Recently, I had a potential client email me with some questions. I'm reposting my reply here.

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I really need pages to load faster.
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Having more RAM will help the pages load a little faster; however, the only way to get more "speed" for your pages is to have more bandwidth for your connection. Think of your internet connection as a garden hose. If you are on dial-up, then you have a drinking straw. Adding RAM will only help slightly - you will have to go to cable or DSL to "speed" up your connection and thus make the pages load faster.

If you live in an area where cable and/or DSL service are available, then usually you can switch to them for not much more money than what you are paying for dialup.

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1. I have XP Pro now and like it but did not pick it below because now it has an additional cost but maybe I should add it?
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XP Pro only has a few advantages, most of which are never used by the average person. It gives you is the ability to install IIS (internet information services), which allows your computer to act as a web server. Unless you are a web developer this serves you no purpose. It allows a higher number of concurrent connections for network shares - this is typically never an issue for home users even if you have 2-3 computers at home. XP Pro gives you more control over file sharing permissions - again this is typically not an issue for home users.

You can save your money and use XP Home edition. Do not order Vista - it is a pain in the rear.

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2. I also have Office Small Business Edition which maybe I can transfer to new computer?
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If you have the original CD's for Office, then you can install it on your new computer. Technically, you are supposed to uninstall if from your old computer. If you don't have the CD's, then you can't move Office from one machine to another.

Another alternative is to use OpenOffice.org (www.openoffice.org), which is free and open source.

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3. I need to be able to have the option of dial-up. Currently I have a 56k fax/modem....not sure if what I picked in a modem will do the job?
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Basically, any dialup modem will be just fine. No matter what you purchase, the modem itself will have little effect on your pages loading faster as just about all "modern" dialup modems follow the v.92 spec. Again, you will have to go to broadband - cable or DSL - to get a "faster" connection.

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4. I would like to do whatever I can to help load pages faster.....I do a lot of graphics (charts etc) downloading and its way too slow. I also use Word and Excel fairly often.
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Again, the only way to "speed" up your downloading and browsing is to go to broadband - cable or DSL. Adding RAM will help slightly but you need more bandwidth. Dialup sucks. The ISP's that still provide dialup are not spending any money to update their infrastructure with dialup. They are spending the money on broadband technologies.

If Word and Excel startup a little sluggish, then adding RAM will help that. However, if your computer is several years old, then Windows could be "clogged" with temp files, etc. Cleaning out the OS or reloading it from scratch (formatting your drive and reinstalling) will make it run as fast as it did when it was new.

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5. Eventually I would like to have a wireless network which would allow me to have two desktops and laptop on the network. Should I purchase something now with that in mind?
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I recommend you just buy a laptop and run that. Most of my customers, including businesses, are now purchasing laptops since the price gap has narrowed considerably. Laptops are as powerful as desktops, more portable, have wifi built-in, are more convenient, can run dual-monitor, etc.

If you are set on a desktop tower, then you can buy a wifi USB device from Wal-Mart, Office Depot, or Best Buy for under $50 and make any computer WiFi enabled. You would need to purchase a WAP (wireless access point) such as a Linksys WRT54G and setup a home network, which is easy enough.

Again, you would be better served with a broadband internet connection, but you can share dialup to through a wireless network. Your internet surfing would be excruciatingly slow though.

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6. What do I need to transfer files from old computer to new computer?? Laplink?? (I have never done that before so what would make it easiest would be great.)
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Actually, you don't even need laplink. If you purchase a WAP/router (Linksys WRT54G or equivalent), you can setup a home network and copy the files. You could also just buy a 4GB or 8GB thumb drive, and copy/paste the files. You could actually just do it with an ethernet patch cable.

Laplink will work but it's not necessary at all.

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7. If I need service, would there be any problems if you order it in LA but I live in Indianapolis?
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If you have cable/DSL then there wouldn't be much problem. I have several clients that I support remotely. However, if you have dialup only, then it would be more difficult as I could not remotely access your computer very efficiently. I could still support it, but it would be far more difficult.

If there was a physical issue with the computer, then I would arrange for service through Dell, etc - if you purchased it through me or we setup a support payment/contract. I'm generally much faster and way better than calling Dell or any other tech support service.

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8. How would we arrange payment? I have a credit card or?
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I could arrange payment via credit card and Google's Checkout service, which accepts all major credit cards.

