RHFtech Help Desk (and more)

I ran into an unresolvable problem with Google Chrome on a client’s XP machine this week. They use Chrome as their browser, on my recommendation. The computer was an underpowered eMachines T3120 model. Chrome is faster and less of a memory hog than other options so it made sense to me to use it on this slow box.

The error presented as a Google Chrome 104 error, "Chrome is unable to load the requested webpage." We couldn’t access any webpage. Oddly, other browsers—IE6, IE8, Firefox 3.6.6 and AOL 9.1—could access the Internet while Chrome would not.

Although new to me, this is not a new issue for Chrome. See http://bit.ly/bkU4xc . None of the various solutions that worked for others beset with this issue worked here. After wasting several hours trying to fix it, I gave up.

I reinstalled Windows XP and the applications. Fortunately, there weren’t many. I discovered on the reinstall that the Windows XP product key, which had been in use on the machine, failed the Windows Genuine Advantage tests and differed from the product key on the sticker affixed to the computer.

I wasted almost an hour of my time dealing with the product key problem. This reminded me that I NEVER have to waste time with this issue when reinstalling the operating system on a Mac. There are many reasons that consumers are moving away from Microsoft. This is one of them.

That solved the problem. I added Firefox to the reinstalled Windows XP applications list, in case the Chrome problem recurs. I also added 1GB of RAM, which made for a huge improvement in the computer’s usability.

I support many operating systems, applications and computer utilities, perhaps too many. The list grows with time. It rarely shrinks.

Here is a list of the more common software programs I need to know because my clients run them. This list generally excludes service pack variations.

Client Operating Systems

• Windows XP Home
• Windows XP Media Center Edition
• Windows XP Professional
• Windows Vista Home Basic
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Windows 7 Starter Edition
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• Windows 7 Professional
• Windows 7 Ultimate
• OS X Tiger
• OS X Leopard
• OS X Snow Leopard

Server Operating Systems *

• Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition
• Windows Server 2008, Standard Edition Service Pack 1
• Windows Home Server with Power Pack 1
• Mac OS X Server v10.6 Snow Leopard

Applications (most common only, list is not exhaustive)

• Adobe Acrobat
• Adobe Flash
• Adobe Photoshop – Elements, CS3, CS4
• Adobe Reader
• Aol All-in-One Software
• BlackBerry Desktop
• DropBox
• Finder
• Front Row
• Google Chrome
• Java
• Karenware PT Replicator
• iLife
• Industry specific applications such as medical practice management suites.
• iTunes
• iWork
• McAfee security suites
• Microsoft Office XP (AKA 2002)  - all editions
• Microsoft Office 2003  - all editions
• Microsoft Office 2004 (Mac)
• Microsoft Office 2007  - all editions
• Microsoft Office 2008 (Mac)
• Microsoft Office 2010 – all editions
• Microsoft Security Essentials
• Mozilla Firefox
• Norton security suites
• Parallels Desktop
• Printer, fax and scanner software
• Quicken
• QuickBooks
• Safari
• Skype
• Symantec security applications
• TurboTax
• Utilities (too numerous to list individually)
• VMware Fusion
• Windows Explorer – XP, Vista and Windows 7
• Windows Internet Explorer – IE 6, 7 and 8
• Windows Media Center
• Windows Media Player
• Windows Virtual PC
• Windows XP Mode
• WordPress

Router Administrative Consoles

• Apple
• Belkin
• Cisco
• D-Link
• Linksys
• NETGEAR
• TRENDnet
• ZyXel

It gives me a headache to contemplate this list. No wonder I get more and more confused.

* I omitted server products like Exchange Server 2003-2010, SharePoint Sever 2001-2010, Office Web Apps, Forefront… because my brain melts when I contemplate these as well as all the above.

On New Year’s eve I mistakenly uninstalled WordPress from this blog thinking I was working on WHIT.tv, the What’s Happening In… Telecasts, another site I own and manage. I wanted to change the WHIT.tv WordPress installation from the single user version to WordPress MU (multi-user) since WHIT.tv will host a series of Internet video shows, with multiple contributors. The first three shows will be What’s Happening in Fashion, What’s Happening in Gardening, and What’s Happening in Rolling Sculpture. I am working on launching the website and the shows.

How did this happen?
I pay GoDaddy to host both sites. They have great service, good prices and reliable hosting. They also have one of the most confused and confusing websites in existence. I went to their website, logged in and clicked on hosting under the My Products section of the home page.

