Posts Tagged: ‘Computers’

Too Much Security? – Originally Published February 2016

February 10, 2016 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Lately I’ve been wondering if it is possible to have too much on line security.  Everyone that knows me will probably tell you that I’m sometimes a little paranoid when it comes to my computing.  I often talk about using a password manager, a virtual private network and encrypting important data on my hard drives.  Although I’ve contacted a few viruses and other malwares, I can honestly say that they haven’t gotten past my defenses and did not do any damage to my computers.

I’ve been reconsidering a little bit.  For the past week, I’ve been aboard a cruise ship.  I’ve been on several cruises, but this one has a major difference for me.  I purchased the satellite internet plan.  They’ve finally lowered the prices to where I can afford it.  It’s not nearly as fast as what I’m used to, but that’s a story for another article.

What led to the idea for this article is the fact that I’m pretty security conscious.  I use a password manager and generate strong passwords, usually 30 characters or more.  I almost always use a Virtual Private Network when I’m online.  All my important data files are encrypted.  (I’ve even got a couple of files where I encrypted the already encrypted file.)

I also use two-factor authentication on sites that allow it.  This caused a few not nice words to escape my lips when I logged into different sites and get the “we have sent a text to your phone, please enter the code in this box.”  This proved to be rather hard to do because there wasn’t a cell phone tower in the middle of the ocean.

That got me to thinking.  Do I really care if my Facebook account gets compromised?  They don’t have any of my credit card information or hardly any other personal data.  Many of my accounts that worry me don’t offer two-factor.  My bank comes immediately to mind.

Could it be that security doesn’t matter any more?  No matter how locked down your data is, there always seem to be companies like Sony, Target, Adobe and Home Depot being compromised releasing our information to the world.  Even many of our governmental agencies contribute to our identities being placed at risk.

If you follow any sites like Krebs on Security, you soon find there is a security breech about every second or third day.  There are also many others that never get reported.  When we do find out, it is often months after the fact.

The simple fact is that if you go online in the modern world, you should assume that your personal data has been compromised.  I guess I was incorrect in my opening paragraph.  You can’t have too much security.

That’s all for this month. Thanks for reading.

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Obsolete Technology A to Z – Originally Published January 2015

January 11, 2015 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Over the years, I’ve written many articles on technology terminology.  This is another one of them.  It originally started as a Mind Bender quiz, but soon evolved into a list of obsolete technology, terminology, companies, etc.  I hope you enjoy learning the alphabet from A to Z.

A is for Amiga computers, the last product line of Commodore International.  That was the company that brought us the VIC-20, the Commodore 64 and many other great computers.
B is for Beta Max tapes.  They have become obsolete along with the letter V.
C is for Circuit City.  After the bankruptcy, the brand name was purchased by Systemax and lived for a while on the internet.  Even that is no longer with us.
D is for dial up modems.  I imagine that someone somewhere is still using one.  Can you remember calling someone on the telephone and getting that unique sound?
E is for ENIAC, the first computer.  It was initially designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army.
F is for floppy disks.  They started big and got smaller.  Finally they disappeared.  CDs and DVDs probably won’t be around very long.
G is for Google Reader, which was an RSS aggregator operated by Google.  Although it was still popular, Google discontinued it.
H is for Honeywell computers.  Still in business today, Honeywell International ceased manufacturing computers in 1989.
I is for Infocom.  If you’ve read any of my past articles, you’ll know that I think they produced some of the best games ever.  My all time favorite was Suspended.
J is for the Jupiter Ace.  In 1983, it was advertised as possibly the fastest computer in the universe.  Instead of BASIC or CP/M, the machine’s default operating language was FORTH.
K is for Kinescope, at one time the cutting edge of video technology.
L is for Laserdisc, a video technology that never really made it to the big time.
M is for Mosaic, one of the first graphical web browsers.
N is for Netscape, once the dominant browser for surfing the internet.  The final version was released in February 2008.
O is for Olivetti, once a well known typewriter manufacturer that branched out into making computers.  They are still in business as a subsidiary of an Italian telecommunications company.
P is for Pager.  It used to be the machine that made the noise in movie theaters.  Supposedly, you were important if you carried one.
Q is for Quantum Link which later became America Online.  Q-Link was one of the first on line bulletin boards.
R is for Rolodex.  Does anyone still use these index cards to keep track of their contacts?
S is for Slide Projector.  The only time you hear about slides anymore is when someone wants to know how to digitize them.
T is for typewriters.  There is still a company that makes them, but you won’t see them in use very much.
U is for UNIVAC, the first general purpose computer for commercial use.  It was also the first computer to correctly predict the outcome of a presidential election.
V is for VHS tapes.  They have become obsolete along with the letter B.
W is for Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, Windows 3.0 Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows Millennium, Windows 98, etc.
X is for the xD-Picture Card.  These flash memory cards were only used in Olympus and Fujifilm cameras.  They were expensive and replaced by SD cards.
Y is for Y2K which on January 1, 2000 was going to be the end of the world because computers wouldn’t be able to correctly calculate the date.
Z is for Z-DOS, a forked version of MS-DOS designed to run on the Zenith computer.  I was originally going to make Z for Zenith, but they are still around.  LG owns the brand and sells a few items.

