Can I still buy a new computer with Windows XP?

I get asked this question from time to time, and the answer is YES, you can. I have only done this with Dell but a while back other manufacturers were doing the same thing, and probably still are.

Here is an exchange of 3 e-mails with a customer starting with his first inquiry:

Customer inquiry

 

We were here to see xxxxxxx’s computer crash.  I went on Dell's website and found one I like but I have questions that the chat room person was vague about.  First, I don't want Vista and have a startup disk for XP on my old Dell.  If I erased the C drive on the new computer could I install the XP program?  Would the drivers work? Would I have to buy a new XP disks?  Their Vista comes with a Service Pack 1.  Could that have solved the incompatability with older programs?

 

My reply

 

If you will go to Dell.com and enter the section called “SMALL & MEDIUM BUSINESS”, almost immediately you will be presented with the $99 option to have Windows XP installed on your new machine. The Vostro line offered there is a fine choice. I would recommend doing this – for you. Not only does your machine come with XP installed, but you also get a Vista license and install DVDs, so should you ever opt for Vista, you have it.

 

This summer I ordered a laptop for xxxxxx xxxxxx  in this way, and it worked fine and the last I heard she is very happy with her machine. Naturally it came configured for Vista, meaning it had lots of RAM and a large HDD, all good things for you too. I do not believe that we were ever asked to name the business for which we were ordering, but just put in her name. If you have to have a business name (now), you already have a few of them!

 

I would not recommend the method you proposed of using an old Windows XP installation disk precisely for the reason you mentioned: drivers. You would have to go to dell.com and try to find drivers for XP for the new hardware. That could prove to be a very tough job. My way you get a fine XP system already installed and tested, and all for only $99. It would take you many, many frustrating hours to get the same if you elected to try yourself. You don’t want to do this for a new machine.

 

As always, get the fastest processor money will allow, get at least 2GB of RAM, and get the largest HDD you can afford. I wouldn’t worry too much about the size of the HDD since I recommend an external drive anyway for long-term backup storage. These can be 1TB and moved from machine to machine.

 

Hope this helps?

 

His reply to me after a week or so

 

We did buy a powerful Dell Vostro 420.  It comes with XP and an optional change to Vista.  I read that Microsoft is coming out with Windows 7 later this year.  Thank you for your consultation.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year

I wish each and every one of you a Happy & Healthy New Year in 2009!

I will resume regular posts on this blog on Monday, 1/5.

Tom

Blog Feedback

Dear Freinds,

For my family and me this is a very special time of the year. We all do our best to make sure we are together, as much as possible, on Christmas. I know the same is true for many of you.

To all I wish a Merry Christmas and a very Happy & Healthy New Year in 2009. To those of you of the Jewish faith, Happy Hanukkah.

I will be taking the next several days off from blogging. This is a good time for me to ask you your opinion. I welcome your feedback on this blog. Have you found it helpful? Would you suggest changes? Please let me hear from you at a special e-mail account I have set up for this purpose. It is blogfeedback@brpcdoc.com.

Thank you.

Tom

The Browns River PC Doctor

The Boothbay Region PC Doctor

Windows XP: Night of the Living Dead OS

The following was taken in its entirety from the All Things Digital website. It certainly lends credence to prior posts which stated that Windows XP would be supported through 2014, in fact this article states that same thing at the end.

It's very interesting that Microsoft has gotten themselves into this fix, but comforting to those of us who have stayed with our Windows XP base.

Windows XP: Night of the Living Dead OS

Published on December 22, 2008
by John Paczkowski

XP will hit an end-of-life. We have announced one. If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter, but right now we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments.”

–Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, April 24, 2008

Looks like Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer woke up smarter again.

Microsoft had planned to cut off sales of its Windows XP operating system through the retail and original equipment manufacturer channels on Jan. 30, 2008–one year after the Windows Vista debut. But the poor reception given Vista and the unwavering loyalty of XP users caused the company to extend that deadline to June 30, 2008. A few months later, Microsoft extended the deadline further, to Jan. 31, 2009. And now, amid reports that more than a third of all new Vista PCs are being downgraded to XP, it extended the XP deadline again.

