Tips to Reduce Computer Eye Strain

Bye-Bye Computer Headaches
Nine out of ten computer users experience eye problems such as blurred vision, tired eyes, itchy eyes, or headaches. Whether a mild annoyance or a persistent on the job problem, most of us learn to live with it.

Must you, however, trade your comfort for technology?

The answer is no. There are specific steps you can take to minimize computer eye strain.

FREE and simple tip for those using Microsoft XP operating system-Given you already have an LCD screen, increasing the contrast can help the reading material stand out on the page. Here is a great tip for XP users:

Left click on desktop

Appearance Tab

Effects Button

After "use the following methods to smooth edges...", select ClearType

LCD Monitor-One reason for eye strain during computer use is the flickering, or shimmy, of the monitor. Your eyes are constantly trying to find a focal point where there is none, thus making the eye muscles tired. A moderately priced LCD screen will fix the problem for there is little to no flicker. A couple of hundred dollars is well worth the investment, and a great resource for finding the right one for you follows: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=1745344

Melanin tinted computer glasses- Melanin is a molecule that is in our skin for the purpose of absorbing light so that it doesn't damage underlying tissues. The melanin in computer lenses also absorbs light. Specifically, it reduces the blue and violet light from computers and fluorescent lighting that can damage your eyes. They are available in non-prescription, as well as with reading magnification at many local opticians, or online from many ready-to-wear reading glass retailers. Computer glasses run from $10 to upwards of $100. You don't need a prescription for the plano or straight forward reading magnifications, though you should have your eyes checked by an eye doctor in the case of visual discomfort and/or strain.
http://www.debspecs.com/Computer_EyeGlasses_C57.cfm

Remove any back light behind your computer- Many people experience photophobia. You may not be familiar with the word, but very well may know what it means; literally, fear of light, but used mostly to mean "sensitivity to light". If this is the case, you are double dosing yourself if you have a lamp behind your computer (or in front of it for that matter) that's pointing in the general direction of your face.

I hope these tips were useful for you today! They have worked wonders for me, increasing productivity and the amount of time I can spend on the computer.

Food & Fitness Tips for Computer Users

Working at a computer can take a toll on the body with lack of exercise and healthy eating habits. So take charge and turn your habits around with these helpful tips.

1. Journal and keep a daily diary about what you eat and how much activity you get each day. Make sure to get at least 10 minutes of activity daily away form your computer with healthy exercise; walking, jogging, biking, stationary-biking, something?

2. Keep healthy snacks and foods on hand like:

? Tuna

? White cheeses and low-fat crackers

? Celery and low-fat peanut butter

? Carrot and Celery sticks

? Salad (bagged and prepared is fine) and low-fat dressing

? Cucumber slices

? Snow peas

? Broccoli and cauliflower

? Wheat bread

? Veggie egg rolls

? Fresh Fruits / Fruit Bowl

? Frozen grapes

? Wheat Toast and jelly

? Bagels and jelly or lite cream cheese.

? Freezer treats (lite ice milks, low fat yogurts, flavored ices, etc.)

? Jello (with or without fruit and/or lite whipped topping)

? Pudding with low-fat milk

? Healthy beverages: teas, coffees, bottled flavored waters

3. Take the batteries out of any remote control units you have at home and get up and walk over to change channels.

4. Take your dog for a walk every evening. If you don?t have one, take your elderly neighbor?s dog for a walk.

5. Do exercises while watching television. No need to wait for commercials, for jump in there and hit the floor.

6. Pick up healthy cookbooks at the local library, bookstore and online. And find favorites to use, changing your bland, some-old same-olds.

7. Add healthy no-sugar cereals to your day, sweetening them with fresh berries (or some brands now have the fried fruits packaged right in the cereals.) You can eat cereal as a snack, too.

8. Oatmeal is healthy and good for you. Experiment by adding raisins, nuts, a little brown sugar and other goodies to make it a nice, warm meal.

9. Stock up on soups: vegetable, tomato, vegetable beef, chicken, bean, chicken and stars, chicken and rice, chicken and noodle. And stock up on a variety of crackers to go with them: oyster crackers, saltines, Ritz, Sociable Crackers, etc. Eat your heavier meal for lunch and leave the lighter ?soup? meal for dinner.

10. Invite a friends or friends over to eat. Stop hiding out and socialize. Share recipes and healthy food ideas. Plan a round where someone brings the main course, someone else brings the side dishes, another brings dessert.

Dietary Tips for Computer Users

A sedentary keyboarding lifestyle leaves your bottom half pretty well-rounded and growing if you don?t use caution with your diet. To help get and keep better fit, try these diet tips during your day.

1) Drink plenty of water and healthy beverages throughout the day. Skip the sodas and other sugary drinks. You can get flavored waters, teas, coffees and other healthier beverages, but do skip the sugar in all of them when possible or at least opt for much less sugar or diet drinks and shakes.

2) Look at your local stores for diet snacks and drinks. You can often find healthy power bars and other snack bars, protein shakes and trail mix. If your store doesn?t have much of a selection, check on Amazon.com and eBay.com, especially for special rates and discounted bulk packages.

3) Opt for fresh fruits when you can, over fruit juice or water down your juice, like half-and-half. These means less unhealthy sugar.

4) Check with your healthcare provider and see about adding vitamins and other supplements to your daily diet.

5) Brush your teeth after each snack and meal. This will cut down on your desire to snack more, because you won?t want to keep cleaning your teeth over and over.

6) No need to totally cut out fat. Just cut down, though, and trim fats, eat white meats, nuts and fish more.

7) Make healthy substitutions when you can like apple sauce for oil in recipes, and no fat non-stick spray for grease in pans.

8) Don?t keep jumping around to different fad diets. Either develop a plan following the approval of your doctor, or get professional help choosing and following the right one for you.

9) Go long! When you take a snack break, get up and away form your computer. Do NOT eat there in front of it or around it even. When possible go outside for some fresh air. But get up off your rear and hunt down your food. Don?t make snacking so easy. Stash your goodies in your car and park far away, for example.

10)Keep plenty of healthy foods: fruits and vegetables around, plus dips and anything else you like to go with them. You know where your chocolate is, but how anbout healthy stuff? Set out a fruit basket!

11)While you?re eating - -STAND. While you?re doing other things on your break ? - STAND. In other words, stop sitting so much.

Three Tips To Protecting Your Computer Data

Imagine for a second, your computer system just crashed and you may have just lost all of your precious data. Do you feel the emptiness in your stomach or the lump in your throat? Have you put off doing a backup of your PC for the last time or will you procrastinate again? You never know when disaster might strike and you will need to perform a system restore.

While you sit their reading this you should become aware of where you are backing up your data. Once you realize that your data is precious you should decide to protect it. Next, you might ask, "How?" and "Where do I backup my files?".

Knowing where to backup your data is an important factor in this process. You will have so many choices but we will whittle them down. Below are just a few options you will encounter:

USB connected storage

Firewire connected storage

Network connected storage

You will come across storage sizes ranging from 20 GB to 750 GB.

The point is you need to identify what YOU need. Don't let anyone sell you anything you don't need. Plan this out before you begin, it will save you some time and money in the long run.

What do you need to know for you to plan this out?

How much data will you backup?

Will you be backing up your mp3's, pictures, videos, or just work data?

What ever data you have decided to backup the size of it will matter. How many MB (mega bytes) does it take up on your hard drive?

You may be wondering how you can find out how much space all of your data is taking up. Well, for one, most people keep some type of folder structure.

All you have to do is right click the folder of choice and click on properties. That gives you an idea of how much space the entire folder is taking up. You can keep a tally of all of your folders and it will give you an approximate amount of drive space you will need to backup your data.

Ok, this is pretty simple but you don't want to go out and purchase a drive that is at the same size as your data you have just calculated. The reason for this is because more than likely your data is going to grow over time.

The amount of growth is going to be determined by how often and how much you add to your collection of data. This growth will be different for every person depending on how they use their computer. The industry standard is about thirty percent growth per year for data in many businesses. That figure is just to give you an approximation to start looking at how much data storage you will need.

Getting a plan to start is one of the first things you need to do before you start backing up your data. You have to know what you want to back up and where you will put it before you start.

You should test your backups regularly because you never know when you will need to perform a system restore or a desktop restore. You can go to any electronics store and find a large variety of Hard Drive storage. Don't be afraid to ask questions. This is your data we are talking about.

Now that you have begun to get a foundation on backing up your data you will eventually need to learn how to perform backups and system restores. You will feel better now knowing that you have learned some of the steps necessary to protect yourself and your data from catastrophe. Take some action and start backing up your PC today.

3 Tips On How To Clean Up Your Computer

Is your computer running slow? Is it locking up, or freezing, or even giving you a blue screen? We have all gone through this, and know the pain and agony. Luckily, there are things you can do to fix this. I will give you 3 tips on cleaning up your computer.

The first thing you should check is for viruses. Find top quality anti-virus scan software, and install it on your computer. Then run the software and let it search for viruses. If it happens to find any, let the software fix the problems. Now you will have a verified virus free computer. Set the virus scan to run all the time. It will search your computer, and scan all of your emails and attachments or downloads. This is a must for anyone who surfs the internet and receives email.

The second thing you need to do is get rid of all the spyware or adware on your computer. And believe me, you have this stuff on your computer if you surf the internet. Basically, websites will drop of small programs into your computer. You will have no idea this has happened. What these programs do will vary, but the main focus of spyware is to do exactly what it says: SPY. The software will track your surfing patterns, of your keyboard strokes, and then feed this information back to the original website. This website can then put together information all about you, and you have no idea about it. And, it is these programs running in the background, which will slow down your computer. These little guys need to be cleaned up. There are plenty of quality spyware removal programs out there. Just download one, run it, and let it remove all of the spyware for you. Two down, one more to go.

