Monday, December 03, 2007
Welcome
Hello, and welcome to my new blog. This blog will be dedicated to helping my friends solve Their technical issues on their computers. Each new posting will deal with a specific problem and how to fix it. I also will provide links to free antivirus, antispy ware and any interesting programs I find on the Web. I will also be taking requests on how to repair issues that arise with your computer, just post your question in my comments section and I will see if I can resolve the issue for you by posting an article.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Ask Me Here
If you have a computer question, or a problem this is where you ask...I will post your question, then the answer in a new article.
Legend, and symbols
(>) = Next
(<) = Go back
(T) = Tab marked
(A) = Apply
(C) = Click on (always means left click, unless proceded by an R.)
(RC) = Right Click
Sample;
C Tools>Internet options>T security>C Internet>C ok
Definition
(Click on) Tools (Next) Internet options (next) (Tab marked) Security (next) (Click on) Internet (Click on) ok
(<) = Go back
(T) = Tab marked
(A) = Apply
(C) = Click on (always means left click, unless proceded by an R.)
(RC) = Right Click
Sample;
C Tools>Internet options>T security>C Internet>C ok
Definition
(Click on) Tools (Next) Internet options (next) (Tab marked) Security (next) (Click on) Internet (Click on) ok
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Basic System Maintenance Part 3
This is for Desktop computer Towers.
Just as your house needs to be dusted and cleaned in side and out, so dose your computer Tower! This means you will need to remove the cover of the Tower to vacuum and dust the inside. You should do this every 6 months!
The reason you need to clean the inside is, just like your A/C system the Tower has a fan that draws air through it to keep it cool, It also draws in dust, lint, dog and cat hair, and any thing else floating in the air. Unlike you’re A/C the tower has no air filter to trap dust and dirt. So all that dirt gets pulled into your computer and clogs’ up cooling fins, and vents. This will cause 2 kinds of problems, the first of which is over heating, which will cause your computer to shut down, or crash. The next is a system short, which could cause a fire! Either one of these can be detrimental to your system! You will need a few tools to clean the inside of the tower and about 1 hour of your time.
Lets begin by getting the tools you will need…
1. Small Philips head screw driver, or a nut driver.
2. Some Q-Tip swabs (to get in those tight spots)
3. A vacuum with a hose, and base board attachment
4. 1 small paint brush (I use a cheep 1inch wide paint brush)
5. 1 old bath towel, and a flat work surface (I use a desk, or Dinning table)
6. 1 roll of masking tape and ink pen (used to label the wires you remove)
Start by removing all the wires & plugs from the back of the tower. If you have never done this before, you might want to use some masking tape, label each wire, and corresponding port it came from. On the typical computer you will have 7 wires to remove. This will include, Main Power, Monitor, Printer, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, and Internet adaptor.
Now that your Tower is completely disconnected, Lay the bath towel out on the table, and move the Tower to the table. Using the Screw Driver remove the screws that hold the Tower cover in place. Each Tower is a little different, but the retaining screws should be in the back. On some Towers There is a side panel that slides off, and on some the whole cover comes off. Some Dell towers have a button on the top and bottom, pushing both will allow you to open the cover with out tools. Take your time; look over the Tower, if all else fails refer to your manual, or look it up online be for you start…
Now that you have the Tower open, use the Vacuum to get the bulk of the dust Bunnies, being careful not to pull any cables lose. Use the paintbrush to losen any stuck on clumps from tight spots and vents, then vacuum. Be sure to clean the fan blades, and vents this is where the Q-Tips come in handy! Take a close look around inside the Tower, it will usually have a set of vents up front, and on the side, be sure clean these well. On some computers there is a plastic fan shroud over the main processor, this should be hinged or removable. Be sure to clean the fins on the processor, being careful not to break any. Now that you are done dusting, check the cables by giving each one a little push in, to make sure they did not come unplugged… Now put the cover back on and your done! If you did your job rite the computer should run cooler, and last longer!
Just as your house needs to be dusted and cleaned in side and out, so dose your computer Tower! This means you will need to remove the cover of the Tower to vacuum and dust the inside. You should do this every 6 months!
The reason you need to clean the inside is, just like your A/C system the Tower has a fan that draws air through it to keep it cool, It also draws in dust, lint, dog and cat hair, and any thing else floating in the air. Unlike you’re A/C the tower has no air filter to trap dust and dirt. So all that dirt gets pulled into your computer and clogs’ up cooling fins, and vents. This will cause 2 kinds of problems, the first of which is over heating, which will cause your computer to shut down, or crash. The next is a system short, which could cause a fire! Either one of these can be detrimental to your system! You will need a few tools to clean the inside of the tower and about 1 hour of your time.
