FREE PC, OS, Network, and Software help

You can improve performance of your PC or laptop by changing the default disk cache options.

In device manager, find the disk folder and right click on the drive in the folder. Select properties.
Check enable write caching on the disk.
Check enable advanced performance.
Click OK to apply

Of course, you should only do this if you have a good battery in the laptop or a UPS on the PC, otherwise, you may loose some data in the cache in the event of a power outage. The data lost will only be what you are currently working on, and may be a small price to pay for the performance boost.

Good evening.

Tomorrow I will be coming down to my place on STT.. I am bringing a Davis weather station (Davis Vantage Pro 2), that I plan to install. It has the ability to post directly to the Internet by a wifi connection. Also I am bringing a wifi camera as well.

Hopefully ( with any luck) we will have the station up and running by weeks end broadcasting live weather and a live picture looking north from St. Thomas. If I encounter a connectivity issue that I can't resolve I may need to give you a call.

Best Regards
HB

I'd be happy to help if I can.

FYI:
There is a job opening with the National Park Service in Christiansted for an IT Specialist.
only open until Thursday, part time, less than 1039 hours a year.
job announcement is listed on usajobs.gov, announcement# AT234490

good luck to all that apply!

Did you know...

Most new PCs and laptops come with slots for camera memory cards and sticks, and even if they don't, your camera probably gives you the ability to connect the camera to the PC in some fashion.

In a pinch, you can use your card or camera to transfer files from one PC/location to another. The card or camera will typically show up in the file system (windows explorer) as an external drive. Simply copy the files you want and paste them to the card for transport.

OBTW, sorry if I've not been so active on the forum. It's been pretty hectic over the past couple of weeks with the move and business development. I'll try to keep in touch, and keep your questions coming.

New absolute test for the Conficker worm.

http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/infection_test/cfeyechart.html

If you see all 6 icons, you don't have it.

Vic

OBTW...

If you know anybody that needs on site help, feel free to pass on my number 8776-GET-VIC

Hey Vic, thanks for that link. I am going to spread it around to other message boards and friends...

Thank you so much Vic .. You are a living doll
Deidre

For all of you that have a laptop, I wanted to share my experience with you using an aircard. This is the end of my first month using the service and the device.

I have a Quicksilver aircard from AT&T with a 5 gig limit per month for $60. The aircard was $100, with a $100 rebate, and a $25 activation fee. The service is reliable anywhere on the island, so you don't have to be tethered to your wireless location. In addition, the card will allow picking up hot spots for free, if you happen to be in the vicinity of one. The speed is about 1.5 mbps up and down.

After an initial issue of megs counting up for unknown reasons, I discovered I had a service running for auto download of TVTonic content. Once this was realized and corrected, the counters settled down. As an IT Consultant, I am on my laptop a good portion of the day, and on line all the time to allow email to be delivered, and executing Internet searches. Over the period, my usage averages about 50 to 100 megs per day, or 1.5 gigs to 3 gigs per month, well under the 5 gig cap.

Also, as my wife is off island dealing with the move details back in CT, we Skype every morning. For a 10 to 15 minute call, it runs up the counter about 100 megs to 150 megs. I did notice that my camera transmits 3 times as much as I receive from hers. Not sure I understand yet why this is the case, as both cameras are the same model. It may be the that I have 4 gigs of memory and she has 1.

In any event. I find the unit and service to be reliable and economical as I need to have service anywhere I go for on site work.

Vic

I just used this tool for a laptop repair. Everyone that does regular updates will have it, but might not even know about it. It's called the MS Malicious Software Removal Tool.

This tool is a great utility. It scans for malicious software and removes it. To execute it, go to Start | Run. Then type in the Run box mrt.exe and click okay. You should see a Dialog box pop up that allows you to select the type of scan then click the button to start the scan.

This is just another tool in the arsenal. It surely won't catch everything (especially if you don't do updates), but it's available for use in the overall plan for PC health.

Thanks, vroberge!

Great tip. I just ran the tool and got a clean bill of health.

Do you know if Norton 360 also catches the same problems?

The only experience I've had with Norton has not been good. That is to say, from an application perspective and how it interacts with the layers on the hardware, the OS, and the Internet, it is horrendous. I would never use it as a resource on my laptop and therefore recommend the same to others.

While I am sure the results it gets may be on par with other similar software, I can't really comment on it's effectiveness.

First, I want to thank all of you that have been PMing me with work opportunities. I appreciate it, and am doing my best to establish a name for my business ethics and to turn around the opinion of IT companies and people on the island.

