Laptops All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies- P74 pptx

Book X Chapter 2 Calling for Help with Remote Assistance 705 Undoing a System Restore System Restore even protects you when you use it to make a restoration; anytime you ask the utility

Figure 2-3:

System Restore will fix many problems caused by unwanted or unexpected changes to the components or

configura-tion of Windows.

Working System Restore

System Restore requires the most current file system, NFTS It won’t protect FAT32 and other FAT disks because these older schemes don’t allow shadow copies — the mechanism System Restore uses to hold information about changes to documents and system files

System Restore won’t run on hard disks smaller than 1GB in capacity and under Windows Vista requires that at least 300MB of space be left

available for its use As the available space becomes populated with restore points, System Restore deletes older ones to make room for new ones

When you load System Restore and ask it to make a repair, it automatically recommends the most recent restore point You can also choose from a list of restore points

Book X Chapter 2

Calling for Help with Remote Assistance 705

Undoing a System Restore

System Restore even protects you when you use it to make a restoration;

anytime you ask the utility to revert to an earlier restore point, it creates a

new restore point before proceeding This way you can undo the changes if

they don’t fix your problem

To undo System Restore changes, follow along:

1.Open System Restore.

2.Click Undo System Restore ➪ Next.

Calling for Help with Remote Assistance

Windows XP and Windows Vista offer the ultimate in loss of control: If you enable Remote Assistance on your machine, another user — a technical sup-port technician, your company’s information technology department, or a knowledgeable friend — can connect to your laptop over a broadband Internet connection and see the same things you do and make changes, including adjust settings or download and install drivers or utilities

The Windows XP and Vista versions of Remote Assistance operate in a similar fashion, although the newer Vista utility has better capability and efficiency

Windows Remote Assistance creates an encrypted connection between the two computers over the Internet or a local area network used by both com-puters Also, it’s possible to control a Windows XP machine from a Windows Vista device, but not the other way around

Powering up on your platform

In Windows XP, Remote Assistance is of the Help and Support Center To open it, follow these steps:

1.Click Start ➪ Help and Support

2.Click Remote Assistance

This option appears under Ask for Assistance See Figure 2-4

In Vista, Remote Assistance stands alone The fastest way to it is this:

1.Click the Windows button

2.Type Remote Assistance in the search window

3.Press Enter.

The utility sends an invitation to another person to take control For your

protection you can, and should, place a time limit on the session and add a

password that the other person must enter to gain access to your machine You can communicate that password by telephone or in a separate e-mail from the invitation

Remote Assistance requires a great deal of information be passed back and forth between the two machines, and the speed is just barely adequate on a broadband connection (cable modem or DSL) Although it can be accom-plished over a telephone dial-up connection, I can’t recommend it as a fun activity

You’re granting full access to your computer to someone else; that includes any passwords and personal information on your machine For that reason, only allow remote access to someone you know or trust, and keep a close eye on what they’re doing while in control of your machine If the other user seems to be heading for an area that isn’t appropriate for the repair, cancel the session instantly by pressing the Escape key

Figure 2-4:

Using Remote Assistance you can invite an expert to take control

of your machine to diagnose problems

or make changes.

Book X Chapter 2

Calling for Help with Remote Assistance 707

Sending a Remote Assistance invitation

To request assistance, follow these instructions:

1.Close any open programs or documents that you don’t want your helper to see

Once the Remote Assistance session is under way, the other user can see your screen and open any file or issue any command as if he were sitting in front of your laptop

2.Open the Remote Assistance utility

3.Click Invite a Friend to Connect to Your Computer with Remote Assistance.

The option’s under Ask for Assistance The Remote Assistance page appears

4.Click Invite Someone to Help You.

For identification purposes, Microsoft refers to the person requesting

help as the novice and the person taking control as the expert.

5.Choose which way you’d like to send the invitation:

• E-mail

• Windows Messenger

• Save as Invitation

With the e-mail or Save as Invitation methods, you can set a password and a time limit

6.Wait for a response from the expert.

When the expert receives the invitation, the message asks for the pass-word (if you’ve set one) The session begins after the invitee enters it If the invitation is still open and the password is correct, you receive a notification that the expert wants to begin a remote session

7.Click the message that instructs both ends of the connection that you’re ready to begin a remote-control session.

When everyone has agreed to communicate, the Remote Assistance Novice chat dialog box opens on your computer, and the Remote Assistance Expert console opens on the expert’s computer At this point, the expert can see everything on your computer but can’t take any actions

The expert can request to take control of your laptop by clicking the Take Control button on the expert console A message appears on your computer

It’s up to you; if you don’t give over control, the person at the other end of the line can see what’s on your machine but you’re still in control See Figure 2-5

Once you grant an expert permission to work on your machine, don’t use the pointing device, mouse, or keyboard If both ends of the connection attempt

to use your machine, the session can become confusing to monitor or could crash The one exception: You can press Escape or click the Stop button onscreen to end the remote assistance

Playing Doctor with Microsoft Office Diagnostics

The current edition of Microsoft’s productivity suite, Office 2007, includes its own set of diagnostic tests that may be able to pinpoint problems with one

of the programs or a shared component of the suite The utility also per-forms a basic check on the laptop’s memory, hard disk, and other compo-nents See Figure 2-6

Do these steps to run the diagnostics:

1.Open any Microsoft Office 2007 program.

