Geek Speak Archive

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Better Watch out

– December 25, 2011Posted in: Geek Speak

jimhallWritten by Jim Hall. Email your questions to geekspeak@mchsi.com . You can find Jim online at HallsTrainingSolutions.com

What’s good for kids on the Internet? …and what’s bad? I hear these kinds of questions frequently and this week I’ll address one caution and also tell you one place that I think is great, maybe “wonderful” for kids. Let’s start with one basic fact about kids and the Internet. There is no substitute for parental oversight! Children should not have access to the Internet without supervision. I recommend PCs and other Internet devices be used in a common room, family room or the like; not in a child’s room. I also urge you to have a serious talk with youngsters before they enter cyberspace. There is a good summary of dangers on the FBI’s Safety Tips for Kid’s page; and as the FBI reminds, dangers lurk at home and at school.

Now the caution I want to remind you of is about Facebook, potentially a very dangerous site; but when properly controlled and supervised, it can be fun and informative. An adult should supervise the setting of restrictions and access to a child’s Facebook page and you should stress that they not post anything, word or image that they would not want you to see. I recommend you have full access to all your child’s passwords and that you restrict their use any time you are denied access. You are not invading their privacy; but insuring their safety from predators and from immature postings on their part.

I don’t mean to be negative about Facebook because I use it to communicate with my grandchildren and others and I think it has a place, but it is at high risk for misuse and abuse.

Now to a Web experience that I heartily endorse. When I said it might be wonderful, that was a play on words. The actual Website is “Wonderopolis.org” a place where “the wonders of learning never cease”. Each day focuses on a question that kids might ask. The question for Dec 15 was, “Why do hermit crabs live in borrowed shells?” Each lesson describes a wonder and prior studies are categorized so that a child could go back and study all the ones about “Animals” for example. Archived “Technology” questions include “Is a computer bug an insect?”, “How do you build a tunnel underwater?” and “How does 3D work?” Answers are interesting and complete and even an adult might gain some knowledge from them.

Wonderopolis is brought to us by the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) and is designed to nurture a child’s natural curiosity, creativity and imagination. It’s education for kids that’s like fun! “Wonders of the Day” are chosen to represent real life situations and puzzlements that might confront any child. Here’s a place where children can learn and smile in a safe environment. By the way. “Do potatoes see with their eyes?” Does anyone know “Can wooly worms predict the weather?”
Give Wonderopolis a try with your little ones and till next week, send your questions to:
geekspeak@mchsi.com

Tags: Geek Speak, Jim Hall
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Geek Speak

– December 18, 2011Posted in: Geek Speak

jimhallWritten by Jim Hall. Email your questions to geekspeak@mchsi.com . You can find Jim online at HallsTrainingSolutions.com

    Clean Sweep

 

                What is the best all around computer cleaner for the average Windows user?  Good question!   Windows provides a built-in junk file removal utility called Disc Cleanup, but many users want something more effective and a utility that combines other maintenance chores into one interface.  You can do most of your maintenance chores from within Windows, but may have to jump around to do so and that means you have to remember where all the utilities are.  Third party all-in-one utilities combine needed access to various tools in one interface so that you can do most of your work by just navigating inside that program.

Over the years I have recommended several third party solutions dating back to EasyCleaner by ToniArts and more recently CCleaner by Piriform.     For the purposes of this article, I re-examined CCleaner, SlimCleaner by SlimWare Utilities and Glary Utilities by Glarysoft.  I did not evaluate paid versions of any of the utilities; just the free ones which I find to be adequate for a majority of users.

I enthusiastically endorse all three of the subject  products and will continue to use all three for different purposes as there are some features unique to each.  Glary offers some spyware removal, broken shortcut fixes and empty folder deletion that I did not find in the others.  SlimCleaner removes hijacking toolbars and rates some of your applications to help you determine those that are slowing down your Internet surfing.  CCleaner makes it easy (and I have found safe) to clean your registry and makes it simple to manage System Restore files

All three of the utilities do a credible job of cleaning your browser files including temporary files, history, cookies and form history irrespective of which browser(s) you use.  All of them can clean your Windows files like recycle Bin, recent Docs, temp files, log files and the like.  They all offer various degrees of control over which files your remove and each has some type of registry cleaning capability.

