That Damn PC: Hardware, Software, Virus, Malware, PC Troubleshooting,

June 17th, 2008

CONTEST ALERT! - The all-knowing and all-listening IT confessional

Haven’t you always wanted to get all of your IT-related questions answered by “highly trained” professionals? How about sharing your PC or IT horror story with the world? Maybe you simply want a great new keyboard or free backup services for your PC? If any of the above are true then you’re in the right place! That Damn PC is holding a contest for some of the greatest IT stories of all time.

We’re looking for the ugliest, saddest, happiest and all-around funniest stories from IT history. Things like my computer exploded while loading Windows to all of my pornography was copied by the local PC-tech are all great places to start while sharing your stories.

We would appreciate it if the stories we both true and awesome and I’m sure that you guys (and gals) can all help us out with that. For your help, we will be giving away a great prize, a Goldtouch keyboard from Key Ovation. This can help you with all of your carpal tunnel and cool keyboard needs. Beyond just the awesome factor, you can also “Wow” your friends by being a winner from That Damn PC! How cool is that?

So go ahead and submit your stories. Post them in the comments below or email jesse dot middleton at b5media.com (please make the subject “That Damn PC IT Confessional”) and you may be a winner. Many of the stories will be used by us to continue to get to the bottom of how the IT mind thinks and why they’re always so cranky before their seventeen cups of coffee.

The nitty gritty Info: This contest will run from June 17th at 8am (ET) to June 24th at 10pm (ET). Your stories must be submitted through the comment section below or via email during this time period. Any stories received before or after will be happily taken but will not be eligible for prizes.

All winners will be determined by a trained group of contest-winner-selectors-extraordinaries and will be notified as fast as humanly possible.

Share This

By Jesse -- 20 comments

June 14th, 2008

How to protect your computer, simple and easy

This should be a very short post as I have a fun contest starting on Monday here so we’ll keep it light and easy for now…

Below are a few simple ways to make sure your computer stays safe and secure for that much longer (they all eventually get messed up, even you Mac):

• Run a software firewall (Windows XP comes with one built in, not too sure on the Mac OS front but I would imagine they have something).
• Keep anti-virus software installed and up-to-date (AVG is free for the PC and ClamXav is free for the Mac).
• Install a router. Make sure you are running a decent home router (at home) and a good commercial router (for businesses). They are insanely cheap today, so there’s no excuse not to run one. Belkin, Linksys and Netgear all make decent home routers.
• If you run wireless, secure it. Today, almost all wireless routers support WPA or WPA2, so use it. In fact, it’s easier to remember your WPA key than it is to remember WEP. I think that “my Awesomely Secure Pa55word” is much simpler to remember than “FF5C0B374FA81D2959C2578F65″.

These are only a few ways to help protect your PC and information. Losing your data is a pain. Identity theft is an even bigger problem. Don’t get caught in either one.

P.S. - Keep an eye out for the fun contest (which should be starting on Monday, right here at That Damn PC).

Share This

By Jesse -- 0 comments

June 12th, 2008

Size doesn’t matter, unless you’re a PC

Size doesn’t matter… Or so they say but the Eee PC could be the exception to the rule. A fellow blogger, Lia, wrote about the HP Voodoo, the Mac Air Rival. I say phooey! We don’t need a $2100 lightweight laptop, we need a 7″ computer that can handle the everyday tasks that we’ve all come to know and love (banking, email, document writing and more)!
Read More

Share This

By Jesse -- 2 comments

June 12th, 2008

How secure is too secure? Oh yeah, this is it.

I came across a great post over at Vitalsecurity.org the other day (part of the awesome Security Bloggers Network) about when security goes too far. RapidShare is a great solution for sharing large amounts of data. It’s ad and premium-user supported and allows for an unlimited amount of bandwidth (free users have 100MB file limit while paid users get 2GB file limit).

There are a few limitations or annoyances if you’re not a paid user. You need to wait a certain amount of time before downloading (usually less than 2 minutes), you can’t download more than one file at a time and the zinger is that you need to fill out a CAPTCHA in order to download files.

CAPTCHAs are not usually a bad thing except when you can’t read it! RapidShare requires you to choose the graphics that contain a cat but they are both difficult to read and worse off, not everyone knows what a cat looks like. It usually takes me two or three tries to download. I understand that they want to make it so that people need to make sure they’re human before they can download but their CAPTCHA requires a user to be super-human. That’s not a good way to draw in more people.

Security is important but this type of security is ridiculous.

Share This

By Jesse -- 0 comments

June 10th, 2008

Organization — Inform one, inform them all.

Image via WikipediaIt’s a fact of life that information overload is not easy to escape. Whether you enjoy playing the license plate game or reading the New York Times on your way to work (Do they sill print a paper?), there is a lot to read, take in and retain out there in this cruel world. Luckily, with the help of many great Web 2.0 tools out there, it’s becoming a bit simpler. I’d like to point you in the direction of a few that I have used to simplify my life.

Google Reader (or any other web feed reader) -
GR is an excellent tool to help process the everyday information that shows up on most of your favorite sites. This can be used to find both the latest nuddy magazine photos and the greatest updates on the Apple/i phone information saga. Convenient? I think so.

