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TERMS YOU MIGHT HEAR
MAJOR REBOOT: This is when we need you to shut your computer down in
the usual fashion, then pull the power from EVERYTHING in the system.
The main computer box, any hubs, switches, wireless hubs, routers, AND
any DSL MODEM boxes that are in your space. AND remove the
network cable from the back of the computer. Leave
everything off for 10 minutes. Then starting from the wall.
First plug in your DSL MODEM BOX, wait 10 minutes, then plug in
your router, wait 2 minutes, then bring up your computer and give it a
try. In 50% of the cases you'll be back in business.
10/10 REBOOT: Often this will solve your problem, it's the same as a
MAJOR REBOOT, except you don't have to disconnect any cables. Most
often used when the high speed internet is coming to your place via a
Cable TV Box.
ROUTER: If you have a DSL or high speed connection of any kind, this
is a great little addition to have at your home/office. It's a
little box that provides several advantages to you! First it is
the only really effective FIREWALL that you can get. Those
software firewalls are ineffective at best, and often are reporting
incorrect information and allowing things to pass that a ROUTER would
stop! There are other significant advantages to a ROUTER.
So often folks call us because their DSL just seems to be now working,
they have had their computer shut off cause they went on a short trip,
or weren't using their computer for a couple of days. Now, on
starting it up it just won't make a connection. No matter what
methods the help desk tries, we can't "wake up" their connection and the
only thing to do is wait till the next business day when the ISP can
come out and make things work again. If the user had a
ROUTER, even if their computer was shut off for an extended period of
time, the ROUTER acts like a computer on the end of the wire and keeps
the connection alive. Then when they turn their computer back on,
things just attach and away they go. A great 40-80 dollar
investment when you consider the frustration factor. ALSO the
ROUTER acts as a hub allowing you to connect multiple computers to your
connection. That way, if a child comes home from college with a
laptop, they just plug in and they're online and you're online and
everything just keeps flowing. Without the router you'd have to
unplug your computer, then they'd have to plug theirs in and install the
IP information into their computer to make it work on your home system.
All in all a ROUTER is a good investment for continuous UP time,
convenience, and protection!
HUB: This little box must first be connected into a ROUTER if you
want it to work properly. It's just a multiport box that allows
for multiple computers to share one connection to the internet.
Not really used much anymore as most ROUTERS have a 4 port HUB built
into them.
SWITCH: A switch is like a HUB only smarter. We
use one here as we split one internet connection between two buildings.
If you're using a SWITCH like a HUB it just silently works sending info
back and forth from the computers to your internet connection. If
you have had a TECH GUY set up your switch to do some specific things,
we here at the HelpDeskGuys will not be able to help you with any of
that.
FIREWALL: (only for DSL/High Speed users) This can be a complicated
one. There are several kinds of firewalls. The one we're
concerned about it created because you have a box called a ROUTER
(above). This is the only REAL way to have a fire wall.
There are programs out there like ZONE ALARM, and BLUE ICE and BLACK ICE
and now Norton and Mcaffee and any other of dozens of them. These
are PRETEND firewalls that use your computer and some software to act
like a firewall and try to prevent unwanted access into your computer
and it's hard drives and perhaps even your entire network. Do they
work? Some folks have them and really love them, MOST of our
customers who try them find that they do 2 things. They do indeed
stop unwanted access to your computers, BUT they also STOP YOU FROM
GETTING OUT ON THE NETWORK. HMMM an interesting conundrum.
If it does the job of protection but won't let you do what you bought
your computer for in the first place, it seems that it's not a very good
thing. Yes you can work with them, figure them out, play
with them and get them to pretty much work. HOWEVER there will
come a time when you NEED to get some information from a particular web
site in a particular time frame, and they are going to BLOCK you from
doing that. You're going to call the help desk, and one of our
first questions is DO YOU HAVE ANY SOFTWARE FIREWALLS SET UP.
We'll ask you to disable them and suggest that you uninstall them.
In that time your favorite crystal bowl will have been won by someone
else on EBAY. Simply PUT, if you want a firewall (and we suggest
that you do!) then you need to purchase a physical router. We
suggest NETGEAR or LINKSYS. There are other good ones out there
and some that seem to be junk. Although it is not within our
obligation to set up your router and network in your home, we will help
you do it under a couple of conditions. #1 that you
understand and acknowledge that it's not our obligation. #2 that
you know how to access the control panels within your router. We
don't know how to get into all the various models, and for sure we DON'T
KNOW THE USERNAME and/or PASSWORD that it was set up with. If you
have knowledge of those 3 things we will be able to help you put in the
6 pieces of information that you will need to make the router work.