You could also send a check or money order, although the check would need to clear prior to ordering, etc. That's my company policy.

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9. I would like the option of AOL and Earthlink installed as it was on this one so I could pick either.
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I'm no fan of AOL or Earthlink; however, if that is your choice for dialup then having it pre-installed is fine.

The following post is from an email with a client. Since the issue of screen resolution versus font size, etc, comes up from time to time, I decided to post it on my blog:

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The smiley faces and fonts, etc, are found when you use HTML formatting for email. You have to be careful when using HTML in email, since different email clients will render the HTML differently. However, if you want enable it, you can do the following:

• Open Thunderbird
• Tools...Account Settings
• Click Composition and Addressing
• Check "Compose in HTML Format"

For the font sizes when you are writing an email, you don't really want to make the font size for the email larger - again most email clients will render it differently. Besides, you don't really want to send an email that is composed with 24pt font sizes. It will piss people off.

What your issue stems from is the high screen resolution of that laptop. It makes everything system wide appear small even though the actual font size in your email message is correct. We have tweaked the screen resolution settings in Windows XP as good as we can and still have the system display things properly; however, you can tweak Thunderbird to show things on your screen larger.

• Open Thunderbird
• View...Font Sizes

This will show the fonts larger when you construct the email, but not actually increase the font size in the email.

If you need help with this, feel free to call or email me. We can setup a remote session and get everything fixed!

Recently a client (and friend) asked me about backing up her computer prior to installing XP SP3. That's a smart idea considering all the SP3 issues that are occurring.

Most people don't think about data backup, but it is very important even for home computer users. Think of all the information that we store - pictures, email, documents, tax files (TurboTax), etc. What happens if you have a fire or flood or lightning strike? It's not really the computer that's all that important - it's the data.

So far this year, I have had 2 clients whose homes were broken into. Guess what the thieves took in addition to the TV's and DVD players? They stole the computers AND the backup drives!

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System Wide Backup
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Backing up the entire system really requires "imaging" software such as Acronis True Image (which I use and recommend). This type of software creates an entire system snapshot so that even if your hard drive fails, you can recover everything just exactly how it is. Of course, you need to create the image and store it in a removable or secondary drive, or burn it to DVD. The image files also tend to be large - for instance if your hard drive has 20GB being used out of an 80GB drive then the image file will be about 12-15GB (compression on the 20GB).

You can use the Windows System Restore functionality built-in to XP; however, it is not nearly as reliable and effective as MS touts it to be - of course. I actually disable my System Restore in Windows to free up the additional hard drive space.

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File Backups
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If you don't want to image the machines, then you at least need to backup any important data files - such as your My Documents folder, any additional pictures, music, etc. Also be aware that sometimes programs such as Quickbooks create the data files in the installed directory by default (c:\program files\intuit\quickbooks), which is very stupid but it does it. You can move those files, but just be aware of thinking of everything including your Firefox or IE or Safari bookmarks, etc.

If you use Gmail or Google Apps, your email and contacts are safe with Google online. However, if you use Thunderbird (or Outlook or OE), and POP or IMAP your Gmail, then you will need to export out a copy of your address book. In Thunderbird, I recommend copying the entire Thunderbird profile directory and with Outlook you should export out a copy of your .PST file. For OE, find the profile directory and copy out all the .DBX files and export out a copy of your address book.

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Recommended Backup Solution
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The best backup solution that I have found right now is also one of the easiest. I use, recommend, and love an application called JungleDisk. JD automatically backs up any files or folders that you tell it too. The data is stored using Amazon.com's S3 services. I recommend you use the built-in encryption (256bit AES) which prevents anyone (including JD and Amazon) from seeing your files.

JD allows you to install a single copy of the software on multiple computers in your home or office. They will all backup to the same Amazon storage account, which is very very economical (click on the picture). I'm running it and have setup several of my clients with JD and it works flawlessly.

The software has an easy to use recovery mechanism and you can even keep version histories. I have mine set to keep the last 90 days of file revisions so I can go back in time.

One word of caution though, follow the warnings about keeping a good record of your encryption key and use a strong key (more than 20 characters). If you lose the key, you cannot recover your data.

I strongly recommend JD and Amazon as your primary backup solution

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My Services
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If you need help coming up with a backup solution or setting up JD, then I charge a reasonable fee (typically 1 hour) to set everything up for you. After that, it will just work.

Contact me if you need help!