Wednesday 19 October 2016

LAPTOP WON'T CHARGE: THIS IS THE SIMPLEST AND QUICKEST FIX


Yesterday my head almost crushed.I had comfortably settled at my desk ready for some work on my laptop when all of a sudden my laptop went flat on charge and ,worse still, the laptop won't charge! On the desk, beside the lapy, lay a pile of data I had to feed into the computer to update a client's data base. The data entry had to be finished lest I would run into serious trouble with my client and miss out on a huge cheque. Upon checking, the AC connection indicator showed a red light. I further checked the charge icon on the task bar.It indicated that the charger was connected but not charging! I surfed the net , literally chopped and turned webpages, for answers and at last landed got this simplest solution...



Try these options to fix charger connected but not charging problem

1. Unplug for a few minutes, then try a different outlet.
Unplug the laptop, wait a few minutes, then plug it into an outlet in a different room. Some users report that a laptop power adapter can temporarily stop working to protect itself from a perceived issue with the power supply.
If your battery is removable, take it out while the power source is disconnected.
Hold down the laptop's power button for two minutes, put the battery back in, and
plug it in to a new outlet.

2. Examine the cord.
Examine the entire length of the power cord for tears, dents, and
worn-down insulation. If you notice any, or if the power brick is warped or smells like burnt plastic, the cord is probably faulty. You'll need to purchase a new cord for your laptop. Check your warranty before replacing any parts. The cost may be covered under some
circumstances.

3. Inspect the connection. 
If the cord's attachment to your laptop wobbles or feels loose, there could be a problem with the connection. Unplug the cord, remove debris with a wooden toothpick, and remove heavy dust build-up with compressed air. Bent pins and other damage issues are model-specific. Take the laptop or cord to a computer repair shop. You can look up your model online for repair instructions, but this can be difficult without proper tools, and may void the warranty.

4. Restart the computer, removing the battery in between.
Shut down the computer, unplug it, then remove the battery from your laptop. The battery can usually be accessed from the underside of the laptop, and may have a lock you
can turn with a coin, or release by lifting a lever. Leave the battery out for ten seconds, slot it back in, then start up your computer. Plug the laptop in again after start-up and wait ten
seconds to see if it works.Not all laptops have easily accessible batteries. If there is no obvious battery compartment, just restart your computer without removing the battery.

5. Let the computer cool down. 
If your laptop battery feels very hot to the touch, excess heat could be interfering with the charging process.  Shut down the computer and let it sit for several minutes to cool down. If you haven't cleaned your laptop vents recently, blow a can of compressed air into the fan vents at an angle, in short bursts, to remove some dust.
Do not blow directly into the fan vents, only at an angle, or you could damage the fan.
If you are comfortable disassembling your laptop, you can use the compressed air to
blow away internal dust directly. Look up a guide to disassembly for your model before
you begin, and work on a large, clear surface. This will likely void your warranty.

6. Start up your laptop without a battery. Shut down the computer, remove the battery, and
plug the computer in. If the computer won't turn on, you probably need a new cord. If you can start it up again in this situation, the charging issue is probably due to the battery itself, or your computer's interaction with the battery. The methods below may fix the problem, or your battery may be dead and require replacement. If your laptop battery is not removable, skip this step and try the methods below before taking your laptop to a computer repair
store.

7. Replace the charger.
Sometimes the adapter (the box in the cord) is faulty, or despite your best efforts you can't repair a loose plug. Try borrowing a friend's charger, or asking an computer store employee to test your charger. If your charger is faulty, buy a new part from a computer or electronics store. Hope you learnt a thing or two.

Saturday 1 October 2016

HOW TO SIMPLY CLEAN SCRATCHES ON CDS AND DVDS





Steps

1. Add toothpaste to the reflective side.

2. Cover peanut butter over the toothpaste. Smother it over it, but put too much of both.

3. Wipe off all peanut butter and toothpaste.

4. Reapply. Reapply the toothpaste then the peanut butter.

5. Put your DVD in a good tight container.

6. Add soda. It sound weird, but add soda before you close it. Don't use too much!

7.Add baking soda. Add little bit of baking soda then put the lid on your container with the
DVD inside.