Microsoft (MSFT) will now stop distributing Windows XP to PC makers on May 30, 2009. ChannelWeb reports that while distributors must place their final orders for XP OEM licenses by Jan. 31, 2009, they can take delivery against those orders through May 30. And the company will continue to support the OS with security and other critical updates until April 2014 (that’s 13 years after XP was first released).

Which means it’s now not only possible to hang on to Windows XP long enough to upgrade directly to Windows 7 in 2010, but entirely realistic.

5000

Dear Viewers,

This morning we hit the 5000 number - the number of visitors to this blog as indicated at the bottom of this page! It's been 10 months since I started the blog. I try to post a new entry each weekday, but occasionally I miss.

Thank you all for visiting. I hope you find it worth your time and I hope that maybe by implementing some of my recommendations you can keep your PCs running smoothly.

Tom

Yet Another Rogue Program

Yesterday I spent most of the day fighting a rogue program that had installed itself on a customer's machine.  Lately I have spent lots of hours and days doing the same thing for other customers. This program carried the name SPYWARE GUARD 2008. One of its many windows looked like this:

This is not at all unlike many of the other rogue programs several of you have been inflicted with. The appearance is similar. The name is different. (See my post of December 11.)

The come-on is to make you believe that your computer is infected with spyware (in this case) or viruses, and "won't you please run our free scan?". Folks, DON'T DO IT! At this point it may already be too late. I really don't know because I have never been there when one of you got infected.

What I do know is that these things are very vicious and very difficult to remove. Fortunately no one of my customers has lost any data (MY DOCUMENTS) yet. I say 'yet' because who knows what they'll do next. They have the ability to simply erase all of your data but so far they seem to be satisfied messing up your system files and trying to shake you down for $40 or so and, even if you pay, you are left with the mess they have created.

Those of you who have been hit know what I am talking about. Those of you who have not been hit, exercise caution!

As I have urged in earlier posts, keep your anti-virus program current, install and run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and SuerAntiSpyware at least once a week to stay on top of it.

Also, you should have a firewall, Windows Defender, and the aforementioned HOSTS file installed.

Download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware here

Download SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition here

See my November 25 post for additional information.

Microsoft patches IE, but Firefox is still safer

The following article can be read in its entirety at Windows Secrets

If you have not switched to Firefox yet, why not? Here is a caution, however: Firefox will one day be attacked as much as IE is today most likely, but for now it's a safer bet. So switch now if you have not and continue to watch this space for more info.

Microsoft patches IE, but Firefox is still safer 

By Mark Joseph Edwards

Microsoft recently announced that a special, out-of-cycle patch would be released on Dec. 17 for Internet Explorer's latest security vulnerability, the so-called XML exploit.

If you'd like to avoid similar weaknesses that are certain to be discovered in IE in the future, the simple solution is to use a different browser, such as Firefox, with a few easy customizations that allow you to switch to Microsoft's browser only for sites that absolutely require IE.

Delta’s In-Flight Internet Service Ready for Takeoff

Here is some good news for travelers from the Fox Business news web site:

Delta Air Lines (DAL: 10.63, +0.13, +1.24%) said it’s launching WiFi Internet access in six planes beginning Tuesday.

The service, called Gogo Inflight Internet, will soon be available on over 300 domestic planes thanks to technology provided by Aircell, an airborne communication’s company.

“Broadband Internet access has long topped passengers’ lists of desired inflight services and now that Gogo has launched it looks like 2009 will finally be the year of Inflight Internet," said Aircell CEO Jack Blumenstein.

Access to the service will be free from Dec. 16 up until the end of the year. After the promotional period ends, it will cost $9.95 for unlimited access during flights less than three hours long and $12.95 for longer flights.

Delta said by the end of the year, 10 aircraft will have the technology. It also plans to expand the service to its recently acquired subsidiary, Northwest Airlines, by late 2009.

In the airline industry, there’s little “leg-room” for heavy equipment that takes lots of space. Thankfully, the Aircell system, according to Delta, is light and compact so passengers need not worry about having less room to stretch out while surfing the Web at 35,000 feet.

