Category Archives: Tech

Tech Repairs and Suggestions for Electronics, Appliances, etc.

Budget website design – how to find it

Posted on by October 9, 2014avatar
Budget website design - The DIY Girl

My day job is designing websites for small business owners who don’t have bottomless pockets to have an internet presence. I believe every brick and mortar business needs a website these days. It’s become a requirement for a credible appearance to customers and if it does nothing else, it gives prospective customers your location and contact information. If you don’t have a store, it’s even more important. The site doesn’t have to be huge, but it needs to be current and well done. It will often be the first impression a prospective new customer has of you, so it needs to be a … Read more…

Cloning a failing operating system hard drive

Posted on by March 20, 2014avatar
Cloning a failing operating system hard drive - The DIY Girl

This is not a how-to. No pictures. This is rather the tale of a fairly proficient user who isn’t afraid to beat her way through computer problems. The key to success is that most people have more than one computer in the home these days, so if you get stuck you just use the other computer to research until you find the answer. FYI – the computer is a Windows 7 desktop. I’ve known for a while my hard drive was failing. I started getting the dreaded BSOD (blue screen of death) and the system would shut down and restart. … Read more…

What’s living in Your keyboard? How to clean a keyboard

Posted on by September 21, 2014avatar
What's living in Your keyboard? - The DIY Girl

I do a lot of typing so when my space bar started missing about half the time it became incredibly annoying. I have a wireless keyboard so I checked the batteries and they were in good shape. I was typing an email this morning and I was missing almost every space in a sentence and out of utter annoyance I got a small screw driver and popped the space bar off. My jaw dropped. There was so much dog hair and so many crumbs under it I had no idea how it had been able to function at all. Yes, … Read more…

Surge protection for appliances – do it now!

Posted on by April 19, 2015avatar
The DIY Girl - Surge protection for appliances - do it now!

After a repairman told me a surge probably fried the electronics controlling the compressor on my refrigerator and suggested I get a single outlet surge protector I started doing some research. Which appliances are at risk? Appliances used to be a lot simpler than they are now. Now everything is digital and electronic. I found the following comment on BobVila.com: Interesting how refrigerators have changed… Now 2013, leading OEM’s include leading electronics manufacturers, Samsung, LG, etc. Today they are laden with electronics, motherboards, digital displays in the door, LED’s, etc. all subject to surge damage, especially in those regions that … Read more…

Refrigerator repair – DIY or not?

Posted on by May 29, 2015avatar
Refrigerator repair - DIY or not? The DIY Girl

This Sunday I returned from a nine-day camping trip to find a totally dead refrigerator. In fact, the inside of the refrigerator was much warmer than the house since I’d turned the heat way down. Apparently the fans and other parts heat things up when the compressor stops cooling. Oh joy. It must have died several days before because everything was completely thawed and stinky and all the food was a total loss. The good news? It was a terrific opportunity to clean the fridge and freezer since it wasn’t cold and full of food 😉 Trying to look on … Read more…

Leaking dishwasher float

Posted on by October 28, 2013avatar
Leaking dishwasher float - The DIY Girl

Having recently moved to an extremely humid area I was not happy with how mildewy the dishwasher was getting between uses earlier this summer. I live alone, don’t go through the many dishes most of the time and they were sitting in that damp environment too long. Wash my dishes in a moldy, mildewy environment? It just wasn’t very appetizing so I decided to quit using the dishwasher and hand wash for the remainder of the summer. Now it’s October and I’m getting ready to sell the house so I thought it was time to go back to using the … Read more…

Changing your in-cabin air filters

Posted on by September 22, 2013avatar
Changing your in-cabin air filters - The DIY Girl

Recently I was reading a Family Handyman online article on 5 things you should do for your vehicle and it mentioned changing the in-cabin air filters once a year. If you click on the image to the left it will take you to their article. I’d had issues with the filters leading to my cabin. I had parked my vehicle outside at a friend’s house for a few days while we traveled and when I got back the smell in the car was grotesque. A ridiculous amount of money later I found out that in my absence a mama mouse … Read more…

Moving WordPress Blog To New Hosting and Changing URL

Posted on by February 18, 2015avatar
Moving WordPress Blog To New Hosting and Changing URL - The DIY Girl

I develop sites for clients on my own host server which happens to be HostMonster. Been with them for years and haven’t had any problems, so while there are cheaper options, I figure why fix something that isn’t broken. When working for a client I share the url for their test site so they can view and approve the work. When the site it completed I move it to their server.  FYI – I’ve been recommending PowWeb most of the time for small business sites because they have good prices. When you go to sign up you should leave the … Read more…

Cancelling Verizon FiOS

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

I absolutely, unequivocally adore FiOS. I was in one of the lucky first neighborhoods to get it and it was flawless for the years that I had it. When I decided to move, I was terribly disappointed it wasn’t available in the area to which I was moving. I hope to someday live where it’s available again. That said — beware of the cancelling process. Especially if you’ve made the decision to not spend the money on a Verizon phone line. I had internet only – no TV, no phone.  I was talking a few months ago to someone who … Read more…

Hard Disk Drive Failure – what to do

Posted on by September 10, 2013avatar

A little background A few years back I had the operating system drive in the computer then die at an inopportune time. Is there ever a good time? I did what I had done in the past. I’m not sure if this is out of sheer stubbornness or belief that it’s doable, but I tried the drive over and over again using a boot disk until it came on one time so I could get the important data off of it. I replaced that PC since it was outdated and when I shopped for the replacement I wasn’t terribly concerned … Read more…