Tech, electronic, gadget Discussion

Thousands of virus and marl-wares are being produced each day. Every one who use computer on regular basis, knows about computer virus. Many of them know what virus can actually do with their PC, How vulnerable their infected computer is. But very few people of them know how to get out of this viral infected computer world.

This article may help you to keep your computer system virus free and keep in healthy condition as it was at the time of fresh installation.

You may think that, having good anti-virus software is enough to be safe from virus. But that’s the big mistake people are doing. Your computer anti-virus software must be kept up to date with latest virus definition. Although it can remove virus from your computer, it can not recover system files deleted or damaged by previous virus infection.

To make your PC working fast, and fresh like a first installation, you should follow the below guidelines.

I know from my experience that once your computer is infected with virus, you can not make it fresh as like before by scanning with good anti-virus software. It may have damaged many of your system file and can not be resolved by anti-virus software. Start from fresh formatting. Format your computer, Install your operating system and hardware drivers. Before installing any other application, Get the latest version of anti-virus software of your choice and install it, update it on-line of offline. Before installing and updating your anti-virus software, avoid using your other drives or data stored on other drives. They may contain virus infection. After installing and updating anti-virus, run full system scan. Configure your anti-virus software for auto update from Internet. If you don’t have Internet connection, keep updating it offline at least once a week. Now you may install your rest of the applications.

Keep in mind below guidelines in day to day use of your computer.

Avoid double click on removable storage to open it. Use right click and open option instead. Avoid opening software and executable files came from untrusted source without scanning it with your anti-virus software. If possible, disable function of auto run on removable storage devices.

visit http://www.basicknowledge.co.in for more basic knowledge about computer internet security, networking, online and offline security and many more….

If you’ve been following along with my series you may find after tackling the motherboard and all its intricacies this step should be breath of fresh air.

Choose which drive bay you want to install the drive to and remove the face plate off of that bay. It’s not really important which bay you use. I generally place it lower on the case face because that’s where it’s always been for me. If you’re installing a zip or CD/DVD drive simply pick the bay you wish. I have both a floppy and CD/DVD drive as I use both mediums to transport data.

Do you know why it’s called a floppy?

It is called floppy because it flops if you wave it. Seriously, do you remember the old 5 ¼ disks and how if you flailed them around they would almost bend double.

Now, slide the drive into the bay from the front. If your particular case has a drive rack, then you may need to remove the rack from the system and then screw the drive into the rack separately from the actual case. Otherwise, screw the drive into the case itself. Before doing so, make sure the front of the drive is flush with the front of the PC.

If you are using brackets to hold the drive in place, secure them now. You may need to temporarily disconnect the cables. Once in, tighten the drive in place. Double-check the connections, also checking the connections for other drives to make sure you didn’t bump one out of place.

This wasn’t necessarily the hardest step, but in my humble opinion this particular piece of computer hardware is vital. Try loading a new operating system or a needed document without either drive.

We no longer live in the â??throw awayâ?? age of discarding products simply because they have developed a small fault or we are after the latest and greatest new model. Protecting our Earth is now a big priority for most people and businesses, therefore we are adapting our lifestyles to do everything we can to help preserve our planet for future generations. Instead of throwing a laptop in the bin simply because one of the components has failed or it is no longer considered to be up-to-date, more and more people are turning to recycling or â??refurbishingâ?? as an environmentally sound option.

Recycling can be done in a number of ways, selling the laptop for spares, donating it to charities that supply third world countries or by selling it to a refurbishing company such as Eflex Computers Companies such as this will offer you money for old laptops, whether they function or not, and then refurbish them and put them back into the marketplace. The refurbishing process is carried out by professionals and incorporates the following stages.

The laptop is fully wiped of all personal data, programs, software etc and taken to a â??blankâ?? state. This not only protects the previous owner from having any information stolen but also ensures the system is totally clean of any viruses or issues that could prevent it functioning properly. The hardware then undergoes rigorous testing to ensure that all of the components are functioning correctly and that they still have a good life left in them. If any of the components arenâ??t functioning correctly or are identified as only having a short life span left they are replaced with new parts. Fresh versions of all the software including operating system, required drivers, anti-virus programs etc are then re-installed on the laptop effectively returning it to the same state as when it was first sent out of the factory.

