Hello everyone,

Many of my computer repair jobs involve the hard drive in one way or another. Lately I’ve been seeing about three hard drive failures per week. In a previous post I named two hard drive tools that I use frequently. In this post I would like to tell you about five great hard drive tools that will both predict and prevent hard drive failure. Great stuff!

1) CrystalDiskInfo: CrystalDiskInfo is a HDD health monitoring utility. It displays basic HDD information, monitors S.M.A.R.T. values and disk temperature. I use this tool on every computer that I repair!

2) HD Tune: HD Tune is a hard disk utility with many functions. It can be used to measure the drive’s performance, scan for errors, check the health status (S.M.A.R.T.), securely erase all data and much more. A very valuable tool to have in your tool kit!

3) HDD Health: HDD Health is a full-featured failure-prediction agent for machines using Windows 95, 98, NT, Me, 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7. Sitting in the system tray, it monitors hard disks and alerts you to impending failure. The program uses Self Monitoring and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) built into all new hard disks, and can predict failures on your hard drives. A host of alerting features include email, local pop-up messages, net messages, and event logging, while using no system resources.

4) HDDScan: HDDScan is a freeware utility for hard drive diagnostics (RAID arrays, Flash USB and SSD drives are also supported). The program can test storage device for errors (Bad-blocks and bad sectors), show S.M.A.R.T. attributes and change some HDD parameters such as AAM, APM, etc. HDDScan can be useful for performing the regular “health test” for your drive and predicting its degradation, so you will be able to prevent data loss and backup your files before you will have to contact the data recovery service. Additionally, software can be used as the hard disk temperature monitor and reading/writing benchmark – performance graph is displayed for every test.

5) GSmartControl: An awesome hard disk drive health inspection tool! GSmartControl is a graphical user interface smart control tool for querying and controlling SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) data on modern hard disk drives. It allows you to inspect the drive’s SMART data to determine its health, as well as run various tests on it.

Professor Randy says: Being able to diagnose a failing hard drive is a must as a computer repair tech. Believe me, if you can save your clients hard drive and data you’ll have a customer for life. These five tools will help you do just that!

Hello everyone,

I got a computer from a client yesterday and when I started to repair it, I couldn’t access hardly any of the tools in Control Panel (Windows XP). I kept getting the error message:

“Windows cannot find C:\Windows\system32\rundll32.exe”

Obviously I was missing the rundll.exe process. Rundll32.exe is a process that allows dynamic link libraries (DLLs) to be executed. Many system DLLs contain entry points for external use. These include the control panel, as well as Shell32.dll, which allows you to bring up windows such as the “Open with…” dialog. This process is a system process that is essential to the system’s proper operation.

I don’t really know how this file was lost (often malware can “knock it out”), but I knew that I had to get it back onto the computer if I wanted to proceed with the “fix”. Here is what I did:

1) I went into the c:\windows\system32\dllcache folder and found the rundll.exe file.

2) I copied the rundll.exe file and pasted it into the c:\windows\system32 folder (this is where it should be by default, this is where you want it to be).

3) I rebooted the machine.

4) I was no longer in “.dll hell”, everything worked great and I was able to access Control Panel and complete the “fix”.

Professor Randy says: Don’t go to .dll hell! Replace any missing .dll files and you’ll be in heaven!

Hello everyone,

Great tech information is only a click away. Enjoy!

1) Simply Repeating Something Doesn’t Make It True

2) I’m Leaving Microsoft (Video Resignation Letter)

3) 3G And 4G Wireless Speed Showdown: Which Networks Are Fastest?

4) Good News And Bad News For The Future Of Computing

5) The Four Editions Of Windows 8

6) Yet Another OSX/Java Trojan Spotted In The Wild

7) The Lost Steve Jobs Tapes

8) Get Your Apple Flashback Malware Removal Tool Here

9) Amazon Will Give You Gift Cards For Your Old CDs

10) Why Best Buy Is Going Out Of Business…..Gradually

11) The 35 Best Mac Apps

12) Top 15 Free Tools For Every Windows Desktop

13) Pinterest Now The Third Most Popular Social Network After Facebook & Twitter

14) Ivy Bridge Chips In Next Generation Chromebooks?

15) Complete Guide To Customizing Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Professor Randy quotes Louisa May Alcott: “I’m not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”

Hello everyone,

This video and song express what I believe to be the true meaning of Easter. Enjoy the day!

Professor Randy quotes Clarence W. Hall: “Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won’t stay there.”

Hello everyone,

In the past year and a half or so I’ve repaired over 350 computers. In this series I’m describing the very repair tools that I use daily. If you would like, you can see the entire series (up to this point) by following these links: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 10.1, part 10.2, part 10.3 and part 10.4.

Part 10.5: Continuing what I started in part 10, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4, in the next few posts I’ll continue to show you the repair tools that I have on my USB flash drives and tell you what they are used for. At the moment I carry around six USB drives so let’s take a look at some more programs that I have on flash drive #3:

1) Tech Tools 3.0: Tech Tools has been extremely useful to me! Imagine having a bunch of great, free repair tools that you can update automatically to the most recent version!

