#132 - Laptop Maintenance

A great majority of our customers have laptops as well as desktop computers. Laptops are DIFFERENT and require different maintenance procedures. Many times we see customer who always leave their laptops plugged in. They aren't using them as a true laptop, just a small desktop. The risk in following this use model is the life of the laptop battery. If you leave the laptop plugged in always and don't use the battery then it will die a quick death and that will cost you over $100 to replace.

When you get a new laptop or batter you should fully charge it (6-12 hours) and then fully discharge it. Here is the recommended cycle (from the battery manufacturers):

1. Unplug the laptop and use the laptop until the battery fully drains.
2. while the computer is turned off, plug in the computer and charge it a minimum of 6 hours.

Lithium-based batteries should be given a full discharge/charge cycle once every 30 charge cycles. If the batter is not going to be used for more than a month, it is recommended that it be removed from the laptop and stored in a cool dry clean place. A charged battery will eventually lose its charge if unused.

Do not expose the battery to high heat or freezing temperatures. Do not leave your batter in your car in the summer. The life of a rechargeable battery operating under normal conditions is generally between 500 to 800 cycles.

Getting the most Usage Time with a Battery:

1. Turn off your WiFi if not using it.
2. Don't use your DVD/CD player
3. Disconnect all external devices (USB devices, PC Cards, Printers)
4. Adjust your screen brightness to the lowest acceptable to your eyesight.
5. Don't multitask. Run just one program at a time.

#131 - June wanderings

Firstly, I still don't know when XP will go away. One distributor says they will have no more XP PCs come June 30, but Toshiba says the will have XP laptops through at least July. Go figure.

There are lots of great websites to set up tracking any event you would like. You can do a blog here at blogger.com to keep any trip of event up to date. I did it for my Mexico trip and it went over big with friends and family. You can also use a dedicated site like My Trip Journal.com. There you can load information, pictures and receive update notifications and comments.

We've see Wedding Planning sites that let you link family and friends to the important info on your wedding. The Knot.com has lots of help from registry information to setting up the particulars of the wedding for guests to see (location, times, dates, hotels, you name it!).

Pick an event and you can probably use the Internet to help you invite, prepare and inform your guests.

#130 Protecting your PC

Our good friends at AVG have upgraded their antivirus protection software. Good news is they still have a free version and the new version (8.0) has spyware protection built in. You can download the new version here: AVG 8.0 Free Before you install the upgrade I recommend you uninstall at least the antispyware version of AVG. Go to Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove programs and find the AVG antisypware program in the list. Then click on Remove. Now you can install the new version. Its a fairly large download and not recommended for our dial up customers.

So what other protection do you need? Its good to delete your cookies when you close Internet Explorer. In IE click on the Tools, then Internet Options. Click on the Advanced tab and then scroll through the list till you see Security and under it you'll find this item: Empty Temporary Internet Explorer files folder when browser is Closed. Make sure it is checked then exit out.

We recommend you defrag your hard drive once a year {Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter}. You should do a Disk Clean up once a quarter {Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup}. One warning: DO NOT DO THE COMPRESS YOUR FILES OPTION.

Back up your files at least weekly and daily would be a better idea. If you need help in setting up a backup system let us know (that's how we pay the bills!).

Turn your PC off every night and if you aren't using the Internet at night shut down your Internet modem (a surge strip works great to shut everything down).

Make sure you are updating Windows with some regularity (Start, Control Panel, Automatic Update) and that your Windows Firewall is active {Start, Control Panel, Windows Firewall}.

#129 - Microsoft the company that keeps on giving

So what has Microsoft done for you in 2008? Well they did delay the forced retirement of Windows XP, at least for a while. Vista has been a big disappointment in sales and XP is actually outselling Vista in the market place. So do they pull the plug on come June 30? Keep tuned here and we will let you know.

Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Vista with not much fanfare in May. I can see why. I updated the Lenovo laptop I have with Vista on it and notice no difference. Still slow to load and shut down and it can crawl at times. Microsoft removed the Search button on the Start menu for some reason, but you can still use the search box found at the top of every open folder. That might take some time to get used to. Performance is supposedly faster, but not much. Copying files is faster, but still about the same speed as XP. That is the question I ask. Other then security what is better about this operating system? Nothing and that's why its going over like a lead balloon in the market place.

