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Archive for April, 2010

How Computer Freezes Can Bring Productivity To A Halt

April 27th, 2010 No Comments

Protection Against Computer Freezes

Having worked in the IT field for over 15 years, I have seen first hand how computer freezes can cause an abrupt halt to productivity. I have worked both in the consulting and corporate lines of work, so I have been in many different situations.

The same goes for home computers as well. More and more people today are working from home and rely solely on their home computers for many things such as paying bills online, keeping track of their finances or even printing out checks or invoices.

If you are not taking the proper precautions and doing regular preventative maintenance on your computer, then you will eventually have a problem and put yourself in a bind. The result could mean spending several hundred dollars because you didn’t know some basics steps for preventing computer freezes.

The first and most important thing you can do to guard against computer failure is to make sure your data is being backed up. There are a few great online backup services you can use that are pretty inexpensive. I personally prefer Mozy Pro. For less than $5 a month you can back up as much data as your computer will hold. Click here to try Mozy for FREE! That is a small price to pay when you have thousands of family photos on your computer. I highly recommend Mozy. You can sign up for free and backup up to 2gb of data for free.

Another super quick and really effective tool is System Restore. Microsoft finally did win me over as a fan of this tool beginning with Windows XP. This feature also works great in Vista and Windows 7. Make sure that System Restore is turned on and that it is making regular restore points. You can access System Restore settings by going into your Control Panel and then selecting System. Here you will be able to see if System Restore is turned on or off.

Don’t be afraid to use this powerful tool. If you install a program or maybe a new piece of hardware and things just don’t seem right with your computer, you can run a system restore back to the previous day and all will be just like it was! photo credit: NightRPStar

Posted in Computer Freezes

Tags: windows 7, windows vista, windows xp

Windows Registry Repair – Love It When It Works – Hate It When It Doesn’t

April 17th, 2010 No Comments

Windows Registry Repair

Windows registry repair on a computer can be a very tricky operation if you are not fully up to speed on what effects it can have on your machine. A corrupt windows registry can cause computer freezes and finding the fix can sometimes be like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. It is something that when you are successful at doing, it can give you a sense of accomplishment, but if the repair goes wrong, it can be the cause of a lot of extra work.

If you are not very familiar with the windows registry, then I would first recommend that you don’t go into regedit and start deleting keys our of the registry. This is a high quality recipe for a nice dish of computer failure. It would make more sense to have a Microsoft Certified Registry Repair Program such as Registry Booster 2010 do the heavy lifting for you.

I had the pleasure(a big dose of sarcasm goes here) of working with 2 individuals this week who were traveling overseas. Basically, as soon as they landed at their destination, both of their Windows XP laptops would not boot. My first thought was that they were probably hit with a virus when they connected to the wireless network in the airport. What are the odds of 2 laptops getting the same exact virus as almost the same exact time! They were both getting blue-screens with long stop errors. I new that both were experiencing computer freezes because their windows registry was corrupt.

Ok, so I had diagnosed they they had a corrupt registry and needed a windows registry repair. However, trying to do this over the phone with a user who is in half-way across the world is almost impossible. They made a few phone calls and they were able to get a hold of their local contact. He was going to take a look at their laptops and try to fix them.

Fast forward to the next day. I get a call from one the of users and they report that this ‘computer tech’ was able to get their machines to boot. This was good news until I was able to get logged in to one of the laptops. What this ‘computer tech’ had done was restore a fresh install copy of the Windows XP Registry. This basically meant that all of their programs that were installed had no registry entries and were unusable.

To get these two users up and running at least enough so they could function, I had to copy over the install files for the programs they absolutely needed to finish out their trip. This took hours of copying files because their connection was not great and they were half-way around the world.

In the end, I was able to get these two users up and running at least enough so that they could function and finish out their trip, but due to this ‘computer tech’ not know how to do a proper windows registry repair, I will have two laptops to rebuild when they arrive back home.

So the moral of this post is to NOT mess with the windows registry if you don’t know much about it. Let a certified program like Regcure do the work for you. You won’t be sorry you did! Learn more about windows registry repair. photo credit: Gavin Anderson

Posted in Computer Freezes

Tags: windows 7, windows registry, windows vista, windows xp

Windows 7 Freezes – It Might Be The Newest Operating System – But It’s Still Microsoft

April 10th, 2010 1 Comment

Windows 7 Freezes

Windows 7 freezes will still happen especially since this is a new OS from developer Microsoft. Windows 7 is quickly being adopted by the computer world. To be honest, this might be Microsoft’s best job at an Operating System release as it is doing much better than the failed release of Windows Vista. Let’s keep in mind though that this is still a Microsoft product. This means you will still have the same old problems to deal with, especially Windows 7 Freezes.

