Saturday, December 31, 2011

Inspiron 14Z Review

Affordable Computer Geek of Salem MA 
Just recently purchased an Inspiron 14Z through the Dell Employee Purchase Program. It was a gift for the wife. She is a "casual" user, mostly internet browsing, email etc. 


With my EPP discount & a free shipping coupon I paid just under $900.00. Should note that I also purchased the three year complete care warranty. Something I do on every laptop I purchase, whether for work or personal use. I am usually not a fan of extended warranty's, but on laptops, they have almost always paid off. All you need is one broken screen or system board and you made your money back.


Came configured with Win 7 Home Premium w/ MS Office Starter (Word & Excel), 2nd generation Intel®Core™ processor i3-2330M (2.2GHz) with Intel HD Graphic 3000, 6GB RAM, 640GB HDD. I won't go on with all the in depth nerdy specs. Certainly a more than capable machine for a casual user. 


The aluminum case has a nice solid feel and the lid/screen hinges also have a nice solid feel to them. The standard US keyboard that it came with, more about that later, with it's chiclet style keys was noisy and "hard". Hard meaning that there was no give to the keys/keyboard. It was like siting at a table and tapping your fingers on it.  The individual keys were also very flat making it difficult for this touch typist. The back lit keyboard has a more "rubbery" feel to it and the keys, while still chiclet looking have a bit of a indentation in them. A feature that is important to a touch typist like me. 


It also come with it's fair share of "crap-ware". Not nearly as bad as Dell consumer machines used to be and certainly not as bad as some HP consumer machines I have seen recently, but it still comes with some annoying stuff. The worst of which, in my opinion, is the McAfee. Uggh. Probably the worst AV product on the market today. Bogs down the best of machines. You can either pick though Add/Remove programs and remove the "crap-ware" items one at a time or check out this great utility: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/.


The high gloss 14" screen is better than I was expecting. Even in a brightly lit room. Not much reflection and the image quality is great. It also has a built in webcam & mic that takes a fairly high quality picture/video image & audio. 


My only issue so far is the fan sometimes runs at a very high RPM, even when the in/out vents are not being blocked and the CPU is not under extreme stress.  Not sure what that is all about, or if it is normal for this model? 


The wife is perfectly happy with the machine. She moved to this from a very old Inspiron 6000 so this is quite the performance upgrade for her. 


When I configured the machine I specifically picked out a back lit keyboard. When I reviewed the configuration before pressing the  button to finish the purchase it showed that I had picked the back lit keyboard. After making the purchase I reviewed the config again and it said standard US keyboard. That concerned me a bit, but just figured it was an error on the web site. 


When the laptop arrived it did not have the back lit keyboard. I contacted Dell tech spt via there chat interface and the tech said that my unit was not configured with a back lit keyboard so they could not help me. After some back and forth arguing with him he told me to hold on. Came back and said Dell wanted to make it right for me. They sent out a tech with a back lit keyboard. 


I am quite happy with the way Dell made this right, but what makes me angry is I know for certain that I configured it with the back lit and after purchase the config changed to standard. Doing some research and reading @ Dell forums & reviews of this model I don't appear to the only one that had this problem. Sadly, many others did not get treated the same way I did and got stuck with the standard keyboard.


I would recommend this laptop to the casual user as well as high school & college students. 



Thanks for reading,

Tony

Anthony C. Goodwin


















Sunday, December 25, 2011

Internet Explorer Screws Up Computer Do Not Use

Affordable Computer Geek of Salem MA

Found this on a computer I worked on a while back. Pretty funny. Wasn't IE that was "screwing up" the computer, it was downloading questionable content.



Thanks for reading,

Tony

Anthony C. Goodwin



Sunday, December 18, 2011

Setting up Verizon DSL Westell 6100 to work with a Linksys E1000 Wireless Router.

Affordable Computer Geek of Salem MA


Went to a clients house to connect a new Linksys wireless router to a VZ DSL Westell 6100. Not a big fan of the 6100. Had problems in the past configuring them to be just a "dumb" bridge/switch from the VZ network to the wireless device. Even more difficult when the username and password for the Westell 6100 is not known, which was the case this time.


Really did not want to do a reset to defaults on the 6100 as I could not recall what would be required to get it back up and running again. I think that you have to have all of the VZ account information in order to set it up. Not wanting to risk it I made the dreaded call to VZ DSL tech support.


I thought there was a way to simply connect the DSL line to the Internet jack of the Linksys then connect the Westell 6100 to one of the other four ethernet ports on the Linksys but was not sure exactly. Sure enough what you can do is just that.


First connect a device directly to the Linksys E1000. If new you would go to http://192.168.1.1 with <blank> password and admin for the password. Once in there set for DHCP if it is not already and change the E1000's IP address to 192.168.2.1 and save the changes. If you need to get back into the console you then have to go to http://192.168.1.1.


Personally I would prefer to set the Westell 6100 to be a dumb bridge. But the above method works as well. I was able to also connect a desktop computer to the Linksys and get internet service to it as well. 


If anyone has any thoughts or reasons why one method, making the Westell 6100 a dumb switch, or the above is better than the other in this situation I would be glad to hear them.





Thanks for reading,

Tony

Anthony C. Goodwin

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Timeline is Coming to Facebook. Could be a privacy concern for some.

