Backup Your Registry Backing up your computer is very important. One step that is often overlooked is backing up your registry as well. Go to Start, Run then type regedit. In the Registry Editor, select Registry, then Export Registry. Name the file and save it in a location on your hard drive were you will find it again. We recommend making a backup of your resgitry before installing any new software. Restore Your Registry If you begin to experience problems on your computer, you can restore a recently backed up version of your registry. You should only restore a known good version of your registry, so hopefully you have made backups of your registry as explained above before installing any new software. Go to Start, Run, then type in Regedit. In the Registry Editor, select Registry, then Import Registry. Navigate to your last known good backup and select it. Restart your system. This often can fix problems on your system caused by recently installed software. However, it may not fix your particular problems. Use System Restore (Windows Millenium, Windows XP) Windows Millenium and Xp versions have a built-in utility that allows you to create "snapshots" of your system. You can use the System Restore Utility to make regular backups ("restore points") and if your system begins to misbehave, restore your system to a known good point in time. Microsoft advises that System Restore will not cause you to lose any data - but be forewarned that System Restore MAY NOT always function as intended. Regular backups of your data is very important. Create a System Restore Point: Go to Start, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore Select Create a Restore Point Click Next Enter a Description for this Restore Point Click Create Use System Restore: Go to Start, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore Select Restore my computer to an earlier time Click Next On the calendar on the left, dates which are bold have specific restore points. Click on a recent bold date. The decription(s) for that particular date's restore point(s) appears. Select the restore point and click Next. Your system will apply the reestore point and restart. When your computer is restarted, it will complete the restoration (it may take a little while). Test your system to see if the problems have been resolved. You may need to restore to an earlier point in time. Reduce the Number of Startup Items As you install prgrams on your computer, many programs enable themselves to start up automatically whenever you start or restart your computer. The number of programs starting up on your computer can impact its speed abd performance. You can review and turn off programs from starting up on your computer using "MSCONFIG" Go to Start, Run and type in MSCONFIG On the Startup Tab, remove checkmarks next to those items you wish to no longer start up when your computer starts. This does NOT remove the programs from your computer - it only disables their automatic startup. If you are not certain whether the item is a necessary item for Windows, don't remove the checkmark. When you are finished, press OK and restart your computer. How to Create a Windows Startup Disk for Windows XP Windows XP does not come with a Startup Disk. While you can boot your computer with the Windows XP CD-ROM (it's bootable) it's always nice to have a simpler alternative. Unlike the startup disks from Windows 95/98/ME which booted you into DOS, this Windows XP startup disk boots into Windows XP so you can use all its tools to help solve whatever problems you are having. You may have to remove the hidden, system, and read-only attributes from the files (Tools > Folder Options > View Tab and select "Show Hidden Files and Folders".) Insert a blank, formatted floppy disk into the floppy drive. From your C drive, copy the following files to the floppy disk: (Hint: You can select multiple files by holding done the "Ctrl" key while clicking on the files you want).
Boot.ini
NTLDR
Ntdetect.com If you see bootsect.dos or Ntbootdd.sys d in the C drive, copy these files to the floppy disk too. Remove the floppy disk when all copying is complete. Label the disk "Windows XP Startup Disk" and keep it in a safe place! You now have a Windows XP Startup Disk just in case! Reinstall Windows XP If you need to reinstall Windows Xp and do not want to lose your settings and configurations: Start Windows XP Browse to the location of the Windows XP source files (Windows XP CD) Run WINNT32/ unattend. This will restore system files that have become corrupt. Repair the Registry Editor (Windows 2000/Me/XP) If Regedit is not displaying correctly, reset the location and parameters of the Registry Editor (REGEDIT) back to the system defaults.
Open your registry and find the key: User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\
Regedit] Make a backup of the key and then delete the values: "FindFlags", "LastKey" and "View". Restart the Registry Editor. Salvaging a Dead Hard Drive The most common problems originate from corruption of the master boot record, FAT, or directory. Those are soft problems which can usually be taken care of with a combination of tools like Fdisk /mbr to refresh the master boot record followed by a reboot and Norton disk doctor or Spinneret. The most common hardware problems are a bad controller, a bad drive motor, or a bad head mechanism. Check the following: 1. Can the BIOS see and identify the hard drive correctly?
2. Does the drive spin and maintain a constant velocity?
3. If the drive surges and dies, the most likely cause is a bad controller (assuming the drive is cool). A gate allowing the current to drive the motor may not be staying open. The drive needs a new controller.
4. Do you hear a lot of head clatter when the machine is turned on and initialized (but before the system attempts to access the hard drive). Head clatter would indicate that the spindle bearings are sloppy or worn badly. Maybe even loose and flopping around inside.
5. It is possible the controller you are using in the machine is no good.
Solutions:
1. If the drive spins, try booting to the A> prompt, run Fdisk and check to see if Fdisk can see a partition on the hard drive. If Fdisk can see the partition, that means that it can access the drive and that the controller electronics are functioning correctly. If there is no head clatter, it may be just a matter of disk corruption which commonly occurs when a surge hits you machine and overwhelms the power supply voltage regulator. It commonly over whelms the system electronics allowing an EM pulse to wipe out the master boot record, file allocations table, and primary directory. Fdisk can fix the master boot record and Norton Disk Doctor can restore the FAT and Directory from the secondaries.
2. The drive spins but Fdisk can't see it. Try the drive in another system and repeat the test to confirm that Fdisk can't read through the drive's onboard controller. If it sees it in another system, then your machines hard drive interface is bad. You can try an upgraded or replacement controller card in your machine after disabling the integrated controller in the BIOS, but if the integrated controller is bad, it may just be symptomatic of further failures and you'd be wise to replace the motherboard.
3. If you get head clatter but a constant velocity on the drive motor (no surging), you might try sticking the hard
drive in the freezer for about 12 hours. Still, under the right circumstances, it might help. It would depend on how old the drive is and how many hours of wear have occurred. You have to be quick to get your info off the drive when it works.
4. The drive doesn't spin. Either the onboard controller is bad or the motor is bad (assuming you did try the drive in
another machine). There are ways of fixing this, but there is no guarantee the drive can be fixed and the data recovered.
5. Locate a company who specializes in recovering data from dead hard drives. This is a very costly solution and not guaranteed.
6. Install a new hard drive and recover from a good backup! Restore Partition Table A utility that recovers the partition information for both FAT32 and NTFS drives: http://www.partition-recovery.com/partition.htm Some good disk-repair freeware: http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,6170,00.asp
http://windows.about.com/cs/diskpartitionsw/
http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/Disk_Maintenance_and_Repair_Utilities/indext.html
http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/~tkuurstra/other.htm Speed Up Your Internet Connection http://www.dslreports.com
http://www.speedguide.net/ .
http://www.tweak3d.net/tweak/modem/
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