IE Protected Mode and Phishing Filter

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

Internet Explorer 7.0, when running under Windows Vista (not XP or earlier operating systems), operates by default in Protected Mode. This means that dishonest web sites that a user happens to visit cannot trick IE 7 into changing Windows system files or other crucial configuration details.

A separate feature, but one that can work in concert with Protected Mode to keep users out of trouble, is Microsoft’s new Phishing Filter. IE 7 regularly downloads from a Microsoft server a list of web addresses that appear to be fraudulent. These sites may get on the list because they’re collecting passwords or credit card numbers from gullible consumers, they’re downloading spyware to people’s computers, or for other reasons. In any case, IE 7 doesn’t display known phishing sites, instead warning the user about the identified problems with the site.

The features just described are only two of the several Microsoft has added to Internet Explorer. Others include protection against cross-site scripting attacks (in which one site takes over a window used by another site), ActiveX suspension (which disables the most dangerous ActiveX controls), and Windows Defender, which guards against spyware. It’s too early to say whether the new IE security features will add up to an adequate level of safety for Windows users, or whether third-party security products must still be added to Windows. It’s likely that Microsoft’s own programs will play second fiddle to third-party developers, who concentrate specifically on antiphishing and antispyware research. Read the comparative reviews of security add-ons in respected computer magazines to learn which products provide the best security—and then invest a few bucks in any independent downloads that are top rated.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Malware Fundamentals

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

Intruders, hackers, or attackers who access networks and systems without authorization and with malicious motives can plant various types of programs to cause damage to the network, your system, and your data. These programs—often lumped together under the general term viruses—perform many different functions and are classified under different categories. In this section, we will look at how granular the term malware can actually be. It’s important to have a general understanding of the different classifications of malware, and it’s equally important to understand their general behavior.

Malware is any software product or program that has been created with an intent to cause damage or harm. The word malice is a legal term used to define the intention of one party to harm or cause injury to another party. When applied to computer technology, the word holds equal meaning. A malicious party creates software to cause havoc on any host that downloads and installs it, whether knowingly or unknowingly. When discussing malware, it’s important to classify it. The term malware is generally used to describe a broad spectrum of different types of software, such as computer viruses, Trojans, worms, adware, and spyware. Just about any form of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code can be classified as malware.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

There once was a computer consultant
He didn't know his butt from a fountain
He studied hard all day
And even tried to pray
But alas nothing will make him competent

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Please tell me all your Computer Repair and Consulting Service horror stories.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Vista Q&A

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

Q: How can I determine whether upgrading to Windows Vista is right for me?

A: First, you need to make sure your computer has the recommended hardware to run Vista; if it doesn’t, you will need to upgrade your computer or purchase a new computer. If your computer runs fine on its current OS, you could find it difficult to justify switching to Vista. It may be a good idea to wait until some of the bugs are worked out of Vista before considering an upgrade.

Q: Do I need to upgrade my computer to the specifications that Microsoft has published, or will Vista crash on me?

A: You should always go by the hardware requirements put forward by the vendor. This will ensure that the software will operate correctly when installed on the computer.

Q: I really don’t like Internet Explorer 7.Will Firefox run on Vista?

A: Yes, it will, and we have been using it on our test box with no problems so far.

Q: Is it better for me to go with a 64-bit or a 32-bit version of Vista?

A: We recommend the 32-bit version for now because there are still many programs and hardware devices that are not supported on 64-bit Windows. If you have researched what programs and hardware devices are supported and feel comfortable going with the 64-bit version, then the 64-bit version may be right for you.

Q: Can I expect any glitches when upgrading from XP to Vista?

A: We experienced only a few when we upgraded to Vista in our lab. When we did a fresh install, we had no problems.

Q: I was told that Vista is a memory hog and that it would crash computers with less than 1 GB of RAM. Is this true?

A: We ran Vista on a machine with only 600 MB of RAM and it ran okay, but remember, when you add more programs, you need more RAM.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

What Is Windows Vista Sidebar?

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

Back when Microsoft shipped Windows 98, it added a debatably useful feature called Active Desktop that provided an HTML layer on top of the traditional desktop. Active Desktop was an attempt to capitalize on the then-emerging trend of users wanting to combine live data from the Web with their PC operating system. The term for this, at the time, was push technology. The idea was that although you could use a Web browser to manually find, or pull down, data from the Web, a push technology client like Active Desktop could push data to the user automatically with no interaction required. Ultimately, most users found Active Desktop to be confusing and undesirable, and although the feature was never really removed from Windows, it was deemphasized in subsequent Windows versions, such as Windows XP. It’s still possible to add web content to your XP desktop via Active Desktop if you really want to.

Active Desktop may have failed, but the underlying benefits of push technology are still valid today. You can see that newer versions of this functionality exist in such technologies as RSS (Really Simple Syndication), which in fact, attempts to solve essentially the same problem as Active Desktop: Rather than force users to manually search for the content they want, that content is delivered automatically to them using a unique kind of client (in this case, an RSS client). One such RSS client is included in Windows Vista as part of Internet Explorer 7.

In Windows Vista, Active Desktop is finally gone forever. But integrated push technology lives on with a brand-new feature called Windows Sidebar. Like Active Desktop, Windows Sidebar is available by default and is running when you start up your PC, unless you configure it not to do so. But Windows Sidebar solves one of the major problems with Active Desktop by moving the main user interface to the side of the screen where it won’t typically be hidden under your open applications and other windows.

Put simply, Windows Sidebar is a panel that sits at the edge of your screen and houses small gadgets, or mini-applications, each of which can provide specific functionality. Gadgets typically connect to data somewhere, be it on your PC or on the Internet. Windows Vista ships with a variety of these gadgets, but you can download many more online, and if you’re familiar with Web technologies like HTML (HyperText Markup Language), DHTML (Dynamic HTML), and JavaScript, you can even build your own gadgets.

Because Windows Sidebar does take up a small portion of vertical real estate on your screen, this feature is more useful for those with widescreen displays. That said, Windows Sidebar appears under other windows by default so that users with normal square-shaped screens can use it as well.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Make XP Desktop Icon Labels See-Through

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

THE ANNOYANCE: The captions under my desktop icons have ugly blocks of solid color behind them, obscuring my pretty, pretty wallpaper.

THE FIX: I know what you mean; you've just got to see as much as possible of that kitten playing with the ball of yarn. The color Windows uses for the blocks behind icon captions is the default desktop color what you'd see if you had no wallpaper. You can change this color by right-clicking an empty area of the desktop and selecting Properties. Choose the Appearance tab, then click the Advanced button. Choose Desktop from the Item menu, and open the color picker under "Color 1" to change it. Pick a color that closely matches the background in your desktop wallpaper, and click OK and Apply to see the results.

