Where I work, there is a lot of people touching the LCD monitors that we use. Some are smart and use their fingers, while others, are not so smart and insist on using things like pens or markers to touch the screen. I know, it’s tough to watch. Most of the time the screen will not mark up, but there is always an instance that creates a pen, or marker, line on the screen itself.

If you have the same thing, you might be wondering how to remove the mark from your LCD monitor.

How To Remove Pen, or marker, From Your LCD Monitor

I noticed I small mark near the bottom of an LCD screen and originally thought it might be a scratch of some sort. Upon further investigation, I saw that it was in fact a short mark from a pen. When I rubbed it with my finger, it DID not come off so I was left wondering what I could use to remove it.

I searched the web today to see what other people suggested, because I wanted to see if what worked for me, was mentioned, so far, it was not. Some of the suggestions included:

• Using rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip
• Glass cleaner and a microfiber cloth
• Hand soap or dishwasher soap on damp cloth
• Hairspray and cloth

It seems that all of those suggestions worked fine, but none of them mentioned the tip that I have for you today. I grabbed a pencil with a new eraser and GENTLY “erased” the mark on the LCD screen. Please make sure that it is a NEW eraser as to not scratch your screen with any metal part of the pencil. Also make sure not to add too much pressure to the screen in the process. It did not take that much pressure for me to eliminate the pen mark.

Have you ever had to remove a mark on your LCD? Tell us your story below.

Today I was reading the tech.msn.com site and see they have a list of the 10 Most Extreme Laptops and thought I would share them with you. I will post the name & extreme spec and give my 2 cents on the whole deal.  (PC World)

Dell Adamo XPS

• Coming soon
• Price unknown
• .40-inch thickness

I think this laptop is crazy thin. Pretty soon laptops are going to be actual sheets of paper and you will be able to just roll them up and stick them into your pockets. You can expect to pay over $1500 for this laptop, but if you want the thinnest of the thin, just wait another 6 months, another one will be made.

Sony Vaio X

• Available Nov. 2009
• Priced at $1300 and up
• Weighs only 1.6 pounds with battery

Lightweight is good when you have to lug a laptop all over the place in your daily job. 1.6 pounds WITH battery is nice. It only has an 11-inch screen, but that seems to be the trend these days with the netbooks gaining popularity, etc.

HP Pavilion HDX Dragon

• Discontinued, but check ebay
• Over $2,000
• 20.1-inch screen

Yes, this gem is discontinued, but I am sure you can still find them on ebay. With a 20.1 inch screen, this is one of the largest laptop screens around. Naturally, with a screen so large, it will weigh more (about 15 pounds), but if you don’t have to move it much, it’s worth it. 4GB of RAM and TWO 160GB HD, this thing is a computing all-star.

Dell XPS M2010

• Limited availability, check for refurbs
• Under $1,000
• 18.30 pounds

Well, we can easily see why this “laptop” isn’t around much anymore. The thing is just an ultra-portable desktop in a sense. You are getting a 20.1-inch screen again and a ton of computing power, but I really don’t see the desirable spec on this one.

Eurocom D901C Phantom-X

• Available now
• $5900+
• 133 score in Worldbench 6

The specs on this thing are insane even for a laptop. 8GB of RAM, 2 solid-state 80GB HD, one 320GB traditional HD, nVidia 9800M GTX graphics card and a 3GHz Xeon Quad Core X3370 processor. The WorldBench 6 speed champion here is super fast and only weighs 9 pounds, not bad and cheap!

Alienware M17x (European Model)

• Available in Europe
• $3,000+
• TWO 500GB hard drives

What could you do with TWO, yes TWO, 500GB hard drives in your LAPTOP? Just about anything you want. Don’t have to worry about every filling those bad boys up with music, photos, games or whatever you download. The optional TV Tuner and BluRay drive is a sweet deal as well, although the battery life is only about 3 hours.

Toshiba Portege r600-ST4203

• Available now
• $3,500
• 512GB solid-state drive

Now you are getting into less moving parts on a laptop with the solid-state drives.  SSD can download faster and they are much more durable than regular HD.  12.1-inch screen is OK, but the built-in webcam is a nice touch.  All this fancy-ness for under 3 pounds.

Gyy

• Available in Europe
• $220
• First solar powered laptop

All fine and dandy for the Greenies out there, but what are you going to do with no sun, you ask?  Who cares, this thing is so slow you could make ten phone calls while you wait for your IM program to start up.  8-inch screen and only 128MB of RAM is nothing, you might as well look into a iPhone or something.

