Click and Hack

How do I test my computer memory?

2009-07-01T21:46:25Z

When troubleshooting problems with a computer, the first thing we check is the hard drive. Next is the memory. A bad memory stick can cause all sorts of different problems from intermittent strange behavior, crashes and can even prevent the machine from booting at all. The good news is that memory is fairly cheap to replace if it is discovered that there is a bad chip and, even better, there are many different ways to test your memory for free.

If you are lucky enough that your computer can still boot and you are running Vista, you have a memory diagnostic tool built right into your system. Using this tool will require a reboot, so keep that in mind before you launch it.

Type in memory into the start menu, and you should see the first option will say Memory Diagnostics Tool.

A dialog will pop up asking if you want to reboot and check for problems now, or check for problems the next time you restart.

If you choose to restart now, Vista will reboot into the memory diagnostic utility:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you aren't so lucky, another option is to boot to a cd that runs a memory diagnostic scan. Microsoft has a free downloadable tool that you can copy to a bootable cd. It includes a comprehensive set of tests and plenty of documentation. You can download the tool here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can also try Memtest86. This powerful tool is developed as an open source project and is updated regularly and well maintained. Like the Microsoft tool, you can download the software for free and install it to a bootable cd. Click here to download the zip version.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These tools should be enough to prove whether you have bad RAM in your system. If you do find that some of your memory is bad, simply pull it from the system and replace it with another stick that is compatible with your system. Remember that, when replacing RAM, there are different types of RAM and they are not interchangeable. Also, some systems have a limit as to how much memory they can use. So, for instance, if you are running Windows XP on a 32 bit machine, any more than 4 gigs of RAM is waste. In some cases, putting too much RAM into a system, especially an older one, will cause it to not boot at all.

How Do I Check My Hard Drive for Errors?

2008-12-03T11:12:49Z

One of the first things we do when trouble shooting a problem computer is verify that the hard drive is in good condition. Too many times has it been that, after hours of chasing out tails, it has turned out that there are problems with the hard drive that weren't obvious at the beginning of our troubleshooting but were easily identified by a direct hard drive diagnostic inspection. Hard drives fail for a variety of reasons, namely overheating, electrical shock, mechanical malfunction or physical trauma. There are several diagnostic programs out there that are free and effective. We will list a couple and provide a general overview of our favorites.

Fujitsu

Diagnostic Tools work with IDE/ATA/SCSI drives. It can perform random seek/read tests along with more detailed surface scans.

Hitachi

Drive Fitness Test tests any brand of desktop and notebook hard drive and logs error events for easy tracking. Checks for cable and temperature problems.

Maxtor

Bought by Seagate. See Seagate entry below.

Samsung

HUTIL Drive Diagnostic Utility works exclusively with Samsung hard drives and can function regardless of the state of your PC's operating system.

Seagate

SeaTools for Windows tests USB, ATA, SATA, SCSI, and 1394 drives. It works with all kinds of hard drives including Maxtor. DOS version also available.

Western Digital

Data LifeGuard Diagnostics tool can test and repair WD FireWire, USB, or EIDE drives.

Extra

By the way, if you really need a comprehensive set of hard drive management and diagnostic tools, you can download a copy of Ultimate Boot CD (available in DOS or Windows flavors).

I think I have a virus

2008-12-03T09:09:41Z

We often hear the statement "I think I have a virus but my antivirus software is not finding it". This leads to a couple of questions, namely, what antivirus software are you using? and what makes you think you have a virus?

It is never as easy as the picture to the left makes it seem. First, you want to make sure you are using a reputable antivirus program. There are several out there - Norton, Macafee, Trend Micro, Kaspersky, AVG, Avast to name a few. Prices vary from free to $50 or more for a one year subscription. All of these programs can detect infections. Some do it better than others. We find that the free offerings are not as full featured as the applications for which you pay. That is why they are free. Companies that offer free software are usually hoping you will eventually want to pay for their full-featured versions. Regardless which application you use, if you are getting an alert from your security software, there is a good chance you need to take the action it is recommending.

Beware. Many of the infections we see are manufactured by malicious software. It may come in the form of a pop up advertisement. It may come as spam in your email. You may see an alert that informs you that your computer has been infected and that you need to download a piece of software to fix it. This is almost certainly a scam and the download you are instructed to start is the actual infection! DO NOT download anything that you have not gone looking for (and even then with caution).

Second, if you think you have a virus because of some alarming message you are receiving that is not generated by your own security application, see the preceding paragraph.

How do I stop the messages? We generally start with a couple of quick system assessments and cleanup strategies that will tell us what the next steps are going to be. Let's start with a general rule - if you have truly been infected, your operating system should never be trusted again. It is possible to clean up the system and make it seem as if there is no longer a threat. But there is no way to be absolutely certain. So, if it is apparent that the system has been compromised, a format and reinstall of the operating system is highly advised. That said, below are the steps we use for a quick cleanup and assessment.

