Second Hard Drive Install

Need that extra bit of space for your pc? It is easier than you think and does not require too much work. I expect that you will start this process by purchasing a new hard drive. (Note: this process is for if you are using a SATA Hard drive and SAT [not SAT4 ports.])

Step1

Note that this image is for an example and does not depict your exact hard drive. Setup.
To start with, you will need to reconfigure your jumper settings on both of your hard drives. Most all hard drives have a label on it with the jumper settings. Now, look at the back of your hard drive for the jumper settings. Lets start with your master (existing) hard drive. Your jumper should already be set to "master" or "Single." Remove the jumper being very careful not to bend the pins. Now, on the diagram of the jumper settings, locate the placement for "master with slave." Place the jumper to this specification. Now, for the slave, (new second hard drive) you will need to do the same as the other hard drive except you will need to place the jumper in the setting for "slave" or "secondary."

Step2

Install.
Assuming you already have the computer open, locate on your motherboard the open SATA ports. This can be done by following the smaller of the cords connected to your current hard drive the other end. If you have an open slot, connect your SATA cable to the motherboard (please make note of the number port you are using for future steps, SATA 1, SATA 0, SATA 2 etc...) and then to your hard drive. Now, you will need to connect your power supply to your hard drive. Find an empty extension from the power cord coming from your computer's power supply (big box with tons of wires coming out) and connect it to your hard drive. Now you are ready to install the hard drive into place. Drive the proper screws into the hard drive to attach it to your frame. Now, close the computer.

Step3

Configure.
Most computers will not need to worry about this step but I know that mine did so I will provide to you this information. When you are ready, start up the computer and go to setup. (usually on the boot screen by pushing F2 or Del etc...) Now, this next step depends on your BIOS system. Navigate to your drives and make sure that the SATA port you plugged your slave drive into is turned on. Note: the number I had you take notice of when installing the hard drive.

• Attempt only if you have some basic knowledge of computer hardware.
• Remove the static from your body before touching your hard drive or any other electronical hardware. You can do this by touching any metal part of your computer frame.
• Do not touch any electronical hardware to ANY of your clothing, therefore, definitely do not use gloves to install your drive.
• Make sure you are not using a magnetic screwdriver or other tool as magnets cause shorting of circuits and boards and will cause computer failure.

Identify Unknown Files in your Computer

Sometimes you may come across unknown files on your computer. They may be found by accident when you are cleaning up your folders or Desktop. Often someone emails you a file that you can't identify. It can be difficult for Windows to open a file if it can't tell what program created it. Here are some things you can try to identify and open mystery files.

Step1

Get more information about the file from the person who sent it to you. If you need a program that you don't currently have to open the file, download it from the software manufacturer's website.

Step2

Open various programs installed on your computer, especially ones that you don't use very often. Go to "File" and select "Open" from the menu. If there is a box at the bottom of the window specifying the file type, change it to "All Files." Browse to the mystery file and try to open it. If you get an error message, hit "Cancel."

Step3

Right-click on the filename. Select "Open With." Select "Choose Program." Browse to "Notepad." If the file is text based, it should open in Notepad. If not, try a graphics program, like Windows Paint, and a media program, like Windows Media Player.

Step4

Send the file to a friend who has a different operating system than you, like Unix or Mac. Ask your friend to try to open it.

Step5

Open your Internet browser. Go to a search engine like Google or Yahoo. Type in the file's extension (the three or four letters at the end of the filename after the period). Follow links in the search results to try to figure out what type of file it is.

Step6

Go to the "WhatIsThatFile" or "Filext" website. Type in the file's extension in the search box.

Run Software Automatically when Windows Starts Up

Step1

Menu Right click on "Start" this will bring up a popup menu. On the popup menu click the option "Explore". This brings up a windows explorer.

Step2

C:\ Drive In your windows explorer, find your "C:\" drive. Double click on the "C:\" drive to expand all of the folders underneath.

Step3

Documents and Settings Locate the "Documents and Settings" folder and double click on that to expand the file menu tree.

Step4

My Folder Now locate the folder that corresponds to your name. Double click on it to expand this folder even further.

Step5

Start Menu Double click on the folder labeled "Start Menu" so you can expand it.

Step6

Programs Double click on the folder labeled "Programs" so you can expand it.

Step7

Startup Notice you see the folder labled "Start up". In there you will place shortcuts of your programs. Notice how I have a shortcut to my email program and my messenger program in there. A shortcut is all you need. If I were to reboot my machine, those two programs would run automatically. If I ever wanted to undo this I would simply come back to this folder and delete those shortcuts.

Make your computer to perform run better and faster

As someone who's taught computers and business, I'll give you some great advice to making your computer run even better and faster.

