Blogging with Windows 8 – Physician Heal Thyself

Posted on February 16, 2013 by davidm

People have been asking me “Well, after a few months what’s Windows 8 really like?”

I have to confess that I’ve been using it and learning it just enough to help clients – whether it’s been advice on buying a new computer or figuring out how to get Windows 8 to work for them.

But I haven’t really put myself in their shoes till now. What about when I have do some real work?

I felt the onus to do my own acid test. A little bit of “physician heal thyself“.

Ok, so here’s the experiment:

I am going to do this whole blog post with Windows 8.

I want to do this as fast as possible, keeping as close as possible to the way I’d do a blog post with Windows 7 or XP.

Here are the tools I need: (it looks like a lot at first)

1. My spiral notebook and pen
– who’da thought that most of my original ideas get scribbled down while away from the computer (not too many in the car, I promise)
2. Windows Double Explorer – a utility for seeing two File Explorer windows at the same time – super handy for transferring files from one computer to another, or backing up files.
3. Notepad++ (a plain text editor for writing the actual text of the blog)3. 4. Scrivener – a fantastic program for organizing and editing documents or ideas, even so it looks like a corkboard. This is how I visually keep track of all the bits I write down.
5. The Journal (this is an indispensible program for me. I make a daily entry like a diary and I can search for notes and observations from days, weeks, years that might come in handy).
6. Outlook (Microsoft Office) – I’ll often e-mail research links from the Internet to myself
7. Windows Live Writer (the Microsoft Word of Blogging software – where everything is finalized)
8. ACDSee (for photo searching, basic editing)
9. Corel Paint Shop Pro (for fine editing) – does almost everything that Photoshop can.
10. Snagit – a program for taking “snapshots” of websites or my computer screen (in Windows 7 and 8, there is the built-in “Snipping Tool”, which is almost as good.
11. Internet Explorer – for research on GOOGLE , for adminstrating my WordPress blog.
11. Firefox (for compatibility)
12. Google Chrome (for compatibility)

The whole mess can get to looking like this:

I’m using a laptop that I’ve sacrificed to Windows 8 evaluation, and I’m going to use the original “Metro” Start screen. The one that comes with Windows 8 straight out of the box.
(Microsoft now calls it “The Modern UI” – the name Metro was taken apparently)

FIRST THINGS:

First, I have to get everything onto the laptop that I’ll need – programs and files from my main computer.

To transfer anything to the Windows 8 laptop, I’ll want to have two windows open – one that shows the folders on my main computer and one to show where I’ll be transferring to on the laptop.
I notice that there is NO Windows Explorer anymore in Windows 8. There is “File Explorer“. (That needed a name change anyway, to avoid confusion with “Internet Explorer”.)

The new File Explorer Icon

Instead of firing up File Explorer twice and getting the size of the windows right, I’ve found a utility called “Windows Double Explorer” that works only in Windows 7 and 8. I used to have a program called “Twofer” that works wonderfully with Windows XP, but it doesn’t work here.

This is a screenshot Windows Double Explorer:

So, what do I have to copy?

1. My blog post folder with a first draft of this post I started on my other computer.

2. My “plain text editor” where everything gets written without formatting or jazzing up.
I install “Notepad++” a great free editor. But, now, where can I start it up from? There’s no icon on the screen. Wait, there’s no Desktop screen at all. Just those “Tiles”
Ok, how to find it? Remember there’s no Start button that I can click on to see “My Programs”.
I have to go to the “Charm Bar” (don’t you love it?). The Charm Bar is something you see when you hover your mouse pointer over the bottom right of your screen, thusly:

I click on the Search “charm” and type “note”. I get a new screen with three results:

If I right-click on Notepad++, I have the option to “pin” this program to the Start screen, creating yet another “tile” or pin it to the taskbar, so it’s always there on the bottom of my screen.

“Pin” to Taskbar screen:

And now on your “Desktop”, you’ll see:

All of this, so far, is just to get the most basic of tools I’ll need to do a blog post.

From here on in, I’ll be adding text and pictures to Windows Live Writer, editing content, doing a little formatting, adding a few links, and uploading the whole schmear to WordPress.

There, I’ll look at it again, get disgusted, make final edits, and hopefully not leave too many typos.

