Manderso Consulting, LLC

MS Says to Upgrade Your RAM

manderso — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:14:26 +0000

According to Microsoft (and just about any computer tech out there), adding more RAM can help your computer do a better job running the programs you have open, and allow you to open more program at once. From the article “Everything is working fine, then you add photo-editing software, surf to graphically intense Web site, install a game, and suddenly your computer can’t keep up.”

The article goes on to say how you can upgrade the RAM yourself, and is very helpful if you want to go that direction. Manderso Consulting can also upgrade the RAM on your computer, or give you other options to help your digital experience, including upgrading other components in the machine, as well as setting up a new machine for you as well.

Microsoft article

Jaws and blue screens

manderso — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 22:52:51 +0000

Freedom Scientific publishes software that reads the contents of a screen to blind people, called Jaws. It’s been around for some time now, currently on version 11.

The customer brought me the machine for a few different reasons, but after I had it for some time, it started giving me a blue screen of death. This is vista 32, by the way. After installing Windows Debugging tools from Microsoft, I saw the error was starting at “fsvidmir.dll“. This is a driver from Freedom Scientific, which brings up a mirror display.

Searching and searching didn’t come up with anything, other than to remove and reinstall. Instead, I called their tech support, whose first question was “Do you have any other screen sharing software installed, like Logmein or GoToMyPC?” Actually, yes it does. GoToMyPc was installed on the machine.

After removing that, no more blue screens. Apparently, Jaws is very particular about what software it will play nice with. Just a heads-up for anyone else out there with similar issues. Good luck!

How to keep Vista running smoothly

manderso — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:11:29 +0000

Vista tips and help

I’ve noticed that Vista is the most problematic of operating systems to come out of Microsoft in a long time. It had a lot of bad press, and when it shipped, it shipped on poor hardware. Things have gotten better in the few years that it’s been out, and I don’t think it deserves the rap it has received, though I’m not a huge fan of it myself.

First things first: stopping turning it off mid-shutdown. Sure, if it goes on for hours at a time, go ahead and pull the plug, but, if it boots afterwards, follow these steps:

Defragment the hard drive – the built in defragment tool isn’t that great. This (http://itsfood.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/tech-how-to-defrag-in-windows-vista) is a good article instructing you on using the Vista defrag tool to its limit, but I like another tool better. It used to be known as “JKDefrag, now known as “MyDefrag” (http://kessels.biz/JkDefrag/) , and is one of the best available Windows defragmentation programs available today, and it’s free. Many technicians use it, and employ it in some scripting tool or another.
Apply all the Windows updates you are missing. This may have been what caused the machine to not shut down in the first place. However, not having these updates can cause you even more problems. Personally, if at first you don’t succeed, try again, but slowly. By this, I mean use Microsoft update to download and install one at a time. After each installation, reboot the computer, and attempt the next installation.
Another tool to run is “CCleaner” (http://www.ccleaner.com) , another free utility designed to optimize and clean your system. It deletes your temporary files, removes old and unused Registry entries (which can bog down your system), and problematic third party applications.

There’s a lot more that can help you keep your computer running smoothly, sometimes better than new. I’ll be sharing additional tips soon.

Thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated.

Moved hosts

manderso — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:45:42 +0000

Manderso Consulting is now hosted by Veteran Web Hosting, a small hosting company, catering to everyone. I chose this host based on the owner, who also runs the Association of Computer Business Owners, and because I knew I could trust his plans and support.

Moving my wordpress blog to his site was easy, and he’s quick to offer support if the need comes up.

How to export from Adobe Bridge (CS4) to Flickr

manderso — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:49:48 +0000

This is a pretty useful plug-in, and it even exports tags and names. Jdelamater99 put it here, and after a little work, I was able to make it work.

In case you don’t put the right location of the Flickr uploader in the program when you first launch it, the directions tell you how to change it.

