Replace Open Office with LibreOffice

Open Office was great, but it stopped being developed April 2011. 
If you are still using Open Office, you may have begun to see problems - files crashing for no apparent reason, among other things. Many people who had Open Office 3.3 installed and then installed Internet Explorer 9 (either knowingly or via a background Windows update) found that Open Office would often crash and was not workable. 

For the end user (you), what matters is if it is working or not, and if not, how to fix it. 
For anyone out there still using Open Office 3.3.0 or earlier, I would strongly recommend switching over to LibreOffice. 

LibreOffice is continually being developed now, whereas Open Office is no longer being developed. LibreOffice is basically Open Office, but more evolved. The interface is pretty much identical (some of the icons are a bit different, but they do the same things. And, it is still free. Yes, you can still open the latest MS Office file formats, and you can export any file to PDF format.

To upgrade:

• Download the program and the help part of the program from here.
• Remove Open Office by going to (Win XP) Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs..., or (Vista, Win 7) Control Panel, Programs and Features...
• Install the LibreOffice Program, and then the help program (must do it in this order).
• LibreOffice should automatically see and incorporate your basic settings from OpenOffice
• To ensure that LibreOffice is seen by Windows as the default program - in Windows Vista/Windows 7: Start Menu, Default Programs, Set your Default Programs, Choose LibreOffice in the list on the left. Set This Program As Default. (Note: This will set your simple txt files to open with LibreOffice Writer. If you still want Notepad to open for simple txt files, go to a txt file, right click, chose Open With, choose Choose Default Program, check off the Always open with this box, and select Notepad.)
• If LibreOffice is not in this list of programs (above in the Default Programs), close this window and re-install the LibreOffice  program and choose Repair. If it is still missing, restart the computer and check again.
• done.

 

Further information on LibreOffice can be found at their site here, or at the Wikipedia entry here.  

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Facebook Tips Update - Notifications Overload and Social Fixer

Notifications.
After the recent changes on Facebook, if you moved any friends into the close friends list, you may have noticed that you get tons of notices now about everything they do. If you don't want this - if you just want to be notified about the usual stuff you used to be notified about - here is the fix:
Go to your Facebook homepage, look on the left for Lists, find Close Friends and click on it. 
In Close Friends, click on the Notifications button and choose Off.

If you do have one or two friends who you want to be notified about everything, go to their page, hover over their name on a post and Subscribe. When you Subscribe for the first time, you subscribe to everything. You can modify this by going to the Subscribe button and clicking it and then checking/unchecking your desired settings.

Social Fixer/Better Facebook
I wrote, a while ago, about Better Facebook and how it was a great script to use. Then Facebook kept changing things and the script didn't work so well any more (or at all).

Now the script has become an add-on and it has been much improved. 
So, remove the script (or disable it) and go here to install the add-on for your browser. 
Once installed, you may need to restart your browser.
Then, go to Facebook and click through the wizard that pops up. When you get to the sign-in page, cancel the wizard. Once you log in, the wizard will pop up again - go through it this time.

Settings
I found that some settings I made in the wizard did not stick. I had to open up the Social Fixer options (icon beside your name on the Facebook toolbar) and re-do them.
 

Here are some of the settings I found to be very useful:

- Comments: Popular, check off: Fix "Enter Key" behaviour...   Also, in Posts: check off Fix the missing cursor problem ...

- Chat: Popular: check off Change profile pictures in Chat to names. And, Chat: check off: Show all online friends in chat list, group friends by online status, and Use compact chat list (no thumbnail images).

- Images: Popular: check Show full image previews when hovering your mouse over pictures.

- Applications/Games - if you play games and use applications, you may like to show different game/application stories in different tabs - to do so: Popular, check off Automatically move posts from Applications (games) into their own tabs. Also, if you play games and don't like the new game sidebar that shows up on the right of your screen, you can get rid of it: Layout: hide the game icon sidebar

 

- Filters: Don't play games or use applications and don't want to see stories about these filling up your newsfeed? To hide these stories: Filtering, Type, scroll down and click on Posts by any application, then check off Hide under Action.

 

- Ticker/Friends Activity: to hide this: Layout: Hide the ticker feed of friends activity

Once done with the settings, SAVE, and then reload the Facebook page (don't just click on "Facebook" - use your browser function to reload the whole page.)

