BidenPC's I.T. Blog

Today we have a guest Blogger by the name of Keith taking over the blog’s helm. Keith is a computer technician living in Vancouver, Canada who hosts a blog, “Computer Repair Vancouver”, where he discusses a variety of computing related issues. I hope you enjoy today’s content as much as I did. It’s never to late to go back to basics.

During a conversation with a technologically knowledgeable friend or while perusing an Internet forum you may have been introduced to a rather obscure computing term: booting. What, you thought to yourself, are they talking about? This reaction is common and understandable as booting is something that the average computer user rarely needs to think about. In fact, modern PCs almost always handle it for you.

Nonetheless, let’s look at what this term means and when we would need to deal with it personally. When a computer is first powered on it basically knows nothing; its memory is completely blank. Consequently, it needs directions on where to look for information about how to start up properly. By default, your computer is hard wired to look for these directions on your hard drive (the device which stores all of your files); in computer terminology, it is told to boot from your hard drive. There are times, however, when you want your computer to look for directions on starting up somewhere else.

The most common reason for booting from a device other than your hard drive is if you are trying to run a program which requires complete computer access. For example, some virus removal programs want to scan every single inch of your hard drive. Therefore, they don’t want your hard drive to be in use when they are scanning (since this would prevent them from checking certain areas of it). One way to get around this problem is to put the virus removal software on a CD and then boot from the CD. Since you are booting from a CD, your computer looks to the CD for startup information; it does not touch the hard drive.

From here, the virus removal program can take control of the situation and perform the scan.

Let’s say you have downloaded a specialty program which requires itself to be booted from a CD. What would you do? Well, first of all you need to put the program onto a CD using a CD burning program.

Initially, you may try to run the program from within Microsoft Windows; however, you would soon see that nothing happens. This is because the booting process occurs before your operating system (Windows) has even loaded. As a result, you would need to restart your computer and look for the word “boot” or “booting” as your system loads up. As soon as you saw either of these two terms you would press the keyboard key listed beside it. This would take you to the boot menu. The boot menu is exactly what it sounds like, a menu where you can choose which device your computer will use to start up. Since we want to boot off of a CD, we would select the CD option and hit enter.

After a few seconds we would see the program on the CD start up and we could proceed as necessary. It is important to note that when you boot off a device other than your hard drive you likely will be presented with something that looks quite different from your usual desktop.

This is the general idea of what it means to boot. If you have any questions regarding this concept visit us at Computer Repair Vancouver and ask away. Additionally, if you would like to see a real world example of when you would change your booting device take a look at our tutorial on using DBAN to securely wipe a hard drive.

I recently received a webarchive file from a client and my PC had no clue how to open it.

After doing a bit of googling I stumbled across something that made a bit of sense but was much more complicated than it needed to be. If you receive a .webarchive file and have no idea how to open it, simply change the file extension. Add .html on to the end of the file name and you can open it in any web browser. That really is all you have to do.

Did you know that you can run a program with admin rights in Windows 7 using a keyboard shortcut? You can!

Simply hold down Ctrl+Shift then click on the icon in the taskbar icon and that’s all there is to it. Neat trick, huh?

The time has finally come. I need to hire my first real employee. Will it be you?

I am looking for someone part time, probably 15-20 hours a week who has a friendly personality and is comfortable with various types of web and computer technology. Don’t worry about having to know everything, you’re not expected to. Learning on the job is expected and accepted.

Job Requirements:

• Legal work status
• Live within a reasonable driving distance from Pomona, CA
• Valid drivers license and vehicle

Must be familiar with:

• How to interact with various people in friendly and professional manner
• Windows XP, Vista, 7
• Various social media sites
• Basic computer repair

Knowledge of any of the following is a nice bonus:

• Linux
• OS X
• Basic computer networking
• SEO
• Blog writing
• Web design

Does this sound like you? Great! Feel free to call me, Tim Biden, at 909-992-2031 during normal business hours or email me at tim@bidenpc.com.

Are you getting an error that says rundll32.exe can’t open? Are you completely unable to run any programs, even after rebooting your Windows XP PC?

