5 Simple Ways To Speed Up Your PC According To Microsoft

By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer and keep it running smoothly. While most people would not think of skipping preventative maintenance on their automobiles, they do not apply the same care to the machine that holds their business and banking data, pictures, music, and important communications.

The majority of this article was first published in segments by Microsoft demonstrating how to use their tools available in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Vista to more efficiently maintain your computer and safeguard your privacy when you're online. The Computer Man in conjunction with the Remote Helpdesk 1 Team decided to add it to Remote Helpdesk 1's Online PC Repair Articles and Web Based Computer Repair Blogs because most problems the Tennessee Mountain Man and Computer Man see are caused by a lack of simple preventative computer maintenance by users.

1. Free Up Disk Space

By freeing disk space, you can improve the performance of your computer. The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk. The utility identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.
Use Disk Cleanup to:

•	Remove temporary Internet files.
•	Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets).
•	Empty the Recycle Bin.
•	Remove Windows temporary files.
•	Remove optional Windows components that you don't use.
•	Remove installed programs that you no longer use.

Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.

To use Disk Cleanup

1.	Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.
2.	In the Disk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list. Choose the files that you want to delete.
3.	Clear the check boxes for files that you don't want to delete, and then click OK.
4.	When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes.

After a few minutes, the process completes and the Disk Cleanup dialog box closes, leaving your computer cleaner and performing better.

2. Speed Up Access To Data

Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer.

Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates fragmented files and folders on your computer's hard disk so that each occupies a single space on the disk. With your files stored neatly end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk speeds up.

When to run Disk Defragmenter
In addition to running Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals—monthly is optimal—there are other times you should run it too, such as when:

•	You add a large number of files.
•	Your free disk space totals 15 percent or less.
•	You install new programs or a new version of Windows.

To use Disk Defragmenter:

1.	Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter. Click Analyze to start the Disk Defragmenter.
2.	In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click the drives that you want to defragment, and then click the Analyze button. After the disk is analyzed, a dialog box appears, letting you know whether you should defragment the analyzed drives. Tip: You should analyze a volume before defragmenting it to get an estimate of how long the defragmentation process will take.
3.	To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment button. Note: In Windows Vista, there is no graphical user interface to demonstrate the progress—but your hard drive is still being defragmented. After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results.
4.	To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.
5.	To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.
6.	To close the Disk Defragmenter utility, click the Close button on the title bar of the window.

3. Detect And Repair Disk Errors

In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.

As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult, or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors, and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.

If you use your computer daily, you should run this utility once a week to help prevent data loss.

To run the Error Checking utility:

1.	Close all open files.
2.	Click Start, and then click My Computer.
3.	In the My Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties.
4.	In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.
5.	Click the Check Now button.
6.	In the Check Disk dialog box, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.
7.	If bad sectors are found, choose to fix them.

Tip: Only select the "Automatically fix file system errors" check box if you think that your disk contains bad sectors.

4. Protect Your Computer Against Spyware

Spyware collects personal information without letting you know and without asking for permission. From the Web sites you visit to usernames and passwords, spyware can put you and your confidential information at risk. In addition to privacy concerns, spyware can hamper your computer's performance. To combat spyware, you might want to consider using Microsoft Windows Defender, which is included in Windows Vista, and is available as a free download for Microsoft XP SP2. Alternatively, there are other free anti-spyware software programs available.

5. Use Ready Boost

If you're using Windows Vista, you can use ReadyBoost to speed up your system. A new concept in adding memory to a system, it allows you to use non-volatile flash memory—like a USB flash drive or a memory card—to improve performance without having to add additional memory.

Windows ReadyBoost improves system memory and boosts performance.

Adding system memory (typically referred to as RAM) is often the best way to improve a PC's performance, since more memory means more applications are ready to run without accessing the hard drive. However, upgrading memory can be difficult and costly, and some machines have limited memory expansion capabilities, making it impossible to add RAM.

Windows Vista introduces Windows ReadyBoost, a new concept in adding memory to a system. You can use non-volatile flash memory, such as that on a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive, to improve performance without having to add additional memory "under the hood."

