Getting your music legally - and free!



This is the very simple interface you will use to convert YouTube audio to mp3s.



 Instead of using programs like Limewire that are infamous for malware and other nasty programs pretending to be music and movies, try this legal solution that combines YouTube with your computer to get mp3 files you can play without worry!

Featured on Download.com, the program is entitled Free YouTube to MP3 Converter 3.9.33, and is published by DVDVideoSoft. Here is a little from the cNet Editor's Review, which gave it 4 stars out of five:

"The beauty of this converter lies in its simple set up. By default, converted files are saved into the program's folder in My Documents, and they retain the name of the source video. The files are saved as MP3s, normal quality. These settings are easily changed, though, with quick-access buttons and a drop-down menu. The most work a user might have to do is fill out the fields in the optional Tags fields for artist, title, track, and other information . . . We highly recommend Free YouTube to MP3 Converter for any user."

The publisher describes it this way:

"Free YouTube to MP3 Converter allows the millions of YouTube users to extract the audio from those clips either one at a time or in batches. Users can select to download groups of clips from their favorite's lists, their playlists, show lists, selected site channels, or even from the responses left for another video."

How are others reacting to the program? There have been a total of 13,189,674 total downloads in the past month, with 540,225 of those occurring in the last week. It is ranked as the #1 Product in the Video
Converters category.
This is a typical user review that gave it five stars:

"Great for downloading audio from YT."

by dtabony on February 17, 2011

Pros: Dead simple. Copy url(s), paste in program, point to folder to download to, click go, do what you want and when the timer dings your download is finished.

Cons: Nice if you could create download folder through program. Not lightening quick DL but so what?

Summary: Indispensable if you download lots of audio from YT.
So do the MP3 thing - get this program and start building up your audio library - legally!

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Why upgrade your anti-virus?

One of the most common questions we get asked is, "Should I download Norton (Internet Security) or come in and have you install it?"

Here are the differences; when you use CyberSmart Computers you get:

1) The latest version of Norton Internet Security. As criminals become more sophisticated about hacking, they develop new technologies to get around anti-virus programs. You can't win the war with criminals if you are using technology that is obsolete; you must use software that is using today's technologies for the latest criminal attacks on your computer.

Norton's online offerings to you are usually a continuation of virus definitions, or a version upgrade. The shortfall of these is that in the first case, while you get the definitions, you don't get the technologies to stop attacks. So you know you got attacked, but you weren't able to successfully defend against it.

In the second case, if your computer is infected when you put on the new program, you will not remove the old infection. Your computer must be 100% free of infections for any anti-virus program to work correctly.

When you come to CyberSmart Computers, we disassemble your computer, extract the hard drive, then run tests on it to ensure it is infection-free. If you don't do this, then you can't be sure your computer is protected by your new program or definitions.

2) We warranty against future infections for one-year. There are four exceptions to this otherwise blanket statement:

A) Adult Sites and Game Sites- because they are too infected to protect against;

B) Toolbars and  other self-installed software, most commonly coupon searches, smiley faces, email programs from sources other than Microsoft, and other such so-called "free software;"

C) Limewire and other such so-called "sharing" software. Nearly 40% of all files downloaded through this method - almost always done to steal copyrighted music and other artistic works without buying them through a legitimate retailer (iTunes, WalMart, Real Player, and such) - are infected.

Many will link you directly to "Zombie Networks" that you neither know about nor control. These networks are used by criminals to distribute stolen credit card information, spam, and child pornography;

D) Using a web browser other than Mozilla Firefox as your default browser. Firefox has built-in protections CyberSmart Computers can activate to keep sites from "hijacking" your browser.

For example, web pages build-in software programs that track your every move. They report this back instantaneously to a clearing house, where your information is sold to advertisers, you then target you for web-page ads and spam.

Firefox allows us to install blocking software that walls you off from their prying eyes. It allows us to stop them from re-directing you without your consent to their criminal sites.

Nobody - not locally owned, or chain, will do this for you, then warranty their work.

3) No charge for technical support; Norton gets $35 a call. This is an obvious advantage - free is cheap!

