I am about to tell you a secret. I could be struck off the I.T. Circle for this, so keep it quiet.
If your favourite IT geek has ever looked at your PC and made some profound comment about it still processing, or stated categorically that it has crashed, he is not The One. He cannot see into the PC and see it like the Matrix. He is looking at the hard drive light.
Most PCs have at least two lights on the front. One is the power light, the other is the hard drive light. It lights up any time the hard drive is being accessed. So when your first turn it on, you should see the hard drive light go nuts. It's also likely to happen when you open a program, particularly large games. It will also happen if you're not running much memory, as we have discussed previously.
So although your PC may seem to take just a minute to boot up and make the desktop available, it may not be ready to start processing straight away. Look at the hard drive light and you may notice it stays on almost solidly for several minutes after the desktop has appeared. It won't be ready to proficiently process data until the light has almost stopped, or is at least only flickering occasionally. If your waiting for a program to open or process some data and it appears to be taking its time, it may be worth checking the status of the hard drive light. If it's solidly on, it may well be processing a significantly large amount of data. However, if it is permanently on for several minutes it may have crashed. There is no substitute for experience in this area, hence us geeks are still valuable. Phew!
So now you know. I now have to change my name and address for safety reasons.
Monday, 15 October 2012
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
The Monday Morning Blues
Oh Mondays. I kind of feel sorry for you. It's not your fault you're the first day after the weekend and one of the singularly most maligned days of the week.
Having said that, this is an IT blog and we have heard on any number of occasions users questioning if computers can suffer on a Monday morning too, as they often appear particularly sluggish - and there's an element of truth in it...
If you're a good boy or girl and close your computer down over the weekend, some tasks start building up in the background. Windows' updates need checking, anti-virus needs to update and scan, emails need downloading, and any other scheduled tasks need to run. That entire process can take a significant amount of time, during which the computer will run slowly.
Leaving the computer on all the time isn't really a viable option, as we briefly discussed here. So either, you have to be patient, waiting for the early processes to complete, which can take a significant amount of time. Or you could try Wake-On-Lan. WOL allows a signal to be sent remotely to a machine that effectively pushes the power button. So an hour before you arrive, you could start the power-up process, with the machine being toasty-ready for you when you arrive. There a quite a few hoops to jump through before WOL works and it may not be practical for all networks, but it's certainly worth investigating.
Aside from that, you may just need that third coffee after all.
Having said that, this is an IT blog and we have heard on any number of occasions users questioning if computers can suffer on a Monday morning too, as they often appear particularly sluggish - and there's an element of truth in it...
If you're a good boy or girl and close your computer down over the weekend, some tasks start building up in the background. Windows' updates need checking, anti-virus needs to update and scan, emails need downloading, and any other scheduled tasks need to run. That entire process can take a significant amount of time, during which the computer will run slowly.
Leaving the computer on all the time isn't really a viable option, as we briefly discussed here. So either, you have to be patient, waiting for the early processes to complete, which can take a significant amount of time. Or you could try Wake-On-Lan. WOL allows a signal to be sent remotely to a machine that effectively pushes the power button. So an hour before you arrive, you could start the power-up process, with the machine being toasty-ready for you when you arrive. There a quite a few hoops to jump through before WOL works and it may not be practical for all networks, but it's certainly worth investigating.
Aside from that, you may just need that third coffee after all.
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
Read All About It
I hesitated to write this post, fearing it may be overly-picky. However, having just made this mistake myself, it would seem time to discuss the importance of reading.
We received a report that one computer was not running one program. Firing the program up, a message was displayed and I thought I knew what it said, so clicked 'No'. Sure enough, the program would not run any further. Trying a couple of other things didn't work and it was only when I stopped to read the message in full that I realised exactly what the issue was and could resolve it. Face meet palm.
The importance of looking at and reading what your computer is telling you cannot be overstated. If your website registration is rejected, it almost certainly isn't because they don't like you or because the wind is blowing in the wrong direction. The chances are the website will tell you exactly why it's been rejected. Password too short. Postcode needed. That kind of thing.
Thinking you know what a question is asking and hitting a response can be a dangerous pass-time if you haven't read the question properly. Some critical decisions made in some of the programs we've written require a specific word to be typed on the keyboard. So rather than just clicking 'Yes' or 'No' you have to type the word 'DELETE' for instance. There can be no excuse that you didn't know what you were saying 'Yes' to.
So read all about it. Then you'll know exactly what 'it' is.
