What happened was this; I got bored so I decided to go for a stroll. After half an hour I found myself caught out in the rain. It got really bad and huge puddles started to form on the road. The worst I’ve seen it in a long time. At points, the roads were flooded right across with five inches of water covering the footpaths.

Needless to say I got splashed three times by cars (I think one wise guy did it on purpose). I assumed my phone would be fine because it was in my jacket pocket – away from my jeans which were completely soaked through. But no. The flap which covers my jacket pocket at the front was tucked into the pocket creating a nice funnel for the rain and splash water to flow right into. My phone was literally submerged in water in my pocket. It didn’t work when I got home and went to check my e-mail. Shocker.

However now it does because I worked my magic. Here are three tips to fix a phone with water damage..

Act Quickly

The minute you discover that your phone is water damaged it’s time to act. Remove every cover and detachable part you possibly can. On my phone I took out the memory card, the SIM card, battery and back cover. Unfortunately, because it’s a touch screen the front does not come away.

Using toilet paper or a thin cloth, blot away any excess water you can see inside of the phone. Be sure to get as much as you can. Failing to do so will mean that all this water will start evaporating and collecting in hard to reach places in your phone.

Your phone may work now if it was only submerged for a short period of time. Like if you dropped it in the sink. If not, keep reading.

Quick Drying

Your phone now has an appointment at the beauty salon. Get hold of a hairdryer and start to dry your phone paying extra attention to the battery housing as this normally has small holes which allow air (and ironically enough, water) into the phone.

A warning: Don’t hold the hair dryer too close to the phone. Keep it at a distance whereby if you put your hand in front of the hair dryer it wouldn’t burn you. Any closer and you could damage your phones electrical components. No seriously. Try putting a hair dryer up against a sheet of paper for a few seconds. It turns it brown – would you want that happening to the inside of your phone?

If 20-30 minutes of this doesn’t work – go to plan C.

Long Term Drying

This is what I eventually had to do to fix my phone because it was so badly soaked. Put it in the linen closet or some place warm and dry in your house. Airing cupboards and next to boilers are good choices. The rule of thumb is that it must be a warm place where the phone isn’t in contact with direct or intense heat. So putting it on top of a radiator (despite what other guides say on the internet) is a bad idea as you can damage your phone by heating it too much and it will just rapidly evaporate the water on the inside causing it to collect – this is an ongoing cycle.

By putting it in a warm dry place you allow the water to slowly evaporate and escape through the holes in the phone (remove the covers and battery when doing this).

Some other tips for this method:

• Try to point the back of the phone upwards with the screen pacing down. This allows the moisture to escape easier.
• Around 20°C is a good temperature.
• Disassemble the phone as much as possible.

From my own experience and those of my family, you stand a pretty good chance of fixing your phone this way. I’d say there is a success rate of around 75%.

For touch screen phones, the front won’t come off which leads to moisture build up on the screen. However, there are normally tiny screws at the back which, when removed, should enable you to take off the front. This will allow you to dry the moisture from the touch screen. You do this at your own risk.

Despite what the phone shops would have you believe, it is fairly easy to fix a phone with water damage. Many people assume that once water gets in that’s that. But really, phones are just circuit boards, a screen and a few other bits and bobs. The main reason for them not working when they’re wet is because water on the board or at the battery connectors is causing it to short out.

This is a quick fix to a problem almost everyone will have at some stage. For more of my articles relating to cell phones – see my authors page. Or what if you got your Mac computer wet? Make sure to check out Jackson’s article on how to deal with spilled coffee or coke on your Macbook.

Do you have any other secret methods for fixing water damaged phones? Let us know in the comments.

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These tips to fix dvd drive errors will also work for a CD or CDR drive. The first thing we need to do is determine where the issue is. It can either be a physical issue like power not getting to the drive or a IDE / SATA cable has come unplugged. It could be a Windows operating system problem that is preventing your drive from showing up or reading disks and finally it could be that disk is garbage. You might have a scratched up dirty disk and it is unreadable by your player.

Let’s see how we can identify and resolve these issues. I see issues with drives on a daily basis in my day job as well as hundreds of questions coming in at Ask The Admin. Let me share some of my troubleshooting tips with you. Maybe it will stop the questions – but I doubt it!

These instructions can be used for both internal and external drives but some of the fundamentals might be a little different. Like the power cord versus the internal power connector, the USB interface or a IDE connector. But use your intuition to guide you.

Some of these problems are common both to the external and internal drive and can be fixed with a little application or by following the tutorials that come with these drives.

Step one: Is the drive not showing up in Windows Explorer? Here I can see my CD burner but not my DVD burner. My DVD burner is usually drive E:\.

First things first, we should check the power and connections to your computer.External drives can be checked while the system is powered on but internal drives will need you to shutdown the system and remove the power cord before beginning.

If the cables are connected but loose pull them free and reconnect them.  Start the system back up and see if the drive or drives are showing up. If you have recently modified your drives in your system and have removed or changed jumper settings remember cable select is normally the best way to go. If you are on an external drive these jumpers will not matter.

When the system is on and the drive is getting power you can push the eject button and it will open. If it does not open and it is powered on it can be a physical issue which we will see below.

Step two: If your drive is getting power and will not open or close, it is time for the paper clip trick. Sometimes these drives get stuck closed and you cannot open them. This can be from someone spilling something or using the drive as a cup holder. Go get a paper clip and straighten it out. Ladies and gentleman we will perform this amazing feat of opening a stuck drive with a paper clip and only a paper clip. Are you ready?

Push the paper clip into the small hole located on the right, left or slightly to the right of the left hand side in the older drive above. Pushing the paper clip in the hole releases the door and you can open it with your hands. If it is sticky use a damp cloth to clean it.

Step three: Your drive is opening and closing and it still doesn’t work? We need to check that the drive is connected to the computer. Just as you checked the power, check the connectors. See if the drive now shows up in your computer.

Step four: You have ruled out power and system connections. Now let us look at the device manager in Windows. Open it by right-clicking on My Computer and selecting manage. Then select Device Manager. On older machines it will be in the system properties and then device manager.  If there is a red exclamation point next to one of the items, resolve it and your problems will go away. The drive should appear like this:

A device with an error will have this icon before it:

Step five: If your drive has power and your Windows operating system recognizes it but still it does not read the discs it may be because of a dirty laser lens in the drive. Clean the laser lens with a cleaning kit or run some other discs after the cleaning kit and then try. If the drive works after cleaning it you have found your issue.

Step six: If the drive still is not reading your disk but it is connected and the system sees it, try another disk. If this other disk works it can be the disk. Some older drives cannot read CDR’s or CDRW’s. Try a purchased CD  and see if that works. If so you should probably replace your drive.

Got any other tips for fixing DVD Drive errors – share them with us in the comments!

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The first thing you need to know is basic troubleshooting. Start with the most obvious and work your way backwards. Read and understand the error messages on your screen. They are in plain language – don’t get intimidated. If it says No Video Source Present, check the cord between your computer and monitor. If the power light isn’t on, check the power cable. Many of your problems are likely of this nature. If you have already done all of the troubleshooting steps and are sure what hardware component is causing problems, then we can talk about that now.

Replacing or Re-seating RAM

There was a time when this was a major operation, requiring a soldering iron and steady hands. Now, RAM comes in easy to install and remove sticks and is a very simple DIY computer repair. Keep in mind for this, that static electricity is your enemy and grounding out is your friend. You can get a grounding wrist strap, or you can touch the metal chassis of your computer frequently. I’d recommend the wrist-strap just to be safe.

