Mary Green's Help Site

I just found this great post about going to the geek squad at Best Buy. It is the perfect reason to call up a trusted techie friend if you have trouble. Check it out: http://geeks.pirillo.com/forum/topics/exgeek-squad-agent-tells-the

I was just at Best Buy the other day and I purposely got away from the Geek Squad as soon as I could (jason was in the bathroom) because I couldn’t stand listening to them lie to the old couple I saw standing there, hoping to get info off their hard drive. Do not trust these people with your computers.

Do you have any of these problems?

Computer starts slow? Runs slow when you try to open an application? Just seems a lot slower than when you purchased it?

These are common problems with Windows operating systems (ie: vista, xp, 98) but can usually be fixed without too much trouble.

To get started you should be running Ccleaner on your computer. See this post for the download link. http://mary-green.com/mg/new-pc-downloads/

Once you have ccleaner installed I want you to run it, and if it asks to update first, let it, this usually means reinstalling it, but may not mean that, just follow what it shows you.

First you should run the ccleaner, just to get that out of the way. I always do the registry next and I hardly ever backup before running it to fix the problems, but if you feel more comfortable, you probably should follow the wizard to back up.

After that you are going to go to tools and startup. This is a list of all the programs running in your computer when you start the computer.

From here I disable any programs that I dont want running at the beginning. However there are certain things you should not disable. Anything that has Windows/system32/ in the file box, should be left enabled.

Apoint, SysTrayApp, Broadcom Wireless Manager, should all be left enabled as well.

For the rest, read the file box that corresponds to each program, and decide if you want that program running at start up. Generally the more you have, the longer it will take.

Here is an example of one I have:
Ixdqmon.exe File: C:\ProgramFiles\Lexmark z2400 Series\ixdqmon.exe

I would keep this enabled to always have me ready to print to my Lexmark printer. See?

If you are unsure about a specific file, check on this site first http://www.processlibrary.com/

From here, once you are done, restart the computer.

Next you will be running your antivirus complete scan, and then your spyware/malware scan program. After all restarts, you should notice a lot more speed in your computer.

Have pictures you want to send me, or someone else? Here’s how to do it:

• Open your email inbox. It doesn’t matter where you get your email.
• Click New, Compose, Write, etc. Anything that means send a new email.
• Click Attach, sometimes this is an icon that looks like a paper clip.
• A window should pop up that will allow you to select files. This is the tricky part, because we have to find the pictures you want to send. Most of the time the pictures are in your picture folder. If you are using windows on the right you should see some icons that say Desktop, Downloads, or something else pertaining to different folders on your computer. You want to choose either Pictures and go through the folders until you find the pictures you want, or, click on your computer username (usually your own name) and select pictures from that folder.

It might help to understand the file system on Windows and it’s actually pretty easy to learn. You have to think of your computer as a file cabinet. The file cabinet in general is Drive C, that is where everything is stored on the computer. All of your files, folders, pictures, are all on drive C, that is the main hard drive disk in your computer.

Inside Drive C, you have 6-8 folders that drill down to your files. The one you are going to use, will have your username for your computer, like I said this is normally your name, but can be whatever you set it to be when you setup the computer. Inside your username folder you have the following folders: Desktop (that is where you click the icons to start programs), Downloads, Pictures, Videos, Contacts, Documents, Favorites, Links, Music, etc.

Most of your files will pertain to those folders, and when you look for the files such as your pictures, you will save them in your pictures, documents or on your Desktop. That means when you want to select a file you choose your username folder, then the corresponding folder there that would hold your file, picture, video, music, etc.

Last tip: If you ever can’t find a file while going through a selection process like your email to attach, you can find it otherwise in search, right click on the file and you should see something like this

C:/username/Pictures/2009(foldername)/yourpicture.jpg

From this you know to go to your username folder, then Pictures, then 2009 folder, then you will see yourpicture. The .jpg is just the type of file. JPG, GIF, PNG, and PSD are always pictures.

Now that you know how to select the photos you want to send (sometimes you can only select one at a time) you can finish choosing the contact, subject and type in the text of your email. Why not send me a photo to marywgreen @gmail.com to see if it works?

If you still need help check out this link from eHow http://www.ehow.com/how_2267059_send-photos-via-email.html

When I get a new computer, or help family with a new computer, I always try to put as many of these on them as possible. They help protect the computer and make it lots more useful. They are all free, too!

• Firefox for web browser- Download I use this to get online, it is safer and faster than Internet Explorer 8.
• Pidgin for instant messaging- Download You can use Pidgin for just about any messaging, yahoo, aim, etc. All from the same window and buddy list. Faster to use than all the other programs opened at once.
• Panda Antivirus for antivirus- Download I used to use AVG, but this one is better, use this and always leave it on to do regular scans and updates.
• Spybot for spyware- Download At first this one will ask for your permission for everything you do, but after awhile it learns and will keep you updated if there is a problem. Use regular scans and updates.
• Open Office for word/spreadsheets/presentations- Download This is comparable to Microsoft Office, and has become very popular, use this for word, excel, power point and access.
• Ccleaner for regular cleaning- Download I use this on every computer to clean it, clean the registry, and clean the startup list of programs that start when the computer does. This will greatly speed up your start up time.
• Picasa for picture editing, organizing, tagging- Download This one is good for importing all your images, saving them to your computer, editing them, then tagging them with who is in each picture. Very easy to use.
• Thunderbird for email- Download Much better than the Windows mail program, made by the firefox guys. Sets up your mail so it is easy to use and organize.
• VLC for media- Download Will open just about any media file, audio, video etc. Should be used instead of Windows media player.
• Yuuguu for remote access- If you need my help, use this program and I can remote access your computer and fix you up- Download

These last two are for the teens who like to back up their dvds on their computer, or instead of Limewire, so they don’t slow the computer down with spyware.

• Handbrake for DVD ripping- not necessary, and must download VLC first to use this- Download
  
• Cabos for P2P sharing- not necessary, comparable to Limewire- Download

If some of these download links don’t work and you can’t figure it out, e-mail me marywgreen @ gmail.com (take out the spaces to email)