This Month:

What's New

  • Interesting Statistics from Our Database

  • Dell Battery Recall

    •

    Warnings

  • Norton

  • MSN & Hotmail Problems

  • Other Norton Notes

  • Drivelock

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    Internet

  • Free Music?

  • Blackberry Devices

  • Office Calendar Templates

  • Web Sales

  • Plug in and You Are Plugged in

  • Norton Antispam

  • Web Cams Online

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    FYI

  • Extended Warranties

  • EULA's (Again)

  • Assigning Keys to Applications

  • Current Snow Cover map

  • Microsoft Powertoys

    •

    Laugh a Little

    We are PC correct but not necessarily when it comes to humor.. :-)
     

    Any suggestions, recommendations or ideas found on this site are applied at your own risk.

    If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going.
    Professor Irwin Corey


    January - 2006

    11th year in business

    8th year of newsletters

    Have problems or ideas you would like to have us address?  Let us know!
    Like most sites, this one is designed for an 800x600 screen resolution.
    For previous newsletters click here.  (Web Printing Hints)

    A Few Reminders...

    If you have a new computer: Save your original CDs!
    No Operating System Restore CD?  See our July 05 newsletter

    • Be sure to activate the antivirus application immediately! 
       
    • If your new computer is more than *90 days old, or
      if you have not paid for a subscription within the last year,
      your antivirus application is out-of-date and you are not protected.       More details on this issue in the March 02 newsletter.

    * Many new computers come with a 90-day free trial version, but after that period you must pay to renew the subscription.  Wonder if your antivirus is up-to-date?  Click here

    Looking to buy a new computer: 

    Click here for some ideas that may help your decision.

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    Happy New Year!

    Interesting Statistics from Our Database

    But of no real surprise to us...  Nearly eighty percent of the hard drives, power supplies and modems we replaced were in the months of May, June and July.  That statistic held true for many years, or at least until last fall when we saw an unusual increase in failures.  But then again, last fall produced some unusually strong thunderstorms. 

    Before the next thunderstorm season arrives, get a surge protector that includes modem (phone line) protection. 

    If you want the ultimate protection, get a battery backup device (UPS) with modem protection.  UPS devices not only protect against surges, they also protect from low voltage (brownout) events.  Low voltage events can cause DSL and networks to dropout, and can ruin motors (fans and CD drives), hard drives and other components.

    But factors other than thunderstorms can also contribute to early failure of components.  See "Fixing Low-Voltage Problems" at US Robotics.

    What to get?  For the typical (home) computer, a 500VA will hold the system up during a power outage long enough to safely shut things down.  We do not recommend working during thunderstorms however; if you want to continue working during a power outage, you should look at something in the 1,500VA range.    Whatever size you get, do not connect a laser printer unless the UPS device is rated for one!

    Dell Battery Recall

    Dell has a laptop battery recall.  It is very important you check this site to see if your laptop is affected!

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    Norton

    If you are running Norton 2004 (other versions may have been affected) there were a few days in early December where the Systemtray icon would have an "X" over it (indicating disabled) but opening the status window showed everything as OK.  We have found no articles on the problem but due to the number of calls we received, suspect this occurred after a Norton update.

    Some people also experienced problems logging on to secure sites, others were experiencing general Internet connectivity problems.  But within a few days the problems seem to have been resolved.

    If you are still experiencing problems, force a Liveupdate and download whatever updates are available.  Repeat this until Liveupdate indicates there are no other updates available.  Perhaps related...

    MSN & Hotmail Problems

    In early December, MSN, Hotmail and perhaps others were plagued with problems due to a virus.  The article indicates Comcast customers were the ones affected but we suspect the problem was larger than reported. 

    The latest Sober worm caused unusually high traffic on servers which led to false email delivery errors and other problems.  Sober is due to unleash more problems on January 6th (Happy Birthday, Kelly)  but if you have everything up to date, you should have nothing to worry about.

    Other Norton Notes

    We are finding some components of Norton 2003 (and earlier) will not fully update, leaving those computers vulnerable to infection.

    As mentioned in previous newsletters, Norton version 2006 will load only on Windows 2000 or Windows XP.  If you have Windows 95, 98 or ME, you will need to find a different antivirus application.

    Drivelock

    This has been around for a while, but until recently we have never had to deal with it.  Drivelock, available on some laptops, will place a password on the computer's hard drive.  Not only does it password access, the drive is completely inaccessible even if piggybacked to another computer.  If you place a drivelock password on the computer and forget the password, the only thing you can do is replace the drive. All contents are lost! 

    Services such as OnTrack of Eden Prairie may be able to recover data but they charge a minimum of something around $500 just to begin the process and that is regardless of what they can recover.

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    The Internet Traffic Report monitors the flow of data around the world. It then displays a value between zero and 100. Higher values indicate faster and more reliable connections.

    Free Music?

    Think again!  A Federal Appeals Court upheld a $22,500 fine for downloading from Kazaa.  The article.

    Blackberry

    Blackberrys are mobile email and "narrowband" communication devices but if you are thinking about purchasing one, you may want to wait!  Blackberry devices may not be around very long... The article.

