I’m frequently asked about new computers from our friends and family, and I’ve blogged about buying a new computer in the past, but this post is about the common things that you should download and install once you have that new computer, right after you do all of the Windows Updates and un-install all of the “trial” software that came with your computer. As with anything, you can take this advice or leave it, I’m really curious to know what sort of things you think I need to add to this this. Feel free to add anything that I’ve missed in the comments!

Microsoft Security Essentials. I won’t go through the discussion about whether or not Mac get viruses, they do; I will however say that you should have anti-virus software installed on your computer. This one is free, built by Microsoft, and works really well. This is the first thing I install on a new computer. (note: You’ll probably need to uninstall whatever “free 90 day trial” antivirus that your new computer came with probably Norton or McAfee)

Live Mesh. Mesh is awesome. Install it on every computer that you use. Mesh does three things for you.

1. It Synchronizes files between computers. just pick the folders that you want to have participate in the synchronization, right click and select “add to mesh”
2. Mesh Synchronizes files to cloud. That is, on of the “computers” that you can synchronize your files to is the mesh.com website. Just log in, select connect to Live Desktop and there you go, your files – available from any computer with an Internet connection.
3. Mesh let’s you “remote desktop” to any computer that is running mesh. What’s that, forgot to add that file to your mesh folder and now you’re away and need to access it? No problem, remote in to your home computer, add the file to the folder, it’s now available on your laptop. Awesome.

Another “essential” on the list of installs is ironically, Windows Live Essentials. With Live essentials you get:

1. Live Messenger – you can chat with family, even do video chat and remote assistance with friends and family
2. Movie Maker – fyi..this is what I’ve used for every CommunityCast TV video – it had *some* short comings, but for the most part – will do whatever you need, easily, for making videos
3. Mail – I’ve honestly never used this for email. I’ve always just used gMail or Outlook. But if I didn’t have Outlook installed – I’d definitely give this a go!
4. Photo Gallery – this actually does a real nice job organizing your photos, and helps when you need to scan images for expense reports!

OK, that’s it for the critical stuff, obviously as a developer, I also install a host of tools that I use on a daily basis, and that will probably make a nice future post (in the mean time, go check out Scott’s ultimate developer tools list)… but here are  some of the optional installs for everyone!

Virtual CloneDrive Why this functionality isn’t just baked in to Windows – I will never know. This is just perfect. You have an ISO that you want to use? No problem, just double click it and it will be as if you just stuck the CD/DVD in to your drive. Awesome.

Image Editing – GIMP (requires Java), Paint.NET (Requires .NET)

IE Spell – Spell Check is built in to every browser *except* Internet Explorer

OK, I think that’s the important stuff. Feel free to add your top items in the comments!

I’m in the market for a new computer… which one should I get?

Like a lot of people in the computer industry I get asked this question *a lot*. Friends, family, third cousins once removed all seem to hunt me down when they are in the market for a new computer. I don’t mind, but I’ve gotten used to giving the same answer. I’m posting my answer here as a reference to myself, them, and anyone else this might help…

Whichever one you pick, it will be out dated in a month

Before you buy a computer you should accept that this is part of the technology world we live in. In three months you will see a better laptop for less money with more features. Accept that fact and move on.

Any laptop will work… seriously… it doesn’t matter.

Unless you are a serious gamer, doing auto-cad or some sort of 3D rendering: any modern computer on the market right now will do what you want.

Start at Best Buy

My advice is to go to Best Buy – not the website, go in to the store. Figure out how much you want to spend, what features are important to you and then pick one out. I honestly and consistently find the sales people at Best Buy to be pretty helpful and informative. If you have time, you can watch the papers, shop and compare, but at least you’ll have a better idea of what you are looking for and what’s available. I pretty much use Best Buy as the base line or starting point for that. Some good places to check next: Fry’s, New Egg, Staples, Dell, Refurbished Dells

Don’t pay for the extras.

I would go to Best Buy – see what they have to offer, just don’t sucked in to all of their add-ons and up sales. They will offer to sell you a bag, Anti-Virus, Software Removal/Installation. Anything that they offer you can do on your own or is probably available for free (ex: Anti-Virus/Firewall – don’t let them sale you those)

They offer so many “services” that the price of your computer could easily double. For some people this could be a great service, but for most – these are things that you can do on your own, and would probably benefit from learning how to do them anyway. I understand why they offer these services, and why people buy them… I pay to get my oil changed on my car (because I’m not a car guy) some people would never think to pay someone else to change their oil… I guess that’s how I feel about the “extras” they offer.

Warrantee? Maybe.

Probably the single biggest up sale that they offer is the warrantees. I have mixed feeling about these. One one hand, I expect products to last more than a year, and hate paying extra for that assurance. On the other hand… I did purchase an extended warranty on a laptop once (from Staples). Normally , I wouldn’t pay the money for that , but that was specifically because that laptop was for work, I was traveling a lot at the time and if anything happened to it, I’d be dead in the water – also – my work was paying for half of the laptop. I don’t buy warrantees for computers that are going to stay at home.

