|
| |
|
Technical
Help |
|
Your
online guide to Technical Tips, Hardware & Software problems, Web
Design, and a Message Board. Local computer companies help you with
your computing requirements
Whatever
your problem or requirement there a lots of local computer and internet
companies that can be of assistance to you. Why not ask a question in our
Technical Chat Forum.
Help
Menu |
| Technical
Tips |
| With a personal computer in most offices, and
now most homes, it seemed a good idea to pass on a few tips that we have found
essential during many years involved with computers, and specifically with
Microsoft Windows. We hope some of these tips will make life with your computer
easier - and even save the day on certain occasions. |
| Tip
01 Backup your important data |
This is the most important
tip you will ever need. If it has not happened yet then one day, and
probably again sometime, you will lose all the information on your
computer.
Don't believe it
- Well it does happen - Typically because of:
 Theft
Hardware failure Accidentally
deleting files yourself Windows
corruption of files - Most of which are outside of your control
What to do
- Simple, you always need to have a fairly well up to date back of your
data. But what files to backup - The best items to back up are
your "my documents" folder content, obviously any other
program data e.g. accounts, computer aided design.
How do I make a
backup? Microsoft Windows comes with a backup utility that can be
run to compress and copy files to the floppy drive. Find the
"backup" program in "Start - Programs - Accessories -
System Tools", if it is not there then it has not been installed on
your computer and you will need your original windows CD to install it
(Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs - Windows SetUp, in the category
"System Tools").
Better still
- Have ZIP drive with your computer. There are 100 meg and 250 meg
versions available which can be fitted internally or externally.
We fit 100 meg ZIP drives for £100. These are much more reliable
than a floppy disk and easier to use as well as the massively increased
capacity.
|
| Tip
02 Sensible file names |
What's in a
name - There are three lessons to
learn about saving files from the likes of your word processing,
spreadsheet, or other software program
One - Save
them in the same place e.g. in the "my documents" folder to
make backing up easier later
Two - Make
names sensible - What you will understand later. Out are names
like LETTER01, DAVE, 29-OCT. In are names like LETTER TO BANK
MANAGER OCT 2000, DAVE COMPLAINT ABOUT PRODUCT USEFULNESS, FOLLOW UP
LETTER TO DAVE 29-OCT. Make the names as meaningful as possible.
Three
- Save them in their own sub folders. For example, when saving a
file from Microsoft Word and it is looking at "my documents"
then you also have the icon to "make new folder" and give it a
name e.g. bank, dave, doctor, car, insure etc..
|
| Tip
03 Lost tool bars in Word |
Where did
it go? - One minute you have all
the nice tool bars at the top of the screen in Microsoft Word for
"New, Open, Save", "Font, Size", "Bold, Italic,
Underline" - then one day they have disappeared!
View Toolbars
- Use the View / Toolbars menu pull down to make sure that STANDARD and
FORMATTING are switched on. These are two essential ones.
Right place?
- Your toolbars normally show at the top directly under the pull down
menus. If they don't then you can move them up there by dragging
them to the right place. This is how they probably got lost
in the first place!
|
| Tip
04 Moving "Start" task bar |
How did
this move? - Are you used to seeing
the "Start" task bar at the bottom of the screen, but have
found that it has moved to the top or left or right.
Drag it back
- Similar to moving Word toolbars in the previous tip you can move the
task bar by simply clicking and holding down the mouse button on a blank
part of the bar and moving it to the bottom of the screen.
One line normally
enough - The task bar normally
shown as a single line - you can make it two lines or more by click /
hold / move up a line. If you move down you can make it virtually
disappear - but you can still just pick it up again to bring it back.
|
| Tip
05 Windows will not load |
Starts but
will not finish? - If your windows
system will not load up - it either says you need to restore the system
registry or just appears to keep trying forever - then here is a
possible solution.
Boot in command line
mode - Just before you see the
message "Starting windows..>" press the F8 key - you will
then get a command line menu which you may have seen before offering
"normal mode" and "safe mode". Select
"Command prompt only" or "Command line only".
Enter the
following - Literally enter the following commands to restore the
last working system registry on your computer (theoretically).
CD WINDOWS
ATTRIB -R -H -S SYSTEM.*
ATTRIB -R -H -S USER.*
COPY SYSTEM.DAT SYSTEM.WAS
COPY USER.DAT USER.WAS
COPY SYSTEM.DA0 SYSTEM.DAT
COPY USER.DA0 USER.DAT
Then reboot and see if windows will now
load. Note: the last two entries include the suffix DA0 (letter D A
followed by number 0).
|
| Tip
06 Remember your User-id's and Passwords |
Too many to
remember? - How many user-id's and
passwords have you already got written down for access to various web
sites? I end keeping a little black book.
Keep most the same
- Try and use the same user-id and password for many sites. For
the most common requirements pick an 8 character user-id and an 8
character password - all letters.
Better still
- Get Gator to record your personal details and let it remember your
id's and passwords for you. A great free program utility.
Get it at www.roboform.com
|
| Tip
07 Faster startup with MSCONFIG |
Windows
slow to start? - Does it feel that
your windows system is slowing down and taking longer to start?
