How-To

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Software: EVO 4G – Qik Video Chat update for your HTC EVO 4G

Jun 11th

Posted by anovelo in Android

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sprintlogo Here is a quick note about the Qik video chat program that comes on the HTC EVO 4G by default.  IT NEEDS AN UPGRADE.  The version that comes with the phone does not work with the 2 camera set up that the EVO uses.  The front facing camera will not work with the system.  If you have an EVO and plan to do video calls, you will need to run this update 1st.  To get the update, go to the Android market place and search for Qik.  Then on the list that you get, look for the version that specifically says that its for the “EVO 4G”.  Once you see it. select it for download and run the install.  That is all there is to correcting this issue.

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EVO: How to improve the battery performance of the EVO 4G (From Sprint)

Jun 11th

Posted by anovelo in Android

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sprintlogo Once of the big questions with the NEW Sprint EVO 4G involves the battery performance. I have had a couple of people tell me that they can get 7 or 8 hours of good use out of the battery, while others have said that its been less than 1 hour of good use before needing to recharge again. 

     I have only had my phone for 1 day**, and so far I got 12 really good hours of use, but I went in and turned off everything I wasn’t using when I 1st got the phone. The following information from Sprint (LINK: http://support.sprint.com/support/article/Improve_battery_performance_on_your_HTC_EVO_4G/case-wh164052-20100601-130442?&INTNAV=SU:DP:HDIA (http://support NULL.sprint NULL.com/support/article/Improve_battery_performance_on_your_HTC_EVO_4G/case-wh164052-20100601-130442?&INTNAV=SU:DP:HDIA)) is what I used as a guide to what to turn off. 

IMPROVE BATTERY PERFORMANCE ON YOUR HTC EVO 4G

Last Updated: Jun 09, 2010

Battery performance depends on many factors, including network configuration, signal strength, the temperature of the environment in which you operate your phone, the features and/or settings you select and use, items attached to connecting ports, and your usage patterns for voice, data and other programs.

There are several differences between other phones and your new HTC EVO™ 4G that can impact your battery life:

  • HTC EVO has more radios to power (3G, 4G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS)
  • HTC EVO has a larger screen than most typical feature phones
  • HTC EVO has more capabilities than most typical feature phones
    • Management of multiple email accounts and syncing
    • Wi-Fi access point
    • Wi-Fi Router capability
    • 4G data
    • GPS
    • Access to several 3rd party applications through the Market
    • Applications and Processes running in the background

Because of all these new wonderful capabilities and features, it is up to you to manage your battery life experience. Here’s how!

Multiple radios

The multiple radios use battery life even when you are not using them. To improve battery life, turn off your Bluetooth, GPS, 4G, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi hotspot if you are not using them.

Preloaded widgets are available for your Home screen to conveniently monitor use of radios:

  • Power Control Widget – allows you to see radios that are ON and OFF
    • Widget > Power Control
  • Individual Widgets – available for Airplane Mode, Bluetooth, GPS, Mobile Network, Wi-Fi, 4G, Hotspot
    • Widget > Settings and select what you want to monitor
  • Running Services Widget – can help you identify services that are running that you no longer need that could be ended to save battery life
    • Shortcut > Settings > Running Services Widget

Live Wallpaper and backlight settings

Live Wallpaper uses significantly more battery than standard wallpapers when your screen is ON

  • Ambient Light Sensor – controls backlight brightness based on your ambient lighting condition
    • Settings > Sound and Display > Brightness
  • Manual Control – You can use your Power Control Widget to easily adjust your backlight intensity with a simple touch.

Email Applications Settings

  • Bottom line, email synchronization settings can have significant impact to battery life and the ideal settings are going to vary by person. Try different configurations that achieve the best compromise between convenience and battery life.
  • Generally, less frequent email syncing equals better battery life
  • Shorter polling frequencies (5 minute, 10 minute, 15 minute) can actually be worse for your battery life than As Items Arrive, especially if you do not have high volumes of email.
  • Email settings allow you to set up peak and off-peak hours for email sync on each email account
    • Pop Account – Mail > Menu > More > Settings > Send & Receive > Set Download Frequency
    • Exchange Account – Mail > Menu > More > Settings > Send & Receive > Schedule
    • Manual Sync – allows you to receive emails only when you choose to; this can be optimal for battery life if you don’t necessarily need emails as quickly as they arrive. Sync by selecting Menu > Refresh

Preloaded Applications

There are several preloaded applications which update based on frequency settings:

  • Stocks
  • Weather
  • News
  • Peep
  • Flickr
  • Facebook

These applications have a settings menu that typically can be accessed by using the Menu button while you are in the application. In the settings menu there is an item called Update Schedule

(Menu > Settings > Update Schedule; this may slightly vary from App to App).

