A question we get asked often is how to know when to single-click and when to double-click.

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of logic to it. You kind of just have to know. And settings can be changed in Windows to change it. But most people don’t know about these settings, so here are the rules for Windows with the default settings.

Icons on the Windows desktop should be double-clicked.

Icons in the Quick-launch bar (XP or Vista), or on the Windows 7 task bar should be single-clicked.

Anything on the web should be single-clicked.

When you are in Windows Explorer looking at files on your computer, if you want to open one of these files, you would double-click on it.

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When Windows boots up, depending on how it’s configured, it may show a list of users that you can login as. If you only have one user on your computer, you may prefer to skip that step and just have Windows automatically login to that user and go directly to your Windows desktop.

If you would like to set Windows up so that it automatically logs in, here’s how.

Click on start and then click on run.

If you have Vista or Windows 7 and the run option may not be on your start menu. If that’s the case then, do the following:

1. Right-click on the start menu and choose properties.

2. Click on the Customize button.

3. Find Run Command on the list and click in the square next to it to place a checkmark next to it.

4. Click ok and then click OK.

5. You should then be able to click on start and then run

Once you have clicked on Start and then Run, type: control userpasswords2
and then hit enter.

A window will pop up with a list of users. Click once on the user that you want it to automatically login as. At the top of the window, there is a square and next to that square it says “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer”. Click in the square to remove the checkmark and then click OK.

A window will pop up asking you to enter the password for that user. If the user has no password, just click OK. If the user does have a password, enter it. You’ll need to enter it twice. Then click OK.

From then on, any time you turn on or reboot your computer, it will automatically log in and go to your Windows desktop.

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There were a whole slew of Windows updates this week. It doesn’t happen very often, but Windows updates can render a system unbootable. That happened earlier this year to one of our customers, and it happened again this week to a different customer. In both cases, we were able to repair it and apply all of the updates and get their systems working again. But whenever this happens, we always get the same question.

Is there any way to turn off Windows Updates so this doesn’t happen again?

The answer is yes, but we don’t recommend it. The chances of a windows update slamming your system like that are pretty remote. Yes, it does happen, but not very often. The updates you get for Windows are mostly security updates. If you turned off Windows updates, you would eliminate the slight chance of an update messing up your computer, but you would dramatically increase the chances of your computer becoming infected.

The bottom line is, would you rather have a slight chance that an update to Windows will mess up your system, or a very good chance that your system will become infected? I choose the slight chance and I recommend you do the same.

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During the last week of March (2010), Microsoft released some important security updates for Internet Explorer. If you have automatic updates turned on, you probably already have the updates. But please take a moment to check your system tray (the lower right-hand portion of the screen near where the time is displayed) for the windows update icon. If you don’t see it, you may need to click on the less than sign (XP, Vista) or the triangle (Windows 7) to show hidden icons.

If you still don’t see it, then it’s probably already been installed. If you do see it, double-click on it and install all of the pending updates. If you need help, give us a call. We can do this for you remotely.

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The taskbar is that bar that is usually at the bottom of your screen. It contains the start button, icons for running programs, and the time. It may also contain other things since it is pretty configurable.

We occasionally get a call from a customer telling us the task bar is in the wrong place and wondering how to get it back to the bottom of the screen. Many people don’t realize the task bar can be on any side of your screen. It can be on the top, bottom, left side, or right side of the screen.

What seems to be universal is how shocked everyone is at how easy it is to move the task bar. It’s so easy, in fact, people accidentally move it without realizing it.

So here’s how to move your task bar. First, the task bar has to be unlocked. To unlock your taskbar, simply right-click on an area of the task bar where there aren’t any icons.  You will get a pop-up menu. One of the options on the pop-up menu is “Lock the task bar”. If there is a checkmark next to “Lock the task bar”, then your task bar is locked and can’t be moved. If there isn’t a checkmark there, your task bar is not currently locked. Click on “Lock the task bar” to add or remove the checkmark.

Once you have unlocked your task bar, right click on a blank area of the task bar where there aren’t any icons, and drag the task bar to the side of the screen where you want it. Then let up on the mouse button and the task bar will now be on that side. Be sure and lock the task bar after moving it.

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A few of you still have PCs with Windows 2000 on them and some of you also have servers with Windows 2000 on them. If that’s you, it’s very important that you know that Microsoft will be ending support for Windows 2000 on July 13, 2010.

What that means is that they will no longer be releasing security updates for Windows 2000. These security updates are very important to keep your computer from getting infected. In addition, many software vendors will no longer support Windows 2000 either. That means it will get harder and harder to find security software that will work on Windows 2000.

If you are running a business with a server that has Windows 2000 on it, that is a huge risk to your business. Not only because of Windows 2000 support ending, but because any computer running Windows 2000 is at least 7 years old, probably older. The older hardware gets, the more likely it is to fail, and the harder it is to get replacement parts.

Our recommendation is to get yourself a new computer or server BEFORE July 13th. We can get you a quote on a new Dell. We can also transfer your data over from your old computer to your new one.

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Drivers are little software programs that tell windows how to talk to hardware. For example, if you purchase a new printer, you have to install the driver for the printer so that Windows will know how to talk to your new printer so you can actually print to it.

In the example of the printer, that is a piece of hardware on the outside of your computer, but there are several pieces of hardware on the inside of your computer that each need their own drivers as well.  This can vary from computer to computer depending on what expansion cards are plugged into your computer, but every computer has at least these devices that need drivers:

Motherboard chipset
Ethernet Port (AKA LAN or NIC)
Video (AKA Display)
Sound (AKA Audio)

As I said, your computer may have additional driver requirements, but these are the basics that all computers have. When you purchase a computer, the drivers are already loaded so that your computer is operational. When you add new hardware like a printer or a wireless card, you will need to install the CD that came with the device. That will install the drivers and often will install additional software that the device uses.

Over the years of ownership of your computer, Windows is updated, a lot of your software is updated, but your drivers generally are not updated. Some printers come with software that automatically updates your printer driver, but the 4 basic drivers listed above are generally not updated.

So the question is, should you update them.  The answer is not to bother updating your drivers unless you are running into some sort of problem. If you play games that have intensive graphics, then you may need to keep your video driver up to date in order for newer games to work.

Several of our customers have installed these programs that are supposed to automatically detect what hardware you have and download and install the latest drivers for them. Some of the better known driver update programs include Driver Detective, Driver Genius, Driver Agent, and Driver Guide. These types of programs sound like a really good idea. And they are a good idea. The problem is that it’s pretty common for one of these programs to download the wrong driver for your hardware. Then things stop working and it can cause a big mess. Because of this, we don’t recommend using these programs.

If you really want to update your drivers, the best way to do it is to have a list of EXACTLY what hardware you have. This means you need to know the make and model number. Then go to the manufacturer’s website and download the latest drivers.

If you have a Dell computer, you can go to Dell’s website and type in your service tag and it will give you a list of all of the drivers for your system. You can then download and install them. This would only include drivers for the hardware that came with your system. Any additional hardware you added later, like printers, would not be there. You would have to go to the hardware manufacturer’s website for your printer to get those drivers.

But again, we don’t recommend that you update your drivers. Drivers should generally only be updated if you are experiencing some sort of problem. If you really want  your drivers updated, it would be better to have us do it to avoid problems.

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If you use a computer, you have used scroll bars. Scroll bars are used when all of the information displayed is too big to fit in the current window. Scroll bars allow you to move the information inside a window around so that you can see the information that isn’t currently visible in the current window.

Take a look at this picture:

The part of the window above encompassed by a red rectangle is the vertical scroll bar and the part encompassed by a blue rectangle is the horizontal scroll bar.

Vertical scrollbars let you scroll information up and down while horizontal scrollbars let you scroll information side to side or left and right.

You probably already knew all of that. I know this seems rudimentary, but there are some tricks to using scrollbars you may not be aware of.

The scroll bar consists of a bar with an arrow on each end. In the middle is a solid bar. There is also the space between the bar and each of the arrows.

For the purposes of this article, we will use the vertical scroll bar as an example, but the same applies to horizontal scroll bars as well.

If you click on the top arrow or the bottom arrow, the information in the window will move up or down by one line. You knew that.

Did you know that if you click in the white space between the arrow and the block in the middle of the scroll bar, the information will page up or down. So instead of just moving one line, it moves a whole screen’s worth of information at a time.

Did you know the size of the middle bar gives you an indication of how big the list is? In the example above, the bar is big and almost takes up the whole scroll bar. That means there isn’t a lot of information to scroll through. But if that bar were much smaller, that would tell us that there was a lot of information to scroll through.

Another useful thing to know is that you can click your mouse on that bar and drag it up and down to quickly scroll to another section of the information. So, for example, if you were looking at an alphabetized list and you wanted to go down to the T’s, you could drag the bar about 3/4ths of the way down.

If you click your mouse in the area where the information is being displayed, you can then use your arrow keys and page keys to scroll the information. Be aware that if  your current cursor is at the top of the information and you press the down arrow, it will just move one line down and it won’t scroll. If you keep moving down, however, when the cursor gets to the bottom of the window, it will start scrolling.

The touch pads on some laptops have an area on the right side of them that acts like a scroll bar. If you are in a window with scroll bars, you can slide your finger up and down on the right side of the touchpad to scroll up and down.

Desktops have a special key on the keyboard that is usually labeled “Scroll Lock”. This key is rarely used by anybody. When you turn scroll lock on, the arrow keys will scroll the contents of the current window. You may wonder how this is different than just clicking in the window and moving the cursor. The only difference is that with scroll lock on, you don’t have to wait for the cursor to move to the edge of the window before it starts scrolling. It just scrolls.

