Directory — Computers — Blog Details for " Daily Technical Advice and Reviews"

Daily Technical Advice and Reviews

Daily Technical Advice and Reviews
Daily Technical Advice and Reviews involving the computer and technology industries.

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles

Why I Prefer Shareware and Freeware Over Big Business Software
2008-04-17 00:47:00
Bigger software companies have more resources to develop than the smaller companies. However they are more concerned with advertisements and gaining more of the market share to take back there investments of developing software. To make matters worse now many of the software companies have inflated there packages so much that they actually are causing many computers around the world to fail, run slow, and cause more problems then they solve. For every piece of over inflated software with the exception of the biggest problem software (Windows) I can show you a nearly equal if not better free or shareware software package. There are not many exceptions to that rule. I say that Windows does not have a better freeware version because Linux has not grown up enough yet. Although they are so close. Overall the recent practices of some of the larger corporation software companies in a way could be interpreted as criminal. You combine that with the poor support they most often offer and...
More About: Software , Business , Big Business , Shareware , Freeware

Safe Mode What, When and How
2008-03-31 06:06:00
Occasionally you may have problems that you cannot work on in a safe and workable environment. There could be many reasons for this issue. It may be that some of you hardware has conflicted with each other and is causing to many issues. It also could be that you have so many items loading at your system startup your computer is to slow. At the same time another common problem is you are infected with various Virus, Trojan, Malware or Spyware infections. To answer these issues Microsoft has installed a troubleshooting section of Windows in their operating system called Safe Mode . The easiest and most effective way to reach this diagnostic part of Windows is to totally shut your computer down. Once it is shut down, press the power button to load it. When you turn your power key on the first screen is the Bios screen. The Bios is a hardware chip on the Mother Board of your computer. It give your system preselected option to start up your system. This is called the Post. ...
More About: Safe Mode

Mistakes Made By Technicians and Consultants
2008-03-30 04:01:00
If you are a Technical Support Professional or a Consulting Company the rules are the same. No matter what part of the computer industry you are in, customer service is the number one goal. Yes your job is about solving computer problems, but you must remember the customer at all times. If you are savvy at all you can quickly decide how much computer knowledge your customer has. You must never assume that what seems simple to you is common knowledge to a customer. We live in an uncommon era where older adults and younger adults are divided by one simple fact. If you are under the age of 40, you grew up with emerging technology and many of you have gotten quite good at it. If you are under 25 you grew up in the middle of a technology revolution. Computers are almost second hand to your generation. Many of the tasks some find daunting may come easily to you. Most of the average Forty Year old and up adults in our world, found dramatic changes in their life around the...
More About: Made , Consultants , Technicians

Recovering Your Windows Vista Admin Password
2008-03-30 01:03:00
There is nothing worse than losing your password. You should always right it down and keep it in a safe place. However we are human and can make mistakes like no other. With Windows Vista it is actually pretty easy to recover your password. You will need two things, some time and the Windows Vista Disk that has come with your computer. You will need to place the Vista Disk into your CD-Rom drive. Then reboot your computer. You are waiting for a message upon boot that says “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD” . You will receive a message telling you that it is loading and will install Windows Vista. Do not be alarmed you should not lose your data. The first screen will ask you the appropriate language to install. You want to choose English or your native language. Then press Next. Then it will ask you your time and currency format. Then press Next. Upon pressing Next you will be asked for your Keyboard or Input method. Then Press Next. You will want...
More About: Password , Admin

Email Client Information for Any User
2008-03-30 01:01:00
In the technical support industry it is often a poor support model to get in the habit of just doing something for a customer. When it is a technical task they will never have to do, that is one thing. However there are many tasks in a computer environment every day users will have to do at some point. Adding your email address to Outlook, Outlook Express or another email program will be something you have to to do at some point. First of all an external email client or program allows you to download your Internet email to your computer. You can think of an email client as the manager of your email. In order for you to add your email account into this manager you will need some important information. Your email address and the form of your username, full email address or the part just before the @ Your password Your email server information including any settings your email provider has There are two main types of email servers you will have with your pro...
More About: Information , Email , User , Client

FamilyFellowship.com
2008-03-29 00:30:00
My personal views on internet filtering is that it is bogus, does not work very well and is often a waste of time. However having said that I must tell you that if you are going to buy an internet filter at all, please buy directly from the manufacturer of the product. FamilyFellowship.com is one of thousands of companies that has bought reseller writes to an internet filter. At the time I worked with them they were reselling the Netsweeper internet filter. I don't want to get into high detail but let me just set say that they are promoting Christian Internet filtering. I worked for them on their old website and through numerous changes nearly everyday there was a bill left when they suddenly got frustrated and chose another developer. This Christian based company promotes safe family Web Browsing, yet they are unable or do not want to pay their bills. People do not seem to understand, when you are in the technical industry, you work for them and try to give them ...

