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How to troubleshoot a wired internet connection | Dave’s Computers NJ

How-to-troubleshoot-your-internet-connection-300x174 How to troubleshoot a wired internet connection | Dave’s Computers NJ

A customer came into Dave’s Computer store this week asking about their internet connection and why they couldn’t connect. We had an in-depth discussion about what could be wrong and all the steps the customer could take to remedy the situation. It was quite difficult to do as troubleshooting internet connections is one of those tasks you really need to be there to fix.

This gave me an idea of a post that covers the basic troubleshooting steps for fixing your internet connection. Read it, print it out, keep a copy or do whatever you need. But keep it to hand so it is there for when you need it most.

Regardless of whether you’re using a wired or wireless network, these basic checks will test core connectivity. If you use a pure wireless network, connect a computer directly to your router or modem with an Ethernet cable for these tests.

Troubleshoot your internet connection

Troubleshooting an internet connection is difficult without being in front of it but there are some basic checks you can do to fix many basic issues with your connections. Here are just a few of them.

Check power to your modem and/or router

Is your router switched on? Are the activity lights flashing? What about your ISP modem? Is it working? Lights flashing? As long as none of those lights are amber or red, the physical connection should be indicated by lights on the devices.

Check wired connections

Someone inadvertently unplugging an Ethernet cable or knocking it when cleaning is a prime cause of an internet connection not working. Check both ends of the Ethernet cable and make sure it is locked in tight.

Reboot everything

The first manual task when troubleshooting a network connection is a reboot. Reboot the router and/or modem and the computer. Windows computers especially can ‘lose’ connection when the configuration stops working. A full reboot should fix it. A modem and router will take around 1 full minute to reboot so give them time and retest.

Check your network card

A quick check of the computer’s network card can help troubleshoot both wired and wireless networks.

  1. Right click the Windows Start button and select Network Connections.
  2. Select Change adapter options, right click your Ethernet adapter and select Properties.
  3. Select Internet Protocol Version 4, make sure the box is checked and hit the Properties button.
  4. Make sure both settings in the General tab are configured to automatic. Manual addressing is fine but automatic helps troubleshooting.

If IPv4 is checked and addressing set to automatic, move on.

Check IP addressing

To be able to communicate on a network, a computer has to be identifiable. This is where an IP address comes in. If you use a router, it assigns an internal IP address. It will translate that to an external address as required. IP addresses can be a common cause of lost connections, so let us take a look.

  1. Right click the Windows Start button and select Command Prompt (Admin).
  2. Type ‘ipconfig /all’ and hit Enter.

You should see a string of data appear. You need to look for IPv4 Address and make sure it does not begin with ‘127’ or ‘169’. These are not viable addresses and are occasionally assigned by accident.

If you see what looks like a valid IPv4 Address, a Default Gateway that matches that of your router or modem and a DHCP server address the same as the Default Gateway, all looks good here.

  1. Still within the Command Prompt, type ‘ipconfig /release’. This will cause the computer to give up the IP address.
  2. Type ‘ipconfig /renew’ to force your modem or router to assign a new IP address.

Retest the connection to see if it is restored.

Ping something

Don’t close that Command Prompt box down yet though as we need to test connectivity.

  1. Type ‘ping google.com’ and hit enter.
  2. You should see a Google.com IP address appear and four pings.
  3. Look at the statistics, the sent must match the received and there should be 0% loss.

If you see all pings arrive and received, layer 2 is present which means there is a physical connection between your computer and the outside world. Therefore, the issue is with config.

Winsock reset

Our final Command Prompt task is a Winsock reset. Windows Sockets API (Winsock for short) is code that interfaces between Windows and network services like TCP/IP. It has been known to freeze or cause problems so resetting it is a useful troubleshooting step.

Type ‘netsh winsock reset’ and into the command prompt hit Enter. You should see a message ‘’Successfully reset the Winsock Catalog. You must restart the computer in order to complete the reset.’ Reboot your computer and retest.

Disable your firewall

Software firewalls are very effective at what they do but sometimes they do cause issues. A good test is to temporarily disable it and retest the connection. Right click in the Windows notification area (the small up arrow next to the desktop clock) and select your firewall icon. Right click that icon and select Disable. Different firewalls may call it different things.

