Downloading music has become one of the TOP ways to contract a virus or worse on your computer!  There are very few options out there that offer safe ways to download music to your computer.  Here are some options for you!

Buy your music: That is the only safe way to download music offline unless an author posts their music to be free.  Use programs like iTunes or Windows Media Player to purchase your music and download it legally to your PC.  The cost of purchasing individual music is much more rewarding then spending countless hours of time trying to remove infections from illegal websites or losing your identity to malicious files that will send credit card numbers or worse to other companies if you contract those infections.

Look online for websites that offer artists who are looking to be discovered or trying to make a name for themselves.  Many of these artists allow free downloads or give samples for people to pass around.

Browse iTunes for mixtapes, many producers or artists will release these types of downloads for a small price that you can download legally.  Browse PureVolume or Myspace pages for artists who willing to give up their music for free!

Remember, if it looks sketchy or too good to be true, it probably is and will lead to more problems!

Can a “kid” really be the answer to one of the entertainment industries biggest financial problems which might save billions of dollars in revenue for record labels, artists and even entertainment stores?!  What the Tech?!

22 year-old Sam Tarantino came up with the potential solution to the downloading of illegal music via an idea which is now dubbed the “YouTube” of music.

GrooveShark.com markets itself as the legal way to stream music online while preventing the risk of pirating music off an illegal site or paying the expensive prices for the full album…I like to think of it as an online iTunes without the 30 second preview limit.

Other alternatives such as Pandora allow a user to browse similar music but do not allow playlist creations of ONLY the songs you want to here and require a paid subscription to get some of their advance features.  The VIP membership of Grooveshark removes advertisements but does not change the fundamental features of the site.

Grooveshark boasts full features such as popular song recommendation and the ability to generate full playlists online to keep minimized on an internet tab!

Try it out, I’d love to know what everyone else thinks.

An interesting study at UC San Diego estimated the amount of data the average person goes through per day…and that’s outside of work.  Find out if you’re an “information junkie” too.

I was shocked when I read the original article posted on Yahoo!, I thought it was pertaining to groups of American’s per week or month!  To put it into perspective for some of our non-technical readers; the computer hard drive in front of you is roughly in the range of 80-500 gigs.  If you divide that by 34 you can determine how many day’s your hard drive would last before it got full.
The study considered any means of transferring data (including books) as valid input with an average of 12 hours per day to consume the 34 gigs.  Traditional media dominated the chunk of data at around 60%.  Video games and general computer use came in second surprisingly but I wouldn’t be shocked to see that number move more towards mobile phones with much faster browsing speeds moving to these smaller hand held devices.
Anyone else shocked by this or does it sound reasonable?  Thoughts?

Why do I get the message “You have been signed out of Yahoo Messenger because you have signed in on another computer or device?”  This happens specifically when I go to Yahoo.com on my computer so does that mean I’m on another computer or is someone accessing my account?  Thanks for your help

The new Yahoo! Mail has caused some issues specifically with its own software and applications!  The error message regarding being logged in from another computer can raise some hairs but do not be afraid because this error is caused by you and only you so rest assure that your information is safe!

To prevent this error message from continuing to occur, let’s look at the reason of why it happens and the simple fix to disable it.

The new Yahoo! Mail offers an integrated Yahoo! Messenger which signs you in automatically.  While many people use Yahoo Messenger on their desktop, they forget to sign out of one while the other is running which is triggering the problem with communication between the two programs resulting in an error.

To remove this error message, you’ll need to disable the chat in Yahoo! Mail.  To do this, sign into your Yahoo! Mail homepage and click on the smiley face next to your user name at the middle of the mail page (the location may differ depending on your layout).

Select the Sign Out option and look for the face to be gray and asleep.  You’ve now successfully disabled the chat and should no longer be receiving this message!

Bing Cashback is Microsoft’s weapon against Google and it’s working. Have you explored what Bing Cashback can do for you?

Some users are still unaware what Bing Cashback is and what makes it such a great advantage over Google search. Bing cashback offers further savings on products you find using the Microsoft Bing search engine!

It’s a very simple process, just navigate to Bing.com and search a product you’re looking to buy. In the top results, look for a gold $ sign and click on the link to be eligible for a % of cash back on your purchase. There are reports of users who reach as high as 30% cash back on their purchases!

