Category Archives: Technical Tips

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The Wolverine of Operating Systems

Technical Tips

I read somewhere Windows XP was being called the “Wolverine” of operating systems. It just won’t die. 🙂

Be that as it may, if you’re one of the owners of a Windows XP based computer, and want to be able to migrate to Windows 7 (In my opinion the best operating system Microsoft has ever released), you only have until the end of October, per Microsoft. That’s currently the deadline for end of sales of computer with Windows 7 Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate pre-installed.

So that means between now and October is just about the right time to put that old computer to rest and get a new one.

Contrary to what the sales might be pushing right now, Windows 7, not Windows 8, is the most used operating system right now, and with good reason.

Monthly Windows Updates for April, and a Special Note on Windows XP and Office 2003

Computer Security, Technical Tips

This coming April 8th the monthly scheduled Windows updates will be released for Windows XP, 7, 8, and the different versions of Office. But it’s worth mentioning they will be the last ones for Windows XP and Office 2003. On that date the official support for Windows XP and Office 2003 ends, so there will be no more updates after that. For those users still using Windows XP and Office 2003, what does that mean?

Don’t worry, your computer won’t explode, or stop working. BUT, in the never ending fight between good and evil, how does this translate? The bad guys (hackers) are always looking for vulnerabilities in Microsoft products in order to subvert computers. And Microsoft is always playing catch by devising and implementing updates to remedy the vulnerabilities found by the hackers. So what do you think it’s going to happen when Microsoft stops updating Windows XP and Office 2003?

Well, it’s predictable that there will be an invigorated effort to find and exploit new vulnerabilities in these programs, thus making users of it more likely to get infected with malware that will successfully exploit said vulnerabilities. And while there are actions that can be taken to mitigate that possibility (such as implementing my security model) the truth is, the security level will be lower for system running on Windows XP or with Office 2003 installed, after April.

Once again, I recommend upgrading to Windows 7 (not 8, 8.1 or 8.1 Update 1). And chances are, if your computer is as old as Windows XP, that it means a new computer as well. In any case, if you were playing with the idea of doing this, now it’s the time to do it.

Flash Player Alternative

Technical Tips

Every now and then a user will complain that there are problems when trying to play videos on, let’s say, youtube.com. Now there are many different reasons why a video playback might be problematic, one way or another. But, one thing you can try is changing the player the computer uses to play videos in your web browser.

How, do you ask? Well, before we get to that, let’s make sure we all know what we’re talking about.

You might have heard of “Flash Player”. In a nutshell, Flash player has been the video player that youtube.com and many other video sites use as the default player that can play videos. Do a test, go to your favorite video on youtube and right click on the video with your mouse. It will display several menu options, and the last one might mention Adobe Flash Player (Adobe is the name of the company that currently makes that player).

There is, however. another option that might be available to be used as the player for youtube and other videos: the HTML5 player. If you want to know what HTML5 means, it’s simply the 5th revision of HTML. I have seen, some times, that changing from using the Flash player to the HTML5 player can sometimes improve the playback quality or handle certain problems. So you can try doing that if you’re having troubles with Flash Player. To change it in youtube.com, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/html5  and then click on the button that says Request the HTML5 player. Once that’s done close the browser and open it again, and then try playing a youtube video.

To confirm you are now indeed using the HTML5 player, right click on the video again, and you should see menu items that mention  the HTML5 player instead of the Adobe Flash Player. If you want to revert, click on the above link again and click on the button that says Use the default player and you should be back to using Flash if that is what your browser was using before.

Hope this helps.

I Downloaded a Program – Why is it not Running?

Glossary, Technical Tips

Every now and then I hear this question. It stems from not understanding the difference between two different actions: “download” and “install”. Well, we’ll get rid of that confusion today.

Download: Making a copy of a file that is on another computer (often in the Internet) onto your computer.

Install: Opening a file that contain the necessary steps to make a new program work on your computer.

I think the confusion stems mainly from the fact that, nowadays, often the file that contains the necessary steps to make a new program work, is a file that is downloaded from the Internet (surprisingly, that file is often called an “installer”). So as far as sequence, these 2 actions are typically right next to each other, but they are not interchangeable. So the sequence would be:

1. Download the installer (“Save it” to a location in your computer).

2. Open it to install the new program.

That should answer the question posed in the title of this article. “Downloading a program” doesn’t install it, that’s why it’s not running. Hopefully this will dissipate any confusions on this. If not, feel free to ask any questions about it.

Microsoft’s Support for Windows XP Ending Soon, Implications for You

Computer Security, Technical Tips

So Microsoft’s support for Windows XP, at some point the most widely used operating system Microsoft has ever put out,  is ending early next year – April 8, 2014 to be precise. But what exactly does that mean?

Well, let’s break it down. It means that after April 8, 2014, there will be no

New security updates: These are part of the typical monthly updates Microsoft releases to address known vulnerabilities in Windows XP that a hacker could exploit to take control of your computer or steal information from it. But in fact any Windows XP based computer that otherwise abides by the security model I laid out 4 years ago, is well protected against these exploits. However it’s always a good thing to plug the holes in the fence that might otherwise allow scoundrels to get in. It’s just an extra layer of protection that might make the difference between a computer that is more likely to be affected by malicious programs and one that is not.

Non-security hotfixes: These are also updates, but normally try to mend a performance or stability problem in the operating system and not necessarily a security issue. They, in other words, try to fix “bugs” that have been uncovered, or developed.

Free or paid assisted support options: Not much to explain here. Microsoft provides support for issues related to Windows XP, some issues for free, some for a fee. This won’t be available as an option after the April 2014 deadline.

