Archive for the ‘Buying’ Category
Posted by dvanarsd on March 13, 2009
Considering changing or starting phone service using your Internet connection?
MySpeed provides VoIP quality tests to test your VoIP connection quality. This will help you see if your Internet service is up to the level that will give you acceptable voice service comparable to traditional phone lines.
Posted in Buying, Phones, VoIP Voice Over Internet | Tagged: connection, Internet, MySpeed, speed, voice, VoIP | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on January 13, 2009
MakeUseOf has a post about Spectackler which “tries to help you with the buying decision for electronic products. It lets you find the exact product you’re looking for by letting you search for electronics and gadgets and then easily compare them side-by-side.”
Posted in Buying | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on December 9, 2008
Now here’s a site that us cheapskates can really enjoy:Active Free Stuff.
“Our purpose is simple, to bring free stuff to the internet community. Simply browse around and get tons of free stuff or you can sign up for our free stuff newsletter to get weekly free stuff right to your email.”
Free stuff for web sites, for health and beauty, for t-shirts, for entertainment, books and magazine, food … all sorts of stuff.
Use any of this at your own risk, but some bargains might be found.
Posted in Buying | Tagged: bargains, buy, free, freebies | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on December 6, 2008
WindowsSecrets has a post on These speedup utilities aren’t worth your money.
“Dozens of Windows utilities promise to optimize your system’s memory, improve your Internet connection speed, and rev up disk-access times to provide an overall performance boost. Some of these benefits can be demonstrated. For example, in a Sept. 11, 2008, Best Software column (paid content), Windows Secrets contributing editor Scott Spanbauer found three Windows cleanup utilities worth recommending: Business Logic’s WinCleaner OneClick Professional Clean, Piriform’s CCleaner, and PC Pitstop’s PC Optimize.”
Check this before buying the wrong software.
Posted in Buying, Microsoft Windows, Utilities | Tagged: boost, improve, performance, software, speed, speedup, Utilities | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on August 25, 2008
While this site normally doesn’t promote commercial software (companies have budgets of their own for that!), the Microsoft Office Suite is the campus standard software and many students would like to get it at a discount.
Try the student discount for the ultimate package here.
Posted in Buying, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office Suite, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word | Tagged: Buying, Microsoft, Office, software, suite, Ultimate | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on July 14, 2008
PriceAdvance has add-ons for both IE and Firefox, which search for products that you’re currently viewing, to see if other prices can be found elsewhere. Freeware add-ons.
Note: some proxy servers may interfere with this add-on working.
Posted in Buying, Firefox, Freeware/Shareware, Microsoft Internet Explorer | Tagged: advance, Buying, comparison, Firefox, freeware, IE, price, PriceAdvance | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on April 10, 2008
Windows Secrets had instructions on how to get Microsoft Windows software at an academic discount for students, faculty & staff. Requirements on what they want differ from vendor to vendor. This article was dated April 12, 2007 so check current prices starting with these sites, and then perhaps elsewhere.
Where to shop for academic discounts
“Using your favorite search engine, you should have no difficulty finding software retailers that offer academic discounts. The ones I’ve found that have the best prices and selection are, in alphabetical order:”
Posted in Buying, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office Suite, Microsoft Windows, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Tagged: academic, Buying, college, discount, discounts, faculty, Microsoft, school, software, student, university, Windows | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on March 4, 2008
CNET has a Laptop Buying Guide to help you select the right kind of laptop and find reviews of the available brands and models.
My Product Advisor helps you find information on laptops, tablets, cars, cell phones, televisions and digital cameras.
Posted in Buying | Tagged: Buying, CNet, laptops, My Product Advisor, notebooks, reviews, tablets | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on February 18, 2008
Finding the phone with the right combination of features, that is convenient for the way you use it… not an easy choice. MakeUseOf reviews a new site that lets you test drive phones, called TryPhone.
The site is adding more phones soon but has a number of them already. You can see:
- For each phone view: dozens of demos and howto video (ex. how to download music), full specs list (battery life, dimensions, weight …), user reviews and ratings, etc.
- Compare multiple phones side-by-side.
Posted in Buying, Phones | Tagged: cell, free, out, Phones, test drive, testdrive, try | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on January 25, 2008
A class action lawsuit was filed against HP (Hewlett Packard) for faulty graphics adapters and motherboards in some HP notebooks. Click here for the information on it. Current owners may fill out a claim form postmarked by April 4, 2008, or take other action by the deadlines stated.
Recommended by SmartComputing magazine.
Posted in Buying, Hardware | Tagged: Buying, class action, deadline, expires, Hewlett Packard, HP, lawsuit, lawsuits, notebooks | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on December 3, 2007
Webware has a post on 6 upgrades that are downgrades, meaning that the newer version is (in the poster’s opinion) worse than a previous version.
Interesting to note that the #1 item is Windows Vista. The author describes it as “Vista is the new shiny operating system Microsoft released to replace Windows XP. Except it hasn’t, because it’s a poor upgrade. It’s slower, bigger, and buggier.”
Quicken is another complaint: “Intuit apparently believes that new users won’t buy a personal accounting product if it’s last year’s model, and it also wants to upgrade its current users each year. So it “sunsets” older versions after three years: it turns off online access to bank updates and eliminates support. Sadly, some older versions of Quicken are faster and more stable than the new versions.”
One of the Linksys wireless routers comes in for a blast, as do Zune and iPod and cameras.
See the post for further examples.
Posted in Buying, Financial Software, Hardware, Microsoft Windows, Windows Vista, wireless | Tagged: Buying, cameras, iPod, Linksys, Quicken, router, upgrades, Vista, Windows, wireless, Zune | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on November 27, 2007
UA Fort Smith presently uses a lot of Dell desktop and laptop computers. While this is not an endorsement, it indicates one possible brand available.
You don’t have to get one brand new, however. A refurbished computer may (check carefully!) have the same warranty, and actually be doublechecked because it came back once.
Dell’s TKO Education recertified used computers from Dell.
Posted in Buying, Hardware | Tagged: Buying, computers, Dell, desktops, laptops, refurbished, sources | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on November 13, 2007
Get cheaper Vista upgrade, never pay full price From Windows Secrets, the instructions on how to install Vista using the cheaper upgrade process, but without having an older version of Windows installed first. Windows Secrets contends that this appears to be a legal method of getting Vista more cheaply, by buying the lower-priced “upgrade” version without actually having an earlier version of Windows on the computer.
Posted in Buying, Everything, Microsoft Windows, Windows Vista | Tagged: Buying, upgrade, upgrading, Vista | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on November 6, 2007
Wondering what version of Windows Vista to ask for?
Posted in Buying, Everything, Microsoft Windows, Windows Vista | Tagged: Buying, Microsoft, Vista, Windows | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dvanarsd on November 6, 2007
Windows Secrets has advice and links on how to save money on Microsoft Windows and other products. Use at your own risk.
WARNING: Student/Faculty, aka “Academic” versions of Microsoft products, may NOT qualify you for cheaper “upgrade” versions later.
For example, the Office Suite’s academic version for 2003 may not be eligible for the discounted upgrade to the 2007 version, even if it
says “all versions” on the box. You may need to buy another complete academic version instead.
Posted in Buying, Files, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office Suite, Microsoft Windows | Tagged: 2007, Buying, Microsoft, Office, Windows | Leave a Comment »