The Top 5 Most Common Computer Problems

If you have a PC, then you have most likely suffered from computer problems. Most people have accepted that there PC will eventually crash due to a virus or some massive error. However this is a myth. Your PC is built to last more than a decade. However you must keep well tuned for it to make its third birthday. Nevertheless, most people would rather buy a shiny new PC rather than spend an hour trying to fix computer problems on there 2 year lap top or desktop. After another two year after their purchase lack of maintenance will cause their new PC to lose its performance speed. Whats next you guess, $3000 Windows Vista Ready PC. This is known as the consumer vicious cycle.

Why have does your computer have problems?

Well, the biggest problem that your computer has is its owner. More than 80% of computer problems stem from neglecting to perform simple maintenance task such as cleaning your registry, emptying your cache files and updating software regularly. If these task a perform diligently. You would be reading this article from a five year old machine running on Windows 98 operating system. So, lets take a look at the top five computer problems and how to avoid them.

1. Computer has performance has slowed.

This is the number one complaint from most users. There are several reason why this has occurred. However, most can attributed to lack of maintenance. Fragmented data, corrupted registry, spyware, and load of unnecessary programs and services running can all eat away at your PC speed and performance. Manage your programs and cleaning your registry would easily award you a 30% gain in performance speed.

2. Lockup, freezes, and blue screens of death.

This is a another common computer problem. However, this particular issue is a bit more serious; therefore, it needs a few diagnostic steps. In most cases this problems are caused by spyware. To avoid this problem update your anti-spyware program daily. Having the most up to date signatures will help you avoid having a serious spyware problem. However, if you have concluded that your PC is spyware free. You should update your hardware drivers. The computer cannot communicate with various hardware components without an up to date driver. When it cannot find a driver, the CPU locks up. Also, increasing your virtual memory can also help to avoid freezes. Virtual Memory will allow to you get more use out your computer's RAM. Check the resource box for more info on the subject.

3. The computer spontaneously reboots or turn itself off.

This computer problem can be usually attributed to a hardware issue. Usually its the power supply is dying or in most cases a dirty or defective cooling fan. The computer trying to cool itself by automatically switching off. So, if you feel a bit of extra heat coming out the computer. Clean the fan and make sure it running properly. If your fan is functional, check your power supply. Also, you will be surprised how many people fail to make sure the cables are attached tightly. This be the cause of this particular computer problem.

4. Strange noises and vibrations.

This is almost totally a hardware issue. You computer is made up of thousands of parts. Its not unheard of that one of them can become unhinged. Overheating can cause expansion of wires and melt some sensitive. High pitch noises such as squealing or whining sounds can be cause electronic components. Whatever the reason, you conduct a small investigation. Remove the case and run the computer to discover the origin of the computer problem. If its not a simple matter such as a loose wire or fan issue, it may be time to call a computer tech.

5. Your home page, default search engine, or web browser has changed itself.

This is also known as "high-jacking". Spyware has been installed on your computer via social networking or from email link. This action has allowed spyware to install a java script into your web browser. The spyware then sends a message to your browser to change your user settings. For example change your home page to another web page.

As you have discovered from reading the article, the most common computer problems can be handle quite easily by simple maintenance of your PC. Net time you are suffering from computer problems. Take a few minutes to run some diagnostic test before rushing out to computer technical center claiming your PC is broken. When all you need to do was just make sure it was plugged in.

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Safely Clean The Windows Registry

From the perspective of a computer repair tech, maintaining the Windows registry is no big deal. Because of my years of experience, I'm perfectly comfortable opening the reg edit utility and making changes to improve the stability and overall performance of a PC. Sometimes I forget though, just how dicey it can be to make sweeping changes to the Windows Registry and as a rule, this type of maintenance should only be performed by an experienced computer professional. That being said, there are always a few adventurous types who like to tinker with their computer, and to those people I say "Atta Boy!" There is really nothing wrong with trying to improve your PC by making changes to the registry as long as you know beforehand that it can be risky and are willing to accept that risk. After all, the benefits gained from optimizing the registry can be significant if done properly (and carefully!)

For those of you who aren't familiar, the Windows registry is a special folder in the operating system that contains pretty much all of the information that Windows needs to run properly. All of this information is stored in a hierarchy of keys and values pertaining to different functions of Windows and all programs and settings on the computer. As a result, changing or deleting a registry key without knowing what you are doing can have very undesirable results up to and including making your computer unbootable. So for the sake of safety, I must give this disclaimer: WARNING! Making changes to the Windows registry can result in corruption of your operating system. NEVER, EVER make changes to the registry without making a registry backup first! Seriously, I really mean it! You can seriously screw up your PC if you make a mistake! Everyone got it?...OK then, let's move on.

