Check your Hard Drive for errors and fix

It is well known that Hard Drive is very important part of any personal computer. Operating system. installed programs and other data are stored and running from your HDD and that's why it is very important to keep your hard disk drive well maintained and error free.

In this post you will learn how to scan hard drive for errors and fix all of them automatically.

Windows OS has scan disk option in disk properties. You will need to go to that disk - right mouse click - click properties. Under "Tools" tab you will be able to run Check disk.

Another way is to run CMD as administrator. Once inside command prompt type in chkdsk

If oyu are running newer windows and would like to run full check with restart type in  chkdsk  /f  /r  and schedule repair for next time your system restarts. Restart your PC and wait for errors to be scanned.

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Remove Start.search.us.com from your Browser

Start.search.us.com is well known by most computer users as browser hijacker virus.
Once installed on your PC it will take over control of your Internet Browser and it will become your
default search engine, no mater what you do.

Sometimes you will notice even if you Remove Start.search.us.com from your computer it manages to recover it self every time you open web browser or when you add new tab.

To gain control of your homepage again, first try following steps:

• Go to Control Panel - Uninstall a program  
  Find and uninstall anything related to Start search.us.com

• Remove any related extensions , or simply reset your browser
  IE : Go to Internet options from tools/setting menu and hit reset, delete personal settings
  Firefox: Go to Help Menu, Troubleshooting  information - reset firefox
  Chrome: Go to Chrome settings and reset - Restore chrome to its original default
  
  

If for some reason you are still having same problem than you should proceed to next step.
This is 100% Working for IE, Chrome, Firefox and many other browsers.

You will have to download AdwCleaner from Internet.
This is easy fix, but it might remove some other suspicious programs from your PC as well.

AdwCleaner is free portable application that will completely remove any ad-ware from your computer.
Run the Scan process and hit Clean button. Once completed you will have to restart your PC and go ahead and set new homepage in your browser or reset your browser one more time.

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How to create a new user in Windows 7

This is great feature by Win7 for those who share their computer with multiple users. Yes, it is possible to create a new user or multiple users depending on your requirements. Every user will have his own individual account and all settings, documents, pictures, videos, game saves including other personal data will be saved to separate space on hard drive and will not be accessible to others without permission.

Administrator / Owner can allow  different privileges to accounts so they can preform some administrative tasks or restrict them from doing certain operations. Go to Start - Control Panel as shown below:

This comes handy if you are sharing PC with your kids, assign them standard accounts with less privileges to keep your computer virus free. Standard users can use most software and change user settings that don't affect other users or security of your computer.

Also you can turn on guest account , people who don't have an account can log on with Guest account and will not be able to access password protected files , folders or computer settings.
No changes to operating system are made using this account.

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PC Specifications

Imagine you want to buy and play some games on your PC but you are not sure what your specs are.
Or lets say you want to buy used computer from someone but you have no idea what you are buying.
Learn how to check specifications in Windows 7, keep reading ...

To see see basic Computer Information as shown below, just right click on "Computer" and choose "Properties."You will be able to see Windows version, Processor information and RAM memory.

To list all devices just click "Device Manager" that is located in same window and you will see installed devices on your computer. To check your Hard Drive size just open "Computer" and click "Properties" on your Local Disk.

For graphic card do a right click on your desktop and chose "Screen Resolution" and then "Advanced Settings" You will see your graphic adapter Chip type , available memory and more. Read more about Video Memory.

If you are looking for more information regarding your devices I recommend using Speccy.
This tool is great if you are looking for advanced system information.
Wee need to know what is inside our computers for many reasons.

 This tool will provide detailed information:

• CPU                                                                                                                                                 Number of cores and threads, model, socket info, Buss speed, Cash size, Temperature...
• RAM                                                                                                                                                Memory type, Size, Channels, Frequency, Usage, Available Slots... 
• Motherboard                                                                                                                              Chipset, Model, Southbridge Vendor, Model, Temperature... 
• Graphics                                                                                                                                         Monitor info, Graphic Card, Model, Memory type, Temperature, GPU Clock ...
• Hard Drive                                                                                                                                             HDD Manufacturer, number of Heads, Cylinders, Size, Speed, Temperature ...
• Optical Drives                                                                                                                                      Media Type, Capabilities,Drive letter, SCSI port, Size, Transfer Rate ...    
• Audio                                                                                                                                                      Sound Card manufacturer, Playback device, recording device ...
• Peripherals                                                                                                                                            Such us Keyboard , Mouse, Touch Pad, USB devices, Printers ...
• Network                                                                                                                                           Connection info, Network Cards, Link speed, WiFi SSID, Frequency, Channel ...  

