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I am
running out of free space on my hard drive. What
are my options?
- There are several ways to get more hard drive
space. Here are a few of your choices.
1. You can uninstall some programs. If you have programs installed on your
computer that you haven’t used in some time, you may consider uninstalling them.
It is important that you uninstall programs rather than delete them. For
most programs you can uninstall from START, SETTINGS, CONTROL PANEL, ADD/REMOVE
PROGRAMS. Scroll down the list and locate the program you want to remove
and select remove. If the program is not listed there you could try
locating the uninstall icon for it (if it has one) in the START, PROGRAMS.
It is usually in the shortcut group with the shortcut that starts the program.
There are occasions when it is in neither of these two locations and you may not
be able to remove it this way. If this is the case, you have a lot of work
to do and it may not be worth the effort. If you simply delete a program
using Windows Explorer you may not be removing all of the pointers to the
program that are hidden all over Windows.
Additionally, you may have an error the next time you start Windows. This
happens because Windows has instructions to start your program or part of it on
boot up. If you remove the program and the instructions to start the
program is still there, you get an annoying error. This can be complicated
to fix. It may be more efficient just to leave a program like this
installed unless you want to spend the time fixing this.
2. The next method of getting free hard drive space is to delete some of
the files you have stored on your hard drive. If you are not familiar with
using Windows Explorer, you may want to read our primer article on deleting
files. Start by using Windows Explorer and looking through the folders
that you store your files, such as My Documents. Delete or save to a
floppy, CD, or Zip disk any files you don't want. It is a good rule of
thumb do leave any file that you are not sure of.
3. Empty the recycle bin. Even when you delete files to the recycle
bin, they are still taking up a little space on your computer. Remember
though, this is permanent. Once that file is out of your recycle bin, its
gone.
4. Use Find Files to locate files over a certain size. This may help
you find some of those big files that you don't want or need anymore.
5. Look in you email program. Most people use Outlook or Outlook
Express to manage our mail. You may be surprised to find how massive files
become from all the email we have received. We have seen over 500MB files
in the inbox alone. Attachments especially take up space.
Also keep in mind, when you delete your email it can go into the "deleted mail"
folder and just sit there until you delete it from there. There is usually
a setting to delete files from here each time you close the program, you may
want to consider this. Deleted Mail can take up a lot of hard drive space.
6. Deleting cached web pages is another alternative. These are temporary
files that are loaded onto your hard drive when you open a web page. They
are stored on your hard drive so if you go to that web site again, your web
browser looks in your cache on your hard drive first because it is quicker
loading. If it doesn't find it there, it loads it from the Internet.
There are varying ways to delete these files, depending on your web browser
(Internet Explorer or Netscape). Also each version of each program has
differences, so you may need to explore the help file for your version. In
Internet Explorer just go to the Control Panel in Windows and select Internet
Options. Locate the "Temporary Internet Files" area and click the Delete
Files button.
While there, you may want to look into reducing the amount of files that get
stored on your hard drive by clicking on the Settings button.
7. Another great alternative to consider today is a second hard drive.
With the price of an additional hard drive, it may be the best solution.
This way all of your documents and any new programs can be installed there.
Some people feel comfortable installing them themselves while others would like
our service people to install them. Either way is cost effective today.
Look for the related question and answer below.
If you are in the situation where you are spending the time freeing up space
today, rather than installing a new drive, you might want to seriously consider
this alternative. The work you are doing today, will probably just need to
be repeated again in a month or two. With a new hard drive, it could be
years again before you have to worry if you are out of space.
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I have
deleted a file accidentally from my computer. How
can I get it back?
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The first place to look is
in your Recycle Bin. Minimize all open
windows (press the Windows Key and M),
double-click on Recycle Bin and see if your file
is there. If it is, yippee. Select
the file, click File, Restore. Voila, your
file is back where it came from.
If it's not there you have more of a problem.
You must use a special program to retrieve your
file. Norton Utilities is a good option
often. It is critical to make sure you
don't delete anything else until you restore
your file(s).
You can pick up a copy of Norton Utilities from
our store. Also, it is a good idea to get
some quick advice from one of our staff members.
We would be glad to help. Just remember
don't do anything else on your computer until
you get that file back -- it's important.
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How do I
add a second hard drive to my computer?
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IMPORTANT: This is
an advanced operation for many people. If
done incorrectly you could lose all the data and
programs you currently have on your computer.
