by Johnson Yip
on January 29, 2010
Troubleshooting hardware can be very challenging and take hours or days to complete. The first thing I usually do is download the latest drivers and software from the hardware manufacturers for my version of the operating system and hardware I am using. I also make sure that every thing is plugged in correctly to my PC, and all my cables work . I try the piece on a different computer with the same operating system to see if it works.  If it works on another computer, I do a repair install of Windows by running the upgrade wizard for my Windows install CD to repair my version of Windows. If the repair install did not fix my problem with my computer hardware, I will do a clean install by backing up all my files and reinstalling Windows. If it still does not work then I need to exchange it at the store or find a computer which it will work fine on.
Upgrading my BIOS also can work at fixing my computer hardware, but it can be very risky since if there is a power outage during a BIOS update my motherboard will be broken unless I can somehow replace the BIOS chip on the motherboard which can be very hard or impossible. Trying different software to see if my hardware works for my computer also might work.
You can also try contacting bloggers, webmasters, and friends who are knowledgeable in computer repair and troubleshooting.
I also recommend you guys try Google.com, Ask.com, Bing.com, Yahoo Answers, Answers.com, Computer Forums, and other social and interactive websites which you can use to look for answers about pc repair.
Read my problem I have with my Hauppauge WinTV HVR 850 on Windows 7, and how I plan to fix it?
Tagged as:
Computer,
computer hardware troubleshooting,
hardware,
tips,
troubleshooting
by Johnson Yip
on January 28, 2010
Paragon released Paragon Backup & Recovery 10.1 Free Edition disk imaging and backup software.
Download it at http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-express/download.html
New features according to Paragon.
– Cyclic Backup – complete infrastructure for establishing a self-acting data protection system, fully compliant with the set-and-forget backup policy. Whenever Windows fails, you can get it back on track in minutes.
– Support for the latest Windows 7 (both 32- and 64-bit), support for all existing backup techniques and of all the latest hardware as well as hard disk partitioning schemes.
– Backup and restore not only single GPT volumes but entire disks, including the option of resize during the restore operation.
– Live imaging for a Win2K+ system with two snapshot technologies onboard, i.e. MS Volume Shadow Copy Service and Paragon Hot Processing.
– Zero-install accomplishment of any operation with multi-platform bootable recovery media which you can build on a CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc or a thumb drive.
– Fast restore on a granular level without the need to restore the whole image.
 Additional Features:
– Advanced system of filters to automate the process of building up contents of the future backup image by excluding irrelevant data such as movies, music, etc.
– Choose any backup destination: Local mounted/un-mounted partitions, external storage, CD/DVD/Blu-ray discs, network shares and the secured hidden partition (Backup Capsule)
– Three special boot-up modes for restoring Windows 64-bit operating systems
– Encryption and password protection for backups to guarantee security for your confidential data
– Partitioning tools such as: partition creation, deletion, formatting to different file systems, testing hard disk surfaces and checking file systems for errors
Source:: Paragon software
Tagged as:
10.1,
backup and recovery,
disk imaging,
paragon,
released
by Johnson Yip
on January 28, 2010
Paragon Software Group will giveaway of Backup&Recovery Compact Edition! The  software, normally priced at $39.95  is available for download at Paragon Free portal for Free at  http://www.paragon-software.com/free/giveaway.htmlstarting tomorrow, Jan 29, 00:00 (EST) till Jan 31, 23:59 (EST)!
I will download my copy tommorrow!
Tagged as:
backup and recovery compact edition,
download,
free giveaway,
paragon