Tech Tools is for techs and people who work on computers everyday, and need updated programs to keep with them on their usb key. Tech Tools uses Ketarin, which is an application downloader that checks to see if an application has been updated and downloads it if so. The genius in this tool is that we don’t have to have you download all these tools at one time from our website, you’re going to be downloading each file individually from the app’s website. This helps with our bandwidth costs and some authors of the applications, while freeware, wanted the only download of  their software to be at their own sites.

2) LiberKey 5.7: A selection of great portable apps with automatic online updates. You gotta check this one out!

LiberKey is a collection of portable apps in a variety of categories that can be run on your local PC or from any portable media. Take these important apps with you and use on any computer. LiberKey is a complete application platform for local or portable use. It allows you to manage your applications quickly and without skill. Installation of an application from LiberKey catalog is done with 2 clicks but you can easily add any other application. After LiberKey 5.7 installation, the user has the choice to install Ultimate, Standard or Basic suites (so always updated) or to define its own suite with the online catalog.

3) CheckDisk: This tool will save you a lot of time! CheckDisk automates the Windows chkdsk.exe command line tool to run until no bad sectors, lost clusters, cross-linked files, or directory errors are found.

How would you like coming back to a system after running chkdsk.exe and still having file system errors? It can get irritating for the 20 minutes to several hours it takes chkdsk.exe to run, to have to check in on it and restart chkdsk manually 3-5 times or more. CheckDisk will use chkdsk.exe to scan the partitions as many times as it takes until chkdsk.exe reports that no errors are found, so the only user interaction required is to start the process.

Ultimately, this is a technician’s tool. It’s great for those of us running chkdsk.exe from a “Tech Bench” computer or bootable WinPE based CD, where you don’t *need* to scan your OS partition.

…but it can be quite useful for others.  Anyone with multiple partitions and hard drives will find it useful for maintenance on all of their non-OS partitions, and in the event their OS partition needs repair, you can use it to schedule autochk.exe to run on the next startup.

4) ClamXav 2 and FlashbackChecker: I have not had to use either of these tools yet but I have them on my flash drive just in case I have to work on an Apple system (malicious website code can exploit a vulnerability in Java runtime).

ClamXav is a free virus scanner for Mac OS X. It uses the very popular ClamAV open source antivirus engine as a back end and has the ability to detect both Windows and Mac threats. ClamXav can be setup up as passive or active: scan only the files you tell it to or your entire hard drive, whichever you prefer; you can also choose to activate Sentry to monitor your hard drive and scan new files as they arrive.

FlashbackChecker checks and reports the presence of Flashback malware, it does not remove it!

5) Memtest86+: I can’t tell you how many times I have tested and diagnosed bad memory using this gem of a tool. Memtest86 on your flash drive is simply a must!

Memtest86 is a thorough, stand alone memory test for x86 architecture computers. BIOS based memory tests are a quick, cursory check and often miss many of the failures that are detected by Memtest86.

Professor Randy says: A computer repair technician without great tools is like milk without cookies! Pointless! Fill your flash drive up with great tools and you’ll have the solution to the problem in the palm of your hand!

Hello everyone,

Every time I install an Operating System, I also have to install several drivers.

A driver is a software program that runs (drives) a hardware device. Think of it as a program that controls a particular type of device that is attached to your computer. There are many hardware devices both inside and outside of a computer and these devices cannot run unless they are “controlled” by a device driver. Here are some examples of  computer hardware devices that will not function without the software that “communicates” with them.

• printers
• video adapters
• network cards
• sound cards
• mice, keyboards, USB drives
• computer storage devices such as hard disk, CD-ROM
• image scanners
• digital cameras

Most people know that when you install/reinstall an Operating System you must also install/reinstall the most recent, updated drivers for all of your hardware. But do you know that you must also install those drivers in the correct order for optimum system performance?

Today I would like to show you the correct order of device driver installation. This driver installation order refers to machines running the Windows Operating System.

Install/Reinstall your device drivers in this order:

1) Desktop System Software (DSS) or Notebook System Software (NSS). The DSS and NSS software is not required for Windows Vista/Windows 7 systems.

2) Chipset

3) Video Adapter

4) Network Interface Card (NIC)

5) Audio Adapter

6) Dialup Modem

7) Wireless Network Card

8) Touchpad, Pointer, Trackstick, Mice, and Keyboards

9) Bluetooth Module, Wireless Mobile Broadband Cards, PCMCIA/Smartcard Controller

Professor Randy says: The best hardware device in the world will not run without its proper device driver. Install the correct drivers and install them in the correct order for optimum system efficiency!

      
Hello everyone,

I'll be presenting at the Cumberland Plateau PC Users Group on Monday, April 16. If you're in the area please stop by. I would love to meet you! 

Program: “Clean, Speed Up and Optimize Your Windows PC” 

The  Plateau PC Users Group will meet Monday Apr 16, at the 127 South Senior Center, located at 1460 South Main Street in Crossville. NOTE SUMMER MEETING TIME IS 6 PM.   

