SKYPE: Setting yourself up for web chatting in a few easy steps

SKYPE is great for chatting to friends and loved ones spread across the globe without worrying about getting a hefty phone bill at the end of the month. The web application is completely free for home use and can be set up in a few simple steps.

What you’ll need is a computer, Internet connection and a microphone and headphones. You can buy headsets with built-in microphones if you want to go for more of a call-center look and keep conversations private. Alternatively, you could buy an external microphone and use your speakers as the audio output if more people are keen to participate in web chatting.

Next, you simply need to download the latest Skype from www.skype.com and install it. There is very little to configure once installed, and the program will provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to set up your microphone. This really just involves plugging it in correctly and testing it.

The next step is providing a user-name for yourself and to start adding web contacts. Skype lets you easily search for people you know on the web, and adding them to your contact list is a breeze.

The application will also let you know who is online and ready for chatting. Clicking on “dial” once you have selected a person to call will start making Skype-like noises and connect you to that person — wherever they may be in the world.
Commence chatting as if you were having a normal conversation.

If you would like to see each other while chatting, you’ll both need to have web cams installed. These are now available for around R300. Web chatting has never been easier. To get started, simply download Skype from the link below.

• Download Skype 5.0 for Windows

Kind regards,
That Tech Guy

More Easy PC Tech Advice:

1. Virus Scans
2. Wires and Dust
3. Buying a new PC
4. Good old Google
5. Legal Downloads

WEIGHT LOSS: Tips to help shed those unwanted flabby bits

I used to have the special ability to eat whatever I pleased and never put on weight. This was before I hit twenty five. I am no longer the envy of the heftier members of my family and I've had to start following a few weight loss tips to stay in shape.

With winter having waned, you are so often left with the results of overindulging in the warm, delicious winter dishes which tend to settle around the middle body area, increasing your girth and refusing to budge. All of this is exasperated through lack of exercise. The gradual expansion of weight in this manner can eventually lead to all kinds of of negative, unhealthy conditions. Proper weight loss will help prevent these.

Research shows that decreasing your body fat percentage by 5-10 percent reduces your risk of cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, cancer and other lifestyle related diseases. Follow these simple weight loss hints and tips below to help reduce your weight and improve overall well-being.

14 weight loss tips:

• Exercise while watching television.
• Use a smaller plate when dishing up your food.
• Make sure ½ of your plate is full of raw or cooked vegetables.
• Drink a glass of water before your meal to help fill up the stomach.
• Reduce/eliminate alcohol intake as this can contribute to weight gain.
• Eat 80%of your total energy intake during the day and the other 20% at night.
• Cut back on your carbohydrates at night eg: pasta, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes etc.

Be careful of snacking, especially at restaurants or coffee shops. Milkshakes and carrot cake with cream, for example, contain approximately 4500 KJ. For the average woman, this amount of energy virtually covers her total energy intake for the day.

• Exercise: starting with a short walk then gradually increasing the walk to 30 minutes a day is a good start.
• Eat at the table rather than in front of the television. When your brain is preoccupied with visual stimuli other than your food, this can affect the digestive process.
• Wait twenty minutes before you go for a second helping. It takes at least twenty minutes for the brain to register you are satisfied.
• If you are still hungry after a meal, head for the salads which contain little or no dressing.
• Drink plenty of water throughout the day. Sometimes we are thirsty and not hungry.
• Feed the body with nutrient rich foods (vegetables, fruits, whole-grains, avocados, nuts) rather than nutrient diluted foods (refined foods, biscuits, breads, sweets, chocolates etc.)

And remember, “optimum nutrition = optimum weight” !

** More Online Tips & Tricks **

SEO: Best practice using Copy Compass!

HAVING used Copy Compass for a while now, I can honestly say that it is the best WordPress plugin released to date. The brainchild of Talooma's Nick Duncan, Copy Compass is an easy-to-use plugin that analyses your posts for best SEO practice. It is an absolute breeze to use and a must-have for bloggers.

With a single click of your mouse, Copy Compass analyses a post, provides an overall score and offers suggestions for improving SEO for that post. Content analysis has never been this easy.

