Mike J, of Kentlands, thanks for allowing us to help you out.

Mike thought he had a long list of complicated problems. He suggested that perhaps we should just pick up his computer. We really prefer to at least take a quick look at the computer in place. Many problems these days are specific to the computing envronment.

Fernando was in, and out in an hour. It ends out that Mike has an incorrect Proxy setting, and that was keeping him from connecting to the internet properly.

On XP you can change the proxy settings by going

Start Menu -> Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Connection Tab -> LAN Settings button

Then you should see the proxy settings on the lower half of the window.

In Mike’s case these settings were incorrect, fixing them allowed him to get back on the internet.

Thanks for stopping by.

If you need help with your PC, Mac, Blackberry, Palm, Router, DSL, or Cable modem. Please try to contact us at WatzaNetwork?

We provide at your site services in Montgomery, and Frederick counties MD, including

Gaithersburg, The Kentlands, Lakelands, Montgomery Village, Germantown, King Farm, Rockville, Potomac, Darnestown, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring (including Liesure World), Takoma Park, Clarksburg, Urbana, Ijamsville, and Frederick, MD.

Or see our computer products store. We sell PCs ( XP and Vista ), Macs, Routers, etc.

Becky M, of Gaithersburg, Darnestown, North Potomac (yes all names are possible in zip code 20878 ). Thanks for allowing us to help you with your failing hard drive.

Becky’ s computer would not boot. When starting up, it would try to boot, but then came up with a VGA.sys error. Initially there was no indication that the hard drive was failing so we backed up her data, and re-formatted, her hard drive, and re-installed Windows XP, updated her BIOS, downloaded the latest drivers, re-installed her software, and restored her data from backup.

There was a misunderstanding regarding her data backup needs. She is a quickbooks user, and she did not let us know (the computer was not booting up when we got it). We backed up her documents ( 4 different user’s My Docs, Favorites, Desktops, etc. But we did not backup her Quickbooks.

On return the missing quickbooks become obvious.

There is nothing that makes us feel worse than losing data. So we took the system back, and went to work using our data recovery tools. As we ran them, it also starting to become more evident that the hard drive itself was failing.

But good news, even after reformatting, and re-installing windows, we were able to recover her quickbooks. We replaced the hard drive, installed windows, once again, drivers, again, etc.

And she is not back up and running with a stable system, with her data recovered, and her quickbooks working just fine.

Thanks for stopping by.

If you need help with your PC, Mac, Blackberry, Palm, Router, DSL, or Cable modem. Please try to contact us at WatzaNetwork?

We provide at your site services in Montgomery, and Frederick counties MD, including

Gaithersburg, The Kentlands, Lakelands, Montgomery Village, Germantown, King Farm, Rockville, Potomac, Darnestown, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring (including Liesure World), Takoma Park, Clarksburg, Urbana, Ijamsville, and Frederick, MD.

Or see our computer products store. We sell PCs ( XP and Vista ), Macs, Routers, etc.

Hello K.S. of King Farm.

I received your e-mail regarding your Bluetooth mouse, and network connections.

You Said:

I have encountered several problems:

1. Although my mouse appears to be alive and well, the computer is not recognizing it.
2. The indicators for the wireless network and one local area network are indicating that the connections are not working.

—————————-

Lets start first with your #2 – It is a little unclear to me what you mean by “indicating that the connections are not working”. If you mean that it is saying that “a network cable is unplugged, and that there is a little red x on the icons in the system tray, then that may not be a problem. Your notebook has both a wired, and wireless connection, and when it is plugged into the docking station, it has yet another wired connection. So, if what you are seeing little icons in your system try (lower right hand corner of the screen) that show that “a network cable is unplugged”, then it should not be a concern. Also there is a BIOS setting that tells the computer not to use the wireless when a wired connection is present. So, even if you see little network connection icons in the system tray (lower right hand corner of the screen) which have little red x’s on them indicating a lack of connection, it may just be telling you that 1) one of your two wired connections is not connected ( which is fine ) , and that your wireless is not connected — which is also fine if you are connected via your OTHER wired.

