Universal Serial Bus (USB) is pretty much the standard interface for most computer devices nowadays. We use USB ports to connect printers, keyboards/mice, and smartphones, to name a few. But do you know how to tell the difference between a 1.x and 3.x port? Here's how to determine what kind of USB connection your computer or device has.

When it comes to USB ports, what defines the features are called specifications (1.1, 2.0, etc.). USB connectors, whether the receptacle on your computer or the plug on the end of a cable, are often colored-coded to tell what specification it is. The receptacle's color is not part of the actual USB specifications and may vary from vendor to vendor. The following is a list of USB specifications and the color usually associated with it.

USB specifications by color

White USB connector - USB 1.x

White Type A USB 1.x plug

This was the first specification for USB and was released in 1996. It had some issues with extension cables/hubs and wasn't widely adopted. It wasn't until version 1.1 in 1998 that it started to be used in manufacturing devices. Typically white connectors are USB 1.x, but quite a few are USB 2.x compatible. The transfer rate for USB 1.X was kind of slow at only 12 Mbps (megabit per second).

Black USB connector - USB 2.x

Black Type A USB 2.x plug

This is the second specification for USB and was released in 2000. It was labeled 'Hi-Speed' because it had a maximum transfer rate of 480 Mbps (megabit per second). It is entirely backward compatible with USB 1.x.

Blue USB connector - USB 3.x

Blue Type A USB 3.x plug

This is the third specification for USB and was released in 2008. It defines a new SuperSpeed mode, with transfer speeds up to 5 Gbps (gigabit per second). It is entirely backward compatible with USB 2.x.

Red or Yellow USB connector - Sleep and Charge

Red Type A USB Sleep and Charge plug

This is not a USB specification, but more of a feature. This color indicates that the connector does not power off during sleep or standby mode. On laptop or desktop computers, they are great for charging external devices like smartphones. Its specification can be any of the above, so check your computer or device documentation for the exact one.

It seems whenever I tell someone that I repair computers for a living, I almost always get asked the question, "What do you recommend for anti-virus software?". I tell them I use a layered approach to security, not relying on just one program for protection. I'm not particularly eager to use all-in-one security suites. It's not that I don't trust any particular software; I don't like having only one piece of software protecting my computer. Here's how to use layered security to protect your computer.

Software firewall

Windows has had a good firewall built-in since Windows Vista, and it's turned on by default. It comes pre-installed inside of Windows and is ready to go. There are also some great free and paid firewall products. And you will also find software firewalls included in most security suites, like McAfee or Norton. It's your choice.

Always remember that when you connect to the Internet, do it through a router or hotspot. Never connect a wired network connection directly to the Internet jack on your modem. With a router or hotspot, some form of Network Address Translation (NAT) happens, so you are not directly connected to the Internet.

Anti-virus software

This one is a no-brainer. Microsoft has included a built-in anti-virus program inside of Windows since Windows 8.1 and has worked hard to make it a top-rated program. And if you install a different anti-virus program, Windows Security will detect it and turn its real-time protection off. But you can still have it run periodic scans.

There are plenty of free and paid anti-virus programs on the market, and I have used quite a few different ones over the years. Some internet service providers like Cox Communications even offer free security suite software.

The only thing to remember when picking an anti-virus program is the system's performance you're installing it on. I would not install a full-blown security suite like Norton or McAfee on a laptop.

Anti-malware / anti-adware software

Anti-virus software typically looks for, you guessed it, viruses. I've cleaned out several pieces of malware and adware that anti-virus programs missed because it wasn't a virus. Quite a few anti-malware programs are meant to be run side-by-side with anti-virus software.

When it comes to anti-malware programs, Malwarebytes is the most popular. If you want real-time scanning, you will need a license. If you want to periodically manually scan your computer, the free version will work just fine.

Now with the rise of pop-up bogus security warnings, adware is becoming the biggest threat to consumers. Malwarebytes has a great program called AdwCleaner for finding and removing adware in all popular browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.).

Using anti-virus software together with anti-malware and anti-adware programs creates excellent layered security. As the old saying goes, "Never put all of your eggs in one basket.".

Are you running out of free space on your computer's hard drive? You've uninstalled unused programs and cleaned it up, but still cannot free up any more room? Doing computer repair, I've seen this often and have personally run out of space more times than I care to remember. Here's how to upgrade the hard drive in your computer.