No one will do the things CyberSmart Computers does to protect you from criminal attacks on your computer. When someone tries to sell you another anti-virus program other than Norton Internet Security, ask them to warranty you for one-year the way we do. Ask them to take your computer apart and remove any infections they find on your hard drive BEFORE they install the software like we do. Ask them to give you free technical support for one-year.

Be smart; when your anti-virus is ready to expire, call CyberSmart Computers and get protect yourself and your computer with CyberSmart's one-of-a-kind protection package!

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You need Windows 7 Service Pack 1 - but beware!

You need it! It's a "Critical Upgrade," not optional. It's Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows 7 - you need it installed to upgrade and protect your computer from attacks.

But there's a catch, that can cause you to disable programs and services unless you do this step first . . .

You've seen this scenario before, and it's here again for the Windows 7 SP 1 upgrade. But then, if you hadn't read this article, you may have listened to your neighbor or grandchild telling you to just go right ahead and install the Service Pack before doing the research to make sure your install is successful and doesn't cause other problems to your computer.

But CyberSmart Computers will get you through this upgrade successfully - and safely. Look to the end of this article to get all the details about how to do the necessary upgrade - with no worries about your computer's safety!

It turns out that the pre-install download you need doesn't show up on the updates feature until AFTER you do the Service Pack install. The only reason we can come up with is that the SP1 release is just out, and programmers have not made the change to put the pre-install file into the proper order with the SP.

If you don't do the pre-install, you are asking for trouble. According to Microsoft, "an error may occur in the x86-based applications or services, which causes the application or service to stop unexpectedly. This behavior may cause data loss.

"Important You must install this update on your computer or server before you install Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1). This update will not resolve this issue if you install this update on a computer that has Windows 7 SP1 or on a server that has Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 already installed."

If you aren't in the tech loop, you wouldn't have any way of knowing this prior to installing the necessary SP1 upgrade.

The SP contains all the updates and upgrades you need to keep your computer secure,and adds some operational improvements such as how your HDMI interface works with Windows, changes in the way physical memory is handled in virtual devices, changes the way your computer prints Microsoft's XPS documents (Microsoft's rival to Adobe's Acrobat Reader), enhances the handling of large size hard drives, and a number of other new or improved features.

But it's the security features that are most important to you. Over time, hackers discover new ways to get into your computer, and Microsoft fix the holes. If you don't keep up with the fixes, your computer becomes a prime target for criminals. SP1 puts all the updates into one package that you need installed for your own safety.

CyberSmart Computers, and non-CyberSmart Computers owners, can get their computer upgraded with all the right files installed in the proper order for just our minimum bench charge: $65 for desktops, and $80 for laptops. In addition to the upgrade, you'll get a complete tune-up, physical vacuuming of the computer interior, dust blow-out for the heat sinks and power supply, and cleaning out old and unnecessary files to lessen hard derive seek and retrieve times.

You need SP1! It will become required for installing new software with Windows 7 - SP1 includes a new installer file that will not allow non-SP1 computers to install files).

We also need to note that our policy is that we do not do upgrades on infected computers. If you are running toolbars, coupon programs, various game programs and such, it's highly likely you are infected with spyware or malware. If you are, then you will need to have the hard drive disinfected first before you can do the upgrade. CyberSmart can provide that service to you.

Don't wait! You need Windows 7 Service Pack 1 installed on your computer. Get it now by calling CyberSmart and book a day to bring your computer in for this vital upgrade!

“We are The Borg - resistance is futile."

Recent headlines, particularly this one from the Washington Post’s washingtonpost.com column Fast Forward entitled “Have Your Mac and Windows XP, Too” about the Mac adopting a program routine that allows users to run their computer on the same Windows XP the rest of the world uses, prompted this exchange with a number of prominent computer journalists:

“We are The Borg - resistance is futile."

So it is that the Mac becomes just another WinTel machine.

All the fuss about the Mac has been for years just giddy chattering by elitist writers. They think that knowing what so few know - or more accurately what so many have no care whatsoever to know - about the Mac makes them "special" in the true Gnostic sense.

