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

100 Incredibly Useful and Interesting Web Sites

There must be something here for everybody! Enjoy.

100 Incredibly Useful and Interesting Web Sites

Nice offer

I received this e-mail this morning, 10/2, and it appears that the offer ends on 10/4. Further, it looks like an Office Depot only offer. However, I consider this a good enough offer to inform my readers. This machine would satisfy the needs of most of my customers. It is not a high-speed, top-of-the-line machine, but has a pair of Intel 2.2 GHz microprocessors, 3GB of RAM, and a nice-size 320GB hard drive. It also comes with a 19" LCD display!

All in all, this is a nice machine that will satisfy many users out there. I have 2 Acer laptops, and they are doing better than I ever thought they would!

from ACER <Acer@acer.delivery.net> reply-to Acer@acer.delivery.net to date Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 6:30 AM subject Do More This Fall with a Powerful Desktop for $399.99 mailed-by acer.delivery.net signed-by acer.delivery.net

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Fall for This Multitasking Machine Save on the Acer® Aspire AM5641-B5540A Desktop Start fall off right with big savings on the Aspire AM5641-B5540A Desktop, a stylish machine with serious multitasking power so you can create, share and get more done faster. Plus, it comes with a 19” Widescreen LCD Display, so you've got the complete package for only $399.99*.   •  Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor E2200¹   •  Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium   •  3GB memory, 320GB hard drive²   •  NVIDIA® GeForce® 7100 graphics   •  DVD Burner   •  Acer® 19” Widescreen LCD Display $399.99* * After $110 Instant and $130 Mail-in Savings³ Quantities Limited. No Rainchecks. Offer ends 10/4/08

Phishing

With credit tightening and all the talk about a financial crisis, it is especially important that we all remain vigilant and not fall for any phishing scams. What is phishing?

"The act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information."

The above definition is from http://www.webopedia.com.

AVG Free

This might be helpful to those of you who do not yet have AVG Free Anti-virus. A former student wrote last week:

"Hi Tom,

Hope all is well with you.  My Norton expires today and  I thought I would install AVG security which you said was free.  I found AVG security in two places but there is a charge for their services.  Maybe I'm in the wrong pew.  Can you give me a clue. Many thanks."

My reply:

You can download AVG Free Version 8 here: http://tinyurl.com/4e7jxt

After you download it to your desktop but before running it, I recommend that you download and run the Norton Removal Tool. You can get it here: http://tinyurl.com/3xdxhl

The reason for the Norton Removal Tool is that regular Add/Remove of Norton does less than a complete job and has been known to even fail.


After uninstalling Norton, install AVG.

Standby, Sleep, Hibernate, & Hybrid Sleep

This is a nice helpful tip from the Kim Komando web site, http://www.komando.com/ that may clarify for you the differences between Standby and Hibernate (in XP), and Sleep, Hibernate, and Hybrid Sleep in Vista.

Just as a FYI, I do not use any of these ever. The reason is that they all prevent any scheduled activities from running. For example, I run an anti-virus scan, Spybot, and other programs on a schedule while I sleep. If I were to be in Standby or Hibernate, they would not run. Instead, I use Display Properties (in XP) to turn off my monitor and hard drive after 15 minutes. In this mode, scheduled programs will run.

Hibernate vs. Sleep: What’s the difference?

Q. Hibernate and Sleep seem mighty similar. Is there a notable difference? A friend suggested that prolonged use of Hibernate can damage a PC. Is that true?

A. Hibernate and Sleep (called Standby in XP) are both power-saving features. You’ll find them on both PCs and Macs in some form. I’m not surprised they have you confused. They appear to do the same thing.

When you shut down your computer, you turn everything off. All of your applications, windows and documents have to be closed. Starting up your computer again can take some time. And then you have to reopen everything you want to use.

To save time, you can use Hibernate or Sleep. Both of these save the exact state of your computer. You don’t have to close anything. All your windows, programs and documents are stored as-is.

When you start up the computer, everything is restored. All your windows are just as you left time. They’re even in the same place on your desktop. And you can pick up right where you left off.

They both still seem the same, don’t they? But each offers a different level of power saving and convenience.

Sleep

When using Sleep, your computer’s state is stored in RAM. The display is turned off. Your hard drive is stopped. And other components are shut down. But a minimal amount of power is still applied to the RAM. This allows the RAM to hold on to your computer’s state.

So, your computer isn’t completely off. Starting the computer from Sleep is almost instantaneous. That’s really convenient. You can jump right back into what you were doing.

The downside of Sleep is that it still requires some power. If you lose power for any reason, the RAM is wiped. You’ll lose your computer’s stored state. That could also mean losing any work you haven’t saved.

Hibernate

When using Hibernate, your computer’s state is stored on the hard drive. Your hard drive doesn’t require power to hold on to that information. So, your computer can turn off power to everything.

Starting from Hibernate has the same result as from Sleep. Your computer is restored to exactly where it was before. But coming out of hibernation takes longer. So, it’s less convenient.

But you don’t have to worry about losing power. Even if power is cut, the computer’s state is still stored. Nothing will be lost.

Mac OS X and Windows Vista tweak these features slightly.

Windows Vista has something called Hybrid Sleep. This is a cross between the standard Hibernate and Sleep. The computer’s state is stored in RAM and on the hard drive. Power is still given to the RAM. If nothing changes, the computer boots quickly from RAM. But if power is lost, it boots from the hard drive. So, it’s the best of both worlds.

There is no hybrid Sleep button. It can be turned on and off in the control panel. If it’s on, putting the computer to Sleep automatically uses Hybrid Sleep.

You can check if Hybrid Sleep is on by clicking Start>>Control Panel. Then click Classic View on the left side. Double-click Power Options. Look to the left, and click “Change when the computer goes to Sleep.” Next, select “Change advanced power settings.” A new Power Options window will open. Click the + next to Sleep. Then click the + next to “Allow hybrid Sleep” You can turn it on or off from there. Click OK when finished.

Macs do not have a Hibernate option. But starting with Mac OS X 10.4, Apple introduced Safe Sleep. This does the same thing as Vista’s Hybrid Sleep. This feature is always on. Just click the Apple logo at the top of the screen. Then, select Sleep.

