HumanReady » Tips

New computer setup – for gurus and geeks

Nick R. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:08:34 +0000

Figured out a real neat way of migrating software and files when setting up a new computer. Tested only on XP, which, in my opinion, remains the only fastest, most useful and bug-free OS so far. So you start by cloning the hard drive of your old PC onto that of your new computer – whichever one you’d want to pull out. Once you’re done with that, boot from the Windows CD-ROM on your new computer and let it find an existing Windows installation. Note: you have to match the OS version – Pro to Pro, Home to Home, otherwise it will likely not work. Select the repair option and let it upgrade/repair what you had. You might need to boot to safe mode once or twice, if after Windows setup has finished your computer freezes at startup. Then restart normally. When done, you’ll need to manually load drivers for your new computer and any peripherals you have. In the end you should get everything exactly the way you had it on your old machine – all the files, documents, programs(!), etc. There might be a few glitches due to this undocumented routine but nothing too serious. Also note: if upgrading on a custom built PC using a retail Windows XP disk, you will have to re-activate Windows.

Epidemic

Nick R. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:37:56 +0000

Oh well, we’re in the middle of one of the worst epidemics, no question about it! I haven’t seen something like this for a very long time: everybody’s calling in with infected computers. Apparently, there’s a whole bunch of new nasty malware out there, invisible to most antiviruses as of yet. Be extra careful with what you click on and where you go on the Internet. Visually examine every link before clicking (point your mouse at it, watch the full address in the status bar below). Examples of syntax: payments.paypal.com = legit, while payments.paypal.paymentsforlife2010.com = bogus. In the 1st example “payments is a subdomain of paypal.com vs. both “paypal” and “payments” as a subdomain of “paymentsforlife2010.com” in the 2nd example. Here you’re really surfing paymentsforlife2010.com. A couple of days ago a client of mine received an email supposedly from “DHL” to say that they’d tried to deliver a package but couldn’t reach him with a “click here to reschedule delivery” link. It only took him one click.

A few extra steps to take to avoid getting infected:

1. Even if you’re not using it, upgrade the the latest Internet Explorer to here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/Internet-explorer/default.aspx

2. Install all the latest updates and patches from Microsoft, including those to Internet Explorer.

3. Upgrade your antivirus to the latest version. I use AVG Free Edition and you can get the full installation package here: http://filehippo.com/download_avg_antivirus If you’ve been using AVG, install on top of your existing version, it will upgrade and reboot computer. Otherwise, either upgrade what you have or remove and install something else. For faster computers I also like Kaspersky Internet Security that can be downloaded from http://www.kaspersky.com/ . Heavy guns and armor. Needless to say, I assume no responsibility for any damage directly or indirectly resulting from any advise I give here. Follow my suggestions at your own risk!

Immediately following the upgrade, reboot your computer and upon restart, update your antivirus till it there are no more updates.

4. Upgrade FireFox to the latest here: http://getfirefox.com

At least for a while, try and not browse the Internet on computers that you work on. Don’t go anywhere you don’t have to.

If you get hit with one of these, turn your computer off and don’t use it until you get help. There’s absolutely no self-disinfection this time.

Hang in there, people. Most antiviruses should be brought up to speed shortly. There’s already a few patches from Microsoft along with the new version of MS Malicious Software Removal Tool. Install it, too.

Blind Carbon Copy

Nick R. — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:59:51 +0000

If you’re sending an email to more than one recipient and putting everyone’s email addresses into the “To”, you’re feeding spammers. Don’t we get enough spam? Well, this is how it happens, so don’t contribute! Instead, address the e-mail to yourself and put everyone else into “BCC” (Blind Carbon Copy). Also, if you’re replying or forwarding, delete all the addresses from the header of the forwarded message. Help stop spam!

Vacuuming and dust-busting

Nick R. — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:53:07 +0000

You do want to give your computer some compressed air from time to time, especially for that heatsink that sits on top of the processor and all the fans (particularly the CPU and the power supply fans). At least once a year, I would say. Vacuuming also works. In fact, doing both is desirable. Dust is one major factor contributing to overheating, which results in freezes, blue screens, crashes, etc. This requires opening up your computer tower. Needless to say, you must first turn the computer off and – just to stay on the safe side – unplug the power cable from the power supply. This primarily applies to desktop computer, although I’ve seen a few laptops where clogged CPU fans cause overheating and subsequent shutdown.

