Mobile Internet Repair done in Northbridge (Perth) & More Windows 10
Yesterday I was helping troubleshoot and fix an internet connection in the Northbridge area. Basically the client had an unreliable internet connection for quite some time and when it finally would not connect or work at all they called us in. When I arrived I found that the modem wasn’t sync’ing (talking to the internet provider) at all so I traced it back and plugged the modem into the smart wiring hub in the house – this worked, so I then re-routed the modem to another room in the house and it was up and running.
Fortunately I didn’t come across an actual mouse eating a cable, but I’m guessing this could have caused the faulty internet connection for my client.
Unfortunately the playstation couldn’t quite reach the wireless signal so I installed a wireless signal booster / extender and plugged a network cable directly from that into the playstation. Problem solved and the client was happy. Fixing internet connections is something that we commonly do for our clients.
In this case it was a faulty cable going through the house and we were able to work around it, I’ve actually heard that mice can chew the wires and cause this to occur, though it could have been other things too, but we don’t install cables in walls or remove them so I never get to really see what happened.
I also had another client in Greenwood with windows 10 driver issues, when I arrived it had been taken back to windows 7 but had a bunch of adware running in google chrome.. “ads by…” type of things. So I ran a few of my favorite cleanup tools and manually removed the junk and it was good to go.
If you are looking for a mobile internet repairer and don’t need new cables, but just troubleshooting your internet connection and getting it to run faster, give us a call on 0401 229 104
Windows 10 – Should you upgrade? my recent support calls to help fix it..
Many of you would have seen the free offer to upgrade to Windows 10, but is it a good idea to upgrade for free? In my opinion – not yet. Unless you have
Windows 10 Upgrade Perth
windows 8… here I explain why;
When new operating systems are released often there are imperfections to be ironed out and flaws that come to the surface. Over a period of time these get patched and fixed with windows updates but it takes some time for this to filter through to fix alot of small issues. If you have a brand new computer, it will be fine to start with Windows 10 but with an older computer it is possible that your hardware drivers have not been updated and or are buggy or not fully functional.
The way the windows upgrade process works means that it will be difficult to go back to your old Windows once you have started the process. Along with this the windows 10 upgrade is a pretty large download and will use more hard drive space on your computer.
Recently I had a few support call to Marmion to help with an old computer that was just upgraded to Windows 10. At first it worked, but then it stopped responding altogether. I assisted by extracting the data off to a new computer and the client was up and running again. In this case the computer was on its last legs anyway and upgrading to windows 10 pushed it over the edge. I’ve also seen some computers in Duncraig and Hillarys dealing with Windows 10 upgrade issues. Overall I would advise to stay away for now if you have an older computer running Windows 7. However you can click on the link and claim your free upgrade for later. You don’t need to install it just yet.
If you are already running Windows 8 or 8.1 the windows 10 upgrade is a more reliable idea, but I would avoid it if everything is running well. There is a chance that upgrading will make your computer run better and be like a bit of a clean up, but you will most likely need to re-install some things.
One of the greatest things about Windows 10 is the familiar start-menu interface, which is a breath of fresh air to people who enjoy the old familiar windows look and feel. But this can also be applied to windows 8 with the help of some third party software (We have installed the start menu for a bunch of computers running windows 8 around Perth).
I’ve been glad to have some new computer repair clients around my local area in Sorrento, Kingsley, Duncraig, Woodvale, Marmion, Watermans Bay and Whitfords lately – if you need help with Windows 10 or any other issues – you can call me on 0401 229 104
Tip: can’t delete pdf files in windows 8 “file is open in another program”
Today I came across an interesting thing in windows 8 while trying to delete a PDF file on a client’s computer – every time we went to delete it, there was an error “file is open in another program”.. After doing a bit of researched I discovered that the preview pane on the right side of windows explorer that previews the pdf files in windows 8 needs to open the PDF file when you highlight it. So turning off the preview pane fixed this issue.
Hope this helps someone else out there =)
A quick fix for file type associations – windows7
Open regedit from Start menu (You can also invoke the file using Run command)
Navigate to the following registry branch:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts.lnk
Click on the arrow to expand it and delete the sub-key named UserChoice. Exit from Registry Editor.
Reboot.
