1. Defragmentation – After using your computer for awhile things start to become unorganized. Installing and uninstalling programs can leave files scattered throughout your hard drive decreasing it’s efficiency. Defragmenting your computer organizes the files spread throughout the hard drive decreasing the time that your computer has to search for them.
2. Check for viruses – Viruses, worms, trojans, malware, spyware….they are all bad. While each are meant for a specific task they can have a big influence on how your computer runs. Viruses, worms and trojans can affect files and settings which in turn can cause your computer to slow down or even crash. The more you run your computer the more often you should perform a virus scan.
3. Clear the prefetch folder – Windows takes a snapshot of a program when it first starts and saves the settings so that next time it doesn’t have to figure out the settings. It can just take a quick peek at the file and figure out what needs to be done. If you have uninstalled programs before the files can still exist which can slow down your computer because it has to search through them.

   The prefetch folder can usually be found inside of the Windows directory.

4. Trimming down auto-start programs – The more programs you install on your computer the more chances you have of that program trying to load itself when Windows starts. When Windows starts it not only has to load it’s own programs but also the programs that you have installed. Most programs have an option to load on startup which you can turn off under a settings/configuration menu.
5. Delete temporary internet files/folders – When browsing the internet, your web browser may create a temporary file or folder and they don’t always get deleted. These files can start to add up and cause excess storage requirements and slow down your computer when it has to search through the hard drive. Read more on how to delete temporary internet files.

Defragmenting your computer can lead to

• Overall improved performance
• Quicker boot up times
• Quicker program load times
• Faster searching of files

When you defragment your hard drive files are moved from the place that they currently reside into an open area that is closer to the center of the hard drive. The closer the file is to the center the quicker it can be accessed.

Defragment your computer in Windows XP

In order to begin defragmenting your computer you need to load up the Disk Defragmenter that is automatically installed on Windows XP. Click on Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools-Disk Defragmenter.

Once you have done that the Disk Defragmenter will load up and we can begin the process.

From here you can choose to either Analyze the drive in which Disk Defragmenter will scan it and let you know whether or not it believes that it needs to be defragmented.

You will notice at the bottom of the screen is a legend explaining what colors mean what. Because this is a default installation of Windows Xp there is still a lot of free space on the computer and barely any fragmented files. Your results will probably have a lot more red, blue and green and less white.

If the Disk Defragmenter decides that your computer does not need to be defragmented you can still continue the process. Just click the Defragment button and let it run.

This is what you will see after clicking the Defragment button. You will notice that the lower gray bar shows the status and below that there is a Pause and Stop button. It is advised that while defragmenting your computer not to work on it and have as little programs running as possible. Anything that moves files or updates them on your computer can cause the defragmenter to slow down or even possibly start over.

The status bar at the bottom of the window alerts you to what exactly is going on as well as a progress bar.

Once the Disk Defragmenter has performed it’s task a dialog box will pop open explaining that it is complete and giving you an option to view the report or close the window. Viewing the report just gives you detailed statistics on what exactly went on such as the percentage of files that were fragmented, the free space before and after along with other information. See the updated image? Notice how the blue is one continuous color now, the files have been compressed together making your programs load quicker.

Defragmenting your computer can help with increasing performance but it can take some time depending upon the size of your hard drive, the amount of files and the fragmentation of those files. I’ve had some computers run overnight when I defragmented them!

Defragment your computer in Windows Vista

I have heard a lot of complaints that the default disk defragmenter in Vista doesn’t perform as well as the one in XP. However, I am still going to provide instructions on how to use the one in Vista.

Click the Windows logo->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Defragmenter.

From here you can schedule the Disk Defragmenter to run daily, weekly, monthly and so on. Once you are ready to defragment your computer click on the Defragment now… button.

From here you can select to defragment all the disks on your computer or select certain ones. Once you select which drives you would like to defragment click the OK button.

As you can see, not a whole lot of information is given in the Vista version. No progress bar, no graph of the files, no pause button…the only thing that you can do is cancel the defragmentation. The only indicator of progress is the line of text saying that it could take a few minutes of a few hours. I know it’s not very helpful at all but like I stated before, a lot of people have been irritated with the defragmenter.