Microsoft has sort of released Windows XP Service Pack 3. Many computers can't upgrade due to a glitch in compatibility with of all things another Microsoft Service - (RMS). No loss there since there seems to be NOTHING worthwhile to most users in this last service pack for XP. It's not faster, safer or even more fun to use. Mostly techno geek stuff that you will never use. So don't worry about upgrading your XP.

Another great month for Microsoft, don't you think?

#128 - Saving Energy - Some Truths

Energy and Technology are interwoven together so much so that you can't talk about one without the other. Today lets take a look at some ways to save energy that not only helps your pocket but the planet.

Your mom was right! Every time you leave a room you should turn the lights out. I saw a very entertaining Mythbusters show on the Discovery channel that studied light energy usage. No matter if it was florescent light bulbs or incandescent. Unless you jump right back into the room ( I think 3 seconds was the longest time) you should shut them off to save!

I've advocated for years that PC owners turn their PCs off if they won't be using them for an hour or more. Leaving a PC on 24/7 is NOT being a good steward of our energy resource. If you leave your PC and are planing to come back pick the Stand By mode that essentially shuts your PC down. If you haven't already changed, PLEASE get rid of your old CRT monitor and change to the slim LCD varieties. The energy savings are tremendous.

Great I'm turning my stuff off. I'm saving a lot right? Ah yes, but you might be able to save more if you REALLY turn them off. That means turning them off by cutting off electricity at the source. For PCs and peripherals that means turning off the surge suppressor when you leave for the day. Most modern PC equipment has a "sleep mode" that still draws a small bit of energy. Multiplied by millions of homes the energy used when a piece of equipment is supposedly turned off is great. So if you are going away from home or going to bed, turn off your surge protector to save the most.

Several ways to save energy at home include insulating the house every 10 years. Installing set back thermostats and programming them for your usage. Changing from incandescent to florescent light bulbs. Checking out the energy efficiency stickers and comparing them when buying an appliance. Having your heating/cooling system checked periodically for energy issues. Replacing that air filter in your heating/cooling system regularly. Not many high tech solutions but certainly ones we can implement!

#127- Green is the hot color

After a week of Earth Day I sat back and thought a little about how conscious I am and my customers are of environmental concerns. How many recycle? How many buy recycled materials? How many have switched to CFL light bulbs? Have any started to use cloth bags for shopping?

I don't see many hybrid vehicles in the Alleghany Highlands. Honda and Ford sell them here (no Toyota). We do have a regional recycling of Paper, Cardboard, Plastic and maybe Glass. I sit on the board of the organization that recycles in the area (Jackson River Enterprises), but I'm not sure why the maybe. I would guess there isn't strong demand for recycled glass material. If its profitable to recycle JRE will do it aggressively. Ah the profit motive. The problem with recycling is that the state hasn't pushed the equation enough to make it profitable. In a capitalistic society its profits that drive decisions.

Our wonderful Virginia legislature has denied adding a deposit on glass bottles for 10 years in a row. A simple law that would get a big litter problem off our streets and create jobs. Many other states have a similar law so its not like its experimental legislation. San Fransisco has banned the sale of plastic water bottles. Maybe a deposit on them would help solve the problem. Stores charging for plastic bags would push people to use reusable cloth bags. Cost is a great motivator.

As a card carrying tree hugger, I urge all my customers to do more in their lives to conserve the resources that we have. What has this got to do with Technology? We'll see in my blogs during May!

#126 - How should one Email?

I'm not talking about Email etiquette. I'm talking about what Email service should I be using? How hard is it to change? Why should I change?

As I have mentioned before, I use AOL for my email and until this year I have been very pleased. AOL updated their version to 9.1 and took some of the flexibility out of AOL email. I still think the service has some nice features (groups, good SPAM protection, the ability to say what email is saved on your PC and what isn't), but with the changes I'll remain neutral as to recommending it to our customers. If you have it and like it stay with it!

The services I don't recommend are those that use Outlook or Outlook express. They automatically download ALL your email to your computer. The good, the bad and the very ugly. Why would you want to download SPAM and Spyware email? You don't but if you use a email service (ntelos, tds, verizon, comcast) that you use the Outlook programs then you indeed do download all that stuff.

