Computer/network tech support questions.... ask away...

[staysafeonline]

So I have been lurking on this forum for over a year now and I have learned a TON about the Spyder from the members of this board - and I KNOW that all of that knowledge will help me when it comes to finally purchasing my Spyder (hopefully in the next 3-4 months).

So I have spent lots of time thinking about how I can give back to this community which has already given me soooo much! And I realize that one of the the things I can do is offer advice/counsel on what to do to address computer/server/networking problems you maybe encountering in your life and/or business. You are on this forum, so obviously you use your computer for more than looking at your local news site and/or watching cats playing the piano.

A few things to note:

(1) I have over 18 years in the "bizness" and I own my computer/network security company but it is NOT my desire or intention to use offer my support as a way to gain customers/clients, etc. I simply want to give back to this great community, rest assured that you will NEVER see me recommending any services/products/vendors in a way that will provide me with any income (direct or indirect). I am hoping to clearly communicate that I am not making this offer for any reason other than to contribute to a great group of people who have given me much AND whom I know depend on their technology. (Lamonster - if you feel that this thread is inappropriate - please DM and I'll remove it - I don't want to violate the terms of use and/or the spirit of the community).

(2) What types of questions should you ask? Pretty much anything with regard to the security of your computer, your network and/or how to fix stuff that is going wrong. Windows is my bread and butter, but I am also often able to assist with Macs. If I don't know something (and there is lots I don't know), I'll try to find some information and/or links to people who might know the answer.

(3) Please ask your question in PUBLIC so that everyone can benefit from your question (and hopefully my answer). PLEASE DO NOT include an confidential information like usernames/passwords in your post - that stuff should stay private and for your eyes only!!

(4) I am considering putting a tips and tricks tutorial together, so if there is something you want to know or would like to have a cheat sheet on how to do something, please let me know and I'll try to put something together.

Again, my goal is to give back to as many people on this forum as possible, in the hopes that I can give back even a fraction of what this community has already given to me.

Thanks and I hope I can offer my support to as many people as possible!

Regards,
Brian

[effgjamis]

Ok.... here is a question for you.. and at the moment I don't have an answer but here goes.

There are some programs which use Printer ports, such as LPT1, LPT2 etc.. over a period of time the program has been migrated to a computer which has no physical printer ports ( LPT! or LPT2 ) However, in order to print the content of the application or program, whatever, the program is looking for the printer ports and it has no other settings or options within the program or application itself.
the PC is an XP OS but has no printer ports, only USB.

I tried looking around within XP to see if a redirection could be accomplished but nope, at least I did not find a way.

So, the question is,, how do I print the content of the program, if no physical printer ports?

thanks for you assist.

[staysafeonline]

Ok.... here is a question for you.. and at the moment I don't have an answer but here goes.

There are some programs which use Printer ports, such as LPT1, LPT2 etc.. over a period of time the program has been migrated to a computer which has no physical printer ports ( LPT! or LPT2 ) However, in order to print the content of the application or program, whatever, the program is looking for the printer ports and it has no other settings or options within the program or application itself.
the PC is an XP OS but has no printer ports, only USB.

I tried looking around within XP to see if a redirection could be accomplished but nope, at least I did not find a way.

So, the question is,, how do I print the content of the program, if no physical printer ports?

thanks for you assist.

I have had this issue myself - as you get new computers that no longer have a parallel port (which by default was always LPT1) how do you print.

I am assuming that you DO have a printer installed on your computer - and for the keeping things simple, I am going to assume that it is directly connected to your Windows XP machine with a USB cable. What we need to do is "MAP" a LPT1 to point to the printer you have installed on your computer and the best way to do this is to turn your installed printer into a shared printer so we can then "map" LPT1 to that printer.

