Performance Tweaks

Adding Memory to the HP Color LaserJet CP1518ni

August 1, 2010 By Terry Stockdale

One of the differences between inkjet printers and laser printers has to do with handling of the data to be printed.

An inkjet printer gets its commands for each printed line, one at a time, from Windows. It prints the line and gets the data for the next line. Sometimes they buffer a little of the data so there’s no hesitation, but Windows is talking to the printer thoughout the whole print job.

That’s not the way that laser printers work. A laser printer has to get all the data for a whole page before it starts to print that page.

What happens if there is so much content, shapes or colors, that the printer’s memory can’t receive the entire page? You can’t print it. You have to add memory.

Continue reading Adding Memory to the HP Color LaserJet CP1518ni

Filed Under: Hardware, Networking, Performance Tweaks, Printers, Sales, Speed Tweaks, System, Terry's Computer Tips

Router Seems to Have Failed

August 28, 2009 By Terry Stockdale

A reader wrote recently that he was havig problems with his router on his DSL connection:

Terry,

I have been using Linksys DSL wireless router (4 data ports and 2 analog phone ports) for over one year. Lately, I can’t access to the internet (via this router). I did run a quick DSL speed tests, the download speed was good ~2340Kbps, but the upstream test had problem to finish the test? As long as I bypassed the router, then I can connect to the internet, but I could not use my Vonage VoIP phone.

Please advise and thank you so much in advance.

I wrote back to suggest how he might solve the problem.

He could try logging into the router’s administrator control panel and writing down his customized settings. Then, he should use…

Continue reading Router Seems to Have Failed

Filed Under: Networking, Performance Tweaks, System, Terry's Computer Tips

Home Networking — Wired + Wireless Connections

February 17, 2009 By Terry Stockdale

The simplest way to set up a home network, including both computers with wired connections and computers with wireless connections, is to set up a wireless router immediately following your DSL modem or Cable modem. Sometimes, a DSL modem even has the router built into it.

In this setup, all the computers are assigned their IP addresses by the DHCP server that is built into the router. All are on the same logical network. However, their ability to share files, printers, and otherwise communicate between each other will depend on your settings in each computer.

In order to share files, you have to tell Windows (or Linux, etc.) to enable file and printer sharing, identify which directories should be shared, and have the computers on the same Windows Workgroup (or Windows domain, if you’re a very advanced user running a Windows domain controller). You’ll also have to tell the firewall programs on each computer to allow the sharing with the other computers — or the firewall will block the data.

Continue reading Home Networking — Wired + Wireless Connections

Filed Under: Networking, Performance Tweaks, Security, Security Issues, Terry's Computer Tips, Vista, Windows Vista, Windows XP

OpenOffice 3.0 Installation Issues

January 28, 2009 By Terry Stockdale

Subscriber and friend Ron Spruell wrote about a problem he had with the new OpenOffice 3.0. The problem occurred with one of the free antivirus programs, so this may be of particular interest to many readers:

OpenOffice 3.0 Problems: Terry — I tried Oo 3.O. I did not uninstall 2.4 first. Oo 3.O increased my CPU usage to 80% to 100%. My computer would barely run. I had to uninstall and go back to 2.4. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Would a clean install solve my problems. BTW, I love Oo. I find Writer much easier that MSWord. Calc has a few short comings. I use Impress for all presentations. I never did learn how to use Power Point. Ron Spruell

I wrote back to Ron to tell him that I had not heard or read about any problem before seeing his email. I asked if he used Process Explorer or Task Manager to see which application was bouncing to 100%.

Continue reading OpenOffice 3.0 Installation Issues

Filed Under: Anti-virus, Performance Tweaks, Software, Terry's Computer Tips, Windows XP

HOWTO: Open a Program in a Maximized Window

January 17, 2009 By Terry Stockdale

With some programs, we always may want to open them in maximized (full-screen), or even minimized (hidden), mode. Windows allows us to accomplish this via a setting in a program’s shortcut.

