Frequently Asked Questions - General

1.

What is Linux?
Linux is an operating system that is used on a small percentage of PCs and servers. It is open-source software, meaning that it is not the product of a company, but rather a collaboration of users, enthusiasts and developers around the world. That is both its strength and its weakness: because it is not the product of a company, support for the product is somewhat dicey. The main advantages: it is very low cost (since there is no profit motive) and because it is soft of a counter-culture product, it is not a frequent target for hackers and virus writers.

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2.

Should I consider Linux instead of Windows?
If you need to deploy a server for file storage or other particular applications, Linux might be a good alternative. However, for PCs it is hampered by a lack of software applications. For very small businesses, we recommend not deploying Linux unless you have someone on your staff who has the time and the expertise to support it. There is a lot more help generally available in the world for Windows and its applications, at least for the desktop.

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3.

My computer is running very slowly. What could be causing that?
Usually when we analyze a computer that is running slowly, we find one of more of three things: spyware, viruses or unnecessary background programs. If your computer is running slowly, it is almost always because it is running a whole bunch of stuff in the background that you are not aware of. Some of that stuff is benign; some of it is toxic, but all of it contributes to slowdown. At simpliTek, we are experts at getting back the performance that you have lost.

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4.

What if we clean up all the unnecessary programs and the computer is still running slowly? Then what?
It may be that your computer doesn’t have enough RAM memory for your needs. RAM is the kind of memory that your computer uses to think, not the kind it uses to store things. We recommend that any computer running Windows XP should have at least 512MB of RAM. We often see computers that have only 256MB, or even 128MB, and it’s no wonder that they are so slow. It takes about 220 – 240MB of RAM just to run Windows, so if you are starting out with 256MB, you have almost nothing left to use to run programs. Adding RAM, especially if you are on the low side, is the best thing you can do for the performance of your computer – even more important than getting a faster processor.

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5.

What is a dual-core processor?
It’s actually two processors on the same chip. Today that buys you some increase in performance, but in the future software is going to be written so that, say, one processor is operating Windows and the other is operating an application like Word or Photoshop. When this becomes the norm, there is likely to be a much greater advantage to having a dual-core processor – that’s why we strongly recommend them for all new computer purchases, even in laptops.

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6.

Can’t I get better performance from my computer by deleting old files and cleaning up things?
Not usually. You can think of your disk drive as a filing cabinet, where your files and programs are stored. If you cleaned out your filing cabinet, would that make your work go faster? Probably not, unless your filing cabinet was so disorganized that you could never find anything in it. The same is true for the files on your disk drive. You might be able to gain some operational benefits by cleaning up your files, if only so that you don’t have to spend time searching for things you need. But as far as your computer is concerned, there is absolutely no difference in performance between two similar disks where one is holding 6GB of information and the other 48GB.

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7.

I loaded the software that came with my digital camera and it is really complicated! Isn’t there a simpler way to get my pictures off my camera?
We recommend that most users put the CD that came with their camera away and not load the software, because Windows has built-in software for uploading, viewing and organizing photos from your camera that render the camera software unnecessary. And the Windows programs are very simple to learn and use. Also, most cameras come with a USB cable that can be used to upload the pictures, and we recommend using that instead of taking out the memory chip and inserting it into a card reader. Most PCs now have USB ports in the front for just such a purpose.

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8.

What is Windows 7?
Windows 7 is the current version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It was released in October 2009. Windows 7 is a very attractive new interface that offers some significant improvements over Windows XP, especially in the area of system security. However, it is very different from XP in many ways, and there will be a learning curve associated with deploying and using it. And, it will require a fairly powerful computer to run it effectively. For many reasons, we believe that there will not be a mad rush for users to upgrade to Windows 7, but rather will wait to deploy it until they purchase a new computer.

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9.