When Hiring A Telecommuter
2008-03-29 00:25:00
This topic relates to the computer field more than any other. This is an article I wrote last week, that I felt I should add.Everywhere you may find guides on finding a Telecommute job. It is unfortunate though for the business that wishes to hire a remote professional there is very little help. For some companies hiring a remote professional could be of high importance. There is certain information that you must verify before hiring anyone to work for you in your business. These same rules apply when hiring someone to work on a telecommuting basis.In the interview process you need to make sure they have a complete understanding of the job they are applying for. Requesting a resume and verifying the information on it. This will do several things, it will allow you to verify their credentials. You can verify their employment and match the experience they have against what you need. You will also need references, this can say a lot towards the character of a candidate.After verifying...
More About: Hiring

Force Word 2007 to Single Space
2008-03-29 00:20:00
The newer Office 2007-2008 package that has been released this year overall is a good product. However it has brought some changes, many of them unwelcome to the customer. In particular on of the new changes is the default Style Set in Word 2007. This has caused some interesting changes. For some reason Microsoft would have us believe that a double spaced document is more pleasing and easier to read. Without going into a debate on that topic lets just say that this will be an unwelcome change to many people. As an everyday user you will also be very discouraged when trying to go to the help menu because there is no actual information as to how to single space the document. When you actually use the tool-bar and try to choose single spacing or changing the spacing number from 1.5/2 to 1 this still will not work. An Internet Search unless you know what to look for will also discourage you. After all, you just want to be able to type your document and be left al...
More About: Space , Force , Single

Common Mistakes Made By Web Companies
2008-03-14 18:41:00
One of the biggest mistakes made with any online company, is not following through with the services and products they offer on their website. For instance, when you provide a software, its a simple notion that you have to provide documentation for the software that matches its performance. This also means the software has to perform just like you say it will. The same applies for any service you provide. A mistake that is made time and time again by many companies is not updating the content of their website, or the documentation of their products. When customers purchase a product from a web company, it is the same as any other binding contract. Companies that do not follow through are obliged to refund any purchases they do not honor. For a dose of common sense, realize this is a direct violation of any business model.
More About: Common , Made

Review of Open Office - a Free Office Package that Has Grown-Up
2008-01-30 14:19:00
An open source community project release by Sun Microsystems has grown up over the last few years. What I mean by grown up is that it has been released to become a major contender with the pricey Microsoft Office platform. The open source community is comprised of thousands of developers. Some truly wonderful projects have been born over the last few years. Open Office 2.3 is a release that can truly claim that it is as good if not better than its professional counter parts that you have to pay for.The Open Office project can be downloaded from www.openoffice.org or you can order a CD. It is a multi-platform office package that has been released for Windows, Linux, Unix and other operating systems. One of the other wonderful enhancements is that it is natively multi-lingual.Upon downloading the lightweight Open Office platform, installing is fairly seamless. You have a choice to register or not. It will ask you for your name and information and then ask if you wish to register with ...
More About: Review , Free

Review of the Firefox Web Browser as an Alternative to Internet Explorer
2008-01-30 14:18:00
Several years ago the Mozilla Firefox web browser was launched. It is a free web browser with huge development community support. Built on the same back end platform as Netscape, it was released as a light weight alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer. For many reasons it has become a more popular and better alternative to Internet Explorer .Firefox supports tabbed browsing natively and has a very user friendly interface. Caching is handled within the Firefox application directory under the users Documents and Settings Folder. Often for any connection Firefox will load pages much faster than its competitors. Another wonderful benefit is built in pop up blocker support, and integration with many different media plug-ins. Firefox offers support for expansion. A large developer community has released many plug-ins to expand Firefox's ability.With Internet Explorer it is a native built in part of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Any Windows function that requires an Internet ...
More About: Alternative , Review

Internet Fraud Watch: The Most Common Scams
2008-01-30 14:16:00
Imagine this scenario, you are at your computer and you begin reading your email. Among all of the messages from friends or the garbage email you are getting, you notice EBay has sent you a message. A serious malfunction has happened in one of there databases. They need you to follow the URL link in your email, and begin to update your information. Of course you trust EBay, so you once again, you reenter your email address, your real address, your phone number, and finally everything was correct but they did have your credit card number wrong. As you want them to have all of your information, you enter you credit card number, and do not even hesitate before clicking submit.I explained this scenario, the exact way it has happened for thousands of people. It's important you read this article carefully. It may just save your identity. The email you received, you may not have guessed, is a carefully thought out fake. Companies such as EBay, Paypal, your bank, or any other ...
More About: Internet , Watch , Fraud , Scams , Common

Technology Must-Haves: Knoppix, Puppy Linux and Backtrack Linux Live CDs
2008-01-30 14:10:00
Linux Live CD's are a great way to introduce yourself to the Linux operating system. You do not have to end your reliance on the Windows operating system and you have the ability to see what the other side has to offer. Many Live CD's are available for download. Puppy Linux, Backtrack, and Knoppix are some popular Live CD distributions.In todays world Linux has grown up. Driver support is one area that has finally gotten much easier than it ever was before. Many drivers are auto recognized simply and easily. This is especially helpful when using a laptop and a wireless connection. You automatically have a connection to the World Wide Web.For desktops there are two major choices, KDE and Gnome. Both of these desktops have become very comparable to Windows. Each of these have the built in Linux option to have two desktops at one time. Knoppix even offers a 3d desktop option and the graphics are out of this world. One of the more popular things the world of Linux has always offered i...
More About: Linux , Technology

