|
|
|
Maki & Brian
DeLaet
EduCyber founders
|
June 2003 EduNotes
EduCyber is pleased
to present the June 2003 Edition of EduNotes. In this issue,
learn how to help others find your web site, how to be a search
smarter on the web, Ed Cyber's procedure for finding lost files
and how to make some sense of the ads computer makers have. Enjoy
and as always, send feedback to edunotes@educyber.com.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Celebrate with Us. This summer EduCyber is celebrating its fifth anniversary.
As part of our celebration, we have re-launched our completely redesigned web
site at http://www.educyber.com. If you
haven't been by in a while, stop by for a visit. Also, stay tuned for other
events coming up later this summer.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Web Site Visibility
When was the last time you visited your web site? If it's been a while, then
no one else is going to take the time to stop by either. Can you find your
web site in the search engines? You should at least be able to find it on a
search for your company name and ideally for the key words that describe your
business.
If you site doesn't show up in the results or if your site isn't getting visited
as often as you'd like, there are many things you can do to improve it.
- Post something fresh
on it regularly. For example, this newsletter ensures that
our site is updated at least once a month.
- Advertise your special,
bargain, or discount on your web site. Offering a special,
web-only discount is particularly enticing to web visitors.
Don't forget to change this on a regular basis though.
- Announce your site
to the search engines (also known as submitting).
- Pay those search
engines that require it to ensure that your site is listed
(such as Yahoo).
- Find sites related
to yours and cross-link with them (you link to their web site
and they link to yours).
And, if you'd like assistance
doing
any of these, let us know.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Search Smarter
Type in a few words in your favorite search engine, hit enter, and you get your
results right?
Wrong. You have to sift, sort and wade through thousands of results to find the
particular nugget or bit of information you want if that's how you're searching.
But it doesn't have to be painful. In fact it can be quite fruitful.
Major search engines like Google are quite a bit smarter than they used to be.
They now scan and index all kinds of files. Instead of just html, you can find
pdf (Adobe Acrobat Reader) files, MS Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and more.
This also means you can search for just the kind of file you want. This is extremely
useful if you know you are NOT looking for an html page, this document type feature
can rapidly narrow your search to the important files.
Also, if you are looking for certain information at just one web site (domain)
you can tell the search to only look at that domain. Since most large sites have
their own search engines, this may seem redundant. The real benefit comes in
that you can exclude JUST that domain from your search. Say you wanted to buy
a used
Gateway computer. Every time you run a search for "used Gateway computer" most
of your results are from the Gateway web site. Now you can exclude that site
from the results and quickly find the information you are looking for.
There are other search features that have been around for awhile that are still
very useful. A standard web search reveals all documents related to your search
words regardless of date or timeliness. You can hone in on current documents
though by choosing to search only for documents updated in the last 3 months,
6 months, or year. Also, unless you are fluent in many languages, you can select
from 35
different languages to display your content in.
All of the features described here can be accessed from the advanced search page
at Google.com.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Ask Ed Cyber
Dear Ed,
I am a faithful reader of EduNotes. I downloaded the ad-aware program that you
recommended a few months back but now I can't find where the downloaded file
went
so I can install it. Can you help?
Lost in Cyber Land.
Dear Lost in Cyber Land,
Your dilemma is one common to many users. Fortunately, there is an easy solution.
The search program on your computer can help you quickly locate the file.
To run the search, click on the Start button, then on Search and then on
For Files or Folders.
If you know the whole file name, simply type it in the search box and click
on search. If you don't know the whole name you can use something called a
wild card to help you out. The file you downloaded is an executable file meaning
it ends with ".exe". Since you don't know the first part, you type
the wildcard "*" (Shift + 8) followed by .exe. You can narrow the
search further if you know the approximate date the file was downloaded. For
example, if it was downloaded on June 7, 2003, you can click the Date box in
Search Options and then click on the "Between" radio button. Set
the date in both boxes to 5/7/2003 and click on "Search Now". Your
file should show up in the results. If it doesn't, you can broaden the search
a bit until you find it by, for example, making the date range wider or searching
for all files modified on that date by using two wild cards like this: "*.*".
A search for this should turn up all of the files on your computer that were
modified on the date specified.
Once the file you are looking for shows up in the results window, you can double-click
it from right there to start the installation. As a matter of good file management
though, you should delete the executable file when you've completed the installation
so your hard drive won't get cluttered up.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Computer Confusion
Ever get confused trying to buy a new computer? You're trying to buy a new
one for the office and you click through all the business links until you get
to the computer you want and then the default operating system is XP HOME edition.
Now why would they want to put a home version of the operating system on a
work PC? Why do they have you click through all the business links and still
try to sell you the Home OS? Why do they usually have an asterisk noting that
they recommend the Professional version for office use when they appear to
be recommending the Home version?
If questions like this plague you in the purchasing process, you aren't alone.
While the vendors want to make their product seem as inexpensive as possible,
they often do a dis-service to their product when they do this.
Or how about the Dell web site offering a computer for $399 (monitor not included)?
Try and click through at that price and suddenly they're telling you the cost
is $837. Gateway isn't much better. You click on the $499 deal and next thing
you know you're paying $687.99. "Oh, you mean you actually want more than
the case? Well that'll cost extra." Seems to be the way they work.
But there are some pretty good deals out there once you work through the misdirection
and get a computer configured properly. A low end Gateway desktop configured
for business and WITH a 17" monitor costs $730. A Dell with a similar
configuration can be had for $810. You can also find similar deals at local
(to Denver) dealers like IDK Computers (303) 274-6667) or PC City (303) 421-0567.
Expect to pay a bit more but you'll get better service and support.
If you need help wading through what you do and don't need, give EduCyber a
call at (720) 275-4646. We'll discuss your needs with you and help determine
what components meet those needs.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Like what you just read? Send your friends a copy or direct them to our site
so they can get it, too!
© 2003 EduCyber,
Inc. This newsletter is brought to you by EduCyber, Inc. EduNotes
can be viewed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week online at http://www.educyber.com/edunotes/.
Visit us on the web at http://www.educyber.com or
call us at (720) 275-4646. Permission is hereby granted to redistribute
all or part of this newsletter as long as this entire copyright
message is included.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
For questions, or to be removed from this monthly newsletter distribution,
email us at edunotes@educyber.com.
 |
