In hindsight, it was nothing more than a 7″ version of the Android phone I already carry with me every day.

Time for a bit of background…

Last year, when the alleged tablet race started, the creators of Android (Google, for those who aren’t following) were not happy with the creation of tablets based on an operating systems that their spokespeople have been repeatedly quoted as saying is not ready for tablets.

Fast forward to today and say hello to Android 3.0 (a.k.a Honeycomb). Honeycomb was rewritten from the ground up especially for tablet devices, and that brings us to today, with our current iteration of tablets. So, how do I choose one?

Well, let’s begin then shall we.

With Honeycomb came a whole new wave of tablets, currently these are mostly 10 inch tablets running on Nvidia’s dual core Tegra2 platform, with ample storage and some amazing features to boot. Basically, its twice as powerful with 6 times the battery life and same sized screen as the netbook I was blogging from last year.

Now, which one do you choose? Well, I am blogging right now from the Motorola XOOM 3G with 32GB of internal storage and it is a beautifully built piece of technology. That being said, it is currently the most expensive Android 3.0 tablet on the market.

The current player to name a few are as follows:

Motorola XOOM

This is a well built, Dual Core Tegra2 processor which clocks in at 1GHz, 1GB RAM, 32GB internal storage for apps and multimedia, WIFI only and 3G models available. Excellent screen and touch screen quality and responsiveness, plenty of accessories from Motorola. Good speakers, front and rear cameras, GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer (yes, barometer!), and it uses the new standard micro-USB port. The XOOM has a micro-SD slot which currently doesn’t work, long story, but Motorola is in the process of releasing an update to enable it.

Asus Transformer

The aptly named transformer attempts to be a little bit more than just a tablet. For an extra wad of cash you can buy an optional keyboard dock which provides additional battery life, some extra ports (USB, SD card) and of course, a keyboard. The tablet even has a USB port itself for plugging hard drives and such into. That said, even with the keyboard, the transformer still works out cheaper than the XOOM. Other specifications remain the same, with the exception of two options for internal storage being 32GB or 16GB. The transformer does not have a 3G (mobile internet) version at present.

Acer Iconia A500

The Iconia, again has very similar spec to the other two, it is slightly larger than the XOOM with more bezel and in my opinion, a slightly cheaper build quality to it. The screen is brighter than the XOOM however, some see it even has better colours,  and it comes with 16GB internal storage, a very good choice for the buyer on a budget. With a brushed metal finish it certainly doesn’t feel cheap and from some of my own testing it ran smoother than my XOOM.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Not currently available in the UK, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is Samsung showing that they will not be left behind. The slickest and thinnest of all the tablets came about after admittance from Samsung that their initial show model embarrassed them next to the iPad2. Not wanting to be out done they went back to the drawing board and made what I can only call the most beautiful piece of tablet technology you will see this year.

Hardware wise, the new tablets are all pretty much on par, but they all have vital and subtle differences that set them apart. The Samsung for example features a proprietary connector rather than a standard USB for connecting to the pc, which also means you need a special adapter to connect external devices. The transformer features the dock which essentially makes it a little Android netbook at will, and undoubtedly has the most connectivity options with all the extra ports.

The latest version of Honeycomb, 3.1 (still not available to some of them due to delays by the manufacturers with integrating their own changes), makes several enhancements. It brings, amongst other things, improved multi-tasking over the previous build, connection of external USB devices such as Playstation3 and Xbox360 game controllers by USB, you can even connect your digital camera to copy and edit your photos from it.

It is a difficult choice to make, and it would take me days to cover the details of why I would recommend one over the other and how the choice of manufacturer is more important than ever these days, but I will be happy to answer questions in the comments or by email.

My advice is to go to a large store, play with them all, don’t be shy, spend a good while playing with each of the devices, see which one you like the best, look at the specs and see which catches your eye because essentially, aside from minor details, they are all very similar.

If you’re still not sure, wait a little longer, some 7″ honeycomb tablets are on their way. Look at which ones are getting updated quickly to latest Android versions, and make an informed decision. If your uncertainty is regarding whether or not you really need a tablet, I can’t tell you, but I will say this. I am writing from my XOOM now, I no longer own a laptop, and my desktop computer has forgotten what I look like.

I will soon be writing a post about how relevant I think the laptop/desktop is anymore, where I ask myself and the rest of you, are they really necessary in this day and age?

