Recovery | Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners

Posts Tagged: recovery

Keep track of your original computer documentation and make restore CDs

Lately too many customers have had to wait for repairs on their computers because I needed to order recovery CD sets from the manufacturer. This time and expense can be avoided if you do two simple things when you buy your new computer:

1. Save all disks and/or documentation that comes in the box
2. Since most manufacturers no longer send along recovery CDs and operating system CDs, it is up to you make them. Look for a System Tools or System Recover CD wizard in your Programs menu to help you with this task. After making them, put them with the computer’s documentation and keep track of where they are.

Hopefully you will never need these items, but you will be happy you have them when you do need them.

photo credit: jm3

Hardware Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 2 Comments
5
Jan 09

Another dead hard drive

External hard drives are spacious, cheap and relatively easy to use, but…

I resisted talking about backup this early in the year, but a phone conversation I had today illustrated my philosophy about backup perfectly. The gentleman I spoke with suffered an external hard drive failure, and he used it as the sole storage of his digital photos. Once again, my heart sank with his story of woe. He didn’t want to spend the hundreds of dollars it would require from a data recovery company (he also, unfortunately, opened the drive and tried to manually spin the hard drive platters), but was hoping for some sort of magical tech pixie dust that I might be storing in my pocket.

The point of the story is to scare you into backing up your data. Backing up your data means that your important data exists in at least two different locations. By different locations, I’m referring to two different digital media. Hard drive, and external hard drive. Hard drive and CD or DVD. Hard drive and USB flash drive. Hard drive and online backup. External hard drive and CD or DVD. You get the picture.

Exceptional backup systems would include having important data copied on at least three different mediums and one of those mediums being physically off site or at least placed in a fire proof, locked box in a basement or garage. You can learn more about backup by simply searching my site. Make it a new year’s resolution (or just smart computing practice) to start and maintain a good backup system starting today!

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 5 Comments
18
Dec 08

Thwarted by online poker

Today marked my second Linux/Ubuntu casualty in almost 2 dozen attempts. As I’ve learned more about Ubuntu the past couple of years, I carefully selected clients who would have little problems dealing with a non-Microsoft operating system.

You may have read my take on Ubuntu usage for the average computer user before, but here it is again to setup the rest of the story: I believe that any computer users who uses only email, word processing, Internet, digital photography, and maybe a solitaire or mahjong like game can function perfectly and happily in Ubuntu. Those who need proprietary Windows programs or like to buy and try out different types of software will not do well with Ubuntu.

OK, that being said, I consulted on the purchase of an Acer mini-desktop about 2 weeks ago from a local big box. It had a fast AMD processor, 4 GB of RAM, and a 320 GB hard drive and of course pre-loaded with Vista. I took the system home and booted into Windows to create the restore DVD set just in case. To fully boot into Vista took approximately 3:30. At initial boot, it took the computer nearly 19 minutes to finish whatever a Vista computer has to finish when you first take it out of the box.

After completing the DVD recovery set, I inserted my Ubuntu 8.10 CD and restarted the system. Literally 15 minutes later I was browsing the web in Ubuntu after the install CD wiped the hard drive, installed itself, shut down and rebooted. Later I timed the Ubuntu startup time: 49 seconds.

Anyway, the folks who I setup this computer for could not play online poker with Ubuntu. After some quick research, the service they use (I forgot which one), is the ONLY online poker service that needs a Windows download. I could have installed and configured the poker service to work under Wine in Ubuntu, bud didn’t. After hearing that “everything is different”, and they wanted to install Windows based software that was never mentioned before today, I inserted the first Vista recovery CD and showed them how to finish it up. They brought the computer back to the big box for a refund and ordered a Dell with XP and probably spent twice as much as the Acer.

My first Ubuntu failure was a couple of years ago and ended because the woman missed her AOL software and didn’t like using AOL web mail in Firefox. Being approximated 21 for 23 on my Ubuntu converts isn’t bad, and is actually kind of humorous that the two defeats were at the hands of AOL and online poker.

