Just wanted to wish you all happy holiday and a happy new year =D
Hey just as a quick note Mozilla has new build of Firefox 3.6 to download. Some of the new things in Firefox 3.6 are full screen mode has been improved (witch I'm glade now I don’t have to switch to IE to watch videos on the World of Warcraft site) and Firefox will alert you when an addon is out of date. I got screen shots of it over in the screen shot gallery so enjoy. You can download it at this link. Firefox 3.6 revision 5.
Google has come out and admitted that there is a Google phone. For now the only people that have it right now are Google employees. Almost immediately people were asking “is it an iPhone killer?” Well my question is why dose every smart phone that comes out have to be an iPhone killer? The iPhone is grate so why do we have to kill it, why do we can’t we just let it be? Well many compare other smart phones to the iPhone because that is the top of the line for most people. There are thoughts people that may not want apps they just want there e-mail, the internet, and a phone (yes there are some people out there that still want a phone to talk on).
I be leave that no smart phone will ever beat the iPhone until we stop comparing other smart phones to it. The Droid seems to be a grate number two compared to the iPhone but what if we just compared it to just the other Android based phones. It just made be the best smart phone. Though I can see this going same way it has been with computers for along time. I do believe there will be a time ware geeks have fights over Android VS iPhone OS just as passionately as we do now with Mac VS PC now. If it has not started already.
I hope that iPhone killer is just a buzz word that will die soon. Android seems to have so much to offer. With all the choice there will be soon a Android phone for everyone. Unlike the iPhone ware there is just last years iPhone or the iPhone 3 GS. Now with choice comes confusion. With so much choice with Android phones there might come a time ware people don’t know what one to get and that could hurt Android. Though there are a million different PC’s that run windows out there and that dose not seem to hurt Microsoft much.
Hopefully soon iPhone killer will be killed. Then when some asks what kind of smart phone should I get you can ask them what do you want to do on the phone other then talk. Just like now should be the question you ask when they want a new computer.
With the holidays coming up I thought I would share my wish list and I must emphasize on the wish part. But maybe you can use this to find something for the geek in your life.
iPhone 3GS
How could can anyone have a wish list with out a iPhone on it? Now I have an iPod touch and if I had the money to pay the bill for an iPhone I would get one with all its a apps, and speed there is really no other smart phone that can beat it a cross the board. Now the only down side to the iPhone is AT&T but the phone it self is just so grate that it makes up for AT&T.
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 I think is thee gaming console for gamers. It has all the games you can get to twitter, facebook, and Last FM on it as well. Plus netflix and others. So even if you don’t play games it makes for a grate windows media extender witch is what I use mine for.
Roku
The Roku player has always been grate for a netflix box. But as of late it has gotten update so you can watch video pod cast from revision 3, TWIT, and others. If you or someone you know is into podcasts like I 'am this is perfect for them it makes watching podcast just as easy as watching normal TV.
Macbook
A Macbook I think would be grate if you are a geek in general or if you have a artistic geek in your life. There good looking, OS X is a grate OS, and easy to use. With all the stuff like iPhoto and iMovie that come with its a grate buy.
Dell Studio
Now maybe you or your geek is not a Mac fan the Dell Studio series is a grate line of PC laptops. vary good, built well, and in my experience dell is just as good as other OEMs with customer support, not the best but good. Also since it is dell you can customize it any way you want it.
Western Digital My Book
If you need storage right now is the time to get external HDD’s you can get a 1 TB external drive for under a $100. This is grate for backups and having a back when you need it is just priceless.
Tmobile My Touch
Now since I started this list with a phone I thought I would end it with one as well. If you are like me and don’t have the money for an iPhone bill the Tmobile has more affordable plans or if you just don’t want a iPhone and cant afford a Verizon bill for a droid the My Touch is a good 3rd place and you still have access to the android apps as well.
I hope this list gives you some good Ideas what to get or what ask for your holiday of choice. Happy (your celebrated holiday here) and happy New Year. Also just wanted to add Im thinking about doing video soon so be on the look out for that.
Technorati Tags: Wish List,Macbook,Dell Studio,My Touch,Xbox 360,Roku,iPhone 3GS,Western Digital MyBook
PC’s that run Microsoft windows are the majority of what the world uses. For the most part most home users and most businesses use PC’s running Microsoft Windows. Though some places and some people use Mac’s. Why is this? Is it style choice? Are Mac’s easier to use?