Part 3 of Why Is My Computer Running So Slow
2007-12-17 11:00:00
My apologies this post is severely late, for reasons I could not control. In Part 1 we discussed why your computer might be running slow. In Part 2 we discussed some alternatives to bulky programs that may be taxing your computer. In this the last and possibly most important installment of the Why Is My Computer Running So Slow ; we will be discussing how to disable start up programs, how to uninstall unused programs, and finally how you can disable certain services that you may not be using.Do not take any of the three of these lightly, you have to be careful because you can cause many problems with your computer if you do not proceed with caution.Ok lets get started. All of you should be familiar with what the start menu is. When you click on the start button, on the right hand side of that menu is an option called run. Please click that and in the box type "msconfig". After you have typed this you can press the enter key. The last or second to last tab will be labeled"start...
More About: Part 3

Why Is My Computer Running So Slow! Part 2
2007-10-13 23:09:00
In Part 1 of this article we discussed what may be causing your computer to run slowly. In this article we will discuss how you may speed it up. Part 3 will offer more tips and then we will wrap up these articles. Before I jump in and discuss how to disable startup programs, I have to rant for a moment about seemingly helpful, but overall resource damaging programs. Since the dawn of internet security scares, and real problems, every anti-virus company seems to want to shove a system security packages down your throat. In fact most of the time you cannot even buy a computer with out Norton Internet Security Suite, Mcafee's Internet Security Suite, Trend Micros, or many others. Most of these programs are a serious resource hog, and then you add on top of them the double, I use this term loosely "protection" added by the Microsoft Firewall and security programs and your computer is going slow out of the gate. Do not misunderstand me, every user should have a firewall,...
More About: Running , Computer , Slow

Why Is My Computer Running So Slow!
2007-10-12 05:34:00
I am sure that you have asked yourself this question many times. Many inept technicians may immediately point to memory, or processor speed. Both of these are definitely reasons your computer MAY be running slowly. However there are much more relevant reasons your computer may be running slow. In fact after reading this article and applying some of the techniques I describe, you may bring new life to your computer even an older, slower machine. Below is Part 1 of a three part Blog on what you can do to speed up your computer. In our present day and age the software business is huge. There is a meaningless competition that many software companies like to use to ensure that their software is always on your mind. It seems like in this day, every software package you have loaded on your computer wants to load when your computer starts. This can cause even a newer computer to run slow. This creates a complex problem for a consumer. The majority of computer users are n...
More About: Running , Computer , Slow

Windows Vista and HP PhotoSmart Printer Fix
2007-10-10 23:09:00
There is a bug in the Windows Vista operating system and its handling of the HP Photosmart Printer load. Basically when you add your HP Photosmart printer, the printer will disappear after a short period of time. This will inevitably cause you to reload your printer, and the process will repeat. There is a simple HP Service that is loaded in your system at the time the printer is loaded. The name of this service is theHP CUE Discovery ServiceSomething in this service does not communicate correctly with Windows Vista .There is a simple way to solve this issue.Go to your Start window and in the text box at the bottom of the start menu type services.mscWindows Vista will broadcast a message asking if you want to run this Management Console, you will want to say yes.Once your services.msc opens up you will want to find the services starting with the letter H. Look for HP CUE DISCOVERY SERVICERight click on this service and choose properties.A window will be opening and you will see...

What to watch out when looking for a Computer Support Company
2007-10-10 20:44:00
Choosing a technical support company to maintain your company needs can be a difficult task. It is no doubt to me that plenty of companies will be lining up saying they can meet your needs. However this is not always a good thing. To many support companies are started by technicians who are very technically inclined, when it comes to their business however they fall short. What this can cause for your company is chaotic and unreliable technical service. Sometimes the job will get done correctly and other times your company is left wanting. Recently a new breed of computer companies have opened for business. These companies are ran by a qualified sales person, they also are competent at running a business. However outside of an adolescent understanding of computers they hire contractors to troubleshoot your technical service needs. In this scenario, your often billed much more than the technicians themselves are making. This may or may not work out, however you...
More About: Watch , Company , Computer , Support

Wild Blue Internet Services
2007-10-10 05:07:00
Living on a 52 acre farm, I needed high-speed internet access in an area that is normally off the grid. On the referral of my Satellite Television provider Direct TV, they recommended Wild Blue Internet Services . I will preface all of my complaints by saying, when Wild Blue was working it was working very well. It very rarely let me down and the speed was refreshing. However, that was when it was working. My first complaint with Wild Blue was the Fair Use Policy. This Fair Use Policy is in place to meter your downloads/uploads. I can actually see this as being needed in a limited bandwith system such as Satellite Broadband. However I was paying 75.99 a month to keep from having these problems. I was supposed to be on a higher tier. However two months in a row I had my service metered to basic dial up type speeds. Finally after training myself that I had to conserve certain activities I was used to, I had two full months of high speed uninterrupted service. This...