Fix Computer Problems Guide

Use Email Responsibly: A couple of years back, a business associate came to me with a deal he and a friend were working on. They wanted my help in setting them up with an online web server or a web host who would let them send out unlimited “unsolicited emails” to a list of small businesses they had just bought.

Seemed their current ISP had frozen their account and then banned them. Both were complaining about how unfair the local ISP was being. The friend told me until they got shutdown that she had been making over a $1000 a week from people ordering their print services.

Now the print service was legit. They were a local printing company that would accept orders from over the net and then submit odd-job lots to a local printer who would run them on the cheap and drop-ship them to the customer.

The printer kept his presses and print crews busy, my associate and friend made a nice commission, and the customers got a nice stack of affordable business cards and letterhead. I told them, no thanks.

So what was the problem? IT was spam. It was spam then and it is spam now.

Any direct marketer can tell you it is very, very hard to get people to open up “junk”; I mean direct mail any more. Why do you think Publisher’s Clearinghouse spends millions on contests, celeb endorsements and television commercials?

Why to get you to open their envelope when it comes to your mailbox, of course. Currently, over 40% of all emails delivered in the US are spam. Forty percent! For some people it may have reached over 50% or more. With that kind of volume it’s becoming increasing tempting for your clients/customers/associates to just select all and hit DELETE.

There are legitimate ways to use email for marketing and customer service. Take the time to learn them. Why risk long-term earnings and reputation for just a few extra bucks?

So what happened to my associate? To the best of my knowledge, they finally found somebody who would let them run their spam list through their server. But after a couple of months, I noticed that his business had closed down.

Rumor had it several folks had noticed some shady deals he was involved in and wouldn’t work with him anymore. Hmm…

Stop falling for the “We Holding Your Money in Dubai” scams and other Phishing Stories: Nope. You have not won the lottery. You do not have a large sum of cash sitting and waiting for you in a bank in Dubai, Nigeria, Kenya or LA (Lower Asheville, NC).

Nope, no, nein, non, no way, it ain’t your luck day. Give it up already and stop clicking on these internet frauds. They are just neat ways crooks have to capturing selling your identity information to other spammers and credit card forgers.

Got an email from your bank, PayPal, eBay, Amazon, or some Federal Credit Union Association, lately? Unless you have initiated contact with these organizations, (you asked them to contact you) don’t click on the hyperlink in the email. It is a scam. Sam’s Club is not giving you a free gift certificate (even after all the money you spend in there).

Fake or spoofed emails from reputable companies is called “Phishing”. Pronounced, “fishing” like you reel them in. Some phishing emails are good, very, very good. And why not, since spammers pay some very good programmers top dollar for their work.

For them bilking you out of money, credit card info and identity is a full time job. You can move your mouse over your email and right-click on the link and view properties. You will notice that the link to www.paypal.com really is something that looks like this “http://186.126.1.2./%23%232%243″.

The interesting thing about email fraud, it’s the only crime where you decide whether or not to become a victim. What’s your best defense? The same as always: If it sounds (or in this case looks) too good to be true…

Don’t Just Let Anyone Use Your Business Email Addresses: Control who can use your email accounts. People love to say, “But I don’t have any employees, it just me and my spouse who run the business.”

Sure but you let your sister-in-law (the little witch) use your computer last weekend. And your brother, Bubba who is still looking for work use it for place resumes on a job forums; and your cousin Jack , when he dropped by on the way to visiting the family last month. And, of course your kids, and all their friends.

Just you and the spouse, huh? See what I mean. Password protect all your business accounts. Look in the help file for your email reader if you are not sure. Snoops be they be causal shoulder-over-lookers or determined diggers will open your private stuff if given the means and the access.

Remember the rule of thumb from step 2. Now you should add a new one: if the information contacted in your emails were to become generally known would it negatively affect your business or your family?

To paraphrase an old an War World 2 slogan, “Loose lips, sink more than ships!”

Set Aside an Email Address For Online Use: Create and use an email address just to use online when you sign up for email lists, chat rooms, websites and online registrations, etc. Keep your other email addresses for direct-to-direct contact with customers and business associates.

Yes, everyone says they will respect your privacy, and everyone says they will not sell your information…so how did my spam address, “spam(at)mydomain.com” get out so quickly…?