    Office Calendar Templates

    Microsoft has free calendar templates available for download.  They have templates for various versions of Word, Excel, Visio and PowerPoint to include event schedulers, school year, lunar events, monthly, six month and other formats.  Most are backward compatible to the older versions of Office products. 

    Web Sales

    If you have a web site and are looking to collect e-payment, Microsoft has two FrontPage addins available for you to use on your site to collect payment.

    Plug in and You Are Plugged in

    Texas power providers have announced they will provide Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) to some 2 million homes and businesses.  The broadband speed was not released but based on the system supplying telephone and TV service as well as broadband, the speed must be sufficient. 

    This technology has been experimented with since the inception of the Internet (the '50s) but after overcoming huge technical problems it is a reality.   Like any infrastructure, building the networks will be very expensive and a long process, but eventually it will be possible to supply broadband service to even very remote areas.  The article.

    Norton Antispam

    Antispam applications filter email message by a variety of methods but they pay particular attention to the sender name and subject line.  We recently discovered that having a single name as the sender would likely be viewed as spam, e.g., a message from "Madonna" will likely be flagged as spam.  This Norton article (2004111108153336) discusses how to handle legitimate messages that are flagged as spam.

    Web Cams Online

    (high speed connection desirable) Various Yellowstone areas,  Old Faithful and Various Montana Passes

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    Extended Warranties

    We have all been there, purchasing a new item and being offered (pressured to get) an extended warranty.  Should you get one?  We cannot answer that for you, so ask questions and read the contract, but here are some things to consider...

    Is it an extended warranty that begins coverage after the original warranty is over or, is it an extended warranty that (redundantly) piggybacks the original manufacturer's first year warranty?

    Is it a warranty that covers only defects?  What about damage? -or-
    Is it a service contract that covers replacement of consumable parts but not defects or damage?  E.g., a burnt out projector lamp but not a failed component.  Ask questions!

    How much are they charging?  It makes no sense at all to purchase a $30 warranty on a $75 item.  On the other hand, a $300 warranty on a $3,000 plasma TV may be worthwhile.

    Does the warranty include at home repair?  Is it a "mail in" or "service center" warranty?  Or is it an unbelievably terrible "phone support" only warranty?

    Did you know that some low end or special offer computers have only a 90-day warranty?  (Yes, Jeff even Dells.)  If you are considering one of these, you may want to spend a little more and get a one-year warranty but anything beyond that, think about! 

    The hard drive is perhaps the most common failure but is likely covered for one or more years by the drive manufacturer.  But getting a warranty replacement from the drive manufacturer may be interesting...  Replacing the drive outside of the warranty would cost something around $130 on desktop models, so would a $100 extended warranty be worthwhile?

    One item we suggest you seriously consider is a "damage" warranty for a laptop computer.  Laptop monitor replacement is nearly as much as the original purchase price so a damage warranty may be advisable.

    A few articles well worth reading if you are considering an extended warranty:
    PCWorld, Consumer Reports and Consumer Affairs

    EULA (Again)

    All software has an EULA.   In previous newsletters we discussed some potential dangers, especially with Internet freeware, but legitimate software also has agreements.  One part of the agreement deals with OEM (preloaded) software. 

    Many people may be unaware that preloaded software cannot be moved, loaded or copied to another computer even if the original computer is no longer in use.  E.g., if your computer originally came with Microsoft Office and the computer dies, you will need to purchase another copy of Office for the new computer.

    OEMs have largely removed the problem of reloading software to other machines by creating restore CDs that work only on the original computer.  These restore CD kits can cause problems when repairing a computer, see December 05's newsletter.

    Software manufacturers too have prevented reloading by forcing you to activate the software.  If you do not activate the software, it will work for only a certain number of days or usages.  If activated on the original machine, loading the software to another (a second) machine and attempting to activate will fail.

    Assigning Keys to Applications

    A.K.A. Hot, quick or shortcut keys.  You can assign "Hot Keys" to nearly any application you want. As an example, we have Ctrl Shift C assigned to the Windows Calculator.  So now, no matter what application(s) we have open, Ctrl Shift C will pop the calculator on top.  

    You can typically use any combination of CTRL, ALT & SHIFT but since most applications already use the ALT key, we suggestion CTRL and SHIFT combinations.  Whatever you assign to the application, make sure that you will not need that set of keys within another application.

    To assign a hot key:

    You need to first locate (or create) a shortcut for the application.  Most icons on the Desktop and under the Start menu are shortcuts.  For our Calculator example, you would look under the Start menu > (All) Programs > Accessories folder. 

    Once the application shortcut icon is found, right click it, select Properties and there you should see a "shortcut key" field.  Place the cursor in that field and press the desired key combination.  Click Apply or OK to complete the process.

    Are you a snowmobiler or skier? 
    Current Snow Cover for the US

    Powertoys

    Microsoft has free ad-ins for Windows XP, some very useful.  Click here.

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    We will leave you with this from Al Lowe
    Paul had an important meeting, but just could not find a place to park. Finally, he resorted to prayer. "Lord, have mercy. If you find me a parking space, I'll go to church every Sunday for the rest of my life. I'll even give up drinking!"  Miraculously, a car pulled out, right in front of him. Paul looked up and said, "Never mind. I found one."