We've seen many of our customers struggling with the decision whether or not to leave their computer for a required repair when they had deadlines and commitments that they needed to continue working on, despite the fact that their computer was falling apart.
The Computer Cellar now has loaner computers available for these customers. Starting at just $35/week, the laptops include Microsoft Office 2010 for maximum file compatibility. Who else do you know that offers a benefit like that? We will transfer up to 10 files at no cost from your old computer to the loaner or a memory stick that the customer provides.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
No way to easily clean up archived emails in Gmail
I was setting up Outlook 2010 on my home computer and imported my Gmail account. I initially just entered the email address and password into the Outlook Account Setup Wizard and, after a minute or so of crunching on it, Outlook configured the account as an IMAP account and brought everything in, including all of my labels as folders. Very nice, I thought.
Then, I started deleting emails from the Inbox. In between every email delete was a lengthy delay as Outlook contacted Gmail and did the deed. After a few emails, it was obvious that that wasn't going to work out too well.
So, I researched the issue and found suggestions to set it up as a POP3 account instead. Here's a good link with instructions. After setting it up as POP3, Gmail proceeded to download emails from 2006. Lots of emails from 2006, and 2007, etc. It did it in batches, importing 300 to 500 emails at a time, maybe dependent on the size of included attachments. I quit somewhere in 2008 when it started importing FreeCycle posts and started researching the problem.
It looks like the issue correlated with my use of my Moto Q. During the time that it was synched with my Gmail account, it was not actually deleting email but was only marking them as read and moving them into archived status on Gmail. It turns out that there is no way to view only archived emails in Gmail. All emails show up in your "All Mail" view, and any emails that are still in your inbox or have been assigned a label will show that in front of the email subject.. The only way to narrow the results down is to eliminate any results that include a label, as you'll notice that the messages that have simply been archived have no label at all. The discussion within this Gmail Forum link help to describe the process.
So, the net result is that, if you have very few labels set up already, you can fairly easily weed out the archived emails and then delete them. Within your general account settings in Gmail, you can dictate whether you have 25, 50 or 100 messages show up at a time. This is the maximum number that can be deleted at one time. Since I currently have 6800+ messages archived, it will take many, many screen refreshes to get through the task!
Daryn
The Computer Cellar
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Then, I started deleting emails from the Inbox. In between every email delete was a lengthy delay as Outlook contacted Gmail and did the deed. After a few emails, it was obvious that that wasn't going to work out too well.
So, I researched the issue and found suggestions to set it up as a POP3 account instead. Here's a good link with instructions. After setting it up as POP3, Gmail proceeded to download emails from 2006. Lots of emails from 2006, and 2007, etc. It did it in batches, importing 300 to 500 emails at a time, maybe dependent on the size of included attachments. I quit somewhere in 2008 when it started importing FreeCycle posts and started researching the problem.
It looks like the issue correlated with my use of my Moto Q. During the time that it was synched with my Gmail account, it was not actually deleting email but was only marking them as read and moving them into archived status on Gmail. It turns out that there is no way to view only archived emails in Gmail. All emails show up in your "All Mail" view, and any emails that are still in your inbox or have been assigned a label will show that in front of the email subject.. The only way to narrow the results down is to eliminate any results that include a label, as you'll notice that the messages that have simply been archived have no label at all. The discussion within this Gmail Forum link help to describe the process.
So, the net result is that, if you have very few labels set up already, you can fairly easily weed out the archived emails and then delete them. Within your general account settings in Gmail, you can dictate whether you have 25, 50 or 100 messages show up at a time. This is the maximum number that can be deleted at one time. Since I currently have 6800+ messages archived, it will take many, many screen refreshes to get through the task!
Daryn
The Computer Cellar
post signature
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Why we love the Geek Squad and Best Buy
This was just too good not to share. Our friend made the mistake of taking his computer to Best Buy to have them remove and repair virus problems. $199.99 later, they returned the laptop to him with the viruses supposedly removed, but mentioned that there were problems now with the operating system as a side effect of removing the virus.
It seems that they think "an operating system problem" is acceptable. In this case, the computer immediately went to a screen indicating that there was a problem with the startup device. Telling it to continue simply cycled back to the BIOS splash screen and back to the message. In this case, though, the freakin' message told them what to do - insert your operating system installation disk, restart the computer, choose the appropriate language and then select the repair option. It was all right there. We fortunately had a Win 7 Home Premium install DVD, followed the instructions, and quickly repaired that issue. The repair process told us to restart, and the computer started just fine. All of 10 minutes work, maybe.
