How to Repair Your Computer
Computer Repair at a Glance
Computer repair doesn’t always have to be done by a professional. There are several effective and cheaper ways to troubleshoot and optimize the system for a faster PC. A computer running slow is indicative of problems which lie inside and outside so you have to learn how to assess these properly. Manual repairing however, is more complicated and should only be done by a certified computer technician to avoid further damage.
Computer Repair – The Assessment Phase
First, check your computer performance and ask yourself the following questions. Am I getting computer freezes often? Do errors pop out frequently whenever I try to open an application? Do programs run very slowly or do not run completely? Does logging on during startup take longer than usual? Is my hard drive clogged with files even if I have not installed anything new? These questions will help guide you if your PC has problems.
A computer running slow shows that either hardware is not functioning properly or there are software problems. Damaged or dirty hardware will make it impossible for your programs and operating system to run properly. Software problems are more specific and usually, some of the symptoms will show what kind of computer repair you need to do.
Hardware Computer Repair
You can check the BIOS during boot up to check your hardware settings and if everything is functioning properly. There are options and labels that verify the type and mode of operation of different hardware.
Undetected hardware can mean that it is not functioning well or is not plugged well into the motherboard. Some applications will also recommend which hardware needs optimizing or upgrading.
The best you can do for hardware is to clean it regularly every few months from dust. Also check if the plug-in components are secured in place. Do not attempt to remove parts or open items in your CPU which you do not know about. Some parts are radioactive or you can risk damaging the hardware. Have a technician ready for this type of situation.
In Windows you can use the Device Manager to check if all hardware devices are functioning properly. A red or yellow explanation mark indicates there is a problem with a device.
Software Computer Repair
Errors, freezes and slow performance are indicative of software problems. You can do a computer repair by running antivirus and anti-spyware programs to detect malicious data that could be ruining and disrupting your system.
You should also run a speed up tool or clean up tool to ensure that your PC is optimized and not wasting valuable resources. A speed up tool will remove unnecessary files, clean file cache, and clean up your Windows Registry. Depending on the tool you use, you can also tweak Windows performance settings.
Software problems can often be solved by simply reinstalling the problematic program. In some cases you need to reinstall Windows itself, but if you are running Windows XP you can first try the system restore option.
@Orlando – I am not familiar with this HP error message, but I agree that you probably had (or still have) a serious virus. Considering the factory restore, it could be a boot sector virus, which might not be resolved by the factory restore option.
Best thing to do is to do a clean boot from an installation CD/DVD and do a full disk format before reinstalling. If you can still access the recovery options, you might be able to create Windows installation CD’s from there, otherwise you’ll need to get them from HP.
Hello there —
I don’t know if this problem is PC Error, Repair, or both so I will just put it here for now. Today I was using my old computer (which is an HP Pavillion using Windows XP) when out of nowhere I get a little notification bubble on the bottom right hand of the screen saying “Windows has detected this computer infected” and a “fake” AntiLive scan began “scanning” my computer. I knew this was fake because I had no idea what AntiLive was, so I decided to restart my computer but after I did that I got that message again, only that time it would not let me access anything whatsoever. I couldn’t open the task manager, it would say it was infected. I couldn’t open IE it would say it was infected. Anything I tried to open a box would appear and say the file name was infected, so I immedietely figured I had a virus, a very bad virus on my computer. I don’t know how in the world it got on there, but it made its way very quickly and did some damage.
I decided my only resort would be to do a factory reset to get rid of the virus since I basically could not access my anti virus or anything else for that matter. I rebooted the computer, pressed F11 and awaited for the HP Recovery menu to appear. Once that was done, I went through with the restoration process and then once it was done it told me to restart my computer to finish. After rebooting and waiting, the Windows XP loading sign came on, only to show a random pop up message that read this: “Your system has detected a configuration error. Please report this error to Customer Care using the phone number found in the warranty and support guide that came with your pc. Unless corrected, this error will prevent your pc from operating properly. Turn off your pc by pressing and holding the power button. After a few second your pc will automatically turn off. (Code Purple)”
I don’t know what this message means, nor do I have the number to call customer care or the guide that came with the computer because that computer is a few years old. It will not let me proceed beyond that message, is there anything I can do to fix this problem? Any help would be much appreciated!
Thank you.