How to recover you data when computer refuse to boot

A lot of times we have been victims of data lose in one way or the other. Hard disk failure is an inevitable event that must happen one day, because of this it is therefore important that we know what to do even if we hav backed up, but what of the most recent job you just did that you have not backed up? Are you going to lose that one?.
When your computer suddenly refuses to boot there are some steps that you can take to retrieve your files.

1. Get an External Case


Once your computer refuse to boot the most reliable means of retrieving your data is to get a Hard disk external case that you can connect to another computer using a USB cable. This method gives you access to your files before calling a pro.

2. Use a LiveCD

Don’t have access to a second computer for doing as you please? This method will be ideal, then. You’ll need to get temporary access to a computer with Internet and a DVD burner. Download a Linux LiveCD, Small Linux is the smallest, but also has issues mounting hard drives. The most simple for an average computer user would be Puppy Linux. It has a larger file size, but should recognize your drive.
Burn the Live CD ISO to a CD and insert it into your computer (the one with the crashed hard drive). Restart the computer and when it the computer logo appears, press F2 (or whatever key for your system) to enter BIOS. Change the boot sequence to CD first, Save and then Exit.

The Live CD will start, simply follow the directions on the screen–don’t worry, nothing is being done to your hard drive. The OS will start, and you should see your hard drive mounted on the desktop–something like “60GB”, etc. Plug in a second drive and copy and paste the folders over.

3. Data Recovery Software

if these two options sound confusing or difficult, you can get a data recovery software for just few $ and use it to recover your files. There are a lot of such software’s on the net some you can use their trial version to get your files.

5. Call a Professional

If you fell is very difficult for you, simply take your hard drive a professional that will be able to retrieve your document, it may be costly but it’s worth it except the files is not very important.

For more information on data recovery visit
http://online-computer-repairs.blogspot.com. Or be the first to get our comprehensive articles by subscribing to our feeds. You can also send your questions to solutionprovider at gmail.com. or use the comment field.

Read More

Downgrade laptop from windows vista to windows xp

The introduction of Windows vista has caused numerous challenges in the computer world. From consuming of computer memory, software incompatibility and others including the challenge of trying to downgrade you laptop or desktop from windows vista to windows xp.

Do you have a laptop or desktop that came with windows vista installed on it, and you want to downgrade it back to windows xp.
Did you buy a new hard drive and you want to install windows xp on it and it tells you that no hard drive was found.
In this short article I will be showing you the tricks to downgrade your laptop to windows xp.

Firstly, power your computer and enter the BIOS setup. For most motherboards the button to enter the BIOS is F1, F2, F10, and DELETE
When you turn on your laptop or desktop computer, keep pressing these buttons one will take you to the BIOS. Then inside the BIOS setup utility, locate “Sata native support” under system configuration, and then disable it. Press f10 to save and exit the BIOS setup.

Insert windows xp cd in the cd rom drive. Restart the computer and set it to boot from cd rom drive. For some computer F12, esc, F10 will take you to the boot menu select the cd rom drive and hit the enter button windows xp installation process starts. Install windows xp the way you normally do it.

Post your comments and questions and stay updated with the latest post by subscribing to our feed.

For more information on computer repairs and windows tips and tricks visit online-computer-repairs.blogspot.com

Read More

Simple steps to take when your computer refuse to come up

How do you feel, when you press the power button on your computer and it refuse to turn but you shut it down yourself the last time you used it?
It is frustrating especially when it’s not just cable problem.
There are two major problems with computer
1. The computer refuse to power on
2. The computer is on but it does not boot to desktop may be it always restarts on the way.

In this article, I will be showing you series of troubleshooting tips to take when your computer to on.

First, check the AC current, if it is up to your normal AC rating in your country. Over here in Nigeria, I will check if the AC current is up to 230-240 Volts because that is the normal current in Nigeria. If it is, that means it can power the computer.

Check the power pack: check your power pack if it smells burnt that means the power pack is blown. Some power pack has a switch that can switch to either 110 volts or 230 Volts. If that is how your power pack is then switch it to your country’s current rating.
Now you are sure that the power pack is ok and the current can carry your computer.
Make sure the computer is correctly connected. If it is rightly connected, power the computer. If the computer does not come up,

Check the ram: how do you check the ram? Make sure that the power cord is not connected , Open the computer system unit look if your computer has two ram slot, if it does then remove the ram and clean it also dust the slot with a brush, then insert the ram in the other slot. Connect the power cord and power the computer now. If it is not coming up.

Check the Cmos battery: use a tester to check the battery voltage if it reads lower that 2.5 volts then may be it’s the cmos battery. Change the cmos battery, Next check your cmos jumper and make sure that the cmos jumper cap is in pin 1 and 2, and power the computer. If it does not come up then do what is called isolation.

Isolating system component: this means that you have to isolate all the system component and start reinstalling them one after the other. Finally check if your processor is good.

