Did you realize you don’t have to buy your Second Life® Linden™ Dollars from the default Lindex™ Exchange on your SL viewer?   There are other companies that also sell Secondlife Linden dollars.  Using an independent SL Exchange you can often get at least 5% more for your exchange, rather you are buying or selling L$.  Obviously this is not for everyone, many people will prefer the convenience of using the purchase option on their viewer.  However, if you do not use US Dollars or you buy or sell lots of Linden Dollars (for paying property rent or maybe you run a SL shop,) then one of these independent sl exchanges may get you a much better deal.  If you’re the secretive type, some of these independent exchanges also offer anonymous payment options, such as Bitcoin.

Problem:
How to get rid of the random red arrow in Second Life®.  Sometimes a solid red arrow appears in random locations on the screen, also a red vertical translucent light column (beacon) can be seen, often in the distance.

Solution:
Left click on the red arrow and it and the beacon will go away.

The red arrow and the “beacon”, as it is called, are used to direct you to locations in Second Life®.  Often they will appear after you have teleported to a new location.  An example of using the locator arrow and beacon can be found in the Linden Realms games where they guide you to your next destination.  For a description on how to use the locator arrows and beacons to find things, see Using the Beacon Locator in Second Life®.

Red arrow and locator beacon in Second Life

If you know the region name and coordinate of any place in Second Life® this article will show you how to find your way there.  Or maybe you tried to teleport someplace in Second Life and the teleport failed, or it dumped you someplace in a “nearby location”.   This could be due to various reasons, but fortunately, you can easily find your way to the exact position you wanted to go to.  Just use the map and beacon feature.  It also works in the Linden Realms game and will help you find your next destination in the game too!

The map and beacon are somewhat like a GPS unit for Second Life®.  You enter your destination and a combination of a directional arrow and a beacon at the destination guide you to it.  You probably will be able to teleport to the general area you want to go to.  But often for various reasons you can’t teleport to the exact location, and this is when the visual guide of the beacon comes in very handy.  Here’s how to quickly find your way in Second Life®.

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Some Second Life users see a glitch which causes prims or objects to balloon or expand then contract.  Depending on your computer speed the items may appear to flash. This happens with prim objects like avatar hair which appears to momentarily turn into a ball shape, or furniture that turns into balls, boxes, or other shapes.  The distorted item rapidly returns to normal.

Solution:

To stop the prim glitch open the Second Life® Viewer.  From the main menu in the top left corner,

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