How many times have you seen a rack full of discounted games cd's dvd's ? You flip through them looking for anything decent, finally seeing a game you might like and after seeing the price you decide to go ahead and buy it.
It might seem like a great deal at the time, but after loading the game you find your computer is starting to act a little wierd, your pc is slowing down, pop ups are coming up way too often.
Now you would assume that a game you buy from a reputable store wouldnt have any virus's, you would assume that the disc is clean and free from malware.
But you would be wrong, that original game was sold in a much bigger box at a much higher price, that original game was then sold to another company who bundled that game into a cheaper cd with a few other games or a pile of game ads, this other company doesnt have the same business model the original game designers had. They want to get the last few dollars from that game, they want to infect your computer with spyware malware and ads so you might just decide to buy another old game from them, get that last nickle from yet another old game title.
So.. how do you buy an old game and get just what you wanted from it ? Just the game , nothing else. One way is to scan the cd first, check it out thoroughly, another is to actually buy your games online, from an accredited game seller, one who will give you value and nothing else.
I know it should be the other way around, you should be able to trust walmart, buy a disc and install it. But the truth is there are gaming companies who have built a reputation around value and clean downloads. You no longer need to look for that disc, in fact its becoming dangerous and a total pain in your computers a$$ !! Add to that the fact that when you buy and install the disc you then need to put that disc in when you play the game, something you no longer need to do when you download your games from a gaming site. The game just downloads and installs onto your hard drive, playing when you want to, without the disc. And if your afraid of somehow losing your computers hard drive or accidentally erasing the game, dont be, once you buy the game you can download it again and again. Your password for the game, your game file itself, is all on thier server, just sign in and download it anytime you need it. There are more than a few reputable gaming download site out there, I myself use direct2drive and im in no way telling you that you should use them, look around and find a site that works for you, one you like.
Friday, 30 December 2011
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Alcohol 52 and why you need it.
Alcohol 52 is a piece of software designed to protect your CD,s and DVD,s. It does this first by creating a ghost DVD drive on your computer. Second it takes your CD or DVD and creates an image of that disk, an image that you can keep in your files and when you want to actually use that DVD or CD you simply mount it on the ghost drive. The image will work just like the original disk did and now you no longer need to carry that disk. Now when I first looked at Alcohol 52 I thought to myself what would I ever use this for, but as time went on I found more than a few uses for it and now I'm not so sure I would ever have a computer without it. I use it to load my movies into my laptop, my games into my laptop, even technical manuals from work. The disk can have protection built into it, and even require activation keys but as you are only creating an image of the disk it doesn't matter, the image will act just as the disk would and you can keep your entire library of disks DVD,s CD,s at home where they're safe.
Another plus to this piece of software is that any game or movie you would play will play without actually spinning up your CD drive, which will keep your battery life at a maximum for as long as possible.
Alcohol 52 is actually the free version of this software, the paid for version is called Alcohol 120, check them out , read about what they can do and then try it for a while, you may just find it as useful as i do.
Another plus to this piece of software is that any game or movie you would play will play without actually spinning up your CD drive, which will keep your battery life at a maximum for as long as possible.
Alcohol 52 is actually the free version of this software, the paid for version is called Alcohol 120, check them out , read about what they can do and then try it for a while, you may just find it as useful as i do.
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Possibilities
My son recently came home from school with an assignment that I just
had to get involved with, it seems his teacher gave him an open ended
assignment with very little in the way of rules or structure so
naturally he had questions. The assignment was to pick any topic and
learn as much as you can and when you feel you're ready to give a report
on it, pick a day, and let the teacher know what the report is about.
Seems simple enough right ?
Well I've been taking a CADD course through a school near to us for the past little while and my son decided that he would do the report on CADD. He had figured he would give a small speech about who invented it and then do a demo on what it did and that was that.
I had a different thought, I asked him to look up who had invented the program, then I asked him to explain why the program was so important for developing new products. He started his research and found that CADD had greatly sped up the creative process and with the CADD programs available today a person could actually create and test the product to ensure safety and value.
I asked him to explain how this is affecting the world both economically and physically and to compare the process to the way in which products were conceived and then brought to completion 30 years ago.
He was a little unsure about the entire line of thinking so I had to help him with it but once he started to understand it a little switch turned on in his head, now he was beginning to think this wasn't as simple as he had originally thought, and CADD was more than just a drawing program.
Between the two of us we began to research and get numbers for his project, the discussions we had involved a lot of what if's and speculation about the future of the entire creative process. Then it happened, I found a video on you tube, a video of a 3d printer, one which could take a detailed drawing in 3d from a CADD program and actually print out a solid resin 3d model, straight from the mind of the designer, to a CADD program, to a workable model, all in no time at all.
That little switch I was talking about coming on in his mind, this is where the light bulb started to grow brighter and brighter, we sat and talked about it for a while and my son was just amazed by this, the what if's started to go towards a greener planet, less warehousing, less shipping, cheaper parts, all the way to what if,,, we could break down the resin composite material just as easy and then recycle it back to a printable powder again.
