General Technology Archives - Complicated To Simple

Kids React To Old Computers

This is a great video of how kids react to old computers. Thanks Fine Bros for posting this!

Do you remember what it was like to use a computer in the 1970’s? It was a different experience, that’s for sure!

In this video we get to see the delightful reactions of kids from today, reacting to old computers. This video brings back lots of old memories for me. When these computers came out, I was waiting with baited breath until I could afford one. Little did any of us know where the computer industry was going to go. I love the statistic mentioned in the video that it would take over 800 old computers to equal the computing power of just one smartphone from today. Go technology! Don’t you just love it?

I went from wanting one of these, to having one, to having several, and finally to building them myself. It has been such a fun trip!

As I watch these kids react to old computers I can only imagine how I’d feel if I was a kid today. Some of these kids are a bit speechless when asked what these computers could be used for or if they would want one. Personally, I can’t imagine not having the perspective I do now. In my lifetime, we’ve pretty much gone from no computers or internet, to where we are now. I feel very blessed to have been a part of that and actually been there when it was all happening.

What has your experience with computers been? Have you ever built one or seen the insides? I’d love to hear what your life has been like growing up with, or just living with computers. Please leave a comment and share!

When Should I Replace My Computer?

The question of when to retire a computer is a subjective one at best. It depends on many things. However, there are some basic rules of thumb you can use to help make the decision easier.

The first question to ask yourself when considering computer replacement is, “why do I want to replace my computer?” The answer to this question will be very helpful in deciding if it’s a good idea.

If your “why” is that you’re just tired of your old one and want something new, then by all means, indulge yourself. In this article I’m not addressing the question of affordability or if your spouse thinks it’s a good idea. You’ll have to decide those issues for yourself. The purpose of this article is to address the technical aspects of the decision.

If your “why” is that the old one doesn’t perform up to snuff or won’t run some of you programs, that’s a different story. Then you need to look at some other things before making your decision.

Very often, a computer’s performance problems are caused by things we can easily correct. If your hard drive is too full, you can clean it up. If too many programs are running at once, you can control which ones start and which ones don’t. The performance settings can also be tweaked to best fit the kind of work you do. I won’t go into how to do any of that here. I do however go into quite a bit of detail about it in my free “How to Turbo-Charge Your Computer” video e-course. You can get instant access to that course by clicking here.

If you’ve tuned up your computer and that hasn’t helped, there may still be a thing or two you can do before purchasing a new one.

One of the most common things to do is reload the operating system. This is not usually necessary on Macs (but sometimes it is!). It definitely applies to Windows computers though. The older your version of Windows, the more you will probably gain by doing this.

Windows XP especially benefits from an occasional reload. I like to compare Windows XP to the old Pac Man game. You remember…the one where the little yellow chomping faces eat up everything in their path. Well, that’s how Windows acts too.

Each time you start up Windows XP, the longer you go before restarting, the more the system performance degrades. It’s like the little Pac Men eat up more and more pieces of your system until it won’t run anymore and needs to restart. The problem is, it’s like that in the long run too. The more months and years you go without reloading, the more your system degrades.

So the question becomes, do you want to reload and have an OLD computer that works like it did when it was new? Or do you want a new computer that runs like new and will do so for a few years?

The most I’ve ever gotten out of a Windows XP installation was about 5 years. Admittedly, I probably run my computers far harder than most people do. If all you do is browse the internet and read email, yours may last much longer.

I knew it was time to reload when I could only start up QuickBooks one time. If I closed it and tried again, it would not start without restarting the computer. Also, if I wanted to change printer settings, it took nearly 10 minutes for the dialog box to come up. Normally, it should come up instantly.

I figured out that Windows was the problem and not the hardware with a novel test process that cost me nothing. I just reinstalled Windows on a new partition of my hard drive. Since it was on the very same hardware, the only difference was that the installation was new. It worked beautifully…just like new!

However, even though this worked, I decided to replace the computer anyway. As I said earlier, there are many reasons for replacing a computer. In this case, I didn’t want to go to all the trouble of reloading all my programs (many, many programs!) and still be on the same ancient hardware and operating system. This process takes over a day and I’d much rather have sometime more modern to show for my work.

On the other hand, if you have an abundance of time and don’t wish to spend the money on a new computer, you may want to give this a try. It’s quite easy to do.

Just back up your data to a USB drive and make sure you have installable copies of any programs you want to keep. You also will need a copy of Windows. You don’t necessarily need YOUR copy of Windows. As long as you record your license number before erasing everything, just about any copy of Windows will do. Just make sure it’s the same version of Windows as your license number is for. The one exception I’ve run into is if you have a copy of Windows that was made for a specific computer. Sometimes it will only allow installation on the computer it was made for.

Many computers have a recovery drive on them. If yours does, it should have a recovery program on it too. This program, when started, gives you the opportunity to change your computer back to the exact state as when it was new. You’ll be amazed at how well your old computer will work after you do this. Just like new!