What is the difference between Outlook and Outlook Express?
This is a constant source of confusion for Windows users, and many don’t even know which of these email products they are using. Outlook Express is a simplified email program that comes as a part of Windows – all Windows PCs have Outlook Express. It works very well and is easy to set up and use. Outlook is a more comprehensive tool that adds contact management, calendar, task list and collaboration tools. Outlook comes as part of Microsoft Office, so not all Windows PCs have Outlook – only those which also have Office. On Windows 7 computers, Outlook Express has been replaced with a free program from Microsoft called Windows Live Mail, which still looks and acts a lot like Outlook Express.

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10.

I have heard that I can use a PDA to store my addresses and calendar. What do I need to do that?
A PDA is short for "Personal Digital Assistant". There are several major categories of PDAs: they can have a Palm operating system, a BlackBerry operating system, an Android operating system, a Windows Phone 7 operating system or an IOS operating system on the iPhone. All PDAs have in common that they can “synchronize” with Microsoft Outlook so that you can carry with you a copy of your contacts, calendar and to-do list that you have on your computer in Outlook. Older Palms also has a simpler program called Palm Desktop which some Palm users use to keep their calendar and contacts, if they don’t choose to Outlook.

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11.

I carry a cell phone already – now I have to carry a PDA also?
Many companies have combined the functions of cell phones and PDAs into devices that do both, called Smartphones. Smartphones are made by Apple, HTC, BlackBerry, LG, Samsung, AudioVox, Motorola and others. In addition to cellphone, calendar, contacts and to-do list, these devices can also send and receive email and text messages. However, most users do not use their PDA as their primary email device, but rather use them to read their email when away from their computer. Smartphones are becoming more powerful all the time and some speculate that there may come a day when they are powerful enough to take the place of a desktop PC, of course connected to a larger monitor, keyboard and mouse.

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12.

How do you keep up with all of this technology?
I have been working with computer systems professionally since 1985, so my learning curve with new technology is probably a lot shorter than most. In addition, I read about 5 different PC magazines every month, do research on the Internet on new technologies, and spend a lot of time just roaming the aisles at computer stores, getting familiar with new technology offerings. Technology comes just as naturally to me as whatever your vocation is that you focus on and specialize in – everyone is an expert on something. Finally, I am blessed to have almost infinite patience with computers, probably far more than most people. This allows me to persevere in the pursuit of a solution when most computer users would be ready to throw their PC out the window.

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13.

What is the difference between a CD and a DVD?
Capacity, mostly. Though the disks are physically interchangeable, CDs hold approximately 700MB of data, while DVDs will hold approximately 4700MB of data, or about 6-1/2 times as much. In addition, some DVDs can burn “dual layer” disks which will hold 8500MBs.

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14.

If I get a computer than has two CD drives and one of them is a CD burner, can I make copies of my audio CDs?
In general, yes. Most audio CDs are not copy protected and can be copied.

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15.

If I get a computer than has two DVD drives and one of them is a DVD burner, can I make copies of my DVD movies?
In general, no. Commercial DVD movies are encrypted with copy protection that makes copying them impossible using conventional DVD burning software. There are software solutions that claim to be able to decode DVD movies so that they can be copied, but the courts frequently hold that these programs are illegal. It is probably more practical to assume that DVD movies cannot be copied.

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16.

What is a flash drive?
Flash drives are an exciting new technology that puts a lot of computer file storage in a very small package. These devices are usually about the size of your thumb, and can hold as much as 128GB of data, and their capacity is growing all the time. These drives plug into any USB port on your computer and instantly mount up as the next drive letter – E: or F: or G:, etc. Then you can copy files to and from the drive for all kinds of purposes – backup, file transfer between computers, etc. Since a 1GB flash drive costing less than $10 holds as much data as about 700 floppy disks, it is easy to see why many new computers no longer come with floppy drives.

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17.

