Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
November 14, 2005

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Volume 1, Number 22 -- Monday, November 14, 2005
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

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7.  Maps on the Web

Mapquest.com, the old grandfather of Internet map sites, is just one of the many choices you have for maps on the web today. I'm sure Mapquest has changed over the years. The interface has changed, but it looks like thesame old "get a map" or "get directions" opportunities.

Yahoo! Maps was my favorite until recently. In addition to the "get a map" and "get directions" functions, and if you have a Yahoo membership account (free), you can save individual locations so that you have ready access to them. The maps are easily printable - and readable when you do print them. Zooming works well. Once you have pulled up the map for a location, you can get driving directions "to here" and "from here." That's a nice touch. The "Link to this map" button is used to create a link that you can mail or put on a web site.

Google Maps ( is one of the latest additions to our mapping choices. It is a pretty good choice, too. Google Maps use a new technology called AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript And XML). At any point on the map, you can click your mouse anddrag. Drag to the left, and the map scrolls to the left -- automatically downloading any additional information it needs to display that portionfo the map.

Amazon.com, through its A9.com operation, offers a really different twist on maps. As usual for a map site, maps.a9.com offers the standard street maps. The unique value comes in the street pictures that you can see on maps.a9.com.

Only a small number of locations in major cities are on-line so far, but what is there is most impressive. A9 must be spending a fortune to take digital pictures and index and store them.

What pictures? Pick your location. Look in the lower right-hand corner of the page. There are two rows of five pictures each. maps.a9.com shows the view of both sides of the street. You can scroll up and down the street to see the picture, if you wish. They even have pictures looking down the cross streets!

If you are thinking about a vacation, take a look at the area on maps.a9.com. Check to see what the hotel really looks like. See the area where the hotel is located. Look for the closest restaurants and more.

If you have been to one of the cities that they are showing, go to maps.a9.com to reminesce about that restaurant you enjoyed.

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Creating a web site is fun.  Learning that others visit your web site is even better.  But, the web sites you can host for free at your Internet Service Provider are sorely lacking in space and in functionality.

When you are ready for the next step, you need a web host that gives you plenty of space and plenty of throughput and no surprise overage charges.  I use Powweb for all my web hosting.

Powweb offers an extremely affordable web hosting package.    Powweb's standard price a great deal at only $93.24 per year (average $7.77 / month).  The price even includes a free domain name for the 1 or 2 year hosting period that you purchase. Powweb's control panel includes automatic installation of blog software, forum software, content management software, photo gallery software, an online shopping cart and more.

iPowerWeb is another a popular, low-priced web host, who offers an excellent hosting package at an affordable price. iPowerWeb offers both Linux-based hosting and Windows Server 2003 hosting (which you need if you are wanting to run web scripts based on Microsoft's .ASP and .NET. Read more about iPowerweb.

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8.  Comments from Terry's Computer Tips Readers

I enjoy receiving emails from you, the readers of Terry's Computer Tips. Whether you want to ask a question, tell me what you have discovered, or tell me what you think of my sites and newsletter, keep them coming...

Sharon Bergeron wrote to say:

Hi Terry,
I enjoyed both newsletters & I want to leave “positive feedback” for you!!!!!!!!! It looks like you will have a good variety of info for a variety of folks. I am looking forward to your future newsletters. I will gladly pass the link around. Thanks
Sharon

Russ Edwards, after I answered his "Yellow Errors" question in an earlier issue:

Terry, Your advice to use my "Alienware Master CD" to restore my missing drivers was right on the money. Thank you! ....Russ Edwards

Bill DePierri wrote me to say:

Terry:

The items about programs that automatically start were terrific. Please keep up the good work.

Bill DePierri

When I had to send a special edition of Terry's Computer Tips a second time (it looked fine in Eudora but bad in some Outlook Express versions), reader Cosby Chaney wrote to say:

I had no problem with either of the emails.
Why! Because I followed your advice and switched to Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird.
(Smile here)
Couldn't be happier.

Cos.

And, my favorite comment came from Mildred Tierstein:

Hi Terry, I'm an 85 year old woman who is a TA in a computer club with over 400 members. We don't all meet at the same time. We have small groups that meet in the lab at different times and days.

Emails such as yours helps me make them think I'm smart. Thank you so much.

Mildred

Thank you for the comments, Readers. I appreciate your feedback. Keep those emails coming! Your questions help me think of something to write; your articles make my life easier (grin!); and your comments make it all worthwhile.

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9.   Shareware/Freeware Pick of the Week

Program:   Belarc Advisor
Publisher:  Belarc, Inc. www.belarc.com
Category:  Utility — System Information

Belarc Advisor is a utility from Belarc, Inc., that is free for personal use. Belarc Advisor examines your system hardware and the Windows Registry to identify the hardware and most of the software that you have installed.

Upon installation, it creates an icon on the desktop so that you can display and print a new profile easily -- this is a good idea any time you install programs or hardware.

Belarc Advisor will identify and tell you the brands, model numbers, and sometimes even serial numbers of your computer's components. One really neat feature is that it will tell you how many memory slots you have, and how much memory is in each. It does not know enough to tell you what type of memory you need or what sizes of memory you can use on your motherboard. (A site such as Crucial.com can help you with that. Crucial has a wizard that keys to brand, model and model number.)

Belarc Advisor analyzes your computer, creates a web page file, and then starts your default web browser (hopefully that's Firefox -- if you are still using Internet Explorer for web surfing, try a better alternative!) to display the information on your computer.

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10.  Recommend my Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter to Your Friends

If you like my  Terry's Computer Tips newsletter, you can help me increase the number of subscribers to my free newsletter.  Recommend it to a friend.

Feel free to forward your copy of the newsletter to a friend or friends that you think would be interested, including all copyright notices and any advertising.

Be sure to mention that the Just For Subscribers articles that are available only in the email version and the Special Edition Newsletters, too.

The current issue and the newletter archives are available online at http://www.terryscomputertips.com/archives/, and, of course, via a link from the navigation bar on each Terry's Computer Tips web page.

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11.  Send me some email!

I always have time to read emails from you -- the readers of Terry's Computer Tips.  I can not promise a personalized response, but I reply to many of the questions, tips, comments and feedback emails.  I also may use your email in my newsletter!

Send me your comments, send me your tips, send me your questions, and send me your feedback!

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Back to Part 1   Part 2

Volume 1, Number 22 -- Monday, November 14, 2005
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Copyright © 2005 Terry A. Stockdale.  All rights reserved.