Sun Nov 08 2009
A new year has come and I thought I would take a few minutes away from Mafia Wars on Facebook to answer a few pressing questions you have tossed into my Inbox.
Let's get right to them.
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Q. I have downloaded the beta for Windows 7. Should I install it and what is the impact if I do?
A. Well don't install it on any machine that doesn't come close to meeting the specifications for the beta for one thing. Secondly, this is a beta so don't install it on any machine that you don't mind crashing all the time. You don't be able to find drivers for anything, including your printers, scanners and any accessories you have. This is not the place for your everyday machine. However if you have a recent machine and you want to play with it you can download the beta and see what is coming from Microsoft.
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Q. I keep getting all of these emails about my email account being suspended. My Internet company does not respond when I ask about them. I really don't know what to do about them.
A. You have to think for a moment. If your email account had been suspended, would your ISP send you an email? Secondly, would you keep getting them? Thirdly, would your account still work? There's a new virus going around that spoofs (fakes) the "from" field of the sender so it looks like it comes from someplace official.
Delete the emails unread and unopened.
If you already have opened and (shudder) executed the attachment, you want to run (not walk) to your anti-virus product and run a full scan. If you do not have an anti-virus product, go to free.grisoft.com and download AVG.
Then repeat after me, never open any attachments.
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Q. What is the catch with AVG Free Edition? Why are they giving it away?
A. You have to put up with an annoyance every once in a while of them pushing the new release and once in a while they want you to buy the paid version but it is a very effective product that is free to home users. I recommend it. This year Microsoft also will release a free version for home use so the idea of free anti-virus and anti-Spyware is growing.
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Q. What is reasonable in terms of laptop battery performance? I am getting less than an hour for my laptop and it is driving me crazy.
A. Well, there are a couple of variables here. First of all, you can adjust the brightness of your screen while on battery power to preserve battery power. You also can adjust how long the hard drive stays spinning. Enter the Control Panel, then Power Options. If you truly are seeing less than an hour, you may have a bad battery. Also, some models (such as Dell Latitudes) can hold more than one battery so you can extend the battery life that way. In terms of what is "standard" or normal, most laptops get 2 or 3 hours.
(James Derk is owner of CyberDads, a computer repair firm and a tech columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim@cyberdads.com)
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