Category Archives: computer tips

Tablet teardowns

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Tablets are pretty awesome, but man can they be a pain to repair! Whereas a simple little notebook like the Acer AO722 requires removal of a SINGLE screw to access key components, something like the iPad mini is an exercise in frustration. 🙁 With that being said, here is a pretty comprehensive look at tablet repairability. Featuring the good (Dell XPS 10, Kindle Fire) the bad (Surface RT) and the ugly (iPad 4, Surface Pro) among others. Very cool stuff and definitely worth taking

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Display dimming problem Dell notebooks

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I am doing some research on a display dimming problem on my Dell Latitude E6430. Specifically, when using the laptop in a dim/dark environment, the display brightness sometimes varies with a sort of brightness-fluctuation. It can be quite annoying as it is almost like flickering. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect is that it is hard to replicate so troubleshooting can be difficult!  🙁 Other people have similar issues: XPS 15 screen auto brightness – Laptop General Hardware Forum – Laptop – Dell Communityhttp://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19452913/20123083.aspxHi.

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DISABLE: Restart Your Computer To Finish Installing Important Updates

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If you are reading this page then you have probably been greeted by this every annoying Windows  Update prompt: ‘Restart Your Computer To Finish Installing Important Updates’ Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get rid of this annoying prompt? Thankfully, we can with just a few simple steps: #1 make sure the ‘Restart your computer…” prompt is not showing (i.e. ‘Postpone’ it for 4 hours) #2 start the Windows command prompt with administrative privileges #3 run the following command: net

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BCM20702A0 HP drivers for Windows 7 & 8

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Q.I have a new HP laptop that I did a clean install of Windows on but now it has an ‘Unknown Device’ BCM20702A0 🙁 I saw you have similar drivers listed for other brands, do you know what driver I should use to fix it for my HP laptop? A. Here is the HP driver that should solve your BCM20702A0 Unknown Device issue: [local mirror in progress], HP dl page Win 7 [or direct], HP dl page Win 8 [or direct] Supports both  32-bit and 64-bit Windows 🙂 HP BCM20702A0

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How to enlarge a VM running Windows (NTFS)

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Article summary: Do you have a well-used virtual machine that is running out of drive space? Here are the steps to expand the virtual drive for free… Full article: Ahh, it is that time of year again: Tax Season. 🙁 😉 That means Samantha and I are getting all of our finances in order, including making sure we are up to date on our Quicken entries. As my buddy Kevin (a quite capable CPA) is fond of doing, we keep

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S200E/Q200E 2nd antenna for upgraded WiFi, Bluetooth, WiDi

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The ASUS  S200E and Q200E are lovely laptops, but unfortunately they lack Bluetooth and they do not support Intel’s WiDi 🙁 Fortunately, all is not lost! With a bit of perseverance and a few dollars (approx $40USD) you can get better WiFi performance, good bluetooth support, and even WiDi on your S200E or Q200E. 🙂 Here is how: #1 You will need to be willing to open up your laptop, you can see the steps necessary here. #2 You will need an appropriate combo WiFi/bluetooth card,

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Windows 8 swipe from left problem on touchpad / laptop [solved]

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Q. I have a brand new Asus laptop with all the latest drivers but one thing is DRIVING ME CRAZY! When I am dragging something around using the trackpad or even just scrolling sideways sometimes my laptop randomly switches apps 🙁 I am running Windows 8 and any help is appreciated!!! –Ambra D A. Thank you for your question Ambra, I believe I know what is happening and how to solve your problem: Your trackpad is inadvertently triggering the Windows 8 ‘swipe from

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