Hmmm? Try not register or sign up for every “special report” or white paper you see online. Free can sometimes have a price tag paid with spam.

Learn How To Control Your Email Filter: Unless your email is going through one of the big boys like AOL, a broadband ISP or an online service Yahoo! or Google, your messages are going to a private email box from your ISP or through your website.

That means “you” are in control of how many email addresses you can create and the email filters that they pass through. Get comfortable with your email filter.

I’m sure your ISP or website hosting service has reams of documentation and will gladly spend time explaining how to set and monitor any email filters you have. Spam costs them lots more in lost money and business than it does you!

Learn how to adjust your “spam” indicator on your filter and monitor for a few days. Do you get more or less spam? Does it eliminate most of the silly stuff but let in the “hard core” junk? Play around with it to see.

Make sure and “whitelist” (preset it “OK” for delivery) the email addresses from all your professional lists, associates, family and friends you trust (leave off the “forwarder”).

Now set your email filter to dump all suspected spam into a bulk or “holding tank” email account (that you will check for good items at least once a week!) or you can just take the chance and have it delete all spam emails.

DON’T forward or bounce spam emails from your ISP/Web Host accounts to another system (from your website to your AOL account). You will get a “nasty-gram” from them offering to either help you or freeze your account! Not a good idea.

Stop Chain mail, Bad Jokes and E-Mail Hoaxes: Now about off-color jokes, chain e-mails and hoaxes. I got two words for you: STOP IT!

Sexually explicit messages, racist jokes, goofy virus warnings and hoaxes or any hate-filled e-mails have damaged reputations; gotten people fired and even arrested. As a small business owner, you will often have a “public” email address and a “private” one.

You or your friends and family will eventually get them confused. Instead of trying to remember which email you need to forward the “Hot Bod of the Day” out on, just stop it and don’t send it at all.

Here’s a good rule of thumb; if it would embarrass you if someone other than the intended recipient read your message, don’t send it. People will and have “forwarded” along the most private and explicit of emails to other people. Why take a chance?

For example, there was a young business executive who sent an email to her then boyfriend detailing their latest sex-capdes with pictures…he in turned forwarded it to his two “best” friends on the shush-shush (who worked at the same world famous law firm he did it).

Somehow, it ended up in the international news channels via the internet (not the pictures; just the story!). If I recall correctly, she got fired and he got severely reprimanded. And, no it wasn’t fair…see what I mean.

Just stop it. Psss! Pass that one on to five friends and get a free dinner for two!

Don’t Display Your Email Address in Public: Don’t put any company email addresses in public. Not on a webpage, not inside the code of a unsecured web form, not in the About Us, Contact Us or Privacy or Policy pages.

Okay….so can my clients and customers reach me? Create an email page like this: EMAIL - Please email me using this address: Myname(at)mydomain.com. Please include the words “All Clear” or “Reese2007″, etc. typed exactly as shown somewhere in the subject line! Due to spam, I will not respond to any messages without the above password!

Link this page to all the places where your email address would normally appear. If people want to contact you, they will understand and take the needed steps to reach you.

You can set your email filters to release or “whitelist” any message that comes through with your chosen password in the subject line.

Like those other famous siblings the Hilton sisters, (Paris and Nicky), Spam and Email are both in the headlines a lot.

Email is one the primary workhorses of modern communications. Email has made business-to-business communications fast, scalable, and extremely cost-effective. Without email, millions of dollars in data and deals would just simply not be possible.

However, its evil sister Spam (unsolicited messages) is drowning the business world in a constant flood of drunken digital debauchery costing US organizations an estimated $10 billion dollars in lost revenue and shadow costs (hidden expenses) to combat it.

As a result most business people are starting to take a closer look at the email they receive as well at the messages they send out. It used to be that email etiquette mainly consisted of not using profanity, learning all the latest “:) smileys and “NOT WRITING IN ALL CAPS”. But now people’s reputation and careers have been tarnished and sidetracked due to what was deemed inappropriate emails.

So what can you, a small operation do to protect your business? Follow these eight tips to lessen the impact spam and bad email has on your company.

Beware The Unknown Attachment: If you didn’t ask for it and you are not expecting it, “DON’T OPEN IT”. So what if your kid is “always” sending you pictures or cute little things they find on the internet.

“DON’T OPEN IT”.

