Pensacola Computer Help Technoblog

Finally, Google has added a long awaited feature to its Gmail service – the ability to add images and rich text to email signatures! The next time you sign in to your Gmail account, click on the Settings link in the top upper right corner, and on the General tab about halfway down the page you will see the new Signature box with some new features. In addition to the regular bold, underline, italics etc, you can also change your font, change the font size, color and highlight color. YOu can add hyperlinks, and yes you can finally add images!!

While you can’t just upload an image directly (they must be hosted on the web somewhere) – you can easily just upload your image to a free image hosting service such as http://imageshack.us/ or http://tinypic.com/ and then copy the image address into the Image Url into the Gmail signature Add an Image dialog box. Once you have put in the image url, if it is correct, you will see an image preview. The dialog box also allows you to resize the image. **Note: you really should properly size the image before uploading it to the web, as an image that is too big will take a long time to load into an email message. Remember to click Save Changes at the bottom of the pages when you are done customizing your signature!

Email services like Gmail are constanly adding new features and this is one that people have been wishing about for a long time. The signature feature is a great feature, and if you have multiple Gmail accounts you can customize the signatures for each individual account. Unfortunately, the rich text signatures are only currently supported in the desktop browser version of Gmail and not supported on mobile versions. For the desktop version, you must be using the latest non-html version of Gmail.

It is that time of year again – thunderstorms rolling through the Pensacola area, sometimes leaving in their wake quite a few blown computers. While there are many people out there who aren’t using proper surge protectors, there are also many who are using surge protectors who still get zapped. There are truths and myths regarding lightning, power surges, and surge protectors, and unfortunately it is sometimes confusing to figure out what exactly you should do to protect yourself.

It has been estimated that only about 30% of computers that are damaged from lightning strikes are damaged through the electrical connection. The majority of computers which are damaged from lightning strikes are damaged through the modem or ethernet connection. While many people do have surge protectors on their electrical connection, most do not have them for their DSL/Cable ethernet or modem connections. DSL/Cable connections, as well as old style dialup modems are highly vulnerable to nearby lightning strikes as there is nothing like circuit breakers, grounds, or surge protection in between the cable/phone lines and your computer, and if lightning hits a nearby pole, or even the ground or a tree down the street, the electrical discharge that can travel through these lines can cause serious damage to your computer and accessories.

So what can you do to protect yourself and your computer? First of all, you should make sure that the cable/dsl lines coming into your house or business are properly grounded (I have run into quite a few cable/dsl installations that were not grounded at all!) The grounding is absolutely neccessary to help dissapate an electrical surge over and through these lines. Secondly, you should have your cable/DSL going through a special surge protector – this is a bit trickier as you really need to get a GOOD surge protector for these because the cheap ones that offer the cable/dsl ports can often seriously degrade your internet signal if they are of poor quality. Ideally, the surge protector should be between the cable/dsl line and the cable/dsl modem to protect the modem and everything beyond it. Alternatively, you can use Ethernet surge protection to protect your LAN either in front of or behind your router. Of course you should also make sure that your electrical connection is surge protected, and this doesn’t mean a power strip, use a high quality rated surge protector that is made for Computers and Electronics, one with a guarantee is advised.

No surge protector can protect from a direct lightning strike, but those are very rare, and most of the damage comes from nearby lightning strikes which can be mitigated by good surge protectors. When there is a bad thunderstorm, at a minimum you should shut off your computer and accessories, and even better, unplug them. Using any electrical appliance including computers during a lightning storm can be dangerous, so be careful.

So Steve Jobs went to demonstrate the wonderful new features of the new iPhone yesterday, but funny thing, it wouldn’t work because everyone was clogging up the local wifi. This is a bad thing because of two major points: first, many of the new touted cool features, like the ability to place video calls, only work on wifi networks, and secondly, why have a ‘phone’ that isn’t reliable enough to use on the phone carriers network?

Sure, the new screen is very nice and crisp, and there are definitely some cool features. But come on Steve – you demonstrate the new Netflix app which streams movies to your new iPhone on the same day that ATT, the ONLY carrier for the iPhone, changes it’s data plans and eliminates the one good thing it had going – unlimited data. Well, ATT isn’t stupid, and they know that while a lot of people don’t use that much bandwidth every month, that with the new apps, and new features coming out, more and more people are going to need more data, which with their new data plans means more $$$ for them.

