These are some of our favorite tech tips. PCtechBytes can help you keep you PC running smooth and free of disaster with these helpful tutorials.

It might or might no be necessary to have a Linux Live Boot CD in with your diagnostic tools, but if you repair computers for a living, you really should have a way to boot into an OS if the hard drive has failed or if you want to troubleshoot a computer with the hard [...]

CHKDSK is a Windows command that can be used to repair errors on hard drives if the integrety of the file system is corrupt, or if there is a bad sector on the hard drive. You can launch this by navigating through several Windows or you can simply launch the command prompt and initiate the check.
Go [...]

We feel the need to occasionally publish something like this because we invariably still see these mistakes happening in the field. As technology continues to improve, it becomes more imprtant than ever to stick to the basics.  Below are some of the things you should do and some of the things you should not.
DO
Do make [...]

What’s in your computer repair tool bag? Do not be fooled by those who tell you that you need the 5,000 piece high tech computer toolkit. Unless you’re building a computer chip by chip, you should customize your toolkit for fast, lightweight repair. We’ll going to list some of the most commonly used and essential [...]

With the incorporation of servers in homes and small offices becoming more common, it becomes more practical to keep folders in one location for all users. For instance, users can share a single My Documents folder on their Windows server (or a different hard drive) that has greater capacity than the C: drive in their PC. [...]

Time and time again, we come across poor soles that have lost data because their hard drive has failed. Invariably, much of their data has not been backed up and the result is catastrophic. You can rewrite term papers and reinstall applications, but when you lose photos of your wedding or the movie of your [...]

Five Ways to Combat Spyware
If you want to ensure the performance of your computer comes to a screeching halt, all you have to do is ignore this column and within days your computer can become infected with some type of malware. Spyware and Viruses are often lumped into the category of malware, because there almost [...]

The Windows registry is a directory that stores information about the Operating System, Software and Users for your computer. Whenever changes are made within Windows, these changes are reflected in the registry. Sometimes it is necessary to edit or tweak the registry to get rid of bits and pieces of old software that never completely [...]

What is Microsoft trying to do, permanently disable us? This whole navigating to the shutdown button thing is inhumane and might even be considered torture. It takes how many clicks–two, three to shutdown a PC? Well, we’re going to help with that. Our next tip in our ongoing guide to laziness is creating a desktop icon [...]

You’re lazy, but that’s okay. You’re allowed to be when it comes to computing. Computers are supposed to make our lives easier, right? So why type things out or go through a complicated series of mouse clicks to get simple tasks done? As your resident lazy geek, I will point out a few of the [...]