Some money saving deals, for now

Update:
Well I guess I know why I tortured myself those other years. Staples has Quicken Deluxe + Turbo Tax + Internet security. The Quicken Deluxe + Turbo Tax is only 59.99 (it does require a rebate). However, with your Staples rewards its even less. I believe they have Internet Security for $9.99 so get it all in one place. Of course if you hate having to fill in rebates and that is worth $7 then the deal below is still the way to go.

The first deal is Quicken+Turbo Tax for ~$67, no driving required no rebates.
The second is for iGo tips (~$0.99) at Radio Shack on clearance.

Tax Software and Quicken
Every year I torture myself trying to find the best deal on

1. Quicken
2. Turbo Tax
3. Internet Security

This year, thanks to pointers from others, I have a new favorite (though I have not completed phase 3 yet). Plus, I can now save hours not looking for deals.

I believe the total prices is ~78 dollars.

Amazon has 1+2 for $101.98 less a $35 instant rebate (put both in your cart and go to checkout) and free shipping. I did this a couple of days ago so it definitely works. This gives you Quicken and Turbo Tax for ~67 dollars (pretty good). I also think you can still combine this with the Staples deal for Internet security for $9. This puts your total at ~$78, which is pretty good.

Of course I am still annoyed that this does NOT get you efile. Sure, you get federal efile for free, but with state efile at almost $18, I will print out returns again this year.

iGo Tips

I don't have time to go into iGo in much detail, but you can check out their web site (http://www.igo.com/). Note I use my iGo lightly (only when I travel) there have been some complaints about durability. I got my first pair of adaptors when RadioShack was closing stores for $25 each (iGo anywhere 70 watt). I also got some tips on closeout, for about $3 each.

Tips are normally about $10, which is way to high if you ask me. However, I was just in a local RadioShack and there were a bunch (not all) on sale for under $1. There was also the dual power adaptor for $1, which can be used with the main brick or with the appropriate adaptor in a car. Even better the list is available online (http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?s=A-StorePrice-RSK&sr=1&kw=igo&origkw=igo&kwCatId=&pg=1&searchSort=TRUE&retainProdsInSession=1&x=8&y=12) so if you need tips now is the time.

Dual Boot Windows and Linux










This might seem like a dry topic, afterall everyone knows how to use grub to dual boot a system. However, how many people know that you can use the Windows bootloader for the same purpose. Moreover, I would argue that this is fundementally the right way to do it for most users for the following reasons

• Linux is multiboot friendly, it won't generally trash your MBR unless you ask it
• Linux programs are not MBR sensitive, the version of Partition Magic I had (as well as an old version of Norton System Works) both volunteered to "fix" my bad MBR. By which they meant kill my Linux login.
• When you update windows you won't kill your Linux install
• Everyone dual boots from grub, get yourself a little street credit

Of course if you are in a community where Windows is considered an evil, then even using the NT loader may be considered bad. However, everyone I show my system to says "hey how do I do that?" BTW if you are using grub and want to make Windows the default just move it up to the first slot.

Just to give you an idea what you are in for you will

Reinstall Grub not to the MBR (or whatever linux boot loader you want).

• For example run Grub with the right parameters

Get a copy of the boot loader

• Run dd

Fix your windows install so it owns the boot record

• (install, repair)

Create the entry for dual booting.

A detailed list can be found at http://port25.technet.com/archive/2006/10/13/Using-Vista_2700_s-Boot-Manager-to-Boot-Linux-and-Dual-Booting-with-BitLocker-Protection-with-TPM-Support.aspx.

However, there are a couple of short cuts. Note, most of this requires admin privlidges. Sudo is useful on Ubuntu and Debian linux distros.

For Step 1:

• We will follow this as is. Simply install Linxu but DON'T put the boot in the MBR

For Step 2:

• Copy the boot sector dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/tmp/linux.bin bs=512 count=1 (NOTE the drive is the drive you installed the linux boot to). This can be found by fdisk -l which should show a partition with system = Linux.
• Modern Linux distros can mount an NT volume read write, there is no need to use a USB or floppy for the copy.
• You can also follow the alternative instructions at http://www.highlandsun.com/hyc/linuxboot.html it sounds like a cool way to do it.

For Step 3:

• You can probably user the repair function, if you have an existing Windows install. That is what I did.

For Step 4:

• Follow http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022 to edit boot.in
• Or do
• C:> cd \, C:> attrib -h -r -s boot.ini, C:> notepad boot.ini
• Add a line "timeout=30" to the top
• Add a line "c:\ubuntu.lnx="Ubuntu Linux" to the bottom

There you have it, a dual boot that starts with the Windows Boot Loader.