Fix PC errors

It doesn’t matter how good you are with computers, PC errors are common to everybody and anybody who has ever used one. Our ability to fix PC errors is very much determined by how good we are in the troubleshooting phase. If we know what the problem is, we can usually rectify it with the help of the information on the Internet and through our own manuals and instructions.

There are a few PC errors, however, that can leave you feeling a little lost without a hope of a fix. One of the most daunting of all PC errors is the dreaded operating system lock-out. Have you tried to load Microsoft Windows only to become trapped in a re-cycled series of failed boot attempts? Maybe you access Windows only to receive a blue screen of death to prevent you going any further.

One of the biggest reasons for this operating system lockout is a fault with the systems random access memory (better known as RAM). RAM is absolutely vital for keeping your computer responsive and helping it to control the assignment of resources. If you have bad RAM, Windows won’t be able to load the settings and configurations and maintain them over time. A computer that can’t store data isn’t much use, and thus you’ll find that Windows’ natural response is to lock you out altogether.

Bad RAM PC errors are usually accompanied by a blue screen which will detail the exact location of the error, and hopefully give you an error code. One of the most infuriating things to be told is to go online and search for a fix to that specific error. How do you get online if you can’t even access the operating system?! Well, you can either use another workstation or if worst comes to the worst, contact Microsoft directly over the phone and ask for their opinion on how to resolve it given your current lock-out.

RAM isn’t the only factor to consider though. Many PC errors are related to a bad hard drive. Are you receiving errors that mention a fault somewhere on the C drive? This is usually a pretty good indication that there’s something up with your disk partition. The best course of action is to run a thorough disk defragmenter tool, then download a registry cleaning utility. These will seep through the core Windows settings and configurations to pick out any data that doesn’t sit well with the rest. It only takes one small registry corruption to throw a PC out of the loop completely.

Of course, one of the reasons we suffer from so many PC errors is down to the fact that there are thousands and thousands of vendors out there offering special code for their products, both hardware and software. Every time we add programs or applications to our operating system, we run the risk of triggering errors and bugs which will always be a problem. The best way to combat this risk is by ensuring and double checking that the software, and particularly hardware devices, are compatible with your computer.

Keep the System Restore function turned on to ensure that you have a working copy of Windows to roll back to. You might not need it now, but you never know what errors your PC could be popping up by tomorrow!

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fix http 404

Of all the HTTP errors you can expect to find while browsing the Internet, the 404 is by far the most common. It describes a page that can’t be found or delivered by the server, and it can be caused by one of many reasons.

If you’re using somebody else’s website, you can follow a few simple steps to try and fix the 404 error. The first is simply to refresh the page. It makes no sense whatsoever, but sometimes a quick refresh will skip you straight to the content you were looking for.

Failing this, a little common sense should be applied to determine whether the URL is correct. Now, of course, we can’t say for sure what the webmaster intended to a name a page. But if you’re trying to access MyPagr.html, it’s likely that you’ll have a lot more success by manually amending the URL to MyPage.html. Spelling mistakes in links are common and while they can be a pain to troubleshoot for novice users, a little investigation should reveal whether this is the cause of the 404 error.

If you’re still receiving 404 errors galore, you can try hopping up a directory and accessing the page from its natural hierarchy position in the site. For example if you receive an error at:

www.mypages.com/somepages/page.html

Try accessing:

www.mypages.com/somepages/

A lot of the time, this new link will take you to a page where the content is accessible through a newer and working link. Alternatively, you might receive a directory listing by accessing the folder in this way. Scan the contents of the directory and see if there’s a file that matches the one that you’re looking for.

Perhaps even more common than misspellings, you’ll notice that some 404 errors aren’t caused by a typo, but by a change in the file extension. MyPage.html is seen as a completely different location on the web server to MyPage.php. Try to access the content of the HTML file using the PHP extension and you’ll get a 404 error, assuming that there isn’t a PHP page in place on the server already.

In most cases, the content itself hasn’t been deleted. The fact that it can no longer be found and throws up a 404 error is irrelevant. It’s simply been moved to a different point on the website and the hyperlink hasn’t been updated. Updating links can be a chore on a large website, and it’s easy for some URLs to get lost in the mix. You can try accessing the page from a different point on the website, or go back to the homepage and run a search if the website offers it.

You should also pay special attention to the case of the file name. By this, we mean that upper case and lower case can be treated as different letters on some servers. Case sensitivity means that MyPage.php could be seen as different to mypage.php, even though the letters are exactly the same! Be sure that you aren’t skipping over this important functionality of many web servers before giving in to the 404 error.

