As Vista has settled in nicely, one may wonder: “Will my computer be ready for Windows 7, the next Windows version?”

If you just bought a new PC in the last year, chances are your computer will be ready for the new Windows 7 operating system.  But, you may confirm if your computer is really able to meet the Windows 7 requirements by running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.  This advisor lets you know what specific uprades you’ll need to make in order to have your computer Windows 7-ready.

For instance, if your desktop or laptop is only at 256MB or RAM, the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor will recommend 1GB of RAM.  It will also let you know if you need to upgrade your driver software for your hardware devices.

This link is definitely a good tool to have in your tech support arsenal when looking to upgrade to Windows 7.

If you wanted to run Ubuntu in the past, you’d need to dual boot both Ubuntu and Windows together.  The point of this was to run Ubuntu applications in one operating system and Windows software in another.  Or lots of people preferred to run Ubuntu for a quick boot time and Internet browsing. 

Now, you can run Ubuntu and Windows together with Portable Ubuntu.  Think Mac with Windows on VM Ware.  This is what you’ll get with Portable Ubuntu on Windows.  Basically, you can run Ubuntu within Windows whenever you want instead of having to reboot Windows to boot into Ubuntu.  Another way you can run Ubuntu is from a portable USB device or thumbdrive so anytime you want to run it, you can just double-click on the Ubuntu program from the device.

You can download the Portable Ubuntu.  All you have to do it point the download to your computer or portable device to run from either one.  The installation is quick and painless and you don’t have to be a certified technician to set it up.

If you get the dreaded NTLDR is missing error message upon bootup for your Windows XP computer, you can resolve it in a few steps.

1. Restart your computer.  Try the easy fix first.

2. Remove any USB or firewire hard drives or CD/DVD drives.  Your computer may be trying to boot up to these devices by mistake.

3. Make sure your BIOS is set to auto or to recognize your hard drive as the primary boot device.

4. Restore the NTLDR and ntdetect.com files from the Windows XP CD.  You can do this by booting to your Windows XP CD and entering the XP Recovery Console.  Then type in 2 commands where d: is your CD/DVD drive:

copy d:\i386\ntldr c:\

copy d:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

Type exit and restart your computer

5. Repair or replace the boot.ini file.  Boot up to the Windows XP CD and go to the Recovery Console.  Type in:

bootcfg /rebuild

Type “Y” to prompt: Add installation to boot list?

Type “Windows XP Professional” or “Windows XP Home” when prompted for the name of operating system

Type “/FastDetect” when prompted to Enter OS Load options

Type Exit and Restart your computer

6. Write a new partition boot sector to the Windows XP system partition.

Boot to the Windows XP CD and go into the Recovery Console.

Type: fixboot

Type Exit and Restart your computer.7.  Repair Windows XP Master Boot Record

Boot to the Windows XP CD and go into the Recovery Console.

Type: fixmbr

Type Exit and Restart your computer.  Please note that if you get a warning that your partition is not standard and you might lose your data, then you should recover your files first before attempting this.

7. Re-secure all connections.  Unplug and re-plug IDE/SATA hard drive(s), CD/DVD drive(s), video and internal cards, and re-seat the RAM modules.

8. Update your BIOS.

9.  Perform an XP repair installation.  You can do this if you have the exact same Windows CD that came with your computer.  Instead of going to the recovery console, go to the steps as if you’re going to install Windows XP fresh.  Then, type the “r” option which will allow you to run the repair which essentially re-copies all of the Windows files again over the current possible corrupt or missing ones.

10.  When all else fails, back up your files and reinstall Windows XP.

11.  If you’re unable to reinstall Windows, you might have a bad hard drive and may require data recovery to obtain your files.  Then, you can install Windows on a new hard drive.

The above steps may be attempted to fix the NTLDR error.  It is always wise to back up your files first prior to performing these steps.  You may enlist a technical support company to help diagnose and repair your computer if you don’t feel comfortable with this computer repair process.

If your Windows Vista is slow, you can do the typical RAM upgrade.  But, you can actually tweak your Vista so your Internet surfing and downloading speed is faster.

Here are 2 sure-fire ways to speed up your Vista…and without adding any costly hardware:

1.  Open up Internet Explorer->Tools->Internet Options and uncheck the TLS box and click OK.  The TLS, or Transport Layer Security, performs an encryption process that could drag out Internet browsing and downloading.  Removing this security layer can speed up your Vista.

2.  Also, there is a TCP autotuning feature that could slow down the works.  A bunch of websites do not respond well to this feature and will slow down your computer.  So, you should turn it off to prevent any latency.  Here’s how to do this:  Click on Start-> type CMD and hit enter.  At the command prompt, type: netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel= disabled

Close the DOS window and restart your computer.

These two quick feature removals could drastically speed up your computer.  And it’s a great way to provide a PC tune-up.

