Just a reminder

Adobe has put out updates for Adobe Reader, Flash, and Shockwave that you should make sure are installed on your computers. They are security updates. If your computer does not do ask you to install these updates in the next day or so, go to www.adobe.com and install them directly from the web site.

Simple Solutions

Because we have computers and all of their complexities, we all tend to think that when there is a problem, it must be complex and difficult to solve. That is where I come in. I like to solve those kinds of problems. But we shouldn’t always look to those complex issues first when something happens. These three incidents happened in the past week prove that. I am going to change the names to protect the innocent. Here we go…

Episode 1

Mr. Royal has purchased a new Farmer computer with an extended warranty and a fancy support package. He got a great deal and no interest financing so I can’t blame for not buying it from me. Mr. Royal called Farmer’s support when his computer told him that his hard drive had failed. After a couple of hours talking to India, the very happy tech support told Mr. Royal that his computer had experienced a software problem that was not covered by their warranty and would he like to pay for their tech support to fix it. Mr. Royal prefers that his dollars be spent locally so he thanked them, hung up, and called me.

Mr. Royal’s computer is a very high end computer and has a special feature called “mirroring”. It just means that the computer has two hard drives that are exact copies of each other. The only problem was that his computer was telling him that both of the drives had failed. Like most people, I am sure the Farmer’s tech representative assumed that the problem was complex and set about trying to fix it.

I arrived, started the computer, and had it working in 5 minutes. It is very very very very (yes very!) rare that mirrored drives fail at the same time. There is one bad drive that will now be replaced under warranty by Farmers. What the tech should have done is use the simple diagnostic utility (it comes with the computer!!!) to confirm that both drives were bad. He had to know that the utility was in the computer, they built the thing!!! I pressed 4 keys (CTRL, i, y, ENTER!!!) when the computer started and it was back running again. Mr. Royal told me that they never went in to that utility, he wondered why, but they are tech support, they should know…

Episodes 2 and 3

These are similar so I will lump them together.

Ms. Joint called me and said her front desk computer turned itself off abruptly and won’t turn back on. They’ve tried plugging it in to another outlet, but it still doesn’t turn on. It is an older computer so it could be anything from a blown up mother board to a bad power supply. I looked at the computer and checked that big black power cord that plugs into the back of the computer. It felt very loose, like it wasn’t making contact with 3 prong thingies (technical term) on the power supply. I jiggled it, nothing. I have a power meter so I checked the power cord (don’t do this unless you know how, 110 volts of electricity is still there and you could get electrocuted). Hmm. Nothing. Go out to the car, get a $2 power cord and plug it in. Problem solved. No blown mother board, no bad hard drive, no bad power supply.

Finally, I was working for the Queen Elizabeth association on an unrelated matter when I heard a scream coming from the next room. One of the royal subjects had been working on a project and her computer had gone dead. It is a new computer so it is unlikely that it just died then and there. After I suggested they wiggle the power cord in the back of the computer, it came back to life. All of her work was recovered, the birds sang, it was a good day.

So what have we learned today, boys and girls? In the big scheme of things, when your computer has a problem, look at the simple stuff first. And check those power cords!!!

Busy Patch Tuesday

As I have told you previously, the second Tuesday of each month is when Microsoft releases security patches for all of their software. Tomorrow (02-08-11) is no different except that they are releasing several critical patches that are already being used to take control of computers world wide. Make sure you allow your computer to install these patches. Your computer will automatically reboot if you leave it unattended overnight after installing the patches so make sure you save your work before leaving your computer for the day/evening.

As a coincidence, Adobe is releasing a security update for its Acrobat Reader tomorrow. Most of the time, Adobe asks you for permission to install and does not do any installation unless you approve. So, when you see the little Adobe icon in the lower right corner of your screen next to the time display, go ahead and click on it and allow the installation to proceed.

And finally, those of you that use Firefox to browse the Internet will probably see an update within a week or so. The next version will be Firefox 3.6.14. Firefox is generally pretty good at telling you clearly that it wants to update. You should install this update also as it has several security fixes in it.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any problems or questions. Please feel free to forward this email to anyone who you feel may benefit from it.