So which gets the nod for best of the best?  I want to clarify my answer by user group.  For beginning users, CCleaner is the best based on ease of use and based on riskiness.  It is possible to get into trouble using registry cleaners and I find CCleaner to be less aggressive and least likely to cause disruption from accidental deletion of important files.  My recommendation is to use the Run Cleaner function and use Tools to manage your Startup folder and to Uninstall unwanted programs.   Use the Registry Cleaner after creating a System Restore Point first.

For more advanced users, there are features in both SlimCleaner and Glary that you might find useful.  I use them both!  You may find that Glary has more features than you would ever use; choose what you need and ignore the rest.  Clean up your old clogged up system and till next week, send your questions to:

geekspeak@mchsi.com

 

 

Tags: computers, Geek Speak, Jim Hall
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Geek Speak

– December 12, 2011Posted in: Geek Speak

 

                Comfy, Cozy or Compact?  What’s your choice?  No I’m not talking about your approach to the winter season that we’re starting to ease into; I’m talking about Gmail’s new User Interface (UI) that has many users wondering whether to try the new look and when.  Starting around the first of November, Google has been slowly rolling out its new (UI) and you have been able to preview the new look without committing to it.  One of the stated reasons for the new UI is to make it more user friendly, more intuitive.  The underlying assumption is that it will be more easily assimilated by newbies.  However, for those who are used to the old way, it requires a little unlearning.

In answer to this week’s question, I do like it and I am ready to adopt it.  I recommend you do the same and this column is designed to help you transition without problems.  Some of the changes will not be obvious on first look, but an overriding  purpose  is to make Gmail more adaptable to various browsers and screen sizes (all the way from newer giant screens to smaller mobile ones) and to make it work more seamlessly with other Google products like their excellent Calendar.  “Seamlessly” is a good thing.  It simply means that things work together like you on the user side would want them to; to the point that you don’t even recognize the challenges that were overcome on the technical side.

Anyway, here are a few tips to get you off on the right track.  Go ahead and click the button (bottom right) that invites you to try the new interface.  Don’t even think about turning back now.  Notice right off the bat that the red ”Mail” menu at top left has a drop down menu: “Contacts” are right under there.  Now adjust the “display density” so that the interface is clearest on your monitor, in your browser.  Here’s how.  Note there are two “Gear Cogs” at the upper right that help you adjust settings, a white one in the black menu bar and a grey one below that which is the one we want now.  Click on the grey gear and look for “display density”.  Click each choice in turn and pick the one that looks best on your display.  For me it is the “Cozy”.   Yours may be different.

The rest of your transition will be intuitive I think.  Labels are still labels, with some enhanced features like drag and drop.  You can go into Settings and adjust the size of your Label and Chat Panes. And you can get rid of some of the advertising panes.

“Search” has been very much enhanced though it is not labeled prominently.  It’s the obvious search box at the top next to the Gmail logo and if you hover your mouse over it, you’ll see the drop down options.

Once last tip.  If you want to get the most out of the new Gmail UI, view it in Google’s own Chrome browser rather than your usual Firefox or IE. If you want complete control, add the “Minimalist Feature” from Chrome add-ons.

Dive into the new look and till next week, send your questions to:

geekspeak@mchsi.com

 

 

Tags: Geek Speak, Jim Hall
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Dated Data

– December 2, 2011Posted in: Geek Speak

                This week’s question comes from a high school student who recently turned in a research paper in a social studies class and lost grade points because the data that he used was from an outdated Website.  As it turns out the main source of his report was a news article that was dated almost seven years ago.  His Google search on the topic had placed the article very near the top and he just assumed it was current.  His question is how to keep that from happening again?            First, I sympathize; it’s happened to me; thought I had just the article to solve a technical problem and then noticed it was dated several years ago.