One problem with windows is that it does a lousy job of housecleaning. What I mean by that statement is this: when you install a program on a windows system, entries pertaining to that program are entered into the registry. For some odd reason though, when you remove said program from your PC, all of the associated registry entries are not always completely removed. Go figure!.. Anyway, over time these invalid and orphaned registry entries pile up. Most just sit there collecting dust and aren't really a problem. Some though, can cause your computer to behave erratically and/or degrade overall system performance. A second problem is that these registry entries can be very cryptic and are scattered throughout the registry, so unless you happen to be a software engineer and are very familiar with the inner workings of the Windows operating system the rogue registry entries are impossible to track down and eliminate.

For registry cleanup you need a registry cleaning tool. I've never been a fan of these applications for the simple reason that they often can do more harm than good, so the trade-off of benefit to risk just isn't worth it. There is only one program however, that I use myself that I do recommend for this type of operation. It's called Registry First Aid and it's the ONLY registry cleaning software that I endorse. The reason that I recommend this software is that it takes a very cautious approach to cleaning the registry but at the same time it's very thorough. It is configured by default to automatically make a full registry backup before it makes any changes (That's a REALLY GOOD feature). It also groups the identified registry errors by "safety level" so that you can easily make wholesale changes to the "safe" items and take a more cautious approach to the entries that could damage windows if not handled properly. All in all, it's a very safe and effective tool for optimizing your PC as long as it's used as directed. I highly recommend it! If you would like to try it for yourself, you can visit the downloads section of my website and grab a free trial copy.

Anyway, the point that I'm trying to get across is this: You can make significant improvements in your computers performance by maintaining and optimizing the system registry, but you have to be very careful. Just remember these points. (1) Manually editing the Windows registry can be very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. (2) NEVER make changes to the registry without first making a registry backup. (3) to keep your PC running smoothly, get a (good) registry cleaning utility like Registry First Aid. If you will remember these simple things, you'll keep your computer running like new.

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How to build a Home Network

When I first started in computers, one of the most confusing things that I ran across was how to set up a home network. The differences between hubs, routers, Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) and cabling were a mystery to me. But after much trial and error and built-up experience I managed to figure a few things out and some of that information I will share with you now.

There are two basic types of networks that I'm going to talk about in this article first being the infamous ICS or Internet Connection Sharing. ICS is usually implemented by connecting multiple computers through the hub to a single computer. Let's say we have three computers, Computer A, Computer B and Computer C. Computer A has enjoyed a high speed Internet connection and after a while, Computer B and C want to get in on the action! In order to implement ICS, we would have to connect all three computers to a hub.

A hub is basically a switch that allows any computer hooked up to it to communicate with any other computer hooked up to the hub. So with all three computers hooked up to it, we would set the network up on the computers to use ICS. Computers B and C would be told that they're going to connect to the Internet through another computer that has a high-speed Internet connection. While Computer A would be configured to enjoy its high-speed connection as it did before.

Configured like this, Computers B and C would enjoy a relatively fast connection to the Internet as would Computer A. The problem here starts when all three computers are accessing the Internet at the same time. Computers B and C would enjoy a relatively fast connection to the Internet while Computer A would suffer some moderate slowdowns because it not only has to handle its own traffic but the traffic of the other two computers as well. The user on Computer A is going to get quite upset if Computers B and C decide to download files at the same time. Because downloading a file is such a data intensive process, demanding large amounts of data be transferred from the Internet as fast as possible, Computers A may suffer some severe speed problems because of the demand being put on it from the other two computers.

Unfortunately because of the fact that the hub does not have built-in firewall or any other such software that can protect the computers behind the hub Computers A must also be running Windows firewall in the background which provides an additional performance hit.

So although the ICS is the cheapest way to go, it is definitely not the speediest way to go. In fact, to be honest, I would only follow this route if the users of Computers B and C had something against the user of Computer A and want to get even!

The second type of setup that I'm going to talk about it is the router based set up. Nice thing about the router is that most routers are very intelligent. They have built-in firewalls, parental controls, can block sites or even allow users to have access to your network from the outside if they know the proper passwords and/or ports to connect through. No additional software is required that might add a performance hit and all three computers get configured the same way.

To hook up or router you simply plug a cable from your Internet connection into the router then plug the three computers into the router as well. When you set up your computers you tell networking software that all three will computers have direct access to the Internet. There is some setup involved with router as is usual with any complicated piece of hardware but usually it is very painless and if you follow the instructions, quite easy!

The nice thing about router set up is that once it is set, up all three computers enjoy the same speed advantages of being on a high-speed Internet. No one computer is impacted by the fact that someone else is downloading a file. In fact, all three can download a file at the same time and still enjoy impressive speed while doing so! Face it guys this is the network that you want to set up if your wife is on Computer A!

Routers tend to be a little more expensive than hubs but the advantages of having them a part your network far outweigh any price difference. So if you must go with ICS, then do so with pride! But personally, I would recommend spending the extra money to go the "router route"!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Don_Willson