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Tech Guides for Everyone

Perform a Disk Check on Windows Vista

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwBViC0PFEg]

Sometimes it’s necessary to run a Windows Vista Disk Check if your hard drive and/or system is throwing up errors, crashing/freezing or constantly accessing the hard drive (and therefore slowing the system down). It can take a while but it will be well worth your time and solves many issues. It’s also pretty easy and I will show you how in this guide.

Watch the video above or follow the text guide below.

Perform Disk Check on Windows Vista

  1. Click on the Start Menu Windows Vista Start Button icon bottom-left
  2. Click on the Computer menu item
  3. Look for "Local Disk (C:)" or "System Drive (C:)" under Hard Disk Drives
  4. Right-click on the drive icon and choose Properties
  5. Click on the Tools tab
  6. Click the Check Now… button under Error Checking, then Continue
  7. Check the "Automatically fix file system errors" checkbox
  8. Check the "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" checkbox
  9. Now click the Start button, if an alert pops up, click Schedule disk check
  10. Restart your computer (do not press any keys or "skip disk check")
  11. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours so be patient
  12. Your PC will return to logon screen when completed
  13. All done!

Perform a Disk Check on Windows XP

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aacAdp2jVz8]

Sometimes it’s necessary to run a Windows XP Disk Check if your hard drive and/or system is throwing up errors, crashing/freezing or constantly accessing the hard drive (and therefore slowing the system down). It can take a while but it will be well worth your time and solves many issues. It’s also pretty easy and I will show you how in this guide.

Watch the video above or follow the text guide below.

Perform Disk Check on Windows XP

  1. Click on the Start Menu Windows XP Start Button icon bottom-left
  2. Click on the My Computer menu item
  3. Look for "Local Disk (C:)" or "System Drive (C:)" under Hard Disk Drives
  4. Right-click on the drive icon and choose Properties
  5. Click on the Tools tab
  6. Now click the Check Now… button under Error Checking
  7. Check the "Automatically fix file system errors" checkbox
  8. Check the "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" checkbox
  9. Now click the Start button, if an alert pops up, click Yes
  10. Restart your computer (do not press any keys or "skip disk check")
  11. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours so be patient
  12. Your PC will return to logon screen when completed
  13. All done!

Fix overheating laptop or desktop (Windows XP)

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDEA7NzEUpM]

Overheating issues on Windows XP are frustrating, and while common among laptops, desktops can also fall victim. Today I will show you a neat trick to reduce or stop overheating in its tracks.

I will presume you have already done the following?

  • Clean all air vents, fans & filters
  • All Windows Updates installed
  • Virus Scanned & infections removed
  • Malware scanned & infections removed

If you’ve checked those issues and you’re still having overheating issues and shutdowns, follow text guide below or watch the video above.

NOTE* Windows XP has very basic options for CPU power management (Windows Vista, 7 and 8 give you direct control of the CPU throttle) so my advice is to try option 1 below first, if that doesn’t work then try option 2, if that doesn’t work I have included some links to software and articles about power management in Windows XP..

Fix overheating issues on Windows XP

Option 1

  1. Click on the Start Menu Windows XP Start Button button bottom left
  2. Click on Control Panel menu item, the click the Power Options icon
  3. The Power Options Properties window should now be open
  4. Choose the Minimal Power Management option from the drop down list
  5. Click on Apply and then OK to close the window
  6. All done!

Option 2

  1. Click on the Start Menu Windows XP Start Button button bottom left
  2. Click on Control Panel menu item, the click the Power Options icon
  3. The Power Options Properties window should now be open
  4. Choose the Presentation option from the drop down list
  5. Click on Apply and then OK to close the window
  6. All done!

There are a number of apps and articles available to control Windows XP power schemes if the above options don’t help, listed below.

Optimal settings for CCleaner

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5PD9rwfB9I]

CCleaner is by far the best tool for Windows optimization & cleanup. I use it on all my client machines and in this video, I’ll show you which settings you need to select to get the most out of CCleaner.

Watch the video above or follow the text guide below.

Optimal settings for CCleaner

  1. Open CCleaner
  2. Reset CCleaner to default settings: Options > Advanced > Restore default settings
  3. Click the Cleaner icon
  4. Under Advanced, check Old prefetch data and ISS log files options
  5. Now click the Run Cleaner button bottom-right
  6. Wait until the green bar has reached 100%
  7. Now click on the Registry icon, leave everything checked (default)
  8. Click the Scan for issues button, then wait until the green bar reaches 100%
  9. Click the Fix selected issues button bottom-right
  10. Click Yes to Backup registry settings dialog, then Save, then Fix all issues button
  11. Close CCleaner and restart your PC, all done!

Password Manager guide

Managing your passwords is messy and complicated however, making use of a Password Manager can free you from the mess while keeping a high degree of security. If you are still using the same password for everything (like sunshine, princess, monkey or god-forbid admin) then you are putting yourself in danger of being hacked, your personal data stolen, and possible financial ruin. It is more important than ever to secure your personal and financial data, and using a Password Manager is the best way to go. There are [Read more…]