Tag: Troubleshooting
Users who have problems with their Windows computers now also have an easy solution to address some issues. With the Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services 1.0, the Redmond company is essentially automating the troubleshooting process associated with what it referred to as common glitches affecting its software. According to the software giant, the Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services 1.0 is designed to require nothing more from end users than a single click. But users have to keep in mind, that when it says common problems, Microsoft actually means common problems. The tool is obviously addressed at non-technical users.
âWe launched the Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services, where with one click we can detect problems on your machine and automatically fix any common problems that are found. I know just about all of you reading this are computer experts and can fix these types of issues faster than you can run a wizard but if youâre like me, thereâs always a friend or coworker (or parent) somewhere needing this kind of stuff fixed and if so maybe you can forward this along and save yourself some time,â explained J.C. Hornbeck, Manageability Knowledge engineer. Read More»
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Users who have problems with their Windows computers now also have an easy solution to address some issues. With the Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services 1.0, the Redmond company is essentially automating the troubleshooting process associated with what it referred to as common glitches affecting its software. According to the software giant, the Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services 1.0 is designed to require nothing more from end users than a single click. But users have to keep in mind, that when it says common problems, Microsoft actually means common problems. The tool is obviously addressed at non-technical users.
âWe launched the Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services, where with one click we can detect problems on your machine and automatically fix any common problems that are found. I know just about all of you reading this are computer experts and can fix these types of issues faster than you can run a wizard but if youâre like me, thereâs always a friend or coworker (or parent) somewhere needing this kind of stuff fixed and if so maybe you can forward this along and save yourself some time,â explained J.C. Hornbeck, Manageability Knowledge engineer. Read More»
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At the end of April 2009, Microsoft unveiled to the world a new service that it referred to as societal networking. A few days over a month later, the Redmond company is allowing testers of Microsoft Vine to access and download the Microsoft Vine Diagnostic Tool. The label is self-explanatory, and the new tool can be used to harvest diagnostic information on the users’ Microsoft Vine installations. Vine comes with a client that needs to be installed locally on the users’ machine. The Diagnostic Tool is designed to streamline the troubleshooting process associated with resolving eventual Vine-related functionality issues.
âThe Vine diagnostic tool (vinediag.hta) collects diagnostic information of your installation of the Microsoft Vine beta, and stores it in a file on your computer. When you are discussing a problem in the Vine beta on the discussion forum, the support team might ask you to run this tool and share the file it creates. The information in the file could help the support team identify the issue and propose a solution,â Microsoft explained. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | 1 Comment »
February 22, 2009 by
Jason
1. Problem Steps Recorder
As the local PC guru you’re probably very used to friends and family asking for help with their computer problems, yet having no idea how to clearly describe what’s going on. It’s frustrating, but Microsoft feels your pain, and Windows 7 will include an excellent new solution in the Problem Steps Recorder.
When any app starts misbehaving under Windows 7 then all your friends need do is click Start, type PSR and press [Enter], then click Start Record. If they then work through whatever they’re doing then the Problem Steps Recorder will record every click and keypress, take screen grabs, and package everything up into a single zipped MHTML file when they’re finished, ready for emailing to you. It’s quick, easy and effective, and will save you hours of troubleshooting time.
Read More»
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February 03, 2009 by
Jason
1. Upgrade Your RAM
Yeah, the most obvious tip but people hardly upgrade it. RAM these days is very cheap, especially if you buy it through Amazon or eBay. When I checked Amazon, the price of 1 GB RAM was around $20-$30.
2. Get Rid of Unneeded Software
Most PCs come shipped with unneeded software. Uninstall all of them. Iâm sure there are better alternatives to those software. For example, my PC came shipped from hp with lots of bloatware such as HP Image Zone, Norton AntiVirus 2004, Record Now! CD & DVD Burning software etc. I uninstalled all of them and replaced them with better software like Picasa and Nero.