Open up the case of your computer. Many cases today don’t even require removing screws so that’s easy. Look inside for a few seconds at your computer. Seems really confusing and high-tech, doesn’t it? Don’t be intimidated. Look for rows of long computer chips that stick out of the board, perpendicular. They’re about an inch high.

If you suspect that they just need to be reseated, gently push on the center-edge of the RAM, then the top and bottom. If there was any movement, then that was probably the problem. Once you are sure all of the RAM is seated, you can try to restart your computer.

If the RAM is still causing a problem, you can remove it very easily. At either end of the RAM, there are little levers – or retaining tabs. Gently push these levers down, both at the same time. The levers should pop back and the RAM will be raised up. Using only the edges of the RAM, take it out and put it on a non-static surface. If you’re lucky you’ll have an anti-static bag around. They’re usually pink, silver or clear with thick black lines on them. You can usually get these from a computer repair place, just by asking for them. Tell them you want to bring in your bad RAM for a replacement. Hey, it’s an easy sell for them.

Take the RAM to your local computer store and they’ll help you select the appropriate RAM for your computer.  Make sure you know what model of motherboard you have, since this is an ideal time to upgrade your RAM for a faster computer.

Replacing the Power Supply

If you’re certain the issue is your power supply, that’s easy to remove and install too! WARNING: Unplug your computer completely. Let it sit for a few minutes. This ensures that there is no power to the computer so you don’t get shocked. Letting it sit for a few minutes allows any capacitors to discharge so they don’t shock you either.

Once you feel safe to proceed with this DIY computer repair, take some masking tape and a pen and mark all the connections that your power supply makes to your components. Do that on the component side of the connection. This helps you to know what cables need to plug back in when you get the new power supply. Sometimes a ribbon cable can have a few connectors on it that aren’t used. No sense connecting to those. Disconnect the power supply cables from the components.

Now, on the back of your computer you will see a number of screws around the power supply. Unscrew those and save the screws. Hey, little screws can come in handy someday. The power supply should now slide right out of the back of the computer or inwards into the computer. Don’t force it. If anything is blocking it, carefully remove those things.

Voila! The power supply is in your hands. Take it, and your motherboard information, to your computer store. Now you can get an appropriately sized power supply. They may recommend a more powerful supply and if your motherboard is meant for it, it can be worth a few extra bucks to upsize. This can help the components run closer to their maximum capacity, meaning a faster computer for you. To install the power supply, read the manual that came with it and make all the connections accordingly. Often, these connections are now unique to each component, making it harder to mess up.

Replacing or Reseating a Video/Sound/Network Interface Card

If you are certain that the video or sound or NIC card is causing your problems, those are probably the easiest things to replace. When you open your computer, you’ll see a column of cards inserted horizontally. These are the cards we’re talking about. If you think they might just need to be reseated, do the same technique you used for the RAM. Gently push on the center edge of the card, then the left and right. Again, if there is any movement, this may likely be the problem.

If you are certain the card needs to be replaced, it is usually a matter of removing one screw from the mounting flange of the card and gently pulling the card out by its edges. Pop it into a static-free bag and take it into the computer shop. Once again, this may be the time to upgrade as well. Usually by the time you’ve had a computer long enough for a component to fail, a better component comes along and costs about the same as the original one. Sometimes it costs even less.

Take the card and gently insert it into the proper slot. Put the retaining screw in and proceed with the User Manual for the card to make sure it has the right drivers installed and the right configuration.

Yes, these instructions sound too easy to be true, and you’re right! These are the basics that apply to almost any make and model of the components we’ve talked about. There will be specific little variations for each new part, however those should all be covered in the user manual that comes with them. Keep all of your original packaging for the new parts as well, just in case they too are faulty. Then you can return them easier.

I hope this article has helped you to overcome any fear of the computer that you might have. Or at least saved you a few bucks in labour costs for repair. All this information comes with no warranty. If you try to repair your own computer and it doesn’t work, or gets worse, I can not accept any responsibility for that.  Always research until your are completely comfortable with the work you will do.

If you’re familiar with any other tip that can be added to above list of DIY computer repairs, please share them in comments below.

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• The Complete Guide: Troubleshooting Mozilla Firefox Problems (25)

While Mozilla’s “open to user manipulation” nature generally is a benefit, it can also cause a lot of issues. As a result, Mozilla’s flagship browser may be buggy, i.e. slow launch, slow page loading, unstable, crash often. However, most of these bugs are man made and chances are you can easily fix them yourself.

Let the following tips be your complete Mozilla Firefox troubleshooting guide. Some very common issues are listed between step 3 and 4.

First, I assume your Cache is cleared! This can be done under > Tools > Options > Advanced tab > Network tab > Offline Storage header > Clear Now button. Eventually grant more Cache space. Finally reboot Firefox and proceed.

Before analyzing your issue(s) in detail, make sure you’re running the latest version of Firefox and its add-ons, such as extensions, themes and plugins. Per default, Firefox regularly checks for updates. Plugins, however, can not be updated automatically!

1. Firefox

Update Firefox: > Help > Check for Updates…

Download and install browser updates if necessary.

If your problem persists, check extensions and themes (step 2).

2. Extensions and Themes

Open Add-ons: > Tools > Add-ons -OR- [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [A]

Update extensions: Within the Add-ons window / sidebar: > click on the extensions icon, then go to the menu above and click > Tools > Check for Updates. Wait until checkup completes and proceed with installing updates.

Update themes: Within the Add-ons window / sidebar: > click on the themes icon, then go to the menu above and click > Tools > Check for Updates. Wait until checkup completes and proceed with installing updates.

Restart Firefox after updating extensions and/or themes. If your problem persists, check plugins (step 3).

If you think there is a compatibility issue with a specific extension or theme, you may find clues on the Mozilla Knowledge Base, the comments for that extension/theme on the Mozilla Add-ons site or the creator’s website/FAQ.

3. Plugins

Firefox does not automatically update plugins! Plugins allow viewing of various content types, e.g. PDF, Flash or DivX. In some cases, plugins are installed manually and also require a manual update. Usually, Firefox automatically recognizes third party software installed on your computer and integrates required plugins from there. Issues may occur in Firefox, if you have not updated plugins or software that provides necessary plugins, e.g. RealPlayer or QuickTime.

Open Add-ons: > Tools > Add-ons -OR- [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [A]

Update plugins: Open the Mozilla plugins website. Under > Documentation select your > operating system, then switch to > A – Z listing. Within the Add-ons window / sidebar click on the > plugins icon and compare the plugins you have with the versions listed on the website. Update plugins or respective software as needed. Make sure you disable second and third instances of the same plugin.

Reboot your computer after updating plugins or respective software! If your problem with Firefox persists, proceed to step 4.

If you think that you’re having an issue with a specific plugin, check the Mozilla Knowledge Base for specific information. They also provide tutorials for installing plugins.

Intermezzo: Common Issues

After making sure everything is up to date (if possible), let’s look at some common issues before proceeding with general steps. I will point you directly to the respective articles on the mozillaZine or Knowledge Base.

I. Firefox will not start up – profile locked or operating-specific issues

II. Firefox crashes – find and search for your crash signature

III. Firefox is running but not responding – profile is locked

More specific issues can be found on the mozillaZine Issues with Firefox page. For general advice on how to troubleshoot issues with Mozilla Firefox, please proceed.