      Search for Speccy.

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How to Restore computer to earlier date

If for some reason you want to Restore your Windows computer to earlier date than you should continue reading this post. It is very importation that you save your documents somewhere safe - other than your Windows disk so that you don't lose your important data during this process. Remember you are doing this on your own risk.

There are two ways to have your Windows 7 computer restored to earlier date:

• System Restore from backup you made before
• System Restore to last restore point made by Windows - restore points that are made automatically by installing new software, windows updates etc...

In case you have done backup when your system was healthy and now you would like to use that as restore point you should open Control Panel ( Start-C.Panel ) than from "System and Security" choose "Backup and Restore". New window should appear with option to restore from backup available or locate backup you made before.

Another way is to use your last restore point available made by Windows. This is second option we mentioned above and it will undo recent system changes but leave files such as document, movies and music unchanged. Again use this with caution and be aware this might remove recently installed programs and drivers.

Go to Start-Control Panel - System and Security and click Restore your computer to an earlier time that is located under Action Center as shown on picture below. Open System Restore and choose date to restore.

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How to compress files in Windows 7

There are several ways on How to compress files in Windows 7 , this could be done with third party programs such as WinZip, WinRar etc. Every advanced PC user will eventually need to archive and compress data.
This is very useful while sending email attachment to reduce its size. You dont want to end up sending large attachments since its time consuming for you and for person that will receive email as well.

• First lets cover how to compress files without installing any additional software.
  Go to your file or folder that you need to compress and right mouse click on it,
  next click "Send to" and then choose "compressed zipped folder"
  New compressed file will appear on same location under same name ready for your action.

• Another method is using third party programs , I prefer using WinRar and here is why:
  You will need to download WinRar and install. Just search for it online. Once installed you can simply go to your folder , right mouse click and  choose "Add to archive..."
  Now what I like here is that new window will appear ,just like window shown bellow where you can choose Archive format , Compression method and more. Usually I will make self extraction archive and Lock archive so other people cant open it without password.
  SFX means that you will not need any programs to open this archive , it will self extract.

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How to uninstall programs on Windows 7

Uninstalling old, unused programs from your computer can dramatically improve your overall PC experience.
Most users will pickup some free programs from the internet without even knowing what they just did.

What can happen is that while you are installing certain program - installer will install one ore more additional programs with it, that's why it is very important to read every step during the setup process.If you are offered some additional programs make sure that you make those unchecked otherwise you will end up with sluggish computer and too many programs at Windows start-up.

Click Start button and navigate to Control Panel. Next click uninstall a program under Programs option and following window will appear. Carefully choose what to uninstall. Also keep in mind that uninstalling an application from window shown below will completely remove any data associated with it.  So just delete what you really don't need anymore. Now you should know How to uninstall programs on Windows 7

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How to resize photos in Windows 7

If you are looking for a way to quickly resize an image or group images than keep reading.
This post will cover how to resize photos in Windows 7 or any other operating system with or without using any additional software. First I must show you how it is done using  Windows "Paint" that comes preinstalled on your computer , and than we will use software called " Image Resizer " which comes handy if you are looking to resize group of photos.

• Here is how its done with Paint
  Click start button, type paint and run the program or click right button on photo that you are about to resize and click Edit.
  Either way will work just make sure you open your photo with Paint and than select Resize button that is shown in Paint menu or hit " CTRL + W "  Make sure that you Maintain aspect ratio, otherwise your picture will loose it original look. Type in percentage or pixels of your choice and check out how your picture will turn out. Once you have found correct size for your photo go ahead and save it.
  
  This method is lacking group photo resizing and it is time consuming, but it is good to know and it really can help if you would resize few photos.

• This is faster method but requires to download "Image Resizer" 
  To resize group of photos with just one click go to Image Resizer website, download the software, install it and restart your computer before proceeding with next step.
  
  Once your installation is completed you will find " Resize pictures " option in right click menu.
  All you need to do is to select your photos and right click Resize pictures, choose offered sizes or edit your own resolution and click Resize button. There are couple of options besides resolution , make sure you double check what you are planing to do. Its recommended to keep  Replace the originals unchecked so that you will still have your originals in case something goes wrong.

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How to change language on windows 7

Changing display language in Windows 7 is so simple that anyone can do it. Most users prefer using English version but there are users who would like their operating system translated to their language of origin.

Follow steps below on how to change language on Windows 7 computers :
Internet connection is required during this process.