But regarding your network connection — the proof is in the pudding ( putting ? ). Are you able to get online? If you are offline — then there is a problem. If you are getting online, then I think that you may just be seeing the computer giving you a status.

If you are getting online, then you should also try disconnecting from the docking station to see what your notebook does. In a perfect world, the wireless would come to live and connect. In a slightly less perfect world, you may have to right click on the wireless icon in the system tray, and choose “Repair”. If that does not work then right click and choose “Display wireless networks”, pick yours, and then click connect, and see if it connects.

Regarding #1 the bluetooth mouse.

1. Shut down the computer. while it is off turn the mouse off then on (little switch on the bottom of the mouse). Then turn the computer back on. Let if boot up, and see if it discovers it on it’s own. Note, you may have to click on the left mouse button to help it realize it is supposed to be awake (not just move the mouse around).
2. If not then try clicking on the “Bluetooth” icon in the system tray, and try to follow the prompts to get the notebook to reconnect to the mouse.

Let me know if it works, OR if you need more help.

Thanks!

If you need help with your PC, Mac, Blackberry, Palm, Router, DSL, or Cable modem. Please try to contact us at WatzaNetwork?

We provide at your site services in Montgomery, and Frederick counties MD, including

Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village, Germantown, Rockville, Potomac, Darnestown, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring (including Liesure World), Takoma Park, Clarksburg, Urbana, Ijamsville, and Frederick, MD.

Or see our computer products store. We sell PCs ( XP and Vista ), Macs, Routers, etc.

Hello

Jon K, of the Village of Urbana, in Frederick county MD.  Thanks for calling on us to help you get your wireless network set up.

Jon has an old Linksys WRT54G router,   Fernando went out to his place and set up his router.  As usual he updated the firmware, to help ensure that the router would perform optimally, and also helped Jon out by helping him remove some unnecessary items from the Startup — to help speed up the laptop.  Fernando also cleaned up the laptop a bit, removed temp files, etc.  It was a quick appointment, I am glad Fernando was able to help Jon get going on the right foot.

Thanks for stopping by my BLOG.

At WatzaNetwork? we offer you help with your PC, Mac, Blackberry, Palm, Router, DSL, or Cable modem.

We provide at your site services in Montgomery, and Frederick counties MD, including

Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village, Germantown, Rockville, Potomac, Darnestown, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring (including Liesure World), Takoma Park, Clarksburg, Urbana, Ijamsville, and Frederick, MD.

Or see our computer products store. We sell PCs ( XP and Vista ), Macs, Routers, etc.

Thanks Ron L, of Rockville, MD ( near Bel Pre – zip 20853 ).

I am glad that Fernando was able to help you stabilize  your Vista PC, and get your new printer set up.

This was in interesting call for Fernando.  Seems that something in McAfee was mis-behaving, and had pretty much shut down Ron L’s Vist computer.  He was unable to browse, and send/receive e-mail.  It was a challenge, but the fix was to un-install McAfee, including using the McAfee Removal Tool ( MCPR.exe ) available from McAfee.  Just google  McAfee Removal Tool.  After Un-installing McAfee, most of the problems cleared up, but still he was unable to send e-mails.

Next Fernando changed his comcast e-mail settings.  We find what works for our customers ( in the Washington, DC Metro Area ) is to

1. check the “My Server Requires Authentication” box for your smtp server
2. Set to use SSL for both incoming ( mail.comcast.net ), and outgoing ( smtp.comcast.net )
3. put incoming on port 995, and outgoing on port 465

I like these settings because they work whether you are in-network, or outside their network.

Still you were unable to send.

Then he moved the e-mail that was in you outbox, to your drafts folder.  And ( drum roll please … ) (sp?).  You were than able to send / receive e-mail.  Aaah, the little things in life.  E-Mail that WORKS.

Then Fernando re-installed your McAfee Provided by Comcast, and everything was in good working order, again.

Thanks for stopping by my BLOG!

At WatzaNetwork? we offer you help with your PC, Mac, Blackberry, Palm, Router, DSL, or Cable modem.

