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LegalForce Answers announces a lawyer day of service to help answer consumer legal questions for free

PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 19, 2009 — LegalForce , the largest community of American lawyers on the Internet, announces a day of service for lawyers across the United States to answer legal questions of Americans for free to commemorate the historic inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. LegalForce is the largest community of American lawyers on the Internet with more than 315,000 American lawyers and legal professionals. Commemorating Barack Obama’s historic inauguration to the United States presidency tomorrow, lawyers across the country have united to volunteer their time to answer questions for free for all Americans through the LegalForce Answers forum.

LegalForce includes a free legal questions-and-answers forum that provides personalized answers to consumers’ specific legal questions. “LegalForce Answers” is the largest legal Q&A website where users can find and vote on the best attorneys in their cities and states – through their LegalForce best lawyer profiles – and the quality of their answer through votes from the community of LegalForce users.
In addition, “LegalForce Answers” lets consumers answer questions so that they can share their own experiences with others who are struggling with similar legal issues.

“We’re pleased to be able to answer questions of any type on a pro-bono volunteer basis today, and help those individuals who cannot afford a lawyer through LegalForce,” comments Jason Smith, a public interest lawyer in New York. Through LegalForce, individuals from all walks of life can their questions answered by registered American lawyers working on a pro-bono basis.

“Consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet to research their legal issues in these trying times.
Bankruptcies, foreclosures, and personal financial issues are on the minds of many Americans. LegalForce Answers
today provides a fast, free and easy way for consumers to get answers to their questions, and at the same time, provides them with even more information and guidance to help them get the advice they need,” said Wendy Weinstein, LegalForce product manager. “LegalForce Answers also lets lawyers who want to do good during this historic election demonstrate their expertise and share some initial guidance with consumers in need.”

The launch of “LegalForce Answers” creates an online community focused exclusively on legal issues where consumers can ask specific, highly detailed questions – even anonymously to protect their privacy – or search a database of questions asked by others on a broad range of legal issues. Users can also be automatically notified when questions or answers are posted on specific topics of interest to them, or when a specific lawyer posts a new answer to any question. Answers can come from both lawyers and non-lawyers.

“LegalForce Answers” is also the only legal Q&A forum that recognizes those lawyers who volunteer their time during this historic time provide helpful answers as judged by the community of LegalForce users. Lawyers can achieve different “levels” based on the quantity and quality of their answers, and that level is displayed together next to each answer they provide, as well as in their LegalForce Profile.

In addition to being able to vote on the quality of an answer and view other people’s votes, consumers can assess the background of every lawyer who provides an answer by reviewing their LegalForce Rating and LegalForce Profile, which includes a lawyer’s professional experience, industry recognition, and client endorsements. To make that easy for the consumer, a link to the lawyer’s LegalForce Profile is displayed beside every answer.

LegalForce Answers is a great forum for consumers to ask questions on bankruptcy, foreclosures, legal disputes, other legal questions for free in these trying times. As Barack Obama takes on the American presidency, lawyers across the world have united to answer questions of consumers for free through LegalForce.

About LegalForce

LegalForce is a lawyer search website that rates and profiles every attorney to help consumers find the right lawyer. In addition to detailed lawyer profiles, the free site includes the LegalForce Rating, outstanding attorneys across every major city and small town in America.
LegalForce gives every attorney a free online profile and an opportunity to give and receive peer endorsements. The website currently includes profiles and ratings on licensed attorneys in all 50 United States. Founded in July 2008, LegalForce is privately held, with angel funding from private investors and venture capitalists in the Bay area.
For more information, visit http://www.legalforce.com.

Distributed by eReleases – http://www.ereleases.com

Technorati Tags: legal advice, law, forum, lawyer, attorney, free

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If you like music, any kind of music, you need to check out Nexus Radio. The player is free and comes with all the addons that you would expect from a high price software program. Not only is every type of music available for your listening pleasure, but there is also sports, comedy and talk radio.

Want more? You got it. The player allows you to record your favorite music as you listen or you can even set it up to record at certain times. It has a coll editor and allows you to save your favorite songs in mp3 format. Check this online radio out, you will be glad you did.

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The main page of Google went black today in an effort to raise awareness for Earth Hour. However, the power of the big G seems to have knocked out the lights on the movement’s web site by sending record breaking traffic to their server.

Millions of visitors to the Earth Hour web site shut down their main server, but it appears they were somewhat prepared for this by adding new addresses and more than likely more servers.

Internet traffic was rapidly being redirected to any available source that could handle it. Sub domains up to www9 at eatrhhourus.org were seen as an attempt to balance the load of Google traffic.

