By MellowD / Tips and Advice / • • • • • • • • • • • • • / 0 Comments

(DIY) Computer upgrade: how to replace optical drive on hp touchsmart 520

Before you begin You need a Phillips head screwdriver.

Remove all CDs and DVDs from the optical drive.

Turn off the computer, and disconnect all cables.

Transfer the computer to a clear, flat, stable work surface over a non-carpeted floor.

Place the computer face-down on a soft flat surface.

WARNING:Make sure the computer is disconnected from power before starting.

let's start.

Remove the VESA cover Loosen each of the three captive Phillips head screws Remove the rear cover to access the internal components Memory and CMOS Battery Hard Drive – HP touchsmart 520 System FAN – HP touchsmart 520 CD/DVD Drive – HP touchsmart 520 Remove the Phillips head screw for the CD/DVD drive Push out on the small bracket at the rear of the optical drive and.

Pull the drive out the side of the computer compare optical drive sata and power connector.

Eject button and emergency eject hole Detach the two small screws from the bracket at the rear of the optical drive Attach the bracket to the optical drive use a paper clip and straighten it out.

Insert it into the hole emergency eject(it's a very small hole near eject button) Remove the CD/DVD drive bezel To replace the CD/DVD drive bezel,align the tabs on the bezel.

Then swing and press the bezel into place Slide the drive into its cage , until.

The screww hole on the rear bracket of the drive aligns whit the screw hole inside the computer Align the rear cover onto the back of the computer.

Making sure the cover is correctly placed over the side I/O ports.

Press down firmly until the cover snaps into place.

The bottom edge will not be flush against the front bezel Replace the three screws on the rear cover Replace the VESA cover how to replace optical drive on hp touchsmart 520.

By MellowD / Tips and Advice / • • • • • • • / 0 Comments

Windows 10 Tips and Tricks for Cortana

Cortana can perform context-based search and to illustrate exactly what that means, imagine you’re working on a PowerPoint presentation you save it and right when you need it you just can’t find it maybe it’s not saved in the place you thought it would be.

Rather than searching through file explorer you can actually just ask what Cortana to show you PowerPoint presentations from today if you have a Windows Phone or even an Android phone with Cortana installed, Cortana can send SMS text messages.

That’s right, actually use phone number to send messages from your phone.

All you have to do is say “send an SMS message to” and the name of the recipient a box will pop up for you go ahead and enter your message If you’re sitting at a local Starbucks and a song comes on and you wanna know who plays that song so you can add it to your collection you can actually asked Cortana to identify the song for you.

You can either verbally give her these instructions by saying “what song is this” or you can click on the microphone icon and then the musical icon to have her start listening Beyond identifying songs, Cortana can also play any artist, album or song that you have in your Groove Music collection.

“Here’s Supremacy” Now even if you’re not a Groove Music subscriber you can import your music into the groove music app, so you can use this functionality.

If you want to play a song or artist or album that is not in your groove music collection, Cortana will still give you different options that you can use to play that song.

In addition to finding music and then playing it, Cortana can also pause and resume music using voice commands.

“Pausing” Cortana can also change a number of different settings in Windows.

So if you can’t find where the Bluetooth setting is in order to turn it off or on you can actually just ask for Cortana to turn off or on for you.

“Bluetooth is now off”Rather than opening your web browser and then typing an address into the address bar to navigate to that website, you can actually just type the full web addresses into Cortana hit enter and then that website will launch for you.

There are also a number of shortcut keys that you can use to launch different Cortana functions Windows key + Q will show the Cortana home, Windows key +S will allow you to immediately start typing into Cortana.

Windows key + C will send Cortana into listening mode so you can provide voice commands.

There’s no need to perform complex conversions on your own.

All you need to do is ask Cortana to convert.

Now, you can do things like convert dollars to euros or feet to meters right in Cortana.

In addition to conversions, Cortana can also do all kinds of simple calculations.

So rather than opening up the calculator app to perform a calculation, just go ahead and type the whole calculation into Cortana and she’ll do that for you.

Cortana is also a built in dictionary so rather than having to go to dictionary.

Com or something like that to find the definition of a word, just go ahead and type define and then the word that you need defined,and Cortana will give you the answer.

