Mid-April

Tuesday is my usual day for posting what I call “Tuesday Tidbits”; tech headlines (or other tech articles) I find interesting.

But this week there are none. At least, not that I noticed.
I found one.

There’s not even any I think you might find interesting (or that I think you ‘ought to know’).

* Now you can download your entire search history from Google

“Earlier this year, Google quietly rolled out a new feature that lets users download their search history.” Read more..

Today’s quote: “Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are travelling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind.” ~ Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Old computer ….

One or two of you might get a kick out of these pictures

The other day I got a call asking me to pick up some “old computers and stuff” for secure data deletion and green recycling (see, Proper Disposal of Old Computer Gear– eWaste). When I got there, I learned what she meant by “old”.. I would have said “prehistoric”!

This unit dates back to the first PC’s.. circa 1990 (actually, toward the end of the first gen era, as it actually has a hard drive [800KHz, 1 MB of RAM, and a 20 MB HHD. That’s right. “Kilo” and “Mega”]) and is a fully working Macintosh SE.

“Welcome to Macintosh”

and roughly two minutes later…

I did shred the user’s data, but this is the unit that basically completes my Apple wing at the Tech Paul Museum. (And it has a darts game that’s kind addicting..)

This Mac SE is easily the oldest unit I’ve ever been asked to recycle. (For those wondering, yes – I plugged it in and it booted right up.)(And no, it’s not the oldest Apple Desktop PC in my museum.)

Remember folks, simply deleting something by dragging it to the Trash (or, Recycle Bin) does not really erase your files. If you want something gone gone, (aka “unrecoverable”) you need to actually write over them (several times) using a “secure delete” tool, such as can be found in Apple’s Disk Utility, or physically destroy the drive.

Today’s quote: “If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business, because we’d be cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Ray Bradbury

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

A couple of software reco’s

It’s kind of odd.. but since I went into semi-Retirement, I’ve been busier than ever.

I have been reminded recently that a couple of free software utilities I use, well, I cannot recall if I’ve ever mentioned them to you guys… as they are rather Geeky (aka not “for everyone”).

* First up is a file copy/transfer utility. TeraCopy isn’t anything fancy, it just makes Windows work like it should, when working with big copy/transfer jobs. It’s free for personal use.

“One of the most common complaints about newer versions of Windows is the slow copying speed, especially when transferring lots of files over the network. If you want to speed up your copying or if you regularly transfer large amounts of data and have to stop the process to perform some other disk-intensive task, this program may be just what you need.” Check it out here.

* Next up is a “boot disc”. Now, most of you will not ever have call for a boot disc, or need to know how to use one, but if you know what they are, and don’t know about UBCD4Win, well I suggest you take a look.

“UBCD4Win is a bootable recovery CD that contains software used for repairing, restoring, or diagnosing almost any computer problem. Our goal is to be the most complete and easy to use free computer diagnostic tool.” Check it out here.

One of the things I use the UBCD4Win most often is to make “images” (backups/”clones”) of a hard drive using DriveImageXML, but you do not need to use a boot disc to take advantage of this free disk imaging/archiving tool. (It is a ‘standalone’ app that’s been bundled onto UBCD.)

“DriveImage XML is an easy to use and reliable program for imaging and backing up partitions and logical drives. Image creation uses Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Services (VSS), allowing you to create safe “hot images” even from drives currently in use. Images are stored in XML files, allowing you to process them with 3rd party tools. Never again be stuck with a useless backup! Restore images to drives without having to reboot. DriveImage XML is now faster than ever, offering two different compression levels. ” Check it out here.

Today’s quote: “Everybody ought to do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice.” ~ William James

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

A Tale of Computer Troubleshooting

I’m a tech. And a one-man Help Desk. And I’ve been one for a long time.. since Windows 95, to give you an idea. The other day I get a call. (No surprise there.)

The caller tells me that when they went to turn on their computer that morning.. the screen is solid black. And they are quite concerned, of course, as they have tons of work to do that needs doing yesterday.

They tell me it’s an old Dell with Windows XP, and, no, (unprompted) they hadn’t visited any naughty sites, nor seen any ‘strange behavior’.

So I ask some questions, and have them try rebooting, you know, I go through the SOP.

