Back again

Well, it's been a while .... too long ...  again....
But, I'm back.  I will be working on posting useful tech nuggets again. 

One of the questions I have gotten lately is can older laptops be upgraded?  My answer is ... yes, most of the time.  I have been doing two specific things recently to upgrade laptops.  

1. Upgrade RAM.  Most laptops can have more memory added to it.  From a tech cost, adding memory is very inexpensive (especially from a cost to benefit analysis). 

• The first thing is to find out how much memory your laptop has.  I frequently use crucial.com, it has a scanner that your can use to find out how much memory your laptop has and how much it can have.
• With that information, you can then browse that web for the best prices for the memory.
• Installing memory (on most laptops) is fairly easy, if you don't have a geek at your disposal, try searching the Internet for the service manual for your particular laptop.

I will post the second piece tomorrow.

G33k

Free Alternatives to MS Office

   Microsoft Office is one of most widely recognized and used office software suites world wide.  Most of us have used or are using currently.  The problem has become what to use (especially at home), when MS Office isn't on the computer.  As many of us know, to purchase MS Office for your computer can get very expensive.  So are there any other options (especially free ones) that can open, edit and save office documents?  The short answer is YES (and they are FREE)!!!!
   There are two software packages that I like to use.  OpenOffice and LibreOffice are both open sources packages.  LibreOffice is actually an off shoot from OpenOffice.  Both are great alternatives.  They are easy to download and install.  The both have pieces to create word documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.  These can be saved as MS Office documents or the native ODF file format (there a # of other file formats that one can choose while saving documents).
   One of the few consistent complaints that I get is that when you start either OpenOffice or LibreOffice for the first time, the software takes a minute to load so that you can start using it.  Once the software has been loaded once, it opens quickly after that.  Once the computer gets restarted, OpenOffice or LibreOffice will load slowly the first time you start it again.  Trust me, it's barely even an inconvenience compared to the functionality of the two software packages. 
   My next post will discuss a couple of cloud computing options that can be used as an alternative to MS Office.

Tech G33k

Fun geek stuff/gear

I will get back to more serious posts soon, but I did want to share this with you.  With graduation time upon us as well as Father's Day soon arriving, it's inevitable that is or will be a geek in your life.  One of the best places to find fun geek gear is thinkgeek.com.  There is everything from great t-shirts to office toys and even zombie gear (since that is all the rage right now).  Every year on April 1st, this site is known for posting some great April Fools items (a well known and published event every April).  There are some great laughs on the site, have fun browsing.

Tech G33k

Choosing a CPU

   When I first started in the tech world, a Pentium II running at 400 Megahertz was screaming fast.  Things have changed greatly since then.  One of the more recently conversations that I've had with people has been revolving around what processor should they get with their new device. Again, back in the day, when you bought a computer, you did so with the idea of upgrading/replacing the processor and newer/faster processors hit the market.  Those time have definitely gone by the wayside.  Now when you get a device, the basic assumption will be that you won't be changing out the components (for the most part).  There are more processor out there than I would want to shake a stick at, even so, there are some good things to know about some of the process offerings out there.
   Intel has introduced the Core i7 processor.  So the question is i5 vs. i7 processor.  My advice usually revolves around the planned use of the new device. 
   For the majority of people, the processor (whatever it is will be more than enough).  Most of the new processor will easily handle the common tasks of internet access, email, document creation and other everyday tasks.  For those who are more of the gamer variety or video rendering/creation, a faster processor is a better idea.
   PCMag.com has a great article about the i5 processor vs. the i7 processor.  The article isn't very long and does a good job of breaking down some the tech jargon.  It's worth a read if you are going to be in the market for a new device soon.

Tech G33k

Browser wars are continuing

    For years, Internet Explorer has been the top web browser.  It comes installed with all versions of Windows and thus is used by many.  Though IE has been replaced as the top browser.  Google Chrome has taken over the top spot.  That's the story that StatCounter is reporting.  Whether the survey is accurate or off some, they underlying story is that Chrome is rising and moving past FireFox (a personal favorite of mine) and IE is losing users.  If you haven't tried Chrome or Firefox, I would encourage you to install it and give them both a try.

   One of my favorite things about Firefox is all the add ons that you can add.  There are ad blockers, download helpers, customizations and on and on and on.  Once you have Firefox, just start Firefox and click on "Tools" and "Add-ons."  Google Chrome also has add-ons, click on the wrench (located to the right of the address bar), click on "Settings" and then on "Extensions."  From there you can browse the gallery of available extensions.  To start with, you may want to look at the popular extensions/add-on for Chrome or Firefox. 

Tech G33k

Parental Monitoring Software

Recently, I was asked about ways to monitor their children's Internet usage.  For the moment, I don't have a lot of experience with parental monitoring software.  So while I'm researching it, I'm going to post information around tools parents can use to monitor the Internet activity at home (for the purpose of helping keep their children safe).  Here one article at PCMag.com that give some good advice and help understand some the areas that parents should be aware of.

Tech G33k

Follow up to FBI turning off servers

    In a previous post, I mentioned that the FBI will be turning off some servers that could cause some people to lose their Internet Access. 

    Here is a link that is being offered to test whether your computer could be infected with the DNS changer virus.  It's simple website that will tell you if your computer may have been compromised by this virus.

   Here is some additional information about the virus and the site that you can use to check your computer.

Tech G33k