Continue reading HOWTO: Open a Program in a Maximized Window

Filed Under: Operating System, Performance Tweaks, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows XP

HOWTO: Identifying and Changing Default File Type / Program Associations

May 12, 2008 By Terry Stockdale

If you need to identify which program opens a particular file type, you can do that, and a lot more, using the Folder Options functions in Windows Explorer.

To find Folder Options, open Windows Explorer (right-click on Start, select Explore). Then, on its menu bar, select Tools and then Folder Options…

At this point, we need to select the File Types tab.

On the File Types tab, we see a large, scrollable box that lists file types. As we scroll down the list, we see various file extensions (such as JPG and DOC) along with a text description of the file type.

Continue reading HOWTO: Identifying and Changing Default File Type / Program Associations

Filed Under: File system repair, Performance Tweaks, Software, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Vista, Windows XP

WinPatrol – for System Control and Protection

October 22, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

I’ve written a number of times about one of the programs that I use on every one of my computers, including my family’s computers. Well, really on every computer that runs Windows — and I’ve been using it since well before 2004.

This program is a great protection tool called WinPatrol. WinPatrol allows me to control which programs start automatically on my system. It also monitors my system for any changes to the programs that start automatically. Unlike some anti-spyware applications, WinPatrol allows me to make the reversable decision to disable auto-starting of a program, where most systems will simply not allow the program to set itself to auto-start.

WinPatrol is available in two flavors — the totally free WinPatrol and the added-function, added-information WinPatrol Plus.

Continue reading WinPatrol – for System Control and Protection

Filed Under: Operating System, Performance Tweaks, Security Fixes, Speed Tweaks, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Vista, Windows XP

Quieting Windows’ Noises (and selecting other sounds)

June 13, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

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Do Windows’ sounds ever get on your nerves? In my case, I have grown to dislike the click sound when I click on a link in Internet Explorer or in Windows Explorer. I find it distracting as I work or play on my computer.

Fortunately, we can do something about that… Windows lets us assign different sounds to some specific Windows functions (“events”).

In this case, the offending selection is the sound file assigned to the event called “Start Navigation” in Windows Explorer. That’s right, even if you’re using Internet Explorer, that’s the Windows event that gets called when you click on a link.

In order to change the sound assigned to this event, the first step is to open the Control Panel and select “Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices”.

Continue Reading Quieting Windows’ Noises (and selecting other sounds)

Filed Under: Operating System, Performance Tweaks, Speed Tweaks, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows XP

Making Viewed Fonts and Images Larger (or smaller)

June 11, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

Ever go to a web site and find that the fonts are huge? Or, maybe they’re too small for your eyes?

Our favorite web browsers, whether we use Internet Explorer 6, IE7, Firefox 1.5, Firefox 2, Opera 8 or Opera 9, have multiple ways for us to change the size of the words we see.

Some of those ways affect only the text. They’ll let you have larger text or smaller text, but they won’t affect image sizes.

Some others will automatically change the displayed image size along with the displayed text characters.

Continue reading Making Viewed Fonts and Images Larger (or smaller)

Filed Under: Communications, Firefox, IE, Opera, Performance Tweaks, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Web browsing, Windows XP

HOWTO: Writing Files to CD’s with Windows XP

May 30, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

Windows XP, unlike earlier versions of Windows, has the built-in ability to write files to CD’s.

What does this mean? If you want to copy some files to a CD, you don’t have to buy a special CD burning program like Nero Burning ROM (the one I use), Roxio’s Easy CD Creator, NTI or others. You can do basic CD writing with Windows XP itself.

Of course, you can’t do the complicated things that the other packages do, but Windows XP’s CD-writing capability means you don’t even have to open those more powerful programs when you want to copy a few files to a CD.

So, how do we do it?

The first step is to open Windows Explorer, the built-in Windows file manager. The easiest way to do this is to right-click on the Start button and pick “Explore.”

Filed Under: Operating System, Performance Tweaks, Pre-installed Software, Terry's Computer Tips