Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Fixing the Spooler

Have you started your computer, then all of a sudden see this message, that keeps poping up every 3 minutes...



That means that there is an error with your spooler.


1. Restart your computer. If you still see the message after restarting then continue to step 2.

2. Click Start and then go to Accessories,  then right-click command prompt and select run as Administrator.


3. Then type sfc/ scannow and press enter. This is the system file scanner, it will replace and fix corrupled system files.

Let it scan and then resart your computer. If you have custom visual themes, like I do, such as a custom logon screen, then it may go back to the default when you restart the computer, but you can set it back.

Hopefully this has fixed the spooler and possibly other problems, you may not have known you had.


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Windows 7: Black Screen on Boot

Have your windows 7 machine ever started then after the bios screen
Image Detail
 and post then you see a black screen that has an insertion point that keeps blinking forever and ever as seen in the image below

Then it could posibly be the MBR (master boot record). To see the other posible causes go to Microsoft Support Article: 155053.
The MBR is the first sector of the hard drive. the MBR contains the partition table and the master boot program used to locate and start the BootMgr program (Jean andrews, A+ Guide to Software 5e). However if windows is not starting on your machine then your MBR could be corrupted. Below are some instructions on how to fix this problem.

 
 
 
 
 
 
  1. Insert the Windows 7 System repair disc (if you are using a system repair disk go to the next step) or a windows installation disc (after selecting a language click on the bottem left and click repair computer)
  2. Go to the command prompt
  3. Because you are in the recovery environment the default drive letter is x: so you want to select your primary drive usually C: (but some computers have other letters) by typing the letter with a colon for example C:
  4. then type bootrec.exe /fixmbr (Make sure  you read the Microsoft support article that I listed above for information on this command)
  5. Then type exit and restart your computer.
  6. Your computer should start normally, if it doesn't try the other commands in the Microsoft Support Article.
This should solve the problem for you if you have had a problem like this one. And the best part is that it wasn't to serious to where you would have to reinstall windows, because then you would lose all of your data if you haven't backed up in a while.
Anyone that found this to be useful I ask that you leave a comment.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Checking for virues with Norton Power Eraser

This guide will show you how to check for viruses using the Norton Power Eraser. This program uses aggressive malware targeting methods, some programs may accidentaly be uninstalled/deleted, but don't worry if that happens it can be reversed, I will show you how to do that too.

Here's a short video (HD Avaliable)

Note: I am disabling the rootkit scan, because I don't want to restart my computer and I don't need a virus scan. But you shouldn't disable it.


1. Go to this website and download Norton Power Eraser: http://security.symantec.com/nbrt/npe.aspx?lcid=1033
and click download Norton Power Eraser


2.You can either Run it from there or Save it.

3. Accept the License Agreement.


4. Click Check for viruses, by default, it does a rootkit scan so, your computer will need to restart. Once you log back in it will continues scanning for viruses.


5. Once the virus scan is finished it will give you a summary and prompt you to remove the files.

6. If a program or file was removed that should not have been (which doesn't happen often), then click History.

7. Select the session and click next.

8. Click undo, Note: This will undo all of the items in that session, so if a virus was there, it will be restored too. And Restart Your computer.


Now observe the behavior and performance of your computer. Is there a difference? Well, I hope this has helped you in some way.

If you want real-time around the clock protection, I suggest you use Norton Internet Security (NIS). It doesn't slow your computer down, you just install and let it do the rest, no more manual scans. This program also runs multiple virus scans a day.