DisDads IT Kung Fu Questions and Answers

[Cinderella's Fella]

I thought we could use a help thread for questions on Tech, software, hardware ect. If you have a problem ask your question here and hopefully someone with Strong IT Kung Fu will answer it.

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Yea, I have a problem and I hope you can help me. Comcast is my internet provider and they offer Norton anti virus for free. So being cheap I have been using it. Ok the problem is I've downloaded the latest rev and their Identity Guard and now none of my logins are remembered. I have to login on every page that I belong to, like the Dis Board.

Is there any help for me?

 

[trennr]

Yea, I have a problem and I hope you can help me. Comcast is my internet provider and they offer Norton anti virus for free. So being cheap I have been using it. Ok the problem is I've downloaded the latest rev and their Identity Guard and now none of my logins are remembered. I have to login on every page that I belong to, like the Dis Board.

Is there any help for me?

I too am cheap...we have CenturyLink DSL...and I use there free protection software CenturyLink Branded version of F-Secure.

Not familiar with Norton...but I'm pretty certain that there is probably a setting which you can disable somewhere within the package. Also..it maybe that Norton changed some setting within your internet browser which could be the issue.

Only thing I can suggest is trial and error until you find what fixes it...only change one thing at a time....and many reboots later remember what you changed to fix it...so when you get the next update you don't have to go thru it again. Hopefully there will be someone who knows the answer around here.

 

[twokids0204]

Another AntiVirus option for those thrifty consumers (I don't think of anyone as cheap) is AVG it is a free option.

As for the password, I wonder if you have chosen an option to clear cache and cookies upon exit (sounds like my kids trip to Tim Hortons).

It may help if you tell us what browser you are using.

IE? Safari? Chrome? Firefox? etc...

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Another AntiVirus option for those thrifty consumers (I don't think of anyone as cheap) is AVG it is a free option.

As for the password, I wonder if you have chosen an option to clear cache and cookies upon exit (sounds like my kids trip to Tim Hortons).

It may help if you tell us what browser you are using.

IE? Safari? Chrome? Firefox? etc...

I'm using Firefox. In options I do not have it set up to clear cache or cookies.

Nate and Brian, Thank you for your help.

 

[coloneldebugger]

I avoid those hand outs from the ISP.

Get Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, and it's not a try it for 90 days, or a year, type of free like the stuff that Comcast or Verizon or whoever gives out during installation.

Also, below is a link to a good list of free software to protect your computer and many tools beyond that.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/

Which version of Firefox are you running? Do you have any add-ons? Just double check your Privacy and Security tabs under Options to make sure nothing unusual is checked there. If all else fails, someone quite wise once said, begin at the beginning. Below is a link to restore your firefox to its default settings.

http://gnoted.com/how-to-restore-all-default-settings-on-mozilla-firefox/

 

[cj9200]

Great idea Randall.

I have been a PC guys since they were tablets, stone tablets. Thinking of going to the dark side and get an Apple product. Many questions. To start off:

1. How difficult is it to go from a PC world to Apple for someone that has used Word all his life. Are Word docs easily convertible back and forth?

2. I am interested in a full blown lap top not the smaller versions you can carry anywhere. Wrong attitude? What should I be looking for and how much will it cost me?

3. I mostly do word processing, email and web posting. Not so much accounting/data work using excel and similar programs. Love photography (above and under water) and am getting more into video. I hear Apples are great for editing pics and videos. True? What software should I look for?

4. Thinking about starting a blog or on-line newsletter. Is one (PC/Apple) better than another.

5. How good is Apple with how to questions?

As you can see I need strong IT kung fu. Any help and advice you can give would be appreciated. Thanks.

CJ

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

I disabled the Norton toolbar, and unchecked clear history in option settings and that seemed to fix my problem. Thank you all for your help.

 

[AJRitz]

Having made this switch myself, I'll take a stab at answering:

Great idea Randall.

I have been a PC guys since they were tablets, stone tablets. Thinking of going to the dark side and get an Apple product. Many questions. To start off:

1. How difficult is it to go from a PC world to Apple for someone that has used Word all his life. Are Word docs easily convertible back and forth?

I found it remarkably easy to make the switch. There are a few things you have to get used to, but they're fairly minor and you pick them up quickly. There's a version of Microsoft Word for Mac, and documents can be moved back and forth between the Mac version and PC version of Word almost flawlessly. There are a few interface differences, but again, you get used to them pretty quickly (I actually miss the Formatting Palette from the Mac version when I'm on the PC now). Oh, and there's no "conversion" involved. A PC-generated Word (or Excel or Powerpoint) file opens just the same on a Mac as a PC, and vice-versa).

2. I am interested in a full blown lap top not the smaller versions you can carry anywhere. Wrong attitude? What should I be looking for and how much will it cost me?

