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My laptop went kablooey

January 12, 2009 By

So yesterday I was just poking around online, clicking from link to link, looking for interesting articles about current events and movies and celebrities, just looking to be entertained. Well, I clicked the wrong link somewhere, because next thing I knew, random web pages started popping up on my screen without me clicking on anything.

My laptop got infected by a virus. Because I clicked on some spam link by mistake.

Fortunately for me, part of my husband’s job is to bring home laptops from work that no one is using and get them cleaned up and ready in case someone needs one.  He just happened to have one that he brought home on Friday, so he installed Firefox on it for me and transferred over My Documents in case I needed something, and this morning I’m ready to go.

Except for one thing- he wasn’t able to get Outlook installed. Which means that a., the emails will be piling up like mad and I’ll have a bazillion to go through tomorrow, and b., I don’t have access to the folders that I made with reviews I need to do and giveaways I need to start!

SO, if you read this feed and are waiting for me to review something or start a giveaway, please email me at the address shown under “Meet MomReviews”. I’ll get back to you and we’ll figure something out!

Filed Under: Personal Tagged With: ,

So, you’ve decided to go self-hosted. Now what?

July 26, 2008 By

My dear friend Tresha has a blog on WordPress.com, and she has grown frustrated with her inability to make her site look just the way she wants. Ah, I was once in her shoes. I went from Blogger to WordPress.com, but with the encouragement of a good blog friend who runs a blog design company, and a boost of courage from attending BlogHer ’06, I took the plunge and bought my own domain. I chose my host, Bluehost, on my friend’s recommmendation, but if I had wanted to do some research first, I could have used a site like Web Hosting Geeks to read web hosting reviews. They review and rate web hosts and publish their top ten favorites right on the home page of their site. The Editor’s Choice pick for best hosting goes to Bluehost, yay!

WHG also has an excellent Web Hosting Guide page, which explains in an easy-to-understand way what some of the important things are to look for when choosing a web host. Scroll further down the page and you’ll find links to Popular Web Hosting articles, there’s a plethora of great information in those articles. Don’t be afraid to get your own domain and go self-hosted! There are tons of great resources out there to help, bloggers like me who remember how scary it is at the thought of having all these files to be responsible for, and it really is an empowering feeling to have your own domain. So come on, be the master of your own domain (heh). And check out Web Hosting Geeks, too!

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Protect your kids when they are online with GuardChild

June 29, 2008 By

I would say that my husband and I are about as educated as parents can be regarding how to keep our children safe online. We don’t allow them to surf the Web, they can only go to sites that we have approved and bookmarked for them. Of course, once they are on a Web page, they could type just about anything into the browser and go anywhere, but they also know that we are going to be walking by their computers at any time to see what they are doing. And, if necessary, we will use Remote Desktop Management software to allow us to “take over” their computer and see what they are viewing.

It’s scary, isn’t it? I know it is possible to keep kids off the Internet entirely, but my husband works in PC Support and I’m a blogger, which means the Internet is a big part of our lives. I’d much rather teach my children how to be safe while they are online, and not only HOW, but WHY. It’s hard for them to understand that someone who sounds like a kid asking to be their friend on Xbox Live could actually be an adult. They want to watch videos and play games, but I don’t want them seeing porn. So what is a parent to do? Well, Michael Cafarelli founded GuardChild.

GuardChild was founded by a team of parents concerned by the explosion of news reports about child predators frequenting Internet Chat Rooms and exploiting children. We realized a need for a ‘one stop’ website where parents could gather to share their knowledge and experiences, educate themselves about Internet security, and review and purchase the latest child-monitoring software.

The GuardChild Knowledge Center provides FREE resources including toll-free phone numbers for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, links to similar child safety sites like CyberAngels and NetSmartz, articles, safety tips, and recommended reading. The Knowledge Center also explains how to choose Child Protection Software, which is the next part of the site that I want to explain to you.

GuardChild also sells monitoring software for your home computer, with prices starting at just $39.95. Whether you want to simply see what your children view online, chat protection that sends you an email if your child is chatting about a topic that you have set as off-limits, the ability to schedule which times your child can be online, even monitor entire IM conversations, GuardChild has software you can purchase. Should you monitor your child’s “private” IM chats? In my opinion, YES.

The issue of trust revolves around both parents and children understanding what is and isn’t allowed. Monitoring your child’s online activity to make sure they aren’t getting into situations they shouldn’t be in is not spying, it’s PARENTING. Wouldn’t you want to know if your child was discussing drug use, or viewing porn, or even just using inappropriate language in their chats? The Internet has lots of great uses, from educational sites to sites that are fun, but children are not adults and don’t need to be in adult situations, either. Letting your child know that you are paying attention to what they do online lets them know that if they do get into an uncomfortable situation, you’ll be able to step in and be the “bad guy” and get them out of it.

While there are free resources available on GuardChild, there is also a community that costs a very reasonable $19.95 a year to join. With paid membership in the GuardChild Community, you are entitled to:
* Hundreds of websites (with access to thousands more embedded in our sites and new sites added monthly) for family-friendly websites, online safety resources, parent resources, educational websites, and much more (GuardChild has done this research for you, so you don’t have to spend hours online searching for relevant information)
* Articles about online child safety and family Internet use
* GuardChild Community Blog: interact with other parents who share your concerns, learn from online safety experts, and contribute your own articles, advice, and questions
* Discounts on the best web-filtering software and child-monitoring software available.
* Access to a searchable State-by-State Sex Offender Registry
* An Instant Messaging/Chat/Text Messaging/Emoticon Glossary
* Email alerts of new Feature Blog postings and product updates

If you are interested in learning more about how to keep your kids safe while they are online, please visit the GuardChild website.

Filed Under: Technology, Website Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,