You can download a registry edit file from http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm that will fix this problem. I have used this registry fix a few times and it has never failed me. Though I don’t want you to have this problem, I hope this fixes it for you if you do.

Tim

If you found this post to be informative, consider following Biden PC on Twitter.
Biden PC is a Computer Networking Company and we now offer Online Computer Support.

I don’t know about you but as a computer network tech, I spend a lot of time changing the IP Addresses on people’s PCs. So I decided to create a tool to help me do it and I’d like to share it with you.

• No installation required. It can run from a flash drive!
• View settings for any or all of your network cards.
• Change your IP Address from DHCP to Static and back to DHCP.
• Edit your Default gateway.
• Change your Subnet Mask.
• View your MAC Addresses.
• Set your DNS servers to static addresses.
• Change it all from being Static to DHCP.

Are you a computer tech and constantly changing IP Addresses? Are you a computer user who wonders “How do I change my IP or DNS Address?” EZ-IP can change those for you. Has anybody ever asked you “What is your MAC Address?” EZ-IP will show you.

Click on the image or the following link to download your free copy of Biden PC’s EZ-IP. It is absolutely free to use and free to redistribute.

From cheap refurbished Apple Laptops. Webcams have become an essential PC Components rather than just the usual Personal Computer accessory. With the Internet getting more and more interactive in terms of communicating with other people on the other part of the connected world, the webcam offers an added aspect to the experience, that of letting two people see each other no matter how far apart they may be.

Ordering a Desktop webcam may not be as easy as you think. In order to get the best ones available, you should be able to know what to look for in terms of the different webcam features. Here are the most usual ones that you should know about.

Image Resolution
A webcam’s resolution is usually measured in pixels. The higher the number of pixels a webcam has, the better the image quality that it may provide. Some people choose webcams with a higher resolution because they can now be used as digital cameras to snap digital pictures. In fact, there are also other types of digital cameras that can also act as good webcams.

Light Sensitivity
This is another feature in webcams that buyers should try to look for. There are some webcams out there that don’t just work that well in highly lighted environments. Some webcams can be too sensitive to light that they may not be able to operate well outdoors or in broad daylight. There are also other webcams that may not be able to work well in the dark. Choosing a webcam with the right sensitivity to light would depend actually on the type of environment that you plan to use it on.

Camera Speed
Webcam speed usually refers to the number of frames that it can come up with per second. A basic webcam can only do around 15 image frames per second. This would be good enough for video chats. But the images that come out would likely not be as fluid as those that run with 30 frames per second. When choosing the right webcam speed, Internet connection should also be considered. Using a faster webcam on a dial up connection would not likely matter much in terms of image quality.

Focus
Focus is another feature that buyers may want to take a look at when Buying webcams. This would depend on how the webcam would be used. Basic webcams usually have permanent fixed focus features for the most basic of needs. But for those who usually require close up shots most of the time, there are also webcams that offer manual adjustable focus.

For more see low cost Compaq notebook computers and http://www.payroll-software-program.com/cheap-payroll-software.html.

Due to the bad performance of Vista, now many programmers are searching for ways to make Vista boot faster. As an operating system Vista is not so much in demand as compared to the windows XP or Windows 7. People who have used computers for a long time do not want to shift from windows XP to Vista. This is due to the latter’s slow performance.

Due to the small number of options for tools Vista has been facing this problem. Users who are working in Vista find it quite slow. More over there are no sufficient tools to recover it.

Some of the softwares which help to make the software runs faster like tune XP and BootVis don’t work that well in the Vista. So this particular reason is a major disadvantage for the Vista.

So in order to make vista boot run quicker there is one way, that is to defrag your computer. Defragment will help your computer to free your hard disk thus making your computer work faster. As whenever in a Vista you are downloading any type of file it covers a lot of space in your hard disk. This making your system work slowly and this can be avoided only via defragment.

There is another way you can make your Vista work as fast as Windows XP. This is manually operating the defragment system in your computer. The manually operation of this function of defragmenting is very easy and simple. Just write the command “defrag c:-b” and press enter. Your system stars defragmenting. Till your computer gives the command that the defragmenting is over, you have to wait. Once your wait is over your Vista will be as fast as windows XP.

