Avoiding Computer Crashes: Some Things You Can Do
The easiest way to avoid computer crashes is to make no changes to your computer: don't add any new software or new hardware. That answer, however, is not realistic peripherals breakdown, new ones are needed, new programs have features that make them much better than their predecessors. But there are still many things that you can do and some basic rules to follow.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it! If you're happy with your Windows 98 software, and that old printer is chugging along just fine, why change?
An exception to the above is when the software program you're using is really old. Your computer will be happier and work better with applications designed for 32-bit operating systems. Most software less than five years old is 32-bit but, if you're not sure, check the documentation that came with your program or go to the manufacturer's website.
When manufacturers release an upgrade to a program, the version numbers are very important. Going from 2.0 to 2.1, for example, includes minor changes, usually fixes to bugs found in the .0 version, which were discovered after the release. However, an upgrade from 2.2 to 3.0 will generally have major changes. You may want to avoid upgrading to a .0 version, since, if there are any new release bugs in the program, that's where they'll be. Wait a little while for the program's manufacturer to get it all together and then upgrade to the .1 or .2 version; that should be mostly debugged.
Never add more than one new program at a time. When you install a new program on your computer, work with it for a few days before installing the next program. This way, if the computer starts acting buggy, you'll know which program is the cause of the problem.
If your computer does start acting quirky, and you haven't made any changes, it's possible that one of your drivers went buggy. A driver is a program that controls a device; it acts like a translator between the device and programs that use the device. Every device, whether it's a printer, disk drive, graphics adapter, sound card, or keyboard, must have a driver program.
Many drivers, such as the keyboard driver, come with the operating system.
For other devices, you may need to load a new driver when you connect the device to your computer. If you suspect that one of your drivers is buggy, visit the manufacturer's website to see if any recommended updates are available for the device. (If you don't know who manufactured your devices, you may be able to find out by looking into your Windows' Device Manager: Right-click My Computer and choose Properties. In Windows 9x and Me, click the Device Manager tab. In Windows 2000 and XP, click the Hardware tab, then the Device Manager button. Click the + sign next to any hardware category to see a list of components in that category. If the component name doesn't include the name of the manufacturer, right-click the entry and choose Properties. The manufacturer's name should be listed on the General tab)
Set up a schedule for doing scan disks, disk defrags and clean up.
Back Up Back Up Back Up !!!
Do you want to do all that important work over again if your computer does crash? Probably not, so save your files to disk , floppy, cd, dvd whichever. And keep your backup disks someplace safe.
If you ever bought labels for your printer, you already know that they can be pretty expensive. It can be very annoying to print your labels, they don't line up right and you have to throw out a piece of label paper.
To avoid wasting money, make sure you print a test sheet before you print the labels. Put a blank sheet of paper in the printer instead of the label sheet. When the information is printed on the blank sheet, place that sheet behind a blank sheet of labels and hold it up to the light. The print on the paper will show through the label sheet, and you can see how the text lines up.
The advantage to this is that you save money - regular paper is much cheaper than label paper. You can make changes to your label settings as necessary and continue printing your test sheets. When you are satisfied with how your test sheet prints, then print on the label paper.
When you go into any of the menus in Word or Excel, You will only see a few choice there. If you click on the two little v's at the bottom of the menu, You will then see all the choices. Can you get the menu to open up in its entirety immediately when I click on the top menu?
Yes, you can. You have to customize your program to always show full menus.
To do this, click on Tools on the menu bar (you can do this in Word or Excel), then click on Options. Click on the Options tab, and then you can put a check in the checkbox next to Always show full menus.
Two related questions: 1 - How could you take a CD, download it on your computer and then burn it to a CD so you could have a backup copy for your personal use in case your favorite CD gets damaged?
2 - How can I put files that are on my computer onto a CD? I have a CD burner but zero to no experience with it.
If your computer came with a CD burner, then you should have some CD creation software on your computer. Look through your Start button menu for programs like Record Now, Ahead Nero or Roxio EasyCD Creator.
This software will be used to copy CDs and put your files onto a CD.
Every piece of CD creation software has a CD copy function that will copy your audio CD regardless of whether you have two CD-ROM drives or just the one CD burner drive. All you need to do is put the audio CD you want to backup in your CD burner and click copy in the CD creation software you are using. If you only have one drive, then the software will copy the audio tracks to your hard drive and then prompt you for a blank CD when appropriate.
If you have a ROM drive and a CD burner drive, then you put the audio CD in your CD-ROM drive and a blank CD in your CD burner drive. Now you can click copy in your CD creation software because it is smart enough to detect the data on the audio CD and copy that data to the blank CD.
If you want to copy your files to a CD, you'll need to find the feature on your CD burning software that allows you to make a backup files. This is called a data disk and there will be a command in your CD creation software that will allow you to create a data disk.
Put the blank CD in the drive, open the CD creation software and manuever to the command to create a data disk. This may take you through several steps, depending on the program you're using but will eventually lead you to the file structure where you will have to pick out the files that you want to put on the disk. Here's where you have to know what folder you have the files in; once there, it's usually a matter of clicking on the file and then clicking on an Add button. You'll see your files displayed in some sort of window. When all the files that you want to copy are there, look for a Record button or command.
Since recording is a sensitive process, it's usually a good idea to refrain from opening and closing programs while the computer is copying a disk or recording files to the CD.
