Memory versus Storage - how much is enough?

One of the most common points of confusion I encounter with clients regards the difference between memory and storage. Many people use the term "memory" to refer to the space on their hard drive and view that space as what limits the software they can run as well as the amount of files they can store. This is NOT the case and memory is actually very different from STORAGE.

Here's the way I usually explain it...

Imagine that your computer is a desk that has a desktop and file drawers. The top of your desk determines the number of things you can work on at the same time - the bigger the desktop, the more projects and folders you can have in process at the same time. The drawers determine how many files and folders you can store. The more drawer space you have, the more files you may have - and drawers store files more compactly than the desktop, so you can store a lot more in a drawer than flat on top of the desk.

MEMORY is like the surface of your desk - the more you have, the more programs and files you may have open at the same time. Memory or "RAM" (for Random Access Memory) typically is measured in even units of Gigabytes (a Gigabyte or 1GB equals one Billion bytes - or roughly the size of 200 to 300 songs on iTunes!). Modern computers typically come with RAM of 2GB, 4GB, 8GB or even more. It's tough to have too much RAM - especially on laptops.

STORAGE is like the size of your file drawers - the bigger they are, the more files they can hold. Storage is generally supplied by a hard disk or hard drive (these mean the same thing). Today's computers have hard drives with capacities measured in the HUNDREDS of Gigabytes (GB) and some computers may even have a TERABYTE (1TB) or more (that's a TRILLION bytes) - sufficient space to store more than 10,000 songs! Modern hard drives are so large that the majority of clients I see are using less than half of the storage they have available.

So if you are concerned about running many programs at once - perhaps surfing the Web, editing a document and a spreadsheet, flipping through photos, playing music, etc. - then make sure you have plenty of memory or RAM. Upgrading your RAM is very inexpensive, whether you do it yourself or hire a professional to do so. But unless you have an enormous amount of music, photos, or especially videos, almost any modern computer is going to have plenty of storage for your needs.

Latest Google Image Search is AMAZING!

In typical Google fashion, they have released enhancements to their Image search (images.google.com) quietly over the last few days - notably, the ability to search images BY IMAGE rather than just by descriptive words. Here's an example:

1. Pull up Google Image Search (images.google.com) and click on the new camera icon in the search slot.



2. You may enter the address (URL) of a picture from the web, or upload one from your computer.



3. Click the Search button and you will be given search results consisting of both sites and images related to the person, place or thing represented in the image!



In my experimenting, I found that the image search worked better with objects and places than with people, and the more singular and isolated the object in the picture is, the easier it is for Google to match it. Isn't that amazing? What will Google think of next? I can't wait to find out.

Presentation Help and Prize Drawing - Tablet Computing Devices

Hello friends and business associates (and I’m glad to say many of you are both!),

I am preparing for an educational presentation at the end of this month about the use of tablet devices in business – iPads, Android tablets of various kinds, other tablet computers, etc. What would really help is your own stories of success or problems you have had with these devices, as well as any tips or suggestions you have found helpful. Nothing beats real world stories from the field!

As an added incentive for taking your time to help, everyone who responds to this request will be entered in a drawing for a keyboard case for your favorite device. I will be giving away one iPad case and one other case to match the winner’s non-iPad device. Please respond by Sunday, June 19th to be entered in the drawing (although I’ll gladly continue to receive your stories and tips to share after that…). Just comment on this blog entry or send an e-mail to me directly.

Thank you in advance for your help!!!

Quick Response Codes - They're A Lot Easier To Use Than You Think!

Quick Response or "QR" Codes are two-dimensional barcodes that are cropping up all over the place - especially in printed advertising materials. They are readable with traditional barcode readers, but more importantly with modern camera phones. All you need is one of a number of FREE camera phone reader applications for QR Codes available for the common smartphone platforms including the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. Just go to the appropriate application store (iTunes Store, Android Marketplace, or Blackberry AppWorld) and search for and download a "QR Reader". Most QR Codes contain web addresses (URLs), although they may also contain other kinds of data like phone numbers or e-mail addresses. To use the reader, just run the app, point the camera at the barcode, and click the button. If you want more general info about QR codes, check out this Wikipedia article.

