Christopher Null offers 21 solutions to the most common problems affecting Windows 7, Vista and XP
Windows doesn't always work the way you want it to. The operating system (OS) has its own quirky methods of getting things done. And sometimes, it breaks down. Tweaking the OS and fixing such issues keeps consultants employed and magazines like PC Advisor in business. But not everything requires expert advice. With that in mind, we offer this collection of five-minute fixes - a broad range of tweaks, upgrades and how-tos for some of your PC's most aggravating problems. Share files between home PCs Time required: 5 minutes Homegroups is the easiest and fastest way to network Windows 7 PCs together. Open the Homegroups Control Panel on the PC from which you want to share the file. If a Homegroup doesn't already exist, click 'Create a Homegroup'. Choose the file types you'd like to share and click Next. You'll receive a password for the Homegroup. Make a note of it. Allow Windows to update everything then, on the other computer, open the Homegroups Control Panel. You should see the Homegroup you just created. Click 'Join now', then follow the wizard. To find shared files, look for your Homegroup in Windows Explorer's left pane. Other networked PCs will be listed there, and the shared files will appear on the right. Should you ever wish to change your Homegroup password, open the Homegroups Control Panel on a machine that's already in the group and click 'Change the password'. Access Mac files on a Windows 7 PC Time required: 2 minutes On the Mac, visit System Preferences, Network and click Advanced. Click the WINS tab. Change the 'Workgroup' setting to the same Workgroup your PCs use. If you're not sure of the name, you can find this setting in your PC's System Control Panel. Click Ok. Still in System Preferences, open Sharing and select the 'File Sharing' option. In the Shared Folders pane, select the folders you wish to share. In the Users pane, give rights to each folder as appropriate, assigning either 'Read Only' or 'Read & Write' to the 'Everyone' group. Next, click Options and select the option to 'Share files and folders using SMB'. Click Done. In System Preferences, open Accounts. Click the padlock, then choose 'Guest Account' in the left pane. Select 'Allow guests to connect to shared folders'. For more details on sharing resources across a cross-platform home network, see the Extend Homegroups to all Troubleshooter on our DVD. Stop AutoPlay irritations Time required: 2 minutes You probably plug all kinds of devices into your PC. Each opens a Windows AutoPlay pop-up, which can quickly get annoying. To disable AutoPlay for an individual device, plug in the device and allow its drivers to install. The AutoPlay window will pop up. Close it by clicking the X. Disconnect the device, then plug it back in. The AutoPlay window will pop up again. Click 'View more AutoPlay options in Control Panel'. At the bottom of the screen, you'll see your newly connected device. Change 'Choose a default' to 'Take no action'. Click Save. This option will not be available the first time you connect a device, hence the requirement to plug in, disconnect and reconnect the device. To turn off AutoPlay for all devices, deselect 'Use AutoPlay for all media and devices' in the 'View more AutoPlay options' screen. Kill a stuck program Time required: 30 seconds If a program isn't responding, you can terminate it using the Windows Task Manager. Press Ctrl, Alt, Del. Choose Start Task Manager and select the Processes tab. To identify the offending process, click the Memory header to order the list by which process is using the most RAM. Chances are, your crashed application will be at or near the top of this list. Click the process that has died and choose End Process. Troubleshoot audio problems Time required: 5 minutes If your PC refuses to play sounds, try the following steps. First, reboot the PC. Ensure the audio isn't muted via hardware. Press any external mute buttons (such as on the keyboard), confirm the speakers are turned on, and turn the volume halfway up. Test it by playing a song. If that doesn't work, check Windows settings. Left-click the volume icon in the System Tray and verify the audio isn't muted and is turned up. Right-click the volume icon and choose 'Open Volume Mixer'. Ensure all options are on and turned up. If the internal speakers still aren't working, plug headphones into the audio jack and test again. If you can hear audio through the headphones, unplug them and continue troubleshooting the PC's speakers. Next, right-click the volume icon and choose 'Playback devices'. Confirm that your audio device has a green tick next to it. Click Properties and make sure that 'Use this device (enable)' is selected. If you still can't hear any sound, you may have a missing or corrupt driver for your audio controller. Uninstall the driver by opening the Device Manager (enter device manager in the Start menu Search box), going to 'Sound, video and game controllers', selecting the audio controller and pressing Del. Reboot the system and allow Windows to reinstall the driver. If it doesn't do so automatically, download the driver from your PC maker or audio card manufacturer's site and reinstall it manually. Uninstall an application Time required: 5 minutes Removing every last trace of an old program can be a pain. Start with the obvious option: open the 'Programs and Features' Control Panel, select the application you don't want, and click Uninstall. You may need to reboot. If the program has associated parts (plug-ins, toolbars, ActiveX components and so on), uninstall them too, following the above instructions. If an application won't uninstall, don't edit the Registry - doing so may cause more harm than good. If you installed the program recently, try rolling back your PC with System Restore to get rid of it. You'll find this function under Accessories, System Tools. If that doesn't work, try the Revo Uninstaller (the free version can be downloaded