January 25, 2010

Is airline Wi-Fi any good and is it safe?

Filed under: Internet, Tips, Viruses, Wireless Internet — Tags: airline, airline wi-fi, airline wifi, cloud computing, computer, computer recovery, computer repair, computer service, computer services, computer stores, computer support, computers, data recovery, file recovery, Gogo, internet safety, IT, IT department, laptop repair, recovery, repair computer, Row 44, safe airline internet, safe internet, Virtual Private Network, VPN, Wi-Fi, Wi-FI safety, WiFi, wifi safety — admin @ 3:17 pm

In-flight Wi-Fi brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘cloud computing’! In past years, the offerings were expensive, restrictive and inconsistent. But not anymore!

In our experience, speed, reliability and cost have all been reasonable. We’ve tried Gogo and expect Row 44 to be good, too. Just check with your airline before you go to see what is being offered.

Although Wi-Fi on airlines only works above 10,000 feet, the providers and airlines are not currently blocking access to any specific content or websites and are relying on passengers to behave themselves (this could change)!  One exception is voice traffic. The airlines decided that their passengers didn’t want to get stuck next to loud, obnoxious ‘deal makers’ flapping their gums about their latest conquests during these long flights.

Any device that is Wi-Fi enabled and has a browser can make use of the connection:  laptops, Netbooks, smartphones and even the iPod Touch and some handheld gaming systems should work.  You must have a browser in to get past the ‘I Agree’ terms of use gateway page.

As far as safety goes, this shouldn’t be approached any different than any other public Wi-Fi connection.  If you aren’t careful, you could expose your computer to others on the flight, just like in the airport or at a hotel (our column on public Wi-Fi safety is posted here: http://bit.ly/2ldfHp.)

Be very mindful that those in the row behind you can easily see through the gaps in the seats to your screen or lots of folks if you are seated in the aisle seat.  This means you should avoid typing in any sensitive information or websites that will display sensitive information.

As should be expected, if your company requires you to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to connect to the company network, you may have problems getting it all to work depending upon how restrictive your IT department has set the VPN to be (check with them before your flight for the best results).

January 22, 2010

What should I consider when buying a new monitor???

Filed under: Screens/Monitors — Tags: BluRay, computer, computer monitor, computer screen, computers, connect computer to tv, DVD's, DVI, HDMI, High definition, monitor, screen, tv resolution — admin @ 12:41 pm

When it comes to buying a new display for your computer, there are both technical and non-technical considerations that are pretty important.

1. Physical considerations

The first is your desk space, especially the height of the monitor if it must fit under a shelf or cabinet, so be sure to measure your space to start.

The next non-technical consideration is viewing angle.  Some cheaper displays can have a small viewing ‘sweet spot’ which means that colors and contrast can get washed out as your viewing angle changes.  This is especially important for anyone that will use the display for presentation purposes or for those that like to gather a group around the computer to view Internet or other video content.

Make sure to also check how flexible the adjustments are for the stand (swivel, tilt and height).

2. Display Size & Shape

From a technical perspective, start by deciding whether you want an older 4×3 (square) aspect ratio or a newer 16×9 (widescreen) aspect ratio display.  If your computer is more than 4 to 5 years old, it may not have a video card that is capable of supporting a wide screen display in its ‘native’ resolution, which can cause degradation in the quality of what is displayed.

The newer widescreen displays are optimized to display today’s video content in its proper resolution (no stretching or cramming of images into the older square resolutions) and can allow side-by-side displays of documents on larger displays.

They’re also better at displaying ‘widgets’ that are common with Windows Vista and Windows 7 (via the sidebar) without crowding the rest of the screen.

Some widescreen displays are designed to pivot from landscape to portrait mode, which is excellent for those doing page layout work in documents or graphics programs.

3. Contrast Ratio

This spec is important, but has been completely overblown by many manufacturers as a marketing tool.  Contrast ratio refers to the difference between the whites and blacks in the display, with the higher the ratio the better.