8. Shake it a little bit and wait a couple of minutes.

9.Clean. After waiting, open up the container and polish it a with tissue or cloth.

MORE OF MUCH EASIER TIPS WITH TOOTHPASTE.


  • Fix scratched Blu-ray discs using toothpaste
  • A clean, soft and lint-free cloth should be needed.
  • Then we apply a small amount of toothpaste which does not contain particles or gels.
  • Then gently rub it over the scratched Blu-ray disc.
  •  Wipe it outwards from the center of the disc until free of toothpaste and don't rub in
  • circular motions.
  •  Then clean the Blu-ray disc thoroughly with cold water, and make sure that you remove
  • all of the toothpaste.
  •  Dry the scratched Blu-ray disc with another extra soft and dry cloth.
  •  Okay, try to test the disc for playback.
Hope you find this useful.

HOW TO BACK UP YOUR DATA ON HDD/HARD DRIVE IN 3 STEPS


An IT Person's worst NIGHTMARE is backing up yourdata in an external Hard drive, only to try accessing it and you receive the following damned message !!!
(Your disk is not accessible, do you want to format it now)

Today I felt my head spin, thinking of how much backup I have on the HDD, the time it would take to get all the data back or get it another time. I did some research and managed ti fix it and got all of my DATA back

Step 1.
Run cmd (Command Prompt as admin) from the
search bar. Learn how to run Command prompt on windows here

Step 2.
Type in chkdsk f/:f (the later F being your drive Letter)

Step 3.
Hit Enter and wait for the awesome Magic to happen.
Boom you are done,

Enjoy a cup of Cappuccino !!!

CYBERSECURITY TIPS: BE SAFE, CHANGE YOUR WEB BROWSER'S SETTINGS

Tips for Secure Browsing with Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera mini etc


In this era of automation and default setting inclination preferred by most so-called techno-savvy, hardly do internet lovers realize the ticking bomb that is cyber-crimes which is sadly staring at them in the face. Failing to correctly set up your browser’s security features can put you at a higher risk for malware infections and malicious attacks. Most of safe browsers give option for personalized setting to enhance better user experience and safety. Most common webbbrowsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Internet Explorer have such options. While it is
impossible to guarantee complete protection from cyber threats, following these tips will greatly increase the security of your web browser.

Tips for Secure Browsing with Google Chrome

Enable phishing and malware protection:

Make sure that Chrome’s phishing and malware protection feature is enabled underunders
the “Privacy” section. This feature will warn you if a site you’re trying to visit may be
phishing or contain malware. Turn off instant search: The Instant search feature should be turned off for optimal security. While it offers some convenience in searching, having this feature enabled means that anything you type in the address bar is instantly sent to Google.

Don’t sync: Disconnect your email account from your browser under the “Personal Stuff”
tab. Syncing your email account with your Chrome browser means that personal
information such as passwords, autofill data,
preferences, and more is stored on Google’s
servers. If you must use sync, select the
“Encrypt all synced data” option and create a
unique passphrase for encryption.

Configure content settings: Click “Content
settings” under the “Privacy” section and do
the following:

Set Cookies: Select “Keep local data only until I quit my browser” and “Block third-party cookies and site data.”These options ensure that your cookies
will be deleted upon quitting Chrome and that advertisers will not be able to
track you using third-party cookies.

Set JavaScript: Select “Do not allow any site to run JavaScript.” It is widely recommended that JavaScript be disabled whenever possible to protect
users from its security vulnerabilities.

Control Pop-ups: Select “Do not allow any site to show pop-ups.

