Ideologics

If you own or have ever owned a laptop, then you have more than likely experienced unsightly dust, fingerprints and more on your LCD screen.

These are unattractive, and can be a pain when you are trying to surf the web, play games, and do any of your daily activities on your laptop.

If you want to remove these, then read on.

What can I use to clean my laptop screen?

What you’ll need:

• Cloth
  
• Dirty Laptop Screen

How to do it:

1. You will first need to power your screen down. This should help us find the dirt easily.
2. You must now identify the types of dirt. These are generally very easy to identify and are very distinct. These are fingerprints, dust and dried marks. Dried marks are often shaped blobs of white that are on your screen, and the cause of them is unknown. The other two are pretty self-explanatory.
3. To remove fingerprints, you must first slightly dampen your cloth. In most cases you can remove them dry, but hard set ones will need a bit of water added. If you use water, make sure to avoid getting any on any electrical components that are surrounding you. You should then scrub at the fingerprints until they are gone.
4. To remove dust, you should simply use a tissue until the dust lifts off. Dust should be fairly easy to remove, and will be gone within a few seconds.
5. For removing dried marks, dampen your cloth just a little, then just scrub away at them until they are no longer visible. Try making sure not to apply to much pressure while doing this.

Doing this on a weekly basis can keep your screen free from becoming dirty again. Just repeat each step as required, and work away until all the dirt is gone.

If you can’t use Yahoo, MSN or AIM at school, try using eBuddy instead.

eBuddy is an online messenger application that supports Yahoo, MSN, AIM and other messenger applications. It is supported by virtually every web browser, and because it’s a web application it doesn’t require any installation.

Try eBuddy at www.ebuddy.com.

A computer that runs slowly can cause great frustration to its user. To help, I’ve devised a list of 50+ ways to speed up your computer.

If you see a suggestion linked, the linked page explains how to speed up your computer using that method in detail.

I have tried to categorise the suggestions based on difficulty. The first suggestions are the easiest to implement.

How to speed up your computer

Easy ways to speed up your computer

1. Defragment your hard disks.
2. Check and repair your hard disks.
3. Tidy the ‘Startup’ menu.
4. Use MSCONFIG to disable hidden startup applications.
5. Free up wasted disk space.
6. Clean up any unused desktop icons.
7. Turn off your backdrop.
8. Clean & maintain your PC with anti-virus software.
9. Choose Google for your homepage and default search engine.
10. Use a third-party internet browser.
11. Close applications you’re not using.
12. Disconnect unused peripherals.
13. Use the Ready Boost feature.
14. Try eBoostr if you have more than 1GB of RAM.
15. Select the right power settings for your computer.
16. Use standby mode instead of shutting down.
17. Buy a new computer.
18. Delete files from your inbox.

Intermediate methods to speed up your computer

1. Disable and uninstall tool bars.
2. Create separate user accounts.
3. Disable fast user switching in XP.
4. Rid your computer of dust to maintain idle operating temperature.
5. Disable idle system services.
6. If you’re a green-geek, hibernate instead of shutting down.
7. Use ethernet cables.
8. Consider using an all-in-one messenger. Or even a web messenger.
9. Check and correct your system files.
10. Download your e-mail to your computer.

Advanced methods to speed up your computer

1. Update your drivers.
2. Update your BIOS.
3. Upgrade your RAM.
4. Upgrade your hard disk.
5. Consider replacing your hard disk with a Solid State Drive.
6. Consider buying low-density RAM if you have high-density RAM.
7. Upgrade your graphics card.
8. Reinstall your computer’s operating system.
9. Consider upgrading to a new version of Windows.
10. Try Ubuntu or another variation of Linux.
11. Upgrade your processor and/or motherboard.
12. Consider using a different security suite better fitted to your hardware.
13. Disable the display themes.
14. Disable virtual memory.
15. Move your paging file to a second drive.
16. Overclock your processor.
17. Set up your wireless connection the right way.
18. Invest in a DNS cache.
19. Check the Windows Experience Index for upgrade advice.
20. Under-prioritise Peer-to-Peer and other CPU hungry applications.
21. Defragment your page file and registry.
22. Partition your hard disk.
23. Convert your disks to NTFS.

