How-To
Hardware: Simple instructions to get into you Bios to change the boot order for your pc.
Jan 23rd
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/computer_cartoon NULL.jpg) From time to time, we must make modifications to our computers that require going into the BIOS of the machine. The most common modification of the bios involves having to set the boot order of the pc, so that you can boot using a CD/Floppy/USB key for diagnostics or repair. Although each computer is different, most use standard ways of getting in, changing values, and saving the configuration.
Here are some sample instructions for your PC
****WARNING: Please read the following 1st****
Tip: It is a good idea to “back up” (record on paper) all of your BIOS settings before you make any changes to them.
Note: Every setup program is slightly different from every other one. Even if two BIOSes are made by the same company, they may have different settings. The commands as shown here might be different on your PC, or they might be in a different place. Use care when modifying these parameters, and refer to your motherboard manual if it is accurate. I can’t cover every possible variation of settings.
Warning: Changing advanced parameters can lead to system instability and data loss. The only change I will be referring to in this post involves the boot order. It is recommended only users who really understand what they are doing change make any changes to any of the other options in the bios. IF you choose to make any other changes to the bios, Proceed at your own risk.
*****OK with that said**********************
Dell systems
- Depress the F12 key when boot menu text appears at startup
- Select BIOS setup and depress the Enter key
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dell NULL.jpg)
- Using the arrows on your keyboard, move to Boot Sequence and the select the device you want to boot to (CD/Floppy/USB) and move it to the top of your list. (The pc will attempt to boot in the order of your list)
- Click Apply
- Click Exit
- Fully shut down (power off), wait a few seconds, and restart your computer
HP systems
- Depress Esc key when prompted at startup
- Depress the F10 key to Configure BIOS
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/HP NULL.jpg)
- Scroll to the area where it says First Boot Device, Second Boot Device, Third Boot Device,
- In that area press the +/- key on your keyboard to change each boot device, adding the device you are trying to boot to as the 1st device.
- **Make sure you include Hard drive in either the 2nd or 3rd device
- Depress the F10 key to save and exit
- Select Yes and depress the Enter key
- Fully shut down (power off), wait a few seconds, and restart your computer
Lenovo ThinkPad systems
- Depress the blue ThinkVantage key when prompted at startup
- Depress the F1 key to enter the BIOS setup utility
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/bios1 NULL.jpg)
- Using the arrow keys, scroll to the Boot area…
- The using the x\- keys set the order to boot selecting the device you want to boot to as 1st device.
- Depress F10 key to save and exit
- Select Yes and depress the Enter key
- Fully shut down (power off), wait a few seconds, and restart your computer
And that’s how you change your boot order……..for your pc.
Software: Two must have’s for the NEW pc. PC Decrapifier and Ninite
Dec 25th
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/computer_cartoon2 NULL.jpg) With it being December 25th, many of you have received a new pc or laptop as a present. Here are 2 simple steps you should do to set up your pc or laptop before you do anything else on your machine.
Step#1 -
Visit The PC Decrapifier (LINK: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/home (http://www NULL.pcdecrapifier NULL.com/home)), there you will find a download to help and simplify the removal of all the extra junk that came pre-installed on your pc. These days most builders load gigs worth of “Trials and Demos” or even their own version of software (Most often toolbars and vendor software). Have you seen the 60-day trial of Microsoft Office and the 90 day trial of Norton Internet Securities, or the Google toolbar or Yahoo toolbar, or the Dell URL assist (which will route you to pre-determined Dell selected sites if you type in a web address wrong) or …..well you get the idea.
What PC Decrapifier does is in a simple way help you remove all the “crap” from your pc, that you don’t want. What is great about PC Decrapifier is that it will let you pick the items from their list that you want removed, so it is specific to your wishes. You can get rid of all of it or just 1 item you don’t want. PC Decrapifier has a list on its site if you would like to see all that it can remove (LINK: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/apps (http://www NULL.pcdecrapifier NULL.com/apps)).
How it Works (From the PC Decrapifier site)
Simply download (http://www NULL.pcdecrapifier NULL.com/download) the file and run the EXE. There is no installer. If you have anti-virus software installed, it may complain about this program because it is written with a scripting language. These warnings can be safely ignored. Please see the FAQ (http://www NULL.pcdecrapifier NULL.com/faq) for more details.
