Reinstall video drivers for repairing video problems in your PC

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At times, you need to reinstall your video driver in order to resume proper display of your laptop. Video drivers must be reinstalled and updated constantly and it is extremely essential to take proper and meticulous care while dealing with the video drivers. For this, it is quite important to find out a comprehensive method to identify and fix issues related to the video drivers.  Drivers are basically bits of the code which work to make connections between operating system and the hardware. If the driver is not properly functioning, the operating system will not recognize the hardware that you have been trying to operate. Thus, the video drivers must be persistently updated and reinstalled so that the laptop can efficiently play the video.

Whether you are operating iTunes, Win DVD, Windows media player or any video playback software, updated and efficient video drivers constantly work to deliver a steady refresh rate to have a smooth and efficient video performance. The question here is why drivers in your computers or laptops become outdated? Drivers can actually become outdated due to several reasons. At times, when you upgrade the operating system, there are more chances that your drivers would become outdated. This is because upgraded operating systems have varied protocols for the drivers. There can be several reasons for which drivers could become outdated. In this case, windows do a great job as they help us by telling that the driver is not working and need to be updated immediately. Besides, you can easily check all your driver’s status by opening Device Manager in the control panel. On opening the control panel, you need to click system and security. Open the Device Manager here which will display the entire hardware presently installed on the computer. Here, a yellow exclamatory mark against any hardware indicates a problem with the particular hardware.

Besides, you can also utilize Windows update for the new drivers. It is quite easy to use windows update as a tool to install and update the drivers. The process helps you to install the necessary updates. However some programs are there which are built to fix all the problems related to the drivers at once as windows update can fix only the problems which have occurred already. Preventing driver errors and issues before they actually happen is always advisable. For this, it is quite essential to install the program which will scan the system for drivers besides installing any essential drivers quickly.

 

Signs That You Might Have Malware

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Malware, or malicious programs, can infect your computer without your knowledge and cause damage to your files and security. This means that it’s quite important that you recognize various signs that your computer is infected quickly. That way you can deal with the threat before any more damage is done.

 

-Slow Computer

There are obviously many different reasons why your computer might slow down, but if it is slowing down and you feel you’ve eliminated some of the other possible reasons, malware programs running in the background could be a cause. This is because these programs tend to be running in your computer’s background all the time, eating up memory and slowing down your computer.

Malware programs may not even show up when you check your task manager for what programs are currently running since some malware programs actually hide from that tool. So if your computer appears to be running slow for no reason, malware could certainly be the cause.

 

-Popups

Another possible sign that you might have malware installed on your computer popup ads. This is especially likely to be true if you’re getting unwanted popup advertisements on your computer, even if you aren’t currently browsing on the Internet. That is a sure sign that a program is installed on your computer that is generating those popups, especially if you aren’t even browsing at the time.

 

-Home Page

Another sure sign that you probably have malware on your computer is if the home page on your browser is constantly changing without you tell it to do so. This often happens due to malware programs that change your home page to a page that may be dangerous. It’s important to take care of this problem quickly because it tends to feed on itself. If a malware changes your home page default and you then start your browser, it will immediately go to that dangerous website and possibly download even more malware.

This malware can then do additional bad things to your computer, including stealing your information.

 

-Sending Emails in Your Name

Another common sign that you have malware is if you discover that emails are being sent in your name and without your permission or knowledge to people on your email contact list. These emails will often have spam in them. They are solicitations and part of a scheme for the person infecting your computer to make money.

It can be pretty terribly annoying to be accidentally spamming all of your friends with advertisements about random products. The tendency is to think when this happens that something is wrong with your email. But in fact, the likelihood is that your computer is infected with a malware program that is making this happen.

-Scanning Programs and Finding Out for Sure

If you think you might have malware on your computer, or really, even if you don’t, a scanning program is a good idea. Examples of programs you can download and scan completely for free include Spybot, Malwarebytes, and Avira. It’s a good idea to do periodical scans of your computer all the time anyway to find out whether you have malware or not for sure.

 

Some easy tips to update drivers on your PC

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Drivers are links which allow the communication between the operating system of your computer, the devices installed, and your application software. These help the computer to run smoothly and also the hardware or devices to work efficiently like hard disk, video card, DVD drive, USB and many more. For this reason, the drivers are extremely important for your PC’s good performance. Without the updated drivers, your PC cannot work smoothly and efficiently.

When you connect any devices with your PC, these will also not work smoothly if there are outdated or corrupted drivers. Learning the way to update your computer drivers is very crucial in order to bring out maximum performance out of your computer.

