Tech Tip Daily

Today’s link pick isn’t so much a link as it is an application.  But because this piece of software has a website, it qualifies.  Regardless, it’s pretty slick.  I’ve decided to share Pidgin with everyone today.  What is pidgin?  I’m so glad you asked.

How many of us have a number of friends on different instant messaging networks?  Some are on AIM, others on ICQ, maybe Yahoo!, MSN, or even Google Talk.  Previously, If we want to stay in touch, we had to have each instant messaging application running on our machine.  With pidgin, you run a single piece of software (did I mention it’s lightweight and easy to use?) and add your credentials for each of the services.  Then, you can add buddies from each network to be displayed in a single, unified buddy list.  The software is absolutely seamless and works great.  Each client’s capability is almost exactly reproduced in pidgin, even with the option for mail notification.  Best of all, it’s free.  No more ads with AIM, no more bloatware with Yahoo, download pidgin and stay connected with ease.

Pidgin works with the following IM services:

• AIM
• Bonjour
• Gadu-Gadu
• Google Talk
• Groupwise
• ICQ
• IRC
• MSN
• MySpaceIM
• QQ
• SILC
• SIMPLE
• Sametime
• XMPP
• Yahoo!
• Zephyr

Download Pidgin:

• http://pidgin.im/

Pidgin does require Windows or any Unix based platform, but there are workarounds to get it to work on OS X.  Try searching google for instructions.  As an alternative, try Adium for the Mac.

That’s all!  Thanks, and happy computing!

Of all of my addons for Firefox, one of the newest is Firebug.  After a recent rejuvenation of my programming interest, I decided to practice a couple of skills using javascript.  Firebug is a debug tool for javascript, CSS, and HTML.  It allows you to set breakpoints, stepping through each line of code to find a problem.

When visiting gmail the other day, I was presented with a message stating that firebug can cause gmail to run slowly.  They listed instructions for a workaround, although they didn’t seem to apply for my version of firebug (that, or I’m an idiot).  Apparently, there is a much simpler way.

To disable firebug for gmail.com:

1. Visit gmail
2. Open firebug (click the “bug” icon in the status bar)
3. Next to the tabs “Console”, “Script”, and “Net”, there are drop-down arrows that provide additional options.  For each tab, click the arrow and choose “Disable for gmail.com”

This will disable firebug for gmail.  To be completely honest, firebug seems to be a bit confusing in how and when it does what.  Oh Well.

That’s all!  Thanks, and happy computing!

Skype is great.  I’ve been using it for over a year now and I love it.  With the SkypeOut package, I can conveniently place calls to land line phones for a flat (cheap) monthly charge.  One of the things I’ve used Skype for is podcasting.  A group of buddies and I have a weekly podcast (a link to follow – once we get the site up).  Skype is a stable, robust platform to host podcast sessions over.  Of course, we need a way to record our ramblings, so how does 1 go about doing this?

The science of PC audio is a complex one.  Aside from just “playing” sound, your audio card is capable of (sometimes) multiple outputs and inputs.  While most people are familiar with the traditional “speaker” output and “microphone” input, you might also have separate outputs for each channel of sound in a surround sound system and a line in input.  And that’s just on the hardware side.  Within the sound card, it has the capability to take all inputs and outputs and mix them together into one accessible channel.  This is referred to as the “Stereo Mix”.  While the only required input for Skype is your microphone, your recording software will need to hear more than just your voice.  What we’ll want to do is record the “stereo mix” channel from the sound card.

Now that we have that accomplished, all we need is a recording program.  While there are many available, the best I’ve found is audacity.  It’s free, lightweight, and easy to use.  Once you download and install audacity, we’ll want to tell it to record audio from your stereo mix.  All done, right?   Not quite.  Because of the nature of the “stereo mix” channel, Microsoft often times disables it by default within the audio properties (assuming your sound card supports it).  The reason for this is due to the fact that stereo mix greatly increases your chances of producing a feedback loop – where your audio input is sent back through your audio ouput, and in turn back through your input (and so on).  Before you tell audacity to record your stereo mix, we’ll need to be sure to enable it from within windows.

To enable stereo mix in Windows:

1. Go to Start -> Control Panel
2. In Vista, go to the recording tab and find “Stereo Mix”.  Right click and select enable.  Once enabled, right click it again and select “Set as Default Device”
3. In XP, go to “Sounds and Audio Devices” (If you don’t have classic view enabled, you’ll need to go to “Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices” first, then the former).  Click the “Advanced” button in the volume tab to bring up the “volume control” mixer (alternatively, if enabled, you can always get here by double-clicking the volume icon in the icon tray).  If you see a “Stereo Mix” section in the mixer, ensure that Mute is unchecked and the volume is turned up.  If it isn’t there, go to Options -> Properties, and ensure that there is a check next to Stereo Mix.
4. Dell, in their ever-increasing attempt to capitalize, decided they would charge users for the ability to stereo mix, so these instructions won’t work.  However, follow the instructions here to enable it.

