Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov Recent Developments .. by Roger Davies Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Mar 1999 Soft Serve Direct Box 389, Magrath, Alberta, Canada T0K 1JO Phone (403) 388-4332 Fax (403) 758-3505

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s it plugged in? Uncommon common sense.

So you want to use your computer. But wait, something might go wrong. Before you have to call in the technician or simply decide to heave the whole thing out the window, try counting to ten:

Before things go south, try:

1. An ounce of prevention. Have you backed up your critical data files lately? Have you ever tested the backup to ensure that it is actually readable? The largest costs incurred after a system crash can be recreation of data (re-entering, re-creating, or making do without). Setup a system and backup regularly.
    
2. Use the bar. Power bars are not surge protectors. Your power company usually provides AC power at a steady 115V +/-. Occasionally failures, accidents, or lightning can result in a temporary jolt much above the norm. A good surge protector will safeguard your hardware from nasty power surges and the resulting damage to your system. Better surge protectors include connections for your computer telephone line - another potential source of problems. The opposite of a surge (brown-out or complete loss of power) can sometimes cause damage to your system, but nothing as spectacular as a direct lightning strike. You can protect your system  from unexpected loss of power through use of a UPS (uninteruptable power supply). Although more costly than a surge protector alone, the UPS protects from both surge and brown-out power problems. It's like insurance for your PC. The life you save may be your computer.
    
3. Maximize free space. Do you really need that 30MB .avi movie file loaded on your hard drive? When is the last time anyone played that game? Much of my calls to 'fix' computers is to families with tiny users installing tons of sound and processor intensive games from CD-ROM. Besides all the behind-the-scene modifications being made, these mega games can choke the life from your PC by taking up all the space on your hard drive. Uninstall unneeded programs. Tip: Use Win9x Find function to uncover gigantic files on the hard drive. Click Start, Find, Files and Folders, [specify drive e.g. c:], Advanced, Size is, At least, [enter a file size in KB e.g. 5000 (=5MB)], Find Now. The resulting list can point to programs that have large files lurking on your drive. If the program has an uninstall icon try that first. Otherwise, try the Win9x Add/Remove Programs. Finally, you could try one of the useful commercial software utilities that identify and remove unwanted programs and associated files such as Symantec's Norton Utilities or Quarterdeck's Cleansweep.
    
4. Simplify your Startup. Many interesting new 'helper' programs can be added to your system, often without you the user being aware. The pretty row of icons in your system tray indicate programs taking up space in your system memory. Now, this can be somewhat complicated, so be careful (or call me in). First check your startup folder for programs starting up with Windows: Right-click the Start button, click Open, Programs, Startup .. which should display the shortcuts to programs scheduled to start up when you start windows. With Win98 you can also run the startup configuration utility: Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Information, Tools, System Configuration Utility, Startup. This nifty program lets you temporarily turn off startup items listed in your system registry. BTW: most Win9x systems can boot fine with nothing in the old autoexec.bat and config.sys files.
    
5. Use the Utility. DOS6.2+ and Win9x come with utility programs called ScanDisk and Defrag. ScanDisk, originally named Norton Disk Doctor until licensed by Microsoft for bundling with DOS, checks the data on your hard drive and makes sure all areas can be read to/from properly. The great thing about this utility is how it not only identifies but also fixes problems for you. We suggest running these utilities regularly (i.e. at least monthly).
   
   And if things go awry (and they will):
    
6. Take notes. While it is still fresh in your mind, try writing down what was going on when the problem is noticed. Was any new programs or hardware added to your system lately? What programs were running? What keys were pressed? What messages (if any) were displayed? Write them down! This information could be very useful when consulting support personnel or a smart friend.
    
7. Try, try again. A surprising number of minor problems can be solved by simply exiting all your programs and re-starting your computer. Computers can get bogged down when trying to handle several loads of information at once or after having to handle misbehaving program, resulting in strange operation or even system crashes. Restarting the computer resets the system memory and reloads all required programs.
    
8. Check your connections. Look for loose connections before you go too far in your problem solving. Most of the time, a loose connection will prompt your computer to tell you that it can't find a particular component. Make sure all connections are fine and all screws are (finger)-tight behind your computer and hardware. If you are brave enough to open up the case, make sure you ground yourself properly before touching anything. I suggest shutting the system down before pushing and prodding. Then turn it back on to test. On my own PC yesterday I got nothing but a blank screen when I booting up twice. I checked behind the case and sure enough, the connection to the monitor had fallen out of it's connection.
    
9. Stop and think. When you do encounter a problem you should resist the temptation to try to fix it by trial and error. Unfortunately, the "error" part can be very unforgiving - you can easily end up making things worse. Only attempt to solve the problem on your own if you can consult a manual with a clear instructions  or if you can afford some down time. Drastic actions like reformatting the hard drive may or may not solve the problem and can take tons of time to recover from and assume that all the data you wish to restore has been properly backed up. But hey, if you like living on the edge ..
    
10. Reinstall. Start with the program that is misbehaving. If appropriate, start by uninstalling the most likely offending program. Check for proper system operation. Then re-install the program from the original disks. Reinstalling Win9x can also resolve some (but not all)  problems, and can take lots of time to complete. Save this as a last resort and be prepared to reinstall things like your sound card, modem and printer drivers - they do not always get detected during the reinstall.
       

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Revised: June 23, 2001 Design Copyright 1996-2000 by Roger Davies for Soft Serve Direct (SSDirect - Computer Consulting, PC Sales, and Service). Permission is granted for individual use and reproduction provided that this document remains intact, with this copyright message clearly visible.

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