Laptop Battery Issue

Hi Nancy -

It’s hard to say exactly why the battery started acting up in the first place. All batteries have a limited number of ‘cycles’ – the number of times the battery can be successfully discharged & recharged, and several different factors can affect their ability to charge & recharge. Batteries also need to be charged & recharged. If they are left for long periods of time (months & months) either fully charged (because they are connected to A/C or docked) or discharged (because they haven’t been used & are unplugged from A/C), they lose their ability to be recharged effectively.

From our experience, laptop batteries are good for about three years. Some last a little longer, others less so. We also notice that batteries start losing their total charge time (the amount of time it takes the laptop to discharge the battery when the laptop is running on battery) from day 1 – a slow and steady decline until the battery will hold no charge at all.

Using a laptop without a battery or with a completely defective battery is usually not a problem provided that the laptop is connected to A/C power. This doesn’t make the laptop particularly portable, but it will work.

Hope that information helps. Please let us know if we can help out in any other way.

hunter greene Brainspiral Technologies, Inc. hunter@brainspiral.com http://brainspiral.com w: 413-458-5755 c: 413-281-4918

On May 22, 2009, at 8:34 AM, Nancy wrote:

> Good morning, Hunter, > > Well, after the morning’s message of “Irreperable damage has been > detected, Replace the battery with a new one,” and the blinking > battery icon and the big red “X” on the tool bar at the bottom, I > received a message around 2 p.m. that that “the battery is fully > discharged.” I left the machine on and over the next three hours it > became fully charged, with no blinking icon or message. Go figure! > > The laptop has been on the dock all this time…I haven’t removed it > for use elsewhere for a long time. > So how to explain how the battery got discharged? Anyway, so far, so > good today. > > Nancy >

Get Brainspiral Remote Help

Hi Nancy -

The Remote Help application can be downloaded from the main page of Brainspiral’s website:

http://brainspiral.com

You’ll see a section called “Request Help” toward the bottom of the front page. When you click on ‘Windows’, you will be prompted to download the small application.

Whenever your husband has a problem, he can then call the Brainspiral Office (458-5755) and schedule an appointment to have one our of technicians contact him, take control of his computer & help in whatever way we can.

Best,

hunter greene Brainspiral Technologies, Inc. hunter@brainspiral.com http://brainspiral.com w: 413-458-5755 c: 413-281-4918

On May 20, 2009, at 11:47 PM, Nancy wrote:

> Thanks, Hunter, that cured that problem. > > I still would like to work something out so that Ron can get in > touch with you when he has a problem. Please advise. > > Thanks. > > Nancy > =

38MB Email in Outbox

Hi Nancy -

Yes, of course – but perhaps that isn’t even necessary.

Most mail providers have specific size limitations on outgoing & incoming messages. Williams College, eg, does not allow messages to be larger than 5mb. Google/Gmail allows up to 20mb. Other providers have different requirements.

38mb is quite large & the majority of mail providers will not allow it to go out. What will happen is that it will get stuck in the Outbox – the client will continually try to resend it. Stuck in a ‘loop’, as you say, is the perfect way to describe it.

Breaking this loop, however, is quite easy. All you actually have to do is access your mail client’s Outbox & delete the mischievous message.

You didn’t mention which client your husband was using – Outlook? Eudora? Outlook Express? Thunderbird?

The process is basically the same – access the Outbox & delete the rogue message.

Try that out & let me know if it works.

Best,

hunter greene Brainspiral Technologies, Inc.

Useful Laptop Applications

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Alex Steele > Date: May 16, 2009 9:41:03 PM EDT > To: me , hunter > > http://www.laptopmag.com/review/software/free-must-have-netbook-apps.aspx?pid=10 > — > > Alex > _____

Review of HP Mini 1115NR 8.9-Inch Netbook

We recently ran a ‘Mini’ laptop through a series of tests. ‘Minis’ are a new line of laptops which are ultra-small and ultra-portable. With an LCD ~ 9″ & a weight around 2 pounds, they sure are small & light, but there are some disadvantages, too. Sony has been making them for years but HP, Gateway & Dell are newer to the market.

Begin Review: Hunter,

I’m writing this to you on the HP mini. In Word. Which isn’t so bad.

The keyboard is a decent size, but I still hit the wrong key often even with my fingers. I feel bad for anyone reasonably larger than I am trying to use this.

It’s a little slow, especially installing software. The web loads ok, but stuff like scrolling on a webpage with images is choppy. And as far as images go, forget about it on this tiny screen. Very few of them fit, most take at least 150% of the screen height to see all at once.

I’m not sure why it seems slow with 1GB of RAM, though.

