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Since 1976
722 37th Street South
Birmingham AL - 35222
(205) 251-5966
 Lyons Computers: Lyons Safari


Turbulence in Tech Industry Durable Link to this entry

Two recent announcements call for grave concerns in our industry.

First is the announcement from HP that it will exit PC business.

The Second is that Google will discontinue a whole range of products.

OK, so nobody wants to make hardware, nobody wants to write desktop apps, nobody wants to build tablets.. is this sign of a sinking industry, or just a sign of sinking economy?

Viewed 1327 Times
Date Blogged: 9/5/2011


Alert: Phone Scam from India Durable Link to this entry

A number of customers have reported that they get a phone call from India that refers to them my their name, spells their address, and say they are calling from Microsoft.

Then they say that the computer is infected and that they will "walk you through the steps", and at some time will ask for payment.

This is a SCAM. Please do not allow unauthorized persons access to your computer.

Links:
• Phone Scam Virus Removal Investigation by Guardian in UK
• Microsoft Doesn't Make Unsolicited Calla


Viewed 1903 Times
Date Blogged: 7/8/2011


Misc Server Parts Durable Link to this entry

320974-001 -- Power Switch Assembly for HP Server -- $79.00
406592-001 -- HP 2M SAS Cable -- $79.00
407303--001 -- Power Switch Assembly -- $19.99

Viewed 2601 Times
Date Blogged: 5/10/2011


How to Enable Secret Admin in Win7 Durable Link to this entry

  • Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
  • In the search results list, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator.
  • When you are prompted by User Account Control, click Continue.
  • At the command prompt, type net user administrator /active:yes and then press ENTER.
  • Type exit, and then press ENTER.
  • Log off the current user account.


Viewed 2826 Times
Date Blogged: 4/6/2011


How We Cured the LizaMoon Infection Durable Link to this entry

This entry doesn't elaborate on preventing further attacks --just how to recover from the attack -- especially if you do not have a healthy backup.

If you have a healthy backup, that is preferred and risk-free way.

Early today, Google's algorithms detected that one of our customer's site was carrying malware. It took our techs a couple of hours to detect the malware as it was a very big site -- there is no readymade software that can detect it --but we detected the signature. Later we were told that millions of sites experienced the same attack.

Our programmers then wrote a stored procedure for SQL server that parsed each row and each column of the database looking for symptoms.

Strangely, the failed attempts were harder to remove because the signature was incomplete

Viewed 3438 Times
Date Blogged: 4/1/2011


HP Printer Passwords Durable Link to this entry

11420002 -- HP Service Menu Password for HP 4200

09425004 -- HP Service Menu Password for 4250

We can't remember all these passwords, so we are documenting for fellow technicians.

By the way, if you need good HP technicians (Server, Notebook or Printers), please call us at 251-5966

Viewed 3505 Times
Date Blogged: 2/15/2011


Nasty Google and Yahoo Hijack Cured Durable Link to this entry

We had a nasty situation with a customer today.

Customer had Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows defender and experienced an attack. We removed it via our regular processes, but one hijack we could not eliminate. What it would do is after a Internet search, no matter which page the user wanted to go, it would take to a hijacked website.

Changing the browsers didn't help.

Others tell-tale symptoms of this infection:

Restore points tab removed -- so you can't turn off the system restore.

The infection was piggy-backing on top of Volume Shadow Copy Library (volSnap.sys)

Here's how we fixed it.

We used our own Busterizer tool to remove all old restore points.

Repaired the driver file VOLSNAP.SYS

Repaired the MBR via Partition Magic

Booted in Safe mode and ran a deep scan via F-Secure.

Wow. Genius Hacker.

At the time of this writing, none of the anti-virus software is able to catch this one.


Viewed 3511 Times
Date Blogged: 2/1/2011


Wordpress Under the Hood Durable Link to this entry

Mashable: Understanding Wordpress architecture is essential for those who wish to customize it. An excellent tutorial by Joost de Valk.

Of course, if you are not a techie, you don't want to muck with them. Let a professional do it for you.

