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Your Windows PC might be designed to make your life easier, but they often have a non-stop list of problems. Today we’ll walk through some of the more common problems and how to troubleshoot them.

This list is, of course, by no means complete, and you should always use best practices to make sure that your PC doesn’t need to be reinstalled all the time, is properly secured with anti-virus and a firewall, and is properly backed up at all times—but if you’re currently having problems, keep reading for a list of common problems and troubleshooting techniques.

PC Won’t Boot Into Windows

Try Safe Mode First
When your PC just won’t boot into Windows at all, you’ll probably want to start off with Safe Mode—use the F8 key right when the system starts up to access the menu and see if Windows will boot into Safe Mode. If you’re able to get into Windows, the problem is likely something that would load only when you boot normally—graphics card drivers, junk applications, or perhaps some spyware applications.

Even Safe Mode Doesn’t Work
If you can’t even get into Safe Mode, you should use the Startup Repair tools, which can be accessed from the Advanced options in the Safe Mode menu; you can pull out your system repair disc, or your Windows installation disc and use the Repair option. If you’re having a bootloader problem that says "bootmgr is missing", you can use the command prompt from an installation CD and use the bootrec /fixboot command.

Use System Restore
System Restore in Windows XP might not have been the greatest tool, but since Windows Vista came around, it’s been an excellent choice for fixing up all sorts of problems, including issues that cause your system to not boot anymore. While testing, I once deleted a bunch of files in system32 to purposely cause a blue screen of death, and then used System Restore to get the system up and running again in minutes. If you’re unfamiliar with the process, you can follow this step-by-step guide to restoring your PC with System Restore.

Try Booting Off an Ubuntu CD
Whenever I’m having issues with a PC not booting up properly, one of the first things I do is grab an Ubuntu Live CD and try and boot from that, and see how well the system is working. If everything is working in Linux, then you know the problem is likely just your Windows installation, and not hardware related.

PC Crashing or Blue Screening

When your PC is crashing with the blue screen of death at random intervals, you should make sure that you first disable the automatic reboot after the blue screen, and then write down the error message so you can Google it later. If you’re able to get back into Windows, you can try using the previously mentioned BlueScreenView tool to give you some extra information about the error message, but your best bet is usually to do a search.

If you’re using Windows 7 or later and you’re getting a blue screen of death, chances are very high that the problem is either driver or hardware related—contrary to legend, Windows just doesn’t crash like that very much unless the problem is tied to hardware somehow.

Once you’ve identified the driver causing the problem, try and head into Safe Mode and uninstall or upgrade the driver causing the problem—sometimes the driver won’t be visible, so you’ll need to use a command-line trick to show hidden devices in Device Manager. If you’re doing a bunch of work in Safe Mode, sometimes it’s helpful to force Windows to load into Safe Mode without using the F8 key every time.

No Luck? Recover Files and Reinstall
If you simply can’t get anything else to work and you don’t have a full backup, your best bet is to pull out an Ubuntu Live CD and back up files from your PC, and then start the process of reinstalling WIndows again. If you’re using the native Windows backup tools, you can restore your system from an image backup, or use the standard backup and restore process.

PC Is Running Slowly

Check Task Manager
The first thing that every geek is going to do when a computer is running slowly is open up Task Manager, or Process Explorer (if you’ve already got it installed) to see what process is taking up the most CPU or memory—that’s generally the culprit. While you’re in there, it’s a good idea to look for other resource-wasting apps that we can kill.

Uninstall Crapware
Now that we’ve killed the application that’s currently killing the CPU, it’s time to start getting rid of applications that we don’t need. You can use Revo Uninstaller and the PC Decrapifier to clean up applications without leaving extra traces.

Clean Up the PC
Cleaning up your PC is really quite easy. You can start by running Disk Cleanup, but if you really want to get the job done, grab yourself a copy of CCleaner and run through a cleaning session. While you’re at it, you can set up CCleaner to run on a schedule to keep the PC clean on a regular basis.

