Zonbu is poised to become the de facto standard for hassle-free, environmentally-friendy,  secure computing. I’ve been using the Zonbu desktop unit since August and I’ve fallen in love with it. I recommend it to everyone I know who’s looking for a home PC or one for their children.

With Zonbu’s announcement of their new notebook, manufactured by Everex (which I will be testing shortly), I asked Zonbu’s CEO, Mr. Gregoire Genil, a few questions.

ATG: Mr. Gentil, The Zonbu concept is like every good idea in computing rolled into one. Who first originated the idea?
Gentil:  I don’t think that anyone is the owner of the idea. It’s more a
trend that customers don’t want anymore to bear the hassle of managing
their PCs, especially as US households have more and more PCs. Fixing
your PC could be fun because you may like to do it, but doing [it] for your
wife, girl-friend, kids or the second PC in the kitchen or in the living
room becomes a real pain. And I’m not sure that customers want to buy
fat PCs with an OS that is, in itself, more expensive than our full-featured
zero-maintenance product. We want to be to the PC what Japanese cars have become to the automotive industry: reliable, simple and affordable
products.

ATG:  Did the problems inherent in Microsoft operating systems influence
the Zonbu concept in any way?
Gentil:  Definitely. Microsoft has done an amazing job in the 80s-90s but
much like the gas guzzlers of the 70s, the traditional PCs pursuit of
performance at all cost is having a negative impact on the environment and
is becoming a huge burn for customers. Our product holds on 700MB with
all the applications your need when Vista is already 30GB and you don’t
have everything you need.

ATG: Zonbu supports a wide range of hardware but only two MP3 players.
Are there plans to add more supported players?
Gentil: Actually, we support a lot of MP3 players, including all iPod, NJB
players and all players that store the music like a USB key chain.
Beyond this support, we intend to add more and more support for USB
accessories. We are constantly adding new drivers to increase the
support of our 1500 printers and 800 cameras. We have also just added
support for webcam.

ATG: Will Zonbu ever be available in retail stores or are you going with
a web-based sales model?
Gentil: For the moment, we are web-based sales only. We would like indeed to extend to retail next year.

ATG: What is the one best reason to buy you could give to a potential
Zonbu customer?
Gentil: One simple word: hassle-free. Aren’t you fed up to manage your
computer, finding the right plugin to watch such or such video, taking
care of your backup, fighting a malware? Fire yourself as IT
administrator of your home.

ATG: And go get a Zonbu and start enjoying computing again! Thank you very much, Gregoire, both for your excellent answers and the prompt response.
Gentil: No problem!

Cheers!
The Geek

I’m proud to announce that Dave Hartsock of Dave’s Computer Tips has graciously invited me to write the Security Focus section of his excellent newsletter. Dave has done a great job of putting together a wealth of content. Check out this lineup from the November 1, 2007 issue:

#1 – Newbies Nook – Information for those who are new to computers and computing.
#2 – Problems in Paradise – Answers to reader problems and questions.
#3 – Security Focus – Computer Security by Kenny Hart.
#4 – Getting Starting with Linux – David Kopp points the way.
#5 – Creating Nested Tables – Carol tells us how to do it in Word and OpenOffice Writer.
#6 – My Recommended Software – Need software? Check this list first!
#7 – Useful Freeware – Useful programs that you may find useful. Did I mention they’re free!
#8 – Useful web sites – Websites I’ve visited lately that you may find useful.
#9 – The Lighter Side – Some humor to lighten your load!
#10 – Odds and Ends – A little bit of this and a little bit of that!

Recently, I had a long conversation with Dave and I can tell you that besides just being an all-around nice guy, he definitely has your interests in mind. He’s committed to providing the best information he can on a regular schedule.

It would be great if all of you wonderful Ask the Geek fans would hop on over to his site and subscribe to his newsletter.

And while you’re at it, take a moment to sign up to get my latest posts via email. That way, if you forget to check the site, you won’t miss out on the latest info.

Cheers!
The Geek

I get this question often enough that it’s time for a detailed post. Today, I’m answering Valania’s question:

When you improperly shut down your computer does it harm your computer hardware, or anything else in your computer?

Valania, by “improperly shut down,” I assume you mean pressing the power button instead of clicking Start->Shut Down from Windows. This won’t harm any of your hardware. After all, Windows powers off the PC, too, when you do a “normal” shutdown. Think of it this way: Your computer is made from components similar to those in any other electronic device–like a stereo or TV–and you turn them on and off all the time without any bad effects. However, the data on your hard drive can be damaged by an improper shutdown.

