The makers of SUPERAntiSpyware (which is a great malware removal product that many technicians use) have provided me with 10 SUPERAntiSpyware Professional LIFETIME licenses to give away.
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Technibble is on Twitter. Actually, we have been on Twitter for some time except we just havent announced it. If you dont know, Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service and allows you to send short text messages called “tweets” to your friends and followers. Some people use it to announce what they are doing right now to their friends and businesses often use it to send out small updates. I use it to send out things that I believe a technician would find interesting, but isnt worthy of a full blown Technibble post. I also use it to keep in contact with other technicians that read Technibble.

The last few things I posted to Technibbles Twitter was:

• Creepiest casemod ever? http://is.gd/nd8x
• A technician just posted a clients attempt at replacing a laptop power jack. Wont charge afterwards for some reason: http://sn.vc/89Hu
• In response to my Mac post. After some of the Techs got into a PC vs Mac fight, one tech finished it off nicely. “I, for one, am in this business to make a living… not to pick sides.”
• Following my Mac post. I’m surprised that some techies refuse to work on them. It’s not a lack of technical knowlege, they just refuse. I think that’s crazy. What better client to have than a cashed up Mac user thats a computer novice? Most of the work is really easy.
• Someone taking 24 x 256gb SSD drives and RAIDing them (2gb a second transfers): http://tinyurl.com/9lnrld
• Silly Microsoft: http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/7922/funny.jpg
• China’s Electronic Waste Village slideshow. Lots of computer parts in there: http://tinyurl.com/7g6uab

Unless you already have a Twitter account you may not care that I am on Twitter, this post is more for the people who are so they can follow and chat with me @technibble. However, in the few months I have been using Twitter I have found it an invaluable resource to talk to big guys in the industry, fellow technicians and get new information about the tech world very quickly, long before it ends up on any websites.

You can use the Twitter on its main website, you can use a Firefox plugin like Twitterfox or you can use your mobile device as most of them have an application for it.

So, if you are a Tweeter already, follow me as 555 other Tweeters have at @technibble

If not, you can check out this site for more information about what it is, why you would want to use it and how to get started.

Its been almost a year and a half since I last asked what you think of the site and where I can improve. As a webmaster, I love hearing any feedback from our readers so that I can keep on doing what I am doing right, implement any suggestions you guys have and stop doing the stuff you hate.

So, Hows our driving? What do you love about the site? What do you hate about the site? Got an idea or a suggestion?. Comments are open as always, you don’t need to sign up to make a comment and you can even post anonymously if you like.

For those of you who downloaded Technibble’s Computer Repair Utility Kit, you may have noticed a link called “Become a PC Technician” under the useful sites section. This section is designed for people who are visiting Technibble for the first time and give them a great overview of the content we have in a ordered format.

I believe this page will useful to any Technibble regulars as they may have missed something that was written long before they joined. You can check out the page here:

http://www.technibble.com/become-a-computer-technician/

The year 2008 has nearly come to an end and it has been an interesting year for Technibble. The site has grown in both readers on the main pages and activity in the forums. We’ve raised our profile having been interviewed in a handful of podcasts and mentioned in countless ones. I have heard stories of many young computer enthusiasts starting their own businesses after reading Technibble which is really rewarding for me personally.

I have compiled a list of some of Technibbles articles this year including a list of the most discussed, useful business articles and useful technicial articles in case you missed a few:
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As a computer technician, there is a lot of information that we need to remember. DOS commands, BSOD STOP messages, Router passwords, IP addresses etc… and thats just to name a few. This is why I have created the Computer Technicians Quick Reference Guide. Its a PDF file with information we frequently have to keep looking up.

The Computer Technicians Quick Reference Guide Contains:

• Useful DOS Commands
• Common STOP Messages and their meanings
• Important Data Locations
• Common Router/Modem Login Details (D-Link, Netgear, Linksys)
• OpenDNS.com DNS Servers
• Useful IP Addresses
• BIOS Beep Codes
• RJ-45 Color Code Pinout
• Useful Links
• Freeware Alternatives

Best of all, I’m giving it away for FREE to anyone who signs up to our RSS feed via email (we already have 2400+ people who have chosen to recieve it). For those of you who dont know what our email subscription is, Technibble sends an email to you every few days with all of Technibbles most recent news and articles. Here is an example of what one of our news emails looks like:

To sign up and get the Computer Technicians Quick Reference Guide, just enter your email address in the form below. To those who were already signed up, the download link will appear in the next mailout.

We will never use your email for anything other than you receiving Technibbles news (we hate spam too).

Signup Here!

The download link is in the confirmation email when you sign up

After demand from our forum members, Technibble has launched a Buy Sell & Trade forum on the Technibble forums.

If you have some parts or software you want to get rid of or looking for something hard to find, this is the place to do it.

Together, we can make the Buy, Sell and Trade a great place for Technicians to move some hardware and software. If you have something to sell right now, post it in the forum. You’ve got nothing to lose, its free to make a listing.

You can check out the forum here.

We just got word from one of our readers that ZoneAlarm Forcefield will be free for this Tuesay (August 12th) at 6am PST. Normally Forcefield costs $29.99 to purchase which includes a years worth of subscription updates. The offer is valid for 24 hours after the launch.

For those of you who dont know what it is, ZoneAlarm Forcefield is a virtualization system that isolates your browser from the computer. If your browser did fall victim to an exploit or you are tricked into opening something you shouldnt, your computer is safe because the malware cannot touch your computers actual files or registry items.

ZAFF also attempts to stop sites from stealing your personal information. While in this virtualization “bubble”, ZAFF includes technology to jam keyloggers and block programs that snatch screenshots while you are surfing.

To download ZoneAlarm Forcefield, goto the following site on August 12th after 6am PST:

http://www.zonealarm.com/patchtuesday

Edit: Offer is now available for download. You might want to use a service like 10MinuteMail.com because it requires you to enter an email address so they can “periodically send you promotional offers”.

Special thanks to Gary for letting us know about this. If anyone else hears about similar freebies they would like to share with the Technibble community, please email us via our contact form.

I am sure that most of the technicians here have heard about “Spyware Doctor” by PC Tools at some point. If you haven’t, Spyware Doctor is a free spyware remover and provides real-time protection against spyware, adware, browser hijackers, trojan horses, key loggers etc.
From a Technicians point of view its a great tool to run on clients computers since it uses little computer resources and is effective at catching most spyware.

Anyway, we have discovered a way that you can get free legitimate Spyware Doctor licenses via one of their special promotions. Also, although I haven’t used their other products personally, you can also get free licenses for some of their other products at the same time. “Privacy Guardian” and “Firewall Plus”.

Read on for instructions on how to get your free genuine licenses. Grab them fast because I don’t know how much longer this offer will be available.
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Last week, I held a small survey asking us technicians what hardware brands we like based on quality vs price to get an idea on what other computer technicians are selling to their clients. Here are the results.
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