Posts Tagged: ‘Review’

Medical ID – Originally Published August 2019

July 22, 2019 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

People that know me can tell you I wear a necklace with an unusual ornament.  It’s a nearly indestructible flash drive with my important medical data.  My theory is that if something happens to me, medical responders will read the tag and have access to my critical information.  I’ve recently installed an application on my Android phone that could also save my life.

Medical ID allows creation of a medical profile that is accessible from the lock screen of your phone.  In case of emergency, the app enables quick access to vital information such as your allergies, blood type, medical contacts, etc.  These could be essential to attending first responders, medics or medical staff that need to take action.

Features of the application are:
• Quick access to medical data from your lock screen.
• Nearby hospitals localization.

 

After installing the app you are asked to fill out profile data.  Copy and Paste works great, if like me, you have an extensive list of medications.  The app adds a widget to your device’s lock screen (screenshot 1).

If anyone double taps the widget, a window opens with your information (screenshot 2).  The window is scrollable and contains only information that you designate in the app settings.

                  

 

 

Medical ID is free (with advertising).  There is also a premium version ($6.99) which adds the following features:

• Customizable lock screen widgets
• Multiple SMS alerts
• Unlimited profiles
• Data backup and restoration
• Frequent updates

Thanks for reading.

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Who Is This Domain – Originally Published July 2019

July 7, 2019 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
by Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

Have you ever been surfing the web and gotten curious about the sites domain information?  Normally, you would have to open another browser tab and go to one of the many look‑up sites, type in the domain and get the information.  Alternatively, you could install an extension (on most browsers) to do the same thing.  If you do a web search, you will find many programs to accomplish the task.

What if you wanted to look up many sites?  What if you wanted to look up these same sites a month from now?  If the answer is yes, I have another question.  How would you like to get the information without installing any software on your computer?

Whois This Domain is a small domain registration lookup utility that allows you to easily get information about any registered domain.  It connects to the WHOIS server and retrieves the record of the domain.  It supports both generic and country code domains.

The utility doesn’t require an installation.  Simply put the executable file anywhere and run it.  After you run the program, you will be able to choose one or more domains.  I haven’t tested if there is a maximum number of sites you can check at one time.  When you’ve selected your site(s), click the OK button and you will get your domain report.

For this article, I’ve used one of my websites, the club website and Mr. Fixits website for demonstration purposes. I hope Tom doesn’t mind because it would be a pain to change the screenshots.  The report is straightforward.  The upper window lists each site and gives information that most people want to quickly know.  The lower window gives more detailed information on whichever site is highlighted.

    

This program is extremely easy to use.  It only takes 59KB of space on your hard drive, opens quickly and runs fast.  One of the best features is that you can save domain lists that you may want to look up in the future.  You can also save to a CSV (spreadsheet) file.  One other option is to view an HTML report.  This opens the domain list in your default browser making the data easy to read.

There are many times you might want to use this program.  If you remember when the club lost its dot com domain, I often checked to see if the usurper had relinquished control.  It was then easy for us to regain control.  I often check sites I am browsing to see who really owns them.  I also have a list saved of all my domain names.  It makes it easy to check if I need to renew them.  Finally, I have another list of domains that I would like to buy.  I’m pretty sure I’ll never get Tiny.com, but I keep checking.

Did I mention the cost of this utility?  It will set you back a grand total of $0.00.  Like many freeware authors, donations are accepted.  The program runs on any version of Windows from Windows 2000 through Windows 10.  Download Whois This Domain and give it a try.  I think you might find it useful.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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FileMenu Tools – 2019-02

May 12, 2019 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
by Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

Mr. Spock was right.  Computers can be really efficient if you have the proper programs to do the job.  There is a truly efficient utility program that I’ve been using for more than ten years.  I first reviewed this program in July 2013.  The program has gotten even better since then.  FileMenu Tools lets you customize the right click menu of Windows Explorer.  The program adds utilities to perform operations on files and folders and adds customized commands that let you run external applications, copy or move to a specific folder or delete specific file types.

Click to enlarge.

