Laurel Mountain Post September-October Issue

I have a great article in the LMP this month discussing the upcoming release of Windows 7 and the differences between each of the versions. This issue is the LMP’s final FREE distribution. They are moving to a paid subscription model with the next issue. There is so much good local information in the magazine that I hope they will be able to sustain it with this new venue.

This is obviously the Halloween issue but I didn’t keep with that theme. Next issue I will again approach with gadget gift buying for the upcoming Holiday Season. It’s September and I am thinking of Christmas already!

Hope you all enjoy the article and find it useful in making your decision to move into Windows 7 or not and which version would be best for you. If you are still confused don’t hesitate stopping buy and talking to us about it.

When upgrading and PC, It pays to do a little prep work to make it a smooth transition…

I have gone through seven system reloads in the past four months and with the last one it was made clear to me that you can never be too prepared for your transition from the old to the new. There are a few things that you need to think about, find and have ready at hand before you start the procedure.

1. Make sure you have your data backed up. The old adage, measure twice cut once is never more true than when you are about to transition to a new operating system. If you hold to the best way to clean up a system is to wipe it clean and start fresh, then whatever you had on the machine will no longer be there when you complete the new operating system installation. There is no going back to get the data so if you forget something, and you don’t have it backed up, well, it is gone in to the wind. It is important to remember how applications work. Recently I lost a year’s worth of notes because I was too cavalier about how well I had things backed up. I had thought I had everything already moved off of a workstation and moved onto the network storage (as it should have been) and it all went up in smoke. I have readjusted the way the application data is handled now, but it is too late for all of that historical data. Take it to heart that even the ones that preach backup can be bit when they are not careful enough. At the office we backup a system to a new drive before we even start a transition. As long as someone doesn’t get in the way and state that they have taken care of the info, if you look at what you are using and where you have it, you can take the steps to protect you precious information.
2. Take inventory of all the applications that you use. This will insure that your system will be up and running with all the tools you use as quickly as possible. Gather all the disks for you applications and their keys so that you can work right down the line to get the machine up and running the way you want. Here is my list of applications that I made when I prepped to install the new Windows 7 RTM on my home systems. The first thing I did was to reload Office when I finished installing the operating system so that I had access to my checklist. If you are well prepped with all your programs and unlock codes you will be able to breeze through the installation and keep your frustration level to a minimum.
3. Make sure you have available the current versions of your programs and that they are compatible with the new operating system. If you are installing into a office situation this is much more critical then in a home environment. Realize that this is the time to trim the fat. My systems tend to get bloated with all of the software installs that I perform on weekly basis to try out new things. Curiosity of the cat and all. This is one of the prime reasons that I reinstall a system as often as I do. It is easier to just start fresh sometimes then to try to make a system come back to peak performance with tweaking. This is suggestion is another attempt at limiting your frustration with the process.
4. Make sure that you have blocked out the time to do your upgrade. You don’t want to be losing your place or forgetting some key programs because you have split your attention between different projects.

Transitioning can be as painless or as painful as you allow it to be, the best way to get through the process is pre-planning the event.

Product Research has just gotten easier…

We have committed ourselves with a company that is helping us to provide information on a large number of products that we are able to provide our customers. We draw upon over 25 different distributors and many manufacturers directly to provide you, our customer, with just the right product to fit your needs.

With this research tool you can easily compare different products and request pricing from our support staff in a quick and easy manner. This system also allows us to provide you with feature products that we think might be useful to you. We also will be providing you with bi-weekly newsletters to keep you informed of different things happening in the technology industry that might be of interest to you. And don’t forget our technical blogs for more useful information that we are providing you on a daily basis. Remember Computer Connections for all of your technology needs.

Evernote, a great tool to give you access to your information anywhere you have an internet connection…

I have been a big fan of Microsoft’s OneNote application and it is still a central part of my daily data collection and storage for all of the research that I do. But the one thing that I miss with it is the ability to access it from wherever I am when I have Internet access.

This online software package has clients for Windows, MAC OS X, iPhone, IPOD Touch, Blackberry, Palm Pre, Sony Ericsson X1 and Windows Mobile. Just about anyway that you would touch the Internet, from your desktop or phone you  can create and view information that you want to store and share with this application.

If you hare aware what OneNote does, your will be able to understand the concept of Evernote which has been modeled after it. This software program is available as a free application and if you find yourself bumping the limitations of the free version you can upgrade to the premium version for only $5/month or $45/year for a yearly subscription. Evernote Premium gives you bigger upload capacity, supports more file types, and offers enhanced security. Plus, you get PDF searching, faster image recognition, and no ads. The following chart shows you a few of the benefits of the upgrade:

I am finding this an extremely useful application that provides me with the link that I’ve been missing to bring data to my iPhone as well as any desktop that I am currently using. Try out the free version to see if it has a place in your software arsenal. I think that it just might.

