Collecting email on holidays - minimize data download while roaming...

These day many people take their laptops with them on holiday.

Email is almost critical to many people's way of life now.

However, collecting email on mobile modems is significantly more expensive than doing so at home.

Mobile data costs are a rip off pure and simple. They are designed to catch people using "too much data" and then charge them like a wounded bull for "extra" data use.

The pricing gets worse, much, much worse if you are overseas and "roaming" (using internet data carriers other than your own).

Before I outline my email data saving tip, I'll prove to you that mobile data pricing is a rip off.
Now, for a change, I am not picking on Telstra, it just happens to be the network I am on so I can compare what I get with them to what they are offering.

Picking a random phone plan with some data I found this "$2 per MB. You can add an extra 1GB Browsing Pack for an extra $10 a month."

$10 for 1GB may sound OK especially when you consider that if you "paid as you go" on the $2 per MB the same data would cost you $2000. That's right, $2000.

Considering emails can contain up to 5 or 10MB of data (if someone sends you photos or a joke or something), it is not hard to see how you could very quickly become very well ripped off.

To make it worse, I am using the Telstra mobile phone network for ALL of my internet. It is not as cheap as ADSL or Cable but I have no option. NB: This has changed lately but I've left  the article as is for historical reasons.

I am using the same network as the $2 per MB offer but instead I pay $89 for 12GB. Or, if you translate that into per MB value $24000. You read right - twenty four thousand dollars!
There is no justification for this sort of profiteering. Think about it, the same network, the same technology and a person can pay between $89 and $24000 for exactly the same thing and that is BEFORE you use data overseas!

So, let's set up your email to prevent this price shock :-)

The example and pictures I'll use are for Outlook, but pretty much all email programs have the same sort of options. Email programs on mobile phones are often set up to work this way by default but it wouldn't hurt to check to be sure.

In Outlook select Tools and then Options so you see the screen at top right.

Click on the Mail Setup tab and then the Send/Receive button - shown circled in red in the same picture.

You will then see the second screen as shown at right second from the top with the Send/Receive Groups settings.

Generally you'll only see the "All Accounts" option in the list so select that. If you have more than one item in that list you will need to revisit the setting process for all entries.

For now press the Edit button - shown circled in red.

You will see a list of Accounts down the left.

For each one check the Folder Options and select the Download Headers Only option.

This means that when you collect email for that account you will be shown the subject of the email and the, if you choose, you can download the rest. The way this happens varies from email program to email program so have a play with yours to ensure you are comfortable with the process before it accidentally downloads you big emails.

Click OK and repeat for each email account you collect from.

Close and OK the rest of the windows and test it out.

Have a great trip without the worry of having to sell your soul to pay for the data when you get back.

Sonia Loves FreeNAS

Recently Sonia has been banging on to me about FreeNAS.

FreeNAS is a Linux based operating system that turns old and apparently useless computers into Network Attached Storage - kind of like a file server.

The FreeNas people say...

"FreeNAS™ is an Open Source Storage Platform based on FreeBSD and supports sharing across Windows, Apple, and UNIX-like systems.  FreeNAS™ 8 includes ZFS, which supports high storage capacities and integrates file systems and volume management into a single piece of software."

It is a place to put you files people...backups, shared files and so on.

If you've got an old computer laying around doing nothing and you feel like having a play, give FreeNAS a go.

Telstra release NBN pricing - could it be any dumber?

Telstra release NBN pricing - could it be any dumber?
I've done the math, roughly, but according to my to my calculations it would take about 66 minutes to use up your 50GB data limit on the NBN.

What are these morons thinking?
Even now on ADSL the common plans are 200GB or more.
Why would we get a high speed, high throughput, network and then get our data limits effectively slashed to 1/10 of what we get now?

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid...

This thing is supposed to enable business and kick off a whole new era of online trading and give Australia a brighter economy.

Instead they are putting in place pricing plans that will do none of this and are most likely structured to catch people out rather than help them.

This makes me really mad.

This is why people are complaining about the NBN and the morons running the show.

Doug Knox's XP Tips and Tweaks

For those of you still on windows XP, and there are a lot of you, Doug Knox's web site provides some tips, tweaks and solutions to many of the problems that remain in XP to annoy us.

Doug doesn't make money out of his web site. Instead he asks visitors to make a donation to his favourite charity.

If you can type you can make movies...

