THE PROS

1. The GUI is much nicer, user-friendly, and clean. It takes a little bit of getting used to it, but it’s manageable.
2. Applications are easier to install and mobilize throughout the directory structure. I don’t have to worry about an error message always coming up saying “this file is missing or that file is missing”.
3. There are more graphical programs to edit video, photos, and music.
4. Accessibility - I don’t have to look very far for the main and basic and most used programs in the OS.
5. The entire unit doesn’t take up a lot of space. everything pretty much resides inside the flat-screen monitor.
6. The keyboard is made of durable metal, doesn’t have keys that need to be pushed far to get a character typed. The weight of the KB eliminates the accidental movement of the position of the keyboard. That used to be annoying in windows systems.

CONS: 

1.  For the most part the cons are mainly features that are not intuitive to a Windows user. For example I didn’t realize that the eject button on the keyboard is also used to play the music or video discs that are inserted. That wasn’t very obvious to me.
2. When navigating between different windows. If the focus is on a certain window that is partially covering another window that you want to get at which has a visible link that is on the window which is behind, you have to click twice to get to that link. Click #1: To get the focus on to the window in the back. Click #2: To get access to the page that link links to.

That’s pretty much all for now. I will post more pros and cons as they present themselves. 

Just imagine having yourself in 2^n different parts of the world to search for Jimmy Hoffa. That’s much more productive than little old me looking for Jimmy on every scaled foot of this planet. No I am not condoning cloning of individuals. I’m just making an analogy.

Some say the actual production and manufacturing of quantum computers can be about 20 years out from now. No one can tell the future especially that far in advance. So it is safe to say that Quantum computers will not be coming out in your wal-mart and officemax stores anytime soon.

 LOL…when they do come out I’ll be 45. Wow alot will happen in 20 years. Looking forward to it!

First you’ll need a ”cross head” screw driver. First remove the screws. Then either remove the side-panel from the tower or if it is a laptop, the plastic panel underneath the laptop. Then I will attempt to CAREFULLY remove the RAM stick, while being grounded, from its slot. Usually there are two levers to help remove or “eject” the RAM from the computer.

 Once I have successfully removed the RAM I will place it on a non-conductive surface (i.e. rubber, wood, plastic). Then I will double check the RAM connector type (i.e. DDR or DDR2). Once I have determined what type of RAM is needed, I just either pick one up from a local computer repair shop or insert one that I have on-hand.

 The inserting process is identical to the removal process, only backwards. Instead of “ejecting” you are “inserting”. Make sure the RAM is seated well in the slot and not just partially in. Once you’ve determined the RAM is seated well plug the computer in and hook up your monitor and keyboard (if its not a laptop) and turn it on.

 If it works then great! If it doesn’t work, that means the RAM wasn’t the problem and the next thing to do is either remove all devices except the RAM and CPU from the motherboard and reboot again or take your computer to a local computer repair shop.

DISCLAIMER: DO THIS PROCESS AT YOUR OWN RISK. NO DAMAGES OR INJURIES WILL BE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THOSE INVOLVED IN THIS WEBSITE OR THE WRITING OF THIS BLOG.

After installing the Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 and rebooted my machine I opened IE8 and it prompts you for preferences to things like your search provider and such. Then the initial page has an arrow that explains the function to be able to emulate IE7 if you wish while running IE8. I thought this was pretty cool. The button looks like this:

Activity Providers

IE8 gives you the option to view the top activities that online users do. Some of these activity categories are:

• Blog – Windows Live Spaces
• Define – MSN Encarta
• Find – eBay, Facebook, StumbleUpon
• Lookup – MSNBC, StumbleUpon
• Map – Live Search Maps, Yahoo! Local Maps
• Send – Windows Live Hotmail
• Share - Facebook
• Translate – Windows Live Translator

One of the things I liked that was put back into IE8 from IE6 was the menus that are listed in the upper left-hand corner. In IE7 I noticed that this was removed when you initially install and launch the application.

Webslices

IE8 offers Webslices which is like RSS feeds. I did not test much of this feature.

Browser Crashes

Given that I stream live video through ustream.tv my IE browser from time to time will crash and needs to restart or “look” for a solution to the problem. Well one feature that IE8 has is that when that it crashes, the last page you were viewing is recovered when the browser restarts.

I hated when the browser would crash and I would have to find the page I was on. It’s nice not to have to anymore.

At one point the IE8 browser would continually crash every few seconds but still would recover my previously viewed page. Having it crash that often is rather annoying. I was viewing my blog page: www.lockergnome.com/noahluis and it kept on crashing. Finally I decided to open the URL in Firefox. To my amazement it did not crash once.

This tells me that either the amount of content on the page, which was quite a lot, could not be handled by the browser or some of the content that resided on the page conflicted with the way IE8 is written. It’s a good thing that this is just the Beta version.