Email them back and ask if they sent something to you. And most importantly ask where they got it from! Everyone knows the “forwarder”, they just “looove” to laugh and click the “forward” button on their email so you can share a laugh with them.

Be careful of what they send to you! They are the primary movers of the “dancing baby, hopping skeleton, bowling Santa and Bonzi Buddy Bear” and whatever else is the newest spyware and virus bomb. Whatever is cool or cute, the forwarder will find it and pass it on to you. Along with the latest Trojan downloader and the porn popups that are sure to come with it.

“DON’T OPEN IT”, enough said.

Now you can “fix” all of the above problems by buying after-market parts like keyboards, mice and monitors but you did get this thing to be mobile, right?

Laptop replacement parts for the average “do-it-yourself” Joe are expensive, hard to come by and tough to work with. Trust me on this one. Imagine lots of itty-bitty screws and tiny plastic parts and that’s just opening the case.

Since you aren’t an authorized dealer, you will spend hours online or on the phone tracking down spec sheets, part numbers and used/new laptop components. The word “labor-intensive” is not applied lightly.

You get the picture. All those things could be easily modified or changed on a regular old desktop with a quick trip to your local electronic superstore.

And I won’t go in the short battery-life (which are never covered in the warranty and cost almost as much as a used laptop of the same age); “lug damage” (oops, I dropped my laptop and it can’t get up) and overheating issues some laptops have; this article is just too short for that.

So, Now What?

Unless you have to have one for work or study, I would say why spend the cash? For the same amount of moo-la it would take to get an average laptop, you could have a superior new desktop or even two older “legacy” machines you can network together (you know the ones, just one or three years old).

But what you say?

You say you have a fantasy of yourself answering emails while sitting in bed, or working while lounging in the garden?

Forget about it. Part of the small business mindset is learning to conserve your money for those important technology functions, which push your business to greater productivity (i.e. profits), not just getting a cool new toy or gadget to impress your pals.

But if you just have gotta have one, make sure you toady up the extra cash for a minimum 3 year warranty. Having a long term support contract is essential with a laptop purchase.

Should You Buy a Desktop or a Laptop?

So why would I compare a car manufacturer to an appliance maker? And what the heck does any of that have to do with your computer?

When people ask me to either upgrade or repair their laptop for them; I usually tell them to take it to an authorized dealer, wait 1 to 3 weeks and be prepared to take out a second mortgage. I’m just kidding, but only a just a little bit.

Of course you can replace parts in a laptop like you can any other PC, but the point I’m trying to make is that desktops and laptops are fundamentally different.

Ok, smarty-pants, we both know that laptops were designed to be the ultimate, portable computing tool for road warriors, students on the go and other users who desire mobility (i.e. surfing the web from bed or paying the bills from the kitchen table). While desktops, on the other hand were designed to be the stay-at-home workhorses.

Desktop computers (either a true “desktop” model or a floor-based “tower”) are designed like automobiles in that they can be easily modified or upgraded with standard after-market parts. This is called “open-source architecture” since any hardware producer using standard sizes and configurations; can sell their components to the public (and to PC vendors) and be assured that it will fit inside most industry standard computers.

Laptops, on the other hand, are designed to be more like a household appliance. Sure, you can upgrade a laptop but all the parts are extremely proprietary and custom made for that laptop manufacturer to fit inside that specific model.

With the exception of the memory (RAM) and the hard drive (which is smaller than a typical desktop hard disk), often the only other “standardized” items are the connector ports on the back and sides for phone/network jacks, mice, USBs or printers.

Everything else, from the keyboard, pointer device or glide pad and LCD screen not to mention all that other nifty internal stuff is designed to either be smaller or lighter weight than the norm. In addition, laptops use “molded” high impact plastic cases that don’t contain any easy, user-friendly way to open or modify things.

Like refrigerator manufacturers, laptop producers really don’t want you monkeying around inside their products. Everything is more or less designed to function within that single unit and to run “as-is” for its lifetime. What you buy is pretty much, what you get.

Don’t like your laptop’s size or style? Buy a new laptop!

Is the screen too small? Buy a new laptop!

Is the keyboard awkward and you can’t type using those tiny, little keys? Buy a new laptop!

Can’t get the hang of a glide point? Buy a new laptop…

Check out part two for the rest of the story…

Now that you have determined that this website is right for you we can move on.