Why would someone want to buy a Mac over a PC? Lets look :
| Dell Studio Desk Top PC | iMac 21.5 | Notes | |
| CPU | Intel® Pentium® Dual CoreTM Intel® Core™2 Duo Intel® Core™2 Quad | 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo | Dell has more choice |
| OS |
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-Bit Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate 64-Bit |
OS 10.6 | |
| RAM | Up to 8 GB’s | Comes with 4 GB’s | Mac can go up to 16 GB’s of RAM |
| HDD | Up to 1.28 TB | 500 GB | |
| Optical Drive |
Blu-ray DiscTM and DVD +/- RW options available |
8x double-layer SuperDrive | |
| Price | Starts at $399.99 | Starts at $1,199.00 |
Ok now that you have looked at the chart. Why would someone get a Mac? You could get a more then good PC for $400. The Mac is over $1,000. The Dell you have choices the Mac, not so many choices. There are though something's that are not in this chart and things that Dell or any other PC OEM is not going to bring up, like there support service. Now I used a Dell in the chart because dell has been known to have good customer support for Windows computers, even though in last few years there service has kind of dropped.
Lets look at what will happen if your PC brakes and you cant fix it. The first thing you would do is call Dell and then you wait for a little bit on hold, then finally you get someone. Now you have to tell them the best you can what is wrong with your computer, this can take awhile especially if you really don’t know what is wrong. Now once you have come to some kind of conclusion you can find out how much it is going to cost you to fix. Then they will send you a box that you have to wait for in the mail put your computer in the box send it to Dell and wait a few weeks for it to be fix and finally you get it back, hopefully it works or else you have to do the process all over again.
Now the Mac if something goes wrong with that you can call Apple witch will take you down a very similar rout like the Dell did or if you live near an Apple Store you can take your computer in there. Taking it to the Apple Store is probably the easier one cause if it is just a little problem they can just fix it right then and there. Then you just go home and everything is fixed. Now that sounds allot simpler. That is the reason you get a Mac.
Now lets look at software. With the Dell it came with Windows 7. Witch means all the Applications and games you would want to run are all there. The pool of what wont work with Windows is small there then the Mac. Though Mac has something's that Windows dose not like iMove, iDVD, and iPhoto. Three grate programs for putting together a Home movie or for ogranizing your family photos. Now Microsoft has there own version of what Apple calls iLife (iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, and Garage Band band) and that is Windows Live Essentials witch is a suit of programs that you can get witch include Windows Live Movie Maker, Windows, Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Writer, Windows Live sync, and Windows Live Mail, and Safety. Apples iLife comes with Mac’s wile Windows Live Essentials you have to download after you get everything setup.
Though really what you are paying for is the the customer service Apple gives and you are paying for the look of the iMac Just look at it and think to your self what would I rather have in my living room?
Or
Now I don’t know about you but I rather have the Mac in my living room. It just seems like it would look better. But it is a matter of opinion. Just to note that is not the Dell from the chart above you can see what that Dell looks like here.
If you can support your self and I don’t really thing you will ever have to call for help then by the PC, but if you find your self calling the neighborhood geek allot then you may want to by the Mac with computers you really get what you pay for.
Last week I was listening to Windows Weekly and I thought that they brought up a good point about Google and Microsoft. That was Microsoft really has never had a computer like Google. If you go back and look when Netscape wanted to be the new Microsoft, Microsoft crushed them with IE 3. Why is that? Well Netscape just didn’t have the money to compete with them. Google on the other hand dose have the money. I really think this is what Microsftys have nightmares about at night. A company that has just as much money as them and as ambitious as they once were.
Now lets look at Google there hitting Microsoft ware it hurts with Chrome OS. They might as well cannon out side of Microsoft getting ready to fire it. There also trying to get them with Google Doc’s as well. Though Microsoft isn’t just sitting back. They are firing back when Office 2010 comes out with there online version witch anyone with a Skydrive account can use it.
Is this the end of Microsoft, well no not anytime soon. Microsoft will be around for awhile because unlike IBM, Microsoft is not going down with out a fight. But Google on the other hand is not going to make it easy for Microsoft there going to keep going after Microsoft. Thought what will it be like when Microsoft is gone… There will still will be Apple they will but I really think Google will take them off guard. Apple will never see Google coming.