Once you’ve enabled stereo mix, Audacity should record from it (since we set it as default).  Try placing a few test calls and recording them from Audacity.  If you’ve done things correctly, it should work.  As usual, comment with questions or problems.

That’s all!  Thanks, and happy computing!

So believe it or not, this problem actually happened to me…this morning. As I usually treat my computer akin to a newborn infant, I was completely shocked.

Of all problems ever encountered with computers, this is definitely on the top 10 list. 50% of the time, the solution involves plugging the machine in, or perhaps ensuring the user is pressing the correct button. The other half of the time, it involves a bit more troubleshooting. In my case, the solution was in the very last place I looked.

Reasons why (and solutions for when) a computer won’t turn on:

1. As mentioned, make sure the machine is plugged in. You’d be surprised how often a coworker or a loved one uwittingly unplugs a device to use the outlet for something else, forgetting to plug the original cord back in. Also, make sure the outlet has power. Try plugging something else into the same outlet.
2. Make sure you’re pressing the right button (usually bigger than the rest, often has “POWER” written near it, sometimes a circle with a straight line protruding out the top of it)
3. If the computer is plugged in and the outlet has power, try unplugging the machine for a few seconds, press the power button a few times to drain any residual current, then plugging it back in. Often times, I’ve seen the motherboard “hiccup”, where it just simply needs to be deprived of power for a little. If this works, I would suggest checking your hardware, and perhaps replacing your motherboard (it’s either broke or garbage).
4. If steps 1-3 check out OK, unfortunately it’s time to open up your case. Unless you’re comfortable with computers, I would not advise going past this point. Instead, take the machine to a trusted friend or pc repair center (and point them to the remainder of this article! – wink)
5. Once disconnected and opened up, take some time to clean the machine out. I recommend getting a can of compressed air. It’s usually a good idea to take the computer outside when you do this, unless you enjoy narcotic fumes (seriously, don’t breathe this stuff). Make sure to clean out all of the little corners and inside of the fans. Be especially sure to clean out the power supply (the big metal box located at the top or bottom of the rear of the case). Sometimes, dust buildup can do weird things on transformers and transistors. Take the machine back inside, put the cover back on (as a safety precaution – you don’t have to screw it back on) and try again. If it still doesn’t power on, it’s time to examine the power supply.
6. Reseat the memory. Often times, memory can be the culprit for a host of computer problems. Take each stick out, and carefully put it back into the slot, ensuring that it is placed correctly and completely.
7. 

   ATX Psu Pinout - Courtesy of pinouts.ru

   If you have a power supply tester, now would be a great time to put it to use. If not, there are a couple of things you can do to verify the integrity of the PSU (power supply unit). In most circumstances, a faulty PSU will simply fail to turn on. You can narrow the problem down to the power supply by shorting out two pins in the 24V connector (shown in the image above – this connector is typically the largest one on the cables). I used a set of tweezers between pins 14 and 15, although a piece of wire or anything else metallic should work. PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN PLAYING WITH POWER! Although I’ve never had any problems doing this, there’s the potential for some real damage (to your equipment and yourself) if you don’t take the necessary precautions. The power switch on the case controls a motherboard-generated short on these two PSU pints. When shorted, the power supply will send current to the PC through all of its connectors. When you short these pins, if fans start spinning and lights start coming on, you know that the power-on capability of the PSU is working (although any other combination of problems could exist – such as faulty wires or connectors). If there is no sign of change or power during the short, then it looks like it’s time to get a new power supply. Make sure that you get a power supply adequately rated for your hardware (eXtreme Power Supply Calculator).

