NEWLETTER 7 – June 2008
- Trip this summer
- WI-SPY 2.4x
- AVG free anti-virus
- Status of partnering with major manufacturers
- XP drop-dead date is June 18
- HP LASERJET 3330 All-In-One for sale
- Trip this summer
- Pinon PC will be closed from June 27th to July 21st. My husband, Brady, of Enterprise Computing Systems, will be in town to take calls. His hourly rate is $100/hr so beware! His phone # is 662-5450 . I will be GONE, no cell phone and no laptop!!! No calls or emails will be returned until I get back. J
- WI-SPY 2.4x
- An interesting toy for those who wonder about wireless activity around their wireless network.
- Wi-Spy 4.2 from http://metageek.net/products/wi-spy_24x Right now I can’t justify the cost,
but it sure does look like a fun toy, er, ah, tool (!), to have. J
Quote: The 2.4 GHz band is getting crowded, so you need better
wireless networking tools to quickly resolve interference issues.
That's why we've created Wi-Spy 2.4x, our second generation
Wi-Spy spectrum analyzer. With the higher resolution and improved
amplitude range of Wi-Spy 2.4x it is now even easier to identify
wireless signals that could be causing interference with your Wi-Fi networks.
- AVG free anti-virus
- I am hearing a lot of confusion about replacing AVG 7.5 with AVG 8. Apparently when AVG 7.5 was discontinued at the end of May 2008, the free version of AVG 8 was not yet on the company’s web site. It is now. Here: http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe It has many components in it that are new from ver 7.5, spyware detection being the most noticeable. I have seen its spyware detector actually do a good job of cleaning systems.
- Status of partnering with major manufacturers
- We are still pursuing HP, Dell & Toshiba. For maintenance contracts, we are partners with Dell, & HP and with Sony for sales. However we are encountering significant obstacles with Dell & HP as we try to offer hardware support.
- We have a printer tech who is coming up to speed, getting recertified. When we have him online look to the Monitor for a press release!
- XP drop-dead date is June 18
- Will it really go away or will it revive, again – don’t know.
- Windows allows license-free downgrading from Vista to XP as long as you are running certain versions of Vista: Business or Ultimate. Those 2 versions come with an XP license. You must provide the XP installation cd but you don’t need to provide the license.
- OR – Dell is stating that they can install the XP for you. See http://www.geardiary.com/2008/05/23/dells-last-windows-xp-date-is-june-18-after-that-youll-pay-for-downgrade-rights/ This method saves A LOT of headaches and provides XP recovery media.
- OR - If you do the downgrade on your own, you must possess the XP cd and license separately from the Vista which came with your new pc.
o Manual downgrading really means:
1. backup the original files on the unbooted hard drive. If you have started up Vista, the size of the backup to be made increases greatly.
2. erase the hard drive during the install of XP
3. go find the drivers for all individual pieces of hardware in the PC, they may or may not be available
4. enjoy!
- I don’t see other manufacturers announcing this “we will downgrade for you” as Dell is.
- I googled “win xp june 18” and got all the above information.
- License Availability Roadmap
o Here is what I found out looking up “end of life xp” at the Microsoft web site. I infer this table to mean that the public won’t find XP for sale after June 30, 2008, but that vendors can install it until Jan 31, 2009. Hmmmm. Goto http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx for the entire web page I copied this from.
|
Desktop Operating Systems |
Date of General Availability |
Direct OEM and Retail License Availability (end date) |
System Builder License Availability (end date) |
|
MS DOS 6.xx |
June 1, 1994 |
November 30, 2001 |
November 30, 2001 |
|
Windows 95 |
August 15, 1995 |
December 31, 2000 |
December 31, 2001 |
|
Windows NT Workstation 4.xx |
July 29, 1996 |
June 30, 2002 |
June 30, 2003 |
|
Windows 98 |
June 30, 1998 |
June 30, 2002 |
November 30, 2003 |
|
Windows 98 SE |
June 30, 1999 |
June 30, 2002 |
March 31, 2004 |
|
Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me) |
December 31, 2000 |
December 31, 2003 |
June 30, 2004 |
|
Windows 2000 Professional |
March 31, 2000 |
March 31, 2004 |
March 31, 2005 |
|
Windows XP Pro |
December 31, 2001 |
June 30, 2008 |
January 31, 2009 |
|
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition |
February 11, 2003 |
June 30, 2008 |
January 31, 2009 |
|
Windows XP Pro x64 Edition |
April 25, 2005 |
June 30, 2008 |
January 31, 2009 |
|
Windows XP Home Edition |
December 31, 2001 |
June 30, 20083 |
January 31, 2009 |
|
Windows XP Media Center Edition |
October 28, 2002 |
June 30, 2008 |
January 31, 2009 |
3 As of April 2008, Microsoft is extending availability of Windows XP Home Edition for OEMs to install
on Ultra Low-Cost PCs. The new OEM end date will be the later of either June 30, 2010, or one year after
the general availability of the next version of Windows.
- HP LASERJET 3330 All-In-One for sale
Scan(color), Fax, Print (b/w), Copy (color) . 20 sheet feeder for
scanner (fully working). Requires a print server for networking – not
included. Purchased in Spring 2000.- Excellent used condition – used daily in our business. Some buttons on the panel bitten by a curious parrot, the functionality of buttons remains intact. We use approximately one toner cartridge a year – not bad ! Drivers are available for Win 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, Server 2003, XP, Vista so they say, Mac & Linux.
- USB 1 and parallel. 15 pages/minute. 32 MB memory. Total pages printed = 15,103 . 1,200 dpi printing. Duty cycle = 1,000 pages/month. PCL 5e & 6 available. Postscript emulation.
- Asking $125. We’re replacing it just to get faster printing and a smaller unit with newer technology.
That’s all for now folks !!!!
PIÑON PC SUPPORT
(now part of Enterprise Computing Systems, LLC)
PO Box 128
Los Alamos, NM 87544
505-470-2431
Home page of all newsletters is at http://www.pinonpc.com/newsletters-front-page.htm