Second, if you own a small business (or not), if you rely on your PC being up, If you rely on your data being safe and intact, if you rely on your server being there and healthy, if you rely on your network being operational, if you rely on your Internet connectivity, it is important to stay healthy rather than get attention when disaster strikes.

We all know you probably can't afford to keep an IT person in the organizational chart, but there is an option called managed services which can eliminate or at least seriously reduce downtime and data loss. Like going to a doctor for an annual check up, prevention goes a long way to business health, and costs less in the long run. If you'd like to know more about the possibilities, feel free to give me a call.

8776-GET-VIC

WARNING!!!

In my travels on the island, while talking with business owners, I've come to find that there are some unscrupulous cons out there that are passing themselves off as IT people. They will proclaim their expertise, guarantee they can fix the problem or do the "job" (whatever it is), take an up front payment, remove equipment from the premises, then proceed to sell the equipment, and the business owner never sees them again.

Please be sure of who you do business with. I would never pay for services prior to them being complete, and would not expect it of my clients either. Anyone that does ask for an up front payment should be scrutinized.

Phishing is becoming all to common, especially in down economic times. Be aware that no legitimate company will ask you for personal information via email or phone. The phishing is done by scammers that are in it solely for identity theft, and much of it comes from overseas, and China in particular. Not only can you tell by the request for personal info, but many times the email is written in broken English. Here is an excerpt from an email I just received.

We wish to inform you that we are undergoing slight maintenance and
> upgrading of our site also we are having congestion's due to the anonymous
> registration of accounts. And we are also using this medium in shutting
> down some accounts and your account was among those to be shut down
>
> We are sending you this email to you so that you can verify and let us
> know if you still want to use this account. If you are still interested
> please confirm your account details below.and you are required to send
> your account details
> for verification:
>
> User Name: (******)
> Password: ***)
> Date Of Birth(DOB):(***)
> Country:(******)
>
> Your response should be sent to Mail Support manager
> Email: mailsupport@mailsupportoffice.hyperoffice.com
>
> DISCLAIMER!!! Account owner that refuse to send this information after One
> weeks of receiving this warning will lose his/her Web-Mail account
> permanently.
>
> Warning!!! it very important you update your email account within One
> Weeks of this update notification,We are sorry for any inconvenience
> will might have cause you, and expect our new mail features.
>
> Web-mail Support Customer Care Of Web-mail Team.

There are couple of things I do when I receive this type of mail. First I reply to the mail and copy and paste their address about 50 times to clog their inbox. You can even attach a huge picture file or something like that to fill their mailbox and prevent them from receiving additional mail. Next, I cc abuse@theirdomain.xxx. And finally I write a pretty graphic and demeaning little note in the message body. Hit send and you'll probably never hear from them again. If the domain manager is legit, they will investigate the incident and remove the account from service.

Customise your Start menu

There's a number of options you can choose to make the Start menu a bit friendlier. For example, for faster access to Control Panel applications and your network details, you can expand their entries in the Start menu.

1.Right-click on an empty space on the task bar, and then click on Properties

2.Click on the Start Menu tab. Click the active Customize button
•If you're using the Classic Start Menu, select Expand Control Panel and Expand Network Connections
•If you're using the standard Start Menu, in the Control Panel section select Display as a menu. Network Connections sadly doesn't obey the same behaviour here, but you can do the next best thing and set it to link to the right place — under the Network Connections section, select Link to Network Connections folder

3.Click OK, then OK again to effect the changes

There's plenty of other options here, so feel free to prod around.

Copy and paste this one for reference:

Know your keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts can make using your PC a heck of a lot quicker. Listed below are some of the essentials — note that a plus symbol (+) indicates striking keys simultaneously.

The first entries with the W represents the Windows Logo Key

Universal shortcuts
Opens Start menu. You can also use CTRL + ESC
W+ R Open Run dialog
W+ E Open Windows Explorer
W + D Show desktop
W+ L Lock computer
W+ PAUSE or BREAK Load system properties
W+ B Make the system tray active. Use Enter to simulate a double click, or use the arrow keys to select the icons
W+ TAB Windows XP: Cycle forward through applications in the taskbar
Windows Vista: Cycle forward through Flip 3D
W+ T cycles the taskbar forward in Vista
W+ SHIFT + TAB Windows XP: Cycle backward through applications in the taskbar
Windows Vista: Cycle backward through Flip 3D
W+ SHIFT + T cycles the taskbar backward in Vista
ALT + TAB Cycle forward in task switcher
ALT + SHIFT + TAB Cycle backward in task switcher
CTRL + ALT + DEL Bring up the Windows Security dialog, allowing you to log out, change password, lock the computer, shutdown or run the Task Manager
CTRL + SHIFT + ESC Load the Task Manager
PrintScreen Take a screenshot, and copy it to the clipboard. To retrieve it, you'll need to paste it into an imaging program like Paint and save it

Windows Vista Only
W+ any number Hotkeys for the appropriate entry in the QuickLaunch bar. For example, W+ 1 will execute the first shortcut, W+ 2 the second, and so on.