Disk Defragmenting Programs

Auslogics Disk Defrag

UniBlue Disk Rescue

Diskeeper 2008

If you have any other programs to defragment your computer that you use and would like to recommend to CLG readers, feel free to recommend them below in the comments section.

It’s Easy! If you know what you are doing

A lot of people are in fact afraid to even try formatting their computer because they have no idea how to actually do it. When in fact it is a relatively simple process and while it can take a fair amount of time to actually format the steps to do it are quite easy.

Considering I want to keep this as simple as possible there are 2 ways that I am going to show you; using the command prompt and using Windows Explorer.

NOTE: Before you try this be fully aware of what the consequences are and what will happen. Should you decide to format your computer ALL of the data WILL BE ERASED on your hard drive. It is possible to recover data from your hard drive but those tools and methods are not guaranteed.

Using the command prompt to format your computer

Without going into a huge amount of detail the command prompt allows you to create, delete, edit, move, copy, rename and a whole lot of other functions on your computer. The only difference is that it is all text based and there are no graphics, meaning unless you know the right commands a new computer user will have no idea how to use it let alone even access it.

If you are using Windows XP, click on Start and then click on Run. Once the dialog box opens up, type in cmd and hit Enter. If you are using Windows Vista, click on the Windows icon, type in command and hit Enter.

You should see something similar to the above image pop open in a new window. This is the command prompt and one tool that you can use to format a computer. Once the command prompt is open it is time to actually issue the command.

If you are wanting to format your default drive on your computer it will most likely be the C: drive. Otherwise, figure out which drive you are wanting to format. Once you have selected the right drive, type in

format C:

and hit Enter. A new line will be created telling you the file system of the drive along with a warning message.

The warning is there for good reason too. Notice it says, WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST! Now, considering it is in all caps and ends with a ! it must mean you need to read it and realize what is going to happen.

Should you decide to proceed, type in Y and hit Enter. The computer will then go through the necessary steps to format your computer so that you can start with a clean slate.

Using Windows Explorer to format your computer

This way is a little bit easier for most people to follow as you will just be using the Windows interface which most are used to. There is no typing involved or weird commands or command prompt screens.

If you are using Windows XP open up My Computer and if you are using Windows Vista open up Computer. Both can be found in the Start Menus on the default installations of each operating system. Right click on the drive in which you would like to format.

Select Format… from the drop down menu and a new dialog box should pop up giving you further options.

This box will tell you the size of the drive, the file system type, allocation unit size, an input box for the volume label and a few other options.

Disregard the first 3 settings; capacity, file system and allocation unit size. You can also not bother with Volume label and just let Windows automatically name the new drive (you can always go back and change this later).

Quick format will erase all the files on your drive without checking it for bad sectors which could cause further issues in the future if you choose to skip this and your drive does in fact have bad sectors. Unless you know for a fact that your drive is fine I would recommend leaving this unchecked and letting it run its course.

Enable compression compresses the files and folders on the new drive when they are created giving you extra space to put even more on your drive.

Create an MS-DOS startup disk is an option available should you have a floppy disk drive connected to your computer. This will create a disk for you that lets you boot up your computer so that you can install the operating system. Not needed nowadays for newer computers and operating systems as they can be installed directly from the discs that they come on.

Once you have configured all the settings, click on Start and wait. Depending upon the size of your drive and the settings you chose, it could take anywhere from 1 hour to 12+ hours.

That’s it for this guide, hopefully you were able to understand it and learned something from it. If you did, why not leave me a comment and let me know how I am doing? I enjoy knowing that I have helped others.

However, as time went on I ended up installing programs that I didn’t necessarily need to have but something that I thought would be cool to at least try out. So I would install them, try them out and never use them again if I didn’t like them. Though they would still sit on my computer, taking up space and creating even more of a mess. Eventually I took the time to go through all the programs and uninstall the ones that I wasn’t actually using.

Uninstalling A Program In Windows XP

1. Click Start, then click on Control Panel
2. Click on Add or Remove Programs
3. Scroll down in the list and find the program which you want to remove
4. Click the Remove button in the lower right hand corner
5. Follow the steps that are provided

Thats it!