Rubbish.

The truth is that the Mac survives on cachet. It is style over substance, supported by fanatical users who deny anything negative about owning a machine rejected by 97 percent of the marketplace.

To them, that 97 percent rejection merely reinforces their self-anointed place as the "true holders of special knowledge" that the rest of the unwashed mass fails to grasp with their innate intelligence - being so much lower than that of the Mac fanatics' . . . so the Mac fanatics tell themselves anyway.

But reality being what it is, the collapse of the Mac myth is accelerating with irrepressible speed. First, it was the Intel chip, now the switch to Windows.

The dirty little secret is that the Mac has always been on a path separate from the rest of the computer universe; it is a path replete with quirky ideas promoted by quirky people desperate to reinforce their quirky image as quirky computer geeks. Mac fanatics lust to be known as isolated pseudo-intellectuals expressed through their quirky concept of contrarian rebellion.

It is proven true again as Mac adopts Intel at the same time the universe is now adopting the AMD chip as its processor of choice. Its uselessness would have made the Mac just another Commodore 64 but for the by-lined writers in major publications who exercise the power to promote their quirky personal tastes to an audience of readers miniscule enough to spike any other story.

They write, but nobody reads. It is self-delusion feeding the egos of journalists otherwise sensible about honestly assessing the import of a story by the depth of its readership reach. It has no reach because the Mac has so few users; ergo it is ego, not essentialism, which drives the waste of ink and paper.

Mac fanatics will still argue they are a different species because it is essential to their self-concept of being themselves a separate species than the rest of humanity, but reality trumps their delusion: The Mac is just another WinTel machine. And as such, there is no reason to own a Mac other than to delude oneself into thinking he or she is part of something intrinsically different, intrinsically superior to everyone else.

No, there is no reason to own a Mac. Nothing exists but self-delusion.

They assimilated into The Borg - resistance proved futile.

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This appears in Mr. Lamb’s blog, Staying CyberSmart! (TM) with "The CyberMeister" (R) at http://cybersmart.blogspot.com/

See all of Mr. Lamb’s blogs at http://www.blogger.com/profile/14444338

Is your debit card safe?

Bank security experts are warning consumers who own a bank debit card issued by "Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Washington Mutual, as well as smaller banks" which issue cards to customers to avoid using it at store checkouts.

 
The list of banks compromised last week by a massive international computer hack appeared in a report by TechNet, which quoted Gartner Research expert Avivah Litan.


Litan added those specific banks are "only the tip of the iceberg" and the damage will continue to spread over the coming weeks.

 
Law enforcement officials believe thieves broke into the system of a credit card processor interacting with the banks. They first stole the encrypting keys that unscramble the PIN (Personal Identification Number) associated with debit cards.

They then took advantage of lax security at retail chain stores that didn't clear the data from the checkout touch pads where customers input their PIN. This security failure allowed the hackers to combine the debit card number with the associated PIN.

To protect themselves, customers should always press the "Cancel" choice that appears on the touch pad when the sale is completed and the computer asks for the PIN. The store's computer will then process the sale as if the debit card were a credit card and the customer's PIN will not be available for hackers to steal.

In addition, customers should tell their bank or other financial institution to issue a new card to them with a new PIN. Even if the bank or institution they use is not currently listed, it is no guarantee that the institution's PIN files are still safe; it just means that in the 1 week since the hack, there are not yet any public reports of theft in the area. All cards issued using the hacked PIN code - which means all cards issued before the discovery of the hack last week - are vulnerable to theft, and should be replaced with a new card and PIN which will use the new, unhacked, PIN code.

Debit cards are pitched to banking customers as safer than regular checks. They are told that the PIN required to process the card at the checkout means that if the card is lost or stolen, the card can't be used by someone else who doesn't know the PIN.

That advice only applies to a card used at an ATM located at the issuing bank. That is because the transaction is processed directly at the bank, and never goes through a third-party processor.

But that promise of safety is not true if the card is being used at a retail checkout. If the PIN is not punched into the register's touchpad, the card is processed anyway. The card offers no more protection at the checkout than a regular check or credit card.

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