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Fixing Computer Speakers
4 Tips for Fixing Computer Speakers
If the speakers of your computer are not working, you may be able to fix the problem yourself and avoid repair costs with a little troubleshooting. Here are four tips for systems running Windows XP Home or Professional.
Tip 1
Start by making some basic checks. Make sure the speakers are properly connected to your computer and turned on.
Tip 2
Connect the speakers to another system, if possible. If sound comes back, check your sound drivers. If you don’t hear any sound, then there is probably a problem within the speakers.
Here is how you can check your driver:
• Right click on the "My Computer" icon in the startup menu and select "Properties" from the submenu. Here you will find the "Hardware" tab which will take you to the "Device Manager" button.
• To find your sound card, expand the "Sounds, video, and game controllers" heading. Here you will find the sound card present in your system. If you see an exclamation point (!) over the card icon, then a major driver error has occurred.
• Double-click on the sound card’s name for opening a new window. Click the “Drivers” tab present in the new properties window. If you cannot find this tab, then you have selected the wrong sound device. Return and choose again. Choose the "Driver Update" option in the “Drivers” tab. Act according to the Wizard's onscreen instructions for updating your driver. You can also ask the system manufacturer for the latest audio drivers. They are normally available online.
• If you are already using the latest driver, uninstall it by clicking the "Uninstall Driver" button. After uninstalling the driver, restart the computer. Automatic reinstallation should take place when you restart your computer. If this does not happen, perform a manual installation with software (or a download) from the manufacturer.
Tip 3
Use the "Windows Troubleshooter." You can find a button for troubleshooting the device on the "Drivers" tab. Use that button and act according to the instructions appearing on the screen.
Tip 4
If you use a PC, check the sound card itself. Shut down your system properly and then remove each cable connected to the system. Touch a grounded metal object, such as a door knob, for discharging any static. Open the CPU. Check the location of the audio plug on the outside of your PC. The location of the sound card should correspond to the location of the audio plug on the inside of the PC. Go to Microsoft’s website and check the detailed instruction for sound card installation; remove the sound card by simply doing the reverse. Once the sound card is back in, attach the cables you unplugged and boot the system.
Note: You should not follow this tip if your PC is still under warranty, because following this tip may void it. Contact your service provider if this is the situation.
Wordpress SEO - Content Duplication
WordPress SEO Problems – How to Manage Duplicate Content
Content duplication is a common issue people face when using WordPress for their website – this is mainly because of how the content management system structures web pages.
WordPress allows you to categorize posts and pages, include tags, and archive everything, which makes site management easy and helps you to better interact with your readers.
However, there is also a disadvantage of this site structure – it creates several copies of your content. For instance, you have add a new post, entitled, “Top 5 WordPress SEO Issues” – you place it in the “SEO Issues” category and you also add some tags (e.g. “SEO” and “WordPress “). You will find this content at the following site locations (at least):
http://www.sitename.com/blog/Top 5 WordPress Issues [the original post]
http://www.sitename.com/blog/SEO Issues [ your post’s category page]
http://www.sitename.com/blog/SEO [one of the tags you attached to your post]
http://www.sitename.com/blog/WordPress [one of the tags you attached to your post]
http://www.sitename.com/blog/20011/06/04 [your site’s daily archive]
http://www.sitename.com/blog/2001/06 [the monthly archive]
http://www.sitename.com/blog/2011/ [the annual archive]
http://www.sitename.com/blog/author-name [your author archive]
Canonical Meta Tags
The use of canonical meta tags is an effective method of managing the content duplication issue. All big search engines support these tags and allow you to suggest to them which URL should be considered the actual address for your posts.
Let’s understand this with an example. Suppose you are running an affiliate marketing program and have given all your affiliates a unique link to your product to keep track of their sales. In such a case, there may be many different addresses linking to the same page on your site. If a search engine robot comes to your site through one of those links, it may consider the page a duplicate (as there will be identical content present on two different site addresses).
