Martha's Blog

As a general rule the assumption is that change is usually good. Notice I said ‘assumption’.

So far this year I have noticed a number of changes and most of them are not good.

I guess the biggest change is known by the local news pundits as ‘pain at the pump’. Since I am retired and pretty much a stay at home person, that change hasn’t affected me as much as the folks who have to drive to work in order to be able to pay the bills. Where I live public transportation is not generally an option as it is either very limited or not available. This is mostly due to urban sprawl and the fact most of the American people have long had a love affair with the automobile.

Another change is how much the interest rates have gone down. I guess that change is good for some folks, but I suspect it is good mostly for big business and not for the ‘little guys’. The people who carry a lot of credit card debt don’t seem to be benefiting any from the interest rates as not many credit card companies are lowering rates for those folks.

I don’t carry debt on credit cards so that doesn’t affect me. But what does affect me is how much less money I earn on my savings. Another change I could have done without.

A huge unwelcome change is how much more money it takes to buy groceries! Every time I shop for food something or several somethings have gone up in price and not by just a little bit either.

The big box retailers are trying to cut costs and most of them are doing that by cutting employees and as for customer service, that’s practically non-existant now. So the poor customers are left with no one to help them make purchases and sometimes it’s even hard to find someone to take their money. I wonder if those big box retailers realize that all of this ‘saving money’ is costing them more money in the long run?

Now the politicians are promising ‘change’. So far all I have heard just makes me wonder, ‘what kind of change?’ I have always laughed at the old joke about ‘how you can tell if a politician is lying, his lips are moving’. I am beginning to think ‘change’ is a bad joke, and the joke is on us.

Martha

There are a lot of these folks, Vista bashers.

I like Vista myself. It is the smoothest running Windows OS I have ever had. But I have to admit I had to get used to Vista and that took me about two weeks, digging and poking into the corners and guts of this much maligned version of Windows.

There are a lot of reasons why people don’t like Vista.

“It’s too slow.” (It isn’t really, it probably isn’t configured properly. Mine runs just fine, but I do have more memory on my Vista computer than some computers have. Windows XP runs better with more memory as well.)

“I hate that User Access Control because it’s always in my face.” (It can be turned off if it bothers that much. Once your programs are all installed, turn it back on for the added security to your computer.)

“I can’t find where anything is located.” (It took me a while to find stuff! But once you think about it, the new locations make sense.)

“I’ve heard Vista is no good, so it must be bad.” (That is a terrible reason! Try it before you badmouth it. There are a LOT of these folks and some of them are posting all over the Internet. I just un-subbed from a newsletter that was constantly bashing Vista. The author doesn’t use Vista!)

“My software won’t run on Vista” (Most of the software that ran on Windows XP will run on Vista. See Vista’s Program Compatibility Mode.All of my Windows XP software works on Vista.)

“My printer, scanner, etc. won’t work. That Vista sucks!” (Guess what, the same thing happened when Windows XP was released. New technology needs new drivers and hardware folks want to sell you new technology. One way to do that is not to write and release new Vista drivers for old hardware. Microsoft doesn’t write hardware drivers, hardware manufacturers write hardware drivers.)

I think there are probably a lot more reasons why folks don’t like Vista. I also think the main reason they don’t like Vista is ‘it isn’t Windows XP’.

My take on the whole ‘Vista bashing’ is this: If you don’t like it at first, get to know it. If you still don’t like it,you don’t have to use it; there are other alternatives. You can go back to Windows XP. You can install and use Linux. You can get a Mac.

There are some things that came in Vista that are not really up to par, like Internet Explorer and Windows Mail. There is a problem with making your Folder Options ‘stick’. But I don’t use Internet Explorer, I use Firefox. I used Firefox with Windows XP because it doesn’t have ActiveX. I use Thunderbird instead of Windows Mail. More about those issues were discussed on an earlier post, The Buggy Bits in Vista.

No operating system is perfect. That’s why I like to think things keep evolving. Maybe one day a perfect OS will show up, but I doubt it will happen in my lifetime!

