Saturday, December 29, 2007

More thoughts on computer management

I often go to people's homes to help them either learn a program or to repair a problem with their computer. I can't tell you how often I ask them where some software that they need for their printer or operating system is and they have no idea. I'm reminded of this because of my recent switch over to a new computer.

If you aren't organised now, make it a priority. Get yourself a shoe box, if you have quite a bit of software, or a box large enough to hold the cd cases that you get your software in. Place every program on cd or dvd that you own in this box. If their are serial numbers involved, make sure that it is written on a piece of paper and kept with that software. Every time you purchase a program online (which is common now a days) keep the .exe file and back it up to a cd and make note of what the website was where you downloaded it from and again a copy of the serial number. You will be so happy you did these things when your computer crashes or you want to upgrade. Put all the pamphlets that you get together in a folder or another small box.

Then when you also back up your computer from time to time to a cd or dvd (what? you haven't done that for ages?) put each copy of that in the box as well. Most people now a days haven't got hard copies of any of the hundreds of digital photographs that they take. They reside on their hard drives. Would you like to lose any of it?

Doing this will save you a lot of time and heartache should anything happen to your computer.

Upgrading a new Computer

My husband and I went to Future shop a couple of months ago to pick up a repaired DVD recorder. While we were there he decided to "look" at the computers and what was on offer. Always an expensive exercise. We ended up leaving the shop with a brand spanking new computer for me with Vista installed. My husband was right, my five year old computer has been showing signs of imminent death. First my dvd burner died, then one by one my usb ports wouldn't work (or work reliably). And as my business is using my computer, he did have a point that a new computer was in the cards.

However, I was adamant that I didn't want Vista. For a number of reasons. I object to the Big Brother approach of Microsoft. I hate the mentality in any business of bringing out a new model of something in order to have people feel the need to stay up to date. (don't get me started on the cell phone and adapter issue) But from a practical point of view I knew that certain programs and peripherals I own were not going to work. First, my pda made by Casio is no longer supported by Windows, nor was Casio doing any further updates to it. It is fairly big and clunky compared to the lovely slim-lined pda's that are out there today, but I use it, it works and if it ain't broke, why replace it? (okay, I get an error with Outlook every time I close down that program, but I can still put in my contacts and diary dates so that's no big deal) I've had it since 1999 I think, and in computer years that is pretty ancient, but I wasn't prepared to go out and spend a few more hundred dollars replacing it. Second, I am doing more and more websites with cascading style sheets. These are supported in different browsers to varying degrees and there was no way I could have Internet Explorer 6 on a new computer. And I need it as I'm pretty sure more than 60% of people are still using that version. Heck, most of the clients I see have only in the last year switched over to XP from Windows 98! So I was really concerned that I wasn't going to be able to see any issues as I worked on new websites.

So for the past two/three months my husband has been loading on programs on this new computer and I've been putting off switching over. Gerry has loved Vista's look and playing some of the neat games that come bundled with it. And I did like the look of the cute clock on the right hand side of the screen, but honestly, it just wasn't enough for me to get over my issues with it.

Finally we decided that the deed would be done over the holidays when no one would be asking me for updates or other work. And I asked him nicely if he would be terribly upset if we took off Vista and loaded on my paid for XP operating system. With good grace, he backed up Vista so I have it paid for when and if I'm ready for it, and I now have a computer that is running twice as fast as my old one, has twice the memory and still is able to use my pda and all the versions of software that I use.

But I'm not alone in my decision to keep with the old and put off new technology. According to a pair of surveys in ComputerWorld magazine, about 43% of all U.S. businesses in Dec 2006 were planning to upgrade to Vista. Eleven months later (after Vista's debut) that number had dropped to 10%. Apparently, people complained that Vista took longer to do some tasks than it had with XP and the security features were more trouble than they were worth.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog


There have been a few articles in the news lately about how careful we should all be about who we deal with or talk to online. These come up from time to time. Older men who lure young girls into a meeting while portraying themselves as someone the same age. But the recent one about the suicide death of a young girl due to a friendship she formed on Facebook, is particularly nasty. A young girl formed a friendship on Facebook with a boy called Josh Evans. He communicated with her for some time (sorry, I can't remember if it was a couple of weeks or months) but then suddenly turned nasty and told her that the world would be a better place without her. She was devastated and hung herself. Now this is tragic but all the more because Josh Evans was really a 47 old mother who was trying to hurt this girl because she had moved on and left her daughter out of her old life. Unfortunately, no charges can be laid against this woman.

Another article I read was very bizarre. A 48 year old man was posing as an 18 year old marine in a chat group. He struck up a friendship with an 18 year old student. But she wasn't 18 either, but a 50 year old woman! The woman was also friends with a 22 year old (who was really 22). Eighteen months into the relationship, the 48 year old's wife read the emails from the 18 year old girl (really 50 year old) and emailed her and told her he was a married man with two teenaged girls. The 50 year old dropped him because of this and turned all her attentions to the 22 year old. So the dumped man hunted down the 22 year old (the only one telling the truth here) and killed him.

Which all goes to show you that unless you know who you are dealing with, then be very careful. The delightful cartoon left by Peter Steiner says it all.