Computer and Technology

Username and Password do not match. You provided "username".

2009-02-11T17:20:00.000-08:00

Description:

You can still access your Windows properly but yur start receiving this start up error message: Password do not match. You provided "username".

Solution:

Try to check if you have installed a Google program on your computer. Errors like this is caused by not signing in properly to your Google Talk account, Gmail account or any Google account. Make sure you type in the correct username and password or you can just remove the Google application on the start up of your computer. You can still run the application by clicking the icon or the shortcut on the desktop.

Media Center receiver has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

2009-01-22T19:28:00.000-08:00

I've seen a lot of issues regarding errors with Media Center. The tool is provided below to fix Media Center errors. Thanks to the geek who made the tool.

Problem: Media Center receiver has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Solution: Download and run the FIX.

How to Install/Reinstall or Format/Reformat Windows Vista

2009-01-22T19:24:00.000-08:00

1. Insert Your Microsoft Windows Vista DVD.

2. Restart your computer.

3. Access the boot menu by pressing F12 on your computer's start up.( Some computers have different ways of accessing the boot menu, check your computer's manual for it.)

4. Highlight CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive, and then press Enter.

5. Press Enter when you see the prompt "Press any key to boot from the CD".

6. Choose your Language, Time, Currency and Keyboard Method, and click Next.

7. Click Install Now.

8. Accept the terms and conditions.

9. Click Custom (advanced) on the page that syays "Which type of installation do you want?".

10. Click Drive options (advanced) on the page that says "Where do you want to install Windows window?."

11. Click Disk 0 Partition 1, and then click Delete.

12. On this screen "If you delete this partition, all data stored on it will be permanently deleted", click OK.

13. On the page that says "Where do you want to install Windows", click New.

14. When prompted to select the size of the file, select the default size, and then click Apply.

15. Select the partition you just created, and click Format.

16. Click OK on the window "If you format this partition, all data stored on it will be permanently deleted".

17. Click Next on the "Where do you want to install Windows" page. Computer will restart several times.

18. When the Setup window appears, select a user name, password, and picture for your user account.

19. On the Choose a computer name and choose a desktop background window, click Next.

20. On the Help Protect Windows automatically window, click Use Recommended Settings.

The Review your time and date settings window appears.

21. Click to select your time zone, and then click Next.

22. After the Thank You message appears, click Start.

23. When all is done, install all your hardware drivers.

How to Install Windows XP.

2009-01-19T22:49:00.000-08:00

1. Be ready with your Windows XP CD or DVD, then access the boot menu of your computer.

2. Highlight the option for CD/DVD and press "Enter".

3. Press "Enter" when you see the prompt to "Press any Key to Boot from the CD" .

4. Press "Enter" "Welcome to Setup" window appears.

5. Hit "F8" to agree to the terms and conditions.

6. Press "Esc" to continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing.

7. Highlight the partitions and delete each of them until "unpartitioned space" is the only one left.

8. Create a new partition by pressing "C". You will be prompted for a size, the default size will be the maximum size so it depends on you how much would you want the partition to be. If you're in doubt, just choose the default size and press "Enter".

9. Now you will see the partition you just created. Please make sure that it's "C:" partition, if not, you need to repeat all the above steps, remove all external peripherals except the mouse, keyboard, monitor and power cord.

10. Highlight the "C:" partition and hit "Enter".

11. Choose the "Format the Partition using the NTFS File System Quick" and press "Enter".

12. Press "F" to format drive.

13. Your computer will load and reboot.

14. If you see the "Press any key to boot from the CD", DO NOT press any key. Just let the computer start up.

15. Follow all the the screen instructions on your personal setting of Windows.

16. If done, download all your hardware drivers.

How to Fix #M1004 Error.

2009-01-17T23:35:00.001-08:00

The steps below are for Dell Computers.

1. Go to www.support.dell.com.

2. Click "Drivers and Downloads".

3. Type in your service tag.

4. Update the chipset driver and restart the computer.

5. Update the notebook system software and restart your computer.

6. Update the video driver and restart your computer.

7. Update the BIOS of your computer.

8. If the same problem occurs, call Dell Technical Support 18008228965 to repalce the motherboard as long as you still have an active warranty.

Can't Read or Play DVD or CD.

2009-01-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

If your CD or DVD drive cannot play or read CDs or DVDs, follow the steps below.

As long as this is not a hardware issue. This should fix the problem.

1. Access the registry editor of your computer.

To do this:

In Windows Vista:

*Click "Start".

*On the start search box, type "Regedit" and press "Enter".

In Windows XP.

*Click "Start".

*Click "Run".

*On the "Run" box, type "regedit and press "Enter".