If you are uneasy about this, seek additional
advice or let our service personnel perform the
work for you. It is a very affordable
operation for our staff to do the work for you.
Most
Industry-Standard computers have the
ability to add a second, and sometimes more,
hard drives when more space is needed.
If you have a brand name such as E-machine, HP,
Compaq, etc. you will have to check to see if
there is room for the additional drive. If
there is not any physical room, you may have to
just replace your hard drive with a much bigger
one.
The first step is to do the physical
installation. Mount it into your case in
the appropriate drive bay. Using the
current hard drive ribbon (data) cable, connect
the extra connector to the new drive, making
sure that the red stripe side is connected to
the pin one side. Now, connect the power
cable. And finally set the drives to
master and slave with the jumpers on the back.
There is usually a diagram on the drive showing
how to do this. The existing drive must be
set to master, don't assume that it is currently
set that way. The new drive must be set to
slave.
Once you have the drives installed, you then
need to complete the job by using software to
make sure the computer sees both drives
correctly. You must first give the new
drive a partition using a program that is on
your Windows CD called FDISK. THIS IS
IMPORTANT: WHEN USING
FDISK YOU MUST MAKE SURE YOU ARE SELECTING THE
NEW DRIVE. IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY FDISK THE
EXISTING DRIVE YOU WILL PERMANENTLY DESTROY ALL
YOUR EXISTING DATA. If you are
unfamiliar with FDISK, you should get some
advice on its use.
Once your drive has been partitioned correctly
with FDISK, you can restart Windows and open
Windows Explorer (Windows key and E). You
will notice you have a new hard drive there, but
it is not usable yet. The next step is to
format the drive. You can do this by
right-clicking on the drive and selecting
Format. Make sure you click on the new
drive though. If you format the existing
drive all your data will be lost.
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How do I
know if I am running low on Memory?
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Memory or RAM, is temporary
storage of programs and data files that you have
open, including Windows. When you turn
your computer off, there is nothing in memory.
When you turn it on, it begins to load Windows
into memory, thus using some of your memory.
Think of memory as the desktop on your desk.
It is a specific size and when you begin putting
work onto it, it takes up the available space.
For example, if you have 128MB of memory, after
you load Windows (and some of the applets that
are in the startup for Windows) you may only
have 100MB's or less available.
Each program you start takes up some memory.
Each data file you open takes up more memory.
Some programs and files take up more room than
others.
The way to tell if you are running low on
available memory is first to notice if your
computer seems to be slowing down. If it
is becoming slower as you move along, you may
have too much memory being needed but not enough
available.
Windows has a place to look to see what your
available resources are in the device manager
(for Windows 9x and ME) Windows 2000 and
XP professional you can look in "System
information."
If you find you are running low on memory, talk
to our staff about getting additional memory.
It is surprisingly easy to install yourself or
we will install it for you for free when you buy
it from us. And remember, memory is super
inexpensive right now. It is a great
upgrade that can make a huge difference in the
speed of your computer.
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Can I
delete a program instead of uninstalling it?
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You shouldn't. When a
program is installed it has files placed in many
folders in Windows, and many entries are made
into the Registry. The Registry is a huge
file that stores information about all the
programs you have installed -- plus a lot more
information.
When you just delete a program from its folders,
rather than uninstalling it correctly, you still
leave all that other information in your
computer.
And a more annoying problem can result from
deleting a program. Windows may have
instructions to load the program or part of it
when Windows starts up. Deleting the
program doesn't delete the instructions so you
get an error when the instructions to start the
program but the program is not there. This
can be difficult to fix.
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Would you
explain “Screen Resolution?”
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Depending on your video
card and our monitor, we have many choices for
screen resolution (or screen area), found in
Display Properties. You can usually choose
a screen resolution from 640X480 to 1600X1280 or
more.
These numbers represent the amount of screen
pixels that will be shown on your monitor.
For example, 640X480 is 640 pixels horizontally
and 480 vertically. This setting means
that your monitor will only show this many
pixels at once.
When you change the setting higher, you see more
information and the dialog boxes, photos,
windows and such appear smaller. That is
because many of these items have a specific
pixel size. If a dialog box is set to take
up 300 pixels wide, it takes up about half of
the screen when set to 640X480. But it
only takes up about a third of the screen when
your resolution is set at 1024X768.
