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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…

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}

2010 Schedule

Printable schedule All games will be broadcast live on KZMP 1540 AM (Spanish).

Date	Opponent	Time (CT) / result		TV, Radio / attendance
March
03/27 – Saturday	Houston	3:00 p.m.		TeleFutura
April
04/10 – Saturday	Columbus	7:30 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
04/17 – Saturday	at New York	6:30 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
04/22 – Thursday	Seattle	7:00 p.m.		ESPN2, Deportes
May
05/01 – Saturday	at New England	6:30 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
05/05 – Wednesday	at Houston	8:00 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
05/08 – Saturday	D.C. United	8:00 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
05/15 – Saturday	at Philadelphia	3:00 p.m.		TeleFutura
05/20- Thursday	LA Galaxy	7:30 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
05/27 – Thursday	at Chicago	7:00 p.m.		ESPN2, Deportes
June
06/05 – Saturday	San Jose	7:30 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
06/26 – Saturday	at Chivas USA	6:30 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
July
07/03 – Saturday	Kansas City	7:30 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
07/11 – Sunday	at Seattle	7:30 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
07/17 – Saturday	Real Salt Lake	7:30 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
07/24 – Wednesday	at Toronto FC	3:00 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
07/31 – Saturday	at Colorado	4:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
August
08/08 – Sunday	Philadelphia	6:30 p.m.		FSC, FSE
08/14 – Saturday	at D.C. United	7:00 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
08/21 – Saturday	Chivas USA	7:30 p.m.		FSC, FSE
08/28 – Saturday	at Columbus	3:00 p.m.		TeleFutura
September
09/04 – Saturday	Toronto FC	7:30 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
09/11 – Saturday	at San Jose	9:00 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
09/18 – Saturday	New York	7:30 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
09/22 – Wednesday	New England	7:30 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
09/25 – Saturday	at Kansas City	7:00 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
October
10/02 – Saturday	Chicago	7:30 p.m.		FSC, FSE
10/09 – Saturday	Colorado	3:00 p.m.		TeleFutura
10/16 – Saturday	at Real Salt Lake	8:00 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com
10/24 – Sunday	at LA Galaxy	7:00 p.m.		DK, MLSnet.com

Dates and times are subject to change. All times Central (CT).

That city deal to take on Google’s free email services as a cost-cutting measure will actually cost the taxpayers $1.5 million more next year than if City Hall would have stayed with its old email system.

In what seems like bizarre math, Google competitor Novell points out that the cost of training employees and migrating the city’s thousands of workers to Gmail will cost an additional $1.5 mil. Indeed, the city is actually paying out $.7.2 million as part of a deal with Computer Sciences Corp. to help employees migrate to the Google services. It’s apparently more than the cost of maintaining its old email system.
Novell, which was bidding to take of city email services, is mad: "With the City facing a massive budget deficit, the speculated budget benefits of switching to th is untested application are enticing, but as a recent independent Los Angeles City Administrative Officer report has stated, the proposed system under consideration will actually cost taxpayers an additional $1.5 million in the first year. There are significant costs to migrating, training and securing Google Apps."

The question is, who needs to be trained how to use Gm ail? The city can probably save money on the Google service in the long run after its employees have been "trained," but still, it seems strange that, at a time when the city faces $100 million budget shortfall and possible future deficits that could be higher, we’re paying an extra $1.5 million to use free email.

Linux is brilliant at serving files.All you need is a relatively low-powered PC, a decent amount of storage and somewhere safe to hide it.

1. Install the software

We’ve chosen to use Ubuntu Server Edition for two reasons. First, it’s the same distribution that most people know and love, only optimized for use on a server. Second, you still have access to exactly the same packages and repositories as you do with with the desktop version, which makes installing and using software easy.

Put the disc into the machine you want to use as the server and select your language followed by ‘Install Ubuntu Server’. Unlike the desktop version, there’s no graphical installer. Instead you’ll need to choose your configuration settings from the pages of options that appear throughout the installer.

Don’t let this put you off; there aren’t any questions that can’t easily be answered, and the installation is effectively no different from a standard desktop installation.

The first question asks you again for the language, the second for your location and the third for your keyboard layout. After a brief pause, you’ll be asked for a hostname. You might want to change this to something like ‘mediaserver’, rather than the default ‘ubuntu’ to avoid confusion with any other Ubuntu installations you may have running on the same network.

2. Partition the disk

The next installation step is disk configuration. This is a much more important consideration for a media server than it is for a standard desktop installation, because of the sheer volume of files that you’ll be storing on it.

The most convenient solution is to use an old disk of around 10GB (or less) for the Linux installation and a high capacity drive for your media content. You can then select ‘Guided – Use Entire Disk’ on the installation page, then select the disk to install to and give Ubuntu complete control over how it creates the installation. Your media storage disk can be configured later.

PARTITION YOUR DRIVE: If you create a separate root partition, you’ll be able to update your system without worrying about your files

The second-best option is to create two partitions on a single drive, using the smaller partition for the root file system and the other partition for your data. This way, you can update the root partition if you need to, or easily back up your data partition without infecting it with system files.

After skipping through the partition section you’ll be asked for your real name, username and password. You should give this a little more thought than with the desktop, as it’s likely that your server will be on all the time and accessible from the internet, so a secure username/password combination is vital.

Press Continue to skip the HTTP proxy installation, and choose to install security updates automatically when asked. Finally, don’t select any of the default server packages unless you want to enable SSH for remote administration, then click on Continue to install the system.

3. Configure MediaTomb

We’re now only a couple of steps away from completion. When your machine restarts after installing all the main packages, you need to log in and type sudo apt-get install mediatomb into a terminal. This will grab the media-streaming software and install it on your system.

All you need to now is type mediatomb to run the server. Watch the output, because you should see something like the following:

2009-07-16 15:20:52 INFO: MediaTomb Web UI can be reached by following this link: 2009-07-16 15:20:52 INFO: http://192.168.1.89:49152/

This is the port and the IP address for the server, and you should now be able to point a web browser on the same network at this address and use the simple user interface to add the files and folders that contain your various bits of media.

 

After a few moments, the media should appear on any UPnP streaming client, such as those on a Playstation 3 and XBox 360.

A survey by insurance company Diamond has found that a fifth of women admit to applying make-up while driving. It is estimated that the practice causes 500,000 accidents every year. 

According to Sian Lewis, managing director of Diamond, women who drive and apply make-up at the same time risk both the safety of others around them and a ticket for careless driving.

"Applying your make-up when you’re driving means your full attention is not on the road ahead… Women are generally great at doing more than one thing at once but this is definitely one area where multitasking should not be practiced," said Lewis.

Source: www.ananova.com