Well after about 700+ days of good service  my Windows XP based Dell Precision 390 was chunking a bit.

The hardware is absolutely fine but Windows was crudded up after being hammered over the last couple of years.

The original hard disk was a 500gb drive that was almost full so I elected to put another 500gb in the system and install Windows on it and boot from it.

Tip: Because my machine can have multiple hard disks connected I can still access the data on the old drive as both are connected.

Tip: For good measure I placed the new windows swap file on the old disk drive . So I now treat the old drive as storage without having to backup and restore 480gb of data.

I also swapped the video card from an ATI one to an  Nvidia one  as I prefer their multi monitor support.

Decisions, Depictions, Decisions

Again I elected to have Windows XP Pro SP3 as my Operating System. I am still knee deep in legacy applications. XP on this machines fly’s. Done Deal.

Office: Microsoft Office 2003 SP3 (again for legacy).

Anti-Virus: Nod32 Business Edition

Observations

I seem to be regressing but this configuration just works well in terms of performance and application compatibility.

I would have no problems replacing the lot with faster machine running Vista and Office 2007 but I just don’t think I would be any better off.

I would prefer Vista for security reasons but that’s about it.

Just an observation really.

I had a conversation with a client who was experiencing problems with their Nvidia based Dell laptop.

It’s quite difficult to explain to clients that it’s  really Nvida that created the problem but clients just see a Dell Logo and blame Dell.

I understand why customers think like this but I guess I am just saying to Dell, this is hurting your brand.

My client is a Director and his company has 80 Dell computers on site. So when he tells me he doesn’t want another Dell Laptop it’s kind of serious.

I did my best to redistribute blame and there are other choices for example a Dell with a ATI or Intel based video subsystem.

The irony is the market leader HP sufferers exactly the same issues with their affected  Nvidia based laptops.

Nvida has a lot explaining to do.

I am noticing a trend that Spyware/Malware attacks are making a comeback and are getting more sophisticated.

In the good old days Spam e-mail used to be just advertising but increasingly that innocuous looking spam e-mail has other ideas.

It can be one or more of the following:-

Malware: Malicious software designed to get on your PC without your knowledge.

Spyware: They steal your passwords via keystrokes that are sent back to the spyware author.

Virus: Designed to cause harm to your computer.

Phishing: Designed to get you to impart privileged information.

Problem Area’s

Internet Surfing: The number of malicious or infected web sites is in the millions. You can no longer just click, click on every link you see.

Tip: Make sure you have your Phishing Filter on and have up to date Anti-Virus Software running.

Inbox: Even with good Anti-Spam defences Spam e-mail gets through about one third will have a link to something bad.

Tip: Don’t even get curious with suspect e-mails and click links just to see. Delete, Delete and Delete.

Stay Safe online Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5414992.stm

The micro blogging service Twitter will no longer deliver updates to UK users over the mobile network.

You can still update twitter from your mobile (as are paying the sms fee) but the real time updates will  now stop.

It seems it comes down to cost and Twitter can no longer afford the fee’s the UK based mobile companies want.

The service in America is unaffected.

I have actually started using Twitter not to publish but to keep tabs on people in tech and have found it pretty useful.

Link from the Twitter blog about this (Link)

Other Links about this story (Link)

Most of my clients have Board Rooms and in those rooms are large displays connected to PC’s.

So there is always a need to be able to control a PC but also be cable free.

Three wireless technologies exist in this market :-

RF (Radio Frequency), Bluetooth and now 2.4Ghz Wireless.

RF is the oldest and least exciting, distance and line of sight plays a part.

I recently tried out the Wireless KeySonic Compact Keyboard with integrated Touch Pad (Model 540)

As the picture above shows it’s basically a laptop keyboard style and is ultra thin and light.

You use the supplied USB Dongle in an available USB socket on the PC and with zero configuration it just works.

The rage of 10m is equal to Bluetooth but much better than RF.

The build quality was pretty much what I expected from a Sub £30 product but saying that it looks and feels adequate for the task at hand.