Most people with a 17" monitor prefer to have
their resolution set for 1024X768. Large
monitors are often set higher. Sometimes
when we set the higher resolutions the icons and
text becomes quite small. You can adjust
this in Display Properties under the Appearance
tab. Select a scheme with larger fonts or
create your own scheme.
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When I
click START, PROGRAMS I have so many icons I fill up the
whole screen. What can I do to fix this?
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Yep, this is annoying.
Each time we install a program, we install a set
of shortcuts to the program and after a while
the whole screen is taken up with shortcuts.
If this is occurring for you, a little
organizing is all that is needed.
You can start by Right-Clicking on the Start
button and selecting Explore. This brings
up Windows Explorer and focuses you on your
start menu. You will notice that all the
folders listed below Start Menu, Programs match
the folders you have under Programs on your
Start button.
There are many ways to organize this mess.
First keep in mind when you delete things here,
you are only deleting a shortcut to the program,
not the program. I like to start by
creating a few logical folders to store the
shortcuts under. For example, Office
Programs, Graphics Programs, Internet Programs,
Music Programs, Utilities and Tools. You
can make up a set that are logical for your
usage.
You create a new folder by clicking on Programs,
selecting File, New, Folder. Do this
repeatedly until you have all the logical
category folders you desire. Then simply
drag and drop the shortcuts into the new folders
you have created.
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I just
installed a program and now files automatically open
into it instead of my other program. How do I get
it back?
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Many people find this
problem very annoying. For example, we may
use Photoshop to edit our graphic files.
When we click on a graphic file to open, it
opens Photoshop and the graphic appears.
But lets say we install a new program that edits
graphics. We notice after doing so,
Photoshop doesn't open up when we click on
graphics anymore -- the new program does.
If this is undesirable, there are a couple of
solutions. I highly recommend the easier
one which is to reinstall the program that you
want associated with your files. In our
example here we would reinstall Photoshop.
What happens when we install programs is they
have particular file types that they can edit
and open. The last program installed is
associated to those file types.
Many software companies are getting more in tune
with us by asking us if it is okay to change
these associations during the installation
process. So make sure you examine all your
choices when installing programs to see if this
can prevent this unwanted annoyance.
The other way you can change association is in
Windows Explorer under Tools (or View) is
Folder Options. Here you can change the
associations of different file suffixes.
For example if you wanted to change .jpg back to
Photoshop, select it from the list under File
Types and click change. Then find the
Photoshop executable file to associate it with.
This can be a laborious process and sometimes
has unexpected results. So, we don't
recommend it usually.
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I have
just downloaded a file from the Internet, but I can’t
find it. Can you help me find it?
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Prevention is much easier
than fixing in this case. So, the next
time you download a file from the Internet or
your email, study the dialog box that appears.
It asks you where you want to store your file.
Some people create folders using Windows
Explorer specifically for their downloaded files
so they can find them always.
But, if you have downloaded a file and want to
find it you can use Windows Find File process.
Hold down the Windows Key on your keyboard and
the F key at the same time. If you don't
have a Windows key on your keyboard, select
Start, Search (or Find), Files or Folders.
In this program you have options on searching
for files by name, by type, or by date. If
you know the name enter it in the "search for
files or folders named" box and click search.
If you don't know the name you can search for
files created in the last day. Each
Windows version is a little different, so you
will have to click around to find out exactly
how to do this. Also, you may want to
consult the Windows Help for additional
information.
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I want to
install a program and I have a list of “System
Requirements” that it needs. How do I find out if
my computer meets the minimum requirements?
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The main details you are
looking for are Processor speed, memory,
available hard drive space, operating system and
sometimes video card. Unfortunately all of
that information is not all in one place.
But it is still simple enough.
Click Start, Run and type in DXDIAG and hit
enter. This starts the DirectX diagnostic
tool. On the opening screen most of your
information is there but you'll notice hard
drive information is missing.
To find out how much available hard drive space
you have minimize all Windows (shortcut is
Windows Key + M), double click on My Computer,
right-click on your hard drive and select
Properties. This dialog box has the
information you need right there. The pie
chart gives you a graphic to tell you how much
space is available and right above it is the
exact numbers.
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How do I
tell if I have a hard drive going bad?
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One way to tell is noises.
If you hear any strange noises coming from in
your computer such as grinding, banging,
whining, clicking or scraping noises. If
you hear any of this, stop everything and get
your computer to our repair center. This
usually means your hard drive has a mechanical
problem and may fail anytime. If it fails
due to mechanical problems, your data has a very
high risk of being completely lost.