With the built in commands you can:
• Run With Parameters – Runs a program with parameters you input in a dialog box.
• Command Line From Here – Opens a command line window.
• Copy/Move – No need to cut and paste. You can also use filters in file selection.
• Duplicate Files – Make a copy in the same folder.
• Pack to Folder – Moves all the selected elements to new sub‑folder in the current folder.
• Copy Path/Name/Content – Copies the selected item(s) to the clipboard.
• Attributes – You can view and change them without opening a properties dialog box.
• Find and Replace – Lets you find or replace a text for all the files in a selected folder.
• Advanced Rename – With lots of options.
• Change Icon – Quickly and easily change folder options.
• Advanced Delete – lets you delete specific file types in a folder.
• Synchronize Two Folders – Lets you synchronize two folders quickly and easily.
• Shred Files – Overwrites several times so it is impossible to recover the file in the future.
• Send to Mail Recipient – Lets you send an e-mail with selected elements as attachments.

These are about half of the FileMenu commands you can select from.  In the configuration menu, a simple check mark will turn off the commands you don’t want to use.  If you can’t find the FileMenu function you need, then just add a customized command to run external applications, copy/move to a specific folder or delete specific file types.

FileMenu Tools lets you configure the “Send to” sub‑menu.  You can add new items, change the properties of the existing items or delete them.  You also can disable existing “Send to” items in order to hide them from the menu.

FileMenu Tools will also let you enable/disable the commands which are added to the context menu of the Windows Explorer by other programs.  This is the only function that is not one hundred percent reliable.  When it works, it works well, but it doesn’t catch all of the programs that add to your right click menu.

FileMenu Tools is a 7.3MB download and runs on all Windows platforms.  Did I mention the price?  This program is freeware and costs nothing.  (There is a pro version available for a small charge.)  I’m pretty sure that Mr. Spock would say, “Fascinating is a word I use for the unexpected.  In this case, I should think ‘interesting’ would suffice.”

Download FileMenu Tools and give it a test.  I’m pretty sure that you’ll like it.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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Winaero Tweaker – Originally Published March 2019

March 3, 2019 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
by Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

I’ll admit it.  Sometimes I suffer from mild OCD.  It kicked in again the other day when I was looking at my desktop and saw all those useless little arrows on my icons.  You know the ones I mean.  They indicate that the icon is just a shortcut to open a program.  I already knew that.  After all, it was me that put the shortcut there to begin with.  I remembered reviewing a program years ago.  In the December 2014 newsletter, I told everyone about my experiences with the Windows Shortcut Arrow EditorWindows Shortcut Arrow Editor.  It was a simple utility that did only one thing ‑ removed the shortcut arrow.  I plugged in my backup drive, went to the proper folder and found that the program only supported Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

I opened the developers website and sadly, I found that this simple utility was no longer there.  Instead, I found this message, “After years of development, I decided to release an all‑in‑one application which will include most options available in my free Winaero apps and extend it as much as possible.  I would like to introduce Winaero Tweaker ‑ universal tweaker software which supports Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.”  Although I am not a fan of all‑in‑tweaking programs, I decided to download and give it a try.

An apt one word description of the software is “awesome”.  It actually makes changes to the Windows Registry without opening a registry editor.  This makes it far less likely that the user will make irrecoverable changes to their computer.  When you download and install the program, it will detect your operating system and display the appropriate interface.  (Note: I have only tested the software on Windows 10 machines.

All the possible tweaks are organized by category, such as Appearance, Behavior, Desktop and Taskbar, etc.  At the very top, Winaero Tweaker also provides your basic system information.  The various options are all described with clear language.  Clicking an option will give you greater detail.  Each tweak also has a link that says, “See in detail how this tweak works.”  Clicking the link will take you to the Winaero website for a detailed description of what the program will change on your system.  There is also an option in the “File Menu” to reset to defaults.

Another useful section is the “Bookmarks” where you can add tweaks that you use most often.  For instance, many users like to change their screen colors, themes, etc.  There are far too many tweaks for me to explain them all in this short article.  For a complete list check out the developer’s web site: The list of Winaero Tweaker featuresWinaero Tweaker features.

