Successful Blog

The Mic Is On: Join Guest Hosts Phil Gerbyshak and Diego Orjuela

by Leave a Comment

It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Let’s talk about computers…

    logo.gif

  • Do you know your computer could be working better, but you’re not sure how?
  • Does your computer have a pesky little error message that you just can’t get rid of?
  • Wondering what the pop-up box that keeps showing up on your screen means?
  • Want to know the latest about virus protection, wireless networking for your house?

Got any other nagging computer questions? Never fear, we’ve got the answer for you!

Join Relationship Geek Phil Gerbyshak, MinuteFix CEO and founder Diego Orjuela and the MinuteFix tech support community as they host Tuesday Night Open Comments. Test drive the world’s greatest tech support community and say goodbye to your pesky computer problems…for at least one night!

Oh, and bring links to share — about computer problems.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Comments

  5. So, do we have any questions this evening? Anyone want to talk about their PC problems? If you have a Mac, you probably don’t have problems. hahahahaha (Mac guy here, of course)

    Reply

  7. I bought a Vista laptop last year and just started to get a blue screen of death occasionally when it tries to connect with a wifi network and doesn’t. Do you know why this could be?

    Reply

  12. Here’s my tech deal – Sounds like this would be a great tool for my sister! She’s not techie, and we’re in a small town, with few choices for support.

    Reply

  15. Hi there, Liz, Phil and Diego.

    I was planning on stopping in tonight just to say hi, but I’ve just spent a hair-tearing hour trying to get my husband’s PC to recognize his Linksys Wireless-G card. Ugh. It’s a driver problem I’m quite sure, but I can’t fix it.

    Is this the kind of thing your new service will help we simple earthlings resolve?

    Reply

  18. Tammy – absolutely! We have some techs going to join us tonight, as well as our fantastic community manager Drew, so perhaps one of them might be able to give it a go. Throw the brand out there and any error messages, and we’ll see what we can do (or you can go check us out for real). First 5 are no charge.

    Reply

  21. Absolutely Tammy. So long as he can connect somehow to the internet we can either walk him through or we can phone him with Skype and help him that way.

    Reply

  25. Good evening everyone! Panic here this morning, as daughter left a flash drive plugged in and when I got up and turned the machine on, all I got was the black screen of death. So if that ever happens to any of y’all, check for unknown peripherals that are plugged in. Soon as my tirade was over and previously sleeping daughter came in and unplugged her flash drive, all was well.

    🙂

    Reply

  26. Great! Here’s the scoop: Rod’s hard drive died and the new one’s in. It’s not recognizing the Linksys G card, which worked fine before. Turns out the drivers weren’t installed. I downloaded the most recent drivers from Linksys, taking care to make sure I selected the correct version. He’s running XP.

    I unzipped and double-clicked the drivers, then ended up with a shortcut to G card on the desktop. When I open that, I get a screen that looks like it’s searching for a wireless signal. But it doesn’t find one (I’ve got all three of our other computers sitting here connected to the network, so it’s working for sure) and just sits there looking rather static.

    At a total loss what to do next…

    Reply

  28. Ah, I do have techie question. I’ve been considering a battery pad for my laptop for when I’m out and not close to an outlet. Any recommendations? What features should I look for?

    Reply

  32. Hey there Glenda. What kind of laptop do you have? Do you run Windows or Mac? That will make a difference as to what product I recommend.

    Reply

  33. You are welcome Phil! Glad to spread the good news! lol

    EVERYONE seems to be having computer issues lately. So we are in the process of upgrading my system because I can feel it slipping away!

    Reply

  35. I suggest everyone find online storage for their important documents and pictures as well. I upload my documents to Yahoo “My Briefcase” for free. I’ve been doing it for five years, and was able to recover bank records etc when our last computer died. Make it habit once a week or once a month. All hard drives die sooner or later.

    Reply

  39. Hey Tammy… yeah Twitter is definitely reconnecting me. 🙂

    Phil… I think I just lost a comment to Akismet. I had a link in it but it didn’t show up. Not sure if that’s a tech problem we can solve tonight. 🙂

    Reply

  46. Re: Linksys wireless G card. Make sure you are either using the linksys wireless card service or the XP Wireless Zero configuration service and not both simultaneously. If both services are running, they conflict and you won’t be able to successfully use the card.

