Setting up a new computer

Prevention is the best medicine when it comes to avoiding illness in ourselves. Prevention in the computer world is no different. And like a newborn baby, a newly purchased computer is subject to many terrible diseases and problems if not properly cared from the moment it is taken from its cardboard box. I follow these steps when setting up a new computer system for my clients, and recommend this methodology for all new...

Windows Key Shortcuts

The Windows Key (usually located between the Ctrl and Alt keys on either side of your keyboard) allows you to push it and another key to gain quick access to some Windows utilities and programs. Here are the combos: Windows Key + F = Find/Search Windows Key + E = Windows Explorer (my favorite) Windows Key + R = Run Windows Key + M = Minimize all open windows so that you can see your desktop again (Windows Key + D will do the...

Changing email addresses – It’s not th...

AOL made millions of dollars for years because computer users are afraid to change their email addresses. All week long, I hear, “Oh, it’s too hard to change email addresses now.” Or, “It will take forever to change my email address with everyone.” Come on folks…we’re using computers! You don’t have to fill out a change of address form and march it down to the postal office. You...

Print Preview

Sometimes the most helpful computer utilities elude us and stay hidden for years. One such utility that I find very helpful (and have taken for granted) is the Print Preview function found in almost any program that allows printing. Because Windows and Macintosh made the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) environment available to the masses, what we see on our screens is pretty close to what we see on our print outs....

Use CCleaner Monthly

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...

Does that computer have enough hard drive space?

While counseling a customer on buying a new computer recently, the customer asked if a 500 gigabyte drive was ok compared to another a computer that had a 640 GB hard drive. Other than hard drive capacity, the machines were pretty equal. Unless the person plans to store their 2000 album music collection, edit feature length movies, or are designing the next skyscraper for Dubai, I have them go through this simple...

Small and Free Utility Software Gems

Those of you who have kept up with me over the years know that I’m not a utility junkie. The fewer utilities and installed programs the better for me. That being said, I admire and cherish great utilities that serve purposes I need. Some of my favorites over the years include Tech Smith’s Snag It screen capture tool and Camtasia which I use to create our video tips. I also am never without a desktop tape...

3 Reasons NOT to use Registry Cleaners

I know that downloading can be fun and pop-ups can be enticing. But when it comes to most system utilities (programs supposedly designed to help your computer), just say “NO!” One of the worst add-on utilities you can get is the so-called “registry cleaner”. First, let me try to define the registry. Starting with Windows 95 and all versions of Windows since then, Microsoft has employed a large and...

IPCONFIG and NETSTAT Options

Ipconfig Switches Switch Effect /all Produces a detailed configuration report for all interfaces. /flushdns Removes all entries from the DNS name cache. /registerdns Refreshes all DHCP leases and reregisters DNS names /displaydns Displays the contents of the DNS resolver cache. /release < adapter > Releases the IP address for a specified interface. /renew < adapter...

A Fourth Utility?

Water, gas and/or electricity, and telephone service have been widely available for years and present in almost every household in America. In the past few years, I have noticed that households with Internet connections now panic almost as much with an Internet outage as they would with a power outage or water leak. The Internet has truly become the a 'fourth utility'. We all use the Internet now as a communication...

We need a new Internet Appliance

At one of the first, now defunct, Comdex computer shows that I attended in the late 90's, I attended a round table discussion on Internet Appliances. This was a huge buzz word at the time, but unfortunately it was ahead of its time. An Internet Appliance did only two things…browse the Internet and email. The picture I'm showing in this story was known as the Netpliance from a company called I-Opener. The idea...

Another reason to use Picasa

I mentioned in yesterday's Shotgun that I took nearly 900 photos on my recent vacation. You have read and heard us hype the free Picasa digital photography software from Google many times. The features and execution of the features are nothing short of wonderful. I use Picasa to upload and organize my photos after a trip. Then I usually upload the photos I want to print to my favorite online photo developer (Shutterfly )...

Windows 98 vs. Windows Vista

I've seen a fair amount of Windows 98 machines lately and read many, many articles and reviews about the upcoming (six months?) release of Windows Vista. If a computer user doesn't load a Windows 98 machine with bloated security software (Norton) or too many background programs and utilities, it runs pretty darn well…even fast! Windows Vista, on the other hand, continues to baffle industry experts on exactly...

Keep all your disks and documentation

I worked on a computer today which needed reformatting because of massive failure from viruses and spyware. They handn't followed the "Castellini on Computers Approach to Security" so the computer needed my help. When I need to perform a reformat, I need to have all the original software or restore CD's to get everything up and running again. If my customer doesn't have the disks, then I have to search...

MSCONFIG: These items are unneccessary

We talk about the Microsoft Configuration Utility (msconfig) so much, that we have a t-shirt available for it in our store. Msconfig is accessed by: Click Start Click Run Type:   msconfig Click OK Once in the utility, you want to click the "Startup" tab. Here is a list of some the programs that can be safely unchecked. After doing so, click OK, and restart the computer as instructed and your computer...