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I just took a long road trip, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and back again. I love my Magellan RoadMate 1440 GPS. However, there were at least 2 occasions when the maps and directions were incorrect. I am guessing that is due to all the changes with roads and freeways and all those highway funds flowing from Washington DC!

What to do? What if the CD that came with the product is lost? What if there was no CD? Use the USB connector that came with the GPS to connect to your Windows Vista or later system – ignore any of the plug and play type prompts so you can do it right by going through the software.

Download the Magellan software, it is called Content Manager. Try this page:
http://www.magellangps.com/Content-Manager-Software-for-Windows

You install the software, register (yes, another registration), plug in your Magellan and voila: you are interconnected between PC (or laptop, or Mac) and GPS.
The software is very simple, but it works well. There is a big link to “Check for Updates”. That is exactly what is needed. It turns out that there are many software and road map updates! I had software version 1.12 on my GPS, and the latest update is version 2.22! I also had a 1.5 GIGABYTE road map upgrade available! Note this is an upgrade, not an update. So I am proceeding slowly on this one …

I have only installed the software so far. I will try to check back later about the mammoth maps upgrade!

Oh, and there is no charge for these updates. Happy GPS -ing!

I have been trying the MS Security Essentials for some time now. I am not sure how astute it is in finding computer viruses (as apposed to the competition, i.e. Norton, McAfee, Sophos), but so far, so good. I am very conservative in my searches and general web browsing, so maybe I am not the best tester. However, the interface for the free Microsoft anti virus software is very nice and simple to use, so if you are on a tight budget, it may be worth a look.

Microsoft Security Essentials
“The anti-annoying, anti-expensive, anti-virus program”
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What is going on with all the innocent search results ending in horror? Internet users continue to put their trust in Google, Yahoo, or Bing search results for all types of information, and instead are being led astray to spyware sites located in far away lands, like China, Russia, or Romania (where there are no rules againts spammers and phishers). These web sites infect systems and then engage in a pop up window party letting you know you are infected. For the low, low, low cost of $___ …. well, let’s just say – enter your credit card and the problem will go away! Sure it will. Seriously, if you are thinking of giving these bastards your credit card, before having your head examined, take your system o best Buy or similar, at least keep your ‘business’ local.

Interestingly, you get hundreds of results from Google search on this very topic! Indeed, it is widespread.

Be careful where you visit on the web. be conservative: stck mainly (if not entirely) to web sites you are familiar with, and never give yourself administrator privileges on a Windows PC or laptop!

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A “do it for you” type tool, “SPAMfighter, to improve Vista performance may be worth looking into. While it is not free, it is getting very solid reviews.

Read about Vista Performance Improvements.

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Windows 7 continues to impress and perform, certainly in Sales numbers.

“While I have seen end users embrace the operating system without hesitation, I’ve also witnessed enterprise customers jumping on the Windows bandwagon, especially those that dodged Windows Vista.

It’s my best guess that strong sales on both the consumer and enterprise fronts have contributed to the strong market success of Windows 7.

“As of today, over 20% of Internet-connected PCs worldwide are running Windows 7 according to Net Applications,” LeBlanc added.”

Read about Windows 7 Sales

And you thought a monitor was just a piece of hardware you plug into a VGA, DVI, or HDMI port on your computer…

“The rates of performance improvements for GPUs have exceeded Moore’s law by a wide margin. Experts say GPUs have been improving at a “Moore’s Law Cubed” rate, which roughly translates to a doubling of graphics processing power every year. To date, this massive graphics processing power has predominantly been used for video games, multimedia-rich suites, like video editing, special effects applications, and for high-end technical applications like computer-aided design. As a result, even though virtually every modern PC includes one, the power of the GPU is rarely used in day-to-day activities, resulting in GPUs not being a top priority in the PC design process.

Windows Vista harnesses the power of the GPU for more than just gaming. For starters, Windows Vista relies on the GPU to give all customers a better overall day-to-day desktop experience. The Windows video playback infrastructure relies on WDDM to deliver high-definition (HD) video playback and to take video playback to a level on par with the latest consumer electronics devices. In addition, there are a number of other key applications that now utilize the GPU, such as the new Windows Photo Gallery. This wider utilization of the GPU, concurrently by the operating system and multiple applications, is enabled by WDDM.”

From an MSDN article on the Vista Display Driver Model

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is a good, and free, investment to make, because it …”supports new kinds of hardware and emerging hardware standards, and includes all updates delivered since SP1″

Get it here!

Windows 7 is now slighly ahead of its predecessor, Windows Vista, in overall internet usage. Windows XP is still tops, however. Apple products continue to garner around 5% of the total.

“In less than a year on the market, Windows 7 is now being used more than predecessor Windows Vista, according to market researcher Netmarketshare.

For July, Windows 7 was used on 14.46 percent of devices accessing the Internet, compared with Windows Vista’s 14.34 percent, marking the first time the newer version surpassed its predecessor. Microsoft has said that 175 million copies of Windows 7 have been purchased since the product was released last fall.”

Windows 7 Usage

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Alright, pictures from within Picasa can be uploaded to Facebook. The default Picassa install does not offer this capability, so a third party add on is needed.

Facebook Uploader is here.

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It never ceases to amaze me how many applications or software packages end up on our laptops or PCs. I have provided various levels of support and systems administration within business environments. That is because people (who have proper Administrator rights) frequently get programs installed that they do not use. In fact they do not remember installing the software at all because this software was added on as part of another package.
For example, Java and Instant Messenger programs frequently come with add ons included (toolbars, McAfee Security Scans etc etc). How does the software get added on? Well, you know how we all whiz through software installs? VERY RAPIDLY. As a result, there is usually a check mark for an add on that gets missed while we are installing something else. These programs are usually not harmful (USUALLY) but are very annoying to many people.
To remove, for Vista and later, just type in “Programs” in the “Start Search”, from the lowest left point on your screen(Start menu). Then “Programs and Features” will appear in the list on the menu. Open it and uninstall any software not in use.