Discover Card Account Login
You can have a secure online access to your Discover card account through Discover card account login. The account center through which you access your account is secured by the highest Internet security Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. Your information is safe through this enhanced security. It makes it impossible for anyone to access your account, unless you have inadvertently, or otherwise, disclosed your account login information to others.
Before you can login into your Discover account you need to register for online access. It is quite easy and fast, and once you have registered and logged in you can have access to improved management of your Discover account. You can receive your up-to-date account summary; access and review your statements and other activities up to the last 24 months; and make payments online, among other activities.
Once you login you can locate your account transactions, graphically analyze your spending pattern and track other activities. You save time when you login into your account online and use many of the online features available to you. Through financial tools, such as the recently introduced Spend Analyzer, you compare your spending patterns. You can graphically see how and where you are spending and your purchases are organized into broad categories. The Paydown Planner assists you in paying down the balance on your Discover card, and within a specific time frame. In addition, through the Purchase Planner you can plan your subsequent purchases as it helps you understand how your monthly payment could be affected by some large purchase.
Login For Customer Services
Through Discover card account login you can access its customer service for any information or query you may have. You can access your card account, learn about the rewards programs offered – such as the 5% Cashback Bonus program, make payments and transfers online, learn about your account activity and obtain account statements, among other information. Rest assured, your personal information and information about your account activities are safe and secure. The secure login protects the statements issued to you online, notifies you if there are any unusual activities involving your account, and if you are shopping online your real account number is never revealed.
You are allowed access to your account only after you provide certain information on logging in, such as your user ID or account number and the password which is known only to you. If either is incorrect you get The User ID and/or Password does not match our records or you are not registered message.
As of January 2009, Discover cardholders can access their account through their mobile phones. Through mobile access you can make payments and view pending payments, view your transactions, view your rewards activities, etc. With your mobile phone always next to you, you can now have your Discover account information practically at your finger tips!
You can access your Discover account via your telephone, through Internet on your laptop, and now through your mobile phone. All you need is to login into your Discover account.
The Ice Cream Sandwich Vs Gingerbread
Released on November 17 2011, the Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is set to be the next big thing in the world of Android operating systems, bringing a completely different look to Android. The ICS (Android Version 4.0) promises to be compatible with almost every Android device.
The ICS claims to be very easy to use and it certainly does have some great navigation tools and makes searching for apps and the like on your hand set so much easier, but the ICS is not the only ‘next big thing’ to hit the market and claim to change the ever-popular Android operating systems, because Google’s Gingerbread has also recently been launched and threatens to knock the ICS off one of the highest spots on the consumer market.
After having a detailed look at both the Ice Cream Sandwich and the Gingerbread systems I am tending to swing towards the ICS mainly because it is much easier to use and is more widely available.
Similarities
There are a lot of similarities between the two operating systems and although this is good in some respects, it can make it hard for the consumers to decide which one is better for them.
At the moment, both of the Android operating systems seem to work well when it comes to working hard to save your battery by closing down any apps that are running in the background and they both have a newer, faster and better keyboard that works even harder to improve the predictive text function so you don’t accidentally type a word that could change the whole context of the conversation and confuse things.
There does seem to be one thing that the Gingerbread is slightly better at than the ICS and that is helping you to save the battery. It will work out for you what apps use the most battery power and then its up to you to decide whether or not you want to stick with them and although this could be a good thing, it seems to me the Gingerbread system is shouting ‘Look what I can do!’ and using up more memory when the ICS just gets on and does its job.
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While the ICS is available on most new handsets and can be downloaded on other older handsets, the Gingerbread operating system is not as widely available and those with HTC, Samsung and some Sony devices are still waiting to use this system that has been available for months and well before the Ice Cream Sandwich made its appearance on the market in November 2011, and users of the LG, Motorola and Samsung phones are still waiting for an upgrade while the ICS continues to flourish.
Although the Gingerbread operating system does work well and makes an effort to save battery power, it’s availability is lacking and by the time the makers decide to make it more widely available, the Ice Cream Sandwich would have found its way to many more mobile devices and made even greater improvements while the main ingredients are still being added to the Gingerbread.
