Can’t find the photo you need for that marketing piece? Need more images than Microsoft Office provides for Word and Publisher? Look no further than iStockphoto.

I’ve used iStockphoto for graphic elements for websites (those icons at the top of the page are from iStockphoto) and for photos and clip art for flyers, postcards and other marketing materials for OfficeMedic. It’s all royalty-free, which means you don’t have to pay for each use of the content. You can choose from over 1 million images from their library and, if you are a designer yourself, you can add your work to the library and get paid when a member uses it.

Membership is free and comes with some cool benefits, like the Free Image of the Week Screensaver (iStockphoto offers several free images for download each week) and a widget to search for images without a browser. Plus, members have access to a wide range of design articles and forums covering photography, design and more.

iStockphoto is a great resource if you design your own materials for work or school, or even if you just want to dress up your personal website.

Disclaimer up front: I’m a Mac user. Have been for 18 years and I prefer to run the Mac OS. That said, my recommendation, for the home and casual user looking to buy a computer, to buy a Macintosh is based on what I see every day in the field, expunging viruses and spyware from my customers’ machines. This wouldn’t occur if they would use a more secure operating system, and in most cases there is no compelling reason to use a Windows machine.

A recent article at InfoWorld gives some hard facts about Windows’ vulnerabilities that left my blood cold. How is the average user to protect himself against the malware arrayed against him?

We’ve added several new products to our line of Guaranteed Compatible toners. Foremost, because of the number of our customers who have the Copystar CS-1620 copier, is the TK-413 toner, also for use in the CS-1635/1650/2020/2050.

In addition, we now carry:

• Kyocera Mita TK-411 Compatible Toner, for use in the KM-1620/1650/2020/2050
• Kyocera Mita TK-20H Compatible Toner, for use in the DP-1400/1800 and FS-1700/3700/6900
• Konica 7020 Compatible Toner, also for use in the 7025/7030
• Toshiba T-2320 Compatible Toner, for use in the eStudio 200L/230/280

We have been proud to carry this line of Guaranteed Compatible toners for the last fifteen years (since August 1991), because it has performed as well as the OEM’s (Original Equipment Manufacturer, e.g., Copystar) toner at a substantially lower price—usually 30-35% lower. Each toner is manufactured to meet the demands of the specific machine it will be used in and is guaranteed not to damage the machine. Using a compatible toner will not void your warranty.

If you own a copier (or printer or fax machine), we likely have a compatible product for it. Call us for a price quote!

No, it’s not me! Today’s the 25th birthday of the IBM PC. Although certainly not the first computer (or even the best), this day marked the first time a computer had been released using off-the-shelf parts from a variety of vendors.

I actually became a card-carrying computer geek three years earlier, when my Dad got me a TRS-80 Model I. (Not for Christmas or even my birthday, but during summer vacation. $600! What a great Dad!) Soon computers consumed my every waking moment, and eventually my hobby became my career.

What was your first computer? The comments are open to all.

For years I’ve considered AOL to be an over-priced service with limited features hampered by slow, bloated, buggy software. However, AOL has eliminated one of those objections.

As of August 3, AOL began offering its software, e-mail, and other services free of charge to broadband users. Dial-up customers will begin paying $10 a month, down from as much as $26 a month.

AOL will actually increase their revenues with this model, making up the difference in price with volume. No, wait: they will cut costs by no longer sending out three billion CDs every month and they have let go 6,000 customer service employees whose sole job was to not cancel your service when you asked them to. Okay, seriously: they’re making so much money on the advertising they flash at you in their software that they plan to expand their advertising.

For those of you determined to keep your AOL, this is a win in two ways. First, if you’re a broadband user, your monthly cost for Internet services may have been cut by as much as 70%. Second, if you’re a dial-up user, there’s no excuse for not moving to broadband. Rates for DSL are lower than dial-up used to be and, once you switch to broadband you’ll never look back.

Interestingly, AOL will also offer—for free—their new My eAddress service in September. My eAddress will allow any Internet user to claim a domain (e.g., mydomain.com) and have up to 100 “email identities” (e.g., you@mydomain.com) for sending and receiving mail. Presumably the advertising on the web interface will pay for the service.

My take? If you’re not an AOL customer, don’t start. If you’re on dial-up, move up to broadband. And if you’re on broadband, start considering a life outside of AOL—the grass really is greener on the other side.

Ouch! News like this has got to sting: eEye Digital Security has found a security vulnerability in consumer security products put out by McAfee, including McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006, McAfee VirusScan, and McAfee AntiSpyware.

As yet, McAfee has not patched the vulnerability, which would allow an attacker to run malicious code on your computer, effectively bypassing the protection the product provides. If you’re using a McAfee product, be sure that your subscription is active so that you will receive the latest updates to remove this threat.