Articles By Lincoln Spector

Uninstall a hard-to-remove piece of software

Before you try to manually remove a program, make sure there's no uninstaller. Check the Start menu. If the Start menu contains a submenu for the unwanted program, there's likely a link to

Published on: May 29th, 2012 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

Can a laptop have both HDD and SSD drives?

Installing both an solid state drive (SSD) and a conventional internal hard drive into my test computer gave me nearly a 40-per cent performance gain. But it looked like a desktop-only solution.But maybe

Published on: September 15th, 2011 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

Microsoft Outlook: 5 catastrophes and how to fix them

You use Microsoft Outlook to manage your email, yourappointments, your contacts, and your to-do lists. In other words, youuse it to manage your work life. So when this program doesn't behave the way

Published on: August 24th, 2011 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

How to fix 5 pesky Excel nightmares

Have you ever wondered if Microsoft Excel was invented by a sadist?Trying to edit multiple files at one time becomes a game of "Find the worksheet." You know that the feature you need

Published on: June 8th, 2011 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

How to use your smartphone as a portable video production studio

A few decades ago, even a short, amateur film cost hundreds--or thousands--of dollars to make. And your friends couldn't see it unless you invited them over and set up the 16mm projector.Today, the

Published on: May 9th, 2011 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

How to increase your Windows system restore points

Lee asked the Answer Line forum how to increase the number of Windows System Restore points. Windows' built-in system backup program, System Restore, allows you to revert Windows and your applications back to

Published on: November 9th, 2010 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

How to do a super-clean malware scan

No matter how good your security software, and how well you keep it up to date, there's always that nagging doubt: "What if some malicious program is interfering with my antivirus, protecting itself

Published on: April 6th, 2010 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

How to keep your laptop battery running for years

Laptop batteries are like people--eventually and inevitably, they die. And like people, they don't obey Moore's Law--You can't expect next year's batteries to last twice as long as this year's. Battery technology may

Published on: March 26th, 2010 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

7 Backup Strategies for Your Data, Multimedia, and System Files

Your hard drive might crash. Thieves might steal your laptop at a cafe. You might realize on Friday that you desperately need the now-departed Wednesday version of an important document that you significantly

Published on: September 15th, 2009 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

7 ways to back up your data … and save your bacon

Your hard drive might crash. Thieves might steal your laptop at a café. You might realize on Friday that you desperately need the now-departed Wednesday version of an important document that you significantly

Published on: August 27th, 2009 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

10 Fixes for Vista’s Worst Features

Just ask anyone who's seen Spiderman 3: Good ideas seldom survive bad execution. The developers at Microsoft had some great ideas while designing Vista, but poor implementation turned many of those great concepts

Published on: March 27th, 2009 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

When Windows Update Won’t Update

Windows Update occasionally gets a bee under its bonnet and simply refuses to work. Really, should that surprise anyone?Unfortunately, unlike some other Windows problems, this one seldom goes away on its own. You

Published on: September 29th, 2008 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

Why Can’t I Open Vista’s Cookies Folder?

If you click Start, type cookies, and press ENTER, Vista tries to do what XP did: Take you to your Cookies folder, located at C:\Users\your   logon\cookies. Except that the Cookies folder isn't there.

Published on: September 29th, 2008 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

How Do I Back Up My Drivers?

First, you should know that there are no guarantees. I've yet to find a technique that always gets every file needed by every driver. But I can recommend two approaches, either of which

Published on: September 25th, 2008 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca

Twelve unnecessary Vista features to disable

Vista, thy name is bloat! The latest Windows packs a lot of code--more than any version of Windows ever--and some of it is just plain unnecessary. All of that excess code has a

Published on: September 8th, 2008 Lincoln Spector @itbusinessca