You have thought about it…getting out the hammer and having a go at it…that computer is driving you crazy. It’s running slower than molasses in the Arctic, crashes all the dang time and seems to be chuck full of every virus and spyware ever invented.

You have just about had enough! But before you toss out the computer into the trash, you should read over these four tips on what to do when things start going badly on your PC.

Calm Down…Don’t Panic

Don’t let your “feelings” carry you away. Anger, frustration and confusion are normal when your computer goes bad. But if you get caught up in your emotions instead of taking action, you will only prolong your PC headaches. Just take a deep breath and relax. Grab cup of your favorite beverage and take 5 or so minutes to get your perspective back. A calm mind can figure out more creative solutions to things than a stressed one can. A calm mind is also a proactive mind.

Admit You Have a Problem

Admit something is wrong with your computer. Denying that your computer has issues will eventually cause damage that can be very expensive to repair. I know, not knowing what to do can make you feel kind of dumb and helpless. But by taking action instead burying your head in the sand you may be able to prevent a minor problem from growing into a major one. Fess up. Look your problems right in the eye. You can’t fix what’s troubling you if you keep overlooking the situation.

Find Out What Happened and Take Notes

The hardest part of fixing a computer problem is figuring out what’s wrong. When a problem first creeps up, you were not expecting it, so you often miss the warning signs or ignore error messages. Try and remember what was happening at the time your machine went bad. What programs were running? Do you remember seeing any error messages on your display? Write this stuff down. Else how will you remember it? By writing it down you can research it online or have something concrete to tell your computer repair guy.

Keep a Positive and Attitude

A good mental attitude will help more than you will believe. I know this sounds a little “Pollyannaish” but what can I tell you, it works. When you approach a troublesome situation with the attitude that says, “No matter what’s wrong with my machine, I can handle it” you will be better off, calmer and can stay focused longer. And it is often persistent trial and error fixes a lot of technology problems. So, stay positive; stay focused.

When your computer is misbehaving you should: – Remain calm and get a “grip” on the situation

- Stop floating down the river “denial” and take action.

- Take note of what is happening to your machine and write it down.

- Maintain a positive outlook and be persistent.

“I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.” ~ Isaac Asimov

Like the late, great Mr. Asimov said, we shouldn’t worry about computers taking over but be more concerned when they fail us and take all our important files with them. A computer’s hard drive is the central storage within the system and its failure will bring all practical functions to a complete halt.

If your PC is experiencing any of the following signs of impeding doom then you must run (not walk) and grab CDs to burn backups of all your essential data.

Sign 1 – You hear high-pitched whining, loud clicking or grinding noises coming from the drive

A normally operating drive will make a smooth “whirling” sound as is spins up or down. But if a drive has a grinding or clicking sounds (the Read/Write heads scraping too close to the magnetic platters), then your drive is sick and is on the way out.

Sign 2 – You see the infamous “Blue Screen of Death”, repeatedly

BSODs (Blue Screens of Death) are actually called “Stop” errors and they only appear when your Windows system is experiencing severe software or hardware issues. Often BSODs can cured with a careful “Repair Install” of the Windows operating system or by removal of a bad device driver. But if these software fast fixes don’t seem stick, then your hard drive is usually on its last legs

Sign 3 – Your computer keeps re-booting on its own

I admit, I have only seen this problem a few times in my 18+ year career and in all instances it was due to hardware issues. Once it was a dust covered motherboard, and another time an overheating processor. But all the other times it was due to bad drives.

Sign 4 – Your system keeps having frequent freezes or hang ups

You are working along just fine, and then suddenly everything comes to a halt. The program freezes up on you. Your mouse and keyboard seem to stop responding. The only solution is to reboot.

Sign 5 – Error message: hard drive is not formatted

This a fun message that you will get when you start up your machine. You maybe able to restart and get it to boot into Windows a few more times but this error is “fur-sure” sign that you drive is very close to death. And by the way don’t try to format the drive! You will lose all your data.

Sign 6 – Error message: boot drive or device not found or drive cannot be accessed

This is another favorite of mine. You can check the CD/DVD trays or the floppy drive to make sure no stray disks are stuck inside. You can also check the BIOS to make sure the system is booting from the hard drive first. If all these tests are no-good, then the drive is a goner.

Sign 7 – Errors: Operating system not found or Missing Operating System

This is a bad one. Even the Microsoft technical support knowledgebase has only got a few causes for this error message. Basically your PC can no longer detect the hard drive or the drive is too severely damaged to read (DOA).

What to do if your drive has any of these symptoms:

1)First, listen up, if possible, BACKUP YOUR FILES NOW!

2)Create a boot disk and run Windows Scandisk and set it to automatically fix errors. If it finds more than a few bad sectors then see the point above

3)If possible download and use a hard drive diagnostic program. All the major hard drive manufacturers have free utilities on their websites. Repair what you can and see point 1.