That’s all of my thoughts for January. My mind is empty again. Thanks for reading.

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Christmas Gifts – Originally Published December 2014

December 7, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

It’s that time of year again. Santa Claus is coming to town. Every year, my daughter asks what I want for a gift. Every year, I tell her that I have everything I need. I’ve never been one to wait for a special holiday or a birthday. If I want something and the price is right, I buy it.  That said, I’m going to share with you my list of things that would be nice to have.  Of course, it’s all stuff that I don’t need, can’t afford or would probably only use one time.  You can feel free to give me anything on this list.

Solid state drives are all the rage this year.  They are speedy and use less power.  Is bigger better?  I don’t know but as I write this, a 4 TB OCZ drive is on sale for $665.27 off.  That brings the price down to a reasonable $7499.73.  Free shipping is included to make the deal even sweeter.

I guess if you wanted an off brand tablet, this 10 inch model has decent specifications.  I’m a little leery of buying something that doesn’t specify the operating system version.  Then again, it must be great.  It’s the KomandoTab.  For your money, you not only get the machine, but a years membership in Kim’s Club.  Best of all, it includes an autographed picture.  I’d like to see Apple top that deal.

Every time Woody demonstrates his quad-copter, I say to myself that I should get one.  Maybe Santa will bring me the Walkera Scout X4.  For your money, you get a drone that can convert from four blades to eight.  My favorite feature is that you can set the GPS to “follow me”.  I can see me slipping the control into someones pocket and watch them wonder why they are being followed by a drone.

Why settle for a lousy picture from your cell phone?  This Hasselblad H5D-60 Medium Format DSLR Camera will take digital pictures with 60 megapixel resolution.  I’m surprised that the $66,000 selling price doesn’t include a SD card.  At least the shipping is free.

It would sure be nice to replace all of my monitors with this 84 inch Planar UltraRes LED monitor.  Only problem is that I’m not sure my floor can support the 24,000 pound weight.  Oh yeah, the $30,000 price tag is a little bit of a drawback too.

This Bluetooth Toothbrush has more calculating power than the Apollo 12 guidance system.  If I get this, I’ll be looking for a Bluetooth toilet cleaning brush to complete my bathroom ensemble.

Wearable technology has been in the news all year.  You can buy eyeglasses, watches, heart monitors, jackets that recharge your electronics and many other new items.  Never again will I lose a remote controller if I get this remote headband for Christmas.

I’m not sure what Santa will bring me this year, but I don’t think that it will be any of this stuff.  That’s all of my thoughts for December.  My mind is empty again.  Thanks for reading.

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Are Apple Products Safe? – Originally Published February 2014

September 6, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I did it again.  Sometimes I just can’t keep my mouth shut.  The other day, I was at Best Buy waiting in the Geek Squad line.  Yes I know.  Going to the Geek Squad for a computer repair is kind of like going to Burger King for a steak.  It’s not going to happen.  Anyway, that’s another story.

There were two ladies in front of me in the line.  One of them was carrying a laptop and a copy of Webroot Secure Anywhere.  She was telling the other gal how she had called Best Buy.  They told her to bring her computer in and they would clean the viruses an reset the password.  The second lady told her, “You need to get a Mac.  If you’ve got windows then you have a virus.”

That’s when I opened my mouth and asked her why I didn’t have any viruses on any of my four windows computers.  She quickly changed the subject and started talking about how she didn’t have to worry about getting hacked.  I said, “You obviously haven’t heard about Mat Honan.”

