Interesting Items on Sale Now

[jon]

We've talked about NAT and other hardware firewall protection built into Broadband (ADSL/Cable) routers that make them worth having, just for one computer connected to Broadband Internet. My favourite, the D-Link DI-604 is on sale at Best Buy Aug. 18-24 for $32.99, and there is no mail-in rebate required! In-store and ordered on-line for delivery to the store is free. Shipping is $1.99. Be sure to update the firmware off the D-Link site as the latest firmware only came out in the last couple of months and addresses a Denial of Service (DoS - hackers hitting you with a huge amount of Internet traffic to block your own usage) http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.a...326&catid=21111

Future Shop has the LinkSys BEFSR41 broadband router for $19.99, but it requires a $20 mail-in rebate to get the price that low.

Several places, including Future Shop and Compusmart, are offering Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2006 for free after two mail-in rebates. To be eligible for one of the rebates, you must have paid for any brand of anti-virus product sometime in the past, and be able to prove it.

I bought one a week or so ago, and the only problem I encountered on installation was that non-Admin IDs on XP got a message that Configuration had not yet been done, every time they logged on. Symantec Support had a quick (4-5 hours?) e-mail answer from a very well-informed employee of their India outsourcer, pointing me at a Symantec Knowledge Base article that I couldn't find on my own, that told me how to "hack" (edit) the Registry. Dangerous behaviour, but it also pointed at a Microsoft article on how to backup the Registry first, which I did, and all I had to do was watch while a Microsoft program automatically ran Microsoft Backup.

Despite its name, it also includes some spyware checking, too.

And, finally, 1GB and 2GB memory sticks (they plug into a USB port) are cheap enough now to be used to frequently backup your e-mail if you find CD or DVD backup too time-consuming or daunting. Just be sure you have your e-mail program shut down when you do a backup.

Only thing that I'll probably buy this weekend is a 50 pack spindle of Memorex 16X DVD-R for $14.99 at Best Buy. No mail-in rebates, but shipping is $2.99 on-line, so I'll buy them if I'm near the store, and wait for the next sale otherwise. http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.a...ogon=&langid=EN