If your desktop doesn’t turn on because of a blinking yellow light, you’re not in trouble.  There are a couple of ways to troubleshoot this in order to repair your computer.  First, open up your desktop by taking off the side panel.  Then, test the RAM by removing the modules one by one to see if there is a bad RAM module.  After the RAM test, you’ll need to test the power supply by replacing it for another one.  9 times out of 10, this blinking amber light is the cause of a bad power supply.

Keep in mind that recovering your files is not a problem with this issue.  This issue typically pertains to a power issue so your hard drive which olds your files is not in jeopardy.  If you’re still experiencing an issue after testing out the RAM and swapping out the power supply, you should have your computer further diagnosed by a top computer repair service company.

It has been reported by Windows that users are left vulnerable if using Safari as a web browser.  Typically, Windows users use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer that comes with Windows for surfing sites.  Alternately, Firefox, Netscape, and Opera are other popular web browsers.  Safari has not be used a lot on Windows, and that is probably the reason for a lack of security that is left for Safari Windows users.  Safari is typically associated with Apple computers since it is bundled into the Apple systems.

What can happen to Windows users if they install Safari?  If they mistakenly visit a malicious site or download spyware, their system can potentially be hacked into.  This is definitely a serious issue. 

If you still want to use Safari on your Windows computer, you can apply one quick fix to safeguard your computer. 

If you do use Safari, Microsoft says you can apply a workaround to protect yourself.  You’ll need to change the default download location by performing the following:

• Open Safari and navigate to Preferences under the Edit menu
• Select a different location on the local drive after clicking Save Downloaded Files to

Microsoft and Apple both haven’t released when this would be fixed as Apple seems less concerned that Microsoft does about this.  By the way, Safari is an Apple product.  That explains Apple’s ho-hum approach to this.  We recommend to just steer clear of Safari on Windows computers until this is resolved.  There are plenty of other web browsers to use in the meantime.

If you need to reinstall your Windows, you can use your computer’s Windows restore CDs.  That is the ideal way to reinstall Windows since it includes a full list of drivers, loaded software for your hardware devices.  With just the Windows CD, you still have to install of the drivers after. 

If you don’t have the manufacturer restore CDs, you can order them from your computer manufacturer.  If your computer is still under warranty, you will receive them for free.  If out of warranty, you’ll need to pay a fee around $50 - $85 for the restore CDs.  This is an overlooked small fee, compared to the $199 - $299 fee that Windows costs. 

So, next time when you need to reinstall Windows, start looking or buying your manufacturer’s CD and save some time and money.

We get this tech inquiry all the time: Can I replace one of my laptop keyboard keys that fell off?  Sometimes, the key is pulled off by a touch of the finger.  Other times, a child might mischeviously rip a key off for fun.  So, it’s only one key.  It can just be put back on, right? 

Well, one some rare models of laptops, the key can be re-inserted or snapped back in.  However, most models are made were the keys are either practically soldered in or once the key comes off, its contacts are never the same and cannot be re-inserted.  Most fallen keys are ruined once they are disassembled.  

So, what can you do?  You really have to buy a new keyboard and have laptop repair technician install it, or install it on your own if comfortable.  When installing a replacement keyboard, you must be sure to ground yourself to not shock any components, and have a flat head and phillips screwdrivers handy.  The keyboard replacement typically consists with removing 6 - 8 screws and flipping off the keyboard/LCD plastic off.  Smaller laptops might entail removing the front frame, LCD panel, and other parts to locate the keyboard removal.

If you’re a naysayer, and want to put back a key, please note that if it cannot snap back, your key re-insertion is temporary at best.  And please don’t consider crazy glue!  Your key would be a permanent letter statue after crazy glue has its way with it.

If your computer doesn’t start up fully or reboots upon startup, there are many ways to figure out the issue and correct it.  You might have a virus, Windows corruption, software driver conflict, or hardware issue.

One helpful way to determine what he issue is with enabling the Boot Logging option.  You may do this by hitting F8 at startup and then selecting “Boot Logging.”  If your computer is still not starting up, restart your computer, hit F8 again, and select Safe Mode. 

After booting into Windows fully, go into C:\%SystemRoot%\ntbootlog.txt and read to find out which driver, hardware device, or software is the culprit.  Then, resolve the issue or ask a certified Windows tech to do the computer repair work for you.

Before Windows Vista SP1, all x32 (32-bit) computers didn’t display 4GB within the computer although 4GB is installed.  The computers would allocate 256MB - 512MB RAM for video, motherboard, and resources.  That would leave app. 3.5GB left for applications and processing, the real reason for installing so much RAM.

Now, Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista solves the 4GB jip.  No more are you jipped when you upgrade to 4GB of RAM.  Now, when you install 4GB of RAM, you get and are shown 4GB of RAM.  This is the first big win for Vista - RAM is actually accurately allocated.