Get support for Quicken!

In the past, if you were a Quicken user, you were basically left to find support through the user community.

However, now you can contact Quicken Technical Support either via Chat or by Phone!

https://www.quicken.com/support#windows

Just scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will be able to see the links for chatting and calling technical support.

For your reference, the phone number for Quicken Technical Support is: (650) 250-1900.  Their hours are Monday - Friday 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time.

Anti-malware solutions for Windows

I recently spoke to a friend that was infected with a new piece of Malware which prevents installing tools such as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, so I thought that I would help him investigate other tools that help remove Malware.

Of course, there is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (which was not working for him in this case): http://www.malwarebytes.com

But there are other tools such as Lavasoft Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoft.com/

Another tool which I have used often in the past is Spybot: https://www.safer-networking.org/

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware also has a tool called "Chameleon" which fools malware into thinking it is another tool instead: https://www.malwarebytes.com/chameleon/

Free version of TeamViewer

I recently wanted to download and install the FREE version of TeamViewer only to quickly discover that downloading the version of TeamViewer directly from http://www.teamviewer.com led to me installing the commercial TRIAL version of the software.

Therefore, after doing some digging on Google, I finally came across the TRUE FREE version download of TeamViewer which can be downloaded from here: http://www.teamviewer.com/hi/

Free PDF Printing Tools for Windows

If you are looking for Free PDF Printing tools, there are a good number of tools out there:

1. CutePDF Writer: http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp
2. PDFCreator: http://www.pdfforge.org/pdfcreator
3. PrimoPDF: http://www.primopdf.com/

30% discount off of WinRaR

If you frequently use a compression tool such as WinRaR, this is a great deal on grabbing a license for this great compression software of 30% off: https://shop.win-rar.com/16/purl-winrar_tipradar?ClickID=dtzcbnoztmhznmhz2borwowsrchkk0zk0yxy

FTP Server software for Windows

Over the course of several years, I have used numerous FTP Server applications, so I thought I would list them out here:

1. Serv-U FTP Server: http://www.serv-u.com/ftp-server
2. BulletProof FTP Server: http://www.bpftpserver.com/
3. WS_FTP Server: http://www.ipswitchft.com/ws-ftp-server
4. Globalscape EFT Server: https://www.globalscape.com/managed-file-transfer
5. FileZilla FTP Server: https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=server

Out of all of these FTP Server solutions, I definitely prefer Globalscape EFT Server for the greatest set of functionality including a very good API that can be used for automation.  Of course, Globalscape EFT Server is also one of the priciest solutions out there as well!

As a second choice, I choose WS_FTP Server, though, it lacks some of the ease-of-use features found in Globalscape EFT Server.

Lastly, of the solutions listed here, only FileZilla FTP Server is a free FTP software solution.

Convert M4A Audio Files to MP3 Format

Many smartphones will record in .m4a audio format, but usually .mp3 format is desired as a more universal audio format.

Therefore, if you want to convert from .m4a to .mp3, how do you accomplish that?

In many cases, you can use iTunes to convert .m4a files over to .mp3 files using the information found in this article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204310

You simply have to add the .m4a file to your iTunes playlist and then right-click the file to "Create MP3 Version"

However, in some instances I have discovered that iTunes is unable to properly convert these .m4a files over to .mp3 format.  So what do you do in those cases?

Fortunately, there is a software application called MediaHuman Audio Converter which can accomplish that for you!

You can download MediaHuman Audio Converter from here: http://www.mediahuman.com/audio-converter/

You then simply drag and drop your .m4a file into the window and click on the "Convert" button to convert it over to .mp3 format!!

Playback FLV Video files

If you are looking for how to playback FLV Video files look no further than VLC Media Player!

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

Downloading and converting videos from YouTube and other video streaming sites

If you ever need to download and convert YouTube videos for offline viewing, there are a number of Firefox plug-ins to accomplish this!

Just search for YouTube on the Firefox add-ons site and you will immediately see a large number of results: https://addons.mozilla.org

Of course, if you are looking for some desktop software to accomplish the same thing, there are a large number of software vendors that provide this capability with varying degrees of functionality.

