Saturday, April 3, 2010
Before you buy: 12 things to know about the iPad
If any of you is interested in the iPad (I am not) this CNN article should be useful to you.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Top 10 Netbooks
The lead-in to this PCWorld article is excellent. Here it is:
"Netbooks are perfect travel companions and meet basic computing needs, including e-mailing, Web surfing, and simple document creation. Best of all, these low-powered machines cost less than the standard-issue laptop."
A personal review: I bought an Acer Aspire One when they first came out, maybe close to 2 years ago? I think it weighs less than 3 pounds. I bought it with the larger (more expensive) 6 cell battery with a 6 hour life before recharging. It runs Windows XP and does all of the above very well. My wife uses it as her primary computer. She travels a lot and likes the fact that it is very light and can be tossed into a carry-on bag. With WiFi available most everywhere these days, including now on airplanes and trains, it is even more attractive. The downside, as far as I am concerned, is the screen size. I think it's 8.9" diagonally. You better have good eyesight or glasses always handy to use it, but it works and it works well. Most of the newer lightweight netbooks have larger screens now as you will see in this article. My advice: do a hands-on check of several and pay close attention to the weight.
"Netbooks are perfect travel companions and meet basic computing needs, including e-mailing, Web surfing, and simple document creation. Best of all, these low-powered machines cost less than the standard-issue laptop."
A personal review: I bought an Acer Aspire One when they first came out, maybe close to 2 years ago? I think it weighs less than 3 pounds. I bought it with the larger (more expensive) 6 cell battery with a 6 hour life before recharging. It runs Windows XP and does all of the above very well. My wife uses it as her primary computer. She travels a lot and likes the fact that it is very light and can be tossed into a carry-on bag. With WiFi available most everywhere these days, including now on airplanes and trains, it is even more attractive. The downside, as far as I am concerned, is the screen size. I think it's 8.9" diagonally. You better have good eyesight or glasses always handy to use it, but it works and it works well. Most of the newer lightweight netbooks have larger screens now as you will see in this article. My advice: do a hands-on check of several and pay close attention to the weight.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Laptop Killer? Pretty Close
Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal reviews the new Apple iPad in this column.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tech Secrets: 21 Things 'They' Don’t Want You to Know
I was hesitant about posting this article. I know my followers pretty well, for the most part anyway, and I don't ever want to see any of you getting in trouble trying things like these 21 tips. By trouble I mean messing up your machine. But I decided for the most part these 21 tips are mostly harmless. Besides, if you find one or two that really interest you I'd be surprised, but good for you if you do get some good info from some of these tips. It's actually all pretty good stuff that interests me, so here you go. Please write me if you have any comments on this post.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Windows 7 Users ‘Very Satisfied,’ but Consumers Still Love XP
This Wall Street Journal article is consistent with the way I feel and what I have been saying. We all love Windows XP. I could add, for those of us who have or who have had Vista, I'd guess most of us hate Vista. As reported earlier, I had purchased a Vista laptop way back when so I could learn it, teach it, and support it, but believe me folks, Vista is a dog! If someone were to offer me a free Vista machine, I would want to run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor on it to make sure the machine could run Windows 7 before I accepted the gift! Yes, Vista is THAT bad.
As posted much earlier on this blog, Microsoft will be supporting Windows XP until 2014, but there is no reason why one couldn't run it beyond that date. If you are an XP user, do be sure to upgrade to SP3 and keep your XP current with updates. And do yourself a favor and upgrade to 2GB of RAM or more if you are not already there.
Finally, I am still very satisfied with Windows 7. I would tell you unequivocally that you should NOT shy away from Windows 7. If you need a new machine, you WANT it to have Windows 7.
Then of course, there are hose who would rather have OS/X, but that's another story!
As posted much earlier on this blog, Microsoft will be supporting Windows XP until 2014, but there is no reason why one couldn't run it beyond that date. If you are an XP user, do be sure to upgrade to SP3 and keep your XP current with updates. And do yourself a favor and upgrade to 2GB of RAM or more if you are not already there.
Finally, I am still very satisfied with Windows 7. I would tell you unequivocally that you should NOT shy away from Windows 7. If you need a new machine, you WANT it to have Windows 7.
Then of course, there are hose who would rather have OS/X, but that's another story!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Microsoft Answers Forums
Microsoft provides a jumping off point to all of their support forums on this web site, which I recommend you bookmark. You will find forums for many Microsoft products here.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Facebook User?