8. Assuming the power supply came on when shorted, there are a few possibilities to consider. The first is a bad power switch. Follow the wires from the switch to the motherboard. They should meet at a small, black, plastic plug. Disconnect the plug from the motherboard and take a screwdriver, shorting the two pins that were connected to the plug. If things begin to turn on, you have a faulty switch. If not, continue on.
9. You might have faulty connectors or wires on your power supply. Begin to test each of the plugs. The best way to do this is to purchase a power supply tester (follow the link earlier in the article). If you’re simply to cheap for this (I understand), take a component such as a fan (with a 4-pin molex connector) and test it on each plu…You know what, I’m not even going to bother. Just spend the money to get a power supply tester. The time you’ll save in troubleshooting will be well worth the few bucks you spend. If something doesn’t test ok, buy a new PSU. If everything checks on, move on.
10. A faulty component could be causing a power disruption in your system. Disconnect all devices in the system from the power supply, and begin re-connecting them one by one, starting with the motherboard (make sure you plug in both connectors – most modern motherboards require two plugs, the standard 24V that you tested earlier and a smaller 4-pin connector). Also, make sure you’ve reconnected your power button to the motherboard from step 8 (this will make powering on much easier). Hopefully, the bare bones setup should power on. If it does, begin adding components until it doesn’t work. There you have your faulty device. If even the most basic setup won’t power on, continue.
11. You may have a bad motherboard. Try switching out with a friends or a spare you might have. If you take it to a local PC repair shop, they should be able to test it for you as well. Or you could always just buy another one.
12. Last but not least, check your PC power cable. Yeah, that little black cord running from your computer to the AC jack in the wall. This happened to be my issue. Using a different cord fixed the problem right away. Who would have thought, huh?

As far as I can tell, this list covers just about anything. If I’ve left something out, leave a note in the comments. If you’ve followed the list and are still having problems, I would suggest taking the machine to a professional (but for the love of humanity, not the geek squad). Or you can post a comment here and someone will try to help.

That’s all! Thanks, and happy computing!

So after taking a few days for a break, I’m finally back (hey, it’s hard work running this site by myself).  I’ve talked in quite a few posts about my experiences with Vista.  Overall, it’s been fairly pleasant, especially after reformatting.  I’ve had few compatibility issues.  One that’s really bugged me though is the inability to easily print to a Netgear PS121 print server from Vista.  With the many machines I’ve got in my house, I’ve always preferred direct network printers instead of sharing them from a single machine.  Besides, my Vista desktop is doing enough as it is, the last thing it needs is to share a printer.

The software included with the print server includes an installation package for Windows XP.  This sets up a network printer connection to print to the server.  Unfortunately, the install file is incompatible with Vista.  In addition, adding the printer like most network printers doesn’t work…exactly.  While this is how you begin the process to install the printer, there are a few additional tweaks required to get it to work.  I’ll start from the beginning. Before you begin, ensure that the print server is powered on and connected to both the printer and the network.  You may wish to do some preliminary configuration on the print server, such as setting an IP address and name for the device.  The default IP address is obtained from DHCP, most likely from a router if this is installed at home.  Check the documentation that came with your router or modem for instructions on checking the DCHP allocation.  Alternatively, you can download Angry IP Scanner and do a port scan on your local subnet for all machines with port 80 (http) open (essentially, this checks for all devices on your network that have a web page – the PS121 does).  Despite all of this information, you will need the ip address for your print server to set up printing.

To print to a PS121 print server with Vista:

1. Go to Start->Control Panel
2. Open “printers”
3. Right click and choose “Add printer…”
4. Select “Add a local printer”
5. Select the bubble next to “Create a new port:” and then choose “Standard TCP/IP Port” from the dropdown.  Click Next
6. On the next page, enter the ip address of your printer (e.g. – 192.168.1.20) in the “Hostname or IP address” field.  The port name will be automatically generated (you’ll need to remember this for step 14).  Choose “Autodetect” for the device type.  Click Next
7. Windows will now attempt to find the device.  In all likelihood, it won’t find anything and you’ll have to wait a minute or two while it searches.  This might be avoided by selecting something different instead of “Autodetect” in the previous page, but I haven’t tested this.  When it finishes searching, ensure that the bubble next to “Standard” is selected and “Generic Network Card” is displayed in the drop down.  Depending on the make and model of your machine, this might display something different.  It’s probably a safe bet just to click Next at this point
8. On the next page, select the manufacturer of your printer, then choose the printer model from the box on the right.  There are a wide variety of different models available in Vista.  If yours isn’t listed, choose “Have Disk” and browse to the location of your print drivers.  These can be obtianed from the manufacturer’s website.  Once selected, choose next
9. If it asks which version of the driver to use, select “Use the driver that is currently installed (recommended)”.  Click Next
10. Type a name for your printer (you can probably leave it as the default).  Also, check the box if you would like it to be set as the default printer.  Click Next
11. Select whether you would like to share the printer on your network
12. Click Finish (don’t print a test page just yet, we’re not done)
13. In the printers window (which should still be open), right click on your newly installed printer and select properties
14. In the window that appears, click the “Ports” tab and select the port with the name consisting of the IP address of the PS121 (or whatever you named the port to in step 6).  Click “Configure Port”
15. In the “Protocol” box, select “LPR”
16. In the “LPR Settings” box, enter a queue name of “P1″ and check the box next to “LPR Byte Counting Enabled”.  Click OK