Step1

Clean out temporary files

Whenever you surf the Internet, there are tons of files that are downloaded behind the scenes onto your computer. These can really mount up and slow things down! So I suggest you clean these files out and remove them. Fortunately, Windows has a neat little utility program that will do this for you.

a) Click on the Start menu
b) Click on Programs
c) Click on Accessories
d) Click on System Tools
e) Click on Disk Cleanup

A dialog box will open with several boxes that will be checked. Make sure the one that says Temporary Internet Files is checked! If not, click your mouse in that box until you see a checkmark. Then click OK.

FYI: The dialog screen will show you how much space you'll regain after those files are removed. And depending upon what you've been doing, it can be quite a lot!

I suggest you run this every time you surf the Internet and are done. That's when most of those "hidden" files will download and take up space on your machine.

Step2

** Organize desktop icons **

One thing I used to tell my computer students is this. When you have tons and tons of icons all over your desktop, Windows will eventually begin to lose track. And this can slow down your machine! Most are shocked and amazed when they hear this because they didn't know. Now you do!

So try to minimize how many icons you have on your desktop. For example, with my dad's computer, I moved some into folders on the desktop. This way, he stll had access to what he wanted. And the number of icons on the actual desktop was reduced.

A good suggestion is this. Any icons you don't or rarely use can be put into a folder called Misc or Miscellaneous. This way, you're not deleting them. You're merely moving them into a folder that you can access whenever you need to.

TIP: A good way to know when you really need to do this is when you see icons changing their appearance when Windows loads or shuts down. That's because Windows is beginning to lose track of them and eventually will.

Step3

Watch hard drive space

One of the most common ways people get their computers to slow down is when you begin to run low on hard drive space. So what's the problem? The problem is Windows really needs more available space in order to run more efficiently. And when that extra space isn't there, performance suffers!

FYI: This also applies to removable drives like flashdrives!

For example, if you have a 2 gig flashdrive and there's only 3 megs left, you may see it taking longer to load and access files. That's because Windows says there's not a lot of room left.

I suggest you remove files and programs you really don't need or rarely use. You can also compress various files and folders in order to conserve space.

FYI: In general, games can very easily fill up space! Many people have lots of games on their machines. And these games today can be very large in terms of how much space they require. So if you have a lot of games on there, make sure you have enough room left to keep your machine running faster and better.

TIP: A general rule I like to suggest is this. Whenever your free space gets to 10% or less of your total hard drive size, that's when performance will often really begin to suffer.

Get To The Control Panel In XP fast

The control panel is one of those useful tools that you want to get to quickly and efficiently. Especially when you are pressed for time, below are some simple shortcuts that I’ve used to get to the files that I need ASAP.

Step1

Your control panel has a list of applets that end in the extension .cpl these applets allow you to open up things like the ADD/REMOVE FOLDERS, OR MOUSE PROPERTIES etc. A lot of people don’t know that if you open up a run prompt and type in the specified applet name you can get to the tool instantaneously.

Step2

To open up a run prompt start by CLICKING THE WINDOWS BUTTON + R YOU SHOULD GET A RUN PROMPT dialog box.

Step3

CLICK TO ENLARGE From there type in any of the extensions I’ve that are listed in the image and hit enter. It should bring you exactly to the screen you are looking for without all the troublesome clicking. When you figure this out it's amazing how much it speeds up your productivity and saves you time. The only cumbersome thing is remembering the file name an extensions. Try it out you'll realize its worth the time to memorize it.

Get Best Help When Calling for Technical Support

Just as it is the job of a tech support rep to help you troubleshoot a problem, it is also your job as the caller to do certain things to facilitate the process. If you follow certain basic steps, what might have been a 30-minute, highly-frustrating call could instead be a friendly, 5-minute call which efficiently solves your problem. This article offers some steps to achieve that. It assumes you are having a computer issue, but is easily extended to any other type of technical issue, such as one that involves an appliance or other device.

Step1

Before calling for support, make sure that you have tried some basic things on your own. If you're dealing with a computer problem such as not being able to bold some text in Word, simply take a deep breath and try it again. If it now works, it doesn't mean that your copy of Word "is going crazy," it just means that you were doing something wrong.

Step2

If your computer won't turn on, check for basic things such as whether it's plugged in to a working outlet and turned on. Make sure your monitor is turned on and connected. If your keyboard or mouse aren't working, make sure they plugged in to the computer. Check all cables to make sure they are properly connected.

Step3

Ctrl-Alt-Del Before calling, try rebooting your computer, either via Ctrl-Alt-Del or your system's equivalent. If all else fails, simply shut it off, wait 15 seconds, and turn it back on (i.e., hard or cold reboot). For other computer equipment, try unplugging it for 15 seconds and plugging it back in. Just doing those steps resolves the vast majority of problems.