Microsoft sees ‘huge increase’ in IE attacks

Some customers ask me why they should use Firefox (or any other browser) and not Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The referenced article on today's ComputerWorld web site should provide the doubters among you with some good reasons.

 Microsoft sees 'huge increase' in IE attacks

Acer Aspire One

I have hinted that I might buy one of these tiny, lightweight netbooks, and I have done just that. About 2 weeks ago I purchased an Acer Aspire One. It is tiny. It is lightweight. I paid $399 at Amazon. Although the ads suggest a price of $349, keep in mind that this is for a three cell battery. I purchased the model with a 6 cell battery, and this is listed at $399.

If you are going to buy a netbook be sure to read all of the fine print about its battery. This one lasts 5 or 6 hours, depending on what one does with it. If you power it up in the morning and put it in standby when it's not being used, the battery would probably last all day. This is a real boon for travelers, and that is one reason I bought it.

Another reason I bought it was that it was advertised as being 2 pounds 3 ounces (as I recall). The one I purchased with the 6 cell battery weighs in at 43 ounces on my food scale, and that's 2 pounds, 11 ounces, making it still a featherweight in my opinion.

It comes with the very familiar Windows XP and 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard disk drive. This is a well-configured machine. Its microprocessor is an Intel Atom 720 with a rated speed of 1.6GHz, not a speed demon by any measure, but adequate for most work.

The most significant feature of this machine is its 8.9" display. Believe me folks, this is small. I would not want to use this on a regular basis, but it suits my wife just fine. She has excellent vision and only uses light reading glasses when using the Acer. I would not recommend buying this machine for anyone until/unless you try one out at a store. Make sure you can live with the screen size.

Otherwise, it's a neat little machine. It was sluggish when it came out of the box with XP SP3, IE7, and McAfee. The first thing I did was to get rid of McAfee and installed AVG Free in its place. Next I installed Firefox and stopped using IE7. Now it performs much better. I haven't looked into this yet, but I understand its max memory capacity is 1.5GB, but the upgrade from its standard 1GB to that is not (supposedly) something the user can do. If I were ordering again, I'd try to order from someone who could install the extra memory first.

A friend asked me if I recommend Acer generally, and although this is my third Acer machine, I have reservations about recommending Acer. I bought my first and then second Acers as teaching tools for classes and as a challenge to myself to see if I could keep them running (they are cheaper). So far I have been successful, but keep in mind these are not my first choice machines for personal use. I still revert to my old IBM desktop as my main machine. For my customers I mostly recommend Dell - for their support.

The Acer Aspire One

 

Backup Devices

Two kinds of devices I use to backup my data are flash drives, aka thumb drives, and external hard disk drives (HDD). Both connect to any PC via a USB connector.

Flash drives usually come in sizes like 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. The lower the capacity the lower the price. I would recommend at least a 4GB thumb drive for the average home user. If you are big into digital photographs AND music downloads, you may be pushing this technology. Check the size of your MY DOCUMENTS folder (right click on it and then click on PROPERTIES). Mine is 43GB. A recent customer's was 80GB! We are both rather unusual, and you may find yours is only in the single digits of GB. If the latter, then a thumb drive, appropriately sized, is fine for short-term usage.

For higher volumes and longer-term backup storage I would recommend an external HDD. These typically come in sizes like 250GB, 500GB. 750GB, and 1TB (terabyte = 1000GB). I have a Western Digital MYBOOK with a 1TB capacity, and I bought this for $199, but prices are coming down pretty fast, so look for the maximum capacity you can afford. I wouldn't worry too much about the brand, but if you have a question, give me a shout.

Whichever type you choose, you can use it (or them) on any machine with a USB port, so if you have multiple computers in your home, you can move the device from PC to PC and do your backups. In between, you can disconnect the device and even power it off (if external HDD). Thumb drives are always off and get their power from the USB connection when you plug it in.

Questions? Please write.

What part of backup don’t you understand?

A lot of people are keeping me very busy these days. I have had at least 4 that I can remember whose machines have been attacked by what are now called "rogue" programs, rendering the machines unusable. These rogue programs, and the ones I have seen all seem to have a name in common (somewhat), have names which are variants of ANTISPYWARE2008 or 2009, ANTIVIRUS2008 or 2009, and ANTIVIRUSXPxxxx.