She hadn’t, so I briefly explained to her how Mat Honan’s Apple account was fairly easily hacked.  Mat Honan is a writer for Wired magazine.  One of his most widely read articles was about how his digital life was ruined by hackers in less than an hour.  Hackers got the last four numbers of his credit card from Amazon.  (These numbers are available on many web sites.  They then called Apple and asked for a password reset using the same numbers for identity verification.  After that it was simply a matter of changing passwords on all accounts.  Honan then could not access any of his data.

I’m not rehashing this story to trash Apple.  My point is that all computers are vulnerable to viruses and/or hackers.  It’s almost always because of operator error.  I’m knocking on wood as I tell you that I’ve never had any malware problems that shut me down.  Over the years, the worst thing that has happened is the root kit I got from a Sony music CD.  After all these years, I’m still steaming over that incident and refuse to knowingly purchase any Sony products.

The easiest way to clean viruses and malware from you computer is to not let them install in the first place.  It doesn’t make a difference if you’re a Windows or Apple user.  Use a good anti-virus program.  Read EULAs and all carefully check boxes when you install software.  Don’t blindly click on links in e-mail, even if it is from someone you know.  Be wary of clicking links in forum posts, especially if the poster is new to the group.

Keep your web browser updated.  On sites visit often I sometimes click on a ad, not because I’m interested in buying something, but to send a little cash to the web site owner.  Be careful if you do this.  Many of these advertisements lead to bad sites.  I’ll click an ad for a reputable company much faster than one that tells me I can get rich quickly.  It doesn’t really make a difference if you use Windows, Apple, Linux or anything else.  It’s almost always the operator that causes problems.

Thanks for reading.

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Spring Cleaning – Originally Published April 2013

August 15, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

It’s that time of year again.  Time to do that spring cleaning.  Luckily, I don’t have either a garage or an attic, so you would assume there is no need for me to do any of that mundane cleansing stuff.  What I have to spring clean every year is the closet in my computer room where all of my excess electronic stuff ends up.  Just last month a lot of people told me “thank you” for bringing in something for the give away table that they could really use.  I’ll have to tell the truth.  I wasn’t really spring cleaning.  My wife had the house re‑carpeted and I had to move all of that stuff out.  It was easier to put it in the pickup than back in the closet.

Talking about spring cleaning, this is a good time to do some computer cleaning.  If you’ve got a desktop computer, it is a good idea to shut it down, unplug the power cord, open the case and blow out all of those dust bunnies that have accumulated inside.  A can of compressed air doesn’t cost much.  Make sure you blow out all of the ventilation ducts and in the corners and underneath all of the components.  This is also a good time to check that all of your power cables, memory chips, etc. are firmly seated.  Over time they sometimes wiggle loose and cause aggravating problems.

Your keyboard can also probably use a good cleaning.  Disconnect it, turn it over and give it a good shake to get rid of the accumulated crumbs and other gunk.  You could also vacuum it with a brush attachment.  A squirt or two of your canned air will also help.  If you haven’t got rid of all the keyboard muck, a cotton swab dipped in isopropyl alcohol can be rubbed between the keys to clean them.  Just make sure that the swabs aren’t dripping wet.

Next, it’s time to clean your monitor(s).  Use your compressed air to blow the dust out of the corners.  You’ve probably got a few dust bunnies over or under the stand as well.  You can make a screen cleaner from several recipes found on the internet.  Personally, I spend a few dollars and buy one of the commercial products.  Either way, don’t directly spray the screen.  Just moisten a micro-fiber cloth and then rub the screen clean.  Wipe it dry with another cloth.

Now that you’ve got a sparkling computer, it is a good time to clean your hard drive(s).  Download a copy of Belarc Advisor.  The Advisor is a program that scans all the hardware and software on your PC.  One of the sections in the report lists all of the software installed on your machine.  It also tells you the version number, date installed, usage data and much more.  Look at the section that tells you when you last opened each program.  I’ll bet you find some that haven’t been used in more than a year.  Might be good time to get rid of them and free some space on your hard drive.

Cleaning those old programs off of your hard drive is easily done with Revo Uninstaller.  Revo uses the Windows operating system uninstaller to remove the program.  Then it checks your hard drive and registry for leftover remnants and deletes them.