With your firewall disabled, retest your connection. If it works now, the firewall is stopping traffic. If it still doesn’t work, leave the firewall disabled for now but remember to enable it later.

Reset your router

If you use a router, now might be a good time to try a reset. If it has activity lights, layer 2 is up (the ping worked) and you have rebooted everything including your computer, it may be a router fault. Each router should have a reset button on the back or underneath.

First, make sure you have a copy of the default username and password to hand. Press and hold the reset button for 20 seconds to reset the router. This will factory reset it and force the default config back again. You will lost any configurations you made, but it is also the definitive test for network config issues. If your connection works, great. If it doesn’t, you have two options, perform a Windows system restore or get on the phone to your ISP.

I would suggest going the Windows restore route first. If your ISP is anything like mine you will be stuck in a queue for ages and then connected to someone who really doesn’t know what they are doing, unless you are very lucky of course!

Export Outlook email to Thunderbird without data loss | Dave’s Computers New Jersey

Export-Outlook-email-to-Thunderbird-without-data-loss-300x210 Export Outlook email to Thunderbird without data loss | Dave’s Computers New Jersey

Microsoft Outlook is very good at what it does but what if you don’t need the entire Office suite? Outlook isn’t a standalone product so if you don’t have a copy of Office or Office 365, you don’t get to use it. The good news is that you can transfer your emails across from Outlook to Thunderbird without data loss on a Windows computer. I’ll show you how.

Outlook is a very good product and I use it daily but there is a price premium to be paid for that privilege. If you don’t want to pay that or just want to try something else, there are lots of options. Some may take a little configuring to get right and others work right out of the box like Thunderbird.

Thunderbird email

The Thunderbird email client is made by Mozilla, the guys behind the Firefox web browser. It has been around for many years and is the go-to alternative to Outlook. It looks and feels similar to both Outlook and Firefox so users of both, or either, should feel instantly comfortable. It is free too so there is no barrier to entry. It also works reliably well and can handle most types of email.

It doesn’t have Office integration like Outlook does or some of the bells and whistles, but functionally there is little to choose between the two.

Outlook mailbox to Thunderbird

Even though the two programs use different file formats, the import process is actually quite straightforward. If you follow the instructions, there is very little chance of data loss and your email should shift seamlessly from one application to the other.

I use a Windows 10 computer for this example. Windows 7 and Windows 8 can still do things this way but the menu titles may differ slightly.

  1. Right click the Windows Start button and select Apps & features.
  2. Select Default apps from the left menu.
  3. Select Outlook as the default email application.
  4. Download and install Thunderbird if you haven’t already.
  5. Open Thunderbird and select Import.
  6. Select Mail and then Next.
  7. Select Outlook as the source and Next.
  8. Select Finish.

Thunderbird should now import mailbox data and translate it into a file format that Thunderbird understands. It makes a copy of the Outlook data, it does not remove or delete it. This way, the risk of data loss is minimized as you now have two copies of your mailbox data.

The process should only take a few seconds unless you have a huge mailbox and lots of folders, then it might take a while longer. You should see the data populate the main view in Thunderbird once complete.

You will also like need to repeat this process for your contacts.

  1. Open Thunderbird and select Import.
  2. Select Contacts or Address Book and then Next.
  3. Select Outlook as the source and Next.
  4. Select Finish.

This process should be much faster than importing the mail data.

Once you have imported the data you need, switch the default mail client to Thunderbird in Windows.

  1. Right click the Windows Start button and select Apps & features.
  2. Select Default apps from the left menu.
  3. Select Mozilla Thunderbird as the default email application.

Now, whenever you open an email, it should automatically open Thunderbird.

To my knowledge, there is no maximum file size for export/import. However, the larger the file, the more chance there is of corruption or data loss. If you have a huge mailbox, I would suggest making a backup first. I’ll show you that now.

Manually backup Outlook email before export

The above process is quite painless but if you have been running Outlook for years and count your contacts and emails in the thousands, you might want to make a backup first. I would suggest using a removable hard drive or USB memory stick for this task.

