How to Troubleshoot Windows 7 Crashes?

Windows 7 giving you more problems than you see fit? Constantly getting error messages like “Microsoft Word has stopped working. Ignore problem or report problem to Microsoft?”

Right, like reporting the problem to Microsoft is going to fix your computer. Getting errors like this on a constant basis is never a good thing. After all, consistency and reliability are a crucial aspect to just about anything.

With Windows 7, you can get a customized reliability report in a few easy steps. From there, you can analyze the crash reports and figure out what programs are causing the most problems with your computer.

Home Computer Repair Hong Kong suggests to check the reliability of your computer, start by opening up Windows Action Center. You can do this by clicking the Action Center icon in the taskbar (the white flag), or by using the path Start > Control Panel > Action Center.

From within Action Center, click the drop arrow to expand the Maintenance section. There should be a link labeled View reliability history. Click it to open up the Windows Reliability Monitor.

According to Home Computer Repair Hong Kong you can use Reliability Monitor to see an overview of application crashes, warnings, and miscellaneous Windows failures. Occasional application crashes are fine. But, if your chart looks anything like the one pictured above, you may want to try and diagnose and repair some of the applications that are crashing.

To view details about an error, click any spot within the chart, for the according date. From there, Windows will generate a list of crashes and errors for that date.

Click the Check for a solution link next to an error. Windows will examine the details of the error and see if there are any new solutions available.

A good portion of the time, Windows will give you the above message. Microsoft isn’t the best about fixing bugs in a timely manner. However, you can fix many problems yourself. If you double click on any error, event, or warning within the list, you can view detailed information about the crash.

From here, you may be able to find a solution online, for that specific Windows error. Also, consider uninstalling and then reinstalling certain applications that commonly receive errors. Often times, that will fix issues and crashes.

Expecting any operating system to run flawlessly is not at all reasonable. But, if your computer crashes all the time, that’s not reasonable either. Your computer should have at least some degree of reliability.

Home Computer Repair Hong Kong suggests to use Windows 7 Reliability Monitor to check up on reliability history, and make adjustments from there. It’s also crucial that you stay up to date with Windows Updates. Microsoft will occasionally release a critical update that may improve the performance of Windows.

Apple Repair Hong Kong - How to burn DVD on Mac?

Need to record some data to a DVD on your Mac computer? The process couldn’t be easier. For this tutorial, you will need a blank DVD-R or DVD-RW.

Before you get started, you should first check to assure that your Mac has a drive capable of burning DVD discs. Chances are good that it does.

The majority of recent Apple computer’s were manufactured with Apple’s Super Drive burners, which are capable of burning both CDs and DVDs. However, Apple did sell some computer’s that had a Combo Drive, which was only capable of burning CDs.

To check to see what kind of drive you have, simply follow steps recommended by Apple Repair Hong Kong - start by clicking the Apple logo in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Select the first option, About This Mac, from the drop down menu.

The About This Mac window should now be open. Click the More Info… button to open up the system profiler. Once the system profiler opens up, select Disc Burning from the left hand side Hardware drop down menu.

This should bring up information about your Mac’s drive. Look for the section that looks like this:

CD-Write:               -R, -RW
DVD-Write:             -R, -RW
Write Strategies:    CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO

If you see the DVD-Write part, your Mac is capable of burning DVDs.

Now to burn a DVD Mac Repair Hong Kong recommends, Start by creating a new burn folder on your Mac’s desktop. To do so, right click in some empty space on the desktop and select New Burn Folder from the quick menu.

If you do not see an option for New Burn Folder, you are probably running Snow Leopard. If this is the case, just select New Folder instead.  Rename the folder to your liking.

Go ahead and insert your blank DVD into your Mac’s Super Drive, if you have not yet done so.

It’s now time to add some content to burn to the DVD. Locate a file/files that you would like to put on the DVD. If you are using a standard recordable DVD, you will be able to add up to 4.5GB of information.

