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Good article. I used to use Dragon years ago but found it was then mostly only useful for long form, like letters. I stopped using it when I had a system upgrade. (all the sw upgrade costs) However, I did continue using the headset that came with it as it was mic only, no earphones. Nice to hear how its progressed and indeed I know a few people with wrist issues that use it.

Also nice to hear about the Snowball. I just got one for doing podcasts. So much better designed than most USB mics. The non-ICE model I got has the dual capsule so I can change the pick-up pattern for an interview. But yes, the sound is great. Found mine in a Staples clearance bin.

Thanks, James. Great set of tips.
Domain locking should be quite sufficient if the system is set up properly and people follow some of the other points you mention. For example, most registrars lock domains by default now.

It’s not uncommon for people to send the setup email to their web designers. It often includes all passwords when domain service is included.

However, personally I’ve had several bad experiences with GoDaddy, mainly extracting clients with troubles there. I can appreciate a larger business with more customers will tend to have more troubles but GoDaddy was not cooperative and at the time, the transform process was well buried as was the procedure. I knew what needed to be done but not how to find the settings. Most hosts use CPanel or similar, a well designed web management platform. GoDaddys is less than intuitive, to put it mildly.

I also prefer complete services at a good price, such as BlueHost or TRK. That way, simple changes can be easily effected. GoDaddy however tends to nickel and dime you. The mentioned Protected Registration would be an example.

But as they say – your mileage may vary. I’ve met a few who like GoDaddy and I’ve been very happy with Toyota.

Bluehost has an excellent reputation. Register.com as well. I’ve used TRK for clients as well as some local hosts. Some people who database sensitive info feel they should use off-shore hosts but i’m not sure that makes much difference. A client used a Philippine host that associated her domain with some porn sites to gain secondary add revenue.

It’s nice that Bluehost includes domain registration for excellent rates. If your needs are simple and your site modest, that can be fine. But if you anticipate a strong commercial site and evolving needs, it can be useful to manage your domains separately from your web site host. That way, you can seamlessly migrate at any time. But again, you want an established organization. If you do register your domains though your web host, you might want to check who their domain registrar is. Some like register.com and tucows are well established. Some less so.

I’ll also note that some country domains (2 letter) have become more popular lately. The better ones are managed properly (like .it and .ca) but some like .tv and .ta are wide open and managed by small overseas companies. I’d be a little careful about betting your business on one of those. A secondary domain maybe…

Thanks for the suggestions. A few years back, I went though some 10 fixes to get a Vista box to reliably share it’s printers. It would appear to share but block the print file without an error, then refuse to share, etc. etc. In the end, I moved the printer to a print server that was then shared with all. That did the job.

BTW – I don’t know about Live Mail but Outlook and Outlook Express both saved all their data in one big file. Big issue if it gets corrupted. Programs like Eudora and Thunderbird don’t make this mistake.

But do have a backup. Like digital photos, email tends to migrate from a casual amusement into key personal records. Its easy to set up on todays computers and external drives are cheap.

After a lot of review, I migrated to Thunderbird from Eudora when they stopped development. I migrated all the mail with it. While one may like the idea of sticking with the version that works, in today’s world, not keeping Internet applications current is inviting trouble. Old versions with unpatched flaws are red flags for hackers and viruses. I’ve seen this in action.

I also migrated many years of Palm calendar into the Thunderbird Lightening calendar plugin. That took a couple of steps. You can also sync that to things like Google calendar online if you want.

I was pleased the article highlighted the issues with ever migrating a site on one of these platforms. They also place you at the mercy of the service ever changing or failing. I would definitely get your domain elsewhere so you can at least hold on to that if the service flops or changes in a way you dislike.

While it’s slightly more DIY, my recommendation for small sites is to get a standard web host, add a WP blog, and use the blog as a site platform. It’s very easy to add “fixed pages” and set one as the home page. You can select from gazillions of templates, many of them free or modest cost, and you can change your theme, and host, any time. (WP sites are fully exportable) Managing a WP site is mostly browsing menus and discovering what other options you’d like. And you can add your choice of plugins over time to add features.

