Techie question

[Larry_OHF]

I bought a KVM switch so I could bounce back and forth between my PC and whatever computer I was working on for a client, using my own monitor, mouse and keyboard. However, the one I felt I need is too expensive for my little side-job right now. I wanted a switch that had both DVI and VGA (D-sub) connectors. Reason? My personal use is with a DVI cable but when I work on somebody's computer, it will almost always be an older one with VGA. What I bought was a straight VGA switch and my plan was to only use the switch for the mouse and keys, keep my DVI plugged up to the monitor, and whenever I needed to work on somebody's computer, I plug in the VGA cord, switch to their PC and my monitor go from digital to analog. That did not work. My next plan was to plug up my own PC to both digital and analog, and when I am just on myself, I'd only have the DVI cable connected to the back of the monitor and when ready to work on a PC for somebody, I'd change the connections at the easy-to-reach monitor's back. However, I was getting a bit ahead of myself and turned my computer on with both DVI and VGA connected at the same time and my video card thought I was trying to run two monitors and asked for me to clarify. Rather than follow along, as I expected that was not the route to take, I simply shut down and unplugged my DVI cord, letting bootup take me to analog on my own PC which also registered the other PC I am working on quite well with one problem. My display drivers got really screwed up and I just can't get the output on my own screen to look as good as it was. I have yet to attempt plugging back up with the DVI and decided to see if anybody had any advice as to how to make this work the best. I am worried that everytime I switch cables...I will have to put up with the display going crazy on my own machine.

What do you think?

[ElfBane]

Google "dual monitor setup", you will get 20 MILLION responses. I don't quite have the time for that right now. But just to get you started, Display Properties\Settings is where you can set this up. And this time tell it you don't want to setup dual monitors and see if that helps.

[ElfBane]

And another thing, if you're going into the PC repair business/hobby, it's quite fun and challenging. BUT,, you will want a dedicated bench/spare desk to do troubleshooting. Trust me......taking down your system to mount the clients system gets old VERY quick. You will also want a functioning backup PC that has internet connection and is up-to-date with AV, anti-malware, anti-spyware. This backup PC also needs to have a good data recovery app. I can't tell you how many times that people have wanted their photos recovered,,,,they didn't really care about any other info on the crashed HDD,,,they wanted the photos.

One more thing....make it your policy to NOT set up Parental Controls for anyone. Make the client learn how to do this, because if YOU set up the controls, and something pornograhic or icky gets thru.....it's YOUR fault. Trust me, make the client set up parental controls.

[Larry_OHF]

Thanks for the advice! I can understand what you're saying in your second post as do's and don'ts of computer work for clients. Very good advice there.