SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Dibawah ini akan saya jelaskan tentang mana yang harus dilakukan dan mana yang tidak boleh dilakukan. Ini penting terutama untuk mencapai tujuan jangka panjang dari situs anda.

Onpage optimization / Optimasi dari dalam halaman web situs kita sendiri:

• 1. Strategi spam keyword

Ini strategi yang paling tua yang digunakan oleh webmaster, dan strategi ini sangat tidak dianjurkan, karena semua search engine/mesin pencari sudah menganggapnya sebagai pelanggaran. Spam keyword dilakukan dengan cara menuliskan keyword keyword secara berulang ulang pada suatu halaman web tertentu dengan ukuran huruf yang sangat kecil dengan menggunakan <font size=1>. Jangan menggunakan strategi yang sudah tua ini .

• 2. Strategi invisible dan semi visible keyword

Ini juga jangan dilakukan, karena semakin hari mesin pencari menggunakan algoritma pengecekan yang semakin pintar. Sayang sekali jika anda mencurangi mesin pencari untuk tujuan yang jangka pendek saja.

• 3. Strategi pembangunan doorway pages

DILARANG KERAS. Doorway pages/Gateway Pages, apapun namanya merupakan hal lumrah bagi golongan black hat SEO. Siap siap saja anda dibantai oleh mesin pencari jika anda menggunakan strategi ini. Akibatnya, situs anda tersebut akan hilang dari hasil pencarian – sampai anda meng-update situs tersebut.

Doorway pages adalah halaman halaman web yang dikhususkan untuk optimasi keyword tertentu dengan melihat faktor keyword density/kerapatan keyword dari halaman tersebut.

• 4. Strategi halaman redirect baik menggunakan meta tag ataupun dengan javascript

Segera setelah membangun doorway pages biasanya dilanjutkan dengan redirect ke halaman yang utama. Ini tidak boleh ya, jangan sampai salah kaprah saja. Nanti menyesal.

• 5. Strategi menggunakan comment line html <! komentar>

Mungkin diantara anda , ada yang sudah mengenal trik ini. Cara kerjanya yaitu dengan membubuhkan keyword pada kode HTML yang pada dasarnya ditujukan untuk komentar kode yang lainnya. <!– Disini ditaruh berbagai macam keyword yang dimaksudkan –> Trik ini berguna pada masa lalu, namun sekarang sudah usang dan tidak berpengaruh apa apa terhadap posisi situs anda di mesin pencari.

• 6. Strategi berdasarkan pengurutan ASCII, Numerik dan Alfabet
• 7. Strategi menggunakan ALT image (gambar) – Nah kalau ini, bisa anda praktekkan.

Cara kerjanya adalah dengan mengisikan ALT pada image anda dengan menyelipkan keyword anda. <IMG SRC=”LOGO.JPG” ALT=”..Disini anda isikan berbagai keyword yang sesuai dengan tema website anda…” height=”110″ weight=”200″>

Tetapi ingat jangan sampai keterlaluan, misalnya dengan membubuhkan kata kunci yang berulang-ulang dalam hal tersebut. Karena ini sama saja dengan spam gaya baru.

• 8. Strategi Link satu pixel

Tidak berpengaruh dan jelas-jelas ini adalah spam.

• 9. Strategi menyembunyikan link

SPAM. Search engine hate this.

• 10. Strategi pembangunan sitemap

Nah kalau ini dianjurkan, karena maksudnya untuk menuntun mesin pencari sehingga ia akan mudah berjalan jalan dari satu halaman web anda ke halaman yang lain, hasilnya semua halaman web anda akan terindex dalam database mesin pencari tersebut. Dan ini akan meningkatkan jumlah traffic ke web anda tersebut.

• 11. Strategi dengan menggunakan CSS (Cascading Style Sheet )

Untuk menyembunyikan text keyword dan link link pada suatu halaman web tertentu.

• 12. Frekuensi update dari situs anda.

Salah satu faktor yang diperhitungkan Google dan mesin cari lain adalah seberapa sering situs anda terupdate. Lebih sering lebih baik. Berbagai cara bisa dilakukan, tanpa terlalu banyak campur tangan anda sebagai webmaster : pembangunan komunitas di situs anda melalui forum, blog, wiki, dan banyak lagi. Salah satu yang sedang tren saat ini adalah dengan menggunakan rss feed, yaitu dengan menggunakan rss agregator untuk diterjemahkan ke dalam html yang bisa di tempelkan di halaman situs anda tertentu. Biasanya yang dijadikan target adalah situs situs berita yang besar, tentunya situs tersebut akan terupdate setiap saat. Sebagai akibatnya halaman situs anda pun akan terupdate secara berkala pula, tanpa terlalu banyak campur tangan anda. Mudah bukan?

• 13. Validasi kode HTML dan CSS website anda mengacu kepada standar W3C.
• 14. Pilihlah tempat hosting untuk situs anda dengan strategi yang tepat.

