What to expect in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted on November 11, 2011 by mderderian
By Jack Wallen Curtesy of Tech Republic
November 11, 2011, 7:27 AM PST

Takeaway: Jack Wallen takes a look at what we can all expect from the next flavor of Android.

The next Android OS — 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich — is going to have the best of 2.0 and 3.0 on the world’s fastest growing smartphone. However, the tablet interface is quite a bit better than the smartphone iteration. That, of course, doesn’t mean 4.0 will have everything on the desktop the tablet has, but the smartphone version of the Android desktop will get a much-needed face lift.

Let’s take a look at what we can all expect from the next flavor of Android.

Multitasking

This is one of the best improvements Android smartphone users will appreciate. Instead of the 2.0 take on multitasking, Android for the smartphone will gain a big plus by improving multitasking by behaving similarly to that of the tablet. Instead of long-pressing the home button to bring up a list of most recently used applications, just tap the multitasking button to reveal all currently opened apps and select the app you want to bring to the fore.

Widgets

Another outstanding feature, coming over from the tablet interface, is the ability to resize widgets. In the 2.x version of Android, widgets could not be resized. Yes, some widgets offered various sizes to add to the desktop, but even that could be limiting. Now, however, a widget can be placed on a desktop and then resized to precisely fit the desktop in exactly the way you want it.

Better spell checking

Predictive typing tends to get in my way. This is especially true after a while of the keyboard learning of my mistakes. Well, 4.0 adds a new spell checker into the mix to attempt to improve this feature. This spell check will work across applications (and is not limited to only SMS messaging).

Screenshots

Finally. No more using the Dalvek Debug tool or rooting a phone just to be able to get screenshots. Now, all you will have to do is press the home button and the volume down button to save a snapshot of your screen.

Camera

One of the faults I have endured with Android is the remarkably slow response of the camera. Well, with 4.0, the camera response time is instant. The instant reaction is not associated with the amount of time the camera app opens, but how quickly the picture is taken after pressing the shutter button.

Notifications

The smartphone version will not benefit from the amazing notifications found on the tablet. But even without that great system, the notification system on the smartphone version of 4.0 will get some nice improvements. One of the major improvements is that notifications can be seen without having to unlock the phone. The current iteration allows you to see that you have a notification but not the contents. The upgrade will allow for the viewing of the contents of the notification.

Copy/paste

Finally, copy and paste will be even easier. All you will need to do is highlight the text to be copied and drag the text to where you want it.

Data Tracking Tool

This will come in handy for anyone that needs to keep constant track of their data. The tool will tell you exactly which apps are using how much data. That way, when you’re going beyond your plan’s allotted data, you can easily figure out why!

Other minor updates:

  • The home screen can now span the entire device
  • No more physical home, back, menu, and search buttons — these buttons are now virtual
  • Deleting an item or dismissing a notification is as simple as a swipe to the right
  • Calendar is now zoomable
  • Voicemail shows up in a call log
  • Voice mail can be sped up or slowed down
  • Sync contact information (including HighRes pictures) from social networks
  • Facial recognition login
  • Beam web pages, contacts, and directions using Near Field Communication (NFC)
  • New semi-circular HD optimized font: Roboto to make screen even easier to read
  • Pan your camera to capture single motion panoramic photos
  • Built-in filters for easy editing of photos after capture
  • Out of the box speech-to-text input
  • Reject an incoming call with a custom message
  • Set data usage restrictions to help prevent overages on carriers with limits
  • Gmail upgrade allows swiping through new messages

The upgrades to Android 4.0 will be significant to the end user. The new Android interface will not only be better looking, it will be more user friendly and even more flexible. The details on the when are sketchy, but it will be in 2012. It’s also anyone’s guess as to which carrier will start getting the updates first, but I’m fairly confident that AT&T will be somewhere around dead last.

Posted in Android Operated Phones | Comments Off

10 Windows 7 power tweaks

Posted on November 11, 2011 by mderderian
By TechRepublic
August 13, 2010, 8:19 AM PDT

Takeaway: This handy roundup offers Windows 7 tips on everything from disabling Snap to restoring the Quick Launch Bar to limiting the applications your users can run.

Everybody likes a good Windows tip — something that eliminates an annoyance, streamlines a task, gives you a little more control, or offers useful customization of a particular feature. Of course, not all tips are ideal for all people, so it’s nice when a bunch of them are pulled together so you can pick and choose. That’s the goal of this download, which provides a healthy assortment of tricks we thought might come in handy. And for those who’d rather zero in on just certain tips on the site, here’s a list of links to enable you to jump straight to items of interest:

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10 ways to keep Excel from biting you in the butt

Posted on October 8, 2011 by mderderian

t’s easy to create a sheet that works perfectly — at first. Later, when you make modifications, you run into problems. Things just don’t work the way you expected. Usually, it’s because you’ve forgotten about decisions that made sense at the time but that don’t accommodate your changes. You can reduce future problems by avoiding the following features and behaviors. There’s nothing inherently wrong with them, but they can have far-reaching repercussions.

