If you have computer problems, chances are, system repair software can
help you fix it. Most of these applications can repair operating system
problems that lead to the Blue Screen of Death. They can also replace
missing or damaged DLL files. System repair software can also free up
space you need for another application, and it can optimize your
computer so it runs faster. It may even identify problems you're having
with applications, but it depends on the software you use and the
application that's having problems.
Heat is the measure Reason for PC hardware problems. Ensure if it’s
computer freeze or lockup. Generally, your computer temperature is
controlled by the internal fan called the Heat Sink. Dust is another
enemy of PC hardware as it sticks on motherboard and electrical
components. You can control overheating by removing dust from around the
internal fan.
Often it is seen that a blue screen appears suddenly while you are
working or when you start your computer. This is usually due to either a
hardware failure or a driver problem. Reinstalling the driver or
correcting the hardware problem can help to solve the issue. If nothing
seems to work, you should consider backing up and re-formatting your
Hard Drive, then reinstalling your operating system.
Whenever RAM fault occurs your monitor shows a blue screen with a
memory reference like x000xxxx as a boot interruption. RAM faults cannot
be prevented but you can fix them. There may be frequent PC restarts.
This is due to faulty RAM chips. These Faulty RAM chips are unable to
store the boot loader or NT loader file therefore the OS cannot find it
and hence it shuts down all the processes, due to non-availability of
the boot loader file in the RAM as a result the PC restarts again and
again.
This problem can be fixed by replacing the old RAM with a new one.
You must know the model compatibility of you motherboard before buying a
new RAM. It may be DDR, DDR2 or DDR3. Just do it!
For some careless guys, it’s easy to spill something on the laptop and
it’s stopped working. Liquid spills are very dangerous and
unpredictable. If it happened, turn off the laptop ASAP, remove the
battery and do not use it until all internal parts are inspected for
liquid damage. It’s still possible the laptop will work again after you
clean the damage.
It is a very generic problem with your computer. Your computer gets
this problem by merely visiting a website. Some of the symptoms of PC
viruses are strange behavior in the OS, non-responsive applications and
slow performance.
However, do not get scared because the solution to this problem is
not hard. You can install antivirus program in your computer to get rid
of this problem.
It is the most generic computer problem. Your computer can pick
spyware from just about anything. Slowdown of computer is a symptom of
spyware. You may also notice some certain programs that you have never
installed in your computer.
But the good thing is that you can find numerous programs in the market that can remove spyware, some of them are free as well.
It is another generic problem that infects your computer. Malware
means malicious software. Worms and Trojan Horses are some of the
examples of common malware. Malware often enters your computer via mail
attachments.
It is really difficult to free your computer from malware. It is
always suggested that you do a system restore and reinstall your
operating system. You can go for program such as Malwarebytes
Anti-Malware for less powerful malware.
There’s nothing more frustrating than having one or more computers which
refuse to connect to the internet. There are various things which could
be causing this problem, as there could be issues with the router or
the computer itself. IT technicians know how to troubleshoot the common
problems and get you connected again in no time.
Cyber security is incredibly important for businesses, yet many are
still getting caught out by sophisticated viruses and spyware. Virus
removal is a task completed by IT support consultants
on a regular basis. Small businesses just don’t realise the extent of
the threat, or don’t spend enough on their online security measures.
Businesses store a lot of data, but some companies don’t have sufficient
back-up systems in place. That means that in the event of a power cut
or if your network suddenly needs a re-start, you could lose a
significant amount of important data. Data loss can be a terrible
incident for any business, and it is very difficult to recover files if
they are not backed up physically or digitally.
If your computer has ever unexpectedly rebooted and turned blue, or
shut down without warning, you know how nerve-wracking that can be. Or,
has your computer ever shut down as it's opening up, or suggested you
work in "safe mode"?
Those "safe mode" messages often pop up after you
accidentally turn off your computer without shutting it down. But when
that happens for seemingly no reason, you may have an expensive problem
on your hands.
However, you can troubleshoot this issue with a program called WhoCrashed. It scans through your computer to identify the problem, and it may suggest a solution.
