Passwords You Need to Remember

Here is a list of passwords anyone working with your computer environment will need:

•   The Administrator user account password for your Windows Operating System.

Many times the best way to solve a problem with a computer that will not boot is to boot the system in safe mode (a way of starting your computer in a diagnostic mode with a minimum amount of resources assigned to programs and devices). To log in to the computer in safe mode, it may be necessary to use the Administrator account.

•   The username and password pair for a computer administrator enabled account for your Windows Operating System.

Administrator tasks such as installing a new printer or application program can only be installed by a computer administrator enabled account.

•   The password for each of your email accounts.

In order to access your email, you must have the password associated with that email account.

•   The Administrator username and password pair for your DSL or Cable Internet modem.

If your DSL or Cable Modem needs to be replaced, this password is necessary to re-establish your high speed Internet connection.

•   The Administrator username and password pair for your wireless router.

Any changes to the router - such as a firmware upgrade (fixes to the software on the router that is supplied by the router manufacturer) – will require the username and password.

•   The username and password pair associated with your anti-virus software.

Many times to de-install an anti-virus product so that it can be replaced, requires a valid username and password pair.

Carl Thorne High Tech House Calls Expert Computer Consulting 

voice: 404.229.0839 email: carlthorne@hthcatlanta.com web: hthcatlanta.com blog: hthcatlanta.blogspot.com

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Store Passwords Safely

Do you have so many usernames and passwords to remember that you write them down in a book?

•   What happens if the book is lost or stolen?

•   What happens when you need a password and the book is at home?

You can buy software to maintain your list of usernames and passwords. The two major players are:

•   RoboForm (http://www.siber.com/)

•   SplashID (http://www.splashdata.com/)

How about a free solution? In a previous blog, I talked about using DropBox (www.dropbox.com) to backup files on your computer. If you create a document in Word - one that lists your usernames and passwords, for example - you can store that file on the cloud using your DropBox account. The file can now be accessed from any computer, smartphone or tablet that can connect to the Internet and can read a Word document. Your files are encrypted on DropBox.  Only someone who knows your DropBox username and password can read this file.

How about a less complex solution for free? Everyone has a USB flash drive. If you don't, the price has dropped so much that you should go out and buy one anyway. You could copy your password list onto the USB flash drive and keep the flash drive with you. When you need to retrieve the password list, simply plug the flash drive into the USB port of your computer and access the file. If your device doesn’t have a USB port (i.e. an iPad or Smartphone), this solution won’t work for you.

If you find this solution still lacking in security because the data is not encrypted, you can encrypt the file. This article describes the software and the encryption process: http://ask-leo.com/how_can_i_keep_data_on_my_laptop_secure.html

If you are not interested in encrypting the file, but still want the file to be secure, be crafty in how you display the passwords. Think up a shorthand memory jogger than only you would know to store the password.

For example, if your password was a combination of your son’s name and birthday, you could write “firstborn bd”. You are limited only by your imagination for the shorthand notation for your password.

Carl Thorne High Tech House Calls Expert Computer Consulting 

voice: 404.229.0839 email: carlthorne@hthcatlanta.com web: hthcatlanta.com blog: hthcatlanta.blogspot.com

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Cellphone Roundup

Replacing your Blackberry with another Blackberry?

I have spent some time reviewing the new Verizon Blackberrys that are running the new 7.0 operating system. 

•   They are much faster than the Blackberry I purchased 6 months ago. 

•   The browser is very usable. Finally, Blackberry has a browser that you can use to surf the Internet.

Two concerns remain:

•   Will Rim, the company that manufactures Blackberrys be in business a year from now? The financial press reports Rim is not doing very well financially.

•   The Blackberry Applications Library still pales in comparison to the applications library for iPhones and Androids. Will the Blackberry Applications Library ever catch up?

Browser Suggestion to Make Your Current Blackberry More Usable

I have tried the Opera, Bolt and Firefox browsers to see if using a different browser makes a difference in surfing the Internet. Here is what I discovered:

•   Opera did not seem to make much difference in my surfing experience. (http://www.opera.com/mobile/download/blackberry/)

•   Bolt is now my new Internet browser. The initial load of the program is longer than the Blackberry Browser, but once loaded, Internet pages loaded very quickly. Changing the preference to a split screen made the web content visible without using the magnifying glass all the time. (http://boltbrowser.com/dnld.html#BOLTbb)

•   Mozilla Firefox is not available for the Blackberry, but is for iPhone and Androids.

