Helpdesk: Good afternoon, how may I help you?
Customer: Hi, why is my computer is running so slow ?!?

During the course of this type of conversation, the agent is fully aware that this question usually results in an even slower process of finding the root cause of why the pc is not working to the customer’s satisfaction. The use of this unintentional oxymoron to describe their problem, is quite common but the answer to the question, however, is not. 

In general, most computer repair technicians would be fairly confident that they can resolve the matter without too much difficulty. The real choice though is whether to; 

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Like most, when I heard the next version of internet explorer (IE8) was around the corner, I thought northing of trying out the beta version. Especially since it was in Beta 2! The new version of IE has a host of new & interesting features.

They consist of;
 

InPrivate Browsing

Internet Explorer 8 can disable adding any of the websites you visit to your Browsing History, should you choose to enable this option..

Accelerators

Accelerators allow you to complete your everyday browsing activities more quickly and even discover new services. You can start mapping, translating, emailing, and more in just a few mouse clicks.   Read the rest of this entry »

Since the birth of Windows Vista, the need for adequate RAM has become more apparent. 2GB of RAM is just the bottom rung of the ladder if you are considering a new computer with Vista and likewise should you decide to go down the upgrade path.

Traditionally, to add more RAM, you must first decide how much you need and more importantly which type. You can’t just walk into PC World and pick some off the shelf and expect it to work. There’s DDR, DIMM, SDRAM & SO-DIMM to name just a few.

RAM has become quite cheap lately but the work involved can often feel unnecessary, especially if you are not quite ready to spend money on a computer you are likely replace in the next 12-18 months anyway.

Microsoft have revealed a new alternative to upgrading your RAM and it’s called “Windows ReadyBoost”

It’s quite simple to use actually. With Vista, all you need to do is to connect a USB powered Hard Drive or a removable memory device such as memory card to your pc. For most people, they can use their existing backup drive. When this device is first inserted into your USB port, Windows Vista checks to see if its performance is fast enough to work with Windows ReadyBoost. If so, you will be prompted to use this device to speed up your system performance.

You can then choose to allocate part of the USB drive’s memory to speed up performance and use the remainder to store files, backup, etc.

This is a much welcome alternative from Microsoft to hardware RAM, but I wouldn’t advise it as a long-term solution.  However, it may be worthwhile if today’s budget is already stretched..

Nowadays anyone buying a new computer is faced with the prospect of having to choose which type of operating system they need. Even the Question: Vista or XP? ; is not so straightforward. For XP, there is Windows XP Home, XP Media Centre or XP Professional. For Vista, there’s Vista Ultimate, Home Premium, Home Basic, Or Vista Business.

So it’s not so simple, or is it? Let’s face it, XP is a safe bet. It’s been around for a while, it’s reliable (for the most part), proven, and pretty much every bit of software out there works on it.    

My personal venture into Vistaland was with great reluctance. I wasn’t buying a new computer so an upgrade was on the cards. The first thing to do is check how much RAM your computer has. Click on Start, then Run, and type winver and click ok. If you are running anything less than 2gb, forget about it. As a test I installed Vista on a machine running 512mb RAM and let’s just say I got sick of putting the kettle on.

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