Karen Canfield

I have a feeling that I am going to hear a lot of disagreement on this one but I want it to be known that I LOVE Windows 7! It is by far the best Windows yet. Yes folks, we have come a long way from Windows 3.1. Then there was Windows 95 followed by some flops (98, Millenium). Then along came Windows XP which many of you may still be using. Windows XP is an excellent OS and still relevant I might add. This was followed by another flop. No actually, flop is not a strong enough word. Total and complete disaster is more appropriate to describe Windows Vista. If anyone is actually using Vista and making it work, I commend you; you are a trooper! I used Vista for all of two weeks before I couldn’t take another second and went back to XP. But…then along comes Windows 7!! It succeeds where Vista failed miserably. It’s pretty, it’s functional, it’s user friendly, it’s powerful, and it’s an all around awesome OS. It networks easily with an adequate amount of security. It doesn’t freeze and it is very multimedia friendly. The fact is, I did not get on board right away with Windows 7. I was so traumatized by my Vista experience that I was a little gun shy. I waited…I read the reviews, I listened to what people were saying, I admit I stressed about this. Then a friend who had a new computer told me how wonderful it was and that I really needed to get it. This person knows me pretty well and I trust her so off I went to purchase my copy of Windows 7. I have not looked back…With several different versions to choose from you are sure to find one to suit your needs.

Geek Girl

I promised to write a blog about why you should never buy an HP Printer, so here it is. I suppose I should really preface this by saying if you own an HP Printer that you love and have no issues with, then that's fantastic...carry on. However, if you are like me and most of the people I have encountered who have or have had an HP Printer and experienced issues with it then read on. I have to say that overall I don't do that much printing although with my business that is about to change. So when I got my HP All-in-One several years back I was very excited by the quality of the prints and the fact that it could perform so many different functions. But again...I didn't print very much when I first got the printer. So it was very surprising one day when I went to print and got a cryptic error message. I was obviously dismayed because up to that point everything was great. The error message said something about the printer cartridge but was not very specific so of course I Googled it. The response I got shocked me. It was telling me to replace the cartridges. Both of them! I knew I was not out of ink. Even my little level display said I had plenty. So back to Google I went to find another solution. What I found this time shocked me even more. Apparently HP puts a time stamp (a sort of memory chip) on ink cartridges. Which means that after a certain amount of time, whether they are empty or not, you will need to replace them. I repeat, you will NEED to replace them. There is no getting around this. You can't have them refilled and as a matter of fact I don't even think you can use a generic cartridge. The cartridges must both be replaced with authentic HP cartridges to get your beloved printer working again. Knowing the cost of new print cartridges, this is absolutely inexcusable! Quite frankly I can't believe that a reputable company like HP would pull this kind of gimmick. I have talked to and worked with many people who have had the same issue so it wasn't just me. Now if you have an HP printer and have never had this issue arise, consider yourself very fortunate. But I for one will not buy HP nor would I recommend HP for printers for this reason.

Geek Girl

So I had been struggling along with my somewhat elderly HP All In One printer for a while now. And before I go on, let me tell you that you should NEVER buy an HP printer. The purpose of this blog is not to bash HP because honestly when it comes to PC’s, HP puts out a great product. However, their handling of printers is another story and one I will leave for a future blog so watch for that. At any rate, back to my new printer, which happens to be a Brother All In One Wireless (Model MFC-J270). It rocks! Now I had heard from some friends that setting up a wireless printer may not be the easiest thing to do. Of course, I am Geek Girl so this should be a snap. And for all intents and purposes it was. I was supposed to be able to use One-Touch setup from my router which didn’t seem to work but the “manual” setup was very quick and easy. That is provided you know your wireless network name and passcode, which of course I do so everything went quite smoothly. All of my computers found it without any trouble on the network. In fact I was even able to print directly from my Droid! Print quality is very good although I have mainly printed documents and not pictures. So I can’t speak on the quality of a print on actual photo paper. Overall, I recommend wireless printers in general and for light duty, this model is a champ.

Geek Girl

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that up until relatively
recently I was extremely low tech when it came to my phone. I’m a computer geek
and a purist. My phone was my phone and my computer was my computer and never
the two shall meet. I resisted for a long time. I dipped my toe in the pool
ever so gingerly when I went to a phone with a full QWERTY keypad. But that was
as far as I was willing to go. That is until my best friend got a droid…When I
saw all the cool stuff she could do with her phone my inner geek got the better
of me. I mean come on! It’s like carrying a mini-computer around with you. I
can text, surf the web, take awesome pictures, send email, view documents, read
a book, track a flight, play music, watch a movie, find my way, print to my
wireless printer, process payments from clients, not to mention about a
gazillion other things…oh yeah…and make phone calls. I LOVE my HTC EVO! I have
to say it’s a big boy at 4.8” by 2.6” by .05” with a 4.3” LCD screen and
weighing in at 6 oz. But given all I can do with it, I don’t mind a little
extra heft. It comes standard with 8 GB of storage for all the awesome pictures
you will take plus a standard 3.5 mm headset jack. So for all of you hold outs,
do yourself a favor. Run, don’t walk to your nearest provider store and get
yourself a droid!

Geek Girl