Monthly Archives: August 2009

Tips on starting a new website (hosting and domains)

Computer Aid Posted on by

I’m finding more and more people wanting to start websites, yet getting confused about some of the details.

The first point of confusion is domains and hosting, so I’ll try to clarify those 2 points.

The first thing to understand is:

How does your browser display a web page?

In a simplified way, this is what happens:

  1. You type (or click on the link to) something like: www.computer-aid.com.au
  2. Your browser then talks to a special computer called a DNS server… and it asks: could you please tell me where I can find www.computer-aid.com.au ?
  3. The DNS server responds saying: you can find www.computer-aid.com.au at: 74.217.128.185 (ie the numbers are a special internet “address”
  4. Your browser then talks to the computer at 74.217.128.185 and asks: have you got any files that I can display?
  5. The computer at 74.217.128.185 say: sure! Here is the index page, and here are some pictures that go with that.
  6. Your browser then assembles the files and pictures into a page that we all recognise as a web page (with things to click on, information and pictures.

Now, what is a domain name, and why do you need to register a domain name?

  • A domain name is a somewhat like a trademark. Its a word like “computer-aid.com.au”
  • Buying a domain name gives you ownership of the name, and lets you do whatever you like with it (while you own it).
  • Owning the name doesn’t mean you automatically get a website. Its effectively like having the domain name registered on the DNS server from the above example

So why do you need hosting?

  • From the above example (about how your browser works), hosting is the computer at 74.217.128.185
  • The hosting computer stores all the files and pictures that make up the “look” of your website.

Although this is not strictly true, you can think of your domain registrar (ie the company you paid to register your domain) as the DNS server… and you tell them where your hosting computer is.

ie: you can get your domain registrar to “point” your domain name to whichever hosting company you like.

This raises an important issue:

What if you register your domain name, and have hosting with the same company.

The answer is: its good if everything runs smoothly… but if you have any problems, then changing companies can become very “sticky”.

I usually recommend people use different companies for domain registration and hosting.

Why?

Lets say at some point, your hosting company becomes overloaded, or the quality of their support drops, or you need a more powerful server. You then line up a new hosting company, move all your website files to the new hosting company, then you point your domain to the new hosting company… This can become difficult in the “all in one” case… as the host might not want you to leave… and they can make a bad situation worse.

Your domain registrar (particularly if they don’t host your website) shouldn’t care that you changed hosting… they just change some numbers in their database.

Or: if you don’t like your domain registrar for some reason… then you can find another registrar, and transfer your domain “ownership” to the new company (while still pointing to the same hosting company).

This means you can handle future changes without your website “disappearing” for a long time.

how do you know if you need more ram?

Computer Aid Posted on by

It seems thats there is a lot of confusion out there, about RAM and how it affects the speed of your PC.

If a computer starts feeling slow, there could be many reasons for it.

Suprisingly, many people don’t know how to check and see if RAM is the cause of the slowdown.

Others believe that the more RAM you add to a computer, the faster it will go. This is not so… if your PC normally uses, say, 600Mb RAM while you use it, then increasing RAM from 1000Mb to 2000Mb will have no effect on the speed.

In order to let anyone know if their computer needs more RAM, Computer Aid now has a new freeware utility called Hym. You can download HYM from here

Just download it to someplace like your desktop, run it, and you will get a “yes / no / maybe” answer to the question of “do you need more RAM?“.

If you run a wide variety of programs, then you can minimize HYM to the task tray, and keep an eye on your RAM usage as you work/play.

Controlling XP system restore on large drives

Computer Aid Posted on by

Its a problem thats annoyed me for a long time: Huge hard drives, and system restore taking up to 12% of the drive.

Whats even more annoying, is the lack of fine control over reserving a small amount of disk space.

For example, on a 1000Gb (1 Terabyte) hard drive, 12% represents over 110Gb for system restore (which is a crazy amount)

I have a 500Gb drive, and SR wants to allocate 57Gb for system restore:

systemrestore-orig-big

But: You can change it. You go to control panel -> System -> System Restore -> C: -> settings

And then move the slider down from 12% to 1%, and I’m now using “only” 6Gb (on a 500Gb drive):

systemrestore-orig-small

I’ve found that 1.5Gb is usually enough to store at least 2 weeks of default restore points (ie automatically generated restore points). Plus I really don’t see the need for having more than about 15 restore points anyway.

Unfortunately, when you move the slider 1 notch to the left, SR drops from 6Gb to 0.2Gb (200Mb).

It would really annoy me that I could not control SR to give myself 1.5Gb of system restore space.

