It's been a while

Hi everyone I have been away for a while doing my photography work and building my website you can see this at www.isleofmanphotographer.co.uk  leave a comment if you like let me know what you think.

Anyway back to computers since my last blog I have upgraded to the new windows 7 as an every day user and not a computer nerd I couldn't see a great deal of difference between that and vista, yes it's smoother to run and looks sleek but that's about it, I'm not sure about you but I expected a lot more for my money.  

Back to Basics

Click on an image to enlarge

I have decided to do a little basic stuff that most of us know but some of us don't,but am sure will pick up very quickly.

1-First is where is the Taskbar and what does it do?

The location of the taskbar is at the bottom of the screen- it runs fully horizontally from left to right. The Start button is located to the left, then comes the taskbar buttons then the quick launch bar.When you open an application in windows you should see a small tab located in the taskbar. If you have one or more applications running you should see them all listed as taskbar buttons on the taskbar.

Another important Item to check is your Security and Firewall which you can access by going to the start menu then Control panel and clicking on Security Centre,if you don't get an image like that to the right click the button that says Classic view to the left of your screen.

Once you have clicked Security Centre you will then see a window like this one which shows what settings are on and what are not,they should all be on as in the image.If not click the drop down to the right of the item that is not on,and fix.

While Browsing the Internet and you spot a website you really like,you can add it to your Favourites list,so you don't need to search for it again,but just click on it, saves alot of time. This entry does cover the Vista Desktop,but very similar to XP.

Upgrading Laptop Memory (RAM)

Another way to speed up your Laptop or Computer is to upgrade the Memory (RAM) Random Access Memory. I have done this once with my Daughters Laptop,I upgraded from 512 to 1GB which for Vista OS the speed was greatly improved.I shall go through step by step what I did.

1-Remove any plastic bags or papers from your workspace,this is very important as you don't want a build up of static.

2-Turn your Computer power button off,and then unplug the power cord,for Laptops also remove the Battery.

3-Discharge residual power by pressing the power button again. Take a look at your Laptop manual as to removing the laptop cover.

4-Ground yourself by touching an unpainted metal part of your Laptop(This will remove any static electricity from your body or clothing)

5-Locate your Computers memory expansion slot(check your manual) Do NOT use any tools in removal or installation of memory,remove old memory.

6-Once removed Align new memory modules with the notches in the slot,and then press down firmly until the clips on the slot snap into place.

7-Once the memory has been installed,replace the computer cover and reconnect the power cord or battery.

Next go to Control panel once your Laptop has started up,then click System,here you will see your new RAM.

Do you have spyware?

Do you have spy ware? Maybe your home page has changed new links you did not want,trying to get to a certain web page and it taking you somewhere else you didn't want to go to.

One good way to see if you possibly do is to check your CPU (Central Processing Unit) How you do this is-

Right click your Task bar and click on Task Manager if your CPU Usage which can be seen at the bottom of this window, is quite high i.e between 80% and 100% and you have no scans or other programs running, you may possibly have some form of spy ware on your machine. I use Spybot Search and Destroy it's free from Download.com here is the link.

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html?tag=mncol&cdlPid=10861988

Do a full system scan.

Also in the Task Manager window you will see all your programs that are running, if like me you close a program but it refuses to shut down, you can highlight it here and click End Task at the bottom of the window this usually does the trick for those stubborn programs that just wont go away.

Computer a little Sluggish?

Do you ever wonder why your Computer is a little sluggish, is it taking a while to open programs? If it is you may need to do some or all of the following.

1-Deleting Temporary files,cookies and saved passwords,Go to Control panel and click on Internet options and then click delete on Browsing history and follow the instructions and your done.

2-Disc Clean up,Go to My Computer right click your C drive this being your main drive,yours could be called by a different letter.Then go to Properties at the bottom, and click Disc clean up,it will take a few minutes to do but don't worry.

3-Disc Defrag, This will put in order your files because every time you open a program pieces are left all over the place,This is like a filing system,imagine someone in an office opening the filing cabinet and throwing the files all over the floor,then having to pick them up and sort them out again,well this does it for you. go to My Computer again and right click your main drive,go to properties again but this time click the tools tab at the top and click Defragment now,it takes a while but you should notice a difference in performance especially if you have never done one before.

Most of these should be done about once a week, a defrag once a month will do.

Also more important is to do a virus scan with what ever antivirus software you may have, at least once a week but if you prefer every day.

Why change from Linux to Windows XP and how.

As in a previous Blog I mentioned purchasing an Acer aspire one with Linux as it's OS.

I think if you use Linux it just limits what you could be doing. Nothing can be done except surfing Internet, Email and playing a few penguin games and that's it. Even the user interface looks weird for those who are used to a more user friendly approach to a GUI (Graphical user interface) Well of course, there’s a way to solve it with upgrading the Operating System to Windows XP or of course Vista.

And How do you do that I here you ask, well I shall tell you step by step-

1-Get yourself an external disc drive and a copy of XP on disc (you can have it put on to a usb if it's easier) As the Aspire doe's not come with a disc drive.

2-Plug in your external disc drive and put in your copy of XP,then turn on your Aspire One. Press F12 to make CD boot selection. If your Disc is ok then you will see boot menu on the screen. Select menu #1 as you have to prepare the Windows installation. Follow the on-screen wizard just like common XP setup until you face the hard drive preparation.

3-Note that your existing Aspire One has 2 partitions in a single 8GB SSD; 6.6GB with Linux file system & 1GB of Linux swap file.Depending on whether you have an 8GB or larger hard drive installed on the Acer.

4-What you need to do now is delete the first partition, re-create & formatting it with NTFS file system, a quick format is fine. And just follow the on screen instructions. It will reboot a couple of times, and that's it your done,all is needed then is to install any missing drivers which you can get from http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/as_one_110.html

Hope this was useful in some way.

Beginners

I Decided to do another Blog,but this time about Computers,I don't claim to know a great deal, but what I do know, I hope will help someone.

Anything I will be including will be mostly for beginners, who like myself need a bit of help in order to just keep up with an Operating System and all it entails. Anything from just navigating around Windows Xp and Vista, or knowing how to keep it in tip top condition.

I hope some of it will help someone out,when they are nearing the end of their tither.

After Recently purchasing a Acer aspire one with Linux lite as the Operating System (What a nightmare OS) I decided to intstall Windows XP as Linux was more than a nightmare to use I can tell you. In my next post I will be mentioning why I did install XP and how I installed it.

If you have any Questions about Computers get intouch and if I can help I will.

Readers Please Note-I take no responsability for any problems that arrive due to my advice,all I can say is all of these tips I have tried myself with no problems at all.