Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

pinkskittles — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:19:42 GMT

great article!!

i have a mac, and found so many things are much easier on a mac than on a pc... things like internet sharing, file sharing, viruses... if you have an ipod or iphone it somehow will work out of the box better with a mac than a windows computer.

there's a mac program called onyx that's supposed to be for regular maintenance, but i haven't found it made a real difference in speed.

default software is especially useless on PC's... not sure why, but mac's default software seems to be useful for the most part, although i agree that quicktime is kinda crappy, but i believe it's required to be able to run itunes, which is needed for ipods and iphones.

you link to a lot of great articles that are useful. i have been checking lifehacker on the regular via rss feed, it's really awesome for articles if you're into tech!

i don't know how i feel about password programs. if you don't run the program and you're on someone else's computer, chances are you won't have a clue what your password is and can't login. why not just use your brain and make up a tough password that only you can remember, a combination of numbers, letters and upper and lower case characters?

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

infinity — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:50:24 GMT

Hi: For those of you who above are saying Windows XP is OK or even excellent, you obviously missed MS's announcement awhile ago that it is no longer supporting XP or W2000. Frankly, I loathe Vista, maybe for home use it's OK if you're not doing a bunch of business stuff, working at home. I find it's frustrating the number of keystrokes I sometimes have to use because I'm in an office, I'm not there to chat to my buddies, nor listen to music, or generally have fun. I'm there to WORK and want to do it as expeditiously as possible. Now, i know there are some shortcuts and my boss has figured out some of them to speed things up and simplify them, but Vista seems to be designed for people who are NOT running a business. I've had to spend a lot of time w/techies turning off a number of things I don't need or want, such as Buddy lists, chit chat facilities, the damned channel drop downs. I can click them off, but when they're on, they block what I'm doing and when I used to click them off, I had to put the cursor back on in order to continue with whatever I was doing when interrupted! And even at home i don't live in my computer, nor on my (non-existent) cell phone. I read books, I go for walks, I talk to my son and friends face-to-face, I attend community theatre, museums, go walk in the Botanic Garden and Park. I don't even have a TV, just a large monitor plugged into my laptop to watch vintage movies now and then. I guest I'm the weird one these days. Anyway, Happy Holidays to you all, whatever you celebrate. Gaye

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

Marysemd — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 05:47:21 GMT

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

Sam Tronda — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 23:08:39 GMT

To bgrizwald, who wrote

"Mr. AK, I have both a Mac and a PC. I started with a Mac back in 95, got a new PC free from work in 2000. I don't use the Mac much because I cannot get it to read wmv. files. Any ideas, thanks"

you could try Flip4Mac and/or VLC both free downloads.

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

ragus — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:03:56 GMT

I installed Ubuntu - the most popular Linux distribution - in May, and deleted my Windows partition a few months later, after not booting into Windows for a while.

You can test if Ubuntu is something for you and that it works on your machine with the LiveCD, which is built to run only off the CD without needing to be installed.

Linux/Ubuntu is a free operating system which has matured enough so that you don't have to have an IT-degree to use it. Every program that you install via Ubuntu is also free and conveniently installed and updated automatically by the operating system itself.

No more hunting for weird shareware on the internet. You just type for example "images" in the "add/remove applications" window and you will get several suggestions for programs that have anything to do with images, ranked by popularity. Select the program you want to install and click "Apply changes", that easy.

For example, when I was looking for an image viewer program I simply did the above, installed 5 potential candidates and settled for a program called GQview, which was as good as any image viewer program I ever saw on Windows.

I have enabled a firewall, though many Linux people think this isn't really necessary. There might be a virus written for Linux/Ubuntu, but since Linux is strict with its permissions, the system files are protected at the highest level. So you don't really need an anti virus program for Ubuntu.

So let me repeat, both the operating system itself and all programs that are used with Ubuntu are free and in terms of security beyond Windows and probably on level with Mac.