For the large part buying a brand new computer can be a pretty daunting task; especially if you are not technically minded or heavily into the computer world or internet.

Nonetheless it would be good to know that you get reasonable value for money and that your new system will last and perform ‘trouble free’ for an acceptable period of time.

Here’s a checklist to help you get things right when purchasing a new computer.

- Set your budget. Decide how much you are going to spend (but try and be flexible)

- Decide what you are going to use the computer for. Have a rough idea about what you may be using your computer for in the near future; this will give the salesman/technician a better idea of what components you need built into your system.

- Future Proofing. There is no need to have all the latest components in your system, ‘unless of course you have too much cash’, but it is wise to have a computer with decent hardware specifications so you won’t need to replace the system or upgrade components in three or six months time.

- Performance balancing. This is probably the most overlooked aspect of buying a new computer; all components need to be balanced in their performance. There is no use having the latest and greatest Processor if you don’t have enough memory to support it.

- Software bundle and sales support. Usually when you buy a new computer there is not all that much software pre-installed, and little if any after sales support. If you are not that tech savvy, shop around and see if you can get your computer setup at your home ‘internet ready’, complete with internet security software as part of the package.

- Quality components. Look to purchase a computer with quality components, I have a list of preferred computer component brands on my site.

- System backup. Is there an operating system backup? Having a backup or ‘image file’ which you can access with a DVD disk is much more desirable than carting your computer to a computer workshop, waiting a week or even two and spending $200 to have your Vista installation re-installed due a virus attack.

- Personal folder configuration. If for some ungodly reason your computer goes down, there is a very simple technique to ensure you don’t lose any of your precious files, though this technique needs to be performed ‘before the fact’. Unfortunately this simple technique is rarely performed on newly purchased computers. (Visit this blog again soon for how to protect your personal files from a system wide crash!)

- Shop around. Remember to shop around and remember not all computers a created equal.

Well that’s pretty much it in a nutshell; remember the computer retail market is highly competitive at the moment; so use it to your advantage. Just try and familiarize yourself with what makes a quality computer system; too many computer retailers these days look to increase profit margins by using ‘black and gold’ low quality components!

John Salamon, a wealth of knowledge when it comes to computer hardware, networking and software!

Organizing things is a tedious work. We often think that arranging everything such as unused files or books and newspapers that are already read is the last task we have to do. Since we think that way, such a task is often ignored. We only feel the need to do it when everything is obviously messy.

You may have organized your folders and papers easily by putting them into file organizers that are bought in malls. But what about organizing your computer desktop? Would you feel the same way with organizing your bulk of papers and ancient-old manila envelopes? Perhaps, a majority would answer “yes.”

Most of us are guilty of saving files anywhere in the computer. Files of different types are scattered on the desktop. This usually happens to people who are always busy. They think that arranging their “soft” files is time-consuming and that it is the least priority to think about. They only feel the importance of organizing those files when a certain file is needed to be retrieved to be used for important purpose. Certainly, it would take 48 years to find the files. Searching the files may not take long if there are only few files being stored in your computer. But what if there are thousands of word files or excel sheets saved anywhere in your hard disk? The searching would consume much time. This can be avoided if the files are organized well, especially those that are saved on the computer desktop.

Here are some tips to organize your desktop and your files.

(a) Save your files to “My Documents” or any location you think is easily recalled and where you can easily retrieve your files. It is advisable not to populate your computer desktop. Save files as few as possible. You have to create folders for several file types and according to use; five folders for your desktop folders may be enough for easy file retrieval. Always bear in mind that there should be no individual files on your desktop to avoid messy-looking computer desktop-only folders.

(b) Inside desktop folders, create main folders for more specific categories of your files. Save move your files according to relevant folders. Make sure that your folder names are descriptive of what files are in them.

(c) If you think that you still have hundreds of files in your folders, further break them down into subcategories.

Just continue the process of creating folders inside folders until every file belongs to specific (categorized) folder. The goal of doing this is to let you know right away what kind of files are inside the folder. Also, you will not be distracted with the individual files scattered on your computer desktop.

The Computer History Museum, situated in California, USA, is dedicated to preserving for future generations the history of the software industry, one of the largest and most influential industries in the world today.

The industry originated with the entrepreneurial computer software and services companies of the 1950s and 1960s, and grew to become a market force rivaling that of the computer hardware companies.

By the 1990s the software technology industry had become the supplier of technical know-how that transformed the way people worked, played, learnt and communicated every day of their lives.

The Computer History Museum is working to preserve information about the companies, people and events that shaped the evolution of this vital industry; and has a very active program to collect historical materials.

The Software Industry Special Interest Group is responsible for this effort, and was acquired by the museum. You can be a part of the effort to preserve the history of the software industry, by visiting their web site.

