Brilliant Troubleshooting & Repairing Your Microsoft Vista PC

235 Pages·2007·9.47 MB·English

by  John Taylor

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Brilliant Troubleshooting & Repairing your Vista PC, is a visual quick reference book that will show you how to get
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to grips with the inner workings of your computer. Encouraging you to open the box and learn your way around the
motherboard, fi nd out which components can be easily replaced, understand error messages and discover what
happens behind the scenes when you switch on, this book strips away the mystique and shows computers for what
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9780132354509_COVER.indd 1 10/8/07 13:30:31
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Brilliant Troubleshooting &
Microsoft®
Repairing your Vista PC
Microsoft® Windows Vista edition
John Taylor & Geoff Spick
BTSR_A01.QXD 8/8/07 11:24 Page ii
Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow
Essex CM20 2JE
England
and Associated Companies throughout the world
Visit us on the World Wide Web at:
www.pearsoned.co.uk
First published 2006
Second edition published 2007
© Pearson Education Limited 2006,2007
The rights ofJohn Taylor and GeoffSpick to be identified as authors ofthis Work
have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,stored in a
retrieval system,or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic,
mechanical,photocopying,recording or otherwise,without either the prior
written permission ofthe publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in
the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd,Saffron
House,6–10 Kirby Street,London EC1N 8TS.
All trademarks used herein are the property oftheir respective owners.The use of
any trademark in this text does not vest in the author or publisher any trademark
ownership rights in such trademarks,nor does the use ofsuch trademarks imply
any affiliation with or endorsement ofthis book by such owners.
ISBN:978-0-132-35450-9
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
11 10 09 08 07
Prepared for Pearson Education Ltd by Syllaba Ltd (http://www.syllaba.co.uk).
Typeset in 11pt Arial Condensed by 30
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Ashford Colour Press Ltd,Gosport.
The publisher’s policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests.
BTSR_A01.QXD 8/8/07 11:24 Page iii
Brilliant guides
What you need to know and how to do it
When you’re working on your computer and come up against a problem that you’re
unsure how to solve, or want to accomplish something in an application that you aren’t
sure how to do, where do you look? Manuals and traditional training guides are usually
too big and unwieldy and are intended to be used as end-to-end training resources,
making it hard to get to the info you need right away without having to wade through
pages of background information that you just don’t need at that moment – and
helplines are rarely that helpful!
Brilliantguides have been developed to allow you to find the info you need easily and
without fuss and guide you through the task using a highly visual, step-by-step
approach – providing exactly what you need to know when you need it!
Brilliantguides provide the quick easy-to-access information that you need,using a
detailed table of contents and troubleshooting guide to help you find exactly what you need
to know,and then presenting each task in a visual manner.Numbered steps guide you
through each task or problem,using numerous screenshots to illustrate each step.Added
features include ‘See also...’boxes that point you to related tasks and information in the
book,while ‘Did you know?...’sections alert you to relevant expert tips,tricks and advice to
further expand your skills and knowledge.

In addition to covering all major office PC applications, and related computing subjects,
the Brilliantseries also contains titles that will help you in every aspect of your working
life, such as writing the perfect CV, answering the toughest interview questions and
moving on in your career.
Brilliantguides are the light at the end of the tunnel when you are faced with any minor
or major task.
iii
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Publisher’s acknowledgements
The author and publisher would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce
the material in this book:
Computing.Net LLC, Creative Element, Google Inc., Kaspersky Lab, Lavasoft, McAfee,
Inc., Panda Software, PC Pitstop LLC, Softwin SRL, Symantec Corporation, Trend Micro
Incorporated, The WildList Organization International.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.
Kaspersky Online Virus Scanner screenshot © Kaspersky Lab 2005.
Every effort has been made to obtain necessary permission with reference to copyright
material. The publisher apologises if, inadvertently, any sources remain unacknowledged
and will be glad to make the necessary arrangements at the earliest opportunity.
Dedications
Geoff: With thanks to John Taylor for all his support over the years; and my family for
their continued patience and for asking the many PC-related questions that end up in
books such as this.
John: I would like to dedicate this book to my wife, Karen, who put up with me getting
up at five o’clock every day to start work. Also, to Vince who read every word and
corrected my English! And finally to my dog, Charlie, who died just as I was finishing off
this book. He was my best friend and I will miss him very much.
About the authors
John Taylor has 20 years experience of dealing with computer problems and has been
writing about computers for the same amount of time. He has been the editor of many