You may have seen some of these movies as amusing emails from your friends.

http://www.xtranormal.com/ Lets you choose characters, scenes, camera angles and dialogue to create movies that can then be shared on YouTube etc.

They can be used for fun, as training tools, promotions, hints to partners about impending events...whatever you like.

Of course there is a free version and a paid version, so you can play before you buy (if you ever need to that is).

I'm looking forward to using some of the new characters available. They've just released a set of robots or dummies that look pretty cool and the cast of Star Trek have been turned into avatars now too!

The FAX is dead, long live the FAX!

These days faxing documents about is a rare thing for me.

Most of the time, when asked to fax something, I ask if I can email it instead.

If it is sensitive then I 7zip it with a password and and then SMS the password to the email recipient.

I've not been turned down yet.

However, if you are still in need of a proper fax hanging off your computer then man have I got something to show you.

I recently tried the UT Box Fax Printer Driver.

This little gem lets you install a fax printer that then allows you to send faxes to land lines over the Internet.

There is a free trial that lasts a month or so. The pricing thereafter is reasonable (certainly cheaper than buying a new fax machine, renting a dedicated phone line and all that other malarkey).

Recycled Laptops go to a good cause

Some time back some of my clients very generously donated their obsolete laptops to me for recycling and forwarding to a worthy cause.

These used to go to Uganda to be used by micro-businesses in small villages without power (hence the need for laptops with batteries).

Unfortunately the logistics of getting laptops to Uganda has become a problem. Suffice to say the laptops needed to find alternate worthy recipients.

Last week I heard back from Helen, my friend who does the hard work of getting the laptops to a recipient. Here's what she told me...

Hi Dave,
Finally found some very grateful recipients!

There is a place in the Hunter Valley called Heal for Life....for survivors of childhood abuse and trauma.
www.healforlife.com.au

I took the laptops there last week and they were gratefully received! Because of the nature of the people's histories, they were not keen to have photo's taken, but nevertheless the recipients were very blessed to be given a laptop. As you can imagine, earning money to pay for computers with a background of abuse is very challenging for some. Keep in mind, 85% of people in mental hospitals have suffered some form of childhood abuse and trauma.

So basically your donations have given these beautiful people a leg-up on their journey towards a brighter and healthier future.

Many thanks Dave, to you, and your donors.
....
Cheers,
Helen

Great news I am sure you'll agree. Local recipients helps with the global carbon footprint of the laptops life too. :-)

Keep your computer dry...

All this weird weather will be having strange effects on your computing.

Every year at the change of seasons we see a rise in computers misbehaving.

Expansion and contraction plays its part in messing with our gadgets.

Moisture coming and going interferes with our internet (particularly the street based stuff coming through the old phone lines). They get wet, your internet drops out, they dry out, your internet drops out, the wind blows, your internet pops in and out.

Of course the tragedy of the flooding taking place right now is a whole new level of pain again.

While a flooded computer may be a fairly low priority compared to the wellbeing of loved ones and pets, the following tip from CBL Data Recovery is important to consider for a smoother transition back to normality:

"Data loss tip: If you're ever unlucky enough to have your hard drive submerged in water due to a flood, it's best not to try and dry it out.
 
If you plan on having it recovered, it's better to place the hard drive in a container with the fluid it was found in if possible,or distilled water to prevent corrosion. If no water possible just an air tight container for shipping.

Do not attempt to remove any screws, the lid or PCB as could cause water to leak onto the platters if it hasn't already

Our lab will do a proper clean of the drive and prepare it for recovery."

Stay high and dry everyone....

 Log on, Experiment, Be Safe, Compute Well, Backup Better, Have Fun!

David Moore

Simple but often overlooked

Don't be rude, I am not talking about me.

I am talking about plugging external monitors into laptops when the built in screen fails.

Plugging an external screen into a laptop is a very simple but often overlooked trick. It is easy to assume that if you see nothing on the laptop screen you can't see anything any other way. This is not the case.

For a laptop that is not worth repairing, using it with an old monitor that may be laying around is not a bad option :-)

It is also a good way of getting the laptop usable again so that data can be backed up/rescued from the laptop before it goes anywhere.

It is important to note that, when returning a machine full of important data to a repairer that you have the option to hang on to the hard disk i.e. don't send the hard disk back with the rest of the broken machine.

Ask them if they can perform repairs on the machine with a new disk inside. It may well be "at a cost" but it is better than taking the risk of having the hard disk wiped by a repair center "disk imaging policy".