1: Avoid merging cells

Merged cells can help you arrange values in a meaningful way, but they come with problems — numerous problems. For instance, Excel won’t apply column formats to a merged cell unless you select all the columns that comprise the merge. In addition, not all cell formats stick once you unmerge a cell. You can’t sort a column with merged cells. You can’t even select a single-column range if there’s a merged cell in it — go ahead, try!

Don’t hesitate to use merged cells if you really need them, but they will limit what you can do to the cells and even the columns involved. In non-Ribbon versions, Center Across Selection is a reasonable alternative to merging. [UPDATE: Unfortunately, this option isn't available in the Ribbon versions of Excel. To apply this format in the Ribbon versions, you'll need to launch the Alignment group  dialog and click the Alignment tab. Center Across Selection is in the Horizontal  drop-down.]

2: Avoid hidden rows and columns

Hidden rows and columns create problems because, well, they’re hidden! You can’t consider what you can’t see, but Excel can still evaluate all that data. Hidden rows and columns confuse users, cause functions and formulas to seemingly return erroneous data, and can even play havoc with macros and import tasks. Avoid hiding rows and columns unless you must.

3: Don’t store numeric values as text

Some numeric values, such as street addresses, ZIP codes, phone numbers, and part numbers, can be stored as text because you won’t evaluate them in mathematical equations. Unfortunately, it’s easy to import numeric values as text and not know it. This problem is easily resolved, but some users don’t realize that Excel isn’t evaluating all their data. They just know that their data isn’t adding up right.

Mistaking numeric values for text is harder to do in recent versions because Excel tags them, as shown in Figure A. When you do run into numeric data stored as text, you can quickly convert it by choosing Convert To Number. In this case, the solution is adequate training.

Figure A

Excel warms you about text and numbers

Excel warns you when you store numeric values as text. You can leave them as text or convert them.

4: Use descriptive text in headers, not numbers

Avoid using just numbers in header cells. You might think they’re harmless, but they can generate errors you might miss. For instance, Figure B shows a simple sheet with the years used as headers. But look what happens when you use AutoSum to total the regional data. It includes the header value 2008 in cell B2. That’s a mistake you might not catch. The solution is simple: Always include alpha characters in header labels. In this case, you might use the headers FY2008, FY2009, FY2010, and so on, where FY stands for fiscal year.

Figure B

AutoSum references the header cell

AutoSum references the header cell because it contains a numeric value.

5: Avoid blank cells, rows, and columns in a data range

You won’t always have a value for every cell, but blanks can play havoc. Many built-in features, such as AutoSum and filtering, interpret a blank cell as the end of your data range. If blank cells aren’t in your sights when using these features, you might not realize that the evaluated range isn’t the one you expected. When blank cells are acceptable, consider filling them with 0s or some other descriptive value, such as NA.

This rule holds for blank rows and columns. Adding a blank row to separate your January and February values might seem like a good idea. After all, it looks nice, right? It’s still a bad idea. Use borders to separate sections, if users need a visual clue.

6: Avoid multiple volatile functions

A volatile function recalculates every time there’s a change in the worksheet, not just when a referenced cell changes. Examples of volatile functions are NOW(), TODAY(), OFFSET(), CELL(), INDIRECT(), ROWS(), and COLUMNS(). The gotcha is that all those recalculations will eventually slow down a workbook. The alternative is to enter the function somewhere in the sheet and then reference that cell instead of dropping the actual function into multiple expressions.

7: Don’t use unnecessarily complex formulas

Sometimes, formulas truly are complex. But more often than not, you can break them down into a few meaningful components. Why bother? Because eventually, someone will ask for them anyway. A good example is a total sales formula: =(Price*Quantity)-(Price*Quantity)*Discount+(Price*Quantity)*Tax. If you turn that in, someone’s sure to ask for the subtotal, the discounted subtotal, the total tax, and so on. They’ll want to see all the steps that result in the final total, just like your algebra teacher.

8: Avoid array formulas

I’m probably committing professional suicide, but I don’t recommend the use of array formulas in a production file unless they’re absolutely necessary. Yes, arrays are super cool, and if your purpose is to amaze and dazzle folks, array away. On the other hand, array formulas are difficult to understand, so they’re difficult to troubleshoot. They’re memory hogs, they can be impossible to maintain, and they break easily. They’re a booby-trap just waiting to spring. When preparing files for others, consider an alternative, such as helper formulas (see #7).

