Windows XP: set a restore point to save that stable setting

OK, now you’ve got your PC just the way you want it with all the programs installed, and it hasn’t crashed in awhile!

You should then backup all settings of Windows right now, so that whenever you run into some error in the future, you can warp back to this ’snapshot’.

In windows, you can do this by using the built-in System Restore feature:
1. Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore
2. Click on ‘create restore point’ and click ‘next’
3. Give a name to your restore point that is descriptive. For example, you might write ‘before installation of Office 2007'
4. Click on OK. It will process your request, and let you know if it’s successful, which it usually is.
5. If you ever neeed to go back to a restore point, then you click on ‘restore’ on step 2.

In Windows, sometimes you run into some weird errors when you are installing new upgrades of some software, or installing new software. If you plan on installing any major software (like photoshop) or any shareware/freeware that you’re not too familiar with, I suggest you always do this, so that you can go ‘back in time’ to when things were good, just in case things go bad.

Sometimes, you’ll get an error as a result of some software, where you cannot boot into windows at all, and you might panic, b/c you can’t get into Windows to get back into system restore. If that happens, do the following:

1. During the boot up of your machine, press and hold the F8 button
2. It will give you a menu of things to choose from - select ’safe mode’
3. You should be able to boot in now to a basic stripped down lookings windows xp.
4. Go and restore from there, and reboot your machine. It should work fine.

You might be wondering, will I lose all my documents as well created after the restore point if I go back to a previous point? The answer is no, but you will lose all APPLICATIONS you installed into windows after that restore point.

If you’ve never done this, I suggest you do one now. Takes less than 5 mins.

Also, don’t get too happy with restore points.

Each restore point takes a significant amount of memory, so you might want to go back and delete some ifyou don’t need them, but always keep at least one good restore point.

Intro to Windows XP - Part 1

There must be countless sites out there that talk about Windows XP and all the tips and advanced hacks that you can do.

But I know that the common person like you isn't interested in that kind of stuff. You just want to know the basics and how to avoid problems and hassles, and just get a bit more educated.

Today, let's just start with Windows XP and its identity as an operating system (aka OS).

What is an operating system?

Well, it's basically software that acts as an interface and allows you to use your hardware to accomplish the tasks that you want to accomplish.

At a very basic level, it's like your hardware is your car parts. It's got the engine, the tires, the seats, the wheels, etc.

But in order to get it to do what you want it to do (take you somewhere) you need to interface with it somehow. You need to somehow control this thing.

So you have the steering wheel, and the gear shifter (automatic or stick) and the gas pedal and the brakes as your main ways of interacting with your car.

Your operating system is the same thing in a sense (I know it's not a perfect example, but at the basic level it is)

Through all the programming language that makes up Windows XP, it allows you to do thing like register letters and numbers on the monitor when you type via your keyboard.

It also even talks to printers so that if you want to send your document to print, it does so when you click on the print button in MS Word.

So in essence, your OS allows you to interact with your hardware.

There are other OS's out there, but Windows XP is probably the most popular these days (with Vista not faring so well in its debut).

Mac has its OS X in different versions, the latest being Leopard (10.5) and Linux has several flavors of different OS's, such as Ubuntu and OpenSUSE.

But I don't go into those today.

Just think of different OS's as different steering wheels, seats, or color, etc. They are all trying to help you do the same things, but they give you a different experience, each with their pro's and con's of course.

UPDATE 2/27:
If you want a more 'geeky' but more thorough explanation of an OS, you can check out Webopedia's definition here.

The portable... DESKTOP?

This was just too funny, so I have to link to it.

Checkout the mobile desktop prank

Excel: get a high level summary with pivot tables

If at work, you're using lots of data in excel, and need quick summaries, a pivot table is the way to go. You can use it to filter down your data to a high-level summary, using tables and charts.

However, it can be a bit tricky to learn.

But Microsoft has made its own nifty video tutorial on how to use pivot tables. I found it quite useful.

Oh and a site benefit - people will be impressed when you tell them you know how to use Excel's pivot tables! (esp. your boss)

Powerpoint Tip: use the keys 'B' and 'W' to allow your audience to focus

If you've ever given presentations, you know that keeping your audience's focus can be tough.

Part of the reason for that is because when you have a slide up there, the audience naturally wants to read what's up there. But ironically, while doing that, they are ignoring you, the presenter.