So, the blog post gets done and it only took me 4 or 5 times as long with Windows 8.

Sure, it was the first time and that accounts for some of the extra hours put in. But some things with Windows 8 will never go away. It will always be a matter of constant flipping between that “Modern” Start screen and the familiar desktop.

To be productive, there will always have to be work-arounds. The chore of finding and “pinning” your oft-used programs will go on. This is the big failing of Windows 8:

You cannot completely “live” in either the regular desktop environment or the Start screen (what David Pogue, the tech columnist for the New York Times calls “Tileworld for Touchscreens”).

And there are two Internet Explorers, two Control Panels, two photo-management apps, two email programs, two ways to right-click, and so on.

It’s too bad because, under the confusing layer of the Start screen, it’s actually an ok operating system. It’s fast and so similar to Windows 7 that, if you add back the Start button, there’s not much difference and not much to learn.

I actually like the “look” of Windows 8 more than Win 7 or Vista. It’s cleaner and crisper.
And there were even some pleasant surprises among them, for example:

– some older and expensive pieces of software that would not run on Vista or Windows 7, now run on Windows 8, literally saving me thousands of dollars.
– files copy much faster than Windows 7 or Vista

The simple fix for Windows 8 is to install Classic Shell or one of the other third party programs that lets you boot to the familiar desktop and gives you back the Start button.

For now, this is as much of Windows 8 as I want to use for day to day work. I will be continuing to use my Windows 7 computer to get things done – fast.

IT’S NOT MARMITE, IT’S WINDOWS 8!

Posted on November 29, 2012 by davidm

That’s what reviewers are calling Windows 8 – The Marmite Experience. You love it or hate it.

Trouble is, a lot of people will have no choice in the matter if they’re buying a new computer with Windows on it.

Here is my story of setting up my first brand new computer with Windows 8.

A long-time client of mine decided he needed a new computer, his trusty 7 year old desktop having finally stopped working. It would have cost more to try to bring it back to life than it would to simply get a new one.

We priced out a few options and settled on a Dell Inspiron model. It arrived a few days later. With Windows 8 on it.

I took the computer out of its box, plugged everything in, and pushed the power button. And when it booted up, here’s what we saw.

I think I designed something like this in Grade 3.

Nothing resembles any previous version of Windows. No icons, no Start button, none of the usual things on the screen. Microsoft calls these coloured blocks on the screen “tiles”.

So how to begin using this thing?

“Let’s get my e-mail going”, my friend suggests. Okay, that’s a good place to begin. There’s even a “tile” on the screen that says “Mail”.

All right. Now, my client has always used Outlook or Outlook Express for his email. What happens when we click on the Mail tile is that we’re taken to an online (Internet) screen that wants us to “sign in” or “create a new account”. He’s already got an account, why does he have to make a new one? He doesn’t have to. All we want to do is set up Outlook and get on with e-mailing like he’s used to.

A little problem here: where is Outlook? We know it’s on the computer’s hard drive somewhere – we ordered it with Office already installed. But there doesn’t seem to be any way to locate the program. No list of programs, no Start button to find programs, no way to search for it.

I notice a tile on the screen that say’s Desktop. Hooray! I click on it and get something that resembles Windows XP or Windows 7.

But still no Start button. Just where will I have to go to start up Outlook?

Now I’m starting to get really unhappy. Keep in mind that I’d already been playing with this new operating system for a week. I was getting bored having to work around this new User Interface just to do my work. Easter egg hunts happen once a year, not every time you turn on your computer. But that’s what you will discover with Windows 8. Or, rather, not discover.

I had to look up on Google just how to find and start up the old familiar programs. Without having the Windows 8 screen right in front of you, it’s too hard to describe how we got it happening, but after some looking, we got Outlook running and set up his e-mail.

But that experience with Outlook is indicative of everything you try to do with Windows 8. Nothing is where it was.

I won’t go through every program we tried to get going. The main conclusion is that we had to ignore everything that was on that big colourful childrens’ tile screen – except the Desktop tile, of course. Every tile that says Mail, Music, Video, Pictures will take you to the Microsoft Store where you have to sign up for a special account and use an “APP” that you’ve never seen or heard of before. These tiles don’t start up the programs you’re used to like Windows Media Player, Photo Gallery, Outlook – just a bunch of stuff that should be running on a cell phone.

