Articles on the topic of technology I’ve written for various personal blogs over the years
Sometimes my nerdy friends and I come up with funny analogies. Recently I decided that your IT person should be thought of as a park ranger. Don’t get mad at them when things aren’t going well, be glad they came around when they did! The more I laughed at the analogy, the more I started to like it. (more…)
Because it works. I wish I could say that more often. But the reality is, it lets us start with a clean slate. Your computer has a lot going on, even when you are only running one or two programs. When a Windows XP computer boots up, around 100 programs and services load with it, and that is on a new PC without a lot installed on it!
I already had an entirely different article written, on an entirely different topic last night, but the moment I saw this I threw it all out and wrote this article for this morning. As Microsoft and NBC part ways on their several-year MSNBC joint venture, the all new “MSN for Windows 8” website has been unveiled. But it seems to be missing a key ingredient. (more…)
Update 1: if the idea of the command prompt doesn’t appeal to you, read Clive’s comments below this post for using the Windows Explorer FTP feature, or see my new article about mFTP, a free app from the Windows 8 Store.
Some things we just take for granted. Maybe you’ve used CoffeeCup FTP, FileZilla, or CuteFTP – well whatever you’re used to, it’s not in Windows RT. You just had to get a Microsoft Surface, didn’t you? Haha, it’s okay, so did I. But, since you can’t go back to old familiar stand-by FTP clients, I asked this week what option you have when you need to upload a file to an FTP server in a pinch? Relax, Microsoft has had you covered for over a decade!
Windows RT has a command prompt. It’s true! From the Start Screen, just type three letters: cmd and a command prompt icon will appear. Click that. Look familiar? Good. Now you can type ftp exampleservername.com – and away you go! Perhaps, in yourcase, it’ll be ftp.exampleservername.com, whatever… you should know your own server. The point is, once logged in, you can upload and download files through the command line!
The two biggest things to know: first, by default you’re in ASCII mode, which is for transferring text files – to transfer a binary file, you should switch to BINARY mode. Just type the word “binary” and you’ll switch modes – then you can upload MP3s, JPGs, PNGs, EXEs, and so on. Second: if you are trying to upload or download files to the server, they are coming from and going to whatever folder you were in before you started the client. You can use the “lcd” command to change your local directory, but by default you start out in C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\.
More commands and important sub commands are available on Microsoft.com, though a simple HELP command will present you with some helpful information.
When rumors leaked of the prices for the Microsoft Surface around October 18th, I wasn’t thrilled. It was a little higher priced than I had originally hoped, but I had been setting aside cash with every intention of getting one “no matter what.” The thing is, I’ve known what I was getting in to. So here is what you need to know.
If it looks like Windows 8, and moves like Windows 8… it may not be Windows 8. Microsoft’s Surface that was made available in October is technically called “Microsoft Surface with Windows RT.” This device, while touting a full desktop-like experience, is limited to running apps from the Microsoft Store, found on the Start Screen. While I have no doubt that an eventual “Jailbreak” will be developed, there will still be problems with application compatibility. It is important to understand that the Microsoft Surface, and, in fact, any Windows RT tablet, can not run your traditional 32 or 64-bit Windows applications. The ARM processor requires software developers to do things differently than they would on traditional x86 architecture. Just the way your PC and your Mac can’t run the exact same programs, the same holds true for Mac OSX and iOS, Android, and even ChromeOS… each one requires special attention. Windows RT is no different.
What does this mean for you? A lot of applications you know and love aren’t going to be available. Are you a business person who needs Quickbooks? Too bad. Are you a gamer wanting to play some Diablo III? Outta luck. Need to Sync with iTunes? You’re out of luck.
This is where Microsoft has failed, this time around. While Windows RT shines with hardware compatibility, the software is clearly lacking. So eager to get people to buy their products, they haven’t made clear the distinction between Windows RT and Windows 8. And I don’t anticipate your normal big-box retail sales-person to be the one correcting you. What I describe above? Knowing that a lot of familiar programs just won’t run on Windows RT? THIS is the crux of the problem. No, don’t ask. Don’t even give me, “yeah, but what about… Outlook, Publisher, VPN Clients, Peachtree, Firefox, WinRAR, µTorrent… NO. They just don’t run. You need to know, without a doubt, that the Surface RT is designed to compete with the iPad and Android tablets – it is built new from the ground up. As such, it’s going to take time to get good applications, and that time is something many people don’t want to give up, waiting.
