Happy Prosperous New Year 2013

How to setup Dlink wireless router?

So you bought a new Dlink router for your home or office but having some problem getting the ADSL to and wifi work.

Here's 2 wonderful guide for your reference.

1) http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/hardware/dsl2640b.shtml

2) http://techtips.salon.com/set-up-d-link-router-4840.html

God luck and Happy New Year 2013.

Merry Christmas

I would like to wish everyone Merry Christmas and  Happy New Year. Enjoy this special festive season with love, peace and prosperity.

Cheers.

Windows 8 Acer Iconia W510 tablet

My first experience with Windows 8 on Acer Iconia W510 tablet / laptop

After waiting 1 week for the stock to arrive, I had finally started my adventure with Windows 8.

Mine is Acer Iconia W510 with Intel Atom processor, 2GB RAM & 64 GB storage.

You can use it with a dock keyboard or just use it as a table.

The first thing I like to highlight is that it's not a iPad. The user experience is no where near iPad. The tablet is hard to hold, screen isn't easy to navigate with touch and applications are not so touch friendly.

As a laptop, the screen it a little too small and a little slow.

But, it still do both quite OK. Just ok that I don't get frustrated using it.

Windows 8 is a little weird with the new metro & desktop without start button.It uses the Windows button to  navigate.

While in dock mode, I use the Windows desktop. While in tablet mode, I would use the metro icons.

After a few days testing, I feel that I can live with this as my laptop & tablet.

I have long trying to leave my laptop behind and use my tablet but tablet are just not ready for everyday work.

So the hybrid tablet & laptop is still the best for my job as a IT manager.

Now I just carry my Acer Iconia along insted of a tablet and laptop everywhere.

If you are in my shoes, give the Windows 8 hybrid a try.

Here's some references for you :-

http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/09/acer-iconia-w510-review/

http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/acer-iconia-w510-1422/4505-3126_7-35472859.html

Hot to clean hard disk for re-use

Ever wonder how to wipe out a hard disk data and reuse it?

Here's how to do it.

http://forums.cnet.com/7723-7588_102-577455/best-method-to-clean-out-hard-drives-of-data-viruses-for-reuse

Laptop battery failure?

Having laptop battery failure. Here's a forum that I would like to share with yo.

http://forums.cnet.com/7723-19681_102-576395/laptop-sudden-battery-failure-or-something-more/?tag=nl.e497&s_cid=e497

How to add RAM into Dell Inspiron N5050?

How to add RAM into Dell Inspiron N5050 while there is no opening in the bottom of the laptop?

Well, the RAM slot is below the keyboard rather than on the bottom of the laptop.

Follow this video to learn how to change the RAM.

The following operation may void your warranty or may damage your laptop if you are not familiar with technical stuffs. Do it with caution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyYLwyXl1G8

How to protect from Internet Spam and phishing

Internet is great but you have to be careful not to be cheated.

Here's some good article about protecting yourself while using Internet :-

http://netsecurity.about.com/od/secureyouremail/Secure_Your_Email_and_Protect_Your_PC_From_Phishing_and_Spam.htm

DVD burner stop working?

Here's some problems that you may face while using your DVD burner. Take a look, it may solve your problems.

However, most of the time damaged DVD burner can't be repaired and should be replace by a technician.

http://forums.cnet.com/7723-7586_102-574917/what-s-causing-my-cd-dvd-burner-to-suddenly-stop-working/?tag=nl.e497&s_cid=e497

How to change (upgrade) desktop PC RAM

Here's how to change or upgrade RAM.

Make sure you know what type of RAM you PC is using.

Here's a reference of RAM type

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR_SDRAM

If you don't know what RAM your PC have, it's a good idea to take out the existing RAM and take a picture and show it to the shop.

Make sure shut down the PC and turn off power supply and unplug the power plug before doing any repair or upgrade operations. Stay safe.

Video how to change motherboard

This is a good video to share with everyone.

How to protect data in my external hard disk?

