Before proceeding, please be aware that the following information is provided merely as advice. We cannot and will not be responsible for any issues that may arise from following the advice in this post. If you feel that this is too advanced or for some reason do not completely understand the procedures herein, do not proceed. I mention this simply because some people just cannot follow written directions.

We will be using the following programs in our PC Tune-up.

1. ATF Cleaner
2. Cookienator
3. CCleaner

After you have saved each of these to your desktop or some other place on your computer that is easily accessible you will be ready to begin. If you have ever brought your computer to A Speedy PC for virus removal, PC tune-up or a full system restore your computer will already have a folder named “clutter cleaners,” containing these utilities along with some other goodies.

ATF Cleaner is the first tool we will use. This utility will go through several directories on your computer and empty multiple temp folders, browser cookies, and internet history entries. All of which are responsible for cluttering up your hard drive and slowing down your computer. It is very simple and straight forward to use.

The following directions were taken from www.atribune.org:

1. Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
2. Under Main choose: Select All
3. Click the Empty Selected button.

If you use Firefox browser

1. Click Firefox at the top and choose: Select All
2. Click the Empty Selected button.

Cookienator will take the cookie cleaning even deeper. It clears what some refer to as flash cookies. These are bits of tracking data that help advertisers and websites track your browsing habits. This might not seem like a big deal, but information provided by these cookies can sometimes be more than you would want to make available to total strangers. So let’s get going. Cookienator is available in two forms. The first being an executable file, meaning that it need not be installed onto your hard drive. The other option is well, installed on your hard drive. Both are perfectly safe. When you run Cookienator you will be presented with a screen similar to the one below.

As you can see, this system has already been cleared of all evil cookies. Chances are that your first scan will reveal several cookies that will be begging to be cleaned. In which case you will want to click on “Clean Now” in order to purge your system. After which you will be ready for step three in today’s PC tune-up.

CCleaner will now take us through clearing out the rest of the buildup and clutter that is slowing us from harvesting our Facebook crops.  Although there are many boxes to check and uncheck I recommend you simply leave everything at its default in order to keep from accidentally removing something that should not be removed.

Click on “Analyze” to begin search.

After analysis is complete click on “Run Cleaner”

You have completed the first half of CCleaner’s cleaning. Next, click on the icon “Registry”
“Scan for Issues” then “Fix selected issues”

Click “NO”

Then “Fix All Selected Issues” followed by “Close”

Congratulations you have just completed a mini PC Tune-up, just like the pros at A Speedy PC. If you have followed the previous steps as outlined your computer is now rid of several MB’s of extra unneeded e-clutter.

To get  a 15% coupon to fix your computer at A Speedy PC  Computer  Service Center

Text aspeedy to 72727 and you will get a coupon text back to you in 10 seconds. Text rates apply.

Happy browsing, here we come.

Ruben is the owner of

Speedy PC Computer Service Center

Phone: 701 219 6053  

3175 25th Street South

Fargo, ND 5810

Inside Sunmart

Suite C

The first and possibly most often missed symptom is a computer that has begun to run slower than usual. Today we use our computers to accomplish nearly all of our daily activities. Check our bank account, shop the latest deals, and check our virtual farm on Facebook. Most often people place the blame on having too many pictures or programs installed on their hard drive, which by all means can take a toll on a computer’s performance. But with the increasing size of storage space on computer hard drives these days it is becoming less likely that these things are the culprit. If your computer takes longer than usual to boot up or programs such as your antivirus are complaining that they are out of date. It is extremely likely that your computer has been infected with one of today’s many viruses.

The second and more suspicious symptom that your computer has a virus will be those pesky messages popping up warning you that your computer is infected with an exorbitant amount of malware and an attempt to persuade you to click on it in order to rid your computer of all that it found. Only to be taken to a site that wants you to purchase the software that promises to make it all go away. All too often people are falling for this scareware and follow through with the purchase, later to find that the $39 dollars software they agreed to purchases was actually a virus.

In nearly every case your credit card or bank account will be charged more than double the amount and good luck getting your money back. If you Internet Explorer pops up on its own, revealing porn and/or vacation sites. You definitely have a computer virus.

Lastly, if your web searches get diverted to sites having nothing to do with the keyword or phrase you have typed into your browser. Extra tabs or windows pop up along with your search or a simple search for “virus removal software” takes you to “a lovely weekend in Las Vegas,” you might consider taking your machine into a computer service center for a virus removal service before things get out of hand.