Scan for Viruses and Spyware
It’s a good idea to run a system scan when your PC is running slower than normal and you’ve already determined that it’s not a runaway application. We think the free Microsoft Security Essentials app is the perfect tool for the job.

Use the Reliability Monitor
This under-utilized tool is an excellent way to diagnose problems and figure out what might have caused your system problems—it will show you a full history of system crashes, application problems, and even Windows Updates, so you can track down what changed on your system right before your system started running slow. Just type in reliability into the Start Menu search box, and you’ll be able to see everything, and even drill down into specific errors to see more details.

Use the Advanced Tools in Windows 7
Windows 7 has quite a number of useful tools to troubleshoot performance problems, but they’re buried in Control Panel where you might not think to look. Just head to Performance Information and Tools –> Advanced tools and you’ll see a list of performance issues along with suggested fixes for the problems.

Trim Down Startup Apps to Speed Up Boot Times
This applies both when your PC takes forever to boot and when you’ve got a glut of applications running away in your system tray that you don’t need; it’s time to trim down your startup applications. You can use the built-in MS Config utility or any number of tweaking applications, but you might want to take a look at Soluto, which not only helps you disable startup applications, but it shows you exactly which ones are affecting your boot times the most.

Internet Is Slow or Not Loading

Pull Out the Ping Command
If you’re having problems connecting to the internet, you should first make sure that you are really connected—most of the time you can pull out a command prompt (hit the Windows key, type cmd, hit Enter) and type in a ping command like ping yahoo.com to see if you’re getting any response.

Disable and Re-Enable Your Connection
If you’re not getting a response, you can try disabling and re-enabling your wireless connection, which solves more problems than it really should. If that doesn’t work, use the Windows network troubleshooter by right-clicking your wireless icon, and follow through the steps. Windows will disable and re-enable the adapter again, and wipe the DNS caches as well. If you’re still having problems, there’s a good chance your internet connection is just down.

Slow Response Times
Sometimes the problem isn’t connecting to the internet, but slow response times while you’re browsing—or maybe your browser is simply hanging. If you’re using Internet Explorer, you can reset all your settings to fix problems; if you’re using Firefox you can follow this guide to troubleshoot problems or just completely restore the default settings.

Web Site Not Loading
If the problem is a specific web site not loading, you can check downforeveryoneorjustme.com to see if you’re the only one having the issue with the web site—or you can often do a quick search on Twitter to see if other people are complaining as well.

Wireless Connection Dropping
If you’re having problems connecting to your wireless and staying connected, you probably need to tweak your connection. You can change your wireless channel to optimize your signal, but if you really want to make your connection better, try installing another wireless firmware or using an old router as a repeater to boost your signal.

Dealing With a Forgotten Password

While forgetting a password might not technically be a troubleshooting problem, it’s a common problem that needs to be solved. Your best best is to try and recover your passwords using free tools to crack your existing passwords.

If you’ve got an Ubuntu Live CD laying around, you can use that to reset your password, or if you want a more streamlined Linux-based Live CD and you’re not afraid of some command-line action, you can use the System Rescue CD to reset your Windows password in no time at all.

Windows Explorer is Hanging

If you’re having problems loading up Windows Explorer and browsing your file system, the problem is almost always a shell extension that shouldn’t be installed, or some shell extensions that are conflicting with each other. For example, the shell extensions for Dropbox and TortoiseSVN tend to cause problems when you put your code into your Dropbox folder, causing hanging and generally slow file browsing.

Your best bet is to grab a copy of ShellExView and start disabling third-party shell extensions, or uninstalling Windows Explorer plug-ins that you don’t actually need. You can also use this tool in combination with ShellMenuView to clean up your messy Explorer context menu.

Computer Is Overrun with Viruses or Spyware

PC Still Boots into Windows
Running a virus scan on your PC is never a bad idea, and when you’re dealing with an infected PC you’re definitely going to want to start the cleaning process. Your best bet is to reboot your PC into Safe Mode—and then run your antivirus utility of choice.

