It’s a bit ironic that I stop smoking completely January 1, 2007. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quit enough to make up for years of damaging my lungs. This image on the right no longer fits me.

I was fortunate to receive excellent care at Fairview Southdale Hospital. I also went through Pulmonary Rehab at Fairview Southdale. I credit the rehab program and the respiratory therapist who ran it with helping me get back to somewhat normal living.

From June 2007 until February 2008 my life revolved around trying to improve my health. Exercise became an essential part of my week. I had never been on a treadmill until May 2007, but in June 2008 I bought one for my home because I didn’t want to miss a day of exercise. Exercise has improved my lungs and my overall health. The Southdale YMCA is also an essential part of my weekly fitness routine.

At the beginning of 2008 I felt much better but was faced with two work related projects that took much of my time and energy. In August I finished one project and the other was finished in October.

That explains why I have been away from blogging. I’m back now and ready to update all my blogs and add a few others.

I plan to write about my techie toys (essential tools for the IRS) and how and why I plan to upgrade them. I also want to discuss niche blogging – a way to earn money that is actually fun and challenging.

Be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed if you would like to follow the Infomaven blog restarted.

• Store books and showcase knickknacks and pictures with understated modern style
• Sturdy plywood shelves with rugged stainless steel poles
• Black laminate shelf coverings
• Easy assembly, no tools required
• 33.63H x 31.5W x 11.5D Source: Target: 3-Tier Bookshelf – Black

There are no tools needed or included. You won’t need a hammer, screw driver, or pliers to put this bookcase together. You won’t find any odd little tools in the package either. Just follow the pictures in the directions and the bookcase can be put together in less than 30 minutes.

I bought one for a storage area but it would look good in almost any room. It doesn’t look cheap even though it was a real bargain.

I know that Google is pushing Firefox, so I tried logging in using Firefox and I got the Dashboard immediately.

How many users are going to switch browsers just to bypass a problem with a Beta release that’s screwing up the entire system?

I’ve got nothing against Firefox but I hate it when it’s pushed down my throat by sites this way.

I test my sites with both Internet Explorer and Firefox. Why doesn’t Google do the same?

BTW Blogger Beta glitches may explain the problems I had using Windows Live Writer with accounts on Blogspot.

Take out the trash

Every new computer comes with special offers (read ads), trial software (more ads), useful utilities, and junk. The Toshiba Satellite® Notebook PC (A105-S2071) was no exception. Here’s what I did with the included software bundle:

• Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition – replaced with WinXP Pro
• Office Student Teacher Edition (60-day trial) – replaced with Microsoft Office 2000 Professional
• Works 8.5 – deleted
• Office OneNote™ 2003 – deleted
• Quicken® New User Edition 2005 – deleted

I kept the following utilities and applications.

• InterVideo® WinDVD™ 5
• Sonic Solutions® RecordNow!™ Basic and Drive Letter Access™
• McAfee® VirusScan® (30-day trial) – keeping for now but will probably replace with Norton AntiVirus
• Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®
• Sun® Java™ 2 Runtime Environment
• Windows Media Player 10
• Yahoo! Music Engine – keeping for now

I expected that transferring WinXP Pro and Office 2000 to a new computer would require permission from Microsoft. It didn’t. Insert disk — load software. Next I ran Windows / Office update to bring the laptop up to speed.

Using the File and Transfer Wizard

This utility is great in small doses — it’s a nightmare if you use it to transfer every application and data file from one PC to another. I used it to transfer a few essentials:

1. My Outlook Express mailboxes (I don’t like Outlook.)
2. My desktop with links to special applications and folders
3. Internet Explore settings and favorites

That’s it. Everything fit on my SanDisk Cruzer Mini 1GB USB flash drive with room to spare.

Hiding Distractions

I created a desktop folder called Toshiba. I moved all the Toshiba shortcuts from the desktop to this folder.

The laptop creates a bunch of tray icons that I use infrequently. I’m not even sure what some of them do, so I hide them. Right click on the tray next to the clock and select properties. On the Taskbar check Hid inactive icons and click customize. Most of the application notifications will be set for Hide when inactive. Some, like the modem, can be changed to Always hide.

Heavy lifting ahead – call the movers

Moving from one computer to another is fairly easy if you have a good backup system. If most of your applications are on original disks or backup cds, you just have to take the time to install each one.

Once installed I open the application on both computers and make the changes necessary to make the laptop version match the old version.

I keep all software, manuals, and receipts in zip lock storage bags. The bags are stored in plastic magazine boxes.

Receipts for software I buy online are kept in a special folder in Outlook Express. This way I can find the registration codes that I will need to install the software on a new system.

I bought a cheap external DVD burner from CompUSA a short time ago and it was handy for copying folders to the laptop. The burner is slow and noisy, so I would set it up and then go watch TV or read.

Moving from one computer to another gives you the opportunity to re-think how your file system is organized. Make good use of it.

Useful Utilities

I use a bunch of little applications to make life easier: AD-Aware SE Personal, dclean, xenu, etc. I pretty cheap so I don’t buy a lot of utilities when I can get a similar one for free. One utility that’s worth paying for is TuneUp Utilities 2006. I own TuneUp 2004 and love it. I downloaded the 30 day free-trial version of the latest version and its great too.

TuneUp lets you fine tune and optimize just about every aspect of Windows easily. Give it a try.

Final thoughts

I really like my new Toshiba Satellite® Notebook PC (A105-S2071). It’s the quietest computer I’ve ever used — even burning a DVD was whisper quiet. BTW burning a DVD was very easy with the Sonic RecordNow utility. There’s lengthy tutorial that I discovered after starting a backup project. I wish the fan vent was in back instead on the left side — my notes get a tad warm. But the fan is quiet and seems to work well.

Altogether I’m very pleased with my purchase.

Tonight the StarTribune site was so ugly and distracting I just had to capture the screen and archive it.

When I first opened the page it was completely filled with the Lupient logo as a background image.

Moments later the rest of the page appeared. Notice that less than half the screen space is devoted to news.

I have nothing against auto dealer Lupient, but are the StarTribune and Lupient both nuts? What kind of news organization uses that much screen space for ads?

The contrast with TwinCities.com (Pioneer Press) is obvious.

Which is the more serious news site? Which offers more to online visitors?