It also seems that Apple, while forging ahead and trying to promote their slick new features, is missing out on some of the features that people really want – like the ability to actually view all the web pages on the web on their phones (sorry Apple fans, you will NEVER have the ability to do that on an iPhone). On the other side, Google’s Android is embracing the ENTIRE web and with the latest Android update, you can now view Flash websites on your Android powered devices. Lets not forget that Apple’s app store, while filled with an amazing number of apps, is still policed by Steve Jobs app controllers who decide what you can and can’t run on HIS hardware, not to mention the fact that 30% of the money that you spend on those apps goes right into Apple’s pockets.

So, should you buy a new iPhone? Well, if you don’t use a lot of data, then it might be worth it …. but wait, if you don’t use a lot of data, then that means that you really aren’t using the potential of the phone, so hmmm. Do you constantly use your phone where there is wifi? … oh wait, if there is wifi, then you can use a ‘REAL’ computer. Do you only need to see just a few pages of the web? well in that case, the iPhone is definitely for you …. oh wait, you live in Pensacola where 3G drops in and out on a whim, so again, maybe not for you.

Don’t get me wrong by my vitriolic commentary, the iPhone is a wonder of technology and is shaping the way people communicate. It definitely has some very cool features and is at the forefront of techology. It’s just that it’s shortcomings are becoming more and more apparent, as is the fact that Apple and Steve really don’t give a damn about much other than their bottom line, and what they determine the future will be. – Lets see, what did Steve do yesterday? He unveiled his latest profit maker. What did Bill do yesterday? He donated 1.5 billion dollars for women’s and childrens health. So who really is more interested in ‘helping’ the world change?

I was ‘lucky’? enough to get an iPad the other day for reviewing. As a number of people I do work for have gotten one, or are thinking about getting one, I was certainly interested to put it through it’s paces. Apple has a lot riding on the iPad, and from a marketing standpoint, they have done an amazing job at building the hype, and keeping it going, unfortunately the actual implementation isn’t quite as polished as Apple’s advertising machine. Don’t get me wrong, there certainly are some things to like about the iPad, so I will cover those first.

What I liked:

What I don’t like:

The verdict:
While the iPad does have some nice features, and it certainly will spur the innovation in the market, in my opinion, it is definitely not worth the hefty price tag. It is really just a cool toy (although I do love to have cool toys!). It is definitely not ready for the enterprise or any kind of serious business useage, and while I have heard talk of businesses rushing out to adopt it into their business plans, I think they will find they are spending more time trying to use it that they were using their ‘clunky’ workstations or laptops. For an oversized iPod, it does have nice video display, but my recommendation is that unless you like wasting money, or have money to waste, wait a while to see what comes out in the next 6 months or so as there are certainly some very cool devices being developed that won’t have the shortcomings of the iPad.

Most people who have watched TV or listened to the radio have heard the ads touting the amazing incredible website that will help fix everything wrong with your computer and help your slow system to immediately speed up and run like it was brand new – well all I can say, is beware! I have had the unfortunate users of such software come to me with computers that wouldn’t boot to Windows, or that were freezing up and crashing all the time after using this software. While it is certainly true that spyware/malware/viruses can slow down your system, and removing them will certainly help the performance, using these ‘fix all’ software solutions can often cause more problems than they fix – as a matter of fact, the free ‘diagnosis’ they offer has nothing to do with finding spyware, malware, or viruses.

One thing I find very interesting is the disclaimer in the Terms of Service on doublemyspeed.com: “ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE WEBSITES IS DONE AT YOUR SOLE RISK AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL” In other words, if you use their software and it hoses your system, too bad, they did warn you after all. The other bit I find interesting is this part: “CyberDefender EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTS. WITHOUT LIMITATION, CYBERDEFENDER AND THE PROTECTED PARTIES MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT THE WEBSITES OR ANY SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTED THEREFROM WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, THAT THEY WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, THAT THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE WEBSITES WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE” – so basically, they won’t provide any kind of warranty for their product, and they certainly don’t claim that their software or results it gives you will be secure, error free, accurate, or reliable. So then tell me, why in the world would I ever spend money on their product????

