TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S): DIGITAL MUSIC / KEYSTROKE LOGGING

Don't ya just hate it when you buy a pricey music CD and there's only two or three songs that you really like? Wouldn't it be nice if you could just buy the songs you want? Digital Music to the rescue! And have you ever wanted to spy on your spouse? Find out why logging their keystrokes may be a bad idea. Read on!

Digital Music and Lyrics

Remember the good old days of Napster & Cohorts, when you could illegally download your favorite music all day long, while thumbing your nose at the greedy record companies? Ahhh, the memories... That party ended abruptly a few years ago when RIAA (the recording industry legal machine) sued the pants off Napster, and then started slapping hefty fines on individuals who were putting their CDs online for others to grab. And rightly so, in my opinion. Regardless of how greedy the record companies may be, no matter how arrogant and rich the performers of pop, it boils down to socially acceptable stealing.

But since digital music has reinvented itself in the past few years, it's now easy, legal and fairly inexpensive to download individual songs or whole CDs by your favorite artists. Legitimate digital music sources and software make it easy to find and download tunes from your favorite artists or discover new music from independents...

http://www.askbobrankin.com/digital_music_and_lyrics.html

Cannot Access Secure Sites

Yesterday a reader asked me this: "I have Windows XP SP2, and within the past two weeks I have not been able to get into secure (https) sites. For example, I can get to my bank's website, but when I enter my userid and password, it says "The page cannot be displayed" -- can you help?"

Some fixes break things... that's what many users discovered when they applied the XP/SP2 megafix... some things no longer worked, such as access to secure websites. And sometimes the hardware & software that's supposed to protect us ends up going too far. Unfortunately there are many potential causes and possible fixes for this "page cannot be displayed" problem. But most of them are easy to try. Run through the suggested fixes in this article, and chances are good you'll be back in action.

http://www.askbobrankin.com/cannot_access_secure_sites.html

I Lost My Baby, My Pickup and My Guitar on the Information Highway

Another reader asked me about a controversial topic: keystroke logging. Her friend believes that her husband is chatting through email and instant messenger with other women, and wonders "Is there any way to track the IM's or emails on her home computer?"

There are a variety of ways to track keystrokes and log instant messaging sessions, but I think a strong word of caution is in order before considering such a thing. If you believe that a spouse's affections may be wandering, the best tool to address the problem may not be a computer. However...

http://www.askbobrankin.com/keystroke_logging.html

The Next Best Thing

Linda from Marlinton, West Virginia recently wrote and said "The next best thing to Tourbus is the Smart Computing magazine that you guys recommend. I've been getting it since last summer and it has solved numerous problems for me and my friends." Thanks, Linda!

We hope other Tourbus riders will discover the Plain English answers to their computing questions that Smart Computing delivers every month. Do you want to speed up your PC? Eliminate the threat of computer viruses? Get rid of spyware and keep hackers out? Try Smart Computing today -- get your FREE TRIAL issue NOW!

http://www.internettourbus.com/smart.htm

That's it for today. Have a safe and happy week, and we'll talk again soon.