If you want a really good example of where a box like this would be needed, look no further than your local church. Traditional churches by nature are all non-profit organizations that operate on a very tight shoestring budget. Whatever technology is brought into the church must have good longevity to it because there’s simply no other purchase options. They can’t lease computer boxes. Whatever they get, they own, and it has to last a long time.

You could, if so desired, opt not to build but rather go with a brand name like Dell as they have new desktop PCs starting at $269. But maybe you’re in the situation where you have to deal with existing PCs because the budget simply won’t allow for the purchase of new computers. In this instance you have to refit them with new parts that will stand the test of time. That’s what this how-to covers.

The icons seen below are from Icon Archive. Be sure to check that place out for some truly good looking icons for Windows, Mac or Linux.

  Motherboard and CPU

It used to be that AMD was cheaper than Intel, but this is no longer the case. Were you to compare AMD vs. Intel in both motherboard and CPU prices, you’ll find they’re almost identical on the lower end of the cost spectrum.

When it comes to long-haul computing, the prevention of heat is a major consideration. Fortunately this is easy to take care of, because all you have to do is employ the use of a low-watt CPU. AMD has 45-watt offerings and Intel has 35-watt. Either is a good choice.

  RAM

With desktop memory the goal is to use the "slowest" possible sticks you can buy. Once again this is done to avoid heat. Use the bare minimum clock speed that the RAM banks will support, and put the maximum amount of RAM in the box it can support.

Also try, if possible, to use same-brand RAM. This will avoid any unforeseen issues with old RAM, as in some instances old sticks do not "play nice" with new ones. It is rare when this happens, but not out of the realm of possibility and you probably don’t have a RAM tester. (If you do have one however, use it.)

  Hard Drive

This step is simple, stick with 7200rpm hard disk drives. Were it a few years ago I would have recommended to use a 5400rpm (again, for less heat), but those offerings are now all but gone for standard 3.5-inch drives, and you’ll spend too much on a 5400rpm due to its rarity. The tried-and-true 7200rpm SATA of any media storage size works fine.

  Sound Card

Any. Doesn’t matter what you use as long as it works. You’ll most likely use the on-board sound from the motherboard anyway.

  Video Card

If the motherboard has a built-in video port, use it. Heat is avoided by doing this. If there isn’t any on-board video, what to use for a video card depends on the operating system. I’ll cover that in a moment.

  Optical drive

As long as the customer reviews for the optical drive you’re shopping for are favorable and it can play, read and burn CDs and DVDs, that’s all that matters.

  Case fans

This is the only part of the build where you absolutely cannot go low-cost. The case fans you use must be of premium grade, have good bearings and be as quiet as possible. Their only job in life is to cool, so don’t go cheap with these.

Here’s an example of a premium case fan. Yes, it’s almost $25 per fan. But it’s one of the best you can buy and totally worth the money.

I’m not saying you have to buy $25 case fans, but don’t go with the two-dollar cheap stuff. Do so and the PC’s life will end earlier.

  Operating System

If the box has a legal licensed copy of Windows XP or Vista, you’re all set. Continue to use it, continue to automatically download auto-updates as they are provided.

XP runs happily with 1GB of RAM and a 64MB video card. You can’t game on it, but you can do just about everything else.

The system requirements for Vista state it can get by on 1GB RAM, but as everybody knows it needs at least 2GB. The minimums also state that 128MB video is needed, but in reality 512MB suits it much better.

If the box has an illegal copy of XP or Vista, you need to either purchase a license of Windows 7 or switch to Linux – especially if the box you’re building is going to be used by somebody else. Why? Because somewhere along the line Windows will break without its needed updates eventually. And if you’re the one building a box for someone else, guess who gets the first phone call when somehow the end user magically turns on auto-updates and WGA disables Windows? That’s right, you do. Do you honestly want to deal with that?

The purchase of 7 is out of the question for most people because it blows the budget. You’d have to buy a full license of Windows 7 Home Premium, which costs just under $110. The "Starter" Edition of Windows 7 is only available to OEMs and not the general public unfortunately.

Linux’s strongest point is that it’s free. The flavor that’s the most suitable choice is the very recently released Ubuntu 9.10.

If you happen to be building/refitting a box for someone else, and that person only requires the basics of computing, you may want to consider Ubuntu Netbook Remix instead. It’s designed for netbooks, but has superior performance on low-end computer boxes. It also helps that the 9.10 UNR interface is super-friendly to use.

One of the few things that may prove to be a roadblock with UNR is printing. This is not Ubuntu’s fault, but rather the fact that most printers only come provided with proprietary Windows and Mac control software.

Check printer compatibility here for Ubuntu. It’s well worth the time to take a few minutes to read that over for your specific printer. Yours should be there as the lists are extensive. You know you’re in good shape if your printer is listed as both supported and working.

  Mouse

At least mid-grade quality, not wireless and manufactured by Microsoft or Logitech.

  Keyboard

Same requirements as the mouse.

  Monitor

You’ll most likely be using the existing monitor. If buying another, don’t buy used. Buy new.

The price for a new low-cost LCD monitor off the shelf will be between $125 and $175.