The first and the foremost step is to browse the manufacturer’s website to find out the latest one. For this, you also need to know the kind of drivers you have. In case, you need to update the video card driver, you must know which video card you are using and then search the site of the manufacturer to find the latest and updated one. You even need to check your hardware devices which you will connect to the computer.

Check the make and model that you can easily find on your device itself. With all this information and data, you can visit the website of the manufacturer to find out latest drivers and then you can download and install them on your computer. Also, for certain devices you will probably need to update drivers manually by clicking on device manager and then on update driver tab.

However, updating the drivers manually is quite a difficult task and takes a lot of time. A more safe and efficient way to update the drivers is by using a drivers updating software. This software can update the drivers in minutes and make sure that your PC works smoothly.

The driver updating software scans your computer to identify the outdated, missing or corrupt drivers and then update or fix these drivers after getting instructions from you. However it is very crucial to choose the best software for your PC as an incorrect updater will result in serious consequences by installing an outdated or wrong driver. Also, you need to make sure that the software has a large database so that it can support different devices of various manufacturers.

Also, you must confirm the detecting and scanning capabilities of your software as a brilliant software program will quickly detect the damaged or outdated drivers on the computer. Thus, the things mentioned above are the major criteria to choose a good software program for the computer.

 

Things to consider while choosing the best software for updating PC drivers

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Device drivers are one of the most important parts of the computer system. They ensure smooth functioning and the proper use of hardware devices of the computer. They need constant updating like any other component of your PC is updated. This will help to avoid any slow performance issues and your PC will not become outdated. However if you do not update the drivers then you will not enjoy the benefits and features which are offered by the upgraded drivers and this may even result in a slow functioning computer due to its incompatibility for new applications and software. Also, checking your drivers for updates or keeping the record is quite a tedious job so usually the software for driver update is used. The software scans your computer or laptop for any missing or outdated drivers and then provides you a list of the required updates and modifications. Further, after getting the instructions for the required modifications, the software will automatically install the required updates.

Using software for drivers update is an easy and safe way to automatically update the device drivers. However there are available different kinds of software and you need to choose the best one for your computer. Thus, you must consider various things before selecting the software for updating your device drivers. The first and foremost thing which you need to check is that whether or not the software can work with the windows system which you use. People commonly use various systems for their computers. It’s quite essential to ensure that the chosen software has compatibility with the systems which you use. Also, the software must have large driver database in order to cover all the drivers for the hardware devices such as hard disk, CPU, keyboard, USB, printer, mouse, display card, sound card and many more. Thus, it must support multiple devices from different manufacturers.

Besides, having a large database, the software must scan and identify the corrupted or outdated drivers on the computer. Apart from this, the accuracy in terms of detecting is also one of the most important criteria to select the right updating tool. This is because, if an outdated or wrong driver is installed by the software, it will lead to serious problems in your PC such as crash, freeze, blue screen etc. Also, you need to make sure that the software has customer support and user friendliness. It must have a user friendly interface which enables the average users to conveniently use the software. Thus, these are the few important things which you need to consider while choosing they best updating tool for your PC.

 

 

Tips to follow while updating computer drivers

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Your computer drivers help your computer to run smoothly by ensuring that all its parts like hard disk, DVD drive, USB, video card etc work properly. Without updated drivers, there can be issues in the functioning of all these components of your PC. Thus, learning to update drivers is certainly very important. Knowing how you can update the drivers would help you address issues pertaining to the running of various computer applications. Of course, updated drivers do make your computer hardware run smoothly as well.  Listed below are a couple of tips that would help you to update your drivers the right way.

  • Know your PC drivers- In order to know how you can update your driver, it is important to have all the needed information about it. Basically there many drivers in the computer. A good knowledge about what you require for which hardware plus knowing which one out of them is actually outdated would help you to identify which driver you must update. Usually the drivers which you would find in the PC are drivers for the scanner, printer, DVD, audio, video, webcam, digital camera, USB and a few others including the windows drivers, only if you’re running or operating on this OS.
  • Get familiar with all your PC devices- Apart from knowing about computer drivers, you must also get familiar with other devices. You do not need to dig into complicated details; just a little working knowledge would be of great help. You must learn what all drivers your computer devices would need. In fact you can look your product over the internet and check out what exactly it needs for running smoothly.
  • Use tools in the computer- One great way to learn about how you can update drivers is by the use of tools in the computer. Many times updating them will imply updating your s/w. For example in case of software like windows, you just need to click on the windows update button present in the start menu.
  • Taking help from manufacturer’s website- In case you’re dealing with some other drivers, you can check out manufacturer’s website to check out some latest options in the drivers. However, while doing so you need to ensure that you’re looking at exactly the same model or make of the particular device which you want to update.

