Ah, the joys of a new computer. Many manufacturers install lots of junk applications on their computers and possibly the first order of business should be to get rid of the junk that you don't want and that can slow the computer's operation. I mean, one of the reasons you got a new computer was to have a faster computer wasn't it?
So let's find a way to rid the computer of the crapware and then let's poke around the internet to find some useful programs that the manufacturer didn't include.
PC Decrapifier is what you need and it does just what the name suggests: It removes the junk that the manufacturer installed for you. Either Lenovo doesn't install a lot of junk on its ThinkPad series or I had already removed it because PC Decrapifier found nothing that it recommended removing and nothing that it considered to be borderline. It also lists all other applications that start with Windows, but with a strong caution to be careful about what you remove.
The application doesn't even have to be installed. Just download it and run it. You have the option of paying $5 for it and I recommend doing that if it helps you find and remove junk from the system.
Get PC Decrapifier here: https://www.pcdecrapifier.com/
The next application you'll want is called NiNite. Makes you think of getting a good night's sleep, doesn't it? And in many ways that's exactly what it does.
NiNite's primary market is system administrators of large corporations. If you check out the pro version, you'll find that it costs $240 per year for 1 to 100 computers. So just back out of there unless you're a system administrator with a lot of computers that you need to keep up to date.
The site's main page lists dozens of apps -- from browsers like Chrome, Opera, and Firefox to communications tools like Skype and Thunderbird, utilities like ImgBurn and WinDirStat, developer tools like Filezilla and Notepad++, and many others.
Your mission is to select the applications you want to keep up to date (even if you haven't yet installed them). Select as many as you want and then click the download button. After downloading the file, double-click it, and sit back NiNite will do several things:
This is simply the fastest and easiest way to keep a lot of applications up to date.
Get NiNite here: https://ninite.com/
There's another application that claims to be able to update even more applications, but I won't recommend it. Secunia PSI (personal software inspector) is the free personal version of Secunia CSI (commercial software inspector). It tries to check every application on the computer and then install updates automatically or when you request them.
I found several problems when I tested Secunia PSI on a Lenovo ThinkPad running Windows 10. First, it apparently mangled a Java update and, as a result, none of the Libre Office applications would run. I had to reinstall Libre Office. Second, it identified programs that weren't installed as needing updates. It also recommended "updates" to Chrome and Firefox that would have installed older versions that the ones I was running. It also told me that I needed to update Adobe Digital Editions to version 4.5 when the installed version was 4.5.
You could say I was not impressed by Secunia PSI and, if you said that, you would be exactly right.
Not recommended, but you can get it here: https://secunia.com/support/download/ (beware!)
Speaking of LibreOffice -- If you already have Microsoft Office and you don't mind paying $100 per year for it, disregard LibreOffice (or the older OpenOffice). On the other hand, if you don't mind paying nothing for a full office suite that has many (but not all) of the features of Microsoft Office, take a look at LibreOffice.
Most of the components are self explanatory. Writer (like Word), Calc (like Excel), Impress (like Powerpoint), and Base (like Access). But you might wonder what Math and Draw are. Math is a specialized editor that allows the user to describe a formula and then generates the formula in text so that it can be included in a document. If you write math textbooks or prepare scientific papers, you'll use this. Otherwise, probably not.
Draw is the other unexpected prize in the box. It's essentially a combination of a basic drawing program (in this regard it reminds me of an early version of Corel Draw) and a flowchart creator such as Visio.
LibreOffice can read and write Microsoft Office files, but it doesn't support every feature of the Microsoft application. Moving files one way or the other usually works, but if you're working on a collaborative project where files need to be shared among authors, it's better if everyone uses either Microsoft applications or everyone uses LibreOffice.
Get LibreOffice here: http://www.libreoffice.org/
You've heard about Malwarebytes from me before and this won't be the last time. Several separate apps have been rolled into one with the release of version 3. There's still a free version, but it's quite limited. The paid version is relatively inexpensive ($40) for the protection it provides.
At the absolute least, the free version is essential -- and the paid version if it fits in your budget.
Get Malwarebytes here: https://www.malwarebytes.com/premium/
Later this month, I'll have an in-depth view of the password manager LastPass. In the meantime, obtain at least the free version. The paid version ($12 per year) adds some features that I consider to be essential.
Simply put, you must use strong passwords if you want to avoid being victimized and it's important not to reuse passwords. Clearly, it's impossible to remember hundreds of unique complex passwords, so you need a password manager. LastPass has been my choice for many years.
Get LastPass here: https://www.lastpass.com/
If your new computer is a Windows machine, it probably runs Windows 10. That means it came with Microsoft's new Edge browser and the older Internet Explorer. Although I recommend avoiding Internet Explorer, Edge is a promising improvement. Still, there are other browsers you may want to consider.
Each of these has advantages. Each has annoyances. It doesn't hurt to download them all and determine which you prefer.
"CCleaner" is shorthand for "Crap Cleaner", and the name describes what it does. CCleaner is from Piriform. It helps when you want to free up disk space that's being consumed by useless files, delete unwanted cookies, clean the browser history, and even look for and correct Registry errors.
Take care to examine the settings before you use the program for the first time, though, to avoid deleting cookies you want to keep. Some banks and various other applications use cookies to confirm that you're coming to the site from a known location. If you delete these cookies, the site may require you to complete an authentication process when you log in the next time.
Free and paid versions are available.