This is what I saw:
I clicked on the second Manage Account link, the one for WHIT.tv. I was then taken to the Hosting Control Center v2.10.0 Home page, where I clicked on the Your Applications button. I navigated to My Applications – WordPress (installed), and clicked on the link to uninstall the application, thinking I was on WHIT.tv and only WHIT.tv, since the initial link I clicked on was to manage the WHIT.tv account. I was mistaken. I was on both sites and I had clicked on the wrong link, unknowingly uninstalling WordPress from RHFtech.com and not WHIT.tv.

I called GoDaddy and told them I had just deleted several years worth of work and that I needed them to restore the site. They said they could do that for $150. I gave them my credit card number and authorized them to restore my site, figuring I would save several hours worth of headaches in trying to restore my site myself from my backups.

GoDaddy tried and failed. After a week’s worth of attempts I asked for a refund, which is under review at GoDaddy. [Update: GoDaddy refunded my money.]

This morning I searched for how to restore from a backup. Yes, I have many backups as I am pretty good about that. First, I had to install the phpMyAdmin plugin into the WordPress installation. That took a minute. I then followed the instructions at WordPress.org Restoring Your Database from Backup. It took me a couple of minutes to follow those instructions.

And now this blog is back to the way it was before the New Year’s eve massacre. I am thankful that I backup regularly. I am thankful that my Google search found Restoring Your Database from Backup. I wonder, why couldn’t GoDaddy do this?

This is about Windows Explorer not Internet Explorer.

The new Windows Explorer in Windows 7 is one of my favorite things about Windows 7. Microsoft added some nice enhancements over the Vista version.  And Vista’s Windows Explorer was quite different, and better, than Windows Explorer in XP.

The two most obvious changes in Vista from XP were the changes to the left-side panel and the addition of the breadcrumb address bar. The breadcrumb address bar is a webpage-like navigation tool. It is a big improvement over the older XP address bar. The left side panel was changed in Vista into a combination of Favorites and directory trees for your computer and network. The Favorites area is shortcuts that you can easily add to using drag-and-drop. 

Windows 7 adds Libraries and Homegroup to the Vista-style left side panel. It also adds the Arrange by: feature to the Libraries view.  The View option—icons, lists, details, etc.— is now an icon called More options and is located on the right side of the Windows Explorer toolbar next to the Preview Pane   icon, which is a toggle switch for Preview pane on or off.

The Library Arrange by: choices vary with the type of library.

Documents	Music	Pictures	Videos

If you spend a few minutes playing with and learning about Windows 7 Windows Explorer you are likely to see what a nice utility it has become.

1. Windows 7 Pointers & Mouse Settings for left-handed people http://sl.rhftech.com/zorzh

2. xplorer² (The best Windows Explorer alternative) — Advanced customization http://sl.rhftech.com/hlbkj

3. VMLite – VMLite XP Mode for Windows 7 is ready – http://sl.rhftech.com/vmlite

4. Google Labs – Google Apps shortlinks explained http://sl.rhftech.com/koybo

5. The Freelancer’s Toolset: 100 Web Apps for Everything You Will Possibly Need : Codswallop http://sl.rhftech.com/wvxfl

6. Desktop Virtualization Software – A Comparison of Free Virtualization Tools for Windows http://sl.rhftech.com/xlfjk

7. Microsoft Office Outlook Team Blog : Best Practices for Outlook 2007 http://sl.rhftech.com/bpwvg

8. iPhone or Droid http://sl.rhftech.com/lsmjl

9. Too little, too late – Blu-ray discs get Managed Copy; hardware support nonexistent – Ars Technica http://sl.rhftech.com/zyeln

10. Kindle for PC Now Available http://sl.rhftech.com/fwuzm

11. Stephen Fry 1 million Twitter followers – the video – http://sl.rhftech.com/xemal

This is the HP followup to one of the All-in-One scanning issues I blogged about in Hewlett Packard All-in-Ones hate operating system upgrades. The customer called HP, spent 90 minutes trying to fix it and then received this email. Their answer is wipe the computer, reinstall the operating system, the applications, the personal configurations and the myriad patches on the hope that will fix the issue with their scanning software not working.

I told my client, “I do not recommend this solution.”

Dear Customer, Case Number xxxxxx1120

Based on the interaction you had with our Engineer  this day 11/11/09, the resolution provided by L2 is to format the computer again, because you may still have waste from the installation of computer software in the previous operating system. We would like to know if you have any feedback. In case the same issue persists or you need additional assistance, please reply to the email address: aiocr@hp.com with the convenient date and timeframe for us to call you back; we would do our best to call you on the requested time, within support hours (7:00 am – 7:00 pm MT, M-F).

In case you need immediate assistance feel free to contact us at 800-334-5144, we would be glad to assist you.

