Aaaagh, It's Not Working!
Yes, you are totally correct. It is all your computer's fault.
This is just some neighborly chat. I am not responsible for your computer woes, even if you followed my advice. I have enough of my own. Computers can be horrid creatures.
What you have before your eyes are some problems I encountered while using a number of computers and what worked for me. Hopefully you find this information useful.
This is a problems and solutions page. If you have encountered some different problems, and or came up with some different solutions to problems I have already addressed, e-mail me. If it proves to be a working solution, I'll post it for you in a new page yet to be written called "Other Peoples Problem's and Their Solutions."
Memory Some symptoms and some things to try
Keyboards Bizarre things keep happening to my computer and cats and mice.
Formatting When your document does not look like you remember it.
Hard Drives Some symptoms and things to try when this happens to you.
Uninstalling Software in Windows
Faulty ISP (Internet Service Provider) Every time you are reading something your connection is disconnected. Something to try while looking for a reliable Internet Service provider.
Printing I just need a copy of the form on the web page. When I try to highlight it with my mouse, nothing happens.
Smatterings Printing Freeware Utilities One-step Copying with your scanner and your printer and a really good print screen replacement utility.
You are happily writing along, and suddenly the last two sentences you wrote are no longer there. You move your mouse and there is no response. You are looking up information on the Internet and everything locks up. The computer is frozen.
Your computer gives you an annoying message which is obviously something or other about memory. In all scenarios, there is nothing left to do but restart your computer.
Here are some things you can try.
1. Close all the other programs you were using. Beware of the programs which start up automatically, when you start up your computer.
Theses are usually found in the task bar if you are using Windows. Just right click the icon on the tray and click on the word that says exit.
If you are using a Mac check your Control Panel. If you click on the upper right hand corner, a list of what you are running will drop down. Close all your other programs.
Try working on your masterpiece again. Does it work now? If this doesn't work, Were you able to work longer. On some computers I have tried to work on, the question is; could you see more of the document that somebody gave you to look over?
2. If the answer is no, try installing a freeware memory utility. Run the memory utility while you do what you usually do on your computer. If you have to wait lots for the memory utility to free up memory you have a memory problem. You might want to consider upgrading your computer. Your computer more than likely needs more memory but until then download one of the programs below.
No matter which model or system your computer utilizes, when you use your computer, open applications, surf the Internet, and navigate Windows, your system's memory normally decreases.
EZ Mem Optimizer works good under Windows 98. My motherboard had a 256 MB limit on memory. According to the memory program; my pretty desktop backgrounds, screensavers, neat computer sound effects, loaded and working I use up more than half of my RAM. This freeware program is a simple program you can use to give information to you computer guru. With a press of a button you can also free up some RAM after closing one or two programs.
FreeRAM XP Pro When I upgraded to 2GB of RAM and Windows XP I switched to FreeRAM XP Pro to free up memory, increase system response time, stability, speed, and efficiency.
3. If the memory checks good, this is a good time to call or e-mail tech support for your computer software if you are running Win 9x. With Windows 2000/XP/Vista memory issues probally are not the problem. CPU allocations are often the problem.
Process Lasso automatically adjusts allocation of CPU cycles so that system responsiveness is improved in high-load situations.
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How about this one?
Bizarre things keep happening when I type.
1. This is an easy problem to fix. Try plugging in a new keyboard.
My cat loves to play with the mouse! Or my child delights in slamming the keyboard.
1. Use a freeware utility to disable your keyboard and mouse when you step away from the computer.
Nockylock is easy to use for Windows XP, 2000, and 2003.
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Another commonly uttered profanity:
My file looked good when I saved it. What happened to my formatting?
There are two scenarios on which this expression is heard. The first one is that you have a masterpiece that you want printed on the internet. The web master says only text files are acceptable submissions. You originally wrote your masterpiece in MS Word. You save your file as a text file. Word tells you that if you continue your formatting maybe lost. Take this message seriously. Although what you wrote looks fine just after you saved it, when you open it again, this might not be the case. To check just to be sure close the file you just saved. Then reopen it. Just to make sure, my file is still in tact, I usually open it in Notepad and look at what I wrote carefully.
The second scenario happens in MS Word, when you reopen the masterpiece you have been working on yesterday. You know all the formatting was right yesterday. First check your memory. If your memory is fine, see how much space is left on your hard drive.
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The easiest way to check how much room on your PC is to open Windows Explorer. Open the drive in question. On the bottom of your window you will find the amount of hard drive space used and the amount of free hard drive space. On a Mac the easiest way to check your hardware space is by clicking on the apple in the corner of your computer.
If the memory checks good, and you have plenty of room on your hard drive. this is a good time to call or e-mail tech support for your computer software. If your hard drive is full, you may want to go through all your computer files and see what you can possibly live without. Be careful there are things you should know about uninstalling programs before you delete anything. You might want to consider upgrading your computer with a new hard drive.
If you decide to upgrade your computer, do your homework. Look under Computer Upgrading Research Links to point you in the right direction.
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Caution, if you are tired or stressed out, do not attempt to uninstall anything. Turn your computer off and call it a day.
Check my Programs and Files Best Left Alone Page. If the program you are considering to uninstall or delete is on this list, leave it on your computer.
Before you start uninstalling software, you might want read over I Really Should Have Called It A Day, before preceding further. Uninstalling software can really goof up your computer.
Go to Control Panel by either clicking on My Computer or by clicking on the Start icon and highlighting settings.
Double click on the Add/Remove button.
Look for the title of the program that you want to remove from your hard drive.
If the program is not anywhere on the list skip the next set of instructions and go to Using Finder to Uninstall Software.
If you find the title, highlight it and jot it down on a scrap piece of paper.
The computer will ask you if you want to uninstall whatever program you selected. Press enter on your keyboard.
If the computer asks about deleting shared files, tell it "no". Do not delete Shared Files.
After uninstalling your software windows will tell one of three things:
1. It was unable to uninstall your software. (Don't worry.)
2. It could not uninstall all the components of your software, the rest must be done manually.
3. The program was uninstalled successfully. (Don't count on it.)
The next step is go to Find on your start menu.
Highlight Files or Folders with your mouse. Click on it.
Type in the name of the program you just uninstalled in the box labeled Named:
Check in the Look inbox and make sure it is pointing to your hard drive that the files where installed on.
Click on the Find Now button.
If the search comes up with the message no files found, then your program has been successfully uninstalled. If there is a list of files. Look them over carefully. Chances are that these are files that belong to the program that you just uninstalled.
Nine times out of ten the message on the bottom of the find window tells you how many files it found.
Read through this list carefully. Sometimes finder finds files that have another word in the title of some other file that you definitely do not want to delete. It does this because one of the words in the name of the file you are trying to delete is exactly same as a word from another title of a file from a program you like.
If nothing in the list matches what you wrote down on your sheet of paper, you successfully uninstalled your program.
If all the words match the name of the program you wrote earlier, Go to Edit and highlight Select All.
Press the delete key on your keyboard.
The computer will ask you if you want to send these items to the recycle bin. Choose Yes.
Close out all the windows you opened.
Empty your Recycle Bin.
Congratulations! Your program has been successfully uninstalled.
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