Maintenance | Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners

Posts Tagged: maintenance

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 2 Comments
1
Sep 09

Keep your Mac running clean & fast

photo credit: Angels Gate

Macintosh computers run remarkably quick and smooth when you first buy and set them up. However, over time, like any computer, they can begin to feel somewhat sluggish. To keep your Apple Macintosh computer running quick and smooth, try these hints:

Leave your computer on overnight at least once every week or two. The Macintosh Operating System (which is based on Unix) will run maintenance and cleanup tasks in the wee hours of the morning. By regularly allowing your computer to stay on overnight, these services will be rendered automatically for you resulting in Continue reading →

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 5 Comments
25
Apr 09

2 laptop suggestions for college students

photo credit: jarnott

Millions of high schoolers will be graduating soon and will be leaving for their respective campuses (campii?) at the end of the summer. These students will more than likely go to college with a computer…probably a laptop. I would like to suggest two possible laptops ideas for these students.

Both of my ideas involve good systems that will allow college kids to word process, chat, email, listen to music, watch DVD’s, browse the web wirelessly(for school research of course), create presentations, spreadsheets, download and edit photos and much more. Neither involve Windows and thus don’t require a degree in computer security and maintenance. One of the computers costs between $1200-1800 and the other costs less than $700.

My recommendations stem from first hand accounts from parents whose college kids call home frequently with tales of woe about a slow, non-functioning new computer. Students need to have their computers operational, and running around to the campus IT people or dropping the computer at a fix-it shop for expensive repairs. These two recommendations will keep calls home for repair money, tales of woe, and computer down time to a bare minimum. Continue reading →

Use CCleaner Monthly

CCleaner screen If you are a Microsoft Windows user, of any flavor, I recommend that you download and use the free CCleaner utility once per month. Our computers create thousands of small files that we never see in order to perform the computing tasks we ask of them. Visiting web sites also creates thousands of files including the oft misunderstood cookies. All these files are called temporary files and are completely expendable. Over the course of time, these small temporary files can build up to such a significant amount that they can drag down the performance of even the fastest system.

CCleaner offers a quick, easy and thorough tool to clean all these files in a single click. After downloading and installing the product (I un-click the option to add the Yahoo toolbar during the install), you will have a CCleaner icon on your desktop like the one pictured (large red C with a blue whisk broom). Double-click it, and click the Run Cleaner button. In just a few minutes, the cleaning will finish and present you with a report detailing what was deleted and how much space was recovered.

IF you don’t want your web history or cookies or recycle bin to be automatically cleaned (deleted), you can uncheck the appropriate box before clicking the Run Cleaner button.

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 17 Comments
8
Dec 08

What do you really do with your computer?

In my travels, it seems that most home computer users primarily use email. I would love to see 100-200 comments attached to this short article so you can tell me what you use your computer for from day-to-day. You don’t have to be statistically accurate or detailed, I’m just curious and this topic is too broad and detailed for a poll.

Here’s how I use my main computer:

Internet (web browsing, pay bills, web site maintenance, etc) – 60%
Email – 15%
Instructional videos – 10%
Word Processing – 8%
Desktop publishing (creating newsletters, flyers, calendars, etc) – 2%
Skype video calls – 1%
Digital Photography (including ordering, editing, and downloading photos) – 1%
Games – .33%
Other – 2.67%

YOUR TURN! Leave a comment and share what you use your primary computer for on average. Thanks!

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 5 Comments
6
Oct 08

Lazy computer users

Messy Computer Over the past few days, the tech news sites and blogs have carried a story centered on a quote from a NetBook (tiny laptop) manufacturer stating that the company receives 4X the returns of Linux based systems versus Windows systems. The more often I saw this headline and read the articles, the more irritated I became.

Computers are still in their infancy compared to much of the technology we use today. Americans have had indoor plumbing for 75 years, electricity for almost 100 years, telephones for almost 100 years, televisions for 50+ years, and radios for 70 years. Computers, however, have been around just over 15 years en masse, and even today they only exist in about 70% of American households.

My point is that computer technology has not matured enough to rely on one company or one way of doing things. Yet, that’s exactly what our society of lemmings has done. If it doesn’t say Microsoft on it, it is deemed to be unworthy of use. Microsoft had their chance, in my opinion, but they dropped the ball by losing to the degenerates among us who create malware that cripple a too often unprotected Windows based computer. For years, I have stood on my soapbox and defended Microsoft, and insisted that computer users take the time to learn how to properly secure and use their computers. The reality, however, is they don’t. Too many computer users are too lazy to learn or apply what they learned until something happens to their computer, then they scratch their heads and wonder why it happened to them.

Enter Linux based computers. Linux turned 17 this year and many different distributions (operating systems based on Linux) developed over that same period. Ubuntu being the most successful of these distributions. When NetBooks were introduced to the market just one year ago, some form of Linux was the preferred operating system because they were free, require little maintenance, require less computer power than Windows, and were safer for Internet use. Now this quote from a MSI executive states that the laptops with Linux are returned 4X more frequently than the same computers with Windows.

Is it because they break down? No. Is it because they are more expensive? No. What is the reason? It appears that the users who return them find that either they are unable to make the adjustment from Windows.

I did not go to college with a laptop, and didn’t own a computer until I was 24 in 1990. I learned from the ground up and am the first to admit that I have a slight aptitude for these things, but I learn something new about them every single day. I’ve also learned that if a computer user isn’t flexible, willing to learn new techniques, willing to research solutions, willing to go through trial and error periods, and willing to trust that sometimes change is good, that computer user will remain a lazy computer user and be destined to a life with a buggy, expensive, and frustrating computer(s).