If you're staring at a blue screen, you may be
thinking, "There's a problem with my computer." But, according to
WhoCrashed, the problem probably doesn't have anything to do with your
hardware.
It may be related to your device drivers. Or it may be a problem with pieces of coding called kernel modules.
WhoCrashed will analyze your computer to find what's
causing it to crash. It's easy to use and it does a thorough analysis of
your computer. Note: WhoCrashed states that "the software is not
guaranteed to identify the culprit in every scenario."
If it helps you, great. If not, you should make sure
your device drivers are up to date. If that doesn't help, you may need
to contact a professional computer repair person.
Computer keeps restarting is also a dual problem. It may be happened
because of windows update or antivirus problem. Or it can be your
motherboard, graphics card or network card drivers. 1st check
your windows update and antivirus. If there is no problem with windows
or antivirus than it should be caused for hardware.
OK, this might sound obvious, but one of the easiest things you can do to get your computer working better is to restart it.
How
many times have you spent hours trying to figure out what was causing a
computer problem, only to have the IT guy fix it by rebooting? No, your
IT guy does not have the "magic touch". What's really happening is that
sometimes computer problems are temporary. When you restart your
computer it clears its memory and reruns program startups.
Something
important to note here is that sometimes the problem you're having
won't allow you to restart your computer properly. For example, if your
computer freezes, you won't be able to restart without pressing the
Power button down and holding it until your computer shuts off.
This is sometimes referred to as a "Hard Reboot," and although it's not ideal, it is essentially the same thing as restarting.
Another
thing you can do that's really easy is clearing out your browser's
cache. This won't fix every problem, but it does help by giving you a
blank canvas to work with.
The process is very easy. Every browser
has a different method, but here's how you can do it in Chrome. Go into
your browsing history, then click the button at the top that
says,"Clear browsing data".
Of course, if these simple fixes don't
help, then you might have a bigger problem to worry about. It could
also be caused because your computer needs a cleanup.
Running into a pop-up ad while you're surfing used to be a serious
annoyance, but modern browsers include pop-up protection to keep these
annoyances away on most sites. If you're still seeing regular pop-ups on
more than one site, it could just be a badly-configured browser.
However,
if pop-ups are coming at you when your browser isn't even open, it's
likely you have a virus. This is especially true if the pop-ups
advertise some magic cure-all to your "virus woes."
If you are bombarded with pop-up ads, first run a scan with anti-spyware software to double-check. I like SpyBot Search & Destroy because it digs deep into your settings to find any problems spyware has left behind.
Most
viruses have one goal in mind once they infect your computer: to spread
the virus as far as possible. An easy way to do that is to send
messages to as many of your friends as possible in hopes they'll get
infected, too.
These messages can show up anywhere. The virus
might try to send out spam through your email account. It could take
control of your Facebook or Twitter and send out spam, too. In almost
all cases, it will include a link or attachment to the virus somewhere
in the post.
Keep an eye on your email's "sent" folder and on your
social network posts. If you notice emails and posts that you don't
remember sending or posting, it's likely that you have a virus. Here is
what you need to know to take your account back.
A computer that freezes both in normal mode and Safe Mode or with
another operating system, can often indicate a problem with your
computer's hardware. It could be your hard drive, an overheating CPU,
bad memory or a failing power supply. In some cases, it might also be
your motherboard, although that's a rare occurrence.
Usually, with
a hardware problem, the freezing will start out sporadically, but
increase in frequency as time goes on. Or it will trigger when the
computer is working hard, but not when you're doing more basic things.
Fortunately, you can run some checks and see if that's the case.
Use a program like CrystalDiskInfo to check your hard drive's S.M.A.R.T. data for signs of impending failure. A program like SpeedFan
can tell you if your computer processor is overheating, or if the
voltages are fluctuating, which might be a problematic power supply.
If you want to go more in-depth, you can grab a diagnostic CD like FalconFour's Ultimate Boot CD.
It has plenty of other tools for checking out your computer, including
MemTest for putting a strain on your computer's RAM to see if it's
working OK.
This is another hardware issue. Noises like clicking, squealing,
whirling or whining might come from damaged electronic components.