Whenever I decide to make my purchases or even search for a product for that matter, Microsoft has definitely swayed my business over to them.  How about the rest of the users out there?  What is everyone else using?

Yahoo! has been experimenting with some changes within the past couple years including their aesthetics on their homepage.  Most websites are constantly trying to stay updated with the times, including looks, and are making a push to become more web 2.o.  Yahoo! has been in competition with Google and Microsoft for their search engine efforts and their other marketed homepage features, so staying current with better features and better improvements is always on the agenda.

What you are referring to is just one of the new homepages they have been testing out.  I believe it is the one that they are looking to replace the homepage with permanently, but to be honest, my research shows most people are against any new homepage entirely!

It’s tough to ask Yahoo! to stay old in these times where other companies are trying to stay young and more sleek looking.  Yahoo! also has tried to improve their features and services they offer.  To do this, they had to change around the look of the old website they offered.

Many of us do not like change, and it took me a while to get use to the new Yahoo! homepage but I offer a few suggestions that might help you get use to the new homepage:

• Explore the features of the new Yahoo!  Take some time and find out what has changed and what else is there to offer.
• Customize your experience.  Yahoo! allows each user to customize what shows up and what news feed are available on the screen specifically to what you like.  Set up what is on the left task bar to have the buttons and features you want most easily accessible.
• Keep an open mind.  These people have been in the web industry for a while and their ultimate goal is to make you happy so they have reasons for change.  They don’t want to lose you!

You covered the first suggestion that I would have made with the MicroSD card slot.seems your phone is either razor thin or pretty outdated if it does not have one of those slots!

If you do not have a MicroSD card or are not sure if your phone has that feature, there are other options to send items to your phone from your computer.

Personally, I like to use Beam it Up Scotty.  Beam it Up Scotty is a fast, free and easy way to send pictures, videos, music, documents or any other file to your cell phone within seconds.

To use Beam it Up Scotty, upload your file with the “Browse” button.  Hit the “Upload File” button and it will begin the process.  It will compress your file to fit on your phone but anything after 5 minutes will be cut off (video and audio).

After the compression, it will prompt for your cell phone number and send you a SMS/text message with a download link to download the files to your phone!

I’ve been scouring the web the past couple days looking for the most popular stories/rumors/news/facts and have compiled a list of some bullet points I thought the readers would find interesting to read.

Check out some of these cool facts and tidbits, they make great conversation starters and are cool oddities to know to increase your computer protection/user knowledge!

• Jessica Biel recently was named the most “dangerous” celebrity to search on the web.  Research has shown that her name/pictures/videos/screensavers come attached with the most amount of malware and viruses.  I guess her good looks come at a cost. (Brad Pitt was the previous name holder and now holds his spot in second followed by former ex Jennifer Aniston)
• The recession has created a further rise in cybercrime around the world.  Apparently, the more attention given to prevent local crime as well as world terrorism takes away efforts to prevent cybercrime. Social sites have also given more room for these criminals to increase there electronic scams.
• The United States was ranked the 28th fastest in Internet Connection Speed.  A report by the Communications Workers at America said the top download speed is in South Korea with an average of 20.3 mbps.the US average is 5.1 mbps.  Japan, Sweden and the Netherlands hold the next three spots following South Korea respectively.

I hope you enjoyed the tech gossip from this week, submit your own gossip via our ASK button.  I’ll try my best to include all the submitted stories!

There’s no denying the success Twitter has had in the recent year as its grown astronomically in its users and readers.  Many of our readers and users on this forum use the website as a status update or even as a “messaging” service from time to time.  For those of you who “tweet” and would like to share a file with your audience there are many means for doing so but there’s one that I particularly found to be the best.

TweetaFile.com is one of the easiest ways to share a file over Twitter.  As it states, really the only thing that sets a batch email or announcement apart from Twitter is the ability to share files and now that gap is slowly closing.  TweetaFile is very easy to use, utilizing your Twitter login name and password to login so you do not have to create a seperate registration!

I really like the integration that TweetaFile has to offer.  The more registrations I have to make for a given website or purpose, the more annoyed I get.  The website is very simple in its layout but one of lifes cardinal lessons states: KISS (keep it simple *silly*).

