FLORIDA —
QUESTION: Greetings, my Geeks! I want to thank the people who have been interacting with me on the column’s Facebook page this week as I seek new directions for the column in the wake of being removed from the major local newspapers in the column’s home market. For any news professionals reading this, the column is, always has been, and always will be free to publishers. Contact me for more information about how to receive the column for weekly publication.
Until I fully right the ship and the column recovers from the loss of what was probably its largest reader segment, I want to share some tips for how you can continue reading it regardless of whether it publishes in print in your area.
First, there’s the good old Worldwide Web.
I don’t remember offhand when the column’s website was first brought online, but ever since then, the weekly issues of It’s Geek To Me are released there at midnight every Sunday. It’s the one place where you can be sure you read the column exactly as I wrote it, as opposed to it having gone through the hands of an editor or two, who might not like the way something was worded, or who leaves out content for lack of room.
The column’s website is ItsGeekToMe.co. That’s right – .co, not .com. I was in line to obtain the .com version of the URL, but a domain broker swooped in at the last possible second and acquired it. What they got for free, they then put up for sale for $2,500. It’s just not worth it to me to have .com, so .co it is.
On my site, you’ll find the most recent few issues of the column on the front page, as well as links to handy stuff like the complete column archive dating back to July 2007, and the link to submit your own question.
If you prefer a newsier site on which to read it, my friends over at Niceville.com were more than happy to pick up the column. They built a little corner for it on their site and added it to their main navigation bar. Their site also features other local, regional, and national news stories, and is well worth a look, especially if you live locally.
Among the geekier options for reading It’s Geek To Me is via a technology called RSS which stands for Really Simple Syndication. My website uses WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS) and WordPress automatically provides an RSS feed, which sends out every issue just as soon as it publishes online.
So, what can you do with an RSS feed? Well, you can use an RSS Reader, and subscribe to the column, and receive it directly on your device. This may not sound particularly exciting, but it will once you begin to explore the world of RSS, and discover everything that’s available to you. You can basically custom-build your own e-paper of a sort, and read it whenever you like.
Beyond reader apps, there are also RSS tools that you can configure to have the column sent directly to your email whenever a new issue is available.
RSS puts you in control of what you read, and makes sure you are given access to new content just as soon as it’s available. RSS can be integrated into all the major webmail services, to include Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and plenty of others.
If you’re not currently using RSS, you’re missing out!
Geek Note:
Microsoft is once again highlighting the issue of end-of-life for Windows products. We’re now within a year of the end-of-life for Windows 10, which is scheduled for October 14, 2025.
As I’ve discussed before, that doesn’t mean your computer will suddenly come screeching to a halt and not work anymore. What it does mean is that after that date, Microsoft will no longer provide free software updates through Windows Update or any technical support for the product.
It also means that there will be no new security or bug fixes for vulnerabilities that may be identified in the software. Naturally, the recommended solution to this problem is to use a newer version of Windows – namely Windows 11, or even the next version of Windows that comes out.
From this Geek’s perspective, the problem there is that Microsoft made the decision that PCs that are lacking certain hardware components, or that don’t have a certain class of CPU or higher, won’t run Windows 11, at least not without doing a bunch of trickery, which technically, Microsoft neither recommends, nor supports.
It’s beyond me how a company can be allowed to dictate to consumers that they must abandon their older hardware, and spend their money on newer systems. I’m not saying that upgrading isn’t actually a good idea in many cases, I just don’t think a company should be able to force that upon consumers.
For more information from Microsoft on end-of-life for various versions of Windows, visit TinyURL.com/IGTM-0904.
What do you think? Join the discussion on this week’s issue over on my website!
Jeff Werner, a software engineer based in Niceville, Florida, has been writing his popular “It’s Geek to Me” tech column since 2007. He shares his expertise to help readers solve everyday tech challenges. To view additional content, comment on articles, or submit a question, visit ItsGeekToMe.co (not .com!).