Refurbished laptops are generally considered by a lot of people to more reliable then systems bought directly after manufacture. This is due the fact they have been operated for some time and so any issues with faulty hardware have been picked up and resolved.

Refurbished laptops offer a lot of benefits over buying a new model. The instant one you will see is the huge savings you can make on the price. For the sake of some cosmetic marks that wont effect functionality at all you can save up to 50% on high street prices. The second benefit is the huge impact on the environment. New laptops produce a lot of harmful gases and toxins during the manufacturing process that damage our environment. The refurbished option means 1 less new laptop being manufactured and 1 less old laptop sitting on the local tip!

I am not much of a cook. I don’t play ball games with distinction. My public speaking abilities are indifferent. My income is modest. And my mediocrity in all these realms is just fine by me.

That’s because the one thing I do take pride in is my writing. I write about history and politics, mostly concerning the Middle East. I try hard to reach both a specialist audience (people who like me spend their working hours on these issues) and a non-specialist one (everyone else).

Although I have published some ten books and hundreds of articles, writing remains for me a difficult enterprise. As anyone who has been a student knows, getting one’s thoughts down on paper is hard to do. Yes, it does get somewhat easier with experience, but not by much, perhaps because it involves turning the three-dimensional chaos of the world into the neat order of two dimensions on paper. much. Writing always requires concentration and purpose and there is no way to avoid the first draft, that sloppy and ungainly effort to order one’s thoughts. Nor can I avoid the many subsequent drafts and rereadings, sometimes a dozen in all, or even more.

The only time writing is relatively easy is on those rare occasions when I know in advance what I plan to say, and putting it down becomes more of a secretarial task than a creative one. This sometimes happens with a newspaper article, say, and a thousand words spews out in just an hour or so. Usually, this happy experience follows on repeated discussions of a topic, when I have figured out what I think. But on rare occasions the same can apply to a magazine article or even a book. My most memorable experience along these lines took place in 2008: Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced his edict of death against Salman Rushdie on February 14 and I had a full-length book on this, explaining its background and implications, by the end of May 2008. I remember that time fondly as a singular moment of white heat. I assume, sadly, that it was a one-time episode that will not recur.

Despite its difficulty for me, I focus on writing for three main reasons. First, it is consequential. Writing moves the world. Virtually every idea any one of us has ever had ultimately derives from a text someone once wrote. Spiritual life, political ideology, technology, notions of romance – they all derive from words on paper (or, latterly, computer screen). Every newscast and movie flows from the written word. So has it been for millennia and so will it remain even in this era of multimedia and blossoming new technologies. The only way to flesh out an idea, make it permanent, and perfect its expression remains the written word. When I write, I feel I have a chance to participate in this deeply significant human undertaking.

Second, writing is rewarding. Seeing one’s name in print, it cannot be denied, is a pleasure. It’s partly a matter of ego gratification, partly a satisfaction of memorializing one’s thoughts and having them made permanent in a polished form. But writing also rewards me in a more material sense, being the fulcrum of my career. Nearly all the opportunities I have result from writing. Newspaper columns lead to national television, magazine pieces win invitations to visit distant places, scholarly articles bring business consultancies, and books land me in conferences.

Finally, I write because I feel a wish to express myself. No matter how many times I might repeat myself on some issue – say the Arab-Israeli conflict or the dangers of fundamentalist Islam – my thoughts remain ephemeral until I put them down. The written essay implies a rigor that requires me to make my views coherent.

And so, while there are many times when I would rather watch television or laze off, I usually pull myself together and make myself write. It’s not always fun but it is always worthwhile.

What to do if your computer is slower than it used to be?

There are several things that you can do. In this article I’ll try to present the most common problems, and the solutions for it.

The bases is that your OS is Windows.

For a fresh copy of Window you should follow the next guideline:

Install Window on a clean formatted partition.

Do not repair the old installation (unless you can not recover precious data…) because there would be tons of garbage left over. Instead, delete the old system by formatting its partition. By formatting the partition any bad sector would be discovered and mark as appropriate. This means that data would not be written in the bad sector, and so it would not be lost.
On a clean formatted partition the files would not be fragmented, and would be placed in the right order.
If you install windows XP, immediately after the installation, install the latest service pack.
When everything is ready first thing when connecting to the internet try to download a good anti-virus, and if you do not trust windows firewall download a basic firewall.
Do not use the computer without anti-virus and firewall online for more than 3 to 5 minutes because it can be infected very quickly.

