2006 October

Creating Quick Shutdown Shortcuts in Windows

October 17, 2006 By Terry Stockdale

If you are running Windows XP, which I imagine most of you are, it is very easy to make shortcuts on your desktop. “Quick Shutdown” and “Quick Reboot” icons are very convenient tools for your Windows system.

In this case, “Quick” means “do it now; do not ask if I want to shut down, reboot or go to logoff.”

Let’s create a the Quick Shutdown icon, first.

For Windows XP, the first thing you need to do is get to a blank space on your Windows XP Desktop. Then right-click to get the popup context menu.

Read the rest of Creating Quick Shutdown Shortcuts in Windows

Filed Under: Operating System, Speed Tweaks

Slow Windows XP Boot Times

October 15, 2006 By Terry Stockdale

I received an email from Terry’s Computer Tips reader Cecil, who said:

Hi Terry, I am enjoying your newsletter … very informative and timely … here’s my question:

By using MSCONFIG on Windows XP Pro under the startup tab, what are the minimum items that need to be “checked” for fastest bootup? BootVis is not much help and the startup items in MSCONFIG are difficult to identify. The window that MSCONFIG opens is small and cannot be stretched to assist identification of the items. I have reviewed BlackViper.com’s descriptions but that list is long and many items do not apply for a fast bootup. So, I am guessing that someone out there has done the optimization for the fastest bootup by eliminating many of the items under the MSCONFIG startup tab???? I hope.

Rather than using MSCONFIG and having little help to decide what is necessary other than extensive Google searching, I’ve chosen a different program with an information database…

Read more in my article Slow Windows XP Boot Times

Filed Under: Operating System, Speed Tweaks

The Cable Is Out!

October 13, 2006 By Terry Stockdale

Well, not really, but what worse problem could you have when you want to use access the Internet.

Of course, if you have DSL, you could have a similar problem — or your dialup ISP might have problems.

The best solution is to arrange a free dialup backup before you actually need it.

If you waited until you need it, then you have the proverbial “chicken and egg” problem! You need a dialup connection. You can’t get it without either going somewhere to find a “free” cdrom for a paid service.

If you plan ahead — apply some basic risk management — you can sign up for a free 10 hours per month dialup account at NetZero.

The price is right. You sign up, download a small setup application, test to make sure you can connect via dialup (although you can actually validate your account while you’re connected by cable or DSL) — and you’re all ready.

Get Free NetZero Internet Access for 10 hours per month

or

If you need a dialup solution for local use or when travelling routinely, Get NetZero Platinum today! Platinum gives you fast reliable internet access for as low as $6.95/month!

Filed Under: Backups, Communications

Is Your Computer Overheating?

October 12, 2006 By Terry Stockdale

One of the questions I answered recently was about computer overheating. In this case, the individual wanted to know the “right” temperature for his processor — but he didn’t mention which processor he was using or its speed.

His underlying problem was that his computer would spontaneously turn off occasionally. This is usually an indication that the motherboard has shut down automatically to prevent overheating and damage to the CPU.

Many computers allow you to monitor the temperature of the processor, the power supply and perhaps other points, too.

Read the rest of my article Is Your Computer Overheating?

Filed Under: Dust, Dirt, Junk

Hidden File Extensions in Windows

October 12, 2006 By Terry Stockdale

One of Microsoft’s attempts at “user friendliness” is that recent versions of Windows are set to hide file extensions. What’s a file extension? As an example, it is the “.exe” that is at the end of a program’s name.

Unfortunately, Microsoft decided that we don’t really need to know what file extensions are. Even worse, they decided that Microsoft programs including Windows might not always consider the file extension, when deciding which program to use with a file.

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Huh? That was a lot of words. Let’s take it in shorter sentences.

A file extension is the ending of a file name.

For example, Microsoft Word’s file name is WINWORD.EXE. Word, by default, declares to Windows that it owns files with the extension “.doc”.

So, if you double-click on a file ending with .doc, Word will try to open it. Similarly, the Notepad program “notepad.exe” declares ownership of the .txt file extension.

[By the way, Windows is not case sensitive, so it views Notepad.exe and notepad.EXE and NoTePaD.EXe as the same thing.]

Finally, by default, you do not see file extensions — Windows hides them.

OK, so what’s the problem?

Find out in my article Hidden File Extensions in Windows

Filed Under: Anti-adware, Anti-spam, Anti-spyware, Anti-virus, Operating System

Anti-Virus Programs and Online Scanners

October 12, 2006 By Terry Stockdale

Viruses, worms and trojan horses still attack computers — they come in emails, they arrive completely unexpectedly in unpatched Windows hole, and they arrive via “drive-by downloads.” Anti-virus programs continue to battle viruses. They now attack worms, trojan horses and phishing attacks, too.

It is actually amazing in today’s world, but there are still people who don’t run an anti-virus program on their computer. I often run into people whose common complaint is that “the computer is running slowly.”

Most of the time, the computer has picked up some spyware or trojans that are causing the problems. However, sometimes, the problem is that the computer has multiple virus infections in addition to spyware, trojans and automatic downloaders.

Occasionally, the computer is up-to-date on its Windows Updates, Office Updates and Anti-Virus software. The virus might have gotten in before the anti-virus vendor got the signature in the updates. Other times, though, the computer isn’t running an anti-virus program.

I’ve also seen computers with old (e.g., 1998) versions of Norton Antivirus running all the time, but without current virus signatures — in other words, providing no real protection. Other times, the computer owner has the antivirus program, but it is not running.

Filed Under: Anti-virus

Backing Up My Data

October 11, 2006 By Terry Stockdale

Back in the days when I made backups of individual files on floppy diskettes, I had learned what I called Murphy’s Law of Backups. This was: “You will always need one more backup copy than you have.” This taught me the importance of backing up my computer.

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Sometimes that rule applied to backing up a drive onto a bunch of diskettes and running out of diskettes. Other times, it applied to actually using the backup diskette itself, instead of copying the data to the hard drive and then using the file. This was the guaranteed way to make the same dumb mistake with the backup copy ;).

In today’s world, there is one tool on which I rely for backing up individual files, and that’s Karen Kenworthy’s Replicator program. At my house, it backs up the data files that are on my notebook, my desktop, and my wife’s desktop to different machines. Most of these end up on my Linux computer that functions as a file backup site and a web development platform.

It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got your data scattered in folders all over your hard drive, or all stored in My Documents. Either way, if you haven’t backed up your data, you’re rolling the dice.

As a friend says, “there are two types of hard drives — those that have failed and those that haven’t failed yet.”