Lyons Computers is primarily a Microsoft shop, although by popular request we have installed Wordpress for our customers. We recommend Wordpress 100%, and can install it for you on your server (or ours).


Viewed 3986 Times
Date Blogged: 1/11/2011


Attachmate Buys Novell Durable Link to this entry

via Email from Ron Hovsepian, CEO of Attachmate: "Novell has entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Attachmate Corporation would acquire Novell for $6.10 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $2.2 billion."

Wow! The amazing twists and turns of the tech industry!


Viewed 3906 Times
Date Blogged: 11/22/2010


Dogbert Tech Support Cartoon Durable Link to this entry

Don't you feel all tech support is this way?

Dilbert.com

See Also: Difference Between Lyons Support and Other *Big Company* Support

Viewed 4656 Times
Date Blogged: 9/17/2010


Last Chance to Buy Windows XP Durable Link to this entry

We just got a notification from Microsoft that Windows XP is indeed being retired.

Retirement of Windows XP

If you have some custom software or legacy data that absolutely must have Windows XP Professional (that's the only flavor still available at the time of this writing), please call us at 205-251-5966 to order.

We will order brand-new Dell machines with XP-Professional for you. We MUST receive your order by October 1, 2010.

The last date sell new computers with XP is October 22, 2010.

Viewed 4431 Times
Date Blogged: 9/9/2010


Misc. Notebook Parts Durable Link to this entry

N3845 -- LCD Inverter for Dell Vostro/Inspiron -$9.95

Our parts are for the use of our technicians only.


Viewed 5232 Times
Date Blogged: 5/5/2010


The Science of False Positives Durable Link to this entry

Consider yourself lucky if you were not affected by the large scale problem caused by a McAfee defect.

Understandably customers are very angry at McAfee, and competitors can't wait to eat into McAfee's customer base. It's a dog eats dog world.

Here's a Response from McAfee.

We want to educate our customers that what just happened is neither fantastic nor disastrous. It's the nature of the beast.

Please contact us if your computer crashed due to this issue or if you are considering an alternative anti-virus.

Disclosure: Lyons is a McAfee partner.
PS: But McAfee is not our customer. You are! Call us today!

Viewed 5055 Times
Date Blogged: 4/24/2010


Printer with a Mouse Durable Link to this entry

Please do not call us if your laser printer is jammed by a mouse.

Sorry, we don't do inkjet printer repairs or any printer repairs when a living thing is involved.

But we do Repair Laser Printers -- even when they are out of warranty and even if you do not have a maintenance contract.

Viewed 4803 Times
Date Blogged: 4/21/2010


Dropping Unique Constraints in SQL Server Durable Link to this entry

We had a customer who was having trouble removing a SQL Server constraint. Even removing the column and re-adding didn't help.

You can't even DROP INDEX command.

The trick is to use ALTER TABLE command with DROP CONSTRAINT

Example:

alter table dbo.Projects drop constraint [UQ__Projects__46B27FE2]

Viewed 5046 Times
Date Blogged: 3/7/2010


How to Download Microsoft Office Durable Link to this entry

The very nature of software (intangible, intellectual work involving half-art-and-half-science) renders itself to complications of licensing.

We help all our customers buy legitimate software and licenses.

One of the most commonly misunderstood usage of software is what we call in the industry as the "OEM Licence", otherwise known as "came with the computer" license, and customers are often left without a re-install cd should something happen (like virus infection or hard disk crash).

After numerous customer complaints, Microsoft is now allowing people to donwload a personal backup copy of Microsoft Office.

Download Microsoft Office


Viewed 4827 Times
Date Blogged: 1/27/2010


Our Parts are for Our Use Only Durable Link to this entry

Due to the popularity of our website we are getting many phone calls for small and hard to find computer parts.

Sorry, the parts we stock are for use of our technicians only. They are not for sale.

For example:
• HP P3005 Gear Kit -- P30005-GK --RU5-0958-000CN
• HP P3005 Gear Kit -- P30005-GK --RU5-0956-000CN

These parts cost less than a buck. If you want to hire us to diagnose your problem or to install the part, we welcome your call, but selling parts is not profitable for us and we are not setup for it.

