CST News

Where is the year going? I heard the guy on the radio say the other day that there is only 10 Mondays left until Christmas. As a guest at our Rotary meeting said last week. Life is like a roll of toilet paper, as you get older it goes faster and faster! I thought that was deeply philosophical and quite good.

It is nice to see the weather improving – at least a bit. Now that we have daylight savings upon us, the days should get better and better. Maybe time to buy a fishing licence!

We have had a busy month. Blake has been away for several days on professional development courses. He still has two or three days left to do. He is however enjoying the challenge of getting back into “learning mode”.

While Blake has been away, we have been getting some help from Joseph. Joseph comes from Gore and has worked at one of the Gore computer dealers. He is on a steep learning curve but also has enjoyed his time here working and meeting our customers. We are also using the guys from ProSouth in Dunedin to do a bit of our phone support. A big thanks to them also.

Tips To Get The Best Out Of Your Laptop Battery

Laptops have become hugely popular over the past few years and they have unchained us from our desks – allowing us to roam freely while working and surfing the net.
Here are a few tips that can help improve overall battery performance — and keep us on the go.

Correct charge-cycles
One of the more commonly-known strategies revolves around how often you connect and disconnect the charger. Many older notebooks feature nickel-metal batteries, while modern notebooks are built with lithium-ion batteries.

For the nickel-metal variety, it can help to completely drain your battery until it shuts down, and then fully recharge it. Doing so for lithium-ion batteries, though, has been known to have a negative effect on battery efficiency.

Strategies for maximizing power based on the charging method vary by battery type. To find out which type of battery you have, shut down your PC and release the battery. On the top or bottom of the battery, there should be a “Li-ion” for lithium-ion or “NiMH” or “Ni-Cad” for nickel batteries.

Adjust your screen’s brightness
Chances are your screen’s brightness doesn’t need to be set at 100% – turning the brightness down is simple but is very important if you want to conserve your notebook battery. This is especially helpful when using a program that has a light background, such as Microsoft Word or Excel.

Check what’s actually running
Want a surprise? Open your Task Manager and check out just how many programs and applications are running on your computer. There’s probably more than a few you didn’t even know were running. These tools and tasks require a lot of energy.
Switch off the programs that aren’t critical and deactivate any unnecessary ones that run automatically. Just remember to manually run certain tasks in the future.

Use sleep mode
When you’re not using your notebook, putting it into sleep mode can greatly conserve battery power, especially if you’ll be away from your notebook for extended periods of time. You’ll need to access your power management features to control these settings and specify when you want sleep mode to turn on.

Screen savers don’t help
Despite what most may think, enabling a screen saver on your notebook won’t save energy. Screen savers that use complex graphics and animation don’t save battery power so instead of using a screen saver, stick with the sleep mode.

Toggle Wi-Fi On/Off
Your notebook will continually search for a signal when Wi-Fi is turned on and this significantly drain your battery. So, turn off your Wi-Fi capability if you’re not using it, easy. Even though Wi-Fi allows us to roam freely, it also limits how long we can roam for – so use it wisely!

Multimedia and games
Stunning graphics and increased processing power have made notebooks perfect for enjoying multimedia content and games. However, video watching and other entertainment usage can easily consume energy. If you’re looking to conserve power, it’s best to wait until you’re plugged in before the entertainment starts.

Staying power
Today’s notebooks feature more powerful and efficient batteries than ever before. And every new notebook model raises the bar even higher. Nevertheless, it’s important to monitor your battery in order to maximise its performance, especially when you’re on the go and want to stay productive. In doing so, you can make sure you’ve got enough notebook energy to keep up with your daily life.

Grammar Nerds

We all have a grammar nerd somewhere amongst our circle of family and friends. Unfortunately our family has several of them – Sue and I included. For the uninitiated, grammar nerds are people for whom spelling and grammatical errors leap out of the page and detract from the piece we were supposed to be reading.

I thought this was great.

Micro Level Gallery

This stuff still has me fascinated – the photography is just great.

