After windows XP had started, the PC would pop up a window titled: SQL Writer

The window would say something like: sqldumper library failed initialization.

Its an inconvenience, and the customer wanted it removed.

I looked at various startup programs, but I couldn’t find anything obvious.

But after some research, I found an elegant solution:

Disable the SQL server service

ie:

Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative tools -> Services

or

Start -> run -> services.msc

go to the SQL server entry and change it from automatic to manual (or even disabled)

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 4:29 PM EST

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This unusual printer has caused me some more problems recently.

In this case, the customer has only 1 laptop linked to this printer.

The laptop failed (under warranty), and was replaced with a different model.

Customer manages to install the HP scanner software on the new laptop, but cannot make use of the existing profiles on the scanner (I had previously setup 2 profiles called “colour” and “Black White”).

Since the printer does a lot of its work from its front panel, I decide to navigate around, and delete (or maybe rename) some profiles, to suit the new situation.

Except I can’t.

Scan profiles cannot be deleted or renamed from the scanner.

I then try the PC software, but it also won’t let me rename the existing profiles.

By this stage, I’m also on the phone to HP tech support.

And I’m shocked by what I’m told: you cannot rename or modify profiles: you must delete profiles, and then re-create them.

How quaint

So, I manually write down the parameters in the colour and “black white” profiles, so that I can re-create them on the new laptop… Grrr

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 4:12 PM EST

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Another infected PC. This time, Windows XP also got corrupted.

So, as well as removing the infection, I also need to do a repair install of Windows.

But after all that, clicking on any google results (using Firefox) brings up a Firefox “reported attack site”… looking at the url, it seems I get redirected to c.ppcxml.net … regardless of which link I click on.

I quickly find the solution:

Use windows explorer to navigate to something like:

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\extensions\{CAFEEFAC-0016-0000-0017-ABCDEFFEDCBA}\chrome\content\ffjcext

Note that there might be more than 1 folder that starts with “{CAFEEFAC-”… you might need to look at all of them.

I ended up renaming any file that ends in .XUL (I changed the extension from .XUL to .LUX).

You might need to try a few combinations, as its a fairly important file for Firefox.

Posted by Computer Help as Browser, Technical at 4:25 PM EST

4 Comments »

Another mildly annoying problem with a Brother MFC-665CW and CC3 (Control Center 3).

This time, I had just installed CC3, then patched it with the latest release.

Everything seemed OK until I tried the scan to email feature.

It tried to start Outlook Express (while Microsoft Outlook was the main email application).

I quickly found that OE was the default windows email application, so I made Microsoft outlook the default email app…

But CC3 continued to try opening OE.

I figured: maybe CC3 took OE as the default printer when it was installed, so if I re-install CC3, then it will take MS Outlook as the default printer.

So I uninstall CC3, then re-install it (and re-patch it), but it still keeps opening OE!

OK, google is my friend, so a quick search later, I find the solution:

I open CC3 and go to Configuration ->Scan->Email.

I then configure the software and device buttons to use Microsoft Outlook as the default mail for scan to email.

At this point, the obvious question is: why doesn’t Brothers CC3 use windows default email program, and save users all the headache?

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 4:47 PM EST

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I’ve been going through my customer contact list (currently in Google Contacts), and spent some time exporting my MYOB contact list and merging it with my google contacts, in order to get a consistent list.

After having completed the whole process, I eventually realised that google sorts names differently from most people:

Names are assumed to be First/Given name first, then middle name(s), then Last/Surname.

Unfortunately, I only realised this after I had everything sorted…

So my list has names like: Blogs, Joe

But on my WM6.1 smart phone, it results in names Joe, Blogs,

Note the extra comma.

While my Nokia 6220 Classic has names like: Blogs, Joe (but when you look at the contact details, it breaks it down into:

Last Name: Joe

First Name: Blogs,

But there is some good news (for me at least): it actually doesn’t matter much.

A search for something like “joe” or “blogs” on either WM6, Nokia, or Google Contacts, will result in the correct entry being found.

Maybe one day, Google will add the ability to intelligently specify how the name field is to be split.

Posted by Computer Help as Technical, wm6 at 4:17 PM EST

1 Comment »

I don’t usually talk about tax software, and I don’t use e-Record myself.

However, I stumbled across this announcement from the ATO (Australian Tax Office): e-Record

When I started Computer Aid, nearly 5 years ago, e-Record was almost the only free package available, but it didn’t suit my plans for the business, so I didn’t use it.

So why am I talking about it?

Well, after having worked on many hundreds of computers over the last 5 years, I’ve noticed that many people use e-Record.

In fact, I’d say that for every installation of commercial software like MYOB and QuickBooks, there is probably 5 to 10 installations of e-Record.

To me, that indicates that e-Record is a lot more popular than the ATO wants to admit. However, the ATO is withdrawing e-Record because “it’s no longer compatible with current commercial record-keeping systems”… and will need to be re-developed.