Check Processor: How do you check processor? Uninstall the cooling fan and heat sink, insert the processor without the cooling fan and heat sink, them connect other component and power the computer. Place your hand on the processor to know if the processor is hot or cold if its cold that means the processor is bad and vice versa. If you can replace the processor, then replace it. If you cannot then say good bye to the computer cause it’s gone.

If you have any problem and questions comment on the post for answers or subscribe to my full feeds for update.

For more information on how repairs and configure your computer visit online-computer-repairs.blogspot.com

Read More

The best way to keep your computer safe

The best way to keep computer safe
Computer security is a very vital and a very important aspect of the computer, especially when your computer has a lot of vital information and documents that you cannot afford to loose.
A lot of computer users suffer from data lose as a result of poor computer security. If your computer is vulnerable to virus attacks, you are likely to experience computer crashes and heavy data lose.
Keeping your computer safe and secured is just like owning a car, fueling it, washing it and changing oil, makes your car gives you maximum performance.
In this article I will be sharing with your some step to take in other to keep your computer safe and secured.

1. Limit your account user right

If you have an administrative right on the computer that means you can install any thing and also perform any system configuration on the computer, so also viruses using your administrative right can install themselves on the computer and also enter registry values. But when you limit your user right to a power user, no auto run file will be able to run on your computer without your permission and also no system configuration will be done on your machine without your permission, but when you want to install a program you right click on the program and click run as then enter the admin user name and password. Or you log of the current user and log in as administrator to install or configure your computer.
How to Change your user account right can be found here. This is the first step in keeping your computer safe.

2. Use Internet security software

Using a good internet security will not only keep you safe from viruses it will also monitor spyware and malwares also it will monitor your internet connections and sites that are harmful to your computer will be blocked
A good internet security should be updatable offline, easy to use and configured, and must be able to dictate harmful programs and sites and prompt for user action to run or block.
Remember that you have to make sure that your antivirus solution is consistently updated.

3. Perform system cleanup regularly

Performing system clean up erases all the junk files that accumulate memory in your computer. If you clean up your computer regularly, your system will run faster. How to clean up your junk files read the article here.

4. Scan external drives:

Because you never can tell if an external drive has a virus by merely looking at it, you need to scan any external drive attached to your computer before using it.
Lastly scan your computer frequently so that if any infectious file has entered your computer, your internet security will remove it.
If these steps have been taking, you are on your way to keeping your computer safe and secured.

You can send your comment and question on this article and other computer related problems.
For more on computer repairs,computer security tipe and tricks visit online-computer-repairs.

Read More

How to change users account rights

How to change user account rights

Computer security is very important when, especially when you have very sensitive data that you cannot afford to lose. Neglecting computer security or having poor computer security will cause computer crash, lose of data amongst others. Keeping your computer safe is very easy thing and should be a way of life for every computer user.

What is a user account? A user account is a profile that allows a person to access the windows computer which contains the logon information of that person and also his rights on that computer. A user right is simply the limits a user has on the computer.

Changing account user rights on the computer is just a way of saying to Mr. A (which is a also a user on that computer) u cannot install or uninstall on this computer and Mr. B u cannot change the computer configuration, for any configuration installation on this computer I have to be notified and only you will be able to install or configure programs on this computer.

Managing the rights of computer users in your office or home is a better way to monitor what your staffs install on the company computer and also what your children install and configures on the computer at home. changing user right on the computer make your computer 50% safe from viruses and other malicious programs that auto runs, especially when you insert your flash after using it in virus infected computer.

These steps will show you how to change rights of a user account
Windows xp has a default user (Administrator) that Built-in account for administering the computer/domain, when you create a user, that administrator account is not active only when you boot in safe mode.
To change your user right, right click on my computer,
click manage, on computer management module click on local users and group, click users, right click on the user you want to change the right, click on properties.
The property window will appear, click on member of tab, on the member of tab you will see the user rights the user have, if you will see administrator, that means the user can change, install and configure any thing on the machine,

you have to remove the administrative right from the user and place the user in power user group,. Power user group will not allow him to install and do any system configuration on the machine. This way no virus will be able to autorun on that machine also nobody will install or do system configuration in your absent. To change the user right click add, on user property module click advance
Click find, below you will see all the rights that are applicable to a user.
Select power users and click ok,
You will see the user entered in the select group module, click ok, and click apply and ok in the property module.

You have successfully changed the user right of that account. Now log of, log in again with that same account, and try to install a program you should see a message like this that means you have you have changed the user right of that account. So any time you want to install or configure your computer you either log on using the default admin account or you create another account that has administrative right on that computer.
Note: the default administrator account should have a password, before taking this step because windows will ask you to enter admin password when you want to install a program. If you don’t know how top create a password read it here,

for more on computer maintenance and other free stuffs visit onlin-computer-repairs

Read More

6 TECHNIQUES/STRATEGIES TO BECOME YOUR OWN COMPUTER ENGINEER IN 20 MINUTES

In every field there are some basic strategy to becoming a professional in that field, so also it is in computer, and you have to know the basic techniques to be good at it. It is when you know the basic that you can start to improve on them.
In this article I will be sharing with your 6 techniques/strategy to becoming your own computer engineer so you don’t have to call an engineer when your computer brakes down.

