Windows 7 – Better Than Vista
The first thing you should know about Windows 7 is that it is better than Windows Vista, in just about every way.  Many of you have heard us (and others) say that Windows Vista was a flop.  Many of you are still running Windows XP, the previous version of Windows, because it is generally still respected as a quality (if a bit dated) OS.  Windows 7 has the performance of Windows XP with a user experience close to that of Apple OS X.

Vista was a total disaster, Windows 7 is a success.  Vista is slow and crashes frequently.  7 is fast and stable.  Vista created massive problems for 3rd parties, 7 is highly compatible.  Vista is expensive, 7 is affordable ($30 for students, $120 for upgrades, $200 for new home copies, $300 for businesses).

What’s Important About Windows 7 To You?
Windows 7 has many new features.  Some are helpful, some are pleasant, some will become necessities in the future.  None of the new features, however, are worth the upgrade alone.  So should you upgrade?  Easy answer:

Windows XP users do not need to upgrade to Windows 7. You’ll get 7 on your next computer, and it will run beautifully.  In the meantime, there’s no direct upgrade from XP to 7 (you have to purchase a full copy, then reinstall).  If you have a fast computer and you want the upgrade anyway, we can do it for you, just contact us.   If you’ve been waiting to buy a new PC at the store, it’s now is a fine time.  Though you might want to contact us first to get our free suggestions and buying tips.

All Windows Vista users should upgrade to Windows 7.  Vista is a problem.  7 is the solution.  The cost of the software upgrade is $120 for homes, $200 for businesses.  The upgrade process is fairly easy, we can do it for you or you can do it yourself.  This upgrade will make your system run better and faster for many years to come.

Businesses should continue to use Windows XP until getting a consultation.  Your business operations are critical to your income and you shouldn’t take any chances.  If you think your company is ready for the upgrade, contact Computer Courage to schedule a consultation so we can analyze your hardware, software, and needs before making the jump to Windows 7.  It’s not a matter of “if” with Windows 7, it’s just a matter of “when”.

Windows 7′s New Features
Windows 7 is not just a fix for Vista’s problems, it also brings some new features and tricks to the table.  You can see a whole feature list here, but below are some of our favorites:

• New taskbar – The new taskbar is somehow simpler, prettier, and more powerful.  It reminds us of the OS X Dock, but with innovative improvements such as Aero Peek, which lets you easily see open window previews.
• Better Networking – The new HomeGroup feature of Windows 7 makes it easy for you to share your pictures, video, and music with other computers in the house (even non-7 machines)
• Better Power Management – Stay greener and keep your utility bills down with improved sleep and resume functions.
• Support for Netbooks – We’ll see how well it runs, but 7 promises to be the future of those little mini-laptop “netbooks” you’ve been seeing around.

Is It Too Early For Me?
Remember, there is no rush.  Some people don’t like to run an operating system when its just come out – maybe it will have problems with your hardware or software.  If you wait, those problems might get hammered out for you before you buy.  Companies like Dell are still selling new computers with Windows XP on them, so you don’t have to make the transitions yet.  If you have a business with a network, make sure to contact Computer Courage for a consultation before moving forward with Windows 7 upgrades.

Free Upgrade If You Bought After June 26, 2009!
If you purchased a full copy of Windows Vista, or got it preloaded on a PC from a major manufacturer, you are likely eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7 (with some tax, shipping, and handling).  We strongly suggest you claim your upgrade disc.  You don’t have to upgrade now, but you might as well take advantage of the offer (which won’t last forever).  Note, even if you bought a PC with Windows XP on it, it’s likely to have been a copy of Windows Vista with an XP Downgrade, so you’re still probably eligible.

To find out if you are eligible for a free copy of Window 7, go to this page on Microsoft’s website.

Wireless Security – Do I Need It?
People ask us all the time about wireless security and whether or not they need it. The answer is absolutely. Your home network needs to be secured to keep unwanted snoops out and to keep your data in. Without security, neighbors could use your internet connection to do anything, and their activity would be traceable back to you. Beyond this, a savvy person with a laptop could break into an unsecured network and potentially access or damage your files.

