Mr. Fix-It Services

Site code updates

It's been quite a while since I've had the chance to update this site, or to post any new articles. I have, however, posted a few (mostly shorter) articles at the SWLAPCUG site, as well as acting as one of the SWLAPCUG site admins, so be sure to check that out.

I finally got around to tweaking a bit of code for this site today. One of the things that had bothered me is that the code I used to display the current time on the home page did not automatically update to accomodate Daylight Savings Time, so twice a year (if and when I remembered), I had to manually change a line of code and repost the front page. Well, I found a nice bit of code at http://www.designerwiz.com/JavaScripts/digital_clock.htm that was "set it and forget it". I tweaked the colors and font attributes to better fit my site, and I like the result.

The other change was to add a few links to the right-side menu, including:

• SWLAPCUG "normal website"
• SWLAPCUG "contingency website"
• Mr. Fix-It Services "OLD Articles" Index
• What is my external IP address?

Hopefully, I will post some new articles soon.

Update on Thingamablog

Well, I haven't posted anything since Wednesday, August 13, 2008!!! Lots of excuses - some even legitimate - mainly family responsibilities and the crash of the old XP computer on which I had originally installed Thingamablog.

I want to finally get this going again, but on my Win 7 computer this time, so I downloaded the newest Thingamablog version 1.5.1, entered my site info, and was hoping it would have an option to import from my existing site. After all, my site is almost entirely put together with Thingamablog! Alas, I see no such option, so I suppose I'll be installing from scratch, once I figure out what to download with FileZilla, and where to put it.

Hopefully, I haven't lost all my old articles I had posted!

About me

I have been involved with personal computers since I bought my first Commodore Vic-20 with a whopping 5KB of memory, no hard drive and no floppy drive. OK, it did have a cassette drive... you could set it up to load a program and have time to go eat lunch while it was loading!

Prior to that, I had used a large Honeywell mainframe computer at college. It took up a room larger than my house, had to be environmentally controlled, and was constantly served by a swarming team of white lab-coated servants. My programs were typed on "punch-cards", wrapped in rubber bands, and submitted to the servants. Several days later I would get the results, and if I had made any errors, would figure out what was wrong and retype the offending cards. Of course that was often a large stack of cards.

We have certainly come a long way since then, and both my PocketPC and my cell phone are more powerful, convenient and accessible than either the Vic-20 or the mainframe.

Anyway, in the intervening years, I have built, repaired and used more computers than I care to even attempt to remember, and have worked with numerous operating systems, including DOS, Windows 3.1, 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista and now Windows 7, numerous Linux distributions, and even the occassional Mac, although my Mac experience is too little to claim any level of proficiency.

I have programmed in BASIC and FORTRAN and have written batch and scripting files to accomplish tasks that I wanted to automate or make easier to accomplish. I have also learned HTML, CSS, and a bit of Javascript to put together some websites. I DO NOT, however, have any higher-level programming experience, such as C++, etc. That is on my to-do list, but is so far down my ever-expanding list that I doubt I will ever get there.

I would be happy to help you with your computer problems. Please visit my Services page for an idea of what I can offer.

I am an active member of the SWLAPCUG, a fantastic computer club in the southwest Louisiana area, and serve as one of the website administrators, occassional article writer for the newsletter, club CD chairman and architect, and co-leader of both the Q&A SIG (question & answer special interest group) and the Beginners' SIG. Please feel free to visit our site, and I hope you may be inspired to join our group.

Thanks for stopping in.

Mr. Fix-It Computer Services Website News

It's official – I finally took the plunge and got a “real” website for my Mr. Fix-It Computer Services (MrFixItServices.com).

Yesterday (8/12/2008) I signed up for a Premium hosting plan from www.ByetHost.com. I have looked at a lot of web hosts, including free web hosts, before deciding to go with ByetHost. I think it is a very good price and seems to have the features I want. I signed up for the yearly plan, which averages just under $3 per month, and includes one free domain registration (at least for the first year). For that I get 5000 MB of space, 250 GB of transfers per month, 20 add-on domains and an additional 20 sub-domains, 100 e-mail addresses, 20 MySQL databases, NO advertising, the Fantastico script installer, and more. I'll be honest – some of that I don't even know what it is, and some I don't need yet (or maybe ever)!

Services offered

Tom's Mr. Fix-It Computer Services:

• PC repair, upgrade, troubleshooting
• Hardware and software installation
• Windows re-installation
• Linux installation
• General cleaning and tweaking for improved performance
• Virus, spyware, adware removal
• Individualized tutoring
• Data transfer from one computer to another
• Data backups to CD/DVD
• Digital photography services available (*)
• Reasonable rates and on-site visits
• Secure CD shredding
• Custom CD labels designed and printed
• Software recommendations including replacement of all Microsoft products, usually with freeware or open-sourced equivalents.
• and more ...

* Digital photography services:

• Digital photos enhanced (Ex: photos converted to charcoal sketch effect)
• Photos scanned and archived to CD/DVD
• Photo restoration (removal of red-eye, scratches, etc.)

Welcome

Welcome to my computer services page.

This site is a perpetual work-in-progress, so stop by often to see what's new, and please understand that some pages (as well as this entire site) may be incomplete.

I welcome your feedback on anything you find here, or would like to see. I may not always be able to check my messages every day, but I will get back to you as quickly as possible.

Thank you for visiting.

Tom Spindler

Tom's Mr. Fix-It Computer Services,

serving the Southwest Louisiana area

(337) 478-8301

Services offered

email me