RAM
 
Adding memory doesn't cost much or take too much work. Conventional wisdom labels it the best upgrade for the price, although not all tests agree with that.

If you're going to upgrade your PC's memory, keep these issues in mind:

First, your motherboard can only handle so much RAM, and before you buy any, find out how much it can take.

Second, if you're running a 32-bit version of Windows, it can only use about 3.5GB of RAM. (The 64-bit versions can take more than your motherboard).

CPU
 
Should you upgrade the chip at the heart of your PC? Perhaps, but only if you're comfortable working deep inside your PC and the new chip is considerably better than the old one. What's considerably better? It should have either more cores or at least a 50-percent gain in clock speed.

I have yet to find a Crucial-like web site for CPUs. To find a compatible CPU is to check with the manufacturer of your computer or--if its home- or locally-built--the manufacturer of the motherboard.

The Graphics Card
 
If you're a serious gamer, you want a powerhouse graphics card. If you're not, you don't. 

Storage
 
Are you ready to replace your hard drive with something faster? A solid state drive (SSD) has no moving parts, and thus can read and write data with a speed that a 7200rpm hard drive can only envy. Tests done by the PC World Test Center showed improvements in disk-related tasks of up to and over 30 percent.

But there's a heavy price you pay--literally. By the gigabyte, SSDs are much more expensive than hard drives. You can buy a 1TB internal hard drive these days for well under $100. You can't buy a 120GB SSD for twice that.

If you're considering the move to 40/100gigabit Ethernet, here are five things to keep in mind:

1. Check the cables. Both 40- and 100-gigabit Ethernet use different fiber and copper cabling and transceivers than previous versions. Simply attaching higher-speed devices to an existing cabling plant won't work. On the plus side, moving away from link aggregation toward single higher-speed links may actually reduce cabling requirements.

2. Verify device distances. In general, higher-speed Ethernet works over the same distances as previous generations, such as the 100-meter limit across short-reach fiber optics. But as with any deployment of new equipment, it's wise to test whether the new devices will operate without CRC errors across their intended distances.

3. Check network management and security device speeds. Network monitoring and security devices that worked just fine at gigabit or 10-gigabit speeds may have trouble keeping up at 40- or 100-gigabit rates. Check with vendors (and conduct your own tests, if necessary) to determine the highest supported lossless rate for traffic monitoring and traffic capture.

4. Be prepared to drink from a fire hose. At 40- and 100-gigabit rates, monitoring equipment must be prepared to capture and analyze staggering amounts of data. For instance, a stream of 1,518-byte frames at 100Gbps line rate will require nearly 750GB of storage per minute. Make sure monitor ports in switches, along with any attached analyzers, can keep up with much higher traffic rates.

5. Plan a parallel deployment. The simplest way to get started with higher-speed technologies is a parallel rollout alongside existing network operations. If everything works well, a transition to the new links should be smooth.

     One of the easiest ways to render your computer unusable is to mess with the operating system's files and settings--one accidental deletion of a single file can require a complete reinstall of Windows and all of your applications.

     To protect users, Windows hides important system files and folders, thereby preventing accidental deletion and modification. It also enhances the readability of file listings by hiding known file extensions (such as .xlsx for Excel files or .docx for Word files) so that it’s less confusing for you to find what you’re looking for.

     However, in some instances you want to see certain system files and folders (such as when you have to troubleshoot a problem), or you need to confirm a certain file's type (to be sure that you have the right one). Windows offers an easy way to reveal hidden system files or file extensions. Here’s how to do it.

  You may need to enable the Folder Options tab.

1. Click Start, Control Panel to bring up a Windows Explorer window.

2. Click  Folder Options... in the File menu. (Note: Windows Vista and 7 turn this menu off by default, so first you may need to press the Alt key to enable the menu.)

 
 Use the Folder Options menu to show or hide hidden items. 

