Chapter14.Common ProblemsEasy Fixes

Chapter 14. Common ProblemsEasy Fixes

Troubleshooting is an essential part of ownership. And before you think this is a by-product of sloppy or inept code writing on the part of Microsoft, consider the other consumer products you own: cars, houses, VCRs, toys, furniture. The list goes on. They all need maintenance and repair; why should a computer operating system be any different?

This chapter is a "catch all" for some computing problems that have not been addressed in previous chapters. For example, a fragmented hard disk is a common problem; its solution was addressed in the chapter about disk management. Likewise, Automatic Updates are a part of routine maintenance, and we looked at the new Service Pack 2 Automatic Update behavior in Chapter 1.

Hopefully, these previous explanations and tips will lead to some preventative maintenance on your part, so that problems that plague all computer users are less a part of your computing life.

This chapter is presented with that thought in mind. Hopefully, there will be a few "Oh…huh" moments that will either prevent a problem or resolve one that's been nagging you for ages. In it, you'll find instruction about how to add yourself to the Administrators group (if you're not there already) so that you can make any change you want to the system. Also, I'll show you a procedure for making sure a forgotten password can be recovered, and I'll tell you how to get rid of XP's constant pop-up balloons.

Of course, I can't anticipate everything that might give you fits, but I've tried to gather a few more tips in this last chapter that I find particularly useful. I think you will, too.