general pc tips
Contents
1. e SIZE Y Ido not recommend hard drives larger than 1 TB They are less reliable SPEED v Always pick 7200 RPM or greater Warning The Western Digital Caviar Green drives have a variable speed starting at 5400 RPM and so may be slower The jury is still out on these for data speed Note The label on the Drive does not tell you this y SATA Drives are faster than IDE Drives in any situation VY BUFFER CACHE SIZE suggest 32 MB or greater buffer cache size for best performance e IDE HARD DRIVE JUMPER SETTINGS Y Most drives have a tiny label telling you how to install the jumper If not google the drive PN and the word jumper for info IE MAXTOR 88000D8 jumper v Note With more than one drive on an IDE Cable Drive jumpers should either both be set for Master amp Slave or both be set to Cable Select Do not mix settings V LAPTOP 2 5 IDE HARD DRIVE JUMPERS No jumper Master Page 5 of 13 dk23xx ig pdf Adobe Reade pou Elle Edit View Window Help x Ransa 1 41 bh B e let Tools Comment If jumper Position A B is used the drive is DRIVE 1 or Slave If jumper Position A C is used DRIVE 0 or DRIVE 1 setting is determined by the condition of CSEL signal pin 28 OEM HIDDEN PARTITION DELETE See this tutorial http jaredheinrichs com how to delete oem partition htm e RELIABILITY vV For the best reliabilit2. Writer defaults to save files in WORD s DOC format In Open Office go to Tools gt Options gt Load Save gt General Select Save as Microsoft Word 97 2000 XP Note This change makes all the different Open Office Program data saves compatible with Microsoft Office v WINDOWS 7 1 To set up Open Office as the default program for all kinds of Office files Start gt Control Panel gt Programs gt Default Programs gt Set your default Programs Click Open Office Click Set this Program as default 2 To set up the default SAVE format to Microsoft Word 97 2000 XP DOC Open the Open Office Writer Program Go to Tools gt Options gt Load Save Select a save format of Microsoft Word 97 2000 XP Note This change makes all Open Office Program data saves compatible with Microsoft Office LINUX DESKTOP to replace Windows e How to set up Linux Mint 13 as a Windows Replacement system http www linuxtoday com upload the perfect desktop linux mint 13 maya 120531023458 html MIGROSOFI OFFICE 2010 Download site If you need to install Microsoft Office 2010 any version and you do not have the DVD but do have a good Product Key you can download the installer file http office microsoft com en us buy netbook FX101850729 aspx e To Re install Office use this site to download the installer or order a new DVD You will need a Product Key to download http office microsoft com en us produc
3. XP TIPS or WINDOWS 7 TIPS RESET IE7 or IE8 SETTINGS TO DEFAULT e Open IE gt Tools gt Internet Options gt Advanced Tab gt click Reset e On the Reset IE Settings window click Reset When done click Close amp restart IE7 DELETE OR CLOSE AN ONLINE ACCOUNT e Here is an article for PC Magazine Http Awww pcmag com article2 0 2817 2386459 00 asp e Also check out this site htto Awww accountkiller com en CPU THERMAL COMPOUND e WARNING Silver compound like Arctic Silver can be conductive Use extra caution when applying to the CPU surface Ceramic compound is not conductive DOS APPLICATIONS Run in XP or Win 7 e http Awww dosbox com wiki Main_Page DIAL UP ACCESS FREE DIALUP ACCESS See http socalfree net e Also www juno com offers 10 hours a month free plus free email site witht GB storage http account juno com s landing action viewProduct amp productld free Unfortunately the Juno program can mess up your PC and your network settings EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES General Info amp How to choose a drive to buy BOTTOM LINE to buy an external hard drive For the average user recommend a full size horizontally mounted USB 3 0 connected drive with a real ON OFF switch that is powered from the wall do not recommend the tiny drives that are powered directly by the USB cable They actually have a laptop hard drive inside They are less reliable and do not work in all PC s The best drives are t