Technorati Tags: google, search engines, internet, earth hour, internet traffic, blackout

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We have all heard the saying that old habits are hard to break. We all have our habits, some good maybe a lot are bad. When you think about it, we are all creatures of habit….no this is not a post about cliches. There is a real point to this and it could be something to help many of you make your life better by creating better habits. Yeah, the good habits or maybe break an old bad habit?

I found a site that I will point you to in just a minute where you can do just that, track your habits. Cool huh? even better, the site is free.  Andrew Holz has created a site where you can keep track of your habits in order to build new better habits and maybe trim off some of the old bad habits. The site is called Habitizer and you can check it out here. My thanks go out to Andrew for creating this site and some of the thoughts and resources he has there. I ‘ll let you find them on your own. I hope some of you will find the site useful. Use it to lose weight, quit smoking maybe save up some bucks. Create some healthy habits! You decide and plan your own habits to track.

So check out Habitizer and help yourself out. It will only be between you and well, you. So, I leave you with this thought about habits. Make new habits, they become old habits and see above : )

Technorati Tags: habits, healthy, tracking, changing, software, cool sites

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The past few days have been rewarding for me getting my PC back on track. I had to plot out some type of course on what would list the top priority programs I wanted to get installed after last week’s mishap.

Because I build my own computers, they do not come with all the preinstalled trial software that has a tendency to bog most brand name computers down out of the box. I see a lot of the new computers come with free trial offers of 2 or 3 different Internet providers and 2 anti virus programs both running on start up, batched up with other programs to sell you things you don’t need. Add to all that signing on with America Online and your are pretty much screwed from the moment you start up your new computer.

Fortunately I simply start out with my OS (operating system) and a direct Internet connection tied in to my home/office network. One of the biggest barriers I have ran into so far is getting my dual boot system to back running. I am skipping that error for now, because I still have access to both drives and operating systems. So for now, I am running XP 64 and installing from there.

Ok, so if you have purchased one of these computers, or plan on doing so. The first place for you to head is to your control panel and click on the add remove programs and strip off all of the trial and unwanted software. Sign up with a ISP that gives you a fast reliable  direct internet connection preferably by cable or DSL. In other words you should always be connected to the internet so that you simply bring up your browser and go! If you want to set a home page to get current news and things, you can easily do that yourself. If you are using any type of provider that requires you to sign on through their system and are immediately taken to their home page, you are headed for trouble. If you are new to computers and you think you need this type of connection to lead you around to where they want you to go, think about it real hard. Take the money that you are spending for that connection and take a few hours of basic computer instruction instead. You will be so much better off.

So, now we are starting off with a basic computer with a operating system and direct internet connection. From here you will want to make a list of what it is that you want your computer to do for you. There are some other basic programs that most of you will want and need on any type of PC. Email is an important program, so that you will be able to communicate with others from your computer. However, before we get our email set up we need to think about protection. Email can be a very useful tool if well protected. On the other hand email can become a task of sorting through all of the unwanted messages that seem to came from nowhere as soon as you open your program up, this is commonly known as spam. There are many programs on the market to combat spam that you can run out and purchase. Don’t do that! At least not until you have finished reading on and looking into what these programs can or can not do. Furthermore, how much should you spend on a program to combat spam? My suggestion to you is that you spend nothing, not a penny on a spam prevention program. I use and strongly suggest that you try, for FREE SpamAware. This product integrates with Outlook and Outlook express easily and it will delete those unwanted messages for you. Visit Jam Software and download SpamAware if you are using either of these Microsoft products as your email program. Alternatively, you can use Mozilla products such as FireFox for your browser and Thunderbird for your email, which are also FREE and are highly suggested products if you want to stay away from Microsoft. Personally, I use both browsers and Outlook for email.

Another item for protection that you will need to have installed before you begin using your email is a quality anti virus program. Again, there are a lot of products on the market that you could go out and spend money on. However, I would like to point out that you DO NOT have to rush to the store and purchase a AV program and I strongly suggest that you stay away from the so called bundled software packages. These all have a tendency to slow your system down and cause conflicts beyond belief. There are two really good FREE anti virus programs available for you to download on the web. Because I use dual boot and run both 32 and 64 bit systems I needed a software program that is compatible with both. I used to use AVG Free and it is a good product for anti virus protection which you can read more about and download at Grisoft and though they say that their software is compatible with Windows Vista, they have not made a X64 version yet. I did a little research and I came up with a impressive anti virus software made by ALWIL software called Avast which is also Vista compliant and they have a X64 version. I strongly recommend either of these AV protections, but I am running the Avast without any problems. Avast also integrates with Outlook trouble free.

