If you are very interested in installing multiple operating systems on your computer, but you don’t want to dual-boot, and risk losing all your files and folders, then try this. It is a free piece of software called Virtual PC by Microsoft. It emulates a computer, and you can install almost any OS you can find on it, and if you have something that you want to use but won’t work on Vista, then you could install XP, 98, 3.1 or DOS in order to let it run. If that software’s a game or requires a lot of heavy processor usage, then maybe you should get a computer with that OS instead of using this. It also works with Linux, but I have Windows Vista Home Premium, and it works perfectly! I will post photos of it soon. It’s free on XP and vista. If when you start it for the first time, and it says it won’t run on the OS, then check ‘don’t show this message again’.

Download it at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=04D26402-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en

Finally! We had been complaining for a long time, but finally we got some action. If you read my previous post on Bell Support Chat, then you would know what I’m talking about, but just in case you didn’t, here’s the story. A long time ago, we got high-speed internet from bell. It was really the best thing anyone could get at the time, and we managed to get 1 megabit plan. We had this for about 5 years, with little to no complaints or calls to their `310-SURF (310-7873)` tech support hotline until I decided we should try upgrading our plan, since we were still paying around the same price we had been paying since we first got the service, and for that price, now we could get the 5 megabit plan.

So we decided to upgrade, and that was when the troubles began.
Since it was on some kind of special, we ordered a bell sympatico `home networking modem`, which is essentially a 2wire 2701. When I fired it up, lo and behold, the networking didn`t work. So then we had to pull out our old Linksys WRT54G and hook it up through one of the Ethernet cables on the back of the modem and then use that device to take care of our networking, even though we had gotten the home networking modem specifically for that purpose, in that way freeing up the WRT54G for use elsewhere.even though I kept on calling and calling bell sympatico, but they kept on saying to like… configure my printer provider, when the real problem was with the network. So, the network wouldn´t work, so I couldn´t print. So, I had to end up turning off the wireless radio on the 2wire, and then connecting an ethernet cable from one of the ports on the modem-router to my Linksys, and so by doing that, I would be only be using the modem feature of that device. I wasn´t really happy, because Bell promised that we could network with modem, whereas I found that to be untrue. So now, I would use my linksys for all my networking. Everything was working fine now, unless you brought up the subject of speed. The internet was painfully slow, not only for browsing, but also for downloads. We were getting around 10% of our promised speed.

So, once again, I called up Bell Sympatico, and the person had me do a whole bunch of troubleshooting crap, just trying to save Bell a few dollars.

He had me do this (and at the same time wasted my time):

1. Unplug all the phones in the house except for the router/networking modem
2. Turn the router on and off (huh???)
3. Turn my computer on and off (HUH????!!?)
4. Had me do various things with my phone – none of them made sense

Eventually I just got fed up and told the guy to send me a bell guy to our house. The person was supposed to come that Thursday, but they didn’t give us the convenience of letting us know when exactly he would come in the morning, so we took the day off to wait for him. They did say he’d come in the morning, though, but this didn’t prove to be true.

We had to wait till the afternoon, and therefore we wasted a morning when we could’ve been elsewhere.

Then, the person came, and this was when our problems started getting fixed. He apologized for being late, and then he came downstairs to where the modem/router was. Then he tested our speed, and told us that yes, our speed wasn’t fast enough, -this was what surprised me- he made a quick phone call to somewhere and said his name and then he paused… and then he said some ID. Then he said, “OK, so I’m here at _-(our address)-_ and they have a speed issue. Could you increase the bandwidth supplied to their house? *Pauses* Yes. Put it to around 70%. Thanks. Bye!”

And then he said, “So you’re all set up! You should notice the change immediately.” I asked, “What exactly did you change?” He said that he just called them up and had them change the bandwidth of our line to 70% of the company’s ‘promised speed’. “Why can’t we get the full 100% of our promised speed?” I asked. He explained that if he were to increase our bandwidth to 100%, then our line would be unstable. I didn’t quite understand his reasoning, but the person seemed to know what he was doing, so I trusted him.

When he was gone, I went onto my computer and did a speed test to see if our speed had increased, and voila, we were at 70% of the advertised speed. But we might still switch to a Rogers bundle :p.

The Moral Of This Story: When you have trouble with Bell, get them to send a technician to your house!

Hello everybody!
Sorry I havent posted in a while (this is Craig) there has been problems connecting to the site.
So anyways you will be hearing from me a lot now.
So I have been using So a lot.
So have fun.
So.