Learn about the people and stories of computing:

The Silicon Engine
Internet History
Selling the Computer Revolution
Visible Storage
Timeline of Computer History
Exhibits

Discover the Museum’s many offerings:

Fellow Awards
Core Magazine
Catalog Search
Past Events & Lectures
Museum Overview
Venue Rental

Share your passion for history and technology:

Giving & Membership
MyCHM
Museum Groups
Volunteer
Donate an Artifact

Visit the Computer History Museum, where the history of computer technology lives. Why not get involved, and become a part of the effort to preserve the history of the software industry for future generations?

Blue Files and Help For Windows XP

Computer maintenance tips: Here is some help for Windows XP. Okay, we all know that sudden changes to a PC´s settings may be a sign that something’s wrong: perhaps a virus or spyware program has infected the PC, or your computer needs a PC health check to detect system errors. So I was a bit alarmed the day a bunch of my Windows XP file names suddenly turned blue. A quick (albeit kinda frantic) look around online revealed that no, XP wasn’t acting up: blue file names indicate files that haven’t been accessed in a while, and were compressed by the Disk Cleanup utility.

Cleaning A Computer Screen

When cleaning a computer monitor, you should make sure to disconnect it from a power source. You can clean dirt and fingerprints with ordinary household glass cleaner sprayed onto a lint free cloth, do NOT spray directly onto the computer screen. It is important not to get any fluid in the electrical components. Make sure you keep air vents clear from debris and paper. Obstructed monitor vents can cause monitors to overheat and even catch fire. Clean once a month or as needed.

Safely Unplug Computer Peripherals

USB ports and other computer peripherals should be handled with care to avoid serious damage to your computer. Never plug in or unplug a peripheral while your computer is on. Doing so can short out the connector socket, causing serious damage to your computer. Always switch your computer off before adding or removing and unplugging computer peripherals.

Weekly Computer Virus Scans

As viruses become both more complicated and more aggressive, a good antivirus program has become an absolute necessity for protecting your PC. Many people, however, are unsure of how often they should scan their computer for viruses. Scheduling a weekly virus scan is a good routine precaution. A complete scan is also advised whenever the antivirus program says it has detected and cleaned a virus.

Viruses can make changes to your system settings and cause computer errors that may remain in effect after antiviral programs remove the virus. As a result, running a PC health scan after a virus scan helps keep your computer in tip-top shape.

Disk Cleanup With Windows XP

Temp files, downloaded Internet files, and old, unused files can take up room on your system, so regular disk cleanup and computer maintenance should be part of your regular computer maintenance. Click open My Computer, and single-click the Local Disk icon with the right mouse button. Select Properties, and click the Disk Cleanup button. XP will scan your system looking for areas that need cleaning. Once its done this, chose which areas you want cleaned by clicking them on the provided list, and then click the OK button. Disc Cleanup deletes some files and compresses others. As this makes changes to your computer, it’s a good idea to use a PC health scan as the next step in your computer maintenance.

Modern inventions have endowed us with many conveniences that make our daily lives and the tasks associated with it very easy. Consult any technology blog or technology news and you will realize that this is one field that does not remain stagnant at all. Be it the latest news regarding gaming console to a breakthrough in space travel, technology news has always something new to offer to the readers.

In the bygone years where internet hadn’t developed into the integral part of our everyday lives and the chosen medium of relying news, breakthrough in technology was conveyed to the masses through news papers which were a slow, not very durable and cumbersome to archive medium. Thankfully for today’s tech savvy individual, who likes to keep abreast with the latest happenings in the world of technology, mediums like computer blogs and technology articles are easily accessible on the internet.

It does not matter, if a search is being conducted on some technological marvel which dazzled the world around two decades ago or the latest feat of mobile engineering that is taking the world by storm, all can be found archived in a very user friendly format on the internet. As far as durability and sturdiness are concerned, this is one field which is not prone to the effects of global economic crunch or political and geographical turmoil. It is a self sufficient world driven by ingenuity as its fuel, and there is evidently plenty of it around to keep it in a thriving state for times to come.

Latest technology news irrespective of its country of origin gets equal and undivided attention from techno buffs, these people make up the largest audience for any topic on the internet and their numbers are estimated to be at the best in tens of millions. There are many tech websites in the online world which report latest technological breakthroughs and latest technology news. These sites get thousands of visitors every day, who are searching for diverse topics such as latest PC processor to the newest mobile phone and its software released in the market.

Such websites are treasure trove when it comes to reporting about latest gadgets and even about some which are still in the development phase. These websites also serve as a launching and marketing platform for such commodities which the manufacturers are fully aware of and take advantage from. For example, Apple undertook a massive pre-release marketing campaign for latest iPhone 4G and no technology blog, computer blog, technology articles or technology news was without some piece of information about it. In a nutshell, technology websites are mutually beneficial for both the readers and the manufacturers.

