Sometimes when you have to replace a video card, you can’t follow normal procedure and remove the drivers before you physically remove the card (perhaps because of an untimely end). In cases like these, here’s a shortcut to remove the old drivers without much hastle, and install the new ones for the new video card. [...]

Sometimes, Adobe Reader seems to take forever to load and display a PDF. Heres’s a little trick for speeding things up a bit. First, open the plugins folder for Adobe Reader: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\plug_ins Next, create a new folder named “Optional” right there in the “plug_ins” folder. Finally, move all files and folders from the [...]

To fuel ones innate passion towards computers, it is obviously essential that one must have the resources available to tinker around with computers, test out new hardware, experiment with software, and develop skills with different operating systems. In many cases, we feel that it is just too risky to start playing around with our main [...]

Here at PCMechanic, forum members offer tons of help to people interested in building brand new personal computers. However, we often encounter a member who wishes to build a top of the line computer and constantly asks whether it would be advisable to wait until the next generation of hardware is released. While it’s essentially [...]

Essentially, this tip is a reminder to think twice before opening unknown attachments in emails and downloading unknown files while browsing the internet. In many cases, an email attachment from a co worker or family member is considered “safe” and will not try to execute any malicious actions. However, the same cannot be said about [...]

With the quantity of HTML editors (which do the brute formatting work for you) constantly expanding, it is becoming easier and easier to produce your own dynamic web pages. However, no matter how simple it may be to develop your own pages, it’s essential to master the basic HTML tags and web site structure in [...]

One of the most vital pieces of the web development puzzle is establishing a way in which visitors of a site can easily communicate with those who developed the site. Whether it be an inquiry about a product for sale or a recommendation on the structure of the site, a visitor’s input is very important. [...]

Let’s face it, printer ink isn’t cheap and no matter how hard we try to conserve it, it seems to run out faster than ever before. Luckily, many printers have an econ-fast or draft settings which prints with slightly lower quality, but conserves the amount of ink used. Now, this might not be the most [...]

A common issue that many web designers and developers have to take into consideration is how much content they are willing to display on one web page before carrying the content onto additionally pages. When I encounter similar dilemmas, I resort to executing the 4 page rule. Basically, this rule states that statistically people prefer [...]

Back and neck pains are common to those of us who spend many hours in front of the computer. Fortunately a common remedy for back and neck pain lies not in the computer user, but in the computer user’s environment. Adjustable chairs, tables, and monitors can all assist in relieving any associated back and neck [...]

Within Internet Explorer one may change the colour of hyperlinks to their own personal preference. Simply click on Tools > Internet Options > Colours (near the bottom left). Then, click once on the current colour shown to open a colour selection menu. You’ll be presented with a variety of colours and be able to select [...]

In Internet Explorer, simply clicking on the print icon will print the entire page. However, if you desire to only print a specific frame (of a webpage), follow these basic instructions. 1) Locate the frame you desire to print 2) Right-Click once within this frame 3) When the options menu appears, click on print 4) [...]

Maintaining one’s privacy while browsing the internet is becoming more and more difficult. Although one may think that their firewall, alternative browsers, and spyware blockers are more than enough to keep one’s privacy protected, think again! While these practices are highly recommend and do help in protecting one’s online privacy, common sense is the most [...]

Digital versatile disks, or otherwise known as DVDs, fall into the category of secondary storage mediums. DVDs appear very similar to CDs, however they are capable of holding a much larger capacity of data; commonly 4.7 GB. Provided that your computer is outfitted with a DVD burner and DVD burning software, writable digital versatile disks [...]

To assure that your optical mouse runs smoothly and verify that the motion of the pointer on the screen mimics that of the mouse, it is essential that the mouse is used on a dark, non-reflective surface. Otherwise, if the mouse is used on a bright, reflective surface, it will have trouble tracking its movement [...]