4. Safe Mode

This step is suitable for localizing any issue you’re having with Firefox. It tells you whether the problem is in your personal customization (extensions, settings, plugins) or whether it’s a general issue with the browser, independent of your personal user profile (corrupted installation, compatibility issue with other software etc.).

Run Firefox in Safe Mode:

• Exit Firefox, make sure it’s not running.On Windows, open the > Task Manager (right-click on > taskbar and select > Task Manager from menu), switch to the > Processes tab, click on > Name to sort entries alphabetically and try to locate > firefox.exe. If you still find it, right-click on the > firefox.exe entry and select > End Process from the menu.
• Now run Firefox in Safe Mode.On Windows, open > Start > (All) Programs > Mozilla Firefox > Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode)

• Do not select any of the options for Safe mode. You don’t want to make permanent changes, yet. Simply click > Continue in Safe Mode.

Saikat has recently written a post about How to Use Mozilla Firefox in Safe Mode, which provides more details and also explains how to launch it under Linux and Mac OS X.

If Safe Mode solved your problem, I recommend to proceed to step 5 and then either reset one customization after the other (i.e. add-ons, toolbars and controls, bookmarks, preferences, search engines) until Firefox runs smoothly without Safe Mode or directly proceed to step 6.

If Safe Mode did not help, proceed to step 5, followed by step 7.

5. Backup

Before you make any permanent changes, you should seriously consider backing up any valuable information, such as passwords, bookmarks and custom settings. Here are several different strategies that will help you back up just what you want. I recommend to make separate backups for bookmarks, passwords and extensions, rather than entire profile backups. Chances are you’ll also import the issue, if you import your entire old profile into a new fresh Firefox profile or installation.

For all manual backup strategies you’ll need to find your Firefox Profile. Check this mozillaZine page for a list of operating systems and where to find the profile folder. In Windows XP it should be located under C:\Documents and Settings\user name\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\profile name

Backup Bookmarks: This can be done manually. Go to > Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import and Backup > Backup and select a target. Instead of clicking > Backup you can also click > Export HTML… Later you can import your bookmarks via the same strategy.

Backup Passwords: If Firefox is still rather stable and doesn’t crash, you can save your passwords using the Password Exporter extension. Otherwise, there is a manual way to do it. Navigate to your Firefox profiles folder and copy the following files: “signons.txt“, “signons2.txt” and “key3.db“. To restore, simply replace new instances of these files with your backup copies and voilà, your saved passwords are back.

Backup Extensions: With a stable version of Firefox, you can try to use the FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) extension. Otherwise I recommend to backup the entire profile.

Backup entire Profile: Again, if Firefox is stable enough to install an extension, you can try several different backup or sync tools. We have previously covered Weave. Otherwise I recommend MozBackup, a standalone utility that will backup your Firefox profile. If you don’t trust tools, you can again make a manual backup. Simply copy your entire profile folder.

Mark has also written a post about how to backup Firefox preferences.

6. New Profile

Creating a new profile will give you a quick way out of your issue in case Safe Mode fixed your problem. With a new profile you’ll start from scratch – no custom settings, no extensions, no plugins.

• Exit Firefox, make sure it’s not running.On Windows, open the > Task Manager (right-click on > taskbar and select > Task Manager from menu), switch to the > Processes tab, click on > Name to sort entries alphabetically and try to locate > firefox.exe. If you still find it, right-click on the > firefox.exe entry and select > End Process from the menu.
• Run a command prompt and load > firefox.exe -profilemanager
  In Windows go to > Start > Run and type > firefox.exe -profilmanager into the command line.

• In the window that will pop up select > Create Profile… and do so.
• Then select > your new profile and click > Start Firefox.

If this fixed your problem you can begin to import your essential backups, as described in step 5. But be wary of importing your issue and try to import as little as possible. In other words: ditch some of those excessive extensions and plugins!

If creating a new profile didn’t help, although Safe Mode helped, you can either return to step 4 and do a complete reset from Safe Mode or – if that doesn’t help either – I’m afraid you’re stuck with step 7.

7. Re-Installation

This is the last resort. If resetting or creating a new profile didn’t help, then your issue sits much deeper and you’ll need to completely remove Firefox from your system and do a fresh installation. Here’s how you should go about this process.

• Remove Firefox using the tools your operating system provides.In Windows, go to > Start > Control Panel > Ad or Remove Programs and uninstall > Firefox.
• Now rename, move or delete your Firefox profile folders (see step 5 for locating folders in Windows).
• Reboot your computer.
• Reinstall Firefox.

If this fixed your issue, you can import your backups as described in step 5. As mentioned previously, be careful, you may also re-import your problem!

If none of the above helped you probably have a very serious issue! You need expert help and I suggest you post your issue and what you have tried to resolve it at the mozillaZine Forums. Best of luck!

Additional Information

There are a few more tricks and things you can do to improve the performance of Mozilla Firefox and we have previously covered a few of them. Maybe they will help you in the first place.

Are you on XP? Is Firefox still crashing on you and none of these Mozilla Firefox troubleshooting tips helped? Try running Firefox in compatibility mode. Right-click on your > Firefox icon and select > Properties. Go to the > Compatibility tab and select > Run this program in compatibility mode for: and choose > Windows 2000 from the menu. Click > Apply to confirm.

Faster Browsing! James has written about 5 Speedy Tips for Faster Browsing in Firefox. For example you can automatically load the next page, use keyboard shortcuts or download files faster.

Reduce Load Time! Matt had a story about How To Reduce Firefox 3 Load Time on Windows. It involves 3 geeky steps that are very well described in his post.

Need for Speed? Mahendra recently wrote The Ultimate Guide To Speeding Up Firefox 3.5, a post you should definitely check out if you’re only having minor speed problems.

Clear Bulk Data on Shut Down! This is useful if you’re sharing your computer and you don’t want anyone to see what you’ve been browsing for. At least regularly clearing the Cache is something you should consider. If you want to know how to do that automatically, check out Mark’s post on how to Set Firefox To Clear Temp Files, History etc. On Shut Down.

Which extensions should I use? Good question! Only the ones you really, really need of course. Also you should look into some of the security and privacy extensions we have covered in the past. Check out Varun’s post about 10+ Best Firefox Security and Privacy Addons as well as Dave’s post about Keeping Safe On The Web: 8 Firefox Addons For Privacy And Security (some are redundant of course).

Still having issues? You tried all of the above, you searched the mozillaZine for known issues with Firefox, you posted your situation on the mozillaZine Forums and you’re still stuck with a non-functional browser? Incredible! Well, you may not ever become happy with Firefox. May I suggest switching to another browser, such as Chrome as David reports or Opera, which is recommended by Laurence?

Disclaimer

Unfortunately, we’re not able to provide adequate Firefox support here, especially not across various operating systems. Rather than posting your specific issues in reply to this article, I recommend to post them in the mozillaZine Forums. Dozens of experts will review your situation and try to solve the problem with you.

However, if you would still like to share your issue, we will try our best to point you into the right direction. And if any of the guidelines above helped to solve your problem, we would love to hear your feedback in the comments!

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Windows glitches, errors and crashes are a pain in the rear. More often a reboot (or a smack on the sides) is a quick fix. It gets the work done but it still leaves the puzzler out there – why did the system crash in the first place?

To remove the vulnerability (we know that Window’s has tons of them!) and troubleshoot errors, it’s necessary to diagnose and cure. This is where the Event Viewer makes a worthy entrance.