This was a big problem back in the days of Windows 95 and 98. When you restarted after an improper shutdown, the operating system would come up asking you to run scandisk to correct hard disk errors. It’s not as big a problem with Windows XP, but it does happen. If you remove power from the system while data is being written to your hard disk, the data will be incomplete and appear corrupt. Usually, though, a system hang severe enough to warrant pushing the power button is the result of a problem reading or loading a file and your PC won’t suffer any ill effects if you power it down.

Cheers!
The Geek

Technorati tags: shutdown, system hang, data loss

When I started this blog a couple of years ago, I had no idea of the changes it would make in my life and the lives of many of my readers who have “asked the Geek.” Not a week goes by without my receiving comments or emails like these:

Yes, yes, Kenny Hart,

It works pretty good. And computer shuts down properly as it should, now !

You ARE THE Genius !
Andrew

———

Thanks for the help, it did the trick ! ! ! !

Awesome Geek – your new name lol
Doris

I’m always glad to see these of course, but I realized that since 99% of the questions I receive are about computer problems, most people associate Geeks with computers.

But, wait! Geeks are into everything, remember?

GEEK – (1) The name given to scientifically savvy folk; (2) A person who is interested in learning and becomes deeply involved in their interests.

Doesn’t say computers are the only thing Geek, does it? You have bowling Geeks, cooking Geeks, science Geeks, almost any kind of Geek you can think of if the person is really interested in something. I realize that the perception about this blog is my fault; most of what I write about here is computer related.

I’m going to change that. After all, my own interests extend far beyond computers and so do yours.

So, be prepared to see me embark upon finding out such things as what is the best curry powder blend, evaluating micro-fiber rags, how to build a tesla coil, anything and everything if it interests me–or you.

And I hope that we all learn something in the process; that’s what it’s about, after all.

Cheers!
The Geek

Technorati tags: geek, learning, interests, ask the Geek, Ken Harthun, Kenny Hart

Last week, my friend Allison’s home was hit by lightning taking out her satellite TV dish, her TV, microwave, stereo, and both of her computers. She never thought it would happen to her. After all, her two PCs had been running fine and never had any problems. She would turn them off if storms approached, a good practice.

But, like most people, she had all her stuff plugged into those cheap power strips you can buy anywhere. Bad idea! Most of them have no protection against power surges and the ones that do wear out after a couple of years and should be replaced.

Based on the damage, it was easy to see that the satellite dish took the direct hit and the rest of the damage was caused by a surge in the power lines, so a proper surge suppressor might have saved her PCs.

Don’t let Mother Nature and the local utilities rob you of your computers; put proper surge protection in place. American Power Conversion makes some of the best surge and battery backup equipment going. I recommend them highly.

Cheers!
The Geek

Technorati tags: lightning, surge protection, battery backup

Marcella asks:

Both my desktop computers have died (electrical surge), and I’m using my laptop. I need a device that I can hook my desktop hard drives to and access/retrieve the files. All the storage devices I’ve found operate from an existing computer setup and need an O/S to run. Does a device exist that I can just attach my hard drives to and retrieve/store/access my files? In short, I don’t care about the computers, only about retrieving my data.

As a matter of fact, you can convert your drives to USB drives with a relatively inexpensive kit. Then you can plug them into your laptop and access all the data and even use the external drives as backups for your laptop. Here’s one link: http://www.usb-ware.com/tt-firewire-400-usb-2-drive-kit.htm.

Cheers!
The Geek

Technorati tags: hard disk, USB, hard drive, convert, how to, IDE

Please note: the information in this post is outdated. This post has been superceded by “How to make a bootable thumb drive virus scanner for NTFS: 2008 update.” Please do not post a comment saying that this post is out of date–I just told you that! Go to the latest post.

Some nice folks have recently told me about broken links in the article. Thank you! The NTFS4DOS tool I specified is still available. Datapol is still alive, apparently having been acquired by Avira, the German company who makes the free — and very good, I might add — antivirus program, Antivir. Here’s the full orignal article with all of the links checked and fixed:

My latest Kool Tekkie Tool (KTT, pronounced “kit”) comprises a thumb drive made bootable with Datapol’s NTFS4DOS; the latest version (3.16b) of FRISK Software International’s F-Prot Antivirus for DOS is run from the command line. Both of these utilities are free for personal use, but require payment if you plan to use them in a commercial setting: NTFS4DOS is only $25; F-prot is $29 for a 20-user license.