We received a report that one computer was not running one program. Firing the program up, a message was displayed and I thought I knew what it said, so clicked 'No'. Sure enough, the program would not run any further. Trying a couple of other things didn't work and it was only when I stopped to read the message in full that I realised exactly what the issue was and could resolve it. Face meet palm.
The importance of looking at and reading what your computer is telling you cannot be overstated. If your website registration is rejected, it almost certainly isn't because they don't like you or because the wind is blowing in the wrong direction. The chances are the website will tell you exactly why it's been rejected. Password too short. Postcode needed. That kind of thing.
Thinking you know what a question is asking and hitting a response can be a dangerous pass-time if you haven't read the question properly. Some critical decisions made in some of the programs we've written require a specific word to be typed on the keyboard. So rather than just clicking 'Yes' or 'No' you have to type the word 'DELETE' for instance. There can be no excuse that you didn't know what you were saying 'Yes' to.
So read all about it. Then you'll know exactly what 'it' is.
Friday, 7 September 2012
I'm Leaving, and there's nothing you can do to stop..
It's certainly an amazing thing to see the amount of packages that we can have for entertainment nowadays.
So I did.
The biggest contenders are people like Sky, Virgin, BT who are all selling packages to rival each other. It's quite an arduous task to ascertain which package gives you the best value for money.
However, you might now be happy. You've got the package you want. You're enjoying lots of TV Channels, Super fast Broadband and freephone telephone calls to talk to Auntie Maud. Is that it?
No. I'd certainly say to consider calling them in a years time. Why ?
I was sitting on an entertainment package costing me close to £70 per month. It was only the basic TV package, Middle Broadband Package and Free Calls.. but I walked past a trailer in the local shopping centre and they were advertising a similar package for £33!
Shocked, I walked in and explained what I was paying and they advised me (quietly and discreetly) to ring the provider up and choose the option "I am considering leaving"!
So I did.
And I was asked why I was considering leaving. Well, I wasn't... was I? So I explained that I was a little disgusted with my monthly fee and explained what I had and what I was paying. I couldn't have the £33 option as it would have reduced the package I had, but they struck me a deal.
They knocked it down to £45. A saving of £25 per month. Yep £300 per year back in MY bank account, not theirs.
It's certainly worth doing regularly. As years go on, technology becomes faster, bigger, better, cheaper.. so ring up and ask for your prices to be reviewed.
Save yourself some money and don't let them have it.
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Is Security on your PC REALLY that important?
So let me give you a real scenario.
You find a server has a Trojan virus, and has been sending out multiple email spam. Hardly dangerous, but it's infected and you need to get it cleaned.
You wonder how it got infected in the first place as it's a machine that's hardly sat on.. so you start investigating.
So you discover that it has "remote desktop" switched on. Enabling you to remotely connect to it to fix any issues that occur. Nothing major there. But then you discover that a few users on the network are using simple passwords. Fred's password is "fred" hmm.
So you start probing the firewall, to discover that the remote desktop port is being probed from all sorts of incoming IP Addresses because somebody is trying to log into that server, using an easy log in.
So that's how it was done, but how could it be prevented? After all, you need the remote session available in case the server needs to be connected to.
So the answer was as follows:-
Leave the remote port available, but set up the firewall so that only certain IP addresses can access that port. Program in the IP addresses that require access.
Increase the level of security on the server, ensuring that nobody uses "simple" passwords. Most servers have this feature available ensuring that users include numbers and Capital letters in their passwords.
Remove users that no longer exist.
Lower the level of all but a few users to "computer user only" which should stop installation of programs unless they have an administrator password.
Security on a PC is vital. After all, would you display your personal bank details in the front window of your house?
You find a server has a Trojan virus, and has been sending out multiple email spam. Hardly dangerous, but it's infected and you need to get it cleaned.
You wonder how it got infected in the first place as it's a machine that's hardly sat on.. so you start investigating.
So you discover that it has "remote desktop" switched on. Enabling you to remotely connect to it to fix any issues that occur. Nothing major there. But then you discover that a few users on the network are using simple passwords. Fred's password is "fred" hmm.
So you start probing the firewall, to discover that the remote desktop port is being probed from all sorts of incoming IP Addresses because somebody is trying to log into that server, using an easy log in.
So that's how it was done, but how could it be prevented? After all, you need the remote session available in case the server needs to be connected to.
So the answer was as follows:-
Leave the remote port available, but set up the firewall so that only certain IP addresses can access that port. Program in the IP addresses that require access.