An event, as described by Microsoft, is any significant happening in a system or in a program that should be brought to a user’s attention. It can be a system crash, an application freeze or the ominous ‘Blue Screen of Death’. The notification is duly logged by the system in a log (the event logs) which we can see using the Event Viewer. The Event Log Service registers application, security, and system related events in Event Viewer. Thus we can pinpoint the exact source of a problem and diagnose to prevent future errors.

The Event Viewer has been a part of the Windows OS since the early days of Windows NT. In Windows Vista, it has been modernized to Windows Event Log. In Windows XP, the Event Viewer can be found under Control Panel – Administrative Tools – Event Viewer. That’s where we are now headed for some familiarization.

The Three Logs

Windows XP logs events basically in three logs – Application Log, Security Log and System Log. Additional logs may be created by other applications like anti-virus and Internet Explorer.

• In Application Log events are posted by programs. For instance, a program hang is reported here. The reporting though depends on the program; if it has been coded to report events.
• In Security Log security violation related events like valid and invalid logons are posted. It also records things like clock adjustments and file sharing permissions. This log is disabled by default and only a user with administer privileges can view this log.
• In System Log, events related to system failures like startup errors (for instance a failed driver), hardware crashes (a webcam froze) et al find a mention.

How to Read the Event Viewer

• The Event Viewer is structured around easy to understand information like – the Date and Time of each event are given with the Source of each problem. The source can be a program, a single file of a program or a system file. The View menu has a Filter which lets you sort the log information in a few ways.
• Most of the logs are of the Type ‘Information’. But some types like ‘Errors’ and ‘Warning’ are worth looking into. (The Security Log also has the Success Audit or Failure Audit types.)
• The Error Properties box comes up with a double click.  The box provides a slightly elaborate description about the specific error. There is a link provided which links to Microsoft Support. The details of the error can be sent but more often than not it fails to provide a solution.

  

• Event ID is the column which gives us a number to work with. Using this number, we can track the error type and learn about it in more detail. This is the same number which is used by the support guys for troubleshooting. Note: Event IDs may change over time with installation of service packs and patches.

Using the Event ID to Target and Solve

The Event ID numeric value is a key identifier for the problem. The web is a good place to do some DIY troubleshooting.

EventID is a rich database of logged events. The site has a repository of 10,496 event IDs and 497 event sources with a lot more info provided by contributors. Enter the Event ID number and the Source and the site’s search engine filters out the possible resolutions for the particular event. Most of the solutions are contributed by users from their experience. Non members can search using basic search. Paid subscribers get better features like an advanced search and searching for event IDs from a specific source.

Some other search features available for all users are –

• Copy paste the log entry for search
• Lookup error codes other than Windows event IDs
• Redirect Microsoft’s error lookup link to EventID.net with a registry fix.

Getting all your answers through the website or with a general web search might not ultimately solve the problem. But it will give you a better grasp of things before you call in the boffins.

Using Event ID is just one way. Previously we looked at a few other diagnostic ways to vault over ‘run of the mill stuff’ like stalled Windows. Here’s a small troubleshooter’s list –

7 Common Reasons Why Windows Can Get Unresponsive
How To Analyze A Windows Blue Screen Of Death With WhoCrashed
How To Troubleshoot Your Windows With The MSconfig Utility
How to Fix Microsoft Office Problems with MS Office Diagnostics
How To Kill Unresponsive Programs without The Task Manager

Image Credit: Sonietta46

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What is Mozilla Firefox safe mode? Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode) becomes the next resort when the regular browser comes crashing down. Firefox is the most talked about browser and has a fan base that would put The Beatles to shame… But hey, it’s only a bunch of code so browser errors do rear their heads.

Here are 5 reasons why the Firefox Safe Mode isn’t a bad idea at all -

1. It’s a diagnostic tool to troubleshoot issues with add-ons, themes or toolbars especially after upgrades.
2. It can be used to compare the extension-loaded Firefox with the default clean slate version of the browser.
3. It can be used to compare speeds if there’s a worry about performance.
4. It can be used to pin down conflicting issues in the user settings (about:config tweakings) after an upgrade.
5. It can be used to go back to the default installed state.

Mozilla Firefox Safe Mode gives us a window to start over (temporarily) by disabling add-ons and resetting (permanently) other settings to defaults. By comparing the performance, we can narrow down and fix the cause of any problem.

There are two ways we can start Firefox in Safe Mode (Windows) –

• From Start – All Programs (Programs in Vista) – Mozilla Firefox – Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode).
• From Start – Run – Type firefox.exe -safe-mode. Hit OK. (or “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” -safe-mode)

For other operating systems, the paths are:
Linux – use Terminal and type in /path/to/firefox/firefox -safe-mode
Mac OS X – open Terminal and type in /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -safe-mode

The Safe Mode dialog box pops up.

We can choose to Exit or go for the other two options – Continue In Safe Mode or Make Changes and Restart.

Continue in Safe Mode

The browser starts in Safe Mode with all customizations disabled. Safe Mode does not load any extensions, themes and third party toolbars. Safe Mode uses the default theme. This is especially useful to check whether the problem is associated with these elements or some other hidden issues. When we exit the Safe Mode, the browser reverts back to the Normal Mode with all the customizations intact.

Make Changes and Restart

This option gets activated if we put a checkmark against any of the five options given in the dialog.

• Disable all add-ons will start Firefox in the Normal Mode with the extensions, themes, and plug-ins disabled.  Note that they are not uninstalled, only disabled. Browse the web with the add-ons disabled or selectively enabled one by one. This helps to whittle down to the problematic add-on. After the fix, don’t forget to enable the remaining add-ons (extensions, theme and plugins).
• Reset toolbars and controls reverts the browser to Normal Mode but without any toolbar customizations.
• Reset bookmarks to Firefox defaults will start the browser in Normal Mode but our bookmarks will lost, replaced by Firefox’s default set.
• Reset all user preferences to Firefox defaults will undo any changes we made to Firefox preferences and options or any through about:config.
• Restore default search engines will revert to the default search engines of Firefox.

To exit Safe Mode, close down the browser completely. Sometimes, the browser keeps running in the background – do a Ctrl-Alt-Del to check using the Task Manager. If the browser keeps resuming in Safe Mode, close it down again and restart the computer. Then start in Normal Mode.

The first great thing about Firefox is that it is relatively non-buggy. The second good thing is that the Mozilla Firefox Safe Mode is absolutely straightforward. And the third, with Mozilla’s rich gallery of add-ons — even if one fails, there’s an alternative out there.

You might not have used the Safe Mode option frequently. Even then, your opinion matters. Do let us know your experience with resolving buggy issues.

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These routers have the power to transmit intangible signals; these signals, powerful as they may be, are prone to constant interference whether it be by physical objects, other signals floating around in the air, or even because you didn’t plug the wire in all the way.

Regardless of what the issue, there are some proven ways to try to remedy the situation of a weak Wifi signal. Some may simply be a little bit of common sense, other methods require purchasing additional parts.

Here are 8 tips on how to boost your wireless router signal.

Position it better

Unless you are living in a cave and you somehow miraculously have internet connectivity at the same time, you probably figured out that if your wireless router was in the corner of your kitchen under a pile of old newspapers and your computer was located on the second floor on the opposite side of the house — it is a great idea to place your router in an open position (preferably in the center of your house) where it isn’t obstructed by dense or metallic objects such as file cabinets or brick walls.

Other items that may interfere with your signal include (but are not limited to) microwave ovens, cordless phones, garage door openers, and even baby monitors. The bottom line is that the less objects in the signal’s way, the easier it is for it to relay information to your computer.