• Go to "Start" - "Control Panel" - "System and Security"
• Than go to "windows updates" and click "check for updates"
• Wait for your Win7 to collect information about available updates than switch to "Optional updates"
• Mark as checked language that you would like to install and hit "OK"

Wait for download to complete and  restart your computer to finish your translation process.

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Remap keyboard keys Windows 7

This time we will learn how to Remap keyboard keys in Windows 7 or any other Windows operating system without any professional computer knowledge.We will use third party program that can be found and downloaded from Internet for free.

Key Tweak is very useful tool if you are having issues with your keyboard, this tool can easily redefine input signals of your broken keys.Lets say that your "Backspace" key doesn't work for some reason and you are not willing to buy new keyboard yet. To solve this problem you can do remapping with "Key Tweak" just remap to any other key that you are not using that often, apply changes and that's it.

You will note that keys in Key Tweak are shown as numbers. First you will have to click  key number that you want to change than choose key under "Choose New Remapping" box, and click "Remap".
At the bottom-right side of that window you will see "Pending Changes" box, click "Apply" to finish remapping. Make sure that you are applying changes to correct keys.

With key tweak you can do more than remapping, you can enable or disable keys, save and restore your favorite configurations, reset mappings with one click. Enjoy! and don't forget to like us on Facebook.

Click to search online for Key Tweak

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How to find out your WiFi password

This post will cover How to find out your WiFi password. Lets say that you are still connected to the network and you have no idea what's your network key. Don't worry, many computer users face the same problem. Password is saved automatically first time you access the network and usually you wont need to type it again but you will run to problems once you re-installed or restored your operating system.

In Windows 7 there is signal strength icon located at the right side in your taskbar. Click on that icon and than right mouse click on your network and choose "properties". New window will appear, under "Security" tab you will be able to see stored password once you click on "Show characters"
This works for windows 7 only , this will not work for Windows XP but keep reading to find out more.

You can use windows shortcuts as well.  Press your keyboard Windows button and letter R at the same time. "Win+R" and than type "ncpa.cpl" - network connections window will appear. Double click on your WiFi "Wireless Network Connections" and hit "Wireless Properties" button.
Under "Security" tab click "Show characters" to see your network key.
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Another way is to use netsh in command prompt. You don't necessarily need to be connected to the network. This step can be used to recover password for notworks that are not in range. Only requirement is that you have been connected successfully at least once in past.
Go to "Start - Run" than type "cmd" and hit "Enter" to open command prompt window.
You can do same with shortcut "Win+R" type "cmd" and press "Enter". Use following commands:

netsh wlan show profiles
This command will show all profiles - Wireless networks that you connected in past.

netsh wlan show profile "your network" key=clear
This will show more detailed profile information. Under security settings you will find key content - that is your network key. Type your network name without quotes.

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Who is using my WiFi

This is very helpful if you have your own network setup using WiFi Router. Find out  Who is using your WiFi Internet connection, easy way to check how many computers are connected and identify intruders.

There are several ways to check who is using your WiFi signal :

• Log-in to your Router and check how many assigned IP addresses are there via DHCP server.
  This step is more complicated and it is for more advanced users. You need to know your Router IP address, User name and password to gain that information from your router. Find out more about this in our previous post  How to setup a Router.

• Another way is to use third party programs such as Wireless Net Watcher. This is very small and very easy to use application that can check who is using your WiFi network in real time. For every computer or any other device connected to your network this utility will display useful information such as IP address, Device Name, MAC Address, Network Adapter Company, Device Information as well as user text that you can change as desired for each device.

• If you are connected to your home network and network discovery and file sharing is turned on you will be able to see all attached computers just by going to Start- Control Panel- Network and Internet than you click "View network computers and devices" and you will be able to see all connected computers and access their shared folders.

• Using command prompt you can see connected devices as well. There are few commands to use:
  First you need to open command prompt - Start - Run - type "cmd" and hit enter.
    - using command "arp -a" you will be able to see IP and MAC addresses of your connected devices
      your own IP is "Interface" IP as on picture below
    - if you type "net view" you will see all devices by their host names.
  
  Type all commands above without "quotation marks".

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How to speed up internet connection

If you are looking How to speed up your Internet connection to be fast as possible , best place to start is your computer maintenance. Having decent computer speed cam improve your browsing experience.
To do this properly please read our previous post: How to make your computer faster.

Once you have everything done next step is to check with your Internet Service Provider (ISP)
You need decent upload/download speed , once you confirm your speed with them please run some tests to make sure that you get what you are paying for.You can use any bandwidth tester, just make sure they provide accurate results. Your test results should match speed your ISP is giving to you. I use speedtest.net

If your test results are lower you should check you cable connections and signal strength before contacting your ISP. Note that test results may vary so it is important to do couple of tests.

