Do You Use Free Programs and Services?

There have been several incidents in recent memory in which a service provider has stopped providing a free service or stopped providing service altogether. Most recently, the developers of TrueCrypt, a disk encryption product, announced that they were stopping all development and support of their product. They went so far as to alert users that the product should not be […]

The End of Support for XP–All is Not Lost!

Microsoft ended support for Windows XP today. The camps are divided as to whether that was just another ploy to get you to spend more money on another operating system, or whether it was time for XP to go gently into that good night. Keep reading to the end for a bit of a surprise. Let’s face it, XP was […]

I’m Completely Safe On a Mac Or Linux

FALSE! Well, you might be safer on a Mac or Linux machine than on an unpatched Windows machine. But just getting a Mac and never taking safety measures, and then clicking on every link that comes into your email and giving your install password to every process that requests it isn’t any safer than running any other Windows machine. Remember Willie […]

Get Ready for a New Household Name

Bill Gates is synonymous with computing. Somewhat less so, unless you’re a geek, is Steve Ballmer. Ballmer was the guy who took the reins from Gates, and we kind of hold him responsible for what Microsoft has become–both good and bad. The new name to listen out for is Satya Nadella, as of February 4 of this year. He has […]

The–Blue–Screen-Of–DEATH!!!!!

Every computer system has the capability of crashing. Some self-recover better than others, and some manifest it more elegantly than others. Make no mistake, regardless of what kind of computer you are using, your computer can crash. I am not particularly loyal to one hardware set or to one operating system. I use them all and I enjoy them all. […]

Microsoft is Not Calling You!

Truth: Microsoft Technicians are NOT going to call you and offer to help fix your computer.  That means that anyone who calls you claiming to be a Microsoft Technician is NOT telling you the truth. There is no division within Microsoft tasked with calling users to help them fix their computers. Furthermore, there is no process within your operating system […]

More Cores is the Key to Multitasking

Multi-core processing is one of those terms that geeks love to use when they tell people about their computers because having multiple cores means wonderful things. Let’s start on what a processor is: A processor is a component that processes instructions from the different programs and makes outputs. That’s obviously a simplified explanation, but that’s what it is and what […]

Why Does Microsoft Keep Changing Stuff?

  If you know me—at all—you know that I use a lot of different forms of technology, from different providers. This gives me the foundation to be able to tell you authoritatively that it is not just Microsoft that keeps changing stuff. Let’s start by saying that, although a horse and buggy is an adequate way to get around and […]