To Pop or Not to Pop: That's the Question!

If you're asking me for my advice, I'd advise not to.We're talking email. POP3 vs. IMAP. At the company I work for, we've got two choices for configuring an email client (such as Outlook or Thunderbird): POP3 or IMAP.

POP3 email retrieves email from the email server. It then erases it from the server while storing it on the local computer. You can choose to keep a copy of the email on the server, but you have to manually go in and clean up your email on the server after you've already cleaned it out of your email client. If your local computer crashes, probably you will lose your email (unless you've backed it up to another location). Once it pops, there it stays! It's stored in a PST (personal storage) folder until you delete it.


IMAP email is stored on an internet server. If the local computer is lost, crashed or stolen, the email is still retrievable. If you want to have your email sent to your smartphone, but still need to access your email on a computer, you'll want to choose IMAP email. With IMAP email configured on your smartphone, you can delete your email once on your phone and it's gone from the server... eliminating the need to delete the email twice. You'll have two PST's on your computer if you configure IMAP email. One PST is for personal storage of anything that you don't want to keep in the IMAP folder and the other PST tells the email client how to get to the IMAP folder on the Internet. It's kind of like an appendix; you can delete it without too many negative consequences.

If you have more than one person accessing a mailbox, you need to decide how you will use that mailbox. If you want each person to see every email in that box, then forward the email popping it down to each person that needs to see it. If you want the person who deals with the email to erase it and eliminate the need for a second/third person to read the email, then you'll want to configure IMAP email.

Some of you may have heard about an email system called Exchange. Many organizations have moved away from Exchange because of the costs and the amount of administration that is required to maintain it. Usually an organization will need a full-time person just to deal with an Exchange server. It's cheaper to pay a third-party to host email. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it unless the organization had more than 10,000 employees. It's a powerful email system, but overkill for most companies. Email is stored in an OST file in Exchange on a company-owned or rented computer.  An OST and PST file are not interchangeable. If you have to go from one to another, a conversion has to be done.

Patch Tuesday Blues

Ok, I know it's Monday, but tomorrow is Patch Tuesday and I'm not caught up from last Patch Tuesday yet. For those of you who don't know what Patch Tuesday is, it is Microsoft's day to release updates to their operating system. The reason it gives me the blues is because I try my hardest to keep everything up to date and then in one fell swoop, I'm behind again. Last week Microsoft was especially evil (or good-I'm not sure) and they released a record-breaking 17 updates fixing 64 security flaws. OMG, a woman's work is never going to get done at that rate.

If automatic updates is enabled on your computer, you can save yourself a lot of hassle. Especially if you have the computer powered on AND logged on when the update is supposed to take place. Most of you are dreaming about days at the beach when this takes place. The default time is 3 am. Laptops provide more of a challenge since they are powered off at 3 am, but you can set them to automatically run still. Just choose a time when the computer will be on with the option to ask before applying.

For those of you with Microsoft Security Essentials, updates to that roll out with automatic updates. So, good choice!

The difference between a service pack and a patch is the size and the scope. Usually a service pack is huge and is almost a reinstall of the program. You are notified that a service pack is available through automatic updates, but it doesn't install automatically. That is because Microsoft recommends that you back up your data before applying a service pack.


Don't forget your patches maties, argggggggggggggggg!

Backing Up Email Contacts for a Rainy Day

OK, it's rainy, yucky weather; what are you going to do????? Why not back up your email contacts? Hooray, sounds like a plan.

In Outlook:

• go to File,
• Import and Export,
• Export to a File and Next,
• choose Comma Separated Values (dos or windows) and Next,
• Browse to Contacts and Next,
• Type in "my contacts", then Next and Finish.  

Great!  You are done! Now you can import your contacts into a web-based mail system. The mycontacts.csv file should be located in my documents (by default).  Import it to at least one web-based mail system or save the file on a flash drive or external hard drive. You'll have some peace of mind knowing you won't lose your email contacts if your hard drive gets zapped by stormy weather!

Is is Adware or Not?

Many computer users download extra items from the net and then experience negative side effects from that software. One of the most common complaints is system sluggishness. Another is inability to connect to any internet site other than the one  where you have to spend money to get hijacked. Let me help clear up some confusion about what is and isn't adware.

Adware is unwanted advertisements that are delivered to your desktop. Here's what adware does:

• unwanted pop ups
• system performance decrease
• browser hijacks
• embeds itself deep into the registry (inner kernal of the operating system) so that total removal is complicated
• sends private information to other computers for malicious use

How do you know what is and isn't adware? Googling is a good first step, but users often look to the wrong sources for their information. The "company" that manufactures the software isn't a good place to obtain your information. Tech sites are a more reliable source, but you also have to get antivirus manufacturer opinions and look at dates on the pages too. McAfee site advisor can tell you if a website has problems, but not the software that you may download from it.

Let's take Smiley Central as our example to look at. If we go to the smileycentral.com home page we see that they are offering a free product (smileys). We won't talk about how annoying these smileys are to our customers, but what they do your system.  If you run Hijack This program, you will see all the "hooks" that this program puts into your computer. Even on a new computer, you can notice some sluggishness after installing it. If you are very familiar with Windows processes, you can pull up task manager and examine the amount of memory the process eats up.

Tech recommendations are also a good way to find out if a software is harmful to your computer or not. Tech websites and antivirus software websites are a good way to check out a program. General user sites and recommendations are not good places to check for recommendations. Reading that it's ok in a friend's blog isn't ok. Wikipedia isn't an OK source.

Stay safe.

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.