Lets begin by getting the tools you will need…
1. Small Philips head screw driver, or a nut driver.
2. Some Q-Tip swabs (to get in those tight spots)
3. A vacuum with a hose, and base board attachment
4. 1 small paint brush (I use a cheep 1inch wide paint brush)
5. 1 old bath towel, and a flat work surface (I use a desk, or Dinning table)
6. 1 roll of masking tape and ink pen (used to label the wires you remove)
Start by removing all the wires & plugs from the back of the tower. If you have never done this before, you might want to use some masking tape, label each wire, and corresponding port it came from. On the typical computer you will have 7 wires to remove. This will include, Main Power, Monitor, Printer, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, and Internet adaptor.
Now that your Tower is completely disconnected, Lay the bath towel out on the table, and move the Tower to the table. Using the Screw Driver remove the screws that hold the Tower cover in place. Each Tower is a little different, but the retaining screws should be in the back. On some Towers There is a side panel that slides off, and on some the whole cover comes off. Some Dell towers have a button on the top and bottom, pushing both will allow you to open the cover with out tools. Take your time; look over the Tower, if all else fails refer to your manual, or look it up online be for you start…
Now that you have the Tower open, use the Vacuum to get the bulk of the dust Bunnies, being careful not to pull any cables lose. Use the paintbrush to losen any stuck on clumps from tight spots and vents, then vacuum. Be sure to clean the fan blades, and vents this is where the Q-Tips come in handy! Take a close look around inside the Tower, it will usually have a set of vents up front, and on the side, be sure clean these well. On some computers there is a plastic fan shroud over the main processor, this should be hinged or removable. Be sure to clean the fins on the processor, being careful not to break any. Now that you are done dusting, check the cables by giving each one a little push in, to make sure they did not come unplugged… Now put the cover back on and your done! If you did your job rite the computer should run cooler, and last longer!
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Virtual Memory is Low, or Full.
Question from Anonymous;
My computer shows that my virtual memory is low. How do increase my virtual memory on a Windows XP Home? Thanks.
First I would like to give you a brief description of what virtual memory is.
Simply put, virtual memory is just a file folder that's used as RAM by your computer. The only difference between virtual memory and a regular folder, is the virtual memory file size can manually adjusted. This is unlike regular RAM, where you have to purchase larger modules to increase the size. Virtual memory is also referred to as a page file.
The following directions refer to IE5, IE6, and IE7.
Let's begin by emptying the virtual memory file.
Open your Web browser,>C tools>C Internet options>T General
In IE5,and IE6>C Delete Cookies>C Delete temporary Internet files, in the new window that opens up, Put a check mark in the box (delete off line content).>C yes
In IE7>C Delete (in Browser history),In the new window that opens>C Delete all, In the next window that opens up put a check in the box>C yes.
That's it you have dumped your page file, Your virtual Memory is now empty.
Now that you have done it the Microsoft way, lets do it the easy way...
In the right hand column you will see a link to CCleaner, down load & install this program. During the installation of this programmed it will ask you if you want to install Yahoo tool bar, this is not something you need if you don't use Yahoo. Once the program is installed you'll see the CCleaner desktop icon, click on this. When the program is up and running, you will see in the upper left-hand corner a picture of a paintbrush click here once to highlight this, now in the bottom of the window you will see a button that says analyze click here. This will track down the accumulated Internet clutter and old cookies that are stored on your system. Once the analyze is complete, click run cleaner, that's it you're done! Run this program once a week, and you will never see that annoying window pop up saying low on virtual memory!
My computer shows that my virtual memory is low. How do increase my virtual memory on a Windows XP Home? Thanks.
First I would like to give you a brief description of what virtual memory is.
Simply put, virtual memory is just a file folder that's used as RAM by your computer. The only difference between virtual memory and a regular folder, is the virtual memory file size can manually adjusted. This is unlike regular RAM, where you have to purchase larger modules to increase the size. Virtual memory is also referred to as a page file.
The following directions refer to IE5, IE6, and IE7.
Let's begin by emptying the virtual memory file.
Open your Web browser,>C tools>C Internet options>T General
In IE5,and IE6>C Delete Cookies>C Delete temporary Internet files, in the new window that opens up, Put a check mark in the box (delete off line content).>C yes
In IE7>C Delete (in Browser history),In the new window that opens>C Delete all, In the next window that opens up put a check in the box>C yes.
That's it you have dumped your page file, Your virtual Memory is now empty.
Now that you have done it the Microsoft way, lets do it the easy way...
In the right hand column you will see a link to CCleaner, down load & install this program. During the installation of this programmed it will ask you if you want to install Yahoo tool bar, this is not something you need if you don't use Yahoo. Once the program is installed you'll see the CCleaner desktop icon, click on this. When the program is up and running, you will see in the upper left-hand corner a picture of a paintbrush click here once to highlight this, now in the bottom of the window you will see a button that says analyze click here. This will track down the accumulated Internet clutter and old cookies that are stored on your system. Once the analyze is complete, click run cleaner, that's it you're done! Run this program once a week, and you will never see that annoying window pop up saying low on virtual memory!
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Get rid of the Junk, & Speed things up!
Get rid of unwanted, unused, and trial software.
Nearly all new computers produced today come with a myriad of software preinstalled, and running in the background. Some of these programs are trial versions, of programs that the vendor wishes you to buy. And others are complete programs that you may never use the entire time you own the computer. These two types of programs use up valuable resources, and take up valuable room on your hard drive which can be used to store something else. By uninstalling unwanted and unused programs, you can also get back some of that speed that your computer used to have when you first bought it. Before you can uninstall a program you need to turn it off.
Let's begin by turning off some of these startup programs.
In the column to the right of this page, you will see a program in the links section called Startup Inspector. Download and install this program on your system. This program will identify all the programs that are running on start up, and put them in plain simple language so you can understand what they are, and what they do. This program does require an Internet connection to work properly! Please take a few minutes, read the directions and familiarize yourself with the operation of this program.
Lets get Going...
C startup Inspector icon>C all startup items>C consult.
At this point you should see a complete list of all the programs that are set to start, when you turn your computer on. Most of the programs in this list don't need to be running on start up! In the lower left-hand corner of the screen, you should see a rating legend, that tells you what the ratings mean. Let's begin by removing the check mark from the programs that are not required. Once you have removed the green check mark from these programs, place your pointer on one of the programs, now right-click. On the little window that opens up, Select remove all. Now C apply>C OK.
Now continue removing programs that you know you don't need to start. But be very careful not to remove system required programs, these are the ones marked with a star in the ratings column! All so you don't want to turn off your antivirus, or spy ware programs, you want these to start when your computer does. Once you have finished don't forget >C apply>C OK.
Now that you've finished turning off all of the startup programs that are not required by your system. Let's move on to the next part of this procedure, uninstalling the unnecessary programs. If you haven't done so already, please exit from startup analyzer.
Open Add/Remove programs
C start>C control panel>C Add Remove programs.
Once the add remove programs window opens, it will take a minute to list all the programs that are on your computer. Now look over the list of programs here, and remove programs that you know that you've never used. A good example would be AOL, if you do not have AOL as an Internet provider, you do not require their programs! Another good example would be, a trial version of Microsoft Money. Left click once on the program you wish to remove, this will highlight the program, to the right you will see a button that says change/remove click this to begin removing the program. Once the program is removed you may have to restart your computer to finish the procedure, if this is required you will be prompted to do so. Continue this procedure until you have removed all unnecessary programs from your computer. Please be careful not to uninstall Microsoft works, or the full edition of Microsoft office! Without either one of these programs your spellchecker will not work! If you're not sure whether you need a program or not please do not delete that program!! It's better to keep a couple programs that you're not sure of, than delete them and find out later that you require them to run your system...
Now you've completed all the steps in this article, you will need to defragment your system. To do this please follow the instructions in, Basic System Maintenance part 1
Nearly all new computers produced today come with a myriad of software preinstalled, and running in the background. Some of these programs are trial versions, of programs that the vendor wishes you to buy. And others are complete programs that you may never use the entire time you own the computer. These two types of programs use up valuable resources, and take up valuable room on your hard drive which can be used to store something else. By uninstalling unwanted and unused programs, you can also get back some of that speed that your computer used to have when you first bought it. Before you can uninstall a program you need to turn it off.
Let's begin by turning off some of these startup programs.
In the column to the right of this page, you will see a program in the links section called Startup Inspector. Download and install this program on your system. This program will identify all the programs that are running on start up, and put them in plain simple language so you can understand what they are, and what they do. This program does require an Internet connection to work properly! Please take a few minutes, read the directions and familiarize yourself with the operation of this program.
Lets get Going...
C startup Inspector icon>C all startup items>C consult.
At this point you should see a complete list of all the programs that are set to start, when you turn your computer on. Most of the programs in this list don't need to be running on start up! In the lower left-hand corner of the screen, you should see a rating legend, that tells you what the ratings mean. Let's begin by removing the check mark from the programs that are not required. Once you have removed the green check mark from these programs, place your pointer on one of the programs, now right-click. On the little window that opens up, Select remove all. Now C apply>C OK.
Now continue removing programs that you know you don't need to start. But be very careful not to remove system required programs, these are the ones marked with a star in the ratings column! All so you don't want to turn off your antivirus, or spy ware programs, you want these to start when your computer does. Once you have finished don't forget >C apply>C OK.
Now that you've finished turning off all of the startup programs that are not required by your system. Let's move on to the next part of this procedure, uninstalling the unnecessary programs. If you haven't done so already, please exit from startup analyzer.
Open Add/Remove programs
C start>C control panel>C Add Remove programs.
Once the add remove programs window opens, it will take a minute to list all the programs that are on your computer. Now look over the list of programs here, and remove programs that you know that you've never used. A good example would be AOL, if you do not have AOL as an Internet provider, you do not require their programs! Another good example would be, a trial version of Microsoft Money. Left click once on the program you wish to remove, this will highlight the program, to the right you will see a button that says change/remove click this to begin removing the program. Once the program is removed you may have to restart your computer to finish the procedure, if this is required you will be prompted to do so. Continue this procedure until you have removed all unnecessary programs from your computer. Please be careful not to uninstall Microsoft works, or the full edition of Microsoft office! Without either one of these programs your spellchecker will not work! If you're not sure whether you need a program or not please do not delete that program!! It's better to keep a couple programs that you're not sure of, than delete them and find out later that you require them to run your system...
Now you've completed all the steps in this article, you will need to defragment your system. To do this please follow the instructions in, Basic System Maintenance part 1
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Basic System Maintenance part 2
Freeing up Disk space;
This is the 2nd most overlooked part of system maintenance! Running this program will clean up disk clutter, compress unused files, & empty the trash on your computer. You will need to run this program Weekly, to keep your computer running smooth!
How to run;
C Start>My Computer>RC Local Disk>Properties>T General>C Disk Clean Up.
Let this run! If this is your first time running this program, it can take up to 2hours... When the program is finished a new window will open.
>T Disk cleanup> Put a Check mark in all the boxes!!>C OK. It will now ask,(Are you sure)>C yes.
Let it run, Do Not Interrupt!
Once again if this is the first time you've run this program, it can take up to 2 hours to run!
If you run this program once a week, it should only take 5-10 min every time you run it!
This is the 2nd most overlooked part of system maintenance! Running this program will clean up disk clutter, compress unused files, & empty the trash on your computer. You will need to run this program Weekly, to keep your computer running smooth!
How to run;
C Start>My Computer>RC Local Disk>Properties>T General>C Disk Clean Up.
Let this run! If this is your first time running this program, it can take up to 2hours... When the program is finished a new window will open.
>T Disk cleanup> Put a Check mark in all the boxes!!>C OK. It will now ask,(Are you sure)>C yes.
Let it run, Do Not Interrupt!
Once again if this is the first time you've run this program, it can take up to 2 hours to run!
If you run this program once a week, it should only take 5-10 min every time you run it!
Basic system maintenance part 1
System defragmenting;
One of the most important, but over looked maintenance procedures for your computer! This procedure should be run at least once a month, it will take some time to run, 1-3 hours depending on the number of files you have stored on your Hard Drive. This program will use nearly all of your system resources to run, you will not be able to run any other programs while your are Defragmenting the system. So set it to run at night when no one is using the computer!
How to run;
C Start>C My Computer>RC Local disk>Properties>T Tools>C Defragment now>C Defragment. Let it run, Do Not Interrupt!
One of the most important, but over looked maintenance procedures for your computer! This procedure should be run at least once a month, it will take some time to run, 1-3 hours depending on the number of files you have stored on your Hard Drive. This program will use nearly all of your system resources to run, you will not be able to run any other programs while your are Defragmenting the system. So set it to run at night when no one is using the computer!
How to run;
C Start>C My Computer>RC Local disk>Properties>T Tools>C Defragment now>C Defragment. Let it run, Do Not Interrupt!
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