Tech News & Reviews

Well, the new laptop I purchased back in August has Windows XP Pro on it. I thought this would be great, since I have heard a lot of good things about the ‘pro’ version. Recently I have started to experience lock-ups and odd issues, so I thought I would run some standard diagnostics to see what’s up.

That’s when I discovered that XP Pro has changed some things around. I attempted to run Scandisk, something I had not done on any XP machine before. Guess what? It’s been moved, it’s no longer called Scandisk, and it doesn’t log it’s activity to you can follow up on it! How rude is that?

Have you ever wished that Microsoft would leave well enough alone? As my wife always tells me, if it ain’t broke … don’t fix it!

Have you ever been out on a service call (or over at your mother-in-laws for all you d-i-y people out there) and come up short on a cable or USB adapter? It’s a real pain in the rear when you’re on site and you don’t have the equipment you need.

That’s why it’s better to stay stocked up. Simply put: you can never have enough of some things around. Computer cables, adapters, and wall plates are just a few of those things.

So today I bring you TCA-Inc., a company that has a ton of stuff to choose from when stocking your geek supply cabinet. You don’t want to miss out on some of these deals. One of the things that caught my eye was one I had not seen before: the flex USB Adapter. Now that looks like a handy little jewel!

They have a variety of categories to choose from: everything from fiber optics, firewire, iPod accessories, SCSI cables, etc. You name it, they probably have it. Their website is easy to navigate, and things are categorized in a user-friendly fashion. Combine that with the confidence that they have the store hosted as a Yahoo! store, and you’re set for a secure online shopping experience. Quality looks good, and the prices look even better. Don’t miss out … check it out today!

If you are an Internet entrepreneur and have the need of a shopping cart on your website, how are you going to accomplish the task? I’m going to tell you how: outsource it! Many entrepreneurs get tied up doing all the little things in their business, and it flounders because they can’t give the necessary attention to the big things (like website promotion, social networking, etc.). Well, today you can outsource your shopping cart needs to Ashop.com. This is truly shopping cart software made easy. With the ease of Ashop.com’s shopping cart software, you’ll be up and running in no time. This will help free up your personal time and allow you to focus on other business activities. Right now they’re running a 10 day free trial right now, so what’s stopping you? Take advantage of this offer, and see just what the Ashop ecommerce software has for your business.

Do you ever get tired of dealing with spam coming into your inbox? If you use Microsoft Outlook, you’ve probably realized the limitations of their spam filter. E-mail abusers simply alter thier send from or return addresses, and you’re stuck dealing with it all over again.

Well, consider looking into a third party to handle your anti spam services. There is a company called Concentric Total Solutions that offers what they call Perimeter Email Protection, or PEP. Perimeter Email Protection (PEP) is a complete email protection service for businesses hosting their own on-premise email servers. It includes tools to filter and authenticate incoming email before it reaches your email infrastructure.

If you’re looking for someone to do website development, you can find that just about anywhere. If you’re looking for someone who does good website development, plus a whole lot more, then take a look at 352 Media. This Seattle web development company’s top local client is Microsoft. (Yes, you read that right!)

Over the past four years they have designed over 50 websites, CD’s, DVD’s, and online advertisements as well as several print ads and marketing hand-outs. They are the winners of 44 Addy Awards for professional web design. They have production offices and sales offices in various locations around the country.

Internet security is a big deal, especially if your computer system is online all the time. This is especially true of broadband users who leave their systems on, even when they are not using them. Online security and virus security is very important these days. But how do you figure out which software or services to choose from?

If you are looking for reviews of computer security and Internet control software, then turn to Filterguide.com. They have computer security software to help protect your computer from unwanted internet intrusions. They also provide reviews and ratings of the best internet firewall, privacy and parental control software in the marketplace.

If you have ever taken a look at SEO (search engine optimization), then you know that there can be some pretty complicated things to help your site hit the top 10 search results for any term. One of the most important aspects of SEO is link building. Link building has proven to be an effective strategy for getting a higher page rank from Google’s algorithm.

However, not all links are the same. Link popularity is important. If a site that is linking to you is blacklisted, for example, it can have a negative impact on your rating in the eyes of the search engines. Link building is a science that must be completed well. Simply getting hundreds of irrelevant links from poorly rated sites will not help your own site’s link popularity in the long run. It might have an initial impact because of some black-hat effects, but it simply won’t last.

If it all sounds a bit complicated, then it might be best to utilize search engine optimization services, such as Submitawebsite.com. In business since the late 1990’s, they have serviced over 1 million websites with their services. If you are interested in obtaining help with SEO for your site, get a quote today!

Anyone looking for product support for the IBM AS/400 and iSeries servers has found that a good source is hard to find. If you are in the market for support of your IBM AS/400 iSeries equipment, you should take a look at Perfdata.com. This company has the resources to provide support and equipment to meet your needs.

From hard to find parts, new parts, refurbished and mid-range parts - they provide a full range of services. They have been in business since 1991, and are an Authorized IBM Business Partner for the AS/400 and iSeries platform. They even provide free UPS ground shipping to anywhere in the US for any product under 50 pounds.