If you opt to buy online, specifically seek out the ones with free shipping, else you’ll pay the same price as you would off the shelf for the same thing.

As for the size, don’t buy anything under 18 inches. It’s simply not worth it.

  Software

In a basic sense, your computer must be able to:

• Browse the web
• Have the ability to use instant messaging easily
• Compose documents and spreadsheets and be able to share those documents easily
• Be able to import images from a digital camera easily
• Be able to edit images on a basic level easily
• Print
• Be able to burn CDs and DVDs
• Play DVD video
• Have sufficient protection against spyware, malware and viruses

Here’s each point covered one by one. I’m listing very specific choices that don’t require any additional software unless absolutely necessary. The less software installed, the better off the overall installation is.

Browse the web

Windows: Internet Explorer
Ubuntu: Firefox

Instant messaging

Windows: Windows Live Messenger
Ubuntu: Pidgin

Documents and Spreadsheets

Windows: OpenOffice
Ubuntu: OpenOffice

Digital Camera image import / Basic photo editing

Windows: Windows Live Photo Gallery
Ubuntu: F-Spot

Printing

Windows: Use provided printer control software CD or download from printer OEM’s web site
Ubuntu: Depends if the printer is supported or not by the OS (see above)

Burning CDs and DVDs

Windows, Data/Backup: Built-in to the OS natively, drag/drop
Windows, Music: Windows Media Player

Ubuntu, Data/Backup: Built-in to the OS natively, drag/drop
Ubuntu, Music: Brasero (included with OS)

Play DVD Video

Windows XP: Not included with DVD video codecs on fresh XP install. Codec must be provided by purchased player software such as WinDVD or CyberDVD.

Windows Vista/7: Codecs included, uses Windows Media Player to play DVDs.

Ubuntu: Codecs included, uses Totem to play DVDs.

Virus, spyware and malware protection

Windows: Microsoft Security Essentials or any other number of free protection suites.

Ubuntu: Generally speaking, not required because of the way Linux is designed. But if you feel you need it, there’s documentation aplenty on it.

  Placement

If you have the option, place the PC on the desk and not on the floor. As you know, computers are dirt magnets. This not only makes the computer box easier to clean but also keeps it away from dust and dirt that collects on the floor that the case fans would otherwise suck inside the box.

  Performance notes and other tips

The only time you’ll experience true slowdowns is on web pages with heavy Flash use. Then again, Flash will bring any web browser to its knees if you throw enough of that content at it even on the fastest of computers.

It is better if the PC has wired instead of wireless networking as it will speed things up quite a bit concerning internet usage. It’s not that wireless won’t work, but you want to give any speed advantage you can, so if you have the option, use wired internet connectivity.

Automate everything you possibly can. For example, if using a Windows OS you could use Defraggler to schedule drive defragmenting easily.

If you can, clone the drive once everything is installed, so if something busts on a major level, you’ve got a "vanilla" copy ready to be imaged back if the need arises.

Try (or instruct whoever is getting the PC) to get in the habit of "living in the browser." Keep installed apps to a minimum. The less apps there are, the less likely something will break on the software side and in many cases the speedier the OS will run, regardless of what OS it is. The best way to do this is to stay in the browser as much as possible.

For every app you download and install, save that to USB stick or CD/DVD. It’s also smart to perform a software inventory periodically just in case you have to reinstall the OS for whatever reason.

For any hardware you installed that has a warranty, put all the paperwork in an envelope and physically tape it to the side or top of the case. It’s not pretty, but you’ll never lose the info, should you need it.

Final notes

The best way to treat an older computer is to configure it like a kiosk would be. A kiosk by nature is set up to be simple and efficient. If you use Ubuntu Netbook Remix, this is very much how your computer will act, and that’s not a bad thing. You can do the same with Windows by hiding the taskbar, avoiding the Start menu when possible and placing the icons for the apps you regularly use on the desktop.

If you approach computing this way with an older refitted PC box and build it as outlined above, it should easily last 5 or more years.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Long Haul Low-Cost PC "Refit" How-To

Concerning the hardware, it is any PC over 5 years old. Any PC in the workplace over 5 years old is obviously owned by the company as no OEM would dare lease computer boxes for over that length of time, due to the fact the liability is too great.

Concerning the software, it is any OS that is not supported directly by the OEM any longer, with the keyword being directly. It also counts for any apps/programs used that are no longer supported.

When you put the above two together, you’ve got yourself an ancient crappy PC. This is the computer that literally takes 5 minutes or longer to boot due not only to the crappiness of the PC itself but also the network it connects to. Doing anything on this computer is an exercise in patience, and a whole lot of patience at that.

Many who have to deal with computers like this in the workplace often wonder, "Doesn’t this slow down productivity by having to wait for the stupid computer to do things all the time? Wouldn’t it be worth the cost to at least upgrade the PCs being they’re so cheap these days?"

These are legitimate valid concerns. But there are reasons why these oh-so craptastic computer boxes stay around:

1. Nobody is complaining.

When nobody complains as to how slow the computers are, upper management thinks everything is A-OK and that nothing needs to be done.

Why is it more people don’t complain? The answer is simple: They don’t want to lose their jobs by being labeled as a complainer.

