Table of contents

Preventing the "Ut-Oh's"

Back to the Future

Web Hot list - Websites to check out

Preventing the "Ut-Ohs"

By Mike Bianchini, Network Technician Bardissi Enterprises

It’s inevitable, you’re doing something important on your computer and that’s when your computer seems to not like you.  Screen goes blank, computer shuts off, blue screen comes up. Those are the “Ut-Oh” moments that always seem to happen at the worst times.  While there is no sure fire way  to stop this from happening, there are things you can do to help lessen the chance of them happening.

Clean your room

Like momma always says “your room is a mess”.  While we may not be talking about your physical room, we are talking about your computer.  Most computers sit close to the ground where they are able to attract tons of dust and dirt. Dirt and dust are a major enemy of your computer. They can cause fans to get clogged and stop working, which could then cause your processor to overheat.  You can clean out this dirt and dust by opening your computer case and using a small vacuum. Always be sure to carefully vacuum out the dust and dirt. Be careful not to knock any wires or components lose.  You can also use canned air to blast the dirt out.

 By Invite only

The party going on in your computer should be by invitation only. You should only put software on your computer that you have knowledge of. Installing anti-spyware software along with antivirus software helps you keep track of who comes into your party. The most important thing is to be aware of what you download. Free screensaver programs and weather programs are notorious for dropping spyware on your computer without you realizing it.

Drivers and updates

Microsoft and other products often release updates on their software and hardware drivers. These updates allow your system to work properly. You can keep up-to-date by making sure you have your windows updates set to automatically update.  Most computers are set to do this but you can check yourself by going into the control panel in windows and clicking automatic updates.  The  drivers for your devices usually don’t update automatically. You have to check once in awhile for the updates. The best way to do this is visit your computers manufacturer website and look for support and driver updates for your computer.  Not having updated drivers is one of the top ways “Ut-Oh” happens.

Remember where you’ve been

When troubleshooting an “Ut-Oh” incident, it’s important to remember what steps might have lead to the issue. You may want to keep a log of all the software you install and when you installed it. This will help you figure out what might have caused the problem.  A way to protect yourself if an “Ut-Oh” happens is to make sure your system restore feature is activated. You can access this by going into the control panel clicking on “system”, then clicking “on”,  If you receive one of the infamous “Blue Screen of Death” messages. It’s important to record the information on the screen so you or someone else can better troubleshoot the issue. 

Conclusion

As stated before, there is no sure fire way to stop an “Ut-Oh”. However, by doing the above recommendations and backing up your data you can help prevent them from happening.  If an “Ut-Oh” does happen, stay calm, relax, and blame your children for the error.

Back to the Future

By Mike Bianchini, Network Technician Bardissi Enterprises

Technology has changed so much from just five years ago but how about twenty years ago? Do you remember how much a computer cost and what you could get for your money? Here is a look at a system and what it costs in 1987.

Commodore Amiga 2000

Ship Date:

1987

Price:

US $1,500

CPU:

Motorola 68000 @ 7.14 MHz

RAM:

512K stock, 8Meg max

Display:

16 colors at 640 X 400

4096 colors at 320 X 200.

Ports:

parallel, serial, floppy

RGB video, stereo audio

Storage:

Internal 880K 3.5-inch floppy

optional hard drive

OS:

AmigaDOS

"Workbench" GUI

The first of the big-box Amigas, the Amiga 2000 is the successor to original Amiga 1000. They are nearly identical in operation, with the 2000 having much more expansion capability.

While the 1000 has only one internal 3.5-inch floppy drive, the 2000 has room for two, with an additional expansion bay for a larger 5.25-inch drive, CD-ROM, tape backup, etc.

Internally, the 2000 has a video slot, a processor slot, as well as five Amiga expansion slots and four IBM-style expansions slots, but two of these are either-or. The IBM-style slots are for power only, as the Amiga does not have the circuitry built-in to communicate with PC cards. What good is this? Some PC cards such as TBCs (Time Base Corrector) manipulate external video signals and don't necessarily need to communicate with the host computer. Also, with a "Bridgeboard" or similar emulator card installed, the Amiga can run MS-DOS and utilize PC cards.

The Amiga slots are "autoconfig", or what Microsoft now calls "plug-n-play". There are no jumpers or switches, you just plug the cards in and the system recognizes and configures them automatically - remember that this was in 1987.

Hundreds if not thousands of expansion cards are available for the Amiga, ranging from the ordinary to the amazing-

Web Hot list - Websites to check out

By Mike Bianchini - Network Technician Bardissi Enterprises

This month we are going to look at a few cool websites you might have never heard of.

giveawayoftheday.com - It's Christmas everyday at giveawayoftheday.com where everyday they give you software for free. The software is only available that day and must be activated that day you download it or you will not be able to use it. They often have software that would cost $50 or more for FREE! Give it a try.

dafont.com - Looking for some new fonts to spice up that document? Head over to dafont.com they offer thousands of FREE fonts to download. They have everything from fancy to crazy fonts all with previews.

priceprotectr.com - Ever buy stuff from stores that offer a price protection guarantee? If they lower their price within a certain amount of time from when you purchased it, they'll refund you the difference. Sounds great... except how often do you remember to check the price again? With priceprotectr.com they will do it for you automatically and email you when the price has changed.