You can resolve this problem with canonical tags by including the following code to the <head> section of your header.php file:
<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.sitename.com/product-name.php"/>
This will inform the searchbot that the address you have specified is the actual address for that product. There is also an alternative method of using canonical tags – you can download a WordPress SEO plugin, such as All in One SEO Pack, which allows you to “activate” the canonical tag. However, it should be noted that by providing canonical meta tags, you are just “suggesting” to the search engines which pages they should index. The search engines will likely honor your suggestion, but they are not obliged to do so.
Ultimately, the lesson to be learned is that you must take care so that Google, Yahoo, or Bing doesn’t think you have multiple copies of the same data. They don’t like that. It will hurt you. If you have questions about this or any other topic that may affect your website and business, give us a call. We love to help your website make you stand out!
How to speed up a slow computer
How to Speed up a Slow Computer
Using a “slow” computer can be an aggravating experience indeed. And, in today’s fast-pace world, having such a computer is just unacceptable. Fortunately, this problem can be fixed easily and cheaply. Here are a few things you can do to speed up your computer:
Get Rid of Malware
The presence of malware (adware, worms, viruses, trojans, and spyware) can slow down your computer. To get rid of malware, use a good anti-malware program. It’s a good idea to run the program every week. New viruses and worms are created daily, so update the database of your software regularly. Spyware is particularly dangerous, as it not only slows down your computer, but also steals private information; therefore, make sure that your anti-malware software provides good protection against spyware.
Get Rid of the Extras
Remove from your system any files that have become obsolete.
Get rid of unwanted programs from the Control Panel area. There may be some software, games or old toolbars that you downloaded but no longer need. Be extra careful though when deleting programs. If you are not sure about a program, don’t delete it.
Delete all unwanted email messages. Check all the folders and delete every message that does not need to be saved. Conclude by clearing the Deleted Items folder.
Another thing that affects computer speed is the running of unnecessary programs. View your taskbar for programs that are currently running. Disable every program that you are not presently using.
Run Maintenance
Clean up your disk using the Disk Cleanup tool present in the Control Panel (this tip is for Windows users). This tool will take care of temporary files, cookies as well as unnecessary components for speeding up the computer. When using this tool, carefully read the provided information; the software may offer to delete things you want to keep.
Perform a computer defragmentation. This process can be time consuming, but it will significantly increase the speed of your computer. The defragging tool is present in the Control Panel. It’s a good idea to run the tool once a month.
Make sure there are no disk errors. Corrupted files can also sometimes negatively affect computer speed. You can find and fix erroneous files by right-clicking on C drive and selecting Properties, then Tools.
In Conclusion
Often times, when serious errors exist on a computer, they exist from having a computer not maintained well. When the computer is not maintained, you make it much more likely to have serious error that cost you money.
Protect your children from danger
Kids are on computers for hours a day. We recommend putting an end to that. But for the 99% of people that won't, please take some precaution to protect them from the evil they can get into on the internet.
I recommend a free tool called OpenDNS. This allows you to control and filter almost anything. Porn, cursing, tobacco, games, social media, etc. It gives you complete control of what your children do and do not see.
OpenDNS tracks every time someone attempts to connect to a site that you have banned, and gives you the ability to watch over what your home consumes as far as information goes.
Google OpenDNS on the internet. Please call if you would like to use this program but need help setting it up. Either way, protect your children.
Fowarded Emails = BAD
How many of you get forwarded email at least 10X per day? How many of you open these emails to see the picture of the cute dog or the political hot button item of the day?
A large number of these emails have been created with a hidden agenda. Many of these emails have spyware and viruses embedded in them and you don't know it. Many of our residential clients ask "How does this keep happening to me?" My response is simple. If they are only going to trashy websites, it is most likely coming from the forwarded email messages from their best friends. Certainly there is no malice from their friends. They don't know what is happening either.
General rule of thumb.. If you want to protect your computer from viruses and spyware, don't open an email the has FW: as the first part of the subject. Even if the email comes from your spouse, sibling, parent, or child, the risk is quite high that you will end up with malicious software on your computer.
[now of course if you DO end up with malicious software on your computer and are in the Kansas City area, call Cumulus Technologies to help]