After deleting all of those programs, your recycle bin is probably getting pretty full.  With CCleaner  you can easily do that  At the same time you should delete old log files and old temporary files.  As an added bonus, you can clean all of your browsers temporary files, history, cookies, download history, etc.

Now that you’ve got a clean house, a sparkling garage, a spotless attic and a smooth running, junk-less computer, you’ve got time to have a cold beverage.  Maybe you could even play some clean games.

Thanks for reading.

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Companies I Dislike a Lot – Originally Published October 2012

August 4, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Earlier this month, when I was adding the “differences” to the Commodore 64 picture, I started to realize what a loyal consumer I am.  Until they went bankrupt, all except one of the computers I owned were manufactured by Commodore.  The lone exception was a Heathkit Zenith computer kit that I built.

Back in the early 1980’s the VIC 20 was a great first computer.  Later, it was a real joy to own the Commodore 64.  I think anyone that ever owned one will tell you how much they loved it.  The Commodore 128 was a great upgrade.  After all, it had a 64 mode which made it the best of both worlds.  For some reason, the Amiga didn’t impress me all that much.  It was a Commodore though.

I think most people are like me.  I’ve always had good luck with Netgear products, so I tend to buy their stuff when it is a viable choice.  Same way with computers.  Four of the five machines in my house were manufactured by HP.  Brand loyalty is a big thing to most companies.  That’s why they sue all trademark infringements.

Brand loyalty also works in reverse.  Years ago, I was a fan of Sony products (even the Betamax).  I owned the Sony Walkman, a Sony TV, and of course a Sony Discman.  Do you remember the Sony Trinitron microwave?  I think you could say that I was a loyal Sony customer.

That all changed for me when Sony did evil.  In 2005, they put root kits on their music CDs.  It was supposed to be a copyright scheme.  It later turned out that they illegally violated the license agreement for the LAME codec and the VLC Media Player.  That made me so mad that I refused to spend any of my money on Sony products again.  Over the years, it seems that I made a good decision.  Sony has often been in the news since then for various nefarious reasons.

Another company that I refuse to enrich is Electronic Arts.  I dislike them so much that since October of 2000, I’ve slammed them on my personal web site.  Once again, my instincts were proven to be good.  Over the years, Electronic Arts has spent a lot of time in court defending themselves against various lawsuits.

Then there is another of my favorite companies to dislike: Symantec.  Way back in the 1980’s, a great utility named PC Tools was created by Central Point Software.  I was a faithful customer until they were acquired by Symantec for a whole bunch of money.  Like many others, I shifted to the Norton suite because PC Tools was incorporated in it.  Unfortunately, it was never the same program again.  Norton turned out to be bloated software that actually slowed down your computer.  The company received so many complaints ranging from poor customer service to fraudulently putting charges on customer’s credit cards.  They only got away with charging me one time.  They have supposedly gotten better since then, but I’ve never purchased any of their products again.

I guess I’ve done enough ranting and raving for this month.  Please feel free to join me in not supporting Sony, Electronic Arts and Symantec.  When it comes to the computing picture, I can tell you that there aren’t any “differences” in them.

Thanks for reading.

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Over-Technologied? – Originally Published November 2010

July 8, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I remember back in the early 1960’s when my father, a feed salesman, was received a Texas Instruments calculator from his company.  At that time, the TI was a top of the line calculator with an electronic memory.  This machine could add, subtract, divide and multiply.  He was proud of that calculator.  If you would ask him to add multiply 2 times 3, he would get the machine out to do the problem.

I was reminded of that calculator a few weeks ago when someone I know turned on their global positioning system to get directions to drive to Beaumont from Lake Charles.  Luckily, we got to the right place because he knew where it was.  The GPS address put us a couple of blocks away.

Every month or so, I scroll through the saved television programs list on my digital video recorder and delete programs that I’ve recorded.  I realize now that I just don’t have the time to watch them all.  Besides, I have to make some room for the new programs I want to record.

These incidents are starting to make me wonder if our society might be getting “over-technologied”.  Don’t bother to look that word up in your dictionary or thesaurus.  Over-technologied is a term that I made up to describe a situation where technology is used either unnecessarily, stupidly, inadequately or in some other silly manner.  I think that people who have the latest, greatest, newest technology and then don’t know how to use it are extremely over-technologied.  I made up the word, so I guess I can make up the definition.