Apart from dispensing pre-release specifications and on release coverage; technology blog, computer blog, technology articles or technology news serve another purpose. They also contain views, opinions and insights given by professionals and those who have already benefited from these latest advances. The viewer gets a very detailed and meticulous picture of what it is all about before taking a decision to invest in the technology.

The revolutionary JAWS program for Windows is helping folks who have visual impairments use computers more independently than ever before. The exciting new JAWS for Windows program actually states the names of icons on the computer audibly. This is great news for the blind and visually impaired who, in the past, had to rely upon the assistance of others to use a computer. JAWS can also assist folks to create and even edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in the Microsoft Office Suite of PowerPoint, Excel, and Word.

This amazing technology allows visual impaired folks to not only access the internet but also help open up a whole new world of independent computer usage. They can access social networking sites such as Facebook, Hi5, and MySpace. And many people are now having a much easier time using computers more efficiently for work or other activities.

Software such as JAWS along with powerful hardware like NAS Storage and really help to level the playing field for the visually impaired as well as people who are otherwise challenged. Very exciting news, and with the ongoing advancements in computer technology, many of us can only dream about what else is yet to come our way in the world of computers.

Will computers someday take over the world? Probably not. But they are certainly helping to make it a much easier, more productive and enjoyable place to live. Nowadays, we are able to communicate with folks across the globe with just the click of a mouse. Computers are not only improving the world we live in but bringing it closer together as well.

The sad news about bullying is that this type of attacker has been utilizing computer technology to help them accomplish their dirty deeds. Since the problem is growing and becoming a very serious issue within the world that we live in there are certain things to keep in mind about cyber bullying. We will discuss what this term means and also how it occurs.

The most commonly seen type of cyber attack is one that is directed right at the victim from the bully. The bully uses internet websites and emails to directly slander and attack their victim, often in very negative and profane ways. The worst thing about these attacks is that they are often made very public for others online to see and this creates bad social situations for the victim.

Another way that a bully can single out a victim is by use of a proxy. Bullies are now starting to use one of their victims to attack another and this creates negative social situations as well as an awkward situation for an innocent person. Nobody wants to be accused of this type of cowardly slander, especially when they are not the ones responsible for it.

The most common age group that falls victim to this type of attack is the teenage age group. What has been occurring is that the traditional kind of high school bully is making use of current technologies to help him achieve attacks on his victims. If a school kid is attacked, it should be reported to the public or even private school as soon as it happens.

So what type of content is within the common attack of a cyber bully? There are many things to look out for and none of them are nice. Not only is their profane language that attacks and slanders others but there are also threats. Keep in mind that compromising or slanderous photos are sometimes used in these attacks. This became more common with the invention of the digital camera.

Anybody with kids, especially ones in their teens, needs to keep a close eye out for this type of cyber attack. As was mentioned most victims do happen to be teenagers, however there are younger and younger groups of children that are beginning to utilize these practices. If your child is acting very different of withdrawn, talk to them to see if they are a victim.

A bully does not need the use of a personal computer to attack a victim, especially when they have access to a cell phone. Cell phones are becoming more and more advanced and most kids and children are starting to carry them. An attacker can use text messages as well as cell phone pictures and videos to attack somebody and this is actually becoming very popular.

It is said that a computer can make our lives easier and help us get things done that we ordinarily would have to leave to someone else. I agree that they certainly have their benefits but in one respect I completely disagree that they do us good. When it comes to using a system that is under performing and one that is plagued by crashes and instability nothing can be more frustrating or anti-productive.

Let’s look at what can be done to speed up the operation of your computer and also make the system more stable and less susceptible to crashes and running errors. If your computer is running on Windows there is this wonderful thing called a Registry and this is used to store information that is important to the operation of your computer. It contains things like the setup information, user preferences and hardware and software configurations.

When your system is first set up this registry should be complete and error free but after time the registry can become a real mess which slows your machine down and can cause instabilities in the operating system. The way these errors are introduced are many and varied, things like poorly written software being downloaded, removing of programs can leave behind defunct files that only serve to slow the system down and corrupted software can make a real mess of the registry, just to name a few.

If you want to restore your system back to optimal speed you could of course re-format your hard drive. For anyone that has been down this road you will know what a pain in the neck this can be. Downloading everything to an external drive, sorting through everything, hoping that you uploaded everything you need, the list goes on.

What you can do easily and effectively is use a registry cleaning program. These programs take away the hassle of re-formatting your computer and can do the same job in much less time. Most programs offer a free scan of your system which will identify any problem areas that you can then have repaired by the software with a minimum of fuss and less down time for your computer. Try the free scan out and I’m sure you will be surprised or shocked at how many registry errors your system is trying to operate with!