Lastly, you need to keep your registry cleaned up. Registry files contain the data on how the software and hardware on your computer is supposed to run. If any of these files get messed up, then the software or hardware will not run, and this can cause the computer to lock up. Once again, there are quality programs out there which can fix your registry. Download this software, and it will scan your registry for errors. If it finds any, it will fix them for you. Now your registry will run with no problems.

Those are the 3 tips to keep your computer clean. Install an antivirus, spyware removal, and registry fix program on your computer, and run these weekly. These 3 items will keep your computer running with no errors, and keep you surfing the internet.

Easy Tips To Make Your Computer Run Faster And More Efficiently

Have you noticed that your computer does not run as fast as it did when it was new?

A slow PC is one of the primary complaints of most computer owners who currently run Windows XP. Memory gulping start-up programs, greedy anti-virus applications and a hard drive that has not been defragged since...who knows when. All these issues contribute to degrading your computer's performance.

Are you ready to get back up to speed? If so, the first and most basic task is to run defrag on your hard drive. Few people do this anymore because they think Windows XP does it automatically - it does not. So let's get started.

Task #1

Click "Start", then "All Programs", then "Accessories". Now go to the "System Tools" folder and select "Disk Defragmenter". When it opens, select your primary "C:" drive, then click "Defragment".

If you have multiple drives you can defragment them after you have done your primary "C:" drive.

Task #2

Visit the Startup Inspector website.
You will find an excellent tool that allows even novice users to manage Windows startup applications.
Here's the link: http://www.windowsstartup.com/

This helpful utility allows you to:

• scan all programs that are in the Windows Startup Folder and
  Registry and provides you with background information about the program.

• remove harmful programs like spyware, virus, and dialers, thus making your system healthier.

• remove unnecessary programs like reminders and monitors. This helps improve your systems performance.
  

The Startup Inspector is freeware and costs nothing to download. Download it to your desktop, double-click on it and select "Run".

The best thing about this handy little utility is the Startup Programs Knowledge Base. This is the database source for Startup Inspector. If you see an unidentified process on your computer you may find some information about it here. There are currently over 6500 entries in the database, but it grows daily as users add new entries.

When using Startup Inspector always use extreme care when removing and disabling startup processes.

Task #3 Power Tips

Your next task is to enable DMA if it's not currently enabled.

DMA is a mode that allows your hard drive to bypass the CPU and access memory directly from RAM (random access memory). When DMA is enabled your CPU does less work - so it works faster when handling other processes.

To enable go to "Control Panel", open the "System" folder, select "Hardware" and then "Device Manager". Look for the "IDE ATA Controllers" section, click the plus sign (+), then double-click "Primary IDE Channel, select "Advanced Settings" and make sure the DMA option is selected for both Transfer modes. Click "OK" and repeat for the "Secondary IDE Channel".

While you are still in "Device Manager" go to the "Ports" section and disable "COM" and "LPT".

DO NOT disable "COM" if you are using standard dial-up to access the Internet.

DO NOT disable "LPT" if you are using a parallel printer.

Lastly, if your drive is still configured to FAT (File Allocation Table); you will want to convert it to the faster more efficient NTFS (New Technology File System).

Just go to "Start", then "Run" and type in "cmd". When you get to the prompt, type "convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs" without the quotes. Press enter.

Some WARNINGS about converting to NTFS (if you're in doubt about any of these points - hold off until you get any issues resolved):

• Some DOS and older Windows apps can't read NTFS drives, although there are utilities to help overcome this limitation.

• Once converted to NTFS, you cannot convert the drive back to FAT.
  

The conversion process takes some time, so take a break and slow down while your computer system speeds up.

Tips to Keep Your Computer Cool and Running Good

Keep that computer running cool and efficient. Here are some simple steps.

1. Shut it down. Switch it off. Pull the plugs. Take the cover off. And give it a good
blow out to get all the dust out of it so it can breathe.

2. If there is somewhere to put a fan, 80mm is most common, put one in.
It'll increase air flow. Most come with male/female molex plugs for
easy installation with no extra wires required.

3. Replace those flat ribbon cables with round ones. It'll increase air flow.
They make them for CDROMS, hard drives, and floppy drives.

Then if you want to get real serious.

4. Put new heat sink compund on your heat sinks. Like the processor
heat sink. Heat sink compound dries up after a while and becomes
less efficient.

5. Replace your computer case with one that offers more fan placements.

6. Purchase a hard drive cooler and put it in to keep your hard drive to keep it
cooler so it won't wear out so fast.

7. Memory card heat sinks will also help keep your memory cooler and help
prevent crashes for the memory cards getting overheated.

8. Copper heat sinks have a faster heat transfer than aluminum which will also
help keep your high dollar processor cooler.

9. Shutting a unit off after use also lengthens the life of your computer.

10. Sometimes the north and south bridge chip sets get too hot and slow your unit.
Little fans with heat sinks can be purchased for these. And most usually has adhesive
heat sink compound already applied. Just peel and apply with firm pressure. With a
plug that will plug into your mother board near by.

Following these simple steps can help any computer. And you can do it yourself
and not have to pay a shop to do it for you. All you need is a philips screwdriver.

Safety Tips to Building a Computer

There are some important precautions you should take into account when building a computer to ensure the safety of you and your computer parts. This article gives you some helpful tips on building your computer in the safest way possible.

Stay Safe With Electricity

Electricity is an important issue to consider with dangerous implications for those who ignore it. When building your computer, be 100% sure that the power supply is disconnected from the mains. Also make sure that all network cables and telephone lines are disconnected from the computer.

Another electricity safety tip is to only turn the power on to your computer when the case cover is on. Don't ever work on the inside of your computer with the power plugged in and turned on.

Be Aware of Static Electricity

Static electricity is a real hazard than can cause significant damage to your computer components. To prevent this from happening, follow these simple tips:

- Always wear an antistatic wrist band when building your computer.

- Keep sensitive components in the antistatic bags that they came with, and only remove them from the bag when you are ready to install that component.

- Try to handle your computer components by their edges only.

- Avoid building your computer in areas of high static such as carpeted areas. If you can, try to avoid wearing clothing such as those made of synthetics as they may create static.

Use the Right Tools for the Job

These days, building a computer doesn't require many tools at all. But if you're going to be using a tool, make sure you use the right one for the job. Some tools that you may need for assembly are:

- Phillips screwdriver

- Flat nose screwdriver

- Pliers

- Antistatic wrist band (highly recommended)

- Nut driver (optional)

Conclusion

After reading this article you should now be aware of the main safety issues you need to consider when building a computer. Follow this advice and you will greatly reduce the risk of damaging your computer, or yourself.

Tips For Going Wireless With Your Own Notebook Computer

In this article we are going to look at the basics of a wireless router. How they work and what you can do to make sure it stays that way. If you have a recent model notebook computer you probably have wireless technology built into it. If not you can get a wireless card to install into your notebook to work in conjunction with your wireless router.

Once you are wireless you will know the joy of picking up your computer and walking anywhere around your house with it. Depending on your signal strength you may even be able to hang out on your patio.

Newer notebooks are Wi-Fi ready. It already has the wireless hardware and software built into your computer. Several people in your family may be wireless as well. It is a beautiful thing to see everyone hang out in the family room with their notebooks all able to work or play online at the same time.

You will always be able to connect using the Wi-Fi network at work or steal bandwidth from someone else. There are hotspots everywhere you go including your own neighborhood. You are better off setting up your system in a secure way to avoid your neighbor's doing this to you and then you do not do it to them either.

If you are not wireless yet you will need a few things to convert your home network into a wireless network.

1. You need a Broadband connection using a Cable or DSL modem. You can not have a wireless network if you are on Dial-Up connection

2. A router to broadcast the wireless signal

3. A wireless computer

To set up your wireless network turn off the power to your computers and your Broadband modem. Your computer will communicate with your router automatically when you start it up enabling you to get on the network without any confusion. The router and your notebook should not need any further configuration. The default settings should work.

Your Internet connection should be present. The Modem will have two connections. One for the Cable or DSL modem and one for your computer.

Take the Ethernet cable that is connecting your computer to the Modem. Reconnect it to your wireless router in the WAN connector. If all the cables are correctly placed, you should now be able to get on the Internet from your existing computers and your wireless computers.

A wireless router allows you to communicate to the Internet. A wireless computer communicates to the router. When the two are working in harmony you have a great system that allows you flexibility to enjoy your notebook whenever and wherever you want.

4 Tips to Fix Your Crashing Computer

Have you asked the question lately, ?How do I fix my pc because it keeps crashing?? Does your computer run so slow that it?s giving you a headache? Are you constantly being harassed with those annoying pop-ups? Well you are in luck because these 4 tips will help you fix your crashing computer.

1. Run a Diagnostic Scan to determine your PC problem.

a. A diagnostic scan will tell you exactly what is going on with your pc and the source of your problems. The best thing would be to purchase a Registry Cleaner Software because it will scan you computer and automatically fix any of the issues you are having.