Can Hibernate hurt?

I’m not sure why your friend thinks Hibernate can damage your computer. Hibernate and Sleep are just as safe as shutting down your computer. They offer energy savings and convenience. There's no reason you shouldn’t use them.

PC Memory or RAM or DRAM

If you see any of those 3 terms used in a list of features of a PC, they are all the same, and what they are NOT is the amount of space available on a hard drive or disk drive.

I can't say this enough: for Windows XP you really should try to upgrade, if you are not already there, to 1GB (one gigabyte) of memory. Windows XP has grown, anti-virus and spyware programs have grown and need to do more and consequently use more of your computer's available memory. Windows XP runs very well with 1GB of RAM. Less than that and you are probably one of the people calling me and complaining about how your computer is running slower.

With Windows Vista, you need to have at least 2GB of RAM. I recently serviced a very nice new laptop running Vista which had only 1GB of RAM and was running Vista Home Premium. Best Buy should be sued for selling such a machine! Get at least 2GB and, if you can afford to go to 3GB or 4GB, do it!

So many people get confused about the difference between RAM and the size of their hard disk drive (HDD). Most HDDs on newer machines are at least 120GB for a laptop and maybe 250GB or more on a desktop. Either of these is fine, but do yourself a favor and get the model with the largest HDD you can afford.

I have upgraded my desktop to a 250GB internal HDD with a 1TB (one terabyte) external hard drive. Photos, music, and videos take up a lot of space, and it's very nice to have an external drive on which I can save quarterly copies of all of My Documents.

One bonus of having an external hard drive which connects via a USB port is that the drive can be used as a portable device, meaning one day you can plug it into your desktop, back up all of your data, and the next day plug it into your laptop and back up all of its data. You can use it on as many machines as you have.

Simplify using your mouse: change double-click to single-click

And here's one for you folks using Windows XP.

I haven't tried this, but it looks easy, and knowing the trouble some of us more senior users (like me!) have double-clicking, it might be useful! :-)

 Simplify using your mouse: change double-click to single-click

19-essential-get-started-tips-for-windows-vista

If you have read this blog or otherwise know me, you know that I am not a big fan of Windows Vista. For those of you who like me have managed to avoid making a commitment to Vista, hang in there. Windows XP will be supported through 2014 by Microsoft, and well before that we will see the introduction of the replacement for Vista, so we may be able to avoid it all together.

However, I also realize many of you who have bought new machines lately have had (or felt you had) no choice and now have Vista as your primary operating system. I too have a Vista laptop I bought just so that I could offer you all the support you need getting to know, understand, and efficiently use Vista.

Here is a posting from Microsoft that may help some of you with your Vista environment:

19-essential-get-started-tips-for-windows-vista

Symantec has a change of heart?

Symantec, makers of the Norton security product line, must have lost untold millions of dollars in the past few years as users like me and you replaced our fee security products, like Norton, with free products. It'll be a long time before I pay for a security product again, but Symantec is doing what it can to woo back lost customers and keep existing customers.

Walter S. Mossberg reviews Norton Internet Security 2009 on the All Things Digital web site at the following link:

Mossberg's review of NIS 2009

It appears from his review that Symantec has addressed performance and pricing as well, but it's still far from being a freebie! I assume he is addressing a brand new, and probably not yet available product, so it'll be a long time before this doubting Thomas believes it.

On a related subject, a customer asked me to download and install the newest version of Norton Antivirus for him this week. I did so, dutifully paid the $39.99 fee, which is an ANNUAL fee, and finished a very long and painful installation process. After this was done, and it seemed that I came to a nice clean end of the process, I was informed that the license had expired! I tried everything but could not get past this. I finally found Symantec online chat support and signed in. I was number 52 in the queue of people waiting to chat with an expert. Fortunately I was watching a baseball game on TV so I just kept an eye on the screen from time to time, and when my number came up, I entered a chat room with Suresh something. He/she took the time to understand my problem, and then indicated that he/she could help, and went ahead by taking control of the computer I was working on, worked his/her magic, and got the product going.

This was a HORRIBLE, but typical, and very time-consuming Symantec experience. It's like adding insult to injury after you pay your forty bucks. No thank you.

 

Google Chrome Follow-up

I knew I was jumping into Chrome early. It's only a Beta (test) version after all. As reported earlier, it is quite different as browsers we know go. I had a major issue right from the start. I was willing to try something new, but wanted a comfortable feeling of "well, this isn't so different after all", but I didn't get that. One example is that I wanted to display all of my Bookmarks/Favorites on the left side of the window as one normally does in IE or Firefox, but Chrome can't do that! I posted my desire on a chat forum, thinking I was overlooking something simple, but apparently I wasn't.

See the forum chatter about this

I'm holding off on any more investigating until the first official version comes along. If you want to try Chrome now, and you really have nothing to lose other than your time, you can download it here:

Download Google Chrome

 

Miscellaneous

I have been installing Windows XP SP3 on customers' machines in greater numbers now, and am not experiencing any problems. So far I am only doing this on Intel microprocessor machines, and avoiding it on AMD machines. Check your System Properties (see March 7 post) to see which microprocessor you have.

AVG Free Version 8 continues to run smoothly on my machines. I have a full scan scheduled every night at 10:30 PM.

If you leave your machine on most of the time, as I do, remember that it's very important to do a restart at least twice a week.

Spybot (now version 1.60) continues to be the most valuable player among the tools in my kit for ridding systems of the malware (malicious software) that so many of you seem to acquire along the way. It has regular updates so manages to keep up with the bad guys. I recommend running it once a week. Be sure to update and immunize before running the Search & Destroy program. Because there are so many bad guys out there intent on infecting our systems, Spybot S&D will run a little longer than it used to. It is now checking for the presence of nearly 300,000 items.

Spybot is so effective, I find I am running AdAware much less frequently these days, and again because Spybot is so good, AdAware rarely finds anything of any significance. As a result, I have stopped installing AdAware on my customers' machines. Also, have you installed AdAware recently? It ain't pretty!