Online technical content updates: This refers to technical publications that Microsoft publishes online, mostly for computer type guys like me, who can use them as a resource to look for solutions to issues related to the operating system when providing support to end users.

 The bottom line

If you’re still using Windows XP, it’s probably a good idea to upgrade to a newer operating system at some point in the near future, namely Windows 7. I don’t recommend Windows 8 (or 8.1 for that matter), but I do recommend Windows 7.

 

Latest Windows Updates Break Some Versions of Microsoft Office

Technical Tips

I confirmed this at least on Office Starter 2010. Other versions might be affected. The short story is, there were 3 updates for Office as part of the latest Windows Updates released this week. After installing them, users who are trying to open a Word or Excel file might get prompted to enter a key or purchase Office.

If you are experiencing this, it can be corrected. To correct this, you need to repair Office. Here’s the link with the step by step instructions on how to repair it:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/starter-help/update-repair-or-uninstall-office-click-to-run-products-HA010382089.aspx#_Toc272139012

If you need help with the above, contact me.

Computer Basics – What is an “Operating System”?

Glossary, Technical Tips

A while back I covered, in a series of articles,  the vast majority of the computer components, as far as hardware (the physical components of a computer) is concerned. So now, to understand Operating  System, let’s talk about software.

Computer software is, simply put, a program. And what is a program? A sequence of commands for the computer to execute (carry out), normally contained in a file. That’s all it is. So whether it’s a word processing program, a video player, or an operating system, it all falls under the category of software.

Now, an operating system is a special kind of software, because it acts as the middleman between the hardware and all the other software. You could say it goes

Hardware –> Operating System –> All other software –> User

When you install, run, uninstall a program, all these tasks are possible thanks to the operating system. So you can see why the operating system can be called a kind of platform.

The above is the most basic explanation for what an operating system is. I have tried to keep it as simple as possible, and hopefully I’ve succeeded. Most importantly, I hope I didn’t put anybody to sleep! 🙂

Web Browsers in Windows – Tip of the Month

Technical Tips

As you probably know, all web browsers support opening new tabs, to avoid having to open a second browser window just to access a second, simultaneous, website. This functionality was built as a user experience improvement and can be very useful. 

However, let’s say you have a number of tabs opened in your web browser, and want to close all but one. Or for some other reason you want to have one of the tabs currently opened in a different browser window, like you want to compare two webpages, side by side. What do you do?

First of all, to do this the browser window with all the opened tabs cannot be in a  maximized state – you’ll see why in a moment. So if it is, restore it to a less-than-maximized state. Do so by clicking on the middle button of the 3 you find in any window’s upper right corner.

Now, with your mouse, click on the tab you want to isolate and drag it outside the currently opened browser window. Then drop it (release the hold of the mouse). Voilà! Now you can close the browser window that contains all the other opened tabs, if that is why you’re doing all this.

 Try it!

 

P.S.: The process is, by the way, reversible. It works both ways. You can drag a second window back into the first one and that second window will become a tab in the first window.

Web Browsers, Difference Between Address Bar and Search Bar

Technical Tips

First, I often get asked “what is that?”, when I ask someone to open a “web browser window”. So, to make sure it’s clear, a web browser is a program that allows you to connect to and display websites. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple’s Safari, all those are examples of web browsers.

Ok so now, what are the address and search bars? The address bar is the field in the upper side of the web browser window that 1) displays the current website being visited and 2) accepts input to change to a different website. So if you go to the address bar and you enter “remotehelpexpert.com” and press enter, the web browser will open the home page for my website.

The search bar, a field usually also located in the upper side of the web browser (usually to the right of the address bar) has a different purpose. It will search the internet for whatever you write in it.  

Now, for those who use Google Chrome, you know that there is no search bar in the browser. Well, at least not separate. The address bar and search bar are merged into one. If you enter something that Chrome recognizes as a website it will treat it as input for the address bar – otherwise it will treat it as input for the search bar. But Chrome is the only exception that I know of.

The main reason I  mention all this is, I have observed a number of users who seem to mix these two different bars. For example, I instruct someone to go to “www.speedtest.net”, a website that allows to measure the speed of your internet connection. The user enters “www.speedtest.net” in the SEARCH bar and presses enter. The search engine then displays the results and naturally, the website will appear as one of the top results. Now the user clicks on the search result to go to the website. An extra step that is not needed if he/she were to simply enter the website address in the address bar!

Tip of the day, works for all browsers: Go into the address bar for your web browser and enter a website name, like “google”. Leave the “www”, the “.com” part, everything else out. Just type the name of the website, like “google” or “facebook”. Now press the control key and enter. The browser will write the rest for you and open that website. Try it!

 

Big Number of Windows Updates for February

Technical Tips

As per Microsoft’s established schedule, this coming Tuesday, the second of the month, will see the monthly Windows updates being released. This month the amount of updates is nearly a record with 12 total, 5 of which are labeled “critical”, and the rest as “important” – the two highest ranks in relevance. 

Worth mentioning is the fact that 2 of the updates address Microsoft’s internet browser – Internet Explorer. Why the people at Microsoft  weren’t able to consolidate all patches for Internet Explorer into one update is beyond me, but the fact remains, two different updates for Internet Explorer, patching 57 different vulnerabilities in ALL versions of it (6 to 10), are the highlight of this month’s Windows updates.

 No action is required on your Windows based computer(s) if you have automatic updates enabled. Otherwise, it is suggested that you download and install the updates through the Windows Update website (for Windows XP users) or check for updates manually from the control panel (for Windows Vista/7/8).