ItВґs that time of year again, spring. Your vehicle is ready to be treated well after a long, hard winter and you will need to make sure that a full spring maintenance is done to keep your car or truck in perfect operating order. LetВґs take a look at some of the most important factors in the spring maintenance.

Exterior Spring Maintenance

Wiper blades. These are an important part of vehicle maintenance. YouВґll want to replace old blades or clean newer ones that have gone through the rigors of winter. Wiper blades should be replaced every six months anyway, so doing it during your spring clean up is perfect timing.

Washing. The salt that is used to melt ice on roads can be very damaging to your car, so now that spring is here, give it a thorough washing from top to bottom. Make sure you rinse the undercarriage as well, since this is where a lot of rust happens without you noticing.

Waxing. This is the perfect time to wax your vehicle so it will last for a while and be easier to clean next time. You should also repair any chips in the paint at this time.

Tires. Check your tire pressure and top up if needed. Keeping your tires at optimum pressure will save you hundreds of dollars in gas and tire wear, so this should be a regular thing, not just for spring maintenance.

Engine Maintenance

Oil. You should change your oil every 3 to 4 months, so an easy way to remember that is to simply change with the change of seasons. Your spring vehicle maintenance is the ideal time to do this.

Tune up. Get a tune up now, to make sure that your vehicle is in great condition for summer driving, when most longer trips are taken. This will allow you to travel safely to weddings or on vacation.

Fluid levels. A quick check of all fluid levels is a good idea at this point, too. Make sure everything is topped up so your engine will be running at top efficiency and you wonВґt have to deal with problems in this area later on.

Other Vehicle Maintenance

Interior. Now that the weather is warmer, youВґll be able to get out the vacuum and get rid of the clutter and garbage that built up over the winter! Clean out your carВґs interior and vacuum for a nicer driving atmosphere.

Brakes. A break check should be done every spring to ensure that they are in perfect working order. You may not even realize that your brakes aren’t working properly, since we tend to get used to them as time goes on. This can end up being very dangerous, so get them checked before you head into spring.

Other systems. Your spring maintenance checkup is a good time to review all other areas of your vehicle, replace broken lights and repair any other problems that you have been leaving until warmer weather.

A spring vehicle maintenance is the ideal way to ensure that your vehicle is ready to drive and is safe to do so for the spring and summer months. This includes checking out the main systems, fixing up your car and removing the winter salt and grime that can be damaging, as well as replacing parts like the windshield wipers for better visibility. Its an important part of car upkeep. You should also do a winter maintenance session to ensure that your vehicle is ready for winter, six months or so from now.

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Below I have composed a list of the 20 must have wordpress plugins I am currently using with my WordPress self hosted blog.

I have thoroughly researched blogging (and wordpress plugins) for the past 2 weeks, about 3 hours per day and have fiddled around with many, many plug ins and I have finally chosen these 21 great plugins to keep, which will aid in making my blog more search engine friendly, efficient and user friendly.

I hope that you find this information useful as I sure wish there was a full list like this when I starting up my blog. The list is in alphabetical order with links to the plug in page.

Any other comments or suggestions of great wordpress plugins would be appreciated.

The 20 Must have plug-ins

• 4Avatars

This plugin allows you to add MyBlogLog.com or Gravatar.com or Avatars.pl avatars to Wordpress comments. By b4it.

Why? This is very useful for adding personalisation and a human feel to your comments.

• All in One SEO Pack

Out-of-the-box SEO for your Wordpress blog. By uberdose.

Why? This is a must have for search engine optimisation, no questions asked.

• Brian’s Latest Comments

This shows an overview of the recently active articles and the last people to comment on them. Original idea and code fixes contributed by Michael Heilemann.

Why? This is a must have for user interaction and gives readers more reason to comment on your blog.

• Broken Link Checker

Checks your posts for broken links and missing images and notifies you on the dashboard if any are found. By Janis Elsts.

Why? Why would you want broken links in your website? You need this to check your website with ease.

• FeedBurner FeedSmith

Originally authored by Steve Smith, this plug-in detects all ways to access your original WordPress feeds and redirects them to your FeedBurner feed so you can track every possible subscriber. By FeedBurner.

Why? This easily tracks your readers in a simple and easy way, so you can track your readers more carefully.

• Filosofo Gravatars

Add Gravatars to your WordPress theme in a way that customizes easily and degrades nicely. By Austin Matzko.

Why? An alternative to 4Avatars. This is very useful or adding personalisation and a human feel to your blog.

• Google XML Sitemaps

This plugin will generate a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog which is supported by Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and YAHOO.

Why? So your website is easier to crawl and to become more Search Engine Friendly.

• JAW Popular Posts Widget

Adds a sidebar widget that shows the most popular posts. Requires the Sidebar Widgets plugin from Automattic and the Popularity Contest plugin by Alex King. By Thomas Watson Steen.

