Monthly Archives: May 2008

synchronising files between a PC and a laptop (with only a USB drive)

Computer Aid Posted on by

I had a very non-technical user who asked me to setup her new laptop, and to “make it sync” with the main PC.

She needed to update 1 or 2 excel files on the laptop while away from the office.

Teaching her how to use a usb drive, and how to copy files using windows explorer was not an option, so I had to invent something more foolproof (but without using a router… customer “might” look into buying a router at a later date).

In the past, I’ve used syncback for many backup and synchronising tasks, and it works very well.

So I did something similar:

  • Setup syncback to synchronise the contends of a folder (folder is on the desktop, and on the usb drive).
  • I do this on both the PC and the laptop.
  • I setup syncback to do this every 2 minutes

I test it out, and it works well (I get syncback to quietly ignore errors when the usb drive is “not there”)

I then write detailed instructions on how to do this (particularly on how to safely remove a usb drive).

A wireless link would be ideal (no usb shuffling), and might still happen at some point (I hope!).

highpoint australia has some serious problems

Computer Aid Posted on by

This relates to a prior post: http://www.computer-aid.com.au/blog/2008/05/16/on-hold-to-acer-for-125-minutes/

After trying a few more times, it seems that acer has palmed off many spare parts enquiries to highpoint australia.

And contacting highpont is what is proving the most difficult.

I’m just after a replacement LHS hinge for an acer aspire 3634lmi laptop screen.

But, it seems whenever I call highpoint, I get put on hold for just over 2 hours, and then I get disconnected.

I’m starting to wonder if there is a serious problem with this company.

Highpoint Australia seems to be consistently unable to answer routine telephone enquiries. I can understand a small company might struggle, at times, to cope with high demand, but a company as large as highpoint should at least be able to answer phone calls (if I get told: “sorry we can’t help”, then at least I know where I stand).

I then jumped onto their website, and I got an email contact form… amazingly, they replied within 15 minutes… whats going on here?

Anyway, they want to charge $129 to pickup, fix, and deliver the laptop.

From what I’ve been reading on the web, it seems like once highpoint have your equipment, you can be looking at a long wait before getting it back… So I’ll decline and push for just getting the part (if possible)

works cannot access one or more files it needs to run word processor

Computer Aid Posted on by

A customer was having a few problems with her PC (mainly that the sound wasn’t working, and writing to DVD/CD wasn’t working).

I figure: easy enough… if the sound circuitry has failed, just insert a new sound card. Well, the new sound card also didn’t work.

So I eventually took the PC back to the office. A scan found an infection. I cleaned it all up, and returned the PC a few days later.

About a week later, customer calls saying she now has some different issues, from when I returned the PC… she cannot start the microsoft works word processor, she still cannot write to CDs, and her new webcam won’t work.

I go out again, and find that the way she was writing to CDs (drag and drop) no longer worked… maybe due to the infection)… but I quickly found a satisfactory workaround).

The webcam wouldn’t work with messenger because messenger was still configured to work with the old webcam… change some settings, and all is well.

That just leaves the work word processor…

I find I can start all the other works (V7) applications except for the WP. I ask about the WP CDs, but it seems that works was bundled with the PC when it was purchased (in England).

I manage to track down a version of works 7, and return again to uninstall and reinstall works 7… but after the reinstall, WP still won’t start (it keeps saying: works cannot access one or more files it needs to run word processor).

On top of it all, uninstalling works was made more difficult by errors like: “setup is unable to register tasks” I fixed that by manually starting the windows installer service (not sure why it didn’t start at system boot…).

A look on the net finds a shocking lack of information on how to fix the work word processor.

I eventually try:

  • uninstall works
  • norton uninstall utility (seems the system once had norton installed, and norton is a possible cause)
  • run the works uninstall cleanup utility (wks7rmxp.exe)… luckily the utility can be found on the installation CD.
  • Run the microsoft msicuu.exe utility, and remove any works leftovers.
  • reboot the system
  • Scan the registry for any leftover works entries, and remove them.
  • reboot the PC
  • reinstall works

And after all that: WP still won’t work (same error: works cannot access one or more files it needs to run word processor).

