News Articles

Articles posted here are for the use of our clients to get quick self help answers to questions and simple solutions to problems. News reports are not necessarily the opion of our company but for reference only. We don't provide any guarantee that solutions posted or referenced will work for your situation and that you should use them at your own risk. None of the information posted should be used for illegal practices.

How to Reduce Unwanted E-mail and Phone Calls

We continually get requests for advice on how to reduce the number of spam e-mail messages and robot calls. In some cases, this is hard to combat but you need to start with these steps.

E-mail

Continue reading
1
Tags:
4624 Hits
0 Comments

Internet Banking Protection

Computer security is an important training topic for us with all of our clients, both consumer and business. We know that keeping your financial information safe is as important to you as it is to your bank. Your bank has likely instituted some safeguards according to established security standards which keep your financial information secure and confidential. While your bank works hard to keep your money safe, you also need do your part. The following reminders will help protect your information from online fraud and identity theft.

The first line of defense is you. It is important that you use the tools available to protect your data, which is anything that may describe who you are as well as your account numbers and passwords. Your choice of password, decision to visit a web site, open an e-mail message, or post personal data will affect the security of your personal data.

Continue reading
1
4594 Hits
0 Comments

Business Listings on the Web

Many small businesses spend big money on getting themselves noticed on the web with very little results. Often with a little effort of someone who has some basic computer skills can improve a company's presence with many of the free tools that are available.

Yext has one of those tools and they will allow you to use it for free, but like everything that is free there is still a price to be paid. If you use Yext's web listing tool to just get a report of where your business is listed it won't cost you anything but a couple of phone calls from their sales team trying to get you to use there service.

Continue reading
0
Tags:
4578 Hits
0 Comments

MySQL Import of SQL file fails with error 1064

On a number of occasions I have attempted to import an exported MySQL database file and received the following message.

/* SQL Error (1064): You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '?# -------------------------------------------------------- # Host:     ' at line 1 */
/* Error with snippets directory: The specified path was not found */

# --------------------------------------------------------
# Host:                         127.0.0.1
# Server version:               5.5.40 - MySQL Community Server (GPL)
# Server OS:                    Win32
# HeidiSQL version:             7.0.0.4053
# Date/time:                    2014-01-20 09:48:36
# --------------------------------------------------------

Continue reading
0
4557 Hits
0 Comments

Can't Uninstall Webroot SecureAnywhere Mac

The default method for removing Webroot SecureAnywhere on an Apple system may not work if the Secure Anywhere application is running and there is no icon in the menu bar. The only option for removal is a completely manual process involving the use of the Terminal session on the Mac. Following these steps should allow you to remove the Webroot Secur...

Continue reading
0
Tags:
4550 Hits
0 Comments

How to clear Internet Explorer cache

Internet Options dialog

There are times that you may have a web site that you frequent often that gets updated which causes the site to function in unusual ways or may not work at all. Most likely the reason is that some of the files that are related to the site didn't update on your local computer. To resolve this issue you need to flush or clear the cache files from your browser. The steps below are for Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 but are similar for older versions.

  1. Open Internet Explorer or IE as it is often referred to.
  2. Select Tools from the menu or the gear icon.
  3. Select Internet options which will open a dialog box defaulting to the General tab.
  4.  Click the Delete... button under the Browsing History section.
  5.  Click the OK button at the bottom and the close Internet Explorer
  6.  Reopen Internet Explorer and go to the web site that was having issues.

If the cache of older incompatible files was the issue, then the site should be working now. If this was not the issue, it might be a compatibility issue with Internet Explorer and may need the Compatibility View option enabled for the site. 

Continue reading
0
4546 Hits
0 Comments

How to fix web links in Outlook that won't open

A very frustrating situation for our business clients is when they send an e-mail message to a client that has hyperlinks embedded in the message and the link doesn't open in the client's web browser. The issue is typically caused when Google Chrome or another web browser is installed and then later removed. But malware applications will also cause this issue too.

To fix the web links in your Microsoft Outlook application so that they will open, follow these steps.

