Ricmedia PC Help

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!

Fix overheating laptop or desktop (Windows Vista)

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjDfXWZ8-5I]

Overheating issues on Windows Vista are frustrating, and while common among laptops, desktops can also fall victim. Fortunately Windows Vista has direct settings for throttling the CPU and I’ll show you how to use this feature in this guide.

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.

Fix overheating issues on Windows Vista

  1. Click on the Start Button Windows Vista Start Button bottom-left of your screen
  2. Click on the System and Maintenance heading
  3. Now click the Power Options heading
  4. Make sure the Balanced option is selected, then click Change plan settings
  5. Now click the Change advanced plan settings link
  6. Expand + the Processor power management option (if your CPU supports it)
  7. Expand + the Maximum processor state option
  8. Click the blue text then set the option to 90% and click Apply
  9. Now click OK to close the Power Options window
  10. Restart your PC
  11. All done!
  12. NOTE* If you’re still having issues, repeat the guide and choose 80%, then 70% etc until your computer stops overheating.
  13. NOTE 2* If you do not have the Processor power management option, your CPU doesn’t support throttling.

Change homepage in Internet Explorer (XP, Vista, 7)

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkonXxXS2sE]

Today I will show you how to change your homepage in Internet Explorer running on XP, Vista or 7 and it’s pretty straight forward too. Did you know you can also have multiple homepages open on startup? A handy feature for news junkies.

Watch the video above or follow the text guide below.

Change your homepage in Internet Explorer (XP, Vista, 7)

  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Click on the Gear icon IE Tools icon at the top-right of your browser window
  3. Click on the Internet Options menu item
  4. The Internet Options window should now be open, select the General tab
  5. Look for the Home Page heading near the top
  6. Enter URL web addresses into the text-box, one per line (hit enter for new line)
  7. URL format is: http://www.google.com/ replacing google with the web address
  8. Now look for the Startup heading (just below the text-box)
  9. Make sure the Start with home page option is selected
  10. When you’ve finished, click OK to close the Internet Options window
  11. Restart Internet Explorer to test if your homepages appear on startup.
  12. You’re all done!

Reset Firefox to default settings (WIN)

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

Occasionally you may need to reset Firefox (on Windows) back to its default settings to get it working again. It’s reasonably easy and I’ll show you how in this guide.

Watch the video above or follow the text guide below.

Reset Firefox back to default settings

  1. Open Firefox
  2. Click on the Settings Menu icon Firefox settings icon at the top-right of the browser window
  3. Look for the question mark (?) icon and click it on
  4. Click on the Troubleshooting Information menu item
  5. There should now be a Reset Firefox… button on the page, click it on
  6. Now click on the Reset Firefox button on the pop-up window
  7. Firefox will now reset back to default settings and alert you when it’s finished
  8. Firefox will restart automatically
  9. You’re all done!