It’s always painful when your hard drive crashes, or becomes corrupted. Life just doesn’t seem fair when you lose your precious data. However, we all know we should do regular back-ups, right? It’s not rocket science. Perhaps you’ve done your backups, but you just can’t remember where you put them … hmmm … now where were they?

Wouldn’t it be a whole lot easier if you could somehow do your backups online? Online Backup is now a reality with a company called Ibackup.com. Ibackup allows for just what you would expect from an online service: scheduled backups and access from anywhere via a browser. An extra special feature is the support for open file back-ups, meaning you can back-up a file currently in use. So if you’re looking for a place to put those back-up files, why not put them where they won’t be lost again?

I had a dream of one day setting up a home wireless network. The main goal was to use the wireless to allow other computers in my home to access the Internet through the ATT Yahoo! DSL service that I subscribe to. Since I am a very technical person, and have been involved with computers for almost two decades now, I felt confident that I could accomplish the task.

The first problem occurred when I opened up the box to the refurbished Netgear wireless router that I purchased online. There was no installation CD or paper documentation. That can’t be good. Hmmm … went back to read the fine print on the product page, only to find that any information normally contained on the CD would need to be downloaded from the Netgear home site. Oh boy.

I was able to find the information at Netgear pretty easily, so I proceeded to set up the system. It’s a fairly simple setup: DSL line into the DSL modem, Ethernet cable out from DSL modem into WAN port on the Netgear router, Ethernet cable out from the router into the main computer.

Next, I opened up my Firefox browser, and was instantly transported to the Netgear setup wizard. Here is where the next issue occurred. While the wizard picked up on everything necessary, and I filled in the appropriate information (ISP user name and password, which I had long forgotten), I still could not get online.

I went through the troubleshooting section of the manual, then I called tech support. Important note here: Netgear does not offer tech support for refurbished products. End of story. OK, so I sent off an e-mail to the place that I purchased the router from, since it was the weekend and their tech department was closed. It has been four days, as I write this, and I still haven’t received a reply from them. So much for technical support.

So, what could I do? Go online and search Google for an answer, of course! Using my expert Internet prowess, I managed to find several answers, but nothing specific to my router and modem type. Seems that Netgear can be a bit difficult to work with, as can my DSL modem, which was provided by my ISP. It is manufactured by 2Wire, which, it seems, is also a highly proprietary brand.

So, if you find yourself in my situation, here’s what to do. First, let me clarify what the problem was. The basic DSL Internet connection requires a login and password. This is usually programmed into the DSL modem when it is first installed, then largely forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say. Next, the router correctly identified my type of service as PPPoE, which requires a login and password. Since the modem is already providing that to the ISP, the router is attempting to do the same thing. Bingo! Nothing seems to be working right.

To solve this problem, you need to bypass the DSL modem, and place it into ‘bridge’ mode. Each DSL modem is likely to be different, however, you should be able to find the configuration and modify the appropriate categories as needed.

In order to get your 2Wire DSL modem into bridge mode here are the exact steps to take:

1. Connect your computer directly to your 2Wire DSL modem. Login to the modem by going to http://gateway.2wire.net/mangement. Other modems may be able to login my going to http://192.168.0.1 or http://192.168.1.1.

2. Go into the Broadbank Link menu, and select the Configure option.

3. Disable the PVC search function.

4. Set VPI to 0 and VCI to 35. This can vary based on your service provider. Check to see what the settings are before you change them.

5. Connection Type needs to change to Direct IP.

6. Click on Submit.

7. Next, go into the Configure Services menu option.

8. Disable the Enable Routing option. This will place the modem into ‘bridge’ mode.

It should be noted that once the modem is placed into ‘bridge’ mode, you will be unable to access it through your browser. In the event that this process does not work for you, you will want to make sure that you have all the information that you changed as well as the default password and initialization key available. This will usually come with the documentation that was originally provided by the ISP or modem manufacturer. This will be needed in the event that you have to use the reset button on the back of the modem to clear it out of ‘bridge’ mode.

OK, so now that the modem is configured, you should re-wire the setup as noted originally, with the wireless router between the computer and the DSL modem. Go into the browser and run the setup program again. You should be able to get the setup correctly, but probably will not be able to connect at this point.

The last step, often overlooked before calling tech support, is to reset the system. It is absolutely imperative that this is done in the following order. In this particular case, timing is everything, and the process must be followed exactly:

1. Shut down your computer.

2. Power off the wireless router.

3. Power off the DSL modem.

4. Wait at least 2 minutes, then power back on the DSL modem.

5. Wait for the ‘power’ light and the ‘dsl’ lights to go green.

6. Next, power up your PC.

7. Open up your browser, and you should be surfing the ‘net!

There will be some additional features that you will need to setup under the wireless section of the router, but these are pretty straightforward, and are usually done during the setup wizard as well. Once this is accomplished, you should be able to connect anywhere in your home by utilizing a computer that has WiFi access. It is highly recommended that you use some sort of encryption on your setup, thus preventing others from piggy-backing on your system, or attempting to high-jack your computers.

Sharing a DSL connection through the use of a wireless network in your home has many advantages, once you overcome the intimidating task of setting it up properly.