I have written other blog posts on this website discussing how to select the right windows PC for your use.  Although focused on users of the Pro-Stitcher software, it applies in general.  A friend has once again asked to watch for 'a deal on a new laptop'. I gave my normal sermon on 'you must get an SSD.'  One trip to the Best Buy website flagged a unique opportunity to compare two very similar laptops offered at the same price.  The process actually took me over an hour and I wanted to document the process.

Laptops will generally respond 30%-40% faster with an SSD.  I consider it a must as you will get a lot for the extra money.  But most often, they will give you a smaller 128G SSD that may not have enough space.  The operating system and programs can use half (60G) of the space.  If you have little data or are willing to learn the OneDrive cloud storage (or iDrive, Dropbox, others) and pay for extra online storage, this is enough space.  The lowest cost laptop with a 256G SSD on Best Buy was over $700.  Our example 128G SSD system is only $480.  Admittedly the more expensive one has a 2-in-1 flexible screen hinge and has a touch screen.  But $220 is a lot of money.

​Review these screen grabs to understand the items I have discussed... 

My techie side got too detailed as I wrote the April newsletter, so I thought I would put this discussion concerning file size and bandwidth into my blog for people that care to read it...

TECHY TALK: To give some perspective...
Ignoring the discussion of a (b)it versus (B)yte and "1K = 1000 or 1024, when we talk about file size in KBytes.  (1000 Bytes)

• A picture on a website is usually less than 100 KB
• A five minute song in MP3 format is 13,000 KB
• The 4-minute low res TV Interview on our website in MP4 is 250,000 KB (or 250 Meg)
• MKs 35-minute Custom cropping video in MP4 format is 2,400,000 KB (or 2.4 Gig or 2,400 Meg)

In a perfect world where you actually get the advertised miles per gallon that was posted on the new car sticker: If you pay for 100 Mb high speed internet, you can download a whopping 12 Megs per second (720 Megs per minute).  Many people have 10 Mb or 50 Mb connections, or even satellite 1Mb.  

Streaming video services like Youtube and Yondo try to detect your screen size and network bandwidth to only send you the resolution that you can support without a lot of buffering.  So your experience will vary depending on your internet connection.

The nice thing about Pro-Stitcher is that you can always 'rollback' to an earlier version.  (I would keep copies of the installation files in a folder somewhere.)  But if you are having a problem, make sure you are running the latest version before calling support.

The short version of this problem is that people find that they can not use their keyboard on a laptop to enter a decimal number in Pro-Stitcher.  For instance, a size of 6.5 inches.  Or a nudge factor of .2.  What is happening is that the onscreen keypad only pops up when you have PS in Touch mode.  If the laptop does not have a dedicated 10-key configuration keyboard, there is no decimal key.  The period key on the normal section of the keyboard does not work as a decimal between numbers.

Considering the investment you make into your longarm quilting machine (or any high-end electronic device), it is strongly recommended that you plug it into an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS).  This device has a battery to keep the device/machine running FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.

Surge Protectors will have electronics to protect electronics against minor fluctuations, but will do nothing to help if the power drops or shuts off.  Your quilting machine will CRASH even though your Pro-Stitcher tablet has an internal battery.  A UPS will switch over to the battery and keep things running FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.  If a power outage lasts more than 30 seconds, you should be immediately shutting down your machine.

While you are running on battery, your UPS will likely beep.  You may even need to reset (cycle the power) the UPS to get it to return to normal power depending on if a surge was involved.  Keep the UPS accessible.

If you experience a long term power outage, it is recommended that you unplug​ your machine and wait until power is restored and stable.  This will avoid potential damage from surges that occur when power first comes back on.

Without getting into the technical details of Volts, Amps, Watts, and Joules...
Purchase a UPS that has a "600VA" or higher rating.  The higher the number, the longer the machine and/or devices connected to it will stay running.  Buy larger systems if you plan on supporting more than one machine.  Some of the larger units may have more than one battery.  The manufacturer is not important in most cases.  The APC brand is generally considered the standard.  If you have free shipping through Amazon, you can buy online.  However the cost and regulations with shipping batteries can add cost, so it is likely an item you want to buy from a local store.

Test your UPS by simply unplugging the UPS from the wall while your equipment is running.  If you want to get fancy, many UPS devices come with a UPS cable that can be attached to a PC for testing and monitoring.  (I find this more hassle than it is worth.)

