Slow start on summer activities.

By now I was hoping to have setup a few seminars and have a few members in our list. But life sometimes has other plans. No worries, Keocug isn't dead, just taking a little longer to get started then initially planned. Keep checking back for updates, if all goes well I am hoping to setup a workshop/seminar sometime in the next few months. Just have to get stuff together and figure out a good time to do it.

Jei

Summer is on the way!

Before we know it summer will be blazing down on us with hot summer days and warm nights. So far the group has been going pretty slow, mostly due to a new addition in the family and a great deal of time not sitting in front of the computer. With luck this summer we will be able to have at least a few events. In the mean time the Keocug E-mags are popping out at regular intervals for now. Issue 1 for March has already been put up and Issue2 for April is coming together.

Stay tuned for updates and feel free to email your suggestions for future issues or ideas to us.

Winter storm got you stuck in the house?

Winter got you bummed? Drive way still full of snow? Counting down the days till a warm day should arrive? Put some of that idle time to good use by helping Keocug and the Keokuk Hackerspace gain ground. For either of these groups to exist we need support and members. After almost a month of trying to get people interested in Keocug with little effect I have decided to combine Keocug and Keokuk Hackerspace (no official name as of yet) in hopes of gaining more members for both. So far the hackerspace has no members since we first really need a place to operate out of. Keocug can operate from almost any room in any place or strictly over the net. This summer I'll be asking local businesses for support and advertising help to get Keocug on the move. Along with this I may also contact the Keokuk Mall owners to see if they would be able to help on a space. A lot of this depends on the amount of time I will have available to me. We have another child coming in less then a month so I'm sure i'll be busy some of the time, but I doubt it should interfere with either group to a point of having to drop them.

Help us get members and spread the word, I have plans to possibly start a youtube channel for them once summer gets here (videos are just not that fun to make when its cold). Also possibly some small events to get people together. Again all depends on time, but I have no plans in abandoning either project anytime soon.

Jeff.

So you want to work with computers and get paid?

First off let me start by saying this post has nothing to do with any one person(s). Over the last 15+ years I have had countless people ask me about getting hired somewhere to work on computers. There is nothing wrong with this and by all means it's fantastic so many people share an interest in computers and want to expand their knowledge while getting compensated for it.

However, there is a catch. Most "repair shops" now days want more then just an eager geek who like playing with computers. At minimum most places are going to want one of two things if not more.

• Certification: It use to be that having your MSCE cert would get you any job in the IT world you wanted. But in the 21st century many companies are realizing that these certs only prove that you have the ability to read and memorize information about one specific computer area (Microsoft Windows). Little to no hardware knowledge is acquired from an MSCE and even less in the realms of mixed networking or other operating systems. Now days having A+, Network+, or Security+ certs mean more in many cases.
• Work experience: It's hard to get experience when everyone wants you to posses prior experience. This is where entry level jobs come in handy. Start off as customer support / tech support for a company and work your way up. Over the years you will gain more knowledge about real world scenarios then you will from any text book.

But lets say your like me and feel certifications are a waste of money and self taught experience is just as valuable as work experience. What do you do? First you need to build your skills to match the job your looking to fill. The rest of this post will focus on Computer repair and general networking. The field of computer and IT is so broad it would take a very thick book to explain all the areas you can get into. In fact many books have been written on the subjects.

Computer repair shops are a generic name I use to describe a business that does many things but advertise "repair" as their main form of income.

The nitty gritty:

I have worked for three computer shops, one ISP, and was a substitute teacher at Vatterotte College's Computer and Technology class. So needless to say I have seen a lot of action in the computer repair world. But basics are basics and you will need to at least understand the basics before you can even consider asking someone to pay you for your services.

To start off with baby steps you will first need to know how to install an operating system and its drivers. Many vendors now days offer "Recovery Disks" which is a disk or group of disks that contains the operating system as it was originally installed form the factory. These disks usually do not require any knowledge to get them working. You put the disk in the drive turn on the computer and away it goes doing all the work for you. Although they make life easier for the average user, these disks can create a headache for someone wanting to expand their knowledge. To get a real feel for installing an operating system you need the bare-bones OEM or store bought operating system. These disks do not come with any drivers specific to the system your using and will require you to download drivers for possibly every component of your system. This would include but not limited to chipset drivers from motherboard manufacturer, sound drivers, video drivers, network card drivers, modem drivers (ewww modems), and also drivers for any external devices such as printers, cameras, etc.

