Posted on Saturday, 9th August 2008 by Casey
Many people don’t realize that all USB flash drives are not created equal. Depending on the type of memory they have, their speeds can vary greatly. Being in IT, I have accumulated a small collection of these drives and have needed a way to test them to see which ones are worth using. I have [...]
Posted in Flash Drive, Hardware, How To, Software, Tools | Comments (0)
Posted on Monday, 26th May 2008 by Casey
If you have been using Windows Vista for a while then you probably know how annoying the security confirmations can be. Any time you install a program, install drivers, run programs that need administrative rights, change certain configuration settings, etc., you are forced to confirm your actions before continuing. Fortunately, there are ways to disable these prompts.
Posted in How To, Security, Windows | Comments (3)
Posted on Tuesday, 22nd April 2008 by Casey
Keeping track of Microsoft licenses can be a daunting task when you manage a network with multiple computers. This can be especially true when you are given the task of inventorying computers on a network that you personally did not set up. You could go to each computer and inventory it individually but this could take lots of time depending on the amount of computers. Or, you could use a free program that will scan each computer on a network and do this for you.
Posted in How To, Microsoft, Software, Tools | Comments (1)
Posted on Sunday, 23rd March 2008 by Casey
If you are an emerging computer tech and you haven’t already become accustom to using the ipconfig command, you soon will. This command is most commonly used at the DOS prompt to see a computer’s current IP configuration. Using this command with three different switches also allows you to refresh a computer’s network settings which can be very useful when troubleshooting network issues. In the following tutorial, I would like to show you how you can create a batch file that will run this command along with its switches to quickly refresh a computer’s network settings.
Posted in How To, Networking, Windows | Comments (5)
Posted on Saturday, 16th February 2008 by Casey
Yesterday I reinstalled Windows on a laptop for one of our users at work. When the installation was complete, I popped in the driver CD to begin the process of installing the drivers that Windows didn’t install. For some reason the CD only contained two of the eight drivers that I needed. Normally, tracking down the right driver can be a huge annoyance, especially when your devices are showing up with generic names like PCI Device, Video Controller, System Device, or Unknown Device. But with the help of a little utility, I was able to find all of the drivers that I needed saving me lots of time and frustration.
Posted in Hardware, How To, Tools, Windows | Comments (2)
Posted on Saturday, 9th February 2008 by Casey
Apple certifications are some of the fastest growing certifications in the industry and becoming an Apple certified tech is a great way to make your resume stand out from the crowd. With the release of Leopard, Apple has been updating their certification program to support their new operating system. I would like explain these newly updated certifications and show you what is required for each one so you can be on your way to becoming a certified Mac OS X Leopard technician.
Posted in Apple/Mac/OSX, Certifications, How To | Comments (1)
Posted on Monday, 21st January 2008 by Casey
Recently I was faced with a situation where I had an automatic update that wouldn’t install. To try and troubleshoot this issue, I needed a way to download the update so I could install it manually. Since Microsoft doesn’t offer such an option, I had to look elsewhere for help. Luckily, there is a program that was created to do just this.
Posted in How To, Windows | Comments (2)
Posted on Sunday, 13th January 2008 by Casey
It’s never fun when you show up to work on a computer and you don’t have the right tools. Unfortunately, this has happened to me a lot. With the experience I have gained, I would like to show you what you need to assemble the ultimate tech toolkit so you are always prepared to fix a computer.
Posted in Hardware, How To, Tools | Comments (15)
Posted on Tuesday, 1st January 2008 by Casey
Creating an offline update CD is a great way to update a Windows computer without having to connect it to the Internet and risk the chance of it being compromised. It is also a great way to update a computer that either has no Internet connection or is still connected to the Internet through dial-up. Since Microsoft offers no easy way of doing this other than ordering one of their update CD, I would like to show you how to create one yourself.
Posted in How To, Windows | Comments (2)
Posted on Wednesday, 26th December 2007 by Casey
I was recently faced with a situation where someone had used a "leaked" product key when setting up some Windows machines that I now manage. Not only did the computers start receiving very annoying error messages every time they started up, but they were also unable to receive Windows updates. To fix this, I was able to use a very simple utility to change all of the keys quickly without having to reload Windows or edit the registry. In the following tutorial I would like to show you how to do the same.
Posted in How To, Software, Tools, Windows | Comments (3)