If you use Facebook, please become a fan of PC Doctor (that's me) at the bottom of this page. Just scroll down to the bottom. You can read my blog on Facebook.
Friday, March 26, 2010
And now for something completely different
Okay, a little something on the lighter side. This doesn't mean you can ignore all those April Fools warnings!!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Expect Many Tough New Spyware Infections the First Week of April
This is an actual e-mail I received yesterday from the good folks at SuperAntiSpyware, makers of one of the staple products in my base security recommendations. As a reminder of what is included in that recommendation, visit my earlier posts which you will find here:
and
BELOW IS THE E-MAIL FROM SUPERANTISPYWARE. PLEASE READ. IMPORTANT!!
Tom,
Each year, the first week of April (coinciding with “April Fool’s Day”) brings an increase in spyware and malware infections. It’s become something of an annual tradition that causes havoc for computer users, lost productivity, and overall inconvenience. Not to mention potentially costing thousands of dollars in repairs.
We’re working hard to prepare for this onslaught and we’re up for the challenge. It makes sense, however, to remind computer users to be extra vigilant during this period of increased spyware activity:
Don’t open emails, files or attachments from people you don’t know.
Be extra cautious opening emails, files or attachments from people you do know.
Don’t be fooled by “scareware” tactics. Know what software you are using, and familiarize yourself with how it delivers warnings and alerts.
If you’re considering giving your social networking activities a break, now might be a good time. No one will miss you if you take a week off.
Stay away from websites that you haven’t visited before. Think before you click!
Run multiple layers of security software. There are many free and effective solutions that will co-exist well with each other. Remember, a single solution may not be enough, especially during this period of increased spyware activity.
We’re here and happy to help if you need anything. Our management team is happy to answer any questions you may have or address issues or concerns raised by your audience. If we can help, just let me know!
Stay safe online, and thanks again,
Director of Business Development
SUPERAntiSpyware
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Long Live Your Laptop Battery!
An excellent article from pcworld.com on a subject most of us laptop users are always interested in.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Top 6 Security Myths and How to Beat Them
As always, be careful out there. Just because you are not paranoid does not mean that they are not out to get you! :-)
This is from Computerworld's web site:
This is from Computerworld's web site:
Top 6 Security Myths and How to Beat Them
Monday, March 22, 2010
GMAIL
I use Google's free e-mail service called GMAIL. GMAIL supports POP (Post Office Protocol). POP allows you to use one of many e-mail clients on your PC. Among the supported client e-mail programs for which GMAIL supports POP are:
If you use one of these e-mail client programs, then you can use POP with GMAIL. The real beauty of these client programs is that they all have very friendly, easy to use, user interfaces. Each of them will keep all of your e-mail right on your own PC. As an added bonus with GMAIL, all of your e-mail will also be kept on Google's servers (Google claims without limit) and this is a big advantage for GMAIL, so you have built-in backup. That is, a full copy of all of your e-mail is on your PC and also on Google's servers.
The purpose of POP is simply to ensure that as e-mail comes into the Google server, a copy of it is downloaded to your PC when you start up your client program. I happen to use Outlook, and that is where I process all of my e-mail. When one has what is called a client-server relationship like this, one can process e-mail within the client when on one's own PC or use webmail, and process e-mail by using the Google web site to read and send e-mail. This is handy, of course, when one is using someone else's PC.
If you have any questions about this, please submit a comment below.
If you use one of these e-mail client programs, then you can use POP with GMAIL. The real beauty of these client programs is that they all have very friendly, easy to use, user interfaces. Each of them will keep all of your e-mail right on your own PC. As an added bonus with GMAIL, all of your e-mail will also be kept on Google's servers (Google claims without limit) and this is a big advantage for GMAIL, so you have built-in backup. That is, a full copy of all of your e-mail is on your PC and also on Google's servers.
The purpose of POP is simply to ensure that as e-mail comes into the Google server, a copy of it is downloaded to your PC when you start up your client program. I happen to use Outlook, and that is where I process all of my e-mail. When one has what is called a client-server relationship like this, one can process e-mail within the client when on one's own PC or use webmail, and process e-mail by using the Google web site to read and send e-mail. This is handy, of course, when one is using someone else's PC.
