Computer Tech Support

Removing Spy Axe spyware. SpyAxe pretends to be anti-spyware, but is in fact a trojan virus that can be very difficult to remove.  -  Download Adware Away, install it and run the online update. Restart the computer into safe mode (press F8 as its starting) and run Adware Away several times until no more spyware is found.

Adware Away will also remove About Blank adware a nasty piece of software that hijacks your homepage and causes excessive popups.

FREE anti-virus  -  download AVG anti-virus, its free and updates itself automatically every day.

D-Link DWL-G710 wireless range extender - Setting up - the D-Link IP address is 192.168.0.30, change your wireless router/modem address to 192.168.0.20. Connect the D-link with a network cable. Change your network connection (not the wireless connection) to static address 192.168.0.10. Start Internet Explorer, type in 192.168.0.30 (username admin with no password) and run the Setup wizard. When this has finished change the gateway address to 192.168.0.20. Finished.

Broadband - your computer must have firewall and anti-virus installed and up to date otherwise it will become infected within minutes of connecting to the internet. Windows 98/ME/2000 does not have a built-in firewall, so try ZoneAlarm a very good free option.

Digital radio - don't waste money on a DAB radio, just fire up Windows Media Player and click on Radio Tuner. WMP 10, click on Guide then Radio Tuner. DAB is dead technology, you can't even use DAB radios with the next gen DAB+.

Wireless network not working - turn off your wireless modem/router for a few seconds, this will usualy cure the problem. Also try right clicking on the task bar wireless icon and then left click on repair.

Try Linux - fed up with Windows ? then try Ubuntu, the best version of Linux around. Download the ISO, burn it to a CD and you can then run Ubuntu from the CD to see if it works on your computer, no need to risk an install. Ubuntu also includes Open Office an office suite, just as good as microsoft office, but totally free !

Windows 98SE - Microsoft may have stopped supporting Windows 98, but its probably the safest version of Windows to use as all viruses and malware target Windows XP. Get Windows 98SE service pack here.

Wireless adapters - this works with Windows XP and most wireless adapters. Copy the driver folder from the wireless adapters CD onto your C drive. Insert the wireless adapter and when the new hardware found window appears, browse to the drivers folder on drive C. This avoids loading the driver utility and lets windows look after the wireless network.

Microsoft Office - an over priced waste of money, download Open Office for free !!!

Tom Tom SatNav - buy a 1Gb SD card, use a card reader to copy everything from your original card onto the new card. You can then load 3 to 4 countries maps onto your new card.

Inkjet printers - poor print quality even after cleaning the heads ? then try soaking the ink cartridges in a cleaning solution for a while. Available from PC World, Staples etc.

PDF files - create PDF files easily and for  free with CutePDF.

Computer slow ? - format your drive and reload windows, it will fly along again, or buy some more ram.

Windows Vista tips - don't upgrade your PC from XP to Vista, you're asking for trouble.  Vista needs huge amounts of ram, 2Gb min, and the fastest processor, anything less and its unusable.  Problems - some wireless routers won't work with Vista unless you edit the registry, copying files, burning CD, DVD's unzipping files, unbelievably slow, 5 hours for a CD !!!,  interface difficult to use.  Summary, Vista works Ok on top end PC's, don't spend less than £700, otherwise forget it, stick with XP.

A disk read error has occurred - one morning you turn your computer on and all you get is this message, this is how I fixed it. There are 1,000's of messages on the net about this problem, this is the only one that worked for me. I tried all the chkdsk, fixmbr, drive jumpers, IDE cable, bios reset cures and none worked. Luckily I had Ghost 2003, which I used to copy the faulty drive to another same size drive, inserted in the computer as a slave drive. When the copy is finished, shutdown, remove the original drive, make the new drive master and hey presto, everything worked as normal, same desktop, docs etc. etc. all back again. Why does this work ?, something to do with the Ghost copy fixes the problem. Good luck. Tip, make sure you copy from the faulty drive to the new drive, otherwise you lose everything !
Disk read error - fix number two, get your hands on a USB to IDE adapter, plug in your problem drive and run the windows disk defragmenter. Don't ask me why it works, it just does.
Disk read error - fix number three, same as above but plug the problem drive into another computer as a slave drive and run disk defragmenter.
Disk read error - fix number four, download Ultimate Boot CD for Windows and burn it to a CD. Boot your problem computer with this CD, and run Disk Defragmenter from the CD. Problem solved without having to dismantle anything!