4. power it down NOTE 9 4 2014 It appears that the only external drive still available with a physical ON OFF switch is the La Cie Or you can buy an external drive enclosure and a separate internal 3 5 hard drive I use the Vantec NexStar 3 brand enclosure and the Western Digital Caviar BLACK 3 5 2 TB hard drive VERTICAL vs HORIZONTAL MOUNT It has come to light recently that horizontally mounted drives last longer and are more reliable than vertically mounted drives so no longer recommend external drives that have the drive standing on end f you lay a vertically mounted drive on its side how do you know if it is now upside down or right side up Upside down is worse that running while standing up do not have an answer unless you can open it up SPEED v RPM Always pick a 7200 RPM or greater hard drive for the best speed and performance Warning Western Digital Caviar Green drives only turn at 5400 RPM and so are very slow performers Do not buy these Note The label on the Drive does not tell you this yY SATA vs IDE Drives Most new external drive enclosures only support SATA hard drives This is because they are much faster than IDE Drives given the same RPM Y CACHE suggest 32 MB or greater buffer cache size for best performance BRAND Vv I stay away from Seagate brand external hard drive They recently have proven unreliable 10 2013 SECURITY To help protect your external hard drive from malware always
5. Options gt Advanced gt Connection Copy down the Port number 3 Now log into your router and set up port forwarding for the Port number from Skype to the IP address of your PC 4 PS lf you don t understand this don t try it USB 2 0 HOW TO VERIFY THAT YOUR PC HAS USB 2 0 INSTALLED e In XP go to the Device Manager XP Right click My Computer gt Properties gt Hardware Tab gt Device Manager and look under Universal Serial Bus Controllers Device Manager will show USB 2 0 as an Enhanced Host Controller or High Speed Host Controller Any Vista or WIndows 7 machine should have USB 2 0 already on it e USB 2 0 may also show up as a USB 2 0 Root Hub but not necessarily e If you do not see the words Enhanced or USB 2 0 then your PC only has USB 1 0 or 1 1 installed WINDOWS REINSTALLATION CD DVD s e A Windows reinstall CD DVD varies with the manufacturer Most are not original Microsoft Installation Disks but are modified by the vendor These CD DVD s put your PC back to how it was when you bought it Minus all your data of course Page 12 of 13 GENERAL PC TIPS e If you need a Reinstall ISO for any version of windows check out this article on how to obtain them free or cheap http windowssecrets com newsletter new ways to get free windows installation media e If you need a Reinstall CD DVD for any version of windows check out this article on how to obtain them free or c
6. Tabs on a separate row 2 On the Favorites Bar delete all the default entries provided courtesy of Microsoft and add your own 3 Add Links for www google com www jimopi net www speakeasy speedtest amp etc 4 Turn on View Menu Bar Right click toolbar area gt click to check Menu Bar b Install the IE add on called WOT Just Google WOT or go to WWW MYWOT COM Page 6 of 13 GENERAL PC TIPS c CACHE SIZE Tools gt Internet Options gt General tab Under Browsing History click Settings amp select 50 MB d CONNECTIONS Tools gt Internet Options gt Connections tab gt LAN Settings gt check Automatically detect settings e Set up a fresh IE 8 Tutorial a See this link http blogs msdn com blie archive 2009 05 09 ie setup experience just the facts and the screenshots aspx e CERTIFICATE ERRORS Make sure the TIME DATE and YEAR are correct on your PC LIBRE OFFICE OPEN OFFICE e SET UP OPEN OFFICE AS THE DEFAULT OFFICE PROGRAM v XP 1 To set up Open Office as the default program to open DOC WORD files Start gt Control Panel gt Folder Options gt Filetypes tab Find the extension called DOC click to highlight it and click Change and change the program that opens DOC files to the Open Office org Writer Click OK OK to exit 2 Repeat step 1 for all desired Office type filetypes that will be used XML etc 3 Next set up the Open Office