Surface Pro – a Microsoft made Windows 8 Tablet, NOT a Windows RT tablet, is supposed to be released this January or February. As of right now, there’s no such thing, especially not one directly from Microsoft. So if you’re looking to replace your laptop? Hold on. If you’re looking to have a nice portable and well-rounded alternative to an iPad? Look no further. If you’re hesitant, you should be. I would wait for the Surface Pro in the Spring – but start saving now, it will undoubtedly carry a 4 figure price tag.
When I unboxed the Surface RT, it was a thing of beauty. I clicked my Touch Cover on and away I went. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to adjust to typing on it. So let’s start there.
Touch Cover – within minutes I was tapping away, nearly full speed. Now, I will admit I have already acclimated myself to the smaller typing space of a netbook, but it wasn’t the space I had been worried about, it was the lack of a spring-feedback key-press. It turned out, I was ready for the change. (more…)
So you just got a new Windows 8 PC, and you installed a few programs. For instance, Office 2010 was just installed to your new computer. Now your Windows 8 Start Screen has a ton of icons on it that you don’t want to see or use. How do you clean the clutter? Here’s the quick, easy way to do it:
Hold CONTROL and click on the icons you want to get rid of. This will allow you to click multiple icons, one at a time. As you do, you’ll see a checkmark appear in the upper left hand corner. Once you have the items you want to remove selected, simply click Unpin from Start in the bottom left corner of the screen. Poof. The icons disappear. Another option is to browse to the Start Menu Folder, where you can easily manage the items on the Start Screen as if it were a folder.
Also, don’t forget that you can right click on an icon and click the smaller or larger button to make it a single square or a wider icon, which can help you truly customize your Start Screen and make it your own.
There it is. Hydro Thunder Hurricane. In the Windows 8 app-store. For $9.99. When I first mentioned that Hydro Thunder would be coming to Windows 8, I thought it would possibly be free, for me, because I had already purchased both the Xbox 360 version of Hydro Thunder Hurricane, and the Windows Phone 7 version of Hydro Thunder Go. But, alas: it’s not free to me.
I am logged in with my same, unified LiveID, but if I want to play Hydro Thunder Hurricane on my Windows 8 PC – I’m stuck shelling out yet another ten dollars. I’m disappointed. But what is going to hurt worse? I have this sneaking suspicion that any apps I buy in the Windows RT store will not translate to buying the same Windows 8 “x86” app. We’ll find out this weekend, my Microsoft Surface RT tablet should arrive in the next few hours. It will be a tell-all moment for just how much app-purchasing I’m going to be doing in the new Microsoft ecosystem.
If I buy a Windows Phone 8 and none of the apps are compatible with my RT Tablet, and none of those apps are compatible with my Windows 8 app-store purchases… just what was the point of the app-store? Locking users in to only making purchases from one place? Then requiring them to pay for the same thing three times? I understand that there is bound to be some fragmentation – not all of the platforms can do the exact same things – there need to be certain limitations. But to offer the same application on multiple platforms but to charge for each one? That will infuriate many, many people. There will be a backlash if that is actually the case. But today is just Windows 8 Launch Day, October 26th, 2012. Maybe I’ll be in for a pleasant surprise. Time will tell, and I’ll be sure to write about it when I find out more. Just look for all of my Windows 8 related articles in the Windows 8 Archive.
As the first reviews of the Microsoft Surface RT tablet start to shuffle in, I’m disappointed by the reviews and the reviewers themselves. While many of the reviews compare various tablet products directly, as they should, some of them look at the surface as a laptop replacement device. To be clear, the Surface RT has no illusions of its role as a tablet with a keyboard added for convenience. If a reviewer is expecting a “Surface” that is a replacement for a netbook or a similar product, they should be waiting to review the Surface “Pro” to be released in the first half of next year.