Running the Program
After you run the EXE you will be guided through the process with a "wizard" style series of questions. You will have the choice to pick and choose what you want to remove. It will not begin removing anything without prompting you first!
Click the images below to see a screen shot of various parts of the process.
|
|
|
(http://www
(http://www
(http://wwwThat’s all there is to it. With that you can clean your machine of all those things that you don’t want.
Now for Step #2 -
There is now a way you can speed up the process of installing programs you do want and eliminate most of the work as well. If you visit Ninite (LINK: http://ninite.com/ (http://ninite NULL.com/)) you will be able to make the installation of some of the most common programs a simple 1 step process.
The following is from the Ninite site showing the programs you can choose from (as of 11/24/09)
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/image31 NULL.png)
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/image81 NULL.png) 
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/image131 NULL.png) 
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/image18 NULL.png)
All you need to do is pick all the programs that you would like to install, then click at the bottom where it says Get Installer. You will get a single file to download. Once you have it downloaded, double click it and the remaining work will be taken care of for you.
-Ninite installs apps with default settings and says "no" to browser toolbars and other junk*.
-Ninite checks your PC’s language and 64-bit support to install the latest, best version of each app.
-Ninite runs on Windows XP/Vista/7 and works in the background 100% hands-free.
-All Ninite does is install the apps you choose.
(*The only thing to keep in mind is that the installer will install to your C:\ drive, I point that out to those with more than one drive, in case you prefer to install to another drive.)
With those simple 2 steps, you can get your pc cleaned and configured to your liking very easily.
Here is the list of programs from Ninite** that TechGeekandMore uses –
Browser – Firefox
Messaging – Skype (without the web service http://techgeekandmore.com/2009/12/12/software-skype-extension-for-firefox-causing-slow-firefox-with-some-websites-post-from-www-techandlife-com/ (http://techgeekandmore NULL.com/2009/12/12/software-skype-extension-for-firefox-causing-slow-firefox-with-some-websites-post-from-www-techandlife-com/) and http://techgeekandmore.com/2009/12/12/software-skype-error-skype-plug-in-causes-browser-crash/ (http://techgeekandmore NULL.com/2009/12/12/software-skype-error-skype-plug-in-causes-browser-crash/))
Messaging – Windows Live Messenger
Messaging – Yahoo Messenger
Media – Hulu
Media – VLC
Imaging – Paint.NET
Documents – Foxit Reader (For opening PDF / Acrobat files)
Security – Microsoft
Essentials (For Anti-Virus – Make sure you uninstall an existing AV program before installing this.)
Runtimes – Flash and Flash (IE) (you may not be using IE but for security you want to keep it up to date)
Runtimes – Java
Runtimes – .NET
Runtimes – Sliverlight
Utilities – ImgBurn
**This isn’t anything against any of the other programs on the Ninite list that are not listed here, however, this list is just the list of programs used daily at TGM.
Tech: You can’t change or save the Windows Power settings. How to fix it.
Nov 20th
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/microsoft2 NULL.jpg) A situation recently occurred with one of my clients this past week where they couldn’t change the power settings on their pc’s from Power save to any other choice. No matter what they tried as soon as they hit ok, the setting would go back to power save mode. There are a couple of reasons why you would not want power save mode. In there case, the PC’s were actually cash registers (Running Windows XP), and in power save mode, if the pc did not have any activity for a period of 3 minutes (Screenshot below is not from the affected terminals), the pc would go into sleep mode (as XP was turning off, the screen and the hard drive). This setting is not good for Point of sale software, as the pc going to sleep tends to corrupt the point of sale software.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/powermanagement NULL.jpg)
The solution I came up with involved taking a copy of the power management registry entries from a functional machine and then installing the good registry files in the corrupt machine. The process worked very well and everything ended functional again.
Another possible problem one can face with the power management settings is that you have nothing listed. The same bug that would allow the settings not to save, can just as easily remove all the settings within the power management function.
With that all being said, I now share the .reg file I used to restore the settings on all the broken machines.
Just click on the download button below to start the file download. Keep in mind that the file you will be downloading is a registry file (.reg) so your Windows software or Antivirus software may prompt for a message about it being unsafe to download this type of file. The file itself is fine, you can ignore the messages (for this file, however, when surfing the internet that is a message you should not normally ignore), download the file to your desktop and then double click the file to enter the info into the registry.
