GuruNews, Volume 9 Number 37, 10-8-09

Thu Oct 8 18:24:08 PDT 2009

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Vol. 9, No. 37                           

10-8-09

1 PC tips 

2 That’s gonna cost you

3 Browser awareness, again, crankable AA batteries, hackers in jail, securing laptops

4 Inactive window tool

5 IE add-ons

As you might expect, we get many requests for our opinions on new tech gadgets.  Computers, cameras, speakers, TVs etc., you name it and we’ve likely been asked about it.  That habit of readers brings us this week’s topic:  What to look for in a computer.

First up, lets actually define computers.  Technically some PDAs and smart phones probably meet the definition of “computer” but I’m going to stick to more normal items.

A PC is the workhorse, the one you use for serious number crunching, video rendering, video capture, audio editing etc.  This one needs lots of processor power, lots of RAM, lots of hard drive space and at least a DVD burner for backups.

For the PC you’ll want a large screen, and with the price of LCDs even a 22” is well within reason.  A larger screen is easier on the eyes, especially the LCDs.  A comfortable keyboard and mouse is also important.  Standard, ergonomic, wired or wireless, just use what is the most comfortable.

Laptops (or Notebooks) can be workhorses as well, but they were never meant to be a primary computer.  You can do many of the same things as you can with a PC, which comes in handy if you travel a lot, but there are limits due to the availability of hardware and the ever-present threat of overheating.

The largest screen I’ve seen on a laptop is 17”, but that’s a monster to haul around.  15.4” is the standard and this is a good size.  You can also get full size keyboards and mice for laptops, which will work just fine.  For that matter you can plug in the aforementioned 22” monitor, but that defeats the purpose of having a portable computer.

Netbooks are the lightweights.  They’re small and light and not meant for any heavy lifting.  Basically, they’re an inexpensive Internet access device that also plays some simple games and handles some basic office tasks.

The screens are small, they usually only have enough processing power to run XP Home or Linux and they lack an internal optical drive.

I bring all this up because some readers are bringing some really poorly configured computers to our attention.

One emailer last week asked my opinion on a bundled package of PC with an Atom processor, XP Home, 1GB of RAM, DVD-RW, card reader and 160GB hard drive.  The bundle also includes a 17” widescreen LCD and retails for well under $400.

The price is very enticing for just a PC.  Toss in the monitor and it seems too good to be true.  It is.  Other than the DVD-RW the PC specs are exactly the same as those of my Acer One Netbook.

Great for surfing the web, checking email and maybe typing up a quick document, otherwise pretty useless.  Adding a DVD-RW will just add to your woes as this machine lacks the power and memory for any serious video editing or authoring.  

These Netbook-as-PC “deals” are cropping up all over the place so watch out for them.  A real PC needs a dual core processor, 2GB or more of RAM and XP-Pro or better (and currently that’s probably the top of the line OS since nearly everyone hates Vista).  Windows 7 will be released later this month but I would hold off until things shake out with that Vista based OS.

In closing, if you plan on doing nothing but play FreeCell and email with friends and family one of these cheap boxes are probably a good deal.  If you want to do more you’d need to upgrade so much you’d pay as much or more than buying a real PC in the first place.

Kevin Mefford, Editor

pcguru at microdome.net

Terry Wise

www.ratland.com

Tech News of the Week

Without looking at your desktop, or without looking up at the title
bar at the top of the screen, tell me (telepathically, of course) what
browser you are using.  Google's launching an awareness campaign,
wanting you to know what browser you use and what options there are
out there for other browsers.  They're promoting their own browser,
Chrome, but not leaving out Firefox, Opera, Safari or even Internet
Explorer:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/what-is-browser.html 

Announcement of the What Browser campaign

http://www.whatbrowser.org 

You've seen crank to charge electronic devices, but crank to charge AA
batteries are coming on the horizon:

http://www.yankodesign.com/2009/10/05/crank-up-battery/

Jail officials in the UK decided it would be a good idea to let a
convicted computer hacker set up and maintain the jail's computer
network:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/09/27/conputer-meltdown-115875-21703149/

A great write-up on how best to secure your laptop in public places:

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/trapani/2009/10/how-to-lock-down-your-laptop.html

Daniel A. Williams

daniel at thepcgurus.com 

Download of the Week

A great piece of software doesn't have to be complicated or have multiple purposes.  WizMouse has a single function--if you hover your mouse over an inactive window, and use the mouse scroll wheel, it will scroll that window while keeping it inactive. This can be a boon for anyone copying text manually from an inactive window to an active one, or who needs to see data in one window while reading or working in another. It even scrolls applications that don't offer scroll wheel support.  It’s free here: 

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/WizMouse.shtml 

Carlita Lupino

Cards57 at gmail.com 

Email Question of the Week

Q:  I'm running Windows XP and trying to launch Internet Explorer, latest version.  I click on the icon and the browser page tries to load.  It says it's connecting but nothing else happens.  Eventually it says it is not responding.

If I tell it to end program, the CPU usage goes to 100% and after a couple minutes it ends.  If I then click on the IE icon again the program goes ahead and loads properly.

I can also get it to load properly by just ignoring the "not responding" page, leaving it up there, and clicking on the IE icon again.  It will load properly, on top of the "not responding" page.

I use a cable modem and a dial up modem.  The problem happens with both.

Have you heard of this before?

A:  That usually happens from either a bad plug-in to the browser or some known issues between IE 8 and security programs that use the Restricted Sites Zone (like Spybot or Spyware Blaster).

You can try going to Start/Programs (or All Programs)/Accessories/System Tools/ and using Internet Explorer (no add-ons) for a couple of days.  

If that stops it then you can open IE normally and click Tools and Manage Add-Ons and disable anything you don't use.  You'll have to experiment to figure out what causes the problem but it's just basic trial and error.

If it continues go to Control Panel/Add-Remove Programs and uninstall Windows Internet Explorer 8.  You'll get a warning about all the programs that may not work, just ignore that and uninstall it.  That will roll it back to the last version and should fix it.

Hope that helps and keep us posted...

Kevin Mefford

pcguru at microdome.net

Contact info and legal stuff

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