Installing a Hard Drive is not hard today we are going to learn how to install an extra Hard Drive (HDD) on a computer.

The Hard Drive we are going to install, will have a SATA connections.  If doing this in an older computer, adapters will be required, if power suply does not have SATA connectors.

Also if the motherboard does not have SATA connectors, then we cannot connect our SATA Hard Drive.  We will need a SATA card to add SATA ports to a computer that does not have SATA ports build in.

To start we are going to first unplug our computer power cord, the cable that connects to the wall outlet, on the back of the computer.

Now we need to open up the case.

Almost every case opens by removing a screw on the back and sliding the side panel to the back.

Next we need to find out if we can fit another Hard Drive in our case.

Locate where the original Hard Drive is located at.  It is usually located towards the front side of the case.

Different cases are made different.  The one that I have, the Hard Drives slide from the side of the case, in.  Others slide from the front of the case, and more difficult cases, are made to have the Drive slide from the inside of the case out towards the front of the case.

This is how mine looks like:

I have one Hard Drive installed already, and I have room for another one.

The drive that I have, came with four screws, a SATA cable and a SATA power cable adapter.

The screws that came with the drive (left side), are not going to work with my case.  Because my case uses different screws, they came with it (right side).  The screws came attached to the front side of the case, so I removed them and those are the screws that I will be using.

Having the right kind of screws, now I have to clear up to make room for my new Hard Drive.

I will start by removing the cables from the Drive that I have already installed, make sure to remember where they where, by marking them, or just remembering.

I have cleared the way for my new Drive, now I have to get my new Drive ready to slide in the case.

What I need to do first, is to attach the screws that came with my case to the new drive.

With the screws in place, its time to slide that drive in its new home.

We now have two drives in place, lets finish and start making the connections.

With all the connections made in the Hard Drive side, lets start making connections to the motherboard.

We can see that the Grey SATA cable is already connected to a port on the motherboard, lets go ahead and connect the new Drive to the open Orange port.

With the Drive connected we can now close the case and connect the power cord to the back of the computer.

With the computer ready to go, lets power on the computer.

After windows has finished loading, depending on what version of windows we have, we will see a message pop up in the Notification Area.

After this message appears, saying that windows has installed all the drivers for that new Hard Drive we installed, we can go to My Computer and we will see two drives.

One Drive will be the regular C: Drive, and the other one, depending on what letter windows assign, it might be the D: Drive or some other letter.

Thank you for reading, this will conclude this tutorial, please post any questions or comments.

If we have not changed ‘The Homepage’ msn.com is the default page that loads when Internet explorer is opened.

To change it we are going to open up Internet Explorer by going to the start menu and selecting the Internet Explorer Icon.

When the window opens up hit the ‘Alt key’ one of the two keys located on each side of the space key, to display the tools menu.

Under the tools menu click Options.

This will open up the Internet Options dialog box.

In the Home page section, here we can enter the name of our favorite website, like if I use the Internet just for Facebook, I can change the homepage to Facebook.com, that way every time I open up Internet Explorer, Facebook.com gets loaded by default.

After we entered the website that we want, we click OK and to check, we can go ahead and close Internet Explorer and reopen it.

We should see the homepage that we setup.

Good luck

Happy Computing

Removing programs that start when windows boots up, can dramatically speed up you computer boot up time, and speed while working on it.

A word of advice, editing the Windows Registry can be risky; I would recommend going through the Microsoft Configuration Utility (the msconfig menu) first.

WARNING: Changes to the Registry occur instantaneous, that means that there is no save button or undo choice under the edit menu. Again I warned you; only edit the registry if you feel comfortable enough.

elamigosam.com is not responsible for any damage caused to any computer.

With that said, lets  get going.

Go to the start menu and select run.

on a windows 7 machine click the “Search programs and files” search bar in the start menu.

in the run dialog box or the search bar, enter “regedit”

click Yes when the “User Account Control” dialog box appears, in windows 7 or Vista.

The Registry Editor window appears.

Here we are going to dig in the following order.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

to open a folder just ‘double click’ or click the small arrow at the left.

In this sample, we can see that I have the AVG9_TRAY to start every time windows starts, that is the program to access the antivirus.

In the Run Folder is where we are going to find the list of programs that run when windows starts.

If we Right Click we can see that we have more options.

By clicking in the Delete option, we can delete that entry, and next time windows starts, that program will not be loaded.

Editing the registry is done for the purpose to edit special settings on different programs.  Also to sometimes fix program issues or bugs.

Another reason to edit this portion of the registry, is to fix those annoying  error messages that came up when windows starts saying that it is missing some files.  Simply write down the error message and go the this part of the registry and find that entry and delete it.

This sample image was taken from a new install of windows 7, in a old installation of windows, xp vista or 7 there might be some other programs.