Not very far behind Spybot in effectivenss for what it does is CCleaner. This small, fast-running tool will rid your system of all of the junk that accumulates on our systems just from daily normal use. This results in faster-running machines. I recommend running it weekly. If you do, it will only take a minute or two to do its job. As a warning, if you have not yet run CCleaner and have a system that is in need of a cleaning, the first run of CCleaner may take a while (15 minutes, possibly more). I always delete everything CCleaner identifies.

I continue to install Microsoft's Windows Defender, a free realtime spyware monitor, on all Windows XP customer machines. Windows Defender is an integral part of Vista. It gets updated through the regular Microsoft Automatic Updates process.

Questions or comments? Please write. I will respond.

Google Chrome

Google has done it again, coming up with something completely different. Google Mail is a completely different way of processing e-mail, and the new Google Chrome is a new way to do web browsing. This morning I downloaded the Beta (still in test) version and installed it. This was a snap and really required little decision-making on my part, and typical of Google, the process was very fast. Chrome has a completely new look and feel, and I am far from figuring it all out, but it's going to be fun doing just that. I have to say that I like what I have seen so far. If you'd like to install it yourself, you can download it here:

http://www.google.com/chrome 

 Since it is still in Beta testing, the more cautious of you may want to wait until it is available as a production program. I'll keep you posted on when that is and I will also report back on my experience using it.

Chrome will surely be making a dent in the number of users of Firefox and Internet Explorer, and most likely a rather large dent! 

Telecommuting

This is an interesting Computerworld article on telecommuting.

Telecommuting: 6 questions to ask before you say yes

XP SP3

I guess I can't say enough about this, but be very wary of XP SP3. A friend of mine, when coming out of Church on Sunday, asked me if I had heard anything about problems with XP SP3. He said that he installed it and has not been able to reboot his machine since. His plans were to reinstall the operating system from scratch. If only he'd been watching this blog!

His machine was a HP with an AMD microprocessor.

While I do not believe the problem is limited to HP machines, I do believe it is limited to AMD processors. I believe Intel microprocessors are not affected by the problem.

My position, and my advice to you all, is to simply avoid SP3, and instructions on how to do this are included in an earlier post, for a few more months. There are no good reasons to install it now.

In the late Fall I will do complete research on the issue and then install SP3 on my machines. After that I will post here how that all went. Questions about your situation? Please write.

Vista users rush for SP1, XP owners dawdle on SP3

This article appears on the ComputerWorld web site today.

I have both Vista and XP machines and am holding off on both until later in this year.

Vista users rush for SP1, XP owners dawdle on SP3

Wi-Fi Tweaks for Speed Freaks

For those of you who have played around with wi-fi for some time now, you may find something useful in this Computerworld article.

Here's a pdf for you: Wi-Fi Tweaks for Speed Freaks

or for ease of following links within the article, go straight to the Computerworld Article by clicking here.

Windows XP Service Pack 3

A customer asked me the other day about SP3. I think it was in my May 29 blog post that I recommenced against installing it and showed you how to block it from being downloaded.

My position on this has not changed. I have not installed it on any of my machines, and have only installed it on one customer's machine. I am giving it a little more time, and will probably install it on my machines before the end of the year.

There are no new bells and whistles that come with it, and it supposedly contains little more than all of the individual updates you and I have been installing along the way. Given that, and knowing that there were several problems caused by installing it, I will give it some more time.

15 great gadgets for the back-to-school crowd

Okay, I admit it, I've been lazy about trying to do a new post each day. It is SUMMER, after all!

I never recommend anything I haven't at least tried once, so I am not recommending any of the items in this Computerworld article. I just thought that those of you with college-aged kids might be hearing about some of these, so forewarned is forearmed.

15 great gadgets for the back-to-school crowd

Memory

I continue to be amazed at how many customers I help out who complain about a sluggish PC and who have 256MB of memory or RAM (Random Access memory) on their machines. 256MB worked for the early versions of Windows XP, but we have come a long way since then. We have had SP1, SP2, and many other security and other improvements since then, and 256MB just does NOT cut it any more.

Some also think that when I bring this up I am talking about the size of the hard drive. I am not. Hard (or disk) drive space is not usually a problem as long as one is careful and runs defragment (for space) and check disk (for health) once in a while.

Nowadays you should be thiking about having 1GB of RAM to run Windows XP and the other programs you run on it. Anti-virus and spyware programs, while free in the sense that there is no charge for them, also take up some valuable RAM.

Memory (RAM) has never been less expensive than it is today. Please revisit my post of April 2, "Thanks for the Memory" to see how you can find out if your machine can support a memory upgrade. Most can.

How much memory or RAM do you have on your machine now? Check my post of March 2 to see how you can find out.

Questions? Write or call me.

AVG Free Version 8

In case you missed it, in my blog post of July 12 I recommended migrating to AVG Free Version 8. If you have not yet made the conversion, you have until August 31 when updates to Version 7.5 will cease.

I have found that Version 8 is a fine product. I have it on all of my machines, and I have been installing it on all of my summer customers' machines.

Thumb Drives

I was in Costco last week and saw my same Cruzer Micro 8GB thumb drive now sports a price of $37! This is down from the $48 I paid just a short time ago. If you don't have a thumb drive and have a Costco membership (or know someone who does), this is a terrific buy.

AOL

Okay, sometimes I get a little grumpy about some products, like Vista and any fee-based security product (like Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro, etc.).

Now I have to admit that I have just about had it with AOL. I do not understand why anyone would still be using it. I'm not just talking about the AOL 9.1 client, but even AOL Webmail.

I recommend giving it up. Get yourself a Google e-mail account and put all the fuss and muss about AOL behind you. Go ahead and write that note you have been putting off writing informing your friends and family that you have a new e-mail address, wait a month or two, and never use AOL again.

In the past week I have had to reinstall AOL 9.1 on a customer's machine because the current copy had somehow gotten corrupted. The reinstall eliminated the problem.

I have had a customer on satellite who was unable to access her AOL e-mail in any way, could not even access a plain aol.com home page, whether AOL Desktop or webmail. Checking online blogs we found several other AOL users, also on satellite, who had the same problem. This had been going on for about 3 days starting around July 20. I don't know if the problem is fixed yet, but come on, why satellite users only AOL? She could access her e-mail on another computer not satellite-linked. Weird!

