Software hiccups, tips to make a difference

September 5, 2011 in Uncategorized | Permalink

Running two antivirus or Internet security programs at the same time may make your computer feel really slow or broken. Although some antivirus installers will force you to uninstall the competition, others won’t. So take the time to uninstall what you currently have before you install the replacement. It can become much harder after the fact, especially if the computer is freezing up before you can even get into the Programs control panel.

Office 2007 and later includes a new Word and Excel file format that can confuse people who have older versions of those products. Users of older versions of Word and Excel can get a converter from Microsoft, but you can make their day easier by saving your files with a different file type using File, Save As, and changing the format choice to Word 97-2003(4).

IE 9, Microsoft’s latest version of Internet Explorer for Vista or Windows 7 breaks functionality on some web sites. Luckily, IE 9 has a compatibility view mode that you can turn on with the Compatibility View button in the right part of the address bar. Try it before you think that something is wrong with your computer.

The recycle bin is just that, a place to throw things away. It shouldn’t be used to store things, especially if you delete files located on another computer in your local network. Those deleted files don’t go into your trashcan and they don’t go into the other computer’s trash either. Consider making a folder like that catchall bowl in the kitchen for things you might want back. Then, clean it out occasionally, and empty out your real recycle bin on a regular basis.

And, learn how to get the dust out of your computer. Even a thin blanket of dust can make a really good insulator on those cooling fins, preventing your computer from cooling enough when you are working it hard. If a computer overheats, it usually shuts off but you might start blaming software, when it is just overly “insulated.”

Cords and Connections

August 11, 2011 in advice, hardware | Permalink

Portable this, digital that, wireless connections and yet I find that I have to keep track of so many different connecting cables, power adapters and chargers that it feels like I have to have a second bag, apart from my clothes.

When going away with your devices, what do you bring? Of course, bring the charger(s) (wouldn’t be great if all used the same type.) It helps if all of the cell phones in the family are of the same model. Replacement batteries for the camera would be good but even more important is the transfer cable so that you can move or copy pictures off your camera card onto a friend’s computer and then a CD or flash drive, (especially useful if you don’t carry a laptop on vacation.) More importantly, you want to practice how to transfer your photos, especially from your phone/camera. Practice this ahead of time if you haven’t done it and figure out if you need to bring any special software for the phone/camera to talk to the computer. Bring a flash drive so that you can take those pictures with you, especially if you want to make prints at a photo store. For digital video cameras, you might want to bring that S video, RCA or HDMI cable so that you can show your raw footage on a TV.

If you have an iPod or iPad, bring that USB connector cable, if for nothing else so that you can charge it. But, you may also want to move things off and on your iPod/iPad with someone else’s iTunes software. The safest way is to ask them to set up a new user, PC or Mac, and then you won’t mess up their iTunes settings.

I find it useful to bring an extra extension but the main rule is to not rely on your friends or relations to have the cables you need.

Alternatives to paid software

July 11, 2011 in software | Permalink

There are times when you just don’t want to pay retail and for computer software there are often free alternatives to many of the programs you pay for. These are legitimate and often as good or even better in some situations, and this list is focusing just on Windows software this month.

So, starting with the big one, Microsoft Office. Look at LibreOffice or OpenOffice for full-blown office suites with word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, database, and diagramming.

Web browsers, we all know of the big three free ones, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. But there is also Opera, a browser with a built-in email program, and Safari from Apple.

For playing a range of video, including when you get the error message from Windows Media Player about not having the right codecs (whatever they are, right?) try the VLC player from VideoLAN. For audio editing, Audacity can handle most all simple editing, including layering a few tracks together.

As an alternative to the iTunes store for music, you might want to look at Spotify, which is expanding out from Europe into the United States in the coming month(s).

Needs for Photoshop and Illustrator, can be often be met through GIMP or Inkscape, with lighter weight needs being met with Paint.NET.

And, the big category, security. For antivirus needs, especially on older PCs, try Microsoft Security Essentials. Malwarebytes is good for helping to remove intrusive search stealers. Try Recuva for recovering files that you have put in the trash and then emptied, also good for recovering files off USB drives, and even photos from camera cards, if you haven’t shot many more.

To make it really easy to install these and many others, try the installer from Ninite, www.ninite.com.

Staying a bit safer and private on the Web

June 20, 2011 in privacy | Permalink

Use temporary credit cards to avoid theft or repeat billing. Most all banks and credit card companies have a way to make a temporary card number, or something like a gift card. Using them will let you avoid a repeat billing you might forget about or risking a high credit limit card if someone gets your card information.

Use a fake birthday for web signups, change your gender, and use disposable email addresses to avoid spam or avoid annoying ads. If you are “male” on a site that is focused on mothering, you are not likely to get breast pump ads. And, having an email address, say from gmail.com, that is only used to sign up at places you otherwise don’t care to hear from, will keep spam corralled to that email address, not your personal or work one.

Use HTTPS whenever possible, create secure, easy-to-remember passwords, and keep your security questions as private as your passwords. On any web login page, make sure you are using SSL or that https:// is at the beginning of the web address. Easy to remember passwords are great but 12345678 isn’t one of them. However frvwtwncrr is easy to remember as it is fairviewtowncrier without the vowels yet rather hard to find in any common list or dictionary of passwords. And, always see if you can make up your own security question or start using your second grade teacher’s name as your mother’s maiden name.

