computer

Unless you’re an OB nurse, you probably don’t have many cord management skills. If you’re like me, the backside of your desk is a mess – of cables that is. One thing’s for sure, no matter who you are, the more gadgets you have, the more cables you have.

On the desk at my home office, I have a flat-bed photo scanner, a UPS/Surge Protector, the dock for my laptop, the 60” HD flat screen monitor (just kidding), the ScanSnap document scanner (indispensible) with all of their associated power charger and connector cables plus all the various cables for my computer, mouse, keyboard, Ethernet and my devices – the iPhone^® cable, the female-USB extension cable for my thumb-drives, charger for my Bluetooth headset and the little plug for my various digital cameras. It kind of looks like Medusa’s hair back there (and is just as scary).

On my desk at Vickie Milazzo Institute, it’s even worse because there are attached printers and power cables for my USB hubs on top of all the other cables I’ve listed above plus the dual monitors with their cables and my USB Plasma Ball (I’m not allowed to have a Tesla Coil due to some obscure safety regulation).

In January, Vickie got a new computer after her old one quit. Her desk is a paradigm of cable management neatness, despite the Dragon Naturally Speaking headset, speakers and iPhone and headset cables. All her cables are nicely managed because I did a fresh installation. That’s what happens when you start over. (Note to self: build new garage!)

So, how does a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant regain control of her office from the plethora of cables, connectors and other cords that accumulate in the open space behind her desk?  Even more important, why would she want to?

Well my CLNC^® amigos, the answer is simple. Eventually you’ll need to replace a device, power supply or whatever. After spending half the day unplugging and replugging different cables, you’ll get to the one you want. (Want to know why the one you want is always the last cable you unplug? It’s because you stop once you’ve found the cable you’re looking for.)

Instead of blindly unplugging and replugging, I recommend that once a year you power down your entire desk and then take a few moments to untangle the mess by completely unplugging all the cables (one at a time) and coiling them on top of, or next to, the device to which they belong. Then pull out your trusty label-maker, and label each cord with the name of its device (ScanSnap power cable, USB roller-mouse, etc.).

Once they’re all labeled, you can plug them back in, one at a time. After you’ve plugged in a cable, find someplace to hide it where you can’t easily see it and coil the cable around your fist. Next, grab some Velcro^® cable ties in various colors and tie it up to keep it neat. I like to match colors by device, which makes it easier than looking for the label. If you don’t want to spring for Velcro ties just get some plastic zip ties from your local hardware store and fix them in place. However, I don’t like zip-tying cables together with other cables because as soon as you do, one will fail. Instead, I recommend you buy a flexible cable cover to hide the obvious cable runs. I even have some flat ones that run along the wall and hide my Ethernet and power cables.

By taking a few minutes, you can turn that messy desk into a work of art. When you’re done organizing the cables on your desk, feel free to stop by and do mine!

Keep on techin’,

Tom

I recently had to replace Vickie’s super-small laptop with a cool fast machine running Windows^® 7. In our home office she runs it from a docking station like I do. Part of the laptop replacement process involved running the new laptop side-by-side with her old one until we were sure all the settings, programs, etc., were identical on both machines.

When I’d matched it all up and it was time to swap them out, I realized that although the new dock has lots of USB ports there’s not one good-old-fashioned PS2 port (PS2 connectors are those round plugs full of pins used to connect your keyboard and mouse). The station also didn’t have a VGA (video graphics array – old school) plug for the monitor, but Vickie’s cinema-sized monitor has a DV-I (digital video interface – new school) connector and it plugged right in, as did her rollerball mouse, external speakers, Dragon Naturally Speaking headset, webcam, charging cables for her iPhone^® and her BlueAnt^® headset and extension cables for her digital camera and Flip^® video recorder.