Mounting a Vizio 32" TV
Before you leave the electronics section you may want to check if you have everything. You are probably excited about your new Vizio 32 and want to go straight home. You walk in and start unpacking your beautiful television and realize you don’t want to put it in the old, ugly cabinet your huge CRT had been in. But where else are you going to put it? If you get rid of the cabinet you don’t want to replace it because you want that extra room. You could put it on the wall, but that means another trip to the store.
Once you are home again, you can envision your Vizio 32 on the wall, so now it’s just a matter of getting the wall bracket mounted to the wall. Thankfully, the person who sold it made sure you had the right one for your walls. You also chose to get the tilt option for your convenience. Once you have put the bracket on the wall, you need to get your Vizio 32 on it. Put the TV up using the rubber mounts that came in the kit you bought. When you are finished you will be pleased with what you have done. Congratulations, your TV is at the optimal viewing point
Many people recommend that you mount your Vizio 32 on the wall. If you do, it will be possible to get the full extent of viewing capacity that a flat panel has to offer. Wall mounting also gives you more room to put furniture or other décor without ruing the view of the television. Even if you are under the impression that wall mounting will be too difficult for you, you will be able to do it. It is surprisingly easy to do.
Cursor Disappears – My Cursor Disappeared, Where Did it Go?
Sometimes a very strange and out of the ordinary problem will occur on a computer. The problem can be frustrating because nobody seems to know what could have gone wrong. Ask 15 different geeks what they think the problem is and you’ll get 30 different answers. When geeks give more than one answer, it means they don’t know.
Actually, with some problems it is impossible to know what is wrong just by hearing the problem described. Maybe if you were able to give a very detailed description it would help, but that is not always possible. Such is the case with a disappearing cursor. I’ve seen it happen and I’ve see different reasons why. In this article, I will tell you what I’ve seen cause this problem and hopefully, this will help you get your cursor back.
Of course, you always start troubleshooting any problem by rebooting. With no mouse you’ll have to press “CTRL-ESC” and click the arrows up and down and sideways until you get to “restart” on Vista or “shut off computer-restart” on XP. If rebooting doesn’t work for you, you’ll need to read on.
Optical Mouse
When an optical mouse goes bad, you will be using it and suddenly, the cursor will just drop all the way down to the bottom of the page. You know what an optical mouse is. It is a mouse without a ball. I hope this is your problem. This problem is easy to fix. Just put on a new mouse.
Elusive Trojan
Some virus cleaners aren’t capable of getting rid of all types of Trojans. A Trojan is versatile malware script. It has elements of both a virus and spyware. When tracking a problem where a cursor just plain disappears, I would run a top flight spyware cleaner. You can get a free scan. So you can see if a Trojan is present. If so, I would suspect this is why the cursor has disappeared.
This problem, I guess could be another type of spyware, but the few PC’s I’ve seen with this type of problem were caused by a Trojan attack on the dll layer of the operation system. Actually, you don’t have to know anything about dll’s or layers, just run the spyware scanner. If the computer is really acting up, you may have to go into safe mode with network support to do so.
Of course, after the Trojan is removed, you will have to run a registry cleaner. In fact, if you run a registry cleaner first, you may get rid of the problem, but it will come back. It is the Trojan’s corrupting of the registry that makes the mouse disappear. So, however many times you clean the registry, if the Trojan is still running around in the computer, it will come back and corrupt the registry again and there goes the cursor!
New Video Card?
This is a rare one, but I did run across it once. A new video card, though it was Windows XP compatible, was installed in a 2.6GHZ PC with Widows XP home. The problem was, Windows did one of its automatic updates after the manufacture of the video card and its driver. After the card was installed, a driver-operating system mismatch occurred. The video card maker had an upgrade available and the upgraded driver fixed the disappearing cursor problem.
Just because I haven’t actually seen it yet, doesn’t mean some other kind of driver mismatch couldn’t cause such a problem. Probably, it is good idea to have a driver scanner available to prevent such a thing.
In the world of computers, you never know what kind of problem you might run into. Other than having an unusual mouse problem, you should keep viruses and spyware out of your computer; keep the registry clean and the drivers up to date. By doing these things you greatly increase your chances you will never run into a tough, unusual problem. It is fortunate we now have software that will take care of all this.