The good news is that you can completely disable this new Windows 8 Start screen. There are a few little programs, some free, that let you boot up your computer so it looks just like Windows XP or 7.

That’s what we did. We used a program called Classic Shell that gives you back your regular-looking desktop and your Start button. I don’t know how many people are going to be able to do without such a program.

Windows 8 is for touch screens, plain and simple. In my opinion, it has no place on a regular desktop or laptop computer. At least, not as long as Microsoft forces it’s new way of doing things on its customers.

My clients are practical people. Most use their computers for e-mail, surfing the Net, and word processing. All these things are still possible with Windows 8, but not as easy as it once was. It just takes a bit of tweaking, and then Windows 8 will behave very much like Windows 7. But it does take a bit of tweaking.

If all this scares you a bit, and you are in the market for a new computer soon, there are still some systems available with Windows 7. For the next few months, even new computers that come with Windows 8 will be able to have Windows 7 installed on them. The hardware will still be compatible for a while.

Or, you can get a Mac if you want. Linux if you dare.

The final verdict on Windows 8: some people will never acquire the taste for Marmite.

PC Online Scams – When "Windows" comes calling

Posted on November 28, 2012 by davidm

I’m now used to clients getting “cold called” by computer scammers. Today I got a call myself from one of these guys.

They said they were from “Microsoft Windows” and were calling about my computer problem.
What problem?

But I knew what I was dealing with here. That’s because I’ve had to clean up after them a number of times.

Typically what has happened to several of my clients is that they get a phone call. The caller usually sounds typically “North American”, without any discernable accent.
They say they are calling from “Windows” or even Microsoft, though Microsoft will never call you.
It’s about the problem with your computer. Often the delivery is so professional sounding, that people will go along with them.
The next thing is that they want you to go to a website where you click “Yes” a couple of times. What you are doing is giving them remote access to your computer. You can watch your mouse pointer move all over your screen by itself! Well, it’s someone else doing it.
Now they run a little program that shows a multitude of problems with your computer. Frightening, yes?

It’s a scam. These “problems” are almost sure to be false.
It’s very much like the old vacuum salesman’s trick of throwing dirt on you carpet and, Presto!, offering the solution – a brand new vacuum cleaner that he’s got right here.

There is usually nothing to clean up on your computer, nothing wrong with it at all.

But how professional and caring the guy on the phone is! Now he will offer to keep your computer problem-free if only you subscribe to an annual subscription fee. Usually around $300.00.
And then he will want your credit card information. Sad to say, a couple of my clients have done this and then had to go through the hassle of contacting their bank and cancelling their cards. Unfortunately, once the transaction is done, it’s done. You’ve paid. The bank will not help you retrieve your money.

And not only do these guys have your money (and credit card number), but who knows what else they’ve planted on your computer while they had control of it. Spyware, malware – these are things that can report back to them any of your internet activities, or even lift passwords and banking information.
This is the making of “identity theft”.

You don’t want any of this.

If you get a call from someone who says they’re from “Windows” or Microsoft, the simple thing to do is hang up. There is nothing to be gained by engaging them.

By the way, Microsoft, the real Microsoft, will never call you out of the blue. Never.

Over the last year, I’ve had a chance to research this particular scam, and it almost invariably originates from India. If pressed, the scammers will say they’re company’s name is PC-Care, or Online PC Care, or PC Online – you see the pattern.
They will even give out a phone number to call them back. These are usually bogus numbers, with area codes in the U.S. Unless you have good computer hacking skills, you will have a nigh on impossible chance of tracking down where on the planet they are. But the consensus is, they are from India.

I must admit I had fun with the guy who called me today. I told him I knew exactly what we was going to ask me to do, in what order, and how much he was going to charge me for it. I also told him what his company was really called, and that I was reporting this call to the RCMP. That usually does it, but this one had gumption and started yelling (there was an accent, now) that I knew nothing about his business. I hung up.

So watch out for these kinds of phone calls. Don’t engage them, don’t follow any of their instructions, and for heaven’s sake don’t let them take control of your computer. The giving out of credit card numbers I will credit you for being smart enough to avoid.

I can and have helped people clean up after this experience with scammers, but it’s not the way I’d prefer to make a buck. I would sooner not have you vulnerable to this mischief in the first place.