Paying For Your New Phone

The Blackberry website has a trade in program where they will give you credit for your old Blackberry if you buy a new Blackberry. (https://tradeup.blackberry.com/en/us/web/home.html)

If you want to get cash for your Blackberry, you can sell it on the website Gazelle. http://www.gazelle.com/?utm_campaign=Brand&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=gazelle 

Another Lesson on How Not to Treat Your Cell Phone 

By now, we are all familiar with the indicator built into your cell phone and cell phone battery that changes to a pink color if the cell phone has come into contact with water. The most common methods of contact with water are dropping your cell phone into the toilet or forgetting to remove your cell phone from your pants pocket before washing them. Add a third method to your list: If you store your laptop in a backpack and leave the backpack outside in hot humid weather, it is possible to damage your cell phone from exposure to humidity.

Android Upgrade Report

Many Verizon customers of Android cell phones were in for a not so pleasant surprise when they recently upgraded their cell phones to the newest Android Operating System. Before the upgrade, you could individually customize sounds for voice mail, texts, and emails. The newest upgrade took part of that customization away. While you can still customize ringtones, you won’t be able to designate different sounds for emails, texts and tweets anymore.

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Is Your Laptop Overheating?

As CPUs get faster, they generate more and more heat. The heat is vented out openings in your laptop by a fan. Blocking the vents can cause your laptop to freeze or shutdown unexpectedly. Chronically overheating your laptop will damage the CPU and the hard drive.

Your can figure out where the vents are by using your hand to detect hot air. Make sure you search underneath the laptop for vents.

•   Always place your laptop on a solid surface. Laying your laptop on top of a surface like your bedspread will block heat from exiting your laptop and clog the insides of the laptop with fibers that will further block escaping.

•   If you have vents on the bottom of the laptop, try propping the laptop bottom up so that the vents are not in direct contact with a surface. A magazine placed strategically beneath the surface of your laptop and not blocking the bottom vents will maximize heat dispersal and minimize the temperature inside of your laptop.

There are programs you can use to monitor the temperature of your laptop. In general, laptops should not exceed 120 ⁰. SpeedFan is a free program that runs on windows that will display your internal temperature. Here is a link to download the program:  http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

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Solutions to Ongoing Blackberry Problems

Do you get random email messages that your Blackberry phone has successfully registered with the wireless network? 

I have a Blackberry Bold 9650 running v6.0. Verizon is my cellular provider. These random messages have plagued me for months. It does not appear that my phones fuctionality has been effected.

• From the home menu, select the wench icon (the word options is displayed when you hover the cursor).
• Select Device.
• Select Advanced System Settings (at the very bottom of the list).
• Select Host Routing Table.
• The cursor should be at the top of the list. Use the menu button to to select Register Now.

You should get an OK message back immediately.

I noticed that the battery life was not lasting until lunchtime and I was seeing the clock icon more and more often.

I use crunchSMS for SMS Texting. I was using the free version available from Blackberry App World. When I applied an updated that implemented a pop up display when a new text was received, battery life and performance went down hill. I traded emails with the support team that developed the application and they suggested that I buy the application so that ads were not displayed at the bottom of the application. If that did not fix my problem, they would refund my money. It appears that the ads were running constantly and draining my battery and impacting the performace of my Blackberry because once I entered the registration key from purchasing the application, my problems went away.

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August 2011 eNewsletter

August 2011

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College Student Summer 2011 eNewsletter

College Promotion Summer 2011

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Software to Display How Your Windows Hard Drive is Feeling

In a previous blog, I talked about how to determine if your Windows hard drive was failing.

Click here to read previous blog:

http://hthcatlanta.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-tell-if-your-windows-laptop-disk.html 

Active@ Hard Drive Monitor uses SMART to determine the health of your hard drive.

Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology, or S.M.A.R.T., is a monitoring system for computer hard disks to detect and report on various indicators of reliability, and assist in the anticipation of failures.

Click here to download the software:
http://www.ntfs.com/disk-monitor.htm

This alert may give you enough warning to back up your system one last time before your start the process of replacing your hard drive and re-loading your software.

Carl Thorne
High Tech House Calls
Expert Computer Consulting
voice: 404.229.0839
email: carlthorne@hthcatlanta.com
web: hthncatlanta.com
blog: hthcatlanta.blogspot.com

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How to Tell If Your Windows Laptop Disk Drive is Failing

Eventually, your hard drive will fail. Hard drives are expected to last between 3 to 5 years before they eventually fail.

How do you know when your time is up with a hard drive?

• Your computer starts to slow down. (but a slow computer can be caused by other things besides a failing hard drive.)
• Go to Computer and select your C Drive. Right mouse click and select Properties. Select the Tools tab and then select Error-Check. Make sure the check box for Repair is selected.Finally, when given the option, select Schedule. The next time you boot your computer,the error scan program will scan your hard drive and fix any problems it discovers. When the scan is complete, your computer will boot normally to the operating system.
• One or two errors are probably no cause for alarm. More than that and your hard drive is starting to fail and you should back up what you can and plan for the replacement of your hard drive and reloading of all your software.

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Worried About Finding a Lost Blackberry?

Here are two Blackberry Applications that can lower your anxiety over losing your Blackberry:

Blackberry Protect

• BlackBerry Protect is a free application designed to help find your lost BlackBerry smartphone, and keep the information on it secure. It can also offer peace of mind for small businesses and families, with the ability to protect multiple smartphones.

• Your contacts, text messages, calendar and bookmarks can be backed up wirelessly. It’s done automatically, and as often as you choose (daily, weekly or monthly).

• You’ve lost your smartphone. Why wonder who has access to your information? Simply log in to the BlackBerry Protect website and lock your device. Pretty sure you’re not going to see it again? You can delete the information on your smartphone and microSD card from the BlackBerry Protect website too.

• Maybe you’ve just misplaced your smartphone. Lock and display a message on your smartphone Home screen for whoever may find it. Then locate it on a map and go get it. Or if you think your smartphone is nearby, simply force it to ring at full volume.

• Just bought a shiny new BlackBerry smartphone? BlackBerry Protect makes it easy to restore the device settings, contacts and calendar items you had backed up on your last one.

• If you have multiple smartphones in your company, or even your family, you can use BlackBerry Protect to keep everyone’s information secure and to find lost smartphones.

http://us.blackberry.com/apps-software/protect/

Verizon Backup Assistant


Have a Verizon Blackberry? Here is a link to a tutorial video on how to backup your contacts wirelessly and how to retrieve them.


https://wbillpay.verizonwireless.com/vzw/nos/ba_nab/overview_def.jsp

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College Student? Buy MS Home and Student 2010 and Get Outlook For Free!

Buy Home and Student - Get Outlook Free!

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TiVo Broken? Here is how to fix it.

If you have unplugged and and then plugged your TiVo back in, but the familiar cartoon-like TiVo character is not dancing across your TV screen and you cannot hear the TiVo background music, the hard drive has probably crashed.

Your TiVo is a desktop computer that uses your TV as a monitor. The Operating System and all your programs are stored on a hard drive.

If the hard drive on your desktop computer crashes, you would replace the hard drive and re-load all the software that came with the computer and that you bought in the first place.

If your TiVo hard drive crashes, all your previously stored programs that had been recorded are gone with the crashed hard drive along with all your recording preferences such as season passes. How do you re-load the TiVo software? You don't. You buy a pre-loaded hard drive and follow their directions that come with the replacement hard drive on how to install the new hard drive. Once the replacement hard drive has been  installed, you plug your TiVo back in, re-connect it to the TV and the cable system and re-program it to recognize your cable system and re-program all your preferences all over again.