Services I like are Gmail and Yahoo mail. These are free email services that keep the emails on their site and let you leave them there forever. I use Gmail and it does a nice job of keeping SPAM out, but it does get a bit cumbersome organizing all those saved messages. You don't have to load a program on you PC like you do with AOL, so that's a plus.

So what should you do? Well if you aren't swamped with SPAM and haven't got a virus from you email then keep on using what you are used to. If you are getting a bit fed up then take a look at Gmail, Yahoo mail or even AOL free.

#125 Charging for the Internet

One of the true mysteries of hoteldom is why the least expensive hotels (La Quinta, Holiday Inn Express, Marriott Courtyard) provide free Internet service and the most expensive hotels (Crowne Plaza, Sheraton, Hilton) charge for it. I guess the answer is because they can. Think about how much money they make on that service. The normal charge is $10 per day per room. I don't know about you, but for a dedicated line I pay around $30 a MONTH. What's more amazing is that you know it doesn't cost the hotel $30 a month for Internet service per room. Actually the cost is more like $5 per month per room. So it is like printing money. What can we do about it? Unless forced to stay in an Internet Charging Hotel, I don't. If I do have to stay in one of those nasty charging hotels I always complain about it on the satisfaction survey. Still when you are printing money you usually don't care what the rabble have to say. Remember how they used to charge out the roof for long distance and local calls? Cell phones ended that. Satellite wireless may eventually end this rip off someday.

#124 - Wireless Security

My wireless connection at home isn't secure. I share it with a neighbor when they are in town. My other nearby neighbors don't use wireless, but that may change. If I see a car parked in my front yard with a guy hunched over I'll know whats going on. Security of your data should be important to us. What can happen if someone gets on your network? They can see all your files. That means steal the files, change the file and ultimates crash your computer if they wish. Even if you don't care about your files, you should care about your PC. (PCSS visits are welcome but can be costly!)

Securing your wireless network isn't the easiest thing to do. There are two parts of the security. #1 is to secure your wireless router. If you haven't changed its default password a hacker can easily get to the router and change ALL your settings including security. Even sneakier is for them to just pick up your security settings, thus opening up your supposedly secure network without you knowing. To secure the router you have to go to the routers built in management console. This differs per router, but you should have gotten documentation from the router manufacturer on how to do this (you can generally get that info from the manufacturers web page). Then you need to go to the security or setup section of the console and set a password. Make it a strong password with numbers,letters and symbols. Write it down so you won't forget it! After setting the password the router will reboot and you'll have to enter the new password to get into the console.

While you are in the router you should go to the Wireless security section and make sure security is turned on. The best security choice is WPA. Any security is better then none, but WPA is stronger and less likely to be hacked then the old WEP standard. I've seen WEP hacked in under 10 minutes with the right equipment. When you set up the security you'll be asked to give a passcode or you will be given a security number. Write these down, because your wireless devices will now need the code to get on your network. You'll also have to give the code/number to anyone you want to use your wireless network.

If you have questions or need help, we are here to oblige!

#123 - Monday Reflections on reliability

Its a cool Monday after Easter in the Alleghany Highlands. My computer, printer and monitor started up without incident. Now that may not seem like a huge Woohoo moment but computer reliability is very important to the world.

Back in the early days of hard drives, keeping them running over a year was a big accomplishment. Just last week a customers hard drive crashed after 5 years of pretty heavy use. The drive sent out warning noises and even some funky error messages before passing on. The customer wanted to know why the hard drive ceased to function. The expectation has changed from I know its going to crash to Why do they crash?

Hard Drives are the key to all PCs. They are disks of metal spinning very fast (7500rpm in a desktop) with a magnetic head positioned millimeters from that spinning disk. Several mechanical and electrical components that can (and will) fail. The tolerances are very fine, the machining of the components exacting and fit and finish precise. Mean time before failure is 4-5 years of continuous operation. Modern marvels if you ask me, but still the main reason PCs crash.

Now if a desktop hard drive is amazing think about the laptop hard drive. One third the size with teeny tiny components. They get bumped all the time, put in strange positions and subject to extremes in temperature seasonally. Mean time before failure is approximately the same in portable hard drives. Now that is amazing. Actually a laptop hard drive is fairly easy to replace and if you get a new one they usually are faster speeding up the whole laptop.