9: Do use comments

Many spreadsheet developers are loath to use comments — they seem almost offended by the idea. But comments are a great way to attach information to a cell. You can share information with users or add a note to yourself explaining a decision or special detail that you might forget. They make your sheets easier to use, for your users and for yourself.

10: Don’t confuse displayed values with stored values

Depending on the format you use to display numeric values, Excel might not display the actual number you’ve stored. That means formulas often return unexpected results. For instance, you might multiply the values 1 and 2, expecting the result to be 2. If the numbers stored are actually .6 and 2.1, but formatted to display integers, you’ll probably be surprised when the expression returns 1 or 1.26 (depending on the formula cell’s format).

Excel’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. It evaluates stored values, not the displayed values. It helps to be familiar with your data and reporting needs so you can accommodate this behavior accordingly.

Courtesy of TechRepublic by Susan Harkins

Posted in Microsoft Office, Windows Tips | Comments Off

10 Windows 7 commands every administrator should know

Posted on October 8, 2011 by mderderian

PC troubleshooting is becoming less common in larger organizations, but consultants and techs in smaller shops still have to get their hands dirty identifying and fixing desktop problems. Often times, troubleshooting Windows 7 means delving into the command line. Here are 10 fundamental Windows 7 commands you might find helpful.

Before I begin…

This article is intended solely as an introduction to some useful troubleshooting commands. Many of them offer numerous optional switches, which I won’t cover here due to space limitations. You can find out more about each command by checking out TechNet’s command-line reference.

1: System File Checker

Malicious software will often attempt to replace core system files with modified versions in an effort to take control of the system. The System File Checker can be used to verify the integrity of the Windows system files. If any of the files are found to be missing or corrupt, they will be replaced. You can run the System File Checker by using this command:

sfc /scannow

2: File Signature Verification

One way to verify the integrity of a system is to make sure that all the system files are digitally signed. You can accomplish this with the File Signature Verification tool. This tool is launched from the command line but uses a GUI interface. It will tell you which system files are signed and which aren’t. As a rule, all the system files should be digitally signed, although some hardware vendors don’t sign driver files. The command used to launch the File Signature Verification tool is:

sigverif

3: Driverquery

Incorrect device drivers can lead to any number of system problems. If you want to see which drivers are installed on a Windows 7 system, you can do so by running the driverquery tool. This simple command-line tool provides information about each driver that is being used. The command is:

driverquery

If you need a bit more information, you can append the -v switch. Another option is to append the -si switch, which causes the tool to display signature information for the drivers. Here’s how they look:

driverquery -v
driverquery -si

4: Nslookup

The nslookup tool can help you to verify that DNS name resolution is working correctly. When you run nslookup against a host name, the tool will show you how the name was resolved, as well as which DNS server was used during the lookup. This tool can be extremely helpful when troubleshooting problems related to legacy DNS records that still exist but that are no longer correct.

To use this tool, just enter the nslookup command, followed by the name of the host you want to resolve. For example:

nslookup dc1.contoso.com

5: Ping

Ping is probably the simplest of all diagnostic commands. It’s used to verify basic TCP/IP connectivity to a network host. To use it, simply enter the command, followed by the name or IP address of the host you want to test. For example:

ping 192.168.1.1

Keep in mind that this command will work only if Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) traffic is allowed to pass between the two machines. If at any point a firewall is blocking ICMP traffic, the ping will fail.

6: Pathping

Ping does a good job of telling you whether two machines can communicate with one another over TCP/IP, but if a ping does fail, you won’t receive any information regarding the nature of the failure. This is where the pathping utility comes in.

Pathping is designed for environments in which one or more routers exist between hosts. It sends a series of packets to each router that’s in the path to the destination host in an effort to determine whether the router is performing slowly or dropping packets. At its simplest, the syntax for pathping is identical to that of the ping command (although there are some optional switches you can use). The command looks like this:

pathping 192.168.1.1

7: Ipconfig

The ipconfig command is used to view or modify a computer’s IP addresses. For example, if you wanted to view a Windows 7 system’s full IP configuration, you could use the following command:

ipconfig /all

Assuming that the system has acquired its IP address from a DHCP server, you can use the ipconfig command to release and then renew the IP address. Doing so involves using the following commands:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Another handy thing you can do with ipconfig is flush the DNS resolver cache. This can be helpful when a system is resolving DNS addresses incorrectly. You can flush the DNS cache by using this command:

ipconfig /flushdns

8: Repair-bde

If a drive that is encrypted with BitLocker has problems, you can sometimes recover the data using a utility called repair-bde. To use this command, you will need a destination drive to which the recovered data can be written, as well as your BitLocker recovery key or recovery password. The basic syntax for this command is:

repair-bde <source> <destination> -rk | rp <source>

You must specify the source drive, the destination drive, and either the rk (recovery key) or the rp (recovery password) switch, along with the path to the recovery key or the recovery password. Here are two examples of how to use this utility:

repair-bde c: d: -rk e:\recovery.bek
repair-bde c: d: -rp 111111-111111-111111-111111-111111-111111