Any questions drop me a line.
(http://cid-8804db538b4de88c NULL.skydrive NULL.live NULL.com/self NULL.aspx/ NULL.Public/Winodws%20Power%20options%20fix/XP%20PowerCfg%20Fix NULL.reg)
Keep in mind that this file is use at own risk, as neither I nor anyone else at TGM know exactly what your configuration is and this file is being offered as best effort help only.
Software: Showing hidden files, folders and extensions in Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Oct 24th
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/microsoft4 NULL.jpg) My preference has always been to set up Windows to show the hidden files, hidden folders and the extensions to files and programs. I prefer to have control and see exactly what I have on the PC. Microsoft hides these on the basis that these are normally Windows operating system files and folders or that the extensions are just not needed to be seen.
I can see the point if you have a pc that is used by many people (like small kids) or a complete new pc user who wouldn’t know any better, since you cant see the file or folder then you cant delete it. The problem with that is, the many of the Virus and Malware writers use that same feature to hide the files that infect your pc.
Additionally, I guess it assumed that hiding the .exe or .jpg (etc) from files would be for the benefit of users who don’t know any better and would get confused by it. However because the extensions are hidden by default in Windows, the setting allows virus writers to distribute executable files (files that can be installed on your pc causing you to get infected) disguised as something non-executable (like a picture or . For example, an .EXE file might appear to be an innocuous text file.
So as a recommendation here is how to unhide files, folders, and extensions in Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Close all programs so that you are at your desktop.
- Click on the Start button.
- Click on the Control Panel menu option.
- When the control panel opens you will be either in Category View or Large (or Small) Icon view:
*In either case change the setting to Large Icon View to make the following steps easier (See examples below – Where arrow Points)
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cpcategoryview NULL.jpg)Category View
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cplriconview NULL.jpg) Large Icon View
4. Click on Folder Options in the Window
5. Click on the View tab.
6. Under the Hidden files and folders section select the radio button labeled Show hidden files and folders
7. Remove the checkmark from the checkbox labeled Hide extensions for known file types.
8. Remove the checkmark from the checkbox labeled Hide protected operating system files.
(After you have done the steps your window should look like the example below)
**With that you will now see all files on your pc and see the extension for all files and programs. Note that most of the hidden files are Windows files and are required for your computer to operate correctly, so as always NO DONT DELETE ANYTHING UNLESS YOUR ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS AND THAT YOU DONT NEED IT.
How To: Activating a Corporate, Business, Enterprise edition of Windows
Oct 4th
**UPDATED: October 4th.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/microsoft1 NULL.jpg) One of the versions that Microsoft sells of Windows is known as the Corporate Edition (XP), Business Edition (Vista), Enterprise Edition (W7). In a nutshell, all there of these versions are same version level with just a name change depending on the flavor of Windows that you speaking about. These versions are not sold in the store and activate slightly differently (Called Volume License) than what users of other flavors of Windows are used to.
Normally Volume License versions can activate against a KMS-enabled machine in your corporate environment or against Microsoft online servers using a MAK. MAKs are special keys that are installed after your Vista installation is complete.
I have had a couple of customers with Volume License versions that have had issues activating the installed version of Windows because of error 0X8007232B / DNS Name does not exist and clicking on Activate now or change product key did nothing.
I did a lot of searching online for a solution and most solutions pointed to a Microsoft Document about “How to Activate Volume License” which did not actually had a solution for the issue. I finally discovered a solution that worked for me:
***You need to go to Control Panel –> User Accounts –> Change User account control settings –> and move the level to Never notify….security will block the steps below unless you drop the UAC control. **NOTE: If you change this to Never notify you will not receive the security prompts built into Windows. Advance user will probably like that but non-experienced user will want to put the setting back once you complete the activation process.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/uacpic NULL.jpg)Once you change the User Account Control setting do the following
1) At a command prompt (Start –> Run –> CMD), type slmgr.vbs –ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX (With a space between vbs and –ipk and Where the XXXXX is your assigned Volume License number). You will need to show a little patients as it will take a little bit (1 to 2 minutes usually) but you will get the response that “The product key was successfully changed”.
2) Now at the same command prompt, type slmgr.vbs –ato (a space between .vbs and –ato) and after a few seconds (This one will be much faster)a message that “The product had been activated” will appear.
That’s all there is to resolving this issue.
(http://www