As we head into the final 2 weeks of 2009 and getting ready for what is shaping up to be a much better 2010, we are all bound to see family members and friends. These people have computers and probably use you as their own personal help desk. You know what that means?
Holiday Computer Updates
Since you are going to be there anyway, now would be a great time to check the computers of your users for updates, security issues and other crazy things that they usually bug you about during the year. Here is a quick list of those things that you can do quickly to save them, and you, headaches for the new year.
Windows
- Put them on OpenDNS. You could use GoogleDNS, but I still prefer OpenDNS for the safety factor and I think, at least for me, it’s faster. Those addresses are:
- 208.67.222.222
- 208.67.220.220
- Run Windows update. If they are on XP, make sure you get Service Pack 3 and Internet Explorer v8
- Run a full adware/virus scan with Malwarebytes. It’s free, takes about 20 minutes and will remove just about anything that is bad on their systems
- Check the status of their AntiVirus. Make sure it’s still working and up-to-date. If it’s not a current version, uninstall it and install AVG Free.
- Go into Add/Remove programs. Uninstall Realplayer, MusicMatch and anything else that is no longer relevant and probably not used
- If you are feeling brave, clean up their startup. Check All Users –> Start Menu –>Start Up and delete anything there that isn’t needed.
- Continue with the startup clean up. Open the registry (Start->Run->regedit) and navigate to HKEY Local Machine ->Software ->Microsoft ->Windows ->Current Version ->Run. Delete anything there that doesn’t need to be running when the computer starts.
- You could install FireFox, Chrome or Safari. Make sure to set it as the default browser. There was a zero day problem with IE8 last week, so it’s still not safe.
- **Updated**. If you are sending a PC to the UK, make sure to hit the voltage switch on the power supply to avoid any explosions or fuse blowing.
Mac
- Restart the computer
No matter what, make this the year you really bug your users about backing up. Anymore, external hard drives are so cheap, there is no excuse. Get one and install Crash Plan (Free, Win/Mac/Linux) and set it up.
Start to finish, this should take you about an hour. It’s also going to make your users computer experience better, faster and safer. Not only that, but it will save you from those phone calls later in the year. They will be forever grateful.
Just because I don’t think I’ve done a proper Mac post in a while. This should help out the switchers among us.
5 Apps that should be on every Mac
So you bought a Mac. Nicely done. I’m sure that you have already discovered why your friends and the internet won’t shut up about this damned computer. For me, it’s iPhoto, iMovie ‘08 and Preview, plus the fact that it. Just. Works.
Besides that, there are a few other apps that I think should be preinstalled on every Mac. Let’s call this my list of must have Mac applications.
First up in our hit parade has to be Skitch. Sure the Mac does screen shots out of the box very well, but Skitch takes screen shots to a new level. Easy to use, quick to start, plus you can do all kinds of neat things like add text or graphics to your snaps. Then, when you are done, you can easily share those snaps with the entire world via Flickr or Skitch.com. This is an app that should cost $50 for the Pro version. Luckily, it’s still free!
In the number 2 spot is Quicksilver. It’s an app launcher and much much more. Also free. If you are one that likes to use the keyboard more than the mouse, I highly recommend it. Once installed, set it to launch with a cmd-spacebar key* combo. Feel free to search around for other cool stuff this app can do. It’s limitless. (Read on…)
Since I’m going to spending some time over here using the Eee PC, I figure I might as well make the most of it. that end I’m going to be talking about a few things for the next little bit. Things I’m trying, using and maybe think are a little weird, much like the like placement of the right shift key on this keyboard. But more like:
- Firefox vs. Webkit (safari/chrome) vs. IE
- Windows Live Writer
- Open Office
- Video processing
- Using different kinds of media
Watch this space for more. and don’t mind the odd uncapitalized word here are there. especially if the letters come from the left side of the keyboard.
After a brief email exchange with Mr. IE6 earlier this morning, I decided to cruise through the server logs here, here and here to see what browsers all y’all have been using to access everything. And, if I’m honest, I was shocked.
There are still more of you that are using out of date browsers than not. And, not just IE. Over at WRR, the bulk of IE users (20% of the 37.8%) are still using IE6. 3.5% of IE users are still using something older than that, but I have a feeling those might be bots that haven’t updated their user-agent string.
For Firefox, it’s 9.1% of the 11.8% that are using version 3 or better. That’s a little bit better. Opera (less than 1%) does not report it’s version, neither does Safari (5.8%), but Netscape (less than 1%) does. Honestly, Netscape 5?
I don’t mean to beat a dead horse here, but there is a reason internet browsers get upgraded, and there is a reason why you should take the few minutes to upgrade yours. There are patches that keep bad guys off of your system. There are stability improvements. Rendering improvements. UI improvements. All of these things are done to make your internet experience better and safer.
If you are stuck in an office with Internet Explorer v6 or older, you are stuck. You can ask your admins for Firefox since an IE upgrade will probably break an application used by your company. If you are a home user running Windows that is not XP or Vista, then you are also stuck with IE6.
Follow the jump for some suggestions. (Read on…)
Something that I have been wanting to do for quite awhile is move my email back to the desktop.
I’ve been using gmail exclusively since ‘05 to collect all of my email, and it’s been doing a bang up job! I love me the gMail. But, there are times when I’d rather open an app, or compose an email offline (like when travelling) or I would just like to have that information under my control 100%.
At first I thought I would try iMap with gMail. In theory, a great idea. All of the email lives on gmail, and your labels and mail is replicated in your email client. In practice however it doesn’t work that hot, at least not with Gmail. Maybe I have too many rules or labels. Maybe I get too much email. Whatever the reason, it works poorly at best. I was missing emails, or they wouldn’t show up at all in my client. Oh, and the client would almost always crash.
Back to the drawing board I went. Started using Fluid for Gmail and it kinda made it feel like I was using a desktop app. It’s a great app and I highly recommend it especially for Gmail. Watch for a write up that soon.
Let’s hide some of this, since I’ve got a fair amount more to say. (Read on…)
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