Here is a link to a company that can supply you with a pre-formatted hard drive for your particular TiVo system: http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/index.php

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Free Software to Display How Your Mac Hard Drive is Feeling

In a previous blog, I talked about how to determine if your Apple hard drive was failing.
Click here to read previous blog:
http://hthcatlanta.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-tell-if-your-apple-laptop-disk.html

SmartReporter will read your S.M.A.R.T. status every 15 minutes and alert you to a hard drive that is starting to fail. S.M.A.R.T. stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology. Here is the link to the software:
http://download.cnet.com/SMARTReporter/3000-2086_4-49263.html

This alert may give you enough warning to back up your system one last time before your start the process of replacing your hard drive and re-loading your software.

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July 2011 eNewletter

July 2011 News From High Tech House Calls

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http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-High-Tech-House-Calls.html?soid=1101353862685&aid=7CBT8Bnctt4

Here is a link to my July eNewsletter.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-High-Tech-House-Calls.html?soid=1101353862685&aid=7CBT8Bnctt4

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- - Upgrading to Mac OS 10.7 Lion for Your Apple Computer? - Lion is the newest release of the Mac OS http://ow.ly/1dKGPd

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- Upgrading to Mac OS 10.7 Lion for Your Apple Computer? - Lion is the newest release of the Mac OS 10 http://ow.ly/1dJo4j

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Upgrading to Mac OS 10.7 Lion for Your Apple Computer? - Lion is the newest release of the Mac OS 10.x Operating Sys... http://ow.ly/1dIte1

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Upgrading to Mac OS 10.7 Lion for Your Apple Computer?

Lion is the newest release of the Mac OS 10.x Operating System for laptops and workstations.

Here is a link that describes what is contained in the release:  http://www.apple.com/macosx/apps/all.html

Due to be released in July 2011, Lion will only be available via the Application Store Application that is installed on your computer instead of the normal DVD you would purchase online or from a store. The Application Store concept downloads software as iTunes downloads music.

If you bought your computer after June 6, 2011, the upgrade to Lion may be free. Click on this link to see if you qualify: http://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/

It not unusual that application software you currently have installed will not run with a major Operating System upgrade such as Lion as this is the case with Quicken. Do your research carefully on what the real cost of the upgrade will be for example if you have to buy new versions of applications that run fine on your current Operating System, it may be more expensive than anticipated.

Once you decide that you want to upgrade, how do you tell if you meet the requirements to upgrade your computer?

• If you are running an Apple computer that does not have an Intel Processor such as an iBook G4, you cannot install Lion. The last Operating System release that supported your computer was Leopard (10.5.8). How do you tell what release of the operating system you are running and if you are running an Intel Processor? Click the Apple Icon in the upper left corner of your screen and select About This Mac.
• If your computer processor is an Intel Processor, you must have Snow Leopard (10.6) loaded on your computer to have the Application Store App loaded on it. Therefore, you cannot upgrade directly from a pre-Snow Leopard release of the Operating System to Lion. You must purchase Snow Leopard first for $29.99 from a store or online vendor and install it in order to have the Application Store App installed.
• Once you meet the requirements for an upgrade to Lion, purchase and download Lion from the Application Store. I would suggest you wait a week or so after Lion is available to see if you can expect any problems with the upgrade.
  

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Signing Up for ATT U-Verse? Think again!

AT&T's U-Verse is AT&T's latest high speed Internet offering. What makes this different from DSL (which utilizes the existing phone line coming into your house) is U-Verse uses a fiber-optic network connection which is much faster. Your area must be wired with fiber-optic cable for this service to be available to you.

Here are some things to think about before you sign up:

• Unlike cable or DSL Internet access, a special wall outlet will need to be installed in your house. A cable or DSL modem only required an existing cable wall outlet or phone jack outlet. 
• AT&T will probably want to put the U-Verse outlet in the easiest to install location. That location could end up to be your ground floor formal dining room most likely not where you would want computer equipment installed.
• If you have a wireless router, it must be located to where the new U-Verse outlet is installed. In general, wireless routers should be installed as high up and central to your house as possible for the best wireless network coverage. If you have to move your wireless router to your ground floor formal dining room, you may be unable to connect to the Internet from your second floor master bedroom.
• If your second story home office computer is connected via a CAT5e cable connected to the wired port in your wireless router, you will need to buy a wireless adapter for your home office computer in order to connect to your new wireless network.
• Know what you are buying. If you already have a wireless network, you do not need an AT&T Gateway installed. A Gateway is a combination U-Verse modem and wireless router. In general, equipment from high speed Internet providers is inferior to what you can buy. Also, you already have a wireless router, why should you pay for another one?