One such software application which I evaluated was WonderShare YouTube Downloader:

http://www.wondershare.com/pro/free-youtube-downloader.html

WonderShare actually has a FREE version as well as a PAID version called AllMyTube:

http://www.wondershare.com/pro/youtube-downloader.html

I went ahead and performed an evaluation of the AllMyTube version and I discovered that while it did a good job of downloading a large number of YouTube videos as well as converting them to MP4 for me, it could not convert a large number of the newer HTML5 format YouTube videos.  Therefore, it seemed largely restricted to the older-style Flash Videos available on YouTube.  While this certainly covers a large number of videos, it also makes a large number of YouTube videos unavailable for download for offline viewing as well.  This, therefore, makes it not much better than any of the available free Firefox plug-in downloaders (at least for YouTube videos).

However, for streaming sites such as CBS.com, AllMyTube did an excellent job of downloading the videos without all of the advertisements included normally in the video while streaming the video directly from the CBS.com site.  AllMyTube also has support for a large number of other streaming video sites as well which come in very handy if you view streaming videos from the list of other supported sites: http://www.wondershare.com/reference/youtube-downloader.html

Another software application I evaluated was WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe: http://www.winxdvd.com/hd-video-converter-deluxe/

However, as with AllMyTube, WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe was not able to handle HTML5 YouTube videos and therefore once again does not offer much benefit over the free Firefox plug-ins.

Finally, there is the option of YouTube Red: https://www.youtube.com/red

YouTube Red is a subscription-based service costing around $10/month and supposedly offers the ability to download any of its videos for offline viewing from your phone or tablet.  The videos will expire 30 days after they are downloaded, so you will not have a permanent copy for your viewing pleasure, but it may be sufficient for your needs. 

To read more about YouTube Red and if the service is right for you, you can check out this article: http://www.cnet.com/how-to/youtube-red-details/

Free TurboTax W-4 Calculator

If you are filling out paperwork for a new job and you want to determine your required withholding based on your current income level, you will definitely want to take advantage of the TurboTax W-4 Withholding Calculator: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/w4/


This online calculator allows you to enter both your and your spouse's pay as well as a number of other factors such as your number of children as well as how much you pay for child care expenses etc. 

Based on this information, the online W-4 Calculator can provide you with the necessary information to specify your correct withholding on your W-4 Tax Forms!

How cool is that??

Free TurboTax Tax Calculator

If you have used TurboTax in the past, you may know that new versions are released towards the end of each year.

However, if you do not want to wait until the end of the year to determine how much you currently owe on taxes, you will find it handy to know that TurboTax has a free online Tax Calculator that allows you to estimate how much you may owe on taxes: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/index.jsp?cid=all_cjtto-2278782_int&priorityCode=3468341816&SID=

This is particularly important for business owners that may need to calculate their taxes to ensure they have sufficient deductions as they approach the end of the year.  If the taxes owed are too high, they can plan accordingly to spend their existing reserves to increase their overall deductions.

While the online Tax Calculator can certainly not compare with the full version of TurboTax, it is certainly very helpful and useful in planning your budgets and expenses based on taxes owed throughout the course of the year!!

Home Design Software

I was recently looking for some Home Design Software after watching several episodes of "The Property Brothers" and these are some of the options that I found:

1. Punch! Home Design:  http://www.punchsoftware.com/c-11-home-design.aspx?gclid=CLv4w_6D08UCFYZAaQodqCkA8Q
2. HGTV Home Design Software: http://www.homedesignsoftware.tv/ppc/products/HGTV-Ultimate-Home-Design-with-Landscaping-and-Decks-3/?rs2=4218&preflanguage=5&rs=57&rs4=HGTV_US_GOOG_0214&cc=HGTVPPC&
3. http://www.homedesignsoftware.tv/ppc/buy/?cc=HGTVPPC&rs4=HGTV_US_PPC_0115&gclid=Cj0KEQjwyoCrBRCl-aa97pKX_t8BEiQAbrs_9B0oWDH1gM4qosefFb6lKXuh4DJtcymsa5Erlmy4LTEaAsAk8P8HAQ 
4. gclid=Cj0KEQjw4fCqBRDM1ZKhk5jfo6IBEiQAZQ97OA3eiLboMxyxMHtw1ys6Q43oT5pNTOmiXOdh8CJ1NfEaAtFj8P8HAQ
5. Home Designer Suite: https://homedesigner.chiefarchitect.com/

They all look pretty good options with the Punch! Home Design and HGTV Home Design options being the most affordable of the 3.  Punch! Home Design offers some additional content packs which offer additional items to include as part of the options which the other 2 do not seem to offer.

I am hoping to try these in the near future so you can check back for a review of these various software packages and see how they compare!!