Example: Lets say I am doing some product research for a new set of headphones. I know that I really like the reviews at engadget (www.engadget.com). So instead of just Googling “Headphones”, I enter the following in the search bar:

headphones site:engadget.com

This tells Google to only return results from Engadget. Now if you try the above example, you will see that there are a lot of results about headphones supposedly designed by Dr Dre. If I don’t want to wade through those, I simply do this:

headphones site:engadget.com -dre

This effectively tells Google “show me results from Engadget regarding headphones, but remove anything that has “Dre” in it (no offence to the good doctor). We can also stack commands, such as:

headphones site:engadget.com -dre -sony

Or we can add positive operators, such as:

headphones site:engadget.com -dre -sony +noise cancelling

The possibilities are endless. I hope you will find this function as useful as I do. Thanks for stopping by, see you soon.

In order to effectively mount an SEO campaign, you need to answer a few key questions:

-Who are the people I am trying to reach

-What are those people typing into their search engine when trying to find the services I offer?

-What is my geographic catchment area?

-What are some of the synonyms that people may use while searching for my products or services?

If you can answer those questions, you are well on your way. The next step is to alter your website to use the key terms and phrases that you have identified as being relevant to your product or service.

The most important thing in SEO today is that your website be optimized for Google. As of May 2010, Google searched accounted for 72% of all web searches (http://www.hitwise.com/us/press-center/press-releases/google-searches-may-10/), making it easily the most important site to optimize for.

Since Google uses a proprietary and closely guarded algorithm for ranking websites, no one can guarantee you top spot on Google. But there is much that we do know about the types of elements that the Google spider is looking for, and we can use those to our advantage. The most important thing that I tell people is that there are no short cuts or substitutes for hard work. It used to be quite easy for unscrupulous “marketers” to trick the Google algorithm in order to get traffic, but nowadays such tactics will most likely get you banned from Google, and if your banned from Google you might as well not exist!

It is also important to take a wholistic approach to your SEO campaign. It is one thing to get people to your site, and quite another to make sure that they want to buy your product once they get there. Have you ever had this experience: you see advertising all around your neighborhood for a great new restaurant that is opening up. The ads look slick, the menu sounds great, and the prices seem reasonable. Then you get there and find out the service is terrible, the place stinks and the washroom is dirty.

That is the same thing as you or your SEO company only paying attention to one side of the equation. Always remember that you are not optimizing your page for search engines, you are optimizing for people. You want people to find your site, you want people to like what they see when they get there, you want people to believe that you have a unique proposition for them, and ultimately you want people to make the decision to contact you or purchase your products.

There really is no simple answer and it will be different for everyone, but you may want to consider the following:

-How much is the repair or upgrade going to cost? Surely that is one of the most, if not the most important question. And the consultant or store you are dealing with should be able to give you a pretty solid ballpark on that.

-What are the current prices like for a reasonable replacement system? That of course is the other side of the equation. You may be surprised to find that since your last purchase the cost of computers have come down significantly. For instance a few years ago you would be hard pressed to find a laptop for under $1000. Now you can pick up many different models starting at $399

If you can figure out these numbers, then the decision on what to do will become much clearer, and will most likely be based on your available budget as well as your long term growth needs.

Many times I see computers that are in need of some type of hardware replacement such as a hard drive, which in itself is only a $50 part. But when you factor in the time to replace the part, reinstall Windows or Mac, recover and restore all your data, and get the computer back to where you want it, it can easily be $400. Let’s say the cost for a new computer is $600, then you need to compare spending $400 to get an old computer back with no warranty, versus spending $600 to get a modern computer with a 1-3 year warranty.

In the end there is no right or wrong answer. Getting all the facts is the first step.

One of the biggest problems I see out there in the AV world is the propensity for a company who has a decent product to go overboard and create a bloated program that scans every move I make on the pc to the point where the computer is so slow it is almost unuseable (Hello Norton!).

If you follow the general tips in my post “Keeping Your Computer Secure” and have a simple Anti-virus program, you should be fine.

The best news about Microsoft Security Essentials? It’s FREE!!

Safe computing everyone!

When I think of antenna television, my mind goes to nights in Muskoka as a child watching the one channel (CKVR anyone?). Well this is a long way from that. These days if you are lucky in your geographical location, you can probably get anywhere from 5 to 25 channels, some of them in stunning digital High Definition absolutely free. This is called OTA (over the air) television, and it is gaining momentum.