If you have no copy of Windows and no recovery drive, you can often use a friend’s copy. You can also buy a copy on Craigslist or EBay without a license number since you already have your own. I recently purchased a copy of Vista this way for around $5. This is perfectly legal and can be installed as many times as you like as long as you have a unique serial/license number for each computer you put it on.

If you commonly use software that is upgraded regularly, you may not want to do this. As I said, you end up with an old computer that runs like it did when it was new. That may not be adequate if you’re trying to run software that was written years after that computer became out of date. That’s one reason I generally build a new computer instead of reloading Windows after years of use.

Just remember to tune up your computer before you make any decision to replace it. Not doing so is like selling your car because it needs an oil change or a tune up. Of course your car will run poorly if not maintained! The same goes for your computer.

So grab a copy of my free video e-course and make it run like new again. You should see significant improvements in speed, less locking up (or none), and no more blue screens of death. You’ll be able to spend your time on those important, fun things in life instead of constantly waiting for your computer to respond.

It will make your computer fun again and your computer will love you for it!

If you still don’t’ like your old computer after going through the course (and maybe reloading Windows), at least you’ll know that you did everything you could to get the best from it. You’ll also have the immense satisfaction of not having to pay anyone to check out an old computer! You can go shopping with a clear conscious and have fun finding a new computer!

If you enjoyed this article, please click the Facebook “like” button at the top left of this page. Feel free to share it with your friends too. If you have questions, please add them to the bottom of this page. I try to answer all your questions as soon as I can.

By the way, as an added bonus, if you get the free video e-course I mentioned, you’ll also get free access to our e-zine that’s packed with other tips and tricks to simplify your life!

Thanks for visiting and I look forward to seeing you back here soon!

About Robert Seth

Robert Seth is a CPA in the Clark County, Washington area who has been serving individual and small business clients for the last 25 years. His business includes a growing number of remotely serviced customers throughout the United States. He’s also a writer and technology expert. He has a passion for improving the lives of others by helping them simplify the complicated stuff in their lives.

How to Choose a Web Host – Part 2

This is Part 2 of How to Choose a Web Host. For Part 1, please click here.

What Is Their Definition of a Short Down Time?

I never would have dreamed of asking this question until I went through a lengthy down time with Midphase. In fact, this is what caused me to finally toss in the towel with Midphase and find a new host. It was early one morning and I was trying to work on my site. I couldn’t get my dashboard to come up and quickly realized the site would not come up either.

When I called Midphase they were not even aware the site was down. In case you’re new to this, that’s what shared, managed hosting is all about. THEY are supposed to manage the server, not you. If your site goes down, they should have it fixed so fast that most of the time you won’t even know it was down.

When a site does go down it’s customary to have it back up quickly. Quickly means between 5 and 30 minutes, or an hour tops. It took Midphase over 24 hours to get my site back up.

If you do the math, this completely blows their 99.9% uptime guarantee out of the water. To be up for 99.9% of the time for a month, you could not be down longer than about 1.44 minutes or 86.4 seconds! So clearly I was a bit concerned.

When I interviewed Hostgator to see if I wanted their hosting, I asked them about this with a deliberately very open ended question. They said what I just told you; a short time is between 5 and 30 minutes. Any longer and they’d be looking at restoring their backup of your site to a different server.

What Features Do They Offer?

Now we come to some of the more objective issues involved in selecting a host. You’ll want to know how many domains they will allow you to host. It’s not that important that their least expensive plan allow multiple domains. Just so long as you can upgrade later.

If you’re planning on using WordPress for your website, you might want to check if they offer the one-button installation. Otherwise you’ll have a bit more work as you’ll need to upload WordPress to your site and install it manually.

One nice extra that Hostgator offers is they will transfer your entire website from somewhere else free of charge. You will have some supervision to do, but they will transfer all the content.

You might want to check into a dedicated IP address for your site. This is becoming a less common offering as we are starting to run a little short of unique IP addresses on a worldwide basis. When I signed up with Midphase years ago, they just gave you one if you wanted it. Now, when I signed up with Hostgator, they would only give me one if I bought a business plan and installed an SSL certificate.

There are a multitude of other features that web hosts offer so be sure and do a detailed comparison of the ones that are important to you.

In the first part of this article, I told you I’d give you an example of why price might not be such an important factor in your decision. Let me give you that example now.

The difference in price between Midphase and Hostgator ended up only being about a dollar a month. Keep in mind that making this comparison was rather involved because each included different things in their plans and charged extra for other things. However, in the end, it was only a dollar difference.

Now think about some of the less objective features I mentioned in the first half. The two that come to mind for me are the definition of down time and the ease of use of each one. For a dollar a month more, I get a host that actually pays attention to when my site goes down and has it back up 23 ½ hours faster than the other.

I also get a host where everything can be done from one place instead of searching everywhere and having to do many things during their “regular” business hours. Transferring my old site free of charge didn’t hurt the decision process any either. There are a few other things that are better too, but these are the main ones.

Negotiating Price

As I said before, price should not be a big factor in your decision process. That being said however, sometimes there’s quite a bit you can do to save some money once you select who you’d like to go with.

