Finals Days of Windows XP
This month’s article is short and sweet - but ever so important. As many of you know from our previous articles, we at Computer Courage prefer Windows XP to the newer and slower Windows Vista. Due to the general unpopularity of Windows Vista, Microsoft has been extending the shelf life of Windows XP - we’ve been able to buy computers preloaded with XP long after Vista was released. Sadly, this all changes very soon.
On June 30th, Microsoft will officially ban manufacturers such as Dell, HP, etc. (also called “OEMs”) from selling PCs with Windows XP preloaded on them. This means that now is a good time to buy a PC if you were planning on doing so in the next several months.
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Those of you who have used our services, or read our blogs, know that we prefer Mozilla Firefox over Microsoft Internet Explorer. Since before version 1.0, Firefox has been easier to use, safer, and more feature-rich than IE. The rest of the world is slowly realizing this, as Firefox’s share of the marketplace has been rising steadily over the years.
Firefox, currently at version 2.0.0.14, still has its problems. The program is known to hog too much memory (which can kill system performance), occasionally crash, and has had all of its unique features (like tabs) copied by Microsoft and Apple. Fear not, however, because Firefox 3 is coming in June and looks like something special.
I just came across an awesome screencast from the good folks at Mozilla showing off some intriguing new features. Among the most impressive were site security auditing, easier bookmark system, and an automatic and instant search feature - the search feature automatically searches through your history and bookmarks to find sites you’ve visited before. Very impressive.
Check out the screencast here and look out for an announcement from us about the release of Firefox 3 in the coming weeks.
Computer technology is said to double in speed and capacity every two years (a phenomenon called Moore’s Law.) If our computers are doubling in speed every two years, why is it that we find ourselves waiting for computers to respond every day? Why does it sometimes take 5 minutes just to open our email? In this month’s article, Computer Courage will explain why so many computers still suffer from performance problems and show you some free tips on how you can speed things up.
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One of the most common questions we get from our users is about antivirus. Just about everyone today is frustrated with their security software. Some antivirus solutions slow down the computer too much, or others leave out important areas of protection. Today we’re going to pass some advice, explanations, and a few simple recommendations. Remember, if you want personalized help in your home or office, just contact us.
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New Systems, New Decisions:A Roadmap to Vista and Leopard
In the last several months, we have seen the release of two very highly anticipated operating systems – Microsoft’s Windows Vista and Apple’s OS X 10.5 (Leopard.) Now that the hoopla has died down a bit, many of our customers are wondering, and asking us – should I upgrade? How will these operating systems help me? In this article, we’ll take you through the main benefits (and drawbacks) of upgrading, and give you our honest opinion on these shiny new operating systems.
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