To me, it seems like they are saying: “we can’t import and/or export to other accounting software, and we can’t afford any further development of e-Record, so we will just drop it”.

In the future, it seems the only options available to people who are using e-Record, it to buy a commercial package.

There must be way to bridge the gap between the manual “pencil and paper” form of accounting, and the fully commercial accounting done by larger companies.

I’m now wondering: Does this mean people will just keep using the last (outdated) e-Record? Or will they go back to manual pen-and-paper accounting? Or does this mean MyYob and Quackbooks will get a sudden surge in the money flowing into their coffers?

Only time will tell…

Posted by Computer Help as Business, Hints at 4:49 PM EST

2 Comments »

A Brother MFC 665CW printer was setup to a PC via USB, but every time the scan to email function was used, the PC would generate:

The command line argument is not valid. Verify the switch you are using.

After some digging I find the solution at: techyForums

Which basically pointed me towards downloading an update/patch for Brothers Control Center 3 at: Brother patch for CC3

After that it worked well.

Except I now needed to install CC3 onto 2 other PCs, together with installing the patch another 2 times… fairly time consuming.

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 4:56 PM EST

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I had a customer who wanted to buy a PC so he could play flight simulator.

He said he would buy from me, but he ended up buying from Dick Smith… But thats OK.

He asked me to help setup the system, but I soon started noticing some shortfalls in the system.

First of all, it had built-in video, but he had purchased a decent video card, so it should be OK.

But then he said he wanted to run 3 monitors… but the PC only had 1 PCI-E slot… so that meant only 2 monitors…

The salesman had told him that he could “easily” plug a monitor into a USB port via an adapter…

I don’t like where this was going…

After a bit of research, I found that the best option was the UV Plus+ 16 (UV-16).

So I ordered it, and gave it a test run.

It worked well.

It got confused initially, as it started an online update soon after the install, but once the software was updated (it felt slow to update, with often no on-screen indication of the update progress.

The adapter is actually quite small, and I liked that.

I also did some video stress-testing… and the UV-16 never got hotter than luke warm.

Of course the video speed is not as fast as a dedicated video solution… even the built-in video adapter on a 5 year old PC is faster… but that can’t be helped, as USB speeds are just not fast enough to handle real video bandwidths.

So the verdict:

I wouldn’t use it as a main display, but its great for allowing an extra monitor that doesn’t need to display a lot of fast-changing graphics (eg the instruments on flight simulator).

The only other negative is the cost, as its more expensive than most low-end video cards… so its only a good solution if you just cannot get a video card into a PC (eg some older PCs have absolutely no video card slot).

Posted by Computer Help as Review, Technical at 4:47 PM EST

1 Comment »

This PC had an infection… but after the infection was cleared, Internet Explorer 7 still would not work.

I eventually did an offline malware scan, to be sure of removing any sneaky infections.

Eventually, I could receive emails, and I could browse the internet with Firefox… but still no IE7.

Next, I tried: Start -> control panel -> internet options -> Advanced -> Reset internet explorer settings.

I was surprised that I still couldn’t browse the net, and also couldn’t get the menu bar to appear… I usually right-click on a blank part of another bar, and select “menu bar” on the context menu… but no context menu would appear.

I eventually made it appear by pressing the Alt key (on the keyboard), then view -> toolbars -> menu bar

After that I managed to get to the microsoft website, do an update (particularly the update to ie8 ), then everything fell into place and worked correctly!

I’ve since noticed that pressing Alt will make menu bars appear on many other applications like Microsoft Messenger. very useful keyboard shortcut!

Posted by Computer Help as Browser at 4:36 PM EST

1 Comment »

In the past, I’ve had people call computer component by funny names (eg. temple, instead of computer tower).

I recently had someone enquire about a new computer, and I was asked to make sure it had the TV and rabbit…

After some pointing and gesturing, I figured he meant the monitor and mouse.

Its funny how the brain works!

Posted by Computer Help as Humor at 4:16 PM EST

2 Comments »

I was thinking about how the latest version of wifi ( N ) works, and I suddenly realised it has  the potential to revolutionise internet access.

One of the biggest development of the N standard, has been the ability of wifi routers to use multiple channels at the same time.

This means routers can, theoretically, be set up to provide a public channel just for internet access… Eg channel 1, and also provide a private set of channels, to keep your private networked PCs secured from hacking.

If this is developed and widely adopted, then many places will end up with  “ad-hoc” cellular wifi networks, that are run by individuals… all sharing their network access.

Ultimately, it can means you can access relatively free internet access, from most places, without the 3g network charges.

But somehow, I suspect it will die in the same way that direct mobile to mobile (free) phone calls have… Its technically possible (to make mobile phones act like CB radios), but companies don’t want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg!

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 4:10 PM EST

4 Comments »