Biden PC's Small Business IT Blog

I recently got a call from a friend who said he was having troubles with the Windows Vista backup program. Not going into too much of that conversation, I decided to try it out myself.

I did a complete windows Vista Backup of my laptop and saved it to my USB Hard drive. No big deal so far. So next I installed Vista again and went to copy some files back. IT COULD NOT FIND THE BACKUP!!! I am not joking, everything I tried to do to get vista to recognize the backup files failed.

I could go to the drive and get into the files but the same backup program that created the backup couldn't retrieve a single thing. I was amazed.

If you really need to backup your data files or even your complete system, use a more complete backup system such as Acronis True Image. Acronis is what I use and I am quite happy with it.

So, as if I needed another reason, I have to say once again that Windows Vista IS NOT READY to be released to the wild.

Maybe I should have gone to SP1 before attempting to restore the files but with the troubles that I had with SP1, I decided I would rather not restore the files and just copy what I needed from my desktop PC.

Vista Backup... What a joke!

Happy Computing, (said with much sarcasm)
Tim

Labels: Computer Repair, Desktop Support, My Thoughts, Windows Vista Irritations

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Recently I was asked how to make a DOS application print from Windows Vista or XP if there is no Parallel Port. This is actually quite easy and takes only a few simple steps.

1. Install the printer on another printer and make sure it prints.
2. Share the printer and note the computer-name and printer's share-name.
3. On the printer that has the DOS program, create a batch file that looks like this:

net use lpt1 /delete
net use lpt1 \\pc-name\printer-name
c:\folder\dos-application

Now in Windows XP, all you have to do is run the batch file and it works.

With Windows Vista, there is a slight catch. when you run it, you may not get anything or you may get an error that asks you for a password. If either of these happen to you:

1. close it out and go back to where the batch file is located.
2. Right-click on the batch file and choose "Run As Administrator".
3. You can now run the program and print to LPT1.

If you need to print to LPT2 instead of LPT1, simply change the commands in the batch file to sat LPT2.

Happy computing,
Tim

Labels: General PC Advice, How To, Tech Talk, Windows Vista Irritations

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Most people that I know are less than thrilled about the concept of switching to Microsoft Windows Vista. Unfortunately, Microsoft, as of today, has officially killed sales of XP on prebuilt computers. This means that if you call Dell, HP, Gateway or Acer all you can get as an Operating System is a version of Windows Vista or possibly Linux.

If you are in the market for a new computer and still want XP, call Biden PC. We still have Windows XP licenses in stock. We can sell Windows XP Professional for $160 and XP Home for $110.

We will even completely remove Windows Vista from your current computer and install either Windows XP Professional or XP Home with all drivers and updates installed.

If you would like to have Vista uninstalled on your computer and replace it with windows XP Pro, Home or Media Center Edition, please contact Biden PC. We will be glad to do that for you.

Biden PC is a computer networking, repair, and support company that is located in Pomona, California. We are central to San Dimas, Glendora, Diamond Bar, Monrovia, Chino, Chino Hills, Claremont, Montclair, Ontario, and Rancho Cucamonga.

Labels: Services Offered, Windows Vista Irritations

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I'm noticing a new pattern, Windows XP Service Pack 3 seems to be as messed up as Windows Vista is, just in a smaller package.

Microsoft originally released XP SP3 to manufacturing on April 21, 2008 and to end users to download on May 6, 2008. It was then recalled due to issues with "office program incompatibilities". Once re-released, it is having troubles with Norton/Symantec Antivirus, AMD hardware (which I use almost exclusively), as well as connection problems with Windows Home Server. I think I'll stay away from it for a few weeks. I really don't need to send my computer into a never-ending reboot loop.

A Toshiba laptop computer that I saw today (I should have paid more attention to the hardware configuration) has been freezing at the loading screed in Windows since loading SP3. After removing Service Pack 3, it seems to be running perfectly.

Here's an interesting take on it from Chad Weirick at Hot Hardware, "With the campaign to keep Windows XP alive, one has to wonder if glitches like this were a product of a less than complete testing cycle. If customers began viewing XP as less than rock-solid, they might be willing to take another look at Vista." Thanks, Chad!

Tim

Labels: My Thoughts, Windows Vista Irritations

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Irony as defined by webster.com: incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result

As ironic as it may seem, IBM, the creator of the personal computer, has started giving Apple laptops to its employees.

What? You think I'm joking? Ok, so they started with a roll-out of only 24 laptops... Still, check this link. 22 of the 24 people responded to a questionnaire and 19 wanted to keep the Apple laptops. Only 3 out of 22 wanted to go back to Windows. They'll soon start a new roll-out of 50 laptops and in the second half of 2008 add another 50 laptops to the test.

Comments on the questionnaire include: “I have been a true PC stalwart for 2+ decades, but after trying Vista, I’m ready for a change,” and "It has been easier learning the Mac than learning Vista.” What a smack in the face to Microsoft!

Even though the numbers aren't large, this must be exciting for Apple. I wish I had some Apple stock. =)

Tim

Labels: My Thoughts, Windows Vista Irritations

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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.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Labels: How To, Windows Vista Irritations

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I don't know about you but there are many things in Vista that, in my opinion, just aren't quite right. I know that this is pretty minor in the grand scheme fo things but it bugs me none the less. The "All Programs" menu has WAY too many icons in it so I decided to remove the ones that are irrelevant to me.

There are 2 ways to do this... The fast way and the complete way.

First I'll touch on the fast way.

1. Go to the Control Panel and choose "Folder Options".
2. 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.
   
3. Now navigate to "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" and start deleting any icons that you aren't interested in.
4. Be sure not to remove any programs or folders that you may want to be there later.
5. 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.
   

Now it's time for the complete way.

1. Click on the "Start" menu and then click on "All Programs".
2. Right-click on any of the unnecessary icons and choose delete.
3. A pop-up will ask you to confirm the deletion. Click yes.

Pretty simple huh? I thought so too.
Tim

Labels: How To, Windows Vista Irritations

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