Customizing Your Computer with Preferences

Making Your Computer Work with You - Not Against You

Although you did not design or build your computer, you can turn it into a device that responds to your way of using it as if you were its original engineer or programmer. This is because the computer is a mere platform - a blank canvas, if you will - waiting for you to direct its operation or paint the picture of the perfect machine. All this is possible from making just a few changes in your computer's current configuration.

Your computer's main configurations are housed in Windows Control Panel. Within this small section of Windows, you can make some major changes from the way that your computer looks to the way that your computer responds to the people who use it. But your specifications don't just apply to Windows, they also apply to the many software programs that are installed onto the computer (not to mention that many software programs can be further customized through their own configurations). We aren't going to cover them all, but we will introduce some of the most popular so that you can get a feel of the control over your system that these configurations give you.

Users. Before we get into the individual settings, it's important that you understand that each set of configurations you make is specific to the users that sit down in front of a computer. Changes made to a system by one person will differ from the changes made by another. Enabled by a username and password, individual desktop settings (icons, background picture, and other settings) are available after logging onto Windows.

Display Properties. Through Display Properties, a user can change the background of the Windows Desktop, add a screensaver, change the overall color scheme and fonts of Windows, and adjust a computer's color depth and/or resolution (screen area). Not just a bunch of preference settings, display properties help individuals who have to deal with visual problems.

Accessibility Options. Speaking of visual problems, another setting that's useful is accessibility options. This setting allows people with disabilities to use a computer that accommodates vision and hearing problems.

Keyboard and Mouse Options. The keyboard and mouse controls give users the option of speeding up or slowing down the movements of both of these peripherals. For those entering the United States from a foreign country, users will appreciate how Windows grants use of keyboard layouts native to their original language. Other uses will appreciate the different selection of cursors and the ability to add additional ones.

Passwords. Since the computer in use may be shared with others, Passwords gives the almighty administrator the means to determine whether all users will share the same preferences and desktop settings or if users can customize preferences and desktop settings.

Regional Settings. Things get really personal in Regional Settings - as this configuration makes changes according to a user's location and language. Options available can accommodate a person's preference for the display of numbers, currency, time, and date format.

Sounds Properties. Multimedia fans can create a rich PC environment filled with sound through this setting. Sounds can be assigned to numerous events and they don't even need to be the default sounds installed by Windows. Users can download sounds from the Internet or create their own sounds with a microphone.

Dialing Properties. Even the way a user connects to the Internet can be customized. Through Dialing Properties, users can determine how a phone and modem dials into an Internet service provider.

From just these basic configuration options, you can create your own experience with a computer each time you sit down in front of one. Customizing your PC is what makes using a computer truly unique and enjoyable, so have fun and build a situation at home or a work in which you'll love to work with everyday. Should you feel a little nervous about it at first, remember that your computer's original configuration can be saved to a back up file should you ever want to restore it to the same state that it was in when you first bought it.

(And What They Mean)

Computer errors can pop up when least expected, they can cause the entire system to suddenly shut down, and they can inadvertently corrupt data to the point where it can’t be deciphered. Although they can’t always be avoided, it’s important to remember that computer errors can be corrected. The key is to understand what computer errors are, understand what they mean when they show up, and understand how to minimize their occurrence in the first place.

Basically, computer errors are the result of a number of things that may or may not have anything to do with the way the computer is used. They “operate” whenever there’s a conflict among commands. Remember that computers essentially run off of a series of commands and it’s usually a smooth process. But when one command conflicts with another command – or when one command asks for a process or information that isn’t available, the computer returns results that aren’t useable. That’s an error.

A prime example of this kind of error is when users attempt to use software that isn’t applicable for their system. Almost all software accompanies a list of system requirements which dictates what a computer needs to have in order for the software to work properly. To minimize errors of this sort, always verify that your computer has the required components. A project management program that you’re interested in may require a specific operating system, like Windows XP for example. And although this program may install just fine on a Windows 98 machine, it will generate a multitude of errors once its started.

Insufficient memory will cause errors as well. That’s why software programs include minimum memory requirements. A program that needs 14MB of memory will generate errors on a computer that only has 4MB of memory if it runs at all. The same goes for disk space, monitor color depth and resolution. In these situations, problems occur the moment that a piece of software attempts to access the things (hardware, memory, space, resolution, etc.) that it cannot find.