  1. Insert your backup drive into your computer and make sure Windows detects it.
  2. Navigate to ‘C:\Users\%username%\Documents\Outlook Files\’.
  3. Make a copy of the contents of that folder onto your removable drive.
  4. Remove the drive from the computer and keep it safe.

Now, should anything go wrong you have a backup of your Outlook Data File. This will be enough to rebuild your original inbox should anything happen during the process of moving it from Outlook to Thunderbird. It shouldn’t, but if you have many years’ worth of emails, spending an extra couple of minutes safeguarding them makes a lot of sense.

Manually backup email after export

You can also backup your Thunderbird inbox once the process is complete so you have a working backup. Again, if you count your stored emails by the thousand, it might be worth having a backup of your Thunderbird inbox too. You can take care of this with your usual backup routine but a manual copy taken right after import can prove useful too.

  1. Shut down Thunderbird if you have it open.
  2. Navigate to C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird.
  3. Right click the Thunderbird folder and either copy or select ‘Send to’ and compressed folder.
  4. Select your removable drive as the destination and copy or send the compressed copy to the drive.
  5. Remove the drive from your computer.

While all this backup stuff may seem like a lot of work, we see too many users coming into our Hillsborough computer store suffering from data loss due to not having backups of emails or .pst files, or having performed a task like this import without first having taken a backup. Fortunately, if you stop what you’re doing right away and bring your computer or just the hard drive to Dave’s Computers, our data recovery guys can usually fix the problem and restore your data.

Moving from one email client to another isn’t something that should be done without a bit of planning. Now you know how to plan, what you will need and how to perform all the necessary steps in order to transition from Outlook to Thunderbird. Good luck with it!

Wi-Fi vs. Ethernet networking which is best? | Dave’s Computers NJ

Wi-Fi-vs.-Ethernet-which-is-best-300x188 Wi-Fi vs. Ethernet networking which is best? | Dave’s Computers NJ

There is no doubt that we are gradually becoming more plugged into the internet. The rise of mobile ownership, tablets and the emergence of the Internet of Things has meant most homes now have a wireless network and multiple devices connecting to it. If you want to build a network for your home, which is best, Wi-Fi or Ethernet?

The team at Dave’s Computers has a mixture of both. I have both a wired network and a wireless one and use both for different things. Some devices cannot connect to a wired network. My cellphone doesn’t have an Ethernet port so can only connect through wireless. On the flip side, a PC has no need for wireless if it has a network card.

Benefits of Wi-Fi networking

The single biggest benefit of Wireless or Wi-Fi networking is also the most obvious. It is wireless. That means no running Cat5 or Cat6 around the house, no digging cable through the wall or floor or having to repair plaster as you drill through ceilings or floors. Having no wires is a significant advantage in most situations and it is the primary reason Wi-Fi is so popular.

Other benefits include flexibility in who and where you can connect. If you want to connect to Ethernet (wired networks), you need to be close to an Ethernet port and have the cable to connect to it. With wireless, you can be anywhere within range of the network and need no cable. Friends can quickly connect without having to plug in, which depending on how sociable you are, is a big advantage.

Wi-Fi is now faster and more reliable than ever before too. At one time, wireless networks would drop, slow down, not connect and had all manner of issues. Now with better routers and endpoint devices, wireless is now fairly reliable and enables fast internet connections across a property.

The downsides of W-Fi networking

As always, there are downsides to every technology we use. The main downsides of Wi-Fi are that it is slower than wired networking, less secure and still less reliable. A newer Ethernet router is cable of Gigabit speeds whereas a wireless network will often be limited to 350Mbps or less. If you are close to the router, you may get more but average connection speeds are much slower for wireless.

Security is a big issue with wireless networking. Usernames, network names and passwords are transmitted across the air and can be intercepted easily by someone that knows how. Unless you use a secure, encrypted connection, your data and your network is vulnerable.

Reliability is down to the router and your property. Wireless signals use radio and radio waves do have difficulty penetrating thick walls or complex appliances such as A/C units or boilers. Wireless also has a habit of dropping out, clashing with other networks in the area and is susceptible to interference.