Now being the good geek that I am, I can never miss an opportunity to overdo it and wire up my living space like it is mission control at NASA. Many times I have told my wife of some new gadget or toy that I just had to have, only to have her look at me like I’m mad, pat me on the head and say “sure honey, whatever you want” (yeah right).

So imagine my surprise when I told her that I wanted to install a 6 foot antenna on the roof of our house, run wires outside to the main and top floors of our house, drill holes through our walls, buy a special computer, buy little boxes for our TV’s and buy some special remotes, all to the tune of about $2500 and she actually agreed that it was a good idea!

The Rundown

Basically what I wanted to do was have a central “Media Center PC” that stored all of our media like movies, MP3′s, Pictures and home movies, as well as acted as our PVR (personal video recorder) to record the television shows that we watch. This Media Center would be placed in the basement (our main TV room), and from there we would be able to watch or listen to the media on any of the other 2 TV’s in our house through the use of “Media Center Extenders”.

At first the cost and scope of the work made it intimidating, but once we realized that we were spending $90 a month for cable, including $20 for a PVR rental, the economics made more sense.

The Project

Antenna – The first thing was to get the antenna installed. I knew absolutely zero about antennas and OTA TV, so I decided to leave it to an expert. I called in a company called Mohawk TV (http://www.weblocal.ca/mohawk-tv-campbellville-on.html) who helped me understand what was required and what the best placement for the equipment was. I was told that always higher is better. Even though some people have good results placing the antenna in the attic, I wanted to be sure that I got the best reception, so I opted to have it placed on the roof. They told me that I should get a dual antenna so that one could be aimed towards the CN tower, and one aimed across the lake to the Buffalo area. I also needed a special “booster” so that the signal from the one antenna could be sent to 3 TV’s. They did a great job installing the antenna and were very helpful.

Media Center PC – The next thing I needed now that my antenna was working was to get the Windows Media Center PC setup. This is really the heart of the system, so it was important to do my research and get it right. I knew that I was going to get a dual TV tuner in it, and I wanted to be able to multi-task, so it was important to get a good processor that could handle the load. Here are my specs:

• Intel Core i5 3.2 Ghz CPU
• 4 GB DDR2 Ram
• Huappage WinTV HVR 2250 Dual Tuner TV Card
• Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
• Antec Fusion Remote Black Media Center case
• Nmedia Wireless Mouse & Keyboard
• Seagate 2 Terabyte Hard Drive

Total cost for the PC was roughly $1500. The case was a bit unnecessary as it turned out but it is a very nice looking component. The Keyboard is built for Media Center and has a built in mouse ball which allows me to sit on the couch in the basement and have full web surfing capability on my 42′ Plasma screen. So far the computer has had no issue with performance when we a re recording 2 shows at once and watching recorded shows, so the specs are good for our usage. We have loaded all of our photos, videos, and movie collection on there, have recorded about 100 hours of TV, and added a large MP3 collection and we have not even used half of the hard drive space yet.

Media Extenders – This part was a bit more work. I had purchased a Linksys DMA2100 Media Center Extender about 2 years back when I first started researching this idea. They offer either a wireless or a wired connection. The first time I tried back then to watch  a small MPEG file over wireless it was choppy. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to stream Hi-def over Wi-fi. I was going to have to run Cat5 network wire. This fact alone probably delayed this whole project by at least a year while I procrastinated with how to run wires to my living room and bedroom TV’s. In the end I decided on the direct approach: out through the basement, along the side of the house and in through the brick. I used outdoor rated Cat5 so there is no fear of the cold or rain destroying it in the near future. I have to say I am happy with the performance of the extenders except for one thing: the remotes are basically useless. I decided to purchase a base model Logitech Harmony for $49. I love it. It handles all my devices (Extender, TV, DVD Player) and works from almost anywhere in the room.

ATSC Tuners – This one was kind of unexpected. Once I had the system basically completely setup, I realized that our 2 older tube style TV’s in the upstairs of our house did not have the ability to tune in digital signals. They did not have a built in ATSC tuner. This meant that I would only be able to get the analog station on those TV’s, which was not going to do. We ended up purchasing Channel Master CM7000′s for our 2 older TV’s. We paid $100 each for these. We could have gotten a lesser brand fro $85 but we would have had to use the remote that came with that box. Upgrading to the Channel Masters meant that we could use the Logitech Harmony.