All was going exceedingly well until I went to plug in the keyboard, which of course turned out to be PS2. Being a techie I have many keyboards around the office (they stack up like firewood for some reason). So I jumped into the global warmer, rolled by the office and grabbed the first USB keyboard I could find, brought it home, plugged it in and it was fine – until I noticed that most of the keys weren’t labeled. All the little white letters had been rubbed off by some miscreant who obviously used a toxic hand lotion while typing. I knew Vickie wouldn’t want an obviously used keyboard so I was off to the computer store, company credit card in hand (Techie Nirvana).

It’s been a long time since I purchased a keyboard and I was surprised by the selection: mini-keyboards not much larger than the one in her old tiny laptop, gaming keyboards with all sorts of rollers and buttons to speed your gaming, wireless keyboards to operate your computer from your recliner across the room, and ergonomic keyboards with funny shapes to help relieve hand fatigue. There were keyboards priced from $9-$99+. I couldn’t make up my mind but immediately ruled out wireless because I didn’t want to be changing batteries.

Finally I chose a sleek, modern, ultrathin, back-lit keyboard with shortcut buttons to open Outlook, Word, iTunes^®, speaker volume and more! She’d never have to take her fingers off the keyboard to reach for her mouse again. It was truly worthy of the CEO of Vickie Milazzo Institute – until I saw the price of $79.99! I was stunned but figured she’s worth it. Installed, it was every bit as cool as I expected. I put on some Barry White music, turned down the lights to set a certain mood and showed her the back-lighting feature that would allow her to type in low light. Things were going my way until she tried to type on it. Turns out I overlooked a wrist-rest extension along the bottom of the keyboard designed to help reduce carpal tunnel. Her movable keyboard tray already has one of those and this pushed the keyboard so far forward she had to uncomfortably extend her arms to use it. Luckily I saved the box and trimmings (a tech tip by itself – always save the packing materials until you’re sure it works).

So it was out into the pouring rain to the computer store. Next I came home with a thicker USB keyboard but without the extra extension. This one had many of the same shortcut buttons as the last one, but as an added bonus it was mechanical, meaning it was more like the old PS2 keyboard in terms of tactile feel and had guaranteed connections. It would never fail or wear out and at only $49.99 seemed like a bargain. I installed it and tried some test typing – it was louder than a typewriter and clackier than a court reporter! I knew there’d be no way I could work in the same room without feeling like a victim of the Chinese Typing Torture.

Back to the store again. Finally I came back with another cool, flat keyboard that looks like it was designed by Apple^® but came with a Wal-Mart^® price of $15.99 and like they say at McDonald’s^® – We’re lovin’ it!

The moral of the story for Certified Legal Nurse Consultants is that when it comes to keyboards, price doesn’t always mean much and size does matter. Some are more expensive simply because of the brand name. Others are expensive because they have multiple shortcut buttons and spiffy features (like an LED clock so you can watch your billable hours) but if you’re not going to use them don’t get them. If you have small hands, you can consider a smaller-size keyboard to reduce fatigue. If you like the firm contact of the keys, you might want a mechanical keyboard.

If you share your legal nurse consulting business’s computer with your family, you may need one that’s soft drink-proof and has larger, kid-friendly keys. Backlighting is nice but not bright enough to allow you to consult your Core Curriculum for Legal Nurse Consulting^® textbook while you work in the dark. Finally, wireless keyboards are terrific because you don’t have to crawl through the dust bunnies under your desk to string the cables, but the batteries will run down in the middle of your legal nurse consulting report so you’ll need to keep plenty of spares.

When you select a new keyboard for your CLNC^® business, don’t be afraid to take them out of the box and try them right there in the store (ask for help though). Also, take a good look at where you plan to install it (look for those pesky wrist rests). Don’t worry about the price – I’ve got $9.99 keyboards (like the one with no letters) that have been in service for years so higher prices don’t necessarily mean higher quality. When you make your decision, base it on what works best for you, your needs and your budget.

Keep on techin’,

Tom

Three weeks ago I bought and installed a larger, faster hard (disk) drive for my laptop. The old drive sat safely locked in a desk drawer waiting for disposal until last Friday. That evening I took it home and hammered it to death in the street while one of the neighbor’s kids watched.

