Windows 10 and why I change my recommendation

On 1/17/2014 I wrote on this blog a rant titled: Microsoft Accounts and Windows 8 – A Rant

For Windows 10 this article is just as valid today. I want to quote the main point (emphasis added):

Apple has made an incredible fortune "having access" to all this information about their customers and as I see it Microsoft wants to bake themselves a similar pie, not only get a slice [of this pie of advertisement money]. Once I realized this my reaction was "Big Brother. . . ".

IMHO Windows 10 is a masterpiece of a copy of that pie, even with some improvements; it's main objective is to gather information about and from the user; why else would Microsoft assign a unique "advertising ID" to  every email address that unsuspecting users give them?

As often in this life where there is light there is shadow and vice versa. And besides the "shadow" that I call outright spying there is light:

Technically Windows 10 is a really good operating system.

The main complaints can by now be alleviated with third party programs.

• The data reporting can reliably be turned off (no more spying!) while the helpful reporting about the inner workings of the system (or failures to do so) remains active.
   
• The main menu can look and feel just like your old version of Windows; it can look and
  work just like you were used to from Windows Vista or Windows 7.  

If you want to upgrade to Windows 10, go ahead!
 
But be warned: When you upgrade to Windows 10 IMHO you have to install and correctly configure the program that turns Windows 10's reporting features OFF! And do NOT give Microsoft your email address, it will be treated as a Microsoft account!

Again, if privacy is of any concern to you then DO NOT give Microsoft your email address! That includes that you should NOT use Skype! We have a free alternatives to Skype that does not require to give your email address to Microsoft.

Remember what I wrote in Windows 10 Settings - What I Recommend (August 8th. 2015):

If you gave the system on first start your email address Microsoft has created on their servers the storage for an immense wealth of information about you that Win10 and it's programs will collect from and about you; and that besides the fact that every email address will have it's unique "advertisement ID" assigned. Guess what that will be used for!

Should you feel asked a bit too much with all this please contact me by email, I can help. An email address to contact me is in non-computer readable format at the end of the Welcome paragraph in the left side bar of my blog.

And if you upgraded and don't like what you see you have four weeks to 30 days (conflicting info from MS!) to revert back to what you had before.

Stay safe.

Windows 10

Wow, Microsoft, I am impressed!

I have done my first baby steps on the Windows 10 Technical Preview that was released today.

All I can say is:

         Windows 10 is Windows 8 done right!

I can hardly wait for next year's final release; we do not have an  official release date yet; it will be some time next year.

This is the system I will upgrade my everyday "work" computer to.

EVERYTHING of "old" software I tried so far works flawlessly, even system utilities, Libre Office and Google Earth. And the system is only a "preview" that still has some rough edges..

Running the risk to repeat myself, I am impressed.

Do you still have Windows Vista running on a a well equipped machine or one that could easily be upgraded to at least 4GB of RAM? Windows 10 is the system to upgrade to!

Be warned, do NOT attempt an in-place upgrade, always do a full install! This advice has nothing to do with Windows 10, it comes from experiences with six generations of upgrading Windows to newer versions.

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog. Please no hidden adverts for commercial software and please only language that your little kids could hear.

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How To Buy A New Computer

Microsoft will drop the very last vestiges of support for Windows XP on April 8th, 2014. These computers have to be replaced by then!

I found an interesting article written by Microsoft's Director for Trustworthy Computing. You could read that rather tedious article or just settle for this quote:

As for the security mitigations that Windows XP Service Pack 3 has, they were state of the art when they were developed many years ago. But we can see from data published in the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report that the security mitigations built into Windows XP are no longer sufficient to blunt many of the modern day attacks we currently see. The data we have on malware infection rates for Windows operating systems indicates that the infection rate for Windows XP is significantly higher than those for modern day operating systems like Windows 7 and Windows 8.

To me that says loud and clear: Abandon Windows XP as fast as you possibly can!

Although Windows Vista was released seven years after XP I find many Vista machines from the early days of Vista that are mis-configured, mostly with way too little RAM (main memory) and technical limitations that would not allow to expand RAM beyond 2GB. I strongly recommend to upgrade these machines as well.

What new computer should I buy?

One of the first questions I often get asked is “Mac or PC?”. My reply is always the same: A MAC is almost always three to four times as expensive as a technically comparable PC. Plus you buy yourself into a very well maintained “gated community”. Any additional software for example will be more expensive and in the MAC world you find a much, much more limited selection of good free programs.