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Is replacing laptop screen in your future? - You want a big laptop screen, but want the laptop to be as light as a f... http://ow.ly/1dubrC

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How to Tell If Your Apple Laptop Disk Drive is Failing

Eventually, your hard drive will fail. Hard drives are expected to last between 3 to 5 years before they eventually fail.

How do you know when your time is up with a hard drive?

•  Your computer starts to slow down. (but a slow computer can be caused by other things besides a failing hard drive.)
• Run the Disk Utility in the Utilities Folder. Select Repair Permission (controls access to programs) first, then verify Hard Drive, last. Both these scans can take some time to complete and will make using your Apple laptop difficult, if not  impossible during these scans. If you have Permissions that cannot be repaired, please refer to this Apple article to determine if this is something to worry about:  

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1448?viewlocale=en_US

• To repair errors found while verifying your hard drive, you must boot your laptop using the installation DVD that came with your laptop and run the Disk Utility from the DVD.
• If you find that your permissions cannot be repaired (outside the errors that are OK to have as reported by the Apple article) or your hard drive cannot be repaired with the Disk Utility, it is time to start backing up your data. It is only a matter of time before your laptop will stop booting because the hard drive has failed.

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Is replacing your laptop screen in your future?

You want a big laptop screen, but also want the laptop to be as light as a feather. How does a laptop manufacturer accomplish this goal?

They make the lid of the laptop razor thin to minimize weight. Unfortunately, this means that a small flex of the lid can  crack the laptop screen. The laptop screen itself is approximately $150. Labor could easily add another $100. Laptops are not designed to be taken apart easily, so it is very likely a screen replacement will damage the fragile plastic snaps that hold the lid and screen together. Your laptop will never be the same cosmetically and you are also dangerously close to the cost of a new laptop.

How do you prevent a cracked screen?

• Re-evaluatate your need for a large screen laptop. Perhaps a 15.4" screen will do.
• Use a laptop case. Never jam a laptop into a book bag where the laptop is sandwiched between text books.
• Buy an Apple MacBook Pro. These laptops have aluminium cases and the lid will not flex. However prepare for sticker shock; you should expect to pay around $1200 and up for a usable MacBook Pro.

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WordPress vs. Google Blogger for your Blogging Needs

Which is a better platform for your blog?

When I first started blogging a quick and dirty comparison between WordPress and Google's Blogger showed that I could create a blog with Blogger without buying a manual and dedicating hours of internet research. The same could not be said of WordPress.

• WordPress is a tool kit that appeals to the professional blogger and graphic artist because of the infinite amount of tweaking that can be done to the blog with the tool kit.
• Blogger allows you to do things quick and dirty. 
• To publish your WordPress blog to the internet you must have a domain or you can buy one from WordPress.
• Blogger will give you a domain for free.
• A cottage industry has sprung up around WordPress offering templates that can be purchased and downloaded if you are not familiar with creating your own.
• Blogger seems to have less of a marketplace feel with many free templates available for the searching.
• WordPress requires some free software installation.
• Blogger requires nothing more than a connection to the internet and an internet browser.   
• WordPress blogs are not indexed for searches automatically by Google. You must add code to aid Google finding your blog.
• Guess which blog tool gets automatically searched by Google? Your blog using Blogger, as part of the Google family, is automatically indexed to be searched by Google.   

I suggest you start out with Blogger. If you become frustrated with the amount of control you have or lack thereof, or how your blog looks and feels, move on to WordPress. WordPress has a tool that allows the importation  of blogger entries into WordPress, so the transition is easy.

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Find Me Function for iPad and iPhone

Now that the controversy on Apple collecting data on where your iPad and iPhone are located has died down, let's look at the Find Me function built into these devices.