If you have any questions about this, please submit a comment below.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Online Backup Services
I received the e-mail below yesterday from my service provider, Comcast. It has motivated me to write this blog post. I have been putting it off for some time now. You can click on this "photo" to enlarge it.
Backing up your data is critical. No one of us wants to ever lose those family pictures or videos. None of us wants to lose our music libraries or our personal documents. If you are a small business, you cannot afford to lose all of those important business documents. I'm afraid the IRS just wouldn't understand!
So how do YOU back up your data (and I sincerely hope you do)?
There are several ways you could. Among these are:
1) Copying to your own hard drive, which is hardly effective should your hard drive fail.
2) Copying to your own external hard drive. This is what I have chosen to do. I am a control freak and want to be fully responsible for my own data and be fully aware of exactly what I have backed up and where it is. I also don't want to spend money for this service. Finally, there is a downside to this method, and it's a big one. If the external drive is kept within your home, the same home that houses your PC and all of its data, then both could be lost in the same physical event (flood, fire, theft, etc.). So I have chosen to keep my external drive in a location apart from my main computer, the one I am sure contains all of my data. I make a copy of "My Documents" once a quarter, so my method is not perfect. I could lose data from the current quarter before it's backed up.
3) You could subscribe to a service that automatically backs up all of your data once to their own remote hard drives, and thereafter will make backup copies of all added files and new versions of existing files. This is probably the safest option. All of your data is backed up and easily retrievable, your data is encrypted and stored at the service provider's site, and since it's a constant, you do not risk losing data from the recent quarter as explained in number 2 above. However, these services cost money, so you have to weigh the cost vs. the benefit before deciding. The 2GB of free storage Comcast is offering me (see above) is not very much considering "My Documents" now amount to over 80GB. So I'd have to read their fine print to see how much their service would cost.
Finlly, PC World has provided an evaluation of some of the services that will back up your data for you on their own hard drives. You can see what they have to say at The Best Online Backup Services
I caution you, however, that this report is nearly 2 years old, so you might want to do some more research on your own should you wish to evaluate this backup option.
Here is a second review, dated October, 2009, of three backup service offerings. It's from consumersearch.com. Online Backup Services: Reviews
Backing up your data is critical. No one of us wants to ever lose those family pictures or videos. None of us wants to lose our music libraries or our personal documents. If you are a small business, you cannot afford to lose all of those important business documents. I'm afraid the IRS just wouldn't understand!
So how do YOU back up your data (and I sincerely hope you do)?
There are several ways you could. Among these are:
1) Copying to your own hard drive, which is hardly effective should your hard drive fail.
2) Copying to your own external hard drive. This is what I have chosen to do. I am a control freak and want to be fully responsible for my own data and be fully aware of exactly what I have backed up and where it is. I also don't want to spend money for this service. Finally, there is a downside to this method, and it's a big one. If the external drive is kept within your home, the same home that houses your PC and all of its data, then both could be lost in the same physical event (flood, fire, theft, etc.). So I have chosen to keep my external drive in a location apart from my main computer, the one I am sure contains all of my data. I make a copy of "My Documents" once a quarter, so my method is not perfect. I could lose data from the current quarter before it's backed up.
3) You could subscribe to a service that automatically backs up all of your data once to their own remote hard drives, and thereafter will make backup copies of all added files and new versions of existing files. This is probably the safest option. All of your data is backed up and easily retrievable, your data is encrypted and stored at the service provider's site, and since it's a constant, you do not risk losing data from the recent quarter as explained in number 2 above. However, these services cost money, so you have to weigh the cost vs. the benefit before deciding. The 2GB of free storage Comcast is offering me (see above) is not very much considering "My Documents" now amount to over 80GB. So I'd have to read their fine print to see how much their service would cost.
Finlly, PC World has provided an evaluation of some of the services that will back up your data for you on their own hard drives. You can see what they have to say at The Best Online Backup Services
I caution you, however, that this report is nearly 2 years old, so you might want to do some more research on your own should you wish to evaluate this backup option.
Here is a second review, dated October, 2009, of three backup service offerings. It's from consumersearch.com. Online Backup Services: Reviews
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tips on using free software
From time to time I like to remind my readers that this blog is just one man's opinion. Many of you who know me value my opinion, and I appreciate that. However, in this blog from now on, and only once in a while, I will post something I'll refer to as a "Guest Post". This is the first of such posts. The blog post below comes from the blog of Lisa Hendrickson, and her blog can be found at http://www.callthatgirl.biz/
I like to view Lisa's blog, named "Call That Girl" several times a week. I can always learn something new. Anyway, it's not a coincidence that for Lisa's first post I am choosing something we pretty much agree on, but it's nice for me, and I hope you too, that others feel the same way I do.
