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‘PCs & Hardware’ Category

  1. Get an Intel Core i7 950 + a sweet ASUS motherbaord for $420 – $480

    October 18, 2010 by Andrew Block

    Saw this deal on Micro Center’s website, and it seems pretty good.

    You can either get a Core i7 950 and an ASUS P6X58-E for $419.98, or the i7 950 and and ASUS P6X58D Premium for $479.98 at Micro Center.

    Seems like a sweet deal so I thought I’d share.

    Category ASUS Motherboards, Intel CPUs, PCs & Hardware | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  2. Installing an old, networked printer on Windows 7 or Vista (with the printer physically connected to a Windows XP machine)

    August 12, 2010 by Andrew Block

    I’ve got an old HP Deskjet 5550 that has served me faithfully over the years, so I haven’t had the heart to toss it. I use it as a secondary printer every once in a while; it’s physically connected to an old, crappy PC running Windows XP.

    After installing Windows 7 on my nice PC, I had a heck of a time getting the networked printer to install on Windows 7. Every time I’d try to add it by searching for a networked printer, Windows 7 couldn’t figure out the driver.

    Here’s the workaround. This should work for any printer that has this issue, I think.

    1. Click the Start Menu, then on Devices and Printers.

    2. In the upper left corner, click Add a Printer.

    3. Counter-intuitively, click Add a local printer.

    4. On the “Choose a printer port” screen, click Create a new port, and select Local port from the drop-down menu.

    5. In the “Port Name” box, you have to type two forward slashes (\\), the name of the computer where the printer is, another forward slash (\), and then the name of the printer. So the whole thing looks like \\computer-name\printer-name.

    Tip: to find the name of the computer and printer, go to Start, Devices and Printers, click Add a Printer, and then click Add a network, wireless, or Bluetooth printer. Windows will search for any networked printers, and will display the computer name and printer name of any it finds. Note the pertinent computer and printer name, and then cancel out of that screen. You can then use that information to enter in the “Port Name” box in step #5.

    1. After you have entered the “port name”, you can choose a driver.

    2. On the “Type a printer name” screen, give it any name you want:

    3. On the “Printer Sharing” screen, it’s probably best to select the Do not share this printer option, since it’s really already shared from another computer. If you want to get wild, though, why not try sharing it twice?

    4. Click Finish on the last screen. To verify your new printer is installed, go to Devices and Printers again, and you’ll see it in the list:

    That’s it! Well, maybe that seemed like a lot of work, but your antiquated printer will thank you for saving it from the garbage heap.

    Tip: if you delete the printer and try to re-add it, it won’t work, because Windows remembers the port. To delete the port, you have to go to printmanagement.msc, expand Print Servers, expand your local computer, and then click on Ports. Delete the appropriate port from the list on the right, and then restart the Print Spooler service using services.msc. For more info on that process, check out this forum.

    Give me a shout in the comments section if you have any trouble.

    Category PCs & Hardware, Tech Tip, Windows, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips, Windows XP Tips | Tags: ,,, | No Comments

  3. R.I.P., Dell XPS M1330

    July 2, 2010 by Andrew Block

    My Dell XPS M1330 died after only 14 short months of ownership (conveniently two months after the warranty expired). Dell’s tech support proved to be completely useless. Don’t recommend Dell, and definitely won’t buy another one.

    Will this be my turning point in getting a Mac? Time will tell…

    Category Laptops, PCs & Hardware, Ramblings & Misc | Tags: , | No Comments

  4. How to get your iPhone app rejected by Apple

    June 4, 2010 by Andrew Block

    Often puzzling, always frustrating, the list of reasons why developers are denied access to Apple’s iPhone App Store grows ever longer.

    While no guide could ever encompass the whims of Steve Jobs, this one put together by infoworld.com does a pretty good job of summarizing the major ways that you can promptly get your iPhone / iPad app rejected by Apple. Some are obvious, like “don’t write lousy code.” Some are less obvious, like making sure your app doesn’t gobble up too much of AT&T’s bandwidth, or seeing to it that your app doesn’t execute interpreted code.

    Read the full article on infoworld.com

    Category iPad, iPhone, marketing | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  5. ASUS 1005HAB drivers & utilities

    October 31, 2009 by Andrew Block

    Important: Read this if you’re installing on Windows 7

    Category Netbooks, PCs & Hardware, Windows | Tags: | 4 Comments

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