Seven Free Tools for PC Geeks--and One Quick Tip
The deeper you can drill into your PC's insides, the better. And the right tools can dig into the far reaches of the Registry or uncover obscure portions of the file system, improving performance and avoiding trouble. I can tell you all about some of those tools--and they're free--so read on...
Oh, and if you do decide to get a new router, here's a tool that'll help if you ever lose your router's wireless network keys--the WEP or WPA codes. (We've all been there, right?) NirSoft's free WirelessKeyView lets you recover them all, saving everything to a file or right onto your clipboard.
Quick tip: The old trick for kick-starting a stalled cable modem is to unplug it from power for 5 minutes. But that gambit doesn't work on newer modems--the kind that handle phone, data, and TV transmissions, such as with Comcast's Triple Play service--because they have a battery inside to keep phone service working during a power outage. To get these devices back on track, you have to power off the modem, remove the battery (check the manual for instructions), and wait 5 minutes before reinserting it.
Beep Throat: Understand Your PC's Coded Messages
Have a DOA system? I'll bet that you hear a few beeps when you try to boot it. These Power-On Self Test codes (aka POST codes) offer a wealth of information about your PC. For instance, one long and one short beep indicates a problem with your system board. One long and three short beeps could mean that a memory chip isn't seated properly. But many of the codes need to be matched to a specific BIOS. That's where BiosCentral.com comes in: It lists tons of BIOS manufacturers' POST codes.