And you’re set.  With as lengthy of a process as this is, I would recommend printing a test page to check your settings.  To do this, go back to the printer properties (step 13) but instead of going to the ports tab, click “Print a test page”.  I’ve not had a problem getting this to work.  If you have any issues, leave a comment, and I or someone else will try to help you out.  Alternatively, you can try searching around on the internet, although I’ve found very little coverage on this little topic.

That’s all!  Thanks, and happy computing!

One of the more common problems I’ve seen people come across has to do with “disappearing” thumb drives.  Often times, users have put their USB key into the front port of their computer, only for nothing to happen.  When they go to “My Computer” their drive is nowhere to found.  Puzzled, most of them assume their drive has broken or become corrupted, and they purchase a new one.

It just so happens that this happens most often in office environments; Office environments with network drives; Many network drives.  Contrary to popular belief, this situation isn’t really a big deal.  Amongst other things, Windows doesn’t always do a fantastic job at disk management.  When a drive is connected to the computer, Windows assumes you want to access it (of course).  So to give it a unique identity that sets it apart from the other drives on the system, it chooses a drive letter assignment.  Once assigned, you can access the drive and its files.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.  For some unknown (to me) reason, Windows doesn’t always pick the next free drive letter to assign to a new drive.  Perhaps it has a “preference” based on size and file system type, or perhaps it’s just a matter of what letter the drive had previously.  Say you get a brand new laptop with a standard hard drive and DVD burner (most commonly drives ‘C’ and ‘D’).  You plug your USB drive into the machine and it’s given a drive letter of ‘E’.  You work off of it for a while and then disconnect it.  The next day, you take your laptop to work and decide to place it on the company network.  The network assigns it 5 brand new network drives so that you can access your company resources (it just so happens to pick letters E,F,G,H, and I).  Later on, you remember you need a file off of your thumb drive, so you plug it in.  Only nothing happens.  Most likely, the computer attempted to assign it the same letter it had before (’E') but couldn’t.  But instead of trying other letters that are free, it just plain quit trying.

Ok, so enough yapping.  How do you fix this?  Easy…

To reassign a drive letter to your external drive:

1. Open the Start Menu
2. Go to Control Panel
3. Open “Administrative Tools”
4. Click “Computer Management”
5. On the left panel of the window that opens, click on the “Disk Management”
6. After a few seconds of loading, the window will populate with all of the different Volumes (fancy for drives…kinda).  Here’s the tricky part.  One of those is your external drive.  In the list at the top of the window, look for a drive that doesn’t have a drive letter assigned to it (Each drive letter is placed in parenthesis after the name of the volume.
7. Right click that drive and select “Change drive letter and paths”
8. In the window that appears, click “Add”
9. Make sure that “Assign the following drive letter” is selected and then click the dropdown box on the right, selecting a letter to assign to the drive.
10. Hit Ok (You might need to restart the machine)

And that’s all there is to it.  This usually isnt’ a recurring problem on a machine.  But if it is, you now know the steps to fix it.

That’s all!  Thanks, and happy computing!

For a long time I had an issue with iTunes where I couldn’t sort my library by alphabetical artist name without splitting up my “compilation/remix” albums.  Aside from regular albums, I have a large amount of techno/trance where the songs on the CD were originally performed by a variety of different artists, but all had been mixed together by one DJ.  When sorting by artist, iTunes would split the album, sorting by the original artist of the particular track.  For example, searching for “Tiesto” within my library would mix up every album, listing each song in alphabetical order of the original artist.

While playing around one day, I noticed that I could sort by artist, while maintaning my compilations that all had a common Album Artist field.  Despite having different artists for each song on an album, by placing the common “Album Artist” (in my case, “Tiesto”) in the tag for each song on the album, you could click on the “Album” column heading to sort by album, then click again to sort by “Album by Artist”.  This sorts all of the songs on the album by Artist, but gives precedence to the “Album Artist” field.

To sort your iTunes library by artist while maintaining grouping on your compilation and mix albums:

1. For each compilation or mix album, make sure that each track has the same artist name in the “Album Artist” field of the tag.
2. Click the “Album” column heading once to sort by album, then click it again to sort by “Album by Artist”

Your library should now be sorted by Artist, while maintaining the grouping of your compilation/mix albums.

