Hello everyone,

Want to buy a Mac but you can’t bear to part with your Windows Operating System, programs and applications? You can have your Mac and Windows too and today I’ll show you the best way to do it!

There are many ways to run Windows on a Mac:

1) Parrallels Desktop 5 For Mac (GOOD)

“Mac OS or Windows? Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac lets you seamlessly run Windows and Mac OS X side-by-side, drag-and-drop your files between operating systems, and run Windows software on your Apple computer without rebooting”.

2) VMwareFusion (GOOD)

“Run Windows. The Mac way. Run Windows applications just like Mac applications, with seamless copy-­and-­paste, drag-­and-­drop, and printing functionality that “just works” with no additional setup required”.

3) Boot Camp (BETTER)

“Have a Windows application you need to use once in a while? No problem. Every new Mac lets you install Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, and run them at native speeds, using a built-in utility called Boot Camp”.

4) VirtualBox (BEST!!)

“When we describe VirtualBox as a “virtualization” product, we refer to “full virtualization”, that is, the particular kind of virtualization that allows an unmodified operating system with all of its installed software to run in a special environment, on top of your existing operating system. This environment, called a “virtual machine”, is created by the virtualization software by intercepting access to certain hardware components and certain features. The physical computer is then usually called the “host”, while the virtual machine is often called a “guest”. Most of the guest code runs unmodified, directly on the host computer, and the guest operating system “thinks” it’s running on real machine”.

a) Download VirtualBox from Oracle (link is above).

b) Run VirtualBox and install Windows 7 (XP, or Vista) on it (you must have a legitimate copy of Windows).

That’s it!!! You are now running Mac and Windows at the same time. When you need to run a Windows application you just run it – you don’t have to reboot the machine or anything and you can move data back and forth with ease.

Professor Randy says: Run Mac and Windows at the same time! The simplest and most convenient way is to use the general purpose full virtual machine from Oracle: VirtualBox!

Hello everyone,

As always there is a lot going on in the world of tech which makes it very difficult to keep up with it all. Today I’m giving you ten great links which should help you to stay informed with the current tech happenings. Enjoy!

1) Facebook: It’s Time To Get Serious About Privacy

2) Analyst Thinks AT&T Will Keep iPhone Till 2011 After iPad Deal

3) New Outlook Connector Released

4) New PowerPoint Viewer Released

5) Testing A Free Security Suite In The Real World

6) 10 Reasons Why Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Browser Dominance Is Ending

7) Nice Video: Netflix Users Getting A New Interface On Roku Box

8) 60 Tweaks And Hacks For Windows 7, Vista Or XP

9) 13 Percent Of International Calls Now Go Via Skype

10) H.264 Already Won – Makes Up 66 Percent Of Web Videos

11) Print Over 500 Pages For As Little As $4.99 (Lexmark Pinnacle Pro901)

12) New Version Of Yahoo IM Worm Hits Skype Too!

13) Is It OK To Use This Random Wireless Network That I Just Found?

14) Is It Safe To Leave A Flash Drive Plugged In All The Time?

15) Discover Windows Media Player In Windows 7

Professor Randy quotes a Chinese Proverb: “Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to
drop back.”

Hello everyone,

I love browsers (especially Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome), and I love to bookmark but I don’t like the “bookmark bar”. Bookmark bars take up space and I don’t like where they are located regardless of whether they are on the side, top, or bottom of the window.

Today I would like to show you how to add a great little bookmark button to the Chrome browser toolbar. Then, all you have to do is just click on this button and you will be able to access your bookmarks from a drop down menu. How cool is that?

Follow these three simple steps:

1) Right click on the Chrome shortcut icon

2) Choose “Properties”

3) In the “Target” box after the “chrome.exe” leave a space and then type – -bookmark-menu (see photo). That’s “space, dash, dash, bookmark, dash, menu”

4) The resulting “Target” string will point to:

C\Users\Your Name\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe – –bookmark-menu

You’re done! Now every time you bookmark a site in your Chrome browser you can access that site via the new drop down menu button on the toolbar. Enjoy!

Professor Randy says: Simple tweaks can save you time!

