Biden PC’s IT Blog

Lately I’ve been quite involved with Twitter. If you haven’t been to twitter.com, I would definitely recommend taking a look.

Here is how Twitter works. Let’s say that you’re interested in preventing and removing computer viruses, like I am. You could do a search for “virus”, “viruses” or even “computer virus”. Then you would find people who are tweeting about viruses. Once you find them, you can follow them and every time they post a message, you’ll see it. In turn, when they see you following them, they might follow you and get your tweets.

On Twitter, you have the ability to send short messages (the technical term is “MicroBlogging”) to everyone who follows you. You gain followers by tweeting (posting your comments) and following other people who interest you. If you want to send a message to someone, put a @ symbol in front of their name like @BidenPC. If you want to send a direct message (other people can’t see it) Put a D and a space then their name. That looks like D BidenPC. The catch is that to send a Direct Message you have to be following them and they have to be following you. Got it?

If you want to see how it works, go to twitter.com and create your own account. Then go to tweetdeck.com and download their Twitter interface. It’s great! And finally, go to Biden PC and follow me on Twitter.

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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I recently had my first experience with Windows Live OneCare and I have to say that I was less than impressed. Here is what happened. Microsoft, take note!

My clients are an elderly couple who are nervous about using their PC but they’ve gotten by for a while now. So they had Windows XP Home edition with Service Pack 3 (I think) and a few run of the mill software programs installed. They kept having freezing and rebooting problems. I did a repair of Windows XP. That didn’t fix it. I ran all the diagnostics I could think of but no hardware problem would show up.

I finally ran out of options and formatted their computer. It was running perfectly. I reinstalled most of the programs but not Windows Live OneCare. I don’t like Microsoft’s AntiVirus products so I skipped the program entirely. Unfortunately there were functions in OneCare that the clients wanted so without really thinking that it was the problem, I installed it. BAM!!! The same problems were back exactly the way they were before. I attempted a system restore but OneCare was still there. I tried uninstalling it but that didn’t fix the problem either.

My clients needed their computer so they opted to put up with the problems rather than be without their computer for another day. I said “Okay” and left. About a week later, they called me again and asked if I would help them set up their new Apple laptop. Well, they now have a nice new fully functioning Apple MacBook Pro and they love that it works the way it is supposed to. They’re still getting used to the software but since Windows Live OneCare caused such havoc on their PC, they’re glad to have something that works.

So, as you can tell, Windows Live OneCare won’t get my vote for software application of the year.

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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Are you running Quickbooks on Windows PCs while a Linux domain and file server holds the data files? Do you get an error code -6190 -82? Let me tell you how I fixed this problem on a client’s server. I fully admit that I am no Linux expert but I am learning.

The users that were logged in to the server had admin access but only the user that owned the file was able to access it. All others were given the -6190 -82 error code. I tried everything my non-Linux mind could think of. I had them run QuickBooks from a batch file that removed the “Read Only” attribute. I did this, I did that.

What I finally did to fix the issue was going into the server and see what user group the necessary users belonged to. I then changed the owner setting of the QB Data files to that group.

**ADDITION** I had to go back and I saw that the .TLG file permissions had changed on the server. This sent me searching for why they would change and how to stop it… After testing, changing, testing, changing and retesting, I believe I have the complete solution to the problem.

1. Put all users who need QuickBooks access in 1 user group.
2. Make that group the owner of your .QBW and .TLG file with “Read & Write” permissions.
3. On each users desktop (at least the ones who backup the QuickBooks file), set the program NOT to verify the backup data.
4. Viola. The problem has been solved.

So what is the reason for this??? You can set the permissions on the .TLG file but if you verify the backup data in QuickBooks it creates a new .TLG file with the same name. That causes the permissions to be reset. So backing up without verifying saves the permissions and allows everyone to use the files. **END ADDITION**

Intuit says they don’t support Linux unless you pay for their $3000.00 Enterprise Solutions package. Well, this trick might just save you $3000.00. Feel free to send me a check if you find this useful… Just kidding.

Tim Biden

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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Linksys,

One of my client’s neighbors recently called your company for support because she didn’t know how to get her WPA key after her computer was wiped clear because of viruses. You told her to reset the router back to factory settings but then wouldn’t tell her how to set it up again! “Your router is out of warranty” is your reply. So now her entire company is in worse shape because she didn’t have the authority to spend $40.00 of her boss’s money.

That is just bad business.

1. You find out her problem.
2. know her router is out of warranty
3. You have her reset her router.
4. You can’t help her to restore it back to working order because it is out of warranty.
5. You offer to charge her to do it.

Shouldn’t you mention these facts before you have her reset her router and knock the entire company off the Internet?

It is such reasons that I refuse to sell Linksys products. I truly hope that you will change your way of business but I doubt it. You’re owned by Cisco and you are the industry’s 800 lb. gorilla so you don’t have to worry about the little guy.

Well, I hope that you are happy with the fact that you wanted to charge them $40.00 to set up a router. As soon as I can, I am going to move them to a Netgear router.

Sincerely NOT a Linksys reseller,
Tim Biden

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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Are you unable to access your Windows XP Control Panel after removing viruses and/or malware? I recently had this happen on a client’s PC andit presented a message that said “This operation has been canceled due to restrictions in effect on the computer. Please contact your System Administrator.”

I was logged in as the computer administrator and I still got that message so I knew that there was another problem. After much searching and reading tons of “solutions” I found that many of them were simply impossible because the necessary registry entries were not there. I finally found the answer and I want to share it with you.

1. Download Trojan Remover.
2. Install Trojan Remover and when prompted, put check-marks in the boxes marked “Check for Updates? (You must be connected to the Internet)” and “Run Trojan Remover after setup is completed”.
3. The Update program will run and alert you to any updates that are available. Choose “Update”.
4. That program will close and the full program will open.
5. You haven’t purchased the full version yet so just click “Continue” then click “Scan”.
6. The program will now remove any Trojans that it finds as well as check registry entries. One of the registry entries will be the one that has been blocking your access to the control panel.
7. When it finds a problem, choose the default option and continue.

After the scan has completed, reboot your computer and you should have access to your control panel again.

Thanks for reading! If this has helped you, send me a comment saying so.
Tim Biden

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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