Laptop shuts down intermittently

My daughter's friend, Lily, brings her laptop to me with a complaint that the computer shuts down intermittently.  After investigating, I determine there is no fan sound coming from the laptop.  The fan has apparently quit working, causing the laptop to shut down when it over heats.  However, Lily does not want to spend the money to purchase a new fan. 

It occurred to me, that while browsing in the computer section of Staples once (one of my favorite pastimes), I saw a laptop desk tray with a fan built into it to keep the laptop from overheating, since laptops have a tendency to overheat while sitting on top of your lap.  At the time, I thought it was a gimmick that no one would ever spend the extra money on.  I quickly took a spin down to Staples and purchased one.  And, would you believe it?  It solved the problem of Lily's laptop shutting down. 

I tested by removing the laptop tray and within one minute, the laptop shut down.  I did this several times to confirm.  As long as the laptop sat on top of the laptop tray and the fan was plugged in, the computer stayed operational!  I instructed Lily to leave the fan on when she uses the laptop.  This was about six months ago.  I just spoke to her last night, and her laptop is still running fine!

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How to Add Google Voice Widget to Your Website

This is an extremely cool widget you can add to your website or blog!

Google Voice

Features of Google Voice

How to Add Google Voice Widget to Your Website

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NTFS Permissions when deleting folders

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What is the least permission that a user should grant others that would allow them to delete folders within a share?

Modify.

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Volume Shadow Copy

Image by Bruce Elgort via Flickr

What situation would the IT Department use a volume shadow copy, instead of a backup strategy?

If the user accidentally overwrites a presentation he spent all day creating. Note that shadow copies maintain a maximum of 64 copies of a file. The copy schedule affects the amount of time that the oldest copies are deleted. Microsoft recommends writing shadow copies to a different volume on a different drive than the shared folders.

You should not write shadow copies to compressed volumes. Compressed volumes cannot have an allocation unit size of greater than 4 KB. Using a volume with an allocation unit size of less than 16 KB can result in loss of shadow copies.
How Volume Shadow Copy Service Works

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Map a network drive

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How would you list a shared network folder location in My computer for quick access?

Map a network drive to the shared folder.

Map a Network Drive in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

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Folder Redirection

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1. A manager would like to have user folders (like My Documents and My Pictures) automatically backed up by network administrators. What does this manager need?

Folder Redirection allows user data to be backed up to an alternate location, like a network server, normally using group policy.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc778976(WS.10).aspx

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How can you print a printer self test page?

How can you print a printer self test page?


Answer: Through the operator panel on the printer, or, through the printer properties settings.

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How to remove an external USB hard drive

What is the BEST way to explain to a user how to move an external USB hard drive to another computer?

Dismount the drive by right-clicking the device icon in the system tray. When the system displays that it is safe to remove the drive, unplug the device from the computer and plug it into the other computer.

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Hibernation

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You need to configure your desktop computer to maximize the time between recharging your computer that is used infrequently during the day. What mode should you use?

Hibernation is a feature of laptops that allow them to enter into a low power state. This low power state will ensure that the laptop battery is not consumed when it is sitting idle. Hibernation can be configured through the Power Options applet in the Control Panel.

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How to create address labels using Open Office Mail Merge

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First, go to Open Office and download your free productivity suite.

In the past, I addressed all my Christmas labels by hand.  What a pain.  After spending way too much time on doing THAT this year, I finally figured out how to do a Mail Merge to create address labels using Open Office.  The reason for using Open Office is, it is free, as I do not have Microsoft Office on my laptop and I hate to pay for something I can get free.  If you are used to Microsoft Office Mail Merge, you might have some difficulty, but follow my instructions for using Open Office, as I have condensed the instructions into an easy to understand format, I hope.

If you have any confusion, use the Open Office docu Using Mail Merge to follow along with my instructions.  Both documents together might clear up any questions you have.  After you have downloaded Open Office and saved it to your desktop:

Display Gadget on Windows Sidebar

You need to display a clock on your desktop so you can always see the current time at all times. 

• Open Windows Sidebar
• Add the Clock gadget to Windows Sidebar
• Open Windows Sidebar Properties
• Select the Start Sidebar when Windows starts option.

Gadgets are mini programs that run on your desktop that you can interact with.  You can add gadgets by starting Windows Sidebar and clicking the Add (+) button.  Double-clicking the Clock gadget will add it to Windows Sidebar.  To configure Windows Sidebar to start when Windows starts, right-click Windows Sidebar and choose Properties.  Then select the Start Sidebar when Windows starts option to allow the Clock gadget to be visible when Kari starts her computer. 

Customize-Windows-Sidebar

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Set up network connection in a hotel

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Your hotel has a wireless connection and you have a laptop with Windows Vista Business.  Your laptop already has a connection for another wireless network.  This connection allows your co-workers to access documents in the Public folder, located at C:\\Users\Public folder.  Your co-workers need to access these documents without providing authorization.  You need to connect to the hotel's wireless network without worrying about whether other hotel customers can access the documents.

You need to configure your laptop to allow you to switch between the networks seamlessly.

Change the hotel's wireless network to Public.  Turn off password protection.  Turn on network discovery.
Changing the hotel's wireless network to Public disables network discovery by default.  This prevents other hotel customers from viewing your computer.  Public does not mean your documents are public.  It means you are in a public place. Turning off password protection and turning on network discovery allows your co-workers to access the documents located on your laptop without providing authorization.

Troubleshoot-network-connection-problems

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Windows Aero features not displayed in Windows Vista

Image by David Reeves via Flickr

Your Windows Vista computer's windows Aero features are not being displayed.  What is the problem?

You need to make sure you have the correct hardware installed, first and foremost.  To improve performance, Windows Vista disables Aero unless it detects appropriate hardware to support it.  Make sure your computer has a WDDM-compatible 128 MB graphics card that supports DirectX 9.0 and Pixel Shader 2.0.  The minimum requirements are:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 GB of random accesss memory (RAM)
• 128 MB graphics card

For optimal results, you should make sure the color is set to 32 bit, the the monitor refresh rate is higher than 10 hertz (Hz), the theme is set to Windows Vista, the color scheme is set to Windows Aero‌, and window frame transparency is on.

Troubleshoot-problems-with-Windows-Aero

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Change the Behavior of the Elevation Prompt in Windows Vista

You are the administrator of your computer and you want to keep the elevation prompt from displaying when you try to make configuration changes.   How do you keep the prompt from displaying?

UAC is a new feature for Windows Vista that prevents unauthorized changes and silent installations.  The message displays to alert the user and get authorization before continuing with the configuration change.  This helps to prevent viruses from making changes to the computer without the user's permission. 

• Open Contol Panel
• Open Administrative Tools
• Double click on Local Security Policy
• On the Local Policies Tab, go to Security Options
• Click on User Account Control:  Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode
• In the drop down box, select Elevate without prompting
• Click ok

Getting Started with User Account Control on Windows Vista

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XML error message for RSS Feed

Image via Wikipedia

When trying to view your RSS Feed in Internet Explorer, you receive an error message like this:

What do you do to resolve this?

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Click on Internet Options
3. Select the Content tab
4. Open the Feeds Settings dialog box
5. Go to Advanced and check the Turn on Feed Reading View box

This displays the feed in user-friendly content.