2. The department (supposedly) has no budget for new computers.

You will notice certain departments (usually Finance, Sales and, of course, Marketing) always seem to get nice fast newer computers while you’re left to suffer with junk. This is because the department has no money for PCs, either for real or fabricated reasons.

If you’re wondering what a fabricated reason is for "we have no money for new computers," all you have to do is look around your department to see if there are any new/shiny things around that serve no legitimate business purpose for what your dept. does – such as your boss outfitting his or her office with all brand-new expensive furniture that absolutely wasn’t needed. Now you know where the money went.

3. It’s a "home grown" app made by somebody who doesn’t work there anymore.

You may have this specific program at work that makes you grit your teeth every time you have to use it. Is it so old that you’re surprised your computer doesn’t gag and wheeze every time you run it. This app crashes constantly and no matter how often you complain, nobody is able to fix it.

"Home grown" programs you use made by employees of the company who coded it in-house (meaning in-company) originally. But those employees are long gone. They either quit or retired long ago and there is nobody left to support these dinosaurs any longer. Not only that, but nobody wants to put the time, effort, or spend the money to convert these dinosaurs over to newer, more efficient and moreover supported systems.

On top of all that, this is also part of the reason the company refuses to upgrade anybody’s desktop OS because they have absolutely no clue whether that home grown app will work on XP, never mind Windows 7!

There is unfortunately nothing you can do about this except hope for a major system crash server-side that forces the company to fix it.

4. Prevention of in-office political bickering.

This is when departments refuse to upgrade anything just to keep people from yelling at each other.

"Well, John got a new computer. Why can’t I?"

You can see how this would turn into a bicker-fest in short order. If John gets a new PC, then Bob has to get one. When Debbie see that, she wants one. And so does Alice. And Tom. And so on.

There are times more often than not when upgrades don’t happen just to keep the peace. Personally I think this is a rather stupid thing to do, because there’s no excuse considering how utterly cheap new boxes are these days. Yes, it does cost time to set them up and "vanilla" them, but c’mon.. just get new boxes and be done with it already.

5. Slowness of computers allows those in charge to be lazy.

There are department heads who are very happy to keep things just as they are, slowness and all – even if they do have the budget for new PCs. This is so they can take two-hour lunches and simply not worry about it since there’s no way anybody would be finished with whatever it is they’re doing by the time he or she comes back.

See, the deal is that a boss really doesn’t want to hear how you could be more productive with a new computer. But if a new computer allowed the boss to do less work and be even more lazy, then you’ll probably have a new PC on your desk next week! Sad but true.

Do you have slow crappy computers in your school or office?

I’m betting you do. Tell us your tales of woe.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

5 Reasons Why Biz Continues To Run Ancient Crappy PCs

There are some people who believe refurbished and used mean the same thing. This is incorrect; there are several differences.

Difference 1: Warranty

All refurbished items come with a warranty. Some used items come with one but most don’t.

Difference 2: Physical condition

Refurbished items are supposed to look exactly like a new item and do most of the time. This usually involves the replacement of things, such as the chassis, faceplates, buttons/knobs, and so on. A used item has had nothing changed on it. It is the same as when it was new, worn and all.

Difference 3: Vendor

It is rare that an OEM will sell anything used. The closest match to this is "off-lease," meaning a corporate customer leased a ton of the whatever-it-is from the OEM, sent them back when the lease expired and then the OEM resells the items. But even this is a rare instance these days because if the items are too old (and therefore cannot be supported directly,) the OEM won’t bother reselling them and instead find other means of liquidating that inventory.

Third-party vendors will sell used items, do so routinely and at times label these items as refurbished when in fact they’re not.

The general rule of thumb is that if you purchase a refurb item direct from an OEM or a large third-party vendor (like NewEgg or TigerDirect,) it is truly refurbished. With smaller vendors you get used. This is especially true if a vendor is selling something labeled as refurbished but there is no warranty and/or is stated to be sold as-is.

Difference 4: Age of item

As noted in #3 above, if there is something in the inventory that is simply too old for an OEM to support, they will find a way to liquidate the inventory otherwise.

If a particular item is still available from the OEM as new, you will find legitimate refurbished versions of it, warranty and all.

If on the other hand the item is discontinued and isn’t available as new any longer, what you will usually find are used versions of that item with no warranty.

The easiest way to check if something is discontinued or not is to go to the OEM’s web site. If you see the item still sold as new, it’s obviously not discontinued. But if it’s not there, it is. Some OEMs are nice enough to tell you this information up front and give you a complete list of what’s discontinued (like Garmin for example.) Others however don’t do this, so you’ll have to go look item-by-item and see for yourself.

Special note on this: There is a period of time right after an item is discontinued where it "rides the fence" for a few months and can still be supported by the OEM, but after that it goes into used-only territory. This all depends on how the OEM handles discontinued product support for newly discontinued items.

Difference 5: Support

This directly relates to #3 and #4 above. Current-model items from the OEM are supported and therefore are available as refurbs. These refurb items have support, so if there’s any issue with it you can call the OEM for help.

Used items have third-party-only support or no support at all. Once you buy it, you’re on your own.

Are refurb items better now compared to before?