Viewed 5015 Times
Date Blogged: 12/11/2009


Software Update Breaking Sonys Durable Link to this entry

In the last couple of days, we have seen a number of Sony VIAO notebooks coming in with Blue Screen of Death (for XP) or Black Screen of Death (for Vista).

All of them have the same problem. A recently installed software update.

Strangely, it has been different softwares for different machines. For two of them, it was the Microsoft update. On one of them it was Office Update, and for two others, application (like Adobe or HP) updates.

Obviously, some low level hardware driver or dll has an incorrect version causing all this trouble.

In a twisted way, our recommended solution is one of prevention, which is to apply all the software updates in time.


Viewed 4691 Times
Date Blogged: 12/7/2009


Windows 7 Upgrade Chart Durable Link to this entry

We had our taste of Windows 7 Install/Upgrade/Migrate today when we moved a customer's data from Windows XP Home to WIndows 7 Professional.

The entire process took about six hours and cost the customer $255 (he had 50GB of email, documents and music). It was not without pain.

Believe it or not, there are 64 different ways to move to Windows 7 (see the chart below). We recommend that unless you are falling in a green box, please call us to perform the migration for you.

Win7 Upgrade Chart


Viewed 4692 Times
Date Blogged: 10/30/2009


How to Cancel Paypal Subscription Durable Link to this entry

You know how easy it is to click on a Paypal "Subscribe Now" button and signup for products and services. They are everywhere. But wait till you discover how difficult it is to cancel that subscription.

Nobody wants to make it easy for you to quit. We call it "I want to quit the gym or Maria" (clip shown below) tactic.

Even PayPal doesn't make it any easy. Please follow these elaborate steps (you might want to print this page for handy reference). Even finding the right item in the "come-and-go" cascading menus is a challenge.

Steps to Cancel Recurring Payments on PayPal

  1. Log in to your PayPal account
  2. Click the My Account tab
  3. Click the History subtab.
  4. Click More filters, select Subscriptions and agreements, and then click Subscriptions.
  5. Change the date back to the year the subscription was created, and then click Show
  6. Click Details next to the subscription
  7. Click Cancel Subscription.
Cancel Paypal Subscription
Screenshot shows the hard to find Paypal Subscription Cancellation Menu Option

Viewed 4340 Times
Date Blogged: 10/24/2009


Hotmail Blocking BellSouth Durable Link to this entry

We are flooded with calls from customers that their e-mail is not flowing.

Apparently this is a wide-spread problem, and unfortunately there is nothing Lyons Team can do.

Viewed 4334 Times
Date Blogged: 10/7/2009


Fix for Upsalepoint.com Hijack Durable Link to this entry

A number of customers are calling in about a "weird Google problem" that is taking them to a website called Upsalepont.com.

This is a NOT a problem with Google, but a spyware on the user's machine.

If you are our customer, please run a full scan of F-Secure on the infected hard drive.

If you do not have F-Secure installed on your machine, you can try installing MalwareBytes or SuperAntiSpyware and try to clean it that way. Depending on the extent of damage, this might not work, and you may have to bring in the machine to our shop for removal.

Viewed 4051 Times
Date Blogged: 6/26/2009


Notebook Hard Drives Durable Link to this entry

While cleaning we found the following working 2.5 inch hard drives. If you are attempting data recovery, or need identical drives, please contact us at (205)251-5966

List of Hard Drives
• Toshiba, P/N 318052-001, MK4025GAS
• Toshiba, MK6014MAP, 6GB
• Hitachi, N155, 30GB
• IBM, N79, 10.06GB
• Hitachi, N155, 40GB SOLD
• IBM, IBM-H2344-A4, 344MB
• Hitachi, DK221A-34, 340MB
• Fujitsu, MHC2040AT, 4GB


Viewed 4079 Times
Date Blogged: 6/17/2009


Desktop Hard Drives Durable Link to this entry

While cleaning we found the following working hard drives. If you are attempting data recovery, or need identical drives, please contact us at (205)251-5966

