PC Mechanic, New Article

Universal USB Installer
Why You Shouldn’t Attempt An Optical Drive Repair
How To Set Your Computer To Reboot And Then Hibernate

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 03:30 AM PST

Installing a Linux distribution from USB stick is generally much easier than using a CD or DVD because while optical discs require a disc per distribution, USB sticks can simply be erased and used over again with any other distro you want.

The easiest way by far to make a bootable Linux distro USB stick is the Universal USB Installer. This is a Windows executable that requires no installation. Just download, click, choose your distro and go.

First, plug in your USB stick.

Second, run Universal USB Installer and choose your distribution:

If you opt to download the ISO directly, you will be prompted with this notice:

This will open up a browser tab to download the appropriate ISO for the distribution you selected.

Once the download is complete, click the Browse button, locate your ISO, then choose your USB stick’s drive letter and check the box to format the stick for you.

(Note: Make sure the drive letter selected is in fact the USB stick you want to use so you don’t format the wrong device.)

uui

After that, click Create. Follow the prompts and you’ll have your bootable USB Linux distribution ready-to-go in just minutes.

Get Universal USB Installer here: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Universal USB Installer

Why You Shouldn’t Attempt An Optical Drive Repair

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 03:00 AM PST

optical_drive It could be argued that next to case fans, the optical drive on most computers is the first thing to stop working over time. It is, after all, a moving mechanical part, and anything that moves will usually always fail first.

When it comes to optical drives, I don’t recommend attempting to fix them because they’re cheap to replace given the fact they’re widely available for under 20 dollars.

If you do dare an attempt at fixing an optical drive, you’ll be cussing and swearing the most at just trying to get the stupid thing apart. While construction is similar between nearly all optical drives, each differing make/model has different points of chassis removal; some are easy while others are ridiculously difficult to work with.

Here is a video of someone showing the entire process of taking apart an optical drive, performing a simple laser lens cleaning and then putting the unit back together. If after watching it you say to yourself, "Screw that", believe me, you’re not alone. You need a lot of patience and steady hands to attempt a repair like this – which is in no way guaranteed to work, by the way.

Some notes on optical drive manual tray ejecting

In the video it’s said you need to eject the tray before performing the work. This is not necessary. You can manually eject the tray by inserting a paper clip into the smaller hole under it. In the image above, to the right you will see an eject button, headphone port and directly above that port is a very small hole. That’s the manual-eject. Once pushed in via the paper clip, the tray will eject just enough to where you can take your hand and pull the tray out the rest of the way slowly.

Knowing how to manually eject a standard-sized optical drive tray is always good to know, because if you ever encounter an optical drive that’s "fussy" and will not eject no matter what you do, you can shut down the computer and manually eject to remove the disc.

You should only use manual eject when the computer is powered off. If you try it when powered on, the worst case scenario is that while pulling the tray out by hand, the drive will detect itself being opened, attempt to close the tray and you’ll rip the front plate cover right off.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Why You Shouldn’t Attempt An Optical Drive Repair

How To Set Your Computer To Reboot And Then Hibernate

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 05:00 AM PST

I am a huge fan of using hibernation over a system shutdown when I am done using the computer for the very simple reason that I can immediately pick up the next day right where I left off. When you do a system shutdown, not only does your system take longer to start up, all of your open programs and files have to be re-opened. On the other hand, resuming from hibernation typically takes significantly less time to get your system to where it is ready to use.

Of course, reboots are often necessary for either program installations, Windows Updates or just every now and then to get a clean start. So to get the best of both worlds, the freeware application Boot Snooze can help:

This simple app will:
Give you a choice to reboot and go into standby or hibernation.
It will then reboot your computer.
After the reboot, a small dialog with a countdown timer will begin.
After the timer is up, your computer will be put into the mode you chose.

This way, you can reboot your system at night and then have the quick recovery time of a hibernation or system standby in the morning.

This utility also features a command line interface so you can automate the process as needed.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

How To Set Your Computer To Reboot And Then Hibernate