Uninstalling A Program In Windows Vista

1. Click on the Windows button in the lower left hand corner of your screen
2. Click on Control Panel
3. Double click the Programs and Features icon
4. Scroll through the list and find the program that you want to remove
5. Click uninstall located in the gray bar above the list of programs
6. Follow the steps that are provided to uninstall the program

Quite easy yes?

Removing programs that you don’t use anymore on your computer can free up hard drive space as well as keeping it more organized. It can also speed up your anti-virus software when you do a scan as it has less files to check.

Seeing as both of my monitors had them I started to do some searches on the internet to try to find some solutions. I was able to find a few solutions and I know that there are quite a few monitors out there that have this problem. So instead of keeping it to myself I figured I would post it up and hopefully help out those of you looking for a fix to this problem.

Pixel Fixing Software

There are a few programs out there that you can use to try to fix a deal pixel on your LCD screen.

JScreenFix

Displays a small window that you can place over dead or stuck pixels and tries to get them working again by turning adjacent pixels both on and off at up to 60 times per second.

Dead Pixel Tester

Uses almost the same technology as JScreenFix although allows for quite a few more customizations

UDPixel

Same as the above 2 programs, works by rapidly changing the colors of the dead or stuck pixel as well as surrounding pixels

DIY Methods

There have been a few suggestions as to how to go about fixing a deal pixel yourself that people have used and have had success with.

Pressure Method

The pressure method deals with applying gentle light pressure to the stuck pixel. Basically it moves the liquid contained within your LCD screen and hopefully can reset the color of the pixel. It is suggested to use an object such as the end of a pencil or pen. Something that can provide pressure in a realitively accurate area while still remaining dull.

Applying too much pressure could end up causing even more damage to your LCD screen so take caution when trying out this method as well as the next method.

Tapping Method

Again, you can using the end of a pencil or pen to try out this method. Take the end of the object and lightly tap it against the dead or stuck pixel. This method is meant to separate the liquid from the pixel that holds it hopefully resetting it and fixing the color.

It may take a few tries to get it to work, if you have to try again make sure that you are gently increasing the force that you tap the pixel with. Tapping the LCD screen too hard could cause other pixels to end up dead or stuck as well.

Note: The above methods are to be used as a last resort. I have only provided you with some ways to fix a dead pixel. Remember to be extremely gentle and careful when trying one of the above DIY methods. You can easily cause more damage to your screen if you are not careful.

I either use it to rip songs from a new CD that I just bought or to watch DVD’s of my favorite bands live performances. Not only that, but it is almost an essential piece of hardware to have because you need it to install a new operating system on your computer as well as installing any other software or games that you buy.

I recently had to upgrade an old CD drive that was in a family members computer to a new CD/DVD drive and burner combo. The new drive was a Plextor PX-800A that also features LightScribe technology. LightScribe lets you use the laser that reads the CD/DVD to burn an image on the top of the disc allowing you to create custom graphics for a CD cover.

I documented the replacement of the drive and decided I would post it up here.

1. Setting up your project

When working with computers it is always wise to have tools at hand as most jobs require the use of a screwdriver of some type. For replacing the CD drive you will most likely only need a phillips screwdriver and of course the new drive itself.

The first thing that we want to do is turn off the power to the computer and then remove all the wires connecting to the back of the case.

Looking at the back of your computer case you should see something similar. Make sure you shut down your computer if you haven’t already from inside the operating system. Once it is shut down, flip the switch next to the plug going into the power supply. Give it a few seconds to completely kill the power and then remove the actual cord.

Once you have done that, continue removing the remaining wires that are plugged into the back of the tower. Make sure to keep an eye on certain connections as some are screwed in and pulling on them with too much force can ruin them permanently.

2. Opening up the case

You should notice a few screws along the outside back of the computer case. Most computers nowadays have a side panel for easy access but older computers sometimes have used one piece for the entire case. Inspect your case and find out which screws you need to remove to get the case off.

