Take Control Over Your Keyboard's Number Lock

Having a number lock turned off, or on, automatically can be a great time saver. It could also be a huge annoyance when the number lock is enabled on a laptop as normal lettered keys may function as numbers with the lock enabled.

To enable or disable the number lock setting for a keyboard during Windows logon, follow the steps below.

1) Go to Start, then Run and type: regedit
!!This will open up the Windows registry. Be VERY careful when editing as incorrect changes can damage your computer!!
2) Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Keyboard
3) Double click the InitalKeyboardIdicators option
4a) To enable the number lock on startup, enter the value data of 2
4b) To disable the number lock on startup, enter the valud data of 0
5) Click OK on the Edit String Window
6) Navigate to: HKEY_USERS \ .DEFAULT \ Control Panel \ Keyboard
7) Double click the InitalKeyboardIdicators option
8a) To enable the number lock on startup, enter the value data of 2
8b) To disable the number lock on startup, enter the valud data of 0
9) Click OK on the Edit String Window

You have now change the startup settings for the number lock on your keyboard. Once you restart your computer and log back in, the settings will be applied.

Clearing a Fickle Printer Queue

Printers are a fickle thing. Honestly, they are my least favorite piece of hardware to troubleshoot. Often I come across a printer jam that is not actually a printer jam, but a jam of the printer queue. While canceling or deleting all the jobs from the queue does sometimes work, there are cases where a print job just will not go away.

To completely delete everything from the queue, follow these steps below.

1) Open a command prompt and enter: net stop spooler
2) Browse to C:\Windows\system32\spool\printers
3) Delete any file that you see in the folder from step two
4) Return to the command prompt and enter: net start spooler

After these four steps are completed, the queue should now be cleared and printing will (hopefully) resume.

What is the best anti-virus software?

I often get asked, both at work and by friends an family, what to use for anti-virus software? Most people are looking for a free solution but often end up paying for consumer grade AV that they don't really need. My first recomendation is always Microsoft Security Essentials. I've used it for a few years now and while yes, it is a Microsoft product, it really does work! Often, I've found that it works more efficitantly then some of the more beefier products out there. It is also very light weight, often non-obtrusive and honestly it just works.

Checkout Microsoft Security Essentials

For a more consumer/business related solution, Sophos would be my first choice. Their enterprise solution is very easy to use and does so much more then AV. I use it to block users from plugging in external drives, stop them from burning to disks and can even block programs from running on their computers. The GUI is clean and user friendly, but most users won't even notice it's there until they get a warning. I can't say how much it costs as it will vary from company to company, but it is definitly something to look into if you are gearing up for a new enterprise AV solution.

Checkout Sophos.com