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The DIY Guide to PC Troubleshooting And Repair

July 18th, 2008 1 Comment Posted in Windows Help

The next time you are having trouble with your computer, use this checklist to troubleshoot the problem before you pick up your phone to call for help.

Whether your processor slows down, starts behaving strangely of totally crashes, you may be able to get your PC back to peak performance with just a few basic troubleshooting tricks.

Try this before calling the repair shop.

Don’t ignore the problem; it’s not going to go away. But try these troubleshooting tricks before you call the expensive computer technician. Chances are that if you call the repair shop or the tech support hot-line, the person who answers your call will have less experience than you.

Save yourself the time, inconvenience and expense by utilizing these 12 suggestions and procedures to dig out system misworkings, process shutdowns, and strange Windows actions independently.

Never overlook what would seem to be the obvious. The first thing to always do when experiencing any problem with equipment not starting or working as it should is to check for the usual disruptions: unplugged or loose cords or cables, a power outage that has occurred, or a monitor that should have been on but somehow got powered down. If none of the above seems to be the cause, try restarting your computer or modem. This easy step helps to fix several randomly occurring errors.

You know better than anyone what the personality of your computer is, so ask yourself, “What has changed?” If you have installed a new hardware or software in the recent past, shut it down. Check for icons in the system tray to make sure that there is not a program running in the background. If the icon is present, just right-click the icon and select Exit or Close from the menu.

Then try and look for a program listing under the Processes button in your Task Manager, then press the Ctrl,Alt and Delete buttons at the same time to open up the utility. You could also just uninstall the application entirely. If you have recently modified any of your device drivers, go back to the previous one by using the rollback function for Windows’ device drivers. You can find full instructions in Microsoft Knowledge Base 283657.

Part One: Divide and Conquer.

You can check if an auto-start application is causing the problem by opening the System Configuration utility (a.k.a. “Msconfig”) To turn off all startup programs, press the windows key and “R” key then type msconfig and press enter. Click on Selective Startup under the General tab, then uncheck Load Startup Items. Inside the General tab, click on Selective Startup option and uncheck the box next to Load Startup Items.

If the problem goes away, come back to Msconfig, click on Normal Startup inside the General tab, choose the Startup tab, and activate your autostart programs one by one until the problem occurs again, at which point of time you’ve located the source of the trouble.

Software Explorer, which is part of Windows Defender, is designed to manage startup programs and it’s built right into Vista. Microsoft offers a free AutoRuns utility, which also runs in XP; this is much easier to use and less clumsy than Software Explorer.

Strategies and techniques for troubling times: Always try System Restore once.

If you don’t know what is causing your problem, and it just appeared recently, System Restore might be of use in restoring your PC’s function. Click on the Start button, then All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore, in that sequence. From the options provided, select “Restore my computer to an earlier time” then click “Next” and simply follow the prompts that you will be given. See Woody Leonhard’s expert tips for even more information on System Restore in the February 16, 2006 paid version.

A different profile may work. Log off of your account and log on again under an alternate one. If you can’t do that because you don’t have another account, then make a new one. A secondary account can be useful if you have a problem with your main account. Create a new user account by first opening Windows’ User Accounts Control Panel applet. Then click on Create a new account and follow the steps that are displayed.

In Microsoft Vista, you will have to click the add or remove user accounts, or manage another account, before you start to create a new account, hence if the problem doesn’t present itself in the other accounts, there is an error in your profile, in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER section of the Registry.

You can use the second profile as your main user account, but you will still be required to reinstall some software and replace the custom settings from your original profile. Despite that fact, it is a better alternative to reinstalling Windows.

Be sure to select the “Last Known Good” setting. After booting your computer, try pressing F8 before Windows starts if you cannot log into Windows. Select “Last Known Good Configuration” option using arrow keys on the “Windows Advanced Options” screen.

Selecting this will undo the latest changes made to your computer’s configuration. If using this option lets you restart Windows properly, you may have fixed the problem. It is not that Last Known Good Configuration can resolve every issue, but like many of these troubleshooting strategies, it’s worth attempting.

Try Safe Mode resolution. If in any case Last Known Good Configuration fails to restart Windows normally, press the function key F8 on startup again to go back to the Windows Advanced Options Menu, but this time you need to choose Safe Mode (or Safe Mode with Networking if you need to access the Internet or a network resource).

Safe Mode can’t fix anything, but it will attempt to open Windows with some very basic drivers. The problem in your computer is likely to be a device driver if you can start Windows in Safe Mode. Once you know what the problem is, you can also use Safe Mode to fix it. There’s more about this in the next tip.

Activate boot logging feature. If you think the problem might involve a specific driver or is related to your hardware, look through your Windows boot logs for detailed information. Pressing F8 during startup will open the Windows Advanced Options Menu, which is where you will find the option of enabling boot logging. In order to start Windows with boot logging activated, arrow down to select Enable Boot Logging and press the Enter key.