Yes. When refurbished items first appeared years ago they were admittedly pretty crappy. This soured a lot of people on the idea of buying anything other than new.

Today the OEMs understand that there is legitimate profit to be made by selling refurbished items. As such, refurb now is a whole lot better compared to yesteryear. These items are good enough to where you get the exact same warranty as you would new. This shows confidence in the refurbished product by the OEM and proves that yes, it will work.

I do recommend people to go refurb instead of new. If the refurbished item has all the features you want, comes with everything the same new product would and is supported by the OEM (which it is,) you can buy with confidence.

Obviously you should exercise common sense when shopping refurbished, because some items are still better new than refurb or "recertified" (I wouldn’t buy a recertified hard drive,) but most of the time the refurb items you buy will serve you just as well as new would.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

5 Differences Between Used And Refurbished

I’m the type of person that likes having the latest up-to-date firmware for whatever electronic device I use. But over the years I’ve had to train myself not to update if there isn’t any issue present with the way the device works.

Example: In one instance a few years ago I somewhat busted a CD/DVD drive I had because I updated the firmware. I found there was an update for the device, so I downloaded and applied it. After that the drive wouldn’t burn discs any longer. It would read them but not write no matter what brand of disc I used. It turned my DVD-R/W into a DVD-ROM. I tried applying a previous version of the firmware, but that didn’t work, so I had to junk it. $40 in the toilet. Lesson learned.

The only reason I bothered to update the firmware in that particular device is because it was available. Nothing was wrong with it, I didn’t need to do it, but did anyway.

Firmware updates for any electronic device serve two primary purposes. First, the update fixes a problem with the way the device works and/or second, the update adds in new features that weren’t there before.

If you spot a firmware update for whatever electronic device you use, but are not encountering any problems nor are there any features added in with the update, don’t apply it. If you do, chances are likely it will do more harm than good and in worst case scenario makes the device unusable.

As said above, I had to train myself not to apply firmware updates when I didn’t need them. I would look at the firmware version for my digital camera and it would be at 2.5a. But wait, now there’s 2.5b! My mind says, "I should really get this," but then common sense kicks in. "Hang on. There’s nothing wrong with my camera. And this update doesn’t add in anything I didn’t have before. No, I won’t do it." So I don’t.

This can be a temptation that’s tough to resist. After all, you want all your electronic stuff to have current software. Psychologically, having an old firmware version puts the message of, "I’m missing out on something" in your head. Trust me when I say that the vast majority of the time you’re not missing anything.

Whenever you see a firmware update for whatever electronic device you’re using, always read the release notes thoroughly. This documentation is always provided and is usually on the same page where the download is, or as a PDF or some other web page describing what’s in that particular version. If you see nothing in there that fixes anything or adds in features, don’t apply it, because having an update applied that breaks your stuff will ruin your day real quick. Every time it happens it’s money wasted that you have to spend all over again.

Have you ever had a firmware update go horribly wrong?

Let us know by commenting below.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

When Should You Update Your Firmware?

In the beginning…

(Note before continuing: I’m concentrating on late 1990s-to-present tech. Obviously what’s listed below doesn’t cover things like the GRiD Compass.)

We had these absolutely huge unwieldy docking stations, like this:

The laptop went into that huge slot you see above. A monitor would be placed on top of the station. You would attach your keyboard and mouse into ports in the back.

Rarely did home users use this because it was ridiculously expensive and furthermore didn’t work half the time. The infamous Windows "docked" and "undocked" modes would wreak havoc with the OS; the hot-swap introduced later on was lukewarm at best. Oh, you didn’t know? Most of these were cold-swap. You couldn’t just yank the laptop out whenever you wanted. You had to shut down before doing it.

Worst of all, it was bigger and slower than a standard desktop PC.

After that…

The computer industry wised up and realized those beasty docking stations had to go. What came after that was the docking bay.

It wasn’t all too much different than the station, but this was a step in the right direction. Even so, it was still just a weird bit of technology. Some allowed the laptop LCD screen to be used while others had a detachable "bench" that sat on top in predefined indentations or holes. This was used when the laptop lid was closed, docked, the bench placed over the laptop, and a monitor sitting on top of that.

The problem here is that it didn’t serve any advantage over simply plugging in your laptop while on the desk. Network connectivity could easily be had with a 3Com PCMCIA card with RJ-45 dongle, so there was literally no point to this putty or charcoal-colored monstrosity.

If you ever asked an LAN Administrator, "Um.. why is this thing necessary?", the answer would always be, "Because the VP of Sales wanted one", because he or she knew there was absolutely no real reason to have it. Gotta spend that budget somehow, right?

And yes this had the same clunky operation with Windows docked/undocked modes.

It goes smaller but is still bulky..

Realizing the docking bay was still too frickin’ big, then came the port replicator.

This was the smallest of the breed. It does exactly what its name suggests; it replicates ports. You click in your laptop, open up the screen and use as you would normally with attached keyboard and mouse plugged into the side or back of the replicator.

This is yet another one of those, "What’s the point of this thing?" bits of tech.

Port replicators are still in use today; they never went away.

In the present..