Continue reading
0
4501 Hits
0 Comments

How to Remove Ads by BlockandSurf

Ads by BlockandSurf are typically a sign of severe trouble with your computer. Past releases of this malware could be removed easily by uninstalling the software and sometimes removing some registry settings. However the lastest infection we found on a Windows 8 system was unresolved except by reinstalling the system to the factory default installation.

Signs of Infection

The Ads by BlockandSurf appear as popup ads in the lower left of the browser, on the left as sidebar ads, and in some cases will appear as a floating web dialog box over the main web page. In all cases there is some indication that the popup is being presented by "Ads by BlockandSurf". One of the signs that this is not the easy to remove version of this infection is that clicking on a link on what appears to be a clean web page results in the destination page appearing with the ads and one or more addition tabs or browser windows that appear attempting to display web sites that have malicious content that attempts to install on your computer.

Continue reading
0
4494 Hits
0 Comments

PC Computer Recommendation

I am often asked about recommending computers to our clients. The issue I find with this is that there are two types of computer buyers: those who ignore it and those that take the advice. Everyone has an opinion but after working with computers for about 30 years I would like to believe that I know something about computers.

Many years ago some of the best computers were assembled from some of the best parts money could buy. There were some great products in the 80's into late 90's but building a computer was one way to get the best of the best and the satisfaction that you did it yourself.

Continue reading
0
4485 Hits
0 Comments

How to disable Microsoft Office 365 (2FA) Two Factor Authentication

After setting up a new tenant in Microsoft Office 365 for a client, the users immediately started getting prompted to configure the two factor authentication. For many users this may be a problem and if the users are already using strong passwords, it may not be necessary to have this setup. Microsoft has now required MFA or 2FA on all of its new a...

Continue reading
0
4477 Hits
0 Comments

How to setup Exchange on the iPhone

How to setup Exchange on the iPhone
iPhone Exchange Setup - step 1
iPhone Exchange Setup - step 2
iPhone Exchange Setup - step 3
iPhone Exchange Setup - step 4
iPhone Exchange Setup - step 5
iPhone Exchange Setup - step 6
iPhone Exchange Setup - step 7
iPhone Exchange Setup - step 8

One of the most common questions we get regarding mobile devices is how to setup an Apple iPhone with access to a corporate Microsoft Exchange mail system. This doesn't have to be a local system, it could be a hosted cloud Exchange server as well. Many people often will use a POP connection but this really doesn't allow the mobile device to exploit the full capabilities of the Microsoft Exchange services such as synchronizing contacts and calendars. So, get the full benefit of Microsoft Exchange by using the Exchange mail connector on the mobile device.

There are a couple of pre-configuration steps that you may want to take, especially if you have moved your Exchange service to a different hosting provider.

Continue reading
0
4454 Hits
0 Comments

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 End of Life

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 End of Life

The End of Life for the Windows Server 2003 was on July 14, 2015.  It was reported that as many as 8 million licenses were still active at the time of the expiration for support. All support for Windows Server 2003 including R2 have ceased unless special paid support has been arranged with Microsoft.  Now is a good time to begin making plans to upgrade your old servers that may be running Windows Server 2003 and the applications you have running on them.

Not sure how this will impact your business? Then let us help you review your current install base and provide you with the man options available. This might be a great opportunity migrate applications to one of our Cloud Services like Microsoft Exchange, Nebula Data Online Backup, or VMware Cloud Air.

Continue reading
0
Tags:
4431 Hits
0 Comments

Windows 7 IPv4 Issues Resolving Names

We often have found with many of the new routers and Windows 7 and later will default to IPv6 for all their Internet lookups when browsing the web. The issue is that seen by many is that the resolution of names in the URL are delayed until an IPv4 is used to complete the lookup. This problem started after an update by Microsoft that caused IPv6 to be preferred over IPv4.