Hello everyone,

As a computer technician I must tell you that I do not like Adobe Flash (used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages). It needs constant updating and most machines that I service are using an outdated version which constitutes a major security problem. Flash is also a huge CPU hog and therefore doesn’t run well neither on laptops nor netbooks (not enough CPU power). Want to see for yourself?

Today I would like you to try this experiment:

1) Go to YouTube to watch a video.

2) YouTube will give you a choice to watch the video using the following players:

a) Flash Player

b) HTML5 Player

3) Open up your Task Manager program (to monitor the CPU usage).

4) Watch the video using both the Flash Player and the HTML5 Player.

5) Notice the difference in CPU usage! See what I mean?

6) Bye Bye Flash!!

Professor Randy says: Soon HTML5 will be the “new kid on the block” when it comes to the dominant multimedia platform on the Internet. The future is h.264 video (I talked about it in an earlier post) played back using HTML5 which will soon become the core markup language on the web.

Hello everyone,

There is so much great tech information “out there” that today I’m giving you fifteen awesome links! There is a little something for everyone, so enjoy the interesting and up-to-date information.

1) Everybody Knows About Twitter – But Only 7% Use It

2) The Final Details On The iPad 3G Data Plans

3) HP To Acquire Palm For $1.2 Billion

4) Google: Fake Antivirus Is 15 Percent Of All Malware

5) Five Reasons iPhone vs Android Isn’t Mac vs Windows

6) Time To Audit Your Facebook Privacy Settings – Here’s How

7) IPv4’s Last Day: What Will Happen When There Is Only IPv6?

8) 19 Tips Every Windows 7 User Needs To Know

9) McAfee Admits “Inadequate” Quality Control Caused PC Meltdown

10) Netflix Reports Big Jump In Instant Streaming

11) 3D TV: Very Cool, Very Expensive, Socially Limited

12) What’s A BIOS?

13) Ten Ways To Tune Up Your PC

14) Good YouTube Video – Do You Know About Open DNS?

15) Computer Techs: TechNet Plus Is Awesome!

Professor Randy says: Happy reading, learning, and relaxing! Have a great weekend!

Hello everyone,

In my last post I told you how not to be fooled by any of the many rogue viruses (phony antivirus/security software) that are currently plaguing computers everywhere.

If however you do get infected, don’t panic. Today I would like to show you how to remove these malicious programs:

1) Download, update, and run Malwarebytes (in normal mode if you can).

2) If that doesn’t work, reboot your PC into safe mode with networking (to get into safe mode: press and hold the F8 key right before Windows starts to load).

3) Download, update, and run Malwarebytes (now in safe mode).

4) Reboot your PC and go back into safe mode with networking.

5) If that doesn’t work, and safe mode is blocked, try running ComboFix (run it from a flash drive if necessary).

6) Download, update and run SUPERAntiSpyware (run a full system scan).

7) Reboot your PC again, and run a full scan using your normal Antivirus application (I always use Microsoft Security Essentials).

8) Just for good measure, run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool (Start>Run>MRT>OK).

NOTE: You may need to replace Malwarebytes in steps #1, #2, #3 with the portable version of SuperAntiSpyware and then run Malwarebytes in step #6. If no internet connection is available, running an updated portable version of SuperAntiSpyware may be the only possible option initially.

That should take care of these nasty, deceiving, worthless pieces of malicious software. Good riddance!!

Professor Randy says: These rogue programs look impressive and imposing but they’re not! If you follow the above procedures you will knock them out “in no time”.

Hello everyone.

I’m constantly receiving calls from people who have been infected by the multiple variations of rogue security software. This vicious software masquerades as true security software and tricks the user into thinking that their machine is infected. Rogue software can be quite convincing to the untrained eye – the actual interface looks like the real thing. The fake scans, system alerts and resulting infections look legitimate.

The poor, scared user doesn’t know what to do when he/she sees this genuine looking, yet phony software and is enticed to click on something in order to fix the problem. Once the “click” takes place, the computer now becomes truly infected and this infection will render the machine totally useless.

Seeing that the machine is useless, the user then agrees to pay for a fraudulent subscription or fix which will rid the machine of the many infections. The scam has been successful!!

