The Trials and Tribulations of A Confused ComputerWritten by Donna Sweat
During a recent period of fretted PC breakdown,I came to realize that I took my computer for granted.I thought high tech machine would never let me down and I was never further from truth. Just when I thought things were going smoothly,"BANG",I was in deep trouble.Home-based businesses should be aware that computer down time can and will mess up your schedule.After only a week,I was behind and a bit discouraged to say least. I was lucky enough to be able to fix my pc myself,but this isn't always case. Sometimes it takes an expert to bail you out and it can be costly. Professionals charge $50.00 per hour,and up, to find and correct problems. It may be wise to stash a bit in bank for such an occasion. I found backing up your files is of utmost importance. Store your important pieces on floppy or Cd-Rom. Do not wait too long and be sure to format those floppies. I stored information on a floppy and found after I was back to normal, floppy was no good and would not open my files. Never store a program on a floppy, it will not work properly when you try it. Programs must be reinstalled. A good example is Aureate Group Mail or something you downloaded online. If you have an opt-in list,that can be saved to floppy. Think you know your computer? Take a look at its contents. Go to my computer, C drive, Wow,I was amazed at contents and worst of it was I did not know what everything was. Another great place to see internal contents of your computer is Control Panel, Go to my computer,control panel,system, and device manager. This place is a maze of high tech content. Do not change anything unless you know what you are doing. The results can be disastrous. I have had my share of problems with down time,ranging from installing anew Cd-rom, to blowing dust from my tower. Yes, dust is a common culprit! Fans get clogged with dust quickly,and result is overheated components and leads to computer failure.I blow out dust using a vacuum cleaner and also being careful not to disturb delicate parts. PC problems sometimes develop from a loose connection. It may be a cord or a circuit board within tower. Gently pushing in a loose connection may solve a problem. Booting into safe mode is a safe way to fix problems. When booting, after start up screen,pressing Ctrl, puts pc in this mode with internet access, and many programs disabled, so problem can be found and corrected.
| | Cure for "Illegal Operations" SydromeWritten by Mike Smith
"You have performed an ILLEGAL OPERATION, program will be shut down!" But I didn't do anything! Really, I was just sitting here. :-(You did update Windows, right? And have current drivers for all of your other hardware and software, don't you? How important is it? Well if you are experiencing a lot of crashes this may just be cure. Very few people understand what happens in Windows when you install new software and hardware. Since Bill Gates wants to be boss, obviously he put everything into Windows to make it work with Microsoft products. Now all other companies that sell you things have to make theirs for Gates configuration. Some are not too good at it and some are just careless. For those you get Blue Screen of Death. Ever see this one? "You have performed an ILLEGAL OPERATION, program will be shut down!"? Then a whole bunch of numbers and stuff even a Geek may not understand. Well it is really a simple matter of shared files not getting along in your Puter. One says "I am going to decide how this operation is done" and other one says "no you're not!" So one with newest info may win but you get blamed for it because program didn't do it "Gates Way" and result is that program could not start. Now you get a new program out of box, put it on your Puter and guess what? The program probably has a whole ton of updates available to make it get along with Windows. Windows has a whole bunch of new updates to screw with other companies but "You performed an ILLEGAL OPERATION". Feel a little insulted? I do. Then there are some companies that really don't want your Puter to cooperate with Windows. They want a piece of Giant and guess who pays for it? Yup, we do. I won't mention any names but AOL and Netscape are 2 of biggest offenders. After that comes Real Player and a list a mile long. But let's not make problem too simple. Several companies are out to get each other and at your expense. Yeah, right. They tell you it is someone else that is cause and that company swears that it is another one. So here you are caught in middle and nobody has bothered to tell you that something as simple as downloading latest updates and drivers just might solve problems they are busy blaming each other for. Here are a couple of solutions for you. First try and find out what all your hardware is. Printers are easy, name and model are on front. But what about your CD ROM, Audio System, and monitor? A lot of times, they just don't have that information available. Yup even keyboards can have updated drivers. Drivers? Updates? Hardware? Software?.
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