Context Menu Search

There are so many ways to search for information on the internet. Sure, Google is still one of the most popular methods, but sometimes you already know where you want to search for something, and you just want to search one site. My favorite tool for this job is a simple little browser plugin for Google Chrome called "Context Menu Search."

The "context menu" is that list of things you see when you use your right mouse button to click on things. It's called the context menu because it changes depending on what your doing and where you click. If you click on your computer's desktop, you'll get different options than if you right-clicked in a Word document. There are many programs that add themselves into this context menu to enable you to do things more quickly (I'll talk about some more of those in future blogs).

Context Menu Search works like this: you're browsing the web and you see something you'd like to search for on a specific site. First, you highlight that word or phrase. Then, you right-click on it and go to "Context Menu Search," which will list a bunch of search engines you can use to search for that word or phrase.

Lets give a more specific example. You're reading a news article about Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and you want to remind yourself what movies he's been in. You would click and drag your left mouse button over his name, then right-click it, go to "Context Menu Search," and click on "IMDB." You would then be taken directly to the IMDB search results for "Joseph Gordon-Levitt."

The list of search engines that show up in this list are completely configurable. You can see my list here, which includes the sites I use most often to search for things. I've put Amazon first because I search for things on that more than anywhere else. I can have as many or as few sites in that list as I like.

It's easy to install this extension. All you need to do is go here and click on the button that says "Free." I'll be installed and you can use it right away. The extension comes with many preconfigured sites, and gives you instructions for how to add almost any site with a search box.

You may notice that I haven't added Google its self to my Context Menu Search. That's because Google has a handy tool for this built into the context menu. If you highlight something and right-click on it, you'll see an option for "Search Google for '___'." It's quite handy, and easier than opening a new tab or going to Google directly. It's even easier (I think) than typing your query into the Chrome Omnibox.

Speeding Up Old Computers

There are several things that can be done to get more life out of your current computer instead of purchasing a new one. If you like your current computer, or don't want to spend the money and effort of replacing it, here are a few ways to get more life out of your device:

Upgrade the Operating System

If you're using an old version of your computer's operating system, you might see some benefit in upgrading to a newer version. Microsoft and Apple are always working on making their operating systems better, often adding performance and - most importantly - security features. Plus, as discussed in a previous blog post, Microsoft is ending support for Windows XP, making that OS much less secure.

Certain upgrade paths for Windows let you keep all your settings and files, and sometimes even your applications. Less work is required to do these upgrades. Other times, all files must be backed up and the computer has to be wiped clean to install the new version, which takes more time, but is still more reasonable than purchasing a new computer.

Upgrade the System Drive

One of the biggest things that can be done to improve the speed of ANY computer - whether old or new - is to use a Solid State Drive (or SSD) instead of a traditional Hard Disk Drive (HDD). HDDs have disks (platters) inside them that spin at high speeds (typically 5400 or 7200RPM), and they have a part that acts like the needle of a record player and reads/writes the data on the platters. As a result, HDDs are only as fast as the spinning of these disks, and their design is inherently susceptible to damage from bumps and falls, where the "needle" could drag across the disk and kill the drive.

The newer Solid State Drives (SSDs), on the other hand, do not have any moving parts, so a bump isn't going to hurt them because there isn't anything spinning. But the primary advantage SSDs have is in how quickly they load the data stored on them. Basically they're able to load data immediately, and this does wonders for things like how long it takes to boot a computer up the first time. If you've ever turned on your computer and gone to do something while it started, you might want to think about upgrading to an SSD. Most people report load times of less than half what they used to get with HDDs. An SSD will also improve the speed at which applications load, so if you use programs like Adobe's products or even Outlook, those programs will load much faster and you won't stare at those loading screens.

Typically the migration to a SSD doesn't take too long. The main cost is that the drives are more expensive than traditional drives and provide less storage, but the prices are coming down all the time. Call or email 3TG for more information.

Upgrade the RAM

Value-wise, the best upgrade for any computer is the RAM. RAM is relatively inexpensive and easy to install, and the performance benefit can be significant. If you have 4GB of RAM or less in your computer, you should strongly consider adding to it or replacing it. If you're still running XP (which you shouldn't be, as previously discussed), 4GB is the most you can use, so that won't be an option. In general, you can't really have too much RAM, but 8GB is a good minimum these days. Contact 3TG for information on what RAM to buy.

If you'd like a primer on the difference between hard disks and RAM, check out the recent blog post I wrote here.

Scan for Problems

Lastly, a common cause of speed issues is infections and other issues. Malware can severely impact the performance of a computer, as can applications that aren't working properly. Sometimes there can be issues with the operating system that slow a system. If you sense that your computer is slower than it used to be, call 3TG for an appointment to give your computer a once-over. Think of it as a routine physical. You can call 3TG to come out for the standard hourly rate, or drop your computer off for a guaranteed $150.

If you don't think your computer is worth any of these upgrades and you're thinking about upgrading, check out the recommended systems on 3TG's product page. The companies who make these computers are in no way connected to 3TG, those are just computers that I tend to recommend most often. Feel free to call for personalized recommendations.