AIO Tech Support

This post could be titled, “Why is Hewlett Packard installation software so awful? Redux.” My original post Why is Hewlett Packard installation software so awful? of May 31st allowed me to vent my then frustration with HP printer/scanner/fax software.

This past week my frustration with HP’s lousy software reached new levels as three different devices—a high-end  HP CM2320 MFP AIO color LaserJet, an Officejet 6480 and and an Officejet 6500—created issues when I upgraded their respective computers to Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, Snow Leopard, and Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit.

In each instance the scanning software that had been working correctly stopped functioning. I have wasted hours trying to resolve these issues without any success. I want to send my bill to HP for my time and effort. Anyone know the address?

It took Microsoft 24 years but today they release a version of Windows that is the best client operating system they have ever sold. The UI/UX (User Interface/User Experience) is a big improvement over Windows Vista and XP. I believe that Microsoft Windows 7 surpasses Mac Snow Leopard in many ways particularly in the UI/UX and that Apple is now playing catch-up.

Kudos to Stephen Sinofsky and his team for a job incredibly well-done.

This article’s title is turnabout on the French proverb, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” That is not the case in technology. I know many examples where technological enhancements cause the need for further improvement or refinement. Technology often changes our behavior causing a need to adjust to the new behavior. At times this feels like an infinite recursion, which it may well be. (As an aside, Googling “recursion” will display Google’s attempt at logical humor.)

An example of this occurred in the mid-1970s. I worked at Citicorp and had been a member of the team that invented the modern ATM, which we called CATs (Customer Activated Terminals). We saw these machines as a way of substituting capital for labor, replacing the need for branch tellers and shifting the work load from the bank to the customer. I was in line at the headquarter branch waiting to use one of the ATMs. It was Friday afternoon and the line was long since we all wanted cash for the weekend. There were no lines in the teller area and four available tellers. I couldn’t use a teller because I didn’t have a check with me. I could use the ATM because I had my Citicard. The tellers could not give a customer cash from his Citicard. We had succeeded in changing customer behavior thereby unbalancing demand in favor of the machines. Citibank eventually fixed this and today tellers can work with a customer’s card.

Recently, People’s United Bank changed their ATMs to add a question when one first interacts with the machine inquiring what language would we want. This is a good change, except that I don’t feel I need to answer this question more than once. People’s should program their systems to remember my response since it is highly unlikely I will ever answer that question differently. Perhaps someday someone at People’s will wake up and implement the change. This is a small thing but an annoyance brought about by a change that should be changed again.

It is great that our computers can multitask. In the early days of personal computers this was not possible. You either worked on a word processing document or spreadsheet but not both simultaneously. Have you ever worked on something, perhaps a document, and the computer pops up a message from another application, stealing the system focus, breaking your concentration and frustrating you. There should be a way for us to tell our computers to not do that. Perhaps someday we will be able to mute these responses just as we can turn a cellphone to vibrate rather than ring.

I can think of many innovations that lead to annoyances that I would love to fix. I use many Google services, Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Google Voice, Google Wave, Google Docs, Google Reader, Google Maps… It would be nice if Google spent less time creating new services and integrated what they have so that I don’t have to have so many Google tabs opened in my browser. (iGoogle is not the answer.)  Update 2009/10/15 7:01a: A Firefox add-on Integrated Gmail addresses much of this issue. It does not seem to work with Google for Your Domain, e.g. rhftech.com.

Another example is that my Kindle can play audiobooks from Audible. Both Kindle and Audible are parts of Amazon. The Kindle reverts to a standby screen after a certain period of inactivity. Unfortunately, it does this while I am listening to an audiobook because it does not recognize the audio playback as “activity”.  I then need to move the “power” button to the right to wake up the Kindle. The power button is not easily moved. This is like having the standby screen popup while I am reading a page. This should be reprogrammed.

I can think of many more instances of a need for change brought about by change. I’ll bet you can too. Add a comment to the blog post and tell me what you want to change. Perhaps we can get some of them made.

I just got an NVIDIA update for a Windows 7 64-bit computer’s video card, via Windows Update. My computer’s video card performance went from a rating of 1.0 to 6.9. And the computer’s Base score, its overall rating, went from 1.0 to 5.9.  

A system’s Base score is the lowest rating for any of the tested hardware devices.

The highest possible rating in Windows 7 Experience Index is 7.9. The highest possible rating in Vista is 5.9.

The Base score of 5.9 is limited by the primary hard drive, a 1TB Seagate 7200 RPM with a 32MB cache. I suspect if I replace that drive with a solid state drive (SSD) the computer’s , current 5.9 Base score would rise to 6.9, the video card’s current ratings.