-Craig

So you want to record videos, huh? Well, welcome to the wonderful and exciting world of camcorders. It is quite tricky to buy a camcorder, so good luck! This guide should help you with your decision.  When you’re going out shopping on boxing day or boxing week, print this out as a guide to help you with your camcorder-buying needs .  These are some cameras that stood out to me!

The Cameras:

Panasonic SDR-H200

This camera boasts a 30 gb internal hard drive, and built in editing features and macro features that you would typically find in a camera that costs over $1000.  Reviews for this camera were excellent, and said that the camera was easy to work 
with, and I would agree with this :).

Average Pricetag: Around $600 – $800

Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1 Flash Camcorder

This is a funny small little camera that stood out to me with the fact that it is waterproof. I’ve always liked the idea of recording underwater. This camera records on SD/SDHC cards, and you can fit 10 hours of full motion video or 4000 6-megapixel still images on an 8 gb SDHC card. As camcorders use SD and other memory cards more and tape and hard drives / DVDs less, then we will definitely see a size difference in the machinery we are working with. You can certainly notice that difference with this camera. If you don’t want to spend too much money on SD cards, then remember, you can fit up around one hour of video on a standard 1 gb SD card that you would use in a standard digital camera.

Average Pricetag: Around $400 – $600

Sony Handycam DCR-DVD Mini DVD408

The Website Says:
Record high-quality images and video directly to DVD-R/-RW/+RW/+R Dual Layer media formats with the DCR-DVD408 DVD Handycam camcorder. The dual recording feature allows you to capture 2.3 megapixel still images while recording video in 5.1 channel surround sound. Additionally, it can shoot up to 4.0 megapixel photos when it’s not recording video. Smooth slow recording lets you slow down fast-paced action and display it at a slower frame rate. It comes equipped with a CMOS Sensor and powerful 10x optical/80x digital zoom. And with the 2.7″ Wide Hybrid Clear Photo LCD Plus Screen, you can view everything you’ve captured in stunning detail.

This camera is an excellent alternative to the flash memory camcorder that we saw earlier, because, as the website said, it takes hich quality 4.0 mp photos, and records video with stunning quality and pristine 5.1 channel surround sound.  A wonderful, simple camera that is just right for just about anyone, and is so easy to use, most kids will be able to use it!

Average Pricetag: Around $450 – $700

Similar Article: About.com Camcorders – Top Camcorders under 800

“Close to 8 million Canadians have signed up – 85% in the past year alone, unpublished study reveals.”
- Solutions Research Group

Facebook is a relatively new technology, and more and more people are identifying themselves on the internet. I wonder whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Outside of this article, I read that the CIA is using this private information to conduct investigations and statistic collection. The bad thing about this new technology is that child predators could be/already are roaming facebook and other social networking websites like MySpace. With more and more internet users, not just young technologically-savvy users are using facebook and other online technologies! The internet is being made more and more accessable, and this means that it is more useful for people. There are many fun things to do on facebook, but if you are using it, keep in mind that anyone could be seeing what you put there.

http://www.thestar.com/article/284017

It’s been very stressful at school recently, with many assignments all at once, so everyday I check my countdown, waiting for my break .
It’s been quite hard making posts, with all of the work, so I’m just posting to tell you I’m still alive :p.

Connor

Hey everyone! Yeah, so I’m finally here, and I’ll post something soon . I have a bit of an issue because on my computer I can’t get onto blogger.com because of ‘Windows Live Family Blocking’ stuff, so I have to either email my posts to blogger or use the blogger toolbar for Microsoft Word. Bummer, well anyways, you’ll see me around the site

Today I introduce to you Craig McBrine, my cousin, who will be writing for this blog. He’s actually quite well-known on Helium, and if you search for his name there you will likely find his famed article/review on Microsoft Windows Vista.

Introduction
Welcome to this report on buying a Computer – Laptop Edition. This is meant to help people decide which computer to buy.

Buying a computer can be a complicated process. This guide tells you how to identify the good computers from the bad ones, and includes a couple examples that I encountered.

How am I going to use this?
First start out by asking yourself, what am I going to use this computer for? That question may have an effect on how you answer these questions.

If you will be designing graphics, or running graphic-intense programs, then you may want or require a larger screen. In that case, you will want a high-resolution screen, and a decent graphics card.

