You’ve purchased a new desktop and installed on it is Windows 7. You get it home, get it all set up and your final step is to install your printer. You plug in your printer and insert your cd (if you still have it) that came with the printer to do the setup. The cd says it’s not compatible with Windows 7, so you figure you can go to the manufacturer website and download the drivers. Great idea. You get to the site and no drivers are available for  your model, it just says divers are “in-OS“. What? Your computer can see the printer but refuses to install the driver, if the drivers are in-OS then why aren’t they automatically coming up? As you bang your head against the desk in sheer frustration your final desperate move is to turn to the web. Surely someone out there has the answer right?

Hp.com does have a very helpful video to walk you through how to turn on the automatic update option for driver installation which will in fact search through all the windows updates to find the one that has your in-OS drivers. Here’s a quick walk through of how to do it:

• On the taskbar, click the Windows icon ( ).
• In the Search Programs and Files box , type change device installation .
• Click Change device installation settings . The Device Installation Settings window opens.
• If it is not already selected, select Yes, do this automatically (recommended) , and then click Save Changes .
• NOTE:     Windows 7 might prompt you to restart the computer. Make sure that you bookmark this page so that you can quickly access it again.

This time when you go to add your printer you will get a dialog saying “checking automatic updates. this may take awhile” and it may take a few minutes but if your device says the drivers are in-OS it will find them. Happy printing everyone!

We see click jacking most affecting users by means of introducing viruses to their systems. A user will click on a button and then a pop-up will say they need to download Product A’s anti-virus software to make sure they don’t have any viruses. Most folks panic when it comes to viruses and will download the product even though the product itself ends up being the virus.

Prevention fro click jacking can be tricky and should really be designed into a website by the coder or developer. There are some add-on’s out there to help with it but nothing really main stream and one hundred percent fail proof. Our main rule of thumb in these cases is if you didn’t go looking for it, don’t click on it or download it and as always make sure your anti-virus software is up to date and working.

Disclaimer. The information contained in this post is provided ‘as is’ without warranty of any kind. The entire risk as to the results and the performance of the information is assumed by the user, and in no event shall CCI Computer Services be liable for any consequential, incidental or direct damages suffered in the course of using the information in this post.

2. Move the router off the floor and keep it as far as possible from walls and metal objects. Metal, walls and floors wreak havoc with your router’s wireless signal. The more of these obstacles your router needs to punch through to reach your notebook, the worse the interference, and the slower your connection will be.

3. Place your router (or access point) in a central location in the office. If your wireless router is at one end of the office (or your home), the signal will have farther to go to reach the other end. Using a central spot splits the difference.

4. Check your wireless channel, and change it if necessary. Wireless routers use one of 11 possible channels to broadcast. If another wireless network nearby happens to be broadcasting on the same channel your router is using, both networks will experience severe loss of range and power. You can use the wireless software on your notebook to find out how many wireless networks are active in the area, and which channels each is using. If you discover that another network is using the same channel as your router, log into the router via your browser and use its built-in configuration screen to select an unused channel. Chances are your signal strength will improve significantly. (You don’t need to adjust your notebook; it’s designed to automatically detect the network’s new channel.)

5. Invest in a wireless repeater. Wireless repeaters (or access points) extend your wireless network’s range with no need to install additional wiring.

6. Update your router’s firmware and your network adapter’s drivers. Hardware vendors are always upgrading and improving their wireless equipment to increase range and performance — and most of those upgrades are free. Check for new firmware updates at your router manufacturer’s Web site, as well as the site of your wireless adapter card. Microsoft also updates the drivers that Windows uses to communicate with your network adapter. To get those updates, visit Microsoft Update and click “Hardware, Optional.”

7. Reduce wireless interference. Cordless phones, microwave ovens, and other wireless electronics in your home or office can interfere with your wireless network. To improve reception, look for cordless phones and other electronics that use the 5.8 GHz or 900 MHz frequencies. They won’t interfere.

8. Use equipment from a single vendor. While every router will work pretty well with every network adapter (assuming their respective flavors of 802.11 are compatible), you will often get better performance if you match a router and network adapter from the same vendor. Some vendors like Linksys offer a boost of up to twice the performance when you use their hardware exclusively.