Lenovo ThinkPad X200

• Available now
• $999
• Eight hour battery life

I like the long battery life, but of course, most of the time you can plug in the laptop by then.  If you travel a lot, this might be an option for you.  12.1-inch screen 2.4GHz Core processor, 4GB RAM, fingerprint reader and weighs under 3 pounds.  I like this one a lot for the power and portability.

Umid M1

• Available now overseas
• $599
• 6.1×3.7×0.6 inches

I am not a fan at all.  I just don’t see why laptops have to be smaller.  What can’t they just be portable and pack some power and storage?  This thing is just a tad larger than a smartphone, so I wouldn’t see any advantage of having one.  Blah.

Eee PC 900HD

• Available now
• $250
• Cheapest around

Well, if you need something cheap, here it is.  Don’t forget that you get what you pay for, no matter what it is.  1GB of RAM, 160GB HD, 10GB of online storage, 8.9-inch screen and built in Wi-Fi.  Under 2.5 pounds and cheap, what more can you ask for?

Ego Bentley

• Available now
• $19,943
• Over the top price tag

Will you take a look at this thing?  What a crappy laptop, unless you live in Beverly Hills of course.  I would hate to see ANYONE with something like this.  If you buy a laptop like this you are not even into using a computer.  It’s all about looks, check the name, but it does have a 12-inch screen, 160GB HD, 2GB of RAM, webcam, Wi-Fi and more.  Weighs in at only 6 pounds, it might be lighter than most handbags woman carry around.

MacBook Air

• Available now
• $1499+
• Droolicious

The MacBook Air is quite stunning and there is a lot of hype online about this laptop.  I have never owned a Mac, but if you are serious about something hot-to-trot and portable, this one is for you.  The price is very reasonable considering the specs.  13.3 LED screen, 1.86GHz, 128SSD, 2GB of RAM, nVidia GeForce 9400M and iSight webcam, just to name a few.

That is correct.  Solar Based Solar Power is one thing that might be considered and would change everything!  I see the picture and I think to myself “what if this things is tilted 10 degrees in the wrong direction”?  Is there any possibility of this thing creating a major disaster on Earth?

The article says that “low powered beams are considered safe”, but what happens when you put your cat in the microwave?  (please do not abuse your kitty).  The technology is simple and really, it seems like a great idea, but to only support the electricity for 1,000 homes, just doesn’t seem worth it to me.

There is a receiving grid a mile wide, even that takes up too much room.  I would put the worth of the idea higher if it could power 10,000 homes.  Small cities could take advantage and maybe even help to fund projects like this.  To power only 1,000 homes, the city I live near would have to send up 50 light collectors and have a receiving area even larger to convert the light on Earth.

It is nice to see others “looking outside the box”, at least.  The ideas may seem far fetched, but at least they are in idea form.  I would like to talk to whomever thinks it’s cost effective to send up a solar collector that can only power 1,000 homes.

Feedback

What do you think?

Yes, it is true, Symantec has reported that millions of computers actually have fake security software installed.  Even though most of these computer owners paid for the security software, it may be fake and actually makes their computer even more vulnerable.  Typical names of fake security software included, Antivirus 2010, Spyware Guard 2008 among the 250 varieties that Symantec found.

While reading the article I can think of a few times that I have seen popups on my system regarding some antivirus software, but I have NEVER purchased anything like that.  According to the report on Yahoo Tech, the number of people affected by such a scam is in the “tens of millions”.  That is a lot!

I started to think about how these cyber-criminals can get the software delivered so fast and then I read about “affiliates”.  These are middlemen that will actually try and convince you to download said programs and they will earn money for each download they refer.  Of course, this also might take them right out of the equation if big brother is watching and arrests are made.

TrafficConverter.biz, which has been shut down, had boasted that its top affiliates earned as much as $332,000 a month for selling scam security software, according to Weafer.

I have been involved in affiliate marketing in the past, but never thought about how much worse a scam can be if you have affiliates pushing the products as well. I hope that if you have downloaded one of these programs, you know how to get rid of it.

Do you struggle with your computer? Are you always looking up websites that may, or may not, help you with your computer?

I thought I would put a couple of easy to do computer tips out there for everyone to read. Maybe these will take a little of the stress off you while using your computer.

Tip #1:
Did you know that you can search your entire computer from the “Start” button? Right click on the Start button and select “Explore”. A split window opens and there is a “file tree” along the left side of your window. From there you can look into any folder or drive you have in your computer.

Tip #2:
Shift+Tab will move your cursor “backwards” one field in a form or selected item on a web site. Go ahead and try it. And of course just Tab will move the cursor forward one field.

Tip #3:
Opening links in a new tab will keep your browser from getting all messed up or putting tons of open browsers on the bar on the bottom of your screen. Just right click any link and select “open in new tab” (IE 7, only) and whaalaa, you are now checking out two sites in one browser window.