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 5 Comments
19
Jul 08

Linux at Lowes

I’m in the middle of a pretty major house refurbishing right now and am making frequent trips to the hardware stores and elsewhere. Today, while asking a Lowes rep a question, I glanced at one of the computer screens and saw Firefox for Lowes on the title bar. I was blown away that a major corporation had the good sense to use Firefox, then as I scanned the monitor, there was no sign of a start button. Instead, I immediately recognized a Linux like Start button that looked similar to the Xfce desktop that Xubuntu uses.

I don’t think the employee would have had a clue what Linux was or why I would be curious, but I was. I’m willing to bet that computer maintenance costs are extremely low at Lowes compared to Windows based businesses of the same size. I’m sure they have some Windows boxes somewhere, but on the floor, it looked Linux on almost every monitor I saw.

Curious about how long they had been using Linux, I did a quick Google search and found that I wasn’t the only eagle eyed shopper spotting Linux at Lowes, the subject has been kicked around for at least three or four years.

Have you seen Linux running on any other major shopping chain computers?

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 6 Comments
20
May 08

I no longer recommend Ubuntu or Macintosh

If I keep recommending Linux/Ubuntu and Apple Macintosh to my customers, I will have to find another line of work.

Admittedly, I came to the Linux table very late (just over a year now) and have only been luke warm to Macintosh over the years. Windows Vista put me over the edge last year, and I started looking seriously at other operating systems. What I found in both Ubuntu and Mac OSX was an extremely stable, secure, easy-to-use operating system. I estimate that over the past 18 months or so, I have recommended and help setup more than 2 dozen Apple computers or Linux computers that I either installed Ubuntu on or were bought new.

With only one exception (a woman who missed her AOL software), all have stayed with their new non-Windows machines and have thrived. They report nothing but computer bliss with their systems and never regretted jumping from bloated, bug riddled, slow Microsoft software.

However, their computer bliss and lack of problems has translated into drastically reduced troubleshooting visits from me and zero calls to tech support centers in Pakistan. If I keep recommending and guiding people into these machines, my business will almost dry up and third world tech support agents will also lose their jobs. So, please, disregard all my past advice regarding Ubuntu or Mac, and stay with Windows…preferably Windows Vista. I need to feed and clothe my family, fill my vehicles with petrol and “Mary” and “Bob” need to do the same for their families in Pakistan and India.

Just say NO to stable, safe, error-free computers running Ubuntu or Mac OSX and help the world economy by investing in a Windows Vista computer and the subsequent maintenance and repair dollars for the Vista machine !

Riding Shotgun with Adam — No Comments
5
Sep 06

The no porn approach to computer maintenance

There are many things that can slow a computer down, but nothing does more to negatively impact the performance of a computer more than spyware. Even many viruses run undetected, but almost all spyware prevents a system from running at top speed.

Spyware comes from a variety of places, but there are three types of web browsing that will guarantee that you accumulate some of the worst forms of spyware.

Online gambling sites: Not all online gambling sites are sources of spyware, but most of them are.

Online surveys and drawings via popups and spams: Many legitimate companies ask for your opinion through surveys, but surveys can also be lures for spyware. If you get a popup or spam offering a free iPod, laptop, ringtone, etc., consider it a trick to get you to download spyware.

Porn sites: Nothing will gum up your computer more than surfing for porn. Rick and I have laughed as we relate stories about clients with porn surfing habits. We will do total reformats or spyware and virus cleanups costing over $100 only to have our clients call us back a few days later with all of the same problems.

If you don't want spyware and a slow system, don't surf for porn, don't gamble online, and don't get intrigued by offers that seem too good to be true.

If you find this too difficult, be ready to pay for expensive cleanups every few weeks.

Riding Shotgun with Adam — No Comments
10
Mar 06

Technology solves problems tracking medical records

Have you ever been to a doctor’s appointment where the doctor asked you a lot of questions then referred you to another doctor only to have that doctor ask you all of the same questions all over again?

Are you tired of answering questions about whether you have any allergies? Are you ever curious why the doctors ask you when your last tetanus shot was? Don’t they ever write this stuff down?

As it turns out, doctors offices each track your records, but only certain information gets passed on when you go to the hospital or to a different doctor.

The solution to this problem in on the Horizon. I began my morning meeting with a doctors office that is a client of mine and a local group called Quality Health Network.

I was there at the request of the practice to act as a translator. QHN was explaining a new system that is being implemented all over the county.

The new system is an Internet based patient database that allows doctors, hospitals and other important medical offices to track all patient information by logging in from any Internet enabled computer.

At first this sounds a little spooky, but the entire system is HIPA approved. That means that it is so tight that only Doctors with proper permissions are allowed to access the patient information. Even doctors will be monitored to make sure that no abuses of the system take place.

The system will work much like the computer system at your local lube shop. When you bring your car into the lube center everything about the make and model of your car is logged into the computer. From that point on, every visit you make to the lube center is tracked. This allows the lube center to keep track of the maintenance on your car so that they remember not to tell you that you need your air filter changed until you actually do.

Unlike the lube center though, this database will be country wide. That means that every hospital and participating doctor will be able to access all of the patient information they need to. But, doctors who do not see the patient will not be able to access his records.

QHN gave the example that if Tom Cruise gets hurt in a skiing accident at a near by resort and has to come to the local hospital, his records can be monitored to make sure that only the doctors directly involved with his care will be able to see his records. Anyone who violates this procedure can be fined or cut off for violating HIPA rules.

I don’t know if this all makes sense, but in the end it means that patients will get better care in less time and miscommunication between doctors and patients will likely go way down.

Here is a link to the company that developed the software, Elysium by Axolotl. The only thing tougher to understand than geek speek is medical geek speek.