You don’t need to go to fandango.Com to find out when James Bond is playing.

Just type movie times and then the name of the movie that you wanna see and Cortana will show you times in your area.

 

By MellowD / Tips and Advice / • • • • • • / 0 Comments

Why Does My Laptop Screen Flicker?

Why does my laptop screen flicker?

This is getting really annoying, and even causing me eye strain.

The computer might not be going in to hibernator energy saving modes correctly.

How would I fix that? Control-alt-delete might be a solution for that.

That’s Microsoft’s default solution for everything.

If it is a software problem, you might want to uninstall any apps you’ve got that are taking up resources to the point it can’t present a decent image.

It is like trying to run a video game and other graphics intensive applications.

It isn’t like I’m gaming a lot.

The video card could be going out.

That’s especially true if you are over-clocking it or if it is getting overheated.

It isn’t like I’m trying to run “The Last of Us” on a cheap PC without a video card.

The screen itself might be burning out.

I didn’t even know that could happen.

If it is cracked, it could interfere with the image.

I would notice a cracked screen.

Flipped bits could cause something that looks like flickering.

The only thing flipping out is me worrying if I need a new laptop.

Or you might have messed up the refresh rate,and the flickering is because it can’t keep up with the refresh rate.

That at least is easy to fix without refreshing the whole computer.

I wonder if that is like replacing the gas cap.

Never heard of it.

You keep the gas cap and replace the rest of the car.

What’s another solution? Take the computer to the repair shop and let them see if there is a burned out resistor or component on the video card that needs to be fixed.

 

 

By MellowD / Tips and Advice / • • • • • • • • • • • • / 0 Comments

How to repair dead laptop {Solved}, How to find out shorting in a laptop ✔

How to find out shorting in laptop motherboard First Set your Multimeter on Diode or continuity mode Connect the black probe to the ground of the Board Fix it to any of the ground hole or use crocodile clip And reconfirm that the ground is connected properly So the ground is connected properly.

Let’s troubleshoot and find out the shorting Test the SMD Coil on the board with multimeter Testing Method : One Probe connected to Ground and other Probe on any side of the coil If the coil is Ground, You will here the buzzer sound Check all the coils, with continuity test If any of the coil is short, Motherboard will not Turn On Battery Detection Resister.

Troubleshooting Procedure: Remove Coil one by one with the help of hot air gun and locate to the fault section Let’s start with the first coil and test the board As you can see the first coil has been removed We will remove all the components, in the section (ie IC, capacitors, mosfet.

) We have found the faulty Mosfet, from the same section Mosfet Testing Method Touch Porbe to both side, you should get reading (240 to 960 = Ok) Recomended (450 – 550 = Perfect condition) if not then the mosfet is Short or Leak Replace the faulty part with same or equivalent part with the help of data sheet.

By MellowD / Tips and Advice / • • • • • • • • • • • / 0 Comments

Using Two or More Monitors with One Computer in Windows 10

This video shows how to use multiple monitors with one computer in Windows 10.

Dual monitors can create extra screen space and allow for multiple windows to be shown at once.

To connect the second monitor, make sure that your computer has at least two video ports; one for the main monitor and one for the secondary monitor.

Connect the monitor to the computer using the video connection cables.

Two common types are VGA and DVI.

Turn the monitor on, then turn on the computer.

To customize monitor display settings, firstright-click anywhere on the desktop.

Click Display Settings.

Use the Multiple Displays drop-down menu to select one of the following options.

Duplicating the desktop displays the same image across both monitors.

Extending the Windows desktop expands thework area across both monitors.

Showing desktop only on 1 will display on1 and show nothing on display 2.

Showing desktop only on 2 will display on2 and show nothing on display 1.

Choose your display option, then click Apply.

Click Keep changes to keep the setting you chose.

 

By MellowD / Tips and Advice / • • • • • • • • • • • • / 0 Comments

Top 20 Best Windows 10 Tips and Tricks To Improve Productivity

20 ultra-fast Windows 10 Little Tricks to help you be more production in your routine works.

So, let’s get started!

1.

If you are working in several apps and want to minimize all windows except the active one, then just grab the Title Bar of the window that you want to remain open and shake it back and forth.

After a few shakes, all other windows will minimize leaving only that window open which you are shaking.

