Is this blog about me, or you?
Is this blog about me, or you?
That was the question that I was asking myself tonight. I went for a bike ride to clear my thoughts, and I started to think about the blog, and how I can help people.
So to answer my question above, it’s a little of both. I am here to help you. How can I do that you ask? Simple. I have found myself having a little more time on my hands, and I want to be able to add a lot more content on this blog for everyone.
So here’s what I am asking. Offer up some software, products, questions anything that you want me to discuss or answer on this blog for you. I am not professing that I know everything, but I do have a broad range of experience, and I would like to be able to help you. So help me to help you!
Post a comment below with your questions, and I will do my best to answer them for you in a timely fashion.
Robin
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Is my favorite site down? or is it just me?
Today’s topic is a good one.
Have you ever gone to your favorite website and not seen any updates, or wondered if it was online? Well there is a wonderful website that you can use to test to see if your favorite site is still up and available for the world to see.
This website will check to see if your favorite site is still up and running, or if you have a connection problem to that site. Simply type in the URLl that you are looking for, and it will report the status back to you.
They have conveniently named it:
http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com
If the site is up, it will report back to you that it’s just you, and you can know that your DNS settings are just needing a bit of time to refresh.
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Categories: Tips and Tricks Tags: DNS, internet, website
Just what is this DNS thing I keep hearing about?
Out there on the intertubes, there is a thing called DNS. This stands for Domain Name System, and its very important to you and everyone else out on the net.
The best way to think of it is that DNS is your phone book, plain and simple.
To a browswer searching on the internet, it wants the address of the place that you are trying to get to. Say you are trying to get to google.com. Your browser really wants to see you type in http://74.125.67.100 but lets face it. How many of you are going to remember that number?
Here’s where DNS comes in. you can remember google.com right? well DNS tells your computer and browser that google.com = 74.125.67.100. Hence DNS is your phonebook to the internet. It links the address to the name of the site.
There are lots of DNS servers on the net, and sometimes it takes a while to update all around the world. Normally changes can update in a few minutes up to 48 hours depending on your internet service provider.
If your favorite website (www.dutchgeek.com) changes their IP address (phone number) on the net, its the DNS servers that need to update to make sure that dutchgeek.com has the right address. During this update, you might not be able to see the site, or might see an older version of the site until the change has made its way all around the world.
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Categories: Tips and Tricks Tags: DNS, internet, website
How do I defrag my harddrive?
People have asked me in the past why their computers run slow. Beyond some of the other reasons that I have given you in past articles, another is not having run a ‘defrag’ on your hard drive.
But what does that mean? and why do I need to do it?
Basically what happens to your computer is that files are saved on it in order. So as you uninstall and add new programs, all the data that is written to the hard drive is written to different areas or sectors of the drive. This means that all your data is jumbled up, and rather then it being in a nice pile its spread out all over the place, and your computer has to spend time trying to find where the next bit of information is.
When you defrag, you basically grab all the little bits of data, and organize them into nice organized piles again so your computer knows where everything is.
How do I run this defrag?
Luckily Windows has a tool built in for just this purpose. It’s not the best tool available, but hey you have it installed, and it works, so lets go with that.
Here’s where you can find it:
- Start
- All Programs
- Accessories
- System Tools
- Disk Defragmenter
When this program opens it will give you a few choices, the first thing we should do is analyze the disk. After Analyzing, the program will report back to let us know if we need to defrag. Most of the time, it will need it.
Click on the Defragment Disk option, and the process will begin. Now if you have a lot of data on your drive, and if its really defragmented, then it will take a while to complete this process.
Once its completed, you should see a little bit more speed out of your computer.
***Special Note***
Windows 7 has the ability to schedule your defrag. You can set your PC to defrag in off hours, so it will not interfere with your day-to-day operation of the PC. I highly recommend setting up a weekly schedule for running your defrag. This way your PC will stay optimal and you wont have to think about it. Just set it and forget it!
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