Buy RAM not CPU

If you have the money, invest in more RAM than processor speed. If you are going to go with a 64 bit processor, then I would try to go to 6 GB of RAM or 3 GB of RAM for a 32 bit OS. Also, check around – often you can find RAM at substantially discounted prices after market. Apple is notorious for charging outrageous prices on extra RAM.

Buy New

I would not buy a used or 3rd party laptop. New ones are plenty cheap right now, and a much better value. Sorry eBay – I don’t want a used computer, and I want to know that the support and warrantee are going to be there.

What about a NetBook?

For about $300.00 you can get a Netbook. For around $400.00 you can get a laptop that does much much more and is much more powerful. I have a friend that bought a Netbook because he was writing a book. He loved it, and it worked great for him. But he specifically bought it for a single purpose, to use Word and write his book. It was a second computer for him, and he wanted the portability and flexibility that it provided. I would not consider a Netbook for a primary laptop. For a little more money you can get something that will be much more powerful and versatile.

Anything will work

Again, almost anything on the market will work. Just figure out what you want it to do. For most people that involves using Word and surfing the Internet.. and anything will work. If you are going to do a lot of gaming, development or something where you need more power… then this blog post is not for you. 

OK, that’s it for me. What are your suggestions? Add them to the comments below.

Happy Shopping!

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/calebjenkins/2405088004/

One of the great things about speaking for INETA is traveling to places that I’ve never been before. July is going to be a little different for me. I was born in Southern California and grew up just an hour north of San Diego in a town called Temecula. (Except for 3 years when I lived in Okinawa)

We moved from Murrieta to Tulsa in 2001 and I haven’t been back to California since then. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 7 years! Aside from the people and family that are in California there are only 3 things that I really miss. So I’m really looking forward to meeting up with my Dad and having a good lunch while I’m there.

If you are going to be in the San Diego area in July… make sure to stop by the .NET User Group and say hi! We might even go grab a bite to eat afterwards… if I used to know you in Southern California… send me an email: blogger[at]calebjenkins[dot]com.

The topic is still TBD, but it will probably be one of these:

• ASP.NET AJAX with Visual Studio 2008
• Silverlight with Visual Studio 2008 + Expression Blend
• Developer Designer Zen (bringing two world’s together)
• Better Application Design with practical loose coupling

What would you want the topic to be?

Maybe it’s because our Kaitlyn is also four, but I can definitely say that this girl is the *second* cutest 4 year old in the world. 

One of the things that I do from time to time, is to look at my blog server logs, I noticed more in-bound google links for searches for Caleb, not Caleb Jenkins. Wow... According to Google, if you are looking for Caleb, out of all of the Caleb's on the planet, I might be the 7th likely choice - right after WikiPedia. Cool! Too bad for Live - they don't know who I am, unless you are looking for my full name.

Oddly enough, searches for Google Images on me, doesn't have any of my pictures.

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I feel like a real Texan now; I own a pair of (real) boots. Last week I won a pair of Twisted X Brand boots. This is the first pair of boots that I have ever owned (I don't count Dr. Martens) and they are very comfortable. I think that I've worn them every day since I got them. When we went to pick them up Rachel found that she like too... then we headed down to Fort Worth's Stockyard area.

The Stockyards are a very cool part of Fort Worth; it's a very old west style part of town (they run steers through the town twice a day). It just so happened that there was a rodeo going on that night. Neither of us had ever been to a rodeo before. This was a lot of fun, and the kids had a blast. We'll definitely go back again. Yee-Ha!

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This week has been crazy. I'm getting ready for my new job and trying to wrap things up for my old job. Saturday I was up working until 4:30 am. I told Rachel to wake me up in the morning for church. We have the best church in the whole world, I love it. When I woke up to an empty house at 10:05 am, I realized that she let me sleep instead waking me. Although she claims that she did try to wake me up... in her words, “Have you ever tried to wake you up? It's not easy!”.

OK, so I'm not the easiest person to wake up when I'm tired. It's true that when I was a kid and my parents needed to wake me up they once resorted to putting an ice cube in my hand. The ice cube melted, and I slept on... my son is the same way today, once he's asleep, he's posable... but I digress.

So, on the way to church, my son, who is brilliant and smarter than I ever was, asks him mother, “Where is daddy? Isn't he going to church?”. My wife, who is excellent at everything responded, “Daddy was up late last night working while we were sleeping, then when we were all waking up daddy was going to sleep.” - you can see where this is going. - My 5 year old son pondered this for a second then responded, “oh - Daddy is nocturnal”. (What is the record multisyllabic word used correctly by a 5 year old?)

Ah yes, wisdom of the wise. I am nocturnal (according to my 5 year old son)... although I have a standing rule for my self that I must at least go out side and look at the sun at least once a day (The details of why this rule even exists is way beyond the scope of this post, let's just say that this rule was put in to effect during my college days.... I have abided by it *mostly* ever since)

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