Something many people don’t know is that you can significantly reduce your monthly cost by paying for more time in advance. Usually you can pay for up to three years which results in significant savings.

Many hosting companies also have ongoing discounts. These discounts can be quite random and even the employees of the hosting company may not know when the next discount is going to happen. They will usually know what the maximum discount is though so you can check back every few days to see what that day’s discount is. When it reaches the level you want, than purchase your service.

These discounts will normally apply to your first order. If you pay for three years up front, that’s considered your first order. I think I saved over $100 with Hostgater by doing this.

Another thing hosts will do sometimes is price match. At one point I was thinking about leaving Midphase (I wish I would have at that point) and I had gotten a dirt cheap quote from GoDaddy. I told Midphase about it and they matched it. The funny thing is, the price from GoDaddy was negotiated too so the ending price was pretty low.

Another thing to keep in mind is that even if you pay several years up front, you are not usually locked in. Every host I have come across will refund your unused months should you decide to go someplace else. So unless you are just strapped for cash and can’t afford the longer contract, it’s always best to pay as much up front as you can. If you use a host I haven’t mentioned in this article though, be sure to ask about their policy and not just assume their refund policy is the same.

Other Considerations

There is one other little piece of advice I’m going to throw in here for free. This really has little to do with choosing a hosting company but is very important all the same.

While it will be tempting to register your domain name with the same company you host with, this practice should be avoided.

When both are in the same place, one company has control over your entire online operation. This is usually a problem when your hosting company decides you have done something they don’t like or they consider unethical. Even if you were not responsible, they may lock down your site and make it unusable. If your domain is registered with them too, there will be little you can do until they consider the problem resolved.

However, if your domain is registered elsewhere, and you’ve backed up your site, you can quickly move it someplace else and resume operations. This can be a lifesaver if you make a significant amount of your income online.

There are many, many other things people consider in their decision about which hosting company to use. For example, my friend Amity of www.GreenGiftsGuide.com left a comment on the first part of this article. She said that she found a host that used renewable energy to power their operation. I find that totally cool, but I never would have thought of it without her comment.

This article covers the basics that you should look at. I’m sure you’ll be able to think up other consideration based on things that are important to you. Whatever those things are that are special and important to you, be sure and ask your prospective host about them. If it’s important to you, surely it’s important to others too and someone has worked it into their operation. There are enough hosts out there that everyone should be able to find one that works for them.

If you enjoyed this article, please leave a comment. I would love to hear what other considerations you may have in finding just the right host. Also, please click the like button in the “Find us on Facebook” box in the upper left.

If you would like to receive notification of new articles and our free newsletter, fill in the box at the upper right or click here. You will also receive our free video e-course on how to tune up your computer and keep it that way. It will save you tons of time starting up your computer as well as while running programs. It’s the same process the pros use and charge lots of money for. You’ll get it completely free though and you can even share it with your friends. Then YOU can be the expert!

Thanks for Visiting!

About Robert Seth

How to Choose a Web Host – Part 1

When selecting a company to host your website, it’s important to get it right the first time. A little extra work in the beginning can prevent tremendous headaches later.

I thought this was a good time to write about this topic as it’s very fresh on my mind. I have gone through two changes of hosting company in the last four months. Both changes were very different from each other and for different reasons.

The first change came about in May when I wanted to transfer my site away from the company that is used for participants in the Ultimate Internet Boot Camp (UIBC). This boot camp is an amazing five day course but leaves you with a site that is rather limited in what you can do with it.

Since they only allow the installation of about 12 plugin, the functionality of the site kind of suffers. The worst part however, is that you cannot install a backup plugin. This not only has the obvious drawback of no backup, but it makes it very difficult to transfer your site to somewhere else should you so desire. Their fees were also very high compared to everyone else.

So I moved the site to a host I’d been using for another site. This host’s name is Midphase and I’ve been with them for around 10 years. What made me choose them was their excellent customer service, low price, and the fact that I’d already been with them so long. I soon learned though, that none of these reasons, by themselves, is a good reason to choose a particular host.

When I transferred my site again four months later, I went to Hostgator. By the time I did this I had lots more experience and had a much better idea of how to make a good selection. Hostgater comes highly recommended and so far I have not been able to find any problems (or even concerns) with them.

If you know me personally, you know that I ask a LOT of questions! People that don’t know me can mistake this for just trying to cause trouble. People that do know me love this, and count on it when they need information about something.

Picking a hosting company was one of those issues that I turned the massive question mark to. I’m sure many a customer service person was tired of talking to me when it was over. However, now you get the benefit of knowing what questions to ask and what kinds of things to look for in a hosting company.

Ok, now I’ll stop blabbing about how this all happened and give you some information you can sink your teeth into.

Cost of Hosting

You may find this next statement kind of odd, but, cost should not be a major factor in your decision process. Most hosting is very competitively priced. As long as the package you’re looking at is within a reasonable range (between $6 and $12 per month) DO NOT compare price until you are absolutely certain all other features are equal. I’ll give you an example in a moment to show you why price is not a good measuring tool for this.

How Many Customers Do They Have?