Fast tool for backing up or copying large files, can resume if stuck
Hey all,
Recently I’ve been using this tool to transfer large files – usually from clients old computers when they are upgrading to a new computer and transferring everything across, or backing things up for safekeeping – or even from pc to mac or mac to pc. When dealing with many gigabytes of files, its a real pain of the windows Copy feature gets stuck. This one can resume and it is much quicker when copying files through xp or vista and probably faster for windows 7 too. Windows 8 apparently is alot faster with its internal copy function so depending on how many files you have top copy or transfer it may be worth it.
Anyway the program is called “Teracopy” and you can find it here:
http://codesector.com/teracopy
System Restore on Windows 7 “System Restore encountered an error” Solved
Today I came across a strange issue with a Windows 7 Pc. The System Restore was not functioning properly, this is useful as it puts little backups in your system on a regular basis and if you install something that causes problems, one solution is to run back to the previous restore point. The error message I was getting was this:
“System Restore encountered an error. Please try to run System Restore again. (0x81000203)”
It was pretty confusing, some solutions suggested disabling antivirus software or restarting the volume shady copy services which didn’t make any difference for me. I was lucky to find a little suggestion about a ‘tune up’ utility, so I searched the computer and found out that the AVG Antivirus tune up utility was on “turbo” mode on this computer. I switched it back to a non-turbo mode and the system restore magically started working again. So be careful of these “Tune-up” utilities even from a good Anti Spyware Anti Virus and Anti Malware company like AVG – this kind of thing can cause computer problems with system restore.
I hope that this helps someone else out there.
Wireless security cameras setup with recording and motion detection
One of the jobs I completed recently in Applecross (near Perth) was Setting up some wireless web cameras for a client. After setting up the cameras I found some software which can record video based on motion detection. I then set it up so the three wifi cameras were on stand-by and at night the infra-red light would turn on in the software. We set it so when motion was detected between midnight and daybreak infront of these cameras it would start recording and send an alert email which is viewable via iphone/ipad or any other computer remotely over the internet.
The video security software programs I found for recording and remotely monitoring web cameras are these;
Blue Iris (Paid)
I Spy Connect (Free)
Wifi cameras are pretty cheap these days, so its a nice solution for extra security in your home. One thing to note though is that the Infra-red light coming from these cameras can be pretty strong, so you probably don’t want it switched on when you are around even though you can’t see it, it may damage your eyes. Also its important to setup passwords on these devices and be aware of the security issues around having internet-connected cameras.
New router problem fixed & Powerline Networking for Foxtel SOLVED
Here are some comments from Grant:
| “We had had no internet service for three days over the weekend Paul arrived on time, and gave updates via SMS to his arrival time, was approachable and helpful on arrival, and quickly asessed and worked on fixing the problem. On completion of the problem Paul ensured that all devices in the house were functional , and that we were happy with the resolution before departing. I would definately recommend Paul for his professionalism, his patience and concern for rectifing successfully the problem that we had . Well done Paul.” Grant O, East Fremantle |
Myself and Grant were really glad to find a solution to his internet connection and foxtel networking problems.
Recently I helped Grant from East Fremantle with a tricky internet connection problem. He had a brand new belkin modem that wasn’t playing ball at all – it was a Belkin N600 DB or N750 db modem. After trying to get the modem working without success I installed my tester modem which is always with me (part of any good mobile computer repair service is to carry a spare). My modem worked fine with no problems, so we then installed a new one I had on-hand and the problem was solved, we installed a TP Link wireless N adsl2+ modem with NBN ready functions.
How to change a saved WEP key on Mac OSX – SOLVED
Today I connected to a router with the wrong WEP password on my macbook. I went to change the save password by deleting the network from the network settings area on osx, but even after I deleted it and turned off wifi it came back and i didn’t have the change to change the password. Even after restarting the computer, no dice! The solution came when I discovered that WEP keys are saved in “Keychain Access” on OSX, so even if you delete the network it will still have the password saved in your mac, causing you to either change the wireless network name to be able to sovle it or to be able to open the ‘keychain access’ app on the mac and change it manually from there. Once I was able to change it manually in the keychain access area it was working perfectly. *phew*
P.S. you can get to Keychain Access by typing it into spotlight on the top right or finding it under applications -> utilities (not the System Preferences..)
Outlook on windows 8 reminders Iphone/icloud issues SOLVED
Yesterday I fixed a problem with the new outlook on windows 8 reminders that were not working when the calendar items were coming from icloud. The reason this happens is that the icloud folder is quite different from the standard outlook folder (pst) setup and when someone adds a new appointment reminder.
So when you go to add a reminder it says something like this:
“The reminder for “….” will not appear because the item is in a folder that doesn’t support reminders. Is this OK?”