Scan Disk is one of the most common maintenance tools bundled with an operating system such as Windows. This is an application that checks the computer’s hard drive for errors and bad sectors. Once Scan Disk finds an error in the hard drive, it will attempt to fix it. There are a number of reasons for the errors found inside a hard drive. These include: frequent system crashes critical system applications that have been improperly closed the existence of harmful programs such as viruses, trojans, etc. What Does Scan Disk Read More

The Recycle Bin icon is one that sits on the desktop of most Windows based operating systems. The Recycle Bin’s purpose is to offer simple access to items that were deleted to either: A. Free up space so that new information can be saved on the hard disk, or B. Restore items that were accidentally deleted. Sometimes a Recycle Bin can be deleted accidentally or removed by malicious software. Access to the Recycle Bin functions is not entirely disabled when this happens, but it takes additional steps to get to Read More

The portable document format (PDF) was a file format developed by Adobe in 1993. The purpose of the file is to make document transfer much easier. In 2008, PDF became an open-source format. Previously, it had been proprietary. Many web browsers can read PDFs without having to save the file to your computer. However, should you save it to your computer, opening the file is easy.  For the most part, if you double click on a PDF file, it should open right away in whatever program you have installed that Read More

File sharing is a necessity when there is a network. Whether it is the Internet or an intranet, people are sharing files all the time. It helps businesses function at an optimum level as people can share any information they want. File sharing makes files available for others to use. This is accomplished in many ways. In business networks it is done via file servers, on the wider Internet it is done via the peer-to-peer (P2P) model, in which the files are received, stored, and served by the personal computers Read More

The term driver refers to files that permit hardware and software programs to interface with the Windows Operating System (OS). All hardware components require a driver file in order to work properly with the Windows XP OS unless they are compatible with one of the generic driver files included with the OS. These files are normally stored on the computer’s hard drive. However, a prudent computer owner will make a backup copy of the drivers on the Windows XP OS, to make recovery from malware infection or other catastrophic computer Read More

Contrary to popular belief, deleting files from the Recycle Bin does not completely remove the file from the computer. Instead, deleting a file simply tells the computer that the memory it was using is no longer needed. When the computer needs the memory for other files, it overwrites the original information. However, until the file is overwritten with new data, it remains on the computer under a different name and can be restored using file recovery software. In order to completely remove a file, it is important that new data Read More

A user often accidentally deletes a picture, document, or other file. In most cases, the file is still in the user’s Recycle Bin and can be recovered simply by opening the Recycle Bin, right-clicking on the appropriate file, and selecting “Restore.” However, if the file is too large for the Recycle Bin or is deleted through a program that is not run by Windows Explorer, the file will seem to have been completely erased. This is not true, however, as hard drives do not simply delete files. Instead, a hard Read More

Mapping a network drive is extremely quick and easy. When someone maps a network drive he/she is configuring a file folder on a remote computer that can share files or folders of data over a Local Area Network (LAN). Users can map a network drive with Window Explorer if they are running Windows XP. Users can also use the MS-DOS prompt to map their network drive. Map a Network Drive in Windows XP Right click on the start button and select Explore, then the menu bar will appear at the Read More

Hard drives are designed to contain and keep amounts of files that will be of great use. Although technologically made, hard drives are subject to fail or crash. They may operate perfectly in a given period of time, but because of the fact that they are not created equal, there's always a great possibility for them to fail and leave you frustrated and bothered with lost files. Worse is that hard drives crash often without warnings, although there are some instances that error messages and certain noises occur to give Read More

We have all made mistakes using our computer where we have mistakenly deleted an item, changed an item or renamed it. While these slips of the mouse or mind can be critical at times, there are a few ways you can restore and undelete your changes in Windows. The three ways to do so is with the recycle bin, using the shortcut Ctrl + Z and using 'Undo Changes' from the menu. Here are some tips: Using the Recycle Bin One of the easiest ways to restore your files or Read More