They are: 1. that the router is set to operate under STATIC mode
operation. 2. Your IP number. 3. Your GATEWAY (called a
router number in the MAC world). 4. Your Subnet mask. 5. The
Primary DNS number. 6. The Secondary DNS number. Even if you
just have 1 computer on high speed internet we REALLY SUGGEST that you
spend the money (about $60 dollars in 2005) to get a router. It
will make your life and our life much more enjoyable.
TOP Why does the
advice I get from the Help Desk differ from what they told me at the
computer store???
This is a question that we get a LOT, and often our advice is
greatly different than you will get from the salesman at the BIG BOX
computer store, or the even BIGGER BOX Retailer, or your nephew who's a
computer expert and lives in Minneapolis. WHY would we give
different advice? Simply put, OUR GOAL is to see that you have the
best INTERNET experience that you can have. We sit here all day
and take calls from experienced users, casual users, and folks who don't
yet know how to use their mouse to tell the computer what they want to
do. As we do that for now years on end, (we've had
relationships that span 13 years with some of our ISP's that you get your service from)
certain problems just keep repeating themselves and we feel that we have
found workable solutions to them. HOWEVER some of those solutions
might not use all the capabilities of the software you're running, and
might not include the latest, hottest, try it out before it's
recommended for the general public things. BUT the advice is sound
if you consider it's given from the point of view that we want you to be
able to 1. Safely Visit the billions of web pages available on the net.
2. Send and receive email, including attachments of pictures and
documents. 3. Enjoy the other functions of the internet as they
apply to you. So sometimes the choices that we encourage you to
make are driven by our desire for you to have your internet working as
close to 100% of the time that's possible.
TOP
What should
I be doing before I call the help desk?
It really helps us if you have tried to go to web pages, (try a
variety like yahoo.com your ISP, remember MSN is often down
for a few minutes.) Then try your email program such as Outlook Express
or Outlook.
IF you can go to web pages fine, but your email doesn't work, try your
email at our WEBmail access point. Go to
http://webmail.rrv.net it will
bring you to a green and white page that says MAIL SITE EXPRESS for a
heading. Put in your entire email address. Put
in your Password (remember all entries are CaSe SeNsAtIvE) Click Log on,
if your email presents itself here, then we know that the ISP side of
things is working. If you tell the Help Desk Person this
experience, we can faster get to solving your problem. And
remember you can always check your email at this location when you're
traveling and away from home!
IF your web pages don't work AND your e-mail doesn't work:
FOR DIAL UP ACCOUNTS:
Restart the computer and any other equipment by shutting it TOTALLY
down, not just a REBOOT. Leave everything off for 2 minutes.
Then start up your computer again, make sure no other programs are
running and then try to dial up again. If it still fails, write
down all error messages that appear. Have this info ready to give
the HelpDesk Technician: Your ISP, Your CITY, Your Name, If you are
Dialup or DSL, you will need to know your user name and Password.
FOR DSL/HIGH SPEED ACCOUNTS:
If you haven't done this before you call, we'll probably ask you to do a
10-10 Reboot. What's that you ask. You need to shut down
ALL your equipment and then disconnect the electricity from your
computer, any routers, hubs or switches that you have in the line, AND
the DSL Modem box that you have. Everything needs to be
OFF/UNPLUGGED for 10 minutes. THEN restore power ONLY to the DSL
Modem box and wait another 10 minutes. (hence the name of this
routine) after that 2nd 10 minutes, restore power to all the other
equipment and then boot up your computer. Believe it or not in
about 50% of the cases, this will solve your problem! If
not, that's the time to call the help desk, tell us what you've done,
and we can get right on to getting you going again!
TOP
Please block all the adult
content on my computer. I don't want my kids to be able to see
that.
First of all let me assure you, we at the helpdeskguys and your
ISP's take this very seriously. We all have kids and because we're
a lot farther along on this internet thing, we've been through these
problems years ago. Let me tell you my experiences. I grew
up on a farm near Crookston Minnesota. The Lutheran churches are
downtown on the same city block. Also right downtown was (and
still is) probably the coolest candy/fountain cokes/news
paper/magazine/variety store to be found. As a way to supplement
their meager income back then there were some magazines that sure
weren't for the eyes of a 12 or 14 year old boy, but on Sunday mornings
between Church and Sunday School the place was FULL of kids and adults.