If you’re dealing with Spyware problems you should probably start off with SuperAntiSpyware and follow up with MalwareBytes to clean up the leftovers, since they do a better job of cleaning spyware than most of the antivirus tools out there. I’ve previously written a guide to removing a spyware infection, and we’ve also covered how to clean up after XP Antispyware.

knowing…

It is official, Diig is dead to me. I was a big user / reader of digg.com for several years. They updated to v4 digg.com, and well not very smoothly. I’d think that if you were to do a massive and almost complete overhaul of your website, you might want to beta it. I know they did, but not long enough!!! From the moment they made the switch, they’ve been up and down way to much…

So, time to move on!!. I’m moving back to reddit.com. I’m of course not using the standard almost archaic view, but I’m skinning it. The source is from http://userstyles.org/styles/33879. I cant take credit for this, but will be more then happy to share what I’ve found! Just follow the directions on that page, install Stylish and run the script, it makes reddit.com almost like the v3 digg.com. Very Nice!!! Just be careful what feed you look at especially at work!!

Associated Press

LONDON — The group that determines soccer rules has expanded the experimental use of two extra assistant referees into this season’s European Champions League, a move made following a series of mistakes during the World Cup.

Use of officials behind the goals was tested in last season’s Europa League, and the International Football Association Board says it will decide in 2012 whether to permanently adopt the change.

The introduction of officials alongside the traditional referee and two linesmen is designed to help determine whether balls cross the goal line.

Continued experimentation means discussion of goal-line video technology may be postponed at the next meeting in October, when the IFAB sets its March agenda.

Debate on goal-line technology intensified at the World Cup after England was denied a goal against Germany because officials failed to detect a shot by Frank Lampard crossed the line after bouncing down off the crossbar.

This week at the Women’s Under-20 World Cup in Germany, a shot from France’s Lea Rubio struck the crossbar, bounced over the line and spun back into play, but English referee Alexandra Ihringova waved away claims for a goal and ordered play to continue.

IFAB’s technical subcommittee, which met in Cardiff, Wales, ruled national associations, confederations or competitions must cover the cost of the experiment.

It has been approved for a total nine competitions including France’s League Cup, Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro Championship and Asia’s President’s Cup club tournament.

Three other events could take place if their ruling bodies agree.

CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer said Mexico applied to be involved after Argentina was credited with a goal from an offside position against the Mexicans at the World Cup.

Both Mexico’s Apertura and Clausura tournaments will feature the trial.

"They said, ‘It would be really great if our league could be involved.’ They were very receptive," Blazer said. "It’s not a light undertaking."

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

Understand that I personally haven’t tried this item yet, but if it looks and works half as good as their site says, I’m sold. http://www.cocooninnovations.com/

This nifty little product is designed to contain all of your stuff from roaming around in your bag. It is said to be made up of a woven grid of elastic bands. This allows for a highly veritable array of infinite configurations, that help keep your stuff in place.

Check out their site, or find them at many online stores. Prices range between 14.99-29.99, most places.

Two Thumbs up…..

I just got update to Firefox 3.6 and find it annoying now, that when I right-click to open a new tab, it puts it up front. Previously, before Firefox version 3.6, all new tabs are added at the far right end of the Tab bar of the popular web browser to surf Internet. The change make Firefox tab behavior to be almost similar to Internet Explorer, versions IE7 and IE8. I cant seem to get used to the new tab opening style, and I want to revert and get back to the old way. I really liked it where all new tabs are inserted and added at the far right end of the Tab bar after all existing tabs, use the following how-to trick to make the change.

How to Open New Tab At the End of Tab Bar After All Existing Tabs in Firefox and Disable Insert Next to Current Tab

1. In Firefox, type about:config into Location bar.

   

2. Click on I’ll be careful, I promise! button.

   

3. In the filter text box, enter the following text string:

   browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent

   Alternatively, manually locate the preference name above.

