September 2009
10 posts
reprap: how to photocopy your own photocopier! →
I stumbled across this amazing site: RepRap
Its basically a machine that can currently create 60% of its own parts (In a manner of speaking: a photocopier that can almost photocopy itself)
microsoft feeds synchronization has encountered a... →
After doing an XP repair install, I started getting this error:
microsoft feeds synchronization has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
I eventually found…
Beware the quiet infections →
I’ve recently cloned a few drives for customers who have upgraded their computers via Computer Aid.
The process is simple enough: Clone the hard drive to the drive in the new computer, then a…
Error 1311. File not found: d:\sku011.cab →
I was installing Microsoft Office 2007 on a computer, and part way through the install, I get:
Error 1311. File not found d:\sku011.cab
Hmmm… I haven’t had this problem installing office before…
…
WiFi (802.11G/N) signal strength →
WiFi is such a strange beast to work with.
I recently had a customer in a high-set house, who would have the internet dropout fairly often.
The setup was: adsl modem connected to a netgear WGR614…
McAfee security suite – unknown computer detected →
I was diagnosing an intermittent WiFi fault with a laptop, when the company general manager wanders in and asks if I’m doing anything on the network.
I say, yes, I’ve put a new WiFi adapter in the…
How reliable are internal laptop WiFi cards? →
I’ve started noticing a interesting trend: the built-in WiFi in laptops seems to break quite often.
Whats worse, is the failure seems to be either intermittant, or causes hardware timeouts…
how to connect a monitor / ADSL modem, correctly →
I’ve seen this happen a few times:
Someone gets a new monitor / video card / ADSL modem, and they also get a confusing (ie more than 2) number of cables.
So, if you don’t know much about…
Fast video cards: watch your power supply. →
This PC had many problems. On the surface, it should have been quite reliable:
Core2duo E4300 (1.8 Ghz)
gigabyte 9800 GT
4 X 1Gb DDR2 RAM
2 X HDD
But it would often crash, generate BSODs,…
August 2009
10 posts
PC Maintenance Tips To Help Prevent Computer... →
Wouldn’t it be great if your computer was programmed to perform preventive maintenance on its own? This would automatically prevent various computer problems and increase the efficiency and life of…
Tips on starting a new website (hosting and... →
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…
how do you know if you need more ram? →
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…
Controlling XP system restore on large drives →
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…
XP downgrade for Acer Extensa 5632Z →
I 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…
Bigpond SpeedTouch 536 won’t route →
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…
connect to bigpond nextG using Vista and BP3USB... →
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…
activesync 4.5: critical communications services... →
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),…
What To Do When You Get An Error Code On Your... →
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…
Mac won’t start (How to open a Mac Mini) →
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…
Windows still doesn’t clean up its temp files →
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…
July 2009
11 posts
Problems at domaincentral.com.au →
As some of you have noticed (particularly customers trying to email me), computer-aid.com.au has been totally disabled for about one day.
Nobody hacked my site, and there was nothing wrong with my…
stop 0X00000024 →
While starting, this XP PC would give a blue screen of death (BSOD), the error: stop 0×00000024 and then something about ntfs.sys
I go to boot from my UBCD4Win CD, but it also gives a BSOD… how…
Mouse stops working (code 32) →
After a PC restart, the mouse stopped working.
My first though was: faulty mouse
It was a USB mouse, so I replace it with another USB mouse… but that wouldn’t work either…
OK, lets assume its a…
Sound problems with Vista 64, and Intel DP45SG →
I built a new (high end) PC for a customer wanting to do some heavy duty Flight Simulator X gaming.
The customer specified most of the components, so what I ended up building was composed of: E8600…
Speedup Internet Explorer →
If you never use internet explorer, then you probably won’t be interested in this article.
I recently noticed that my internet explorer was getting sluggish.
I did a defrag, and that helped a bit,…
E6300 confusion (is it a pentium, or a core2 duo?) →
It seems like all big companies are prone to shooting themselves in the foot.
Most recently, it’s been Intel.
They seem to be phasing out the E5XXX series Pentium CPUs (very easily…
3 Security Tips for your Mac →
Although it’s a widely popular idea that the Apple Macintosh is “secure,” there are vulnerabilities that could lead to intrusion. Most Mac users live in a world in which they believe their…
ECS G31T-M7 motherboard RAM problems (get your RAM... →
I recently got an ECS G31T-M7 motherboard to replace a failed motherboard.
But when I try starting it, I just get a blank screen.