An even better option is to open the System control panel, click the Advanced tab, and in the Performance section, click the Settings button. Scroll down and check the "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop" box, and click OK. The caption backgrounds will vanish, and the text will have shadows so you can distinguish the captions from your desktop wallpaper.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Show XP Desktop Without Closing Windows

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

THE ANNOYANCE: I usually have a lot of application windows open, and it's a pain to have to shove windows out of the way to get to a file on the desktop.

THE FIX: There are a bunch of ways to get to your desktop in a flash. First, hold the Windows logo key (which we'll call Winkey, just to be cute) and press D to quickly minimize all open windows. Press Winkey-D again to restore them. Do this many times to give yourself a headache.

But what if your keyboard havey no Winkey? No problemo; just click the Show Desktop button on the Quick Launch toolbar (the little row of tiny buttons on the far left of your Taskbar). Give the button another click to restore the windows.

Want to free up some Taskbar real estate? Eliminate the Quick Launch toolbar buttons you don't use by right-clicking each one and selecting Delete. To really save space, you can banish all the buttons except Show Desktop, and place the shrunken Quick Launch toolbar next to the Windows System Tray on the far right.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Office 2007 New Technologies

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

Office 2007 includes an option for saving files in XML Paper Specification (XPS), a format developed by Microsoft that offers XML-based, paginated device-independent files, enabling you to share formatted and finalized documents in a secure way with others who may or may not be working with the same software you use.

XPS Fact Sheet

■ An XPS document is a platform-independent file that preserves page by page the final presentation of a document as it will appear when printed.
■ XPS is developed by Microsoft and is similar to PDF (developed by Adobe Systems), but is XML-based.
■ The XPS format is available as an option in Office Word 2007, Office Excel 2007, Office PowerPoint 2007, Office Access 2007, Microsoft® Office Publisher® 2007, and Microsoft® Office Visio® 2007.
■ The XPS format is secure, and the content is fixed—no macros or scripts are preserved in the format.
■ XPS includes support for digital signatures and is compatible with Windows Rights Management for additional protection.
■ The XPS format preserves live links within documents, making files saved in this format fully functional as live online documents.
■ Users of the Microsoft Office system applications with XPS support can create XPS documents using the familiar Save As procedure available in the File menu.
■ The XPS Document Viewer comes with Microsoft Windows Vista and also is available for Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Using Vista Power Button: What’s Changed

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

Regardless of whether you are using a desktop computer or a mobile computer, the way the Power button works depends on the system hardware, the system state, and the system configuration:

• If the computer hardware doesn’t support the sleep state, the computer can’t use the sleep state, and turning off the computer powers it down completely.
• If the computer has updates installed that require a restart or you’ve installed programs that require a restart, the computer can’t use the sleep state, and turning off the computer powers it down completely.
• If you or an administrator has reconfigured the power options on the computer and set the Power button to the Shut Down action, the computer can’t use the sleep state, and turning off the computer powers it down completely.

To help differentiate between turning off and shutting down a computer, Windows Vista displays two different views for the Power button:

• An amber Power button, depicting a shield with a line through the top of it, indicates that the computer will turn off and enter the low-power sleep state.
• A red Power button, depicting a shield with a line through the middle of it, indicates that the computer will shut down and completely power off.

Because the computer is still drawing power in the sleep state, you should never install hardware inside the computer or connect devices to the computer when it is in the sleep state. The only exception is for external devices that use USB or IEEE 1394 (FireWire) ports. You can connect USB and FireWire devices without shutting down the computer.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Turning Off Vista: What’s Changed

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

By default, when you turn off a computer running Windows Vista, the computer enters the sleep state. When entering the sleep state, the operating system:

• Automatically saves all work.
• Turns off the display.
• Puts the computer in sleep mode.

In sleep mode, the computer’s fan stops, the computer’s hard disks stop, and the computer enters a low-power consumption mode in which the state of the computer is maintained in the computer’s memory. The next time you turn on the computer, the computer’s state will be exactly as it was when you turned off the computer.

Note: Because the operating system saves your work, you don’t need to save documents and exit programs before turning off the computer. Because the computer is in a low-power consumption state, the computer uses very little energy. For mobile computers, the sleep state will use very little battery power. If, while in the sleep state, the mobile computer’s battery runs low on power, the state of the computer is saved to the hard disk and then the computer is shut down completely—this state is similar to the hibernate state used in Windows XP.

You can turn off a computer and make it enter the sleep state by following these steps:

1. Click the Start button.
2. Click the Power button.

To wake the computer from the sleep state, you can do either of the following:

• Press the power button on the computer’s case.
• Press a key on the computer’s keyboard.

You can turn off and turn on mobile computers by closing or opening their lid. When you close the lid, the laptop enters the sleep state. When you open the lid, the laptop wakes up from the sleep state.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Using Outlook Stationery

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

In this lesson, you will learn how to create a new message using Outlook's stationery.

1. Make sure you're in the Inbox folder and select Actions -- New Mail Message Using -- More Stationery from the menu.

   The Select a Stationery dialog box appears. Outlook comes with a wide assortment of stationery, from no-nonsense corporate backgrounds to whimsical and playful ones. When you select a stationery option from the list, Outlook displays a sample of that background. If you don't like any of the stationery options, you can click the Get More Stationery button to download more stationery from Microsoft's web site.

   NOTE: You can only use stationery if your e-mail messages are in Microsoft Outlook Rich Text or HTML format. To see and/or change your message format, select Tools -- Options from the menu and click the Mail Format tab.

2. Browse through the list of stationery options until you find one you like and click OK.

A new Untitled Message form appears with the selected stationery. Because you should already know how to create and send an e-mail message by now, you can close the new message without sending it.

3. Close the Untitled - Message window without saving your changes.

   It is usually considered unprofessional to use stationery in the business world, so be discrete about where and when you use it. It would be a bad idea to send an e-mail to the president of a company using the same teddy bear stationery you use to correspond with your friends.
   

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Office 2007 Design Goals

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

The 2007 Microsoft Office system was designed specifically with the following goals in mind:

Make the product easier to use. The dramatic and smart redesign of the look and feel of theMicrosoft Office system does away with the over abundance of toolbars and the layers of nested dialog boxes. As you learn in Chapter 2, the design of the majority of the applications(Office Word 2007, Office Excel 2007, Office PowerPoint 2007, and Office Access2007) now brings to you the tools you need to complete the task you’re working
on. It’s easy to discover new features you didn’t see before because of the contextual display, but you don’t have to go searching through multiple levels of menus to uncover that one command you vaguely remember but can’t find.

Help you become more efficient. The redesign of the look and feel saves you time by making the options you need easier to find; the flexibility in the way you can work with the Microsoft Office system (choosing primary mouse-based or keyboard-based techniques) enables you to choose the work style you like best. Faster search capabilities help you locate what you need more quickly than ever; increased integration among the applications makes it faster and easier to share data and objects between programs.