Once you have the case opened up look towards the front and you will find the back of the CD drive. It will most likely be held in with screws in between a structure that is designed to hold more CD drives, a floppy drive and hard drives.

Your computer may look slightly different or totally different, but that should give you a general idea. The screws you see are holding the drive in between the metal plates inside of the case. The screws are going into pre-drilled holes placed in strategic spots on the cd drive just for this purpose. It’s possible that the drive may even have 4 screws going into it.

3. Remove cables from the drive

Before removing the screws I normally disconnect the cables from the drive while it is still inside the case.

In the above picture you will notice 2 types of cables going into the CD drive. The one on the right supplies the power to the drive while the one on the left sends the data. Gently remove both of these connections from the drive, forcing them too hard could break off the pins that they use.

Once you have the cables removed from the back of the case unscrew the screws holding the drive in the computer case. Depending upon your computer’s case you can either slide the drive out through the front or you may have to push it back into the case and remove it that way.

4. Slave, Master or Cable Select

This part can be tricky so I will do my best to explain it. In the above picture you will notice that the cable on the left is going into the CD drive and also into another CD drive located above it. The other ends leads back to the motherboard. With this setup you can have 2 devices connected to one cable. The device connected to the end of the cable is known as the master and the device connected to the middle connector on the cable is know as the slave.

Looking at the above picture you can see on the back of the CD drive the settings for the drive itself. The small rectangular object is known as a jumper and is basically just a switch like you have for lights in your house. The lettering near the top of the circle; CS,SL,MA are what determine where the drive is connected on the cable. CS means cable select, SL means slave and MA means master.

In step 3 you will notice that the CD drive I replaced is connected to the middle part of the cable so it is considered the slave drive. Looking at the above image we can see that the jumper on the back of the drive is also set to be slave.

5. Setting up your new drive

Now that we have the old drive out it is time to open up the new one if you haven’t already and make sure it is ready to be put into your computer.

The above 2 pictures are of the new drive that I put into the computer. The first is the back of the CD/DVD drive combo and the 2nd picture is of the sticker located on the top of the drive. Manufacturers will sometimes place important information on these stickers because they are a lot easier to read compared to being placed on the back of the drive itself.

Looking at the back of the drive and the sticker labels we can see that the jumper for the new drive is set to master. We don’t want that, remember our old drive was set to the slave. So to fix the new drive I moved the jumper to the middle 2 prongs to make it a slave. Once you have done that the drive is ready to be placed into your computer.

6. Securing the drive and connecting cables

Place the drive back into your computer the same way you removed the old one. Align the screw holes in the computer case structure to the screw holes in the drive itself and screw in the screws. Now, when you go to plug the cables back into the drive, make sure that you are doing it correctly! The cables will only go in one way and if your force them you could ruin the new drive permanently! The cables should have notches placed in them so that they can only be inserted one way, if you find that you are having trouble plugging them back in try rotating them and see if that works.

7. A job well done

After plugging the cables back in you should be all set. Place the cover back on the computer case and being to plug the wires back into the back of the computer case. Make sure to leave the power supply cord ( the one we unplugged first ) as the very last connection. After connecting all the other wires, plug the power cord into the power supply and flip the switch back into the ON position. Turn your computer back on and you should be all set!

Your computer may or may not recognize your new drive, whether it does or doesn’t you should always install the software on the CD that came with the drive. This will ensure that your drive functions properly and the manufacturer will usually include extra software such as a video player or software to burn CD/DVDs such as was the case with this replacement.

There are a few different ways to fix your dead hard drive though and hopefully one of the following solutions will work for you.

Hard Drive Recovery Software

There are many companies out there nowadays that provide software to recover your dead hard drive. While there are many reasons as to why your hard drive may have crashed the software can try to determine just exactly what went wrong.

Kernel FAT and NTFS Data Recovery Software

Recovers deleted, corrupted or lost data from NTFS and FAT drive partitions. Recovers data from EIDE, SATA, SCSI, PAN, ZIP, IDE drives and more. Allows the recovery of hard drive data after the loss of the Master Boot Record (MBR), boot sector and FAT.