Why? So your users can find your most popular articles in a breeze.

• MyBlogLog Widget

Adds MyBlogLog widget to your blog. A community post. By MyBlogLog Team.

Why? So you can see what readers are looking at your blog and so you can interact with them easier.

• NextGEN Gallery

A NextGENeration Photo gallery for the WEB2.0(beta). By NextGEN DEV-Team.

Why? Add galleries and photos to your blog with ease, easy resizing, thumbnails, galleries and more!

• NoFollow Free

Remove the nofollow tag from your blogБ─≥s comments with a lot of options customizable, per user type removal, per comments count removal etcБ─╕ By Michele Marcucci.

Why? So your readers can benefit from commenting and reading your blog.

• Popularity Contest

This will enable ranking of your posts by popularity; using the behaviour of your visitors to determine each postБ─≥s popularity. You set a value (or use the default value) for every post view, comment, etc. and the popularity of your posts is calculated based on those values. By Alex King.

Why? So your users can find your most popular articles in a breeze. Readers will stay for longer.

• Search Meter

Keeps track of what your visitors are searching for. By Bennett McElwee.

Why? So you know what your readers are looking for.

• Secure and Accessible PHP Contact Form

This powerful yet easy-to-install contact form features exceptional accessibility and usability while still providing extensive anti-spam and anti-exploit security features. A marriage of communication and peace-of-mind. By Mike Cherim and Mike Jolley.

Why? Self explanitory - security.

• Simple Tags

Simple Tags Extended Tagging for WordPress 2.3. Auto completion, Suggested Tags, Tag Cloud Widgets, Related Posts, Mass edit tags ! By Amaury BALMER.

Why? Have a better internal linking system inside your blog and your readers can find related articles easier.

• Subscribe To Comments

Allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry. Based on version 1 from Scriptygoddess By Mark Jaquith.

Why? So readers can received updates of a particular post without having to come back and check all the time.

• Top Commentators Widget

Adds a sidebar widget to show the top commentators in your WP site. Adapted from Show Top Commentators plugin. By Lorna Timbah.

Why? This makes readers want to comment more on your blog as they get rewarded for it by being on your blog.

• Ultimate Tag Warrior

Ultimate Tag Warrior is a tagging plugin, thatБ─≥s heavy on tag visualisation. By Christine Davis.

Why? Same as simple tags, so you have a better internal linking system inside your blog and your readers can find related articles easier. It has some other nifty features as well. 9962852eafd6eeac56364b8a984c0685

Tracks views, post/page views, referrers, and clicks. Requires a WordPress.com API key. By Andy Skelton.

Why? So you have an idea of who, what, when, where, how, why and pretty much everything else you want to know about your visitors and site.

• WordPress Database Backup

On-demand backup of your WordPress database. By Austin Matzko.

Why? Just incase your computer or the server blows up.

• wp-cache

Very fast cache module. ItБ─≥s composed of several modules, this plugin can configure and manage the whole system. Once enabled, go to Б─°OptionsБ─² and select Б─°WP-CacheБ─². By Ricardo Galli Granada.

Why? Have a faster blog.

• Comment Relish

This plug in sends an email to people who comment on your blog for the first time.

Why? This is very useful in making sure they subscribe your blog and extends a warm welcome to your website.

Any more that I have missed? What do you think of my wordpress plug-ins?

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Auto Insurance and Leasing

When leasing a car, it’s easier to stick with the same company for your auto insurance. What you don’t know, however, is that you may end up paying too much for your coverage and it’s better to look elsewhere for lower rates.

When you lease, the vehicle that you will drive belongs to the leasing company. They want to make sure that their investment is covered in the event the vehicle gets damaged, totalled or stolen. They typically want to get covered for the difference between what your auto-insurer pays and your outstanding leasing obligations at the time of the accident or damage. This is called GAP, short for Guaranteed Auto Protection, and is usually included in the leasing contract. If your leasing company is called BMW Financial Services, Chrysler Financial or any other finance division of an automaker, then chances are your GAP insurance will be offered by the same lease company.

You are under no obligation to accept GAP insurance included as part of your lease agreement. Why pay an insurance premium if you could get the same coverage for a lower price? Invest some time shopping by comparing quotes from other insurance companies, including your existing one. Ask for discounts that you already qualify for and adjust your coverage accordingly.

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Buy a car at the end of your lease.

You’ve come to the end of your lease and you like you car enough you want to keep it in the driveway. Just like buying a used car, there is some research to be done to nail a good deal.

