Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Rectifying The Internet Connection Speed In A Dell System


Nowadays, high-speed internet connectivity is available almost everywhere, in homes as well as offices. Downloading of files can be done in a snap and browsing web pages has become quicker and swifter. However, due to high traffic and unfavorable network conditions, the internet speed can slow down a bit. This can affect your work, as it will take more time to complete your tasks over the internet. If the internet slows down very often and if you are making use of a Dell computer and running on a Windows Vista operating system; by following the below provided Windows tech support guidelines, the internet speed issues can be easily fixed..

Instructions

  • Viruses are common factors that cause the internet connection to slow down. Therefore, it is necessary that the computer is scanned for viruses. It is advisable to install an antivirus software to protect the system from harmful viruses. It is also advisable to keep the antivirus software up to date.
  • The Windows Vista operating system has to be up to date with latest patches and bug fixes. Updates for the Windows Vista are released from time to time and it is necessary to download them and install them. In order to check for updates in Windows Vista, in the Programs menu, the Windows Update option has to be chosen and the Check For Updates option has to be selected. Now automatically, Windows will check for updates and download them.
  • You will need to turn off any Bluetooth networks or any other wireless networks as they may interfere with your wireless network and cause your internet connection speed to slow down.
  • Due to the consumption of large amount of processing power, the aero interface, which is the highlight of the Windows Vista operating system, has to be turned off, as it may cause the internet to slow down. In order to disable the aero mode, the Control Panel has to be accessed, the System And Maintenance option has to be selected, and the Performance Information and Tools option has to be opened. The Adjust Visual Effects option has to be selected next.

By following these Windows tech support guidelines, the internet speed issues can be tackled easily and swiftly. The Microsoft help and support website can also be contacted if additional help on speeding up the internet connection is required.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

How To Analyze System Memory In Windows XP

Do you want to check the system memory in your Windows XP computer? Memory usage is perhaps the most important factor that affects system performance. One of the ways by which you become aware of a memory shortage is if your system is paging frequently. Paging is the process of moving fixed size blocks of code and data from RAM to disk using units called pages in order to free memory for other uses. 

Although some paging is acceptable because it enables the usage of more memory than actually exists, constant paging is a drain on system performance. Reducing paging will significantly improve system responsiveness. This section describes how you can determine whether your system has an adequate amount of memory and an appropriate configuration for its role, plus how to begin to analyze its paging activity.

You can monitor your system memory by adding counters to the System Monitor program to analyze the usage of memory, processor and disk subsystems. Windows Online Support site have many useful tips that can help improve your system performance.

Instructions
  • Go to the Start menu and click on Run to open the Run dialog box.
  • Type perfmon.msc into the text field and press the Enter key.
  • This will bring up the Performance window. Go to the right hand pane of the window and right-click on it. From the popup menu, click on the option Add Counters.
  • You will now get a new Add Counters window. Select the option that says, Select counters from computer. You will see a drop down box just below that option. The name of your computer will be selected by default in this box. 
  • From the Performance object drop down box, select the option Memory. From the below list, select the option Available Mbytes. Click the Add button. 
  • Click the Close button. 
  • To check how much memory your system takes, you need to generate some activity. Go to the Start menu and click on Help and Support. Open and close Help and Support again. You should see a spike in your Memory>Pages/Sec counter. You would notice that the spike will be smaller when you access Help and Support the second time. This is because the computer had to retrieve the information from the hard disk the first time; the second time, the information was already in the memory.
  • Under the Paging>%Usage counter, check to see if it is below 99%. If it is, then you are not using excessive paging.
  • If the counter is above 4MB in Memory>Available Mbytes counter, it means you have sufficient RAM.
Now you know the method to check how much memory is used in your Windows XP computer. If you need further help, avail assistance through Windows Online Support or visit the Microsoft Support Center.

How To Copy Microsoft Office CD Contents To USB Flash Drive

If you use or have used a Netbook, then you would know that the devices do not have CD drives. This is mainly due to the size, but many consumers have managed to get along just fine without using optical storage media on their computers. One of the hurdles faced though is the widespread release of proprietary software, and even operating systems, on optical disks. This is when the flash drives are of no use to us unless they can hold the same information on them. 