This is more so a problem with the original manufacturer than third parties, but nevertheless, read the fine print about what will happen to your disk and data.

For many OEM repairers a disk re-image is step one of a repair and this means all your data IS GONE!

Read more about safeguarding your business technology here and join in the discussion...

Consider this when buying a new printer

When choosing a new printer the following points will help you make a better and more informed purchase.

1)  Make sure whatever printer you get that it has appropriate compatibility clearly written on the box. And then still double check with the salesperson.If for some reason the box lies (it happens when software doesn't live up to expectations) you can go back to the same person for a refund/replacement.

2) Your new printer  should have individual colour cartridges (laser or ink). So, for example, when you run out of red you don't have to replace unused portions of blue and yellow as you would for an all-in-one cartridge.

3)  Think about how many pages you print per day/week/month and compare to the printing speed of the printer. Many stores provide breakdowns of per-page costs factoring in consumables over the life of the printer.
 
4)  Ink jet printers are good for low volume but their ink and replacement part costs are relatively high.

5)  If you print lots of pages then a colour laser (or LED) is cheaper on a per page basis over the life of the printer. These days there are cheap colour laser printers which rival mid-range inkjets for cost and they certainly win in the speed stakes.

6)  Consider whether you really need the fax/phone option as they chew up value in the cheaper multifunction devices that could be better spent on it being a better printer/scanner.

7) Many new printers come with built in features for the printing of photos directly from camera memory cards. I can't recall ever talking to anyone who actually uses this. Per point 6 above, if you don't think you'll use it, don't pay for a big display and lots of card slots on your printer.

8) If you are predominantly printing photos you may want to invest  a bit extra into the types of ink your new printer uses. Some use more than the basic 4 ink palette to generate better quality photos. The downside of this is that these specialised colours tend to drop off the radar in a few short years and you may be stuck for replacements.

9) Using special photo paper and photo sized papers can be a pain in a printer not designed specifically for photo printing. Again, if you are wanting to produce photos like the shops to send to relative or keep, then make sure your new printer has a paper feed mechanism designed to handle these special papers. Get you store person to demonstrate it where possible.
 
10) Look for dust collectors. A fussy and very "open" printer will suck dust into its innards. The printing process is microscopic and quite adversely affected by dust. If you are putting your printer into a dusty location look for one that closes up slots and such when not in use. This is most likely to be a manual process but worth considering. This goes for pet hair too! :-)

11) For some time printers have been a disturbingly disposable product. Yet, some still trade on being able to replace parts in the future. My experience has been that doing this is often more expensive and difficult than just buying a whole new printer. It may best to consider how recyclable your new printer is over the expense of fruitlessly trying to make it last longer.

Happy printing!

What to do when your Outlook data (PST) file gets too big

One of the big problems with Outlook is that the file in which it stores all your data, the PST file, just gets bigger and bigger until one day you find your computer has ground to a halt.

The reason your computer grinds to a halt is because the Outlook.PST file ends up getting bigger than the RAM/memory you have in your computer.

So when you start Outlook it loads this file, that won't fit, into memory and then immediately puts what it can't fit back onto the hard disk. Can you see where this is heading?

Yep, Outlook gets into a "thrash" situation whereby your PST file is a) filling all the computer's memory and b) constantly being shuffled on and off the hard disk as you need parts of it.

As a result you should keep your PST file to a maximum size that is half the amount of RAM you have. This is especially true for older versions of Outlook and older computers (XP, Vista). The smaller the better really.

In older versions of Outlook, regardless of the above rule, you should keep the data file less than 1GB in size. Above that and Outlook itself starts to have a hard time.

So, you are here. There's the rock and here's the hard place. What can you do?

Well, before you start playing with these things, the first thing to do is backup all your PST files (because you can actually have more than one in use at a time with Outlook).

If you Google this you'll find numerous suggestions on how to back up your PST files. To keep things simple here I'll suggest you use Microsoft's own PST backup tool that can be found here --->

NB: Instructions for installation and use are also found at that web site.

So, assuming you now have PST backups done, the next thing you need to do is reduce the size of your main PST file.

This is where the pain starts (or continues as the case may be). Every time you try to do something with the overly large PST file it will be loaded into memory by Outlook and slow everything down.

Strategy #1 is: Create an offline Archive (folder/PST file)

This is described quite simply and clearly here --->

What this does is create a PST file that ISN'T loaded into memory until you need it, as opposed to the default/main PST file which is loaded on starting Outlook.

