In the past, malware authors were very proud of the fact that they infected you and made it a point to let you know that they 'gotcha'.

Today, malware code is specifically written to be silent and lurk in the background so as to go undetected. Even if you are diligent in keeping all your software updated, all it takes is one poor decision (clicking on a fake link, opening an infected e-mail attachment, downloading files from file sharing networks, etc.) to have a silent thief slip into your computer.

The whole idea is to find a way to gain access to your computer in a way that allows a remote hacker to silently run programs on your computer. It used to be Windows that was the primary target, but today virtually everything you use on the Internet (browsers, PDF readers, Flash players, e-mail programs, etc.) is being targeted as a way into your precious hard drive.

So, before you jump into doing your taxes on your computer, take a few minutes and do some spot checks for signs of silent intruders.

A common sign of malicious programs is a computer that takes an extraordinarily long time to start up. You can certainly have this problem and not be infected, but if you have this problem, you should do some snooping around.

Windows users should check the Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del) to see how many processes are running on the computer (look in the bottom left corner). Make sure you do this spot check right after restarting the computer so that nothing is running yet.

When we perform our overhaul cleanup service, we strive to get the running processes on Windows XP systems in the 30-40 range (Laptops tend to require more processes) and Windows 7 & Vista systems in the 35-45 range.

If you have 60, 70 or 80+ processes running, you want to make sure that none of those excess processes are hidden malware programs.

While you have the Task Manager open, click onto the Performance tab and check to see what the CPU Usage & History look like. On a clean machine, your system should be idling, which means the CPU Usage should be very low and stable (4%-8%) and the graph showing the CPU Usage History should be fairly low on the graph.

If your CPU Usage is jumping up and down or is running at a much higher number and the History graph shows wild swings up and down, something is running in the background of the computer and should be identified.

Have someone you trust do an inspection of the various startup areas in Windows to see if there are obvious signs of malware (blank entries in MSConfig, strange keys in the Registry, etc.)

Even if you aren't infected with malware, getting these indicators back to normal levels will rejuvenate your computer and make everything run faster and smoother for everything you do, not just your tax return.

Another danger for households that have teenagers (or anyone that tends to engage in file sharing networks) is the accidental sharing of your tax records or other sensitive files on your hard drive.

Many file sharing programs automatically share certain folders on the hard drive with the rest of the file sharing universe, so make sure you check your installed programs to see if any strange programs have been installed before you get started.]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Thu, 2 Feb 2012 18:26:09 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21861 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21860 You don't create something as dynamic and all-encompassing as Facebook without constantly reinventing yourself (see the history of MySpace to understand what happens when fat, dumb and happy syndrome kicks in!)

Having said that, Facebook hasn't always gone about change in a way that its users find 'transparent' which is a big part of why any change is always met with concerns about privacy, especially when it is a required change.

But when it comes to the Timeline feature, I don't understand the outcry from users that seems to be rolling across the inter-webs. In fact, most avid Facebook users find the new profile layout much more useful and engaging.

If you think that Timeline somehow exposes information that you previously had protected from the general public, I've got good news for you: it doesn't!

Timeline is simply reformatting the information that you have previously posted but retains your current privacy settings.

In other words, what you posted a year ago that was only available to your friends is still only viewable by your friends, but in this 'easier to see the past' format.

If you see items from your past that you don't want your friends to see, why did you ever post it in the first place? If it was ok for friends of friends to see the post a year ago, and YOU haven't changed any of your privacy settings, then nothing has changed.

The most common misnomer I run across is that what you see on your own Timeline is somehow going to be viewable by anyone on Facebook once this 'change' goes into effect (not even close to true).

Facebook gives you complete control of exactly what appears on your Timeline and who can see it (friends only, friends of friends, the public, etc.) just like it did with your previous profile format.

If you are just entering the workforce and aren't particularly proud of some of your 'youthful' posts, I can understand being concerned, but it isn't like a potential employer can suddenly see all your past indiscretions.

Timeline is simply making it much easier to see things that you've posted in the past (which is why I love it) but retains all your privacy settings.

Facebook even added a tool that allows you to take all your past posts and limit everything to friends only (go to Privacy Settings, then to Limit the Audience for Past Posts).

Keep in mind, pictures and posts that you intended to be available to friends of friends in the past would no longer be available to that secondary audience.

Before you make any global changes to your privacy settings, take a minute to learn about all the controls that Facebook has added so you can completely control what anyone sees: https://www.facebook.com/about/control.

