Category: Windows 8

After reading this you will be able to align the your Solid State Drive (SSD) or a conventional Hard Disk Drive ( HDD ). Disk partitioning is rather a easy task these days where Windows automatically determines the best settings and partitions your Drive into volumes of your choice. Though the thing to check is that whether your drive is aligned or not. Alignment applies both to SSD & HDD, though SSD performance is somewhat more increased with a aligned drive partition. Check out this guide to first check whether your drive is properly aligned or not. If not, follow the simple steps to align your drive.

Steps to Check Drive alignment

• Automated way

• Download this tool ( Click Here )
• Run the tool to check if your disk is properly aligned or not
• Manual Way

• Go to Start Menu
• Type CMD
• Right Click Command ( CMD ) displayed at the start menu search box
• Click Run as Administrator

• 
• Type diskpart
• Type List Disk
• Type Select Disk x  ( X being the number assigned to your drive ) example 0, 1 , 2.
• Check out the offset of the first partition & make sure it is divisible by 4 or 4096 ( KB )
• Follow the screenshot below

• 
• Guide to Align the Partition

• Reinstalling with proper Aligned Disk ( NOTE: This Operation will delete all your data, so take a backup first )

• Boot with the Windows Disk
• At the Drive Selection Menu Press Shift + F10 to bring up Command prompt
• Type Diskpart
• Type List Disk
• Type Select Disk x ( x being the number of your disk) ( Refer screenshot above)
• Type Clean ( Only use this command if you want to clean all partitions ) ( if you have multiple partitions and want to just delete one partition use the process below )
• Type List partition
• Select Partition x ( X being your primary partition )
• Delete partition
• Repeat the step if you have that 100 MB partition Windows makes.
• Now,
• Select Disk X ( X being the disk number )
• Create partition primary align=4096
• Active
• Select Disk x
• Select partition 0
• Format /fs:NTFS Quick

Note: You should perform a Secure Erase before following this guide to align & repartition if you are using a SSD. ( DO NOT FULL FORMAT THE SSD, EVER)

After reading this you will be able to fix some of the issues that might be affecting your laptop /notebook /netbook battery life. Battery life depends on a number of factors that includes selection of proper power plan, screen brightness, background programs, external devices, processor minimal power state & a few more.

This guide includes a few steps to optimize your portable computer to provide you with better battery life.

The First thing for Windows 7 and earlier version operating system users should do is that they should run the Microsoft Fix It tool: Click the image below:

After Running Microsoft Fix It try the steps below:

• Make sure all the USB powered devices that you don’t need are unplugged or set the devices to be turned off to save power, to do this follow :

• Go to Device Manager ( Control Panel )
• 
• Click on Universal Serial Bus Controllers
• 
• Right Click USB Root Hub & go to Properties
• 
• Make Sure the first option is checked
• Repeat for all USB Root Hubs in Device Manager
• Power Saving When Using Conventional Hard Disk Drives

• If you are using the conventional Mechanical Hard Disk Drives you should disable “ Turn Off Hard disk “ Option in Power Options
• To open power options
• Go to Control Panel –> Power Options
• Maintenance operation schedule

• Windows XP users should Defrag their hard disk drives at regular intervals.
• Windows 8, 7 & Vista users should check Maintenance options ( Action Center in Control Panel ) & make sure everything is running on schedule.
• Sounds

• For better Battery life you can disable sound scheme for Windows
• Control panel –> Sound
• Drivers

• Make sure your computer has all the latest device drivers installed.
• To update either run Windows Update or Visit your computer manufacturer’s website to get the updated Device drivers
• Make sure Power Management driver is installed
• Always use Balanced Power Plan
• Opt for Power Saver power plan when you are running out of battery and want that extra kick

After reading this article you will be able to solve the problem where corruption occurs on your screen or you see lines across your computer display. This problem might occur due to a Display driver problem, a display hardware error, Display connection cable problem or even a faulty display. If it’s a laptop & lines occur when you move your screen ( hinges move ), it could very well be the display cable problem connecting your motherboard/display adapter to your screen.

Follow these steps to resolve the issue:

• Go to, control panel & locate programs & features or simply type Uninstall a program.
• From the list therein, locate the display driver with the help of the example screen shot given below:

OR

• Apart from the above examples, you can have a nVidia Display adapter as well. Select the appropriate program from the list following the screenshots above and click on uninstall.
• Restart your computer
• Now, Go to the Support website of either your computer manufacturer/Motherboard manufacturer or if you have a add-on Display adapter ( Graphics Card ), go to the Gfx Card Manufacturers support website.
  Example: http://support.intel.com or http://support.asus.com etc.
• OR , to get latest drivers you can use WINDOWS UPDATE
• To run Windows Update, Go to start menu & in the start menu search box, type Windows Update & press Enter.

• Refer the above screenshot, you can either press Check for updates on the Top left hand corner or directly click on optional updates to check if new hardware drivers are available for your computer system.

If This does not solve your issue,

For Desktop Computer Systems

• If you have a Add-on Graphics Adapter Installed, try pulling it out and checking the display on your on-board display option. If you do not have a motherboard with a on-board display, get another card to check if that works or try reseating your present graphics adapter properly into the slot.
• Check the Display Cable ( Any type ) for damage. Also check both ends of the cable to make sure they are properly plugged in.
• Check your Display Monitor with another computer of laptop device to make sure you don’t have a problem with your Display.
• You can alternatively try to plug another monitor into your computer to check if that works properly.

For Laptop ( All portable Computers )

• Take out your laptop battery, press & hold your power button for a few seconds.
• Reinsert the battery into the compartment & check if the problem persists.
• If your laptop shows lines across the screen when you move the display panel ( move the hinges to adjust the display ) then your cable connecting your display to motherboard/display adapter might be wearing out, in this case the only recommended solution is to take the computer to a authorized dealership or support outlet.

POWER PROBLEMS

• Your Computer monitor might display some lines across the screen if there is a power surge or when the power input is lower or higher than the recommended range your monitor supports (Most of the time LOWER ), Check the documentation that came with your monitor to confirm the recommended power input.

After reading this post you will be able play to almost all commonly found media files. There are a lot of media file extensions that requires certain codecs to open/play. Default Windows installation does not support all the formats due to certain limitations. Some people download and install VLC player to play their Media files. VLC player can be found here. Though to play your media files within Windows Media player you can follow the steps below:

• Head over to this website & download k-lite codec package
• Or go to www.bing.com and search for k lite codec package.
• Download the package
• Install the package using Default/typical settings.
• Open Windows Media Player and play your favourite file type.
• Enjoy

Note: Scan the Installation/Downloaded files with a good Antivirus Software before Installing.