The following free pieces of software are extremely effective in ridding your computer of malicious spyware infections. You might want to give it a shot before taking your PC to the experts

1.    Malwarebytes
2.    Ad-Aware Free Internet Security
3.   Spybot – Search & Destroy

To get  a 15% coupon to fix your computer at A Speedy PC  Computer  Service Center

Text aspeedy to 72727 and you will get a coupon text back to you in 10 seconds. Text rates apply.

Ruben is the owner of

Speedy PC Computer Service Center

Phone: 701.219.6053

3175 25th Street South

Fargo, ND 5810

Inside Sunmart

Suite C

The Genius and Purpose Workshops, based on the book “Is Your Genius At Work?” by Dick Richards, provide a wonderful opportunity for participants to dig deeper into their own effectiveness and awareness to learn more about themselves through interaction with others in small groups and pairs, along with facilitation by Dick himself.

On Day One in the 4th Annual Fargo Genius Workshop, Dick skillfully guides participants through a process of discovering their genius, that part of each of us that is inevitably linked to our work and career but lies behind the experience and talents catalogued in our resumes. Day Two (the Purpose Workshop) takes the Genius Workshop one step further and concentrates on Life Purpose, which allows you to be more intentional and effective in fulfilling it, and that purpose gives focus to a life. Day One is a Prerequisite for Day Two.

Registration for Day 1 is $150 and Day 2 is $100, both days for $225.

For more information or to register, contact Jodee at www.bocksoffice.com.

The current struggle between Independent School District #152 and the Education Moorhead Union over contract negotiations has turned ugly.  As an educator, I will readily admit my bias in this situation but feel that information is being manipulated or held from the public in order to turn them against the teachers.  The teachers have not engaged in public mud slinging and should be commended for that.  I feel it is time that the public has a better understanding of what is really going on.

If you read any of the recent articles in the Fargo Forum about the contract negotiations you saw that Wayne Kazmierczak (Assistant Superintendent/ Lead Negotiator for ISD # 152) was quoted saying the teachers last proposal would cost the district an additional “roughly 9 percent over two years”.  This number would be correct if the school district would not have cut 27 positions from their staff. The 9% figure comes from the “Cast Forward” method of financial planning, which assumes all the people who worked in the district last year are still working for the district this year. This method pays no attention to the teachers who retired or were cut after the 2008-2009 school year. The school district had 392 educators last year and currently has 365.

This financial picture is very different when you talk actual dollars.  If you look at the amount of money spent on educators in 2008-2009 and then the amount of the first teacher proposed contract increase of 2% and 2%, with the maintaining of health insurance the district would see a  5.17% increase in spending over the next two years.  That is a far cry from the 9% figure reported to the Fargo Forum.  Misleading … I think so.

During this process, Moorhead Public Schools has advertised a projected district fund balance of $3.2 million dollars.  The reported balance to the State of Minnesota that was recently audited showed that the actual balance is now $5.7 million dollars.  This increase has occurred without even seeing the benefit of the reduction in staff.  Misleading … I think so.

The write up in the Fargo Forum did not discuss other changes the district is asking for in their proposal.  This includes an additional hour per day (at no additional pay), additional cost to employees for insurance, the ability to add three weeks to the school calender, and the reduction of lane change stipulations.  All of that, of course, is on top of a proposed total freeze of salaries.  Misleading … I think so.

If people in the community knew how they were being lied to and manipulated by the district, they would (or should) be furious.  While I do believe the teachers cannot see a significant salary increase, they should not willingly go backwards when the money is there for a reasonable and equitable settlement.

The Moorhead Public Schools and other area schools are some of the best in the nation.  We can be proud! 

Moorhead Public Schools is not the only district in financial trouble and will not be the only district going to the voters on November 3^rd.  According to the Fargo Forum Newspaper, the other west-central Minnesota school districts that are requesting local financial support include – Ulen-Hitterdal, Detroit Lakes Lake Park-Audubon, Perham-Dent, West Central Area and Pelican Rapids.

The Ulen-Hitterdal school district will be requesting voter support to increase the cap on the district’s operational levy from $1,750 per pupil to $1,990 per pupil.  Currently, the district receives $1,375 per pupil.

In Detroit Lakes the district is asking voters for a levy increase from $319 to $457 per pupil. This levy would essentially replace a 10-year school building bond from 1990.  It would raise about $400,000 each year in the next 10 years.

Lake Park-Audubon School District is requesting an increase from a $500 per-pupil operational levy to a $750 per-pupil levy.

Perham-Dent voters rejected a 10-year, $695 per-pupil levy last year, this year the school is proposing a $395 per pupil levy for three years.