7. pre installed 9 2009 4 Here is some more info about the process from Dan Goodell http Mwww goodells net dellrestore index htm 5 If you have trouble restoring from the hidden Dell recovery partition or a copy of that partition see these tips http Avww goodells net dellrestore fixes htm 6 If still not successful you may have resized partitions or removed or disabled the Dell PC Restore software or done something to alter the mbr of your hard drive and the function is broken In some rare cases functionality can be restored by following Goodell s advice at www goodells net dellrestore but it s not a sure thing 7 If you have success restart and press F12 and boot to the Dell diagnostics partition Run the entire test suite If all tests pass go on If not deal with what needs correction repair 8 Restart and go to My Computer and right click Local Disk Click properties gt Tools gt Check Now and select both tests repair Restart and allow completion of the tests If the results indicate your disk is clean proceed to step 6 If dirty you ll probably need to replace your hard drive 9 Use Truelmage as detailed below 10 NOTE Your Dell hard drive has one visible C partition one small 50MB hidden diagnostic partition and the all important 3GB hidden Dell PC Restore partition if its a newer Dimension after 7 04 You can see all the partitions using XP s Disk Management console view DELL INSTALLATION DISKS If your Dell ins
8. 32 bit XP Vista Windows7 system A 64 bit printer driver is for a 64 bit XP Vista Windows7 system If the printer manufacturer offers a Vista printer driver it should work OK on a Windows 7 system Windows 7 supplies generic drivers for many printers but if you use a generic driver many of printer s features will be missing and unavailable IE ink monitoring scanning of an all in one etc PRODUCT KEY FINDER PROGRAMS e http pcsupport about com od productkeysactivation tp topkeyfinder htm RECOVERY CD DVD s CREATE AN HP WINDOWS 7 or VISTA RECOVERY DVD See my WINDOWS 7 or VISTA TIPS sheet CREATE A DELL XP RECOVERY CD There is a Dell utility to create a System Recovery CD Start All Programs Dell Accessories and then Dell OS Recovery CD DELL BACKUP amp RECOVERY ISSUES DELL HIDDEN Restore Recovery PARTITION NOTES 1 You must verify that your CTL F11 works before you use Truelmage Remove all external devices shut down restart hold CTL F11 until your computer beeps and shows you the Dell PC Restore screen then cancel it 2 If not successful try it several times It frequently does not work the first time Sometimes you must quickly tap and then hold the CTL F11 keys for it to work Page 10 of 13 GENERAL PC TIPS 3 If that does not work try this utility from MikeTechShow 131 http www goodells net dellrestore files dsrfix zip Apparently this does not work on PC s with Vista and possibly Windows 7
9. AT32 formatted drive for Image Backups because the image files are very very large e FreeNAS Make any old PC into a NAS Storage device See www freenas org OPENDNS Free DNS Service When browsing DNS servers translate your desired website address like http www amazon com to a numerical IP address so your PC can actually go to the site You can enter the IP address for Amazon as http 72 21 210 250 and get there slightly faster but what a hassle trying to remember all the numbers e By default your PC uses the DNS servers provided by your internet provider ISP like Time Warner Verizon etc OpenDNS Basic is a good and free alternative It can speed up your internet access if your local provider s servers are slow e If you are a glutton for punishment you can test the speed of various available DNS servers by installing and running the free DNS BENCHMARK UTILITY from Steve Gibson http www grc com dns benchmark htm e For more info about OpenDNS see http www opendns com solutions household and also http Awww opendns com support dynamic_ip e You can actually use OpenDNS without even opening an account by simply setting up your PC s Network settings to use the following DNS servers 208 67 222 222 and 208 67 220 220 Do this only if you know how to do it already Otherwise register with opendns com and they will walk you through setting up your PC e If you want the OpenDNS features like improved browsing security p
10. GENERAL PC TIPS Jim McKnight www jimopi net General1 lwp revised 11 6 2015 Contents highlights AOL TIPS BATTERY CHANGING BIOS NOTES BROWSER TIPS CPU THERMAL COMPOUND EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES FLASH DRIVE TIPS FRAUD SPAM REPORTING HARD DRIVE INFO INTERNET EXPLORER Microsoft OFFICE 2010 NAS HARD DRIVES OPENDNS OPEN OFFICE OUTLOOK TIPS PC PARTS reliable POWER PACKS AC Adapters RECOVERY CD DVD s SATA ahci SECURITY SKYPE TIPS USB 2 0 how to identify WINDOWS REINSTALL DISKS AOL TIPS DO YOU WANT TO STOP PAYING AOL FOR YOUR E MAIL ACCOUNT Are you a paying member of AOL who no longer needs the various AOL services but wants to keep