Install only free/open source software, or licensed software. Do not install cracked software because in 95% of the cases it is infected with some kind of malware. And install only the programs that you need, no tons of them…

Keep it clean, and it will run like new for a long time.

If your PC run Windows for some time, and its performace drops you can try the followinds:

Uninstall all unused software (try to use a dedicate program for uninstalling. Personally I use Revo Uninstaller). Delete all unwanted, and garbage data. Write all important media (like pictures, video-clips, documents) that you do not use frequently.
Did you know that if on the main partition (aka Windows partition) the space is low, the performance is definitely affected? I do not have time to explain here why, but you should trust me ..

Use a free software to fix and defrag the Winndows registry. If Windows registry data base is huge, and has lots of unused entries it would has a great impact on your computer speed. Every time the system is turned on, the registry data base is loaded, and every file extension is searched for in it. Almost any action has something to do with registry database.

After you cleaned your system you should try a defragmentation program. Windows has utility that do that, but also there are plenty of free software online.
Personally I bookmarked some links to free software that I use at: http://www.102links.com/en/folderThumb-links_of_firefly.html&folder=speed-me-up&curentCategOut=1673
Defragmentation could speed up considerably your system, especially if you used allot and for a long time the system.

So, if you browse this steps and your computer is still slower than it used to be maybe that is time to reinstall a fresh new copy of the system.

malware

This article do not treat the malware problem, but if all the above steps fail, than it’s very probable that you PC to be infected with some kind if malware.
If you scan your system for viruses with several anti-virus software, and find nothing, the it’s time to consider a radical change (format and reinstall). From time to time this is inevitable if you want your PC to run smooth.

Well, good luck.

A haunt event of pop-ups can be highly galling. It can be due to an unwilling stop on any advertisement displayed on any website. It can also be a style carrying virus in it. So, you should be provident patch direction these errors.

Otherwise preventive computer errors are the organization strainer errors that typically bechance because of figure utility conflicts. It can convey your engineering to an arrest. Though uncheerful protection errors can become because of contrasting things, one of the forward things to regard when preservation this type of misconception is to judge virtually what has transformed late with your grouping.

Judge virtually the succeeding piece troubleshooting specified pesky errors: Has your PC fresh been installed with any utility update for an existing machine or other component instrumentality? If it had been excavation o.k. and short develops repeated uncheerful strainer of alteration call computer errors then something has transformed that is effort the occurrence. Fortunate! Try removing the new instrumentality and see if the difficulty no effervescent persists.

As in sufferer of the pop up errors, it can be highly tempting to utter on the substance that flashes on the project. A vast led of fill actually clicks on these ads and provoke lousy virus or spyware to travel into their system and spoliation it. In specified a casing, the superfine troubleshooting layer of mechanism is to service expert’s help. You can mull online bailiwick resource resources to get your troubleshooting strain finished.

There are various types of computer errors that you require to raft with on regular component. It can be a pop-up occurrence or a networking failure or any opposite. Disregarding of what category of evilness it is, online technician Support testament assist you out in no minute. Moreover, these resources are useable for 24×7 and assist as one stoppage seek for all your machine reinforcement requirements.

In soul you are not competent to cerebrate on your computing apply because of all these machine problems, you must analyze contacting a fresh online foul reason associate. Try intelligent with keywords like online computer sustenance, online machine restore, specialized concord, fix computer problem etc.

The computer armoires can feature many different features; however a standards computer armoire would likely to be equipped with a desk, file cabinet, storage compartment, area for working with computer, monitor stand, locking drawers, hanging file folders and many more. Coming with various different colors, you can freely choose one single color of your favorite one. White computer armoire could be one of the best choices out of hundreds of hundreds choices out there. Grant you with beauty, elegance as well as gorgeous style and design, white computer armoire which also provide you with convenience and comfortable work station at home could be one of your best furniture at home to admire and enjoy.