This is the modern version of a laptop dock:

Example setup:

Here’s another:

The only people interested in these things are corporate users. Home users know better than to use a setup like this because you really don’t get your money’s worth unless you buy docking setups used (some of which can be had at fire sale prices.)

If you are so inclined to purchase a setup like the above, shop any OEM manufacturer’s (such as Dell) "business" section and you’ll see them. Will you want to buy? Probably not after you see the price tag.

A cost-effective home user’s way to use a laptop as a desktop

Any laptop can be used to serve as a desktop – even a netbook. And you can do so without any of that docked/undocked Windows crapola.

What you will need is the following:

1. A ventilated laptop stand.

Your laptop will most likely spend most of its time plugged in and in heavy use. As such she’ll get hot under the collar real quick. There are many stands to choose from. Shop carefully, smartly and always read the customer reviews.

It is absolutely worth it to spend a few extra bucks on a stand that will do the job properly.

It is not recommended to run your laptop as a desktop unventilated because it will decrease the life span of your laptop – particularly with the hard drive.

Tip: Don’t run your laptop without the battery just to decrease heat while the unit is in use. This may render your battery useless in less than a year. You must keep it in the laptop in order to maximize its life span.

2. A USB hub.

You may or may not need this as the stand may have some port replicator options on it. But if it doesn’t, you’ll need your ports in a convenient place and that’s where the hub comes in. You should buy a dedicated small hub for your external keyboard, mouse and other things like USB sticks, external drives and so on.

Using a dedicated hub is convenient as well because you never have to unplug the keyboard or mouse when you take the laptop off its stand, should you decide to bring the laptop elsewhere.

Tip: If you have the option, plug the hub into the port on the laptop that is furthest away from its hottest spot when running. You’ll know this by touch.

3. An understanding of how to use presentation settings in your operating system.

This varies from laptop to laptop. It is usually accessible via a function key in combination with Fn, such as Fn+F1 or Fn+F7. One of the function keys on your laptop will have a small label of a monitor. That in combination with Fn will allow you to switch between the laptop screen and the connected monitor, similar to ALT+TAB’ing between apps, except that you’re switching monitor settings.

For Windows XP users: You have the choice between using the laptop screen, connected monitor screen, or both activated at once (called "duplicate" mode) using the lowest native resolution of the two monitors (but not as a monitor extension as far as I’m aware – although I could be wrong there).

For Windows 7 (and maybe Vista) users: Use Presentation Settings via Win+P (as in "Windows flag" key + P):

With this you can use a secondary as an extension of the primary, keeping the native resolution on both screens. Very cool, very useful. I do not know if this exists in XP as I no longer run that as my primary OS. If anybody out there with XP wants to test this, feel free and post a comment.

4. An understanding of controlling what the lid does.

This is done on a software level. In Windows 7 it looks like this:

This is available in Power Options via Control Panel in Windows and has basically been the same ever since Windows 95. Some of you will probably want to run your laptop with the screen lid closed when using as a desktop connected to an external monitor. If that’s your goal, what you don’t want to happen is the laptop "hibernating", "sleeping" or shutting down when you shut the lid. What you do want is the "plugged in" or "on AC power" setting to be "Do nothing."

Remember to only change this for "plugged in" and not "on battery."

5. (Optional) An external USB optical drive.

You may not need this as your laptop may have one of these already installed. But even if it does, I suggest getting one anyway because you can place it much closer to you via your USB hub, and furthermore will keep any extra heat out of your laptop from optical drive use.

6. USB keyboard and USB mouse.

You’ll obviously need these for "true" laptop-as-desktop use. These can plug in directly into your USB hub.

Quick question answered: Is it a problem to use both the laptop and desktop keyboard and/or mouse and the same time? No. Windows will activate both of them. If you want to switch between them, that’s fine. You won’t have to enable/disable anything to do that.

Drawbacks using laptop-as-desktop

1. Limited video memory.

Your laptop most likely uses shared memory for video and does not have a dedicated graphics card. In addition, the external monitor you use probably has a higher native resolution than your laptop LCD screen does. This means your laptop will have to "work harder" to render video on a higher resolution.

In plain English: Choppy/stuttering video may occur from time to time. As long as you’re aware of this, then you’re fine. You’ll notice this most with Flash video (of course).

2. Slower

Laptops are by nature slower than desktops because they house mobile processors, slower RPM hard drives (5400 compared to 7200), and are designed to emit the least heat possible so they don’t literally burn up.

You will notice the slowness most when you have a lot of programs open. Psychologically you will be fooled into thinking, "this is a regular desktop" because you have a regular monitor, keyboard and mouse in front of you. It’s not. It’s a laptop. You know this is true, but it’s easy to forget. Remember what you’re using and what it was designed for.

3. Potentially unplugging a bunch of stuff every time you have to go mobile.

The best possible situation with a laptop-as-desktop setup is to only unplug three things when going mobile, that being your USB hub, monitor connector and power cord. You have a spare AC adapter in your laptop bag, so you don’t need to unplug that from the wall – and then off you go.

