The easiest way to get a free credit report is via the Web. However, you can’t get it from the individual credit agency websites; you must go to the official website set up by the three agencies.

1. Go to AnnualCreditReport.com. This is the only website authorized to give out annual free credit reports.
2. In the window in the middle of the page, where it says “Start Here”, select your state from the pull-down menu.
3. Click the “Request Report” button.
4. On the page that appears, type out your personal information.
* If you have lived at your current address for less than two years, you will need to give your previous address as well.
5. At the bottom of the page, click the “Continue” button. You do not have to purchase any offered services to get your free credit report.

6. The next page will let you choose which companies you would like to get a credit report from. Select all 3 companies, and click “Next”.
* Each company will give you a free report only once every 12 months.
7. The companies you’ve selected may ask you detailed financial information in order to identify you. Make sure to have your financial records on hand!
8. The companies will often give you the option of adding more services for a fee. They’re just trying to make money off you. You are not required to add these services. Just click on NO THANKS.
9. Click “Accept” to accept their service agreement.
10. You will now be able to view and print out your credit report. (The reports may be lengthy, I normally use CutePDF to print them to PDF and save them on my computer.)
11. When you are done with one credit agency, start on the next by clicking on the top where it says “Return to AnnualCreditReport.com, you can then continue with the other agencies.

12. If you are going to get the report for someone else, make sure you restart your browser to clear your session or you may get the reports that you just saw.

Tags: Tips & Tricks by admin
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I hate having to bring up a semi-bloated utility just to see if there are wifi networks available when many times there aren’t any available or open to the public.

I’ve created a quick little utility for Windows Vista that does this for you by making use of the netsh tool. You can just simply run it and press enter to refresh it. This app lets you find wifi networks quickly and easily. If you happen to find one then you can bring up the semi-bloated utility to connect to it.

Download it from here: FindWifi.exe

This is done using the “netsh” command. In Windows Vista the “netsh” command can be used to discover access points using the format below.

netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid

Tags: Technology, Tips & Tricks, Utilities, Web Tools by admin
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Blocking access to site(s) is easy and free. Of course this assumes that the person that is going to try and access the site(s) does not about this trick.

Again, this is easy to do, assuming that the PC has Windows on it. Just modify computer’s host file so that when they attempt to go to myspace.com or any of its related pages they are not able to. You can even set it up so that when they attempt it they get redirected to some other site of your choosing. It would be cool to redirect them to a site with your picture or something.

Ok so here is what you do:

1. Locate any existing hosts file on your computer.
Depending on the operating system, it will be in the following directories:
- Windows 95/98/Me go to c:\windows\hosts
- Windows NT/2000/XP Pro go to c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
- Windows XP Home go to c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
(you may need administrator access for Windows NT/2000/XP)

- For Windows Vista go to the bottom of these instructions
2. You may not initially see the file because it’s hidden since it is a system file. Once you are in the right directory change the folder’s settings to show protected system files and show hidden files and folders. To do this in XP you go to Tools > Folder Options > View and CHECK “Show hidden files and folders” and UNCHECK “Hide protected operating system file (Recommended).

3. Now you should see a file named hosts (again, it does NOT have an extension (like .exe, .txt, .doc, etc.) so double click on it and you should be asked what you want to open it with, just choose Notepad.

4. Once you have opened it you should see  an entry like this:
127.0.0.1       localhost

5. In the next line under the above entry type the myspace entries, like shown below. Notice how we added one without the “www” and one with the “www” on the same line. You can do this with any other site that you want blocked. If instead you want to redirect the site then find out the other site’s ip address and use it instead of the 127.0.0.1. Below I show an example of how to redirect facebook.com to Bloomberg.com, which if you know Bloomberg, it boring stocks stuff.

127.0.0.1       localhost
127.0.0.1       myspace.com www.myspace.com
204.179.240.224    facebook.com www.facebook.com

6. Now, here is the tricky part. When you try to save the file you will probably get a message saying that the file cannot be created and to make sure that the path is correct. Just click OK and click Save. Notice how the file was saved as hosts.txt, we have to rename it to just hosts. Since you already have a file named hosts we need to right-click on that file and rename it to hosts.old and then you can rename the hosts.txt that you saved to hosts with no problem.

7. Go back and undo step 2. In your folder go to Tools > Folder Options > View and UNCHECK “Show hidden files and folders” and CHECK “Hide protected operating system file (Recommended). This is so that you don’t leave the system and unprotected files viewable.

8. That’s it!! Restart the browser and the settings should take place.

Note: If you want to make the site(s) available again then just go back and delete the entries made but make sure to leave the “127.0.0.1       localhost”.

*****************************************************

In Vista, normal users are not allowed to save the hosts file, so the easiest way to edit it is to run notepad as an administrator.

1. Go to start and either search for “notepad” or go to All Programs > Accessories
2. Right click “notepad” and select the “Run as Administrator Option.”
3. Once Notepad opens go to File > Open and browse to “C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc”
4. Set the file filter to “All Files”
5. Select and Open “hosts”
6. Edit it and save it.

If you get an error about it being read only:

1. Go to File > Open, right click the “hosts” file and select properties
2. Uncheck read-only at the bottom and click OK.
3. Click Cancel to go back to notepad”
4. Save it

That’s it!! Restart the browser and the settings should take place.

Note: If you want to make the site(s) available again then just go back and delete the entries made but make sure to leave the “127.0.0.1       localhost”.

Tags: Technology, Tips & Tricks by admin
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My brothers want the PS3 to play, I want it to take out the laser diode.

Blu-Ray Laser Phaser! – video powered by Metacafe

Tags: Just Plain Cool, Technology, Tips & Tricks by admin
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