4. The default boolean value for the browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent is “true”. Double click on the browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent to change its value to false.

   

5. Close the tab, and the change will take effect immediately.

Here are some Windows 7 tips and tricks.

• Windows key + Left: docks current window to the left side of the screen.
• Windows key + Right: docks current window to the right side of the screen.
• Windows key + Up: maximizes and/or restores foreground window. 
• Windows key + Down: minimizes active window.
• If you want a more Vista-esque taskbar rather than the superbar (why anyone would revert is beyond me), right-click the Taskbar, go to Properties, check the ‘Use small icons’ option, then change the “Taskbar Buttons” option to ‘Never combine.’
• Windows 7 now burns ISO files themselves instead of making users grapple with third-party applications.
• For those lucky people with a multi-monitor setup, Windows + SHIFT + Left (or Right) will shift a window from monitor to monitor. 
• Gone is the “Add Font” dialog. It’s been replaced with a much nicer system. Download a font and double-click it (you’ll be greeted with the familar font window, but you should notice it now has a ‘Install’ button).
• Windows 7 now includes Gabriola. This is an elaborate display typeface that takes advantage of OpenType layout to create a variety of stylistic sets.
• If you press Windows + 1, it will create a new instance of the first icon in the task bar. This is handy if you do a lot of coding and need to open several instances of a program.
• If you right-click on a Taskbar icon, it brings up the much talked about Jump List. However, the same can be done by clicking with the left mouse button and dragging the icon “out” (so to speak). This was specifically designed for touch-enabled computers, such as your lovely HP TouchSmart PC.
• To run a program as an Administrator, it’s now as easy as holding CTRL + SHIFT when you open the application.
• With Windows 7, you can now create a ‘System Repair Disc.’ This is a CD bootable version of Windows 7 that includes the command prompt and a suite of system tools. Very handy for those really tough spots (which, with this still in beta, could be just around the corner). To get to this, simply open the Start Menu and type: “system repair disc” in the search field.

Well, gotcha, it’s not really GOD mode, but it’s a folder packed with shortcuts to just about every settings change and administrative function in Windows 7. Everything you’ll find in the Action Center, Backup and Restore, Autorun, Desktop Gadgets, Devices and Printers — it’s all there. All dumped in one central location for easy access.

• Create a new folder anywhere
• Rename the folder and paste in the following text: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

That’s it! You’ve now got your new, handy folder. But remember all of these can already be accessed simply by typing a few letters into the search box on your start menu. I’ve read that if this is done on a Windows 7 64-bit system, then it’ll crash your system. 

Want some more folder tricks, secrets?

Location Settings
{00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}

Biometric Settings
{0142e4d0-fb7a-11dc-ba4a-000ffe7ab428}

Power Settings
{025A5937-A6BE-4686-A844-36FE4BEC8B6D}

Icons And Notifications
{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}

Credentials and Logins
{1206F5F1-0569-412C-8FEC-3204630DFB70}

Programs and Features
{15eae92e-f17a-4431-9f28-805e482dafd4}

Default Programs
{17cd9488-1228-4b2f-88ce-4298e93e0966}

All NET Frameworks and COM Libraries
{1D2680C9-0E2A-469d-B787-065558BC7D43}

All Networks For Current Connection
{1FA9085F-25A2-489B-85D4-86326EEDCD87}

Network
{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}

My Computer
{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

Printers
{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}

Application Connections
{241D7C96-F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}

Firewall and Security
{4026492F-2F69-46B8-B9BF-5654FC07E423}

Performance
{78F3955E-3B90-4184-BD14-5397C15F1EFC}

NEW YORK – It is a common fear among users of Facebook and other social media around the world — how to deal with a friend request from your boss or employee.

