Right click on desktop, choose personalize, then choose any of the options under “Basic and High Constrast Themes”

“Windows 7 Basic” is recommended. To turn on, just choose any of the options under “Aero Themes”

It is recommended to disable Windows Aero to improve your PC’s performance. Windows Aero gives your desktop’s appearance a futuristic look. This was done to compete with Apple’s Macs look. Windows Aero will use a noticable amount of your PC’s RAM and CPU, turning off will improve your PC’s performance.

READING, PA, July 13, 2011:  Craig Stonaha owner of Laughing Rock Technology, LLC has been recognized by the Dept of Defense as a patriotic employer with the “Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve” award.  These prestigious awards are presented to companies that practice personnel policies that support employee participation in the National Guard and Reserve.

When asked to comment on this success, Craig Stonaha, owner and founder of Laughing Rock Technology, LLC said “Everyone at Laughing Rock is extremely proud of the brave men and women who sacrifice every day to help defend our rights and our interests overseas. It is almost overwhelming to be thanked for doing what seems like common sense…support our brothers and sisters in arms while they are gone and make sure their life is waiting for them when they return.  We will always continue to do our part to make sure that deployments are as easy as possible on our employees and their families and to give them the respect and appreciation they deserve.”

Laughing Rock Technology, LLC specifically received this award due to its support and employment of Gary Brendle who is currently serving a one year deployment in Afghanistan.  Gary Brendle has worked at Laughing Rock Technology, LLC since early 2010 and was called to active duty on January of 2011.  Gary Brendle will rejoin employment with Laughing Rock Technology, LLC upon his return in early 2012.  Gary said, “I’m glad the military has programs and awards for employers who actively support the military.  I’m looking forward to coming home, being with my family and friends, and going back to work someplace where I know my actions are appreciated.” 

Only employers who have been nominated by active duty servicemen and women are eligible for this award and must be approved by a committee prior to becoming an official recipient.  Since receiving this award, Laughing Rock Technology, LLC has been notified that they are eligible for additional reserve and guard awards through the ESGR as well.

UPDATE: Gary Brendle has rejoined the Laughing Rock Technology, LLC team in January 2012. Welcome back Gary!

Additional information on these and other awards can be found at www.esgr.org

If you’re getting blue screen error code 0x0000007B (0xF78D2524,0xC0000034,0×00000000,0×00000000) while installing Windows XP Pro or Home Edition, just simply do the following to correct…

Enter the Bios, under SATA drives change Auto/AHCI to Auto/ATA; now install should work.  Simple fix, your hardware is fine!!

One of the most common locations on the web to get a virus or malware infection is through emails from social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn and even emails from trusted friends.  There are viruses that when they affect your computer will send emails to all your contacts in your email address book asking them to click a link or download an attachment.  The link is usually something titled in a way to tempt you to click it or download it, such as “Check out our new family photo”.  Virus developers also love to use sites like Facebook and Twitter to send legit looking emails full of these trick tactics such as “Click here to find out who is viewing your profile”.

Other common websites besides adult sites that are common breeding ground for viruses are pretty much anything offering something for free.  As the old saying goes “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”, the same applies for sites offering free services, information, or downloads.  This often includes ringtone sites, gaming cheats or codes sites, music or lyric sites, driver sites and even sites promising to speed up your computer.

But possibly the most common place viruses are obtained are through Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Programs.  These programs include Limewire, Frostwire, Bearshare, Bit Torrent, etc.  This follows the same concept as “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” rule.  Many of the downloads are mislabeled.  You may think you’re downloading something legitimate but instead you are inadvertently downloading a virus or a virus attached along with the file you’re seeking.

If you think you may have fallen victim to one of these scams, we can always give you a hand.  Just call our office for a free consultation and for tips on how to prevent future infections.

Safe Surfing,

Matthew Kulp
Laughing Rock Technology

Windows updates are very important as many of them are security fixes and all security updates should
be installed.

Many of the Windows update errors are difficult to diagnose the actual reason for the problem let
alone to correct. Windows update error 66A is one of the easier fixes, here’s
how to fix….

Click start, control panel, programs and features, locate and highlight
Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile, choose repair, then restart.

This process will take some time to complete, but after finished should allow to you get those
important Microsoft Windows updates.