One of the worst things is their Registry Cleaner which can definitely cause irrepairable damage to your system if it removes the wrong things from the registry. Granted, back in the days of Windows 95/98, a lot of registry errors could have a significant performance impact on your system, however in today’s world of high RAM and multi-core processors, registry errors of the kind that this software usually fixes have a negligible impact on most systems, and the risk of the software removing a critical registry entry is too great to justify the results.

The truth is, many machines just need a simple cleanup of malware/spyware, and some tweaking of startup programs to run better. Then of course there is the fact that your old Windows XP machine with 256MB of RAM will NEVER be able to keep up on the internet of today due to the much increased demands. Remember, Windows XP is about 10 years old, and when it was released the internet was pretty much all text based. Today the internet is multi-media rich with all kinds of add-ons running – Java, Toolbars, Browser helpers, etc. and older computers just don’t have the hardware or software to keep up.

Basically what this website does is con you into running a pretty much worthless registry scanner that will of course show massive errors on your system (which in reality may or may not be errors, and even if they are errors they have a negligible impact on your systems performance if any impact at all) – then if you decide you want to fix these inconsequential errors, you will be taken to a website where they want you to spend $39.98 for a basicaly worthless product, then they want you to buy their CyberDefender antimalware/antivirus software for $29.95, and then of course ad $14.97 for a cd with a copy of your software (you can burn your own CD for about 25 cents). All in all, it is just another company trying to make a quick profit off of anyone who believes their overhyped ads. My opinion: the software is a total waste of money, and you take a risk of totally messing up your machine by using it – not to mention, trying to exit out of the ‘free scan’ software just leads to pop-ups and opens their web page, and you have to confirm multiple times just to uninstall the software! Stay away from this product!!

Of course, this is just my opinion, take it for what it’s worth, but there is no way I would ever recommend this software to anyone – EVER!

For links to Free Software such as Malwarebytes, Spybot S&D, and AVG Free that can help you keep your computer malware and virus free and keep it running faster, visit the Tech Support page at PensacolaComputers.com

Pensacola Computers Presents Windows 7 Quick Tips: Installing hidden international themes in Windows 7

In this episode we show you how to install some hidden international themes that ship with Windows 7, but are not installed by default. These themes are easy to install and include full theme sets for Australia, Great Britian, Cananda, and South Africa.

For best viewing experience, view in HD full screen mode

For more information about Windows 7, and the best in Pensacola Computer Service and Repair, visit our homepage here at pensacolacomputers.com

Yesterday, Microsoft released Office 2010 to its partners and developers via MSDN and Technet, and it will soon be hitting the retail shelves for public consumption. This is looking to be the best version of Office ever with quite a few new and exciting features! Office 2010 bring more collaboration features which allow multiple users to edit documents simultaneously and a new cloud based offshoot – docs.com which is Microsofts shoot back at Google Docs (currently docs.com is in ‘beta’ and is available to Facebook users).

Some of the new features that I really like in Office 2010: The ribbon is now much more consistent in all Office Programs – including Outlook (this will certainly cause some confusion for longtime Outlook users, but in my opinion the ribbon is much more efficient once you get used to it), PowerPoint has some very cool new features including some great tools for integrating photos and videos into presentations, and an improved ability to publish to the web, or share through Windows Live spaces (expect more family albums to be shared this way in the future!). Microsoft is also planning on introducing a Free ‘lite’ version of Office which will replace the current ‘Works’ suite that is preinstalled on many new computers.

For more information on Office 2010 from Microsoft, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/2010office/Default.aspx

Stay tuned for a complete review and some tutorials on how to use the new features. For support, help, or questions on Office 2010, visit: Pensacola Computers at: http://pensacolacomputers.com

The past few weeks have certainly been quite active in the technology world. From the much overhyped release of apple’s ipad to the pending release of Microsoft Office 2010, the press has certainly been filled with reviews, opinions and a lot of conflicting reports. There has also been an increase in Malware and virus attacks on the web, with more people’s computers falling victim to them – yes, even Apple computers are not immune to the bad things, and I had a good laugh when I saw that someone had hacked the new ipad less than 24 hours after its release.