The flash memory device serves as an additional memory cache—that is, memory that the computer can access much more quickly than it can access data on the hard drive. Windows ReadyBoost relies on the intelligent memory management of Windows SuperFetch and can significantly improve system responsiveness.

It's easy to use Windows ReadyBoost. When a removable memory device such as a USB flash drive or a secure digital (SD) memory card is first inserted into a port, Windows Vista checks to see if its performance is fast enough to work with Windows ReadyBoost. If so, you are asked if you want to use this device to speed up system performance. You can choose to allocate part of a USB drive's memory to speed up performance and use the remainder to store files.

Freedom Of The Press Threatened By Tennessee Police Chief

The fourth estate received a public rebuke concealed in a not so veiled threat issued by Freeman Cooper, the Chief of Police, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

It could have been a bad April Fools joke but for the fact that it was a day late and not at all funny. It all happened at a hastily called news conference late morning, Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008, where Chattanooga Police Chief Freeman Cooper asked the media to stop asking questions about problem officer Chattanooga Police Captain Jeannie Snyder.

Cooper went on to issue a veiled threat to the media for doing its job by saying the investigation into the female police captain was "bordering on harassment".

He continued, "She is a police officer in good standing and that means that she can be armed at anytime with any weapon, it does not have to be the police department's gun." Snyder who had already voluntarily stepped down as an assistant police chief taking a Ten Thousand Dollar pay cut in November, 2007, also voluntarily turned in her city issued weapon last week citing public concern over her being armed. The Chattanoogan reported, however, that she was still carrying her personal firearm. That is just one of the exceptions the city appears to have made for Captain Snyder when their internal rules and regulations says each officer is issued a service weapon and must carry that weapon when on duty.

Chattanooga City Councilman Leamon Pierce is one of the few apparently not afraid to speak up and question Snyder or the Chief. Pierce opined, "You got to deal with what the perception is, she has a problem no doubt it's a medical problem. I wouldn't want to be around her, in her presence when she has another reaction."

He went on to say what some officers have intimated to the Tennessee Mountain Man - that some of her fellow police officers are leary and fearful of her.

There are those current and retired police officers who tell the Tennessee Mountain Man that they have good reason to walk lightly around Captain Snyder. They maintain that Cooper had little choice but to appoint her an assistant police chief and now has no choice but to defend and protect her to the best of his ability.

Names the Tennessee Mountain Man has not heard in legal and law enforcement circles in 20 years are popping up again. Names like Ralph Cothran, Al Coker, Johnny Wright, and others - even a former madam and drug dealer are surfacing and fueling the rumor mill.

Chief Cooper challenged the press at his news conference, "Tell me something she's done wrong? You can't because she hasn't." He continued, "She hasn't harmed anyone, threatened to harm anyone, or put anybody in any type of danger."

According to public records, it all started in January of 2007 when Snyder was found unconscious in her Red Bank (A Chattanooga Bedroom Community) home after she failed to show up for an appointment. She was "sick", i.e. "passed out" and had to be hospitalized. Drawing on his experience and career as a former intelligence operative, CID Agent, and civilian police officer the Computer Man suspects the roots of Captain Snyder's problems run much deeper and farther into the past.

In September, 2007, she did not show up for work which sparked a search in Marion County, Tennessee. When finally found after costing the city, the state and two counties untold thousands of dollars, she was "sick" and had to be hospitalized.

A few weeks ago Snyder “appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and drugs” at the Town Center Mall, in Cobb County, Georgia at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008 according to an incident report from the Cobb County Department of Public Safety where she produced a weapon when an officer asked for some identification. A confrontation ensued. Captain Snyder was "sick" again. An ambulance had to be summoned with several Chattanooga Police Staff to escort her back to Chattanooga, and, of course, once again she required hospital care before returning to duty.

A recurring theme from police officers is that "I am a man". "I can't sleep my way to the top." Which prompted City Councilman Manny Rico to issue a counter comment to Councilman Pierce, according to Abena Williams, Reporter, WDEF-TV, Chattanooga, TN, "I've talked to others that aren't (fearful of Snyder), you hear both sides, police people are very funny I'm sure there are a lot of them that didn't get the promotion they should have got."

