The Lance J. Technoweb

Recently, I was asked by a good friend to help her buy a new Windows Desktop PC. I recommended that she buy a PC with something other then a near-obsolete processor - meaning a machine with an Intel Core2Duo or better, as I believe that a computer with a decent processor will have a good chance of not becoming obsolete as soon. Atom, Pentium, and Celeron are too close to being obsolete. And I also recommended that she get a machine with Windows 7 instead of the now-deprecated Windows Vista. And after I described what makes a decent desktop PC, I started to shop for one. And that's when I discovered that the Mac Mini is a bargain. A bargain mid-ranged desktop computer I went to the popular brand web sites: Dell, Compaq, HP, Gateway, ACER, etc. And I found that a machine of this class generally starts around $500+. And that for $500, you don't get wireless, bluetooth, or sometimes even speakers. WTF??? In contrast, the base model $599 Mac Mini is very well specified - it h...

In the spirit of PC Magazine, here are thirteen reasons why the MacBook Air sucks. 1. $999 SSD option. Crazy-but-true, the 64 GB solid state "disk drive" option costs $999. I'm sure I could buy a 64+ GB solid state drive for much less. Although I haven't shopped for one, they should cost about $200, right? So Apple, why $999? 2. No Vista That's right, you buy this thing for $1799 (or more), and it doesn't come with the ultimate Vista - a $600 afterthought? If I want to spend money on a laptop, PLEASE include the Ultimate! 3. No MS-Office Again, you buy this thing, you can't even edit MS-Word documents - its an extra piece of software that wasn't included!!! This is getting painful! 4. No replaceable battery. My Olympus digicam used readily-available AA batteries. This thing uses a built-in weirdo battery.... that can't be replaced by normal users! What's the deal??? I want to use AA batteries, so if my battery runs dead on the airplane,...

For years I've had an RSYNC backup solution for my immediate family's computers. Each computer would perform a remote RSYNC over SSH to my home Linux box on a daily basis. It worked great, but it was a pain in the butt for a few reasons: Lots of parts to maintain. A lack of on-disk encryption. No easy restoration process. Required me to have a server powered up all the time. Recently, I stumbled upon a Mac and Windows internet backup solution for the grand price of Free. It's called Mozzy Home, and its pretty darn good for the following reasons: It's free for the first 2 GB of storage It supports encryption - Mozy can't even see your file content (but it does appear that they can see your filenames and directory structure) It is super easy to set up The client software is pretty good, and supports easy restores. You can get a free Mozy Home account here (shameless referral code attached): https://mozy.com/registration/free The biggest limitation with the (free) M...

With Windows, the stock OS software is far from having everything I need. So you may ask me, "LanceJ, what is the best PC software you like to install?" Here's my list. The following software products are not offered by me; I'm just telling you that I use these products often. I find some of these products very useful. I've published this list mostly for my own personal benefit, so I don't have to go scrounging the web each time I need to install these for someone. [ I originally wrote this post in 2006 and updated it in 2008. I'm leaving this post up for history's sake, but I have an updated version .  - LJ ] Critical Software Packages for Windows I like these installed on all Windows computers I have to deal with: Avast! Anti-Virus (Home Edition). Free anti-virus software. Spybot Search and Destroy . Detects and removes spyware. CCleaner. Cleans junk off your PC. FireFox , an awesome web browser for Windows. Thunderbird , an awesome em...