Remove the computer case and let the computer run to see if you can find
the problem. Save yourself some money and fix it yourself if you can,
but your best bet is to call a technical expert if you're not confident
with internal computer repair.
Perform a few diagnostic steps to clean up spyware, which causes many
system lockups. There are shareware anti-spy programs on the market that
load the basic software onto your PC for free and have premium upgrades
for a charge. Three reputable programs are Ad-aware, Cyber Patrol and
Spybot.
PC owners should regularly clean their registry, empty cache files and
update software. Five-year-old machines are typically still in good
order if diligent maintenance is done. Generally, a visit to
Start/Accessories/System Tools (in Windows XP) does the trick. Disk
cleanup and disk defragmentation usually take a few hours and are well
worth the down time. The tools needed to check your system (computer
management and system performance) are under Administrative Tools.
This problem is known colloquially as, “The screen is all messed up” or “My computer monitor is possessed.” The psychedelic screen issue
manifests itself in many ways, but the root cause is almost always a
connection problem between the VGA cable and the VGA ports.
When the VGA cable comes slightly
loose, it causes the screen to glitch out in all kinds of wonderfully
random colors, or display similarly spooky behavior. For this, the fix
is so simple you don’t even need to be called out.
If you are already on-site, you can
always make a show of the solution so it sticks in the affected end
users’ minds, allowing them to fix it themselves in future. Crack your
knuckles and tell the end user to step back. Now, carefully wiggle the
VGA connector and then slot it firmly back in the port. Ta da!
When the computer constantly restarts
before getting to a login screen, a bit of troubleshooting is in order
to make sure it’s not a software problem.
Try to boot in Safe Mode. If it doesn’t work, or you can’t even select Safe Mode before it restarts, then it’s almost certainly a hardware fault.
As many technicians can attest, RAM
is the number one culprit. Essentially, the bootloader can’t load itself
into RAM because the RAM has decided to take unofficial leave. The PC
is able to power up normally, but it will constantly restart right
before loading the OS.
The fix: Power down the computer,
open up the case, and reseat the RAM modules. If the problem persists,
the RAM might be bad. Keeping a few spare sticks of common RAM types
(DDR2, DDR3) in your toolbox is highly recommended.
Now, if the restart loop is
intermittent, but isn’t resolved by new RAM and you can still boot into
Windows, here’s a tip for easy troubleshooting: Turn off Automatic
Restart on System Failure. This makes the PC pause on the Blue Screen of
Death so you can see the specific STOP error code.
The Microsoft support page on STOP error codes is incredibly helpful in diagnosing which piece of hardware is faulty. Use it.
Processor-intensive programs also demand a
lot of memory. Random access memory (RAM) aides the central processing
unit (CPU) by storing instructions linked to common operations. Without
enough RAM, software crashes and slowdowns can occur.
Above mentioned are some of the commonly found PC hardware problems.
However, these are minor issues and you can easily find a solution for
it. As you can observe most of these issues are related to PC
peripherals, for example Mouse, keyboard, USB camera etc. Hence, one of
the root causes for these issues lies with your devices. Actually some
devices need third-party software to be connected to the PC and even for
its proper functioning. The software is referred as Device drivers.
Drivers help the operating system to communicate with the hardware and
helps in proper functioning of these peripherals. Even your video cards,
keyboards, mouse, or any USB device plugged into the computer requires
device drivers.
At times, these device drivers become outdated and hence, PC
encounters any of the problems explained above. Most of the time
updating your device drivers has resolved all your hardware issues
caused by bad device drivers. So, you will have to find out an outdated
driver and get the newer version of it and update the driver. In case
all the drivers are outdated, then you need to download and update all
the drivers in order to fix these PC hardware problems.
This is really a tedious process right. But, this is the only
solution to get rid of these issues. One simple solution for this is Remo Driver Discover
tool that could scan your PC thoroughly and locate all the outdated
drivers. In addition, it even provides a single interface to download
and update device driver
in just few clicks. It is a time-savvy tool; you can make use of it or
can do it manually that consumes lots of time. However, the best
solution is to always keep updating your drivers to its newer versions
and clean the peripherals regularly to avoid dirt that causes jumpy
mouse and other problems.