Those of my customers that switch to a MAC usually have compelling individual requirements and reasons. They accept the steep learning curve and the higher cost.

And opposite to common perception MACs do know viruses and are just as susceptible to browser based attacks and hijacks as PCs are.

There may be a difference in quality of the components; for my customers that is rarely an issue. I hardly ever recommend a rock bottom priced computer and decent average quality is available at very reasonable prices.

Where to buy the new computer?

I hesitate to write it down but many, many of my customers admit freely that they are not enough tech-savvy to go to a computer store; I recommend to simply avoid the risk of being sold much more than is really needed.

I offer to assist in selecting a suitable computer at a reasonable price. Buy it on-line at one of the larger, dependable and trustworthy dealers. Sometimes we find deals that seem to good t be true.

All-In-One, Desktop or Laptop? 

The one big difference that I always point my customers to is the text size on the screen. The nature of the beast dictates that things on a laptop screen are smaller than on a decent monitor. For people “up there” in age and/or with eye issues (like your's truly) this should be the major factor in that decision.

If on the other side you travel a lot or if you live for several month “down south” then a laptop may be the better solution because of the easier transportation.

All computers are built with mass production techniques. It is always a remote possibility to get a “lemon”, that one piece out of thousands that causes trouble.

All-In-One

This kind of computer has really “come of age” lately. A few weeks ago I bought a new computer for my wife, an All-In-One with a gorgeous 23 inch screen, 1TB disk drive, a fast 3Ghz dual core processor, built-in wireless and webcam. Needless to mention that she loves it.

The biggest advantage from the housewife's viewpoint is that there is only one cable going into the back of the machine!

Desktop with monitor, keyboard and mouse

If you already have a nice flat screen monitor and prefer a desktop computer, by all means just get another one. Very reasonably equipped standard computers cost between $300 and $500.

Beware of some sales rep talking you into a system with a touch screen. Do you know how heavy the hand gets when you stretch your arm out for only two minutes?

Touch screens are okay on tablets and phones; I don't see their usefulness in a classic computer environment; as usual, your views may differ.

Touch screen monitors are (so far at least) clearly more expensive than conventional flat screen monitors. It is a new technology that has had no time to mature yet.

As far as brands go: My reservations towards Dell and HP are well known; I just can not recommend to buy from companies that have deliberately lied to their customers (Dell) or still install at best questionable software.(HP, Sony and Samsung for example).

During the last two or three years I have recommended many Gateway desktop computers. Gateway (the brand!) is owned by Acer.

Laptop

Screen size is always measured in the diagonal! I recommend at least a 15.6” screen; laptops with 17” screens are clearly heavier than their 15.6” cousins.

The only brand I recommend is Lenovo. Their laptop computers are designed in the tradition of IBM laptops from long gone times. They are mostly just a tad better than the competition.

How much Memory?

Memory, main memory or RAM denotes the computer's internal work space. The more main memory the computer has the more programs can work at the same time.

For normal household usage 4GB of main memory (RAM) in a Windows 7 or 8 machine has proven to be enough, no matter was the sales rep at the store told you.

If you use any CAD/CAM software or Adobe Photoshop or if you edit videos then you want 6 or 8GB of RAM or even more. Most heavy duty users know that and buy accordingly.

What processor?

My typical home use customer will not experience lots of differences between an AMD and an Intel processor (CPU). If you actually really do create your own family movies you want an Intel i7 or i5 as fast as your budget allows. For everybody else the speed of the processor is more important than who made it.

Dual core processors are the standard now. Here a warning: When the store clerk sings the praises of an AMD quad core CPU he/she dupes you. AMD quad core means that you get two CPUs and two graphics processors in one chip. Marketing at it's best...

Laptops have thermal limitations; there just is not enough space in a laptop to create sufficient air flow to cool a fast CPU. Laptops in a reasonable price range tend to top off at 2.5 Ghz.

Desktop and all-in-one computers usually do not have the stringent air flow limitations of laptops Thar is why I recommend the faster CPU within reasonable limits and budget constraints.

In my experience a desktop with an Intel i3 3.4 Ghz CPU is faster than the same computer with a more expensive i5 with only 2.3 Ghz.