File operations in Windows Explorer
CTRL + C Copy the file
CTRL + X Cut the file
CTRL + V Paste the file. If you previously performed the copy shortcut, the file will be copied to the chosen location. If you previously performed the cut shortcut, the file will be moved to the chosen location
CTRL + Z Undo the previous file operation
Holding CTRL when click dragging a file Upon release of mouse button, force the file to copy to the new location
Holding ALT when click dragging a file Upon release of mouse button, create a shortcut to the file in the new location
Holding SHIFT when click dragging a file Upon release of mouse button, force the file to move to the new location
ALT + ENTER or
ALT + double left click on icons Load the properties dialog
SHIFT + DEL Delete file immediately, without sending it to the Recycle Bin.
SHIFT + arrow keys, or HOME/END Group select/deselect multiple sequential files
CTRL + left click Select/deselect multiple specific files
F2 Rename file
F3 Open search Explorer bar
F4 Go to address bar
F5 Refresh contents
Numpad * Expand entire selected folder tree
CTRL+ A Select all files in current window
or numpad + Expand current folder
or numpad - Collapse current folder
BACKSPACE Go up to parent folder

Shortcuts with text
CTRL + or
Place the cursor at the beginning or the end of the current word.
CTRL + END
Send the cursor to the end of the document
CTRL + HOME Send the cursor to the beginning of the document
Double click Quick select the clicked word
Triple click Quick select the clicked paragraph
SHIFT + arrows, HOME, END, PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN Select text

Navigation without a mouse
SHIFT + F10 Same as right clicking a file
TAB Navigate menu elements forward
SHIFT + TAB Navigate menu elements backward
ALT + F4 Close the current application
ALT + SPACEBAR Display application system menu
ALT + Underlined letter in menu Open that menu
SPACEBAR If a checkbox or radio box is selected, activates this. If a button is selected, clicks it
ENTER Click the default button (usually OK)
ESC Equivalent to clicking the CANCEL button

Are you plagued by SPAM? Want to do something about it?

http://www.spamcop.net/anonsignup.shtml

This is a free service that forwards your email and headers to the reporting authority that hosts the offending domain.

Unfortunately, if you use Outlook, you can't just forward the mail, as Outlook does not show the Internet headers. But there is an Outlook link that explains how to show the headers and you can copy and paste them, and the email body, in to their two part Eudora work around form.

I've been using this, and have gotten reports that domains have been shut down due to the report I sent. Try it. Every domain that gets shut down will result in less spam for all of us.

We will be needing to get Internet service on the island better than dial up. My wife will be doing business a couple of hours a day or a day and a half a week starting in Jan, for three months at a time. She can't go to one of the restaurants as she needs a private area where she can be on the phone and computer at the same time. We will be splitting our time between STX and AZ.
She just bought a new HP laptop that picks up Wi-Fi if it's around, but we aren't sure how it is where we live. North shore between condo row and Judith's Fancy.
Any ideas???
Thanks,
Terry

I bought my laptop last July, and it did not come with wifi on board, so I had to get an aircard. I subscribed to the AT&T broadband service for my aircard and am satisfied with the performance. I live in condo row. I get a decent broadband signal, but do not get wifi at this location.

I would say to subscribe to the broadband service your wifi device is designed for and you should be good to go.

Thanks(tu)
Which condos are you in, we are in STC at the end of condo row.

Club STX

We will be there mid Aug. Lets get together for a drink.

Contact us when you get here

On the subject of Junk email, we all enjoy seeing those jokes and pictures come to us from our friends, the emails that ask you to "forward this email to X number of your friends (or you'll be damned)" are actually a marketing method of collecting email address for the purpose of sending junk mail.

Even some of the ones with those cute or breathtaking pictures are used to get a marketing link in front of you without it being as annoying as spam. Next time you get one, scan the email and you will probably notice some line for a vacation or some such product or service.

One tip that every Internet article on the net will tell you to help eliminate junk mail is to not forward the "chain" letters. Unfortunately, by the time it gets to you, the damage has already been done. So the final thing to do on this tip is to let your friends and family know you would like them to not forward those types of email to you.