So who will win this fight most likely Google but it wont be an easy victory. Though Microsoft could some how some way cause an upset, but this is vary vary unlikely to happen. Microsoft will most likely never go away but they may finally give up and just live knowing there not number one anymore.
Google came out and showed what they have of Chrome OS so far. It boots in 7 sec’s, its secure, and from the moment you hit the power button you are online. I have herd people that think that Chrome OS could be a Windows killer. The video that Google made to explain it is below.
; downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QRO3gKj3qw&w=425&h=355]</div>";)
Chrome OS will most likely kill of XP as a netbook OS choice, but by no means dose this mean that Chrome OS will kill off windows. I'm sure if you have read my blog before you know my thoughts on the cloud, but to just sum it up quickly. Some day when we figure out a way to have internet every ware or when mobile carriers let us tether our phones to our computers the cloud will be ready. Despite that I do think that there will always be a want for local application and local storage of what you are working on. I think the big question is what happens when you are not online and you need to use your netbook? well we don’t know yet.
The Chrome OS I think will be grate for netbooks witch are grate for a second computer in the first place. The Chrome OS will do what netbook’s do well witch is browse the web (checking e-mail, social networking, web app’s). Witch is what this OS is made for. Google has done something though that neither Microsoft or Apple has not done and that is take another look at operating systems and thought with what we know now how do we create a modern OS. Now I do know that Chrome OS is based off of the Linux kernel. But they have improved unlike anyone else has.
So as a quick review is Chrome OS going to be a Windows killer? No I don’t think it will. Now also I should note that Chrome OS looks just like you would think it looks likes just like the Chrome web browsers. Hopefully soon Google will have a beta to download. The Chrome OS is hopefully coming out late next year so we will know all our questions by then… I hope.
There are other ways to get a home server if you don't want to go threw everything that I talked about in the last part. There are easier ways to get a server you can just buy one from HP. Now I 'am Only talking about HP because there the only one that I know of that makes home servers. Now also if you still want to do it yourself but a home server is a little bit too much you just really want a back up then I have a something for you too.
HP few years ago came out with their home server line up witch really there is only three there's the HP Mediasmart Server EX495, the HP MediaSmart Server EX490, and HP MediaSmart Server LX195. So lets start with the and HP MediaSmart Server LX195 since it is the cheapest. The LX195 has 640 GB drive and 4 USB ports so the only expiation if you need it will be by getting a external HDD. But it also comes with the all of HP's Mediasmart software that all the other home servers come with. Oh and the price for this $399.99.
The next two are vary similar the Mediasmart Server EX495, and the HP MediaSmart Server EX490 there only deferent's being the Mediasmart Server EX495 has a Intel Pentium Processor Dual Core 2.5 GHZ 64-bit CPU and the HP MediaSmart Server EX490 has a Intel Celeron Processor 2.2 GHZ 64-bit. Other than that they both have 2 GB of RAM have 4 expiation slots and both have 4 USB ports and 1 eSTATA port on them. They also have Windows Home Server on them. There is how ever a differents in price the Mediasmart Server EX495 is going to run you $699.99 while the HP MediaSmart Server EX490 is going to run you $549.99.
Now that you have seen what these HP Mediasmart Servers can do and you are thinking that's really more then what I need. Well if you have a computer laying around or you have the money to get a cheap PC then you could try free NAS. NAS stands for Network Attached Storage, witch pretty much means it's a big HDD sitting on your network. It doesn't do anything fancy it just sits there and lets you but stuff on it. There is a great video on how to set one up on a show Revision 3 use to do called System.
Here it is I found it for you you want download it look for System on itunes store.
Home networking is becoming easier and easier with each passing day, at this point there is few reasons not to have a home network like what I have talked about in this series. Most people now have more then one computer and all this just helps keep your life a little less hectic.
Just wanted to say happy thankgiving to all and I have to give thanks to all the people that read this blog. Also good luck to all thoughs going to any store tomorrow, try not to get trampled.
