In the U.S., the movie and video industries continue to search for what they feel to be acceptable ways to let consumers copy and watch DVD content on their computers. But the end result of their efforts are often clumsy and painfully unusable -- and always laden with warnings, restrictions and Digital Rights Management software that is intended…
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Microsoft Hires Windows “Gurus” to Troll the Aisles at Best Buy
As part of Windows Vista's $300 million marketing rehabilitation, Microsoft will initially hire a wave of 'Windows Gurus to walk around Best Buy and Circuit City stores to answer customer questions and defend Vista's reputation against skeptics. Gurus will earn twenty dollars an hour or more and benefits. One way Windows Gurus will differ from…
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Cisco Catalyst 3550 Series Reprogramming
Today I had the pleasure of working for Creative Environments in Hollywood. This property management company runs a 48 unit buildiing on Cosmo street in Los Angeles (Hollywood) and supplies a T1 connection to the tennants. The internet is shared with 2 Cisco 3550 switches hooked up to a Linksys dual wan vpn router. I…
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Sage Software, Timeslips and AccPac
I dont know if any of you other techs out there have had a lot of dealings with Sage. The fine software company who is responsible for TimeSlips and AccPac. I was lucky enough to deal with both of of these programs yesterday. One client, and I have seen this before, was unlucky enough to…
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Unremovable Infections in Los Angeles computers
So many of these are infecting Los Angeles computers lately. It isnt that they are unremovable, it is just that the troubleshooting process reaches a point where it no longer makes sense to fight infection. This is because one can reinstall the entire operating system in less time than it takes to completely eradicate the…
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Top 11 Ways to Tune Up a Computer
PC Fixer in Los Angeles has been perfecting the PC tuneup process for over 13 years. Want to make your computer faster? Here are the top ten ways to do so: Adjust your startup items with the msconfig command. Knowing what to turn off takes experience. Adjust your startup services with the msconfig command. Knowing…
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Top Ten Programs for A Computer Consultant
Being a computer consultant in Los Angeles can be a challenge. Having the correct software is crucial to our work. Here at PC Fixer we are often asked what the best programs are. And so, after 13 years of software collecting and testing, here are PC Fixer's top ten most useful computer programs; Spyware Doctor…
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Vista Antivirus is a fake antivirus malware infection
PC Fixer sees quite a bit of malware infections in the Los Angeles Computer Repair business. Recently Vista Antivirus has been infecting machines and causing them to purchase this fake software which then renders the computer completely unusable. Although the infection is easily removable with a free program like superantispyware, once somebody has fallen victim…
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TSW and the dongle needs food
Eastern Car Care in East Los Angeles had a problem: Their gas station management software just stopped opening. Mysteriously they received a message that a file named NmMulti.inf was missing the same day. It didnt take long to figure out that their parallel port was to blame and sure enough the dreaded (sometimes) yellow exclamation…
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Straight outta West Los Angeles…from the trenches of the Malware Battleground!
I didnt have to fight one virus or spyware today! This is highly unusual. I think it is because I only worked on 6 computers today at 3 different clients. The first client has no qualms about admitting to downloading porn. In fact, PC Fixer showed him how to download it "safely". We set him…
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