Matthew Kulp
Laughing Rock Technology, LLC

Laughing Rock Technology Basic Pricing
Network Support Services:
• Remote Telephone Support using LRT Remote Software   $50.00/hour
• Onsite Service Call (One Hour minimum, no trip charge if within service area)   $90.00/hour
• Night and Weekend Emergency Service   $165.00/hour
Computer Cleaning Services:
• Remote Cleaning Service   $65.00/hour
- This service includes virus removal, malware removal, and any other computer cleaning services via remote connection.
• Professional “Tune-Up” Service/Repair   $149.00
- Encountering frequent errors, slow performance, boot issues, or other general issues? Then our Professional “Tune-Up” service may be exactly what you need. This service Includes all cleaning services as well as system tune-up and performance tweaking. Pick-up, lab time, system delivery and reinstall are also included.*
• “Full Service” Advanced Repair (Wipe and Reload)   $199.00
- Ready to throw you computer out a Window? That usually means its time for our “Full Service” repair. Includes system pickup, lab time, system delivery and reinstall.* Service includes complete system backup, format, OS reinstallation, software reinstall, and file restore.**
Other services available:
- Operating System Upgrades
- Home Network Setup
- System Installations
- Wireless Installation
- Computer Hardware Upgrades
- Training
- Data Transfer
- Password Recovery
- Other Services available, please call for details.

*Our Pick-Up and delivery area includes a 10 mile radius around our office. Locations outside that area will incur additional charges for pick-up and delivery service.
** Only programs that are provided to us by the customer during pick-up (must be legally owned) will be reinstalled on computer system. Backups are kept for a minimum of 2 months after reinstall.

Try it out for yourself!  Just Click Here to access the store and play around.  Afterward, we would love to hear what you think so please contact us through the site and give us your feedback.

Thanks and enjoy!

Even with all this success, Microsoft is nervous.  What are they worried about?  Google Web apps.  For the past few years, Google has been strongly pushing Office users to switch to Google web apps which is their version of the popular Microsoft software suite that lives online.  The cost structure is very different too.  For business users it costs $50 per user per year to have Google Web apps verses $200-$300 per license for Microsoft Office.

Microsoft’s answer?  Microsoft Office Online!  Basically, it is an online version of Office 2010 and if you purchase Office 2010, you get the online version for FREE!  I strongly doubt that this will be a Google Apps killer since Google has a very loyal folllowing but it will certainly make business owners think twice before moving away from Microsoft.

You can read more here:  http://laughingrock.com/microsoft-online

One of the latest scams that attackers are using to get malware onto your computer is a program that purports to be a “compatibility checker” that will tell you whether your PC will run Windows 7. There is a real compatibility checker that you can get on the Microsoft web site, but the one that’s being touted in email messages will get you a Trojan installed on your system, which the attacker can then use to control your computer and steal your information. Read more about it here:

http://www.laughingrock.com/compatibility_checker

This new “superspeed” version of USB has a theoretical throughput rate of almost 5 Gbps, in comparison with the 480 Mbps maximum speed of USB 2.0.  Imagine streaming high-def movies off an external hard drive with absolutely no problems or running your daily system backups in minutes instead of hours!

Click here to find out more about USB 3.0.

ANSWER:
Many applications install their own items in the right context menu when you install them. After a while, if you install lots of these apps, your context menu can get pretty cluttered up, and some of these menu items may be unused and unwanted. Even if you uninstall the programs, the items may stay in the context menu.

You can remove items from the context menu by editing the registry. The items are contained in the following key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ * \ shellex \ ContextMenuHandlers

Delete the keys for the items you don’t want. Be sure to back up the registry before editing it.

If you’re not comfortable with editing the registry, there are free third party tools you can use to remove and add context menu items. One is FileMenu Tools, which you can download at

http://www.lopesoft.com/en/

*Thanks again to Deb Shinder for her help with this one!

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Many people will tell you that this is not possible without paying for an expensive Exchange Server through Microsoft and also buying third party software to facilitate the synchronization. While we are huge fans of Microsoft’s Exchange Server and recommend it to many of our clients, there are situations where it simply isn’t the right fit.

Bottom line, we were able to help them achieve this goal without purchasing any third party software. All they needed was an internet connection!

If this is a problem you are encountering at your company, please just contact us through this site and we will be sure to get you the full solution so that you can continue to use Outlook while synchronizing your calendar with others.

P.S. This solution also makes it SIMPLE for you to synchronize multiple calendars to your Windows Mobile device or other smart phones!

Happy Computing,

The Laughing Rock Team

1. Click Start and in the Search box, type gpedit.msc to open the local Group Policy management console.
2. In the left pane, navigate to Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | Windows Components | Internet Explorer | InPrivate
3. In the right pane, double click the setting “Turn off InPrivate browsing”
4. Select Enabled and click OK to prevent the use of the In Private feature.

*Thanks to Deb Shinder for this one!