As a side note, using a cracked copy of an operating system that is loaded with gigs of driver packs, applications, and extras is also not going to teach you how to truly install and OS.

Once you get the basics of installing an OS from a bare-bone start your on your way. In fact you have just took the first step of many.

Now its time to learn about the software side of repair. Computer repair is like painting, you'll find a dozen ways of doing the same thing and each way will have its pros and cons. As a tech you will need to keep a constant eye out for new tools and learn how and in what situation they are best suited. Just carrying around a flash drive of 10 or so applications is not going to fix every problem you come across. In fact at one time I carried two 16Gig flash drives with me and still found myself constantly adding tools to them. One drive contained bootable images the other software that could be installed on the problem system.

Most shops will neglect copyright laws and software terms of service agreements in light of removing the software from a customers computer before returning it. The idea is that if the customer doesn't know it was there it wasn't there. And shops can collect money for using free applications to fix issues. However, this can become a doubled edge sword. Only having a knowledge of free applications developed for Home / Non-commercial use can leave you in a bind when applying for a job with a company that keeps tabs on using only legal software. This is where the long journey begins of downloading trials of programs like Anti-virus, Data recovery, and an endless list of other tools. Don't fear though, this is also where learning about open source applications can come in handy. Many open source projects are released for commercial use with no additional fees. Knowing this information and being able to produce a list of applications as proof, with a good understanding of how they work can impress an employer and possibly be the difference between a "Thanks for coming we will call you in a few days" and a "Well it sounds like you have a lot of knowledge and skills we could use, lets talk more next week".

On top of the extra applications you will need from the Internet or provided by the repair shop itself (Yes some shops actually pay for licenses to use certain applications in their business), You will also need to familiarize yourself with built in tools of one if not many operating systems.

Questions time:

• What key would you press to enter the boot options menu of Microsoft Windows?

If you had to think for a long period of time or had to search the net for it, thats a good sign your not quit ready. As one of the most used procedures in fixing windows based system knowing how to gain access to and properly choose the right boot menu options is going to be the key to a possible quick repair and a long research session costing both the company and customer money.

If you answered F8 your one step closer to being "shop" ready.

• What boot option is used to remove viruses like koobface and Fake Security center?

Even though this seams like a very specific question its not. Many viruses / malware will infect a system and make it near impossible to do anything when booted into the desktop in a normal fashion. CTR+ALT+DEL will either not work or bring up a message about files being infected, task manager is often disabled, and trying to access or run built in and third party tools proves impossible. So again if your scratching your head or answered "Safe Mode" you still have a little homework to do.

Why not safe mode? Well safe mode in many cases becomes more of a hassle then help. Many tools are disabled, and no internet or network connection can be established.

For these types of issues the best choice to try before breaking out the bootable tools is "Safe mode with networking" and yes there is a big difference between the two. In this mode not only will a bare minimal set of services be started but nic drivers and network services are also loaded. Meaning after you modify run and services entries in the registry or msconfig you will be able to update and run those anti-malware apps.

• Have you ever used msconfig, regedit, or sysedit?

Again answering no to any of the above may show you need to brush up a little on some areas. These three tools (along with many others) are the key to many hand fixed problems. Using these tools you can add or remove services from startup, adjust system settings, view configuration details and change almost anything system wide. At minimum you should at least know what these tools can do.

• Are you comfortable with the command line?

More then one tech-wannabe has touted a big yarn on their superior skills only to be left out in the cold when faced with a black screen and a blinking cursor. Knowing how to move around directories, move and copy files, edit files, and even modifying the registry from the command line is a skill that is slowly dying away as OS developers try to make operating system more user friendly. That doesn't mean having this knowledge is useless. Many cases may call for you to work on an older system where these skills may be the difference between getting paid or losing a customer.

• Do you understand the difference between explorer.exe and Internet explorer?

This is THE area that lost all respect for certification in the Microsoft world for me. It was the late 90's and most computers where running windows 98. I was still working for a local ISP when a guy calls up very angry that his system would not get online. Long story short he had a virus that had infected explorer.exe. When I asked him to edit a file to change explorer.exe to progman.exe so we could backup some data, he snapped and said he didn't use Internet Explorer. This was the key turning point for me that just because someone has a big name cert does not mean they are qualified then someone without one.

Explorer.exe is a shell used by Microsoft Windows, it is the base of the graphical desktop you see each and every time you turn your computer on. However explorer.exe is not the only shell windows will run. Most versions of windows also come with an alternate shell called progman.exe which was the base shell of windows for workgroups back in the early 90 late 80's. You can even download alternate shells from websites like shellcity. Knowing these suttle differences in system files versus program names is a big oversight by many people who call them selves experts. It't not always useful knowledge but it can be usable knowledge.