I got a chance to play around with an iPad, and overall I was underwhelmed and not very impressed. Although the touch features do seem to be quite good (something that Apple is great with), the things that the iPad lacks are just too much to make it anything but an overpriced toy. the iPad’s lack of Flash support means that a lot of sites on the web are unviewable, as are the majority of video’s and web based games – of course Apple would be more than glad to sell you apps for games and such (while taking a nice 30% profit from the developers pockets).  Then there is the fact that there are no USB ports, no camera, and the Wifi and battery have some serious issues. Also, Apple has now announced that they are going to be even more godlike in their control of what you can do with the hardware that people spend so much money to ‘own’ – sure, you own it, but Apple decides what you can and can’t do with it and what you can and can’t run on it. Personally, I will wait to see what the HP Slate tablet and Dell’s new Android based tablets will do as they are much more likely to actually have a value in terms of usability.

Microsoft has officially RTM’d Office 2010 (RTM=Release to Manufacturing) and it is looking like a pretty good product – stay tuned for a review as soon as I get the final copy! Microsoft is currently offering a great deal where if you buy a copy of Office 2007 in the next few months, you are eligible to get a download copy of Office 2010 when it is released, see: http://www.microsoft.com/office/offers/home/2/ 

I have recently noticed a big bump in Pensacola computer malware infections, with fake Antivirus applications leading the pack. These kind of infections are what they call ‘ Scareware ‘ – malware that is designed to scare you into either buying a worthless product, or in some cases trying to get your credit card number for nefarious purposes, and I have seen quite a few of these infecting computers in Pensacola FL the past few weeks. These scareware infections are designed to look like common security applications and come with names like ‘ Antivirus 7 ‘ (which resembles AVG), ‘ Antivirus 360 ‘ (which resembles Norton’s 360).

Win Antivirus 7 Malware screenshot

One of the most common ways these applications are installed are when you are directed to a page, or get a popup warning you that you are infected with something nasty and to download a tool to help you  – the tool of course is the infection and it completely takes over your computer with even more false scary warning on how badly your machine is infected. The  real bad downside of these infections is that they open the door for even more infections that are even nastier in what they do. Many times if you catch these infections as soon as you get them, you can do a System Restore to help deactivate them. However, once they become rooted in your system they do all kinds of things to try to stop you from removing them like disabling system restore, disabling task manager, disabling your antivirus and also blocking you from downloading tools that can help kill them.

 For links to free and paid for antivirus/antispyware/antimalware software that can help protect you and remove some of these nasty infections visit Pensacola Computers Tech Page

Attention all college students here in Pensacola Florida – UWF, PJC, PCC, etc. If you are an active student with a valid .edu email address you are eligible to take part in Microsoft’s Ultimate Steal offer which for the next few months offers you a copy of Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 for $59.95, and if you buy it before the end of September 2010 through this offer, you qualify to get a free downloadable copy of Office 2010 when it comes out later this year!

This is an incredible deal, as Office Ultimate 2007 retails for @ $600, plus toss in Office 2010 and you are truly getting a steal. This is a bona-fide legal copy of Office and is offered by Microsoft for active College Students only.

For details and to take advantage of this offer, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx

Also, be sure to check out the details of the free Office 2010 download here: http://www.office.com/techg

If you aren’t a student, you can still take advantage of the free Office 2010 upgrade program by purchasing a qualifying Office 2007 product between March 5th and September 30th 2010.

Included in Office Ultimate 2007 are:

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Groove, Publisher, Access, and Info Path

In addition to this offer, Microsoft is also offering eligible students Windows 7 Professional for $64.95!

For questions about Windows 7 or Office 2007/Office 2010, visit Pensacola Computers at:  http://pensacolacomputers.com

Users of the popular AVG antivirus software started reporting getting a warning for a threat: “Exploit Crimepack Exploit Kit (type 766) earlier today when visiting numerous different websites. AVG has confirmed that this is a false positive in the latest LinkScanner component of its software, and they are working to release a fixed version ASAP. See the official reply on the AVG Forums here: http://bit.ly/avgwarn

AVG is a top provider of both free and paid for versions of Antivirus/Antispyware security products and has a great reputation for putting out a very good security product. False positives occurs sometimes when a certain type of threat is misidentified by security software and in this case it will surely be fixed quickly.

**Update: AVG has released a link scanner update – version 193 which appears to have fixed most of the issues, although a few false positives are still being reported as “Exploit”