I found a great tool that will automatically disable your laptop touchpad while you type. Then it re-enables the touchpad for when you actually need it. The software is called TouchFreeze for Windows 7 and its recommended by laptop makers and tech support like Samsung to correct touchpad problems where the touchpad becomes erratic or moves the page or lines around when you type. You can get a free download of TouchFreeze for Windows 7 at http://code.google.com/p/touchfreeze/downloads/list it works very well.
Starting around October 11, 2011 you may notice that PayPal emails hang or lock your Microsoft Outlook email client. PayPal emails may seem slow and always hang. All other emails are find but when you click on a PayPal email your Outlook will lock. After about 4 minutes it will unfreeze but if you try to kill Outlook you’ll have end task and restart Outlook and still if you click the PayPal email it will freeze your Outlook client.
There is a workaround to this that reduces the lock from 4 minutes to about 5-10 seconds. It involves tricking your PC into not going to a tracking site used by PayPal that is causing the lock in Outlook. What happens when you click the PayPal email is that it tries to pull content from a host called 102.112.2o7.net note this looks like an IP address but it is really a domain name called 102.112.2o7.net note the o in 2o7 is not a zero but a small o.
The workaround is to modify your hosts file to direct the name 102.112.2o7.net to your local host where it will die and let you move on.
To modify your hosts file click start
Click Run or type cmd in the run window.
Click OK.
browse to c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc
Type notepad hosts
Edit the hosts file to add a line 127.0.0.1 102.112.2o7.net
Save the hosts file.
See the picture above for how your hosts file should look.
Your Outlook should no longer completely lock when clicking on PayPal emails.
If you are thinking of buying a high ticket item at Best Buy you should be aware of some gotcha’s in their price protection policy vs their return policy. I would have assumed that the two would run parallel since it is in the interest of Best Buy to have you keep the item and do a price match, vs return the item and re-buy it at the lower price. However after buying a new TV I learned that the price match policy and return policy do not run side by side. But then again this is from a company currently selling cases of water in New Jersey during the hurricane for $40.26. So here’s how it works. In my case we bought a TV on July 4, 2011 but Best Buy could not deliver the TV until July 29 2911,because it was out of stock. They were happy to take our money but when they dropped the price by $178.00 on August 28 they said their price matching policy goes from the date of purchase and not the date of delivery. So here’s where the disconnect lies. The return policy starts on the date of delivery, but the price match policy starts the date of purchase. So in my case I had a whopping five days of price match coverage. BUT I could pack up my TV and drive it back to the store and return the entire unit up to 8/29/2011 and re-buy the same TV to get the lower price. This is bad business for everyone. To pour a bit of salt in the wound, Best Buy extended the price match policy on this model of TV but Opps! You have to have bought it after 8/7/2011. So I could return the TV, get the lower price and get 60 days of price match protection. Obviously Best Buy is counting on the laziness and busy schedules of their customers to avoid properly administering price match policies. So if you are making a large purchase at Best Buy be sure not to allow for the deliver date to extend far beyond your purchase date. If an item is out of stock see if they will hold it for you when it arrives so you can get that purchase date and delivery date as close as possible.
While working on a customers laptop I was faced with a problem in that I could not uninstall F-Secure Internet Security 2010. The customer wanted to update their antivirus version to F-Secure 2011 but the install would not complete because F-Secure 2010 would not complete the uninstall, it just seemed to hang. After trying various things I found a tool from F-Secure designed to force the uninstall process. You can find the tool at their FTP site ftp://ftp.f-secure.com/support/tools/uitool The file you want is called uninstallationtool.zip and if you run the app inside that .zip file it will run and reboot and F-Secure will be uninstalled. You will see the app in add/remove programs but if you try to uninstall from there it will say it is no longer installed and offer to remove it from the list. You can now install the latest version of F-Secure or any other Antivirus program you wish.
If you need help with your computer issues please contact me and i’d be happy to help. 651-335-4385.
Just bought a new Samsung LED TV 60 Inch and the 7000 Series is so cool with the small frame. We got the Samsung un60d7000 home and were really disappointed with the picture quality colors and worst all the trails when people wave their hands etc. For five days we messed with settings on the TV, upgraded HDMI cables and then went to Best Buy all ready to purchase a Plasma TV and return the LED. I was SO disappointed as the Samsung LED TV’s were supposed to be so good but this was really bad. My wife called Dish Network and they were not really any help as the Dish isn’t the problem. My 50 inch Panasonic Plasma is great with my HD Dish Network receiver. She called Samsung and they simply had her reset the Samsung 7000 Series LED TV back to factory spec or settings and immediately the picture improved. We’re not totally happy with the TV so it has me wondering a few things.
Since we were going to return the TV I cancelled the $200 calibration service that Best Buy was going to perform. Samsung sent us an email saying no calibration is required as its done at the factory.
So could it be that Best Buy messes with settings to make the TV less than satisfactory to get people to do the calibration? That’s pure speculation but why does setting the TV to factory specifications result in a perfect TV?
If you are using one of the Linksys USB wifi adapters on a PC that doesn’t have an integrated wifi adapter you might find that it becomes disconnected from time to time. The cause of this is not an exact science but here are a few tips that can help.
First visit the Linksys website in the support area and download the latest USB wifi adapter driver and software that matches your Linksys adapter. It could be that your driver version has a bug causing the disconnect issue. Many times folks use the CD that came with the USB adapter which can be quite old. Often just updating the driver and other software will resolve this.
Next try moving the USB wifi adapter closer to the router. You can always add another 4-6ft USB extension cable to move the actual USB wifi adapter closer to the wifi router.
You might also consider updating the firmware on the wifi router. Just like the USB adapter, the firmware that ships on the router can become quite old. If through updating this you are fixing a known but your disconnection problems might be a thing of the past.
Finally check out the wifi settings on your router for the channel. It may be that another router or your neighbor’s wifi router are using the same channel. Manually changing the channel from automatic to something like 10 may ensure you have some wifi frequency that will not be in conflict with other wifi routers in the area.
If you are in the Elk River MN area and need assistance with Wireless networks at home or at your business please feel free to email or call me. My number is 651-335-4385.
John
I was pleasantly surprised to see my Elk River PC Repair business mentioned in the Elk River Star News regarding the Elk River Fireworks donation we made. I have always enjoyed the fireworks that the City of Elk River puts on and respect that they keep providing the show without charging the taxpayer for the fireworks. I really like the idea that the community including businesses make donations and the size of the fireworks show is directly related to how much we give without being required to do so. So hopefully we’ll see this effort continue year after year to keep Elk River fireworks coming to town each year.
If you need any computer repair services or need troubleshooting or virus removal, give us a call we love to help Elk River area residents and business with all their computer needs.
John 651-335-4385
Welcome to Gall Consulting LLC, your local Elk River Computer Repair service.
If you need PC or computer assistance call me at 651-335-4385. I work full time as an IT Manager for a large security company. I offer my technical services to the Elk River area with flexible hours.
I also make house calls to your home or business.
Common services I provide at a rate of $75 per hour.
- Wireless installation and troubleshooting.
- Virus and Malware removal
- PC Hardware and software replacement and troubleshooting
- Web marketing consultation.
You can email me at galljc@sherbtel.net or call me direct 651-335-4385.
Looking forward to your call;
John Gall