It was easy to grab the magazines and take a peek before the proprietor
gave you the evil eye and you knew you were in trouble. Most every
middle school boy took their share of quick glimpses as we were
discovering who we were in this universe. Well guess what...kids
today don't have to sneak a peek at the local variety store, it's right
in front of them ALL THE TIME. Whether it's cable TV, DVD copies
that they exchange, or yes, going to adult websites on the internet, the
choices are many. And here's the bad news, the solutions are FEW!
People out there might tell you that there is software that will block
this kind of content. Will it? Yes some of it, but not even
close to all of it. If you think that you can purchase a piece of
software to do this job, well you're right where your kids want you.
IN DENIAL. The first thing that I ask parents when they call and
tell me that they have evidence that their child was visiting these
sites is, "WHERE IS THE COMPUTER IN YOUR HOUSE?" and 99 times out
of a hundred the answer is, "in my child's bedroom." Suggestion
#1 GET THAT COMPUTER OUT IN A PUBLIC SPACE IN YOUR HOUSE!
Share the time that your kids are on the internet with them. AND
remember, there is a high chance that they got to some of these sites
totally innocently! They might be doing a search for something in
school and all of a sudden these pages will POP UP and they're almost
impossible to stop sometimes. This is a GREAT MOMENT for you
to have conversations with your kids about the internet, what you expect
of them in using the internet, and what they should do if this happens.
I believe that I've save more than a few young boys from getting really
severely punished. The folks have called up very angry cause their
child's computer has evident that they've been visiting these sites.
The youth totally denies having gone to any sites with adult content and
they may be telling the truth! Got a daughter doing a report on
breast cancer? If she searches for that, watch out, you don't know
what kind of results might come back. Totally innocent kids can be
blamed for all sorts of things but remember, the web pages you visit can
sometimes take control of your computer and make it do all sorts of
crazy things. Please give your child the benefit of the doubt,
give us a call, we'll try to find a workable solution for you.
TOP
Why do I have to do the PING
test? Can't you do it from your end?
Think of the internet as a highway (this is why they call it a SUPER
HIGHWAY). From your house, to let's say a web page in New York
called newyork.com there's a "path." As an aside that path could
be copper wire, radio waves through the air, a signal going down a cable
TV like coax, or even light beams turning on and off in a fiber optic
cable. I just did a trace route test between me and
newyork.com and today this is the path of my signal. This is like
a traveling PING test where it stops at each router along the way and
exchanges information, a PING just like in a submarine when they
use Sonar. 
Let's interpret what we see. I'll be referring to the
numbers/lines that start with 1 to 15 on the left. The next three
columns are only of interest as they describe the milliseconds or
thousands of a second that it took to get a response from the ROUTER or
"toll both" along the super highway. Each of these TOLL BOOTHS can
only talk to the the neighboring TOLL BOOTH and your signal actually
gets from one place to another like buckets in a fire brigade.
Each router (toll booth) takes information from a router on it's left
and passes it along to a router on it's right. Once it has a
signal from the next router that the receiving bucket is accurate, it
forgets what it did and waits for the next bucket of information to come
it's way. Believe it or not all of these routers between me in
Minnesota and the website called newyork.com (15 of them) are able to do
this in as little as 106 thousands of a second. Let's look down
the list called a TRACERT (stands for trace route) First or line 1
the route went to the router that's here at the helpdeskguys, 172.16.2.1
and you can see that my computer and our router were able to communicate
at a speed faster then 1 thousands of a second. Then at line 2 it
talked to our radio. We have what's called a WIRELESS connection
to the internet and so our signal travels through the air about 5 miles
over to a big tall radio tower. Line 3 is the router where all the
signals from the big tall radio tower are gathered together and sent by
fiber optic cable to the incoming router in Halstad Minnesota which is
Line 4. There it's send to an even faster cable and makes its way
down to minneapolis on line 6. At line seven my signal actually
gets on the system that is the INTERNET as it makes its way across
Minneapolis. See the MSP1 in the line. Then in 8 we're ovv
to CHIcago. Then in 9, 10, 11, 12 we're moving through New York
state and New York City. Finally at 13 we are coming down from the
internet and going into the system where newyork.com is hosted, then it
moves to the actual computer hard drive, 14, where the website is
located and finally at 15 it is at the IP# of the hard drive of the
computer that is actually there to feed out the web pages to you.
So a TRACERT is sort of like a traveling PING TEST asking each router
along the way to identify itself and send back information about how
long it takes the signal to travel between my computer and that router.
TOP
How do
I do a PING test?
NOW, let's look at a test called a PING TEST where we individually send
a signal to a computer/router and ask for a reply. I just
did a ping test from my computer to what I know to be the computer at my
internet service provider. You can see that I have it the command
PING 206.10.30.100. It sent that request out on the line and when
it successfully made contact with that router/computer on the other end,
it then exchanged 32 bytes (characters) of data with it and the fact
that we get 4 lines that start with REPLY is the proof of that.