3. Keep Only One Browser
This is part of the getting rid of unneeded applications but I decided to separate it because so many people have 3, or even 4 browsers installed on their computer. I used to do this; I used to have Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. Now I only have Mozilla Firefox. Yes, I even removed Internet Explorer! Read More»
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February 02, 2009 by
Jason
1. Your computer isnât turning on? âOh, no!â You think, âIâd better get a new one!â STOP right there. Before you get too frustrated, be sure you have checked that the power cord is actually plugged into your wall socket properly. You may think it sounds silly, but believe me, itâs more common than you think even for the computer savvy. If your computer is connected through a power board, you should try plugging it directly into the wall (note for the safety conscious: by plugging the power cable directly into the wall, you lessen the chance of power failure and damage to your machine). Another reason that your PC may not start is if you have made any repairs or modification to your machine. You may have unwittingly pulled out a connect plug; check all connections.
2. If your computer is starting but is spitting error messages at you, then you might need to take out any memory modules such as RAM and then reset them by plugging them back into different RAM slots.If you get an error such as âUnexpected Interrupt in Protected Mode,â then there is a problem with the settings you have entered in BIOS. To fix it go into BIOS and set it to default settings. If the problem still wonât go away, then you must remove the CMOS chip on your motherboard then put it back in to clean BIOS completely. Read More»
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November 06, 2008 by
Jason
Just thought I should give the community my top five list for computer troubleshooting!
1. Your computer isnât turning on? âOh, no!â You think, âIâd better get a new one!â STOP right there. Before you get too frustrated, be sure you have checked that the power cord is actually plugged into your wall socket properly. You may think it sounds silly, but believe me, itâs more common than you think even for the computer savvy. If your computer is connected through a power board, you should try plugging it directly into the wall (note for the safety conscious: by plugging the power cable
directly into the wall, you lessen the chance of power failure and damage to your machine). Another reason that your PC may not start is if you have made any repairs or modification to your machine. You may have unwittingly pulled out a connect plug; check all connections.
2. If your computer is starting but is spitting error messages at you, then you might need to take out any memory modules such as RAM and then reset them by plugging them back into different RAM slots.If you get an error such as âUnexpected Interrupt in Protected Mode,â then there is a problem with the settings you have entered in BIOS. To fix it go into BIOS and set it to default settings. If the problem still wonât go away, then you must remove the CMOS chip on your motherboard then put it back in to clean BIOS completely. Read More»
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September 21, 2008 by
Jason
Normally, the blue screen of death contains a driver name, and some addresses; if youâre lucky, removing that driver will do the trick. But what if there is no driver name on the BSoD? And what if you donât have all the skills to play with crashdumps and debuggers?
In this case, Autoruns comes to the rescue. This is a graphical tool that allows you to disable/enable drivers in a very easy way.
The strategy:
1. Boot into safe mode (since the system is crashing when you attempt to boot normally);
2. Start Autoruns, and switch to the Drivers tab;
3. Go through the list, and uncheck the drivers that are suspicious;
4. Close the program, restart and boot normally
The steps above will be repeated until the system is able to boot correctly.
When that happens, remember what were the last changes you applied, and try to enable some drivers back – until you figure out which one of them was causing the issue. Read More»
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September 10, 2008 by
Jason
Windows Aero is the premium visual experience of Windows Vista. It features a transparent glass design with subtle window animations and new window colors.
Here are some solutions to common problem with running Windows Aero.
Which editions of Windows Vista include Aero?
The following editions include Aero:
Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Home Premium, and Windows Vista Ultimate. Aero is not included in Windows XP or earlier versions of Windows.
To find out which edition of Windows Vista you have on your computer, do the following:
Open Welcome Center by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Welcome Center.
The edition of Windows Vista you’re running is displayed with your computer details near the top of the window. Read More»
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For many Windows users, the thought of using the Command Prompt is either a scary experience or something that they will never need. But for some, the command prompt is a powerful tool that can be far more useful than many graphical tools available in Windows.
Being a System Administrator, I constantly use the command prompt, mostly because I access systems remotely and many tasks can be performed quickly with out the graphics over head (even though connecting via Terminal Server is very convenient).
So if you are an avid user of the command line, here are my top 10 built-in (non third party) command line tools for XP, Vista and WIndows server versions (remember these commands are not your typical tools, such as find, copy, move, dir, etc..).
1 – systeminfo – Have a need to display operating system configuration information for a local or remote machine, including service pack levels? Then systeminfo is the tool to use. When I need to connect to a system that I am not familiar with, this is the first tool I run. Read More»
Posted in Computer | 2 Comments »