You need to choose a method to filter your search by dates, but first know that dates on Web pages can include publish dates, index dates and update dates.  There are several methods to filter by dates, one being to use the “Advanced Search” feature of your browser.  Most have a feature that allows you to filter by several criteria, including dates; some by date intervals and some by week, month or yearly.  I don’t find any of them to be particularly intuitive or user friendly.  If you want to try “advanced search” in Internet Explorer 8 or 9, click the little gear icon to the far right of the Window and click “Advanced Search”.  Please let me know if you enjoy the experience.  Another way is to use the built-in “daterange” operator in Google, but who wants to convert to the Julian calendar each time you want to use it.

Most of my readers would prefer a method that is easy, intuitive and pretty much point and click.  That’s why I recommend using one of the third party Websites that uses Google as the search engine, but gives you some date filters on the front end.  There are several you may want to look at:  Gigablast, Spific and DBSearch for example to see which you prefer.  For my money” Spific Search” gets the nod; you get immediate drop down menus to pick date intervals and other filters if you like and you can also choose categories like Reference, Shopping, Entertainment and others.  You can use as many filters as you want or you can just click the Date Menu (default is “Anytime”) and choose “Past Six Months” for example.

Once you have chosen the Website you prefer, just add that to your Favorites or even better to your browsers Favorites Bar as we discussed in a previous column.  Now  whenever you need to search for a current (or previous date range) you can just click on the favorite button and go directly to “Spific” for example.

Next time my young questioner needs a current events article, he can go to www.spific.com and click the “Past Week” or “Past Month” drop down menu and find appropriate Web pages that will help him return to good graces with his teachers.

Give Spific Search a try and till next week, send your questions to:

geekspeak@mchsi.com

 

 

Tags: Geek Speak, Jim Hall
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Help! I’m Stranded!

– November 23, 2011Posted in: Geek Speak

 

“Having a great trip to London until I was mugged and lost all my money and credit cards.  Stranded here and need money: please help!”  What a start to an email and what should we do when we get one with a similar story?

First of all be assured that your Aunt Lucy is probably not stranded in London without money; more likely her email account has been hijacked and someone is sending out spam to her entire address book. I’m writing this column in response to three clients who suffered this invasion of privacy last week.  One was an AOL user, one on Hotmail and the other was using att.yahoo mail (Bellsouth customer).  I say this to let you know that this scam is real and prevalent.

What should you do when you see evidence of this problem?  Notify the person about what has happened to their account.  If it’s you, change your password immediately and 9 out of 10 times this will clear the problem.  If you know how, look into the settings of your email account and see if the hacker changed anything else.  One of the compromised accounts that I looked at last week, had forwarded all incoming mail to another dummy account.  I assume someone was monitoring that account looking for others to infect or perhaps for some easy to snag banking or shopping information.  Be alert just after such an attack and ready to adjust your response if further problems develop.

Here are a few tips to keep this from happening to you:

1.  Don’t ever reply to any email request for your personal info such as passwords or SSN.  Your Bank will never ask for such, nor will your ISP or email mail provider.  I have seen some very clever emails written by scammers that have quite convincing backgrounds and logos for Bank of America, Microsoft, ATT, Mediacom  and others.  If they ask for personal info; just say no!

2.  Use a strong password for your email account, especially your primary one

3.  Use a unique password for your email account.  If it is compromised, at least that’s the only one they’ll get

4.  Don’t give out your email address willy-nilly

5.  Always keep your OS and anti-virus softwares up to date.

I’d be interested in hearing from you readers that have been similarly attacked.  It isn’t always easy to figure out how the security breach occurred.

And thanks to all readers and clients who sent me phone Apps that you recommend; I am planning a future column to share some of the better and most used ones.  I’m also interested in your feedback in your most successful ways to keep your email and smart phone contacts synced.  Hey, tell me about the ways that don’t work so well also.