If you have anything to add, do so in a comment!

Just recently I’ve restored a DELL MINI 9 with its original installation of Ubuntu (a more user friendly version of Linux). Sadly, it was an utter pain.

First off, Dell don’t make these images freely available. In fact, I don’t think you can even pay to download them – they are simply missing from Dell’s website.

After some thorough research on Google, I came across an image (that I have uploaded) and a utility that puts it on a USB key – if you have a DELL MINI 9, you too will be needing a USB key if you don’t have an external DVD drive.

The files you need are as follows:

• http://www.ideologics.co.uk/downloads/Inspiron_910_Ubuntu_A00.img
• http://www.ideologics.co.uk/downloads/win32diskimager-RELEASE-0.2-r23-win32.zip

Download both of these files. Open the zip file, and install Win32 disk imager. Using this utility, you will be able to write the IMG file to a USB drive.

(This is the only utility that has written the IMG file to a key successfully, others said they had written it but I found that the restore process would fail.)

Ever noticed the huge list of cookies that shows up in spyware scanners? The word ‘cookie’ sounds so pleasant until it appears on your screen as a threat. Are cookies really threatening?

What are they?

If you’ve ever had a Chinese meal, you may be familiar with fortune cookies. Inside the cookie is a message. The theory on computers it that a cookie can carry information between your computer and the website you are connecting to.

For example, when you go to Hotmail.com to check your email, you have to log in. While you are logged in, there is a cookie with your information in it that is sent with any transmission to and from the Hotmail server to help it identify you. When you log out, the cookie is destroyed.

Are they threatening?

The likeliness of a cookie damaging your computer probably isn’t even on the risk scale. The reason they appear as threats is because some advertising agencies use them to track what advertisements you’ve seen – some people consider this a form of spying, and as such it is considered a threat to privacy.

Should you worry about clearing them?

Not really. You’re just going to collect them again. Spend your time doing something more constructive like playing Solitaire.

When your computer dies, your heart drops – because you, like 90% of the population, put off backing up your data. Now they’re going to come and blast your machine, and your pictures are going up in flames with it.

But don’t despair! Try the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows.

http://www.ubcd4win.com/downloads.htm

You’ll need to download the ISO image and burn it to a CD. You can then use this CD to boot into a live copy of Windows that gives you access to your hard drive(s). Use this in combo with a USB pen drive and you’ll be able to save your data before the repair man comes.

One invaluable feature of modern computers is the ability to boot from removable storage such as USB flash drives and external hard drives. Despite this feature’s availability, it isn’t easily utilised because there isn’t any native support available in Microsoft Windows (which as of 2012, is still the most common Operating System in the world).

We came across a great application called UNetbootin. It allows you to ‘burn’ an ISO image to a USB flash drive.

UNetbootin

Download here: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/)

To ‘burn’ an ISO image to the USB flash drive, follow these instructions:

1. Install it as you would any other application.
2. Load UNetbootin from your start menu.
3. Select the Disk Image (second option down).
4. Select ISO from the drop down.
5. Click the three periods to browse for an ISO image.
6. Make sure the Type is set to USB drive and the letter corresponds correctly.
7. Click OK.
8. The process will take a while, so grab a cup of tea!

You can also use UNetbootin to create Linux live boot disks.

Other solutions

• WiNToBootic
• Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

Important as it is to have a working computer, re-installing your computer and losing your documents at the same time seems a bit pointless. It is a myth that you have to lose your documents when you re-install your computer – a myth that is easily solved if you read the following.

Simple method

Boot up your machine with your Microsoft Windows installation CD. If you don’t have one, get one! Or borrow one from a friend, as long as you have the certificate of authenticity.

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