Month: May 2014

Let me start off by saying that I NEVER ever buy the latest technology. It is simply too expensive for the returns that I would get. I also only upgrade everything at the point where what I have will not properly support the latest OS on the block.. So, in May 2010, and still running Windows 7 but with a view to running Windows 8 on its release, I bought  a good case, a midrange AM# motherboard and processor, 8Gb RAM, a 500gb SATA HDD and a 550watt power supply, total cost somewhere between $500 – 550..  The existing Microsoft … Continue reading How much and why?

See here.. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9248570/Perspective_The_Surface_Pro_is_Microsoft_s_latest_premature_introduction_problem?source=rss_latest_content&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+computerworld%2Fnews%2Ffeed+%28Latest+from+Computerworld%29 Is the world ready for the Surface Pro 3? Yes, maybe if the price was half what it is and it was smaller or larger. Small tablets, Kindles et al are a nice easy to carry size, and they are CHEAP. The Surface Pro is not so pocketable, getting towards easily usable laptop size, and it definitely isn’t CHEAP. It would be interesting  to see which iPad sold best. My guess is that it would be the cheapest model. In my experience, people buy the cheapest in the hope that it will do what they want, and … Continue reading In the news again..

I watched a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 machine showcased today, and I will admit that it is very nice. The machine is quick, the keyboard has a nifty magnet to keep it attached to the screen, and it is all super thin and light.. OK, so now for the problems with the presentation.. The machine being demo’ed was sitting in an expensive docking station.. It was connected to a huge screen, which is probably the best way to view a 12” tablet.. It was connected to the very latest Sculpt keyboard and mouse desktop set.. It was the Intel i7 … Continue reading An easy choice..

.. is a touch mouse designed for Windows 7, and I bought mine for $26 plus tax from XS Cargo in my local city. It replaces one of the all time great mobile mice, the venerable Microsoft Mobile 4000 wireless mouse, and I would have bought another but for one problem. Stuffing the 4000 into a pouch in the front of my small netbook carry case took out the scroll wheel, and if there is one thing that you need when browsing websites on a netbook, it is a good scroll wheel. So, for months I struggled with the touchpad, … Continue reading The Logitech M600

You now have until June 10, 2014 to install the 8.1 update, after which you either have no choice and it will install automatically, or you return to Windows 8 RTM or earlier, and good luck to you if that is what you would rather do. As little as I use anything to do with Metro, the ‘x’ at the top right corner of every app is very useful indeed. I accept that there are people in the MS forums expressing difficulties with the 8.1 upgrade AND the update, but if it was me, I would start over from 8 … Continue reading An 8.1 update update..

The mouse on the left is a Microsoft Mobile 6000, a year and a half old perhaps, and the mouse on the right is a Microsoft Mobile 4000, almost five years old. Both had issues with the scroll wheel, and now they have the added problem that the tops had to be prised off, so don’t try this at home.. Internal design is similar as one would expect, except for the right auxiliary button on the 6000 which the 4000 doesn’t have.OK, onto the problem which resulted in both being taken apart. The 4000 was working perfectly well until it … Continue reading A tale of two mice..

A Symantec big-wig recently stated that the anti-virus solution is ‘doomed to failure’. It’s good that somebody within Symantec has some product knowledge, but with respect to Symantec, their woes are self-inflicted. They took what was originally a nice neat utility and systematically turned it into a monstrous piece of invasive software which did everything except make life easier for the user of the computer on which it was installed. This is true of others too. They started off small, light ad non-invasive, and turned onto the Symantec path. There used to be rumours that the anti-virus people put out … Continue reading Anti-virus solutions..

.. that will protect you from Microsoft, the evil empire which made use of the computer easy for all. See here.. http://zapatopi.net/afdb/ .. and this is one of the reasons why you should construct a hat at your earliest convenience.. http://www.infoworld.com/t/microsoft-windows/microsoft-confuses-windows-7-users-sudden-release-of-kb-2952664-241047 If you are not a technical person, there is an easy video tutorial here.. This particular hat protects against an alien invasion, so I would imagine that it is good enough to protect against a multiplicity of threats. http://wn.com/how_to_make_a_tin_foil_hat I started a blog back in 2004/2005 which I noticed was being tracked from a location on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington … Continue reading How to make a hat..

I can’t remember a time when a Microsoft update cobbled anything on a computer of mine, but KB2964358 was one of them. This is the update which fixed the latest Zero Day exploit in all versions of Internet Explorer since the venerable version 6. The Symptoms: My Protopage home page consists of two pages, page one holding three blocks of my most used URLs, and a second page holding four news blocks and the Dilbert cartoon. Every now and again, I have to knock out the Dilbert cartoon because it forgets to update daily, and then re-add it to the … Continue reading An Up(set)date finally..

As long as you have a printer which is AIR capable, Air printing from an iPad is a breeze. Knowing which icon to press for the print option is not so obvious, but I worked it out. OK, now for the bad apple. The culprit is an iPod, 4th generation which didn’t want to be recognised by the Windows 8.1 laptop. Installing iTunes latest version was easy enough, BUT when the iPod was attached, the computer briefly saw it, started iTunes and then promptly disconnected the iPod. An older iPod was tried and it would have worked if the client … Continue reading A bad ‘Apple’..