Replies

BTW – I also have the much faster Foxit Reader software installed for reading PDF’s. I only use full Acrobat for editing. As such it also doesn’t have any browser associations so if there is a web issue, it’s not going to be triggered.

I wouldn’t worry about it either. PSI flags my Adobe CS2 suite as needing update. (Big $) I’m also running Acrobat 7 Pro fine on Windows 7 (the printer won’t install in a 64 bit environment but no prob- there are others free). There’s quite a few such programs that MS lists as compatible on Windows 7 but PSI will flag as end of life or needing update. It just means there is an update to the software. I know that and have the current version updates.

I just ignore those and focus on the key web-accessing tools like Flash. I also don’t let PSI run all the time.

What I find a little curious here is how the actual files are being stored. The mentioned GSHEET is not a file format per se, it’s a URL to the file. When you export files from Google, you choose the export format. What format is it in natively? Is it proprietary? And how do you back any of it up? Surely that’s a key if you’re going to migrate all those docs online?

I’d check to see if your email account was hacked and has been used for spamming. That’s a common reason for such. First step though – change to a stronger password.

But yeah, I keep hard local copies as I don’t see the web as 100% yet, especially for free accounts.

Back post-reboot
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2813347). It’s 2828223, linking here:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin/ms13-029

Back post-reboot
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2813347). It’s 2828223, linking here:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin/ms13-029

Thanks again.
For some reason 2828223 (remote desktop) came up on my Win7 HomeP system with a different number. But when I clicked the Info link, it brought me to the 223 page @ Microsoft. Apologies – I didn’t note the number and it’s updating now.

The sure-fire way? Image it.

Regular backup programs are for saving a copy of data but do a bad job of saving a system state due to locked in-use files. A friend of mine used Retrospect for data and it failed that too. I would not recommend it.

My routine now is Image the system with an established well-recommended program. (Win7 its built in. Acronis for prior) Backup the data to Zip format and not a proprietary format. Zip can always be accessed, whatever the circumstance, even a dead OS. (using Cobain these days) I based this routine on Fred’s advice. (though I think he just images it all now)

You may disagree on Imaging but its the nature of the technology. It’s not opinion. ONLY imaging is able to save the complete System state because its not blocked by locked files, like the example you gave. You don’t state why you don’t like images (proprietary formats that died?) but it sure sounds like you do it the hard way.

BTW – did you know Ghost is an Imaging tool? Perhaps your issue is you’re using too old a version.

You can also hide toolbars under the View/ Toolbars menu. But I’d agree – uninstalling an unintentional toolbar is good idea. Some of them track all of your data entry and add memory burden to the browser. And we also don’t want to encourage the annoying habit of “extras” with required updates. I’ve seen people with 5 toolbars, all added without request.

Also agreed with adding search engines to the actual search engine box. I’ve got a dozen I use for specific kinds of searches. Have never had an outage issue.

Great article and a good summary of top tools, Fred. And I agree with mentioning there are many more tools. But I’ve learned the hard way to use name brand established tools, especially for anything that will alter your system. I’ve seen a lot of messes created by over-zealous or clumsy software. A friend has a laptop where all of the file associations were broken by a free utility, for example. The way to reestablish associations is broken too. It’s an interesting exercise to start an executable. Or the tool removes something infected but doesn’t replace the key file the infection had replaced, breaking things. Or as another here mentioned, they find the problem but then want you to pay to fix it, often highlighting cookies and such as dangerous.

I used the Kaspersky bootable to fix a nasty infection with dozens of viruses and a blocked interface. Worked very well. My only complaint was that the ISO was a day old but it took AGES to update before it would run.

The ESET online scanner is also very good as mentioned but now implies you can only use it once. Didn’t explore it enough to find out if a customer could bypass that.

Firstly, thanks for the article, Fred. The history part was pretty lame though. I started using Open Office when my version of Office2K started locking up my computer and they told me the solution was to buy it again. As the dates illustrate, it’s been around much longer. I’ve used it for quite complex tasks, like writing a book with a master doc and sub-chapter files that auto-compiled the table of contents, extensive footnotes, etc. I recently shifted to Libre because its in more active development.

Base is generally considered the weakest of the batch but I don’t use it.
Thunderbird with the Lightning extension I’ve used for years. I’ve never liked Outlook due to the way it stores its files and the problems that can cause. (one big file that any one email or hiccup can corrupt. If you use Outlook you MUST use a backup)

To others questions or points:
– Like any other program, you can save to the cloud. It’s simply not pushed on you to a specific service.
– Java is not an issue for most OO uses. I have it off too. It’s mainly for the database engine, so only for if you use Base.
– File associations (and icons) are an option during OO or Libre install. You agreed to have it become the default. You can change file associations back if you like. How varies a little by Windows version. Google it. But yeah, Fred might have mentioned that in the article if you’re just trying it out. Uncheck the 3 boxes on that screen to avoid file assn’s being changed.
– you can have OO and Libre on the same system. I do. Office too. But only one can have the file association defaults.

