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Ugghh, February...
Welcome to the February doldrums! Winter's not yet over, but we've
had a taste of spring-ish weather.
Punxatawny Phil saw his shadow, and we're supposed to have another
six weeks of winter. Let's hope we won't get weather like most of the
rest of the country has been experiencing!
This month we'll look at how to speed up your wireless internet
connection, what some different shut down options are for your computer,
a nifty web tool, plus the usual collection of odd and off-beat
websites.
Speed up your wireless internet connection
Do you have a wireless internet connection at home, or at the office?
Isn’t it great? With a wireless connection you can move your laptop from
room to room and still access the web and your email. But keep in mind
that by its very nature, a wireless connection is slower than a wired
connection. Having said that, if you’re concerned that your wireless
internet speed isn’t what it should be, there are things you can try to
speed it up
Move the wireless router
Your wireless router is the hub for your wireless internet experience.
Your wireless signal broadcasts from it, and if it’s tucked away in a
far corner, you’re connection quality can suffer. Keep in mind, too,
that structural elements like wiring and plumbing can interfere with a
wireless signal. A building’s structure, too, can be sufficient to
affect wireless performance. Remember you can always check your wireless
signal strength by hovering your mouse over the wireless internet
indicator found in the system tray, near the time of day in the corner
of your screen. Generally speaking, the stronger the signal, the better
your internet connection. So physically moving the router to a more
central location – one away from structural elements – may well help.
Update the wireless driver on your computer
If your driver for your wireless router is out of date, your performance
may be enhanced by getting the latest version. There’s a reason vendors
release new drivers. Often it’s to address performance or security
issues. Either way, it’s a good idea to keep it up to date. Fortunately,
Windows can automatically get the latest driver – with just a bit of
help from you. Click on your Windows Start button, and then right-click
on My Computer (or just Computer for your Vista and Win 7 users). In the
pop-up menu, select Manage. In the resulting Computer Management screen,
click on the plus sign next to Network adapters. Find the entry for your
wireless adapter (hint: it will probably contain the word wireless or
WLAN) and right-click on it. In the pop-up, select Update Driver
Software. Windows will search the internet for the latest version. In
case Windows isn’t able to query for the driver, you can always go to
the manufacturer’s web site and download a setup program for the driver
manually.
See the other
tips by reading the full article here...
Shut Down, Sleep or Hibernate?
So, you’ve put in a hard day at the computer – time to put it away
and join the “real” world. Did you know you have options as to how you
turn off the computer? Depending on which method you use, you could
greatly reduce the time it takes to turn on the computer next time.
Of course, one option is to simply shut down the computer. This closes
all running programs, exits Windows and powers off the computer. When
next you turn on the computer, it will power up and start Windows.
Windows will then load all necessary drivers, plus any programs that are
configured to run at startup. This by far is the slowest method.
Another option is to put the computer to sleep. Sleep mode is a power
saving state of the system. When you put the computer to sleep, Windows
saves all running programs and then powers down the computer. The system
doesn’t completely turn off, but suspends operation, using about 10% of
amount of power used by Windows when it’s running. Entering sleep mode
can be equated to pausing a DVD – the system is ready to start at a
moment’s notice – usually in just a few seconds.
Read the rest
of the article here...
Quite Possibly the Best Web Tool Ever
Yes, I know advertising pays for all that great web content that we
get for free. But between animated banners at the top, columns of ads at
the left and right, plus ads interspersed in the midst of an article,
some web pages are just plain cluttered. All you want to do is read an
article, and these ads are yelling at you – distracting you – can’t they
just leave you alone?!?
Along comes Readability (http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/).
This little gem sits in your bookmark toolbar. When you want to read an
article without all the clutter, just click on the bookmark and
Readability will remove all superfluous content, leaving just the text
you want. Best of all, it’s free!
Readability is customizable, too. You can choose from different font
styles, sizes and differing margin dimensions. It works with most
browsers and most web sites. If you find a web site that doesn’t play
well with Readability, just refresh that page to revert to the original
view.
Take my word for it. Once you start using Readability, you’ll quickly
become hooked. Kind of like watching TV on a Tivo or DVR. Skip the ads!
Read all of The
Computer Psychic's articles here...
The World Wild Web
Featuring the oddest, funniest and just plain freakiest websites we
can find.
The 2009 URLies
The best (and worst!) of the web for last year.
eHow
As their tagline says, "How To Do Just About Anything." Covering just
about every subject you can think of, if you want to do it, eHow will
show you how.
JustToiletPaper.com
Yep. Toilet Paper. How about the Love Collection with hearts? Or maybe
camouflage paper? Maybe crossword puzzles? Don't ask why. Or who would
want these. Just take a look around and have fun!
Happy Valentines Day. Happy Groundhogs Day. Stay warm and dry. Spring
is just around the corner. Remember, you can always view more content,
get tips and plenty of free software at
www.thecomputerpsychic.com.
And of course, quality, guaranteed computer support is just a phone call
away.
Steve Smith
The Computer Psychic
(360) 607-4364
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