Category: Observations Page 61 of 90

Simplify Windows Logons with the Dot Slash trick

On June 13, 2013

One of my biggest annoyances in the move to Windows 7 is the loss of the drop down box for whether to login to a local account or a domain account. When you spend your life as a computer technician and constantly need to get access to local administrator accounts in addition to domain-based accounts, this is very irritating.

For a computer bound to a domain in Windows XP the login box looked like this:

When I need to login as the local computer’s administrator it was as easy as changing the Log on to: box.

Now I can login as a local administrator and complete the work I need to do.

For a computer bound to the domain in Windows 7 you get this:

There is no longer a quick way to login to the local account. Unless you know the computer’s hostname ¹ you had to click the “How do I log on to another domain?” link.

Then write down or remember the name.

I have found a faster way. If you type .\ in front of the user name, it will automatically set the Windows 7 computer to login to the local PC.

For example, .\administrator will give you localcomputer\administrator instead of domain\administrator.

Now, instead of having to remember a long, convoluted name, you have this:

This is easier than trying to recall hostnames or making little notes at every computer I access where I need to login locally.

Usually something like the machine’s serial number, user’s last name or some other long, hard to remember set of characters ↩

Simple Tools

By Carl

On June 12, 2013

In Observations

I spend my days repairing computers for the federal government. I support the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institute of Health. I support Macs, PCs, iPhone, Blackberries, iPads and a host of scientific equipment I don’t pretend to begin to understand their function.

Day in and day out I scratch my head, Google obscure error codes, and reach deeply into my brain for the acquired knowledge I’ve accumulated over the near-decade I’ve been doing this work.

My home is an extension of my geekiness. I have a small armada of computers. Some run all the time performing menial functions. Others are test beds for my random whims. Some are the work horses I turn to day in and day out. And some, I honestly no longer have any real use for and need to sell.

My primary machine was a little white MacBook which served me dutifully for years until a fan replacement gone wrong fried the logic board and the cost to replace it was just too great.

Today, it is a PC laptop that I bought thinking it was what I wanted. These days, I find it looking a little long in the tooth and never quite matching up to the Mac’s speed and stability. ((And I’m not going to get into Windows 8 here…)) More and more, when I get home I reach for the simplest tools in my arsenal.

I have a 1st Generation iPad and a prototype Google CR-48 Chromebook.

When I get home, all I want to do is dive into a book-in-progress. When I get home, I reach for my iPad, open the Kindle app, sync it if I’ve read at all on my iPhone during the day, and pickup my story where I left off. There is something very calming and peaceful about reading. After a long day of diagnosing, repairing and explaining I want to get lost inside a story.

After putting down the book, I’ll dig into my RSS feeds on the iPad, stick my toe into Twitter and then open Instapaper and thumb through the articles waiting for me there. I’ll do some filing since Instapaper is my catch-all for any interesting article or story that catches my attention throughout the day.

Once I’ve moved the items for safe keeping or for reference later, I read what is left. I love reading and I post the things I’ve read and liked to Twitter at @CarlLikes.

After I do my reading I’ll move to the CR-48 for some writing. Sometimes there is an article that has sparked my interest or an idea that’s been bouncing around in my head. Often times I reach for it to evict thoughts from my head into 750 Words where I make an effort to put 750 new words on the page every single day.

The CR-48 is ideal for its light weight and relative slowness so it combats my wish to open countless tabs in Chrome. Where I will usually keep 5 tabs open in Chrome always, I always quit every tab on the CR-48 and start fresh every time I open the lid.

I find starting fresh on the small machine lends itself to not getting sidetracked into a social network or a forgotten story I’d left half-read when I closed the lid. When I sit down to write, I want to sit down and make the clackity noise.

In addition to being small, the laptop runs very cool and has great battery life. As I sit here, I have 46% battery left which afford me nearly 3 hours of time to clack along.

There are so many great apps to put words into and the web apps are not lagging behind in quality.

I am typing this entry into Dillinger. Though more and more I have been writing in Draft which deserves a post of its own. When I’m offline I will open Pillarbox which is free from the Chrome Web Store and a great, simple writing app that will auto-save your work and works even if the Chromebook doesn’t have a network connection.

Support Ops – Tech Support with Carl Holscher

By Carl

On June 4, 2013

In Observations

I’ve been a big fan of Support Ops since it launched. The idea of bringing humanity back into the world of customer support is near and dear to my heart. My writing about it is what caused Chase to email me to be on the show. I’ve got a diverse background that he thought would be interesting to his listeners.