How this Website Works

One of the hardest parts of repairing computers is learning where to begin. Non-technical people get all tangled up in the “hardware vs. software” thing and waste hours searching online trying to piece together odd-n-end bits of information and figure out went wrong with their machine.

And then more importantly, waste their hard-earned bucks on junk, when they do finally know which part has gone bad.

To eliminate this merry-go-round of misinformation, wasted money and lost hours, the meat of this website has been broken down into sections.  I will go over each section in detail and explain how it can help you with your computer issues.

Computer Components
Under the Hood - The Ten “Moving” Parts: An illustrated summary of the main components inside a standard computer, their names and what they do.

Computer Processes
What Happens When You Start’er Up? - The Power-On-Self-Test (POST): explains in plain English the processes that a computer must complete before it becomes ready for use. This section also explains some the error codes and messages your computer sends to you when something goes wrong.

Computer Troubleshooting Made Easy
You don’t have to be smart or take lots of time to learn how to quickly determine which part of a computer is causing a problem.

A Growing Library of Free Computer Problem Tips and How-To Articles

Now the next area you should visit is my general computer problem solving or “Free Tips” section. These are basically my free gifts to you. 

Here I share with you all the knowledge and experience I have collected in my 18+ years of messing with and working on personal computers. You will get solid, practical instruction on personal technology via my articles, video tutorials (coming soon) and tech tip cheatsheets.

Take time to read the ones that interest you now and bookmark the rest, so you can come back and browse later when you need to.

Specific Repair Mini-Guides
Theses are my growing library of “how-to-do-it-right” mini guides. Each mini guide is designed to solve one special set of problems and nothing else. Every guide is crammed full of “by-the-numbers” detailed instructions and full color illustrations for those tricky bits words just can’t describe properly.

Have you ever had any of these problems?

You have a strange problem with your hard drive…

You are not sure what is wrong but when you boot up your hard drive simply takes forever to bring Windows up. You keep hearing funny sounds but you don’t know what to do.

Your computer is so slow…

The darn thing is running slower than molasses in Alaska. Every time you boot up it seems to take forever and it keeps getting worst. Now you are getting Window “Blue Screen of Deaths” error messages.

Your computer will not turn on…

It was acting funny yesterday but you just didn’t have time to fool with it but now the darn time won’t even turn on.

Your computer is full of viruses and spyware…

You have “porn-pops” every time you go online now and you notice that files keep disappearing. You have done everything the “gamer guy” at work told you to do but things keep getting worst.

Your computer keeps restarting…

You just simply cut if off because it would work for a little while then just cut off and restart all by itself…over and over again.

If you have had any problem similar to these then I can help you. You are here because your computer is about to drive your crazy. You are sick and tired of dealing with computer headaches. You just want to find a way to fix the issues and get things back to normal. Everyone says you should take your machine into the computer shop but times are hard right now and you just don’t have that kind of cash anymore.

But “Damnit Jim”, you’re an ordinary person, not a computer guy! So what should you do?

What the computer repair guy doesn’t want you to know is…

You don’t have to be a certified support tech to repair your home computer. In fact, it’s fairly simple to learn how to fix common PC problems yourself and save money.

Hey, basic computer maintenance and repair isn’t rocket science. I know, I have been messing around with computers for over 18 years now and my friends can tell you, I’m not all that smart!

Anyone with a decent set of hand tools, some technical know-how (which you will pick up if you keep reading this website) and an hour or two; can learn to troubleshoot and repair their Windows-based PC.

Fix Computer Problems Guide was developed to help non-technical people to learn how-to:

• Find out what is really wrong with their computers
• Decide if they want to fix or repair the problem themselves
• Gain the technical information they need to made the proper repairs quickly
• And locate affordable computer hardware and software they may need

In order to get the most out of Fix Computer Problems Guide, you should:

Be comfortable with Windows-based computers While I have taken every effort to make sure this website is as simple and straight forward as I can, this is NOT a beginner’s resource. If all you can really do is check your email then this is not the place for you. Sorry. But if you consider yourself to be an “intermediate” computer user and enjoy learning new things we can work together.

Be capable of installing software programs A good many of the how-to articles on this site involve downloading, installing and running hardware utilities or other diagnostic programs. If you have installed as least one or two programs on your own then you can easily learn how to use the utility programs I recommend.

