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!)