The first sign of these is a pop-up (the fact that you have pop-ups blocked on your system should be a clue that this is something radically wrong) asking you if you would like a free scan of your system, or words to that effect, and then after the FAKE scan they tell you that you have many serious problems with your machine. In fact the only real problem is that you are "listening" to them and doing what they say, some even going so far as to pay good money for their "solution".

Okay, it's bad enough that your system is rendered unusable and that you have to do a complete reinstall of the operating system or at least a REPAIR installation. You'll probably also have to reinstall all of the extra programs you have installed on your machine over the years. Where is the Microsoft Office CD and, even more basic, where is the Operating System CD set?

What keeps me in business is that so many of you are coming forward asking me to try to salvage your data on your hard drive because you have NO backups!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE back up your data, usually everything contained within your MY DOCUMENTS folder, but sometimes more, like your e-mail if you use Outlook or Outlook Express, or your Firefox Bookmarks or IE Favorites, and even, for some of you who keep data folders on your desktop, your desktop contents itself.

If you are a pro at burning CDs or DVDs, back up to them. If not, get yourself a large capacity thumb drive (I have an 8GB and a 4GB but will soon get a 16GB or even bigger) and use it.

Ever wonder who owns a certain web site?

If you have ever wondered who owns a certain web site, you can find out easily and quickly. WHOIS is a web site maintained by Network Solutions. Just key in the url (address) of the web site in question, and you will soon know the owner.

WHOIS

Warehouse for Beginners Guides

After yesterday's post, I found the mother lode of Beginners Guides at pcstats.com. These may be quite technical, but you might just find one that apeals to your interests and which will work for you. It's worth a looksee anyway.

Beginners Guides 

Beginners Guides: 101 Tech Tips & Tweaks for Windows XP

It never ceases to amaze me how much stuff is available on the web. We'd all like to think that all of it is good, solid, tried and true advice, but until you try most of it you never know.

The following is meant for the more technically competent and adventurous types among you, but everyone be careful! You are on your own unless you seek advice from me.

This posting at pcstats.com is amazing in all that it contains, and I offer it to you with the warning that many of these tips are not really for beginners, but rather for the more technical and experienced among you. There is just too much contained here for me to say this is all good. Until I try some of them I won't really know. Be especially cautious with those that speak of updating your system's registry. If you see one you really want to try but are not sure about it, please e-mail me. Off to the right side of this blog page there is a contact link.

 Beginners Guides: 101 Tech Tips & Tweaks for Windows XP

Apple yanks antivirus advice from its Web site

From ComputerWorld.com:

Late Tuesday, Apple Inc. yanked from its Web site a controversial support document that had urged Mac users to run antivirus software. The recommendation was "old and inaccurate," a company spokesman said today.

The document, which had become the focus of considerable discussion among Mac users and security experts this week, is no longer available on Apple's support site. Instead, users who surf to its location are greeted with a generic message: "We're sorry. We can't find the article you're looking for."

"We have removed the KnowledgeBase article because it was old and inaccurate," Apple spokesman Bill Evans said in an e-mail Wednesday.

 Read the whole article here

Welcome to the Club

(I am sure they are not thrilled about becoming members!)

Apple suggests Mac users install antivirus software

In what appears to be a first, Apple is recommending that Mac users install antivirus software.

But don't read this as an admission that the Mac operating system is suddenly insecure. It's more a recognition that Mac users are vulnerable to Web application exploits, which have replaced operating system vulnerabilities as the bigger threat to computer users.

Apple quietly signaled its shift with an item titled "Mac OS: Antivirus utilities" posted on its Support Web site November 21: "Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult."

The item offers three software suggestions: Intego VirusBarrier X5 and Symantec Norton Anti-Virus 11 for Macintosh, both available from the Apple Online Store, and McAfee VirusScan for Mac.

Brian Krebs, who first reported on the Apple antivirus recommendation Monday in his Security Fix blog at The Washington Post, said an Apple store employee told him he didn't need antivirus software when he purchased a MacBook three months ago.

This is from CNET.COM.

Test Your Firewall

Every once in a while I like to go to the web site linked to below to test my firewall (I use Windows Firewall), just to make sure it is doing what it should be doing.