When giving a powerpoint presentation, sometimes, you’ll want to elaborate on something and get the audience’s full attention by blanking out the slide from the screen.

You can fold a piece of paper and put it over the projector, but here's a faster, more saavy way.

There are 2 ways:

1. Press the B key to black out the screen.

2. Press the W key to white out the screen.

Press the B or W key again to get your slide back on the screen. (it's not case-sensitive by the way)

Oldies but goodies round-up #1

There's no way to migrate or import from my old site in wordpress.com into blogger (well, at least none that I know), so I'm going to post these "oldies but goodies" once in awhile to bring useful tech tips to some new audiences that might be out there.

1. How to install new fonts in your Windows XP

2. What really is better, Mac or PC?

Say hi to your computer - part 6 - the CD/DVD drive

Ok, we're pretty much on our last part regarding the major parts of your computer's hardware. Today, we're covering the CD/DVD drive.

Only about 5 years ago, the CD and DVD drives used to come separately. DVD drives were more expensive.

But now that prices are down, almost all recent computers come with combined DVD/CD drives and they can do the following:

Read CDs or DVDs - this means you can play your music CD or your DVD movie, or even VCD's, which I won't get into today.

Write to CDs or DVDs - this means you can write data (or also called "burn") to your CD or DVD's just like you could in the olden days of floppy disks. Except, your typical floppy only held about 1.44 mbs before (less than one song downloaded from iTunes) while a CD holds about 700mbs, and a single-layer DVD holds about 4.7Gbs. Yep, that's a lot.

The ones that separate the older ones from the new ones are the fact that they write at different speeds. The common burn speed for CD's these days are 48x.

That means 48 times the normal playing speed!

The common burn speed for DVD's these days are either 8x or 16x. Note that you need to buy the right DVDs as well. Some DVDs themselves are only capable of burning at 16x, but only 8x, so if you stick that into a 16x drive, it will only write as fast as 8x.

Windows XP and Vista can handle writing to a DVD or CD, but I really recommend something like Nero (which probably already came with your PC).

If you don't like Nero, you can try this one:

Download BurnAware Free Edition

It's pretty simple in its interface and free.

By the way, if you have an older PC, and just want to add a DVD drive to an empty slot, or just want to replace your current one, it's pretty easy. I recommend that you check out http://www.newegg.com/ for the best ones by reading the reviews.

The not-so-good drives out there will give you 'coasters' which is slang for a useless DVD or CD can't be read to to a bad burn.

I'll cover how to add one in a later day, but just get familiar with the good ones in the meantime.

Replace your keyless remote entry for cheap

I’ve lost a couple for my car, and was shocked at the price of replacing them from the dealer - over $150 for one!

But there are 3rd party vendors from whom you can buy these things. They teach you how to program it yourself as well.

The one I bought from before was:

http://www.keylessride.com

(There are other sites out there, but just telling you this was legit and I had success with it)

Using this keylessride.com, I got one for about $40 before a couple of years back.

Since then, I've lost more. Then I tried searching on ebay.com for “keyless” for my car model/make. I lucked out and got two for 29.99. Just make sure you get the programming instructions included.

Programming it is not too hard. It almost seems like those old video game hacks, except it’s w/ your car door. You have to do things like turn on ignition half way, open, then close the door, then lock and unlock 3 times, or something like that.

Anyone should be able to do it.

Never made it to MIT for college? It's ok, take their online classes free!

Boy has internet really changed the world. Even if you never made it to your dream university like MIT, it's ok!

You can take some of their classes online here for free.

Of course you won't get college credit for it, but hey, knowledge is power.

If you have the time and drive to do it, go for it!

Organize your Start Menu alphabetically

I’ve seen many people who have installed several programs here and there being lost when trying to launch that one program. They click Start > All Programs, then go “hm, where is that program?”.

You can easily avoid this by doing 2 things:

1. Alphabetize the start menu: Just highlight anything on your start menu, right click, and choose ’sort by name’.

2. Remove useless items from the start menu: For example, do you really need to see internet explorer on the list? I mean, it’s already on your desktop. If you ever have any regrets, you can always go back to finding that shortcut by going to window explorer > c drive > program files path. And by the way, don’t worry, removing something from your start menu does not delete the program itself.

Take me to your...

grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, sister, brother, cousin, etc... just anyone that doesn't know techy stuff, and asks you to fix everything for them during the holidays!