Add your files to the folder that you just created by dragging them over the folder, and dropping them in. After you have your files added, double click the folder to open it up.

The final step to burning a DVD on a Mac is to start the burn. If you are using Snow Leopard, click the icon that looks like a gear, from within the folder, to activate the drop down menu. Select Burn “Your folder name” To Disc from the drop down menu.

Macbook Repair Hong Kong also tells us if you are using an earlier version of OS X, such as Tiger, you should have created a burn folder rather than a regular folder. To start burning your DVD, simply click the Burn button, located in the upper right hand corner of the window.

That’s all there is to it. Now all you have to do is wait for your DVD to finish burning. That’s how you burn files to DVD on a Mac.

Repair Laptop Hong Kong - How to Protect Your Laptop Against Theft?

It is no secret that in a weakened economy, theft rates—especially for small electronics—rise. Since many computer lovers carry their laptops absolutely everywhere, it makes sense to be especially vigilant in safeguarding these devices.

While there are many paid services offering location tracking for lost or stolen laptops, a free service called LockItTight is offering this valuable tool for free recommended by Computer Repair Hong Kong

To sign up for the service, click Free Sign Up at the top right of the homepage.

Enter your the sign up information (name, email, username and password), making sure to choose the Free plan from the dropdown menu. After agreeing with the terms of service, click I accept. Create my account. at the bottom of the page.

You must then verify your email address. The service sends an email containing a link you must click to activate your account. Once verified, log in to your new account on the laptop you wish to protect. Click the Download Client button to install the theft protection on your laptop.

Once installed, LockItTight tracks your laptop’s location every hour or so (this is a customizable setting). From any computer, log in to your LockItTight account to see your laptop’s location on GoogleMaps.

Besides location tracking, LockItTight takes a screen capture and Web cam capture every two hours. If your laptop is stolen, these pictures, combined with location tracking, can help the police recover your laptop.

According to Laptop Repair Hong Kong for a free service, LockItTight is excellent. There is no doubt this service will help recover some devices, and this layer of protecting is certainly worth installing. However, location tracking services can really only deter stupid criminals—rather like airport security. Once the laptop’s hard drive is wiped clean, the service does no good in tracking the laptop. Plus, if the laptop’s power is off, the service cannot work.


To know more about Repair Computer Hong Kong and  Repair Laptop Hong Kong please visit: macwintech.com

Computer Virus Remove Hong Kong - Free Antivirus Security software Must have!

Need free computer security software? Looking through the shelves of PC World and other computer stores, I see over-priced security programs filling the racks, and I think to myself, ‘I could get programs better than these for free.’

So now, to prevent you from getting absolutely ripped off, and blowing all your money on programs which are terrible, Remove Computer Virus Hong Kong have gathered together a list of security programs which can effectively protect your computer as much as (or better than) the likes of paid programs like McAfee or Norton.

Before you install these programs though, Kindly check the you meet minimum requirements to support these programs before you try, so remember to check that.

Laptop Virus Remove Hong Kong suggest you to check when installing security programs, make sure your old security programs, or any programs for that matter do not collide or interfere with the newly installed program otherwise it will not be as effective, or it might not even work.

So here are, in no particular order, the collection of must-have security programs that every computer owner should have installed.

Computer Security Software for Windows

1. Comodo Firewall

Outstanding protection, despite it not being a paid program. I’d say this easily beats the likes of McAfee protection wise, but unfortunately, ease wise, it is slightly difficult for the home user to pick up easily. However, if you are fairly advanced, or understand a relatively high amount about computers, I’d say this would be the best choice for you.

2. AVG Anti-Spyware

Currently THE best anti-spyware program available on the market at the moment, so those of us who can pay for products and those of us that cannot should have this program regardless. Maximum protection, minimum fuss, this program is unrivalled. Except maybe by a few paid products, but even still, this is the best.

