One of the things people spend most of their time doing with their computer is troubleshooting. For instance, I have been having some trouble with this new theme constantly switching back to the old theme. I don’t know why it is doing that so I have been wrestling with the stupid website to get it to work. In this situation I’m going to guess that you do one of two things. Continue Reading →
Windows XP and Windows Vista both subscribe to this general idea that suspend mode is the best thing that ever happened to computers. The problem is that it doesn’t work yet.
Standby/Suspend is a mode that puts your computer into a very low power level (but not completely off.) Continue Reading →
There are five tests for determining a spectacular anti-virus program.
1.) Effectiveness on the large & small scales
For an anti-virus program to be beneficial to you or your business it needs to be able to protect you from viruses. That seems like a no brainer but the number of viruses that slip past some of the more popular anti-virus tools out there is really quite amazing. Your anto-virus tool needs to protect your computer from viruses, but you should also know that it protects many computers from viruses. It is hard to get this kind of information because you’d have to have experience from many systems and an understanding of the environment they are in. Asking your friends and family for their experience with viruses (not the anti-virus software) will show you how effective their anti-virus software is for them. Get a sampling of what people are using and then see how effective it is. Also, browsing the net for answers can’t hurt. Continue Reading →
In the past two posts we have seen that Magic is a very bad thing for your computer. Why? Because magic is simply a lack of understanding.
In my last post I showed that if we don’t understand, then we can’t fix a problem. I specifically mentioned that all that is left is trial and error. Continue Reading →
From my last post it would seem that Magic wouldn’t be so bad for your computer — but I have bad news for you.
Ironically, right before writing this post, I got a call. A friend and client of mine was having trouble with Microsoft Word (Word and windows practice a LOT of magic.) The issue was that word crashes right when it is opened. I am not sure he was even seeing anything. I couldn’t give him a good answer on the phone because I couldn’t see the computer and there were no good methods online to give me an adequate solution to the problem. Why? Because no one has a clue what is going on behind the scenes with Microsoft Word except for Bill Gates and his cronies. It is, for all intensive purposes, magic that word even opens in the first place. So there is no explanation other than trial and error for Microsoft products. Continue Reading →
I have no idea how to introduce this, so I’m just going to get right to the point. Harry Potter and your computer both practice magic. Now that I said that, please don’t stop reading yet. First you need to know what magic is.
Magic is actually a Programming Term
The raw definition of “magic” is “something which we do not understand.” A magician is someone who does things which are not normal and don’t fit into our perception of what should happen in the world. Things disappearing, fire coming from no visible source of energy (e.g. coming from a wand), doves flying out of an empty hat, the list goes on. Magic is things that we can’t explain. Continue Reading →
If you are setting up to upgrade your wireless network to the new Wireless N that has flooded stores, don’t. Wireless N has not even been completed as a standard. I guess they just couldn’t wait to start raking in the bucks. Continue Reading →
The first thing I usually do on a tech support call is to check to see that the computer I’m working on doesn’t have spyware active on it. Many computer problems seemed to be caused by spyware and the world would be a better place without it.
When I run this sweep the people I’m working with usually ask me “What is spyware?” This is what I answer: Continue Reading →
When I first started working for a PC Repair business my boss gave me a sure-fire way to tell the difference between a hardware problem and a software problem. Hardware means hundreds or thousands of dollars, software just means finding the bug to fix it.
It is as simple as this: Continue Reading →
“Because technology works for you, not the other way around.”