A very helpful tool for you to feel better about your privacy settings is to click on the 'View As' link to see exactly what the public or any specific person you are concerned about can see on your Timeline (scroll down to the box that says: Know what others see on your profile).

Hopefully this helps you feel better about this new change... Facebook has given you more tools to control your privacy than ever; it's up to you to take advantage of them!]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:57:53 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21860 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21859 Today's laptop batteries are generally lithium-ion based (look for 'Li-ion' on the battery itself) which is far less susceptible to the traditional 'memory' and idle discharge issues that older NiCad (nickel cadmium) and NiMH (nickel metal hydride) suffered from.

Li-ion batteries represent the best power-to-weight ratio and life cycle for your personal electronics, but all batteries lose their storage capacity over time based on how they are used and stored.

Because you are using your laptop as a desktop computer, you are plugged into the wall all the time posing the question: should I remove the battery when I'm plugged in?

(Note: some older laptop designs won't power the laptop at all unless the battery is installed which makes the question pointless.)

The upside to keeping the battery installed while plugged into the wall is you get protection against a power outage. If you remove the battery during general operation, you would want to make sure that you are plugging the laptop into an external battery backup system that would keep you from losing your unsaved work in the event of a power outage.

If you leave your computer plugged in for more than two weeks at a time, the conventional wisdom is to remove the battery and store it in a cool, dry climate.

If you plan on storing a battery for an extended period of time, make sure it has been discharged to 30-50% of capacity and store it in temperatures between 70-75 degrees. Avoid storing rechargeable batteries fully charged or fully discharged as either can cause permanent capacity loss or deactivate the built-in protection circuit.

Some folks have heard that you should store them in your refrigerator, but I would recommend against it. Humidity will reduce the life of the battery and keeping it in the fridge can introduce humidity, especially when you pull the battery out to be used.

You should always avoid using a battery when the battery itself is really cold or really hot (wait for it to return to room temperature). Heat is the #1 cause of reduced battery life, which takes us back to you using your laptop always plugged in.

If you keep the battery installed while you are plugged in for extended periods of time, it will keep the battery in a heated condition during that extended period when it could have been resting in a calm, cool, submissive state (with my regards to Cesar Millan!) thereby extending its life.

Another way to reduce the battery life is to use the wrong power pack to charge it. If you use a third-party charger that charges your battery at a higher rate than the factory charger, it will diminish the life of the battery.

For those that like to use their laptop in bed or on a pillow in your lap, you will likely be restricting the airflow which increases the operating temperature and will also reduce the life of the battery if done often.

In the end, if you simply focus on reducing the heat that your battery is exposed to whenever possible and make sure you store the battery properly, you will extend the useful life of the battery.]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:44:47 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21859 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21858 Both of these bills have on their face the noble cause of fighting Internet piracy, but the way they are written, it's more legislation written by clueless cyber-tards.

When you dig into the details, it's just another example of what is causing so much dissent in our political process; powerful lobbies pushing for legislation that is clearly not in the best interest of the average citizen through legislators that have no clue about technological issues.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) along with most of the power brokers in the television & entertainment industry are the instigators of this overbearing legislation and there seems to be total disregard (or ignorance) for the obvious collateral damage they would cause.

In a nutshell, these bills aim to give any copyright holder an enormous sledge hammer to essentially shutdown access to any website that they deem to be in violation of their copyright with little to no recourse.

The way these bills are written, an entire website could be brought down if a single user posts anything that a copyright holder deems a violation.

Taken to the absurd, a video of your kids dancing around to a Beyonce hit could shut all of YouTube down if they didn't take your video down quickly.

It essentially puts the policing burden on every website, search engine, web hosting company or anyone that allows users to post anything.

There are plenty of laws on the books already that allow copyright holders to force sights to take down individual postings that infringe on their content, but the powerful entertainment industry wants a bigger hammer.

The humorous part of all of this is that the legislation's aim is to fight the very real problem of Internet piracy, but won't do a thing to impact it because of simple circumvention steps that most 13-year old techies already know.

When a website has been identified as one in violation, the law would mandate that it get added to a DNS blacklist that would no longer allow users in the United States to access it and for credit card processors and advertising systems to cut all ties with the site.

The DNS system translates your alpha website requests into the actual numeric equivalent known as the IP address. For instance, piratebay.org is one of the targets of this legislation because of its notoriety for hosting just about any content that you don't want to pay for.

If this legislation passes and they get blacklisted, then typing piratebay.org into your web browser will render a censorship notification, but if you type 194.71.107.15 you would still be able to get to the site.