your AOL email address active Do you want to stop paying them a monthly fee See the solution in my article How to Stop Paying AOL at www jimopi net EXPORT YOUR AOL CONTACT LIST To get your AOL e mail contact addresses exported into Gmail and then if desired into Thunderbird see my article How to Stop Paying AOL at www jimopi net SET UP THUNDERBIRD FOR AOL IMAP or POP See my THUNDERBIRD SETUP Step By Step sheet SALIENI CHANGING TIPS Before changing a PC Keep alive battery it is a good idea to write down various BIOS settings since they will all be lost after a battery change Usually the BIOS default settings work fine but be warned To measure the voltage of the old battery to see if it needs to be replaced First make sure the PC is turned off Then hold one voltmeter lead on the
11. aptop PC s 6 DELL NOTES Dell Powerpacks have some kind of Smart circuitry inside so a non Dell Power pack may not work suggest an exact Dell part number replacement 7 LAPTOP POWER PACKS Laptops are the most critical for having an exact replacement Try the original Manufacturer website for purchase Warning The high cost of an exact replacement may make you rethink whether or not you want to just buy a new Laptop PRINTING NOTES e Prang directly on CD s DVD s Printing on round labels and sticking them on CD DVD s is a bad idea They can fly off inside the player and destroy it Y Special CD DVD s must be purchased for direct printing v Many EPSON printers can do it They come with a special tray to hold the disk Page 9 of 13 v CANON Printers Many Canon printers can do this but are not shipped in the US with the necessary hardware tray or firmware settings Here is a list of CANON Models and a Tray chart http Avww cameratown com articles canon_cd_printing cfm e PRINT PREVIEW v v v v v When the printout does not come out how you expect escpecially when printing web pages from IE or Firefox it is time to use Print Preview From IE Firefox or any other program that offers it click File gt Print Preview The Print Preview screen allows you to see what each page will look like before you print and waste paper The default settings are portrait mode Shrink to Fit and with default margins of u
12. arental controls etc you must register with opendns com The free version will probably meet all your needs e To access their instructions on setting up your PC or router to use OpenDNS you also must now register with them OUTLOOK TIPS TO DISABLE Microsoft WORD as your default Outlook e mail editor follow these steps click Tools gt Options gt Mail Format tab gt un check the box O Use Microsoft Word to edit e mail messages Click lt OK gt e To empty the TRASH click TOOLS gt Empty Deleted Items Folder e COMPACT THE MAIL FOLDERS OUTLOOK Right click Personal Folders gt Properties gt Advanced gt Compact Now OUTLOOK EXPRESS File gt Folder gt Compact All Folders e To find the Outlook data file location it is usually located in the following folders vY For Windows XP or Server 2003 look in C Documents and Settings lt username gt Local Settings Application Data Microsoft Outlook For Windows 7 or Vista look in C users lt username gt AppData Local Microsoft Outlook Page 8 of 13 GENERAL PC TIPS OUTLOOK EXPRESS TIPS e No tips available PG PARTS RELIABLE BRANDS From Technibble com Motherboards Gigabyte e Thermal Compound Arctic Silver CMQ22G or Arctic Silver 5 e CPU Coolers Thermaltake Zalman e Power Supplies Thermaltake XION e Hard Drives Seagate e RAM Kingston e Video Cards ASUS or XFX e DVD Media DVD R is be
13. er two Only good for 90 days IDENTITY PROTECTION LIFELOCK 99 per year with coupon code KNX www lifelock com HOW TO VERIFY FRAUD SITES HOAXES ETC Some sites that can help identify Hoaxes and frauds Note I have not tested any of therse htto Avww hoaxbusters com _ http urbanlegends about com od internet a current_netlore htm http ciac lIn gov ciac bulletins h 05 shtml _http Awww snopes com snopes asp _http http Avww vmyths com SPAM REPORTING e What happens when you keep receiving unsolicited emails or newsletters for which you never subscribed to You simply report it to the Federal Trade Commission Just forward the deceptive spam to a special FTC email address spam uce gov e To learn more about how to avoid spam scams and reduce the clutter in your in box check out http www ftc gov spam e The FTC and its law enforcement partners use a database to generate cases against people who use spam to spread false or misleading information about their products or services Consumers who think they have been taken advantage of by a spam scam can file a complaint with the FTC online at http Avww ftc gov e What to do if your email account is sending SPAM http help yahoo com kb index locale en_US amp y PROD_ACCT amp page content amp id SLN3417 e Restoring a compromised Yahoo Account http help yahoo com kb index locale en_US amp y PROD_ACCT amp page content amp id SLN2160 HARD DRIVE GENERAL INFO
