Just a little post to help the computer illiterate out there.
1: Old computers will not function well with new programs, period. Most software companies don't care what you currently HAVE, they create programs based on what the latest and greatest system is. If you are running a Pentium 3 processor (or less), or under 1 Gig of RAM (or both) your computer will not be able to handle any program past 2003, at least not very well. A good computer at the time of this writing will be a processor with about 3 Ghz and 2 Gig of RAM. If you are suffering screen freeze, computer crashes and program hangs, but don't want to invest in a new computer, then you will have to suffer through the crap until you DO upgrade. That's not meant to be harsh, but there really isn't any way to alleve the weight your computer is carrying without giving it more muscle.
2: AMD processors are better than Intel, but you need to do your homework to determine what you need.
3: Hard Drives: Buy a Maxtor and you'll cry when you cook your data. Western Digital is still my fave, but Seagate is making a good product (finally!) again.
4: And speaking of Hard Drives, buy two of the same size and BACK YOUR SHIT UP!! All it takes is one fried drive to hammer this point home. Don't lose everything you have ever done on a computer just because backups were "inconvenient".
5: Don't buy a Dell. There is a reason they are such cheap computers. you don't want to say the words "Computer" and "bargain" in the same sentance. Most Dell computers are persnickity & force you to use THIER overpriced upgrades instead of what you can get for cheap somewhere else.
6: Turn off your computer at least twice a week. Visit the Microsoft Updates center and do regular update installs. You can get there by opening up Internet Explorer and going to the "Tools --> Windows Update" menu bar.
7: Turn off Windows Firewall. Trust me, it's NOT a Firewall. You can do this by going to "Start -->Settings-->Control Panel-->Windows Firewall"
8: Don't pay your ISP for extra IP addresses. Just get a router for your house & set up NAT on it. Most come with a pushbutton NAT configuration, so look around.
9: Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office (which contains Word, Excel, Outlook) are two different things. You can't just say "Microsoft is broken", that's like saying "Vehicle doesn't work". Is it a truck, car, or motorcycle? Flat tire, engine noise, won't start, what?
10: File Sharing programs are for suckers, they're an easy way to acquire a computer virus. Join a newsgroup & download from there, it's much safer.
7 comments:
Newsgroups safer than file sharing programs? So I guess all these Anna Kournikova screensavers I got from there are OK, right?
You need to find peer-reviewed bittorrent sites. There, other people check the stuff before you get to it. Also most programs are put out by well-established release groups who have a reputation to uphold. They often release MD5 checksums for their stuff so you know it hasn't been tampered with between them and you.
Newsgroups r t3h suck.
They certianly couldn't get worse than LIMEWIRE, BEARSHARE, or GNUTELLA.
Newsgroups, also, have people who investigate what you are getting, and there are reputable shares that are rated. Also, the RIAA doesn't investigate you on a newsgroup, unlike shareware & Torrent. Also, it's subject to the same upload/download throttle problem, newsgroups aren't.
I'm not knocking Bittorrent, it's another option. But the people who would know THAT wouldn't need to read my post, now would they? I'm not addressing geeks here.
Well, "Microsoft doesn't work" isn't specific. But it is usually accurate :-)
I can't remember who bought Maxtor. They're still noisy as hell, but their reliability is better. A couple of my RAID's SATA drives are new-era Maxtor, and they're acceptable.
If you want a bargain computer shop the component sales at Fry's or the equivalent and build one yourself. It's educational and only takes a couple hours. Total cost for my last box? $400 not including the monitor which came from my last computer. The old box turns into a server. The oldest server gets kicked off the pier.
Be careful about routers with some ISPs. Comcast will cancel your contract and charge you a hefty fee for hooking up more than one box. Speakeasy rocks. Reasonable price, unparalleled service - the guy who answers the phone is the same one who solves the problem and usually while you are talking to him mirabile dictu - and four static IPs. That should be enough for the web server, the VOIP, and two separate routers.
Ah, the windows firewall isn't all bad. It is actually better than nothing. Barely, I admit, but slightly better.
Let me add this to that list:
Run a freaking virus scanner that works.
There are several free ones that do well in the independent trials, (Avast & AVG), so run one of those and take the damn Norton disks you have out back and shoot them.
Jason
Hi Bobbe,
As a Dell employee (just so there is no doubt re transparency), I recall a former journalism professor telling me that "always and never are two words you should always never use." Waaay too absolute and often borne out to be inaccurate.
But more to the point, most Dell customers are pleased with our products because we strive to develop and custom configure value as defined by them -- whether it be low price, tricked-out performance or anything in between.
Thanks for letting me have a say.
Hi John, thanks for stopping by!
My opinion of Dell has fallen over the past year due to poor enterprise performance of the Optiplex line, as well as the difficulty in getting the Latitude to accept certian wireless networks WITHOUT using the Dell utility. Also, I hate the plethora of "Install Disks" that the computers come with. I am migrating our servers, desktops & laptops at my company over to a new system, because I want a machine that I can just load Windows onto & it covers all the drivers WITHOUT needing a special driver disk. As a network mananger/IT specialist, I don't have the time to do multiple disk loads for a single install of XP.
But the biggest reason I am so down on them is exactly what I mentioned in the post: Proprietary hardware. You can't just buy memory & throw it in there, you have to buy DELL memory. That just...Rubs me the wrong way.
I realize you are not the company itself, but since you answered my post I thought you would like to know that I'm not some teenage kid with an attitude. I have firsthand experience with various versions of your product, in corporate quantities: servers, desktops, laptops and switches. In recent years the quality has gone down. Now, this doesn't mean that you put out a bad product for Joe Everyman, but I can't recommend them for Enterprise deployment.
Thanks for listening.
Bobbe
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