Check hard drive

Check memory

Clear all temp files

Disable unnecessary startup programs

Look in usual places for malicious software

If, after performing the above chores, the system is still suspect, it is time to backup the data, if necessary, format the hard drive and begin reinstallation of the operating system.

How to Become a Hacker

2008-10-04T00:40:45Z

How to Become a Hacker

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
There is a community, a shared culture, of expert programmers and networking wizards that traces its history back through decades to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet experiments. The members of this culture originated the term 'hacker'.There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people who get a kick out of breaking into computers and phreaking the phone system. Real hackers call these people 'crackers' and want nothing to do with them. Real hackers object that being able to break security doesn't make you a hacker any more than being able to hotwire cars makes you an automotive engineer. There are people who apply the true hacker attitude to other things, like electronics or music -- but in the rest of this article we will focus the skills and attitudes of software hackers, and the traditions of the shared culture that originated the term 'hacker'.

Steps

Adopt the mindset of a hacker. Hackers solve problems and build things, and they believe in freedom and voluntary mutual help. To be accepted as a hacker, you have to behave as though you have this kind of attitude yourself. And to behave as though you have the attitude, you have to really believe the attitude. So, if you want to be a hacker, repeat the following things until you believe them:
- The world is full of fascinating problems waiting to be solved. Successful athletes get their motivation from a kind of physical delight in making their bodies perform, in pushing themselves past their own physical limits. Similarly, you have to get a basic thrill from solving problems, sharpening your skills, and exercising your intelligence.
- No problem should ever have to be solved twice. The thinking time of other hackers is precious -- so much so that it's almost a moral duty for you to share information, solve problems and then give the solutions away just so other hackers can solve new problems instead of having to perpetually re-address old ones.
- Boredom and drudgery are evil. When hackers are bored or have to drudge at stupid repetitive work, they aren't doing what only they can do -- solve new problems. To behave like a hacker, you have to want to automate away the boring bits as much as possible.
- Freedom is good. The authoritarian attitude has to be fought wherever you find it, lest it smother you and other hackers. Not all authority figures are authoritarian, however; authoritarians thrive on censorship and secrecy. And they distrust voluntary cooperation and information-sharing.
- Attitude is no substitute for competence. Hackers won't let posers waste their time, but they worship competence -- especially competence at hacking, but competence at anything is valued. Competence at demanding skills that few can master is especially good, and competence at demanding skills that involve mental acuteness, craft, and concentration is best.
Learn how to program. The best way to learn is to read some stuff written by masters of the form, write some things yourself, read a lot more, write a little more, read a lot more, write some more, and repeat until your writing begins to develop the kind of strength and economy you see in your models. To be a real hacker, however, you need to get to the point where you can learn a new language in days by relating what's in the manual to what you already know. This means you should learn several very different languages. Besides being the most important hacking languages, the following represent very different approaches to programming, and each will educate you in valuable ways.
- Python is a good language to start off with because it's cleanly designed, well documented, and relatively kind to beginners. Despite being a good first language, it is not just a toy; it is very powerful and flexible and well suited for large projects. Java is an alternative, but its value as a first programming language has been questioned.[1]
- If you get into serious programming, you will have to learn C, the core language of Unix (C++ is very closely related to C; if you know one, learning the other will not be difficult). C is very efficient with your machine's resources, but will soak up huge amounts of your time on debugging and is often avoided for that reason (unless machine efficiency is essential).
- Perl is worth learning for practical reasons; it's very widely used for active web pages and system administration, so that even if you never write Perl you should learn to read it. Many people use Perl to avoid C programming on jobs that don't require C's machine efficiency.
- LISP is worth learning for a different reason -- the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it. That experience will make you a better programmer for the rest of your days, even if you never actually use LISP itself a lot. You can get some beginning experience with LISP fairly easily by writing and modifying editing modes for the Emacs text editor, or Script-Fu plugins for the GIMP.
Get one of the open-source Unixes and learn to use and run it. Unix is the operating system of the Internet. While you can learn to use the Internet without knowing Unix, you can't be an Internet hacker without understanding Unix. For this reason, the hacker culture today is pretty strongly Unix-centered. So, bring up a Unix (like Linux but there are other ways and yes, you can run both Linux and Microsoft Windows on the same machine). Learn it. Run it. Tinker with it. Talk to the Internet with it. Read the code. Modify the code.