For example, how many people do you know that have thousands of pictures and movies saved on their huge hard drives?  With high speed digital cameras it is easy to take ten pictures instead of one.  You have a better chance of getting the “perfect” picture but end up not being able to find it because you have to sort through a thousand pictures to find it.  Isn’t that being over-technologied?

It’s election season again and I get countless phone spam calls urging me to vote for candidate Mr./Mrs./Ms. over-technologied.  I call them that because they have used technology to call every phone number and irritate the people on the other end.  I use my own technology to keep track of who I get unwanted calls from.  The over-technologied candidate doesn’t get my vote.

How many people do you know have a microwave oven that will defrost, weigh the food and then start cooking so as to be finished just in time for dinner?  Many of them have more than timer, a whole bunch of built in programmed recipes and many other features.  If they’re like most people, they use their microwave to reheat their leftovers or make popcorn.  Do you think they might be over-technologied?

I could probably write three or four articles on how our cell phones are over-technologied.  Personally, I don’t even carry a cell phone.  I usually just carry my pocket computer which also happens to be able to connect to Sprint if I want to make a phone call.  If you don’t agree that cell phones are over-technonologied, ask the next ten people you see how many applications they have on their cell phone.  Then ask them how many they actually use.

When I was a kid, my old junker car would break down on the side of the road.  It was usually pretty easy for me to fix it.  These days I drive an over-technologied pickup.  If there is a breakdown, I might as well call for a tow truck because the mechanic would have to run a computer diagnostic before he could fix the darn thing.

Do you think that modern cameras are over-technologied?  My camera is a couple of years old and still has more features than I ever use.  The instruction manual is about three fourths of an inch thick.  I often wonder if I will ever learn how to do some of the advanced functions.  I probably would have the time to memorize the instructions if I could just get away from my over-technologied television.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this tongue-in-cheek article about having too much technology.  Be careful, technology can also be dangerous.  An incident with my debit card is what got me thinking about too much technology in the first place.  If you’ve got the time, just Google “dangers of too much technology” and read the 239 million articles for yourself.

I could probably ramble on for a couple more pages about how we are over-technologied.  I just realized that having five computers on my home network isn’t enough.  I’ve got to go do some research on that tablet computer I want to buy.  After all, I want to stay over-technologied.

Thanks for reading.

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Computer Maintenance – Originally Published October 2010

July 5, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

October is Fire Prevention Month.  The professionals tell us that the best fire safety is accomplished by preventing the fire in the first place.  You should install smoke alarms and replace the batteries every year.  Keep your matches away from the kiddies and keep your fires safety plan updated.

I think that is also pretty good advice for keeping your computer running smoothly and free of viruses and trojans.  Right now, I have five computers on my home network.  Every two weeks, I get out my maintenance list and do all my updates and in depth scans.  This month, I thought I’d share what I do to keep them all running smoothly and error free.

1.  Create a System Restore Point: Even though I know I’m pretty close to perfect, I occasionally make a mistake.  If I do, I want to be able to go back to my starting point if I have to.

2.  Run Windows Update: One of the things I’ve always disliked about Windows is automatic updates.  I’ve got mine set to notify me when there is a critical update.  I almost always download and install critical updates pretty quickly.  For other updates, I wait until my maintenance day.  Before I download and install, I do an internet search on the update.  If I find that updates cause other users a lot of problems, I usually wait on downloading.  It isn’t necessary to install every update to keep your computer running smoothly.

3.  Run Revo Uninstaller: Over the years, I’ve discovered that when you no longer need a program, it’s better to get rid of the darn thing right away.  Otherwise, all it will do is take up space on your hard drive.  Unused programs often also steal from your system resources and cause your computer to run slower.  Revo Uninstaller is a freeware program that does an excellent job of removing software from your disk drive.  After the program is uninstalled, it searches and removes most files, folders and registry keys that are often left on your computer.  You can get Revo Uninstaller here.

4.  Run Secunia Personal Software Inspector.  Secunia PSI is a program that scans your computer and checks your installed software for updates and patches.  Secunia is an easy program to use, but it wants to add itself to the automatic startup every time you run it.  To prevent this, go to the advanced section and uncheck the auto start.  You can get Secunia PSI here.

5.  Run a Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware scan: The program name says it all. Malwarebytes’ has created an easy-to-use, simple, and effective anti-malware application.  Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware is extremely effective at finding and removing virus, worm, trojan, rootkit, dialer and spyware programs that infect your computer.  I don’t think I’ve ever read a negative review about it.  It is free for home use and you can download it here.

