I’ve added a new article called Troubleshooting Internet Connection Problems to the Tutorials & Guides section. You’ll find it helpful for diagnosing and fixing problems when you:

• Can’t access a web site.
• Can’t get online at all.
• Can’t connect to a wireless network.

This excerpt describes a method for curing many modem- or router-based problems.

Trouble accessing the Internet

If you can’t access the Internet at all, start by checking your hardware:

1. Is your modem on? Check that all the usual lights are lit or blinking as appropriate. It helps, of course, if you know which lights are usually lit solid and which flash, so if possible position your modem (and your router) so you can see the status lights.

If the lights are not lit correctly – or if you’re not sure whether they are – reboot your modem: disconnect the power cord, wait about a minute, then reconnect the power cord and wait for the lights to come on. Then try your Internet connection again. If the lights are not lit, ensure the power cord is properly seated, then check the Ethernet or USB cable between your modem and your computer. Don’t just give the cables a look over; instead, disconnect each end of the cable and plug it back in securely. If you’re using an Ethernet cable, it should make a click when it seats properly. If you’re using a USB cable and have it connected through a hub, take the hub out of the loop: disconnect the USB cable from between the modem and the hub and connect it directly from the modem to a USB port on your computer. Also, if you’re using a USB port on the front of your computer, try disconnecting that cable and plugging it into a USB port on the back of your computer; sometimes, the ports at the front do not have sufficient power to do the job.

Tip: Prepare for trouble

Most ISP’s list their technical support phone number on their web site (although you may have to dig around to find it). Write it down now, before you have a problem with your Internet connection, and stick it somewhere handy. Also, make sure you have a copy of your router’s documentation on hand – you should find a downloadable version at the manufacturer’s site.

If the modem lights still fail to come on, give your ISP a call. There’s a good chance there’s something wrong their end.

2. Is your router on? If you use a router in conjunction with your modem, make sure the appropriate lights are lit and check its cables, too. Even if the correct lights are on, try resetting the router by disconnecting its power, waiting a minute, then reconnecting the power.

If the router’s lights fail to come on but your modem appears to be working, your router may have failed. Routers have a tendency to go bad silently and without notice. One way to check whether the router is kaput is to disconnect your computer from the router and reconnect directly through the modem. If you can successfully connect to the Internet without the router intervening, there’s a chance the router no longer works. It’s also possible that the router’s internal firewall or security settings are causing a problem, but in that case, its lights should still display as usual.

Sometimes, rebooting the modem and the router separately is not enough, but a full reboot may do the trick:

1. Switch off your computer and unplug the modem and the router.
2. Wait a minute.
3. Plug in the modem and wait for its lights to come on.
4. Plug in the router and wait for its lights to come on.
5. Switch on your computer.

Yesterday I blogged about Microsoft Word’s hidden calculator; today, its Google’s.

Well, it’s a calculator, yes; but hidden? Not at all. It’s right there in Google’s search box.

That’s right: Google has a surprisingly powerful calculator built into its search box. I’ve written it up in my article Google: The Whole Shebang, but as one reader pointed out, that article is a lot to absorb in one sitting. So here’s a quick rundown on the calculator.

You can toss it equations with basic operators such as + (addition), - (subtraction), * (multiplication) and / (division). Or go a little fancier and find the remainder of a division using modulo (%):

• 527%19
• 99 modulo 4

Calculate roots:

9th root of 40353607

and factorials:

9!

You can even use trig and log functions or work in octal, hex or binary by using the prefixes 0o, 0x and 0b respectively.

Conversions, too 

The calculator uses the “in” operator to provide handy conversions. All the following will work:

• 7901 yards in kilometres
• 2010 in roman numerals
• 44 kph in knots
• 5 troy ounces in lbs
• 0.0000002 speed of light in miles per century

You can also do currency conversions using the same “in” operator. For example:

us dollars in australian dollars

Up pops the USD/AUD conversion rate. If you like, you can be far more specific:

• 7 pounds sterling in danish krone
• Or how about this:
• 2.9 usd per gallon in aud per litre

Experiment with the calculator to explore its capabilities and check out Google’s Calculator help for more.

You don’t have to use Internet Explorer just because it comes with Windows. There are much better choices available, and they’re almost all free.

I’ve added a new article called Get a better browser to the Tutorials & Guides section. It provides a roundup of Internet Explorer’s main competition.

IE 7’s daft design 

As I wrote ‘Get a better browser’, I was thinking about why I dislike Internet Explorer 7 so much. There’s no doubt it’s more secure than its predecessor, Internet Explorer 6. It also has support for tabs and other features we’ve come to expect from a good browser. And yet, I hate using it.

Why? Because it’s designed for last-generation screens. Most of us have replaced the old, almost-square screens we used to have with widescreen flat panels. Even if you haven’t made the shift to widescreen format, chances are you’re using a much larger screen than you had 5 years ago. On such a screen, Internet Explorer 7’s far-right placement of its toolbar icons makes using the browser awkward. To click the Home, Refresh or Stop buttons, for example, you have to move the mouse pointer all the way over to the right of the screen, and that can be a long trip if you have your browsre maximised on a 21- or 24-inch screen. Worse, although in IE 6 we had the power to move the toolbars around and place them where we wanted, that control has been all but eliminated in IE 7, so we’re stuck with Microsoft’s toolbar placement.

This might seem like a small thing, but if you use your browser a lot, it’s little things like this that will drive you nuts. It’s also a good indication that Microsoft’s programmers failed to think like users; if they had, IE 7 would have a very different design.

I received an email this morning which contained a very long web site address. Due to the way the email was formatted, the address had been split across two lines and, because of that, the link itself was broken. If I had clicked it, instead of going to the appropriate web site, I’d end up with an incomplete address in the web browser and, most likely, an error page displayed.

If you ever have this problem, you could do some multiple copying and pasting to recreate the link. There is, however, a simpler way to make the link functional once more: click Reply and then use the backspace key to close up the space within the address. Doing so will make the link clickable.

Another way to deal with long addresses is to use an address convertor such as Tiny. Tiny converts very long URLs into much, much smaller ones. For example, the following link displays a Google map of a central Sydney location:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&time=&date=&ttype=&q=12+Park+St,+Sydney+NSW+2000,+Australia&sll=30.004768,-90.
116288&sspn=0.00642,0.009999&ie=UTF8&cd=4&geocode=0,-33.872864,151.207543&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1

Here’s the Tiny version:

http://tinyurl.com/26x9a2

I use Tiny a lot when I’m writing articles for print magazines, as it makes it easier for readers to type in those addresses without making a mistake. It’s also useful for creating short addresses to place in emails in order to avoid URL breakage. Once you create a Tiny URL, it’s available for good - I still use Tiny URLs I created years ago.

You can use Tiny interactively, by going to the Tiny web site, pasting a URL into the box and clicking the Make TinyURL button. Alternatively, you can add a Tiny button to your browser’s links toolbar. Once you do so, you can create a TinyURL by going to the desired page (the one with the long address) and then clicking the Tiny button on your links bar. Tiny creates the shortened URL and automatically copies it to your clipboard.

If you use Tiny, give them a donation. It’s certainly worth it, and your donation will help ensure the service is around for the long haul.