Tech Support Care Package

We love our parents.  You may have given them a laptop from your Black Friday bravery.  But the giving doesn't end there, as you'll be required to help answer some questions.  How to make it easier on you to help give some Tech Support?

http://www.teachparentstech.org/

Or you can get at attitude like the following geek wear.

Weebly for clean and elegant Church websites

Hello all, here's another suggestion from me to you.  Use http://www.weebly.com/ to make a free website and a free blog, hosting most the files you'll ever need to use, with powerful tools for making the page inviting.



I wanted a few things in my transition from CTS Memberconnect.

• Easy to use:  drag and drop what-you-see-is-what-you-get interface.
• More customizeable website, more personal.  I wanted a clean looking site, that looked like it was professionally designed, yet warm and personal.
• Free.

Weebly has that all.  You can pay more for extra features, but it's nice for me now just to start with what I have at http://www.mtolivelutheran.info/ which is looking just right.

Here's a online tutorial how to make weebly sites:  http://www.weeblytutorial.com/index.html

Happy church site making!

Easily distribute sermons on the web, podcasting, even video

Getting sermons online is questionably valuable.  So, might as well make it easy for the pastor to do, right?  Otherwise, duties don't get done, standards fall, or we just don't get the sermons up in time, or ever.  After all the best thing for your listeners is live, combined with archiving, for listening later, (like Tivo.)

But it's got to be easy.  That usually means compromises, such costs, or functionality.  So, I've put together a Google Docs spreadsheet that I'm filling out as I test out these different options.



Remember, sustainability is key as well.  Once the people start listening, will the service suddenly start charging? Or if it's free, will they disappear, along with all your hard work?  That's why download your uploaded sermons are important, if you want to keep them.  But why?  Just let the most recent go up to the cloud, for those who are traveling, or shut-ins.  Archiving is over-rated.

Just have an alternative to switch to, if it goes fritz.  So I'm trying to pick the two most functional ones, and use feedburner to switch between services if one fades away.

Be careful when choosing a name for your website

“9 Awful Domain Names That Are LOL Funny”

All of these companies didn’t spend quite enough time thinking about how their online names might appear – and be misread.

1. Who Represents is where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity.  Either that, or it’s where you can find gifts for “ladies of the evening”.   Their website is
www.whorepresents.com

2. Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views.  Either that, or it’s where you can find a doctor who specializes in a “certain operation”.
www.expertsexchange.com

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island.  Either that, or it’s the website of a male strip club.
www.penisland.net

4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder.  Either that, or this site tracks down sex offenders.
www.therapistfinder.com

5. Then there’s this Italian Power Generator company.  Either that, or it’s a site for those with very strong reproductive organs.
www.powergenitalia.com

6. And don’t forget the Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales.  Probably not the best place to leave your kids.
www.molestationnursery.com

7. If you’re looking for IP computer software, there’s always IP Anywhere!  I’ve been known to do this after a night of drinking heavily.
www.ipanywhere.com

8. The First Cumming Methodist Church website needs no further explanation.
www.cummingfirst.com

9. And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky website, which smells a little funny.
www.speedofart.com

The Basic Guide to Troubleshooting Common Windows PC Problems

Great article reposted from Life Hacker, for your edification.

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Your Windows PC might be designed to make your life easier, but they often have a non-stop list of problems. Today we'll walk through some of the more common problems and how to troubleshoot them.

Image by xkcd

This list is, of course, by no means complete, and you should always use best practices to make sure that your PC doesn't need to be reinstalled all the time, is properly secured with anti-virus and a firewall, and is properly backed up at all times—but if you're currently having problems, keep reading for a list of common problems and troubleshooting techniques.

PC Won't Boot Into Windows

Try Safe Mode First
When your PC just won't boot into Windows at all, you'll probably want to start off with Safe Mode—use the F8 key right when the system starts up to access the menu and see if Windows will boot into Safe Mode. If you're able to get into Windows, the problem is likely something that would load only when you boot normally—graphics card drivers, junk applications, or perhaps some spyware applications.

Even Safe Mode Doesn't Work
If you can't even get into Safe Mode, you should use the Startup Repair tools, which can be accessed from the Advanced options in the Safe Mode menu; you can pull out your system repair disc, or your Windows installation disc and use the Repair option. If you're having a bootloader problem that says "bootmgr is missing", you can use the command prompt from an installation CD and use the bootrec /fixboot command.

Use System Restore
System Restore in Windows XP might not have been the greatest tool, but since Windows Vista came around, it's been an excellent choice for fixing up all sorts of problems, including issues that cause your system to not boot anymore. While testing, I once deleted a bunch of files in system32 to purposely cause a blue screen of death, and then used System Restore to get the system up and running again in minutes. If you're unfamiliar with the process, you can follow this step-by-step guide to restoring your PC with System Restore.

Try Booting Off an Ubuntu CD
Whenever I'm having issues with a PC not booting up properly, one of the first things I do is grab an Ubuntu Live CD and try and boot from that, and see how well the system is working. If everything is working in Linux, then you know the problem is likely just your Windows installation, and not hardware related.

PC Crashing or Blue Screening
When your PC is crashing with the blue screen of death at random intervals, you should make sure that you first disable the automatic reboot after the blue screen, and then write down the error message so you can Google it later. If you're able to get back into Windows, you can try using the previously mentioned BlueScreenView tool to give you some extra information about the error message, but your best bet is usually to do a search.

If you're using Windows 7 or later and you're getting a blue screen of death, chances are very high that the problem is either driver or hardware related—contrary to legend, Windows just doesn't crash like that very much unless the problem is tied to hardware somehow.

Once you've identified the driver causing the problem, try and head into Safe Mode and uninstall or upgrade the driver causing the problem—sometimes the driver won't be visible, so you'll need to use a command-line trick to show hidden devices in Device Manager. If you're doing a bunch of work in Safe Mode, sometimes it's helpful to force Windows to load into Safe Mode without using the F8 key every time.

No Luck? Recover Files and Reinstall
If you simply can't get anything else to work and you don't have a full backup, your best bet is to pull out an Ubuntu Live CD and back up files from your PC, and then start the process of reinstalling WIndows again. If you're using the native Windows backup tools, you can restore your system from an image backup, or use the standard backup and restore process.

PC Is Running Slowly

Check Task Manager
The first thing that every geek is going to do when a computer is running slowly is open up Task Manager, or Process Explorer (if you've already got it installed) to see what process is taking up the most CPU or memory—that's generally the culprit. While you're in there, it's a good idea to look for other resource-wasting apps that we can kill.

Uninstall Crapware
Now that we've killed the application that's currently killing the CPU, it's time to start getting rid of applications that we don't need. You can use Revo Uninstaller and the PC Decrapifier to clean up applications without leaving extra traces.

Clean Up the PC
Cleaning up your PC is really quite easy. You can start by running Disk Cleanup, but if you really want to get the job done, grab yourself a copy of CCleaner and run through a cleaning session. While you're at it, you can set up CCleaner to run on a schedule to keep the PC clean on a regular basis.

Scan for Viruses and Spyware
It's a good idea to run a system scan when your PC is running slower than normal and you've already determined that it's not a runaway application. We think the free Microsoft Security Essentials app is the perfect tool for the job.

Use the Reliability Monitor
This under-utilized tool is an excellent way to diagnose problems and figure out what might have caused your system problems—it will show you a full history of system crashes, application problems, and even Windows Updates, so you can track down what changed on your system right before your system started running slow. Just type in reliability into the Start Menu search box, and you'll be able to see everything, and even drill down into specific errors to see more details.

Use the Advanced Tools in Windows 7
Windows 7 has quite a number of useful tools to troubleshoot performance problems, but they're buried in Control Panel where you might not think to look. Just head to Performance Information and Tools –> Advanced tools and you'll see a list of performance issues along with suggested fixes for the problems.

Trim Down Startup Apps to Speed Up Boot Times
This applies both when your PC takes forever to boot and when you've got a glut of applications running away in your system tray that you don't need; it's time to trim down your startup applications. You can use the built-in MS Config utility or any number of tweaking applications, but you might want to take a look at Soluto, which not only helps you disable startup applications, but it shows you exactly which ones are affecting your boot times the most.

Internet Is Slow or Not Loading

Pull Out the Ping Command
If you're having problems connecting to the internet, you should first make sure that you are really connected—most of the time you can pull out a command prompt (hit the Windows key, type cmd, hit Enter) and type in a ping command like ping yahoo.com to see if you're getting any response.

Disable and Re-Enable Your Connection
If you're not getting a response, you can try disabling and re-enabling your wireless connection, which solves more problems than it really should. If that doesn't work, use the Windows network troubleshooter by right-clicking your wireless icon, and follow through the steps. Windows will disable and re-enable the adapter again, and wipe the DNS caches as well. If you're still having problems, there's a good chance your internet connection is just down.

Slow Response Times
Sometimes the problem isn't connecting to the internet, but slow response times while you're browsing—or maybe your browser is simply hanging. If you're using Internet Explorer, you can reset all your settings to fix problems; if you're using Firefox you can follow this guide to troubleshoot problems or just completely restore the default settings.

Web Site Not Loading
If the problem is a specific web site not loading, you can check downforeveryoneorjustme.com to see if you're the only one having the issue with the web site—or you can often do a quick search on Twitter to see if other people are complaining as well.

Wireless Connection Dropping
If you're having problems connecting to your wireless and staying connected, you probably need to tweak your connection. You can change your wireless channel to optimize your signal, but if you really want to make your connection better, try installing another wireless firmware or using an old router as a repeater to boost your signal.

Dealing With a Forgotten Password

While forgetting a password might not technically be a troubleshooting problem, it's a common problem that needs to be solved. Your best best is to try and recover your passwords using free tools to crack your existing passwords.

If you've got an Ubuntu Live CD laying around, you can use that to reset your password, or if you want a more streamlined Linux-based Live CD and you're not afraid of some command-line action, you can use the System Rescue CD to reset your Windows password in no time at all.

Windows Explorer is Hanging

If you're having problems loading up Windows Explorer and browsing your file system, the problem is almost always a shell extension that shouldn't be installed, or some shell extensions that are conflicting with each other. For example, the shell extensions for Dropbox and TortoiseSVN tend to cause problems when you put your code into your Dropbox folder, causing hanging and generally slow file browsing.

Your best bet is to grab a copy of ShellExView and start disabling third-party shell extensions, or uninstalling Windows Explorer plug-ins that you don't actually need. You can also use this tool in combination with ShellMenuView to clean up your messy Explorer context menu.

Computer Is Overrun with Viruses or Spyware

PC Still Boots into Windows
Running a virus scan on your PC is never a bad idea, and when you're dealing with an infected PC you're definitely going to want to start the cleaning process. Your best bet is to reboot your PC into Safe Mode—and then run your antivirus utility of choice.

If you're dealing with Spyware problems you should probably start off with SuperAntiSpyware and follow up with MalwareBytes to clean up the leftovers, since they do a better job of cleaning spyware than most of the antivirus tools out there. I've previously written a guide to removing a spyware infection, and we've also covered how to clean up after XP Antispyware.

PC Won't Boot
If your PC won't even boot because of an infection, your antivirus provider might have their own boot disk that will let you clean the PC without booting into Windows, or if you have an Ubuntu Live CD laying around, you can use that to scan your PC for viruses.

Contacts and Email

What happens if you lose all your email contacts?  Accidentally delete your email account?  What if someone steals your account?  How to move on?

After the hours of dealing with your email provider of finally resetting your account and getting your online identity back, how do we keep our contacts and email safe again?  Of course a solid password is very important as is securing all your devices.

If you use Microsoft Outlook and must have journal or tasks, then get a Microsoft Exchange account.  This normally isn't free.  Although you may have it as a perk of your Comcast business account.

Now that you are starting from scratch, unable to do a restoral, my typical recommendation is go Google.  A Google account let's you have a lot for free:

• Free email.
• Email on your phone.
• Don't have your computer?  Check your email on any web browser.
• Don't have internet?  Keep saved copies locally, update when next online.
• Saves drafts as you type.
• 8 Free gigabytes of storage, more if you pay.  I almost never delete emails and I've used only 8%.  It's plenty.
• Contacts everywhere, synced to many phones and computers
• Still backup locally, just in case.  (Suggestions below.)
• Google Voice:  free telephone
• transcribed voice mail which sends a text transcript to your mobile phone to read (easy to do during a meeting)
• free PC to phone calling
• smart forwarding to where you are.

If you use the old standard business app of Outlook, try this next one once in awhile, perhaps even saving to a DVD backup.  http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/office-outlook-2010-import-and-export/

If you don't use Outlook, this backs up most email and contact info, and it's free:  http://lifehacker.com/5102886/kls-mail-backs-up-your-browser-email-and-contacts

For iPhone users, how to automatically backup for free contacts.  Also, individual restoral for specific contacts:  http://lifehacker.com/5148004/idrive-lite-backs-up-your-iphone-contacts-for-free

Yours in Christ,
Vince

Starting a church website

Wanna start a website?  There's options to start, such as a free web presence.  It's a start.  Easy enough to pitch to the congregation because of the price, but how much will it be worth your time?

One could recommend Google's Blogger, which while originally meant for blogging, is great for something highly personalized; but frankly, you are probably looking for something more business savvy, right?  So for an inexpensive option, consider Wordpress.

Sign up for a blog at www.wordpress.com by click on the top right orange button.  Create basic pages (known as tabs) such as:  service times and location; who we are; what to expect; church history; meet the staff.  Fill them as you go.  Also, I suggest not letting people know of the site until you are somewhat satisfied with it.  What will help with that is getting a nice look.  Consider this theme to get you going:  http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/christian-sun

But understand, a web presence is not as important as a web ministry.  That is truly forward-thinking, where it's not just for the people visiting, but also for the people you have.  That is why I recommended to my congregation to use MemberConnect.

For instance, take a look at the menu.  The left side is the visitor version, which all see automatically.  But when provided with a user name and password, by simply signing in just below the Main Menu and your personalized ads, you have an “inside” web ministry, that helps “connect members.”  It becomes your private social network, where families don’t have to worry about facebook or twitter or myspace.  It’s manageable.

There are many modules one can use and I’m just starting to introduce them.  I would like to see the prayer modules improved, so it can be more organized and useful for ministry.  For it to be truly interactive, I would like each page to have an option of feedback, for that page.  But there is no option to do that.  If we could, then people can respond to a posted prayer with their personal prayer, words of encouragement, even thanksgiving for when the prayer was answered!  I used to be a prayer chaplain at  www.ThePrayerRoom.com who did an excellent job at an interactive prayer system.

Our congregation uses prayer circles so it’s something I can overlook, but still would like to have for the future.  No product is perfect, but I’d still like to see this improved.

My website is taken time to shape and form.  But that’s exactly the point, because a congregation thinking ahead is better than a congregation that self-satisfied.  Gotta start somewhere.  What are your thoughts, solutions, gripes, hopes?

Should a pastor's wife go to her husband for private confession and absolution?

Pastor's wives find themselves in an interesting predicament, married to their pastor.  That predicament need not be weird.  It can be a unique blessing.  I'm sure some experienced Pastor's wives have great insight into this.  For here, I offer just some Do's and Don'ts.  I thought that'd be easier than a lengthy exegetical paper, haha.  Please feel free to comment and suggest, even discuss ardently, but please support your argumentation.