Sitting here today, six months after my last post here on the blog, I look back and I am astonished at how much things have changed since I posted about some of the things here.

Technology moves fast, very fast, and six months is more than ample time to be left out of this game. Me, Im still in the game, I have to be, its my passion, technology is what I live for, but this blog, its been left behind and I feel it’s time to bring it up to date for all 3 of you, my (once, and short lived) regular readers. (I kid, but only half) .

For myself at least, things have really changed over the last year, I graduated university and moved on into the big wide world. That isn’t even half of how things in the world of computing has changed for me though.

I want to write a little mini series that covers some of the key things that are affecting me as of late, and share my views and opinions of how I feel they could affect the rest of you.

Some of what I am about to say may seem contradictory to what I have said before, but if you see it the way I do, its evolution, change is necessary, and I welcome change.

I will start the series with the most fitting, I feel, of topics, since my last post regarding the choosing of an Android tablet; Choosing an Android tablet, take 2…

If you’re reading this you have probably looked into Android Tablets and are looking to decide which one to go with or whether or not you should buy one. If you want the short answer it is: Yes, buy a Samsung Galaxy Tab.  It is by far the best Android Tablet available to date. As an Android user, and developer, I have used several devices, and seen the progression of the OS from the start. The point of this article is to give you some key points that you can use in making a decision on buying an Android device, not necessarily just a tablet.

Before I begin, I would like to cover some of the boring background stuff that I feel is important to understanding the reasons for the points I make. It all starts with the birth of Android. Later I will cover some of the important points like screen type, hardware manufacturer and Android Market.

Read on to get the low-down on how to decide on which android device to choose.

The Android OS:

The Android Operating System, is just that, it is an operating system, a piece of software. Although it is often used as a term to describe devices, it is not necessarily true. Just like you would not call a PC a “Windows”, mobile phones that run Android are simply pieces of technology that the manufacturers decided would do well to run the “Android” software. Android, as you may or may not know, if the brain child of Google Inc, yes, the Internet search giant. How does that fit? Well, Google deal in information, and you can be sure that Android powered mobile devices deal in information just as much as the search engine does. The phone becomes a web of interconnected services, an amalgamation of your email with your social with your entertainment. You can search anywhere and everywhere with the touch of a button. It does of course have its downsides as a consumer, since it also opens you up to the world of targeted advertising based on your location (should you allow it), your usage habits and your choice of music. but these are minor points, and of course they have solutions, but more on that later. Android, being based in part on the Linux operating system is open source, meaning, with the necessary skills and tools you can build your own android OS from the freely available code and install it on a compatible device.

Android Tablet Hardware:

OK, so how does this apply to Android Tablets and why am I telling you this? OK, so lets look at the last few lines: “with the necessary skills and tools you can build your own android OS from the freely available code and install it on a compatible device“. This means that any manufacturer of devices out there can go get this code, and make some hardware to run it, and sell this new device to the general public under the tag of an “Android” device.

Thinking about this, it means one thing, that vigilance must be used when looking for Android devices. you can not see something labelled such and expect a certain level of quality from the hardware it is powering as you could from other brands of mobile devices. Just like a 400MHz Pentium 1 from 10 years ago probably won’t give you the user experience you would expect from Microsoft’s latest offering with Windows 7, which I can tell you, given the right hardware, is an incredibly amazing operating system.

So, Android Tablets, there are a lot of them these days, and many more to come. The important point here is to look at the manufacturer behind the hardware. Samsung, Motorola, Dell, these are companies with well established, quality brands. Worldwide companies that you can rely on to offer the support for quality constructed products. This comes with a price. I would not dare to expect the same quality, nor level of service or support from a cheap tablet I bought for £99 from eBay or amazon. It simply isn’t reasonable to expect so.

Android + Tablet, Good or Bad?:

I use a Samsung Galaxy Tab every day, I develop Android software using it, and for it. I would first of all say this, don’t believe for a moment what people say (as i have just today read in a respected PC magazine) that developers are not focusing on optimizing for Tablets. As one of those developers I can honestly say that Tablets, Android, and even Apple iPad, are a major focus, at least for the work we do at the company I work for. Some say that the current Android OS is not optimized for Tablets. In my opinion, it doesn’t need to be, it is designed for touch screen devices that use fingers for input, on the tablet it is nothing but a nicer, larger version of what is already a fantastic experience on Android Phones.

