A few years ago, Microsoft tried to sell a service called “Live OneCare” to it’s customers that was supposed to protect Windows computers, and they were going to sell this ‘protection’ for about $49/year.

Similar to the local gang strong-arming you into ‘buying’ their ‘protection’ so your store doesn’t get broken into…

Now Microsoft has seen the light and may be offering the new version of this service for free.

This is odd for a couple reasons. The first of which is — How will they make money off of it? Microsoft doesn’t have a history of doing things for free unless there is dollars in the future of that action.

Second of course is — How good is it? My company regularly cleans up computers that have Microsoft Windows Defender installed. Did you note that they needed cleaning up? Have you also maybe noted all the security problems Windows and Internet Explorer are famous for?

And Microsoft thinks I would trust them with protecting my Windows computer?

Uh, no thanks.

I have supported many different operating systems in my time, and I have fairly low opinion of Windows as a result of what I have seen.

Now don’t get me wrong, I support Microsoft Windows, and maybe I should do as one of my techs told me: put up a picture of Mr. Bill Gates with candles under it and thank him for my work.

Be that as it may, Windows has the distinction of having brought about the computer revolution as it currently is. So good, bad or ugly, Windows definitely deserves some credit.

However…

I had been telling a acquaintance of mine who is a tech over at Hulu about Linux for some time now, and his Vista system hard drive crashed recently — you guessed it. He installed Ubuntu Linux and when he told me about it, about all he said was “Wow!” over and over and how amazingly easier it is to setup and use than Windows.

Another Linux convert…? Could be… :-)

Lately there have been improvements in the area of netbook operating systems, especially in terms of speed.

I have tested both Eeebuntu v3 (an Ubuntu derivative) and Puppy Linux v4.2.1 on an Asus Eee PC 1000 netbook with an SSD (electronic) hard drive.

I have both of these operating systems, as well as Windows XP Home on this computer currently, and I can honestly say that the fastest is Puppy, then Eeebuntu with Windows XP taking up the rear, but not by that much.

I can also say that, due to my experience with Windows XP, I have modified it to an extremely minimalistic installation. From this you should be able to gather that for a standard user, Windows XP will be considerably slower than either of the other two offerings.

For the average user, I can honestly suggest not using Puppy Linux as it is not a simple “plug-and-play” operating system, though for anyone with any technical interest at all it is a VERY fast and complete operating system.

Eeebuntu absolutely shines in the “ease-of-use” area. It is as simple as installing it and running it — period. All the software you will most likely need is already installed and updates are automatic. If you are missing software to run specific web content, Eeebuntu will ask if you want it installed, and if you answer yes, it will go get it, install it and then play your content. It just doesn’t get any easier.

The bottom line is: “Yes Virginia, there is hope for netbooks with SSD drives installed!” And we don’t always need to change operating systems in order to accomplish this, as mentioned above, Windows XP (and Vista) can be modified to cut the fat out and run efficiently.

If you would like us to help speed up your netbook computer, or any computer for that matter, give my company a call!

800×640 maximum display on a 1024×768 or higher monitor with Ubuntu or Xubuntu is a situation that many installers who have old, slow laptops are running into — and can be cured with the use of another Linux distribution (Puppy Linux - or more specifically, I used one of it’s deriviatives called MacPup) with which you can correctly configure your display and then copy that configuration over to your Ubuntu/Xubuntu/etc. system.

I had to use this procedure with the following laptops:
Acer TravelMate C100 on which I could only install Xubuntu v8.04.2 LTS (Hardy) due to video blackout with v8.10.
(1GHz CPU, 256MB RAM, 40GB drive, external Firewire DVD-CDRW - I had to use an external USB CD to install with)
Sony PCG-FX120 that I was able to install Xubuntu v8.10 (Intrepid Ibix) on.
(700MHz CPU, 256MB RAM, 10GB drive, DVD-CD ROM)

After installation, neither one would enlarge the display any more than 800×640.

To fix this, I did NOT need to install anything on my computer. You can fix it to if you simply follow these instructions. And note that for those new to Linux and/or computers in general, I purposely detailed them as much as possible. (Read: I rambled.)

Legal disclaimer:
I did it twice. You probably can to. If you can’t do it, it isn’t my fault or my problem. If you can’t follow instructions it is also not my fault or my problem. If your pizza gets cold, it’s your fault for not telling me about it.

If you are interested in paid support with the following procedure, or need any help with your computers and networks, you can reach my company here.

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Here’s how I did it:
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1) Download the MacPup ISO file from here:
http://macpup.org/redirect.php?myurl=4128
(An ISO file is a complete CD recorded into a single file for easy transportation.) I used version 412F which is 122MB in size.

2) Burn the ISO file to a CD. If you need help doing this, click here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

3) Boot your computer with it. Again, if you need help doing this, click here:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000217.htm

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During the startup of MacPup there are a few text-based prompt screens that you can usually simply accept the defaults on.
—

4) The first is the mouse screen. The mouse choice is probabaly already made for you - just accept it unless it is obviously wrong.

