The Deals Guy
Bob "The Cheapskate" Click
Greater Orlando Computer User Group
Thanks for your messages about my income tax problems. At my readers’
suggestions and my own curiosity, I returned to the AARP volunteers
to see what was wrong. Since I took the printout of my TaxAct version,
they quickly compared the numbers and found that the one prepared by
their person was incorrect. She had miscalculated the ratio of income
to Social Security received and we actually did have to pay on some
of our SS income. I was glad to know I had made the right decision.
Anybody can make a mistake and I’m just glad I checked it all out before
I sent it in.
I’ve had great response from my doctor item. Two of them were PAs and
it is unfortunate that they missed the entire point of the item, which
was that I feel a patient should be completely informed about who they
are going to see and be completely aware. I didn’t mean that PAs and
NPs are incompetent. They both did agree that they are NOT doctors.
Many readers completely agreed with my view, but surprisingly I also
had many negative responses about doctors in general. A few were soured
on doctors and preferred seeing their PAs, and knew the status. The
messages have been very interesting.
*Beware If You Remodel A Dell
I read this in the Macon Users Group’s newsletter and thought you might
like to know about it. Dell computer is a very popular choice and many
people own them. What if you decide to upgrade your Dell’s power supply
or motherboard? You could easily fall into a trap if you are inexperienced
since these parts in a Dell are proprietary. Seems that several wiring
connections are reversed. You are advised to do your homework. Either
buy the parts from Dell, or replace both the motherboard and
power supply if you use non-Dell parts. I hope this information prevents
somebody from encountering a serious problem had they not known.
*As for the deals, I have been busy this month and simply don’t
have much. Two vendors I tried to contact didn’t respond. I’ve been
working on my Web site a lot and my deadline crept up fast. I have a
mixed bag, thanks to my readers. Last month’s software deals from Gene
and Linda Barlow are good indefinitely
[ http://www.ugr.com/order/]
and the Metlund hot water pump deal will continue to be good this month
[ http://www.gothotwater.com].
*Need Memory? I Think I Do, But Can’t Remember
Lots of people purchase their memory on the Web and a very popular
place is from Crucial. Did you know that they have a special deal just
for user group people? Neither did I. Thanks to Russell Albach of The
Alamo PC Organization, I can pass his information on to my readers.
Head for [http://www.crucial.com/usergroups]
and you’ll find yourself eligible for a 5% discount. However, if you
took advantage of the exceptionally good user group special offer from
Intel for APCUG Comdex attendees, you won’t get any help from Crucial
though because they do not carry RDRAM. If you need memory, many consider
Crucial highest in quality. I checked with their sales department before
writing this up and they said to go ahead. As far as I’m concerned,
we need all the help we can get when making a purchase.
*Plenty of Choices For An Office Suite
In the past, I have mentioned several office suites that were either
free or low cost. This is just a reminder list for your perusal. I
realize that they may not have all the features that you would get in
MS Office, but you can save a lot over purchasing the big names. It
is a known fact that most office suite users only know about 30% of
a program’s capabilities, so why be captive to a big name? Below are
some alternative office suites:
http://www.gnome.org (Win.&
Linux)
http://www.hancom.com (Win./Linux)
http://www.gobe.com (Win.
& Linux)
http://www.thinkfree.com
(versions for Windows, Mac & Linux)
http://www.staroffice.com
(not free any more, but not expensive) (Windows, Linux & Sun Solaris)
*Mac Sources
I’m sure I don’t have many Mac readers, but many user groups are multi-platform
so I’ll include this offering sent to me by a Mac user. It is said to
offer lots of goodies. Check out [ http://macsupport.about.com/mlibrary.htm].
Unless I miss my guess, most of the Mac users already know about this
one, but I’m including it anyway.
*Fed Up With Doubleclick cookies?
I don’t remember where I saw this, but some of you may have noticed
that if you use AdAware or another spyware sniffer, it usually finds
a cookie by Doubleclick on your machine. Take it off and it will be
right back. They actually provide a way to opt out of that situation.
Point your browser to [http://www.doubleclick.com/us/corporate/privacy/privacy/ad-cookie/].
One click at the bottom will do it, but be sure to read the caveat on
their Web site. After opting out, it tells you which cookie NOT to delete;
otherwise you have just defeated your objective.
*Free Photo Editor
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program),
which boasts many of Photoshop’s features without the high price tag,
will create layers, feather, manipulate text, and even animate. You’ll
find handy floating palettes just like in Photoshop as well. One drawback
noted in the write-up I read is no support for GIF files. Download it
at [ http://www.gimp.org/~tml/gimp/win32//downloads.html
].
That's it for this month. Meet me here again next month if your
editor permits. This column is written to make user group members aware
of special offers I have found or arranged, and my comments should not
be interpreted to encourage, or discourage, the purchase of any products,
no matter how enthused I might sound.
- Bob (The Cheapskate) Click [Bobclick (at) mindspring.com]
| 
Bob
(The Cheapskate) Click [Bobclick (at) mindspring.com].
Visit my Web site at [