Lock Location: Select “Do not allow any site to track my physical location.”
Configure passwords and forms settings:

Disable Autofill and deselect “Offer to save passwords I enter on the web” under the
“Passwords and forms” section. Doing so will prevent Chrome from saving your logins,
passwords, and other sensitive information that you enter into forms.
ost secure browser. Hope you learnt some tip. Look out for next post on Tips to browse safely with Firefox.

Thursday 22 September 2016

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FROM BEING HACKED




HOW TO PROTECT YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FROM BEING HACKED

Social media are computer-mediated technologies that allow individuals, companies, NGOs ,
governments, and other organizations to view, create and share information , ideas, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks .The variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available introduces challenges of
definition; however, there are some common features:

1. Social media are interactive Web 2.0 Internet - based applications,
2. User-generated content such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, as well as data
generated through all online interactions, are the lifeblood of the social media organism,
3. Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app, that are designed and maintained by
the social media organization , and
4. Social media facilitate the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with
those of other individuals and/or groups.


SURE WAYS TO BE PROTECTED FROM HACKERS

1. Protecting Your Own Password : Enable Login Approval. This is Facebook's two-factor authentication system, and can foil nearly any attempt to access your account without permission. When an access attempt is detected on an unrecognized device, your mobile phone will be sent a code that will need to be entered in order to log in. Without this code, the
intruder will not be able to access your Facebook
account.

Steps:
  1. Log in to your Facebook account.
  2. Click the Menu button in the upper-right and select "Settings".
  3. Click the "Security" tab.
  4. Click "Edit" next to the "Login Approvals"entry.
  5. Follow the prompts to enable Login Approvals
  6. You will need to associate your mobile phone number with your Facebook account.

2. Pick a unique password. Avoid using names, birthdays, home addresses, or real words in
your password, as these are easy to guess. To ensure security, your password should be a
combination of words and letters, preferably in a totally random order. The longer and more
random your password is, the better.

3.Use different passwords for different
accounts. If you use the same password for your email, your online banking, and your
Facebook account, then it will be easier for people to hack into all of your information once
they have discovered one of your passwords.

4. Change your password frequently. If you suspect that somebody else has your login
information, then you should change your password immediately to prevent them from hacking into your account without your permission.

5. Remember to log out. This is especially important if you are logging into your
account on somebody else's computer or mobile device. You may even want to consider logging out of your account on your own computer each time, especially if you know that somebody else will be using your computer.

6. Install a firewall to detect keystroke
logging. The firewall will alert you anytime
information on your computer is being sent out
to a third party and ask for your permission first

HOW TO CHECK IF SOMEONE HACKED YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT

  • Log into your Facebook account and click the gear icon in the far right corner. 
  • Once the drop down menu appears, go to Settings.
  • Click Security and scroll down and click
  • "Edit" next to the Active Sessions category.   
Nb: This section records every time someone logs into an account from a desktop computer or app. 
  • If you see a suspicious login, click end activity.
  •  After that, scroll back up to the top and report a problem. 
  • Immediately change your password so this never happens again.. 
I hope you learnt. Better safe than sorry, so they say. The next post is on How to guard your Gmail against hacking. until then, nice read.

Tuesday 20 September 2016

10 SIMPLE WAYS TO EARN MONEY ONLINE….


Have you ever wondered how People make money online? I bet you must have asked how possible this is. The other day I was sharing with a friend of mine and reminded her that anybody can earn money online and I guess you can imagine the look she gave me.  You may be one of those doubting the very possibility of earning money online. Here below I have listed the 10 major ways to earn money online.

1. Take an online survey for a pay
You can start by joining GPT sites where you can take online surveys for a pay. Besides surveys you can be paid for watching videos, playing games and doing some other activities. Ensure you have an account with PayPal

Check GPT sites here

2. Earn from PTC
Here you earn money by clicking and reading the advertisement for 10 to 30 seconds and get paid for each and every advertisement.  No investment needed here.

Check the list of 5 best PTC sites here.

