Tech Hints for Everyday People
Intezer.com – upload files to analyze malware signature (free)
Systernals (Microsoft-owned) – Analytze Windows processes (Systernals Suite)
Trend Micro – Anti Malware Tools for Home Users (Trend Micro)
Microsoft CMD.EXE (Run as Admin) – netstat shows you list of applications and what they are listing (use triggers -b -o for more info)
This information is accurate as of November 10, 2021 with iOS 15.1.
The simplest method of checking to see if your iPhone is unlocked is:
If the carrier lock says “No SIM restrictions”, your iPhone is unlocked and can be used on any carriers!
Otherwise, you would have to request the phone to be unlocked by your carrier.
As of today, phone unlocking policies vary greatly among different carriers:
I have been running Windows 7 on this solid little machine since 2011.
Since Windows 7 is no longer being updated (at least to general public) as of January 2020, I thought it was time to see if I can upgrade to Windows 10. If I failed, my backup plan was to install Ubuntu Linux OS.
Now, HP is pretty adamant about not providing any support whatsoever if you decide to take on this endeavor (probably hoping that you would just pay for a new laptop) so I will outline the steps I took to install Windows 10 on my Hp DM4-2191us laptop.
I thought it would be a nightmare trying to find replacement drivers, etc., but to my surprise, the installation went without a hitch except for one driver.
BTW< with Windows 10 + SSD drive, my machine is absolutely blazing with general office applications.
* please note that if your build# is slightly off, it may mean that your hardware configuration is different.
Before upgrading the OS, I highly suggest you perform both hardware upgrades if not already done.
Memory
HP Pavilion dm4-2191us laptop takes two, PC3-12800, 204-pin SODIMM memory modules (a.k.a. DDR3L-1600 SODIMM).
If you currently only have one 4GB installed, you should purchase the second 4GB module so that you will have 8GB of memory.
When it comes to adding memory, some say it’s important to match the manufacturer and manufacturing date for maximum performance but this is really meant for a serious gamers (which you wouldn’t be if you are using this HP dm4-2191us laptop).
So I am going to provide you with two solid suggestions from Crucial:
Storage Disk Drive
The original laptop came with 5400RPM hard disk (a.k.a. mechanical spinning disk). Because Windows 10 demands more from hardware, and since dm4-2191us hardware is almost 10 years old, it would be REALLY beneficial to replace this mechanical drive with an SSD.
Prices for SSDs have come down quite a bit but there is a large price disparity between brands with perceived and real quality difference.
If you want a rock solid, reliable drive that you will use for years, I would recommend Samsung 860 EVO models but you will pay more.
On the other hand, if you want something that is reliable that you plan on using it for 3-4 years, there is nothing wrong with Kingston or ADATA.
Lastly, there is about $20 dollar difference between 240gb vs 480gb capacity so if you plan on storing lots of pictures or songs, go with the larger SSD:
As of this writing, Microsoft’s official “free offer” to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 has long ended (back in 2016) so does that mean you have to pay $100 to Microsoft?
Thankfully no.
Gordon Kelly from Forbes.com did an excellent write up so go to his article, How To Upgrade To Windows 10 For ‘Free’ In 2020 .
Please DO NOT upgrade the OS yet. Wait for the installation step below.
Much like all other laptops, HP DM4-2191us laptop uses very small Phillips screws that are easy to strip. Make sure to use correct Phillips screwdriver tips to ensure that you don’t strip any heads.
If you do not have such screwdrivers, you can buy something that is inexpensive like this Oria Precision screwdriver kit that comes with 60 bits or the larger version with 126 bits.
I have a similar 60 piece kit version because I prefer the hard clam shell storage case.
Remember that static electricity is your enemy! Make sure to ground yourself by touching metal objects before disassembling your laptop.
I hope this article was useful. After all, we need to do our share of re-using rather than buying new!
Kevin
As of January 2018=9, the problem still arises when an unsuspecting user attempts to control the screen brightness by using F11 (neg brightness) or F12 (positive brightness) with Windows 10 OS.
Under certain scenarios, this results in screen going to the darkest setting and F11 or F12 keys will not change the screen brightness.