Make it easier to find what you need. Super ToolTips help you understand how to use a feature and provide a link for more detailed help; Live Preview enables you to try an option (such as a style, font, or color) before selecting it. Galleries display a range of choices you can select quickly without digging through multilayered menus.

Make it easier to create great professional quality documents. A large collection of professionally designed templates is now part of all the core Microsoft Office system applications. Additionally, process-related help (such as Publisher Tasks, the Design Checker, the Document Inspector, and more) help you ensure that your documents and projects are as accurate and professional as possible before you share them with others.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

How Windows Vista Affects You

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

Road Warriors

The legion of mobile users who take their notebooks on the road will find a lot to like in Vista. The new Mobility Center makes it easy to quickly monitor and change important settings such as the screen brightness, speaker volume, and battery. Vista also comes with a new Mobile PC icon in the Control Panel that gives notebook users easy access to other settings related to notebooks, such as the display and audio devices.

Users who lug their notebooks with them to give presentations will make good use of the Vista Presentation Settings. This new feature enables you to specify several different notebook settings relating to giving a presentation, including turning off the screen saver, deactivating system alerts (such as incoming email messages), setting the speaker volume, and choosing a desktop background. When you're about to give a presentation, you can apply all of these settings with just a few clicks of the mouse.

In the long run, perhaps the most useful of Vista's new mobility features will be Windows SideShow, which enables a notebook manufacturer to add a small, secondary display to the outside of a notebook case, and enables Vista to display information on that secondary display such as calendar data, email messages, and Media Player "now playing" data and playback control seven if the computer is in sleep mode or turned off.

Small Business Owners

I mentioned earlier that Windows Vista is the closest that a Microsoft OS has come to being a complete system. If you're a small business owner on a budget, the addition of Windows Calendar, Windows Defender, and the bidirectional Windows Firewall should help your bottom line. Of course, you'll still likely need mainstream business tools such as a spreadsheet, database, and accounting package.

Most small businesses lack an IT department, so Vista's simple installation, easy network setups, new monitoring tools such as the Reliability Monitor, and myriad diagnostic tools should help most businesses reduce third-party IT costs.

Gamers

One of Microsoft's goals with Vista is to turn the PC into a viable gaming platform that can compete with or even exceed the capabilities of dedicated platforms such as the Xbox 360 and forthcoming PlayStation 3. To that end, Vista introduces a number of gaming features, including the Game Explorer and support for ESRB ratings that I mentioned earlier. Vista also supports a number of game-related metadataincluding the last date you played the game, the game version and release date, and the genre (such as Shooter or Strategy). Vista also comes with built-in support for peer-to-peer gaming, enabling you to play along with others on your network.

Microsoft is also making it easier for game developers to write games for the PC by giving programmers access to WinSAT metrics, implementing the powerful DirectX 10 API, defining game-definition files that enable the game to appear in the Game Explorer, and putting developer-friendly touches into the Game Explorer: links to the developer's community and support web pages, automatic update of games, and more.

Parents

When it comes to kids and computers, most parent want to know two things about a new operating system:

• Can it help protect my kids from others?

• Can it help protect my kids from themselves?

Windows Defender, Internet Explorer Protected mode, and the bidirectional Windows Firewall all work to ensure that kids can't download and install viruses, spyware, Trojan horses, and other malware. Also, Vista's support for ESRB and other game-rating systems will help you make decisions about which games your kids can play. Note, too, that it's important to set up younger kids with their own standard user account to ensure the full effects of User Account Control.

With accounts set up for the kids, you can also take full advantage of the new set of Parental Controls in Vista. This will enable you to restrict website content and games, block specific programs, and set time limits on computer usage.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

How Windows Vista Affects:

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

Power Users

Power users may at first be disappointed with Windows Vista because, as part of Microsoft's constant quest to make Windows easier for novices and casual users, the OS becomes increasingly encrusted with "user-friendly" features that might get in the way of the power user's goal of efficiency and speed. However, the Windows programmers and designers are mostly power users themselves, so in many cases they've slipped in alternative methods to work around the hand-holding.

For example, most power users will probably be driven to the point of insanity by User Account Control and its endless requests for your permission to do many things. I can attest that you do get used to it after a week or two. However, what's truly annoying about UAC is that it simply won't let you do some tasksit won't even ask for permission. A good example is editing a file in a protected folder. For instance, I often modify the lmhosts file to ensure proper networking, but UAP doesn't let me save my changes. However, I can get around this by right-clicking the Notepad icon and then clicking Run As Administrator.

Power users will get the most out of Vista to the extent that they discover and use such workarounds.

Digital Media Users

If you're a big digital media user, you should love Windows Vista because so many of its innovations and improvements were made with digital media in mind. Got a massive digital music collection? Then it will find a good home in Windows Media Player 11. The interface lets you view your music in many different ways (such as grouped or stacked), and the new search engine is lightning quick, even with the largest music collections.

Microsoft has said that it will ship all the Vista SKUs to each OEM, which gives computer manufacturers complete freedom to put any version of Vista on any machine (as long as the hardware supports it). This should mean that Media Center PCs become more popular because it will no longer be perceived as some "other" version of the OS. That's good news for people looking to set up a PC as a home media hub. With its support for all types of media, as well as TV tuners, radio tuners, and media broadcast hardware, the Vista Media Center should take pride of place as the center of such as hub.

Business Users

Generalizing is always a risky proposition, but I think I'm going out on a pretty sturdy limb when I say that the majority of business users don't care about their computer's operating system. They're more focused on getting their job done as quickly and as efficiently as possible; it's the operating system's job to help when it can, and to get out of the way the rest of the time.

So, will Vista help business users get their jobs done? The new OS does come with quite a few efficiencies that should make many day-to-day chores faster. Features like as-you-type searching, faster and more powerful document searching, the streamlined Start menu, live thumbnails (particularly with Flip and taskbar thumbnails), the capability to group and stack documents, and Windows Sidebar are all productivity boosters. On the other hand, in some cases, Vista requires more involvement from the business user. The most obvious example here is document metadata, which is a great way to organize data but requires time to enter the data into each property.

How about getting out of the way of the business user? Most recent versions of Windows do a pretty good job of this, and Vista is no exception. When you're performing normal business chores, you'll probably rarely have to interact with Vista itself. The exception here will be when you try to do anything that runs afoul of the User Account Control policies, and that dialog box comes up yet again. Users will also be getting pestered by Windows Firewall (to block or allow some programs) and Windows Defender (to block or allow certain actions), so I can foresee a backlash against all these so-called "nag" dialog boxes. Also, most existing Windows applications should run well under Vista, but device driver support might be spotty for a while, and that could slow people down. In the end, however, business users want an operating system that works. Nothing sucks up time like an unstable OS that requires constant reboots, tweaking, and repairing. If Vista's promise of increased stability proves true, businesses should flock to the new OS in droves.