Computer User Group / Hardware Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 10 Comments
25
Sep 08

Setting up a new computer

new computer box Prevention is the best medicine when it comes to avoiding illness in ourselves. Prevention in the computer world is no different. And like a newborn baby, a newly purchased computer is subject to many terrible diseases and problems if not properly cared from the moment it is taken from its cardboard box. I follow these steps when setting up a new computer system for my clients, and recommend this methodology for all new computer setups:

Before setting up the new computer, back up all of your data to CD’s, DVD’s, external hard drives, or flash drives for transfer to the new computer Make sure you get not only your obvious data like documents, pictures, and financial data, but also your address book, email settings, favorites, etc. Remember, you can backup data, but not programs.
Make note of your email settings and configuration (if you didn’t back them up).
Download a copy of a AVG Antivirus and have them on a CD or flash drive at the ready.
When setting up the new PC, DO NOT connect printers, scanners, cameras, and especially the Internet until later.
Once at the new desktop, the first place to head is the Control Panel and Add/Remove programs (Programs and Features in Vista). Remove all trial software that you don’t plan on purchasing (Quicken, Quickbooks, Office suites, etc). Also remove any <!–break–>Internet provider software that you will not use like AOL, Earthlink, NetZero, etc.
Now go back to Add/Remove programs and uninstall any trial security software that came with the machine.
If you uninstalled the pre-installed security software (recommended), install the AVG antivirus program you have at the ready.
Now, you can hook up your Internet connection. Once you have a connection established, update your anti-virus software immediately.
Setup your email program and accounts.
Install your peripherals (scanners, printers, etc) per your manufacturers instructions.
Install any programs that you want on the new system
Transfer your data from their backup locations.
Strongly consider downloading and using Mozilla Firefox as your primary browser.
Create your Recovery CD set found in your manufacturer’s options or utilities folder (if required).

Enjoy your properly setup and safe, new computer!

Riding Shotgun with Adam — 1 Comment
18
Aug 08

What’s Adam been up to?

Hey folks, just checking in to let everyone know that I am still around. I don’t come around as much any more because I have been taking a break from my HelpMeRick.com duties to spend time with my family and work on a few other projects behind the scenes.

I am very proud of one such project, a website called ChanisProgress.org.

chanis picture Several years ago I worked on our local senior paper. I did everything from write, to layout, to photography. During that time I worked for one of the greatest bosses I will ever have. Susan was not only a great boss, but a great person. During the time I worked with her, I saw her go through many life developments and she was always open with me about what was going on in her life. As the years have passed and I’ve had a number of jobs since, she remains a close friend.

Late last May, shortly after her graduation and 18th birthday, Susan’s daughter Chani was in a major accident and was left a partial quadriplegic as a result.

Susan has carefully documented the events of Chani’s recovery in a scrapbook and she has tirelessly sent out email udpates to concerned friends and family.

Reading through her emails, as money has become a problem yet miracles continue, I decided to build a website to help Susan keep family and friends informed on Chanis progress and perhaps raise some much needed funds in the process.

Today, ChanisProgress.org went live.

I have designed the site to allow a community of supporters to build online. A place where Chani can see everyone who is pulling for her and read their comments of support. I don’t expect the site to go viral and see millions of visitors a day, but I do hope that it provides friends and family to watch the progress and, at the same time ease some of the load on Susan as she works to keep everyone informed of her constant progress.

Whether you know Chani or not, I encourage everyone to stop by and read about Chanis progress and, if the feeling so strikes you, drop a few dollars into her support fund.

General Computer Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
14
Apr 08

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.

Other suggestions I give for recycling old computer/tech gadgets include:

Donate to a church or organization (most schools no longer accept old computer donations)
Drop the item off at a Goodwill or Salvation Army store if they will take it
Find a neighborhood garage or yard sale and leave the item with them if they don’t mind
Many cities have a toxic waste and technology waste collection day or ongoing site to take these types of items
Put an ad in the local paper to give-away your item. Most newspapers don’t charge for this type of ad
Use online services like Freecycle or eBay to get rid of your old tech.
For old cell phones, check with your cell phone provider, many offer free recycling and donation for your old cell phone

When it comes to donating a computer or laptop. Make sure you first erase or physically remove the hard drive. You don’t want to expose yourself to identity thieves by giving away a computer with potentially telling information on the hard drive. If you leave the hard drive in the machine, and your system came with recovery CD’s, use them to restore the computer to its original state and delete all of your data at the same time. If you want to leave the hard drive in and don’t have recovery CD’s, use Boot and Nuke or Active KillDisk to securely and completely destroy your data.

The bottom line on getting rid of your old tech, is that it can probably be used by someone, somewhere. Don’t just chunk it into the garbage, use one of these easy and quick ways to extend its life.

Riding Shotgun with Adam — No Comments
5
Dec 07

What I like about Windows Vista

Please read the headline of this article correctly – it does not say, "Reasons why you should upgrade to Windows Vista." Windows Vista is still a nasty operating system that hogs resources and hides or eliminates important features, but there are some cool features hidden within and I feel that I must list them here so that I can be fair to Microsoft.

If Microsoft had added any or all of these features to XP, it would have been an upgrade worth the price. Instead they had to add all of the other junk to confuse users too.

1. Search on the START BUTTON (orb) – While I no longer have any machines running Vista, in the few months I spent with Vista, I came to depend on the search box. While Google Desktop and the Windows Live Search, or whatever they call it, offer similar function, none of them work as well as the instant search found on the Vista Start menu.

2. The abililty to copy and replace – If you are copying a large folder into another folder with Windows XP and a duplicate file exists or it can’t copy the file at all, XP crashes and says that it can’t copy the file. You are left not knowing exactly where the process left off. In Vista you are given options: copy, copy and replace, copy and leave both files or skip the file. Man! That is a great feature! I would pay $50 for an XP upgrade that just added that single feature.

3. Windows Explorer in every window – Every window you open from My Computer (now just called "Computer") opens with the ability to drag the files to any other location on the computer. This is much better than having to open two windows and drag between them.

4. Excellent Monitor Scale-ability – I know scale-ability may not be a real word, but here’s what it means. In XP, switching to a higher resolution monitor meant making everything smaller. Vista does a great job at scaling the fonts and icons to the resolution of the screen. In other words, this means big solitaire cards and larger text in the title bar.

5. Adjust partitions without extra software – This is much more of a geek thing, but if you have a Windows disk and you want to get rid of the recovery partition on your new computer, you can do it easily in the Adminitrative tools under the control panel.

That’s about it. Five new features that really are cool in Windows Vista. While these features are excellent improvements to the Windows Operating system, they do not in any way offset the dozens of annoyances that the system has.

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 1 Comment
20
Aug 07

Mission Accomplished

As I wrote about on Friday, this was a busy work weekend for me. I think three of the computers I worked on offer an interesting comparison in operating systems.

One laptop was a brand new HP with 2 GB of RAM and Windows Vista, but the owner wanted me to install Windows XP and take off Windows Vista. He uses it primarily for traveling and downloading his digital photos while traveling and just didn’t like the lack of speed with Vista. The install of Windows XP went smoothly, but finding some of the XP drivers for it took quite a bit of looking around. All is running well now, and the with 2GB of RAM and a dual-core processor, the little laptop is very fast. Bootup time is under 70 seconds.

The next laptop was another Vista machine with 1 GB of RAM that a client bought for her mom who is a first time computer user and is 83 years old I believe. She will take the laptop with her to Connecticut next week. I took off all the pre-installed junk and installed AVG anti-virus and configured a Gmail account to work with Windows Mail (Vista’s version of Outlook Express). Because her mom has some sight problems, I bumped up the text size and DPI setting to make it easier to work with for her. Also, I disabled all of Vista’s fancy eye candy and effects. Despite all these tweaks, the computer still takes more than three minutes to fully boot up. And unless you experience it, I can’t adequately describe how slow Vista feels and operates.

On Friday, I described a third computer that I was working on for a customer who had a hard drive crash and HP’s recovery disks wouldn’t work. After talking with her about options, she decided to let me install Ubuntu Linux on the computer. I used the current 7.04 version and installed in under twenty-five minutes! This computer is probably four to five years old and has only 256mb of RAM, but still is MORE than powerful enough for Ubuntu. I setup her desktop to resemble Windows so she could make the transition a little easier. She is an AOL user so she will have to access that via AOL’s web interface, but that shouldn’t be a problem. It will be fun to see how she handles the transition to Ubuntu, and I will keep all of you informed of her progress.

The graphic I placed in this article is the final desktop configuration of her Ubuntu desktop, click on it to get a larger view.

By the way, the Ubuntu computer (the oldest of these three), boots up in under sixty seconds!

Riding Shotgun with Adam — No Comments
12
Dec 06

HP printer jam recovery

Overall, HP printers are my favorite. They are dependable, they do a great job and they are fairly economical on a price per page basis. I have seen some good things from Canon printers lately, but HPs have a much longer track record.

Every brand of printer has its problems and HPs are no exception. One of the biggest problems with HP printers is that they get caught in a loop. If you turn the printer off in the middle of printing, or the computer locks up and you have to restart part way through a print job, don't be surprised if your HP goes bananas when you turn the computer back on.

The printer will kick out page after page of hieroglyphics and happy faces.

HPs OfficeJet all-in-one printers also can have some fairly nasty paper jams.

Below I have listed the process that I use to fix each problem.

PRINTING HIEROGLYPHICS:

1. Turn the computer and printer off

2. Pull the power plug on the printer

3. Disconnect the cable that runs from the printer to the computer

4. Plug the printer in and turn it on

5. Turn the computer on

On Windows 95-Me machines you will get a message that their are print jobs waiting. Click on the option that will delete the print jobs. You can also follow the Windows XP procedure below if this doesn't work.

On Windows 2000-XP machines – look for a little printer icon down by the clock. Double-click on it and a list of print jobs waiting will come up. If you don't see it, go into Control Panel – Printers and Faxes and double click on the offending printer.

Click on PRINTER – CANCEL ALL DOCUMENTS and wait for everything to disappear from the box.

6. Turn the computer and printer back off

7. Reconnect the cable

8. Turn both devices back on

OFFICEJET PAPER JAMS:

Most OfficeJet all-in-one machines allow you to take the back off by pressing a couple of levers.

1. Remove the back

2. Pull out any stuck pages and any torn fragments

3. Turn the printer on and off

4. Insert the back piece

5. Turn the printer on

At this point it should all be fixed.

Riding Shotgun with Adam — 1 Comment
3
Nov 06

Don’t buy the cheapest computer out there

"Buy 'em cheap and buy 'em often" is a phrase that I use alot when helping people understand my approach to computers. Since any computer you buy, no matter how much you spend, is only designed for today's uses, I don't like to over spend on a computer expecting it to last longer. I suggest that you buy your computer based on the most you need right now and when new uses come along in 4-6 years, just buy a new computer.

However, I saw a brand new Dell today that was a good example of why my advice shouldn't be interpreted as "buy the cheapest thing on the shelf."

Dell loves to advertise $399-$499 computers in their ads. I saw one of those machines today. It had a 2.4 ghz processor, 256 MB of RAM, no recovery disks and a 60 gigabyte hard drive.

While this system will run, it does it terribly slow and newer software will really have problems running on it.

I called Dell and ordered another 256MB of RAM and recovery disks. Now their $499 computer is a $599 computer and the specs are still lower than what they could have got from a store for $600.

My advice should not be understood as a recommendation to shop by price alone. Make sure you know your product. Compare the specs from every brand and price to see if what you are getting is truly a good deal or just a cheap computer. Our current minimum computer should have the following minimum specs:

1 Gigabyte of memory
100 Gigabyte hard drive
DVD Burner

Looking at these features will net you a great computer that will last for years. If the machine meets these three specs, the rest of the machine will be fine. And you can usually get a PC with these specs for less than $600-700.