14. he new USB 3 0 drives but you need a USB 3 0 usually Blue connector in your PC to take advantage of the higher speed Anyway even if you cannot use a USB 3 0 feature now the drive will be a good investment for the future e SUMMARY Most External Hard drive enclosures use physical drives that are identical to those used inside PC s To the user a given size external hard drive varies only by connectivity power source and data format e SIZE Capacity Y Ido not recommend hard drives larger than 1 TB The bigger the drive the less reliable the drive Packing more and more data in the same physical space causes this effect e CONNECTIVITY External Hard drives can connect to a PC in 4 different ways 1 Network or Wireless network NAS 2 External SATA Cables eSATA 3 USB Cables or 4 Firewire IEEE 1394 cables Y Each way of connecting your External Drive has advantages and disadvantages If you Google External hard drive connect you will find more information than you can digest USB 2 0 comes in last for speed but is the most common way to attach an external drive because every PC has one or more USB Ports available Never use USB 1 1 Ports for data transfer v The speed of USB 2 0 is OK unless you are doing video editing directly to the drive Then you would want to connect via External SATA eSATA or Firewire Of course large image back ups will run much faster with eSATA Y Choosing modes of connectivi
15. heap http www zdnet com blog bott lost your windows discs how to get replacement media legally 4320 alertspromo amp tag nl rSINGLE Page 13 of 13
16. om Page 11 of 13 SFC System File Checker OFFLINE SCAN If you cannot boot a PC you can still scan the system with SFC e Either boot from an Install CD DVD of the same version of Windows or mount the drive as a slave in a PC that is the same version of Windows e Getto the recovery console or a command prompt e Try running dird to verify you are on the correct disk and Windows directory If it does not look right try another drive letter e Run this command SFC scannow offbootdir d _ offwindir d windows where the system drive is d This is from a britecO9 youtube video e You can scan just one suspected file following this example Remember to change the file name and path to that you wish to scan sfc scanfile d windows system32 drivers af d sys offbootdir d offwindir d windows SKYPE TIPS e If you use a Router you can improve Skype performance by setting up your Router for port forwarding of Skype data This tip is from Mike Smith at miketechshow com 1 First set up your PC with a Static IP address For XP Control Panel gt Network Connections gt right click the LAN gt Properties gt TCP IP gt Properties use the following IP Address 192 168 1 110 since my router assigns DHCP addresses starting at 192 168 1 100 The Subnet mask is usually 255 255 255 0 and the Default gateway is the Router address Mine is 192 168 1 1 2 Next open Skype and find out what port Skype uses Tools gt
17. power it off when not in use That way if your system gets infected your external drive is safe RAID OPERATION RAID 0 RAID 1 and RAID 5 are available on many external Hard drive enclosures v RAID 0 Improves Access Read amp Write speed by spreading data across two or more drives striping The more drives the faster the speed It decreases data security because if any drive fails you lose ALL your data NOTE Two 500 GB drives give you 1000 GB of total usable storage vY RAID 1 Uses two drives and improves data security by mirroring data If either drive fails the data is safe Read Speed is improved over non RAID enclosures but Write speed is the same Two 500 GB drives give you slightly less than 500 GB of total usable storage vY RAID 5 Uses three or more drives to improve speed and security The speed may or may not always be better than non RAID or RAID 1 depending on the usage Three 500 GB drives give you 1000 GB of available storage Total of Drives minus one drive v Non RAID JBOD A non RAID External drive enclosure that has more than one drive is also referred to as JBOD Just a Bunch Of Disks Total storage available is the total capacity of the drives Page 3 of 13 FLASH DRIVE TIPS GENERAL generally like Sandisk flash drives since the connector slides inside to protect it from damage while carrying it around Most drives come with a cap of some sort that is easily lost U3 Removing the U3 Launchpad To
