Partition Your Hard Drive
Maybe you’ve been thinking about dividing up your hard drive for awhile, but you’re just not sure how to go about doing it. It is somewhat of a lengthy process and it could get complicated, so if you’re going to attempt to do this, make sure you understand what you’re doing and be confident in your work. If you are, things should go fine. Also, make… Continue reading
Q:
I think someone has been using my computer when I’m away. Is there any way I can find out for sure and see what they’ve been doing while on it?
A:
This is a pretty common problem that occurs. Maybe it happens at the office when you’re home for the evening or maybe when you’re on vacation. An overnight worker could take the initiative to access your… Continue reading
Eliminate Some Mouse Usage
If you read yesterday’s newsletter, you found out how you can change the appearance of your computer screen to help with any eye problems you may have. By the end of the article yesterday, your computer was completely “eye friendly.” Well, today we’re going go over eliminating some mouse usage for a “mouse friendly” environment!
Along with my eye trouble, the palm of my right hand… Continue reading
How To Configure a Dial-Up Connection
Are you still one of the several people who use dial-up? Maybe you live out in an area where you can’t get anything other than dial-up (like in the boonies) or maybe you just choose to use dial-up because it is sometimes cheaper, etc. Well, either way, you need to know how to configure a dial-up connection, right? Right!
Well, if you are reading… Continue reading
Q:
How do you turn off the CD AutoRun for Windows XP? I see that you show how to do it for 98 and ME, but how about XP?
A:
You’re right, we do have a tip that tells you how to turn off the AutoRun feature for Windows 98 and ME. If you’re interested in that, read here. If you happen to be an XP… Continue reading
If you have several external devices that run through your USB ports, you may have come across an “Unknown Device” error before. This error will show up in your Device Manager (right click on the My Computer icon, choose Properties, Hardware tab, Device Manager button). If you’ve ever wondered what could be causing this error, you may want to check out these troubleshooting techniques.
One problem could be that the… Continue reading
Maybe this has happened to you. You want to use your CD ROM drive for something and you go to look for the icon and it has suddenly disappeared. It was there a couple days ago, so how could it be gone now? For example, you want to play a CD on your computer, but when you go under My Computer to open up the
No Dial Tone?
Do you still use dial-up connection to use the Internet? Well, if you do, I’m sure a very common problem that you have faced while connecting to the Internet is the “No Dial tone” error. Am I right? The Internet connection may have been perfectly fine just a few seconds earlier, but now it comes up with this error. Fortunately, this issue can be fixed by following… Continue reading
Q:
I read your peer to peer networking article in a previous newsletter and I was just wondering what type of things should be set up and ready to go before putting my computer on a network. I use Windows XP.
A:
I’m glad you asked that question, because it’s very important to prepare your computer for a network type setting. Here are a few things you should… Continue reading
The POST
Have you ever wondered what your computer goes through when it’s booting up each time you restart your computer? Sometimes computers will start up so quickly, but other times, they drag, don’t they? Well, every time a computer is booting up, it has to go through what is called a POST test. POST stands for Power On Self Test and it’s just a little personal start up test… Continue reading
Peer to Peer Networking in Windows
Today, we’re going to be talking about peer to peer networking in different versions of Windows. We’ll start with XP. Please keep in mind that this tip is only for people who have XP Professional, Windows 98 or 95. It is also for advanced users only who have some experience with networking.
To begin, Windows XP’s peer to peer networking capability is based on… Continue reading
Blue Screen of Death
Has your computer ever been caught by the dreaded blue screen? It’s probably happened to all of us at one time or another. In fact, it has probably happened to you one too many times, am I right? I know I’ve run into the blue screen problem and it can be the most annoying thing to get rid of.
So, what is the blue screen I… Continue reading
Q:
I often get an error message of MDATA.DAT every time I restart my computer. What does this mean?
A:
That’s an interesting question! Maybe several of you get this message every time you turn your computer on and you’ve just been living with it, because it doesn’t really do anything to your system. Although it may not hurt your computer, it can be rather annoying, so it… Continue reading
When you use your computer (especially if you’re using it all day long), you probably open and close several applications through the course of time. Well, each time you open a new program and close it out, your Windows operating system retains tiny fragments of those applications and they are not removed completely off your system until you shut your computer down for the day.