So, next time whenever you feel the need to update your PC drivers do keep in mind all the above mentioned tips.

 

Setting up Privacy Control for Children: Optimizing Windows Performance

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Through computers, children have access to a lot of information in the world. A computer connected to an Internet would mean that your child can navigate to any website without your permission. Likewise, they often navigate to pornographic websites without the parents knowing. For this purpose, Microsoft Corp. has designed Windows to support the Parental Control feature so that parents can keep an eye on their children. Setting up Parental Controls in windows is quite easy. All a user needs to do is to navigate to the section and select the options that best suit his or her requirements.

 

Setting up the privacy controls

Setting up privacy & parental controls is quite easy in windows but it should be kept in mind that the user should be signed in as an Administrator so that the change can take effect in all the accounts. In our day, the most common mistakes that parents make is that they sign in as a single (personal) account and change the settings in Parental Controls. These changed settings take effect in that particular account. As a result, it is necessary that a parent sets up the control measures through an administrative login.

Double click on the My Computer section and type ‘parental controls’ in the search bar located at the top right corner. On the other hand, a user can navigate to the Control Panel home page and locate these settings under the Privacy icon. Users can also locate these settings by typing ‘parental controls’ in the search bar of Start Menu. Now, click on the User Accounts section and enable the Parental Control option.

A display bar will be opened that will let you select programs that you want to block from the children. Select the programs through the Browse Tab or Drag Drop the icons of these programs (the Launch Applications). Parents can make changes to these settings anytime.

The second step is to navigate to the browser and enable Parental Controls. The Internet Explorer contains a Privacy option in the Internet Options section. A parent can add websites that he or she wants to block from the children. In addition, they can check the recently visited websites through the History section of the explorer.

Note: It is always best to restart the computer for the changes to take effect before the program can be used by the user.

Secure Email – Optimize the Program Experience in Windows

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Most users are reluctant to use Microsoft Outlook and similar other Microsoft related messenger as well as email platforms, as they were reported previously for being virus and malware carriers, infecting the entire mailbox. These malicious emails were sent to other mail users in the contact list and their mailboxes were infected upon opening of these emails. Having switched to BBMs, people are now concerned about their privacy, and have stopped using emails for the sake of preventing their personal information and documents being accessed by others.

AOL and Gmail have installed state of the art software programs that filter out all possible spams and malicious emails that can infect a user’s mailbox. These companies have also installed virus protection and security measures to prevent the privacy of individuals from being compromised. Several ID protection services in collaboration with Norton and AVG have been installed, along with identification confirmation upon two wrong password entries. In addition, two email addresses are linked together for verification purposes. Even with these security measure that are being taken by email giants like Google, Hotmail, and AOL, cyber crimes are continually increasing in the US and other countries throughout the world.

You (as an email user) can take the following precautions to prevent your personal belongings from being compromised.

Activate the spam filter technology if you are using AOL, Hotmail, or Google Mail. This feature can be activated by clicking on the spam folder and clicking on the Filter Spam icon.

A user can also activate the Identity protection feature before logging in. The log in page contains information on this feature that takes no more than six clicks (and some forms) to activate.

Link two personal email addresses together. This can be done by creating a back up (reset information) email when you sign up for an account. Most email service providers continually circulate messages that contain an alternate email bar.

Change the password every month by clicking on the ‘forgot password’ on the email home screen.

Do not open email from an un-identified source, especially the ones that are related to financial incentives.

Avoid sending an email that contains your personal data or information to an un-identified user, in order to prevent breach of personal information.

Rearranging icons on the Start Menu and Home Screen for a Quick Launch Access

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Newer versions of Windows have been equipped with some state of the art upgrades for managing and relocating icons and administrative tools. Administrative tools come in handy during the management of disk drives and their partition space selection, managing the firewall settings, and other program operations. Rearranging icons according to their particular use and needs can most certainly optimize the windows experience of a user.

 

Locating the Administrative Tools section

A user can have access to the Administrative tools through the ‘Security’ icon in the Control Panel. This method is used in windows XP; however, you can have access to these tools by typing Administrative Tools in the search bar of My Computer, Control Panel, and even the Start Menu in newer versions of windows.