Lisa and i don't agree on everything. After all, each of us expresses our own opinions.
"Many of us today are using Gmail, Google applications, AVG free, etc. Free software is usually great, but the support you get if you need help is usually not up to par. About a month ago, I decided to start using Google documents to store a few files because I needed to have them on 3 computers. I worked on a massive “to do list” and after I was done, I hit the “cut” button to move something and it all disappeared. I could not get it back, even though it had saved just a minute before! I was LIVID to say the least. I had been saving it too for a whole day or so and I’m not sure how easy it is to put in a support ticket to Google and have it checked out for a restore, but decided then and there…to only rely on myself for such needs from now on.
Support is very important when it comes to things you need to use.
Here are my opinions:
I like to view Lisa's blog, named "Call That Girl" several times a week. I can always learn something new. Anyway, it's not a coincidence that for Lisa's first post I am choosing something we pretty much agree on, but it's nice for me, and I hope you too, that others feel the same way I do.
Lisa and i don't agree on everything. After all, each of us expresses our own opinions.
Posted by callthatgirl on March 15, 2010
Support is very important when it comes to things you need to use.
Here are my opinions:
- AVG free is a good product, but not a great product. The download for AVG 9.0 takes a very long time to install (up to 45 minutes) and we see that program on virus infected computers. It works, but I quit recommending it to folks who want free software because it doesn’t work either. Toss up on AVG free! AVG free offers online FAQ/Knowledge Base and Forum help. No email or phone support that I could find online. If you upgrade to the paid version, then you get the premium support.
- Microsoft Security Essentials Antivirus so far is doing well with the clients who I have recommended using it. Only one client so far has had a problem with “real time protection” and Microsoft will support that issue via chat or email.
- Google calendar can have glitches that can’t be fixed easily (from what my clients have told me, I am having success using it for now, but am looking at paid alternatives). Again they have the forum/FAQ help, but put in a ticket and wait a few days for help, if they help….Google decides if they support you due to the millions of users.
- Gmail is not something I am fond of, but many of my networking friends use it frequently and are happy with the product. My problem with Gmail is, what if you woke up one morning and your emails were all gone. Do you have time to wait for Google to figure it out? Who do you call? With Gmail, you have to search their support and help forums first, then put in a ticket and wait a few days. If you’re using Gmail for business (or hotmail, yahoo, etc..) do you have a few days to wait? Business is on the line!"
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
March MVPS HOSTS File Available now
I can't really tell you that the MVPS HOSTS file is updated monthly, but I think that is the author's objective. In any case, for those of you who have the February file or older, here is your chance to make sure you can update this file on your own. I have plenty of posts in this blog, as you followers know, on this subject and how to install the HOSTS file, so have a go at it!
You can download the March 2010 file at http://msmvps.com/blogs/hostsnews/default.aspx
If you have any difficulty in doing this, send me a quick e-mail, pcdoc at brpcdoc dot com and I'll try to help, and Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
You can download the March 2010 file at http://msmvps.com/blogs/hostsnews/default.aspx
If you have any difficulty in doing this, send me a quick e-mail, pcdoc at brpcdoc dot com and I'll try to help, and Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Correct your file associations
This comes from the Kim Komando web site, http://www.komando.com/. Among many other interesting and useful tidbits, Kim posts a Tip of the Day. This web site is among those I visit every day. You never know what you may find. I am sure most of you know that Kim is also on the radio, and has a great show.
Q. My computer is acting funny. My photos are opening in Microsoft Word. My videos are opening in the wrong video program. What is going on? How can I get everything straight again?
—Josie in Phoenix, listening on KFYI 550 AM
A. This problem is actually pretty common. It's also fairly easy to fix. File associations tie file types to specific programs. When you double-click a file, it opens in that program. Your file associations apparently are mixed up.
There are a couple of ways this happens. You can do it by accident. That's probably what happened to your photos. There's no other reason they should be opening in Word.
Installing new programs can also change file associations. Music and video programs are notorious for doing this. They want to take over the role of default player. And they'll do it if you're not careful.
