Welcome to the Geek Choice Blog

Long considered the most popular alternative to Microsoft Windows Media Player, Apple’s Quicktime is a platform that supports multiple forms of media – music, text, video, etc.

For users who wish to use it without the bloat, there is a decidedly slimmer version available, offering the fundamental utility of Quicktime in a smaller and more efficient package.  The most welcome omission is Apple’s Software Utility Update, which runs background processes that can impact performance.

Absolutely free, QT Lite is available for Windows only.

Download it here.

Six games into the new NFL season, the contagious fanaticism of football season is upon us, from chatter at work to discussions amongst friends and family about how the teams are faring. As a devout follower of the NFL, having some means — any means — to watch the games goes without saying.

Thanks to the generous folks at NBC, Sunday Night Football is just a few keystrokes away.

While nothing quite tops the joy of watching a game in all its HD glory on your television, this new and free internet  service  offers a number of features that transcend the traditional viewing experience.

As seen above, NBC’s Sunday Night Football viewer offers multiple angles from which to catch each play:

• Cable Cam
• End Zone Cam
• Sideline Cam
• Star Cam

If you want to review a play, you can rewind and play one back as often as you’d like.

A sidebar gives an informative delineation of the statistics, by team and player.

Lastly, for those who tire of constant interruptions by commercials, watching through this viewer will see far less advertisements. In fact, during those breaks, you can still view the action on the field.

Matching the fun of crowding around the television with friends and food is near impossible, but this is an alternative that every fan of the sport should keep in mind — provided, of course, they have access to the internet.

Working on on both Mac and PC platforms, you can use NBC’s Sunday Night Football player here.

As any veteran of Microsoft’s Windows Operating System knows, the ALT-TAB function is a convenient way to immediately switch from one application to another, underscoring Windows’ multi-tasking properties.

Like many features within Windows, while extremely functional, it doesn’t exactly lend itself to the overall appearance of the Windows platform. More important, the function can lead to frustration, with many people unsure of what “window” they’re switching to.

However, for users of the latest versions of Windows (XP, Vista, and the recently unveiled Windows 7), a helpful and considerably more attractive utility would seem to supplant that rather basic command we’ve grown accustomed to using. Offering the same functionality, this tool takes the core feature of ALT-TAB and augments it to an impressive degree.

Instead of giving you a mere row comprised of the applications to select from, VistaSwitcher provides a sizable window, granting you a beautifully realized preview of what’s available. Use it just as you would “ALT-TAB,” by pressing those very two keys to bring up the preview area.

VistaSwitcher also enables the following:

• By using the “S” key after you’ve pressed “ALT-TAB,” you can option more than one window for previewing, giving you a number of hot keys with which to manipulate their grouping – C for cascade, V for Vertical, and H for Horizontal.

• When pressing “CTRL-ALT-TAB,” you’ll be able to alternate between open windows within a single application. For instance, as someone who works on multiple writing projects at a time, hopping from one document to the next can quickly become tedious. With this utility, assuming all my documents are worked upon in one application (i.e., Microsoft Word), I’m granted the ability to easily switch from one window to the next in much the same way I would between multiple applications.

If you’d rather go with familiarity, you can always stay with the standard “ALT-TAB” function. But for those of you looking to wring just a bit more from this oft-used function, VistaSwitcher is a great way to spruce up your use of Windows.

You can download VistaSwitcher here.

From the always innovative minds at Google, comes Google Wave,  a seminal offering that joins various web-based functions — instant messaging, email, social networking, wiki — to inspire and facilitate collaborative efforts.

With an emphasis on communication and teamwork, Google Wave houses multiple protocols within one package, promoting a thread of consistency between participants on a single project.

For a clearer demonstration on the functionality afforded by this new offering, visit here.

Invites to this service are always being introduced, though the wait can be lengthy.

Request an invitation here.

With email now the most common means of staying in touch, we often find ourselves swamped by the volume of messages received within the day. At their computers, users are engaged in any number of activities, email being something that many prefer to check on only occasionally.