The former madam perused this story over a snifter of brandy, then handing it back with a slight smile, said, "new paint, new lipstick, new gloss. Nothing ever changes, baby. Between her and the sheriff there are a lot of important people shaking in their boots tonight."

Some believe it is time for a good house cleaning at the Chattanooga Police Department, and that this could be the biggest thing since Bookie Turner. Another story... Another time.

In the mean time, the question remains whether the local press will bow in fear or deference to Chief Cooper?

More by Computer Man Burke Pendergrass, J.D., a Cherokee Indian and Viet Nam Vet at
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Tennessee Mountain Man
Burke Pendergrass

The Billy Mays Phenomenon

It is time for spring cleaning once again, and guess who is coming to dinner. In our environmentally friendly society there is a peddler with just the right products at the right time at a price so low they simply must be tried. He has your number, and he is coming to a TV near you - today.

Just like John Kennedy, Billy Graham, David Brinkley, Henry Kissinger, and many other radio and television personalities, there is an advertising guru with an unforgettable voice. Billy Mays. Billy Mays violates all the rules of capturing and keeping the attention of his audience. He communicates by screaming at you. He is grating in the extreme, yet we continue to listen.

More importantly, to his position at least, we continue to buy. That, however, is not a concern for the venerable pitchman who first came to us on The Shopping Channel. We doubt there is anyone in America who owns a TV that has not seen his infomercials somewhere sometime. He hawks and we purchase everything from OxiClean®, Orange Clean®, Kaboom®, Hercules Hook, Samurai Shark, and Zorbeeze, to onion slicers and dicers to epoxy, adinfinitum it seems.

Billy Mays is one of those people who could sell deep freezers to Eskimos. If he were a man of the cloth, he would surely be one of the renown preachers of our time with a mega church supported by multiple thousands of members ministering to (or fleecing as the case may be) untold thousands more via the internet, radio and television. Can you not picture him selling holy water and anointing oils and cloths?

Like lawyers, politicians, business moguls and preachers whose reputations precede them, Billy Mays is at the pinnacle of his career, and is sought after by everyone with anything to sell. If there is a product, such as snake oil, that is remotely marketable regardless of its value or sturdiness, Billy Mays can sell it.

Though we may not care to admit it, untold thousands of us have purchased "stuff" we did not need as a result of being swayed by the loud fast talking salesman. Knowing we have purchased defective products in the past as a result of Billy Mays' persuasion, it is almost like we can not help ourselves and we do it over and over and over again. Why? Maybe to shut him up. Most often, however, because he sells us not what we need but what we want to believe after he quickly creates a demand for the product dejur.

One can combine a nice trip, vacation, or other family outing with the experience to help ease the pain of that nagging feeling in the pit of your stomach that says, "I really should not do this" as you lay down hard earned cash for one of Billy's products. There are a couple of "As Seen On TV" (your first warning) Stores in the Pigon Forge, Tennessee and Gatlinburg, Tennessee areas. You can play with your new purchase while you feed the wild Tennessee Black Bears which you really should not do either.

Can't get to an "As Seen On TV" Store? Never mind. Billy Mays has created such a demand for these products that Wal-Mart, Walgreen's, and even Bed, Bath and Beyond and many other reputable retailers have started selling them. So, a trip to the corner pharmacy will open for you the world of items which Mays says can't be purchased in any store.

Billy Mays... Maijson posted on the Billy Mays Forum at World Warcraft, "HI I'M BILLY MAYES! AND I'VE MANAGED TO YELL EVEN LOUDER THAN I DID IN MY LAST COMMERCIAL!". Well, for the Tennessee Mountain Man that about said it all. Then Computer Man submitted this find from Alaerun, "Honestly Billy, theres no need to scream like someone has a tiki torch up your butt. We can hear you fine... Please bring it down a notch". But, hey, it works for him. We would not suggest trying this at home as Mays is a professional one of a kind pitchman. His tactics would not work for us and probably not for you either, but Billy keeps raking in the money... big money - your money.