3. Threatfire

ThreatFire is a free program that further boosts the protection of anti-virus’. It provides real time protection, which alone is amazing, but it does it discreetly which not only amazes me, but baffles me as how they do it. Reports have been seen of a 60% improvement in Anti-Virus protection. And, as a cherry on top of the cake, it helps out by preventing zero-day attacks.

4. Avast Anti-Virus

Arguably the most important security program if these all – an Anti-Virus. Avast Anti-Virus is a free, award-winning anti-virus program that is easily up in the leagues of Norton and NOD32. Versatile, easy-to-use and great for both beginner’s and the more advanced computer users amongst us, this is a program that virtually any computer owner should have installed on their computer.

And well, that about concludes all the absolute necessities for your computer’s security and safety. If these are not sufficient to satisfy your security needs, or you feel the urge to further up the security on your computer, Antivirus Company Hong Kong would advise you to buy a wireless router, as this helps filter hackers out.

Another little tip we would say to help with security worries is to constantly change your IP. By not having an IP, it makes it harder for those lurking, annoying script kiddies to launch an attack on you for no purpose or reason.

To know more about us visit macwintech.com

Apple Mac Repair Hong Kong - How to reset Admin password in OS X

Most computer power users have to remember passwords for several different accounts. From time to time, you may even forget something as simple as your OS X login password. No worries. You can recover or reset your password for a Mac computer with a couple of easy steps provided by Apple Repair Hong Kong.

Reset user passwords (does not work with administrator account)

Mac OS X 10.2 and Up

Newer versions of Mac OS X have a convenient password reset feature for user accounts. Before you get started using this method, make sure that you are logged in with the administrator account.

Navigate to the system preferences window by using the path Finder >Applications > System Preferences or by clicking the Apple logo and selecting System Preferences from the dropdown menu. Click the Accounts icon from within System Preferences.

From the Accounts window, click the lock in the lower left side of the window to unlock it, if it’s not already unlocked. Select the username that’s password you want to change. Click the Reset Password button, or the Change Password button, depending on what version of OS X you are using.

Type in a new password for the user account, and type once more to verify. Click the Reset Password button and then OK to allow changes if a keychain verification prompt comes up.

OS X 10.1.5 and Earlier

According to Mac Repair Hong Kong in case of 10.5 or earlier make sure that you are logged in with the administrator account. Navigate to the system preferences by clicking the Apple logo, and selecting System Preferences from the drop down menu. Click Users from the View Menu.

Assure that the lock in bottom left corner of the window is unlocked. Select the username for the account that you would like to change a password on. Click the edit user button. Enter a new password and reenter to verify. Click the Save button.

Reset the Password to the Administrator Account

If you forgot the password to your Mac’s main administrator account, you can still recover it. However, it’s a different process than resetting basic user accounts (featured above). To start, you need to located the Mac OsX install Discs that came with your Mac.

After you have your install discs ready to go, insert install disc 1 into your computer and restart the computer. As soon as you hear the Mac boot sound of OS X starting back up, immediately hold down the c key on your keyboard.

You can release the c key as soon as you see the Apple logo with the spinning loading wheel. This should boot from disc. If it does not, try it again, using the option key instead.

Upon booting from disc, click Continue on the first screen. When you get to the next screen, hover your mouse over the top of the screen to access the top toolbar. Click the Apple logo, or the Installer menu (depending on what version of OS X you are using). Click the option labeled Reset Password.

Next, it will ask you to select a hard drive. Select your Mac’s hard drive. Select your Administrator account username from the dropdown accounts menu. Enter a new password for the Administrator account, and reenter once to verify. Save the changes and restart your computer. Next time you login, you should have a new administrator password.

To know more about Apple Computer Repair Hong Kong and  Mac Repair Hong Kong please visit: http://www.macwintech.com

Computer Technician Hong Kong - Uninstall an Update in Windows 7.

Windows Update is the main method of updating Windows 7 to keep your PC running smoothly and free from errors. However, not all updates operate as you expect. Learn how to easily view all of the updates installed on your computer and how to uninstall single updates.

