Install | Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners

Posts Tagged: install

Troubleshooting 101

By now many of you have figured out that computers are unruly beasts. They seem to be fine one day and schizophrenic the next. As a person who troubleshoots computers for a living, I’m going to let you in on a little trade secret.

When something on your computer seems to be a little left of center, stop and ask yourself three questions:

Have I installed or deleted any software (computer program) in the last day or so?
Have I installed or uninstalled any hardware (mouse, scanner, printer, camera, etc) in the last day or so?
Have I shut down and restarted my computer in the last day or so?

If you answer ‘no’ to all three questions, then shut down your computer for a minute or so and then restart it. An overwhelmingly large percentage of the time, this action alone will correct the flaw.

If you answered ‘yes’ to question one or two, then retrace your steps and make sure that everything installed as planned, or try uninstalling (or reinstalling) the most recent item and see how your computer reacts. If it works fine, then one of the new items added (or items taken away) has caused the problem..

If problems are still occurring and you use Windows XP, try using System Restore which I describe here.

And finally, ALWAYS check your computer cables. Cables can be jostled loose through moving a computer or animals wagging their tails or becoming entangled in the mess of wires. Making sure they are securely plugged in cures many a compute ailment. Just remember to shut the computer off before checking the plugs.

Magnifying Your Screen

With today's higher resolution screens, some computer users have trouble making out some items on the screen. Microsoft has a built-in screen magnifier that works OK, but isn't perfect or necessarily intuitive. Recently, I found a great application, called the Torian Screen Magnifier , that magnifies any portion of your screen by simply moving the on-screen magnifying glass over the area you want magnified. It is simple and elegant in its implementation. If you need to magnify your screen, I highly recommend this helpful utility.

If you are told that you need .NET when installing Torian Magnifier, you can download .NET here .

The only problem using it that I've run into is that it will not work with Windows Vista if you have the Areo graphics enabled, and exiting the program doesn't works so well with the mouse. The quickest way to exit the program is using the keyboard to toggle the application on and off, which is the Scroll Lock key. To exit the application permanently, RIGHT click the program's icon next to your system clock.

Speaking of magnifying the screen, Adam wrote a tip last week about using Firefox's font size option to make web sites more readable (see our archives). This week one of our listeners/web visitors, David H., wrote and told us about a wonderful Firefox extension called No Squint that works great for magnifying web sites using the Firefox browser. Thanks David!

Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
12
Jun 07

Macintosh inching more and more

I really thought the computer world was simple. Ultra-geeks used Linux, cool cats with a little attitude used Macintosh and the rest of us used Windows. None of the three major platforms worried to much about the other and software remained pretty much platform specific. Then two years ago Apple released software for the Macintosh that allows Windows to be installed on their systems, an upstart Linux version called Ubuntu started to make a splash and Microsoft recently released their biggest dog yet…Windows Vista.

Today, I read a story that Windows users can now use the Apple Macintosh web browser called Safari. Dismiss the fact that hackers have already pummeled Apple's first offering at PC software and instead take a look at the tech forest. The tech forest is changing at a more rapid and significant pace than it has in nearly ten years. Microsoft and Windows are losing ground, manufacturers are now offering PC's with alternative operating systems, Apple is making a dent in Window's sales and now offering Windows software, buying packaged software is unnecessary in many instances, and computer users no longer crave or need the fastest or the latest and greatest.

It definitely is an exciting time to be a computer user and a fan of technology, but trying to predict where we will be in five or ten years becomes less clear every day. My best advice today is basically the same it has been for ten plus years: Keep your seat belt strapped on tight and don't fix your computer unless it is broken.

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 3 Comments
12
Jun 07

Ubuntu on the road

I continue to experiment with the Ubuntu operating system. This past weekend, my family and I made a quick trip to the South Dakota Black Hills and I took my Ubuntu laptop along for the ride. My Ubuntu laptop is an older Compaq (almost six years old) that was destined for the trash heap by its previous owner. It no longer performed well for them and required reformatting and upgrading to run Windows XP and other software at any appreciable speed. I rescued it, installed Ubuntu Linux on it, bought the cheapest wireless card I could find, and now I have a completely functional and quick second laptop.

While packing last week, I wrestled with which laptop to take on the road…my tried and true Windows XP ultra-portable 4 pound laptop or the "new" Ubuntu which is bigger and heavier. I opted to take the Ubuntu laptop so I could road test it and learn more about it. At the hotel and campgrounds we stayed at, the wireless worked great. I could download my digital photos at then end of the day with the Linux version of Picasa, checked the weather and email at night with Firefox and used it to look up locations and maps of some of our destinations. Oh, and my son used it to watch a DVD movie as well.

Bottom line: I missed nothing about Windows and did not feel that I missed anything by bringing the Ubuntu laptop on the trip versus the XP laptop. I would do it again without hesitation.

UPDATE: More vista woes: A business client of mine bought a Vista laptop, but will have to return it because their POS (point of sale) software company does not and will not support Windows Vista machines anytime soon. I think I was right on a few weeks ago when I wrote about the suspiciously inexpensive computers that are all of the sudden surfacing.

Email Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
17
May 07

Woo Hoo…new feature in Microsoft Office 2007 – French Spell Checker!

I ran into a strange problem today with a client using Windows XP and Outlook Express. They had to install a new copy of Office 2007 because they lost their certificate of authenticity for their old copy (don't lose those folks). Subsequently, their spell checker in Outlook Express now only uses the French dictionary. Thanks Microsoft!! Once again, fabulous upgrade to the "new" Office 2007.

