I still have to figure out exactly how this will play out. I’ll probably write about my discoveries in software programming. I’ve worked for a big technology company in Silicon Valley, and a few small startups as well (and what I write here is all of my own making, no representation of said companies is implied.) Maybe I’ll write some opinion pieces. Maybe a few personal interest stories. Who knows. Anyway, hope you find something of interest here. Welcome!

Oh, why did I call the blog geektieguy.com? Well, like so many geeks I used to wear a USB memory stick on a lanyard around my neck. I think of that as the geek-version of a tie. Hence geek tie guy. Plus it has a nice rhyme to it. As far as I know I’m the first to claim this phrase, so please don’t rip it off!

It's me!

18 Comments

  2. Chris Baskind

    Thanks, also, for linking Lighter Footstep.

    For the record, I rarely leave the house without a 2 gig memory stick. And — yes — it’s on a lanyard. 😉

  3. D. Ryan

    How can I send a post or email to you? I had a question about one of your protected posts?

  4. Varun

    Hi,

    I just bought a touchsmart PC, and in the process of cleaning up the PC, I ran a program called VistaOptimizer, which cleaned up a lot of mis-pointed shortcuts.

    Unfortunately, it also blew away your excellent SmartCenter program and SmartCalender. Now, when I run SmartCenter, I just get plain old vanilla MediaCenter without all the smartcenter addons.

    Please e-mail me with any help you can provide. My only alternative at the moment is to restore the computer and re-start from scratch and lose hours of work.

  5. Lynn Marentette

    I have a new HP Touchsmart, and I am not able to get applications to install, including Microsoft applications. Is this a problem with Vista, or the fact that it is a 64-bit machine? I can’t find much troubleshooting information about this issue.

    By the way, I guess I’m a geek-tie-gal. I wear a lanyard all the time, with two memory sticks, for a total of 5 gigs.

    I appreciate your blog.

  6. GeekTieGuy

    Lynn,

    Yes, the problem may be that the programs you’re trying to install aren’t compatible with 64-bit Vista, although there is a 32-bit compatibility layer present on 64-bit Vista.

    If the programs have hardware dependencies you may need to find 64-bit drivers from the manufacturer.

    Also, User Account Control can get in the way. You need to be able to provide an administrator password to install new software on Vista. If your user account is already equipped with administrator privileges, you need to watch for a message asking you to confirm that you want to install the software. If you walk away from the computer before this message pops up and you stay away for an extended period of time, the message will silently go away and your software installer will not finish installing anything.

    Without more specific information, this is all I can think of to try to help.

  7. gary boehm

    thank you so much for all the info you put out. I am retired deputy who was hurt in line of duty 13 years ago.I have found a new interest that is computers. I saw you helping people on hp support. my computer is a touchsmart q770 that has just quit working from overheating. saving money to get it fixed. thanks for all that you do to help folks with their computer problems. most of what you wwrite or say is over my head but I enjoy it and have learned a lot. please excuse typing can only use a few fingers lol

  8. GeekTieGuy

    My pleasure! Sorry to hear your IQ770 overheated. I sometimes do write some pretty narrow and technical posts, but judging from my blog stats, quite a few people at least look them over to see if they might be useful. I’m always happy when they are and people take enough time to get in touch with me. Thanks for reading and thanks for commenting!

  11. Ray DeVolld

    I have an Touchsmart IQ504 with Windows 7 installed. I bought it used. The machine did not have the Touchsmart software installed so after searching about this, I discovered your website. I typed in IQ500 (not knowing this machine is actually IQ504) and found your discussion that included the programs to download so as to install Touchsmart software and that worked out ok.

    After a while (after downloading the shell and several apps), the machiine began to act a little funny. I think it is a setting, but not sure. I tried using HP support but not sure that was a help.

    What the machine would do is continually reload the Touchsmart software after exiting from it (so as to go back to Windows 7. No matter what I would do, the Touchsmart software would reload. I couldn’t get it to stop from cycling. I turned the machine off many times, unplugged etc, but when restarting, the Touchsmart software would take over. When I clicked the “X” to close it down, it would go back to Windows 7 briefly, but then reload the Touchsmart software.

    The HP help desk instructed me to go to the startup and check off programs that were instructed to automatically initiate and I did as instructed, but after a while, the problem would start again.

    I can only control the machine now by removing touchcenter, but by doing that I can’t use Touchsmart software.

    Can you think of what is causing this and what the remedy might be?

    Thank you, Ray

  12. GeekTieGuy

    Hi Ray,

    The one thing that I think of immediately is that your IQ504 has a faulty TouchSmart button (the button with the house symbol on it, in the lower right of the front bezel). It may be that the button continuously instructs Windows to start up the TouchSmart software. You may be able to fix this by disabling the software configuration that makes this button work: Use regedit.exe to take away the following entry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\CurrentControlSet\Control\MobilePC\HotStartButtons\1 (or rename the entry), then reboot the computer.

    Please let me know if this does anything.

    -G

  13. Ray DeVolld

    I tried this. I ran regedit.exe and looked for your entry as listed above. Everything looks ok untile I get to MobilePC\HotStartButtons\1. That entry is not there. Would this be because I had deleted the shell program for Touchsmart? (all other Touchsmart apps are still on machine). I think i deleted touchcenter.exe.

    If I re-download the shell (3…35 version) would the entry then appear in the list?

    Thank you for your response..much appreciated

    Ray

  14. GeekTieGuy

    Yes, if you re-download and reinstall the shell, the entry should appear again. It gets put in place by the shell installer. And it gets taken away when the shell is uninstalled.

    -G

  15. Andrii

    Hi! Is it possible to hack TouchSmart 5.0 Software to run on multi-monitor configuration.
    I have HP TouchSmart TM2T and HP 2310ti dual touch monitor. So why can’t I run TouchSmart Center on big screen (which is main) and do something else on laptop screen?

  17. Bruno Garrido

    Hey GTG,
    Cool blog, always something interesting. I hope you are doing well.
    I like your analogy with Kitchen Nightmares

    B

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