How to Perform a Perfect Re-Install
Written by admin on February 27, 2009
Perhaps you tried to update your drivers or software and something terribly goes wrong. Today we will guide you through how to perform a perfect re-install for your PC. You may have wondered what would be the best way to reinstall your PC. It makes sense that when you wipe your hard drive and re-install your operating system that you make sure that your machine is running perfectly. Below are some tips designed to ensure that you perform a perfect re-install.
First of all, you should gather together all of the latest drivers for your hardware. Before you wipe your hard drive visit the websites of all of your hardware providers and download the very latest drivers. Burn theese onto a CD or copy them onto a USB stick to use later in the install.
Whichever operating system you are choosing to install, be it Windows XP or Vista, make sure you have downloaded the latest service pack from Microsoft. Currently this is service Pack 1 for Vista and service Pack 3 for Windows XP. Copy this onto the same CD or USB stick as your drivers.
Next you can start your operating system install, boot from your CD or DVD and delete the current operating system partition and recreate it. When you are prompted to format the partition do not choose quick format, instead perform a full format.
Once your operating system install is complete you should then install the current service Pack. Once this install is complete then reboot your PC and begin to install your drivers, rebooting when prompted.
Once the service pack and drivers have been installed you should visit Microsoft Update and install every single possible hot fix and patch. You may need to reboot your PC several times and visit Microsoft Update repeatedly until there are no more updates available.
Once you have finished installing every update, you should then take some time to clean up your installation. By using one of the many great utilities such as Tune-up Utilities 2008 you will be able to remove leftover installation files, and repair registry errors. It is important to note that the Windows registry will often contain hundreds of errors following a fresh re-install.
Once you have repaired your registry, removed all of the temporary installation files that have left behind, and checked everything is working, you should then fully defragment your drive. Finally you can consider creating a disk image which can be burned to CD or DVD which can be used to restore your system to this perfect state at any time.
Dealing with Vista codec problems
Written by admin on February 20, 2009
One of the major criticisms of Microsoft Vista has been the fact that it can be extremely difficult to ensure that every multimedia file type can be played via the inbuilt Windows Media Player or Media Centre.
This problem stems from the fact that Microsoft do not own licenses for the many other codecs used when people compress multimedia content. This has become an increasingly problematic situation as the Internet has become the preferred vehicle for transporting large media files. In this situation, the files will be compressed using advanced codecs and cutting edge compression techniques. If your Vista install lacks the correct codec to decompress the file, then you will in all likelihood only hear sound and see no video, or vice versa. Luckily there are two ways in which you can overcome these codec problems with Microsoft Vista.
The slickest way to ensure that you can play every multimedia file type which is currently available is to install the Vista Codec Pack. This is a third-party application that has been produced by a Vista enthusiast, and packages every current codec and compression algorithm into one simple install. Once you have installed the Vista Codec Pack you will be able to play every file type within either Windows Media Player or Media Centre. The only downside of using the Vista Codec Pack is that you may find you need to refresh your thumbnails to ensure that every video file displays a thumbnail correctly in the folder view. The Vista Codec Pack comes with an application which allows the user to click codec settings, and adjust them for performance and quality.
For those people who prefer not to install a low-level codec pack which could cause problems in the future, then there is a single software application available which can play every known type of audio and video file. This application is named VideoLAN or VLC, and is a freely downloadable, extremely lightweight, and feature rich media player. For many people, VLC is considered a must have Windows application, and one that can solve every single Vista codec problem. VLC is also available for Windows XP, and is the only media player which solves every single window XP codec problem.
If you are experiencing codec problems within Windows Vista, then either of these two solutions outlined above offer you a simple and effective way to solve them.
