Great Article On DownloadSquad about some really cool Keyboard Shortcuts.

Ctrl+T — opens a new tab in all major Web browsers.
Alt+Tab — cycles through currently-open programs. If you also hold down Shift, it cycles backwards.
Ctrl+Tab — cycles through Web browser tabs (you can use Shift to go backwards too).
Ctrl+W — closes the current window or tab. Some applications can be closed with Ctrl+W, but Alt+F4 is universal.
Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V — copies selected text (you can use Shift and arrow keys to select text!), and then paste it. Use Alt-Tab to switch between source and destination for bonus points.
Ctrl+Z — undoes your last action. This works in almost everything except Web browsers. ‘Redo’ varies from program to program (check the ‘Edit’ menu to find out!)
Ctrl+Mouse scroll wheel — zoom in, zoom out. This works in almost every kind of app, including Web browsers. Great for increasing the size of tiny ‘aesthetic’ text on normal websites… or tiny thumbnails on nefarious ones. Also scales the size of icons on your desktop, if they’re too small for you!
F5 — refreshes your current folder/directory or Web page. Yes, you can hammer a button on your keyboard rather than foolishly clicking a button over and over!
Alt+D — selects the address bar in your Web browser or folder/directory view! Yes, I know — how awesome is that?

Posting stuff on people’s wall in Facebook is soo outdated but no one seems to know that.  In the past when you wanted to post something on someone’s wall you used to have to go to their profile and post your comment, video, or photo there.  But for about a year now we have been able to “tag” people in our status updates and doing this will also post the update to their wall. Best off all this can all be done without leaving your home page.

Here are the steps:

1. In your status box you just type the @ symbol and then start typing the name of the friend that you want to tag.
2. You will then be presented with a list of friends that narrows as you spell out your friends name.
3. Click on the friend that you want to tag.
4. Finish composing your update.
5. Click Share.
6. The post will now be visible on their wall as well as in your stream

I often do this when I want to send a video to someone or just want to say something about or to them.

Give it a try and let me know how you like it.

What is a pizza tech?

We have all seen them on craigslist offering computer repair for $25 and sometimes $10. A good deal is a good deal but you may want to think twice about using them just based on their price.

What are you getting when you call these guys?

More often than not you are getting an inexperienced technician that is trying to break into the business. This means that they are practicing on your computer with your family’s data and, trust me, you don’t want this. We have had to bail these guys out way too many times. They probably mean well but they are just inexperienced.

So before you call one of these “pizza techs” think about this article and also think about what would happen if they did damage your computer more because of their inexperience. That $25 service can end up costing you alot more in the end.

Should you need computer service in Metro Detroit click this link, we can help.

If you can use your mouse to do it, you can probably use your keyboard to do it. Below is a list of keyboard shortcuts.

• CTRL+C (Copy)
• CTRL+X (Cut)
• CTRL+V (Paste)
• CTRL+Z (Undo)
• DELETE (Delete)
• SHIFT+DELETE (Delete the selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin)
• CTRL while dragging an item (Copy the selected item)
• CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item (Create a shortcut to the selected item)
• F2 key (Rename the selected item)
• CTRL+RIGHT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word)
• CTRL+LEFT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word)
• CTRL+DOWN ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph)
• CTRL+UP ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph)
• CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys (Highlight a block of text)
• SHIFT with any of the arrow keys (Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text in a document)
• CTRL+A (Select all)
• F3 key (Search for a file or a folder)
• ALT+ENTER (View the properties for the selected item)
• ALT+F4 (Close the active item, or quit the active program)
• ALT+ENTER (Display the properties of the selected object)
• ALT+SPACEBAR (Open the shortcut menu for the active window)
• CTRL+F4 (Close the active document in programs that enable you to have multiple documents open simultaneously)
• ALT+TAB (Switch between the open items)
• ALT+ESC (Cycle through items in the order that they had been opened)
• F6 key (Cycle through the screen elements in a window or on the desktop)
• F4 key (Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer)
• SHIFT+F10 (Display the shortcut menu for the selected item)
• ALT+SPACEBAR (Display the System menu for the active window)
• CTRL+ESC (Display the Start menu)
• ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name (Display the corresponding menu)
• Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu (Perform the corresponding command)
• F10 key (Activate the menu bar in the active program)
• RIGHT ARROW (Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu)
• LEFT ARROW (Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu)
• F5 key (Update the active window)
• BACKSPACE (View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer)
• ESC (Cancel the current task)
• SHIFT when you insert a CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive (Prevent the CD-ROM from automatically playing)

Is your computer running slower that it used to? You may want to make sure that only necessary programs are running at start up.

Microsoft has a built in tool called MSCONFIG to handle this for you.

