1. Your Wi-Fi network is
now dog-slow. If it's
not a network outage, you likely have
interference. Try relocating your router to
shield it from disruptions such as microwave
use or calls from a cordless phone. Or you
may be on a crowded channel. Change the
channel via your router's configuration
page; look for a 'Channel' section and try
1, 6, or 11.
2. Your display looks
terrible. Check
display settings by right-clicking the
desktop; choose Properties in XP or
Personalize in Windows Vista, then
Settings. If you can't increase
resolution and color quality, click
Advanced, Adapter. If Standard VGA
Adapter or another generic adapter is
listed, download a driver specific to your
PC (see
How
to Reinstall Windows XP for details on
doing this). If your adapter is there, try a
prior driver version. In XP, click
Properties, Driver, Roll Back Driver;
in Windows Vista, open the Personalization
Control Panel, choose Display Settings,
Advanced Settings, Properties, and
click Driver, Roll Back Driver.
3. Your printer is spewing out
garbage. A cancelled print job may
not have cleared properly from the printer's
memory. Turn the printer off for a minute,
then back on. While you're waiting, go to
Start, Printers and Faxes in XP, or
Start, Printers in Windows Vista,
to delete anything in the print queue. If
the problem continues, download and
reinstall the driver.
4. Your default printer is
no longer the default.
Some apps, like Microsoft's OneNote, install
faux-printer-like devices as output options,
and some will also unhelpfully make them the
default for all print jobs. Select
Start, Run, type control
printers, and press <Enter>.
Right-click the printer you prefer, and
click Set as Default Printer.
5. You see daily, consistent error
messages citing memory problems. To
check if bad RAM is actually the trouble,
download the free
MemTest86 and stick it on a boot disk;
then run the full battery of tests.
6. Your PC starts up too slowly.
Click Start, Run and type
msconfig. Then click the
Startup tab to see all of the apps that
load at startup. Uncheck anything you don't
want to start at boot-up--but uncheck
programs one at a time, as you need many of
these apps to run your PC. (For more on
pruning safely, see
How to Make Windows Start Up Faster.)
7. Videos play sans audio or image.
Your codecs are probably out of date. Get
multiple updates via a free pack such as the
ACE
Mega CodecS Pack or the
K-Lite
Codec Pack.
8. You broke a key off your keyboard.
If part of the key mechanism is broken,
consider scavenging an unused key (<Insert>,
perhaps) and use its mechanism with your
broken key (Apple's tutorial at
PowerBook G4: Keycap Replacement will
walk you through the procedure--it should
work for almost any keyboard). Replacement
keyboards for laptops can usually be found
on eBay for $40 or less; many step-by-step
guides show how to do the job, such as the
one for a Toshiba laptop keyboard at
Laptoka.com's page,
How
to remove and replace laptop keyboard
yourself.
9. You bent a pin on one of your
PC's ports or cables. Using pliers
will probably make things worse, but the tip
of a large-diameter mechanical pencil will
fit most pins. Just slip it over the bent
pin to straighten it out.
10. Folders show only large icons.
Change the default in Windows
Explorer by setting the right view on any
folder, and then click Tools, Folder
Options. Click the View tab,
then Apply to All Folders (Apply
to Folders in Windows Vista).