Thankfully, resetting these associations is fairly easy. You didn't say if you were using a Mac or PC. So, I'll cover both. Either way the process is simple. First, find one of the files you're having trouble with.
In Windows Vista, right-click the file. Select Open With>>Choose Default Program. You'll see a list of programs. Select the program you want to use. Or hit Browse to add a program to the list. Check the box labeled "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file." Click OK.
In Windows XP, right-click the file. Select Open With. Find the program you want to use. Or click Browse to find another program. Again, check "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file." Click OK.
In Mac OS X, right-click the file. Select Get Info. Click the heading labeled "Open with." Use the dropdown menu to select a suggested program. Or click Other to browse for something else. Click Change All. Close the window.
Now those files will open with the correct programs.
Sometimes, a program isn't available to open a particular file. These free programs will handle common file types:
Q. My computer is acting funny. My photos are opening in Microsoft Word. My videos are opening in the wrong video program. What is going on? How can I get everything straight again?
—Josie in Phoenix, listening on KFYI 550 AM
A. This problem is actually pretty common. It's also fairly easy to fix. File associations tie file types to specific programs. When you double-click a file, it opens in that program. Your file associations apparently are mixed up.
There are a couple of ways this happens. You can do it by accident. That's probably what happened to your photos. There's no other reason they should be opening in Word.
Installing new programs can also change file associations. Music and video programs are notorious for doing this. They want to take over the role of default player. And they'll do it if you're not careful.
Thankfully, resetting these associations is fairly easy. You didn't say if you were using a Mac or PC. So, I'll cover both. Either way the process is simple. First, find one of the files you're having trouble with.
In Windows Vista, right-click the file. Select Open With>>Choose Default Program. You'll see a list of programs. Select the program you want to use. Or hit Browse to add a program to the list. Check the box labeled "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file." Click OK.
In Windows XP, right-click the file. Select Open With. Find the program you want to use. Or click Browse to find another program. Again, check "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file." Click OK.
In Mac OS X, right-click the file. Select Get Info. Click the heading labeled "Open with." Use the dropdown menu to select a suggested program. Or click Other to browse for something else. Click Change All. Close the window.
Now those files will open with the correct programs.
Sometimes, a program isn't available to open a particular file. These free programs will handle common file types:
• Video files come in a ridiculous number of formats. This media player can open them all.
• You need a suite to open office documents. Microsoft Office is the standard, but it's expensive. For a free alternative, try OpenOffice.org.
• PDF files are easily opened with Adobe Reader. But it isn't the best program. Instead, try Foxit Reader or Sumatra.
• You need a suite to open office documents. Microsoft Office is the standard, but it's expensive. For a free alternative, try OpenOffice.org.
• PDF files are easily opened with Adobe Reader. But it isn't the best program. Instead, try Foxit Reader or Sumatra.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Prepaid wireless market hot in U.S. during recession
This is an interesting article, or at least it is of interest to me. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I am on a month-to-month with Verizon Wireless and not happy with what I have to pay for their service. If anyone out there has an opinion, in favor or opposed, please add a comment below. This can be done anonymously if you like. No fancy necessary registrations with userid and password required here. Anyway this article is from the computerworld.com web site and appeared there today.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 15, 2010 (Computerworld) The hottest market in wireless communications in the U.S. is for customers who pre-pay for their service, with that group accounting for 65% of all net new subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2009, research firm IDC said.
Pre-paid customers grew during the recession and its aftermath as wireless users sought ways to avoid long-term contracts and related costs paid by post-paid customers, said IDC analyst Richard Murphy.
Pre-paid plans can also result in tremendous savings over monthly costs for postpaid plans, Murphy noted. For example, a savvy consumer can get unlimited voice, text and Web access for $45 a month with the pre-paid TracFone Wireless Straight Talk plan, he noted.
By contrast, a postpaid subscriber can easily spend more than $100 a month for service for an iPhone or other smartphone, he noted. "Some customers are more driven by the phone they want, so if you go for an iPhone you are probably not going to really care about the monthly cost at 100 bucks or more a month," he said.
Some careful customers, however, might realize they only need a phone for voice and text messaging, and will reserve their Web browsing for a desktop or laptop to save on monthly costs, he noted.