With Windows 8, you could have defaulted to Microsoft Display driver to fix this problem, but this solution is no longer available under W10
This solution is applicable to IdeaPad Z400 and Windows 10
You will need to downgrade the video driver. Unfortunately, if you attempt to change the brightness, the screen will go dark and you will need to re-install this driver.
Hope this short post helped with your problem. If you found it to be useful, please do me a favor and sign up for my newsletter. A signup form can be found on the upper right hand of your screen.
The short answer is YES (as of January 21, 2019).
My Moto X Pure (XT1575) that I purchased in 2015 was slowly dying (due to battery wear and tear and loose charging port). So after much research, I settled on a mid-range Sony Xperia XA2 (click here for a full spec sheet) for thee reasons:
1. I am rather rough with my phone so I wanted something that was strong and durable;
2. I think it’s ridiculous to spend $400+ on a phone;
3. Sony’s camera (23 mega pixels) was roughly on part with Moto X’s camera (21 mega pixel)
Originally introduced in early 2018 as a GSM only phone, Sony got Xperia XA2 to work on Verizon Wireless (CDMA) in August 2018.
In my early days, Sony was THE KING when it came to electronics. So it was bit surprising when I decided on one of their smartphones how disjointed their marketing materials were.
For example, in August 2018, Sony made a simple tweet announcing that XA2 was not certified to be used on VZW.
Subsequent this announcement, the only other message was this:
The obvious problem is that the above communication does not address users who are on MVNO networks like Total Wireless (TW resells Verizon’s excess capacity).
A simple Google search on terms like “Can Sony Xperia XA2 activate on Total Wireless” results in array of confused users and possible solutions:
The most important fact about activating Sony Xperia XA2 on Verizon Wireless or VZW MVNOs like TotalWireless is to get a brand new CDMA SIM card that is in VZW SIM database.
Because I have changed my prepaid carriers many times in the past, I was not sure if my current SIM was valid with VZW or not. Seems odd since I was using this SIM with TotalWireless + Moto X for over a year, but it caused nothing but headaches when I first tried it (resulted in good data but no text or voice calls, etc.)
Changing APN to TRAFONE.VZWENTP ad VZWINTERNET and other configuration changes resulted in numerous problems
You can either buy this SIM kit at:
Once you have the SIM kit, get online and chat with TW’s agent to activate the phone and SIM. That’s it. No other setting to mess around.
Hope this helps you out. Sony Xperia XA2 is a sweet phone for what I paid ($200 USD).
Kevin
Problem: After installing, you see a “yellow bang or exclamation icon next to BROADCOM USH DEVICE CODE 28” under Device Manager
Cause: Most likely due to Broadcom
Solution:
You will want to check Windows Update to apply security patches to .Net Framework 3.5, then auto upgrade to .Net 4.7.2
Problem: After installing, you see a “yellow bang or exclamation icon next to UNKNOWN DEVICES CODE 28” under Device Manager
Cause: Most likely an ST Electronics Free Fall Sensor (Dell Detect application for some reason does not detect this error)
Solution:
I have a dedicated laptop for conducting online banking and stuff.
The laptop has Windows 8 Home Premium and some basic office applications.
After not using it for about 9 months, I decided to dust it off and of course I was hit with tons of Microsoft updates.
And as you can imagine, after spending hours and hours, one (or more) of these updates screwed up something so that my laptop would BSOD and crash every 40 minutes or so.
After intermittently troubleshooting it over a course of week, I finally figured out that the problem lied with USBehci.sys file.
This particular driver apparently controls two Intel USB controllers. Unfortunately one of those USB controllers shares IRQ #16 with a Realtek wireless card.
Unlike the old days with VESA and ISA, you cannot manually select IRQs, it’s done automatically via OS (it can be done by manually editing registry (regedit) but that solution is just not reliable).
Since I only needed 2 ports (one for my USB mouse, one for the external backup drive), I decided to disable one of the USB controllers, thereby turning off the third USB port on my lappy.
I am happy to report that since this modification, my laptop has not yet crashed.
If you want to read about it more in detail, should be a message below and I will create a step-by-step instruction.
