Unless you are a hardcore gamer or graphic designer its hard to justify spending $2000 dollars on a computer anymore. Just 10 years ago when I started college, the computer I took to school was a $2000 beast with 64MB of RAM and a 500Mhz AMD processor. On the other hand, I bought my current computer for $400 bucks (used) and spent a few hundred extra dollars to upgrade the RAM, hard-drive and video card and threw in a few parts I had in another computer. Grand total for a system that can handle just about anything you throw at it? $700

I used to make sure my computer always had the “newest and best” hardware and was on a 6-8 month upgrade cycle but I have come to the conclusion that unless you have money to burn, there is no point. Most of what I use my computer for is done through a browser or secure shell and the rest is word-processing, instant messaging and iTunes. I use a 2 year old laptop running Linux to write most of what you read here and although a bit slower, I can do everything I can on my desktop.

If you are thinking about buying a new computer think really hard about what you will be using it for. You will probably spend most of your time looking at a browser window, sending e-mail and watching You Tube. 98% of you will be able to get everything you need out of a $600 [insert favorite manufacturer here] computer.

Don’t waste your money on the latest and greatest…you will probably be getting a new one in 2 years anyway. I would much rather spend money on a good monitor (wide-screens are a godsend) and a nice set of speakers.

My wife hates using my laptop.  There is a password to login, a password for my wireless network (both home and work), I never save any of my passwords in the browser and you need another just to be able to use my linux shell (which she would never touch anyway).

Why all this security?  No, I don’t have government secrets but assuming you know all of the passwords (an no, they aren’t all the same) you would able to access all of my work stuff.  My “work stuff” is my life and since my laptop is basically a grab-and-go piece of hardware (a small Dell Inspiron 700m) I want to make sure that if I were ever to be stolen it would basically be useless to the person who nabbed it - at least without a complete format of the hard drive and new OS installation.  I even have the BIOS password protected and the hard-drive set to the first boot device so getting a new OS installed wouldn’t be a simple process.

I don’t go so far as to encrypt my entire hard-drive because like I said, I’m not harboring government secrets, but unlike the government officials that have let their laptops “disappear” I would be willing to bet if they took even half the security measures I did the rate of data-loss due to lost laptops would drop dramatically.

How far do you take your computer security?

Update: It seems they give them up after a few days, but if you want the domain right then your stuck waiting them out or paying them.

I rarely post about something from another site without putting my own spin on things but in this case I just wanted to get the word out.

From billhartzer.com

A friend tipped me off to a Domain State thread that warns you not to look up a domain name at Network Solutions. If you go to the Networks Solutions site and look up a domain name to see if it’s registered then Network Solutions, within seconds, will buy the domain name, causing you to have to go buy it from them. Read the rest at Bill Hartzer.com

If this is happening as stated in the article this surely could (and should) have some legal ramifications. Extortion anyone? The domain business is becoming downright nasty.

I remembered how infrequently I click the “Stumble!” button in my toolbar so today I decided to give it a few clicks. The first few stumbles were big losers but I persisted; I knew that eventually I would hit pay-dirt.

In a twist of irony I came across IloveJackDaniels.com (I don’t drink). The site has nothing to do with drinking but instead is the home of a web designer/developer from the UK who happens to prefer Jack Daniels if given the choice. The particular page Stumbleupon took me took was a literal goldmine for someone like me. It was a page full of Cheat Sheets for things I constantly have to look up in a book; CSS, SQL, RoR, PHP and so many more. I have a good working knowledge of most things but I don’t use them enough to not need some reference books.

If you are anything like me and don’t use CSS, HTML and PHP enough to know every command at the drop of a hat then this page is for you. Print them, use them, frame them — whatever you choose, just check them out. Until you are a pro they will surely save you a ton of time.

IloveJackDaniels.com Cheat Sheet’s

The holidays, coupled with working in the customer-pleasing side of the computer industry and having a family has left little time to write over the past few weeks. I started about 10 posts that are sitting as “drafts”
that I hope to complete soon.

Upcoming I am going to discuss open-source vs. closed-source software; some issues I have with American auto-makers; getting the best computer for the money; computer security at home; and, hopefully, a interview with Steli Efti of the soon-to-open SuperCool School.

I’d rather write 4-8 quality posts per month than a bunch of crappy ones. Most of my posts take some time to write because I prefer to write articles that do not simply regurgitate information you can find in a million other places.

I am also working on a complete redesign. The current theme was originally created by Small Potato of wpdesigner.com then tweaked to meet my particular liking.

See you soon!

-jemmille