Windows XP 2002 Continued

So I was able to get in contact with the customer. I discovered that her main problem was not being able to use her web browser due to excessive amounts of advertisements that would pop up on her screen. I diagnosed a virus and sure enough there was one. It has since been removed.

The next line of action is to ensure that the operating system is fully updated. Once this has been done, I will defragment her hard drive and run a disk cleaner to ensure that all unnecessary files are removed an no longer using her valuable usage space. In addition I will see what services run on her computer automatically and turn off any services that are unnecessary, also to ensure her computer runs a little bit faster.

Windows XP 2002 Repair

Yesterday we received a machine from a woman who needs our assistance fixing her computer. She has a Dell Dimension 8200 with Windows XP 2002. She has complained that it is just not running as efficiently as she thinks it should. The solution to this issue that we have come up with is to retrieve all of her data from the machine and then reinstall the operating system.

As I began trying to figure out how much data she had, I discovered that she has two hard drives. One of her hard drives is her main hard drive that she appears to be using. It has approximately 3.5 GB of data. Her other hard drive has only 65MB of data on it. The plan is to move all of her data to the alternate hard drive and then to give her a call and find out exactly what it is that she needs done.

As Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft (meaning they no longer update it) it is a security risk for her to have Windows XP. My concern with upgrading her operating system is that she may not adapt well to the change. From what I saw, all of her programs and services she currently has are supported by Windows XP; however the settings and setup of a newer version of Windows may not be the best option for her. I will call her and find out.

Third Quarter

During the third quarter I will be studying for my Network+ certification.

What I hope to produce during this quarter is in fact that certification.

Network+

I recently began studying for my Network+ certification exam. I have begun to read the book and ask questions of my peers to further understand the material.

My study plan for this book is to do a quick read through of the book itself. While I am doing this I will take notes, and make flashcards of the review questions, as well as any new vocabulary terms that the author has provided.

So far I have read Chapter 1 ( An overview of the book), Chapter 2 ( an overview of Network Models), Chapter 3 ( various types of network cables and network topologies), and Chapter 4 ( the basics of understanding Ethernet).

Old Projects Are Done Projects

Yesterday, I completed updating the final set of OLPCs. Apparently, I been using the wrong set of instructions.

Today, the laptops for HILT were completed.

The next project to be completed is unknown at this point in time but hopefully over the weekend, I can think of one.

OLPC Update Cont'd

Rather than begin with installing the missing drivers on the HILT Laptops, I began by updating the OLPCs. I went with the install option from a USB drive rather than an online update. I found that the firmware on both OLPCs was out of date causing an issue with updating the Sugar image (it will not install). To fix this issue, I needed to update it using a USB drive; however, I found that these particular OLPCs were secured. What secured basically means is that the operating system includes a developer key. As I do not have the developer key, I needed to find an option to update without it. This required holding down the '✓' (check) game pad key until prompted to release it. At this point, the OLPC begins to update the firmware.


After updating the firmware, I attempted to update the Sugar image. Once again, it showed me a "boot failed" error message. I traced my steps once again and discovered I have the sugar image developed for the XO 1.5 rather than the image for XO 1.

Old Projects Are New Projects

Since returning from our holiday break, we have receieved news that our project from before the break would be extended. We encountered an issue that several of the drivers (i.e. wireless driver) were not included in the Windows XP for Students image we had previously installed on the laptops for the HILT students. As a result, we are now in the process of manually installing the drivers on 40+ laptops.

In addition, we gained new partners in organizing the lab. From this new addition we discovered two more OLPCs that need to be updated and sent to Africa. These XOs will be flashed to avoid encountering any login issues.