First, you need to know the cost of buying out your lease. Read the fine print of your contract and look for the “purchase option price”. This price is set by the leasing company and usually comprises the residual value of the car at the end of the lease plus a purchase-option fee ranging from $300 to $500. When you signed on the dotted line, your monthly payments were calculated as the difference between the vehicle’s sticker price and its estimated value at the end of the lease, plus a monthly financing fee. This estimated price of the car value at the end of the lease is what is termed in leasing jargon “residual value”. It is the expected depreciation – or loss in value – of the vehicle over the scheduled-lease period. For example, a car with a sticker price of $40,000 and a 50% residual percentage will have an estimated $20,000 value at lease end.

Now that you know the cost of buying out your lease, you need to determine the actual value, also termed “market value”, of your vehicle. So, how much does your car retail for in the market? To pin down a good, solid estimate you need to do some pricing research. Check the price of the vehicle, with similar mileage and condition, with different dealers. Use online pricing websites, such as Cars.com, Edmunds.com and Kelly Blue Book for detailed pricing information. Gleaning pricing information from various sources should give you a fair estimate of your vehicle’s retail value.

All you have to do now is compare the two amounts. If the residual value is lower than the actual retail value, than you’re into a winner. Unfortunately, there is a good chance a car coming off a lease is a little on the high side. Don’t despair though. Leasing companies know as much that residual values on their vehicles are greater than their market value and as such are always on the look out for offers. You can knock down on the price of your leased vehicle with some smooth negotiating tactics. Put forward a price that is below your actual target and negotiate hard until you wind up near that figure.

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Having a little fun with the Chevrolet 454! ))

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You’ve probably seen all those wonderful WordPress plugins. Or have you? Here are 10 powerful WordPress plugins that will elevate your blog above the typical SEO’d site… and then some.

Advanced Permalinks (UrbanGiraffe.com) allows you to easily change your blog’s permalink structure, while minimizing the potential loss in search engine rankings as a result of such a change.

What particularly intrigues me, however, is the ability to specify a different permalink structure per Category. That will certainly yield creative opportunities with blogs that follow a silo structure.

WYSIWYG Plugin (MudBomb.com) gives you a better editor than the built-in Visual editor of WordPress. It lends you added flexibility when embedding images, for example, within your blog post. Perfect for bloggers who like to add photos every now and then.

Drain Hole (UrbanGiraffe.com) is a download manager that allows you to quickly see how many times a file has been downloaded over time.

If, for example, you offer shareware ebooks for download, you will be able to quickly see which titles are more popular than others. Plus, whenever you upload a new version of an ebook, your blog post will automatically update and show the ebook’s new filedate and other version information.

FAQ-Tastic Plugin (KnowledgeConstructs.com) makes managing FAQs a breeze. It also allows your readers to submit their questions, and even ensure that your FAQ is search engine optimized.

Filled In Plugin (UrbanGiraffe.com) allows you to easily create forms or customized questionnaires, validate the data entered into those forms, and then send you the data. No longer will you have to suffer the limitations of the basic WP comment form.

Page Link Manager Plugin (GMurphey.com) helps you to easily choose which WP pages will appear in your sidebar. If you like creating a lot of pages, you will appreciate how you can de-clutter your sidebar or navigation areas.

NextGEN Gallery (alexrabe.boelinger.com) is perfect for you who have lots of photos to display in your WP blog. You can even integrate the photos in your header. You know what they say about photos, right? These help keep visitors in your site longer.

OneClick Plugin (AnirudhSanjeev.org) allows you to quickly install WP plugins and themes with just, well… one click. It can also delete files and folders without warning you first (no are you sure’s), so please be sure you are wide awake and alert before clicking.

Search Unleashed Plugin (UrbanGiraffe.com) highlights the terms your visitors were searching for, if they land on your blog post after using a search engine (Google, Yahoo, MSN).

If visitors can easily find what they were searching for, they will like your site even more.

Search Everything Plugin (DanCameron.org) helps your visitors search not only through blog posts, but also through pages, and even comments. You can also control which Categories to exclude from the search, if you wish.

And there you have it. Ten powerful WordPress plugins to add spunk to your blogs, and to give your visitors a better browsing experience.

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Apache Google 404 - AskApache Google 404 is a must-have WordPress plugin that uses some ajax and a couple tricks to display a very helpful and SEO Error Page. The default displays Google Search Results for images, news, blogs, videos, web, custom search engine, and your own site.

Search Engine Keywords - A WordPress plugin that can be used to correlate the keywords used to find your web page on the search engines to a box where you can put anything you want, for example your affiliate links.

Tweet This - A plugin that adds a Twitter icon to every post and page, so your readers can share your blog entries on their Twitter accounts with ease. Shortens URLs in advance. Tested in WordPress 2.6.2, 2.0.11, and 1.5.

Favicon Images for Comments - Favicon Images for WordPress Comments lets you add favicon images to your blog comments using the URL of your visitor’s website.

