Microsoft Windows; why so slow after 6 months
Comments (1)Hi All, It’s been awhile but, well you know business can be time consuming., but i digress.
This Blog I wanted to talk about MS windows and why it appears to slow down over time. Well, unlike the MAC OS, when windows is installed there are thousands of files created on the hard drive. Now a lot of these files are referred to as DLL or dynamic link libraries. In layman’s terms what they are are small programs the perform a specific function. if you were to put them all in one file it would be way to big to handle. Now, the purpose of this has some plus sides. For example when another software manufacturer creates something ( we’ll use adobe acrobat as an example) what adobe will do is utilize the dll files that have been installed and sometimes even modify them by adding their own code to the file but leaving the rest in tact. This is a good idea, however after time these dll file can get corrupted and therefore your computer starts to slow down.
This is only one reason for the slowness. Another one is referred to as defragmentation.
This is a process where files are created and deleted every time you turn on your computer and use it. Now to grasp the concept, try this. Imagine your looking down on a large highway. All you see is cars and trucks of different colors. Now imagine each car that is the same color represents part of one file, well you’ll probably see, lets use blue, all over the place, in different lines, hard to keep track of all the different colors eh. Everything is fragmented all over the place.
Well this is what your hard drive looks like after a few months of use. There is however a fix. It’s called defragmentation. Microsoft has given this utility free as part of the Operating System. Thing is, How and when do you use it? What’s the Best way to use it.
Well, I suggest the following…
Since the “defrag” is actually moving bits and pieces of data from all over the place back into a contiguous set of files, you may want to do this when there is a reduced risk of power loss. The chance of not being able to reboot the pc if you loose power during a defrag is high, but once complete your computer should perform better.
Also I suggest that you reboot your system into safe mode to reduce the programs that are running in the background. If it’s running it doesn’t get defragged.
Oh yes, while you are running the defrag you should not use the computer as this will only add time and complexity to the already complex process of defraging.
You can find the defrag utility usually under system tools and it’s called “ Disk Defragmenter”
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Thanks
Laptops vs. Desktop the controversy
Over the years I have been asked many times as to which is better, laptop or desktop. Well this time I’ve decided to give some pros and cons about both. Could be a long article! I’d like to give you a little of my history when it comes to both. Over the last 17 or so years I have had the fortunate opportunity to change my laptop almost every year. This has given me the opportunity to experience the different models and features of different manufactures.
Let’s start with the laptop.
- PRO : Probably the most obvious one is convenience. The ability to have all your data and applications in one movable machine does sound very interesting. And it is true. Today’s’ laptops are so full of functionality and portability why would you consider anything else.
- PRO: Today you can load up a laptop with tons of ram and disk space, and even have quad core cpu’s, so again it’s great because you don’t have the same restrictions as in older models that used to.
- PRO: Now if you’re a desktop fan, there are laptops that support a device called a port replicator or docking station. Both perform relatively the same function. The docking station, however may allow secondary hard drives and / or CD/DVD and other features, whereas the port replicator will not have the secondary hard drive and /or CD/DVD. So what do these devices do you may ask. Well in short form, they turn your laptop into a fully functional desktop without always having to connect an external keyboard, mouse, monitor, network, printer, scanner speakers, and usb devices. All these devices are permanently connected to the docking station.
- CON: Why would you want that you may ask, well first and foremost, try working on a 12-14 inch laptop screen for 8 hours a day. It’s pretty uncomfortable. Some laptops have a little kludge to get the numeric key pad engaged. Although some of the bigger laptops have full keyboards.
- CON: Another reason. Price. To be able to get all the same features that a desktop has in a laptop, you may be looking and almost twice the price, completely depending on a plethora of options you take.
- CON: When you do decide to take the laptop away from its comfort zone, meaning working with it on your lap, the battery life may only be between 2 to 4 hours. This of course depends on the power settings. But oh the freedom to go where you want.
Now for the Desktop.