6.  Run a virus scan.  What else can I tell you.  If you don‘t have a good anti-virus program installed, please don‘t come crying to me when you get infected.  I use Avast Antivirus (it has my favorite price), but there are many good antivirus programs, both free and fee.

7.  Run a SUPERAntiSpyware scan: SUPERAntiSpyware detects and removes spyware and adware.  It also removes malware, trojans, dialers, worms, keyloggers, hiJackers, parasites, rootkits, rogue security products and many other types of threats.  That’s a lot of free removal that you can get when you download SuperAntiSpyware.

8.  Run Wise Registry Cleaner: There are two theories about using registry cleaners.  Some people think they are great because by getting all of the junk out of your registry your computer will run faster and more effectively.  Others think that the gain is not worth the risk.  CAUTION! Using programs that change the registry can permanently disable your computer.  Make sure you back up the registry before you make any changes.  Wise Registry Cleaner is a fairly fast scanner that lists the scan results into two categories: 1) safe to remove, and 2) can remove, but not completely safe.  You can get Wise Registry Cleaner here.

9. Run CCleaner: CCleaner is a freeware program that optimizes your PC by combining a system cleaner and a registry cleaner.  Simply put, it is about the best program there is for cleaning junk off of your hard drive.  Almost every technical and geek site recommends it.  It has an easy to use interface.  Click on analyze and a few minutes later click on run cleaner.  If you use the registry cleaner, it reminds you to backup before making any changes.  You can get CCleaner here.

Finally, I shut down my computer and reboot.  Then, I open msconfig to make sure that nothing has sneaked into my startup.  Lastly, I create another restore point.  That way, it I have any problems before my next maintenance day, I know I have a tested safe restore point.

All of the programs I’ve mentioned in this article are either freeware or free for home use.  A word of caution.  If you decide to try them, carefully read the installation screens.  That way you won’t accidentally have a new toolbar installed on your computer.

Happy Computing and thanks for reading.

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Computing Memories – Originally Published August 2010

July 1, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

This months computer club meeting topic of the Smart Table got me to thinking about how much technology has changed in my time.  One of my first computer memories was when I was still in high school and UNIVAC was in all the news.  No one really had any idea what the thing was good for.  The census used one to somehow make counting the population easier.  It was a different world back then and nobody really much cared about a machine that was bigger than the family car and needed a special air conditioned room.  The thing that really interested them was the Texas Instruments pocket calculator.  My daddy was a feed salesman and the company that he worked for provided him with one of these expensive machines.  I remember him getting it out to show us how he could add 2 and 2 without making a mistake.

When I joined the Navy, I had my first experiences with using a computer.  I got to run the keypunch machine.  If I made a mistake, a ship could easily get 10,000 pounds of butter instead of 1,000.  Back then, the Navy paid in cash.  In later years, our paychecks were actually an IBM computer punch card.  Now, many employers don’t even issue checks.  It’s all done electronically.

In the late 1970’s computers started to catch on.  IBM was the company created the home market.  Their 8086/8088 weighed about 30 pounds and had a whole MB of random access memory.  It blazed along at a speedy 4.77 MHz.  Other companies that built computers soon started advertising themselves as IBM compatible.  If you worked for IBM, you were required to wear a tie.

This is also the era when many of us started building our first computers.  Zenith Heath Kits were all the rage.  They didn’t work any better, but we were smarter because we built our own.

The operating system of choice in those days was PC-DOS.  There were many other ones, but the home market was mainly CP/M or one of the DOS systems from Apple, Atari or Commodore.  In the early 1980’s, a fellow you may have heard of bought an operating system called 86-DOS which was also known as Q-DOS (for Quick and Dirty DOS).  Bill Gates later renamed it to MS-DOS for the company that he founded.  I’m pretty sure that Microsoft is still in business today.

Home computing started to really take off in the 80’s when Radio Shack introduced the Trash 80 (oops. I meant TRS 80).  Apples home computer was the Lisa and Texas Instruments had something called the TI-99.  I remember the first computer I bought.  It was a Commodore VIC20.  I loved that computer with its 5 KB of RAM and the data cassette storage, even though it often took 3-4 minutes to load a program.  Incidentally, the VIC20 was the first home computer that sold a million units.  In later years the Commodore 64 was even better.