9: Tasklist

The tasklist command is designed to provide information about the tasks that are running on a Windows 7 system. At its most basic, you can enter the following command:

tasklist

The tasklist command has numerous optional switches, but there are a couple I want to mention. One is the -m switch, which causes tasklist to display all the DLL modules associated with a task. The other is the -svc switch, which lists the services that support each task. Here’s how they look:

tasklist -m
tasklist -svc

10: Taskkill

The taskkill command terminates a task, either by name (which is referred to as the image name) or by process ID. The syntax for this command is simple. You must follow the taskkill command with -pid (process ID) or -im (image name) and the name or process ID of the task that you want to terminate. Here are two examples of how this command works:

taskkill -pid 4104
taskkill -im iexplore.exe
Posted in Windows Tips | Comments Off

Five tips for speeding up Windows XP performance

Posted on October 8, 2011 by mderderian

1: Access the Performance options

The most useful Windows XP performance-tuning options are on the Visual Effects and Advanced tabs of the Performance Options dialog box. Go to Start | Control Panel | System | Performance | Settings to open this dialog box. Figure A shows both the Visual Effects and Advanced tabs with the performance options you can easily modify.

Figure A

2: Change Visual Effects settings

The Visual Effects tab is the easiest place to start when troubleshooting certain performance problems. By default, Windows XP enables visual effects, such as the Scroll option for the Start menu. These effects consume system resources. If you’re troubleshooting a sluggish system, try choosing the Adjust For Best Performance option, which will disable many of these visual effects settings. Of course, you’ll lose the cool visual effects, but there’s always a tradeoff for performance.

3: Change Processor Scheduling settings

If you’re troubleshooting something more than sluggish screen redraws, you’ll need to adjust the performance options on the Advanced tab of the Performance Options dialog box. There are three sections on this tab: Processor Scheduling, Memory Usage, and Virtual Memory. The settings in these sections have a major impact on how your system operates.

The Processor Scheduling section controls how much processor time Windows XP devotes to a program or process. The processor has a finite amount of resources to divide among the various applications. Choosing the Programs option will devote the most processor time to the program running in the foreground. Choosing Background Services allocates equal processor time to all running services, which can include print jobs and other applications running in the background. If your users complain about slow-running programs, you could try setting the processor scheduling to Programs.

On the flip side, if users complain that print jobs never print or are slow to print, or if they run a macro in one application while working in another, you may want to assign equal time slices (called quanta) to each process by choosing the Background Services option. If you use the Windows XP machine as a server, you’re better off choosing the Background Services option.

4: Change Memory Usage settings

The Memory Usage section governs how Windows XP uses system RAM. The first option, Programs, allocates more RAM to running applications. For desktop systems with very little RAM, this selection gives the best performance. For a server or a desktop with a lot of RAM, however, choosing the System Cache setting will yield better performance. When set to System Cache, the system will use most of the available RAM as a disk cache, which can result in major performance improvements on systems that depend on disk I/O.

5: Change Virtual Memory settings

A number of settings in the Virtual Memory section affect how Windows XP performs. Virtual memory is an area on the disk that Windows uses as if it were RAM. Windows requires this type of system in the event that it runs out of physical RAM. The virtual memory space is used as a swap space where information residing in RAM is written to the virtual memory space (also called the page file or swap file) to free up RAM for other processes. When the system needs the information in the swap file, Windows puts it back into RAM and writes something else out to the disk in its place.

Windows XP has a recommended default page file size of 1.5 times the amount of system RAM. You can let Windows completely manage this file or have no file at all. I highly recommend that you do not remove the paging file because you’ll experience a noticeable degradation of system performance without it.

One way to boost system performance is to place the paging file on a separate physical hard drive from the operating system. The only caveat is if the second drive is slower than the primary drive, you’d want to leave the paging file where it is.

You can also span the paging file across multiple disks to increase performance. To make changes to the virtual memory, click the Change tab on the Advanced tab of the Performance Options dialog box, make your desired changes, and click Set. Any changes you make will take effect after you reboot the machine.