Facebook is rolling out it's new Timeline feature. I guess the best definition of Timeline is summed up by Adrian Covert @ Gizmodo in his article What Is Facebook Timeline? (Only Your Whole Life) 
1. Ensure your Privacy and Sharing Settings are set to Friends Only.
2. Remove any casual acquaintances you have added as friends. Or place those that you do not want to see anything in the Restricted List. 
3. Clean up any questionable or embarrassing content on your profile. What this new Timeline feature will allow is for a "friend" or stalker to quickly scan anything and everything posted on your wall. Regardless of when it was posted. Just imagine your boss finding those pics of you at the beach that day you called in sick!
4. Don’t opt in to Frictionless Sharing of the new Social Apps.
5. After Timeline is activated you ONLY have seven days to modify the content that is currently on your wall that will be available to all for viewing. So take advantage of the seven days to clean up yours!
Thanks for reading,

Tony

Anthony C. Goodwin

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Family Tech Support Rage Comic

Affordable Computer Geek of Salem MA

This was just too funny to not post. For those of you that have allowed yourself to become  tech support for family & friends you will appreciate this. Sorry, found on Reddit.com, don't know who drew it so no credit.

Thanks for reading,

Tony

Anthony C. Goodwin

Thursday, December 8, 2011

AirDroid App allows you to access your device via wireless from a computer.

Affordable Computer Geek of Salem MA

Found this article/review of an Android app called AirDroid. QR code to Android Market below. Of the many features this app provides my favorite is the ability to send/receive SMS messages. When I have my laptop on and the phone is nearby I would prefer to be able to respond to messages via the laptop instead of picking up the phone.

Other features allow you to import/export music, photos, files etc.

Very simple setup. Even very novice users should be able to connect your device across the wireless network to your desktop/laptop.








Thanks for reading,

Tony

Anthony C. Goodwin

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Landed A New Gig!


I consider myself very fortunate. After being laid off 11-22 I was quite anxious as to my ability to find a new position with comparable compensation to my old position.

What I discovered during my short job search is that there are numerous F/T Permanent as well as many Contract & Contract to Permanent jobs out there for a System Administrator with my skill set, track record and experience. I also learned that positions having anything to do with vmware are almost impossible for employers/recruiters to fill. And there are many-many-many vmware related vacancies.

My new position is with Bonaire as a Technical Software Support Engineer. Quite a wide departure from my experience of the last four years. A bit apprehensive taking on a position that I know very little about. But I can remember four years ago I accepted a position as a Jr. System Administrator not having any solid experience in the field, but that all turned out OK. I expect if I apply myself I should be able to master this new position in the same fashion as I did with the System Administrator position. 

This new position would not have been possible without all the support and recommendations I have gotten from my former co-workers and the 26 Princess St. refugees that had already accepted positions at Bonaire


To all of you that have helped me and offered support over the past couple weeks my heartfelt thanks. 


Thanks for reading,

Tony

Anthony C. Goodwin

Monday, December 5, 2011

ARRRGHHH! Deleted Chrome Bookmarks Folder By Mistake.

Affordable Computer Geek of Salem MA

Just below the address bar in the Chrome browser window I have a few commonly used shortcuts and had two folder from my bookmarks as well. Having only recently switched to Chrome I was unsure of how to modify that area under the address bar. Of my two folders I wanted to get rid of the one called Work. So I right clicked on it and selected CUT. Thinking that it was only cutting it from the top of the browser window. I then open Bookmark Manager and find that the folder is GONE!.  Dread & panic set in. Four years worth of work related bookmarks that I rely upon heavily, sort of as a private knowledge base. 

So, how to recover mistakenly deleted Chrome bookmarks:
  • Open Windows Explorer and navigate to this path C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
  • Inside that folder will be two files one called Bookmarks and the other Bookmarks.bak. For safety copy both off to someplace you can find later, say the desktop. 
  • Delete the one called Bookmarks
  • Rename Bookmarks.bak to Bookmarks. Notice there is no file extension. Just Bookmarks.
  • Close Chrome.
  • Reopen Chrome and your mistakenly deleted folder should be there. 
There are a few steps I left out, such as how to make hidden files and folders available. The Bookmark files are in fact hidden. The file path above is for WIN7. If you do not know how to make hidden files and folders available either Google it or post your question in the comments section and I will try to help you out. I also do not know what effect would have taken place if say the machine had been rebooted after the file was deleted, or what effect Chrome's synch feature would have. 





Sunday, December 4, 2011

Phishing Trip

AffordableComputerGeek.com


This is a pretty good quiz that OpenDNS put together. Only takes a couple minutes and at the end it explains how you can identify tell tale signs of a Phishing site. For those that don't know what Phishing is, it is when a webpage is set up to look very similar to a well known page, such as a bank log in page, Facebook log in page etc. What happens is you think you are at the legitimate site and you enter your username and password. Which of course has now been recorded by the bad guys and they now have access to that account.
Here is the link to the quiz.




Thanks for reading,

Tony

Anthony C. Goodwin

Friday, December 2, 2011

Laid off 11-22....Get Great Offer 12-2


Actually got a few offers. I am not sure what is worse, the angst of no offers, the pressure of having to accept the only offer that comes your way, or in my present case, too many offers?

Mocha Latte

Having my car serviced at Wakefield Tire and waiting over at Creations Cafe. Just about the prettiest and tastiest Mocha Latte I have ever seen.



Thanks for reading,

Tony

Anthony C. Goodwin

"We were unable to deliver a package to you today"

AffordableComputerGeek.com of Salem MA

There is a flurry of SPAM emails going out that state they are from USPS or FedEx, or UPS etc. The body of the email will claim that they attempted delivery of a package to your home/office but you were not there. They then state you have to open the attached .ZIP file and fill out a form in order to get your package. Once you open the .ZIP file it downloads malware to your machine.

USPS, FedEx, UPS etc never send an email with a .ZIP attached for you to open in order to complete a delivery.

This scam runs year round, but really picks up steam starting in November to take advantage of the fact that many of us are sending & receiving packages from on line Christmas shopping.

Here is a recent article about this subject.

Think before you click!




Thanks for reading,

Tony

Anthony C. Goodwin