The West Central Area district wants voters to support a $1,250 per-pupil levy referendum.  This would replace a current 10-year levy of $950 per-pupil approved in a mail-in ballot in February 2006.

Pelican Rapids will ask for support this year after about 52 percent of voters rejected last year’s $1,100 per-pupil levy.  The revised levy length changed from ten years to five years and separated it into two parts.

One part, $900 per-pupil, would go toward maintaining current school programming.  The second part, an additional $200, would go toward future technology and curriculum upgrades.

Moorhead currently receives no support locally.  The requested levy is very similar to others in the area that schools need to survive.  Voters need to realize that if this levy is not passed the days of band, choir, orchestra, hockey, football, basketball, and other non-essential activities are numbered.  Class sizes will go up, quality of education will go down.  Vote “YES” on November 3^rd and show that you care about your children’s schools.

The Moorhead Teacher’s Union has done their job over the last 10 years and that’s to fight for their member’s needs.  Why should employees of the district suffer personally because our wonderful leaders in St. Paul and in Washington D.C. don’t come through with what is promised? The district would be financially sound if the money they were allotted would just show up.

How many of you would stand idly by and take a pay cut from your boss for work done, because he did not get paid from a job?  No way!  You would demand the rightful compensation that is coming to you. Teachers should not have to give up compensation because they are public employees.

The large compensation increase the article spoke of, “Based on data from the Minnesota School Board Association, the average Moorhead teacher received the following two-year increases in total compensation: almost 12 percent for 1999-2001, almost 12 percent for 2001-03, 10.7 percent for 2003-05, about 10 percent for 2005-07 and almost 8.5 percent for 2007-09.” is largely due to the sky rocketing costs of health insurance.

Moorhead teachers have not been running to the bank with more money in their pockets. In fact, it has been less as the teacher’s responsibility for health insurance costs have also skyrocketed.

Every employee has a right to increased compensation if they have earned it, regardless of whether they’re in the public or private sector. How many of you would be willing to freeze your salary for the next two years?

If you feel the teachers are to blame for the financial crisis in Moorhead, try opening up your wallet and giving a twenty dollar bill back to your boss at the end of the next work day. Give up what you have rightfully earned for doing a difficult job.  Would be tough, wouldn’t it?

Keep up with all the local news in the Fargo Moorhead area.

It is time for Moorhead residents to step up and support what is important in these trying times. We will have an opportunity to vote on November 3, 2009, for an operating levy referendum that would provide the school district $850 per pupil in additional funds each year for the next 7 years beginning with the 2010-11 school year.

According to the Moorhead Public School’s website, the revenue generated from passing this referendum would be used to preserve and improve class sizes throughout the district, maintain and implement programs of choice for all students such as world language programming, arts programming, and science, technology, engineering and math programming, and enhance/expand student use of technology.

The need for this referendum is not because the district is being run poorly or because of the cost of the new schools. It is both a state wide and national problem that needs to be addressed. Currently, Moorhead Area Public Schools is one of 32 districts in the state that does not have voter-approved operating levy authority. The schools that do not have a levy, face making the same choices as Moorhead Public Schools which include cutting teachers and programs.

According to the Minnesota School Boards Association, currently 308 out of the state’s 340 school districts have voter-approved operating levy authority. Levies are not unusual and have become the only way for our schools to grow and develop. According to the Minnesota Department of Education, the average operating levy amount for the 2009-10 school year for all Minnesota districts that have a voter-approved operating levy in place is $859. As a reminder, the Moorhead School district is asking for $850 per pupil which is right in line with what other districts are receiving from their local supporters.

As a parent and educator I will completely support the referendum. Our city needs quality schools and teachers to continue to grow and stay competitive in the coming years. I urge you to do the same and vote “Yes” on November 3, 2009.

As you prepare your child for the start of a new, keep in mind that it is normal for her to experience a range of emotions about returning to school. Research shows that returning to school is at the top of the list for childhood worries for children ages 7 to 12.

While each child responds to the start of a new year differently, you can take steps to address jitters and make the transition smoother. The first step is to identify reasons for the nerves. If your child has recently experienced upheaval at home, such as moving or divorce, he may be especially stressed about returning to school. Make sure to stay in tune with your child’s moods. Ask opened ended questions in order to get him to open up.

Some students are nervous about new academic challenges that come with a new grade level. Keep open lines of communication with your child and the school. Most schools will post grades and assignments on-line, password protected of course. Getting organized and establishing routines can also help your child feel ready for the next grade.

