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DEL.ICIO.USGeekboy’s mailbag: DNS woes, parenting advice and drunken llamas
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Geekboy has returned from vacation and found a full e-mail bag. Let’s see if we can help some folks cure their computer ills.
DNS WOES
Q: Every once in a while when I am using using the Internet I get an error that says something like “Cannot open page.” I try later and it works. What’s going on? – A. Lau, Stone Mountain.
A: Sounds like a temporary Domain Name Server problem with your Internet Service Provider. I have had this problem with Comcast and here is how I solved the intermittent problem. If you don’t have this problem, don’t take these steps!
A Domain Name Server basically translates URLs (like www.ajc.com) into something computers understand – numbers — specifically IP addresses, which points your browser to the web server you want to connect to.
Geekboy usually employs the DNS of his ISP as the primary DNS server and a top level domain server as his secondary.
How do you change your secondary DNS to point to a top level domain server?
If you use Windows XP do the following:
1) Go to Control Panel-Network Connections and select your local network
2) Click Properties, then select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
3) Click Properties
4) Click the button that says “Use the following DNS server addresses” and enter the IP of your ISP’s DNS server as the primary and 4.2.2.2 as the secondary. You may have to call Comcast or whoever your ISP is to get the IP of their DNS server.
Other good-to-know top level DNS servers can be found at:
4.2.2.3
4.2.2.4
4.2.2.5
4.2.2.6
PARENTING ADVICE
Q: My kids keep downloading programs that cause pop-ups. It’s making using my computer very frustrating. How do I get rid of the pop-ups? — M. Turner, Atlanta.
A: It depends on what particular spyware you are infected with. Here is how I would go about ridding my Windows machine of spyware. It should work in most cases.
Note: The following programs are all free.
1) Download Ad-Aware (spyware remover) http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/
2) Download Spybot S&D (spyware remover) http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
3) Download Registry Mechanic http://www.pctools.com/registry-mechanic/
3) Reboot in Safe Mode with Networking (click F8 button while restarting)
4) Run Ad-Aware
5) Run Spybot S&D
6) Run Registry Mechanic
7) Go to Housecall and scan your system for good measure. http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
8) Reboot and see what happens.
Good luck! You should make your kids fix the problems they create, or get them a crummy computer to destroy. That’s the first and hopefully last parenting advice I will offer.
DRUNKEN LLAMAS
Q: What laptop do you suggest? What do you use? – P. Guthrie, Decatur
A: I own a few laptops, the newest being a Sony Vaio.
My lawyer suggested I not suggest particular products and I suggested he grow a spine.
Most laptops built today are pretty decent, but for the typical user I suggest a Dell. They are unspectacular, but cheap, durable and good. I have owned two and both lasted until I gave them away. The 166mhz Latitude is still kicking I hear.
I suggest a minimum 512mb of memory, so make sure you get that, otherwise XP will run slower than a drunken llama, if such a thing exists.
If you are a gamer, you will likely need a video card upgrade as well.
Apple laptops are also nice, and, if you are not tied to Windows-only software, make a good choice, but they are pretty pricey.
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