More by Computer Man Burke Pendergrass, J.D., a Cherokee Indian and Viet Nam Vet at
Website Design by Computer Man

Tennessee Mountain Man
Burke Pendergrass

Slight Of Hand Politicians, Lawyers, Judges, Bankers, Corporate Moguls - Scoundrels All

When The Tennessee Mountain Man was a child in a small country school, it was a big deal when a guest lecturer showed up and hosted everyone in the school auditorium as he explained the Bible story of Jesus complete with show and tell pictures manually applied to and removed from a big picture mounted on an easel. It was free and it got you out of regular classes for an hour or so.

An even bigger event was when an old man arrived in a big rusty station wagon with a load of noisy show dogs even though it cost a dime to get you out of class for that hour.

Then there was the occasional cowboy who was an expert with his six shooter, throwing knives, and bull whip. His pretty half dressed assistant would stand with a cigarette in her mouth and he would light it from a respectable distance with a quick draw and shot from his trusty revolver. He would then retrieve his bull whip and from half away across the basketball court he would put the cigarette out or cut it in half with one quick snap and pop of the whip. The assistant would then dutifully step on the cancer stick to extinguish the fire.

Thereafter the young lady, who other than getting out of class was the only reason the boys spent a whole quarter to see the show, would be tied to a big wheel and the cowboy would follow the outline of her body as he threw knives at her. This was usually followed by a pony or horse who could ostensibly count and answer yes and no questions.

Occasionally there would be a movie shown on a big screen temporarily set up on the stage in the school auditorium for the nominal fee of a nickel or a dime. And, since few if any students had TVs or access to theaters back then, we all paid our dues and watched in rapt attention for a couple of hours.

But, the big draw for the boys were the magicians who came performing. Few girls, for whatever reason, attended these sessions but boys were happy to pay a whopping fifty cents to watch these men and their assistants ply their trade for an hour or so. After which all the boys were trying to emulate the slight of hand artist for weeks.

Computer Man was lucky to grow up in a time when everything was new. Electricity distributed by newly formed farmer's co-ops in Appalachia was new to most and on the horizon for the rest to be eventually followed by party line telephone systems. A boy scout trip to a hydro dam was a big deal. A day ogling over Doctor Warner Van Braun's accomplishments (at least those the young men in snappy spit and polished uniforms would allow you to see) at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama really drove the
imagination.

It all seemed a bit of big magic back then. We grew up studying slight of hand so when we became adults we should have been well prepared when professional politicians learned the trade and applied it with a slight if dangerous twist to the shady world of politics.

Momma always said, "still waters run deep". Dad always said, "it is the quiet ones you have to watch". They also agreed that most people were practicing deceit, magic, in one form or another. It has been our experience that you dare not lose site of Shakespeare's
Hamlet Act 3, Scene 2:

Player Queen:
Both here and hence pursue me lasting strife,
If once I be a widow, ever I be a wife!

Player King:
'Tis deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me here a while,
My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with sleep.

Player Queen:
Sleep rock thy brain,
And never come mischance between us twain!

Hamlet:
Madam, how like you this play?

Queen:
The lady doth protest too much, me thinks.

Companies which protest the loudest that they are not going anywhere have just joined the NAFTA community. Corporate Moguls assuring employees that their jobs are safe are either in the process of selling, shutting down, moving off shore, or scaling back.

And politicians, legislatures, judges, prosecutors and other elite found their own means by which to endanger our way of life. Can you say Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Elliot Spitzer, or Jim McGreevey? How about George Bush, Chaney, or John Ashcroft? Each trying to keep us watching the their right hand while doing their own dirt with their left. Some committed perjury and some sanctioned cover ups and perverted justice while others used fear to steal and curtail the rights and privacy of United States Citizens.

In 1787, shortly after the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, a woman interested in the proceedings approached Benjamin Franklin. "Well, doctor," she asked, "what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" The venerable champion of American liberty replied, "A republic, Madame, if you can keep it." The question two hundred and twenty-one years later is, "can we?".