Best Netbook PC For Streaming Video
Netbooks are capable of streaming online video content such as YouTube, and while most minis are similar to each other thanks to highly integrated parts supplied by Intel, there are differences too. To choose the best one that doesn’t break the bar you need to know what to look for.
When you’re buying a netbook you most probably have the price as your first priority. This is a good way of coming around the problem but not an optimal one. When you’re focused on the price and nothing else you might miss features that would make one deal considerably better than another that’s slightly less expensive.
The default mini netbook comes with a 10.1 inch screen, which you need to fully understand before we could step forward to picking one with such a screen size. This is small, if you have a 22 inch desktop monitor, you may be able to imagine how small it is, really. You can put 4 netbook screens next to each other in 2-2 in a row and still have a smaller visible area. The resolution is a mere 1024 by 600 so 720p videos cannot be watched directly on it in native resolution.
If you don’t have a problem using such a screen size you may start looking for one that plays streaming media well. Intel Atom N270, N280, N450, and the Z5xx series are too slow to play High Definition YouTube videos unaided, so if you want to go higher than 360p, you have to pick a netbook with either a dual core intel atom processor or a good graphic adapter, Nvidia ION for example, or both.
The problem with such netbooks is that they usually come with a 12″ screen and since more powerful components, bigger screen area use more energy, the battery will run out sooner and the computer will cost much more than a simple one. If you’re fine with the standard 360p you can have any 10″ netbook out there, they’re almost identical in hardware setup. The only difference you should be looking for is the presence of an HDMI port.
In case you have an LCD HD TV you will appreciate the native digital output to play those movies and videos on the big screen without back and forth transcoding. It adds to the price, too so you really have to know what features you really need before jumping ahead ordering the first netbook you see.
For 10″, simple ones that play things smoothly when you don’t venture to HD, you should take a look at Asus’ 1001HA,1005HA or PE, HP Mini 210, Dell Inspirion 1xxx series. They’re almost identical in both performance and build quality. Prices are also around $300-$350 for all of them.
12″ models are few and far between, but you can find them if you look at the right place. Lenovo S12 comes with HDMI, single core atom, Nvidia ION, but there are three different configurations running under the same name, so pick the one with the Nvidia chip. The other option I know of is the 1201n from Asus with dual core atom 330, Nvidia ION and all the connectors you can ask for.
They’re reasonably priced at around $450-$500 but for that amount of money you may want to take a look at other 13″ models. There is no best netbook pc for streaming videos, but there are good ones you can choose from once you’ve decided what features you want in yours.
Troubleshooting And Repair Power Supply The Easy Way
Troubleshooting linear power supply was quite easy as compare to switch mode power supplies (SMPS). AC voltage enters to the primary side of linear transformer and then converted the AC into a lower or higher AC voltage depending on the secondary winding. The output AC voltage is then rectified and filtered by a diode and capacitors to produce a clean DC voltage. If there is a problem in the linear transformer circuit, I can say that it is very easy to locate the fault. This is somehow different in the case of a switch mode power supply. The designs were complicated and some technicians found it quite hard to fully understand how the switch mode power supplies work.
The working principle of switch mode power supply is different from the linear type. First the AC voltage will flow to a full wave rectifier (bridge rectifier) which produces an uneven DC output and then filtered by a large capacitor (usually 220 micro farad and up to 450 volts). The clean DC voltage will then flows to start up resistors and to the input of switch mode power transformer. Once the voltage passed through the high ohms resistor (start up resistors) the voltage would drop to a value where it then flows to the VCC supply pin of Pulse width modulation IC.
Once the PWM IC received the voltage it will output a signal to drive the transistor (or FET) and produces a changing in magnetic field in the transformer primary winding. The changing magnetic field induces voltage in the secondary windings. Each of these AC voltage produced by the secondary windings is then rectified, filtered, and regulated to produce a clean DC voltage. One of the main DC output voltage is the B+ that supply to flyback transformer (for TV and Monitor Circuit)
The output from the B+ voltage supply is then connected, through a “feedback” loop (which consist of optoisolator ic and an error amplifier TL431 IC), back to the PWM IC. When the voltage from the B+ supply rises or drop a bit, the PWM IC will act to correct the output.
