Laptop Security

This is a result of sheer stupidity.

From Facebook:

WAYLAND, MA POLICE DEPARTMENT Two vehicles were broken into while parked at the Sandy Burr Country Club during the day on Monday. The side windows were smashed and two laptop computers were stolen. Police detectives are investigating the incident. If you have any information, please call the tip line (508-358-1726). Never leave valuables in plain sight, take a minute and lock valuable items in your trunk.

7 Sites With Laptop Teardown Guides & Other Laptop Repair Resources

Okay, this is a bit much for most of you who don't really want to mess around with hardware, but for those of you with a laptop who may have wondered what is going on under the covers, and who may want to attempt a repair on your own, this will prove most helpful.

A word of warning: when disassembling a laptop it is entirely possible that one small slip could make the whole thing impossible to put back together again, so be very careful and follow directions if you ever want to attempt any of these repairs.

This comes from our good friend from way down under at http://www.technibble.com/.

"There is a huge percentage of Computer Technicians out there know how to fix both laptops and desktops. However, the problem with repairing laptops is getting them apart. There are often screws hidden under stickers, special clips that need to be squeezed in a certain way and usually the laptop needs to be disassembled in a certain order.

Of course, it helps if you have a Service Guide to show you how to get the laptop apart; but they are sometimes difficult to get. For example, Apple only allows their service manuals to be viewed by AASP certified businesses/technicians and other brands guard their service manuals fairly closely as well.

Because of this, I have created this small list of sites where you can obtain Laptop teardown guides.

Official Sources
These are some of the manufacturers that actually share their tear down guides. The majority do not.

Many of these links contain other information about the laptop (drivers, specifications etc..), so look for either the “Maintenance Guide” or “Service Guide” on these pages.

Dell Laptops

HP & Compaq Laptops

Toshiba Thinkpad Laptops

Other Sources
Tims Laptop Service Manuals – Large list of laptop repair manuals. Scroll about 1/4 down the page to see the manuals.


Inside My Laptop – Guide on how to replace various laptop parts.

EServiceInfo – A large (somewhat unorganised) archive of service manuals.

IFixIt – IFixIt has teardown guides for Apple computers, PCs and many other consumer electronics.

Of course, if you want to know how to repair laptops (brand unspecific) then I highly recommend Podnutz’s Laptop Repair Videos.

It is difficult to get service guides for many brands so if you know of any other resources, please post them in the comments below."

Microsoft Update

Last night before bed I noticed the system tray icon indicating there were updates ready for me to install. I looked into it and found there were 17 updates. 8 of these were for MS Office and 8 were for Windows 7. The 17th was the monthly Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT). I installed all 17 updates, rebooted, and then went immediately to download the June MSRT so I could run it full scan, a practice I have gotten into lately. As of this moment I am not really sure this isn't a waste of time, but I view it as a painless and free extra bit of security (an ounce of prevention as it were).

This morning I found the usual window indicating no problems were found, so that makes me feel good, but this month I intend to read up on MSRT and see if what I do is worth it. In the meantime I continue to recommend that you do his too.

Is Microsoft Considering Buying AOL?

Oh boy, I hope so. I detest AOL and feel so sorry for people who still use it, especially those who seem not to have gotten the word that AOL is free and are still paying for it. There are many of them, believe it or not. My hope is that MS does buy AOL and charts a course for current AOL users to get the heck free of it and maybe migrate to a MS product. Not that MS has anything so good that all should rush into it, but nothing is as bad as AOL. But then, why should I complain? I have made a lot of money charging people to fix their AOL problems over the years.

I have a hard time believing that AOL still exists. Maybe the end is in sight? I sure hope so. If any of you reading this is an AOL user and wants to get off of it, I'd be glad to help ($$$) :-)

Thanks for this maximumpc.com: Is Microsoft Considering Buying AOL?

Written just for me, except for the 'smart' part! Thank you computerworld.com.

Seriously, if you use a lot of Google's stuff (offerings) as I do, this is must reading.

The smart paranoid's guide to using Google