The pirating community has already created huge lists of the IP addresses for all the websites that they presume will be the target of this legislation, rendering it completely useless for those that don't and will never pay any attention to our laws.

Fighting piracy is critical important, but the unintended consequences of poorly crafted legislation could have a huge impact on the future of the Internet. I urge anyone reading this to contact their representatives via http://americancensorship.org to voice their opposition immediately as both of these bills come up for a vote on January 24th & 25th.

UPDATE: Over the weekend, many new shifts in position and a delay in voting was achieved. Also, the Obama Administration publicly denounced the use of DNS filtering, which will likely be stripped from the bills: http://mashable.com/2012/01/17/sopa-pipa.

Please keep pushing your representatives to vote against any form of these bills!]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:09:43 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21858 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21857 If you fall for this very common scam, you could end up with a real mess on your hands (especially if you are running Windows Vista) and in some cases, the best cure is a complete reload of your operating system, but it should never be the first choice.

In most cases, a diligent technical person can remove the malware and fix the corruption that often remains after the disinfection without having to wipe everything out and start over.

The 'easiest' way for a lazy technician to fix the problem is to wipe everything out and start over again, so if this is the first solution suggested by whoever is helping you, I would suggest getting a second opinion.

While this fix is easy for the technician, the amount of grief and frustration and the potential lost data that comes with having to start over again for the user can be overwhelming.

Improper or incomplete removal can also render a computer useless or so unstable that the only recourse is to start from scratch, so be cautious with DIY fixes you find on the Internet.

In our repair facilities around the country, only 10-20% of the computers we service require that we wipe out Windows completely, so the chances are good you can avoid it in most cases.

When this scam first started appearing years ago, it was relatively easy to download and run a cleanup program that would disinfect your computer, so the bad guys stepped up their game.

Part of the problem with cleaning up the current crop of malware infections is that the developers build in a very strong set of defense mechanisms that prevents your computer from running or accessing any resources that could be used to clean it off.

For instance, many folks find that when they try to go to a known Internet site that hosts tools or cleanup resources, they are redirected to the scammer's website that offers to sell 'the cure' instead.

With some infections, your Internet connection and ability to access diagnostic resources built into Windows (such as regedit and msconfig) are cut off completely to keep you from cleaning it off.

In a lot of cases, in order to properly disinfect the computer, you must boot to a clean device (CD, DVD, flash drive or another hard drive) that already has a set of the proper cleanup tools loaded on it.

If you start a computer that has an infected operating system, it makes cleaning it difficult or in some cases, impossible because the defense mechanism engage as soon as you start the computer. We generally remove the infected hard drive from our customer's computer and connect it as a second hard drive on a clean computer to perform the disinfection.

You should never pay any online resource that is associated with any type of pop-up warning, no matter how convincing it is unless you know for sure that it's the brand of security software that you purchased and installed on your computer.

If you don't know the name of your security program or what it looks like, take a minute to learn now so you don't get fooled in the future.

If you have fallen for this scam and gotten ripped off in the past, the FTC is in the process of reimbursing some victims based on a settlement agreement with a number of the scam companies: http://goo.gl/o5Iuz]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 6 Jan 2012 16:31:39 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21857 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21856 Fresh off our trip to the Consumer Electronics Show in January, we addressed the question 'Do any new tablets compare to the iPad? ( http://goo.gl/nO9q8 ) and after the launch of the iPad 2 in March we addressed the 'Which Tablet PC should I buy & when' ( http://goo.gl/G5WWV ).

Motorola's Xoom got a lot of praise during CES and once we had a chance to play with it, we shared our thoughts on the 'iPad 2 vs XOOM' ( http://goo.gl/WEvky ).

Since so many folks were first time owners of expensive mobile devices, we shared our 'Tips for tracking your laptop, smartphone or tablet PC' ( http://goo.gl/R2psR ) so you knew what to do if your device got lost or stolen.

Since the iPad continued to be the dominate tablet platform, we shared our 'Tips for new iPad users' ( http://goo.gl/3zZgy ) with our recommendations on security, accessories and apps.

As the vacation travel season approached we addressed the 'iPad vs Kindle vs Nook Color' question for those that love to read ( http://goo.gl/wE85v ) and with many new tablet owners contemplated travelling lighter, we shared our 'Travel Tips for Leaving the Laptop Behind' ( http://goo.gl/Sy5OE ).

For first time vacationers abroad, we offered up our 'High Tech International Travel Tips' ( http://goo.gl/bNt4M ) to share some of our experiences in traveling with electronics.

