Now, I wouldn’t want to share a link with anyone reading that would keep them totally addicted to the internet, but I just thought for those that are, there is no saving you at this point.  I checked an email today from a friend that sent me to a website with a live streaming scanner for Sheboygan County.

Now, don’t get all excited before you check it out.  It’s pretty sweet, but from my experience with computers, etc, you are going to need a high speed connection.  Since Charter has taken care of overcharging all of us for that, I give you:

http://www.qsl.net/k9drx/

All you have to do is click the “play” button and enjoy hours of free live streaming scanner reports right online anywhere, anytime!  I have it running in the background on monitor number two whenever I have it on.  That way I can still do my normal internet time wasting and listen to the scanner in the background.

Enjoy!  It can get as exciting as watching Stevie Wonder use the iTouch, and to give you an example, there was a 35 minute portion the other day when officers in the city were chasing down a stray dog.  The only way it gets better is if the show COPS comes to Sheboygan

Don’t you think this would make an excellent gift for your little ones?  How much does your grandson talk about Santa or where all those toys come from?  Sent by Santa is a company that will send customized letters to your children with a post mark from the North Pole!

There are many ways to customize or you can choose a standard template when ordering.  I just thought this would be such a good idea and make it even easier to keep the hope alive in the children that Santa is watching every move they make.  Will your children be on the good list or the bad list?

A Note From:  Letters from Santa
Make someone smile with a letter from Santa
Children all over the world are being surprised this year with our custom-made Santa letters. What could be more remarkable for a young child than a letter from Santa Claus himself! The personalized letters from Santa are written with your child’s name, hometown, and whichever details you would want to include for the ideal letter from Santa that is sure to make them smile and love the Christmas experience.
 

Right now, if you order 3 letters at $9.95 each, you will get ONE free!  That’s 4 customized letters by Santa from the North Pole, for only under $30.  You have to order quickly though, because I think the deadline for the postmark is actually the 6th of December.  How much more authentic can it get?

A couple of weeks ago I posted a “blog” at the SheboygaPress website asking people if their computers were slow.  I actually recommended that people DO NOTcall the GeekSquad and the comments that I got were surprising.  One of the commentors agreed with my remark about the GeekSquad.

I would like to explain better why I don’t think that’s a good idea for you, your computer, or your checkbook, to call them when you have a problem.  There are many resources on the internet that can help you with your problems.  They are always cheaper and, in most cases, won’t leave you hanging without a computer for days on end.

The GeekSquad is going to charge you an arm and a leg for very basic stuff you can find with a simple search of Google.com.  The first thing that I recommend is NOT buying virus protection.  Yes, you read that right, do NOT buy any virus protection software!  There are at least 2 products that will cover your computer, and not load it down, and you can download these for FREE!

Download.com Offers:

1. AVG Free Edition – downloaded over 130 million times
2. Avast – downloaded over 31 million times

Between these two FREE virus software downloads, you should NEVER have to buy anti-virus software again.  3 things to remember with FREE software are; update, update, update.  Always check for updates when you run the software, this will keep the program up with the times of new viruses, etc.

What I do when I get an error or have computer “issues”

1. Copy the error and enter it into Google Search – that will show me others with the same problem and possibly a quick fix.
2. If you encounter a virus you might want to see if you can catch the name of it or any identifying text.  Typing that into Google will also help you.
3. After reading forums, blogs and websites about my problem, by now I am close to the solution or at least I have more reading material to check out.

Virus Protection, Adaware Protection and Registry Protection, Which One?

If I have popups, I run Adaware (downloaded from Download.com), making sure to update it, and that usually takes care of it.  I did run into a pop up crazy virus this year that Adaware was unable to detect.  After extensively searching the net, I found the Uniblue RegistryBooster software.  After reading some reviews on the product, I figured it was the right one for me.

The registry in your computer is vital and when it’s optimized, you computer will run smoother.  The screenshots from the review posted above show the load times of applications, as well as, Windows XP, before and after running the booster software (Click here to run a Free Registry scan).

The software from Uniblue is part of a PowerSuite, which I purchased, that includes a driver scanner and a speed up your PC application.  It was well worth it and if you need more information or reviews, just search Google, always search Google

I decided to a Google search for Sheboygan and see some of the other websites on the web that are related to the City of Sheboygan.  I added a couple of the top results to my “Local Links” section.  They include:

www.sheboygan.org – This website is related to Sheboygan County and run by the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce.  There is plenty of information here for visitors.

http://ci.sheboygan.wi.us/ - A website for the city of Sheboygan.  Again, there is plenty of news and events posted on this site for anyone that wants to visit.  The website also has a cool photo section of older photos of the city, which I like to look at.

www.visitsheboygan.com/ – This website appears to be geared more towards tourism in the area.

http://www.sheboygan.com/ - This website appears to be more of a directory of sorts for the city and surrounding areas.

These are just a couple of websites from the top ten search results for “sheboygan” in Google.  There are plenty more where that came from.  If you are aware of anymore that have useful information on them, post them here for everyone to see.

Now that Craigslist.org finally got their crap together, you can see the Sheboygan County area on their website.  I have a link to the site in my “local links” area, so feel free to check it out. 

If you do not know what Craigslist is (yes there are some), it’s a free classifieds website that allows you to post various things for trade or sale.  Everything from tools to rental properties can be found on the site.  Relationships, housing, coupons and more can also be found at www.craigslist.org.  With a couple of minutes to search, you can find just about anything.

Just a quick note in case you didn’t know about it already.  Oh yea, the listings stay up for 45 days, free, unless you delete them yourself.  Enjoy!!