Thanks for your help and

Till next week, send your questions to:

geekspeak@mchsi.com

 

Tags: Geek Speak
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Power Browsing

– November 21, 2011Posted in: Geek Speak

 

                Sometimes questions unasked can be significant. I often run into these when working on site with a client. I’ll do something on their PC and they’ll say “Stop, what was that? I didn’t know you could do that!” They simply didn’t know to ask the question. Quite often I notice that clients don’t use some very useful features in their browsers for example; things that can make research much faster, more thorough or just plain more fun.

There are some features of browsers that even beginners should master. I include Favorites, the Favorites Bar and Tabbed Browsing among the essentials. In this column I’m just going to address Tabbed Browsing and I’m not pushing any particular browser. Just for your info, the current order of browser used worldwide is Firefox, Chrome then Internet Explorer (IE), followed by Safari and Opera. I will say that the most elegant use of tabbed browsing is with Opera which only enjoys a minor usage rate worldwide, even though Mini Opera is enjoying a bit of a splash in the mobile world at present.

Choose whatever browser you like, but figure out how to use tabbed browsing; it’s a real game changer while surfing the Internet. Tabbed browsing comes into play in two primary ways. First if you are surfing the Web and simply want to go to another site while keeping the first one open. For example, you’re doing a Google search in your browser and you want to open your Yahoo or Google Mail at the same time; flipping back and forth between the two. The other is when you are on a website and you want to follow a link to another page, but you want to keep your current place as well.

Look at the top of your web browser for the Tabs Bar. If you only have one tab open, then the title of the page that you are on will be displayed on the one tab. To the right of that tab will be either a + sign or in the case of IE, a small button with nothing on it (if you hover your mouse over that little box, a “New Tab” menu will appear). Now clicking on the + or the button will open another tab. Most browsers also allow the shortcut Ctl plus t to open a Tab. If you are a Mac user, Safari opens another tab with the same shortcut. You can add additional tabs as needed.

If you are exploring links during a Web search, instead of clicking on a link, right-click it and choose “Open in a New Tab”. That will keep your current tab open and allow you to pursue the next link and even subsequent links as you continue your discovery. You can also choose “Open in Another Window” from that same right-click menu.

Now to continue this lesson in tabbed browsing, I want you to open your favorite browser, and do a Google Search for “using Firefox” for example”. That opens one tab with the search results displayed. Now right-click on a Website that interests you and open it in a new tab. Pick several, including one from Firefox and maybe some other user sites that offer tips about Firefox. Look them over and see what else you learn about tabbed browsing or other features that you might use. You’ll find other tips like saving Tabs and many more. Enjoy your new browsing tricks and till next week, send your questions to:

geekspeak@mchsi.com

 

 

Tags: Geek Speak, Jim Hall
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Let’s make a movie!

– November 11, 2011Posted in: Geek Speak

 

                Recently a family member asked me to create a video to celebrate the childhood and early adulthood of two young people who were about to be married. Pictures of the bride and groom at various ages had been collected along with some while they were dating. Some musical themes had been chosen. I’ve had some prior experience with the old Windows Movie Maker and also Photo Story 3 for Windows, both free offerings from Microsoft, so it sounded like a fun project and a fitting gift for the young couple.

Since I had plenty of time to do the project, I chose to use the newer Windows Live Movie Maker (WLMM) that is free for the download with any installation of Windows 7 or Vista with Service Pack 2. Simply go to the Windows Live Essentials 2011 Website and click download, then pick the Movie Maker option. By the way, you can also make movies using the free Picasa 3 program that I have previously recommended in this column.

To get started on a movie project, choose the software you want to use and purchase or download it. You know my preference; if you can get it free, do it! Then assemble all the pics or video clips that you want to include. Edit the pics as necessary before your start; it’s much easier than editing within the movie software. Collect the music and put all this together in a working file with the project files name on it. Remember  that if you buy copyrighted music you may only share it from your PC with your friends. If you want to share a video on Facebook or YouTube, do not use copyrighted music; or eschew music altogether. If you have all the pieces of a video in one place, it’s easy to import into the movie software and most make it easy for you to arrange and sort the pieces after they are in the project.

WLMM is fairly intuitive but if you need help, there is a decent tutorial video on the Win Live Site and there is a large community of users that you can access just by Googling a question, like “how do I add music to WLMM?”