Don’t be fooled! Rogue security software is constantly disguising itself and goes by many names. Here are the most common to date:

On Windows XP:

• Antivirus XP
• XP Smart Security
• XP Smart Security 2010
• XP Antimalware
• XP Antimalware 2010
• XP Security Tool
• XP Security Tool 2010
• XP Internet Security
• XP Defender Pro
• XP Security

On Windows Vista:

• Vista Antimalware
• Vista Security Tool 2010
• Vista Smart Security
• Vista Smart Security 2010
• Total Vista Security
• Vista Security
• Vista Defender Pro
• Vista Internet Security

On Windows 7:

• Win 7 Defender
• Win 7 Defender Pro
• Total Win 7 Security
• Win 7 Smart Security 2010
• Win 7 Internet Security
• Win 7 Security Tool
• Win 7 Antimalware
• Antispyware Win 7
• Win 7 Security

If you ever see any of these fake “security software” programs pop up on your screen:

1) Don’t click on anything that claims to be a malware alert. If you click you will infect yourself.

2) Hold down the Alt & F4 keys together in order to close out the window. If this doesn’t work, try Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart the computer.

3) Once infected the software will tell you that in order to remove the infection you need to purchase a specific program. Don’t do it! Buying the so called “fix” will not fix anything. Don’t give any money to these unscrupulous creeps.

In my next post I will tell you how to get rid of these bogus security software programs!

Professor Randy says: These phony security programs want to scare you and hold your machine for ransom. How dare they! Be smarter than they are and don’t fall for their childish tactics!!

Hello everyone,

Once again I would like to give you ten great tech links. These ten links will take you to some interesting information for your tech enjoyment! I hope you like the reading and have a great weekend!

1) Easy To Remember But Awesome Passwords

2) Timeline: Major Cybersecurity Incidents Since 2007

3) Do I Want 32-bit Or 64-bit Windows?

4) Google Nexus One: 60 Thousand Devices Sold And Activations Daily

5) Apple Software Inferior To Microsoft’s Say’s Iconic Hacker Marc Maiffret

6) Twitter Beats Yahoo And Bing In Searches Per Month

7) Incredible Photos Of Splintered, Shattered, And Smashed Laptops

8) How To Watch Your Favorite TV Shows On The iPad

9) Put The Universe On Your Desktop With These Windows 7 Themes

10) Great Apple iPad Review By Paul Thurrott

Professor Randy quotes Confucius: “No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”

Hello everyone,

I still work on many Windows XP computers and one thing that I constantly see down in the lower right hand corner of the desktop (notification area) is the “language bar”. This language bar drives me crazy – all it does is eat up space and system resources. Every time I turn it off (uncheck on the toolbar menu) it just comes back at the next reboot – quite annoying!

Today I would like to show you how to get rid of the language bar for good! Follow these four simple steps and you will never be bothered by the language bar again!

To permanently close the Language Bar (using Classic view in Control Panel) :

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Regional and Language Options.

2. On the Languages tab, under Text services and input languages, click Details.

3. Under Preferences, click Language Bar.

4. Deselect (uncheck) the Show the Language bar on the desktop check box.

Done! You will now no longer have to deal with the Language Bar! Pretty neat huh?

Professor Randy says: Simple tweaks are satisfying too!

Hello everyone,

I got a call the other day from a client – his Internet connection (Windows XP, ie7) was down and he asked me to come over and take a look. I thought the procedure would be a “piece of cake” so I hurried on over to his house and began to work.

Two hours later I was still at it and still no Internet connection! I had tried everything such as: Network Diagnostics in Help and Support, Configuring in the Network Connections Folder, Ipconfig Command, Ping Command, and much more!

At the point of “giving up”, I did this:

I opened the command prompt as an administrator (Start>Run>cmd>OK)

I typed the following commands without the quotes:

“Ipconfig /flushdns” and pressed Enter.

“Netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt” and pressed Enter.

I then rebooted Windows XP.

When it started back up, I again opened up the command prompt as administrator.

I typed the following commands without the quotes:

“Netsh winsock reset”

I then rebooted Windows XP.

When the computer booted back up, ie7 connected to the Internet in a flash!

My client was very happy but I was even happier because I was tired and just about ready to “admit defeat”. Moral of story? 1) “Don’t ever give up” 2) “Don’t ever forget about netsh winsock reset!”

Professor Randy quotes Charles F. Kettering: “An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he’s in. He treats his failures simply as practice.”