Increase the level of security on the server, ensuring that nobody uses "simple" passwords. Most servers have this feature available ensuring that users include numbers and Capital letters in their passwords.
Remove users that no longer exist.
Lower the level of all but a few users to "computer user only" which should stop installation of programs unless they have an administrator password.
Security on a PC is vital. After all, would you display your personal bank details in the front window of your house?
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Clear Out The Cobwebs
So many things in life are about change, and moving on.. and it's no different with a computer.
How often have you gone through your hard drive and noticed a word document for a shopping list you created in 1998. Or a photo of a random item you were shopping for when your child was 5?
I noticed a while ago, that I had emails dating back to 2001! Simple, no longer useful emails containing a conversation with a friend about cinema and meal arrangements.. Hardly important now.
So, like clearing out the cupboards, sorting out the loft, it's always good to have a clean up on your computer.
Organisation is always the key, so set yourself a folder for things you might want to keep and things you definitely want to delete. Don't immediately delete things if you're not sure, but once you've finished your task, double check your folder of "things to delete" before committing it to destruction. And don't just throw it in the recycle bin, delete it permanently and be done with it.
It's the same with emails - do you have thousands of emails in your "deleted items" folder? If there are emails you need to save in there, then pull them out and put them in another folder to sort out later, then clear down your delete items once and for all.
Like the extra space you acquire from sorting out your loft, your computer will also benefit from clearing down old files. Make sure you compress or defrag your drive after to make good use of all that re-acquired space.
We'll discuss clearing out the physical cobwebs from your computer tower in another article!
How often have you gone through your hard drive and noticed a word document for a shopping list you created in 1998. Or a photo of a random item you were shopping for when your child was 5?
I noticed a while ago, that I had emails dating back to 2001! Simple, no longer useful emails containing a conversation with a friend about cinema and meal arrangements.. Hardly important now.
So, like clearing out the cupboards, sorting out the loft, it's always good to have a clean up on your computer.
Organisation is always the key, so set yourself a folder for things you might want to keep and things you definitely want to delete. Don't immediately delete things if you're not sure, but once you've finished your task, double check your folder of "things to delete" before committing it to destruction. And don't just throw it in the recycle bin, delete it permanently and be done with it.
It's the same with emails - do you have thousands of emails in your "deleted items" folder? If there are emails you need to save in there, then pull them out and put them in another folder to sort out later, then clear down your delete items once and for all.
Like the extra space you acquire from sorting out your loft, your computer will also benefit from clearing down old files. Make sure you compress or defrag your drive after to make good use of all that re-acquired space.
We'll discuss clearing out the physical cobwebs from your computer tower in another article!
Thursday, 26 July 2012
4G - Turning point of networking?
So what's the hype all about? Recently we heard that soon, battle will commence over the 4G networking in the UK. The major competitors will battle it out to bid for coverage and there are even talks of some companies joining forces to get the best coverage in the UK.
How does 4G affect you?
To the average home user, with a broadband connection and a PC or laptop, it might not seem so significant. We hopefully already get a good connection speed and don't plan to lift our desktop computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse into the garden while the sun is shining.
Or maybe we're NOT getting a good connection speed. Do we live so far from the exchange that we're experiencing connection speeds of less than 5mbs ? Then 4G might be for you!
O2 recently tested 4G and allowed 1000 users in London to connect to the service and report back findings. Maximum speed achieved was 150mbs. Yes, you read it, 150mps! On a mobile device! At this rate, we'll all be ditching our broadband and plugging in a 4G USB device into our PC's.
Nothing is set in stone until complete UK tests are done, but it's looking promising.
In the meantime, why not check your speed and see how it compares to what you were promised from your Internet Service Provider?
http://www.speedtest.net
How does 4G affect you?
To the average home user, with a broadband connection and a PC or laptop, it might not seem so significant. We hopefully already get a good connection speed and don't plan to lift our desktop computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse into the garden while the sun is shining.
Or maybe we're NOT getting a good connection speed. Do we live so far from the exchange that we're experiencing connection speeds of less than 5mbs ? Then 4G might be for you!
O2 recently tested 4G and allowed 1000 users in London to connect to the service and report back findings. Maximum speed achieved was 150mbs. Yes, you read it, 150mps! On a mobile device! At this rate, we'll all be ditching our broadband and plugging in a 4G USB device into our PC's.
Nothing is set in stone until complete UK tests are done, but it's looking promising.
In the meantime, why not check your speed and see how it compares to what you were promised from your Internet Service Provider?
http://www.speedtest.net
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)