TECH In All Things

honest, affordable computer support

FYI, I used to really like Windows Live Writer. However I can no longer use that application to post to my blogs, and this is why. I can’t access a Samba share on a Windows 7 box from a Linux machine. I got stuck in an endless authentication loop. The culprit was the Windows Live Authentication Helper service. I tried to disable the service, but no luck. I had to just uninstall the Windows Live Essentials 2011 from my computer. And like a bit of TECH magic it started working again. So I went looking for another application like Live Writer to use. No luck, the all want money or they just plain lie about what they will do. So now I’m trying out a google plugin called ScribeFire. I’m told that it was a FireFox plugin that now works on chrome. It was easy enough to install and set up. I’m not noticing any kind of spell check though. I’ve made several typo’s that I will have to go back and fix. I like auto spell check. :) I noticed that I can access my old posts and edit and republish them. lol, I just hit the menu key on my keyboard with my palm and I see the spell check option. I hope it prompts me to check spelling before I publish. I guess I will find out soon enough. I think the spell check feature I was talking about is a function of chrome and it’s simply a check box that says spell check this box. but it’s clearly not working. ( update on the spell check ) turns out it’s part of the chrome browser. I had to uninstall and then reinstall chrome, but it’s working now so I’m happy.

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Recently I had a customer give me their laptop for a data recovery job. I asked them what had happened and they told me that it would no longer power on. Also that they had taken it into Fry’s Electronics and were told that the mother board had burned up and they would need to purchase a new laptop as it was not cost effective to fix their old one. I looked at the laptop for about 2 min when I noticed that something was not right with the physical power switch. I dug a bit further and found that the plastic power button had broke and that was the only problem. I drilled a small hole to access the power button with a paper clip or a stylus and the laptop is working fine now. So next time a big retail store tech tells you your computer is broken and you need to buy a new one, give me a call and let me at least take a look at it for you.. Winking smile 

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Game Hosts

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Just a heads up about my HL2DM game server. I was with gameservers.com but left after the update to the orange box engine. At first I had no idea what had happened, and when I asked for support. They played it off like I had made some change and messed up my own server. Then when I found out what was really going on and they still just would not own up that it was the upgrade. They kept putting it back on me that I didn’t know what I was doing or it was a third party plug-in or something. But it could not have been them. I finally just wanted to talk to someone. But they would not give me a phone number. So I canceled my service and had the donated money refunded to the people that had donated. Then I went looking for another game host. I settled with UGS UltimateGameServers.com, what a huge mistake. They have no idea what they are doing. They took my money and did not provide what they had promised. I opened several support tickets to get what I had paid for and ultimately I just canceled that service as well. They however didn’t refund my money. I finally got some loser named Ronnie on his cell phone from his Mommy’s Basement. He told me that he didn’t have time to refund my money. I asked if UGS was a real business and he just hung up on me. So I have my answer UltimateGameServers.com is not a real business. Ronnie runs it from his Mommy’s Basement. Don’t waste your time or money. I had to file a fraud report with my bank to try and recover my money. Oh and I put Ronnie and UGS on “The List” sucks to be them. Oh Yeah!

Now, I’m looking into finding a local data center to host my own server so I can get my HL2DM server backup and running strong. If anyone knows of a fast data center in LA or surrounding area’s let me know. Or if anyone knows of a good game host that is not either one of these two, I will look into them as well.

Oh Yeah!

Linux Mint 10 RC

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Just want to let you know that Linux Mint 10 RC has been available for a bit now. I finally got some time to download the iso’s from here: DownLoad LinuxMint 10 RC I am preparing to install over my Linux Mint 9 install. I have never had any trouble with a Mint RC version. As always you should make a backup of your data before attempting any major OS upgrade.

I’m looking forward to trying it out, and when I get a handle on all the new features I will post a follow up.

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