2.Click the Office button

3.Click Options for the running program.

4.Click Resources.

Figure 2-5:

A Remote Assistance session as seen on the screen of the expert’s computer.

Book X Chapter 2

Searching for Meaning in Software Error Codes 709

5.Click Diagnose ➪ Continue.

The Diagnostics screen appears

6.Click Start Diagnostics

If you can’t open Microsoft Office, you can launch the same diagnostics pro-gram from the Windows Start menu:

1.Click Start.

2.Choose All Programs ➪ Microsoft Office ➪ Microsoft Office Diagnostics.

Microsoft Office Diagnostics replaces similar but less-capable features in Microsoft Office 2003: Detect and Repair and Microsoft Office Application Recovery

Searching for Meaning in Software Error Codes

Way back in the day, computer error codes used to be

✦ Very common

✦ Totally meaningless to mere mortals Today, most programs at least attempt to write words and sentences instead

of hexadecimal code numbers

Figure 2-6:

The Microsoft Office Diagnostics checks for problems with your laptop and with suite components and certain other productivity programs

However, in some situations Windows or an application running within it may present an error message consisting of numbers Visit these web sites

to search for the meaning of your laptop’s travail:

✦ Windows Online Assistance at http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/ Windows/en-US

✦ Microsoft Events and Errors Message Center at www.microsoft.com/ technet/support/ee/ee_advanced.aspx

Another option for Windows Vista users is to search your computer’s event logs for information:

1.Click the Windows button

2.Enter Event Viewer in the search box

3.Press Enter.

4.Double-click Applications and Services Logs.

This option’s in the left pane,

5.Locate the program that had an error

You may have to expand a group by clicking the down arrow

6.Review any error events for that program.

7.Double-click an event to view a description and links to more information.

See Figure 2-7

Figure 2-7:

The Event Viewer is an advanced tool for Windows Vista users that displays logs of significant software and hardware events.

Symbols and Numerics

802.11a WiFi specification, 529

802.11b WiFi specification, 529

802.11g WiFi specification, 529

802.11n WiFi specification, 529

8P8C modular connector, 477

* (asterisk) wildcard search character, 282–283

< (greater than) wildcard search character, 283

< (less than) wildcard search character, 283

? (question mark) wildcard search character, 282–283 [] (square brackets) wildcard search character, 283

A

A9 search engine, 570 AC

adapter components, 406–409

outlet, 405 power inverter, 424 acceleration of radio use, 525

accented characters, 295 accounts

adding in Outlook Express, 593–594 removing in Outlook Express, 594 user, 114–115, 128

ACCRINT function, 303 adding

accounts in Outlook Express, 593–594 capture software, 380–381 clip art in PowerPoint, 321–322

desktop icons, 162 desktop shortcuts, 163 email signatures, 615–618 external battery, 423 external WiFi adapters, 532

gadgets, 118–119, 181 Microsoft backup to Windows XP Home Edition, 246–247 newsgroups in Outlook Express, 603

newsgroups in Windows Live Mail, 603–604 programs to Quick Launch area, 172 RSS feeds in Windows Live Mail, 614–615 second internal battery, 422–423

shortcuts to desktop, 163

signatures in Windows Live Mail, 615–618 SmartArt graphics in PowerPoint, 323–324 text in PowerPoint, 319–320

toolbars to taskbar, 168 USB ports/hubs, 460–461 webcams, 392–393 WiFi to laptop, 531–532 address

disposable email, 675 dynamic IP, 536 email, 590 static IP, 536

address bar shortcut, 582 Address Book

defined, 132 exporting, 132–133 overview, 354 recording addresses from emails, 354–355 Adobe Photoshop, 197 Adobe Updater, 212–213 adware, 671–672

airline travel airplane power sources,

406, 423 concerning laptops, 19 Alienware, 399–401 all-purpose ports, 378 Alt key, 23

Altavista search engine, 570

AMD CPU design, 42–44 models, 44

Turion 64 X2 processor, 399

amp hours (AH), 418 analog

overview, 526 telephone adapter (ATA),

36, 627 antivirus program dictionary-based, 672–673 heuristic analysis, 673 repair capabilities, 673 screen, 670

AOL dial-up modem, 483 Instant Messenger, 623 Apple widgets, 178 Application gateway firewall, 662 applications, maintaining, 212–213