Beyond that, the sheer volume of Apple-biased reviews are somewhat painful. Nitpicking things like font-choices on the interface, rather than just admitting they like the product. If it had a different brand name behind it, the same reviewer would be gushing over it. I understand they really want to be unbiased, but they just aren’t. I can tell that I won’t be. I, myself, gush over all things Microsoft. I have since I was in high school, and although my friends wanted to be the Mac guy or the Linux guy, I had no hesitation about being the Windows guy. I was the one who had no problems with Windows ME, and the better part of a decade later was an early adopter of Windows Vista. But does that mean that I can’t load up a web page or a video on Netflix and compare the two images side by side? Absolutely not!
If the iPad 3 simply looks better to the naked eye, I’m going to tell you so. I’m not going to defend my side by talking about clear-type and DPI. But so many of the reviews I’ve read say things along the lines of “yeah, it looks good. But if it looks so good, why will the “Pro” version have a higher resolution? Why isn’t this resolution good enough?” They stop before they actually admit whether or not the Surface RT looks comparable or even better than the iPad 3.
And I can’t wait to talk about sound and various use cases (propped up with the kickstand, held in the hand, with the Touch Cover folded back, etc…). I have major issues with the sound on the iPad 3 – it is an extremely high quality speaker, pointed in entirely the wrong direction. I have such big problems with the iPad’s sound that a actually backed a Kickstarter of a product that hopefully you can buy in some stores soon, called Foco, which is a small pad which redirects the sound on the iPad 2 and 3 to the front.
Now, I haven’t received my Surface RT, yet – in fact, I haven’t even received confirmation that it has shipped, which is a little worrying. I can’t help but thank that perhaps a few of the people who supposedly preordered the same as everyone else got a little preferential treatment when their tech-pundit names showed up in the order lists. True or not, that’s fine, I’m a little jealous and a little anxious. I can wait my turn. When it does arrive, you can expect some first impressions as well as some good quality time spent comparing the Surface RT tablet and the iPad (3rd generation / 2012 edition, The New iPad, whatever Apple wants you to call it today).
Windows 8’s biggest change from the last several revisions of Windows is the advent of the Start Screen to replace the Start Menu. I’ve been asked “how do I change the background of my Windows 8 Start Screen?” by a few people lately. As more and more screenshots release just prior to the launch of Windows 8, people are seeing different colors, designs, background images… and they want to know how to get in on the customization action. It’s simple.
From within the Start Screen, bring up the Charms Menu – you can do this by placing the mouse in the lower right hand corner of the screen, or by pressing the keyboard combination of “Windows Key” + C. Then click on Settings then Change PC Settings. From there, it should default to the Personalize menu on the left, the top item. Then, on the right hand side of the screen, across the top you should have 3 options: Lock screen (see our article on customizing the lock screen!), Start screen, and Account picture. Select Start screen.
Once you’re there, you can choose from several color-themes ranging from dark themes with colorful tiles and highlights, to more light hearted themes with richer, more plentiful colors. Then you also have your choice of 2- different ‘scenes’ in the background, to which those colored themes will be applied. Some of them are themed similarly to existing Microsoft products, like the Xbox 360’s “Jelly Swirls.”
They times… are they really a-changin’? I’m the first person on to any technology band wagon. Yes, I already pre-ordered my WindowsRT tablet. Yes, I pre-ordered the Wii U, and the Ouya. I have a lot of my own data stored in “the cloud” and use multiple cloud computing services. Yes, I’m running the Windows 8 RTM and always have beta versions of OS’s on practically all of my devices. But being a technophile and getting wrapped up in the latest and greatest, doesn’t necessarily mean that I believe all of the hype and buzz words in the industry. (more…)
It’s a basic question, but on current generation hardware, there is no basic answer! On tablets you’ll expect to see power buttons and some of the ‘gestures’ to open menus might make sense, but on a desktop PC, Windows 8 is so different that people are asking how do I shutdown my Windows 8 computer? Well, luckily, it’s not much more difficult than it was to learn that you had to click on Start, to shutdown your computer. Remember, back in 1995, THAT was unintuitive!