 

Setting up the Administrative Tools option on the Start Menu

Adding a link of Administrative Tools to the Home menu is simple. Right click on the task bar (select and empty section) and click on Start Menu option. Click on the customize start menu option and select the Administrative tools. The properties for the Administrative Tools are located at the end of the Customize Start Menu section with three options for the tools. A user needs to select the last option namely, ‘do not display this item’ and click on OK, to verify settings.

Now, click on the Start Menu and locate Administrative tools at the bottom right section (just above the shutdown icon) with all the options like Windows Firewall settings, Task Scheduler, System Configuration. The good part is that you will not be required to access these tools in the Control Panel as a hot key has been created in the Administrative Tools section of the Start Menu.

Administrative Tools are also used to locate the IP address of a particular computer that is attached to a printer in an office. This way, a user can set up multiple computers in an office by creating a Home Network of all the computers that need to be connected to this computer. In this day and age, Admin Tools are also used to connect to a wireless printer or fax machine.

Optimizing Windows by Enhancing Internet Services – The YouTube Lag

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Adjusting various programs on the Internet, which have become slow due to daily usage, requires making necessary adjustments for the smooth operation of these programs. It is crucial that you constantly make changes to Internet services like YouTube and Facebook so that they perform to the expectations of the users. Menaces such as pop ups, and opening of new tabs is reported frequently by windows users and it seems that Microsoft and Google are unable to fix these complications. In addition, streaming problems are reported almost daily and, since last year, YouTube has estimated more than 20% streaming problems by users. Even if a user has a fast Internet connection, the problem of video buffering persists and user are unable to find a suitable answer. Pragmatically speaking, no one can make changes to the buffering speed themselves; still YouTube users can make some alterations to their browsers to prevent this jeopardy.

 

The YouTube fix explained

To fix YouTube buffering problems, you need to make changes to the browser and some of the browser settings. Following steps will guide you in this regard:

Stop using Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera Mini and switch to Google Chrome. Most of you might not know but YouTube has been bought by Google, which means that it is best to run videos on a Google browser. For this purpose, navigate to the Google home page and download chrome.

Install the current version of flash player by typing ‘Flash Player 2012’ in the Google search bar. Restart the computer manually for the system to accept the changes and start using the browser. The videos will run fine in the first few days but you will feel the lag in buffering after seven or eight days.

To clear out this lag, you need to navigate to the wrench icon located in the top right corner of the screen. Click “History” and clear out all the items. You will have to delete the cookies and cache manually by clicking browsing data settings under the ‘wrench’ icon. Clearing out cookies and cache will remove all the temporary data from the browser’s memory. The computer needs to be restarted for these changes to take their effect.

Installing HD Wallpapers and Themes

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Installing High Definition wallpapers and themes uplifts the beauty of a home screen, and correspondingly protects monitor pixels from fading. By improving the viewing angles and general performance of a computer screen, in this article, users will be guided in making small changes that will yield superior results.

High Definition wallpapers are available throughout the web and software like the Adobe Photoshop and Adobe illustrator can also help a user in customizing such works of art.

 

Monitors

Monitors and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD and LED) screens are somewhat delicate viewing instruments in the respect that they require regular maintenance in terms of wallpapers and home screens. Although wallpapers are installed with the Windows, you need to make some necessary adjustments like installing a theme that would keep the pixels in motion. The most commonly heard jargon in the IT department is the ‘pixel dry out’ which means that a screen pixel or a group of pixels have lost the color displaying capability due to a lack of themes. Pixel dry out can distort the viewing angles and the monitor’s screen will not be able to auto adjust itself to the settings. A theme keeps the pixels in motion (or it uses the pixels) when a screen is idle and thus, saves them from drying out.

 

Installing themes and High Definition (HD) wallpapers

Buying a new LED or LCD screen is a requirement if you are using the cathode ray screens especially if a user is interested in installing HD wallpapers and themes. Themes are not available on all the websites but it is important that you install a few. For this purpose, navigate to the Google home page by double clicking on the Internet Explorer icon (or any other browser that you use) and type High Definition wallpapers. Click on any of the trusted search results and download the wallpapers. Now, type HD themes and download a few.

Setting up these themes and wallpapers is quite easy. Right click on the home screen and click on properties. Now, navigate to the Screen Savers tab and select the theme. Correspondingly, select the time interval for the theme, and finally, navigate to the wallpapers tab and select HD wallpapers for the home screen.