Pressing Win+R and then typing c:\windows\ntbklog.text and hitting enter will open up the log file. The boot log will add new information at the bottom of the file, so you will have to scroll down to see if it has added any helpful information. Keep an eye out for entries that might show a problem with loading a driver.

When you log into Windows using the Safe Mode, it will show you a log of all drivers Safe Mode doesn’t use; thus this boot log is not really going to be of any use in determining which drivers may be causing the problem.

Part Two: Divide and Conquer.

Msconfig is a great tool to help isolate the problem if you think it is a driver or other system file. But first, a warning: Using Msconfig utility to temporarily deactivate Windows services will erase restore points made by System Restore. This method should only be used if you are absolutely sure that you won’t need any of the restore points that currently exist and the problem was not corrected by using System Restore.

On the keyboard press Win+R, type the command msconfig, and hit the Enter key. Then find the tab that says “General”, choose “Diagnostic startup” and then click “OK”. Follow each of the steps in order to successfully restart your computer. If the problem goes away, you can add other system files back in with the Selective Startup option on the General tab to narrow down the possibilities and check whether the problem lies in System.ini, wini.ini, services, and so on. When you have gotten your search nailed down to a particular area, get more refined by turning on specific items using the check boxes under the other Msconfig tabs.

Get additional details from Windows. In some cases your system will automatically reboot when a crash occurs. You will be unable to check for possible reasons why you are auto rebooting because of this Windows feature. To stop auto restarts after your computer crashes, reboot and press F8 right before Windows load to bring you to the Windows Advanced Options Menu. By using the arrow keys, you will then be able to select Disable automatic restart on system failure.

Choosing Properties, Advanced from the menu you get in XP when you right-click on My Computer will allow you to either turn the feature back on or off, depending on its current setting, without restarting your computer. Find the tab that says “Startup and Recovery” and then click “Settings”. Under Automatic Restart, there is a checkbox that you can use to enable or disable the feature.

In Windows Vista, press Start, type the command SystemPropertiesAdvanced, and hit Enter. Click on the Continue button when prompted to by User Account Control. After clicking the Advanced tab, choose Settings in Startup and Recovery. You can manage the Automatic Restart option by checking or unchecking the box below it.

The next time you have an unexpected reboot, an error message should display on your screen with possibly the name of the file that may have caused this error. It might be helpful to do a Web search for the specific file name to find out more details.

The possible components of the video driver you are using that might have caused your system to fail will be displayed by Windows. If the answer is yes, inquiring about recent driver modifications on the Website of your video card maker could be the answer.

Check your system files. Windows has a tool that allows you to check the integrity of the files it requires to function properly which you can use to examine, and replace files if required. System File Checker will examine your files and offer to replace with the original if any problem with an original file is found. Open a Command Prompt window with Administrator rights, type sfc /scannow, and hit the Enter key on the keyboard. You might need to insert your Windows installation CD for retrieval of the original file.

There are two published articles available from Microsoft regarding the proper use of this tool: one covers its use in Windows XP and Server 2003, the other is a guide to using it in Vista.

Consult a troubleshooter. It’ll be difficult if you’re a man - it’s like asking for directions. In certain cases, the troubleshooting guides in Windows Help can be helpful, although they can often miss the mark. The guides can be accessed by choosing Start, then Help and Support. Look for some form of the word “troubleshoot”. Perform a distinct search for each of these terms since there is a high likelihood of getting differing results depending on the search term.

Be tenacious, but have a get away plan.

A long time acquaintance and exceptional troubleshooter told me, “When nothing has worked, fiddle with it.” Unrelenting pursuit has served me well in determining several computer issues. Try every solution you can think of, one right after the other, but keep in mind to go slowly and methodically so you can undo every attempted “fix” if it doesn’t work to solve the issue.

For instance, when working with the Registry, take due care to use the File, Export command to backup the Registry branch you’re about to tweak. Obviously, anything that is subsequently added to the Registry such as keys or branches will not be included in your backup.

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Tags: pc diy guide, pc repair, pc repir guide, pc troubleshooting guide

Strengthen your privacy in Firefox 3

July 16th, 2008 No Comments Posted in Windows Help

Firefox safeguards your private information over the internet, however, there is at least one new feature in Firefox 3 that may leave you vulnerable.

You can browse privately just by making a minor change in your configuration, and there are add-ons available as well to make Firefox more versatile.

Clear the Location Bar and other evidence

Scott Dunn explained several ways of changing the way Firefox 3 works in his June 19, 2008 article. I put the new browser to the test and found a number of ways to greatly improve its privacy features.

The Location Bar in Firefox 3 will allow you to view a list of sites recently visited, through the use of a drop-down box. You can use this to speedily get back to a URL that you’ve visited in the past without needing to re-type the whole address. Naturally, you may want to prevent other people using your computer from seeing the URLs you’ve visited.

