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Frequently Asked Questions
When I try to turn on my computer, nothing happens. The
power light is not on. What can I do?
Make certain that your computer power
cord is snugly plugged in - both to the computer and to a power
source. Check the rocker arm on the computer's power supply to ensure
that it is in the "On" position. If you are using a surge
protector or UPS, make certain that the device is on and that the
status indicator light, if any, is green. Temporarily bypass the
surge protector or UPS and connect the computer directly to a wall
receptacle. If, after checking that you have power to the computer,
you find that you still have no lights, your power supply is the
likely culprit. If your computer has been exposed to a strong power
surge, the surge may have damaged the power supply, components (motherboard,
processor, modem, etc.) and/or peripherals (keyboard, mouse, printer,
etc.) connected to the computer. If the last is the case give us
a call to have a tech come out.
Why won't my computer boot?
As a general rule, if there is power
to the computer, but it will not boot, one (or more) of the following
is the cause:
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Loose or
defective keyboard, mouse or USB device
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Loose or
defective internal components
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Damaged
drivers and/or operating system.
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Virus infection
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Spyware
infestation.
I hear a loud, clicking sound when my computer is running
and it is starting to lock up on me. What's happening?
A loud, clicking sound and
lockups are signs of imminent, physical failure of the hard drive.
If you don't have your files backed up, try to do that immediately,
and have the drive replaced. The hard drive may fail completely
at any moment, so don't put this off. If the hard drive fails completely,
retrieving your data can be time consuming and costly.
When I try to run ScanDisk or defragment my hard drive, I get nowhere.
They keep re-starting. What can I do?
You have to run these utilities
in Safe Mode or quit all programs running in the background and
disable your screen saver. These programs interrupt the disk scanning
and defragmenting processes.
I installed a USB (Universal Serial Bus) peripheral (scanner, printer,
digital camera). My computer does not recognize it and my system
has started to lock up? What is going on?
USB devices must be installed exactly
as the directions provide. In many cases, the driver must be installed
before you attach the device. After installing the driver and re-booting,
you connect the USB device. If the operating system does not recognize
the device, try removing it from your system and un-installing the
driver. Re-boot. Read the instructions carefully and try again.
Why does my computer run so slowly?
One or more of the following
may account for the slow performance:
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Insufficient
hard drive space preventing use of the swap file, that allows
use of hard drive resources as supplemental memory. At a minimum,
ten per cent of your hard drive should be free space.
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Running
several applications simultaneously with limited memory.
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Adware/Spyware
programs. Read our discussion of these programs.
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Virus infection.
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Running
unnecessary programs.
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Heavy harddrive
fragmentation.
My system has only 64MB of RAM. Should I get the cheapest memory
that I can find and install it?
No. There are hundreds of different
kinds of memory. Memory is like tires. Just as you must match tires
and vehicle makes and models, you must determine the specific memory
type required by your computer. If you don't, the machine may not
boot or if it does boot you may not get the full benefit of the
additional memory.
How can I determine what programs are running on my computer?
Simultaneously depress the Ctrl,
Alt and Delete keys to bring up Task Manager. Click on the Applications
tab. Some Spyware/Adware programs may not show up in the Task Manager.
If you use Task Manager to close out programs for diagnostic purposes,
you can only select one program at a time to quit.
I deleted some program files. Now, my computer sends strange error
messages and locks up. What happened?
The only safe way to remove programs
is to use the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel (Start
> Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs). If you
simply delete a program, you may also delete critical system files.
In some instances, it is possible to identify the missing system
file and copy it from another machine running the same operating
system. In other instances, the system file may be machine-specific.
If you delete one of these files, you can't copy the file from another
machine. You may need to get professional help or use the restore
disks that came with your computer.
A friend sent me an e-mail attachment with a .doc extension. When
I try to open it, I see this error message: "The document '[the
attachment]' could not be opened, because the application program
that created it could not be found This file does not have a program
associated with it for performing this action." How can I open
the attachment?
Simply stated, you need a program
to open a file. If you don't have the program on your computer to
open a particular type of file, you will not be able to open and
view it. To open a file with a .doc extension, you must have Microsoft®
Word® or another powerful word processing application on your
machine. To open a file with an extension of .pdf, you need Adobe®
Acrobat Reader® or another program that can open pdf files.
Ask your friend to save the attachment with an extension of .rtf
or .txt. You can open files with these extensions with Notepad or
Wordpad, both of which ship with all Windows® systems. If a
Word® document is saved as a .rtf or .txt file, some formatting
(paragraph style, indents, font type and size, etc.) may be lost.
I have Norton AntiVirus. How do I renew my subscription to the
virus definitions update service?
About 30 days prior to the expiration
of your subscription, you will see a dialog box that appears before
LiveUpdate runs. It advises of the date of subscription termination
and gives you an opportunity renew the subscription. The cost to
renew the 2003 version is approximately $29.95 and you must have
a credit card to renew the subscription. Wait until five or so days
remain on the subscription and then renew it. At the conclusion
of the renewal process, you will be taken to a screen with a confirmation
number. Print and retain this screen for your records.
I bought a new game, but it won't play on my computer. Why won't
it play?
All software, including games, has
system requirements. These requirements are in many cases grossly
understated, but provide a general guide of the operating system
and hardware requirements for a particular piece of software. If
the system requirements are Windows98®, 64 MB of system memory
and a processor running at 500 MHz and you are running Windows95®
with 16 MB of system memory and a 266 MHz processor the software
will not run on your machine. Always study the system requirements
before purchasing a new piece of software.