Because some programs share common files, errors can also occur when these shared files are not up to date. For instance, let’s say that Program A is already installed on a computer and it’s working just fine. Then let’s say that the user of that computer downloads and installs Program B. Program B uses a file that Program A installed much earlier, but when Program B is run, errors popup. Those errors are the result of Program B attempting to use an outdated (shared) file that was installed by Program A. In order to fix that problem, the user would have to download an updated version of the shared file (which to say the least – is not an easy thing to find or do).

Sometimes, errors occur because a system doesn’t have the required drivers or the drivers that are on the system are the incorrect version. Both errors in these cases can be resolved by updating the computer on a regular basis. Microsoft provides a section on its website that can automatically update a computer online and it does this at no cost in an effort to reduce errors like this. Always try to keep your computer updated so that should a program share a file, it will share a file that has been updated on hundreds of thousands of computers, like yours.

This article doesn’t even begin to cover the entire gamut of computer errors – but additional information regarding how to get help with a computer issue (including computer errors) can be found in our article titled, “Computer Help” no matter what the problem is.

Deleted your Files? But How Secure are you?

(Thu Aug 28th, 2008, by Sunil Ohri)

Most of the users think that once they delete a file from their PC, it disappears and is removed permanently from their computer, but in actual that’s not the case. Windows does not physically remove deleted files from your hard disk. Emptying your Recycle Bin does not protect you at all. Your sensitive files can be recovered, even after you format your hard disk! So a big question arises here, that how SECURE you are even after deleting your files.

When you delete a file from Windows, the OS just marks the file as deleted in the file allocation table, but the data of the file is still on your hard disk. There are many tools available which can let others easily recover your sensitive files even after you format your hard disk. It is only with the help of good file shredder software that you can be sure that the data in your computer is shredded and made unrecoverable and unreadable to anyone.

It’s your files, can be your personal information, your banking information, or it can be your other sensitive data, and if you think you have deleted them from your PC and you are secure now, then you might be wrong. You don’t have to delete them but you have to shred them so that they can’t be recovered at all. Shredding overwrites your files many a times and makes them unrecoverable by any Deleted Files Recovery Software or any such kind of application. For this you need a file shredder. File Shredder is a utility that will completely erase files and folders from the physical storage medium like Hard Disk Drives, Pen Drives and so on. Normal file deletion only removes a file's directory entry from the index that your Operating System maintains, but the file still remains on the physical storage device. File Shredder from PC Optimizer Pro completely overwrites the contents of a file and makes it unrecoverable and is available free of cost. The good thing is that PC Optimizer Pro comes with 5 more very useful utilities along with the Free File Shredder which you can check Here

Have you ever been drumming with your fingers on the table, waiting for your dead-slow computer to load the program you want, or maybe to move a file from a disk to another? It sure is frustrating to have to wait for these small opertaions to be completed, and even more when it stops entirely. Slow computers are a very common problem today, and many users don't know how to speed them up. I will give you three simple steps you can follow, and speed up your slow computer. Many home Pc users work every day with their slow computers, and does not actually know why they are so slow. There are many reasons for a computer to slow down. For instance when your harddrive is very fragmentet. That means that parts of data that belongs together is spread across the disk, and not "lined up". When the data is needed, the computer has to reassemble it to make it work. If it is spread in many and small fractions, the more time it will use. A simple disk-defragmentation is a good thing to do, and can be done from the start menu. Go to Accessories, to System Tools, and then click on the Defragment option. This process will take some time. In a good case I would say like an hour or two. In a really bad case it could take days. It won't be any faster than it was when it was brand new, but if we're lucky we'll get pretty close. Now over to the next step in the process of speeding up your dead slow computer. This step is called spyware removal. Spyware is a thing that definately will slow your computer down. The more spyware on the system, the slower it will get. What happens is that spyware are malicious software which will use your resources as it wants. When the numbers of infections get large, they will compete with eachother in their hunt for available resources. In the end you won't have anything left for the jobs you want to do. That is why I always recommend people with a slow computer to run a good spyware removal tool, and see if that speeds it up. The third and last step in our process is checking the windows registry for errors. The windows registry holds information about applications that is installed. Invalid entries could be references for software that is uninstalled. The registry entries were left behind and now they will slow your computer down even more. That is why I also recommend to do a full registry scan. This operation and a spyware removal can be done with expensive tools, cheap tools or free tools. Expensive tools doesn't always have to be the best ones, and many cheap tools are actually good quality software. There are also free software out there that turns out to be really great. It can boost up your slow computer and do alot for your online security. FreePcAssistance.com - A website offering free tools, and free assistance to private users. If you have a slow computer, you should visit us and grab a free tool. Our free spyware removal equipment will help you get rid of Spyware, Registry Errors, and Viruses. Welcome.