- There are other operating systems in the world besides Unix. But they're distributed in binary -- you can't read the code, and you can't modify it. Trying to learn to hack on a Microsoft Windows machine or under any other closed-source system is like trying to learn to dance while wearing a body cast. Under Mac OS X it's possible, but only part of the system is open source -- you're likely to hit a lot of walls, and you have to be careful not to develop the bad habit of depending on Apple's proprietary code.
- Download Linux online[2] or (better idea) find a local Linux user group to help you with installation.
- While other distros have their own areas of strength, Ubuntu is far and away the most accessible to Linux newbies.
- A good way to dip your toes in the water is to boot up what Linux fans call a live CD, a distribution that runs entirely off a CD without having to modify your hard disk. This will be slow, because CDs are slow, but it's a way to get a look at the possibilities without having to do anything drastic.
Learn how to use the World Wide Web and write HTML. Most of the things the hacker culture has built do their work out of sight, helping run factories and offices and universities without any obvious impact on how non-hackers live. The Web is the one big exception, the huge shiny hacker toy that even politicians admit has changed the world. For this reason alone (and a lot of other good ones as well) you need to learn how to work the Web. This doesn't just mean learning how to drive a browser (anyone can do that), but learning how to write HTML, the Web's markup language. If you don't know how to program, writing HTML will teach you some mental habits that will help you learn. So build a home page. Try to stick to XHTML, which is a cleaner language than classic HTML.
If you don't have functional English, learn it. English is the working language of the hacker culture and the Internet, and you will need to know it to function in the hacker community. Translations of technical books written in English are often unsatisfactory (when they get done at all). Being a native English-speaker does not guarantee that you have language skills good enough to function as a hacker. If your writing is semi-literate, ungrammatical, and riddled with misspellings, many hackers will tend to ignore you. While sloppy writing does not invariably mean sloppy thinking, the correlation is strong. If you can't yet write competently, learn to.
Earn respect as a hacker. Like most cultures without a money economy, hackerdom runs on reputation. You're trying to solve interesting problems, but how interesting they are, and whether your solutions are really good, is something that only your technical peers or superiors are normally equipped to judge. This is why you aren't really a hacker until other hackers consistently call you one. Specifically, hackerdom is what anthropologists call a gift culture. You gain status and reputation in it not by dominating other people, nor by being beautiful, nor by having things other people want, but rather by giving things away: your time, your creativity, and the results of your skill.
- Write open-source software. Write programs that other hackers think are fun or useful, and give the program sources away to the whole hacker culture to use. Hackerdom's most revered demigods are people who have written large, capable programs that met a widespread need and given them away, so that now everyone uses them.
- Help test and debug open-source software. Any open-source author who's thinking will tell you that good beta-testers (who know how to describe symptoms clearly, localize problems well, can tolerate bugs in a quickie release, and are willing to apply a few simple diagnostic routines) are worth their weight in rubies. Try to find a program under development that you're interested in and be a good beta-tester. There's a natural progression from helping test programs to helping debug them to helping modify them. You'll learn a lot this way, and generate good karma with people who will help you later on.
- Publish useful information. Another good thing is to collect and filter useful and interesting information into web pages or documents like Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) lists, and make those generally available. Maintainers of major technical FAQs get almost as much respect as open-source authors.
- Help keep the infrastructure working. The hacker culture (and the engineering development of the Internet, for that matter) is run by volunteers. There's a lot of necessary but unglamorous work that needs done to keep it going -- administering mailing lists, moderating newsgroups, maintaining large software archive sites, developing RFCs and other technical standards. People who do this sort of thing well get a lot of respect, because everybody knows these jobs are huge time sinks and not as much fun as playing with code. Doing them shows dedication.
- Serve the hacker culture itself. This is not something you'll be positioned to do until you've been around for while and become well-known for one of the four previous items. The hacker culture doesn't have leaders, exactly, but it does have culture heroes and tribal elders and historians and spokespeople. When you've been in the trenches long enough, you may grow into one of these. Beware: hackers distrust blatant ego in their tribal elders, so visibly reaching for this kind of fame is dangerous. Rather than striving for it, you have to sort of position yourself so it drops in your lap, and then be modest and gracious about your status.

Video

The author of the original source of this page discusses accomplishments of hackers and the merits of the open source movement in an interview.