If you will be running very demanding programs, then you’ll need lots of RAM and a high CPU clock speed. If you have a system that’s fast, then your computer will need a good fan to keep your laptop cool. My mom’s laptop runs hot VERY quickly. I’m using it right now, but it’s irritating to have such a hot object in my lap. The fan in this one is so quiet I often worry if there isn’t one at all or that the one that is there is broken or something.

Priorities you need to consider:
CPU Clock

RAM

Screen Size / Video Card

Price

Drives (CD/DVD/HDD) Keyboard/Touchpad

The CPU
The CPU is the vital core of the computer. It performs math functions (which is basically all that a computer does).

A 3 GHz Processor Core performs approx. 3 Billion CPS (Clock Cycles per Second), meaning that 3 Billion impulses of electricity go through the processor each second.

It is important to have a fast processor no matter what type of applications you run, because Processors are constantly being made better, and you don’t want your computer to become out of date as soon as you get it!
Processors are probably the most expensive item in a computer.

My Recommendation: The Intel Core 2 Duo

I’ve always been an Intel fan, and simply think their processors are the best. If you want value for your money, go with this one. Try and get one that’s at least 2.5 GHz.

RAM
Go with something that’s above 533 MHz, and get 1 or 2 GB. 1 is great. 2 is excellent.

DO NOT GET 512 MB – here’s why – if you get 512 MB, you won’t have any extra DIMM slots left because they don’t give you one 512 MB DIMM – they give you 2 crappy 256 MB DIMMs, so you won’t have any slots left to upgrade to. You want to leave the option of upgrading your laptop’s RAM – it’s just about the only thing you can easily upgrade in a laptop.

Graphics
Get either integrated or a basic ATI or nVidia. A graphics card can enable you to play 3D and other graphics-intensive games, and watch movies. The better your graphics card is, then when you are playing games or watching video the video will not be choppy or redraw often.  If you’re going to play games a graphics card is indispensable.

Screen Size
Screen size in a laptop is debated, but I think that anything larger than a 17 inch screen is outrageous and stupid. Screens on laptops are meant to be small and portable, because laptops are meant to be small and portable. An exception to this is a ‘Desktop Replacement’ Laptop, which has a larger screen, larger hard drive, better graphics card etc. Get a screen that has a resolution of XGA or better, that is either 15 inch or 17 inch if you’re like any one else. Your screen should also be widescreen.

Hard Drive / Storage Options
I recommend that you get at least a Hard Drive with 80 GB, that spins at 5400 RPM because of the immense size that Digital Photos, Music and Videos take up these days.

A 160 GB Hard Drive that spins at either 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM is fine for just about anyone. However, if you know that you will be storing extremely large files, then go with something better (talk to the salesperson about your needs). If your hard drive spins faster, then you will be able to access files faster, and may notice the difference.

Keyboard and Touchpad
In order for you to have an enjoyable and relaxing computer experience, your computer needs to be easy to use. If you have a frustrating touchpad that just won’t move your cursor, or a keyboard that hurts your hands, here is the section for you!
Always ask to test out the computer before you buy it. If you find the computer irritating, ask the salesperson whether there is a way to adjust the settings for the touchpad.
The keyboard is the primary input device for the computer. It has existed long before the mouse did. About 10 years ago, a mouse was considered optional or unnecessary. Keyboards need to be good on a laptop. Test them out and you don’t like them, or find yourself reaching for keys that aren’t there, consider a different laptop.

Optical Drives (CD/DVD)
Get one that burns CDs and DVDs. Try and get a combo drive or one that burns DVDs and CDs, because DVDs are the new backup standard. DVDs are about 6x the size of CDs. If those DVDs are dual-layer, they can offer up to 8 GB of storage space, and they are only worth a couple of cents! Now, with the new Blu-Ray and HD-DVD standards coming out, you can store up to around 30 GB, and if those discs are dual-layer, then it can be up to 60 GB or more! Optical Drives are a great way to make your own home movies, if you have a Camcorder (see Zee Camera Plan – Camcorder Edition for help on buying one of those). You can ‘Capture’ information off of your DV camera and store it on your hard drive, and then with those raw video files, you can use a program like Adobe Premier Pro, or Roxio (this is a great option) to edit and put in a menu and special effects for your movie. Then using your DVD/CD Combo Drive you can burn a DVD that you can watch on any DVD player (including your computer and your TV). You can also backup your Hard Drive on DVDs if you have a Optical Drive that can burn DVDs.

Thanks!
Hopefully this guide has helped you decide which computer to get!
A PDF will soon be available of this document.  I’ll post when it is ready.