Showing posts with label Computer maintenance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Computer maintenance. Show all posts

Thursday, April 22, 2010

New Microsoft Service Fixes Common PC Problems for Free

Fix it Center is a new Microsoft service currently in public beta that provides a set of online and offline tools for diagnosing and fixing common PC and device problems. Fix it Center consolidates into a single product a whole range of trouble shooters, wizards and other support resources currently scattered throughout the Microsoft site and Windows itself. It works with any Windows version from XP through to Window 7. The program will not only solve known problems but will also scan your PC for potential problems and suggest fixes.
The nice thing about this product is that it requires little technical input from the user. All the user needs to do is indicate the broad kind of category describing the problem and then the program will launch a diagnostic program for that category.
To setup Fix it Centre you need to go though a three stage setup procedure:
1. Go to http://fixitcenter.support.microsoft.com/Portal/ and click the “Try It” button. This will download a small 437KB program.
2. Run the downloaded program and accept the licensing agreement. This will then initiate a download and installations of the full Fix it Centre product. No download file size is given but it appears to be around 10MB.
3. Fix it center will install a number of troubleshooters based on your PC configuration but to tap into the full power of the product you need to setup an online account. There you will not only have access to a full range of troubleshooters but access to other support resources as well such as the Microsoft knowledge database. Additionally you can store the support history of your PCs on line.

Friday, April 9, 2010

A selection of helpful articles

Whew! Haven't posted in a long while - things got a bit hectic on the work and home fronts. So to kick things off, some helpful articles spotted in the intervening time...
How to block bad websites, from Gizmo.
Why your DVD player can't play some disks. In order to exercise greater control, movie studies pressured DVD manufacturers into splitting the world into separate play regions. NZ and Australia, for instance, are in Region 4, so a disk bought in the USA (Region 1) probably won't play on your home DVD. Fortunately, your computer is not controlled quite so heavily, and Lincoln Spector gives you some help to get around the problem.
I have long been struggling with how to create a pdf file from a web page or an html document. A very neat Firefox add-on has solved the problem. pdf edit does a very nice job, even creating a pdf from your home directories (ie, in other words, you don't have to put the html document on the web first).
One day you could well need some computer diagnostic and maintenance tools on a flash drive. Lincoln Spector shares his list. And here's a list of
http://www.pcworld.com/article/191362/top_free_troubleshooting_tools_for_windows.html?tk=nl_wbx_h_crawl2 - seven handy tools help you diagnose and cure a wide range of Windows ills.
Confused about the mumbo-jumbo that surrounds all the hardware inside your computer case? How do you know what to buy when you are upgrading? Here's some helpful explanations about the essential bits.
Banish Seven Bad Tech Habits: Seven ways to improve your computing life by changing the way you use your computer.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Sudden computer slowdowns

Sometimes your computer seemingly goes to sleep for no apparent reason. Lincoln Spector has some trouble-shooting tips.

Computer maintenance on a flash drive

You can keep a toolkit on a flash drive for those times when things go wrong and you need some fix-it tools. Lincoln Spector shares his list of must-haves.