Add your pictures to the project and rearrange them as you like; it’s easy to preview your creation at any time. Choose transitions, timing and animations if you like. Add titles where needed; credits if you want. Get all this stuff set, before you start adding music clips. The beginning and ending of music tracks is one of the most difficult tasks of the project. If your work is interrupted at any point, just save the project as a “project” and you can pick it back up later. Now add your music and adjust the audio and video tracks so that they are synced. If it doesn’t match exactly, just fade the music out at the ends of scenes so it won’t disrupt your audience.

Once you have everything synced, you then save it in the format you want to use. You can choose, Burn to DVD, Use on My Computer, Email or even Play on a Mobile Device.

Maybe it’s time for you to try being a” movie maker”. Have some fun with it and till next week, send your questions to:

geekspeak@mchsi.com

 

 

Tags: computer, computer geek, Geek Speak, Jim Hall
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Free is Good!

– November 9, 2011Posted in: Geek Speak

 

                Regular readers of this column know that one of my favorite kinds of software is “free” software, whether it’s for a desktop PC or an iPad or a smart phone.  By” free” I mean literally, not trial software or membership based, but just plain free.  This week I want to recommend one free productivity suite for your PC and a great free app for your smart phones.

Everybody knows that if you want to create text documents, spreadsheets, or presentations the software of choice throughout the world in education circles and in businesses is the Office Suite from Microsoft.  Depending on which version you choose it includes all the programs I’ve listed and a database program and some other specialty programs like MS Publisher and Outlook.  Recent significant upgrade versions  include 2000, 2003 and 2007.   I highly recommend these Office Suites, but not everyone can afford them and many only use a portion of the package that they purchase.   There are a number of cheaper alternatives out there, but the one I’m recommending today is LibreOffice (users of OpenOffice.org will see similarities, based on common source code).  By the way, if you are already using OpenOffic.org, happily, you may want to stay with it.

LibreOffice is a completely free download that includes a full complement of office programs.  The “Writer” program is a full fledged word processor that can produce documents compatible with MS Word.  “Calc” is a spreadsheet program compatible with MS Excel.  LibreOffice also comes with a PDF file creator so that you can produce documents that can be opened and read almost universally.  Another nice thing about LibreOffice is that updates are free and it’s available for both PC and MAC users.

One great free app for your phone (all major phone platforms) is Key Ring.  If you are a shopper with a wallet full of rewards cards, you’ll love the way Key Ring helps you organize them and keep up with current offers from your favorite retailers.  You can even put your Do Co Library card on the Key Ring.  You use the app itself (along with your phone’s camera) to scan the card’s bar code into your phone, identify the retailer and display the bar code from your phone at checkout.  Some of the retailer’s even push their coupons to the Key Ring, so you don’t have to fumble through your wallet for those (expired coupons won’t be listed).  A few of the participating retailer’s in our area include Staple’s, Stein-mart, CVS, Winn-Dixie, Harveys, Big lots and Old Navy.  I did not find any participating local restaurants in a brief Internet search, but that category sounds like an obvious opportunity to me.  There are more than 650 retailers listed with Key Ring; if you know of any other notable local ones, please send to my email.

Let me hear about your favorite freebies and till next week, send your questions to:

geekspeak@mchsi.com

 

Tags: Geek Speak
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Musings Around Town

– October 31, 2011Posted in: Geek Speak

 

 

One of the things I enjoy most about writing this column is my interaction with readers. Some feedback comes from e-mailed questions that you send to geekspeak@mchsi.com and some from conversations as I run into you around town. Many in depth comments come from clients that I’m working with while solving an IT problem or installing a new piece of equipment or network. I’m always interested to hear your questions and also your opinions about new gadgets, software and other techie stuff.

Even if you don’t have a specific question, I like to hear about what you’ve tried and I often get new ideas for sharing from your recommendations. I love to hear about what Mobile Apps you like and which you don’t. I want to hear your complaints/praise about electronics vendors and about our local Internet service. Any time you find a free alternative to something that you’ve been paying for, please let me know.