Be careful out there.

A Word About Windows 8

Posted on November 8, 2012 by davidm

Hi Everyone,

This is just a quick note to clients and friends about Windows 8, the new operating system from Microsoft.

Windows 8 has been out for just one week and the reaction to it is mixed, to say the least.

Windows 8 is totally different looking from anything you’ve seen before. If you’re familiar with the iPad or other “touchscreen” tablet devices, you’ll be right at home.

(your new Windows 8 desktop screen – where to begin?)

But if you are like the vast majority of my clients, you will be baffled simply trying to get your favourite programs to work.

Here’s a typical article about the trouble with Windows 8:

http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/76479.html

I’ve been playing with Windows 8 for the last week and I’m having a tough time myself.

So my short message today is: If you are thinking of buying a new computer soon, you may want to get one with Windows 7 while you can.

Windows 8 is that different

I set up my first Windows 8 computer for a client tomorrow. I’ll be posting my experience on the Reluctant Computers website:

You may want to check it out.

And if you have any questions or need some help, just get in touch.

Thanks for reading,

David

and, at the risk of jumping the gun:

Getting and Setting–Typical and Iffy

Posted on August 24, 2012 by davidm

Getting a new computer can be a fun experience, even more so if you’re careful when Setting it up.

Here is a typical scenario for someone getting a new computer.

Millie has wanted to upgrade (or throw out) her old laptop. Doesn’t matter why but she’s getting a new one.

I’ll leave out all the reasons for choice of Mac or PC, laptop or desktop – just assume a new computer is coming into the house.

Typically, she wants all her pictures, documents, email, videos, music, address book, calendar … EVERYTHING! – on her new machine.
And typically, I am going to set up her new computer for her. For me, or someone who does this all the time, it’s not a big deal. You ask for a list of all that “everything” and you back it up to a portable drive. Most of that is simple file copying, with the notable exception of e-mail.

While all that file copying is going on, I’ve got the new computer out of the box, all connected up and started up for the first time. Soon, I am ready to unplug the portable drive from the old computer and plug it in to the new one.

Now it’s a matter of copying all those backup files to the right places on the new one. Or importing e-mail into a new e-mail program.
Typically, it’s “very simple, really”.

But here’s where the “Typical” can get into the “Iffy”: for example:

Zeke buys a laptop from a big retail store, takes it home and starts it up.
There is a whole lot of baffling questions and things to click. But, eventually, he gets to a screen that sort of looks like it ought to.

And, now, here are some of the things he finds:

1. His new laptop has Windows 7 on it. His old computer has Windows XP. It looks different and where is everything?
2. His new computer has different software programs on it. Does he have everything he needs to do what he is used to doing?
3. His printer or scanner (or anything else he might plug in) no longer works.
4. None of his “stuff” – the documents and EVERYTHING! – is on the new computer.

It’s on his old one.

Oh boy.

Let’s just assume he has all the programs he needs and that, hopefully, all his equipment (printer and so on) works.
Let’s concentrate on getting his “data” onto this new laptop.
If he’s done a complete back up of his stuff, he’s in good shape.
If not, and he’s left his old computer set up and running, now is the time to copy files onto an external drive.
He plugs in the drive and copies the files over.
He exports all his e-mail and contacts and calendar items to files that his new computer can read.
Hopefully, again, he has saved any attachments that came into his Inbox with e-mail messages.
When all that’s done, he unplugs the external drive and plugs it into the new laptop.
He copies his documents to the new Documents folder on the laptop. He does the same for his pictures, music.. EVERYTHING!

And that’s if he knows what I know and how to do it.

OFTEN, however, new computer buyers, like Zeke, will opt for letting the big retail store transfer all his stuff for him.

I highly recommend that Zeke ask some questions at this point.

Such as:

1. How are they going to transfer his stuff to his new laptop? Direct computer-to-computer transfer? Use an external drive?
2. Is Zeke ok with permitting strangers to have access to all his files and anything else personal on his hard drive? Like his passwords, possible banking information…?
3. If the store does do a back up to their own external drive, what will they do with that copy, once the transfer is complete?
4. Will Zeke stand there and supervise?

And the cherry on the sundae is: what to do with the old computer’s hard drive?
Deleting files is not enough. It needs a deep-formatting, or to be destroyed.

