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A while back I posted about The TED Experience, a site that has videos of talks from a regulartalk-fest on the subjects of Technology, Entertainment & Design. One video that fulfills all three criteria is, I think, that of Caleb Chung.

Computers are tools of work as well as a means for users to enjoy things they might not otherwise see or experience. But computers don’t have to be a box with a screen, keyboard and mouse. They can be packaged in other ways, sometimes ways that are simply fun to be around.

Caleb Chung has spent years working with toys, as well as considerable time putting together working models of a variety of types. Perhaps you remember or even have a furbie? Cute little toys that had a variety of simple responses and movements. Caleb Chung made them.

Pleo’s are dinosaur toys, and Caleb apparently spent considerable time to make them as close to the real model as he could. While I can’t really comment on the accuracy of his model, I must say they are cute. Even on screen they evoke an empathic reaction, like seeing a puppy. It’s remarkable that someone could put together basic equipment that is capable of bringing such a reaction, similar to that we feel for living creatures.

And Pleo’s come with USB and memory card slots for user upgrades and changes!

Even more remarkable is that humans, the same people who can kill and maim with such apparent ease, can find caring feelings for a toy, for a collection of plastic and metal bits, while simultaneously turning away from their troubled fellow man.

No, I’m not talking about some special implement you can use on your computer – although that could be a fun topic – ‘What tool would you like to use on your computer?’  It could be sub-titled, ‘Can you lift a seven pound sledgehammer?’

Nor am I talking about the local guy you know who is a computer nut that can’t tie his shoelaces or converse in anything except ‘0’s and ‘1’s.

Above all else, if theirs is one definition of a computer, it is that it’s a tool. It is probably the best tool we’ve ever made, up there in effect on Man with fire and the wheel, but way above them in speed of impact on society. The computer has changed the way we work, the way we play, the way we find out things and the way we entertain ourselves, and it has done it in thirty years.

Tool:
1. an implement, esp. one held in the hand, as a hammer, saw, or file, for performing or facilitating mechanical operations
2. anything used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose

Tools are things we use, things supposedly invented to make our life easier, or to enable us to do things we are unable to do alone. But when the personal computer came along, it was a tool that didn’t really have a use. Sure it was a nice thing for the original tech-heads – they could play and get all kinds of interesting effects – but for most people they were yet another reason to avoid such people.

So, how do you use your computer? What is the main function you perform with this wondrous tool?

By: Mr JM
There is a final step to using your new computer – getting it all set as you like it. I have seen people who fill their screen with icons. To me it looks chaotic and impossible to use, yet only rarely has my offer to ‘tidy up’ things been accepted. There’s probably a field of psychology to be explored in how people like to use their computers and why they do things the way they do.

Personally I don’t like a lot on my Desktop – I tend to store things in other locations away from my profile and if I need them regularly I place a shortcut to them on the Desktop instead. Your Desktop is found in C:\Documents and Settings\username along with other things in your profile.

Microsoft and other software vendors like to store things in various folders under C:\Documents and Settings\ that are personal to a user. Firefox and Internet Explorer store Bookmarks and Favorites there. Outlook places your PST file (where your downloaded email is kept) there as well

The problem with this, and why I don’t like to store things on my desktop, is a number of those folders get added into your loaded Profile. Put too much in there and you can slow your computer down noticeably. In fact, one way to help restore your computer to the power and speed it had when new if to clean up your Profile. Microsoft even have an applet (a little application) to do a basic job of it for you.

Check out [Start] [All Programs] [Accessories] [System Tools] [Disk Cleanup] – just run it as is, without changing the settings, and see just how much junk even Microsoft thinks it has put on your computer.

By: Mr JM
I’m ready to go, computers connect to the LAN (Local Area Network) and I have my 500GB drive in and formatted. I select my Installs folder – whenever I get software I copy it into the Installs folder and run the setup from there, my My Documents folder and my Downloads folder and start the copy.

It’s been a while since I checked the sizes of my folders – it turns out I am copying over 100GB’s across the network – even at 100 m/bit network speed, that’s going to take time – I go to bed.