    Reply

  48. Dave, as a Mac person, I’ve been sitting here cursing in a distinctly un-mediator-like way at my husband’s PC, saying under my breath, THIS is why I own a Mac, this is why I own a Mac, this is why…

    I know you’ll understand this! 🙂

    Reply

  53. Glenda, I have had the same Yahoo ID for ten years, and I’ve never had an issue retrieving documents I uploaded to “My Briefcase” there.

    I think an external hard drive is a good idea. Just set a time, like a Sunday morning, that you dedicate to saving files. Trust me, you will be glad….someday.

    Reply

  56. Tammy… I used to be a PC only guy. Built, sold, serviced and supported them. Then I found a Mac. Always thought it was for people who didn’t know much about computers but since getting one, I’m really enjoying the noticeable lack of troubleshooting needed.

    Reply

  57. Hey all you Mac people – I have a REALLY silly basic question…How do I find my files in a mac? All my docs? Like windows explorer for PC.

    Reply

  62. Hey Brooke… the answer is look in the ‘finder’ It’s the icon that looks a bit like a face on a two-tone blue box. Or just open your hard drive on the desktop

    Reply

  64. Brooke, what OS version are you running? If it is Panther you can go to the upper right hand corner to the icon that looks like a magnifying glass. Type in any word you want that may be associated with a file and then double click when you see the file you want!

    Reply

  73. Anyone see my Linksys problem description from higher up in the comment thread. Any suggestions? It just freezes on the “Create a Profile” screen.

    Reply

  75. Yeah Marti, I know I should regularly backup. One of those things that doesn’t always get done. Hmm, wonder if there’s a way to lock my computer at a set time so nothing else can be done until a backup is done.

    Reply

  91. We have a veritable museum of computers, going all the way back to the Commodore 64. We even have an original “Pong”.

    🙂

    Reply

  105. Marti – I LOVE Mac vs PC commercials too!

    Thanks Drew – but let’s say you search in the spotlight and you find it. How do you know where it is? The path?

    Reply

  108. How should I maintain my laptop? Like how often should I defrag? How often should I let windows update (I have xp on a thinkpad)? What else should I do to keep it running smoothly?

    Reply

  109. Doug, don’t understand your comment, “Make sure you are either using the linksys wireless card service or the XP Wireless Zero configuration service and not both simultaneously.” Not a huge PC person.

    Where do I check for that Zero config service?

    Reply

  110. Plus we have always been early adopters. As I said, we had the Commodore 64, and I remember when we first got dial-up and about the only things on the Internet were “bulletin boards”. I even used to know a little DOS (gawd I’m old – LOL)

    Reply

  115. I just typed in passwords in my Spotlight because I wanted to find a spreadsheet called passwords.xls. I then double clicked it and recongnized where it was at. However, to see the path…pull up a finder window. then type your keyword in that upper right hand space with the magnifying glass. When you do you will see all the files that have that word as well as a path directory at the bottom of the finder window.

    Reply

  117. Phil, I am old – LOL We bought the Pong console when it was NEW. I guess technically it’s not a computer, because it plugged into the TV. We dragged it out a couple of years ago and it still worked though.

    Reply

  119. Hi Tammy, go to start/run type services.msc , hit enter. Look for a linksys service and then a Windows Wireless Zero configuration service. If both services are running, stop the Windows one and set it to manual, not automatic startup. then use the Linksys green icon in the systen tray to configure and connect to you network.

    Reply

  123. Phil and others who were at SOBCon: Had a great conversation with David Bullock today. He’s one very cool and smart guy. Really digging the new world of social media. I think he’s going to become a powerful voice.

    Reply

  128. Trisha — All you need to do is run auto windows update and let it work its magic. Also, you can defrag once a month and that should be sufficient unless you are constantly creating new files and trashing them.

    Reply

  130. @Trisha

    It’s a good idea to have defrag running as a continual process. I personally don’t recommend the Defrag offered onboard with Windows but far prefer a 3rd party product like Raxco’s Perfect Disk or O&O Defrag.

    The main benefit of either is that they’ll both do real time perpetual defrag as well as boot-time defrags which keeps boot sector files at the outside of the hard disk meaning faster boot times. The fact that you can schedule defrags or use the real-time option means you set it and never have to think about it again. Since the drive is constantly being optimized you’ll never see a degradation in system performance and even better, you’ll never have to remember to do it manually.

    Reply

  132. Ok, Doug, I stopped the Windows Zero config service and set it to manual.

    There’s no green linksys icon in the sys tray, though there’s an odd RSS-like gray/purple icon there that wasn’t there before. When I mousover, says WPC54GSv2 is inactive.