The good news is that security is easy – we only needs to log into your router and set up WPA (or WPA2) security with a password. After that, any device that wants to connect to the network will have to enter a password and you are secure. If you need help setting up security, contact us or call your router’s manufacturer.

Wireless Reliability – I Keep Losing My Connection!
If you are suffering from a loss of connection on your wireless, it’s time to troubleshoot. Computer Courage is happy to come to your door and do the work for you, but we’ve also got some tips on how you can troubleshoot it yourself.

First, try plugging your computer directly into the router via a wired connection. If you still get drops, then the problem is not actually with wireless. If that’s the case, you can try troubleshooting your modem with your ISP or replacing the router.

If the problem is a wireless one, you may be suffering from interference from a phone, especially 2.4Ghz cordless phones. Try unplugging cordless phones and see if the connection improves. It may be a distance issue – try connecting when you are right next to the router. Finally, it may be a software or computer specific issue so try multiple computers – try a Mac if you have one available. If none of these steps help you to find the problem give us a call

Wireless Heaven – The Ultimate Solution
Computer Courage is proud to announce a wonderful new wireless solution. We call it Wireless Heaven. In a nutshell, it is affordable, secure, reliable, and can cover a very large area. If you have areas of your house that are not covered by wireless, if you have dropped connections, or if your network is unsecured, Wireless Heaven is the solution for you.

Features of Wireless Heaven:

• Very reliable
• Super fast – you can stream movies over it
• Scalable – Cover a small apartment or a huge house!
• No more “dead spots”
• No wiring necessary

Big House? Wireless Heaven Can Cover It
No matter how big your house is, we can cover it with seamless wireless internet. We do this by simply adding more units to the network and placing them strategically through the building. No wiring needs to be done, the units communicate wirelessly to each other. This is a great way to get wireless to your basement, upstairs, cottage, etc. It also works with any internet connection.

Call To Set Up Wireless Heaven
If you think this wireless solution is right for you, contact us online or call us at 510-525-2226 and we can have a technician at your house to get you connected right away.

Written by Adam Schwartz

Recently, Google has made some really important improvements to its services, and we’d like to outline a few of them for our loyal readers today.  There are so many fantastic features that we are splitting this newsletter into two parts.  In our second installtion of “Google Applications Grow Up” we’ll explore more powerful and time saving features for you and your businesses.

Wirelessly Synchronize your Contacts and Calendar to Your Phone
Almost any smartphone in the world can now wirelessly synchronize contacts and calendar data with Google (mail sync been possible for a while now).  This means you have all of your information on the go, all of your information is backed up by Google, and you never have to dock or sync your phone again for data sync purposes.  We’ve been waiting for this one for a while, and now it’s a reality.

For BlackBerry, open up your BlackBerry web browser and go to http://m.google.com.  Install both the Google Mobile App and the Gmail App.  Run them, enter your Gmail or Google Apps account, and BOOM – all of your contacts, messages, and calendar information are instantly available to you.

For the iPhone, you can set up your mail account as an IMAP account (guide).  Now, you can set up your calendar and your contacts separately.  Essentially, Google accomplishes this by “tricking” the iPhone into believing the Google is a Microsoft Exchange server.  This process is not too hard, but take caution – if you don’t carefully back up according to the instructions, you can lose your iPhone’s contacts.  Be careful and call us if you have any questions about this process – here’s the guide.

If you have any other smartphone, Google has their usual quality support information online here.

More Great New Gmail Functions
Google can’t stop adding new features.  These new features, called “Google Labs” are great opportunities to try new functionality.  Explore Gmail labs by logging into Gmail and clicking Settings, then clicking the Labs tab. Check out some of our favorites:

Mail Goggles – Avoid accidental “happy” emailing by enabling Goggles.  If Google suspects you’re not in your normal state of mind, it will force you to answer math questions before sending!
Forgotten Attachment Detector – How many times have we all forgotten to attach our attachments?  Google scans your message for mention of an attachment, and checks to see if there is one.  If not, it warns you before sending the message.
Multiple Inboxes – The name is a bit misleading, but this function allows you to watch multiple folders (labels) in Gmail from your inbox.  Put the main inbox on the left, and see other folders (family, business, etc.) on the right hand side at the same time.  This is particularly good if you use filters.
Signature Tweaks – Add “signature float”, which puts your signature above the quoted response text when you reply to someone.  Simple but helpful.