Click on the link below and once there click on  START TEST, then CONTINUE, then CONTINUE, and finally click on CONTINUE again. Then sit back and await the results. You should see a green "stealthed" for each port indicating all is well. The scan takes only a minute or two, and is worth it for the reassurance that you/I get in seeing the positive results.

PC Flank's Firewall Test

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware

Okay, I am sold on this free program. It is very impressive. It scans quickly and finds things Spybot does not find. Yesterday I ran Spybot and it finished up with the Congratulations, no problems found message. I then ran Marwarebytes' Anti-Malware  and it found 11 problems.

I have run it enough now on various machines to feel confident in letting it remove everything it finds.

Download it at download.com (see link below). It is easy to install. I opt out of the two icons they offer, but do leave the update now and run options checked. When it opens up, it will look for updates. Then for your first run you might just do a Quick Scan to see how it operates. Later on sometime do a Complete Scan.

As your comfort level increases with usage, check out the tabs up on top of the scan window, oh, and do click on the update tab to check for updates before you run it for the second time and thereafter.

When it finishes a scan, it will show you a log file in a separate window that it will open. So far I have not seen any value in the log, and will find out how to disable it eventually.

Please write me if you have any trouble downloading, installing, or running this tool.

Download Malwarebytes" Anti-malware here

Happy Thanksgiving!

Over the river and thru the wood,
To grandfather's house we go;
The horse knows the way
To carry the sleigh,
Thru the white and drifted snow, oh!
Over the river and thru the wood,
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes,
And bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and thru the wood,
To have a first-rate play;
Oh, hear the bell ring,
"Ting-a-ling-ling!"
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day-ay!
Over the river and thru the wood,
Trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground,
Like a hunting hound!
For this is Thanksgiving Day.

 

I hope you all have a great day.

Keeping your system tuned and cleaned

I am not trying to convince you that you don't need my services, but folks, I am telling you in this blog just about everything I do when you hire me to tune and clean your system. So check out the tools I speak of. If you have problems installing or using them, just write me an e-mail for free assistance and avoid a costly house call.

If you don't use these tools or equivalent tools, yes, your system will slow down in time and will need a thorough cleaning. It's the old "stitch in time......." adage.

The Learning Teacher

It's a very ancient saying,
But a true and honest thought,
That if you become a teacher,
By your pupils you'll be taught.

Thank you Oscar Hammerstein!

I have learned a lot, especially recently it seems, from working with you, my customers. and for that I am grateful and glad that I am still capable of learning.

I have learned that SuperAntispyware is as good as, if not better than, Spybot.

I have learned that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is better than SuperAntispyware.

I have learned that RAM (computer memory) can be purchased at rock bottom prices from Crucial.com, and that the site crucial.com has a nice little applet that you download and it will scan your system, tell you what you have for memory, and show you the possibilities of upgrading, right along with the lowest memory prices I've ever seen.

The rogue programs that several of you have seemed to "acquire" on your systems lately have proven to me that stronger malware detection and removal tools are the order of the day. These rogue programs are particularly vicious and damaging to our systems.

The above-mentioned programs are all free. There's no need that I know of yet to purchase any "professional" versions. Next time I see you ask me about these newer, more powerful tools or go ahead and try them out yourself.

In any case, please heed my words to arm yourself with a complete security package. Mine is changing and now includes:

Windows Firewall

Windows Defender

AVG Free Anti-virus Version 8

Hosts File found at http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

CCleaner

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Super AntiSpyware

Spybot

These last three may seem redundant, but until I am convinced that that is the case, I will continue to use all. I may run AdAware once a month or so.

Top 5 Netbooks per PC World

That's not a misspelling. Netbooks are the latest craze among travelers who are tired of the much larger and heavier notebooks they have been carrying around. I have been reviewing whatever I can find on these 5. So far I like the Lenovo and the Acer (NOTE: MUST get the 6 cell battery, and this means more money, but still under $400).

Understand that these do have limited function. For example, no CD/DVD drive, which means if you really need one of these, it'll have to be an add-on ($$) external drive.

