MORE TECH PROBLEM

My Unusual Windows Sizing Problem - aka “Restore Down” Problem

Recently a problem that I had never seen before cropped up on my main Windows XP system. It was affecting Microsoft Word as well as a couple of other programs. When I clicked the X in the upper right corner to close the program it closed the program - no problem. When I clicked the _ to minimize the program it minimized it - no problem. When I clicked the box in between the _ and the X it minimized the program instead of making the window smaller (like it is supposed to) so that I was unable to resize it. This is technically call the “Restore Down” button. I did some google searches for things like “xp restore down equals minimize,” “xp restore equals minimize,” xp minimize maximize restore down,” “xp restore window equals minimize” but didn’t find a solution. It looks like there are some Windows repair programs out there but I didn’t try any of those.

After some trial and error I found the solution. With Word and the other “problem programs” maximized I right-clicked on the taskbar and selected “Cascade Windows.” That put the problem windows in a neat order and the windows were not full size. At that point I was able to size them however I wanted to.

YES!! Problem solved!

When to Buy a Color Laser Printer Instead of an Ink-Jet Printer

Computer and technology products continue to improve, and color printers are no different. If you liked the printer your friend bought last week, just wait. You’ll be able to get one better and cheaper next week.

So, if you’re in the market for a new home or small office printer what should you get, ink-jet or laser? My short answer - laser. Let me explain.

When black ink-jet printers first came out you had to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $500. You could get a replacement ink cartridge for 20 bucks and you’re good to go. Or, you could buy an ink refill kit and refill your cartridge for a fraction of the cost of a new cartridge. Well, those days are long gone. Now you pay twenty bucks for the printer and $500 for the ink! Well, not quite, but it seems that way.

I’ve worked on printers with a single color cartridge and with one cartridge for each of the three standard colors and either way, you end up paying a lot for ink. So what do a lot of people do to save money on ink? They use their printer as little as possible. While this may seem like a reasonable solution it creates another problem; the ink dries up. Then when you go to print it’s all streaky because the ink has dried up and clogged the microscopic jets. So what to do now? You run your printer through the cleaning process, which, unfortunately, USES A TON OF INK!

Here’s the answer, buy ink cartridges on sale and stock up. Oops, wrong answer. Ink cartridges have an expiration date and usually don’t work after that date.

How about refilling? Most cartridges today use some kind of “smart” technology that knows when it’s empty and won’t work when refilled - plus it can be a real mess.

The reason most ink-jet printers are so inexpensive today is that printer manufactures use the same business model as cell phone companies, that is, give away the phone (printer) and make the profit by regularly selling minutes (cartridges). Add to that the natural trend of computer products getting cheaper and the fact that today’s printers are really cheaply made (notice I didn’t say “inexpensive,” I said “cheap”) and you’ll see $29 ink-jet printers all the time.

But don’t think you can just buy a new printer whenever your ink runs out, because most printers are sold with “starter” cartridges which are less than 50% full.

So, what about color laser printers? Color laser printers have been around for quite a few years now, costing about ten grand and weighing 100 pounds when the first came out. Now you can get one for under $300 that weighs less than 40 pounds. So obviously it costs more to purchase a laser printer than an ink-jet printer, BUT, the cost per page is much less with laser and the hassle is greatly reduced as well.

So, for routine small office and home use these days, I recommend color laser printers. To get you started you can look at this Samsung printer or other color laser printers at Amazon.com.

How to Make a Strong and Secure Password That You Can Actually Remember

Passwords are everywhere these days. You need a PIN for your ATM card, a password for your cell phone voice mail - I even have to have a password to call my mom (just kidding). And that doesn’t even begin to take into account all the computer and online Internet passwords.

I’m going to give you a few tips on how to create a secure password, but one that’s not too difficult to remember.

The first thing you need to avoid is any word that can be found in the dictionary. Let’s take, for example, the name of my website, ThatTechBlog.com. A bad password would be “that” or “tech” or “blog” but a better password would be “thattechblog” since thattechblog is not a word in the dictionary.

But what’s an easy way to make the password thattechblog even more secure without making it too hard to remember? Well, one way is to use some capital letters since most passwords are case sensitive. An easy way would be ThatTechBlog. That’s a little too easy for someone else to guess, however, so a better option would be to capitalize the last letter of each word, like this: thaTtecHbloG.