Be willing to open your computer case! Yes, often the hardware mini-guides do require that you pop the case on your computer. If just the idea of working inside your computer makes you queasy then you are better off taking your computer to a repair shop. But if you can use a screwdriver, and are not afraid of taking an up a challenge, then I can show you how to fix your own computer and save you some money.

While this is not an advanced, for “geeks-only” website by no means, Fix Computer Problems Guide is designed to be a how-to resource for intermediate or “power” computer users.

Now if you haven’t been frightened off, I invite you to explore this website and learn how to fix common computer problems the simple and easy way. Click on “Getting Started” if you want to get going now. But if you are still not sure about doing your own computer repairs, please read “Why Do It Yourself”…

PC Clean Up and Maintenance Techniques

Delete all old programs

Go to “Start > Programs” and use the “uninstall” tools on any old applications that you or your family no longer needs.

If a program doesn’t have an uninstall program, then go to “Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs”. Remove any programs here in the dropdown menu. But be careful…”when in doubt…leave it the heck alone.” If you are not sure what a program does, look it up online.

Run Microsoft’s Disk Cleanup

Your computer routinely creates little files that are either unnecessary or temporary. Often applications leave these orphan files just lying around taking up valuable disk space and hogging resources. . It’s your job, as a computer power user to clean out those cyber “cobwebs” in the corners of your system.

You can regain your lost disk space my using a Windows utility called Disk Cleanup. The program Disk Cleanup comes with the Win98/Me/2000/XP/Vista operating systems. It was designed to remove unnecessary files from your system.

Use Scandisk to detect potential hard drive errors.

Scandisk is one of the built in Windows utilities that can help you maintain a tidy hard drive. Scandisk detects and repairs minor hard disk errors. To use Scandisk click on “START/Accessories/System Tools/Scan Disk.

Use Disk Defragmenter to Get Organized Internally

Disk defragmenter (Defrag) is another Windows utility. The Defrag’s job is to rearrange and reorganize your hard disk by putting all files together in contiguous sectors. When a program is installed, your operating system plops the resulting files into the first empty sectors (pre-sized spaces) it finds on your disk. Some files are stored close together while others are not.

Defragging a hard drive forces the operating system collect all the relevant files together and lay them down in adjacent sectors. This makes for faster file storage and retrieval.

Update Your Antivirus and or Firewall software.

Make sure that your have installed the latest updates. Trying to get updated AFTER you’ve been attacked is often too little too late.

Update Your Operating system and Applications

Install the latest service packs, patches and updates. Security patches for Windows can be found online at Windows update support page. Or better yet turn on the Auto Update tool in the Control Panel..

Update your device drivers

Check online for any updated device drivers for your printers, monitor etc. Update if needed but be careful because installing new drivers can often cause as many problems as they cure. Is this new driver a more secure and stable application or just the latest “bignew” thing?

This whole monthly PM check should take no more than 1 - 3 hours in one day. And since you will automate it using Task Scheduler you won’t even know its working until You notice your computer humming right along.

To read the rest of this series, click

Do You Ever Degunk Your PC?

“It’s like a closet…your hard drive is like a closet. You can’t keep putting all these programs in here. You have to clean stuff out every now and then.”, I kept telling him.

But he would just nod and smile. He wasn’t getting it. He was an older user and this computer stuff was something he only got into to so he could check his stock portfolios and sent email back and forth to his grandkids in college.

The idea that (in those days it was huge) a 20 gigabytes hard drive of could get full was mind-boggling. Mr. “F” just couldn’t understand how over time hard drives become bloated and corrupt with all the programs people download and install. I never could get him to understand of degunking his PC.

But today, with terabyte drives entering the consumer market, hard drive maintenance is more important than ever. The following PC cleanup and maintenance tips should be done on a routine basis (at least once a month).

If your computer is running slowly, or crashing frequently then these techniques should be done immediately. These techniques are the most fundamental thing you can do regularly to maintain your PC’s performance.

These techniques are like spring cleaning your hard drive. The storage space stays the same size but now that you have thrown away all the junk and reorganized, your files are a lot easier to find and backup.

This type of maintenance is the key to long-life and smooth performance with your PC. And when done with regularity will noticeably increase the efficiency of your computer.

The following procedures should be set up to run in “Task Scheduler”. Task Scheduler is an Internet Explorer tool that you can install by using the Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Windows tool.

To read the rest of this series, click here