5-minute password reset (Windows)

Nick R. — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 08:05:43 +0000

Audio engineers have a saying: “it’s all about finding that one button”. And the way that this wisdom translates into virtually anything that requires skills is that “it can take very little time, if you know the magic trick”. You wouldn’t believe how often “IT Consultants” tell people they need to have Windows reinstalled, and sometimes even have the hard drives wiped clean prior to the reinstall, to address the lost password issue. The truth is that there are very few situations that really require “Windows reload” and the more expert the IT Consultant is, the more likely it is that he will avoid doing that. The opposite is certainly true, as well, for performing an OS reinstall requires very little knowledge these days. So due to the rising demand, here is a quick 5-minute do-it-yourself workaround. On a PC running Windows XP Service Pack 2 or higher, you turn your computer on and in a couple of seconds you start hitting the F8 key repeatedly until you see the black-and-white startup options menu. Select “Safe Mode” and hit “enter” twice. Wait until the system boots up and you should have “Administrator” among other users on the Windows Welcome screen. 9 out of 10, this account will not be password protected. So you click on it, it lets you in, you give it a few more seconds and go to the control panel to get to “user accounts”. Click in, pick your name and select “change password”. Was that easy?

Acer Aspire One owners – beware!

Nick R. — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:37:26 +0000

Those itty-bitty AA1s are real cute. Most of us have them by now, as they are fairly cheap. And “cheap” usually stands for “trouble”. So, when you want to set the BIOS password, there’s a bug that can give you a heart attack: you have to supply your password with CAPS LOCK on, even though it was off, when you set it up. Though, if it was on at the time, then your little netbook may not boot at all. Here’s how I got around it. First, I figured it would be a lot more efficient and secure at the same time, if I disabled my Windows password and enabled the BIOS security lock. And so I do that, saved changes and restarted my computer. Then I type in the password that I just set up, and it’s not accepting it. A few minutes of googling around told me of the CAPS LOCK bug on this model. Nuisance, of course, but works for some. I intended to come up with a workaround and reset the password to all caps. And on the next boot the computer was dead. The only other option was to flash the latest BIOS in an “emergency mode”. That is, you get a USB flash drive, (using another computer with Internet access) format the drive into FAT16, download and extract contents of this archive to the root directory of the newly formatted drive, rename the file zg5_3310.fd to ZG5IA32.FD. Then attach the flash drive to a USB port of your netbook, turn it off, press the “function” and “escape” keys simultaneously and hold them down. Press the power button while still holding those two keys down to turn the computer back on. Be sure that you have both the battery and the power cord connected, by the way. Now the power light should be flashing and you can release your grip. Firmly press the power button once again and the computer should start the BIOS upgrade. The power button will continue to flash, as well as the activity LED on your USB flash drive, if it has one. When it’s done, your computer will reboot and that should resurrect it. You will still have to enter your password with CAPS LOCK on, though, so keep that in mind.

Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) at Windows XP startup – a classic!

Nick R. — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:12:47 +0000

A friend of mine had a scary one yesterday: when a video card goes out a new Toshiba laptop (oh, those Toshibas!), you take it in or ship it out for the warranty repair. And, by the way, it’s always good to pull the hard drive out or at least make a backup, as they will likely wipe it clean “just in case”, even if they’re only replacing the keyboard. And this time, they did have to replace the keyboard, indeed – scary to even think of the design of this gizmo. So imagine: a black Toshiba with silver macbook-like keyboard. One of a kind, I tell you! Well, you put the hard drive back in, turn it on and it begins to boot up but then, two seconds into the startup it flashes blue and restarts and so on till the second coming. It’s almost a classic by now, if you have a newer PC (applies to both laptops and desktops) running Windows XP: you have to set your sATA controller to run in compatibility mode, as opposed to AHCI, which is the default for most computers these days. Otherwise, you can’t even install XP. Sure enough, they had to wipe the BIOS, as well…