2. Check your memory because it may be time to add more memory.

a. To check your memory go to go to the Start menu, click Settings, and then click Control Panel. Click System and then select the General tab. At the bottom of the page you should see the amount of RAM.

b. The amount of memory you need will depend on your operating system. For Windows 98, 128 MB to 256 MB is more than enough. For Windows XP, if you're just surfing the Internet and writing letters, you need 256 MB to 512 MB. If you play a lot of games or use a lot of applications at the same time then you will need to go from 512 MB to 1 GB RAM. RAM modules can be purchased in 128 MB, 256 MB, and 512 MB sizes.

3. Run a virus scan to check for adware and spyware.

a. Spyware and Adware is software made by publishers that allow them to snoop on your browsing activity, invade your privacy, and flood you with those horrible popups.

4. Delete unnecessary files that may be saved on your hard drive.

If your pc keeps crashing implementing these tips can improve your pc?s performance and protect your personal information. These 4 tips will help you fix your computer so it won?t crash.

Network Errors Solutions

... is not accessible

Message: "....is not accessible. You may not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. Network path was not found."

Resolutions:
1) make sure no any firewall blocks the LAN traffic.

2) make sure you have created the same workgroup, and the same username on w2k/xp for logging on a remote computer.

3) check user's rights.

4) you may want to enable guest account on w2k/xp.

5) if you are using simple file sharing, you may try to disable it and re-share the drive manually.

6) if it is mixed OS (win98, NT, ME and W2K/XP) network, enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.

7) make sure the Computer Browser service is started if all computers are w2k/xp.

8) stop Computer Browser service on win9x, ME and NT if this is a mixed OS network.

9) cache credential by using net use \\computername\share /user:username command (it is better to have the username logon shared computer).

10) if you have tried enabling netbios over tcp/ip but doesn't work, you may try to load netbeui (loading netbeui may slow your network).

11) Make sure the server service is running.

12) If you can see the share in Network Neighborhood but not access it, this issue may be resolved by verifying that both the share permissions and the NTFS partition permissions are correctly configured for individual user or group access.


"... not accessible. Logon failure: account current disabled.

Symptom: When browsing a network drive in Windows Explorer, you may receive above error message.

Resolutions: this is cache credentials issue. To fix this problem and cache the credentials, use net use \\computername /user:username command.


"... not accessible. Access Denied "

SYMPTOMS: When you attempt to connect to a network share, you may receive the following error message: \\Servername\share is not accessible. Access Denied. If you are accessing a share in another domain, this message may appear even though you have verified that the trust is configured correctly. Also, the share may be visible in Network Neighborhood.

RESOLUTION: This issue may be resolved by verifying that both the share permissions and the NTFS partition permissions are correctly configured for individual user or group access.



"...not available. The server is not configured for transactions"

Symptom: when trying to browse My Network Places, you may receive this message "...not available. Server is not configured for transactions".

Resolution:
1. Use "net share" command on the shared computer to check share status. If there is not a share named "IPC$" in the share list, use "net share ipc$" command to create it.

2. Check your the network administrator if he/she may choose to not share the server's resource.

3. Case Study - Server is not configured for transactions - it may be a virus



"A domain controller for your domain could not be contacted. You have been logged on using cached account information. Changes made to your profile since you last logged on may not be available"

Resolutions:
1. Check the DNS settings and make sure the client points to correct DNS.

2. Make the computer have correct TCP/IP settings and can ping the domain controller.



"Access is denied"

Symptoms:
1. When attempting to create a folder or copy a folder on a network drive, you may receive "Cannot create or replace xxxxx: Access is denied. Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use".

2. When attempting to save a file on a network drive, you may receive "Cannot save or create xxxxx: Access is denied. Make sure the disk you want to save the file on is not full or write-protected or damaged".


Resolutions:
1. go to the properties of the drive>Sharing, add the the user and give Change permission.

2. Make sure everyone has Change permission.



"Access Denied" Message When Opening from or Saving to a Network Folder

Symptom: When opening a network folder in Windows Explorer and then try to open a file from or save a file to that folder, the associated program may report a sharing violation, return an "access denied" message, or open the document as read-only. Typically, this problem occurs when you open a network folder and then double-click to open a Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel file. The document opens as read-only.

Resolution: To fix this problem, go to Windows Explorer, open the network folder that contains the file that you are trying to open or save. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options. Click Use Windows classic folders, and then click OK.



"An extended error has occurred" or "Access Denied"

Symptoms: When mapping a network drive using net use or using the net view command to view a different computer in the domain, you may receive: "An extended error has occurred" or "Access Denied" error messages.

Resolutions:
1) This issue may occur if the workstation doesn't synchronize the time with the server. After verifying that basic network connectivity exists, you can force time synchronization on the client computer manually. To do this, run net time /domain /set command.

2) Make sure you have granted enough licenses for clients accessing.
" computername is not accessible. No permission to access the resources"

If both win2000/XP and win9x can see the workgroup but only win2000/XP can access a win 2000/XP computer, and win9x gets the above error, check the group name. If they are the same name,

Check these:
1) are you sure the logon user has permission to the shared folder?
2) have you tried to logon using the same user name and password of the accessed win2k/XP computer?
3) the last and risky one, if you enable guest account in the accessed win2000/XP computer, can you access now?


Logon unsuccessful: The user name you typed is the same as the user name you logged in with

Cause: it could be the name resolution issue, especially DNS issue.

Logon Message: You do not have access to logon to this session
Symptom: When attempting to logon using the Terminal Services client, you may receive the following error message: "Logon Message: You do not have access to logon to this session".
Resolution: By default, TS connection security setting allows only administrators to log on. To set custom TS connection permissions, go to Terminal Services Configuration>Connections folder. Right-click the connection (RDP-TCP)>Properties>Permissions, add the users or/and groups that needs access to this connection.



More Connections Can Be Made At This Time

Symptoms: When attempting access a shared folder on a remote computer, you may receive this message “No more connections can be made at this remote computer at this time because there are already as many connections as the computer can accept” or “This request is not accepted by the network. Try again later”.

Causes:
1) The share that is configured to allows a specific number of connections, and that number of connections has been reached.
2) The 10 user connection limit has been reached if the remote computer is w2k/XP.
3. If you have Per Server licensing, the license limit has been reached




"Multiple connections to the server or shared resource are not allowed"

Symptom: when attempting to join a domain, you may receive "Multiple connections to the server or shared resource are not allowed. Please disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again."

Resolution: try using net use /d from a command to clear all your mapped connections before joining the domain. You can also disconnect the mapped drive in Windows Explorer by right-click the mapped drive and select disconnection.



"Network path not found" in a domain network 1

SYMPTOMS: When trying to join a W2K/XP to a Windows 2000 domain by using he NetBIOS domain name, you are successful but not the FQDN and you may receive one of the following
error messages:
1) The following error occurred attempting to join domain "example.com": The network location cannot be reached. For information about network troubleshooting, see Windows Help.
2) Network path not found.

RESOLUTION: This issue may occur if the TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Service is not running on the client computer. To start the TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Service, go to MMS>Services, double-click TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Service.


"Network path not found" in a domain network 2

Symptom: some w2k/xp can't join the domain randomly. The DNS server is multihomed server..

Resolution: You can find some computer browser errors on the DNS server. Disable one of two NICs will work. More resolutions can be found in browser Issue page.


"Network path not found" in a workgroup network - error 53

RESOLUTIONS:
1) Make sure that File and Printer Sharing is enabled on on the shared computer.
2) Make sure that shared machine has something shared.
3) Make sure that you have created the same workgroup and logon the same username if you try to access w2k/xp network.
4) Make sure that you have enabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP if this is a mixed OS network.



"Not accessible. You may not have permission to use this network resource"

Symptom: Your WinXP, in a peer-to-peer network, may receive the following error when you double-click My Network Places/Computers Near Me: is not accessible. You may not have permission to use this network resource.

Resolution:
1) Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP on one or more computers in the workgroup. To do that, go to properties of Local Area Connection>properties of Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)>General> Advanced>WINS, check Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP (If you have a DHCP-assigned IP address, select Use NetBIOS setting from the DHCP server ).
2) Make sure the Computer Browser service is started.



"Not enough server storage is available to process this command." error.

SYMPTOMS: When accessing shares on a server from a client, you may receive "Not enough server storage is available to process this command." error. You may receive this message and Event ID: 2011 after you install Norton Antivirus for Windows.

Resolution:
1) The registry value IRPstackSize may be not explicitly present. To increase the value of the parameter, go to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ LanmanServer\Parameters. If the key is not present, choose Add Value in the Registry Editor. The Value Name should be IRPStackSize and the Data Type is REG_DWORD.

2) Remove any unnecessary entries from this value in the registry, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\NullSessionPipes.
3) If the machine has a non-zero PagedPoolSize in the Registry, you need to re-set it by going to HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management and double-click on PagedPoolSize and set to 0.

4) Disable Norton antivirus to see if that will fix the problem.

For consultants, refer to Not enough server storage is available page.



"Not Enough Storage to Complete Operation"

SYMPTOMS: When you try to open the Printers folder, you may receive the following error message "There is not enough storage to complete this operation". This is because the size of the registry has exceeded the maximum size set in the virtual memory settings.

RESOLUTION: Increase the maximum registry size. To do that, go to Start>Control Panel>System>Performance> Change (In Windows 2000, click the Advanced tab, click Performance Options, and then Change). Type a larger value in the Maximum Registry Size box.


"No logon server available"

Symptoms: you can ping the server by ip and name but can't map the shared drive by using net use \\ip or \\servername. If you try, you may receive the "No logon server available".

Resolutions: This sounds like cache credential issue. 1) make sure the computers in the same network, the same workgroup/domain and have created the same username. 2) use net to cache the credential. 3) The user profiles may been damaged.