Martha

I use a laptop like a desktop. I have limited space for a computer and my laptop with a 17 inch display and keypad work just fine, as long as I can use a mouse. I absolutely despise those touchpads that come with laptops. I have a Microsoft wireless mouse and most of the time it works just great. Today it didn’t.

I got the message popup telling me the battery power in my mouse was low. No problem, I just bought a new package of batteries (16) so I proceeded to change the battery. (This mouse uses just one battery.)

It didn’t work. I put in a different battery and it still didn’t work. I was ready to panic, that keypad was giving me fits! I tried another battery, still no mouse! I searched and found an old wired USB mouse and hooked it up. It moved sooooo slooow! The wire kept getting in the way. Ick! Maybe I just need a new mouse.

I decided to see if maybe I should find new drivers. Yep, new updated drivers were available. So I downloaded the new drivers and installed them. I disconnected the old wired mouse and hooked up the wireless mouse. Nothing doing, it didn’t work.

I don’t give up easily as most of my family and friends know. I tried yet another battery and lo and behold it worked.

By now I’m rather unhappy that I have a package of sixteen batteries that seem to be a bit old. Two of them didn’t work and that is not good! These batteries weren’t cheapies either.

So, OK, that’s life. I noticed a new icon on my desktop for Microsoft Mouse and I check it out. Oh boy I can customize this mouse! I decide to click that button on the side of the mouse that will magnify stuff and oh boy, was that ever a mistake!

It magnified all right, big time! And clicking that button was supposed to turn the magnification off, but it didn’t! I am starting to get dizzy trying to manuever around with this big box following my every mouse move.

So I just did the usual fix for stuff like this. I rebooted and was sure hoping it would work.

Everything is back to normal size now and I am going to forget about ‘customizing’ my mouse. Sometimes it’s best to just leave well enough alone.

My son decided to check those batteries that didn’t work. Something fishy going on, the batteries tested OK. I have doubts about that mouse again. I check in the Control Panel, it indicates the battery life is good. But that battery power low message is still poping up, so yes, I think it’s time for a new mouse.

Martha

I have a new mouse! It is a Logitech V320 Cordless Optical mouse for notebooks and I just love this little mouse!

Once in a while someone I trust will post something in a Yahoo Group or blog and I take it for gospel. I shouldn’t do that, because some things they post are really not what a user should do.

I won’t mention any names, but there was a recent post/blog about getting ready for Vista that said I should go ahead and install the drivers that Windows update says I need. The message went on to say that although the writer ordinarily advised against installing drivers from Windows update, this is an exception.

So, thinking that this must be OK, I installed the driver for my graphics card that Windows update said is available and re-booted.

OMG! I have ruined my computer! The display is (and there is no other word to describe it) horrible! No amount of tweaking, changing settings, helps! This is a disaster! It looks worse than Safe-Mode!

Then I remembered System Restore. So I restored the computer to the day before and now everything is back the way it should be.

If I have to install those drivers that Windows update says I need before I can install Vista SP1, then it just isn’t going to happen. Vista SP1 will not be installed. Besides from what I have read, it will fix things that don’t need fixing on my computer. Hibernation works just fine along with everything else that supposedly needs fixing.

I am hoping that Microsoft will ‘fix’ SP1 to work with my drivers, especially if one day I see the dreaded message on Windows Update “You must have SP1 installed to update Vista”.

In the meantime I’m going to find out what version my video card driver uses, and download it it for safe keeping.

Another lesson learned. I did know better, but I did it anyway. Thank you, Microsoft, for System Restore!

Martha

Since Dr. Bombay did his disappearing act, he has been replaced with Mr. Modem. (Catchy name!) Mr. Modem is much nicer than Dr. Bombay, but not as much fun to read.

Mr.Modem has a website with lots of goodies. He has a search-able library full of computer tips, questions and answers. He has a page with his favorite links, lots of links. He has a CD which has “more than 1400 of Mr. Modem’s favorite Web sites — the best the Internet has to offer”.