Windows Installed Updates

Every once in a while, Microsoft releases Service Packs that are primarily a bunch of updates to the Windows operating system that have been packaged up into one download. These Service Packs serve as new version of the operating system so much so that some applications and programs require that your PC be updated to the latest Service Pack before installation.

However, until Service Packs are released, the updates trickle in from Microsoft as individual installations. Although generally tested to be stable, these updates occasionally behave in ways the company did not intend. Luckily, Microsoft built into Windows 7 an easy to use interface for uninstalling individual updates. Computer Service Hong Kong and  Computer Technician Hong Kong tells us step by step process to uninstall Windows 7 Updates.

Uninstall Windows 7 Updates

Begin by logging into Windows 7 with an account that has administrative privileges. Then, click on Start>Control Panel>Programs. Under the Programs and Featureslink, click on the link titled View Installed Updates.

You should now be looking at the Uninstall an Update window. You should note a few things here. First, note that each update is automatically categorized by program. 

Second, note that the next column indicates to which program the update belongs. Third, the next column indicates the version. Note that few updates use this column so don’t be alarmed if almost all of the updates have this column blank.

Fourth, the next column indicates the publisher of the update. Microsoft often makes use of this column but many other publishers do not. Again, don’t be surprised to see this column mostly blank.

Fifth, the last column indicates when the update was installed. This column is particularly important because it can help you diagnose a malfunctioning computer. If you install an update and your computer starts to act strangely, you can sort the updates found in this windows by date and uninstall the most recent updates to try to fix your PC.

You can uninstall any update in this list simply by clicking on it. How the update uninstalls depends on what kind of update it is. For example, Microsoft updates prompt you to ensure you really want to uninstall it.

Other updates may simply uninstall without asking you to verify the un-installation. For this reason, be careful what you do in this window or you may inadvertently uninstall an important update. However, don’t worry because you can always download it again by running Windows Update.

Windows 7 makes it easy to view and uninstall individual updates. However Computer Upgrade Hong Kong recommends unless you have a good reason for doing so, don’t start uninstalling updates to fix a problem with Windows. You may make matters worse and open up your computer to malware and other attacks from which the update was protecting your PC.

To know more about Computer Service Hong Kong and  Computer Technician Hong Kong please visit: http://www.macwintech.com

Computer Repair Hong Kong - How to boot Windows 7 in Safe Mode?

According to Computer Repair Hong Kong apart from using F8 key while restarting computer there are, some other boot options that although not technically part of Safe Mode, complement the Safe Mode options to enhance troubleshooting and diagnosing your computer. These options are found right next to the Safe Mode options.

To view these options, click on Start and then on Run. If you don’t have the Run command on your Start menu, hold down the Windows key on your keyboard and press the R key. Either method will bring up the Run dialog box. Type msconfig in the box and click the OK button.

This will bring up the System Configuration window. Click on the Boot tab and locate the section of the window titled Boot Options. Notice the four types of Safe Mode options discussed in the previous article.

Notice, also, that there are four additional options just to right of the Safe Mode options. These options are the ones we will discuss here.

Other Boot Options

These additional options can be used separately or in conjunction with Safe Mode. Below is a description of each option and a brief discussion of how they can be used to help diagnose your computer.

No GUI Boot Option

When you choose the No GUI Boot Option, you force Windows 7 to avoid displaying the Windows Welcome screen when Windows starts up. The Welcome Screen is the part of the bootup process that shows the animated Windows symbol and the progress bar.

Although normally used to shave a few seconds off the boot time, the No GUI Boot Option can help you get passed hangs at the Welcome Screen. This is especially true if you suspect graphics problems.

Boot Log Option

The Boot Log Option is your best friend when it comes to troubleshooting boot up errors. Upon booting up, Windows will create a boot log of the start up process that can help you diagnose where you computer has gone wrong. Windows 7 stores this boot log in the %systemroot%/Ntbtlog.txt file which is:

c:\windows\Ntbtlog.txt

for most Windows 7 computers.