A customer who switched from using the desktop client AOL 9.1 to AOL Webmail discovered that on Webmail she could not (and AOL confirmed this on the phone) access her saved e-mail that was saved on her own PC! Yes, any e-mail saved on AOL could be accessed on webmail. Go figure!

And, hard to believe, but some people are still paying for the privilege of using this bloated, problem-prone, program. It turns out that unless you are a paying customer, you can't call for help!

So who needs it? Bite the bullet! Cut the cord and experience freedom from AOL!

Spybot 1.6

There is a new version of Spybot, Version 1.6, available now, and compared to V1.5 it is as fast as lightning! They have somehow drastically improved its runtime speed.You can get it (free as always, but they do welcome donations) at download.com.

In a couple of days I will detail here how to set this up to run automatically, including getting updates, immunization, and a check for problems, automatically deleting all of the items it finds.

Skin Vista to Look Like Windows XP

Okay, some of you (those with Vista) may be a little tired of me bad-mouthing Vista, so I apologize to those who may feel that way. The plain truth is that I do not like Vista. I invested some $800 in a Vista laptop a year and a half ago. I needed it for teaching and for supporting my customers who had Vista, but I never said I liked it!

Years ago I heard of a company investing millions in a system with a name like Corporate Manufacturing Information System, or as it was called, CMIS. Users soon came to call it Corporate Mistake on an Incredible Scale. To me that is what Vista is, and Microsoft has only itself to blame.

So today I see this article on pcworld.com, and I had to smile. I have already made some but not all of the suggested changes. I think they are all fine but you may want to be sure you can return to the original before making any of them if, like me, you yearn for the good old days of XP!

Skin Vista to Look Like Windows XP

Buying a new Dell PC with Windows XP

I assisted a customer of mine 2 days ago with the online purchase of a new Dell PC that comes with Windows XP loaded and ready to go. We simply went to the Dell web site, clicked on Office (not Home), and then selected Small and Medium Business. We selected the machine we wanted and then customized the configuration. On the Ship To screen, we simply put the person's name, and when asked for the Company Name, repeated the customer's name. That's all there was to it. The new machine will be delivered within 3-5 business days. Oh, forgot to mention that it comes with a Vista installation disk so that should the customer ever want to migrate to Vista that can be done at no additional cost.

PC World - What Does It Take to get a PC with XP

Are you in the market for a new PC but concerned about Windows Vista (which you should be!)?

Online today at PCWorld is this article that explains how to get a new PC with Windows XP from any of the major vendors. Those of you in the market for a new PC may try one of the tactics featured in this article. I, for example, should be able to buy one for my business, the PC Doctor. I am sure most people have some sort of in-home business and could probably do the same.

PC World - What Does It Take to get a PC with XP

Time to migrate to AVG V8. Here’s How!

I migrated from AVG Free V7.5 to V8 yesterday on my desktop. I have done this several times (back and forth) to make sure I got it all right. I have documented this in detail if you want some help, but it really is fairly straightforward. I have also done this on several laptops, both my own and my customers. If you have been a customer of mine this summer, chances are you already have V8. Here's how to tell. First of all. the icon in your system tray for V8 looks like a patchwork quilt, with the 4 colored pieces forming the quilt. V7 and earlier icons are simple squares containing the 4 colors. Second, if you open up AVG to its Control Panel or User Interface as it's now called, click on Help up on top, and then About AVG, it will tell you the version. If it says V8, you are all set.

The detailed installation is captured in the attached pdf file. It's about a 2.7MB file, so give it a few seconds to download (on a high-speed internet connection).

The installation of V8 will also uninstall V7.5, so you do not have to go through that extra uninstall step. Note that the scene in the attached begins with a double click on the install file you downloaded to your desktop per the previous post.

Also, although you can delete the downloaded install file on your desktop, I'd recommend keeping it. Move it to a folder where you can find it if/when needed.

 Time to migrate to AVG V8. Click Here to See How!

Migrating to AVG Free Version 8

Okay, it's time to move forward. In the past few days I have tried Avast, another free anti-virus program, but have to say that I like AVG much more.

This is meant primarily for those students and customers of mine who may already have AVG Free Anti-virus Version 7.5 installed. However it may work for others who want to stop paying for their anti-virus program, those who may have Norton or McAfee or Trend Micro or other anti-virus programs installed.

The first step you should take is to download AVG Free V8 ( Version 8 ) to your desktop. It's a good idea to do this again now even if you have done it before, because AVG V8 had its share of early install problems and is already on about its 4th version, so it pays to download the latest.

You can download the program, and remember it's FREE, from this web site:

Download AVG Free Version 8 here

When you go to the link above, click on Download Now and note that the file is about 46MB in size, so this is really an exercise for high-speed internet users and not dial-up users. (If you are a dial-up user at home, you might consider going to a place that has high-speed internet, like your local library, downloading the file to the desktop there, and then copying it to your own thumb drive so you can take it home with you.)

What you are downloading is AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0.138. If you do this sometime in the future, the version number may well have changed by that time, and that's okay, just go ahead and download.

When you are finished, you will have the AVG Free V8 install file on your desktop.  Stay tuned for more.

 

 

AVG Free Version 7.5

From the AVG Free Forum July 9, 2008:

"AVG 7.5 Free - Support ends 31/08/2008

Posted by: michaelhd - AVG Team (IP Logged)

Date: July 9, 2008 04:07PM

Support for AVG 7.5 Free Edition is planned to end on 31st August 2008.

No more virus updates are planned for after that date.

Note that no more 'program' updates are due! Only virus updates will continue until the end date.

AVG 7.5 Paid version will be supported until 31/12/08."

 

It looks like it is time for us to move on now to AVG FREE Version 8. Over the next few days I will post steps you can follow to install Version 8.

Microsoft sets XP SP3 automatic download for Thursday

If this article is correct, you have until 1 PM Eastern time TOMORROW to take the action I prescribed in this blog on May 7. That action will let you avoid the download of XP SP3. I still believe XP SP3 needs another few months before I will download it willingly.

Microsoft sets XP SP3 automatic download for Thursday

HAPPY 4th ALL! HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA!

 

 

Mission Accomplished!