The fastest way to shutdown a Windows 8 computer is by bringing up the Charms menu. This can be done by placing the mouse in the lower right hand corner of the screen, OR by using the hotkeys: Windows Key + C. Once the menu pops up in the right hand side, click on Settings, then Power, then you can choose to Shutdown or Restart the computer (other options like Sleep or Hibernate may also be available, depending on your configuration).
It sounds like a lot, but it’s still just a couple of clicks, just like clicking start, then shutdown, then shutdown, again like Windows XP or Windows 7.
Answers.Microsoft.com serves as a community hub for most of Microsoft’s products. It’s a great place for those who need help to get it, and those willing to take a little time and offer some expertise can volunteer their assistance! Whether you want to know about Office (even for Mac), Windows Phone, viruses and malware, even just the latest on Windows itself, the community is there to answer your questions 24 hours a day. I’m just beginning to get more active, there, and hope to see you around!
Since I didn’t have an app for you this week, how about a special edition of “From The Help Desk.” Today is a problem we’re seeing, live and “on the ground” right now. Outlook users are getting a pop up window, prompting them for their credentials. The Window would say “Welcome Back to servername…” Even if you enter your credentials correctly (DOMAINUSERNAME & password), you then receive an error message that Exchange isn’t responding.
The bad news: this is not something the Outlook user can fix. The good news: it is very easy for your server administrator to fix.
All I did, as the server administrator, was log in to the server, and click Start, then Run then typed: services.msc. Then, the easiest thing for someone new to administering an Exchange server to do is to is look for servers with a Startup Type of Automatic but with a Blank status and start them. I was able to quickly see that the Microsoft Exchange Information Store and Microsoft Exchange System Attendant were not started on the server. Once I started those two services, I had the users close and re-open their Outlook clients. Issue resolved.
The precise cause is, as yet, undetermined, but this happened on multiple Windows Small Business Server computers over the last few days.
Windows 8, just like what was introduced in Windows Phone 7. You can press escape or drag the large image “upward” to unlock the screen. But did you know the icons at the bottom of your screen are customizable? It allows you to have much more information, at a glance, than you do with the default settings. Here’s how you can tweak your own:
From the Windows 8 Start Screen, you can simply type the phrase Lock Screen and, once you click settings on the right, one of your options will be to “Customize your Lock Screen and Notifications.” You can also find this by starting again from the Start Menu, but by placing the mouse in the lower right corner of the screen and waiting for the Charms Bar to come out from the right side of the screen, then clicking Settings at the bottom, then Personalize Settings. The first thing you should see is the Personalize menu. If not, it is the top option on the left, as pictured in the screen shot above.
At this time, only a few apps support Lock Screen notifications, but you can bet that more will come down the road. Right now the included Weather app, and the excellent eBay app allow you to add notifications. You can choose one app, if it supports the option, to provide additional details. You could have the subject lines of a few emails, upcoming calendar appointments, or even a weather forecast! It will be great to see what more apps, like an official Twitter or Facebook application, will end up doing.
Don’t forget to check out our ongoing informational series on Windows 8.
Last week we talked about what to do when Outlook won’t open, but what if it opens, then almost immediately locks up? If your Outlook says “not responding” when you try to open a piece of mail, it likely means you have a corrupt PST file. Luckily, Microsoft anticipated this happening, and has armed you with the tools to fix it!
Some quick background – a PST is your archive of mail – whether it’s something you archived off by choice, or it’s where your computer stores mail after it’s been downloaded from a mail server, such as Gmail, Hotmail, or a local ISP like Time Warner or Verizon. Any time you use “POP” mail with Outlook, you have a PST.
To fix a corrupt PST, you just need to locate an application that is installed along-side Microsoft Office called “ScanPST.” On a 64-bit Windows 8 computer running Microsoft Office 2010, I found the ScanPST application to be here:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice14
Depending on your version of office, it might be under another Office “version number” but most versions of Office, even the older ones, will include ScanPST.