For example, every time you… Continue reading
One More on the Defrag
Thanks to a very helpful reader, we have yet another tip on running a smoother defrag on your computer. Last week, we talked about changing some of your startup settings so the defrag could run without interruption.
While it’s a good idea to do all of that, an even easier procedure would be to change your screen saver settings. Most of you probably… Continue reading
Smooth Out the Defrag
Many people have problems running the Windows defragmentation program. The program seems to start perfectly fine, but after it reaches 10 percent or even 20 percent, it keeps restarting itself, telling you the “Drive contents have changed.”
This happens because there are all sorts of “invisible” programs running in the background that keep changing the information on your hard drive. This makes the defrag process think… Continue reading
Defragmentation
If your computer has been running slower than usual or if it’s just plain sluggish, it may be time for you to defrag your computer. The defragmentation feature is an important utility that comes along with Windows and it helps you to fine tune your Windows file system and it just ensures that everything is running properly. Defrag (short for disk defragmenter) organizes your file system to help Windows… Continue reading
Q:
I seem to lose my Internet connection quite often. What could be causing this?
A:
There are different reasons why an Internet connection fails and it also depends on the Internet connection type you have. If you have a dial-up connection, the cause could be extra noise running through the phone line, you let your computer sit in idle mode too long or maybe you have some… Continue reading
Q:
How does a virus begin to infest itself on a computer system? I would just like to know the beginning basics of it.
A:
If you are an avid WorldStart newsletter reader, you know that we have done several articles on viruses in the past. We’ve warned you about what they can do to your computer system, we’ve talked about antivirus and other protective software and we’ve… Continue reading
Don’t Restart
When you go to shut down your computer, you may notice that there is an option there for you to restart your computer as well. This option is there for all the times you just want to restart your computer instead of completely shutting it down, but did you know that it also plays a part in system failures? Basically, Windows is set to automatically restart your computer… Continue reading
Q:
Some of the programs I use frequently on my computer seem to crash an awful lot. Why do they keep doing this and is there anything I can do to prevent it?
A:
If you have started to see an increase in your Windows or any programs crashing, there’s a few things you can do.
First, if the problem is regularly… Continue reading
Q:
I keep hearing a strange sound coming from my computer? I don’t think it’s coming from my hard drive. Where else could it be?
A:
If your computer is making some weird noises and you’ve already checked in different places (your hard drive, boot up system, hardware, etc.), your problem may lie within your fan. If you listen closer to the fan areas on your computer, a… Continue reading
Q:
I often see an application of lsass.exe running in my task manager, but I have no idea what it is. Should it be running or should I get rid of it? Could it be a virus?
A:
The lsass.exe file is a pretty important part of your Windows operating system. LSASS stands for Local Security Authority Subsystem Service and it is mainly used to help… Continue reading
Q:
Recently my hard drive has been making some weird noises and I’m getting pretty worried about it. Sometimes my computer even locks up when it happens. Does this mean my hard drive is going bad?
A:
Obviously, if your hard drive is making an odd sound that you’ve never heard from it before (it may be some sort of a clicking sound), it could be a warning… Continue reading
Get on the Right Level
Have you been having trouble with your hard drive lately? Maybe you’ve been having so many problems that you’re almost ready to just give up on it and go get a new one. Before you do that, you might find this little tip a tad bit interesting.
Some hard drives are very sensitive to surfaces that are not level. Who knew?! Most have trouble functioning… Continue reading
A New Way to Open
We all know that when we want to open a file, it is done by an application or a software program, right? Well, this is true when working with our Windows system as well. For example, when you want to listen to a music file, you click on it and your computer automatically picks a program that is designed to run music and audio files… Continue reading
John from Florida asks:
What is the difference between USB 1.0 & 2.0?
A:
As we all may know, USB ports are on your computer so you are able to connect external devices to work with your system. Most computers today come with one or more USB ports and they’re so fast and easy to use. It’s easy just to plug something… Continue reading