Not all legal nurse consultants have the energy or inclination to take their tech support issues out on an innocent hard drive. Other than taking it for a one-way boat ride in your cousin’s sailboat, how do you dispose of an old computer or drive?

We all store so much information on our computers that it can be scary when it’s time to dispose of the old one. Whenever you give (or throw) away a computer, the entire history of that computer and its users goes with it. Bank records, case reports, photographs, passwords and even military secrets are all-too-often still present on a computer that’s been disposed of improperly. Even legal nurse consulting files and folders can be easily recovered by anyone running readily-available software. Files that have been partially overwritten can be recovered and repaired, depending upon the extent of their “destruction.”

What steps do you need to take before disposing of your old computer? Unless you physically destroy the hard drive, (please don’t drop it in the ocean!) it will always be possible to recover some data from it. If you are giving the computer away, whether to a charity, friend or even to a recycling agency, we recommend that at the very minimum you take the following actions:

1. Delete all documents, mail messages and data files.
2. Uninstall any programs, applications or other software that is licensed to you personally.
3. “Sanitize” or “scrub” the remaining empty space on the system’s hard drive.
4. Reinstall the Windows operating system or give the next owner the “system restore” CDs to either reinstall the Windows operating system or to return the computer to its original configuration (if you’re simply disposing of the system there is no need to restore it).

If you do not want to do this yourself, there are independent companies that will dispose of your computer, either for free or for a small fee. Before you trust your old computer to one of these companies, make sure you ask the right questions. Determine how they will ensure that your data has been “scrubbed clean.” Are they scrubbing or degaussing? Ask how or where they actually dispose of the computer. They may be shipping it overseas for sale, they may be “parting it out,” donating to charities or even attempting to recover data themselves as an illegitimate side business. Check to see if they’re registered with the Better Business Bureau. Since you don’t know where it’s going to go, it’s always preferable to “wipe” your computer down to nothing and then “restore” it yourself prior to giving it away.

If you choose to “scrub” your old hard drive yourself there is software available that does a very good job. Not only can it scrub your data, some of these programs can achieve “governmental” levels of data security. These programs work by overwriting the portions of your hard drive containing either nonessential data or the entire hard drive. Depending upon the level of data “destruction” you choose, they may overwrite with a series of ones or zeros in a specific pattern, and will do so over a series of “passes” changing and then repeating the pattern each time. The more passes, the more complete the destruction. This writing and rewriting ensures that computer files previously stored on your hard drive are eventually overwritten with data, even down to the smallest portion of the file, rendering that data impossible to recover.

This software is cheap, relatively easy to use and readily available. One program from a reputable company is cyberCide. The software will help you create a bootable CD which will be placed in the computer’s CD drive while the computer is turned “off.” The computer will then be turned “on” and you’ll follow the on-screen instructions to clean the computer. Don’t expect this to be a fast process. The larger your computer’s hard drive the longer the “scrub” will take.

As a savvy Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, when disposing of any computer you want to be sure that all data has been destroyed prior to disposal. It’ll take longer to remedy any issues that may arise if a bad guy gets your data than it will for you to take the proper steps to destroy it.

Keep on techin’,

Tom

Every computer has cookies. Some come from the Internet and are auto-stored on your hard drive in your web browser. Others are stored in your keyboard – they’re the detritus of all those years of Oreos^® you’ve munched on while hunched over your computer. What’s a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant to do other than start a carb-free diet?

The solution is simple and fat-free! Hit the hardware or electronics store and buy yourself a can of compressed air. Then at least once a month (or more if you’re an inveterate snacker) use that sucker to blow the crumbs out of the keyboard and onto the carpet (where they can be nicely vacuumed up). You may have to practice tilting your keyboard into different positions in order to blow everything out but it’s worth it and less painful than quitting snacking.

While we’re on the subject, how many of you keep your PC on the floor (laptop users don’t answer that)? You might ask yourself, “When was the last time I cleaned my PC’s case?” Be honest. If it’s been a while (or never), grab a flashlight, pull out your desk chair and crawl under the desk and inspect the case. Chances are you’ll discover more dust bunnies around the case and in the air vents and USB ports than there are under your bed. I’ve seen computers where the owner couldn’t find a front USB port because it was so clogged. You need your USB ports for your CLNC^® business and moving files between your office and attorney-clients’ offices. Clogged vents lead to overheating which will shorten the life of your PC.