However most people don’t have a spare AC adapter as they are expensive (usually at least $50). And some of you won’t use a USB hub. This means every time you want to go mobile, you have to unplug all the USB stuff, disconnect the power cord, unplug that from the wall or power strip, wrap up the power cord cable, chuck it in the laptop bag, etc. You get the idea. It can turn into a tangled mess in short order. And you’ll have to do it all over again when you want to use the laptop as a desktop again.

Using a laptop as a desktop will require you to spend a few bucks to do it right, make no mistake.

Advantages of using a laptop as a desktop

1. Quiet.

Nobody likes a loud desktop PC. Laptops are built to be quiet. And most modern laptops (with the exception of gamer laptop rigs like Alienware) are whisper quiet. The only thing you want to hear is the click-clacking of your keyboard and clicky-clicky’s of your mouse. With a laptop, that’s what you get.

2. You are not chained to your desk.

You are using a portable medium, so whenever the mood strikes you, go mobile. Everything will go with you in a usable compact form.

3. Eliminates bulk, and a lot of it.

If you took a brand new $300 Dell mini netbook and outfitted it as outlined above, you’ve got a super-small way of computing that can more or less do everything save for high-def video editing and gaming. It is the ultra-compact setup that completely eliminates the traditional PC tower. Is it as good as a tower? Obviously not. But it does do the job surprisingly well for what it’s capable of.

By attaching a regular-sized monitor and traditional keyboard and mouse, it feels just like a regular desktop computer when using it, save for the hardware limitations as noted above.

Do you (or have you) run a laptop as a desktop?

If so, does it work for you? Did you feel it was a good decision? What recommendations (and/or warnings) would you give about computing in this fashion?

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Can You Use A Laptop As A Desktop?

On the computing front, many refer to Chinese-made computers as "those Foxconn-made pieces of sh*t".

The Mac mini, Macbook Air, Macbook, iMac and Macbook Pro are all manufactured in China. For those who have ever ordered one of the aforementioned direct from the Apple Store and had it shipped to you, you’ll notice the shipping process starts (the last I knew) from Shanghai.

The Dell mini 10v I just bought has a MADE IN CHINA sticker slapped on the back of it. Other Dell models follow suit.

It is totally possible (and this is a guess) that Dell and Apple PCs/laptops are manufactured right in the same city – and possibly even the same buildings.

Still think Apple-branded computers are better than Dell-branded now?

As to why so much of our computer stuff is made there, the answer is simple: Cost. It costs less to have electronics made there than in a Western nation (and yes, this also leads to serious e-waste problems in China).

The question however is this: Is a Chinese-manufactured computer "bad"? No, because it all boils down to design and manufacturing processes.

If a laptop has a bad design that’s been finalized and sent to production, the end result will be a crappy product no matter where it’s made.

Example 1: The Macbook (not the Macbook Pro). It is commonly called a Crackbook. Why? Because of a design flaw in the palm rest that literally causes the unit to crack even when just sitting there neatly on a table with it running – even if was never dropped, never abused, etc.

(Side note: Apple still sells this same model with the same design flaw. It can be fixed under warranty, but if your warranty runs out, you’re screwed.)

Example 2: The exploding batteries in Dell laptops that happened a few years ago which prompted a massive recall. It wasn’t the laptop that was the problem here, but guess where the battery was made?

Even with these examples, I don’t deem a product "bad" based on where it was made. I have owned several Chinese-made electronics products over the years. One company which I know has a major manufacturing plant in China that is Behringer – and I like Behringer products. A lot. That’s because they manufacture solid well-designed stuff.

If you’re going to blame anybody for poor quality computer stuff, blame the brand (like Apple, Dell and/or Foxconn). They don’t need to move their manufacturing facilities elsewhere, they just need to more thought into design for better electronics products.

What do you think?

Does the country of origin concerning where your computer stuff was made affect your purchasing decision?

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Made In China = Bad?

1. Use Google Chrome

Those who know my browser preferences find this a bit of a shock being that I’m a diehard Firefox user, because I’ve made it no secret that I can’t stand the Chrome web browser.

On a netbook however it’s a totally different story.

Chrome gives you the most usable space for your monitor with the least amount of memory munching. Being that you’re only dealing with a 1024×576 (or 600) screen, space is at a premium. Granted, you can F11 it for full screen with other browsers, but it’s better if you see your menus and tabs. Chrome allows you to do this easily.

If you’re using Firefox the tabs will munch up vertical pixels easily, and so will IE 8. Chrome gives the most vertical space because the status appears as a bar that fades in but isn’t locked – and that’s good. And when you open up new tabs, no extra vertical space is taken up either.

It’s the best browser to use on a netbook, period. And coming from me, that’s saying a lot.

2. Spend quality time with your mouse configuration program.

No matter what model of netbook you use, you will probably hate the touchpad. And I mean really hate it. That’s okay because most people do. The netbook format at this point hasn’t exact found the happy medium for a mouse design, so to speak.

Side note: I do know the perfect design for a netbook’s touchpad – no touchpad. It should be the rubber eraser-tip style thing Thinkpads have. This would work perfectly on the netbook format. Yes, you lose your mouse gestures but I’d happily give them up for the mid-point joystick and two tactile buttons below the keyboard.