Change the WiFi Channel

Generally, Wifi routers transmit their signals on a radio frequency of 2.4 GHz. Many other household objects may operate on or around the same frequency, like cordless phones, for example. So, the channel becomes bogged down over time with lots of excess traffic that slows down your wireless connection. In the U.S.,  routers have a predefined set of 11 channels, and the default on a lot of them is channel 6. Changing the channel would reduce some interference. So how do you change the channel?

A great utility many people use is called NetStumbler, a wireless networking tool that just so happens to offer the option for you to change your wifi channel. Once opened, the program gives the choice of fooling around with all of your wireless utilities. Here is where you change your channel:

Which leads to:

Since the default for most people (at least in the United States) is 6, you may want to change your channel to something like say, channel 11. Take note that the changing of your wireless channel will NOT in any way increase your speed or bandwith. It will simply remedy your network connection if it keeps breaking off or getting lost.

Update firmware or drivers

Updates, whether related to the router firmware or your computer’s network adapter are done to fix bugs, smoothen out performance and reliability, and maybe even add new features. It is always a good idea to stay up to date with the latest releases by either of these parties.

Tim suggested using RadarSync to easily automatically update your computer’s drivers at once.

Buy your equipment from the same company

Compatibility can be a big problem, especially for two way transmissions. It may help to purchase your adapter and your router – everything, from the same company. Aside from that, some companies have embedded enhancements that improve speed or signal strength when everything is under the same brand.

Replace your antenna

Most routers come equipped with something called an omnidirectional antenna. This means that the antenna attached to the router broadcasts the signal equally within a certain circular radius. This is great if the router is positioned in the center of a hub where it needs to be able to reach ever corner of a room, but it can prove to be extremely wasteful if your router is in the corner (then again, why would it be there in the first place?). Since the signal is transmitted in a radius, if you place it in a corner, a lot of the transmitted signal is sent into the wall or outside into the open.

That is why you can manually detach your antenna and replace it with a high gain antenna. This focuses its energy to direct the signal in one general direction. Simple enough? You may have to check and see if your router has an external antenna jack/removable antenna.

Replace your wireless adapter

Since this is a two-way transmission, it may not have occured to you that it may not be the router that is the problem, but actually the wireless adapter attached to your computer. If your computer cannot send signals back to the router, the same problem ensues.

What is an adapter?  It used to be the card that you inserted into your computer or laptop. These days, most of the adapters are in the form of USB devices. Consider switching to a USB adapter that houses an external antenna, like this one depicted below.

This is usually only applicable to desktop computers. If you purchased a laptop that has a built-in adapter, it probably isn’t your adapter because they are usually very high quality installations.

Add an additional Wireless Access Point (WAP) or Repeater

If all else fails, you may need to purchase a repeater or a secondary Wireless Access Point. The consensus among these two options is rather mixed. Constructing a secondary WAP requires the ability to feed an ethernet cable from your primary router to the new access point. There are also cost considerations to be aware of, as WAPs cost more than regular wireless routers. Even so, WAPs have certain flexibilities that normal routers do not have. They can be configured as gateways, bridges, clients or repeaters. But that’s another story. The bottom line is that the WAP is an extension of the original hub in order to extend the distance of the signal. The repeater works the same way.

Here is a tutorial on how to set up the WAP courtesy of Techskillsvideos:

Try weird things

Apparently aluminum foil amplifies reception and transmission. It may or may not work, YMMV.

A little bit of background: You may have seen 802.11b or 802.11g written somewhere on your router – these are merely wireless LAN standards that the particular router adheres to. The main difference between these is that 802.11b has a maximum data transfer rate of 11 Mbps, whereas 802.11g has a much higher 54 Mbps rate.

With that being said, there is no way to improve data transmission or bandwith outside of hardware applications and upgrades. The tips mentioned above are meant to help you solve the problem of an interfered or weak signal. These may or may not work for you, but there is a strong correlation between troubleshooting and success rate.

Have you any other tips to help strengthen a weak signal? Has changing channels made a big difference for you? Tried attaching aluminum foil to your router’s antenna? How did that turn out for you? Share your experiences in the comments!

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The Recovery Console is a special command-line interface for Windows XP which allows an administrator to identify and locate drivers and files which are problematic, as well as troubleshoot system settings. It’s recommended by Microsoft only for advanced users (in other words, that nerdy kid down the block), and only when Safe Mode (pressing the F8 key at boot-up) is not working.

To install the Recovery Console, you will need your Windows XP CD. The version of Windows XP on the CD must match or surpass the version installed on your PC, thus a Service Pack 3 disk is recommended. If you don’t have one, try to borrow one from a friend or co-worker. If you can’t find one, you can download setup disks or disk images from Microsoft.

For demonstrative purposes, we’ll assume that you have a Windows SP3 CD loaded into your CD drive at drive-letter D:

To install the Recovery Console, follow these steps (lifted from this Knowledge Base article):

1. Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type d:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons  where d is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive.

   

4. A Windows Setup Dialog Box appears. The Windows Setup Dialog Box describes the Recovery Console option. To confirm the installation, click Yes.

   

5. Restart the computer. The next time that you start your computer, “Microsoft Windows Recovery Console” appears on the startup menu.

The black screen with white text can be intimidating, but if you’ve ever played with the command line, you should feel right at home here. If you need help, just type “help”, and optionally, the name of the command you’re curious about, like “help fixmbr”.

I’ll run down the highlights of what commands you’ll most likely use:

“Bootcfg” recovers the Boot.ini file.

“Chkdsk /r” looks for bad disk sectors and attempts to recover any information which can be read from them.

“Copy” copies a file to a target location.

“Delete” deletes one file.

“Disable” disables a Windows system service or driver.

“Enable” restarts a disabled service or driver.

“Diskpart” manages hard disk partitions. Be very careful using this!

“Expand” decompresses a compressed file. This is good for getting files off the installation CD if needed.

“Fixmbr” repairs the boot code on a hard-disk. If your operating system “cannot be found” you’ll likely use this command, along with little brother “Fixboot”.

The Recovery Console is scary but helpful, and you’ll be glad that you’ve installed it on your hard disk before Windows gives you any trouble. If you have any system recovery tips, please leave comments below.

Image credit: Paul Boxley

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Of those type of errors, BSODs (Blue Screen of Death) are the worst and are often caused by poorly written device drivers, kernel extensions or faulty RAM (Random Access Memory). You can’t recover to the normal software environment without either a soft or hard reset. Soft resets are usually the case, as the computer will try to automatically reboot or display the error code and require the user to initiate the restart sequence, the infamous “Ctrl-Alt-Delete” or “Press Any Key” prompts.

Many of you probably have encountered this type of error and know that any files that weren’t saved at the moment of crash have either lost changes or have been corrupted. Personally, as a writer, I consider this to be one of Windows’ greatest flaws. I have lost a lot of work due to this kind of issues and the problems seem to continue in Windows 7, although the frequency appears to be greatly reduced.

WhoCrashed, an application developed by Resplendence Software Projects, aims to demystify the error codes and present you with a likely culprit of the crash. Finding out what caused it can be the first step in eliminating the problem and creating a more stable computing environment. RAM memory, as well as faulty drivers, can be replaced  – but your time can’t be.

With the help of WhoCrashed, an error code like “0×0BJS00341110B12” can point you to a kernel module like “nvlddmkm.sys” which comes most of the time with vendor information. In this case, as the ‘NV’ prefix suggests, an nVidia Miniport driver caused the crash.