Tips

Work as intensely as you play and play as intensely as you work. For true hackers, the boundaries between "play", "work", "science" and "art" all tend to disappear, or to merge into a high-level creative playfulness.
Don't be content with a narrow range of skills. Though most hackers self-describe as programmers, they are very likely to be more than competent in several related skills -- system administration, web design, and PC hardware troubleshooting are common ones. Hackers don't do things by halves; if they invest in a skill at all, they tend to get very good at it.
You don't have to believe that you're obligated to give all your creative product away, though the hackers that do are the ones that get most respect from other hackers. It's consistent with hacker values to sell enough of it to keep you in food and rent and computers. It's fine to use your hacking skills to support a family or even get rich, as long as you don't forget your loyalty to your art and your fellow hackers while doing it.
Contrary to popular myth, you don't have to be a nerd to be a hacker. It does help, however, and many hackers are in fact nerds. Being something of a social outcast helps you stay concentrated on the really important things, like thinking and hacking. If you can manage to concentrate enough on hacking to be good at it and still have a life, that's fine. Mainstream culture is much friendlier to techno-nerds now.
To be a hacker, you have to enter the hacker mindset, and there are some things you can do when you're not at a computer that seem to help. They're not substitutes for hacking (nothing is) but many hackers do them, and feel that they connect in some basic way with the essence of hacking (hackers need to be able to both reason logically and step outside the apparent logic of a problem at a moment's notice).
- Write your native language well. Though it's a common stereotype that programmers can't write, a surprising number of hackers are very able writers.
- Read science fiction. Go to science fiction conventions (a good way to meet hackers and proto-hackers).
- Train in a martial-arts form. The kind of mental discipline required for martial arts seems to be similar in important ways to what hackers do. The most hackerly martial arts are those which emphasize mental discipline, relaxed awareness, and control, rather than raw strength, athleticism, or physical toughness.
- Study an actual meditation discipline. The perennial favorite among hackers is Zen (importantly, it is possible to benefit from Zen without acquiring a religion or discarding one you already have).
- Develop an analytical ear for music. Learn to appreciate peculiar kinds of music. Learn to play some musical instrument well, or how to sing.
- Develop your appreciation of puns and wordplay.

Warnings

Concealing your identity behind a handle is a juvenile and silly behavior characteristic of crackers, warez d00dz, and other lower life forms. Hackers don't do this; they're proud of what they do and want it associated with their real names. So if you have a handle, drop it. In the hacker culture it will only mark you as a loser.
Doing any of the following will earn you a bad reputation in the hacker community. Hackers have long memories -- it could take you years to live your early blunders down enough to be accepted.
- Don't use a silly, grandiose user ID or screen name.
- Don't get in flame wars on Usenet (or anywhere else).
- Don't call yourself a 'cyberpunk', and don't waste your time on anybody who does.
- Don't post or email writing that's full of spelling errors and bad grammar.

Related wikiHows

Sources and Citations

How to Become a Hacker - Original source. Condensed version shared with permission. Additional resources and FAQs can be found in the original.

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Become a Hacker. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Don't Be Fooled By False Claims

2008-09-30T10:42:34Z

Read this special article before you consider joining or paying for a "Get Rich Quick Program".

Of course, everyone would like to make a ton of money with very little effort while working from home. Who wouldn't want money flowing into their bank account working just a couple hours a day at home. No boss. Plenty of free time for family. Perfect.

Whether it's real estate investing, selling by classified ads, stock market investing, internet affiliate marketing, or something else, we've all seen the fantastic claims people make about making tons of money, AND how they can show you to do the same thing. I can tell you right now that 99% of these people are total frauds. You may even have fallen prey to one of these scam artists, selling you their latest "get rich quick" program, me too! I've bought so many of these programs that I can't even recall how many. I don't know why, but I tend to find the "good" in people, and I was sold by these marketing schemes time and time again, even after being scammed by another. Finally, after so many disappointments, I got FED UP. I decided to get to the bottom of this fascination we all have with get rich quick programs, and find out if there really were any LEGITIMATE programs for making money.

I literally contacted the administrator of every get rich quick website I could find. Posing as an investor, I managed to convince the owners that I was seriously interested in purchasing their entire website and business. That way, once the dollar signs flashed in their heads, they would give me free access to their members areas to review what I would be "buying". Well, I was disgusted with 99% of what I found. Many of the owners actually boasted about how many people bought their useless programs. I repeatedly found:

Outdated information
Non-working links
Links leading to other sites that asked for more money
No help section
No real email support

I quickly realized that these so called Get Rich Quick programs were totally useless. And the owners knew it, yet they were laughing all the way to the bank! Needless to say, I didn't respond when they asked if I was still interested in buying their websites. Surprisingly, while sifting through all the scam artists' websites, I was able to locate a couple of individuals that actually ran legitimate programs.

Here is a link to the Honest Business Reviews report.
http://www.gotechtrek.com/

The owners were everyday people like you and me that found a way to make extra money working from home on their computers. Their membership areas were impressive, with a good amount of quality information on how to make $100-$200 per day on your computer doing very little work. I even chatted with a few of their customers in several online forums, and they verified that they were making extra money through their sites. It was like I found a few diamonds in the rough. But don't take my word for it visit the site below to read a report on Honest Business Reviews and see what you think.