Do you have a newer computer? Maybe less than 3-4 years old? The reason I ask is because you might not be aware that you have a graphics card that is capable of setting up dual monitors on your system. You might not think that another monitor will do any good for you, but let me tell you from experience, that second piece of real estate is worth it. Of course, if you are not online all the time, like I am, then it might not even be useful to you.

I am online a lot of my free time and I cannot believe that I went so long without another monitor. Do you know what you need to have in order to set up dual monitors, besides two monitors? The first thing you need is 2 outputs on your video card. Either VGA or DVI outputs on your video card will work, but you do NEED to have two of them. To check this, it’s as easy as looking at the back of your computer and see if you have two outputs. There is NO reason to open your case at this point.

Do you have TWO outputs? If not, you need to buy a graphics card that is capable. You can check out Amazon for starters. If you do have two outputs, then read on. The second step is really just to make sure you have the right cables to complete the cast. You may need to get an adapter to go from DVI to VGA for one, or both, of your monitors. If you do not have the cables you can check out Amazon or Best Buy for them. You should be able to get them for around $20.

Ok, now you have the extra cable, monitor and a video card that can handle the two monitors. Once you have them both connected and powered up, you will have to change some display settings under your control panel. Here is the way you check the settings you need to change:

1. Click “Start”
2. Access your control panel
3. Click the Display icon
4. Go to the Settings tab
5. Right in the center you can see “display” and there are TWO options (one for each output)
6. Right under that you can simple check the box that says “extend my windows desktop onto this monitor”

Typically, if everything is connected, this is really all that you have to do. Under the same tab you can see your two monitors and select which one you want as your primary. And there you have it, another place to open more browsers, another program or whatever you feel like. I use my second monitor to have my email client, TweetDeck, Music, Photoshop all open while I can read, write and browse on my primary monitor.

It’s a great time saver and I really can feel the difference in my productivity. Give it a try and if you cannot afford a new monitor, ask around for a used one, you can usually get them for under $50, like I did.

Do you have a multi-monitor setup?

This week I was running into an issue where my video card would get so hot it wasn’t able to work correctly.  I have a BFG nVidia 8800GT OC card that has a fan built into it.  The card is about 1 year old and I haven’t had much more than a hiccup with it’s performance since installation.

After going into my nVidia control panel to adjust the fan settings, I noticed that even at 100%, my fan was making little noise, which is very unusual for any GPU fan.  I opened my computer case and noticed that my fan was moving very slowly with a “vibrating wobble” to it.  I feared the worst and have read about the bearings, brushes and fans going bad out of nowhere.

I searched eBay and various other places to see if I could just get the fan, since it wasn’t that hard to get to and remove.  I was only able to find used video graphics cards and wasn’t sure that was my best option, at least, it would be my last option.

Without a budget to just upgrade to the tune of $150+, I decided to see what I could do to add extra cooling.  I have plenty of 4 pin adapters coming off my power supply, why not search for a case fan that can be plugged directly into that?  After searching BestBuy.com (we have a local store) and Amazon.com (backup to Best Buy), I found that Best Buy has a couple of options that fit into my budget.

What I Found

I was able to find an Antec 80mm 3-speed LED TriCool fan.  I am not a fan of the LED, but it seemed every fan had that as an option.  Moving on, I removed the fan from the package, connected it to my power supply and bingo, instant cooling to my GPU.

Warning

Just so you know, I took the cover off my video card to allow the new fan to pull heat right off the cooling fins.  I do not recommend removing your video card and tampering with it unless you feel 100% confident with electronic items like this.

Right now the new fan sits right on the cooling elements and keeps my card at a cool 150 degrees fahrenheit.  The fan base is thick plastic, but because the card will NOT overheat, there shouldn’t be any fear of it melting.

Introduction

My name is John, I am 31 years old and live in the great Midwest.  I have always had a passion for technology and love writing about it.  Gadgets, new technology, technology in the new, are just a couple of the topics that I enjoy writing about.  The internet is so vast and such a great tool, that is why I also like to contribute to review sites and blog about products myself.  Others want to buy what’s best for them and it never hurts to read a review or 20 before you make that purchase.  I hope that you enjoy spending time here and might even add your own 2 cents via the comment form on my posts.

Welcome to my new blog.  I have been in the process of starting a new “tech” blog for sometime now.  I haven’t been able to find a domain name that I was happy with, until now.  ConsumerTechBlog.com is born.

I plan to post about technology in the news, general technology, gadgets (old and new), technology experiements and much more.  If you like technology and gadgets, you can keep up with me by subscribing to my email feed so that you can comment with your own 2 cents on my posts as they become available.

That’s it for now, I am going to work on my first “real” post and hopefully some of your stick around to see it.