On June 23 I wrote "I am planning to replace the 80GB drive with the 250GB drive. To do this I will need to make an exact copy of my current C drive on the external 250GB drive. For this I will use Norton Ghost. After making the copy, I’ll physically replace the 80GB drive with the 250GB drive and hope I can then reboot my machine from the new internal 250GB drive. I will hold onto the 80GB drive, probably inserting it into the enclosure now housing the 250GB drive. The 80GB drive will be a good place to carry another backup copy of MY DOCUMENTS (all of my data)."

Two days ago I completed this task, though not exactly the way I had planned. Not surprisingly, Norton Ghost did not do the job for me. I have become accustomed to being disappointed with Symantec products over the years, and Norton Ghost didn't let me down! It did not perform as advertised, and after two days on a Norton Ghost  forum where the best Norton Ghost minds tried their best to help me, I decided to download and try Acronis True Image Home Version 11.0. This program was hyped as one which would do exactly what I wanted to do, and was available on a 15 day free trial. It did the job very quickly (15 minutes) and smoothly and had an intuitive user interface, one even I could understand (unlike Norton Ghost).

So now I have my 250GB drive as my internal system drive and my 1TB drive as my external drive for backups and for my ever-increasing libraries of videos, music, and photos.

Windows XP Departs: Good Riddance or Sad Farewell?

June 30 has come and gone, and so, for the most part, has Windows XP. You can read the pros and cons of this departure in this PCWorld article.

Windows XP Departs: Good Riddance or Sad Farewell?

AVG Free Edition Version 7.5

The updates keep rolling in. I got one on 6/26 and one on 6/27. I am hopeful that the bulletin board post that I have posted herein earlier is correct, and that 12/31/2008 is the correct end of updates for us.

It is terribly annoying that AVG continues to send those pop-ups warning of the end of updates on 6/25.

I am planning to create a video, or several smaller videos, of the Version 8 installation process. I have been installing Version 8 on customer machines as I service them, and I have had no problems to date. I will keep you posted.

Redundant?

Okay, I am being redundant I know when I ask you to be redundant or, in other words, to have a backup plan for your data. So many times I hear from customers that they have a problem with their PC and, when I ask them if they have their data backed up, the answer comes back as "no" probably 90% of the time!

PLEASE, do yourself a big favor and create a plan for backup. The data you should be backing up includes most everything contained in your MY DOCUMENTS (XP) folder or your DOCUMENTS (VISTA) folder. Included therein should be all of your digital photos, music, and movies or videos. If you have an office product (MS Office or Open Office, etc.) all of the documents, spreadsheets, presentations, publications, etc. that you have created and saved will also be there.

It is not terribly difficult to learn how to back up this data to a CD or a DVD or to an external hard drive or even, on a somewhat temporary basis, to a flash or thumb drive.

So make a commitment to do this on a regular basis, but at least quarterly, PLEASE!

If your e-mail is important to you, you can easily back that up as well. The method used will depend on how you process your e-mail (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc.). If you have questions about this, please write.

Migrating from Firefox Version 2 to Version 3

Okay, I'm trying something new, and my first foray into the world of video is only mildly successful. It would be better if I could better capture the screen so that you could actually read it. However, as I look at it, I find that maybe my narration will somewhat make up for it - at least in this simple case.

If you are a Firefox user, or even if you are not, you may find this helpful. For you current users, you will find this a very easy upgrade. It is fast and straightforward. Even if you don't want to upgrade at this point in time, you may find the video useful. The bottom line is that this is an easy upgrade and one you can implement without worry. The new version looks very much like the old.

If you have never used Firefox as your browser, you may want to install it even if you later decide not to make it your default browser. You can also follow the video's instructions. Firefox will copy all of your Internet Explorer (IE) Favorites so the end product will look much like IE.

I welcome your feedback, so please write with comments.

 Migrating from Firefox Version 2 to Version 3 Video

1 Terabyte Hard Drive

A terabyte (TB) is 1000 Gigabytes (GB). A GB is 1000 megabytes (MB). A MB is 1000 kilobytes (KB). A KB is 1000 bytes or characters in computerese. (In actuality, a KB is 1024 bytes, but normally rounded off to 1000 for ease of computation.) I used to teach this stuff at SeniorNet, and never felt that the magnitude of these numbers ever sank in.

A TB is 1,000,000,000,000 bytes or characters! Now that's a lot of zeroes, and I have gone over that string several times to make sure I have it right! :-)

I have been waiting for what seems like a long time to buy a hard drive with a 1TB capacity. They have been around for a while but rather costly, and I had decided that when they were priced lower than $200 I would buy one. Well, thanks to Costco and one of their coupons, I purchased one last week for $199!

It is a Western Digital My Book Home Edition External Hard Drive. It comes in its own enclosure and attaches to a PC via a USB cable (it can also attach using FIREWIRE or eSATA).

I have plans for what I am going to do now that my desktop, with its internal 80GB hard drive and its external 250GB hard drive, have this new capacity available to me. Both my internal and external drives have been pushing the limits of their capacity. I have used the 250GB drive for backups mostly, maintaining several backups of my data at any one time.

I am planning to replace the 80GB drive with the 250GB drive. To do this I will need to make an exact copy of my current C drive on the external 250GB drive. For this I will use Norton Ghost. After making the copy, I'll physically replace the 80GB drive with the 250GB drive and hope I can then reboot my machine from the new internal 250GB drive. I will hold onto the 80GB drive, probably inserting it into the enclosure now housing the 250GB drive. The 80GB drive will be a good place to carry another backup copy of MY DOCUMENTS (all of my data).

I have already moved my My Documents folder to the external 1TB drive. To see how to move the location of your My Documents folder, see this handy Microsoft link:

How to Change the Default Location of the My Documents Folder

Below is what my 1TB drive looked like after I formatted it, getting rid of all the annoying "management" software included by Western Digital:

You can click on that image above to see the full sized version.

More on this subject as I progress with the above plan. If you have any questions, send me an e-mail.

Revitalizing an aging notebook on the cheap

This is a very good ComputerWorld article for those of you who own aging laptops and are also do-it-yourselfers (DIY). Even if you are not a DIY, I think all laptop owners will find this article interesting.