When you double click the file, it generally auto-detects the file you need to scan, but you may need to browse to your data file before you click on Start. By default, Windows 7 & 8 should store the PST’s in this location:
C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataLocalMicrosoftOutlookOutlook.pst
In Windows XP: C:Documents and SettingsUSERNAMELocal SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlookOutlook.pst
If you are in a corporate environment, the location may be different.
Once you have the proper file in place, click on “Start” in ScanPST. By default, you should allow it to make a backup, then let it run through it’s 8 phase repair process. As always, depending on the size of your PST (how much mail you have), and the speed of your computer, it can take a while. Even when it looks like it isn’t doing anything, it probably is, so just let it go for a little while. When it’s finished, you should be able to open up Outlook without any issues!
Throughout the business world, you find Outlook to be almost ubiquitous as far as mail clients are concerned. The problem is, even though it has evolved, at it’s core, it’s the same chunk of 15 year old code that was included in Office ’97, and some might even argue the DOS versions of Outlook! You’d be hard pressed to find something different that is widely supported, but Outlook has had its growing pains. So what do you do when it’s won’t open? Here’s one tip.
SYMPTOM: Outlook sits and stays at the LOADING splash screen
(similar to what we show above, but rather than starting, it will probably say “Loading…”)
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING: It’s very likely that your “local copy” of your mailbox has become corrupt. If you use Exchange for your email, and you are in Cached Exchange Mode, it means that your computer keeps a local copy of your mail and only synchronizes the changes since it has last been opened – rather than re-downloading your entire mailbox every time you open Outlook. Somehow (we won’t go into details, suffice to say “it happens from time to time”), your local copy has become corrupted.
HOW YOU ARE GOING TO FIX IT: (this looks long, but it’s VERY simplified, I promise!)
This time, it should rebuild the OST from scratch – since it won’t be able to find the old OST file. Depending on how much mail you have, this process can take several hours – but it will download “Inbox” then work it’s way to other folders, and you’ll be able to send and receive new mail while it works.
Next week, we’ll talk about what to do when Outlook freezes up before you can open a single email!
Oh how I loathe internet service providers. They have the world’s most precious resource, bandwidth, and they hoarde it to themselves. A few months ago I went ahead cut the cable, 100%, and I now use CLEAR as my primary internet service provider. I purchased a CLEAR Spot Voyager, and have enjoyed it ever since. That is, until this past week.
Co-workers asked me why I wouldn’t just get a tethering plan on my cell phone – but what made CLEAR attractive was their unlimited plan. It would be much like having a regular line through Time Warner – I wouldn’t have to meter my usage or think about it whatsoever. And was I glad I stuck to my guns. Imagine the bill I would’ve gotten if I had a 10GB data plan from AT&T, with my own hot spot or tethering plan, had I ended up my first month’s bandwidth on CLEAR: ~32GB. My second month? ~59.4GB. And my third? Over 70GB.
Yes, I’m a “bandwidth hog.” I have my excuses, and you’ll be happy to know the extreme majority is streaming via legitimate services like Vudu and Netflix, grabbing ISO’s of Linux builds, Microsoft products from Technet, games from Steam and Xbox Live, PS3 Firmware Updates, or downloading music from Amazon MP3 or streaming from Google Play… yes, the whopping majority of my bandwidth is going to legitimate use – surprise surprise. But regardless of where the bandwidth is going, it’s what happened next that surprised me most.
Last week I had a large 2 day download, accumulated a total of about 15GB in two days. I’ve been moving quite a bit of data. But shortly after that, my internet connection became complete garbage. The first day, I chalked it up to some nasty weather passing through the area. Living life wirelessly may have some challenges, I began to think. It’s certainly not satellite, I would’ve expected it to handle some dark clouds and heavy rain – but I still didn’t think much of it. But as my poor connection dragged on and on, with more and more buffering of Netflix, and not being able to upload 10MB to my website without having to reboot my CLEAR Spot Voyager – something as afoot.
After several days, I had had more than enough of my patience used up “waiting” for it to correct itself so I called clear support, around 8 PM on 9/18/2012. I worked with a friendly support technician who, I believe, said his name was “Shane.”