Slimline
your startup - Just do START / RUN
MSCONFIG (the miscrosoft systems configuration utility) and you have
access to all the routines initialised at startup time - see
"startup" tab. You will be probably find entries that
can un un-ticked. On my own computer my free resources after
startup went up from 73% to 91% after using this program. In my
own case I left ticked on the following: scan registry, task
monitor, system tray, PWS tray, anti virus, Gator
passwords.
If in doubt then don't
delete it - Don't switch things off
you don't understand. But you can switch them back on again later
if you find something not working as before.
|
| Tip
08 Virus Checker |
Virus
a plenty? - I have personally seen
instances of virus's on 5 different user computers at the end of the
year 2000? If you are not running a virus checking program - DO IT
NOW?
Are
they really dangerous? - Some certainly can be but the ones I saw
recently did no serious damage.
Where do they
come from?
- The internet is the main source, especially with email
attachments. Never open an email attachment if you do not trust
the source of the email.
Updating virus checker
- Make sure you get a virus checker program that can be regularly
updated. I use Norton Anti-Virus and have it scheduled to download
the latest virus database once a month off the internet
automatically.
|
| Tip
09 Use GHOST to upgrade your hard disk |
Need
a bigger hard disk? - You don't
need a new computer to get a bigger hard disk. You can easily
transfer all your existing data to a new larger hard disk with no
problems using Norton Ghost.
Don't
open the case and do it yourself -
unless you really know what you are doing. Leave it to a
professional.
Hard disk prices
- Hard disk prices are very cheap at present with 10gig drives at £73
up to 40 gig drives at £130. These are trade prices excluding
VAT to give you an idea of price.
|
| Tip
10 Stop installing other internet CDs from shops |
Not
getting your email? - You were
receiving email fine then suddenly you can't anymore, or have problems
sending out. Maybe you have installed another internet access CD
which has changed the settings of your original set up by making the new
one your default.
Check
your internet connections - Check
for new connections, to be found in 'my computer' and 'dial up
networking'. You can remove the new ones by putting them in the
bin. Also, in your email program, e.g. Outlook Express, check the
'Tools' pulldown option 'Accounts' for other dialup entries - again
remove the new one you that you don't want. If in doubt, get
someone who knows that they are doing to help.
|
| Tip
11 Back up your favourites and cookies |
Don't
forget these? - Most people (we
hope) back up their important documents and if you keep them in the
standard "my documents" the job is made easier. But do you
back up your internet favorites and all those cookies.
What
are cookies - Cookies are held on
your computer for sites that you visit. They are very handy as
they are used to remember details about yourself for their site.
We have used cookies for Dave Smith's Outback Wine Club - as you build
up your order the wines you have selected so far are held in a cookie on
your computer. Others remember useful information for when your return
to a site so these too can be usefully backed up.
Where are they -
Favourites (spelt favorites) and Cookies can both be found in the
WINDOWS directory. These are typically very big files and may copy
comfortably to a floppy disk (right click on the folder and "send
to floppy").
|
| Technical
Help Websites |
| If you have a problem
with your computer hardware or software you may be able to find help on
the internet. One of the best places to go is the general search engine www.google.com
and enter as many words as possible e.g. soundblaster live 1024.
Other recommended sites
are detailed below.
-
Always check
with the hardware or software manufacturers own website first. If you have
problems with Microsoft Windows, for example, then try the search at www.microsoft.com
-
www.help-site.com
links to over 2,000 computer hardware and software manuals
-
www.software-drivers.com
and www.windrivers.com are good
sites to search for the latest drivers
-
News groups may also be
a source of information, though a lot harder to follow. But you can
post your own problems and someone may be able to help. Try www.deja.com
-
Don't forget to post
your problems on our own tech chat forum here
|
| Search
Engines |
| We once asked on this
website for people to state their favourite search engine. More than 75%
said www.google.com which is why we
include a link in our left hand column. Try the "advanced
search" for more options. We especially like the image search, try
entering "southport uk" and you see some good local photographs.
Try "southport gb" and you will see a host of pictures from our
own site, including a few mug shots! |
| Web
Design |
|
First of all you need to
register a name for your website, unless of course it is just a personal
page which you are going to host on your ISP free space e.g. with Freeserve
or BT Internet.
If you need a name, .co.uk,
a .com, or whatever, then get it registered as soon as possible before
someone else takes it. This can typically cost from around £10 for a .co.uk,
and £25 for a .com with no advertising banners (watch out for some companies
which are cheaper but then you have to pay extra to have their banners removed). You
can let us look after your registrations and hosting - please see our domains
page here. There are plenty of other
companies like www.names123.com and www.register.com
but the prices we quoted should give you an idea.
How do you design a
website? There are lots of programs which you can use to make you web
pages. Microsoft FrontPage is well used and offers a more
professional approach than Microsoft Word or Publisher.
If your website is for
your business then you should seriously consider using a professional
company who have the experience, not in design, but all the technical
details - like will the site work in Explorer and Netscape? |
|
(01704) 510888