-Mike
I'm sure like me you probably have a computer sitting around collecting dust as a door stop. Now that you have that router setup (as talked about in part one) now let's put that old computer into good use as a home server. There are so many benefits to having a home server such as file sharing if you have allot you need to save and always being able to get to thoughts files on any computer in your house. Printer sharing is another good one if you have family and only one printer its grate for that too.
So let's get started now I used my Vista PC to do this but you can still do this with XP as well. First thing you will want to do is wipe that computer out. Do a clean install of Vista or XP. Now that you have done that Get rid of any crap ware that may have come with that PC if it is a store bought PC. The less stuff you have on it the better. Now I would just start doing updates make sure you have the latest service pack for Vista or XP. You have the computer up to date now it is time to start installing things.
The first thing you will want to install is Log Me In it is a free remote desktop software that you can use to remote access your server form any ware. Now I know that Windows has remote access built in but it is hard to setup and this is just a lot easier to setup then the windows tool.
The second piece of software you will want to install is Hamachi from Log Me In it is a VPN client free for home use. This is very useful now that you have server a computer that is always on you can setup a VPN. VPN stands for Virtual Privet Network which means if you're out and about on your laptop and you are connected to WIFI you're not sure about just open Hamachi and log in to your home network from that not so trusted network, now everything you do is encrypted plus you have access to your network resources like shared files and folders.
Itunes 9.0 would be the third thing I would put one the server. My rezoning for this is because of the Home Share that is in Itunes 9 witch works if you all your music is on that computer now you can share it to all the computers in your house that is authorized to your account.
There is one more thing you may want to put on your server and that is a AV (antivirus) just because you're going to have files coming and going your server (especially if you are sharing with a family or roommate) and you just don't know what thoughts might be so better safe them sorry.
Ok you have all this software installed and it is all configured so now what... your done? No not yet almost though. You should have some kind of file structure like in my cause I have a folder on my server called home network then in there I have on called Users which has a folder with my name that I put things in to. One for everyone else in the house that they can use as well. You may or may not do this put partitioning the hard drive is a good idea if you want to limit everyone on how much they put on the server. I did not do this just because I don't put big things like video's on my server so I know my files stay around the 1 GB to 2 GB mark.
Once you have all this done now just right click the folder and tell it to share it and make sure that file and printer sharing is on. The way I have it show up on everyone's computer is I mount there folder as a network drive which is easy to do. Just go to My Computer or Computer.
Select Map Network Drive and it will bring up a screen.
hit the browse button and find the your server and browse until you found the folder you want and hit ok then hit Finnish and that folder will show up in Computer as a drive. This you will have to do with every computer that you are giving access to your server.
After all this you have everything on your server you maybe thinking what happens if something happens to the server? Well you better be backing up witch I talked about in a earlier blog post that is called “Back Up People”.
That about ends how to turn your old computer into a server. After reading all this you might be asking yourself "there must be an easier way to do all this" and there is, that is what I 'am going to be talking about in there third and final part in this series . Now if you have any questions leave a comment or e-mail over at the side there with thoughs questions and I will get back to you. Also try out the message boards if I can't help you maybe some else can.
Technorati Tags: Home Networking,XP,Vista,VPN,Logmein,Hamachi,Network Drive,File Sharing,Printer Sharing,Antiviruse,iTunes 9,partitioning
Now a days most people have more than one computer for one reason or another. Now wouldn't it be nice if there was a way you could save something and be able to get to it from your other computer in your house or when you are out and about? Well this 3 part series will help you set up a nice home network. I will talk about setting up your router, turning a old vista PC (or XP) into a home server also some security tips.
Now lets start with the router because is key to the network without that your computers could not talk to each other. Now most routers have a CD that will walk you through the setup of the router but yours did not then go to your web browser and type in 192.168.2.1 (it could also be a 10.10 check your routers manual) and that should take you to a page like this:
click login and hit submit unless you have a password then put in your password. Now once you are logged in go to your wireless settings and channel and SSID now you should change the SSID form the default to something other than Linkysis or belkin . Now go to security and switch it too WEP2 and make a good password if you can't think of something good you can download keypass and generate one or you can use Steve Gibson's Prefect Passwords.
Now go to your computers and make sure it connects and that you can get online. Now this was part one I hope this was helpful if you have any questions leave a comment or e-mail me from the widget on the side of the page or you can e-mail me at mikesworldoftech@gmail.com.
