Extras
Links
Bing Maps, one of the best free online map systems ever.
Blog
- Monday November 16, 2009 – Warren
- Once more I know realize how important it is to have one’s user files on a seperate partition from a partition containing a windows install. Eventually it seems everyone needs a reinstall of an operating system, and boy, it makes it so much easier and safer to have important files in a safe location. That is my useful tip for the day.
- Friday November 14, 2009 – Warren
- Well, a client’s notebook computer came up with an error saying that it was a conterfeit version of Windows Vista, which of course it was not. So this is what I had to do: I had to get the computer activated manually with phone activation by typing “slui.exe 4″ into the run dialog box. There you go.
- Wednesday November 11, 2009 – Warren
- Great news! I was selected by Microsoft to be a Windows 7 launch party host. They sent me party materials and a signature edition of Windows 7 Ulitmate. Windows 7 is pretty nice. It makes me feel pretty good about my OS. I have been using Windows Vista for years and was using it since it came out. Vista worked well for me, but that may be because I have a pretty fast computer and know a few little tweaks for Vista to make it run a bit better. One other thing is that Microsoft released this anti-virus software program called “Microsoft Security Essentials.” It appears to be better than most anti-virus programs. My professional recommendation however is Vipre Anti-virus.
- Saturday August 22, 2009 – Warren
- I just bought a new laptop. Guess which one? The newer Acer Aspire One D250. It is nice. Anyway, I wanted to install Windows 7 on it from a thumbdrive. I always seem to forget the code needed to copy the files correctly to the thumbdrive to make it bootable. Well here is the code: xcopy g:*.* /s/e/f r: . So what you do is open up the cmd prompt in Windows Vista (I use it) and type that in. G: is for the drive with the Windows 7 Disk and R: is for the thumbdrive. I just mounted the iso of Windows 7 on a virtual drive with some free software called: Virtual CloneDrive. Well, there you go.
- Friday December 12th, 2008 – Warren
- Well, on my laptop the Acer Aspire One, I noticed that the fan was going quite a bit for the CPU even though the temperature was just around 32 degrees Celsius. Well, turns out that there is a program for Windows that will fix that. Here is a link. It is called the Acer Aspire One (AA1) Fan Control for Windows XP/Vista. Works great! It really makes the unit run super quiet.
- Monday December 8th, 2008 – Warren
- Today I was able to start work on a new website. It is www.dickersonrecycling.com. This is very exciting for me as it could end up being one of the biggest sites I have worked on in a while. We shall see. At this time there is little information on the site.
- Tuesday November 4th, 2008 – Warren
- I accidentally made my Vista 64 machine lose its mbr. Use bootrec /fixboot or bootrec /fixmbr in the “command prompt” of the DVD. Works great.
- Wednesday September 24, 2008 – Warren
- A great way to filter out bad websites is to use OpenDNS. Check it out. It is easy and works great.
- Here is a nice cartoon my cousin showed me. I guess you have to use Ubuntu or something to understand.
- Tuesday September 23, 2008 – Warren
- Today I was making Animated PNG files. It is pretty neat. I hope that someday PNG files are used extensively on the internet. To me the best part is the nice alpha transparency. Here is a link to read about them: APNG – Wikipedia
Downloads
Personal Diary – This program was made by me. Works in all modern versions of Windows. Personal Diary is a new program that is really cool, it is a personal diary for use on a computer. Write in your diary, time/date your entry, edit your entries or erase them, print or export. Don’t ever worry about keeping track of your notes again, it’s easy and fun to use!…
Useful Programs
- Power Menu, a nice program for some extra menu items to the windows control menu in addition to the standard “Close”, “Maximize”, etc options. The extra menus are: Always On Top, Transparency and Minimize To Tray.
- ImgBurnImgBurn, a useful program for creating ISO files of CD-ROM or DVD-ROM dics, and also writting the ISO files to a blank disc.
- 7Zip, Open source Windows utility for manipulating archives. Formats 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR are supported fully
Computer Technician Tips and Suggestions
Viruses
In the past I was able to get away with not running anti-virus programs because I was very careful. However, my thoughts now on this matter have changed. I now recommend Vipre Antivirus for anyone on a Windows PC. 
If you do get viruses on your computer, it may be a good time to reformat the computer and install Windows and the Windows Updates fresh. When surfing the net, don’t look at porn, use Opera or at least Firefox, and don’t install things that are bad for your computer. Easy right?
If you do not want to do that, then you can run a few good tools, and try to fix your computer. Be warned though, it may be harder than you think to really clean a computer that has been infected with viruses.
Other Random Problems
Here are random problems I ran into.
It is stuff I found out eventually…(I wrote it down so you don’t have to wonder how to do something for such a long time) – Watch out for Dragons! They really raise the temperatures of their food quickly.
CDROM/DVDROM Drives Will Not Work in Windows Vista
This problem was making my brother get a little excited. For some reason the drives would not show up in My Computer, and Daemon Tools would not work either. Turns out that the solution was found in this Microsoft Help page.
Explorer.exe Will Not Start With Windows Logon
This problem drove me crazy. Well it was a Linksys network program that was preventing explorer from running automatically. You can use task manager or msconfig to figure out if a program is interfering.
No Images in IIS 7
If you have just installed IIS 7 on Vista and no images show up. Make sure you turn on Static Content under Common Http Features <- World Wide Web Services. It sure helps to see images on your sites. I can’t believe it isn’t enabled when you turn IIS on. Well there you have it.
Guest Additions for VirtualBox for Ubuntu
I was trying to install the Guest Additions for VirtualBox for Ubuntu. VirtualBox is running on windows. Here is the easy way:Press Alt-F2 and type gksudo nautilus
Drag and drop VBoxLinuxAdditions.run into the new root window and execute, woot!!!
Of course it is necessary to click on “Install Guest Additions” under the Devices menu of VirtualBox which will load in a virtual cd which should show up on the desktop.
EasyBCD 1.7.1
If you are looking for a way to edit the boot for vista so you can multi boot, etc… check out this excellent program. It even worked with Mac OS X 86 on an external usb hard drive with the chain0 information. EasyBCD 1.7.1.
Auto Mount an NTFS Drive in Ubuntu
To auto mount an ntfs drive in Ubuntu 7.10:
Type: put it into the /etc/fstab file on a system with ntfs-3g (Ubuntu Gutsy)
For example :
/dev/sda1 /media/windows ntfs-3g
Bad Microphone Noise in Windows Vista Problem with USB Headset
I was having this problem with Vista on my computer when talking with my friends on Skype. They were hearing a background sound like a motorcycle. Well I found the solution. My computer has 4gb of RAM on Vista 64. Microsoft released a patch. Here is the link. Microsoft Link