While there may be a learning period I believe that most users that just need to write Word documents, surf the internet and check mail wont even notice that they are no longer using Windows. For people requiring more advanced uses there might be a period of learning, but once you grasp the concepts of the command line I believe Ubuntu will work as well or better as Windows.

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

rgmdn — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:46:59 GMT

Has anyone noticed that search engine results now bring up websites like bizrate.com and monstermarketplace.com? It's like before I could type in Mercola in the search engine and his website would the first on the list but now it doesn't appear in the first dozen pages.

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

wabbitswayer — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:45:51 GMT

I agree with you guys, Mac is definitely the best. But on another note, I have found a really neat little program that probably should have been included in this newsletter. It's a free program put out by Hewlett Packard called HP Smart Web. It allows you to take a portion of any web page such as an article or a photo and paste it to your clipboard and then Email it or print it or whatever, instead of having to print or send the whole web page. Its available for free at the HP web site. Cheers, Merry Christmas Everybody.

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

Aaltrude — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:58:27 GMT

I know it won't happen but I'd love to see the Palm OS (as used on Palm PDA's and smart phones) on a desk top. I find a very a easy to use and instinctive OS and I do a lot of things on my Palm that most people would do on their desk top. It is great the way it turns on or off immediately. You don't need to wait for it close everything down etc. Files and programs remain at the point you left them. If you were in the middle of a game, it will be exactly as you left it when you switched off. Likewise for a word processing document or data base file. You don't need to save as you go, that happens automatically so you can't lose data if you switch off or close a program without saving.
It is a pity that so many people are entrenched in Windows that even Palm are now making some of their units with Windows OS. I've been hooked on the Palm OS and will remain loyal to it for my smart phone as long as it is available.

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

bmc — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:53:41 GMT

My first computer was a used mac. I loved it, but sold it and bought a PC when I going through a gaming phase. I always regretted selling that little mac. It just worked really well. I still have the PC and it's worked fine, Although it hasn't been able to run any new soft wear for some time. So, I bought a new mac 2 years ago. It's safe to say I'll be a mac person from here on.

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

Mr.AK — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 06:11:25 GMT

If you think you can't afford a Mac - buy one used. I'm a professional graphic artist and typically buy Macs that are 2 to 3 years old. Right now I own 4 of them, the oldest being from 2002, which is still fast enough to run the latest OS and Photoshop. One can be had for about $300. Never had a problem with any of them.

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

Note Taking Nerd — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 04:54:16 GMT

I have a PC and I've never run into any of these problems with my Dell laptop I've had for 4 years now.

And I run it hard. 8-12 hours a day. Sometimes not turning it off for 48 hours or more.

I credit this with these 5 simple steps...

Not downloading music/games/movies from open sharing sites.

Running defrag every week on my drive.

Using a registry cleaners like Regcure and Glary utilities.

Running Ad-aware daily

And keeping almost 45% of drive available at all times.

Try these and see if they work for you.

Note Taking Nerd Numba 2
www.mynotetakingnerd.wordpress.com

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

Islander — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:41:22 GMT

No_Name sez, "I use all three and Windoze is by far the worst OS of all time."

Sonja Henie's tutu! No_Name has said something I can agree with!!

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

Mr.AK — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:04:48 GMT

Folks - if you don't HAVE to use Windows, like in your business, why buy a PC? I'm continually amazed by the problems my friends have with their PC's that just don't exist in the Mac world. And the Mac is so much more FUN to use!

re: Top 10 Computer Annoyances and How to Fix Them

Islander — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:01:33 GMT

Spot on! Great discussion of crapware! Anyone with IE should use it to download Firefox and then quit IE (although it's impossible to uninstall it completely since, like an established Candida infection, it wraps its tendrils around the roots of your hard drive).

And did anyone notice that most of the above Top Ten annoyances pertain to the (ahem) MS platform? Hmmm?

Signed,
Mac addict