"No domain server was available to validate your password"

Symptoms: when trying to logon a domain from win9x, you may receive a message "The following error occurred while loading protocol number 0. Error 38: The computer name you specified is already in use..." and then "No domain server was available to validate your password".

Resolution:
1) make no two host name in the network.
2) check WINS and make sure no one host uses two IPs. If it does, delete all of them and reboot the computer.



"No domain server was available..." while the dialup connection is active

Symptom: you have windows 2000 domain controller with DNS, DHCP, WINS and Dialup connection. Whenever the dialup connection is active, none client can't logon and gets a message "No domain server was available to to validate your password. You may not be able to gain access to some network resources"

Resolution: Make sure you don't have "Register this connection's addresses in DNS" checked under TCP/IP Advanced DNS settings. To check this, go to the Properties of the connection> the Properties of the TCP/IP>Advanced>DNS, uncheck "Register this connection's addresses in DNS"



Resource: \\computername\IPC$ - An extended error has occurred

Symptoms: When you attempt to connect to w2k/xp computer over the network, you may receive one of the following error messages: "You must supply a password to make this connection: Resource: \\computername\IPC$" -or- "computername An extended error has occurred"

Resolutions:
1. make sure netlogon service is running.
2. Make sure you have created logon ID and password for remote computer logon.
3. Or enable guest account.


Remote Procedure call terminated unexpectedly - ...NT authority must shut down your computer in 30 seconds."

Symptoms:
1. Your computer reboots every few minutes without user input.
2. The computer become unresponsive.
3. You may receive "Remote Procedure Call terminated unexpectedly" and ...NT authority must shut down your computer in 30 seconds."
4. There is msblasr.exe running on Task Manager


Cause: "W32.Blaster.Worm" or "MSBlast."



RPC Server is Unavailable

Symptoms: When running Replication, Winlogon, Terminal Server, User authentication, enabling trusted relationships, Connecting to domain controllers and trusted domains, you may receive the above error.

Causes:
1. The RPC service may not be started.
2. You are unable to resolve a DNS or NetBIOS name.
3. An RPC channel cannot be established.
4. This issue occurs because the DNS service cannot locate server resources on the domain with which you are trying to establish the trust.

Resolution: Run the Netdiag /debug command on the server in question to check any errors. Also check these articles - .RPC Server is Unavailable



"Spooler Subsystem Application Needs to Close" - "Operation Could Not Be Completed" Error Messages

Causes:
1. Bad printer driver.
2. New MS update conflicts with the printer driver.
3. ICF conflicts with the printer driver.


The system cannot log you on to this domain because the system's computer account in its primary domain is missing or the password on that account is incorrect.

Causes:
1. incorrect password.
2. This behavior may occur if the password for the computer account and the local security authority (LSA) secret are not synchronized.
3. Computer names conflict.



This account is the same as the one logged on to the system and that this account was tried before to logon
There is no domain controller available to validate this account.
There are currently no logon servers available to service the logon request.
Event ID 5719

Symptoms:
1. In client, you may receive Event ID 5719: "No Windows NT or Windows 2000 Domain Controller is available for domain Domain. The following error occurred: There are currently no logon servers available to service the logon request."

2. In DC, you may receive Event ID 5719: "No Windows NT or Windows 2000 Domain Controller is available for domain chicagotech.net. The following error occurred: There are currently no logon servers available to service the logon request.

3. You logon domain user in a domain network, the mapping logon script displays this message: "There is no domain controller available to validate this account."

4. You use a office laptop to connect the office VPN, when you map a network drive using this command line: net use \\chicagotech\shared /u:chicagotech.net/blin, you may receive this message: "This account is the same as the one logged on to the system and that this account was tried before to logon. There is no domain controller available to validate this account"

Causes:
1. The DC is down.
2. Can't access the DC.
3. The DNS issue.
4. Run out of buffer space in the NetBT datagram buffer.



'TCP/IP transport not installed

Causes:
1. TCP/IP is not enabled.
2. Installed too many TCP/IP protocols.
3. Old NIC driver.
4. Winsock issue.


"The computer account already exists"

Symptoms: When joining w2k/xp into a domain, you may receive "The computer account already exists". You may be able to ping the computer account, for example ABC, but ping -a ip address (the same ip of ABC) shows different computer name like XYZ.

Resolution: Go to the DNS ad WINS to find and delete the ABC account and wait for while to re-join the domain.


The network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password

Symptom: If you use the Map Network Drive Wizard to connect to a network share by using different user credentials and you use the browse functionality to locate the network share, you may receive the following error message: The network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password. To connect using a different user name and password, first disconnect any existing mappings to this network share.

Resolutions:
1. Disconnect the existing mapped drive.
2. Apply latest SP.



"The password is incorrect. Try again"

Symptom: While trying to access a win2000/XP computer and type administrator password on Enter Network Password screen in the same peer-to-peer workgroup, you may get Error: The password is incorrect. Try again.

Resolution:
1) You need to setup every user that needs access to the shared folder on every computer they have to connect to. Then give the proper user proper permission to the shared folder.
2) logon the same user and password.
3) as always, you can try to enable a guest account on the accessed machine.



"There are no entries on the list"

Symptom: when using net view \\remotecomputer command, you may receive "There are no entries on the list". And you may have a problem to access the remote computer.

Resolution:
1) If there are no file or print shares on the computer, the net view command displays a "There are no entries in the list" message. So, make sure there are file or print shares on the computer. Or to use net share command to check sharing status.
2) Make sure no firewall running because the firewall may block sharing.
3) Make sure client for ms network is enabled.



"There is not enough memory available to print your document"

If you receive all following message, you may have firewall running on the LAN connection and you should disable it. "computer is not accessible...", "There was an error writing to \\XP computer for printer..." and "There is not enough memory available to print your document. Quit one or more programs and try again. ..."


Transmit failed, error code 65 or 10050

Symptom: When attempting to verify network connectivity with a remote computer by using the Ping.exe command, you may receive a command-line error message similar to the following: Ping: transmit failed, error code 65 or 10050.

Resolutions: This behavior can occur if the following conditions are true: 1) ICS is enabled; 2) a firewall software is running on the computer; 3) The ZoneLabs program is not correctly configured for ICS. To fix the problem: 1) re-configure ZoneAlarm for ICS. 2) Remove the Zone Labs firewall software from the computer.



"Unable to access Computers Near Me" or "Workgroup is not accessible" errors

Symptom: When several Win2000/XP computers are configured as members of a workgroup in a peer-to-peer network environment and you click on Computers Near Me in My Network Places or workgroup name Entire Network, the following error message may appear: "Cannot Access 'Computers Near Me' " or "Workgroup is not accessible" errors.

Resolution:
1) NetBIOS over TCP/IP. To do that, go to the properties of TCP/IP>Advanced>WINS. If you are using a static Internet Protocol (IP) address, click Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP. If you have a DHCP-assigned IP address, click Use NetBIOS setting from the DHCP server.
2) No Master Browser or too many browsers may cause this issue. Check Browser issue.



"Unable to Browse Network"

Symptom: When you attempt to browse your network by opening Entire Network in My Network Places/Network Neighborhood, you may receive the following error message: "Unable to Browse Network."

Check Lists:
1) have you loaded the NIC or is it working?
2) have you loaded common protocol, TCP/IP?
3) does the Computer browser work?
4) have you enable file and printer sharing in the accessed computer?
5) is the workstation service running?



"You may not have permission to use this network resource"

Refer to ... is not accessible

and "Resource: \\\ipc$"

"You must provide a password to make this connection." and "Resource: \\\ipc$"

Whenever you receive "Enter network password. You must provide a password to make this connection." and "Resource: \\\ipc$", it is permission and workgroup issues.

This behavior can occur for any of the following reasons:
1) The Windows 9x computer is not a client of a domain environment but the Log On To Windows Domain option is enabled.

2) The user name and password you are using to log in to the Windows 9x are not contained in the local user accounts database of the Windows NT/2000/XP computer you are attempting to browse.

3) The Windows 9x host is configured with user-level authentication to a domain.

Resolutions: To resolve this issue, use the appropriate method:
1) Disable the Log On To Windows Domain Option.

2) Log on to the Windows 9x with the local user accounts database of the Windows NT/2000/XP computer you are attempting to browse.

3) Disable User-level Authentication on the Windows 9x.
Windows needs your current credentials to ensure network connectivity


"Windows needs your current credentials to ensure network connectivity. Please lock this computer,
then unlock it using your most recent password or smart card. To lock your computer, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE,
and then press Enter."

Cause: you are logging on mutiple computer using the same logon ID and password while changing the password.

Tip: Best Practices for File Sharing in a Workgroup Environment

In a home office or other workgroup environment, best practices for sharing files on Windows Vista computers include the following:

-Enable sharing on your Public folder to share files with other users on the network when all users should have the same level of access to these files. Then drag your files and folders into Public to share them easily.

-Share files from within your user profile when you want to have greater control over who can see and access shared files on the network. Windows Vista’s Access-Based Enumeration technology means that users can see only the shared files for which they have a minimum of Read permission—if they don’t have Read permission, they won’t even know the file is shared.

-If you share files from within your user profile, share them from the appropriate folder: Share documents from within your Documents folder, share music from within your Music folder, and so on.

-If you share a file or folder, e-mail or otherwise communicate the UNC path to your share to network users whom you want to be able to access the share. Otherwise, users will have to browse the network using Windows Explorer to find any new shares present on the network.

-Make sure Network Discovery is turned on for all Windows Vista computers on your network. Network Discovery makes browsing for shared resources faster and more reliable.