Step4

If those steps don't solve your problem, and you need to call for support, be friendly with the rep at all times. S/he is a human being just like you are. Even though s/he is required to provide you with help, you will have a much better experience if you are friendly and courteous. If you are not, s/he could easily rush you off the phone instead of taking the extra time to make sure that your situation is truly resolved. If you are friendly, s/he might even take an extra moment to give you some special tips to avoid having the same situation in the future. Conversely, if you are rude or disrespectful, s/he may have the right to refuse you service.

Step5

Remember that the rep isn't involved with corporate policy or staffing issues. It's not his/her fault if you were kept on hold for a long time. S/he just picks up the call when the help desk software assigns it to him/her. S/he also might be required to obtain lots of information from you at the start of the conversation, even though you just want a simple question answered. Don’t get huffy with the rep for following his/her procedures.

Step6

The rep may be physically located outside the country, and may not speak English as a first language. Don't go out of your way to use big words or colloquialisms in an effort to justify your standpoint that such jobs are better kept in the US. You're not proving anything to anyone. The phone connection might not be ideal either. None of this is the fault of the rep. If you are encountering a communication barrier, do you best to speak slowly and clearly, and be as patient as you can.

Step7

If you are a novice or advanced user, inform the rep of such. By telling the rep you are a novice, s/he is likely to be more patient with you, and will explain steps in greater detail. If you are advanced, you can move through the conversation much more quickly if the rep knows that s/he can give you instructions in larger chunks, and doesn't have to tell you how to move your mouse cursor, etc.

Step8

Let the rep lead the conversation. S/he will start by asking you to describe your situation. Describe it as accurately as you can, taking into account that the rep is not there with you. Don't just babble, "I'm trying to click on my screen button but it's not clicking and I see something that's flashing and it says OK but the K is chopped off and wait a second let me just try something here…" That doesn't help the rep.

If you have an error message on your screen, don't ad lib. Read it slowly, word for word, including every number or symbol that you see. Every situation is different, but just do your very best to calmly and carefully describe what is going on. Include every single thing that you've done up to that point and everything that you are seeing.

Step9

Use your common sense. If your monitor won't turn on, don't call and say, "I can't get into Microsoft Excel." That is not your problem, and it is irrelevant that it happens to be Excel that you wanted to use. Your problem is that your monitor will not turn on, and therefore you can't get into anything at all, let alone Excel. You will waste several minutes while the rep asks you to try clicking on the Excel icon, and then you'll just say that you don't see it, and then s/he'll try to help you find it, all while you're staring at a black screen.

Step10

Be fully honest. If you know that you screwed something up, such as having deleted all of your data, don't just call and say, "I can't see any of my files. They're not on the screen and I don't know why because I was just using them." The truth is going to come out anyway, and if you're honest, the rep might actually have the means of rescuing you from your situation before it ever gets to your boss or your spouse.

Also don't fib if it turns out that you did something silly like kick the plug out from under your desk. Your support rep needs to track what is going on, and that is difficult if s/he can't determine if your system is truly having intermittent failures, or if it was something on your part.

Step11

It's very important that you do exactly what the rep tells you to do--nothing more and nothing less. As you are following his/her instructions, echo back everything you are doing so that the rep can follow along. If you don’t understand a step, say so. If you're not seeing something that the rep says you should be seeing, or if nothing seems to have happened, inform him/her. The conversation is going to be very long and unpleasant if you go off on your own tangents during the call in an attempt to solve the problem by yourself. The rep will simply have no idea what you've done, or what is on your screen, and s/he'll have to get you back to a starting point where s/he can again try to help you.

Step12

By following these steps you should be able to get your technical problem resolved quickly, efficiently, and painlessly. Good luck, and remember that if all else fails, reboot your computer and use the three minutes of downtime to take some deep breaths and/or pee.

Get Rid of a Trojan Downloader Virus

Trojans are viruses that masquerade as legitimate programs and then wreak havoc once they're installed. In this eHow article, you will learn how to remove them.

Step1

The first thing you must do is install anti-virus and anti-spyware software, which are available at computer stores and online websites. There are paid and free versions of both anti-virus software (like Norton and AVG) and anti-spyware software (like McAfee Security Suite and Spybot Search and Destroy). The free software often works as well as the paid software, so keep that in mind.

Step2

Once the software is installed, make sure that it's updated. Because each software is different, it's outside the scope of this article to describe exactly how to update the software, but most security software has rather prominent "Update" buttons integrated with the main interface.

Note: some Trojans will prevent security software from running. If this is the case, plug a high-capacity USB drive into a separate clean computer and install the software onto the USB drive.

Step3

Once the software has been installed and updated, start the scans by clicking the relevant "Scan" buttons in the software. Wait until the scans are completed; if you interrupt them, they may not completely delete the virus. Furthermore, make sure to scan external USB drives and flash drives, as these can carry viruses between computers.

Step4

Once the trojan is gone, you must prevent re-infection by following good habits. Don't open e-mail attachments from unknown persons and don't install unknown files.