Google Apps – Google For Business
I mentioned this last week, but can’t reiterate it enough.  If you run a business and have talked to us in the last year, we’ve probably mentioned Google Apps.  Google Apps is a phenomenal and free tool for businesses that provides reliable, secure, and powerful IT solutions to businesses (including Computer Courage) for free.  Features include Gmail (with all the features I’ve listed above) for everyone, shared calendar (which syncs to phones and Outlook), chat, easy adding/removing of users, shared documents, and more.  This is a seriously powerful and valuable tool for any business, from one person to a large corporation.  If you haven’t talked to us about Google Apps, we highly recommend you give us a call, we’ll tell you all about how it can save you time and money and help your business grow.  This is an essential tool for any business, don’t miss out.

Don’t forget to read Part 1 of this entry here.

Photo by Gayle Laakmann (www.technologywoman.com)

Google’s products have always been terrific, but in recent months the internet juggernaut has made unbelievable progress in developing its offerings.  Computer Courage strongly recommends many Google products such as Gmail, Search, Picasa, Calendar, and more.  For businesses, we’ve been strong supporters (and users) of Google’s business-class mail/calendar/document system Google Apps (if you run a business, and you don’t know about Google Apps, call us immediately – there is a lot to learn!)

Recently, Google has made some very important improvements to its services, which we would like to review with you today.  There are so many fantastic features that we are splitting this newsletter into two parts.  You’ll receive part two in about a week after this one.

Google Mail and Calendar Go Offline
One of the main complaints about Gmail and Gcal have always been accessibility; until now there has been no obvious way to access your Gmail or calendar offline without 3rd party sync tools, but this week that all changed.  Google has created Offline Mode to allow you to access your information when you’ve got no WiFi, or you’re on a plane, or in a location with a bad internet connection.

Essentially, Google Offline allows you to open up Gmail and Gcal in your browser whether you are connected to the internet or not.  You can read emails, search for messages or appointments, set up appointments in your calendar, and even compose new messages.  If you are offline, Google will sync up any changes you’ve made when you are next connected to the internet.

The system is still in development, so it’s not available to all users, and it has some bugs and limitations.  But chances are you can go enable it and start using it today.  If you want to know more about offline access, including technical details, limitations, and an easy how-to guide to set up Offline Mode, read our recent blog entry here: http://www.computercourage.com/2009/02/08/google-goes-offline-with-mail-and-calendar/.

It should also be noted that Google Calendar can also sync to your Outlook or iCal programs.  Write or call and we can help you set that up.

Google Mail uses IMAP to Syncronize Between Devices
The term IMAP doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a very important upgrade to mail that Google adopted in 2008.  In the old days of email, we would download messages from the server, and put them on a computer.  In that model, we could only access messages from one place, and had no good backup.  Next came Yahoo Mail and Hotmail, which allowed us to access mail over the web.  The problems with that were that we didn’t have our own backup of messages, had limited mobile access, and couldn’t use our beloved Microsoft Outlook account.  Google found the answer with IMAP, which allows you to use programs such as Outlook, Thunderbird, and Apple Mail on any number of computers, synchronizing mail between all of them (and with Gmail as well.)  This means that if you mark a message as “read” on your desktop, it’s “read” on your laptop and webmail.  If you send a message from your phone, it’s in the “sent messages” folder on your desktop.  This is the single most important feature of Google Mail, and we highly recommend you switch to Google just for it!  This feature is not available in Yahoo, and costs extra in Hotmail.  Call to find out more.