As you said in your post, I highly advise against posting any material that could have a copy write on it or has been obtained through illegal means.  If the source or use of the material is in question, I suggest you do not try and share it.  Any illegal file sharing is strictly prohibited so do not involve yourself in the scheme!

Everyone carries tons of separate accounts with regards to email.  Whether you have a platter filled with Hotmail and Yahoo or Gmail and other personal work addresses, everyone has more then one account.

Surprisingly enough, I think that if possible, people would want to simplify all addresses to one destination.  While there are solutions such as Outlook or other email clients, I believe everyone would want to have just two accounts.  One for real email addresses and one for spam mail.

If you’re looking to get rid of the Gmail account, I highly recommend you do so, just verify that you do not have any contacts sending important or regular email there.

There is no “cancel” button in Gmail, but through some trickery we can use to cancel the account.

Login to your account and at the top right, click on Settings and then choose the Account and Settings.

Navigate to the middle of the page to find look for the Google Account settings tab which lets you reset your password or change your security question.

On the My Products, select the Edit option and choose the last option which is to: Close account and delete all services and info associated with it.

Read the very serious and frightening disclaimer.  Select your options and choose to “Delete Google Account.”

Your done.now celebrate your liberation!

I admire your passion to join the right site of the fight, not to mention the wonderful credentials you bring to the table!  Joining the fight to protect users is a noble effort and can be taught from our forums!

The way to join the fight against malware victims at What the Tech is in our classroom.  This classroom is made available in order to train malware fighters who will volunteer to help victims in the forums.

Check out how to sign up and get started today!

The Classroom was founded in 2003 as part of the Tom Coyote Classroom!  It has a rich history and comes with a technical prestige!  Beware that not all are made for the Classroom but we haven’t lost a single man/woman yet!

The Classroom is not intended for self help lessons or commercial purposes.

Trainees are required to participate in answering practice logs and posting to receive feedback from the volunteer Classroom Teachers. This free interactive educational program does require that participation, therefore inactive students will be removed from the Classroom.

A new student should not apply to and enroll in more than one school at the beginning of their training, this is to ensure the trainee is actively participating in the programs and avoid overload in their learning. We want you to enjoy and successfully complete the program.

Note:
If you have sought assistance for a PC in any malware removal forum, please do not apply to the Classroom until the machine has been cleaned and the thread closed.

Please apply here if your intention is to be trained in order to help victims of malware in the forums.

One will usually hear from the Classroom Team no later than one week after your application is received to notify you of your status.

*The above has been taken from a tutorial and post made by Tashi, a valued member on the Administrative Team of the forums.

The domain business is a booming industry with some domains selling for millions and millions of dollars.  If you have a knack for finding good domains, you can make some very serious money, but it is not for everyone.

Searching for new domains is always tricky, but there are sites to use that will allow you to instantly determine if a domain is available without the need to type in any security codes, image verifications nor need to be a member to use.

I recommend Instant Domain Search for all your domain-ing needs.  If you are someone who likes to play with words for the domain, its a perfect site that allows you to type in letter by letter searching if that specific domain is available and it tells you..well.instantly!

Instant Domain Search displays the prices of each major domain company such as GoDaddy, 1 & 1, Network Solutions and provides the availability of the .net and .org extensions.

If you’re a big domain’er and are constantly searching for domains on the fly, Instant Domain Search is a great website to keep bookmarked for your domain needs.

Pulling videos off YouTube can be a fantastic tool so long as the video poster has granted access to its rights or the video does not have copy written material.  I’ve posted a previous entry about pulling some Do-It-Yourself videos off YouTube here but never included information on how to through it on an iPod for the gym.

I found a site that I use personally to help me with this.  I love downloading videos on tips and tricks to watch while on the treadmill for the reasons you said above; it saves time and makes working out much more fun.

Locate the video you want to copy and then keep it on your clipboard (CTRL+C).  Open ConvertMyTube and paste the link in the open space for the URL.  If you’d like to change the format to an .mp3, .wav, .mov (MAC) or an .mp4 (iPod or iPhone) click on the circle that follows the end of the blank spot for the URL.  Select the designated format and click Convert and Download.

You can specify the download location during the download, and after add the file into iTunes to drag over to your iPod.  For other videos, as stated in the previous post,  the best universal video player I’ve found out there is VLC Media Player- which is free!  At the download page,  choose your operating system and install.  After the program is on your machine, you should be able to double click your downloaded YouTube video and start watching it.