*Important* – Screens:

An absolutely key part of choosing an Android Tablet is that you choose one with a “Capacitive Touch Screen“. Take my word from it that the user experience is worlds apart when it comes to using a capacitive touch screen as opposed to a “Resistive Touch Screen“. Although they sound similar, and their technical names don’t really help explain the difference, I’d like to explain a little further because this is the most important point in my opinion:

Capacitive:

Capacitive Touch is the technology used in the leading touch screen devices such as Apple’s iPhones and iPad, most (all?) Android phones from quality, respectable manufacturers, as well as many high end touch screen devices. Capacitive Touch works in such a way that it detects electrical current from the tips of your fingers (which is why you can’t use them with gloves on, and they don’t work with a stylus (pen type object) unless it’s a specially made one. These screens do not require you to press the screen at all. In fact, you can have these screens respond just by barely touching it with your finger, so lightly that you can’t even feel that you have touched it. These are the screens that give silky smooth touch response, and make the whole user experience just what it was intended to be. Make sure the device you buy does have this screen technology.

Resistive:

Resistive hails back to the days of Windows Mobile PDAs, although not necessarily the same technologies, the cheaper devices use a completely different method of recognising touch compared to Capacitive mentioned above. These screens are much cheaper to make, and give a terrible user experience, most require the use of a stylus to operate and all require some level of pressure to be applied before the screen will respond to a touch (less so on the higher quality versions). Either way, these screens make for a horrible experience on touch screen devices, especially on touch screen optimised OSs like Android.

How to tell:

If you are buying online, Capacitive Touch devices will usually show off the fact they have CT (Capacitive Touch) screens as a feature, and it is one to be proud of. If a device has a stylus it’s likely not a CT screen. Also, in terms of Android Tablets, the cheaper ones are highly unlikely to be CT, as these screens are expensive. Trust me, the lower end devices that have these screens will likely come with more problems than just the screen and are not worth your money at any price, in my opinion. If buying in-store as the clerks, try it yourself, it’s immediately obvious the moment you try the device if it’s CT or RT (Resistive Touch).

Market:

Android Market is a good deciding factor on whether or not to buy an Android Tablet. Google imposes restrictions that hardware manufacturers must meet in order to use the Android Market on their devices. They must meet certain requirements to ensure the perfect user experience and this is a fantastic thing. Most of the cheap devices will not meet the requirements and so most will not have access to the Android Market, what does this mean to a potential buyer? Well it means no access to the huge, and growing database and wealth of applications available on the Android Market, thousands of which are available for free. These cheaper devices will come with a manufacturers own “Market” or App Store likely with very few applications and which pretty much make the device useless beyond the core application list that is part of the OS.

Conclusion:

Make sure you choose a device from a respected manufacturer, ensure it has a capacitive touch screen and access to the official android market. Expect to pay a premium price for one of these devices. My advice is that if you can’t afford one of these higher end devices, not to buy one at all, the poor quality and lack of support from the cheaper device manufacturers are nothing but a tainting of the Android user experience and do not represent the possibilities, capabilities and overall silky experience the Android OS can present.

I’m sorry about how long this post is but I feel that the information here is all important and is certainly something i would like to familiarise myself with before spending out several hundred pounds on a device.

*UPDATE* Now Available on iPhone and iPad.

Follow the link through to my personal blog for screenshots and a scannable barcode that will take you directly to the Android Market to buy the book.

[Via Hamid]

I give this advice as an avid Linux user. Don’t get me wrong, I use and love Windows, but Linux can offer me things, for certain purposes, that Windows simply can’t. I won’t go through some of the more unusual things I use, Instead I’ll just cover the important things for every day users.

Read on to find out why you’ll be using Linux before you know it.

Why Linux?:

• It’s free. To download, and install, and use, free, not a penny.
• It’s open source (I’ll cover this in a separate post because it’s important in its own right).
• You don’t need an anti-virus. Linux is already super secure, some might even say it’s paranoid!
• All software for Linux is free (with some small exceptions).
• You can [usually] install any software you want with one click (maybe two or three otherwise).
• It can be fully customised to your taste (once you become a pro user like my mum now is).
• Linux can do just about everything you can normally do in Windows, sometimes it even does it better.