OK, it has an intel E1400 CPU, so I try a different CPU: same…
outlook: This operation has been cancelled due to... →
This PC suddenly started to give an error message whenever an outlook email link was clicked:
This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer
Hovering over the…
get feedburner to show your full RSS feed. →
For a long time now, my blogs RSS feed would generate a summary (the first 200 characters), rather than the full article/post.
I decided to change the feed, so that it would generate the entire…
more money: publish your blog on the Amazon Kindle →
Here is an interesting idea for those of you who have a popular blog that has a large readership.
Its now possible to publish your blog via amazon.com
What so special about this?
Well, it means…
June 2009
12 posts
How to waste an hour writing a one sentence blog... →
Sometimes it seems that technology just conspires against us.
And often, it seems to happen the most, to those of us who have a good grasp of most things technical.
Most recently, I just noticed…
adding pictures to google contacts →
I’ve recently been moving to using both Google Contacts and Google Calendar as my main storage for appointments and ”address book” information.
For anyone contemplating this move, I must say my…
pocket outlook on wm6: inefficient email storage →
I have about 7000 emails (including sent emails) stored on gmail (in about 200 folders).
So I figure I’ll setup my smartphone to synchronise with gmail using imap. So that I don’t overload the…
XP In Place Upgrades are fantastic (on most... →
A few days ago I visited a client because they were about to begin installation of a new industry specific stock control and ordering database system onto their computer.
They wanted to replace…
Tips To Prevent DLL Errors →
Computer errors, such as rundll and shell32 errors bring a smile on the face of computer maintenance professionals across the world. These errors mean money in their pockets, as most PC users…
vista: The user profile service service failed the... →
Microsoft just has a certain way with words.
First it was windows 2000: based on NT Technology.
Since NT stands for “new technology”, they were actually saying: based on new technology technology.…
HP M3027 CB416A: is it worth it? →
A customer purchased a HP M3027 multi-function printer (model CB416A) for his home office.
I was called, as he was having some problems getting the scanner to work.
I figured: how hard can it be?…
folder name of 18 - 28 hex numbers →
I recently noticed on some computers (it seems to affect both Vista and XP), that sometimes one or more folders will appear straight under C:, and have a random name… something like:
…
Delete Junk Files quickly and easily →
Mike Hansell asked me to test a utility he is developing.
I don’t usually do this sort of thing, but I liked the concept of DJF (delete junk files).
It sounds like it does a similar job to… …
Delete Junk Files quickly and easily →
I’ve been asked by a software developer named Mike Hansell, to test a utility he is developing.
I don’t usually do this sort of thing, but I liked the concept of DJF (delete junk files).
It sounds…
General Failure. The URL was: xyz Application not... →
PC with Vista, and customer can no longer click on a link in outlook.
Instead, a window pops up, saying: General failure. The URL was: {the url you want to see.html} Application not found.
I ask:…
stop 0X0000008E →
This laptop would (at seemingly random times), generate a blue screen (BSOD), with the error: Stop 0×0000008E
Customer tells me that a few days ago, norton found something bad, and removed it.
So…
May 2009
14 posts
google activesync error 0X80004005 →
I’ve been investigating the possibilities of integrating most of my office activities by using a smartphone.
Until now, I’ve been using Palm PDA’s so I didn’t want to go to…
Melbourne Brisbane…
Virgin, Vista, gmail and 0X800CCC0B →
I had setup internet access on a laptop using a USB 3G modem via Virgin
Then I setup a gmail account and enabled pop3 access so I could download emails to windows mail (Vista).
I setup windows…
intermittent internet dropouts →
After replacing a faulty ADSL modem, the main PC worked fine, but the wireless laptop would either lose its connection to the internet, or websites would be very very slow to load.
A quick way to…
Vista Stop 0X00008086 →
An Acer laptop got an infection that prevented it from connecting to the home wifi access point.
I cleaned up the infection… the laptop was very slow, even for Vista, given that it had 1Gb… …
smartphone, imap email, contacts, calendar →
I find I spend a lot of time “on the road”. Its the nature of a “to your door” computer service.
As soon as Computer Aid grew to having more than 1 person running the…
Melbourne Brisbane Computer…
IE7 history doesn’t update →
Found an odd problem with IE7 running on Vista Home Basic (on a new Compaq laptop).
I would go to a few websites, then look at the browser history, and none of the sites I went to, would show in…
slow intel Atom: stay away! →
I saw my first intel atom computer the other day.
And it wasn’t a laptop. It was an Acer e-Machine EL1600 At first glance, Its seemed nice: 4 front USB ports, 4 rear USB ports, a DVD-RW, a… …