After some basic troubleshooting, we ran a series of speedtests using the famous SpeedTest.net. My pings were average for a WiMAX device, in the 145MS range; my downloads were, as advertised, hitting around 4.5Mbps. But here was the kicker. Uploads were floating around .08Mbps. Pitiful. Tie that with the high latency, and it explained why I was having such a hard time buffering and even web browsing. My speeds in the past have averaged .5 or higher for upstream, and I should know. Every time a friend of mine asks me how my Voyager performs, I do a SpeedTest.net test to the local server here in Rochester, NY. I’ve been quite the CLEAR evangelist. Until this very moment.
The technician pauses, makes a few key strokes, and tells me to try again. My speeds shoot up – downloads over 5Mbps, uploads back around .46 – not the fastest ever, but about 8x what was seeing seconds before. I shook my head, and was going to let it drop, until he said this: “as it looks like you are a power user, I would advise you to download less, this will keep your speeds in top shape.”
I stopped him from concluding our call. “Wait a moment. I pay for the unlimited data plan. I was under the impression that there were no limits, and that I would not be throttled after any certain usage quantities. When I called you, my upload speeds were at .08 – now they’re .45. Was I being throttled? And if you need to escalate me to a supervisor, I’ll hold, you don’t deserve to be chewed out, but if I’m being throttled and I have your unlimited data plan, I need to know right now.” I was then placed on a 2 minute hold.
The same support technician, again, I think the name given was Shane, came back on the line. He politely explained there was nothing more he could do – that I already had the unlimited plan. I concurred, but pushed a little further: “When we began our call, my upload was .08 – after I spoke with you, .45 – what did you do? Can you confirm I was not being throttled?” He would not use the word “throttle” – but simply stated that how I chose to use the bandwidth was up to me, CLEAR only advertises 3-6Mbps down in 4G areas and .5-1Mbps upstream. He said that he only “refreshed” things on his end, that he made no changes to my connection details or my modem device itself. I politely concluded my call, but I’m left with this strange feeling.
I had a slow connection, I call support, and now my connection is mostly healed; I’m given what can only be interpreted as a ‘verbal warning’ about being a power user. It’s left a bad taste in my mouth, and I’ll wait to see how things go, but as far as right now? I’m starting to feel that my CLEAR Spot’s “unlimited” plan may have its limits.
I am a huge fan of the website AlternativeTo.net. I have been using it since they were in their infancy, I submitted several product reviews and filled in a few blanks in my time on the site. It’s a very useful site for tech geeks like myself, who might be looking for a program that is similar to something else, but might be more affordable, or have a different feature set. If you want something similar to Norton Ghost, it might suggest Clonezilla, or if you want DropBox, you might want to check out SugarSync or SkyDrive.
AlternativeTo covers all of the major platforms, from Windows, to Mac OSX, to Android, iOS, and even WebOS… you can find great suggestions if you’re looking for an app similar to another, because one doesn’t quite suit your needs. I can suggest the website enough, it’s all built up with user feedback, and I really hope it’s around for years to come.
So earlier this week the world saw what would happen if GoDaddy were to suddenly close up shop and leave town. Reports spread quickly, and an a member of “Anonymous” stepped forward saying he is the one who brought GoDaddy to their knees.
Although this may or may not be true, GoDaddy emphatically and categorically denies that such a thing happened. They say an internal error caused the several hour outage.
My co-workers and I crunched a few numbers yesterday and it could be said that GoDaddy is affiliated with some 30 million domain names, if we looked at the right information. Maybe more, maybe less… But would it really matter? Would you like to admit that a mistake, one wrong keystroke, brought down such a huge chunk of the internet? Or would you rather hope that your customers are sympathetic to your plight, that you were an unfair target and they were the collateral damage of a DDOS attack by “some nasty hackers.”
Was their mistake causing their own problem? Or was their bigger mistake admitting it? Does that open them up to a wider swath of people who want to leverage a class action lawsuit against them? They may have had a lawsuit dropped on them either way, in fact you can nearly be certain it will happen, but will more people be likely to pile on without remorse knowing that GoDaddy themselves caused the issue? It’s hard to say for sure, but I think GoDaddy may have slipped up big, this time.