The motherboard contains several parts of
the computer including the RAM, BIOS system, mass storage and CPU. The
computer motherboard contains several devices, which can create numerous
potential problems. Problems with the motherboard range from too little
RAM to BIOS problems. Fixing the problems will depend on the specific
problem and, in the worst case scenario, purchasing a new motherboard
will fix the problems.
Whether it is a laptop or a desktop, power
cords are a vital part of any computer. The desktop needs the power cord
to work. A laptop can run on batteries for a limited amount of time,
but then needs the power cord for recharging. The most common problem
with the power cord is an improper connection.
As we all know the keyboard is a vital part
of any computer. It not only allows typing, but it also gives commands
as well. However, you might encounter some common potential problems
with the keyboard that includes keyboards that will not connect to the
computer, stuck keys, broken keyboards or keyboards where the letters
end up jumbled.
In order to ensure backup of your
smartphone, it is important that you regularly synch your phone content
with your computer. At times, your PC might fail to sync with your
smartphone. It can be due to many reasons. Sometimes it is required that
all programs are closed, during synching or backup.
In this case, even when you connect your USB
camera, you PC might not be able to recognize it and hence throw errors
like “Device not recognized” error. This might be due to the USB
connector problems or the software malfunctioning. Before plugging in
the camera, turn it on. This action can usually solve your problem.
Jumpy Mouse! Sounds strange right?
Actually, a jumpy mouse is just a muted mouse i.e. cannot be scrolled.
If you have a track and ball mouse, then simply turn it over and open
the ball container, and remove the excess debris and clean the dirt that
lines the rollers. For an optical mouse, eliminate the dust that has
collected around the optical sensor.
The mouse is used for a variety of purposes,
such as playing games or opening files and moreover, it facilitates
easy navigation, thus easy access to your data. The most common problems
related to the mouse include failure to move, connection problems,
freezing on the screen or damage to the mouse.
A blank monitor is the most common computer
problem. Most people who work with computers might have dealt with such
non-working blank monitor at least once. In such cases, first and
foremost check the supply cord and power systems. Sometimes, the video
cable might be loosened. Just push the video cable and place it again,
it should help your now.
You have been creating a PowerPoint presentation for 15 days. A day
before the presentation, you find it missing from its location! Hold
your breath, may be you have moved it to some other folder. Go to Start menu and type the name of the file and observe the results. If nothing appears, then there’s a possibility that the file has been renamed. At such situation, again go to Start
and type a word that was in the presentation. Hopefully, this will
bring better result. However, if you didn’t get any result, then search
in the Recycle Bin as it can possibly be deleted by you accidentally.
Don’t worry, as you can restore your data from backup.
If a person leaves your organization
without revealing the password applied to his/her computer, then all the
data saved on his/her PC becomes inaccessible. Fortunately, you can
recover the password applied to your computer through password reset
disk, another account on the same system with admin rights, or last but
not the least, through third-party password recovery tool.
Many of you encounter situations in which your PC becomes completely
unbootable. At such situation, you should try booting your system with
Windows recovery disk. However, if you do not have CD/DVD of your
Windows recovery disk, then you can borrow it from someone. In case, if
your PC is not even booting from the CD, then go to its setup screen and
change the boot order. By doing this, the CD/DVD drive or optical drive
appears before the hard drive. After this, you will get an onscreen
message telling that you have to press a particular key ‘for setup’.
If your system boots, then follow the prompts. Most likely, the utility
will tell you what the problem is and ask whether you want to fix it or
not. You do. However, if it doesn’t ask you, or if the disk is unable to
fix the problem, then you’ll find a menu with various options. You can
either use Startup Repair or System Restore. Now
let’s take another case, in which your PC fails to boot before entering
to set up or booting from CD, then there is some hardware problem. At
such situation, you have to go to the data recovery service
professional.
This problem is known colloquially as, “No, it’s not coming from the speakers. The box is literally beeping at me.”