The people of the former USSR were safe except from the corrupt state, but they had no freedom. The people of China are safe except from the state, but they are not free. The Bush administration has tried to keep our fear from the 9-11 attacks elevated and distract us with complaints and concerns that Vladimir Putin is slowly sweeping away the freedoms of the Russian people while his administration was doing as much at home.

Let us not forget the admonition of Benjamin Franklin (also cited to Thomas Jefferson) "people willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both".

Slight of hand is practiced by Politicians, Lawyers, Judges, Bankers and Corporate Moguls, scoundrels all, at the expense of the rest of us. Today it cost more (much more) than the four bits we paid as children and is much more sinister than so called "black magic". It has much deeper and longer lasting negative effects for those who wish to maintain the Republic we love. "These capitalists", said Abraham Lincoln, "generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people".

We fear America is in danger of being destroyed from within. Not by some disenfranchised group, but by the very ones who have benefited the most from her opportunities and bounties. They travel the world of twenty-four hour cable shows explaining why the common man can not be trusted and must be kept under thumb. They must be right because we keep voting against our own interest and keeping them empowered when we manage to overcome our complacency enough to participate at all.

Lincoln further observed, "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves". And, again, he opined, "We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution".

The pendulum must swing sans the same old scoundrels from the court house to the state house to the White House.

Publication of Computer Man Burke Pendergrass, J.D., a Cherokee Indian and Viet Nam Vet
Website Design by Computer Man

Tennessee Mountain Man
Burke Pendergrass

How Does One Choose Article and Blog Subjects

Obviously I cannot speak for everyone, and many businesses have a staff that rotates publication responsibilities, but the Tennessee Mountain Man writes about what moves him at any given moment. It is just easier that way. On the other hand it occasionally causes some amount of anxiety because the feast or famine rules apply. That is, the hopper is either full of articles waiting to be published - Online PC Repair posts articles three (3) days a week normally - or like Computer Man or most other publishers we are swiftly coming up on a deadline and notta.

However, currently there is a plethora of ideas and subjects about which one wants to write... even needs to vent about. Not to have a subject upon which to expound these days one would almost need to be in a coma.

No... the current problem is not being brain dead, but time challenged. We live in such interesting and challenging times that The Tennessee Mountain Man could and would love to be churning out articles daily, but alas God only gave us twenty-four hours in a day and there are other responsibilities.

The Computerman's practice of writing about what has him piqued at any given moment means the reader gets a wide variety of subjects from family issues to holidays to politics to whatever moves an old man - not just website design and web based computer repair material though there is a smattering of those as well.

Some have said a highly technical article requires much more research before an article is ready to go. That has not been the experience of the techs at Remote Helpdesk 1. We not only want to be correct and specific with respect to online computer repair and web design, but with the general and current event subjects we cover as well. Therefore, irrespective of what one is writing about, a fair amount of research is incumbent upon the author before he or she goes popping off to the entire world.

It is only fair to point out that we have noticed a lot more tolerance with the advent of the internet and the explosion of Blogers. Articles that would have caused international incidents a few years ago rarely raise an eye brow today. That is not to say that it is necessarily the best information for the public, but then even the big three as well as the cable news networks and printed press all have their own agendas these days as is apparent in the subjects they choose to cover and the slant they employ in their coverage. Perhaps they always did and it was just not as noticeable because there was less immediate releases for comparison and analysis.

Still don't have an idea where to start? Everyone has a hobby, a job, a subject of interest. For instance if your life is consumed with your grandchildren, your pooch, March Madness, or fishing that is a subject about which you can write with minimal research. The problem most people have is that they assume everyone knows what they know. Be assured they don't or they see it from a different perspective which can lead to interesting and enlightening discussions, and even ideas for other articles.

Even if your readers agree with your views on any given subject that is positive feed back for you and for them. All of us need affirmation at times when this cruel world can leave us feeling like we stand alone although we never do. We may be right or we may be wrong, bur never alone in our views on any given matter.

