Thursday, August 20, 2009
Switch the Mouse Buttons for Left-Handed Users
In Windows XP, the left mouse button defaults to selecting or double-clicking items. The right mouse button pops up alternate menus depending on where the mouse pointer is positioned. Left-handed mouse users may find this irritating, finding the right mouse button easier to click than the left. If so, you can make the right mouse button act like the left one, and vice versa.
Follow the Steps:
1. First, open Windows XP's Mouse Control Panel.
2. On the "Mouse Properties" multi-tabbed dialog box that follows, select the "Buttons" tab.
3. Check "Switch primary and secondary buttons".
4. When done, press "OK" to close the dialog box.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
How to Display All Login Sessions and Associated Processes
Even if you are the only user logged into your Windows XP machine, other sessions exist including ones for network and local services.
The logonsessions command can display detailed information about all such login sessions at the command prompt.
Simply download the file LogonSessions.zip, unzip the contained executable to your main Windows directory, and access session information with the following command at the DOS prompt:
logonsessions
Information on each session includes its ID, user name (if applicable), authorization package, logon type (such as service or interactive), login time and server, and DNS domain (if applicable).
By adding the -p parameter you can also view the filenames and PIDs (Process IDs) of each process opened by each logged in session:
logonsessions -p
Download LogonSessions
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
How to Access Control Panel from Start Menu as Submenu
However, if you regularly tweak your system settings, you might rather have Control Panel options displayed on the Start Menu as a submenu, just like the submenu for "All Programs". To make this change:
1. Right-click an empty area of the Taskbar and choose "Properties".
2. When the "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" multi-tabbed dialog box appears, click the "Start Menu" tab.
3. Make sure that the "Start Menu" radio button is selected, then click the "Customize" button.
4. The "Customize Start Menu" multi-tabbed dialog box will appear. Click the "Advanced" button.
5. Underneath "Start menu items" and underneath "Control Panel", click the "Display as a menu" radio button.
7. Click "OK" on the dialog boxes to close them.
Now, if you click "Start" - "Control Panel", all of your options are easily accessible.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
In News: iYogi Re-Defines Technical Support – BizTech2.com
Remote managed services are gaining a lot of attraction these days. Companies are looking to outsource the maintenance and monitoring of their IT infrastructure to a third party to improve efficiency and save costs. BizTech2.com caught up with Uday Challu, founding partner and CEO, iYogi, to see what the company has to offer in this space.
As far as Enterprise and SME customers are concerned, which verticals are you focusing on?
Our focus will mostly be on small companies with around five to 100 users and also firms that have multiple small branch offices like travel agencies, retail stores etc.
What kind of support services do you provide to your customers? What is the Green PC service?
iYogi provides the next generation of remote computer support services for consumers and businesses. For consumers, our live 24/7 support extends to technologies we use everyday, including hardware, software applications, devices, peripherals and networking equipment. iYogi also offers a full range of business IT solutions including managed monitoring, managed services, set-up and installation services, and incident-based services.
Green PC Service
With the current state of the global climate and increasing dependency on the computer, iYogi helps PC users reduce their carbon footprint and save money at the same time. iYogi’s Green PC service is the first in the independent computer support industry to offer customers a way to save money, conserve energy and protect the environment by optimising their PC’s efficiency. Consumers and businesses can save up to $200 per year, per desktop, in energy costs with iYogi’s Green PC application. This green application makes the computer environmentally friendly by reducing power consumption by almost 50 percent.
Our Green PC dashboard helps customise power settings and calculate power savings in kWh (kilowatt hour). The Green PC dashboard also gives a status on the reduction of CO2 and how responsible usage will benefit the environment by saving trees. A customised service that increases the energy efficiency of computers, undertakes the below-mentioned three primary initiatives:
- Computer assessment, analysing settings and PC energy use
- Customised efficiency planning geared specifically to the individual’s usage patterns
- Implementing setting changes to maximise the computer’s energy use
What are the technologies that allow you to offer 24/7 support and ensure there is no downtime at the client site?
We have invested significantly in developing a comprehensive monitoring and management tools stack. This enables us to manage and monitor all devices in the office network as well as for branch offices and mobile users. Our tools continuously monitor the customer’s network and notify our NOC (Network Operations Centre) in case of problems. Based on the set of events, tickets are automatically generated and escalated to corresponding teams. Over and above our proactive approach, the customer always has an option to call our 24X7 support line for issues that are not identified via the monitoring tools.