WARNING: The archive process can take a long time to run (certainly the first time) and you should be careful to MOVE and NOT delete old emails during the process.

Once your archive process is set up I suggest you set it to run automatically once a day. The reason for this is that it is easier to find an email in the archive if you know it is there. If you set the archive to process items older than 3 months but only run it every 2 weeks there's a large area of vagueness there.. However, if the process runs daily, the email you receive 1 month and one day ago will be in the archive - there's no two week "maybe it is, maybe it isn't" period.

After running your first big archive you must also Compact the PST file. This process is very simple and described here in detail --->

If your PST is not too huge this procedure will probably suit you well. If it isn't then we have to ramp it up a notch.


Strategy #2 is: Cut your PST file into bits

Stupidly older versions of Outlook can create PST files too big for itself to handle. Yep. Mad huh?

Anyway, in these cases you need to find your PST and cut it into manageable bits and re-attach them to Outlook.

Again there are any number of these tools if you Google for them. And again I'll point to the Microsoft one as a default and safe-ish starting point.

This method is one I don't like and one I suggest you leave to experts and/or extreme circumstances.

It has side effects and may damage some of the data in the PST.

For good measure you must also Compact all PST files.



Strategy #3: Creating a new empty PST file (and [maybe] importing the bits you want from the old one)

Within Outlook itself you can create new PST files and move data to it in a variety of ways.
If your problem data file is still attached to Outlook, then, if you can put of with the frustration, you can simply cut and paste (or copy) what you wan to keep to your new "empty" PST file.

In this BLOG post (http://ihatemypc.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/managing-email-overload.html), I described how you can drag-and-drop your Outlook emails into ordinary folders in My Documents (or anywhere else for that matter). There are quite a few advantages of doing this and moving to this strategy sooner rather than later if you can i.e. before your PST file gets too big - but I am guessing that isn't why you are here right?

As previously mentioned though, as long as the old PST file attached and being accessed Outlook will behave like a pig. So don't expect performance improvements until you detach the original problem PST file.

See "How to manage PST files" here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196492
Also, simple instructions on the PST creation process can be found here http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/how-to/pstfile.htm
See "How to Point Outlook to Your New Personal Folders File" here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291636


If you are finding the whole copy/cut and paste process too painful you can detach the old PST file once you've created your new one and set it as the default.

You can then use Outlook's Import process to bring in the data you want from the old file.
NOTE: This doesn't provide much in the way of filtering options i.e. leaving behind what you don't want, so just be aware that you could end up creating yourself another huge file like the one you already have. Some help on importing data can be found here http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/import-a-file-HP003073738.aspx


NOTE: It is worth pointing out that you'll need to copy appointments in the calendar, tasks, notes and anything else you previously used in the original PST file to the new one or they will disappear when it is detached. Remember, Outlook is more than just email and (nearly) everything you use in it is stored in the PST file.


Strategy #4: forget Outlook altogether and move to something else

This is by far my personal favourite.
I've done it. I ditched Outlook ages ago now and have not had anywhere near the dramas I used to.
Some things have changed and there have been some conveniences I've had to modify but on the whole I am far better off now.
where am I? I am in Google Apps which has email, tasks and great calendars.

Be sure you get the right version. I am on a free version with limited data but my email data can still get to 7GB in size without any cost.

You'll have to do your own math on whether the paid version is good value for you, but I'd suggest if you are having an IT guy around on a semi regular basis to fix your Outlook dramas then moving to Google Apps will probably pay for itself quite quickly.

The main downside with Google apps is that it is cloud based i.e. if you aren't online you aren't functional (mostly).

Having said that, you can use any computer anywhere to see your email etc. and I use my iPhone as a synchronized device and see and do everything I need from there AS WELL AS from my PC.

If you are just using Outlook for email then using the Thunderbird email client from Mozilla is a great option. though, I'd still probably opt for a web mail email client these days and Gmail (without Google Apps) is as good as you get.

Thunderbird, Google Apps and Gmail have extensive documentation on getting your old emails into their systems so I won't go into it here.

Of course, every IT person will have an opinion on this and maybe even some more tips and tricks on sorting out this problem.

One thing is for sure, there's no quick fix and if you are paying for someone else to sort this out it can quickly cost you a lot of money. If you are planning on tackling it yourself then do it outside of work hours and when you aren't using the computer for anything else.

Trust me, you'll need to set these things going and just walk away. You'll need to wait for things to finish more than once during this process. We aren't talking minutes either. Be prepared for a few hours or so at least.