If you still do not understand the above explanation, please do not be discourage because you can always buy technical books and schematic diagrams and read it till you get the whole idea of how a SMPS work. You can ask a repair friend or even surf the internet for a better and easy explanation.
Here I would like you to download a free SMPS article by Sencore and I found it to be a great help for you who are still struggle on how SMPS work and how to troubleshoot when it fails. You must ask your self what is the purpose and its function of the components in the SMPS circuit and how to check them if they fail. Find out on your own the function of these components in SMPS circuit:
Bridge rectifier,
Filter capacitor,
Start up resistors
Chopper/Power FET
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM IC)
Current sense resistor
Switch mode power transformer
Optoisolator/optocoupler
Error Amplifier IC (TL431)
Secondary diodes
Secondary filter capacitors
Push yourself further by searching the internet for the datasheet of a PWM IC part number. For example, UC3842 PWM IC is mostly used in SMPS. Do you know what the function of pin 5 of this IC is? Do you know which pin the VCC supply enters? Do you know what the actual voltage that flow to the IC is? Do you know which pin that drives the power FET? Can I get a replacement for this IC? And so on………
Let’s take a soldier as an example. Soldiers not only good in handling rifle but also knows all the details about it. They know how to dismantle and assemble back their rifle fast (imagine in the middle of war the rifle jammed-they can repair it fast). They know how much each bullet cost, how far the shooting distance, how big is the diameter of the bullet, how many cm the length of the bullet and so on. Hope you don’t get bored with the soldier’s story, did you get the ideas?
Any SMPS that comes across my repair bench, I would not immediately repair it, in fact I will take couples of minutes to analyze the circuit design and see it from all angles before I begin to repair. Troubleshooting SMPS is not limited to only one procedure in fact many electronic repairers have their own unique ways and methods to solve SMPS problems. Some prefer to use light bulb to isolate SMPS faults while others like to use resistors. Troubleshooting SMPS is fun and flexible but in some cases could make you get very frustrated too.
Remember, don’t limit yourself to only one or two sources to get you understand and be able to repair SMPS. If you have the budget, get the books that have related to SMPS repair-study and start doing practical about it. Share your problems with other fellow electronic repairers and the most important thing is don’t give up. There’s lot of mountain in the journey of our live and you yourself have to climb and conquer it. All the best!
Where Can I Buy Vimax Penis Enlargement Pills?
Not Available At Local Stores
Local stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, & local pharmacies do not carry Vimax penis enlargement pills so you should not even bother looking there. Plus wouldn’t you rather purchase them in a way that wasn’t so “public” ? If you were able to purchase such an item at a local store then you would inevitably run into the questioning look of the check out girl! Or maybe that doesn’t bother you?
Watch Out For Imitations
It’s definitely not a good idea to buy Vimax from anywhere like EBay or Amazon because there’s no guarantee that you are getting the original real product when you do so. There are some people who may just use the Vimax brand name to try and sell a “copycat” product that doesn’t really work.
Only Buy From The Official Real Store (Online.)
To be sure you are getting the real deal and to be sure that you are eligible for the 60 day full money back refund guarantee that comes with every purchase you must be sure you are buying Vimax from the official online store.
Positives To Buying Vimax Online From The Official Store
100% certainty that you are getting the real product and not some cheap knock off version.
Confidence that you are eligible for the 100% satisfaction guarantee which includes a 60 day full money back refund period.
Access to the great customer support that Vimax offers (including by phone, live chat, & Email.)
The ability to order online 24/7/365.
The privacy of discreet billing and shipping (Vimax is always shipped in plain brown box packaging so no one but you knows what you’re getting in the mail!)
How to Reset Your Printer? Troubleshooting for Resetting Your HP, Dell, Lexmark, Brother or Samsung
Ever faced problems with resetting your printer? Well, here we provide you invaluable tips to help you troubleshoot your HP, Dell, Lexmark, Brother or Samsung Printers in easy steps.