What is the difference between a surge protector and an Uninterruptable
Power Supply?
A surge protector protects your computer
from power surges or spikes. A UPS provides protection against power
surges or spikes, and in addition contains a battery that will supply
power to your computer for a short period after electrical service
to your home is cut off, allowing you to save any open work and
shut down your computer safely. Don't purchase a $2,000 system and
connect to a $9.99 surge strip. Make certain that the surge strip
has an status indicator light and, since surges through the phone
line are the leading cause of hardware damage, ensure that it has
in and out jacks for RJ-11 (phone) connections. Run the phone line
to the "in" jack and another stretch of phone cord from
the "out" jack to your dial-up or ADSL modem. Before you
purchase a UPS, determine the total load of all machines that you
propose to connect to it. Don't connect a laser printer to your
UPS. A laser printer draws a tremendous amount of power and will
most certainly overload your UPS and cause the UPS fuse to blow.
How do I get rid of those pesky pop-up windows?
Go to panicware and download
Pop-Up Stopper Free Editon. If you are running Windows 2000®
or XP® and you receive "messenger spam" that is sent
using the Windows® Messenger service (a built-in feature typically
used in a client/server topology), Microsoft recommends against
disabling the service since it is used to by the operating system
and some programs to send alerts to a user. For more information,
read Microsoft Knowledge Base.
Should I upgrade from Windows®9x to Windows®XP®?
The answer is a qualified "yes."
Windows®XP® is much more stable than earlier iterations
of Windows®. Before upgrading from a Win9x version, make sure
that you have the hardware to run it smoothly. Also, make certain
that indispensable, legacy programs are compatible with XP. To research
compatibility issues, visit Microsoft's compatibility site. Click
on the Windows Catalog link found on the left side of the page.
On the Windows Catalog page, use the search feature found on the
upper left area of the page.
I have two computers. One is connected to the Internet using my
cable modem. How can I share the connection so that both computers
have broadband access?
To effectively share the broadband
connection, you will need a router. A router is a piece of hardware
that sits between your cable (or ADSL) modem and you PCs. Using
CAT 5 cable, you connect the modem to the Wide Area Network (WAN)
port on the router. Make sure that you connect from the modem to
the router using the WAN port, which is typically identified as
such, and not to a Local Area Network (LAN) port. Again using CAT
5 cable, run from a LAN port on the router to a PCI network card
on each PC. These LAN connections will allow not only sharing of
a broadband connection, but file and print sharing as well. Be advised
that Comcast®'s HIGH-SPEED INTERNET HOME NETWORKING AMENDMENT
TO COMCAST SUBSCRIBER AGREEMENT allows for connection of five PCs.
Comcast® does not support routers so you are on your own if
you install one. Since most routers will work well out of the box,
you will not need to install any special software. Note that all
computers on your LAN must be part of the same Workgroup. In XP®,
right click My Computer, select Computer Name and use the Change
button, if necessary to make all computers part of the same Workgroup.
If you experience problems making a connection, power down your
PC and remove the power adapter cord from the rear of the cable
modem and router. Re-connect the power adapter to the rear of the
router and wait two minutes. Next, re-connect the power adapter
to the rear of the modem and wait two minutes. Finally power up
your PC. If you still are unable to connect, call Comcast® to
ensure that your service has, in fact, been activated. In XP®,
Simple File Sharing is turned on by default. To share a printer,
go to the Printers and Faxes folder in Control Panel, right click
your printer, select Properties, left click Sharing, select Share
This Printer and give it a short name without using punctuation,
spaces or special characters (e.g. HPDeskJet). A router will provide
security for your Internet connection, but will not protect against
viruses. For this you need current and active antivirus software.
How do I empty the Deleted Items Folder in Outlook?
From the Outlook Menu bar,
select Tools > Options > Other tab > Empty the Deleted
Items folder upon exiting. The folder will be cleaned out when you
exit Outlook. You can elect to be warned before items are deleted
by selecting Tools > Options > Other tab > Advanced Options.
There is strange file with a generic icon and
a tilde (~) under it on my desktop. What is it?
According to PC Magazine, it is a
backup of your Outlook Express address book that is not being saved
where it is supposed to be saved. Read more about the file and how
to ensure that your address book backup is current in this article.
Since the backup file can't seem to find its way home with some
degree of frequency, print page 1 of the article for future reference.
I installed Norton Internet Security (or Norton Personal Firewall) and
can't connect to the Internet. How do I re-establish the connection?
There has been a plethora of
problems (search Google groups) with these Norton products. Find
a computer with an Internet connection, go to Norton's site and
search for "2002042908585736" (without quotes). A brief
note if you opt to try to un-install the program: According to some
reports, even if one is logged on as Administrator in XP, one cannot
un-install the program using the Add/Remove Programs Applet without
first un-checking the Norton entries in MSCONFIG and re-booting.
Registry entries will remain and have to be addressed manually.
Before installing the program, set a manual restore point using
System Restore if you are running XP. Be advised, however, that
Norton products are so closely integrated with the operating system
that System Restore may not take you back where you want to be.
As a side note, many users have experienced problems with Norton
AntiVirus 2004. In fact, we have investigated error messages at
Symantec's site, only to find that Symantec is aware of the error
and that there is no fix. If your subscription to NAV 2003 has not
expired, renew it before it expires.
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