Thanksgiving 2013

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Updates

I have a new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.  The 5S is personal, the 5C has my business phone number forwarded to it.  I will soon port my business number to the 5C.

Home Automation

Home automation products are now operating in Wi Fi (IP) home networks.  I have been using the Nest thermostat for about 9 months.  Works great.  I use D-Link IP cameras at my home.  I am going to look into some automated lighting options (some from Belkin and maybe the HUE lights from Phillips).  Note that the Hue system appears to be a superior product but is very pricy at over $ 200.00 for the starter kit of 3 IP led light bulbs, and a bridge to hook up to your wi fi router.

All for now folks.  It's freezing in NJ right now.

Happy Holidays to all,

Dave

Hello Autumn....

Fall Clean up time...

Hello all.  We're just days away from the arrival of the Autumn season.  Right about now, I begin my annual declarations of "It's time to go to Florida", "It's time to move south", "We should be in Fort Myers Now", and many similar statements.  Yes, I hate the cold weather.  So I carry on about it.  But here I am.

I want to give a shout out to all the people I have met recently.  Nice people who I have enjoyed helping whenever I could.  It was a pleasure meeting you and I look forward to helping you again. 

Computing Philosophy

I also wanted to write a bit about my philosophy when it comes to computers, their care and their feeding.  My focus is on prevention, prevention, prevention.  It is much easier and more effective to exercise that ounce of prevention in order to avoid the pound of cure.  My wife and I get into some spirited discussions about computer use.

First, I stress to her never open e-Cards.  Even if she knows the sender and even if it comes from a reputable firm like hallmark.  And never open anything from the well meaning friend or co-worker who forwards pictures of cats jumping up and down or a lion yawning.  It's just not necessary and places your machine at risk.  I also find that when you do a search (google, yahoo, bing, etc) the farther you get away from the top 4 websites on page one of the results, the closer you get to a malicious website that will blow up your pc.

I am very careful when downloading free software.  There are a few programs that I have downloaded after much consideration, recommendations from trusted associates, and trials on my "lab" PC's not connected to any of my valued PC's or my Home Server.  I will cover those free programs in another section of this post.

Although many of my colleagues in PC support like those free Anti-Virus programs, I tend to lean more toward Norton products, with McAfee a close second.   I would use Avast, AVG, or Microsoft Security Essentials only if my client voices a strong opposition to buying Norton or McAfee.  And as you may know, some ISP's provide name brand AV Software for free with their subscriptions.  I use Comcast's Norton Security Suite for all my PC's.

I am a firm believer in off-site backups.  Two services to investigate (both pay subscriptions) are Carbonite, and Mozy.  Additionally, there are "replication" services such as Apple's iCloud and Microsoft's Onedrive.  These services are know as cloud computing.  They synchronize your files across several platforms (your smartphone, your desktop pc, your laptop, and your tablet).  By virtue of the replication, your files are backed up.  However if you make changes to a given file, those changes will be synchronized across your platforms  So the concept varies a bit from the traditonal sense of backups.   Onedrive and iCloud both offer free subscriptions; Onedrive is 7gb free storage, and iCloud is 5gb free storage.  In each case you can add storage space with a paid subscription.

I also believe that a computer in this era has a useful life of about 4 to 5 years tops.  This is because Microsoft has reduced the time between new Windows versions considerably.  Along with that, is the fact that the average PC today costs about $ 500.00, some including monitors.  In other words, hardware is very inexpensive.  The result is that after 3 or 4 years one reaches the point where the cost of repairing, reloading or upgrading the Operating System is almost the cost of buying a whole new computer.  Plus, Microsoft only supports versions of its programs for a finite period of time.  If you own a Windows XP pc, Windows XP support will end in early 2014.  At that time, all development of updates, patches, and security fixes will cease.  No vulnerabilities will be fixed.  So it makes no economic sense to spend any money fixing an XP PC when those funds could be better spent financing a new Windows 8 PC. 

In summary, I believe you will be well served by focusing on off-site backups, meticulous attention to antivirus software operation, and cautious web surfing.

Free Software

Here's one to try.  Open Office.  Open Office is a suite of office products (word processor, spreadsheet, business graphics, and database manager).  Each of the programs will read and write files compatible with Microsoft Office programs.  And best of all it's free.  MS Office Home & Student is about $ 140.00 retail.  So you save a significant amount of money.

So I guess at this point I will be quiet for a while.  Check my website at here for updates and news.

Have a good Autumn and get ready for winter.

Summer in the City

Anybody old enough to remember that song? I am guessing 1967. Rascals??