Index

applying layouts to PowerPoint slides, 317–318 styles and themes, 273–275

Argonne National Laboratory web site, 488

assigning line spacing, 268–270 permission levels, 509 Assist (Toshiba), 548

* (asterisk) wildcard search character, 282–283

AT&T (CallVantage), VoIP, 631

ATA (analog telephone adapter), 36, 627 attachments, external, 16 audio

adding capture software, 380–381

all-purpose ports, 378 battery power and, 411 bottom box, 34–35 capabilities, 377 external speakers/

headphones, 381–382 files in Windows Media Player, 363–366 icon, 28, 34–35 input, 34 insufficiencies, 378–380 line input, 378–379 output, 35

RCA jacks, 379 sound cards, 379 streaming, 382–385 USB sound device, 380 automobile power sources, 406 AutoPlay dialog box, 543

=AVERAGE function, 303

B

backup automated Windows XP program, 246–251 choosing files for, 244 choosing frequencies for, 244–245

defined, 243 differential, 248 double, 245 incremental, 245, 248 manually, 245–246 overview, 243–244 running Windows Backup, 248–251 Windows Vista, 250–251 backup battery, 415 Balanced power plan/

scheme, 425 Bar tab, 277–278 bare drive, 454 base score components, 73 defined, 72 10BASE-T, 477 100BASE-TX, 477 1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet), 477 Basic Input-Output System (BIOS)

configuring, 456 defined, 78 updating, 78–79 battery power audio and, 411 capacity, 422 charging, 412–413, 423–424

cost, 419 external battery, 423 icon, 30

internal batteries, 414–415 maintenance, 413–414 measuring, 418

optimizing, 410–412 overview, 406, 409–410 power-management options, 427 rechargeable, 32 replacing batteries, 419–422

second internal battery, 422–423

types, 412 wattage, 417–418 weight, 418 BBS (bulletin board services), 588 Bcc: (Blind Carbon Copy), 597

Behavioral Malware Detection (SONAR), 676

binary math, 43, 434–435 BIOS (Basic Input-Output System)

configuring, 456 defined, 78 updating, 78–79 bit

defined, 43 overview, 85 bitmap (BMP) file format,

120, 198 Blind Carbon Copy (Bcc:), 597

blocking issues, 79 unwanted email messages, 608–609 blogs (web logs), 557 Bluetooth

external attachment, 16 network, 471

overview, 552–553 BluRay, 15

BMP (bitmap) file format,

120, 198 bottom box audio, 34–35 connectors, 33

Index 713

eSATA port, 36 ExpressCard slot, 36 guide rails, 33 iLink (i.Link, FireWire, IEEE 1394 port), 36 indicator lights, 29–30 keyboard, 21–25 media card reader, 37 model number, 32 multimedia controls, 27–29

PC Card slot, 36 pointers, 25–26 ports of access, 31–32 power connector, 38 power switches, 26–27 RGB monitor output, 39 RJ-11 modem port, 39 RJ-45 Ethernet LAN port, 39

rubber feet, 32 surfaces, 20 S-video output, 39 touchpad, 26 underside icon, 31 USB ports, 35, 39 user-input device, 20 volume control dial, 33 WiFi power switch, 33–34 Brigadoon’s PC

PhoneHome, 643 Brix Networks, TestMyVoip, 633 broadband

defined, 388, 559 overview, 479 broadcasting, 383 browsers, 559–561 bulletin board services (BBS), 588

burn defined, 362 tab, 372 burn-in, 111 bus, 42 bus topology, 478 business cards, 132–133

business symbols, 295 buying memory, 435–438

C

CA Personal Firewall web site, 669

cable modem See

modem, cable calculating data, 308–309 calendars

contacts, 350–351 evolution of, 348 selecting, 345 Windows Contacts utility, 351–354 CallVantage (AT&T), VoIP, 631

camera assistant software (CAS), 388–392 capacity, battery, 422 capture software, 380–381 car travel, 424

carbon copy (Cc:), 597 carriage return, 23 Cartesian coordinates, 120

CAS (camera assistant software), 388–392 cathode-ray tube (CRT),

19, 106 Cc: (carbon copy), 597

CD player controls, 28 CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), 552 CDs

controlling with Windows Media Player, 367–368 defined, 362 hardware, 366–367 laptop repair, 50 cell phone modems, 551–552 providers, 552 systems overview, 524

cells copying, 309 defined, 301 deleting, 309 entering data in, 305, 308–309

inserting, 309 selecting, 310 Center tab, 277 central processing unit (CPU)

AMD brand processors, 44

base score, 73 binary math, 43 bus, 42

cores, 43 defined, 41 Intel brand processors, 43–44

Multi-core, 82 registers, 84 changing screen savers, 112–113 USB ports, 460–461 character codes, formatting, 282 character formatting, keyboard commands, 290–291

characters, accented, 295 charging battery power, 412–413, 423–424 charts, setting up, 311 checking memory, 437–438 CheckIt diagnostics (Smith Micro Software, Inc.), 697 CHKDSK utility, 223–224 Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box, 323

choosing browsers, 559–561 calendars, 345