Getting a new computer should be fun, and Setting it up can be a smooth affair.
So, please take this advice and be informed. Or, hey, you can call me.

Happy clicking.

Webmail Woes

Posted on July 25, 2012 by davidm

If you use Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Gmail, or any of the other online email services, you will always run the risk of having your email account compromised or “hacked”.

What this means is that some scoundrel has found a way to steal your password and take over your account.

How do you know if this has happened? Here’s a partial list:

1 Your account is sending out spam.
2.Your password doesn’t work anymore.
3.Someone deleted information from your account.
4.Someone changed your account information
5.You can’t get into your account to reset your password.
6.Friends call you up and say they’ve got a pretty weird e-mail from you,except it doesn’t look like something you’d send.

Some other nasty surprises:

If you cannot get into your account, you may lose you Contacts, Calendar items, and any attachments that have come into your Inbox.
That’s a lot to lose.

What to do?

If you can manage to log into your account and change your password (to something really hard to guess) then you have done the quick fix.

You’re usually not going to be that lucky.

You can try the support and help on the Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail websites. but, basically, if you can’t log in with your password you’re done. Contacting Support or Customer Care on these websites may solve your problem, it may not. People’s experience varies widely.

You may have to forget about that e-mail account and your e-mail address and just create a new account.
This is a pain because now you have to send everybody a new address.
If all your Contact info (e-mail addresses especially) are online – in that Yahoo account you don’t have access to anymore – how are you going to notify everyone? Good luck.

Hopefully, you have all this information written down somewhere or in another program on your computer.

I can’t tell you how many people do not keep a separate list of these things, and how often they’ve been left with absolutely no way to get in touch with anybody by e-mail.
Well, actually I can – because I keep a record of such things.

So, here’s what you need to do to protect yourself from this predicament:

1. Store all your Contacts in a file that is only on your hard drive. Whether it’s a plain text file, a Word document, an Excel spreadsheet, or another email program – it doesn’t matter. Just have those contacts in another file for safe keeping.
– Of course, many people will print out lists of contacts or hand write them into a Daytimer or some other paper directory. I do.

2. Attachments that you want to keep should be saved to your computer and not kept in an email program. This goes for those of you using Outlook or Mac Mail as well as the online webmail services.

Do not use email programs like a file manager. The analogy I use is that of a rural mailbox at the end of a very long driveway. You wouldn’t keep all your mail out there – you’d bring it into the house.

3. Keep a written record of your Calendar Events.
Nothing beats writing important dates and appointments down on paper. It’s the simplest and most reliable way.
But even if you don’t want to do that, keep a record of this info in a program that lives permanently on your hard drive i.e.. Outlook or a Personal Information Manager program.

4. Passwords:
Believe or not, many people keep their passwords and website log-in information (for Facebook or iTunes etc.) in their webmail or in some other online-only program.
This is inviting disaster. Not only could you lose these passwords if you can’t get into your online account but these passwords and user I.D.s are just sitting there waiting for some hacker to collect. Don’t do it.
Instead, write them down and store in a safe place. You can also use some great little programs on your computer such as SplashData that are specifically made to store sensitive information.
Also, do not email passwords to yourself.

5. Email messages
There are some email messages you just want to keep. They could be a poem someone sent you, or important reference material – whatever. These should be saved as individual files and stored in folders on your hard drive. Or printed out if they are that important.
You can even copy and paste email messages into a word processor document and save them that way.

So, in summing up, have a back up of your Contacts and Calendar items, save important attachments and passwords in files on your hard drive.

And then I strongly suggest you back up the whole works to an internal hard drive or at least a USB stick (thumb drive, memory stick).

Personally, I even make a DVD back up of anything I really want to keep. It’s the most indestructible method to keep crucial documents, valuable data, pictures and music. DVDs are not forever, but close enough. Everything else is vulnerable to magnetic and electric fields and potentially unsafe.

Save and Back Up! Do it. Do it today.

Welcome

Posted on April 6, 2012 by davidm

Welcome to the online home of Reluctant Computers!

I provide computer help to people in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area.

Check out the Services page for a list of what I can do for you. And the About page to find out some things About me. Whoda thought?

Thanks,

David

and Dinah thanks you, too.