Google Apps – Google For Business
If you run a business and have talked to us in the last year, we’ve probably mentioned Google Apps.  Google Apps is a phenomenal and free tool for businesses that provides reliable, secure, and powerful IT solutions to businesses (including Computer Courage) for free.  Features include Gmail (with all the features I’ve listed above) for everyone, shared calendar (which syncs to phones and Outlook), chat, easy adding/removing of users, shared documents, and more.  This is a seriously powerful and valuable tool for any business, from one person to a large corporation.  If you haven’t talked to us about Google Apps, we highly recommend you give us a call, we’ll tell you all about how it can save you time and money and help your business grow.  This is an essential tool for any business, don’t miss out.

You can now read Part 2 of this article here.

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.

Last Chance to Buy XP – as early as June 18th
Since it takes a while to put the PCs together, some OEMs, Dell included, have made the cutoff date even earlier. For Dell, you can only buy a system preloaded with Windows XP until June 18th. That’s about one week from today.

OK, I’m Buying Now – What Should I Get
Currently, our favorite flavor of PC is the Vostro 200. It’s technically for small businesses, but Dell will sell it to anyone. Dell sells a laptop and a desktop version of the Vostro. The Vostro is cheap, comes with the Intel Core 2 Duo processor (a must in our opinion), 2 gigabytes of ram (also a must), and you can get the desktop with a beautiful 22″ widescreen monitor for under $650.

Of course when you do get your new system, be sure to visit www.computercourage.com to learn more about what antivirus software to run, how to keep your machine running smoothly, and how we can help you with customized home installations.

What If I Don’t Buy
If you decide to wait on a PC until after June 30th, you’ll have a few choices.

First off, you can buy a Dell or HP with Windows Vista on it. Vista isn’t the end of the world – some things are nice about it.

You can buy your own copy of Windows XP and install it, but this is hard to do on your own (we can help) and sometimes impossible (especially with HPs.)

Another option is to buy a cheap PC with Linux preinstalled, then upgrade to Windows XP if you don’t like Linux. Some of these Linux machines are really cheap – WalMart sells them for as little as $200 (though they have no monitor and run pretty slow…).

Finally, you could always buy a Mac!

Conclusion

If you are planning on buying a PC in the next few months, it’s time to seriously consider just biting the bullet and buying a Dell Vostro right now. Getting your copy of Windows XP is going to save your frustration and money in the future. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to give us a call. We’re happy to help you pick out a good PC, and help you set it up to be reliable, fast, and secure.

Coming Soon: Computer Courage Blog
Just a quick heads up, we are in the process of upgrading our website right now, and should have some great new features up there soon. One of the most exciting is the Computer Courage Blog, where you’ll be able to browse our newsletters as well as get daily or weekly updates on what’s new in the computer world – complete with tips, deals, and opinions from your favorite local computer team. Look out for an announcement in the coming weeks.

System Resources – An Introduction
The speed of every system is limited by the availability of its resources. When a particular resource is unavailable, the system has to wait until it becomes available, often leaving the user hanging. The important resources for you to understand are CPU Cycles, System Memory (RAM), and Hard Drive storage.

CPU Cycles
Your CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the chip which performs all of the instructions for the computer. It’s the closest thing to a “brain” in your system. Almost everything you do goes through the CPU. While your computer does multitask, the CPU can only do one (or two in the case of dual-core) task at a time. Each task takes literally less than a millionth of a second, but a typical job such as opening an email might take millions of CPU tasks. Faster CPUs (like the new Intel Core 2 Duo line) make for faster systems. But these CPU cycles have to be used optimally, or the power of a system can go unharnessed.

System Memory (RAM)
RAM is one of the harder things to describe in a system. We use the tool belt analogy. Imagine you are doing a job on your house and need about 50 different tools (screwdrivers, hammers, ladders, etc.) Your tools are in a shed in the back. If you had to go back to the shed every time you needed a different tool, a job would take all day. Instead, you use a tool belt. The belt can hold fewer tools than the shed, but reaching for a tool from the belt takes just a second or so. Occasionally, you still need to go back to the shed, but overall your job will be done much faster. RAM is super fast memory which holds active programs (tools) and operating system components, speeding up your system. When you use all of your RAM, the computer has to go “back to the tool shed” (the hard drive) to get data. More RAM (a bigger tool belt) means less trips to the shed.

