Just got back from crippling a customer’s HP Pavilion computer after installing Windows XP Service Pack 3. I talked to HP and they know about this issue and is working on it.

If you install Service Pack 3 on an HP computer and your computer will not start follow these steps. When the computer reboots, you will get a black screen asking if you want to try to boot Windows normally (which will not work if you try) or in Safe Mode. It will say this has happened because of a recent hardware change/failure or software problem. Just use the arrow key to highlight any of the Safe Mode options, hit enter and wait for your computer to boot into safe mode. If you do not get this screen, hitting F8 while your computer is booting should do the trick. Once the computer starts in Safe Mode, (it will look different but it is ok) go to your Control Panel, Add Remove Programs, and finally click Windows XP Service pack 3 so that it uninstalls. Once you click it, it should ask if you want to uninstall but if not, highlight it and click the uninstall button at the top.

It is not your fault and it is easy to do, but getting you identity stolen via a fake email is a serious issue. Unfortunately, we live in a world where their people are evil and prey upon the good and unsuspecting. Most people may know by now but if you have not heard, you can get fake or spoofed emails from a spammer that leads to a fake financial institution or some other scheme in an attempt to steal your personal information or gain access to your bank account. To help prevent yourself from getting your identity stolen, I have compiled a simple list of rules to follow.

• Assume all from anyone you don’t know is bogus and fake
• Assume all email from any financial institution is fake
• Do not click any links in email

On another note, you should turn off the html preview in email so you don’t get a virus but that is a story for another day.

If you receive an email from you bank or financial institution, it could be real but there is a good chance it is fake. Usually, they will say your account is about to be canceled and to click a link to fix or update your information. The email will look just like it was from you bank and the link will take you to a site that looks just like you bank but it is not. when you log in, they phishing is done. You just gave your username and password to your bank and now they are free to drain your account. Some really bad and obvious links will ask you to update your information while asking for your name, address, drivers license number, birthday, and social. Sadly, do not trust anything of this nature from your email. If there is a problem with your bank, go directly to their web site by typing the web address in your browser. Obviously, if there is a problem, your financial institution will tell you.

If you think you are a victim of identity theft, here are some steps as they are found on the ftc.gov website.

• Try to document and make a record of as much as you can regarding the theft.
• Place a fraud alert on your credit report. Get the info below.
• Notify the companies who own the accounts that have been compromised. If your American Express info was stolen, call American Express immediately
• Close the accounts that have been compromised
• File a complain with the Federal Trade Commission. Use the online complaint form or call 877-ID-THEFT
• File a report with your local police department (in the place that the theft took place)

Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013

TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

Again the steps and more details are from the ftc.gov web site found here

Sometimes you have your hands on the keyboard and it takes extra time to grab the mouse and move to the address bar to type a web site while using Internet explorer. If you are looking for a way to speed up the process, try typing Alt+d. This means hold down the alt key and then press the d key. This will move you to the address bar and you are free to type hopefully making your browsing experience quicker and better.

Windows Tip:

If the title did not explain it, if you need to save a document and have having to stop what you are doing, grab the mouse, save, and then find your place on the keyboard to continue typing. Try hitting Ctrl+S that means hit the "Ctrl" and the "S" key at the same time. You may find you will save some time with keyboard shortcuts. This is especially useful if you type and are in a good habit of saving frequently.

Have you ever been poking around your Windows Vista computer, found the Windows Experience Index score and wonder what the heck it is? One thing that might confuse people is that your overall score is the lowest of all the ratings and not an average. For example, you may have a 5.1 for the processor speed, a 4 for ram and a 2 for graphics which is the lowest but your overall score is 2.

The answer is pretty simple. The idea behind rating is to help you out when you install software on your computer and ensure you will know what to expect when you buy and install a video game or utility. In the past, when people bought games, the needed to make sure their video card was good enough, processor was fast enough and so forth. The number system solves this. If you buy a Vista video game rated at a minimum 5, every category in your system should be a 5 or greater otherwise you will possibly have issues. Whether it may be ram, processor, or video, you game will lag because the rating is lower than what is expected. If you buy a game and it’s rating is a 3 and your overall average score is 5, you be able to play the game with no issues.

