Some Advice on Computers

To do that properly would take a memo longer than this profile. My “Statement of Mission” has lots of good advice. But here are some good tips:

Purchase only brand name, high quality computers and components. For PCs, I would only consider Dell, IBM/Lenovo and HP. I purchase Dell servers and desktops. For notebooks, it depends.

When purchasing a new computer, most people are too concerned with processor speed and not concerned enough with memory. Unless you’re an unusual user, it will make little difference whether your CPU runs at 2 or 3 gigahertz. It will probably make a substantial difference whether your PC has 256 MB of RAM or 512 MB. (If I were purchasing a PC in 2004 or later, I would purchase 1 gigabyte of RAM.)

Consider purchasing an ergonomic keyboard, such as the Microsoft Natural keyboard. If you’re really serious, Adessomakes several high end ergonomic keyboards.

Except for emerging technology or technology involving miniaturization (e.g., mobile devices such as notebook computers), computer technology is now so mature that useful lives of new computers are now quite long. In short, you don’t need to upgrade nearly as often as you did a decade ago. Going forward, in purchasing desktop computers, I aim to keep them at least 4 years; servers, 6 years; black and white laser printers, 8 years. Notebook computers have a much shorter useful life, perhaps 2 to 2.5 years. (This is true of all miniaturized technology, namely that it has a shorter useful life than other technologies.)

I rarely have a need to upgrade software (either an operating system or a new version of an application package) when it first comes out. Instead, I wait until at least one service pack (a collection of bug fixes) has been releases, and perhaps two service packs if the software offers a lot of new features over the previous version.

I almost never upgrade an operating system on an existing computer. Rather, I wait until I purchase a new computer and it will have the new operating system already installed with me. This means I time the purchase of a new computer so that at least one service pack has been released (i.e., don’t buy a new computer immediately after Windows XP was released). The exception would be if the next version of Windows offered better security, which I suspect it will.

Assuming you don’t need genuine Postscript (as opposed to a Postscript clone), Hewlett-Packard makes excellent laser printers. They are highly reliable, they last forever, they rarely jam, and when the do jam, clearing the jam is easier than with other printers. If you need genuine Postscript (I use a lot of Postscript type faces), I am partial to Xerox laser printers, which unfortunately are not as well engineered as HP printers. (The Xerox laser printer I have jams so often that I purchased a second laser printer to use as a backup while I’m waiting for the Xerox service technician to arrive.)

When purchasing any computer hardware, consider not only the initial purchase price but also the total cost of ownership (“TCO”). Ink jet printers, for example, are less expensive than laser printers, but their supplies (on a per page basis) are much more expensive. If you will be printing more than X pages per month, the TCO of an ink jet printer will be higher than the TCO of a laser printer.

Consider multifunction devices — combination printers, scanners and fax machines — only if your budget is tight and you volume requirements are low. If you have high volume and are not on a tight budget, you’ll have better luck purchasing a separate scanner, fax machine and printer.

Backup regularly. Since this is something most people neglect to do, you should consider an Internet backup service (such as Connected, which automatically downloads every night copies of all files that have changed in the last 24 hours.

If you backup to tape, always use the verify option, which reads what was written and compares it to what is on your hard disk. It slows the backup down considerably but the extra protection is worth it.

Don’t maintain your only copy of a file on a floppy disk. They’re simply too unreliable.

If you’re archiving to a CD-ROM or DVD, I would make three separate copies on three separate CDs or DVDs. Use only name brand CDs or DVDs. PC Magazine and other publications have published articles about which brands of CDs and DVDs last longest.

I like PC Connection for purchasing peripherals and software. Their Web site is well designed and their prices are reasonable. For a computer store, I like CompUSA.

Get a broadband Internet connection, such as cable modem or DSL.

If you’re choosing computers and software for your business, the easiest way to reduce TCO is to standardize, standardize, standardize.

Be very, very skeptical of studies and reports from third party information technology (“IT”) consulting firms that analyze, say, the advantages of deploying Windows as opposed to Linux. Many of these studies are commissioned and paid for by a vendor, and thus their objectivity is doubtful. (Microsoft in particular is notorious for commissioning studies that inevitably prove that Microsoft software has a lower total cost of ownership than competitive software.) I would trust the three leading computer magazines (PC Magazine, InfoWorld and eWeek).

What advice would you give me in purchasing notebook computers?

When I purchase notebook computers, I am most concerned with light weight, a large screen and battery life.

The batteries should have some kind of lights or display that indicate how fully charged they are; otherwise, purchase a different notebook.

I choose notebooks from manufacturers that will sell a separate battery charger — that way, I can charge four batteries at once. Dell does not sell separate battery chargers and for that reason, I purchase IBM notebook computers.

What advice would you give me in purchasing software?

