After nearly ten years on the air, The Edible Computer column is coming to a close. I've enjoyed sharing stories about how people are living better through computers, and tucking in field notes along the way. While there are only two shows left, you'll still be able to dig into the archives to explore previous shows, sharing some of the highlights from the past 9 year's worth of adventures.
SURVIVAL TIP FOR VISTA
If you're running the Windows Vista operating system, chances are you've come across the frustration of installing a program only to find it will not run. You may have encountered an error as you were attempting to install the program saying that you could not complete the installation unless you were the system administrator, even though you are, in fact, the person (or one of the people) with complete access to the system. At times Vista will appear to allow you to install the program successfully, but it will not run once the installation is complete.
When Installing Programs:
Use Windows Explorer to find the downloaded setup/executable file on installation CD or on your hard drive. Right click on that file, and choose "Run as administrator" from the context-sensitive menu that pops up. This ensures that the program is installed with all of the permissions required.
On occassion you may also find that this is required for simply launching or running the program even after installation.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Spring Cleaning: Power Tools to Help Get Your Digital House in Order
It's that time of year again. We've had the tease of a few early thaws to tickle the urge to clean house into high gear again. As I'm winding down the column, I thought it might be helpful to share some of the best free tools that I've found the most useful in keeping my own system running like a well-oiled machine … most of the time ~winks~ .
Read on to find out how you can extend that boost of spring adrenaline into a simple and powerful overhaul for your own home computer.
Backing Data Up
Most of us have lost data from our computers at some point, whether it was a document we were working on, or a much more devastating loss when a virus wipes massive data stores out, or a power spike wreaks havoc on our systems. In addition to backing your files up to an external hard drive or USB drive, you might also consider storing data online for extra protection. Here are a couple of free online storage solutions to make sure important files are protected:
Organizing and Finding Files
While some people swear by the free Google Desktop utility when it comes to indexing your computer's hard drive to make it easier to find files, there are a couple of inherent problems with the tool, including the performance hit your computer takes with the bloatware built into this utility. There are a couple of tools that get the job done faster and more efficiently, allowing you to search for lost content across multiple media formats, even looking at the content of files. Here are a couple power tools to add to your kit:
- Google Picasa (excellent tool for managing pictures, design graphics, movies and other image files)
Defragging
As you reorganize your system you find yourself deleting and moving many files. While this would seem to create more space, it actually leaves your hard drive in a bit of disarray. A single file is not stored in one place on your computer. It's often split up into pieces across your hard drive, slowing down the process of finding it and opening it up for future use. Running defragmentation tools on your computer at least once a month will keep it operating faster and more efficiently. Here are some of the best tools for tidying up your digital house. Speed up the Defrag Process with:
Optimization
There are lots of tools to help streamline aspects of our system so that it runs faster and more efficiently. These are a few of the tools (and in some cases, full suites of tools) that have helped me improve the performance of my own home computer, free-of-charge:
- PC Tools Desktop Maestro (all-in-one application that integrates registry cleaning, system monitoring and privacy cleaning)
- PC Tools Disk Suite (all-in-one hard drive suite with disk optimization, defrag, repair and backup tools)
Registry Cleaning and Tweaking
Registries can wreak havoc for a variety of reasons. When we uninstall programs they may leave artifacts behind that can slow our computer, or in some cases even crash it. Living in an area that experiences frequent severe weather creates another set of problems in power spikes and brown-outs during storms. Here are a couple of handy tools for cleaning up the mess that some of these problems can leave behind, hobbling our computer:
Recovering Lost Files
What can you do if the worst does happen, and your files become lost or corrupted? Is there any way to get them back from your hard drive or even a flash drive once files have been damaged or erased? Here's a few handy tools to help you recover your data when it seems all is lost:
Encrypting Data
Want to keep prying eyes out of private photos, audio, financial data and other files? Here are a few simple tools to keep your data safe:
- TrueCrypt (virtual encrypted drive)
Wiping Data so that it Cannot Be Recovered
You're ready to dispose of an old computer, but you know it's almost impossible to truly erase your data from the hard drive even if you have deleted all your files. Before you send that old beast off to be recycled in a school program or to the tech dump, consider using a free utility that will make it almost impossible for even the most tech-savvy user to recover any data from it.
What's on Deck?
After nearly ten years on the air, The Edible Computer column is coming to a close. I've enjoyed sharing stories about how people are living better through computers, and tucking in field notes along the way. While there are only two shows left, you'll still be able to dig into the archives to explore previous shows, sharing some of the highlights from the past 9 year's worth of adventures.
