A few weeks back I make a big deal out of the fact that we had just earned our first download in Europe…….somebody in United Kingdom had downloaded one of our episodes.  Well, that person must have liked what they heard and talked about it.  Now three weeks later, we have nearly tripled our audience worldwide.  We have had listeners download at least an episode in nearly every nation in Europe.  As a matter of fact, we have listeners in 24 nations across the world.  I want to tip my hat to all you folks in all the 24 nations.

Lest we forget about our American audience, we have listeners in 34 states.  Yep, 34 states.  I hope we can continue to earn your attention and loyalty as time marches on and we get better at podcasting and we get more and more guest interviews.  

Tonight we have a question from Megan in Arizona concerning Apple TV and porting issues.  ANSWER:  That’s a good one Megan.  I personally can’t think of a “quick fix†here.  Hard wiring is not exactly a “quick fix†but that is the only way I can think of going.  Ed is testing out an idea as we record this tonight and either way….if he comes up with a successful answer or not I will email you later this week.  Thanks for the question.

We have another email question this time from Joanne from Michigan concerning (timing is everything here) wifi.  ANSWER: You mentioned the wifi light is on but you get no service.  Just reboot your modem and router.  Unplug the power from the modem and unplug the Ethernet cable.  Count to ten and plug everything back in again.  Repeat with the router.  Sometimes the router and/or the modem need some attention.  I am sure this will work.  If not then email me with contact information and we will figure it out for you.  Joanne you didn’t give me your laptop’s model number but regardless of that there should b a button somewhere on the laptop that is the on/off switch for the wifi.  On some HP models you just push the wifi emblem light if it is on the face of the laptop (usually between the “f†keys and the bottom of the screen.  Sometimes the on/off switch is a “fn†key (like maybe the f7 button)  just depress the fn key next to the left side control key and push the appropriate f key on top at the same time.  Thanks for your email.  Our email address is feedback@thehelpdeskpodcast.com.

We are going to utter the last word tonight concerning XP, right here.  In the shownotes we have a heading called “Links that may help you if you experience trouble after Tuesdayâ€.  You will also notice some of the links will guide you to setting up your XP machine for Linux…..the Mint distro specifically and also Ubuntu.

Am I being sarcastic by adding those links?  I don’t think so.  I happen to believe that it is a viable alternative.  Number one:  you won’t need new hardware, number two:  you are going to have a learning curve with Windows 7 or 8 anyway so what’s the difference?

I hope we sound better than our last podcast.  Wow!  Lesson learned I guess.  Don Jones (our interview guest last week was gracious enough to send me an email saying he thought the interview sounded great.  It did….the interview.  This is all a learning curve so I am going to call it that ….an experience  and learn from it.  We are moving on.

Links that may help you if you experience trouble after Tuesday

Microsoft Windows 8 download page

How to install Linux Mint on your XP PC, By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ZD Net, March 31, 2014

How to Install Ubuntu Linux, Edited by Maluniu, Darrelljon, Reshmi, Cipher_nemo and 29 others, WikiHow….to do anything