1. DON’T FEEL FRUSTRATED

Don't be afraid of computer problems. It is often the best opportunity to learn. Trouble-shooting is part of the fun of owning a computer. Imagine the satisfaction you could get by solving a problem yourself.
Of course the fun could run out quickly once you are frustrated and have spent too much time on the same problem. If you feel frustrated, it's time to leave it for a while and go back with some new ideas

2. CONFIDENCE

Confidence is the first technique to solving any computer problem, believing that you solve the problem will make your mind to think and also makes you not to quit on the problem, it prompts you to take steps and you will be surprise to know that you have solve the problem because your confidence was in place.

3. RESEARCH

In computer engineering research is a major criteria if you must be relevant. The difference between you and the other engineer is just the amount of knowledge you have on the field and this knowledge come as a result of deep research. how to make research, if you have a problem and you don’t know what to do just examine the problem then go on the net and search solutions for that problem. e.g. if your computer has raila odinga virus and your antivirus is not removing it, you can type how to remove raila odinga manually on www.google.com, read through the sites that are saying what you want to know about click on the site ti read the full details that way you have adequate knowledge to solve the problem. Note that there is no problem that you will encounter in your computer that no body has encountered, so going online to search for solution is a smart way to solve the problem.

4. TRIAL-AND-ERROR

When your computer encounters a hardware problem, what you need to do is to know the kind of problem and the hardware responsible for the problem, because Personal computers are highly modular by design. The most powerful technique is to isolate specific component by trial-and-error. Swap compatible components and see if the system still works. Try that peripherals on a different machines and see if the same problem occurs. Make one change at a time.


5. ALWAYS TAKE NOTE

Take notes of what you have done and all the error messages. You may need to use them later. For instance, when you see an unusual blue screen with an error message. Copy the entire message onto a piece of paper. In many situations, that message may point to the right direction in getting the problem solved quickly. Always remember to use the internet when it becomes difficult.

6. TROUBLESHOOTING HARDWARE

It's OK to open a computer case and take a look inside. There is only 5V and 12V DC voltage supplied to the components outside the power supply. Those who have never seen the inside of a computer are often amazed by how simple it looks. Of course, still always power down and unplug the power cord first.
More than 70% of all computer problems are related to cabling and connections. Ensure all cables are connected firmly. IDE and floppy ribbon cables and power cables can often go loose. Ensure microprocessor, memory modules, and adapters such as video card and sound card are inserted correctly and didn't "pop-up" during transportation.

For more computer maintenance, computer security, articles, tips and other free stuffs visit online-computer-repairs.blogspot.com

Read More

Increase your computer speed in 9 minutes

Increase your system speed in 9 minutes is a quick guide to increase your system speed.
Speed is one thing any computer user will not compromise.

Have you ever wondered why your computer becomes slow as the day goes by, suddenly your programs take longer time to come up, it can be really frustrating.
Maybe you have visited some cafe to browse when your computer is down or you are not close to your house and feel like using the net. And nothing is working even to launch internet explorer or Microsoft word takes so much time that you are bored. This is caused by so much junk files in your temp folder; recycle bin, temp internet files and cookies. The second is to increase your computers victual memory.
Just follow these simple steps to increase your computers speed
1. Cleaning temp folder, cookies, temporary internet files, and performing disk clean up. These locations take as much as 2GB of your disk space and your ram needs to run these programs instead of running the important programs you use to for your work.
To clean up these files double click on my computer icon, drive C:, document and settings, select the user profile folder that you are using, open local settings, if you don’t see local settings click on tools menu, folder option check show hiding files and folders, click apply and then ok to show all hiding files


By now you should see local setting folder now
Open the folder, open the temp folder, you will see the files that it contains. To view the size of the temp folder select all files using CTR + A, right click on any file and click properties you will see the disc space that its occupying, close the property box and delete all the files. If some files refuse to delete, it may be that the computer is making use of those files at the moment, do same clean up for the temporary internet files and cookies folder, after deleting these files do same for other user profiles in your computer. When that is done you have to use the disk cleanup to clean those files from recycle bin any other location where they may be. Now click start, point your mouse to program files, and to accessories and to system tool click disk clean up


Select the drive where you have your operating system click ok, it will scan the files and show you a dialog box, check the boxes with size above 0 kb then click ok and another dialog box will open asking you if you really want to delete these files click yes. In addition, it will clean all the location. After cleaning including recycle bin your computer should faster than before.
2. Increase your virtual memory. A virtual memory is an area of the hard disk that the computer uses as ram. If the virtual memory of your machine is low, your computer will become very slow when you try to use some application simultaneously. To increase the virtual memory of your computer will also increase your system speed, Right click on my Computer, click properties, click advance tab, click settings under performance option, click advance tab on performance option, click change, now change the number there to close or the number that the machine has. Click set, OK and closes the dialog boxes
Now restart your machine you will notice that the speed of your machine has increased.
increase your computer speed in 9 minutes is brought to you by online-computer-repairs

Read More