I see cheap desktop computers with 1.4 Ghz CPUs being offered. In every day usage you may only occasionally experience some sluggishness. But when Microsoft gives us a big update Tuesday the 1.4 Ghz computer may easily need 45 minutes to finish the updates versus five to eight minutes for the 3.4 Ghz machine. 

What about hard drive size?

The hard drive, the internal disk drive with moving platters supplies the storage space where the operating system, all programs and all data files are stored.

Modern computers offer typically from 320GB to 1 TB of storage space which definitely is enough for household usage. Only if you or your teenager download full length movies you can fill up these large drives.

Windows 8 or Windows 7?

You can try to find a Windows 7 computer but it will be $100 to $150 more expensive than the technically same machine with Windows 8.

If you buy Windows 8 you will likely want me to adjust a few settings to run the computer in desktop mode, just as you have been used to since 1995. I would love to help you “taming” Windows 8.

Do you have your software ready?

If you are replacing an older Windows XP system you may have an old version of Microsoft Office that originally came with computer. These licenses are tied to the machine they came on, they “die” with the computer.

Even if you still have the installation disks for MS Office XP or MS Office 2003 I strongly recommend NOT to install them on new systems. They are by now as hard to keep secure as Windows XP has become hard to keep safe..

One of the main reasons for new software versions is security against attacks by viruses and so on.

Remember: It is NOT possible to safely transfer programs directly from an old to a new computer, even if there is software claiming to do just that. Programs have to be installed on the new machine and that is only possible if you have your install disks and eventually required license or product keys at hand.

If you only want to create or edit Microsoft Word or Excel files I recommend Libre Office, a very good product developed out of the original Open Office.

If you use any other "old" software you have to check with it's manufacturer that it is suited to run on a computer with Windows 7 or Windows 8 Desktop Mode.

Where to Buy?

Naturally you can go to any store that sells computers. Just keep in mind that their prices need to pay for the brick and mortar buildings and the sales people there.

Most brick and mortar stores do not service a computer you buy from them, they usually send it to the manufacturer for repairs; then they charge you what the manufacturer billed them plus a margin for their efforts.

All too often the sales “representatives” are nothing more than high school or college students that “know about computers”.

TIPS!

• If you have wireless in your house, get a computer with wireless already installed in both laptop (standard) and your desktop where it is not yet standard, but worth getting!
• Buy an extended warranty only if you buy a a business computer; your business needs to be running and usually can't afford longer computer down time. Some of these extra warranties come with guaranteed same day or next day assistance.
• For obvious reasons I recommend NOT to buy from a rental center!
• Stay within your budget; temptations are plentiful!

Set it up

Certainly you can set up a new computer yourself.

With Windows 8 Microsoft has elevated “arm twisting” to a whole new level, IMHO at least! You definitely should NOT ever use a so called Microsoft account! Read this for more background information.

If you feel more comfortable to have the computer set up by a professional correctly and with added safety features then please read this article about my Set Up job, I would be glad to help.

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

BIG Trouble With Java

Have you read or heard about the government recommending to disable Java?

Are you concerned about these warnings?

Or are you wondering if the warnings apply to you?

If you answered "No" to any of the questions above then please wake up, be concerned and do what needs to be done.

A wee bit of background information: Java is a programming language that makes programs largely computer independent. That means any program written in Java should run an any given computer.

The number of viruses written in Java has recently exploded. And some very nasty viruses are among these newcomers.

The software system that has to be installed on your computer to make Java "work" has found to be faulty; thus it endangers most computers.

On ALL my customer's computers Java is installed since it is required for some web sites and here especially for some web sites with games.

Java has to be turned OFF in all web browsers now! 

If a web page requires Java you better stay away from this web site, especially sites with any kind of games! Well, if it is a web site from a company, college or public administration that you have good reason to trust then you can enable Java in Firefox (or Google Chrome) and only for this web site.

You can follow the instructions in this article to easily disable any Java programs (called Java applets) running in Firefox or Google Chrome.

If you want to avoid Java running in any other web browser and if you have diligently kept Java up-to-date you can follow the instructions in the first three paragraphs of this article. "Diligently kept up-to-date" means you have Java version 7 Update 17 installed (per March 4th 2013).

Some related background information is in this article. 

Update 1/21/2013: here a quote from The Register:

Separately Trend Micro warned earlier this week that the latest Java security update may be incomplete. The update attempts to address two security bugs but fails to quash one of these completely.