If they stay tuned to this site for the next several months, maybe they can actually allow you to enjoy your holidays together without having to do your compulsory tech support. So forward them this site url and do yourself a favor.

If you yourself are the non-techy Average Joe and stumbled on to this site, keep on chugging along with me, and maybe you can be the tech stud in your next holiday gathering!

How to turn off your computer when it's REALLY stuck

Sometimes, your computer will freeze. It’s more likely on Windows, but sometimes even on Macs.

You pound on the keys and click on the mouse, but nothing happens. You even press control+alt+delete on your PC to reboot, but still no response.

There is an easily solution:

1. Press and hold the power button for anywhere between 5 to 10 seconds until your computer turns off.


2. Then press the power button again to turn it back on.
   

If you were working on something and didn’t save it, yeah, you will have lost your work. So a reminder to save frequently, because you just never know.

This works both on PC's and Mac's.

Say hi to your computer - part 5 - the RAM

As I mentioned before, technically both RAM and hard drive serve as the computer's memory. But think of the RAM as your working desk-space area on your physical desk, and the hard drive as your file drawers.

One more thing you should learn. Your RAM is like Mr. short-term memory in a way.

Let me use Microsoft Word as an example. When your computer is running, it will store information like all the words you copied into your clipboard. It will also store all the words you just typed. And when you press 'save', that's when it will also be copied over into your hard drive.

That's why people tell you to save all the time, b/c if you're typing a 10 page document, but never saved, and your computer crashes or runs out of battery, there's no getting it. Mr. short-term memory has forgotten all of it.

So save often and frequently whenever your doing something important like working out your finances in excel or typing that important letter. Once it's save to the hard drive, it will stay there even when you've turned off your computer.

Now for the nerdy part - there are all sorts of RAM. They are defined by various numbers such as 1GB PC2-5300 667Mhz 200 pin RAM.

The only thing you really need to know is the 1GB. That's the same as 1024 megabytes, just like 1 cm is 10 mms. The numbers that come after that, basically the higher the number, the faster they are.

Once you get advanced enough to upgrade your own RAM yourself and save loads of money from going to Best Buy or Apple, you can just use sites like http://www.crucial.com/ or http://www.oempcworld.com/ to identify exactly the RAM type you need for your laptop or desktop computer. They have online tools that automatically identify the RAM you need for the computer you're currently using to access their website.

Oh, and it probably goes without saying, but laptop RAM is smaller, as just an FYI.

They have online tools that diagnose the computer you're using, and let you know what RAM is compatible.

No, big companies don't really make their own parts

I found that a lot of folks stick to name brands such as Sony, HP, Dell for one main reason: they think that they actually make each of the parts involved, and therefore, they must be quality parts.

That's actually not true.

Most tech companies, if not all, actually have contracts with other companies that do the actual work of manufacturing their parts. For example, your Dell desktop computer may have a Western Digital hard drive and its motherboard created by ASUS.

What the big company does essentially is put it all together, slap an operating system on there (mostly Vista these days), ensure it works, and then slap their Dell stickers on there. (oh, and one more thing - they'll also put some annoying trial software on your computer too b/c they probably make some money from companies like Norton for pre-installing it on there).

Anyways, so they don't actually make the parts, they put them together.

Not to take away anything from big name companies, but I just thought you guys should know that there's nothing magical about the Dell computer versus the HP computer.

Tired of biased news? My 2 favorite sources

If you're like me, you might be tired of news sources such as CNN or Fox news.  They  are extreme cases,  but I'm sick of subjective news.  I don't even like Time or Newsweek.  I stopped reading them after subscribing to both of them.

I'm not liberal or conservative - I find myself in the middle somewhat.

I've found that the following 2 sites/sources are all I need to keep current and somewhat objective.

For the news roundup:

The Week

For political information:

Factcheck.org

I actually get the physical magazine for The Week and I actually read it every week cover to cover.  I like how they cover different viewpoints with snippets from different news sources.

I like factcheck.org, b/c they are not biased, but just do their research to present the facts.  It's presented in this format:  

s/he said this, but the facts are, s/he actually did this.

I think you might find them useful as well for your own news if you're in the middle like me.

Say hi to your computer - part 4 - the hard drive

Today, we're going to cover the hard drive.  As I mentioned before, your hard drive is like your desk drawer.  The bigger it is, the more info it can hold (duh).