When we find a entry that we don’t know what is it, we can simply search it on Google or some other search engine, to see if it is something windows needs or not.

Good luck and have fun with you computer.

sam

Once installed, there is no configuration changes that we can do, but we are going to focus on using it to scan files and to scan the entire computer.

Lets start by first opening up AVG by right clicking on the icon in the notification area, in the button right corner and clicking in the Open AVG User Interface option.

When the main window opens up, we see all what avg is taking care off, the main options are in the tabs on the left.

Overview, Computer scanner, and Update now.

Lets take a look at the Computer scanner tab.

In the Computer Scanner tab, we have all we need to keep our computer clean and good.  Clicking Scan whole computer will start the computer scanner and scan for any known virus and spyware.

But before we do a scan and start hunting viruses and spyware, we have to make sure that AVG can recognize the newest virus and spyware.  We do that by going to the Update now tab.

When we click in the Update now tab, AVG automatically starts searching for updates.

If there is an update, we will see this dialog box, saying that there is a available update.

Updating is the most important thing that we can do with a antivirus program.  If we don’t have the latest updates, the latest virus will not be recognized and will not be removed from our computer.

I will click update to update my system.  AVG will now start downloading the update, and install it automatically.

Go back and click the Update now tab, to make sure to get the latest updates.

Depending on the installation file that we used, we might have to update one or two times, When AVG doest find any more updated it will display a window like this one at the button right corner.

And we will see the message at the Update now tab, Update complete successfully, No new update files are available.

Now that we have the latest update, it is time to hunt virus and spyware.

Time to do a Computer scan.

Lets go and click in the Computer scanner tab.

In there we have the two option, Scan whole computer, or Scan specific files or folders.

Clicking in the Scan whole computer, will start a system wide scan.

One click and a scanner will start, Once the scanner is done we can see the results

In this example, the scanner did not found anything, so once I click Close results, I will be taken to the Overview tab, and I can close the program by simply clicking the red x on the top right corner.

If the scanner happens to find something, it will give me a option to remove it, when I click remove it should remove the file and if it has to, the scanner will ask to restart the computer to finish removing the extra files that are infected.

Clicking in the Scan specific files or folders will ask you what folder or files to scan, and will start scanning those files or folders.  This option is also available in the right click menu, if we right click on any file or folder we can see the option to scan with AVG.

Selecting the scan with AVG Free, will start the scanner, like a regular scan, it will show any problems found, and will ask for your permission to remove them, or quarantine them.

The Resident Shield

One of my favorite things that I like about AVG is the Resident Shield.  This feature, protects my computer from any attacks that I might get when I go to a website and a virus is automatically downloaded to my PC.

This is what I would get when I go to a website that is infected with something.  This Shield will automatically be protecting your computer and stop any known infected files to be stored in you computer.

As with any antivirus, a continues updating is required, for this to work.  Having AVG continuously update, will greatly increase your security.

This is a simple guide on how to use Free AVG.  This antivirus program, is free of charge for personal use, and there is a paid version, but for a regular user, this version is more than enough.

Expect to see a update on this tutorial.

Good luck, happy computing.

sam

]]> http://elamigosam.com/?feed=rss2&p=93 0 http://elamigosam.com/?p=72 http://elamigosam.com/?p=72#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:13:08 +0000 admin http://elamigosam.com/?p=72 Installing Fee AVG is not hard, this tutorial will show you step by step on how to install AVG Free Edition.

Today we are goig to install Fee AVG on a Windows 7 machine.  Free AVG is a really powerfull antivirus as well as lightweight.

Download Free AVG.

We are going to start by going to http://free.avg.com/

There we will see the AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 9.0 banner.  Click on the banner to download the program.

In this page, click the Download button, to download the Free Version.

This time click the green download button, to go to the cnet download page.

On the Cnet download page, Click the Download Now link to start the download process.

When the Security Warning tab comes, right click and select Download File.

Click the Run button to run the Install, when the download is finished.  The program will start downloading, the waiting time will depend on what kind of internet connection you have.

Click Yes on the User Account Control dialog box.

Installing the AVG

When the AVG Download Manager  dialog box apear, click next.

In this dialog box, select the Basic protection check box, and click next.  The Download Manager will start downloading all the required files to Install AVG.

Nex we see the Agreement, hit the I have read the license agreement check box, and click Accept to accept the license agreement and continue.

Make sure Standar Installation check box is checked, and click next.

Click next here, nothing we need to change, maybe the username but that should be automatic with the user account we are courently loged in with.

In here we are going to uncheck the Install AVG Security Toolbar check box and the Set Yahoo! as my default search provider check box.  The reason is because I dont want that stuff installed in my computer.  Having toolbars installed, only decreases my view when I am looking at web sites.  Click next to continue.