Another way to detect a bad drive is to run
scandisk. Click Start, Run, type in
Scandisk and hit Enter on your keyboard.
Run a thorough test with this program and it
will tell you if there are problems on your
drive.
Be aware though that it is fairly common for a
good drive to show bad spots. If each time
you run scandisk the amount of bad sectors
grows, this indicates a possible problem with
the drive. You should run scandisk one a
month or more as a normal routine of maintenance
on your computer.
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How do I
recover lost data due to a hard drive failure?
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There are a couple of
answers here when you want to do this yourself.
One is to use a utility program that is designed
for this work, such as Norton Utilities.
Another is to use a service that recovers data
from bad drives. This second option is
usual when the drive is damaged mechanically.
If your data is especially important and you
don't have a sure backup, then don't try it
yourself. There are too many variables
that may come into play that could permanently
destroy all of your data. If this is your
situation, bring it to our repair techs.
We have many industrial strength tools and
software that aid in recovery of your data.
You can start with the program that is installed
on your computer already called Scandisk.
This program comes with Windows and can often
recover files that have become damaged.
To start error checking and repair with
scandisk, minimize all windows (shortcut Windows
Key + M), double click on My Computer,
right-click on your hard drive, select
Properties, select the Tools tab and depending
on your version of Windows either select
Scandisk or Error Checking. Run a thorough
test and attempt recovery. If you are
asked to save an undo file to a floppy disk --
MAKE SURE YOU DO IT.
We should be your first line of defense with
this type of problem rather than going to a data
recovery center. The reason for this is
economics. There is pretty high percentage
of cases where we can recover the data at a much
lower price than a data recovery center.
You can see rates starting at several hundred
dollars at these centers, where it is possible
to have your data back for well under $100.
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My
Windows is working poorly (or I have a problem), should
I reinstall Windows?
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You may be tempted to
reinstall Windows to fix problems because it
used to be easy and could actually solve the
problem. Today's Windows versions are
different and reinstalling it can cause you
significant headaches. ONLY
REINSTALL AS A LAST RESORT.
The problems occur with drivers for all
the components in your computer. Every
item in your computer from the motherboard to
the modem has a driver for it. When you
reinstall Windows it tries to detect the correct
device driver and sometimes (too often) it
doesn't select the right driver and you get
problems.
The problems can be no boot, scrambled data or
rampant problems What we suggest is
to call us first. Get our advice before
you resort to reinstalling Windows. We
have seen many, many instances where customers
have reinstalled Windows and caused major
damage, when a call to our techs would have
provided a fast and helpful answer.
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How
important are surge protectors and Uninterruptible Power
Supplies?
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Surge protectors are
devices that your computer equipment plugs into
and itself is plugged into the wall. Its
function is to protect your computer equipment
from surges in electrical current coming into
your equipment.
Surge protectors range in price from only a few
dollars to over $75. We don't suggest the
super cheap ones because they don't usually
provide the right protection your equipment
needs. Plan on spending at least $12 for a
start, and more if you need more protection.
Some areas have more spikes and problems with
electrical current. Some areas have high
potential for lightning strikes. If this
is your situation, spend more.
An Uninterruptible Power Supply (commonly
referred to as a UPS) is a battery backup in the
event of a total black-out or partial loss
(called a brown-out) of electricity. It
provides enough electricity to your computer to
last a few minutes so you can shut your programs
down and your computer down correctly in the
event of one of these conditions.
UPS devices cost between $70 and upwards of
$1000. Call to get advice on one that is
appropriate for your situation. But as a
rule home computers with a 17" monitor only need
something in the $70 to $120 price range.
If you have a server you should consider a much
heavier duty one. If you are having power
problems and suspect erratic behavior on your
computer due to power problems, get one.
We have seen instances where lockups and other
strange problems were due to power problems.
UPS's can condition your line to make sure you
always get the right amount of power.
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How do I
use a Zip Drive to do daily backups?
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A Zip drive is a simple
drive like a floppy drive either installed
internally or externally on your computer.
Like a floppy drive you can read and write files
to it. Unlike a floppy drive, the capacity
is either 100MB or 250MB. This capacity
makes it a popular and inexpensive method for
backing up important files.
If you don't have a Zip Drive in your computer
yet, give us a call. We can advise you on
internal versus external versions and give you
prices for the drives and installation if
needed.