Web host come in a huge range of sizes. There are local ones with just a couple hundred customers, all the way up to ones with millions of customers. My preference is for one somewhere in the middle.

If you pick a host that’s too small, they have problems related to inadequate revenue. It will be difficult to make upgrades to stay cutting edge. It will also be difficult to keep enough staff on hand to deal with unexpected problems.

While it’s probably better to pick one that’s too large over one that’s too small, large ones have their problems too. They can tend to lose their sense of how important each customer is. They also can make arbitrary rules that are not necessarily in the best interest of the customer. A good size range seems to be between one and five million customers. This allows for adequate operating revenue while still maintaining that sense of customer appreciation.

How Long Have They Been In Business?

You can learn a lot more than you might think with this question. Obviously this answer will tell you if they’ve been around for a long time or if they’re just a startup that might not be there next year.

However, when you combine the answer to this question with that of how many customers they have, you start to get a much more complete story. Let me explain.

Midphase has been around for around 15 years. Yet they only have about 20,000 customers. This fact alone should really bring some serious questions to your mind. Especially when you consider that Hostgator has been in business a much shorter time but has over 1.5 million customers. Bluehost which has been in business a similar amount of time as Hostgator has 5 million customers. And GoDaddy, which has been around less time than any of these, has many millions of customers.

So why would Midphase have so few customers after so much time? This is a difficult question to answer without a lot of research. However, it becomes painfully obvious when you try to move your site.

It turns out they are a hodgepodge of little companies and sites. There is no one place where you can manage everything like with most hosts that have grown quickly. You have to go one place to manage you domains, another to manage your name servers, and still another to manage your site. There is little that’s automatic about them and much that has to go through the “billing department” during regular business hours.

My friend Rose Mis helped me with this transfer and we both felt that we had never seen anything like the complications, loose ends, and unrelated details that had to be dealt with in this transfer.

So when you hear that a host has been in business forever, but only has a few customers, dig deeper and make sure you listen to all those warning bells going off in your head.

What Interface Do They Use?

The interface I’m talking about here is the one between you and the back end of your website. The overwhelming majority of hosts use CPanel. If you don’t already know how to use it, it’s easy to learn. It’s also known by virtually every tech person you’d want to hire to help you.

Some hosts, like GoDaddy, have their own proprietary interface. If you’re used to CPanel, you’ll have a learning curve if you sign up with someone that doesn’t use it. Also, if you plan to use a host that does not use CPanel, make sure anyone you plan to hire to help with your site knows the interface you’re planning on using.

I actually briefly signed on with GoDaddy before I went to Hostgator. I did not transfer my site but I did set up a new one just to see how it would go. Between the constant technical issues and the foreign-feeling interface, I quickly decided this was not the direction I wanted to go.

Other Consideration

There are several other things to be considered when choosing a web host. We’ll look at those in part 2 of this article which you can read by clicking here.

If you enjoyed this article, click the like button in the “Find us on Facebook” box at the upper left. If you would like other tips on using your computer, and keeping it running in top shape, click here to receive your free online video course. It will show you how to get your computer running in top shape (just like the pros do) and keep it that way. You can even share it with your friends and help them make their computers better too!

Thanks for visiting!

About Robert Seth

Google Chrome or Firefox – Which is Better?

Recently during a pretty technical conversation, I was asked why I was not using Google Chrome for my browser. I have long been a die-hard Firefox fan and have seen no reason to switch as yet. However, I had no specific reasons not to switch either. So I thought I’d find something more substantial to share with you that answers this question objectively.

Following is a summary of the best and most dependable information I could find. I do use Google Chrome on one of my Windows computers. It’s more of a backup though so when some other browser chokes on a task, I can use it to complete the job

Which Should I Use on Windows: Firefox or Chrome?

There’s no short answer to this question since the general consensus is that neither is clearly better. So instead of a straight out recommendation, let’s consider the pros and cons of each.

First, in regular web browser performance tests, Chrome has regularly beaten up the competition or come in a very close second in most categories. Firefox rarely wins in these tests. This is not as significant as it might seem however, since most modern browsers perform very well. Just because Chrome beats Firefox in most performance tests doesn’t mean Firefox is extremely slow. It just means that Chrome is faster when the two are compared side-by-side.

A possibly much more important issue between the two browsers is something called browser bloat. This is the tendency for the browser program itself to get bigger and take more system resources in the process. Firefox usually does well on most memory tests. But many frustrated Firefox users blame this browser bloat for the slow-downs and general malaise they are finding with their browsing experience.

It’s not at all uncommon to see a Firefox installation using up more system resources than any other application running on the system. In this case, memory consumption is not that big a factor though because both browsers use lots of memory. But the high memory usage is often accompanied by serious browser slowdowns. That’s a much bigger problem and is heard less often from Chrome users than Firefox users.

So what causes Firefox users to remain loyal when Chrome performs better almost all the time? One of the biggest issues is extensions. If there’s anything you wish Firefox could do, or do differently, there’s almost certainly an extension that can do the job.