Unfortunately, however, the real problem for business users, particularly corporate desktops, will be having enough horsepower especially graphics power to run Vista well and to take advantage of its new features. Business machines tend to have only the minimum amount of RAM necessary, and they almost always have a low-end graphics card. Without upgrades, this will mean that Vista runs quite slowly and that the nice Aero Glass interface and other effects will be disabled.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

How Windows Vista Affects Developers

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

The big news for independent software vendors (ISVs) and other Windows developers is WinFX, the new application programming interface (API) for Vista. WinFX is based on (actually, it's a superset of) the .NET Framework. That's where the name comes from: WinFX is the Windows .NET Framework Extension. Its .NET underpinnings tell you that WinFX is a managed API, which means that the runtime environment handles things such as allocating and reclaiming memory. (In the old Win32 API, programmers had to manage memory themselves.) This should mean that WinFX applications are a bit more stable than their Win32 counterparts because there's less chance of memory mismanagement or other programmer error. (Of course, the old Win32 API is still supported in Vista, meaning that most Windows applications built on the Win32 framework will still work in Vista.)

A major component of WinFX is the Windows Presentation Foundation, which developers should love because it replaces the myriad of APIsincluding but not limited to the Graphics Device Interface (GDI), Direct3D, OpenGL, DirectShow, USER32, and Windows Formswith a single API. With WPF, developers can do 2D, 3D, animation, imaging, video, audio, special effects, and text rendering using a single API that works consistently no matter what type of object the developer is working
with.

Developers also get to play with a new markup language called XAMLeXtensible Application Markup Languagewhich acts as a kind of front end for building interfaces. XAML implements a simple markup language that enables developers and designers to work together to build user interfaces.

Microsoft has also put together a number of APIs that enable developers to hook into other new Vista features. Here's a list of just a few of these new features that come with APIs:

• Microsoft has published the API for viewing and manipulating XPS documents, so there's little doubt that third-party developers will come up with XPS viewers for the Mac, Linux, and other systems. Microsoft is also licensing XPS royalty-free, so developers can incorporate XPS viewing and publishing features into their products without cost. This means it should be easy to publish XPS documents from a variety of applications.

• Microsoft is giving PC manufacturers access to the Mobility Center, so we'll likely see the Mobility Center window customized with features that are specific to particular notebooks.

• Microsoft has created an API for SideShow, so third-party developers can create programs and gadgets that you can add to your SideShow menu.

• Microsoft is making I/O cancellation available to developers via an API, so programs, too, can cancel unresponsive requests and recover on their own.

• Microsoft is providing developers with an API for the RADAR tool, thus enabling vendors to build resource exhaustion detection into their applications. When such a program detects that it is using excessive resources, or if it detects that the system as a whole is low on virtual memory, the program can free resources to improve overall system stability.

• There is an API for the Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSAT), so third-party programsparticularly gamescan access the assessments and tune program features depending on the WinSAT metrics.

• Windows Vista supports DirectX 10, the latest version of the Windows graphics APIs, which have been completely rewritten to take full advantage of the powerful graphics hardware that's now available for PCs.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

How Windows Vista Affects IT Professionals

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

The big news for IT pros is the new set of deployment tools and technologies that Microsoft has created for Windows Vista. In the past, deploying Windows to multiple desktops was a time-consuming and complex chore that require a hodgepodge of tools from not only Microsoft, but usually a few third-party vendors as well. Here's a summary of what's new that will make your life easier:

• Modularized Windows Vista begins with a core OS that contains 95% of the functionality, and all the other editions are created by adding the appropriate modules to that core. This includes not only OS features such as Media Player and games, but also language packs.

• Windows Imaging (WIM) This is a new file-based imaging file format that enables you to create images for deployment. WIM files can contain images for multiple SKUs, so you can deploy any edition of Vista, for any computer type, in any language, customized in any way you want, using just a single file.

• System Image Manager This new GUI and command-line tool enables you to create a custom Vista deployment.

• XML answer file The customizations and settings created by Setup Manager are stored in a single XML file, usually called unattend.xml.

• XImage This command-line tool enables you to capture volume to image files, mount image files to folders for offline editing of the image, and perform other image-based tasks.

Support professionals always want a more stable Windows to make their lives easier. Vista innovations such as I/O Cancellation, Service Recovery, and the Startup Repair Tool should help keep users up and running, and the extra security offered by User Account Control, Windows Defender, and Windows Service Hardening should keep users out of trouble. However, it's also good to know that diagnostic tools such as the Reliability Monitor, Disk Diagnostics, and Network Diagnostics should ease tech support when problems crop up.

However, if there's one technology that has the potential to turn IT engineers into corporate stars, it's probably Transactional NTFS and the previous versions of files that it creates. There probably isn't a support desk pro who hasn't been yelled at because an employee has lost all of his or her work due to a program crash. By restoring a recent version of that work with just a few mouse clicks, there will be kudos and glory for all.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Vista Security Enhancements

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

With reports of new Windows XP vulnerabilities coming in with stomach-lurching regularity, we all hope that Vista has a much better security track record. It's still too early to telland nefarious hackers are exceptionally cleverbut it certainly looks as though Microsoft is heading in the right direction with Vista:

• User Account Control This newand very controversialfeature ensures that every Vista user runs with only limited privileges, even those accounts that are part of the Administrators group (except the Administrator account itself). In other words, each user runs as a "least privileged user," which means users have only the minimum privileges they require for day-to-day work. This also means that any malicious user or program that gains access to the system also runs with only limited privileges, thus limiting the amount of damage they can do. The downside (and the source of the controversy) is that you constantly get pestered with security dialog boxes that ask for your approval or credentials to perform even trivial tasks, such as deleting certain files.

• Windows Firewall This feature is now bidirectional, which means that it blocks not only unauthorized incoming traffic, but also unauthorized outgoing traffic. For example, if your computer has a Trojan horse installed, it may attempt to send data out to the Web, but the firewall's outgoing protection will prevent this.

• Windows Defender This is the Windows Vista antispyware program. (Spyware is a program that surreptitiously monitors a user's computer activities or harvests sensitive data on the user's computer, and then sends that information to an individual or a company via the user's Internet connection.) Windows Defender prevents spyware from being installed on your system and also monitors your system in real time to look for signs of spyware activity.

• Internet Explorer Protected mode This new operating mode for Internet Explorer builds upon the User Account Control feature. Protected mode means that Internet Explorer runs with a privilege level that's enough to surf the Web, but that's about it. Internet Explorer can't install software, modify the user's files or settings, add shortcuts to the Startup folder, or even change its own settings for the default home page and search engine. This is designed to thwart spyware and other malicious programs that attempt to gain access to your system through the web browser.