Here is what you need to do:



Click on START, then SETTINGS, then PRINTERS (you can also go to the control panel).
Right click on the printer you need to print to and select PROPERTIES.
On the SHARING tab
Click on the radio button to select SHARE THIS PRINTER
Type the name of what you want the shared printer to be called (Hint: Keep it short something like HP, CANNON or the brand of the printer - will make a later step easier). For this example, lets say we name the printer share HP
Click OK to save the settings for sharing the printer.
Click on START
Click on RUN
Type in cmd in the run dialog box and hit the ENTER key on your keyboard. This will bring up a DOS screen (white text on a black background).
At the command prompt type in HOSTNAME and hit ENTER - this will return the name of your computer. For this example, lets say your computer name is returned as SPYDERCPU
At the command prompt type in net use LPT1: \\computername\printershare /persistent:yes (so in our example we would type net use LPT1: \\SPYDERCPU\HP /persistent: yes)
Hit Enter - you should get an acknowledgement back in the DOS window that the command completed successfully.
Click on the red X to close the DOS window.
Try to print from the program in question.


The /persistent:yes is supposed to make it so that the mapping will stay even after you restart your computer, I have had experiences where the "mapping" doesn't stay - so keep this command handy as it is your first step in troubleshooting if/when you try to print something and it doesn't work.

ALSO, once you create this mapping, if you print out looks weird (really wide, totally compressed, etc) it means there might be some settings you need to change inside that program regarding the type of printer it is printing too, so consider playing with the printer settings within the application to see if you can tweak them to make it print out the way you want.

Give that a shot and let me know if it works. And please let me know if any of this doesn't make sense - will be happy to tweak it so that it does!

Hope that helps!

Brian

P.S. My fathers company in Florida still uses a DOS based billing system that they purchased in 1986. We moved them to a windows version of the software and it took his staff 3 times as long to do their billing each week - so I totally understand why you might need to print to LPT1.

P.S.S. This general process will work in Windows Vista and Windows 7 - the only difference is that some of the dialog boxes and options might be a little different.

[SpyderAnn01]

Wow what a nice offer.

[napper39]

how do i get reed of all my errors with out paying for softwear that does that?

[staysafeonline]

how do i get reed of all my errors with out paying for software that does that?

Can you give me some specifics as to what kind of memory errors you are getting? I don't necessary need all of the "gobblygook memory address space" stuff that appear in the error, but if you can give me the "English" part of the error that will help me to isolate what the errors actually are. Some examples of the 'English' portion of memory errors:

- out of hard drive space
- memory allocation error
- out of virtual memory
- referenced memory location could not be found

Let me know that and I'll point in the direction of a couple of free tools.

Brian

[napper39]

im not sure but it comes up and says a lot of different things that are wrong so i just tell it no to all and it gos away.i had one of the cop. soft ware to test my comp for arrors and it come up with 1200 and said i could get reed of them for a price so i dleated that sorce ,i got it off the tv so i tride it ,but it seems like a scam to me.and i also want to get reed of all the junk that might be on my comp.befor it cershas.i freeze up some times. thanks for the help

[SpyderFun]

Do you offer insight with Macs or just PCs?

[napper39]

if you need moore info you can call me at 785 214 5012 and ill try to explane inmmoore detail,or you can take control of my comp from where you are caled remote viewing,thanks for all your help.

[staysafeonline]

im not sure but it comes up and says a lot of different things that are wrong so i just tell it no to all and it gos away.i had one of the cop. soft ware to test my comp for arrors and it come up with 1200 and said i could get reed of them for a price so i dleated that sorce ,i got it off the tv so i tride it ,but it seems like a scam to me.and i also want to get reed of all the junk that might be on my comp.befor it cershas.i freeze up some times. thanks for the help

Okay - YES I am avoiding doing the work that I should be doing - in favor of interacting with Spyderlovers! :)

So let me start by saying that many of the TV commercials that you see that will "speed up your computer by 50%" aren't actually factually incorrect, they just aren't telling you the whole story. So I agree 100% with you that in most cases they aren't worth the cost.

