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Common computer problems and SOLUTIONS !

Today is your lucky day !  You will now have the opportunity, to fix, or at LEAST diagnose your problems, just by reading this article;  preventing your from headaches, and even saving you money !   Read further….

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” My Computer doesn’t power on at all ”


a.) Power plug problem
Check power plug; ensure that it is plugged into the wall and plugged firmly into the computer/power supply

b.) Faulty power strip/surge protector or insufficient power coming from the outlet.
Plug computer into a different outlet to narrow down the problem

c.)Bad power supply
Power supply may need replacing; have it tested by a technician if possible

d.) Bad power switch
Have a technician take a look at your PC to determine this;  if you can’t do it yourself.

Many power supplies have a switch on the back of them, which must be set to the on position in order for power to flow through it, to the PC. Sometimes the solution to your PC powering on is flipping this switch!

e.) Disconnected cords/cables within the computer
Have a technician take a look at your PC to determine this if you can’t do it yourself

f.) Bad motherboard
Have a technician take a look at your PC to determine this if you can’t do it yourself

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“ I got the blue screen of death ( a  blue screen following a crash ) “

a.)   Spyware or viruses
Scan your computer for spyware using a program such as Spybot Search and Destroy or Malwarebytes; which are both free. For virus scanning and removal, just download: ”AVG free “.  Scan and remove any viruses found.  Restart your computer and see if the problem persists.

b.) Driver issues
Ensure you are using the most current drivers for your hardware. Make sure that you have critical patches for Windows installed.  When uninstalling hardware, makesure that you use driver cleaners if at all possible to ensure remnants of old software are cleaned from your registry.

c.) Corrupt registry
Uninstalling/installing software changes keys in your registry. The registry is critical for Windows to function.  Software is available that will check your registry for errors,as well as fixing any error(s) that it finds. Once a registry is corrupted, it is sometimes difficult to repair back to it’s original state. Sometimes a reinstall or repair of Windows is needed.

d.) Bad memory (RAM)
Memory that is faulty does not allow accurate reading/writing to RAM, or Random Access Memory.  Many times, memory in need of replacement will cause blue screen errors. Have a technician take a look at your PC to determine this if you can’t do it yourself.

e.) Bad power supply
Power supply may need replacing; have it tested by a technician if possible

f.) Bad motherboard
Have a technician take a look at your PC to determine this if you can’t do it yourself !

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“ My internet doesn’t work/I can’t get online (Basic troubleshooting) “

a.) ISP problems (Internet Service Provider)

The first step, is contacting your ISP to confirm that there are no connectivity issues or outages, that they know of. If they showa solid connection, proceed to troubleshooting your  connection further.

b.) Faulty or loose connection from the phone jack to your modem.

Ensure that the phone cord plugged into the wall is actually connected. Many times, a connection can be lost or unreliable, due to a plug with a broken clamp, or that is making a bad connection.  Trace the cord back to your modem and make sure that the cord isn’t frayed or damaged, and that the connection into the modem is solid. If possible, troubleshoot by using a different cord.

c.) Router/Modem Issues

Many times a connection problem can be caused by problems with the modem or router. Wireless routers can really cause problems when troubleshooting a wireless internet connection issue.  The first thing to do is to unplug the power cord(s) and cable(s) connected to the  router & modem, and wait for one minute. Also, shut down the PC for one minute and power up.

Afterwards, plug the connectors back into the router and modem.  If that doesn’t solve the issue, the next thing to do is to remove the network cable from the router, and plug it directly to the network card in the computer – and disable the wireless networking signal on the PC (WI-FI).

(The network cable is the cable that plugs to the router, from  the modem – also known as CAT 5 cable)This is especially important when narrowing down wireless internet connection problems.

