Windows Vista User Account Control or UAC
0 Comments Published by Tim Biden on Feb 29, 2008 at 8:39 AM.
Windows Vista has a "Safety Mechanism" called the User Account Control or the UAC for short. The UAC pops up tons of unnecessary windows asking you if you want to do this or that. Of course you do. That's why you clicked on it!
In computer networking it is often necessary to perform an "ipconfig /release" or "ipconfig /renew" but Windows Vista won't allow you to perform the necessary "ipconfig /release" if you have the UAC turned on. You'll get a message that says "The requested operation requires elevation." What do you mean it requires elevation? I'm already logged in as an administrator. Yes, you guessed it, the UAC overrides the Admin rights. So let's turn the UAC off.
- Go to the "Control Panel" and choose "User Accounts".
- Click on "Turn user Account Control on or off."
- Get the stupid pop-up and choose "Continue".
- Uncheck the box next to the sentence "Use User Account Control (UAC) to manage your computer."
- Click OK then choose to reboot now or later.
After you have rebooted you can once again use the "ipconfig /release" command.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Labels: How To, Windows Vista Irritations
DiggIt! Del.icio.usHow to clear out the Start Menu in Vista
0 Comments Published by Tim Biden on Feb 25, 2008 at 8:05 AM.
There are 2 ways to do this... The fast way and the complete way.
First I'll touch on the fast way.
- Go to the Control Panel and choose "Folder Options".
- Click on the "View" tab and look for "Show hidden files and folders". Click the button next to it then close that window as well as the Control Panel. Click here for an example image.
- Now navigate to "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" and start deleting any icons that you aren't interested in.
- Be sure not to remove any programs or folders that you may want to be there later.
- Some of the extraneous icons aren't listed there so you may still have to do the complete way. But this way you can remove many more much faster than the other way.
- Click on the "Start" menu and then click on "All Programs".
- Right-click on any of the unnecessary icons and choose delete.
- A pop-up will ask you to confirm the deletion. Click yes.
Tim
Labels: How To, Windows Vista Irritations
DiggIt! Del.icio.usI'd like to get on my soap-box for a minute. How many of you who read this recycle your cell phones, TVs, or computers when you're done with them? I love recycling and attempting to save this dying planet that we live on. I applaud those who take such a view on this issue.
According to Chris Carroll’s - National Geographic Article "As viewers prepare for the switch (to HD TV), about 25 million TVs are taken out of service yearly. In the fashion-conscious mobile market, 98 million U.S. cell phones took their last call in 2005. All told, the EPA estimates that in the U.S. that year, between 1.5 and 1.9 million tons of computers, TVs, VCRs, monitors, cell phones, and other equipment were discarded. If all sources of electronic waste are tallied, it could total 50 million tons a year worldwide, according to the UN Environment Programme."
Unfortunately, when you recycle your e-waste, things such as computers, monitors, cables, DVD & CD players, TVs, VCRs, monitors, and cell phones, most of what you take them is NOT truly recycled. They take what is easily removable and profitable for them. These items need to be recycled completely because if they aren't, items such as lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, beryllium, and other toxic substances into the ground and eventually into our water supplies.
Instead of letting this happen, many of the "recyclers" just ship the old parts off to third-world countries. This way we don't see the destruction or the remains. But the people there live with piles of our junk littering their lives. Please follow this link for pictures of the litter we dump in developing nations.
The United States is one of only three countries to sign but not ratify the Basel Convention (the other two are Haiti and Afghanistan). Why don't we care about the state of these countries? I really don't know. My only guess is that people look at it like we're doing a favor to the poor who live there because we're giving them a living. People there engage in dangerous practices like burning computer wire to expose copper, melting circuit boards in pots to extract lead and other metals, or dousing the boards in powerful acid to remove gold. Does this seem safe or ethical to you?
I still encourage recycling these products because it does take some of the toxic materials out. I also encourage asking your e-waste recycling center what they remove from the products that you give them and what happens to them after they have removed what is valuable to them. If they don’t know or refuse to tell you, I would recommend searching out a new recycling center.
