SOFTWARE PROBLEMS

RINDAI C. MURINGI
• SOFT WARE PROBLEMS CAN BE TRICKIER THAN HARDWARE PROBLEMS.
• SOFTWARE PROBLEMS ARE OFTEN CAUSED BY DEVICE DRIVERS AND MEMORY RESIDENT
PROGRAMS.
• MOST SEVERE SOFTWARE PROBLEMS ARE USUALLY CAUSED BY A HARDWARE FAILURE.
• SOME OF THE PROBLEMS INCLUDE: FREQUENT CRASHES, FREEZES, WINDOWS RUNNING
SLOWLY.
 DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN SOFTWARE PROBLEMS
AND HARDWARE PROBLEMS
• MAKE SURE YOU REDUCE POSSIBLE “EXTERNAL” PROBLEMS BEFORE PROCEEDING. THIS MEANS UNPLUG ANY EXTERNAL DEVICES (SUCH AS HARD DRIVES, SCANNERS OR
PRINTERS), AND REMOVE ANY FLOPPY, CD OR DVD DISKS FROM THEIR DRIVES.

• CHECK FOR ANY LOUD NOISES OR SMOKE WHEN THE PROBLEM FIRST APPEARS. IF YES IT IS PROBABLY A HARDWARE PROBLEM, WITH THE MOST LIKELY CULPRIT BEING THE
POWER SUPPLY UNIT.

• IS THE COMPUTER ENTIRELY DEAD? OR THE SCREEN BLANK? OR THE SCREEN SHOWING A POOR/INCOMPLETE PICTURE? THESE FAULTS ARE PROBABLY ALSO DUE TO
HARDWARE PROBLEMS.

• DOES THE COMPUTER PRODUCE A SERIES OF BEEPS? THIS IS A CODE THAT CAN BE USED TO DISTINGUISH SOME HARDWARE PROBLEMS.

• DOES THE SYSTEM GIVE ANY ERROR CODES OR DESCRIPTIONS WHILE BOOTING? THESE CAN BE DUE TO HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE PROBLEMS. TAKE CAREFUL NOTE OF ALL
INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE ERROR CODE.

• DOES THE COMPUTER PRODUCE ERROR INFORMATION AFTER IT HAS BOOTED OR ONLY WHEN YOU OPEN SPECIFIC PROGRAMS? THESE ERROR CODES ARE PROBABLY DUE TO
SOFTWARE PROBLEMS.

• HAVE ANY RECENT CHANGES BEEN MADE TO HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE (INCLUDING BIOS SETTINGS)? IF SO, THESE ARE LIKELY CULPRITS.

• HAS THE COMPUTER BEEN EXPOSED TO VIRUSES OR OTHER MALWARE? THIS COULD BE A CAUSE OF SOFTWARE PROBLEMS.

• USE THE DEVICE MANAGER, WHICH CAN FOUND ON MANY WINDOWS COMPUTERS (FOR WINDOWS XP GO TO START  CONTROL PANEL  SYSTEM  DEVICE
MANAGER). THE DEVICE MANAGER WILL LIST ALL OF THE HARDWARE DEVICES INSTALLED ON A PC. ANY DEVICE WITH A PROBLEM WILL HAVE A WARNING SYMBOL NEXT
TO IT, AND DOUBLE CLICKING ON THAT DEVICE WOULD GIVE DETAILS AND SUGGESTED REMEDIES FOR THE PROBLEM.
 BLUE SCREEN ERROR

• ALSO KNOWN AS THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH (BSOD ERROR)

• CAUSED BY VARIOUS PROBLEMS:
• AT START-UP THEY ARE TYPICALLY CAUSED BY PROBLEMS WITH HARD DISK DEVICE DRIVERS.
• AFTER BOOTING TO THE WINDOWS DESKTOP IT COULD BE CAUSED BY CORRUPT APPLICATIONS, DEVICE
DRIVERS OR MEMORY PROBLEMS.
• ONCE A STOP ERROR IS DISPLAYED, WINDOWS IS TYPICALLY CONFIGURED TO RESTART THE SYSTEM
IMMEDIATELY SO IT CANNOT BE READ.
• IT IS ADVISABLE TO RECORD THE NUMBERS LISTED AFTER THE STOP MESSAGE E.G. STOP 0X000000IE AND
LOOK UP THE ERROR ON THE MICROSOFT SUPPORT SITE (HTTP://SUPPORT.MICROSOFT.COM) FOR
SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS
 BLUE SCREEN ERROR

• IT ALSO OCCURS WHEN A CRITICAL ERROR HAS OCCURRED THAT CAUSES THE SYSTEM TO
SHUT DOWN TO PREVENT FURTHER ERRORS. ITS NICKNAME COMES FROM THE FACT THAT THE
SCREEN TURNS BLUE IN COLOR, AND THE COMPUTER “DIES” OR “CRASHES”, MEANING IT IS
SHUT DOWN.
• ITS REMEDIES INCLUDE RESTARTING THE COMPUTER AFTER MAKING A NOTE OF THE ERROR
CODE THAT WAS DISPLAYED ON THE SCREEN SO AS TO BE ABLE TO RESEARCH IT.
 PROBLEM 1

• PROBLEM : COMPUTER RUNNING SLOWLY

• SOLUTIONS: FIND OUT IF THERE ARE TOO MANY PROGRAMS RUNNING OR RAM MEMORY IS
SHORT. IF TOO MANY PROGRAMS, CLOSE THE ONES YOU NO LONGER NEED.
• THE OTHER SOLUTION WOULD BE TO REMOVE BROWSER EXTENSIONS AND TOOLBARS THAT
YOU ARE NOT USING.
• ALSO RUN A HARD DRIVE CHECK USING FOR EXAMPLE HDTUNE.
• IF YOU HAVE NO ANTIVIRUS IT WOULD BE ADVISABLE TO INSTALL ONE AND SCAN YOUR PC
IN CASE IT MAY BE INFECTED BY A VIRUS.
 PROBLEM 2

