Download of the week. Ever wonder why your system is running
slowly? I have. But now I can ‘see’ what’s
going on. I downloaded WinBar. It can be configured in many
ways. I have my CPU and Memory usage; a news ticker; and the
date/time sitting on the top of my screen, it doesn’t
take up much monitor space. Now when my poor little laptop
is running slowly, I see that my system is using 100% of the
CPU. Try it at: http://www.winbar.nl/ it’s FREE.
SMARTER SHOPPING
Here are a few internet sites that help you be a better shopper.
• From finding the BEST product (what did others who
have used it think) to
• getting it at the best price to
• tracking it’s delivery to
• finding out if it’s being recalled!
Find the Best Online Price for Books & More
Whether you’re looking for the latest Dan Brown novel
or Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy, the book page of BestWebBuys
(http://www.bestwebbuys.com/books/) will scour all the online
bookstores to help you find the best price for new and used
titles. They have other categories to help you find the best
prices on items of interest.
PriceScan.com (http://www.pricescan.com) This is the site
I always go to first when finding the BEST price on my next
purchase
Evaluate Products Before Buying
Before you lay out your hard earned money for the latest DVD
player, digital camera, or even books and movies, discover
how past purchasers view the item you're contemplating. Several
websites now include consumer reviews of their listed products.
ConsumerReview (http://www.consumerreview.com/) compiles opinions
on everything from cars to golf clubs, and each review includes
a summary and lists of a product’s strengths and weaknesses.
Another site that allows users to post comments about products
is http://www.epinions.com, these are purely personal comments
that anyone can post, so like Amazon.com’s ‘Reader
Comments’, you must take them with a grain of salt.
Bizrate.com is another great site with user reviews. So don’t
go the mall before seeing what others thought of your latest
‘must have’.
Track Your Package Deliveries
Need to know where that late package from Amazon or EBay is
hung up? Packtrack (http://www.packtrack.com/) is still the
best one-stop website. It offers a single site for tracking
packages from 56 carriers, including Airborne, FedEx, the
United States Postal Service, and UPS. Type in the tracking
number, and the site tells you where your package was last
seen. You can still go to fedex.com or usps.com, ups.com or
ebay.com to track a package, but it’s easier when you
get used to packtrack.com’s website. For Canada, try:
https://obc.canadapost.ca/emo/basicPin.do?language=en.
Monitor Auctions Across the Net
Wouldn’t it be great to search on-line auctions from
one web site? Well now you can! At theinfo.com: (http://www.theinfo.com/auctions/)
you can search Amazon.com; BidFind; eBay; Ubid; and Yahoo
all from one screen! Each result is given in a new window
to make it easy for you. You can also search book auctions;
movies and video auctions; and even music auction sites. Have
fun!
Learn About Product Recalls
Let’s face it: They just don’t make things the
way they used to. If it’s not exploding gas tanks, it’s
killer playpens or toxic strawberries. Find out what products
have warranted recalls or safety warnings at http://www.recalls.gov/,
it covers, FDA, USDA, consumer products, motor vehicles, boats,
food, medicine, cosmetics and more. For UK products, try:
http://www.ukrecallnotice.co.uk/. For Australian products:
http://www.recalls.gov.au/.
