Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with recommendations and computers

Distant Education Recommendations? (esp ones that offer IT BA Programs)

premo — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:07:18 -0800

Distant Education Recommendations? (esp ones that offer IT BA Programs) I'm looking for any distance education that has teachers, councilors and staff that CARE. A program new or old that is high tech and streaming video feed of lectures would be nice. If you received some distance education that is worth mentioning and you've enjoyed it or even better you've done 2 different schools online. PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Thanks. About ME:
I'm 27 working professional in SF, CA and looking to further my career in IT or Computer Science. My work pays for $5K annually for any educational purposes, I can afford maybe 7-8K annually without looking into loans. Low cost would be nice.

I've been to University of Phoenix and it was horrible. In 1 years time I had 6 different councilors and there's so much turmoil behind the scenes that it negatively affects the whole school. Plus its EXPENSIVE.

Websites for the elderly?

Rock Steady — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 09:41:48 -0800

What websites will my 80-year-old grandfather love? I'm hooking my elderly grandfather up with his first computer, and I'd like to pre-load a bunch of neat websites for him. He loves science and history, but anything interesting or fun would be great.

The sites must be free, should not require personal information during registration/sign-up (he's already a bit paranoid about the whole Internets thing) and should be easy for a new denizen of cyberspace to navigate.

Similar applications/utilities would also be appreciated (i.e. Google Earth, Skype, etc.).

Let's make this great-grandpa l33t!

Computer repair in Chicago

corpse — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 07:04:07 -0800

It's almost impossible to google this, but do any Chicago folks know some good computer repair shops? I've have a pc that as kept killing harddrives, and stupidly, I thought I was just having bad luck with HD's. It's beyond my hardware troubleshooting skills and I don't really have time to deal with this.

I need a place that would also help me with some data recovery, I have backups, but I really don't want to start over again with my last backups.

Far northside prefered, if possible. Thank you.

Gadgets Around the World

Hash — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 10:59:51 -0800

The family and I will emabark on a 8-9 month world trip in August. This trip will occur mostly in the developing world. Despite reading all kinds of advice about leaving behind the gadgets, we intend on taking a basic 12" laptop, a cell phone and a PDA. Should We take a leap into the unknown or should we stick to the safe and familiar"? [MI] We have fairly basic needs. We want to have reference and education ware to help teach our kids (9 and 8 year old).
We will also use the laptop for entertainment(movies and games)and to store our journals and pictures. I'm keen on learning a new platform but I'm worried that I won't be knowledgeable enough to deal with the invevitable problems that come up. Also with being mostly unconnected, I won't have access to help.

Help me find a lightweight laptop for basic lab work

Mossy — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 17:22:23 -0800

I'm looking for a light laptop (< 4lbs) to do basic work when at labs. cd/dvd a bonus (not required), hd > 10 Gb, RAM ideally >= 256 Mb, wireless inbuilt or pcmia slot. Budget ~$500. Extendable battery availability would be nice. Does anyone have any recommendations on good 2nd/3rd gen models?

Recommend a laptop

foxy_hedgehog — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 14:17:57 -0800

Despite my fear of unleashing a deluge or being castigated for not paying attention to previous posts, I would greatly appreciate some counsel with regard to an upcoming laptop purchase. Previous posts on this haven't addressed some of the issues that I'm juggling, so please bear with me. (More inside) Right now I’m trying to write my dissertation on a cranky, dysfunctional Dell Inspiron that I bought two years ago for the low price and for the lure of tech support. I consider the purchase to be one of the bigger mistakes of my life, and now regularly stick pins in my Michael Dell voodoo doll to make up for it. My current Dell lemon is a replacement they sent to replace the data-eating nightmare I originally purchased from them (they agreed only after taking several years off my life). I’ve come to the conclusion that since tech support seems to be a joke in this industry regardless of the brand involved, I need to make my next purchase based on the inherent quality of the hardware.