Benefits of Ethernet networking

The main benefits of wired networking are speed, reliability and security. There has to be good reasons to go to all the trouble of cabling a property and these three reasons are just that. A wired network is much, much faster than wireless if connected to a relatively new router.

A router can work up to 1Gbps internally and if you’re lucky to live in a Google Fiber area, 1Gbps externally too. Considering the average sustainable wireless speed, that is many times faster. It is a sustainable speed too as long as there aren’t too many computers on the network. To put that speed into perspective, the average 50Mbps wireless connection will require around 15 minutes to download a movie. A 1Gbps connection can achieve that in less than 30 seconds if the source is fast enough.

Reliability. A wired network is not susceptible to interference, doesn’t care how thick the walls are or what A/C unit you run. It also doesn’t drop out when it feels like it. IPv4 is exceptionally reliable and with more routers playing nicely with IPv6, there is no reason for lost packets or dropped connections. There is also much less latency involved with Ethernet which is a big benefit to gamers or those who stream movies.

Security. The only way someone can compromise your network security is if they physically access your network or compromise a computer connected to it. It is far more difficult to hack a wired network than a wireless one.

Downsides of Ethernet networking

The main downside of Ethernet networking is the expense and hassle of cabling. If the property isn’t already cabled, there is a lot of work involved to cable every room. Apartments are usually fine as you can run a Cat5 or Cat6 cable from one room to another without drilling or plastering.

If you want to run the cables invisibly, the work increases exponentially. Trunking works if you don’t want to drill holes in the property but doesn’t look very attractive. Otherwise, you will be lifting carpet or pulling skirting to hide the cables from view.

So which is best?

Well the title did say ‘Wi-Fi vs. Ethernet which is best?’ The answer to that depends on how you use your network. If you’re all about convenience and flexibility but not so worried about speed, wireless wins. It can be set up in less than an hour and allows anyone to connect from (mostly) anywhere in your property.

If you are more concerned with speed, reliability and security, ethernet wins hands down. It is a hassle to set up but once done, remains in place until you need to move. It is harder to hack, many times faster, has less latency and is very reliable.

Of the two, I would always suggest Ethernet wherever possible. Yes it is a pain to cable a property, but once done, it is done. Then you get gigabit speeds within the property and maximum internet speed too. With a good quality router with built-in firewall, secure passwords and software firewalls on each computer that connects, you have a secure home network that should offer everything you need it to with the minimum of fuss. Plus, if your router has wireless capability, you can have the best of both worlds!

If you need help configuring a network or setting it up, contact Dave’s Computers in Hillsborough, New Jersey. We would be happy to help!

Top tips for troubleshooting issues with Outlook | Dave’s Computers New Jersey

Top-tips-for-troubleshooting-issues-with-Outlook-300x212 Top tips for troubleshooting issues with Outlook | Dave’s Computers New Jersey

While there are many email clients available across operating systems, Outlook is the most popular by a large margin. Available as part of Microsoft Office 2016 or Office 365, Outlook is powerful, easy to use and can be rolled out to large numbers of users at a time. This week’s computer repair post is all about Outlook.

Outlook is reliable but also complex. There are lots of small recurring issues that come up all the time. Most you can fix yourself. Some you will need expert help to overcome. I’m going to concentrate on the former with these top tips for troubleshooting issues with Outlook.

Reboot

Just about every computer repair process begins with a reboot. It flushes memory, forces your operating system to reload drivers and resources and wipes the slate clean for apps and dependencies. While it may seem simplistic, it is a very effective troubleshooting tool and should be the first thing you do when troubleshooting almost any computer issue you come across.

Check Outlook’s date and time

A regular occurrence we see here at Dave’s Computers is where Outlook doesn’t pick up the correct time zone when being installed. This causes issues with sending and receiving email and with the Calendar. I have experienced this first hand after performing a Windows 10 feature update. For some reason, Outlook changed the time zone to +8 hours of New York so Outlook wouldn’t work properly.

You can check by selecting File, Calendar and scrolling down to Time zones. Make sure the correct time zone is listed and that your computer time zone is correct too.