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Better Facebook

There are a lot of things that annoy Facebook users, especially when FB makes big changes. Some changes are good and take some getting used to. But a lot of changes can make things more annoying. Better Facebook is a script that works in all browsers except IE. It combines controls that many different scripts have individually into one great script. I was using FFixer, Unfuck Facebook, Facebook Comment Fixer, and a couple of Adblock Plus filters to make Facebook work in a better way. I've switched to only using Better Facebook (for now, as of Sept. 2011) as it takes care of all that the above-mentioned did and more.

Go to

http://betterfacebook.net

to install.

If you have Greasemonkey in Firefox, and you know how to use it, you can install it that way instead (make sure to disable other scripts first before installing Better Facebook as there may be conflicts) 

Here are my settings in Better Facebook

• all the recommended default changes plus:
• Added the old Comment button
• Lock the header bar at the top so it scrolls
• Change profile images in Chat to names
• Force the News Feed to be chronological and hide Top Stories
• Layout, Right Column: Hide the live feed (The Ticker) of friends activity (you can do this instead of using the AdBlock Plus filters).
• Chat: Show all online friends in chat list, Group friends by online status, Use compact chat list,
• Theme: Light Sky (yes, there are different themes available that will change the background from white to other things)

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Facebook Notifications Overload

Since the recent Facebook updates (Sept. 2011), you may have noticed that you are getting far more notifications than before. This is most likely due to adding some people into the Close Friends group. Depending on how you have arranged your lists, you may need to follow these instructions for more than just the Close Friends list.

To get the notifications back to normal (this applies to notifications from everyone on the list):
* In Facebook, on your Home page
* On the left, click on Close Friends
* In the top right, click on Manage List
* Click on Choose Update Types ...
* You will see: Updates to Show - under this: Status Updates, Photos, Games, Comments and Likes, Other Activity.
* The one that will generate the most notifications is Comments and Likes. Un-check this. I would also recommend un-checking Games if any of your close friends play Facebook games because now, you will be sent a notification any time they do anything in a game
* Depending on how many things show up in your notifications you may want to leave checked or un-check other of the items on this list.

If, for some reason, you like all the notifications you are getting, but just not from certain individuals, you can adjust only the notifications from each person by hovering over a link to their name, hovering over Subscribed, and then choosing which items you want to be notified about or not.

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More Facebook Changes - Ticker, News Feed, Lists...

Facebook has just rolled out more changes as of Sept. 21, 2011.

Ticker
This is a mini real-time news feed at the top of the right column. Many people find this very annoying/useless and would like to hide it. Here are some tips on hiding it:
How to Kill the Facebook News Ticker
The AdBlock solution should work until FB changes the code again.

News Feed and Ticker
Here is more information about the changes to the News Feed, and scroll down a bit for more info on the Ticker.

Menu Bar
Links on the menu bar have been changed. Now, to get to your profile, click on your name. To get to the regular home page, click on Facebook, or Home. The arrow beside Home will show other options, like your Account and Privacy settings. 

Friends Lists/Lists
Facebook has also made some changes to Friends Lists, introducing some handy (or not so handy) default lists, allowing you to merge lists, and more. How to edit your lists has changed. 
To see and edit Friend List(s) now, you will need to go to Lists, on he left, and hover over Lists and then click More, to the right of it. You should now your various lists and the new default lists. To manage/edit a list, click on it. Now you will see a feed of those people only, but to the top right, there will be a Manage List button. You can make adjustments to the list here. For more info on this, click here.

If you want to see a list of all your friends, click on your name at the top of the FB page, then click on Friends on the left side. They have added more ways to search, but seem to have removed the Recently Added Friends list. If you know where to find this, please let me know.

Subscribe
Information about this here.

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AVG Free 2012 - Installation Guide

The new version of AVG Free is out. Here are my instructions for installing/upgrading to AVG Free 2012. 


Download the latest version from these links and save the file to your computer.


32 bit version
64 bit version


Which version should I use?
To find out if your operating system is 32bit or 64 bit, click on Start, Control Panel and System. This will bring up a window that will show this information.
If that is too complicated: If you are running Windows XP, or if you got Vista as an upgrade, or, if you got Vista when it first came out, you should most likely pick 32 bit.
If you got Vista later, or if you are using Windows 7, you should, in most cases, download the 64bit version.