• Phishing Filter Phishing refers to creating a replica of an existing web page to fool a user into submitting personal, financial, or password data. Internet Explorer's new Phishing Filter can alert you when you surf to a page that is a known phishing site, or it can warn you if the current page appears to be a phishing scam.

• Junk Mail Filter Windows Mail (the Vista replacement for Outlook Express) comes with an antispam filter based on the one that's part of Microsoft Outlook. The Junk Mail Filter uses a sophisticated algorithm to scan incoming messages for signs of spam. If it finds any, it quarantines the spam in a separate Junk Mail folder.

• Windows Service Hardening This new technology is designed to limit the damage that a compromised service can wreak upon a system by (among other things) running all services in a lower privilege level, stripping services of permissions that they don't require, and applying restrictions to services that control exactly what they can do on a system.

• Secure Startup This technology encrypts the entire system drive to prevent a malicious user from accessing your sensitive data. Secure Startup works by storing the keys that encrypt and decrypt the sectors on a system drive in a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 chip, which is a hardware component available on many newer machines.

• Network Access Protection (NAP) This service checks the health status of a computer, including its installed security patches, downloaded virus signatures, and security settings. If any of the health items are not completely up-to-date or within the network guidelines, the NAP enforcement service (running on a server that supports this feature) either doesn't let the computer log on to the network or shuttles the computer off to a restricted area of the network.

• Parental Controls This feature enables you to place restrictions on the user accounts that you've assigned to your children. Using the new User Controls window in the Control Panel, you can allow or block specific websites, set up general site restrictions (such as Kids Websites Only), block content categories (such as Pornography, Mature Content, and Bomb Making), block file downloads, set time limits for computer use, allow or disallow games, restrict games based on ratings and contents, and allow or block specific programs.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Vista Stability Improvements

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

The second thing that people always ask about a forthcoming version of Windows is, "Will it crash less often? Microsoft has had nearly a quarter of a century to get Windows right, so why can't they produce a glitch-free operating system?" I have to break the news to my frustrated interlocutors that what they seek is almost certainly impossible. Windows is just too big and complex, and the number of software permutations and hardware combinations is just too huge to ensure complete system stability in all setups.

That doesn't mean that Microsoft isn't at least trying to make Windows more stable. Here's what they've done in Vista:

• I/O cancellation Windows often fails because some program has crashed and brought the OS down with it. The usual cause of this is that a program has made an input/output (I/O) request to a service, resource, or another program, but that process is unavailable; this results in a stuck program that requires a reboot to recover. To prevent this, Vista implements an improved version of a technology called I/O cancellation, which can detect when a program is stuck waiting for an I/O request and then cancel that request to help the program recover from the problem.

• Reliability monitor This new feature keeps track of the overall stability of your system, as well as reliability events, which are either changes to your system that could affect stability or occurrences that might indicate instability. Reliability events include Windows updates, software installs and uninstalls, device driver installs, updates, rollbacks and uninstalls, device driver problems, and
  Windows failures. Reliability monitors graphs these changes and a measure of system stability over time so that you can graphically see whether any changes affected system stability.

• Service recovery Many Windows services are mission-critical, and if they fail, it almost always means that the only way to recover your system is to shut down and restart your computer. With Windows Vista, however, every service has a recovery policy that enables Vista not only to restart the service, but also to reset any other service or process that is dependent on the failed service.

• Startup Repair Tool Troubleshooting startup problems is not for the faint-of-heart, but you may never have to perform this onerous core again, thanks to Vista's new Startup Repair Tool (SRT), which is designed to fix many common startup problems automatically. When a startup failure occurs, Vista starts the SRT immediately. The program then analyzes the startup logs and performs a series of diagnostic tests to determine the cause of the startup failure.

• New diagnostic tools Windows Vista is loaded with new and improved diagnostic tools. These include Disk Diagnostics (which monitors the Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology, or SMART, data generated by most modern hard disks), Windows Memory Diagnostics (which works with Microsoft Online Crash Analysis to determine whether program crashes are caused by defective physical memory), Memory Leak Diagnosis (which looks for and fixes programs that are using up increasing amounts of memory), Windows Resource Exhaustion Detection and Resolution (RADAR, which monitors virtual memory and issues a warning when resources run low, and also identifies which programs or processes are using the most virtual memory and includes a list of these resource hogs as part of the warning), Network Diagnostics (which analyzes all aspects of the network connection and then either fixes the problem or gives the user simple instructions for resolving the situation), and the Windows Diagnostic Console (which enables you to monitor performance metrics).

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Vista Performance Improvements

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

When I tell people that I'm testing a prerelease version of Windows, the first question they inevitably ask is, "Is it faster than [insert their current Windows version here]?" Everybody wants Windows to run faster, but that's primarily because most of us are running systems that have had the same OS installed for several years. One of the bitter truths of computing is that even the most meticulously well maintained system will slow down over time. On such systems, the only surefire way to get a big performance boost is to wipe the hard drive and start with a fresh OS install.

The Windows Vista Setup program essentially does just that (preserving and restoring your files and settings along the way, of course). So the short answer to the previous question is, "Yes, Vista will be faster than your existing system." However, that performance gain comes not just from a fresh install, but also because Microsoft has tweaked the Windows code for more speed:

• Faster startup Microsoft has optimized the Vista startup code and implemented synchronous startup script and application launching. This means that Vista doesn't delay startup by waiting for initialization scripts to complete their chores. It simply completes its own startup tasks while the scripts run in their own good time in the background.

• Sleep mode Actually, you can reduce Vista startup to just a few seconds by taking advantage of the new Sleep mode, which combines the best features of the XP Hibernate and Standby modes. Like Hibernate, Sleep mode preserves all your open documents, windows, and programs, and it completely shuts down your computer. However, like Standby, you enter Sleep mode within just a few seconds, and you resume from Sleep mode within just a few seconds.

• SuperFetch This technology tracks the programs and data you use over time to create a kind of profile of your disk usage. Using the profile, SuperFetch can then make an educated guess about the data that you'll require; like XP's Prefetcher, it can then load that data into memory ahead of time for enhanced performance. SuperFetch can also work with Vista's new ReadyBoost technology, which uses a USB 2.0 Flash drive as storage for the SuperFetch cache, which should provide improved performance even further by freeing up the RAM that SuperFetch would otherwise use.

• Restart Manager This feature enables patches and updates to install much more intelligently. Now you often have to reboot when you install a patch because Windows can't shut down all the processes associated with the application you're patching. Restart Manager keeps track of all running processes and, in most cases, can shut down all of an application's processes so that the patch can be installed without requiring a reboot.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Vista Versions

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

For many years, the Windows world was divided into two camps: the so-called "consumer" editions Windows 95, 98, and Me aimed at individuals and home office users, and the "business" editions Windows NT and 2000 aimed at the corporate market. With the release of Windows XP, Microsoft merged these two streams into a single code base. However, that didn't mean the end to having multiple editions of the operating system. In fact, XP ended up with six major editions: Starter (for users with low-cost PCs in emerging markets outside North America), Home (individuals), professional (corporate users and the SOHO crowd), Professional x64 (the 64-bit version for power users), Media Center (multimedia users), and Tablet PC (with digital pen support for Tablet PC users). Many people found the existence of so many versions of XP confusing, and it certainly was a head-scratching situation for anyone not versed in the relatively subtle differences among the editions.