Chrome also has an ever-increasing extension gallery. But it doesn’t have close to the number of extensions that Firefox does. While the gap between Chrome and Firefox extensions closes more each day, chances are that you’re still going to have some difficulty finding Chrome replacements for some of the more obscure Firefox extensions. However, if you only use a few of the more popular Firefox extensions, odds are very good that your transition to Chrome from Firefox would be pretty smooth.

Another reason many people shy away from Chrome is the issue of privacy. After all, Chrome is directly affiliated with Google. Many people feel that Google already has enough of their personal information. They would prefer to stick with Firefox just to limit the growing piles of information Google has already collected about them, anonymously or not. This is the main reason I have not switched to it full-time. Another reason is that I don’t like to contribute to the elimination of competition and ending up with less browser options to choose from.

At the end of the day, both Chrome and Firefox are excellent web browsers for Windows, and you can’t go wrong with either one. More and more People seem to be happily moving from Firefox to Chrome. Their changeovers have been prompted mostly by the bloat issues mentioned above.

If you’ve been frustrated with Firefox, you might want to try out Chrome to see how you like it. You can always switch back if you decide you still like Firefox better. On the other hand, if you’re perfectly happy with Firefox, why upset a good thing? If it’s not broken, why fix it? You can also do what I did and install both. That way you can test them side-by-side.

My reason for installing both was so I can have the option of using one when the other fails to do the job. I still use Firefox most of the time and only fire up Chrome when Firefox either can’t do the job or does it very slowly.

So Which One Should You Use on Your Mac?

The answer to this question is different than for Windows, and much simpler. If you didn’t read the Windows section, you probably should because much of that information also applies here. Chrome has a lot of great things going for it. It’s snappy on OS X and the same extensions that work for Chrome on Windows work in OS X. It also isolates processes so that one crashed tab won’t bring down your whole browser. It does well at lots of other things too.

Unfortunately though, in many people’s experience, Chrome for OS X is still much too young to warrant complete dependence on it. Remember, Chrome for Mac launched quite awhile after the Windows version and has been around much less time. Like Chrome for Windows, it shows lots of promise. But it’s also prone to the occasional non-responsiveness and other bugginess that really has no place in your primary browser. It would be nice to give it a full thumbs up if you’re wanting to switch from Firefox. However, in the opinion of many experts it’s just not ready for that.

So there you have it. Now it’s your turn. If you have additional information or insights, or just want to tell about your experiences with this issue, please feel to leave a comment and share with the rest of us.

If you enjoyed the article, please click the “like” button. Also don’t forget to join me on Facebook by clicking in the Facebook box in the left sidebar.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!

iPad vs Other e-Readers, the Verdict

In relating all the details of my Apple vs PC series, I almost forgot to tell you all about the result of my e-reader search. I actually bought several, and brought them back, as well as tried a few more that I never bought.

In the end I decided on the iPad. This device was so superior and had so many more features than anything else, it became a very easy decision.

One of the most important deciding factors was the size. I like to read a variety of things and when it came to magazines and newspapers, the other e-readers just made the experience too unpleasant. Maybe this would not be an issue for someone with younger eyes, but for me there was no question.

Another very important factor was the LCD screen. I do a great deal of my reading at night and I liked the idea of being able to read without adding any extra light to the situation. This brings up another thing that has turned out to be fantastic for me.

I tend to come up with most of my creative ideas at night; usually while sleeping. I’ll wake up at 3am with this great idea that needs to be written down or it will be gone from my mind in a matter of seconds.

In the past, I either didn’t bother writing it down, or rudely woke up my wife by turning on a light so I could jot down my idea. Now I can just reach over to the night stand, tap one button and the iPad is instantly ready for input. Tap the “Notes” icon and up comes an electronic version of a yellow legal pad. Tap anywhere on the pad and up comes an extremely easy to use keyboard to quickly enter the idea.

I have the iPad housed in a thin case that opens up like a book. Since you can rotate the iPad in any direction and the screen will stay upright, I can position the cover of the case so the light does not bother my wife. Also, the iPad screen can be dimmed down quite low.

I also chose the iPad because of it’s functionality in other areas. In this high-tech age we live in, you can really get carried away carrying around lots of gadgets. The iPad combines so many of them that not much else is needed.

It has an amazing calendar, email, notes, calculator, and the Safari web browser. Then there’s the GPS with extremely fast response time and very detailed, high-resolution maps. And finally there’s iTunes, a headphone jack, decent sounding speaker, apps for Nook and Kindle books, it’s own iBook reader, and apps for just about anything else you could want. I have Sudoku, Scrabble, and Chess and they all look and work great.

Combine all that with 10 hours of battery life (for continuous use) and you have a really nice device. 10 hours may not seem like much compared to the days and weeks of e-ink readers, but I find that I only need to charge it about once a week.

Even though I leave it on all the time, when the screen turns off the battery life is greatly extended. So if you’re using it like a Daytimer and organizer and not using it constantly all day long, I suspect one charge could last 3 or 4 weeks.

There are some additional technical reason I chose the iPad but I’ll get into those in a later post.