We provide at your site services in Montgomery, and Frederick counties MD, including

Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village, Germantown, Rockville, Potomac, Darnestown, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring (including Liesure World), Takoma Park, Clarksburg, Urbana, Ijamsville, and Frederick, MD.

Or see our computer products store. We sell PCs ( XP and Vista ), Macs, Routers, etc.

Hello Audrey P, or Olney,

Thanks for allowing Fernando, and myself to stop by to  help you with your printer problem.

Let me say I have a STRONG opinion on this problem.  Network printers ( with built in wired Ethernet )  are quite inexpensive.  I hate routers that have built in print servers.  Yes, like most things it “should” work, but … The makes of your Canon printer did not design, or test the connection connected to an Airport Extreme base station.  The folks at Canon tested your printer with it attached directly to both Apple Macs, and Windows PC’s.  So …. taking a USB printer, and connecting it directly to a router via the USB although supported by the router, and marketed to Apple, Linksys, SMC, TrendNet, Netgear, etc, is not such a good idea.

Don’t get me wrong I LOVE network printing.  In the office we have a workhorse LaserJet 4000n, and a Color LaserJet 4600n.  But if you want to do network printing, get a printer that was built for network printing.  A great replacement for your Canon printer would be the HP Deskjet 6940 Printe.  This printer has an ethernet port on the back, and could connect directly to your Airport Extreme router.

Thanks for stopping by.

At WatzaNetwork? we offer you help with your PC, Mac, Blackberry, Palm, Router, DSL, or Cable modem.

We provide at your site services in Montgomery, and Frederick counties MD, including

Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village, Germantown, Rockville, Potomac, Darnestown, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring (including Liesure World), Takoma Park, Clarksburg, Urbana, Ijamsville, and Frederick, MD.

Or see our computer products store. We sell PCs ( XP and Vista ), Macs, Routers, etc.

Thanks H.M. of Gaithersburg ( in the Kentlands community )  for letting Fernando help you set up your wireless network.

H.M. had never had a wireless network in his home before.  He supplied a Netgear WRG614 router himself, and his laptop already had an internal wireless card.  We prefer the n-draft technology, but are happy to work with whatever equipment the customer has on hand.   Fernando updated the router firmware to allow it to run optimally.

Also Fernando found that you had an expired copy of Norton, but you had already a copy of TrendMicro PcCillin which he tried to install for you.  Ah, but you did nto have the license key available for that.  Once you put your hands on the license key, Fernando will be happy to come back to set it up for you.

Thanks for stopping by.

At WatzaNetwork? we offer you help with your PC, Mac, Blackberry, Palm, Router, DSL, or Cable modem.

We provide at your site services in Montgomery, and Frederick counties MD, including

Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village, Germantown, Rockville, Potomac, Darnestown, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring (including Liesure World), Takoma Park, Clarksburg, Urbana, Ijamsville, and Frederick, MD.

Or see our computer products store. We sell PCs ( XP and Vista ), Macs, Routers, etc.

MaryAnn L of Potomac simply wanted to change the location of the computers in her home. Fernando went out to MaryAnn’s home in Potomac, MD. Fernando took a quick look at the situation, and determined the best solution would be to install an N-Draft TrendNet TEW-611BRP router, along with a Netgear WN311T wireless adapter. Of course neither of them come with the latest firmware, or drivers. Fernando found the latest driver for the Netgear adapter, and the latest Firmware for the router, and applied both. Our goal is to leave with systems running optimally. We find that applying the latest updates, rather than using the software out of the box provides the best results.

Thanks for stopping by.

At WatzaNetwork? we offer you help with your PC, Mac, Blackberry, Palm, Router, DSL, or Cable modem.

We provide at your site services in Montgomery, and Frederick counties MD, including

Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village, Germantown, Rockville, Potomac, Darnestown, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring (including Liesure World), Takoma Park, Clarksburg, Urbana, Ijamsville, and Frederick, MD.

Or see our computer products store. We sell PCs ( XP and Vista ), Macs, Routers, etc.

A.L. wrote ( on 3/23/08) in regards to the work we did for her friend.

“A” was very impressed with your work- thanks for taking care of her as she is one of my closest friends.