October 2007

At Last

I finally got Vista (Business) and I must say I am pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to add. I should be more specific. I created a dual boot system so that I could install Vista as a complete install. This way there was no loss of previous settings. Vista has a few nice bells an whistles but I must admit that there is not pressing need to upgrade and suffer the expense of changing components in your computer in order toget your system to qualify for Vista. Further more some of my favorite graphics and 3D art programs wont work with Vista. It seems that XP will be here for quite some time.

July 2007

Time for something drastic

Most computer technicians and enthusiasts know that after time Windows loses stability. If you have had your computer for more than two years then your systems has seen numerous half uninstalls, near viruses and unexplained glitches. When your computer is not as responsive as it used to be or shows weird error messages that you can’t seem to get rid of its time to do something drastic. Over the years I have found that the only fix bad behaving computers is to reinstall Windows. Restoring and patching just won’t do. If you have never done a reinstall before, check out the free tutorial “Reinstalling Windows” in our free tutorial section.

Since I did my reinstall I have fallen in love with my computer again and will even hold off getting new parts for this system.

May 2007

What is the proper way to shut down our computer? Why is proper shut down so important? First, the proper way to shut down your computer is to use the Start Button - Turn off -Turn off menu. When you turn your computer off this way Windows shuts down all programs, disconnects all network connections and parks your hard drive. Parking your hard drive is very important to help preserve your hard drives life. Windows looks for an empty spot on your hard drive and then stops the spinning so that when the power is off the reading arm will land on this empty spot and not damage any data.

February 2007

Should you upgrade to Vista?

The big event of 2007 in the computing world will undoubtedly be the arrival of Windows Vista. As a tech geek I most definitely will but the average computer user should pause. The power of Vista is such that very few standard computers will be able to handle the upgrade system requirements. So in order to have Vista you are looking at a major financial investment to get a new system, and for what? All my research tells me Vista will have increased security, which is good, some interesting bells and whistles with media center and the new 3D rotating windows, menu look of Aero. Most of the new features won't even be used by the average computer user.

If you want to know if your system can handle Vista, go to the ready for Vista page and run the upgrade advisor program. You will have to install a .net compact framework version 2.0 program and the updated sd1 version first. Don't worry there are links to both when you download and run the Vista advisor program.

The upgrade advisor will give you a results page with 4 tabs that recommend a Vista version for you and tell you neat things like which programs and hardware will have compatibility problems with Vista.