So now it’s your turn! If you’ve got an e-reader already, which one did you get? If not, which one do YOU think is the best? Please leave a comment and also click the “Like” button in the Facebook box in the left margin if you enjoyed the article.

Thanks for visiting!

Unraveling the Mysteries of Computer Backups

Are you a little fuzzy on the best way to back up your computer? Do the different types of backups have you scratching your head and wondering what it all means?

Well sit back, relax, and let’s have a little chat about that. This subject has gotten a bit confusing in the last few years. This is especially true as technology has advanced and things like virtual machines have come along to further confuse the issue. We’ll discuss virtual machines in a moment.

Backups can be of two different types. The first is what’s called an actual backup. It generally only contains data. For example, if you have a word processor on your computer, a backup would only contain your documents, not the word processor itself or the operating system.

When using this type of backup, if you have a catastrophic failure on your computer and your hard drive is unusable, a lot of reinstalling is required. First the operating system (like Windows), then your programs (like your word processor), and then your backup to get your data back. This can be a time consuming process even if you can find all your software quickly!

The second type of backup is not really a backup by definition. It’s really an image. An image is like a photograph of your hard drive at a point in time. It contains everything! It has your operating system, programs, data files, settings, etc.

In the event of a catastrophic failure, an image can be restored to a new computer and it will look and run just like the old one. There is no need to reinstall anything. This is far more convenient than a backup and saves a great deal of time. There is no need to locate and install all your software or spend time adjusting settings.

Another cool thing about an image is that it’s not required to copy it to a new computer in order to use it. You simply click on it from another computer and it’s ready to use.

This is called mounting the image and is commonly referred to as a virtual machine. It’s a complete computer running in the memory (virtually) of another computer. Programs can be run, data and files added and updated, documents printed, etc. It is truly the most convenient method available for protecting the information on your computer.

In order to run an image as a virtual machine though, your computers processor must support this feature. It is called virtualization technology and is available in most modern processors. If you plan to use this feature make sure your computer can support it before investing in the necessary software. Speaking of software, to run an image as a virtual machine it’s generally required that you have the same software installed as was used to create the image.

There are also backups that you might call hybrids of these two types. For example, the system restore function in Microsoft Windows is a type of image. However, it cannot be restored to another computer or run as a virtual machine. It only restores the same computer to a different point in time. It also is not absolutely dependable and should not be the only thing you rely on for your backups.

Time Machine on Apple computers is an image type backup. It can restore your original computer, or a replacement, to the exact condition of the old one. The image cannot be used as a virtual machine though.

Acronis True Image Home, or other similar programs, are examples of complete image systems. Once an image is made, it is completely portable and can be mounted or restored to another computer.

The other distinction made when talking about backups relates to where they’re stored. They can be on your computer, on an external drive, on a network, or offsite. There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these locations.

Storing on the same computer you’re backing up is the least secure. This is especially true if it’s on the same drive as the one being backed up.

An external drive is more secure. If stored onsite, it can be restored very quickly. It is also not dependent on whether or not your internet connection is working. The disadvantage to onsite is that it can be destroyed or stolen along with the computer that was back up which has the effect of no backup at all.

Offsite is more secure but less convenient. In the case of a physical backup, like a hard drive, you have to go and get it to restore it. If the backup is online it can take hours (or days) to upload or download depending on the speed of your internet connection. If a catastrophic event takes out your internet connection, it could be very difficult and take a long time to get your computer restored. If using a backup system that relies on a third party, this adds another variable to the equation. If the third party system crashes, you also lose your backup.

So now you know the basics of backups. This should be enough information to help you decide which system you want to use. It should also help you understand the one you may already be using.

If this article was helpful to you, or if you have questions about your backup system or one you are considering, please leave a comment and I’ll get right back to you. If you liked the article, please click the “like” button. Also feel free to join me on Facebook at http://fb.com/complicatedtosimple. You can easily do this by clicking the “like” button in the “find us on facebook” box to the upper left of this article.

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Mac vs PC – Part 6 of 6 – Why Mac CRUSHES the Competition

Part 6 of this series continues the amazing Apple repair saga. If you missed part 5 you might want to go back by clicking here and read that so you know what this part is all about

When I got to the Genius Bar, I explained the problems the computer was having. I added one issue that I’ve not talked about before. When the screen brightness buttons did work, if I brightened it up all the way, it would go completely black and I’d have to restart using the power button.

I was seriously impressed with Apple’s method of diagnosis. The customer actually gets to sit there and talk to the tech while they work on diagnosing the problem. It was also impressive to see how deep and technical this diagnosis got in just a few minutes. In very short order, he had gotten into the computer’s log entries and found a pattern of USB faults each time I had needed to forcefully restart the computer. From this he concluded that the keyboard and the trackpad, which are attached to the USB hub, both needed to be replaced. These are all built into the top case so that part was ordered and I left my computer there to have the parts installed when they arrived. I might mention that I was fortunate to have the computer actually malfunction for the technician right off. He would have found the log entries anyway, but it was nice to have him see the problem immediately.

