Is You Geeked Up? | Technology Blog for the Computer Geek | isyougeekedup.com

In the past decade, firewall, anti-virus, and anti-spyware companies ramped up their marketing and made the dangers of the internet known to the public.  Their marketing, along with a large portion of the media, made it seem like firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are mandatory and that no computer will ever be safe without them.

If you’re an above average user, the truth is, you don’t really need any of the three.  Of course, there’s a catch: you must be aware of your actions.  Computers do not get infected on their own, it is usually the fault of the user.  Clicking… Continue reading

Remote Desktop is a great feature of Windows which lets you remotely control your desktop from a remote location.  Many IT professionals and users utilize this free feature in Windows 2000/XP/Vista.  Remote desktop is a huge time saver because you do not have to physically be at the computer workstation to control the computer.  Basically, this post will go over how to enable Remote Desktop as well as how to use DynDNS.com’s services to automatically update a chosen host name with the remote PC’s IP address.  The end result: you’ll never have to remember the IP address again.

Enabling Remote Desktop on a Windows PC… Continue reading

Let’s face it, the stock screen protector supplied with the HTC Touch Pro sucks.  It’s too difficult to install since it leaves very little room for error.  If you are off by 1mm, the screen protector will hang of the side just a little.  Over time, the edge of the screen protector will pull up and  all the dust and lint inside your pocket will dig into the screen protector.  Eventually, the whole screen protector will come right off the screen, leaving it naked and prone to scratches.  This is exactly what happened to me after 2 weeks of using… Continue reading

Almost all of us have come to the point where we had to reinstall our operating system whether it be Windows, Linux, or MacOS.  Typically, it would take me about 2 hours on a good day to rebuild a machine by completely reinstalling Windows XP, all drivers, and standard software like Firefox, Office, etc.   However, restoring a system using imaging software such as Acronis True Image takes only 20 minutes.   While I don’t reinstall often, it is a pain when I have to.  This is where making an image of your PC can come in handy; you won’t have… Continue reading

While the HTC Touch Pro comes with an array of applications loaded by default, there are a few good programs they left out, like Google Maps.  After sorting through tons of applications for Windows Mobile, I’ve come up with a list of useful programs to load onto your virgin Touch Pro.

• Advanced Configuration Tool - This program allows you to tweak all sorts of settings
• CorePlayer - Media player.  Plays almost all music/video formats and has better streaming capabilities than the stock Windows Media Player.  TCPMP is not working on the Touch Pro (yet), so this is the next best

By itself, Firefox is a great browser, but what really sets it apart from all the rest are the addons available for Firefox.  Addons are basically widgets within Firefox.  There are many, many extensions out there that do all sorts of cool things, but I’m going to focus on my favorite and most useful addons.

Here is the list of addons I use the most:

1. ForecastFox - An addon which tells you the weather.  Displays information in the bottom status bar.
2. SearchStatus - Sits in the bottom status bar and reports the currently displayed page’s PageRank and Alexa Rank.  Very handy

With Obama as president and the Democrats controlling the House of Representatives and the Senate, a new assault weapons ban provision is on the horizon.   The first assault weapons ban was signed by Bill Clinton and was in effect from 1994 to 2004.  Basically, the bill outlawed “assault weapons” which are defined below:

Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following:

• Folding stock
• Conspicuous pistol grip
• Bayonet mount
• Flash suppressor, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
• Grenade launcher (more precisely, a muzzle device which enables the launching or firing of rifle grenades)

Semi-automatic pistols with detachable magazines… Continue reading

Out of the box, the HTC Touch Pro is really an amazing device.  However, it still brings the infamous Windows Mobile lag with it.  While the lag is not as bad as previous Windows Mobile smartphones, it still is present and may bug people who notice the lag.

Slow tab scrolling in TouchFlo 3d, laggy scrolling in windows,  slow opening programs, slow opening menus, etc are all typical lag indicators.

The good thing is, there are a few things tweaks you can perform to make the Touch Pro more responsive.  First off, you will need to install Advanced Configuration Tool on your… Continue reading

The HTC Touch Pro not only comes with lots of amazing features, but it also includes a 3.2 megapixel digital camera with flash.  I had always thought that pictures taken with phones were worthless because the picture quality was horrible and the resolution was too low.  However, the Touch Pro totes a semi-decent camera compared to todays standards.  I wouldn’t use it to take wedding pictures, but it would work perfectly fine for snapping pictures of documents (text is readable with the camera), online auction photos, pictures for a forum, etc.   Below are two sample pictures taken with the Touch… Continue reading

I recently managed to snag a Sprint HTC Touch Pro early before the release date.  I must say, the HTC Touch Pro a.k.a. Raphael, has fulfilled all of my expectations, and then some.  As a bit of background information, I had a Treo 755p, then I switched to an HTC Touch (CDMA) for about a year until I acquired the Touch Pro.  For starters, some of the main features include:

• Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 Mhz processor (The Touch has a 400mhz processor)
• 288 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM (Touch has 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM)
• Wireless 802.11b/g (Touch does not have wifi capabilities)
• 2.8″, 480 x