{"id":94,"date":"2011-12-24T22:05:02","date_gmt":"2011-12-25T02:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/?p=94"},"modified":"2023-08-31T21:19:57","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T01:19:57","slug":"when-candy-canes-and-computers-collide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/?p=94","title":{"rendered":"When Candy Canes and Computers Collide\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you receive a new PC\/Laptop for home?\u00a0 Here\u2019s a couple of tips\u2026<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Does your new system have an excessive amount of \u201cextras\u201d loaded on it?\u00a0 There\u2019s a good possibility that it might be slowing down your new rig and there\u2019s a 100% chance it\u2019s at least taking up disk space.\u00a0 Let these folks help you out: http:\/\/pcdecrapifier.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you want to move iTunes from your old machine to the new one?<\/p>\n

a.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On your old PC, go to File \u2013> Library\u00a0\u2013> Organize Library \u2013> Consolidate Files<\/p>\n

b.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Exit iTunes and copy your iTunes folder (should be in \u2018My Music\u2019 or possibly \u2018My Documents\u2019) to an external drive (or public share on your new computer).<\/p>\n

c.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you won\u2019t be using iTunes on the old PC, launch iTunes again, go into the iTunes Store and select \u201cDeauthorize This PC\u201d.<\/p>\n

d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On your new PC, install iTunes.\u00a0 Close it.<\/p>\n

e.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Copy your old iTunes folder from your external drive\/netshare to the location created by your new iTunes install.<\/p>\n

f.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hold down the SHIFT key and double click the iTunes Icon.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be prompted to select an iTunes library, chose the one you just copied over. (The file name ends in .itl)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *INSTALL ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE*\u00a0 Years of use and abuse for being the biggest target on the planet has finally paid off.\u00a0 Microsoft makes an excellent (and free) product called Security Essentials.\u00a0 You can download it from http:\/\/download.microsoft.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If your PC has an option for creating \u201cFactory Restore\u201d discs, do so.\u00a0 If nothing else, you\u2019ll thank yourself for it when it comes time to sell this machine a few years down the road. (You\u2019ll thank yourself even sooner if your hard drive dies.)<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is also a good time to inspect your backup options.\u00a0 If you have a large external HDD (check your stocking, maybe Santa put one there), configure Task Scheduler to automatically run the System Image Backup every \u201cx\u201d number of days. (I do it the last day of every month.)\u00a0 System Image will allow you to restore your system to 100% (from the last backup) should you experience a catastrophic failure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Did Santa stuff your stocking with upgrades for a PC you have already?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did you get an SSD?\u00a0 If so, make sure Disk Defragmenter has been turned off. (Click the Schedule button, and uncheck the \u201cAutomatic\u201d box).\u00a0 SSD\u2019s don\u2019t need to be defragged, and it can shorten its life.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New video card?\u00a0 Don\u2019t bother installing the drivers that shipped with it, they were old before your video card made it out of Santa\u2019s Workshop.\u00a0 Visit the manufacturer\u2019s website to download the latest and greatest drivers. (Luckily, AMD and nVidia\u2019s site allow you to navigate to the drivers pretty easily with an 800\u00d7600 display.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 External Hard Drive?\u00a0 If you\u2019re using Windows, I recommend formatting it to NTFS.\u00a0 Fat32 would work for most applications, but if you end up with a file that is larger 4gb in size, Fat32 can\u2019t save it (Video and backup files are liable to be where you\u2019d hit this limitations.\u00a0 In the corporate world, we run into this with Virtual Machine .vmdk files.)\u00a0 Also, NTFS formatting will allow you to enable BitLocker-To-Go, a pretty sweet way to secure your external drive\u2019s data.\u00a0 **HOWEVER** if you plan on using your external drive to transfer files back and forth between a PC and a Mac, you\u2019ll need to format it Fat32.\u00a0 While the Mac can read NTFS partitions, it cannot write to them.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you found a new monitor under the tree, and you\u2019re using Vista or Windows 7, type “calibrate color display” into the search window.\u00a0 This interactive wizard helps you fine tune your display settings to match your personal taste.\u00a0 Along those same lines is “adjust ClearType text”, which assists you in tweaking font properties.\u00a0 If your new monitor has such wicked cool resolution your old eyes are straining to see the screen, a trip to “display” (in the search box) will allow you to adjust your overall graphic interface to 125% or 150% of its current setting.\u00a0 Also, a quick trip to Windows Update (type “check for updates” in the search box) might be in order, as some monitors have drivers that automatically tweak some of the more obscure monitor settings (like DPI or refresh rate).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Merry Christmas, Y\u2019all!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you receive a new PC\/Laptop for home?\u00a0 Here\u2019s a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nerd-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions\/95"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}