While being a release that has seen Microsoft regain much of the faith it lost with recent installments of its operating system, Windows 7 arrived with many long adored features either missing or peculiarly buried in such a way as to make their use unnecessarily tedious.
For those of you pining for the Quick Launch toolbar, it?s still available, but you?ll need to perform a few quick tweaks to get it working.
The contents of your Quick Launch folder can be found at this location: %appdata%MicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick launch.?Very easily, this tool will transform those shortcuts into a list that effectively acts as your Quick Launch toolbar.
Called JumpLaunch, this application is a free tool that adds a blue orb to your Windows 7 bar. Right-clicking on the orb will bring a list of applications stored in your Quick Launch list. When left-clicking on the same orb, you?re able to add or remove programs from this list, customizing it to your preferences.
Windows 7 is an excellent addition to Microsoft?s stable of programs, but it?s not perfect. At Computer Geeks, we?ll continue to offer you tips that aid you in getting the most out of this new operating system.
Microsoft has unveiled Direct Access for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, remotely connecting users to their office as if they were right there. Establishing bi-directional connectivity with the user?s enterprise network, this solution keeps them connected to their office, forging a link each time the user?s computer ? provided it?s enabled by DirectAccess ? is connected to the internet.
As the workforce transforms, with the information age evolving at a rapid pace, the needs of an organization adapt accordingly. Increasingly, employees are working from remote locations, the advances in internet technology affording them the ability to work from an off-site location ? home, business meeting abroad, etc.
The mobility of our workforce has contributed to the success of those companies driving our economy, with new technologies facilitating the uninterrupted productivity of employees whose presence in the office is no longer a necessary component in the operations of an efficient and profitable enterprise. By 2011, the number of mobile employees is expected to have increased by 30.4 percent (IDC, ?Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2007-2011 Forecast,? Doc #209813, Dec 2007).
While technology has contributed to an outgrowth of wireless communication, with the internet providing the backbone for those gains, corporate security ? namely, firewalls ? obstruct the accessibility of those resources which are native to an office. This poses a number of problems, not the least of which being access to the network from those IT professionals tasked with managing the corporation?s network.
In the past, VPN (Virtual Private Network) has been the solution employed for that purpose. However, as any IT professional will tell you, the use of a VPN can prove challenging. VPN requires users to wait for authentication, a process that can see the end user waiting for what has commonly amounted to several minutes. If internet connectivity is lost, the VPN connection will be severed, requiring the user to repeat the authentication process. With alternatives providing even less functionality and additional hurdles to overcome, VPN has become the de facto solution, its problems notwithstanding.
Surmounting the challenges inherent to VPN, DirectAccess immediately establishes a bi-directional connection between the user?s computer and office?s network. Using Windows 7, the DirectAccess client detects its connection to a network. The DirectAccess client will then connect to an intranet website designated during the initial configuration of DirectAccess. The process is seamless and automatic. Unlike VPN, which requires authentication with each use, DirectAccess authenticates the computer before the user even attempts to access the network.
Easier to use than VPN, the efficiency of DirectAccess is a boon to the productivity of an enterprise?s workforce. With a transparent connection to their corporate network, employees will no longer find themselves enduring the cumbersome process that has soured many? on the use of VPN. Using DirectAccess, the information on a company?s network ? intranet, applications, file-shares ? is accessible wherever the employee finds an internet connection for their portable computer.
Computer Geeks, a leader in on-site technical assistance, prides itself on educating the public about those advances that are relevant to the industry within which we continue to grow. If you have any questions about DirectAccess, never hesitate to call us.? Our technicians are here to assist you.
With the release of Microsoft?s Windows 7 operating system, many of the performance issues present in past installments of this PC mainstay have been addressed, showing a measurable improvement in areas that were once headaches for even the most capable machines. Still, despite what would appear to be Microsoft?s welcome response to the chorus of complaints about XP and Vista, the onset of problems is to be expected for even the latest release. No operating system is immune from the kind of error that results from any number of issues: viruses, spyware, negligence, etc.
Despite how it?s presently running, tomorrow could usher in a set of unanticipated problems, which is to be expected with even new machines. ??Windows 7 (Vista, too) includes a robust set of tools ? all included within one easily accessible menu — that the frustrated user can utilize when attempting to diagnose the source of a problem.
Accessing these tools is as easy as entering a command in the search box that?s located in the Start menu. Once you?ve entered “performance info,” you?ll be greeted by a window from where you can select Advanced tools.
