Computer help offered at no charge

USC's chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) will be hosting its first Fix-IT day at the Swearingen Engineering Center on Saturday. From noon to 6 p.m., students of the College of Engineering will be offering free diagnostic and repair services for laptops and desktops using Mac OS, Windows and Linux.

This repair event is open to students and faculty of USC and the general public. While ACM participates in community service and free tutoring for students in introductory computing classes throughout the year, this is the student group's first large-scale community outreach event.

According to third-year computer science student Mark Williams, president of the ACM at USC, volunteers at Fix-IT day will be offering quicker repairs and a wider range of services than University Technology Services, including installing new operating systems, updating software, replacing LCD panels and removing viruses, malware and spyware. While ACM cannot cover the cost of hardware, they can help install it if the proper devices are brought with the computer.

Williams states that some of the most common computer problems for students are spyware and other viruses, incompatibility between programs and having a cluttered hard drive. ACM's vice-president, third-year computer science student Chase Daigle, says that students also need to be careful with the way they handle their computers. Hardware problems occur when laptops are jostled around in students' book bags, Daigle said.

With at least a dozen volunteers available throughout the day, ACM anticipates that students won't have to wait long for assistance. In the meantime, Daigle offers some suggestions for minimizing computer troubles.

"It is important to keep your system up-to-date," Daigle said. "When the developers hear about security holes, they develop patches for the software, and these patches are distributed in software updates. Regardless of the operating system you run, be it Windows, Mac OS, Linux, or something else, keeping your system current will help to protect you from software vulnerabilities."

Williams said he is looking forward to a good student turnout on Saturday. He knows very well the importance of maintaining a healthy operating system.

"Taking care of your computer will keep it from breaking down on you at 3 a.m. when you have a paper due at 8 a.m."

Source: dailygamecock

Computer optimization

Computer optimization can be understood as the vital tonic to boost up the system. It has become the major area of concern for the users. Many computer support firms are making campaign for computer optimization. They are making use of troubleshooting techniques and implantation of third party software to resolve the issue.
I will concentrate this blog to resolve some general issues. Unfortunately you may face issues where your screen freezes and programs stop responding. Even you are unable to close the windows of some application. This is the disgusting situation. The reason behind could be scarcity of RAM, infection of virus or fault in windows registry.
Notice the time of the freezing, in majority of the cases your system will be able to restore the normal condition by default without any attempt. But if the things are not in favor bring out the Task Manager utility with simple keyboard activity: Press the ‘Alt’, ‘Ctrl’ and ‘Del’ buttons all at the same time. You would land to a Window format, now scroll down the program which is causing the error and choose to end the program. Now, again you can start the program and get the normalcy.
Note: Lower value of RAM is the prime reason behind hence to avoid regular repetition you may upgrade the RAM.
However, you may not be lucky every time. If the concern is not addressed with the Task Manager then the root cause may be virus infection or corruption of Windows registry.
If you don’t have any compatible anti-virus, than opt for the best one available in the market. Some trusted names includes, McAfee, Bitdefender, Kaspersky and so on. Before making download, make sure that they are compatible to your windows platform. The role of the anti-virus program is to scan and remove any virus, spyware, malware, keyloggers, rootkits and so on and do the computer optimization.

Many independent software are available for computer optimization which can fix, Error messages, slow performance, slow internet browsing and many more within few minutes. Some of the best are RegCure PC optimizer, XoftspySE.

Windows 7 Taskbar

Let's start from the basic, the area at the bottom of the Windows screen and to the right of the Start button is known as taskbar, where you see icons of running programs.You can use the taskbar to switch between programs by clicking the icon for the application you want to use.

What's new in Windows 7 Taskbar?

Improved Taskbar: This feature and full-screen previews have made going back and forth of pages, extremely easier. Now, it is lot easier to work on multiple windows at the same time. Windows 7 enables user to pin any of their favorite program to the taskbar. When user hovers over the icon in the taskbar, he will be able to see thumbnails of windows open under that application and when the user hovers over that thumbnail, he will be able to see full-screen preview of that window. The users also have the option to click and drag any icon on to the taskbar.
When it comes to size, Windows 7 taskbar is different. It is bigger in comparison to that of Windows Vista or Windows XP. By default, Windows 7 easily pins any program to the taskbar for quick access (just drag and drop).