The story,

The are people having nightmare of losing their external hard disk. Their files and documents all gone to the wrong hands. I recently left mine at our site office and worried that the people there might open my files.

You may try this free open source program called Truecrypt.

Here's a CNET discussion that may interest you.

How can I secure my external hard drive?

How to remove Babylon Search in Internet Explorer

The Story,

My office PC Internet Explorer suddenly gets infected by Babylon Search. It changed my default Google search to Babylon's own.

This is a Malware as I never installed the program myself. Here's a few ways to remove it :-

• Computer newbies forum: Unwanted search site
• How do I remove the Babylon search engine from my browser?

Speed up Firefox

The Story,

My Firefox browser is getting slower and freezes sometimes. Do you have the same problem?

Here's a DIY remedy for you.

A quick-and-dirty way to speed up Firefox (a lot)

Can surge protectors really protect your PC?

The Story,

I am reading this Cnet forum about surge protection "PC hardware forum: Do surge protectors merely give us a false sense of security?"

People doesn't believe that surge protection works.

I can tell you this, if not for lightning surge protectors, all our computers in our construction site would be blown by now.

During bad weather season, our site (the tower and tower cranes) get hits almost every week and the surge will follow the current all the way into the site office.

We may have many equipment burned but those computers protected by the reliable Belkin Surgemaster always survives the hit (most of the time).

Even our CCTV system is protected by Surgemaster and other lightning protectors.

I can tell you that surge protectors won't work 100% of the time as we are dealing with nature (Thor). But better be protector then sorry later.

How to change PC power supply

The story,

Since I have showed you how so check for power supply failure, I should also show you how to change it.

Here's how to do it

1. Turn off AC power to the PC and remove the power cord from the PC power supply.
2. Open the CPU casing
3. Disconnect the connections from the power supply to the motherboard, hard disk, DVD-ROM and any other power connection (Picture 1)
4. Open the 4 screws of the power supply from the back of the CPU (Picture 2)
5. Take out the power supply
6. Attach a new power supply and screw it to the CPU casing (the 4 screws)
7. Connect all the wire connection to the Motherboard, hard disk, DVD-ROM and others.
8. Double check if all the connections are tight and no wires are blocking the CPU fan from spinning
9. Close the CPU casing and plug in the power cord.
10. Turn on the PC and check if it works. If not, check the connections again.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Stop those nasty pop ups! How to remove Malware?

The story,

While I was searching Internet for printer drivers on my friends laptop, the adult friend finder window popped up automatically.

This is a malware that creeps in while you surf Internet. These pop ups are very annoying. It is worst when naked pictures start to pop up all the time.

You will need a good Malware scanner beside your Antivirus to remove it.

I would recommend Malwarebytes, Spy Sweeper, AVG Internet Security and Ad-Aware.

The following is a link to another Malware removal article for your reference.

Why You Need a Second Opinion Malware Scanner

How do I know PC power supply failure?

The story,

The power distribution in many industrial areal aren't so consistent. Therefore we frequently have dead PC power supply.

So if we cannot turn on the PC, how do we know if it is the power supply failure and not the motherboard?

Here's a simple solution,

1. Open the PC casing, and look for a small LED green light (mostly beside the power connection to the motherboard. 
2. This is a power standby indicator that signal there is power into the motherboard.
3. If there is green light when AC power from wall socket is turned on, this signal that the power supply is OK and vice versa (picture below).
4. If there is no light, change a new power supply.
5. If after change the power supply also no light, then it's the motherboard problem.

Additional note :

• Don't attempt the repair the power supply unless you are a trained electrical technician. The power supply is so cheap that it's not worth to repair even you are a technician or engineer.
• There are still charges in the capacitor that might kill you even it's not plugged in. Don't pass these hazardous things to children or anyone else. Stay safe.
• To keep your power supply healthy and lasting, I suggest you use a AVR (automatic voltage regulator  or UPS (uninterruptible power supply) regulate the AC input power.