Resetting an HP laser printer
There is a technique known as cold resetting. It basically will set all your HP printer settings to the factory default levels. It is important to note that any settings made at the control panel of your printer are going to be reset. Hence, in case you happen to have a JetDirect card then even the IP address will be reset to the factory defaults. You can try to reset NVRAM. To do this, switch off your HP printer and then hold down the ‘Go’ key for around 20 seconds while switching the printer back on again.
- HP 1200 and 1100 models resetting: To do this, simply change the data by going into the service mode. This is applicable if your HP printer has a display panel. Otherwise you need to hold down the ‘Go’ button for around 5 seconds while the printer is switched on.
- HP 2100 printer resetting: You need to press the ‘job cancel’ key after switching off the printer. Then switch the printer on and only then release the key called ‘job cancel.’
- HP 2200 printer resetting: Switch off your printer and then hold down the ‘Go’ key. Switch back the printer on while holding the ‘Go’ button till the light comes on. Then release the button.
- HP 6P and 5P models resetting: Switch off your printer and then press the ‘reset’ button and within 20 seconds switch on the printer back again.
Resetting a Dell printer
You can reset your Dell printer fairly easily by simply double-clicking on the ‘Reset Dell Printer’ icon. You can reach this icon by clicking on the folder ‘UAN’, then clicking on ‘System Utilities’ and you should find the icon. However, one word of caution – this method will function only if the USB cable has been directly connected from the PC to the printer.
Resetting a Lexmark printer
You will firstly need to switch off your printer. Then simultaneously press the RETURN and READY keys while switching the printer on. This will take you to the Diagnostics Mode. The display unit will show the message ‘Performing self test’. Choose ‘Maintenance count’. Reset the count to make it zero. Then select the RETURN key and go back Diagnostics Mode. Then you can reset the printer to go back to the normal mode.
Resetting Brother Printer
You need to keep pressing the DOWN or UP keys a couple of times till you see ‘Maintenance 99′ displayed on the display. Then hold down the ‘Set’ button to go to standby mode. Please note that if you press the exit key only after typing in a single digit then the machine goes to maintenance mode in initial stages.
Resetting Samsung printer
You need to press the following keys in quick succession – MENU # 1 9 3 4. Then you should see a message on your display saying ‘TECH.’ Then again select the MENU key followed by ENTER. The display will now show ‘TECH MODE.’ Then select the ‘
Great Gift Ideas For Photographers
Here are a thirty gift ideas for photographers. The suggested price range is also listed. Happy shopping!
1. Portable Reflectors. A photographer can’t have too many light modifiers. Reflectors come in so many sizes and configurations. Snoop around to see what they have and choose a model they don’t have. Many of these fold up into tiny cases. Or think of buying a reflector holder for one they already own. ($30-$150)
2. Chips and more chips. Not the potato kind – the memory card kind. Find out what format their cameras take – Compact Flash, Smart Media, whatever, and buy a couple more. They are very inexpensive to buy in large capacities. Pop out one from their camera or chip carrier and note the maker and model, and try to buy the same or larger memory capacity. ($20-$100)
3. Portable Hard Drive / Image Tank. These battery-operated devices are pocket-sized and will copy the pictures from a camera chip and save a duplicate on the hard drive. Some of them also have a nice preview screen and TV output so you can enjoy the photos as a slide show. They act as a hard drive when plugged into a laptop. They are perfect for on-location shots or long vacations where you don’t have your computer with you. ($100-$300)
4. Another Lens! If your photographer has a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera, then pick their brain about lenses they have and want. This is one area where photographers are very picky, so may want to go as far as having them describe the specific make and model. If you want to go “all out”, get them to tell you about their dream lens – it’s the one that they really want, (but probably don’t need), and won’t buy for themselves. ($100-$5000)
5. Filters for lenses. There are a variety of filters or modifiers that can be put on lenses. You’ll want to know what size lens (measured in millimeters), and what they have or want. A couple ideas are: a circular polarizer (which reduces glare and deepens sky colors), close-up lenses (to magnify and get close to small stuff), and neutral-density filters (which reduce light in some or all of the image). ($30-$150)