It’s easy to forget that desktop PCs
have a speaker inside the case. It beeps once every time the PC is
powered on as part of the Power-On Self-Test (POST). I mean, who
actually turns off their desktops? Aside from that friendly chirp
announcing a successful boot, the onboard speaker will lurk silently in
the inaccessible depths of the computer casing, until that one day when
it has something urgent to say.
When insistent beeping starts coming
from inside the computer while it’s running normally, it is often
accompanied by appropriately alarmed end users — which is good, because
the main purpose of the built-in speaker is to alert nearby humans in
the most annoying way possible that the CPU is running too hot.
It’s telling you, “Hey! I’m dying here. Can you please slow down, or I don’t know, open a window?” It might not be catastrophic if you
fix it immediately, so after you’ve explained that the box is not
beeping because it’s about to explode (which is technically true), take
these steps:
Enter the
BIOS and note the CPU temperature. If it’s over 140 degrees Fahrenheit
(60 degrees Celsius) then it’s getting too hot for comfort.
Ensure the CPU hasn’t been overclocked by an enthusiastic end user.
Check that the computer case is well-ventilated and all fans are spinning.
Blow out the dust on the motherboard and system fans. Do this outside!
If the computer isn’t booting at all
and emits only a short series of beeps, it’s time to break out the BIOS
beep error codes for the motherboard. This will tell you which piece of
hardware is failing, and how.
Date and time is important to a
computer, and the wrong date and/or time can cause a host issues that
appear to be software-related, such as broken software licenses and
confused browser cookies.
To an end user, this looks like the end of the OS as they know it. Luckily, it’s a cinch to fix.
The motherboard’s CMOS battery, which powers the onboard Real-Time Clock (RTC), is too low or dead, and needs to be replaced.
In practically all motherboards, regardless of brand, it’s a ‘CR2032’ 3V button cell battery.
Keep a stash of these batteries in your Geek Bag and make this common hardware issue a non-issue.
Before you call tech support, make sure that the software you’re trying
to run is compatible with your operating system. Older software might
not function on Windows 8, and an app created for Mac OS X definitely
won’t run on your Windows PC. A 32-bit program might run on your 64-bit
operating system, but it doesn’t work the other way around.
Not all file types work on Windows. For example, files that have the .app extension run exclusively on Mac OS X.
If an online game balks, you might be missing the required plug-ins—Java
and Flash are the usual culprits. Most browsers will alert you to
install these items if necessary.
If you have ever encountered an attachment that you couldn’t open, it
was probably because you didn’t have the software necessary to view the
file.
If you don’t have Adobe Reader or another PDF-compatible program, you won’t be able to open that TPS report.
The usual suspect is the .pdf file, for which you can download a free
PDF reader. If your problem involves a different file format, a quick
search on the attachment’s file extension (the three letters after the
period in the filename) should tell you what type of program you need.
If the attachment lacks a file extension (which might happen if it was
renamed), adding it back should set things right.
Let’s assume that your printer’s drivers are up-to-date, and that it has
enough paper and ink or toner to print. Try turning the printer off and
on. Unplug the printer and plug it back in. Check your printer’s print
queue by looking for the printer icon in the system tray and
double-clicking it. The print queue shows you the status of each job as
well as the general status of your printer.
The print queue is your best bet for troubleshooting printer problems—just make sure that ‘Use Printer Offline’ isn’t selected.
Ensure that ‘Use Printer Offline’ isn’t checked. Sometimes, printing
while your printer is turned off can cause Windows to set your printer
to work offline, and that can stall jobs sent later.
Sometimes the biggest problems have the easiest fixes. According to
support technicians, the lion’s share of issues are due to an incorrect
system clock.
The problem is probably with your computer.
Website security certificates sync up with your computer’s clock. Old
computers in particular run the risk of having a dead CMOS battery—the
watch battery in your computer that keeps its system clock ticking.
Click the clock in the system tray and select Change date and time settings to correct any issues.
Browser hijackers are a particularly nasty breed of malware. Such
programs take over your Web browser and can stealthily redirect your
Google searches and other queries to fake pages meant to steal your
personal information or to further infect your system.