Fortunately on the Dell mini 10v and all other netbooks, you can control every single thing it does. It even has sensitivity recognition, so not only does it detect touch (obviously), but also how hard or soft you touch.

It is required for you to sit with this and spend a good amount of time tweaking the settings. There is no fast n’ easy way around it. Fortunately once done, it’s done and you don’t have to do it again.

Or if you still hate it, spring for a laptop mini-mouse.

3. Spend quality time with your monitor settings.

Like with the touchpad, this will take time to set correctly as well. In my situation, the screen was just too bright and too blue. And this wasn’t fixed by putting the brightness setting down a few notches. I had to manually go into the config program for the colors/brightness and set it that way. Once I did, I said to myself, “Okay, that’s the way it’s supposed to look.”

The Dell mini 10v in particular has a really, really bright screen. This is a good feature, but it’s set to FULL-ON BRIGHT out of the box.

4. Know your keyboard.

On more or less all netbooks, certain keys on the keyboard do double duty. On the mini 10v this is seen in the function and arrow keys. This is a non-standard layout, and you won’t take it to like a fish to water. For example, I use PgUp and PgDn a lot – but these are on the arrow keys whereas I have to do Fn+Up to page up and Fn-Down to page down. Being that I’m a keystroke freak, this takes time to get used to.

It should also be noted that most netbooks do not have the faux number pad, that being where the right-side keys serve as number keys when Fn is pressed.

5. Purposely seek out lightweight apps.

Instead of using AIM, use AIM Lite.

Instead of using WinZIP, use 7Zip.

Consider using AbiWord instead of OpenOffice Writer or Microsoft Word.

It’s not that the “heavy” apps won’t work on a netbook as they’ll work fine. But whenever you can use less processing power, the better because it increases battery life and they obviously run faster.

6. Purposely seek out apps that can be installed with no media required.

This means to use apps that can be downloaded and installed rather than something that requires a CD/DVD installation method. You could get around this by purchasing a 50-dollar USB external optical drive or creating ISOs and virtually mounting disks within XP, but that’s a pain to do. You’re better off if you use apps that can be downloaded. Sourceforge will be your best friend here.

7. Spring for the 6-cell battery.

This screen shot speaks for itself:

This is not Windows XP making a mistake as to how long the battery will last for. It literally will run for over 5 hours on a single charge. And that’s with wi-fi enabled! You can easily get 6 if you decrease the screen brightness a few notches and disable wi-fi when you don’t need it.

8. Know your wi-fi hotspots.

Most people don’t bother taking their laptops with them to open wi-fi hotspots because the laptop is too big, too heavy and barely holds a charge over 2 hours and 30 minutes. The netbook gives you over 5 hours with a 6-cell battery and it’s under 3 pounds, so yeah, you’ll want to hit more wi-fi spots.

How to find them? There’s two ways:

First way: OpenWiFiSpots

Punch in your ZIP code and you’ll see the closest wi-fi spots near you.

Second way: Searching for “wifi” in Google Earth.

Use the Google Earth software and position the map close to where you live, then search for “wifi”. Both business and user-contributed wi-fi listings will appear.

Obviously both ways are dependent on where you live. If you live in a more metro area, you’ll find more spots. For example, the metro downtown area of Tampa Florida has an entire area covered for wi-fi called the S.U.R.F. Zone.

9. Get familiar with netbook specific resources for your model.

Each netbook offering has at least one independent web site that is dedicated to what you use. The Dell Inspiron mini for example has www.ubuntumini.com. If you wanted to know everything and anything about Ubuntu on the Dell mini, well, there you go. No matter which make/model you decide to go with, chances are there’s a world of informational resource available to you outside of the company’s web site who manufactured it.

This happens because there’s almost a cult-like following for netbook computers. Except this is a really good type of cult.

10. Know your operating system choices.

The most popular OS on netbooks right now is Windows XP. However Ubuntu does have a “Netbook Remix” version of their own OS. The best part? You can install the whole thing to a single 1GB USB stick and test it out if you like. I’ve done so on my Dell mini 10v and yeah, it runs great.

You can expect other Linux flavors to offer “remix” versions of their own distributions in the near future.

Side note: You’d be surprised how much faster a netbook remix version runs compared to the ‘full’ version of a Linux distribution. If you have an older laptop, you may want to check it out.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

10 Things You Must Do To Get Along With A Netbook

A few years back a device called The Mosquito was introduced specifically to solve teen loitering problems in front of stores. It emitted the 17.4 kHz tone that could be heard from about 140 feet (43 meters) away, and sure enough it worked great.

The device was so successful it won a Nobel Prize.

I know what you’re thinking. "I want to hear this tone." No problem. You can download samples of the sounds here. Just scroll down and check it out for yourself. MP3 and WAV versions available. There are also other tones to test how much you can still hear. I suggest starting with the 8 kHz and go from there.

Remember: Keep the volume low when listening to these. These tones (even the 8 kHz one) will make you say, "WOW, that’s annoying.."

To those of the do-it-yourself vein that would like to make a "teen repellent" of your own, you could use the tone, burn it to a CD and play it using a portable "boom box" with the track repeated. However there are a few immediate problems.

First, anyone under 25 can hear it – including small children.