18. remove the self loading U3 Launchpad system from a Cruzer U3 or other brand of U3 Flash Drive and turn it into a plain USB Flash drive download and run the file u3 uninstall exe from http Awww u3 com uninstall The Utility will reformat the drive into a standard vanilla USB Flash Drive NOTE This is an irreversible process U3 cannot be re installed Also the format will destroy all data on the drive so save all data before starting Encrypting Data Try out AxCrypt See http Avww axantum com AxCrypt Try out TrueCrypt Try out lronKey Best but not free SLC vs MLC SLC Technology is more reliable than MLC Look for SLC when shopping for a Flash Drive WRITE PROTECT SWITCH If you want a flash drive with a built in write protect switch on the side try a KANGURU FLASHBLU 2 drive A 16 GB version is available from Amazon 49 23 with free shipping FRAUD SPAM HOW TO REPORT PHISHING SPOOFING AND OTHER INTERNET SCAMS First collect the necessary data as shown for your e mail client Then copy the full data Ctrl C and paste it Ctrl V into a note to one the addesses listed below Do not send attachments Paste the data into the body of your note v Thunderbird Select the message gt View gt Message Source gt Ctrl A gt Ctrl C v Outlook Open the message gt View gt Options Find the box Internet Headers gt Ctrl A gt Ctrl C v Outlook Express Right click on the message gt Properties gt Details
19. sually around 0 75 on all sides All these can be customized to get the printout to look the way you want it Just play with the various settings to see how the page looks before you Print also recommend printing just page 1 of a webpage unless it does not give you what you want Many web pages will waste many sheets of paper printing unnecessary garbage below what you really want e PRINTER DRIVERS v v v v When installing a new printer on a PC NEVER connect the printer until instructed by the Printer Driver Software install wizard Microsoft claims that their generic Windows 7 printer drivers work just fine and are compatible That s the impression you get from reading the Win7 compatibility center chart They make is sound like their drivers give full support but they do not In general drivers that come on the CD that is included with a new Printer are already obsolete since the printer has been sitting on the shelf for months before you bought it For the best Drivers and Printer software go to the Printer Manufacturer s website and download the latest printer software and drivers for your model printer and your version of Windows XP Vista Win7 32 bit or 64 bit Printers do not come in bits 32 bit or 64 bit Printers are just printers and will work on any system for which Printer drivers are available A Printer Driver is a program you install on the PC so it can talk to the printer A 32 bit printer driver is for a
20. tab gt Message Source Button gt Right click gt Ctrl A gt Ctrl C Close the Message Source window and the Properties window v Gmail Select message gt More Options command gt Show original command near the end of the list of command options REPORT TO GOVERNMENT phishing report us cert gov and spam uce gov y ROADRUNNER abuse rr com and spamblock security rr com v EBAY spoof ebay com EARTHLINK _ fraud corp earthlink net v PAYPAL spoof paypal com v MICROSOFT abuse microsoft com Y MSN abuse msn com or report spam msn com Y AOL Use the Report Spam button on the AOL Webmail site Paid Members only v AMAZON 800 201 7575 Y BofA 800 732 9194 and 877 231 9372 v YAHOO ATT abuse yahoo com or phishing cc yahoo inc com GMAIL gmail abuse google com v HOTMAIL _ report_spam hotmail com More addresses at http oanspam javawoman com report3 scam3 html For reporting Internet crime and fraud see http Avww ic3 gov For more contact addresses and details see http www fightidentitytheft com how to report scams html For more listing and places to complain see http Avww elsop com wrc complain htm Page 4 of 13 GENERAL PC TIPS FREE CREDIT REPORTS http https www annualcreditreport com cra index jsp SUBMIT A FRAUD ALERT TO THE CREDIT AGENCIES httos www alerts equifax com AutoFraud_Online jsp fraudAlert jsp NOTE If you submit to one agency they forward it to the oth