After some investigation it turns out that the only viable option for Windows XP users using Outlook Express and Office 2007 is to download a free spell checker for Outlook Express. We have been recommending this one for years . Click here to download and install the spell checker and your Outlook Express spell checking errors will be history…unless you are French.

OnAir Solutions — 1 Comment
12
May 07

Can’t open IE7 in Vista – navcancl error

Larry called in today with a problem of not being able to open IE7 after doing a Windows update with Windows Vista (yet another reason to have Firefox installed on any system). Turns out the problem is with the "phishing filter". Click this link for a solution to the navcancl error in Vista.

Internet Tips — No Comments
10
May 07

Mozilla Firefox Revisited

By Rick Castellini 2002. Revised by Adam Cochran 2007

Earlier this summer, my co-host, Adam, decided to do an 'on air' review of a product. The product he chose is Mozilla Firefox, an alternative web browser. Being on the radio and downloading, installing and reviewing software was a new experience for us, but the impression was instant and impressive for both of us.

Mozilla loads most web pages much faster than Internet Explorer and makes a dial-up connection seem snappier. Because Mozilla does not use any code from Internet Explorer, it is inherently less likely to be plagued by the various security holes that Internet Explorer fights against on a daily basis. The software is free and I've put together a list of features and tips that I like about this great little browser:

Free
Less likely to be prone to security woes of Internet Explorer
Faster rendering of most web pages
Built in Google search box
Smart Bookmarks – Firefox will import all of your existing bookmarks or favorites from Netscape or Internet Explorer. You can also have Firefox automatically check for updates to a specific site and then notify you of those changes.
Tabbed browsing. You may have heard us talk of another good alternative browser called Opera which first made use of tabbed browsing. Tabbed browsing allows you to open up multiple web pages in the same window. Very convenient and intuitive.
Smart Printing. By Default, Firefox allows you to print any web page on a standard piece of paper without cutting off the right side!
Built in pop-up blocker that you can customize.
Greater control over how pages display. You can easily override a pages font size to make it more readable for you.

Overall, the Mozilla Firefox browser is heads and tails above anything that I have preciously used. In fact, I now use it as my primary browser and rarely use Internet Explorer at all. If you want to try the full version of Mozilla which includes an email client, newsgroup reader and a HTML editor, use the same link at the beginning of this tip.

Riding Shotgun with Adam — 3 Comments
7
May 07

Spyblocker: My first nasty Vista spyware and repair success story

I am writing this from a client's house. Typically I wouldn't work on the site while I am on the clock but since I have to sit and wait for they repair scan to finish, I might as well tell you why I'm here.

It all began with a call this morning. My client said that she could move her mouse but it wouldn't let her click on anything. Luckily I had time available to see her in the afternoon.

When I got here I took the computer into safe mode where I discovered two strange things.

1. A windows kept popping up telling me that Windows Explorer had a problem and needed to be restarted. Followed immediately by a window that said that the problem couldn't be repaired. Or vice versa. I don't remember which order the windows were coming up.

2. There were strange "security" program icons on the desktop. I immediately expected spyware.

I rolled the computer back to a few days ago before the problem started. Now the computer would get me further into regular mode but the Explorer errors kept popping up.

A new icon showed up on the desktop that confirmed my spyware suspicions. It was a link to a "program" called "SpyBlocked."

I read about the problem by Googling it from my Treo. It appears to be a spyware/trojan virus that causes problems in Windows XP but brings Vista to its knees. Especially on systems running AVG.

Microsoft's support site said that the only known fix and tool for the problem was to download and install a free antispyware program called SUPERantispyware .

Luckily they had a second computer where I could download the program. However, downloading it onto my flash drive was only part of the process. Since the virus caused Windows Explorer to lockup and restarted every 15 seconds or so, I had to quickly open, find and start the install before Explorer would restart. Luckily, programs that were running weren't affected by the restart so I was able to install and run SUPERantispyware before.

The program successfully removed over 100 infected objects and the problem went away.

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 2 Comments
2
May 07

Another post from Ubuntu

I have been so busy lately, that I haven't had much of a chance to play around with my Ubuntu Linux (alternative to Windows) machine. Last night, I updated to the latest version of Ubuntu Linux 7.04 for free. Compare that to the minimum of $179 you would pay for the basic version of Vista. I was motivated to do the update not only because I promised I would learn more about Linux, but also because Dell released a story yesterday announcing their plans to sell Linux laptops and desktops computer starting this summer. It seems that Microsoft keeps getting hit day-after-day. Where will they be in 5 years? They certainly don't have the stature today that they had 5 years ago.

As you know, I installed Vista on my computer about eight weeks ago and have been moaning and groaning about it since then. My Vista computer has an extremely fast dual-core processor, 2 GB of RAM and a nice video card. Despite all that power and turning off 90% of the visual fluff in Vista, I don't think the machine runs as fast as my old Pentium IV 2.0 Ghz machine with 512mb of RAM.

On the other hand, this older piece mealed machine that I put together with parts from four different computer is a screamer with Ubuntu Linux on it. The Internet feels faster and more responsive, office programs are faster, the operating system is clean and easy to navigate. I'm having a ball for the first time in years learning about new technology.

Vista seems like an unnecessary chore. Ubuntu Linux seems like time well spent on a promising and exciting operating system.

OnAir Solutions — No Comments
28
Apr 07