Well, with a bit of hunting around, I found a reasonable workaround (which requires changing 1 entry in the system registry).

Run Regedit, and go to: HKLM -> software -> microsoft -> windows nt -> currentversion -> systemrestore

There is a dword value called DiskPercent thats set to “C” (12)

What does it do? it sets the maximum disk percentage that is shown on the slider in the drive settings window for system restore

Modify DiskPercent (double click on the word), and change the value to 1 (so now the slider will go from 0% up to 1%)

Close regedit, and any control panel windows you have open.

Now when you go to: control panel -> System -> System Restore -> C: -> settings

You will see the slider goes from 0% up to 1% (instead of 12%):

systemrestore-reduced-bigsystemrestore-reduced-smallsystemrestore-optimal

And as you can see, setting 1.5Gb of system restore space is much easier now!

XP downgrade for Acer Extensa 5632Z

Computer Aid Posted on by

atsivI was asked to downgrade another laptop from Vista to XP.

I’ve done a few so far, so once I made sure it had Vista Business and some XP downgrade disks, I figured: this should be simple enough.

The supplied Disks are a bit odd: 2 XP disks, plus a “System disk”.

Oh well, ignore that for now.

I boot Vista, run acers “recovery” system, and create 2 recovery DVDs for Vista.

I see there is also the option to create a driver backup disk, so I make one of those too.

Then I put the first XP disk in the drive and restart the PC.

I expect the XP disk to boot, and give me the option to wipe out Vista and install XP… but Vista boots (from the hard drive) instead…

Hmmm: an XP downgrade disks that won’t boot… maybe the boot order is wrong (boot from HDD before the DVD drive… I check, but it is set to boot the DVD drive first…

Are the XP disks faulty somehow? I can copy the whole contents without a problem… but neither look like bootable disks… whats going on here?

I eventually realise what Acer have done. Rather that save themselves a few cents by not shipping any disks, they decided to ship an extra disk (now thats totally unexpected… I’m sure the accountants don’t know this is happening!), and make the whole process more complicated…

This is what needs to happen:

  • you boot from the recovery partition, or from the “system” disk first.
  • You say you want to recover the system back to factory defaults (you assume they mean Vista, don’t you?)
  • You get asked to insert the OS disk
  • So you put the XP OS disk in the drive (you could insert the newly-created Vista recovery disks instead)
  • The Acer recovery software knows how to unpack the disk and puts XP (or Vista) onto the hard drive.

So there you go… regardless of installing XP or Vista, you need to boot the system disk first.

I’m sure this system was either created by a committee, or by someone who doesn’t deal with real customers every day.

Bigpond SpeedTouch 536 won’t route

Computer Aid Posted on by

A simple situation… I’d done this many times before… but this time it won’t work.

Customer had a bigpond speedtouch 536 modem. They also had a PC, 2 laptops, and a Lexmark MultiFunction Laser printer/scanner/fax/copier.

While transferring some data for them, they mention a few problems (like having to constantly have to plug/unplug the ethernet cable… scanner not working, etc.

I say: the unplugging ethernet ports can be fixed: I just install a wireless router (netgear WGR614), and you can connect the laptops over WiFi, as well as the computer and printer via ethernet cable (printer has an ethernet port, but its currently using USB).

They say sure. So I do the usual: grab the wireless router out of the car, plug the speedtouch modem into the “internet” port of the WGR614, plug the PC into one of the ports in the router, then connect to the router (so I can configure the wireless security).

Well, I can configure the router, but I can’t get to the internet…speedtouch536

The router obtains the correct IP address (via DHCP) from the modem… but internet traffic doesn’t get from PC to modem.

I figure: maybe its a DOA faulty router… So I take it back to the office… where it works perfectly.

I take it back to the customer, try again… and I get the same problem.

The modem works fine, the router works fine, but they won’t work together… this shouldn’t be happening, unless Bigpond have locked the modem… but that shouldn’t cause a problem either… I even disabled firewalls, Norton, connected my own (non-norton) laptop, but no go.

I also realise that this really needs to be resolved because the Lexmark printer is one of these new breed of stupid printers that will not scan over the USB port… it must be done over a network.

We eventually agree to use a netgear DG834G (wifi modem router), and retire the old modem.

It all goes smoothly after that… the printer even seems smart enough, that it doesn’t need to be allocated a fixed IP address… it gets its IP address from the router via DHCP, and the PC printer drivers detect the printers name (rather than expect a fixed IP address)… Well done Lexmark.

connect to bigpond nextG using Vista and BP3USB Maxon modem

Computer Aid Posted on by

I had setup a customers laptop (Vista) with AntiVir (I kept the standard vista firewall and windows defender), and tested that her NextG wireless USB modem (BP3-USB) was working correctly and made sure the system had fully updated itself.

