Windows Tools, Help & Guides

This is the second part of our series on the Windows Media Center. Did you miss the first part?

In this section we’ll take a look at the ways Windows Media Center can organise and present your movie collection.

Media Browser:

The “bare-bones” WMC movie component is pretty good, but a bit stark.  Fortunately the clever developers out in the world have come up with software packages to add functionality, flexibility, and better looks.

There are several to choose from but my choice for an enhancement to the WMC movie component  is “Media Browser“.  It sits as a separate icon in your WMC start page and handles your music collection as well, but we’ll focus on the movie parts for now. The front page is below. It’s fairly straightforward, adds a lot of functionality, it looks good – and it’s free.

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If you get a Blue Screen of Death (BSoD), your first inclincation may be to turn of your computer, turn it back on again and hope if never comes back. Sometimes, this is a good option because the blue screen may have been a freak accident and, because the stars aligned that one time, may not happen again. However, if you receive more than one blue screen, I suggest you take some time to diagnose the issue and try to come to a resolution. In this guide, I’ll show you what each part of the blue screen means, how to diagnose the problem, and where to go for help when you’re not sure what to do it.

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Slow computers need lots of patience

USB has become a daily part of our computer life. Almost any gadget or external device use the USB port to connect to your computer. Some devices also rely on our USB ports to get power or charge their battery.

Problem is that the USB ports doesn’t support true high-speed data transfers (at least until version 3 becomes generally available). Granted, USB is an ingenious way of connecting devices to your computer. It really revolutionized the home computer when it became a system standard. However, too much of a good thing, often results in sluggish computers and slooow file copying. Why’s that ?

In this article I’m going to try answer that and give you a few tips and tricks on how to improve your USB (and computer) performance and to avoid those sluggish moments.

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Reluctantly, I use iTunes as I have an Apple phone and I want to keep it synchronized with my PC. As with most electronic devices that sync with your PC, you are stuck using the proprietary software needed to communicate with the device. iTunes isn’t all that bad, but I set out looking for good alternative to iTunes and here is what I found.

In this guide, I look at seven iTunes alternatives and compare them side by side to give you an option to use them as an alternative to iTunes.

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In this guest post, James Ricketts explores resolving computer error related to printer issues. Learn more about James at the conclusion of this post.

Resolving Computer Errors Related To Printer Issues

How frustrating is it when you give a print command, and instead of a printed document in your hand, you are left staring at an error on your computer screen?

Today’s printers when compared to the ones used in yesteryears seem to have come a long way. Printers used today are savvier, offer more features, require less maintenance, and cost less. But one aspect remains unchanged, printers remain as error-prone as before. The good news is that printer errors are fairly simple to resolve.

The next time you encounter a printer error, such as the hpqgpc01.exe error, perform the following steps to diagnose the cause and resolve the error.

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Hardware is by far the ugliest part of a computer because information on this subject is obscure and difficult to find.

For example, imagine you need to know what kind of RAM is installed or whether or not you have free slots on your motherboard: you’ll have a hard time finding an upgrade. You need a free slot to install new RAM, and you may need to use the same type of RAM on all slots.

Windows has an information tool, to see it press WinKey + R, type msinfo32.exe and press Enter. But the information is not exactly what you are looking for.

The device manager also has a lot of good information but sometimes you may need something more sophisticated.

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