Microsoft released a Knowledge Base article on this issue, KB2533454 - Resolving Internet connectivity issues after World IPv6 Launch (June 6, 2012). This KB article contains a Microsoft FixIt tool to change the preferred IP version from IPv6 back to IPv4

Continue reading
0
4391 Hits
0 Comments

Juno Web application hijacks browser proxy settings

Juno Web Application hijacks the browser

While working with a client system we found that the Internet Explorer or any other browser application kept having issues with accessing the Internet. Reseting the browser settings would temporarily resolve the problem but it would quickly return the moment we would leave the client.

It turns out the client was using Juno as their e-mail application. As the user would review their mail they would occasionally get a message that had a hyperlink in the message to a web site. When clicking the link Juno would automatically open by change the proxy settings to force the browsing through their system.  

Continue reading
0
4388 Hits
0 Comments

Kaspersky Security Center 10 Excluding Folder From Scanning

Some applications are more sensitive than others with respect to antivirus applications scanning the data files for malicious content. Many of these applications have a database component to them. But in an effort to not get too bogged down in identifying the file it is sometimes easier to just exclude the applications folder from the scan process....

Continue reading
1
4373 Hits
0 Comments

Windows 7 AddDLLDirectory Error

After reinstalling Windows 7 and then tried to install the network driver for the computer the driver installation application displayed the following error "The procedure entry point AddDLLDirectory could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll." This error occurred because the driver installation was ...

Continue reading
0
Tags:
4371 Hits
0 Comments

Microsoft Small Business Server 2011 basics

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard Console
Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard Console Tasks

Microsoft Small Business Server 2011 is one of the nicer releases of small business server line of products that was released for a number of reasons. Most importantly it contains all of the important business server applications than any small business would need such as security, file sharing, web services, e-mail, and database services.

It is critical that when you perform any administration of an SBS 2011 server that you perform the task using the Small Business Server Console whenever possible. After installing Small Business Server 2011, this console will continue to open automatically on login to the server unless you disable it. This is where you check the status of the system, add and remove users, create shared resources, and ensure that your system is backed up as well a many other functions. The console will only open for one user at a time, so if you have more than one user logged into your small business server the console may not open if it is open in another session.

Continue reading
0
4336 Hits
0 Comments

How to deploy a new computer in a business environmnet

The success of a deployment of new computers in a business environment has allot to do with the process and being consistent with that process. Getting the steps out of order may cause some issue that were not expected nor will you know why one computer works fine and another doesn't.

Below is a list of steps that we often follow for deploying new computers in a business environment that has a Windows domain controller.

Continue reading
0
4317 Hits
0 Comments

How to fix cursor keys in Microsoft Excel

You may be wondering why your cursor keys along with  your Home and End keys are not working properly. When you attempt to move your cursor from one cell to another using the cursor keys, the entire spreadsheet moves in that direction. Also the Home and End keys only take you to the far left or right of that row that is currently visible instead of taking you to the beginning or end of that row.

The simple solution might be that you accidently turned on your Scroll Lock. This is a special key that is seldom used today and exists near that upper right of the keyboard between two other keys rarely used, Print Screen/ System Request key and the Pause / Break key. Check your keyboard and see if the light for the Scroll Lock is on, if so that is likely the cause of your issue. Simply press the Scroll Lock key once to turn it off; you should notice the indicator light goes off as well.

Continue reading
0
4276 Hits
0 Comments

Cat5e Data Cabling Recomendations

Data cabling gone wrong

Frequently we are called to a new client because of network performance or stability issues. These cases manifest themselves over time by inexperienced data cabling installers, typically the business owner or one of the employees, who attempted to save some money by doing the work themselves.

The installation of data cabling, also referred to as structured cabling, is almost as much an art form as it is a time tested trade that can most effectively be perfected through the training by one with years of experience and formal training in the field.

Continue reading
0
4256 Hits
0 Comments

Are you in need of computer repair?

Start Here

Locations Serviced:

Firestone

Frederick

Dacono

Longmont

Fort Lupton

Erie

Mead

Berthod

Loveland

Windsor

Brighton

Denver

Boulder

Thornton

Westminster

Aurora

Arvada

Parker

Highland Ranch

Centenial

 

Have I been pwned?
Check if you have an account that has been compromised in a data breach.