View:
Sorted by:
How to View RSS Feeds in Internet Explorer 8
RSS Feeds is an Internet Explorer 8 feature you can use to view the latest news updates to sites you monitor. Many kinds of Web sites are updated daily weekly, and news sites update headlines as soon as [more…]
How to Use the Start Menu's Search Bar
The Search function in Windows 7 actually works. Most searches begin in Windows Explorer, but you can also use the Start menu to begin a search. When you click the Windows 7 Start button, you can immediately [more…]
Get Help with Computer Problems
Having trouble with your PC? Computer help comes from many sources: the manufacturer and local computer stores are just two. The Windows Remote Assistant lets a friend or trusted expert control your machine [more…]
How to Install iTunes on a Windows PC
Although it's designed by Apple, iTunes runs just fine on a Windows PC. To install iTunes on a PC, start at the download page for the free iTunes for Windows software at the [more…]
How to Open a File that Won’t Open
You may occasionally try to open a file and find that it won’t open. If so, you probably see a dialog box instead. Before you go surfing around the dialog box, bear in mind a couple of things. [more…]
Search for Files in Windows
You made and saved a file in Windows. You thought you knew exactly where you saved it. But it isn’t there. If you’ve misplaced a file, Windows can help you find it. [more…]
Search for Files in Windows Recycle Bin
The Recycle Bin isn’t normally searched by the Windows Search command. You may want to take a peek in the trash, er, Recycle Bin whenever the regular version of the Search command comes up empty. [more…]
How to Search for Files from the DOS Command Prompt
By opening a command prompt window, you can search for files that Windows truly doesn’t want you to know are there. It’s a little technical, but when you really, [more…]
What to Do When Windows Says a File Is Missing
Oftentimes, it’s not you who discovers that a file is gone. Sometimes, Windows notices that files are missing. The missing-file message — that you must troubleshoot — appears either when Windows starts [more…]
How to Change the Read-Only Attribute on Files and Folders
Read-only is a file attribute, or a characteristic that the operating system assigns to a file. In this case, read-only means that the file can be only opened or read; you cannot delete, change, or rename [more…]
How to Add Items to the Search Index in Windows
The Windows search command doesn’t actually search your stuff. Instead, it searches an index of your stuff. That’s because it’s much quicker to search an index than to search everywhere. Consider a book [more…]
Troubleshoot Your Windows PC Using Safe Mode
Safe mode tells you one thing best: whether the problem you are trying to troubleshoot is with Windows. In Safe mode, only Windows itself is loaded: the basic parts of the operating system. Any other software [more…]
How to Understand and Use Windows Task Manager
The typical Windows PC is running about three dozen processes when it’s just sitting there. Every program that’s running is referred to as a task; hence, the term [more…]
Understand the Relationship between Windows Applications and Processes
A connection exists between the items on the Task Manager’s Applications tab and the items on the Processes tab. When you open an application, it launches a number of processes. The processes do all the [more…]
How to View All Windows Processes Using the Task Manager
Windows runs a lot of processes. Normally, the Task Manager window displays only the processes that relate to your account in Windows. To see the whole lot of them, including processes that Windows runs [more…]
How to View Services Using the Windows Task Manager
The Task Manager window in Windows 7 and Windows Vista features a Services tab, something that the Task Manager in Windows XP lacks. Of course, it doesn’t mean that Windows XP lacks services; it means [more…]
How to End a Program that is Not Responding
Several terms are used to describe the act of a program biting the dust: crash, hang, die, stuck and frozen. Task Manager uses Not Responding. Seeing the Not Responding text in the Status column is a surefire [more…]
How to End a Process with Windows Task Manager
Sometimes you’re directed to stop a process, or perhaps you’re motivated to end a process to troubleshoot problems with your computer. When those needs arise, follow these steps to stifle a process by [more…]
How to Stop or Disable a Service with Task Manager
On occasion, Windows may direct you to disable or end a service in the course of trying to troubleshoot a problem with a Windows application. During those times, refer to these steps for the proper procedure [more…]
Understand the Windows Process svchost.exe
A process in Windows named svchost.exeis often a source of anxiety and woe among PC troubleshooters. That’s probably because the single process svchost.exe [more…]
Understand the Windows Process rundll32.exe
A problem child in the Windows pantheon of processes is something called rundll32.exe. The rundll32.exe program exists to run programs held in DLL files. A DLL is a [more…]
How to Disable Start-Up Programs in Windows
To determine whether a program is causing a problem, you have to be a PC troubleshooting sleuth. Problems with device drivers or processes that load initially are often flagged by start-up error messages [more…]
Find Start-Up Programs for Your Account in Windows
Like many people, you may have configured certain programs to automatically start when you log in to Windows. These start-up items appear on the aptly named Startup menu, found on the All Programs menu [more…]
Troubleshoot Blocked Start-up Programs in Windows
Every once in a while you may see the Windows Has Blocked Some Startup Programs message? Try as you can to dismiss it, it doesn’t go away until you deal with the situation. [more…]
How to Get into Windows Safe Mode
Windows Safe mode is a good troubleshooting mode because only processes and services necessary to start Windows are launched. It isolates things like video customizations and network settings from the [more…]