3. Click the View tab.

4. To view hidden files, under the Advanced Settings menu look for 'Hidden Files and Folders'.

5. Click the radio button for Show hidden files, folders, and drives.

6. To view hidden file extensions, under Advanced Settings uncheck the box for Hide extensions for known file types.

When you are done, just click Apply and OK, and your changes will take effect immediately.

     You have to download first 2007 Microsoft Office Add-in from Microsoft download center.

     This download allows you to export and save to the PDF and XPS formats in 2007 Microsoft Office programs. It also allows you to send as e-mail attachment in the PDF and XPS formats in a subset of these programs. Specific features vary by program.

     This Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS Add-in for 2007 Microsoft Office programs supplements and is subject to the license terms for the 2007 Microsoft Office system software.

To install this download:

1. Download the file by clicking the 2007 Microsoft Office Add-in  and save the file to your hard disk. 

2. Double-click the SaveAsPDFandXPS.exe program file on your hard disk to start the Setup program.

3. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

 Instructions for use:

      After you install this download open the document you want to publish and then, depending on the program you are using, select Save or Publish to PDF or XPS from the Office or File menu.

     Angry Birds game is a very popular game . It has been recently released a PC version which can be played on a PC. However, many people find an graphic error when launching the game:

     But for some Windows users, there’s an issue, in which they encounter an error which says:
“Texture is too large: 2048 x 2048, maximum supported size: 1024 x 1024”

Here are some tricks to do:

1.  Change Screen Resolution from Game Settings

    Open the directory where Angry Birds is installed, find ‘config.lua‘ file and open it in any text editor, like Notepad.

     Lower down the values of ‘height’ and ‘width’. For optimal gameplay experience, minimum 1024×600 is recommended. But you can lower the values from these recommended settings if you need to.

Then try to launch AngrBirds.exe if it works... If still doesn't work proceed to Step 2...

2.  Update your Display driver

This solution worked for most of the users. To update your display card driver:

Goto start menu > Search box

Type ‘devmgmt.msc‘ (without quotes)

This will open Device Manager. Now expand ‘Display adapters’ and right click the display adapter that is shown.

 Choose ‘Update driver software’ and from the new windows that appears, click first option, “Search automatically for updated driver software”

This will automatically detect, search and install the latest driver for your display card.

Then try to launch AngrBirds.exe if it works.. If still doesn't work proceed to Step 3..

3. Manually Install Display Driver 

      For many users, automatic search for display driver didn’t work. They manually searched and installed the latest drivers from the official websites of their video card manufacturers and this worked for them.

Here are the links to Graphics Cards Drivers Download Section of:

Intel : http://downloadcenter.intel.com/

Nvidia : http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

ATI : http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

To know your Display Card’s model name and number, open device manager and expand ‘Display adapters‘

 NOTE:

      You can try all of the 3 solutions given above. But follow them in the order as mentioned. Do the automatic search for drivers first, then go for manual search and then config.lua settings file in the end if first two fails.

       You need to make sure that your display card supports OpenGL 2.0. But it is known that some embedded display adapters are totally incompatible even after update to latest available driver.

 Then  launch AngrBirds.exe it should work now...

          When you have problems with Windows 7, follow this guide to enable Safe Mode and troubleshoot your PC with ease.

Computers are complex and delicate machines, with millions of lines of computer code manipulating millions of transistors just to bring you to your desktop! It's not surprising, then, that things can sometimes go terribly wrong while you're updating your BIOS, downloading new drivers, or just surfing the Web. But that doesn't mean you have to throw away this incredibly complex (and sometimes incredibly expensive) device and replace it with a new one.

When a computer goes haywire and the operating system has trouble starting or reaching the desktop, the problem often involves misconfigured recently installed software or drivers (special software that communicates with your hardware). The installation may go smoothly--but when you reboot the system, you start getting errors. If you can't get to the desktop, you can't uninstall the bad program or drivers, and you may feel trapped.