A survey released on Thursday found that 56 percent of Americans say it is irresponsible to be friends with a boss and 62 percent say it is wrong to be friends with an employee.But 76 percent believe it is acceptable to be friends with a workplace peer, according to the survey of 1,000 people by Liberty Mutual’s Responsibility Project. "When the roles change what do you do then? Do you unfriend someone if they have now been promoted to be your boss or if you’re now their boss," said researcher Kelly Holland.

"We get into some really sticky situations there in terms of what people will think is responsible," she said.

When using social media at work, 73 percent say it is not appropriate to update your Facebook status, 82 percent say you should not upload photos, 72 percent believe tweeting is wrong and 79 percent say it is not acceptable to watch online videos.

Yet 66 percent say it is fine to check your personal email while at work.

"When people focus on responsibility, they know what the responsible thing is to do but whether they are doing that in practice or not is a different story," said Holland.

Americans are split on whether companies should review the social media profiles of job candidates with 52 percent saying it is appropriate and 48 percent saying it is unacceptable.

Social media can also lead to some difficult decisions when it comes to family and relationships. Sixty percent of those polled say that it is "completely acceptable" to unfriend an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend.

More than 40 percent of parents believe it is irresponsible to post photos of children online. Thirty one percent monitor their children’s Facebook accounts and almost 70 percent are friends with their children on Facebook or MySpace. But 72 percent limit the time their children spend on social media networks.

More than 80 percent of parents say that teachers should not interact with students online, but they are split when it comes to whether social media should be used as evidence to punish students’ behavior.

"The social media arena is incredibly complex in terms of responsibility," Holland said.

But despite the murkiness of social media responsibility, there is one area that nearly three-quarters of Americans agree on — they think it is "egotistical and a waste of time" to develop a Facebook page for a pet.

Ok, here is my rant for the day. It has been simmering since the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.  I’ve got no issue with Polo Ralph Lauren providing the hats, jackets, uniforms etc. In fact, I love it. We’re simply the best, the best dressed, the best in the sports etc.. USA USA USA. Ok, my beef is this. Did anyone else catch the team hats they hadon. I think they were kind simply silly, beacons of days gone by, like skiing in the Sierra Nevada’s in the 80’s, everyone with those silly knit hats with whimsical designs, oh I digress. My issue is with the US Flag Patch. I don’t know if it was a patch, or part of the hat itself, woven into it? The flag was so incorrect. In my opinion, this makes us look like chumps, we cant even get our flag right? This was the highest watched event in a long time, and here we’re wearing our flag wrong. Take a look at the picture, the flag has how many star? Ok people, let’s get out our American history books, how many starts are on the blue background, if you said 14, then you work in for Ralph Lauren, if you said 50 then you’re correct.

This just isn’t right, let’s break it down.

Part one, If this was just part of the hat and part of the design, well it just broke the Flag code put forth by this country…

The laws relating to the flag of the United States of America are found in detail in the United States Code. Title 4, Chapter 1 pertains to the flag; Title 18, Chapter 33, Section 700 regards criminal penalties for flag desecration; Title 36, Chapter 3 pertains to patriotic customs and observances. These laws were supplemented by Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations.

More specially, According to the Flag Code, a flag is anything "by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag."

The words "flag, standard, colors, or ensign", as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States of America.

Source: Flag Code, Section 3

Therefore, a flag includes any representation of it of any substance, with stars and stripes of any number. This would include T-shirts and ties.

The Flag Code states that the flag should never be worn. (Section 8d): "The flag should never be used as wearing apparel."

So, if I’ve read this correctly, a flag really shouldn’t be used in part of a design in clothing at all.

Part two, if this was a flag patch, well then that is just really wrong. Source: Flag Code, Section 1

The flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall be forty-eight stars [Note that sec. 2 which follows provides for additional stars. Today the flag has fifty stars representing the fifty states — Webmaster], white in a blue field

If you want to read the whole flag code, I recommend, http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagcode.htm (special thank you, great site with a wealth of knowledge)