• The requirement of a MobileMe account has been lifted making the Find Me function free to anyone with an iPad or iPhone and a current version of the operating system loaded on their device.You must have an Apple ID set up. Your Apple ID is associated with the iTunes store and should have been set up by you when you first created an iTunes library on your computer.
• Go to your Mail, Contacts and Calendars setup on your device. Add a MobileMe account and type in your Apple ID and password.
• Verify your account by opening the email Apple sent you and clicking on the link. 
• Return to the MobileMe screen and turn on Find My iPad/IPhone.
• To test your setup, go to www.me.com and log into your account with your Apple ID. A map should appear pinpointing the location of your iPad/iPhone. At this point you can erase, lock or send a message that will be displayed on your misplaced iPad/iPhone.

If you turn off the Find My iPad/iPhone, your iPad/iPhone can no longer be located. An educated thief would immediately disable the Find My iPad/iPhone function . Therefore, a certain amount of luck is involved in recovering your stolen iPad/iPhone.

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Helpful Features of Windows Live Essentials

Reprinted from The Costco Connection  APRIL 2011 page17

By Marc Saltzman

CHANCES ARE, YOU’RE a PC user who relies on Windows 7—the best-selling operating system in history—and takes advantage of its intuitive user interface, fast and reliable performance and many built-in features that help you in so many activities. But guess what? This is only half the picture. If you’re using Windows 7, you can take advantage of Windows Live Essentials, a collection of free programs and services that help you take full advantage of the power of your PC. Here’s a look.

Making the most of your photos and video

You probably have hundreds—if not thousands—of digital photos and videos stored on your hard drive. Windows Live Photo Gallery can help you organize, edit, view and share these memories. For example, you can easily “tag” a photo with someone’s name, and Windows Live Photo Gallery will scan the rest of your photos and look for that person’s face. To find all photos of that person, just type in his or her name. You can also edit photos with simple tools, create a slide show or home movie, or quickly upload to sites such as Facebook. A fun and powerful feature, Photo Fuse, lets you replace one part of a photo with a better one—such as a picture of your child smiling nicely instead of looking down—so the family portrait will show everyone looking at the camera at the same time. With Windows Live Movie Maker, you can assemble your videos and photos onto a timeline, add transition effects and captions, music and narration, and then share your masterpiece.

Keeping in touch

Windows Live Messenger is an instant messaging tool that lets you type, talk or video-chat with friends, family and co-workers over the Internet. Imagine holding up a newborn to your Web camera so your overseas relatives can see the baby— in high-definition clarity. Teens can do homework together by collaborating on a document, all the while chatting, sharing photos and perhaps playing a game when it’s time for a break. Windows Live Messenger also lets you easily access social networks, such as Facebook or LinkedIn. You can also pick up your e-mail here, as well as review calendar entries and contacts. And you can share whatever is on your desktop with others.

Storing in the cloud

You can protect your important files, such as documents and photos, by uploading them to Windows Live SkyDrive, a password-

protected service that lets you store up to 25 GB of data, free. Storing your files in “the cloud” (online) offers three key benefits: You can access them from virtually any online computer in the world, your files are safe from local risks (such as fire or theft) and you can easily share specific folders with others online.

Logging in remotely

Another tool is Windows Live Mesh, which gives you the ability to log in to your PC remotely to access your

Windows 7 desktop. For example, you could access all of your media, such as music, photos and videos, on another PC while away from home. Or log in to your home PC while on a business trip to grab a PowerPoint presentation you forgot to take along.

You can also synchronize folders between multiple computers. Update a Word document on your laptop, for example, and it’ll automatically synchronize with your desktop PC. Finally, while it’s not part of Windows Live Essentials, I would be remiss not to mention Microsoft Security Essentials, a free suite of Internet security software that can safeguard your PC and help protect your personal identity. You can get details at www.microsoft.com/security_essentials. These are all helpful everyday tools that are part of the Windows 7 environment. They’re worth checking out to see if they meet your computing needs.

