How-To

Bypass Those Tinypaste Surveys

You may have, on occasion, require the use of plain text for links, ASCII art or just a simple list. Because plain text is often hard to work with in the active web, there are sites like Tinypaste. The trouble is, Tinypaste will sometimes keep you from the text you want to see and force a number of surveys on you (like those shown above). This stuff is bogus, so you’ll want to just completely skip it. I’ll show you how.

How-To

Use Windows Easy Transfer To Automate User Backups

I’m always looking for interesting challenges, and this one is no different. I came across this question in Microsoft’s Answers forum and I was intrigued. Windows Easy Transfer is actually pretty good for migrating user accounts and pulling out settings, but what if you wanted to use this tool to attempt a full user profile backup (to disk) at regular intervals? Is it even possible in any reliable way to do this?

Basics

Basics: 2 Utilities You ALREADY Have On Windows That Can Fight A Virus

So, it should come as no surprise that I’m quite interested in what can be done to combat threats on a Windows computer with tools you already have. Today I’m going to look at three tools you’ll find on most any Windows flavour out there: Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Namely, wmic and taskkill. This is going to be more of a beginning overview of how you might use these tools to identify and stop a rogue application on your computer

Basics

Basics: 6 Things To Look For When Buying A New Laptop Or Desktop Computer

When you’re in this business of fixing and maintaining technology – one of the most common questions you’ll be asked is “What do I look for in a new computer?”. While I’m usually obliged to ask for more about the prospective computer in question – sometimes the brand names come up and sometimes it’s just a general question because the customer wants to buy a new one. Coming to me (the IT Guy) is a good step and a worthwhile use of time, but without me, what kind of stuff can you do to find the computer that’s best for you?

How-To

Malware: A Fast Way To Clean Up The Group Policy Mess After A Virus

So, you’ve cleaned an infected Windows PC and yet some stuff still lingers. You can’t right click on the desktop, you can’t get into task manager and you just know that a host of other policy related stuff is going on. Often, with Virus Scanners, they’re adept at removing files and folders, but they’ll leave behind things like registry settings (often taking the form of Group Policy changes). These settings can be just as harmful as the initial infection itself.