The Benefits

The great thing about this system for me is the convenience factor. With 2 kids under 4, time is precious and the convenience of having their shows and movies available no matter what level of the house we are on is awesome. Also for my wife and I, we have certain shows that we record and watch together (we haven’t watched live TV in about 4 years). It is nice to be able to decide where we want to watch them. I love the fact that I can sit on the couch and watch a slideshow of our pictures (we have about 20,000) while my MP3 collection shuffles in the background. There are also little extras like playing Chess or Solitaire from the comfort of my couch, listening to Internet radio stations, and watching the latest videos on Youtube.

The Bottom Line

As I stated earlier, we paid $90 a month to the cable company to be able to watch TV on 3 TV’s and record on one. Now we can record and watch TV on all 3 for free. Again, this is digital, High Def TV, free over the air. We spent about $2000 on this project in total so it will take 2 years for the system to pay for itself, but in the meantime we have a much better system than we had before.

There are some sacrifices to be made. For instance, no digital specialty channels like Slice or A&E. But in the end it is only TV, and these days a lot of shows are available online.  Also we figure that as our kids get older maybe less TV is a good thing.

I would definitely recommend this system for anyone who enjoys multimedia and technology as I do. I can look ahead to the entertainment value that this system can offer at get-togethers: playing music, looking at photos and home movies (our guests can bring their pictures on a media stick so we can sit on the couch and look at pictures of their trip to Cuba), we can play online games or watch interesting and funny online videos in comfort. For me this system is about liberating your media from the dusty little computer in your cramped office space and bringing it out where it can be enjoyed with comfort and convenience.

Well I think that about covers it. Hope I didn’t leave anything out. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Here’s hoping you come back often and benefit from the information provided here.

Thank You

We all know the rule of thumb around emails: don’t open them unless you know the source. Unfortunately today that is not enough. There are many different types of people out there trying to infiltrate your computer. We need to stack the odds in your favour by following a few simple, not too expensive suggestions.

1) Make sure you have a router. It used to be that people would only have a router because they wanted to have multiple computers attached to their internet connection. While that is still a great benefit to having a router, especially a wireless router now that we all have laptops and Ipads, I recommend that even people with 1 computer get a router.

Why? Because it is probably the single most effective way to keep your self secure, and it is the first line of defence. A router acts as a traffic cop on your network. It allows only the data that you request from the internet to flow into your network, and rejects any “unsolicited traffic”. It’s as if you have a security guard standing outside your house that only lets in people with an invitation.  This prevents random attacks and malware that gets into your computer while you surf.

2) Antivirus Software – Make sure you have it and make sure it is current. I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten a call from someone that they think they have a virus. When I get on the computer the first thing I check is the expiry date on the Antivirus program. Sure enough it is last April! Just renew it online. All programs have an online renewal option it will take 5 minutes. Having no Antivirus on the internet is like driving without a seatbelt. Eventually it’s gonna cost you.

3) Keep your Windows up to date – On every version of Windows there is a quick and painless way to make sure you have the most up to date security patches from Microsoft. These are necessary because the bad guys are continuously finding new ways to make life miserable for the rest of us. Fortunately Microsoft takes security seriously and is constantly trying to stay one step ahead of the bad guys. They release patches or fixes for the holes and vulnerabilities that are discovered all the time.

All you have to do is this: On Windows XP, go to Start Menu>All Programs, then all the way at the top of the menu you will see either “Windows Update” or “Microsoft Update”. Click on that then when the page loads, click “Express”. On Windows Vista or 7 it is even easier. Go into the Control Panel and lick on “Windows Update”

4) Check periodically for Spyware - Even though you diligently follow numbers 1,2, and 3  you are going to get a few nasty critters on your computer from time to time. It is unavoidable these days and happens to the best of us. That is why you need to use a program that focuses on spyware and malware (these are both interchangeable general terms).

Lucky for you the best Anti-malware program out there right now just happens to be free! It is called Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (say that 5 times fast), and can be downloaded from http://www.malwarebytes.org/. Once you have downloaded it just install the program using the default options. The program will automatically check for the latest malware definitions and offer to run a scan.  I always use “Quick Scan”. Once it sows you the list of items it has found, just click on “Remove Selected” and the program will do the rest.  I recommend that you run this program monthly. Every month you need to check for updates, run a Quick Scan, and remove whatever it finds.

If you follow these tips, along with a few common sense ideas such as not opening unsolicited mail and being careful what you download and install from the internet, you should be good to go. I hope you find this information helpful.