Now, let’s get a little more sophisticated. What I’ll do now is show you how to replace some of the letters with numbers, but still make it fairly easy to remember. Since a capital E looks like the mirror image of 3 we’ll make that change so now we have thatt3chblog as the more secure password. Other number for letter replacements would make your password look like this: thatt3chb10g. As you can see I’ve replaced the E with 3, the L with 1, and the o with 0 (zero).

To make a password even stronger you may want to insert symbols to replace letters, giving you a password like this: th@ttechb!og.

These examples are all fairly easy to remember and are much more secure than a dictionary word. Here’s another password that is fairly easy to remember, however it is kind of hard to type: rglrrwxgvkif. At this point you may be asking, “How can that password be easy to remember?!” Stop reading right now and take a look at your keyboard and see if you can discover the system.

Did you see what I did? I took each letter from thattechblog and moved one letter to the left on the keyboard. T became R, H became G, etc. Since the A is all the way on the left side you replace it with L, just like you would replace Q with P or Z with M.

Now, if you really want to make a strong password you can combine the above methods and turn thattechblog into rg@Rrwxgv1if. That may be a little complicated just to check your Yahoo email, but for online banking I’d recommend getting a little creative and use one or more of the methods and not just using a password like “money” or something.

It looks like passwords are here to stay, so be creative, have a little fun, and make your online activities more secure. If you want more information about creating passwords, take a look at the book Perfect Passwords at Amazon.com.

Problems With Computer Fans

Over the years I have seen quite a few problems with computer fans. Not too long ago I was called to look at a user’s Dell Optiplex GX280 who said his fan was really loud. As soon as I walked in there was no doubt there was a problem since the computer sounded like a jet ready to take off! The CPU fan on this computer is a variable speed fan and only runs as fast as necessary to keep the CPU cool. I ran some diagnostics on the fan. During diagnostics the system tells the fan to run at 3000 RPM and then the fan’s sensor is supposed to report back the speed it is running at. I discovered that this fan had a bad sensor so it was always reporting that it was running at zero RPM even though it was screaming at full speed. I ordered a new fan and that took care of the problem.

Later, however, I was called back because it kept giving the error message “Previous fan failure,” which was accurate since there had been a previous fan failure. I went into the BIOS under “Post Behavior.” I went to “Keyboard Errors” and set it to “Do Not Report” and rebooted the computer. It came up without reporting the “Previous fan failure” error. I returned the setting to “Report” and now the fan error is no longer there. I’d have to say that this was one of the more unique problems with computer fans that I’ve seen.

Microsoft Embarrassed, Releases 11 Critical Security Patches

I just read an article about the 20 new patches Microsoft is releasing this month, 11 of them labeled critical. In the world of Microsoft patches, nothing is more serious than the rating of critical.

The most important is MS07-010 “which patches a critical bug in the malware scanning engine used by Windows OneCare, Windows Defender and the Forefront Security and Antigen products.” In other words, Microsoft’s security software is not secure without this new patch. Symantec, the maker of Norton Anti-virus, rated MS07-010 a 10 out of 10 in urgency.

If you want to make sure your computer is protected from hackers, go to Windows Update right now and get your PC protected.

My DSL Modem Setup Problem

I recently moved into a new house. I made all the necessary arrangements to get ATT SBC Yahoo DSL turned on when I arrived. I had a small problem that delayed the DSL, but soon my Siemens SpeedStream 4100 Ethernet ADSL modem arrived via our friendly FedEx truck. The DSL modem arrived none too soon. If I’d had to endure a few more days of dial-up I might have gone back to watching TV…no, wait, no cable yet either. With modem, patch cables, and Netgear wireless router in hand, now I could begin setting up my network.

I decided not to use the setup CD that came with the modem since I don’t like extra software on my computer and I was going to be using the Netgear router anyway, not just a single computer. I hooked everything up and I was having all kinds of strange problems. (At my old house I had cable internet via Charter Communications and my Netgear router and Linksys cable modem worked fine there.) If I didn’t have the DSL modem plugged into the router I could ping the router, but if they were patched together I couldn’t ping the router. I swapped cables, I tried connecting wirelessly with my Dell laptop, I tried my spare Netgear router, but nothing worked.

