Bloatware free laptops

Over at PCMAG.com I found this article about some laptops that are bloatware free. Check out the article at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329282,00.asp

Vista Performance Roundtable

There was a recent webcast about Vista performance hosted by Mark Russinovich, author of the many SysInternals utilities. Check it out at https://ms.istreamplanet.com/springboard/portal.asp.

MCCC September 2008 Meeting Notes

Download and listen to old episodes of The Youngstown Computer show

1. Open up the web page at http://www.youngstowcomputer.com/
   
2. Click on the words "MP3 download"
   
3. On the page that opens up scroll to the bottom and you will find a list of 2008 broadcasts.
   
4. Right-click on the links that say "download" or "hour 1" or "hour2". On the pop-up menu choose "Save target as…"
   
5. In the "Save As" window, click on "My Documents" in the column on the left, then find "My music" in the list of folders and double-click on it.
   
6. Click the Save button. The radio show will download into the "My Music" folder.
   
7. When you want to listen to the program you downloaded, double-click on "My Documents" on your desktop, to open it (or click on it from the Start menu).
   
8. Find "My Music" in the bunch of folders you'll see and double-click it to open
   
9. Find the show (or shows) you downloaded. Their names will start with "YCS". Double-click on a the show to listen to it.
   

Tips to get your photos organized on your computer

1. Windows provides a pre-made folder to hold your pictures called "My Pictures." It is found in "My Documents".
   
2. Create folders in "My Pictures" to group pictures together by date or subject.
   
3. Practice making folders. Open "My Documents" by double-clicking on it, then open "My Pictures" by double-clicking on it. Make a new folder by choosing "File", then "New", then "Folder" . Type a name for the new folder, and hit Enter, otherwise it will be named "New Folder".
   
4. Windows knows the date you took your pictures, because you camera put the date in the picture file. So be sure to set the correct date and time on your camera!
   
5. If you download Windows Live Photo Gallery (it's free!) you can also organize your photos by "tags", which are just words you can attach to your photos to describe them. You can put a tag on your pictures called "dog", and then you can quickly find all pictures tagged "dog", no matter what folder the picture happens to be in. In Windows Live Photo Gallery, right-click on a photo, then choose "Add Tags" on the pop-up menu. You'll see info area appear on the right side of the window with a text box where you can type in a tag for that photo.
   
6. You can add tags to multiple pictures at once by holding down the Ctrl key as you click on multiple pictures, then click on the words "Add Tags" in the info pane on the right side, and type in one tag for all the ones you have selected.
   

How to download Windows Live Photo Gallery

1. Go to the web page http://get.live.com/.
   
2. Click the orange button that says "Get Windows Live"
   
3. Clear out all the check boxes on the next page except for Photo Gallery.
   
4. Click the orange button that says "Install"
   
5. On the pop-up window, click Run. A short program will download.
   
6. On the next pop-up window, again click Run. Photo Gallery and any prerequisites will download.
   
7. When finished you can click the words "Start Photo Gallery" to run the program, or just click on "Close" to close the installer.
   

To start Photo Gallery in the future, you will find "Windows Live Photo Gallery" under "All Programs" on the Start menu.

Youngstown Computer Show Sept 20, 2008 Show Notes

Youngstown Computer Show
September 20 2008
Show Notes

PART 1

Talking about losing electricity during the wind storm on Sunday.
Regular surge suppressors are not designed to help with power outages and fluctuating power. They only protect against short spikes in the power. A UPS (uninterruptible power supply) is better in these situations to keep your equipment running long enough to shut them down safely. He does not recommend plugging computer equipment into a generator (though he is not an electrician).
For more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surge_protector

Caller 1:
Q: The caller's computer "crashed" in that he found the screen completely black, he attempted to reboot and he finally got it to go through some sort of recovery mode, and it took forever, but he lost his Office 2003 programs, he doesn't have the cd key or the installation disks. Is there any way to regain that somehow?
A: They do make programs to dig that out of the registry, but it look like a system recovery was initiated, and normally if you don't have that key, there is really no way to dig it from anywhere.


PART 2

Caller 2:
Q: The caller can't seem to get any range from their wireless router, it only lasts for maybe two rooms, signal is lost going upstairs.
A: There are range expander kits that you plug in to repeat the signal over a greater area.
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wireless/ss/wirelessgear_7.htm

Caller 3:
Q: A friend has a HP 3100 printer that has mysteriously stopped printing. This is the second time this has happened.
A: Check to make sure that the print spooler process is running, make sure the printer is not in some power saver mode, swap out the cable, check that the driver is up-to-date, there is not much else to do.
To check the print spooler in Vista:

1. open the Start Menu
2. right-click on Computer (in the second column)
3. Choose "Manage"
4. in the list on the left, expand "Services and Applications"
5. Choose "Services"
6. Scroll down the list on the right (it is in alphabetical order) and look for Print Spooler, make sure it is Running and is Automatic.

(JoeM: Or the new fast way:
Open the Start Menu
Type "services" then hit Enter.
See step 6 above.)