Given this widespread confusion, you would think that Microsoft would simplify things with Windows Vista. After all, a case could be made that the reason so many people did not upgrade to XP was that they simply were not sure which edition they should purchase. So no one would blame you for thinking that the road to Vista is going to be straighter than the twisting XP path.

In the end, Vista will ship with the same number of versions as XPsix in allalthough Vista's versions will be configured completely differently than XP's. First, the home market will see two editions:

• Windows Vista Home Basic
  This edition will be made available in North America and other developed nations, and it represents the simplest Vista option. The Home Basic Edition is aimed at individuals using their computer at home who want security without complexity. Home Basic includes Windows Defender, Windows Mail with its antispam features, Internet Explorer 7 with its antiphishing features and protected mode, the improved Windows Firewall, the revamped Security Center, and Vista's enhanced parental controls. It will also feature Windows Media Player 11, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Calendar, Windows Sidebar, Windows Search, the Games Explorer, partial support for the Mobility Center for notebook users, and basic networking (wired and wireless). However, Home basic will not support the new Aero shell.

• Windows Vista Home Premium
  This edition includes everything in Home Basic, plus the Aero shell, Media Center, support for Tablet PCs, Windows Collaboration, Windows DVD Maker, scheduled backups, DVD ripping and authoring capabilities, the Mobility Center for notebook users, and advanced networking capabilities (such as ad hoc peer-to-peer networks and multiple-machine parental controls). This edition is aimed at networked household, multimedia enthusiasts, and notebook users.

The business market will also see two editions:

• Windows Vista Business
  This edition is analogous to Windows XP Professional and includes the same corporate features as XP Pro: support for domains, multiple network protocols, offline files, Remote Desktop, file and folder encryption, roaming user profiles, and group. Vista Business also comes with the Aero shell, Internet Information Server, Windows Fax and Scan, support for Tablet PCs, and the full Mobility Center. This edition does not come with Media Center, Movie Maker, and DVD Maker. In short, it's a no-nonsense OS for the business professional.

• Windows Vista Enterprise
  This edition is optimized for corporate desktops. It includes everything that's in Vista Business, plus features such as Windows BitLocker (drive encryption for sensitive data), Virtual PC Express, Multilanguage User Interface (MUI), and Subsystem for UNIX-Based Applications (SUA). It also allows IT personnel to deploy the OS in different languages using a single disk image. Note, however, that Enterprise Edition will be made available only to Enterprise Agreement (EA) and Software Assurance (SA) volume-licensing customers. (Or, of course, you can just buy the Ultimate Edition, which I discuss next.)

Bestriding the canyon that exists between the home and business editions is an everything-but-the kitchen sink version:

• Windows Vista Ultimate
  This edition comes with all the features of the Home Premium and Enterprise editions. It also offers enhanced game performance, access to online subscription services, custom themes, and enhanced support.

Here's the sixth Vista version:

• Windows Vista Starter
  This is a stripped-down edition of Vista that will be made available only in emerging markets. It's designed for low-cost PCs and is optimized to run on machines with relatively slow CPUs and small memory footprints. This means that the Starter Edition won't support features such as the Aero shell, networking, image editing, and DVD burning. As with XP Starter Edition, Vista Starter Edition will be limited to an 800x600 display and won't allow users to open more than three programs or three windows at once.

In addition to these editions, there will be OEM equivalents for all versions, as well as 64-bit versions for everything except the Starter Edition. Finally, Microsoft will also make available special versions of Vista Home Edition and a Professional Editionthat are customized for Europe to satisfy antitrust legal obligations in that region, which means these editions come without Microsoft's media features, including Media Player and Media Center.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

Q. What’s so special about an Excel template?

A. A template is a particular type of Excel file designed to automatically generate new workbooks that use both its data and formatting.
Each time you open a template, Excel opens a copy of the template file rather than the original (by appending a number to the template’s original filename).
Excel template files use the filename extension .xlt to differentiate them from regular Excel workbook files, which carry an .xls filename extension.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

How to use Outlook's junk e-mail features

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

1. Select Tools -- Options from the menu.

   The Options dialog box appears.

2. Click the Junk E-mail button in the Preferences tab.

   The Junk E-mail Options dialog box appears. Now, all that you have to do is select the level of junk e-mail protection that you want. There are several choices. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages:

   • No Automatic Filtering: Turns off Outlook junk e-mail filters, although e-mail from your blocked senders list is still blocked.

   • Low: Obvious junk e-mail messages are caught, but a lot of spam will still find its way into your Inbox at this level. This is the default setting.

   • High: Most (around 95%) spam is blocked, but so are some legitimate messages. You will definitely want to monitor the Junk E-mail folder carefully if you choose this setting.

   • Safe Lists only: The highest level of securityonly people and domains that are in your Safe Senders List or Safe Recipients List will be able to send you e-mail messages. Don't select this option unless you really have a compelling need to do so. Companies merge, people move, and e-mail addresses change. You will stop receiving e-mail from these people when that happens if you use this setting.

3. Select the level of Junk E-mail protection that you want.

   You can also specify that Outlook automatically and permanently deletes suspected junk e-mail messages instead of moving them to the Junk E-mail folder.
   Most of the time this is not a good idea especially if you select the High settingbecause some legitimate messages will inevitably be automatically deleted.

4. Although it is NOT RECOMMENDED, you can click the Permanently delete suspected Junk E-mail instead of moving it to the Junk E-mail folder checkbox.

5. Click OK, OK to close all open dialog boxes.

   Your Junk E-mail settings are now saved.

That's it! Outlook will start protecting your Inbox from spam, according to your settings. If you choose one of the two more aggressive spam protection settings, you will probably want to do some fine-tuning to correct any false positives (legitimate e-mails that are flagged as spam) and to block junk e-mail senders who still make it through the filters.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Survival of the Smartest

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

In a study conducted by scientists at the University of Oregon,1 researchers found that what affects a person’s memory capacity most is the ability to disregard irrelevant or unnecessary details. In other words, it’s not what you know—it’s what you ignore—that might be a major factor in your success.
If you work with information, you know how true that is. Daily, you are barraged with facts and files, and buried in a mountain of e-mail messages. Some items are urgent and require immediate action, but most are simply notes you need to respond to reasonably soon, reports you need to comment on, leads you need to follow up with, or junk mail you need to delete. Your first task in getting a handle on all this information is to weed out the items that have nothing to do with the task at hand. The 2007 Microsoft Office system can help you with that.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Require Secure Logon (Windows XP Pro and Windows 2000 only)

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

To protect Windows from intruders, you can configure Windows so that it requires the Control, Alt, and Delete keys to be pressed simultaneously before a password can be entered.

