Archive for the ‘Personal Computer’ Category

Personal Computers are a huge market however much of the market has converted to using mobile PC’s – laptops, notebooks, netbooks, tablets and more. Smartphones are even thought to pose a threat to a small portion of the PC market.

Windows 8 apps running in the background, using memory and CPU when they are not supposed to?

Microsoft has touted their new Metro Apps as a key feature of Windows 8. Metro Apps have a bit of a mixed reputation. On one hand, they provide some much overdue features to the Windows line. On the other hand, they don’t really live up to the hype, and in many instances they are useful only because of other software shortcomings.

But Microsoft has given one claim to Windows 8 Metro Apps that, until today, I found to be true. (more…)

Windows 8 Metro Apps: Compensating for other problems

Windows 8 apps can be very useful, but their reputation and usefulness is mixed.

After a few months of using Windows 8, I find that one of the main reasons Windows 8 Apps are useful is because of shortcomings in other software.

For example, we want to use Windows 8 apps to play streaming music like Pandora, or to look at Facebook. But those are pretty lame reasons to develop and use a whole new App platform. I mean, those are already available in a format called “the web” and accessible using something called a “web browser.” So why do we prefer the apps over the web versions? In these cases, the Apps trump the web-based version simply because of computer resources. Having a browser open just for Pandora can drain battery and hurt performance, and the same applies for many other programs and web services. (more…)

Windows 8: Where are my Desktop Icons?

Have you been wondering where your Desktop icons are on Windows 8?

Curious why Windows 8 desktop doesn’t show your files and folders?

Microsoft made some major changes with Windows 8, but it also made a lot of very small changes. By default, Windows  does not show any icons on your desktop. This can be very confusing, especially when you browse to the Desktop through the File Explorer and can see your icons just fine.

There are 2 different places for Desktop Icon settings in Windows 8

  1. All Desktop Icons: Right Click on the Desktop and go to “View” > and then click “Show desktop icons”. This will show any file and folder icons and other special icons that are located on your desktop.
  2. Special System Icons: Right Click on the Desktop and go to “Personalize” and then click “Change desktop icons”. This will allow you to enable or disable icons for special system folders such as My Computer, Recycle Bin, and User’s Documents. You also need to enable “Show desktop icons” per #1 above in order to see these icons on the Desktop.

Keep in mind that the Desktop will be much cleaner by leaving the above options set to default. Also keep in mind that in order to show system icons on the Desktop, you need to enable “Show desktop icons” per step 1 above.

 

 

Windows 8 Battery Life: Better or worse than Windows 7?

The official word on Windows 8 battery life is that it is improved over Windows 7 battery life.

The first reason for this is that the Windows 8 core uses less RAM than Windows 7.

The second reason is that Windows 8 Metro Apps do not run in the background. Rather than consuming resources when they aren’t in the foreground, they are essentially paused in the background.

While both of those claims appear to be true, the overall claim that Windows 8 battery life is improved may not be completely true, and if in fact battery life is worse on Windows 8, it may also not be Microsoft’s fault. (more…)

How to improve Windows 8 Battery Life

Windows 8 battery might be worse than Windows 7 for some users (read more) but regardless of the reason, you’re probably reading this article because you want to improve battery life on your Windows 8 laptop or tablet.

There are a variety of angles you can attack this problem from, but you need to start by considering what is taking up your battery life to begin with:

Hardware

Most likely culprits: Your LCD Display, old battery

Other likely culprits: Wifi, Bluetooh, Hard drive(s), memory

Software

Most likely culprits: Software that came with your PC, start-up garbage

Other likely culprits: Open programs, system clogged with temporary files

Working through the problems

So let’s start at the top, and work through the problems (more…)

Does Windows 8 make sense?

I love Windows 8, but at the same time I have some frustrations, and it really makes me wonder if Windows 8 makes sense for desktop computers.

Windows 8 totally makes sense for tablets and smartphones, but the new features – primarily the Start Screen/Start Menu and Metro Apps & Tiles, make me wonder if the people over at Microsoft were thinking straight when they build the Desktop version. I already have a few gripes about Windows 8, but after using it for a couple of weeks, the shortcomings have become more clear, and the big picture view of Windows 8 is a bit pessimistic. But there is a lot of opportunity for improvement, so we know things will get much, much better. (more…)

Microsft Excel Error: SYLK Error – “The file you are trying to open…is in a different format than specified by the file extension”

Do you ever see this error when trying to open up CSV files in Microsoft Excel?

  • “The file you are trying to open, ‘filename.csv’, is in a different format than specified by the file extension. Verify that the file is not corrupted and is from a trusted source before opening the file. Do you want to open the file now?”

And upon clicking “Yes” you receive another error message:

  • Excel has detected that ‘test.csv’ is a SYLK file, but cannot load it. Either the file has errors or it is not a SYLK file. Click OK to try to open the file in a different format.

(more…)

Programming Analogies : Auto Service and Repair

Finding analogies for programming is very important for training programmers, for communicating to other programmers, to communication to customers and end-users, and to help a programmer’s understanding of their own code and goals for their code.

One thing to remember about analogies: They always brake down. An analogy is a “comparison” – and all comparisons will fall apart eventually, unless the things being compared are identical. In other words, at some point the comparison falls apart because the two subjects are different. This is okay, because we are just using this “comparison” mechanism for learning and understanding, we are not using this comparison to make the plans for the next space shuttle.

Example: A car needs new wiper blades, brake pads, and tires. And just the same, a web application or other application needs some basic maintenance.

davismotorservice.com (more…)

Adobe: The story of software gone wrong

Adobe has been a leading software developer for many years. Their software has helped take digital media to a whole new level.

Adobe began with a few simple products, and Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator became the front-runners – the symbols of what Adobe could do. These two pieces of software set the stage for graphic design for years to come.

Over the years Adobe both developed and acquired additional software that fit into their business model. They acquired Macromedia who had themselves acquired software (Allaire Homesite) and developed a variety of software including Macromedia Dreamweaver, Macromedia Flash and Macromedia Director. (more…)

The Rule

Simplify.