Hardware Geek Tips

The following is a complete list of our Hardware Geek Tips

Create your own device or gadget with Microsoft .NET Gadgeteer

Have you ever wanted to assemble and program your own electronic device? I mean something a little more than Lego. Well, Microsoft and their partners have just released .NET Gadgeteer. It's an open-source software and ...

A computer that randomly and frequently freezes up

When it comes to computer repair, you have to be a detective of sorts. And once in a while I come across a really good mystery. I recently got a HP M7360N in the shop that would randomly freeze-up in Windows XP ...

How to clean the dust out of your computer

Living in the desert, the one thing we have allot of is dust. Dust is a problem, since it can block up air vents, heat sinks and cooling fans inside of your computer. Not to mention that dust is a conductor of electricity. You ...

When your motherboard does not save settings it may be time to replace the CMOS battery

At some point in time, your motherboard may forget the time and date or the onboard device settings. A Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) is used on the computer's motherboard to ...

Use one monitor, keyboard and mouse on multiple computers with a KVM Switch (Video)

In this article, I show some of the advantages of using a KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) Switch. Besides the obvious reasons of saving space and money when you have multiple computers in one area, you can also get some great ...

How to manually eject your computer CD / DVD drive tray

In this article, I show how to use the Eject Pin Hole to manually eject the tray on your computers CD / DVD drive. There will be times when you need to ...

Using a second monitor on a Netbook

Connecting a second monitor to a Netbook a quite easy. Getting the right aspect ratio, well, it depends on what type of monitor you use. Believe it or not, but I found using a 42" plasma TV the best.

Useful USB devices for your computer

In this article, I show some of my favorite and useful USB devices.

How to perform a clean installation of the operating system on a netbook

In my last blog, I reported on the new Acer Aspire One Netbook (Model AO571h) I had just purchased. It came pre-loaded with Windows XP Home. Since I need ...

Acer Aspire One Netbook hard drive issue

I recently worked on a Acer Aspire One Netbook (Model AOD150). The netbook no longer was able to boot, as the system could not find an operating system. Booting the netbook up onto a USB drive ...

Upgrading your computer cheaply (part 1)

Just the other day I got a call from my daughter about her computer. It was acting strange, so I told her to bring it over. Sure enough, her system is ...

Upgrading your computer cheaply (part 2)

Before we can go shopping, we need to see what we can reuse. The motherboard and hard drive need to be replaced. The new ...

Upgrading your computer cheaply (part 3)

I started out by taking the sides and top off. It was at this point I decided to go excessive. Since the majority of computer peripherals come with black finishes, I decided to ...

Using Dual Monitors

With newer computers having the ability to run multiple displays, here is a ‘Geek Tip’ for those of you thinking about using two monitors on one computer. There are various scenarios, I am going to describe ...

Using Dual Monitors in Windows (Video)

Here's a video showing the two different computer scenarios I have that use dual monitors in Windows.

Using Dual Monitors in Windows for users who have impaired vision (Video)

Here's a video showing how to use dual monitors in Windows for users who have impaired vision.

Surge Protectors

A gentleman called me the other day and asked me about surge protectors. A typical surge protector power strip is built using Metal Oxide Varistors ...

Mobile Data Centers from Elliptical Mobile Solutions

I received an e-mail from local technology evangelist, Simon Rohrich of Elliptical Mobile Solutions, letting me know of his company's great line of ...

Custom Cases: The Antec Skeleton (Video)

In my Geek Tips article outlining my Beta test of Microsoft Windows 7, I needed a computer to install it on. What I built is sweet, specification wise, but ...

Custom cases: Faux Stone and Chalkboard

Pictures of my daughter's finished customized computer case.

Custom cases: Back in Black

Here are the before and after pictures of the finished case from the 'Upgrading your computer cheaply' articles.

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