2.

If you often see file or folder properties, then you no longer need to right-click and choose Properties from the context-menu.

Just hold down the ALT key and double-click ona file or folder to open the object’s Properties menu, and if your hands are on keyboard then you can also press ALT+Enter Key.

3.

You can also pin the Recycle Bin icon tothe Start menu to access it more conveniently.

4.

When exploring through All apps sectionof the Start menu, click the numbers or alphabetical section to open a jump list and then click the letter or number to jump to that section of the Start.

5.

In Windows 10, the most useful keyboard shortcuts are :

Windows Key + I for Settings menu, Windows Key + A for Action Center, Windows + E for File Explorer, Windows + X to open Power Start menu, F2 to rename the selected file or folder, Alt+F4 to close active app or window, and if you don’t already know, Ctrl+Shift+N to create a New Folder.

6.

A quick way to clean up your desktop when you want to remove all the clutter from your desktop and want to texture the desktop background, right-click on an empty space of your desktop,point to View, and then uncheck Show Desktop Icons option.

7.

When you need to concentrate on your work or when watching a movie and don’t want Windows to disturb you through notifications, then press the Windows+A key to bring the Action Center window and then click on Quiet Hours.

Later, press Win+A key again and turn off Quiet Hours option.

8.

If you often access a particular section within from the Settings app, then keep in mind that you can Pin any specific section of the Settings app to the Start menu, just by right-clicking and then click Pin to Start.

You can also pin your favorite folder or website when using Edge browser to the Start menu.

9.

If you ever wish to open an additional instance of an application like Word, Excel,Chrome, FireFox or any application which support multiple instances, then use the middle button of mouse (or the scroll wheel) on the app button from Taskbar.

10.

When searching for particular contents using Windows Search, you can click on MyStuff link, if you want to get a richer search experience with filters, sorting capability and better results.

11.

You can also use Taskbar Search for Calculations and Conversion and you don’t need to open the calculator or go online to perform a conversion.

Such as you can type the math equation or conversion formula in the search bar, and you can get an instant result or conversion right into the search result.

12.

Hold down the Windows Key and then press Print Screen to quickly capture the entire screen and then automatically save it to Screenshot folder under Pictures.

13.

When ever you need to restore or maximize a window, just click and hold the title bar and drag it to the edge of your screen, or pull out to restore.

14.

As you might know that you can create multiple Virtual Desktop in Windows 10 by clicking Task View icon and then clicking New Desktop.

As you can open different apps over different virtual desktop to save yourself from cluttered desktop but not only that but you can move running apps between the Virtual Desktop, by right-clicking on app icon in Task View and then click move to.

15.

From the Performance tab of the Task Manager,you can know the exact system up time.

16.

In Windows 10 and 8.

1, to reduce the boot load time you can enable Fast Startup option through Control Panel, Power Options.

If the option is missing, then you can open the command prompt in admin mode and then type powercfg -h on.

That’s it and there you have the Fast Startup and Hibernate.

17.

As a power user, if you have to use Command Prompt several times in a day to work inside different folders then right-click on an empty area within a folder while holding down the shift key and there you have a new option,Open command window here, which save you on time when you need to open command prompt and move to that particular folder.

18.

Right-click on an empty area of the Desktop,point to New, and then click Shortcut.

In the location box type, slide to shutdown, click Next, and type a name like Slide To Shutdown.

Click Finish and here you have a new interesting way of shutting down your PC.

19.

If you move several items using the Send To command, then next time hold down the Shift key while right-clicking and then point to Send To and there you have several more locations to use, and if you customize the Send To menu by adding your favorite place in Send To menu, then type Shell:SendTo in the address bar and hit the enter key.

Right-click Point to New and then click Shortcut.

In the location box, type your favorite folder path inside the Quotation.

Click Next, name the new Send To item and the click Finish.

Now, next time you can move or copy items to your favorite folder by just right-clicking and pointing to Send To.

20.

If you are the only user who use the system and you don’t want to see any login or lockscreen during system startup and want directly login to windows, then open the Run command,type CONTROL USERPASSWORDS2 and hit the enter key.

Select the user from the list to which you want automatically login into, and then uncheck the option “User must enter a username and password to use this computer”.