The program is freeware.  You can download Winaero Tweaker by downloading the ZIP filedownloading the ZIP file.  Extract all the file from the ZIP and run WinaeroTweaker.exc.  The FAQs have indicated that this might change in the future.  If that happens, I will give some serious consideration to purchasing it.

By to way, my desktop looks a lot better without all those shortcut arrow.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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Smart Tools – Originally Published February 2019

February 3, 2019 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

This month I’m going to do a different type of review.  By different, I mean a review is for a paid application.  Before you say a bad word and click away from the web page or throw your newsletter in the trash, the paid part is only for a compilation of applications.  The individual programs can be downloaded separately from Smart Tools co. in the Google Play Store.  I’ve included a link for the free individual version of each tool.

Smart Tools® is a complete package of six individual apps (sets).  There are a total of fifteen tools.  There is a Pro version for each set that combines each application in the group.  I’ve included the current prices for the Pro version of each group.  The breakdown of each set is as follows:

Set 1: Length, Angle, Level, Thread; Smart Ruler Pro $1.50
Set 2: Distance, Height, Width, Area; Smart Measure Pro $1.50
Set 3: Compass, Metal Detector, GPS; Smart Compass Pro $1.99
Set 4: Sound Level Meter, Vibrometer; Sound Meter Pro $1.50
Set 5: Flashlight, Magnifier, Mirror; Smart Light Pro $1.50
Set 6: Unit Converter; Unit Converter Pro $1.99

For reasons of article length, I’m not going to do an in depth review of each app.  They all seem to be fairly accurate.  All of the apps are easy to use and have FAQs.  Many of them have an on‑line tutorial.  Most have high Play Store user rating.

The app that I personally use the most is the Magnifier.  My eyes are getting old and I find that I have to use it quite often.  It uses your phones camera to focus which might sometimes take a few seconds.  One of the nice features is that you can take a screen shot of what you have magnified.

I also often open the Sound Level Meter.  Usually it is when I am talking with someone and they mention that it is noisy.  It is kind of fun to be able to tell them how many decibels the sound level actually is.  Then I can tell them it is as loud as a subway train, busy street, rock music and more.  You can also record the sound.  I guess this might be useful if you’re calling the police to complain about your neighbors loud party.

Smart Tools ($2.99) can be downloaded from the Google Play Store.  Each individual app can be downloaded for free with the provided links.  I promise no more reviews of this type. Just putting so many links in the newsletter is a PITA.
Thanks for reading.

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phpBB Originally Published January 2019

January 19, 2019 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

This month I’m doing a different type of free software review.  phpBB is a program that most people will probably have no need for. phpBB is a free flat‑forum bulletin board software solution that can be used to stay in touch with a group of people or can power your entire website.  With an extensive database of user‑created extensions and styles database containing hundreds of style and image packages to customize your board, you can create a very unique forum in minutes.  The software was first released to the public December 16, 2000.

Why should you care about phpBB?  It is the software that is used to power the forums section of the club’s website.  It is an addition to some of the other features we have: Coppermine Photo Gallery, club members special e‑mail addresses and many others.  Unfortunately, most members don’t utilize many of the features.  Forums are online communities where people exchange thoughts, ideas and opinions.  Depending on what a forum is about, people can help one another, expose each other to different cultures, practices and more.  That is why forums have grown very popular.  The phpBB is one of the oldest, and without any possible doubts, the most used forum software around the world.

One of the reason that phpBB is the most popular forum software is that it is absolutely free to use.  Anyone can just go to their website, download and install the program and they are off and running.  The software can be easily customized as can be seen on the portal page of the club website.  Anti‑spam measures are great.  Tom and I haven’t had to delete an unwanted registrant in several years.  Users can easily manage and edit their profiles and avatars.  There is an excellent message system where members can send private messages to each other.

