Techno babel, decoded.

A lot of people have been asking me about Windows 7 lately. Is it better than Vista? Is it worth upgrading? Will it make me want to punch my computer in the motherboard? As of now, I’ve installed W7 on 2 desktops and 3 laptops, all of which were previously running Windows Vista. The verdict? So far, so good. The only machine that is having noticeable hiccups is my wife’s 1.5-year-old Toshiba Satellite, and that can almost certainly be attributed to sub-par graphics drivers. (We’re trying out different drivers to see if they can sidestep the problem; I’ll update you guys later when there’s more to report on the matter.) The desktops and the other laptops, however, are doing better than they were running Vista. They boot faster, programs load quicker, and they seem to be generally more stable than they were prior to loading W7. What about other programs, like Office? Or Adobe? Or Symantec? How do they run on 7, John? I’m glad you asked! Each of those aforementi

Just another thought on scams: DO NOT DOWNLOAD OR RUN ANYTHING FROM A POP-UP AD! Anything claiming to be antivirus 360 or antivirus 2009 in reality is probably a spyware program meant to harvest information from your computer and are in NO WAY legitimate . These ads are very sneaky, and masquerade as notifications from your existing virus scanning software. Believe me when I say that none of the programs I mentioned in the previous post will EVER have pop-up notifications that flash, blink, dance, or emit stupid music to get your attention. NONE. A warning in a simple dialogue box is ALL you will get from any program worth its salt. I know everyone is looking for a bargain these days, but do yourself a favor and simply ignore these pop-up advertisements. You'll thank yourself later, trust me.

Bonus points if you know which movie I'm referencing. ;) As an IT guy, people often ask me how to prevent problems from occurring with their PCs. Beyond my first answer, which is usually, "Buy a Mac," the best thing anyone can do to prevent computer problems is do everything you can to keep your machine virus-free. If you are reading this blog, it means you are on the internet, which also means you are exposing your machine to potential risks with every click of your mouse. I cannot stress this enough: If you're going to be online you MUST have a virus scanner. If you surf the web without one, there chances are your computer is already infected. There are a couple free virus scanners that are good and reliable, for your average computer user. Of course the ones you pay for are better but I am writing this for those on a budget. Note: I don't care what operating system you are using, virus scanners are still essential to network defense. Mac OS and Linux