They do charge a minimal fee for access to their program, which is to be expected for any legitimate company that actually has people on staff who are dedicated to helping you get started. Anyway, if you do decide you are interested in any of the programs listed on the page below, I advise you to join quickly, as the owners informed me that they are getting so many new members by word of mouth referrals, that they will be closing off membership completely in the next three days. They don't have a large enough staff to accommodate many more people, and they are dedicated to providing excellent service to each person.

Well, my search for legitimate Get Rich Quick programs has come to an end. I have to say I was thoroughly disappointed with most of what I found, and I strongly advise that you do not take chances joining any programs not listed in the Honest Business Reviews report. Whatever you do I wish you a healthy and prosperous year for you.

Here is a link to the Honest Business Reviews report.
http://www.gotechtrek.com/

Does dog drool hurt laptops? (Part 2)

2008-08-30T11:02:15Z

Liquid spilled onto laptops is the leading cause of death for laptops. It is not only dog drool but any liquid. Mostly we see laptops that have had coffee, water or wine spilled onto them. Fluids quickly seep under the keyboard and into the delicate insides of the machine where there are countless electronic components that do not suffer liquids well, such as the motherboard, hard drive, memory, cpu, etc. Some of these parts can be easily and economically replaced if damaged but others, like the motherboard are difficult and expensive to replace and usually spell the end of the laptops life. There is some hope in the event of spills if you act quickly and follow the steps below.

1. Always turn off the laptop immediately. Do not attempt to save your work. Unplug the machine and pull out the battery right away. Sop up any liquid you can with towels.

2. Remove any parts that are designed to be removed by you, the user, such as removeable disk drives, pcmcia cards, etc. Do not attempt to disassemble the unit.

3. Gently tilt the laptop in various directions in an attempt to drain any excess liquids out od the openings that are situated in several areas on the sides and bottom of the laptop.

4. Turn the laptop upside down so that any remaining pools can drain out the way they came in. Canned air can be helpful at this point to help blow any droplets loose and further help in the drying out process.

5. Let the machine air dry for at least 24 hours. You will be tempted to use the machine right away but it is not adviseable.

6. After allowing the machine to air dry, replace any parts you may have removed and try to power up. If the computer does not boot, take it to a professional repair shop. Liquid damage is not normally covered by a manufacturers warranty but there may still be hope that a shop can recover the cpmuter or, at least, recover your data from the hard drive.

If your laptop works now, consisder your self very lucky and promise yourself not to keep any liquids near your laptop. If you spilled something sticky onto the keyboard, you may experience some sticking keys. This can be cured by replacing the keyboard (usually resonable cost if you can find the part on the internet), which will almost always work.

Does dog drool hurt laptops?

2008-08-27T12:35:33Z

More on this later as we are currently looking into whether Jim Beam hurtslaptops.

;-)

More info

Quick Windows Cleanup Tips

2008-05-03T07:50:33Z

One of the most common computer problems users complain about is that their system runs slowly. Slow start-up, slow internet, slow file access, or just plain "slow". If this sounds familiar, the problem could be that you simply have an old system, or if it once ran faster, it may be another problem. The following are some of the most common causes of a slow-running computer and what you can do about them.

Programs have built up over time. Over the last several months or years, you've probably downloaded programs to track stocks, watch the weather, instant message, play music, whatever. Often these programs are set to run automatically in the background which results in a slow-down in your system. To disable programs that you no longer use, click Start > Run and type "msconfig". Then click on the Startup tab. This procedure produces a list of the programs that start each time Windows starts. Most of these programs are unnecessary and can be prevented from starting automatically by simply un-checking them in the list and rebooting.

Temporary files. Through the course of browsing the internet, a variety of temporary files are created. You don't need most of these files for everyday use, so delete them. While on the internet, go to Tools > Internet Options > Temporary Internet Files.

Full hard drive. You can check how full your hard drive is by right mouse-clicking on your "C" drive and selecting "Properties". To alleviate the load, try defragmenting on the Tools tab. For a detailed description on defragging, check out http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question548.htm.

Not enough memory. If your computer can run older programs fine, but struggles with newer programs, then you may want to upgrade the memory (RAM). This is fairly easy to do and may well be worth the additional investment, but may not always solve the problem depending on the age of your system.

Adware and spyware. Adware and spyware enter your system while using the internet, generally as a component of another program, and usually unknown to you. Once in your system, adware serves up a constant stream of advertising (i.e. pop-ups) while spyware, on the other hand, gathers information on your use of the internet usually for advertising purposes. Removing adware and spyware is no easy task, but is highly recommended. There are a variety of products available to help remove these nasties that are worth a try, such as Spybot and Adaware.

