Steve Jobs Passes Away

Steve jobs, the greatest consumer gadget inventor of modern day history has died at the age of 56. According to a statement by the family, he died on October 5, 2011 ‘…peacefully in his sleep.’ The cause of death has not been made public. However, Steve Jobs had a liver transplant and was struggling with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Apple’s homepage switched to a full-page image of Jobs and reads: “Steve Jobs 1955-2011″.

Apple immediately released a press statement: ” We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. Steve’s brilliance, passion, and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.

Steve Jobs was the co-founder of the first personal computer, Apple II that he developed with Childhood friend Steve Wozniak. He gave the tablet computer a new meaning and made smart phones great. Many experts have grouped Steve Jobs in the same category as Thomas Edison.

President Obama says: “Steve was among the greatest of American innovators-brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.”

Bob Iger, the CEO of Walt Disney has this to say of the late Steve Jobs: “Steve was such an ‘original,’ with a thoroughly creative, imaginative mind that defined an era. Despite all he accomplished, it feels like he was just getting started.”

The co-founder of Yahoo! Jerry Yang paid respect by saying: “He not only gave me a lot of personal advice and encouragement, he showed all of us how innovation can change lives.”

Michael Dell, the CEO and founder Dell Inc said of Steve Passing: “Today the world lost a visionary leader, the technology industry lost an iconic legend, and I lost a friend and fellow founder. The legacy of Steve jobs will be remembered for generations to come. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and to the Apple team.”

Even Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder has something good to say about the icon: “Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you.”

Bittersweet Taste of Windows 8 Pre-Beta

Windows 8 is still in development and Microsoft is yet to announce a shipment date but I can’t wait to share what I think about Windows 8 pre-beta. The new OS will run on laptops, desktops, netbooks, servers, media center PCs, and tablet PCs. The pre-beta version for developers is out and I was able to run it on my HP laptop built for Windows 7. So far, I have a bittersweet taste in my mouth about Windows 8. Although installation of Windows was smooth, the Metro user interface is quite confusing. The Metro UI seems like it would be best for Smartphones, not notebooks.

Let’s start with the good news. I was excited to work on a new operating system. It took about 10 seconds to boot. It has secured boot, superb Smart Screen, reset/refresh pc, and client hyper-v. Now, companies, for the first time, will be able to integrate their employees tablet PCs into their networks. I am sure that many network administrators welcome this news.

Next, there is definitely a good reason why enterprise users should not upgrade to Windows 8. That is simply because in Windows 7, the enterprise Desktop mode is Windows 7. This is a problem that Microsoft will have to deal with if they want people to migrate en mass.

On my laptop, now running on Windows 8, I was able to use the classic Start menu, like in Windows 7. I was able to do this the same way I could choose the Metro UI. So, if users upgrade and the don’t like the Metro UI, they can go back to a Windows 7 look and feel.

The bad news is that Windows 8, without the Metro interface, is very similar to Windows 7. Nothing has really changed.  In the past, people get excited when there is a launch of a new Microsoft operating system due to new features, look, and feel. That excitement and rush has effectively faded out. In fact, the technology World is more anxious for the next iPhone to hit the market than they are about Windows 8.

One more thing, Microsoft is also trying to keep older versions of Windows, Linux, and other operating systems off Windows 8 computers. That means users may not be able to dual boot their computers. By dual booting, as it is today, one could have both Windows 7 and Linux operating systems on a computer. This might not be the case in the future.

7 Ways to Speed Up Windows 7

Windows 7 is the most demanding Windows operating system to date. It requires at least 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of hard drive space, and recommends a multi-core processor. Due to these tough requirements, it could help you out to tweak Windows 7 to run more efficiently.

Disable Visual Effects

The visual effects in Windows 7 are nice and add to the experience. They aren’t that great if your computer is running really slowly though.  To get a speed boost, you can use the steps below to disable the visual effect.

