- Once you buy and set up your new PC, the next thing is to add the software programs that you need to do your job or pursue your hobbies. I generally counsel people to stay away from free software (you often get what you pay for) and to research the company that markets your software to make sure they are in it for the long run. Sometimes it is better to use a general purpose program (like a spreadsheet or database) and customize it for your own use rather than to buy a specific program from a marginal vendor.
In my video editing hobby, I chose to use Adobe products. They are not inexpensive (although the "Elements" products are quite well priced) but I believe that the company will be supporting its products for a long time to come. Likewise Microsoft Office - nobody likes the price, but you know that MS will be around for a long time.
A recent client unfortunately pointed up this issue. He had purchased a new PC and hired me to set it up and to copy his stuff from the old PC, which had the MS Windows Millennium OS. When upgrading you should always reinstall your software from the installation CDs - it is very difficult to copy programs - even more so between different versions of Windows. Copying data from the old PC is usually straightforward.
In this case, my client was an amateur chef and had purchased a program to manage his recipes. The company had long gone out of business (the first hint) but my client still continued to use the program. The issue is that the program does not run correctly under Windows XP. My client was relatively slow to upgrade to XP and thus continued to use this program for many years. Now, with the new PC, we were unable to get the software running. What to do?
Since I charge by the hour, the time to research this old program and to attempt to find a fix would be prohibitive cost-wise. My client is searching the web for other people in the same situation, and in the mean time we left his old PC operational so he could still access his recipes.
The moral here? If critical to you, always purchase software from successful, brand-name companies. Make sure you keep up with updates and fixes. You may still get caught if the manufacturer goes out of business, but a little research will help in the long run.
- Neither of my two daughters is particularly PC literate. That's not a problem, as long as Dad can make the trips to fix their PCs when needed! They let their children on the PC to use for games and educational use, and recently my darling granddaughter decided to print something she had created on pbskids.org or a similar kid's website. The problem is: she apparently attempted to print it over 51,000 times! I am not sure if she actually did this, or there was a bug in the program somehow, because the files were not actually printing.
But the PC just tied itself in knots attempting to manage all those files - actually double that number because each print job has two files - the print image itself, and a descriptor file. The PC just hung up and became unusable. Attempts to delete the printer failed. Dad to the rescue.
The print job files are stored in c:\windows\system32\spool\printers. Now, that is not someplace where you would ordinarily look, but I knew where and what it was. Deleting the 102,000 files in that folder and a reboot brought the PC back and I was then able to eliminate the printer icon and reinstall it.
If you can't have a separate PC for the kids, I would strongly suggest that you create a new logon for the kids and give it limited privileges. Password protect your own logon so they can't get on.
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport - Oak Island area. You can visit his Website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail questions or column ideas to him at bsc@bobseidel.com. For specific inquiries, please call Bob Seidel Consulting, LLC at 278-1007.)