To accomplish a certain task, consider whether you want to purchase software that you install on your computer or would you rather use a Web-based software system that does not require you to install software on your PC. It makes sense to install a word processor, for example, on your PC; the idea of having to access the Internet every time you want to write and edit is silly. At the other extreme, consider tax software (software that calculates how much federal income tax you owe and prints out the necessary tax forms for you). You’re only going to use that once a year, and you know next year the software will be different, if for no other reason than the tax laws will change. Using a Web-based service to calculate your income taxes might make much more sense than purchasing and installing a software package that you use only once a year.

If I am going to purchase and install software, I always purchase software on a CD, rather than downloading it from the Internet. It’s just much easier if your computer crashes to restore the software from a CD. I save all my CDs in a special filing cabinet, and now have several hundred CDs.

If you’re running a Microsoft operating system other than Windows XP, I would seriously consider upgrading to XP, which is more stable than previous versions. Installing Service Pack 2 is highly recommended, as it adds many security protections missing in earlier versions of XP.

Install a good anti-virus software package and have it upgrade its virus profiles once a week. I use Symantec Norton Anti-Virus. (By the way, don’t ever download a file that purports to be a security patch from Microsoft or any other software publisher. It’s actually a virus in disguise. No software publisher distributes security patches by e-mail. Instead, you log onto their Web site and download the patches from their Web site.)

You should install a firewall to protect yourself from malicious hackers on the Internet. This is particularly true if your computer is attached to the Internet all the time (e.g., if you have a DSL or cable modem connection). Symantec makes a good personal firewall called Personal Firewall. They bundle it with Norton Anti-Virus in a suite called Internet Security.

Consider installing Mozilla’s Firefox Web browser. It has many features Internet Explorer (“IE”) 6.0 is lacking (such as popup blocking and tabbed browsing), and even more important, it doesn’t have as many security holes as IE does. However, some Web sites are coded to be IE-specific, so you’ll still need IE on your computer.

I live a life of synchronization. My notebook computer is synchronized with my server, so that I have a copy of all files on my notebook, with updates being uploaded and downloaded every time I log in. (The synchronization in Windows XP Professional is quite good.) My mobile phone has a PDA built in which synchronizes with my Act! database.

You should also consider installing a software package to detect and remove spyware. Webroot Software’s Spy Sweeper is highly recommended.

Most people should get a good contact management system. Act! is appropriate for most people. If you need a more powerful solution, you may want to consider GoldMine or Maximizer. Maintain your contact information in that package, and then synchronize with your mobile phone or PDA (e.g., a Palm Pilot). That way, if you lose your phone or PDA, you still have your data.

If you’re going to be using a particular package — such as Microsoft Word — the rest of your life, then invest the time to learn how to use that package well. I recommend a series of books entitled “Special Edition Using …” or “Platinum Edition Using …” by Que Publishing (e.g., the book for Microsoft Word is titled “Special Edition Using Microsoft Word”). The “Bible” series (e.g., “Microsoft Excel 2003 Bible”) is also excellent. John Walkenbach has written several books on Excel that are excellent.

Many computer reference books have a CD in the back that contains an Acrobat .pdf file of the book. This allows you to load the book on your notebook computer so that you can reference the book without having to carry it around. I try to avoid purchasing computer reference books that do not have such a CD.

Microsoft has two e-mail packages: Outlook and Outlook Express. One would logically assume that Outlook Express was a stripped down version of Outlook, but in fact it’s a completely different package. I do not recommend Outlook Express. Either go with Outlook or Eudora.

PC Magazine is outstanding. I usually agree with their “Editor’s Choice.”

Starting in 2000, I decided not to upgrade every version of Microsoft Office, but rather upgrade every other version — e.g., if you have version 9, skip version 10 and wait until version 11 comes out (including a service pack) before you upgrade. Going forward, I’ll probably upgrade every third version — e.g., if you have version 9, skip versions 10 and 11, and upgrade when version 12 comes out. Office simply does not offer that many new features in each version that make an upgrade compelling.

If you want to be a power user of Office, learn Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (“VBA”). VBA is a scripting language that is built-in to Office and other software packages. It is very similar to Microsoft Visual Basic, a well-regarded visual programming language that is easier to learn than most other programming languages. “PC Magazine” published an excellent yet very short introduction to VBA (May 24, 2005, pp. 60-61).

If you’re particularly interested in Microsoft Windows or Office, Woody Leonard publishes several free electronic newsletters, which you can subscribe to at www.WOPR.Com.

If your desktop productivity suite needs are not demanding and you don’t need to open complex Office files, and you want to avoid Microsoft’s monopoly in desktop productivity software, consider Open Office, which is free, orStar Office, which is Sun’s version of Open Office and which costs $80. Open Office is reasonably powerful; its biggest problem is that it has trouble opening complex Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.

Read James’ essay on Minimizing Total Cost of Ownership in Information Systems

List of other essays written by James Mitchell  |  Copyright notice

Cite as “Some Advice on Personal Computers??? by James Mitchell. September 5, 2004, version 1.2.
www.jmitchell.me/essays/advice-on-computers.