• Keeping your software & Operating System up to date.
• Keep either a bi-directional firewall installed/up to date and running at all times or a hardware firewall such as a router.
• Keeping an up to date antivirus/antispyware installed & active always.
• Running scans on a regular basis with AV software.
• Staying off the p2p (LimeWire, Grokster, iMesh, etc…) sites or sites that offer “cracked” software.
• Being very careful on social networking sites. I won’t click links posted unless I can verify it is safe.
• Watching what you download. If you want to try out an app, try to research it & read reviews before downloading.
• Is what you are downloading free … why?
• Don’t open emails that you are not expecting and those that you are, handle with care.  Attachments should never be opened right from the email.  Always save them first. If you are not sure, ask the sender what the file is supposed to do & if they meant to send it.
• Spam should be outright deleted by either using antispam software or asking your ISP if they have spam filtering software. Ecards/postcards should be deleted unless you know/trust the sender and even then you should ask first)
• Watching the kind of of search results that come up & being choosy which results you click. If it looks suspicious, skip it.
• Not clicking links in IM/IRC/Chat programs unless you can determine for sure it is safe.
• Not accepting files in IM/Chat unless you can trust the sender & have asked what the file is/know what it does.
• Back up important stuff regularly & preferably have the backups kept on offline storage. I use an external hard drive which is only connected when I do my backup.
• If a PC on your network is found to be infected — get it off the network so it does not spread.

These are just a few tips to help you computing happy and virus free into the future.  As always, please contact us with any questions or if you believe your computer has been infected.

The Laughing Rock Team

P.S. Thanks to our friends at the Sunbelt Security Labs and Tammy Stewart for their help with the above list.

QUESTION: I use my own firewall solution so have the XP firewall shut off. XP installs a little icon in the lower left corner next to the time. It is in the shape of a red medallion with an X in it. How can I remove it from there. Every time I restart after an install, it pops up a balloon saying my machine is unprotected and this is starting to really bother me! HELP!!! Otherwise, Service Pack 3 went in with no problems this time around. Could you include something about how to get rid of this annoyance?

ANSWER: Unfortunately, there is no way to turn off only specific balloon notifications, but you can turn off all system tray balloon pop ups by editing the registry. Please see the instructions here (Remember, improper usage of the registry can permanently damage your computer and files.  Always remember to backup your registry before making changes and if you are not comfortable working in the registry, contact us through this site for support):

1. Open your favorite registry editor
2. In the left pane, navigate to:
   HKEY CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
3. Right click an empty space in the right pane and select New, then select DWORD value
4. Right click the new entry and select Rename. Give it the name EnableBalloonTips
5. Double click the entry and in the Value Data field, give it a hexadecimal value of 0
6. Close the registry editor

You’ll need to log off and log back on before the change takes effect, and the balloons will be disabled only for the current user. If you log onto the computer with a different user account, the balloons will still appear.  If your issue is purely with the firewall, you can also open the Windows Security Center and under firewall, choose “I have a firewall solution that I will monitor myself.”  This will stop the security center from notifying you that the windows firewall is turned off.

Thanks and happy computing!

The Laughing Rock Team

Question:

I want to purchase a domain name that is already owned by someone else…what is a fair price and how do I go about it?

Answer: There is no real set value for domain resales. The prices set are completely dependent on the perceived value of the domain to the buyer and the seller. We have personally seen domain names that have sold for over $20,000 and other ones that aren’t much different that people couldn’t unload for $100.

Our recommendation is to first find out if the current owner is willing to sell their domain.  This can be done by looking them up in the WHOIS database and getting contact information for them and reaching out.  If they refuse to even discuss the possibility of selling, that usually means they have either a vested interest in that domain or an emotional interest in that domain and you might be in trouble. If they are willing to discuss a deal right off the bat, your chances are much better.  Either way, it’s time to negotiate.

Next, ask them what kind of price they would like.  This gets them thinking about the deal and forces them to engage in the process.  It also gives you an idea of where they are setting the value for this name.  Rarely will anyone offer a number at this point that you would consider reasonable because if they liked the name enough in the first place to buy it than chances are they will over-value it at this point.

Now that you know what they are thinking, set a maximum amount that you are willing to pay for the name and then make an offer that is at most 1/2 that. If the most you are willing to pay is $200 than you should offer $100 or less and start negotiating from there. In our experience, the fact that the current owner is even willing to discuss the possibility of selling the domain tells you that there isn’t much of a sentimental value and they will probably take much less than they originally tell you they want.

This is a difficult process but there are resources out there to try and make things easier on you.  You can always contact Laughing Rock to help you with this type of transaction but there are also sites out there that specialize in these types of transactions such as http://www.afternic.com/ that might help to give you an idea of the type of price you could expect for you domain and maybe even assist in the transaction.

Thank you and best of luck!

Laughing Rock Team