HIPPYSURVIVOR WAS HERE ON: August 11, 2011
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WHY IS MY PC ACTING UP?
Why Is My PC Acting Up?
"How Come Such-And-Such Hasn't Loaded Since I Updated My Whatsit Driver?" Or "Why Is My [Brand Name And Model Number] Crashing Every Time I Run [Name Of Program]?" No Matter The Symptoms, Certain Diagnostic Tricks Are Bound To Help.
Before You Do Anything, Back Up Your Windows Registry. If One of These Fixes Makes Things Worse (Always A Possibility), you’ll be Glad You Took This Step. Windows Xp's System Restore Automatically Backs Up The Registry And Other Important Windows Files, But The Program Is Famously Unreliable (And Windows 2000 Lacks The Utility Altogether).
A Safer Approach Than Relying On System Restore Is To Use Lars Hederer's Free Emergency Recovery Utility Nt, Or (Erunterunt ). After Downloading And Installing The Program, Xp Users Should Create An Initial Backup When Their Pc Is Running Just The Way They Want It. Windows 2000 Users Should Put A Link To Erunterunt In Their Start Up Menu So That The Utility Loads Every Time They Boot Windows.

Check For Malware: It's Always A Good Idea To Make Sure You Have A Clean Machine.

Update Your Drivers:
Some People Believe In Updating Drivers As A Part Of Regular Maintenance. Others Believe; If It Ain't Broke, Why Fix It? Still, If Something Is Broke--Err, Broken--A Driver Update Can Be A Free And Relatively Easy Solution. The Best Places I’ve Found For Checking Your Drivers Are Found On Our Web Site Under Fix Cranky Computers/Drivers Once You Know That A Driver Needs Updating, Look For It On The Vendor's Web Site; Every Hardware Manufacturer Offers Driver Updates As Free Downloads.

Stop The Autoloaders:
Auto Loading Programs, Which Start Every Time You Boot Windows, Cause Much Pc Trouble. After You Start Windows, Take A Look At The Line Of Tiny Icons In Your System Tray, Which Is On The Right End Of Your Task-Bar (Next To The Clock). Those Icons Represent Your Auto Loading Apps, Which Suck Up Resources and Can Really Gum Up the Works. Even Worse, Some Problem Auto Loaders May Not Advertise Their Presence.

To See All Of Your Auto Loading Programs, And Turn Them Off, Select Start, \Run, Type Msconfig, Press <Enter>, And Click The Start Up Tab. (Windows 2000 Lacks Msconfig; Mike Lin's Free Start Up Control Panel Is A Good Alternative. Download It Herehere.) Note Which Programs in Your Start Up List Are Checked and Which Are Not (You'll Want To Return To These Settings after you’ve Found the Troublemaker). Then Unchecked Them All, Reboot, And See If The Problem Persists. This Setting Disables Your Security Software, So If Your Pc Has A Working Internet Connection, Don't Leave All the Programs Unchecked For Very Long, and Be Extremely Careful About

The Sites You Browse To.
If The Problem Disappears, One Of The Auto Loaders Is At Fault. Use Trial And Error To Find The Miscreant: Check All But The First Entry, Reboot, And If The Problem Persists, Recheck It, Uncheck The Next Entry, Reboot Again, And So On. If The Culprit Is Your Firewall, Antivirus, Antispyware, Or Other Security Program, Recheck It, And Then Complain To The Vendor Or Consider A Competing Product. You Can Leave Other Apps Unchecked.
Like The Monster In A Bad Horror Movie, Some Unchecked Auto Loaders Keep Rising From The Grave. The Software "Corrects" Your "Mistake" Of Turning Off The Auto Loading Module. To Insert The Virtual Wooden Stake, Search The Program's Menus For An Option To Load At Start Up. When You Find It, Turn It Off. If You Find No Such Option, Once Again, Inquire With The Vendor Or Consider The Competition.

It Might Not Be Windows:
The Problem Could Be With Your Hardware. An Easy Way To Take Windows Out Of The Loop So That You Can Test Your Hardware Is To Boot From Another Operating System.
Yes, I Just Used "Easy Way" And "Boot From Another Operating System" In The Same Sentence. Booting The Small, Free Puppy Linux From A Cd Involves Little Hassle.

What's The Best Way To Keep My Data Safe?
People Usually Don't Ask How To Protect Their Machines Until After Something Has Gone Wrong (And Something Always Goes Wrong). These Tips Offer Steps You Can Take Beforehand To Minimize The Damage When Trouble Strikes.