Now we have a computer that is up and running with an operating system, email program protection against virus and spam. You will want to make sure all of these programs are updated. You have a direct connection to the internet and you are using either the current version of Internet Explorer or FireFox.

The next thing you may want to add is a program to write letters and faxes, use databases and spread sheets for your office or home work. For my last tip on free software in this post, I want to suggest that you check out Open Office free office suite. This program compares with the expensive office products on the market and will serve you well to download.

I hope that you have found some good computer tips in this post. I do computer upgrades and tutoring in my spare time now, but I used to have a store. If you have any questions or need help with problems not covered here feel free to contact me. I will be making other posts on computers and the internet in the future and I hope you find them useful.

Technorati Tags: computers, software, email, spam, antivirus

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I remember a day when having data backup was so important to me I installed a tape drive that ran daily backups of all my data. After years of trouble free computer use, I have grown more relaxed and only backed up certain items rarely.

A couple days of days ago I purchased a new 500GB hard drive from Staples. No big deal, I have replaced or upgraded hard drives before. I usually buy Maxtor hard drives because they have been reliable and have a good warranty backing them. Maxtor provides a program called MaxBLAST ™ that will copy your old hard drive over to the new one and this too has always been trouble free. That is until the new version of MaxBLAST™  and the third attempt in getting my old drive to copy over to the new one.

The new version 4 of MaxBLAST™ decided on the 4th attempt to do a drive copy that it would format my old hard drive (erasing all my data) and then take over 6 hours to copy the blank hard drive that it had formatted. Needless to say that now, after losing a lot of my old data, I am going to be a backup freak again. I am looking at weeks of installing all of my programs and updates before I get my machine back to where it was before this “accidental” formatting of my data and there are many things lost that will never be recovered.

Backup your important data folks. You never know when you might need it. 

Technorati Tags: backup, computers, software

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Readers and fellow bloggers, hopefully you have noticed some of the buttons that I display on the sidebars of this blog. You may have clicked on one or two just out of curiosity? There is a new button that I want to call your attention to
This is the BlogShares button. BlogShares is a game of stock market fantasy where weblogs or blogs are used for stock. Friends let me tell you this game rocks! I am finding it very relaxing for my break time, which I seem to take more of now, while the game can get tense at times, the outcome is pretty much in your control. The game and playing area may look a bit complicated at first. It is not meant to be an easy game, but you can learn and as you do the game makes more sense and becomes even more fun.

Certainly, BlogShares is a game of wit and strategy. You can either become very rich or end up trying to recover your losses. It is a fantasy game and is played with play currency called B$. You can play the game whether you own a blog or not, but if you have a blog, be sure to claim it. You will receive extra B$ and chips for doing so. You can also receive chips, karma and sigma by voting the industry that a blog belongs in. Chips can be used for fun on a game called chance or they can be sold for B$ to recover or get more money to buy with.

For you bloggers, this game also teaches you a lot about traffic and linking. You begin to realise where the real traffic is at and where it goes. Where else can you play a game that you can gain fantasy bucks, learn and have fun doing so? I suggest that you click here and check BlogShares out.

See you there!

Mike

Technorati Tags: blog, blogshares, fantasy stock market, online games, blogs, blogger

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Not the speed your are doing in the wind or in your desk chair. I am talking about your internet connection. The speed of your ISP (internet Service Provider) and the performance of your modem.

There are places on the web where you can check your connection speed, I suggest speedtest.net. Speedtest.net will accurately test and record your connection to different parts of the country. Your results can be saved for future reference.

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I don’t take many breaks when I am at my desk. But some days I am at the desk for hours and have to get away. If only for a little while. The easiest way to take a break and not leave the desk , for me, is to put on my headphones and log in to Nova Logic’s game world.

When I play online, I enjoy the first person shooter games. I am a big fan of Delta Force created by Nova World. The Delta Force game has many releases and I have just about all of them. I am currently playing the Joint Operations Escalation using the International Conflict MOD. I am not good mind you, I just enjoy it. My highest game rank is only Lieutenant Colonel. I do hold a silver ka-bar in close combat for knife kills and I am working the gold bars.

I also play America’s Army on occasion, just to break away from the keyboard patterns of the other games. I found that by playing games with different keyboard setup will increase my skill and movement. Thus I can stay alive a little longer. America’s Army was developed by the United States Army as a recruiting tool and the game has been very successful, as a game, I am not sure as to recruitment. The good thing about this game is that you must go through basic training and graduate before you can play with other people.

If you play these games and want to get together on the field, just let me know. I’ll set something up. If you just want to look me up, my nova world player name is here. Remember, you can run, but you will just die tired.