• PROBLEM: COMPUTER KEEPS RESTARTING ON ITS OWN (CAN BE BECAUSE OF WINDOWS

UPDATE OR ANTIVIRUS PROBLEMS)
• SOLUTION : CHECK YOUR WINDOWS UPDATE AND ANTIVIRUS, IF THERE IS NO PROBLEM IT
SHOULD BE CAUSED BY HARDWARE.
 PROBLEM 3

• PROBLEM: KEYBOARD, MOUSE, ETC NOT WORKING PROPERLY

• SOLUTION: CHECK THE PORTS. RE-PLUG THE DEVICE THAT IS NOT WORKING OR UNINSTALL
AND REINSTALL THE DEVICE DRIVERS.
 PROBLEM 4

• PROBLEM: COMPUTER FREEZES (CAUSED BY SOFTWARE DAMAGES)

• SOLUTION: PRESS CONTROL+ALT+DELETE TO CLOSE THE PROGRAM USING TASK MANAGER.
 PROBLEM 5

• PROBLEM: ATTACHMENTS WON’T OPEN.

• SOLUTION: CHECK SOFTWARE, REINSTALL IT
 PROBLEM 6

• PROBLEM: GOOGLE PERFORMING ODDLY

• SOLUTION: UNINSTALL SOFTWARE FROM YOUR PC AND ONLY KEEP WHAT YOU REALLY NEED.
 SCANDISK

• A UTILITY IN MS-DOS AND WINDOWS TO CHECK YOUR HARD DISK FOR ERRORS AND TO
CORRECT PROBLEMS THAT ARE FOUND. THESE OCCUR WHEN WINDOWS LOCKS UP AND
MUST BE RESTARTED.
 HOW TO A SCANDISK

1. CLICK THE START BUTTON

2. CLICK COMPUTER
3. RIGHT CLICK THE HARDDRIVE THAT YOU WANT TO CHECK
4. CLICK PROPERTIES
5. SELECT TOOLS TAB
6. UNDER ERROR CHECKING, CLICK CHECK NOW
7. SELECT SCAN FOR AND ATTEMPT RECOVERY OF BAD SECTORS AND AUTOMATICALLY FIX FILE
ERRORS.
 FRAGMENTATION AND DEFRAGMENTATION

• FRAGMENTATION IS WHEN FILES ARE STORED IN DIFFERENT “PIECES” IN DIFFERENT PLACES ON

A HARD DRIVE, DEPENDING ON WHAT STORAGE SPACE WAS AVAILABLE WHEN THE FILE WAS
LAST MODIFIED. AS THE AMOUNT OF FREE SPACE ON A HARD DRIVE DECREASES, TYPICALLY
THE FRAGMENTATION INCREASES. ACCESSING FILES BECOMES SLOWER BECAUSE THE
COMPUTER HAS TO LOOK AROUND IN DIFFERENT PLACES ON THE HARD DRIVE TO FIND THE
DIFFERENT PIECES OF A FILE. TO ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM, A HARD DRIVE SHOULD BE
DEFRAGMENTED.
• A DEFRAGMENTER IS A SOFTWARE UTILITY THAT REARRANGES THE FRAGMENTS OR
DISCONTINUOUS PARTS OF EACH FILE STORED ON A COMPUTER HARD DISK SO THAT THE
SMALL, EMPTY STORAGE SPACES THAT ADJACENT TO FRAGMENTS CAN BE USED, EFFECTIVELY
CREATING NEW STORAGE SPACE AND POSSIBLY MAKING FILE ACCESS FASTER.
 HOW TO DEFRAGMENT YOUR WINDOWS
COMPUTER
1. PREPARE YOUR COMPUTER FOR DEFRAGMENTATION:
- BACKUP YOUR WORK TO ANOTHER MEDIA
- CLOSE ALL OPEN PROGRAMS
- ENSURE THE COMPUTER HAS A CONSTANT POWER SOURCE
2. CLICK START, CLICK MY COMPUTER OR COMPUTER
3. HIGHLIGHT THE LOCAL C DRIVE BY CLICKING ON IT ONCE.
4. SELECT THE PROPERTIES BUTTON AT THE TOP LEFT OF THE WINDOW
5. GO TO THE TOOLS TAB AND SELECT RUN DEFRAGMENTATION / OPTIMISE DEFRAGMENTATION.
 SAFE MODE

• SAFE MODE IS A SPECIAL WAY FOR WINDOWS TO LOAD WHEN THERE IS A SYSTEM CRITICAL
PROBLEM THAT INTERFERES WITH THE NORMAL OPERATION OF WINDOWS. ITS PURPOSE IS TO
ALLOW YOU TO TROUBLESHOOT WINDOWS AND TRY TO DETERMINE WHAT IS CAUSING IT TO
NOT FUNCTION CORRECTLY. ONCE CORRECTED, REBOOT AND WINDOWS WILL LOAD NORMALLY.
IT IS ALSO A REMEDY FOR SOME SOFTWARE PROBLEMS.
• IF THE COMPUTER BOOTS TO SAFE MODE TRY TO DETERMINE WHAT HAS CHANGED ON YOUR
SYSTEM THAT COULD CAUSE WINDOWS TO FAIL TO BOOT PROPERLY.
• TO FUNCTION IN SAFE MODE, THE USER SHOULD PRESS F8 IMMEDIATELY AFTER SWITCHING IT ON
AND THE ADVANCED OPTIONS MENU WILL APPEAR AND PRESS ENTER ONCE SAFE MODE HAS BEEN
SELECTED.