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General Computer Tips

Does that computer have enough hard drive space?

hard drive propertiesWhile counseling a customer on buying a new computer recently, the customer asked if a 500 gigabyte drive was ok compared to another a computer that had a 640 GB hard drive. Other than hard drive capacity, the machines were pretty equal. Unless the person plans to store their 2000 album music collection, edit feature length movies, or are designing the next skyscraper for Dubai, I have them go through this simple exercise:

  1. Double-click My Computer
  2. RIGHT Click the Hard drive icon (usually designated as the C drive)
  3. Click Properties

When the pie chart appears, I ask them to tell me what the total capacity of the drive is (in the woman’s case I was helping today, it was 20 GB), then I ask them to tell me how much of the drive is being used (the blue part of the chart and in this woman’s case it was 8 GB). Then I ask them how long they have used the computer and in her case it was 6 or 7 years.

The demonstration solidifies the answer for them and will for you too if you need to decide what kind of hard drive capacity is needed when buying a new computer.

Mozy Online Backup Redux

Last spring I introduced you to Mozy Online Backup. I have been using the service for more than a year now and couldn’t be happier. In that time, I helped many clients (individuals and businesses) sign up as well. The service works great, offers peace of mind, and is extremely affordable. If you haven’t read my original article about Mozy, make sure to read it and then watch the video on how to set it up. Like insurance, you hope to never use it, but you will be awfully happy when need it.

You can do what I do

Smart RabbitI love learning. My goal is to learn something new every single day I open my eyes. Luckily, I learn multiple new ideas, techniques, or facts every single day. When it comes to my job troubleshooting computers, I believe anyone can do it if they follow the formula I use.

  1. You need to be able to be able to learn and learn quickly. Computers, software, peripherals and the infinite combinations of them change at a rapid pace. Learning to be flexible and adaptable is a must.
  2. Remember and/or document solutions that you discover so you can use them again. 
  3. Work with as many different computers and situations as possible. Every computer is different than the next because of the way they are configured, what software is installed, whether the software has been updated, what security packages are installed, and more make every computer a unique challenge. The more of them you work with, the better your foundation becomes for the next one.
  4. Read as many online troubleshooting blogs, tech newsletters, support pages, and magazines as you can possibly digest. And again, document and/or remember the information that you deem the most helpful or applicable to everyday computer users.
  5. Hone your Internet searching skills (I use Google almost exclusively) so you can quickly find answers to problems you may have not yet encountered. When I say hone your skills, I mean learn how to properly word a search phrase and re-word it if necessary. Learn how to quickly scan the results of a search for the most logical and applicable result. Learn how to use tabs in your browser to make your searches and reading even faster. Learn how to discern which possible solutions apply to your specific situation. And finally, learn how to properly implement the solution you just found.
  6. Learning to carry out a solution requires that you to learn how to safely and properly make use of tools like Windows Device Manager, the registry editor, the command prompt, task manager,  computer management tool, anti-virus, and anti-spwyare scans to name a few.
  7. Always keep track of the steps you take as you work towards a solution. By keeping track and leaving yourself some bread crumbs, you can often back track if a solution results in a dead end and you need to star over.
  8. And most importantly, follow Harry Callahan’s (Clint Eastwood) advice, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” Computer problems can eat up more time than a late night infomercial. Know when to walk away and re-evaluate a situation.

I’ve laid out most of the steps and techniques I use every day to solve computer problems. Feel free to use them and develop your own skills. When you decide that you need more help, follow Callahan’s advice and then call in the professionals.

3 Important Steps to practice when confronted with a computer problem

Throughout my week I receive many exasperated calls from computer users and encounter flustered users when I visit their home or office. In the almost 13 years that I’ve been helping people with their computers, I have found that many problems can be resolved quickly IF the following three steps are practiced:

Curbside Recycling

When I help people setup a new computer, camera or printer, the standard question asked by the new gadget owner is; “What shall I do with the old one?” I think that the value of tech curbside recycling is highly undervalued.