The security firm advises users to avoid Java where possible, particularly as a plugin to their browsers, where the main danger arises. Users obliged to use Java, perhaps on the small percentage of sites which require it or for work-related reasons, can minimize their exposure by disabling Java on their main day-to-day browser and using a secondary browser with an enabled Java plugin solely for those sites. This tactic for minimizing exposure to Java-based attacks is advocated by many security firms.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Windows 8 - Do You Need It?

End of October will bring the introduction of Windows 8. The "new factor" seems to be intriguing to some people.

All Windows XP computers and some early Windows Vista computers are reaching the limits of their useful lifetime or even are outright beginning to fail. I always try to get the customer to compare the cost of a repair to the cost of a new computer. New computers generally are in every technical aspect a multiple of what a computer built for Windows XP was.

Whenever I have to talk to a customer about a new computer I am asked "Should I wait for Windows 8?".

 My current reply is usually along the lines of

• Currently you can get reasonably priced computers with Windows 7.
• Windows 7 IMHO is the best operating system Microsoft has ever released.
• Windows 8 and it's Metro user interface is meant and built primarily for touch enabled devices.
• You will have to re-learn many things that have become habitually
• I rather recommend to stay away from the bleeding edge of technical developments.
• Using a repaired (older) Windows XP computer with Windows 7 or Windows 8 is like attempting to keep up in Chicago's rush hour traffic with a Ford Model T.

I know that you will be able to use Windows 7 at least until January 2020. Yes, Microsoft has firm life cycle schedules available. If you look at these schedules you need to look at the "end of support" dates. In Microsoft's own words:

End of support refers to the date when Microsoft no longer provides automatic fixes, updates, or online technical assistance.

That is the date relevant for the average home user! After that date nobody will want to help you with the "old" operating system anymore.

Conclusions:

If there is any reason to currently think about possibly a new computer please think Windows 7!

If you are confused by the huge number of options out there and/or if you can't stand the quite often incredibly snotty sales people (for example but not only at Best Buy) then please ask me for advice. All my customers have my email address, my phone number and even my postal address. Or you can use the link way at the end of every single article on this blog; it looks like this: Click to send me an Email

As with any and all brand name computers I strongly recommend my Set-Up job. The customers that had me do the set-up job are those I don't hear from for years; that's how I want it to be!

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

DISable Windows Sidebar & Gadgets NOW! Update

The Register is a British IT and computer blog. I follow it's security blog; one of the recent articles was about dangers posed by Windows Vista and Windows 7's features "sidebar" and "gadgets". To save you the need to go to this page and then return I will quote their full article here:

 Microsoft has advised Vista and Windows 7 users to put Gadgets and the Windows Sidebar to the sword, following the revelation of yet-to-be-detailed remote code execution vulnerabilities in the features.

Redmond issued this advisory ahead of an upcoming Black Hat presentation by Mickey Shkatov and Toby Kohlenberg. The two have promised to reveal “interesting attack vectors” in a presentation called “We Have You By The Gadgets”.

Microsoft hasn’t provided any further information about the vulnerability, other than to say that users could install insecure Gadgets that enable remote code execution.

“Gadgets installed from untrusted sources can harm your computer and can access your computer’s files, show you objectionable content, or change their behavior at any time,” Microsoft notes.
Since Gadgets run with the rights of the current user, the vulnerability could allow exploits all the way up to administrative level.

The Microsoft fix disables the Windows Sidebar and Gadgets on all supported Vista and Windows 7 editions.

The unloved Sidebar feature for Gadgets was killed off in Windows 8, as was the Windows Live Gallery used to access Gadgets from the desktop.

I always have advised my customers not to use sidebar functionality; especially on early Vista systems with limited hardware sidebar gadgets caused a perceivable performance reduction.

It seems to be interesting that Microsoft issues a "fix" even before the vulnerability has become public. That tells me something about this vulnerability: It must be really dangerous or maybe it's just too easy to exploit it?


If I have set up your system and you have an icon labeled "Teamviewer..." on your desktop then I can apply remotely a simple fix that will disable the sidebar and it's gadgets permanently and system wide. And you have my phone number.