Scan the Outlook PST file

If Outlook is having trouble accessing your profile or is acting up in some way and a reboot didn’t fix it, scanpst.exe might. As long as your email server is running fine and nothing else seems to be affecting email, running this process will hopefully find what is wrong. Scanpst.exe checks the Outlook installation for errors, file corruption or profile issues and will attempt to repair them.

The process can take a while depending on how large your inbox is but is a fairly reliable way to check the installation without picking it apart. Find scanpst.exe. at ‘C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16’ in Windows 10 (Office 2016). If you run Office 365 or a different edition of Windows, or Mac, you may have to dig around until you find scanpst.exe.

Rebuild the OST file

If Outlook won’t let you work locally on emails without an internet connection or live connection to Exchange, you may need to rebuild your OST file. The Outlook Data File (OST) is a local copy of your inbox that allows users to work offline through IMAP or Exchange email accounts. If you usually work offline and then connect to send and receive and that isn’t working, it could be the OST file.

Navigate to File, Accounts and select the Data Files tab. Highlight the email address you are using and select Remove. Select Close, shut down Outlook and restart it again. Once Outlook has a live connection to Exchange, it will rebuild the OST file from scratch again.

Archive emails to speed up Outlook

If your Outlook is getting sluggish or taking an age to do anything and it isn’t the computer slowing things down, it could be the size of your inbox. The larger the PST file, the more work Outlook has to do to perform operations. While the program is more efficient than in previous versions, it still has issues handling larger inboxes.

Recently updated versions of Outlook have an Archive option in the ribbon that can save emails to a special archive folder. This shrinks the inbox to a more manageable level. If you have an IT department, they may be able to archive your email much more efficiently. If you’re a home user, just delete emails you no longer need or use the Archive button.

Use Outlook Safe Mode

If Outlook is slowing down or erroring and you use add-ins, try disabling them and see how fast it works. Some add-ins are completely harmless. Some add a little to the processing time of commands while some can break Outlook altogether. Loading Outlook in safe mode is a quick way to find out if an add-in is causing issues.

Close Outlook and type or paste ‘outlook.exe /safe’ into the Cortana/Search Windows box and hit Enter. If Outlook runs error free or faster, go to File, Options and Add-ins. Disable all add-ins and enable one by one until the system becomes unstable again. Disable the last add-in you enabled. That should be the one causing the problem.

Outlook doesn’t look or feel right

One of the strengths of Outlook is the ability to customize it to look how we want. If something goes wrong with the config file that controls that look, it can cause Outlook to crash. This is actually quite a common issue that our computer repair team sees a lot. A simple fix for this is to reset it all and start again.

Close Outlook. Type or paste ‘outlook.exe /resetnavpane’ into the Cortana/Search Windows box and hit Enter. As Outlook restarts you should see the default layout. Outlook should also run correctly if it was the config file causing issues. Feel free to modify the look to how you like and see how it goes.

Outlook just won’t work properly

If you have tried some or all of these Outlook troubleshooting tips and nothing seems to be working, your options are limited. One thing you can try before uninstalling and reinstalling is to rebuild the Outlook profile. Take a backup of your PST/OST files just in case by exporting the files and saving them somewhere. This is very important if you use POP email accounts.

Then navigate to Control Panel (Windows), Mail and delete the mail profile. You will need to set up Outlook again which is why this step was left until last. Import the PST/OST files back into Outlook and retest.

Those are just some of the many troubleshooting tips for Microsoft Outlook. It is a very powerful product that has a lot of configuration options and dependencies. Plus Microsoft. If you have Outlook issues that you cannot fix yourself, visit Dave’s Computers in Hillsborough, New Jersey. We would be happy to help!

Five things you need to know before buying a new graphics card | Dave’s Computers NJ

Five-things-you-need-to-know-before-buying-a-new-graphics-card-300x194 Five things you need to know before buying a new graphics card | Dave’s Computers NJ

If you play games or use graphically intensive programs, the graphics card in your computer is the key to everything. It is the primary component that influences how detailed and how smooth your visual experience will be. Upgrading a graphics card isn’t cheap so knowing what to look for when you go shopping is paramount.

