Wanting more speed from your old laptop or desktop?

This is something I hear often from people that have and laptop or desktop that is 2+ years or older, "My system is so slow. I need a new one."  Whoa!! That may not be entirely true.  With some minor upgrades and changes to the system it may run faster then when you bought it and I have a case that is right on point for this.

A family member has a Dell laptop that is coming up on 3 years old and it was quick as when they bought it and was running Windows 7 Home Premium.  They called me regarding said laptop a couple months back with issues booting it up, turns out after several attempts to get Windows to boot up the hard drive was shot.  They were contemplating buying a new laptop or replacing the hard drive and reloading Windows 7.  They said they wanted to keep cost low, as everyone these days are, and I said, "I have a way to make your system faster then when you bought it and keep your cost below or just above $100."  They said how and my answer was solid state and for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.  "Ubuntu Linux, what is that?", was the response I got and after explaining,"That is is a great Operating System that is free and comes with 1000's of free applications for doing everything", they agreed to go for it.  So off I went to Fry's at lunch with a co-worker to get a solid state drive while Ubuntu was downloading.  I picked up a 120gb SanDisk for $99 on sale.  Check out Fry's 120gb SSD(solid state drive)'s here.

The actual laptop opened up.

Dell made the system a big pain to replace the drive and there were a few cables that had to be reconnected after the drive was replaced, oops forgot to connect the speakers.  I took the opportunity of having to remove everything from the laptop to replace the drive to clean the system with compressed air to remove dust and lint that got in during the years of use, wasn't much but always good to do.  After dissecting the laptop and installing the new SSD it was time to install Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distributions available and one of the most user friend ones that I have used.  The download of Ubuntu is in an ISO format and ready to be burned to disc using your favorite disc burning software or if you have Windows 7 the best way, and simplest one, is to use the built in disc burning tool by right clicking on the downloaded ISO and clicking on burn to disc.  I inserted the disc and started the system entering the boot options menu for the laptop and choose optical disc.  Ubuntu boots to a menu asking if you want to install or try it out.  You can test Ubuntu out on a system running Windows and it will not have any effect on the system as it runs entirety off the disc in a Live version.  I choose the install option and choose the defaults all the way through and set a secure password when prompted for the root user account.  The root user is the administrative account on a Linux system and has full control over the system and will be used when you want to make system changes or install software, so make it a very secure one.  To download the latest version of Ubuntu go here.  As of this writing it is 12.10.

The install completed very quickly and booted right into the desktop.  Now the key to using an SSD in Linux is to trim the drive.  Here is a great article covering trim and SSD's with Linux.  System rebooted and and was lightening fast, so much faster then the original drive and operating system.  I then went to the Ubuntu Software Centre and installed some great games like Super Tux and Super Tux 2, both are Super Mario Bros. clones and super fun to play.  The install included a default Office suite called Libre Office and it is 100% Microsoft Office compatible, one of the best out there.  I also installed Flash Player and went to Facebook and The Pixel Castle as they visit these two sites daily, and both opened with no problems.

So with the upgrades done I returned the laptop.  They we're in awe of the speed of the system with the new drive and os.  It didn't take them anytime at all to learn the system and configure it for their liking and password of choice.  The biggest thing that got them was the speed of the laptop.  It had never been so fast and when timed from power on to being on Facebook took 25 seconds, that included entering the password to get into the system.  They are very happy with the laptop again and it is still preforming like a dream.

I don't mean this article to be detailed on how to install an SSD or Linux on your system but an informative example of how to bring new life to a laptop or desktop.  Also not bashing Windows performance on an SSD.  The choice for going with Linux was to give them a fairly maintenance free system that is not plagued buy malware and viruses.  There are viruses for Linux but nothing compared to Windows.  I am also looking to write a complete article on installing Ubuntu from start to finish in detail.

A yummy Halloween favorite I've been making for years.

Halloween is upon us again, man the year has flown by, and it's time for me to make one of my favorite treats for the office. Ghost in the Graveyard!  It is easy to make and the office has loved it.  So here is the recipe and I hope you all enjoy it.

Doesn't it look yummy!

Ghost in the Graveyard

Ingredients:

1 pk Oreo cookies
2 pk Chocolate INSTANT pudding
3 cups Cool whip
4 oz Rectangular white cookies
Topping:
Cool Whip
Candy corn

Directions:

1. Place cookies in zip-lock bag and crush using a rolling pin
2. Make pudding as directed and let stand for 5 minutes
3. Stir in the cool whip, and 1/2 the cookies.
4. Spoon mixture into a 13" x 9" baking dish.
5. Sprinkle with the remaining cookies.
6. Refrigerate 1 hour.
7. Decorate using rectangular cookies as tombstones.
8. Use cool whip to make ghost-shaped blobs on the top, create swirls of *ghosts* on top, use chocolate for the eyes.
9. Place the candy corn around the top.


Enjoy!

What do you know about your old Smartphone?

Well it knows a lot about you and isn't shy about sharing it.  These days just about everyone has some form of a smartphone, and we use it to take pictures at graduations, check our bank accounts, send and receive business emails, write business proposals, and manage our hectic schedules.   That is just a few things we do on our smartphones, but what do you do with that phone when you get a new one?  Trade it in?  Sell it on eBay or Craigslist?  Give it to the spouse or kids?  Put it in the church yard sale?  Donate it to charity?  All are possible options but did you think about the information that is on the phone?

With older non-smartphones we could just pull the sim card and the data went with it, well not anymore.  Smartphones like a computer stores the data on the phone and even if you do a factory reset on the phone the data is still there, even if the apps are not.  This is true for all smartphones be it Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows, etc.  Your personal and business data, including passwords, credit card numbers, bank account information, those pictures you never wanted anyone to ever see, emails, and contacts are all there and accessible. With identity theft being one of the biggest money makers for thieves today, a used smartphone is a potential gold mine of information. I wanted to see for myself, on an older Android tablet that I no longer use and was thinking of selling, what data would be there after a factory reset?

I know you say a tablet is not a phone, but an Android tablet uses the same software as a Android phone so it is a perfect test subject. After the factory reset the tablet booted up and looked just as it did when I took it out of the box the first day.  Only using the file manager installed on the tablet and no special software, I was able to find one picture I took testing the camera at my desk, the books I had downloaded for the Nook, my email accounts and contacts, and various other forms of data.  Boy I am glad I didn't sell it!  With specialized software, there would have been even more data to retrieve I am sure, as I did use the tablet to manage my personal finances from time to time.

So what should you do with an old phone?  Some places buy them and claim to wipe out the data using special software, but in researching this article I found stories of phones bought loaded with the former owners’ data still on it.  EBay does offer instructions for users selling a smartphone and specific instructions for iPhone's to make the phones safe for resale. The only perfect solution to protecting the data on the phones is to destroy the phone.  McAfee security experts recommend this method to assure that your information is safe.  So have some fun and take out some of the frustrations you have with these smartphones and take a hammer to it.  You may just find a new annual stress reduction ritual.

Just getting started here.

"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive." - Dalai Lama