Biden PC's Small Business IT Blog

Do you have questions about computer networking? Do you have computer system problems that you haven't gotten fixed. Send us an email at sales@bidenpc.com. We will answer your computer questions in our blog just a few days.

Happy Computing,
Tim

Labels: Computer Networks, Computer Repair, Computer Upgrades, Desktop Support, Free, General PC Advice, Hardware, How To, Tech Talk

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If you are like me, you have a few different email addresses that are being managed by Microsoft Outlook. I have 2 IMAP email addresses that I have to check but Outlook defaults to opening the standard inbox first.

To correct this and setup Microsoft Outlook to open the folder you want open first, just follow these easy steps.

1. Go to the "TOOLS" menu and Click on"OPTIONS".
2. Click on the "OTHER" tab at the top of the new window.
3. Now click on "ADVANCED OPTIONS" then click on the "BROWSE" button.
4. Highlight the folder that you want to see opened when you first open Outlook and click "OK".
5. Now click "OK" and click "OK" again.
6. Reboot your computer and when you start up Microsoft Outlook it will start up in the folder that you chose.

If you have other computer support needs or questions, please feel free to contact Biden PC.

Happy Computing,
Tim

Labels: Desktop Support, Free, General PC Advice, How To, Microsoft Office, Services Offered, Tech Talk

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Since everyone wants more business, it pays to be on the first page of Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Website rankings and their placements are always changing which is why we must perform SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.

I've been learning quite a bit about SEO in recent weeks and I would like to share just the basics with you.

1. The wording on your page is extremely important, especially the H1 and Title tags.
2. Inbound links are are also extremely important. Not only how many you have but also what the anchor text (the text you click on that takes you to the link) says. For example, if your link anchor text says "Biden PC", that will only get you SEO credit for the term "Biden PC". That means, to find you, your prospective client must type in "Biden PC". Instead, if your anchor text says "Computer Networking" (which gets a lot more searches per month) you will now be found under that term. The more that you get with specific anchor text, the better off you will be.
3. Who links to you is also extremely important. If you have a page that has a Google Page Rank of 1, you don't get a lot of SEO credit for that. If a site with a Google Page Rank of 3 or 5 links to you, that carries more weight. But even better, if a site with a Google Page Rank of 6 to 10 links to you, that carries a whole lot more weight.

This is why I am enrolled to be listed with Total Blog Directory under their Tech Support Blog Directory section. It has a page Rank of 3 (which is higher than my page rank of 1) and that will help me to get a higher Google Page Rank.

For more on SEO, check out Hubspot's Website Grader and their SEO Blog.

Happy computing,
Tim

Labels: Free, How To, Search Engine Optimization, Services Offered, Tech Talk

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Regular computer maintenance will keep your computer running faster longer and over time that will save you both stress and the price of a new computer. Here are a couple easy computer maintenance procedures that you can quickly do on your own in less than 10 minutes.

Remove all the dust from the inside of your computer.

1. All you need is a can of compressed air. Take your computer outside and remove the side cover.
   
2. Using your can of compressed air, blow all the dust out of the inside of your computer. Point it at the CPU Fan, Power Supply, air vents and anywhere else there is a build-up of dust and/or animal fur.

Run CCleaner.

1. CCleaner is a free program that cleans up many parts of your version of Windows. You can download CCleaner here. You have many options when running CCleaner. Here are my favorites... I will assume that you start with the defaults then modify them. When you start CCleaner you have a number of check-boxes and some of those are checked and some are not.
   
2. To start with, under "Internet Explorer" uncheck cookies, history recently typed URLs, and AutoComplete Form History.
   
3. Under "Windows Explorer" uncheck Recent Documents.
   
4. Under "System" uncheck Startmenu Shortcuts and desktop Shortcuts.
5. Now, check the box that says "Advanced". Click "OK" to the boxes that pop up. We will turn off problematic ones.
6. Under "Advanced" uncheck Menu Order Cache and Custom Files and Folders.
7. Now click on "Run Cleaner" and then click on "OK".
8. Off to the left side, you will see a bunch of blue building blocks that say "Registry" under them. Click on that then click on "Scan for Issues". This will take a minute. When the process is completed, click on "Fix Selected Issues".
9. Now reboot your computer and know that your computer is cleaner both physically and in the software.

