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Category: Computers & Technology : Software
Wow, this is pretty open Topic. Okay, let's breakdown our general possibilities.
1: Virii
2: Corrupted Executables (exe, dll, ocx, etc..)
3: Faulty Hardware Drivers
4: Faulty Memory
Before I begin, I'd like to mention that you should use a little common sense. If you just made a change to your system, and you then suffer some form of illegal operation, reverse the change you had made and try again. This is just a standard troubleshooting tip.
Virii
Okay, let's discuss the fun of virii in computers. Lots of different kinds are available, new ones are discovered daily, they travel in some form of executable code, and lots of them prefer to damage your system. However, most virii have a typical signature they leave on executables, and those that are atypical have probably been discovered and a fix been generated.
For these reasons, all the major Virus Protection Packages have methods of updating your database of known virii and signatures. I personally use McAfee on my laptop, and Norton on my desktop back home. Others are available, but that's outside this article as they all do mostly the same thing. So, the first recommendation I'm going to make is that you scan all your drives with your preferred virus scanner. This is a good idea to do anyhow, at least on a monthly basis.
Corrupted Executables
If you had no virii, or after fixing a virus still have a problem, you ought to look towards checking for corrupted executables. The easiest way to do this is just to reinstall the faulty software, but before you do that it might be a good idea to do a thorough Scan Disk. This will just eliminate the possibility that you might have an piece of executable code sitting on a bad block on your harddrive. After the scan disk, go ahead and reinstall the software.
Faulty Hardware Drivers
If, after re-installing the software, you still have problems..(Dear God), it might be a good idea to consider some of your hardware drivers. This is the point where you might just consider calling Tech. Support to see if they've seen this kind of problem before on your type of machine.
If you're still feeling ballsy... (I should mention that you might want to be something of an experienced user to go any further than this point.)
That being said, let's reboot and go into safe mode (press and hold down the left shift key immediately after you see "Starting Windows" which happens after POST). Then goto Start|Settings|Control Panel, double-click on the System Icon. You should then be in the System Properties dialog box with the General tab active. Click on the Device Manager Tab. From my experience, I've found that one sometimes finds extra drivers mixed about through here. I've found doubles or triples of video cards or monitors sitting there, and I'll usually remove everything out of that section, but common sense dictates here. An inexperienced user should not make an attempt to alter anything here without proper supervision.
Faulty Memory
Lastly, I've seen memory that was bad that once replaced fixed the system, but an occurance of something like that is few and far between. Memory manufacturers are folds more precise than they were just a few years ago. Remember that these are just general fixes, and that a good Support Technician knows more about your hardware than you or I do.
Reflecting on that, good luck
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firebob |
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