Social worries are another big cause for stress in students. Children become worried about meeting new students and not having their friends in the same class. Try to present this as an opportunity for your child to wide her group of friends, rather than a loss of familiar faces.

Once the first day or two are done, chances are the back to school jitters will disappear. If they seem to last longer than usual, it wouldn’t hurt to visit with your pediatrician about the behaviors.

Have a great school year Fargo-Moorhead!

• Get your kids involved. Before you head to the store, whether you are shopping for groceries or back to school supplies, sit down with your child and plan what you intend to buy. Discussions beforehand helps avoid conflicts while shopping.
• Family time counts. Everybody is busy, parents and kids but a little togetherness goes a long way so it’s important to find the time to have a family dinner, watch a Friday movie, make Saturday pancakes, or play an evening game of cards or Scrabble. Most children also crave some one-on-one time with a parent.
• Allow kids to make choices.  Kids appreciate being part of the decision-making process. 
• Establish a budget for back to school gear.  Before you head off to tackle the stores, sit down with your child and set your budget limits.  Have your child agree to spending $X on shoes, $X on shirts and so forth.  That way while shopping, your child will learn the importance of sticking to a budget.
• Look for special offers.  Take advantage of sales and coupon offers.  As long as you don’t save your back to school shopping until the last minute, more than likely, you’ll be able to find pre-back-to-school sales.

For information about the Fargo-Moorhead area click here

The United Way of Cass Clay is getting ready for their 11th Annual School Supply Drive this week beginning Monday, July 27th.  The School Supply Drive (SSD) is an annual event that creates lasting change in our community by providing a new backpack and complete set of school supplies to children in Cass and Clay counties.  Last year 3,700 children were provided with supplies.  Businesses, organizations, and individuals donated over $100,000 worth of supplies to help kids in our community be confident, prepared and excited on their first day of school. Preparing children for success in school creates lasting change in our community because we are investing in our children and creating a better future for Cass and Clay Counties.

The goal for this years drive is to meet the needs of over 4,000 students ages K-12.  With rising gas and grocery prices they anticipate the need for school supplies to be greater than at any other time in the past.

The following are a list of supplies that are needed:

• New Backpacks *
• Notebooks *
• Pencil boxes/pouches *
• Markers & Highlighters *
• Scissors *
• Loose leaf paper
• Erasers & Folders
• Pens & Colored pencils
• 1″ 3-Ring binders

* Denotes supplies MOST needed

Donation drop off sites will be open Thursday, July 9^th through Friday, August 7^th.

Please note the following drop off sites:

FargoDome, Moorhead K-Mart, Moorhead Center Mall, Wal-Mart in Fargo and Dilworth, United Way of Cass Clay, all Take 2 Video locations, and West Acres.

Monetary donations can be mailed to United Way of Cass Clay, P.O. Box 1609

Fargo, ND 58107.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:

You can sign up for two hour shifts to help fill the backpacks.  A maximum of 15 volunteers are needed per shift.  The following days and times are available:

July 27^th through August 13^th (Monday – Friday)

9-11, 11-1, 2-4 @ the FargoDome, upstairs in Room 201/202.  Parking is free.

Volunteers are needed to help distribute backpacks to families.  Because of the sensitivity to families in need we do not allow children to help distribute supplies.

Saturday, August 8^th from 7-11 am at the FargoDome

AND

Thursday, August 13^th from 4-8 pm at the West Fargo High School and Moorhead Center Mall.

To volunteer please contact Angie Sherman @ asherman@uwcc.net or Deb Clemenson @ dclemenson@uwcc.net or call 701-237-5050.

Through the United Way of Cass-Clay Counties students in need can receive a backpack and full set of age appropriate school supplies.

To receive school supplies:

1. Complete the registration form
2. Bring form to one of the following distribution events:

Distribution Event #1

Saturday, August 8^th from 7-11 am at the FargoDome (1800 N. University Drive, Fargo)

Distribution Event #2

Thursday, August 13^th from 4-8 pm at the Moorhead Center Mall (510 Center Ave., Mhd)

OR the West Fargo Veterans Memorial Arena/High School (801 9^th St. East, West Fargo)

Supplies are available for students residing in and attending K-12 schools in Cass or Clay counties.  The supplies are NOT available for Head Start, Pre-School, or college students.  Registration forms will also be available at the FargoDome that morning.

If you have any questions regarding the school supply drive please call 701-237-5050 or e-mail Thomas Hill at thill@uwcc.net.

For additional information regarding the Fargo Moorhead area, click here.