5) Next is the language choice. Make any obvious changes as you need or wish.

6) Next you have a choice of “Xorg” or “Vesa”. Start with Xorg. If that doesn’t work, reboot and try Vesa.

—
IMPORTANT NOTE:
I only used Xorg drivers with this procedure, so if you have to go the Vesa drivers route, you are in strange waters and all I can do is wish you the best of luck.
—

7) You may get a choice of monitor size. Choose the one that fits your monitor’s maximum display size. Most older laptops cannot do more than 1024×768, however, if it’s really old, you may only have 800×600 as a maximum, in which case you should only be using a micro distribution such as Puppy Linux anyway.

8) Now you should be able to choose what resolution you want, including the number of colors for that resolution. NOTE: if your computer is pretty old, you’ll have to stick with a lower number of colors (16 mil as opposed to 24 mil) though you can try any that you want and simply reboot to find one that will work because you are not installing anything on your computer with this procedure.

—
Now you should be looking at a nice clean desktop. If not, you can either re-boot and try again, or right-click on the desktop, go to Setup, Xorg Video Wizard and change your settings until you are happy with it.
—

9) On the bottom bar of the desktop there is an icon titled “Drives”. Click once on this. There is a tab titled drives in this window. Click on this and click on the “Mount” button for the partition your installation is on (normally sda1 or hda1.) A file manager window will open displaying the drive where your Ubuntu/Xubuntu/etc. distribution is installed.

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NOTE:
If you have a dual-boot setup, your Windows partition will be labeled as “ntfs” and your Ubuntu/Xubuntu/etc. partition will be labeled as “ext3″. Use the ext3 patition in this procedure and remember it’s designation for the next step.
—

10) Navigate via the upper left arrow to what is normally the “/mnt/sda1″ or “/mnt/hda1″ directory (the top of the window will show where you are) then click ONCE on the “etc” and then the X11 folders.

11) Right-click on the file labeled “xorg.conf” and click on Copy. In the little window, using your computer’s arrow keys, go to the end of the line and type in:
.original
and then click Copy.

12) Click ONCE on the file labeled “xorg.conf”. This will open the file in a text editor called Geany.

13) On the bottom left will be a folder icon, click on this — a file manager window should open displaying the drive MacPup is running from.

14) Navigate via the upper left arrow to the topmost directory, then click ONCE on the “etc” and then the X11 folders.

15) Click ONCE on the file labeled “xorg.conf”. This file will open in a 2nd tab in your text editor.

16) Click on the tab labeled “/etc/X11″ and scroll down to:
Section “Monitor”

17) Copy everything from this line down. (To copy, highlight what you need to copy and click on Edit, Copy.)

18) Click on the tab labeled “/mnt/sda1″ or “/mnt/hda1″ and scroll down to:
Section “Device”

19) Highlight everything from this line down and paste over what you copied in #17 above. (To paste, highlight what you need to overwrite and click on Edit, Paste.)

20) Save the file and close the file and text editor windows.

21) In the Drives window, click on the Unmnt button for your drive.

22) Remove the MacPup CD and restart the computer. (You do not need to save the settings as the computer reboots.)

23) Enjoy a full screen!

24) OPTIONAL:
If you have a slow, low-RAM computer such as I do with the Acer TravelMate C100, you can do the following to speed up the computer, but note that there is a drawback in that you will not have logs to go back to and view what happened if errors occur.
a) Click on Applications, System, Services.
b) Click on Unlock and type in your password.
c) Uncheck Automated crash reports, both Computer activity loggers and the Printer service if you will not be using a printer.

25) OPTIONAL:
Using CDMA modems & WiFi with Ubuntu/Xubuntu/etc. v8.04:
If you could not install v8.10 (Intrepid Ibix) on your computer and were instead stuck with v8.04 (Hardy) as I was on the Acer TravelMate C100, you should update the Network Manager by following these instructions:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/+question/57814

Now you will be able to use many CDMA modems for cell phone Internet access (the UM175 from Verizon works great) and many more WiFi devices with better encryption support. Note that your CDMA device may have to be setup in Windows before it can be used in Linux…

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Have fun with your updated, older laptop!

Dead PCs are no fun for anyone, business or personal.

It’s your data in there, and the question “How do I get it out!?” is the first in most user’s minds when they have a dead PC.

So, first off, DON’T FREAK OUT. Usually when a PC dies, it is only either the power supply or it is the power supply and the motherboard. It is usually not the hard drive. (Which is where all your data is stored.)

Ok. Now you know not to freak out, but do you fix or or trash it?

Neither.

Have a tech look at the power supply only. If trying another power supply does not bring the dead PC back to life, then you need a new computer, because any more time spent will be “Is the RAM ok?” “Is the CPU ok?” “Is the video card ok?” All with the chance of almost zero that any of it will work on any motherboard that you can buy today.

So rather than buy all the parts that make up a computer to fix your dead PC, buy a new one. A good technician will have no trouble moving your data to the new PC.

However, if it is only the power supply that went bad, you can now yell out loud “IT’S ALIVE!!!”