Cold Weather Computer Care

As the thermometer dips down, there are a few considerations for keeping your tech equipment safe.

• Don't leave your equipment in the car. The plastic can get hard and will crack easier with impact.
• Don't position your tower near a heating vent. The heat will kick on more when it's cold and heat is a natural enemy of electronics.
• Discharge static electricity before you touch your computer. The static you build up walking across the carpet is more than enough to fry your processor.
• Expect outages; inclement weather and outages go together. If it's absolutely vital you maintain your internet connection, then have a backup internet such as a cellular tether or a landline. A UPS can assist with electrical outages.
• Many tech items go on sale after the holidays so save some cash for then. ;)

Be prepared and you'll see spring flowers before you know it!

What is a Beta Version?

A beta version is a program version that is still in development and/or testing. Under most circumstances I would not recommend downloading them. The exception to this is when you have a computer that can be scrapped and easily reimaged. You don't know how your system will react to a beta version and if it will be easy to uninstall.

I only download beta versions on computers that are not the primary storage location for my data. The reason I am cautioning you is a new version for Adobe Reader has been released to besta testing. It purports to fix security holes which is a good thing, but I'm not sure it's worth installing the beta versioni of the software. I'm not a fan of trying out new software on a production system.

As with any time you do an install of sotware, it's a good idea to create a system restore point prior to downloading the software.

Your Outlook Needs to Go on a Diet!!!

It's too fat. Sorry to say that, but you got to trim your PST (personal storage file) down! Supposedly Outlook 2007 resolved the 2 GB limit for a PST file, but really it didn't. If your Outlook PST grows to 2 gb it will malfunction. You won't be able to send and receive. You could lose data. There are things that you can do now to prevent that from happening. It takes just a little effort, but you can manage your PST size so that it stays in optimal shape.

To check and see if your PST is too "fat" go to File, Folder, Properties for Inbox and click on Folder size. If it's approaching 2,000,000 kb you are heading for serious PST health issues and need to put your PST on a diet. Why put off checking the size? You can take a moment now to check your Outlook PST size. ;)

1. Delete away. Anything you really don't need delete it.
2. Archive. Archive anything over 6 months old. You can still get to the emails, but the messages are cut out of the PST reducing the size of the PST. Shave them away often. :)
3. Compress your PST once per quarter. It's kind of like defragging your PST. Also do this if you have recently archived for the first time. Your Outlook will still think it's fat and malfunction. It's like the lady who lost 100 lbs and then went shopping in the women's department. Somebody had to tell her go shopping in the misses department now!  Your PST will think it is still fat until you compress it. Go to Tools, Account Settings, Data Files, and choose your personal folders. Then click on Compact Now.

I recommend making a new archive folder every year so that your archive folders don't get too fat either. I hope that helps.

Can You Repeat That?

I hate calling customer support and reaching India, the Phillipines, or South America. Ticks me off to no end. We have lots of folks here in America who need jobs, yet companies ship our jobs overseas to profit foreign economies. What we are left with is poor customer service.

I do customer service for a living so I know a bit about what customers expect.

• Good connections. When the connection is so bad that you and the other party can't hear each other it's time to complain to the vendor that transferred you to the other side of the world. Don't stand for it.
• Good communication skills. The English level needs to be at a level that is comfortable to the customer. It really chaps my hide when I have to spell my first name. My first name is J as in Juliett, A as in Alpha, N as in November, E as in Echo, T as in Tango--Janet like Janet Jackson. 
• Speedy service. People don't want to be tossed from queue to queue with no resolution. 
• The ability to escalate to a manager. Don't tell us that there is no manager because that is total BS.
• Resolution. At the end of the day we just want our problem solved. 

If all the companies that outsourced their service abroad, pulled out and gave those jobs to Americans it would make a big impact on our economy. Write your representative and tell him/her there should be tighter regulations regarding outsourcing. 

OMG-I Can't Believe THIS Happened to ME!!