After getting in, we updated MalwareBytes and ran that, which found 3 problems including a Trojan FakeAlert, then tried to get on the Internet using Mozilla just to find that there was a problem accessing the proxy server. We went to Internet Options and cleared the "use a proxy server" option (which is frequently something that is set by Trojans and malware). That got us on the Internet just fine. We then installed and ran SpyBot - it only found 1 entry for AdBrite.
At The Computer Cellar, we typically charge anywhere between $90 to $120 for virus removal. I personally feel that this is a lot of money to have to spend just to get rid of something that you were simply an innocent victim of (well, most of us are). It does take time though and requires a thorough look at the computer. Simply scanning the hard drive externally and removing viruses that way is never sufficient; I find that the best success is to do it from the problem computer directly and ensure that everything is addressed. Returning the computer to the customer in an unusable state would qualify as one of the jobs that we couldn't charge for, not unless the customer then wanted us to do data recovery then possibly reinstall the operating system. They do get torn up sometimes so badly that this is the only answer, but that is just part of the job.
Daryn
It seems that they think "an operating system problem" is acceptable. In this case, the computer immediately went to a screen indicating that there was a problem with the startup device. Telling it to continue simply cycled back to the BIOS splash screen and back to the message. In this case, though, the freakin' message told them what to do - insert your operating system installation disk, restart the computer, choose the appropriate language and then select the repair option. It was all right there. We fortunately had a Win 7 Home Premium install DVD, followed the instructions, and quickly repaired that issue. The repair process told us to restart, and the computer started just fine. All of 10 minutes work, maybe.
After getting in, we updated MalwareBytes and ran that, which found 3 problems including a Trojan FakeAlert, then tried to get on the Internet using Mozilla just to find that there was a problem accessing the proxy server. We went to Internet Options and cleared the "use a proxy server" option (which is frequently something that is set by Trojans and malware). That got us on the Internet just fine. We then installed and ran SpyBot - it only found 1 entry for AdBrite.
At The Computer Cellar, we typically charge anywhere between $90 to $120 for virus removal. I personally feel that this is a lot of money to have to spend just to get rid of something that you were simply an innocent victim of (well, most of us are). It does take time though and requires a thorough look at the computer. Simply scanning the hard drive externally and removing viruses that way is never sufficient; I find that the best success is to do it from the problem computer directly and ensure that everything is addressed. Returning the computer to the customer in an unusable state would qualify as one of the jobs that we couldn't charge for, not unless the customer then wanted us to do data recovery then possibly reinstall the operating system. They do get torn up sometimes so badly that this is the only answer, but that is just part of the job.
Daryn
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Removing an Asus laptop keyboard
Boy, this one had me stumped. Every now and then, we have to turn to the Internet to figure out the best way to remove a keyboard on a laptop. There was practically no help available for the particular Asus notebook we were working on. There was one screw on the underside that was identified as being for "K" or "Kbd", so that part was easy. Getting the keyboard off was not so easy. Frequently, the strip of plastic between the top of the keyboard and the LCD has to come off in order to expose screws that hold down the upper edge of the keyboard. That did not appear to be a possibility for this Asus, so I knew the keyboard just had to come off. I could see 4 spring-loaded latches spread out above the Function keys, but pushing these in didn't seem to release the keyboard at all and certainly did nothing to loosen up the bezel above the keyboard.
I finally employed a dental explorer by inserting it into a small crevice that was visible along the upper edge of the keyboard and pressed in the leftmost spring-loaded latch. Pulling up on the keyboard with the dental explorer, I got it to come away from the laptop slightly and was able to work my way across the upper edge, pressing in each latch as I came to them. When the upper edge was completely free, I was able to lift it away, finding a second unused screw post under the keyboard also. Beyond this, it was just the typical ribbon cable to release and the keyboard was uninstalled.
When reinstalling the keyboard, I could see that my difficulty in removing it was due to the tight press fit of the keyboard within the area allowed for it on the palmrest. Also, there had been some spill on the keyboard that left sticky residue underneath. This frequently locks parts in there so well that a technician is sure there is a screw or tab holding something in place when there is really nothing but a dried spill.