If you remember, when you opened a program in Windows Vista, a window was shown in the taskbar as a small rectangular bar, but in Windows 7 you will find just the big icon. All text is gone. Furthermore, you can pin the programs that you regularly use, so that they hang there at the bottom even when they are not in use.
Moreover, there is no quick launch any more. In Windows 7, you can pin any of the programs to the taskbar. You also have the freedom to rearrange the icons on the taskbar just by clicking and dragging. User experience has been further made interesting by adding some extra features. When you move over your cursor on the icons, you will see thumbnails of every file that is open in that program, and if you move the cursor over the thumbnail, you will be able to see a full-screen preview of that window.

A new shortcut to go to desktop has been introduced on right side of the desktop, next to date and time. It is always there and is easy to locate.
There is no need to open the Action Center through control panel any more. A new flag icon located on the left of the battery icon opens the Action Center in the Windows 7 taskbar. The Action Center provides you with notifications, updates, etc.
Besides being simplified, the taskbar of Windows 7 saves time and screen space. It organizes running applications in a systematic way and helps enable faster switching of windows. In a nutshell, the taskbar of Windows 7 has been greatly improved in every aspect and gives users a better experience. If you are still not impressed by the new taskbar, you have the freedom to switch back to the previous one.

In News: iYogi Re-Defines Technical Support – BizTech2.com

Remote managed services are gaining a lot of attraction these days. Companies are looking to outsource the maintenance and monitoring of their IT infrastructure to a third party to improve efficiency and save costs. BizTech2.com caught up with Uday Challu, founding partner and CEO, iYogi, to see what the company has to offer in this space.

As far as Enterprise and SME customers are concerned, which verticals are you focusing on?

Our focus will mostly be on small companies with around five to 100 users and also firms that have multiple small branch offices like travel agencies, retail stores etc.

What kind of support services do you provide to your customers? What is the Green PC service?

iYogi provides the next generation of remote computer support services for consumers and businesses. For consumers, our live 24/7 support extends to technologies we use everyday, including hardware, software applications, devices, peripherals and networking equipment. iYogi also offers a full range of business IT solutions including managed monitoring, managed services, set-up and installation services, and incident-based services.

Green PC Service

With the current state of the global climate and increasing dependency on the computer, iYogi helps PC users reduce their carbon footprint and save money at the same time. iYogi’s Green PC service is the first in the independent computer support industry to offer customers a way to save money, conserve energy and protect the environment by optimising their PC’s efficiency. Consumers and businesses can save up to $200 per year, per desktop, in energy costs with iYogi’s Green PC application. This green application makes the computer environmentally friendly by reducing power consumption by almost 50 percent.

Our Green PC dashboard helps customise power settings and calculate power savings in kWh (kilowatt hour). The Green PC dashboard also gives a status on the reduction of CO2 and how responsible usage will benefit the environment by saving trees. A customised service that increases the energy efficiency of computers, undertakes the below-mentioned three primary initiatives:

- Computer assessment, analysing settings and PC energy use
- Customised efficiency planning geared specifically to the individual’s usage patterns
- Implementing setting changes to maximise the computer’s energy use

What are the technologies that allow you to offer 24/7 support and ensure there is no downtime at the client site?

We have invested significantly in developing a comprehensive monitoring and management tools stack. This enables us to manage and monitor all devices in the office network as well as for branch offices and mobile users. Our tools continuously monitor the customer’s network and notify our NOC (Network Operations Centre) in case of problems. Based on the set of events, tickets are automatically generated and escalated to corresponding teams. Over and above our proactive approach, the customer always has an option to call our 24X7 support line for issues that are not identified via the monitoring tools.

Please throw some light on your proprietary iMantra technology.

iMantra is a CRM system, which is tailor-made to suit the emerging business needs at iYogi. It allows for the formation of individualised customer relationships with the aim of providing personalised services to each subscriber. This tool is built on the latest java technology with a layered architecture that makes it scalable and secure. This architecture provides a seamless workflow and independent channels for various business needs: sales, support, quality and customer service. The entire system can be exposed in the form of secure APIs and Web services, which makes it a re-usable entity.