As the Back-to-School season rolled up, many students were trying to convince their parents that they could use an iPad for college, which prompted our advice on 'iPad vs Laptop for College Students' ( http://goo.gl/umqpz ).

If you've ever heard strange noises coming from your computer, you would be wise to read our advice on 'Computer Noises You Shouldn't Ignore!' ( http://goo.gl/5oP4U ) and if you are still using the same password for all of your online accounts, our 'Data Breach Protection Tips' ( http://goo.gl/Kpbax ) and 'Perfect Password Tips' ( http://goo.gl/8uFhG ) might help you change that dangerous habit!

Social Media continued to be a hot topic in 2011, so we shared 'Our Favorite Social Media Tools' ( http://goo.gl/OgFHG ), our '5 Facebook for Business Starter Tips' ( http://goo.gl/HL2Ho ), discussed 'Using LinkedIn to Find a Job' ( http://goo.gl/BnMch ) and when Facebook completely overhauled their interface we answered the question of the day: 'Can I go back to the old Facebook? ( http://goo.gl/7rFmZ )

As more folks started seeing those funny looking square puzzle-like images popping up all over, we wrote 'How to use & create QR codes' ( http://goo.gl/mGl9d ) and with online reviews becoming a huge part of how we make purchasing decisions, we shared our 'Tips for evaluating online reviews' ( http://goo.gl/ODlyZ ).

In the smartphone world, Google's Android became the most popular platform so we provided guidance on 'Extending Android Smartphone Battery Life' ( http://goo.gl/vFQVf ) and for those without an unlimited data plan, we gave our 'Tips for using less data while mobile' ( http://goo.gl/12CNr ).

With the uber-popular iPhone 4S becoming available on three different networks, the natural question arose - 'iPhone 4S: Which Network Should I Use?' ( http://goo.gl/WFI7E ) and for all smartphone owners we chimed in on 'Can my Smartphone get a Virus' ( http://goo.gl/lmO71 ).

In 2011, Remote computer support became both commonplace and a clever scam, so we addressed both in 'Is Remote Computer Repair Safe?' ( http://goo.gl/ECMk4 ), addressed a common threat with our 'Tips for Sidestepping Fake Security Pop-Ups' ( http://goo.gl/L7sRR ) and shared our 'Lessons from the LulzSec Hack' ( http://goo.gl/D1tgy ).

2012 will be filled with a plethora of new technology, new threats and new complications, so keep those tech questions coming by posting them on our Facebook page: http://facebook.com/datadoctors !]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:00:10 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21856 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21855 Your web surfing is only as fast as the slowest part of the chain, so increasing the speed of a component that is already the fastest part of the chain will make no difference.

If we use the old 'information super-highway' analogy and think of this as traffic flow, the basics become a little clearer.

Your home network is like the roads in and around your neighborhood while your Internet connection is like the freeway system.

Netflix and Hulu Plus are like your place of work some distance off that you travel back and forth from on a regular basis.

As with most of our commutes, the 'bottleneck' when trying to go back and forth to work is the freeway, not the surface streets in our neighborhood.

The speed difference between an 802.11 G and N router is really only beneficial for those that want to transfer large amounts of data between two computers on the same network, or in our analogy only if you have lots of traffic congestion in your subdivision and you travel mostly in your own neighborhood.

Since your primary need is to get back and forth to work far from your neighborhood, expanding the number of lanes in your subdivision won't appreciably improve your commute since the 'bottleneck' is the freeway system and not your neighborhood.

The real value of the 802.11 N MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) technology for most consumers is the extended range capabilities and higher resistance to outside signal interference not the 'theoretical' speed difference.

If you look at the data speeds of typical residential Internet connections vs the various Wi-fi router technologies, it becomes even more obvious.

Most residential Internet connection speeds range from 2-20 Mbps with most in the lower ranges (you can test your Internet speed with the tips in this previous post: http://goo.gl/2MtHl).

The theoretical upper limit of 802.11g is 54 Mbps and 802.11n can go as high as 600 Mbps with all 4 channels pumping data, but neither will change the fact that your Internet connection is likely significantly slower.

Another element of upgrading your router to 802.11n is that you must also upgrade the wireless devices on all your computers or they will continue to operate on the 802.11g standard.

Even if you are paying for (and actually getting) a really fast Internet connection, the content servers at Netflix and Hulu Plus aren't necessarily going to provide you with the data streams any faster either.

