Used laptops needed

Over the past few months I became aware of a need at the Ronald McDonald House (RMH). Some of the people staying there had a need for laptop computers. These people were from out of state, had come here not knowing how long they would be here, but did not plan or pack for a long stay. They had brought their school-aged children with them. They had a need for laptop computing so that they could update family and friends at home, and they needed to do this both at the RMH and also at the hospital. Also, their kids needed to keep up with the classes they were missing and could get homework assignments and turn in their work via a computer. In one case, a student connected via a camera and Skype to her own classroom back home. They needed to have wireless capability so they could login wherever they might be within the RMH or the hospital. The net is that I loaned them 2 of my laptops.

I got to thinking that there are probably others in the area with similar needs who could make good use of a wireless capable laptop PC, and not just the people at the RMH. So I have started a campaign asking people who may have their last laptop sitting around the house gathering dust to consider donating it to this cause. I will try to put together a few working computers that I could lend to people in need through non-profit organizations like the RMH.

It'd be great to get one or two or three Windows XP capable machines, but so far I have only gotten older machines from which I can gather usable parts for another PC. If you have such a laptop that you no longer need, even if it has a bad part or two (remember, I can get parts from other machines), please consider donating it to the cause.

I will offer my services to get the machines up and running, and to keep them running smoothly and efficiently by cleaning them up between users.

Please get in touch with me via the Contact the PC Doc link over on the right side of this display. Thank you.

Sandisk Flash Drive Annoyance

I recently bought a Sandisk Flash Drive and was disappointed to find that Sandisk had decided to load some proprietary software on it to make it easier to use! Well, I did not find their U3 Launchpad user-friendly. I was rather annoyed that it could not be gotten rid of easily, but a Google search led me to the Sandisk web site where they have, lo and behold, a U3 Removal Tool! If you experience this U3 software on one of the Sandisk products, you can download this simple and fast tool to get rid of it at this web site.

Sandisk U3 Removal Tool

Windows XP SP3

Service Pack 3 for Windows XP is expected to be available at the end of this month. As usual, my recommendation on an update as important as this one is to wait a while before installing it on your machines. I have read that it will not be considered a high priority update, initially at least, and therefore not an Automatic Update. This is good news. The date for that will likely be in June or later, depending on the level of noise generated by those who choose to download it as an option before then.

I will install SP3 on my machine in mid-May and will report back here on my experience, so stay tuned. Also, I will alert readers about the exact date SP3 will become an automatic update. You should know that just because an update is Automatic this does not mean you must get it. There are ways you can indicate that you don't want certain updates. More in a later post on this.

Web Cams

It's fun to look at some of the many web cams available today, but one of my favorites is the Dartmouth Baker Tower Web Cam. I am glad to say that all of the snow has finally melted away and the grass is now getting greener by the day.

Dartmouth Baker Tower Web Cam

Running Spybot Search & Destroy

Spybot is one of those free tools that I use regularly (once a week) on my PC. I covered this tool in my Best Offense is a Good Defense white paper. For those of you who already have Spybot S&D Version 1.5 or later installed on your machines, I have documented the steps to take to run it in today's link. If you have an older version (like 1.4), these steps are different than what you may be used to.

I run Spybot and then always delete everything it finds. I have never been hurt doing this. I hope you will find this documentation helpful.

How to run Spybot Version 1.5 and later

Google Alerts

"Google Alerts" is a fun feature of Google, and it's free. It's like an online clipping service. All you have to do is provide a search item, your e-mail address, and select a couple of options to get it going. What happens next is that you will get an e-mail from Google Alerts containing capsule summaries and links to articles that relate to your search item.

I have 3 such Google Alerts. They are my last name, Jericho, and East Boothbay. I selected the daily frequency and the comprehensive search criteria. Each day I get 3 e-mails, each returning information of interest to me.

If you get too much information (I don't), you can modify your search criteria. It is also very easy to cancel an alert. You can do this right at the bottom of every incoming e-mail.

Sign up here

Comcast Update

In my posts of March 21, 2008 and March 28, 2008, I presented my own experiences with Comcast's High Speed Internet.

Since then, I have had phone conversations with them on the phone, and the last request I made of them was for them to replace my cable modem, currently rented from Comcast. The Executive Office people I dealt with on the phone arranged for a service call to my house, and yesterday they came as promised.

I got a brand new Motorola cable modem to replace my older Terayon cable modem (originally provided by Adelphia). In the process of installing the new modem, the Comcast technician discovered that their PowerBoost feature was not enabled on my account for some reason. He installed the modem and communicated with his home office to have PowerBoost enabled.