For what it's worth (FWIW), I installed Ubuntu on an aging laptop and was very impressed. It is free and installed easily. It uses very little of your aging system's precious resources. If all you want to do is web browsing and e-mail, then you should consider Ubuntu for your aging laptop. This is covered in some detail in this ComputerWorld article. I should add that Ubuntu comes with Open Office already installed, so the machine is also equipped to do word processing, spreadsheets, etc. You can learn more about Open Office here: http://www.openoffice.org/

Revitalizing an aging notebook on the cheap

Do not pay for AVG!

Under no circumstances should you allow yourself to be bullied into paying for AVG anti-virus. Those of you who are on AVG Free Edition 7.5, stay there until further notice. As already stated earlier, not even AVG knows the real answer - apparently - about when virus definitions will stop coming for 7.5. If it does stop on 6/25, I will advise you as soon as I know. Even if that should be on 6/25, there is no need to panic, and there is no need to pay!

If support for 7.5 does stop soon, we can all go to AVG Free Edition 8.0. The key word there is FREE! I have downloaded, installed, and uninstalled Version 8 several times on several of my machines. There is nothing to fear about Version 8. Yes, it's a little bigger, a little slower, and more intrusive, but it works and is far better than the fee-based alternatives like Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro, etc.

Earlier posts herein tell you where you can download Version 8, so if you feel worried about all of this (you shouldn't) and somewhat adventurous, go ahead and download it and install it.

However, I recommend sitting tight for the moment with your version 7.5, as I am doing.

Firefox Version 3

Firefox Version 3 has just become available. I don't normally get excited about products I haven't tested and used myself, but I am looking forward to this. It has been a long time coming, and there has been lots of hype about it.

If you are not a Firefox web browser user, perhaps you should give it a try. Firefox has been my browser of choice for several years now.

Firefox Version 3 Reviewed by CNET

Firefox Version 3 Reviewed by ComputerWorld

AVG - the saga continues

Like many of you I keep getting the pop-up informing me that support for AVG 7.5 will end on June 25. This could be true but it also could be a horrible case of creative marketing gone wrong. This is the latest from the AVG Free Forum:

Re: AVG 7.5 FREE, ending or not?

Posted by: michaelhd - AVG Team (IP Logged)

Date: May 29, 2008 01:54PM

Hello all,

Two points to discuss here.

Firstly, like all companies we have to develop a strategy to get our users past the end of old windows editions. MS will stop supporting these older operating systems and we need to move along and provide software that works best on the newer OSs.
Secondly we need to encourage users to upgrade to our newer products so that we can remain focused on a select number of products, and keep improving these products.

The result is ever-changing dates for releases, end of support dates, end of definition updates downloads etc, etc. its not chaos - but the different dates and changes do cause unwanted confusion.

As you will all remember from AVG 7... There will be a final date, then a REALLY final date. We will be fair to our customers and we will give due notice of changes that may seriously affect the users.
May 31st is VERY close. I can assure you that this date will not be the end of 7.5. However the 31.12.08 date is not cast in stone - though I consider it a solid date. AVG may bring termination of specific sevices or products forward, but if we do we will do so responsibly and by giving fair notice.

We will make official announcements HERE on this forum and on our corporate website, and resellers will be emailed directly.

I apologise for the differing information given by sales and by other sources, but I stand by the 31.12.08 date for now, and will put any changes here.

Thanks to all for bringing this matter up.

 

As you can see, even within the AVG corporate structure there is apparently division. This is not good for their company, nor is it good for us, the users.

 

I continue using AVG 7 and still see regular updates coming in. However, please read my May 24 post on this subject. Version 8 is solid and performs well, and you should not hesitate to download it and install it if you are uncomfortable with this whole scenario.

 

As an option, you can continue to watch here and I will give you the latest news. The installation of Ver 8 is not difficult, but Ver 7 continues to be my choice until I know more.

 

 

PC World - How to Get and Keep Windows XP After June 30 2008

I continue to be skeptical about the future of Microsoft's Windows Vista, but encouraged by news articles such as this one from PC World that inform readers about loopholes, or ways in which one can still buy a new PC with Windows XP. This article also confirms earlier posts indicating that Windows XP will be supported through 2014. If I needed to buy a new PC today, I would try very hard to find and justify the cost of a machine that has the XP downgrade feature, as explained in this article. And I'd use XP, knowing that I had the ability to "upgrade" to Vista at a later date at no extra cost.

PC World - How to Get and Keep Windows XP After June 30 2008 

AVG

I had been running AVG Version 8, without the Link Scanner, for about 3 weeks, and had no issues with it. I could tell it was larger and less nimble than its predecessor, Version 7.5. The full system scan, run daily at 5 AM, was taking over 2 hours, vs. just around 1.5 hours on Version 7.5. For this reason and also thinking of all of you who may read this blog and are running version 7.5, I decided to go back to Version 7.5.

So this morning I uninstalled version 8, telling it to keep all of my settings (hoping that 7.5 might pick them up - it didn't!), and went to http://www.filehippo.com/download_avg_antivirus/ where I downloaded the last 7.5 version.

I installed 7.5 and it went smoothly as usual. I checked for updates and found one. I changed my schedule settings and also the e-mail settings to remove the e-mail certification, and am back in business. If the AVG Free Forum is correct, I will continue to get updates through 12/31/2008. I will post again in a couple of days to update this status.

If you are one of those who like to have the latest and greatest, than go right ahead and install Version 8. As I said I had no problems with it, although I ran it without the Link Scanner feature. It is bigger and a little slower, and although I did not measure it, I am sure it uses more system resources that version 7.5.

I intend to stay on 7.5 on my main machine (a desktop), and do some more testing with version 8 on my laptop.

Time-Warner’s (TW) Roadrunner - Update

In my post of April 4, 2008, I wrote "The next level is called Road Runner High Speed Online and is their standard offering. Advertised speeds are 5 mbps download and 384 kbps upload."

I have tested out the speed of this service using speedtest.net and found that TW is indeed delivering what they promised. My download speeds are consistently very close to 5 mbps and my upload speeds are very close to the 384 kbps advertised.