3 Become a Freelancer.
Freelancing involves working online as a content writer, web designer, graphic designer or providing services like data entry, SEO etc. you can earn as much as $500 to $2000+ i.e. around Ksh 50,000

Popular websites offering such opportunities are, elance, freelance.in, upwk etc

4. Blogging.


You can make money online by writing content about companies, institutions, individual person on  your website or theirs as well as promoting the products brands online. Check on sites like iwriter, expresswriters.com, freelancewritinggigs.com etc
I
5.Web design
This is the most reliable way of earning money online and earning big. To get a simple guide about website development, read on how simple developing a web is on my previous post.  If you have an idea about how the web works and how to develop one, then you are good to start earning good money online. You can develop webs for customers from all walks of life. Web developers can also create websites run for 4-6 months and sell to other people.

6. Becoming an online seller.
You can try to identify some best products you can sell online on behalf of another business person and earn some commission. This is very easy because no technicalities needed. What you is the social media platform and good following on facebook,twitter, instagram etc. Top shopping portals include Amazon ebay,flipkart, SnapDeal etc.

7. Affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is used widely to promote Web sites, and affiliates are rewarded for every visitor, subscriber, or customer provided through their efforts. This needs you to refer potential customers to a linked product on the websites. Affiliates are paid for performance, so affiliate marketing is also referred to as performance or referral marketing.

8.  Providing training and consultancies
If you are endowed with some good skill and you love informing and educating people like me then you can still make money in a given field of focus. You can provide teachings at a charge, unlike me who does so freely.

9.  Compiling resourceful materials, ebook, video, tutorials etc
EBooks and video tutorials are hot cakes online. People who are in such of some information download the videos and eBooks(PDF) at a pay.

10. Trying/Testing apps (applications/softwares)
Software developers offer good cash for the people who offer to try out their newly developed applications and provide reviews. You can also sign up on sites that offer cash for playing games and watching video. I will show you such apps on my next post.

Friday 2 September 2016

HOW TO START YOUR BLOG THE SIMPLEST WAY


Did you think starting a blog only belongs to computer techs.?
Have you asked yourself what the heck you need to start a blog for?

Godamn it. Maybe I shouldn’t bother doing blogging. After all what do I gain from it?
I know these thoughts must have raced through your mind at one time. Worry no more. I am here to help. Nothing but help! Help you have a simplified understanding of the whole rocket science, or so you may think, about blogging. Remember I used to be a blog newbie too. I had the same worries. But good news is, I am no longer a stranger in this dynamic field. I blog for fun and money. Sounds good, huh?  I do it on this platform MYEXPERTSHUB.COM free of charge. I mean it, no charges at all! No parting with even a cent. You can too. Take this very simple journey with me and you won’t regret wasting your time. Instead you will appreciate you did it.


