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troubleshooting

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).

Troubleshooting sound problems

"I’m not getting any sound," is a very common problem I hear. While there are a few technical issues that can prevent the sound from working on your computer, typically the problem is one of three things:

1. The speakers aren’t plugged in – either to the electricity or to the correct jack on the back of the computer. There are at least 3 jacks where you can plug the speakers in, but only one of them will allow you to hear sound.

2. The volume isn’t turned up or on. There are a number of places you need to check for this problem.

First, check to see if the speakers have a volume control, often a friend or family member will turn the speakers all the way down or off.

Do your parents a favor, follow through with your favors

Most of my clients are over 50 and a good portion of them are over 65. I have learned that age has nothing to with computer aptitude. Computer aptitude is determined 99 percent by computer attitude. Those who are not afraid or intimidated by their computer are the ones who learn the fastest, no matter their age, gender or religious background.

One of my primary goals with my business, with the show and with the newsletter is to convey the message that you don’t have to be a computer wiz to use a computer.

I have many clients who do nothing but email on their computers and I don’t in any way feel that they are under utilizing their computer. If your life is made easier in any way because of your computer, then you are using it for its intended purpose.

Differential Diagnosis

That’s a term I learned while in Physical Therapy skill. It means asking a lot of questions and doing a lot of tests to come up with the most likely cause for a problem. That skill alone helps me work with computer problems every day. Asking the proper questions and getting the sequence of events in proper order make me hone in on the problem quicker.

Yesterday, I worked on a computer for a customer who wasn’t home and it quickly reinforced my need for getting a thorough history of the problem from the computer’s owner. Without it, I’m probing blind and looking for the most obvious problems, but it makes the process much longer.

Microsoft Word or Office Problems after last week’s Windows Updates

This is a short note to help those folks who are having problems with opening Word documents after a critical update from Windows last week. It appears it is unique to folks with some specific HP software.

After studying it, I would recommend going to Add/Remove Programs and remove the HP Share-to-Web program (unless you are really using that feature…most people don’t). If you do use that feature or want to learn more about the cause and fix for this problem. Visit Microsoft’s Support site and read their article. 

Nothing is by the book

There are two things that make the businesses Rick and I run different from running a computer shop or working as the IT guy in a big company.

1. We see dozens of computers each week and no two of them are the same in any way.

2. Rarely is anything done by the book.

Every person has their own preference for desktop wallpaper, word processing program, Windows version, printer, antivirus, digital camera, web browser, etc.

Make a list for your computer guy

Whether I am teaching someone how to use their computer or I am fixing a computer, I have found that I am best at helping someone out when they make a list of everything that needs done.

Today I had two great clients that had nice neat lists made up of everything that needed done. One particular client had a long list of 15 or 20 things, but because she had taken the time to write them all down, I was able to get through the entire list in about an hour and 15 minutes.

I compare this to my clients who don’t have a list made up. I arrive and they try to think of all of the things they would either like me to teach them or fix. Inevitably within a day or two of leaving their house, I get a call about something that they meant to tell me about. Typically this happens after a spouse or child gets home later and reminds them about a problem (often the most important problem) that they originally called me for.

How to get into safe mode

We have told a number of callers today to run their utilities like scandisk, antivirus and antispyware in safe mode. Here is a quick reminder on how to do it. You can find more information on safe mode by searching for "safe mode" in our search box.

1. Turn on your computer

2. As your computer turns on press your F8 key over and over in about half second intervals until a menu of options comes up.

3. Choose Safe Mode using your arrow keys and press ENTER

Safe mode is a troubleshooting version of windows that disables unnecessary features that can get in the way of removing viruses, spyware and other problems.

Simple Advice to Protect Your Computer and Your Sanity

This tip, if followed, could substantially limit the number of phone calls we get on the radio show and put a dent in my computer troubleshooting and training business. I can sum up the entire tip in one phrase you have heard me utter many times on the radio show:

"If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it."

 

I know ain’t isn’t a word, but if AOL can say "You’ve got mail", please allow me a little latitude.

Computers present the largest potential money and time pit ever created. Because the computer age is still very much in its infancy, the myriad of new upgrades and gadgets make it difficult too leave our machines alone. My advice to computer users every where is to take a step back and look at what you do with your computer, what you would like to do and how does it all fit.

Close all your applications at the same time

If you use multiple programs at the same time, when you’re done working on your computer for the day, you probably close each open application one by one. This week’s tip will show you how to shut down all open programs at the same time.

Follow these steps to close all your programs at one time:

  1. Hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and click on each application button on your taskbar (the bar next to your Start button)
  2. You will notice that each button remains selected. 
  3. Once you’ve selected all the application buttons on the taskbar, RIGHT click on any one of them
  4. Click Close from the shortcut menu that pops up. 
  5. Now all your applications will close. 
  6. If you have any application in which an open file hasn’t yet been saved, that application will prompt you to save the file.

One more tip to keep in mind is that the keyboard shortcut of Alt+F4 will also exit out of any open window or program. If no windows are open, then Alt+F4 will bring up the close windows dialog box.