6. Monopod and swivel. A monopod is like a walking stick with a thread on the top. It’s a great stand-in for a tripod when you can’t use it. Better even, get a swivel head for the top of the monopod and your photographer can rotate the camera from horizontal to vertical and still get the benefits of the stability of a monopod. (Monopod: $30-$100; Swivel: $30-$100)
7. Inexpensive waterproof point and shoot digital camera. Regardless of their main brand, having a small pocket-sized waterproof digital camera is great for everyday use, scouting locations, and the spontaneous shoot opportunities. These cameras have great resolution and make nice images; some even shoot video. Waterproof means you can swim with it, shoot in the rain, and leave it in your sweaty pants pocket all day. ($200-$400)
8. Subscription to online photography forum or training. There are some great pay sites on the net. DIgital Wedding Forum is tailored to new professionals as well as seasoned wedding and portrait photographers. Web Photo School is great for learning the fundamentals of photography and editing. Find one that matches their interests and they will have hours of online learning and enjoyment. ($100-$200/yr)
9. Subscription to photography magazine. There are many good magazines out there. You may want to consider going to a good book store and picking up one copy of several different magazines with a note attached that you’ll buy a subscription to their favorite one. That way they get to check out many publications and you’ll be sure that they will really enjoy the subscription. ($30-$80)
10. Destination Vacation. OK, this one may cost you some time and money, but as long as you’re patient and let your photographer stop and shoot the flowers, you’ll both have a great time and they will really appreciate the opportunity to travel and shoot. ($cheap-$not cheap)
11. Photo Sharing Gift Certificate. If they already use a favorite online site or local lab, get them a gift card or certificate. Otherwise, check out the best stores and sites and choose one to load up a starter account or gift card. ($you pick)
12. Make a product from their work. My wife once made me a calendar from some of my images and I loved it. Think about how you could highlight their work. Check out some of my other articles on creative ways to display or use photographs. ($10-$100)
13. Hook them up with a mentor. Find out who they admire in the photographic world, and arrange for them to meet them. Or, try to get a book or video of theirs signed or personalized. Best case, see of their mentor would bring them in for training or some coaching session. ($large range)
14. Gift certificate to a framing shop. You can never have too many framed prints. ($50-$500)
15. Gift card to major photo store. Whether it’s your local store or one of the large ones like Adorama or Beach Camera, your photographer will find some great stuff to buy. ($50-$500)
16. Gaffer’s Tape. Black tape that won’t leave a residue like duct tape. It’s pricey but it’s great stuff. ($35/roll)
17. Camera case or backpack. As they get more stuff, they will need more or larger camera bags. Or roller cases or bags for lights and other stuff. ($30-100)
18. Flash bracket for camera. These are also a bit personal to fit their needs, but if they shoot with external flash, a bracket may be great for their needs. If they don’t have an external flash, that may also be a good idea. Make sure you get their camera specifics for the flash and bracket. (Bracket: $100-300; Flash: $200-$400)
19. High-end printer. There are some truly amazing printers for amateurs and professionals. Some will print on large size paper and create output rivaling the large labs. Variations on this theme are paper samplers, note card stock, and combination printer-scanners. (Printer: $300-$2000)
20. Slide Show software. Who doesn’t want to watch slick slide presentations with music? Does your photographer make or sell slide shows yet? ProShow Gold is a great start, and Proshow Producer is even better. ($50-$300)
21. Color Calibration. Every monitor is different. It is essential to be able to see true colors on your monitors. These devices will calibrate screens and sometimes even printers and other devices to known settings so the color seen on the screen is accurate. ($150-$500)
22. Photographer’s Vest. Yes, very nerdy, but also very functional. ($50-$150)
23. Camera clothing. Weather protective covers for cameras will help in a drizzle or other inclement weather. Waterproof housings allow the camera to be used underwater. Blimps will reduce the shutter sound to allow use in very quiet situations. These are custom fit to camera and sometimes lenses so be careful to choose the right products. ($50-$200)
24. Find them a gig. Use your network and influence to get them a photographic opportunity that they would love to do. This is better for starter photographers – professionals may have different ideas. For more ideas, check out my article on 10 Great Ways to Grow as a Professional Photographer.