Type the current password, if there are any and the next time upon boot up you will not be asked for any user credentials and no loginor lock screen will display.

 

By MellowD / Tips and Advice / • • • • • • • • / 0 Comments

How to Speedup Windows 10 Tips and Tweaks

How to Speedup Windows 10

1.

Reduce Animation Type Windows Key + X Click on System Click on Advanced system setting Check Adjust for Best Performance Click Apply

2.

Disable Startup Application Type Ctrl+Shift+Esc on keyboard Click on Startup Right click to Disable unwanted application while startup

3.

Uninstall program you don’y use Search control panel>click on uninstall program Or Go on My computer and click on my Pc Click on Uninstall or change a program and then just click on application to remove

4.

Fast Startup Right Click on Power icon on right bottom side of window click on power options click on Choose what power button do Click on change settings that are currently unavailable Check the Turn on Fast Startup click on save changes

5.

Check for viruses and spyware If you don’t have any antuvirus use windows defender search windows defender scan once a week to avoid virus and spyware which slowdown your pc or laptop

6.

Turn Off Search Indexing Type services.

Msc on Run Find windows search Right click and click on properties On startup type select Disabled Click on apply.

By MellowD / Tips and Advice / • • • • • • • • / 0 Comments

How to Convert MP4 to MP3 in Windows 10

OK, recently I got asked about converting.

Ugh, converting video files you know like MP4 to audio files – MP3s (Sigh) Yeah, first it’s best to understand what the hell you’re talking about so here’s some geek speek.

MP4 is a newer file format and supports video encoding.

Compared with MP3 which is older and isonly for audio files.

MP4 is a multimedia container and can technically support not just audio and video but, also text and images oh boy.

So why would you want to convert an mp4to an mp3? The most reasonable answer would be for conserving drive space.

Although smartphones and dedicated music players can handle MP4s no sweat, it’s often far easier to convert the files to mp3 to lighten their footprint.

I mean really, if what you want to do is listen to the audio you certainly can talk about the unnecessary excess baggage! Ahh and this one cracks my ass up.

No matter what anybody tells you, changing the file extension from mp4 to mp3 in Windows Explorer is not I repeat not converting the file.

It’s just renaming it.

It might work in apinch, but you still have this huge-ass file and all you really need or want is the Damned audio.

Okay so enough talk already let’s convert the files for free.

In the App Store for windows 8 or 10, you really should move up to 10, you need to search up “mp4 to mp3”

First you want to make sure your system meets requirements.

Most likely it does, but it never hurts to check.

Click “Get the App” and it will take you to the download page in the App Store.

Click”Free” Gotta love free! Then when it’s done installing click “Open”.

It doesn’t take long to install and it’s so easy to use, you’ll think you messed up.

Simply select the video and it will start converting and saving it to another pre-selected folder.

Now if you don’t like the folder the program shows – change it – before you convert any files.

But once you’re happy with the folders, select your video and watch out fast it starts converting it right away and save it to another folder without losing your original.

So simple even us old farts can do it.

Now there are other free converters out there, but this one is by far the simplest and quickest and since it comes from my billionaire buddy Bill Gates, I’m reasonably certain that doesn’t have any viruses or malware.

 

By MellowD / Tips and Advice / • • • • • / 0 Comments

Windows 10 Tips & Tricks

Today I’m gonna go ahead and show you some tips and tricks that you can use on Windows 10.

Whether you upgraded or not yet you might just be curious and here’s some of the stuff that after playing with it for a few days I found out that you can do.

Multitasking is great on Windows 10! Not only will you be able to snap like your familiar with before.

Lets say we want to put our store on one side and our Steam store on the other side.

You can use hot keys for that.

The WINDOWS key either direction while your in a program will work for that.

Windows to one side and then you’ll see snap assist pops up on the other side here saying, “What do you want to put on the other side?” Oh, we changed our minds,we’re going to play a little bit of Minesweeper.

Yeah, Minesweeper is back.

That’s pretty cool.

But say you want to snap more than one thing at a time you can also use WINDOWS-UPand DOWN to snap up and down.

Or you can take it and pull it into the corner.

Lets pullit into our bottom corner; it snaps into that corner.

Lets go ahead and snap this rightup here just kinda so you can see multiple things at the same time.

