Do you have Windows Live OneCare Installed?

April 14th, 2009 | Comments Off
Posted by Tim under Apple, Computer Repair, My Thoughts, Other Applications, Tech Talk

I recently had my first experience with Windows Live OneCare and I have to say that I was less than impressed. Here is what happened. Microsoft, take note!

My clients are an elderly couple who are nervous about using their PC but they’ve gotten by for a while now. So they had Windows XP Home edition with Service Pack 3 (I think) and a few run of the mill software programs installed. They kept having freezing and rebooting problems. I did a repair of Windows XP. That didn’t fix it. I ran all the diagnostics I could think of but no hardware problem would show up.

I finally ran out of options and formatted their computer. It was running perfectly. I reinstalled most of the programs but not Windows Live OneCare. I don’t like Microsoft’s AntiVirus products so I skipped the program entirely. Unfortunately there were functions in OneCare that the clients wanted so without really thinking that it was the problem, I installed it. BAM!!! The same problems were back exactly the way they were before. I attempted a system restore but OneCare was still there. I tried uninstalling it but that didn’t fix the problem either.

My clients needed their computer so they opted to put up with the problems rather than be without their computer for another day. I said “Okay” and left. About a week later, they called me again and asked if I would help them set up their new Apple laptop. Well, they now have a nice new fully functioning Apple MacBook Pro and they love that it works the way it is supposed to. They’re still getting used to the software but since Windows Live OneCare caused such havoc on their PC, they’re glad to have something that works.

So, as you can tell, Windows Live OneCare won’t get my vote for software application of the year.

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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Small Printing in Apple Mail

August 30th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Posted by Tim under Apple, Desktop Support, Email, Free, How To, software

Yesterday I received a call from a client who I had not spoken with in a while. It turns out that he had gotten himself an Apple iMac. It was beautiful but that’s beside the point. He called because in Apple Mail he could not change the font size of his print outs no matter what he did. The type was tiny and the whole printout took up about 1/3 of the page.

I looked online for the answers and could not find them so I am posting the answer here.

The problem is in the Print Setup. So here’s what you need to do…

  1. Press Command and P to print.
  2. Next to where it lists the printer that you select, there is a downward facing arrow that looks like the the blue arrow below. On your print properties, click on that as shown in picture below.
  3. You will now be presented with a much larger window. Towards the bottom of this larger window you will see 3 options. They say “Scale Message to Fit”, “Rewrap Message to Fit”, and “Keep the Same Apparent Font Size”.
  4. “Scale Message to Fit” will probably be highlighted by having the blue dot next to it. This is the problem.
  5. You must click on “Keep the Same Apparent Font Size” and move the blue dot there as shown in picture below. You can now press the print button and your documents will print normally.

I hope this is of help to you.

Happy Computing,
Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

IBM is Now Using Apple Computers

April 19th, 2008 | Comments Off
Posted by Tim under Apple, Entertainment, Humor, My Thoughts, News, Windows Vista Irritations

Irony as defined by webster.com: incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result

As ironic as it may seem, IBM, the creator of the personal computer, has started giving Apple laptops to its employees.

What? You think I’m joking? Ok, so they started with a roll-out of only 24 laptops… Still, check this link. 22 of the 24 people responded to a questionnaire and 19 wanted to keep the Apple laptops. Only 3 out of 22 wanted to go back to Windows. They’ll soon start a new roll-out of 50 laptops and in the second half of 2008 add another 50 laptops to the test.

Comments on the questionnaire include: “I have been a true PC stalwart for 2+ decades, but after trying Vista, I’m ready for a change,” and “It has been easier learning the Mac than learning Vista.” What a smack in the face to Microsoft!

Even though the numbers aren’t large, this must be exciting for Apple. I wish I had some Apple stock. =)

Happy Computing,
Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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