There are 2 main types out there right now - SATA and IDE.   You don't have to know what they stand for.  (Why is the world full of so many acronyms anyways???)

SATA is faster.  You can tell what a SATA drive is versus IDE b/c it says so on the box.   Also, the connectors are the thinner, about 1.5 cm, compared to about the 3 inch thick IDE wires.

Most new computers come with SATA these days.  

Ok, let me tell you about a 3rd.  I kind of lied.  The latest rage are SSD hard drives.  I believe it stands for Solid State Disk.  It's just a fancy term for the kind of flash memory that your digital camera or usb drive uses.  It's faster overall and it doesn't spin like your regular SATA and IDE hard drive, so it's supposed to last longer.

The only caveat is that it's still very expensive technology, so it will cost you an arm and a leg more.  (you can thank me for those exact amounts later!)

Also, hard drives (the SATA, IDE) spin in different speeds.  There are 3 main speeds:   4200 rpm, 5400 rpm, and 7200 rpm.   The faster they spin, the faster your data will read/write from them.

Typically the slower ones in laptops, b/c the slower the speed, the less hot it is.  The faster it is, the hotter it gets.  It's just physics!

Often, you'll read some amazon.com reviewer or something like that raving about how fast a laptop  is, but complaining that it gets hot.  You can't have both, unless you have some loud fan inside cooling it off.  That laptop probably has a fast processor and/or a fast hard drive.

That's it for hard drives!  Maybe I should prepare a certificate to hand out once this hardware portion is all done!

Say hi to your computer - part 3 - the motherboard

Today let's talk about the motherboard. The motherboard is not really too much to talk about, except that there are 2 main different kinds of motherboards based on the processor. Of course, again, that would be one type for Intel and one for AMD.

OK - that's not entirely true, as there are different sizes involved for each processor, such as 939, or 754, but that's really too much information for the run of the mill guy.

The motherboard again is where everything comes together. You have the processor placed in the middle area, and then you have wires that attach to your peripheral items, such as your CD/DVD drive, and your hard drives.

It also has your input plugs, such as USB, PS/2 (the round one for the keyboard/mouse), printer, and some more recent ones even have firewire. Usually it also has your inputs for sound and video as well, as they are integrated.

If you want better sound or video, you have to purchase a separate video card or sound card, but that's not usually necessary unless you're a hard-core gamer or video editor. But if you were, you wouldn't be reading this!

The motherboard itself often also comes in 2 main sizes, the regular and microATX, and yeah, like you guessed, the latter one is smaller.

How will you even use this information? Is this all too much and useless?

No, it's not. I'm just laying down the foundations for you, so that you can build upon it yourself, and even get to building your own PC one day just for fun (and for quality).

Don't get abused by customer service

Joe, I thought you might need a break from the hardware stuff.

So here's some useful info that will save many headaches and phone calls when dealing with customer service with any company. Too many times, I've been abused by customer service b/c one representive tells me one thing, then another give me different info!

1. Have your questions prepared, meaning written down. You will forget one of them and then ugh, have an automated voice tell you to wait 20 mins again for a real human

2. Upon calling, get the rep's name, and write it down.

3. After asking all the questions, leave no question open-ended. Don't settle for his/her answer of "I will email you" b/c often, they won't.

4. As you're talking w/ the representative, write down, or type (in Word or Notepad) the summary of what he/she said along w/ the date and time.

5 . When you're done, summarize for the rep, to ensure you're on the same page, and then ask for his/her operator ID. If the rep does not have one, ask for the phone extension or full name. This is very important! Why? B/c later, when you have to follow up on this issue, having a name and operator ID to refer to carries far more clout than saying, "well, your previous rep told me..." They won't give you any credibility for that line. If you remember the name and operator ID, they are obligated to concede to that fact, as they know you're not making it up.

Hope that helps you Joe!

Say hi to your computer - Part 2: the processor

Ok, Average Joe, now you've gotten the basic 'outline' of what your computer is composed of, we're going to talk a bit more about your processor.

As I mentioned before, the 2 major players in the processor field are Intel and AMD.  Intel is more popular and has a significant share of the market at over 70%.  

You can read more about that here at X-bit Labs.

Anyways, your desktop computers generally hold faster processors than your comparable laptop, since there is more space in your desktop and they can put bigger, faster chips in there.

