Jan asks this week’s first question, “How can I setup an inexpensive home server for music and documents?”  Jan, your timing is apropos to a job I just finished.  I built a file server using a free computer and a few old hard drives.

Basically a server for your purpose is nothing more than a means to store files at a centralized location.  It will allow multiple users access to the files without having to store them in multiple locations.  File servers can be a very convenient means of storing files without toting them from computer to computer.

Any old computer with decent hard drives will fit the bill.  For my own home music server I picked an older Pentium 3 computer with 256MB of memory.  My hard drives are fairly small; I have a 10GB drive for the operating system and (2) 160GB drives for music.

FreeNAS is an operating system which allows computers to be setup like a server and share the hard drives across the network.  Without getting too detailed, FreeNAS is open source software which is completely free.  It is fairly easy to setup and use and best of all runs on computers that most people throw out.

To avoid clutter, my server is located in the cellar; but, you can put yours where you choose.  It doesn’t require a keyboard, mouse or monitor once it’s setup.  It only requires an Ethernet connection to your router.  There’s plenty of documentation online about FreeNAS and how to interface it with Windows and Mac.  Good luck and have fun.

Samantha asks, “I want to purchase a used laptop for my 15 year old daughter so she can use her iPod and do homework.  Do you have a recommendation?” Well Samantha, you’re asking a fairly common question which has several answers.  I’ll provide some basic guidelines to get you started.

I would suggest purchasing a laptop running no less than Windows XP.  As far as processor, I would also recommend purchasing a computer with no less than 1.6 GHZ of processor speed and 512MB of memory.  This combination will last her a few years and will handle the latest version of iTunes (used for her iPod).  Many machines will handle Windows XP fine; however, the boost in performance will allow your daughter to use the machine for a couple years until she leaves for college.

If you’ve been shopping already, then you’ve probably seen a huge disparity among used machines.  Aside from local merchants, eBay and Craigslist are reasonable places to look.  I did a search for a specific model which meets the requirements I outlined and found prices ranging from $100.00 to $400.00.  Be careful because many vendors will not list the condition accurately.

I am assuming your daughter will be attending post-secondary school or college in a couple years.  Most colleges will dictate the computer she will need.  Nine out of ten times the requirements are very specific and will most definitely be more than is currently available.  My opinion is to spend a few hundred dollars on a decent used machine with the specifications I’ve outlined and use it for  a couple years.

Tech Tip of the week:  I suggest checking your antivirus software at the end of the year to make sure it’s up-to-date and hasn’t expired.  If your software has expired, it’s a good idea to either renew your subscription or install one of the titles you can download and use for free.

(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner.  You can e-mail him at Jeromy@LocalComputerWiz.com or call him directly at (978) 919-8059.)