Add your WordPress blog to Google

manderso — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:39:06 +0000

This post on this blog totally saved my bacon. I’ve been screwing with verifying my blog with the Google Webmaster tools for longer than I’d like to admit, and had it working at one point, then lost it. Now it’s logged for posterity.

To clarify the post:

Login to the dashboard of your site, click appearance, and click edit, and select header.php. I added the meta tag from google directly underneath the

(Hopefully)What to do if you get hacked

manderso — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:29:10 +0000

My personal Facebook profile got hacked tonight, and while that was weird, the after-affects are very frustrating. The Facebook account is suspended, pending an investigation (very dramatic!). I’m also changing a bunch of passwords on other accounts.

A friend of mine suggested using PassPack.com, which bills itself as an online password manager, tags and a password generator, plus additional features. I’ve been using 1Password for the last few years, and until now, had been using it to store the passwords that I generated. Though now of course, I’m using it to create the passwords.

By the way, I noticed that the account was hacked by logging into it and having a few chat windows pop up. They were talking about the old scam of “I’m trapped in London without cash, I was just mugged and need you to send cash.“ I’m waiting to hear what Facebook has to say, but I’m open to suggestions as to how this happened.

Updates as they occur…

How easy is it to get spyware? Very!

manderso — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:18:36 +0000

I spoke with a client the other day, who had purchased himself a new laptop about a week prior. He asked me for antivirus/antispyware advice, as he had gotten a scare from malware.

A note about this individual; he’s very detail oriented. He went to get a replacement background for his desktop and hit a website that offered backgrounds, and apparently extras. His antivirus (this particular software I’m not a fan of, but I have to say it did a good job) screamed that he had downloaded some malware, and to click such and such button to remove it. This antivirus software was unable to remove it, and he was in a quandry. He did some investigating and downloaded MalwareBytes, which removed the yucky.

After hearing the story, I urged him to purchase the full suite of software, which will also monitor the workstation in the background while he’s working, and upgrade to another antivirus software.

The reason I bring this up, is to illustrate how easy it is to get something nasty on your machine. Something so simple as downloading a wallpaper from a questionable site, by an individual who pays a lot of attention, but didn’t know what to look for, also put his machine (and his wallet) at great risk.

By the way, I get my wallpapers from DeviantArt, Flickr and VladStudio.

Here’s a good site for help on keeping your computer safe @ GeeksToGo.

Ooma setup

manderso — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:31:17 +0000

I opened the box, read the directions (gasp), it says to go to http://ooma.com/activate to activate the telo. I do so, and go through the prompts and select a new telephone number. I choose a number with a location close enough to me, and sign up for the 3 months of free premiere service.

I plug-in to network (behind the router) plug-in to phone, power on. Lights come on, and the Ooma logo flashes red for about 1 minute, enough to freak me out. Then I read in the directions that it’s supposed to do this as it’s booting. Sure enough, it changes to blue after a minute. All the lights stay on for about 5 minutes, presumably to allow the ooma to update it’s firmware.

Funny enough, when you take the phone off the hook (assuming you’ve plugged it into the Telo), it will give you a little song (I suppose the Ooma theme?), and a dial tone. You can dial all you want, but the line never wakes up to start ringing.

The lights finally go off, and bottom row is scrolling. The ooma light is flashing red, and lights 1 and 2 come on. Then the rest of the lights come on (this is a reboot, I assume)

And the first call is a success. The other end heard me very well, said the signal broke up maybe 2 times (during a three minute call), but not enough that he couldn’t understand me. About 30 minutes after the initial call, there was a call to the Ooma from Ooma, but I missed it. Then I picked up the line, and pushed the button for voicemail, and it gave me the welcome message from Ooma. Very nice of them, and it sounded great.

Now to figure out how long to test this before porting my land line. Also, need to find out whether it will work with my current alarm system.

A new Site!

manderso — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:57:39 +0000

Finally! I finally found a site design I like. I’m way too picky for my own good, but I’m proud of what I’ve put together. I hope everything is easily found, and I can provide what you need.