I will inform you of some Southern California recycling centers in another post soon.
Thank you for allowing me to rant.
Tim
Labels: Ecological
DiggIt! Del.icio.usWith no expensive or additional software, you can easily create Abobe Acrobat .PDF conforming files within Microsoft Office 2007.
Simply download a simple plugin to allow this function. You'll have to download and run a program that verifies that your copy of Office is legitimate, but you should be able to handle that. Then after you confirm your version of Office, you will be taken to another page to download the actual plugin.
Once it is downloaded, run the plugin and agree to the EULA. After the installation process is complete open any of your Office, Excel, Publisher or anything else you want and choose "Save As" and change the format to PDF. That's it!
So create all the PDFs you want, for free!
Enjoy,
Tim
Labels: General PC Advice, How To
DiggIt! Del.icio.us- I use NetGear for ethernet routers and wireless access points.
- HP is my company for computers and servers as well as printers.
- TrendNet has some great small ethernet switches
- Seagate gets my business whenever I have to purchase a Hard Drive.
- Microsoft creates the Windows operating systems (desktop or server) to be used at the office as well as great keyboards and mice.
- I recommend Apple for computers and operating systems that are to be used at home or in home offices.
- Acronis is my choice for backup solutions.
- Anti-Spyware... Here I have 2 that I use. Spybot and AdAware.
- Anti-Virus... Here I have 2 also. You probably use 1 of the big 2. I don't. I use either AVG or Avira.
If you're curious as to why I chose these products, feel free to ask me. If you want my opinion on products that aren't on this list, email me.
I don't want to start an argument over which is better or explain why I mentioned both Microsoft and Apple. I do want to give an answer to everyone who asks for my 2 cents.
Thanks for reading!
Tim
Labels: General PC Advice
DiggIt! Del.icio.usMany people feel the same way about computer professionals. I have a few clients that aren't certain whether or not to trust me. Unfortunately one man's distrust recent lead him to go against what I told him and cost him a few hundred dollars extra.
I recommended that he create a single sign on for each computer and allow his employees to share those while giving individual access to specific programs. He disagreed and wanted everyone to have individual access to each of 5 computers with the individual access to the program set up on each one.
It would have cost him $100 or $200 to do it my way but he paid $400 to do it his way. The saying goes "The customer is always right" so I did what he wanted. Just before I finished, he asked why we didn't do a single sign on to the computers and individual access to the programs. I explained it and he looked embarrassed. I wish it didn't have to be like that but it wasn't my choice to make.
I understand that not everybody is going to trust service workers because we have to make a living at what we do. Upselling is expected. But, please, at least consider what we have to tell you. It could save you a lot of money and headaches.
Thanks for reading!
Tim
Labels: My Thoughts
DiggIt! Del.icio.usWhen we couldn't get it to boot I attempted to do a System Restore to the previous day and the computer froze upon shutdown. Very bad sign. It wouldn't boot after that so I tried booting from the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows and Knoppix. Neither would boot. The UBCD4Win got a BSOD and Knoppix had a Kernel Panic.
Though I haven't yet performed a hardware analysis, I suspect that the repeated reboots caused a hardware problem somewhere. The customer half-joked that the computer had rebooted on its own 400 times.
For your own protection from this kind of problem, perform the following steps.
- Open System Properties via Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > System
- Select the Advanced tab and then click Settings in the Startup and Recovery section in System Failure section.
- Clear the checkbox next to Automatically Restart Click OK and OK to exit
Tim Biden
Labels: Computer Repair, Desktop Support, Free, General PC Advice, How To, Tech Talk
DiggIt! Del.icio.usMy goal for this blog is to give you a glimpse into my work life and hopefully a bit of help when conquering that computer system in your office. If at any point you decide that your office network is beyond your capabilities, we are at your service.
Thank you!
Tim Biden
Labels: My Thoughts
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