Tech--for Everyone

Monday, October 6, 2008

Will System Recovery Delete My Programs?

Most computers today come with manufacturer software and a partition on the hard-drive to provide the ability to do a "System Recovery", oftentimes accessed through a program called "Recovery Center".

I have received several inquiries recently as to whether or not running a "recovery" will remove ("delete") installed programs and files.

A: Well.. Yes and no. It will "delete" your installed programs, and no, it probably won't "delete" your files.

Huh?

What the recovery software -- when launched -- will do is offer to copy the files on your machine to a backup location,{usually, it depends on the manufacturer, but most do} and them restore them again after it wipes out your C:\ drive and re-Installs Windows.
(Actually, a factory "image" of your machine taken right before it left for market.)

[note: you already have a copy of your files.. right? You do make backups.. right?!? If you answered, "uh.. no, not yet.." please read this.]

Your computer will basically be "restored" to factory defaults, and you'll have to reinstall all your programs, and visit Windows Update, and tweak your Desktop.. deja vu all over again. But, the contents of your Documents folder will be copied back.

Because of this, you should consider this type of recovery a method of last resort, not to be tried until other methods -- such as the built-in Windows' System Restore -- have been tried first. http://techpaul.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/how-to-use-system-restore-to-fix-windows/
Maybe.. call a Pro first?

Today's free download: Digsby helps you manage all your IM, e-mail, and social network accounts from one easy-to-use application.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Sunday Punch

Just a quick one today, folks.

1) I ran across a hilarious collection of photos on a site called FailBlog.org, which has the subtitle, "Fail, Owned and Pwn moments in pictures and videos."

2) I have added a blog to my blogroll. If you haven't taken a peek at What's On My PC.. I invite you to now.
A feature of particular note there is great free download reviews/links.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Latest Scam E-mails -- Are You Rich Now Too?

WINNING CONFIRMATION DETAILS

Your email address won £915,810.00 GBP in this month NATIONAL LOTTERY.
To file for your claim, contact our agent Rev.Harry Smith with
the details below(Full Names, Contact Address, Country, Age, Sex, Occupation & Telephone numbers) to this email: revharrysmith1940@gmail.com Phone Number: +44 (701) 115 3332

Please Confirm Your Purchase

Re: You have not responded to my previous letter‏

From a Ewald de Bever (Mr), claiming to be an "Oracle Database Engineer currently in London..." wants my help 'confirming' that it was my very wealthy relative who died.

Tip of the day: If you do not already do so, please get into the habit of marking these items as spam. Doing so will help your filters "learn" what is spam and what is legit.
* Fraud Prevention Tips
* Managing junk mail in Outlook/Thunderbird

Today's free download and link: Today is a "two-fer", and not my usual method for providing links to great free software. By clicking this link, you will read about a handy little app on a great blog written by a freeware devotee. Check 'em both out, click the link!

Friday, October 3, 2008

How To Clear Your Cache

If you are having troubles logging in to a website -- such as your webmail account-- or pages are taking an extra-unusually long time to load, the first thing to try is to "refresh" (sometimes called "clear") your browser.

If you call Tech Support for help logging in, the first thing they''ll tell you is to "clear your cache". What they're refering to is deleting all your cookies, and here's how you do that.

1. On your desktop, launch Internet Explorer. (If you use an alternative browser, the menu names may be a little different, but the steps follow the same principle.)
2. On the "Tools" menu, click "Internet Options."

3. Under Browsing history, click "Delete."

4. In the Delete Browsing History window, click "Delete cookies." If you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click "Yes." It may take several minutes to delete these files if you have a lot of files, then click "Close."

For a more complete repair of Internet Explorer-- for more serious troubles-- read Tip#2 in this article.

Today's free download: Gnucash - Track bank accounts, stocks, income, and expenses in a checkbook-style interface. The GPL-licensed financial tool lets you mange cash, bank, stock, mutual funds, accounts receivable, and asset accounts quickly and easily.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

How To Solve Buffer Errors When Burning Discs

If you are having problems burning files to optical discs (CD's and DVD's) you may see an Error Message that says something like "Buffer overrun. Try writing at a slower speed".
(And you might not.. you might just get jittery video or garbled music.)

Optical disc are "burned" with a laser, and due to highly complicated scientific something-or-others (probably something having to do with "Physics") the burning device in your machine needs to have the 'data' fed to it at a constant rate.
This is accomplished by "compiling" the files into a memory area called a "buffer".. which then 'feeds' the CD/DVD writer in a steady stream.

Problems can occur when the software creating the burn puts too much data into the buffer (an "overrun") too quickly, or not enough data in quickly enough (an "underrun").

Tip of the day: Cure your bad burns by telling your burning device to write at at a slower burn rate. (It will {should} tell the software.)

In Windows XP:
1) Open "My Computer" (Start >My Computer, or double-click the Desktop icon.)
2) Right-click on the CD/DVD drive icon and select (click) "Properties".
3) At the top are a series of tabs, click on "Recording"
4) Use the the drop-down arrow labeled "Select a write speed" to progressively slow down your burn until the problem disappears.

In Vista:
In Vista you need to open Windows Media Player to set the burn rate. Start >Programs

1) Click on the little arrow underneath the "Burn" menu, and select "More Options..."
2) On the Burn tab you will see the Burn speed drop-down arrow-- progressively slow down your burn until the problem disappears.

[Note: If you are using an authoring program, such as Nero or Roxio, you will find similar options in similar places (menus).]

Today's free download: When you need to copy discs, or deal with "disc images", you no longer talking about "burn files to disc", and you've entered into the realm of the "dot iso" (file type= .iso) and you need a program that offers the "Copy" option. I use a light-weight program that integrates into your Context Menus.
ISO Recorder is a tool (power toy) for Windows XP, 2003 and now Windows Vista, that allows (depending on the Windows version) to burn CD and DVD images (DVD support is only available on Windows Vista), copy disks, make images of the existing data CDs and DVDs and create ISO images from a content of a disk folder.