2. Expand "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE".

3. Expand "System".

4. Expand "CurrentControlSet".

5. Expand "Control".

6. Expand "Class".

7. Click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.

8. On the right side pane, find the "Upper Filter" and "Lower Filter" and delete them. Sometimes only the upper filter or lower filter is present, not both of them, just delete it, it's ok.

9. Restart your computer.

10. Play a CD or DVD and the issue should be fixed.

How To Fix Windows Update Errors

2009-01-16T23:40:00.000-08:00

If you can't update windows, can't download and install updates or there's an update that keeps on failing, then follow the steps below to fix the problem.

This software is free and is tested and proven to fix windows update issues.

1. Download Dial a Fix.

2. Run it.

3. Check all the checkboxes applicable.

4. Click "Go".

5. When it's done, click "Flush Software Distribution".

6. When it's done flushing the software. Close the application and restart the computer.

7. Go to www.windowsupdate.com and download and install the latest updates for your computer.

Dial a Fix is not ready for Vista yet.

Google is the Best

2009-01-13T23:21:00.001-08:00

I have been using Google as my search engine and my homepage since 1999. I was just a student then. It was introduced to me by our computer professor. Before that, I was using Yahoo, but I gave Google a try.

I really liked Google since then because of the website's interface. The site's graphic is minimal and very simple. The search box is in the middle without any advertisements all around unlike any other search engines.

Searching anything in google is pretty easy and I'm satisfied with the results because once you type in your inquiry, a lot of relevant information immediately comes up and for sure you will find what you're looking for. One thing I have noticed is that not all of the first website that would pop up is really the best option or answer to you question. I guess that depends on the information that you need so it's better to try a lot of the websites to get credible and secure results.

I also witnessed how Google changed their web interface during the years of their site's existence. There's really no important or dramatic change in the physical appearance of their site which is ok because they still keep the simplicity and ease of using it.

I love the options that they added where you could customize your own page, add gadgets, calendars, music room and many more. This site is really the most popular search engine.

I was even surprised that even when I started working in my current job, the company's policy is to use Google as the main homepage. We are in business processing outsource company and what we do is to help customer's fixed technical issue and Google is the website that we use to search for customer's queries and provide solution for them.

There was just a time when our IT people accidentally blocked the site. It took them 3 days to put the access to it. We really had hard times during that 3 day period. We tried using several search engines and all I can say is they can never be equal to Google's performance. I'm not sure how Google does it but they are offering more results compared to other sites. I was glad when the access was returned.

So far, this is the only site that we officially use in our company and I do hope that this will not change.

I'm so thankful that Google is offered in this modern internet world. Kudos to Google owner and employees.I have been using Google as my search engine and my homepage since 1999. I was just a student then. It was introduced to me by our computer professor. Before that, I was using Yahoo, but I gave Google a try.

I really liked Google since then because of the website's interface. The site's graphic is minimal and very simple. The search box is in the middle without any advertisements all around unlike any other search engines.

Searching anything in google is pretty easy and I'm satisfied with the results because once you type in your inquiry, a lot of relevant information immediately comes up and for sure you will find what you're looking for. One thing I have noticed is that not all of the first website that would pop up is really the best option or answer to you question. I guess that depends on the information that you need so it's better to try a lot of the websites to get credible and secure results.

I also witnessed how Google changed their web interface during the years of their site's existence. There's really no important or dramatic change in the physical appearance of their site which is ok because they still keep the simplicity and ease of using it.

I love the options that they added where you could customize your own page, add gadgets, calendars, music room and many more. This site is really the most popular search engine.

I was even surprised that even when I started working in my current job, the company's policy is to use Google as the main homepage. We are in business processing outsource company and what we do is to help customer's fixed technical issue and Google is the website that we use to search for customer's queries and provide solution for them.

There was just a time when our IT people accidentally blocked the site. It took them 3 days to put the access to it. We really had hard times during that 3 day period. We tried using several search engines and all I can say is they can never be equal to Google's performance. I'm not sure how Google does it but they are offering more results compared to other sites. I was glad when the access was returned.

So far, this is the only site that we officially use in our company and I do hope that this will not change.

I'm so thankful that Google is offered in this modern internet world. Kudos to Google owner and employees.

Dell Support, Not That Bad

2009-01-13T23:18:00.000-08:00

December 2008 was the first time I purchased a Dell computer. I bought an XPS M1730 from them. It was quite expensive, but since I love the specifications so much, I decided to get it.

Some of my friends told me that I would regret purchasing a Dell computer. They said that the support was useless, unhelpful and horrible.

So when I got my computer, I called Dell Tech Support to assist me with some software configuration set up.