Once you defrag your computer you can make Vista boot run quicker and can work much more efficiently in the Vista. You should also use AutoRuns to check if there are any programs running on startup that you could do without. You’ll likely want to remove most of the programs under the “logon” tab but be certain that you don’t remove anything from Microsoft or your AntiVirus company.

The sudden loss of power to the working of your electrical devices can be caused by many things besides the natural calamities that can happen. In such situations you need a solution that will help you safely save important data or other activities that you might be conducting when the power got cut off without warning.

An uninterrupted power supply is the superlative solution to this problem as they help safeguard your equipments from all kinds of electrical disorders like brownouts and various other hindrances. Installing a UPS however, will not guarantee the safety of your equipment. Extra security measures need to be carried out to ensure absolute safety of your applications. The list below shows you ten protection solutions in order to maintain the safety of your devices.

Lightning can badly affect your hardware, as it is capable of transmitting through telecommunication cables and causing short circuits as it passes through. You need to separate your computer network from the telecommunication’s data line you in order to avoid this situation; you can do this by installing a UPS data protection circuit. This will prevent the power surge from destructing other devices and saving you the cost of replacing the entire burnt out plugs and switches. The destruction of the data protection device will only need replacing when an electrical surge takes place.

Always install the software that that comes along with a riello UPS to ensure that all IT equipments are correctly powered if the outage happens. Communication cables need to be in place; this will allow the PC and UPS to be able to connect with each other.

Apart from installing the software that comes with the UPS, it is advisable to change the factory default configurations and set it according to the requirements of your company. Shutting down your applications safely will be dependant on the amount of time your UPS is able to provide backup support for; check that configurations are set appropriately.

Batteries cannot last you a lifetime and need to be changed at intervals. Regularly checking the status of your battery with a battery backup tester must be installed; this will ensure your backup battery is functioning correctly. Conducting tests on a regular basis should be ascertained; to ensure they are carried out mark the dates on a calendar. This will help you know whether the battery is strong enough to power your equipments.

Ensure that your present UPS is capable of supporting load when demands increase in the future. You must calculate your total requirement and compare it with what your UPS can provide because if you overload it, the UPS battery is sure to die out.

You must remember not to plug in a laser printer to the UPS because a laser printer takes in a lot of energy which most of the UPS brands are unable to supply. Overload on the battery can cause weakening to its strengh.

It may be required to fulfil data replication and other network activity that need network connectivity while shutting down systems in case of outages. Backup energy from a UPS must be provided in order to avoid a system failure.

When the system begins to run on the battery mode then you need to command Windows Backup to discard back up functions. Make the necessary changes if required to avoid unfinished or distorted backup of a previous backup file.

Batteries need to be replaced accordingly as they can only last a few years. Hot swappable batteries are provided by some of the UPS brands. These are useful as they can be without having to shut down the system. Also unplug systems that re changed and not used often so that the load on the UPS is reduced during power surges and outages.

An unineruptible power supply should only be used to provide you enough time to close and save everything before shutting down the system. Corrupted files, data loss and othter technical failures may occur if it is used to continue working until it can hold.

You should be able to increase the longevity of your UPS, thereby receiving uninterrupted power supply to successfully shut down your programmes before they are lost by bearing these points in mind.

Have you received one of these letters?

Click on the image to view larger size.

Don’t fall for it, it’s a scam. You don’t need their services and they aren’t the company who controls your domain. What they are trying to do is get you to switch your domain from your current registrar to them and these guys probably charge a lot more than your current company does. Just throw the letter away as your current registrar will most likely auto-renew your domain when it expires.

And if you have any questions about who your registrar actually is, you can go to http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp, type your domain name into the box and click on “Search”. Look for the section that says “Current Registrar” and you will know who your real registrar is you you can be certain that it isn’t “Domain Registry Of America.”

Tim

If you found this post to be informative, consider following Biden PC on Twitter.
Biden PC is a Computer Networking Company and we now offer Online Computer Support.