To run msconfig you need to follow the steps below.

Windows Xp:

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type Msconfig
4. Hit the enter key
5. Click the startup tab
6. You then need to go through each entry clicking next to the unnecessary programs. As long as you know exactly what you are shutting off there should be no problems. Just make sure that you leave your antivirus and Windows components alone.

Windows Vista

1. Click Start
2. In the search box type msconfig
3. Click msconfig
4. Click the startup tab
5. You then need to go through each entry clicking next to the unnecessary programs. As long as you know exactly what you are shutting off there should be no problems. Just make sure that you leave your antivirus and Windows components alone.

Windows 7

1. Click Start
2. Type msconfig in the searchbox
3. Click Msconfig
4. Click the startup tab
5. You then need to go through each entry clicking next to the unnecessary programs. As long as you know exactly what you are shutting off there should be no problems. Just make sure that you leave your antivirus and Windows components alone.

This is a quick and easy way to speed up your computer, give it a try and let us know who it worked for you.

Four or five years ago, you may have heard that Windows updates will mess up your computer and you do not want them to automatically install. That is simply not true, you need Windows updates to be automatic so you can get the latest patches for recently found security holes. These security holes allow hackers to get into your systems and have the run of your machine.

If you want to keep yourself safe from these types of attacks you need to do the following:

Windows XP:
Click Start
Click Control Panel
Click Security Center
Click Automatic Updates
Make Sure “Automatic(recommended)” is Activated

Windows Vista:
Click The Start Button
Click All Programs
Click Windows Update
Make Sure “Install Updates Automatically (recommended)” is activated

Windows 7:
Click Start
Click Control Panel
Click System and Security
Click Windows Update
Click The Change Settings link on the left
Make Sure “Install Updates Automatically (recommended)” is selected

Google Buzz just came out today and I love it so far. I will talk more about it in another post.

For now you may be thinking “another status to update?”. Put that to rest because you can join Ping.fm and add Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Myspace, Google Talk(Which will update Google Buzz), and any other status/blog site you can think of.

When you want to update your status just head to ping.fm and you only have to type it in once and it will aggregate to your other services.

I use this all of the time.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

As I was looking for some cool freeware on download.com, I sorted the list by downloads and to my dismay Limewire was the 5th most downloaded program last week. I could not believe that 567,044 people downloaded this vile piece of software last week.

For those who are new to Limewire, you need to know that Limewire is one of the worst pieces of software that you can have on your computer. Limewire is a file sharing program in which people can trade files. Most of the sharing that goes on is illegal music and movie downloads but some of the sharing is legal. Being that most of the traffic is pirated music, you can almost expect that you will be infected with malware at some point in the near future.  I highly recommend that you uninstall the program if you have it installed.

To find out if you have Limewire on your computer:

1. Go to add/remove programs in your control panel
2. Find Limewire in the list
3. If you see Limewire in the list click remove
4. Follow the instructions and uninstall it
5. Run your antivirus and antispyware scans to make sure you are not infected.
6. Relax, you are now safe

Should you need help with this, we can do it remotely for you.  Just click here to contact us.

I have had occasions to install Windows 7 using a USB. You may want to do this if your cd-rom is failing or if you have a netbook.

How-To-Geek has a great article on how to make a bootable usb flash drive.

Full Article Here: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/9585/how-to-setup-a-usb-flash-drive-to-install-windows-7/

Many people do not know that your hard drive is usually the first part to go bad on your computer.  This happens because your hard drive is the only moving part in your computer and is more apt to wear out than your other parts.

How do hard drives work?

In a nutshell, the hard drive has platters which are spinning all of the time and when data is needed an arm that holds the read/write heads runs over the spot with the needed data and reads it. The arm can move up to 50 times per second. Again that is a very limited description of what goes on, but you get the picture that stuff is moving all of the time.

What are the signs that your hard drive is going bad?

1. The easiest way to tell that your hard drive is going bad is to listen to it. If wired clicking or screeching sounds are coming from your computer, you should try to get your data off immediately.
2. Hard drive have a technology built into them called SMART that can notify you if your hard drive is going bad. Usually you will see these when your computer is booting up and they will say something like “Pri master hard disk: S.M.A.R.T. Status Bad, backup and replace”. If you see this error than you should start moving your data ASAP.
3. You hear the hard drive grinding alot more than it used to. You become used to the sound of your hard drive if you use your computer for any length of time during the day. If you notice that your hard drive is grinding longer and louder than it used to. You might want to look into replacing it.

What if its too late?

The fact is that if it is too late, then you are going to have to pay upwards of $1000 to get your data back. So you should look into methods of backing up now before it is a problem. You can find an earlier post on backup solutions here.