What a Well-Dressed Computer Wears for Halloween

My favorite guy, Steve at DanvilleComputerDoc.com, built me a brand new custom machine this week. (Probably because he was tired of hearing a string of colorful obscenities every time I had to wait for a program to load — but I prefer his explanation: That he wanted me to be able to work without frustration). Now, I have a fancy new machine that boots in about three seconds flat — that’s right, from “push the button” to “what do you want to do first?” Three SECONDS flat. 🙂

What’s it got under the hood?

• AMD Quad Core A10-Series APU A10-6800K with Radeon HD
• An MSI Motherboard
• 16 Gigs of Ram (he offered me 32, but I didn’t want to be greedy)
• 120 Gig Samsung 840 EVO SSD – Where all my programs live (see below)
• 1TB Traditional HD – Where all my data lives! – that I hope to replace later with 1TB Version of the Samsung SSD when I’m a bit richer.
• Blueray Disk Drive (RW) – will write Blueray, DVD and CD’s (woot!)

I still plan to get:

• A Fancy Case – He built it in an existing case, until I find the perfect case…which could take awhile.
• Speaker system (preferably with the woofer and a couple satellites) – For now I’m rocking my V-MODA Crossfade Headphones – because I adore them!
• Wireless card (which is already on order)
• Card with a strip of USB 3.0 plugs to add to the front of the case
• Two large monitors (with a third to be ordered later) – I’m eyeing the Viewsonic LED 24-Inch Widescreen LED Monitor with Full HD 1080p model as a possible contender. Of course I’d probably have to get a bigger desk to hold three of those, oh bother. 🙂

Less than 24 hours into the new system, I have the setup almost finished! Everything loads up so QUICKLY! The programs that are good enough for me to reload onto my fancy new machine include:

• Windows 7 Professional – Operating system because I despise Windows 8 and I’m tired of fighting compatibility issues with the iMac Dual Boot system I was running.
• Microsoft Office – Because it’s easier than fighting the compatibility issues between clients running different versions of Office and other opensource alternatives (but I still love OpenOffice)
• 1Password – to keep all my passwords in one place so I can always find them, change them regularly and never be at a loss for what username/password combination I used.
• Evernote – To help me keep up with all the notes I take, and be able to access them from my Nexus pad, my smartphone, my desktop, or my itty-bitty Wicked ultrabook.
• Dropbox – For things that I share with clients and mutual folders to coordinate efforts and end products in the cloud.
• Mighty Text – a great little program that lets me respond to text messages on my computer, so staying in touch with clients, family and friends doesn’t require typing on a smartphone.
• timerSync – This keeps my Freshbooks timer readily available and does not crash it if/when a browser crashes. Love this thing!
• 7-Zip – Best compression and unzipping software around — and it’s free!
• VLC – My favorite multi-format video player.
• PaperPort 14 – Helps me to organize all the digital “paper” in my office and for clients. I use this in conjunction with my Epson Pro GT-S50 Document Scanner, (which I can’t recommend highly enough!)
• OmniPage Ultimate – OCR software that saves HOURS in conversion time and saves my clients money too.
• QuickBooks Pro – Total PIA piece of software, but necessary for the storefront of DanvilleComputerDoc to keep all the records immaculate. I hate QuickBooks. I don’t think I’ll ever get over that, but it’s getting easier to use, finally!
• Google Drive – Cloud storage for my business files and for those projects I share with Steve on mutual clients. Makes keeping things organized a little easier. I pay the monthly fee to have enough storage and to never worry about running out.
• Filezilla – FTP program for web work.
• Google Hangouts – the IM program that replaced Google Talk, which is how most clients and subcontractors chat with me.
• Adobe Master Collection CS6 – Because sometimes Photoshop alone isn’t enough 😉

It’s been a few years since I bought a kick-ass machine. It’s going to be nice to finish tricking this one out and be the envy of all the techies in my life! 🙂