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Qualified support for PC problems can cost a fortune, so much in fact that you’d sometimes be better off upgrading to a new computer altogether rather than paying over the odds to rectify a couple of obscure problems.

To learn to fix a PC manually, you have to be able to grasp the various components that combine to create a platform where we can run our Microsoft Windows based programs freely. This means having a good understanding of both software and hardware devices, and how the two combine through the use of drivers.

Some of the hardest PC problems to combat are the errors that relate to bad memory. You may have heard the term RAM thrown around loosely. It stands for Random Access Memory and it describes the way that Windows accesses data and saved settings. We rely on the RAM to store our settings virtually for almost everything we do, so you can imagine that bad RAM is just that; bad news.

Memory becoming corrupted or incorrectly referenced is the number one cause for most of the PC problems that you’ll receive over time. Runtime errors are attributed directly to RAM. The processor tries to access volatile memory, but for one reason or another is unable to, and thus a runtime error gets thrown. These can be quite confusing in the way that they’re relayed.

You might not see anything mentioning bad memory. The error message may simply be a code and a Access Denied label. Try to make a note of the error code and plug it in to the Microsoft website. If you’re receiving an error, the chances are that somebody has received it in the past and there should be a solution to the bug. If your RAM is fine, you may want to consider that the Windows registry has been directed corrupted.

The Windows registry stores all of your data settings and configurations. It’s like a permanent library of the core data on our Windows operating system. If the registry becomes affected, you can expect to find some serious PC errors. A registry cleaner can help here. Alternatively, if you can pinpoint the exact program that is throwing the error, a re-install could be of help in getting rid of the errors.

To assume that every PC error is related to software would be to massively underestimate the scope for hardware failure. It only takes one piece of incompatible hardware to throw a system in to wheel spin. If you’re installing printers, scanners, web cams or other third party devices, you will want to be aware that the drivers used to link these to your exiting operating system are capable of causing serious problems with other applications that you might already have in place.

Printer drivers, in particular, are known to cause a great number of headaches when it comes to throwing PC errors directly related to the driers that they come with. To combat this, make sure that what you’re installing is compatible with your system specifications. It’s amazing to see just how many people ignore the specs on the side of the box before purchase!

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System32 is regularly cited for displaying in Windows error messages, and with very good reason. System32 is, after all, the directory where many of the most important files in Windows are stored. So why is it so hard to find?

If you’ve ever had a look for the System32 folder on your computer, it’s likely that you’ve been left a bit mystified. That’s because System32 is hidden from the casual user. The folder is set to invisible unless you specifically request that hidden items be shown. Microsoft has added this function to ensure that a stray user doesn’t go messing with the core files and data that resides in the System32 folder. Pretty wise when you consider that some of these files becoming corrupt will leave you locked out of Windows altogether!

You can access the System32 directory in two different ways depending on what type of Windows operating system you’re using.

For most standard versions of Windows, you can use:

C:\Windows\System32

But for Windows NT based systems, you will have to use:

C:\Winnt\system32

Once you gain access to the subfolders and files in this particular directory, and there are a fair few of them, you should only consider making live edits unless you know exactly what you’re trying to achieve. To put it bluntly, the System32 files are extremely volatile.

Most errors acknowledge System32, not because the folder itself has become damaged, but because one of the files within it has been corrupted. Overwriting your entire System32 folder is thus a pretty bad idea but one that occasionally works.

If you have a Windows recovery disk, you can use the Recovery Console to try and kick the System32 folder back in to shape. Once you’ve inserted the disk and opened up the console, enter the following commands:

md tmp

copy C:windowssystem32configsystem C:windowstmpsystem.bak

delete C:windowssystem32configsystem

copy C:windowsrepairsystem C:windowssystem32configsystem

This often fixes System32 based errors, but it isn’t completely reliable. Either way, if you plan on running the commands above, ensure that you get them absolutely correct letter for letter. A bad edit in the Recovery Console at this point is truly more trouble than its worth.

So is there an easier solution? Thankfully there is, but once again it relies on third party tools to automate the process of fixing your System32 directory.

You’ll find plenty of software designed specifically for the chore of fixing bugs and corruptions in the core Windows file libraries. This includes the System32 folder. ErrorSmart is just one of several products that can be downloaded via the Net and used to filter out the bad data on your system.

If you’re not interested in purchasing a third party solution, you can try the age old “Last Known Good Configuration” trick. This involves rebooting Windows and pressing F8 while it loads. You’ll be taken to the boot select screen with a list of options for how you would like to load Windows. Choose the last known good configuration and wait as Windows reloads. This time, the operating system will roll back to the old configurations that it remembers working without hitches. This sounds like the best solution of all, but unfortunately the tool isn’t the greatest for getting rid of core System32 errors.

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