Computer Components

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Differences Between Older and Newer Printers

If you are going to troubleshoot in the personal computer world, you must be prepared to troubleshoot the printer as well as the computer. There have been rapid advances in printer technology recently, [more…]

Use Print Settings to Troubleshoot PC Printing

Printing from Windows PCs is pretty straightforward, but occasionally things don’t work exactly the way you would hop and you have to don your troubleshooting hat. In that case, the first thing you need [more…]

Use Page Setup to Troubleshoot PC Printing

The Print dialog box is where settings are made that affect how things are printed, but it’s not the only place to look to try to diagnose printing problems. Another location is the Page Setup dialog box [more…]

Manage Printers on a Windows PC

Windows sports a spot for showing which printers are connected to and used by your computer. You can use this box to install a new printer, set the default printer, or remove a printer. [more…]

View, Order, or Cancel Print Jobs on Windows PCs

When you print something in Windows, you’re creating a print job. That’s a good, general name for anything you print: Printing is handled by the operating system and not by individual programs. Therefore [more…]

Use the Printing Troubleshooter on Windows PCs

The Windows Help system contains a number of useful troubleshooting tools, which can often guide you to a quick solution by asking step-by-step questions. [more…]

Troubleshoot “The Print Out Doesn’t Look Right”

Sometimes the PC talks to the printer and the printer prints, but it certainly doesn’t look like what you expected. To troubleshoot that problem depends on exactly what the print out does look like. [more…]

Troubleshoot Printer Paper Jams

So, your printer has jammed and you need to troubleshoot. The solution to a printer jam is to find the jam and remove the paper. If the printer is smart enough to tell you where the jam occurred, heed [more…]

Print Envelopes from a Windows PC

Most printers have an envelope slot, feeder, or tray. The better printers even let you stack up envelopes for mass mailings. Finding the tray is the first step in printing an envelope. The second step [more…]

PC Graphics System Overview – The Monitor and more

Knowing all the parts of the PC’s graphics system is an important first step to troubleshooting problems with it. The monitor is only one part of your PC’s graphics system. It’s what you see. What you [more…]

Understand PC Graphics Display Adapters

If you ever have to troubleshoot issues with your computer’s monitor, it is helpful to know a little about the adapters the computer uses to talk to the monitor. There are different connectors, processors [more…]

Understand PC Monitors

Knowing some of the terminology associated with a PC monitor can come in handy if you have to troubleshoot monitor issues.

There are two flavors of monitor: LCD and CRT. The LCD is now more popular because [more…]

Can I Add a Second Monitor to My PC?

Certain editions of Windows can power two monitors. All you need to complete the picture are two monitors plus two display adapters or one display adapter that can handle two monitors. [more…]

Troubleshoot a Blank PC Monitor

To troubleshoot when you see nothing on the computer monitor, check the basic hardware first: Is the monitor turned on? Is it plugged in? Is the monitor properly connected to the display adapter on the [more…]

Troubleshoot Monitor Issues by Swapping Hardware

Because the PC’s video system contains two parts, you have to check two hardware items when you are troubleshooting: the monitor and the display adapter. To do forensic troubleshooting, it helps to swap [more…]

Adjust the Monitor on Your PC

No monitor is perfect. Somewhere along the line you will end up troubleshooting something, but frequently it just takes a little adjustment. Every monitor features its own adjustment menu, along with a [more…]

Deal with Bad Pixels in Your LCD Monitor

A situation unique to LCD monitors is the dead or stuck pixel issue. Being dead and being stuck are similar problems with different fixes.

A dead pixel is one with its red, green, or blue element off, or [more…]

PC Monitor Screen Savers: Tools or Toys?

Do you need a screen saver on your monitor? There’s no reason to run a screen saver program for its originally intended purpose: to prevent the perils of phosphor burn-in. [more…]

Change the Screen Resolution on Your Monitor

Computer monitors display images by lighting up various pixels, or picture elements, on the screen. The pixels are arranged in a grid, where the number of pixels horizontally and vertically is referred [more…]

Change Your Monitor’s Dots per Inch (DPI) Setting

When viewing the screen is difficult, increasing the dpi, which refers to dots per inch, can fix that issue. And graphics artists frequently require an increased dpi to effectively do their work. [more…]

Set Your PC Monitor’s Color Depth

The richness of the image on a computer monitor is determined more by the number of colors available than by the number of pixels (the resolution). Lower resolutions with more colors look better than higher [more…]

Calibrate Color on Your Monitor in Windows 7

The idea behind color management isn’t to match colors on a computer monitor with colors in the real world. Instead, strive to match colors in a way that satisfies your needs. For example, match the colors [more…]

Update PC Monitor Drivers

Updating the video driver can solve most video problems. Two companies develop most PC display adapter technology: Intel (formerly ATI) and NVIDIA. They routinely make new graphics drivers available, ensuring [more…]