When you confirm that everything is good, than finally we will talk about Domain Name System (DNS) Resolution service. That is important because every time you visit a website your computer performs a DNS lookup or multiple lookups in some cases. DNS protocols are used to translate Internet domain and host names to IP addresses of web servers hosting those websites. Faster DNS servers automatically means better internet browsing experience.

You are assigned DNS Server IP addresses automatically by your ISP via Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), but these can be slow sometimes depending on DNS your ISP use. It is important to write down your DNS IP addresses assigned by your service provider in case you need to revert later on.

To get fastest IP`s for your area you can try out "namebench" that is compeaetely free Google project which will hunt down fastest DNS servers for your computer to use. Search online for namebench, download and start the project. However, I use Google Public DNS as follows:

• IPv4
  8.8.8.8  ( set this as preferred IP )
  8.8.4.4  ( set this as alternate  IP )
• IPv6
  2001:4860:4860::8888  ( prefered )
  2001:4860:4860::8844  ( alternate )

To change your settings go to Start - Control Panel then Network and Internet then Network and sharing center. Click Change adapter settings that is located at the Top-Left side and go to Properties of the adapter that you are using for the Internet connection. Lets say that is Wireless Network Connection than you should right mouse click on it and choose Properties from the list. Window like this should appear with IPv4 and IPv6.

To change it you should have it selected and click "Properties button".

If you have access to the Router that that you are using for Internet than you could just go to your router settings and change it over there. That way Google Public DNS will be used for your entire network.

Your Internet upload/download speed will be the same just you will notice difference while browsing pages.

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How to make your computer faster

Maintaining your computer is very important step to make compute run faster.
Learn How to make your computer faster for free following these simple steps at least once a week:

• Clean your Internet Browser history files, temporary files and fix your computers registry errors.
  I recommend using Ccleaner that can be downloaded from piriform.com website.
  Cleaning can be done manually form your computer and Internet Browser but it takes much longer.
  Also do not forget to uninstall programs you don't need. Read more under Windows7-Cleanup from navigation menu.
• Next step is to Defragment your Hard Drive.
  Defragmenting is simply rearranging data on your Hard Drive so it can be located faster.
  This doesn't need to be used all the time but running it once in a while will certain help out.
  For this process you can use Windows integrated application or you can download one from the Internet. Choice is yours but I am using Defraggler that can be found on piriform.com
  To use Windows for this process go to My Computer- Right mouse click on Local Hard Drive and chose properties. Click Defragment disk under Tools Tab.
• Check your Hard Drive for errors.
  This process is very important since Windows is stored to your local Hard Drive. If for some reasons you have damage, errors or bad sectors on you disk, this can be very useful to fix those issues.
  Error checking should be used more often to prevent any errors on your Hard Drive.
  Disk Error checking is located under Tools Tab same as defragmnentation. You should check both options, to automatically fix errors and bad sectors. If you are doing error checking for hard disk where Windows is installed than you will have to "Schedule Disk Check" and restart your computer.
  Important: Restart your computer and don't press any key, once error checking process is complete Windows will start automatically.
• This step is about Windows appearance and just by adjusting some visual effects you can drastically change your computers performance. Since I already covered this in older post you can read this under Windows7  - Optimization - Speed Up Windows7
  Effects like Windows aero and Windows desktop slideshow can make your computer slower, depending on your hardware specifications.

If  this was helpful to you please" like" on Facebook and share with your friends.

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Disk cleanup in Windows 7

This post will cover how to do some serious Disk cleanup in Windows 7 operating system.
To maintain your Computer you will have to do some disk cleanup from time to time otherwise you will end up with very slow machine. This is ultimate guide to increase some free space.

• Uninstall Unused Programs
  Delete everything you don't use, don't keep programs you don't need 
• Run Disk Cleanup in Windows 7
  This tool comes with windows and it is easy to use, this will free up some space
• Use CCleaner to clean junk files and internet history
  This is free easy to use tool that will delete all junk from your PC with just one click

Additionally you can delete download files that you don't need anymore that is located in "Documents - Downloads" also you can delete all other files that you have laying around.
You can read more about how to implement these steps by following posted links.

Keep your computer cleaned up and you will notice the difference...

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How to share wireless internet connection in Windows 7

There are many ways how to share wireless internet connection , one of the them is that your Windows 7 Computer acts as a WiFi Router. That is possible if your computer has two network cards.
First network card will be used to connect your computer to the Internet and with second we will create a new ad hoc wireless network. Your first network card depends of your  Internet connection provided by your ISP.