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As  you probably know, Microsoft releases Service Packs for its software products. There have been 3 service packs for Windows XP, 2 for Windows Vista, and none for Windows 7. There have been 3 service packs for Microsoft Office 2003 and 2 service packs for Microsoft Office 2007.

Where Windows is concerned, at some point, Microsoft will make the requirement that you must have a certain service pack in order to receive further security updates. To that end, if you have Windows XP, this July, Microsoft will start requiring you to have service pack 3 in order to receive additional security updates.

Just to be clear, we recommend you have the latest service pack for Windows.

Here’s how to find out what service pack you have in Windows XP.

If “Computer” or “My Computer” is on your desktop, right-click on it and choose properties.

If not, you can click on Start and then click on “Control Panel”. If you click on start and don’t see control panel, you might have to click on “Settings” first, then control panel. Just depends on how your computer is set. Once you are in the control panel, double click on  “System”. If you don’t see “System”, then you might need to click on “Switch to Classic View” in the upper left hand corner of the control panel.

In the window that comes up, it will tell you which version of Windows you have installed and which service pack as well.

If you don’t have service pack 3 and want to install it, click on Start, All Programs, Windows Update. You may need to install the windows update software. It will tell you if you need to. Then click the express button. It will scan your system and then tell you what updates you need. You can then click on a button to install them.

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Mac Versus PC

You’ve seen the Mac versus PC commercials put out by Apple. These commercials, like many advertisements, aren’t entirely truthful and often perpetuate myths. Can’t we all just get along?

We work on Macs, but don’t get to do a lot of work on them simply because there aren’t that many Macs out there compared to Windows computers. Only 5% of computers are Macs while 93% are PC’s. Don’t misunderstand, Macs are good computers.

You’ve probably heard people with Macs say how much better Macs are than PC’s. Let’s look at some of these claims and see if they are true.

1. Macs don’t need security software (anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc) because they are not susceptible to infections.
   
   This is mostly myth but partly true. Mac’s are just as susceptible to infections as Windows PC’s are. It’s just that Windows PC’s have been the primary target of infections simply because there are a lot more Windows PC’s out there than there are Mac’s. There are a few infections that are now targeting Mac’s, but not many. So the chances of a Mac becoming infected is fairly small right now. In 2008, Apple released a security bulletin recommending that all Mac owners use anti-virus software on their Macs. If you have a Mac, you should have good security protection.

2. Macs are more reliable than PC’s.

   Again, this is partly a myth and partly true. When you talk about the reliability of a computer, there are two major components to consider. Hardware and software. In terms of hardware, a recent report by Square Trade reported on the number of warranty claims on 9 different laptop manufacturers. The one with the least number of warranty claims was not Apple. In fact, Apple was number 4. In terms of hardware, Macs are good, but are not any more reliable that PC hardware.
   �
   Reliability in terms of software refers primarily to the operating system. In this case Mac OS versus Windows. If you exclude problems with Windows there were not caused by infections, then Mac OS is slightly more reliable than Windows. More than half of the problems we see on Windows computers are caused by infections. And as we mentioned before, Macs are not much of a target for infections because there aren’t as many of them out there.

   If Macs were targeted by infections as much as Windows, I think we would see just as many problems with Macs as we do with Windows. So in a nutshell, Mac hardware isn’t more reliable than Windows hardware, but Mac OS is a little more reliable than Windows because it’s not targeted by infections as much.

3. Macs are better for media related activities (audio and video production for example).
   
   This is a myth. Anything you can do on a Mac, you can do on a PC. Software manufacturers rarely produce a version of their software only for the Mac. Why? The PC market is just too big to ignore. So once again it goes back to market share.

4. The same software available for Windows is available for the Mac.
   
   This is mostly myth but there is a workaround for most programs. A program written for Windows won’t run on a Mac PC as is. For a program to run on a Mac, it must be written for the Mac unless you run a Windows emulator. Running a Windows program under a Windows emulator on a Mac works for a lot of programs, but not for all of them. It especially doesn’t work with games. And programs running under an emulator run slower. By the way, Mac OS emulators are available for Windows if you wanted to run a Mac program on a Windows PC.

5. PC’s and Mac’s cost about the same.
   
   This is a myth. Mac’s generally cost more to purchase. Replacement parts for them cost more. It’s more expensive to repair them and it’s harder to find people who work on Macs. All of this adds up.

Don’t get us wrong. We have nothing against Macs. They are very good computers. We like them. We aren’t telling  you not to purchase a Mac. We just wanted to set the record straight.

If you currently have a PC and you are considering purchasing a Mac, please be aware of the following:

1. There are a lot of differences in the way they work. There will be a learning curve going from Windows to Mac.

2. Make sure you get good Virus/Spyware protection for your Mac.

3. Data from your PC can be migrated over to your Mac. We can do that for you.

4. Be careful purchasing printers and other devices. Make sure they are compatible with the Mac. Most are compatible, but not all of them are.

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