Here’s what to do. Turn off the computer. Unplug all the connections, cables, power supplies, etc. (make note of where they go so you can put it back together). Pull the PC out from under the desk and get after those dust bunnies with your vacuum. Then, use the vacuum to clear the vents and USB ports. Next, using a slightly damp (NOT wet, duh!) anti-static cloth, clean off the outside of the PC case.

Next, if you dare, open the thumb-screws and take the PC case’s cover off. Look inside the PC (it’s cool), grab your trusty can of compressed air and carefully blow the dust out of the PC. Your hard drive is sealed up pretty tight, but if any dust or particulate matter gets in there, it will cause a world of hurt (and lost data) so keep it clean. I don’t recommend sticking the vacuum inside the case (you don’t want to suck any connections loose). The canned air is sufficient. Keep a slight distance away and don’t blow right up against anything (it’s not an ear – it’s a PC).

After you’ve blown out all the debris, put the case cover back on the PC and tighten the thumbscrews. Make sure the underdesk space is clean. Reconnect your cables and fire that sucker back up. You won’t notice any performance changes but you can sure feel good about yourself for cleaning up your act and your PC.

Keep on techin’,

Tom

A couple of Thursdays ago, I posted a blog about my birthday (thanx again everyone). Then Vickie had a birthday and today I’d like to remind everyone of two more birthdays – both are about half my age and both are almost as important as mine. They’re the birthdays of whats, not whos. You either love or hate (or both at once) these whats.

On November 10th of last year, Microsoft^® Windows^® turned 25! Happy belated birthday, Windows. I’m sorry I didn’t send a card but I forgot while waiting to reboot (again). This year, coincidentally on my birthday (January 22 in case you want to mark your calendar), Apple, Inc.’s Macintosh^® computer, turned 25 too! Happy belated birthday, Mac^®, I’m sorry I didn’t send a card but I was loading the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack onto my iPod^®.

Windows was really created in 1983, it wasn’t until 1985 that Windows 1.0 came around as a new product. My first experience was Windows 3.1, back in the early 90s. I remember moving very reluctantly from my trusty DOS version of Automenu to the scary Windows GUI (graphical user interface). It was so traumatic that I needed a techie friend to come over, install it on Vickie’s and my computers and teach us to use it.

Next we graduated to Windows 95, then moved up to the popular blue screen of death known as Windows 98. Believe it or not, I still have two laptops running Windows 98! I keep them to run some older programs I just can’t live without (no, one is not Pong). We passed through a couple of server versions and I advanced the users in Vickie’s growing company right past Windows 2000 to the best OS I’ve ever used, Windows XP. Now we have the SP2 version of Vista out (which shows it really is a good OS if you have enough computer power) and Microsoft is set to release Windows 7. All the reviews I’ve seen of Windows 7 say it will (eventually) knock our socks off (even though it’s really just SP3 of Vista).

Although Apple was started way back in the ‘70s, 1984 was the public introduction of the first Macintosh computer (which was the first computer to use a GUI as well as a mouse). Remember the cool “1984″ commercial that ran during Super Bowl^® XVIII? Most of you know I’m not a Mac user (although I did check my email on a Macbook Pro^® in the Apple store in Tokyo last year) so I have no history with them. I will tell you that I believe they’re some of the best computers built and have the best operating system on the market.

Today, technology has given Certified Legal Nurse Consultants many more choices than we had in the 80s and 90s. There are advantages to both systems and with the vast array of software available (like Windows for Mac) there’s nothing stopping you from using a Mac in your legal nurse consulting business. You won’t find Macs in too many big law firms but you’ll probably find them with solo practitioners and possibly small firms. Whichever OS you choose for your business or next computer upgrade, you’ll be in good shape tech-wise. Things will just continue to get better. You can look as cool as you want in Starbucks^® or for your kids – there’s nothing holding you back! One last thing – there are Mac viruses out there (contrary to popular belief), if you’re a Mac user check out this article.