Update: There is a relatively easy way to disable the sidebar and the gadgets yourself:

Uninstalling the Gadget Platform also removes the Gadget options from the desktop context menu and the control panel. To uninstall, open the Control Panel, click Programs and Features. In the upper-left corner click Turn Windows features on or off. In the Windows Features list, scroll down and un-check Windows Gadget Platform, then click OK. This will require a reboot.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Why I Recommend A Backup Program for $$

Update June 20th 2016: Changed software recommendation

Again a customer's question required an answer that might be of general interest. Thank you Carrie L.

The lady asked: 

So you would recommend the xyz external disk drive PLUS the fully automatic solution which is the software that runs the xyz drive?  Or can I just get the fully automatic solution?  If I do, where does the backup go - to a company who stores it?

I would never recommend to store backups on a third party's computer or "in the cloud" as the many Internet based services are called now. Uploads (from your computer) to the Internet are just too slow! All these advertisements are an appeal to our complacency and unabashed attempts at getting a sticky finger into our wallets. These solutions may be feasible when a company has leased a fast connection into the Internet; technically we talk about T1 lines or faster. For the average home user this is simply cost prohibitive.

Storing backup data in the computer itself does not offer any security against data loss in case the computer fails badly. Everybody who has been around computers a little bit will agree that you need to store your data files outside of your computer; for the home user that is on an external disk drive! Ideally the files should be stored in the same format that the operating system uses.

So, yes, you need an external disk drive. These disk drives usually come with some sort of backup software. Mostly these programs create proprietary formats. Whether you can restore your data files from these proprietary formats on other, new computers is questionable at best. This specific piece of software might not run on a new machine or not be available for a new operating system.

Above mentioned proprietary formats usually are compression and/or encryption schemes of some sort. This makes backed up data files inaccessible for normal, standard means of the operating system. I totally oppose any of these schemes for home use, especially if the users are "normal" people that do not have a degree in computer science.

Every other backup program I know needs to be either run manually or be scheduled to run automatically. Manual operation usually gets forgotten or postponed until it's too late; I confess, I can't do it dependably!
Automatically scheduled solutions require

• that your computer is always turned on at the scheduled time and on the scheduled day of the week and
   
• that you do not work on the computer while the scheduled backup runs (the problem here are "open" files, files you are working with whether you know it or not; many backup programs can not handle open files correctly(!) and
   
• that the computer does not enter sleep or hibernation mode while the backup is running (all Windows computers are by default set to go into sleep and hibernation).

Update June 20th 2016:

All too often a backup does not get done because, honestly, to run "that darned backup program" is an additional chore. And such chores get "forgotten" too often. But this something I can not change; if you want to be secured against data loss you will have to run backups - and you will have to do backups regularly! 

And to be totally honest, you will have to learn about the different basic backup concepts and functions and their names. There are literally many hundreds of tutorials about that on the Internet.
 
For Windows PCs I recommend the $70 (one time payment!) program Macrium Reflect. The free version is sufficient for most home users but you always can pay to upgrade.

You may want to read additionally this article about backup devices.
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Stay safe.

Windows 7 - Everything Else Is FREE

I read a two part article series on the WindowsSecrets blog written buy Woody Leonhard. If you follow my blog you have read about WindowsSecrets before. I like the skinny of these two articles so much that I "stole" their text from the second part of the article to post it here, with some textual changes and additions to enhance the readability and understanding by non-geeks, IMHO at least.
Most if not all of the software that stores will try to sell you when you buy a new computer does not need to cost any additional money. But since stores and dealers live from selling you something they will try - and sometimes really hard. The most often applied method to up-sell an unsuspecting not-too-PC-literate customer is good old FUD, Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. The sales guys in some stores can scare the daylights out of you just to get you to buy some additional software.
The kicker is that if you steadfastly refuse these software add-ons they sometimes even will throw it in the bag anyway "because it's free"; stuff they five minutes ago wanted to charge you for! If my customers got any antivirus program in this manner I always tell them to give it as a gift to their best enemy.
If you buy a new PC with Windows7 Home Premium pre-installed then there is hardly anything else you need to pay money for besides your fast Internet connection.
Let me go into a few more details for the most commonly offered add-on packages. This first part is from the WindowsSecrets blog with some textual additions.

