Monthly Archives: January 2007

Don’t believe everything you see on TV – PC vs Mac Commercials

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Apple’s TV ad campaign that makes you think the MAC is so much easier to use than the PC is not entirely true. I remember an ad where Mac and PC are talking and a Japanese girls walks in and Mac talks to her as she is the latest digital camera on the market… Let me tell you about my frustrations.

Back in August I purchased a Dual Core (Intel) Mac Mini PC so that I could see and try what all the fuss was about. Worst case is that my video editing pc has been down for a while (I need to do some upgrades and swap components around) so I figured at least I can use the Mac for that since it is suppposedly so much better.

I have found the Mac a little difficult to navigate around in but I didn’t want that to cloud my judgement as I am a long time PC user. So I muddled my wat through and am trying to learn it.

Today I am as frustrated as ever. I am right now trying to connect my daughter’s Canon ZR500 Vidoe camera up to the Mac to copy some of her tapes to DVD. Shoudl be easy right!. Plug the firewire cable into the camera, start IDvd and do a transfer after inserting a blank disk. Is it nooo. I followed the steps clicked Onestep DVD and nothing happened! OK I’ll try Imovie. Switch to camera capture mode. No camera. With a Mac there is no way (such as Windows XP control panel) to see if the camera is connected. I try shutting the camera on and off a couple of times, check help and still can’t get it to work. Hmmmm let’s try a reboot… Start all over and this time it recognizes the camera and works, finally!

This leads me to another “beef” I have with the system. When creating these OneStep DVDs the system stores everything to a temporary file. Well after creating 3 DVDs I notice I have no hard drive space left. OK i figure this is temporary files so I go to delete them. I can’t find them! From what I have so far determined there is no way other than rebooting the Mac to clear ou thte temporary files. I know I can do this in Windows so if you know how to do it on a Mac please let me know!

Other things are still confusing to me like how to install software etc.

I am trying… I am determined to give this little Mac mini a chance and will even spend a little to upgrade the Ram in it. From conversations I have had with other IT pros is that they find creative peolple (obviously I am not one of these) can figure out that Mac more easily than logical thinkers.

Oh well I will keep trying and if I finally give up you will see an upgraded Mac Mini available for sale here! At the very least I will dual boot it with Windows Vista and run that are a majority of the hard drive!

Stephen

Vista troubles

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For the most part I have been very happy with my Asus laptop with Vista Ultimate loaded on it. It has been stable and basic email, web surfing and my day to day applications have all worked fine (including Office 2007). My kudos to Intel, Adobe and Synaptic for having Vista drivers and software updates ready before the launch date.

 My biggest issue to date is some specialized applications and hardware that I use. I have a couple of applications that I use to control my Canon Digital Rebel XT camera for use when taking astrophotos (through one of my scopes). It appears however that the problem is not woth the application but with the Canon driver. I can’t seem to get the images off the camera to the application for focusing or post processing purposes. Even Canon’s own remote shooting application does not work properly. Canon has at least indicated that an update is being prepared now and to be patient.

Another specialized piece of hardware I have is a modified web cam that is used to take planetary images. At least with other cameras and such I have been able to load the drivers, not so with this camera. A call to the company earlier in December to ask about Windows Vista drivers did not go well. I was asked what was Windows Vista by tech support?

The above problems ave forced me to bring my old HP tablet out if the dust and reinstall the OS so that I could at least use something to take pictures. Hopefully it will be able to RIP again in the near future!

This is just an indication of what can happen if you are an earlier adaptor. If you do have specialized software or hardware make sure that you run the Vista upgrade advisor before going to see if there will be any issues or have a second PC that you can use for XP waiting. Within the next month or two we shuld be seeing releases from vendors updating software and hardware drivers for Windows Vista.

Stephen

Windows Vista is here tomorrow! What version are you going buy?

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Windows Vista finally launches tomorrow after many delays. One thing I have to say is I am both happy and upset with the way the versions are being sold by Microsoft. This will lead to a lot of confusion for the general computing public.

Should you buy Windows Vista? I have been advising clients conditionally yes. If you have the hardware that can run it or are willing to upgrade it then yes. Most of the changes to Vista other than the new interface are below the surface of the OS. Security and stability are improved. For the first couple of months there will be some issues as I have faced on my laptop that need to be resolved with some applications. But vendors and software publishers will soon be releasing product updates to fix compatibilty issues. I have been waiting for a couple of months now with vendors telling me there will be patches after general availability.

Versions be offered are Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise (only available to volume licensing clients) and Ultimate. Here is a brief look at the versions.