For Windows XP Professional Edition
1. Click the Start button in the lower-left corner of Windows.
2. Click the Control Panel. (If you don’t see this option, then your Start menu is in classic mode. In that case, click Settings, and then select the Control Panel.)
3. If the Control Panel is in category view, click the User Accounts category. If the Control Panel is in classic view, simply double-click the User Accounts icon.
4. A window opens. Click the Advanced tab.
5. Under the Secure Logon heading, put a checkmark in the Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete box.
6. Click Apply.
7. Click OK.

Note To use this feature, your Windows XP account must have administrative privileges and your computer must be part of a network domain (usually domains are found in offices or other business settings).

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

Meeting Today’s Work Challenges

Whether you feel successful in your work probably depends on many factors. If you are a business owner or manager, success likely has a lot to do with your ability to lead—to make good decisions, to focus on the important things, to gather and act on accurate data, and to delegate and follow up in a way that continues to move your company or your department toward the overall goal. If you are an information worker who focuses mainly on projects and timeframes, you might feel successful when you can complete the task and projects you’re working on, collaborate with those who have information or input you need, and produce the output you (and your supervisors) are hoping for.

No matter what our roles at work, to be successful today we need to somehow balance the following critical needs:

■ To gather and process information accurately and efficiently to make sound business decisions (and weed out the irrelevant data we receive)
■ To connect with others (customers, vendors, employees, peers, managers, and stakeholders) in a timely and effective way
■ To learn and use tools that help us schedule and complete tasks, manage relationships, track business processes, and demonstrate professional results.
■ To produce quality materials that help move our company or department toward established goals (increased market awareness, improved customer satisfaction, enhanced business partnerships, and so on)

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Working with Outlook

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS

To toggle AutoPreview on and off On the View menu, click AutoPreview.

To view the contents of a message in the Reading Pane With the Reading Pane visible, in the Inbox or other message folder, click the message you want to view.

To display the Reading Pane On the View menu, click Reading Pane and then Right or Bottom.

To hide the Reading Pane On the View menu, click Reading Pane and then Off.

To open a message In the Inbox or other message folder, double-click the message you want to open.

To open an attachment Open the message containing the attachment. In the message header or body, double-click the attachment.

To open an attachment without opening the message With the Reading Pane visible, click the message containing the attachment. In the Reading Pane, double-click the attachment.

To reply to the sender of a message With the message you want to reply to selected or open, on the toolbar, click the Reply button.

To reply to the sender and all recipients of a message With the message you want to reply to selected or open, on the toolbar, click the Reply to All button.

To forward a message With the message you want to forward selected or open, on the toolbar, click the Forward button.

To create a new message from the Inbox On the toolbar, click the New Mail Message button.

To create a new message from any Outlook folder Click the down arrow to the right of the New button. On the drop-down menu, click Mail Message.

To display the All Mail Folders list On the Navigation Pane, click the Mail icon.

To address a message Type the recipient's e-mail address in the To box, or click the To button and select a name from the Address Book.

To send a message Compose and address the e-mail message you want to send. On the message form's toolbar, click the Send button.

To add an entry to the Address Book On the Tools menu, click Address Book. Click the New Entry button. In the New Entry dialog box, click New Contact. In the Put this entry drop-down list, click the address book to which you want to add the contact, and then click OK. In the Untitled - Contact dialog box, type the information you want to save for this contact, and then click Save and Close.

To create a distribution list On the Tools menu, click Address Book. Click the New Entry button. In the New Entry dialog box, click New Distribution List. In the Put this entry drop-down list, click the address book to which you want to add the distribution list, and then click OK. In the Untitled - Distribution List dialog box, in the Name box, type the name of the distribution list. To add distribution list members from an existing address book, click the Select Members button. In the Select Members dialog box, select the contacts you want to add to the distribution list, and then click OK. To add new distribution list members, click the Add New button. In the Add New Member dialog box, type the display name and e-mail address of the new contact, select the Add to Contacts check box if you want, and then click OK. Click Save and Close.

To attach a file to a message With the message open, on the toolbar, click the Insert File button. In the Insert File dialog box, browse to the file you want to attach, click the file, and then click the Insert button.

To check for new messages On the toolbar, click the Send/Receive button.

To delete a message Select the message. On the toolbar, click the Delete button.

To print a message Select or open the message you want to print. On the toolbar, click the Print button.

To turn on smart tags for instant messaging On the Tools menu click Options. In the Options dialog box, click the Other tab. In the Person Names area, select the Enable the Person Names Smart Tag and Display Messenger Status in the From field check boxes. Click OK.

To send an instant message from an e-mail message Open a message to or from your instant messaging contact. In the message header, click the Person Names Smart Tag next to the contact's name, and then on the shortcut menu click Send Instant Message.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Colors on my screen do not look good.

Computer Repair and Consulting Service TIPS
Excerpt from Windows XP Headaches

Operating Systems Affected Windows XP Professional and Home Editions are affected.

Cause If your display color simply does not look good, you probably have a problem with your display driver, or the driver is not compatible with Windows XP. A driver is a piece of software that allows a hardware device, such as your video card, to work with Windows XP.
If the driver is messed up or isn't compatible, Windows XP tries to use one of its own drivers to make everything work for you. Sometimes that works out and sometimes not. Fixing the problem, however, requires a little investigative work on your part. It is important to keep in mind that every display adapter-every piece of hardware for that matter-has a driver that enables Windows XP to control and manage it. If the driver doesn't work, the device will not work. If the driver isn't the right driver, the device might work OK, but not the way it should.

The basic rule is simply this: You have to have the right driver or you will have problems for which there are no workarounds.

Tip Always make sure any new hardware that is installed on your computer is compatible with Windows XP before you install it. Simply getting the right hardware can stop multiple headaches before they occur.