In the short time I have used Windows 7, the biggest things I have noticed are it’s ability to react and run very quickly on just 2GB of RAM. Granted, you shouldn’t have a computer today that has Windows 7 on it that is not a 64-bit machine. The overall speed of Windows 7 blows Vista out of the water.

#1 Tip For Fixing Windows 7 Freezes – Drivers Will Cause Headaches

Like with any new operating system, there are going to be bugs and issues that will need to be worked out. And as always, there will be a ton of windows updates to download as these problems get resolved. But the number 1 reason that will cause Windows 7 freezes initially will be drivers. Every single manufacturer that makes an installable component such as motherboads, video cards, audio cards and network cards will have to have a new set of Windows 7 drivers programmed up to run on the new OS. This transition can sometimes be a very bumpy ride. I would recommend getting yourself a Microsoft Certified Driver Checker if you are having any types of these problems. You will save yourself hours and hours of time and frustration.

#2 Tip For Fixing Windows 7 Freezes – Make Sure YOur Programs Are Compatible

Software developers face huge obstacles when a new operating system is released. Let’s just say the programmers get plenty of overtime! Adjustments in the programs have to be made so that they will work with Windows 7 and let’s not forget that they also have to deal with 32 and 64 bit infrastructures.

WARNING: To all of you thinking about upgrading from Windows Vista. You need to absolutely make %100 sure that all of your programs and hardware is compatible with Windows 7. I would recommend running with Windows 7 Upgrade Adviser. This won’t be full-proof, but it will give you great feedback on your current system. Uninstall the software that may be incompatible with Win 7. After doing so, I would run a Certified Registry Cleaner to make sure all remnants are removed before performing the upgrade.

For now, Windows 7 seems to be a pretty good OS that has a lot of promise. You will still need to make sure you stay on top of the best ways to get the best performance out of it and know how to stop Windows 7 freezes.

photo credit: OiMax

Posted in Windows Tips

Tags: drivers, software, windows 7

Computer Locks Up – Add Remove Programs Locks Up Computer – Fix It Now

April 2nd, 2010 No Comments

Computer Locks Up

There really is nothing more annoying or frustrating that when your computer locks up. What makes it even worse is when it happens while doing a Windows specific operation. A great example of this is when add remove programs locks up computer. Let’s take a look at a few things that you can do to stop this from happening.

Tip #1 – Try Safe Mode

If your computer is locking up on you when you are trying to access add/remove programs, then the first thing I would do is to try it in safe mode and see if it works or not. With every version of Windows having so many updates and computers coming with so many programs on them, your computer freezing could just be due to low system resources. If you don’t know how to access safe mode, then check out Step 2 in this post on Windows Tips.

Tip #2 – Windows Updates – This is for Windows XP Users

Whenever you first go into your control panel and select Add Remove programs the window pops up and it starts to populate the programs within the list. There is one important thing I want you to check. In the top right of the Add/Remove programs window, there is a radio box that is labeled Windows Updates. If this box is checked, then your list is going to include a list of every Windows Update that has been installed. This could result in a huge list. I would recommend unchecking that box as soon as you open Add/Remove programs to see if this corrects your problem.

Tip #3 – Windows Registry and Files

If add remove programs locks up computer as soon as you open it, or if there are buttons or selections inside the window that are missing, then you may have a corrupt registry or a system file that is bad or missing. Try to recall if you have made any major changes recently to your computer. If you have, then you may want to try a System Restore. If not, I would only then recommend running a windows repair to correct the corrupt registry or repair the system files that have been damaged.

**Bonus Tip**

If your computer locks up when you open add remove programs, then you may want to think about giving your registry a nice cleanup. In most cases, if you are having this problem, then it is a safe bet that you have quite a few programs and updates installed. Running a Microsoft Certified Registry Cleaner like RegistryBooster 2010 will fix this issue plus a lot of other little issues you were just dealing with.
photo credit: Gregorios Kythreotis

Posted in Computer Freezes

Tags: Computer Freezes, computer locks up, windows vista, windows xp