Awesome. Let’s get started.
On to the preliminaries. The starting point. 
Why the heck should you start your own blog anyway?
There are a number of reasons why you should start your own personal blog:
1.     A platform to share your thoughts boldly without intimidation: It is only on your blog posts that you have all the freedom to speak your mind freely.
2.   Fantastic way to connect to other and discuss issues: on the blog you can connect easily and effectively with the world given its interactive platform on which you receive feedback from your readers.
3.   Self development and insights: Who doesn’t like doing something new and in a different way. Blogging gives one an opportunity to embrace technology in typography and improve on your content presentation skills.
4.   The best reason is you can literally mint money from blogging. Through blogging you can generate income through various ways, advertisement, , tracking and many other ways. This remains a story for another day.
5 Steps on how to start your own blog.
1.     Choose your blog platform.. This is where you want to build your blog. Examples are Blogger, Wordpress, Custom, Movable type, Drupal, Gawker, Blogsmith, Tumblr etc Wordpress is the best but you have to pay for web hosting. Google is second best but has strict rules. My advice would be to start with Blogger as your start your blogging journey.
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2.   Choose web hosting for your blog. Choosing the company that puts up your blogs on the internet for everyone else to see. Everything will be save there. You can choose hosted or non hosted platform. With hosted platforms you don’t have a domain of your own. Simple explanation of domain name was covered in my previous blog, My First Blog. The website’s URL will end with the blog host’s name e.g. wordpress.com, blogspot.com etc. In non-hosted platforms, you customize your web to what you want, e.g. myexpertshub.com. But you have to part with some money. You pay around $10-15 a year, depending on a hosting company.
3.   Setting up your own blog: It includes opening up a website and writing blog post on your new website. This need dedication and designing on topics you want to cover in you blogs. There should be clear relation on the posts drawn from your niche. Stick to a given topic.
4.   Designing your website: This involves making your website look the way you want it. Setting themes, appearance, layout, and other features.
5.    Learning from bloggers and resource relevant: blogging is a journey by all virtues. Start slowly and increase the momentum steadily. You learn of new things every day. Embrace good things. Discard bad ones. You can do more research on the blogging topic and you will be amazed at how much good and insightful information you can gather. Feel free to contact me or ask for guidance on the comment section below. 

Don’t miss out on my next post about 10 Tips on Blogging









Friday 26 August 2016

How I Started Blogging- what you ought to know about blogging…



You Won’t Believe What I Went Through Before I became a Blogger...

  •       Have you ever asked yourself what blogging is all about? What about how websites are made?
  •       Did you ever wonder how that beautiful photo is placed on the blog post for you to see?
  •        You must have asked yourself what skills are needed for you to blog or put something on the internet, mustn’t you?
Worry no more. I had the same questions. All these questions. But sadly, unlike you, no one was there to answer me. No one was there to simply explain to me all this I am just about to take you through. No one except the internet.
It all started when I first came across a job advert, right after college, about an Article Writer on one of the social media. It was about a SEO, a term that sounded a giant jargon to me until I found out that it means a Search Engine Optimizer or Optimization. Simply put, a person who strategically writes web content in a manner that it is easily found by a search engine. Lost? Don’t worry. Read further and you will be in the know soon.

Just then my long journey to explore the internet and dig deep for answers started. I wanted to learn everything I could about the internet. Everything!  Could I? Yes I could, as I was to find out. Like the newbie I was, armed with nothing but the basic computer knowledge, I had no clue whatsoever where I was to find the right information about how the internet works. I was overflowing with Natural Resource Management skills, a course I had pursued in college and thought I would immediately land a lucrative job with many one of the many NGOs in Kenya but that was not to be.

 As a matter of fact, I was vastly skilled in this dynamic nature conservation sector, having scooped the best grades overall in my academic year. However, I took it upon myself to self- teach myself about the:
  • ·        Internet
  • ·        Websites
  • ·        Web content
  • ·        Web content development e.t.c

Thank goodness, I knew how to go about “googling” that is, searching for information on Google. I had to wade through the murky waters all by myself. I clicked on every Search Engine Result Page (SERP) - the options Google displays in blue color when you search for information. I pored through any web page content that suggested offering any insight to the websites. I literally shuffled through and turned all the pages I could. That was when I realized that all the information you need is just one click away. With the smart phones’ introduction into the market, you only need to click and you have all the information on your palm.

I read and read until my head ached but I never gave up. Still I had not found out anything substantial, save for the vague and pithy information that only did their best in complicating the whole search.
www.saylor.com/book
saylor's book content
My search would not have been complete had I not bumped into a PDF (Portable document format) electronic book or eBook. I pored through the eBook page by page. What marveled me most was how simple the explanations were. In addition, the rich references provided in the book were nothing to overlook.

 Click here to have a look at the ebook


From this book I learnt a lot. You wouldn’t imagine a layman like me, then, would have an anchored grasp of the internet like I do now. I read every page. That was when I confirmed that the world is simply a village, buzzing with great information for those who care to search for useful stuff. And in the end I was never disappointed.