A lot of things have come and gone since 1983/1984, Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush and Cabbage Patch Kids included. We’ve experienced the frustration and fun (hah) of Windows and Macs for over 25 years. Can you think of many other products, especially in the personal computing field, that have lasted that long while improving themselves? If you do, let me know.

Keep on techin’,

Tom

Back in the days of color-coordinated suits, shoes and purses, Vickie would tell me, “It’s not easy being green. If it was, everyone would do it.”

Funny how just 10 years later all the buzz these days is about green this, green that. I mean we’ve got green cleaners, green light bulbs, green cars and now green computers and green textbooks. Everyone wants to be as green as they can, but other than ride in the backseat while my Dad drives what can you do?

First, let’s talk about green computing. There are lots of ways to save money, but there really isn’t too much “green software.” The most obvious “green tip” is to turn your computer off every night before you go to bed and then turn it on each morning so you can compulsively check your email. I’ve always believed that’s bad for the hardware, but lately I’ve been reading that today’s computers are designed to last over 40,000 power cycles. So, if you turn it on and off twice a day that’s 50 years of life in a world where we trade computers out every 4-5 years, or less. Your computer will outlive itself and maybe outlive you too.

So why don’t we turn our computers off at night? Well, two words, convenience (I know that’s only one word, but here in Texas we can drag it out over a week). We don’t like to wait for our computers to boot up. We want our email and we want it now. Even my computer loses about five minutes after I boot it and log on due to all the start-up scans, and automated crap that runs before I can use it. What is a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant to do if she wants an instant turn-on?

Using your green thumb to turn off just your monitor saves some energy and the computer keeps running so it’s instantly available. Using a screen saver, especially one of the cool ones that generates 3D graphics, uses power because it keeps the screen on instead of allowing it to dim.

Some greenier alternatives include putting your computer into “sleep” or “standby” mode or even “hibernation.” Most computers have variable power settings that you can program to shut down the display, stop the hard drive and put the computer into “sleep” or “standby” mode. When your system goes to “sleep” or “standby,” it’s still running so your active data stays in the RAM (Random Access Memory) and the power stays on – just at a much lower level. I’ve seen reports that state a computer in sleep mode will consume up to 70% less power than a computer sitting idle.

Putting your computer into hibernation is even greenier. Hibernation saves the most power of any of these methods. In hibernation, your computer actually shuts down just after saving your current computer state, session and data to the hard drive (so you’ll need to have ample disk space available to store the information). When you turn the computer back on, everything should return to the way it was when you put it into hibernation.

What’s the big difference? It takes longer to bounce back from hibernation than it does from sleep (just ask a bear). If you’re into immediate gratification, hibernation won’t do. You may even have to log back onto your computing session which slows things down more.

If you want to manage your Windows^® XP^® power settings yourself:

1. Right click anywhere on your desktop (you know the part of the screen where there are no icons). You can also get here by clicking the Start Button, then Control Panel, then Power Options.
2. Select “Properties.” You’ll get the “Display Properties” box.
3. Click Screen Saver and select “none.”
4. Then click the “Power” button in the bottom of the box under “Monitor Power.” You’ll get the “Power Options Properties” box and can create your own power settings there.
5. Remember to save them.
6. Click OK until you’ve closed all the boxes.

If this is too difficult, or you just want some of that feel-good sense you get from driving a Prius (stay out of the way of my global warmer), Verdiem^® Corporation makes a free (yes, I said free, meaning no green money going out) program called Edison that will manage your power for you. It will also show you how much money you’re saving. Simply go to Verdiem.com/Edison and select the program for your current operating system. Download the program, open it and tell it what your Work and Non-Work times are. It will then handle your power management and tell you how much annual savings you can expect. You don’t need to be an Edison-level genius to see how easy Edison makes it to be green.

Keep on techin’,

Tom