Tiplet expert tips & tech support

February 24, 2009

Maximize Bittorrent P2P Download Speed

Filed under: applications,computer performance,digital media,file transfer,photos and video,Windows — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Bittorrent P2P (peer-to-peer) networks are delightful when downloads are fast. They are especially irritating when they are slower than direct-connection downloading. These tips can help you squeeze the most speed out of your Bittorrent sessions.

Optimize your maximum number of half-open TCP connections. Those are the connections you make to different peers on a P2P network. In Windows XP SP2 and SP3, the maximum number of connections is set at 10 by default. This arbitrary ceiling limits your exposure to potential virus sources, but it slows down your downloading. Better to have 50 peers each dishing parts of a file at 10 Kbps than just 10.
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February 23, 2009

How to Restore Your Computer to an Earlier Configuration Using System Restore

Filed under: computer hardware,computer performance,data storage and recovery,Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

If you get into trouble with some spyware, or you install a program or a piece of hardware that just doesn’t play nice with your computer, what can you do? You may have heard that using System Restore is a good way to “reset” your PC back to an earlier time, before the problems started happening. But what is System Restore, and how do you use it?
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The Best Social Networks for Business and Meeting Friends

Filed under: Internet,social networking — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Social networks such as MySpace, LinkedIn, and Facebook are all the rage. There are a staggering number of social networks now, but you can’t join them all. Each social networking site requires some maintenance. Joining all of them would be like joining every bowling and billiards league in town. You would be spread too thin.

Which social networking site(s) you should join depends on what your objective is. For some, it’s making business contacts. For others, it’s hooking up with long-lost friends, classmates, etc. For still others, it’s about hanging out with strangers of a certain demographic profile, usually their own. The variety of motivations for joining a social network explains why so many different ones have popped up.
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February 22, 2009

How to Lock a Text File Using a Free Tool Called Locknote

Filed under: applications,privacy & security — Tags: , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

If you have a need to keep your notes really secure and private, a little tool called Locknote should work well for you. Locknote is free and easy to use. All you do is download Locknote and run it. There’s no installation required.
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How to Rip an Audio CD Using Windows Media Player

Filed under: applications,digital media,Windows — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Converting Audio CD music to other file formats and saving them on your computer is called “ripping” the CD. Windows Media Player allows you to rip files from CD and save them in a variety of formats.

The most commonly used formats are MP3 and WAV. The WAV format is uncompressed so it provides the highest fidelity to the original music. But WAV files can be megabytes large. An MP3 file is up to 10 times smaller than a WAV file but loses some fidelity due to compression. Many users save WAV files for use on their local computers and make MP3 files when they plan to transfer files over the Internet.
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February 21, 2009

How to Troubleshoot Your DirectX Installation

Filed under: applications,computer hardware,Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

If you’ve had trouble installing a new game on your Windows PC, it may have had something to do with your DirectX installation. DirectX is a set of instructions that allows games and other media-intensive applications to run on many different kinds of hardware. If there’s a problem with your DirectX, then your application may not know how to work with your computer. DirectX comes pre-installed on your Windows computer, and you can run a built-in DirectX troubleshooting application called DirectX Diagnostic Tool to see if there are any problems.
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How to Create Charts in Excel 2007

Filed under: applications,Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Charts make boring worksheets interesting. They also convey lots of information at a single glance. The new ribbon bar in Excel 2007 makes it easier than ever to fill your workbooks and other documents with nifty charts of all kinds.
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February 20, 2009

How to Change the Boot Order On Your Computer

Filed under: computer hardware,computer performance,Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Chances are your computer is set to check your main CD drive for a bootable CD at boot time, and if there’s not one there, to boot from your main hard drive. Most of the time, that’s exactly what you want and there’s no need to change the order in which your computer looks for booting instructions. But if you wanted to run an alternative operating system from a memory stick, you’d need to tell your computer to look there first for its “marching orders,” so to speak.
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Best RSS Feeds Readers

Filed under: applications,blogging,Internet — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

So you want to try this RSS feed stuff. It sounds pretty cool to get all your news, gossip, and other every-changing information delivered to you in one easily sorted and read place. But to use RSS you need an RSS reader program. There are hundreds out there. Here are a few of the best.
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February 19, 2009

How Can I Use Standard Internet Programs with AOL?

Filed under: applications,e-mail,Internet,online computing — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Gabe Goldberg

Back in the Internet’s pre-history, AOL was the leading online service, providing connectivity, software applications, content, news, games, and support. But as Internet availability and diverse content grew, the need for an all-inclusive “walled garden” — as AOL was charmingly called — diminished.

Even now, though, AOL provides many people’s entire online experience.
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