Steps:

1. To get started, click on the wireless icon in the taskbar. This icon looks like a group of ascending bars.

2. Once you’ve click the icon a list of wireless networks will be displayed. This list of wireless networks are all the networks that are within reach of your computer. Find your network and press it.

3. Now you have the option of connecting to your network automatically. If this is a home or office network then check the Connect Automatically box and press the Connect button. If this is a temporary connection like a coffee shop then don’t check the box. When you’re ready press the Connect button.

4. The next step is to enter the network security key for the network. Enter the security key of the wireless router and press OK.

5. After pressing OK you will see the wireless icon is working at acquiring all the IP’s it needs to connect. Once the adapter is ready you’ll see the wireless bars are now full.

6. Open your favorite internet browser and start surfing your favorite sites.

Tips:

- Make sure to configure your wireless router prior to this tutorial.

That’s it! It’s really that simple. We hope the tutorial “How to Connect to a Wireless Network in Windows 7″ has helped you with your computer repair issue.

You can watch this tutorial on video by clicking the play button below. For the full screen version click the second button from the right on the video.

Video:

If you need more help regarding this “How to Connect to a Wireless Network in Windows 7″ tutorial then let us know by visiting our Repair Questions page.

After hearing about the visual benefits of using a desktop video card a lot of people will want to use one, but there are some things to consider before just popping in any video card into your system. The first important factor is making sure your power supply can supply enough power to your video card and still function normally. Video cards are power hungry so some users might have to upgrade their power supply with a higher wattage rating. Also make sure that the power supply has the right power connector necessary for the graphic card. The second important factor is to provide the proper cooling for the GPU. Video cards run extremely hot, especially under full load, so cooling is very important. When it comes to cooling a card you can either add more case fans or liquid cool the card. Whatever the choice make sure to keep your graphic card cool because heat is the number one reason for premature failure.

When it comes to desktop video cards it seems like the choices are endless. There are a few things to consider when comparing different models. Some cards are better suited for gaming and some cards are designed for 2D and 3D editing. If you need a video card for autoCAD or video editing then make sure to buy a card that is optimized for OpenGL and if it’s gaming you want then you’ll need a card that’s optimized for DirectX. Another consideration is the amount of video memory available to your card. The higher the better. Also the processor speed of video cards is another factor to think about when choosing a card. Try to get the highest speed card that you can afford. The last difference between cards is the video outputs. The most common output today is the dual DVI connector. There are still cards that use the older VGA connector and some high-end cards that use a DMS-59 connector which provide two outputs on one connector. Now you know what to look for when shopping for a new GPU and to help start your search we have listed the top 3 video card manufacturers, based on performance, below to further help you decide.

Best Video Card Manufacturers:

1. ATI
2. nVidia
3. Matrox

Picture – Top:

Picture – Bottom:

We hope this article on “Video Card” was helpful. If you have any questions or need some advice on choosing the best product then let us know. We would be happy to help answer your questions.

In general, memory is very reliable and some manufacturers even offer a lifetime warranty on certain sticks. Even though they are incredibility reliable memory modules are susceptible to static electricity and power surges so make sure to always handle RAM with care and always plug your computer into a surge protector or UPS.

How does RAM differ from each other?

There are a three different types of RAM; DDR, DDR2 and DDR3. Each type of RAM can also be classified by there different speeds. The speed of RAM is one of the most important aspects to pay attention to when purchasing memory as the faster the frequency the faster the RAM. There is also another type of RAM that is primarily used in workstation and servers and it’s called Fully Buffered and Error Correcting Code (ECC) memory. This type of memory is more expensive then regular RAM as it detects and corrects any errors automatically without any impact on the application.

If you’re new to buying RAM then you might a little overwhelmed by all chooses available. To help you out the first step is to find out what type of RAM your system can use and then go online and purchase your RAM from a trusted computer website. If you don’t feel comfortable with purchase online then head over to your local computer shop buy it from them. Then you will have to learn how to install the memory in your desktop or laptop computer. To help start your search we have listed the top 3 RAM manufacturers, based on reliability, below to further help you decide.

Best RAM Manufacturers:

1. Crucial
2. Kingston
3. Corsair

Picture – Desktop Memory:

Picture – Laptop Memory:

We hope this article on “Memory – RAM” was helpful. If you have any questions or need some advice on choosing the best product then let us know. We would be happy to help answer your questions.

The reliability of CPU’s is really quite amazing considering how much work they do. In a computer system the processor is almost always the last thing to fail and when it does fail it is usually do to being over-clocked and over-heated.

When shopping for a computer system or an individual CPU there are really three main elements to look for. The first is the speed of the processor. In today’s market the speed is measured in gigahertz and the higher the gigahertz (or frequency) the faster the chip will be. The second key element of a processor is the type of architecture it is. A CPU can be a single core (Pentium 4 or Athlon), dual core (Core 2 Duo or Athlon X2), multi-core (i7 or Phenom X4). The more cores a processor has the greater the ability to compute larger amounts of information at the same time. The third key element is the speed of the front side bus (FSB) and the L2 cache. FSB and L2 cache are often overlooked when buying a cpu but they are equally as important as the speed of the processor. Again the higher the FSB and L2 cache the faster the chip will perform. That was a brief overview of a computer processor and I hope you’ll be able to make a better buying decision. To help start your search we have listed the top 2 CPU manufacturers, based on reliability, below to further help you decide.

