Before we start on today's column topic, I thought I would comment on an interesting twist in the ongoing virus war. A virus now becoming active, called Klez, does what is called "spoofing" in the business - this is disguising the name of the computer sending the e-mail in which it spreads itself. For example: back in the pre-spoofing days, if you were computer X and you had computers A and B in your address book, the virus would send an infected e-mail from X to A and from X to B. When A received one of these e-mails and had a good virus checker, he would detect the virus and you could then call you (X) and let you know that you had a virus.
Spoofing viruses work differently. They send an e-mail from A to B and from B to A, even though they come from X. Now, when A detects a virus, he would call B instead of X. B was innocent in this matter, except that he was on X's address book - B never actually sent an e-mail to A. This results in a lot of misinformation calls. Even if the virus doesn't spread, it causes excess phone calls! What will they think of next?
So, let's look at gadgets. I sit here with the stack of newspaper ads that appear on my doorstep each Sunday. What do we find in the local ads?
Adobe Photoshop 7 is out in the stores now. It's a major upgrade to this battleship image-editing program. I have it, and it's great - but quite expensive. Windows XP and Office XP prices are stable as usual.
Some new DVD titles are out. But I think DVD sales are going to start to level off. I read recently where the recording industry claims that music CD sales are down, blaming MP3 and file sharing. But this analysis indicated that a lot of CD sales previously were people just updating their old music libraries - getting new CDs to replace vinyl or tapes. I think the same will happen to DVDs. I buy very few new release DVDs - almost all that I buy are classics I want to have in my permanent collection. If I want to see a newer release, probably once, I just rent it. I still like Netflix (www.netflix.com).
eMachines is now selling low-end PCs again. These systems really aren't too bad - I helped my sister buy one last year. You're not going to get the absolute latest in technology, but they should work fine for home use. You can get a system with 128MB of memory and 20GB hard drive, with 17" display and printer for $400 after rebates this week.
CRT monitors are very inexpensive, being under price pressure from the LCD flat panel displays. You can get a 17" Viewsonic model A70F flat CRT locally for $180. Some of my clients have purchased this model recently and are very happy with it. The message is: these new monitors are so cheap that it doesn't make sense to stare at an old 15" curvy display any more.
You can still get a decent notebook computer for a little over $1000. These now come with an acceptable amount of RAM (usually 256MB), a DVD/CD player, and a network connection so you can connect to DSL or Road Runner.
Networking components are also inexpensive. You can put together a home network for under $100 - that would be a 4-port switch with cable/DSL router, a couple of network cards for your PC and some cables if needed. Wireless routers have dropped to about $150 after rebate, from $170 or so recently.
Blank CDs are about as cheap as they can get - about $.10-$.15 per CD in 50 or 100 packs. Use them once and throw them away. Watch for good rebates. CD writers (CD-RW) are well under $100 now for an internal drive. So, get a CD writer and start doing regular backups.
Digital cameras abound. Most of them are quality units - just pick your features and price. There are some new high-end digital cameras out now (you can't get them locally) that definitely rival film. If you want to scan old photos, you can get many good USB attached scanners for $100 or less.
So, visit the local stores, bring your VISA or checkbook, and help revive the economy!
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).