Your business model is similar to BPOs in India providing technical support to offshore customers. What unique values do you bring to this ecosystem that would help a potential client choose you over a competitor?

iYogi’s business model is different from traditional BPOs. Some key factors that differentiate iYogi include:

- Direct-to-consumer and -small business: iYogi delivers technical support services directly to consumers and small businesses and is a global technical support brand based out of India. Unlike traditional BPOs in India, iYogi does not provide any private label support and/ or work on behalf of large OEMs or software publishers.

- Optimised Processes: iYogi has developed proprietary processes for consistently delivering on a resolution rate of 87 percent, which is among the highest published benchmarks in the support industry, where averages hover in the range of 50 percent.

- Comprehensive technology platform: iYogi’s global delivery platform, iMantra, gets smarter with every customer interaction. It documents every problem, the solution and relevant hardware and software aspects, while capturing each customer’s demographic information and creating a behavioural profile. All of this information is at the fingertips of iYogi’s Global Tech Experts. This set-up combines a knowledge base with a comprehensive set of tools and technology expertise. iYogi offers a range of tools that complement its remote support services for helping customers maintain technology at peak performance levels. iYogi’s products include iYogi Smart PC Scan, iYogi Support Dock, iYogi Green PC and iYogi PC Optimisation.

How do you plan to move up the value chain in the times to come?

The growing use and penetration of the Internet and new Web-based applications has consequently opened the door to threats and vulnerabilities, which affect the system performance and ultimately lead to degrading performance. If the threats are diagnosed early on, the impact on efficiency can be minimised considerably. Currently, a user only realizes that he needs technical support once the damage has occurred and reactive methods of support are used to recover from the loss.

At iYogi, we are developing our capabilities to not only provide support when demanded, but to also monitor, pre-empt and fix threats before they can cause any damage to the computer. This will be possible only by combining technology with processes that are capable of re-defining the way technical support is delivered today.

What is your India strategy?

Technically, we are capable of servicing any geography including India. At this stage, we are looking for the right kind of partners to find access to potential customers and provide them a consolidated, 360-degree solution and services for issues relating to hardware, software, network etc. We aim to launch our India services in the coming six to eight months. Our services will offer clients a one-stop solution for all their business needs.

Source : BizTech2.com

PC Help - Personalized Support

Late last night when we sitting out on the veranda, my little two year old remarked looking heavenward on how beautiful the clouds were looking and both my husband and I followed his gaze and realized that it was indeed a beautiful sight. My husband smiled and said that sometimes it pays to look at things through his eyes because he is only just beginning to enjoy the newness and joy in nature's bounty.

The point that I am seeking to drive home with this analogy is that the Personal computer is really a wonderful invention that gives us the whole world while we are seated right in our own homes. All of us who have been using the personal computer for a long while now quite forget all those new computer virgins who take tentative steps towards this technology beast that everybody feels that they just have to master.

A personal computer is on everybody's checklist and or definitely on their wish list. Be it parents' buying for their children or much older citizens realizing that the PC can be the best way to stay in touch with their kids and watch their grandchildren grow up.

Most new users who have not 'learnt' computers or studied it in school have a very tentative approach to the computer. They really could do with computer help on a regular basis. As an octogenarian aunt who is reinventing herself via the Personal Computer mentioned to me that it would be wonderful to have computer services that were tailor made for her needs. When I asked her what she meant by that she said that what she needed was help with her PC so that she did not need worry about computer virus and other such nasty things. Computer Help that worked on auto pilot, so to speak rather than having to get in touch with a computer help specialist all the time. She just wanted a computer service professional to check her system regularly and maybe teach her a new trick or two every now and then! Proactive tech support is what she wanted and given today's agile computer support companies, I am sure they have something suitable for my Aunt Sarah.

I cannot stress enough the importance of having a good trained, qualified and certified computer help company on board. When the world of computers is just opening up for a new users there can be numerous road blocks that can seriously inhibit new users; computer virus, spyware, e-mail issues to name just a few of the common but omnipresent issues. Having trained computer service persons around to help can ensure that your learning continues unabated and unhindered. As most tech support professionals work with multiple customers them on possible issues and road blocks. This will help new users identify and troubleshoot small problems on their own.