Good luck!
Kevin
I purchased DZS Video Gallery plugin for WordPress because of its flexible ability to rotate videos and could not find suitable alternatives in WordPress.org/extended/plugins area.
It cost just $15 (one site only) so the price was okay, but it was fairly difficult to configure it as a newbie non-coder. Because I was experiencing the very same problems (blank video screen, no navigation, etc.) faced by numerous other purchasers (http://codecanyon.net/item/video-gallery-wordpress-plugin-w-youtube-vimeo-/discussion/157782?page=33), and what seems like a lack of support from the seller, I was ready to throw in the towel after couple of hours.
But, as I said before, I could not find suitable alternatives so I decided to give it another try before asking Envato (marketplace administrator) to issue me a refund.
* WordPress 3.3.1 (self-hosted – NOT part of WordPress.COM)
* Studiopress Genesis Framework (v.1.8.1) with Magazine theme (v.2.0)
* WordPress plugins:
- Akismet
- Contact Form 7
- Dynamic Content Gallery (studiograsshopper.ch)
- DVZ Video Gallery
- Google Analytics and XML sitemaps
- Sociable
- Social Media Widget
For the purposes of testing DZS Video Gallery plugin, I created a short Youtube playlist containing 4 videos. Following the author’s instructions, I grabbed the youtube playlist ID and other information and entered into the plugin but no matter which configuration I tried, I was simply getting a black screen in my web page.
#1 – I knew some problems can arise when there is a conflict between plugins. I figured if there was a conflict, it would have been between the Dynamic Content Gallery and DZS Video Gallery due to javascript resources. Thankfully, Dynamic Content Gallery plugin came with 2 Javascript Framework methods: Mootools (default) and jQuery.
My DCG was defaulting to Mootools, so I changed it to jQuery and I saw immediately that DZS video screen was displaying some navigation controls. Good sign. I then proceeded to instruct DZS to let Flash Handle Feeds (The very last field before IMPORT – choose “on”) and voila, my video was up and running.
 Fig.1.1 |
 Fig.1.2 |
 Fig.1.3 |
 Fig.1.4 |
 Fig.1.5 |
 Fig.1.6 |
#2 – The second problem I faced was after inserting a logo to my screen. When I clicked on it, a new browser opened up and went to http://activeden.net/user/ZoomIt? The author was kind enough to state that I needed to change the URL in the field name called LogoLink located in the gallery.xml file (path: dzs video gallery –> deploy –> gallery.xml). Just make sure to change the value to your destination URL for all 4 gallery XML files (gallery.xml, gallery2.xml, gallery3.xml, and gallery4.xml). If you have cPanel, you can use it’s online editor. Otherwise, grab a free Notepad++ to make changes and use an FTP client like Filezilla to ftp over new files.
CONCLUSION:
As a newbie, this plugin was not easy to configure but if offers functions that other free plugins do not offer at the present time. Do I recommend it? Yes, but make sure to bring plenty of patience!
BTW, the plugin still does not rotate videos.
Social Media Widget, created by Brian, has to be one of the coolest widgets out there to handle all your social network connections. It comes with lots of features out of the box but it is dynamic enough to allow end users to easily customize on their own.
As I was creating one of my websites, I wanted to leverage this widget but customize the icons to better fit my design. But alas, I was not able to make it work initially. Upon further research (I got it to work), it was nothing more than correctly identifying the path to the icon folder!
Because there are so many variations involving hosting providers, WordPress installation methods, etc., it can get downright confusing.
Since Brian has done an excellent job of describing what needs to be done, I am simply going to outline minor tweaks I made to get my customized icons to work.
Host: Hostgator Hatchling (limited to one domain assigned to the hosting package)
WordPress: v.3.3.1
Framework: StudioPress Genesis 1.8.1
Theme: Magazine Child Theme, v2
Widget: Social-Media-Widget-2.9.4
Icons: Gray, 32px, created with Adobe CS5 Fireworks
When in doubt, contact your hosting provider for the exact path. Hostgator online chat technician was awesome. Good luck.
Hostgator – Server Path, Absolute Path