What has NASA been doing for the 10 Years?

My friend Tom sent me this link from USA Today showing the evolution of the International Space Station over the last 9 years. This is an interesting flash video to watch even if you are only a little interested in Space, the next frontier!

The list on the right is active and gives you more information about each of the stages/units in the make-up of the International Space Station. I don’t know too many people who aren’t interested in what NASA is doing and what their next steps are. I think that it is amazing that they  have been able to coordinate with so many countries to develop what they have so far. It is going to be interesting to see what is going to happen in the next 9-10 years.

Think Microsoft Home Server…

Ken was trying to tell me that many of the features that I was describing in the Cisco Network Magic article are also in the Microsoft Home Server. I will have to install one of these at the house and see what my limitations are. We have been quite successful using removable media and the Home Server software to create a great backup solution. We even have it being used as the key part of our off-site storage as well. I’ll be getting into more detail on this in the next couple of weeks.

Cisco’s Network Magic

Cisco makes some inexpensive tools to help you manage your home and small business networks. Sometimes I just want to be able to bookmark product so that it is easy to come back and grab it again when needed. So… here they are. Both can be used in a trial basis for free and if you need to have a permanent copy for yourself. For what you get, the price is very reasonable.

$49.95

Network Magic Pro 5.5 Ideal for the small business owner or someone who needs advanced networking capabilities With Network Magic Pro 5.5, you can skip the tech support phone calls, online forums and expensive on-site consultants. Network Magic Pro provides do-it-yourself tools to help you set up, manage and secure your network like an IT professional. With point-and-click ease, you can: Connect your devices together in minutes Share Internet connections, printers and files Protect your network with enhanced WPA security capabilities and status alerts Repair your network and Internet connections to stay online and productive Control access to the Internet and track online activity with remote desktop screenshots

$29.95

Network Magic Essentials Perfect networking tool for beginners who need to do the basics Does the thought of setting up a network stress you out? Relax. Network Magic Essentials helps you easily share an Internet connection, printers and files with point-and-click ease. No technical experience is needed–just do-it-yourself: Print from any computer Share music, photos, and files between all the computers on your network Protect your network from intruders Repair connections and optimize your network's performance

If you have purchased a Linksys router recently you probably have an entry level version of these programs. It is a lovely program that provides detailed information about the devices on your network through auto-discovery. The program that comes with the Linksys router is called LELA (Linksys Easy-Link Advisor) and it has the same characteristics of the programs above.

The installation is very simple. Put your router in place in your network. Connect the WAN port to your broadband modem and your other devices to any of the other 4 ports on the switch. Place your installation disk in your computer and run the installation. That is pretty much it. It does request Net Framework 3.0, and will error if you don’t have that version installed. I’m running Win7 which is running 3.5 so it barked at me but seemed to work just the same. You will initially lose internet connectivity but it will bounce back right away…

The display looks like this: 

This is a picture of my network setup showing all the devices that are connected to my network, and how they are connected to each other. You can see the detail of each device and when you click on the drop down arrow you will see specific network data about the device.

I blurred the addressing for security reasons. The program allows you to change the security information, add computers and other devices, setup your wireless connections, show you summaries about the health and setup of the network, and get an easy to read network map showing all of the devices connected to the network and to your workstations. Cisco’s Network Manager gives just a little more control.

The setup is simple and the choices you make can be changed very easily after you have completed the installation.

Notice some of the extra benefits of Network Magic Essentials allow you more in depth control of your network. The program looks at the health and wellness of your systems on the network. One of the added benefits is that it tracks current antivirus and Microsoft update conditions and provides alerts to state of all of the machines on your network. If you look at the image below you will see by looking at the network map you can instantly see any alerts that appear for any systems on your network.

In the screen view above you will see that the PC labeled E8400W7U-MC has an alert while all the rest of the devices appear up to date. In this case there are three problems with this machine, the antivirus is out of date and not turned on, and there are critical Microsoft Updates that need to be installed. You can run the updates from this screen and get everything up to date.

Besides the map, you have a series of utilities for setting you machine up on the network including the wireless connection, drive-file sharing, control internet access, look at another system’s desktop and capture and image to see what that machine is being used for, and general reports on computer usage. Though these features are not extremely granular they will give you a simple method for managing you home network. You can put password control on the key management options to keep prying fingers off of the main control features.

The network history report shows you the network access for each of you listed devices to give you some ideas of how you are accessing the network.

If you have a dual screen monitor you can capture both screens even when they are of different sizes. Notice on the right side that you get a list of all the programs that are running on that machine as well. It will also list all of the previous screen shots that you have captured as well and allow you to click on them and review them from this screen.

You are limited to allowing internet access, not allowing access ever or at scheduled times. You don’t have web filtering control but you can deny a system from accessing the Internet. Team this up with a home set up of Astaro and you can have it all.