• Do you now how to access control panel features when control panel does not work?

Another off the wall question with a very real world reason. Its not uncommon for the Control Panel to become unusable. Its nothing more then a group of shortcut icons to other applications. These apps usually end in .msc and knowing where they are and how to run them can prove very handy. If you said no to this one don't worry this is one of those things that comes out of necessity not requirement.

The list goes on and on for software. Basically if you can sit down at a computer that has been infected with a nasty virus, and have access to another clean computer with Internet and can quickly fix the issue (Quickly in the computer biz being as much as a day) without having to ask people to walk you through steps, you have a good start.

The hardware side:

Hardware is one of those areas I don't get caught up in remembering chip names, version numbers, or other bits of info that really don't boil down to anything useful. I have met people who can name off the entire Pentium chip family and their code names but can't install a hard drive. Bottom line don't waste time remembering processor speeds of specific chips, or code names of parts. When it comes down to it a processor does the same thing no matter what brad or speed it is. The same goes for RAM, Hard drives, and motherboards.

Now lets take a look at some general questions to see if your hardware-fu is at least existent.

• Can you tell the difference or know what IDE / SATA / SCSI drives are?

This all comes back to the days of learning shapes and colors. Many times people call me up frantic because they unplugged all the cables from their computer and don't know where they go. In most cases everything has it's own shape and will only fit in one spot (with the exception of PS/2 Keyboard and mice) and many times the connections on the outside of the system are color coded.

IDE drives usually have 40 pins and connect to a 40 or newer standard 80pin cables.

SATA drives have flat connectors and use much smaller cables (Generic color RED)

SCSI cables are usually long and used primarily in servers. SCSI drives are going away in light of faster more stable SATA and SSD drives. (SSD = Solid State Drive)

Knowing the names can be helpful, and knowing the connectors can save embarrassing when ordering new parts. Especially with SCSI there are a few different connectors and it can be an expensive mistake to buy one type when you need another.

With IDE drives the biggest thing is jumper settings and where the drives need to be connected on the cable. Now days most drives are set to cable select, which means the computer figures out which drive is Master and which are Slaves. This does make a difference. If you install Windows on a Master drive then move that drive to a slave position you may end up with a non-bootable system till the drive is put back.

• Can you tell the difference between types of ram?

This is one of those areas again that you shouldn't worry too much about. Most times ram has stickers that tell you what type they are. They also have different notch configurations, and different number of pins. You may however, need to know how to find out what type of ram you have and what the max amount of ram a system can handle. Customers get upset when you sell them 4gig or ram and their system only supports 2.

Well this could go on all day, like I said these are basic and general knowledge most places will want you to know. Along with all the above your would-be employer is probably going to want you to know some basics on networking and maybe even other areas like printers, Point of Sale systems, databases, web development.....again this list goes on and on.

In many cases you can learn as you go, but it help to have a good foundation before starting. The IT world outside your house can be a lot more complicated then one inside a business or customers house. Another note: Knowing only MS Windows will get you so far, having a basic knowledge of MAC and Linux / Unix / AS400 will get you even further.

Again this was not directed at one person(s) or written to offend anyone. Its a topic I have wanted to hit on for some time now. and I have in the past on other blogs. I feel that this is a good topic for the Keocug blog and readers should take away not that this article may have made you feel like there is too much to learn in computers, but more that computers have so much to offer us as geek, techs, and users that we can always learn more.

Logo Contest / Prize vote

Http://keocug.eli7.net has added a logo contest till the end of Jan 2011. Anyone can vote on what the prize can be by visiting our main page and clicking one of the options on the left hand side.

So far we are off to a slow start but it was expected. The area we are starting in tends to have a very slow trend for accepting new groups. But no worries, we will continue to update all of our pages, and continue to spread the word in hopes of brining new members into the group.

If all goes well we will have a decent meeting place by late summer and possibly setup an event at the local Keokuk Public Library.

The Birth of KeoCug

KeoCug is a blog for Keokuk Iowa Computer Users Group. Until the group grows we will be posting other geeky tidbits to keep you entertained.

KeoCug blog founder Jeff Richtman has always seen a need for computer lovers in SE Iowa to have a way they can share ideas and news without having to leave their homes or spend hours sitting around a meeting table.

Lets get the group started off right!