-Make sure if you are setting up a work workgroup or a home network that your network type is a private network. This will allow you to enable things such as discovery and sharing on this network, but when you pick up your laptop and take it to a wireless hotspot, the computer will be less exposed, because your network type will switch to the public profile, which won’t have services such as discovery and sharing turned on. Additionally, the Windows Firewall exceptions will apply only to your private network, blocking incoming requests when connected to public networks.

Note:If you don’t want your user profile folder visible from the network, don’t share any files from within your profile. Sharing a file from within your profile automatically causes the %SystemDrive%\Users folder to be shared on the computer, and this means that other users on the network will be able to see your user profile folder on the computer. Of course, they won’t be able to look inside your profile folder unless they somehow have administrator credentials on the computer. But simply knowing the names of profile folders on the computer can give malicious users knowledge that can help them footprint your network, because these folder names correspond to logon names for users either on the computer or on the network.

Tip: Best Practices for File Sharing in a Domain Environment

In an Active Directory environment, best practices for sharing files on Windows Vista computers include the following:

-Turn off Network Discovery in a domain environment, as it can generate excessive network traffic that can interfere with normal network activities.

-Publish shared folders in Active Directory so that users can search for them in the directory and access them instead of having to browse the network to find them.

-Use Group Policy to prevent users on Windows Vista computers from sharing files on their computers from their user profiles unless they are local administrators on their computers. For more information, see the section titled “Managing File Sharing Using Group Policy” earlier in this chapter.

-Allow only advanced users the ability to share folders on their computers by giving them administrative rights on their computers.


Note: Do not make users local administrators on their computers unless you understand the consequences of doing so. One consequence is that they will be able to share folders and open firewall exceptions on their computers. Sharing folders from desktop computers in a domain environment may mean that important documents are being stored on computers instead of on network file servers, and since desktop computers are not normally backed up, this can mean lost work. Educate users to store files instead within shared folders on network file servers where their work can be centrally backed up regularly.

Tip: Track and Analyze System Stability and Reliability with RACAgent

Reliability Monitor gathers and processes data with the Reliability Analysis Component (RAC). The RACAgent is a hidden scheduled task that is automatically configured during system installation. This task is responsible for gathering the reliability data and displaying it in the chart view. The RACAgent task typically runs once every hour and will not wake the computer if it is sleeping. If the computer is a laptop on battery power, RACAgent.exe will immediately exit if the battery capacity is at less than 33 percent.

To view the RACAgent task in Task Scheduler, select RAC within the Task Scheduler library and then right-click and select View – Show Hidden Tasks in the MMC action pane.

If you do not want to track system stability, you can disable the RACAgent task by selecting the Disable option, which is accessible in any of the following ways when the RACAgent task is highlighted in the main MMC pane:

-Via the action menu
-Via the action pane
-Via the shortcut menu for the task

Tip: Troubleshoot Group Policy with GPLogView

GPLogView.exe is a command-line troubleshooting tool that you can use to dump Group Policy–related events logged in the System Event Log channel and the Group Policy Operational Event Log channel. GPLogView.exe works only on Windows Vista; it is not included with Windows Vista but GPLogView.exe is available as a free download. The command-line options for this tool are:

-? Shows this usage message.
-o [output file name] Output filename required for text, xml, or html; not valid if -m is specified.
-n Do not output the activity ID.
-p Dump the process ID and thread ID associated with each event.
-a [activity id guid] Shows only events matching the given activity ID.
-m Runs the tool in monitor mode displaying events in real time.
-x Dumps the event in XML; the only other options allowed with this option are –m and -a but not both together.
-h Dumps the events in HTML format; -m or -x option not allowed, and -a and -n are allowed, but not both together. Also must specify -o option.
-q [Query file name] Uses the query specified by query file.
-l [Publisher name] If -q is specified, the publisher name must be specified.


The following examples illustrate the use of this tool:

GPLogView.exe -o GPEvents.txt
GPLogView.exe -n -o GPEvents.txt
GPLogView.exe -a ea276341-d646-43e0-866c-e7cc35aecc0a -o GPEvents.txt
GPLogView.exe -p -o GPEvents.txt
GPLogView.exe -x -o GPEvents.xml
GPLogView.exe -x -m
GPLogView.exe -x -a ea276341-d646-43e0-866c-e7cc35aecc0a -o GPEvents.xml
GPLogView.exe -h -o GPEvents.html
GPLogView.exe -h -a ea276341-d646-43e0-866c-e7cc35aecc0a -o GPEvents.html
GPLogView.exe -h -q somequeryFile.txt -l Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy -oGPEvents.html

Tip: Manage Volume Shadow Copy Service from the Vssadmin Command-Line

You can manage the Volume Shadow Copy service using the Vssadmin command-line tool from an elevated command prompt. You can use this tool to run the following commands:
Vssadmin List Providers Lists registered Volume Shadow Copy providers. Windows Vista includes Software Shadow Copy Provider 1.0.

Vssadmin List Shadows Lists existing volume shadow copies, the time the shadow copy was created, and its location.

Vssadmin List ShadowStorage Lists the volume shadow storage space currently in use, the space that is reserved for future use (labeled as allocated), and the maximum space that might be dedicated. This space is used to store changes while a shadow copy is active. The following sample output was generated using a computer that currently had about 3GB of files stored in a shadow copy, but that might allocate as much as 6.4GB.

Vssadmin List Volumes Lists volumes that are eligible for shadow copies.
Vssadmin List Writers Lists shadow copy writers, which support communicating with the Volume Shadow Copy service to ensure that files are captured in a consistent state. By default, subscribed writers include an operating system writer, a registry writer, a WMI writer, and a search service writer, among others. SQL Server also provides a Volume Shadow Copy writer.

Vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage Resizes Volume Shadow Copy storage. You can use this command to increase the maximum space that might be used by Volume Shadow Copy. Typically, this is unnecessary. However, if you discover that backups are failing on a computer because of an extremely high volume of changes during a backup, and Vssadmin List ShadowStorage reveals that the used Shadow Copy Storage space is at the maximum, you might be able to resolve the problem by manually increasing the maximum size.

Tip: Remove Unwanted Toolbars and Fix Settings in Internet Explorer

Remove Unwanted Toolbars

Internet Explorer and Windows Vista include several layers of defense to prevent unwanted software from modifying the Internet Explorer configuration. If an unwanted toolbar does appear in Internet Explorer, you can disable it using the Add-on Manager. Sometimes, however, the problem may be more persistent. If the problem persists, start Internet Explorer in No Add-ons mode and then use the Add-on Manager to disable all add-ons that you have not intentionally installed.

In Internet Explorer 7, No Add-ons mode allows Internet Explorer to temporarily run without any toolbars, ActiveX controls, or other add-ons. It is very useful when troubleshooting a problem that might be related to an add-on. To enable Add-ons Disabled mode, follow these steps:

-Open the Start menu and point to All Programs.
-Point to Accessories, click System Tools, and then click Internet Explorer (No Add-ons).
-Note the Information bar display in your browser that indicates add-ons are disabled.


Running Internet Explorer from the standard Start menu shortcut will return the functionality to its prior state.


Fix Unwanted Changes to Settings

If the home page or other settings have changed, you can reset all browser settings except for Favorites, Feed, Internet Connection Settings, Group Policy Settings, and Content Advisor Settings by following these steps:

-Close all windows except for one Internet Explorer window.
-Click Tools and then click Internet Options.
-In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
-Click Reset.
-In the warning box that appears, click Reset.
-Click Close and then click OK twice. Restart Internet Explorer.

To prevent unwanted changes in the future, ensure that you have all Microsoft Security Updates installed and are using anti-malware software, such as Microsoft Forefront or Windows Defender.

Tip: Prevent Users from Deleting Browsing History and Clearing Cookies

Browsers store many traces of the sites users visit, including cached copies of pages and images, passwords, and cookies. To simplify removing these traces, Internet Explorer 7 provides a Delete Browsing History option that allows users to initiate cleanup with one button, easily and instantly erasing personal data.
To delete browsing history, follow these steps:

-In your browser, click Tools and then click Internet Options.

-In the Internet Options dialog box on the General tab, click Delete in the Browsing History group.

-In the Delete Browsing History dialog box, shown in Figure 21-15, delete only the objects you need to remove. Alternatively, you can click Delete All.

You probably knew that already. But did you know you can disable these options?
If you don’t want users to be able to delete their browsing history, form data, or passwords, you can enable the following group policy settings located in both Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer\ and User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer\:

Turn off “Delete Browsing History” Functionality
Turn off “Delete Forms” Functionality
Turn off “Delete Passwords” Functionality

Tip: Manage Scheduled Tasks with the SchTasks.exe Command

An administrator can use the SchTasks.exe command-line utility to create, delete, query, change, run, and end scheduled tasks on a local or remote system through the command shell. The SchTasks.exe command interface uses the following syntax:
schtasks /{parameter} [arguments]

The Command Parameters Are:
/Create Creates a new scheduled task
/DeleteDeletes the scheduled task(s)
/Query Displays all scheduled tasks
/Change Changes the properties of scheduled task
/Run Runs the scheduled task immediately
/End Stops the currently running scheduled task
/? Displays this help message

Tip: Know the Network Troubleshooting Tools in Windows Vista

Windows Vista contains an assortment of utilities you can use to diagnose, monitor, and repair network connections. Here’s an overview of the key tools you’ll find in Windows Vista and what they’re used for.


Get MAC Address (Getmac.exe)
Discovers the Media Access Control (MAC) address, and lists associated network protocols for all network cards in a computer, either locally or across a network.


