Posted by Kathy on August 1st, 2007
I see all kinds of strange PC problems in my line of work. Sometimes the simplest steps can resolve the most perplexing problems. Here’s a list of some crazy things to try that you might not have thought would help.
- If you use a wireless mouse, and all of a sudden your system doesn’t respond, or responds strangely to your mouse movements, check the batteries. They’re probably dying.
- If you suddenly can’t print and you know you don’t have a paper jam, unplug the printer (don’t just turn it off). Remove and re-insert the plug, then try to print again. This technique cures a lot of printer ills.
- If you use a flat panel monitor and suddenly all of your icons look really big and unclear, pull the plug from the back of the monitor and re-insert it.
- If you use USB flash drives with Microsoft Windows, always remove the device via Windows before yanking it out of your system. This minimizes the chance that you’ll corrupt the drive and the data on it. To remove it in Windows, right-click the little green hardware icon at the lower right of your screen. Left-click the drive you want to remove. When it’s safe to physically remove it, Windows will tell you so.
- Can’t get your wireless connection to turn on your new laptop? Look for a wireless ON/OFF switch on the sides or front of the laptop. Some models have physical switches that override whatever your wireless setting is configured for in the operating system.
- As dumb as it sounds, reboot your computer every now and then, especially if you’re prone to leaving it on 24/7. The refresh will do it good.
Posted by Kathy on August 1st, 2007
Most people are aware that they need to protect their PCs from viruses, but they take few measures to prevent against spyware, an equally annoying threat to your PC’s happiness. Spyware can slow your system down over time, cause numerous unwanted pop-ups and make your system unstable.
Follow these instructions for downloading, installing and running a free program, called Spybot, to protect your system from spyware. Your PC will love you for it.
http://www.lehigh.edu/computing/docs/spybot/guide.htm
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Posted by Kathy on July 31st, 2007
For those of you familiar with The Dad Zone, you know I still had work to do. One of my chores was to get my Dad broadband access so he could do his own "iTuning." And because I’m a bad daughter, I hadn’t gotten around to yet. Until today.
I got the call at work. When I saw Dad’s number on the caller ID, I almost didn’t answer. You all know why. So he tells me he got a great deal in the mail to get Verizon broadband access for $14.99/mo and he only had until TODAY to sign up. One eye roll and a mental groan later, I’m on the phone with Verizon trying to order it for him. He had called himself, but his attempt at getting the poor sales rep on the other end to fill out the online request for him failed. So that left the job for me.
It was an easy process, I have to say (bless your hearts, Verizon). I’ll be receiving the modem and installer CD in the mail in a few days. I’m just praying that installation goes well. But as we all know by now — THINGS WILL GO WRONG.
One little tidbit I learned from my Dad. He can get the $14.99 deal for one year and if he calls Verizon when the year is up, he can renew another year at the same cut-rate price. See, they don’t tell anyone that. The only reason he knows this inside information is because he asked the rep "So what’s the price going to jump when the year is up?" They told him as long as he called them (they won’t notify him when the deal is over), he can continue at the lower price. This is interesting because I just got a great deal after fighting with RCN over my own broadband. I’ll have to file a reminder to call them in a year and see if I can continue at the slashed price.
Moral of the story: Be like my Dad and complain about the prices of things these days. You never know what rewards you might reap.
Posted by Kathy on July 30th, 2007
Well, the 2007 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest winners are out. Make that bad fiction. The annual contest judges submissions for the best opening sentence "to the worst of all possible novels." Here’s the overall winning entry:
Gerald began–but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten percent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them "permanently" meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash–to pee.
Jim Gleeson
Madison, Wisconsin
My personal favorite is the winner in the Children’s Literature category:
Danny, the little Grizzly cub, frolicked in the tall grass on this sunny Spring morning, his mother keeping a watchful eye as she chewed on a piece of a hiker they had encountered the day before.
Dave McKenzie
Federal Way, WA
See the entire list of winning entries here: http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/english/2007.htm
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