I hear this allot “I just don’t have time to back up my stuff’. Then one day they get a viruses or they go 4 years without reinstalling windows. Then I have to tell them I have to reinstall windows and they have never done that before and it just makes me crazy. Why would people not back up there info on there computer. I mean there is just so much on most peoples computers these days if you can put that stuff some place for safe keeping then why wouldn’t you? Now if your thinking its hard it is not.
The eases way you could back-up your info is using the back-up and restore in Windows. Now this really apply to Windows Vista and Windows 7 users. But the back up and restore tool is the most eases way to back up your info locally. You just need ether a second hard drive in your PC or a external drive. I would recommend putting a second drive it will back up much faster then a external USB drive. If you use a laptop or don’t feel comfortable with installing a new hard drive in your computer an external one works too. Setting up back up is easy go to start type in back up and back up and restore should show up. Hit enter, and it will start up and click back up now. It will walk you threw a Wizard to know what day and time to back up and how often to back up. Now I have gone and looked at Prices for internal and external drives so you know what your looking for as far as price.
External HHD
| Wal-Mart | Best Buy | Staples | New Egg |
| Western Digital My Passport | Western Digital My Book Essenital | Seagate Free agent | Toshiba |
| 320 GB | 640 GB | 500 GB | 320 GB |
| $79 | $71.99 | $99.99 | $69.99 |
| More info | More info | More info | More info |
Internal HDD
| Wal-Mart | Best Buy | Staples | New Egg |
| Western Digital | Seagate | Western Digital | Western Digital (Bare Drive) |
| 1 TB | 500 GB | 500 GB | 720 GB |
| $104.82 | $69.99 | $79.99 | $59.99 |
| More info | More info | More info | more info |
Now there are other ways that you can back up your info that is easy. You can use services like Carbonite that will install a little thing that will run in your tray and when your not doing anything it backs it up to the Carbonite servers. Also for Mac user’s there is time machine that backs up everything for you (just have a really big drive).
Now there are other ways to back up online that are free but there not as easy as the ways I have talked about. There is one more thing I would like to share a saying that Alex Lindsay “If it is not in two places it dose not exist.” witch means if you save a word document and is not saved someplace other then that drive there is a good chance you will lose it if it is on another drive or on server you have lowered your chances of losing that document. I will leave you with a plead, people please back up your data if not for you but for your future self.
Phones everyone at this point has at least 2. The normal is one cell phone and one house phone or land line what ever you want to call it. There use to be a thing called Grand Central and it was a service that you could pay for and they gave you one number that you could use for all your phones. Well Google bought them some time ago and made it better, it is now called Google Voice. Now you may have herd about it before the hole Apple not letting Google but a Google Voice app on the iPhone. But if you have not it is a grate service.
To start Google Voice gives you a local number that you can hook up to the phones you have like your cell phone and your house phone. When someone calls the Google Voice number all the phones that are hooked up to that Google Voice number will ring. Witch can be problem manic but for this sake we will say it is a good thing. Also when the person calls they have to say there name and when you pick up it will say who it is and will ask if you want to talk to them or send them to voice mail. Witch Leads me in to Voice mail with Google Voice. The voice mail works kind of like the visuals voice mail on some smart phones you have a inbox with the voice mails you can listen to. Well Google will also make put them into text so you can read your voice mails like an e-mail. Now the speech to text is not grate so I would say listen to them still but I’m sure the speech to text will get better. Now what would a phone number be without texting, well Google Voice has got you covered with free texting… kind of its free if you don’t have your Google Voice number hooked up to a cell phone because if you do Google voice forwards the text messages to your cell phone and then you have to pay what ever you normally pay for texting. There are many good uses for Google voice for me it is my public number the one I give on applications the one I give out to people because if some one calls that I don’t want calling me Google Voice lets you block callers.
Now this is all nice and is so grate if you have it, witch is the problem right now. Google Voice is still in Beta if you want to use Google Voice you can get invited one of two ways. One way is if you know someone that has Google Voice they may have an invite that they can send you. If you don’t the other way is to go to the Google Voice page and sign up to get one. My final thought is that Google Voice is grate way to mange all your voice mails and text messages. Also its just nice knowing if something happens to your phone you don’t have to tell everyone your new number cause the Google Voice number never changes.