Hostname (Hostname.exe)
Displays the host name of the current computer.


IP Configuration Utility (Ipconfig.exe)
Displays all current TCP/IP network configuration values, and refreshes DHCP and DNS settings.


Name Server Lookup (Nslookup.exe)
Displays information about Domain Name System records for specific IP addresses and/or host names so that you can troubleshoot DNS problems.


Net services commands (Net.exe)
Performs a broad range of network tasks; type net with no parameters to see a full list of available command-line options.


Netstat (Netstat.exe)
Displays active TCP connections, ports on which the computer is listening, Ethernet statistics, the IP routing table, and IPv4/IPv6 statistics.


Network Command Shell (Netsh.exe)
Displays or modifies the network configuration of a local or remote computer that is currently running; this command-line scripting utility has a huge number of options, which are fully detailed in Help.


PathPing (Pathping.exe)
Combines functions of Traceroute and Ping to identify problems at a router or network link.


TCP/IP NetBIOS Information (Nbtstat.exe)
Displays statistics for NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) protocol, NetBIOS name tables for both the local computer and remote computers, and the NetBIOS name cache.


TCP/IP Ping (Ping.exe)
Verifies IP-level connectivity to another internet address by sending ICMP packets and measuring response time in milliseconds.


TCP/IP Route (Route.exe)
Displays and modifies entries in the local IP routing table.


TCP/IP Traceroute (Tracert.exe)
Determines the path to an internet address and lists the time required to reach each hop; useful for troubleshooting connectivity problems on specific network segments.

Tip: Query and Manage Event Logs with the Windows Events Command Line Utility

The Windows Events Command Line Utility (Wevtutil.exe) lets you retrieve information about event logs and publishers; install and uninstall event manifests; run queries; and export, archive, and clear logs from an elevated command prompt. (The usage for this command is described later in this sidebar.) Note that you can use either the short (ep /uni) or long (enum-publishers /unicode) version of the command and option names, and all commands, options, and option values are case insensitive.

The general syntax for Wevtutil.exe is as follows:
wevtutil command [argument [argument] ...] [/option:value [/option:value] ...]

Here command can be any of the following:
al (archive-log) Archives an exported log.
cl (clear-log) Clears a log.
el (enum-logs) Lists log names.
ep (enum-publishers) Lists event publishers.
epl (export-log) Exports a log.
gl (get-log) Gets log configuration information.
gli (get-log-info) Gets log status information.
gp (get-publisher) Gets publisher configuration information.
im (install-manifest) Installs event publishers and logs from manifest.
qe (query-events) Queries events from a log or log file.
sl (set-log) Modifies configuration of a log.
um (uninstall-manifest) Uninstalls event publishers and logs from manifest.


Common options are as follows:
/r:value (remote) If specified, runs the command on a remote computer named value. Note that im (install-manifest) and um (uninstall-manifest) do not support remote operation.
/u:value (username) Specifies a different user to log on to remote computer. Here value is a user name in the form domain\user or user. This option is only applicable when option /r (remote) is specified.
/p:value (password) Specifies a password for the specified user. If not specified or value is "*", the user will be prompted to enter a password. This option is only applicable when /u (username) option is specified.
/a:value (authentication) Specifies an authentication type for connecting to a remote computer. Value can be Default, Negotiate, Kerberos, or NTLM. The default is Negotiate.
/uni:value (unicode) Displays output in Unicode. Value can be true or false (if true, output is in Unicode).


To learn more about a specific command, type wevtutil command /? at an elevated command prompt.

Tip: Use the Snipping Tool to Capture Screen Shots

You can use Snipping Tool (%SystemRoot%\system32\SnippingTool.exe) to capture a screen shot, or snip, of any object on your screen, and then annotate, save, or share the image. Simply use your mouse (or tablet pen) to capture any of the following types of snips:
Free-form Snip. Draw an irregular line, such as a circle or a triangle, around an object.
Rectangular Snip. Draw a precise line by dragging the cursor around an object to form a rectangle.

Window Snip. Select a window, such as a browser window or dialog box, that you want to capture.

Full-screen Snip. Capture the entire screen when you select this type of snip.

After you capture a snip, it's automatically copied to the mark-up window, where you can annotate, save, or share the snip.

When Snipping Tool is open, a white overlay appears on your screen until you capture a snip. To turn off the overlay, open Snipping Tool, and then click Options. In the Snipping Tool Options dialog box, clear the Show screen overlay when Snipping Tool is active check box, and then click OK.

Tip: Enable Auditing for Security Events on Windows Vista Systems

Windows Vista provides the ability to audit security events by recording attempts to access system resources. No events are written to the Security log until you enable auditing, which you do via Local Security Policy. Even if you set up auditing for files, folders, or printers, those events aren’t recorded unless you also enable auditing in Local Security Policy.
To enable auditing, follow these steps:

1. In the Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, Local Security Policy. Alternatively, you can type secpol.msc at a command prompt, or simply begin typing local security in the Start menu Search box. Give your consent to the User Account Control (UAC) prompt that appears.

2. Expand Local Policies and then click Audit Policy to display the list of activities you can audit.

3. Double-click each policy for which you want to enable auditing, and then select Success, Failure, or both.

Some activities, such as account management and policy change, can provide an audit trail for administrative changes. Others, such as logon events and object access, can help you discover how to better secure your system. Still others, including system events and process tracking, can assist you in locating problems with your system.

Tip: Use the Netsh Command to Manage the Windows Vista Firewall

If you need to make firewall settings repeatedly—on a single computer as conditions change or, perhaps, on a fleet of computers—you’ll find working with Windows Firewall (the Control Panel application) or Windows Firewall With Advanced Security to be a bit cumbersome. The Netsh command, using its Firewall or Advfirewall context, provides an alternative way to view or modify all manner of Windows Firewall settings. For example, you can enable Windows Firewall with this command:

netsh firewall set opmode enable

The Netsh Firewall context can be considered the basic context, where you can find current firewall settings at a high level. It’s roughly comparable to the Windows Firewall application in Control Panel. From the command prompt, you can see the basic configuration by typing:

netsh firewall show config

To see more details about the configuration, use the Advfirewall context—the command-line counterpart to Windows Firewall With Advanced Security. The Advfirewall context contains three subcontexts: Firewall, Consec, and Monitor. The Firewall subcontext can be used to show the rule details for specific (or all) rules or set new values for existing rules. You can also add rules on the fly using this subcontext. The Consec subcontext is used to work with connection security rules on the computer. The Monitor subcontext is used to view and set security associations.

To view all of the rules within Windows Firewall from the command line (be prepared for a lot of output), type:

netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name=all

With dozens of keywords and options, the Netsh Firewall and Netsh Advfirewall commands are quite complex. The best way to learn about the various possibilities is through the help available from the command line. You’ll need to do it in several steps, appending another keyword each time. For example, start by entering netsh firewall ? at a command prompt. This returns a list of each of the keywords that you can put after firewall—Add, Delete, Dump, Help, Reset, Set, and Show—along with a brief description of each. Next you might type netsh firewall set ? to learn about each of the Set options. Then you’d type netsh firewall set opmode ? and so on, until you reach a screen that shows the command syntax and explains all the parameters for the command you’ve entered.

Tip: Enhance Windows Search with the Free Microsoft Filter Pack

The Windows Search service can be enhanced by installing the Microsoft Filter Pack, which provides additional IFilters to support critical search scenarios across multiple Microsoft Search products. The Filter Pack includes the following IFilters:

-Metro (.docx, .docm, .pptx, .pptm, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb)
-Visio (.vdx, .vsd, .vss, .vst, .vdx, .vsx, .vtx)
-OneNote (.one)
-Zip (.zip)

These IFilters are designed to provide enhanced search functionality for the following products: SPS2003, MOSS2007, Search Server 2008, Search Server 2008 Express, WSSv3, Exchange 2007, SQL 2005, SQL 2008, and Windows Desktop Search 3.01.
When you install the Filter Pack (which you can download for free), the IFilters in the preceding list are installed and registered with the Windows Search service. The Filter Pack is available for x86 and x64 versions of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.

Tip: Windows XP Recovery Console Equivalents in Windows Vista

The Recovery Console has been deprecated in Windows Vista, so what happened to all those wonderful commands that were available in recovery console? Well, we were kind of hoping that you wouldn’t need them anymore. But if you do, you’ll be glad to know that most of them are available via the command line in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). The recovery console commands listed in the following table are different or unavailable in WinRE.

Recovery Console Command: BootCfg
WinRE Equivalent: BootRec /ScanOS; BootRec /RebuildBcd; bcdedit

Recovery Console Command: FixBoot
WinRE Equivalent: BootRec /FixBoot

Recovery Console Command: FixMBR
WinRE Equivalent: BootRec /FixMbr

Recovery Console Command: Map
WinRE Equivalent: DiskPart

Recovery Console Command: Logon
WinRE Equivalent: Not needed

Recovery Console Command: LISTSVC; ENABLE; DISABLE; SYSTEMROOT
WinRE Equivalent: Not available

All the remaining commands have the same name in WinRE. You can work around the unavailable services-related commands (listsvc, enable, and disable) by using regedit to manually load the registry hive.

Tip: Burn a Disc Image from an ISO or IMG file in Windows 7

Windows 7 beta 1 introduces a built-in ability to burn discs directly from ISO and IMG files (this used to require a third-party tool). To burn a disc using an ISO or IMG file, simply do the following:

1. Place a blank unformatted CD or DVD into your CD/DVD drive.

2. Right click on the ISO or IMG file you want to use to burn a disc.

3. Click Burn disc image.

4. Next to Disc burner, click on the drop down arrow and select the CD/DVD drive with the blank disc you want to burn to.