Finally – you can set the defaults to save in Office formats if you need to in OO and Libre but I’d encourage you to think about migrating to the Open Document standard if you can. (the usual .od formats it uses) It opens up some more advanced things but is also a format designed to last. If you’ve ever had to open a Wordstar or Word 2.0 or Publisher 1.0 file, you’ll know why this is advantageous. Proprietary has shelf life. Many governments have settled on the OD standard for this reason, as well as OO and Libre.

Great article and a good reminder for many. I’ve been digitizing everything as it’s way more efficient storage and access and can be easily distributed – like 100 year old family photo albums that were beginning to crumble. But yes, a number of issues here. I can recall looking at how to get data off 8″ floppies one time.

My mother once wrote a small nursing reference book that was thereafter printed via copying an original. The time came to turn it into an ebook but the original was in a MS Publisher v1 format. Publisher couldn’t open it. There was a plugin for PageMaker but it was too old for that too. In the archives I found some DOC files that had earlier versions of the chapters. I was thus able to assemble the bulk of the original, then go through, word by word, to make all the later corrections in the final. I had to replace the graphics from scratch. I’ve seen many such examples – business archives all in obscure old formats.

I’ll also mention one other format that’s very common outside of N. America – the Open Document standard used by OpenOffice, Libre, Star, etc. It’s designed for long term viability where MS Office formats are both proprietary and changeable. Have you ever tried opening a Word 1 doc?

I’ve also spent a bunch of time researching optical media longevity as we were scanning old city property records and surveys, for example, that needed to be long lasting. It’s a tricky subject as the actual media manufacturer is often masked by the packaging. And there is a huge difference in quality and longevity. Kodak stopped making its excellent discs. Until M-Discs came along, the MAM-A gold archive discs were the only ones to meet US govt archival standards. They were only available in the US through small importers, which sure says something about both the importance and ignorance of the subject. The best commonly available discs were always rebranded.

You can download free tools that ID the discs maker. You can then get a good idea of which discs you should be copying off to newer media first. Here’s a couple of sites you may find useful for this:
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia
http://www.best-dvd-burning-software-reviews.com/best-blank-dvd-media.asp
(if you have Nero, it has a disc info tool)

Also – if you’ve been using stick-on labels, those have been shown to dramatically reduce the lifespan of the discs. The label glue causes trouble.

Another wrinkle I’ve run into – newer optical players don’t always read the discs recorded by certain older common burning software. An older player will – so don’t junk the disc if your new computer won’t play it. You may be able to get the contents off on an older computer.

Reminds me of the old George Carlin schtick on how our homes are just places to keep our stuff…

Thanks for the comments on PDF-XChange. I’ve been happily using Foxit for awhile but it’s good to know about alternatives.

I also recently explored Driver update tools after a friend’s system was bluescreening over what was probably a driver issue, possibly from a Win Update. But which driver?? The crash logs were not clear. The free Slimdrivers worked like a charm, easily finding all the driver updates from the makers sites. It also allows rolling them back.

I later ran the same on my own system and it found a couple of update sets that were important. (I do however recognize the admonition – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.)

Later, I ran into a bluescreen issue on my own system and discovered a little gotcha with automated search tools. Slimdrivers had gone to the ATI site and updated ATI drivers for the ATI video chip. Only the video chip was on-board a Sony laptop in a Sony-specific scenario. Sony’s site had NOT updated the chip drivers and their prior update was marked critical. When I installed these Sony-specific drivers, the problem was fixed.

So, if you use a tool like Slimdrivers, it’s great for stand-alone components and on-board standards like Intel chips. But be careful around onboard multimedia chips, most common on laptops. Ensure they’re coming from the system maker rather than the chip maker.

Hi Fred
On the Hosts file question, you didn’t mention an alternative option – using DNS servers that do block bad sites. OpenDNS is one example, though the stronger blocking is in commercial products. Researching this, I also run into Norton ConnectSafe (dns.norton.com), free for home use. It has porn and non-family blocking as options as well. These services are about malware hosting sites and don’t block ads. But as Bob mentions above, that’s easily fixed with browser extensions.

The DNS servers are set on the router or, if you want per PC settings, on the PC. DNSJumper is a handy free tool for easily changing a PC’s DNS settings, testing your fastest DNS options, and so forth.

As a comment on the later letter about separating programs & data, I agree the degree of separation is not as necessary now and leave pagefile be. However, I still do some separation.
1 – default locations are also used by various programs to dump stuff in, meaning you have little control over folders that show up.
2 – Win7 has moved to a better, flatter folder structure but is still inferior to my own design for my own needs. They have not completely let go of the “my” nonsense either.
3 – backup and recovery requirements are quite different between OS/programs and data. I’m happy to image the OS with the built-in tools but those images are hardly easily accessible if something serious goes wrong and I need access to the files before the system is restored. I need to back up files more often than OS as well.

Perhaps it’s old habits, but I still store my data and back it up separately. It’s an approach that’s served me very well. I also find it simpler.