What if I install the wrong version?
If you are running a 64bit operating system, it will allow you to install either version. Either version will work fine in a 64bit system (but the 64 bit version will run faster). If you are running a 32bit operating system and you try to install the 64bit version, it won't let you install it. When in doubt, try installing the 64bit version first. If it lets you install it, then you have made the right choice. If not, ho harm, download and install the 32bit version.


These instructions assume you are upgrading from a previous version of AVG Free.
If you are installing AVG fresh (not upgrading from a previous version), the steps may be slightly different.


Print these instructions out before continuing.


Installation
Once you have downloaded the installation file (see link above), run the file.
* Accept the License Agreement
* Choose Custom Install. [Vista and Windows 7: also un-check Installs and displays the AVG Gadget...], Next
* Un-check Additional installed languages, Next
* Un-check both: I would like to set AVG Secure Search... and Improve my Internet protection..., and Next.
... wait for it to install ...
* Un-check: I would like to get news...
Choosed to check or uncheck (doesn't matter): I want to improve...
Restart Now
....
* Double-click on the AVG tray icon to open the interface. [Win7 - if it has disappeared, click on the little up arrow in the Notification Area, choose Customize, scroll down to the AVG icon and change the setting to Show icon and notifications. Okay]
* Hide Notification at the bottom (this is an ad for the paid version)
* Click Update Now. If there are any updates, Update Now. Repeat this until it says you are up to date - Update completed successfully.
 
Note: Although AVG automatically checks for updates once a day (once for definitions and once for the program), you should manually check when you first install it as there might be updates waiting and updating right away after installing lessens the chance that you might have to restart the computer again after a day due to a special program update).

Configuration
* Tools, Advanced Settings, Scans. Click on the tiny arrow beside this to open the subsections. Removable Device Scan. Enable, and check off (leave the other things checked that were checked off already - do not uncheck them): Automatically heal..., Report enhanced set of ..., and drag the slider under Adjust how quickly Scan ... all the way to the right. Apply, OK.

* Also in Advanced Settings: Schedules, Scheduled Scan: Enable this task. Run at specific time interval. Check for once a week. Default setting is every Wed at noon. Leave if this is okay for you, change if another time is better.

Note: if you have a computer that is less than 5 years old, then the AVG automatic scan should run fine in the background without slowing down your computer. If your computer is older and the AVG scan is slowing things down while you try to work, right-click on the tray icon, choose Running Scans and then Pause all scans. When you are done working, un-pause the scan.

* Make sure Run on computer startup if task has been missed is checked off. Apply, OK.
 
You can ignore My Apps, PC Analyzer, Family Safety and LiveKive.

* Close interface.
* Done.

It will download and install updates automatically, and run a weekely scan automatically. Sometimes program updates will require you to restart your computer. It will ask you to do this when applicable.

Note about the trial paid version.
If you do make the mistake of installing the trial of the paid version, and you would like to have the Free version instead, remove AVG (In XP: Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs. In Vista/Win7: Start, Control Panel, Programs and Features). When you initiate the removal procedure, you will be given the option to convert to the Free version. 

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Back to school - Useful technology for students at budget-conscious prices and general buying tips

Back to school: The most popular technology for the return to class - Parentcentral.ca

I was inspired to initially just write a rebuttal of this (above linked) article at Parentcentral.ca. But, then I decided to write up something a bit more useful to consumers. I couldn't believe the prices listed in this article! I'm not knocking Parentcentral specifically here (they generally publish some very useful articles), but I've found that often articles like these in newspapers in general don't tend to be researched by anyone with enough knowledge about technology (they just talk to people at a couple of big stores).

Seriously? For students: iPads? Laptops for $850, and routers for $120???!!! (And whats with the camcorder?)



There are always better deals out there. Sometimes you can get much better quality for a much lower price than you are often led to believe. I research and source computers and computer-related equipment every day and I find that there is a wide range of prices on products of similar quality and performance.



Let's compare some prices and items in this article to some better deals out there.