So far I would have to say that I am pleased with this level of service, especially since I know that if I need better I can upgrade to the TW Turbo level and get 10mbps download speed.

If you are experiencing speeds from TW radically different from these, please let me know.

Best Buy testing free e-waste recycling program

Here is some good news from the Best Buy company. Although it won't be piloted in our area, it's nonetheless a good thing, and let's hope it succeeds and we see it in all markets. This AP article is from money.cnn.com:

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Under pressure to help dispose some of the electronic waste it helped create, Best Buy Co. is testing a free program that will offer consumers a convenient way to ensure millions of obsolescent TVs, old computers and other unwanted gadgets don't poison the nation's dumps.

The trial, expected to be announced Monday, covers 117 Best Buy stores scattered across eight states that will collect a wide variety of electronic detritus at no charge, even if the Richfield, Minn.-based retailer didn't originally sell the merchandise.

The pilot stores are in Best Buy's Northern California, Minneapolis and Baltimore markets, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Depending on how the test goes, the nation's largest electronics retailer may expand the recycling program to all of its 922 stores in the United States.

"We want to take the time to learn if we can handle this before we go any further," said Best Buy spokeswoman Kelly Groehler. "We know the need is there and the waste stream is there. We think everyone needs to bear some responsibility for this _ consumers, retailers and manufacturers."

As it is, Best Buy's test is believed to be the most extensive free electronics recycling program to be offered by a major retailer so far.

Consumers will be able to bring in up to two gadgets per day at the participating Best Buy stores. The list of acceptable items includes computer processors, computer monitors and televisions with screens up to 32 inches. Console televisions, air conditioners, microwave ovens and other large appliances won't be accepted.

Best Buy agreed to set up the recycling trial after a social responsibility group, As You Sow, submitted a proposal that would have asked the company's shareholders to endorse an electronics recycling program. As You Sow withdrew the proposal after Best Buy indicated it was already exploring ways to expand its existing recycling programs.

"This is a step in the right direction," said Conrad MacKerron, director of As You Sow's corporate social responsibility program. He is hoping Best Buy's recycling trial will prompt other major electronics retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Circuit City Stores Inc. to set up similar programs.

The disposal of electronics waste has become a more prevalent problem in recent years as technology's relentless advances turn cutting-edge devices into relics every few years.

That has threatened to create environmental headaches because the old stuff contains lead and other hazardous materials that aren't supposed to be put in the trash.

All Best Buy stores already have been accepting some electronics waste _ such as cell phones, empty ink-jet cartridges and worn-out batteries _ for several years. The retailer also will haul away old appliances and television sets when customers pay to have a replacement delivered to their homes.

Many community groups, local governments and recycling specialists also offer to accept electronics waste, often for a fee.

But environmentalists are worried about what will happen as more consumers replace their existing TVs to prepare for the scheduled February 2009 shift from analog to digital broadcasting.

Although old TVs will still be able to receive the digital signals with the help of a converter, millions of consumers have simply been buying state-of-the-art TVs _ a trend that has helped boost Best Buy's profits.

Windows XP SP3

If you have been able to avoid downloading and installing SP3, good for you! Instructions on how to do that are in an earlier post. To date I have installed it on only one machine, but the conditions need to be right before you do this, and so I'd wait a little longer.

One good reason why is highlighted in the ComputerWorld article linked to below. Apparently Symantec, the makers of the Norton product line of security programs, is one of the culprits wreaking havoc on unsuspecting XP users who use one of their products and then try to install XP SP3. The results can be catastrophic to a casual user, so be careful and wait a little longer.

As most of you know, I do not recommend any of the Norton product line. They used to offer a nice Norton Anti-virus program. It was fairly small, fairly efficient, affordable, and did an excellent job. I used it. My experience has been that their newer versions are much bigger, hog system resources slowing down your machine, and are very costly, compared to what they used to be. Time after time I see customers paying too much for a resource hog Norton product.

Symantec's Warning to XP Users re. SP3

Cooling Your Laptop

 

Here is some good advice from Kim Komando regarding keeping your laptop cool. I have worked on a lot of laptops, and I would say they all run hot. After a short while you can feel the heat. The important thing is to make sure the fan is still working. If the fan fails, that can lead to trouble. If you listen, you can hear the fan doing its thing while you are using your laptop. Kim's tips will help your laptop run cooler.

Cooling Your Laptop

Copyright 2008 WestStar TalkRadio Network. Reprinted with permission. No further republication or redistribution is permitted without the written consent of WestStar TalkRadio Network. Visit Kim Komando and sign up for herfree e-mail newsletters at: www.komando.com

 

XP deathwatch, T minus 5 weeks

The countdown is on, but there are several loopholes. Find out what they are at the link below. This is a Computerworld online article dated today.

XP deathwatch, T minus 5 weeks

AVG Free Version 8

It seems that Grisoft has backed off of its announced last date of updates for AVG Free Version 7.5, the one we have come to know and love. If you already have Version 7.5 installed, I'd not upgrade to Version 8. Wait a while and verify that you are in fact getting updates after May 31 before making your final decision about this. See this post by an AVG team member on the AVG Free Forum.

AVG Free Version 7.5 Updates will be available through 12/31/2008

That being said, however, if you feel you can't wait and must jump on the AVG Free Version 8 bandwagon, you can download it here.

Download AVG Free Version 8 from Download.com

or here

Download AVG Free Version 8 from the Grisoft Web Site

Note that the Version 8 download is 46MB, so be prepared for a longer than usual download. I have installed AVG Free Version 8 on several machines, and I have had no problem. My biggest issue with Version 8 is that Grisoft seems to feel, like every one of its competitors, that it has to do everything in one package, so the plain but good standalone anti-virus program is no longer. The new Version 8 has several extra components, including anti-spyware, built-in. The problem with this bundling is that the program will be larger, take more resources, and slow down your machine.

It is possible to trim down the package somewhat. In a subsequent post I will detail how to eliminate the Link Scanner component of Version 8 for those of you who may not like it or who feel the overhead of the package is too great.

I also do not select the Tool Bar when asked if I want it during the installation process. Don't we have enough tool bars now? For those of you who are techincally inclined, you may wish to check out the AVG Free version forum. There you can read for yourself what other users think about Version 8.