Unlike many applications these days, WhoCrashed is presents you with only two buttons and a simple text-oriented interface. The ‘simple is always better’ motto holds true in this case. All you have to do is press the ‘Analyze’ button and scroll down to the date of the computer crash you want to inspect. Most of the times WhoCrashed will identify the module that failed and allow you to fix the problem.

When a driver caused the crash, which happens 99% of the time, a simple and easy way to fix the problem is to identify it and download the latest version from the manufacturer’s website. When a Windows component frequently causes a crashes, the problem will most likely be fixed by running Windows Update.

Overheating can also be responsible for faults in data transfer or processing. If crashes happen while playing intensive 3D games, photo or video editing, check the ventilation system and revert to previous clock speeds if you’re overclocking any of the system’s parameters. Overheating can permanently damage the hardware, so fixing the problem as fast as possible is recommended.

Pressing and holding the F8 key while the systems boots will bring up a screen with various system recovery options including Safe Mode, which only loads the basic drivers and modules, and a RAM verification tool. Various Linux distributions including Ubuntu, have a similar memory check module (memtest) which is presented at boot-time when the live CD is inserted or by the bootloader in multi-boot environments.

You can download WhoCrashed for free. Installation is achieved via a simple and straightforward wizard. A Pro version aimed at tech support staff is also available for $35. The Pro license removes the ‘home-use-only’ restriction and provides more details about the crashes among other features.

At under 1MB, WhoCrashed is a must-have in any geek’s virtual toolbox. Check out more posts related to Windows or RadarSync, an application which automatically keeps your drivers and software up-to-date.

Are you annoyed by BSODs or Windows errors? What’s the most common one and what did you do to fix it? Let us know in the comments.

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While installing the operating system, the installer takes care of writing appropriately to the first 512 bytes to allow the operating system to boot and detect partitions. Once that has been done, you do not have direct access to the MBR (which is generally not recommended). However, there are times when you need to take things in your own hand (like backing up MBR before restoring a hard disk image or an OS install, making a partition bootable, or recovering from a corrupt MBR etc), for such times there is a small utility you can use, called – MBRWizard.

MBRWizard allows you to save/restore MBR, fix a corrupt MBR, you can hide/unhide hard disk partitions, make a partition bootable or delete it all together, make a flash disk bootable etc.

MBRWizard is a command line utility you can download from here. Fire up Command Prompt and browse to where you have MBRWiz.exe stored (or else add the directory to your PATH variable), type MBRWiz and you will see a list of all the options. You can then decide which option to choose according to what you are trying to accomplish.

Here are a few examples.

To create a backup of MBR

MBRWiz /save=C:\savedMBR

You can then use this backup copy to restore MBR in case you ever have to.

To restore MBR from the saved file

MBRWiz /Restore=C:\savedMBR

To see an exhaustive list of all the partitions along with attributes

MBRWiz /List

To Hide a parition use

MBRWiz /Hide=Yes /Disk=0 /Part=2

To delete a partition

MBRWiz /Part=2 Del

You can find the complete documentation of all the options and how to use them, here. The site also lists how you can troubleshoot MBR problems when you cannot boot into the operating system. Although in such situations, you must have a way to boot from a CD, USB drive or (ahem..) floppy disk and be able to run MBRWizard. Check out how to make your own Windows Live CD, MBRWizard would be a nice utility to have on your live CD.

MBRWizard is a great tool to have everything is working fine, as well as when you need to fix MBR issues. You must have your favorite tools to jumpstart a problematic computer. We would love to hear about them so tell us in the comments.

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First off, we suggest uninstalling iTunes from the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel and then installing the latest version of iTunes downloaded from Apple.com. This may fix some issues with older versions. Apple also suggests keeping your anti-virus software up to date. Now, on to some more-specific issues.

Problem #1

Certain iTunes screens are pink. (Note: Only a problem if you don’t like pink.)

Cause: Windows is set to display a low-quality color palette, and thus cannot correctly render the iTunes window when it demands a high-quality color.

Solution: Make sure Windows is set to display 32-bit color in the Display Control Panel. This will be under the Settings tab, as “Color Quality.”

Problem #2

Error messages as follows:
“iTunes might be unable to launch or communicate with iPod or iPhone.”
“The iPod (Customer’s iPod) cannot be updated. An unknown error occurred (-50)”
“The iPod (Customer’s iPod) could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (1418, 1429, 1430, 1436 or 1439)”

Cause: This symptom may be caused by an issue with the digital signing of Windows XP drivers.

Solution: Re-register Certain Windows XP Drivers
(Copied from source: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1539)

1. Disconnect the iPod from the computer and close iTunes.
2. Highlight all of the following 10 lines of text that begin with regsvr32 and then choose Copy from the Edit menu of your web browser:
   

   regsvr32 /s softpub.dll
   regsvr32 /s wintrust.dll
   regsvr32 /s dssenh.dll
   regsvr32 /s rsaenh.dll
   regsvr32 /s gpkcsp.dll
   regsvr32 /s sccbase.dll
   regsvr32 /s slbcsp.dll
   regsvr32 /s mssip32.dll
   regsvr32 /s cryptdlg.dll
   regsvr32 /s initpki.dll

3. Open the Notepad program by navigating to:
   Start > All Programs > Accessories > Notepad
4. In Notepad, choose Paste from the Edit menu. Note: make sure that the text that appears in Notepad is the same as what is shown above.
5. From the File menu, choose Save As.
6. In the File name field type appleipod.bat and save the file to the Desktop.
7. Close Notepad and locate the appleipod.bat file.
8. Double-click the file and you will see a black window appear on the screen for about a minute. Wait until the window automatically disappears and proceed to the next step.
9. The appleipod.bat file can be deleted at this time.
10. Open iTunes and connect the iPod.
11. When the iPod appears in iTunes, restore the iPod and resync your content.

Problem #3

iTunes will not open or unexpectedly quits

Cause: Corrupted preference files or possibly out-of-date plug-ins.
Solution: Remove Preferences and Third-Party Plug-ins. Delete the following folders:

Problem #4

Error messages as follows:
“iTunes cannot run because it detects a problem with QuickTime”
“iTunes cannot run because it has detected a problem with your audio configuration”
“Error (-200)”

Cause: Apple doesn’t provide a cause for this issue, but it appears to have something to do with QuickTime Player’s audio preferences.
Solution: Reinstall QuickTime
Click Control Panel from the Start Menu then select Add or Remove Programs.
Select QuickTime from the list then click the Remove button to start the uninstall process.
Download and run the QuickTime installer without iTunes from here.

There are other problems like broken iTunes links but Saikat’s got that covered.

How frequently do you face the above issues when using iTunes for Windows XP, and how do you normally deal with them? Ever had to “roll back” to an older version of iTunes? Any problems from Mac users? We’d love to hear about them in the comments!

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Spiceworks offers free network monitoring software for situations just like these, and even bigger networks. (Must run on Windows only – will detect *nix on network though.)

After scaling back our IT budget at work, we insourced the network management side of things. That’s when I came across Spiceworks. It does all the things I need it to do:

• Software, network, and PC inventory
• Network, Exchange, and license monitoring
• Asset and inventory reporting
• Helpdesk & IT Portal

Installation was as easy as anything I’ve ever installed. Then it automatically did its own network discovery, where it inventoried devices connected to the network, as well as what software and updates were on them.

Within 30 minutes, I had a high-level overview of everything in our office. That’s pretty amazing to me for free software. There were some computers it wouldn’t connect to due to local firewalls, but that was easy to remedy. And it let me know that those firewalls were there, which shouldn’t have been.