"The prepaid market in the U.S. will remain very competitive," said Murphy, noting that several carriers are most active in the space. At the end of 2009, TracFone led with 14.4 million prepaid customers, Boost (with the addition of Virgin Mobile) had 10.6 million, T-Mobile USA had 7 million, MetroPCS had 6.6 million, and Leap Wireless had 4.9 million.
The nation's largest wireless carriers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T, both appear to be moving away from the prepaid model in recent months, even though they each had about 5.4 million prepaid customers at the end of 2009. AT&T actually lost 800,000 prepaid customers in 2009, while Verizon gained 500,000.
IDC recorded that 4.2 million net subscribers were added by all the nine largest carriers in the fourth quarter of 2009, with 65% of them pre-paid customers. Overall, there were 285 million wireless subscribers in the U.S. at the end of 2009.
Some carriers are focused on bringing in customers on post-paid plans, luring them to use smartphones that rely on data plans. "To keep their revenues up they have to focus on selling data plans," Murphy said.
"The first step for a consumer walking into a carrier's store is to pick out a phone and that often means getting the customer toward a smartphone that obligates the user to a data plan. That's just the way the marketing is, since the wireless business is very competitive and the carriers are competing for every dollar."
Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prepaid usage rises as recession-worn users seeks cheaper deals for wireless service, IDC says
Matt Hamblen
March 15, 2010 (Computerworld) The hottest market in wireless communications in the U.S. is for customers who pre-pay for their service, with that group accounting for 65% of all net new subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2009, research firm IDC said.
Pre-paid customers grew during the recession and its aftermath as wireless users sought ways to avoid long-term contracts and related costs paid by post-paid customers, said IDC analyst Richard Murphy.
Pre-paid plans can also result in tremendous savings over monthly costs for postpaid plans, Murphy noted. For example, a savvy consumer can get unlimited voice, text and Web access for $45 a month with the pre-paid TracFone Wireless Straight Talk plan, he noted.
By contrast, a postpaid subscriber can easily spend more than $100 a month for service for an iPhone or other smartphone, he noted. "Some customers are more driven by the phone they want, so if you go for an iPhone you are probably not going to really care about the monthly cost at 100 bucks or more a month," he said.
Some careful customers, however, might realize they only need a phone for voice and text messaging, and will reserve their Web browsing for a desktop or laptop to save on monthly costs, he noted.
"The prepaid market in the U.S. will remain very competitive," said Murphy, noting that several carriers are most active in the space. At the end of 2009, TracFone led with 14.4 million prepaid customers, Boost (with the addition of Virgin Mobile) had 10.6 million, T-Mobile USA had 7 million, MetroPCS had 6.6 million, and Leap Wireless had 4.9 million.
The nation's largest wireless carriers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T, both appear to be moving away from the prepaid model in recent months, even though they each had about 5.4 million prepaid customers at the end of 2009. AT&T actually lost 800,000 prepaid customers in 2009, while Verizon gained 500,000.
IDC recorded that 4.2 million net subscribers were added by all the nine largest carriers in the fourth quarter of 2009, with 65% of them pre-paid customers. Overall, there were 285 million wireless subscribers in the U.S. at the end of 2009.
Some carriers are focused on bringing in customers on post-paid plans, luring them to use smartphones that rely on data plans. "To keep their revenues up they have to focus on selling data plans," Murphy said.
"The first step for a consumer walking into a carrier's store is to pick out a phone and that often means getting the customer toward a smartphone that obligates the user to a data plan. That's just the way the marketing is, since the wireless business is very competitive and the carriers are competing for every dollar."
Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Catching up
TGIF!
I did two remote calls this week supporting 2 different customers. Both calls worked well. If you can connect to the internet from your computer, then I can connect with you, take control of your PC and fix what is ailing it. I do this while simultaneously calling your phone so we can discuss step by step what I am doing in response to what you describe as your problem. In this way you learn AND get a cleaner system!
For one customer I downloaded and installed the MVPS HOSTS file. Because I have done this so often, I can do it in less than one hour, and so have reduced my fee for this service to $40. Part of getting this done is to teach you how to maintain the file, i.e., how to find the latest version, download it, and install it. As a result you become self sufficient and can always have the latest protection against malware.
For the second customer, it was a matter of a poorly performing system, and so I did a typical cleaning and tuning. This customer did not have any security issues so I did not get into installing and running the malware detection and removal tools. I showed the customer that he had only 512MB of RAM, and we went to the Crucial.com site and I demonstrated how he could upgrade from 512MB to 2GB for $78. I think he is doing that and I will follow up with him. For this work, which took only 1.5 hours, my fee was only $60.
