January
2004
As it is the New Year, why not make a fresh start and sort
out the serious problems you have been struggling with for ages.
In particular, improve the performance of any hardware such as
graphics cards or scanners/cameras by installing an updated driver
(the software controlling the equipment), or even update or re-install
your operating system if you run any Windows system earlier than Windows
XP. It may seem frightening, but it
is actually quite straight-forward, and can make a huge difference to your
computing sessions.
Having carried out both these activities
this week, here are my tips for painless improvements.
However, for fuller details, I suggest you take out a subscription
to Computer Active magazine or
read a copy in your local library. They
offer full-scale workshops on all manner of computing topics, written in
easy-to-understand language.
- Find
out as much as you can about your hardware.
If you didn’t keep the box it came in, think about doing this
next time you buy any hardware, but otherwise search the equipment for
names, numbers and other identification.
- If
you know the manufacturer – use the Internet to find their website
and look for the words download
or drivers.
They should have an index from which to select, or search boxes
where you can enter the model, year, serial number etc. of your
equipment. When you arrive
at the correct page, click download
and save the file into a convenient folder where you can find it
again. It will take anything
from a few minutes to over 1 hour, so carry out this task at off-peak
times if you pay as you go.
- If
you have little clue as to where your equipment comes from, try a
website such as www.driverguide.com.
This has an excellent search facility to identify and download
the correct driver for most computer hardware.
- Once
on your computer, double-click the file.
These are commonly “self-extracting” compressed files which
will be installed automatically in the appropriate systems folders on
your computer. After restarting
your computer, your equipment should now work far more effectively.
- If
you think your computer is struggling, re-installing the operating
system such as Windows 98 is just a question of starting up the CD-ROM
that came with it and following the installation procedure.
It should sort out any niggles such as error messages listing
“missing .dll files” each time you start up your machine, and
should not affect any software or files already saved on your
computer. However, as a
precaution, backup (make separate copies) of really important files.
- Finally,
for really serious problems where you might have thought about
replacing your computer altogether, before spending all that money,
why not try wiping (formatting) the hard disk and re-installing the
operating system.
- Make
copies of ALL important files, and software for which you have no
CD-ROM or floppy disks. Also,
take down details of drivers and settings for any hardware, as one
or two may be difficult to track down.
Find details of your system in My
Computer – right-click, select Properties
and then look on the Device Manager tab.
Each hardware item will have its own properties, including
driver files, and will show type and port.
- Make
a Start up disk by
following instructions from Start
– Control Panel – Add/Remove Programs – Start up disk.
This entails copying essential files to a floppy disk
which will be needed to start up your machine once you have
formatted the hard disk.
- Reformat
the hard disk – boot up with your Start up disk, and at the A:\
prompt type format c: /s.
Confirm this and your hard disk will be completely
formatted, removing ALL information.
- Use
your Start up disk to re-start your computer, at the prompt type the
drive letter for your Windows CD-ROM e.g. D:
and press Enter. Type Setup and follow instructions to re-install the operating
system.
- Most
hardware will be identified and the drivers re-installed
automatically, but in some cases you may need to do this manually
using the original disks provided with your hardware, or by
downloading new drivers as described above.
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and under the books section select
Computers and Internet.
