Screwed up Motherboard: Easy Symptoms and Troubleshoot

Is your Laptop doing well? Probably it’s not because if it was so, then you wouldn’t be reading solution for a dishevelled Motherboard. And a disoriented Motherboard simply means that you are just left up with a bare outer covering of the laptop. As you very well know that it’s your motherboard that needs to be in a perfect sphere. And in case it fails to do its work when its warranty period has already expired, I can tell it for sure that you are in a big trouble and you would just think that it’s almost a time to get a new Laptop. And as you know it very well that the cost of a motherboard is usually higher than the current value of a laptop.

So it would be better than you prior pay attention right from the time when your laptop has started showing so hardening symptoms. Now before you ask that how would one know what the symptoms are? I’ll give you an answer in the format of frequently occurring symptoms:

The trouble starts when you try to plug in the power adaptor and try to start the laptop.

• You don’t feel anything happening.

• You feel the lights to be on and you can even feel the fans to be working, but you lack to see anything on the screen. In other words on the screen (black) and you can’t hear the HD working after 10-15 sec.

• The light is on the ‘ON’ mode and the fan spins too but it manages to go off after a few seconds.

• Or the last situation is that after pressing the “ON” button the screen still doesn’t show anything rather it stays black and you can hear a quiet high-pitched sound coming from the laptop.

Troubleshooting:

So now when you are already messed up, it’s high time that you work out something productive.

Firstly just try to look out for the “lid closed” switch and then just give a few try, and help it to push a few times. Now where will you find the switch? It generally is a small switch near the hinges and it is the one that is put to use by pressing it when the lid (the screen) is closed. At times it happens that these switches go on a ‘OFF’ mode or ‘lid closed’ position that might be resulting you in a black screen.) or non-starting laptop. But some Laptops are equipped with a magnetic switch (newer Dell’s and most Apple’s), that avoids to be stroked off.

Also try to connect your laptop with another power adaptor. Though what I am saying isn’t easy to find, but this may be a reason for a black screen. As such a situation will definitely end you up in a failed or no supply of the needed voltage even if it has a green “power on” light that lights up when you plug it in. Also in case if you measure the output voltage and it gives a fine sign then probably this only means one thing that the adaptor may have failed and wouldn’t supply that voltage under load (typically 3.5A to 6A). You may definitely approve to the option of using a universal adaptor or go to an independent repair shop and just ask the shopkeeper to check the adaptor and then pay them what you get settled with.

And if none of the given options work out then probably you need to swap your card for a new laptop.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2013- Revamped for Good

After the release of the new Windows 8 OS, Microsoft unveiled its next version of Office, Microsoft office 2013. Office is Microsoft’s second most popular product (with Windows OS being the first). Office 2013 is graced with the same Modern style of Windows 8. The designed has been streamlined in a way to suit both Tablets as well as PCs. Although it is essentially the same product, but appears way too different from its predecessors and the added features work as cherries on Christmas cake. Office 2013 mainly focuses on improving sharing of documents through cloud (SkyDrive) where you can access, edit and share documents from remote locations. This article discusses about enhancements of old features of PowerPoint along with the new ones that have been added in Microsoft PowerPoint 2013.

Renovated Landing Page:

The lading page of PowerPoint 2013 has a complete transformation. The previous version of Office (Office 2010) was comparatively bland and a bit confusing for some, but the new version has a revamped landing page and offers quick access to templates (both local as well as online database). Online templates are categorized as Business, Orientation, Industry, Design Sets, Media, Marketing, Nature, etc, which makes it much easier to work with. While you can create a new presentation in the main window, you have the left sidebar to see the most recently accessed presentations.

Choosing Color Themes for Templates:

You can use the templates with different color schemes. For instance, if the theme you are using comes with a dark color scheme, you can click on the template to choose a different color scheme from the available list. In addition, you can also change styles and color of elements in that template.

