If your computer starts running slow – I mean reeeeeeal slow – all of a sudden that means your computer has a virus infection, right?

Not necessarily.

Twice in the past week I’ve checked out client computers and identified exactly why their computer was running slower than an old car on a freezing winter morning; they had two different antivirus products installed. A customer this morning had three different internet security products installed.

When I uninstalled the extra antivirus programs and left the computer with just one internet security product, the computer sped right up. Instantly.

With antispyware protection and antivirus products more is not better. Not at all. Less is more. And none at all is bad.

So the next time you notice your computer is running slow check and make sure the parking brake is released; that is to say make sure you’re computer has just one antivirus product installed.

With 2012 well under way some of my clients are probably wondering if RoyalGeeks.Com went of business.

That’s because I didn’t do my traditional holiday calendar mailing at the tail end of 2011.

Since inception, RoyalGeeks.Com maintained a mailing list of all of our clients and did an annual mailing around the holidays. The mailing consisted of a tri-fold full color glossy calendar of the new year. This mailing was made at great expense, I might add. All told it cost close to $1,000 in printing and postage coupled with a good chunk of time to process the mailing and get to the mailbox.

I’m happy to say RoyalGeeks.Com is alive and well. Thriving, actually. With change being what it is, I decided to discontinue the holiday mailing.

It seems unnecessary to mail out a calendar to hundreds of people who already have a calendar two clicks away thanks to their computer. As for keeping in touch, we already do that thanks to this blog, our email newsletter, our Twitter feed and our Facebook page. We all know that thanks to technology it’s never been easier to stay in touch.

So we discontinued the holiday mailing and pocketed an easy $1000 in savings while still maintaining open channels with our clients in many mediums.

Right around the holidays, the news reports of the greeting card business collapsing and the massive loses of the US Postal System make it clear that the handwriting is on the wall: Adapt or die.

Do I still use the Post Office? Sure. I pay a few bills that way. I send out urgent letters via Express Mail or Priority Mail and until transporter technology emerges from the science fiction world of Star Trek and into reality, there’s no other way to send a package.

I use the right tool for the right job. Sometimes it’s scanning a document and emailing it. Other times it’s an overnight delivery when official documents of great importance must arrive at a particular place at a particular time with third party delivery confirmation.

In 2012 I encourage you to use the right tool for the jobs that need doing in your life so you can make your life easier.

Every day I help “seasoned citizens” make the most of their computers which usually amounts to handling pictures, checking email and surfing the web.

Invariably, computer problems crop up which quickly confuses and frequently frustrates grandma and grandpa.

Friends and neighbors, the next time the senior citizens in your life clamor about going online, getting pictures of the grandkids in email or playing Soduko it’s critical you steer them away from buying a computer.

[ Pause to listen to the collective reaction of shock from my audience ]

Simply put, there is no rational reason to buy a computer for grandma and grandpa.

You already know how complicated computers can be. Click this. Open that. Run that. Right-click the other. Reboot.

Right? Right.

That’s all completely unnecessary for 99.9% of the older generation.

So how do you get grandma and grandpa on the web? How do you email them pictures? How do they play Words With Friends?

With a tablet. That’s how.

When I say a tablet I don’t mean a pill. I mean a tablet PC like an iPad 2 or a Kindle Fire.

For a large easy to view screen I suggest you go with the iPad 2. The entry level model comes in at $499 which is about the same price you’d pay for a PC with a monitor. If you’re on a budget the Kindle Fire is hard to beat at $199 but be warned; the Kindle Fire doesn’t do as much and the screen is quite a bit smaller.

Either way — the seasoned citizens in your life get the best of everything they want from the online world with none of the hassle.

Happy holidays!