Transferring the executable installation files of software to your PC using a flash drive is a lot easier than actually installing the whole operating system the same way. Actually, the latter can’t be done the same way unless you make the flash drive bootable, and there’s a whole series of additional steps to take if you’re doing that, and they’ll probably have you calling the Microsoft Office Help line within an hour of trying them out!

Instructions to copy Microsoft Office CD contents to USB Flash Drive 
  • Insert the Microsoft Office CD into the optical drive of the computer that has one. 
  • Insert a USB flash drive into one of the USB slots of this computer. 
  • Navigate to the My Computer folder, and right click the CD drive. Select the Explore option and a screen will pop up, showing the contents of the CD. 
  • Slide along the menu bar on top of the window and find the Tools menu. Click on it and then select the Folder Options sub menu from the list of entries. In the dialog box that appears, go to the View tab and check the box next to the Show Hidden Files and Folders option. After this, hit the Apply button, and then hit OK. In effect, this shows you any files or folders on the drive, which are set as hidden. 
  • Select the whole of the contents of the disk using the CTRL+A key combination, and right click to bring up the context menu. From this menu, select the Copy option. 
  • Open the USB drive from My Computer and right click on an empty space in the main area. Select the Paste option to transfer the contents that you previously copied. 
The above mentioned steps will help you copy the contents of a Microsoft Office disk to a flash drive easily. If you need further assistance, you can call the Microsoft Office Help line.

Renaming Animated Objects In PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint has time and again proven that it is the go-to software when it comes to making presentations in front of an audience. Digital slideshows can be created with ease, and the customization of the way the slides appear can be done in simple steps.

Media elements like images and videos can be inserted in the slides, and sometimes one can even use video clips to set animated backgrounds. One of the problems with including static objects or animations for PowerPoint presentations is that the objects included are automatically named by the program in a generic fashion, making it hard to recognize them when they’re not displayed. The first textual input is named Text1, and the first title Title1, and so forth.

The generic names are a constant source of confusion in cases where you have added a large number of objects, and sometimes you find it hard to keep track of what objects you have already added to the slides. When applying animations for PowerPoint presentations, a good way to organize them is by renaming them in a way that you understand and would later recognize. This task can easily be accomplished using the Selection pane that you find under the Home tab on the ribbon overhead.

Instructions

Follow the below mentioned steps to rename the PowerPoint objects.
  • Open the PowerPoint application, then find and open the presentation that you want to make changes to.
  • Find the Home tab in the upper left corner of the window and select it. Then choose Select from under the Editing menu that you find on the top right.
  • Go to the selection pane, which is the third of the options in the drop down menu, and choose the same. This will display the said pane on the right side of the screen, and will contain all the objects that are in the slide. 
  • Select the object names to rename the objects. Alternatively, double click and type in the new name, followed by hitting the Enter key to save the changes made. Before exiting the program, if you get a Save Changes prompt, click Yes.


The above mentioned steps will help you change the names of the objects added into PowerPoint presentations. If you face any difficulties during the execution of the steps, you can get in touch with the Microsoft support team for further assistance.

Speeding Up Your Computer System

You will love working with your computer if the computer produces immediate results for the different inputs that you give. A computer should be fast, efficient and responsive. However, with many files cluttered and tons of data stored on the system, the computer can slow down gradually. However, when it slows down, it affects your work. By following the below provided computer support guidelines, you can easily speed up your system and work with the same speed and efficiency like the way you first got your system.

Instructions

  • In order to make your system fast and efficient, you have to have more memory. The more memory you have on your system, the faster will be the computer and it will perform tasks faster. Nowadays all applications and tools require a good memory in order to run efficiently so it is advisable to upgrade the memory.
  • You have to verify what type of processors can be supported by your motherboard. Running the latest processors will ensure that the computer will be fast and runs smoothly. Quad core and dual core processors are the talk of the town and you should have these type of processors installed in order to have the best performance.
  • Your hard disk will be cluttered with unwanted files and applications that you do not use. It is essential that you delete them in order to free up some space on the hard disk. If your hard disk is filled to the brim, your computer will start to slow down while doing the different tasks and processes. Therefore, it is advisable to have sufficient amount of free space in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the system.
  • If you require playing the latest games that have high quality graphics, you require a very good graphics card to support the game. The graphics card comes into effect during game play, watching high definition videos and during graphic design processes.