Increase PC life span, sleep, hibernate, or shutdown?

The story,

People always ask me how to increase the lifespan of their PC or laptop. If they really want it to last very very long,  I would suggest keep if off and don't use it ... just joking :-).

Amazingly, PC components nowadays are built to last even we never turn it off. In fact, some reports show that PC last longer without turning it off.

But there are things that we must consider, heat and vibration. If you don't want to turn off the PC/laptop, make sure it is in a cool place and not getting lots of vibration (Don't move or carry it around).

Here's a link to Cnet  forum for more information.

Desktops forum: What's the best for a PC life: Sleep, hibernate, or shutdown?

How to hide your wifi network from you neighbours.

The Story,

Have you notice that your router wifi light blinking even no one is on the net? Someone (your neighbour) might have already hacked the wifi key and using your Internet access for free.

Here's some tips on how to hide your wifi.

How To Hide Your Wireless Network From Your Internet-Leeching Neighbors.

Have you accidentally deleted important files before? Even emptying the recycle bin as well?

How do you recover those deleted files? Here are some good software that help you recover the files.

16 Free File Recovery Software Programs

  

How to increase Dropbox size for free?

If you are are an existing Dropbox user, you can increase your storage size (500MB to 16 GB) by inviting friends to use Dropbox.

Here is the link.

How to access Gmail using Microsoft Outlook

The Story :

My friend emailed me to teach him to access Gmail using Microsoft Outlook. With outlook, he can download his company and personal email and work from one email client instead of checking the web based Gmail.


Here's how to do it,

• Log into Gmail and have IMAP access is enabled . (Check bottom)
• Select Tools | Account Settings... from the menu in Outlook.
• Go to the E-mail column.
• Click New....
• Choose Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP is selected.
• Click Next >.
• Type your name, under Your Name:.
• Key in Gmail address under E-mail Address:.
• Please include "@gmail.com". If your Gmail account name is "mike88", make sure you type "mike88@gmail.com" (not including the quotation marks), for example.
• Choose Manually configure server settings or additional server types.
• Click Next .
• Select Internet E-mail .
• Click Next .
• Select IMAP under Account Type:
• Type "imap.gmail.com" under Incoming mail server:.
• Enter "smtp.gmail.com" under Outgoing mail server (SMTP):.
• Type your Gmail account name under User Name:.
• If your Gmail address is "mike88@gmail.com", for example, type "mike88".
• Type your Gmail password under Password:.
• Click More Settings ....
• Go to the Outgoing Server tab.
• Choose My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication is checked.
• Go to the Advanced tab.
• Select SSL under Use the following type of encrypted connection: for both Incoming server (IMAP): andOutgoing server (SMTP):.
• Type "465" under Server Port Numbers for Outgoing server (SMTP):.
• Click OK.
• Now click Next >.
• Click Finish and Close

To access a Gmail account in your email program or mobile device via the IMAP interface:

• Choose Settings from the top Gmail navigation bar.
• Go to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
• Make sure Enable IMAP is selected under IMAP Access:.
• Click Save Changes.

Get SkyDrive 25GB Free now

ATTENTION MY FRIENDS!!

Just now when I logged into my SkyDrive, it showed 'upgrade 7GB to 25GB free'.

So, I clicked' Free 25GB' and woola.. I get 25GB free cloud based storage.

I can now put all my work and fun stuffs in the SkyDrive for free. Cool.

Wonder how will Google Drive or Dropbox respond to this.

If  each give 25 GB free, we would have 75GB free. :-)

Lets hope so!

P.S. If you are wondering what is cloud storage, let me explain. Cloud storage is a virtual storage in the internet that act like a hard disk in your computer. You can copy and save any files into the virtual storage and the files can be accessed from the Internet on any PC, tablet or smartphone with Internet access.

However, the files aren't stored in your PC, it will be stored in the server in the Cloud Storage provider. You must have Internet to use it.

More information : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_storage

How to repair this blue screen?

Hi,

I just got this PC and haven't managed to test what's the problem. Can you tell me?