Changing out a hard drive may sound scary, but it's not. If your existing drive is healthy and you have a good backup of the data on it, you should be good to go. The procedure is the same for desktop computers and laptops, with slight differences due to the form factor (physical size).

Two different sizes of hard drives side-by-side

There are two types of drives, SSD (Solid State Drive) and HDD (Hard Disk Drive), two different types of hard drive interfaces, SATA (7 pin connection cable) and PATA (40 pin ribbon connection cable), and two different form factors (physical size) of drives; 2.5" and 3.5" (the dimension relates to the width of the drive). HHD's come in 3.5" and 2.5" sizes; SSD's come in only the 2.5" form factor. Laptops use the 2.5" form factor, and desktop computers can use either size. If you're planning on using an SSD or 2.5" HDD in a desktop computer, you'll have to use 2.5" to 3.5" adapter brackets. Also, if you're installing an SSD into a laptop, check the physical dimensions first. Some SSD's are higher (thicker) than standard 2.5" HDD's and may not fit into a laptop.

View of hard drive properties inside of Disk Management

The next thing to do is find out what you have for an existing drive. Open Computer Management, expand the Storage section, and select Disk Management. Find the disk you want to upgrade, right-click on the disk name (Disk 0, Disk 1, etc.) and select Properties. On the General tab, you will find the model number of that drive. Do a Google search for it and find out the specifications (form factor, data capacity, and interface). Now it's just a matter of getting a new drive that matches the form factor and interface. Remember that your new drive's data capacity has to be equal to or larger than your existing drive.

If your existing drive is an HDD, the first thing to do is to check the current drive for errors. Running a Checkdisk will find any errors that might prevent the successful cloning of the drive.

Running Checkdisk in Windows 7 / Windows Vista

Running Checkdisk in Windows 8

Running Checkdisk in Windows 10

If errors are found on the existing drive, you may not be able to use the new drive's manufacturer's software. In this case, you will have to use third-party software like R-Drive that can ignore read errors.

Two ways to clone a hard drive

Drive-to-drive cloning

Drive-to-drive is the easiest to do, and a few drive manufacturers (Western Digital, Seagate, etc.) have free utilities to do this. There are also a few free disk cloning utilities out there. Check out the UBCD; it has a few. All you have to do is turn off your computer and install the new drive into your computer. If your system is a desktop computer, consult the manufacturer's documentation on how to do this. If it's a laptop, you will have to attach it using either a USB adapter or inside of an external case.

A laptop hard drive connected to a USB adapter

If you plan on reusing your existing laptop drive, an external case might be the way to go. That way, when you're done, you can put your current drive into it, reformat it and use it as an external drive for storage.

Once you have the new drive in place, start your computer up, install the manufacturer's software and start the disk clone. If you're installing a larger drive, always remember to check and make sure that the new free space is going to partition you want to expand. Once done, just power off the computer and change the drives out. If your system is a laptop, consult the manufacturer's documentation on how to change out the hard drive. If you installed an HDD, the first thing you want to do is a Checkdisk. When you clone a drive, you copy everything, including the MFT (Master File Table). SSD's will automatically adjust them, HDD's don't. Run a Checkdisk to fix them.

Drive-to-image / image-to-drive cloning

Drive-to-image / image-to-drive are a bit harder to do, but it has an advantage, a full disk backup. This process does require third-party software like R-Drive and an external drive or network drive. Most disk cloning tools allow you to create a boot disk; that way, you can boot your system up on it to clone the drive. Once you have made a boot disk, you're ready to go.

The process is the same as drive-to-drive, but instead of cloning to the new drive, you create a file containing an image of the existing hard drive on a removable hard drive or network folder. I prefer the portable (2.5") external hard drive, as they don't require any additional source of power (AC adapter). Boot your computer up on the disk you created. Once it is booted up, attach an external hard drive or configure the network settings and select your drive image location.

After you create the drive image, you can shut down your computer and change out the drives. Consult the manufacturer's documentation on how to change out the hard drive. Then you boot your computer back up on the disk you created, reconnect your external drive or network drive, and restore the drive from the image file. If you're installing a larger drive, always remember to check and make sure that the new free space is going to partition you want to expand. Once done, just shut the system down, remove the boot disk and start it back up. If you installed an HDD, the first thing you want to do is a Checkdisk. When you clone a drive, you copy everything, including the Master File Table. SSD's will automatically adjust them, HDD's don't. Run a checkdisk to fix them.

For more information on upgrading computer drives. click on the following links.