Please throw some light on your proprietary iMantra technology.
iMantra is a CRM system, which is tailor-made to suit the emerging business needs at iYogi. It allows for the formation of individualised customer relationships with the aim of providing personalised services to each subscriber. This tool is built on the latest java technology with a layered architecture that makes it scalable and secure. This architecture provides a seamless workflow and independent channels for various business needs: sales, support, quality and customer service. The entire system can be exposed in the form of secure APIs and Web services, which makes it a re-usable entity.
Your business model is similar to BPOs in India providing technical support to offshore customers. What unique values do you bring to this ecosystem that would help a potential client choose you over a competitor?
iYogi’s business model is different from traditional BPOs. Some key factors that differentiate iYogi include:
- Direct-to-consumer and -small business: iYogi delivers technical support services directly to consumers and small businesses and is a global technical support brand based out of India. Unlike traditional BPOs in India, iYogi does not provide any private label support and/ or work on behalf of large OEMs or software publishers.
- Optimised Processes: iYogi has developed proprietary processes for consistently delivering on a resolution rate of 87 percent, which is among the highest published benchmarks in the support industry, where averages hover in the range of 50 percent.
- Comprehensive technology platform: iYogi’s global delivery platform, iMantra, gets smarter with every customer interaction. It documents every problem, the solution and relevant hardware and software aspects, while capturing each customer’s demographic information and creating a behavioural profile. All of this information is at the fingertips of iYogi’s Global Tech Experts. This set-up combines a knowledge base with a comprehensive set of tools and technology expertise. iYogi offers a range of tools that complement its remote support services for helping customers maintain technology at peak performance levels. iYogi’s products include iYogi Smart PC Scan, iYogi Support Dock, iYogi Green PC and iYogi PC Optimisation.
How do you plan to move up the value chain in the times to come?
The growing use and penetration of the Internet and new Web-based applications has consequently opened the door to threats and vulnerabilities, which affect the system performance and ultimately lead to degrading performance. If the threats are diagnosed early on, the impact on efficiency can be minimised considerably. Currently, a user only realizes that he needs technical support once the damage has occurred and reactive methods of support are used to recover from the loss.
At iYogi, we are developing our capabilities to not only provide support when demanded, but to also monitor, pre-empt and fix threats before they can cause any damage to the computer. This will be possible only by combining technology with processes that are capable of re-defining the way technical support is delivered today.
What is your India strategy?
Technically, we are capable of servicing any geography including India. At this stage, we are looking for the right kind of partners to find access to potential customers and provide them a consolidated, 360-degree solution and services for issues relating to hardware, software, network etc. We aim to launch our India services in the coming six to eight months. Our services will offer clients a one-stop solution for all their business needs.
Source : BizTech2.com
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Repair Error Messages to Increase Your PC Performance
With the emergence of computer support companies, availing best services fro your computer is no difficult task. They can help you with any kind of error messages. As such, computer error messages are classified according to their type mentioned below:
• Hardware related Error Warnings and Codes: This is one of the most dangerous for your computer's health. Irrespective of how well you try keeping virus and malware at bay from your PC, you can loose everything if your PC has a hardware failure. In case you system is showing alike (for ex: Blue Screen of Death) errors, you must back up all your important data as soon as possible. Indeed, you don't need to worry regarding this too. Computer support companies have provisions for data back-up services as well.
• Operating System related Error Warnings and Codes: As signified by the title, these types of error codes indicate serious problems with your computer operating system. This can include errors within your computer registry which serve as a repository for vital information about your computer hardware, installed programs and settings. Registry repair is also one of the common services available with online computer support vendors.
• Specific Program related Error Warnings and Codes: These types of errors generally bother you when you use a particular program that shows incompatibility with your computer operating system thereby resulting in errors. At times, you may try reinstalling the program or downloading updates for that software to prevent errors disturbing your system's functionality. If the problem still persists, you can consider taking the help of computer repair technicians. Since they daily come across such problems, they know each and every aspect to deal with computer error issues.
Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?Repair-Error-Messages-to-Increase-Your-PC-Performance&id=2257895
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
IYogi Press Release: iYogi Acquires Clean Machine Inc.
New York, NY, May 11th, 2009 : iYogi, a global direct to consumer and small business remote technical support provider, today announced it’s acquisition of Clean Machine Inc, a provider of remotely administered PC security and performance management services. Clean Machine will operate as a separate brand under the iYogi services umbrella along with the recently lunched Support Dock (www.supportdock.com) and its comprehensive range of 24/7 technical support services for computers, printers, MP3 players, digital camera, routers, servers and more than 100 software applications. Larry Gordon, Founder of Clean Machine is appointed as the President of Global Channel Sales for iYogi.
iYogi will integrate technology and innovation that Clean Machine Inc. has developed for delivering an enhanced service experience by proactively managing the health and security for PC's and Apple Computers. This acquisition also broadens iYogi's access to key markets through Clean Machine's existing partnerships. Larry Gordon's past experience and successful track record will accelerate iYogi's expansion through his focus on global alliances.