The System comes out of standby pretty quick, and programs launch well, perhaps even slightly quicker than on a new laptop. The system is pretty quiet and surprisingly cool. Even after an hour or so of use it is comfortable to the touch, a vast improvement over modern laptops that will cook your legs if you’re not paying attention.

The touchpad is annoyingly small, but I could get over that if it weren’t for poor gesture recognition and horrid placement of the mouse buttons.

When I try to use the scroll on the side of the touchpad, I get random strange effects. Sometimes it jumps to the top of the page. Sometimes nothing happens (which I assume means I’m not using enough pressure). Sometimes it registers as a click. On occasion, it scrolls.

The mouse buttons are on the sides of the touchpad. Whomever thought that was a good idea should be overrun by a herd of buffalo. The right button I can get used to, as after I’ve brought up a context menu I’ll be looking for the option I’d like to click on.

The left mouse button, however, is driving me mad. I generally use my thumb to click on laptops, and my index finger on the touchpad. This is not possible with this setup. Sure, I can “tap” on the pad to click, but I get the same (albeit slightly better) results as the scroll gesture. What about dragging icons, and all that stuff? That takes two hands now, where it used to take one. That’s 100% less efficient, because they moved a button. They should have this stuff figured out by now.

It doesn’t have separate buttons for Home, End, PgUp, or PgDn. They are accessible through Fn+Arrow Keys, which I’ve found while typing this up to be a meager, and sometimes frustrating, consolation for the usability I’m accustomed to. Again, these are all, I’m sure, minor complaints. But complaints nonetheless.

Also, they seem really light and flimsy, and they ARE very small. I know these are selling points, and features, and all, but not for children. They are selling points for business men who need their email but still worry about TSA’s guidelines and fly so often that checking any baggage is an extremely added hassle. Or for IT consultant’s who need a laptop that they know works and they can carry around with them into server rooms and plug into a router to do some config without having to set up a desk. Kids need something to spill drinks on, or knock off a desk when they spin around to see who shot them with a spit-ball.

Here are my grades.

As a Desktop replacement: C-

As a Low-cost laptop: C+

As a glorified PDA: A- (but only if you refuse to get an iPhone )

As an Educational Tool: C-

Outlook Express Blocked Senders

Chris -

Good to talk to you today. Thanks.

For managing blocked senders:

Within Outlook Express, Choose ‘Blocked Senders’ from the ‘Message Rules’ option under the ‘Tools’ menu.

From there you can unlock senders.

Best,

hunter greene Brainspiral Technologies, Inc.

Inexpensive PC Laptop Recommendations

Okay.

For $800 you should be looking at the following specs:

Core 2 Duo Processor 2.0ghz or faster 2GB Ram or More 250GB Hard Drive or More (7200rpm ideal) Windows XP or 7 – avoid Vista, though you can downgrade from Vista to XP or upgrade to 7 once it’s out. Webcam Built-In WiFi Built-In (standard on all laptops) Bluetooth 9-Cell Battery (the 6 cells or less have poor battery life) 14″ LCD – they cost more than the 15″ LCDs, but they’re smaller & lighter.

Brand is totally irrelevant – HP, Acer, Asus, Gateway, IBM/Lenovo, Sony, Dell

A 13″ Apple Macbook would be ideal in this situation – but don’t expect to find a new one for less than $900.

We can install Office 2007 for you with the company license.

A good place to check for deals on laptops is DealNews – http://www.dealnews.com

hunter greene Brainspiral Technologies, Inc. hunter@brainspiral.com http://brainspiral.com w: 413-458-5755 c: 413-281-4918

On May 12, 2009, at 12:40 PM, Ashley wrote:

> No more than 800 – the ones Ive found are between 550-799. > > On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 12:37 PM, Hunter Greene > wrote: > Hi Ashley – > > No problem. How much $$ do you want to spend? Laptops range from > $400 – $3000. > > > On May 12, 2009, at 11:53 AM, Ashley wrote: > >> Hi Hunter, >> I am in need of a new laptop some time in the near future – and was >> wondering if you had any suggestions. Paul is promoting a mac but I >> cant afford one right now. Ive been looking at HP’s and Sony’s as >> well as Toshiba. I want something that is light – enough to travel >> with, memory for the basics (papers, music, photos ect.) – and wont >> get too hot because its a huge problem Im having with the IBM I >> have now. I dont need all the fancy programs but do need excel and >> powerpoint for school. I dont know really anything about computer >> data and programming ect. but the ones Im looking at have either >> 250 OR 320GB storage, and 3 OR 4 GB memory. So I hope its not a >> bother to ask for your input, but Id really appreciate it. >> Thanks so much, >> Ashley > >