• Locate and right click on “Computer” and then select “Properties”.
• Click on “Advanced System Settings”.
• In the new window that just opened up, select the “Advanced” tab in it.
• Next, Under “Performance”, click on “Settings”. Choose “Custom:” Options from it.
• Next, uncheck all of the options and select only the last four options.
• Click Save and then restart your computer. Keep in mind you can always undo what you just did.

Disable the Aero Theme

The Aero theme is another cosmetic improvement in Windows 7. However, it can really slow the PC down. The Aero user interface really taxes your graphics card and your CPU. If you need the extra speed, then it is not a bad idea to disable it.

• Right Click on your Desktop and select “Personalize”.
• Click the Window Color Tab.
• Uncheck the Box that says “Enable Transparency” and then click on “Open classic appearance properties for more color options”.

• Next, a window will open up.
• Apply either the Standard or Basic theme from it. We would recommend the Standard theme.

Defragment Your Hard Drive

If you haven’t defragmented your hard drive in a while, you should take the time to do this. You can get to this by clicking start, in the search box type “defragment”, and then by clicking on the defragmentation tool.

Have a USB drive sitting around? Use Windows ReadyBoost

ReadyBoost is a feature in Windows 7 that allows you to add system memory by connecting a flash drive. If you are on the low-end when it comes to memory, this is a good thing to try. Keep in mind that it is better to just buy more memory then to go out and buy a flash drive for this only.

Clean the Hard Drive

Windows 7 needs a certain amount of free disk space to function properly. Moving or deleting old programs, files, and folders can help your hard drive run more efficiently.

Stop Unneeded Programs from Automatically Starting Up

You can make your Windows 7 machine run faster by only starting up programs as they are needed.  There are probably quite a few unneeded programs that you didn’t even know were opening at startup. To manage windows startup, click start, type “msconfig” in the search box, hit the enter key, and click on the startup tab. From here you can disable programs that you don’t want Windows to automatically start up.

Turn Off Desktop Gadgets

Every Gadget you add requires system resources to run. You can turn some or all of these gadgets off. Turn them off by typing “gadgets” into the start menu search bar, choose “View list of running gadgets” and then select each gadget you want to get rid of and click Remove.

Auslogics BoostSpeed 5

We recently got emailed by one of our readers about Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 when it comes to fixing a slow PC. We thought this was a blog-worthy topic and figured we would take the time to give Auslogics BoostSpeed a test run. Before we get to into the article, we wanted to note that you can find Auslogics BoostSpeed here.

Download and Install Process

We went to the auslogics website and downloaded the software. The download and install process was very easy and quick. The download is about a 8.2 MB file.

Auslogics BoostSpeed Scan

Right after the install process is finished, we are giving a recommendation to scan. The scanner looks like it is looking for 4 specific issues: registry errors, junk files, disk errors, and fragmentation. The scanner finds quite a few issues on the test computer. In fact, in found over 3,000 items that it could fix.  One thing we want to point out is that the scan is free. The program will also fix the first 15 problems for free. We purchased the full version so we could test though, so we are able to fix all 3,000 problems.

Results

After we scanned and fixed the issues, we noticed that our test machine was a bit zippier. We also noticed that the program was able to free up some memory. Overall, we were pretty impressed with the job that Auslogics BoostSpeed did. One thing that we do want to note is that if you are a computer super user, you will probably be able to do a lot of the tasks that Auslogics BoostSpeed does on your own. For example, you can manually try to find and remove junk files. You can also defrag on your own as well. However, doing these tasks individually will take you much more time when compared to a commercial software. There are a few exceptions of things that you can’t do on your own such as cleaning the registry though.