Lastly, there are lots of tools out there on the web that profess to sole all these problems for you in a variety of miraculous ways. Remember, if it looks too good to be true it probably is. If it asks for your credit card number it definitely is. If you must try one of these tools then read all the reviews and carefully and independently check that they deliver as promised. Don't take their word for it.

Good luck.
David Moore

Addendum: During all this you are likely to find that you Outlook PST is broken in other ways. You'll need this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/272227 (FixIt it and SCANPST from Microsoft)

Overheating CPUs

Long before your computers' central processor looks as hot as the one at right, it will be causing you problems.

You'll experience weird behavior, crashes, shutdowns (to protect itself) and more.

If you think your computer is crashing due to overheating, try this program and see hot hot things get. http://tinyurl.com/36rkgq

A Mac version for CPU heat monitoring is here http://bit.ly/eNu63

There is no definitive answer on how hot your cpu should run - they all vary quite a lot and even "identical" cpus will run differently to each other at higher temperatures.

The trick is to keep an eye on the temperatures, note elevations and their correspondence to failures.

We can then take some steps to prevent overheating.

A nice article with some more detail can be found here --->

Does opening your computer & upgrading memory sound scary?

Then you may appreciate the contents of the www.5min.com web site.

They do videos on all sorts of computer related tasks and just about everything else besides.

For example, here is a comprehensive video on how to upgrade the memory in a Netgear Ready NAS device.

Normally this would sound scary to most people. But by watching the video you can see what is inside, how complex the job is and then decide if you want to do it or not.

Of course, memory upgrades are one of the most common upgrades and the easiest way to get extra performance from most computers.

Getting at the memory is only the first step.

For novices I recommend taking the memory you have out of your computer and take it to your local computer store. They'll be able to identify it and provide you with compatible upgrade options.



If you are little be braver, then I recommend you use the Kingston memory web site to find the appropriate upgrade module for your computer then order it through your local store (in case you need to exchange it).

A very general rule of thumb for how much memory you need as a minimum is:

Windows XP - 1GB
Windows Vista 32 bit - 3GB
Windows Vista 64 bit - 4GB
Windows 7 32 bit - 3GB
Windows 7 64 bit - 4GB

If you have much less than this on these systems there is a good chance you'll be hitting some performance road blocks (CPU limitations aside).

For 32 bit versions of Vista and Win 7, due to technical limitations, paying for more than 3GB on these systems is a waste of money.

The perils of using smart phones - small screen, big mistakes...

A client forwarded me a warning to pass on to you.
The message has been edited a little to protect the innocent, the guilty and the muppets who accidentally received a windfall.

"Last Friday night I paid a bill using my Internet banking on the iPhone.  Unfortunately, with the small size of the screen I didn't notice I paid the wrong person (lesson 1 - delete former payees after you finish doing business with them).

When I checked my bank account on Monday morning my heart missed more than 1 beat...I paid $350 to the wrong person

I have since submitted a form to have the $350 recalled...it will take 21 days to get this money back..."

So everyone, be careful when using those little screens and keyboards to do big jobs.

iTunes - clean it up the easy way...

Does your iTunes library resemble a Rat King?

That's the thing pictured at left. Somehow rats in a group get their tails all knotted and end up a big yucky tangled mess.

There are many problems you can experience with your iTunes music library but the main ones for me were duplications and missing songs.

Even though music only existed in one place on my computer, iTunes thought it had multiple copies of it.

Also, where music no longer existed on my computer, iTunes thought it did...lots of it.

If you've ever tried to clean up either of these problems you'll know how painful and time consuming it is with iTunes alone offering no help.

I found a great tool called Teridon's iTunes Scripts (it is the second tool listed on this page).

It is totally free and fixes a bunch of iTunes problems on many versions of iTunes up to the latest.

Teridon's scripts can take a long time to run if you have a reasonable sized library. These are a set and forget clean up process. They could take hours to run but the result is worth it. Fixing databases is time consuming - even more so if you were to try it manually.

Doug has a similar thing available for Mac's.

There's another one called Dupe Eliminator but I haven't tried it and therefore can't vouch for it. It may suit some people better than the script options though.

Stumbling onto Good Stuff - Win 7 Logon Screen Customiser...

I've been on Windows 7 for ages now and the logon screen has annoyed me almost from the get-go.

There's an artistic wisp through it that, to my dodgy eyes, looks like a hair across the screen.