They tell me the power light comes on, they can hear the fans, and that it “sounds normal.. there’s just nothing on the screen.” (am I hearing a case of the notorious “black screen”? No, this is a Desktop.)

So what would your diagnosis be?

You might guess the monitor died.. right? That they need to go buy a new one?

Well, I tell the caller that there are several possibilities (causes) as for their ‘black screen’ trouble, either hardware or software, and the only way I could zero in on it would require I have access to the machine (not over the phone), and that in all fairness they should be thinking about buying a new machine instead of repairing that old XP. (I wrote It is time to face facts and finally dump Windows XP way back in early 2011.. 2 years ago now.) Pay me to rescue and transfer their data, not keep a relic alive for another .. who knows how long?

Well, that’s not an option, so can I come over? And .. I don’t have much money.. (why do people always say that..?)

So I go over to their house and quickly verify that, as I suspected, it is not a dead monitor (by plugging one of my own).

See, my first suspect, and line of thought as I was driving over, was that a Windows Update had ‘gotten stuck’. Why? Because the day before the call was ‘Patch Tuesday‘, and Update glitches are a cause of startup failures (and black screens). I knew this last batch of Updates had had some troubles.. as two other calls, the day before, had shown. In short, a software failure.

And I knew there were other possible suspects. I have been doing this a while..

But when I powered up their machine to test my monitor/video cable. I heard something my caller had failed to mention — five long beeps, with a short beep. Which points at hardware. Those beeps are a code, you see, and their number and sequence tell a tech what is wrong (um.. at least, that’s the idea behind POST Beep Codes.)

So I powered up my laptop and went to the Dell website and downloaded the technical manual for that model, and looked up the beep code and discovered that the code I was hearing meant that their problem was a failure with the RAM memory.
Which will also produce a ‘black screen’.

So I looked at the RAM specs and then went out to my car and grabbed my package of 2x 1GB PC3200 DDR modules out of my kit (for just such occasions) and went back in their house, opened the computer’s case, popped out the old RAM and put mine in, and BINGO! — their computer started right up, faster than before. (Because their old modules were only 512 MB’s).

And I charged them $75. (One half-hour labor plus the parts.)

My client was delighted and flabberghasted. They were expecting to pay much, much more.. And they not only were able to get right back to work, but had gotten an unexpected upgrade.

I tell you this story not to blow my own horn, or drum up more clients. I tell you this because my client, upon hearing the bill, expressed what I find to be an extremely prevalent conception out there in “average computer user” land — that technicians are crooks, gougers, and/or incompetent, and/or always tell you to buy a new device.

Or they think they can “Google it”, and fix it themselves.

I tell you that story to try to explain why that conception, out there, common though it be,  isn’t fair to us techs.

We know what to look for (and listen for), what questions to ask, and can (usually) get right to the heart of the trouble and get you back online again in  jiffy. In today’s marketplace, with literally TONS of unemployed IT types willing to fix your computer, we simply cannot gouge in our pricing (were we so inclined).

And if we tell you a part needs replacing, it does. And I (and I’m sure other techs, too) do not profit on parts — we order ’em cheap and pass the saving on to our clients.

.. to test my theory, try googling ‘black screen’. See how many answers you have to read before you find “replace your RAM”.

I know this little story isn’t going to change the world’s view of repair techs but.. if your computer won’t start up, the screen is black, and it’s beeping at you? Be sure to tell your tech about them, won’t you? Have a great day, everyone!

Today’s reco: Windows Repair (All In One) – A GREAT Utility For The Tech Toolbox

“When it comes to computers we can find ourselves getting into all sorts of situations where it is very difficult to assess and fix the problem. For example, a couple of friends of mine recently ran into a situation where the windows updates service was broken on a computer they were working on and they had to resort to researching the matter on the internet in order to get a fix.” Read more..

Today’s quote: “You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” ~ Walt Disney

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Homemade Lizard Cages

And Some Friday Fun

I have had a very.. um, interesting week. And I am glad it is TGIF day.

* This past week blog Comment spammers have been very active.. Which has amused a few of us.

.. and the tech press has been very active proclaiming the Desktop personal computer obsolete and dead.

Also this week, the US Air Force declared six of its “cyber tools” as “weapons”. (Software that packs a real punch, I guess..) If you’re interested, click here.