Hope this helps you understand why this rating system is in your computer. If anything, it is a way to brag to friends when your number is bigger than theirs.

I just want to warn people who are using Windows on their MacBooks with OSX and BootCamp. Don’t use the sleep feature! I have not tried this with XP and please confirm if you have but I have tried this with Vista. Make sure you shut down your computer…

Normally I hit shut down but I recently hit the sleep button, you know the one that looks like the power button in my MacBook Pro and my Vista MacBook went to sleep. Well everything did what it was supposed to do.. Everything went off and the computer turned on to Vista when I  hit the power button.

The only problem was, I could have fried an egg on it! This makes sense to me now since the boot configuration in BootCamp needs to run. So the computer does not really shut off but the fans apparently do.

If anyone has had similar circumstances, please let me know. If I am doing something wrong, please let me know.

If you need at a minimum, weekly dose of tech news and commentary, please tune in to KFI am 640 talk radio on the weekends from 11 am to 2 pm for Leo Laporte The Tech Guy. If you cant tune in your radio, you get the stream from KFI at KFI640.com, or twit.tv/live which will soon be twitlive.tv.

Leo is amazing at helping people learn and solve everyday technical problems an average user might have. The show may sometimes get geeky, but is made for an audience that may or may not know anything about tech. Leo has been a source of inspiration for me and I hope for you too.

Leo also creates too many to count, podcasts that release just about every day. Check out twit.tv for getting any of his shows delivered to you via RSS or iTunes.

In my last post, I explained why it is important to create a restore disc from HP when you get one of those computers with the backup on a hidden partition. HP bailed my customer out by allowing us to order a restore CD for $16. I almost forgot to post the link! If you need to order a replacement disc for your HP or Compaq, use this link: https://warp2.external.hp.com/driver/dr_country_select.asp?Product=5069-6646&lang=en&cc=us 

I just worked on a customers PC and with the help of HP, I turned a computer into a big doorstop. Fortunately for me, there was nothing that I could do to prevent what was about to happen.

If you don’t already know, many computers like HP to name the one I was working on, do not come with system recovery discs. There is a recovery partition that will backup your computer in the event it crashes but you are supposed to create a recover disc if your hard drive fails. Well… My customer as I’m sure most people do, did not make a recovery disc. When I received the computer it was too late. We needed to do a full reformat using the hard drive recovery partition and we followed the steps to do it, hit F10 and select Destructive Recovery. Here is where HP has really screwed up. The system reformatted the C drive first and then opened up the recovery for installing it. This might seem to make sense but I wish HP would make a system to scan the recovery partition first because when the computer tried to install Windows, we got error after error and it was obvious we could not do the restore. Since we reformatted the C drive, we could no longer boot Windows and had no way of fixing it. It is likely that the recovery partition was corrupt which means creating a recovery disc would not work either. The computer went from a virus infested working Windows to a 30 pound doorstop. I dont know if this is a hard disk error or because their is a new virus that is really, really bad.

Fortunately, HP will save you for a small fee. I was able to order a 1-2 day shipping of an XP recovery disc for $30, 5-7 day shipping costs $16. If you don’t want to do this like my customer and I, please make your recovery disc when your computer prompts you or find out how to do it after you have already started using your computer

There are many reasons that your tech guy might need to reformat your computer but it is important to know what is going to happen to your computer after he or she does it. Some argue to reformat once a year, your computer may have had files deleted, wont start, or infested with spyware but when it comes time to do it, you need to be ready.

The main thing to remember when reformatting your computer is that it is going to put back into the same state as when you bought your computer. It will work fast and new but every single peace of software you installed and every file you created will be gone. It is extremely important to backup your data and be prepared to install software that you added after your computer was purchased. If you no longer have the software, you will have to buy it again or steal it again if you are a creep with no morals. You will have to reset your settings, like bookmarks, desktop background etc. Basically, anything that has changed since you purchased your computer will be gone. So be prepared! The last and very important issue is the fact that your computer will be behind in critical security patches from both either Microsoft or Apple if you are using a Mac and they need to be downloaded and installed before you do anything. Again! Backup data! Re-Install Software! Update Security Patches!