What many people don't realize is how easy it is to start using QR Codes of your own to link your printed materials to additional information online. Here's the simplest way I've found:

1. Go to the webpage to which you would like to link using a QR Code.
   
2. Copy the web address (URL) shown at the top of the page (in the address entry area of your browser).
   
3. Go to http://createqrcode.appspot.com and paste your link into the box labeled "Text to embed in QR Code".
   
4. Select "500x500" for the "Image Size", and then click "Create QR Code".
   
5. Right-click on the image that appears, and select "Copy" (if you want to paste it into Word or Publisher right away) or "Save Picture As..." (to save to your computer for later use).

If you would like to make it easy to track usage of your QR Codes, I suggest you create a free account at http://bit.ly, which will let you take long addresses and shorten them. You will then be able to associate the short bit.ly addresses with your QR Codes, and later log into bit.ly to view statistics on the usage of those QR Codes.

If you've thought of some clever uses for QR Codes, please post them to the Comments below!

Care and Feeding of a Healthy Computer

One complaint I hear all the time about computers versus other sorts of appliances and machines in our lives is that they don't come with any sort of owner's manual or maintenance guide to tell you how to keep them running smoothly year after year. While I doubt this is a complete list, here are some of my most important recommendations for things you should do regularly to maintain a healthy computer:

• Daily: Back up your data EVERY DAY. There are two kinds of data - the kind you back up, and the kind you will eventually lose. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use Mozy (www.mozy.com; up to 2GB FREE, additional storage plans start at about $5/month). Mozy will back up changed files to "the cloud" every day, and makes it easy to restore data from your backup when needed. Got high school or college aged kids? Save yourself some potential pain and tears by putting Mozy on their laptops!
  
  
• Weekly: Scan your system for malware (viruses, spyware, etc.). I use AVG Anti-Virus FREE on most of my computers, but any leading anti-malware product (Norton, Trend, eSet, etc.) will offer a scanner. Even though these products protect you all the time in the background, it can't hurt to get a second opinion once a week by running a complete scan of your system. I find that Saturday night is a good time to do this since I am usually not sitting on my computer then! (Be sure to close ALL programs before running a scan so that infected files may be removed easily and automatically if found.)
  
  
• Monthly: Make a complete backup image of your system to an external hard drive and take it somewhere else (safety deposit box, relative's house, lawyer's office, etc.). This is important because your daily backups do not save programs, just data. While this doesn't seem important if you have all the official CDs for your software, think about how LONG it takes to reload all that software, printer drivers, etc. My favorite software for this is Acronis True Image, which costs $40 to $50 for the Home version. But there are some free products out there with a few less bells and whistles that do the same thing. I'm so paranoid that I actually do DAILY onsite image backups as well as monthly offsite image backups.
  
  
• Quarterly: Scan your hard drive for errors (problems with the disk drive itself). Go into My Computer, right-click on your C drive, choose Properties, then click on Tools. When you click the "Check Now" button, you will be prompted about completing the check next time you reboot. Go ahead and schedule that, but be sure not to forget to reboot your PC when you are done for the day since the disk check can take a while. Oh, and ALWAYS do your monthly image backup BEFORE running a disk check! You have been warned...
  
  
• Every six months: Physically clean the inside of your machine using a can of compressed air. NEVER vacuum the inside of a computer! ALWAYS blow out the inside of a computer outdoors or in a very well ventilated basement or garage area. The dust and grime inside a computer is not healthy for breathing by humans or pets. For a more detailed look at how to clean the inside of a computer, see this excellent article: http://lifehac.kr/flQxZs

Following the suggestions above will help keep your computer running smoothly, and will protect your data in the event that a catastrophe occurs. Do you have a favorite suggestion that you think I missed? Share it with everyone by posting a comment below!

A word about defragging: Back in the 'old days' of personal computers...about ten years ago...lots of people defragmented their hard drives to improve performance. In those days, hard drives were much smaller and slower than they are today, and files would get split into chunks as they were saved on your hard drive. This splitting or 'fragmentation' would increase over time as the hard drive got more and more full, ultimately affecting performance. Today's hard drives are large and fast, and fragmentation is rarely an issue. In fact, in Windows 7 the system performs steps automatically to keep files less fragmented. Some research has found that defragging your hard drive in Windows 7 can actually be harmful in some cases! So the bottom line is that you do NOT need to worry about defragmenting newer computers.