How To Check Old Hard Drives For Errors

An old hard drive can make a good backup device, but you’re right to be concerned about the reliability of the drive. The best thing you can do to test them is to perform a detailed scan to verify the disk is operating correctly. The first step is to connect the hard drive to an external docking station or open your computer and connect it to one of the internal ports.
Once your hard drive is connected, download PassMark’s DiskCheckup utility by clicking here. This utility will allow you to see the Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T. for short) information and perform a drive test. Once installed, open DiskCheckup, click on your secondary hard drive and click the SMART Info tab.

The SMART information is shown for the drive and while it looks complicated, it’s actually very easy to understand. Only a few columns are needed to diagnose drive health. In general, the higher the numbers, the better; with the exception of temperature (ideally you want from 30c to 50c) and power on time (lower is better).

• Description: This column describes what data is being displayed.
• Value: The current measurement from the drive
• Worst: The lowest the measurement has been.
• Threshold: The point at which the drive is predicted to fail due to that variable.

 Once you’ve looked at the S.M.A.R.T. information, click on the Disk Self Test tab and run a short and an extended test. This will use the drives internal testing system to determine if the drive may contain errors.

If everything looks good, I’d use them.  Remember that hard drive failure can’t always be predicted. If the drive has suffered damage from electrical surges, it may perform erratically or randomly die without warning.
-Sai Kiran

Upgrading Internet Explorer

Sometimes computer tells me Internet Explorer is out of date, reinstall it. How do I do that this? It is a refurbished Windows 7 computer I just bought.

 

This may be as simple as clicking this link and choosing Free download to update your browser.

But if that doesn’t work and you’re still getting a message that you need to reinstall IE, here’s what to do.

To install the latest version of Internet Explorer, just go to Microsoft by following this link. The most up-to-date IE for a Windows 7 system is Internet Explorer 11.

Scroll down to select the English version.

From the drop-down menu choose Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit.

To find out if you’re running 32 or 64 bits, Click the Start button, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.

You’ll see the information listed next to System Type.

Once you select download, our computer should prompt you about what to do next.

~Sai kiran

In Windows 7, how to I make all folders open large, all the time?

To make files automatically show thumbnails, you have to change a setting in the Control Panel. The easiest way to get to the control panel is simply to type Control Panel in the search bar on the start menu. Once there, click on Appearance and Personalization.

Then, click on Folder options.

Under folder options, click the View tab at the top.

Finally, make sure to uncheck the square that says “Always show icons, never thumbnails” and you should see the thumbnails when you load up all your folders.

For the second part of the question, if I’m understanding you correctly, you would like to keep your windows the same size. When you close a window, the next window will open to that size. However, it does follow the last window you close. So if you have a small window, and a window that is maximized, if you close the small window first, then the maximized window, the next window you open would be maximized. Likewise, if you close the maximized window first, then the smaller window, your windows will be the size of the small window next time you open one.

~ Sai Kiran

Yahoo! Mail Brings Back Tabs

When Yahoo! redesigned its mail service back in October, a lot of users were not happy with the changes. One of the biggest complaints, Yahoo! Mail’s tab feature was removed.

The tabs allowed users to have several open e-mails at the same time and to switch back and forth easily between them by selecting a tab.

Now the company is admitting it made a mistake. Jeff Bonforte from Yahoo wrote on the Yahoo! Mail Blog:

“When we launched the new version of Mail in October, we removed Tabs. One of the things you told us that annoyed you about tabs is that the more you had open, the harder they were to manage, and you wanted multitasking to be easy. With your feedback, we launched Recent view to help you jump between emails, drafts and search results more easily, but many of you still missed tabs. So we’re bringing back tabs, but this time, they’re a bit smarter.”

Here’s how get tabs back to your Yahoo! Mail. In the inbox, select the drop-down arrow next to view on the right side of the inbox.

From the menu, choose Tabs.

Once activated, you’ll be able to have multiple e-mails open and easily switch between them.

There’s also a new feature. You’ll find a drop-down arrow beside the last tab.

On that menu, you’ll see all of tabs you have open and a Preview All option.

Preview All gives you a quick look at all of your tabs. It’s a great feature if you have multiple table open and need to find something quickly. You can just click or tap on the preview to go to the message you want.

With all the complaints about the redesign and a major service outage that resulted in CEO Marissa Mayer issuing a public apology not only for the outage, but for the way Yahoo! handled it, the company needs all the goodwill it can get from its users.

~ Sai Kiran

Tiles Not Working In Windows 8.1

Some people have reported issues caused by a third party security software. Do your tiles have little arrows in the lower corner?

If so, go to the Windows store and try downloading and reinstalling them once more. Also try temporarily disabling your third-party security software and see if that makes any difference in how your tiles work.

You can also try uninstalling and then reinstalling those apps that won’t function. I know, that doesn’t sound like fun. But try it with one app to see if it works. Search for Uninstall apps and select it.

Select an app from the list.

Choose uninstall.

Then go to the Windows App store and try reinstalling the app. Do this with one app and see if it works before uninstalling multiple apps.

If that doesn’t work, there may be a problem with your user account in Windows. Go to the Search Charm and type in “create an account.”

Select the Create Account icon.

You’ll see the option to Activate a guest account.

Hopefully, one of these solutions helps.

~Sai Kiran

Tagged Facebook Photos Not Showing Up – Can I Fix?

when you tag someone in a photo, you’d like it to post on their News Feed or Timeline. There’s not really anything you can do about that. Some Facebook users choose to be notified when they are tagged in photos and others do not. 

Some have privacy settings that don’t allow you to tag them without their approval, while others won’t permit anyone to tag them at all. A user can choose whether or not they want tagged photos to appear in their News Feed or on their Timeline for others to see. 



If you want to make sure someone sees certain photos, you could always message them the link or share the photos with them. When you click the “Share” option on a photo, you have the choice of sharing the photo on a friend’s Timeline or in a private message to that friend. If your friend doesn’t permit others to post on his or her timeline, a private message is the best way to make sure he or she sees the picture.
~ Sai kiran