She then travelled out of town for about 3 months, and when she got back, she contacted me, saying that soon after I installed the antivirus, she could no longer connect to the internet.

After a bit more digging, she says that when the problem first happened, she called Bigpond (Telstra) and spent over 1 hour with technical support, until they said it isn’t their problem: it must be the antivirus that’s blocking access to the internet (I suspect they think AntiVir is a full security suite, with firewall, etc… so they point the finger at the antivir firewall… which doesn’t exist in the free version)

I can already smell something fishy.bp3USB

I do a scan with malwarebytes, and it only detects some minor adware infection… nothing that would cause problems connecting to the internet.

Next, I try connecting using the USB modem. It connects correctly, but I can’t view web pages, and pings don’t work.

I look at the Antivirus, defender, and windows updates, and I see most have been updated between 1 and 2 months ago… looks like this has worked, in some fashion, since I last worked on it.

Since it seems to connect, then I start suspecting the firewall. I reset the Vista firewall back to its default settings.

Now, it seems to connect properly. I can view a few web pages, and then: nothing… no internet again.

Hmmm, looks like the firewall problem was masking another problem.

Maybe the BP3USB is damaged or overheating (the internet has many reports of the BP3USB being DOA, and all sorts of reliability problems with them).

So I download the latest drivers from bigpond: http://www.bigpond.com/res/images/helpcenterFAQs/wireless/bwbcmwin32_fullcd_2.13.zip

Hmmm, I notice the Vista laptop has bigpond software version 2.10.6 installed… Yet I’m downloading version 2.13.16

I setup the bp3usb on my own XP laptop, and it works perfectly for over 30 minutes. That means no overheating or other physical faults.

So, back to the customers Vista laptop: uninstall the V2.10.6 software, reboot, then install the V2.13.16 software that I downloaded (and re-enter the username/password)

And now the connection is perfect.

Now, the questions are:

  • why couln’t BP tech support guide the customer into resetting the Vista firewall settings?
  • why couldn’t BP tech support send the customer a CD with the latest software?

Customer says she will try billing telstra for my charges… I wonder how far that will fly?

activesync 4.5: critical communications services have failed to start

Computer Aid Posted on by

Ah, ActiveSync 4.5 for my windows mobile seems to become increasingly “annoying”.

The most annoying problem is that when I have my htc touch connected to the PC (for charging and for syncing), ActiveSync will start every 2 minutes (and take about 1 minute to synchronise).

That, in itself is not a problem, but while syncing, my phone is so slow, that its virtually unusable.

Looking at activesync on the PC, I see that the entire “tools” menu is greyed out… so I can’t adjust the sync frequency.

I find a registry setting that will re-enable the Activesync menus… that works well, but even setting the sync frequency to “manual” doesn’t change how often the WM6 phone actually syncs… grrr

and to top it off, navigating through the phones filesystem using windows explorer on the PC stopped working.

activesyncIf I click on “Mobile Device” under “My Computer”, I get: “critical communications services have failed to start”

Luckily the fix is simple:

From a command prompt: netsh winsock reset catalog

Then restart the PC.

What To Do When You Get An Error Code On Your Computer

Computer Aid Posted on by

Computer error codes can leave you feeling very confused and overwhelmed. The reason behind this is that they are usually written by the coders for the coders. It looks like there is an attempt to keep a common PC user out of the error resolution process. The good news is that a large percentage of errors are not as disastrous as they sound. However, at the same time each error indicates an issue that needs to be looked into. 

Essentially, the error codes can be classified into three types:

  1. Hardware error codes – Probably the most dangerous as this may lead to serious loss of data and equipment.
  2. Operating System error codes – These may include problems with your registry or system files.
  3. Software applications error codes – These are caused due to corrupt, invalid, or obsolete files or due to conflict between files.

The preparation to deal with these computer errors involves preventing as well as troubleshooting methods which have been provided in this article below.

Avoid User Errors

You must be careful while working on your computer. If you are not careful then issues, such as error 1706 http—generates if you do not provide the correct source to the Windows Installer—may occur.

