Simply uttering the phrase “Computer Diagnostics” can send shivers down most peoples spines. It doesn’t sound fun, and it definitely doesn’t sound easy. However, it doesn’t have to be scary.

Here is your quick and dirty Computer Diagnostics 101 course.


What is Computer Diagnostics?

Computer diagnostics is used to determine what problems are affecting your computer. A diagnostics test, will test your entire computer system including the BIOS and memory, software, and the hardware that is associated with your computer.

Common Problems

The most common problems will arise when your computer is low in resources including RAM and disc space. This type of problem is very common and will normally only slow your computer down, which while frustrating, will not cause any “damage”. The quick fix for this problem is to defrag your hard drive or get rid programs that you no longer use.

Computer Diagnostics Software

Computer diagnostics software is good at fixing the most common problems. Often, It will start at the foundation with a registry check. Your diagnostics software will learn a lot from the registry, ranging from common software settings to invalid entries that have a huge impact on your computers performance, even its load time. Be careful when using registry cleaning software without an expert. Most diagnostic software is automatically set to the safe setting. Keep it set at the default unless you feel comfortable takings risks.

What You Shouldn’t Do

Never mess with the BIOS settings. If you make a mistake, you could create a very expensive problem for yourself. If you decide to take this risk, make sure that you have a complete backup of your computer first. While these settings are tricky and even a little confusing, they play a major role within your computer. If you have no experience with BIOS, then leave it alone.

Computer Diagnostics Made Easy

The easiest way to take an active role in your computers operation is to choose your favorite computer diagnostics software and use it. This software will allow you to do a full system scan and then alert you to any problem that it finds. Most software available will also give you an option to automatically fix the problem. As long as the problem is not extremely serious, the software should be able to handle it.

This type of software also gives you the added advantage of being able to clean out your temporary internet files, clean your cache, and defrag your hard drive from within the software program. This is great for those of you who are not the least tech savvy.

What do we recommend?
Hit us up on twitter over @abstrategic and we’ll point you in the right direction. We have a few we use routinely but we generally advise based on your version of Windows. Cheers!

Asking a Professional

If your computer diagnostics software reports problems that are too complicated for the software to fix, then it is probably time to see a professional. This includes hardware problems and hard drive crashes.

A basic understanding of computer diagnostics may not be able to solve every problem that comes your way, however it will save you time, money, and a lot of frustration in the long run.

Many people find computer diagnostics to be complex and, at times, downright overwhelming…

In reality, it is as simple as any other program that you use on a daily basis. At the most fundamental level, a computer diagnostics program is simply a piece of software that checks your PC’s health and fixes problems like performance problems (like running slow or freezing), recovering missing data, and creates reports and diagrams to help you understand how well your computer is operating.

To keep things simple, think of it like this: Computer diagnostics software is like an auto mechanic. You pay the mechanic to tell you why your car isn’t running like it should and he looks at everything under the hood, tells you what is wrong, and then fixes the problem. With computer diagnostics software, you open the program, let it run and discover what is wrong with your computer and what can be done to optimize it. Then, with your permission, the software will fix all of the problems that it finds and optimizes your computer for you.

Why does this matter to you? You need to understand the benefits of running a routine diagnostic on your computer.

1.Prevention

Many programs are designed to let you know of a potential problem before it actually happens. This can range from system instabilities like having your computer consistently freeze up, getting the dreaded blue screen, slow performance, and even data loss.

All of these problems are symptoms of much larger and more serious problems. By preventing these problems from happening in the first place, you not only save yourself time, money, and a big headache, but also prevent much larger and more serious problems from happening in the future.

2.Faster Performance

All computer diagnostics programs have the ability to increase your computer speed and responsiveness. This is done by cleaning up your registry, which contains a large percentage of useless data that most people do not even realize exist. This data can come from almost anywhere including hidden spyware and even data from programs that were uninstalled months ago. All of this data will slow your computer down seconds at a time, which at the end of the week can equal hours or even days.

3.Finding Lost Data

Computer diagnostics programs are able to help you find data that may have been accidentally deleted or lost in when your computer unexpectedly crashes. If you are not tech savvy, the only other option would be to pay a technician hundreds of dollars an hour to do the same thing.

These are just some of the reasons that everyone needs to have their own computer diagnostics software on their computer. Don’t be intimidated, it is no different than any other software and will always walk you through the process every step of the way.

I want to know…

What computer diagnostics software do you use?

Do you use it regularly or only when it is an emergency?

We think this is the easiest, least expensive way to successfully burn the downloaded Vista Recovery Disc image we wrote about yesterday.

Thanks to the freeware burning software, CDBurnerXP, you’ll be able to burn the Recovery disc in a few clicks.

Please consider donating to the developer(s) of CDBurnerXP to assist with further development. It really is a great software and is compatible with both XP and Vista operating systems. Here’s a quick description of the software from the developer:

CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.

First, install the CDBurnerXP software with the default settings and then restart your computer. Once restarted, find the Vista Recovery Disc file (Vista_Recovery_Disc_x86.iso) you downloaded earlier and double-click on it. A CDBurnerXP prompt, similar to the picture below, should appear.

Insert your blank CD-R media and click on burn. You should have a successfully burned recovery disc when complete. Feel free to leave us a comment below if you think we overlooked an important fact in the process.

Image Source: Softpedia and CDBurnerXP

This weekend, one of our clients was shopping for a new personal computer and contacted us, frustrated about having to pay extra for the Vista recovery disc.

Yes, if you weren’t aware, PC manufacturers no longer provide customers a tangible OS recovery disc. Not surprisingly, Geek Squad wanted to charge her $70.00 to create one for her…lame.

This shows a complete disregard to the fact that you’re often paying over a thousand dollars of your hard earned cash. It’s probably not a big deal until you’re actually reading this post for help. We know it can be a frustrating ordeal when you need the original installation disc to repair your computer and you don’t have the disc.

Today, depending on the PC manufacturer, the set of recovery tools is often included on a separate area (partition) of the hard drive that can be accessed during computer startup (i.e. press F2, F12, etc). However, older machines may not have this feature, or you were instructed to create your own disc, which never happened. Either way, the disc is important because it contains computer repair features that can only be found on the disc.

According to NeoSmart, Microsoft has released a downloadable Vista recovery disc for users that don’t have access to the original. However, due to what we assume are bandwidth issues, NeoSmart only offers a torrent of the download, which may stand as a technical barrier to many in the “Do-It-Yourself” crowd. As a result, for those of you who don’t want to learn about torrents, we’ve decided to help out the community by releasing a mirror of the download.

We’ll keep it up as long as our allotted bandwidth can support it being hosted here. Please say thanks if the download helps you out. Need help burning the recovery disc? Please see our Burn Vista Recovery Disc tutorial for instructions on how to use the free burning software, CDBurnerXP, to successfully burn the disc image (iso).