Gadgets Gizmos Gossip

People use gadgets in the home all of the time and most of the time without even noticing that they are using them. For example just thinking of a few options for this post took some time and effort because you just don’t realise how much gadgets control our lives.

Consoles

Video game consoles are huge and if you don’t own one then you are in the minority. Whilst they range from the very family friendly Wii console to the more hardcore Xbox 360 (although not so much with Kinect out now) they are a fantastic addition to any home and will keep you entertained for hours. Just look at the variety of games that are out from the Xbox 360 alone, you have Kinect Sports to Homefront and Halo Reach to Kinectimals.

PC

I can’t even think of someone that I know (Nan not included) that doesn’t own a PC or a device that connects to the internet. People use computers for everything nowadays including shopping, wasting time, banking, wasting time, playing games and oh yes, wasting more time. If you haven’t even got a computer in the home then you are way behind the times, unless of course you own an iPad then of course you are truly tech savvy.

Remotes

Again we don’t seem to realise just how much we use a remote control to help us in life. I am not just talking about the television here either although this is the best case of proving just how lazy us humans are. Remotes are also used for lights, curtains, beds, temperature changes and even ovens proving that we can truly have the whole world in our hands, at least until the batteries run down.

Alarm Clock

Although a lot of people use their mobile phone for their wake up call nowadays it is still safe to say that the alarm clock is an essential home gadget. Not only does it wake you up in the morning (boo) but it wakes you up to your favourite radio station (yeah). Of course if you are really clever you can hook up your iPod to an alarm clock to play only your own music (double yeah).

Have you got any other top gadgets that you think people use in the home pretty much every single day? Let us know in the comments.

Common advice is that you do not need to run a registry cleaner with the newer Microsoft operating programs such as XP and Vista.  These operating systems are based on Windows NT instead of the registry, and it follows that invalid registry keys should not slow your computer down.

Malware such as adware and spyware might affect your registry file. Even if you are using XP or Vista, removal of these malware programs might leave bad or corrupt registry keys that affect your PC’s speed and performance.

If your favorite software programs take a long time to load or are not running correctly, you might need to check out the registry.

Microsoft’s operating systems come with a function called ‘regedit’ that you can access from the ‘start/run’ command.  When you run the regedit program, you will be presented with the contents of your registry folder.  Using the regedit program, you can identify the bad keys and remove them directly from the registry.

The average, non-technical computer user may take one look at the registry file, get confused by all the apparent gobblygook, and give up on trying to understand what the registry keys mean.  Fortunately, there are some software programs available for free or for a small price that will identify any bad keys.  Most of these programs will give you a choice. The first option is to let the registry cleaner software automatically delete any bad keys. The second option allows you to select the invalid keys that should be deleted.

Be cautious about downloading and installing free registry cleaners or antivirus programs.  A few of these free programs might have adware or other malicioius code packaged within them that will create trouble for you down the road.  If you are on a tight budget and prefer freeware, use a trusted directory such as cNet that will verify that your download is trojan and virus free.

If your software programs are not running efficiently, visit the NotGuru blog‘s computer tips section, where you will find a step-by-step tutorial on how to clean your registry.  The tutorial includes written instructions and screen shots that can be printed out for future reference.  It also recommends trusted registry cleaner software.

As broadband is marching on into the future it was announced yesterday that a third of homes in the UK still do not have access to the internet! According to ONS’s 2008 Internet Access report 65% of all homes have no internet access what so ever. This is an increase of 1.23 million households in 2007. At a time where the web design industry is going through the roof it is hard to actually believe that some homes still dont want/need an internet connection.

A creative design agency in London added to the debate on the site topic by saying that the reason people still dont have an internet connection is because some of the products are far too expensive and un-accessible for lower class families. However, the computer in general are pushing to make comupters more affordable. The prices for bog standard personal computer are dropping as low as £150.The South East of England are the most connected region in UK to be connected to the internet, swiftly followed by London. Northern parts of the UK are falling below average by only having 54% of homes connected. There is no doubt in my mind that the divide between the North and South is getting bigger. The percentage gap between houses in South and North who were connected to the net was 12% in 2006. Now it has grown rapidly to 20% in just two years.

Personally I think that it is difficult for poor familie s to afford luxury items such as computers. But with the current advancement of technology it is enabling manufactures to produce PC’s for cheaper which will ultimately drop the retail price. Thus making it easier for people to purchase.