computer

Infopackets Reader 'Gloria' writes: " Dear Dennis, My laptop is set to go to sleep after a period of inactivity, but always freezes after it wakes up. When I press the power button to resume from sleep, the screen turns on but the laptop freezes and ... I can't input anything while I wait for it to wake up. This goes on for some time. At this point I usually power it off completely, then restart it with a cold boot because I hate waiting. How can I fix my laptop's sleep so it wakes up faster and so it doesn't always hang? " My Response: I don't recommend powering off your laptop to circumvent the ... (view more)

A credit-card sized PC costing just $35 will be able to run a dedicated version of Windows 10. It's by no means a practical choice for most users, but is a sign that Microsoft is continuing to make its flagship operating system sleeker and more ... efficient. The computer in question is the Raspberry Pi 2. It's the latest in a series of devices originally designed to make computers cheap enough that schools can buy them in bulk in order to teach children coding and programming skills. In terms of hardware specifications, there's nothing glamorous about the Raspberry Pi. It doesn't ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Michael C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a USB drive attached to my router. This drive is shared by several computers through the router on my home private network. My question is: if one of my computers became infected by a file ... locking virus such as CryptoLocker , would the network drive or the connected computers become infected or encrypted? If so, is there a way to prevent this? " My Response: It is possible for a virus to self replicate and infect other computers on the network, but that depends on the type of virus. At the time of writing, CryptoLocker is not a self ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'placeyourbet777' writes: " Dear Dennis, I have Windows Vista Home Premium on my laptop and I'd like to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate, as my computer is getting very slow and outdated. Is it possible for me to upgrade from Windows ... Vista to Windows 7 and make it work using 64-bit? Thanks in advance. " My response: The simple answer is that, yes, you can upgrade Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate. However, there are some conditions, as well as things to consider before you make the leap, namely: 1. The upgrade path must be valid 2. The 32-bit or 64-bit ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'TNStumbler' writes: " Dear Dennis, I'm running Windows 7 Pro and my computer takes too long to start -- upwards of 85 seconds or so. I am running Malware Bytes Pro (paid version) and it has not found any malware. So, it must be ... that too many programs are being loaded during boot. Which programs can I remove from my startup? " My Response: There are plenty of utilities out there that can help you remove items from the startup. I personally prefer to use msconfig because it's already part of Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. It's very simple to use, though figuring ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'ltb223' writes: " Dear Dennis, Is it possible to download all my email messages from my computer to a CD or a thumb drive so I can read them later? If so how do I go about it? My email account is with gmail. Thank you. " My ... response: There are a number of ways to go about downloading and archiving email messages (whether it's gmail, hotmail, aol, or yahoo); in general, there are two main ways to achieve this: you can either export emails via web interface if your email service supports it, or export emails using an email client if you use pop3 or imap to connect and read ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'vking' writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a wireless network inside my home and I want to share it with my neighbor, who lives approximately 250 feet away. Is there a WiFi range extender that I can purchase which allows me to share my ... Internet access and computer network with my neighbor? " Related: How to Fix: Stop Neighbors Stealing My WiFi Related: Need to extend your Wifi coverage at home or in the office? Read this: Explained: What is Mesh WiFi? vs Extender, Router? My response: Yes, there is, however I need to clarify a few things, first. The purpose of a WiFi range ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bill C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I run Windows 7 64 bit on my computer and my wife has an old Windows XP 32-bit PC (Dell Inspiron E521). She's a real stickler about [keeping her PC exactly the way it is, so she can still access all ... her files and programs, but I know it's time for an upgrade and I'd like to upgrade it to Windows 7 64 bit for her] ... I already have on hand all the items I thought I'd need: Windows 7 upgrade CD, more RAM for her PC, two new 1 TB hard drives, a video card, etc. What I'd like to be able to do is make a disk image clone of her old XP hard drive, ... (view more)

The CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is in full swing, with Hewlett Packard (HP) unveiling its $180 Windows 8.1 PC that's less than six inches square. Now, it appears that Intel is upping the ante with its Windows 8.1 computer that's just slightly ... larger than a USB thumb drive. Dubbed 'The Compute Stick,' the computer-on-HDMI is just four inches long. While the exact size is not yet confirmed, pictures suggest it's about an inch wide and around half an inch thick. Despite its tiny form factor, the device is as powerful as some entry level PCs seen in the market today. The ... (view more)

HP has unveiled a Windows 8.1 mini desktop computer that's only two inches tall and costs under $200. It's part of an ongoing campaign to battle Google by producing cheap Windows computers. The Stream Mini Desktop is just under six inches square and ... weighs only 1.6 pounds. It's a small, self-contained box with two USB ports, video outputs for HDMI and DisplayPort, an audio socket, an SD card reader, and an Ethernet port for connecting to a network. At the time of writing, it does not appear to have a wireless (Wi-Fi) connection, though one could easily add a USB Wi-Fi dongle to ... (view more)