Which Linux?:

Now, if I already have you sold, you probably went and did a quick internet search for “Linux” and are now back here wondering “oh my god, why are there so many?”. Well, in short, because it’s so popular. But for beginners I can make only one recommendation, and trust me, I have used most of those Linux distributions out there, the one I am about to recommend is by far the most beginner friendly. Those of you that have heard of Linux before will know what I’m about to say before I say it:

“Ubuntu” by Canonical. For further reading visit their website http://www.ubuntu.com.

Ubuntu Linux is by far the easiest to use Linux operating system out there, not only that, but also one of my favourites, and is my chosen operating system for everyday use alongside Windows 7 (which I also recommend, but it will cost you a bit more than Ubuntu).

Different Linux “Distributions” (that’s what they’re called, Distributions) have a different “look”. This is because they use a different method of showing things on the screen. You can however change any of the distributions, including Ubuntu to look and act more like a Windows computer, or even an Apple Mac (My mum likes to use the “Dock” at the bottom like Mac’s have). The possibilities with Linux are endless.

Ok, now what?:

Well, installing a new operating system is no trivial task but feear not, Ubuntu offers a unique installation method through a special system beautifully named by them as “Wubi”.

Wubi offers the Windows users to install Ubuntu alongside windows just like installing any other program in Windows, simple. If you don’t like it and want to go back, you simply start-up windows and uninstall it Ubuntu from the Control Panel, like uninstalling any other program. What could be simpler?

Go visit the Ubuntu site and download Wubi from there. If you want a quick link to where you can find Wubi click HERE but please do some reading around the site too.

Install, reboot and enjoy. Don’t forget, Linux is “open source” this means if you don’t like somethig about it, you can normally change it. A quick search on the internet will normally reveal that quite a few other people have thought of the same thing.

As happy as I am to speak on technology, I will let their amazing community speak for its self because I simply could not do it justice;

WHY! Is a community led agency which connect fresh idea makers with diverse creative projects. We are burgeoning professionals, graduates, and students coming together for mutual benefit. We are looking for energy, ideas and talented, passionate people.

We foster new relationships, industry experience and new ideas. By creating new relationships between people who are otherwise struggling to find each other, we hope to generate a buzz that will stimulate action. Our working motto is “Get out there and do it” and our work is facilitating that attitude in others

WHY! is Community

WHY! is Creative Energy

You can view the article via the Why! Create website Here.

The aim of this article is to explain some very simple concepts to get a perfect quality wallpaper for your desktop every time. At the end I have attached a sample image, the wallpaper I use for my desktop in 1920×1080 resolution along with a template file for use with the GNU Image Manipulation Program (G.I.M.P). This can of course be applied to Photoshop or similar, but the aim of this blog is to provide solution using only free software.

So, before we begin there are a few important concepts that I need to discuss. Some slightly technical, some not so technical, but I’ll try to keep it to a minimum or I’ll get bored and never finish the article.

NOTE: If you don’t want to read the entire article, simply skip to STEP1 below.

First off, we need an understanding of how a computer monitor works. Most monitors these days are flat-screen TFT or LCD type. What they stand for isn’t important, although you will easily find pages and pages of info on them if you do a simple Google Search. The important point is how these displays work. They are made up of Pixels, this is a contraction of two terms in fact, “picture” and “element”. Each little dot is a tiny element of the picture. Why does this matter? Well, the resolution of your screen is defined in pixels. For a picture to display as perfectly as possible on your display it must have at lest the same number of pixels as your display, preferably more.

If the resolution of your picture is more you can simply cut some off and it will fit. The best way I can explain this is as follows; If you take a photograph and a photo frame. You need to fit the photo in the frame to display it right? OK, so, we start with a picture that is too small, what happens? We have an empty space around the edges. Now imagine that paper could be stretched to fit the empty space. It wouldn’t like right anymore. However, if we start with a photograph that is too big we have a couple of options. First we could try and cram the photograph into the frame. It may fit, but it will be creased and rough and not very nice looking. The second, and preferred option is to take some scissors and cut some parts from the edge. Cut out the part of the picture that you like, exactly to fit the size of the frame, and you now have a perfect photograph for your frame.

The same goes for images on your screen. Resizing them causes the computer to do some “processing” on the picture. If you make an image smaller, the computer will guess which pixels to destroy and which to keep. In fact there are several complex methods that the computer can use to do this, some are excellent, some not so good, but none are perfect. It is impossible to re-size an image without destroying some data. Just as a computer allows you to make an image larger (by stretching). The computer will “guess” where to place new pixels and what colour to make them leaving you with a horribly distorted or “fuzzy” image.