It is indeed a fine question for us consider our life in Christ. There's pros and cons, some better than others. I'll try a few more. (Written in first person's use for brevity's sake.)

Don't go to your husband, so he'll keep thinking of you as an angel who can put up with anything he dishes out on you. :) Do go to your husband-confessor, because out of love and duty he must absolve, and who better to grow as your confessor than one yoked with you?

Don't surprise him.

   
Do treasure forgiveness. Don't focus on the person you are speaking to, unless it is God himself. Do focus on the person you speaking to if they are who you want to restore with.

Don't go for C&A "counseling" if counseling is airing out your dirty laundry. Do go if "counseling" is walking through scripture to help us see our sin and thus confess rightly (instead of expressing oneself and breaking almost every proverb, haha,) so to receive forgiveness, not a chore.

Consider the bank as an illustration: If we see this as depositing a check, that's one thing, clinical, another lawful to-do list. Perhaps it's more personal than that, wouldn't you hope? But it's perhaps too much for most to bear.

It's a joy to announce Christ's forgiveness, but it's a chore to play games. Don't go to him "professionally" if you want to go to God and force C&A when he may "personally" not be ready to. Don't go to him first if you may need some clarity and time with the help of God's Word, perhaps by the pastoral guidance through the scriptures, by one who is not your husband. Don't go to another pastor-confessor (perhaps a brother in your local circuit) if you hope that the non-husband-confessor goes to your husband, for you. This is not what it means by building bridges.

Don't go together if it's to fix him. Do go together if it's as a couple seeking that absolution.

Consider some of the issues and analyze their presuppositions. Even the unsaid ones. "Am I supposed to be honest with my husband?" "Is there times that is not good?" "Why, or why not, why here but not there?" "What burden is too great to bear?" As they say, confession is good for the soul, but bad for the reputation.

Ultimately, let the Word guide you.  Consider Matthew 5, 1 Cor 13, 1 John 4, Ephesians 4, Matthew 18, 1 Peter 3, Proverbs 15, 2 Cor 2, Gal 6, and finally, dum-dum-dum, the great final chapter of Paul’s epic letter, Romans 15.

How to put Gmail Tasks on your Desktop

1.) Open up Google Chrome, and input the following in your address box: 

http://www.gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://www.google.com/ig/modules/tasks.xml

*note:  You can use any browser, but Chrome works so fast and is very easy to do for this tutorial.

2.) Open the file in Google Chrome, and select “Create application shortcut…” from the Page menu.

3.) Resize the window and move it to your desired position. Chrome will remember it.

4.) Ta-da! Now just drag the shortcut to somewhere handy, like Quick Launch.  Or on your desktop.

Ooma - The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Free telephone service via internet connection at home, or at work. Sounds great? You bet! There's a lot of information out there, but my experiences are not available yet on the net. So I thought I'd help people Google current and informative hits by adding my two cents.

The Good:

Great cost savings! Kiss your monthly bills goodbye. Just what is their business model? Apparently they are NFP, non-for-profit... NFP, wow someone really has a vendetta against plain ol' copper lines, POCs. (Getting your acronyms yet?)

Yes it's different than the VOIP (voice-over-internet-protocol) you've heard before. Unlike Skype or magic jack, you don't need a PC.

So unlike Vonage, there is no monthly fee.  Except for overseas.

How do I distribute the phone lines outside just one room?  The easy way is if you are wireless in the first place.  But if you are wired, there’s a neat trick into using your in-wall lines.  Plug the “phone” line into not just a handset, but into your home system.  This will distribute the signal to the rest of the plugged in devices, but make sure you turn off your POC lines or you’ll get two dial tones, like I did!

The Bad:

It's not free yet.  Gotta pay for the hardware.  The start-up costs are quickly taken care of, after a few months.  Less if you do a lot of long distance calls!