An easy way to see if the router is slowing down your streaming activities is to temporarily bypass it and connect your computer directly to your cable modem or DSL router to see if you notice any difference in performance.

Having said all of that, routers do have a finite life span and to tend to degrade in performance over time, especially if they spend their entire life sitting on top of a heat-generating cable modem.

If you find yourself in need of buying a new router, spending a little more money to get a dual-band N router will prepare you r home network for future devices that will likely benefit from the technology and still work with your older wireless devices.]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:09:15 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21855 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21854 This form of scamming people started popping up in 2005 and has evolved into one of the more difficult attacks to undo.

This type of attack can hit you from just about any corner of the Internet: e-mail, social media, instant messages, download sites and even if you Google search fast breaking news items or salacious images.

The more you or someone in your home or business engages in sketchy activities online, the more likely you will run into this scourge.

Since it isn't an actual virus, your antivirus program will do little to stop the fake warnings, which is why it's really important that you know what to do when you are confronted by one of these malicious pop-ups.

In virtually every case, they are trying to trick you into buying 'the solution' to the incessant pop-ups and repeated warnings, which you never want to do. Not only will buying 'the solution' not fix the problem, you will have given up your credit card information to criminals (if you fall for this scam, contact your credit card provider immediately to have your card numbers changed).

Most of the pop-up windows will have a 'Cancel' button and something that looks like the X that allows you to close a window, both of which are not what they appear to be.

Most of these scam pop-ups are setup so that if you click on ANYTHING, you will essentially tell your computer to start installing the rogue program deep inside your computer's operating system (often including a root kit to take over control of your computer).

The early versions of this scam could be shut down by clicking on the X, but not any more. The bad guys updated their code to take advantage of this natural user behavior and to exploit the early advice given by experts to click the X instead of the Cancel button.

To make things worse, the rogue programmers will often include code to disable your security software and block access to the Internet so you can't download tools that would allow you to clean the malware off your computer.

As of this writing, the best thing to do when you are confronted with a rogue pop-up is to terminate the session with the Task Manager in Windows or Force Quit in the Mac OS.

The Windows Task Manager can be launched by hitting Crtl+Alt+Del which should show you a list of running applications. Locate the pop-up window in the list, highlight it and then hit the 'End Task' button.

Mac users can hit Command+Option+Esc to launch the Force Quit window. Highlight the rogue browser pop-up in the list and click the 'Force Quit' button.

We've posted a video to show you the process in both platforms on our YouTube Channel if you prefer visual instructions: http://youtu.be/LP09QSwKE5Y .

If you fall victim to any of today's fake security scams, unfortunately, the steps for getting the malware off your computer will vary widely based on which of the thousands of programs circling the Internet hit you.

In most cases, you will need to boot from a clean boot device that contains the proper cleanup tools needed for the specific infection that hit you and lots of time to manually clean and/or reconstruct the Registry (Windows users).

If you don't understand what I just wrote, you should consult a tech savvy friend or a professional so that the malware is properly removed and any associated damage is repaired.]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:45:16 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21854 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21853 Although we are a computer service company, we also sell computers, so my perspective isn't to try to talk everyone into repairing everything.

It's really important that you completely understand the pros and cons of both repairing and replacing your computer before you make a decision.

If repairing a television or refrigerator costs nearly as much as replacing it, it's a pretty easy decision to make.

Computers, however, are not like appliances because they have programs and data that need to be included in your evaluation.

Often times, folks that are in a hurry go out and buy a new computer assuming that it will solve all their problems.

It's entirely likely that it won't solve your problem, it simply changes your problem and can come with a few hidden expenses you hadn't thought of.

What I mean is that your problem went from having a computer that had everything just the way you like it but wasn't performing properly to having a computer that doesn't have any of your programs, documents, address books, e-mails, printer drivers, bookmarks, pictures, music, video, Wi-Fi settings or a host of other items that you weren't really aware were important.

What you must evaluate is if the actual cost (and the associated pain) to replace your computer is preferable to the cost of repairing it. This greatly depends upon your ability and/or desire to do all the work to get your new computer to look like your old computer.

Make sure you aren't making your decision based on these common misconceptions.

Misconception #1: The advertised price of a computer is the total price!

Very few people can actually make use of a computer advertised at $300 because it's usually a pretty basic, low-end computer designed to get you into the store so they can upsell you.