PageOnce -
PageOnce has been a big help for me and now that it’s out of strict beta (closed to some), it’s even better. I use it to pull in bank account balances, bill due dates and the latest in my Facebook statuses. You can use it to do the same and keep your life organized on just a few pages.

Mint.com -
Mint has been a lifesaver or me (no pun intended) when it comes to keeping track of my finances. I am able to pull in all my financial services — stock portfolios (like I trade, hah), bank accounts (already know they’re near zero) and credit cards (those just keep rising) — and then get information about each of my accounts. It’s secure, easy and fun to use. In addition to getting account info, Mint also gives suggestions on ways to save money or cut down on debt — always a helpful feature.

Whether you’re an information whore or a drive-by reader, services like these can help you stay organized. Being organized can not only save you time but introduce you to new information. How do you think I found out about LOLcatz? Oh yeah, my feed reader!

Share This

By Jesse -- 0 comments

June 6th, 2008

Re-enable Aero Theme for Windows Vista

When Windows Vista detects that your computer’s performance isnt enough for running Aero, it will automatically disable it. Normally once you close some applications, everything goes back to normal, but sometimes you get “stuck” with the Vista Basic theme, and have to go in and enable it again. Here’s how to re-enable the Windows Vista Aero Theme:

1. Right-click on the desktop and choose Personalize, then click on the link for “Window Color and Appearance”

2. Make sure that Windows Aero is selected in the list, and then hit the Apply button.

This should re-enable Aero. IF not, read on…. Read More

Share This

By Kiven -- 0 comments

June 6th, 2008

Only you can prevent poor programming

Image via WikipediaToo many sites today do a top 10 list of all the greatest things. Top 10 songs, top 10 amazing chemistry videos, top 10 urinals — They’re all the same, the top 10 best of something. I thought it might be fun to figure out the top 10 worst PC applications of all time.

I want your suggestions. After I get a list of worst apps that you can think of (leave comments, email jesse dot middleton at b5media dot com, or hit me up on Twitter), I’ll go ahead and review them myself and bring a team of highly trained professionals to rate and review them (namely, you guys) by choosing in a poll.

So, please what are your favorites (or would that be least favorites)? Let me know.

Share This

By Jesse -- 1 comment

June 5th, 2008

No computer fixing today buddy

I came across an amazing link at Digg.com and was going to post it up but there were two problems. 1) The site was already down (Error 500, what?), and 2) There was a comment posted part way down the page that takes the cake when it comes to fixing PCs:

No, I will not fix your computer. Why?
a) It’s a Mac so I don’t ***** know how.
b) Jobs said it wouldn’t break.
        -From: krystalo, a Digg user

Once I finished laughing out loud, I realized something — this is very true! People bring their devices into the IT shop all the time without any regard for what the device is. Take for instance, a 2000 computer global company.

They run entirely on Windows. Their desktops, Windows XP, their laptops, Windows XP, their servers, Windows Server — see, all Windows. Along comes Mr. I Want It (IWI) with his MacBook Pro or iTouch or iPhone. He plops it down on the desk and says, “Hey, my kid broke this, can you fix it?”
Read More

Share This

By Jesse -- 6 comments

June 4th, 2008

Keeping it simple all the time

I recently came across Adocu.com - blogging gone nano through a good friend and while the product that they are proposing, Twitter with only one word, sounds strange, the underlying concept makes a lot of sense. Why do we bog ourselves down with so many words? Technical support could take a lesson from these guys.

Many of the responses that nonits (non-IT folk) receive from IT start with a, “Have you checked the amount of free RAM on your computer?” or, “What processes were running when this occurred?” My guess is that if you knew the answers to these questions, you wouldn’t be calling technical support. The big, bad IT guy has to take a step back and realize that he’s paid to do his job because that’s what he knows how to do. I’m sure that he wouldn’t like it if accounting asked why the debits and credits did not foot properly (and yes, that is a real term in accounting as my girlfriend just informed me).

Remember, not everyone is an IT genius. Some need a guiding hand, one who will understand that RAM, BIOS and PCI are just letters to others, not technical pieces of a computer system.

Share This

By Jesse -- 0 comments

June 3rd, 2008

Patience is a virtue

Please, keep the stories rolling in. This is yet another bothered IT admin reporting:

Don’t yell and don’t swear, if you want me to take your request seriously and not dump it at the bottom of my list of things to do then talk to me professionally. I have things to do and you have things to do and it only exacerbates things when you raise your voice when I explain that it will take some time to get to your request. There are 50 other people who called before you and gave me the same story.

We all think we’re important people. Whether you are the mail room attendant or CEO, you think you are the most important person in the world. News flash for you — You’re not! It’s never easy to deal with multiple problems coming in at one time. One call for a printer down, one for email not working and yet another for the simple reason that the phone doesn’t ring loud enough (get a hearing aid). It’s even harder to deal with an angry, cursing, loud-mouthed person who has a problem and it generally leads to hurt feelings and tears shed later on.

A simple, email (if email is available) or phone call to the help desk is all that it takes to get the ball rolling. The job of the IT gurus at the receiving end is to take it all in and prioritize. Obviously the sprinklers going off in the main network closet is a much higher priority than your printer not spitting out the latest Sunday comic. So deal. That over worked, sometimes underpaid and never over appreciated IT guy will fix your issue. Just cut them a little slack — they are probably also understaffed.

Share This

By Jesse -- 0 comments