O.K. Everyone seems to be into reality TV these days so let me start a family feud - everyone can write about their first crush and how that experience, regardless of how it ended, affected their lives. Maybe you are still together. What a love story and every woman loves a good romance novel. Perhaps it ended in tragedy. We all need to empathize and shed a tear now and again. Maybe it was just a horrible experience. I for one could use a good belly splitting laugh so lets have it.

A friend works as a government meat inspector in a poultry processing plant. She spends twelve hours a day "looking at chicken asses", as she puts it. She thinks she has nothing to write about but when she gets started telling stories from the line, I laugh until I hurt, and I could not do her job or tolerate the people around her. Maybe, like you, she thinks I don't get it but when I was sixteen years old and wanted "a real job" my dad got me one in the same chicken processing plant that she works in today - yes, it has been around for awhile. To this day, this country boy don't eat chicken. They just didn't process them the way we did on the farm. I only made it an hour in the plant. I spent the rest of the day puking my guts out - out in the parking lot. The next day I was glad to return to school.

How many people work where you do? What do you do for fun and relaxation? How does that compare with the population of the world? So tell us about it.

The online PC repair and website design teams, who just inserted themselves into this article, agree that a glass of Dewars and a well packed pipe help immensely. My train of though being shot, I'm through. It is your turn.

Good Luck

Publication of Burk Pendergrass, J.D., The Tennessee Mountain Man, a Cherokee Indian and Viet Nam Vet specializing in website design computermanwebsitedesign.bravehost.com/ and remotehelpdesk1.com/ specializing in online computer repair.

Website Design Considerations I

There was a time long, long ago in technological advancement years when website design was out of the reach of all but the relative few who could write the hyper text markup language better known by its acronym 'html' from start to finish.

Computer Man Hard At Work

Designing Award Winning Web Sites

Website design, then as now, was in high demand for those with the tools and ability to help a client target an audience, develop a world wide web presence, and populate it with fast loading (at 28.8 Kbps) web pages.

Of course those early days saw sprites rendered in 256 colors as opposed to today's true color programming (eats up lots and lots of resources) , and those historic basic colors ruled in a tile-based world and we thought they were something. Specificity of product, of course, especially if images were to be employed, became the real challenge as they could be inordinately cumbersome and slow to load. The result being one of three options, to wit: (1) wait and wait and wait - maybe while you mow the lawn, (2) become exasperated with the tedious task of internet speed - actually modem speed - to the point of "clicking off" the website, or (3) losing your treasured internet connection.

In 2008, companies such as AOL, Net Zero, and many other Internet Service Providers (ISP) offering cheap internet connections assures that there remains enough people using dial-up to connect to the internet that one doing website design must be ever cognizant of loading speeds. The standard for this measurement remains 28.8K for the Computer Man Website Design Team although no one in the United States can expect to efficiently, if at all, cruise the internet at that speed.

The difference being that almost anyone can design and build some measure of a website in the 21st century with little or no help. Many companies that offer internet hosting also offer basic website design and promotional tools. One can sign up for a sub domain, build a nice web site, add an avatar and promote it to a few search engines in an hour or less.

Missing in this scenario are the tags a website needs and any special requirements of the entrepreneurial enterprise. If the site is personal for family and friends such an under taking may be more than sufficient. All that is left to do, is an e-mail to your contacts to let them know where they can find your postings, photos, etc and you only need to change the web site when the spirit moves you. If, however, you hope to use the site to generate revenue either as a hobby or primary source of income you could be way off base.

Let’s be clear. There is no problem with a sub domain per se or as pertains to search engines. The search engines treat a sub domain as the separate website that it is. Perhaps we can cover this complicated subject in a separate article.

No. The problem is with the flexibility of the primary domain's shared website design templates. These are templates set up specifically for sharing as little bandwidth (space) as possible with sub domains. When you compare the features and space allocated to you with that of the host, you will quickly see many of the limitations of the majority of these hosts and arrangements.

