Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Do you have a Microsoft Surface tablet? They are becoming quite popular, especially in the corporate world where more companies are actually purchasing Surface tablets than iPads these days.
One of the most basic tasks while using any tablet is capturing a screenshot, and it’s extremely easy to do on a Microsoft Surface running Windows 8. Here’s how: [Read more…]
Question from Landra G: Hi Rick. I bought an ebook on using Windows 7 and there was a passing reference to something called a System File Checker.
The ebook didn’t give any details except to say that you can use it to fix problems with your computer. Can you tell me what it is and how to use it. Thanks.
Rick’s answer: Landra, the System File Checker is a very useful Windows utility that will scan your critical Windows files and attempt to repair any damaged files that it finds. It often comes in handy for those times when Windows is acting quirky, something isn’t working as it should or you receive an error message saying that there is a damaged Windows system file.
Using the System File Checker is very easy in Windows 7. Here’s how: [Read more…]
Windows 7 contains a suite of powerful Administrative Tools that are useful to System Administrators and advanced users. Previous versions of Windows had a direct link to these Administrative tools right on the Start menu, but Windows 7 has them hidden from view by default.
These tools are easily found if you know where to look (most people don’t) or by simply searching for them by name via the Search box, but I prefer having them linked from the Start menu as they had been in the past.
It’s very easy to add the Administrative Tools back to the Windows 7 Start menu. Here’s how: [Read more…]
It seems like every version of Windows is a little easier to install than the one before it, and Windows 8 is no exception thanks to Microsoft’s nifty Windows 8 Upgrade Tool.
That being said, there are still times when it helps to be able to install the operating system from a USB thumb drive or DVD. Here’s how to create one: [Read more…]
Have you ever tried to delete a file only to have Windows respond that the file cannot be deleted because it is in use by one of your programs, but there are no programs running? This is one of Microsoft Windows’ most irritating annoyances, and it happens all too often.
There are several ways to go about deleting these ‘locked’ files. Try the following in the order in which they are listed until you find a method that works for you: [Read more…]