Free services are worth every penny

By BILL HUSTED

Cox News Service

December 9, 2007

Q:  What can you advise me about (sites that offer to check a computer for problems for free and sell the user a service to fix them)?

—  Ruth Dubrowin

A:  TStay away from them. Most of those places lure you in with the offer to find problems free. Then they "find" a lot of problems — most don't really exist — so you'll be scared into buying the product.

Q:  I have a dilemma that perhaps you can provide some insight on.

I'm a Snowbird, six months in Connecticut and six months in Naples, Fla. I have AT&T DSL in Connecticut, but AT&T doesn't offer that service in Naples. So I would have to use a separate account there (that means having two e-mail addresses).

The problem stems from the fact that I have to use different providers for my two locations. When will I be able to go on Hi-speed while maintaining two sites but have one e-mail address?

—  Al Wolff

A:  I would gradually switch all my e-mail contacts over to a single e-mail provider (free) such a GMail, Yahoo, etc. That way, you could use two providers but handle all your e-mail through one address.

Q:  I just got a new PC, and my technician is wondering what anti-virus software both he and I should use. I tried the program you suggested, but it expired.

—  Patty Warner

A:  First, you had a trial version, not the free version of AVG that I recommend. The free version isn't a trial, but it is free and includes updates. Go to free.grisoft.com.

Another to try is AVAST, at www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Help from a reader: I recently used some very long Web addresses in this column. I did that so readers could go directly to the material instead of searching it out.

Brian Purcell wrote to remind me that there's a service that turns those long addresses into a short one. He's right, and it may be helpful to you. The free service is at: tinyurl.com.

Please send your questions to Bill Husted at bhusted@ajc.com. While he reads every e-mail, not all are answered. E-mails are selected for publication based on the likelihood that the answers will be of general interest.