What’s the solution? Get out the scissors. No, on the computer it is usually called “cropping” This allows you to “cut” areas from around the edge of an image, usually you select the piece you want to keep and it cuts out the rest. This method does not change the size of pixels, it does no processing on the image and it ends up as clear and perfect as it started, just smaller.

OK, so where to start? First we need an image, or we can make one (take a look at the template I included in the download). The image needs to be high quality and larger size (in pixels) than your screen resolution. If you can find an image exactly the same resolution as your screen then you can stop reading now, because it doesn’t need anything more doing to it. Just apply it. If you’re not sure how to find your screen resolution, it’s quite simple. It varies between different operating systems but in windows you can generally find it by right-mouse clicking on the desktop and selection properties. In Windows 7 it will show “Screen Resolution” when you right click. Older version will open up some display properties under which one of the tabs contains your screen resolution. As a side note. To get the best out of your screen, the “slider” in the screen resolution should be all the way to the right. This does not apply to CRT (the old, fat type of screens) because the might try to display resolutions they are not capable of and can in fact be damaged by doing this. If however you are using a flat screen you are safe. If the resolution doesn’t work simply wait a little while and it will revert t normal.

In order to crop our image we need an image editor. Photoshop works extremely well, but it costs a lot of money. There is an alternative, I use this one personally. The program is called “GNU Image Manipulation Program” shortened to “G.I.M.P.” Yes, I am aware that the name is somewhat “humorous”, but at least you won’t forget it now will you? G.I.M.P is an open source program released under the GNU license. Essentially, this means you can do what you want with the software’s code, so long as you give credit to the author for creating it. And if you wish to re-distribute it, you must give access to the “source” code from which it was created. But that is a book in it’s own right.

First, go download and install the G.I.M.P. from HERE. The install process should be fairly simple. Take note however of the advice I gave in the article HERE, on minimizing junk, because the G.I.M.P. has over 26MB worth of language files that you probably don’t want to install or will never use. Next, download the file attached below. It contains a PNG image 1920×1080 pixels. I’m assuming this is large enough to be the same size as or larger than most peoples displays. I know there are displays much larger, so that’s why included the template. You might be wondering now, how come this download is so small if this is such a large, high quality image? Well, it’s deceptively small. This is due to the compression I applied to the archive, I will write a whole article on compression, but for now, just know this. Inside that tiny file is over 14MB worth of image and template. I will reinforce the fact that it is always good to start off with a huge image with excellent quality, because it’s easy to shrink the size or reduce the quality, but to improve the quality of a poor image is impossible.

Now lets begin. I have laid out the “tutorial” into an easy 2-step picture guide for you below.

Step 1:

Download the files Here

Once you have installed the program, extract the zip archive you downloaded and open the PNG file from within the G.I.M.P program.

Select the crop tool highlighted in the image below. Type your screen resolution where indicated and then tick the “Fixed” box and select “Size” from the drop-down menu. This ensures that no matter what you draw the image selected will be exactly your screen resolution. Click and drag within the image you want to crop and it will draw a green square or rectangle. This shape is the exact shape and size of your screen relative to the image you select. If all has gone well, this shape is smaller than your image. Move the shape to the position of the image you want to keep (I selected the centre here because that’s the most important part of my image) and then hit enter. This will cut off the extra parts and leave you with your new image in the centre. That’s it. Step 2 to save your image and you’re done.

Click to Enlarge

Step 2:

Now, click “File” at the top left and select “Save As”. This will allow you to save your cropped image under a different name so that you can keep the original image unchanged. Once clicked you will see a box pop up as shown in the image below. Here you can select the file type you want to save as and where you want to save it. There are many different file types and each has their benefits and down sides. PNG is my personal favourite. It is well supported now and allows for transparency so it makes my life easier when making images for use online. BMP is the simplest image format, it can be huge in file size for large images and does not offer any compression, but quality is excellent as it stores data for each pixel individually. JPEG is another great format and widely supported, It offer many ranges of compression from no compression to very high compression, there are of course trade-offs. High compression means a smaller file which in turns means a loss of quality. Generally however, a JPEG compressed to about 80% still has an excellent quality with a reasonable file size. Don’t forget that by cropping the image we also reduced the file size by cutting some of the image off. GIF is the final image format I’ll cover which is a small sized, fairly simple format that is mostly used for the web. Which you chose is up to you. Experiment with each to find which you find has the best quality to file size ratio under different compression levels. The next dialog will prompt you for some settings, unless you know what these mean you can leave them untouched, with the exception of the compression level which you should have a play with to get the best file size. Smaller file size is important because it will take less space and it will load faster. On your desktop this isn’t critical but for slower systems it can make a difference. When designing images for the web file size is critical. Finally, Click “Save” and you’re done.

