If you are using Windows Vista, you should probably upgrade to Windows 7 because it is faster and it makes better use of system resources. It also looks better and is packed with great features. Then again, despite all its greatness, Windows 7 is not perfect. You can still experience common Windows problem with this operating system, including issues with its features and interface. There is no need to worry though. These issues are fairly easy to resolve.

* Windows upgrade hangs at sixty-two percent. If you recently switched from Windows Vista to Windows 7, you may notice that your upgrade hangs at sixty-two percent and this can be very annoying. To resolve your problem, you should reboot your computer. Open your setup log file to see the problem. Windows usually hangs because the \”Iphlpsvc\” service has failed to respond. You can contact the customer support of Microsoft to ask for assistance.

* If your Windows upgrade hangs more or less than sixty-two percent, you should check out your setup log and search for the problem. You can also try booting and installing from your Windows 7 disc to reduce the chances of encountering errors with your current setup. This is especially true if you are using Windows XP or Windows Vista. Take note that upgrades with Windows 7 are generally fast, but there are times when Windows 7 cannot be installed.

* The DVD drive cannot be found. If you are using Windows 7, you may not find your DVD drive even if it is visible in your BIOS and you are using a standard driver. To fix this problem, you should run \”REGEDIT\” and go to \”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlClass{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. Then, delete your LowerFilters and UpperFilters.\”

* If this does not resolve your problem, you can reset your drive letter. Just click on Start and type in Disk Management. Then, select Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions. If you see your optical drive, right-click on it and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths. Then, click on Change and select a new letter. Once you see your drive in Explorer, repeat the same procedure to change your drive letter back. You have to reboot if you still do not see it.

* Aero does not run. If the transparency of your operating system is off, your Aero theme may not be enabled. So, you need to click on Start and type in Aero. Then, select Find and Fix Problems with Transparency and Other Visual Effects and click on Next. This will launch your Aero troubleshooting wizard to let you determine and fix the problem. If this does not work, you can install your most recent graphics hardware driver.

* Aero Snap gives you a hard time. With Windows 7, you can resize and move windows all at once. This can be highly beneficial. However, if your windows move around continuously when you do not want them to, your Aero Snap can make you annoyed. If this is the case, you should disable the feature. Just go to your Control Panel, choose Ease of Access, and click on Change How Your Keyboard Works or Change How Your Mouse Works. Go to Make It Easier to Manage Windows and check the option Prevent Windows from Being Automatically Arranged When Moved to the Edge of the Screen. Hit the OK button and your windows will stop moving around unless you want them to.

* Your iPhone does not sync in with Windows 7. If you are using an iPhone, you may not be able to sync it with your operating system, especially if you have a sixty-four-bit system that is based on the P55 chipset. Your device may not be recognized and you may encounter an \”unknown error\”. So to fix this problem, you can disable your USB power management. Just go to Start and type in DEVMGMT.MSC. Press the Enter button to open your Device Manager, and click on View and then Devices By Type. You should expand your USB controllers by right-clicking on every USB Root Hub entry. Click on Properties and Power Management. Then, clear the option Allow the Computer to Turn Off this Device to Save Power. Afterwards, reboot your computer and repeat the process.

* Your themes change custom icons. You can choose from a variety of cool themes on Windows 7. However, installing these themes can be quite difficult if you have just changed a system icon. To fix this problem, you should right-click on your desktop and choose Personalize. Then, go to Change Desktop Icons and clear Allow Themes to Change Desktop Icons. Press OK and your icons will no longer change. If you wish to change them, you will have to do that manually from your Desktop Icons.

Windows is a great operating system, but experiencing common Windows problems is still inevitable. You may use utility tools if you want to clean out junk files and improve the performance of your computer. Some of these programs can also help prevent DLL errors and other computer problems.

Even if you have no clear understanding on how it works or you only have a slight idea on the processes behind defragmentation, you will still do it. After all, it has worked wonders before and the last tech guy told you to do it if your computer is acting up.

However, you should know more about defragmentation. With newer computers, defragmentation can actually shorten your hard disk\’s (the computer part that stores all of your files) lifespan. Also, you might only waste your time doing it since nowadays, fragmentation is the last thing you should worry about.

What is fragmentation anyway? Fragmentation is the tendency of your computer or hard disk to store a file into smaller pieces or fragments and place them into different locations. And the existence of fragmented files can make way for new files to be fragmented, too.

This fragmentation slows down the performance of your hard disk when retrieving and writing files. Why? Imagine that your files are being stored in a CD. The head of an optical device, the \”CDROM\” as people commonly call it, position itself on top (or below) of the CD in order to read the files burned into it. If the file you want to retrieve or access is fragmented, the head or reader of the CDROM will make additional movements to access the fragments of the files thus adding to the time the head needs to consume in order to read the whole file. Unlike a fragmented file, a continuous file (a file written or \’burned\’ continuously on the disk or without fragments), it is easier to read since the head does not need to search and move in far locations in order to access the file fully.

Not only that fragmentation slows down the read time, but it will also shorten head\’s lifespan due to wear and tear. After all, it is a mechanical device that can break down. By the way, regular hard disk drives works like a CDROM. It has a head and a CD (or platter) inside it, where it stores the data you have in your computer. That is why when you try to touch your hard disk drive when your computer is running, you will feel that something is moving or spinning inside.

Now that you have an idea what fragmentation is, it is time to understand your operating system, file system, and its defragmentation processes. In case you are running on a Windows Vista or later on your PC, fragmentation will be the least of your concern. Commonly, Windows Vista or later always force your computer to run on NTFS (NT File System), especially if your hard drive\’s capacity is large. NTFS by default has good fragmentation control thanks to its Master File Table (MFT) structure. In case you have Windows XP or earlier, you might have a \”FAT32\” (File Allocation Table32) on your system, especially if your drive\’s capacity is small. Unlike NTFS, FAT32 does not have the same defense against defragmentation.

On the other hand, if you have a Mac, fragmentation will be the least of your concern. Macintosh computers take advantage of Apple\’s proprietary file system HFS+ (Hierarchical File System+). HFS+ has multiple anti fragmentation countermeasures. And that is one of the main reason Mac computers do not come with a defragmentation program.

Alternatively, if you are running Linux, your computer must be running on an extended \”filesystem\”. Nowadays, most Linux installation take advantage of the ext4 (Fourth Extended Filesystem). Unlike its predecessors, it has the Extents feature which greatly reduces the tendency of your drive to become fragmented. And thanks to the partition system of Linux distributions, hard disk performance will be the least of your worries.

However, despite the countermeasures of the Mac and Linux\’ filesystems against fragmentation, they are still susceptible. And that will happen when your hard disk\’s free space becomes smaller. During that kind of situation, hard disk will be forced to slice up your files into chunks in order to save them.

On a different note, if your main storage device is an SSD (Solid State Device), you should never defragment! Unlike regular HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), the performance of SSDs is not affected by fragmentation since they do not have any moving parts. However, it comes with a price. The storage blocks of SSDs have limited number of read and writes. Due to that, defragmenting them will only reduce its lifespan greatly.

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Author Bio: If you are looking for a dll repair to restore missing corrupted files, you can download for free on http://www.dlltool.com/

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: file system, windows vista, hard disk