System Advisor

Another cool feature that we liked in Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 was the System Advisor. The system advisor gave many specific suggestions to our test PC’s version of Windows on how to further speed up the computer. One example is that it gave the option to disable the Aero effects in Windows 7. For those who don’t know, the Aero effects are the visual effects that add to the look and feel of Windows 7. However, for older computers, it can really help to disable these effects since they use a lot of system resources. This is just one example of a suggestion that Auslogics BoostSpeed gave. There were many more suggestions as well. Again, we do want to point out that for an advanced user, you can find a way to do many of these tasks on your own. However, this tool can save you time and the headache of possibly messing something up. A lot of the things Auslogics BoostSpeed does requires you to mess with system settings.

Conclusion

Overall, we found Auslogics BoostSpeed to be very good and would definitely recommend it for users experiencing a slow PC. We do want to point out that this software is not free. We also want to reiterate that you can do many of the tasks yourself if you have extra time and if you feel comfortable messing with the settings of your computer.

You can Download the Free Trial of Auslogics BoostSpeed Here

How to Repair a Mobile Phone Dropped in Water

It is quite painful to see your mobile phone dropped in water. However, you are not alone, so don’t be too hard on yourself. A friend of mine had same problem with her iPhone 2. She was away in Thailand on vacation and somehow placed a loosely closed plastic bottle of Pepsi in her bag. When she took out the phone it was completely wet. She could do a couple things. First, she could throw away the iPhone and buy a new one, which is expensive. Second, she could look for the nearest phone repair shop. Last, she could try a few easy steps to see if you she could fix the phone herself.

Keep in mind that the liquid could be just on the surface. Below are some of the things you might notice when the liquid gets inside of the mobile device.

• Ringing issues
• Power issues
• The screen becomes dull and sometimes you can notice the water on the screen
• Interface irregularities

Things to do:

Immediately remove the battery or carry out a forced shut down, whichever one makes more sense at the time. You should try to shut down the Smartphone as soon as you notice that it is wet. This is because the electronic components in the phone need to stay dry to avoid harmful crisscrossing of electrical charges and destructive chemical reactions. Therefore, the first thing to do to a Smartphone dropped in water should be shutting it down.

Next, remove all the detachable parts of the Smartphone. By detachable, I’m talking about the back cover, the battery, any memory cards, and then the SIM card. Use a clean, dry cloth to dry the phone. There probably will still be some water inside the phone. You should place the phone and the other components on a clean surface for it to dry.

Another great remedy to try is to next take the smartphone and place it into a bowl of rice. The reason this works is that the rice will draw out and absorb the water. Rotate the phone every hour or so. Overall, you should let it sit in the rice for most of the day.

One thing we want to point out is that you should not use any type of appliance that applies extreme heat. An example of this is a hair dryer. A hair dryer can damage the smartphone if used the wrong way.
It is good to allow more than 24 hours before reassembling and turning on your phone again. At this point, hopefully your Smartphone is back to normal working condition.

Computer Maintenance Schedule

I was asked by a few of my readers lately about what my monthly, or even weekly, computer maintenance schedule looked like. I figured this was a blog-worthy topic. Let’s dive right into what a good computer maintenance schedule looks like.

Weekly PC Maintenance Tasks

There are a few things that should be done on a weekly basis for sure. The first, and probably most important, is to run a virus scan. I would highly recommend setting up some type of automated schedule in your virus protection software so you don’t forget to do this. I personally like to do Friday at lunch for my work PC. This way I am not disrupted by the scan too much.

Another task I would recommend doing weekly or biweekly is defragmenting your hard drive. This will keep your hard drive running efficiently at all times and keep fragmentation at a minimum.

Monthly Computer Maintenance Tasks

There are things that should be done on a monthly basis as well. I like to run a spyware scan monthly to make sure my computer stays spyware free. This is something that could be done more often if you would like. I would recommend Ad-Aware as a good, free spyware scanner.

Another good task to do monthly is cleaning up your disk when it comes to unused programs, folders, and files. I like to delete temporary files and cookies, check to see if I have any unused programs I can delete, and check to see if I have any old docs, videos, pictures, etc that I can delete. Cleaning up your disk monthly can help keep your disk usage low and your hard drive running efficiently.