Technorati Tags: Google,Voice,Cell Phone,House Phone,Google Voice,Voice mail,Text to Speech,Texting,Text Messaging,Block,Calls,Beta
A day or two ago I post my thoughts on my upgrading to windows 7 with a clean install. Well I thought today I would go threw and walk you threw it the best I can. Its easy to do and quick… well quicker then other OS installs that I have done. So lets start.
Put the Windows 7 install DVD in and restart your computer. Your computer should restart and will come up with a message and say press any key to boot form CD or DVD… just hit a key and the DVD will load and you should get a page like this:
Hit next then install
Agree to the ULA..
This is about a clean install so click on custom install
Click on advance then select the drive with your OS installed on it and click the format button
Once your drive is done being formatted hit next and let windows install this should take about 30 mins. The computer will restart a few times and follow the setup process.
Well that's about it. I hope this helps thoughts of you that want to go to windows 7. I didn’t go over a in place upgrade because its not really the best way to go if you need to do one just hit upgrade instead of custom install. Just note it will take a lot longer to upgrade in place. If there is any questions you can E-mail me at mikesworldoftech@gmail.com or leave a comment.
-Mike
Well windows 7 came out about a week ago and I got it. I went to staples the day it came out and to my shock there was not a copy on the shelf. I didn’t think it would sell out just like that. I asked a person that worked there if they had a family pack of windows 7 and they said they did got and went home. The first computer to upgrade was my laptop. Though I was really down grading cause I had windows 7 Enterprise witch is Ultimate. How I installed windows 7 was to downgrade to Windows Vista then did a clean install of windows 7. It worked and activated. I had another computer that I had to upgrade but I was not sure it was going to work because I installed the RC on that computer and there had been no other OS that came with it since I built that computer. Well I did the same thing on that computer I had a copy of Vista and installed it on that computer and then did another clean install of Windows 7 on it and once again it worked. SO when I finally get my case for the computer Iam building myself Iam going to do the same thing to get windows 7 on it. My overall esperantist with Windows 7 is as the AD’s say its simpler. Though there have been accounts of problems I just have never had anything bad happen when I upgraded luckily. There is a fix that Paul Thurrott found you can go to his site for that fix. Also Im hoping you like the new look and name for this blog. There is also a new e-mail too mikesworldoftech@gmail.com so e-mail me. I’ll do a better post next time.
-Mike
Computer problems. Everyone has them at some point, but most of them can be avoided or fixed with simple know-how. Most people don't want to be bothered to learn anything about their own computer, they just want to turn the thing on and make it work. This is how it should be, but that’s not how it works. If you are using Microsoft Windows you need to know the basics. This includes computer security. Now 90% of the basics you need to know are in the manuals that all computer OEM's put in the box with the computer. The other 10% computer security is something you have to research your self.
Now I will spare you the time and effort to research this topic because most sites you go to are going to make you buy their security suit. This is not necessary. Most of these security suits have a firewall, anti-virus software, junk mail filters, and bunch of other stuff that in some case do good but a lot of times they just slow your computer down and you still end up with malware viruses. There are alot of free anti-viruses out there you can download like AVG free, or Microsoft security essentials. Now you might be asking, “What about a firewall?” Well, if you are using Windows XP or Vista you already have a firewall and by default it should be on so that it is taken care of for you. Also, if you have a router, there is a firewall on that as well. Now your anti-virus is your second line of defense, while your first line is you. There are things you can do to stop spyware from getting in, like running as a limited user rather then a administrator, which means you don't have access to core files. Anytime your computer needs to make changes in the C drive, it needs to ask you for your admin password. The other thing you can do is not open e-mail attachments from people you don't know. This includes the chain e-mails that have the funny photo of Lol Catz because you may know it came from Joe and Joe got it from Jon, Jon got it from Mary, and so on and so forth. Wait, do you know Mary? You may not, so how do you know were she got it from or whoever she got the photo from. That photo may look cute but it could be installing spyware on you computer as we speak! Another tip for people who do online banking or shopping, make sure you are on the site you think you are when buying or logging in to your bank. This can be easily done if you are using Internet Explorer 8. Look closely at the URL field and if it has https:// and the field is green, then it is the page you wanted to be on for your purchases or sign on for your banking. In Firefox just look for that https:// and look for the locked paid lock at the bottom of the browser. There is one big thing you can do to make sure that your computer is safe. Every second Tuesday of every month Microsoft updates Windows, so just mark that on your calendar.