Daryn
I finally employed a dental explorer by inserting it into a small crevice that was visible along the upper edge of the keyboard and pressed in the leftmost spring-loaded latch. Pulling up on the keyboard with the dental explorer, I got it to come away from the laptop slightly and was able to work my way across the upper edge, pressing in each latch as I came to them. When the upper edge was completely free, I was able to lift it away, finding a second unused screw post under the keyboard also. Beyond this, it was just the typical ribbon cable to release and the keyboard was uninstalled.
When reinstalling the keyboard, I could see that my difficulty in removing it was due to the tight press fit of the keyboard within the area allowed for it on the palmrest. Also, there had been some spill on the keyboard that left sticky residue underneath. This frequently locks parts in there so well that a technician is sure there is a screw or tab holding something in place when there is really nothing but a dried spill.
Daryn
Automatic Software Updates for Windows eliminate security risks
Apple OS X has a great feature that beats the pants off of Windows. You click on the Apple logo and select "Update Software", and the operating system simply checks for any updates to any installed software and updates it for you. Pretty danged convenient. You might have to say "OK" to a license or provide your administrator password to complete a program update, but that's the worst of it.
We recently heard of a cool free utility that helps with this for Windows users. Secunia offers their Secunia PSI product free for home use. It examines software you have installed on your computer, references the Secunia database for any known security risks reported for the versions of the software you have installed, and provides simple links that allow you to download and install the latest versions that eliminate these risks. Not quite as automatic as the Apple OS way of doing things, but what a help! Check it out.
We recently heard of a cool free utility that helps with this for Windows users. Secunia offers their Secunia PSI product free for home use. It examines software you have installed on your computer, references the Secunia database for any known security risks reported for the versions of the software you have installed, and provides simple links that allow you to download and install the latest versions that eliminate these risks. Not quite as automatic as the Apple OS way of doing things, but what a help! Check it out.
Friday, November 5, 2010
MacBook 13.3" OS X Install Hell
Wow, what a long day. Still battling the MacBook Air. OS X Disk Utility changed it mind concerning the hard drive's S.M.A.R.T. status from "Pending failure" to "Verified". I had to go find a trial version of a Mac disk utility that would more accurately report the S.M.A.R.T. status. I just now found SMARTReporter also, which is a free utility that periodically polls the status of the drive and reports on its health. It is ALWAYS better to know ahead of time when things are about to go south! Anyway, got an 80GB ZIF drive on the way so we can get it back on its feet. Very rare drive now, very tough to find.
We've been working on a MacBook 13.3" A1181 that was brought in with some mysterious ailment. We've got retail install disks for Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard and also original install media for Leopard for the MacBook. Various attempts to get something to install using the superdrive kept resulting in kernel panics and an instruction to power off the computer. Some of the media would take and would get just past the language selection window but would then report that "Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer". Research into this took me down several roads. I won't report all the options, but they include checking for the proper partition format on the drive, creating new install media that has been somewhat modified to ensure it will accept the particular Mac you're trying to install it on, and connecting the computer to another Mac as a firewire target drive and installing it that way.
I checked the partition and it looked fine and was formatted as GUID, which is required for the Intel Based Macs. What I did notice when looking at the "Info" window was that the partition was "Partition 2" and contained 3 folders and 3 files, despite the fact that I had just erased it and told it to create a single partition. If you look at the partition tab in Disk Utility, you'll notice the "+" and "-" below the graphical representation of the partitions. I clicked on the "-" and applied that, which deleted the existing partition and left no volume whatsoever. I then recreated a single partition. This time, the partition was numbered "Partition 0". After doing this, I tried the OS 10.6 retail install media, which finally took. Yay!!! so, 30 minutes late, the MacBook rebooted and I was back to square on - kernel panic, need to power off. So depressing.
More research into kernel panics revealed that memory can often be the cause. Who would think? It ran find to install the OS and crashed during the reboot. It would seem that the memory was fine. So, I took out the memory anyway and found a white paste on the contacts of both bars (maybe it was supposed to be there) and I cleaned it off. Put one bar back in and restarted and voila, it continued the initial setup from the hard drive finally! It is now downloading the 1GB update for OS X.
I did try the firewire target method for installing the OS. It seemed to work great and even restarted and ran through the initialization of the OS, all through the other Mac. Very interesting. Shut it down, restarted it on its own, and kernel panic!