Like all software, there are a few things about phpBB that aren’t great.  The application is crafted for running forum serving as the only option.  It is impossible to run a blog or any other kinds of websites with phpBB.  This can be circumvented by making the phpBB forum a menu choice on a landing menu such as is done on our website.  There is a pretty large learning curve for setting up and managing forums, members, etc.  Fortunately, there are so many phpBB forums in use that a web search usually finds answers to any questions.  My biggest complaint is that I have only ever had one update go smoothly.  Like many others, I tend to wait for a while before attempting to install an update.  My advice is to search for problems before updating.  Give yourself plenty of time and follow instructions slowly and carefully.

So why would an individual want to install forum software on their website?  I’ve often thought of installing a forum on my personal website for family members to communicate with each other.  It would be a great alternative to posting on social media.  The only members would be brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews, nieces, etc.  If you would like to find out more about phpBB, see demos, or download the software, check out the phpBB Creating Communities website.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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Reviewing My Game Reviews – Originally Published December 2018

December 8, 2018 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

I was trying to decide on a subject for this month’s column by doing what I often do.  Almost always, I review previous columns and see if there might be a good follow up article.  I noticed that I have done quite a few game reviews.  This month, I thought I would recap them.  I hope you enjoy my reviews and that you might give one of the games a try.  All of the games except The Room Series are free from the Google Play Store.  Many have upgrade options to remove advertising, buy upgrades, etc.  In each application, I’ve included the month of my original review in case you want to reread it in the club newsletter or on my website.  I’ve also included the Play Store rating (as of this review date)

FEB 2014 (4.6) – Wordiest is a Scrabble like word game where you try to beat 100 other players by making two words out of fourteen tiles.  I still have this game on my phone and play it several times a week.
APR2014 (4.7) – 7 Little Words is a game that Tom recommended I try.  Thanks a lot Tom!  You’ve cost me more than $20 for puzzle packs I’ve purchased.  Each puzzle consists of seven clues for seven different words.  There are twenty letter combinations for you to put together that fit the clues.  I play this game every day.
JUL2014 (4.1) – Red Herring is a word game where you try to fit words into categories.  I thought it was a fun game, but not very challenging.  After playing the fifty free games, I uninstalled the app.
MAR2015 (4.1) – Trainyard Express is a puzzle solving game where you have to get your trains from their departure points into the correct station by drawing track on a square of grids.  The only real problem with the game is that the advertising is pretty intrusive.  I long ago purchased the ad free version for $1.99.  The paid version is renamed Trainyard and has a 4.8 user rating on the Play Store.
AUG2015 (4.2) – Shikaku is a game where the objective is to place rectangles (boxes) all over the screen such that each box contains a single number and has an area equal to that number.  I forgot all about this game, so I must have thought it wasn’t that great.  Now that I’m looking at it again, I may download and play it again.
MAR2016 (4.9) – The Room, The Room Two, The Room Three and The Room: Old Sins all have high ratings on Google Play.  They are all larger games that combine many different types of puzzles that the player must solve.  I keep them installed on my tablet.  When I finish the series, I start over again.  Just to be completely honest, I fudged a little on the Play Store ratings.  The Room was only a 4.8 rating.
MAY2016 (4.7) – Monkey Wrench is a word search game where you have to find the words to fit various categories.  The game is OK, but can get a little repetitive.  I still keep it on my phone just to play the free daily games.
DEC2017 4.5) – Block! Hexa Puzzle is a game where you have to fit small block pieces nicely into a given shape.  I really like this game because it gets more challenging to more you play.  Even so, I haven’t played the game for a while.  When I downloaded it to my new phone, I had to start playing from the beginning.
OCT2018 (4.6) – Crossword Puzzle Free is a nicely laid out puzzle game that is easy to play.  This has become one of my favorite games.  I’ve played it enough that I know which of the many puzzle authors to avoid.  There are a lot of crossword games on the Play Store.  I haven’t looked at any of them since I installed this game.
I also looked back on my app history and realized that there are a lot of games (and other programs) I’ve installed over the years.  Some I still use on a daily basis and others have become obsolete.  There might be a future article on these.
Thanks for reading.