One last thing I noticed is that in the URL textbox Microsoft made it so that only the domain remains visible in black lettering when the rest of the URL remains grey. I thought this was worth noting although I’m not sure what real purpose it serves except to help with the visual aspects of the GUI.

Thus far the software has proven to still be unstable although there are some fixes here and there.

This tutorial will cover DSL/Cable Internet connections. PERFORM THESE STEPS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Method 1

1. Reboot your computer and continuously keep hitting the F8 key. Windows will then prompt you with a list of selections. Choose “Safe Mode with Networking”.
2. Log-in Administrator
3. Select yes at the window prompt
4. Open an Internet browser to test your Internet.
5. If it works that says that it’s not a hardware problem but a software problem.
6. Reboot and log in normally

Method 2

1. Make sure your modem is plugged in, your modem is connected to your computer via an Ethernet cable, and your computer is on.
2. In Both Windows Vista/XP first go to start -> right-click ‘Computer’ -> properties -> hardware -> device manager -> Network Adapters.
3. Make sure that a RED ‘X’ is not hovering over the device icon. If it is then right-click on the adapter and select ‘enable’.
4. Open an Internet browser to test the connection.
5. If the connection still doesn’t work, go on to the next section

Method 3

1. Try turning off your firewall temporarily.
2. Open up your anti-virus or anti-spyware software and disable your firewall.
3. The easier way to do this without much instruction is to right-click the icon in the lower left-hand corner of your screen and select ‘Exit’. This will shutdown your software that protects you.
4. Now open up an Internet browser.
5. If your connection did not work then it is very possible that you have a virus/spyware application that is blocking you from the Internet.
6. Start up your software that we just shutdown and run an update then a full scan of your computer. Remove all security threats, viruses, and spyware.
7. Open up an Internet Browser

Method 4

1. Go to start -> run -> type ‘cmd’ to open a command prompt.
2. Type ‘ipconfig /flushdns’ and press enter.
3. Then type ‘ipconfig /release’ and press enter.
4. Then type ‘ipconfig /renew’ and press enter.
5. Open up an Internet Browser to test your connection.
6. If it fails go to step 7
7. In the command prompt window type ‘netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt’
8. Then press enter
9. If you’re prompted to reboot, then do so.
10. If this fails, go to step 11
11. Go to start -> run -> type ‘cmd’ to open a command prompt
12. Type ‘netsh winsock reset’
13. If this last step does not work for you then it is recommended that you may want to take your computer into a computer repair shop to have an expert take a look.

Method 5

1. Call your Internet Service Provider to confirm that your internet service is active on their end.

Most business cards  have a business name, company saying or motto, website, email, phone number, mailing address. Be sure to include this information. As much as the front should have that information, the back of your business cards should be utilized to give customers a better feel for what your business can offer them. On my cards I have a list of general services that we provide. Last but not least, have a logo and some kind of image to compliment the information on your business cards. Make sure it’s relative. If you’re doing plumbing dont put a picture of a car unless its a picture of your work vehicle.

You will need an image editing software. I use Microsoft Digital Image Pro 10 to edit images and text together. The standard business card size is 3.5″ x 2.0″. So make sure your image that you create is with those dimensions.

 Then when you’re done. go to www.vistaprint.com and let the online help walk you through the ordering process.

The reason I started the business was because I seen a need for computer repair and the need to educate people about their computer. The education level of the area I live in, mainly Puna district, isn’t that high at all. The community isn’t a technology-based community.

But I refuse to stay in the “stone-age” of things and not learn and grow and get myself out there.

 By now I have serviced about 200 different computers approximately. Several businesses have also requested my services.  As much as I know that businesses are about making money and being profitable, I just want to help people with their computers and technology in general.

Then look for the word “screensaver”. The interface for XP and vista differs so bear with me. Then select the screen saver you woul like to appear when you have not used your computer for X amount of minutes. You define X so make sure you choose a reasonable amount of time of system idelness before selecting an amount of time.

 Hope this helps to save your screen!

The video quality is not bad. The max fps rate is 30. The local video quality is alright. There is a bit of a lag, which is understandable. The audio quality is also okay in that the microphone is quite sensitive. This helps us not have to speak so loud when broadcasting. 

Initially I installed the software that came with the camera and found that ustream doesnt allow broadcasts to happen when this software is installed. So I uninstalled it and the camera worked great.This webcam is made to work with Skype if you’re a user.

The only real complaint I have is that the cable length isn’t long enough for my needs. The cable is 6 feet. Then again my layout isn’t the best either.

 The box doesn’t say if this webcam is mac-compatible but for sure it is made for windows-users. The basic requirements are: Windows XP or later, 1.4 Ghz processor AMD or Pentium 4, 512 MB of RAM, CD-ROM Drive, 16-bit color adapter, OS Compatible soundcard and speakers, 1.1 or 2.0 USB port.

This is a great camera if you’re just starting out online.