There’s more to do however. All I have installed so far is Windows, Office 2007, and Antivirus. I need to set up the programs I use on a regular basis. There’s Nero so I can burn and copy CD’s and DVD’s. I have downloaded Firefox 3 and that will mean some of my prior add-ons will not work. For example, Real Player 11 used to let me download YouTube, Google and other videos – if you’re interested in a video, better to download it and watch it at leisure than to download it onsite every time you want to watch it.

We all have our own uses for computers – unless your current computer dies on you and you need to set up from scratch, it’s a good idea to make a list of all the programs you have installed and make sure you have them available for the new computer.

Often this means getting a new version downloaded and can lead to pleasant (and sometimes not) surprises in what is new.

To get a list for what is actually installed, check in [Start] [Control Panel] [Add/Remove Programs] Note if your Control Panel starts in Category view, there’s a menu item called [Add or Remove Programs] listed.

By: Mr JM
One of the gotcha’s with computers, or I guess with any task really, is finding out part way through a job that you don’t have all the parts.

When I first started with computers, my first machine was an IBM XT, 8086 chip, two five and a quarter inch floppy drives, (making me the envy of those with only one – there was a phrase used in the early days, the Floppy Shuffle, brought about because the computer would want your program disk to actually do anything but you’d have to take it out and insert your data disk for it to have anything to do things on) (more…)

By: Mr JM
Once you have all the needed in hardware, in drivers for the hardware and in software installation disks or downloads, things are ready to roll. With Windows installed on the machine, the chances are the video resolution is still set to Windows default. So the first driver to install is the video driver, either for the on-board video or for the add-in video card you’ve installed. Then at least you’ll have a decent looking screen to work with.

For me, the next install is the network drivers – that way I can copy down the rest of the software directly from the current computer.

I probably should do the network ones first but I abhor the default settings on my screen, and it takes little time to copy out the video drivers to a USB memory stick.

Before I run the network drivers and connect up, I make sure the Windows Firewall is turned on. This provides a very basic level of protection against invasion from outside your network. Click [Start] [Control Panel] [Windows Firewall] and turn it on.

Once the network drivers are installed I restart the computer so it will set itself up as part of my network. When I ran the Windows setup and it asks about network settings, I just accept default settings but I name my Workgroup differently than just ‘Workgroup.’ By matching the name of the Workgroup of the other computers on the network, the new computer will join the Workgroup as it starts up.

The next step is to ensure there are ‘shared’ drives or folders on the machine from which you need to copy programs and drivers. You can also share folders on the new machine and then ‘push’ the files across from the old machine. Or you can simply copy all you need out onto CDROM, DVD, or USB memory stick.

Once you have the drivers, install software for the programs you want to run and all your documents and user files on the new machine, you can basically turn off the old computer and move the new one to where you want it and just work on that.

Most computers these days are on the end of an ADSL connection to the internet. So, the first thing to install is the Antivirus software – I run with Symantec Antivirus, but there are good free programs out there, such as AVG, which will guard against nearly all attacks.

You also need to make sure you have Spyware protection, but that isn’t as important until you start browsing – there are viruses out there that will reach across an unprotected link to the internet and infect your machine.

By: Mr JM
For my situation, it’s not as drastic as having to freeze the hard drive. And we have a home network to connect a number of computers so transferring the data is easier than having to copy things out to a DVD or CDROM.

What I did do was buy a new hard disk – we went to the local Computer Swap-Meet (a market where small traders get together once a month) and found a 500GB (GigaByte) SATA hard disk for eighty dollars. It is easily big enough to take all the data I want from the old machine with space left over.

Once I have the new machine set up with all my programs and information, I will clean my current computer and set it up with all the installation software and use it as a server for our network so we can store downloads there and backup our documents and data.

Then every so often, we write out files to a DVD in 4.5GB chunks and store them as extra backups.

The current task is to install the new hard disk in the new machine and get it formatted. Then I make sure the new machine runs on the network as it should and I can start copying the data over.

The first step in getting the new machine set up has already been done – I logged into the manufacturers’ sites and found Windows XP drivers for all the main bits of the computer. The place to start for this is on the Motherboard maker’s web page.

In the CMOS settings, entered by pressing [Delete] (or [Del]) on most machines, although sometimes it’s [F2] or [F1] you will find a motherboard ID or BIOS number. It may look something like RL86510A.86A.0089 on an Intel motherboard, which on checking on the site shows a D865PERL Main board. That will then lead to a variety of drivers to download.

