• Americans feast on 535 million pounds of turkey on Thanksgiving.
• According the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten in the United States at Thanksgiving. That number represents one sixth of all the turkeys sold in the U.S. each year!
• Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be our national bird.
• Domesticated turkeys cannot fly, however wild turkeys can fly up to 55 miles per hour over short distances.
• Only male (tom) turkeys gobble. Females make a clicking noise. The famous gobble is actually a seasonal mating call.
• The heaviest turkey ever raised weighed in at 86 pounds – about the size of a German Shepherd! (But turkeys are normally not used as police animals.)
• A turkey under 16 weeks of age is called a fryer. A five to seven month old turkey is called a roaster.
• The Turkey Trot, a ballroom dance in the 1900s, was named for the short, jerky steps of the turkey. It became popular mainly because it was denounced by the Vatican as "suggestive."
• Turkeys are known to spend the night in trees! (Maybe to escape the Thanksgiving table?)
• Turkeys can drown if they look up when it's raining!
• A turkey's field of vision is 270 degrees--one of the main reasons they're able to elude some hunters.
• The average age of the Mayflower passenger was 32. The oldest Mayflower passenger was 64.
• There was no milk, cheese, bread, butter or pumpkin pie at the original Thanksgiving Day feast.
• Contrary to popular belief, the Pilgrims did not have big buckles on their clothing, shoes, or hats.
• Buckles did not come into fashion until the late 1600s – more appropriate for the Salem Witchcraft trial time period.
• The cranberry got its name because the pale pink blossoms on the plant resembled a crane’s head and neck. The name craneberry stuck, eventually becoming cranberry.
• Fresh cranberries are ideal for cranberry sauce. Cranberries of the highest quality will always bounce! (If you try this at home, please wash the cranberries before eating.)
• President Abraham Lincoln established the original date for our National Thanksgiving Day celebration in 1863.
• President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of establishing a national “Thanksgiving Day.”
• Congress did not declare Thanksgiving a national holiday until 1941.
• The average person consumes 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving Day. (Now that's a lot of turkey!)

Well it seems like I just did Christmas shopping, but it is that time of year again. If you are like me, I hate the crowds and tend to do quite a bit of online ordering. This also saves me a lot of time. It also allows me to shop for my daughter without having to hire a sitter. The only problem is, with so many scams and viruses out there, how to do this safely. Here are a few tips.
    1. Trust your instincts. If you don't feel comfortable buying or bidding on an item over the web, or if you feel pressured to place your order immediately, maybe you shouldn't. Look for a physical address for the company, be sure the phone number is listed, and look for third party seals of approval. Be sure the website is secure.
        o Look for the picture of the unbroken key or closed lock in your browser window. Either one indicates that the security is operative. A broken key or any open lock indicates it is not.
        o Look to see if the web address on the page that asks for your credit card information begins with "https:" instead of "http."
        o Some web sites use the words "Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)" or a pop up box that says you are entering a secure area.
    2. Review the return, refund, and shipping and handling policies as well as the other legal terms. If you can't find them, ask the seller through an e-mail or telephone call to indicate where they are on the site or to provide them to you in writing.
    3. Use the safest way to pay on the Internet. Pay for your order using a credit card.
        • If you pay by using a credit card, you may be asked to choose whether to have the seller retain it on file for future orders. You might prefer not to have the credit card number kept on file, but instead to provide the card number again each time. The website may also allow you to choose to complete all of your order information on the web and telephone in your credit card number.
        • Carefully and promptly check your credit card statements when they arrive. If you identify any irregularities, you should immediately bring these to the attention of the issuer of the credit card by telephone and in writing.
    4.  Who wants to know your password or other identifying information? Be very careful about responding to an e-mail, phone call, fax, or letter from anyone who asks for your password(s), social security number, birth date, bank account, credit card number, mother's maiden name, or other personal information. Sellers and financial institutions do not ask you for such information unless you are entering into a transaction with them.

Also, be sure your antivirus is up-to-date. I hope you find that perfect gift for everyone on your list. And remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Have fun shopping and be safe.