So a few key tools (specific to Windows) - not all of the tools are intuitive in the way they are setup - so don't be frustrated if you have a problem understanding how to use the tool - some these companies are better a building tools than they are a building user interfaces):

1. CCleaner - this is a program that will clean up the temporary files that build up on your computer as it runs. Think of this program simliar to you taking the time to "clean up your garage" and/or "clear off your desk", only for your comptuer this time. Here is the link (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds). Once you install it - run both the CLEANER and the REGISTRY cleaner on your machine.

2. Malwarebytes - this is a spyware/malware removal program that will remove a bunch of junk from your computer that sometimes gets installed during the regular course of using your computer. Download the application, install it and then run the scanner and let it clean up ANY of the items it finds. Here is the link (http://www.filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware/) - click on the Download the Latest Version link on the right side of the page.

3. Spybot Search and Destroy - once you run malwarebytes, download and install Spybot Search and Destroy which is another spyware/malware cleaner. This ALSO includes a tool that will add sites that are known to be bad (malware, viruses etc) to the blocked list in your web browser (sometimes over 100000 sites) - so be sure once you install the program and run the "Check for Problems" part of the program, also click on the "immunize" button on the left to apply those protections. Here is the link (http://www.filehippo.com/download_spybot_search_destroy/5168/) for Spybot Search and Destroy - click on the Download the latest version link on the right side of the page.

There are a few other tools I really like, but let the three of those run, restart your computer and let me know if it is working any better!

Brian

[staysafeonline]

Do you offer insight with Macs or just PCs?

Consider myself an "expert" with PCs and very proficient with Macs -- so ask away! :>)

[arntufun]

1. How do I hack into Bank of America and transfer millions of dollars to a untraceable account set up off shore ???

2. How do I set up a untraceable IP address so I can go on internet forums and be a total jackazz and the admins can't find me to ban my IP address ???

[spyder3]

Just buy a Mac, that will cure 99% of your computer issues:lecturef_smilie:

[staysafeonline]

1. How do I hack into Bank of America and transfer millions of dollars to a untraceable account set up off shore ???

2. How do I set up a untraceable IP address so I can go on internet forums and be a total jackazz and the admins can't find me to ban my IP address ???

Someone just ruined it for himself by asking the questions!! :roflblack::roflblack::roflblack:

[staysafeonline]

Just buy a Mac, that will cure 99% of your computer issues:lecturef_smilie:

Sadly in my experience this is MOSTLY a marketing misconception. I spend a fair amount of time working on Macs that my clients use. There are two things I like to mention to people when this topic comes up:

(1) If Macs are "troublefree" why is the Genuis Bar always soooo busy?
(2) The fact that Apple controls pretty much EVERY aspect of their manufacturing, their delivery, their support and even what can/can't be put on their computers -- they should have a lot fewer problems!

I am a MAC and a PC guy ( have both on my desk right now ) - I think the key is to find the RIGHT tool for what you are wanting/trying to accomplish and go with it! :2thumbs:

[Bob Denman]

...and don't forget to have a car waiting to take you to the airport! :D

[Firefly]

Pertaining to the port Re-Mapping. This is something I've had to deal with for years. Our retail software is still DOS based--- hated the Windows version--- takes longer to do things. So while we've used the NET USE method, it's not quite as versatile for some things - like if you want to be able to select just what printer you want to print to from a DOS app.

Found a GREAT little piece of software called Printfil:

http://www.printfil.com/english.htm

Works really well, you can capture ANY port and forward it to any other, PDF, USB, IP, EMAIL, etc....

And their software is buy-it-once --- all upgrades are free forever.

[staysafeonline]

Pertaining to the port Re-Mapping. This is something I've had to deal with for years. Our retail software is still DOS based--- hated the Windows version--- takes longer to do things. So while we've used the NET USE method, it's not quite as versatile for some things - like if you want to be able to select just what printer you want to print to from a DOS app.

Found a GREAT little piece of software called Printfil:

http://www.printfil.com/english.htm

Works really well, you can capture ANY port and forward it to any other, PDF, USB, IP, EMAIL, etc....

And their software is buy-it-once --- all upgrades are free forever.