 If we get any other
message such as SERVER NOT FOUND or REQUEST TIMED OUT or any other
kind of fail message then we have a problem. IF you have a high
speed connection (DSL/CABLE/WIRELESS) then we are going to try 3
different ping tests. The first is trying to ping YOUR
PERSONAL IP NUMBER. This is a number that is very important that
you know and have written down! When we try to ping that we are
either pinging the IP number that's placed in your network card that is
in your computer OR the IP that's placed in your ROUTER if you have a
multiple computer setup. If we don't get a successful ping REPLY
then for sure there's a problem at your end that needs fixing. If
you are able to ping your own IP # and get four replies (like the
example above) then try to ping your DEFAULT GATEWAY. This
is usually a number that is 1 digit less than your IP#. For
example if your IP number is 10,10.32.123 then your Gateway should
be 10.10.32.122. (this rule does not apply to GVTEL customers) This is the KEY element in our test. If you
can PING your GATEWAY number and get 4 replies like you did with the
ping of your IP# then we are pretty confident of two things. #1
your computer is set up correctly and #2 your connection provided
by the ISP is also working correctly. Most times we'll be
able to ping the IP# just fine and not the GATEWAY. When this
happens, we are at the end of what we can do for you at the help desk.
At that time there is only 1 more thing to try. and that's a MAJOR
REBOOT. (new info as of 2005 - some PESKY software firewalls will
also cause the situation of being able to ping everywhere BUT NOT BE ON
THE INTERNET - quick fix SHUT THEM OFF) That means turning off your computer in the normal
fashion and then pulling the power to any routers, hubs, switches, you
have AND also to the DSL or HIGH SPEED modem box if it's in your
physical space. PLUS and this is the key. You need to
disconnect the cable that is plugged into your computer's NIC (network
interface card). For some reason leaving that plugged in, there is
still enough electricity coming down the wire to maintain a false
instruction in that card. ONLY by shutting off, pulling power AND
disconnecting this cable do we have a chance that things might come
back. That's why we can work with a computer for a long time
and not get it working. The customer disconnects the box, takes it
to a service center and it works fine! It was that
disconnect that did the final reset to make everything work again.
If we do that complete MAJOR REBOOT and that does not solve the problem,
then our only alternative is to turn a trouble ticket into the ISP and
they will have to reset the connection from within their offices, or
replace/repair some equipment between you and them!
TOP
Shutting off computer when not using? IF YOU HAVE
DSL/HIGH SPEED
The technician said that if I don't have a router I should leave my
computer on and logged in. WHY? If you have a DSL/High Speed
Connection you want to leave your computer on and logged it. If
you shut it off, after a while the computer at the other end of the
wires (at your ISP) thinks you're no longer active and shuts down.
Sometimes it's hard to wake it up again. Ironically this always
seems to happen about 8pm on a Friday nite. Here at the help desk,
we have NO way to "wake up" your DSL connection if this should happen to
you, and so you'll be without the internet till the staff at your ISP
returns to work. If it's a holiday weekend that could be the next
Tuesday! So there's 2 choices for the best situation. Our
personal choice is that you purchase a small box called a ROUTER.
They sell for between 40 and 90 dollars at most retailers. Then we
need to set in all those IP numbers that we had put into your computer,
INTO the ROUTER...AND remove them from your computer. At
that point the router acts like a computer that's alive and well on the
end of the line. It will always be talking to the computer at the
ISP end and has a way better shot of keeping your feed active 24/7.
Then you can turn your computer on and off as you wish on your end.
Another couple of benefits include that the ROUTER acts as a legitimate
firewall stopping all sorts of little bad things from getting into your
computer and also allows more than one computer at a time to be hooked
to the internet. So if a family member brings a laptop home from
school, they can add themselves easily to your internet service, WITHOUT
you having to unplug your computer. ALL IN ALL a VERY GOOD
CHOICE for uninterrupted internet fun!
TOP
IF YOU HAVE A DIALUP ACCOUNT
Feel free to turn your computer on and off as you like. DO
REMEMBER that if there is a lightning storm in the area, just shutting
your computer off WILL NOT aid in it's protection from Lightning.
Most Lightening strikes enter the computer through the PHONE LINE.
So a good idea if you hear lightning anywhere in the area, shut
down, unplug, AND disconnect from the phone line!
TOP
Outlook VS. Outlook Express VS. Webmail VS. other email programs.
