ON COMPUTERS

Cloud-transfer programs’ effectiveness hazy

We got a pitch to try out a new program from Acronis for moving all your computer’s content to a place in the cloud. Sounds so romantic.

Well, in essence, moving stuff to the cloud is no different than moving stuff to another computer — ‘cause that’s what’s happening. The so-called cloud, no matter who’s offering it, is a big room with lots and lots of computers with lots and lots of hard drives attached. It is a cloud only in a public relations person’s metaphorical imagination.

There are several movers in this line of work, and we got a pitch to try out a new one from Acronis, a wellestablished firm. The object was to move the contents of Bob’s old Windows XP desktop computer to the Acronis cloud in the heavens.

We pause here for an aside: There are lots of Windows XP computers still working out there, even though Microsoft no longer updates or supports them. In fact, the percentage is about the same as the number of computers using the latest Windows 8 system. And further research garnered from the Web revealed that many people using the old XP systems have no plans to junk them. And now … back to our live programming:

After about several hours waiting for Acronis 2015 to install, a message came on the screen: “Acronis True Image 2015 for PC installation failed.” We started over, got the same result. So we dumped it and switched to a 3-year-old copy of PCmover, which you can get in several versions by going to LapLink.comLapLink.com. We used PCmover Ultimate, which sells for $60 on its website. If you do a Web search on PCmover Free, you can get a copy of its basic program for, well, free.

Which brings us to one of our primary tests for any program or piece of hardware we try. Namely, does it work right out of the box? A lot of stuff doesn’t, and even more works only after you consult with someone from technical support. This is not acceptable. If you need a technician to get it going, this product is not ready for prime time.

PCmover Ultimate took 3 ½ hours to transfer our programs and data to a 3-year-old Windows 7 laptop. It worked great on data — not so well on programs. But this is normal for transfer programs. Bob’s favorite version of Microsoft Word (from 2003) didn’t make it; neither did a program called Revo Uninstaller, which is good at getting rid of programs that Windows can’t uninstall. Our favorite screen capture program, CaptureWizPro, made the transfer, along with a couple more, as well as all our documents, pictures, music and settings. It was great to see them on the newer laptop, but these latter groups were just files, and we could have moved them on our own by dragging folders onto a flash drive and then dragging them into a new machine.

GMAIL TIP

Our friend Ida, who is 95, likes to print out her Gmail messages, but the print is often too tiny, and she hates printing the column on the left listing all the folders. We have encountered this tiny print problem once in a while on our machines. But our solution for this — moving the text into Microsoft Word — was too complicated for her, she said. So we tried another solution.

When the mail comes up, click on a message and look for the triangle to the right of the “reply” arrow. A menu appears. Click “print.” The font will be larger now because you’re not shrinking everything to fit on one page, including the sidebar with the names of all the people you’ve ever exchanged mail with.

Others go further, saying to uncheck the “shrink to fit” option in your printer menu. It seems to make sense, but in our tests, part of the message always got cut off. If you’re not printing, but just viewing a Web page on your screen, hold down “Ctrl” and tap the plus sign on your keyboard to enlarge the page.

APPLE WATCH STAND

If we had a newfangled Apple Watch, we’d get the $30 WatchStand from Griffin Technology. It charges and displays the watch and an iPhone on a pedestal that makes the watch look like a jewel.

The iPhone leans against the lower part of the pedestal, and the watch rests on top. During setup, you thread the magnetic charging cable through the post, so it’s invisible. The connector snaps onto the back of the watch. Joy was enchanted; Bob said “eh.”

NUMBERS REPORT

About 40 percent of people who bought fitness trackers, such as Fitbit, stop using them within six months, according to a survey of 5,000 people by NPD Group. Joy stopped using the Misfit Flash after losing it and is only one month into the Garmin Vivofit (original version). The survey claimed people are more likely to use the waterproof and rugged versions. Joy likes how the Vivofit reminds her to get up and move around for two minutes every hour.

YOUTUBE TIP

Our friend Frieda wanted us to see a clip from the Jon Stewart show dealing with Iran. We don’t watch Jon Stewart, so we went straight to YouTube, and there it was. Frieda was so impressed when we told her about it, she started looking for videos near her hometown and found several. So the tip is this: YouTube has practically everything: from old musicals to great documentaries and TV replays. Try it when you’ve missed something and are sorry.

INTERNUTS

FormSwift.com has free legal forms in all categories, including sublease agreements, invoices, vehicle bills of sale, rental applications and so on. This is reminiscent of the old Nolo Press, which was useful and popular 30 years ago.

28 Breathtaking Photos of Lighthouses Battling the Elements. Search on that phrase to find stunning photos.

Play.it is online radio. The CBS program 60 Minutes has all its programs there, so if you missed it on TV, you can listen to the audio tracks.

MyTime.com lets you schedule an appointment online. It’s somewhat limited because it’s so new. We saw mostly haircut, nail and yoga appointments. But it’s better than Yelp in one sense. Yelp, the popular business listing website, lets you send a message to a business, but there’s no appointment scheduling. MyTime also includes prices.

Bob and Joy Schwabach can be reached by email at bobschwa@gmail.combobschwa@gmail.com and joydee@oncomp.com.joydee@oncomp.com.

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