The first really innovative computer program to be sold was the spreadsheet VisiCalc.  Like so many other successful things, clones like Lotus 1-2-3, SuperCalc and Microsoft Excel were soon on the market.  Did you know that Microsoft’s Excel was first introduced for the Apple Macintosh?  It was only later that it was ported to Windows.  Wordstar was the first commercially profitable word processor.

The real software revolution were the games.  I don’t think you could walk 50 feet without seeing somebody playing Space Invaders, PAC Man of one of the many variations of Pong.  I’ll confess that my favorite games were made by Infocom.  They specialized in “interactive fiction” games.  I still remember their advertising slogan, “We put our graphics where the Sun don’t shine.”  Graphics adapters later put this type of adventure game out of business.  Their first game was Zork which debuted in 1980.  I still have it on my desktop computer.

In the old days, the only decision to be made when you bought a monitor was whether to have green or amber output.  The only sound you could hear was the tinny beep for the operating speaker.  The only mouse in the computer room lived in the wall.  Printers were all dot matrix and printed about 30 characters a minute.

Of course, one of the biggest changes in computing has been the internet and use of e-mail.  I’ve heard that e-mail was invented by a Nigerian that had a lot of extra money to spend. The browser choices were Mosaic or Netscape.  We’ve come a long way from logging in to the Bulletin Board.

I’m going to shut up for this month.  Please remember that I’ve just written about some of my computing memories, so the facts may not be 100 percent correct.  I’m just amazed at how far technology has advanced.

See you at the Smart Table.  Thanks for reading.

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Computer Speed Up Tips – Originally Published February 2010

June 23, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

This month I’d like to share a few tips that I’ve learned over the years.  They’re mostly little items that I’ve found helped make my computing faster and easier.  These tips are on random subjects, but I’ve found that all of them make my computing experience just a little easier than before.  Most tips work with all Windows versions, but I don’t guarantee it.  I do know you can try them all for free.  You’ve probably heard of some of these tips and already use them all the time, but I’m willing to bet you’ll find one or two things you can use to make your computing experience easier or faster.

If your computer has more than one processor, you can easily make it boot a little faster by running msconfig.  Click the boot section and then click advanced options.  Then check the number of processors block and click OK.  Now when your computer will boot a little faster because it uses more processing power.

While msconfig is open you can also easily stop the windows boot logo from slowing your startup time.  Click the BOOT tab and check the No GUI Boot.

Do you sometimes lose sight of your mouse arrow?  Some web pages snap it to somewhere else on the screen and sometimes it just gets lost in the background.  My clumsy finger often causes my cursor to relocate when I’m using my laptop touchpad.  Just open mouse properties in your control panel.  Under pointer options, check “show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key”.  Apply the settings and you will always easily find you cursor with a simple press of the CTRL key.

Speaking of the CTRL key, there is another key that is usually near it on most computer keyboards.  You can save a lot of time by using the window key in combination with other keys.  One of my favorite personal favorites is using Window Key-E to quickly open Windows Explorer.  If you’ve upgraded to Windows 7, the Window Key has more useful user-friendly functions than ever before.  To speed up your computing, I recommend doing a web search for your operating system and windows key (or keyboard shortcuts).  You will find several web sites with lists of all the key functions you can use.  After awhile, you will find that the windows key will be a force of habit that makes it easier for you to use your computer.

Why not take a minute, run services.msc and make your computer run just a little faster.  This will open a window with detailed information about all of the services (with detailed descriptions) that are running on your computer.  You will probably find many that you do not need.  To disable a service, just double click on it and change the startup type.  Remember that you can always change it back later if you find you need the service after all.  If you need more information on a particular service, just type the name into your favorite internet search engine and you’ll find out all that you need to know.  Services are important, but every one that your computer doesn’t have to check up on will help it to run a little faster.

Why not print a little bit faster and save some money at the same time?  Detailed prints take longer to produce.  If you reduce the quality a little, you can print faster and save some ink.  Open print properties in any program to change the settings.  Look for draft mode or something similar.

If you use Vista or Windows 7, you should be using ReadyBoost.  Just install any high performance SD card or flash drive and you’ll have a memory cache.  Just open my computer, right click on the icon and select properties.  Then you can enable ready boost.  If you really want a much faster computer, buy or build a new one with all of the latest components.

Happy Computing!

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