Courtesy of Tech Repblic By Scott Lowe

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10 things you can do to boost PC performance

Posted on October 8, 2011 by mderderian

1: Get rid of malware

New machines shouldn’t have malware on them. But one of the most common causes of the “my PC used to be fast, and now it isn’t!” complaint is actually the presence of malware. Malware can sneak onto a computer in a zillion different ways and quite often it sits in the background slowing your machine to as it sends out spam emails, searches for other computers to infect, works on cracking cryptography, or any number of the other nefarious tasks that hackers like to use their botnet slaves for. There’s a good chance that the malware brought even more friends with it (that’s often how you see computers with thousands of viruses on them not long after the initial infection), and the infection may be bad enough to justify a wipe and reload. My first step in investigating a slow system is usually a virus scan.

2: Upgrade to a better video card

For typical business productivity tasks, a video card probably isn’t an upgrade that will have a lot of value. But for gamers and other similar uses, a video card is a slam dunk upgrade. If your current card and motherboard support SLI or CrossFireX, adding a second card and bridging them will be a good option as well. In some scenarios, better video cards can be a huge benefit even without heavy onscreen video work, because certain applications can leverage the GPUs for calculations.

3: Get a faster drive

Many times, the real performance issue is the speed of disks. Look at numbers like the RPMs, cache size, seek speed, and transfer rate to buy a faster drive. Often, a good drive will seem slow because the computer’s power settings are allowing it to spin down. You may want to consider changing these settings to make sure that the disk is more likely to be ready to work when you need it to. While the SSD vs. hard disk debate is still continuing, SSDs usually seem to feel faster to users. Boot times are usually cut for sure. But something about an SSD makes a system feel more responsive or “snappy” to use, and for day-to-day work, that’s a great feeling.

4: Address hardware and driver issues

All too often, system slowness is actually a sign of hardware problems. For example, if your CPU isn’t being properly cooled, it will often have its speed reduced in an effort to keep it from overheating. Recoverable errors with disk access can kill your throughput while not showing up as a dead drive. And bad hardware drivers can often make the whole system slow, especially video drivers. Using utilities to check your CPU speed and various temperatures, scanning for hard drive errors, and updating your drivers is a good start to investigating performance problems. Often, problems caused by hardware or drivers are not just poor speeds, but system flakiness too.

5: Use a RAID

Using a RAID can dramatically lower the read and write speeds of your disks, depending upon the RAID level you choose. You will want to do some research to see what RAID level fits your needs the best. Personally, I am a fan of RAID 1, 6, and 10 because I feel that they offer appropriate levels of data protection along with a good measure of speed improvements.

6: Try a different browser

It’s no secret: Different browsers perform differently, and most people spend a lot of time in their Web browser. Benchmarks really muddy the browser speed conversation. Some browsers perform well on some but do badly on others, even when they are supposed to test the same thing. The problem with the benchmarks is that what they usually test is not real work performance! While JavaScript is an important part of the modern Web, few Web applications beat on the JavaScript engine hard enough to produce a noticeable impact on performance. That said, it’s been my experience that the Chrome browser is the fastest for actual work. If you want to have your Web browser feel more responsive and lively, consider a switch to Chrome.

7: Remove junk

It’s easy to have a computer get loaded up with junk that slows it down. The worst part is, we invite this garbage into our lives by installing “helpful” utilities, toolbars, and other add-ons. I could easily write a list of 10 kinds of computer-stalling junk. Here are some of the things you’ll want to seek out and remove for best performance:

  • Automatic update systems for various applications (but be careful: some apps, like Flash, Acrobat, QuickTime, and Web browsers are prime malware targets and you will want to keep these up-to-date)
  • Things that run on startup
  • Windows services you don’t really need
  • Crapware from the PC maker
  • Toolbars
  • Browser plug-ins (the Skype browser plug-in is an especially bad offender, I’ve found)
  • P2P applications
  • Web servers and database servers that were installed by since-removed applications, but left behind

8: Add a faster DNS lookup server

Most ISPs love to brag about how much bandwidth they are giving you. But they don’t mind letting the rest of their infrastructure slowly get overwhelmed or deteriorate. Among the biggest offenders are the DNS servers our ISPs use. If you want to know why things seem to take forever to start loading, slow DNS servers are often the cause. Consider adding a fast DNS server as your primary DNS server in your TCP/IP settings. Google’s Public DNS server is a great option.

9: Defrag

Defragging your hard drives is a great way to get some more performance. While modern Windows systems automatically defrag on a regular basis, I’ve found that the Windows defragging is fairly unaggressive. We’ve reviewed a lot of different defrag apps here at TechRepublic. I suggest that you check out your alternatives and find one that does a better job for you.