5. Check the Verify disc after burning option if you want Windows to verify the disc image after burning the disc. Leave this option unchecked if you want to skip the verification. Note that you should skip verification if you are in a hurry, as this process requires additional time.

When it finishes burning the disc image to disc, click the Close button.

The DVD (or CD) is now ready to be used without your ever having to find, install, and use a third-party tool.

Tip: Pin Files, Folders, and Favorites to the Taskbar in Windows 7 beta 1

If you often open particular files, Web pages, or folder locations, you can give yourself easier access to these commonly used resources by “pinning” them to the Taskbar. Applications can be pinned to the Taskbar, similar to how you could place your favorite applications on the Quick Launch toolbar.

With Windows 7 beta 1, when you drag a file onto the Taskbar, you are given the option to pin the file to its associated application. So if you drag a Word document onto the Taskbar, you get the option to “Pin to Word”. If the application is already pinned to your Taskbar, the file is pinned to it and will appear in the app’s right-click menu. And no worries if the application isn’t already pinned to the Taskbar, that step is done automatically and the file pinned to the app.
You can also drag folders to the Taskbar to pin them to Windows Explorer, as well as Web pages to be pinned to Internet Explorer.

On the topic of the Taskbar, applications that are pinned to the Taskbar automatically have shortcut key combinations assigned to them. To launch the first application located on the left of your Taskbar, simply press Win+1 (where “Win” is the Windows key). Win+2 will activate the second app, Win+3 the third, and so on. (These shortcuts also work in Windows Vista for icons on the Quick Launch toolbar, but it’s worth mentioning here since this is a very convenient trick but not widely known.)

Tip: Shake Windows off Your Desktop

This is a simple, but cool new feature. If you have too much clutter on your desktop and want to minimize everything but the application you’re working in, you can “shake” all the other Windows off your desktop. Shake simply minimizes all the windows leaving only the top window available.


To clear the desktop:

1. Left click and hold on the Title Bar of the window you only want to show on the desktop.
2. Shake the window a bit by quickly dragging it left and right.
3. When the desktop clears, drop.


To restore the desktop:

1. Left click and hold on the Title Bar of the same window.
2. Shake the window a bit by quickly dragging it left and right.
3. When the minimized windows return to the desktop, drop (release the left click) the window.

Tip: Shrink and Simplify OS Images with Dynamic Driver Provisioning

With Dynamic Driver Provisioning in Windows 7, IT professionals can reduce the size of their images and reduce the number of images they maintain. And IT pros don’t need to update images when they introduce new hardware into their environment. By storing drivers centrally on deployment servers, separate from images, IT professional can install drivers dynamically or assign sets of drivers based on information contained in the BIOS.

If they choose to install drivers dynamically, Windows 7 enumerates Plug and Play devices during installation. Then, it chooses drivers based on the Plug and Play IDs of the actual devices on the PC.

Reducing the number of drivers on individual PCs reduces the number of potential driver conflicts. This ultimately streamlines installation and setup times, as well as improves the reliability of the PC.

For more of Dynamic Driver Provisioning, check out the Deployment Image Servicing and Management screencast available on the TechNet Springboard Series site.

Tip: Easier Troubleshooting Support with Problem Step Recorder

Troubleshooting errors for a remote user can be very difficult since you can’t actually see what’s happening on the remote system. Often it comes down to a user saying he didn’t click a button, open a program, close a program, or so on. The new Problem Steps Recorder (PSR.exe) allows you to see exactly what’s going on, documenting every action that takes place on the system experiencing problems.

The Problem Steps Recorder tool is a simple screen capture utility that grabs screenshots whenever a mouse move or click is made and documents all the data into a zipped MHTML report page that can be sent off directly to the help desk. Every step of the user’s actions is logged complete with a screenshot with the item highlighted, and it even allows the user to provide commentary on specific details.

To launch the Problem Steps Recorder, just go to START and type PSR.exe and your off and running.

Tip: New User State Migration Toolkit (USMT) Features for Windows 7

Hard-Link Migration Store: The new hard-link migration store is for use in computer-refresh scenarios only. Hard-link migration stores are stored locally on the computer that is being refreshed and can migrate user accounts, files, and settings in less time using megabytes of disk space instead of gigabytes.

Running ScanState on Offline Windows Images: You can run the ScanState command in Microsoft Windows PE. In addition, USMT now supports migration from previous installations of Windows contained in Windows.old directories. The offline directory can be a Windows directory when you run the ScanState command in Windows PE or Windows.old when you run the ScanState command in Windows .

Volume Shadow Copy Support: With the /vsc command line option, the ScanState command can now use the volume shadow copy service to capture files that are locked for editing by other applications.

New AES Encryption Options: USMT now provides support for stronger encryption algorithms in several key size options, based on support in the source computer’s operating system.

Configurable File Errors: You can use the new section in the Config.xml file to configure which file or registry read/write errors can be safely ignored by the /c command-line option and which ones might cause the migration to fail. In addition, the /genconfig option now generates a sample section that is enabled by specifying error codes and desired behaviors in the Config.xml file.

New Helper Functions: The ScanState command has two new helper functions that enable new migration scenarios:

-MigXmlHelper.FileProperties can be used to control which files are migrated, based on properties that you specify. For example, date created, date modified, date accessed, and file size.

-MigXmlHelper.GenerateDocPatterns can be used to find user documents on a computer automatically without your having to author extensive custom migration .xml files.

Improved Space Estimation: The ScanState command now more accurately estimates the size of the migration store as well as the additional temporary disk space required to create the migration store. This results in a reduction of migration failures due to low disk space. The ScanState command now also estimates the size of the compressed migration store.

List of Files Being Migrated: You can use the /listfiles command-line option for the ScanState command to generate a text file list of all files included in the migration.

Usmtutils.exe: This is a new tool that supplements the functionality provided by Scanstate.exe and Loadstate.exe.

Local Group Migration: You can use the new section in the Config.xml file to configure local group membership of users during the migration. For instance, you could use this to change users from being members of the local administrators group to being members of the local users group during a migration.

Tip: Work Faster with New Hotkey Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 7 beta 1

Windows 7 beta 1 includes some handy new shortcut key combinations that allow you to navigate and manage the Windows workspace more efficiently. Here are 10 new Windows 7 shortcuts that will help you speed up your workflow (“Win” means the Windows Key):
Win+Home: Clear all but the active window
Win+Space: All windows become transparent so you can see through to the desktop
Win+Up arrow: Maximize the active window
Win+Down arrow: Minimize the active window or restore the window if it's maximized
Win+Left/Right arrows: Dock the active window to each side of the monitor
Win+Shift+Left/Right arrows: If you've got dual monitors, this will move the active window to the adjacent monitor
Win+T: Shift focus to and scroll through items on the taskbar
Win+P: Adjust presentation settings for your display
Win+(+/-): Zoom in/out
Shift+Click a taskbar item: Open a new instance of that particular application

Tip provided by Stephen Rose, the Senior Community Manager for the TechNet Springboard Series. Stephen supports Windows Client IT Pros (for Windows Vista and Windows 7) worldwide. He is an MCSE, MCT, and two time MVP in Setup and Deployment.

5 Tips To Avoid Eye Strain Caused By Computers

Do you suffer from headaches, blurred vision, and dry, burning eyes at the end of the day? If so, you are probably suffering from eyestrain. Spending the workday looking at a video terminal or laptop computer has turned eyestrain into a national epidemic.

Eye muscles, like any other muscle, needs to be used on a regular basis to perform at optimum levels. When you only focus on close objects, like a computer screen, the muscles that are used to focus on medium and far objects tend to get lazy. Once the workday is over, and we want to see what is happening beyond the computer screen, these muscles are slow to respond. This results in blurry vision, headaches, and a variety of other vision problems.

Here are five tips you can start using right now to prevent eyestrain caused by your computer screen.

1. Make sure your workspace is well lit. Don't have bright lights glaring from surfaces in your office, and be sure you have enough light to let you see clearly.

2. Try to arrange your workspace so that you can periodically look beyond the computer screen to the opposite side of the room.

3. Make sure that your office lights don't glare directly onto the computer screen. You shouldn't have to wear sunglasses to see the screen.

4. Studies have shown that when people are working on the computer, they blink less often, and tend to keep their eyes open a bit wider that usual. This promotes dry eyes, and results in gritty sensations in the eye. Try to remember to blink often to keep your eyes well hydrated.

5. Every half an hour, give your eyes a break, and exercise them. There are many great eye exercises available to help you avoid computer eyestrain, and protect and strengthen your vision. Here is one you can try, although maybe not at the office. Get a softball or soccer ball, and write letters and numbers of various sizes on it. Hang it from the ceiling on a string, making sure that the surrounding area is clear. Give the ball a push in any direction. As it swings, call out the letters and numbers that you see. This exercise lets you use all of your eye muscles, and helps them to work together in a coordinated way.

6 Tips For Saving Money On Your Next Computer Purchase

Buying a Computer does not need to be a budget breaker. A Computer purchase often includes additional components and software that are not needed and can be avoided...if you are well prepared with the correct information.

To help, the following tips can be used to save money on your next Computer purchase:

Tip #1 - Take a look at your Computer case. If it is not a name brand Computer more than likely the case is expandable and can be reused. Cases can cost anywhere from $25 to $100. If you have a mid tower case, check how many bays are available for CD/DVD drives, and other peripherals, Are the USB and audio ports in the front?

