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Basic PC Troubleshooting

• Speeding Up : WinXP’s Shutdown

  17Oct
  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

• Stubborn OS – Downgrade it!

  23May
  Categories: PC Info, PC Maintenance Tips, PC Tips, PC Troubleshooting Tips, Software, Windows Vista, Windows XP Comments: 0

  It has happened with Vista and is seemingly also being built into Windows 7, the ability to downgrade should the user deem it too stubborn or complicated to use. The beta-testing of Win 7 is already underway and it seemingly looks nice yet Microsoft is again taking no chances by building into the OS a downgrade feature should it suffer a catastrophic failure. Operating system’s are normally better as time goes by and as with Vista, time was not on it’s side that people simply refused to bite into their many advantages (if that’s what they called them). Read more »

• Microsoft Makes it Known – Windows 7 In the Works

  23Apr
  Categories: Information, Software, Windows Vista, Windows XP Comments: 0

  Microsoft is again trying to mend its ways and maybe has learned a thing or two about the failure of Vista to re-take the world by storm as a new and improved version of XP. It failed miserably and before you know it, people who got their new pc’s pre-installed with Vista were downgrading back to XP. Vista was designed to be more secure than XP, it was, the only problem, it was too secure, asking questions at each and every way of previously already automated tasks nobody cared about them anymore. Read more »

• Slow PC – Too many Files ?!?!?

  22Mar
  Categories: Hardware, Information, PC Maintenance Tips, PC Tips, PC Troubleshooting Tips, Windows XP Comments: 0

  Hard drivesare quite reliable, so reliable today that they have gotten cheaper and better, lasting longer than their predecessors. Along with the many innovations, they have also grown in terms of data density or the amount of data that can be stored within the same footprint. Having a Pentium 4 that you bought a couple of years back might still be working right but as you may have noticed, it may have gotten a tad bit too slow. Read more »

• Updating and running your anti-virus

  11Feb
  Categories: PC Maintenance Tips, Software, Windows Vista, Windows XP Comments: 0

  Many people underestimate the importance of updating their anti-virus definitions and usually end up getting infected by some random trojan or worm when it could ave been perfectly preventable by a simple update of definitions.

  Anti-virus programs are very simple to update – some even do the updating for you. But if that’s not the case, you can always update at least twice a week manually, of you feel that updating everyday is too much of a hassle. You should also do a full scan of your computer at least twice a month to make sure that everything’s free from any lurking viruses. Also remember to do a full scan of any portable hard disks or flash drives that you’re plugging into your desktop computer or laptop.

• XP to get Extended Life?

  09Jan
  Categories: PC Maintenance Tips, Software, Windows Vista, Windows XP Comments: 0

  XP support services is set to go offline this mid-year to the disdain of many PC users all over the globe. With moves and petitions to bolster a move to get that deadline extended, they have fallen on deaf ears. While the market may become deprived of the said support systems, XP is still going to ship with new HP laptops till 2010 according to industry insiders who have negotiated with Microsoft for the said service extension. this comes as a blow to the software giant who has been hoping for similar progress with their Vista Operating system but with no bites. Read more »

• AVG AntiVirus Review

  29May
  Categories: PC Tips, Windows Vista, Windows XP Comments: 0

  

  If you’re a Windows user, chances are you also run an antivirus software from startup. Windows is, after all, known for its security vulnerabilities, particularly in terms of malware.

  One of our favorite virus scanners is AVG. Not only is it free, but it also has various features that make it better than many others out there.

  First, it’s a small download. You don’t have to wait hours just for the installation file to finish. It’s also very quick to install. You don’t have to wait 30 minutes before installation is thru. It just takes a couple of minutes. Then, it’s not as bloated as other antivirus software. AVG’s software footprint is just about 20 Megs in your RAM. You also get daily updates and daily scheduled scans.

  Not bad for a free product!

  Best thing I like about AVG is that it is pretty fast. It’s not a resource hog and it doens’t take forever to load to memory everytime I start up the PC.

• How to Stop the Startup Blues

  14Apr
  Categories: PC Tips, Software, Windows XP Comments: 0

  

  Have this ever happened to you? You go to the office on a Saturday morning to email a document to your boss (who just absolutely need to have it that same morning: on a SATURDAY) and you power on your computer. It goes through the same routine and then you wait….and wait…and wait until all the Windows program end loading. By the time it stops loading the morning is over and your boss is pissed. If this never happened to you, you’re lucky—it happened to me. Anyway, enough about me, let’s see what we can do for you.

  Windows is notorious for logging in and off s-l-o-w-l-y. One of the main reasons for this are Windows programs. Albeit, they are important to help your computer run, it makes the lives of hectic people worse: especially if the Windows programs that keep it from logging on quickly are unimportant! So what do you do in these situations?

  According to Techzone, for those using the Windows XP (not including Home version) and lower, you can download a software that specifically stops the unwanted/needed programs from loading at startup. I’ve personally tried it out and it does take a lot of these pests out of the startup.

  Try it out!

  Source

• 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.