Intensified Presenter View:

The Presenter View of PowerPoint 2013 displays Active slide on left side, Next slide at top right corner and the Notes for current slide are at the bottom right corner. Extra controls are available at top and bottom of the window. Although this view was available in previous versions but it was not active by default. In fact, a lot of people were not even aware of its existence because you had to go to the Slide Show tab and enable it from there. PowerPoint 2013 adds few extra tools like a Laser Pointer Pen and options to zoom particular parts of a slide, view all slides at a time and switch Slide show among connected display monitors.

Account Management:

Account management allows user to connect to SkyDrive account and add desired services to PowerPoint. By signing into your Microsoft account, you will be automatically connected to SkyDrive account. You can also use this account to sign in to MS Office 2013 on other devices as well. This lets you save your files directly to the cloud where you can edit your document from any other device. You can access these documents wherever you go so, you do not need to carry any documents or files in a removable drive anymore.

Insert online videos, audios and images:

PowerPoint 2013 lets you add videos, audios and images directly from internet without any need to download it on your computer. It is just like embedding an object on your presentation. This option was also available in the previous version of Office where you could copy the code of the video and paste it on your PowerPoint. But, now you can directly insert online video using the integrated Bing Video Search, YouTube, SkyDrive account or from Video Embedded Code.

Other than the above mentioned enhancements, Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 has other newly introduced features that every user will adore. The features, which were previously available, but almost too hard to discover, are now made easily approachable and obvious for new users. Because of its added versatility, the app is much more usable and engrossing than ever before.

Best Ways to Organize, Cleanup and Save Hard Drive Space

If your clever and swift computer is turning sluggish and freezes when you have few applications running then it is time for you to get your hard drive reorganized. In fact, even if your computer is new or doesn’t show any such signs of languor, you should still learn techniques to save your hard drive’s space, so that your computer remains clean and stay healthy for long. Before you start up with the cleaning process you should take a look at the current status of the space available in your computer. This will make you aware of how stuffed your computer is and how much optimization your computer need.

To check the status of your computer’s hard drive,

• Double Click on the icon of “My Computer”
• Right Click on “C: Drive” and
• Select “Properties” option from the menu

In the “General” tab of Properties Window, you will see a pie chart, describing you the status of your hard drive. If your computer’s used space is more than the free space available, it is time for you to go for a cleanup.

Run Disk Cleanup:

In the Properties window, where you checked the status of your computer’s hard drive, you will find and option of “Disk Cleanup” in the “General”. Hit on the Disk Cleanup button to run a scan, which will give you a list of all the files that can be deleted without any risk on your computer system. This list includes: Temporary files, Cookies, Recycle Bin, etc. click on each file to see a small description about what it does. If it says that it is completely save to remove, then check the checkbox and press delete. Once deleted, these files will not be available anymore.

Defragmentation:

In the “Tool tab” of the “Properties” dialog box, you will find a “Defrag Now” button. After clicking this button, your computer will analyze your computer’s hard drive space and it will let you know whether you should defrag your computer or not. If it does recommend to defrag, then go ahead with the process. Defragmentation does not delete any file from your computer. It simply rearrange the files and maximize the information.

Let go of Unused Programs:

Your computer must have several old programs that you don’t use anymore. Before letting go of these applications, you need to let go of the idea that you might need it someday. Of will do happen to need it one fine day, then reinstalling it is no big deal. Go to “Control Panel” and open “Add and Remove Programs” folder. The list of all currently installed applications will be displayed to you. You can delete any application from here. Go ahead and delete any application, which is not of use anymore. Other than this, if you have the habit of saving same file at more than one place, then you also need to look for all those duplicate files and delete extra copies of each file.

Invest on External Hard drives:

External hard drive is a great resource for any and every one. It is in fact, the best way to keep your data safe and your computer light at the same time. Instead of keeping all the files in your computer, you can use an external drive to keep your data. This will also work as a backup in case of any mishap plus it will also save a lot of your computer’s space.

Zip it!:

Zipping your files mean compressing it into a very small file. There are software available to compression your file. A compressed file takes a lot less space than a usual file and it can be easily extracted whenever you want. One such utility software to compress files is “WinZip”. This available in free as well as paid version, but the free version works perfect, so you would never really need to pay for its full version.