By following the above mentioned computer support guidelines, you will be to speed up your PC and bring about the best performance that will help in your work considerably. Another reason for your computer to seem to run slow is due to virus and spyware attacks. So it is advisable to install a very good antivirus and anti spyware tool on the system and periodically update it in order to stay protected from latest threats.

Changing Passwords In Outlook Express

An email client that is used mainly to send and receive emails in Windows computers is Microsoft Outlook Express. Over the years, many versions of Outlook Express have been released and received high success rate and critical acclaim. The huge advantage of Outlook is that it can be used even if you have more than one email address. If you have a Hotmail, Gmail or Yahoo ID, you can use it to configure it with your Outlook Express and you will be able to receive emails on Outlook Express from the different accounts. However, you cannot create an email address in Outlook, you can only configure a third party email address to work with Outlook.

By following the below provided Outlook help guidelines, you can easily change the password settings for Outlook Express.

Instructions

  • First, launch Outlook Express that is in your system. You can access Outlook Express either by double clicking on the desktop icon shortcut or accessing it from the All Programs option present in the Start menu.
  • After launching Outlook Express, from the different menus that are present on the menu bar, click on the Tools menu. From the different options available, click on the Accounts option. Now the Internet Accounts window will appear on screen.
  • All the email accounts that are configured will be present under the tab titled Mail.
  • Select the email account for which you want to change the password and choose the Properties button that is present on the right.
  • In the Email Account Properties window, select the tab titled Servers.
  • In the Incoming Mail Server password field, enter the new password. The Remember Password box has to be check marked if you do not want to enter the password each time Outlook Express connects to the internet.
  • Select the Apply option and then choose the Ok button.
  • Now the new password will be configured.
By following the above-mentioned Outlook Express help guidelines, you can easily change the password for the Outlook Express email account. Make sure that you enter a password that is quite difficult to crack by others. You can mix characters and numbers in your password to make it more difficult. If you require more help on changing passwords, you can visit the Microsoft support website to get help related to Outlook Express. The Microsoft support website provides the best Outlook Express help required for you.

Fixing Issues With Windows XP SP3

The service packs released by Microsoft aims at improving the performance of the computer and keep it safe against viruses. Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) is the latest service pack available for the Windows XP operating system. This article discusses on how to fix the installation issues with Windows XP SP3. With these simple troubleshooting tips from the Windows online support, you will be able to overcome the installation issues and complete the SP3 installation successfully.

Instructions

  • Turn on your computer and uninstall Service Pack 3 if you have already installed it and it is creating problems. Before starting to reinstall the Service Pack, close all the open programs. If you are unable to install the SP3 properly even now, restart your computer. After the computer has restarted, do not open any programs. Just try to install the SP3.
  • You can check your hard drive for any errors before starting the installation of the SP3. Right-click on the drive in the Windows Explorer window and select Properties from the available options. Go to Tools and select Check disk for errors or Check now option. This will check the drive for any errors.
  • Download Service Pack 3 as a complete version instead of trying to install it through the Windows Update program. After completing the download of the SP3 file, install it by double-clicking on the file and following the on-screen prompts.
  • Before trying to reinstall the SP3, disable any security programs like anti-virus software, anti-spyware and firewalls installed in your computer. Before disabling these security programs, disconnect your computer from the Internet, as your computer will be at risk after turning the security programs off.
  • If none of the above steps work, try installing the Service Pack 3 in the Safe mode. Reboot your computer and tap the F8 key while the computer is booting. This will take you to the Advanced boot menu. From the available options, select Safe mode and hit the Enter key. In the Safe mode, uninstall SP3 and reinstall it from the downloaded file.

These are the simplest ways to install the Windows XP SP3. If you are not clear with any of the steps explained above, feel free to contact the Windows online support team. The tech support agent will help you to complete the steps successfully without encountering any errors.