I definitely recommend some hands-on with whatever model you may be considering, and that is my next step in the evaluation process. Be sure to ask questions.

Top 5 Netbooks

Phishing, e-mail money laundering scams on the rise

Be careful out there! They ARE out to get us - especially as we enter the holiday season! From CNET News.

Phishing, e-mail money laundering scams on the rise

Blackberry Storm a Disappointment?

If you've been awaiting the arrival of the new Blackberry Storm from Verizon, you may want to read this (and other) reviews first.

Blackberry Storm a Disappointment?

50 Ways to Make Vista Faster

This comes from Microsoft. Your head may spin as you try to absorb this information, but maybe bookmarking it and revisiting from time to time and focusing on a few of these each visit would be wise.

50 ways to make Vista faster

Checking the health of your hard drive

Another oldie but goodie:

It’s important, especially on older computers, to keep an eye on the health of your hard drive. It goes without saying that you should have a plan to back up all of your personal data on a regular basis. That done, you should run the Check Disk utility, provided by Microsoft in both XP & Vista, on a scheduled basis to ensure that the health of your hard drive is good. If yours shows what appear to be serious errors and not just the “cleaning up of minor inconsistencies” you should keep a close eye on the drive to see if similar errors occur again. Your hard drive may be failing.

You can see how to run Check Disk by clicking below:

Running CHKDSK in Windows XP

Running CHKDSK in Windows Vista

How to run disk defragmenter

One of my customers told me the other day that she forgot how to run the disk defragment program. What hurts is that this blogging software (Wordpress) does not to my knowledge have indexing or cross referencing capabilities. Way back in the early days of this blog I posted detailed instructions on how to do a disk defrag, but it's tough to keep paging back to find out how, even if one knows that it was once posted! So here are links to those detailed instructions:

Running Disk Defragmenter in Windows XP

Running Disk Defragmenter in Windows Vista

Cleanup

Okay, you've bought into the need to have a quality security environment on your PC, now don't forget to do a little cleanup once in a while.

CCleaner will help clean your hard drive, but don't forget to do a Disk Defragment once a quarter and run a CHKDSK every 6 months.

Flawed AVG antivirus update cripples Windows XP PCs

Not good, but supposedly won't affect us. I have not had any problems. Has anyone? Please let me know if you experience this problem.

From the article: "The AVG spokeswoman claimed that only users running Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish language versions of Windows XP were impacted. Computerworld was unable to confirm that, however."

Flawed AVG antivirus update cripples Windows XP PCs

OOPS!

A reader asked if I had forgotten to include FIREWALL in my list of items in my post on PC Security on October 29. She was right. I did forget.

It is absolutely a necessity to protect your system with a firewall. My personal favorite is Microsoft's Windows Firewall, included as an integral component of both XP & Vista. I like it because it's free, there is no install to worry about, no updates to check for, and it is a silent partner as I use my computer. I just turn it on - once and only once - and it runs all the time protecting my systems. Some argue that it is not a very strong firewall, and one reason offered for this is that it only checks incoming traffic and not outgoing traffic, to which I say "so?". I am looking for protection against the bad guys out there who are trying to get into my machines, so I am very happy with this low overhead product.

Surge Suppressors

This is an oldie but goodie from Kim Komando's web site, http://www.komando.com/. If you don't check Kim's site every day, you should. You can almost always find some good nuggets there.

Anyway, I certainly agree with Kim's opening line in this post found on her site this morning. It's very important to understand this subject and to protect your own computer(s).

Surge suppressors

I'm always surprised when people don't protect their computers from power spikes. A strong one can wipe out your expensive computer and monitor.

A surge suppressor will provide limited protection from power spikes. Don't confuse suppressors with power strips, though. Power strips do nothing to protect your gear.

Picking out a surge suppressor can be confusing. But I can help you sort out the confusion.

First, look at the suppressed voltage rating. This is the maximum voltage that the suppressor will allow through. Lower numbers are better – I'd go for one that's rated at 330v.

Energy dissipation is also important. This is how much power the suppressor can absorb. Here, higher numbers are better. Don't settle for less than 800 joules.

Find one that has connections for your cable line and/or phone line as well.

