I want to forward all of my e-mail automatically onto Gmail, which Yahoo won't do unless I sign up to its premium version that I cannot afford. Is there a third-party way of automatically forwarding all incoming e-mail to Gmail from Yahoo?

First, go to your Yahoo address and set up a notice that will tell people of your new address.

Go to Options, then "Mail Options" in Yahoo. Select "Vacation Response." Check the box marked "Enable auto-response during your vacation." Set the end date as far out as you can. And write a short note explaining what's up.

I have two methods for actually forwarding the e*mail without paying for Yahoo plus. They each are met with varying success.

This first method works for me, but not for everyone.

Go to Gmail

Click settings.

Choose Accounts and Import.

Under Check Mail Using POP3, click Add a POP3 account

Enter your Yahoo address. Press Next.

Put in your password. Press Add Account

It'll take a bit, but in a few minutes, your Yahoo e-mail should start showing up in your Gmail in-box.

As I said, that worked for me and I don't pay for Yahoo Plus. But it didn't work for a test account I opened new. The second method you can try involves running some programs on your Windows computer. This means that e-mail will only be forwarded when your computer is on and connected to the Internet.

Download these two programs: Easy e-mail forwarding from e-eeasy.com. Windows only, sorry Mac folks.

Ypops from ypopsemail.com

Install and run Ypops. This is probably a program you want to run any time you boot Windows.

Now install and run Easy Email Forward

Here's how to configure it.

1. Right click the Easy e-mail icon in the system tray and click Mail Settings.
2. Under Application, check Run at start-up.
3. Click the small red folder icon for accounts setup
4. In the accounts management window, put in your yahoo e-mail address
5. Under Account Type, select YPOPS.
6. Enter your Yahoo password
7. In Forward To, enter your Gmail address
8. You need to enter an SMTP address. Any one will do. If you have e-mail account from your ISP, use it. If you can't find one, use Gmails. It's smtp.gmail.com port 465 with SSL. Enter your SMTP username and password. And check Needs auth.
9. Click save. And close the accounts management window

Once you close the Easy Email window it will by default check Yahoo for mail to forward every five minutes

If your SMTP mail server needs SSL security, like Gmail does, you'll need a couple files known as DLLs to make sure it works

Look in the Easy Email readme file for a link to the DLLs.

Download the two DLLs and put them in your Windows system directory.

Now all of your Yahoo e-mail should be forwarded to your Gmail account. You can open the Mail Settings again and press the "Check For New Mail (Test Settings) button, to make sure it works. The thing is, this didn't work for me, though it did for lots of other people.

Put the computer to sleep by tapping the power button so the sleep menu comes up, and then click sleep. Alternatively, you can go to the Apple menu and select sleep from there.

Once the sleep light starts blinking and you've confirmed the hard drive is no longer spinning, carefully close the lid so that you don't reactivate the computer.

Then remove the battery. The light will go out. The computer will be dead.

Now, either connect the computer to AC power, or put the battery back in and restart the computer.

You'll see a progress bar and then the computer will return right where you left it. Enjoy amazing your friends.

The University of Minnesota open-sourced its Gopher implementation in 2000 and has since shut down its Gopher server. But Gopher is not dead! Enthusiasts keep its spirit alive, claiming it provides a much cleaner and more efficient way of presenting text information than that unruly WWW thing.

Here's how to take a trip down the Gopher hole.

First you need a Gopher Client. Firefox will do. It never eliminated Gopher from its legacy Netscape code, though it could do with some updating. Serious Gopher users add the Overbite project plug-in for a more robust experience.

Then start off by perusing Floodgap.com's index of Gopher servers at gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/world You can link from there to Veronica-2, the successor of the original Veronica search engine of days gone by.

Further in, among the Python code and Gopher log entries you'll find a Twitter browser at gopher.floodgap.com/1/fun/twitpher? Put a username after the question mark to see the Twitter stream of just one user.

If you still rail against Mosaic and the graphical Web that ruined the Internet, take a peaceful walk down the safe image-free streets of Gopher. It's kind of like those working pioneer-villages that suck in tourists. It's a trip back in time, but don't forget people actually live there.

Tom and Brian name the tech they think was a turkey in 2009 and get a few turkeys from listners of the show as well.