List of Desktop Hard Drives
• Western Digital, WD400, IDE, 40GB
• Maxtor 2B02H1 - 08F782
• Seagate ST36421A, 6.4GB
• Seagate ST34520N, SEA
• Western Digital, WD100, IDE, 10GB
• Samsung, STG-31271A, 1.27GB
• Seagate, ST310211A, 10GB
• Conner, EX91C6W
• Seagate, ST3144A, 130GB
• Western Digital, 205AA, IDE, 20.5GB
• Seagate, ST32140A, 2113MB
• Seagate, ST34520N
• MiniScribe, 8438
• Fujitsu, MPG3102AT, 10.1GB
• Barracuda, 7200.7, 40GB
• Maxtor, 82160D2, 2.1GB
• Samsung, WU33205A, IDE, 3.2GB

Viewed 4056 Times
Date Blogged: 6/17/2009


AT&T Outage Impacts Birmingham Durable Link to this entry

Our phones have been busy this afternoon from customers wondering if their network crashed. Apparently AT&T Internet and Mail services have been down pending an upgrade and it makes people think that their own network is down.

Like the Sun ad used to say "THE NETWORK IS THE COMPUTER"

If you are wondering why the customers call us instead of AT&T, you probably have never called AT&T. You get long hold times, folks who never admit that their company is at fault or made a mistake, and the customer is made to repeat the story multiple times.

When customers call Lyons Computers, they get a technical person, who is trained to help them via phone, e-mail or remote help desk. They get no hold times. We have realized that what we offer is a coveted service.

Viewed 4097 Times
Date Blogged: 6/17/2009


SQL Server 2008: Saving Changes Not Permitted Durable Link to this entry

Are you getting the dreaded error on SQL Server 2008?:

Saving changes is not permitted. The changes you have made require the following tables to be dropped and re-created. You have either made changes to a table that can’t be re-created or enabled the option Prevent saving changes that require the table to be re-created.

This is a brain-dead design on Microsoft's part when all the permissions are there, and the database administrator laboriously made all the table changes, the save feature will fail.

To fix this, UN-CHECK the Prevent flag under Options -> Designers in SQL Server Management Studio.

SQL Server 2008 Allow Table Changes


Viewed 3687 Times
Date Blogged: 5/14/2009


Researching Web + POS Integration Durable Link to this entry

Seeking Recommendations for Restaurant POS

We are helping a customer pick a solution for their e-commerce as well as point-of-sale integration.

What we are discovering is that not many restaurants accept payments online and none of the POS vendors have a web subsystem that integrates into the e-commerce.

If you know of a solution, please buzz us at

Viewed 3420 Times
Date Blogged: 5/13/2009


No Website is Safe Durable Link to this entry

During our casual weekend browsing, we have noticed some big name websites have been infected with malware. These include Twitter and FoxNews.

It is indeed a sad when innocent people have to be afraid of few evil people.

Links:
• Twitter Worm
• Fox News -- Our investigation indicates that one of the advertisers on Fox News is spreading the malware

Viewed 3490 Times
Date Blogged: 4/11/2009


Deal of the Week Durable Link to this entry

HP Pavilion S3650F Slimline PC w/ Bluray Drive and TV-Tuner

HP's Part #: FK784AA#ABA

Our price: $709.00

Viewed 3454 Times
Date Blogged: 2/27/2009


Your Own Name Servers Durable Link to this entry

Question I have many domains. How can I have my own name server like: ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com ?

Answer For easier management and migration, we recommend our customers who host multiple domains with us to have their own name server. Then the labor intensive task of setting DNS can be delegated to the control panels such as Plesk or Ensim.

Registering a Name Server is not same as buying a $1.99 domain at GoDaddy!

The steps are listed below.

First buy two IP addresses belonging to different class C.

Then tell your domain registrar that you wish to register your name servers.

For Network Solutions, they have a online form

For Yahoo, they will accept your request via Email.

If you have trouble, please call us for assistance. Please do note that we charge for tech support in increments of 15 minutes.


Viewed 3306 Times
Date Blogged: 2/22/2009

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Lyons Computers, 722 37th Street South, Birmingham AL - 35222
Phone: 205-251-5966
Fax: 205-251-5978