From their web site, this is what Comcast says about PowerBoost: "PowerBoost technology utilizes available capacity already built into Comcast's advanced fiber network to provide customers with extra bursts of download speed – up to 12Mbps and16Mbps, respectively, on Comcast's 6 and 8Meg services."

As noted earlier, I am a 6Mbps customer. The result of the combined new modem and PowerBoost is incredible! I cannot believe the high speeds I now get.

Using the aforementioned speedtest.net web site to check my speeds yesterday and today, I consistently measure over 11000 kbps download and 1600 kbps upload! This is what I reported on March 28 in my post: 5366 kbps download and 365 kbps upload. Amazing!


The net of this is, at least for Comcast customers, especially if you were once an Adelphia high speed internet customer:

1) Call Comcast and make sure you are on their 6000 kbps download plan, which is their standard offering. Originally I found that I was still on the old Adelphia standard speed of 4000 kbps. Comcast simply changed something in my account profile and almost instantaneously I got download speeds increased from around 4000 kbps download to near 6000 kbps download.

2) If you rent your cable modem from Comcast and still have your old Adelphia-issued modem, I suggest you ask for a newer modem.

3) Check speedtest.net frequently, but especially today to see if you are getting the same results, more or less, which I now enjoy.

OS Smackdown: Linux vs. Mac OS X vs. Windows Vista vs. Windows XP

This excellent article appears on today's Computerworld web site. Although the contributors are biased towards their own products, just as in TV's Smackdowns, the article contains some good nuggets, and should serve as a good reference for anyone who has any questions about today's popular desktop personal computer operating systems.

Operating System Smackdown

Backing up your data

I am often called upon to try to salvage user data, like Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets, photos, music files, and so on. Of all of these items, photos must be the most valuable. This is a plea to all PC users to commit to making a backup plan that works for you. First of all make an effort to learn how Windows XP or Vista stores your data. What folders are your files kept in? Once you know exactly where your data is, backing it up is easy. You don't need any special software. A click and drag of a folder from one device to another is something simple enough that all users should be able to master the process.

What sort of devices can be used for backup? The most common and popular these days are flash drives, aka thumb drives or jump drives. I recently bought a 4 GB thumb drive at Costco for $28! That is an amazing buy, and even as I write this I know that prices are coming down every week, and someone somewhere is selling that same capacity thumb drive for less. Rule of thumb (pun intended) is to buy the thumb drive with the largest affordable capacity you can find. Your big box stores have specials on these every week. I am not sure how large these will become, but I see 8 GB flash drives advertised online. That is a lot of data!

The second most popular way to backup data is by using an external hard drive. These are sold by nearly every big box store and usually attach as a USB device. They are a hard drive in a case with a USB cable. Plug it in and it will be recognized immediately by your system as just another hard drive. These come in much larger sizes. I am waiting for the 1 TB (terabyte) model to become affordable. In the meantime, I use a 250 GB external drive. In my case, I separately purchased a hard drive and an enclosure (a simple aluminum case which holds the hard drive). This was less expensive. My 250 GB external drive is large enough to carry multiple copies of all of My Documents, so I back up My Documents every quarter and keep 3 backups. The beauty of the external drive is you can simply unplug it from one PC and plug it into another, so if you have multiple PCs in your house, this is a simple way to backup the user data of all of your computers.

Bottom line, have a plan please! I hate to have to tell a customer that their precious photographs or expensive music files are irretrievable.

Internet Service Providers High Speed Internet - Time Warner

Like Comcast in Vermont, Time Warner inherited the old Adelphia cable business in Maine. I spoke to them yesterday, and speaking for the midcoast region of Maine, this is what I learned about their high speed internet offering.

Time Warner offers 3 levels of service. The first is called Road Runner Lite. Their advertised speeds for this service are 750 kbps download and 128 kbps upload.

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.

Finally, there is Road Runner Turbo. This advertises speeds of 10 mbps download and 768 kbps upload.

If you are a Time Warner Road Runner customer, check out your speed at speedtest.net and see where you fit in. If you do not know which of the three plans you are on, the chances are you are on the standard offering plan and should see download speeds near 5 mbps. I would be interested in hearing what your results are.

Check your actual speeds here

A newbie’s guide to Facebook

If you don't know what Facebook is, the chances are you don't have much contact with teenagers. If you do know a teenager, you can just ask him or her what it is. Facebook is described as a "fast-growing social networking site". This excellent guide I found at computerworld.com will fill you in on all you'll need to know as a newbie, and even shows you how to join.

 A newbie's guide to Facebook

Thanks for the Memory

Those of you who have taken one of my classes know how strongly I feel about this: DON'T SKIMP ON THE MEMORY! Your computer's memory, or RAM as it is sometimes called, is a very critical component of your system and affects its performance in a big way. Memory is also one of the least expensive components of your system.