If you are using Laptop for this experiment and have Broadband Internet connection than you should have everything ready since all newer laptops have both LAN and WiFi.

Broadband connection - will need LAN Card - usually integrated with your motherboard
Wireless Connection    - will need WiFi Card  - laptops usually have this integrated

This is very useful if you are at work or somewhere where you have laptop connected to broadband Internet connection and your WiFi card is not in use. You can create wireless network using that WiFi card and share your wireless internet connection to other devices such as laptop computers ,smartphones, tablets etc.

We will use Windows 7 laptop and broadband internet to make wireless connection for other portable devices.

• Make sure that your laptop is connected to the Internet via LAN Cable
• Go to Control Panel- Network and Internet - Network and Sharing Center - Change adapter settings
• Now right click on the adapter that has internet in this case Local Area Connection - choose "properties" and switch to "sharing" tab
• Check box "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection"
• If asked for "Home networking connection" choose "Wirelesses Network Connection"
• Go to Control Panel- Network and Internet - Network and Sharing Center
• Click "Setup a new Connection or network"  and choose "Set up a wireless ad hoc network"
• Type in network name, choose security type, key and your network is ready.

Now you can connect your portable wireless devices to the WiFi network you just created.
To delete saved ad hoc networks go to :

•  Control Panel- Network and Internet - Network and Sharing Center - Manage wireless networks -and delete your ad hoc network connection.

Note: 
"Please choose security type and key for your ad hoc network carefully to avoid any connectivity issues."

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Movie player software - VLC Player

If you are looking for DVD player freeware version or any other video format player than VLC is movie player software that you need. This player is open-source - freeware and it plays more video files than any other player. VLC is quick an easy to install, also for those who like portable applications you can search online for VLC portable movie player software.

This software has many built in codecs so most likely you wont need to bother with those anymore once yo decide to use it. Many features such us: graphic equalizer with many presets, interactive zoom, logos, overlays,  and some special video effects are included - water , wave , blur and mirror effects.
Besides all these cool features this software can be used for online streaming as well.

This is worth trying  - it is free and plays almost anything...

You can find out more on their Official Website under VLC - Features

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Speed Up Computer Shutdown

To Speed up computer shut down process you will have to do some adjustment in Registry Editor.
Before you change anything in registry it is strongly recommended that you back it up in case you run to any problems. To open registry Editor go to Start , type "regedit" and click on it.

If that doesn't work for you than you can follow this commands:
Start - type Run and open it , now inside run dialog type "regedit" and hit Enter.

Once you manage to open Registry editor follow this path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - SYSTEM - CurrentControlSet - Control
Inside Control folder find file WaitToKillServiceTimeout and change its value.

As a default mine was 12000 but I changed to 2000 and noticed difference.

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Windows 7 remote desktop connection with TightVNC

TightVNC is very small utility that allows you to do Windows remote desktop connection  to control computers on your LAN. This is easy to use and very powerful software for windows computers that will allow you access to another computer via LAN network or even through Internet.

Once you download TightVNC you will need to install it to both computers. On your side you can just install VNC Viewer to be able to see other computer. Now you will need to install VNC Server to computer that you want to have access to. Once competed you can access that computer by typing its IP address.

If you don't know how the see IP addresses from computers on your LAN please read this post.

During the installation process of VNC Server you will be asked it you want to use password protection and you should. If you don't set password than anyone having TightVNC viewer installed will be able to see your LAN computers desktop and control them.You can set different passwords for each computer. TightVNC can be set to connect silently and users wont even notice that you are watching their desktop. You can disable controls and just watch what they are doing or enable controls and work on their computers.

Remote desktop will be displayed on your computer same as you are using your desktop and you can do anything you like as on you own computer.

Search for TightVNC

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Scan WiFi - Wireless network connections

You can scan for WiFi network connections easy using your computer that has Wireless Card.
Just click on WiFi button that is located on your taskbar, however this will only scan available wireless networks and provide basic information.

If you require more information such as wireless channel, PHY Types, station MAC address's than WirelessNetView is perfect utility for you. This is very light , portable utility that will also provide you with signal strength ( last and  average signal strength ) for each network and detection count. You will be able to see if network is secured, what encryption, RSSI channel frequency, channel number and maximum speed.

I personally use this tool for long time already to check my WiFi coverage. Also it helps me out to avoid interference with other networks. Simply scan for WiFi connections and see what channel they use, than find free channel for your home network. Leave WiFi scanner opened for a while and based on detection counts, last and average signal you will be able to tell if yourWiFi signal is having issues.

Search for WirelessNetView 

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