Not necessarily the wrong attitude, but there are a number of options here. If you want to save some money, and retain portability, you can pick up a quite powerful 13" MacBook Pro for about $1,500 (be careful comparing prices with a Windows laptop - you're getting higher-end, more powerful components, by and large, on the Mac). Plug that in to an external monitor (even one you already own) with a $29 adapter, and you get a machine that is more powerful than most Windows desktops, but you still have portability. I use a 13" MacBook Pro as my main computer.

3. I mostly do word processing, email and web posting. Not so much accounting/data work using excel and similar programs. Love photography (above and under water) and am getting more into video. I hear Apples are great for editing pics and videos. True? What software should I look for?

There are several options of photo-editing on a Mac. iPhoto is good for quick-and-dirty edits. For higher-end photo processing, Photoshop runs on Mac, and Apple makes a high-end package called Aperture. There are a number of less-expensive but still quite powerful (if not quite Photoshop) apps. I use one called Pixelmator that does what I need. I think it was around $40. For videos, iMovie is excellent for a free software package. If you get into higher-end video editing, the tool of choice if Final Cut Pro (though the recently-released version 10 is not getting the best reviews).

4. Thinking about starting a blog or on-line newsletter. Is one (PC/Apple) better than another.

Not really. Blogging is primarily text editing. Formatting and the like is usually handled by an online editor, which works the same on either a PC or a Mac

5. How good is Apple with how to questions?

This really is Apple's strength, especially if you have an Apple Store in your area. They offer in-store classes on a broad range of subjects, and many of the classes are free. The Genius Bar is a great resource for taking care of problems (you'll be much happier if you make an appointment first). I've had a lot of experience with computer support on both the Windows and Mac sides, and my support experiences with Apple have been universally more satisfying than my experiences with Windows computer makers (including Dell, HP, Compaq, and - going back some years now - Quantex).

As you can see I need strong IT kung fu. Any help and advice you can give would be appreciated. Thanks.

CJ

 

[IamTrike]

I disabled the Norton toolbar, and unchecked clear history in option settings and that seemed to fix my problem. Thank you all for your help.

Glad you got it fixed.

Great idea Randall.

I have been a PC guys since they were tablets, stone tablets. Thinking of going to the dark side and get an Apple product. Many questions. To start off:

Aaron's answered your question quite well but I'll tack some comments onto his.

Having made this switch myself, I'll take a stab at answering:

I found it remarkably easy to make the switch. There are a few things you have to get used to, but they're fairly minor and you pick them up quickly. There's a version of Microsoft Word for Mac, and documents can be moved back and forth between the Mac version and PC version of Word almost flawlessly. There are a few interface differences, but again, you get used to them pretty quickly (I actually miss the Formatting Palette from the Mac version when I'm on the PC now). Oh, and there's no "conversion" involved. A PC-generated Word (or Excel or Powerpoint) file opens just the same on a Mac as a PC, and vice-versa).

Seconded. My whole sales team switched from PC's to Macs. There was a wide variance of technical ability across the group and the switch was relatively painless for all.

Not necessarily the wrong attitude, but there are a number of options here. If you want to save some money, and retain portability, you can pick up a quite powerful 13" MacBook Pro for about $1,500 (be careful comparing prices with a Windows laptop - you're getting higher-end, more powerful components, by and large, on the Mac). Plug that in to an external monitor (even one you already own) with a $29 adapter, and you get a machine that is more powerful than most Windows desktops, but you still have portability. I use a 13" MacBook Pro as my main computer.

Typing this on a 13.3 Macbook Pro myself. Its also my primary computer. Check the apple website you can usually get this machine refurbished for a couple hundred less. It comes with the same warranty as new. I think I pay pretty consistently about $1000 or $1100. I've bought several and have had no issues.

There are several options of photo-editing on a Mac. iPhoto is good for quick-and-dirty edits. For higher-end photo processing, Photoshop runs on Mac, and Apple makes a high-end package called Aperture. There are a number of less-expensive but still quite powerful (if not quite Photoshop) apps. I use one called Pixelmator that does what I need. I think it was around $40. For videos, iMovie is excellent for a free software package. If you get into higher-end video editing, the tool of choice if Final Cut Pro (though the recently-released version 10 is not getting the best reviews).

If you've bought adobe software some of it comes with both the Windows and Mac version and some come with only one. For example, Photoshop Elements is either Mac or Windows, Lightroom on the other hand comes with both. I use Gimp on my Mac. Its free and there are a lot of tutorials.