I have a really old HP laser printer which only has a parallel connection. My new computer doesn’t have a parallel port at all. I don’t want to junk the printer – what do I do?
You can buy a special cable that converts a parallel printer to USB. The cable costs less than $30 and in our experience they work GREAT and are very easy to install. BUT, they work best on older printers which don’t do anything but print.. If you have an older multifunction device that prints, scans, faxes, etc. but only has parallel, it may or may not work through one of these converters. This is one case where the older the printer, the better this solution works! We have never seen the cable fail on any LaserJet II, III, 4, 5, 4000, etc.

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18.

My printer has both parallel and USB ports, and so does my computer. Which should I use?
In general, connections through USB have a higher data rate and should print faster than through parallel. If you need to locate the printer a long way from the computer, you should use parallel because you can print to a parallel printer through a really long parallel cable, like 50’ or even 200’ in some cases. If the printer is right next to the printer and you don’t care that much about print speed, use whichever cable you have, and if you are short on USB ports, don’t hesitate to use the parallel cable.

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19.

My computer has both USB and Firewire ports. Which is better?
With the advent of USB 2.0, there is not a lot of difference in the data transfer speed between Firewire and USB, so use whichever is more convenient. If you have an older PC that has USB 1.1 ports (and unfortunately it’s not that easy to tell the difference) then you should prefer Firewire because it is about 40 times faster than USB 1.1. There is a new kind of Firewire port called Firewire 800, which is twice as fast as either USB or Firewire 400. If you have that kind of port, you should buy Firewire 800 compatible gear and use that.

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20.

My monitor has both digital and analog ports on it, and so does my computer. Which should I use?
We have hooked up the same monitor both ways and have not been able to detect ANY DIFFERENCE in the quality of the picture between analog and digital. If you are a heavy duty gamer, you may know more about this than we do and maybe digital is better. But if there is any difference in the picture, you’d have to be better trained than we are to tell the difference.

There is another trick that might prove useful someday. If you have two computers and you want them to share the same monitor, you can hook up one of them with the analog cable and the other with the digital cable. Then you can use the switch on the monitor that switches from analog to digital to select which PC to connect to. We do this in our office between a PC and a Mac. Doesn’t help with switching the keyboard and mouse, though.

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21.

My mouse has a ball and I’ve seen these mice that have a red light coming out of them. What’s the difference?
Mice with balls always pick up dirt from the desktop and once the rollers get dirty, the mouse action gets really erratic. The “red-light” mouse is an optical mouse that has no moving parts inside – it shines the red light on your desktop and then has the equivalent of a tiny “video camera” which looks for changes in the desktop and translates that into mouse motion. Another technology miracle, really. Optical mice are vastly superior to mechanical (ball) mice, but they don’t work on all surfaces – for example, they often don’t work on glass and certain other surfaces. But put a mouse pad under them and you’ll be sending your ball mouse to the landfill!

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22.

I wish I could get out from under all this PAPER!! Isn’t there some way I can scan these documents into the computer?
We help customers all the time to purchase appropriate scanning hardware so that they can easily and quickly scan documents, usually converting them to Adobe PDF files for storage. The nice thing about PDF is that the file format is universal – you can send a PDF to just about anyone and they will be able to open it regardless of the type of computer or software they have. As for scanners, if you have a low volume of paper, you can use the scanner on an garden-variety multi-function device. But beware – not all of these scanners come with the software to create PDFs, and if you have to buy that software separately, it costs about $275. Be sure to get a scanner that has a document feeder and not just a glass. It is a pain to scan a multi-page document with a scanner where you have to put the documents on the glass one page at a time.


If you have a higher volume of documents to scan, we can recommend some standalone scanners (i.e. NOT part of a multi-function device) that scan multi-page documents really, really quickly. These scanners cost a lot more than garden variety scanners or MFDs, but if you are scanning 100 pages a day, or scanning 250 page documents at a time, the more expensive scanners are well worth the investment. These scanners start at about $400.

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22.

What do you think of Windows Vista?
Microsoft’s Vista operating system was a colossal disaster, both from a marketing as well as a technical standpoint. Thank goodness they followed it up quickly with Windows 7, which works very well and is a delight to install and run

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