Those are some basic ways you can stay safe online. The tips above can keep your computer running quite well for a wile. It seems like a lot but think of a computer like a car. You can't just use your car indefendent, at some point you have to do some maintenance and do things to make sure a big problem dose not happen later on. Now if you do get a virus, (I don't care what anyone tells you) you can not remove a virus with software. It just does not work that way anymore, you have to reinstall Windows. This is because modern viruses just latch on to your computer and really dig deep in your computer. They are infecting files that Windows needs in order to work, witch anti-virus software will not touch. Reinstalling windows formats the hard drive and puts the clean files back. Reformatting the drive erases everything on the drive: your documents, Photos, Movies, and more. What you should do is have an external hard drive that connects to your computer through USB and you can just drag and drop what you wanted backed up on to it. You can also use a service like Carbonite that you pay for, and it just sits in the background and waits for you to not be using it and will just start backing it all up for you. When you need to restore, you just go to the Carbonite web site log in and start downloading everything back to your computer. I have not talked about Mac's because Mac's are a minority and most hackers do not want to hack a Mac. Most businesses run Windows and that is what the hacker wants. Though Mac's are getting popular and soon the Mac people will need to know all this as well, so if you are running a Mac you need to be careful as well.
There is one more tip I would like to pass along and that is the best way to keep your computer running smoothly and securely, just use your common sense. Most of computer problems can be avoided if people just use their heads and use logic. That is really all. If you have questions e-mail me at themegatechblog@live.com or go to megatechblog.blogspot.com.
-Mike
(Edited by Erick A)
With Windows coming in a few weeks its time to get your computer ready for the change. There things you should know before you upgrade. The first thing is you should know that if you are planning to go from Windows XP to Windows 7, you cant do a in place upgrade. You will have to format the drive and install Windows 7 as a fresh install. This is because there is just too much of a different between Windows 7 and Windows XP. So get your things backed up to a DVD or a external hard drive. If you have Windows Vista you can do a in place upgrade but it will take a few hours to upgrade. I would suggest format and install Windows 7 fresh. I this will give you the best Windows 7 expertness. This process will only take a few minutes (not including how long it will take to reinstall software you may use and to restore your back-up). Have fun installing Windows 7.
-Mike
Spyware is every ware and it can be nasty it can slow down your computer and do what its says spy on you. Witch is never good cause I'm sure like most people you probably use your computer to check your banking and pay your bills. Well wouldn’t it be nice if you had a program on your computer that you could just run and check for that stuff and even better get rid of it too? Well you do and you probably don’t even know it. Its called The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. You may have seen it talked about in your windows update. But Microsoft hides it. But there is away to use it your self when ever you want. Here is how you do it:
From your desktop go to the start menu type in the start menu search MRT and it enter (on XP hit the windows key and “R” and type MRT.EXE and it enter).
You should get a the UAC pop up just hit continue or yes and MRT should pop up just hit next.
You should see a screen giving you some options to do a quick scan, full scan, or a custom scan. If you don't have much time and just want to know quick if you got something or not then do a quick scan just know it will miss something's. If you want to make sure there is nothing on your computer do the full scan that will check every file and every folder on your computer. If you think a file you just downloaded is infected with spyware use the custom scan and check just that file.
Just hit next when you know what kind of scan you want to do and it will start the scan.
When its done it will tell you if you have something or not and will get rid of it.
Well I how you enjoyed the tip if you have any questions e-mail me at themegatechblog@live.com.
-Mike
With windows 7 only about a month way I thought I would share a tip that I think everyone will find use full. I Windows Vista UAC (User Account Control) was added to windows this is that annoying thing that asked you if you wanted to do something that most of the time you told it to do. In Windows 7 it is still there but they have made it less annoying but some people it might still be annoying or they might want it how it was in Vista. So here is how to change it:
Go to the start menu and type UAC in the start menu search.
Hit enter and UAC will pop up and ask if you want to do this just say yes and a screen with a slider will a peer. Just move the slider up to make it more annoying (more Secured) or move it down to make it less annoying (less secure).
I hope this was hopeful if you have any tips e-mail me at themegatechblog@live.com.
-Mike