To help you along, Spiceworks has something they call the SpiceMeter. It’s a way of gauging what basic network maintenance activities you have done,as a sort of training program. This includes things like:

• accurately identifying 75% of your assets
• setting up a helpdesk
• troubleshooting problems through the remote control

When your SpiceMeter is at 100% you can consider yourself a Red Hot Spiceworks Pro.

The software itself is far too in-depth to cover here. Yet Spiceworks offers way more than the software. They have a strong and growing community of users that are people just like you – some are professionals with extensive experience and some have just been thrown in the deep end of the server room to sink or swim. I’m somewhere in the middle.

There is also plenty of free training available for Spiceworks through SpiceworksTV – a series of training videos and webinars to help you along in your quest for network mastery. There’s even a section on IT comedy, just in case you’re starting to lose your mind…again.

I find it amazing that this software is free – only supported by ads served to you in the administration screens. The ads take up less than an eighth of the screen and are usually very targeted to IT, so they can really be useful too. If you don’t care for the ads, sign up for the paid version at $20 a month. Same functionality, but no ads.

Honestly, I’m trying to find a real negative about this software, but I can’t. One could complain that it doesn’t run on anything but Windows, but there’s lots of software like that. Maybe it would run with WINE, I don’t know.You could also complain that it’s best for networks with 500 or less computers, but really, that’s a good size network for most businesses. If you aren’t sold yet, check out their awesome YouTube video.

Is it a coincidence that the marketing chick has the same first name as my ex-wife? I think not!

Are you the defacto IT person? What do you use to take care of your network? Have you had any experience with Spiceworks? Let us know!

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It could be a failed device driver, or an application which refused to start up or it could be one of the many background processes which decided to conk out. Thankfully, there’s a bit of self diagnosis we can do before we decide to pick up the phone and dial for the emergency services.

This first aid lies in a Windows System utility called the System Configuration Utility (MSconfig.exe). Advanced users are familiar with this vital application but for the basic users this system tool deserves a look.

The System Configuration Utility (or MSconfig.exe) is used to manage the processes that happen when the Windows operating system boots up.  With its GUI it simplifies control over the various startup processes and the configuration files used. It is also the first tool we turn to if we want to speed up our boot process as it allows us to switch startup programs on and off. It is this property again we will turn to for diagnosing a system crash.

The technique we use is called a clean boot. In a clean boot the operating system loads without launching the background startup processes which might be causing a conflict.

How to clean boot your computer?

Windows XP

1. Click on Run (or WinKey+R) – In the Open field of the Run dialogue box enter msconfig. This launches the System Configuration Utility.



2. On the General tab of the System Configuration Utility, click on the button marked Selective Startup. Uncheck the boxes corresponding to Process SYSTEM.INI File, Process WIN.INI File and Load Startup Items. Keep the Load System Services box checked because this launches essential Microsoft services. The bullet against the Use Original Boot.ini is enabled by default.



Caution: Unchecking Load System Services will temporarily disable Microsoft services (for e.g. Plug and Play, Networking and Error Reporting) as well as permanently deleting all restore points for the System Restore utility. System services are also critical to pinpoint the conflict. So keep it checked.

3. The Services tab is where we should go next. On the Services tab, select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box and click on Disable All. Then hit OK. A message box pops up warning that you have used the System Configuration Utility to change the way in which Windows starts. Click on OK to reboot the computer.

Windows Vista

The process is almost a mirror to the previous one.

1. Click Start – enter msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press enter to launch the System Configuration Utility in Vista.
2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup – uncheck Load startup items.



3. Next stop is the Services tab. Check Hide All Microsoft Services and press the Disable All button. Click OK to reboot at the prompt. (The screen is similar to that shown for Windows XP)

After the computer has restarted, run the previously conflicting application again. If the problem persists then the cause lies elsewhere. Return the computer to the previous state by selecting Normal Startup from the General tab and rebooting.

If the problem has disappeared then the culprit is one of the startup programs on the Services tab.

Pinpointing the problem program

I have about 25 services which run in the background. So how do I narrow down on that one which is causing the problem? The simple solution lies in selective activation (leaving the rest deactivated) of some of the services and rebooting the computer.

1. Start with a wider field, for instance leave half of the services activated and half deactivated. Reboot the computer. Run the error prone application to check for the problem.



2. If the problem persists, then the conflict is with the services enabled. If it vanishes, then it is in the other half. Either way the field is narrowed down by half.
3. Repeat the process of selective enabling and disabling of services in the suspect half of the services. Through two or three trial and error reboots the one single cause can thus be pinpointed.
4. It is so far only half the battle won as we now have to deal with the culprit service. Three solutions present themselves –
   • Disable the service from the Services tab or from the Startup tab. If it’s a non-essential service then this shouldn’t be a problem.
   • Search the net for a possible answer and apply it.
   • If all fails call in the experts.

The above techniques are very basic in nature. It is something which can be done in a relatively safe way. A self cooked solution without yelling out for help is after all a high in itself. Do you think learning about the Msconfig tool is a good way to start off?

Photo Credit : Ben Lawson

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So the first option when faced with a frozen or unresponsive application is to kill it. Not literally, of course! We can try to kill or “terminate” the program. The easiest way to do this is to simply right-click the application in the Dock and select ‘Force Quit’.

Another method is to bring up the “Force Quit Application” menu by pressing ‘Cmd-Option-Esc’ and selecting the application which is non-responsive.

Usually, by forcing an application to quit, we lose any unsaved work. Waiting for the program to resolve itself is a better alternative if you can afford the time. Personally, I’m not quite patient enough. So, it’s a compromise between overworking your CPU and data loss.

Then there is the third method: using Activity Monitor.

One of the first things I do every time I get my hands on a brand new Mac is to add Activity Monitor to the Dock. Simply because I use it so often, accessibility is crucial. If you didn’t know, Activity Monitor is located in ‘~/Applications/Utilities’. Or you could Spotlight for it.

Activity Monitor is the evil twin brother of Window’s Task Manager. With it, you can see a platter of vital information including all running processes, memory usage, CPU load, hard disk usage & read/write speeds and network activity. Mainly, I use Activity Monitor to deal with unresponsive applications. Notice that I said “deal with” and not “kill/terminate” because you can occasionally actually bring a frozen application back to life just by launching Activity Monitor! It doesn’t work all the time but when it does, you’ll be amazingly thankful.

If simply running Activity Monitor won’t solve your problem, you could investigate deeper. Under the ‘Process Name’ column is a list of all the applications which are currently running on your computer. The ones which are unresponsive will be labelled red and will be tagged with a clear (’application not responding’) title. Unfortunately, I can’t provide you with a screenshot because nothing has crashed yet (crosses fingers). To kill a particular hung application, click on it and press ‘Quit Process’ from the menu at the top.

Sometimes, certain frozen applications are more stubborn and are harder to kill, ‘Force Quit’ won’t do the trick. Whenever that happens, try going into the ‘View’ menu and choose ‘Send Signal to Process’. On the window that pops up, choose ‘Hangup’, ‘Interrupt’ or ‘Kill’. I find from experience that choosing ‘Interrupt’ may just bug the application to become responsive again. Just because an application is hung doesn’t mean that it has crashed, so sometimes you won’t need to kill it to restart it again.

Besides using Activity Monitor to force hung applications to quit, it is also useful to provide you with the vital information you need to know about your Mac. CPU load, for instance, is something simple but useful to know at all times. Increased CPU load can make your fans work harder, that makes more noise and your Mac will also run hotter. Most of the time, if you notice an increased CPU when you aren’t performing any CPU intensive tasks, that’s when something fishy is going on.

