Home & Small Office Computer Guide

It seems that Microsoft is having some concerns over it’s new operating system and now the planned release of Windows Vista has been put back to January 2007

As the release of Vista, Microsoft’s new operating system, draws closer there is a lot of talk and speculation about how much memory it will require and whether or not your current PC will be able to handle the new system.

Vista and the Quest for More Memory takes a look behind the story that the minimum requirements will be 512MB of DRAM and 1GB would be better.

Have you ever wondered what actually makes the image you are looking at now appear on your computer screen?

How CRT and LCD monitors work really does make for some interesting reading.

Here I sit in front of a bank of 17″ flat screens while my partner works on a brace of 19″ flat screens and we’re both happy. Or at least we were until we saw this:

It’s the latest release from Sharp and it’s set to hit the shelves in Japan on March 24. And in case you’re wondering, it’s a 65 inch flat screen monitor.

In Sharp’s own words:

The large 65V-inch screen brings images to life with its pure size. It also faithfully reproduces computer-generated images such as CAD data with impressively high-resolution and high quality right down to the finest details. And because it’s LCD, the PN-655 gives expressively colored images even in bright rooms and allows everyone in a meeting, no matter where they are sitting, to see the information on-screen with equal clarity. The high-definition videoconference function displays facial expressions with detail, so smooth, clear communication is possible wherever in the world you are. A wide range of interfaces means a wide range of networking possibilities, making the PN-655 a new, all-purpose business solution.

The major features include:

1. A 65V-inch high-resolution, full high-definition LCD panel (resolution of 1,920 H x 1,080 V pixels) faithfully reproduces high-definition, high-quality digital images for CAD data and videoconferencing.

2. Employs a “dual fine engine,” which enables the display of both PC digital data and audio-visual images in full high-definition.

3. Uses “picture in picture” and “picture by picture” functions to display various image sources simultaneously.

4. Strengthened functions for commercial use, such as a fanless design, remote control functions, and capability of around the clock operations.

The price is yet to be announced but we want one

For those of us who stare at a computer screen day after day what we are actually going to see on the screen can be of interest.

So if you’re wondering what you’ll be seeing when Windows Vista - the new Microsoft operating system - will look like when it’s installed on one of your machines here is a link to 65 screen shots of the new operating system.

These are all taken from a version known as Build 5308 and that version is the first to come out with the status of ‘feature complete’. The issue of a version of that status means that there will be no new feautres added to future builds before the full release of Vista.

By the way, the launch of Vista has now been put back to the end of 2006.

Just recently I came across someone who purchased a Dell 26 inch flat screen monitor that stopped working well within the warranty period. Unfortunately for this person that had purchased the unit overseas and so, for her, there simply was no warranty.

And the fact that a Dell product should die within the warranty period was really no surprise to me and after doing a little research I found that there is a well-known fault with the Dell 26 inch flat screens. It’s been known for quite some time but Dell has never bothered to correct the problem.

Of course if the monitor fails within the warranty period Dell will replace it but what happens if it fails one day outside that warranty period? The simple answer to that is - nothing. As far as Dell is concerned it’s out of warranty and your out of luck.

If you’re an Australian and you purchased the item here in Australia and it fails outside the warranty period then talk to your state’s consumer protection people. The ACCC suggests that just because the warranty has expired the manufacturer is not off the hook.

In their 2004 leaflet entitled “Warranties and Refunds” they give the example of a television and suggest that in the view of the ACC a consumer is entitled to a refund if a television that could be expected to last at least 10 years develops a serious fault 12 months.

So what does that say about a computer monitor that costs more than a television but dies just one day out of warranty?

It’s been reported that McAfee had an ‘Oh God’ moment on Friday and released an anti-virus update into the wild that wasn’t quite right.

The update had a problem in the DAT file that caused it to incorrectly identify thousands of files as infected when they weren’t. Anyone who had McAfee set to delete infected files lost out big time.

One Systems Administrator for a major company reported that they lost thousands of files from dozens of servers and around 2000 user machines.

Oops.

The latest trend in computer hardware is a serious move towards replacing desktops with laptops. There is such a strong move in that direction that there have been some months where the sale of laptops have exceeded the sale of desktops.

It’s a move that has rather puzzled and alarmed me. As a trained typist the keyboard on any laptop drives me nuts because there is no way that I can get it to slope in the way a keyboard should and that means that I have to hold my hands in a different position that becomes very tiring very quickly. That means that my productivity decreases the longer I have to use my laptop.

On top of that most modern laptops put out way too much heat and it’s quite possible to have them overheat on a desk and on my lap.

That doesn’t mean that laptops don’t have their advantages. It’s just great to be able to grab the laptop and go out onto the patio and work there when the four walls of the office begin to close in. And it’s good to be able to take our laptops with us when we go away but I’ve never accepted that a laptop could be a serious replacement for a desktop.

However that attitude has left me feeling like a voice crying in the wilderness as more and more people trumpet the supposed advantages of a laptop over a desktop. But now others are joining me in suggesting that laptops may not really be such an ideal replacement for a desktop after all.

Here you can read the story of a laptop that became very unstable after just 32 hours of continuous use. The desktops in our office run 24/7 for weeks at a time without rebooting.

Laptops were originally produced with the idea of being light and very portable but over the years that idea seems to have gone west as laptops increased in size and weight.

But Fujitsu are still interested in delivering a laptop that is both light in weight and small in size - in fact I couldn’t believe just how small the Fujitsu P7120 really was when I saw in on the weekend.

It’s powered by an Intel Pentium M753 ultra-low voltage processor that delivers over 7 hours of of use on the standard battery while connected to the Net through the intergrated blue tooth connection.

The whole unit only weighs 1.38 kilograms even though it includes peripherals that include a DVD burner. The operating system is Windows XP Professional and wireless and wired networking connections are included.

On the downside this laptop is very expensive - $2,990 rrp here in Australia and the keyboard is rather cramped. You can find a full review of the Fujitsu P7120 here

Previous reports that Windows Vista would have a blackdoor that police and security forces could use to access encrypted files on any computer running the operating system has now been discounted by Microsoft.

In fact it has been described as “nonsense” by a developer and cryptographer at Microsoft. You can read the full story here