Simple DIY Tips

With the dimensions technology is taking today, it is important that folks get to know how to perform simple computer systems tasks. For example if you wanted to know specifications of your computer, you do not have to wait for any I.T. person; you can Do It Yourself (DIY)!

One simple way for checking for your computer’s features is by Right clicking on “My computer’s” icon on the desktop and click on “Properties” this will open a window that shows the features such as Random Access Memory (RAM), CPU speed and the type of Operating System being used. Another simple way is by use of Windows “dxdiag” short for DirectX Diagonostic Tool command. Go to Start > Run then type “dxdiag” on the Run text area.

A Microsoft Windows OS pop-up comes up. The message is win32 service has experienced an error, and has ended abruptly. It presents two options: one, it prompts you to either send the message to Microsoft or “Don’t send”.

You hurriedly click on “Don’t send” and go back to what you were doing. After a couple of seconds another pop-up emerges, the system is now warning you that you it will be shutting down in approximately 59 seconds … and counting down! You can actually stop the computer from shutting down by doing the following. Click on Start > Run and type “shutdown – a”. The shutdown command will prevent the computer from shutting down and you will hence be able to continue with your work without getting interrupted.

Sometimes you may find yourself trying to format your flash drive. But wait a minute, there is a problem. You cannot do so the usual way (via “My computer > Right click on the Flash drive and click on Format.”). A message comes up that states that Windows cannot complete the process.

You can force format your flash drive. This is what you do: Go to Start > Programs > Accessories then scroll down to Command Prompt. Then at the command Prompt type the following: cd\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ and then press Enter. Then type the E: (letter E followed by full colon) press Enter. E is usually the label allocated to your flash drive (it can also be D or F depending on the number of drives on your machine).

For example, the main drive is normally allocated C, etc. Still at the Command Prompt, type format (the keyword for formatting). Windows will ask you if you would like to Force format, click on Yes. It will format your flash drive. Follow the other instructions that follow. You can also type a label for your flash. The label can be your name or a song you like, a letter etc.