How to clone the drive in your Windows computer

How to upgrade your computers hard disk drive to a solid state drive

One of the most frequent issues I get doing computer repair is the loss of internet connectivity. Yes, a good portion can be attributed to viruses/malware. But there are times when something, plain and simple, goes wrong. A couple of bad settings or corrupt software, and you're not getting on the internet any time soon. Here are three things you can do to restore network connectivity.

Reset the TCP/IP stack and Winsock

If you recently installed or uninstalled software before losing your network connection, it could be some of your TCP/IP settings had been changed. TCP/IP is the internet protocol suite used for the internet and other networks. Resetting them back to default is easy; it requires an administrator command prompt to do it.

Reset the TCP/IP stack and Winsock interface using an administrator command prompt

The command syntax and accessing an administrator command prompt is different for each version of Windows, so just click on the link below for your version of Windows. And make sure you reset Winsock, too, while you're at it. Winsock defines the interface between applications and the TCP/IP stack. Remember to restart Windows after you reset the TCP/IP stack and Winsock.

Resetting your network adapter in Windows XP

Resetting your network adapter in Windows Vista

Resetting your network adapter in Windows 7

Resetting your network adapter in Windows 8

Resetting your network adapter in Windows 10

Resetting your network adapter in Windows 11

Check security software

Quite often, the problem can be caused by security software that has become corrupt. Most of them have some type of network monitoring, and if it stops working correctly, it could block network access. To check if the problem is with your security software, just open it up, disable it, and try your network connection. If you now have network connectivity, you know that there is something wrong with the software. Try resetting it back to default settings and then enable it. If you still cannot get network access after you reset it, then reinstalling it may be the way to go.

If you open your security software and all you get is a blank white box, it has become corrupt. The same is true if it doesn't open up at all. At this point, uninstalling and reinstalling is the best thing to do. And if you find that it will not uninstall, most anti-virus software vendors have removal tools for their products. Using another computer and a flash drive, search the 'name of the product' + 'removal tool' (example: bogus security removal tool) and download it to the flash drive. Remember to restart your computer after you have run the removal tool.

Reinstall the network adapter(s)

Sometimes, the network adapter settings, wired or wireless, may get corrupted and cause a loss of network connectivity. Uninstalling and then reinstalling the driver(s) will reset it back to manufacturer defaults. Just go into Device Manager and expand the network adapters section. From there, right-click on the adapter you want to reinstall and select Uninstall.

Do not delete the driver when reinstalling the network adapter

When the Confirm Device Uninstall prompt comes up, make sure the 'Delete the driver software for this device' box is unchecked, as you want to keep the driver. Exit Device Manager and restart Windows. When Windows restarts, it will discover the network adapter and automatically install the driver(s) for it.

I know that change is good, but sometimes I just fear it. A case in point is my smartphone. I liked my original Droid; it was small enough to fit in my pocket and did everything I needed it to do. But it started to show its age, and newer Android apps wouldn't run on it, so I decided it was time to get a new phone. And the move was relatively easy.

The biggest problem I was facing was the installation of my apps. Some of them were installed before Google created the Android Market, now known as Google Play. I had sync 'd my old Droid with my Google account, so some of my apps were shown as installed inside of Google Play. And there was a couple that was not, and I would have to install them manually.

Both of my Droids appear in My Devices in Google Play

Since my Droid survived so long (over four years), I decided to go with a newer version, the Droid 4. The first thing I did was add the Droid 4 to my Google account and then go over to Google Play. It was now listed in my devices, and I could install apps on it. I went to Apps > My apps, and all of my apps showed up.

Apps show they are installed but not on what device

But when I selected one, it would show it as installed but didn't show what device it was installed on. When I clicked on the 'Installed' button, I was given a list of my devices to choose from. From there, it was pretty easy to get the apps I had on my Droid installed on my Droid 4.

When installing Google Play apps, you have a choice of which device

The next thing I had to do was get my photos, music, etc., off my Droid and on to my Droid 4. Everything was on the micro SD card in my Droid, and since the Droid 4 did not come with a micro SD card, I just powered off both devices and moved my existing 16 GB micro SD card from the Droid to the Droid 4. When I started up the Droid 4, all of my data was found. I simply connected my Droid 4 as a mass storage device to my computer via a USB cable and moved files in between the internal storage and the micro SD card.

List thing I did was manually install the apps that were not listed in Google Play. Once that was done, I had to do some configuration on the apps I had just installed. This took the most time of all. But when it was all done, my Droid 4 was ready to go and working great.