Viruses. A virus is programming that is installed on your computer without your consent or knowledge, and is generally designed to replicate itself. Viruses most often enter your system via email attachments or downloads. At the very least, these nasties negatively impact your computer's performance; more sinister versions change, erase or capture your data. To prevent viruses in the first place, install anti-virus software such as Norton or McAfee and keep it up to date, exercise reasonable caution when opening email attachments, and turn off File Sharing. If after all of this your PC still becomes infected, you may need professional help, but first try one of the commercially available virus-removal programs.

Workstation Ergonomics

2008-05-03T02:27:19Z

If you find that after a few hours on your computer you walk away with aches, pains or general fatigue, it may be time to reconsider the ergonomics of your workstation. Whether you're setting up a station for yourself or your employees, it's worth the time and money to set it up properly. The following are a few of the more important steps in achieving optimal ergonomics.

Start with a good chair. The chair should allow for adjustments in height and position to offer support in a variety of sitting positions. Adjust the height to allow the feet to reach the floor even when extended. Knees should be roughly the same height as, or slightly lower than, the hips. But remember, no sitting position is ideal if held too long. Try to move as often as possible.
Next, position the keyboard to be at a height that allows for relaxed shoulders and a straight forearm and wrist (that are parallel to the floor). Angle the keyboard so that it is on the same plane as the forearm and wrist. Keyboards are usually placed at the front of the work surface, but there is nothing wrong with pushing the keyboard back farther, as long as the forearms are supported and the wrist is kept straight. Ergonomic keyboards are a popular option. While they may be helpful for some, they may not work so well for others. By all means, try them out, but you might want to consider one that can also be configured to a traditional keyboard if you find you dont like it. And remember, it may take some time to adjust to typing on these keyboards, especially if youre an expert typist.
When placing your monitor, you should consider distance, height and angle in order to avoid eyestrain and neck and back pain. A good rule of thumb is to place the monitor as far away as possible while still being able to comfortably see it without straining or leaning forward. The top of the monitor should be at or a bit below eye level. And lastly, be sure the monitor sits directly in front of you, unless you most often type from documents, in which case you might want to angle the monitor slightly toward the documents.
Finally, the mouse. Keep the mouse close to the keyboard to avoid reaching for it. And while small mice are cute, they are not necessarily good for you. Find a mouse that comfortably fits the size and natural position of your hand, and can be operated easily. As for the mouse pad, a variety of wrist rests are available as an added feature. You may find these helpful as a cushion to relieve pressure, but be sure to avoid wrests that are too thin, too thick or too hard. Remember, the wrist should be kept straight.

For more information visit http://www.ergonomics.org/ or www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/computerworkstations/.

Organize Your PC Files

2008-05-03T02:26:25Z

Why is it that so many people are meticulous about organizing their papers, recipes and DVD’s, but when it comes to their computer, they struggle to find the files they need and can no longer see their family photo on the desktop due to a mountain of files strewn across the screen? Not only is it frustrating to try to work with scattered files, but storing multiple files on the desktop can negatively impact your computer’s performance. Following are seven steps for better file management.

1. To get and stay organized, establish a structure to your filing system and stick with it! Think of your hard drive as one big filing cabinet where you store your work and personal items. You can't just throw documents in at random.

2. Start by determining a single location (folder) for your files, whether on your “C” drive, a network drive or other location. Do not use your PC’s desktop. Multiple files saved on the desktop can slow your boot-up, and more importantly, block your view to your personal wallpaper!

3. Use Microsoft’s default, “My Documents”. Using this default offers a couple of advantages – it is easy, and the folder is part of your personal profile, so your files will automatically be kept separate from other users.

4. Get even more organized by creating sub-folders within your main folder. You can set up one for each employee, family member, or category (e.g. finances, music, pictures). “My Documents” comes with sub-categories built in (My Music, My Pictures). Keep in mind, however, that one drawback of creating deep sub-folders is that it can take several clicks to open a document from the “File>Open” window. To overcome this drawback…

5. Use the “Recently Used File List” to access files quickly. Get in the habit of making use of this handy little Microsoft feature with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. By default, the last four files you used in each application will be stored at the bottom of the File pull down menu. If you’re like most users though, four won’t be enough, so expand the list via Tools>Options>General tab, or consult the Help function.

6. Know where ”non-typical” files are saved. Some programs, such as email, address books, favorites and files created with non-Microsoft programs (like QuickBooks) store files in a variety of places on your hard drive by default. Be sure to change the settings to save to your preferred location, or at the very least, be sure to take note of where these files are stored.

7. Now that you’re organized, remember to back-up, which is a snap with one main folder for all your files. Simply drag the folder to a network directory, jump drive or other storage device, or use one of several readily-available back-up programs. Don’t forget about the “non-typical” files mentioned above!

