BidenPC's I.T. Blog

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.

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Currently there’s a lot of interest in electronic devices which fulfil various different functions. Phones which have cameras, can surf the web, play music and act as satellite navigation devices are good examples of these “fusion” gadgets.

The iPod may well be the best example of all. It’s a phone, music player, internet browser and has a huge variety of “Apps” which can range from games to restaurant recommendations. It even has a Kindle app which allows users to read Kindle books on their iPod.

The Kindle reader itself could be considered to be a multi-functional device. Over and above its primary function as an e-book reader, it can be used as a web browser. Whilst the functionality is limited, chiefly due to its display which is black and white and not well suited to showing video due to a somewhat slow refresh rate.

On the other hand, it is the Kindle’s e-ink technology display which makes it so much more pleasant to read on than either the iPod or a computer screen. As a result of the fact that the display is not back-lit, it generates considerably less eye strain in use when compared to a standard LCD type of monitor.

Another benefit of e-ink technology displays is the fact that they only draw power when the screen is being refreshed. This means that e-book readers can go for long spells on a single battery charge. When you think about it, it’s the perfect scenario for a mobile battery operated piece of kit. Typically, e-book readers can last for several thousand “page turns” between charges. For an average reader, that will represent something between four and six weeks of use.

So, the very thing that makes e-book readers such ideal devices to reading books on – the e-Ink display – is placing a limitation on their ability to perform other tasks, such as video display or surfing the web. Perhaps in the future, color e-Ink displays will become available, with a faster refresh rate. Devices such as the Kindle reader will then become better internet browsers and media players.

In the meantime, based upon the fact that e-book readers are very much the hot gadget of the moment, it does look as if there is still a place for devices which do one job only. Just so long as, like the Amazon Kindle, they do that one job very well.

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

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Biden PC is a Computer Networking Company and we now offer Online Computer Support.

As you may know, SBS 2008 always wants to be the DHCP server in a domain. Not a problem, right? Well, if you have the Linksys WRTU54G-TM router from T-Mobile, it is a problem.

The issue is that even though you can go into the network setup on the router and disable DHCP, it never stops the service. This means that you now have two DHCP servers on one network giving conflicting addresses.

The Linksys WRTU54G-TM router from T-Mobile is absolutely necessary if you have “T-Mobile @Home“ phone service. This service allows you to connect a standard land-line phone to the router and have a pseudo-landline through T-Mobile. You have to put a SIM card in the router and as other routers don’t accept SIM cards, this is the only one that you can use with this service.

So my client needed this router AND he needed his new SBS server. Though it is possible to have the SBS stop serving DHCP, it isn’t recommended. Here is how I solved the problem of keeping the router for my client’s phone service while installing a new router for the network gateway.

1. I got him a new router to set up as the default gateway for the network and set the IP Subnet to 192.168.0.x.
2. I connected the server and all office computers to this router.
3. I then connected the old router, WRTU54G-TM, behind the new one and set it up with a different IP Subnet of 192.168.1.x.

This allowed both routers to be active while the primary network and its computers received their DHCP through the server. The phone service still worked and at the end of the day, everyone was happy. And next time I see a sys WRTU54G-TM, I’ll know exactly how to handle it. If I can’t remove it, I’ll simply make it subservient to another router.

Have you had either your Windows Vista computer or your SBS (Small Business Server) 2008 box lose their internet connection after you reboot? This recently happened to me after I installed SBS 2008 at a client’s location. It is easy to diagnose and the fix is relatively simple if you understand how to edit the registry on your computer.

Step 1: The Diagnosis:

1. Click on the “START” button and in the small box at the bottom, type “CMD” without the quotes.
2. A black box will appear with a blinking cursor. Type “ipconfig /all” and hit “Enter”.
3. You will see a lot of text that may look completely foreign to you.
4. Look the the row that says “Default Gateway”, if it is blank, then continue on to the “The Fix” section. If the “Default Gateway” is not blank, there is another problem and the fix below will not help you.

Step 2: The Fix:

1. Close out of the black box by typing “Exit” and hitting “Enter”.
2. Click on the “START” button and in the small box at the bottom, type “regedt32″ without the quotes.
3. The registry Editor will appear and you need to navigate to HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/Tcpip/Parameters/Interfaces/
4. Here you’ll need to select the CLSID of your networkadapter where you change the settings. You’ll probably recognize it by looking at the value IPAddress that will have the IP of this adapter.
5. Open the value “DefaultGateway” by double-clicking it.
6. You will see a list of all the gateways that disappeared! ( in your case it may only be one) Very likely, the first line will be empty. I’m not sure, how this little flaw can make such a big problem.
7. Manually remove this first empty line, click OK and reboot your system everything should be working fine again.

Thanks to Ilja Herlein at http://www.netsetman.com/support/viewtopic.php?pid=832#p832 for the direction on how to fix this issue. I hope it helps you as much as it helped me!

Tim

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Biden PC is a Computer Networking Company and we now offer Online Computer Support.

If you’re anything like me, you have a cell phone but no land line and occasionally forget where you put your phone.

Well, now you can call your phone (or prank call your friends) with a website. The address is simple to remember… Its exactly what you say every time you lose your cell phone, “Where’s my cell phone?” Yes, that’s right the website address is… Wait for it.  http://www.wheresmycellphone.com/. No this is not a joke.

According to the website, they do not keep records of who is called so your number is safe with them. “No records of dialed numbers are kept or shared! I have a hard enough time keeping track of my own things, let alone yours. Don’t worry, your cell number is safe here.”

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.

Is there something that you have always wanted to know about computers? Would you like to know how to fix a problem, how this or that works, or even what is the best antivirus program?

I am offering you the opportunity to choose the next few Biden PC blog posts.

To request a certain topic, all you have to do it reply to this post and let me know what you are interested in. I will post the answers here and if there is something that I have to research, I will gladly do that for you.

Thank you very much,
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.

In recent months, I’ve noticed a growing trend in virus removal. Parents are actually having their children (either teenagers or adult offspring living at home) pay for it. About half the time I have a virus removal job; the parents blame the infection on the kids and let me know that the cost of the job will ultimately be paid for by the kids.

I think this makes perfect sense. Having been a computer tech for a number of years, I can usually look at a computer and tell you approximately how old the children in the house are by the software and viruses on the computer.

Whether the parents are helping the children learn about responsibility and consequences or the parents just want to save their own hard-earned money in these difficult financial times, I don’t know. But this is a growing trend and I completely support it. Hopefully, by learning this lesson financially, the children will learn about computer safety and that visiting certain types of websites is going to mess up their computer and cost them money.

***EDIT*** That being said, I know that there are parents that blame their mistakes on the children. Trust me, I don’t care who caused the problem or where the problem came from. I believe it is my job to fix the PCs, not place blame.  ***END***

Way to go Parents!

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.