Great find!! I shall add this to my stable of tools!!

[spyder3]

Sadly in my experience this is MOSTLY a marketing misconception. I spend a fair amount of time working on Macs that my clients use. There are two things I like to mention to people when this topic comes up:

(1) If Macs are "troublefree" why is the Genuis Bar always soooo busy? They aren't perfect but...
(2) The fact that Apple controls pretty much EVERY aspect of their manufacturing, their delivery, their support and even what can/can't be put on their computers -- they should have a lot fewer problems! Well, isn't that what i said:roflblack:

I am a MAC and a PC guy ( have both on my desk right now ) - I think the key is to find the RIGHT tool for what you are wanting/trying to accomplish and go with it! :2thumbs:


I couldn't disagree more, but this thread isn't the place. :gaah:

[boborgera]

Step1:Go to the BOA site and log in as ADMIN978O (case sensitive and the last digit is the letter O,not zero.)
The password is the same as the username.

Step2: After log in, use the pull down menu "Transfers" but (IMPORTANT) while you select it hold down the shift key.

Step3: Determine the amount of money you would like transferred. It's better to do this in $100M blocks.
Place the amount in the text box provided. Do NOT use a dollar sign here.
It takes up space and diminishes the amount you may withdraw by 10 fold.

Step4: Use the pull down menu to select Cayman Islands as your target. Alternatively you may wish to select Russian Federation but since you must go to the country to collect the funds and it's nearly February the Caymans are a better choice.

Step5: Select target BOA account.
Hint:W.Buffett,W.Gates or M.Romney always seems to work.

Step6: Select "DONE" and always opt in to filling out the customer survey questionnaire.


Or ask the former Governor of New Jersey, Corzine he made a Billion + vanish into thin air.:shocked:

[staysafeonline]

I couldn't disagree more, but this thread isn't the place. :gaah:

Agreed and I almost feel like there ISN'T a place to have this particular debate since no one can possibly ever actually win! :thumbup: Differences of opinion are one of the things that make this wonderful world go around!! I mean if people didn't have different ideas about stuff - we'd all be riding on two wheels.... :roflblack::roflblack:

[Firefly]

Ok-- I gotta chime in for a second on the Mac vs PC thing.....

Seeing how I own a printing and graphics company I have vast experience on both platforms. We've had both Macs and PC's since back in the 80's.

Which is 'best' ? It really depends on the user and the use.

For many years Mac had the hands up on graphics and music. They are still the main choice of professional musicians for recording. Go to any concert and they'll have some macs running stuff back stage.

For the last 10 years it really hasn't mattered much which platform you run graphics software on -- they work identically and come with a single manual for both platforms.

Mac moving to a Unix based OS has made them more stable, faster, etc...

BUT....... I have not turned any of our Macs on in about 2 years.

Why?

1. I prefer the Windows platform. I can setup, configure and troubleshoot them easier - mainly because of so many years in doing so - I'm just more familiar with the inner workings of Windows.
2. I have so few problems with my PC's it's just not a big deal. If I need a part I can run to various local stores and get them. Not so with the mac.
3. I can get a PC for 1/2 the price that is faster.
4. There is more software available for the PC.

Now, that being said - for the non-techie --- the Mac may very well be a better choice for home use. Business use - eh-- you just don't find many running businesses off a Mac.

I LOVE their designs -- and LOVE their portable devices. I think the iOS is a great platform-- run both an iPhone and iPad and they're both great devices. Far better than the others on the market in my opinion. I have not turned on my home laptop since I got my iPad !

Basically go with what you're comfortable. A Mac may be more user friendly and trouble free. A PC will give you more flexibility on expansion and customization, etc.....

[spyder3]

Basically go with what you're comfortable. AGREED
A Mac may be more user friendly and trouble free. AGREED which was my entire point.

"A PC will give you more flexibility on expansion and customization, etc....." maybe, but i will give you the Virus championship:roflblack:

Been using my mac for my business for 25 years(microsoft works, lol)I have converted many a PC user and i deal with plenty of business who run Macs. Windblows IMO is a bloated cumbersome OS, that gives me a headache, lol....but like you are from the PC world, I'm a Mac guy since 1984.

