install

Be careful using multiple accounts

Rick
1 min read

Windows XP has a unique ability to act like multiple computers on a single machine. This feature was created so that the computer could be used in a business environment allowing each user to have his or her own programs, desktop, passwords and My Documents.

Although setting up multiple user accounts allows for a lot of customization, it has some pretty screwy side effects.

If you have more than one user account set up in Windows XP, many programs allow you to install programs into only one account. This is a nice feature if you only want to install a program into one account, but it can be a real pain when it comes to spyware and viruses.

Blood relation does not equal computer expertise

Rick
3 min read

A few years ago, I added two items to my list of common advice that I give.

1. Don’t let your kids fix your computer, no matter how old they are or who they work for.

2. Blood relation does not equal computer expertise.

I know that this makes me sound arrogant at times, but my first appointment this morning was a case in point.

It was a simple enough job, I was to setup a laptop and get it online. My client didn’t need any information transferred or any special tutoring, she just needed someone to tackle the initial setup with confidence.

Since this was my client’s first laptop she had consulted me a number of times about what to get and what to spend. Since Christmas, I had told her about a few good deals that were in the paper.

Don’t be embarrassed by simple problems

Rick
2 min read

Yesterday I visited one of my favorite clients. She was having problems with her wireless keyboard. When I typed on the keyboard, nothing happened, unless we were typing in an area asking for a password. This was very similar to a problem someone called the show about last Saturday.

Her keyboard was wireless, as it turns out the little button that synchronizes the keyboard was stuck down. I pried it loose and – POOF! The keyboard worked.

Today I saw a similar problem. I received an emergency phone call from a client whose printer had stopped working a while ago, but now she needed to do some printing on a deadline.

Things aren’t always the same

Rick
2 min read

A client of mine made a great observation today about computers. She put into words something that I have tried to articulate for years. I’m paraphrasing, but it went something like this: "The trouble I have with computers is that they don’t always react the same way twice."

"Wow", I thought….great statement. Unlike cars or toasters, computers have many more complex instructions going on at the same time. In fact hundreds of thousands of instructions are going on at any given time when you use your computer. And the scary thing is that these instructions are DIFFERENT for every single computer.

Sometimes it’s easier to just start over

Rick
2 min read

Starting over is usually an effective last resort solution.

Typical Day Kickoff!!

Rick
3 min read

Today was a great example of an average day

Nothing more important in computing than backup…

Rick
2 min read

Destiny played its hand today in choosing my topic for my first installment of "Riding Shotgun". Riding Shotgun is the brain-child of Adam and I. We wanted to create a daily snippet of the things we see, learn, fix, and experience in our daily travels from office-to-office and home-to-home fixing computers and helping people learn about the computers.

Backup, or the lack of a backup, played a big part in my day today. One of my client’s today was a business where their computer would not boot up any longer. Upon arriving on the scene, I learned that their backup was not complete and panic ensued. After looking over the system it was apparent that it wasn’t coming back to life no matter what kind of CPR I performed. So, I pulled the hard drive out of the computer and took it to my office, where I was able to backup their data and transfer it to a CD.