- PRO: desktops are cheaper. Without a doubt a desktop is much cheaper because it can be configured in many different ways, whereas laptop configurations (hardware wise) are usually limited to memory and disk space. That isn’t to say that you wouldn’t spend $4000.00 on a desktop. You could very easily. But you can easily customize a desktop for your particular needs and not spend a fortune.
- PRO: If you have no intention to migrate to any other location then why spend more money than you need to do your job or check email or surf the web or whatever you do.
- PRO: In most cases desktops are faster at processing data. I say most cases, because, although I have seen some pretty impressive laptops beat desktops at processing data, those laptops are usually the high end expensive ones.
- CON: You can’t take it with you on vacation. Nuff said.
- CON: They do take up more space and consume more power.
Generally speaking, The first thing you should be doing is looking at your requirements. Then once you know what you want, if you have the bucks, then buy a high-end laptop with a docking station and get almost the best of both worlds.
For the budget conscious then either a low end laptop or desktop will do the job.
Let me know what you think. This is just my opinion.
MS Word 2003 vsv MS Word 2007
I had a client that was doing some wedding invitations for her Friend. She had asked if it was alright if she uses my printer as hers was, to say the least, about to die of server old age. OK, no problem I said, bring me the files and I’ll help you out.
She had already done most of the work using MS Office Word 2007. I figured ok no problem that’s what I have on my desktop. But therein lays the problem. Installed on her laptop is Ms Office 2007. All measurements for MS Word were set to metric. On my desktop, Ms Office 2007, Word measurements are in inches, and of course to be different again, on my wife’s machine Ms Office 2003, Word measurements are in metric. And she wanted to work in inches on her laptop. My wife had also mentioned sine I’m changing hers to also please change her 2003 version to inches
My challenge, since I have not had to deal with this in the 2007 version, was how to reconfigure MS word 2007 to inches. Thanks to the internet and a few minutes. This is what I found:
Talk about getting quick help. I knew how to do it in MS Word 2003, but where to go in MS Wood 2007, The answer was presented in video. Cool.
John Palamar
A Guide To Wireless Security
Hi Me again,
I though this time I would give you some advice that I received on how to setup your wireless environment. Some of the info comes from sources I have read, so not everything written in this blog is mine.
All wireless security employs encryption, which uses a mathematical process to “scramble” each data packet before it is sent out over the antenna, and then “descrambles” each packet back into its original form on the receiving end. Your NIC (network interface card) can encrypt data being sent to the wireless access point and decrypt data that it receives from the access point. Only PCs that are configured with the necessary security key, or passphrase, can exchange data successfully between the wireless NIC and the local access point. Anyone nearby with a PC and wireless NIC could still sniff, or monitor, the radio waves to receive any data being sent over the network, but because your data is encrypted, it is illegible to them. Your next-door neighbor also can’t check his email through your wireless Internet connection because he doesn’t have your encryption key; so, while he may still “see” that your network is there, he cannot access it.
WEP. Several types of security have evolved over the last few years. Wired Equivalent Privacy is a basic encryption scheme that was included with the original IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard ratified in 1999. WEP encryption can deter casual snooping and may still be used in basic household networks, but well-known weaknesses in this standard make it possible to crack a WEP key in a matter of minutes.
WPA. Wi-Fi Protected Access was released in 2003 as a far stronger encryption standard to be used in place of WEP. WPA is a server-based security approach that incorporates longer keys and other features such as the TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) that changes keys periodically. WPA also includes a personal or PSK (preshared key) mode that allows home and small office users to enable WPA without the use of a separate server.
The big issue with securing your wireless network is that security standards are not interchangeable or backward compatible, so the best security that you can achieve is limited to the lowest common standard available in all of your wireless devices. For example, if your older wireless router and wireless NIC only support WEP, you can’t network another PC using WPA2. Before you enable wireless security, it’s a good idea to check your wireless devices and determine which (if any) security standards are available to you.
Start with your wireless router. Access the management feature of your wireless router according to the manufacturer’s documentation. Locate the security settings and examine the list of security modes available. By default, this will probably be set to Disabled. Write down all of the available options, but don’t make any changes just yet.