10: Check network connectivity

Time and time again, “system slowness” actually is caused by networking issues. Our computers do so much on the Internet that slowness there can affect just about everything you do on a regular basis. While there isn’t enough space to write an exhausting troubleshooting list here, some of the things you should try (or investigate) are:

  • Replacing the network cables, switches, routers, WiFi access points, etc.
  • Calling the ISP and checking the distance from the CO (for DSL) or the local segment’s current load (for cable); the ISP may need to rewire or rework its connectivity. Satellite customers will want to double-check their dish installation and ensure that it is tightly locked down and pointed in the right direction.
  • Malware scanning on all PCs to see if malware is burdening the network
  • Inspecting the wiring of the phone lines (for DSL) or coax (cable customers) to look for loose connections, corrosion, or flaky wires
  • Cable customers will want to find out how many splitters are between the line from the pole and their modem. If it is more than one (and preferably only a two-way splitter), they should rewire so that they have only a single two-way splitter between the pole and the modem to ensure the cleanest signal possible.

Courtesy of Tech Republic- by Justin James

Posted in Windows Tips | Comments Off

Free Windows utilities you should download right now

Posted on October 7, 2011 by admin

To  keep things simple, I’ve divide the list into five separate categories.  And while dozens of applications may fall into each category, the  following tools are favorites of TechRepublic members and editors.

1. Cleaners: CCleaner

2. Uninstallers: Revo Uninstaller

3. Defragmenters: (UltraDefrag, MyDefrag, Smart Defrag, and Defraggler)

4. Remote support tools: CrossLoop

5. Password recovery and reset utilities: Offline NT Password and Registry Editor

Courtesy of Tech Republic- Author Bill Detwiler

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The 20 most useful Android smartphone apps of 2011

Posted on October 7, 2011 by admin

The Android Market may not have as many apps as the iPhone App Store yet, but there are still more than enough to be overwhelmed, and it continues to grow at a breakneck pace. To help you sort through them all, here is my latest list of the 20 most useful Android apps (this is an update of my 2010 Android list). I’ve also recently updated my list of the most useful iPhone apps and you’ll notice several of the same apps on both lists.

Remember that I primarily had business professionals in mind when making this list and also keep in mind that this is a snapshot in time. The Android platform is developing so quickly that I guarantee my home screen will look different a month from now.

Still, here’s my list of tried-and-true Android apps that I can highly recommend.

1. Google Voice

Google Voice is a service that is so useful I consider it one of the top benefits of Android itself. The service gives you a phone number that can ring to multiple places or devices and it allows you to access all of your voicemail and text messages from the Web. The Android app integrates even deeper. It can make outgoing calls look like they’re coming from your Google Voice number so that you can keep your real mobile number private.

2. Advanced Task Killer

One of the realities of having a multitasking mobile OS is that you have to manage your apps so that they don’t hurt performance or battery life. Advanced Task Killer (ATK) is my favorite on Android. It even comes with a widget that you can tap once to kill all open apps and you can also set up ATK to kill all apps at periodic intervals. Some people will argue that task managers are irrelevant and unneeded in Android, but I still prefer to use ATK.

3. Dropbox

Dropbox is a great cloud service that automatically syncs a folder of files between multiple computers (Windows, Mac, or Linux). This app extends Dropbox to Android and interacts with other apps (such as Documents To Go) to open the files. It allows you to access PDFs, image files, and business documents by simply dragging them to a folder on your computer and then you immediately have access to them from your mobile phone, once you have this app installed.

4. Evernote

Once you get used to typing on a virtual keyboard (and it honestly took me over a year to do it), then these devices are great for note-taking, and Evernote is a great note-taking app. It is similar to Dropbox in that it saves data locally but syncs it across all your machines and devices.

5. Taskos

There are plenty of to-do apps to choose from on Android but I now prefer Taskos because of the clean, easy, Android-friendly user experience. It also has a few extras that give it an advantage over apps. The biggest one is voice recognition, which lets you speak a task that the app turns into a to-do item (you might have to correct a word or two).

6. DroidAnalytics

For some reason Google doesn’t have an official app for Google Analytics (for either Android or iPhone). The best one I’ve found on Android is DroidAnalytics. Another good one is mAnalytics.

7. Documents To Go

The free version of Documents To Go offers a great little reader for Microsof Word and Excel files. You can upgrade to the full version (for $15) if you want to be able to create and edit files and add PowerPoint files to the mix. If you do want editing capability, I’d also recommend taking a look at QuickOffice.

8. Google Docs

If you mostly work with Google Docs (including uploading Microsoft Office files to your Google Docs repository) then the only app you’ll really need is the Google Docs app. It’s a nice mobile implementation of document management, although the one annoyance is that always open up files in a web browser rather than within the app itself, which would be a little smoother.

9. Tripit

I dig Tripit. It is by far the best app I’ve found for keeping track of all my travel itineraries. It runs on some great backend systems. You simply forward your confirmation emails for your flights, hotels, rental cars, and more to Tripit and it automatically organizes them into trips with all your details and confirmation numbers. Or, if you use Gmail, you can even use a plugin to automatically catch confirmation emails and turn them into Tripit trips.

