Defragment Your Hard Drive

In addition to running Disk Cleanup from time to time, you really need to defragment your hard drive as well, but perhaps not as frequently. The first step in the defragment process, Analyze, is a quick one, and will let you know if you need to defragment. I will run the defragment sometimes even if I am told by the Analyze step that it doesn't need it. Just look at the amount of red that is displayed when you run the Analyze step in the process and you be the judge. Defragmenting your hard drive can aid in the overall system performance of your PC.

Running Disk Defragmenter in Windows XP

Running Disk Defragmenter in Windows Vista

Windows XP SP3 nears finish line

There is an interesting article on computerworld.com today about the status of Windows XP Service Pack 3. We can expect this to be made available to the general public sometime in the first half of this year, Microsoft is not saying exactly when yet. Even so, I recommend that you do not try to be the first on your block to install it. I'd recommend giving it some time so that the kinks are worked out. You can read this article at:

Windows XP SP3 nears finish line

This might be the last such major Service Pack in the life of Windows XP. It was almost exactly 4 years ago that SP2 was released.

Test your Firewall

The folks from McAfee have provided us with a simple and fast test of our firewall. Go to this site and click on the arrow by Port Scan. The test will run a minute or two and give you an indication that your firewall is doing its job -- or not! The results should be all green. If you get one red from time to time, run the tests again.  The red will probably go away and probably was a false negative. If you get multiple red indicators, you have a problem and should call your PC Doctor.

Firewall Test

Craigslist

If you are already a Craigslist regular, skip this post. If not, I encourage you to visit this web site. Think of Craigslist as a giant Classified Ads section of the web that is localized to the area you live in. There is a Vermont Craigslist and there is a Maine Craigslist. There is also a Craigslist for (probably) all 50 states, major metropolitan areas, and other countries even have their own.

You can buy and sell most anything, and even find some really good stuff for free! There are many fora on many subjects, as well as job postings, housing, community, services, etc. Your listing is free, and replies go to you at an anonymous e-mail address, so your privacy is protected.

When you click on either of the local Craigslist sites below, notice the right side of the screen where you will see all of the Craigslists available.

Vermont Craigslist

Maine Craigslist

Annoyed?

Whether Vista or XP, I am sure we all get annoyed once in a while at certain idiosyncracies of the operating system. I have found a web site I like very much. It has fora covering 7 operating systems. Anyone can search any or all of these, but the two I like most are Windows Vista and Windows XP. If you go to this web site you can choose the forum you want to search and then key in your search argument to see if anyone has reported the same annoyance. You will also see if anyone has supplied a fix or correction for the annoyance that will eliminate it.

Better, if you sign up for a userid and password, you can post your own annoyances and sit back and wait for the replies you will get. If you request it when you post, you will get an e-mail every time someone replies to your post.

I have found solutions, remedies, or workarounds for many annoyances over the years in XP. I am sure the Vista forum will provide me with the same success in future years.

Check it out at Annoyances.org.

Quad-cores for everyone?

Funny, but after yesterday's post about microprocessors, I came upon this article in Computerworld that forecasts quad-core microprocessors will steal the show in 2008. It'll be hard to keep up, which is all the more reason to read my post of February 13.

Quad-cores for everyone

My question: when will the software we use be able to take advantage of that powerful hardware? (My guess: not soon!)

Unravelling the mysteries behind the new microprocessors

Things were simpler back in the good old days of Pentium III and Pentium 4. It was easy to understand what you were buying in terms of the rated clock speed of the microporcessor in that new PC you had your eye on. That is no longer the case. AMD and Intel now compete fiercely for the market, and in so doing have come up with naming conventions for their new microprocessors that'll have your head spinning.

Fortunately, each manufacturer has a web site you can go to and possibly unravel some of the mystery. Here they are:

Intel Microprocessors

AMD Microprocessors

If you go to these sites and research carefully, you'll most likely find the processor you are looking for, but be forewarned that each company has lots and lots of somewhat confusing names.

Running Disk Cleanup in Windows

Windows XP and Vista include a utility program to remove unneeded files from your hard drive. It is called Disk Cleanup. I recommend running Disk Cleanup once a week. This will remove the clutter that not only takes up space on your hard drive but also, over time, slows things down.

Instructions for running Disk Cleanup can be found here:

Running Disk Cleanup in Windows XP

Running Disk Cleanup in Windows Vista

For the more experienced user, there are better ways to do this by using free downloadable programs. Contact me if interested.

Comments?

I have been asked about why I have disabled comments (or replies, if you will) to my posts.

First, a blog is more like a diary where I post thoughts and, I hope, some useful information for you to consider. A blog is not, by definition, an interactive application, although some choose to allow comments on their blogs.

Second, I do not want to require userids and passwords (who needs another of those?), and I do not want to spend a lot of time moderating comments. Other users of blogs with comments allowed complain - a lot - about the spam they get in comments and the time they have to spend to monitor them.

Third, you can easily contact me on my web site if you wish by clicking on the Contact PC Doc link to the right of these posts under BLOGROLL.

Tom

Shortcut Keys

Programs running on your PC, including Windows XP or Vista, MS Word, Firefox, etc., recognize certain combinations of keys on your keyboard as shortcuts to get some things done. Googling "shortcut keys" results in an amazing 1 million plus results. The very first one listed (today) looks pretty good to me. Be advised, however, that there are so many keyboard shortcuts, that even printing them out for future reference doesn't make it any easier to find the one you want! I suggest reviewing the site and jotting down a couple of (what you consider) really good ones and use them until they become second nature to you. After that, jot down a few more and practice them.

http://www.computerhope.com/shortcut.htm

Making Windows XP last for another 6 years

I have a 4 year old desktop PC with a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 processor and 1GB of RAM. I suppose it's possible that I could encounter a motherboard failure of some sort that would cause me to rethink this, but at least for the moment I am planning on having this machine around for a while. I was greatly encouraged when I read an article in Computerworld that addressed the future of Windows XP. Do you know, for example, that XP will be supported by Microsoft through 2014? Check it out at this link: http://tinyurl.com/ypkgz. My machine does very well running Windows XP, but even if it were easy and possible to upgrade this machine to Vista, I know it just doesn't have the necessary resources to run Vista as efficiently as it runs XP.

Vista Service Pack 1

If you are a Vista user, you should read this. The referenced article contains some very good comments about the as yet unreleased Windows Vista SP1. : http://tinyurl.com/yrgtf3

The article deals with the final version of SP1 which is scheduled to be released sometime in March. As always, I recommend NOT installing a new SP when it is released, but to wait a while, at least 3 to 6 months, to let it stabilize. Early problems will be fixed in the regular cycle of updates.

Hello world!

Welcome to my blog. I am starting this on 2/12/2008.

Some of you know me as the Browns River PC Doctor, and others may know me as the Boothbay Region PC Doctor. Either way my web site http://brpcdoc.com works, and my license plate, BRPCDOC, although green, works well for me in Vermont and Maine.

And either way it is my plan to provide you the best possible service if/when you have a problem with your computer. I can support you from within your home or office as well as from a remote location over the internet.

As some of you know, I reside in Vermont from October through April and in Maine from May through September, but don't hesitate to write me or call me if you ever have a problem. I will do my best to serve you.

Tom