Next, check your wireless NICs. Note that you should first verify the presence of a wireless NIC by checking for a Wireless Networks icon in your System Tray or clicking Start, My Network Places, and View Network Connections to see if there is an entry for a Wireless Network Connection. If so, you have a wireless NIC or chip in your PC and can proceed. If not, you will need to install a wireless NIC (either as an internal expansion card, a USB device, or a PCMCIA card) according to the manufacturer’s instructions and then proceed.
Remember that you will have to enable security on each PC, so check the available mode(s) on each of the PCs on your network. Now you know what security levels are available in each of your wireless devices. It’s best to enable WPA or WPA2 encryption if your devices support those modes.
Choose the TKIP or AES encryption type. For this example, let’s go with AES. Enter the key, which should be between eight and 63 ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) characters or 64 hexadecimal characters—ASCII keys should use a mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and a few simple punctuation characters to create your key. Make your keys as long as you can, and write them down in your router documentation. Save your settings, but remember that your wireless network will suddenly become inaccessible until you make the corresponding changes to other PCs.
Choose the first PC to update and do the same thing for that computer’s NIC. Again, for the Network Authentication entry, select WPA-Personal (or WPA-PSK) or WPA2-Personal (or WPA2-PSK), select AES as the Data Encryption type, and then enter the passphrase in the Network Key entry. Use your chosen phrase and make sure that you enter the key exactly as you did for the router. Click OK to save your changes and click OK again to close the Properties dialog box. After a few moments, the PC should update and your secure wireless connection should be established. Repeat this process for any other PCs on the wireless network. If you don’t automatically connect to the secured network, try rebooting the PC.
John Palamar
Sources: Smart computing
One of the myths of High speed Internet
Hi, me again.
I thought I would talk to you about an interesting thing that some folks may not be aware of. When you contact Videotron or Sympatico or any other Internet service provider, one of the things you would be doing is purchasing internet access. Well I’d like to explain something. On their web sites they claim “up to 5 Mb” or “up to 7 Mb”. What this actually means is that you may be paying a certain amount of money for “up to 5Mb”, it doesn’t mean you’re getting it. What it actually means is the closer you are to the central connection, the faster your speed will be up to the limit your paying for. I have know some of our customers who are paying for 5Mb and getting 2.
There are ways to check. My favorite is a site called toast.net http://www.toast.net/. Select the “internet speed test” on the left side. Now just under the words “Performance Test“, click on the “Shuttle + Text”. Under the “Select Speed Test Host” select any one of the sites there. The important thing here is to be consistent and use the same ones all the time.
Now click on the “Run Test” button. The next window will give you the results. The top line is your Internet download speed. To get a true representation of your speed you should run the exact same test over 3 or 4 days and at different times during the day. Record each number and then average it out. This will be your average download speed. Compare this to what you have purchased and you’ll have a good idea if your speed is good or not.
Hope this info helps, please let me know
If you have any questions, please email me at john.palamar@palmesis.com
John Palamar
Kaspersky Internet Security
I have been using this Product for some time now. I would like to relate a story to you as to the reason why I like this product. A few years ago I had a client that complained that his PC was running extremely slow, and asked if I would look into it. Well I did. I ran Symantec AV, and McAfee AV and found approximately 1100 viruses and spyware. ( Holy S___). I was surprised that the machine actually ran, but it still ran slowly. So what to do? Well I spoke to a friend of mine and related the problem to him. He suggested that I try Kaspersky Internet Security. I had never heard of this software but after a little research it was downloaded and installed and scanning the hard drive. Two hours later it had found several more viruses that the others had not.
So I decided to do and experiment. I asked several of my clients if they would be willing to try the software for awhile and let me know the results. They were happy as it found viruses and spyware that there software did not.
Now this not much of a story, and I’m not trying to do a sales pitch here, but the point is this. Make sure you are using the best anti-virus software you can find and make sure it’s updated as often as possible. Your computer is your link to the world. If it’s not protected to the best of your ability, well you may as well be driving a 1910 ford, you will be going nowhere fast.
John Palamar
