We've collected a few very useful instructions here to assist with a few of the common problems we all encounter.
If your printer won't operate, start by checking the simplest things. Start by verifying that the power cable is plugged into the printer and a wall outlet, power strip, or surge protector. Next, make sure the printer's power button is turned on and that the printer's data cable is connected to both the printer and your PC. Next, make sure there isn't a sheet of paper stuck in the printer. If there was a paper jam earlier, your printer may not even attempt to print any more documents until you remove the paper that's stuck. Finally be sure that the printer has a supply of paper.
If you can access the Internet when you connect directly to your broadband modem, but not when you put a router between the modem and your PC, one solution is to reset your network devices. This gives them the chance to reassign IP (Internet Protocol) addresses and connect to each other without conflicts. To completely reset your network devices, power off your PC and then unplug your broadband modem and router. Leave the units unplugged for a few minutes. Consult your device manuals to determine whether you need to perform any additional tasks to reset the devices (some units have Reset buttons, for example). Finally, plug in and power on your devices, starting with the broadband modem, then your router, and then your PC.
For power-hungry laptops and portable DVD players, an external rechargeable battery is the only type of portable power that stores enough energy to provide the extra hours of battery life you need on a long plane ride. The additional usage time you'll receive from an external rechargeable battery will differ depending on the watts stored in the battery and the power consumption of your device. Generally, you can expect most laptops to run another two to three hours off an external battery that stores around 60W, and a battery with a capacity of around 120W should power your notebook computer for another five to six hours. External batteries typically connect to the DC input jack of your portable device (the same hookup you use for the AC power adapter) through an included cord that may feature adaptable connectors. We should note that DC input jacks vary in size, and you'll want to make certain the external power source includes connector tips that fit your portable device's DC input jack. Contact the external battery's manufacturer or visit its Web site to ensure a connector tip is provided for your device.
If your external storage device shows up in My Computer, but you can't access or write to the drive, the drive may be incorrectly formatted for Windows or have a
corrupt partition. Windows 2000 and XP feature a utility called Disk Management that
analyzes your external drive and assigns it an Online, Healthy, or Unreadable status.
Open the utility by right-clicking the My Computer icon and selecting Manage. Under
the Storage heading, double-click Disk Management to view your external storage drive's
status. If it has an Unreadable status, you need to format the drive to remove the
corrupt partition or incompatible Windows file format. Before you do, attempt to
transfer the drive's data onto another computer because formatting completely erases
the files on the drive. To format, simply right-click the external hard drive and
click Format.
If a Search for a missing file proves fruitless, check to see if Windows isn't holding the file in the Recycle Bin (double-click the Recycle Bin Desktop icon). Most files you manually delete remain in the Recycle Bin, taking up hard drive space until you empty the bin (click File and Empty Recycle Bin if you wish to empty it). By default, the Recycle Bin uses 10% of your hard drive's capacity. (Change this by right-clicking Recycle Bin, clicking Properties, and adjusting the Maximum Size Of Recycle Bin slider.) When the capacity is full, Windows drops off older files as new ones are added. If you have a large-capacity hard drive, your files can remain in the bin for a long time. If an accidentally deleted file is in the Recycle Bin, highlight it, click File, and click Restore to retrieve it.
To add shortcut icons to your Desktop in Window XP, click Start and All Programs. Find the application for which you want a shortcut and right-click it. From the pop-up menu, click Create Shortcut. This will create a shortcut that you can drag to your Desktop. Or right-click the application, choose Send To, and click Desktop (Create Shortcut). In Windows Vista, click Start and All Programs and find the application for which you want a shortcut. Next, right-click the application, choose Send To, and click Desktop (Create Shortcut) in the resulting menu.
A picture of the contents of a monitor's screen. Press the PRINT SCREEN key to take a screen shot. Next open an image-editing application (such as Microsoft Paint, which comes with Windows) and then paste the contents of the Windows clipboard onto the canvas (press CTRL-V). Your screen shot will appear.
Return To The How To Do It SectionUpdated on ... February 24, 2015