He also has a weekly newsletter that sounds like a real help for users who need help. It isn’t free, but the sample shows it to be quite comprehensive.

In the column for Mr Modem that appears in the newspaper, he also answers questions and provides a few websites to visit in Mr Modem’s Sites of the Week.

While Mr. Modem’s column is informative for the average user and easier to read, I have to admit, it isn’t as much fun as Dr. Bombay Computer MD. I think sometimes I have an ornery streak!

Martha

Last year Dr Bombay just disappeared. No one seems to know where he went. For those who don’t know about Dr. Bombay, let me explain. He was a very sarcastic, hateful and knowledgeable computer columnist in my newspaper! When someone asked a question, Dr Bombay would answer in terms that surely made the questioner wish he/she hadn’t asked! But the answers were just about always right to the point and they were just about always right. He showed no mercy to hapless users that failed to make backups and lost their data or to users that lost data due to virus, worms or spyware making their computers useless.

He had a column in the paper every Thursday and I really looked forward to that column. (I have a warped sense of humor sometimes.) I just waited for the time when in his sarcastic words he slipped up and gave a wrong answer. Didn’t happen though.

When the Thursday came that no longer had Dr. Bombay’s column, everyone wondered where he went. The newspaper didn’t seem to know. They reported he just left and no one knew where or why. So if anyone there knew, they weren’t telling.

Google searches for Dr Bombay are in vain. There are thousands of hits, but they go nowhere. They mostly go to ‘Page not found’ or other disappointing places. A lot of them go to well known websites, but usually to a page no longer there. There are tons of hits for the Fort Worth Star Telegram (my newspaper) but even those go to dead ends. I did find one page that contained some of Dr Bombay’s pithy answers. If you want to, you can view some of Dr Bombay’s pithy answers.

Dr Bombay had a website, The Bombay Institute, and it also disappeared, . His website had the archives for his column in the newspaper. I had it bookmarked, but it goes to someplace else now. My guess is when he left and didn’t renew his domain, someone else bought it for the page rank.

I like to think Dr Bombay is somewhere out there in cyberspace chortling at the mis-information being given to frazzeled computer users. (There is a lot of that happening!) I feel bad about all that mis-information, but I really have to wonder what kind of sarcastic remarks Dr. Bombay would have made about Vista!

If you know what happened to Dr. Bombay, please let me know!

Martha

There are Yahoo Groups for seniors, religion, politics (don’t join a political Group if you are easily offended), and if you don’t find a Group for the subject you are looking for, well you can create a Group for that subject.

Yahoo Groups have so much to offer folks. If you have a hobby, there is probably a Yahoo Group for that hobby. You can join the Group and converse with people who have the same hobby.

There is a large number of computer help Yahoo Groups. If you have a computer problem of almost any kind, there are members who can help you solve your problem. All of this help is available to members totally free of charge. You can ‘lurk’, (meaning you don’t post) and learn lots of stuff about computers, or you can post questions if you have a specific problem. Sometimes it takes awhile to get the answer you need, but usually you will get the answer fairly soon.

Now for my warning. When you join a Group, check to see if it is public or private. If you want to contirbute to the Group by posting messages, DON’T join a public Group. Why not? Because everything you post could end up on a very public blog or website. This includes your email address, all nicely displayed for (gasp) spam harvesters! In case you don’t know about spam harvesters, it is a program that scans the web for email addresses to add to spammer lists.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t need any more spam!

Martha

I wonder about a lot of things. Anyone would think that at my age I should know at least some of the answers. There are a lot of things I do know, even about stuff not computer related. But of course there is more I don’t know about everything.

For instance, I wonder about blogs. I guess what I mean is, I wonder about the Blog writers. Do they really pour their heart and soul into an online journal on the Internet for the entire world to see and read? Or do they just make up stuff because they think it sounds good?

