Cactus TurboNet Newsletter 3/28/2006

Free Web Accelerator

Our dial-up web accelerator is now included with the standard dial-up account.  No extra charge.  It does require some "oomph" from your computer, though, so be sure your machine is at least Windows 98, 500 MHz, and that you have more than enough RAM to run your operating system, modem, browser, virus checker, and the web accelerator at the same time. Go to http://proxyconn.turbonet.com/MyAccount/Proxyconn.aspx to sign up. Save it to your desktop, re-start your computer, disable your virus checker, chat programs, etc.   Then double-click the Proxyconninstall icon to install.

Notebook Hints

Care and feeding hint:  One of the most common reasons for a notebook computer to visit the repair shop is spills.  Water, pop, beer, wine – all are harmful if fed to your computer.  If you spill something on your computer, and it is off, do not turn it on to see if there’s damage.  If it’s on when you spill, immediately turn it off and pull the battery and power cord.  Open the screen as wide as it will go and turn it upside down while you phone a repair shop for further advice.

If you own an animal, when you’re away from your laptop, close the screen.  Not only can little paws push keys, but if your pet is angry that you’re not there, they may “mark” the computer.  Our service department hates cleaning pet pee out of keyboards.  It’s happened locally more than once.

Hibernation hint:  If you’ve told your notebook to hibernate, or just shut it down, give your machine a chance to finish before moving it.  Your hard drive is most vulnerable while it’s shutting itself down.

Battery hint:  Most modern laptops have lithium ion batteries.  It is currently believed that it’s harmful to lithium ion batteries (unlike their predecessors) to run them all the way down. 

Screen cleaning:  We now have notebook screen cleaning kits for 99 cents. 

If you have a PDA…

Were you aware that you can get your Cactus TurboNet email on your PDA?  Point it to http://mail.turbonet.com/mail/pda.  Use your regular username and password.