Let me share with you the basics of the internet and the web at large in the very simplest form. The following are the terms used in the internet world that many people do not understand:
  • Internet: The Internet is a collection of connected documents or objects. The Internet is a worldwide network that allows for information to be shared between users.
  • Web Wide Web (www): The Internet is a worldwide network that allows for information to be shared between users (also known as “nodes”). The World Wide Web is a subset of internet that caters specifically to Web sites.
  • Hyperlink: Hyperlinks are what connect these documents on the internet. A hyperlink is a virtual link from one document on the World Wide Web to another.
  • URL   (Uniform Resource Locator): URLs describe where on the Internet a document is. It is what you enter in the address bar of the browser. It is the address of that document on the Internet.
  •  IP (Internet Protocol) address: A structured series of dots and numbers indicating where it is physically located. Every Web site corresponds to an Internet protocol (IP) address.
For Example: When you enter a URL into the address bar of a browser, the DNS (Domain Name System) record indicates where the document is that you are linking to. Many domains can translate to the same IP address. Confused? Look at the domain name and IP address for Quirk’s Web site:

         Domain name. http://www.quirk.biz 

         IP address. 212.100.243.204


  •  Domain: A domain name looks something like this: http://www.domainname.com/directory  www.domainname.co 
  • Directory. A folder to organize content. The web pages file exact location.
  • Web browser:  A software application for retrieving, presenting and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. It is what help you browse or search for information on the websites e.g Mozilla firefox, chrome,etc  www.firefox.com 
  •  Website: A location connected to the internet that maintains one or more pages on the World Wide Web. Each organization or individual can own a website. I will show you how in my subsequent posts.
  • Webpage: A single hypertext document (written in HTML) which is connected to the web, accessible through the interne
  • Web Page Content: The textual, visual or aural content (texts, images, sound, videos and animations) that you view on a web page.
  • Search engine: A program that searches the internet for and identifies items (web page content) in a database according to the key search word you type on the address bar.
  • Web design:  The process of creating a website which includes web graphic design, interface design, authoring, and search engine optimization.
  • Search Engine Optimization: The process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine. Whoever does that is called Search Engine Optimizer (SEO), like the one I am now.
  • HTML: Hypertext Markup Language: A set of symbols or codes (tags) inserted in a file intended for display on a World Wide Web browser page. It’s the only language a web browser understand, telling it how to display a web page’s words and images for users.
        For Example:

        <! DOCTYPE html>
        <Html>
        <Body>
        <h1>Hello World! </h1>
        </body>
        <html/>
  •  Internet marketing: Refers to advertising and marketing efforts that use the web and email to drive direct sales via electronic commerce using website, emails, videos etc
  •   Blogger: A person who writes the web content and uploads them or publishes blogs on the internet/ web. I do this right now and that’s why you can read what I wrote and published for universal readers like you.

Let me offer you a Bonus Clarification:

What is the difference between software, application and programs?

·        Software: The programs and other operating information used by a computer. Software can be made of more than one program.

·        Application- A program or group of programs that is designed for end user. Application software (an application) is a set of computer programs designed to permit the user to perform a group of coordinated functions, tasks or activities.


·        Program- A set of instructions telling a computer what to do. Commands for computer.


This was just a start to the critical journey I promise to take with you as I enlighten you about everything to do with the computer, internet, blogging, and blogging for money, internet marketing and many more. This is the hub of solution to your problems. I promise to compile a very eye-opening content in my next post. Miss at your own risk. Feel free to ask any question in the comment section below. You can share the link to my website on any of the social media by copying and pasting the link. Don’t miss my next post. Leave a comment below.

RAINWATER: THE UNTAPPED GOLD OF DRYLAND

RAINWATER IS THE GOLD WE WASTE IN DRYLANDS. For dryland farmers, harvesting water is as important as harvesting their crop. They need ...