Computer Maintenance

Archive for the ‘Computer Troubleshooting’ category

Uninstall Unwanted Programs

December 22nd, 2009

Our computers come with preloaded programs, some of which we may or may-not need. We download or install different programs every now and then, some for trial purposes(also called “bloatware“) and much more on a need basis. Over time, a few of these programs we stop using either because we may not need them anymore or the software versions have expired. Reasons may be different, but as time passes we’ll end up having all these useless programs and files residing on our machines clogging up space!

So, why should we uninstall unwanted programs from our computers?

1) Get rid of unwanted files and free up space.
2) Minimize the clutter and boost the computer’s performance.
3) Optimize/Minimize the registry size by getting rid of unwanted entries.

For most part, this is part of the basic computer maintenance activities every computer user must do. Uninstall unwanted programs and see the benefit in performance.

What are the best ways to uninstall unwanted programs?

1) Use the windows add/remove program to uninstall unwanted programs
2) Use PC decrapifier (Free for personal use)
3) Use a program like Revo uninstaller (Free edition with limited features, upgradable to PRO)

There are other options/methods available to uninstall unnecessary programs. But, the above methods are the one that i adopt successfully.

During the process of uninstalling unwanted programs, you may get a message saying that there are shared files (.dll) that are not needed. In my opinion, it’s best to leave these files as they are since they may be shared by other programs!

Some of the files that are residing on your hard drive when you install any program are basically updates to some or all of your existing files. So if you are trying to uninstall something and you get a message saying not all the files from a program could be removed, it may be because other programs would have shared these files.

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Tags: uninstall unnecessary programs uninstall unwanted programs

USB Troubleshooting

December 18th, 2009

Troubleshooting USB problems for most part, fall into one of the following categories:

Hardware failures:

Got to-

Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Universal serial bus controllers

If the root hub is being displayed with an exclamation mark with a yellow circle around it, then verify that the BIOS is correctly assigning an interrupt request (IRQ request) channel to the root USB controller since this is required for the device driver to get loaded. This is one of the first USB troubleshooting steps to be taken.
Once you plug in the device, if you don’t see an icon appearing in the lower right corner of your system tray, verify that the power requirements of the bus are not being exceeded. Generally, USB devices can draw a max of 500mA for each connection. If the device is indeed drawing more power than this, the port can get suspened. If the device is drawing lesser than 50mA or so, the port never comes active.

Problems with device driver configuration:

When the USB device is plugged in, the computer must be able to recognize the device without requesting for any device driver. If it does prompt you for a driver, log on to the website of manufacture of the device and determine if they have any device specific driver.

Cabling Fault:

USB cables are classified into slow speed (1.5 Mbps transfer rate – USB 1.0) and high speed (480 Mbps transfer rate – USB 2.0). All the latest USB devices are high-speed devices and if these are connected to a low-speed cable, it can cause signal distortion. Also check the power supply to the USB hub is configured properly.

Common USB problems troubleshooting:

Source : USB Troubleshooter

Source : All about USB Devices

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Windows Malware Remover tools and techniques

November 27th, 2009

Malware or malicious software as it is commonly known, is a computer program built intentionally to inflict damage to other computer programs without the owner being aware of it. Malware is sometimes mistaken for “defective software”, which isn’t true. These programs are used by individuals to perform illegal activities like data theft, log-in credentials theft by capturing usernames and passwords, credit card and other financial information and much more.. Computers with weak security can be potential hosts to such infectious programs. More on malwares here – Malware Wiki

Where does malware reside and where do they generally come from?

Typically stored in Temporary Internet Files or the Temp folder
Porn sites
packaged with other free/trial softwares
torrent downloads
Mail attachments

lots more…

Malware Remover tools and techniques:

Microsoft has come up with their own malware detection and the malware remover tool available for Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 OS platforms. There are two options available for their malware remover tool. You can either download the malware remover tool to your desktop and run a scan from there or use their online scanning version – Windows Live Safety scanner. These are up-to-date free malware remover tools that can be used provided, you are running genuine windows OS.
One of the widely used malware remover – Spybot Search & Destroy has been around since early 2000 and has been rated among one of the best malware remover tool. Read more about Spybot here. This is the most widely accepted and used free malware remover tool and has been ranked highest on 2-spyware.com, a malware remover tool review site. Spybot is quick, efficient and easy to use. It also provides recovery option to basically undo some changes.

Download : Spybot Search and Destroy malware remover

Do read this exhaustive page Malware Remover to get more indepth understanding of malware remover techniques. Make this a part of your regular computer maintenance checklist!