TOP
What is the difference between my account name, user name and email
address
TOP
What is SPYWare? I thought I had an Anti-Virus
Program.
TOP
I have DSL why should I have a Router? What is a
router?
TOP
Why does the Help Desk ask me What kind of Windows
I'm running? and if I have Dialup or DSL or ?? shouldn't
they just know?
TOP
Why won't the Help Desk help me with my computer or
printer or network, the person at the ISP said to call you and you'd fix
my problem!
TOP
I don't want to upgrade my Windows 95
computer, why can't you make it work.
TOP
We've never
been hit by lightning here at the farm, why are you telling me that my
computer probably has been wounded by lightning?
TOP
Why are you telling me to take the modem cable direct and bypass the
surge protector I bought? The store told me I NEEDED TO run my
phone cable through this.
TOP
Why should I keep a form
with my username/password, IP Number?
TOP
Why can't I
use phone line splitters to add my computer on the line?
TOP
Why should I avoid FILE SHARING programs on my
computer?
TOP
Why can't I set up separate user names on a computer?
TOP
Why can't I set up a bunch of identities for my family in Outlook
Express?
TOP
I think my child is visiting adult websites, how can
I check? How can I stop it?
TOP
Why can't
I get my email on 2 different computers?
TOP
What can
I do if I get the message that my computer is not detecting my modem?
TOP
Dell/Gateway told me that the problem is with my ISP, and you tell me
it's with my computer. What am I supposed to do? First
of all BE ASSURED that we are NOT trying to get rid of you by blaming
someone else. If we give you that information we genuinely feel
that you have a problem with the hardware or software on your computer
that is beyond our responsibility or even our ability to fix.
Here's the PROOF. At ANY TIME we are happy to have a 3 way
conversation with your computer seller. Tell them when they try to
blame us, that you already know that we would be HAPPY to talk to them
and you (the customer) in a conversation and get to the bottom of this
situation. If they tell you they don't have the capability I would
suggest (if it's a major brand company) that they are fibbing, we do
this all the time with the biggies. Most of them will back off and
stop the BLAME GAME once you make this challenge and will start plotting
a solution, and again I REPEAT, we're happy to talk to them, with YOU on
the line and get right to the heart of why we're suggesting it's your
computer, rather than your ISP or internet connection that's causing the
problem.
TOP
Why is the Help Desk Technician Shouting at me? It seems like
he/she is mad.
Often we get calls back from the ISP's that a customer called and said
that they felt the helpdesk Technician was shouting at them, or that
they seems angry with them. First let me say, we're sorry that you
had that experience and that you feel that way. Let me tell you
just a little bit about this end of the help desk chain. Our guys
are sitting in an office room and there are many computers running each
with their own fan noise, and other people in other areas taking help
calls. THEN add to that the poor quality of some telephone
connections (especially cell phones) and it's really difficult to hear
on our end. The typical human reaction when you can't hear is to
raise your voice, but when a raised voice goes through the phone system,
it sounds like the person is shouting at you. I assure you, our
help desk technicians are not shouting at you, if they were, they
wouldn't last very long in their jobs. They're caring folks who
really do want to help you! They have many of the same qualities
that good health care professionals have. So if it feels like
they're shouting at you, feel free to tell them that it feels that way
to you, and maybe they can figure out a way that they can get a better
voice connection between you and them! Often if we call you back,
it improves the quality significantly!
TOP
Why won't the Help Desk change my password without
the 3rd Degree of Questions?
TOP
When I call the Help
Desk at 11pm they answer but the man won't help me with my computer
problem. WHY?
TOP
Why does the Help Desk Guy
want the error message that goes along with ERROR 720 or ERROR 694?
TOP
Why do I have to wait for a callback when I call the Help Desk, why
won't they help me right away?
TOP
Why do I have to be in front of the computer for you
to help me, just fix it for me!
TOP
I get the message,
"One of the Recipients was rejected" when I try to send email.
TOP
Why is my USERNAME different than my EMail address
TOP
Why won't the helpdeskguys help me change my registry settings.
Microsoft has some advice about changing registry settings.
| WARNING: If you use Registry Editor
incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to
reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you
can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor
incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. |
Any help pages that involve changing the registry
include the following DISCLAIMER from Microsoft. Please read it
carefully. There is a HIGH CHANCE that changing the registry will
cause the machine to completely shut down, it might cause you to LOOSE
everything on your hard drive. This is a function better done by a
QUALIFIED TECHNICIAN sitting in front of your machine. AT NO
TIME CAN someone at HELPDESKGUYS help you in changing your registry
settings.
TOP
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