    There is a new Linksys shortcut on desktop, but that’s where I get stuck. When I double click it, I get a “Creating a Profile” page but none of the buttons work and it almost looks like a screenshot instead of a real, interactive box. I’d take a screenshot if I had a clue how to do it on a PC…

    Reply

  133. OK Diego, I’m sure Drew is planning to flame me, but I’ve got a Mac, and I don’t see how it’s any easier than a PC. I think it’s all personal preference. Sorry Mac friends.

    Reply

  134. Doug, perhaps you could Skpye chat with Tammy to have a more direct conversation? Just a thought. I don’t know if anyone is having tennis eyes the way I am. hahahaha

    Reply

  136. I was always afraid of the auto windows update, I’ve heard of cases when the update itself was bad and caused people to have problems.

    Reply

  138. Tammy – the PRT SCRN button in the upper right is the print screen button. Go to start | run and type in MSPAINT and hit enter. Save it there as a file and try to upload it that way.

    Reply

  142. @ Phil, I’m with you — I am Windows guy all the way. I won’t pay more for design. But that is probably because I use my computer for business, nothing else. I just want to get my work done and be productive. I’ve never felt that Mac can make life easier for me. Drew will argument otherwise, but that is why he’s on the team — we need to see both sides of the story here at MinuteFix.

    Reply

  143. If that doesn’t work, make sure, the windows service is set to manual or better yet disabled. Uninstall the Linksys card, remove it from the pc. Then reinstall the driver, don’t put the card in until the linksys software tells you to. That should resovle your problem.

    Reply

  148. Doug, I rebooted. Nothing changed. Still no icon other than that strange purple-y RSS-like one. Linksys “Creating a Profile” screen still strangely un-interactive.

    Tried removing and reinstalling the driver, nothing new. Hmmm….

    Reply

  149. Glenda, I think there are programs that you can set up to auto save your files to a secondary storage like an external hard drive. Does anyone know for sure? My husband keeps saying we need something called RAID, which is not the bug spray, but some sort of secondary backup system.

    Reply

  151. You see, Mac people are different. We are NOT defensive because we have the comfort of a fully operable computer 99% of the time. We don’t have the accumulated anger of a PC user. hahahahaha

    Reply

  156. My favorite: The guy who called in at 6:30 am before his wife woke up, needing to delete the history from his address bar. We told him he needed to type 20 completely new URLs to erase the 20 that were already there. I wonder how that worked out…

    Reply

  158. Tammy
    Step 1. Make sure windows wirelss zero config is disabled.
    Step 2. Physically remove the linksys card from the computer.
    Step 3. Uninstall the Linksys driver from Device manager.
    Step 4. Reboot.
    Step 5. Reinstall Linksys driver, do not put card into computer until the linksys software prompts you to.

    Reply

  159. @ Tammy — thing for me is that I run a lot of Internet products, lots of newly released Beta developments which are often only available for Windows. I do see, however, that Mac works very well for general business purposes. I’ve seen Drew work on his trusty MacBook Pro, and he does just fine. Also, being in startup mode, I try to cut any costs I can — for that I think Windows is the way to go. Would you agree?

    Reply

  161. So what’s the worst tech support you’ve ever needed/gotten/given?

    After my father-in-law died, we talked my mother-in-law into getting a computer. She purchased a new Toshiba Satellite laptop which had Vista installed. *shivers at memory*

    To set up the wireless internet connection through AT&T took a solid week of talking to tech support. We finally had to turn off all of Viata’s firewalls and security systems.

    I pray it never goes out. Teaching grandma how to use the computer has been enough of a challenge *shivers again*

    Reply

  162. Good point Diego. If you remember, early on when I still had a PowerBook we had quite a few problems because I didn’t have Parallels then and had to find a library PC to work on. I would be interested to know from the two other Mac folks if they think MinuteFix would benefit the market by offering Mac support.

    Reply

  167. I’d like to make a general comment with respect to Windows Update (WU) vs Microsoft Update (MU).

    At some point during the process of running WU users of XP will be offered the chance to “improve the update experience” by installing the components to change over to MU.

    WU is exclusively the mechanism to patch and update the operating system whereas MU will update all MS products on your machine such as Office.

    What Microsoft neglects to mention is that by using MU your machine is running the update service on a nearly constant basis. If you notice uncommon levels of machine unresponsiveness or sluggishness it can most likely be attributed to MU.

