TheTwidgetLog
Technology and other stuff
Vista Tips
This Vista is grand!
Dec 15th
I have Windows Vista on a Toshiba laptop and have been less than pleased many times. It is slow to load, won’t shutdown sometimes, won’t run some software even though it ran on another vista machine just fine and the final straw, my fine new $9 1gb flash drive would not load up! I kept up on updates and some things seemed to get better, then another hang when shutting down. Well I heard that Service Pack1 rc1 was available and I thought, what the heck, maybe it will fix some problems. So I went to get it and what a mess. the first way presented is a registry hack and it failed twice. Then I looked for the IT version, a big download of all parts you may need. It took a bit but I found it. Scroll down and choose the huge 400+mb file.
After you get it on your system just start it up and let go. It will install and reboot about three times. It takes about an hour to run. After it completed I notice a much faster boot up and then hanging shutdown went away. As a test I thought I would try my USB drive again and wow, it loaded right up with no trouble.
It looks like this service pack had some fixed fixes in it. this is supposed to be a roll up package but I think there is more to it. I definitely suggest you install this service pack. It appears to make the systems run faster and more reliable.
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Stretch that power out
Dec 5th
Those of us with laptops are constantly looking for the power outlet. Trying to keep the beast going without losing the letter you just wrote.
One thing you can do is check on the power modes available to you . Windows XP offers several power saving settings when on battery. Vista offers even more. Some laptop makers also offer a special interface with the laptop that can make it easier to adjust all the settings. Vista has by far the most adjustable settings.
If I left click on the battery icon I am presented with a choice of three modes.
Balanced, power saver and performance. They do just what their name suggests. Balance the power usage and performance, provide better battery life, provide better performance.
If you go on to power options you can then edit first the basic settings and, via a shortcut on that page, the advanced settings, over a dozen settings to help you squeeze out every last electron from that battery. If you get it twisted up and can’t seem to get it back right again there is a reset to default button on the same page.
How to browse
Aug 14th
hi
Today we will look at how to browse and limit your risk of being hijacked or compromised in some way. You have several browser options. Four of the most popular are:
The first thing to do is make sure you have the popup blocker turned on. I tend to add the google toolbar to my browsers so that I can use thier popup blocker, it is easier to turn on and off. Turn on protected mode in iE7 and use the phishing filter.
When on a site with banner adds don’t click on them, particuarly when the adds that look like a windows error message. Remember that nothing is free so, if you are on a site offering free games or other things you may be a risk. If you are looking for shareware programs stay with the big sites like tucows or download.com where the software is checked for trojans and viruses before posting.
To avoid some of the Microsoft bugs you can use the other browsers. This doesn’t stop you from being taken over, just helps slow it down. I also use different browsers at different times, to surf randomly I use firefox, if I have to use a site that needs IE I use it then or, if I am going to a site I know can be trusted I may use IE.
Of the four I have listed My preference is Firefox. It is resistant to many of the Microsoft bugs and has several addons that help protect you and make the browsing experience better. I add the noscript extension so that only sites I trust can run scripts on my computer. I also add the google toolbar for easy access to the popup blocker.
Now I should be clear that all browsers have some security holes no matter what. Using non microsoft products just means that you won’t have those hole, sometimes.
If you have Windows Vista be sure to leave the “user account control” on as this will halp stop the installation on things you don’t want. This is helpful no matter what browser you use.
If you are cautious, stay away from sites with free games, pron or other fringe interest, don’t install programs from unkown sites and don’t allow sites to install without permission then you should be fine. Having an antivirus program can be helpful but is not a cure. often the virus you get has not been discovered yet and you will become infected without knowing it.
Find a program quickly in Vista
Jul 24th
Hi
When using Vista you can start a program by left clicking on the start button and typing the first few letters of the programs name. It will then offer you a list which will have all the program items with a match in the name. You can then select the program you wish to run.
Jul 24th
Hi. I would like to talk about Vista this time.
The newest operating system and I think it has much promise. The 64 bit version should be very secure, although it still has ways to be taken over. Listen to episode #66 at http://www.grc.com/SecurityNow.htm for an in depth discussion about vista security.
I purchased a Toshiba laptop with Vista and at first there were several problems have mostly to do with drivers. Along the way I have noted more stability after some OS updates and Toshiba BIOS updates. I would recommend that you buy a new computer with Vista rather than upgrade. As with windows 95, there are hardware issue when upgrading old hardware to Vista.
Here are some basic tips about hardware I found out when buying my laptop.
You need at least 2GB of ram. While the minimum is stated at 1GB, Vista is a memory hog of the first order. I think 2GB is minimum and 4GB is best.
Get the fastest processor you can afford. It should be a core 2 duo of at least 1.6GHZ
You might also get a 2GB flash drive to use as a ready boost drive. This provides a place for the system to swap memory out to that is faster than a standard hard drive thus speeding up most applications and allowing more programs to open at one time.
To Life! (lock)
Jun 12th
Posted by Jerry in Vista Tips
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The service Life Lock is constantly under fire by various sides. According to an article on the Wired site the noise is just that.
The biggest noise is about the CEO Todd Davis and how his SSN was stolen and used to get a loan. It was, but not because the life lock service failed. The issuer of the payday advance loan did not check the credit of Davis. Apparently this is common for low value loans of this nature. When the loan came due and Davis was contacted, life lock dealt with it and his credit is still clear.
The essence of the bad press appears to be that Life lock and the other credit securing companies are making the creditors tow the line in verifying who they are giving credit to and this make them a bit testy.