I can't tell you how many times I've tried to pluck that hair off my monitor.

So now I've changed my logon screen to the original Mclaren F1 road car (oh yeah). No plucking hairs there my friends.

This is most easily done with the FREE program Tweaks Logon found here.

Turn webcams into security cameras...

Do you want to monitor your web cam like a security camera?

What if you could do it with FREE software?

What I am talking about is software that automatically keeps an eye of the footage coming from a designated camera and then has the capability to detect changes in that image and notify you in a variety of ways.

I originally used software like this to monitor nocturnal activities in my backyard and was eventually able to verify that we had Bandicoots visiting our Dee Why backyard.

SmartGuard Basic is FREE and does a pretty good job.

You can fine tune the sensitivity of the detection and customise how it alerts you to what is going on in the field of view.

It found both my Cameras with no hassle.

Now to catch that cat in the act! ;-)

Getting rid of Malware yourself (some tips and tools)

Every now and then I get a call ask for help with virus removal by remote control.

Sadly trying to sort out virus problems by remote control is usually a waste of time.

If you are starting your computer "as normal" and trying to install anti-malware or virus removal software then you may well be wasting your time.


The reason being that the virus starts with the operating system and once the system is running the virus it is also the system I need to use for remote control.

So in the majority of cases the virus just keeps re-infecting every time you re-start your computer.

The trick is to not use the built in operating system to eradicate the virus.

This is where we boot from a CD/DVD version of an operating system and use tools thereon to remove the infections.

Sometimes, however, removing the virus, which must be done no matter how you look at it, leaves the operating system itself unusable and the only option remaining is a reload of your computer from scratch (like it was new and just out of the box).


Some "boot disk" options for you to try, as a last resort before reloading the operating as new, are:

http://www.avg.com/us-en/avg-rescue-cd
On another computer, download the provided image and create a boot disk of the AVG rescue software.

The resulting CD boots your pc from the CD thus bypassing the virus startup. It has a better chance of eradicating bad stuff when it isn't running.

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/
Hiren's boot cd is similar but it is a general purpose boot cd that includes anti-malware and antivirus software.

From it you should run Spybot Search and Destroy and any other AV product on it that you fancy.

All this will take hours/overnight so set and forget.

When they are done, remove the disk/s and start your computer and see how well you've done.

I hope that helps.

NOTE 1: You can also use Hiren's for copying off your important documents, photos etc. before running a scan or reinstalling the operating system. Just plug in your USB hard disk or thumb drive before booting Hiren's and you'll be able to see it as an extra drive and copy what you want to it.

NOTE 2: Quite often computers are set to boot from devices starting with Hard Disk and then the CD/DVD after that. To boot off your new boot DVD/CD you'll need to adjust your computer's BIOS to ensure that the DVD/CD drive is first in the Boot Order. This isn't too hard to find but Google your system and how to do it if you aren't confident.

NOTE 3: Because I suggest the use of the AVG Rescue disk here please don't assume this is an endorsement of the AVG products as a whole. Right now nothing could be further from the truth. There general product range is not recommended due to some recent and nasty misbehavior experienced personally and by clients. I'll let you know if that ever changes. For good free AV use AVIRA instead.

Happy Valentines Day

Remember, malware and viruses pray on your affections at this time of year.
be careful. If it's not on, it's not on - your antivirus software that is.

I wish I had the internet when I was at school

I wish I had the internet when I was at school.

It isn't for what you may think either.

It seems students are outsourcing their homework to India. According to an article by ITWire, kids have decided that plagiarizing is too risky. 

So for $2 or less per hundred words they can have an original work produced for them the various online outsourcing systems.

Brilliant! Not that I condone this. They should have to go through the same hell I did (I didn't like school at all...any of it).

There's plenty of software out there designed to catch cheaters who use other people's work as their own. I am not so sure there's anything looking for original works yet :-)

Of course, in the business world we are encouraged to outsource those things we aren't good at.

It seems like some smart kids are getting on the bandwagon early.
Log on, Experiment, Be Safe, Compute Well, Backup Better, Have Fun!

David Moore
I Hate My PC

Lookout! Outlook Crashing ahead...

I used to love the things that Outlook did for me but I got sick of how often it crashed.

To be fair not all the crashes are Outlook's fault.

A lot of them are caused by other programs that want access to Outlook for some reason or another. For example your antimalware program will want to scan emails for viruses and maybe manage your spam too.