from tinyurl.com/36ah5z8). Remap a keyboard Time required: 3 minutes Download and install the free KeyTweak application ( tinyurl.com/6385zpv), which works with all versions of Windows. Run the application. Click 'Full Teach Mode' to remap one key to another, pressing the original key and the one you want to assign to it in sequence. A laptop's Fn key normally cannot be remapped, so if you want to swap Fn and Ctrl (a common tweak) you'll have to check for the option in the PC's Bios. Roll back a bad driver Time required: 4 minutes Updating your machine's drivers keeps the system current on bug fixes and support for new features. It can also break things, however. If your PC is crashing or behaving strangely after applying a new patch, revert to an older version and see if that helps. Open the Device Manager Control Panel and browse to the device whose driver you want to roll back. Double-click the device in question. On the Properties screen, click the Driver tab. Click 'Roll Back Driver' and follow the wizard to revert to the previously loaded driver. A restart will be required. If the option is greyed out, an older driver is not available. If you know that the driver has been updated, you may be able to recover it by using System Restore. Remove Office AutoCorrect entries Time required: 30 seconds If you don't want '...' to become an ellipsis or '---' to turn into a page-wide horizontal line, or if you dislike any other automatic 'corrections' that Microsoft Office performs by default, follow these steps. Type the word or character sequence you want to change and stop typing immediately once the auto-correction has taken place. You will see a small icon with a lightning bolt appear next to the correction. Click the box and select the second option in the menu. That option's text changes will depend on the specific correction. For example, it will read 'Stop automatically creating bulleted lists' when you type a > symbol. Selecting this menu item once will terminate the auto-correction behaviour permanently. For more detailed AutoCorrect settings, or to remove specific words from Office's list of automatic typo fixes, click the Office button and go to Word Options, Proofing, AutoCorrect Options. Decipher a bizarre error message Time required: 5 minutes Assuming the error hasn't crashed your PC, write down the exact text of the message. If it has rendered your PC unusable, use a different system so you can keep it on screen. The key to tracking down a fix is to remember that you're unlikely to be the first person to have ever encountered this problem, but it is probably rare enough that standard help files and Microsoft support won't be of use. Search the web for the exact text in the error message, in quotes. For example, type in 'Error loading cmicnfg.cpl. The specified module could not be found'. >From that point your research will be a little more esoteric, but click through the results for advice. In our example, just a couple of minutes of research will provide the probable culprit - a bad audio driver - as well as a credible solution. Bypass Windows Login Time required: 3 minutes If you're the only one who uses your PC and aren't worried about it (or your data) falling into someone else's hands, you may not need the protection the login screen provides. Here's how to turn it off. Open the User Accounts Control Panel. Delete any unused accounts that are not your primary, personal account. (Click 'Manage another account', choose the other accounts, and select 'Delete the account'.) You can ignore the Guest account, which is probably turned off. At the main User Accounts screen, ensure that your primary account is active. Click 'Change your password'. Enter your old password where required and leave your new password blank. Reboot your machine, and it will load Windows without presenting the login screen. Just remember that you are compromising your system's security by operating it without a password. Restore Office 2003-style menus Time required: 3 minutes If you've never warmed to the ribbon menu used in Office 2007 and 2010, you can regain the classic look with a simple download. UBitMenu ( tinyurl.com/Lhwnqv) is free. Compress a folder Time required: 30 seconds You can dramatically shrink folders that contain uncompressed graphics, large documents and other file types by compressing them. Right-click on the file or folder, click 'Send to', and select 'Compressed (zipped) folder'. Files added to the compressed folder will be automatically compressed. Don't forget to delete the original folder. Boot from a DVD Time required: 30 seconds To reinstall Windows or access repair tools loaded on your recovery disc, you'll need to boot the computer from the DVD drive instead of the hard drive. Insert the DVD with Windows running, then reboot. Watch the onscreen text carefully during bootup, and press the correct key when you see 'Select boot device', 'Change boot order' or a similar instruction. The key will likely be Esc, F10 or F12. If you miss it, reboot and try again. Once you're in the menu, choose your optical drive using the arrow keys, and press Enter. You will soon see a message that reads 'Press Enter to boot from CD' (or something similar). If you don't press the right button at this point, the system will proceed with booting normally from the hard drive. Update the 'Normal' Style in Microsoft Word Time required: 2 minutes Create a block of text using the style that you wish to appear as 'Normal' - the default font and paragraph style that Word will use whenever you create a new document. Set the paragraph styling as well as the text's font and size. Select something within the block of text you've just typed, right-click it, then choose Paragraph. Now set the line spacing, indentation and alignment. Next, select some of the finished text, right-click it, and select Styles. Click 'Update Normal to match selection'. Finally, to make this style permanent for new documents, in the Word ribbon click 'Change styles and set