21. tall Disk is lost or damaged you might try a disk from another Dell if it has the same version of Windows on it Just make sure you use the Product Key on the side of the PC Certificate of Authenticity to do the activation DELL RESTORE PARTITION If you have trouble restoring from the hidden Dell recovery partition or a copy of that partition see this website http www goodells net dellrestore fixes htm REMOTE ASSIST REMOTE VIEW see my UTILITY PROGRAMS sheet SATA INFO e Normally changing SATA drive control from IDE to AHHI in the BIOS is done before the initial installation of the Operating System Making this change after a system is installed must be done carefully or the system will no longer boot Also not all hardware BIOS s support ahci e See this Tip http www techrepublic com blog window on windows quick tip improve your sata disk performance by converting from ide to ahci 418 e Also see Microsoft KB 922976 and Fixlt 50470 e Warning The optical drive s may have to be set to IDE in the BIOS to be recognized by the Operating System even if it has a SATA interface SD CARD TIPS e To wipe and format SD Cards here is a free Utility download http httos Awww sdcard org downloads formatter_4 eula_windows SECURITY e To improve your PC Security and performance set up your PC or Router to use the DNS Servers atOPENDNS COM 208 67 222 222 and 208 67 220 220 For details go to opendns c
22. top of the battery and the other on the frame of the PC It should be 3 00 volts or greater Be sure to unplug the PC and wait about 1 minute before changing the Battery Use great caution popping out the battery If you bend or break the battery holder clip the motherboard is toast When powering up after a battery change most PC s automatically take you to the BIOS to set the Date and Time If this does not happen then press the correct key to go to BIOS also called SETUP after the power up If that does not work some PC s have a jumper on the motherboard that resets the BIOS to defaults If so 1 Move the jumper 2 Set the date time 3 Power down 4 Move the jumper back to its original position and power back up BIOS NOTES Getting into a PC s BIOS also called SETUP Immediately after power on During the initial Splash screen press one of the following repeatedly if necessary F1 or F2 or F10 or lt Esc gt or lt Del gt or lt Ctrl Alt Esc gt If none of these work google for the PC model and the word BIOS or SETUP Also see http www informit com articles article aspx p 1020308 amp seqNum 4 BROWSER TIPS FIREFOX See my FIREFOX SETUP amp TIPS sheet Page 1 of 13 BROWSER CACHE SIZE Firefox IE6 or IE7 If you have a highspeed connection the Browser cache should be small This reduces the number of temp files stored For details on changing the cache size on Firefox IE6 or IE7 see my FIREFOX TIPS
23. ts microsoft office 2010 backup FX101853122 aspx e To install multiple versions of Office on a PC During install click Customize not Upgrade and then click to keep all versions of Office NAS NETWORK ATTACHED STORAGE e CONNECTION e NAS drives connect to your PC s via the home ethernet network either cabled or wireless e Each NAS device has its own IP address and can include one or many hard drives inside FILE FORMATS e Currently all NAS device controllers are Linux based and cannot use the Windows NTFS formatting system As of 5 2009 e If you plan to use a NAS Drive for image backups do not get one that only formats its disk s as FAT32 Newer NAS Drives use file formats such as EXT2 EXT3 EXT4 XFS or ReiserFS 3 6 Choose a drive that uses one of these formats since image backup files are gigantic easily 5 to 50 GB and these file Page 7 of 13 systems do allow file sizes that are large enough to use for large backup images prefer ReiserFS 3 6 or XFS if you can find it e If you have a MAC on the network it will only use the HFS format am not sure what other formats that MAC s can read and write to e Also see http en wikipedia org wiki Comparison_of file systems e FAT32 Issues e The FAT32 format limits the maximum file size to 4 GB e A FAT32 NAS Drive is fine if you only want to use an NAS Drive to store common data files to share among several PC s e do not recommend using a F