For most email accounts, checking on the receipt of a new message requires you to open a web browser and log into your account. But one email service has introduced a neat application  that makes it easier to keep track of new messages.

Fast on its way to becoming the most popular solution for free email, Google’s Gmail continues to be the beneficiary of new updates that enhance its functionality.One such addition to its impressive list of features is a tool that notifies you of new messages even when you’re logged out of your account.

Seamlessly running in the background, Gmail Notifier alerts you whenever a new message has been received.

Installation is quick and easy, taking only a few steps. Once it’s finished, you will be asked to select a language:

You will then be prompted to sign into your account.

After you’ve logged in, Gmail Notifier remains in the background, occupying only your taskbar.

Right-clicking on the icon will bring up a list of options.

For instance, when selecting preferences, you can configure how you would like the tool to notify you.

Providing much of the same functionality you’ll find when logged into your actual account, the notifier allows you to manage your email  — read message, delete message, mark as read, etc.

Coming from the ingenious minds at Google, Gmail Notifier is a convenient and free tool that mitigates what can become an annoying routine.

Download it here!

Windows XP has many features and options.  Some of these features are simply eye-candy.  These can make the system look nicer but they add no functionality and actually slow the system down.  In this post I will show you how to use Microsoft’s Guided Help titled “How to set performance options in Windows XP.”   On some systems this will increase performance up to 5%.  It can be very noticeable.  On others it wont be as noticeable, but still any increase you can get is worth it.

To start open up a new web browser window or tab and navigate to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308417.  You will see this:

Scroll down until you see this:

Click on the Download Guided Help link.  You should see this window next:

Click on the Run button.  Then wait until you see this window:

Click on the Run button here too.  You will then see this window:

Make sure This Computer is selected and click the Next button.

Click on the text for Do it automatically.  Wait for the guided process to get to this next window before doing anything else.

Select “Adjust for best performance” and then click the Next button on the little Guided Help window.  Wait for the screen to look like this:

Now you should already have Programs selected, if not then select that option.  Hit the Next button on the Guided Help window.  It will move down to the next option.

Again Programs should already be selected for you, but if isnt then select it.  Hit the Next button on the Guided Help window again.

This window should have the right opton selected as well.  Just make sure No is selected and hit Next.

It should take between a few seconds and a minute for you to see a screen that looks like that.  You will notice all the pretty blue and green graphics are gone and everything is back to the standard windows grey.  Click the Continue button on the Guided Help window.

At this point your done, you can click the Ok button and close the website.  For best results you should reboot at this time.

Now you should have a slightly more optimized system thanks to Microsoft and Geek Choice.  For more performance gains and other helpful support don’t hesitate to call Geek Choice.

In the next installment I will show you a simple tool for removing unneeded startup items automatcally.

Within the private confines of their home, away from the prying eyes of co-workers lurking nearby, the average user of a home PC figures they can surf  the internet without worrying about intruders. Spyware and Viruses are all that concern them, the installation of malware protection enough to ward off any stress about their computer’s vulnerability.

Yet, no matter how much we caution users against leaving their computers unprotected from malware, those pests are not the only threat to which your attention should be turned.  Many home networks remain susceptible to the ill intentions of unwanted visitors.

Piggybacking ranks as one of the most common offenses, the term referring to the unauthorized use of bandwidth by an outside party.  With a wireless connection, piggybackers access an unsecured network, using it as if it were their own. While piggybacking is a relatively mild transgression, usually committed by a struggling college undergrad who can’t afford internet service, it can impact the availability of bandwidth on your network — resulting in a slow response time when using the internet.

The more serious violations of network security occur when an intruder invades your network for the express purpose of retrieving private information.  Housed on your network are files of all sorts, personal data that you wish to secure against snoops and thieves. Without ample safeguards in place, unauthorized users can ferret sensitive information from your network and use it for their own design.

Many people unwittingly leave their networks open, unaware that they’re leaving themselves subject to the unwelcome motives of the internet’s less scrupulous population. Protecting yourself against these incursions is paramount, and one of the most effective ways to do so is the establishment of a  firewall.

