Twin Pines Technologies

Are you running Internet Explorer 8? If you have Windows Updates turned on, chances are yes.  Well, I have a fun treat for you. Web Slices!

IE8 has the capability to add “Web Slices” to its interface. When you install a Web Slice, it creates a link on your favorites bar that you can click on and see specific updates from a website without going there. Facebook is a perfect example. Here’s a sample image showing what the webslice can do:

Picture of the facebook webslice

Where can you get webslices? Some websites will have the green webslice logo on them (similar idea to the RSS feed logo, but green instead), however, the easiest place is http://www.ieaddons.com/en/webslices/

I have received several questions about whether or not moving business and/or personal data and applications to the cloud is a good idea. Well, it is a tough choice. On one hand, going to the cloud promises monetary savings. However, on the other hand, you no longer have complete control of your data and there are security risks.

The ultimate answer has to be based on your risk tolerance. For a business with lots of propriatary data or customer financial data, I recommend against cloud services. For a home user that just needs to write the occasional word document, cloud services may be fine. I have found a document that describes the risks involved with moving to could based data storage and applications. Here’s the link. This document lists several risk points and explains how they apply to businesses.

For online backups, another item to consider is recovery process. How long will it take to download or retrieve all of your stored data. You need to look at how much data you actually generate and then think about how long it would take to retrieve all of that data in one shot. Also, talk to prospective online data backup vendors to find out what their retrieval policies are. There are several that charge for the creation of DVDs and the cost to ship them.

Yes, that’s right…the calculator in Windows 7 has been upgraded!

when you use the Windows 7 calculator, simply go to the “View” menu. You will see that the new and improved calculator has several modes and add-ons. You can use the calculator in Standard, Scientific, Programmer, or Statistics mode. That’s not all…Microsoft added several other features including a Unit Conversion, Date Calculation, and several worksheets that include Mortgage, Vehicle Lease, and Fuel Economy calculations.

Here’s the direct link to Microsoft’s website on how to use the calculator: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Using-Calculator

Just another reason (albeit a small, but very useful one) to upgrade to Windows 7! Stop in to the store to see our demo system and see all  of the new features of Windows 7 today!

Introduced in Windows 7 are many new features. One that I have found very useful in everyday operation is the Aero Snap.

All you have to do is drag a window to the far left or right on your screen and let go. Windows automatically sizes that window to take half the screen. This is great for when youw ant to work with 2 documents side-by-side to compare them.

Another feature of windows snap is to drag the window to the top of the screen to maximize it. Also, don’t forget the Aero Shake…this one minimizes all other windows when you grab the window you want and shake it side to side.

Stop down to the store to see these features and some videos of other features live on our demo Windows 7 system!

With the number of malware threats out on the Internet, it can feel like the wild west at times. Everybody should have a solid anti-virus tool running on their computers…and it should be updated frequently!

I have seen quite a few computers come in with bad malware infections. Many of these computers are running out of date anti-virus tools. One recent badly infected system had Norton 2006 on it and it expired in October 2006! Needless to say, it was not getting updates and could not catch any of the newer viruses.

What should you look for in a anti-virus tool? In my opinion, you should look for an interface that you are comfortable with, a solid reputation, and good performance. I personally don’t care what brand of AV you run on your system since most of them catch a good percentage of malware. The only exception is CA. Yes, the same CA that frontier and Time Warner give out free. The reason being the quality of the on-demand scanner in recent tests (http://www.virusbtn.com/news/2008/09_02). CA is only 68% effective and the next worst scanner clocked in at 84.4%. Most of the major brands are over 90%. Now, these numbers are results of testing over a short period of time, however, the last 2 rounds of test results have shown similar poor performance from CA.

I do prefer AVG (yes, I am a reseller), however, I am also beginning to re-evaluate all of the major AV suites to see how they stack up. I have had good luck with AVG for both desktop and server/network environments, but I always try to see how other AV applications perform on computers that I am working on. I am impressed that Norton was able to improve scanning speed and reduce CPU overhead in their 2009 version, which has prompted me to begin re-evaluation. I am also looking at Dr. Web, ESet, NOD32, and several others.

If I find that another brand is outperforming AVG, I will try to get twin Pines Technologies LLC to become an authorized reseller so that I can legally sell the product and get better support from the manufacturer.

Now, to answer the question in the title of this post…I recommend having any current AV solution with an active subscription, except for CA. Review the test link I posted above and judge for yourself.

From talking to some customers, I see that there are a lot of people that are not aware of some of the features included in Microsoft Vista Home Premium (and higher versions).

The biggest application that Microsoft included is the Windows Gallery. This is a great application for tracking, tagging, searching, printing, and minor editing of home pictures. This one application handles the needs of 90+% of home photographers.

The next interesting applciation is the Windows Movie Maker. Yes, that is right, Vista Home Premium comes with a movie maker…and all of the custom systems we build have DVD burners. So, start making some movies!

The Windows Calendar is a very useful application. You can create color-coded calendar entries with reminders. This app works very similarly to the calendar within Outlook and almost every customer that I have demonstrated the calendar to has used it for their personal appointments.

Windows Meeting Space is great for home offices or small businesses. It basically gives your computer the ability to share it’s screen and collaborate with other Windows Vista computers on the same network.

Remote Desktop Connection is included in all Vista and XP computers. This tool allows you to remotely connect to another computer…even across the Internet. This does require some configuration of your router and firewalls, but having the capability to connect to your desktop at the office while sitting on your couch at home is priceless.

Windows Vista also has the search anywhere feature. From the start menu, click in the empty box and start typing what you are looking for. It could be a file name, text within a document or email, or the name of an application. The results will popup in the start menu quickly. This means no more looking through folders in My Documents for that one specific document that you can’t remember the exact name. Do a Vista Search!

The sidebar is another great feature. I generally keep the clock and Wchannel (a weather application that feeds from the Weather Channel) in my sidebar. There are hundreds of specialty applications that you can add. Juck click on the plus sign above the gadgets, then click on the “Get more gadgets online” link in the bottom right of the window that pops up.