How to use the Internet to solve your computer problems
Today I have a hint; information about how to use the Internet
to solve your computer problems; a great link; and my next
Question and Answer.
Here’s a hint: do you hate it when you get an email
from someone and must wade thru the names of all the people
it was sent to, before you get to the email itself?
So don’t YOU do it. Here’s how: Use
the Bcc: field (Bcc, stands for ‘Blind CC’).
Just put all the email addresses in the Bcc: field and your
recipients will ONLY see one email address – theirs!
(Don’t see the Bcc: field in Outlook? – create
an email and then click View/Bcc field)
How to use the Internet to solve your computer problems
Before I begin let me give a warning! Do NOT do anything
to change your system before you back-up ALL your important
information!!!!! It is possible that even an expert
will do something to his/her system that will cause problems.
Some of these sites have easy and safe things for you to do;
and some have very dangerous things – like making changes
to your system registry! So be careful!
1. The very 1st thing to do
is go to: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ choose the ‘Scan
for Updates’ link. Download and install any ‘Critical’
updates and any other updates that you think you may need.
This should raise your computer and its software to the current
levels (this includes Security updates!)
2. Next try the Knowledge Base
at Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/ , click on \t
“_top” Search the Knowledge Base and enter any
error message number that Windows displayed when you had your
trouble… Hint: keep searching until you
find what you want.
3. Another great site to check
is http://www.annoyances.org/ it has sections for each Windows
operating system
4. And finally, use http://www.ask.com
and enter your question, as below, to see what answers I received
(questions were entered exactly as below):
- “How do I change how
my screen looks (resolution)”: www.webappeal.com/directory/Tutorials/w95screenres2.html
takes you step-by-step on how to do it.
- “How can I speed up
my printing”: www.billsmith7.net/hardware/prn-speed.html
has a very nice article that helped.
- “How to fix a program
that stopped working”: this is a tough one.
The best is to go the manufacturer’s site and check
their FAQ and/or email directly to them. They will want
to know software version numbers, your operating system, etc.
- “I received an email
that tells be there is a virus running around and I must delete
some file”. What do I do: 1st check:
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/ Hoax Busters is a great
site with a search form. Enter your category (like the
name of the file you were told to delete) and see what it
says! Then look at www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/11/1044725776645.html,
it gave a very nice and detailed process to go thru if you
ACTUALLY have a virus.
- “My computer won’t
start up anymore”. I think it’s broken.
What do I do: www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/n1028594309
lead to some nice fixes to try.
Favorite LINK: How to Troubleshoot the Worst PC Disasters
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,110320,00.asp
Q: I need to buy a new computer since my old one does
not work anymore. However, I cannot afford to spend a lot
of money. What are the minimum requirements in terms of memory
for a “normal” user such as I am (i.e. mostly
MS Office programs + Internet) so that the PC is not too slow?
Marlis
A: The phrase in the computer business is the ‘sweet
spot’. This means that certain CPUs, memory amounts,
hard drive sizes, etc, are the best deal now! So shop
around (try RIMO). You’ll see that that something
like the following will meet your needs, as a minimum, but
a faster CPU, or memory, or larger hard drive may actually
be a better deal.
- CPU - at least 1.0 Ghz
- Hard drive - at least 12 GB
- Memory - at least 128MB