We talked for about a half hour on what it’s like working in IT Support at the Federal Government level. I’ve worked all over the place, always in customer-facing support work where I had the benefit of showing up at my customer’s desks to troubleshoot their problems. There is a world of difference in being able to see the customer and work with them face-to-face instead of over the phone or with remote tools.

I’d be honored if you’d have a listen to Episode #18 – Tech Support With Carl Holscher | Support Ops. It was an absolute blast to record with Chase and share some of my stories from the trenches.

Apps I Love – MacTracker and iFixit

By Carl

On June 3, 2013

In Observations

There are two tools I often use when troubleshooting and repairing computers. The first solves a problem of determining exactly what Mac computer you have in front of you. The second is the best resource on the web for repair instructions and parts for Macs, game consoles and other home electronics.

The first is MacTracker. This beautiful application runs on the Mac, or iPad or iPhone. It immediately grants you access to the entire history of Apple devices. Need to know exactly which iMac, Powerbook or iPhone you’re looking at?

Search by year, model, name, anything you like. I’ve been using it this week to search the specific models of G4 Powerbooks I have in the stack in front of me. The reason I need to know exactly which one I have is so I can go into the second thing I’ve been loving.

iFixit is a site that has detailed tear downs on most modern Apple hardware. The walk throughs show exactly how to get into these devices to replace and repair components. They’ve also expanded to gaming consoles, other smart phones and auto parts.

While some of the work is done by the site’s core staff, the entire site is a wiki-like platform where any person can write their own repair guides and are peer-reviewed first then reviewed by the staff. Because anyone can contribute, refine or correct mistakes or clarify steps the walk throughs are almost always perfectly accurate.

The documentation I’ve used from iFixit is often times better than anything the manufacturer has available, and in Apple’s case, there is nothing so this site is vital to Apple repair work.

While you’re there, grab a copy of the Self-Repair Manifesto.

Piles of Digital Books

By Carl

On May 22, 2013

In Observations

I love to read. I fell out of it for a long time in college when I was overwhelmed with underwhelming books and papers to get through. But now that I am past all that, I have found my love for reading again.

I have torn through books on the cheap. I love the Kindle Paperwhite. Despite it’s silly name, the backlit device is perfect for reading in bed, on a beach, at the pool, on a subway train, or anywhere at all. It is light enough to read for hours without even being any heavier than a paperback. The light makes it ideal for reading at night or in low light.

But the Kindle is not the whole story. I also read a lot on my phone. I use the Kindle app for the iPhone. First on my 4, and now on the 5 with a taller screen, the beautiful Kindle letters are crisp and I can take it with me anywhere.

It’s perfect for reading over lunch, or when I can steal a few minutes out of the day to catch up with the character’s lives I have become a part of as I follow their tale.

To feed my reading addiction on a small budget, I use a couple of resources.

Book Gorilla

The first is Book Gorilla. The site is deceptively simple. When you sign up, it asks you to select categories of books you enjoy reading. Then, every day you get a single email from them with a list of discounted or free books from the Kindle store that match the categories you’ve chosen.

It’s not perfect and many days I don’t buy anything, but there have also been days I’ve picked up a half-dozen books for less than $5.00. I look forward to seeing that Book Gorilla email everyday because I never know what to expect.

Lendle

I haven’t used Lendle as much as when I first wrote about it due to the lack of books that are lendable thanks to the publisher’s restrictions. However, it is still my go-to place to see if a book is lendable and to find someone to lend it to me.

The idea is simple. Kindle books can be lent once to anyone. All you need is an email address. Lendle puts those people with books to lend and those seeing to borrow together.

The Kindle Lending Library

The Kindle Lending Library is the only one of the bunch that requires having a physical Kindle. Both Book Gorilla and Lendle will work with the various Amazon Kindle apps, or the web-based reader.

The The Kindle Lending Library works just like a library with some restrictions. First, you must own a physical Kindle device and have an Amazon Prime account. Once you have both, the selection is still small but often many popular books such as the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series are on it.

The Lending Library allowed you to borrow one book at a time and only one book per month. I will often look to see if any of my Book Gorilla suggestions are included if I’m on the fence about purchasing them.

I love GoodReads not so much as a social network to talk about books and to share them with people. But I love it as an introvert’s network. I keep track of [what I have read](http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/4729067-carl-holscher?shelf=read). I like to know how many books I have read. I keep a healthy to-read list there and I dutifully mark down each book I’ve gotten through so I can look back and feel proud at all the time I’ve spent reading.