One last thing I like to do monthly is to clean my registry. This is something that I would consider optional. This is a debated topic as some people say it does wonders and other people think it is not worth the risk. The risk being you could delete a needed registry key. Most registry cleaners backup your registry before cleaning, which should cut down or even eliminate any risk. I personally have not had any problems when using a registry cleaner. Also, I have tested it using performance monitoring tools and noticed that it does help performance a bit. I personally use Registry Booster. However, there are many good registry cleaners on the market.

How to Recover From a Virus Attack

Prevention is the best security policy. It is best to observe some safety precautions while online and offline. However, no precaution can guarantee a virus free computer. Virus attacks can do all sorts of damage to a computer. They destroy files, corrupt applications, and corrupt data. Let’s delve into how to remove a virus from your computer and things you must do to get your computer up and going one more time.

Limit the Spread of the Virus

The first thing to do when you suspect that a computer has virus is to disconnect the computer from the network. This is necessary to prevent more attacks. Simply put, it is like controlling a disease from spreading.

Removing the Virus

Some viruses are designed to attack operating systems whereas others attack applications only. The best way to get rid of such malicious programs is by having good security software on your computer and making sure it is up-to-date. If you are able to boot up your computer, start by booting into safe mode with networking. In safe mode, run a virus scan with the virus software of your choice. Hopefully the scan is able to find and remove the malicious software. At this point, we also recommend downloading and installing malwarebytes. Open up malwarebytes, update the malware definitions, and then run a scan. Malwarebytes is usually very good at finding and removing viruses and malware. At this point, we recommend restarting into safe mode again and then running another scan to make sure your computer is clean.

If you are unable to remove the virus with your virus software and malwarebytes, try to use the system restore to restore the computer to a previous working condition. This only works if you have a good previous restore point however.

If your system is not rebooting no matter how hard you try, use the installation disc to try to repair the operating system. The installation disc does three things. You can use it for a fresh installation. You can also use it to restore your system. Last, it is used to perform a system restore as well.

You may want to reinstall your operating system in cases where your operating system has been severely damaged by the virus attack. By reinstalling, you will lose files that you have not backed up. Regularly maintaining backups is a good habit. For one reason, the operating system can crash when we least expect it and sometimes just when we need an important piece of data on the hard drive.

Take Future Precautions

Now that the virus is gone, you have to take all the necessary steps to avert future attacks. Some of the things you can do include regularly changing your ISP passwords and email passwords, keeping your virus software up to date, and keeping regular backups in case of future problems.

A password should be a combination of alphabets, numbers, and special characters. It is important to have your password in your head. Jotting it down on a piece of paper or having them in a folder on your desktop is very risky.

Windows ReadyBoost – How to Use It and a Performance Analysis

Windows ReadyBoost is a cool feature that is newer and only available in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. You plug in a USB flash drive and then Windows can use the flash memory to increase its memory size since flash memory is faster than most hard drives. If your computer is running slow, enabling ReadyBoost could be a good thing to try if you have a USB stick sitting around.

How to Enable ReadyBoost

Turning on Windows ReadyBoost is super easy. Just take your flash drive and plug it in to your PC. After you do this, Windows should pop up a message asking how you want to use the flash drive. Click on the option that says “Speed up my system Using Windows ReadyBoost”. That is it. Keep in mind that you will not be able to use any space that you give to ReadyBoost.

If the ReadyBoost popup did not come up automatically for you, then you may have disabled the ReadyBoost service. Click on Start -> Type services.msc into the search box, hit enter, and then check the ReadyBoost service to make sure it is enabled.

Analyzing ReadyBoost Performance

Generally speaking, ReadyBoost helps your computer’s performance a lot more when it comes to tasks that are not CPU intensive. So, application load/close times, application switching times, etc saw the most improvement. AmandTech performed a benchmarking test which can be found here.

