless headset for convertible drivers!

I have a wired headset by Etymotic that is the BEST solution for yapping with the top down. Though a bit pricey, it’s proved to be well worth it, for I can converse at speeds in the 50’s with the top and windows down and voice quality is great and I can hear the other party very well, too. At speeds of 65+, if I roll up the windows, the call quality is still very good. If you drive a convertible and need a good headset solution, try Etymotic’s ETY•COM headset.

Now, for mobile phone holders, there are TONS of options out there. The ProClip Mounting System is by far the best I have found. Again, it’s a pricey solution, but it’s well worth it - there is nothing I’ve found that comes close to being as solid and simple. I also like the one-handed friendliness, for I am often driving away and then remembering I need to pop the phone into the clip. Doing that and then inserting the headset jack while driving was not-so-smart, two-handed thing I did several times before getting my ProClip.

I use a RAZR phone and the battery life is deplorable. Since it charges via the same port that I have to use for the wired headset (great design Moto!), I can’t charge it while driving. I bought an Energizer phone charger last year and it has saved me several times. Get one; AA batteries are practically anywhere you go and you can carry your phone around while it’s being charged.

OK, now to niftycool FREE applications for your mobile phone:

• K7 is something I’ve used for several years now. Register with them and you’ll get a phone number that’s based on the west coast (so you might want to make sure you have long-distance in your calling plan) that is associated with your email address. Call the number and leave a message. Within seconds, the message is in your email inbox as a wav (audio) file attachment. I use the custom greeting feature and have nothing as the greeting. When I call the number, I hear the beep and leave the message. I use this to help me remember things later.
• Jott is the next step beyond K7. Like K7, you can leave yourself messages. You can also leave them for anyone else whose email address you’ve entered into your Jott address book. Also, instead of sending a wav file, Jott (using some mix of human and computer transcribers) sends an email with what you said as the text of the email. One thing I don’t like about Jott is it is not as fast as K7 - it takes some time for the transcription to occur and I’m sure that varies based on time of day.
• Pinger is like sending a text message to someone except it’s a voice message. Often (and especially while driving) I want to leave a message for a friend - a non-urgent, don’t need to converse, don’t want to engage in a full-fledged phone call type of message. When that’s the case, I use Pinger. I simply call Pinger and state who I want to message and then speak my message and hang up. If they’ve registered their phone with Pinger, they get a text message stating they have a Pinger message. All they have to do is open the text message and press send. Their phone dials into their account and automatically plays the message. If they want to reply, they just press 1, speak their message and hang up. Then the process repeats. If they don’t have their phone registered with Pinger, they receive an email that has a link to the message. They do not have to register or jump through any hoops to hear the message - big plus! Another big plus is I can message multiple recipients - so, one voice message to many friends with one simple service.
• Google 411 is fabulous! Add this phone number to your contacts: 800-466-4411. Dial it and follow the prompts. Super simple, very friendly and they’ll dial the number for you… for FREE!
• HouseFront is great for house hunters. Simply send a text message to 46873 that includes the house number, street name (rd, dr, ave is not necessary) and zip code. (Separate the street name and the zip with a comma. Also, instead of zip, you can send city and state. Separate them with a comma.) Within seconds you’ll get two text messages with lots of public domain info about the property. Zillow also offers this service, but HouseFront’s text messaging provides more information. However, Zillow is better online for this and more information about the property.
• Frucall is the latest I’ve discovered. Call or text the barcode number of a product and get the lowest prices at which said product can be obtained. And the prices include estimated shipping! (At least if you’ve registered…)

I just used CrossLoop today for the first time. A well-timed call from a client allowed me to test it in situ. Having used a variety of remote PC management applications, I was amazingly pleased with how simple it was to guide him through the simple setup and session initiation. Upon completing the session initialization, I was able to remotely manage Ronnie’s PC much like any other remote management application I’ve used. Of course, there is some latency between actions and viewing the results, but that’s pretty normal. The big deal with CrossLoop is twofold: (1) It’s free. (2) It’s simple. My experience today showed me it’s a wonderful tool for helping a client from off-site. While nothing is as good as being on location to help a client, this (coupled with a phone call during the session) is a great next-best-thing for assessing/addressing a minor issue. And it can save both time and money for my client.

If you need help, contact your technical resource and suggest using CrossLoop. If you’re the tech, it’s a super-simple way to see and manage the PC in need.

A couple of months ago, I found my way to Joe’s Goals, a simple, functional and visually pleasing goal tracking website. As I have used it, I’ve found that its greatest use for me is to keep up with contacting friends and acquaintances. One thing I know about me is that I think to contact someone who is not part of my daily life and then something distrac… LOOK! SOMETHING SHINY! Using Joe’s Goals as a little reminder that it’s been awhile since I spoke with so-and-so helps me keep the long times between chats much shorter.

Of course, I use it for general goals, too. Some of the things I track are:

• getting adequate sleep
• drinking water
• exercising
• saving money
• eating healthfully
• practicing guitar
• writing blog posts

Joe’s Goals allows for tracking positive and negative goals. I choose to track only positive things, for they are what I want to focus upon. For instance, instead of giving myself a negative mark when don’t exercise, I only give a positive mark when I do. That’s what works for me.