If these "plug-ins" are misbehaved then they can bring Outlook down with them. Sometimes just the plug-ins themselves disappear and leave Outlook intact. The problem then is having to constantly re-install the plug-in.

To be clear I am talking about Outlook 2007, that is what I am currently using, but the general steps I am outlining below do apply to older and newer versions of Outlook.

Microsoft know there are a lot of issues with Outlook and how plug-ins affect it. So they've built some useful things into Outlook itself AND written a tool or two to help you clean things up.

IMPORTANT: Before you start playing, backup your Outlook data!

Firstly, when Outlook does crash it can make a mess of the PST files where it keeps ALL your data...all of it!

The way to fix corrupted Outlook data files is to use Microsoft's SCANPST.EXE program - sometimes called the "Inbox Repair Tool". This link is to an exhaustive "how-to" for the tool from Microsoft themselves, so I won't reproduce it here.

However, you should run the SCANPST.EXE against all your PST data files every few months or so. Most people are likely to have an Outlook.pst and an Archive.PST file. Some will have more.

This scanning process can take quite some time and you can't have Outlook running while you are doing it. So do it Outside of work hours and when you don't urgently need to collect email.

SCANPST.EXE almost always finds errors so don't panic. It also quite often magically allows a crashing Outlook to start working again. Outlook often crashes on start-up because the data it is getting from the Outlook.PST in unintelligible to it.

Secondly, Outlook provides several ways to undo or disable the various customisations that plug-ins have made.

Outlook has a "Trust Center" and some command line switches which override and stop certain things happening. Troubleshooting these crashes can be a lengthy process of elimination by trial and error. Again, the link above provides exhaustive steps on how to do this.

The command line switch that worked like magic for me was "/cleanviews". It restored the way Outlook appears to defaults. I have since left the views at defaults and not yet lost my favourite plug-in.

The best strategy is to disable all plug-ins (except anti-virus) and perform a strategic subset of the command line switches to restore your Outlook to near-new status.

If Outlook still crashes disable everything including antivirus plug-ins, perform more aggressive command line clearing and rescan all PST files in case recent crashes have re-introduced corruption.

If Outlook then behaves itself you can either live with it the way it is or slowly, one-by-one turn the plug-ins back on at the rate of one per day and see if Outlook starts crashing again on the day one of them is re-enabled. That will most likely be your trouble child. Disable it for good!

As I said, fixing Outlook problems can be lengthy and the causes greatly varied.

Outlook on Vista seems particularly problematic and potentially unfixable without a re-install of Office in its entirety or worse still the Vista operating system itself.

For my money it would be better to go to an alternate email program, task manager and calendar than re-install the operating system to fix an Outlook problem.

If you aren't completely scarred by Microsoft and want an Outlook like email program then Windows Live Mail is quite good and free. Thunderbird is the best non-Microsoft email program in my opinion and also free.

Personally, I'm with Google app's now and using Gmail.

Good luck!

Stumbling onto Good Stuff - Win 7 Calculator Converts Anything To Anything...

Despite being post-decimalisation I still often only know measurements in feet, inches and pounds...oh yeah and stones (whatever they are).

While mucking around with a FaceBook post that was supposed to be hilarious, I wanted to convert my wife Susan's height and weight from imperial to metric.

Of course there are plenty of online tools for this but for some inexplicable reason I thought I'd check out the Windows 7 built-in calculator.

This occurred to me because I remember the Vista calculator doing more than the XP calculator and I wondered if Win7 had upped the ante any.

It sure has! The Win7 calculator will seemingly convert anything to and from anything else.

If I wanted to I could have converted Susan's height from Angstroms to Rods!

I don't know what either of those things are! Still, it is good to know...just in case.

"10 Great Productivity tools that aren't Open Office"

Techworld published an article called "10 Great Productivity tools that aren't Open Office". This means that, including Open Office, there's 11.

I suppose the point is that these tools kind of overlap with Open Office here and there. The best thing about these freebies is that the save you from spending hundreds of dollars on Microsoft Office.

Sometimes you "just have to have MS Office", but if you don't, then these bits and pieces will serve you well.

Free games for the kid in everyone

Buying computer games can be expensive and the platforms on which they live can also be somewhat, shall we say, "transient".

Getting them free is pretty nice and even better when the games you are getting are decent.

The Bit Rebels web site has a list of 23 free games.
One thing to be careful about is the size of the downloads. Often what makes a game decent is the content and effort gone into it. So some of these are large downloads.