And, some final rules for reigning in software, if you didn’t go looking for it, don’t install it, but, if you install it, always check for updates, and when you no longer need it, remove it.

Tips to Keep Your Gear Safe During Electrical Storms

May 9, 2011 in hardware, privacy | Permalink

Surge protectors are the way to go, either a good one as part of an Uninterruptible Power Supply, or something for fast clamping. Or, to protect everything you can get a whole house surge protector. Anytime your surge protector trips, you should consider replacing it, even though there is a reset button, the electronics won’t work as well for the next surge. Of course, the cheapest surge protector could be unplugging all electronics before the storm. No matter what kind of surge protection you use, you should always have a back up of your computer.

<http://www.geeksugar.com/Gadget-Safety-During-Electrical-Storms-16022695>

Protecting an old hard drive from snooping

This is just plain fun, you have an old hard drive you have taken out of a computer you are donating to someone, and you want to ensure that the data can not fall into nefarious hands. Why not take it apart and harvest some fun powerful magnets, get some fine shiny round reflectors to use in the garden against some kind of pest (not sure about how well that actually works) and know that you have made life harder for the spies.
<http://lifehacker.com/5797029/how-to-dismantle-and-destroy-a-hard-drive>

Create an Apple ID in iTunes Account Without a Credit Card

It may look impossible to create an Apple ID without putting in CC data, but you can do it by trying to install a completely free app while not signed into an account. Then you can find an option for “None” at the end of payment options.
<http://www.labnol.org/software/apple-id-without-credit-card/19299/>

Ease Neck and Shoulder Tension Quickly with Desk Yoga

I know I should do this more. And there are other GAIAM yoga exercises, just look at some of the other suggestions to the right of this YouTube video.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBh7NQwlFIA>

How to Brighten Up a Specific Part of a Photo with Virtually Any Image Editor

Using any image editor, not just Photoshop, that has the ability to use layers and lighting adjustments, you can heighten the lighting that dark part of your otherwise wonderful photo.
<http://lifehacker.com/5797565/how-to-brighten-up-a-specific-part-of-a-photo-with-virtually-any-image-editor>

 

iCal upgrade, Epsilon email breach, Facebook

April 7, 2011 in privacy, software | Permalink

MobileMe iCal upgrade

On May 5, 2011, MobileMe will transition to their new Calendar service. If you sync iCal calendars between devices, like two or more computers, iPods, iPads and such, and you wish to continue accessing your calendar at <me.com>, you will have to upgrade your calendars at <me.com>. Apple says all you have to do is log into <me.com/calendar>, using your MobileMe login and password. It is best to make sure your calendar is up to date, as in you have made sure to manually sync it with the MobileMe prefpane in System Preferences or the MobileMe sync widget up in the menu bar near the clock. Also, do whatever you normally do to back up your calendar data. It would be good to make sure that your other devices that also sync calendars via MobileMe are turned off or at least not syncing.

Finally, back on the <me.com/calendar> web page, click on the Upgrade Now icon in the lower left corner. Wait, and wait, and wait even longer. Don’t close the web browser window if you want any chance of watching the progress. When it is done, double-check your calendar(s) and if all is OK, turn back on syncing on your other devices.

Oh, and Apple wants you all to be using Snow Leopard, 10.6.4 at least. See more info at <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4037>

Epsilon email list breach

Worthy of an April Fools joke, on April 1st, Epsilon, out of Texas, admitted an “unauthorized entry into Epsilon’s email system” on March 30, and that the “information that was obtained was limited to email addresses and/or customer names only.” What does Epsilon do? They handle email campaigns for many large corporations and they have not said who. However, large banks, like JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, U.S. Bank, Barclays Bank and Capital One, and other corporations like Krogers, Home Shopping Network, the College Board, Best Buy, Home Depot, and. Time to learn about “spear phishing”, when email or other contact makes us of trust we have in an institution contacting us by email, phone or in person, while relying on appearing to be something we trust. Now, we have to pay more attention to scam messages with targeted messages trying to trick us into changing login information via a fake page, giving up other information that might give them access to other online accounts. or get us to buy fake or unneeded services and products. .  So, if asked via email for your account number, UserID, PIN or password, don’t reply. Call instead to verify.

Facebook

If you were to see “My Facebook wall has been viewed X times.” coming from a Facebook friend, should you just click on the link to see if you can find out the same information for your Facebook page? Well, the result is likely to be that you end up giving a third party application access to be able to post messages using your Facebook account name. Facebook is a major conduit for spamming and phishing messages, trying to make use of our trust in what appear to be legitimate messages from our friends. However, nothing in the way that email is structured currently can assure you that the sender of a message is really who he/she says. Facebook is not really good at shutting down scammers, so you have to pay more attention. And, while you are at it, you might want to use a different browser for your Facebooking, doing your regular browsing with your normal web browser. If you don’t log out of Facebook and just continue browsing, then all of those websites with a Facebook Like button are letting Facebook know what sites and pages you are looking, even if you don’t click the Like button.

And, by the way, spend a little time learning the Facebook privacy settings at http://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.php

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