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Riding Shotgun with Adam

How to use the XP Start Menu

I saw two clients today who had their XP Start Menus set to the "classic mode." 

In classic mode your Start Menu looks the same as it used to in Windows 98-Me, but the new XP menu is much more functional and easy to use once you understand it.

The XP menu is divided into two sides. The right side lists all of the utility type of programs and features such as My Computer, My Network Places, My Documents, etc.

The left side changes. As you use programs often they appear and move up or down the left side accoding to how often you use these programs.
 

Fix those LSP problems with Winsock repair tool

I searched all over our site for this tool and I couldn’t find it, so I decided to do a Shotgun on it so that it would show up in a search on our page.

Some spyware is nastier than others. Some of my least favorite spyware goes in and corrupts the way your computer connects to the Internet. Essentially it routes your Internect connection through a special path so that the creator of the spyware can watch what you are doing online.

It does then by changing a feature of Windows called Winsock. Winsock is the method that your computer uses to talk to other computers on the Internet and elsewhere. If Winsock gets corrupted, you lose your Internet connection.

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.

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.

Spread out your backup

I had a client call me today to ask my advice on a new computer. Unfortunately someone had broken into her house and stolen not only all of her computers, but all of her backup disks too.

Bad guys are often smart enough to know that a computer is worth more if there are a lot of programs to go with it. So if your computer is stolen, chances are the theif will also take the opportunity to steal any disks he can find as well.

Keeping all of your backup in one place is never a good idea. Not only can theives get to it, but if any other catastrophe takes your home or office, chances are your backup will go with it, if you keep your backup with your computer.

How about a joke

Memorial Day week is always slow for business. Partially due to the holiday and partially due to the Junior College World Series (JUCO) that comes to town.

Since I don’t have much to relate about technology today, I will share a bad joke that I heard last night from some friends.

Ghandi was very old and frail but that never stopped him from walking without shoes whever he went. Even on the hot sand he walked barefoot, the calluses had built up over his life so that he could feel nothing on the bottoms of his feet.

Perhaps it was the life of service to others or his spiritual beliefs, but many of his followers claimed that Ghandi had special unexplained powers. He also was a strict vegetarian who attributed his long life to a daily dosage of garlic. However, this steady habit also gave him extremely bad breath.

eBay: Read the entire auction before asking questions

I have another camera up on eBay. Old cameras sell pretty well, but they attract a lot of overseas buyers. Everytime I sell a camera, I get about a dozen people asking the same questions.

Will you ship overseas? How much to ship to my country? Does the item work? All of these answers are spelled out as a part of the auction but people ask any way.

Here are the first two questions that I have been asked by potential bidders:

"hello.could you apply ship to taiwan?how much the delivery cost to taiwan?is it with registered and insurance?are everything work correctly one the camera and lens as that should be?does that with scratches,fongus and haze?or any other problems?thanks~~~"

Norton causes problems…blah,blah,blah

This is going to be a short one because I have to get to the digital photography user group soon. I just wanted everyone to know that I saw two computers with exactly the same problem today.

They were connected to the Internet, but couldn’t view the Internet. In other words, they could get windows updates and use programs like Yahoo! Messenger, but they couldn’t view web pages.

Here’s what I did to fix the problem:

1. Uninstalled Norton Antivirus

I then Installed AVG to make sure that their system was protected.

Both systems also perked up significantly after changing the antivirus.

Fact: Palm is better than Windows Mobile

I had the pleasure of setting up a new Windows Mobile powered cell phone/PDA today.

In the past, I have probably setup five similar devices and they have never gone smoothly. Today’s was the worst.

I have setup dozens of Palm powered devices and I have never had a major problem with setup that wasn’t hardware related.

As I setup the Windows Mobile device today I would go all the way through the install and then the device would attempt to sync with the computer for dates, addresses and notes. A Window would immediately pop up that said something like, "Can’t sync, reconnect the device and try again. If that doesn’t work use the ActiveSync troubleshooter."