Look for contrast ratios in the 400:1 to 600:1 range as anything above that is likely difficult to perceive and may be overstated (for reference purposes, a movie theater display is generally 500:1) and ignore any spec that is called ‘Dynamic Contrast Ratio”.

4. Resolution considerations

If you plan on using the display for both computer content and want to view BluRay DVDs at their full resolution, then you will need a display with at least a 1920×1080 resolution (typically 23” to 24” widescreens).

With resolution, however, bigger is not always better for those with older eyes.  The higher the resolution, the smaller everything on the screen will become. Make sure you view Internet content in the native resolution of any display that you plan to purchase to ensure that the text isn’t going to be too small to read comfortably.

5. Connectors

In the old days, the connector was the connector (15-pin SVGA), but today there are several options worth your consideration.

The first is DVI (Digital Visual Interface) which is a common way to connect high-resolution video cards for gaming, video or photo editing.  Even if you don’t own a computer with a DVI output, you likely will in the future, so this one is generally worth the additional cost.

For those with very high-performance needs, the HDMI (High-Definition, Multimedia Interface) connector will allow you to directly connect home theater sources as well as the latest in very high-performance gaming video cards and keep up with these uncompressed digital signals.

At the end of the day, looking at the display will go a long way to helping you determine if the display is the right one for you, so don’t over-think this purchase!

January 7, 2010

Why do Internet movies played on my new Windows 7 Netbook stop and go?

Filed under: PC — Tags: Data Doctors, data doctors minnesota, data doctors mpls, data doctors wayzata, data doctos mn, drive, hard drive, netbook, Windows 7 — admin @ 12:44 pm

The relative low price of Netbooks have enticed many folks to buy these low powered little gems, but all too often, the buyer isn’t really clear about what they are buying. Netbooks are the computer equivalent of a Smart Car; they are not designed to carry lots of people, tow a heavy load, or go really fast. If your computing needs are on the heavier side of the computation scale (live video or gaming) then a Netbook is probably the wrong vehicle.

Choppy video on a Netbook  is most likely caused by lack of power or inadequate Internet connection speed. If the video you are playing  is loaded on your local hard drive, then the problem is definitely the lack of power in your Netbook.  If the video is being streamed from the Internet, there is a small chance that your Internet connection speed is too slow to provide a smooth stream.

The easiest way to check the Internet connection is to run the same video from another computer connected to the same network. If the second machine has the same choppy results, then the problem is either your Internet connection speed (contact your ISP to troubleshoot) or the site that you’re streaming from can’t keep up.

Netbooks were created to access basic Internet content like e-mail, blogs, social media, news sites and basic video, however, you should not expect video to be as smooth as a standard laptop or desktop. Make sure that you’re not trying to view the video in full screen mode and if you’re using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, you will likely get better performance by installing either Mozilla’s Firefox or Google’s Chrome browsers. Both of these browsers work faster on underpowered or older computers (not just Netbooks) and can be tweaked to run even faster if you’re on a broadband connection (search Google for ‘Firefox speed tweaks’ or ‘Chrome speed tweaks’).

Another possible cause of performance drag when playing streaming video is a wireless connection.  If you are trying to stream video via WiFi, try plugging directly into an Ethernet port.  If it works better, then you may need to upgrade your WiFi router.

It’s also possible that the power source or power drain is causing performance issues. Check the random access memory that came with your Netbook.  If you only have 512 mb, that’s the problem.  With 1 gb or more you should be fine on Windows 7. If you’re trying to stream while on battery power, try plugging into an AC source to see if things improve.  Also, anything that’s plugged into the USB ports can draw power or cause performance issues on Netbooks, so try removing everything from them to see if things change.

If, after trying all of these possible solutions, you still get choppy video, you are most likely trying to tow a boat with a Smart Car!