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PDF-Echange Editor – Originally Published November 2018

November 4, 2018 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
by Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

Did you ever notice how the default programs in Windows often aren’t always the best?  Take Adobe PDF Reader as an example.  It is a program that likes to use a lot of memory and run all the time, even when you aren’t using it.  Adobe usually installs unwanted programs when you do updates, changes your system settings and many other things that you may not want.

There are a lot of good alternative PDF viewers.  The one that I usually use is PDF‑Xchange Editor from Tracker Software.  This program is the successor to the PDF‑Xchange Viewer.  Its design has been totally overhauled, making it much clearer and easier to use.  The program is easy to use with many different tools for working with documents including typing text and editing it, drawing diagrams, creating stamps, underscoring and styles, entering commentaries, notes and more.  In fact, I haven’t personally used every free editing feature.

Here is a partial list of free features:
● Full Document Spellchecker
● Multi-Language document OCR
● Full Page Text Content Editing
● OCR image based/scanned PDF to fully text searchable PDF files
● Add Comments and Annotations to any PDF file (subject to security settings)
● Mark-up pages with text and objects
● Type directly on any PDF page
● Export PDF pages or entire files to any one of the supported Image formats
● Extract text from a PDF page/File
● Fill and Save forms to disk, email or ‘post’
● Full Java-script engine included
● Plug-Ins for major browser
● Auto Highlight Fillable Form Fields
● Document Search
● Add/Edit Hyperlinks to pages
● Support for PDF File Attachments
● Send PDF files via email from viewer
● Undo/Redo functionality for text editor
● Add/Edit/Move Bookmarks

You can also extract or delete entire pages from a long PDF file and embed new content like text, images, blank pages or entire PDF documents.  PDF‑Xchange Editor can also convert documents between PDF and Word formats.  It even includes an OCR (optical character recognition) for converting scanned documents into editable text.  Note: I haven’t tested the OCR.

One of my favorite features is the tabbed interface.  This feature comes in handy for things like when I edit the “History” column for the club newsletter.  I can open all the PDF newsletter files for a given month and easily shift from one to another for viewing.  If I want to repeat an item from an older newsletter, the copy and past feature makes it easy for me to “cheat”.  You can also extract and/or export individual pages or the entire document.

Installation is simple and fast.  When you run the program, you get every feature of the licensed program.  When clicking on various items, a pop‑up window opens and informs you if you are attempting to use an enhanced feature.  You can still use the feature, but any pages will be watermarked.  This is a subtle method of getting you to purchase a license.  If you do a lot of PDF editing, it might be a worthwhile purchase.

Like many programs, there is a “free” and licensed option.  Very few free editors will let you add new content to documents.  This alone is a good reason to make it your new default app for PDFs.  You can download PDF‑Xchange Editor from the publishers web site.  There is only a Windows version.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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Crossword Puzzle Free – Originally Published October 2018

October 7, 2018 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

I’ve got a new game on my phone that has been taking up almost all of my idle moments.  Crossword Puzzles Free by Redstone Games is an easy to play game.  The features extolled by the author include:
– Smart Look Up: get word suggestions when you have trouble with difficult clues.
– Hints: reveal letters, words or the entire puzzle in case you get stuck.
– Smart Step: skip filled cells when navigating through the puzzle.
– Show Errors: highlight wrong letters.
– Clear Errors: easily remove all incorrect letters.
– Offline Mode: puzzles available even when you don’t have an Internet connection.
– Polished User Interface: easy and modern way to navigate through the puzzle cells and clues.

Opening the game gives you a choice of 108 puzzle packs to play.  Packs are rated as either easy, medium, hard or very had to play.  Each pack has ten puzzles for a total of 1080 puzzles.  Each week, some of the puzzles are changed out.  If you are a prolific player, you can also purchase puzzle packs.  New puzzles are added on a weekly basis and it appears that an equal number of older puzzles are removed.  There are several different puzzle authors which gives you a variation on the types of clues.  I suspect that puzzles might be recycled.  That shouldn’t make a difference.  I haven’t seen any repeats in my play.