Your laptop usually has a bit slower chip, because laptops (or notebooks as they like to call it now.  The story is that after someone sued for the term 'laptop' after getting his/her laps burned, but that story has to be validated) have to be concerned about power consumption, since people like to use them portably and use them via battery.  

You can technically have a superfast processor in a laptop too, but no one will be happy with 40 mins of use on a full charge.

The latest trend are the dual core processors - both Intel and AMD create them.

They are supposed to do the work of 2 processors, and yes, they are significantly faster.  But keep in mind that the software also has to be specially written to take full advantage of the dual core technology, so it's not really twice as faster as you might think.

Prices are going down on the dual core processor laptops, so you should be able to get one for under $1000 easily these days.  Intel's dual core processors are named Core Duo or Core 2 Duo and AMD names theirs with X2 in the name.  Don't worry, they always write on the laptop somewhere that it's dual-core and you won't ever miss it.

That wraps it up, Average Joe.  Hope you had an educational, informative time reading this.

And make sure to come back and tell your other Average Joe's and Jane's about this site.

Say hi to your computer - Part I - the hardware

Now that I've moved to a new home, maybe I should just start again from the basics, except, this time, really the basics.

I want this site to be a site when you can send your not-so-tech savvy parents/grandparents, etc., and understand every blog I post. That's why I made the font even slightly bigger than your usual blog site.

Anyways, let's answer this question - what exactly is a computer?

A computer when it was first invented, could not be fit on your desk. Take a look at the ENIAC for a history lesson.

It had only a fraction of power of even your worst computer today and they were huge!

Can you imagine this thing in your house?


It's 27 tons, and it was $500,000. (Thanks Wikipedia for the info).

But going back to the present, a computer can be broken down into software and hardware.

Today, we're going to cover just hardware.

The main hardware pieces of a computer are (geeks, please don't get too nit-picky, this site is not for you!):

1. Motherboard (why not Fatherboard? I dunno)
2. Processor
3. Hard Drive
4. RAM memory
5. CD/DVD reader/writer

The motherboard is where all your parts come together. Maybe a mother is more apt to gather her children together than a father? In any case, eveything comes together here, either directly or via cable.

Your processor slides right into an area that the motherboard has for it. The processor does all the thinking - it's the brains of the computer. The 2 main processors in the market these days are made by Intel and AMD. Intel is more popular and a bit more expensive compared to the comparable processors by AMD. The latest trend these days are dual-core processors, where they are essentially like having two processors work on your computer - and of course, two brains are better than one, right?

The hard drive is like your desk's drawers. They hold all your files, even when your computer is off.

The RAM memory - often people get confused about hard drive and RAM memory. Both are memory after all. Well, your hard drive is like your desk's drawers, while your RAM is like your actual desk's workspace size. When your computer is working, it has to pull stuff out of your 'drawers' and put them on your 'desktop area' to work. So the bigger the RAM, the more your computer can multitask. These days, if you're using Windows XP, I recommend at least 1 gigabyte (GB) of RAM, while for Windows Vista, you're gonna be lagging along unless you have at least about 2 GBs.

The CD/DVD drive - many computers these days come with drives that can both read data from your CD or DVD and also write to them. This means that you can play music from your CDs or even play your movies. Most recent computers come with pre-installed software that play them. In Windows, you have your Windows Media Player. They also usually come with some software that help you write to a CD or DVD as well, by companies such as Nero or Roxio.

More often than not, you'll mostly be using your drive to install new software, such as the Microsoft Office that you perhaps just bought.

That's enough for today - hope it's enough to digest and remember for you.

If you're a geek, you're welcome to my blogs, but only to forward the site on to your relatives that keep asking you questions about computers and consider your their free, resident computer expert and tech support!

Moved from Wordpress.com

Hello, and this is my first post on blogspot.com.

I've moved over from my original Tech Tips for the Average Joe site at wordpress.com -

http://basictech.wordpress.com

Why?

For 2 main reasons:
1. I want to test out and compare the two
2. I want to be able to integrate adsense (yeah, make a few cents, or even a whole dollar) and see how that works out.

Anyways, I'm going to still keep that old site up and maybe even still reference a few while I create new posts.

I really hope this helps you out there.

(By "you" I mean the not so techy folks. I'm not trying to stereotype, but I want to gear this out to the grandma's, grandpa's, the older folks not working on the computer industry, the child newbie, etc..)