I’m agnostic on the Mac/PC issue, and don’t have any particular brand preferences, but I do have some constraints. I’m in academia, and many institutions of higher learning seem to be PC-centric. I take my laptop out and about to do archival research, so it needs to be light. And while I adore flash movies, all I really need to do on my computer is make footnotes and read blogs (I watch DVDs on the current one, when it’s not crashing or refusing to start, but I think that’s part of what’s making it so heavy)..

I’m willing to spend money for a machine that will allow me to complete graduate school without erasing my homework or driving me to drink.

I know this question must sound quite naïve, but I’m just trying to make the best consumer choice possible. I am very grateful for any and all advice.

Useful Windows diagnostic and troubleshooting utilities for house calls

mcsweetie — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 20:07:43 -0800

I'm compiling a disc of useful windows diagnostic and troubleshooting utilities for when I have to make house calls for friends and relatives. what are some maybe lesser known tools that you guys have found particularly useful? freeware would be nice, but not necessary.

Seeking books about human-computer interaction or user interface design

jeb — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 11:10:47 -0800

Has anyone ever read any books, etc. about human-computer interaction or user interface design that were particularly worthwhile? I'm working on a fairly complex windows app and obviously, I want the UI to be 'good'. In the past, things I've read about UI design and HCI I've found to be...not that helpful. Even Tufte's chapters on computers I thought were weak (active window should definitely always be yellow?). I'm looking for insight that is beyond the 'obvious thing we decided to fancify with a name' realm (Fitt's Law). IDEO says, 'prototype early, prototype often', which is fine and I intend to follow that advice, but is there any sort of reference work out there worth reading that will help prune the space of possible prototypes?

Recommendations for trustworthy Adware cleaners

limitedpie — Fri, 05 Mar 2004 07:53:25 -0800

As embarrassing as it is to confess, I am not very sophisticated with computers and technology. Recently my computer has become the eager droid of "purityscan," which (to my never ending frustration and dismay) opens a few hundred pop-ups per hour. I Googled for the best spy/pop up removal software, but I am unable to tell the good guys from the bad guys. I downloaded and ran "adaware" but now that they have identified "368 spyware components" on my computer they want $30.00 to remove them. I have no problem paying to end this problem, but I do not want to pay for dreck or pay evil extortionists who create the problem and then sell the solution. So: Which software is best, from an honest company, to fix this loathsome problem?

Switcher recommendations?

mmangano — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 16:53:40 -0800

Just made the switch to Mac OS X (12" Powerbook) -- my first Apple. For the Mac crowd -- any "standard build" recommendations? Favorite app, apple script, etc that I should be checking out? Just installed Office, but that's about it so far.....

Recommend a good laptop case for a 15" PowerBook

jed — Mon, 29 Dec 2003 09:52:51 -0800

I'm looking for a laptop case for my PowerBook Ti 15". I'm trying to find a basic sleeve which I can stash in a larger bag (so that I don't scream "steal this laptop" in France), but I still want a good deal of protection. Does anyone have any recommendations? I already ruled out Tumi because their sleeve is too small for the Ti 15".

Help me build a desktop

Grod — Tue, 23 Dec 2003 11:03:53 -0800

I want to build a desktop computer for under $500 (not including the monitor) if I can manage it. The catch is, I need quite a bit of power. Right now I'm looking at Athlon 64, but this will be the first computer I've built, any advice\experience is appreciated. [more inside] I intend to use it primarily for graphics, both traditional (photoshop, Corel Painter, illustrator, flash, etc) and 3D (most likely 3ds Max 6, because Max is what I'm most familiar with).
Since I am a poor student I'd like something that can be upgraded over time, and is powerful enough now that I won't feel compelled to upgrade for at least a year.
I know the biggest exspense will be the video card, and maybe the ram, but I don't know much else. Thanks.

What is the (price no object) ideal computer set-up?

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 06:48:32 -0800

I married into a large family. Our favourite nephew will be 18 on the 19th of January 2004. He's computer-mad and savvy enough to fulfill all our needs. We've all agreed (around 40 relatives) we'll chip in to give him the best system that has ever been had. We need to know what's the best possible combination of computer; printer; broadband connection for someome who's passionate and obsessed. What is the (price no object) ideal set-up?