The BMW promotional V8 M3 racing program is about 350MB alone.

There's something for everyone's tastes from 3D shoot-em-ups to driving simulators to strategy games.

Knock your self out and save a bundle in the process of having fun!

Media Player Classic (it works)

Every now and then I hit a roadblock with playing videos. Instead of banging my head against the wall and wasting time I simply install Media Player Classic. 

If it looks familiar that is because it is. This is the original windows media long since dumped.

Some geeks have picked up the code and carried it forward. It is simple and works well.

Moving "My Documents"

Has your hard disk filled up prematurely or your computer behaving strangely for no clear reason?

Well, on older windows XP machines some hardware vendors decided to put the operating system on one small partition (the "c: drive") and the "data" on another (usually d: drive or sometimes another letter).

The thing is they usually failed to properly inform any of their customers about this.

What happens then is that everything you add to your computer automatically goes to the small partition and leaves you larger "data" partition empty.

Pretty clever eh? No!

One of the easiest and quickest ways to alleviate this problem is to simply relocate your "My Documents" folder for each of the users (logins) on the computer to the "data" drive.

If you are interested in doing this there is a clear explanation of it here at techsupportalert.com.

If you've been naturally using "My Documents" to store everything this will result in a freeing up of disk space that will have no effect on the way you work.

If, however, you are using your "C: drive" and creating folders outside of "My Documents" you'll need to manually move those ones.

Once you become aware of your data drive you should install programs to it if and when you are prompted with a location for your new application.

If you are keen, or have no choice, you can uninstall older programs and reinstall them to the data drive. Make sure you saves any settings or data that goes with those programs first though.

Have fun with that and then run a couple of "defrag's" to get some of your c: drive's performance back. More about that some other time :-)

Creditor Watch - Get PAID!

For those of us in business sometimes just getting paid for a job can be a nightmare.

It is not enough that we invest our hearts, skills and minds to fixing our customers problems and making them happy.

We do have to eat.

For reasons only known to the unscrupulous sometimes people just refuse to pay. It is not our fault and we may never fully understand why.

The only solution is to avoid these people in the first place.

If you followed the link to the Dynamic Business web site above, you may have seen an ad for Creditor Watch.

Creditor Watch promises to help us with just that.

Even if you can't afford to sign up I suggest you enter into the 3 months free trial and swell their database with the names of the shonky and the downright criminal.

They know who they are, so should we! ;-)

Don't Touch My Computer

On a regular basis I am reminded of the importance of only letting the right people use my computer.

You may, or may not, be surprised at how many disaster scenarios that I am asked to fix start with "So-and-so was using my computer when..."

If you only have one computer that you share between your business and personal life it can be tempting to give in to requests from others for access to it.

Well meaning relatives and friends, your kids, neighbors and heaven forbid, strangers.

If the contents of your computer are important to you then the simple answer is 'NO". You don't have to be rude but you do have to be firm and resolute.

The same thing applies to mobile phones and/or smart phones.

It may sound harsh but I feel quite strongly about this. Sometimes we computer guys and gals just can't perform the miracle.

Of course, redundant computers, sacrificial "kids machines" and appropriate backup strategies lesson this problem.

But let's face it, no-one looks forward to the hassle of the lost computer regardless of how or why it happens.

A byte of prevention is better than a Terabyte of cure. {I had to do that:-)}

When is the last time you changed your passwords...to everything...I mean all of them!

I'm sure some of you have shared passwords with various entities for one reason or another just "because you have to" to get things done.

It may have been a telephone support person, it may have been your computer guy, it may have been a family member or any other number of people.

It could also be that your password is not actually that hard to guess and, sooner or later, as long it remains in use by you, the likelihood of it being cracked increases.

It could be that your password, you know, the same one you use for everything, was just emailed back to you in plain text from some web site you just subscribed to...that is bad by the way!

Have you just had a dispute with someone who may know your passwords? Then it is time to change them quick smart!

Sometimes systems force you to use short and poor passwords. If that is the case then change them more often and don't store anything important or valuable with that system or entity.

The longer your password and the more it includes variations such as numbers, capitalization, special characters and such the less likely it is to be "guessed" by humans or password cracking software.

Of course, most of us will have many passwords for many things these days.

I usually designate a week or a month "password change time" so that whenever I visit a site or system I know to change the password (as opposed to trying to track them all down in one go).

It is a pain, but less painful than the alternatives.