I looked again at the bottom of my Siemens DSL modem and read the fine print…Ah Ha, the IP address of the modem was 192.168.0.1, the same as my router - I had an obvious IP conflict. With my Linksys cable modem hooked up to Charter Internet I saw no such problem because the cable modem takes the public IP address, something like 71.9.94.234, and passes that through to the “Internet” or WAN port on the Netgear router.

I wasn’t sure if there was a way to change the IP on the DSL modem so I decided to change the address of my router instead. The default IP for my model of Netgear wireless router is 192.168.1.1 but I had changed it a year ago to 192.168.0.1 since that was the default of my old Netgear RT314 router. Now that I had my wireless router set to 192.168.5.1 I was in business, or so I thought.

Since I hadn’t used my setup CD I hadn’t set up my account with ATT SBC Yahoo. I made a phone call to their tech support and spoke to a very helpful technician. She understood my not wanting to install the software from the setup CD onto my computer and walked me through the steps to get my account set up. After a little while I was online surfing at high speed.

I went to check my e-mail and saw that I had to reconfigure Microsoft Outlook, but that’s a posting for another day.

CD Drive Not Working

Problem - I had a call that the CD drive was not working on a Dell computer.

Solution - The CD was not showing up in Device Manager but the tray did work. Checked the BIOS and found that it was only showing the HD, the other three were OFF. I set the Secondary Drive 0 to AUTO. Next time it booted up it reported CD-ROM Reader and worked fine.

Fast and Secure Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Setup

It is very important that your Windows 2000 PC is secure, but you also want it to be fast. When I install Win2k I try to leave off as much “fluff” as possible; in fact, whenever I get a new computer (my last three have all been Dell) I reinstall the OS because I don’t like all the extra junk they put on it. Not too long ago I worked on a Compaq and right out of the box the desktop was half full of icons! Here are the steps I take when installing Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional (aka Win2K):

WARNING!!! This procedure will delete EVERYTHING that is currently on your hard drive. If you want to keep anything, burn it to a CD, save it to a flash drive, save it to a network drive, etc.

NOTE: You may find that there are newer versions of Adobe Reader, QuickTime, etc. available since this was written. Feel free to install the latest version that will work on Windows 2000.