All computers regardless of brand come with help tutorials inbuilt into the system. I will admit that there are designed with care and are very easy to follow. However, for lay users who often have issues even launching their computers, this manner of computer help can be a little hard to follow. Sometimes even finding the tutorial on the computer can be a little difficult for some users!

In my opinion, if you are a lay user and have just begin to explore this wonderful world of computers, get some good tech support on board. A qualified computer repair technician will greatly enhance your learning curve and will also ensure that there no roadblocks in your wonderful journey down technology road.


Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?PC-Help---Personalized-Support&id=2417611

How to uninstall McAfee Total Protection Service

This post describes how to uninstall McAfee Total Protection Service from the Computer.Uninstalling protection services.

Close the Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer applications.
In the Windows Control Panel, open Add/Remove Programs.
Select McAfee Virus and Spyware Protection Service from the list, then click Remove.
Select McAfee Firewall Protection Service from the list, then click Remove.

Note: On computers running Windows XP or Windows Vista, the Windows firewall is automatically re-enabled when the Total Protection service firewall protection service is uninstalled. This ensures that the computer is always protected by a firewall program.

Select McAfee Browser Protection Service from the list, then click Remove.

How to Manually Uninstall Encarta 2001

Some time you are unable to remove any program from computer, and you need to Technical support for Troubleshoot this problems. In this post i am going to to discuss how to remove Encarta 2001 from your computer.

When you attempt to uninstall Encarta 2001 by using the Add/Remove Programs tool in Control Panel, Encarta 2001 may not be completely uninstalled.

If Encarta 2001 is not completely uninstalled, use the following methods to manually delete all of the Encarta folders and registry entries.

NOTE: The Encarta Language Learning programs use many of the same folders and registry entries as Encarta 2001. Therefore, after you complete the methods in this article, you may need to reinstall the Encarta Language Learning programs.

Delete the Encarta Folders

Delete the following Encarta folders:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Information Retrieval
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference Titles
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Encarta
C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Encarta
All of the Encarta folders that are contained in the following folder:
C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system.

Delete the Encarta Registry Entries
Delete the following Encarta registry entries:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Reference
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Reference
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ReferenceTitles
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Reference

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How to Manually manage processor scheduling

Today I am going to discuss and provide technical support for how to manually manege process scheduling in Windows Operating system. There are a finite number of resources that are available for a computer's CPU. Windows manages these resources automatically, and can allocate tasks between processors or manage multiple processes on a single processor. You can adjust how Windows manages these resources by prioritizing them between the foreground programs and the background services.

By default, Windows puts a priority on the foreground programs. The added processing resources cause programs to respond more quickly. However, if you have background services, such as printing or disk backup that run while you work and you want them to respond faster, you can have Windows share processor resources equally between background and foreground programs.

Note If you are using your Windows XP computer as a server, allocating more resources to background services is recommended.

To manually change the performance of foreground and background programs, complete these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl in the Open box, and then press ENTER to open the System Properties dialog box.
2. Click the Advanced tab, and then under Performance click Settings.
3. Click the Advanced tab, and then under Processor scheduling use one of the following methods:
* Click Programs to assign more processor resources to the foreground programs. This setting is recommended for most users.
* Click Background services to assign equal amounts of processor resources to all running services. This includes print jobs and applications.
4. Click OK to apply preferences and close the dialog box.

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How to manually optimize the memory usage

In this post you can get technical support for computer memory management. Memory is the useful unit of computer system; you can optimize your computer's memory usage to reflect your specific needs. If your computer is used as a workstation instead of as a server, you can increase performance by devoting more memory to your programs. Your programs will work faster and the system cache size will remain the default size that was included with Windows XP. Or, you can set aside more computer memory for a larger system cache if your computer is used primarily as a server, or if you use programs that require a large system cache.

Follow The Steps to Optimized Computer Memory Usage
1. Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl in the Open box, and then press ENTER.
2. Click the Advanced tab, and then under Performance click Settings.
3. Click the Advanced tab, and then under Memory usage use one of the following methods:
o Click Programs if you use your computer primarily as a workstation instead of as a server. This option allocates more memory to your programs.
o Click System cache if your computer is used primarily as a server or if you use programs that use a large system cache.

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