Here are a list of items that often add to the 'advertised' price:

Upgrades to memory, processor or hard drive space to make it suitable

Antivirus or other security programs (watch out for 'trial versions' that expire in 30-90 days)

Monitors (for desktop computers) if you need a new one

Higher capacity battery (for laptop computers) as some low cost units come with a small capacity battery

Transfer of data from your old computer to the new one (up to $200 if you don't know how to do it yourself)

Updated versions of your programs (if they are older)

Misconception #2: Microsoft Office comes with Windows, doesn't it?

This has been fed over the years by sneaky computer manufacturers that will pre-load a trial or limited-use ad displaying version to trick buyers that aren't paying attention.

This isn't a problem if you have your licensed copy of your old software and it will run on the newer operating system, but this leads to another 'oh %@#$#' moment: you don't have any idea where your old program disks are which means you have to buy new disks (a $50 - $500 surprise) or switch to a free alternative that doesn't work the same.

In early versions of Windows, you could copy programs from one computer to another and they would generally work, but today you must install each program you wish to have on your new computer.

Misconception #3: I have all my important files backed up!

This one comes from 20+ years of working with folks that get a new computer; everything I care about is in the My Documents folder right? WRONG!

Depending upon the programs that you have installed, your critical financial files, for instance, could reside within the programs folders far away from the My Documents folder. If you have multiple user profiles for different member of your family, you need to make sure the data that resides in each person's profile has been backed up.

Misconception #4: Copying my old files to the new computer is all I need to do, right?

Even if you have done a good job of backing up all the data for each user, your new machine doesn't know anything about your old computer or the various profiles you created on it.

If you had 3 profiles on your old computer, you need to recreate what is essentially 3 computers on your new computer if you want it all to work the same way.

Getting a new computer to look and work like your old computer is a lot of work, especially if you make the mistake of getting rid of your old computer before you get your new one completely setup.

I'm not suggesting that repairing your computer is the best decision in every case, I'm simply pointing out all of the things that have caused many a new computer buyer to say 'I wish someone had told me before I bought this new computer'!]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 9 Dec 2011 17:15:52 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21853 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21852 My primary concern with any tablet for a younger child is the fragile nature of these devices, so unless you are very sure that your child is capable of caring for one, I'd consider some alternatives first.

Having raised two veracious consumers of digital content myself, I think the best choice for a 10-year old would actually be an iPod Touch because of its size, access to content and parental controls.

You can find numerous rubberized cases for an iPod Touch to help protect it from the inevitable 'drops' that will occur and the selection of apps, games, video and music are second to none.

You can also easily restrict use of apps like Safari (web browsing) and YouTube and lock the device down so nothing can be installed without your code.

Another important feature is the ability to restrict the 'in-app' purchases that some sneaky game companies are using to trick kids into loading up on virtual goods that cost real money (all of the restrictions can be set by going to Settings>General> Restrictions).

The current generation of iPods start at $199 (8 GB) and even include cameras, so this could double as a digital camera for your child.

If you don't want your child to have a camera and you want to save money, you can buy an older generation refurbished iPod Touch directly from Apple starting at $149 ( http://goo.gl/fwGdr ) or check eBay or Craigslist for even cheaper options (be sure to do your homework on the seller before buying something you can't examine first).

Another option is to check with your friend's and family to see if someone has an older iPod Touch or an older iPhone that's been deactivated, which can be used just like an iPod Touch.

If you feel that your child is capable of caring for a larger format device like a tablet, you have a few options in the under $300 range, but you really need to do your homework.

Most of the devices in the class will be in the 7" range and just about all of them run some flavor of the Android operating system.

Amazon's Kindle Fire at $199 is probably the 'best bang for the buck' but it limits what can be installed on it (versus wide-open Android tablets) and has no parental control features.

Amazon uses the 'walled garden' approach that

Apple employs to guide you to purchase content and services from them only which also simplifies the process, especially if you are already an Amazon customer. It is a bit on the heavy side and I would strongly recommend getting some sort of protective case for it that can double as a stand so it doesn't have to be held to watch.

Barnes and Noble's Nook Tablet at $249 is a solid device with a slightly better display that is more responsive, but it lacks the depth of content and apps available from Amazon so I'm not sure why you would want to spend the extra money for use by a child interested in games and movies.

There are a number of completely open Android-based tablets from companies like Acer, HTC, Lenovo, Samsung and Vizio that allow you a lot more flexibility, but they are also going to require you to do more work to find what you want and to control what your child can do.

If your child is extremely tech savvy and is a big tinkerer, this class of device may be a good fit if you want to fuel their curiosity, but It will require you to do more work as a parent to keep on top of what they are doing with it.]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 2 Dec 2011 15:43:26 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21852