Now open your picture and set it as your background in the usual way. Have it either “fit” or “center” and your nice, new, high quality image should look beautiful in place on your desktop.

Enjoy.

]]> http://hamids-it.elaosta.com/it-advice/cutting-wallpapers-to-fit-your-screen/feed/ 2 http://hamids-it.elaosta.com/it-advice/hamids-i-t-mobile-theme/ http://hamids-it.elaosta.com/it-advice/hamids-i-t-mobile-theme/#comments Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:59:17 +0000 hamid http://hamids-it.elaosta.com/?p=133 I promised a mobile theme for the site so that you can read all the useful information on the go, and here it is. This is based on the Carrington Theme with nothing more than a visual modification by me in order for it to match the desktop theme. I hope you enjoy using it with your mobile devices and viewing the blog on the go.

For the time being I have only modified the Smart phone theme for devices such as the HTC Desire that you see above. Once I get my hands on a less “capable” phone in order to see what I am doing, I will modify the simple theme to match too.

Enjoy.

I hope you find this new addition useful as the site begins to grow.

The reason for this need to “format” and “reinstall” your Operating System is because with time and use the hard drive gets filled with “junk”. I call it junk, because to most it is just that. Install logs, error logs, system logs, backup files, backup logs, update files, installation files, temporary files, internet content and much, much more.

Now, these files do of course serve their purposes. But most of the time, the average person doesn’t require them, and infact, back to my post on privacy and security, these files can at times be compromising, because esentially they keep track of everything you have done via your computer (to an extent).

There are several ways to minimise and reduce this junk, and I will cover a few here. The most obvious ones, at least t o me right now are the following; Install less, clean regularly, automate where possible/simple.

Ok, so that’s all good and well, but what does it mean? Well, Installing less means exactly that, install less to your computer. Now it doesn’t necessarily mean don’t install all the software you want, but it does mean at least do less of it. Programs that claim they will boost your RAM or improve performance are a load of cobblers. How cam you make your notepad have more space by filling it with notes? You can’t. You have to add more pages, or erase what’s already there.

Prevention

The first thing I would suggest is some preventative action, if you really mut install a piece of software, don’t simply click through the process ignoring everything. Most pieces of software these days have a “Custom” install option, and usually it will give some simply options to select a minimal, or full install as well. Look into each and see if you really do need every little thing that the full install provides. If not, go for minimal, if you need an “item” or two that don’t come with the minimal install, use custom, and specify them yourself.

The installation above shows a program I installed recently called Ice Chat. Now this program is a relatively small program, but the same applies in one way or another to most programs you can install. The most obvious thing to remove is the “Extra Languages” feature. Usually English is the first language if it doesn’t allow individual selection and so you can just de-select it. Otherwise normally you can deselect all other languages but your own. Now in this case, the language files are going to save us only 0.2MB, not a lot for one program, but over a lot of programs it soon builds up. And the size is not the main cause, but I’ll go into that in a moment. I have seen programs have 100MB+ language files, and so it really is wasting a lot of space you will never need.

Languages aren’t the only additional feature though that can be removed from a program, this example only gives two major areas for space saving here but others can offer 10 or more. Don’t be afraid to remove some if you are unsure. If you find you need it later, 99% of programs will let you run the installer again and “modify” the installation to add things you previously left out. The other 1% can simply just be uninstalled and the process started again.

Now, I mentioned earlier that size isn’t the biggest problem, it’s the number of files. This is entering the realm of the somewhat technical but I’ll try to explain in an understandable way. Computer hard drives, the things that store information use things called “clusters” to locate things. Think of these as tiny litle boxes that you can put stuff in. Now we need a way to keep track of the things in these boxes, so we have to make a list. The more items we have, the longer the list and hence the larger the list file which in turn means longer to look through the list to find what you need. With me so far?