(Also check to make sure that your router’s firewall isn’t disrupting your connection)

d.) Viruses or Spyware/Malware

Certain types of viruses, malware and spyware can cause problems with your internet connection.  Scan your computer regularly to ensure that malicious software doesn’t wreck havoc on your internet connection. If you can no longer connect to the internet after being infected with a virus or spyware, it’s most likely time to see a professional technician.]

e.) Software

Your operating system, and software installed on your computer,  can cause problems with you connecting to the internet (for instance damaged Winsock files). If your ISP isn’t the issue,  your modem/router or connections are not the cause of your lost connection, and you haven’t been infected with any viruses or spyware;  software is the issue.  Other than your operating system being the culprit, a software firewall if not configured properly; can cause you to lose your internet connection.

Lastly (thought there are more possibilities that can’t be all listed), the TCP/IP configuration can be the reason that you are not connecting.  Since explaining how your TCP/IP configuration works may prove too difficult to understand for most average computer users, it’s best to have a technician look at your computer if you have problems accessing the internet; that aren’t caused by reasons a – d.

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Computer Network Management

Today it is almost inconceivable for a business not to have computers, whether it is a construction company or a high technology firm. When a business has more than one computer, they are almost always connected together in a local area network. These networks may be more or less advanced and therefore more or less costly.

Companies invest so much (in terms of both money and time) in a local area networks because there are many advantages that a local area network brings to a business and how it is administered.

Some businesses use a local area network in such a way they are highly dependent on it always working. If the company’s network fails, then you may see all the employees chatting away in the corridors because they can’t do their work. This means big losses for the company and causes stresses on the employees. All companies must consider their local area networks a vital asset and downtime must be avoided. This imposes huge demands on the network staff to keep such networks running almost 100% of the time.

The advantages of Computer Network Management

One of the main advantages of installing and maintaining LANs is the opportunity they create for better communication and cooperation between employees and customers.

Security considerations: Local Area Network security can be both a help and hindrance. Comprehensive security is beneficial because it provides a central and safe strategy for data access and disaster recovery. All information is protected by the design and implementation of the network security solution. On the other hand, interconnecting computers in local area networks creates a security risk, since doing so makes it technically possible for intruders to access many machines on the network at once.

Cost considerations: Installing a local area network is a relatively expensive project. Servers, cabling, switches, routers and software can all be expensive and should never be purchased without expert advice. Keeping the network operating and secure also requires a lot of resources and can be costly.

Surprisingly, a local area network can bring a number of cost savings. Sharing resources avoids the need to purchase equipment for each individual. Even more important is the security that a local area network can provide. Data loss could cost a business a great deal of money and in some cases, cause the business to shutdown altogether. Computer Network Management should require a consistent routine for data backups with regular checkups of data quality – a practice that will save a company huge sums in the event of a mishap.

Computer Network Management: preliminary analysis phases

The first phase of computer network management is to determine the source of the problem (a preliminary study that looks into several options of differing scope may be useful here) and defining it in a specification of requirements. Examples of what should be evaluated are different network operating systems, mail systems, and other applications. The choice of hardware components should also be evaluated. This phase is generally aimed at establishing what the system should do, not how it should do it.

Computer Network Management: design phase

The purpose of design phase is to determine how the requirements of the specification are to be met. The current approach to large, complex projects is to break them down into smaller, more manageable subprojects.

Computer Network Management: implementation phase

This phase involves the physical installation of the local area network. Cables are run, software is installed, and computers and other hardware are put in place.

Computer Network Management: integration and system testing phase

In this phase, commissioning of the network begins, and routines are adapted to users and the operating personnel. The system must be tested, both to ensure that the network meets the requirements set out in the specification and that it is stable enough to perform the central function it has in the organization.

Computer Network Management: operation and maintenance

Local area networks have complex operating routines. This is because there may be serious consequences when faults occur or unauthorized persons gain access to the system. Many companies have employees devoted solely to take care of running and maintaining computer networks. These system administrators may deal with network issues such as performance, reliability and security of both hardware and software.