Antivirus

Do we need an antivirus programme? This question is often asked when customers buy new computers.
The short answer is No.
The longer answer is no – if you follow all the safety rules all the time. That means, if you never go to dodgy sites, if you never download stuff you are not 100% sure of and if you never open attachments you are not sure about.

How many of us are 100% sure of where our teenagers download their movies or music? How many of us open an email because it looks intriguing?

If you are like most of us, you often just do things like opening attachments without too much thought. If that is the case, then an antivirus solution is desirable.

What is the difference between a paid antivirus and a free one? Often not a lot. The free ones often come with lots of nag advertising, they will normally not have support and their virus definitions are often not as frequently updated. I guess antivirus software is like everything else – you get what you pay for.

We have been selling NOD for lots of years. We use it ourselves both at work and at home and have had no bothers with it. Support comes out of Auckland, so no speaking a foreign language if you do need help.

Today NOD comes in a variety of flavours for home users:
NOD32 Antivirus: antivirus, antispyware, fully user controlled
Smart Security: All the above plus antispam, a firewall, antitheft and parental controls
Similar products for Macs
Mobile Security for Androids: Anti-Phishing, Antispam, antitheft and more security features.

Any of these products also have the advantage that they are monitored locally. So when it is due to expire, we send you an email and you respond. We update you antivirus if required and then send the bill from here – no overseas company and no fuss!

As well NOD easily transfers when you change computers.

Odds and Ends

Windows XP

We are still seeing the odd computer around running Windows XP. A reminder that Microsoft are no longer supporting XP which means that anyone still using it is a greater risk of attack from outside. Passwords etc are much more likely to be compromised using Windows XP and/or Office 2003. If you are not sure, do not hesitate to contact Blake or Tony here at CST.

Fake Support
We have recently had a customer call asking whether someone purporting to be from Spark and offering to fix a sick computer will be for real. They are NOT for real – just another in the long line of hoaxes promising to fix your computer. Hang up on them!

Ten Surreal Photographs

Have a look at these. Mind blowing!

And For Those Into Puns …

Some Like it Sweet: Sugar Kane
Oh What A Relief It Is: Al Kaseltzer
New Mexico Tour Book: Albie Kerky
I Was A Son Of A Buccaneer: Rich Kidd
The Palace Roof has a Hole: Lee King
Lawn Care: Ray King
Exercise on Wheels: Cy Kling
I Hate the Sun: Gladys Knight
Teach Me!: I. Wanda Know
Better Mental Health: Cy Kosis
Breaking the Law: Kermit A. Krime
NHL Hockey: Stanley Kupp
Those Funny Dogs: Joe Kur
I Like Weeding Gardens: Manuel Labour
How to Overcome Stress: R.E. Lachs
Care For A Chop?: Marsha Larts
Fallen Underwear: Lucy Lastic
Military Rule: Marshall Law
Cut the Grass!: Moses Lawn
Manana: Stew Layt
To be Honest: Frank Lee
The Lady Pirate: Peg Legg
Pain in My Body: Otis Leghurts
The Phillipine Post Office: Imelda Letter
Theft Among Arthropods: The Lieutenants
Not a Guitar!: Amanda Lin
Holmes Does It Again: Scott Linyard
Bring to the Grocer’s: R. List
Classic Groceries: Chopin Liszt
The Effects of Alcohol: Sir Osis of Liver
Employment Handbook: Ernie Living
How to Break In: Jimmy De Lock

Late News: Second Hand Laptop

We have just sourced a new supplier of second hand laptops and the first trial one arrived earlier this week. I am just blown away at the condition – it is like brand new. I ran it through the HP warranty system and find it is three and a half years old – just out of warranty! To replace with the current equivalent new model would be $2100.00!

HP Elitebook 8540p (top of the HP range)
• Core i5
• 250 GB Hard Drive
• 4 GB RAM
• 15.6” screen
• DVDRW
• Web camera
• Windows 7 Pro
• 3 month warranty
• $649.00 inc GST