Specification
Intel Dual Core
4GB RAM
500GB HDD
Windows 7 Pro
Nvidia GT 520.

What I did:

After testing the hard disk with HDDscan and testing the RAM with PC Check. I initially thought that it was the hardware problem. I then run a virus scan on the hard disk and found it to be infected by virus. 

In order for a virus to cause blue screen, it is likely the system files are damaged. The best choice would be to format it.

How to resize existing hard disk partition with Easeus Partition Magic Free

The story:

My staff told me that her PC is running really slow. I check and found that her C drive (partition) is almost full with only 450MB left. The PC slow down as Windows does not have enough space for virtual memory. (Windows uses drive C to write virtual memory unless specified otherwise).

Note :Virtual memory are like RAM. But Windows use the hard disk instead of RAM due to some programs uses more memory then the RAM memory you have.

Then, I saw that she has 45GB of unused space in drive D. I decide to resize drive C and merge the free space of drive D into C to make it bigger.

This is how I do it:

• download Easues Partition Magic from Easues website.
• install Partition Magic in the PC you want to resize.
• start Partition Magic
• check the partition information (below picture)

• I wanted to merge the 45GB of drive D into drive C (picture above)
• first, I would copy all the files in drive D into an external hard disk because the data in drive D will be deleted upon merging the partitions.
• delete the D partition by right click and choose delete, OK and Apply (picture below)

•  once complete, you will see you have 45GB of unallocated space in drvie D.

• 'right click' on drive C and choose 'resize' (picture above)
• drag the partition size to the size you want (picture below)

• I wanted to make the C partition 70GB and then choose 'Apply' (pictures below)

• Once finish, I now have a 70GB drive C instead of 29GB previously

Additional note:

• Be advised the above process will only destroy data in drive D, not drive C. Once done, all files in drive C is preserved.
• Caution: I would suggest you backup all files in drive C and D into external drive before starting the above process. We never know what will happen during the process. Bad sector or power failure may render your data loss.

Want to be a PRO?

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Which is the best desktop processor? AMD vs Intel?

The story:

I wanted to know what are the better processor to use if I need to upgrade my Core2Duo PC at home (maybe for the sake of Diablo III.. Wahaha.).

I found this article. Maybe it will help you too.

Best CPU: the 8 top processors today

How I started using free Office programs - Open Office and Google Docs.

The Story,
I started using Open Office since 2008. I started a business then and had limited capital. I tried free Open Office instead of Microsoft Office which will cost me.

I had downloaded Open Office and tried it. I fell in love with it and use it since then. Even I have MS Office 2010 on my laptop, I still use Open Office as my main Office Editor.

Why I like Open Office :-

1. Simple interface and easy to use
2. Functions are easy to access
3. Good menu layout
4. Able to open almost all MS Office files
5. Spreadsheet meet all my basic need without complicated menus.
6. Fast 

Now I also use Google Doc. It is mainly for shared document among my team members. With Google doc, my team members can update reports, notes and listing in real time and I can read it where ever I am.

No need to call, email and ask for the documents. I can access them on my Samsung Galaxy Note, My Dell Laptop and also from anyone's PC.

It's so flexible and convenient. I have the following reports in my hand :-

•     ‎IT Daily Report
•     ‎GPS Report 
•     ‎Monthly Stock Movement
•     ‎CCTV Site Record 
•     ‎Computer Settings 
•     ‎Software License Key

I have to tell you that Microsoft Office is still the best Office software out there. But if you are a general user and looking for an alternative, please look into Open Office and Google Docs first.

You can download Open Office here.

You can start using Google Docs here.