And converting works to another format? there is also a surprising lack of information (on the net) on how to do that also…

Customer doesn’t have MS office (and doesn’t want to pay for it)… so my only option is:

  • Install openoffice
  • copy all her works WP files (only about 40!). to my usb drive
  • use my version of office to convert the works files to word files
  • email the word files to the customer.

What a mess!… and I’ve developed a strong dislike for works!

Free website hosting (with a twist)

Computer Aid Posted on by

I had a customer call, saying he (and his daughter) was having difficulty uploading his new website to his hosting company, and also getting the emails related to his domain name (www.dteducation.net.au).

If he has a straightforward unix hosting provider, then this should be easy…

Well, it wasn’t.

As often happens, people don’t realise that hosting and domain names are 2 different things (which can be combined (but I personally prefer not to).

It eventually transpires that he already had a domain name (from a while ago), and thought he would get a hosting package for it.

He didn’t realise that he had also transferred his domain name over to domainnames.com.au.

At first, I looked at their support documentation. It was a little confusing, but then again, I was specifically looking for information on activating emails and uploading webpages… the email info was ok (but didn’t work), but uploading web pages didn’t make any sense…

I eventually handed this over to Mandy, as I was too busy to look into it at the time.

She eventually realised that he had opted for the free hosting package.

That means that you cannot upload pages. But you can choose from a large range of online templates.

It also means that technical support is limited to email only.

I think its pretty good for a free service… but personally, I would prefer to pay between $100 and $200 per annum, and have more control over my website.

Anyway, even the online template wouldn’t work properly (IE7 would say something about website not found).

A whois showed that the domain name registrar was distribute.it … were they related to domainnames.com.au, or to their website support site (onlinesupport.com.au)? We couldn’t be sure.

After a few emails to support, the problem was fixed. I suspect it might have been a minor configuration issue with domainnames.com.au.

Anyway, I showed him how to use the online templates… and there was the start of another problem:

It worked fine at the office, but the java code for displaying templates didn’t work on the customers PC. I eventually tried on his laptop… and it worked (at last!).

I’m told that the main PC had an infection a while ago (and a local PC store had fixed it)… looks like the disinfection caused some subtle damage to windows XP system.

Anyway, customer is happy to use the laptop for now, so I leave it as it stands.

very messed up XP system (firewall: some settings are controlled by group policy)

Computer Aid Posted on by

A new customer called, wanting a price for Service Pack 2 for windows XP.

It seemed a bit odd, but since I didn’t take the call, and the customer was on my way home, I told Mandy to relay a price of $10, and that I’ll be there in about 30 minutes.

Turns out he had just reinstalled XP, but needed SP2 before he could connect to the internet via a USB 3G connection. So I copy it onto the laptop, and also write down the names of programs he should download and install (once SP2 is complete).

I know there is a bit more to reinstalling XP than just running the installation / recovery CD (install drivers, security, defrag, setup MS office (or openoffice), do all the MS updates, etc). But I don’t mention any of that… I don’t know the customers technical expertise, so I just leave it at that.

Well, a few days later, the customer calls back, saying he still cannot connect to the internet, and would I be able to fix his non-working USB ports.

Seems like I need to complete the XP reinstallation… so I fix most of the drivers (he doesn’t have a driver CD, and there is no recovery partition on the HDD.

After that, I notice a few strange things: the XP firewall is off (and is greyed-out… so it cannot be enabled). There are some strange programs that startup, and usb drives work correctly, but not his USB 3G modem.

I remove the HDD, and scan it from the office PC… and it detects about 30 infected files… I remove the infected files, and put the HDD back in the laptop.

I ring the customer, but he doesn’t know how he reinstalled windows… OK, he probably did a repair install, and so the prior infection lingered on.

But even after I removed all the nasties from the laptop, it still behaved strangely: firewall still wouldn’t switch on; some important services were off (and wouldn’t switch on); once on the internet, I could ping, but not get any web pages (neither ie7, nor firefox!).