Performance Tip:
Three things to make Vista more like XP:
Turn on classic view in the control panel.
1. Goto Start -> Control Panel, then click on "Classic View" on the left-hand side

Make the Start Menu like XP
1. in the classic control panel view, find "Taskbar and Start Menu"
2. Go to the "Start Menu" tab
3. Choose "Classic Start Menu" selection.
(JoeM: This actually makes the start menu not like XP, but Windows 2000.)
Turn on the Windows Classic View
1. In the classic Control Panel, open "Personalize" (JoeM: or right-click the desktop and choose "Personalize")
2. Choose "Window Color and Appearance"
3. Click on "Open Classic Appearance Properties"
4. Select "Windows Classic" and click OK.
Turn off Windows Indexing service
1. in the Vista-style control panel, click on "System and Maintenance"
2. click on "Indexing Options"
3. click on "Modify"
4. find the users pane (at the bottom)
5. Click on "Users" in the bottom pane. (JoeM: you will need to click on the "Show All Locations" button to see this)
6. Un-check "Users" on the top pane.
7. Do the same thing for "Start Menu"
8. Click OK

Next week on Sept 27 at 4:00pm at the shop, there will be a demonstration of wireless networking. Please call ahead. If you are planning to buy any wireless equipment, call the shop and they will buy the equipment for you and have it for you on Saturday.


PART 3

Caller 4:
Q: Caller is having the same problem as previous caller about printer not working. What was that service?
A: The Print Spooler service

Caller 5:
Q: The caller is having problems with an LCD monitor, it started to flicker then went dark. After he turns it on, it stays on for 2 seconds then it goes out. Connecting to another computer shows the same problem.
A: Joe Danyi seems to think it is a problem with the pins or cable might be bad.

Security Tips:
Run as a limited user instead of an administrator. Viruses run with the same privileges as the user, so if you are an admin, then the virus can make system-wide changes. Normal users can't make system-wide changes.
In the Control Panel, go to User Accounts, choose a user to switch, change them to limited users, and add a password if it doesn't have one.
(JoeM: You might just have one account created, usually it is called "Owner". The first account you create on a new system is the administrator. So if you only have one account, create another account and make it a limited user. Use the limited user for day-to-day computing and save the admin account for when you need to make system changes.)
A previous caller had a question about parental control software, Joe Danyi recommends Net Nanny (http://www.netnanny.com/).

Caller 6:
Q: Caller has an error popping up when logging on: host process RUNDLL32 has stopped working, windows host process has been closed. He also can't access some programs in the control panel, like setting the date and time.
A: It seems like there might be the beginnings of an infection. He will probably need expert help to fix this.
Q: Caller shut down all non-microsoft services, and that helped.
A: Try starting those one-by-one to isolate which one is bad.


PART 4

Email question:
Q: User doesn't like in Vista where you get a list of accounts to choose from before you get to the desktop.
A: Use either the classic start menu -> run or find Run under accessories and type "netplwiz", uncheck the option that says "Users must enter a user name" and click OK.

Caller 7:
Q: When the power went out, was able to get on the Computer wednesday, it comes up to a blank screen, you see the mouse cursor and that's all. Starting up in safe mode, it never gets to the desktop. Now, we try it again, the desktop is back, but none of his programs or files are visible.
A: Chances are that there might be some lingering damage to the operating system. He will probably need expert repair to the system. They will probably do a fresh install of Windows. His stuff should still be in there, if there is no damage to the files system.

Caller 8:
Q: Caller talks about how HP service troubleshooted a problem with his printer, and they eventually shipped him a brand new printer.

Caller 9:
Q: Caller has a problem with their Toshiba laptop that is now telling her that there is a problem with the cooling system, that she needs to shut down the system and bring it in for repair. Is this a major problem? Is it going to be expensive?
A: There are some workarounds you might be able to do. If the fans have failed completely, then you will have to have it serviced. You might try and clearing out the air vents if they look like they are filled with dust. You can get a cooling pad from an office supply store that you can put the laptop on to keep it cool.

Test

This is just a test.

Best Bang-for-Buck PC

For you DIY'ers out there looking to spec out a new PC, here's a recent artcle from ExtremeTech.com that shows their current list of components that give you the best bang for the buck.

[Link to article]

Sept 16, 2008 Meeting Announcement

I hope you all made it through the wind ok, and I hope you have power (so you can read this post!).

The next meeting will be on September 16th, at 7:00 pm at the Canfield Prebyterian chrurch.

Some things we will talk about:

-- Check out the web site for the new Youngstown Computer radio show at http://www.youngstowncomputer.com. You can listen live on Saturdays at 1:00pm with a replay on Wednesdays at 6:00pm. You can also download old episodes.

-- We will be starting our series on getting your photos on your PC so you can do neat things with them, like making a DVD slideshow, among other things. So first things first, we want to talk about exactly how to get photos into your computer: there are several ways to do this, and where do the pictures go when they are stored on your computer, and some tips to keep your photos organized so you can find them again. For users with Windows XP and Vista, I reccommend that you go to http://get.live.com and download the free Windows Live Photo Gallery. You may have some other program to help you organize your photos, that's fine. If you don't have any software like that, Windows Live Photo Gallery is totally free, and it makes organizing your photos pretty easy.

-- For your enjoyment, we'll take a look a web site/service that is very popular with the kids these days: Twitter! It's not for everybody, but if you want to see what the hottest place is on the web these days, head over to http://www.twitter.com.

As always, we will also try and answer any other computer questions you may have. I hope to see you there!