For being “The Computer Guy” would it surprise you that a few months ago, I purchased my first iPod?  Personally, I thought it was going to be a fad, like the mini disc player that Sony released back in the late ‘90’s early 2K’s, so I did not hop on board the iPod train.  I can actually say that it paid off.   I picked up the iPod that had all of the features that I wanted, when I wanted them.  The new iPod Touch, 2nd generation has all the features of the iPhone, except the phone, for half the cost.  The new iPod Touch has built-in Wi-Fi, a speaker for sharing a song with a friend, and a video camera.  Just like the commercials on TV say, there’s an app for that.  And it is most likely true.  It has apps for tracking mileage to sales calls all the way to apps to use your iPod as a leveler.  I can program my DirecTV DVR from anywhere I have my iPod and a Wi-Fi connection.  That is probably the best app that I have found to date, since, as you imagine, being a “Computer Guy” my schedule is never constant. 
It is also a great music player.  Granted the stock headphones are not great, but to tell you the truth, they never are with any product that I have purchased.  But for the serious listener, a $40- $80 pair of head phones is a needed accessory. 
I picked up the 8GB model, which does not have a camera, because I did not need it, I have my BlackBerry for that.  It will hold as much music as I want it to hold.  8 GB of music is over 500 songs.  Trust me; unless you’re going to put your iPod on shuffle for days at a time, I don’t think you will ever run out of music that you want to hear in between managing your playlist on iTunes when you get home.  They do have models that will store up to 64 GB of music, which is about what I need to hold my entire collection, but as I said before the battery will need to be charged, even before you can listen to 8 GB of music, so I say, save your money for filling up your library with music, and not a device that can play and hold all of it.
Eventually, after AT&T resolves the issues that they have with their network, I will go ahead and purchase an iPhone, and then I will no longer have the need for the touch.  But as for what I see, that is going to be a long time from now.  So all in all, if you are looking for a good Media Player, the iPod touch is the way to go.

Neadom Tucker, our intrepid Owner was kind enough to put together our latest security guide. In the near future, we will have guides for parents, teens, layered defense, keyloggers and more. Here goes:

"Watching the news, you all too often hear stories of large retail companies, banks and government agencies leaking people's personal information. Even the large companies with all of their safety procedures can fall victim to cyber criminals, hackers, stolen laptops, the list can go on and on. The truth of the matter is that Personal information has become a hot commodity that is even traded by cyber-thieves.

Although you don't hear about it as often, small Mom and Pop businesses are susceptible to the same problems. Most small business owners will agree that a customer's trust in you and business is the most valuable asset you have.

When Elizabeth asked me if I can offer some security advice to our customers that own a "Mom and Pop" type business, I tried to think of a couple security details that most wouldn't think of. Let's start with the basics; what security programs you need.

A firewall is an absolute must. If the computer is connected to the Internet in any way, you need the ability to block both incoming connection attempts as well as outgoing. You may ask, "Why do I need a firewall to block outgoing connections as well?" The answer to this is simple. If malware somehow is installed on the computer, you don't want it to be able to "call home to the malware mothership" with your customers' information. A quality firewall like a Sonicwall NSA 240 or the TZ-180 is a great solution for the small business owner.

Anti-Malware protection is just as important as the firewall. Malware is a fairly new term in the industry and short for "malicious software: Malware is a combined group of bad programs that consist of Viruses, Spyware, Trojans, Rootkits, Adware and all kinds of other crimeware.

In previous times, separate programs were necessary to protect yourself from bad guys, but the introduction of VIPRE has changed that. VIPRE is a hybrid program, designed to protect you from the bad guys using as little of your systems resources as possible. As with any security program, it is very important that you keep your definition files up to date and make sure that you scan the computer at least once a day.

Back-up programs are also very important. Hardware failures and malware can damage data stored on the computer. Losing any customer or inventory information can cripple the small business. You can use Optix Online Backup these days which is backing up to the Internet so that your data is off-site, and encrypted.

Now that the computer & network has the proper tools in place to protect your business and its customers, let's discuss a few procedures or more like rules that will keep you safe.
    o If possible, do not use the web on the computer where you store your customer's information. How many times have you walked into a small shop or had a service person looking information up on the Internet just after they entered your personal information into the very same computer? I believe this to be a very unsafe practice. Malware can be downloaded in a matter of seconds. Just as quickly, your personal information can be uploaded to some far away server.
    o Password protect your computer. The best practice is to use a longer password using a password that includes Capital letters and numbers. Change your password often.
    o Back up suggestions. As I mentioned earlier backing up your data is essential. The following are a couple "what I would do" tips:
         Do not back up the information to a hard drive on the same computer.
         If the computer is stolen or compromised the information is just as vulnerable
         I would suggest backing the information up to an external drive, CD, or to the Internet (Optix Online Backup)
         Leave the backup drive or CD's in a safe at the office or take them home and store them there. Imagine how happy a car thief would be if they found a hard drive full of credit card numbers and other personal information in the vehicle they just stole.
         If you don't have a safe, treat the drive or CD's as though they are money
         Just for the heck of it, try to restore a file now and then and see if that actually works. You might be surprised.
    o Put an update policy in place. Create a schedule to check daily for updates for both Windows and Application Programs installed.
I'm sure there are a million and one other ideas that could be discussed, when it comes to safety for the small business. But I hope the above gives you a basic idea of how to keep your business and customers safe and happy."