Antivirus: Microsoft Security Essentials is free and works for the average PC-user just as good as commercial products and often even better.
It runs totally unobtrusive in the background and it's work load balancing is so good that even on weaker older computers you hardly ever will recognize that it is running.
Even while it is scanning your machine you can still work with your computer; I don't know any other antivirus program that does that in such a graceful way.
And if it has to "talk" to you it speaks in clear, simple English; you don't need a college degree to understand what it's telling you.
Backup programs: Windows 7 backup isn't particularly neat or fancy, but it covers the bases automatically and (almost always) works well.
I strongly recommend to invest a little bit of time to learn the ins and outs; it's all right there in the Windows 7 Help and Support displays.
And I strongly recommend to buy an external disk drive to keep the backups outside of the computer. A backup on the C: drive is no backup at all, at best it's a fig leaf.
Defragmenters: Windows 7 defragments your drives automatically (once a week by default), and you don't need to lift a finger or spend a penny. But you can set it to your liking, like have it defragment daily at a certain time - or only manually started. The latter then very soon gets forgotten anyway.
Disk Partitioning: Windows 7 does all you'll need!
No, Windows 7 doesn't have a full-fledged disk-partition manager. But it does everything with partitions that most people need (if you need it at all!) -- and it gets the job done without messing up your hard drive. Which is more than I can say for some third-party disk-partition managers.
Where is Windows 7's partition manager you ask? In an administrator account, click Start and in the Search box type "Administrative Tools", without the quotes naturally. In the resulting window double-click Computer Management. In the left panel, under Storage, click Disk Management.
You will see all your disk drives and the partitions on the disk drives.
Again, I strongly recommend to invest a little bit of time to learn the ins and outs; it's all right there in the Windows 7 Help and Support displays.
Registry Cleaners: Some do more harm than good.
I have never seen a real-world example of a Windows 7 machine that improved in any perceivable way after running a registry cleaner. Registry cleaners and Defragmenters may have been useful for Windows XP (before SP 2) and certainly were a good thing for Windows 98 and ME as long as these programs worked correctly - what sometimes they did not. With Windows 7 I think they're useless, if not worse than useless.
In my experience, working with hundreds of Windows 7 machines, I have never found a single Registry cleaner that caused any perceivable change in performance.  The Registry is an enormous database, and all this cleaning really doesn't amount to much. It is like sweeping out one parking space in a parking lot the size of Texas.
Even Microsoft has abandoned its Registry cleaners. E.g. Windows Live OneCare (precursor to Microsoft Security Essentials) once included an online scanner and Registry cleaner.
(Disclaimer: I can not confirm this claim but usually Woody Leonhard is a dependable source of such information.)
Windows 7's Firewall works only one way, that is inbound.
Like its predecessors, the Windows 7 firewall only keeps outside threats from getting in — it is an inbound firewall. Outbound firewalls alert you when an unauthorized program attempts to send data out of your computer. At least that's the theory. In practice, many outbound firewalls bother you mercilessly with inscrutable warnings saying that obscure processes are trying to send out data.
If you simply click through and let the program phone home, you're defeating the purpose of the outbound firewall. On the other hand, if you take the time to track down every single outbound event warning, you might spend half your life chasing firewall snipes.
Some people think an inbound-only firewall is woefully inadequate. I think it's good enough for almost everybody. It certainly is big time good enough for the computers in my household.

It's surprising how much old advice isn't valid any more!

So much for the part that was inspired by and partly copied from WindowsSecrets. Let me add a few categories that are not part of MS Windows.
Office software: Almost all new brand name computers I have seen over the last 6 or 7 years came with some Microsoft Office package pre-installed.
When you just start to use these programs they will work for 30 or even 60 days. After that point in time you will have to buy a license from Microsoft or your favorite computer store. Depending on the version of MS Office the sales clerk talks you into that is anything between $100 and $300. Ka-ching says the cash register and sales guys in the store smile.
You don't need to pay for this! There are at least three packages with office programs around that will not cost you a single penny! They can read and write files in the commonly used Microsoft formats, at least for texts, spreadsheets and presentations.
Currently I favor LibreOffice; it covers 99% to 100% of what the average home user ever uses or needs; only in very "tricky" formatted text or spreadsheet files you will find some features that maybe are not 100% compatible; in this case the Help forum mostly has a workaround.
A category by itself: Google Earth just because it is such a great toy. Whether you want to check out a new vacation location before you book or just see the Kremlin or Tiananmen Square from the birds eye view, it is worth trying it. Even on average decent basic computers like I recommend to my customers it works very well; the speed of the Internet connection is much more important.
Photo Management and Editing: For the average home user Google's program Picasa IMHO is unbeatable. just watch it finding and removing the red rabbit eyes from the photos of your loved ones. And that for FREE! You can build albums with it, publish photos to the internet so the family members on the other side of the planet can see them and, and, and…
Web browser: If you are my customer or listen to me on WTKM then you know that I strongly favor Mozilla's Firefox web browser. Although quality and security wise Google's Chrome browser is a very serious contender as well.
Email Client: If you are my customer or listen to me on WTKM then you know that I strongly favor Mozilla's Thunderbird email client. I don't even know whether there is another alternative still around.
Should you require any other software and don't know where to begin to look for it, I will gladly help. For much if not most of what you may want to do on your computer there likely is a free solution available.
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.
Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Recovery Disks vs. Repair Disk