computing magazines, including Which PC, Practical PC, Windows Made Easy, PC
Basics, PC Homeand his new launch DVD Easy. He has written, edited and compiled
over 20 books. When he’s not writing, John enjoys horse riding, show jumping and
spending time with his pets: four horses, two cats, a dog and a parrot.
Geoff Spick is a freelance computing author, writer and editor who has written about
Windows computing and the rise of the Internet in magazines, books and online since
the early days when 128 MB was enough for anyone. Find out what PC problems he’s
currently facing and fixing at www.goffee-freelance.co.uk.
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Contents
1. Basic problems explained 1
Learning about your PC’s built-in defences 2 New!
Using Windows Help and Support 4 New!
Diagnosing common hardware problems 6
Identifying hardware problems using Device Manager 7 New!
Diagnosing common software problems 10
2. Introducing your PC 13
Learning which parts can be easily replaced or upgraded 14
Recognising PC connections 16
Recognising PC components 18
Learning your way around the motherboard 19
Recognising the main components on the graphics card 20
3. Inside Windows Vista 21
Exploring the Windows Vista desktop 22 New!
Navigating the desktop 23
Customising the task bar 25
Finding out which version of Windows Vista you have 26
Using Automatic Updates 27
Exploring the Control Panel 29 New!
4. Preventing problems 35

Backing up your data 36 New!
Verifying a backup 40 New!
Backing up to DVD 42 New!
Using System Restore 44 New!
Using a System Restore point 48 New!
Learning about online backup services 51
5. Dealing with crashes 53
Shutting down a crashed program 54
Finding out what causes a crash 55
Reporting problems to Microsoft 56 New!
vii
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Deleting temporary files to regain storage space 58
Getting support 61
6. Startup problems 63
Understanding what happens when your computer starts up 64
Understanding what happens when you switch on 66
Starting Windows in diagnostic mode 68
Using diagnostic tools 72
Correcting a video mode 73 New!
Stopping problem programs from running at startup 74
Tracing hardware problems 77 New!
7. Fixing BIOS problems 81
Looking at the BIOS 82
Using Advanced BIOS settings 84
Setting a password 87
Resetting factory defaults 88
8. Memory 89
Learning about memory errors 90
Using basic checks for memory faults 91
Installing the memory 92
Adding memory 93
Tracking down a faulty memory module 95
Exploring memory types 96
9. Hard drives 97
Learning how a hard drive works 98
Using Disk Cleanup 99
Speeding up a tired drive 102

Using data recovery companies 103
Recognising data recovery dos and don’ts 104
10. Optical drives (CD-ROMs) 105
Checking the drive configuration 106 New!
Checking volume settings 109 New!
11. Video display 111
Controlling graphics using software 112
Learning what to do if the monitor is blank 117
Changing the look of Windows Vista 118 New!
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12. Fixing deliberate damage 123
Understanding protection basics 124
Being safe online 125
Identifying a virus 128
Diagnosing a virus 130 New!
Using online virus scanners 132
Learning about well-known viruses 136
Removing spyware 139
13. Data recovery 143
Finding lost files 144 New!
Using the Recycle Bin 146
Undeleting files 148
Using Backup and Restore Centre 152 New!
14. The keyboard 157
Understanding and cleaning your keyboard 158
Using Windows Vista shortcuts 160
15. Reinstalling Windows 163
Preparing for Windows Vista reinstall 164
Using a DVD as a boot disk 167
Preparing to install Windows Vista 169 New!
Installing Windows Vista 173 New!
Setting up a new Windows Vista installation 176 New!
Troubleshooting Windows Vista 180 New!
Finding out how fast your PC operates 182 New!
16. Using your common sense 183
Checking connections 185

Checking drives 186
Checking the obvious 188
17. Error messages 189
Startup and system messages 190
Error messages about files 193
Other error messages 196
STOP errors 198
Troubleshooting STOP messages 199
Contents ix