In general, the less frequently you allow these applications to update, the better your battery life. If you find there are applications you don’t use at all, for the best battery life experience, configure the application to either not sync at all or to sync at the lowest frequency. You can also end the application or service by going to the Running Services Widget mentioned above.

Google Talk

When you sign up for the Google Market or Gmail with your Gmail account information, you are also signed in to the Google Talk instant messaging application. The Talk application tracks the presence of your Google Talk contacts in order to let you know who is available to instant message. Each presence change uses power, even if you do not have the Talk application open.

If you do not use Talk on your device or do not mind if it is only operating when you actually have the application open, then you can eliminate this extra battery consumption:

  1. Press Menu then tap All apps > Talk > Menu > More > Settings
  2. Uncheck the automatically sign in box.
  3. Make sure you exit the application by going to Menu > More > and selecting Sign Out
  4. In order to again receive Instant Messages through the Talk application, all you’ll need to do is open the Talk application again and it will automatically sign you in.

Note: Make sure you always exit the application by selecting Sign Out to reduce battery consumption. Exiting the application by use of the back or home keys will not sign you out and battery life will not be improved.

4G

The 4G radio should only be turned on when the improved network speed is required for an application, such as YouTube, Web Browsing or Sprint Mobile Hotspot. When not in use, it’s important to use the built-in 4G widget to turn the 4G radio OFF.

If you have your 4G radio ON, but are no longer in 4G coverage, then your device will be scanning in an attempt to re-acquire the 4G network. Your battery can be significantly drained by scanning, so if you know you will be out of 4G coverage for an extended period of time or if you are not acquiring a 4G signal as indicated in the task bar, it is important to turn your 4G radio OFF.

Even when in 4G markets, particularly when mobile, you may be going in and out of 4G coverage. If you notice that you do not have a 4G signal at any point in time, turning off the 4G radio will save you significant battery life. Simply turn it back on to check for 4G coverage when you are back in 4G coverage.

To check for the latest 4G coverage in your area, click here (http://shop NULL.sprint NULL.com/en/stores/popups/4G_coverage_popup NULL.shtml).

3rd-Party Applications

Be especially cautious with all 3rd-party applications that you download from the Android Market. Often times these applications have not been designed with battery life in mind. Many of these applications significantly impact your battery life and quite often they remain running even when you exit the application. It’s important for you to understand the behavior of all the applications you download and to:

  • Learn how to use the running services application or other 3rd-party task managers to identify applications that are still running even when not in use and to end applications that are still running but no longer needed
  • Know how to close the application so that it does not continue running
  • If the applications synchronize data, make sure you optimize the synchronization settings for improved battery life

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Software: Hidden and Additional Themes for Windows 7

Jun 6th

Posted by anovelo in How-To

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windows_7 

     One of the nice cosmetic features in Windows 7 is the great variety of themes that you can select from to change the appearance of your computer system.  I had not written this post earlier because somehow I seriously though that most people were aware of all their options.  However, after a recent road trip (with the W7 laptop) where I kept getting asked “where did you get those backgrounds for your computer”, I suddenly understood that their are a lot of people who just don’t know about the additional cosmetic changes you can make to your Windows 7 pc.  So with that being said, here is a simple way that you can add or change the look of your Windows 7 pc. 

For those who still aren’t sure here is a short video from Microsoft explaining “What is a theme” – (LINK)http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/what-is-a-theme (http://windows NULL.microsoft NULL.com/en-us/windows7/what-is-a-theme)

     Microsoft has always offered what they refer to as themes for Windows, to all the user to change the appearance of their system. In Windows 7, Microsoft has a 3 different options for themes, 2 of which may not be well known.  Everyone that has installed Windows 7 should be familiar with the personalization screen that you can find in Control Panel (Start Menu Button –> Control Panel)

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When you click on Personalization, you get the following screen (This is the USA version, if you selected a different country during install of Windows 7 the pictures themselves may be a little different) where you can select the theme to use for your computer (Theme includes pictures –usually 5 or 6 in a group- plus color schemes and sounds).  In addition, by selecting at the bottom you can select how often the background changes and if you want a specific color scheme or sound and what screen saver to go along with your theme. 

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     Now this post could end right here but that wouldn’t cover the 2 other ways that you can add to your choices in the personalization screen. 

Additional Themes Option #1 – The Hidden ones already on your pc

     So lets start with the option that is already on your computer but is hidden because they are considered to be for other regions or locations. (NOTE: you will need to have hidden files and folders showing in Windows. You can change that setting in control panel –> folder options –> View tab –> put a bubble next to “Show hidden files, folders, and drives)

1) Click on Start and then in the search box type the following

- C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT and press the Enter key

- you will see the following window (below), just click on the folder called MCT

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2) The window that opens will show you the additional themes for Windows 7 for other regions or locations (Depending on the version of Windows 7 your choices may be a little different than the ones shown below).  In my copy of Windows I get themes additional themes from Australia, Canada, U.K, and South Africa (In addition to the US theme which is already showing).

