June 30th has arrived and as mentioned in the
May newsletter you can no longer purchase a computer with Windows XP Home
Edition installed. Dell and the other major manufacturers have altered their
web-sites to enforce Microsoft’s policy. As previously stated, this primarily
affects home users as most manufacturers will continue to offer Windows XP
Professional Edition under the existing Windows Vista Downgrade Program.
In this case, you officially purchase a license to
Windows Vista Business Edition but request that Dell or your manufacturer of
choice install Windows XP Professional Edition. You will receive copies of both
Windows Vista and XP-Pro and you can upgrade at any time in the future should
Windows Vista become a requirement or a personal choice at some point.
Microsoft will continue to fully support Windows XP
Professional Edition until 2010 at which time they will no longer provide new
security updates. However, just as Windows 98 is still in use at the large
number of companies, Windows XP will continue to be a viable Operating System
for at least another 5 years or so.
Windows XP, which is now at Service Pack 3, is fairly
secure and unless someone with a lot of technical knowledge chooses to
deliberately attack it after Microsoft discontinues
its direct support, it should prove quite viable for some time. All users
really should upgrade to Service Pack 3 as soon as possible and beyond that you
will still need up to date your Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware protection but
that’s about it.
In fact, if the past is any indication the culprits who
write Viruses and such are always more interested in going head to head with
Microsoft’s latest products. Somehow, the mere idea of attacking older
Microsoft products would be considered a benefit to Microsoft and that is not
what most of these people seem to want.
If you have already ordered a Dell computer with
It is believed that the Downgrade Program will remain in
effect until Microsoft releases its next version of Windows, affectionately
known as Windows 7.0. As soon as this becomes available in 2009, we will test
and review it to confirm that the more common
SAVE
THE PLANET – TURN OFF YOUR PC
During
the last couple of weeks I had several clients report
that several PC’s had burned out while left on overnight during a number of
thunderstorms. I was surprised to hear that many users still just leave their
computers on when they go home for the day. When asked why, the most common
response was “we always leave them on”. I believe that this stems from an old
belief that if you turned your computer off that it might not turn on again.
This may have actually been true many years ago when computers much were less
reliable than they are today but now the exact opposite
is true. Your computer and especially your monitor will last much longer if
your turn them off every night.
For one thing they are less susceptible to power surges
and such when powered off. Hard drives, monitors and many components are good
for 8-12 hours per day but constant operation is not what they are designed
for. Besides, it costs someone money for the electricity and even if yours is
included in your rent, ultimately your landlord will raise rents based on their
ongoing costs.
Similarly, extra lighting and other devices should be
turned off or connected to timers to shut off automatically when no one is
around. By reducing electrical consumption during the night, ultimately, we
will be able to use that extra electricity to charge the newer Electric Hybrid
Vehicles that will come on stream in the next few years. My lawnmower, grass
trimmer and my Prius for that matter all use electricity to reduce fossil fuel
consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
At the risk of preaching, Global Warming is a fact and
scientists have linked excessive carbon dioxide levels to the greatest
extinction in the earth’s history. About 250 million years ago, well before the
dinosaurs, a huge volcanic eruption along a fault in
Without the cold polar region to cause warm currents to
cool, the oceans became stagnant. This initially killed off most of the life in
the seas as oxygen and nutrients were depleted rapidly. In the absence of
oxygen, anaerobic bacteria digested the dying animal matter, giving off huge
amounts of hydrogen sulphide gas. This highly poisonous gas was picked up on
the wind and basically killed almost everything on the land as well.
As ominous as this sounds,
there are solutions to the problem starting with the reduction in fossil fuel
consumption and the more effective use of electrical cars and devices, so to
start, consider turning off your PC.