(Note: my sourcing for this post was done in the Toronto. Prices will vary in other areas. The lower prices I quote are on products of similar quality/performance or better (or, the lower-priced item is of good quality and the higher priced item was overkill for the purpose). Pricing was done Aug 24, 2011 (so beyond a few weeks from this date, the prices and technology will change))



Smartphones

Parentcentral: minimum price: $400

Tweak: minimum price: $225

Savings: $175



Printer

Parentcentral: Epson Stylus NX All-in-one wireless. $100 (Best Buy)

Tweak: HP Officejet 4500 Wireless All-In-One. $60 (on sale for this at Best Buy, normally $70 at Staples (cheaper than the regular Best Buy price))

Savings: $40

(Note: Regarding the different printers they mention in the article at Parentcentral: Over-priced or not practical. A student will need to print some things in colour - so a B&W laser is out of the picture. Also, multi-function printers are of good quality, serve more purposes, and are very cost effective so I would recommend these over non-multi-function machines. The touch-screen feature is pretty much eye-candy, adds extra cost, and doesn't make a whole lot of difference in the basic use of the machine.)



Surge Protector

Parentcentral: $53 (Best Buy)

Tweak: $25 (Active Surplus)

Savings: $28



Router

Parentcentral: Netgear Wireless-N Gigbit router. $120 (Best Buy)

Tweak: D-Link Wireless N 150 Home Router. $30 (Canada Computers or Staples)

Savings: $90



Office software

Parentcentral: MS Office 2010 for Home and Student. $160

Includes: Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote. Some very advanced functions might not be available in this version.

Also of note here: There is a free Starter version of MS Office 2010 that you can only get pre-loaded on some new laptops. This version only includes Word and Excel, and you can't run any macros or add-ins and they don't have a lot of advanced features the full version has, and it has advertisements.



Tweak: Open Office. Free.

Fully functional office suite. Word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, database, and math programs. No advertisements. Compatible with the latest MS Office formats. You can configure it so it will save in MS Office formats by default. Thousands of add-ons also available for free. And, there is a Canadian English spell-checker add-on available. Also, built in one-touch export to PDF format from all of the programs in the suite (no need for other PDF software/Adobe Acrobat).



Savings: $160



Notebook/Laptop

Parentcentral: Sony VAIO 15.5 inch laptop. $850 (Best Buy)



Tweak: HP G-Series 15.6 inch laptop. $430 (Future Shop)

This HP model is similar to the Sony model in quality/performance and features, but is better in these regards: more powerful/faster processor, larger capacity hard drive, much lighter weight (and costs $420 less!)



Savings: $420



Netbook

Parentcentral: $270

Tweak: $200

Savings: $70



Service

On-site basic setup of a computer system

Parentcentral: Geek Squad: $130 (flat fee)

Includes

no extra software or customization or optimization of system. They only

hook you up to your Internet connection*, one peripheral and install one

piece of software. Performed by a technician with almost no experience to a few years

of experience. Includes delivery of system (if system purchased at Best

Buy).



Tweak: Thor Tech Support: $30-$60 (1-2 hours (average amount of time) at an hourly rate)

Includes full

setup and connection of all devices and Internet connecting*, various

free-software installations (office suite, security, and useful

utilities), tutoring of the operating system basics, and customization

and optimization of operating system. Performed by a technician with

over 20 years experience.



(* must already have an Internet service plan with a provider (ISP))



Savings: at least $70



Stores

Future Shop

This is one of the best places to go for a deal on a laptop if you are looking for a good budget laptop. They have about the biggest selection at generally decent prices. They also have decent prices on external desktop hard drives (made by Seagate). But watch out as there will be some models of Seagate drives decently priced and some Seagate models that are greatly overpriced.



Best Buy

Contrary to popular belief, you aren't generally going to find better deals here. Sometimes they will have a great sale prices on an item. But usually, the items on sale are sub-par quality and their regular prices are usually higher than other places (for computer and computer-related equipment). They generally don't stock better-quality items. They will sometimes have a good sale price on decent printers. Shop around elsewhere first. Once you find what you want, check to see if they have it on sale here for less.



Staples

Generally overpriced in most areas of computer technology. But, there are some gems here. This store has the best selection of printers at good prices. They also have a good selection of routers at decent prices. This is also a good place to go for printer ink/toner and paper, school/work back-packs, and office furniture (including low-priced basic computer desks and chairs).