Placing a white computer armoire in your home lounge room could give your room a new and fresh touch. The meaning of white color could radiates its nuance and bring certain effect to the atmosphere of the particular room. As white color could mean clean, clear, pure, spotless and sterile, your particular room where this white computer armoire is put in could have a clean, clear, spotless and neat atmosphere. Such atmosphere might give the residence some kind of peace and relax feeling sensation that will do a great help for you in doing all your work in the room. However, there are a lot of kinds of white shades computer armoire available in the market today. You can liberally choose your desired white color to meet your requirements. Some white computer armoires come in fresh white with only light distressing, others are finished in a deep distressed white, and many others have distressed oyster white with a maple finish top and many more. As a matter of fact, there are too many to mention.

However, for your best deal, you can search for white computer armoire online by visiting several websites that provide you with any details information you need on such subject. There, you can explore every single thing you would like to know, ask questions as well as compare prices of each white computer armoire displayed on such online stores. You could also turn your attention to a cheap computer armoire as an alternative.

One of the leading furniture manufacturers to consider is Sauder. You could compare Sauder computer armoire products to other similar products and get the conclusion on which one you are going to purchase. Sauder has proven to be one of the best furniture manufacturers in the world you can trust to purchase one of its white computer armoires.

A cycle computer is a crucial piece of apparatus for the serious bike rider as it will help him maximize the benefit of riding the bike. It is usually joined to the bike and its main purpose is to calculate the distance traveled, speed, and the elapsed time. Its display unit, which is known as the head unit, is usually mounted on the handlebars for the rider’s viewing convenience. However, some models have appeared that use wearable devices or mobile phones for display instead of the head unit.

Parts of a Cycle Computer

While the display unit of a basic cycle computer shows the distance traveled, maximum speed accomplished, current speed, current time and total time elapsed, more sophisticated units can also display the heartbeat rate, incline, altitude, temperature and power output. They can also show other functions such as pedaling cadence, a stopwatch, average speed and GPS navigation. The head unit is mostly given a number of buttons to turn on a back light, shift to other values, or reset the distance traveled or time elapsed.

The cycle computer often has an intonation sensor that is often affixed to the crank arm using a magnet. However more modern systems utilize accelerometers that are typically found in mobile phones. When the rider straps this telephone to a leg, the VeloComputer application determines intonation by noting the up and down motion of the leg.

The wheel sensor is another vital part of the cycle computer. The usual sensors have a magnet that is hitched to one of the spokes of a wheel. The sensor figures out distance and speed by detecting the time intervals between one passage of the magnet at a certain point to the next passage. Others have a sensor attached to the wheel center and speed and distance are calculated by counting the quantity of rotations. The more fresh models use a magnetic field to determine the angle of wheel revolution for a certain time duration.

Various Functions and Their importance

The intonation function is vital because it tells the cyclist the velocity at which he is pedaling. This can ensure that he selects the proper gear to avoid too much pressure on the muscles and joints. If the rider is ready to minimize the strain, he may be ready to pedal for a much longer time.

The heart monitor is another vital feature of the cycle computer as it shows the bike rider when he has accomplished his perfect heartbeat rate. This equipment includes an inclusive heart beat rate monitoring system to dispose of the need for carrying apulse heartbeat heart} rate monitor on the body. In the meantime, the cycle computer can also show the particular gear that the cycle rider is in and this will allow him to indirectly gage his cadence.

Parts of a Cycle Computer

While the display unit of a basic cycle computer shows the distance traveled, maximum speed accomplished, current speed, current time and total time elapsed, more sophisticated units can also display the heartbeat rate, incline, altitude, temperature and power output. They can also show other functions such as pedaling cadence, a stopwatch, average speed and GPS navigation. The head unit is mostly given a number of buttons to turn on a back light, shift to other values, or reset the distance traveled or time elapsed.

The cycle computer often has an intonation sensor that is often affixed to the crank arm using a magnet. However more modern systems utilize accelerometers that are typically found in mobile phones. When the rider straps this telephone to a leg, the VeloComputer application determines intonation by noting the up and down motion of the leg.