Joe also gives you an option to post a mini-chart of your weekly progress. Each goal can have a positive or negative value attributed to it and the chart marks your daily totals. I don’t use this feature, but I can see how it could be useful in keeping up on your goals.

Joe’s Goals is part of my daily routine. You’ll find it open on my PC almost anytime I’m online. Give it a try for a week or three and see if it fits you. Oh, and another nice little feature: the title of the site, once registered, changes to your name. So I have “Sam’s Goals” showing on my Firefox tab. (Of course, you still go to www.joesgoals.com to get there.)

Hey! Now I get to put a checkmark for posting to PCIAM! YAY!

Layers of protection are what will keep your PC virus-free, spyware-free, trustworthy and running well. These layers include: education, operating system updates, anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, and a secure web browser. Adding anti-spyware to your PC is a huge step in creating the layered protection you need to keep your PC safe. Gone are the days of anti-virus being all you need to protect your system.

I’ve used many different applications for eliminating spyware and other nasties not classified as viruses (collectively called malware). One has consistently proven to be invaluable. Ewido has been a favorite tool in my arsenal, cleaning malware from systems so infected that other tools couldn’t even complete their scans. It was purchased this year by Grisoft, purveyor of the excellent free-for-consumers anti-virus, AVG Anti-Virus Free. Recently, Grisoft released their first rebranded version of Ewido, called (surprisingly) AVG Anti-Spyware Free. I’ve not yet had need to tackle a seriously infected system with it, but I have installed it on several PC’s and it seems to be as good as ever.

AVG Anti-Spyware Free is available for a free 30-day, fully functional trial. (Here’s a link to Grisoft’s free products front page, should the direct link be broken.) After 30 days, the major loss in functionality is the loss of automatic updates and real-time protection. Automatic updates simply means that it checks for new spyware definitions daily, then downloads and installs them without your interaction. Real-time protection means that it prevents known spyware from even installing on your PC. While both of these features are highly desirable, it is a great product even without them. Updating the application manually only takes a few clicks and scanning your system is only a few more. The catch is you must remember to do these things! (Create a repeating calendar entry to remind you at least monthly.) Of course, for a reasonable cost of $40 for a two-year subscription, the fully-functional application is quite within reach of most budgets and certainly adds peace of mind, especially for the forgetful of us.

A few other anti-spyware applications that are available for free, are useful and are trustworthy:

• Spybot Search & Destroy (Clean-up and some prevention)
• SpywareBlaster (Prevention - plays very well with Spybot S&D)
• Windows Defender (XP only - plays well with AVG Free Anti-Spyware)
• AdAware (A good product, but I prefer the others)

A WORD OF CAUTION: Be wary of any other free anti-spyware applications, especially if an ad for one pops up on your screen. There are many unscrupulous people selling useless junk billed as anti-spyware. Even worse, some of them will actually infect your system rather than clean it. Here is an excellent list of “rogue” anti-spyware applications.

Add an anti-spyware solution to your PC and know that you are actively protecting your PC and the personal information you store on it and relay through it.

AVG Anti-Virus is a product I have used for several years and have been very pleased with. I recommend it to my clients because it works and because they offer a free version. Recently, AVG 7.1 started displaying a warning to users stating “STAY PROTECTED: Your AVG Anti-Virus Free 7.1 will be discontinued on 15. January 2007!” The page goes on to show two products at costs of $29.95 and $52.95. Below those products is a small link to their full product list.

I’m a little disappointed in them, but I understand their need to market and to sell product when possible. While it may seem that the only option is to either buy AVG or find another free solution, you’ll find in the full product list a link to the description of AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition. This is the new version of their free antivirus solution, version 7.5. Certainly, there are reasons to purchase their fine product, but if the free version works just fine for you, why spend the money? Ultimately, after navigating their site and multi-page sales pitch, you’ll find a link to download the new free AVG Anti-Virus 7.5 software. (In case the link to the download page is changed, you can quickly get to it from Free AVG main page.)

Upgrading from 7.1 to 7.5 is quick and painless. Here’s how, per the manufacturer:

1. Run the AVG Free Edition 7.5 Setup program
2. Click “Next >” on the AVG “Welcome!” screen
3. Click “Accept” on the “License Agreement on Use of an AVG Free Edition” screen
4. Select “Repair installation” on the “Select Setup Type” screen and click “Next >”
5. Select “Restart the computer now” (pre-selected by the program automatically) and click “OK” on the “Installation Complete!” screen to restart your computer and complete the installation

Enjoy retaining your protection from viruses and such, but remember: Antivirus is not all the protection you need. There are lots of other nasties out there and protection from many of them comes in the form of anti-spyware. There are other ways of protecting your system, too, and I’ll talk about them in the coming weeks. The biggest and best thing you can do is to BACKUP all your data! If it took you time to create it, take the time to back it up. Applications are easily reinstalled, but recreating things made with those applications takes time, at best, and can be impossible. Think you can retake all those digital pictures of little Tommy’s first five years on Earth?