    To verify if this is the case open up the task manager and look for this process:

    wuauclt.exe

    Users of Microsoft Update will find it in the list on a nearly consistent basis eating up memory and churning up the CPU.

    To repair the problem simply visit http://www.windowsupdate.com using Internet Explorer (exclusively, no other browser will work) and select the option to revert to Windows Update.

    You can always manually run an update search for Office products from within the Help menu in Word, Excel, PowerPoint.

    Reply

  169. Doug, tried all of that. Everything stops going according to plan at Step 5 when the driver installer tells me to insert the wireless card. I do that, click next…and nothing else happens. No icon in the sys tray except for RSS-type one, and just the same shortcut on the desktop that leads to the same problem when I double click.

    I’ve double checked that the Windows Zero Config is disabled.

    Urgh.

    Reply

  171. I do Brooke. I use Adium exclusively as it keeps me up to date with chat contacts on almost all other chat platforms (other than Skype). I LOVE it.

    Reply

  173. My son had a roommate who worked at a call center and he said the first thing they had to ask every caller who said their machine wouldn’t come on, was, “Is it plugged in to electricity?”

    Reply

  174. @Marti – an old wives’ tale (possibly true, not sure) says Dell reduced their tech support hold times by 80% by putting on their hold music “While you’re on hold, why not reboot your computer?” Not sure if it’s true, but it’s sure believable.

    Reply

  178. Hi Tammy is that a laptop? your supposed to turn off the pc/laptop before installing the card. The software, should shutdown your pc/laptop automatically for you befroe inserting the wireless card.

    Reply

  179. great – so I have never been able to upgrade it. Iy says a new version is available – I click install updates – it downloads – and extracts updates – and – now it’s doing something new…

    Reply

  185. @Diego – you’re welcome George is terrible.

    @Marti – I know you are. You’re a doll too dear! I’ve done tech support in some form or fashion since right after Windows for Workgroups came out.

    Reply

  186. Yeah, it’s a Dell laptop, old one. Keep trying to get him to buy a new one at least. Maybe this’ll do it.

    Did follow the Linksys instructions that came with the card and am the one who installed it before his hard drive failed; all was working then. The software isn’t shutting down the laptop before asking me to insert the card. It installs, then asks me for the card…then just kind of stops but kicks out the icon and shortcut before that.

    I even re-downloaded the driver’s zip file in case the first one got corrupted. Alas.

    I think I’ll pack it in for the night. Husband will have to use his work laptop for a while longer.

    Thanks for your patience, Doug! Goodnight Phil and everyone.

    MinuteFix is a terrific idea and I hope it flies high!

    Reply

  195. Sure. Growl is a third party app. that allows little “pop up” windows in the upper right hand corner of your screen to let you know when you have new IM messages, Skype messages, etc. It is pretty cool. I use it too!

    Reply

  197. Marti – love your self-promotion. Best part?

    Grandma says – “This light bulb went out”.
    Husband responds – “Yes, it’s cold but bright out”.
    Daughter responds – “I don’t like trout”.

    HILARIOUS!

    Reply

  200. I use Skype on my Mac and run it and Adium both. I keep up with all of our techs and all of my personal friends using those two. I say “Go for it!”

    Reply

  201. @ Brooke, yes, Skype is available for Mac. First what you need is a mic, although I use Skype mainly for chat. A web cam is optional but makes the call much more fun.

    Reply

  203. Have any you heard of (or are into) “steampunk”? I think it sounds awesome!
    http://tiny.cc/j4xsf

    Example:

    Yes, he owns a flat-screen television, but he has modified it with a burlap frame. He uses an iPhone, but it is encased in burnished brass.

    Reply

  206. @Diego – yes I have used Google Docs and I like it a lot. I’m working on a new book and I have used it to share with other writers.

    Reply

  207. @Drew

    Adium…shmadium.

    Check out Digsby at http://www.digsby.com. Not only is it a multi protocol chat client (Y, AIM, MSN, G, Jabber, ICQ) but they’re building in Skype chat support with integration to launch Skype for voice comm AND…it already integrats with Facebook, Twitter, MySpace.

    And if you don’t think that’s cool enough…how about being able to email your contacts directly without having to access your webmail or email client…natively from the application.

    http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/5144/91635182kj0.png

    Reply

  212. With any product like Googledocs, there is always the “Question of Security”. I don’t see corporate America adopting GoogleDocs!