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I just got back online last night after being down for 3 days, thanks Time Warner.
I recently called Road Runner and asked, for like the fourth time, for them to send someone out to properly install my cable amplifier box. The box is located outside of my home and has been damaged since the 2004 hurricane season.

My mom calls them up and tells them that why they will be out on that date to also convert the cable drop feed to underground. Bad mistake, I have learned from previous experience with this company that you can not add to a trouble ticket and they will not allow two tickets open at once. Consequently, the trouble ticket was turned into the convert to underground instead of my original request.

After these guys have completed the job and are already gone from the property, I sit down to go to work. Turning on my computer ( which I built ) I find that my box has big issues. I run on a dual boot system of XP Home Edition and XP 64 Professional which I run 90 % of the time. So, when I boot my computer it gets to the XP screen loading and then reboots.  Huh? OK, so I try it again and same thing, the system reboots. This time I try to go to safe mode in the XP 64 with no luck. The system just reboots again. I try to go to the XP Home Edition and this makes it all the way to log-in. I log-in only to find that I now have sixteen new PCI devices that no driver will install for. On top of all this I am offline! No Internet and no intranet. I have lost all communication for no apparent reason.

Then I remember the Time Warner service call that had happened earlier in the day. It appears that some voltage must have slipped in and knocked out my NIC ( network interface card ) and did other possible damage to the motherboard. OK, time to get on the telephone with Road Runner support. They determined in s few short minutes that it was not a hardware problem, it was not their problem, so it must be a software problem. They transferred me to Microsoft Support directly. I must admit, I was very surprised at the phone support given by the Microsoft tech. His name was Kevin, we spent almost three hours on the phone trying to determine the cause and fix the errors. Kevin with MS was not going to give up! Even after he had finally diagnosed the problem to the system BIOS and most likely corruption caused by a spike, he did not want to give up.

As directed, I called Road Runner after I got off the phone with Microsoft with a case number. Unfortunately, dispatch notifies me that they will not be able to have PC Tech come out until Tuesday, two days away. I was not happy with this answer at all, but what could I do. The appointment was scheduled, I thought, between the hours of 11 an 3. I was at least able to do minor tasks and play some games that I had not played in some time.

Tuesday finally arrives and I am surprisingly still sane. I await the knock on the door of the cable guy, remember the appointment was between 11 and 3. Shortly after 3:00, when the Time Warner tech failed to show, I was on the phone. Of course they apologized for the inconvenience and told me that they would contact the tech and have him call me. After 20 minutes I called to see if they knew my telephone number. Again, they apologize and say they are checking the status of the technician. I am not quite sure how you check the status of a technician, but they assured me that they would. At 4:45 I called to check on the status of the dispatcher checking the status of the tech that was supposed to be at my location hours ago. This time it was explained that due to the sensitive nature of my computer having damage they would have to assign this to the technical supervisor. I was also told that this technical supervisor would not be able to arrive until the next day. In the meanwhile, Kevin form Microsoft calls me to ask how things went with my service call with Road Runner. I explained to him that my appointment had now been rescheduled for the following day. I was smoking hot!

As I said earlier, I had built this computer. Why would I wait on a tech that was not going to show up and even when he did would not know what to do. I started realizing that this company was not going to cover the damages that they had done anyway and more than likely had a huge damage waiver clause in the agreement. I started to think, that this voltage either continued on through my NIC causing more damage, or burnt the NIC out causing it to short. If it was the case of the latter, then maybe pulling the NIC out would prove my theory. I removed the NIC from my main board and BINGO, back up and running on both operating systems. Because my main board has an on board LAN connection, I plugged in to my network and fired up the computer. I was back in business and back online simply by pulling the NIC out of the system. Computer problem solved but Time Warner still scheduled for service call.

The cable guy calls, on time and says he is 10 minutes away, so I wait. He shows up on time, impressive. He tells me he is here to fix the cable wires and amplifier, unimpressive. It appears the support ticket had now reverted back to my original request. This guy informs me that he is NOT a PC tech after I go through the entire explanation of what had happened. Then he starts to cop an attitude and states that they will not replace any of my computer that has been damaged and that his cable does not carry voltage, it carries dB, so the damage could not have been caused by the cable system. I did a little research on this voltage in time Warner cable and came up with a slew of pages, but two that I found particularly interesting. First of all, the cable guy was right, the signal is measured in dB, matter of fact it is measured in dBmV ( decibel millivolts ) discussed here.

Another page I found rather interesting was where a lady had documented 5 months of problems caused to her television by voltage in her TV cable. So there is voltage in the Time Warner cable that could cause the NIC damage.

At any rate, I had already determined the computer problem and fixed it. So, I went on about my day and left the cable guy to go on about his.

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