That’s all!  Thanks, and happy computing!

The other day, I was researching hacking my wireless router. After I began, it became clear that I needed to telnet into it (as it appeared that I had bricked the thing). I opened up a command prompt and typed “telnet”, only to receive an error that “‘telnet’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file”. After some research, I found out that by default, telnet isn’t enabled in Vista. As to why this is the case, I’m not quite sure as the binaries for telnet can’t possible take up more than a few hundred KB. Enabling telnet is simply a matter of going into Vista’s “Programs and Features” within the control panel and checking a box.

To enable telnet and other disabled features in Vista:

1. Open the “Start” menu and select the control panel
2. Click “Programs and Features”
3. On the left side of the window, choose “Turn Windows features on or off”
4. Scroll down in the list until you find “Telnet Client” and place a check in the box (I would also recommend installing the TFTP client as well)
5. Click Ok and close the window.

It’s also important to note that this is the same process to enable IIS (Internet Information Services) applications, such as the FTP and Web servers.

That’s all!  Thanks, and happy computing!

I’ve been bidding on items on eBay for a long time.  Unfortunately, I’ve been subject to fraud more times than I care to admit.  However, through losing a few hundred dollars, I’ve learned a few tricks about how you can keep yourself protected.

Most of the payments on eBay are handled through Paypal.  Most people figure that since paypal is a large, reputable (snicker) company, they’ll have no problem taking care of the consumer when fradulent auctions occur.  Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.  Most people assume that if you lose $500 from a fraudulent seller, you’ll get that money back and paypal will pursue the scammer.  In the real world, things don’t work this way.  Something most people don’t notice is a little feature called “paypal buyer protection”.  Essentially, if you get conned through ebay and pay with paypal, assuming an agent agrees that you’ve been scammed (which usually isn’t too much of an issue), paypal will automatically reimburse you this amount.  Paypal will protect up to $2,000 for many of the auctions from well-established sellers, but for all others, this amount is limited to $200.

One of the many times I was frauded, I purchased a dell coupon for $300 off.  The auction closed at about $250.  The guy ran off and I filed a claim, only to find out paypal would only reimburse $200.  Fortunately, my bank managed to take care of the rest.  But I learned a valuable lesson none-the-less.

How does one find out what amount they are covered up to?  On the right hand side of the auction listing, below the seller’s information, there is a section that shows this amount.  As mentioned, most of the time (from reputable sellers), this amount is $2000, as shown above.  However, in other cases, the auction is only protected up to $200, as shown below.

What constitutes an auction being protected to $2,000?  For starters, the seller must accept paypal as a payment method.  In addition, the seller must have a feedback rating of at least 50 and they must have 98% positive feedback.  There are a few other requirements which can be found in section 13.8 in the document here.  In most instances, you will find that anyone with a feedback rating over 100 has $2,000 buyer protection.  And as good practice, you should only purchase from well-established sellers (lots of positive feedback).  However, every once in a while, that “steal” of a deal comes along from that guy with 0 feedback.  Before you decide to take that gamble, realize that if the item is more than $200, you won’t be reimbursed for all of your losses.

And as another tip, make sure the feedback in the seller’s profile is legitimate.  Lately, cons have collaborated and left each other positive feedback on phony auctions to get a better score.  Checking the other sellers/buyers as well as the auctions themselves will usually shed light for anyone with a bit of common sense.

Remember, when in doubt, do without.

That’s all!  Thanks, and happy computing!

I’ve not always been the biggest fan of reading.  I’d much rather watch the cinematic version of anything than take the time to skim the pages.  However, I’ve been known to become an instant fan of almost anything that’s free.  Fortunately, there’s an online resource that exists for the sole purpose of digitizing literature and making it as freely available as possible in many different formats.

Created in 1971 by Michael Hart, Project Gutenberg is the oldest digital library.  The majority of the books are public domain, meaning they can be freely distributed without any royalties or copyright fees.  Often times, “public domain” casts a shadow of inferiority on an item bearing its description.  But in this case, such titles as Moby Dick, Hamlet, and The Iliad, amongst many others.  Aside from being free and unabridged, these titles are digitized, which means the original text has been converted into word processing for easy adaptation, modification (heaven forbid), and even tools like OCRs (optical character recognition).

Link:

http://www.gutenberg.org

You can even offer a donation to the team for all of the hard work they’ve accomplished.  Do yourself (and your intellect) a favor and visit Project Gutenberg.  Your brain will thank you.

That’s all!  Thanks, and happy computing!