Computing 101: Memory

From time to time, I'll be writing educational blog posts. In these posts I'll explain some basic aspects of computing that some of my readers/clients might not be familiar with, and may help them better understand the tools they're using.

In this post, I'll be discussing the topic of memory. I'll focus on the two most common types that someone might be referring to when mentioning "memory" as it pertains to computers. In your average desktop or laptop computer, you'll most likely have two kinds of memory: storage and system.

Storage Memory:

Storage is fairly easy to understand and is the most familiar kind to most computer users. Storage memory is where all the files/data is stored on your computer, files like your documents and music, but also files like all the information that Windows needs in order to run, or the applications you use.

Storage usually takes the form of hard drives, which are usually large both in physical size and in their data capacity. These days, typical hard drive sizes are about 1TB for desktop hard drives and 500GB for laptops, and desktop drives currently max out at 4TB. Lastly, hard drives are able to retain the data that is written to them even if they aren't receiving power.

System Memory:

System memory is a little more complicated. In a typical computer, your system memory comes in the form of RAM. When your computer starts up and Windows begins to load, it is put into your system memory. The reason for this is that system memory is far faster than storage memory, so your computer would rather work from information stored in RAM than from a hard drive. When you open up an application that's installed on your computer, what's really happening is that the files are being read from the hard drive and loaded into RAM, then the CPU works with that data from there because it's faster. While you have the program open, all the data needed to run that program is kept in RAM.

This explains why your computer slows down the more programs you have open. At a certain point, the data required to run each program adds up to more than the total system memory you have, and the computer has to pull more and more from the hard drive instead of the RAM, slowing everything down. The more RAM you have installed, the harder it is to fill up and the more programs you can have open. When your computer is shut down, the RAM is cleared out because it's incapable of storing information when it isn't receiving power. That's why you lose what you're working on in Word if your power goes out and you didn't save your document.

The Concept:

Here's a good way to visualize storage vs system memory, or hard drives vs RAM: imagine an office.

Think of an office that has nothing but an empty desk and a full file cabinet, and then think about starting a project. Your project requires information from the file cabinet, so you go over and pull out the stuff you'll need, then bring it over the the desk where you lay it out and start to work. Because you grabbed everything you need from the file cabinet, you're able to quickly grab stuff from your desk as you need it. But if you forgot something, you have to stand up, walk back to the file cabinet, and get it. Similarly, if you don't have enough room on your desk, you're not going to be able to grab as much from the file cabinet in the first place, and you'll only be able to work on a smaller number of things at once. If you bring in another piece of furniture to extend your desk space, or buy a new, larger desk, you'll be able to work on more things at once and you'll be more productive. If you buy another file cabinet or replace it with a bigger one, you'll be able to store more information.

As you can see, the file cabinet is your hard drive and the desk is your RAM. The practical difference between the two is that adding more hard drive space improves capacity, while adding more RAM improves performance.

Photo Storage Methods

Digital photography has significantly decreased the cost of taking photos, but now we take more photos than ever and we need a way to store them and back them up.

One solution used to be to burn backups of photos to CDs or DVDs. This is inadvisable because optical discs tend to suffer data corruption over time. There are archival-quality blank DVDs available but they're more expensive. But the real drawback is that a DVD can only store 4.7GB of data. You could end up with dozens of discs, taking up a lot of room.

The first alternative would be flash drives, as these are getting larger and cheaper all the time. Amazon currently has a 64GB drive for around $36, which is pretty incredible. You would still need a few of these but that could do the trick. Or, you could pick up an external hard drive, either portable or stationary. These have more room for storing photos than most people need.

My opinion is that occasionally copying your files to storage media is better than nothing, but it's not the best practice (see this previous blog post about backups). My personal photo storage is very simple: I keep them all on my computer and then I back them up using Crashplan. That's it! This way all my photos are available to me at any time, but if anything were to happen to them, I have them backed up.

The reason this is a better archival method is that someone else (Crashplan, in my example) is handling the archiving for you. Crashplan's job is to make sure their storage arrays are running properly, and they'll replace hard disks in their system that fail, and you don't even need to know it's happening. All hard drives will fail eventually, and it's better to leave the handling of that up to a company that does nothing else.

Once you have a backup in place, all you need to think about is how to set up your initial photo storage. This can be done by adding hard drives to your computer (either internal or external). External drives like the portable and stationary ones I mentioned earlier are inexpensive ways to add lot of storage to your computer.

The ultimate option, if you want gobs of storage, is to purchase a Drobo and some hard drives. This can supply up to 16TB of space, though this is far more than the average computer user needs!

Note: no matter what backup method you use, take a few minutes every now and then to try restoring 1-3 files from that backup. The only thing worse than losing your data is realizing that your backup system hasn't actually been working for a while.

Update 03/11/13: The goal of this post was to discuss photo storage specifically. Photo management is another matter which will be discussed in a future post.