Best CPU Manufacturers:

1. Intel
2. AMD

Picture – Top:

Picture – Bottom:

We hope this article on “CPU” was helpful. If you have any questions or need some advice on choosing the best product then let us know. We would be happy to help answer your questions.

Steps:

1. Open the start menu by clicking on the Start button and then choose Control Panel.

2. When the control panel windows appears find the System and Security section and below it you need to click on the Back Up Your Computer link.

3. Under the Backup and Restore screen click the Set Up Backup link on the left side. Now you will begin the setup process for your backup.

4. The next step in the backup process is to select the destination, or location, of the backup. Basically, it’s asking where do you want to save your backup files. So select the destination drive where you want to backup your files and then press the Next button.

5. Next you will have to choose what folders and files you want to backup. You can let Windows automatically choose for you or you can manually choose yourself. Choose the Let Me Choose option and then press Next.

6. Now you will select the specific folder or folders that you want to backup. Once you’ve selected the desired folders then click the Next button.

7. After you’ve reviewed the backup settings you can change the scheduling of the backups by pressing the Change Schedule link.

8. You can now choose if you want run backups on a schedule or not. If you don’t want to run a scheduled backup then un-check the box. If you do then just select the appropriate frequency, usually every week for business users and every month for home users, and click OK.

9. After that you can press the Save Settings and Run Backup button and your done. You can now view all the backup details. Windows 7 will start the first backup as soon as you’re done.

Tips:

- The Windows 7 backup tool can only backup your files if your computer is on. So when you setup a schedule backup time make sure that you choose a time when your computer will be powered on.

That’s it! It’s really that simple. We hope the tutorial “How to Backup Your Files in Windows 7″ has helped you with your computer repair issue.

You can watch this tutorial on video by clicking the play button below. For the full screen version click the second button from the right on the video.

Video:

If you need more help regarding this “How to Backup Your Files in Windows 7″ tutorial then let us know by visiting our Repair Questions page.

Steps:

1. Step one is to open the Control Panel by clicking the Start button and then press the Control Panel button.

2. In the Control Panel window find the Network and Internet section and below it you’ll find the Choose Homegroup and Sharing Options link, click on that link.

3. Now you will see that Homegroup window. If this is the first time a Homegroup has will be created then click on the Create a Homegroup button.

4. The Homegroup screen will give you the options of what folders and printers you want to share. You can choose all folders or only one, it’s up to you. Once you’ve selected the folders you can click the Next button.

5. Once Windows 7 is done setting up the Homegroup it will generate a password that you’ll need to know. This password is necessary for all the Windows 7 computers to share information. When you’ve saved the password click Finish.

6. To view the Homegroup you can open up the Computer screen by clicking Start -> Computer and then in the left column you will see a link that says Homegroup. Click on the link and you will all the other computers that are connected to this Homegroup.

Tips:

- You can only use Homegroup with computers that are running Windows 7. You cannot use this cool tool with Windows XP or Vista computers.

That’s it! It’s really that simple. We hope the tutorial “How to Setup a Homegroup in Windows 7″ using Windows 7 has helped you with your computer repair issue.

You can watch this tutorial on video by clicking the play button below. For the full screen version click the second button from the right on the video.

Video:

If you need more help regarding this Windows 7 “How to Setup a Homegroup in Windows 7″ tutorial then let us know by visiting our Repair Questions page.

Steps:

1. Click on the Start button and in the search box type in “msconfig” and then press Enter.

2. Now the system configuration windows will appear. Select the Startup tab and then you will see a list of all the programs that are automatically set to startup when Windows 7 starts up.

3. Un-check all the desired programs that you don’t want to startup or press the Disable All button to disable all the programs. When you’re done selecting the programs press the Apply button and then OK.

4. Once you hit the OK button you will be asked to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. Press Restart and let the computer restart.

5. When the computer reboots and you see your desktop a System Configuration message will appear stating that there have been some programs blocked from startup. Just check the box Don’t Show This Message or Start System Configuration When Windows Starts and press OK. Now you’re done.

Tips:

- Disabling a program from startup doesn’t remove the program from the computer. It only stops it from automatically starting up with Windows. To fully remove the program you must go to the Add/Remove Programs window and remove the software there.

That’s it! It’s really that simple. We hope the tutorial “How to Disable a Program from Startup in Windows 7″ using Windows 7 has helped you with your computer repair issue.

You can watch this tutorial on video by clicking the play button below. For the full screen version click the second button from the right on the video.

Video:

If you need more help regarding this Windows 7 “How to Disable a Program from Startup in Windows 7″ tutorial then let us know by visiting our Repair Questions page.

Steps:

1. The first step is to make sure you have access to the security options, so open up My Computer by clicking on the Start button and then click on the My Computer icon.