24. tter than DVD R Best DVD R is from Taiyo Yuden TY of Japan hitp Avww supermediastore com index html Also TDK Look for Made in Japan on box Verbatim DL DVD s are rated well also e Best components per ZDNET 2 2009 http blogs zdnet com hardware p 36198tag nl e540 POWER PACKS amp POWER AC ADAPTERS REPLACEMENT Here are the considerations when replacing a Power pack 1 PLUG SIZE The power plug size and shape of the new power pack must match the device EXACTLY 2 POLARITY Each device has a symbol near its power jack identifying whether the polarity of the center conductor should be plus or minus This must match the new power pack EXACTLY 3 VOLTAGE The device should have a voltage value listed near its power jack The voltage of the power pack must match the device EXACTLY If the voltage is not shown you will need to look on the old power pack or in the User Manual for the device 4 AMPS The current rating in Amps or Milliamps of the new power pack must meet or exceed the current required by the device The current rating is NOT listed on the device It is only found on the old Power Pack or in the User Manual for the device 5 UNIVERSAL POWER PACKS do not recommend the purchase of those generic Universal multi purpose power packs using multiple adapters especially those with a switch to change the voltage like Radio Shack sells These kinds of power packs can destroy your device particularly L
25. ty other than USB depends on what hardware is available on your PC Page 2 of 13 GENERALPCTIPS Some External Hard drive enclosures include a combination of two or three connectivity options POWER SOURCE v USB External drives are powered either from the wall via its own power pack or from the USB connecting cable have a tiny USB powered drive that works good because it has two USB cables and plugs into two USB ports One is for power only and one for power and signal Some USB Drives draw more power than one USB port can provide Note USB 1 1 is too weak to power any external hard drive USB 2 0 can power most but not all drives that have only one USB cable Firewire connected External Hard drives are either powered from the wall with its own power cable or from the Firewire Bus eSATA External Drives usually get their power from the wall using a power pack Some PC s and Adapter cards do provide a connector to provide power to eSATA drives FILE FORMATS vV NTFS is the best file format for use with Windows External drives are usually already formatted as NTFS unless they are installed inside a Network NAS Drive Storage Unit Y For details on file formats of NAS Drives Network Attached Storage read the section below titled NAS Y Note A single USB External drive formatted as FAT32 can probably be reformatted to NTFS ON OFF SWITCH Next recommend that the drive have a real physical ON OFF switch so you can fully
26. y always buy RAID Class Hard drives Also called Enterprise Hard drives These drives cost a little more but are much more reliable as they are built to a higher standard e SATA INFO See the section below called SATA INFO e SSD s Solid State Drives See the writeup on SSD s in my BUYING A WINDOWS 7 PC sheet HARD DRIVE How to clear wasted space Delete space wasted from old iPhone iPod backups http www techzilo com save disk space delete old iphone ipod touch backups e Download and run SPACEMONGER See my UTILITY PROGRAMS writup for Details e Download and run TFC Temp File Cleaner See my UTILITY PROGRAMS writup for Details ene EXPLORER TIPS Remove IE8 XP If Add Remove Programs does not help Start gt Run windir ie8 spuninst spuninst exe e Remove IE9 See Fix It button at http support microsoft com kb 2579295 IE8 IE9 Tips See my WINDOWS 7 TIPS and WINDOWS 7 TROUBLESHOOTING sheets for IE8 and IE9 info You cannot use IE9 with XP e RESET TO DEFAULTS IE7 amp IE8 Y Open IE gt Tools gt Internet Options gt Advanced Tab gt click Reset Y On the Reset IE Settings window click Reset When done click Close amp restart IE e SetupafreshlE 8 amp IE9 a Setup the IE 8 Toolbars 1 Turn on all the Toolbars Right click the Toolbar area gt click to check Menu Bar Favorites Bar Compatibility View Button Command Bar amp Status Bar For IE9 Show
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