My son is 13 years old, and like most parents I worry about where the world is headed and what kind of legacy we're leaving our kids, but today I'm a little less worried, a 13 year old boy understood where science could help the environment, and in the process create a safer, better product, faster than we would have ever though imaginable only 20 years ago.
I have to tell you, I was just as excited as he
was, it's amazing what you can learn when you actually start to look for
answers . Check out the video on you tube, it's an eye opener.
Well I've been taking a CADD course through a school near to us for the past little while and my son decided that he would do the report on CADD. He had figured he would give a small speech about who invented it and then do a demo on what it did and that was that.
I had a different thought, I asked him to look up who had invented the program, then I asked him to explain why the program was so important for developing new products. He started his research and found that CADD had greatly sped up the creative process and with the CADD programs available today a person could actually create and test the product to ensure safety and value.
I asked him to explain how this is affecting the world both economically and physically and to compare the process to the way in which products were conceived and then brought to completion 30 years ago.
He was a little unsure about the entire line of thinking so I had to help him with it but once he started to understand it a little switch turned on in his head, now he was beginning to think this wasn't as simple as he had originally thought, and CADD was more than just a drawing program.
Between the two of us we began to research and get numbers for his project, the discussions we had involved a lot of what if's and speculation about the future of the entire creative process. Then it happened, I found a video on you tube, a video of a 3d printer, one which could take a detailed drawing in 3d from a CADD program and actually print out a solid resin 3d model, straight from the mind of the designer, to a CADD program, to a workable model, all in no time at all.
That little switch I was talking about coming on in his mind, this is where the light bulb started to grow brighter and brighter, we sat and talked about it for a while and my son was just amazed by this, the what if's started to go towards a greener planet, less warehousing, less shipping, cheaper parts, all the way to what if,,, we could break down the resin composite material just as easy and then recycle it back to a printable powder again.
My son is 13 years old, and like most parents I worry about where the world is headed and what kind of legacy we're leaving our kids, but today I'm a little less worried, a 13 year old boy understood where science could help the environment, and in the process create a safer, better product, faster than we would have ever though imaginable only 20 years ago.
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Free Antivirus systems
A few years ago the notion of free antivirus programs was almost unthinkable, don't get me wrong they were around but using them meant very little protection.
Today however, things have changed, antivirus systems have become much more reliable, and for the average home user it's absolutely free.
I rebuilt an old computer a couple weeks ago and when I finally got the operating system up and running I went online to find an antivirus system for it. I checked out two free systems and loaded and ran both. (one at a time) The first antivirus I found was AVG antivirus, loaded it in approx. five minutes, took me another ten to go through the user interface and set it up. AVG has quite a lot going for it, within minutes I could set up antivirus, spyware, malware, and all the bells and whistles that went with them. The full compliment of programs built into one download was impressive for a free antivirus and actually surprised me. The one complaint I did have was the user interface, I found it hard to navigate and the entire thing could use some updated graphics.
So I took AVG off and loaded Avast onto the system. The first thing I noticed was how fast the antivirus loaded, the user interface was clean clear and much easier to navigate, and the program had a fresh look and feel to it. Avast does have a few things going for it which I like and would use regularly, the first being the boot time scan, allowing the scan to start before windows starts has a definite advantage when you're trying to get rid of a virus that keeps attacking your antivirus when it starts up. The second is sandboxee, a virtual zone where Avast will open any suspicious program inside the sandbox and allow you to play, allowing the program to make any changes it wants because the sandbox is a virtual state. Once the program closes the virtual state disappears and any changes made by the program disappear with it. I got a chance to play around with this feature a little and it's pretty impressive.
What I didn't like about Avast is the fact that you have to pay if you want the malware and spyware add ons. So the Avast system isn't really free if you want the full meal deal. Find out more @ http://www.frostysplace.ca/Antivirus.html
Today however, things have changed, antivirus systems have become much more reliable, and for the average home user it's absolutely free.
I rebuilt an old computer a couple weeks ago and when I finally got the operating system up and running I went online to find an antivirus system for it. I checked out two free systems and loaded and ran both. (one at a time) The first antivirus I found was AVG antivirus, loaded it in approx. five minutes, took me another ten to go through the user interface and set it up. AVG has quite a lot going for it, within minutes I could set up antivirus, spyware, malware, and all the bells and whistles that went with them. The full compliment of programs built into one download was impressive for a free antivirus and actually surprised me. The one complaint I did have was the user interface, I found it hard to navigate and the entire thing could use some updated graphics.
So I took AVG off and loaded Avast onto the system. The first thing I noticed was how fast the antivirus loaded, the user interface was clean clear and much easier to navigate, and the program had a fresh look and feel to it. Avast does have a few things going for it which I like and would use regularly, the first being the boot time scan, allowing the scan to start before windows starts has a definite advantage when you're trying to get rid of a virus that keeps attacking your antivirus when it starts up. The second is sandboxee, a virtual zone where Avast will open any suspicious program inside the sandbox and allow you to play, allowing the program to make any changes it wants because the sandbox is a virtual state. Once the program closes the virtual state disappears and any changes made by the program disappear with it. I got a chance to play around with this feature a little and it's pretty impressive.