Update your Software

Outdated operating system, applications and device drivers are one of the most common causes of computer error codes. An example is error code 39 that is generated when your CD-ROM driver is outdated and you attempt to access the drive. To prevent errors due to outdated files, it is essential for you to take measures to keep your PC software up-to-date. Although it may sound difficult, in reality, it is not. For instance, you just need to ensure that Windows Automatic Update tool is enabled to ensure that all your Microsoft products, including the Windows operating system stays updated at all times. Most of the third-party software also comprises options that enable you to update them automatically or manually. Use these options to keep these products updated. Also, to keep your drivers updated, you may seek help of a good driver scanner tool. Driver scanner tools are quite helpful as they automatically scan your PC for outdated drivers and update them.

Get Rid of Viruses

Virus and spyware infections are also common causes of several computer errors, such as runtime error 216. Virus programs are known to infect your program files and cause them to behave erratically. These malicious programs fill your registry with several entries and prevent several of your applications from running normally. To get rid of these infections, it is essential for you to have reliable antivirus and antispyware tools on your computer. To ensure that these tools are at their best in keeping your PC safe, you must ensure that they are updated on a regular basis. Also, opt for tools with real-time protection so that you can stop these malicious programs from infiltrating your PC in the first place.

Clean your Registry

In addition to malware, the registry may also get filled up over time when you install and uninstall programs, update your software, install new hardware, and perform various tasks on your PC. Over time, the registry bloats up, and easily gets corrupt and fragmented. A thus damaged registry not only causes slow computer problems, but also starts generating different types of computer errors. To prevent these issues and to ensure that your registry stays error-free at all times, it is recommended that you use a good registry cleaner to regularly scan and clean your registry. Cleaning the registry on a regular basis will enable you to maintain a high-performance and error-free computer for a long time.

Mac won’t start (How to open a Mac Mini)

Computer Aid Posted on by

A customer called, saying she just changed ISP, and now she can’t connect to the internet.

I figure its possible a faulty modem…

When I get to the computer, I see monitor, keyboard, mouse, and what looks like an apple external 3.5″ USB drive… I look for the PC (she doesn’t know what the various bits do, except that you type on the keyboard, move the pointer with the mouse, and you look at the monitor thing…).

MacMini2macmini1

Anyway, I soon realise that the external USB drive was actually the computer (a Mac Mini).

However, when I switched it on, it gives: 4 beeps, pause, and then repeat… but no output on the monitor.

OK, I’m not sure what the problem is (it sounds serious), and then there is the question of opening the Mac… no screws in sight…

I offer to do my best, but I tell the customer that if I can’t fix it, then it might be easier to just buy a new computer.

Anyway, I take the Mac back to the office, and a quick search shows that its a 1.3 Ghz, PPC-powered Mac… and another internet search uncovers a cool video showing how to take a Mac Mini apart (Its only held together by plastic clips!).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynQKYTaJ_zA

Once open, and with some diagnostic help from the internet, I soon discover that 4 beeps means a RAM problem.

The 1GB DDR RAM is faulty, although removing it is a little tricky, as the rear RAM “clip” (you know, the ones that flip open to eject the RAM)… well it only flips part-way (because its blocked by another mac component… I wouldn’t have expected Apple to stuff up a design detail like this… oh well). But it flips open enough that I can ease out the RAM module.

When I (carefully) insert the new RAM module, and switch on the Mac, I’m greeted by a familiar Mac “humm” sound effect… ah, good.

Although the above video shows re-assembling the Mac is simple, I needed 3 attempts to get it to fit properly… the cover just wouldn’t close along the rear… and I couldn’t see anything blocking it. But it did close (eventually), but I needed to re-open the case twice before it eventually snapped into place correctly!

Windows still doesn’t clean up its temp files

Computer Aid Posted on by

If you believe Microsoft, something as modern as Vista should be a shining model of efficiency.

Well, I recently found an example of inefficiency that seems to go back to the days of windows 95 (or maybe even earlier).

Yep, I’m talking about the temp folder(s).

As Microsoft has waded through the various versions of Windows, the location of the temp folder (or folders) has changed, but the lack of housecleaning hasn’t.

With Vista, I recently got a slow laptop from a customer, and I decided to take a look at:

c:users{username}appdatalocaltemp

And what did I find?

over 4,000 temp files… some over 2 years old.

Sure, you can install something to cleanup the temp files, but average computer users don’t know about computer maintenance… they just assume it get done automatically.

Its amazing how a company will put so much effort (and money) into advanced new features… yet some simple maintenance like cleaning the temp folder at startup time, is totally ignored.

Out of curiosity, I took a look at the latest Windows 7 beta… and it also has the same issue…

It makes me wonder if anyone at Microsoft actually cares about the long-term usability of their windows products.