Luckily, Microsoft has included a tool within Windows called Safe Mode to help you get around (and hopefully out of) this problem. It's a bare-bones version of your Windows operating system that includes only the basic drivers needed to boot your system safely to the desktop without any settings or problematic software interfering. Once there, you can troubleshoot further, to eliminate the problem and boot the system normally again.

To get to Safe Mode, take these steps:

1. Turn on (or reboot) your computer.  You can find Safe Mode in your Advanced Boot Options menu.

2. Wait for the computer to initialize the hardware and prepare to load the operating system.

3. Press and hold the F8 key while you wait for the Windows logo to appear. if the Windows logo appears or if the operating system begins to load, you may need to restart the computer and try again.

4.The Advanced Boot Options screen for Windows will appear. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to select Safe Mode, and press Return.

5. If you need access to the Internet or network while in Safe Mode, select Safe Mode with Networking.

6. Windows will boot into Safe Mode. When the desktop appears, it will display 'Safe Mode' in all four corners to let you know that you're in this special mode.

7. When you're finished, click Start, Shut Down, Restart to reboot your computer as you normally would.

8. If the problem still prevents you from getting to the desktop, you may need to go back into Safe Mode or try something more drastic.

You can speed up your PC's boot time by cutting out startup items in Windows.

When you start your computer, Windows isn't the only program that loads. For instance, you may have noticed icons in the notification area (also known as the system tray) in the far-right portion of the taskbar. These icons often represent programs that start when the system starts. You also may have seen certain programs, such as software for syncing your phone or MP3 player, launching themselves along with Windows. Additionally, some applications begin running silently in the background every time you boot the PC.

All of these automatically opening programs consume system memory, and can drag down performance. Fortunately, managing startup programs isn't difficult; by taking a few steps, you can find out what is running on your computer and disable the items you don't need.

Method 1: Configure a Program Directly

If you've noticed a program starting automatically, and you want the behavior to stop, sometimes the easiest solution is to explore the program's settings directly.

1. Open the program.

2. Find the settings panel. Typically it will be available under a menu labeled Settings, Preferences, Options, or Tools.

3. Find the option to disable the program from running at startup. The language for this type of option varies, but it should be easy to find if it exists.

        When you restart the computer, the program will no longer launch. You'll still be able to start it manually, so don't be deterred if the application asks you if you are sure you want to disable its automatic startup.

Method 2: Use the System Configuration Utility (MSConfig)

You can use msconfig.exe to change Windows' startup items.The System Configuration Utility--also called MSConfig--is a useful tool for understanding and controlling startup programs. Microsoft intends MSConfig to act primarily as a troubleshooting tool, but its simple and powerful interface makes it a good option for startup management as well.

1. Open the Start menu and type msconfig into the Search box.

2. Click the msconfig search result. The utility will open in a new window.

3. Click the Startup tab. You'll see a list of programs that start when your computer starts.

4. To stop a program from automatically launching when you boot the PC, uncheck the box next to its entry.

5. When you are finished deselecting startup items, click OK. If you made any changes, you'll be prompted to restart the computer. You don't have to restart it immediately, but the changes won't take effect until you do.

           When you restart the computer, MSConfig will alert you to the changes. In the window that pops up, check the box next to Don't show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows starts, and click OK to prevent future alerts. You can always return to MSConfig to reverse the changes or make additional tweaks.

Warning

Use caution when disabling items in MSConfig. Many entries have names that aren't self-explanatory. Research each entry before unchecking its box; use the Web to search for the name of the entry, and to get an idea of its function. Without doing your homework, you could end up disabling an important application such as your antivirus program.

Other Methods

In Windows or in third-party applications, you can find more ways to manage startup programs. For instance, Microsoft currently recommends a utility called Autoruns, which is more advanced than MSConfig. The two methods above should suit your needs, but feel free to explore other options if you are curious.