As I said, surge protectors offer only limited protection against power spikes. For a better protection, buy an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

In the event of a power outage, a UPS will let you power down safely. You'll have the opportunity to save your work. This does not mean you can continue to work when the power goes out.

A UPS contains a battery that is charged from a wall outlet. You can connect your computer, monitor and inkjet printer to the UPS. Do not attach a laser printer. Laser printers draw too much power.

A UPS cleans the power, so it’s optimized. This is important, because power fluctuations can corrupt data. Many people only think of protecting gear from surges or spikes. But other fluctuations, like voltage sags, can be equally damaging.

You'll need to make sure the UPS's power rating is right for your equipment. Buy one that is rated too low, and you may run out of power before you can shut down the computer.

UPS devices are generally designed to provide 10 minutes of power. If the power rating is too low for your computer, this time decreases.

Look at the VA rating — this is amps multiplied by voltage (120v). The amp rating is listed on your computer. Add up the VA ratings of everything you will connect to the UPS. Purchase a UPS with a VA rating 20 to 25 % higher than the total.

There are different kinds of UPS devices. An online UPS always draws power from the battery. If your power fails, the UPS doesn’t need to switch from one source of power to another. There won't even be a momentary interruption in power. The battery buffer will probably protect you from lightning strikes.

If the battery fails, you'll still receive power. The UPS bypasses the battery and functions like a surge suppressor.

An online UPS is the most expensive kind. It is about twice the price of other types of UPS devices. Expect to pay $150 or more for an online UPS. As the VA rating increases, so does the price.

A line interactive UPS is less expensive. When the power fails, it switches your computer to a battery. You will have a momentary power failure. This can cause you to lose data.

No matter what you purchase, watch out for lightning. Otherwise, you'll be reading my tip on recycling computers. There is only one surefire solution to safeguard your computer against lightning.

You should also make sure you have a good backup solution for your data.

Christmas Shopping?

5 Great Digital Cameras for Less Than $250

This PcWorld article may be just what you need.

 

Netbooks Come Into Their Own

Walter S. Mossberg's article on this new breed of PC makes for good and enlightening reading.

From the article: "Somewhere between the laptop and the smart phone, the computer industry has long believed there could be a small, low-cost device that would please consumers and sell well.

The device would be more versatile than, say, an iPhone, but much cheaper and more portable than, say, a ThinkPad. The trouble is, every attempt to create such a category of computer has met with failure — until now."

Read the whole article here.

Password Protect a Word or Excel Document

This is a handy little technique for password-protecting a Microsoft Word or Excel document.

 Password Protect a Word or Excel Document

External Storage

Shopping in Costco today I saw the Western Digital 1TB My Book external hard drive priced at $179. They also had another brand 750GB drive for $109.

This is inexpensive additional hard drive (disk) storage folks. Of course it'll continue to get cheaper, but these are great buys. If you need some, now is a very good time to buy. In making technology buying decisions we usually have to go with our instincts and an analysis of what is available today and what is the cost.

These external hard drives come in very nice hardware packaging and connect to your PC, laptop or desktop, with a USB cable.

How much ink is really left in that printer cartridge?

This is a good article from PC World that gets to the heart of the matter!

How much ink left in the printer cartridge?

Happy Halloween!

Windows 7

Windows 7 is the name currently given to the system that will replace Windows Vista. Microsoft hopes to deliver Windows 7 in 2010, perhaps earlier. That means that Windows 7 could be delivered in time for Christmas NEXT YEAR! PC World gives us a look at the pre-Beta version in an article worth perusing.

Those of us who will be able to stay with Windows XP and avoid Vista should be able to jump from XP to 7 directly - should we decide we want to or need to. Remember that Windows XP will be supported until 2014!

From the article: "Windows 7, successor to Windows Vista, is slated to ship in early 2010 (although rumor has it that Microsoft hopes to get it out even earlier. But aside from saying it will refine Vista's kernel, Microsoft hadn't released many details about the new OS--until now. Pre-beta code distributed at the Microsoft Professional Developers' conference suggests that Microsoft is serious about creating a less in-your-face OS."