Click finish to finish the instalation of AVG

Congratulations, Free AVG is now installed in you computer,  a yello, dark-blue, red and green icon should apear in the notification area.

When the Optimization Scan dialog box apears, select Optimize scanning now (recommended)

AVG will now start to scan the computer to create a profile of the system.

Good luck!

sam

In this tutorial we are going to setup iTunes to recieve the latest podcast episodes.

We are going to be getting our content from “www.tcfraternidad.com/blog_eng” a wordpress blog.

This instructions can be used with any website that delivers RSS audio or video content.

Go to www.tcfraternidad.com/blog_eng

Look around the website and see if you can see an icon similar to this one:
or if you see any messages like so:

Click the “RSS feed” link or the icon.

depending on the browser that we are using, we are going to get different results, but what is important is the address

where that link takes us to.

Go ahead and select the address and right click on it and copy the whole address.

Lets open up iTunes

On the main menu bar, select “Advanced” and then select “Subscribe to Podcast…” option.

In the new window that opened up, right click and paste the address that we copied from the web.

Click OK

Double click the new podcast and you will see all the episodes that are available to download.

iTunes will start downloading the latest episode.

Good luck and enjoy!

Almost every computer user suffers from having a slow computer. Whether is a home user or a office user, the problem is usually the same.

There are different ways a computer can get slow. One reason is time, as a computer gets old, the hardware in it tends to get old too. with today’s OS (operating systems windows XP, vista, 7) a computer that was bought 5 years ago, might not be as power full as a computer that was bought 1 year ago or last week. So hardware is one factor to a slow computer.

The main cause of slow computer issues is ‘too many programs running in the background’.

When a computer takes a long time to start, is because all those background programs are starting up.

Programs running in the background

One way that we can see how many programs are running in the background is by going to the task manager.

In the task manager you can see all the programs that are running in the background, and the ones that we ask the computer to run.

We can stop programs from running by simply right click the program and select end process.

Removing programs from the task manager sometimes will help you pc, but when the computer is restarted those programs will came back and the computer will be the way it was before.

Using the msconfig menu

the Microsoft Configuration Utility or also known as the msconfig menu, lists all the programs that windows has to run when the computer starts.

By clicking the start menu and selecting run.

In the Run dialog box enter ‘msconfig’

The System Configuration Utility box should come up.

Here in the startup tab we can see the list of programs that windows starts every time the computer is turned on.

A check in the box means that the program is going to start when the computer starts.

Unchecking the box next to the program that we don’t want, will make the program not start next time the computer restarts,

Here we can easily remove programs that we don’t want to have loaded when the computer starts.

Warning: make sure to uncheck programs that you are sure you don’t need, removing programs that are needed by windows could damage your system! we are not responsible for any damages.

Using this method one can quickly gain more processing power from our pc’s.

In the msconfig menu we are going to find programs that don’t make sense, or don’t have a name, like the two in the picture that don’t have names.

We can safely uncheck this entry because they are not connected to any programs.

This unnamed entry are leftovers from programs that got uninstalled and the uninstaller didn’t remove the msconfig menu entry.

sam

Malwarebytes is a very powerful program used to clean malware from a computer, a simple user interface make this program very easy to use.

Here are basic instructions on how to use this program.

First off all start by downloading malwarebytes from the download site,

Click here to get go to the download site, or

To make sure to get the right program, (not a copy or a imitation) go to Google.com and search for Malwarebytes.

When you get to the home page, click the “download free version” link in the page,

You will be redirected to another page for download,

Make sure to click and download the right program.

Internet explorer is going to ask you for your permission to download it,

click the bar on the top of the page, and then select “Download file”

Click the save button and make sure to save it where you remember because we will need it for later use.

Once you have it downloaded, double click the file to start the install process.

Select run if Windows ask’s you to open the file.

If you have Windows Vista it is probably going to ask you for your permission to install it, click continue.

Click OK to select English as the install language, click next to continue,

Select the “I accept the agreement” check box to accept the agreement, and click next,

C lick next again to continue,

Click next again to select default install location,

Click next to have a link in the start menu,

Click next to create a link in the desktop,

Then click Install to go ahead and install it.

Click “Finish” to have malwarebytes update its database and lunch the program.

After it is done updating click OK to finish.

Finally you will be presented with this welcome screen:

Malwarebytes interface. with a simple click, you can start a scan.

Before you click the scan button click in the update tab and click the “check for updates” button just to make sure you have the latest updates.

There are always new updates that we need to detect any virus or malware that recently came out.

A new window comes up.

When the update is done, it gets install automaticly.

Keep updating untill you see a window that says “You have the latest database version”

Click the scanner tab.

A quick scan, is going to scan the known areas where malware hides, making it a faster scan.

A full scan, will scan the entire computer, there for it takes more time to do it.