NTFS4DOS is, in itself, a KTT. It allows you to make an NTFS-capable floppy disk or thumb drive and comes with chkdsk and defrag utilities to boot. First, make your drive bootable by following the instructions in my LockerGnome article, “Kool Tool to Make Your Thumb Drive Bootable.” (The original link to the HP utility in that article is broken click here to download the HP utility.) CAUTION! This will completely erase your drive; be sure you have your data backed up before you start. Then, download NTFS4DOS and run the setup. From the NTFS4DOS program group, select “Create NTFS-capable boot floppy.” Select the drive letter of your thumb drive and click Next twice. Your thumb drive is now bootable and NTFS capable.

Next, download F-prot, the latest virus signatures and the latest macro virus signatures and extract them to a folder on your thumb drive. You’re ready to go! Plug it in and let’s take it for a spin.

Make sure you set your PC’s BIOS to boot from your thumb drive. On most machines, you do this by making “USB” or “Removable Device” first in the boot order. If all goes well, the PC will boot to a startup menu. Choose NTFS4DOS; you’ll see the drives being mounted and if you are using the freeware version, the screen will scroll to the NTFS4DOS title screen; you will have to answer “yes” to the question “Do you use this version of NTFS4DOS for private usage only? (Yes/No):” You’ll see the mounted drives at the top of the screen and the C:\> prompt at the bottom. Change to the folder where you stored F-prot and run f-prot.exe to do a virus scan.

Pretty Kool, eh?

Cheers!
The Geek

TagJag Tags: Antivirus, ntfs4dos, freeware, lockergnome, ask the Geek

Our cable company recently added broadband phone to their lineup, so I switched over from DSL. When the cable guy was done, I hooked up my wireless security appliance and tested the connection with my laptop. I was impressed with the speed difference. Then I hooked up the phone and tried it. It worked great. I thought everything was going to be OK. I was wrong.

After dinner, my wife got on the phone to call my daughter while I was online. My wireless connection speed immediately dropped to less than 2Mbps (it should be solid at 11 Mbps). As soon as she hung up, the connection speed recovered. It didn’t make sense. Voice over IP is not that bandwidth-intensive.

That wasn’t the only problem. The voice quality on the other end of our line was terrible. The audio was choppy. The person on the other end could barely understand us most of the time. I was ready to tell the cable company to forget it all and reverse the changes. But I finally figured it out.

I had my wireless phone next to my wireless router. Traffic from the radio in the phone was crossing up with traffic from the wireless causing interference in both. I moved the phone across the room and everything got right again. Problem solved.

Cheers!
The Geek

Technorati tags: Wireless, computers, telephone, VoIP

In their latest phishing scam targeting dentists, a tactic the FBI has labeled “spear phishing,” the fraudsters actually threaten violence. The potential victim receives an email purportedly from a hit man who has been hired by “a friend” to kill him for $50,000. However, if the victim agrees to pay this “hit man” $80,000, he’ll back off and let the person live:

…i have being paid $50,000.00 in advance to terminate you with some reasons listed to me by my employers, its one i believe you call a friend…

Now, listen, i will arrange for us to see face to face but before that i need the amount of $80,000.00 and you will have nothing to be afraid of.

The entire text of the message is presentented in this article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

One of my company’s clients was targeted by this and called us quite upset. We told him that it was more than likely a hoax, but recommended that he immediately report it to the police. We also referred him to the Internet Crime Complaint Center.

If you know anyone who has been targeted by this scam and hasn’t been told it’s a scam, please give them some relief and send a link to this article.

Cheers!
The Geek

Technorati tags: hoax, spam, phishing, scam, fraud, spear phishing, Internet crime

Erin writes: I have a problem with my CD rom r/w drive. Suddenly it won’t eject any disks, except on a restart, and I have to hold the eject button in to do it. I’ve searched all the settings I can find in XP Home and can’t find why it’s doing this. The drive is working perfectly except for this issue. The button doesn’t seem to be a problem and I’ve watched the lights on the front when I hit eject-nothing no lights, but I can continue to use and write to the drive with no issues. Any ideas?

Erin, I have a pretty good idea that you are using drag-and-drop to burn files to the CD. If so, you probably have an open session that is keeping the drive in an active state. You can right click the application’s icon (such as Roxio DirectCD) in your system tray and select “close” or “eject” (don’t select “close” unless your disk is full, or you won’t be able to add any more files to it). Or you can open My Computer and right click on your CD drive and select “Eject”. Either of these options should let you swap out the disk. If not, and you are using Direct CD, check out this web site: http://www.roxio.com/en/support/dcdwin/livingdcd.html