10. Places

This is an awesome app for finding shops and services near your current location. From restaurants to medical facilities to taxis, this app is very accurate and takes advantage of the business information from Google Local. This app is better than the info you get from a GPS unit (or app) and better than any of the similar apps available on the iPhone. It’s also integrated into Google Maps.

11. Astro File Manager

Another one of the great things about Android (if you’re a geek or a tinkerer) is that you have lower-level access to the system itself. Astro is an app that lets you navigate the Android file system, which is mostly just interesting, but can be handy once in a while.

12. Speed Test

I’m obsessed with running speed tests to check my bandwidth in various places, both to see 3G/4G fluctuations and to check the quality of Wi-Fi. There are a number of really good speed test apps, but my favorite is the Speedtest.net app. It’s generally consistent and it has some of the best graphics and options.

13. Amazon Kindle

I’ve never completely warmed up to the Amazon Kindle e-reader, but I’m a big fan of the Kindle mobile app. Since it was released I’ve read a lot more books simply because my smartphone is always with me and I can pull it out and read a few pages anytime I’ve got a couple minutes free.

14. Google+

I’ve written a lot about Google+ since it launched in July and I’m pretty active over there (+Jason Hiner). One of the great things that Google did was to release a Google+ Android app at the same time it launched the service as a beta. And, surprisingly, the app was actually pretty good and has been improved since. It immediately became one of my most used mobile apps and definitely stole some of my time away from Android’s Twitter app, mostly because Google+ is a little more interactive.

15. TED Air

The TED conference features a meeting of the minds of some of society’s most influential thinkers. You’ll disagree with some of them since there’s a large diversity of viewpoints, but many talks are worth listening to in order to catch the latest creative thinking on society’s biggest challenges. The cool thing is that they’ve taken the videos from the conference and made them freely available on the Web. The TED Air app provides a great way to access the videos on a mobile device. I hope more conferences follow TED’s lead on this.

16. Google Goggles

This is a fun app that is a little bit ahead of its time. It does visual searches. You can take pictures of things and then the app tries to tell you what they are. It’s limited in its scope but it is pretty cool, and it’s definitely a peek into the future. One of the coolest features is the ability to take pictures of text in a foreign language and let the app translate it for you. In a foreign country, this can help you read street signs and avoid going into the wrong bathroom. :-) On a more practical level, Goggles is a QR code reader.

17. Photoshop Express

Photoshop is, of course, the best known photo editor in the world and its mobile app doesn’t do anything to hurt that reputation. But while the desktop version is known for having a zillion features, the mobile app is distinguished by its simplicity. It’s the best Android (and iPhone) photo editing app for simple crops, brightness adjustments, and sharpens, for example.

18. Audible

As much as I like the Kindle ebooks, I actually consume more books as audiobooks via Audible. With the Audible app you can connect to your Audible library and download over the air. The app also gives you a self-contained player optimized for audiobooks, with a skip-back-30-seconds button and the opportunity to make notes and bookmarks (although I wish the app would store these online so that they could be accessed from the Audible site).

19. Shazam

If you want to impress your friends with a mobile app, show them Shazam. Ever hear a song being played at a store or on the radio and ask yourself, “Oh, what song is that?” That’s where Shazam comes in. Just hit the button and let it listen for 15 seconds, query its database, and then return the name of artist and the song. It has about an 80% success rate. This one isn’t particularly productive, but it is really cool. (You have to live a little, every once in a while.)

20. Google Finance

This is a great little app that regularly gets overlooked. It connects to your Google Finance account, where you can set up a list of stocks and companies to follow and sort them into groups (portfolios). The app provides three simple tabs — a look at the market, a look at your portfolios, and the latest market news. It even does real-time updates when you have the app open.

Courtesy of Tech Republic-Author Jason Hiner

Posted in Android Operated Phones | Comments Off

10 ways to diagnose ailing PCs: Step by step

Posted on October 7, 2011 by admin

1: Describe the problem

The first thing I have the client do is describe the problem. Before jumping onto the PC, I gather as much information as possible. This means having the client describe what is happening, when it started happening, and whether there was any particular incident that coincided with the problem starting. Many times, this information gathering will lead you directly to the solution. Sometimes, the information gathering will lead you to realize a reboot is all that is necessary to solve the problem.

2: Define the affected subsystem

There are instances when a problem is isolated to a specific subsystem of a machine — such as printing. Although you might think this a no-brainer, many end users will call saying, “My computer isn’t working,” when in reality what they mean is, “My printer isn’t printing.” In some cases, multiple subsystems might be affected, such as printing and mapped network drives… you can see where this is leading. If multiple subsystems are having issues, the combination of those will often lead you directly to a solution.