Yep it's hot in the US, not only the city. Crazy weather, tornados, nasty thunderstorms. Time to consider your backup scenario. Take a look and consider if it is adequate for your needs. For example it's great to have a backup, but is the backup media in your house? What happens if your house is damaged or destroyed? Where are your computers or files?

I'd recommend you look into some type off off-site backups or more recently, "Cloud" backups or file synchronization. Cloud systems are set up so that you can have the same files accessible on all of your devices. (tablet, PC, Smart TV, Laptops). If you take a picture, it would appear on all of your devices. Be default it's backed up to "the cloud" so you have "universal access". Your files are stored in a data center with multiple redundancy so your data is safe. And you do not have to maintain an on-site home server unless you are a computer power user or do Network & Server administration for a living.

Two prevelant cloud computing systems are:

-Apple's iCloud

-Microsoft's Onedrive.

Each of these systems has its own client programs that run on the devices you have.  The iCloud client runs on windows, android, and apple Operating Systems.  Windows Onedrive has clients for windows, apple, and android Operating systems.  So no matter which of these systems you use, cloud computing is available to you.


We can help you with your home computing needs. Give us a call at 732-568-4943.

Enjoy your summer.

Peace,

Dave

Bring Back the Start Menu

As you may know, Microsoft replaced the familiar Start Menu with a "Start Screen".    While it suits Microsoft's goal of making all their screens (Tablet, Smartphone, PC) look alike, it does not suit the needs of those PC users who don't own or want to own a Microsoft Phone or tablet.

Several programmers have published projects that bring back the start menu to Windows 8.  I am currently running one of those projects called "ClassicShell" on my Windows 8 laptop.  And I am happy to report it is working very well.   The familiar start menu is back albeit with a Windows stylized clam shell (for the "shell" in "ClassicShell") start button.  Functions work the same or very similar to those on the Windows 7 Start menu.  At this point I am not quite ready to recommend it but I am very close to a recommendation.  The website for ClassicShell is at www.classicshell.net
Check it out when you have a chance.  It may be just what you're looking for.

Have a good day.

Dave

Spring, 2013

Spring 2013.  The weather is starting to improve.  That's great news.

Windows 8

Windows 8 has been around for a while now.  While the start button and start menu is gone, the desktop remains.  It is familiar enough for the user to do productive tasks.  It DOES take some getting used to.  The start screen was made for tablet and smartphone-like gesture controls.  However, touch screen capability on laptops and desktop PC's drives up the price unnecessarily.  Windows 8 can be used without difficulty on a mouse driven system.

Software Experiences

Quicken Premier 2013

I have used Quicken financial management software since before Windows versions.  It is a lifesaver for me since I would rather do anything else than balance my checkbook.  Quicken 2013 has the capability to sync up your information with your smart phone. (I use an iPhone 4S) and/or tablet (I use a 3rd generation iPad).  I have been using this version for about 2 months.  Overall it's positive.  There are a few quirks that are concerning, but do not impact the general operation of the program.  For example, loans are handled via "reminders" instead of the loan selection on the pull down debt menu.  I have an existing loan that was imported correctly.  But accessing the loan information is different than the 2011 version I was using previously.
 
Open Office

Open Office is an open source office suite of programs similar to Microsoft Office.  The programs in this suite will read files created by MS Office programs (word, excel) and write files that are readable by the MS Office programs.  Since Microsoft no longer supplies MS Office Starter on new PC's and the new MS Office Home & Student is now sold for only one computer per purchase instead of the 3 user license of previous versions, Open Office is a great alternative.  Comparing the prices seals the deal;  MS Office Home and Student, $ 149.99 and Open Office, FREE!! 

The Open Office programs are similar enough that you can do meaningful work in a relatively short time.  Open Office is downloaded from their site, http://www.openoffice.org  These programs are written and maintained by a large group of programmers who write them because they are dedicated to writing programs.  As a hobby and a passion, they write programs.  As a side note, many municipalities are turning to Open Source programs such as Open Office due to the high cost of proprietary software like Microsoft Office. 

Services

For those who are new to this blog and my website, I provide computer support services for Windows Based PC's to residential users.  I also have knowledge of iPhone and iPad devices, as well as wired and wireless networking.  My rates are reasonable.  I accept cash, checks, debit and credit cards.  As an introductory offer to the Somerset Run folks, I will provide a $ 10.00 remote inspection of your computer.  We can be reached at 732-568-4943.  Don't wait, call today.


All for now.  Have a great day and a warm spring!!

Dave