Best practices, even if using a free sub domain, is to create your website the way you want it with a third party program and upload it to your new sub domain. This can be done relatively easily with such programs as Alley Code, Evrsoft, Coffee Cup, Page Breeze or other free html editors. You can also use free WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get - maybe) website creators such as Nvu or Sea Monkey. For a Free online store creator one might try the free version of "easy store creator"... of course. What else would it be?

For more complicated and user friendly websites most will still need to retain a professional website design team. However you go about designing your website, make sure you understand and comply with the pre-requisites of the host or you will find that all of your work was in vain as your site will be rejected one way or another for one reason or another - too numerous to cover here.

Publication of Burk Pendergrass, J.D., a Cherokee Indian and Viet Nam Vet
Website Design by Computer Man

Tennessee Mountain Man
Burke Pendergrass

Life Just Ain't What It Used To Be

Over the last fifty years or so we have invented all sorts of time saving strategies that have some how managed to leave us with the greatest time deficit ever experienced by man.

Few people live on farms any more where labor is from daylight to after dark. We don't even work in factories today. No. Modern society runs on the service industry from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. How misleading!

Why is there no time to sit on the porch and just enjoy God's nature? Oh, yeah... right. Most houses have no porches and the few that do can't be enjoyed for the fear of gangs and hooligans roaming the neighborhood. And, should one get passed those concerns who can enjoy the sound of cars literally flying up and down the highway just a few feet away, the ever present blaring of car horns, sirens screaming through the night, and the neighbors you don't know living on top of you when the ones you used to love lived a quarter of a mile away.

Back then we visited on a regular basis and got around to socializing with everyone. Now we barely speak, if we do at all, to the guy living thirty feet away. Maybe we will invite him to a backyard barbeque once a year to assuage our conscience, but probably not. Instead of helping him repair his house, we bitch about the noise he makes during the process, and resent the fact he needs to borrow a hammer rather than taking the time to prepare him a cold pitcher of lemonade made from scratch to quench the thirst he works up.

The Tennessee Mountain Man recalls that there was a time when the city was a million miles away and no one from the country went there unless they had to. In our modern world the city has moved into the country and the new reality is that the farm is now a million miles or so from the city next door. It is dirty. The people there are dirty - never mind that their conscience is clean. The place has a foul odor that assaults our sensitive metropolitan olfactory glands and we dare not venture there unless it is absolutely unavoidable.

At a time when we said grace before every meal, we ate hearty and were in little, if any, danger of being over weight. Now that we think perhaps Grace is the lady living two houses down the street in the home needing it's lawn trimmed we suffer from a national obesity epidemic though religiously practicing our yo yo diet and binge eating.

Computer Man used to get up before daylight to build a fire, do the morning chores, and cook breakfast before going off to a day of work. But that is so passé. Now we get up just in time to gulp down a cup of instant coffee or coffee set to brew automatically the night before while 'nuking' some instant pre-boxed meal stripped of all nutrition to eat while we over charge our metabolic system in front of the boob tube blasting 'The View' into our living rooms and appropriately raising blood pressures.

Man dare not sleep with his face in an open window any more regardless of whether he lives in the country or in the city. Therefore he can't hear the rain on the roof, the barn owl hooting off in the distance, the cry of a new born calf, the mating call of God's creatures that rule the night, the wind whistling through the old barn, nor the defining silence of the new fallen snow.

We used to sleep a little later on Sunday and get up with every action deliberate and geared toward getting us to God's house on time for the morning worship service. Now we repeat the last six days except we are content with getting our religious instruction watching some televangelist only because 'The View' is not shown on Sunday television. And, why go to church when some greedy self serving prophet comes to us?

Nope! Life just ain't what it used to be. If you think it is, just open the door or pull out the chair for a lady and notice the looks you get if you manage to escape an outright attack. Listen... did you hear that? I thought I actually heard a child say, "please, excuse me, sir".

Publication of Burk Pendergrass, J.D., the Computer Man, a Cherokee Indian and Viet Nam Vet specializing in website design at computermanwebsitedesign.bravehost.com/ and remotehelpdesk1.com/ specializing in online web based computer repair.