    Reply

  215. Becky McCray, Susan Reynolds and Liz Strauss have all contributed chapters. Chris Brogan was kind enough to read the draft and provided a foreword. Jeremiah Owyang spoke to me on the phone (after I asked for his help via Twitter!) and gave me some great paragraphs about speaking in public.

    We all shared the same Google docs to compile the book (still a work in progress due to grandma’s infirmities)

    Reply

  216. Jenn lives in Florida and the fires are very close. They are having to evacuate. Please say a prayer or chant or something for those folks, guys. I appreciate it!

    Reply

  222. Goodnight all! It was defintely an interesting experience, participating in open mike night.

    Reply

  224. Drew asked me to let y’all know (in his words) that his browser is freezing up and will be with us in a few. Changing computers — hopefully to a Windows machine 😉

    Reply

  240. Catching up…

    I like Google Docs…and Zoho, and other online document collaboration tools.

    The future? I think software as a subscription for home users, with online collaboration being key for home users more and more, so Granny can see everyone’s pictures, and stuff like that, even more so. I think as memory sticks get bigger, we’ll see full OS boots off of them for more and more folks. You plug it in, and it’s just like home.

    In the office, I expect we’ll see a return to dummy win-terminals for many, connecting to a SharePoint (or something else) site for documents and stuff, with any installed thick clients running in a Citrix-like environment.

    Reply

  242. Phil, I’d be honored to have your input. Offer extended to all SOB’s *grin*

    Write me at martilawrence@gmail,.com and I’ll add you to access the Google docs. It’s a humorous self-help manual. Title is 7 Ways You Screw Up Your Life and How to Unscrew It.

    Reply

  243. I use Adium because the GUI is more similar to Mac so it seems like a native program. It was also built by former Apple employees so it acts very similar to apps built for Mac and thereby makes it seem very native.

    Reply

  247. So pc only for now…got it.

    Well I want to thank Drew and Diego for all of their help! I really appreciate you letting me run you head for good luck – now adium works great!

    I had a great night talking with you all!!

    Glad you are okay Jenn!

    Reply

  255. Yes, Diego, they sent us back home, but told us to be ready, if the wind changes direction again, we’ll have to go, no way around it. The Interstate is closed, and most of the main roads, so it’ll be difficult.. but.. we’ll be fine. My animals are very upset and restless.. but they’ll make it 🙂

    Reply

  258. Jennifer, I hope you stay safe.

    I guess there is no truly “safe” place on earth to live. Folks ask us why we live in tornado alley, but heck, there’s earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes….bad stuff can happen anywhere.

    (Sorry, didn’t mean to be a downer)

    ((Double sorry, didn’t mean to sound like such an old hippie – LOL))

    Reply

  259. LOL Marti… you’re right, there is no “safe” place to live.. so. I might as well enjoy the sunshine and beach in Florida as anywhere! (I’m an old hippie too 😉 )

    Reply

  266. @Drew – do the words “You’re a freak!” mean anything? Didn’t Billy Joel have a song about Bedford-Stuy?

    @Diego – you’re a wild and crazy guy! Glad to have you here now.

    @Marti – glad to share a laugh. Wanna go snipe hunting?

    Reply

  288. New battery? OK.

    I have a Mac. I was using it to do our MinuteFix Minute Tips. Then I forgot how to log in. No idea what the password is. I’ll figure it out soon!

    Reply

  298. Y’all have been wonderful to chat with this fine evening, and I thank you for all of the great tips and delightful conversation. I have to get up early tomorrow to go over to take care of grandma. She has Parkinson’s and a host of other ailments, so I am her caregiver. May peace and joy bless all of your lives!

    Love and goodnight,
    Marti

    Reply

  304. Well y’all, we’re at 10 PM, so I think we can safely sign off now, though if you subscribed via e-mail, I encourage you to come back to any comments from folks interested in you.

    Thanks for playing Diego, Drew and Jenn. I’m proud to call you my teammates!

    Reply

  308. NO problem. It was certainly my pleasure.
    I hope you all have a great night. Thank you for letting me and MinuteFix take part in this Liz!

    Reply

  313. Hello Phil and all who showed up
    Sorry I missed it, I am such a clutz

    My only excuse was being too busy
    So much so, my heads in a tizzy

    That’s not all that bad of a thing
    When I work so hard, my heart starts to sing

    Because in the end I may be of service
    To people who have fallen into a crevice

    To be able to help those WAHers in need
    Is my job and duty and my pleasure indeed.

    Burma Shave

    Nite Liz (and Phil)
    Nite All

    I’ll be sure to be here next week.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *