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Rick

How to burn a CD or DVD in Linux

Paul from Texas called today and wanted to know how to burn a CD or DVD in Linux. We aren’t big Linux (an alternative operating system) users so we found a web site to use that explains how to do it:

 Linux Tutorial

 

Progress Bars

A customer of mine had a great observation today that has bothered me for years; what’s up with progress bars when we install programs or perform some functions? Almost all installation programs give you a progress bar usually with a ‘percent done’ label. What drives me crazy is when the bar reaches the end then STARTS OVER!! Arghhhhhh!! And in some cases it will repeat three or four times! Or you get a scan or installation program that moves quickly to 80 or 90% and then stalls out for three times as long as the first 80%. Frustrating! I’m no programmer, but certainly there is some algorithm that can be utilized to give computer users a better idea of how much REAL time is left in an installation or procees.

Busy signals?

Honest to Pete, my son about a year ago dialed a phone number and got a busy signal and brought the phone to me and asked what that noise meant….and he’s 12 years old!! I encountered a few busy signals this week and two of them were at businesses! Busy signals, in my opinion, are very 20th century. I’m still no fan of call waiting and don’t use mine, but phone voice mail is wonderful.

For businesses of any size, busy signals tell customers that they just don’t care whether they get your call or not. More often than not, they probably don’t get the business. I run a business that requires my focus to be on their problem, so if I get a call during a visit with a customer, I let the call go to voice mail and then call the person back as quickly as possible. No busy signals.

Troubleshoot one step at a time

I have noticed that a small computer problem can quickly become a big computer problem if too much troubleshooting is applied too soon.

Today I saw a client who has been without Internet since late last week. Originally their antivirus had caught a small virus. Soon after that the Internet wasn’t working.

After looking at the situation, I don’t think those two problems had anything to do with each other. Sometimes the Internet provider or connection goes down.

Rather than giving the connection a few hours to come back up, my client disconnected everything.

When I got there today, I noticed that the wiring was all out of whack. Once I rewired the hub everything came back online.

What do Rick and Adam do during the week and what is their phone number?

A common misconception is that Adam and I spend our week sunning ourselves with our families on some exotic beach before returning to our mansions and counting our stacks of $100 bills.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. I own and operate a business called Grand Valley PC Partners in Grand Junction, CO. All my business is onsite home and office calls to help computer users get out of trouble, setup up new systems or Internet service, and teach users how to get the most out of their computer. I have been doing this for more than 10 years (the radio show is 7 years old).

Just wait and try again

So many computer problems can be solved by simply shutting the computer off, waiting a few minutes then trying again. This is especially true with the Internet. Whether you are using dial-up or high speed, restarting your computer (and high speed modem) is the number one thing to try. Internet companies even repeat this mantra while you are waiting on hold for them to help you.

One other tip with Internet problems is wait for more than just a few minutes. The Internet is a giant organism…it lives, breathes, and has hiccups. These hiccups can last anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. When a problem occurs accessing web sites or email and you have already tried shutting the computer on and off, DO NOT ASSUME that the problem is on your computer. More often than not, the problem lies with the Internet itself or your provider. Wait a half hour to hour, then try again. If access continues to be interrupted after two or three hours, then and only then call for help. 

The computer glitch fairy is back on duty

I mentioned in one of my articles last week that my calls had slowed way down. Whether is was due to JUCO (Junior College World Series) or the holiday or just a lack of computer problems, I don’t know.

Whatever the reason was, it seems like people’s computers are going nutz in full force. The number of calls today from people needing me to come by their home and fix their computers was in the double digits.

I am writing this just to let everyone know that the computer glitch fairy is out there and she is placing her wand on systems wherever she goes.

She can be thwarted though. I have found that she avoids computers that are running antivirus and antispyware programs. She also avoids systems that are keep cool with plenty of air circulation. She seems to fear computers that are using Mozilla Firefox but she loves computers with Norton Antivirus and AOL.

What makes a website pleasing to the eye?

At the beginning of the year we redesigned our website to function better. While we love the function of our site we would like to make it nicer to look at. Please email us with your favorite website designs and tell us why you like them. You can also post your website as a comment to this post by clicking on the link comment link below.

Please provide the address for the site.