Base Video Boot Option

When you start up Windows 7 using any of the Safe Mode options, the video drivers are one of the components of your system not loaded. Instead, the operating system loads the GUI in minimal VGA mode.

If you were familiar with Windows 95, you know that VGA mode has a resolution of only 640×480 dpi. This mode can make the GUI seem huge on your monitor. Unlike Safe Mode, however, the Base Video Boot option loads all other drivers and software normally allowing you to troubleshoot your computer’s graphics problems without sacrificing your system’s other features while you diagnose the issue.

OS Boot Information Option

When beginning the troubleshooting process, computer technicians like PC Repair Hong Kong or Repair Computer Hong Kong commonly use the OS Boot Information option. Upon start up, Windows displays a text listing of every driver as it is being loaded during boot up.

This option is useful if you suspect that certain drivers are not loading correctly. Unfortunately, this options tells you whether the drivers are loading successfully but does not help you find out why a driver is not loading properly. Still, it can help you narrow down the cause of your computer’s errors instead of forcing you to look for a needle in a haystack.

Although not technically part of the Safe Mode options, you can use the boot options discussed above to complement Safe Mode when troubleshooting Windows 7 errors. Each one offers something different that can help you track down and eventually fix whatever ails your computer.

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Laptop Repair Hong Kong : 3 Ways to get rid of Viruses & Spyware

According to Laptop Repair Hong Kong Viruses, spyware, malware, etc… they all suck. They slow down your computer, corrupt your files, illegally steal your info, and more.

You have probably seen those commercials advertising a website that will give a free scan and magically clean your computer as well as make it 20x faster. Well, those websites that they are advertising will scan your computer, that part is true.

However, the heavy majority of them will charge a fee to get rid of all of the errors found in the scan… And none of them will make your computer 20x faster.

Basically, those commercials use a simple antivirus scanner/remover. There is far better software out there that is available to you for free. By following this article, you will without a doubt, be able to remove any type of virus, spyware, or malware from your computer.

But, first things first, you need to understand that viruses and other computer threats come in several degrees. So, method 1 might not necessarily remove a virus from your computer. If not, Notebook Repair Hong Kong recommends one of the following methods.

Method 1 – Perform A System Restore

System restores are a good way to get rid of light malware and spyware programs. They require no downloading of any software and can be performed directly by Windows.

System restores work best if you catch the intrusion right away. But, you do not want to do a system restore if you believe that you have had malware, spyware, or viruses on your computer for any significant amount of time.

This could cause you to lose files, applications, or data. To do a system restore in Windows, navigate to the control panel using the path Start > Control Panel. Click the Recovery icon located within the Control Panel and hit the Open System Restore button on the next screen.

The rest of the process is very straightforward as the Windows Wizard will guide your through it.

Method 2 – Scans

There are thousands of different programs out there in the spyware/virus removal category, many of which are free. The thing to remember is that different virus removal programs will bring different results; and none of them are 100% completely accurate.

For example, you can scan your computer with one virus removal program, remove the viruses… then turn around a scan your computer with a different program, which will catch even more viruses that the first program didn’t pick up.

However, you do not want to stack tons of virus removal programs on top of each other. Doing so can actually throw off effectiveness. One good antivirus scanner should be enough.

We recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. Aside from the virus scanner, it is also wise to use a spyware and malware scanner. Two great choices that you can check out are Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy.

Method 3 – Clean Install

A clean install is not the most fun thing to do. However, a clean install is the one guaranteed way to get rid of viruses, spyware, and malware. It’s simple… when you do a clean install, you are deleting everything on your hard drive. Thus, no more viruses.

Most of the time, viruses will not infect items like pictures, text documents, videos, or MP3 files. If step 2 (scan), is not working for you, more than likely the virus is in your computer’s registry. This is good because you can backup all of your pictures, documents, etc… before doing the clean install. That way you will not lose anything important.

