My DigitalZone

All Right. I restored the factory default from the restore CD that came with my laptop. I had time to back up all my personal files, most of which are music and video files, to an external HD, so there was no loss of data. The restoration process was tedious but not difficult. After the restore, my laptop has been behaving well, and I am determined not to clutter the lap top with lots of evaluation software. (Not sure how long it will last, though.)

I reinstalled most of the programs that I use frequently. I’ve got a few more to go, but I can wait until the weekend.

Toshiba Satellite A305-S6908 15.4-Inch Laptop ($679.99)

My 3-year-old laptop, Toshiba Satelie, started to malfunction. It automatically shuts down after splashing the dreadful blue screen. I thought it could be overheating because I had it on my lap and could feel the heat. After several rounds of rebooting, it still doesn’t work properly. It boots into a normal mode for about 2 min. then, it starts to reboot automatically.

When I booted into a safe mode, it works fine. So, my plan is to do a system restore. At this time, I am copying most of my data to an external HD.

The similar thing happened about a year ago. It became so unstable in a normal mode, so I did the same. Moved the files to an external HD and did a system restore. I know it’s going to be a pain becase I need to reinstall a lot of software but I don’t want to spend too much time troubleshooting this old laptop. I hope I can finish everything over the weekend.

It’s probably about time to replace this though. But I don’t want to buy a new computer with Windows Vista on it. Oh, well. Let’s see what happens after the restore.

Before I cut the cord of a landline telephone, I needed to do a little thinking about the replacement for my regular phone. Should I go cell only or go VOIP? If going VOIP, which service? Finally, I decided to use Skype.

The reasons I decided to use Skype were:

• I’ve already used a free Skype service and was satisfied.
• International calls to certain countries are unlimited for a low fixed rate. The price was $9.95/month when I signed up. They raised a price a few days ago, so now it’s $12.95/month. I make international calls to 2 countries. Even though I use discount phone cards and I don’t call often, it still adds up.
• There is no long term contract. You can choose pay as you go or monthly subsription.

The reason I chose to get a paid service, monthly subscription, is that not everyone I call is capable of computer-to-computer calls. With a flat monthly subscription fees and no hidden/additional taxes and fees, I still save some money since my monthly landphone bills were around $50/month.

Skype to Go
In addition, a “Skype to Go” number comes with a monthly subscription. Essentially, a “Skype to Go” number allows you to make international call from any phone including cell phones. So, I can use my cell phone, my work phone, or my friend’s phone to make international calls by calling a local “Skype to Go” number. I tested it. It works fine and the sound quality is excellent.

Online Number
A “Skype to Go” number comes with a monthly subscription but you need to purchase “online number” if you want a number where other people can call. Since I have a cell phone and a cell phone plan with a plenty of minuites, I didn’t have to buy an online number. But I wanted to have a landphone equivalent for some reason (probably sentimental reasons). The big advantage of having an online number is for frequent international travelers. I purchased an online number that has the local area code. So, as long as I have a computer with Skype installed (my laptop) with me and as long as my laptop is connected to the internet regardless of my location in the world, my friends here can call me by dialing a local number and talk with me. That’s pretty neat.

As a subscriber, I got 50% off of a purchase of an online number, so I paid $30 for a number I can use for a year. That’s $2.5/month. Not bad at all. By purchasing the number for a year, I may have committed myself for a year. But I can cancell my subsription without a penalty and not using the online number I bought fully. This is just so different from cell phone companies’ 2 year contract deal. I think most of cell phone providers charge $175 or so for an early termination of the contract.

Technical Glitch about Sound Card — Solved quickly
After a few days of use, I noticed one very annoying glitch about Skype. If I watch Youtube videos or listen to music on my computer, Skype software stopped responding to calls or could not make outgoing calls saying that “No sound. There’s a problem with the sound card inside your computer.” Every time it happened, I needed to reboot my computer to fix it. It was quite irritating. Then, I checked the audio setting in Control Panel. The default device was set to Total Recorder (software to record sound), so I changed it back to my computer’s audio card. That fixed the problem quickly.

Overall
I am very pleased with Skype. I recommend it for anyone who makes international calls or anyone who goes abroad often.

I finally ditched my landline phone, which I wasn’t using at all. Basically, I was paying extra bills for the thing I didn’t use. Since I was too lazy to register for “Do Not Call,” I was plagued with solicitation calls. So, I just stopped picking up the phone, then those solicitors left messages, making my answering machine a junk box. It was a good move for me to save some money and to get rid of annoyance. I first thought about going cell only but decided to go VOIP. Overall, I am quite happy not to have a landline phone. I should’ve done it sooner. If you are thinking of doing the same, here are some things for you to consider.

Usage Pattern/Activity Pattern of the household

• How big is your family? Does your family have a chatty person who’s on the phone a lot?
• Does your cell phone plan’s minutes enough for your family? Do you go over the cell phone minutes from time to time?
• Do you and your family spend a lot of time at home or you/your family are on the go most of the time?
• How often and how long do you and your family make domestic long distance calls?
• How about international calls?

Home Security System

• Do you have a monitored home security system?
• Does your security company offer a cell-phone-based monitoring?

Cell Phone Signal
Is the cell phone signal strong enough at your home? This is important if you are thinking of going cell only.

Emergency Call (911)
The emergency dispatchers can see the address if the call is made from a landline but they cannot get the exact location from a cell phone call.

Fax
If you need a fax machine at home, you may want to keep the landline. I did a research on this and found out that cell phones do not work with a fax machine. There are alternatives to phone-line based faxing. Now you can fax by email or use a cell phone to take a picture of the document you want to fax. Either way, it’s cumbersome.

I considered all of the above. Since I don’t have a family member who talks a lot/ and for a long time, I decided to ditch the landline.

Suddenly, I found myself looking for a new DVD/CD burner because I physically broke the one I had. I kicked the tray when it was open. My attempt to fix it manually failed, so I needed to get its replacement. The one I broke was Plextor. I don’t remember how long I had it but I loved it because of its reliability. I have been a fan of Plextor for over 10 years, I think. The first-ever CD burner I bought was a crap, which was good at making CD coasters. So, I paid a premium (at the time) and switched to Plextor. That was a good decision. No more coasters.

Now the time has changed, so we use DVD burners. Naturally my first DVD burner was also Plextor. I don’t remember its price except that it was higher than other brand’s. When I searched for a new DVD/CD burner this time around, I was amazed at the prices. Most of them are very very cheap these days. Since I’m rather impatient, I went to a small local computer store and got a cheap one. I was going to get Toshiba but I got LITE ON instead mostly because of the price and the store clerk’s recommendation.

$24.98 at Amazon.com
Lite On IHAP122-04 DVD Burner – 22x DVD+R, 8X DVD+RW, 22x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW, 16X DVD ROM, 48x CD-ROM, 32x CD-RW, IDE

Installation was very easy and there was no glitches. I did pick IDE, by the way. I burned several DVDs and no problem there. I did feel that this unit was a bit noisy but it was not annoying. This came with a newer version of Nero. The new version of Nero is really bloated and a bit sluggish. Overall, I like this product and I recommend it, especially at this price.