Recently I got this question from a customer:

I got a message saying you need to create System Recovery Discs. Is this necessary with all the changes you did to our new computer?

Please be aware of the difference between a Repair Disk and System Recovery (or System Restore) Disks. Some programs that can write System Recovery Disks can also write System Repair Disks.

Repair Disks are operating system specific and can help to repair an operating system that does not boot anymore. They got introduced with Windows Vista.

Vista and Windows 7 can create Repair Disks natively, that is without additional software.

Recovery Disks (or Restore Disks) can restore a computer system completely to the exact state it was in when the Recovery Disks were created. On Windows 7 no special software is needed to create Recovery Disks. Many manufacturers now supply such software under various names pre-installed with their systems.

But BEWARE: Many manufacturer programs will give you "Recovery Disks" that will recover the computer to the original, factory installed state. And trust me, you don't want to go back there and as a consequence loose all updates, additionally installed programs and personalized settings. And with one wrong selection you could loose ALL your data files as well! 

In their own documentation Microsoft does not always clearly distinguish between system Repair and system Recovery (or Restore). Beware of the ensuing confusion.

There is a fairly good explanation of the term "Recovery Disk" on Wikipedia. Only the sentence "OEM supplied recovery media is commonly shipped with most computers" is not correct any longer. Since the introduction of Windows Vista in late 2006 I see on new Vista and Win7 computers only software installed to create such disks; generally there are no disks being supplied any more. And any manufacturer supplied recovery disk will very likely restore your computer to it's original state; see the paragraph above that begins with "But Beware".
 
After an eventual catastrophic event System Recovery Disks allow you to completely recover the system to exactly the state it was in at the moment the Recovery Disks were made, including all your programs and data. You need several DVDs for one set of Recovery Disks so you should buy at least 5 or 10 recordable DVDs, NOT CDs! Naturally your computer needs to be equipped with a DVD writer to be able to create the recovery disks.

IMHO it is always advised to make System Recovery Disks, not even only once after a new computer has been set up but after every major change or update.

And it is advised as well to create a System Repair disk; this needs to be done only once. If you did not do it or if this function got left out by the manufacturer of your system then I can help; I have a complete set of Repair Disks for Vista and Windows 7 in their 32-bit and 64-bit variants.

After you have made the first set of Recovery Disks the reminder message mentioned in my customer's email will not come up anymore but the software should still be on your computer in the All Programs menu.

In the past I have seen that some manufacturer in their eternal wisdom choose to remove the software after the first set of disks was created. Should that happen on your machine don't despair, there is other free software available that can write Recovery disks. Repair disks can be downloaded from Microsoft.

If you got confused by the above please don't despair. The Windows Secrets blog has a completely different way to describe the same theme while talking about all these options quite differently.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Vista and Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows 7 and Vista both come with a plethora of keyboard shortcuts for those of us who want to be super efficient or who are just mouse weary.

Here is a small, arbitrary and incomplete selection of some keyboard shortcuts that I find useful, at least sometimes.

Alt + P (in explorer)	Activates preview of the currently selected file
Win + Up	Maximizes the active window
Win + Down	Minimizes the active window
Win + Shift + Up	Stretches the active window to max. screen height but leaves the width unchanged
Win + Shift + Down	Active window: -    reduce maximized window to normal -    minimize normal window
Win + +	Turns the magnifier on
Win + Esc	Turns the magnifier off
Win + Left/Right	Repeated use on active window will -    fill exactly left/right half of screen -    flips window to other side of screen -    reduce window to original size and location
Win + Home	Minimizes all open windows except active window; repeating restores all previously minimized windows
Win + T	Cycles through preview thumbnails of all open programs (almost identical to Alt + Tab)
Win + E	Opens Explorer on “Computer”
Win + (number)	Launches programs pinned to taskbar (first, second a.s.o.)
Win + Space	Aero mode only: Make all windows transparent (toggle switch)

I hope you too will find some of these useful.