General SEO practice involves having between three and five keywords, including as many of these as possible in your title, having a meta description between 100 and 160 characters and ensuring that your main keywords are prominent throughout your post.

Copy Compass makes SEO practice far easier and exciting by analysing your posts for you - quickly and accurately. One is also able to analyse older posts and ensure that each one gets a high SEO score.

If you have minimal SEO experience, using Copy Compass essentially allows you to teach yourself SEO by learning to understand how search engines treat content on the web. Apart from the above, Copy Compass also uses text analysis and Reading Ease indexes to determine how readable and accessible your content is.

Nick really is an innovative machine that is super quick to fine-tune great plugins such as Copy Compass. You can download Copy Compass from the website or install it within your WordPress plugin directory. A simple search for “Copy Compass” will bring it up.

If you find any bugs or have any suggestions regarding how to improve Copy Compass, post a comment or drop Nick an email and I’m sure he get right on it!

Happy SEO-ing!

Related Post: SEO Tip 1: image searches

• Click here for more online tips & tricks

SOMETHING FISHY: A beginner’s guide to keeping tropical fish

EVERYONE should have a pet. Some people may be put off by the idea of having to clean up poop or be woken up by loud squawking every day, but your choice of pet doesn’t necessarily have to be something cuddly that you can play catch with or teach to talk.

Tropical fish are a great alternative. Not only are fish therapeutically pleasing and interesting animals, but they can be very easy to look after. You may consider pet fish as boring, but you would be amazed at the variety, colours and characters inherent in tropical fish.

I have been keeping tropical fish since my childhood years and have learned a great deal regarding what to get and how to look after a great array of fishy friends.

Starting off

If you wish to invest in your first tropical fish tank it’s a good idea to go large. Starting off small is not necessarily easier and once you get into such a hobby (and your fish grow) you will want to upgrade. This can be a mission and comes at a cost.

Invest in a large, rectangular shaped tank (100 liters is a good volume) and first ensure that you have a good place to house it. A fish tank stand is a good idea but ensure that the tank will rest at a comfortable eye-level.

It is also important to keep your tank away from direct sunlight as this will encourage rapid algae growth. You don’t want to have to scrap away algae in order to have a good look at who is inside.

Keep your setup as varied as possible. It’s best to have sections of both soft and gravel substrate. Keep your tank well planted and create lots of hiding places. Add caves, tubes and rock tunnels and decorate as you see fit.

The Nitrogen Cycle

In technical terms, the Nitrogen Cycle process is called "nitrification", which is the oxidation of nitrogen by bacteria. It takes time for a new aquarium to balance by removing all of the waste material (ammonia) and reducing it to a less toxic substance (nitrate). Fortunately, dechlorinating tap water is as easy as adding a few drops of dechlorinating solution and takes mere seconds to get to work.

Once your tank is filled up with dechlorinated water and you have finished creating your underwater Eden, there is a short waiting period to endure. With a heater installed and set between 25-27 degrees Celsius, and a good filter running, you tank will begin to perform a nitrogen cycle. Your local pet store will provide you with instructions on how to do this correctly.

After completing the above you are now ready to get your first tropical fish! It is a good idea to only get a few fish at first and ensure that they are perfectly cheerful before getting more. It is also very important to research each tropical fish species beforehand to understand their needs and requirements and temperament with other fish.

There is tons of infomation available on the web - written by dedicated tropical fish hobbyists who are more than willing to give expert advice to beginners. However, I can recommend the following fish families as good choices for the beginner: Corydoras, Gouramis, Clown Loaches, Black Ghost Knife fish, Algae Eaters and Tetras.

The following post: Something Fishy, consists of tropical fish profiles (including all the info you’ll need for good care) of the following:

• Fire Eel
• Angelfish
• Clown Loach
• Glass Catfish
• Julii Corydora
• Red Tail Shark
• Pearl Gourami
• Fancy Goldfish
• Dwarf Gourami
• Bronze Corydora
• Black Ghost Knife
• Pleco (Algae Eater)
• Banded Kuhli Loach
• Black Moor Goldfish
• Blue Ramirezi (Blue Ram)

If you're interested in starting your own hobby in keeping tropical fish I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. Otherwise here are some great resources below.