Kernel For Macintosh Data Recovery

Recovers deleted or formatted partitions as well as recovering data from Lost or Missing Mac folders. Fully supports drive types IDE, EIDE, SCSI and SATA. Preserves long file names when recovering files and folders. Can recover data from mac hard drives, CD-ROM, digital camera cards, iPods as well as many other devices.

Seagate SeaTools

Works on any Seagate/Maxtor hard drive along with all other hard drives. Tests USB, 1394, ATA (PATA/IDE), SATA and SCSI drives.

Stellar Information Systems

Specializes in Windows, Mac, Linux, Novell, Unix and iPod data recovery. If they cannot retrieve your data you pay nothing.

R-Studio File Recovery Software

Recovers files that have been deleted or when Recycle Bin has been emptied. Can recover lost files after hard drive formatting as well as when the partition structure was changed or damaged on the hard drive.

Hard Drive Recovery Experts

You may not want to buy a piece of software and instead take your dead hard drive to a certified recovery expert. Make sure you are dealing with somebody who knows what they are doing though, you might think that taking in your hard drive to your local computer store will solve all your problems. When in fact, it could cause more problems than what already exist.

It takes a lot of understanding to know exactly how a hard drive works and even more knowledge and expertise in how to fix the drive.

DriveSavers

Professional data recovery services. Utilize state of the art clean rooms increasing the chances that your data can be successfully recovered. Have heard estimates of between $1000-$2300 for recovery.

Data Recovery Experts

Hard drive, RAID, tape, flash memory and many other services. Can perform recovery on both desktop and laptop hard drives as well as digital cameras, mp3 players, cell phones and more.

CBL Tech (USA) CBL Tech (Europe)

Free evaluation of your hard drive. No cost to you if they can’t retrieve any data. Can recover deleted, overwritten corrupted files along with physically damaged hard drives.

Salvage Data Recovery Labs

Offers both hard drive recovery services as well as hard drive recovery software. Can recover files from hard drive crash/failure, water, fire, heat, smoke, power outage, virus and human error damage.

Re-Source Hardware (Australia)

10 years of experience in the industry. No charge if they cannot recover your data. Can repairs problems such as hard drive clicking, skipping, clunking, scraping, not spinning and not detecting BIOS.

Ways To Backup Your Data

Should you somehow get your drive to boot back up yourself without having to resort to sending it in you may in fact have a very limited amount of time before it shuts down again. This is why you should have a plan and be prepared ahead of time so that you can maximize your chances of retrieving important data.

• Use a USB stick drive for smaller backups (8GB or less)
• Use a USB enabled hard drive and backup your files onto that
• Backup important files onto a CD/DVD disc
• Upload important files to a file hosting website
• Send yourself an email of important files
• Hook up hard drive to another computer and attempt to retrieve files
• Use a Linux Boot CD to backup your important files – Knoppix

Data Backup Software

Once you get your hard drive up and running you will need some software to backup your files.

ViceVersa PRO USB Backup

No limit on data or file size. Free 30 day trial, works on XP,Vista,Server 2000/2003/2008,ME

FileFort Backup Software

Backup files to almost any type of media storage device. Quick, easy to use interface lets you backup files in seconds.

SmartSync Pro

Backup to any media device, ZIP compression support, multi-language interface (English, Spanish, French, German)

Do It Yourself!

Now, I would only move to this as a last resort option. There have been a few cases reported around the internet as to how to recover your dead hard drive and get it working again.

Freeze The Drive

Some people have had this work for them while others have not. If you want to try it out remove the hard drive from your computer. Place it in a Ziplock bag and stick it in your freezer, leaving it overnight if possible. Remove it from the freezer, place it back in your computer and start it up.

If you get lucky you may be able to get your drive to boot up and give you some time to recover important files. How much time is not exactly known as some people have reported 10 minutes of time up to a few hours. In any event, make sure you know beforehand exactly what files you need to back up and where they are to maximize the time that you do have.

Hit The Drive

Some have had luck with this one as well. Take the hard drive and hit it lightly against a flat surface such as a table. Make sure that whatever side of the drive hits the table is completely flush. You don’t wanna hit the corner of the hard drive on the table first. Supposedly this has a chance to potentially knock hardware inside of the drive back into place.