Here's an interesting article by CNET, How I learned to say, 'Hi, Google Docs; bye, MS Word

Additional notes:

• Open Office isn't a cloud service. The software are installed into you PC.
• Open Office sometime open Microsoft Office Documents a little different. Especially Office 2007 and 2010 templates. You may need to convert those files to 2003 version first.
• Power Point 2007/2010 animation aren't all supported. 
• Google Docs are Cloud based service. You do not have the software in your PC, you need internet access to use it and access your files.
• You need at least broadband speed to use Google Docs properly.
•  With cloud based Google Docs, you will not lost any files even hour Pc hard disk is damaged or even stolen. All files are stored in the Internet inside Google's Server.

How can I make my Windows 7 machines boot up quickly

The Story,

I have been experiencing slow boot up of my own Windows 7 laptop. I found this article in Cnet forum that explain what I would normally do to solve it. Please read on.

Windows 7 forum: How can I make my Windows 7 machines boot up quickly?

Additional note :

• Be advised that you need to have ample RAM to have any effect on Windows 7 performance. I recommend 4GB RAM and 2GB (minimal) with Dual Core processor.
• If you have lower specification, the configuration will not be very helpful. 

How to create hard disk image with Acronis True Image

The story :

Our mini market division has a point of sales IBM server that is a few years old. After a client POS hard disk failed, we fear that the server may also fails soon. They were purchased together.

I decided to make an image of the hard disk just in case. I will use Acronis True Image Bootable CD to create the image into an external hard disk.

I am using an older version of Acronis, the later versions may look different. I bet the functions are likely the same.

Requirements :
a) Acronis True Image Bootable CD
b) USB external hard disk
c) Server with Bootable CDROM Drive

How I do it :

1. Plug the external hard disk (USB FreeAgent Drive) into the server
2. Turn on the server
3. Insert the Acronis CD before the Windows Server start
4. The server will boot using Acronis (picture below)

5. From the Acronis main window, choose Backup (picture below)

6. It will tell you that Acronis will use a wizard to assist you. Click Next (picture below)

7. Choose the hard disk partition you want to backup to an image and click Next (picture below)

8. Choose the target to create the image (I choose Free Agent external drive D:), type in the name of the image and click Next (picture below)

9. I will have 4 option to choose from. I may password protect the image, increase compression ratio, split the image or change other parameters  (picture below) .

10. I normally just click next to proceed to image creation (picture below) 

11. After clicking Next, the image creation process will start as indicated by the progress bar (picture below)

12. Wait for the process to complete and exit.

13. With the image created, I only backup the POS database into external hard disk daily. If the server hard disk fail, I will use the Acronis CD and image (in the external hard disk) to restore the image into a new hard disk. I will then copy the backed up database into the new server hard disk (overwrite the old database in the image).

You may find out or purchase Acronis True Image here. 

Kenneth's note :

• with Acronis, we can also backup the image direct to thumb driver, secondary hard disk and other partition.
• other software like Norton Ghost can do the job as well.
• there are free hard disk clone software such as Disk Clone but they are hard to use.

How to use virtual desktop - DexPot

The story,

I always need to work with multiple project at once and it's just too messy to put so many things in a single Windows desktop(screen). I have outlook, web browser for gmail, gdoc and Google calender, a few documents and Excel worksheets and GPS fleet management system client.

How nice if I can work at each group of programs on different screens. With virtual desktop, we can do it. We can switch from a few desktops with only one computer screens. We can just press some combination of keys like (alt +1 to alt +4) to switch from each screen.

I normally use 4 virtual desktops for my work. I have emails and Outlook for 1 screen, browser for another screen, projects (excel and other applications) on third screen and others on the forth screen.

I use Dexpot to do it. Dexpot allows up to 20 possible desktops. It has a well organized interface that enables easy switching among desktops with just pressing a few combination of keys.

I now can focus on a single desktop and switch to others when necessary.

Try it and you will like it. Download Dexpot here.

It's free too.

Kenneth's note

• Some may want real multiple monitor instead of multiple virtual desk cause you can look at all the screen all the time. With virtual screen, you can only look at a single screen and preview all the virtual desktop on a split screen (not full screen).  
• Multiple screens are achieve by adding hardware (display cards), not by software.
• There may be some application that won;t work with virtual desktop.
•