Running a real-time antivirus utility is the best way to stay safe. If
your browser has already been hijacked, uninstall the browser and use
your antivirus program in conjunction with Malwarebytes to remove the
intruder.
If you’re not running your Web browser and are still getting pop-up ads
on your desktop, you’ve most likely installed adware—a program that
displays unwanted ads. Although benevolent adware exists, most of the
time adware is up to no good. Getting rid of it isn't easy. “There’s a
ton of little system-utility tools out there that promise to clean up
everything, with names like PC Speed-up, PC Speed Pro, PC Speedifier,”
Geek Squad’s Meister says. “A lot of times those programs are not going
to do much. Some programs will work, others are snake oil.”
Avoid
downloading programs that offer to speed up your PC or clean up your
registry. Instead, use a trustworthy adware scanner like the free
version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware tool.
Running a full scan with credible antivirus software is your first step.
If that program doesn’t find and remove the adware, turn to Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free,
a great utility for removing all types of malware. Just make sure to
disable your standard antivirus software before running it.
“Multiple antivirus programs working at the same time will often result
in problems,” Falcon Northwest’s Petrie says. “You only want one active,
real-time antivirus scanner installed, but it doesn’t hurt to run an
additional ‘on demand’ virus or malware scanner.”
Searching online for the name of the advertised product can sometimes
yield solutions from fellow victims. If all else fails, there’s always
the nuclear option: a complete system reinstall. It might take a long
time, but it’s the only surefire way to remove adware or spyware.
Remember to back up all your personal files.
Speedtest.net is
your best friend when you're having connectivity problems. Run a speed
test to see what your download and upload speeds are—ideally they should
be at least 50 percent of your Internet service provider’s advertised
speeds, with a ping under 100 milliseconds.
If the speeds seem solid, make sure that you aren’t inadvertently
downloading or uploading anything. Many torrent downloading programs run
in the background and minimize into the system tray instead of the
taskbar.
A good speed test should give you an accurate assessment of your ping, download speed, and upload speed.
Check your network hardware. Updates for network cards aren’t all that
common, but if your card’s manufacturer offers a newer driver, download
it. Resetting your router and modem can help with connection problems,
too. Most routers and modems have reset buttons, but pulling the power
cable for a second or two can do the same thing. Don’t cut the power for
much longer, or the hardware may reset itself to factory defaults.
Still having problems? Call your ISP, which can tell you whether the
problem is on your end. As a last-ditch measure, the ISP could reset the
master connection to your home.
The first step to fixing a slow computer is to verify that your machine
is the actual source of the problem. Videos that seem to buffer forever,
and websites that take ages to load, may not be your computer’s fault.
Geek Squad agent Derek Meister claims that many people mistakenly
identify a slow system as the problem when “it’s actually not the
computer, [but] their broadband connection.” See “Downloads are taking
forever” below for instructions on how to use Speedtest.net to diagnose a
slow connection.
If the problem is your PC, check whether you have plenty of free space
on the hard drive holding your operating system. Windows needs room to
create files while your system is running. If your hard drive is maxed
out, performance suffers. Now is the perfect time to clear some space.
If your computer’s operating system resides on an overstuffed C: drive, clearing out some space could boost OS performance.
Microsoft’s System Configuration tool is your next-best bet for tackling
slow performance. Many applications launch automatically when your
machine boots up, which can stretch out boot time—especially on older,
slower PCs. Make a habit of trimming the startup items. Open the tool by
pressing Windows-R, typing msconfig, and pressing the Enter key.
Checking the Startup Item and Manufacturer columns is the best way to
figure out which potential performance-killers you can safely disable.
Avoid messing with any of the services and programs that have Microsoft
Corporation listed as the manufacturer. Items such as AdobeAAMUpdater,
Google Update, Pando Media Booster, Spotify, and Steam Client
Bootstrapper are all fair game. Regardless, err on the side of caution:
If you’re not sure what the program or service does, don’t disable it. Windows’ System Configuration Tool lets you disable programs and services that automatically start when you boot your computer.
Once you’ve made all your changes, click OK and restart the computer. It should boot up quicker and feel noticeably faster.
