| Are we Biased? |
You will see a lot of references to Linux at our site, as it is the future of PC's (sorry Microsoft!), but we realize that it is not for everyone. All systems are available with MS Windows, or Linux.
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| Welcome to PCstability! |
Specializing in Computers and Networks for the home and small business
• PC Upgrades, Trouble-shooting, Service and Repair
• Custom Computer Systems
• Local Area Network Installation, Wireless Configuration
• Web site Design and Consultation
• Turn-key sites, or we can help with your existing site
We provide solutions for all of your computer needs
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| News |
| 2010-02-15 - Having problems with 1tb - 1.5tb - 2tb hard drives? | | Posted by admin. | 
Having problems with 1TB - 1.5TB - 2TB hard drives?
We can help...
Aside from the larger capacities, these new generation hard drives can be very different, physically, than older drives. If you are having slow read speeds, and VERY slow write speeds, or the drives are not partitioning or formatting, we can do this for you.
Even experienced shade-tree do-it-yourself types that have built their own machines for years have been hitting a wall with some of these drives. We feel your pain...
Windows Vista and Windows 7 should be able to handle these drives correctly (as long as you create a single partition), however, Microsoft's workaround is less than elegant.
Windows 2000 and Windows XP are the real problem for most users. Neither of these can properly partition some of the new drives. If you install either of them, and Windows boots and runs, although with poor disk performance, we may be able to fix your installation, but re-installing may be needed anyway, especially if you created more than one partition during installation.
IntelMac machines using EFI should have no issue, but this remains to be seen.
Linux is mostly immune as well, but some old-school distributions such as Slackware or Gentoo may get you in trouble, as many of these users will manually partition the drive using (UNIX) fdisk. You must use the "--align optimal" option with Gparted to correctly assign the starting sector. If you use modern mainstream distros as SuSE, Mandriva, PCLinuxOS or Fedora, you should be OK.
The biggest area of potential problems is multiple partitions. We do this frequently with machines dual-booting Windows and Linux. The starting sector of each partition must be divisible by 4096.
Disk cloning utilities like Acronis or Ghost will definately cause problems, unless you take technical measures.
Again, we can help!
| 2009-10-25 - Windows 7 Still Needs Antivirus! | | Posted by admin. |
Windows 7 Still Needs Antivirus!
A recent study by antivirus firm Sophos demonstrates that Microsoft's UAC is no barrier to the typical attack on the newest member of the Windows family. 80 percent of viruses still plague the newest iteration of UAC. Dont get rid of that antivirus yet... Read more here.
These days, I'm advising Avast antivirus. I no longer recommend AVG, unless you have a very fast machine. AVG has become a system hog, like Norton, and it routinely cannot find, or remove, new threats. Frankly, AVG has been deteriorating since Intel bought it.
Sorry AVG.
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| 2009-10-22 - Windows 7 now available, is it for you? | | Posted by admin. |
Windows 7 now available
Those of you that have had conversations with me know where I stand on Microsoft. I am no advocate of software, especially Operating Systems, that come with a price tag. Linux is free, and it raises the question, Why pay for ANY Operating System?. If you are a Windows user, you don't have a (legal) choice. Among all the Windows versions, 7 is the new kid on the block. It's actually Vista Second Edition. For those of you that ended up with Vista, I advise that you upgrade to 7, no question. 7 is what Vista should have been... If you still have XP, and you don't want (or need) to upgrade your hardware, specifically RAM, then by all means, stick with XP. For now, at least. The time will come when some application or gadget will force the issue, and require that you install Vista or 7. There are many users that would still be happy with Windows 2000, but gadgets like the iPod/iPhone require Digital Rights Management, forcing them to get XP or Vista. That will be case before long, some software or device that you want will eventually need the underpinnings of Vista/7, making XP the obsolete platform.
Speaking from a perspective of Microsoft Windows only (ignoring Mac and Linux) I actually like Windows 7. I know that most of you will be shocked that I would say that. As always, I have to acknowledge that many computer users will never want anything that isn't Microsoft Windows, and I actually have no problem with that. I just want everyone to know that there IS something else.
Windows 7 is actually pretty good...
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| Do I need a login? |
Uh, No! You may have noticed that there isn't a Login box anymore!
I had to move this site on short notice almost 2 years ago. I barely got the database backed up in time. For now, this site is static, which is why I haven't updated it for nearly a year. Static pages are old-school, and very labor intensive. At least it's still using Cascading Style Sheets, which is now the one easy change I can make that affects the whole site with a single edit. I may be making a change to the old LAMP scripts, but nothing major, really, just the overall look'n'feel. | |
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