The wheel sensor is another vital part of the cycle computer. The usual sensors have a magnet that is hitched to one of the spokes of a wheel. The sensor figures out distance and speed by detecting the time intervals between one passage of the magnet at a certain point to the next passage. Others have a sensor attached to the wheel center and speed and distance are calculated by counting the quantity of rotations. The more fresh models use a magnetic field to determine the angle of wheel revolution for a certain time duration.

Various Functions and Their importance

The intonation function is vital because it tells the cyclist the velocity at which he is pedaling. This can ensure that he selects the proper gear to avoid too much pressure on the muscles and joints. If the rider is ready to minimize the strain, he may be ready to pedal for a much longer time.

The heart monitor is another vital feature of the cycle computer as it shows the bike rider when he has accomplished his perfect heartbeat rate. This equipment includes an inclusive heart beat rate monitoring system to dispose of the need for carrying apulse heartbeat heart} rate monitor on the body. In the meantime, the cycle computer can also show the particular gear that the cycle rider is in and this will allow him to indirectly gage his cadence.

Do you format your computer on regular basis because of virus infection? Do you think your computer is working much slower than before? You may want to format it, reinstall the OS and all the application you use. It will generally take many hours of your precious time. If you don’t have enough time to reformat your PC then this article is for you.

This article will solve your problem. It will help you to format your PC and restore it back to the fresh installation state with all the applications you need. Yes, it is possible to restore back your PC to fresh state in less than 5 minutes. Follow the below guidelines.

My Golden Rule: “Use your computer’s C drive as system drive only. Use it only to install OS and Applications. Do not store your data on this drive including ‘My documents’ and ‘Desktop’. So, at any time if you want to format it, you do not need to worry about loss of data”.

Format C drive and install operating system to it with boot able disk of operating system. Install all your drivers. Install and update good anti-virus software of your choice. Do not access any other drive until you install and update your anti-virus software, if your system is previously affected by viruses. Now install all application that you use frequently and configure them as you normally do. Now configure operating system for better security and better performance, do necessary changes that you want to do and restart your system once.

Make image of your system drive using boot able drive image copier tools like Norton ghost. Keep this image file in other than C drive. You are done. At any time you can restore back this system drive image file with the same tool, and make your PC behave like fresh as before in just few minutes.

10 reasons why PCs crash U must Know

Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy,” it says. “Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications.”

You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening?

1 Hardware conflict

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device.

For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself.

If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. The way to check if your computer has a hardware conflict is through the following route:

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager.

Often if a device has a problem a yellow ‘!’ appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer (in the Device Manager) and press Properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer. If the IRQ number appears twice, two devices may be using it.

Sometimes a device might share an IRQ with something described as ‘IRQ holder for PCI steering’. This can be ignored. The best way to fix this problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.

Sometimes you may have to find more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A good resource is www.driverguide.com. If the device is a soundcard, or a modem, it can often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard (be careful about opening your computer, as you may void the warranty).

When working inside a computer you should switch it off, unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any static electricity.

To be fair to Mcft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs.

2 Bad Ram

Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.

Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two types, as this can be a cause of trouble.

EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked to old Dos-based programmes.

3 BIOS settings

Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.

Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to.

A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer’s display.

Mcft Windows is better at allocating IRQ numbers than any BIOS. If possible set the IRQ numbers to Auto in the BIOS. This will allow Windows to allocate the IRQ numbers (make sure the BIOS setting for Plug and Play OS is switched to ‘yes’ to allow Windows to do this.).

4 Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter

This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler.

The Task Scheduler should be one of the small icons on the bottom right of the Windows opening page (the desktop).

Some lockups and screen freezes caused by hard disk problems can be solved by reducing the read-ahead optimisation. This can be adjusted by going to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System Icon-Performance-File System-Hard Disk.

Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space.

Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk

Otherwise assign the Task Scheduler to perform this operation at night when the computer is not in use.

5 Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors

Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.

These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings

Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the colour settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.

If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager

Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.

The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics

Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).

Look up your video card’s manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

6 Viruses

Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs

Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.

A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.

An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( www.symantec.com).

7 Printers

The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer’s performance.

If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer’s default settings and you may be able to carry on.

8 Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don’t do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message “Starting Windows” press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn’t work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

9 Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heatsinks are available from www.computernerd.com or www.coolit.com

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

10 Power supply problems

With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut.

If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.

It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost.

Say thanks . . . . .