Hard Drive Fun & Vista Service Pack 1

Hard Drive Fun

I read an article today over at TechRepublic about how to build and configure an external hard drive enclosure that was really well done.

Greg Shultz not only goes through how to set one up, but he also explains how to properly set the jumpers on the drive, and what the different settings mean. I enjoyed this article quite a bit, and thought that the information was pesented in a way that was very easy to understand. I will be purchasing one of these for myself.

Vista Service Pack 1

I am installing it right this minute for the first time, so I will post updates here as I go today. Hopefully this SP will fix all my issues with Vista (yeah right, and monkeys may fly out of my butt today).

Ok, here is the update, it took me about an hour to update my PC early in the morning. It went smoothly and I had no download or update problems.

I have not seen any improvements or changes, other than now everytime I remotely connect to my servers at work I get a security message. Nothing seems faster, it still takes MINUTES to open my network connections, and basically all annoyances are still present.

I will be installing spk 1 on my laptop today, that may be a better indicator, as I use it much more often than I do my desktop.

How to Recycle Old Computer Parts

Each company I have worked for has had the same problem with inventory, what to do with old electronic equipment when you no longer need it. I have been allowed to take home many old computers and parts, but there is usually still a surplus even after the scavengers have picked away at the piles. So what is an overcrowded tech to do with all the leftovers?

I was recently contacted by an organization that will take just about anything, and try to refurbish it for schools. Refurbish? Recycle? That sounds great, but I was guessing that it would take a lot of work or lots of telephone calls or be a hassle somehow, right? No! This company is easy to use, easy to contact, and a pleasure to work with. We even got a note about a month after our first donation telling us where our old parts had gone and what they were doing now.

If you are in the Chicago area you too can use PCS for Schools. If not, check out their website for other locations and companies like them in other cities.

Blackberry Outage - AGAIN

It seems yesterday was another tough day for RIM, and a tough day for those of us who support these horrible little devices as well. As many of you must know by now, yesterday at roughly 3:30 pm most Blackberry customers were without service for several hours.

Now, I don't know about you, but this meant many calls from upset customers for me. And as a tech, there is nothing more frustrating than not being able to help folks who rely on you. This is the second time in about 10 months when I have been scrambling for answers to the question "why did my Blackberry stop delivering e-mail?"

I was already thinking of encouraging our users off the Blackberry, now I expect I will be a bit more animated about it. There are too many other devices out there now that do a much better job, have more features, and are just cooler technology. The iPhone comes to mind, but there are plenty of other gadgets out there that are better than the Blackberry, and seem to have less problems at this point.

For a really good review of some of the top Smartphones check this site out.

I Want One

I am a pretty hard core PC user. I have dabbled with Macs in my different jobs, but really only put hands on them when I have to fix a problem. However, with the introduction of their new Mac Pro, I just may have to change all that.

A collegue pointed out this blog post over at ZDNet, so I had to check it out. It is true, Apple has released the "Fastest Mac Ever."
This new Mac Pro has 8 processor cores. Yes, that is correct, I said 8 processors. And as if that is not enough, it can also house up to 4TB of INTERNAL storage, and oh yeah, 32GB of RAM. Evan if I combined all the desktop computers in my house (and actually that is a few computers and parts) I don't have that kind of power.

Now, the price is still a bit high for me to justify buying as my personal laptop, but given the fact that this beauty is a portable server, the price doesn't suck.

Yep, I am in love.

New Laptop

I finally feel whole again. I have gone a whole year without a laptop and darn it, I didn't like it! I think that every tech, from the Helpdesk Technician to the CIO needs to have easy access to technology. I happen to think that giving a tech a laptop is the best thing you can do to encourage them to become a better tech. But I digress . . .

I did a post a few weeks ago about all the laptops that I was considering, and I still think those are some of the better options out there, but I settled a bit.

My dear husband was in Wal-Mart the day before Christmas (yes, I am one of THOSE people who got a laptop from Wal-Mart, my head is down in shame . . . but only a little) and saw a deal that he could not pass up.

I got an HP Pavilion DV6629WM. It has a beautiful 15.4" display and came with a digital camera and printer. Unfortunately, it did come with Vista Home Premium, which I am not entirely thrilled about, but I can always downgrade if I really need to.

How-to Setup a Managed Switch

In yesterday's post I mentioned that I switched a switch. I replaced a 24-port switch with a 48-port switch, and went from an HP to a Netgear switch, both managed.

So I can remember what I did, I am listing the steps I took to setup my switch:

1. Plug in the modem cable that came with the switch to a computer on-site and the switch console port.

2. Plug in power adapter.

3. Connect to the switch via HyperTerminal if using Windows XP, if using Vista, you will have to download a terminal emulation program. In HyperTerminal setup a new connection with the following settings:

• Baud rate - 9,600 bps
  
• Data bits - 8
  
• Parity - none
  
• Stop bit - 1
  
• Flow control - none
  

4. Typed in user and put in the values given. Then typed ezconfig.

5. I setup the network parameters, giving the switch its network address.

6. Logged out of HyperTerminal and logged into the switch via the web to finish the configuration.

5 Laptops for the Women On Your List

I need to buy a laptop. Between blogging and studying for the MCSE exams, I need to be able to have everything with me instead of carrying cds around. My iPod has helped, but I really need a computer with me everywhere.

So, I have started looking for laptops that I want to purchase. I already listed out the specs that I like in a earlier blog, here I want to make a note of the laptops that I am seriously considering.

1. I think the one I like the best is this T23210 being offered at QVC. I have stated again and again that I really like Dell products, so it is fitting that this top my list. I like the specs on this laptop, and I LOVE the color options! I have not purchased from them in the past, but the price on this laptop is very good.

2. I really like this XPS M1530 a lot. I love the highest end option, but I think right now it is a bit too expensive. And again, I have to say that I really like the color options here. For something that I will have attached to my hand, I like the idea of it being attractive. Besides, colors make me happy.

3. I also like the IBM Thinkpad X61s fully loaded. It is not as pretty as the Dells, but it is a solid laptop, and you can still get Windows XP Pro loaded if you want to, which I think I do.

4. I also really like the HP Pavilion dv2500t. It can be customized to include the features/specs that I want, and the price is competitive.

5. Finally, I am not sure this is the year I am ready to jump in and purchase a Mac, but I am very tempted by all of the hype about running a better Windows machine on the MacBook Pro.