The game is easy to play.  The open screen allows you to select a puzzle pack by author and ease of play.  After you select a pack, a new screen opens listing ten puzzles by title.  All puzzle are a 15×15 grid.  The puzzle shows in the top part of the screen, the clues in the middle and the keyboard on the bottom.  Entering letters automatically advances the cursor to the next block.  The backspace key at the bottom right deletes letters.  Correct letters don’t get erased.  The left and right arrow keys select the next/previous clue.  The magnifying glass above the keyboard opens the hint screen.  The icon to the right opens the error screen.

              

The options menu is straight forward and is truly self explanatory.  The two items of note is the “Look Up” which will give you suggestions for an answer.  The “OneLook” key to its right lets you select the source for the Look Up.  Choices are the OneLook dictionary, the Crossword Tracker dictionary, Google and the OneAcross dictionary.  Remember, the suggestions, may or may not be the correct answer(s).

I do have two small quibbles with the program.  I guess it could be more a fuss with the puzzle author instead of the app.  Sometimes the clues are repetitive which might make it seem like you are doing a puzzle that you have already completed.  The other problem is that sometimes the clues are a real stretch.  There have been a few times that I have just hit the show answer button.

The game is free with mostly unobtrusive advertisements.  You can pay $4.99 to remove them.  Download the game from the Google Play Store.  Give it a try.  You might like it.

Thanks for reading.

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Alienware Aurora R7 – Originally Published October 2018

October 7, 2018 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I’ve got a jealous grandson.  He is envious of me.  I think I have figured out why.  I recently replaced my HP Pavilion a6342p Desktop PC, circa around 2006 or so.  At the time this machine had some pretty impressive specifications.  Over the years, I made a few upgrades, but it was still becoming a frustrating machine to use.  Sometimes it would take minutes to load a program.  One day it will be re‑purposed, probably as a Linux media server.

I bought an Alienware Aurora R7 desktop with some pretty impressive specifications.
• Processor: Core i7 8700K (3.70GHz) Six-Core
• Memory 16GB, Speed DDR4-2666
• HD Interface SATA 6Gb/s, Capacity 2TB
• Video GPU Type NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, Memory 11GB GDDR5X
• Gigabit LAN
• LAN Data Rate Speed 10/100/1000Mbps
• WLAN Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x
• Bluetooth 4.2
• Wireless Technology 802.11ac
• 6 USB 2.0 (Type-A) Ports
• 3 USB 3.1 (Gen 1 Type-A) Ports
• 1 USB 3.1 (Gen 2 Type-A) Port
• 1 USB 3.1 (Gen 2 Type-C) Port
• and much more

I’ll admit it.  This machine is overkill for my typical use.  When I was running tests, I finally got it to slow down a little.  I had opened Scribus (publishing software), LibreOffice Writer (twenty documents), VLC Media Player (playing a movie), NPVR (tuned to a TV station with the sound muted) and FastStone Image Viewer (playing a slideshow with continuous loop).  I didn’t stop any of my normal system programs that were running.  Then I opened my Firefox Browser and started opening tabs from my bookmarks.  After about 120 tabs, I started to notice the other programs slowing down.  I didn’t check system resources because I knew that in real life I would never have this scenario.

Like almost everything electronic, there are a few downsides to this machine.  Although there are a lot of USB ports, there isn’t a dedicated SD card reader.  I was thinking of removing the 15-in-1 (4 slot) reader from my old desktop and installing on the new machine.  I have found that I don’t really need it.  Other than in my pocket computer, I just don’t use SD cards much anymore.  My only other quibble is that the machine comes with Windows 10, but that is a whole other subject.

The first thing my Grandson said when he found out I bought an Alienware, was “can I get one for Christmas?”  I told him he would have to talk to his Mother and Father about that.  I think he’ll start saving his money.  I did set up a guest account, so now I’ve got Steam, Epic Games and a few other things installed that I’ve never had before.  I’ll probably set up a Steam account myself as there are a few games that do look interesting.  I sure hope everyone that reads this article is as jealous as the Grandson was.

Thanks for reading.

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