My speciality centers around helping get your computer, peripherals, software, and their interactions back in sync.
Microsoft has decided to extend support for Windows XP until Tuesday, Apr 8th 2014. You can read about it on this Microsoft page currently entitled:
Microsoft Ends Support of Windows XP, Office 2003 in 2014!
I think that these days most people are satisfied with Windows 7. Microsoft seems to have changed the behavior of the operating system enough to make most people happy.
The Pro edition of Windows 7 runs XP in an virtual machine which is a separate prepackaged download.
These rates are based on negotiation when a significant extent of the problem becomes known. I will make sure that you, the client, are kept up to date at significant milestones
While I'm a big Mac fan, I do quite a bit of work helping people with PCs out of jams.
My personal advice is to keep your old computer alive as long as possible and then to buy at the low end of the PC market. While prices will not drop appreciably, every 6 months you wait, computers get a little faster, the hardware gets better, and the software get better.
It seems that with every Windows upgrade there is a bit of fatigue and push back, but my personal advice is to go with latest version. In a way it keeps you in touch with where computers are heading.
In my opinion, the Mac is the sweet spot of computing today. It is by far the platform that is the closest to being an appliance. You set it up, keep it up to date, and let it run. It's hard to go wrong with a Macintosh.
About the only thing that I miss from my Microsoft Windows days is the ability to run an application like Microsoft Excel without a mouse. If your keyboard is an integral part of your life or you still have old applications to run, you still might consider a Mac, but run your favorite Microsoft Windows applications in one of the Virtual Windows environments.
On the Mac there are three main possibilities: Parallels, VMWare’s Fusion, and CrossOver. These will allow you to run many Windows applications on the Mac, but they will not make a troublesome application run any better. If you are using processor intensive applications like many games, or business critical applications that only run on Windows like most investing software, then you might consider running those on a separate Windows box and controlling it remotely.
The hard core backup experts will tell you that you need to back up your entire computer. There are many options for backing up your data. I think that it's very important that your backup be simple. If you work constantly on your computer, it is better to have a solution that continually works in the background.
One of the cheaper online options that I've been watching is some of the software that relies on Amazon's new online and globally redundant Simple Storage Solution (Amazon S3) for a backup medium which provides a secure offsite backup.
I can setup or help you figure out your networking setup. If your adding WiFi to your existing network, make sure that only one router is controlling your network. Having two nat routers on the network is like having two A-type bosses controlling the same crew.
I can train you how to maintain and use your new system while also giving you a refresher on computer security, RSS, podcasts and other general computing topics.
I don't know if this still applies with all of the options out there, but I would be buying on the low end of the scale for college students.
In the past people would try to buy a laptop that would last all through college, but usually that laptop is twice as expensive as the low end model.
With students changing majors and loosing things, it might be better to get a second laptop for the senior year when the real requirements are known.
One simple thing to know is that you don't need to buy the most expensive model. Currently, the amount of ram is the biggest difference between the high and low priced models. If you plan on carrying your whole mp3 collection or lots of movies for the road then yes, buy the one with the biggest amount of ram. However many people just use their iPad to play games and use apps and can get by with the smallest model, which also happens to be the cheapest model.
For an iPad, I think the issue is wether your going to buy one that can use a Cellular data plan or not. The nice thing about the Plans for the iPad, is that they are month to month. So you can purchase a month of data, turn around and cancel it, and it will run until you run out of data or the end of the month arrives.
So if you might go on a big driving vacation, having a tablet with a data plan might come in handy. These days with everyone having the latest smart phones, maybe this isn't an issue to many. Also, many phones can serve as a mobile hotspot as well, so maybe it is better to know your options before you buy.
I don't know about Android and Windows 8 devices, but the carriers probably will offer a similar deal.
The biggest problem that I have noticed with my iPad, and I think it applies to the iPhone as well, is that you can't answer a call when the phone is locked.
I think this is both a security issue and maybe a concession to the carriers. This is also one of the things where the iPhone has an advantage over Android because the iPhone will not let an app hog the processor so much that phone doesn't work. I'm sure that it doesn't happen very often, but I have heard stories personally.
Note that this also means that even if the device is unlocked, you still have to use the screen to answer a VoIP app just to answer the phone. There is no preference to set your default phone app. My guess is that all the other platforms, be it Android, Windows Phone, or Blackberry are the same.
As a matter of fact, even bluetooth headsets can't answer a call via a VoIP app. The other features like changing the volume and hanging up do work.
This applies to all computer platforms from PCs to smartphones. I think this is more important than having virus scanning software. The big offender in 2012 was Adobe's Flash Player and Adobe Reader. Lately JAVA which was developed by Sun Microsystems and recently bought by the database giant Oracle has been a real target by the malware people.
Starting in the Vista days, Microsoft start to offer their own free virus scanner. I would highly recommend it for windows users. It doesn't pester you at the end of the year with a subscription renewal request. Also, in their favor, Microsoft knows a thing or two about Windows.
Recently, in Jan of 2013, there was some noise that MSE, aka Microsoft Security Essentials, failed a series of tests. I would guess that anti-virus programs tend to wax and wain in terms of how well they do on these tests. I wouldn't worry about it.
If you prefer or need one of the other brands, I recently saw someone suggesting that instead of renewing annually, you can just buy a brand new license as you need it. New licenses can be found online for far cheaper than a renewal. Plus, this allows you to avoid all those pesky renewal messages.
The common wisdom with regards to safe use of passwords is to have one password per site.
This is because sites are getting hacked left and right. From a hacked site, the hacker will usually download the user login database. From the database they will get your username/email, and a password, which they can try on other site you might use. (like your email account!)
Preferably, you shouldn't even know the passwords.
This is because the other main way that hackers get people's credentials. In a process called ~phishing, they will create a site that looks like the original and when you enter your id and password, they have it. They might even log you in and pass you on so that you don't even notice. If you don't know your password, then you can't enter it. The password manager will do things like check the url first and it will not find a matching password for this fake url.
There are two password managers that I'm familiar with and would recommend. The first is LastPass, which charges $1 per month and lets you install it on any machine that you want. It works on Macs, PCs, Android phones, tables, and I would guess even Linux.
The second, 1Password, is equally as good and more suited to the mac environment, but they do offer a windows client and browser plugins. On the Mac, 1Password has worked hard to have the best browser integration even though Apple has kept changing the rules to make their system more secure.
One thing to know is that the integration with browser works very well in browsers on macs and pcs, but when you get mobile devices it gets a little harder. For example, the iPhone/iPad/iPod Apple does not allow browser plugins for security reasons. So when I go to a site that requires a login, I find myself having to copy the url and open it up in my password app.
The easy work around for my iPad on many sites where the login info isn't top secret is to use the built in password saving, sharing and even generation directly inside of Safari and the Mac keychain.
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The author of these Travels, Mr. Lemuel Gulliver, is my ancient and intimate friend; there is likewise some relation between us on the mother's side. About three years ago, Mr. Gulliver growing weary of the concourse of curious people coming to him at his house, near Newark, in Nottinghamshire, his native country; where he now lives retired, yet in good esteem among his neighbours."
Although Mr. Gulliver was born in Nottinghamshire...