And lets put thatthere, that there and we’re still hanging out on Steam over here.

So, you have all these different options.

Again, those hot keys are WINDOWS-UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT.

But not only can you switch between apps that way, ALT-TAB, the good ol’ faithful is still there unchanged from prior versions of Windows.

The tried and true.

You also have Windows TAB now, will take you into task view.

Task view is a new thing you’ll see just downhere on the task bar.

You can either take that on or off of the task bar, it’s upto you.

But it shows you everything you have open in one spot.

And you’ll see down here desktop one and desktop two; now that’s because I’ve chosen to open multiple desktops which is also an options here in Windows.

So it’s like, “Aw, look at this nice clean desktop that I have.

” And if you want to swap between desktops you’ll do WINDOWS-CNTRL,and the other direction.

So you can work on multiple desktops at a time, you can work on multiple apps at a time and really increase your functionality that way.

And the hot keyto switch between desktops again is WINDOWS-CNTRL, and then LEFT or RIGHT.

If you want to make a new desktop thats, WINDOWS-CNTRL-D.

If you want to close a new desktop it’s, WINDOWS-CNTRL-F4.

And swapping between, if you’re like, “Oh, I have only Hearth Stone on this desktop,”and I want to go into task view and say, move one of these messier things, perhaps from one desktop to another.

So lets go into that and say, “Lets put Minesweeper in the same desktop,” you can literally just click it and drag it down there.

Also, new in Windows 10 there are Universal Apps.

These are basically to make the experience the same whether you are on a tablet, whether you’re on a phone, etc.

But if you’re like, “Hey, but Trisha what if I don’t have a Windows’ phone or Window’s tablet?” Well you’ll be happy to know in the Start Menu, yes the Start Menu is back, it includes a little live tile love over here.

You will see Phone Companion, which I am going to pop open for you.

Phone Companion basically lets you have that Universal App experience if you want those apps on aphone that is not a Windows’s phone.

So, if you have an Android phone or and iPhoneor and iPad or and Android tablet, etc, you can still get those.

So lets go ahead and say I wanted to link my Android phone up to some of the things I was really enjoying on Windows 10.

You can put the new Windows’ Photo app, you can put your Windows’ Musicapp, you can put one note on there, you can put Skype on there, etc.

And this is justa really easy way to do all that in one spot.

So thats kinda fun.

Something else new onWindows 10 is Cortana, Cortana’s in everything.

And before you get all, “Wait, voice recognitionis not that good.

I’d rather just type it.

” You can ask Cortana by just typing and that’ssuper easy.

Or you can ask her things like lets.

She’s good at trivia lets try, “What’sup?” Oh, she says, “A brilliant star during World War II, Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarrco-invented a secret communication system that can change radio frequencies to keep enemies from decoding messages.

Used today in cell phone technology, very cool.

Thankyou so much Cortana.

But thats not all that Cortana can do.

Cortana is also in MicrosoftEdge if you’ve played with the Edge browser.

So let me go ahead and “merp, merp” get rid of those and lets maximize this so we can look at Edge.

So I’m in Microsoft Edge and you can see Cortana is already up here in the address bar saying, “I got directions, hours andmore!” Let’s go ahead and click that.

And she puts all that stuff right there onthe side so I don’t even have to go away from the page and she’s gotten it togetherfor me which is a very, very cool feature to have in my opinion, I like that a lot.

Also if there’s something you don’t understand on the page, let’s say, “I have no idea what, blue agave tequilas are.

” I can highlight, “blue agave tequilas,” and then click,Ask Cortana.

And right here in the side again without having to open up a new tab and search for it, Cortana will tell me via Bing what I need to know about tequila.

Edge also introduces,Inking.

So when you’re on the page here you can see just up here it looks like a littlepen writing on a notepad.

It says, “Make a Web Note.

” So you can ink, I feel like,“Oh, no he made me ink,” from Finding Nemo.

But you can ink all over whatever you want.

You’re like, “Hey, welcome.

” And if you want to send it to you’re friendslike, “We’re going here for dinner.

” You can either save it or share it right fromhere, theres also highlight if you want to highlight, add a type note.

You can take a clip of it if you want to save that to something else.

That’s an option built right intothe browser.