There are many, many more. Click on Start, Help and Support, search for Keyboard Shortcuts and click the Keyboard Shortcuts entry in the list of results.

Lots to read, bring some spare time to the party ;-)

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

32-bit or 64-bit System?

For home users with Windows XP there is no question, they have a 32-bit operating system. With Windows Vista or Windows 7 you need to know what version your computer is running. How do you find out what it is? Right click on Computer and click on Properties. Under the heading “System” you find the answer. Here is an example from my computer: 
Recent hands-on experience shows that on identical hardware 64-bit systems are often faster than 32-bit systems. 
If you found yourself thinking “Will this 32-bit software run on my 64-bit operating system?” or “Will this 64-bit software run on my computer?” or "Should I buy that 64-bit system?" or if you just would like to know more about the difference then read on.
I will try to answer these questions and help you understand the 64-bit and 32-bit concepts of hardware, operating system and applications.
32-bit systems have been part of consumer computing for more than a decade since the time of the Intel Pentium, also known as 80386 architecture or sometimes x86 for short. Most software and operating system code written during this time is 32-bit compatible.
32-bit systems can address up to 4 GB of memory. Some modern applications require more memory to complete their tasks. Progress in chip fabrication technology and demands of high power applications led to the development of 64-bit processors for mainstream computing.
Here is the problem: Most of the software available today is still 32-bit code, but processors have migrated to 64-bit and operating systems are catching up quickly. Eventually even the applications will catch up. Thus we have to cope with many possible combinations of 32 and 64-bits hardware, operating system and applications.
Consider these three factors to be three layers with the processor as the lowest layer and the application as the highest layer.

To run a 64-bit application, you need support from all lower levels (64-bit OS and 64-bit processor).

• To run a 64-bit OS, you need support from its lower level 64-bit processor; it will NOT run on a 32-bit processor.
• A 32-bit OS will run on a 32 or 64-bit processor without any problems because 64-bit processors can emulate a 32-bit processor.
• 32-bit applications will run on any supported combination of OS and processor. In a 64-bit OS this is possible due to software emulation, a feature of 64-bit operating systems.
• Device drivers run parallel to the operating system. Emulation happens only at the operating system level; it is available to the higher layer only, that is the applications. Thus it is not possible to install 32-bit device drivers on a 64-bit machine.

Answers to common questions:
Will a 64-bit CPU run a standard 32-bit program on a 64-bit version of an OS?
Yes it will. 64-bit systems are backward compatible with the 32-bit counterparts (see the warning below).
Will a 64-bit OS run a standard 32-bit application on a 64-bit processor?
Yes it will because of backward compatibility. Please see the warning below.
Can I run Win2K and WinXP on an 64-bit CPU and use old software? Yes, a 32-bit OS like Win-2K and Win-XP will run on 64-bit processors. You can run "old software" on these 32-bit OS and 64-bit processors (see the warning below).
Will my devices (printer, scanner and so on) work when I buy this fancy new 64-bit machine with 64-bit OS?
Here you have to do your homework! Before you buy the fancy new 64-bit computer with 64-bit OS you have to verify that 64-bit drivers are available for all devices you plan on to keep using!
A warning: Many times 64-bit programs may contain bits of 32-bit code; old 32-bit programs can contain 16-bit code. Be aware that 16-bit code will NOT run on a 64-bit OS.
This is one reason why some old 32-bit programs will not work on a 64-bit OS.
Update 2-22-2010:
Personal recommendation when buying a new computer:
For quite a few peripherals that you may have like printers, scanners and so on you may NOT find 64-bit drivers. Do your home work before you buy the fancy-shmanzy new 64-bit system!
Should you not quite know how to do this sort of home work then send me an email to ejheinze_at_gmail_dot_com (or my “normal” email address) with a detailed list of exactly what peripherals you have and a request to find out for you if there are 64-bit drivers available. There will be a small charge for this service because it may be time consuming. 
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog.
Thank you in advance.