In their test, they found that adding 1 GB worth of ReadyBoost flash memory took seconds off of different application load and close tests. For example, using 512 RAM + 1 GB ReadyBoost, they were able to open Adobe Photoshop CS3 13 seconds faster. This is a nice improvement.

More RAM is always Better

Not matter how you look at the performance tests by AmandTech, the bottom line is that adding more memory is the better thing to do. Just by adding another 512 MB of RAM, they were able to cut load times of Photoshop by 26 seconds. Compare this to the 13 seconds cut by using 1 GB of ReadyBoost. So, you if you don’t a flash drive sitting around and you are looking for more performance, upgrading your memory is the way to go. However, if you already have a flash stick sitting around that is not being used, you might as well put it to good use and boost your PC’s performance.

How do I know if I have a Virus?

A virus can be a tricky thing to identify and can be even trickier to get rid of. Today, I thought I would talk about some of the ways that you can identify a virus or malware on your computer.

Your Anti-Virus Gives a Warning

A warning from your antivirus program is the most obvious way to tell you have a have a virus. Often times, these are also the easiest viruses to get rid of since your antivirus can often successfully remove these types of viruses.

Constant Popups

If you are experiencing constant popups, then you may also have a virus. Generally, these will be drastic and won’t necessarily be browser popups. Also, you may notice that they popup when you are not even trying to browse the Internet. An example of this is a popup that tells you that your computer is infected and that you need to purchase their antivirus software to fix your PC. In this example, this popup will NOT be from the antivirus you currently have.

Your Computer is Now Extremely Slow

Another sign of a virus is that your computer was very peppy and all of the sudden it has become so slow that it is almost unusable. This could be another problem for sure, but a likely issue is that a virus or malware has taken over your computer.

Constant Weird Behavior

Another common sign of a virus or malware is constant weird behavior. Weird behavior can be a lot of things. Some examples include programs constantly opening that you haven’t opened, you keep losing control of the mouse/keyboard, when trying to browse the Internet you keep getting redirected to random sites, etc. All of these plus more are signs that a virus or malware has infected your PC.

These are the most common signs of a virus or malware. Also, keep in mind that a virus can be something that you don’t see as well. Some malware tries to stay hidden on purpose so you don’t detect it. It will stay hidden and try to spy on you to get sensitive information such as passwords and financial information.

A Virus can be nasty and that is why it is important to have a good anti-virus program installed. You should also keep the anti-virus definitions up to date and you also need to keep your operating system up to date as well.

Slow Running PC? Think about Adding Memory

So, your computer has been running really slowly lately and you have been thinking about getting a new one. Before you scrap your old computer, you should give some consideration to upgrading your memory. This is especially true if you mainly use your computer for email, web browsing, and Microsoft Office.

Many of the newer programs use more and more resources, particularly hard drive space and RAM. If you have never upgraded your memory for your current computer, you may be able to bring it back up to speed with a simple memory upgrade.

First, I recommend running the Crucial Memory Adviser. This tool from Crucial will scan your computer and let you know your current memory setup and how much memory you can add. If you have less than 2GB of memory and you are able to bring your system memory up to or greater than 2 GB of memory, then a memory upgrade may really be able to help you regain computer speed.

Installing Memory is Pretty Easy

The great thing about a memory upgrade is that is very easy to execute on your own, even if you don’t feel that comfortable digging inside your computer case. Generally, you just need to unplug the computer, take of the cover, and snap in the new memory.  Here is a full guide on installing memory for more help.

Memory is Inexpensive

Another great thing about a memory upgrade is that generally it is a pretty cheap upgrade when considering the amount of performance you can get out of this upgrade. When I look to upgrade a computer, I usually try to see what kind of upgrade I can get for under $100. If I can’t add that much memory for under $100, then I may think about a new computer. However, if I am able to go from 1 GB to 4GB for $100 or less, for example, then I would do this before buying a new PC. There have been many times when I have been able to help a friend or family memory improve their PC performance significantly for less than $50. I would consider this well worth it when the alternative is a new PC for hundreds of dollars.