Commenting on the acquisition of Clean Machine Inc., Uday Challu, CEO & Co-founder of iYogi, said,
"This acquisition will help iYogi to enhance our customer experience and extend our market reach to the millions of consumers that are challenged by the increasingly complex technology environment. Clean Machine's proactive maintenance and management of PCs in home and small business environment will be our launch platform for building the next generation of managed services for consumers."
"We are delighted to have Larry spearheading partnerships and global alliances for iYogi. His incredible experience in marketing, sales and building global alliances will help forge partnerships with retailers, multiple service operators, software publishers, original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and other such companies that are at the frontlines for managing tech support issues for consumers and small businesses",
added Challu.
With more than 20 years of experience, Larry Gordon has played a variety of strategic roles in marketing, sales and building alliances. Larry was the Executive Vice President at Capgemini and Kanbay. He was also VP of Global Marketing for Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH), a leader in global IT services and Director of Marketing for New York based Information Builders.
"I am excited to join a company that shares a common mission to Clean Machine in creating a global brand for delivering the best technical support to consumers and small businesses. We also share a common approach of utilizing highly skilled talent with leading edge tools, thereby delivering services at incredible price-points, with high margins for our partners",said Larry Gordon, the newly appointed President of Global Channel Sales at iYogi.
ABOUT IYOGI
Headquartered in Gurgaon, India with offices in New York, USA, iYogi provides personalized computer support for consumers and small businesses in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. IYogi's 24/7 phone and remote technical assistance, spans across a comprehensive range of technologies we use every day from a wide range of vendors. Utilizing its proprietary technology iMantra , and highly qualified technicians, iYogi delivers amongst the highest benchmarks for resolution and customer satisfaction. iYogi is privately held and funded by SAP Ventures, Canaan Partners, and SVB India Capital Partners. iYogi was recently awarded the Red Herring Global 100 Award, recognizing it as one of the 100 most innovative private companies driving the future of technology. For more information on iYogi and a detailed list of technologies supported, visit: www.iyogi.ca.
ABOUT CLEAN MACHINE
Clean Machine Inc. is a NJ-based and incorporated company that helps consumers and small business owners easily manage and protect their computing environments safely and cost effectively. The company is has a unique, powerful and inexpensive PC concierge service. Specifically, each customer is assigned a highly-trained tech concierge who remotely examines their computer system on a scheduled and very secure basis. The PC concierge will immediately fix software-based problems and prevent new threats to the customer's computing environment including offensive pop-ups, browser redirects and slow performance, and then provides a detailed report. Clean Machine's proprietary Radar(TM) technology (Remote Access Detection Audit and Repair) allows its expert technicians to remotely resolve any problems, eliminating the need for customers to go through the frustrating process of speaking with a tech support expert, and still having to do the work themselves. In other words, the Clean Machine PC concierges do it all. For more information on Clean Machine please visit www.pccleanmachine.com.
CONTACT:
iYogi Contact
Vishal Dhar
President Marketing
iYogi Inc.
Phone: 212 229 0901
Email: vishal@iyogi.net
The Press Release is available at its source: iYogi acquires Clean Machine Inc.
Monday, April 27, 2009
How to set a system restore point in Windows XP
Setting a restore point lets you select a point in time when your computer is working as you want. Then, you can use the restore point to undo any unwanted changes to your computer in the future.
This method is rated: Easy.
To set up a restore point, follow these steps:
1. Close any programs that are open.
2. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click System Restore. The System Restore Wizard opens.
Note If the System Restore Wizard does not open, the System Restore feature may be turned off. To turn System Restore on, see the "More Information" section in this article.
3. Click Create a restore point, and then click Next.
4. In Restore point description box, type a description for the restore point. Use a description that is easy to understand. If you are creating a restore point before you install specific software or hardware, you could use that information in the description.
Note The date and time are automatically added to your restore point. Therefore, you do not have to use them in your description.
5. Do one of the following:
* To finish creating this restore point, click the Create button. The System Restore Wizard notifies you when the restore point is created.
* To stop creating a restore point and to return to the Welcome to System Restore page, click the Back button.
* To stop creating a restore point and to exit the System Restore Wizard, click the Cancel button.
6. When you are finished, click the Close button.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
FiX Problems with Virtual Memory
The setting for Maximum Size of the page file is too low, or there is not enough disk space free to expand it to that size.