Alright, now screw Edge lets go ahead and get to gaming.

Windows is actually coming around and talking to the gamers now.

Yay! There’s improved support for DirectX12in Windows 10 which is great and they give you the ability to stream your Xbox gamesto you Windows 10 computer through the Xbox app.

I tried to dig into my sources to seehow long we would have to wait to stream PC games to the Xbox and they were not allowedto tell me anything about that but, “It’s in the works,” was kind of the unofficialanswer.

Fingers crossed that we get that soon because I like my PC collection.

I have amuch greater PC collection than Xbox collection and I’d love to be able to play those onmy living room couch.

You can also use the Xbox app to record gameplay now within Windows which is cool.

Lets go ahead and bring up Hearth Stone.

We’re gonna launch it, we’regonna pretend that I’m going to play.

I know, sadly I can’t play right now, buteven it tells me press, WIN-ALT-R to start or stop a recording.

So those are just a few of the tips and tricks that I’ve learned in the past couple days using Windows 10.

 

Computer Slow?
By MellowD / Tips and Advice / / 0 Comments

Computer Slow? Optimize It With The Right Tools

Why does it seem like every time you get a new computer it operates at lightning fast speeds for only a few months before becoming slow and laborious over its tasks? Is this just something that we have to live with or can we do something to keep our computers running at optimum speeds?

The truth is that computers do not get slower as they age, a slow computer is a sign that something is literally holding your PC back and affecting its performance. And the good news is that you can do something about it.

There are many things that can affect your computer’s performance, from low memory to a fragmented hard drive and everything in between. The things that can affect your computer’s performance are usually of your own doing. You see, each time we download a program or delete a program, we affect the way our computer operates. This change in operation can leave holes in our PCs operating procedures or may even leave behind programs that can affect our computer’s performance.

Here are just a few things that could be making your computer slow:

· Running Background Programs – These programs are software applications that are running behind the scenes even when they are not in use. You may not even know that they are running, but they can zap precious memory and slow down your other tasks considerably. To see if you have programs running in the background, press Ctrl + Alt + Delete at the same time. The box that pops up will show you all applications that are running.

· Full Hard Drive – If your hard drive is too full of data, it will not have enough space to perform chores. Your hard drive should have at lease 2MB to 3MB in free space.

· Fragmented Hard Drive – When you download and delete programs, you create holes in your hard drive. These holes mean that your PC has to search for the files it needs over greater distance and not necessarily in the order that it needs them.

· Left Over Parts – When you install and uninstall Windows programs, they leave behind parts or applications that can slow down your computer. You may even unknowingly delete a file needed for other software applications. (Note: Spyware and viruses can also slow down your PC’s performance, but for the purpose of this article we are assuming that the problem lies in application errors.)

Make Your PC Run Like New

While it’s not rocket science, making your computer lightning fast once again will take a little work from you. Sometimes, this is as easy as running your Windows System Tools program. You can find these programs by clicking “start,” “all programs,” “accessories,” and “system tools.” Here you will find several system optimizers to help you free up your disk space, defragment your PC, and detect and repair disk errors.

In addition to tools already installed on your PC, you can opt to download additional programs to optimize your computer’s performance. These optimizers can be purchased as a set with other software programs that can help you get the best out of your computer. Here are just a few of the extra optimization programs that you may want for your PC:

· Memory Optimizer – When you are using your computer, it takes several programs and application to handle everything that you are doing. Each of these programs uses memory. When memory is short, computer response time is slow. Memory Optimizer helps to make the allotment of memory to each program more efficient. This can help you eliminate slow PC execution time, Windows hang up or crashing, loss of data and unwanted shutdowns.

· Registry Deffrager and Optimizer – As mentioned before, a registry with holes results in slow response times as your PC searches for the data it needs. This program improves the system response time and saves memory by creating a smaller registry.

· Windows Optimizer – We all use our computers differently. Some use their computer as a media and entertainment centerpiece while others use their PC for data storage and business purposes. Windows Optimizer allows you to tweak program settings so that they will perform in line with your needs.

Granted, a slow computer is a nuisance and it may leave you wanting to go out and purchase a new model. But before you give up on your current model, make sure that you have optimized it first. You may be surprised by how much life is still in your PC.