Protecting Your PC During Spring Storms

2008-05-03T02:25:29Z

In the last several weeks, our repair center has seen a spike in failed mother boards, power supplies, modems and the like. Troubleshooting showed that in all cases, the devices were plugged into surge protectors, yet when lightening struck, the surge protector failed to prevent damage. Lightning can strike often and with great force this time of year in Colorado, and it pays to be prepared. Computers depend on a steady stream of power to function properly. Power spikes and surges can easily overwhelm the power supply causing lost data or damage. Just as problematic are blackouts and brownouts. Fortunately, there’s help.

Surge Protectors

The cheapest form of protection is a power strip equipped with a good surge protector. While nothing except unplugging your system will protect against a direct lightning strike, a surge protector will handle normal fluctuations in current and the serious spikes that occur when power returns after a blackout. When a surge or spike occurs, the protector diverts the excess electrical current to a grounding wire. You can purchase this form of protection for as little as $5, but we’d recommend you spend more to get a protector that carries a guarantee, has a sufficient “joule” rating (the higher the rating, the better), includes line noise filtering, and a phone jack. Modems are particularly susceptible, as phone lines are just as sensitive, if not more, to changes in current. Plug the modem (or other device) into the surge protector phone jack, and run another cord from the protector to the wall. Finally, be sure the unit has a light to indicate whether the device is turned on and whether it’s still offering protection.

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

For better protection against electrical problems, use a UPS. As described by Wikipedia, a UPS is a device that maintains a continuous supply of electrical power to connected equipment by supplying power from a separate source when utility power is not available. When power is interrupted, the device will keep the computer or electronics running for a bit giving you a chance to properly shut down. A good UPS will also protect against surges, filter out line noise, and maintain the voltage at the proper level during brown outs. For about $40, you'll find units that will keep a standard home PC and monitor running for a few minutes or so during typical brown-outs. If you need power for an extended power outage, you’ll need to upgrade to a back-up generator.

Caution, a UPS should only be used for the monitor, PC and your internet connection. You should not use the device for cell phones, printers, etc., which draw down the UPS battery more quickly making it less effective for your more critical components. Finally, be sure to test your UPS regularly, as they do wear out over time, using the built-in test mechanism.

Tricks to Eliminate Spam

2008-05-03T02:22:15Z

Tired of spam and the avalanche of unwanted emails? Eliminating all unwanted spam can be nearly impossible, but there are a few things you can do. The first step is to understand how others get your email address in the first place. Hate to say it, but the problem often begins with you. Many legitimate sites that you’ve given your email address to make their email lists available to other companies. From there, your address could go anywhere. More often, though, the fault lies with an email worm that crawls through websites, message boards and other sources picking up email addresses along the way from unsuspecting users (that would be you). There are several steps you can take to cut down on spam.

First, become an active user of the email filtering features offered by your email provider. Take the time to understand the features included, and actively use these features to reduce unwanted spam.

For additional protection, set up a second email account. We recommend maintaining one private email account that you give to only trusted family, friends and business associates. Then, establish a second address with a free service (such as Hotmail or Yahoo) that you use whenever asked to give your email address online. Remember, when you do submit your email address online, take care to uncheck the box that asks if you want to receive email.

Another nifty trick is to use disposable email addresses, also knows as DEA’s. DEA’s are best for situations when you don’t intend to have ongoing correspondence with the receiver. There are generally three types of DEA services: No registration required, registration required, and pay for use. Conduct a search of “disposable email addresses” to find one that works best for your needs. Depending upon the service, the account expires within a set amount of time, or you have the option of cancelling the address at any time. Also, as Wikipedia explains, when you create a disposable address, you’ll link it to a real email address, so that the emails are forward to you. Most services will also indicate in the subject line that the emails are forwarded so that you can easily identify the offending emails in your Inbox. And herein lies the beauty of this trick. If you’re weary of a website, sign-up using a disposable address, then sit back and watch for spam. If you receive nothing, you can return to the original site and enter your true email address, or simply let the temporary address expire if it’s been misused.

And finally, if you maintain your own website, be sure to disguise your email address. You can use special HTML characters instead of a traditional email address. Spiders that look for the “@” sign will not recognize the string of characters as an email address. In the code, replace the “@” with “@”. Most browsers will convert the HTML code back into the “@” sign so your visitors won’t be confused. Unfortunately, many spiders are smarter than this. So, you may instead want to consider hiding your email addresses with JavaScript. If you don’t maintain your site yourself and don’t know how to implement these measures, ask your webmaster for help. Or, email us for help.

8 Steps to a Better Website

2008-05-03T00:11:55Z

If you’re thinking of building a website or improving a current one, we’ve assembled eight tips to ensure a successful site for small businesses or hobby enthusiasts.