That approach is far more standards based, allows you to use the template approach to design but be totally unlimited by it, and allows you your choice of host. None of the limitations of the “services”.

I’ve noticed that changing video drivers on a stable Win7 system is about the most likely thing to cause a bluescreen. (laughs)

I’d also throw up a caveat here. Go to the makers web site of the video card but also check the system makers site, especially in the case of laptops. Some system makers are using custom builds with their own custom video drivers. Anything from Windows or the chip-makers site won’t work. I even ran into a laptop recently with 2 video chips from 2 different makers – one for low power use, the other for HD. Finding the right drivers and getting them installed was a stinker. A number of other secondary bits had to be installed/updated first.

Great Link, Brett. Thanks for sharing.
The key difference here – the 2nd registrar cooperated.

BTW – I’d have your computer thoroughly checked for spyware. Use a couple of well respected online tools like ESET’s to get other “opinions”. There is the possibility they got your password that way. Then unlocking and transferring is easy.

Although its possible they’ve hacked GoDaddy and use that to take domains for customers.

The fact that GoDaddy notified you of the domain being unlocked (and thus able to be transferred) and you did nothing will probably be their out. They notified you.

How the culprits managed to get it unlocked is the curious part. I would suspect impersonation and using some sort of lost password thing. But obviously a total lack of care on GoDaddys part. Lifting a domain thats not locked is much easier.

GoDaddy uses a non-standard interface and process. I transferred a friends domain off GoDaddy and it took a bit of digging to find how. The help files did not tell you how to leave. I refuse to use GoDaddy. For reasons others mention but also because they encourage a lot of the hostage domain activity and spam sites that crosslink each other but have no value except Google Ad revenue. I can think of a long list of issues actually. Crap on the web is commonly hosted by them.

Don’t know what to suggest on the stolen domain other than contacting ICANN. A Youtube video exposing GoDaddy would not be a bad idea also. I had no idea this was going on with locked domains. But I would definitely move my domains to a more reputable registrar. Who wants to support organizations that abuse their customers and their market space?

Here’s the ICANN page that seems to cover this:
http://www.icann.org/en/help/dndr/tdrp

when burning data files to DVD’s, the burners, like NERO, don’t like to see nested folders….one folder under another folder, under another folder, under another, etc., etc, etc.

That’s related to the maximum number of characters in a path string. The entire file name and directory structure has to be under 256 characters to meet older recordable media standards. Newer computers can handle much longer paths but if you want it backwardly compatible, its another rule like dir names. For backup purposes, it’s yet another reason to keep directory names modest. They may be fine in Windows but if you have to restore them from a command line…

There are quite a few free PDF printers that can be used to print from a browser, such as PrimoPDF, Foxit or PDFill.
There is also the PrintEdit browser Addon for Firefox that can edit out the undesired elements prior to printing.
And also, there are options to save the page as an Archive, which packages it into one file (rather than having the html and separate folder)

A still further option is to select the body text and images, then paste them into a document, adjust formatting and print.

Clearing a corrupt profile is a good suggestion.
I also ran into a problem once where a corrupt email in the Inbox plugged up the works. I had to figure out how to delete it but it had disappeared. Right click the folder, Select Properties and click Repair Folder. It reappeared and was then delete-able. (but I had to be careful not to select it for viewing) I’ve occasionally had to Repair the Inbox for some reason.

LLiz – I’d throw up a big red flag if you get an email like that from a service provider. These are usually Phishing emails. You can certain go to your provider and change your password as a precaution but if you did it by following a link in the email, you may have given your password to someone else. I would change your password again but this time, by going directly to your provider. You account may be being used for spamming.

You also may have a corrupt profile, as a later post mentions.

Res: “ping.pop.shaw.ca.com” is meaningless. .ca is equivalent to .com so don’t add it. And you don’t want to put a dot after the command – its not part of the address. “ping pop.shaw.ca” would be more correct. Shaw does use rather weird mail server addressing though.

The article nicely juxtaposes with Woody on Going Google and how much easier this is there.