Windows 7 Update….

Okay, it has now been 4 months since Windows 7 launched on October 22, 2009….and how are things going? Well, perhaps the lack of Apple advertisements bashing Windows lately is a hint. I have been using 7 for some months now and have upgraded and installed many new systems for customers since the launch and I am happy to report that Windows 7 seems to be very stable. Not only is it stable but on newer systems it seems to perform quicker and smoother than previous Windows releases.

Bottom line, Windows 7 seems to be worth the hype we heard last fall. Read my previous blog on upgrading for my recommendations….

Online Backup Update......

Since I wrote my blog entry - Online Backup....it’s time has come, Finally! - I have been doing a lot of testing of these services....conclusion...Carbonite seems to be the real winner for most users. I have been using the Carbonite service for a few months now and it has been a real set-it and forget-it experience. I have also tested restoring of miscellanous files and it has been very smooth and easy to use. Full disclosure...I have been so impressed that I have signed up and am now a Carbonite reseller and recommending it to my customers. As I mentioned in my previous blog, important files should be backed up in multiple places, so a local backup for important files and a remote backup for ALL files is the way to go....don't be caught with a failed hard drive and no way to recover your data, you don't know how important your data is to you till you loose it....don't wait until it's too late. Backup now!

Do it Yourself – System Tune up!

It is very rare that I find a system utility that I would recommend to novice computer users....but I have found one! I have been using this one for a while and it is truly easy to use and not only does it work but it's free! Advanced System Care Free is the program and is available at

http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html

In my last post about upgrading to Windows 7 I recommended that if your current computer is running a bit sluggish then a tuneup and adding memory is a good first place to start. Well Advanced System Care is a good do-it-yourself tuneup utility and I would advise you to download and give it a try. I have been using this on a couple of my systems, an XP Pro system and a Windows Vista laptop (the one I am typing on now!) and I must say that I am impressed. Besides the tuneup tools Advanced System Care has, there is also another good utility it has and that is a tool called SMART RAM. One way to determine if your system is in need of some extra RAM is to run this tool. It puts an ICON in your system tray and shows you how much free physical RAM is available, it turns red when you are dangerously low, this is a good indication that your system is in need of some more RAM. So, give this tool a test run on your system and hopefully you will see the same good results I have.