Active Surplus

Lowest prices in Ethernet cables. Also here: USB cables, surge-protected power bars, and thousands of electronic and odd items.



Canada Computers

Great selection of some computer peripherals and internal parts at generally low prices. A good place to go for: external hard drives, routers, keyboards, mice, USB sticks, card readers, video cards, and more.



Other small stores

There are a lot of other great small computer stores around Toronto (especially around College and Spadina, and along College from Spadina to Bathurst) with good competitive pricing, but you need to know what you are looking for before you enter (see shopping tip below).



Tips

Shopping

All stores will generally have a large ranges in prices for items in each category (and a large range in quality). It helps to do advance research before you go to the store to buy something. If you know what you want to get in advance you can ignore the salesperson's advice (which is usually to buy whatever has the highest mark-up/profit margin for the store). Usually, what they try to sell you is, for good quality items, over-priced, and for the budget items, just poor quality. There are good quality budget-priced items out there, but the sales people won't usually steer you towards them.



Printer Paper and Ink

When you are buying paper, for decent quality printing, buy the paper and ink made by the printer manufacturer. There are chemicals in the individual brands of ink and paper that are made to work together. They do that as they make their money mainly on these items (since you have to keep buying these over and over) as opposed to the printer.



Inkjet Printers

Never power these off. If you do, the ink heads can dry out and clog and then you can't use the cartridge again. When left on all the time, they go into a low-power sleep mode, and the little power used keeps the print head from drying out.



Netbook, Notebook (aka Laptop), or Tablet



For students who need something to take notes on in class and then use at home and on-the-go for homework, lets look at these options:



iPad and other tablets

So, you want to type a lot and have a versatile device? Then don't buy these. They are priced above low-priced laptops and have no keyboards (only an on-screen keyboard) and lack a lot of other useful features.

What is it good for? If you have money to burn and want to look cool and don't need it to do much and you don't need to do much typing, this might be for you. But for a student on a budget (or a parent looking to get the best value and most useful computer tool for your teen), forget it.

Price: for a decent quality one, about $400 and up ($520 and up for an iPad).



Netbooks

The keyboard is smaller than a normal laptop keyboard (so, they're not great for big hands or if you are going to be doing a lot of typing). Smaller screen (so, things will be tiny, and if you are working on spreadsheets or doing graphic work, forget it). No DVD/CD drive. Bare bones operating system. Small hard drive (so less storage space) and a not so powerful processor. There is a reason they are called Netbooks (handy for quick Internet browsing tasks, not for much else).

What is it good for? If you only need something for quick notes and basic Internet browsing and you need something that is small and light, this might be what you are looking for.

Price: for a decent quality one: about $200 and up



Notebooks/Laptops

These come in a range of sizes - from just a bit bigger than Netbooks, to 18" screen behemoths.

Laptops have come a long way in the past few years. Now they are very powerful and have large hard drive capacities. Laptops, even the basic budget ones, generally all have full-sized keyboards, DVD/CD drive, webcam with microphone, 2-4 USB ports, HDMI port, VGA port, Ethernet port, card reader, mic and headphone jacks, and Windows 7 Home Premium operating system. If you are on the go and need something light weight, there are small/light models to choose from. If you want something that is mainly to be used in one location, anything goes, including an 18" entertainment laptop.

Laptops in the 15" screen range give you the biggest bang for the buck as they are the most common (so they are more mass produced and thus cheaper to make). Smaller and lighter ones are more expensive. Larger ones with more power are more expensive. But, if you want something light and powerful, there are a lot of models and low prices and good quality to choose from.

Price: for a decent quality one, about $350 and up.



Conclusion

Totalling up all the savings listed above, compared to the linked article, Tweak has just saved you over $1000 (or about 50% off). Those are significant savings for those on a tight budget.





In my business, Thor Tech Support, I normally charge a flat fee of $60 for the research and sourcing work for putting together a desktop computer system, or a laptop (Note: in the post above the savings on the laptop was $420 and it is a much better laptop too. With a $60 R&S fee added, it would still be a savings of about $360.) I also research and source printers and other computer parts and peripherals (at a lower price). This saves my customers not only the time and effort of doing this themselves, but also a lot of money off the price (compared to if they ended up buying something over-priced and of lesser quality, like those in the linked article).

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