25. A New Body. Camera body that is. If they have an SLR, consider buying a duplicate body or one model up, if they take the same lenses. Having the flexibility of a backup camera or two lenses available immediately will make your photographer smile. ($1000-$8000).
26. Photography Books. There are great “how-to” books about every type of photography. Or consider getting them books on business or technology such as Photoshop or web design. Or pick up some coffee-table books with great photography that they can use for inspiration. ($10-$50)
27. Blank DVDs. Many photographers back up work on DVDs, and use them for slide shows. They’ll appreciate having extras. Don’t forget jewel cases if they use them. ($20-$50)
28. DVD/CD label printer. These are pretty specialized devices. They will allow the user to print any image on a special DVD or CD. If they present DVDs to anyone, this may be a great item for them. Note that some newer printers will also print directly on these same DVD or CDs. ($150-$300).
29. Proof Books or albums. If they print lots of proofs, don’t hide them away in a box. Get them several albums so they can display them and use them to show others. There are some neat “self-stick” albums that let you press the print on an adhesive background and create a very professional album. ($10-$200)
30. More Power! This can be lithium AA batteries for those flashes and point and shoots, extra batteries for their camera model, portable batteries to run their lighting, and extension cords and power strips for all of their electronic toys. You can never have too many cords! ($10-$100)
How do you pick the right gift? You can print this and leave it out where your photographer will see it and get the hint and maybe circle a few things. You can ask them to build a “wish list” on one of the popular online merchants such as Amazon. Or, you can have one of their associates pick their brain on your behalf and report back.
To save some money, check out sites like eBay, Craigslist and other areas where people may be selling items. Also check out local camera stores for consigned or used equipment.
In any case, enjoy choosing and presenting one of these gifts to your photographer. They will appreciate the time and effort you spent!
Hard Drive Repair Using Free Software
Contrary to popular belief, if a computer does not boot due to hard drive corruption all data is not lost and the hard drive may even be repairable. There are 2 types of hard drive damage. One is fixable by you and the other requires a professional data recovery facility.
Physical Drive Damage – Physical damage is the worst. Data recovery can only be done by professionals and can cost up to $1,500 (sometimes higher). Physical damage usually consists of bad actuator arms, damaged platters or fried controller cards.
Non-Physical Drive Damage – Non-Physical damage (NPD) is what we’re going to be discussing in this article. NPD occurs when the operating system’s file system (fat or ntfs) gets corrupted due to an improper shutdown (for example). While this damage is may seem really bad (if it’s preventing you from booting your PC), it’s easily fixable with some software that’s already including in any Windows PC and a USB external hard drive enclosure.
Here are a list of items that you’ll need to follow the instructions below:
Another working computer with Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7
Find out what kind of hard drive you have. There are 2 types. SATA (small flat connector) and PATA (a.k.a IDE) which has a connector with about 30 pins. An external USB hard drive enclosure with a connector for the type of drive you’re going to be connecting to it (you can grab one of these at BestBuy for about $50 USD).
Please follow the steps below to perform a non-physical repair (software repair) on a non-bootable hard drive.
1. Take the drive out of the computer.
2. Connect the hard drive to the connector on the USB enclosure.
3. Connect a USB cable from the enclosure to the computer that’s working.
4. Power on the USB enclosure.
5. An external drive will probably load in your list of available hard drives. You can see this list by opening “My Computer” or “Computer”. Take note of the drive letter for the external hard drive.
6. Now it’s time to load a program called CHKDSK (Check Disk).
7. Click Start (if you’re on Windows XP) or click the Windows globe (on the bottom left for Vista and Windows 7).
8. On Windows XP click RUN, then type CMD. On Windows Vista and 7 type CMD where it says “Search Programs and Files”. This will open a black command prompt window.
9. In the command prompt type chkdsk “the drive letter you want to check”: /r and press enter. So here is an example chkdsk g: /r then press the enter key.
10. This process can take hours. I’ve had a few that took days.
11. If this command completes successfully your drive should be repaired enough for you to recover the data from it and you might actually be able to boot from it again.
A word of warning. If your drive ever has any errors on it (bad sectors) it’s reached the end of it’s life and should be replaced ASAP. You’ll be able to see this in the report provided to by the chkdsk command at the end of it’s scan.