Back It Up:
When Your System Is Running Well, Make A Full Backup Of Your Hard Drive, Including Your Windows Settings. If Windows Becomes Unstable, Restoring It From A Backup Is Considerably Easier Than Reinstalling The Operating System From Scratch.
Unfortunately, I’ve yet To Find the Perfect Backup Utility. I Use Dantz Retrospect, Which Is Wonderfully Powerful, And Once Set Up It Requires Almost No Brainpower. The Problem Is The Setup: Retrospect Appears To Have Been Designed At The "Can't We Make It Harder?" School Of Interface Engineering. I Also Like Novastor Novabackup And Acronis True Image, With Some Reservations.

Prepare For The Unbootable:
If Windows Won't Boot, A Good System Backup Might Help. Then Again, It Might Not. Even If It Does Help, There May Be An Easier Solution Than Restoring A Backup.
In The Days of Windows 9x, you’d simply create An Emergency Floppy That Booted Dos (Remember Dos?) And Came With All Sorts Of Diagnostic Tools. No Such Luck With Windows 2000 Or Xp. Dos Wouldn't Even See An Ntfs Partition.

Xp Won't Load On My Computer. What Should I Do?
If Windows Xp (Or 2000) Refuses To Start, Press F8 Right After You Turn On Your Pc But Before The Windows Log-On Appears (It May Take A Few Attempts To Get The Timing Right). At The Resulting Menu, Select Last Known Good Configuration

To Restore Your Registry To An Earlier Date.
If This Doesn't Get Your Pc Working, Reboot And Press F8 Again, But This Time Select Safe Mode, And Then Choose Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. Follow The Wizard's Instructions And Pick An Appropriate Backup. If That Approach Doesn't Work Either, Or If You Can't Even Get To This Menu, Use Your Emergency Boot Floppy. If Your Hard Drive's Boot Sector Or Windows' Basic Boot Files Have Been Corrupted, This Disk Will Circumvent The Problem And Boot You Into Windows.
If You Don't Have An Emergency Boot Floppy, You May Be Able To Use One Created On Another Pc Running Windows Xp Or Windows 2000, But There's No Guarantee That It Will Boot Your Machine.

To Make One, Insert A Blank Floppy Disk Into Drive A: Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt, Type Format A: And Press Enter. When Asked If You Want To Format Another Disk, Type N And Press Enter. Type The Following Commands, Pressing Enter After Each One.
Xcopy C:\Boot.Ini A: /H
Xcopy C:\Ntdetect.Com A: /H
Xcopy C:\Ntldr A: /H
Now Type Exit And Press Enter To Close The Window. Remove The Floppy Disk And Label It "Windows Xp Boot Floppy." Put This Emergency Disk In The Floppy Drive Of Your Inoperable Machine And Boot Up. Windows Should Run With No Problems. You Could Simply Keep The Floppy In The Drive All The Time, But To Truly Fix The Problem, Launch The Command Prompt As Described Above, Type Xcopy A:*.* C:\ /H, And Press Enter.
If The Emergency Boot Floppy Doesn't Work, Try The Recovery Console, A Windows Utility That Provides A Dos-Like Command Line From Which You Can Run Some Repair Programs. It's Tricky To Use If You're Not Accustomed To Command Lines, And You Can Damage Your Data, So Be Careful.
If You Have A Microsoft Windows Cd-Rom, You Can Get To The Recovery Console By Booting From That Cd And Pressing Any Key When You're Told To 'Press Any Key To Boot From Cd'. At The 'Welcome To Setup' Screen, Press R For Repair.
If Windows Xp Or 2000 Came With Your Computer And You Don't Have A Microsoft Windows Cd-Rom, The Recovery Console Might Be On One Of The Cs The Vendor Bundled With Your Pc. But It Might Not. Fortunately, The Recovery Console Is Hidden In A Free, Downloadable Microsoft Program Called Setup Disks For Floppy Boot Install. Visit Microsoft's Site To Download The Setup-Disk File That Works With Xp Professional; Available Too Is The Xp Home Version, Which Will Also Work For Windows 2000, Me, And 98.
When You Run The Download, It Puts The Xp Installation Program, Including The Recovery Console, Onto A Set Of Six Floppy Disks. To Get To The Recovery Console, Boot From The First Floppy, And Then Swap Disks As Prompted Until You Reach The 'Welcome To Setup' Screen. Press R to Open the Recovery Console.

Recovery Console's Most Useful Commands
For Detailed Information on A Particular Command, Type the Command Followed By A Space and /? As In Chkdsk /?. (Not All The Commands Will Be Available If You Don't Have A Windows Cd-Rom.)