After those tools are available, it becomes apparent that you have at your disposal an impressive assortment of diagnostic options that will ? at the very least — aid you towards determining what lies at the source of your ailing system:
Clear all Windows Experience Index scores and re-rate system
View performance details in Event log
Open Performance Monitor
Open Resource Monitor
Open Task Manager
View advanced system details in System Information
Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows
Open Disk Defragmenter
Generate a system health report
One of the most informative tools you can use is Open Resource Monitor. Like Task Manager, Resource Monitor provides an overview of your system?s resources, allowing you to manage the available resources (RAM, storage, bandwidth) your system has to work with. Unlike Task Manager, which is somewhat vague in its detail, Resource Monitor works at the micro level ? meaning, you?re given a degree of specificity that illuminates how an individual process or application figures into the overall allocation of resources.
Another helpful aid is the Generate a system health report. Akin to having a physical at the physician?s office, this will assess your system?s health, generating an analysis that may enlighten you on what areas you should address when experiencing issues with your computer?s performance.Taking just a few moments, the system analysis will return a report that details every critical facet of your system. Using this diagnostic analysis, you will be left with a clearer picture of how your computer is faring. For example, if there is a driver that?s hindering your ability to listen to sound, this report will highlight that conflict.
These are just the tools that are fairly self-explanatory in their use and interpretation. The more advanced tools ? such as View performance details in Event log ? are just as beneficial, but they require a level of expertise that your average user may be without.
For even the most accomplished technician, the poor performance of a system will remain a problem that never permanently subsides. ?If you have questions about the use of these tools, or would like to know how to solve any problems they unearth, Computer Geeks Is always on hand to provide you that assistance.
For those of you familiar with Microsoft?s Windows Operating System, you?re well aware of how critical it is to keep your system updated with the latest patches released by Microsoft. In addition to steeling you against any security breaches, these updates have been shown to significantly improve the performance of the operating system.
Once a feature that many either ignored or reluctantly used, Windows Update has seen significant gains in its design since the transition to Windows Vista and the recently unveiled Windows 7.
This important feature is now accessible via the search bar located in the Start menu.
As you?ll see, the new Windows Update process has been streamlined, making it easier to manage and assign those updates where needed.
With this Windows Update manager, you can also view all of the updates for MS Products, saving you the time of checking them individually.
If you find yourself questioning just what you?re installing on your computer, you can click the link specified below, which will bring you to a more detailed explanation.
In the past, the installation of some updates has conflicted with the use of certain applications, which can lead to the instability of your system.? Should such a conflict occur, the incompatible update can be removed by simply selecting it from the Uninstall window.
For what you need, many of the updates will be unnecessary, yet you?ll still find them included in the list of updates to install. For those updates you consider needless, right-clicking on them will summon a window from which you?re able to select ?Hide updates.?
Keeping your Windows Updates current is just one of a number of ways for you to ensure that your system is properly functioning.
If you have any questions about what else can be done, feel free to give us a call.
You may have already heard about the colossal failure of Microsoft and Danger’s “cloud” system, resulting in the loss of roughly 800,000 T-Mobile users’ cell phone data. The unique method T-mobile employed to manage their customers data experienced a catastrophic failure on October 5th and while questions still loom as to how this could have occurred the take home lesson for all computer users is plain as day: always backup your data properly.
Sidekick data was not stored long term on the phone itself, unlike other cell phone models. Instead, data was uploaded to Microsoft/Danger‘s cloud: a cluster of many computers sharing the load of data storage and computing power. Systems like this aren’t all that unusual, if you use gmail or flickr you’ve already got data stored in a cloud. When one computer in the cloud fails, usually there is minimal to no data loss. If many computers fail, or if the software connecting the computers has a problem, all the data could be lost forever.
Thankfully Microsoft had some backups of the Sidekick data and finally began restoring it to customer phones on October 20th, fifteen days after the initial loss of data. In the interim, literally thousands of blog posts, news articles and RSS feeds flooded the internet with bad press about T-Mobile and Microsoft. The criticism was completely justified as well, due to early concerns within Microsoft that the backup data had somehow been damaged or lost in the same incident that took down the cloud. The idea that a company with the kind of resources and expertise as Microsoft could have made such a rookie mistake of creating backups that were relying on the same resources or software as the cloud is unthinkable to tech pros.
The cost of this catastrophe is more than just data loss and bad press, the financial toll is still growing. Between users terminating contracts early (without the customary fee), $100 T-Mobile gift cards being offered to users whose data was lost, and pulling Sidekicks from shelves and online stores, the final cost could be somewhere in the millions.
Data recovery is a complicated and expensive process, and it’s not always successful. To keep your information safe, whether it’s tax records or photos of your children, you should always keep a secure backup. It’s a simple, inexpensive, and reliable step that can help prevent multi-million dollar disasters and private heartbreaks, but it must be done properly. Computer Geeks techs are trained professionals who can help make sure that your backup solution is safe, even if your system fails. If you haven’t already, take the time to call about backing up your data today.
