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Mac

Make Disk Cleanup Run Faster

WARNING:  This tip involves editing the Registry, so only perform these steps IF you feel comfortable making changes to a part of the computer where one wrong move can bring your whole system down.

Performing these steps will disable the "compress files" part of the Windows Clean Up utility:

  1. Click Start –> Run
  2. Type:   regedit
  3. Navigate to and expand the following registry key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE  –> SOFTWARE –>   Microsoft –>   Windows –>  CurrentVersion –> Explorer –> VolumeCaches

Dual Monitors

Adam has long used dual monitors on his computer. This week I saw two customers who moved to dual monitors and a third who is considering it as well. I’ve been thinking about upgrading to two monitors also.

What’s the big deal about two monitors? Two monitors give you the ability to spread your work out. Think of it in the same way as buying a bigger desk to work on….you get more space to spread out your work, stapler, adding machine and other tools. With your computer and two monitors, you get the opportunity to spread out your digital tools and work.

You have to see it in action to really appreciate the benefit With falling computer prices and cheaper flat screen monitors, this type of computing is becoming more common and realistic economically.

Alternative Operating Systems

Not really alternative, but I wanted to get your attention. Today, three of my customers were not using Windows XP. Two were Windows 98 and one was an older Macintosh. It’s always fun for me to keep my hands on some of these older machines to keep my mind agile.

I am always amazed at how functional and quick Windows 98 can be. One of the customers called because their 98 machine was running extremely slow. Within 90 seconds of sitting down at their machine, I knew what was wrong. She had upgraded to the newest and biggest version of McAfee Security possible. We don’t recommend the large security suites from McAfee or Norton for any computer, but for older machines they can mean pure death. It took her computer a full five and one half minutes to boot up with the McAfee installed. When we took out the McAfee and added AVG instead, the computer booted up in less than two minutes. She was amazed and satisfied.

Macs vs. PCs – the truth comes out

I typically don’t post Shotgun articles on Sunday, but this one is good.  One common thing you hear about Mac computers is that they are "more reliable" and "faster" than PCs. This article has some great points. Most of what drives Mac popularity is what the author calls "a cult-like following."

The source is The Inquirer, not the truth-bending grocery store tabloid. The Inquirer in this case is a very popular online computer news magazine. 

Reboot, wait, and don’t panic about email problems

I started out with a full morning of appointments two of them were email problems. They had called me early in the week reporting that they could not get into their email.

By 9am this morning both appointments had cancelled because the problem had cured itself. If you search through this site you will find no less than five tips and articles about how internet problems of all types are generally not your fault if you haven’t made any changes.

As it turns out both Internet services that my two clients were using had email problems this week. Simply by waiting the problem out the ISPs got the problems fixed and email was back up on its own.

Not everyone needs or wants a computer

My first appointment of the day was at the house of a couple whom were given a hand-me-down computer about six years ago. I taught them how to send and read email and a few computer basics back then and haven’t heard from them since. They needed me to look at the old Windows 95 computer today because nothing would come up on the screen. Indeed, Windows had crashed and they elected not to fix it.

After talking a few minutes, they confessed that they really didn’t want to get a new one or fix this one because they weren’t particularly interested in the machine. In fact, they pointed out that they had disconnected from the Internet just a year or so after I had seen them because they hated getting the forwarded email from friends and decided to cancel their service rather than tell their friends to stop sending the junk. Since then, they only played solitaire. And now they think they will just continue on without a computer.

The Trouble with Macintosh Computers

I received a call from a nice woman today who had a Macintosh computer that was on the blink. She made comments about how tough it was to find someone to work on her computer and thought I wouldn’t work on them either. I told her that I could look at it, but if it needed hardware work, we would have to find someone who could work on it for her since I didn’t do that. Sounded as if her disk needed initialized (Mac speak for formatting the hard drive and starting over).

Apple makes great computers and they have the best designs of any computer on the market. Overall, they are stable machines and there is not argument that they are safer to use on the Internet than Windows computers. My only reservation about Macintosh computers lies in their number of users…less than 3% of all computer users use Macintosh.

For our Western Colorado Listeners….

COMPUTER LITERATE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR A SHORT TERM PROJECT

The Benevolent Community Partnership Seniors Committee (in Grand Junction, CO) is looking for volunteers to help Medicare D eligible seniors enroll in the Medicare D Program.

Training will be provided in a two day session March 13 & March 14 from 9:00am-3:00pm at the Department of Human Services; 510 –
29 Road ½ Road, Room 1060 on the first floor.

To enroll in this free two day class, call 248-2717. If you get the answering machine, please leave your name and phone number.

Be careful using multiple accounts

Windows XP has a unique ability to act like multiple computers on a single machine. This feature was created so that the computer could be used in a business environment allowing each user to have his or her own programs, desktop, passwords and My Documents.

Although setting up multiple user accounts allows for a lot of customization, it has some pretty screwy side effects.

If you have more than one user account set up in Windows XP, many programs allow you to install programs into only one account. This is a nice feature if you only want to install a program into one account, but it can be a real pain when it comes to spyware and viruses.