Ok, the next problem is this. These “boxes” or clusters have a pre-set size on the hard drive, they can’t be different sizes. Here is the interesting part, if you have one item that is large, too large for a single box, it can be split up to fill multiple boxes perfectly, and they will act like theyre just the single box containing that one item.

However, if you have a tiny item that doesn’t fill the cluster or box, the rest of the space in that box is wasted. So, for example, if you have an item that is 4bytes in size and a sector size of 4kb (four thousand bytes). It’s using 1/1000 of the space. The other 999/1000 in that box is then wasted. SO 500 4 byte files takes 2MB, that’s a lot of wasted space and a long list of unnecessary files to look through for only 2MB of your hard disk.

Treatment

So you’ve tried not to install too much, but you’ve been using this computer for a long time, and it’s getting slow. The next obvious step is “Disk Cleanup”. This will aloow you to remove junk from your hard drive after a long period of use. For several months upto a year or more of use it could remove as much as a Gigabyte or more (possible tens of thousands of files). This can make quite a difference.

So, how would you go about doing this? It’s quite simple really, if you go to “My Computer” or “Computer” as it is known since Windows 7 (maybe Vista too but that’s so long ago now I can’t remember). You find your hard drive, usually drive “C:” and click with your right mouse button to bring up what is called the “context-menu”, click “Properties” and you will be presented with something similar to the following window with a pie chart showing you the space useage on your hard drive.

If you click this, you computer will begin to scan for files to cleanup on your system. This can take a while if it hasn’t been done in quite a while.

After scanning completes, you will see a window where you can select what to cleanup, and an indication of how much space you’re going to retreive.

If you see a button “Cleanup system files” click on it, and the cleanup utility will re-scan, allowing you to complete a more thorough cleanup.

I have selected everything, including the recycle bin and downloaded program files. Make sure you don’t want any files before you go removing them, especially error reports. Only remove these if you PC is running without problems and you know you don’t need to send these off to Microsoft to help solve problems. I know I don’t need any of this, so I have selected everything. In my case, as you can see above, I will retreive 1.94GB of space. That’s a large amount that I will be happy to see empty to fill up with more useful things. So, click ok after you have selected everything you want to remove. You will be prompted to confirm deletion, click ok and you will see a small box with a progress bar informing you of the current progress.

This part can take quite a while depending on the speed of your computer and how many files your computer needs to cleanup. I recommend you run this process once a month, it can’t hurt.

Optional

The final point I will make I will call optional, because it will help somewhat in one sense, but hinder you slightly in another. Fortunately you can select which part you want to keep and which you don’t. This stage I will briefly explain how to have the Firefox web browser clear its history and browser files and content on each exit. This makes things easier because you can minimise the junk stored through web browsing without having to perform the action yourself each time the browser closes.

First I will explain why this information is kept. Usually, when you surf the web your browser will store images and files from certain web pages so that next time you load that page it won’t need to download them again, this is helpful if you have a slow internet connection or if you have a “metered” internet connection such as mobile internet or mobile broadband.

If you have high speed home broadband however that has no limit it might not help much, but in fact slow your computer down more if anything. Amongst other things, you computer can also offer to store passwords for you and usernames, to ease the logging in to web sites in the future, It’s a useful features that aides in security too from keyloggers and such. But that’s for another time.

So, If you have decided you don’t need to keep the saved content, you can have your browser remove this each time it exits by following the instructions below.

Clearing Firefox History on Exit

Open Firefox-> Click on the Tools menu and select Options… ->Click the Privacy Tab and you will be presented something similar to the window below.

The default state (I think) is to remember history. If you select the drop down box and change to custom, you will be presented withthe following;

You can of course choose the other options as you wish, but most importantly here is the options “Clear history when Firefox Closes”. Tick it, and then select “Settings…”

As you can see I have opted to keep my Saved passwords, Site Preferences, Active Logins, Site Preferences and the history and queue for my download manager (you might not have this, it’s an add-on I installed). If you are unsure what each of these options represent, click the Help buttonn for more info. Once you are done click Ok, and OK again. Your history will now be cleared each time you close your browser. Don’t forget though, some of these options mean you will have to log-in again to certain websites, and you may have to change settings in those pages again each time you visit. If it starts to become annoying, set some options back to normal, and then manually clear history every few weeks.

I hope this post was helpful and results may vary but hopefully their should be some difference. Please feel free to contact me if you want to see other topics posted here.

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