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- Once you are at the MCT folder open the theme for the country you like, and then you can either select the folder with the country name where you will see the pictures used in the theme or the theme folder itself to install the theme.

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- If you select the folder with the pictures (below) you can right click on a picture you like and then select “Set as desktop background. (This will not make it into a changing theme, it will give you just that picture as your background. )

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- If you choose to install the entire theme, once you have selected the Theme folder, double click on the file name.theme (in this example GB.theme). That will install the entire theme.

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3) Once you have done that you can go back to your personalization folder in control panel and select the newly added themes. Once a theme is on your Personalization window, its just a matter of clicking on it to change between themes.

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Additional Themes Option #2 –

Other than locating hidden Windows 7 themes in your computer, you can also download several windows 7 themes form the Microsoft Website.

Visit the Windows 7 Personalization page (LINK) http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/personalize (http://windows NULL.microsoft NULL.com/en-us/windows/downloads/personalize)

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- Here you will find a large selection of themes you can add to your Windows 7 install.  Its also very simple and best of all its FREE!!!!

All you need to do is scroll down the page until you find a theme that interests you, you will see a download button just under that them.

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- Click on download, it will be followed by a screen that will ask you if you want to Open or Save.  If you wish to save the themes for later just select save (and remember where you saved it to). If you just want to install select open and it will automatically install the theme on the computer for you. (NOTE: The theme will also become your default theme, so you will need to go back to the personalization folder to change it to something else.)

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Themes take up a minimal space on a hard drive so don’t be afraid to download and try a few of these out. 

And with that you have another simple way of changing the look of your Windows 7 pc.  “I’m glad Windows 7 was my idea”.  OK it wasn’t but I have always wanted to be in one of those commercials so that I could say that.

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Software: How to backup Logmein Hamachi

May 26th

Posted by anovelo in Hamachi

1 comment

logmein With our connected lifestyle, there are many times when you need to access a pc (home or work) while you are at another location.  There are many options to be able to do this.  The way I find to be one of the easiest is using Hamachi from Logmein (LINK: https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi2/ (https://secure NULL.logmein NULL.com/products/hamachi2/)). Hamachi comes in 2 versions, one is FREE for Non-Commercial use and the other is a paid version for those using it for commercial purposes.

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From the Hamachi site

LogMeIn Hamachi² is a hosted VPN service that securely connects devices and networks, extending LAN-like network connectivity to mobile users, distributed teams and business applications. You can easily create secure virtual networks on demand, across public and private networks.

With that being said, one of the questions about Hamachi that I seem to get from Hamachi users is how to back up your Hamachi account in case you need to reinstall. 

The following steps will allow you to backup Hamachi -

If you are on Windows 7

Backup the LogMeIn Hamachi folder@ C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\LogMeIn Hamachi

If you are on Windows XP

Backup the LogMeIn Hamachi folder@ C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Application Data\LogMeIn Hamachi

**Correction on XP location provided by Xantes (Thank you)

To restore from your backup of Hamachi – After you install your new copy of Hamachi

1 – Open (The Windows) Control Panel – Administrative Tools – Services and the find LogMeIn Hamachi service

- The click to highlight and the select stop (See example below).

- Once you stop it, minimize this window as you will need it again shortly

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2 – Copy your backup data and paste it to the location of the install (you will replace any duplicate files)

Windows 7

C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\LogMeIn Hamachi

Windows XP

C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Application Data\LogMeIn Hamachi

3 – Once you have copied the backup data go back to the services window and now highlight LogMeIn Hamachi and then select start.

That will do it, you will now have your existing account back up and running.

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Software: Windows 7 – Problem Step Recorder for easier troubleshooting/support

May 22nd

Posted by anovelo in Fixes for Windows Errors

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microsoft From TechNet (LINK) http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd464813.aspx (http://technet NULL.microsoft NULL.com/en-us/magazine/dd464813 NULL.aspx)

Tip: Easier Troubleshooting Support with Problem Step Recorder

Troubleshooting errors for a remote user can be very difficult since you can’t actually see what’s happening on the remote system. Often it comes down to a user saying he didn’t click a button, open a program, close a program, or so on. The new Problem Steps Recorder (PSR.exe) allows you to see exactly what’s going on, documenting every action that takes place on the system experiencing problems.

The Problem Steps Recorder tool is a simple screen capture utility that grabs screenshots whenever a mouse move or click is made and documents all the data into a zipped MHTML report page that can be sent off directly to the help desk. Every step of the user’s actions is logged complete with a screenshot with the item highlighted, and it even allows the user to provide commentary on specific details.

To launch the Problem Steps Recorder, just go to START and type PSR.exe and your off and running.

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