Get CCleaner here: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/
For serious geeks (or for those who really just want to know what's going on under the hood), you won't find a better sleuth than Hardware Info. This is a free program that will tell you everything about any physical device that's installed on the computer.
Today's computers contain a vast number of sensors that report temperature on the main board and on disk drives. All modern disk drives include SMART sensors that attempt to warn when a drive is nearing failure. HW Info reports on all of these. SMART (self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology) tries to detect and report on various indicators of drive reliability, with the objective of letting users know when hardware failures are imminent.
The program also provides essential information about the temperature of components in the computer. High temperatures are not good and if you see indications that the computer is running hot, you can do something to mitigate the problem before components fail.
Get HW Info here: https://www.hwinfo.com/
That headline is somewhat unfair. Microsoft has led the way in analyzing how people use the company's software and making modifications. But the company sometimes also seems to ignore input from those who are most able to provide it.
Consider, for example, editors and Microsoft word. Virtually everything in print has spent some time in Word. When it goes to the press, it may be in an Adobe InDesign file, but the writer may have used Word and the editor almost certainly did. Scratch the surface of any editor and you'll get an ear full about Word's many annoyances -- some of which have been there for decades. But has Microsoft ever asked editors for their opinions? Apparently not.
That seems to be the case based on some information an editor friend of mine announced late in December. Katharine O'Moore-Klopf, a Long Island editor, had written something on Twitter about including editors in the usability testing phase of the program. "We use Word to make a living," she wrote.
Then something unexpected happened: Someone from Microsoft asked "Are there any particular features you would like to see in Word?" She's now compiling a wish list from editors and plans to have the list reviewed by MVPs (Microsoft's "Most Valuable Professionals", who share their expertise without being paid by Microsoft.)
The information is being compiled on Facebook, so if you're an editor who would like to provide some input, you'll need to sign up for a Facebook account.
Microsoft also seems to be preparing to work on some longtime operating system annoyances. Recently I wrote about the continued need for Settings and the Control Panel nearly 5 years after the Settings app was introduced in Windows 8.
In the past year, Microsoft has had numerous updates and patches that created problems that were worse than the ones they solved. In some cases, updates created a situation in which computers repeatedly rebooted, wouldn't boot at all, or booted with some hardware devices disabled.
Maybe Microsoft will pay more attention to users this year.
Yes, there is a Windows 10 computer that costs less than $150. It's unclear how the company that makes these little machines does so. The computers are underpowered and certainly don't have the power needed to run resource-hungry applications. But if you need email, web browsing, and not much else, the NextBook series from E Fun might be worth looking at.
Nextbook Flexx 9 Tablet features an 8.9-inch screen (1280x800 resolution). The computer weighs less than a pound. Internal memory is limited to just 32GB, but that can be expanded to 64GB via the MicroSD slot. The CPU is an Intel Atom device with just 1GB of RAM, which is the exact minimum that Windows 10 needs.
The company offers 2 additional Windows models, the Nextbook Flexx 10A Tablet is a 3 pound device with the same low-power Intel Atom processor and a 10.1 inch screen (1280x800 resolution). It has 2GB of RAM. The 32GB of internal storage can be increased to 128GB with the MicroSD slot. The price is $220.
The top of the line is the $230 Nextbook Flexx 11A with an 11.6 inch (1366x768 resolution) screen, and Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage that can be doubled using a MicroSD card.
No, the screen doesn't hover over the keyboard. What they're showing here is that the keyboard can be removed to make the computer a tablet or attached to make it more like a notebook.
Some of the company's Android devices are priced under $100.
E FUN characterizes itself as "a designer and marketer of mobile lifestyle products." It entered the North American market in late 2010 and the US branch is headquartered in West Covina, California.
To learn more about these little computers, see the company's website.
When Apple CEO Tim Cook said, in 2015, that the PC was dead, he probably knew that the statement was more intended for shock value and marketing than to describe reality. Cook was using the term "PC" to mean any personal computer -- desktop or laptop made by anyone. In other words, it wasn't a Mac versus Microsoft jibe.
At the time, Cook seemed to think that the Ipad Pro would replace all computers. Certainly he had to know that was a silly statement. It's true that tablets and smart phones can do a lot that used to be reserved for computers, but "a lot" is not "everything".
I can't imagine preparing TechByter Worldwide every week on a tablet and I have a very nice Tablet. But my Microsoft Surface almost always has its keyboard attached and I don't use it for power-hungry applications if I can help it. Instead, most of my work is done on a notebook computer that's powerful enough to have replaced my desktop system, although with an external cabinet full of hard drives.
That seems to be the case for most people. If you sit at a desk to work, you probably want a full-size keyboard, a full size mouse, and two (maybe more) large monitors.
The Gartner Research Company, which specializes in analyzing the computer market, says PC shipments will soon begin increasing again instead of decreasing as they have been for many years. About 266 million laptops, hybrids, and desktops will be sold this year and around 272 million in 2018. That's minimal growth, but it is growth.
Many companies put off buying new computers during the Windows 8 era and until they could see how Windows 10 would work. Gartner says that there will be a robust upgrade cycle over the next few years. In the past, companies routinely replaced computers about every 3 years. Now the replacement cycle is more like 6 years. It's not clear whether companies will return to more rapid upgrades now that concerns over the future of Windows have largely been resolved.
Gartner says that about 165 million tablets will be sold this year and about 166 million next year. Both numbers are down from the 168 million sold last year. Smart phone sales will hit 1.9 billion this year and about 1.92 billion next year -- up slightly from 1.88 billion in 2016.