Next time you feel a need to call your PC Doc, think remote!
Finally, if you are a Facebook user, please consider becoming a fan of my PC Doctor page on Facebook. My PC Doc's Blog is automatically download to Facebook, so you can look at it there! Just click on the Become A Fan button over there on the right side of this screen!
Oh, and lest I forget, I do love Windows 7. It is extremely reliable and much faster than Vista, which I replaced on one of my Acer laptops. I still have my Windows XP Acer laptop, my IBM Windows XP desktop, and my Apple MacBook Pro.
I did two remote calls this week supporting 2 different customers. Both calls worked well. If you can connect to the internet from your computer, then I can connect with you, take control of your PC and fix what is ailing it. I do this while simultaneously calling your phone so we can discuss step by step what I am doing in response to what you describe as your problem. In this way you learn AND get a cleaner system!
For one customer I downloaded and installed the MVPS HOSTS file. Because I have done this so often, I can do it in less than one hour, and so have reduced my fee for this service to $40. Part of getting this done is to teach you how to maintain the file, i.e., how to find the latest version, download it, and install it. As a result you become self sufficient and can always have the latest protection against malware.
For the second customer, it was a matter of a poorly performing system, and so I did a typical cleaning and tuning. This customer did not have any security issues so I did not get into installing and running the malware detection and removal tools. I showed the customer that he had only 512MB of RAM, and we went to the Crucial.com site and I demonstrated how he could upgrade from 512MB to 2GB for $78. I think he is doing that and I will follow up with him. For this work, which took only 1.5 hours, my fee was only $60.
Next time you feel a need to call your PC Doc, think remote!
Finally, if you are a Facebook user, please consider becoming a fan of my PC Doctor page on Facebook. My PC Doc's Blog is automatically download to Facebook, so you can look at it there! Just click on the Become A Fan button over there on the right side of this screen!
Oh, and lest I forget, I do love Windows 7. It is extremely reliable and much faster than Vista, which I replaced on one of my Acer laptops. I still have my Windows XP Acer laptop, my IBM Windows XP desktop, and my Apple MacBook Pro.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
My Blog is now on Facebook
For those of you in the know (I am not one of you!), my blog can now be viewed on a page I created, PC Doctor, under my profile. I know I can view my blog there, but not exactly sure if you will be able to do so just by clicking on "Become a fan" over to the right of this post.
I figured I would give his a try to see if it works.
I figured I would give his a try to see if it works.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Ridding your system of malware
It never ceases to amaze me at how three totally different tools are needed to eliminate malware on most systems. You might think if you had one good product that should do it. Of course I am talking about free software products, and make no comment about fee-based products. I know some of you use the latter, and I hope they do the job for you.
My recommended security suite includes SuperAntispyware, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, and Spybot. Quite a long while ago I had thought that Spybot could be discontinued, but I was wrong. As I work on your systems, it has become very clear, as recently as this past Sunday, that all three tools are needed. It's equally important to make sure you apply all updates to these 3 products before running a scan. It took me all three tools on Sunday to clean a customer's system. In this case the system would freeze at the user account choice screen, meaning the customer could not even get into the system. It was only in Safe Mode that I was able to get in and begin to use the tools I needed (as above) to clean the system, and it took all three!
This is not to say that there isn't another PC Doc out there who has found a solution to these issues that involve different products, even different free ones. I am sure there are such differing solutions. I am only presenting to you my successes based on my own personal experience.
My recommended security suite includes SuperAntispyware, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, and Spybot. Quite a long while ago I had thought that Spybot could be discontinued, but I was wrong. As I work on your systems, it has become very clear, as recently as this past Sunday, that all three tools are needed. It's equally important to make sure you apply all updates to these 3 products before running a scan. It took me all three tools on Sunday to clean a customer's system. In this case the system would freeze at the user account choice screen, meaning the customer could not even get into the system. It was only in Safe Mode that I was able to get in and begin to use the tools I needed (as above) to clean the system, and it took all three!
This is not to say that there isn't another PC Doc out there who has found a solution to these issues that involve different products, even different free ones. I am sure there are such differing solutions. I am only presenting to you my successes based on my own personal experience.
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