A flash scan, will scan process that are running and loading points for those process, but it is design to scan and detect, once it detects something, then it is time to run a quick scan or a full scan.

The flash scan feature is only available in the full version of the program.

When the scanner is done scanning, you will see a message that tells you if malwarebytes found something or if it didn’t.

If the scan returned no malicious items, you can just click OK,

A text editor will came up with a list of items that malwarebytes scanned, close the text editor.

Then you can click the exit button on the bottom right side of the Malwarebytes window,

Then you are done..

If you got infected files, click the “Show results” button

Then the results will be displayed, showing every infected files found.

Make sure every file is selected,  click the “Remove infected Files” bottom and malwarebytes will remove the infected files.

“Caution” files that are removed can not be recovered.

After malwarebytes is done removing files, it will show a text file showing what happen with every file.

Close the text editor file.

Close malwarebytes and start using your pc.

If you want continued protection, you should do a cleanup at least two times per week.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy your PC.

sam.

This guide is intended for use when there is no internet connection at all.

First check the physical connectivity of the computer to a router, or cable modem, make sure every cable is pluged in all the way in.

This is the order that they should be connected:

Coax cable or phone line (if DSL) to Modem, network cable to router (Linksys, Netgear,Belking, etc.) network cable to computer.

If a dial up connection, make sure the phone line is connected to the modem not the network card as they are easily confused.

Top: Telephone Modem left: line in, right: line out to other telephone.
Bottom: Network Interface Card

Make sure all the devices are connected and they have the light indicating that there is power on the device, on.

If possible take a laptop or a desktop and connect it directly to the modem (DSL or Cable modem) to check that there is internet connection from the service provider.

Make sure that there are no blinking lights,

Check the DSL modem, make sure the DSL light is solid and not blinking, a blinking light indicates that there is no DSL service in the area, or the phone company didn’t activate the DSL service on your line, or something is bad with your phoneline.

Check the status of the router, make sure it is plugged in, and has power.

If there is a device that has no power, connect the device that has no power and wait about 2-3 minutes then check for connectivity using the internet.

Unplug every device and disconnect the computer from the router. Wait 5 minutes, then plug them in the following order.

1. Internet modem (Cable modem, DSL modem, Wimax modem.
2. Router (Linksys or Netgear box usually next to the Internet modem)
3. Reconnect the router to the modem and wait about 1 minute.
4. Reconnect the pc to the router and wait about 1 minute.
5. Open the internet to check for connectivity.
6. Make sure there is no blinking DSL light on the DSL modem.

Run some ping test to check for an IP address problem.

Got to start menu and Run.

Type ‘cmd’ and click enter.

In the dark window that opened, type ‘ipconfig’ and press enter.

Look where it says ‘Default Gateway’ in this case ‘192.168.1.1’

Type ‘ping 192.168.1.1’ or you gateway ip addess.

Look where it says ‘(0% loss)’ that means that there is connectivity to the router.

Lets ping to the internet to check if we have internet.

Same output if we get 0% loss that means that there is internet connectivity, everything is connected right.

If there was no connectivity to the router (100% loss), try to reboot the router,

Unplug the power cord from the router to the power outlet, usually ”Linksys, Netgear or Belkin box”

If the reboot didn’t help, replace the router as it might be bad.

If after replacing the router still there is no connectivity to the internet (Google.com) check with your Internet service provider to make sure there are no problems with their network or the modem that they provided.

Also make sure the phone line is connected to the DSL modem, or the Coax cable is connected to the Cable modem.

]]> http://elamigosam.com/?feed=rss2&p=9 0 http://elamigosam.com/?p=5 http://elamigosam.com/?p=5#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:43:10 +0000 admin http://elamigosam.com/?p=5 What to do when your printer is not printing, easily follow this step by step list on troubleshooting you printer problems.

Check the power on the printer;

make sure the printer has power and that there is a light lid up on the printer, saying that the printer has power.

Many times we accidentally kick or step over a power cord making it came loose, losing its connection.

Check the cable connection between the printer and the computer, (USB or Parallel cable)

Again kicking and moving the cables under the desk can make a device not function properly.

If USB printer, check that the USB cord in the printer end is connected to the USB connector.

When we have printers that have network connections, it is really easy to connect the USB cable in the RJ-45 (network) connection, especially when the two connectors are side by side.

Check the printer itself, make sure that there are no blinking lights

If we have blinking lights it means that there is something going on with the printer, maybe when we remove the paper jam on the back, we forgot to check the front side of the printer, many times there could be a paper jammed next to the print head.

Check the status of the printer on the computer, by going to Start menu –Control Panel- Printers and Faxes. In the example image above we can see that the HP DeskJet 3420 series printer is offline, meaning that the printer is unplugged or powered off.

Your printer should always say online, when working correctly.

This can also mean that there is an issue with the drivers, reinstalling the drivers should fix the problem.