I also used SuperDuper! to create an exact copy (clone) of the functioning MacBook's drive onto the problem drive. When installed into the customer's Mac, nothing but grey showed up on the screen during the bootup. Tried the drive in my MacBook and it worked fine. Very frustrating. Maybe always associated with the memory issue, maybe it had something to do with the partition showing up as #2.
Daryn
We've been working on a MacBook 13.3" A1181 that was brought in with some mysterious ailment. We've got retail install disks for Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard and also original install media for Leopard for the MacBook. Various attempts to get something to install using the superdrive kept resulting in kernel panics and an instruction to power off the computer. Some of the media would take and would get just past the language selection window but would then report that "Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer". Research into this took me down several roads. I won't report all the options, but they include checking for the proper partition format on the drive, creating new install media that has been somewhat modified to ensure it will accept the particular Mac you're trying to install it on, and connecting the computer to another Mac as a firewire target drive and installing it that way.
I checked the partition and it looked fine and was formatted as GUID, which is required for the Intel Based Macs. What I did notice when looking at the "Info" window was that the partition was "Partition 2" and contained 3 folders and 3 files, despite the fact that I had just erased it and told it to create a single partition. If you look at the partition tab in Disk Utility, you'll notice the "+" and "-" below the graphical representation of the partitions. I clicked on the "-" and applied that, which deleted the existing partition and left no volume whatsoever. I then recreated a single partition. This time, the partition was numbered "Partition 0". After doing this, I tried the OS 10.6 retail install media, which finally took. Yay!!! so, 30 minutes late, the MacBook rebooted and I was back to square on - kernel panic, need to power off. So depressing.
More research into kernel panics revealed that memory can often be the cause. Who would think? It ran find to install the OS and crashed during the reboot. It would seem that the memory was fine. So, I took out the memory anyway and found a white paste on the contacts of both bars (maybe it was supposed to be there) and I cleaned it off. Put one bar back in and restarted and voila, it continued the initial setup from the hard drive finally! It is now downloading the 1GB update for OS X.
I did try the firewire target method for installing the OS. It seemed to work great and even restarted and ran through the initialization of the OS, all through the other Mac. Very interesting. Shut it down, restarted it on its own, and kernel panic!
I also used SuperDuper! to create an exact copy (clone) of the functioning MacBook's drive onto the problem drive. When installed into the customer's Mac, nothing but grey showed up on the screen during the bootup. Tried the drive in my MacBook and it worked fine. Very frustrating. Maybe always associated with the memory issue, maybe it had something to do with the partition showing up as #2.
Daryn
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
No need to pay the $80 for a laptop AC adapter from Best Buy
At 9th Street Computer Cellar, we love it when we're able to help our customers save money, a lot of money. We get to do this all the time. Today, it was a matter of a customer coming to us with an older Toshiba tablet computer that had an AC adapter that had failed. The only option available at Best Buy was some type of universal adapter for $79.99. We sell those also (for about 1/2 the price), but we have junk drawers full of a variety of mixed adapters that we can try also.
So, we got to pull one out, get the customer's computer working immediately and also saved him about $60 in the process.
We offer a free 15-minute diagnostic, a time that we can look over a computer and see if there are any issues with it and possible solutions. Although we don't get a repair job out of the deal, it is a really good feeling when someone comes in with a self-diagnosed problem with the DC jack, the part your power plug sticks into and it turns out to be just a defective notebook AC adapter. Not many folks do that type of board level repair here in Durham, NC, but we do. First thing we always do though is test the AC adapter and see if that is the problem; sometimes, it is. In that case, the customer only has to pay for the AC adapter and can immediately walk out with their computer functioning, rather than having to leave it for a couple of days or more as originally planned.
Daryn
www.thecomputercellar.com
So, we got to pull one out, get the customer's computer working immediately and also saved him about $60 in the process.
We offer a free 15-minute diagnostic, a time that we can look over a computer and see if there are any issues with it and possible solutions. Although we don't get a repair job out of the deal, it is a really good feeling when someone comes in with a self-diagnosed problem with the DC jack, the part your power plug sticks into and it turns out to be just a defective notebook AC adapter. Not many folks do that type of board level repair here in Durham, NC, but we do. First thing we always do though is test the AC adapter and see if that is the problem; sometimes, it is. In that case, the customer only has to pay for the AC adapter and can immediately walk out with their computer functioning, rather than having to leave it for a couple of days or more as originally planned.
Daryn
www.thecomputercellar.com
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