How to Update iOS Device That's Low on Space

Have you recently been unable to update your iPhone or iPad due to low disk space?

First, check what Apps are taking up all the space by going to Settings  →  General  →  Usage. 

It may take up to a minute to calculate all your Apps and their usage, so be patient. In many cases you can simply delete a few apps from this screen to free up enough space.

However, in some case you either cannot free up enough space, or your device will indicate it has enough space required, yet you'll still be greeted by an unable to update error message.

If this sounds like you, we've provided the easy-to-follow guide to backup your iDevice to a computer, update it, and restore all of your data (often leaving you with more available space than your started with):

1. Make sure iTunes is installed on your PC or Mac and that it’s up to date.
2. Plug in your iDevice and allow an iTunes sync to complete.
3. Click the iPhone/iPad/iPod button in the top right to go to your device summary page.
   
   
   
4. On the summary page, make sure Automatically Back Up is set to “This Computer”, and click the “Back Up Now” button on the right.
   
   
5. Approve any prompts asking for permission, or asking to transfer apps/purchases to your computer.
   
6. When backup is complete, click the Restore iPhone… button in the top right of the summary page.
   
   
   
   
7. If you see a message about turning off Find My iPhone, without unplugging your phone from the computer, go to your iPhone Settings à iCloud à and turn off Find My iPhone (you will need to enter your Apple ID password)
   
   
   
   
8. Click the Restore iPhone… button again – if it asks you if you want to backup, you can decline backing up (you already did it, RIIIIIGHT?)
   
9. Approve restoring iPhone and UPDATING – iTunes will download iOS 7.1 and upon completion of the download, wipe your phone and install the new iOS.
   
10. Upon completion of the restore, with your iPhone still plugged in, iTunes will ask if you want to setup as a new iPhone, or restore from a backup – choose restore from the most recent backup (check the backup dates for the one you just did).
    
    

Once the backup is restored, you are good to go with the new iOS, and all your stuff (and probably a little more free space)

Diagnosing and Fixing DVD Drive in Windows that cant read discs & Error Code 39 in Device Manager

We have had this come up a handful of times, so we thought it was a good idea to do a blog about it.

When you have a computer whose DVD drive fails to read a disc, or fails to show up in My Computer, and shows an Error Code 39 in Device Manager, chances are the drive is fine, but there is a Registry corruption related to the optical drive.

Below are the steps for curing that issue once you discover this to be the problem:

1. Open Regedit
2. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class
3. Scroll down the list, find and click on {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
4. Locate the UpperFilters and LowerFilters values.
5. Right click and delete each, sometimes there is only one or the other.
6. Reboot, your DVD/CD drive should appear in My Computer now, if not you have a different problem.

Re-enable Microsoft Office 2007/2010/2013 Updates when Update option was declined after Installation

We recently had a customer who wanted to install some updates for her Office 2010 installation, but we found that Windows Update did not have the option for Microsoft Updates.

This would occur if after installation of Office, the customer chose Don't Make Changes instead of Use Recommended Settings or Install Updates Only, which would add the Microsoft Updates for Office feature to Windows Update:

A lot of instructions out there tell you to go to the File menu in Word or Excel, click Help, then Check for Updates:

But when you click on that, you get a dead-end message in your browser telling you to use Windows Update:

But, as you already know, Windows Update doesn't give you any Microsoft Update options.  So what do you do??

Its actually incredibly easy - I finally found this website: http://www.msoutlook.info/question/363 that tells you to click the "Find out more" link next to "Get updates for other Microsoft products" on the main windows of the Windows Update page:

Clicking the link downloads and installs the Microsoft Update feature for Windows Update.  Re-check for updates and now you will see Office updates among your Windows Updates!

The website above gives you specific instructions for Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP.