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Basic PC Troubleshooting

• USB Thumb Drives can harm your PC too

  31Mar
  Categories: PC Info, PC Tips, Software Comments: 0

  

  Keeping you personal computer secure nowadays is such a hard thing to do because of the viruses around. Even your little USB thumb drive can be a victim of these viruses. In fact, these thumb drives makes the transfer of viruses from PC to PC a lot more fast if they are left unsecure. Good thing, there are still free anti-virus softwares out there just like AVG is quite reliable since updates are released in a regular basis. If you use USB thumb drives, be sure to have them scanned by your anti-virus software before accessing it via Windows Explorer. You should also turn off the auto-play function when you plug in USB devices.

  Image source: www.ecbuyph.com

• Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts

  20Mar
  Categories: PC Tips, Windows XP Comments: 0

  

  1. Ctrl Alt Del is the mother of all keyboard shortcuts, affectionately known as the “three-fingered salute,” since it’s so useful when your Windows box locks up. Pressing the combo once (simultaneously) opens the Windows Task Manager. (From within the Task Manager, you can force-quit a crashed program, see a list of processes or applications running on your machine, check performance parameters such as how hard your CPU is working, or track your network usage.) Is your machine totally locked up? Reach over, grab the mouse and click Shut Down.
  2. Ctrl S saves the file you’re working on. Ever lost your homework, a spreadsheet at work, or some video you’ve been editing? Hit Ctrl S (simultaneously) to save. Hit it early and often! (Want to open a file from within the program you’re running? Ctrl O universally opens the File/Open window.)
  3. Ctrl C copies text, files, or icons that you’ve highlighted, Ctrl V pastes them where you point your mouse (hey, you can’t completely eliminate using it), and Ctrl X cuts whatever you’ve highlighted out of the document (or folder, photo, movie clip, or whatever it is you’re working on). Ctrl A highlights the entire file you’re working on or everything in a folder or on your desktop.
  4. Alt Tab lets you switch on the fly between all of your open windows. Press the combination once to switch to your last open window or multiple times to switch to any other open window. Holding down Alt Tab will bring up a system window that shows you what apps are running and which one you’re switching to.
  5. Ever wonder why almost every Windows program has the F in File underlined, not to mention the E in Edit, and so on so forth across the top of the Window? Hit Alt that letter to open that particular menu; you can either use the arrow keys to move around within that window, or keep your eyes peeled for more underlined letters to use more Alt key combinations.
  6. The Windows key (the one that looks like the Windows logo, or a flag) R opens the Run dialog. From here, you can launch a command-line window by typing cmd, but you can do a lot more. You can, for example, paste in a folder path, such as C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\Expenses, and Windows will open it automatically. You can also use the Run dialog to open Microsoft applications such as Word, Excel, or Notepad. Just type winword to launch Word, type excel to launch Excel, and notepad to launch Notepad.
  7. Windows E launches Windows Explorer, defaulting to My Computer.
  8. F2 renames a selected file or folder. (This is so much easier than right-clicking!)
  9. F3 launches Search if you’re on the desktop or in a folder.
  10. Windows M minimizes all open windows, and Windows D shows your desktop. (These results look similar, but they’re slightly different; Windows M minimizes all windows that support the command, while Windows D actually raises the desktop to the top.) This is a great one for when the boss pops up in your cubicle. Once the boss gone, hit Shift Windows M to bring up your minimized windows, or Windows D to drop your desktop back down again.

• Speeding Up : WinXP’s Shutdown

  17Mar
  Categories: PC Info, PC Maintenance Tips, PC Tips, Software, Windows XP Comments: 0

  

  It’s not only start-up that you’d like to speed up; you can also make sure that your system shuts down faster. If shutting down XP takes what seems to be an inordinate amount of time, here are a couple of steps you can take to speed up the shutdown process:

  Don’t have XP clear your paging file at shutdown. For security reasons, you can have XP clear your paging file (pagefile.sys) of its contents whenever you shut down. Your paging file is used to store temporary files and data, but when your system shuts down, information stays in the file. Some people prefer to have the paging file cleared at shutdown because sensitive information such as unencrypted passwords sometimes ends up in the file. However, clearing the paging file can slow shutdown times significantly, so if extreme security isn’t a high priority, you might not want to clear it. To shut down XP without clearing your paging file, run the Registry Editor (click Start > Run, then type regedit in the Run box) and go to:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

  Change the value of ClearPageFileAtShutdown to 0. Close the Registry, and restart your computer. Whenever you turn off XP from now on, the paging file won’t be cleared, and you should be able to shut down more quickly.

  Note: Please be careful when editing the Registry; you can do a lot of damage here. Don’t change or delete anything unless you know exactly what it is.

  Source

• Clean the inside of your CPU

  15Mar
  Categories: PC Maintenance Tips, PC Tips, PC Troubleshooting Tips Comments: 0

  

  Did one of your hardwares suddenly fail? I’ve experienced a lot of hardware crash in the past. I remember one time, my personal computer would boot but the monitor is black. I checked the monitor but it is working perfectly. What I did is open up the CPU and inspected my video card. Upon opening the CPU, I noticed the great amount of dust inside it. If this happened to you too, here are some things you could do:

  • Remove your hardware from the motherboard. Get a pencil eraser and run it through the tip connecting the hardware to your motherboard (the golden thing).
  • Clean the inside of your CPU with a brush and a vacuum cleaner. Just be careful.

  After doing the above, my video card worked again perfectly.

  Image source: www.pcextreme.net

• Clearing the CMOS

  13Mar
  Categories: PC Tips, PC Troubleshooting Tips Comments: 0

  

  This is often the solution, and it’s frustrating because it’s incredibly simple. All you have to do is find out from the motherboard manual where the CMOS jumper is. Make sure the system has no source of power (meaning the power supply is unplugged and the battery is removed). Then, move the CMOS jumper over the pins that clear it. After a few moments, put the jumper back, plug the power and battery back in, and try it.

  If it works, you’re done! Congratulations on being extremely lucky! Karma will probably come around later and bite you in the ass.

  If not, continue on. You may have a long road in front of you.

  Source

• Info on Viruses, Worms, Trojans

  10Mar
  Categories: PC Info, PC Tips Comments: 0

  

  Viruses and worms are computer programs deliberately designed and written to alter the way your computer works, without your permission or knowledge.

  A virus has two properties:

  • It must be able to run itself.
  • It must be able to replicate or duplicate itself.

  Some viruses are designed to cause damage to the PC they are on by destroying programs, deleting user files, or reformatting the hard drive, but other viruses are merely prankster programs that spread and present a message in one form or another. But even these joke viruses must be removed because they can consume valuable system resources or cause the computer to crash.

  A worm is different than a virus; it is a program that can spread from system to system within another document, such as an e-mail message or a Microsoft Word document.

  A Trojan horse is a file that claims to be innocent but harbors malicious code that might do one of a number of different things, such as delete files or steal your data. The main difference between a Trojan horse and a worm or a virus is that a Trojan horse does not replicate itself.

  It is quite easy to protect yourself from viruses, worms, and Trojan horses: install a good antivirus program (for example, Norton AntiVirus 2007, McAfee or ZoneAlarm) and keep it up-to-date. A good antivirus scanner will not only be able to detect and block any viruses, worms, or Trojan horses that try to enter you system, it will also be able to remove any malware already installed on your PC.

  It is important to keep the antivirus application updated (it’s recommended that you upgrade the main software package yearly) and that you download and install the latest antivirus detection databases regularly, because hundreds of new viruses and worms are released weekly. If you don’t keep the detection databases in the program up-to-date, the app won’t be able to detect and repair anything new that finds its way onto your PC. Consult the help file or manual for your antivirus program to find out how to do this (most are able to update themselves automatically).

  Here are a few other precautions you can take to keep yourself safe:

  • Be suspicious of any e-mail attachments that you receive from unknown sources. E-mail is the main source of viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.
  • Be suspicious of downloads sent to you via chat applications (such as MSN Messenger or AIM).
  • Be picky about where you download files from on the Internet; many virus and worm writers use free software to disguise malicious applications.
  • Make sure that your PC has all the latest patches and updates installed (if you run Windows, visit the Windows Update site to install all the patches your operating system needs).
  • Scan all discs and downloads for viruses before running them.

  Visit Download.com for a selection of popular anti-virus software downloads that you can try on your PC.

  Source

• Stripping down your Computer

  06Mar
  Categories: PC Maintenance Tips, PC Tips, PC Troubleshooting Tips Comments: 0

  

  The first thing you should do is remove the system from the case, place it on a non-conductive surface, and disconnect all components from the motherboard with these exceptions

  • CPU (and heatsink/fan)
  • A single stick of memory
  • Video
  • Power supply
  • Power button

  This means no drives, no peripherals, no extra ports, nothing. This tests two problems at once. They are the possibility of some peripheral preventing the system from powering up and the possibility of the motherboard shorting onto the case somehow (aka, a standoff that should not be there).

  To do a quick elimination (only if the system is completely failing to give any power at all), find where the power button connects and short those two pins for a moment with anything conductive that you have on hand. A screwdriver, knife, coin, or anything metal will work. If the system spins up, you need a new power button. (If your system was already spinning up, you can skip this step.)

  If the system fails to power up outside the case, here are two things you need to do. First, do a visual inspection of all the capacitors on the motherboard. These are the little battery-looking things. What you’ll be looking for is any fluid leaking out of the top or bottom, any “gook” anywhere on them, or if they are bulging out the top or sides.

  While you’re poking around for bad capacitors, take a look at the ATX power connector; make sure it doesn’t have any scorch marks or look melted. If anything shows any of these characteristics, your motherboard is almost definitely your problem. If they all look ok, test repeatedly, with each stick of memory individually in each slot (this means nine tests for three sticks of memory on a board with three slots!).

  If the system eventually powers up, you’ve found good memory — probably your only problem — and you’re probably done. Put the stripped-down version back into the case and secure it. If it powers up again, skip to step 9.

  If not, you need to remove it again and investigate the setup of your motherboard standoffs and make sure nothing is touching the motherboard where it should not be touched. After this is done and all is well with the basics inside the case, skip to step 9.

  If it fails to power up with any memory configuration out of the case, we know it must be either the CPU, the memory, the video, the motherboard, or the power supply, or any combination thereof.

  Source

• Common Monitor Problems

  03Mar
  Categories: PC Tips, PC Troubleshooting Tips Comments: 0

  

  My monitor is black.

  Solution:

  1. Make sure the monitor is turned on. Try pressing the power button on the monitor again.
  2. Check to see if it is in sleep mode. Wiggle the mouse around or press the enter key.
  3. If the green light is not on in front, check the power cord connecting the monitor into the outlet.
  4. If the green light is on, check the brightness level by using the buttons on the monitor.
  5. Check the cable connection from the monitor into the computer or the equipment that links your computer to the TV monitor.
  6. If you still have some problems, call your help desk.