The essential ones are normally onboard ones such as video, network and sound, but there may also be chipset drivers which will tell Windows how to ‘talk’ optimally to the hardware and can give a performance boost to the system

By: Mr JM

So there you are, new computer open and ready for your tender surgical skills, it’s been built into Windows & is ready to run and all you need to do is add in your old failing hard drive so you can get all your precious data from it.

What do you do? Walk, don’t run, to the freezer and find your carefully baggied hard drive, remove it from the coldness, wipe off any moisture from the baggie and then your hands, then remove the drive from the (up till now) sealed baggie.

Wasting as little time as possible, plug in your cold hard drive, both data and cable, check everything is secure and there’s no stray metal bits touching any of the circuitry, then turn on the computer. Wait through the boot process, endure the mostly agonizing wait while Windows decides everything is in place and then click [Start] [My Computer] then click the [Folders] button up in the menu bar.

What you should see in the left side (where the folders are shown) is your C:\ drive, then a D:\ drive which should be your briefly re-animated dying drive. The CD/DVD drive, if still connected (you didn’t need to use the cable for the hard drive) will be the E:\ drive.

Click on the D:\ drive in the left panel and on the right side you will see all the folders on that drive.

Now it gets complex – where is your data?

Unless you’ve set up specific folders previously, Windows will have stored your stuff in several default locations.

Documents – D:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents …note that Username is the name you used to sign in – you may never have actually logged into Windows but it happened automatically as Windows started. The default folders are called Administrator, Default User, and All Users. Anything else that looks like a name is probably the one you used.

Emails – if you use Microsoft Outlook, the PST file is found in - D:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Favorites – for Internet Explorer they are found in D:\Documents and Settings\Username\Favorites – copy all the files there.

For Firefox they are called Bookmarks and they’re found in -
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\zxpw2j3t.default\bookmark.html – note – your Firefox folder will have something similar to \zxpw2j3t.default\ but it will be different – it’s a random folder name.

For other locations, leave a comment here and ask, but usually if you get all the above copied, you’ve got most of your life.

By: Mr JM

Now you have your Windows XP computer up and running nicely – the Video card is installed, sound is working and your computer is once more talking on the network or through your ADSL (Broadband) modem to the Internet.

How do you get your precious information from your dead Hard Drive?

Sometimes a hard disk dies for good. If that’s the case, you need to figure if your information is worth the maybe $1000 to get professionals to recover your data. They can open the drive, pull out the platters where all those little magnetic moments happen, insert the platters into a different drive and pull out your bits.

But mostly, the hard disk dies slowly. Here’s what to try – once you have a compatible machine to put the drive in.

You need the new PC to be ready to run, but open so you can insert your old drive. If you aren’t sure about what goes where, get some help. If the new machine is SATA and the old drive is ATA, disconnect the DVD in the new machine so the old hard disk can connect on the ATA cable.

Next, find a nice sealable plastic bag, one big enough to take the hard disk in it. Sandwich bags with the clip-lock seal are great for this. Take your old hard disk from the machine, carefully removing the attached cables – the ribbon or SATA cable should come off easily – the power cable may take a bit of a pull, but try to make sure you pull straight out.

Also be sure that when you are pulling on the power cable, there is nothing of knuckle-busting capability within reach of your freely swinging hand as the cable releases. Computers do like to take a blood sacrifice from anyone who opens them.

Place the drive in the plastic bag and seal it – seal it good – you do NOT want moisture in there. Now place the bag in your freezer overnight.

Yes, that’s right, in the freezer. It doesn’t have to be a standalone freezer – the one in the top of your fridge will do fine. Try to avoid using the one in the local supermarket – not only do they frown on the idea, but someone is going to get a hell of a surprise when they try to carve your drive for dinner.

By: Mr JM

If your old computer died and you’ve bought (or begged borrowed or stolen) another to take its place, you may think you have to start all over. There is however, some good news. If your computer died, the chances are excellent the hard disk is still viable so you can get all your work transferred over to the new machine.

And if your hard disk died, the chances are pretty good your computer is OK and all you need is a new hard disk. If you are one of the six people in the country who have actually backed up their work, you’re smiling. If you aren’t one of them, there’s a possibility of getting your data back from the hard disk.

First you need to have the computer up and running – this probably means getting a new hard disk, a Windows disk, and rebuilding your Windows system. There are some earlier posts in this blog to deal with how to boot to your Windows CD and run setup.

For most desktops, the Windows build process will provide adequate access to all the hardware. The areas where it tends to miss are with Video cards, Network cards and Audio cards. Also, laptops tend to have radically tweaked drivers for the hardware inside – you WILL need to find your laptop drivers and have them ready to install once Windows is up and running.

If you don’t have a list of the hardware that is in your machine, you should make one now. For those with a dead doorstop in front of them, open the machine, touch something large and metal for grounding, then look inside the box to see what identification you can find.

If the PC will start but not boot into Windows, you can usually find the information about what hardware you have in CMOS – this is the hardware setup of your computer – usually pressing [Delete] or [Del]> as the computer starts will get you into it, but on some systems it can be [F2] or even [F1]

NOTE: Change nothing in CMOS!!! Doing so without knowing what you do can kill your machine dead! Knowing in this instance means actually KNOWING what that setting is and what changing it will mean for your chips and circuits.

Once you have your hardware information, go to a friend, to your work or to an Internet Café and find the manufacturer’s website, track down the model of hardware you have and download the drivers for it. If you don’t have one already, get a USB stick. (AKA USB memory, USB flash drive, USB key) You can buy a 2GB one for around $20.

Occasionally Mr. JM and I will wander down to the local pub and have a couple of drinks. We go there mainly to say hello to our friend Cyril, who is at the pub every day but Sunday and days he has family commitments. Cyril is always good for a laugh and good conversation, but there is one thing he resists above all else…

Technology.

Though Mr. JM and I have been telling him all about how technology can benefit him, even just by having a mobile phone, he refuses to mess with ‘that nonsense’. I even brought in my laptop to the pub last Friday and, while impressed, he refused Mr. JM’s offer to get him a laptop. For free.

I’m not sure if you know anyone technology-resistant who would go so far as to refuse a free laptop, but I’m sure you know at least one person who (more…)

There are a variety of ways in which computers improve our multimedia experience. Those with the cash to spare can buy a Multimedia PC, using the functions built in to connect to a home entertainment system that rivals those which, until recently, (relatively) were only available in cinemas.

Surround sound, large screens, High Definition quality – all these contribute to an experience that leaves a simple TV night in the dirt. A few years back you could spend $5,000 on a fairly basic system and you’d be lucky if you knew anyone with a good system. Now you can upgrade your screen and use your computer to boost performance for an engrossing evening deep in the multimedia experience.

But you can also do it fairly simply with your computer. Systems these days come with more than enough memory, video performance, DVD players and hard disk space to let you spend some quality multimedia time in front of your machine.

It can also, properly configured, provide an enveloping experience with computer games.

Once good speakers were a necessary part of the quality time, but now there are cheap headphones that can easily match the performance of expensive speakers. And it means you can enjoy yourself in a room with people watching TV or doing other things.

Just try not to be vocal about things happening on the screen – it gets extraordinarily annoying to others to have odd unexplained noises coming from the corner of the room. Keeping the noise down can be thought of as divorce avoidance.

So, you’ve upgraded the RAM (memory) in your computer and now it runs better than before, but when you try to edit your digital video or convert your digicam footage into a DVD, it takes hours to run. Or maybe you go out and buy the latest game and then find it shows jerky video segments or takes excess time to update screens. What’s going on?

Well a lot of video performance issues come down to how capable your video card is. Most recent computers have a video chip on the motherboard to provide video capability. The problems with this may only surface (more…)

OK, so you’re wanting to improve your computer performance and you figure you’ll start with memory. You’ve looked inside the box to see if you have free slots or you’ve decided to replace what you have.

How to tell what kind you have?

There’s a nice little tool called Hardware Info which will query your computer and present you with a nice list of everything in it. Download it, install it and when you want to upgrade things in your machine it will tell you all you need to know.

Note the memory type in your computer (write it down) and you’re ready to (more…)

So… you’ve looked around, found your needs, discovered which ones suit your computer best, found a supplier with a good rep and a decent price and you’re wondering who you can pay to do the upgrade.

Relax, it’s not that hard. If you try not to worry about the complexities of what a computer actually does, there are only a few parts to see in the box and they are easy to identify.

But first, read and meditate on the following…

Rule number one – (more…)