Hard Drive Storage
You hard drive is where your data is stored. Unlike the speedy RAM, a hard drive has moving parts and is relatively slow (though holds tons of information, and keeps that information even when the power is off.) When your hard drive gets full, or disorganized (fragmented), your system slows down.

Common Causes of System Slowdown, and How To Resolve Them

Unnecessary Programs Running
What’s Happening: Unnecessary programs running on the system can eat up valuable resources. Some programs run all the time, even if you aren’t using them. While this is often necessary (like antivirus), it’s often unnecessary and counterproductive. For instance, HP is known for adding all sorts of superfluous monitors and toner alters that slow down the computer.
What To Do: First, back up your system (contact us for help.)
Mac Users: Go to System Preferences -> Accounts -> Login Items. Look for programs that are set to run at startup which might be slowing you down.
PC Users: Go to Start Menu -> Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs. You’ll get a list of all the programs installed on your system. Start removing programs you don’t use or don’t need. When you’re done, restart. If the system is still slow, give us a call. We can use advanced tools to look deeper into the system and slim down hidden programs and startup items.

Spyware/Viruses
What’s Happening: Spyware and viruses can get into your system and use your previous system resources to send out spam, show your ads, track your activity, or just to waste time. This is an absolute waste. To learn more about properly protecting your system from viruses and spyware, see last month’s post. If you think your system is infected, contact us immediately and we can send someone over to clean things up.

Not Enough RAM
What’s Happening: When your system runs out of memory (RAM), it has to use the hard drive as “virtual RAM”. This is horribly slow. Getting rid of unnecessary software, viruses, and spyware will help with this, but the ultimate solution is to get more RAM. We recommend at least 1 gigabyte (GB). This is the most common and affordable way to improve system performance.
What To Do: Getting more RAM into your system is a bit complicated, and can be somewhat dangerous to your system if done improperly. The good news is that we can do it cheaply, safely, and easily. Just contact us with your system information and we’ll help you get upgraded, often for under $100 in parts and labor combined.

Operating System Corruption
What’s Happening: A final common cause of system slowdown is corruption of the operating system. In Windows, the “Registry”, which is a file containing thousands of settings, can become bloated or corrupted. In any operating system, vital files can become corrupted or destroyed
What To Do: A hard drive defragmentation is a good, safe first step. A quick Google search will reveal how to perform this. Going deeper, there are many tools out there that claim to clean up systems, but we recommend caution. Some of these registry cleaners or similar products can cause more problems than they resolve. One safe and effective tool is CCleaner (www.ccleaner.com). Sometimes, a system can get so corrupted that it needs to be completely reinstalled. If you aren’t sure what to do next, contact us and we’ll have someone out there to fix up your system right away.

Conclusion

Done properly, these tips should help you increase the performance of your system significantly. Please remember that these are just guidelines. Some of the practices described in this article need to be used very carefully. Remember to back up before trying any performance enhancements. Computer Courage is not responsible for any problems that may arise when attempting these solutions – we are happy to perform these (and more) techniques for you.

What is a virus? What is spyware?
A virus is a piece of malicious software that has two goals: to damage your data or system and to replicate itself. Spyware (aka adware or malware) is software that gets into your computer for profit. It makes money for its owner by sending spam, tracking website usage, displaying ads, or even harvesting your data. Viruses and spyware tend to spread themselves through email attachments, malicious websites, and sometimes through flash memory drives. While viruses are usually written by hackers with purely malicious intentions, spyware can come from anyone from hackers to honest software vendors.

How Do I Protect My System?
If you are a Mac user you can skip this discussion. As of now, there are essentially no viruses or spyware for Macs. Computer Courage recommends that you run your Mac system without any special protection. For the rest of us, let’s talk protection.