The drives come with some great software
packages that can automate the backup processes
for you. You can specify certain files or
folders to backup every day. You can
backup all data in a folder, changed data or any
new files. You can have it backup every
few minutes or on occasions that you set --like
once a day.
If you don't have the software that came with
your drive, you can download it from
www.iomega.com. Look under
downloads for your version of drive, operating
system and language. Download the program
called Iomegaware.
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I have
uninstalled many programs but my registry still seems to
have loose ends from them, how do I clean up my
registry?
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The registry is a very
important file in your computer. Tinkering
around in here can cause major damage to your
system. We don't suggest that most users
get into this file unless they really know what
they are doing.
A much better solution is to use specialized
software that can aid in this operation of
cleaning up your registry. Norton
CleanSweep does a fine job of this operation and
its very affordable. You can get a copy at
our store.
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How do I
delete files from my computer?
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The best way is to use
Windows Explorer. The shortcut to open
Windows Explorer is Windows key + E. When
you open it this way you will find there is two
panes. The left pane has the drives and
folders listed with plus and minus signs next to
them. The right pane can contain folders
and files.
To navigate to the file you want to delete,
press the plus signs on the left pane until you
drill down to the folder that contains the file
you want to delete. Then click on the
folder in the left pane and its contents appear
in the right pane. Select the file you
want to delete, then press the Delete key on
your keyboard. You will be prompted with a
dialog box to confirm deletion to the recycle
bin.
When a file is deleted this way it is stored in
the Recycle Bin until you manually delete it
permanently by going into the recycle bin and
clearing it out.
An important rule of thumb is to never delete a
file unless you are totally sure you know what
it is. If you are unclear, just leave it.
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How do I
stop programs from starting when Windows boots?
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Windows has many places
that it stores instructions to start programs on
boot. Each version of Windows has
differences in this respect.
All Windows have a Startup group under Start,
Programs. Any shortcuts that are stored
there will start with Windows. Just delete
them from Startup and you're done.
The next place to look is in the program itself.
For example, you may find several "extra" icons
in the Systray which is that area by the clock
in the lower right hand corner of your screen.
If you have icons there that you want to stop,
double click on them and see if they have the
ability to not startup with Windows. Look
for options or preferences and see if there is a
check box you can turn on or off.
Another way to stop startup programs is by using
a Windows program called MSCONFIG. Windows
2000 & Windows 95 are the only versions that
don't come with this installed with Windows.
If you have either of these operating systems
you will need to download the msconfig.exe file
onto your system.
Here is the
msconfig.exe for Windows 2000.
Download it to your C:\winnt\system32 folder.
Here is the
msconfig.exe for Windows 95. Download
it to your c:\Windows\System32 folder.
To start the program, click Start, Run, and type
in msconfig and hit enter on your keyboard.
Once the program starts you can see the tab at
the top name Startup. Here you will find a
list of programs (some needed) that start with
Windows.
You can uncheck any of the items in that list
and when you reboot the program will not start.
If you want you can check the box after the
restart to start it up again at the next reboot.
This is an interactive utility. It can
also aid in troubleshooting program problems.
Msconfig.exe can stop a program from starting
with Windows boot, however, it is always best to
locate the program and disable the startup.
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How do I
troubleshoot a problem myself?
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The best method is to
narrow down through a process of elimination
what the problem is.
First, is the problem reliably repeatable?
For example does it always happen when you start
a program or click a button? If the answer
to this is yes, then most likely it is a
software related problem -- most likely.
If the problem occurs at any time and anywhere,
it is most likely a hardware problem -- most
likely.
If it is a software problem, you may try going
to the software maker's web site to see if there
is an update that fixes the problem. If it
is a Windows problem, go to
http://support.microsoft.com and
search their Knowledge Base to find the
solution. The answer is usually there.
This is the database they use if you call them
for support and you have free access to it on
the web.
If there is no solution here, you may try
troubleshooting startup issues. Two
programs that you have installed may not get
along with each other. Read the question
above about MSCONFIG to help with this trouble.
As a troubleshooting effort, you can actually
turn off all startup programs, then see if the
problem still exists. If it goes away,
turn them on one by one with reboots until the
problem reappears.
If the problem seems to be hardware related or
you can track down the software problem, your
best bet is to bring it to our techs. We
have an amazing amount of experience and
resources available to us and can usually take
care of it quite fast.
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