Start with a clear objective for your site. Do you want to simply provide basic facts about your business? Do you want your customers to be able to access their account? Or do you want to increase sales? Once you’ve established your objective, lay out a plan for building the website to accomplish your goals, even if it’s through phased releases over a series of months.

Once your site is up, make sure people can find it! Use an easy-to-remember domain name (URL). If you can’t obtain the URL you want, keep trying until you come up with something easy. Also, start including your URL on all communications. Finally, study the logic search engines use to list sites in their results. To learn more about how to improve your position in Google’s search results, visit http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=34432.

Ensure you present a clear and unclutter site. Within 30 seconds, a visitor should immediately understand who you are and the intent of your site. Don’t waste their time with needless paragraphs, cluttered graphics, and the like. Keep the site simple, well organized and use lots of “white space”. Also, it is always better to use a white or light background with dark text. And be sure to proof and test your site carefully to remove broken links, broken images and typos.

Provide relevant, fresh content. Your visitors may come once and poke around, but they won’t return unless they find the information useful and at least partially new each time they visit. Original content is preferred over endless links to other sites. Give visitors reasons to come back time and time again.

Ensure the navigation is easy to use. It may make sense to you, but does it make sense to the average user? Start by using established website conventions, don’t try to be clever. Little things like putting navigation bars on the left, underlining links and so on, go a long way towards making visitors feel at home. Have friends or family work their way through your site while thinking out loud as they surf. Where do they get tripped up?

Make sure the site loads easily. Not all your visitors will have broadband. Ensure you have optimized the graphics and html. Balance the bells and whistles with load times. It’s more important for visitors to get to what they want quickly than to be dazzled by eye candy.

Make your site interactive. You can certainly start with “brochureware”, but be sure to continue to add interactive functionality, such as shopping carts, surveys, and tools for user-generated content such as blogs and forums.

Finally, avoid annoyances. Pop-ups, intrusive advertising and disabled back buttons only frustrate users. You want your visitors to look forward to visiting your site, not to avoid it due to needless annoyances.

Free Downloadable Templates

2008-05-03T00:03:48Z

Ever struggle to put together a business plan, a schedule for a special project, or an invitation for a party? Wish you could easily whip out a decent website for your business or a lease for your rental? All of these tasks can be accomplished fairly simply if you start with a pre-designed template. And fortunately, there are many professional templates available for a variety of tasks, including marketing and business plans, legal forms, web pages and even advertising materials. You just need to know where to find them, and that's where we come in. We've come up with some of our absolute favorite sources for free templates. Take a look!

For basic needs, you may need to look no further than Microsoft's template homepage located at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx. You'll find a lengthy list of templates for virtually every personal and business need including brochures, budgets, stationery, schedules, newsletters, invitations and resumes. Click on any category, and you'll be presented with a range of options. The templates download in Microsoft Word, Excel or other commonly held applications, so you need not worry about having special software. They're customizable and easy to use. Check out the expansive list and do some experimenting!

If you own a business, you might be looking for a bit more in-depth help. For the more common needs, Score, operated by the Small Business Administration, offers a variety of helpful templates including business plans, bank loan requests, competitive analyses and a variety of templates to help build financial models and statements including balance sheets, breakeven analyses, and cash flow statements among many others. Visit http://www.score.org/template_gallery.html. Again, the templates use commonly held programs in Microsoft Office and are easy to use and professionally built.

If your concern is a legal matter, there are again a variety of sources on hand. One example is http://www.legal-forms-kit.com/freelegalforms.html. The site is loaded with useful options including bills of sale, last wills, leases, powers of attorney, sales of a car and on, and on. Be sure to consult with your attorney before executing the final document, but the site can be helpful in saving you a great deal of money on basic agreements. To give your hobby or business the jump start online, you might want to consider using free templates to build your website instead of using costly web site designers. We found a couple of interesting sources, notably http://freelayouts.com. The site offers hundreds of free html, CSS style sheets and flash template pages. You'll also find code generators for making a variety of helpful enhancements for your visitors such as topbars, navbarts, drop-down menus, etc. If you're new to this sort of thing, you'll also find articles and tutorials to help.

And finally, now that you've got your website, you'll want to put out great advertising without a lot of expense. A great source for advertising templates is www.stocklayouts.com, offering a variety of professionally constructed advertising templates. The majority of templates carry a fee, but there are a few that can be downloaded as a free trial at www.stocklayouts.com/Products/SampleLayout/SampleChoice.aspx.

Get Rich Quick Scams Revealed

2008-05-03T00:01:33Z

Read this special article before you consider joining or paying for a "Get Rich Quick Program".

Here is a link to the Honest Business Reviews report.
http://www.gotechtrek.com/

Outdated information
Non-working links
Links leading to other sites that asked for more money
No help section
No real email support

Here is a link to the Honest Business Reviews report.
http://www.gotechtrek.com/