So in under 15 minutes, he had discovered the problem and I was on my way. If this wasn’t impressive to you, what I’m going to tell you next most certainly will be.

A few days later I called to check on the repair. I was informed that they had decided, after getting into the computer, to replace the motherboard too. Apple calls this a logic board. This all happened over the New Years’ Holiday and so the part did not get ordered until January 3rd which was the day I was talking to them.

Instead of talking to a clerk or a receptionist, I actually got to talk with the person doing the repair. I was informed that they had found some other hardware problems (loose cables that should never be loose) which is why they decided to replace the logic board.

Since I wanted to make sure this repair fixed the problem, I suggested that since ram can sometimes be a cause of intermittent problems, maybe they should just replace that too. To my amazement, they instantly agreed and added new ram to the repair list too.

Let me digress a moment in saying that when I purchased this computer, I mulled over the decision of whether or not to upgrade the ram to 8GB’s from 4GB’s. So I asked if it would be possible to just replace it with 8GB’s and charge me for the difference. They apologized and said they had no way of doing that. I was about to leave it at this point when I happened to make a comment, which you can see from all this writing, I’m fond of doing.

I happened to mention how much I absolutely loved this computer and was really missing it while it was in the shop. I had grown accustomed to using it for all my web blogs and maintenance and I was having to go back to my unpleasant Windows computers to perform this task while my Mac was out of commission. If you recall from a previous post, I said I now always try to make up for my years of bashing Apple and honestly express how I feel about their products. This was the main reason for the comment. It was heartfelt and true. I just wanted to say how enjoyable it was and that I really did miss it.

It must have sounded very heartfelt because suddenly the tech was not getting off the phone. He thought for a second and said, “I tell you what: considering how long you’ve been waiting for this, how would you feel about just getting a new computer?” After I picked myself up off the floor I said, “sure, when could I pick it up?” It was about 3pm when this conversation took place and the store closed at 8pm. They said I should be able to pick it up that day if they had time to transfer all my stuff over to the new computer.

This was not the end of this amazing story though. Before I got off the phone, the tech asked me if I’d mind a faster processor. Apparently they didn’t have a 2.66GHz in stock in my computer’s configuration so he offered me a 2.8GHz upgrade free of charge. Also, since my charger was not in brand new condition, he let me keep that too. And finally, as if all this was not enough, he said he would be able to upgrade the ram to 8GB’s if I wanted to do that. I declined this offer after hearing how much it would cost but thanked him for his very kind offer. This incidentally, will be the inspiration for another blog post about how you can save a great deal of money upgrading your own ram on you Mac. More about that later…

So basically all I had to give back, besides the computer they already had, was my empty box. They gave me a brand new computer with new software, new charger, and new box. They also transferred all my information so when I opened my computer it was EXACTLY like the old one was. Oh, and I forgot to mention one other thing. They restarted my warranty on the day of the replacement. They also did have the computer ready that night and I happily drove the 50 miles (we live way out!) to go and pick it up.

Honestly, in all the years I’ve been working with computers (since the first version of DOS) I have never, ever seen service like this. Even when repairs are performed, or a new product is issued (very rare), I have never seen a warranty restarted. I ended up with nearly an 18 month warranty and a new battery to boot! I guess the other part I’ve never seen before is such a willingness and desire to make the customer happy. Several times during my conversation with the tech, he told me how glad it made them to be able to make a customer happy like they had done for me.

Later when I was talking to my business contact at the store, he was delighted to hear that they had completely replaced the computer. He also mentioned how happy it made them to be able to do that sort of thing. Is it any wonder Mac users are so loyal? We’ve barely talked about how great the product itself is and already Apple has won this customer over for life.

Lastly, I told all the employees that were involved that I intended to write about this whole episode on my blog. I wanted as many people as possible to know about this amazing adventure. They then asked me to send them a link to it once I had it written. Again, I have never had any employees be that interested in what I had to say about them. So here is the fulfillment of that promise. As soon as I’m done here I’m going to send them the link.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story. I certainly enjoy telling it. If you did enjoy it, please click the “like” button and leave a comment. Also, join me on my Facebook page here or click on the like box in the upper left.

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Mac vs PC – Part 5 of 6 – Why Mac Crushes the Competition

To read Part 4 of this series, click here

Part 5 of this series documents just the beginning of an almost unbelievable instance of Apple’s unique and amazing customer service.

First let me tell you the product we were dealing with. It was a MacBook Pro 15″ with a 500GB hard drive, 4GB’s ram, dual core Core i7 2.66GHz processor, high definition anti glare screen, and dual video cards. If you’re drooling right about now and thinking this is a sweet ride, you’re absolutely right! It’s an amazing machine that does not disappoint.

When I bought this computer I was very impressed with the build quality and what a pleasure it was to use. However, I did encounter a couple of negatives. The first was a glitch with the screen brightness keys. These keys worked only about half the time with no logical reason for not working the other half of the time. There was no particular program or condition that could reliably cause the keys to malfunction.

