Microsot Fix-It Center

Microsoft has released a new tool to help users troubleshoot any computer problems they may have. It's still in beta, but it's worth a try. From the looks of it, it's just a bigger, better version of the troubleshooting tools you encounter in Windows Help.

http://fixitcenter.support.microsoft.com/Portal

IT: A Dirty Job...

... But somebody has to do it. Theses positions can be both figuratively and literally dirty; whether you have to wear a protection suit to clean out a server hot-box, or simply the jobs that place you in potentially unethical positions. The world of IT isn't all champaign and roses.

7 Dirty Jobs in IT

1TB SSD

If you haven't heard of Solid State Drives by now, then you are unaware of the amazing performance they offer. The drives are essentially flash memory incorporated into an internal PC hard drive. They offer read/write speeds never before seen in hard drives. The problem is that so far they have not been very large in size and they have been very expensive.

Now technology has reached the 1TB mark with SSDs.

Aviation gets security assistance from IBM

The Story

Hmmm, so NOW they decide to bump security. Why is our country so late to the party when it comes to cyber security?

XBOX goes Flash

I was curious as to what was included in the new XBOX 360 update I downloaded today, but after browsing the news I discovered that this latest patch will allow flash drive compatibility for XBOX 360 consoles.

Story Here

But there is a twist, as there almost always is. Only flash drives less than or equal to 16Gb will work on the console. The most being 2 flash drives plugged in for a total of 32Gb. So this is bad news for all of us looking for a way to store data on our 360's without having to buy Microsoft's ridiculously overpriced hard drives.

Want to rip DVDs?

If you want an easy way to rip your DVDs to your computer and avoid the annoying copyright blockade, give DVDFab6 a try.

Download

Step by Step Article

F1 Virus

There is a new virus going around that makes it's way through Internet Explorer, prompting users to hit the "F1" key, upon doing so the virus embeds itself in the user's computer.

Full Article

As of now, Microsoft does not have a patch against this.

Getting in Touch with System Restore

Windows 7 has many features that are turning heads, but one of the features improved over Windows XP is a better System Restore. The link tells you what you need to know about this helpful utility when your computer goes haywire.

ITS - 2/24/2010

Today we finally got a replacement motherboard for a trouble computer that has been sitting in the office for weeks. My job was to replace it. So I swap out the processor, bolt in the board, and hook up all of the connections. The only hiccup was the menagerie of tiny power lines near the front of the tower that connect to the front power switch. After installing everything in what I thought was the correct manner, I tried turning on the computer, but it got no power. To make a long story short, I had incorrectly hooked up one of the 6 tiny electrical cables to the motherboard.

After that, the final PC for our Windows 7 testing was ready. We installed Windows 7 x64 and called it a day.

Steve Jobs - The new George Lucas.

Apple's next big business strategy? Take the OS that runs the iPhone and put it into a hodgepodge of potential new devices. Great idea, let's take a linear operating system from a portable device and put it on every little new product we can dream of. This way, we can have a whole lineup of interchangeable mediocrity.

The Full Article

This is coming from the people who just made the iPad: the laptop-sized iPod that has no multitasking, no peripherals, and essentially, no purpose.

ITS: Day 2

A rather uneventful afternoon, Wednesday was full of virus scans on student computers. I was reacquainted with the "Ultimate Boot CD for Windows," which is an invaluable tool for Windows system maintenance.

A Hopefully Helpful Link

I'm sure most of you have spent time shopping around for the best computer component for your home PC. But how do you go about comparing the performance of that graphics card or processor to others? How do you get the most GHz for your buck? Do you spend hours at a time reading customer reviews on Newegg.com, or even days comparing specifications on TigerDirect? Screw that.

PassMark Software has lists of thousands processors, graphics cards, hard drives, etc. It compiles a list of components on the market and shows you which performs the best.


A section of the high-end CPU benchmark list:

First Day Interning

I started my day at ITS with a similar task that I had in my summer internship: gathering PC serial numbers to make an excel spreadsheet for a list of parts. Most of the computers were missing components such as hard drives and power supplies, however a few of them would not boot at all. By the time I left for the day, I had a list of serial numbers and parts, and had begun running hardware diagnostics on the machines that would not boot.

The most troubling PC had an issue where it would not even start the BIOS. Once the power button was turned on, the fans would start up, shut down, then start up again. This kept going on until the power was turned off, and an image never appeared on the monitor. After opening the tower, roughing it up a bit and taking a look inside, there was nothing to be found that could explain the problem. My instincts told me that it was a power supply issue. However, once the tower was closed up and plugged back in, it started up like it was supposed to. The problem may not have been solved permanently, but at least it was working for the time being. Sometimes all it takes to get a trouble PC working again is a little tough love.