And the winner and still champion is . . .

. . . the Droid Razr Maxx! Yesterday I bought a Samsung Galaxy S III (SGS3) phone from Verizon. Few of you will be amazed at that since many of you know that this will be about the 20th phone I’ve tried over the past 2+ years (I’ve lost count).

The SGS3 is really quite something – fast, huge beautiful screen, typical Samsung Android excellence – and against any other phone it would be a strong competitor. However, I’ve gotten spoiled by one big thing and a couple of small things about the Droid Razr Maxx:

1. Battery life. There isn’t another smartphone that’s even close to the Maxx. I have become accustomed to getting a whole day’s use out of my phone without running for the charger during the day. The SGS3 is good, but in using it today I got the awesome and terrible low battery warning by about 3pm. Before the Maxx I really had no choice – they all run out of juice well before the end of my day.
2. Universal search. Searching on the Maxx searches Google and also several other things on the phone such as the address book, Google Drive, Music, Facebook, etc. Very handy, and removed from the SGS3, apparently as a result of the Apple suit against Samsung.

Really, the other differences are pretty trivial. Address book sync doesn’t work as well as the Maxx with my car’s Bluetooth system; the SGS3 is slightly more difficult to hold than the Maxx. There are a few other minor areas in which the Maxx wins that I can’t even recall now. On balance, though, Motorola really got things right on the Razr Maxx, especially with the recent operating system update. The SGS3 is a great phone, and so is the Maxx.

With HTC’s recent difficulties, on any other carrier the SGS3 is the clear frontrunner. On Verizon, if you care about battery life as I do, the Maxx still comes out on top!

LogMeIn user creation process

Interconnected Technologies provides many of its clients remote access to their computers using the same secure service we use to provide remote support: LogMeIn.

Giving a client user access to his or her computer involves the creation and acceptance of an invitation. The invitation is sent to the user’s email address, which serves as that user’s LogMeIn userid:

Clicking on link under “To accept the invitation . . .” will take the new user to this screen, on which the user enters his/her name and chooses a password which only he or she will know:

Choosing a password that the system rates as “Strong” is essential, since this is, after all, providing access to one or more computers from “outside”. Strong passwords are those that are at least 6 characters long and contain upper and lower case letters, numbers and at least one special character, such as a hyphen or comma.

Once the user fills in the required information and presses the Create Account button, he/she will see the screen displaying the computer(s) to which the user account has been given access.

Subsequent access can be accomplished by visiting http://www.logmein.com, entering the email address and password. The same screen mentioned above will be displayed, allowing the user to access the computers to which the logged-iin account has access.

For more information on the next steps in this process, see:

http://www.interconnected.com/interconnectnow/2012/3/30/logmein-security.html.

And, as always, call us if you need additional assistance!

Friends (and I/T consultants) don’t let friends run cleanup/optimization tools!

Why? Because they’re unduly risky and end up costing you money!

Finallyfast.com, PCMatic.com; Registry Mechanic and others; half a dozen “keep your PC’s drivers current” tools. They’re everywhere, and you might think you’re saving money and time by using them, but you’d be wrong. These tools make money for I/T service providers. Now, Interconnected Technologies is in business to make money - but not this way. We want to make money by helping clients implement technologies that improve their productivity, enable new capabilities, and simplify things; not by spending hours repairing the damage done by these types of tools. Sure, we fix things when they break, but self-inflicted wounds are the easiest to avoid – just don’t even think of using one of these things!

It is very simple to get a PC to the point where it’s running optimally. It’s not simple to know how to do that – it takes decades of experience to know how to spend 30 minutes getting a computer running its best. That’s where we start, when working with clients. Once that’s done, we can move on to all the rest of the work we do together – to make sure that these optimally-running computers are then providing the capabilities that can improve people’s business and personal lives.

That’s why we buy these things, remember?

And yes, that’s why Interconnected Technologies is here!

Windows XP support from Microsoft ending in early 2014

Microsoft has announced already that certain older versions of Windows have been removed from support:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/help/end-support

This is one of the few places I've seen an official, albeit tangential, statement that Windows XP SP3 - the *last* version of Windows XP - will be out of support on April 8, 2014:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307853

That seems a long way off, but if you have a corporate strategy that still includes Windows XP - either by preference or due to an application requirement or limitation – or if you have an old Windows XP machine around that’s just sitting there providing some function it’s always provided just fine - it's time to have a firm plan now to upgrade from Windows XP in the next calendar year. Yes, that a year ahead of the official termination of support. Still, that is our recommendation – no sense running into an externally imposed deadline.

Having an operating system exit support may not sound like an urgent matter, but it is since it means that updates will no longer be provide. This includes *security* updates, even for identified security problems for which there is no defense.

It’s important. Windows 7 is a very solid, very usable system. Windows 8 will be out this year. Windows Vista is a memory. Windows XP is a relic. 

It’s time.

We can help!

Twitterfeed testing

Always looking for ways to make people (myself included) more productive, I'm trying out Twitterfeed.com - a mechanism to automatically post my entries here at Interconnect Now to the Interconnect Now Twitter and Facebook pages.

Let's see how it works!