Second, if you have pets, it may drive them nuts. It may also drive other animals away.

Third, some adults over 25 can still hear the sound.

If you want to use it, do so with caution.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

The Mosquito Tone [How It Works]

You’ve probably heard that keyloggers are a bad thing. It is when used for illegal purposes, such as having a keylogger app installed without your knowledge via spyware. But it’s not a bad thing when you are the one who installed it to keep track of what people are doing when using your computer. For example, if you’re a parent who thinks your child is doing not-so-good things on the internet, you’ll be able to find out what’s been going on with a keylogger.

If you decide to use one, you can opt to use hardware or software.

Hardware

Above is a hardware keylogger from ThinkGeek. It connects directly to the keyboard connector, can be hidden easily and holds up to 128k of data. While that may not sound like much, bear in mind it’s all text so it is actually quite a bit. Additional features include password protection and keyword searching.

The only real drawback is that it is, as you can see, a PS/2 connector and not USB. However that can be easily remedied with an adapter should you use USB.

Cost is $59.99

There are other hardware-based keyloggers out there on the internet, just do a search for them and they’ll show up.

Software

You need not look any further than SourceForge to find freely available keylogging applications for Windows and Linux.

Best Free Keylogger, a.k.a. BFK, is one of the better ones.

Bear in mind you do have to set up appropriate permissions for this app, and if you use existing spyware/malware security software it may identify this app as "dangerous". Obviously it isn’t, so if you see the warning(s), give the app the appropriate security "pass".

Which is better, hardware or software?

Hardware is the better of the two because it’s not an app you can simply disable as it requires no software. The only way to disable the hardware is to literally unplug it.

Will either slow down my computer?

No. Either will run in the background seamlessly.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Hardware vs. Software Keyloggers

Before covering the topic of how likely you are for wi-fi theft, I’ll first say that wi-fi security has never been that good. If one is desperate enough to steal your signal, there’s always a way. After all, anything that is transmitted can be intercepted. And as far as cracking the password is concerned, it truly is not that difficult given the right tools.

The best way to protect yourself from wi-fi theft is to:

1. Know your wireless router’s admin program thoroughly.
2. Take steps to be less of a target.

Know your wireless router’s admin program thoroughly

Login to your admin program via the web browser for your router and go thru every setting so you get familiarized with what you can do in there. Then follow the steps below.

Remember that for every wireless router manufactured there is a downloadable PDF manual for it (as far as I know) if you lost your printed copy. Perform a Google search for your make/model of router with the word "manual" in the search term and you should be able to locate the PDF version easily.

Taking steps to be less of a target

Use WPA2 if available with a long password

The WPA2 access password can be up to 63 characters long. If you use a long password with mixed case letters, numbers, spaces and symbols, it will be very difficult to "brute force" the password out of it.

Limit connectivity to specific MAC address(es)

This is usually labeled as MAC Address Filtering within the admin program. Every modern network card has a MAC (Media Access Control) address. If you limit allowed clients to specific MAC addresses, this greatly decreases the chance of wi-fi theft.

Most wireless router admin programs allow you to directly copy the MAC address from the connected PC into the allowed client list, so there’s usually no copy/paste involved.

Note: If you use virtual PCs, they have virtual MAC addresses that the router considers real. If setting up MAC address filtering, include your virtual machines as well.

Additional note: MAC addresses can be spoofed. But someone would have to specifically know one of the allowed MAC addresses in your wi-fi network and apply it to their computer in order to break in.

Limit number of connections

If you have three computers in your house and only allow for three assigned IP addresses via the router, the only way another system can get in there is to kick one off the network first.

Once again, be mindful of virtual PCs if you use them, because they use literal IPs (if network enabled); each counts as a separate unique network connection as far as the router is concerned. If you have three real PCs and two virtual ones that are network enabled, you will need to have your router be able to assign 5 IP addresses.

Do not allow remote administration

All wireless routers to the best of my knowledge come with this feature disabled by default, so you shouldn’t have to worry about it.

Other questions answered

Does IP Lease Time affect security at all?

No. My only suggestion would have the Lease Time not set to "forever", especially if you have people in and out of your house using the wi-fi routinely. This is done strictly for convenience’s sake. Some of you out there may prefer to have IPs cleared from the DHCP list, especially for temporary assignments (such as a friend visiting and using his or her wi-fi enabled laptop).

Does disabling the broadcasting of the SSID help?

It does offer a little bit of extra security, but MAC address filtering is much more effective.

Will periodically changing my SSID deter break-ins to my wireless network?

Not really, because all that has to be done is a re-scan of the available networks.

I do, however, suggest a non-generic name to make you less attractive as a target. For example, many people have Linksys routers simply labeled as "linksys". This literally announces, "I never changed this setting in my router", and that’s not good.

At least with a custom name, whoever is trying to break into a wi-fi network will target the "easy looking" ones first, and that includes SSID names like "linksys", "belkin" and the like.

Final notes

Taking action to be less of a target is your best defense against a wi-fi break-in.

Of course, the best defense is simply shutting the router off when not in use. This may be inconvenient, but nobody can break into your network via wireless if the router is off.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

How Likely Are You For Wi-Fi Theft?