2. Now click on Tools from the top menu and then select Folder Options.

3. Once the folder options window appears click on the View tab and under the Advanced Settings section scroll down to the bottom and un-check the Use Simple File Sharing option. Click Apply and then OK.

The above method will only work in Windows XP Professional. If you are using Windows XP Home then you will have restart your computer and enter Safe Mode by pressing F8 before the Windows XP logo appears. Once you press F8, then select Safe Mode With Networking and then a warming screen will appear. Click Yes on the warming screen and now you will have access to the security tab.

4. Find the drive or folder you want to get access to and right-click it and then choose Properties.

5. Under the properties window select the Security tab. Now go to the bottom and click the Advanced button.

6. When the Advanced window appears click the Owner tab and then select the Administrators Group (the one with two heads) and check the Replace Owner on Subcontainers and Objects. Once you’ve done that click Apply.

7. Next step is to go to the Permissions tab and under the Permission Entries section again select the Administrators and check the Replace Permission Entries on All Child Objects With Entries Shown Here That Apply to Child Objects box. Now click the Apply button. A warning message will pop up asking for you to confirm this step, click Yes.

8. Now click OK on all the open windows and open the desired folder. You will now have access to the folder or drive that you want.

Tips:

- Remember to restore the folder view options in Windows XP Pro after you’ve changed the permissions and ownership so you won’t have any file sharing issues.

That’s it! It’s really that simple. We hope the tutorial “How to Change the Ownership and Permissions of a Folder or Drive” using Windows XP has helped you with your computer repair issue.

You can watch this tutorial on video by clicking the play button below. For the full screen version click the second button from the right on the video.

Video:

If you need more help regarding this Windows XP “How to Change the Ownership and Permissions of a Folder or Drive” tutorial then let us know by visiting our Repair Questions page.

Steps:

1. Shut down the computer and remove the hard drive from the computer with the corrupt registry.

2. Now attach or slave the hard drive to a working computer.

3. Click on the My Computer icon to see all the attached drive on your system. Find the drive of the attached hard drive and click on it.

4. Next step is to change to folder view so you can see the hidden registry files. To change the view click on Tools and then choose Folder Options from the menu.

5. Click on the View tab and under the Advanced Settings section click the Show Hidden Files and Folders box, then un-check the Hide Protected Operating System Files option. When you do this you will get a warning box asking you to confirm your selection; just click Yes. After that press the Apply button and then hit OK.

6. Now make sure you’re at the attached drive and double click the Windows folder, then the System32 folder, then the Config folder. You will now see the five important registry files called Default, SAM, Security, Software and System. These are the files that will need to be replaced. Leave this windows open.

7. Open another window by clicking on the Start button and then My Computer. Click on the attached hard drive and then click on the System Volume Information folder.

If you get an Access Denied message when trying to open the System Volume Information folder the follow these steps. Click on Tools -> Folder Options -> View Tab -> Advanced Settings -> Un-check Use Simple File Sharing option. Now click Apply and then OK. Now right-click on the System Volume Information icon and those Properties. Click on the Security tab and then the Advanced button at the bottom. Then click on the Owner tab and highlight the Administrators group and check the Replace Owner on Subcontainers and Objects box. Now click Apply.

8. Click on the _Restore folder and now choose a RPXXX folder that is a week to three weeks old. Next click on the Repository folder and now you will see the five backup registry files created by Windows.

9. Now go back to the attached hard drive Config folder and create a new folder called Old. Cut and paste the five corrupted registries into the Old folder.

10. Next step is to copy and paste the five backup registry files from the Repository folder into the Config folder of the attached drive. Once the files have been copied you must rename them as follows: Default, SAM, Security, Software and System.

11. Once the files have been added and renamed you can detach the hard drive from your computer and place it in the original system and start the computer. Now your problem is fixed.

Tips:

- You can also fix a bad registry using the Windows recovery console if you don’t another computer available.

- Once you’ve recovered the Windows registry it is a good idea to completed all the Windows updates immediately.

That’s it! It’s really that simple. We hope the tutorial “How to Fix or Recover a Corrupt Windows Registry” using Windows XP has helped you with your computer repair issue.

You can watch this tutorial on video by clicking the play button below. For the full screen version click the second button from the right on the video.

Video:

If you need more help regarding this Windows XP “How to Fix or Recover a Corrupt Windows Registry” tutorial then let us know by visiting our Repair Questions page.

Parts:

- Central Processing Unit (CPU)

- CPU fan and heatsink

- Motherboard

- Memory (RAM)

- Video card

- Hard drive

- Power supply

- DVD drive

- Case fan

- PCI express (PCIe) slot

- PCI slot

- IDE controller (slot)

- SATA controller (connector)

- CMOS battery

- Chipset

- Ports

- Capacitors

That’s it! It’s really that simple. We hope the tutorial “Identifying Computer Parts” has helped you with your computer repair issue.

You can watch this tutorial on video by clicking the play button below. For the full screen version click the second button from the right on the video.

Video:

If you need more help regarding this “Identifying Computer Parts” tutorial then let us know by visiting our Repair Questions page.