When anyone remotely can access your computer at any time, you don’t have a firewall. It seems time after time; I am lurking around malware removal forums here at WhatTheTech or GeeksToGo, to find that a lot of users are missing a firewall. Even basic firewall protection is better than nothing.

I was on my XP test box a few weeks ago, and turned off the firewall and started browsing bad websites, and started downloading neutral programs. By the time I was done with that, I had acquired such a mess, as nine Trojans, and 4 spyware programs. One of the Trojans was a downloader of malware. My machine was not shot, as I was able to remove/delete all of the threats. A normal user cannot do this, and needs the assistance of malware experts who can help remove it.

After I had removed the malware, I restarted my computer to find it back to normal. It was fine, and running smoothly. I turned on Comodo Firewall, and again browsed bad websites, and downloaded bad programs. First of all, the bad programs would not start, because Comodo had a lock on them. Whenever I went to double-click on one, an error popped up, and said: “you do not have sufficient privileges to start this program.” The title-bar was labeled as “Comodo Internet Security.” The firewall event log had over 20 events of just those ten minutes of browsing bad websites. 20 events of threats trying to enter my system, I knew Comodo protected me.

Although hardware firewalls are much better, software firewalls are what I am talking about today.
We will start with the tested best of the best. Tallemu Online Armor. The personal edition is just as good as the Pro. Features boasted include keylogger protection, autoruns management, mail and web filter, anti-spyware, and HOSTS and DNS checker. The only reason why Online Armor did not score a 100% on the tests is because they were not able to stop viruses from executing via internet query.

Then, Comodo Firewall is the next impressive piece in software firewall technology. Its technology is much different than most firewalls. It boasts its features as Defense+ HIPS protection – which alerts you when an application is not on the list of good applications, Defense+ is also considered Anti-spyware, highly extended firewall policy. Although they offer antivirus protection, the firewall policy stops viruses in their tracks. The only reason that Comodo did not score a 100% was because of the inability to stop bots from being queried on a machine.

The last one I will review is ZoneAlarm. ZoneAlarm boasts full stealth mode, protection from hijackers, OS file protection, MD5 (program key) spoof protection, rootkit detection, and dynamic inbound/outbound protection with hyper threat checking.

What all three of these have in common is they deal with threats. They all have a specific protection that is different than each other. Tallemu Online Armor, and Comodo firewall both had anti-spyware protection, but ZoneAlarm did not. ZoneAlarm has rootkit detection, whereas Tallemu and Comodo do not. Firewalls are one of your best Operating System Defense Weapons. You can be secure from most online threats by using a firewall. The three reviewed above, are the most protective and the highest rated. All three protect from severe threats, and all three passed rigorous testing on blocking threats.

Being a state that is the leader in technology development this is a great initiative and the rest of the country is watching very closely. Schwarzenegger is quoted in the San Jose Mercury News saying… “California is home to software giants, bioscience research pioneers, and first-class university systems known around the world. But our students still learn from instructional materials in formats made possible by Gutenberg’s printing press,”…

Now ditching the printing press may not be the end all be all, checking out E-Booksdirectory.com is a good start. They are an online resource that contains links to freely downloadable eBooks, technical papers, and documents, as well as user-contributed content, articles, reviews, and comments. The service is free for students, educators, researchers, and eBook lovers. With this site, Wikipedia, and other web 2.0 websites, there are various ways schools can start cutting costs.

How are eBooks a great start? Instead of having to check in/out textbooks every year a librarian or teacher can spend more time working with the students. Districts would no longer have to worry about replacing torn and marked up books and lost and forgotten texts can easily be downloaded again with no cost at all. And all of those parents who complain about 50-60 pound backpacks… Well a digital file has no weight other than the media it is stored on, say a thumb drive… Which is probably less than an ounce.

However the future still looms for some digital text. Google Books, announced in 2003, Google’s plan is to digitize the worlds books and have information become searchable, indexed, and displayed on the Internet. However lawsuits are holding back this project. You can though, check out the books that have been allowed to be digitized over at books.google.com.

Once again the Internet is changing our way of life. This time it is in the classroom. And it could not be at a better time. Green is the new future and digital textbooks are a good start. If you have any ideas on ways to help cut classroom costs post them in the comment section and maybe you will see an article about it!