I have let the reader mail pile up, and it’s spilling out the door. Let’s get to it.
Q: I read your column about the disappearing software and how everything is heading online, and I am not sure I agree that all software is going away. There are lots of times I don’t have access to a Wi-Fi connection.
A: Well, that’s true, but shortly a 3G or 4G cellular connection will be everywhere and affordable. This “always there” connection will be everywhere but airplanes, and there you can get Wi-Fi. I recently took a journey to one of those big-box electronics retailers that used to have rows and rows of computer software and found not even one row left, and almost all of that was Windows and QuickBooks. Surely not 100 percent of all software will be going to the cloud, but most of it will.
Q: I want to get a colour laser printer that can be shared with all of the computers in my home, some that are wired and some that are wireless. Do you have any specific brand recommendations?
A: Brand is not as important as how you connect the beast. I beg you not to use a “wireless print server,” which gives you a bunch of promises on the box but will deliver nothing but pain.
Instead, get a colour printer with a built-in network jack.
Locate the printer within wiring distance of your router. Connect the printer to your router via a CAT-5 cable. Run the configuration screen and print out the IP address of the printer and write that on top of the printer with a pencil. Then connect all of the printers in the house to that printer using that IP address (Windows 7 most likely will find it automatically).
Q: I suggested to my IT guy that we could install Open Office on my daughter’s computer (she’s in high school), and he said it was not compatible with Microsoft Office and I should buy the real one.
What do you think?
A: I think you need a new IT guy. There are some good reasons for purchasing Microsoft Office (the Home and Student version if you have a student using the PC), but compatibility is not one of them. You can set the default file type for Open Office to all of the default Microsoft types and for most high-school needs the free Open Office product will do just fine. Heck, most corporate users don’t use 90 per cent of the features.
Q: When ordering my new PC I can get a six-cell battery or a nine-cell battery with a US$73 price difference. I see new nine-cell batteries on eBay for about $45. What is your recommendation on paying the extra?
A: Buy the nine-cell when you get your PC. Most, if not all, of the “new” batteries you see on eBay are counterfeits from China and won’t last very long. (This includes the “brand names.”) So it is best to buy a good one while you are sure you are getting the real thing.
James Derk, a tech columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service, owns the computer-repair firm CyberDads. Contact him at jim@cyberdads.com