Computer Network Management: tools

Although an organization may have computer administrators on site, they must also monitor the network more than eight hours a day. In fact, some of the worst trouble that arises with networks can happen during the night hours when nobody is using the network. With the right computer network management tools, your organization can receive the security of knowing that problems will be foreseen, prevented, and taken care of – and that your network administrator can be notified at a moment’s notice, should anything go exceptionally wrong.

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Computer Viruses:-

Computer Viruses:-

The world of computers and information technology is going through an era of an electronic terrorism, in the form of the computer virus. It is a problem that is potentially so dangerous that it threatens the proper functioning of the virus system in today’s information age.
The virus whether biological or electronic is an information disorder. Biological viruses are tiny genetic codes DNA or RNA that take over the machinery of a living cell and are capable of marking thousand of replicas of the original virus. Like its biological counterpart, a computer virus carries in it an instructional code that makes copies of itself.
Computer viruses are computer programs which are a collection of coded instructions. The basic difference between a normal program and virus is that viruses are self replicating; they have the capacity of executing themselves without being asked for. The ‘Computer virus’ is a very broad term in itself and includes not only viruses, but also worms and Trojans.

Classification of Computer viruses:-

Viruses are classified on the basic of their mode of existence and there are three categories of viruses.

1. BOOT  Infector:-
2. SYSTEM  Infector:
3. GENERAL EXECUTABLE PROGRAM   Infectors:-

BOOT Infectors:-
As the name suggests, they are characterized by the fact that they are physically reside in the boot sector [0] sector of the disk. A system infected by such a virus will have the virus residing in a particular area of the disk rather then in a program file. These viruses get loaded soon after the Power Of Self Test and control the system and remains in control at all times. They some times have the capacity to trap soft booting (CTRL ALT DEL) and remain in control even if the system is booted from a non infected floppy, thereby contaminating the clean floppy.

SYSTEM Infectors:-
The second category of virus deals with components of the system itself. All machines without execution require an operating system in order to create an environment in which the operator works. In MS-DOS, COMMAND.COM contains all the internal commands. If no such command file exists, commands such as COPY, DIR etc. are not loaded into the memory when the machine is booted. The system infectors attach themselves to a file such as COMMAND.COM or other memory resident files and manipulate these files.

GENERAL EXECUTABLE PROGRAM Infectors:-
From the infection point of view, these are most dangerous and devastating of the three classes of viruses. They attach themselves to program files and can spread to almost any executable program in any system. These viruses change the original program instructions into a “jump” to its own code and follow that code with a return to the original program. As a result, whenever the program is executed, the virus gets loaded and executed first and then allows the original program to process. It remains memory resident and infects each and every program that is loaded for execution.

Types of Viruses:-

Worms:-
A worm is software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate, or affect other programs. A copy of the worm passes through the network to another machine that has a specific security hole. It then copies itself to the new machine, and then starts replicating from there.

Macros:-
Macro viruses’ use commands-called macros-embedded in the other software applications to infect and spread to other files used by that software. For example, Microsoft Word and Excel have macros, and macro viruses can spread by exploiting these commands.

Boot Sector viruses:-
Boot sector viruses are older types of virus and are not so common today. They used to infect computers startup programs, so that the virus would become active as soon as the computer started up.

Trojan Horses:-
Trojan Horses are programs that claim to perform a particular function but which in fact do something different. For example, they could infect your computer with a virus or erase your files.

Backdoor Trojans:-
Backdoor Trojans are programs that allow other computer users to remotely control your computer via a local area network or the internet.

Resident Viruses:-
These types of virus hides permanently in the RAM memory. From here it can control and intercept all of the operations carried out by the system corrupting files and programs that are opened, closed, copied etc.

Direct Action Viruses:-
When a specific condition is met (such as the execution of the virus) these virus will go into action and infect files in the directory or folder that it in and others as well.

Overwrite Viruses:-
These types of viruses are characterized by the fact that it deletes the information contained in the files that it infects, rendering them particularly or totally useless once they have been infected.

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