Archive for ‘Computer advice’

4 results.
Nov26

How Much Are All Your Pictures Worth?

by admin on November 26th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Posted In: Computer advice, Computer Security

frustration Backing up your computer is one of the most important things you should do in today’s digital age.  Most people keep all their photos, videos, and music on their computers. One important thing that must be remembered is that computers do crash, and when they do everything on the hard drive stands to be destroyed and gone forever. Imagine losing all your photos in one second and there is nothing you can do.

Most importantly is how to backup.

  • External Hard Drive Backup – Using this method a person buys an external USB Harddrive and plugs it into his computer. Then you can use software tools to sync or backup your data to that drive at a daily interval. A good free software program to use to sync the files from your hard drive to the external is Toy Sync. This is a free project created by Microsoft. External Hard Drive Backup is a great place to start to backup your data. If your computer fails you have all your important files on your external drive. Make sure you keep your files in both places though, your internal and external drive. This way if one of the drives fail you have the others. The downfall to this backup method is that it does not help you in the case of burglary or fire, when a thief breaks into your home and steals your computer and the external drive connected to it.
  • Local Network Storage Devices – This method is pretty much like the External Hard Drive Method except that the hard drive is connected to your network and not directly to the PC. If you are going to deploy this method a good tip is to keep this device in a different area than your computer, this will help with the theft issue. A good backup software or sync software can also be used with this method.
  • Online Data Backup Service (My Preferred Method) – In this case you sign up for an account with one of the Online Backup Sites that backs up your data on their servers off-site. I use Mozy for my service, but Rackspace.com cloud computing and Carbonite are also leaders in off-site backup.  Once you are a member, a software service is put on your computer that monitors the folders that you want to back up. Every night the software pulls new files off you computer, encrypts them, and stores them on a remote server. If your system fails or is stolen, you can go online and download your archived files back on to your new computer. The big downfall to this method is the time it takes to upload your files to the remote server the first time. This process can take weeks initially, but after that your are good to go every night. It is nice to not have to worry if those pictures will be there after your computer crashes. (This Method Requires High Speed Internet)

The method I use, is to backup to an external drive for fast access to my files, and a nightly upload to Mozy for all my files. The one thing I don’t really worry about anymore is my computer crashing or getting stolen. I always have access to my important files.

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May17

Microsoft Free Anti-Virus

by admin on May 17th, 2010 at 1:03 am
Posted In: Computer advice, Computer Security, Free Software

microsoft So I decided to go with a more main stream virus protection software aside from my ThreatFire Freeware. To my surprise I noticed that Microsoft has a free anti-virus package called Microsoft Security Essentials. This suite is free and is appearing to do the job. I have not witnessed any adverse effects to the install nor computer slowdowns. Maybe, just maybe, Microsoft has put out a solid anti-virus product that does what it is suppose to, keep my computer safe without bugging me about it. If anyone has any comments about this software, please comment below.

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Apr19

Remote Easy with Team Viewer Free

by admin on April 19th, 2010 at 7:31 am
Posted In: Computer advice, Free Software

en_startscreen Do you ever get a call from a friend, relative, or co-worker that need help with their computer. Any time that I help a person with their computer I set up a great free piece of software on their computer called Team Viewer. Team Viewer is a free remote desktop type program that allows you to control a persons computer while they can still see it. It is similar to PC Anywhere, but it is free and very easy to use. With features in the latest version you can also keep track of all the codes you have installed on their computers. This gives easy access to help your friends out in a bind. Setting up is easy and takes no networking experience, Team Viewer is also very good at getting through firewalls and proxy servers to give access. I use it frequently to help members of my family with computer issues. This program also allows them to see what I am doing to help them out in the future. Make note that Windows 7 Home does not have remote desktop capability, this gives you access into those machines, a feature I use frequently on my laptop at home.

Beyond helping a friend, this program also has a quite robust advanced feature package. One feature that I really like is the offline local IP setting. This can be used to connect to computers from with a local network with no outside internet connection via the local IP address.

There are different levels of login access you can set within this program. The software can be installed as a service, in which the login credentials are static allowing the remote user to login upon boot up or any time there after. Or, a user can initiate a session from their desktop and a unique password is generated each time. In this example the user opens the software and gives the unique login information to their remote user over the phone. The pass code will expire as soon as that session has been completed.

The benefit of this free product is in it’s simplicity. Team Viewer Website Link

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Apr16

Which Computer Should I Buy?

by admin on April 16th, 2010 at 6:31 am
Posted In: Computer advice

laptop If you have to ask the above question to your tech geek friend or the IT guy at work, then take my advise, go cheep. Computer geeks already know what they need or want to complete the task they are using a computer for.  99% of the rest of the world wants a computer that can go on the internet, edit and organize their pictures, videos, and music, write an occasional letter, and maybe do a power point now and then. It does not take an $8000 gaming rig to complete those tasks. If fact, most people don’t realize they could probably get away with a $200 net book and be very content. As an example, I am a web developer and real computer geek. I am writing this Blog on a $325 Toshiba Laptop.  I do more on the internet than most people, including creating and uploading web pages with Dreamweaver, graphic design with Photoshop, Video editing with Adobe Premiere, and on and on. This is all accomplished with my $325 laptop. To be honest I use my Blackberry for most of my email and communication anymore, and barely even use my computer for that.

So, let me now answer the question. The following is a list of guidelines you should follow when buying a new computer. Unless you are going to play videos games on your computer, in that case good luck.  My advice to the novice computer gamer is to buy an XBOX 360 (Sorry PS3).

  • Never, never, never, buy a used computer.
  • A duel core processor or higher (unless you get a smokin deal, like under $300)
  • At least 2GB of RAM
  • At least a 250 GB Hard Drive (Enough for lots of Pictures and Music)
  • Windows 7 (If you need to remote desktop into your computer you must have PRO or higher)
  • Things like USB ports, Wi-Fi, and network ports, should all be included in all new laptops.
  • Everything else is personal preference.
  • If you only go on the internet then a net book may be for you. The technical specs are lower but, they are designed for internet browsing.

If you want something small get a net book. If you like a laptop with a big screen, get one with a big screen. If you want a web cam, then get a web cam. These things are preferences that you have to decide you are willing to pay for. The above list is the minimum you should get so your computer will run smooth for at least 3 to 4 years from now. Do not plan on any home computer to be effective after 3 to 4 years, the industry moves too fast with new technology, it does not pay to try to keep up. My advice is to find the least expensive deal with the above requirements and then plan on getting a new computer in 3 years. For a laptop you should spend between $300 and $400. For a desktop, the same price, plus the price of the monitor that is to your liking. Good Luck!!!!

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