Home basic is the equivalent of Windows XP home except there are a few changes to it. It does not feature the new Aero Glass interface but includes search and the security upgrades. If you don’t have a video card that supports the interface and are not willing to upgrade but you want the features this is the way to go. As well if you bought a new PC between Oct 26th with XP Home this is the version that you will receive via the express upgrade program.

Home Premium -  This is the version we are recommending to people that have powerful enough hardware. Home premium would line up against XP Media Center Edition. This is the express upgrade equivalent for MCE machines. It does feature the Aero interface as well as comes with Media Center, DVD Maker and all of the media center components. There is some limited support for laptops as well. Media Center can be set up to connect to a TV display and play music, pictures and video.

Business – This version is the equivalent of XP Pro. It has the glass interface in addition to better laptop support and better backup support for machines. It does not have the Media components found in Home Premium.

Enterprise – Again same as business but includes virtualization (Virtual PC Express) and more compatibility as well as business related features, such as TPM (Trusted Platform Module)d support and Bitlocker (Drive encryption). This is available through volume licensing so contact us if you are interested.

Ultimate. Well this is exactly what is stated and the version I have been runningon my own laptop for the last month or so and I tested previously. It features all the components of every version in one package. This can be obtained via Express Upgrade at a price. One feature with this is the fact that while it has the Media Center Components it can be joined to a corporate domain which was a shortfall and a request of Media Center 2005.

In addition there are also 64 bit version of every version.

One unique thing is that if you do purchase the upgrade media and want to install a differnet version, you can call microsoft and purchase a new product key to upgrade your edition from the DVD. Every version of Vista is available on the Upgrade DVD.

You can see a Microsoft chart detailing the editions, learn more about the features of Vista, learn more about Express Upgrades or run the upgrade advisor from the Microsoft Web Site at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/default.mspx

 

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like to get your PC Vista ready!

2 of my favorite features with Vista is the Instant Search and the Flip 3D interface!

Stephen

Aloha – We are back!

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You may or may not be aware that we were away for two weeks of relaxation in early January to the island of Maui. Maui continues to be our favorite place to go and unwind and we are still looking at ways of expanding Sysguy to the Valley Island! If you have never been there, I highly recommend a minimum 10 day visit, as anything else is too short! Whales and Dolphins were jumping and the whole family had a great times and there were some tears as we boarded our Westjet flight to return home! If you are interested in more of the trip, I will soon be posting more on my personal blog (the link is on this page) in the very near future as well as pictures on my photo gallery.

While I didn’t do a lot of “work” while I was away, I had the opportunity to have an extended test of some peripherals that I use on a regular basis to see how they worked out.

The first was my Linksys Wireless G Travel Router. This device is slightly bigger than a deck of cards, comes in it’s own case and has in internal AC adaptor. This little dvice is always in my bag and really has come in handy. It allows me to do a couple of things. The router works as most home routers do offering firewall and shared wireless access, but this router does a couple of things that other travel routers do not.

Firstly, the AC adaptor for the unit is built right into it. There is a little slide on the top of the device to side out the two prongs and plug the router into a wall outlet or extension cord. This makes it a little lighter and less bulky to travel with.

Another feature that I find is a bonus with this router is that there is 2 RJ45 ports on it. One for a hardwired Cable or DSL modem connection the other for laptops or even desktops and other devices. Most travel routers have one port that you can either plug into a cable modem and use the device as a router, or plug into your hardwired ethernet card on a machine and use it as a wireless client but you can’t do both. With the Linksys one port can be plugged into a cable router and the other can be used for a other devices. For example I used my Linksys Vonage phone adaptor on this port (but more about this later).

Something else I have used from time to time is the routers ability to connect to a wireless network (unsecured only) as it’s primary ethernet (internet) connection. I have used this often in hotels to connect to their wireless internet services and then boost that signal into my room or unit. Another scenario where this can come in handy is if you have a group of people working together, they can connect to a secured wireless network (your own from the Linksys) and share data back and forth and yet still have Internet access on theier own PC’s . This gives you an additional firewall between the PC’s and the hotel or providors Internet Connection.

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Windows Defender Problems – Can not start error when starting PC

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This week I have started getting reports form Sysguy Clients (and in various tech maiing lists) that peope are getting an error when restarting their computers. The error reads that Windows Defender can not start. This is being caused because the beta version was installed as opposed to the released version. The Beta version of Defender expired Dec 31, 2006.

The remedy is fairly easy, uninstall Defender via the Control Panel Add Remove programs icon, then download and install the new version of Defender from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx. This is a free downlaod and is bundled with 2 free support incidents from Microsoft. I have had success installing over top of the beta version but it is better to first remove then re install the new version. This ensures that files from the Beta are gone and properly replaced.

Stephen