See, performing your own computer maintenance really isn't that hard. Of course, if you feel uncomfortable doing this, Biden PC is available for this and many other computer support services. These can be performed onsite at your office or home or they can be performed remotely over the Internet.

Happy computing,
Tim

Labels: Free, General PC Advice, How To, software, Tech Talk

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Have you ever really thought about computer repair? There are real advantages to getting onsite computer repair over taking your computer into a shop to have it worked on.

1. If you have somebody come to your home or office, it is more convenient to you because they have to work around your schedule.
   
2. The pc repair will also be will also be finished quicker. You never know how long it will be until they get to work on your computer when it is at their shop.
3. It keeps the computer repair technicians honest because you can see exactly what processes are taking place and which parts are being replaced.
4. Your technical support technicians are less likely to overcharge you if they are onsite because they can't charge you for time they weren't there.

Right now, Biden PC offers a free computer repair consultation. If you would like to have us call you and examine your computer's type and symptoms, simply contact us now. We will call you as soon as possible or the next business day, depending on when you contact us.

Thank you and happy computing,
Tim

Labels: Free, General PC Advice, Services Offered

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Do you own a small business? How many computers do you use at your location? What, you don't have a server? How do you back up all of your files from individual computers? How do you share important files among your employees?

A server really isn't as large an investment as most small businesses imagine and the benefits are immense! A server running Windows Small Business Server 2003 can cost as little as $1,500 and for this you can:

• Host your own email and website
  
• Store user's data on the server for backup or review
  
• Share a contact list and calendar
  
• Control who has access to your computer network
  
• Control which users have access to which public files and folders
• Access work computers from anywhere else in the world via a web browser
• Access email via a web browser
• Automate the Windows update service for user's PCs
  
• Control user's password complexity for security
  
• Reset a user's password in case one forgets theirs or leaves the company
  
• Share Printers
  
• Receive faxes via email
  

Windows Small Business Server is an excellent platform for small businesses because it has many of the features that a large company needs with a much smaller price tag. You get the Windows Server platform, Microsoft Exchange for email as well as to share appointments and calendars, Microsoft Web Server and in the Premium Version you can also get the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database.

Whether your company has 3, 25, 50 or even 75 computer users, your company can still use all the functions of Microsoft Small Business Server on just 1 computer. When you are ready to make your small business more efficient and take productivity to the next level, contact Biden PC for your free server consultation.

Remember, servers do more than just store files. They provide backup, security, increased productivity and peace of mind.

Tim

Labels: Computer Networks, Free, General PC Advice, SBS 2003, SBS 2008, Services Offered, Windows Server Tips

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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.

1. Go to the "Control Panel" and choose "User Accounts".
   
2. Click on "Turn user Account Control on or off."
   
3. Get the stupid pop-up and choose "Continue".
   
4. Uncheck the box next to the sentence "Use User Account Control (UAC) to manage your computer."
   
5. Click OK then choose to reboot now or later.
   

After you have rebooted you can once again use the "ipconfig /release" command.

Happy Computing,

Tim

Labels: Free, General PC Advice, How To, My Thoughts, Windows Vista Irritations

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Do you use Microsoft Office 2007? If not, this is a great reason to start!

With 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!

Happy Computing,
Tim

Labels: Free, General PC Advice, How To, Microsoft Office, My Thoughts, News, software

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Yesterday I had a client whose Windows XP computer downloaded the latest patches from Microsoft and the computer rebooted. And rebooted. And rebooted. And rebooted. I think you get the picture.

When 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.

1. Open "System Properties" via "Start" ==> "Control Panel" ==> "Performance and Maintenance" ==> "System"
2. Select the "Advanced" tab and then click "Settings" in the "Startup and Recovery" section in "System Failure" section.
3. Clear the check box next to "Automatically Restart" Click OK and OK to exit

Happy Computing!
Tim Biden

Labels: Computer Repair, Desktop Support, Free, General PC Advice, How To, Tech Talk, Windows XP

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