I’ve re-formatted and re-installed more Dell’s than I care to mention. Desktop, Laptops and Servers you name it I’ve spend hours doing it.

One thing I’ve learned for an easy life install the drivers in the order below.

1:System Software
2:Chipset
3:Video Adaptor
4:Network Card
5:Audio
6:Modem
7:Wireless
8:Input things like touch pad
9:Bluetooth
10:PMCIA/Smart Card

Other Tips

Tip: Prior to reformatting your Dell PC BACK IT UP.

Tip: Not all Dells are the same look at the device manager and make a note or screen dump of how the hardware has been identified. In particular What Network, Audio and Video is installed as this can vary.

Picture: Windows Device Manager

Tip: Prior to reformatting locate all the latest drivers for your specific model from www.support.dell.com

Dell have a more detailed “What Driver Order” Document which you can read on the link below.

Link: Dell Support Document

I provide technical support for several hundred users both locally and remotely. In an ideal world they would have all their software repositories nice and organised.

Example: Envelopes with usernames containing all the CD’s, Licenses and Product keys that belong to that particular PC.

Sadly life isn’t like that and I am usually under pressure to quickly rebuild and redeploy on the same hardware say after a Hard Disk problem or Virus/Malware attack.

So today’s tech tip is for a download that exposes the current machines product keys.

On my USB key I keep install repositories for common software installations, I then grab the product keys from current machine using keyfinder (link below) and save time by not having to root about the customers cupboards.

Link: http://magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

I saw this 14 Page PDF document on the official Microsoft Download Center.

It is well written and would be an ideal introduction to for someone looking at getting better Windows Vista performance.

The topics included are:

• Power Settings on Mobile Computers
• Disable Visual Effects
• Adjust Search Settings
• Use Hardware to Boost Performance
• Make Your Computer Start Faster
• Put Your Computer to Sleep
• Disable Unwanted Start-up Programs
• Remove Unused Programs
• Disable Unwanted Services
• Improving Performance on User Account Control
• Making Your Computer More Reliable
• Defrag Your Disk
• Monitor Your Performance
• Check the Windows Vista Experience Index
• Check Performance with Task Manager
• Using Resource Monitor

Link:

 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=ab377598-a637-432c-a3c8-1607ab629201&displaylang=en&tm

Here are some step by step instructions for upgrading the bios in your Dell Laptop.

Visit www.support.dell.com and select "I’m Looking for Drivers and Downloads".

Select your machine type (Laptop / Desktop) Then your family model, then the specific model within that family.

Once you arrive at the main page for your hardware expand the bios section and click the link Dell - Bios

Next Download your Bios file.

Bios files are typically small so should download quickly.

Once downloaded, come out of everything and make sure your laptop is on mains power. Then run the bios file you downloaded.

It will confirm the current bios level and tell you want number it’s going to upgrade too.

The last prompt you will see is this one.

When you click ok your laptop will immediately reboot, it will then perform the bios upgrade on a DOS like white screen and then reboot.

It may take longer than usual to load the Bios the first time it’s run, So leave it. It should only be a moment or so.

Then your laptop will boot windows and the upgrade is complete.

Finding the real news in today’s media is getting more complicated.

This is extends to tech reporting.

Check these 597 news articles about UK ISP’s sending out warning letters to music file sharers.

Link: all 579 news articles »

Check out these 299 news articles about a DNS flaw that puts every Internet user at risk.

Link: all 299 news articles »

One of these stories is important…

What is DNS? Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System

It turns names like  www.mysitewhatever.com into an ip address example 111.222.121.12

The DNS exploit allows hackers to divert your web traffic to another site without you knowing.

So you may think your on www.mybank.co.uk but you could be invisibly re-directed to a site the hackers set up to capture your data.

Typically your ISP needs to patch/update their own DNS servers as you use these to route your web traffic around the Internet.

So how do you know if you are vulnerable?

Tech Tip:

There is a DNS checker on this site (http://www.doxpara.com/)

Look for this in the right hand side of the page.

or

On this really useful site  (http://www.dnsstuff.com/)

Look for this at the bottom left:

If you find your are vulnerable send an e-mail to you ISP asking when they will patch their DNS servers to protect you.

In the mean time be extra careful. Oh and stop downloading music.