The Perfect Burn
CD burning is a popular past time for many people. Whether you are backing up your data, making compilations of pictures, or making a presentation for work, problems can sometimes come up in burning that are easily avoidable. Here are some tips, tricks, and tweaks to keep your burning experience painless.
System resources
While many cd burners have suitable buffer amounts that should allow you… Continue reading
Q:
I was burning a CD-R the other day and got a “buffer underrun” error. The CD was useless and I had to start over. What causes that?
A:
The short version: Your computer didn’t send information to the CD-R fast enough.
The long version: CD-R drives put information from your hard drive into a ” buffer ” (i.e. memory area) before they write (copy) it… Continue reading
Let’s go for a Drive
What are all these different drives? Probably the easiest way to explain it would be to define each of them:
1. Hard Drive - A hard drive is a fast, high capacity internal disk drive found in all modern PCs. Unless the computer is older than say, 12 years, it should have a hard drive in it. Any PC running Windows does.
The reason for… Continue reading
The executable is basically the part of the program that “runs” when you click it (or its shortcut). In fact, the executable basically is the program, minus any support files. Continue reading
If you’re planning on messing with your Windows Registry, it’s probably a good idea to back it up first!
Here’s how:
Click Start /Run and type in “regedit” (no quotes). (If you’re in Windows Vista or 7, just type it into the search box.)
Next, click the File menu, then ” Export“.
Select a location from the resulting box and give your backup… Continue reading
Q:
I deleted a program but it still shows up on my Add/Remove Programs list. How can I get rid of it?
A:
I get this ghost story all the time. The program is gone, but its entry is still there. Who you gonna call?
When that happens, most people click the program, hit the Add / Remove button and end up with an error. And… Continue reading
Prefetch Clutter
Do you find that it takes longer and longer for applications to open when you boot Windows XP? One common cause is the Win XP prefetch system.
“What’s Prefetch?” you ask. It’s a way for Windows to pre-load the data needed for running applications before you launch them. It’s supposed to make them launch quicker. What actually happens is that programs you hardly ever use take… Continue reading
Ever need a printout of your system info? It could be handy to keep, in case you ever have questions on your system settings – especially if the system is down for one reason or another. Here’s how to do it.
In Vista or Windows 7, type or copy msinfo32 into Start search and click the msinfo32 link in the results
Q:
When my printer prints, I get black streaks across the words. What’s causing this?
A:
Sounds like your printer’s ink jet heads need cleaning. Now the procedure for this varies from printer to printer. Some printers (HP) have the ink jet nozzles built into the ink cartridge. Remove the cartridges and wipe their little bottoms with a soft, lint-free cloth. Make sure you clean both the color… Continue reading
Get Your Money’s Worth
We often mention various Windows tools only get emails from readers who say those tools are missing. Many times this happens because the feature is not installed (for instance Task Manager in XP—see 8/4/04 ). Especially if your system came with the OS already on it, you might not have all the tools and toys available.
What to do?
Go to Control Panel… Continue reading