If you clicked on my Facebook post to get to this article, you are exactly the type of person that needs to read this article.

Sorry, I got you here on false pretenses, but you are causing me a lot of grief. My friends are getting infected because of what you are doing wrong on Facebook. Facebook is a dangerous place. If you are going to use Facebook you have to change your ways my friends.

Facebook streams post a lot of curious items that are hard to resist. Every time you click on "GIVE PERMISSION" you are GIVING PERMISSION. Would you give your enemy your coworkers' personal information? Would you want your enemy to infect your coworkers' computers? That's what you are doing. I've lost count of how many of you have fallen prey to this.

It's time to arm yourself. Here's how:

• NEVER EVER USE IE (internet explorer) FOR FACEBOOK. It's too risky. It's unprotected facebooking! It's 2010 almost 2011. Put on your Firefox or Chrome protection before you facebook!
• Never facebook while drinking. Your judgement is impaired and you are more likely to click on some outrageous link.
• Make sure your virus protection and malware protection is up to date and scanning regularly.
• Don't do ANYTHING new on Facebook. Wait for others to try it and mess up their computers first. I'm not talking about a new feature of an app that you have been using quite awhile on FB. I'm talking about a new app that your friends advertise that you have to try. If someone came to you on the street corner and said I've got these little blue pills you just have to try, would you? Of course not. But that is what you are doing with your computers. You are being wreckless and getting hijacked in the process.

Sorry that I have been so hard on you, but if this helps you from messing up your computer, then it has been worth it.  Good luck and happy, safe facebooking!
xoxo Janet

Don't Overstuff Outlook!

The set of folders where you store emails in Outlook, your contacts, your calendar all comprise your PST (personal storage) file. Supposedly Microsoft fixed the 2 gb limit on these with Office 2003. If you believe them that is. I don't because I see them broken. Yesterday I dealt with three broken PST files. They were overstuffed and stopped functioning. Most of the time Outlook users lose emails when their PST break. The three users I assisted yesterday were lucky and didn't lose any emails.

What can you do to prevent Outlook from breaking?

1. archive (under File and Archive)- do this monthly. Create a new archive file each year using the year as part of the archive file name so that you can find your archived emails easily.
2. delete emails- do this daily. After you have dealt with an email delete it.  After you've read a joke, forward it then delete it or simply delete it. Save photos you need to your hard drive then delete them from email.

When you archive emails they become a separate file and it reduces the size of your PST. After you archive a large amount of emails, you need to compress the PST file. Go to Tools, Account Settings, Data Files and click on Personal Folders. Click on Settings and then Compact Now. This has the same effect on a PST as it does to defrag your hard drive. Warning: compressing your PST can take a very long time (same as defrag) and your Outlook will be unavailable to you until the compression is finished.

Hope this helps.

Your DSL Modem is Not a Modem!

OK it's not your fault you call it a modem. Even providers call them modems so it's a natural mistake. Even to avoid confusion, I refer to it as your DSL modem. A modem  modulates and demodulates a digital signal to analog and then back to digital. A DSL "modem" is a digital signal that stays digital all the way. It gets a piggyback ride on your phone line giving you 12-15 mbps downloads and 1mbps uploads. Most of your activity is going to be downloading so it's acceptable.

DSL is faster than dialup and usually pretty reliable. Your bandwidth is not shared. The bandwidth for your DSL (digital subscriber line) is not shared with your neighbors. Some rural areas might not be able to get DSL, the cost is high ($20-30) and even some buildings with old wiring can't support the higher speed DSL. You can hook up your wireless to it which ticks phone companies off; they'd prefer to make more money on you. DSL requires more equipment. You need noise filters put on EACH line so that when you are using the Internet at the same time as the phone you don't hear strange noises. DSL may fall into oblivion as many folks are opting to do without landlines and just have cell phones.

Oh.. ps.. a DSL modem is really an endpoint.  They function like a bridge or router.

To see if DSL is available in your area contact your telephone company or visit http://www.dslreports.com/