If you are buying a new computer with Vista Home Premium installed, make sure you get at least 2 GB (gigabytes) of memory or RAM. I am working on a customer's nearly brand new Compaq laptop right now. It has 1 GB of RAM. For starters, the HP company and the store who sold her the machine should be ashamed of themselves. This just isn't going to cut it. My customer says the system is slow. Well DUH! Any store clerk in a big box store should know this. My recomendation is to buy a new Vista machine with a minimum of 2 GB. While you are there, ask what the price differential is to upgrade to 3 GB or even 4 GB. I think you'll be surprised at how little the difference is, so go for the most you can afford, but PLEASE, don't get anything less than 2 GB. My customer is running Vista Home Premium, Norton Internet Security, and AOL, and these three are among the biggest memory hogs I know.

If you have a Windows XP machine, look into upgrading to 1 GB at least. Normally an XP machine does just fine with 1 GB of RAM. However, many machines were sold with 256 MB of memory and are still at that level. This just won't cut it any more. XP itself has grown and most of the applications that we have been running have also grown with updates and upgrades to later versions.

A good site to check the maximum memory permitted in your older machines, and to get an idea of cost for upgrading, is linked to below. Check out your system and think about upgrading. You will not be sorry. Memory is not only inexpensive but it is also very easy to install. Send me a note if you have any questions about this.

Kingston Manufacturing

Enterprises pass on IE7, Windows Vista

No real surprise here. Having come from the corporate world I have an understanding of what a massive undertaking it would be to convert a huge corporate network to IE7 and Vista. I don't know how Microsoft could have expected anything different.

Enterprises pass on IE7, Windows Vista

CCleaner

Back on February 15 I wrote about running Disk Cleanup on a regular basis. I also stated "For the more experienced user, there are better ways to do this by using free downloadable programs."

One better way is to use the tool I am recommending today: CCleaner. CCleaner was originally known as Crap Cleaner, but it has since been renamed. It is a really excellent tool to use to get rid of the clutter, the unnecessary files that dwell on your system. Nowadays CCleaner is the first program I run as a part of my cleaning and tuneups.

The best part of CCleaner? Like most of the programs I recommend, it is FREE. You can download CCleaner at the site linked to below and begin to realize the benefits of this fine program.

It is very fast and beats Microsoft's Disk Cleanup easily, both in terms of its speed and in terms of what it deletes. I always delete everything CCleaner identifies.

Write me if you have usage questions after downloading and installing Cleaner.

Download CCleaner here

Spyware, Malware, Adware

"March 28, 2008 (Computerworld) Hannaford Bros. Co. disclosed this week that the intruders who stole up to 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers from the grocer's systems did so by planting malware programs on servers at each of its stores in New England, New York and Florida."

I highlighted the word malware in the Computerworld article above. While most of us have heard of spyware, malware is not a very commonly used word, but you get the idea as soon as you see it. Malware is malicious software.

In all 3 cases, spyware, malware, and adware, other people are attempting to plant some program in our computer that is obviously up to no good.

In the document linked to in my March 4 post, I advocated the use of three programs: AdAware, Spybot, and Windows Defender. These are three FREE programs which when used together will enable you to keep your system free of spyware, malware, and adware.

This week I was reminded of just how valuable these tools are when I used them to clean up a customer's heavily infected machine. Between the two of them, AdAware and Spybot, more than 150 incidents were removed, and many of these were definitely what you would call malicious and serious. I am sure my customer would agree.

With the addition of Windows Defender and the regular use of Spybot and AdAware, this computer will remain trouble-free. In light of the news from Hannaford, it might be worth your while to revisit my white paper: The Best Offense is a Good Defense. This white paper includes  detailed instructions for downloading, installing, and using Spybot.

The Best Offense is a Good Defense

Router Interference?

My March 21 post about Comcast drew a surprising phone call from Comcast "Executive Offices" in Philadelphia. They had seen my post and were concerned about the fact that I may not be getting the service I should. They promised a follow-up phone call from a person who would review my account. I did get that phone call in the form of a message from a person who left her name and number. We finally connected after some telephone tag.

First I'd like to say that I was impressed and pleased to see Comcast take this step. Unfortunately, after reviewing the numbers (I had said in that post that I averaged around 5300 kbps download) I was told that my service level was where it should be and that Comcast could do nothing to improve it. In the course of the phone conversation I was told that my use of a router would have a negative impact on my experiencing their advertised download rate of 6000 kbps.

So yesterday I ran a little test. I ran a speed test 5 times with the router connected and 5 times without the router. The results surprised me. I had bought into the argument that the router would interfere with performance. It made sense to me that it would. The results of my test did not confirm this. In fact, the opposite was true.