Activity Monitor’s dock icon is configurable to show you either CPU usage, CPU history, network & memory usage or disk activity but not all at once. If you want access to all this information, I suggest iSlayer’s range of monitoring applications. Personally, I use iStat menus to show my CPU history, network & memory usage and CPU temperature right on my menu bar, which is wicked!

How often has Activity Monitor brought your frozen application back to life? Let me know in the comments. Also, which monitoring application do you use?

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Boot into safe mode and it got stuck again. We couldn’t just get there. Luckily I had HijackThis in my USB drive and it helped analyse the problem and eventually we cleaned it to the point that he could deliver his presentation.

The moral: No matter what security software you have, you will have to get your hands wet one day so you’d better be prepared!

So what is HijackThis? An anti-virus? Malware removal tool? Anti-spyware? Well nothing fancy, actually its a tool that gives you a log (or dump) of your system’s present state. You can then analyze it yourself or post it at a vast majority of forums that will help you with your problem. In fact a HijackThis log is the first thing they ask for when you discuss your problem on forums. Lets see how you can Make Use Of it!

HijackThis Download and Install

First off you must have HijackThis on your system. Download here and run the executable, then fire up HijackThis. You will be greeted with not much of a fancy but nevertheless a pretty powerful tool.

What can you do?

• You can scan your system and save a log file.
• Simply scan your system.
• Undo the changes you made earlier.
• View the running processes and perform some actions on them.
• View the system Host file.
• Set it up to delete locked files on next system reboot.
• Delete services, open AdSpy and open a powerful uninstall manager.

Let us begin with a system scan and then I will tell you how to interpret the log (it’s not for the faint hearted!). Click on “Scan and save a log file” or simple “Scan”. You will see a plethora of information in a window like the following, this can seem frightening as none of this makes sense at first but lets take a closer look.

First thing to take note of is that towards the left (region 1, marked with red) you will see some codes like R1, R2, R3, O8,O9 etc. All these codes have special meanings (refer table). Towards the right (region 2, marked with green) you will see the details of the file in question.

Now let’s say you notice something fishy with IE or Firefox then you will see the lines marked R0, R1, R2, R3 and N1, N2, N3 and N4 and see if they contain something you don’t think is correct (like free pills!) or don’t remember installing. After confirming that, you can place a check mark on that particular entre and click “fix selected”.

You can also highlight the entry and click on “Info on selected item” to get some more information about the entry, and then you can decide if it’s indeed causing trouble. If you find yourself stuck click “analyse this” and you will be taken to a help page or alternatively you can post your log on forums and get help.

Some quick tips

All of this information may please a geek but not all of us is one! So I present some personal quick tips from my experience with Windows and the problems it has thrown at my face:

1. First and foremost check out the automatically starting applications (the entries marked O4) , If anything looks suspicious just Google for the file name and you will know if it’s legitimate or not. Remove it if it’s not legitimate. You can also check at Process Library or visit here and download the list for use in offline enviornments if you can’t get to the Internet.
2. Use the Process manager from HijackThis or the Windows Task manager to view the processes currently running. Again Google the suspicious filename and end it and remove it from automatically starting by combining this and the previous point.
3. Make sure you remove the actual file from the computer once you have verified that its harmful. (You might have to show contents of system folders and hidden files to achieve this, or better use the command line).
4. Check out the entries with the code O23, you will have to Google most of them if you don’t know what they mean but the entries here could be potentially harmful to your system. Remove the non legitimate ones.
5. Check out R0 – R3 and N0 – N3 if you find your browser misbehaving and redirecting somewhere else where you didn’t want to go.
6. Boot into safe mode, turn off system restore and do a scan with your antivirus and clean the system. You can also try the latest version of Stinger to find and remove infections from an infected system.
7. Be careful the next time. I don’t find many users doing this but please if you are using Windows XP then please create a separate limited account and do your routine work from within it. Occasionally log into the administrator account to do maintainance and software installs etc. This is very important because even if you get infected while logged in a non administrator account, the malicious files don’t have enough rights to do as much damage as they can when you are logged in as administrator.
8. If you can’t make sense of something then visit forums and take help. After doing so once or twice you will gain confidence and will be able to make use of this wonderful tool.

HijackThis is very powerful if you just master how to read and use it. It has a built in uninstall manager to remove misbehaving application. A process manager, backup utility to backup the changes you are going to make, ability blacklist or whitelist items. I planned on giving more information on each and every type but think it will get advanced and long (it already is!) so I am having to limit this.

Do let us know if you will like some more information, or would like to know more about Hijackthis in detail? Or perhaps you know of another tool that does a better job?

(By) Varun Kashyap – A tech enthusiast, programmer and a blogger, who personally loves tools like Hijackthis. Know about such tools and more at his TechCrazy blog.

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I have been watching Crossloop for a while and so far I have been extremely impressed. Now that they have brought out a new version, I am now totally blown away. Profiles and details of your remote sessions makes this a serious tool in the remote access market.

But before I get into the nitty gritty details, let’s take a moment to help out the non-techie crowd by explaining what remote desktop access is. Say you are in the United States and your computer-savvy genius friend is in Germany (hey, I’m in Germany! What a coincidence!). Obviously your computer genius friend in Germany can’t fly over to the United States everytime you have a computer issue and giving computer support over the phone is very hit and miss (”yeah, it’s a squiggly thingie-wingie with weird colours man!”). So what’s the alternative? Letting your computer genius buddy access and take control of your computer from where they are in the world. That’s “remote access”.

Now before you start getting all paranoid, no-one can remotely access your desktop without you allowing it first. You have to provide a password to the person wanting access and you can revoke the access at any time. You will also have to allow the person through your firewall. But when the person finally does get access, they can see your screen and advise you on what to do. Everything is “view only” so if you don’t know the person advising you, you don’t have to worry about them changing anything or copying anything off your hard-drive. They will only see what you want them to see.

OK, now with Crossloop, both parties need to have the program installed on their computer. Whenever you need to use it, fire it up and you’ll see the following box (see graphic). If you are the one wanting to grant remote access, you would click on “share” and then give the person wanting access the unique password. If you are the one trying to gain access, click on “access”, enter the password you are given by the other party and wait to be connected.

Now the person who wants you to access their computer will probably have to confirm to their firewall that they want to let you through, but normally this is nothing more than clicking the right box. This is what I like so much about Crossloop – the sheer simplicity of it. There’s no difficult set-up to take care of. It’s just choose your option and click. So easy even the baby could set it up for you.

Once the person is in, you can revoke the access at any time using the disconnect button. So if you are the remote accesser, be nice and don’t make fun of the Britney Spears desktop wallpaper. Just advise the user how to delete the 500 toolbars and then get out of there.

But the part I REALLY like is the ability to set up a free account which you can then use to publicise your IT skills. Here is my page for example. People who do IT support for a living will find this feature invaluable as it will not only help you to advertise yourself but the page also keeps detailed records of each remote session. After the remote session is over, each party can then rate and comment on one another. To gain customers, you can put a widget on your blog / website / social network page.

If I had to nominate a program for Best New “remote access” Software Program of 2007, Crossloop would be it. No other contenders!

For some Crossloop videos see CrossLoop review in MUO directory. In case you’re interested in collaboration-focused remote screen sharing Offeools make sure to check out 7 easy Screen-Sharing and Remote-Access Tools

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