The page file has become corrupt, possibly at a bad shutdown. In the
The page file has been put on a different drive without leaving a minimal amount on C:.
There is trouble
Another problem involving Norton Antivirus was recently discovered by MS-MVP Ron Martell. However, it only applies to computers where the pagefile has been manually resized to larger than the default setting of 1.5 times RAM — a practice we discourage. On such machines, NAV 2004 and Norton Antivirus Corporate 9.0 can cause your computer to revert to the default settings on the next reboot, rather than retain your manually configured settings. (Though this is probably an improvement on
- Possibly there is trouble
with the drivers for IDE hard disks; in Device Manager, remove the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers (main controller) and reboot for Plug and Play to start over.
-
With an NTFS file system, the permissions for the page file’s drive’s root directory must give “Full Control” to SYSTEM. If not, there is likely to be a message at boot that the system is “unable to create a page file.”
Thursday, February 5, 2009
What the Universal Serial Bus (USB) is all about
USB drives have an edge over all other storage devices which are considered portable particularly the floppy disk, some of the common traits of a USB drives are they have a more packed in shape, operate faster, hold much more data, have a more durable design, and operate more reliably due to their lack of moving parts. The influence and addiction to a USB devices can be imagined from a fact that now a day’s pc and laptops are being sold without a floppy disk drive, as there place is being taken by the USB ports. These devices use the USB mass storage standard and are also widely being accepted by modern operating systems such as Mac, Windows, Linux and others.
USB originally was known to be USB1.0 and was released in 1995 with 12 Mbps. Today, USB operates at 480 Mbps and is an integrated part of a PC. Unlike a Floppy drive issue or other storage device USB requires minimal computer help to configure. The computer support companies find it the best interconnect device till date.
USB 2.0 the latest version is about 40 times faster than USB 1.0. Several peripherals like handhelds, cell phones and digital cameras etc can connect to the PC through USB peripheral. There are many USB articles available on computer help website or online computer support forum for reference.
As per the Computer Support companies Wireless USB is as the new wireless extension to USB that combines the speed and security of wired technology with the ease-of-use of wireless technology. Next in the line is USB (USB 3.0) which will deliver over targeted 10x the speed of today's Hi-Speed USB connections. Online computer support and computer support companies are waiting for the launch of USB 3.0, as that will reduce complexities of USB problem.
Some computer support companies gives insight on USB 3.0 which will create a backward-compatible standard with the same ease-of-use and plug and play capabilities of previous USB technologies. More information can be found on online computer Support forums or articles.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Manually starting XP with a clean boot
To manually start Windows XP with a clean boot, follow these steps:
Step 1: Start the System Configuration Utility
1. Click Start, click Run, type msconfig, and then click OK.
2. The System Configuration Utility dialog box is displayed.
Step 2: Configure selective startup options
1. In the System Configuration Utility dialog box, click the General tab, and then click Selective Startup.
2. Click to clear the Process SYSTEM.INI File check box.
3. Click to clear the Process WIN.INI File check box.
4. Click to clear the Load Startup Items check box. Verify that Load System Services and Use Original BOOT.INI are checked.
5. Click the Services tab.
6. Click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box.
7. Click Disable All, and then click OK.
8. When you are prompted, click Restart to restart the computer.
Step 3: Log on to Windows
1. If you are prompted, log on to Windows.
2. When you receive the following message, click to select the Don't show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows start check box, and then click OK.
2. Notes
* You have used the System Configuration Utility to make changes to the way Windows starts.
* The System Configuration Utility is currently in Diagnostic or Selective Startup mode, causing this message to be displayed and the utility to run every time Windows starts.
* Choose the Normal Startup mode on the General tab to start Windows normally and undo the changes you made using the System Configuration Utility.
Step 4: Optional step to disable features
If the clean boot fixed the error, you do not have to perform this step.
Important If your problem is not fixed and you do have to follow this step, it permanently removes all restore points from your computer. The System Restore feature uses restore points to restore your computer to an earlier state. If you remove the restore points, you can no longer restore Windows to an earlier state.
This step temporarily disables Microsoft features such as Plug and Play, networking, event logging, and error reporting.
1. Click Start, click Run, type msconfig, and then click OK.
The System Configuration Utility dialog box is displayed.
2. Click the General tab, click to clear the Load System Services check box, and then click OK.
3. When you are prompted, click Restart to restart the computer.
If these steps helped you start your computer in a clean-boot state, you are finished. If these steps did not help, go to the “Next Steps” section. If you have to return your computer to a normal startup state, go to “Steps to configure Windows to use a Normal startup state”.