AVG Free Forum

FYI, AVG Free Version 7.5 can still be downloaded at this site:

Download AVG Free Version 7.5 from FileHippo.com

 

XP Service Pack 3

I continue to advise against installing Service Pack 3 for Windows XP. Articles such as this one from the May 20 Computerworld web site are the norm and not the exception. Forums, such as those at annoyances.org, contain discussions of many more issues with SP3.

It's beginning to look like a 3 month wait before installation is a good idea.

XP Service Pack Corrupts Registry?

Surge Suppressors and Uninterruptible Power Supplies

This comes from Kim Komando's web site.

Many people think a $10 power strip is a surge suppressor, until later when they discover their error and it's too late.

Surge Suppressors and Uninterruptible Power Supplies

 

Copyright 2008 WestStar TalkRadio Network. Reprinted with permission. No further republication or redistribution is permitted without the written consent of WestStar TalkRadio Network. Visit Kim Komando and sign up for herfree e-mail newsletters at: www.komando.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to back up and to restore Outlook Express data

If you use Outlook Express, this is required reading. Microsoft has had this information posted on their web site for years now, and it is still valid and very important for you OE users.

Please, do yourself a favor and back up your OE mail, address book, and account settings by following the directions at this web site. After you've gotten through it once, it'll be easy for you to do the next time, and it's something you can do every 6 months to assure yourself that you'll not lose your e-mail due to some unforeseen problem.

The article not only tells you how to back all this very important information up, but also shows you how to restore it if/when you need to do that. I suggest printing the article and keeping it in a handy place in your desk for retrieval later.

How to back up and to restore Outlook Express data

Looking for a printer?

PC World has an article identifying their picks for the top 5 inkjet printers, and they are all affordable.

Top 5 Inkjet Printers

AVG

Grisoft has forums for us to look at to see what is happening with the new Version 8. Some of you have wondered why I recommend waiting a bit. It's easy to see why if you read the forums, as I do on your behalf each day. Be patient and look back here in a week or two for my final recommendation.

 AVG Free Forum

Windows XP Service Pack 3

XP SP3 is available starting today at Windows Update. It is NOT yet being downloaded through Automatic Updates - fortunately! :-) I went to the Windows Update web site and although they make it very difficult to say "Don't ask me to install these updates again", I managed to do so by starting the download and then NOT agreeing with the End User License Agreement (EULA). When I declined to agree, I got the old window that enabled me to check the box as shown below:

Since this is not being 'forced' on us through Automatic Updates - YET! - I wanted to see if I could block it, and as you can see I did just that. You can do the same or watch this site for further information. You can always block it even after it is downloaded as an Automatic Update.

AVG users

If you use AVG Free Edition Antivirus, as I do, you may have received a pop-up telling you that Version 8 is available now. Do NOT click on download and get into the situation where you have to buy a fee version.

Please read the press release linked to below.

Avg Version 8 also has a FREE version. For those of you who have gotten used to the older version 7 as I have, Version 8 is quite different, but still FREE!! In the next couple of weeks I will document here for all of you the steps you need to take to upgrade to the FREE Version 8. Please be patient and keep looking here for those instructions.

AVG Version 8 FREE Edition

Below is the warning screen you may receive. Just click on UPGRADE LATER.

Get more with Vista’s ‘secret’ features

For you Vista users out there, here is an article from Kim Komando's web site, http://komando.com. I found this on her web site today even though it has a February date.

Get more with Vista’s ‘secret’ features

A very unhappy birthday to spam, age 30

This article from the San Francisco Chronicle documents the history of spam and has some interesting tidbits about the history of the internet as well.

A very unhappy birthday to spam, age 30

Exporting your Outlook Express Address Book and then Importing it into your webmail account

It's funny how these things happen, but twice this week I have had customers ask for help in exporting their Outlook Express Address Book and then importing it into their servicer's webmail system. I have laid out the steps one needs to follow to do this, and hope it will prove helpful to others as well. Not all servicers will look alike when you go to do the import step, but perhaps with the example given (Time Warner) you will be able to figure yours out.

Webmail can be used when you are away from home and using someone else's computer, so it's very nice to have your complete address book available to you when operating in that mode. Webmail is also a backup system should you be experiencing problems with Outlook Express.

Exporting your Outlook Express Address Book and then Importing it into your webmail account

Burning CDs and DVDs

Most computers come with application software you can use to burn CDs and DVDs. You may or may not be a happy user of that software. More often than not I find that my customers are not happy with the software they have and in fact, they struggle with it every time they want to create a CD or DVD. Many have even given up and do not burn CDs or DVDs. This is too bad because these discs make excellent backup media, and backup of your data is very important.

I use and recommend a free CD & DVD burner called CDBurnerXP. In spite of its name, it also works in Vista. Not only is it free, but there are always new versions being introduced with enhanced features. All of this is still free. I just downloaded and installed the latest version today.

I think the program's routines are rather intuitive and easy to use. If you want to try this program, you can download it free at the link below.

 CDBurnerXP

8GB Flash Drive

A while ago I wrote here about my new 4GB Sandisk Micro Cruzer flash drive. I had purchased it at Costco for $28, a price that I thought was just terrific. These devices are getting less expensive, like so many other items in our electronic world as competition and breakthroughs in technology drive the prices down.

A few weeks ago I loaned my 4GB drive to a friend in need. I didn't expect to get it back and, in fact, told her she could keep it.

This weekend I went to Costco to replace it, but was disappointed to find that the product was no longer being carried by Costco, at least not in my local store. Much to my surprise, however, they had on display an 8GB Sandisk Micro Cruzer. The price: $48!

I have no real need for an 8GB capacity, but if I thought the 4GB drive was affordable, then this was even better, and I bought it. This is truly an amazing capacity at a great price, and I have no doubts that the capacity/price ratio for these devices will continue to improve.

I got home, went to the Sandisk web site and downloaded the U3 Removal Tool (see my April 17 post), and in less than a minute I had a full 8GB of flash memory available for my use.

I must read up on the new feature in Windows Vista that will use an empty flash drive as an extension of RAM. Lord knows that Vista can use all the help it can get in that regard, and it will be interesting to see if I observe any boost in speed.