What I didn't like about Avast is the fact that you have to pay if you want the malware and spyware add ons. So the Avast system isn't really free if you want the full meal deal. Find out more @ http://www.frostysplace.ca/Antivirus.html
Snagit, and why you need it.
The truth is you don't really need Snagit, I'm sure there are a few more applications out there that'll do what Snagit does, just as well as Snagit does it.
Having said that maybe I should tell you what Snagit is. Snagit is a program that will allow you to take either a picture or video of anything on your screen. It can capture either the entire screen, just one window, one section of a window, or a predetermined area on your screen. Now there are several versions of Snagit some of them you have to pay for, but I've found the version which works best for me is the oldest one I could find Snagit 5.1.1, its free, and it works well even on windows 7.
Now I know that someone reading this is just sitting there thinking, I'll never use this program, I have no need for it. I know that because I said the same thing first when I heard of it. It wasn't until I downloaded it and started playing around with the program that I realized what an assett this program is. If you've ever tried to explain to someone else how to do something on a computer, ie setting up an antivirus, making a pdf file work, zipping or unzipping a file. then this program can be a valuable tool. Simply open Snagit run the video capture, open the window you need to show someone, do what you need to do then send the video file to that person and instead of trying to talk them through a complex set of instructions they can watch you do it on your computer and follow along on theirs.
Snagit became useful the very first day I downloaded it and now I couldn't imagine having a computer without it.
Having said that maybe I should tell you what Snagit is. Snagit is a program that will allow you to take either a picture or video of anything on your screen. It can capture either the entire screen, just one window, one section of a window, or a predetermined area on your screen. Now there are several versions of Snagit some of them you have to pay for, but I've found the version which works best for me is the oldest one I could find Snagit 5.1.1, its free, and it works well even on windows 7.
Now I know that someone reading this is just sitting there thinking, I'll never use this program, I have no need for it. I know that because I said the same thing first when I heard of it. It wasn't until I downloaded it and started playing around with the program that I realized what an assett this program is. If you've ever tried to explain to someone else how to do something on a computer, ie setting up an antivirus, making a pdf file work, zipping or unzipping a file. then this program can be a valuable tool. Simply open Snagit run the video capture, open the window you need to show someone, do what you need to do then send the video file to that person and instead of trying to talk them through a complex set of instructions they can watch you do it on your computer and follow along on theirs.
Snagit became useful the very first day I downloaded it and now I couldn't imagine having a computer without it.
Backup your hard drive
Ok so lets back up to the backup, it really isn't hard, and there are a number of different programs that will almost do it for you. Clickfree is probably the easiest I've ever used, no fuss no learning how to do the backup, just attach the backup drive to your network and follow the instructions. If you're rockin windows 7 it gets even easier still, windows 7 will walk you through a backup almost as easy as Clickfree.
Now, the reason for all this madness, In the past two months I have had the misfortune to have known two people who did not backup their hard drives. Both of these people had a ton of information on their drives that they desperately needed back. One I was able to save and get the info out of it. The other wasn't as lucky and he is still to this day waiting to see if he can retrieve any of his children's pictures back. He has sent his drive out to Ontario and has agreed to pay 1800 dollars to have them try to remove the platter and stuff it into another drive so he can get back the memories he has lost. Ive been in his shoes once before, and let me tell you, when you realize you just lost all your family photos it's a very sick feeling.
There are other ways to keep copies of files. My wife and I both have a laptop now and with today's huge hard drives we decided to make each other the backup destination. My laptop is backed up on hers, and hers on mine. Also my sons computer, which is a desktop, had room for an extra drive so I installed one with a full terabyte of space. So now when we all back up our systems we send a copy of that backup to that internal secondary drive. Now I know this all seems a little paranoid and maybe I'm taking it to the extreme by backing up onto two separate hard drives, but I've been caught once by this and I wasn't kidding when I said it's a sick feeling when you realize you just lost all your family photos, all those memories of your kids growing up.
Protect yourselves, back up your hard drives, hard drives fail.
Hello and welcome to my blog.
I'm really not sure how many people read these things, and right now I guess it really doesn't matter. First and foremost I like to draw and my passion will always be graphics, but it has come to my attention that a lot of people are having issues with everyday computer problems. For a geek like me that's hard to understand, but it's true, a large number of computer users are not able to set up their antivirus properly, back up their systems regularly, or find the programs they need to do what they want to do online.
So I'm creating this blog to try to help out a few friends, family, and whoever else happens to stumble upon it. I will try to write something useful in here daily to keep you informed as to the new tech, and some things you should've been doing all along. Learn more @ www.omgtcs.com
So I'm creating this blog to try to help out a few friends, family, and whoever else happens to stumble upon it. I will try to write something useful in here daily to keep you informed as to the new tech, and some things you should've been doing all along. Learn more @ www.omgtcs.com
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