Firewalls do exactly what the term suggests, erecting a wall of protection that shields your network from outsiders, blocking entry to those who haven’t been granted authorization. They can be implemented through software or hardware, to varying degrees, depending on just how secure you want to be.

For those looking to set up a firewall on their network, here are a couple free solutions that I like:

http://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/firewall.php

http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/free-upgrade-security-suite-zonealarm-firewall.htm

Creating a firewall can be an involving process. If not properly configured, your firewall will leave you no more protected than you were  before its installation.  Should you have any questions on how to build one, feel free to give our office a call. We are here to help you.

Commonly experienced by even the newest computers,  the diminished performance of a system  can be attributed to any number of problems.  It could be software or hardware, conflicting drivers, or a memory leakage.

Whatever the root cause of your frustration, arriving at an answer isn’t easy, but having a direction in which to travel just became a bit more manageable.

PC Pitstop is a neat diagnostic tool that provides users with a comprehensive overview of their system — performance, security, drivers, etc.

It’s free and easy to use, with results that may surprise you.  Again, while it won’t fix whatever’s ailing your system, PC Pitstop will highlight those areas around which you might want to focus.

Our business is making sure your computer runs as well as possible. Taking a few simple steps on your own can be a fast and easy way to get your system running better, even if you aren’t able to solve matters on your own. Remember, whenever you hit one of those frustrating situations that’s a little beyond your ability to handle, Geek Choice is just a click or a phone call away.

More ubiquitous than the Iphone, the Blackberry — widely hailed as the granddaddy of the smartphone — has served as an invaluable tool for professionals on the go.

Whether you’re communicating with your manager off-site or corresponding with business contacts while vacationing, the blackberry keeps you in touch at even the most inconvenient of times.

The key to this is the synchronization of your blackberry with your network — home or business. As the term would suggest, “synchronization” does just that: it syncs your blackberry up with the network to which you’d like an uninterrupted connection, effectively mirroring any activity that originates on the network and reproducing it on your phone.

For instance, if you’re a VP brokering a new deal in Chicago that will result growth for your corporation, you want to stay apprised of the internal correspondence being exchanged between upper management at the home office in Houston. Synchronization of your blackberry with your organization’s server  will keep you current with any email sent to your office account, just as if you were sitting at your computer.

Unfortunately,  synchronization of your blackberry with a Macintosh was difficult, requiring the use of third-party solutions that didn’t always work as intended.

Until now.

Responding to this growing need, R.I.M. has released a tool for those looking to synchronize a Blackberry with a Mac.

This can used with:

• Microsoft Exchange Server
• iCal
• Address Book

Additional features include automatic backups, the installation of firmware updates, and the synchronization of iTunes to your Blackberry.

As is the case with the introduction of any new tool, one can find themselves confronted by more questions than answers. If you’re at all confused about how to put this to use, give our office a call.

Geek Choice is always staying on top of the latest malware to emerge from underbelly of the internet. In addition to the providing the best onsite technical assistance in this industry, we pride ourselves on alerting you to the latest pests to watch out for.

Most recently, hapless internet users have fallen prey to the URLZone Trojan, a decidedly nasty bug that rewrites their online bank statements to conceal fraud.

This bug is tucked away on websites – many of them legitimate – with the Luckyspoilt toolkit. Unbeknownst to visitors of these websites, bogus .PDF files or Javascripts traffic the URLZone Trojan onto their computers.

Once planted on the victim’s system, the bug begins to record keystrokes that are performed whenever they’re logged into their online bank account, pairing that with screenshots it takes of the user’s activity while they navigate the account.  This information is then fed to the source of the bug, a command and control center located  in the Ukraine.

With your information in their possession,  the perpetrators of this fraud transfer money from the user’s account. After the theft, the Trojan forges a bank statement to deceive the user into believing their account is not compromised, always ensuring that their online bank statement reflects a positive balance.

A more in-depth overview of this threat and its implications can be found here.

Geek Choice always advises its clients to exercise vigilance when browsing the internet. If you think your computer has been compromised by malware, call our offices immediately.