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Pay Attention to Details Regarding Your Backup Procedure

Here are some questions to consider, when determining if your backup procedure still works:

• Do  you check the backup log to see if the backup worked?  
• Do you have enough free space on your external hard drive to put the backup file? Most backup procedures do not delete or overwrite the last backup. Therefore, unless you delete old backups, you will not have room for new backups. To check how much free space is left on your external hard drive, right mouse click on the hard drive icon listed in My Computer, and select properties. The pie chart will show you how you are doing on free space.
• When is you backup scheduled? Is your computer on, when  the backup is scheduled to occur? If not,  the next time the backup is attempted is when the schedule indicates. A missed scheduled backup will not happened immediately when you computer is booted.
• Do you use a free service like Drop Box? If there is a red "x" over the Drop Box icon, you are over your 2GB allowance and backups have stopped. You will either need to change what you backup to bring you under the 2GB limit or for pay for extra storage.

Pay attention to the details and your backup will be available when you need it.

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Traveling in Europe with your Computer

Is a trip to Europe in your future? How are you going to stay connected?

Email

• Laptop computer: In your home neighborhood there are many businesses you can visit with your laptop to connect to the Internet and access your email for free (Borders, Krystal, McDonald's, etc.) This is not true in Europe. Most businesses will charge you to connect to their Internet connection.
• Smartphone: Verizon requires you to activate a service in order to use your cellphone in Europe. Besides the activation fee, you will need to consider selecting a calling plan to make calls in Europe. Your smartphone, when connected to a WiFi network, will allow you to send and receive email, but without a calling plan, you will not be able to send and receive "text".
• Internet Cafe: Most cafes, for a charge, will allow you to use their computer or your laptop to access the Internet. Unfortunately, before you sit down and use the cafe's computer, consider that you may not be able to access your Internet service provider's webmail because that site has been blocked by the Internet  Cafe. This was the case at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

I found that during my 9 days in Europe (London, Paris, Rome and Florence), that is was quite a chore to find an affordable connection to the Internet to read my email. Surprisingly, I found an oasis in Paris that had access for free using their computers and allowed my smartphone to connect to their WiFi for free. Under the Louvre Museum, is a shopping mall with an Apple Store. I waltzed into the Apple Store and sat down in front of an iMac 24" computer for 45 minutes undisturbed. I am sure that other Apple Stores in Europe would also be a place to seek out for Internet access.

Charging Your Laptop, Digital Camera and Smartphone

Laptop 
Most computer power adapters have a switch that will handle the 220 volts European standard. The U.S. standard is 120 volts. You will need a adapter for the plugged end because different countries have different wall plug standards.

If your laptop computer power adapter does not have a 120/220 volt switch, you will need to purchase a European voltage converter from Radio Shack or Mori Luggage. The European voltage converter plugs into the wall outlet and the power supply for your laptop plugs into the voltage converter. You will still need to invest in a adapter for the plugged end for the voltage converter to plug into the wall outlet with.

Digital Camera
If  your digital camera has a rechargeable battery, the battery charger will need to plug into an European voltage converter.

Smartphone
Normally, you can charge a smartphone using your usb sync cable plugged into a laptop usb port. This did not work. The smartphone indicated the voltage was not right to charge the smartphone. Plugging the smartphone charger in an European voltage converter will be necessary.

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"Cleaning" the Electricity that Powers Your Computer

Electrical storms, ice storms or neighborhood construction can impact the voltage coming out of your electrical outlet. Your computer gear is more likely to fail if the voltage to your gear dips below 120 volts or spikes above 120 volts. Computer gear is likely to fail during quick spikes or dips in voltage.

Using a battery backup/UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) to "clean" the electrical power to your computer gear can make your computer gear last longer. A battery backup/UPS monitors the power coming out the electrical outlet. If the power dips or spikes, the power going into your computer gear is from the battery until the power from the outlet stabilizes. 

If you lose all power to your home or business, the battery supplies power to your computer gear to shut it off in a standard manner. This allows you to shut your computer down after files or photos you have been working on, have been saved.

How big a battery backup/UPS do you need to buy?

• The longer the battery backup/UPS will power your computer gear on battery, the more expensive the battery backup/UPS. Five minutes of running on battery should be enough. If the power to your computer does not stabilizes in five minutes, it will probably take hours to re-establish electrical power to your home or office.
• An 390 Watt/650 Volt Amps battery backup/UPS should be adequate for most home and small business needs. Remember, each computer will need a separate battery backup/UPS.

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