… But, truth is, the sum total of the week’s news just made me (even more) tired (take control of an airplane with a smartphone app?!?!?!). But there was one item I saw that those of you who are actually trying to use your touchscreen tablets to do some constructive, productive, things with might want to see (as, you know how pointless trying to be productive on a tablet is) CloudOn brings Microsoft Office® to your Tablet Computer and Phone for FREE

“Appears in today’s world of computing we are definitely moving away from the desktop form of computing to the more mobile form of computing, such as tablets and smartphones.” Read more..

I’m in a mind to get this week over with.. it is Friday, so here is your Fun Video (to help pass a few cubicle minutes).

And here’s a cheery thought: you aren’t stuck in a traffic gridlock right now.

And for those of you who want a good tech read, this may be the best “review” of Windows 8 I’ve read in a while.. Microsoft’s Windows 8 approach: Bold, arrogant, or both?

“Microsoft has done many bold things in Windows 8. No one in their right mind would accuse this release of being timid or overly cautious. But plenty of perfectly sane critics have attacked Microsoft for being arrogant, stubborn, and dismissive of legitimate complaints. They might be right.” Read more

Today’s quote: “For disappearing acts, it’s hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work.” ~ Doug Larson

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Posting On An Apple

Well folks, I never thought I’d be typing these (next) words, but I am writing today’s article on a Mac. An “iMac” to be exact.

And the first thing I have to say is, the mouse is okay, but sheeze, this keyboard sucks. Um, I meant, “is really going to take some getting used to”.

And using Apple “apps” is going to take some getting used to as well. For instance, I had a heck of a time finding how to change the size of this JPEG in iPhoto. (Export??!! Really??)

And Safari doesn’t handle the WordPress WYSIWYG editor quite the same as my Windows machines do.

And the “Command” key (the “Apple key”) is in the wrong place. (Same functions as Ctrl on my PC’s.)

Yes. Quite a bit to learn…

But it isn’t as “different” as one might think. Most things are very much the same.

Connecting my webmails to the Apple Mail program was not difficult, and adding my Google Calender to iCal was rather painless, and it’s working (“sync”-ing) fine.

I installed Avast! for Mac on it yesterday, and like it so far. (And it’s free.)

I’ll report more as it happens.

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

New Computer? Decrapify it! (A How To)

If you are one of those lucky people and you now have a shiny new Laptop or Desktop computer, congratulations! There are several things one needs to do with a brand-new computer: the first will be to visit Windows Update, and get the machine ‘patched’ with the latest security Updates. (Click the Start button, click All Programs, and then click Windows Update.)

Then of course, you will spend some time “personalizing” the system — say, giving it your favorite “wallpaper” (or Theme), and installing your favorite programs. And then you want to de-crap-ify your machine.

What I mean by that, is remove (aka “uninstall”) the “trial” programs, and Polar Penguins Bowling games, and “Connect to AOL” crud that the computer manufacturers insist on loading onto the units they sell. This software “free trial” stuff can cause that new machine to slow to a crawl, and sooner or later, fill your screen with annoying pop-ups! (trial is over, buy now!)

Every year I tell you guys that the tool for that is the wonderful PCDecrapifier utility. This little tool gives you a simple and easy way to sweep away all that junk in one action, which saves you from the normal, one-at-a-time, method of Control Panel > Programs and features > Uninstall a program.

Click on image to read PC Decrapifier's "How It Works"

This year, I am also going to tell you that instead of re-inventing the wheel, I will refer you to an illustrated How To on a rival site (How To Clean Up your New Computer With PC Decrapifier). Which means even those of you with not a lot of confidence in your abilities can (read+follow) use this tool.
And I highly recommend you do.

And, if you have simply never gotten around to cleaning that trialware off of your not-so-new machine, well.. it’s not to late.

Today’s (other) reading reco: 2011: A year in review

“The year 2011 saw Android and Apple battling for mobile domination, with patents rivaling technology as the weapon of choice. We watched HP’s soap opera, RIM’s decline, and Netflix’s crash. We said goodbye to Steve Jobs. And the answer to most every question continued to be “the Cloud.” Read more..

Today’s quote: “The more sympathy you give, the less you need.” ~ Malcolm S. Forbes

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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