Here at Dave’s Computers we are always upgrading computers. Sometimes for clients but more often for ourselves. As computer enthusiasts, this is more a way of life than just a job and when we aren’t building or repairing computers here at the store, we are building or playing with them at home.

That gives us valuable insight into the computer industry, components and how everything fits together. Today we bring that insight to you dear reader so that you can make an informed decision about your next upgrade. Here are five things you need to know before buying a new graphics card.

1. Know what you need before you buy

It sounds obvious, but this point is so important that it needs to be put out there. Before you spend money on a new card you need to know what you have, what you need and what is out there right now. Only then can you make an informed decision about what graphics card to buy for your computer.

If you don’t have a copy already, download CPU-Z and install it. This will tell you exactly what graphics card you have. Any purchase you make needs to offer a significant performance boost over your current card to warrant spending the money.

Check your monitor(s) too. If you’re planning to buy a graphics card capable of 4K but only have HD monitors, you will either have to upgrade your monitors or not use the 4K capability. If it’s the latter, you may as well either save money or concentrate on other capabilities.

More power. Newer graphics cards are more energy efficient than older cards but may have higher peak power demands. More capabilities usually mean more energy is needed. Your power supply will need to be able to supply that power if you are to make the most of your new card. Check out the wattage of your power supply and make sure it can deliver enough energy. If you’re unsure, this power supply calculator from Corsair can help.

Finally, there really is no point buying the latest, most powerful graphics card unless you have a recent processor and fast RAM. Without a fast CPU and RAM, the graphics card will bottleneck and not be able to work to its full potential.

2. Set a budget and stick to it

There is no avoiding it, graphics cards are expensive. They run from $200 for an okay one to over $1,000 for a cutting-edge card. That’s why you need to research and plan your purchase. Buy the wrong card or one that isn’t suitable for what you want it for and you could be wasting hundreds of dollars.

Plus, it is very easy to blow a budget. Shiny new computer components have a very special allure and marketing departments know that if they paint a certain picture, you will part with your money. Hold firm to your budget.

3. Know your numbers

If you don’t know your GTX 1080 from your RX 980 you need to learn. Graphics cards are all about numbers. Clock speeds, RAM, bandwidth, pixel rates, texture rates, clock speeds, memory clock speed, shading units, texture mapping units and TDP all factor in to how good a graphics card is. You need to know what all those things mean.

This graphics card hierarchy table will help you get an idea of where the different models sit in terms of power and ability. It also gives you an idea of how much they all cost.

At the moment, the higher the model number, the higher in the hierarchy a graphics card sits. So the Nvidia GTX 1080 is more powerful than the GTX 980 and the AMD Radon RX 480 is more powerful than an RX 470. Take some time to familiarize yourself with how everything is structured, where each card sits in the market and where it sits compared to other cards.

4. Check compatibility

Once you have an idea of what all the jargon means, what your requirements are, what you already have and whether your current hardware will allow your graphics card to fly or not, we have to check compatibility.

I mentioned above about power supplies and demands. There is one other things to check, how many extra six or eight-pin PCIe power connectors it needs. As well as taking power from the motherboard, most newer cards also take power directly from the power supply. You will need at least one, possibly two six or eight-pin PCIe power connectors spare on your power supply to feed it enough energy to work properly.

You will also need to check the card will physically fit into your case. Most new graphics cards will use a PCIe 16 slot, which most recent motherboards have. Some cards are long, some are tall and some are wide. Some cards will block other slots or be too long for some computer cases. Most stores will list the cards’ dimensions, so it pays to know what space you have to work with so you know your card will fit.

5. Know what is important

My final piece of advice for buying a new graphics card is to know what it important and what is not. The choice between Nvidia and AMD is not that important right now as they are close in performance. The amount of RAM is less important than bandwidth. Depending on your preference, fan noise is less important than cooling or the other way round.

Reference cards are no more important than non-reference cards. Reference cards are sold directly by Nvidia and AMD while non-reference are sold to manufacturers who do their own thing with the card and then sell it to you.

As you can see, there is a huge amount of information to process when considering a graphics card upgrade. If you need help with your decision, visit Dave’s Computers. We can discuss your needs and suggest something that delivers what you need. We can even set it up for you!

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