Curbside recycling involves hauling your old hardware out to the curb and just leaving it there. In most moderately busy neighborhoods (HOA’s rules aside), a piece of technology on the street will be snapped by a collector or hobbyist in less than 48 hours and often much quicker. The item gets reused or put to work in someway, you didn’t have to fret about where to take it and haul it long distances, and the device more than likely won’t end up in a land fill…a win-win-win situation.

What version do I have?

One of the first questions tech support people will ask you if you have problems that need solved is what version of Windows you are using and what version of the program you have a question about you are using. Fortunately, finding out the answer takes just a few steps:

Locating your Windows version

  1. Click Start
  2. RIGHT Click the My Computer icon (or Computer icon)
  3. Click Properties
  4. The System Properties screen appears telling you not only what version of Windows you are using, but also how much RAM (temporary memory) you have and how fast your computer’s processor is. 

or, you can push the Windows key + the Pause/Break key on your keyboard to get the same screen  

Locating the name and version of any program

  1. Start any program
  2. Click Help from the menus in that program
  3. Click About
  4. The program’s information screen will appear telling you the official name of the program, its version number, and sometimes the programs support web site address and/or phone number.

Use this handy tip to gather important information about your computer before calling for help to save yourself and your computer helper time.

 

AVG Antivirus 8.0 Upgrade Advice

The past few days calls and emails started filtering in about the new AVG 8.0 version folks have seen appear on their free versions of AVG Antivirus. The common query is, “Should I upgrade?” No, home users of AVG Antvirus do not need to upgrade at all. The current free version of AVG will continue to be updated and as… Read More »AVG Antivirus 8.0 Upgrade Advice

Slow computer? Viruses? Malware? I can help!

After almost 13 years of battling security problems on Windows machines, I’m finally seeing the light of day and recommending Mac’s and Linux for many computer users. It will be a long journey convincing people that there is life beyond Microsoft.

For those who bang away with Microsoft Windows computers,and have problems with Slow Computer Disease (SCD), pop-ups, viruses and other problems, I present the following sage advice:

I’ve learned that when it comes to spyware/adware (THE major cause of SCD), if it takes more than an hour to troubleshoot and solve, you will be WAY AHEAD of the game to:

1. Backup your data
2. Reformat the system, and resinstall Windows

Using your backups

This weekend, an emailer asked the question of how to use the backups that we describe on our site. An excellent question I’m sure others have had as well.

Over the years, I laid out step-by-step methods for backing up your email address book, favorites/bookmarks, and even your email. To use these backups, simply use the “Import” function to bring them back into a new installation of a program or even a new computer.

How to fill out a PDF form with your computer

I fielded a call from a client today who wanted to know how to transfer a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) form he received via email to Microsoft Word so he could fill it out using his computer, save it, then email it back. My short answer was that he couldn’t do it.

Technically, it can be done through a series of computer hocus-pocus, Jedi mind tricks, a great deal of knowledge about the Windows clipboard, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Word and a lot of time. Knowing that this client didn’t have these tools at his disposal, I elected to tell him that it couldn’t be done.

Adobe Acrobat forms (PDF files) are not easy to edit or annotate because the purpose of a PDF is to preserve the formatting and integrity of the original document. Some PDF form designers can make their forms fillable using our computers, if they choose to do so. For example, many government sites like the IRS have forms that can be downloaded and printed or filled out right from our computers. Again, these forms are designed this way and not all PDF forms can be filled in via computer.

It bothered me all day that I still didn’t know of a better solution for this common question; how to fill in a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) form on the computer. I did some research tonight and found that our new favorite PDF reader (Foxit Reader) has this capability built-in (see illustration). However, the free version will let you fill it in, but if you save, print, or email the filled in form, it will have some verbiage along with it stating that the feature is a pay feature. If you pay Foxit $40, you can use the feature and not have the trial verbage printed on your form. If you need to fill out a lot of PDF forms, this looks to be a great solution.

I write and talk about Web 2.0 all the time and lo-and-behold there is a