HP Notebook Advisory

Posted by Brian Haines on Dec 21, 2010 in Computers | 0 comments

HP Advisory

read more

Play PowerPoint on a DVD Player

Posted by Brian Haines on Nov 15, 2010 in Computers | 0 comments

My lovely wife, December, requested this of me just hours before she needed it. She didn’t get the disc in time for her event, but most of the answers I found doing a search required downloading unnecessary software so I decided to try and save someone else time by detailing what worked for me.

I actually tried one of the shareware programs in the hopes it might make the process easier and faster, but it did not. If you have PowerPoint in your Microsoft Office version and Windows Live Movie Maker (or Nero Vision or iMovie on a Mac) then you have everything you need.

Note: I don’t know how well this will work with presentations that have animation effects. If your PowerPoint file is a series of still frames then this will work perfectly. Your mileage may vary.

read more

maxmyspeed.com might be a scam

Posted by Brian Haines on Aug 23, 2010 in Computers | 9 comments

TV Commercials for a product that promises to boost your computer performance had me curious. I wanted to know, first if the product had been reviewed by any credible computer news magazines, or Websites, and second if it would boost the performance if an old laptop I have in my office for testing. What I found caused me never to test my laptop.

On the Maxmyspeed.com home page I noticed acclaims from Tucows, CNET, and PCWORLD and so I immediate thought my first desire had been satisfied. PCWORLD did review CyberDefender favorably in December 2009, but the CNET and Tucows were user reviews and anyone, even someone from Maxmyspeed.com can post a user review.

read more

Malicious Software (Spyware) Removal

Posted by Brian Haines on Jun 14, 2010 in Computers | 0 comments

Removing malicious software from computers running Windows has become a routine part of what I help many of my customers with. Some of this is so routine that I am comfortable with the user performing these steps themselves. In many cases the following steps will clear up the infection and restore the computer back to working condition.

The computer needs an active working Internet connection to perform these steps. Sometimes the Internet is actually working even if the browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, FireFox, Chrome) is not. If the browser is working then download the application ComboFix from this Website, under files (top right) saving it to the Desktop – please save to the Desktop and don’t simply run the program from the browser.

read more

How to Access and Run Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) and Outlook Express (OE) of Virtual XP Mode (VXP) VM in Windows 7

Posted by Brian Haines on Apr 17, 2010 in Computers | 0 comments

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/05/16/how-to-access-and-run-internet-explorer-6-ie6-and-outlook-express-oe-of-virtual-xp-mode-vxp-vm-in-windows-7/

read more

Keep Your Internet Email Safe

Posted by Brian Haines on Apr 13, 2010 in Computers | 0 comments

More and more people are having their Facebook, or Email account hacked recently. I use a few weak passwords myself, but I know many people who use pathetically weak passwords and I think it is well past time to strongly encourage everyone to strengthen their passwords.

“Why,” you say, “would anyone want to get into my email?” Well, its not for the latest political rant, the reward for helping a Nigerian Man collect his family fortune or a new place to buy pharmaceuticals. Access to your email means access to your personal information, gives a spammer the ability to send spam to all of your contacts, and often people store personal passwords for banking or other personal information in their email and or contacts.

read more