President's Message
Issue 1.9
December 2005

Bah humbug… Ok, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way let’s get down to business. Seeing as the holidays are only moments away, I thought I’d recommend a few computer-related gifts for the “geek” in your life.

Software
F-Secure Internet Security 2006 – FSIS 2006 is the Leatherman Tool of internet
security applications. FSIS includes everything you need: anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, a personal firewall and parental controls in a single user friendly product.
Contact: F-Secure Inc.
100 Century Center Court, Suite 700
San Jose, CA 95112
Tel. (888) 432-8233
E-mail: Info@f-secure.com
Web: www.f-secure.com
Price: $59.90 for a single user or $119.90 for a 3 user family pack.

Webroot SpySweeper 4.5 – Spyware is probably the fastest growing problem
facing Windows users. I’ve tried just a about every legitimate anti-spyware application available. SpySweeper is the one I bought and use. Personally I think it’s the best anti-spyware application available today.

Contact: Webroot Software, Inc.
P.O. Box 19816
Boulder, CO 80308
Tel. (866) 612-4227
Web: www.webroot.com
Price: $29.95 for a 1 year subscription or $39.95 for a 2-year subscription.


Acronis True Image 9 – Backing up your computer used to be a lengthy
process. Not anymore… With True Image 9 and an external USB or Firewire hard drive you can backup or restore your computer in minutes.
Contact: Acronis, Inc.
13800 Coppermine Road
Suite 231
Herndon, VA 20171
Web: www.acronis.com
Price: $49.95 Download or $59.95 on CD.
[DACS members should contact Linda and Gene Barlow @ www.ugr.com for special user group pricing on True Image.]

Hardware

Seagate Pocket Hard Drive – If you’ve used a USB flash drive you know what a great convenience they are. The only problem I have with them is their limited capacity. If you need to move several large files, you can quickly exceed the capacity of a flash drive. That’s where the Seagate Pocket Hard Drive comes in… With a 5GB capacity it’s big enough for most jobs and at around $90 it’s cheaper than most 2GB USB Flash drives.
Contact: Seagate Technology
920 Disc Drive
Scotts Valley, California 95066
Tel. (877) 271-3285
Web: www.seagate.com
Price: $99.99 (TigerDirect.com)

LaCie d2 External Hard Drive Extreme – External hard drives are the easiest and quickest way I’ve found for extra storage or to backup your computer. I’ve tried several different brands, and the LaCie d2 Extreme is the best I’ve found. The d2 Extreme is available in capacities ranging from 160GB to 500GB and sports USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 ports for easy connection to both PCs and Macs.

Contact: LaCie USA
22985 NW Evergreen Parkway
Hillsboro, OR 97124
Tel. (503) 844 4500
E-mail: sales@lacie.com
Web: www.lacie.com
Price: $179.00 to $549.00, depending on capacity.

Logitech MX-1000 Laser Mouse – I never liked cordless mice; they just didn’t seem to work as well as their corded cousins. Logitech has changed my opinion of cordless mice, though. Not only does the MX-1000 work better than most of its corded cousins, it’s without a doubt the best mouse I’ve ever used.

Contact: Logitech Inc.
6505 Kaiser Drive
Fremont, CA 94555
Tel. (800) 231-7717
Web: www.logitech.com
Price: $79.95

Distractions
Battlestar Galactica, Season One – The original BSG was one of my favorite television shows as a kid… I never missed an episode; not that there were that many episodes… The original Galactica only ran one season.

Fans of the show have been lobbying for a revival of the show for years… After several failed attempts, they finally got their wish in 2003 when the SciFi channel hired producers Ron Moore and David Eick to revive Galactica… Ron and David did more than just revive the old show, they reimagined it. The new Galactica, which stars Edward James Almos and Mary McDonnell, is a modern character-driven drama in a science fiction wrapper.

I liked the old BSG, but I love the new one. Personally, I think it’s one of the best shows on television today.

You can order the five disc season one box set from Amazon for $41.99. It includes the 3 hour pilot mini-series, all 10 season one episodes, deleted scenes and commentary tracks from Ron Moore and/or David Eick. A three disc set featuring the first 10 episodes of season two will be available on December 20th. BSG airs Friday nights @ 10:00 p.m. on The SciFi Channel. See www.scifi.com/battlestar/ for episode details.

Toys for the easily amused

Last, but not least, stop by www. thinkgeek.com... They’ve got everything from Star Wars light sabers and caffeinated soap to PC upgrades. Odds are you’ll find something there that will keep your “geek” amused for hours.
That’s it for this month… Your comments & questions are always welcome. You can reach me at jasetaro@mags.net or jasetaro@yahoo.com.

Happy Holidays;

—Jeff Setaro