Read the article and view screen shots from the pre-Beta version:

PC World Windows 7 Article

PC Security

It seems strange to be repeating a post I just wrote two weeks ago, but in these past two weeks I have been very busy fighting fires on customer machines with serious problems. As said earlier, just because you are not paranoid does not mean they are not out to get you! There are lots of bad guys out there just looking for vulnerable systems. Unfortunately, several of you know exactly what I mean.

Once again, the best defense is a good offense. You have to take action to protect your systems. I use and recommend all 6 of these, and they are all absolutely free:

CCleaner

AVG Free Anti-virus

Spybot

Windows Defender

Hosts File found at http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

AdAware

These help me to keep my systems running virus-free and spyware-free. In spite of what I said on October 14 about AdAware, I still keep it on my systems and will run it periodically.

Keep in mind that these programs have versions, and you may not have the latest. Examples, Spybot is Version 1.60, Adaware is AdAware 2008 7.1.0.8, and so on. Check yours and make sure you have the latest, as well as all updates to the latest versions.

Ronald McDonald House

Those of you who know me or who have been reading my blog know that I have been asking for donations of used laptops since the Spring of this year. My idea has been to clean and tune these machines and make them available to people who are residents at the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) in Burlington, VT. People, usually parents and families of premature babies or cancer patients or others, can stay at the RMH. The RMH has one desktop PC and a wireless network that those who bring their laptops can use. Many families do not have laptops and I saw this as a need I wanted to try to fill. With a wireless laptop they can then have easy access to e-mail and the internet, or perhaps even online classes for their co-resident kids while staying at the RMH. More importantly, in my vision of this over time, these folks can carry the laptops up to the hospital and access e-mail and the internet from the patient's room. This vision requires cooperation from the hospital in allowing the users to access the hospital's network. I am happy to report that I have already had one successful situation with the hospital doing just this.

So where am I now with this project? I have met with the RMH management and they support me in this. I have 3 usable laptops I have cobbled together from your donations. Starting in November I will make these machines available to the RMH by leaving them at the RMH with the local team of staff and volunteers, and they in turn will make them available to residents who have a need. This is a good news situation and I am really excited about moving forward with the program. As stated elsewhere, I think, this will be done at no cost to anyone, and I will maintain the laptops and provide support to users, again at no cost to anyone.

What can you do to help? I have an urgent need for laptop carrying cases.  Most people give me an old laptop along with its power cord, and that's about it. If you have a carrying case you are not using, please contact me and I'll gladly pick it up. I also need more donations of used laptops. It would be great if they work, but I realize I can't be fussy about this. I will do my best to make parts from broken machines into whole working machines. Also, I really only want machines that have run or are running Windows XP. This is a statement about age of the machine more than anything else.

Finally, I want to carry this further. The RMH may not have a great need in terms of numbers, so any machines I have more than the RMH needs I will begin to use at other charities that have residents who can make use of the technology.

Quality

I have been back in Vermont for only a few short days, and I have been very busy serving my customers, some of whom have patiently awaited my return to the state. I am reminded again of just how beautiful this state is as I travel down long dirt roads and up long and winding driveways to reach your homes.

Thank you all for your business. It is my pleasure to serve you. Because everything I do is on a best effort basis, I am always interested in your feedback. If all goes well, please tell your friends, neighbors, and families. If not, please tell me. I stand behind my work and if you have problems after a service call I will do my darnedest to make things right.

Mountain Gazette of Vermont ad

Lavasoft’s AdAware

AdAware has long been a tool I have relied on to rid my system of spyware. However, I have found its value diminishing as time goes by. I rarely use it anymore. I did yesterday and it found no problems, so I am putting it at the bottom of my list of defensive tools I will use to protect my systems.

Leading the list is a newcomer I have talked about before, CCleaner.

Here is my list of tools to protect my systems:

CCleaner

AVG Free Anti-virus

Spybot

Windows Defender

Hosts File found at http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

AdAware

Note that all of these are free and help me to keep my systems running virus-free and spyware-free. I am not sure I'll ever run AdAware again; maybe after a few months just to see if it finds anything the others didn't.

Windows Vista A to Z

This link is to a wonderful resource for you Vista users. It contains many links to various areas of interest in the world of Vista.

Windows Vista A to Z