More Tropical Fish Care Posts:

• Simple Guide to Hatching Brine Shrimp
• Freshwater Tropical Fish Profiles — Exotics
• Freshwater Tropical Fish Profiles — Cichlids
• Freshwater Tropical Fish Profiles — Goldfish
• Freshwater Tropical Fish Profiles — Bottom feeders

Fish Tanks - shop online for fish tanks and pet care products for house hold pets at low internet prices and fast home delivery service - petsboutiques.eu

• www.myfishtanks.info
• www.aquahobby.com
• www.aquaticcommunity.com

AVAST! Free virus scanner that will serve your PC well

IF your PC is connected to the Internet, having a good virus checker is of the utmost importance. There are many virus scans available and the more expensive ones are generally better, however there are some free ones available for download that will serve your PC just fine.

Avast! is one particularly good virus scan that is both free to download and easy to use. You can download it by doing a Google search for “avast free download.” As with most free software there may be a few features that are unavailable to you, but Avast! will still be sufficient at protecting your PC from spyware and viruses.

It is also important to update your virus checker periodically to keep your PC protected from new threats. Almost all virus scanners will notify you when updates are available for download. Avast! will give you voice notifications when your virus signatures have been updated. You can also configure it to download these updates automatically, which is highly recommended.

Lastly, have your virus checker scan your PC and a regular basis (once a month is a good window to go by). You can set your virus software to perform such scans automatically too.

That's all for this issue! Until next time.

Kind regards,
That Tech Guy

The home PC has evolved into what is now considered a modern-day home entertainment system. Capable of behaving like a television, home cinema, game station, work station, music player and much more, the home PC is far more capable than it has ever been before. But with all these capabilities come complexities, and there are several things to consider when investing in any form of home entertainment. This is what Easy PC plans to simplify.

• Download Avast! Free Anti-virus

More Easy PC Tech Advice:

1. Wires and Dust
2. Buying a new PC
3. Good old Google
4. Setting up Skype
5. Legal Downloads

DID YOU KNOW ...

Cooking Tips: In the kitchen ...

• Store opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not go moldy.
• Heat leftover pizza in a nonstick pan on the stove on medium-low heat. This keeps the crust crispy.
• If you take bananas apart they will not ripen as quickly if you were to leave them connected at the stem.
• Make scrambled eggs or omelettes taste richer by adding a couple of spoonfuls of sour or heavy cream or cream cheese, then beat.
• Before pouring sticky substances like peanut butter or honey into a measuring cup, rinse it out with hot water and don’t dry before pouring in the goo.
• Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating than peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom which are firmer and better for cooking.

Household Tricks: Around the house ...

• Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up small bits of glass which are not easy to see.
• Eliminate a foggy windscreen or windows using a blackboard eraser. Works like a charm.
• Hairy legs? Use some hair conditioner to shave. It leaves legs smoother than a baby's nether region.
• To open a sealed envelope without tearing it, place it in the freezer for a couple of hours.
• Wet torn bits of newspapers and layer them around the plants, overlapping them as you place. Cover with mulch and forget about weeds.

And just for fun: 8 amazingly simple home remedies ...

• If you can’t fix it with a hammer, you’ve got an electrical problem.
• Avoid arguments with the females about lifting the toilet seat - use the sink.
• If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives. then you’ll be afraid to cough.
• Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold the vegetables while you chop.
• If you’re choking on an ice cube, simply pour a cup of boiling water down your throat. presto! the blockage will instantly remove itself.
• A mouse trap placed on top of your alarm clock will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
• You only need two tools in life - Q20 and duct tape. If it doesn’t move and should, use the Q20. If it shouldn’t move and does, use the duct tape.
• For high blood pressure sufferers ~ simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure on your veins. remember to use a timer.

If you have any of your own cooking tips or household tricks you would like to share, please do!

Related Post: Interesting facts about salt

** More Online Tips & Tricks **