Antivirus software is a necessity on any Windows machine. While your chances of getting a virus may be significantly lower than the security companies would have you think, you simply can’t risk a costly infection which cause data loss, system outage, embarrassing emails, or pesky popups. To protect against spyware, you’ll either need to get a separate tool or, ideally, find software that protects against both. We’ll review several solutions in this article. Finally, security companies are pushing “internet security” software, which we think is unnecessary – just get antivirus and antispyware protection.

Norton & McAfee – Heavy Is The Head That Wears the Crown
The world of antivirus is dominated by Norton and McAfee. This is good for them, and bad for you. The truth is that these products are ineffective, bloated, and far behind the times. These systems, in their various incarnations, tend to commit the following sins:
• They slow down your system.
• They fail to incorporate antispyware.
• They nag and confuse the user too often.
• They fail to protect against enough viruses.
• They add in unnecessary extras like firewalls, toolbars, etc.
• They are overpriced.

If you have one of these systems, we strongly recommend you remove it and replace it with one of the solutions listed below. Even if you have time left on your subscription, you are missing out on the full potential of your computer and exposing yourself to security risks. Either go for it yourself or give us a call and we’ll take care of it for you.

Two Respectable, Free Solutions
Several companies have made an attempt to compete with Norton and McAfee by offering free antivirus products for home users. They offer more full featured versions (see below) on a paid subscription basis, and don’t offer free solutions to business users. This technique has proven quite effective, especially for one company, and you can take advantage immediately.

One quick and dirty solution is to scan your computer with Trend Micro’s HouseCall service. This is a web-based antivirus and antispyware solution found on their website at www.antivirus.com. It will scan and fix problems whenever you run it, but it doesn’t protect you around the clock, so it’s only a temporary solution. It’s also a good augmentation to your permanent solution.

AVG Free Edition is a fantastic product. It provided rock solid virus protection, is lightweight (doesn’t slow your computer down), is easy to use, and is absolutely free. The one drawback to AVG Free is that it doesn’t provide spyware protection. For that, you’ll either have to pay (see below) or add on one or two free spyware products. We recommend the combination of Spybot Search & Destroy with AdAware. These antispyware products are manual scanners, meaning you have to run them once or twice a month, but the price is right and the protection is reasonable. You can download all of them from download.com.

Our Recommended Solution – Easy, Affordable, Secure
For our money, the best solution is one that combines everything we’ve discussed into one package. We want effective and lightweight antivirus, automatic antispyware, no nag screens, a simple interface, no useless extras, and a decent price. We’ve found all of that in AVG Antivirus (the big brother of AVG Free Edition.) AVG Antivirus stands alone at the ideal intersection of speed, power, and ease of use. You can purchase the software right off their website and simply stop worrying about viruses, spyware, or annoying popups from your security suite. Note: AVG also sells an Internet Security suite, but don’t bother with it – the combination of AVG Antivirus and the Windows Firewall already built into your system is more than enough protection.

Click the logo above to purchase AVG now.

Once you are protected, take the extra step and be careful with your clicking! Don’t visit suspicious websites, don’t open suspicious email attachments, never give your personal information in response to an email. When you install software, look out for “piggybacking” – toolbars and other software that gets installed with your software by default.

Get Properly Protected Today
If you are running Norton or McAfee, it’s time to switch today. You’ll get new life out of your system and better protection. If you are running another antivirus solution, give us a call or send us an email and we’ll help you figure out what’s right for you. Business users – we can set up managed security solutions for small and medium business. Remember, we can come to your home or office and take care of this for you, and we’re just a phone call away.

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.

Windows Vista
Windows Vista was released an unbelievable seven years after its predecessor – Windows XP. Why? What took Microsoft so long? Well, for one thing Windows XP proved itself over and over to be a stable, relatively secure, and popular operating system. Additionally, Microsoft just couldn’t get Windows Vista right. So seven years later, what do we prefer – Windows XP or Windows Vista? The truth – we think Windows XP is the better operating system.