as default'. Disable Windows 7 balloon pop-ups Time required: 30 seconds Windows 7 users who find balloon notifications that pop up in the corner of the screen irritating can quickly get some relief. Type action center in the Start menu Search box. Click 'Change Action Center settings'. Clear the boxes for the categories to be suppressed. Deselecting everything will suppress all Windows-originated pop-ups. Troubleshoot Network Outages Time required: 5 minutes Numerous circumstances can cause your network to go dark. These tips presume trouble with wireless networking but largely apply to wired networking, too. If you use a USB-connected networking device, unplug it and then plug it back in. USB Wi-Fi sticks are notoriously finicky. Next, reboot your router by unplugging it, waiting 30 seconds, then plugging it back in. You may want to reboot your PC while you wait. This procedure will fix the vast majority of lost-network problems. If our suggested fix doesn't work, check whether other PCs on the network can access the web. If not, your ISP may be having an outage. Try rebooting the router. Also, check your machine's IP address to make sure that the router is properly configured. Go to the Command Prompt by typing CMD in the Start menu Search box. Next, type ipconfig /all. From there, find the proper adaptor and look at the 'IPv4 Address' item. If you have a typical home setup, the first three numbers (separated by full stops) should be the same as those of the DHCP Server. If not, you may need to reconfigure or reset your router, which could have become corrupted. If you're using a software firewall, it might be interfering with network access. Try turning it off in the Control Panel. Finally, if you're on a wireless network, try plugging in an ethernet cable and connecting your PC directly to the router. If this works, you may have a problem with the wireless adaptor's driver. Try downloading a new driver from your PC maker's site. Turn off automatic reboots Time required: 2 minutes Windows invariably decides to reboot itself after Windows Update does its thing. You can prevent auto reboots by changing Windows Update from automatic to manual. Open the Windows Update Control Panel and click 'Change settings'. Select 'Never check for updates (not recommended)' from the drop-down menu. The other options are not as reliable in suppressing auto-reboots. To keep yourself from forgetting to run Windows Update periodically, set a recurring item in your calendar to check the service every week or two. You can also address the problem using Windows' Local Group Policy Editor. Open the editor by typing group policy into the Start menu Search box. Click 'Edit group policy'. In the left pane of the window, click Local Computer Policy, Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Update. In the right pane, right-click 'No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations' and select Edit. Change the setting to Enabled and click Ok. Do the same for 'Delay Restart for scheduled installations' in the previous pane. Open programs in XP Mode Time required: 4 minutes A few very old programs won't run under Windows 7, but you can tweak it to act like an older OS with a few simple clicks. First, right-click the application in question and click 'Troubleshoot compatibility'. Select 'Troubleshoot program at the next prompt', then tick 'I don't see my problem listed' (or choose the actual problem if one is a match). In the next screen, try selecting XP or venturing even further back to Windows 98 or 95 if you need to. Click 'I don't see my problem listed' or select the best match again. Windows 7 will then emulate the older OS. Use the 'Start the program' button to test whether it works, then click Next. If everything worked, click 'Yes, save these settings for this program'. Otherwise, click 'No, try again using different settings' to give it another shot. Delete Outlook autocomplete addresses Time required: 3 seconds As you type in a message's 'To:' field, is Outlook automatically suggesting something by filling in an email address that is incorrect or otherwise no longer useful? You can get rid of it simply by scrolling down the suggested list and pressing Del. Diagnose a PC that won't turn on Time required: More than 5 minutes There's no easy way to determine exactly why a PC won't boot up (we're assuming that you've tried booting from an optical drive or a bootable USB disk, and it failed). The following steps cover the most common hardware reasons a PC won't load Windows. First, check all the external cables, including the power cable. Confirm your monitor is turned on. Do you hear beeps while the PC tries to boot? Write down the sequence of beeps (for instance, one long, three short) and search the web on a friend's PC to establish their meaning. If you know the manufacturer of your Bios, that will simplify the search. For example, try a search for 'Phoenix 1-2-2-3 beep code' (for a PhoenixBIOS PC with a pattern of one beep, two beeps, two beeps, three beeps); in this case, you'll see the PC has probably experienced a motherboard hardware failure. If your PC doesn't produce beeps, open the case and check the internal cables (especially those from the power supply or linking the hard drive to the motherboard) are properly connected. Make sure the RAM is properly seated; remove and reinsert it, and try booting with one RAM stick at a time. If you have a spare RAM module or two, try subbing them in. Your power supply may have failed. Try connecting a spare power supply to your system and see if the PC will boot. Don't be tricked by whirring fans: a power supply may have enough juice to keep the fans going, but not enough to power everything else. If your PC has a dedicated graphics card, try removing it and attaching the monitor to the integrated graphics connector. Finally, if all of the above steps fail, you're probably dealing with a bad motherboard or (less likely) a fried CPU. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