3: Is it hardware or software?

If a client describes an issue such as a slow PC, one of the first things I do is check out the hardware. Is there enough RAM? Is there enough free space on the C drive? And if the problem is network related, are the lights on the network card blinking, on, or dark? If these don’t highlight an issue, don’t immediately assume the issue is software related –there could be hard drive issues. But before you dig deeper into hardware issues, this would be a good jumping point for software. If nothing becomes apparent after you’ve investigated software issues, come back to hardware and do a drive test or defrag.

4: Diagnose printing woes

Printers can be tricky. But there are ways to make this troubleshooting job a bit easier. First, find out what type of printer you are dealing with. If the printer is a networked printer, make sure the network is actually up. If it is, ask whether other machines can print to the printer in question. If they can, check to see whether any jobs are stuck in the machine’s printer queue. If you open up the Printers And Devices window and the printer is not listed, find out if it just recently disappeared. If it did, the driver most likely is corrupt and will need to removed from within Regedit. If the printer is still listed and no jobs are in the queue, have the client restart the machine and then try to print. A good restart will cure a host of woes in Windows.

5: Deal with networking trauma

Can the client see the internal servers? If not, can they open their browser and see google.com? If not, this becomes a challenge, as you can’t do remote troubleshooting. But never fear, help is near. I start by walking the client through rebooting the machine and starting in safe mode. Usually, if there isn’t an actual hardware issue, safe mode will circumvent the nasties that are keeping the machine from getting online. Once in safe mode, let the fun begin!

Of course, if no one can get online, the first thing to be done is power cycling the router/modem/switch hardware. If that fails, there is always DNS to troubleshoot. But that gets beyond standard triage (as it will often lead you away from the client machine and to a DNS server issue).

6: Resolve login issues

How often do you get this one: “Where’s my password?” A client calls in to say they can’t log into their computer. Have they forgotten their password? Is the machine on a domain? If it’s on a domain, is the machine online? There are so many problems with this one, it’s hard to know where to start. But here’s the first thing you should do: If the client is on a domain and you have access to their Active Directory server, try to log onto that server with their credentials. If you can do that, the issue has been narrowed down to either their network connection or the manner in which they are logging in. If they are to be logging in to a domain, make sure they are doing so at their computer and not logging in to the local machine.

7: Troubleshoot specific software

Sometimes, it will boil down to a single piece of software that’s giving the user fits. This, in turn, can give the support technician fits (especially if it’s a niche piece of software). The first thing I would do is double-check to make sure the issue is, in fact, isolated to one particular piece of software. If the problem is network related and all other applications can get online, the issue is most likely isolated to that one piece of software. If so, and the software depends upon a network connection, make sure neither the firewall or the antivirus software has started blocking the software from getting packets in or out. When I discover the problem is isolated to a single piece of software, often a repair install will solve the issue.

8: Look for virus issues

I find that 50 percent of support calls wind up being viruses. Since viruses cause all sorts of differing behavior, how can you quickly determine whether the issue is a virus? I know support techs who have spent hours trying to track down a virus on a machine that wasn’t actually infected. There are a few questions I like to ask. The first is “What behavior is your computer displaying that makes you believe it has a virus?” The answer to that question will dictate where you go from there. Other questions to ask are:

  • Did your      computer recently show signs of drastic slowdown?
  • Are strange or      unwanted popup windows appearing at random times?
  • Were you      recently on a Web site you don’t normally visit?
  • Did someone      else use your machine?
  • Did you      recently open an email attachment?
  • Has a strange      security window recently started popping up?

The above questions will help guide you in the right direction to help cure a possibly infected PC.

9: Ask for a demonstration

If a discussion about the issue brings up nothing and you can remote into the user’s PC, it will do you a world of good to see the problem in action. This is especially true when the issue is unique to a client’s PC, network, or software. Although the majority of issues can be figured out from description, some issues simply need to be viewed in action. Have the client reproduce the error for you. Make sure the error happens in the same way every time. With this visual reproduction, you will have confirmation that there is an issue, and you’ll have a definitive place with which to start your troubleshooting.

10: Use your tools

When all else fails, you have that outstanding collection of tools you can use to throw at a machine. When this is the case, I tend to start with the most innocuous software, such as Malwarebytes, and then go up from there. This is a good time to run those hard drive diagnostic tools (should the issue possibly point toward a faulty or degraded drive). This is the kitchen sink approach and can sometimes lead to more issues. But when you’ve gone down every rabbit hole you can think of, it might be your best shot.

Courtsey of TechRebublic Daily Digest

Posted in Windows Tips | Comments Off