1. Change BIOS to boot from CD.
2. Install Win2k from the CD.
3. Press ENTER to set up Windows 2k now.
4. Press F8 to agree to the license agreement.
5. Press Enter to set up Windows 2000 on the selected item.
6. Select the C: Partition and Press D to delete.
7. Press ENTER to delete the partition.
8. Press L to delete the partition.
9. Select the Unpartitioned Space and press ENTER to set up Windows 2k on the Unpartitioned space.
10. Format NTFS.
11. After it copies files and reboots, press Next to continue.
12. Select Your System Settings | United States, English, US | Next
    Enter Name: User1, Organization: Your organization.
13. Enter the Product Key.
14. What’s your computer’s name? | Leave as Your-whatever. Enter Administrator password of your choice and write it down.
15. What time zone are you in? | Select Your Time Zone | Next
16. Select Typical Network Settings
17. Put the computer in the WORKGROUP workgroup.
    Remove the CD and Finish.
18. Make sure the network cable is plugged in and click Next for the Network ID Wizard.
19. Select “Users must enter a username and password to use this computer.”
    Click Finish.
20. Log in.
21. Add the user “Tech” with the password the same as the administrator’s. Uncheck “User must change password at next logon” and check “User cannot change password” and “Password never expires.” Add to local Administrator group. Use this account for the rest of the setup.
22. Reboot and change BIOS to boot from HD.
23. Log on as Tech.
24. Set Num Lock ON as the default. START | Run | regedit | Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard. Change the value for InitialKeyboardIndicators from 0 to 2.
25. In the Getting Started with Windows 2000 window uncheck “Show the screen at startup” and click Exit.
26. Right-click the Task Bar | Properties | check “Show small icons in Start menu” | click Advanced tab and check “Display Logoff.”
27. Click OK.
28. Right-click Desktop | Properties | Effects | uncheck “Use transition effects…” and check “Show windows contents while dragging” and click OK.
29. Right-click Desktop | Screen Saver | None
30. Monitor Power | Power | Power Schemes | Home/Office Desk | Select “Never” for “Turn off monitor,” “Turn off hard disks,” and “System standby.”
31. Open My Computer | Tools | Folder Options | View and check “Display the full path in the address bar,” “Display the full path in the title bar,” select “Show hidden files and folders,” uncheck “Hide extensions for known file types.” Click Apply and Like Current Folder.
32. Copy the I386 folder (cabs) from the CD to the C drive and remove the CD.
33. Install SP4 for Win2k.
34. Install IE6.
35. Install Windows Media Player 9, keeping all defaults. Test.
36. Go to “Connect to the Internet,” select LAN, select LAN again, uncheck “Automatic discovery of proxy server,” answer No to Internet mail, Finish.
37. Set up IE. Go to View | Toolbars | uncheck Links and Lock the Toolbars. Move the Address bar to the top to the right of “Help.” Lock the Toolbars. Set the home page to your favorite website. Go to Colors | Visited | select red.
38. Do Windows Updates.
39. Go to a website where you have to log in. Log in and check the box “Don’t offer to remember any more passwords.” Click “No” for remember this password.
40. Open Task Manager | Options | uncheck “Always on Top.”
41. Install Microsoft Office 2k if you have purchased it. Enter your initials. Enter your license. Choose Customize. Accept the default location. Click on Microsoft Office and select “Run all from My Computer.” Install the 2nd CD completely.
42. Go to Windows Updates and click on Office Updates to update Office 2k.
43. Hide the “Office Assistant.” Click on Clippy, Options, uncheck “Use the Office Assistant.”
44. Install Adobe Acrobat 6 and open it to click Accept.
45. Go to START | Programs and delete the folder “PrintMe Internet Printing” that was added when Acrobat was installed.
46. Install RealOnePlayer V2GOLD.
1. Select your speed.
2. Select “Custom” and uncheck all of the boxes for Desktop Settings.
3. Uncheck all boxes regarding RealOne being the default player.
4. Register RealOne Player. If not registered you will be asked to register whenever you use the player (but not more than once per day). Use any e-mail address, valid or not, and uncheck the box for receiving mail.
5. Modify Message Center options. Open RealOne Player | View | Message Center | Options | Personalize Message Center | uncheck all boxes | Save Changes.
6. Uncheck Automatic Services. Open RealOne Player | Tools | Preferences | Automatic Services | uncheck all four boxes (“Periodically check for software updates,” “Periodically check for new messages,” “Maintain my choices set in Media Type preferences,” and “Check for newly downloaded media to add to My Library.”
7. Uncheck AutoUpdate. Open RealOne Player | Tools | Preferences | Automatic Services | AutoUpdate | uncheck “Automatically download and install important updates.”
8. Test Real Player.
47. Clean up Windows Components. Go to Add or Remove Programs | Add/Remove Windows Components | uncheck Outlook Express.
48. Install the latest Flash and Shockwave from Adobe’s site. For Shockwave select “Under 13” and uncheck “Check for Updates.”
49. Install QuickTime 6.4. Choose defaults, select Recommended, leave Registration blank, and choose your speed. Test.
50. Set Windows Update to download in the background but not install. Click on the “Stay current with automatic updates” icon in the system tray. In the “Automatic Updates Setup Wizard” click Next. Check the box that says “Keep my computer up to date…” and select “Download the updates automatically and notify me when they are ready to be installed. (Only an administrator is given the opportunity to install them.) Click Next, then Finish.
51. Install your favorite anti-virus software and configure.
52. Clean up the desktop. If you have installed Microsoft Office, copy Word and Excel shortcuts from START | Programs to the desktop and then copy them to Quick Launch.
53. Empty Recycle bin.
54. Empty IE Temp files, cookies, and clear History.
55. Reboot in Safe Mode (F8 at the end of POST).
56. Defrag.
57. Clear mapped drives from the list. Regedit. Do a search or go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
    \Explorer\Map Network Drive MRU. Delete a, b, c, etc.
58. Clear items from the START | Run list. Regedit. Do a search or go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
    Explorer\RunMRU. Delete a, b, c, etc.
59. Collapse all of the folders in regedit back to the five HKEYs.
60. Copy settings to Default Users profile. Reboot and log on as Administrator. Copy the Tech profile to Default User. Click Change and type in “Everyone” for “Permitted to use” or navigate to Permitted to use | Change | Advanced | Find Now | Everyone.
61. Log off and log on as Tech and delete the Administrator profile.
62. Congratulations, you’re done. Install other software, printers, etc. as necessary.