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Saving valuable time with your computer

Computers are supposed to save us loads of time. In many cases, they do…or at least can save us time. However, I see too many people spinning their wheels for hours or days and in some cases months trying to figure out an answer to a problem with their computer.

Or some computer users spending the same amount of time trying to figure out how to accomplish a task they want to complete with no real direction of how to get there.

When it comes to just about anything, I learned many, many years ago that I like to know that I’m heading in the right direction. I may be one of the rare males who WILL pull over and ask for directions if I have the slightest inclination that I’m not going the right way.

New computer recommendations

At least once a year, I write a short article about my current computer recommendations. The holiday season is upon us, and I haven’t written an article like this in awhile, so here goes.

In the past six months, I ask more questions than I give when approached with this question.

Scenario 1

If I find that the person has a 2-4 year old computer with Windows XP, and just thinks the computer is slow, I go with this advice:

Demand compensation from Microsoft

If I was independently wealthy, I would give discounts to customers with Windows Vista. Alas, I am not independently wealthy and my business supports my family, so I charge for time I spend in a client’s office or home. One customer , today, could have saved 30-40% off their bill had they bought one of the few remaining laptops with Windows XP.

Computer longevity

One huge misconception in the computer community is that computers are obsolete as soon as you buy them…or computers need to be replaced every 3-5 years.

Both of these statements are patently false. I stand by my claim and philosophy that a computer is only outdated when it can no longer perform the functions you need it to OR it mechanically fails. Today I saw a customer that demonstrated this theory well. He had two old computers (486 25mhz) computers with 2 GB Hard drives (they were upgraded in 1997). The original machine is circa about 1991 or 1992. The computers still server their purpose for him, but he needed a new application that won’t run on those machines. And this gentleman runs a multi-million dollar business with these 15 year old computers!

All Q&A Session – July 2007

I don’t do it too often, but this month I decided to hold an all Q&A (2 hours) user group meeting. It truly is amazing how many questions 30 or 40 ravenous computer users can generate. Sometimes one question leads to another, and an entire “topic” can take up a half hour. You have to be at one of the meetings to truly experience the type of knowledge and information that gets shared and explored. Some of today’s topics included:

Learning a new computer

I have spent more than 10 years helping computer users get the most out of their computers. Without hesitation, I can say that the biggest obstacle any computer user encounters is change (which is precisely why I can’t figure out what Microsoft was thinking with Vista and Office
2007).

New computer does not equal faster Internet

I believe that I’ve written about this before, but since I ran into this phenomenom at least three times over the past week, it bares mentioning again. Many dial-up Internet users using Windows 98 or Me buy a new computer and after taking it home setting it up and jumping online with their dial-up systems find that the Internet and email are just as slow as their hold systems. I then get the question, "Why?"

Turns out that real tech guys follow the same advice

I worked with a business client today who runs their cash register computers from a "server" computer in the back of the store. Their server is really a normal computer that just shares the data about the stores customer's and products. The actual program exists on each of the register's computers. In larger businesses like banks, Home Depot's, etc, true servers deliver the program and data to the cash registers and need to be very powerful. In the situation I described with my client's system, the "server" computer doesn't do a lot of work so it doesn't have to be too powerful.

Used computers & friends

I believe Adam or I have written on this topic before, but I worked with a situation yesterday that was disturbing enough that I needed to bring this topic up again. We continually talk about friends or family members who like working with computers and then like to help out your computer. IF the help revolves around something mundane like plugging the power into your power strip or maybe changing an ink cartridge, then by all means let them help you.

Should you just get a new computer?

I have seen a lot of power supply failures lately. This seems to happen every summer but I don't keep detailed enough statistics to prove it. I am not sure why it happens either. It could be that people turn off their computers for summer vacation and it is the first time the computer has really been turned off in a long time. This might give things a chance to cool down and become brittle. Maybe it is just a coincidence.

In addition to the power supply failures, I have seen a variety of other problems lately that are typically rare such as hard drive failures, power button failures, and dead printers.