Cases are often an over-looked item that usually can be used over and over again.

Tip #2 - Monitor Keyboard and Mouse - Just because you are purchasing a new Computer does not mean the keyboard and mouse need to be replaced. An Optical mouse last longer than the ball style mouse. The same principal applies to keyboards, unless you are a heavy Computer user and the keys are worn and do not respond, you probably don't need a new keyboard.

Monitors may need to be replayed if want to upgrade to a larger screen size. If you are happy with your monitor and are having no problems with it, you are better of keeping it a little longer until you can afford a new Monitor.

Tip #3 - Software License - Many people forget when purchasing a new Computer the cost of the Operating System license is included in the price. If the new Computer has the same OS installed, don't pay for another license.

The same applies for other software such as Microsoft Office. Unless you want to upgrade to another OS or Office version, save your money. Significant savings can be realized by not purchasing un-needed software license costs.

Tip #4 - Consider No Name Brand - While Dell, Hp and Sony are some of the big names with Computers, the reality is that most Computers originate from the same area in Asia, specifically laptops. Consider shopping for lesser name brands, or visiting your local Computer repair store.

Unknown brand names such as Acer, are usually cheaper, yet inside the case or laptop, the parts are the same. Computer repair stores allows for customization, so you can tailor to your need, not by what is on the shelf allowing for more savings.

Tip #5 - Warranty - With Technology advancing, what seems like the speed of sound, the life span of Computers tend to run about three to five years. Its not that the hardware starts to fail, but advancements in Software requires more processing power and increased memory requirements.

Consider the length and type of warranty at time of purchase. Also consider the warranty that comes with the Computer. It may be possible that purchasing an extended warranty may not be needed for a desktop, but may be needed for laptops.

Tip #6 - Labor costs - Adding or upgrading involves labor which amounts to additional costs. If you are somewhat technical or handy, consider installing any additional components yourself. There are lots of how - to tutorials on the Internet, with video that detail many types of installations.

As always with making a big purchase, research and shop around for prices. Understanding what your price range is will keep you from overspending, while becoming knowledgeable about what you are buying, will keep the salesman commissions from emptying your wallet!

Fix Up That Slow Computer - 5 Useful Tips for Speeding Up that Slow Computer!

Everybody knows the feeling of a computer on its last legs. Everything runs painfully slow, and with every click you pray that it won't crash. Popups riddle your computer, and you wish all of the troubles would just go away. With this short guide, I will give you 5 super-useful tips that will definitely speed up your computer, and make you believe that it is brand new.

1.Zap your spyware! Statistics show that almost all computers are infected with various forms of adware and spyware. There are programs out there, some free and some paid, that will scan and remove all traces of spy/adware that it can find. There are two free ones that I recommend, Adaware and Spybot. If you run these two and delete everything, you will definitely notice a difference, but they will not get everything. Personally, I run Adaware, Spybot, and XoftSpySE. It is very affordable, and I find when I use all three, each one finds stuff that the others do not, so its a great combination. The $30 certainly beats having to buy a new computer! Each of these programs are pretty self-explanatory, simply run each an delete everything that it finds, and you'll find your computer running a lot smoother.

2.Install anti-virus software and a firewall, run them, and keep them up-to-date! Its amazing the number of people who do not do this, and it really puts their computer in jeopardy. I remember a statistic that a Windows PC connected to the internet without a firewall usually becomes infected within 20 minutes. Don't be a statistic, its very easy to do, just keep your anti-virus and firewall software up-to-date. For anti-virus and firewall software, I use McAfee. If you are a Comcast high speed internet subscriber, you should be able to get these for free from Comcast.net. Otherwise, you could go to a local computer store or go to McAfee.com. Other popular anti-virus/firewall suites include Norton, and Trend Micro Internet Security. Personally, I used to use Trend Micro and had no complaints, but switched to McAfee through Comcast and have no complaints about them either. Steer clear of shady so-called anti-virus programs, however, as you don't want to find a virus-infested "anti-virus" program.

3.Defrag your hard drive! Everytime you use your hard drive (basically whenever you're using your computer!) files are getting all scattered about on your hard drive, which slows down the time it takes a file to open because it takes longer for your computer to find it. Windows has a built-in utility to do this, which can be found by going to My Computer, right clicking on the icon for your hard drive, going to Properties, clicking on the Tools tab, and then clicking on Defragment. This process will clean up your hard drive, by rearranging file storage and allowing files to be found more quickly. This can take a few hours, so you should run it overnight or before you leave for work, and it is suggested that you run it once per month.

4.Clean and optimize your registry! The registry is a very important part of a Windows computer, where essential system information is stored. Whenever you install a program, information is most likely added to the registry. When you uninstall a program, all of the information isn't usually removed. Spyware, adware, and other unwanted programs can also infect your registry. This is the main cause of error messages, blue screen errors, overall slowness, and even crashes. There is a very neat program called Registry Fix, which scans your registry for errors and repairs them. They offer a free trial that will just scan it for you and tell you what the problems are, and then for $37 you can purchase it and actually fix the errors. It it finds any errors, which is most cases will be in the hundreds, I would definitely recommend purchasing it, as the effect will definitely be visible. This is a awesome little program.

5.Restrict what starts on startup! Does your computer start up very slowly? That is because you have lots of programs that start up whenever your computer starts up, most of which you probably don't want to, possibly even spyware and adware. Click on Start, then Run, and type "msconfig" (without the quotes" into the box, and press enter. Now, click on the startup tab. The only absolutely essential programs are: ScanRegistry, TaskMonitor, SystemTray, LoadPowerProfile, and your anti-virus and firewall software. There are other programs that you may want, so if there is anything that you aren't sure about, then type its name into Google. There are many websites that have a database of almost every task imaginable, and they will tell you what the program is, and whether you need it or not. After this, you will notice a very visible improvement next time you startup your PC. On a slightly related note, go to your Control Panel, click Add/Remove Programs, and uninstall anything that you need. You'd be amazed at how many programs you have that you never use, or could easily do without, that will free up disk space and improve computer performance.

Those are the 5 tips that are essential to maintaining a healthy, speedy computer. None of the things are things that you should only do once, you should repeat them on a continual basis. Create some sort of schedule, maybe setting aside an afternoon every month to go through everything, and I guarantee that your computer will benefit. Maintaining a healthy computer sure beats the hell out of having to buy a new one!

Top Tips For Computer Accessories

If you have a desktop computer, you need a lot of things to get the most of your experience. There are a lot of desktop computer accessories that you need in order to hear, see, and do all of the things that computers are now designed to do. In some cases, you may get most of these items with your computer, but if you don't, you need to know what to get and where to get it. You also have to make sure you know what you are buying is going to work with the computer you have.

When you buy a new computer, make sure you ask what desktop computer accessories will come with your new toy. At the very least, you should get speakers and a printer with it, and if you want to add extras, they may charge you for it. For the most part, however, they want to make a sale, and may throw things in just to get you to buy from them, though this is not always the case. Make sure they tell you all about the desktop computer accessories that they are sending to you, and make sure you ask if they are the most up to date ones you can get.

If you find that you need to buy some desktop computer accessories on your own, you can go through the manufacturer of your computer to make sure the ones you are buying will be compatible. This may also allow you to get a better price than by going through the retail stores. You can also find desktop computer accessories by looking online, but make sure you know what you are looking at as your browse. Some manufacturers make accessories that will only go with their own product lines while other try to make universal items that will go with any computer.

Remember to be careful when you install your desktop computer accessories. Most of them come with software that you need to install in order for the item to work with your computer and it's software. When you plug something new into your computer, the computer should find and install any software it needs. If it does not, you may have a problem on your hands, and you may have to call the manufacturer of the desktop computer accessories you purchased to ask them for help. If they cannot help you, you may have to call your computer maker's technical help line.

5 Super Tips To Improve Your Computer Performance

Sometimes your computer is running slow. Actually this is happening because of several reasons. Below are some of the reasons and tips on how to improve your computer performance.

1. Spyware, Malware and Adware

This is one of the reasons why your computer is running slow. When you install suspicious software, these things will also install in the background without you knowing it. Some of these things can be removed when you removed the software that comes with it.

However, there are softwares that remove spywares. Such as Spybot Search and Destroy. You can get this software for free.

Using only one type of spyware removal is not very effective. If you want your computer to be secure and free from spyware,use two software or more.

Windows defender is a good option too. Use windows explorer to monitor your currently running programs.

2. Registry

Another reason why you computer is slow is because your computer registry is not stable and need to be clean. To do that, you need a registry cleaner software. There are many registry cleaner available for free. I recommend you guys to use RegSeeker

3. Uninstall The Softwares That You Do Not Need

You can improve your computer performance by uninstalling the software that you do not need.

Free software can be found anywhere in the internet. However,some of these free software also come with some string attached like spyware and adware. So, be careful when installing FREE softwares.

4. Get Rid of Your Temporary Files

You can delete all your temporary files from your computer by running the disk cleanup tool. Or you can delete all the files in your 'temp' folder. Do not delete the folder. If you cannot find it, you can go to My Computer->Local disk(where you stored your windows OS)->Documents and settings->your username->Local Settings. Sometimes, this folder is hidden, adjust your folder setting so you can see this file.

5. Adjust for Best Performance

You can adjust your computer so it can run for best performance. However,the appearance will not be very good. If you are running windows XP, you can do this by going to control panel->system-> advanced->performance setting->adjust for best performance.