Mars Lander Page

The excitement of space exploration once is once again gripping the nation as NASA scientists are pouring over data from the Phoenix Mars Lander. You can get a ringside seat on the special Mars Lander page of NASA’s Website.

World Wide Space Telescope

First it was maps, then photos and now the same ability to use our computers to pan and zoom in on terrestrial images has been taken to outer space with the launch of the brand-new Worldwide S[ace Telescope (www.worldwidetelescope.org). The new online service lets you explore the final frontier at home in your pajamas.

Check gas prices online

As the price at the pump continues upwards, we’re all checking those gas station prices these days as we drive past, aren’t we? Next time, before hitting the road, head online and check some handy websites that will help you find the best gas prices along your route.

Sites like GasBuddy have been around for a long time but as gas prices reach unprecedented levels across the country, their network of localized gasoline pricing sites has now grown to 180, covering almost the entire country.

But GasBuddy isn’t alone. Microsoft’s MSN Auto site has beefed up its gasoline price reporting services, using credit card transaction data updated daily from 90,000 stations. Type in your zip code and you’ll find a return of the best - and worst - prices you’ll find near your location.

Another site to check: GasPriceWatch.com. It checks over 140,000 stations and also shows a map that gives you lots of details about how current the pricing is.

But wait… there’s more ideas.

“Get Gas Half Price” is the provocative name of an online book download (for $7.97) that is jam packed with ideas and tips on how you can reduce your fuel costs by as much as 50%.

Want to take more drastic action? Are you a do-it-yourselfer? Then try something really big, like how to convert your car to run on water and gasoline and double your mileage. This book offers to teach you just that. Does it work? I haven’t a clue. But it sure sounds intriguing.

Wiping your computer of personal data

Here’s some computer trivia you may need to know someday: The “Delete” key doesn’t always delete. A deleted computer file can usually be recovered, even if it seems to have been removed from your hard drive. If you’re getting rid of a computer or want to get rid of personal files you no longer need, we have some valuable advice for you.

From photos to letters and tax records, our computers have a lot of stuff we’d like to keep private. So if you’re getting rid of it, do more than hit the delete key. It really doesn’t delete at all. Your data is still on the hard drive and can be recovered by various firms, or even do-it-yourself software.

To really zap it you need a program like Darik’s Boot and Nuke, a free download application that overwrites the hard drive multiple times, using randomly generated characters to take up all the space on the disk - thus removing the data by replacing it.

Paranoid and want stronger protection? For $39, try WipeDrive, it offers more features and works with thumb drives, USB drives and other portable media as well.

Another program you may want to consider is called WinClear. Windows and other software programs store history about the different activities that you have performed on your computer and on the Internet. This information is stored in the system areas of your hard disk and the built-in Windows functions like ‘Clear History’ offer little protection as they can only partially delete this data. Anyone can take a look at your history and find out what you have been doing on your computer, and this raises serious privacy concerns. Winclear is an Internet history eraser that protects your Internet privacy by cleaning up all tracks of your Internet and computer activity.

Then there’s this: Almost every action you make is recorded and can be easily retrieved by anyone, not just by a computer geek but by an average computer user such as your spouse, boss, friend, or anyone who has access to the PC you use.

For example, web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox can save every image and every website you open. Windows might save every login name and password you type. Media players often keep records of every movie and video clip you watch.

That’s where a program called Evidence Nuker comes into play. The people who make this program say your computer is as private as a diary left on a restaurant table for anyone to read, and thousands of people have been fired, divorced and even sent to prison over what was found on their PC.

You can download Evidence Nuker today and run a FREE scan that will show you a listing of deleted files, emails, chat transcripts, audio and video files, temporary internet files, image files (all formats), search histories, clipboard data, passwords, internet history, stored cookies and such. It then will let you erase it…. but you have to buy the program to do so.