Tech News

Prevent overheating in your laptop

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 14:38:00 -0700

You may notice that the industry no longer calls them laptops! They use the term "notebook" this is because they dont want to recommend you use the laptop on your lap. Mainly due to the fact that laptop batteries sometimes explode for no reason.

Another reason is becuase using a laptop directly on your lap, or say on a sofa, or maybe in bed can make your laptop overheat. This is because the uneaven surface of your lap / sofa /bed will block the vents underneath the laptop. These vents are what the laptop uses to allow air to flow through the machine keeping it cool. Another problem is that the fibres on your lap / sofa / bed, are sucked up into the laptop (which works like a small hoover, with a fan inside) and there they settle and clog up the heatsink and fan.

The only way to unclog, in most cases, is to completely strip the laptop down, and then clean them out.

The solution is simple, to prevent this happening, simply place a book or other large flat object under your laptop when using it on your lap / sofa / bed. This keeps the vents open, and away from fibres!!

Some of the symptoms of laptop overheating can be blue screens, laptop switching itsself off, and of course the laptop getting very hot when in use.

Avoid viruses by keeping Adobe Flash up to date

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:09:00 -0700

You may have noticed adobe flash popping up on your screen asking to run an update. You may have clicked cancel annoyed at this interruption. I strongly recommend you ensure keeping adobe flash up to date, due to the fact you can get a virus simply by viewing a webpage with an infected flash script running.

Alternatively, you can install flash block for chrome and firefox which disables flash on websites until you tell it otherwise on a site by site basis.

Wifi Congestion in Central Queenstown

Tue, 24 May 2011 21:03:00 -0700

How to resolve your wifi connection problem in central Queenstown.

Have had a couple of customers now with Wifi connection problems in central Queenstown. They have spent ages on the phone to Telecom or Vodafone, without success.

The problem is that in central Queenstown there are now so many wireless access points that many free Wifi channels left to transmit on. In both cases I have found that the channel that the router has picked automatically has just been fighting for space with all the others.

I would reccommend avoiding the low channels 1 - 5 as these seem to be the most popular. Go for something higher between 6 - 12 to avoid connection problems. You can change the channel that your router is transmitting on by going to the router administration pages. You have to plug into your router via the Ethernet cable, and then in your browser address bar type the local address of your router (this will be in the instructions that came with your router, but is normally in the range of 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1)

Mac Users Beware - MACDefender is Fake Security Software

Thu, 19 May 2011 23:14:00 -0700

If you own a mac beware of a program reportedly posing as security software called "MACDefender". This software is itself a virus, and will cause problems.

Please see BBC News for more info

Need free antivirus - install Security Essentials

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 14:59:00 -0700

Are you using AVG free? has it been good protection so far? I am currently no longer installing AVG free on user's computers who do not have paid antivirus protection. I am now installing Microsoft's own antivirus protection called "Security Essentials".

I also do not think much of McAfee or NOD ESET which seem to be fairly crappy and resource hungry.

The best paid-for antivirus protection is Norton in my opinion. Or even better - install Ubuntu instead of Windows.

I recommend all my customers uninstall whatever other free antivirus they have currently installed and install "Microsoft Security Essentials". This can be found be googleing "Security Essentials" or clicking on that link.

Security Tool is itself a virus

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 14:54:00 -0700

If you have recently come accross a program called "Security Tool" that is running on your computer, and claims to have found viruses, unfortunately you do have viruses - and "security tool" is the culprit.

To remove you can boot into safe mode, install malwarebytes anti-malware, and do a scan.

Also make sure you have the latest security updates and service pack installed for your operating system.

If this sounds too difficult - give me a call.

Prevent loss of super important files due to hard disk drive failure

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 20:50:41 -0700

If you do your accounts on your computer, then losing your information could be disasterous. A free way of preventing data loss should your hard disk go wrong is to use "Dropbox" www.dropbox.com. When you add a file to dropbox it automatically syncs it to an internet server, so if your hard disk crashes you can just log on and re-download the latest version of the file.

Dropbox give you 2 gig free, which is more than enough for saving the most important files.

Speed of Google Chrome

Mon, 10 May 2010 15:48:00 -0700

How fast is your browser? faster than a speeding bullet?

Here is google chrome's speed compared to a potato cannon, soundwaves and lightning.

http://chrome.blogspot.com/2010/05/potato-gun-lightning-and-sonic-magic.html

Sony out of warranty support

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:36:00 -0800

Recently had a lady with a sony laptop that had a faulty fan and was overheating and resetting. This was a known fault with these laptops, and sony repaired the laptop free of charge even though the warranty had expired. All that had to be done was to ring them and then get it sent to Auckland. So if your sony laptop is overheating and resetting itsself then give the sony support center a ring.

DIY computer repair - Help your laptop live longer and fix restarting problems

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:36:00 -0800

Sometimes after you have had your laptop for a few years you can be using it and then it can suddenly restart, and then you turn it back on and it can keep restarting. if you feel your laptop to see how hot it is you can often feel that it is quite hot through the plastic.

This can be down to a few factors;

The fan may have stopped working - if you cant hear the fan or it is making a rattle or grating noise then it is probably too clogged up. The fans are sucking in air and dust, and the dust can accumulate around the fan and stop it moving or insulate the heatsink causing your laptop to get too hot and keep restarting.
The heatsink or airways may be clogged up with dust - you can hear the fan, but the CPU is still too hot and keeps restarting.
The thermal heat transfer paste between the CPU and heatsink has dried up and cracked or spearated preventing the heat from being cyphoned away from the PSU.

The 2nd problem here can often be fixed by getting a vaccum and cleaning out all the vents on the laptop.

The 1st and 3rd problems require the laptop to be taken apart and the thermal paste to be renewed or fan cleaned or replaced. We or another skilled computer professional can do this for you.

Windows 7 God Mode

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:30:00 -0800

To enable "GodMode," on your Windows 7 machine; create a new folder, and then rename the folder to the following:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

This gives you a control pannel showing you a massive list of options to configure your computer from 1 centralised location. Pretty handy!

Scammers target Apple iPad searches

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:03:00 -0800

If you're searching for more information about the Apple Ipad be careful where you click. Scammers are creating pages deisgned to appear in search results that will attempt to use security loopholes in your computer or browser to gain access to your computer or steal your information.

To ensure you are protected make sure you have the most recent updates installed and are running anti-virus software. See this BBC news artical for more information.

Virus Protect Pro

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:52:00 -0800

Virus Protect Pro - Warning - Do not install this "virus checker" under any circumstances, it is infact a virus pretending to be a virus checker.

For removal instructions go to the following link

http://www.pchubs.com/blogs/virusprotect-removal-process

Applesyncnotifier.exe can't start becuase corefoundation.dll missing

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:40:00 -0800

If you are getting an error message "AppleSyncNotifier.exe program can't start becuase a corefoundation.dll is missing" or some other dll like pthreadvc2.dll this is because they are not in the folder:

c:\program files\common files\apple\mobile device support\bin

Search for the dll files from a site like http://www.dll4free.com or http://www.missingocx.com and add them to the folder above.

If this fails then try uninstalling "MobileMe" from your programs

Sony Vaio VGN-CS16 Known faulty fan problem

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:09:00 -0800

The Sony Vaio VGN-CS16 has a known issue with the fan being faulty and making loud noises, which can cause the laptop to overheat and restart itself. Laptops experienceing this problem will be repaired by sony even if the laptop is no longer under warranty. You should contact your nearest sony service center for more details.

In New Zealand this is:

Sony Solutions Centre
25 Nugent St
Grafton
Auckland

Phone: 09 970 1200

email: service@sony.co.nz

Mac iCal sync conflict problem causes iCal to crash

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:55:00 -0800

Customer with iCal problem where it closes as soon as you open it (crashes instantly). Creating a new user account iCal seems to be working OK for new account, so program is actually OK. Suggests program configuration is faulty.

To fix, create a new user, open iCal when logged in as that user, then you will see in the new user's SyncServices folder appears in the following directory structure.

~ > Library > Application Suppport > SyncServices

Replace your SyncServices folder with the newly created one for this user (you will have to adjust the permissions on the folder)

Then you can open iCal without it crashing.

Problem is when there is a sync conflict when syncing an iPod with iCal and an entry has a different start or end date than the one that iCal has. As soon as you see this then iCal crashes instantly. I would say this is a bug in either iTunes or iCal by apple, and they should fix it asap.

Google Chrome OS roumered to be available in 1 week

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:50:00 -0800

Google Chrome OS, Googles new operating system is roumered to be available within a week. Google seems to be answering to Microsoft's move into the search market with Microsoft Bing search. However, many have seen this move by Google as being more political than actually useful. Google have been making some interesting statements about their OS not being susceptible to viruses - not sure how they are going to manage that...

Google chrome OS is aimed at the netbook market who really just want to browse the internet and run basic internet applications.

PC World article link

Remove junk programs from your computer with the PC Decrapifier

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:34:00 -0700

When you bought your Windows Computer or Laptop did you find it came with a load of pre-installed programs on it? You might have instantly been interested to see all these new programs, and explored some of them. However each one installed can slow your computer down, making booting up your computer and loading up programs you want to use much slower.

These pre-installed programs are termed "crapware", and computer manufacturers often recieve money for installing them.

Not all installed programs are running constantly, but if you look closely at your icons at the bottom right next to the windows clock, you can see the amount that are running and have an icon, there will be more that are running and dont have an icon.

If you really don't need these programs, and a measure is if you will have used them in an average week of using your computer. Then get rid of them and you will be rewarded with a speedier computer.

You can use the uninstaller in control panel to get rid of them or a quick way of removing these programs is to use the PC Decrapifier: www.pcdecrapifier.com or CCleaner: www.ccleaner.com

Windows 7 Now available

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:24:00 -0700

Windows 7 Microsoft's latest operating system to supercede the slow and tired Vista is now available for installation. Call the The PC Mechanic now to obtain compatability testing and installations of the new operating system on your computer from today.

Why upgrade?

Vista has been plagued with problems with slowness and can grind to a halt on all but the fastest of computers. Microsoft hopes that this new operating system will load up and shut down quicker, and opening programs will be quicker. The windows interface has had some tweaks and all round improvements on vista can be seen. Anyone wishing to try out Windows 7 can obtain a free 3 month evaluation install from The PC Mechanic. (Installation charges still apply)

System Requirements

Processor 1GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

Hard Disk 16GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20 GB (64-bit)

Memory 1GB RAM (32-bit) / 2GB RAM (64-bit)

Display DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or later driver

KLS Mail Backup for windows

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:41:00 -0700

KLS Mail Backup is a good windows freeware utility for providing your email and contacts backup. Just had a quick test, and its fast and will compress the files to take up less room. Also provides incremental backup for speed, and a fast and easy restore function.

Backups are good business practice, and it is an even better idea to have several in place - because if you lose something, the more cover you had, the better the chance of recovery.

Visit their website to download: www.kls-soft.com