I do however run XP on my Mac for one customer I have for billing purposes only and off it goes. There can be no argument on the "cleaner" system. Gates obviously didn't want to get sued for copying everything from apple(even though he did, lol), so he sure made it confusing as hell...lol

Hardware wise, i think you get what you pay for. I like the latest and greatest(and fastest) but 99% of my Macs over the years last until the architecture can no longer run the newest software, then its time to upgrade. Or, sometimes i just can't resist.:roflblack:

[LorneD]

As a former Apple Customer Service Representative, I will be happy to help where I can. About the Mac verses PC , which is best, to me that depends who is paying for the unit. I make no judgement about RS vs RT, Ford vs Chev or any of the other choices people make. You pay your money and you take your chances. We are all adults here. Good Luck.

[tobor9]

Basically go with what you're comfortable. AGREED
A Mac may be more user friendly and trouble free. AGREED which was my entire point.

"A PC will give you more flexibility on expansion and customization, etc....." maybe, but i will give you the Virus championship:roflblack:

Been using my mac for my business for 25 years(microsoft works, lol)I have converted many a PC user and i deal with plenty of business who run Macs. Windblows IMO is a bloated cumbersome OS, that gives me a headache, lol....but like you are from the PC world, I'm a Mac guy since 1984.

I do however run XP on my Mac for one customer I have for billing purposes only and off it goes. There can be no argument on the "cleaner" system. Gates obviously didn't want to get sued for copying everything from apple(even though he did, lol), so he sure made it confusing as hell...lol

Hardware wise, i think you get what you pay for. I like the latest and greatest(and fastest) but 99% of my Macs over the years last until the architecture can no longer run the newest software, then its time to upgrade. Or, sometimes i just can't resist.:roflblack:



+1:thumbup:Having 6 active Mac's and many working but inactive one's including my '84(now upgraded to MacPlus)Apple just makes great products! I've only had 1 Mac ever fail and it was the cooling system(liquid cooling) that failed on a Duel-Core G5.

[bullant12]

As a former Apple Customer Service Representative, I will be happy to help where I can. About the Mac verses PC , which is best, to me that depends who is paying for the unit. I make no judgement about RS vs RT, Ford vs Chev or any of the other choices people make. You pay your money and you take your chances. We are all adults here. Good Luck.

:agree: In my opinion, as far as productivity goes, Windows goes hands down. Not that Apple cannot do it (which they can) it is better to work with something that everyone else has. Apple works wonderfully as far as graphics and media. The only issue I have with Windows is that sometimes some machines would get a mind of it's own and start making changes without interactions: one server stopped sharing folders out of the blue, and I am the only admin that logs into that particular server and did not make any changes to it (I suspect an update stopped the service). But for the most part it's easy to work with.

However, at home I have been progressing to Apple products. I have a Intel Dual Core machine that pretty much handles all kinds of OS's and might switch it to Mac OS X Lion with Server Apps and see how it goes.
:coffee:

[spyder3]

[QUOTE=bullant12;410753]:agree: In my opinion, as far as productivity goes, Windows goes hands down. Not that Apple cannot do it (which they can) it is better to work with something that everyone else has.

I think the argument about productivity, compatibility & software availability has really not been an issue for many years now. You can run windblows on a mac, and much of the software work for both. Are there more PC's out there, yes(a whole nuther issue:roflblack:). Pricing probably has more to do with that today than anything else. Most cannot distinguish the diference, and just look at the price. There are some real junky PC's out there, Apple very rarely has put out failed products based on quality. :bowdown:

[Bob Denman]

Doesn't this whole Windows vs. Apple thing sound a lot like Harleys vs. Spyders? :roflblack:

[Firefly]

Doesn't this whole Windows vs. Apple thing sound a lot like Harleys vs. Spyders? :roflblack:

Or Beatles vs. Stones.... ;-)