Of course, this could also ruin the drive permanently and give you no chance whatsoever to recover your files.

Replace The Logic Board

Others have had success with opening up the drive and replacing the logic board. The logic board is the piece of plastic that is usually green that has a whole bunch of little electronics on it. If you choose to go this route, when selecting a hard drive make sure that they are exactly the same model as well as the same firmware version.

Having a different firmware version could give you another error and will not let you access your files even though the hard drive is actually working just fine. If you decide to try this DO NOT open up the drive any further. The actual working hardware of a hard drive is extremely sensitive to dust and debris. Even a tiny spec of dust that lands on a platter could ruin the entire drive.

Replace The Hardware – NOT RECOMMENDED

You can still try this out should you know what you are doing. As I said before, even 1 spec of dust could ruin the entire drive but there have been reports of others being able to open up the drive, mess with the hardware and actually repair the drive. Of course I would have to say that these people got extremely lucky and would hazard to guess that most that try this end up completely destroying any chance of recovering any data.

Note: The above methods listed under the Do It Yourself section are a last resort option! I cannot guarantee nor do I hold any responsibility as to what happens should you try any of the particular methods that I have listed. These methods are what I have found that have worked for some and you may or may not get lucky like they did.

Of course, all of this leads down to the importance of backing up your data in the first place. Should you ever have a hard drive crash you will have a fresh backup of your data readily waiting for you. Instead of wasting money on software, experts or even trying methods yourself you can go buy a hard drive at your local computer store, install it into your computer and load the backup.

I came across some fonts that were quite different from the other fonts inside of my Fonts folder and when I tried to delete them I received the Destination Folder Access Denied error. This confused me as I was trying to delete them and essentially it was telling me that I could not access the Recycle bin. So I headed back online to try to find a solution but couldn’t find anything. After looking more into the security settings for the font files I found that the owner of them was named TrustedInstaller.

TrustedInstaller is supposedly some legacy application or group of owners in older versions of Windows. Due to the fact that the Administrator account wasn’t the group owning the font I could not delete it like you normally would. After some further inspection and trying out different combinations I eventually found a remedy to the solution. So if you have a font owned by the TrustedInstaller group and can’t delete it, follow the below steps and everything should work out.

Note: I am using Windows Vista so these steps may be different depending upon your operating system.

1. Right click on the font file, click on Properties
2. Click the Security tab, click on Advanced
3. Click on the Owner tab, click on Edit
4. Select the new group that you would like to control the file
5. Click Apply, if you receive a popup message click OK again
6. You should be back at the Advanced Security Settings window with the Owner tab selected
7. Click OK, if you receive a popup message click OK again
8. You should now be back at the file’s Properties window
9. Click Edit, select the group that you would like to give full control of the file
10. Select the Allow checkbox for the Full control option, click Apply
11. Click OK, you should now be back at the file Properties window, click OK to exit
12. Delete the file

Even worse is finding a qualified individual or company to fix your computer for you. What if you could fix your computer yourself? You would end up saving time and money and wouldn’t have to wonder when your computer would be ready. Some people use their computers for running a business from home and when they break down they need them fixed ASAP. They can’t afford to wait around for a technician to come around or to send their computer off to some store.

A smart individual would learn how to fix a computer to avoid the hassle. You are a smart person aren’t you? Of course you are! Everybody young and old has the ability to fix a computer you just have to know how. And that is what the guide I am about to tell you about will do. This guide has everything you ever wanted to know about fixing and repairing your home computer. After reading this guide you will have the confidence to repair your own computer and even your friend’s computers! No longer do they have to spend their hard earned money when you can help them instead.

This guide was written for the everyday computer user in mind. You won’t find technical jargon inside confusing you on what to do. This guide will teach you everything from how to repair your laptop, protect your computer from viruses, securing your computer against hackers and how to backup your hard drive. This guide is comprised of over 350 pages and 100 illustrations showing you how to easily and quickly fix even the most difficult problems.

Click here to learn even more about this great guide.