I have had a blog on blogger for a long time. Most of what I posted there was of a ‘gripe’ nature, about rebates, hotlinking and just general computer stuff. I wrote most of those posts because I was upset or mad about events in my life. Some I wrote because I thought it might help someone else that could be having a problem with their computer.

I like to read other people’s blogs. Some of them are written by people I have met through online Yahoo Groups. Some are helpful blogs and some are just entertaining. There are blogs that tell about their lives, like Ross’s Blog. Others are sort of like mine, a bit of rant and rave. I think some blogs are just a way to vent and get stuff out of ‘our systems’. I know some of my blog posts are like that. (Think rebates!)

One of the things I have been wondering about is how long will a blog stay on the web? I came across a blog earlier this year that was written by a man who has reached the ripe old age of 90+. Don is an incredible writer and has one of the most interesting blogs I have read. He thinks a lot about life and death and I certainly understand that! While I am not that old yet, I am not a youngster either, so I think about life and death as well although I try not to dwell on those subjects too much, especially death.

Getting back to Don’s Blog; he hasn’t posted anything since March. Given his age, you have to wonder “Is he still with us? Has he quit posting because of ill health or is he ‘gone’?” I hope he is just taking a break from blogging.

That made me start wondering just how long a blog will exist on a site like Blogger? Anyone know?

Martha

I have a new email address. It really isn’t new, because I have had it awhile, but didn’t use it. I checked it today and there was nothing there except two emails that were very old. No spam, no new messages and the spam filter was turned off. Oh boy!

I am so tired of all the Phishing emails! A new phish is introduced at least one a month and there must be a cajillion zombie computers out there, sending all of the phishes on command from whoever is running that malware scheme! I am so tired of all those emails trying to sell me stuff; especially for parts of anatomy that I don’t have!

I don’t expect the clean in-box to last very long, but I will enjoy it while it lasts. Someone (or several someones), on one of my many email lists has one of those Zombie computers! The sad thing is, that someone has no idea what is a zombie computer and is just wondering why the computer is so slow.

I am working on a plan to keep this email clean for a while, but it probably won’t work. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained! Anyway, I am enjoying it now!

Martha

Have you ever heard of a ‘lemon’? Not the kind you eat, but a product. It could be a car, a kitchen appliance or in the case of this article, a computer. A lemon in this aspect is a particular item in a line of mostly very good products, but this item has many problems that just can’t seem to be fixed. One problem after another occurs.

There are not as many ‘lemons’ these days, as quality control is much better than in the past. However, there are still the few ‘lemons’ that manage to get sold to a frustrated consumer.

Most people don’t buy a computer every year. When they buy a computer, they usually are influenced by what friends who already own a model of the computer they are thinking about, ads they may see on TV, etc.

If someone has had a bad experience with a particular computer, they will tell the prospective computer buyer, “Don’t get a XXXX computer!”

This may or may not be good advice. There are a lot of reasons why a computer may cause problems, just like there are a lot of reasons why a car, or an appliance might cause problems. It could even be, a lemon!

Unfortunately, a lot of ‘lemons’ are not the fault of the manufacturer, but are caused by the owner of the ‘lemon’. A computer, just like any other appliance requires maintenance. The problem is, computers require more maintenance on a regular basis than just about any other appliance. Depending on how a computer owner uses the computer, this maintenance may be required as often as daily.

A computer is much more susceptible to power fluctuations than most other appliances. A power surge that won’t affect other appliances can cause damage to a computer. A very strong surge protector should be used with every computer item that is plugged into an electrical outlet. An even better option is to use what is known as a ‘UPS’ or Uninterruptible Power Source. This can not only prevent damage to a computer, but can also give users a chance to save their work in the event of a power failure. (Just because you use a laptop doesn’t mean you are safe, if you have the laptop plugged into an electrical outlet your laptop is a risk of a power surge.)

A surprising number of computer users do not use security programs. An unprotected computer can be infected with virus, worms, trojans and spyware. This can cause data loss, an immense slow down of processing power and general all round havoc.

Martha