Deleting an individual entry is an extremely easy process. All you need to do is find it in the drop-down list, highlight it, and press Delete. By reconfiguring the browser settings, you can also deactivate the history window.

In the Address Bar, type about:config and hit Enter. In order to narrow the list of entries that will come up on your display, type urlbar in the Filter area, then press Enter. Double-click browser.urlbar.maxRichResults. Change the value so that it becomes 0, then re-open the Internet browser.

If you don’t like the style of Firefox 3 but are partial to the Location Bar history feature, it’s possible to reinstate the look of Firefox 2 by installing the oldbar add-on.

If further privacy is desired, use the Firefox add-on called Distrust, which I first mentioned in the June 28, 2007 column. Your activity can be tracked from this point on by clicking the, “Distrust,” button at the bottom of the browser. In order to remove cached files, history of downloaded files, cookies, browsing records, and other traces of your Internet activity without damaging other Firefox data, click the icon once more.

Enable URL autocomplete in Firefox 3

When you begin to type a URL in Internet Explorer 7’s address bar, Explorer will try and automatically complete the URL by matching it to the closest URL you have visited before. To obtain the same result in Firefox 3, be sure to enable URL autocomplete.

Activating this feature in Firefox 3 is easy. Simply input the phrase about:config in the Location Bar, then hit the Enter key. Typing urlbar and then hitting Enter narrows the list of entries in the Filter area. Double-clicking where it says browser.urlbar.autoFill will change its value to true.

You probably won’t want to enable the drop-down history feature if you disabled it, as this could expose your browsing habits to other users who have access to your PC.

The easy way to remember Google search operators

In order to receive more refined results in your searches, you can use special operators in your queries both through Yahoo and Google. On July 19, 2007, I provided details on how to utilize these operators for more effective searching.

Remembering these operators isn’t exactly a simple task considering how many operators there are. However, Advanced Dork, which is a very slick Firefox add-on, assists you in recalling various Google search operators.

Once Advanced Dork has been installed, highlight on a Web page, right-click it, and from the pop-up menu, choose Advanced Dork. This will cause a list of advanced operators to be displayed. Pick one and it will launch a Google search. Then you may update your search query, if needed.

This particular add-on will enable you to perform searches through the Scroogle anonymizer, rather than utilizing Google as you normally would. What Scroogle actually does is allow you to use Google anonymously by acting as a proxy go-between. Scroogle prevents any personal information from being transmitted to Google when you run a search. It acts as a screen through which the query passes and the results return.

Currently, there are 18 various advanced operators that are supported by Advanced Dork. Others are available, but you must manually add them to your search queries. There is a full list of search operators available on Google’s Advanced Operators page.

Firefox + Gmail = online file storage

Google’s free e-mail service, Gmail, allows you to retrieve your messages and data from any location where there is a connection to the Internet. One of the great features of Gmail is you are given more than 6.6GB of online storage space with your inbox. That is quite a bit of space!

The Gspace add-on for Firefox 3 allows you to use your Gmail account for more than just email and converts it into an online file storage system. You will be able to access your documents, data files, multimedia, etc., from any computer.

Once installed, select Gspace by choosing Tools and then Gspace. A window that resembles a standard FTP client will appear. Fill in your Gmail account details by clicking on Manage Accounts. You can now upload and download files.

The Gspace window will consist of two panes: to the left will be the pane displaying your local hard drive and to the right will be the pane displaying items stored in your Gmail. Select the file you want to upload in the left pane and then click the right-pointing arrow between the two panes. In order to download a file, simply click the left-pointing arrow on it once you have selected it in the Gmail storage pane on the right. It is that easy.

Take a look at the demo on the Gspace website, where you can also download the latest releases for Windows, Linux or OS X.

Arbitrary code execution in Firefox 2 and 3

Within mere hours of the release of Firefox 3, a weakness was reported that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code through the Firefox browser. TippingPoint revealed that the vulnerability is present in both Firefox 2 and Firefox 3. Although details have not been released to the public, the company is aware of them.

Since there is no further information currently available, it is impossible to determine the best defense against this issue. There will undoubtedly be a new version of Firefox released in the near future, as Mozilla is known for its fast release of necessary patches. We are fairly safe now since no known uses are available for this weakness.

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Tags: Firefox 3 Security

OpenOffice Does Not Start On Windows Vista

July 16th, 2008 1 Comment Posted in Windows Help

Question: I’ve installed OpenOffice on Windows Vista Business and It installed ok and worked once. Now everytime I try to open the suite, it does not open. soffice.exe pops up for a split second on the processes list in the Task Manager, but then disappears and nothing happens. I tried opening a document with swriter.exe and that did not work either. I also tried directly opening the program but it did not work. Can anyone help? Thanks