My 5 download speeds with the router removed as measured by speedtest.net were 5250, 5231, 5324, 5255, and 5350. I thought these were amazingly consistent and averaged 5282 kbps, which is just about what I have always observed.

My 5 download speeds with the router in place as measured by speedtest.net were 5328, 5415, 5385, 5251, and 5449. These averaged 5366 kbps. As you can see, I did better with the router in place, defying all logic as I viewed it!

However, the improvement was so small that I think it can be discounted and I can conclude that, at least in my rather limited sample, the router does not interfere with performance. BTW, I ran all 10 speed tests back to back beginning at 11 AM on 3/27.

FYI, my 10 upload speeds as measured by the test were all at or within one or two of 365 kbps, with and without the router.

Now more than ever I am interested in trying to understand why I am not getting higher numbers for my download speed. I'd like to see numbers up close to the expected and advertised 6000 kbps.

The next thing I did was to leave a mesage for my new Comcast contact asking if I could swap my cable modem for the latest and greatest cable modem that Comcast provides. I expect an answer from them today. If I cannot, I may investigate buying my own modem after carefully researching the options.

I am very interested in YOUR experience with Comcast and the kind of speeds you are getting. Please let me know by clicking on "Contact the PC Doc" above right.

Internet Service Providers High Speed Internet - Burlington Telecomm

This is perhaps the best high speed internet offering in our Northeast Region of Vermont. Burlington Telecomm did it right when they built their entire infrastructure from scratch using fiber optics. Comcast and Verizon both utilized their existing copper networks, and fiber optics is much faster. The downside is, of course, you have to live in their service area to get the service.

These next 2 paragraphs come from their web site, and the link to it is below.

Broadband comes from the words "broad bandwidth." Bandwidth typically refers to how fast data flows through the path that it travels to your computer; it’s usually measured in kilobits, megabits or gigabits per second. The greater the bandwidth, the greater the amount of data that can travel in a given time period.

Burlington Telecom offers what is know as "Symmetrical Bandwidth" which means that your upload and download speeds are potentially the same. This is a huge benefit for those who send large files such as photos, music, and video out across the internet. Typically with symmetrical bandwidth outgoing e-mail leaves a much quicker rate freeing the resources of your PC for other tasks.

BT offers speeds of 3M/3M, 5M/5M, and 8M/8M to their resiential customers. Noet that due to their symmetrical bandwidth feature the download and upload speeds are the same.

If you live in their service area, you can check out the prices at this link.

Burlington Telecomm

Internet Service Providers High Speed Internet - Wild Blue

Okay, here is the second of the two satellite service providers I know of that serve Northern Vermont. I should have mentioned yesterday that I know Hughes also serves Maine, and Wild Blue does too. Check their home page and enter your zip code to see if they service your area.

Wild Blue, like Hughes, requires a satellite dish. They offer three plans that you can view at the web site link below. As with HughesNet, Wild Blue should be viewed as possibly competing with Verizon's DSL, although Verizon's Power Plan is double the speed of the fastest Wild Blue plan.

Wild Blue Satellite Internet Plans

Internet Service Providers High Speed Internet - HughesNet Satellite

Okay, so you live in Northern Vermont and can't get Verizon's DSL or Comcast high speed internet in your area. There may be other choices for you. There are two companies I am aware of that will offer satellite service at speeds far greater than dial-up but still quite a bit slower than cable (Comcast).

One of these two is HughesNet, and I know of at least 4 of their customers in Underhill. HughesNet requires a satellite dish to be installed, and I won't even attempt to get into their pricing, but I will provide you the link below that will answer many of your questions. You can take it from there.

If interested, your best bet is to view this as a step up from dial-up, and not to compare this to Comcast HSI. You'll be disappointed if you do the latter. The web site will show you the download and upload speeds for the various plans. Some of the HughesNet plans claim speeds comparable to Verizon's DSL, as you will see.

HughesNet Satellite Internet Plans

Windows XP: Going, going … gone?

This excellent Computerworld article is today's feature story on their web site. Mostly it is about not being able to buy a new copy of Windows XP at our local Best Buy, Staples, Circuit City, or whatever after a certain date. It once again, however, does show the Windows XP timeline and how XP will be supported by Microsoft through 2014. So, if you plan to run XP until 2014, and do not have your original install CDs or DVDs, you can go out any buy a fresh copy of it now - but not for long. You can keep this fresh copy on your bookshelf should the unthinkable happen (which, unfortunately, it does once in a while!) and you have a need to reinstall XP.

Windows XP: Going, going ... gone?