The most common way to backup files is by using an external hard drive, flash drive, or burning DVDs. Doing a clean install is not at all as hard as it may seem, it’s just time consuming because you have to wait for Windows to copy itself to your hard drive. 

To know more about Computer repair Hong Kong and Laptop repair Hong Kong please visit: http://www.macwintech.com, http://www.laptoprepairhongkong.com

PC Repair Hong Kong - How to detect computer monitoring or spying software?

As an IT Pro, I routinely monitor employee’s computers and emails. It’s essential in a work environment for administrative purposes as well as for security. Monitoring email, for example, allows you to block attachments that could contain a virus or spyware. The only time I have to connect to a user’s computer and do work on directly their computer is to fix a problem.

However, if you feel that you are being monitored when you shouldn’t be, there are a few little tricks from Computer repair Hong Kong you can use to determine if you’re right. First off, to monitor someone’s computer means that they someone can watch everything that you are doing on your computer in real time. Blocking porn sites, removing attachments or blocking spam before it gets to your Inbox, etc is not really monitoring, it’s more like filtering.

COMPUTER MONITORING

So now, if you still think someone is spying on you, here’s PC Repair Hong Kong tells you what you can do! The good thing right now is that neither Windows XP SP2 nor Windows Vista support multiple concurrent connections while someone is logged into the console (there is a hack for this, but I would not worry about). What this means is that if you’re logged into your XP or Vista computer (like you are now if you’re reading this), and someone were to connect to it using the BUILT-IN REMOTE DESKTOP feature of Windows, your screen would become locked and it would tell tell you who is connected.

So why is that useful? It’s useful because it means that in order for someone to connect to YOUR session without you noticing or your screen being taken over, they have use third-party software and it’s a lot easier to detect third-party software than a normal process in Windows.

So now we’re looking for third-party software, which is usually referred to as remote control software or virtual network computing (VNC) software. First, the easy thing to do is to simply check in your Start Menu All Programs and check whether or not something like VNC, RealVNC, TightVNC, UltraVNC, LogMeIn, GoToMyPC, etc is installed. A lot of times IT people are sloppy and figure that a normal user won’t know what a piece of software is and will simply ignore it. If any of those programs are installed, then someone can connect to your computer without you knowing it as long as the program is running in the background as a Windows service.

That brings us to the second point. Usually, if one of the above listed programs are installed, there will be an icon for it in the task bar because it needs to be constantly running to work.

Check all of your icons (even the hidden ones) and see what is running. If you find something you’ve not heard of, do a quick Google search to see what pops up. It’s usually quite hard to remove something from the taskbar, so if there is something installed to monitor your computer, it should be there. You can contact Fix Computer Hong Kong for further assistance.

However, if someone really sneaky installed it and nothing shows up there, you can try another way. Again, because these are third-party apps, they have to connect to Windows XP or Vista on different communication ports. Ports are simply a virtual data connection by which computers share information directly. As you may already know, XP and Vista come with a built-in Firewall that blocks many of the incoming ports for security reasons. If you’re not running an FTP site, why should your port 23 be open, right?

So in order for these third-party apps to connect to your computer, they must come through a port, which has to be open on your computer. You can check all the open ports by going to Start, Control Panel, and Windows Firewall.

Click on the Exceptions tab and you’ll see see a list of programs with check boxes next to them. The ones that are checked are “open” and the unchecked or unlisted ones are “closed”. Go through the list and see if there is a program you’re not familiar with or that matches VNC, remote control, etc. If so, you can block the program by un-checking the box for it!

The only other way I can think of to see if someone is connected to your computer is to see if there are any processes running under a different name! If you go to the Windows Task Manager (press Cntr + Shift + Esc together) and go to theProcesses tab, you’ll see a column titled User Name.

Scroll through all the processes and you should only see your user name, Local Service, Network Service, and System. Anything else means someone is logged into the computer!

For any assistance on removal of spying software contact Computer Repair Hong Kong.

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