So I go through the laborious task of enabling the appropriate services.

And when they wouldn’t start, find a fix on the net (usually a registry setting).

Same with the firewall: when trying to start the firewall service, it would fail with: some settings are controlled by group policy.

A long search of the net finds about 3 different ways to fix this… I find I need to try all 3 before the firewall finally switches on.

Once the firewall is on, everything else starts to fall into place: I can perform windows updates, I can view websites, the 3G modem starts working correctly, etc.

Funny how customers can make a simple request (fix my usb ports), but its actually the tip of an iceberg (of work!)

difficulty surfing due to norton 360

Computer Aid Posted on by

When it comes to using computers, it seems most users are not technically inclined. And I wouldn’t expect most people to have good technical knowledge… after all, a computer is a tool, and it should be used to get something done (email, spreadsheets, surfing fishing websites, etc).

Some, products like norton 360, should enhance someone’s computer experience.

Ideally: by quietly blocking anything nasty from infecting your computer, while allowing you full access to the computer and internet, without slowing down the computer.

OK, many of you will already know that norton software does slow down your PC.

But I recently saw a (technically unsophisticated) customer, who was having trouble logging in and accessing many websites, as well as getting many cookie errors.

It didn’t take long to realise that norton 360 was silently blocking all cookies.

It seems that soon after norton 360 was installed, it popped up a message about cookies.

The customer got the impression that cookies were “dangerous”, and so followed nortons suggestion to block all cookies.

After some explaining, the customer realised that cookies are not dangerous, particularly on modern browsers, and I then deciphered how to make norton re-enable cookies.

That fixed most problems, but one obvious problem persisted: a particular website would not display forum pages (the forum was only available after logging in).

After some tinkering (and fully disabling norton 360), I decided to try firefox… and it had no problem at all. In the end, I ask the customer to try using firefox, as it could take me a while to track done this problem.

Customer agrees, and also admits to feeling ripped off in buying norton 360, as after getting it home, he realised that of all the “features” advertised on the box, his PC already did all except 3 (AV, antispyware, performance optimisation).

It didn’t take much to convince him to call me back about 1 month before norton expires, so that I can install some free software that will protect the PC just the same.

WordPress calais pluging gives: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected

Computer Aid Posted on by

I recently updated my blog to wordpress 2.5

While I was working on it, I took a look at various plugings available, and I thought I’d try WP Calais Archive Tagger and WP Calais Auto Tagger.

As soon as I tried to activate them, they immediately gave errors:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected xxxxxxx

where xxxxxxx indicates lots of technical info 🙂

I figured I’d send Dan Grossman an email, asking for advice.

To his credit, he quickly replied, indicating it was a problem with running PHP5 code in a PHP4 environment, and suggested changing .htaccess, or a setting in the website control panel.

Since my cpanel, had no such setting, I did a bit of research, and found that I needed to add 1 line to the .htaccess file in the blog folder:

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .php

Since I discovered that PHP5 can be very different from PHP4, I also double checked all the existing plugins, and the blog in general.

in the end, everything worked well, with no compatibility problems anywhere.

CD/DVD has dissappeared in XP (A driver (service) for this device has been disabled. An alternate driver may be providing this functionality (code 32))

Computer Aid Posted on by

A customer needed a new CD drive, as she needed to install an office xp update, and it was asking for the original CD.

When I get there, I notice the PC is really slow (for a 2.67Ghz celeron, with 512MB RAM)

I have a quick look at task manager, and I see the system is using 460MB… quite high for an xp system.

I leave the RAM situation for the moment, and try the CD drive… but it won’t eject… looks like a faulty drive. I open up the case, and the drive has power connected, so there is no reason for it not to eject.

I install a new DVDRW, but when windows boots up, the drive is not in windows explorer.

Odd: the bios detects it ok.

While I’m looking around windows, I decide to do some quick tuning… lots of rubbish auto-starting.

I look into device manager, and i see the drive (with a yellow !). this usually means no drivers.