Just last week I was in the Publix checkout and a reader asked me to compare cable Internet service from Mediacom with DSL Internet service from BellSouth (ATT). My quick answer was if you want poor customer service and a slower speed, chose DSL. If you prefer poor customer service and overall faster Internet speeds, choose Mediacom. ATT does offer a couple of different plans, if cost is an issue; but all of them are generally slower than cable.

My own personal experience with Dell Computers has been very favorable; in fact they are my first choice for my clients who want a Windows based system. Yet I had a client voice great dissatisfaction with Dell just last week because of service issues. By the way, if price is a big issue, I can live with Dell, HP, Acer, Lenova or Gateway. Let’s go shopping! Compare prices, use the coupons, and wait for the deals!

I hear you when you complain about service; especially about off-shore tech service. If you are not having a good experience, it’s OK to ask for someone who speaks better English. If the Tech doesn’t sound real knowledgeable, ask to be transferred to a more experienced rep.

By the way, I put a lot more credence in feedback from my clients and readers than I do in popularity polls on Websites, especially manufacturer’s sites. IT product recommendations from experts like CNET and PCMag are generally good as well.

Some of my clients and readers are MAC users and some use only Windows systems. The emergence of smart phones and tablets is inducing more people to try MAC products. I use both and think there is a place for both. The price differential is definitely a factor with many buyers.

Anyway, thank you readers for your input and keep those questions coming.

Tags: Geek Speak
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Making Steve Proud

– October 27, 2011Posted in: Geek Speak

 

                Much has already been written about the passing of Apple founder Steve Jobs, so I’ll not cover his many accomplishments nor how his leadership shaped the electronics industry. What I want to look at is the company that he left as a legacy and speculate about the kinds of changes that we might expect.

Let’s look at some current news and industry rumors that might indicate the tech giant’s future direction. I’ll start with the October 13th release of the iOS 5 for iPad and iPhone (did I mention this is a free upgrade?) Not only does the new version have many interesting and useful tweaks, but it also signals a change in how Apple’s mobile devices will interact with their desktop and Laptop counterparts in the future. They are breaking the umbilical cord between mobile and stationary with this introduction.

The iOS 5 will be downloaded as usual via iTunes on a computer and then installed on the iPhone or iPad. After this, updates and synching can be done without contact with the Mother Ship so to speak. The mobile devices will be able to update on their own. Don’t panic, you can still synch your stuff from your PC to your mobiles, but you can do it with WiFi instead of wires. Now there’s a well thought out, planned and executed innovation; very “Jobsian” in nature. Steve would be proud.

Now let’s look at the rumors that Apple may be soon coming out with a 7 inch tablet, an” iPad Mini” for want of a better name. This on the heels of Amazon’s recently introduced Kindle Fire, also a 7 inch tablet. This whole tablet area has been volatile in the last few months; notably HP got in the market and then quickly punted. Look for much continued activity in this sector. Apple dominates the $500 and up market, but industry analysts say there is a huge market at $200 to $300 (Kindle Fire got in at $199).

Let’s hear from Steve on this development. “Apple has done extensive user testing and we really understand this stuff…There are clear limits on how close you can place things on a touch screen, which is why we think 10 inch is the minimum screen size to create great tablet apps,” Jobs said at an Apple earnings conference last October. Apple has up to now, embraced the upper end of the PC market and the same has applied to music players, phones and the iPad. Some of their followers have been called elitist and almost cult like. To be fair they’ve tried to produce the best products and their prices reflect that aspiration. Many feel that they offer value for what they deliver.

This juncture where Apple is simultaneously pursuing consumer driven excellence and the temptations of a much bigger mass market is a very treacherous and challenging place to be. Steve thought that the size of user’s fingers might be a limiting factor for a satisfactory touch screen experience. I would suggest that the Apple legacy managers proceed with caution. Make sure that touch technology keeps in sync with downsizing so that the loyal customer base is not turned off by less than Apple like performance. Tread carefully please!

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