Post Ticker - Displays a scrolling list of post titles and excerpts with links to post.

TimeZoneCalculator - Calculates different times and dates in time zones with respect to daylight saving on basis of UTC.

Vipers Video Quicktags - Just simply click one of the new buttons that this plugin adds to the write screen (rich editor included) and then paste the URL that the video is located at into the prompt box — easy as that. You can fully configure how the videos are displayed (width, height, colors, alignment on the page) and much more. Your site will even stay (X)HTML valid unlike with the code provided by most video sites.

Insights - (I’ll be reviewing this plugin for an upcoming Performancing post) Insights brings a powerful new way to write your blog posts. It increases productivity and at the same time the appeal of your posts.

Auto-Close Comments, Pingbacks and Trackbacks - Automatically close comments, pingbacks and trackbacks on your blog. This helps reduce the amount of spam aimed at old posts.

Progressive License - Progressive license is a plugin that gives authors an opportunity to put Creative Commons or Custom Licenses on their content.

Interactive Video - Enhance your blog with both basic and advanced video capabilities. Upload/ record/import videos directly to your post, edit and remix video content, enable video responses, manage and track your video content and much more.

WP125 - The WP125 plugin can help you manage your ads more efficiently, leaving you with more time to write new posts.

WP Calendar - Calendar is an events calendar for WordPress that allows you to publish a monthly breakdown of your appointments and important dates for your blog readers to view.

wpSEO - The wpSEO plugin helps you optimize your blog for SEO purposes by eliminating issues with duplicate content and specifying meta tags and page titles for the different pages of your blog. Page in German

Feed Pauser - Feed pauser, pauses a post from being made available through RSS.

MTR Podcast Recorder - MTR Podcast Recorder offers real-time recording that is saved on the same server where WordPress is installed. All recordings will be saved into the MP3 format using LAME encoder.

Find and Replacer - Find and replacer is a powerful search plugin for replacing tags and text throughout your blog installation.

Tabbed Widgets - Tabbed interfaces are the most common on newspaper type website where they can save a lot of vertical space and make it look less cluttered. This plugin allows you to create them.

WordPress S3 - This WordPress plugin allows you to use Amazon’s Simple Storage Service to host your media for your WordPress powered blog.

Smart 404 - Instead of quickly giving up when a visitor reaches a page that doesn’t exist, make an effort to guess what they were after in the first place. This plugin will perform a search of your posts, tags and categories, using keywords from the requested URL. If there’s a match, redirect to that page instead of showing the error. If there’s more than one match, the 404 template can use some template tags to provide a list of suggestions to the visitor.

wpAFFI - Simple and rapid technique to hide your affiliate links.

Terms of Use - Instead of making the user agree to the Terms of Use when they join the site this plugin makes them agree to the terms and conditions the first time they login.

WordPress Menu Creator - The Brokers Edge developed this free plugin to provide website owners with true easy to manage easy to configure menu solution for WordPress or WordPress CMS sites.

DashboardZone - This plugin will help you and your readers to keep you on track for reaching your targets. We created this wordpress plugin that monitors the various blog goals and in an effort tries to engage your readers more effectively.

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• What WordPress plugins do you use? (16)

What Powerful WordPress Plugins do you know?

Currently, I am using:

All in One SEO Pack Category Posts Widget cforms Google XML Sitemaps Sale Offer Ads Plugin Ultimate Google Analytics Wordpress Duplicate Content Cure Wordpress Video Plugin WP-SpamFree WP tags to Technorati AdSense Manager Dofollow Akismet few more…

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1. Stumble Reviews - Add the reviews that appear on StumbleUpon for a given page to be displayed on that page.
2. Twitter Updater - Send a Tweet to your Twitter account anytime you publish a new post to your blog, will automatically shrink it down via TinyURL.
3. WordPress Twitter Widget - Displays your Twitter feed in your sidebar and can turn “@username” and other info into links, while also displaying user avatars.
4. SezWho - Creates a social network out of your comments section by giving users a profile that follows them anywhere, also adds the ability to rate entries. Can integrate with EntreCard.
5. Retaggr - Make a virtual business card for yourself that includes links to your most important social network profiles and include more information about yourself.
6. Auto Social Wordpress Plugin - This plugin enables you to have your posts submitted automatically to delicio.us.
7. Social Bookmarking RELOADED - Add the social bookmarks services icons to your posts so readers can submit them easily. (Used on this blog)
8. Digg Digg - Will let you quickly add the DiggDigg button to your posts.
9. Social Homes - Adds favicons to your sidebar for your social networks so that your readers can easily find you.
10. ShareThis - Adds the ShareThis icon to your blog, allowing people to quickly submit your articles to the most popular social sites or just email them.

I’ll talk some more about this in a few days …

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