Vista’s New Features. Let’s start with the good. Windows Vista does deliver some nice features, most notably:
• Really fast and easy searching (through a technique called indexing)
• A beautiful looking interface (called Aero)
• A new and improved Internet Explorer 7
• Countless security improvements
• Parental Controls.

Vista Without Vista. One problem with Vista’s new features is that almost every single one is available in Windows XP – usually for free! Internet Explorer 7, security updates, and Windows Desktop Search are free downloads for Windows, and parental controls can be easily added to XP with 3rd party software. Everyone still supports XP – we have yet to see any software that is Vista only, so anything you can do on Vista can be done on XP.

Vista’s Problems. Windows Vista is slow and confusing. It’s laden with excessive background tasks such as DRM – Digital Rights Management – which chews up resources while watching to make sure you don’t try to illegally copy DVDs. If you don’t get the right version (there are 7 versions!) you can end up without features that you had on XP! Vista is very stable, but a lot of older peripherals, like printers, just aren’t supported in Vista.

What To Do. Computer Courage strongly recommends against upgrading your current Windows XP system to Vista. That’s a no brainer. But what about all these new systems that come pre-loaded with Vista? You can go with Vista, but we recommend staying away. Many manufacturers such as Dell are offering systems with Windows XP installed (especially on their Small Business site – which is a great place for anyone to find a deal). Other companies, such as Wal-Mart, are offering bare-bones systems with Linux. You can buy one of these and install a fresh copy of Windows XP, and we can help.

We’re surprised to be recommending a 7 year old product over a brand new one, but facts are facts. Vista is OK, but XP is better!

Apple‘s Leopard
Not to be outdone by Microsoft, in recent months Apple came out with a new operating system as well. OS X 10.5 (nicknamed “Leopard” in Apple’s tradition of naming operating systems after big cats,) is touted as having over “300 new features”. We investigated this claim, and found that while the 300 figure is a bit of a stretch, Leopard is indeed loaded with great new features, particularly an amazing new backup system called “Time Machine.”

Leopard’s Best New Features
• Time Machine: This feature alone makes the upgrade worthwhile. Time Machine is a brilliant backup service that runs automatically on your computer and backs up your files and system to an external hard drive. Time Machine is completely automatic. Restoring files is amazingly easy, and the program is extremely reliable. Kudos to Apple on this one. Look out for “Time Capsule” – a new product just announced that will allow you to backup all your Macs in the house to one central unit, wirelessly.
• Quick Look: Now you can preview most documents instantly, regardless of what software you have installed. Just hit the space bar and you can view pictures, movies, Microsoft Office documents, emails, MP3s, and more. Very convenient.
• Boot Camp: It’s official – Macs now run Microsoft Windows. And they run it well – Macs can run both OS X and Windows – and you can switch back and forth with the click of a button. Windows is fast on these Intel Macs too!
• Application Enhancements: We’ve observed terrific enhancements to Mail, Safari, iChat, Finder, and more.
• Parental Controls: Apple did a very nice job with Parental Controls – it can help you keep your children’s experience safe and worry-free by filtering web and other content. (We can help you install parental controls on PCs and older macs as well.)

Upgrading to Leopard. Unlike with Windows Vista, we do recommend upgrading your existing Mac to Leopard. Even if you have an older G4 Mac, Leopard speeds up the machine, and gives you new features, and of course it offers you the all-important Time Machine. The installation can be a bit confusing, but we are always willing to help out with that. The upgrade costs about $130, or just $200 for the whole family (up to 5 Macs.)

Mac Vs PC – What Does Computer Courage Prefer?
Computer Courage uses both Macs and PCs every day. While Leopard is probably the fastest and most advanced operating system out there, we still love Windows XP and particularly, we rely on Microsoft Outlook daily (only available for the PC.) PC prices are great too – for business or personal use, you can’t beat a complete Dell system for around $600. We love the Apple MacBook laptops; they are compact, affordable, and super reliable. So for now we’re sticking with both PC and Mac. They’re both great for business and personal use, though businesses are overall happier with the wide array of software for the PC. Our advice – get one of each and we’ll help you set them up, network them, back them up, and learn how to get the most out of your computers!