From the Brow of Zeus

Being able to consolidate all your email accounts with Gmail is great. But what if Google deleted your email? It's hard to remember, but when you use any online email service, you're one TOS violation away from losing everything.

MailStore Home is a free Windows program that archives email. The truly paranoid can even burn all their correspondence to a CD, put that CD in a fireproof case, and hire twenty ninjas to guard the case day and night.*


I can't recommend this program enough. Once, before moving to gmail, I was offline for a few months racked up about 6,000 emails. My email account was filled to the brim and they were bouncing all further letters. Reading through all those letters and manually deleting the junk would have taken forever, but with MailStore Home, I was able to back up everything (just in case!) and start over with a fresh inbox.

MailStore Home is a free download for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista. It's simple, effective, and easy on the eyes.

Enjoy.

* Ninjas sold separately.

Labels: software

Welcome guys,

I'm going to talk to you about RSS Feeds.

(You in the back, stop that yawning!)

Feeds are an amazing new way to keep up with your favorite websites. I went from, "Yeah, I can just GO to the websites, why would I need anything else?" to "HOLY CRAP I'S IN WUB" in about two days. Now, I'm addicted. Even before I check my email, I check my feeds.

Think of RSS Feeds as a newspaper: You subscribe to the sites you like, and then every morning, new updates are waiting for you like magic. No need to remember to check my site and remember the URL. It's all taken care of for you.

See the orange and white icon on the sidebar to the left? That's how you subscribe. But first you need to deicde on a RSS Newsreader.

Which RSS Newsreader you choose depends on your needs:

• For a web-based RSS Newsreader, Google Reader is for you.
• If you'd rather install a program that archives the feeds locally, FeedDemon is the best.
  

Personally, I prefer FeedDemon.

Either way, feeds are laid out much like an old USEnet client or your favorite email program (Outlook, gmail, whatever.)

I don't feel like taking a screenshot, so here's a high tech ASCII representation:

_________________________________________________________________
| Zeus        | -Lifetime Licenses & Episodic Games             |
| Bucket Bros | [more]                                          | 
| Sharkey     | -The End of Single-Player Games?                |
| JD          | [more]                                          |
| Xenobones   | ------------------------------------------------|
|             |    +"5 Reasons I Bought Mount & Blade"          |
|             |    I wrote a new article over at Bucket Bros,   |
|             |    describing one of the most kickawesomest     |
|             |    Action-RPGs I've ever had the pleasure of    | 
|             |    playing....                                  | 
|             | [less]                                          |
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Um, you get the idea.

There's a list of different subscribed websites on the left. Click on one, and the list pops up in the view window on the bottom right. Just like email. Only with webpages. Nice huh?

Instead of logging on every few days to check for updates, you'll be automatically notified.

Okay, I gotta go. RSS Newsfeeds! Try it, you'll like it.

Labels: software

I recently updated CCleaner, a program that roots out temporary and useless files on your hard drive, because it's best not to run an outdated copy of a program that might mistake "My Documents" for "crap".

After running the setup program I unchecked the usual suspects. No, I don't want a desktop icon. Yes, I want it on my start menu. No, I don't want Yahoo! toolbar.

Wait a second. Yahoo! Toolbar?



I find it ironic that a program formerly known as "Crap Cleaner" is so hot to install something like Yahoo! Toolbar on my precious PC.

It's like a bottle of Pine-Sol® that opens up a secret hatch and a little robotic boot pops out and stomps muddy footprints on your kitchen floor.

Labels: software