This really is Apple's strength, especially if you have an Apple Store in your area. They offer in-store classes on a broad range of subjects, and many of the classes are free. The Genius Bar is a great resource for taking care of problems (you'll be much happier if you make an appointment first). I've had a lot of experience with computer support on both the Windows and Mac sides, and my support experiences with Apple have been universally more satisfying than my experiences with Windows computer makers (including Dell, HP, Compaq, and - going back some years now - Quantex).

Seconded. Apple's support rocks, and I'm not just saying this because they replaced both my wife and my iphone.

 

[BigTex71]

I avoid those hand outs from the ISP.

Get Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, and it's not a try it for 90 days, or a year, type of free like the stuff that Comcast or Verizon or whoever gives out during installation.

I second this. As long as you are running Windows 7 or Vista(ugh!), Microsoft Security Essentials is all you need.




I am also contemplating a move to Mac. I recently got my first Apple device (iPad 2) and I love it.

 

[cj9200]

Thanks for the answers to my questions. I was leaning toward changing and I think you put me over the edge. There is an Apple store at the mall less than 2 miles from the house so tech help just around the corner.

I plan on getting one in August and will start looking at options. Probably will rely on you again for advice and answers.

Thanks again guys, really helpful.

CJ

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Alrighty then. I have Excel 2010. When I do a sort with it, it crashes. It doesn't happen every time, but most time when I do a multiple columns it happens. So, O Mighty IT Kung Fu Masters, I come to you again for help.

 

[RodBelding]

Seconded. Apple's support rocks, and I'm not just saying this because they replaced both my wife and my iphone.

They replaced your wife??? Can you please put me in contact with that support service???

 

[AJRitz]

Alrighty then. I have Excel 2010. When I do a sort with it, it crashes. It doesn't happen every time, but most time when I do a multiple columns it happens. So, O Mighty IT Kung Fu Masters, I come to you again for help.

How many rows are you sorting? IIRC, when you do an Excel sort, it holds all of the data in memory. If the amount of data you're sorting exceeds your available RAM capacity, you get a crash. If that is the problem, your can try a couple of approaches:
1) Close all other applications before running the sort.
2) Reboot your computer, and then open ONLY Excel and do the sort (in case some apps are not releasing memory when they're closed).

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

How many rows are you sorting? IIRC, when you do an Excel sort, it holds all of the data in memory. If the amount of data you're sorting exceeds your available RAM capacity, you get a crash. If that is the problem, your can try a couple of approaches:
1) Close all other applications before running the sort.
2) Reboot your computer, and then open ONLY Excel and do the sort (in case some apps are not releasing memory when they're closed).

Thanks Aaron, I'll give it a try.

 

[coloneldebugger]

They replaced your wife??? Can you please put me in contact with that support service???

no wonder apple's stuff is so expensive.

it's worth it.

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

How many rows are you sorting? IIRC, when you do an Excel sort, it holds all of the data in memory. If the amount of data you're sorting exceeds your available RAM capacity, you get a crash. If that is the problem, your can try a couple of approaches:
1) Close all other applications before running the sort.
2) Reboot your computer, and then open ONLY Excel and do the sort (in case some apps are not releasing memory when they're closed).

Ok, I shut everything down but excel, and sorted one column and it crashed. It restarted and I then sorted three columns and it stayed up and running.

 

[DEA]

2. I am interested in a full blown lap top not the smaller versions you can carry anywhere. Wrong attitude? What should I be looking for and how much will it cost me?

From what you've said here, I would suggest staying away from the MacBook Air, and looking toward the MacBook Pro line. The Airs are pretty awesome (as I sit typing on one), but have no DVD drive, which can be problematic for someone doing video editing. You are going to want to put those videos on something, eventually.

Screen size: You pay more for more square inches of screen. I use a 13.3" screen on laptops. This will let me see two documents side by side at the resolution I use, but not a lot else. If you have a lot more going on on the screen, you may want to look at the 15" and 17" models.

Memory: Get 4GB. That's a reasonable balance between cost and being able to do things on the computer simultaneously.

Hard drive: The SSD (Solid-State Drive) models are great; speedy and quiet. This comes at the cost of, well, money. 250GB of hard drive space, SSD or no, is a good starting point.

Also, as you are switching from Windows, there are rumors upon which I cannot comment that look something like this: http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=119517

Alrighty then. I have Excel 2010. When I do a sort with it, it crashes. It doesn't happen every time, but most time when I do a multiple columns it happens. So, O Mighty IT Kung Fu Masters, I come to you again for help.

I see some buzz about this issue, with some people suggesting that this happens mainly to people using documents saved in the old Excel format vs. the newer format. Is that the case for you? It may be as simple as saving the document in the latest format for Excel.

 

[IamTrike]

They replaced your wife??? Can you please put me in contact with that support service???

Wow that was bad. Uhhh they replaced my wife's screen too. To get the wife replacement option is a whole different level of apple care.