Now there is a regulatory fee.  Wasn't there before.  Considering getting the new Ooma Telo from an old hub, like I did?  There are new terms and conditions that affect current and new customers differently.  Now it gets complicated, but still not ugly yet.  At least old hub owners like myself can get grandfathered to the extinct non-regulatory fee.  Still $1 a month?  Not great.

Got a special switching system at the office?  Have multiple lines from an 10 year old+ system?  Multiple locations, multiple businesses on site?  I did.  It’s been a headache.  Please take into full account your topography, including if you have an alarm system in multiple locations.  Test everything before and after, noting any differences in operation.  I want to save money and am willing to put the effort, but you may end up becoming the target of frustration and complaints for implementing something all alone.  Get a board and understand how this works and whose responsible for what.

The Ugly:

The following clearly states that “each Ooma Telo can support up to 4 handsets.”  It can, but it can’t.  That is, not yet.  They’ve been promising since it was announced.

Fact:  The Ooma Telo can only support 1 Ooma Telo handset.  That's right.  Good thing I bought at Costco, so I return these extra handsets that’s been wasting my money.

Doesn't work with security systems that need POC lines.  Don't ever expect it to.  It may in time.  After all, it can fax, but I couldn't get it to function at the office for our alarm system.  So, we have a combination:  Ooma for voice and POC line from AT&T for just the alarm.  Therefore cost savings and recoup are slower, but over a stretch of time it pays back for sure.  Just nice to know ahead of time.

Lies about the screen.  Just look at the box or on the net, and you'll see it.  Makes a difference because the letters are small enough, they don't need to be dark grey on light grey.  Missed the boat here.  Mistakes happen, PR slips and generates one thing while engineers are creative at keeping costs down and with it some usability.

No handsets to plug in, nor Bluetooth for hands free around the house.  Solution:  plug in my old non-Ooma telephone handset system into the Ooma Telo directly.

Easy enough, but now you can't be hands free on that cool 2nd line you get with a premier service.  In fact, the 2nd line is the only compelling reason to get the Telo Handset.  You can get the usefully features like a hands-free in a multi-pack elsewhere.

Ooma at least has this now as public knowledge, off their servers, not buried in a support forum.  But please, don't put up with wasting your money on half-baked goods.

Troublesome registration of Handset to Telo.
You may have to re-register your handset:

(1.) Reboot the ooma Telo by removing the power, waiting 5 seconds and powering back up.
(2.) Hold the RED hang up button on the handset until the phone powers off.
(3.) Press the antenna key on the Telo for 5 seconds until it blinks.
(4.) Hold the left soft key and 0 on the handset and tap the RED hangup button.
(5.) The phone should go into registering mode and the Telo should pick it up and ask for pin.

Whacky Telo full reset:  What happened to the old paper-clip push?

You could try performing a factory reset on the Telo, this will return all settings to default and wipe the previous handset registration, so re-registering the handset may then work.

1. Unplug the Telo power cord for 30 seconds, then plug back in.

2. As the Telo begins its startup, the 1 & 2 buttons will light up for a short while, followed briefly by the trash and envelope buttons, and then the bottom row of buttons will begin to flash in a scrolling sequence, which will continue approximately 28 times.

3. At the end of the blue flashing bottom row period, the Ooma logo will begin to flash red - IMMEDIATELY hold down the "stop" and "trash" buttons and the Ooma logo will alternatively flash red and blue. Continue to hold down the "stop" and "trash" buttons until the logo turns solid red and then goes out. After the logo goes out release the buttons and the Telo will restart.

You can see a poor quality video of the proceedure here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNW7BqAftQw

With all it’s faults, I’m glad I got it at Costco just in case I need to return it.  I’m thankful for having a “wired” telly line at the house and it doesn’t cost me anything monthly.  At work, we ported the old number and are saving monthly.  Now when budgeting, I don’t have to choose between internet or a telephone service.  Fire your phone company!  Save minutes on your cell phone plan, invest it.  Whatever you do, be informed and know the weakness of the system along with all it’s strengths.