Author Archives: admin

Google’s Privacy Policy Changes

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There is a lot of talk going on currently about Google’s changes in their privacy agreement. I am like most people and just click the agree button and go on with my day. This one though I ended up reading just because there was so much talk about it in the media.

The jist of the agreement is that your account credentials now work with all google services and they all share the same personal data on you as well as their privacy policy. There are some exceptions due to regulations on financial data, but its only a couple of sites.

People are offended by google using this data to present you with ads targeted at you. I personally see this as being a good thing. If I am looking for something, I want to see what I am looking for. Google allegedly can also learn your tastes so searching for a shirt will send you to Nordstrom and not Old Navy (if you’re like me).

The way I see it, Google is using data collected on you to provide a better and more relevant experience.

Solved: XP sound drivers present, but no sound

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The problem: Windows XP suddenly stops playing back sounds. Drivers are present, sound devices menus all appear correctly and the volume indicator might even be present.

I first tried just changing settings around to see if it had been an error caused by a human. No dice. I uninstalled the driver and software. In this case, SoundMAX. The driver available from Lenovo was from 2005, but has not been updated since. Installed, but still no dice.

Finally I started thinking about audio codecs and ran a search for “K-lite codecs” and found the cnet link. I chose a custom installation, that also included a registry check on the sound system. Sure enough, it worked!

Evernote

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Anyone that has seen my desk knows that I write a lot of notes to myself. Reminders to do everything. Since moving into the house, I have been trying to be better about this though.

The problem: on any given day, I use up to 6 different electronic devices. I might read something on the computer that I would want to read on my Droid later that day. No problem with evernote. Its free for basic service and you can even share your notes with others.

I most recently got to enjoy the screen shot tool. By pressing print screen, a tool pops up where you can get a shot of all or part of the page you are looking at. This is pretty helpful if you’re having a problem or want to document something on your screen accurately.

Free Microsoft Office (online)

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Many friends and family have heard me talk about how wonderful the Google system is. The short of the google system is: sign up for Gmail and you have access to nearly every product offered by google. For me, it made sense because of the number of computers I use in different locations. It also means that I can get on any computer in the world and access my documents without having to install anything or find a license key. It works wonderfully for me and many of my friends. I have run into an issue though: sometimes with larger files sent to me, or with files that depend on macros or excel specific commands I end up needing to fire up excel.

Now I have a two part solution. Listen up Uncle Tom!

Microsoft introduced the Skydrive as part of their Live online service. If you already have a Hotmail or Live.com e-mail address, you are almost there. Skydrive gives users 25Gb of storage. You can use it for anything, and get to it from anywhere!

Here is where it gets really cool: when you login to your live.com account, you will see a new tab for “Office.” Word, Excel, Powerpoint and One Note are all there for free with 25Gb of space to store all of your files. If you use MS Office 2010, it will sync your files too and check for changes.

Home and Garden pics

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If you missed the housewarming party, here are some pics of the “after”

Save time with RSS

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Do you find yourself spending a lot of time reading web sites? I’m talking about the same sites that you check out on a regular basis. Maybe its financial news, or maybe its some guilty pleasure like the Perez Hilton celebrity gossip blog. Either way, we all have web sites that we regularly read and have to sort through to find the items we want to read more about. I see my own family members do this every day.

So what the heck am I talking about? Well, I’m talking about saving you time and giving your eyes a break from staring at a computer screen. Who knows, your family might even appreciate either the use of the computer or you being able to do something with them.

How do you do it? The easiest tool for this is the Google Reader. You need a google account, and then you can sign in at reader.google.com. Many of your regular sites will already have an RSS link. You just need to get that address and plug it in to the “Add a subscription” tool. Alternatively, they have a search feature that you can use to find what you are looking for.

Once you have your feeds setup, you can login to reader from any location and get updates on your most read items!

Stop relying on your computer

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I have talks all the time with people about the issue of data security. For some it is a matter of having their files safe from prying eyes. For others its a matter of protecting from loss. I have addressed part of this before, but I’ll be diving in deep on the subject of cloud storage.

What is the cloud? “The cloud” , as it’s known, is a place outside of your home or office where data can live. Normally this place that is out there somewhere actually exists in multiple places. Google and Amazon are the current leaders in cloud storage and have data centers dotted around the world that safely and redundantly store data. This insures that if one or many locations would go offline, your data remains available.

The average computer user stores all of their data on their computer and has no backups. The next most sophisticated method of data security is to have an external storage device: disk, flash memory, removable hard drive, or even another PC on the same network. In 2009, online storage boomed with lower cost high speed internet connections. These advents have allowed for backing up to the cloud. Services like Mozy, Carbonite, Amazon S3 and others allow for offsite backups. I get asked a lot about why this would be better than just using some kind of media and taking it home (still a very good practice in addition to using the cloud). The reality is that DVDs don’t get burned, files don’t get copied, or media sits in someone’s trunk and is ruined by exposure to extreme temperatures. Cloud based backups are usually automated. They happen at a set interval and you get a report e-mailed to you.

Is it secure? Nothing is 100% secure, but sending encrypted data to a server is pretty close. In this day of corporate espionage and crooked employees the action of sending this data of a secured line is probably safer than letting an employee even do their daily work.

What are the drawbacks? You need a relatively fast internet connection with a fast upload speed.  You also need to make sure that someone is checking the confirmation messages to insure that files are being uploaded. The biggest drawback though is that it can sometimes take a very long time to download all of your data. Typical users can do a full restore in a matter of hours, but larger datasets can take longer.

The best solution: go completely mobile. It is a big step for many, but stop using MS Office (on your computer). Google and Microsoft have both rolled out online services that eliminate the majority of your needs of an online productivity pack. Other vendors have come up with online solutions as well. Intuit even has an online version of Quickbooks! Imagine being able to log into an account from any computer in the world and have access to your data. No more worries about that stolen laptop, downloading viruses in outlook, malicious macros in excel, or just the neighbor kid accidentally deleting your files. Most services have a free version that works for most and a premium version for those with greater needs.

If you think you could benefit from this simplification in your life, call me!

Linksys WUSB54Gv4 Blue Screen Fix

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I had a PC that had run fine with this wireless adapter (WUSB54G v4)for more than a year. One day though, Windows ran an update and it stopped working. I figured the issue was with the adapter and replaced it with something that I got from newegg on sale for $10. A few months later though, I decided to try the WUSB54G on another computer. This time, an HP D530. It worked fine for months and again one day blue screened. I finally decided to do some reading and found that the problem was in the RAlink drivers. The problem is this file: RT2500USB.INF. It is located in \%windows root%\system32\drivers. The one installed with the linksys download is no good. You need to go over to RAlink’s site and find the RT2500USB driver file for your OS and version. You then need to download that file and extract it with something like winrar and find rt2500usb.sys. Copy that file into the directory mentioned before (overwriting the old file) and you should be in business.

Why linksys would have allowed this to happen without a patch since 2005 is beyond me, but I’m guessing its just to get you to go buy a new Wireless-N adapter.