Expect to need to replace the batteries every two to three years.  Eventually the UPS will give a warning that the battery is bad.  Find a local battery store and swap out the internal battery instead of buying a whole new unit.  If you don't have a store nearby, it will likely be cheaper to buy a full new unit than pay shipping on the battery by itself.

17.09.0433 Update Display Fix
I thought I would make a separate post about the recent fix for those who upgraded to update *433 and ran into a problem where the red cross-hairs and any design you tried to load would not display. (You would get an initial flash of the cross-hairs.)
As we currently understand it, the Monitor Size setting is being set to zero/zed/0 for the Width and Height. After updating to *433, you should go to the config/settings (gear tab) and when 'Display' is selected, you will see the Window and Monitor size settings. (See picture.)
The Window size is in pixels (dots) and should change automatically as you resize your PSP window. The Monitor Size can be set manually by measuring - in inches - your screen size.
Editing these values is a bit odd...
1. Highlight and delete what is there.
2. Using the number keys at the top of the keyboard, enter then number of inches for Width and Height. (on my keyboard, the numberpad does not work and I can not use a decimal value in the Width value.)
3. Hit 'Enter' to commit the change to each field.
4. Clicking on the default word/button should set it to the proper screen size, but for some computers it is not working.
I can not reproduce the problem because it will not accept a zero value on my system.

When you are trying to get the license key for Simulator on your laptop, many people will go to the Pro-Stitcher Premium on their tablet and the Create Simulation License does not show up.  You need to shutdown Premium and run Standard before the button appears.

I will post my full personal version of installation instructions on another blog entry.  But to find and run the Standard version on your tablet - if there is not an icon - follow these steps.

1. Exit to desktop - close Pro-Stitcher Premium
2. Find the yellow folder shaped icon and click/tap on it to open the File Manager.
3. Open the C: drive - (This may vary depending on tablet version.)
4. Open the "Program Files" folder
5. Open the "Pro-Stitcher" folder
6. Open the "bin" folder
7. Run the "PsLauncher.exe" program.  This will start Pro-Stitcher Premium.

Notes on using a touch screen:
You may need to double-tap a file/folder name to do a "left click".  If you hold your finger on the item for too long, a menu will appear as if you did a "right click".

Use only one USB key in your tablet when trying to transfer a simulation key.  Otherwise Pro-Stitcher may not find the file that your laptop version wrote.  To be safe, insert the USB key into the tablet port before starting Pro-Stitcher Standard.

This post is not to defame this add as being a bad deal.  You are probably getting an ok deal, but I wanted to point out some key red flags that a novice might miss.  You can refer to my previous blog post on selecting a laptop as well.  Click the 'read more' below to find out my concerns.

I made a post to the Pro-Stitcher Sim group about how removing Norton Anti-virus improved the stability of PSP.  There are plenty of people that do not have issues with Norton and I am not going to criticize anyone for using it.  Just make sure that you are getting the updates that come out weekly.  Most companies charge you a subscription charge to keep this up to date.  If you do not update, all you are doing is disabling the native anti-virus program, Defender.  Anti-virus protection goes stale without regular updates.

What has changed over the past year or two is that many established industry nerds are now saying, "You only need to use the native Defender anti-virus in Windows 10."  I have been running my main PC at home without a third party anti-virus program for several years.

So my arguments for avoiding third party anti-virus programs are...

1. Cost.
2. The programs normally effect overall performance.
3. The anti-virus programs can cause issues with other programs.

If you want a free anti-virus, google Avast or AVG.  But even these will nag you to purchase a pay version.  If you have pre-teens and teens using the computer, you should probably pay for additional protection that also include parental monitoring.  

Leave comments below.  "From my keyboard to yours... happy computing."

I had noticed that a small window would momentarily open and close on my screen every hour or so.  It was almost a flash it went away so fast.  What was it?!?  I ran Malwarebytes and it did not find anything.  I looked for odd programs in my startup list.  Did I have a virus?

After 5 minutes searching Google for a current article on a similar problem, I found the answer...
​

The issue affects MS Office users.  I basically pay $99/yr for up to 5 computers that can run the Microsoft Office Suite of applications.  My two essentials are Outlook for email and Word for a word processor.  You also get 1TB of OneDrive space for each of 5 users.  Not a bad deal for a family or a small group of friends.

The good news is that the next update to the MS Office product will fix the problem:

• This issue is fixed starting with build 16.0.8201.2025 which is now available as the latest update for those participating in the Office Insiders Slow program. It will be included in a future update for those not participating in Insiders.

Don't forget to become a member of the MK Quilts IT Support Services if you don't want to have to worry about maintaining your own system.