Outsmart Technology

Getting a fresh start with Windows - reformatting - the whens and whys

November 28, 2007 – 12:29 am
I've been using some version of Microsoft Windows for as long as I've been in front of a computer. Starting with Windows 2000, I think it's become a great operating system (OS). The prior iterations (95, 98, ME) were too buggy, but 2000 and XP were a step in the right direction. Does this apply to me? While Windows is a pretty good OS, I'll be the first to admit that learning to reformat and re-install is one of the most important computer tasks you can learn. What does it mean to reformat? Basically you're deleting everything off you hard drive and starting over. Keep in mind, that means everything on your drives will be gone. Obviously, before you attempt this you need to make sure you have your important data backed up in some fashion. I'll get into more of that later.

Posted in Required Reading, PC, Tips & Tricks, Intermediate | 1 Comment »

Anti-virus: Stop spending your money

August 11, 2007 – 8:56 pm
This is my first Q&A article. My good friend Dan called me up yesterday asking about anti-virus programs. He bought a used laptop that came with a virus scanner on it, he wanted to know if he should buy another one or if there's a good free one he can use. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I like cheap and I like free. I'm a bit frugal, so what? I figure why would I bother paying for anti-virus software when I could get perfectly acceptable solution for the cost of zero dollars.

Posted in Required Reading | 2 Comments »

Logmein - kicking sliced bread in the buns

July 30, 2007 – 2:09 pm
Since I've been around sliced bread my whole life, I must be somewhat jaded by how great it is since I think Logmein will give it a serious run for it's money in the "greatest invention since..." category. Logmein is a small program that runs in your computer's system tray that allows you to access and (literally) control your computer from any other computer that can access the internet. We call this remote access - or in layman's terms "Gee, that sure is super neato!". I use this program all the time, it's extremely convenient. The more you use computers, the more you begin to rely on them. On a daily basis I will use Logmein to connect to my computer at home to e-mail a file to myself, enter something into Microsoft Money, even just see if my friends are signed on to IM.

Posted in Tips & Tricks, Intermediate, Beginner | 1 Comment »

A tale of two email addresses

July 16, 2007 – 11:32 pm
How much spam to you get in your inbox a day? Spam, that not-so-pleasant reminder that it's anything goes on the Internet, accounts for around 80% of all e-mail sent in the country. I'm no math major, but that seems like a lot. Not only is it annoying, but another types of my definition of spam (any unwanted and unsolicited email), that includes phishing attempts or various forms of malware attachments, can seriously harm your computer or even your own identity. A lot of phishing attempts start with an official looking e-mail from a bank, paypal, ebay, etc. telling you there is some sort of problem with your account, suspected fraud (the phishers seem to have an ironic sense of humor), or something along those lines. When you click the link in the e-mail to log into the site, you're taken to a page that very much ...

Posted in Required Reading, Tips & Tricks, Beginner | No Comments »

Speed up your system using msconfig

July 10, 2007 – 12:43 am
The very first thing I do when someone complains their computer is running too slow is see what they have running in the system tray. For those of you unfamiliar with your friendly neighborhood system tray, it's the area on your toolbar that shows the time, and it usually has a bunch of icons next to it. In this case, those colorful little icons are now your enemy. Each one represents an application sapping those precious CPU cycles and bogging your system down. Luckily, in Windows XP and Windows 98 there is a handy little utility called msconfig. If you're running Windows 2000, you're going to need to acquire it. I'm not sure the legalities of it, but since it should have been included in Windows 2000, I don't think you have too much to worry about. A quick google search and I found instructions ...

Posted in Required Reading, PC, Tips & Tricks, Intermediate | No Comments »

Kick Internet Explorer to the curb

July 6, 2007 – 12:24 am
It's been a long time since I've used Internet Explorer (IE) as my primary web browser, though I can still remember how long I held out. Part of being a nerd is being an early adopter of technology, isn't it? I'm the type of person that hates hype, if something is 'all the rage', I tend to refuse to acknowledge it and avoid it like the plague. I thought my precious IE was good enough. It probably didn't help that the only competitor IE had in those days (in my opinion) was Opera. Opera promised a speedy browsing experience, but it wasn't free, didn't support Javascirpt, and my dad used it. How cool could it be if my dad was using it? Netscape and Mozilla were a few other alternatives, but they were ugly, and I though there was no real reason ...

Posted in Required Reading, PC, Tips & Tricks, Beginner | 3 Comments »