I use the computer a considerable amount of time in low light situations and so this feature is important to me. The other problem was that it occasionally froze up and had to be restarted with the power button. In spite of these things it was still a pleasure to use and, if not for a very fortunate turn of events, I may never have done anything about it.

At this point you may be asking, “why on earth would you not go have that checked out?” The answer to that question is simple. In the Windows world I was used to, these kinds of things are totally normal. If you brought your computer in for service with these problems, they would probably tell you it was a setting, a software conflict, or something else minor. Generally this would not be considered a hardware malfunction. So I just figured some day I would stumble across the reason for it. Either that or I would go into mega-research mode and figure it out once and for all. Fortunately, neither one of these things had to happen.

What eventually happened is I bought an iPad and needed some minor help with it. While I was talking to the gentlemen in the business department (the one mentioned in previous posts) I happened to mention these problems with the computer. He encouraged me to bring it in and have the folks at the Genius Bar take a look at it. I had talked to this guy before about this problem but had not taken him up on the offer. I figured the computer would probably not demonstrate the problem while I was there and I’d just waste my time. Kind of like when you take your car to the repair shop and whatever is wrong does not show itself and you spend a fortune having them chase down the problem.

This time I decided to take him up on the offer. Thus began the most amazing customer service adventure I’ve ever had the pleasure of being a part of. The explanation of the actual adventure however, is a pretty long story in itself. So in the interest of not making this post too lengthy, I will save the rest for the last post in this series.

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To read part 6 of this series, click here

Mac vs PC – Part 4 of 6 – Why Mac CRUSHES the Competition

To read Part 3 or this series, click here

Part 4 of this takes this often-made comparison to a new and unique level. It was at this point in my search – trying to understand why people make the switch to Mac and why they were so passionate about it – that I realized the difficulty in finding the kind of information that I was looking for. Admittedly, this is a pretty big topic and there are lots of reasons people switch.

There are the obvious reasons like being less susceptible to viruses. They have lots of useful software right out of the box. And they don’t having all the garbage (bloat) software that can actually cost you money to get rid of. But there is one major reason that, while seeming pretty obvious to me, is rarely talked about in reviews. Probably because it’s more difficult to quantify and compare. Let me explain.

I’m going to use an analogy here that some might not agree with and might even find offensive. I got in a bit of trouble when I first shared this analogy with some friends. One in particular, who is a very linear and logical thinker, had a pretty difficult time separating any morals of this explanation from the actual point. So as I share, please realize that no moral implications are intended.

The analogy I use is that of modern day church. There is a tendency these days to make churches very plain and utilitarian. The epitome of this is the cinder-block church with a metal roof, a plain gymnasium type sanctuary, and chilly folding metal chairs. This gets the job done, but it is not a place you come to because you want to.

The building does not draw you in. You come because you need to. The building is something you endure in order to achieve a higher purpose. The chilly folding metal chairs and the poor acoustics are examples of things that actually detract from the purpose and tend to draw focus to themselves.

The other extreme in churches is the beautiful cathedrals of old (and some new ones too). These buildings are gorgeous and beckon us to enter. Once inside, we don’t want to leave. Even people that know nothing about God, and want to know nothing, still love being inside a building like this. For those who do go for worship, the building actually encourages the higher purpose instead of detracting from it.

In the end, the building melds with the purpose and the two become difficult to separate. One could also say that the building gives it’s glory to serving the higher purpose and stays out of the way so one can concentrate completely on the higher purpose.

In this analogy, generally the PC’s of the world are like the modern day, plain churches. They serve a purpose, and we use them to get a job done, but they don’t make us long for the experience. In fact, much of the time, we dislike the PC experience intensely. If we could do it some other way, we definitely would.

I have had so many PCs, especially laptops, that have been absolutely miserable to use. As a writer, they sometimes made it nearly impossible to get into the writing mood because of all the stuff (like chilly or broken metal chairs) that you had to put up with. I will get into more of the details on this later. For now, let’s just absorb the analogy.

On the other hand, Apple products are more like the cathedral. They are extremely well designed with the user and the purpose in mind. Their designs are sleek and beautiful (some would even say sexy) and you almost can’t resist picking them up and playing with them. When you begin to use an Apple product, rather than being frustrated and having to overlook the problems to get the job done, you don’t want to put it down.

It beckons you to enter further and further and to stay longer and longer. Just like the cathedral, the purpose and the device tend to meld into one. You suddenly notice that while the device is gorgeous, it also stays out of the way so you can completely concentrate on the purpose. I almost can’t wait to tell you about the difference between the Sony Vaio and this MacBook Pro that I’m writing on now. But that will have to wait for a future post. For now let’s just say that I’ve never had a computer that made it so easy to get into the writing mood and stay there.

I believe this is one reason the Apple store is so popular. It’s easy to spend hours there just playing with all the stuff on display. The products are so fun to use that you find yourself making up reasons to buy them. The iPad is a perfect example of this. It is so cool that it makes you want one just for the fun of it. Of course, once you get one and find out all the things it can do, you wonder how you ever survived without it.

Remind me sometime to tell you about my iPad purchasing experience. For now though, I better let you go and we’ll continue this story tomorrow.

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