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It's not MUCH security, I admit, but some folks like it as one more speed bump. Essentially, it makes sure the secure log-in page is up so you're not accidentally revealing your username and password to malicious software.

Here's how to put it back into action in Windows 7.

Go to the old Start button, now just a Windows logo. In the search box, type netplwiz and press enter or click on the result.

A pane called user accounts will appear.

Click on the Advanced tab.

At the bottom of the screen, under secure log-on, check "require users to press Ctrl + Alt + Delete"

Now when you log-in to your computer, you'll have a rather boring pane asking for Ctrl-Alt-Del, which you'll have to press before you can get to the log-in page.

Hope that makes you feel just a little bit more secure.

Should you buy that extended warranty? Tom Merritt says no. Rafe Needleman says sometimes. We'll give you some guidance on how to decide if it's worth the money.

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First, make sure your virtual machine is powered off, not suspended.

Then, find your virtual machine's folder, most likely in Documents. Right- or control-click on the virtual machine file you want to rename and select "Show Package Contents."

Find the VMX file, right- or control-click it and open it with Text Edit or your favorite text editor.

Find the line called displayName and change it to the name you want. In my case, "Windows 7." Then save the file.

Now go launch VMware Fusion. In the library, select the wrongly named machine and delete it, but choose "Keep File."

Go back into the finder to your virtual machine's folder and rename the virtual machine file name to the correct name.

Now go back to the VMware Library. Choose File, then Open.

Browse to the newly renamed virtual machine. Select it. When it asks if the VM is moved, select "I copied it."

Voila! Your VM has a new name.

Many of you are getting new PCs these days, either as a gift, or just because there's a shiny new operating system out there. But once you get it fired up and the operating system installed, it's time to populate it with good software. Don't just take all the dreck off your old machine people. Use this as an opportunity to start fresh. Let me give you the seven essential pieces of software for your new PC.

First, there's security. You need an antivirus app, and it's not something you need to pay for. CNET's Download.com gave AVG Free Antivirus edition five stars out of five. And if you're not a big company, it won't cost you a dime.

Now that you're protected, it's time to browse the Internet. Don't just go with the Web browser that came with your operating system. There's Opera, and Google Chrome, and Firefox, and so many other options. And you know what? I'm not going with any of them. I recommend Sea Monkey. Why? Because it has the Firefox Web browser, but it also bundles e-mail, an IRC client, and Web page editor as well. If IRC and Web editing doesn't matter to you, then maybe go with Firefox and Thunderbird for e-mail. However, to get the most bang for your byte, I say go Sea Monkey.

Next, you need to tell all your friends of your experience on your new computer. So get an IM client. On Windows, I recommend Pidgin. For Mac use Adium. They both are free, open-source multiservice clients that work great.

Next, it's time to save you a few hundred bucks. Don't go out and drop dough on Microsoft Office. Open Office from Openoffice.org is better than it's ever been. I use it daily for word processing, spreadsheet manipulation, presentations, and more. If you're an Excel superuser, you may have issues with it, but for the average Joe, it's going to do everything you need--for free!

Productivity is covered. Now for some entertainment. For that, you need VLC media player. It can handle almost anything you throw at it. Have DVDs won't play in that piece of crap software that came with your PC? VLC will handle it. Music? Any format you can think of. And it's got that magic price you love.

Two more and we're done.

Now you need a graphics editor. How else will you put your friends heads on celebrity bodies. For Windows there's nothing better than Paint.NET. It's free and powerful. For Mac? It's tough. I like Acorn, which is free to download but $50 to keep. For free that stays free, try Seashore, which is based on the GIMP engine, or Skitch.

Finally, one last security piece of software. Antispyware. You can go with a cocktail of Ad-Aware, Spybot Search and Destory, Windows Defender, and so on. That's not a bad idea, but if I was backed up against a wall and forced to pick just one, I'd pick Hijack This. Trend Micro has given us one of the most powerful malware removal tolls you can find, and it's freeware.

Now there's certainly many other apps you need, such as registry cleaners, torrent downloaders, FTP clients, and so on, but they start to stray into niches that vary for different types of users. I can say without a doubt that these seven programs are essential for you to install on every PC, no matter who you are.

Tom and Rafe discuss life with Windows 7, Entourage, Seagate hard drives, Ubuntu and more.

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