WPS - The Simplest Technique to connect a device to your WiFi Router

What is WPS?

WPS or Wi-Fi Protected Setup allows you to add new wireless clients to your local network in a swift and easy way, without the need to enter any of your wireless settings (network name, wireless key, encryption type).

Most wireless routers support this technique of setting up new clients.

Dell - Restore the computer to the default factory configuration

Dell have incorporated the ability to restore the computer back to the original factory configuration.

Recently my cousin rang me and told me that she had found whatever they did they couldn't get WiFi working on their Dell Laptop.

When I booted a Linux virus scanner the WiFi worked fine. Woops looks like the software was screwed. As they had a virus protection I figured the software was really screwed, screwed enough that it should be reloaded with the original software.

Reinstalling Windows 7 without a Disc

The information was taken from a pcworld article, "How to install windows 7 without the disc".

How to fix any computer (not).

That's it in a nutshell

Mounting an iso disc image (windows only for XP to Windows 7)

An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, a type of disk image, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system.

ISO image files often have a file extension of .iso. The name ISO is taken from the ISO 9660 file system used with CD-ROM media, but what is known as an ISO image might also contain a UDF (ISO/IEC 13346) file system or a DVD or Blu-ray Disc (BD) image.I previously had indicated "Backing up a video DVD to an ISO file". So the question now is, ok so now have an iso file of the disc but can you use it without writing it to a DVD/CD.

Why doesn't DVD Shrink work under Windows 7?

Windows XP onwards was given a new facility Data Execution Prevention (DEP).

The following is from Microsoft help:

Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a security feature that can help prevent damage to your computer from viruses and other security threats.

Computer programs set aside a portion of your computer's memory for data, and another portion for instructions that your programs use. Hackers can try to trick programs into running (also known as executing) harmful data placed in your computer's memory as if it were instructions. This could allow a hacker to take control of your computer.

DEP can help protect your computer by monitoring your programs to make sure that they use computer memory safely. If DEP notices a program trying to run instructions from the portion of memory used for data, DEP closes the program and notifies you.

Fixing a faulty NTFS Windows Partition

The customer has a dual boot system with a broken NTFS filesystem on her windows partition. The other partition was loaded with Ubuntu on the same disc and it worked perfectly.

Because Ubuntu worked fine I suspected that the problem may only be with the NTFS partition and not any disc hardware issue.

Hi-tech Handyman

Testing Internet Speed

Sometimes when you feel your computer is slow you feel like checking your Internet speed. How do you do it?

There's a standard testing site that can be used to test the Internet speed and best of all it's FREE!

Region Free secure internet (Encrypted VPN)

I read an interesting article in Popular Mechanics ("Removing Yourself From the Internet", Page 77  Jan 2012) which discussed leaving a minimal Internet footprint.

Your data is bought sold with your permission  If you had bothered to read the license agreements you clicked "I agree", you would have noticed that the companies indicate that they collect data for marketing purposes or sum such statements.

Burn an ISO image file to a DVD (windows only)

ImgBurn will load an ISO image file and write (burn) it to a DVD. Thats all I was interested in, and it just works and works. I've had Nero fail on me but ImgBurn no problem. Hey it does a lot more but that's for you to find out. From the ImgBurn website:

Backing up a video DVD to an ISO file (windows only)

DVD Shrink can be used to backup video DVD's onto a standard 4.7-Gb DVD iso image file. When buying a video DVD its better to play the copied DVD rather than the original and of course this will preserve your original DVD.  

Remotely look at a Desktop

Just another thought and that is the use of Team Viewer for the maintenance of friends computers. With TeamViewer you can "Invite a colleague to an active remote control session to resolve a support case together. If necessary, you can hand over the session completely." 

Blogging on a static website

I wanted a blog on my static website, but how was I going to add a blog without something like a WordPress engine.

Well to be philosophical, a static website cannot create dynamic data except through something like JavaScript (client-side processing) which I didn't want to do.

So why not use an existing dynamic blogging site and effectively embedding the blog HTML page into my current page using a html "iframe" element. In laymans terms piggyback an existing blogging site and direct my blogging page to this Dynamic Blogging site.

Changing the printer cartridge

Judy's old multifunction HP PSC2410 ran out of colour ink. The printer used the HP 57 tri-colour inkjet print cartridge. The status showed that the one of the colour reservoir's in the tricolour cartridge was empty which meant junking the whole tricolour cartridge. I went to the local cut price cartridge replacement shop thinking a $10 refill and was horrified when they wanted $55 for a new tricolour cartridge.