The Pain Killer To fix the color problem, follow these steps:
1. Click Start Control Panel.
2. Open the Display icon by double-clicking it.
Tip If you don't see Display, you need to click the Switch to Classic View option in the left Control Panel pane. Then, you'll see the Display icon.
3. Click the Settings tab, as you can see in the following illustration. The Color Quality drop-down menu should be able to display several different settings, such as 16 bit, 32 bit, and so forth. If you are stuck with only one color quality setting-and it is low-then the problem is the driver.
4. In order to resolve the driver problem, you will need to visit the video card manufacturer's Web site and see about downloading a new driver. Microsoft does not provide drivers for hardware vendors, so you'll have to get the driver from the manufacturer's Web site.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

Automatically Update Windows (XP Home/Pro only)

To guarantee that your computer is always updated with the most recent Windows security patches, updates, and service packs, turn on automatic updates.Windows XP gives you three options: automatic download/install, download only, and notify only. Here’s how to do it:
1. Right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop. If this icon is not available, then click the Start button in the lower-left corner of Windows and right-click My Computer. If you can’t find the My Computer icon anywhere, do the following:
a. Right-click in the empty space on your desktop.
b. Select Properties.
c. A window opens. Click the Desktop tab.
d. Near the bottom of the window, click the Customize Desktop button.
e. Another window opens. On the General tab, beneath the words Desktop Icons, select the My Computer checkbox.
f. Click OK.
g. You are returned to the previous screen. Click the Apply button.
h. Click OK.
i. The My Computer icon appears on your desktop. Right-click it.
2. Select Properties.
3. A window opens. Click the Automatic Updates tab.
4. On the Automatic Updates page, you have a choice
• For maximum protection, click the Automatic (recommended) button, which takes care of the updating silently behind the scenes. Use the two drop-down menus to select a day and time for Windows XP to search for updates and install them when necessary.
• If you would rather have more control over the updates that are installed on your computer, click the button Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them. Another option is to click the button Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them.
5. Click Apply.
6. Click OK.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

2 reasons all small businesses need a competent Computer Repair Service provider.

Virus outbreaks can happen anytime and only a good Computer Consulting firm has the skill to catch them before they become unmanageable.

Technology is constantly changing and only exceptional Computer Consultants stay ahead of curve to stop problems before they happen.

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

What is the best way for a Computer Consultant to get good business leads?

Where does a Computer Consultant go for technical support?

Computer Repair,Computer Service
Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant
Computer Support

3 big disasters can cause you to loose your business.

Not updating operating system, virus/spyware protection and running scans often.

Not having a sceduled backup of all your vital data and operating system, and testing restores.

Not being proactive about possible hardware failure, and managing and monitoring your systems.

Computer Repair,Computer Service,Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant,Computer Support

The hardest thing about the Computer Consulting business is getting new and good client. Computer Consulting for residential clients is a waste of time because they don't want to pay and they are too demanding. The best way to make it as a Computer Consultant provider is to offer managed services.

Here's another interesting article for Computer Consulting Repair Service Providers.

Using A Data Recovery Service – A Quick Overview by Kevin Sullivan

Monday night you shut down your computer and call it a day. Tuesday morning you attempt to start the system, but it refuses to boot up. That afternoon, the system is checked by your computer service people, who cannot get the hard drive to be recognized. Your hard drive is removed and placed in another computer, but it again is not seen by the system - the hard drive does not even appear to be spinning. They suggest that the data might be able to be rescued by a data recovery service company, and they recommend one or more companies to call.

Most established data recovery companies have extensive information about their services on their websites, as well as a toll-free phone number. The recovery process begins with a phone conversation about your problem. A data recovery service representative should be able to answer all of your questions, and you may find it helpful to have the following information at hand when you call:

· The make, model, and capacity of the storage media to be recovered

· The operating system and version (or release level)

· The most important file types that you need to recover

The representative will ask about what occurred leading up to the actual data loss event. Any and all previous efforts at restoring or recovering the data should also be discussed. The representative should be able to provide an expected service time frame (usually 1 to 3 days) and the costs associated with the recovery. Instructions for shipping or delivering the media to their facility can be explained, and in some cases emailed or downloaded from their website.

When the data recovery company receives the media, an evaluation is started to determine the extent of the damage and the feasibility of recovery. Upon completion of the evaluation, the actual cost of the recovery effort can be quoted for customer approval by fax or email. The recovery process will begin upon acceptance of the quotation and receipt of an authorization to proceed.

Data recovery generally involves repairing the damaged storage device to the point where data can be extracted at the block level. This process creates an exact duplicate (or a “mirror image”) of the original media, minimizing the possibility of any further damage. This image can be analyzed to determine the original file and folder structure and to make any repairs to the structure that are needed.

The recovered data is then scanned to identify and remove any possible virus code. The scanned files and folders are transferred to a server for eventual output to the customers’ choice of media and format. Data is generally written to CD-R, DVD-R, or a new hard drive, depending on the amount of data to be transferred and the customer preference. In some cases, data files can alternately be transferred via FTP or email attachment.

Professional data recovery services can be an absolute life-saver when it comes to salvaging critical or irreplaceable files. This sequence of events above is how many data recovery companies handle recovery projects. However, no two companies will have the same capabilities or operate in the same fashion, so it always pays to ask questions and check references.

Kevin Sullivan is Vice President of Operations for Vantage Data Recovery. Founded in 1989, Vantage has specialized exclusively in recovering data from damaged hard drives, tape, optical and digital data storage media. Extensive data recovery and restoration services are provided for all types of notebooks, workstations, servers and RAID systems that experience data loss due to hardware and software failures, virus damage, fire, flood or simple human error. For more information, visit the Vantage website at http://www.vantagetech.com

Article Directory: Article Dashboard

Computer Repair,Computer Service,Computer Consulting,Computer Consultant,Computer Support

Establishing Your Own Home Business Opportunity
by Obinna Heche

The following stories might give entrepreneur hopefuls some ideas about creating their own home business opportunity. Here are the tales of two who founded and succeeded at their own home business opportunity.

The first is the business opportunity story of a man that launched his home based computer consulting firm. Never formally trained in computer science, he nevertheless started training on his own part time while working for a major oil refinery full time. After five years of hands on training he was able to convert a loft in his home into a graphics production firm. He left his job and lived off his savings while growing the firm. The computer equipment he had accumulated in the five year training period stood him in good stead for quite some time while he grew his home business opportunity. His only initial expense was several hundred dollars worth of business cards and business stationery.

Just a few years later his home business had grown to a $100,000 a year profit. One year, after a relocation and resulting slow down he started networking with other computer consultants who had their own similar but not identical business opportunity, to offer a full complement of computer services to their mutual clients. He felt it was better to have just half of the revenue pie than no pie at all.

Another entrepreneur succeeded at her home based business but she was lucky. The mistakes she made early on might have caused her business to fail. She cautions others not to repeat her early behavior. The first thing she did wrong when starting her home business was to open its doors with too little money. She had $5000 total and thinks in retrospect that she should have first saved enough to survive the first year before beginning her home based business.

She said she also announced her business opening before she had finished her marketing research, which was quite a blooper since part of her business consulting services included marketing research assistance. Her business name was wrong, she said. Instead of choosing a memorable name that conjured up a picture of the type of business she offered she simply used her middle name as the company name.

Fortunately she was good at what she offered and her home business opportunity thrived. She is now a full time entrepreneur with 14 big name clients who provide her a nice six figure income.

Obinna Heche. Los Angeles - California
support@money-makingwebsite.com

Delivering the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home successfully..
http://www.Money-MakingWebsite.com

Article Source: Article Free 4 All