My call was answered by a soft spoken male agent. He sounds like not a native English speaker because of his accent but he speaks the language very clearly and I never misunderstood any of his words.

I told him all the questions that I have. He immediately took over my computer and guided me in setting up the software. He was very prompt in answering all my questions. He sounds like he knew and was very confident on what he was doing. I asked him where he's located and he said he's in Asia, specifically in the Philippines. I was amazed to know that he's not even in US. I thought he was a migrant from a different country and is based in US. He said Dell has their own base in the Philippines. They also have sites in India and some other countries.

The technician was so polite. He never stopped calling me "Sir" so I told him it will be better if he should call me by my first name since I'm not used to it. I felt liked he's really very interested in helping me and resolving all my issues.

Our troubleshooting took for over an hour since I have a lot of questions about my new computer. He never sounded irritated on all my questions. I'm not really familiar with computers so I asked even the very basic questions.

When all my computer issues are fixed, I thanked him and he gave me some reference numbers so I can call them back if I encountered any issues on my computer.

I can say that the support given to me was excellent. I'm just not sure why a lot of people are telling me that the support wasn't good but it's definitely not.

With that good experience that I had, I would recommend Dell to all who wanted to have a good computer and at the same time, good service.

I hope I will never encounter any computer issues but if I will, I'm glad I can call Dell to help me out.

AOL Tech Support Woes

2009-01-13T23:16:00.001-08:00

I am a customer of AOL. They have been my Internet service provider since I got my computer. I have a high-speed Internet subscription from them.

I just want to share all my experiences, every time I call their technical support when I have some issues with my connection.

Every once in a while, my connection would be disrupted for no reason at all. I will call their technical support and I have to condition myself to wait on queue for 30 minutes. I never had an agent answered my call immediately. Waiting is one of the reasons why I get irate sometimes with them. But of course I have no choice because I need their help. I'm not a computer whiz who can fix any problem because I'm an accountant and computers are not really my forte.

Once an agent answers my call, I would be very happy when I receive somebody who speaks real English. Most of the time, I would receive an agent with an Indian accent. I have nothing against Indians, it's just that I'm supposed to be calling US tech support so I should be talking to someone I can understand. I really get frustrated when I have to let him repeat himself everytime he gives me instructions. The supposed to be 10 minute troubleshooting will take for an hour because of the language issue.

Sometimes, I would receive an agent who doesn't have any clue on what he was doing. I would try to ask for a supervisor but I would immediately receive a scripted response from the agent telling me that his supervisor is not available. I will ask him what he can do for me and he will just say he would call me after 30 minutes for him to do some research. I will wait for him to call back but no one calls me. I have to make another callback and someone would finally say that they will be sending their onsite technician to replace my modem.

I am just wondering why AOL would let their support people do a very lousy job. Don't they have some trainings and quality checkers?

I hope someone from their company would take action and hire people who are competent enough to do the job. I don't think having to pay someone lesser that what they pay an agent in US would do any good in their business. If they can't afford to pay an agent in US, then I hope they would at least hire skilled people.

I'm not yet changing my subscription to other companies. I still believe AOL can do something better that what they have right now, besides, I have no choice, they're the only Broadband company present in my neighborhood.

How to Remove Viruses, Adware, Spyware, Trojans and all Malware

2008-12-28T19:21:00.000-08:00

Follow these tried and tested steps to remove viruses, spyware, adware and all malware from your computer.

1. Download Smitfraud fix:

SmitFraudFix

*When you're using vista, you need to save it first it on your desktop, right click the icon and click run as administrator. If using XP or other Windows OS, click run immediately.

*A blue screen will pop up.

*Type number 1 and press Enter,when its's finish, close the notepad.

*Back to the blue screen, type number 2 and press enter to clean the corruptions. After that it will be asking you if you want to clean the registry, just type "y" for yes.
*If you are running Smitfraudfix in the normal mode, type number 5 and press to clean the final process, if in safemode with net working, you don't have to do it, it's ok.
*When you're done, type Q and press enter to quit.
*You're background image will be removed.

3. Now run Smitrem using this link:

Smitrem

*Save the file in your desktop, open the smitrem window. If you're using vista, right click the "Runthis" option and click run as administrator, if XP and other OS, just run it immediately.
*You will see a blue screen again, just press space bar several times to finish it loading.

Restart your computer. If it will ask you to press control alt delete to log in, just follow it, log on and click on start, type "netplwiz" on start search box for Vista, in XP, click start,then run, type "netplwiz", click the advanced tab on the window that will open then uncheck the box to require users to press control alt delete.

4. Restart your computer, run a scan using this free security software:

Super Antispyware

AVG antivirus