So I get it to automatically search for the most recent drivers, but xp finds nothing better.

Strange, as new DVDRW drives are just plug in and go… no need to look for odd drivers.

I try another (used) cd drive, but it also fails to detect. Ok, looks like a windows problem.

Customer says she recently checked everything (ran av scan, also scanned using defender, spybot, regscrub, etc). Ah: regscrub I don’t like the idea of a program automatically altering the registry (Unless I really trust it).

Anyway, I decide to look into a possible registry problem.

I look more closely at the device manager properties, and the error it gives is: A driver (service) for this device has been disabled. An alternate driver may be providing this functionality (code 32)

If only I had noticed this earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted time searching for a device driver 🙁

I soon find that the problem is related to UpperFilters and LowerFilters… now this sounds familiar…

Sure enough, I start regedit, and go to HKLM-system-currentcontrolset-control-class-{4d36e965-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318} And remove UpperFilters (the entry contained info about incd).

Apparently, I should also remove LowerFilters from the same location, but its not there.

I also disable any incd services and auto-startup programs.

Reboot, and now the DVDRW works. I install the office updates without a hitch. All is good again.

what is silverlight?

Computer Aid Posted on by

Now here is a question thats been bugging me for a few months now:

What is this silverlight that microsoft are pushing? (and they seem to be pushing hard!)

Curiosity eventually got the better of me, and I did some research.

In a nutshell: its a competitor to adobe flash (and also java, quicktime, etc).

So the next question is: should I bother installing it?

The answer (for the moment) seems to be: no

It seems that there are very few websites out there that actually use silverlight.

And on top of that, there seems to be many questions about microsofts intentions with this product.

MS say silverlight is client and server agnostic. They say it will run on both windows and Mac systems.

Hold on: what about linux?

Most websites out there run linux…

wikipedia have a long technical description about it, but I find the criticism section near the bottom of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Silverlight to be the most interesting.

Looks like another attempt to get a stranglehold on the internet (to me, it seems similar to the initial release of MSN… where MS were wanting people to pay extra to access microsofts version of the internet (with extra content that you couldn’t get on the “normal” internet). At that stage, they had absolutely no idea what the internet was really about… I wonder if anything has changed?

on hold to acer for 125 minutes

Computer Aid Posted on by

I needed to get a replacement hinge for an acer 3634lmi laptop.

so I call 1300 366 567, and speak to someone who puts me through to the parts department.

And I get 125 minutes of muzak, with the occasional voice saying either: “all of our customer service representatives are currently on the phone, please hold and you’ll be answered shortly”, or: “thank you for holding. Our next available representative will attend to your call”.

Ok, it is a Monday, so they might be a bit busy… but this rivals dodos service.

I dread having to try again… but I’ll have to eventually.

ntldr is missing (severe partition corruption)

Computer Aid Posted on by

Customer is unable to start her PC. It says NTLDR is missing.

She also tried connecting it to another, older, PC, but it would only show up as a 10Mb drive (its actually a 160Gb maxtor).

She also tried the acer recovery CD, but it wanted to reformat the whole drive before installing windows… so she said no to that.

I figure if its just a ntldr corruption, it should be easy to get everything back to normal.

I need to take the PC back to the office, and connecting the drive to a different PC does indeed show only a 10Mb FAT partition.

At least the drive doesn’t seem to be about to fail.

I start the recovery process, and soon find lots of ntfs data on the drive.

I call the customer, and given the importance of the data, she says to go ahead with the data recovery.

During the recovery process, I only get 1 read error, and I am able to recover most of the data, but most of the top-level folder names seem to be lost (except for windows, informed, and two others). I suspect the MFT has been lost.

Anyway, she quickly got her data back (on 2 dvds), but most of the data is in folders with names like [001D56].

Its not nice, but its the best that can be done without spending days reconstructing the data.

I suspect that plugging the drive into another (older) computer actually made the drive worse (as I’ve actually done something similar myself)…

Never plug a “potentially” corrupt drive into an older PC… it can make things worse.