The program topic is: HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR WINDOWS PC BY KEEPING IT CLEAN 

Spring is clean up time and computers also need routine cleaning. 

Randy Knowles is a local computer tech who owns his own computer consulting business which he has been running full and part time for almost 3 years now. He also writes the blog Randy the Tech Professor, where he provides near daily tech tips, tricks, and news for novices and advanced troubleshooters alike.

Subtitle: Keep your PC running fast as possible by keeping your computer clean and optimized.

Some of the things that will be discussed:

Remove all old games and applications…

Review your startup programs…

Clear your browser cache, cookies and history…

Remove Junk Files…

Clean your Temp folder and File History…

Remove Spyware and Adware

Fastest Windows OS Settings…

Fastest Desktop Settings…

Run Scan Disk on your hard drive…

Defragment your hard drive…

Hope to see you there!

Randy Knowles

Hello everyone

A client gave me an old computer that would not boot up. The monitor screen was absolutely dead, totally black, no BIOS screen, nothing (I was using my own monitor that I knew was 100% good). I didn’t immediately know what was causing this problem so I had to spend almost all day troubleshooting in order to come up with the correct diagnosis.

Here are the exact steps that I took (in this exact order) to figure out what was wrong:

1. I pressed the power button and saw that the screen was dead, totally black, nothing.
2. I was getting power (fans were spinning, HD was spinning up, CD/DVD drive trays were working), so I concluded that the Power Supply was OK (I did actually try a new Power Supply just in case but still no screen).
3. I heard no unusual beeping at start-up (certain beep sequences are an indication of bad RAM).
4. I reseated and then replaced the Video Card with a new one but still nothing on the screen.
5. I reseated and then replaced the RAM memory modules but still nothing on the screen.
6. I checked the CPU (it was seated correctly and the fan on the heat sink was running).
7. I tried a different IDE Hard Drive cable but still no screen.
8. I tried another CPU but still no screen.
9. I had known previously that the Hard Drive was good.
10. Final Conclusion: Bad Motherboard! (time to order a new one, like this one).

Professor Randy says: It may be tedious, but don’t skip any steps when troubleshooting a computer problem. Your thoroughness will be eventually appreciated by your clients and your reputation for excellence will lead to a successful business!

Hello everyone,

The tech news is “hot and heavy”. Here are fifteen links that will take you there. Enjoy!

1) Windows PCs To Decline As Android, Apple Devices Rise

2) A Pinterest Spammer Tells All

3) Windows 8 Conspiracy Theories

4) Best Buy Feels Amazon Squeeze, To Close 50 Big-Box Stores

5) AT&T To Sell Nokia Lumia 900 For $100 On April 8

6) In A Long Distance Relationship? This App Is For You

7) A Smartphone Future? But Not Yet

8) Shopping For Zero-Days: A Price List For Hackers’ Secret Software Exploits

9) Reviewers Have “Morning After” Experiences With New iPad

10) Facebook Amending Statement Of Rights And Responsibilities, Here’s A Rundown Of The Changes

11) The Case Against Google

12) YouTube Launches “One Click Fix” To Improve The Quality Of Your Videos

13) Video Speed Trap Lurks In New iPad

14) The Undiscovered Gems Of Netflix Streaming

15) Sad But True: Napster ’99 Still Smokes Spotify 2012

Professor Randy quotes Tom Peters and Nancy Austin: “The number one managerial productivity problem in America is, quite simply, managers who are out of touch with their people and out of touch with their customers.”

Hello everyone,

I have run into this situation twice in the past week:

Both people had signed up for Comcasts XFINITY Extreme 50 High Speed Internet (50 Mbps download speed), but neither were getting the promised speeds. In fact they were only getting about half (24 Mbps) of what they were paying Comcast for. What was going on here? Was it Comcast again?

Actually no! I found out that two essential things were missing from each persons network setup:

1) The Modem: If your Comcast connection rate is 20 Mbps or greater your modem should be a DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem. Once again, you must use a DOCSIS 3.0 Modem in order to take full advantage of Comcast’s fast Internet speeds! You can rent one from Comcast or buy your own. I recommend buying your own.

2) The Router: Your router must have both LAN and WAN Gigabit functionality. The WAN Ethernet 10/100/1000 Gigabit ports are for establishing a wired connection to your broadband Ethernet-enabled DOCSIS 3.0 modem. The LAN Gigabit Ethernet ports are for establishing high-speed wired connections to your desktop PC. Once again, connect the router to the cable modem through a Gigabit WAN port, and connect your other PCs, servers, wireless-N access points, or anything else to the LAN Gigabit Ethernet Ports.

Once the DOCSIS 3.0 Modem and the Gigabit Router were hooked up, download speeds of over 50Mbps came flowing in!

Professor Randy says: Don’t buy a router that doesn’t have both LAN and WAN Gigabit ports, and don’t expect extreme Comcast download speeds without a DOCSIS 3.0 Modem!