Offpage optimization / Optimasi dengan memikirkan pengaruh luar situs kita:

• 1. Strategi Tukar Link (Reciprocal link)

Hati-hati terjebak dengan link farm (bertukar link tanpa mempedulikan relevansi dan kualitas) seperti FFA, spam guestbook ataupun spam comment di blog orang lain. Lambat atau cepat jika anda menggunakan cara ini akan berdampak buruk bagi peringkat anda di mesin pencari, bahkan bisa kena cekal oleh mesin cari google -google terkenal paling keras terhadap metoda spam-. Untuk itu mulailah membangun link partner dengan cara yang sealamiah mungkin.

Bagaimana anda mengetahui, website mana saja yang mau menerima link partner? Sepengetahuan saya website-website diluar sana banyak yang menyediakan tempat/halaman web yang khusus untuk bertukar link, tentu anda harus cari sendiri.

Sebagaimana anda tahu, bahwa salahsatu faktor peringkat search engine google adalah : Banyaknya situs yang mengacu (me-link) kepada situs anda, Kualitas dari situs situs tersebut, Anchor text/Text link yang mengacu kepada situs anda dan jumlah dari link keluar(outbound link) dari situs rekan anda tersebut.

- Cari di Google dengan kata kunci/keyword berikut: inurl:add_link.php, inurl:add_link.html, inurl:add_link.htm, inurl:add_link.asp, dan seterusnya.

Setelah itu kelompokkan situs yang berhubungan temanya dengan situs anda tersebut. Selanjutnya ikuti langkah metoda tukar link dengan situs mereka. Jangan lupa untuk mengecek traffic situs tersebut – di cek di alexa.com – jika peringkatnya bagus maka lebih baik, sebagai catatan peringkat yahoo.com di alexa adalah 1. Demikian pula dengan google pagerank bisa di cek di checkpagerank.com atau menggunakan google toolbar.

Setelah itu rencanakan anchor text/text link yang akan anda simpan di situs mereka itu. Lebih baik jika anchor text tersebut sesuai dengan kata kunci/keyword yang anda maksudkan. Lihat pula apakah di tempat penampungan link di situs mereka itu termasuk link-spam atau link farm, dimana banyak sekali kumpulan link yang keluar dari halaman link di situs tersebut, jika banyak sekali (>25 buah dalam satu halaman web) maka cari yang lain saja.

Cara lain, anda bisa bergabung dengan link exchange service:

Contoh link exchange service yang bekerja otomatis adalah linkmarket dan indexguy. Hati hati terjebak dengan link farm.

• 2. One Way Link (Tautan Satu Arah)

Berbagai macam cara bisa dilakukan untuk hal ini, beberapa diantaranya adalah directory submission, social bookmarking submission, dan social networking submission. Perlu untuk selalu diingat bahwa kualitaslah yang penting bukan kuantitas.

Update strategi one way link:

Forum submission carilah yang populer : dilihat dari besarnya Google PR dan alexa ranking. Daftar dan aktiflah disana…Jangan lupa masukkan link anda sebagai “signature link”. Tidak punya waktu untuk aktif disana?? Beli signature linknya dari orang yang aktif disana…

At COMPUTEX 2008, the demo can be directly tested in the Shuttle Bus to connect the Nangang and XinYin (more or less have a distance of approximately 10 km).

Passengers who take the shuttle bus was successfully using the internet on their laptop via WiMAX technology that is installed on the bus. Results are considered good enough that, a government supporter Taiwan WiMAX technology to develop this.

At the COMPUTEX later, WiMAX will do debutnya the Taipei Mass Transport Railway (TMRT). With this, citizens and visitors can access the Internet via their laptop with high speed, short distance further, and better mobility, and supported with a stable connection. For the development of WiMAX in the mass transportation, there are already 6 developers who have won the tender from the government and Taiwan have announced that they will launch a commercial service before the end of the year 2009.

In addition to WiMAX, the Taiwan showcase their technology in the M-Taiwan Pavilion. At the Pavilion is the visitors can see exhibits such as emergency aid, traffic safety suerveillance, customs declaration and management. M-Taiwan Pavilion will be led by the Industry Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs and organized by the National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Institute for Information Industry, and the Kaohsiung County Government.

BIOS passwords can add an extra layer of security for desktop and laptop computers. They are used to either prevent a user from changing the BIOS settings or to prevent the PC from booting without a password. Unfortunately, BIOS passwords can also be a liability if a user forgets their password, or changes the password to intentionally lock out the corporate IT department. Sending the unit back to the manufacturer to have the BIOS reset can be expensive and is usually not covered in the warranty. Never fear, all is not lost. There are a few known backdoors and other tricks of the trade that can be used to bypass or reset the BIOS

DISCLAIMER
This article is intended for IT Professionals and systems administrators with experience servicing computer hardware. It is not intended for home users, hackers, or computer thieves attempting to crack the password on a stolen PC. Please do not attempt any of these procedures if you are unfamiliar with computer hardware, and please use this information responsibly. LabMice.net is not responsible for the use or misuse of this material, including loss of data, damage to hardware, or personal injury.

Before attempting to bypass the BIOS password on a computer, please take a minute to contact the hardware manufacturer support staff directly and ask for their recommended methods of bypassing the BIOS security. In the event the manufacturer cannot (or will not) help you, there are a number of methods that can be used to bypass or reset the BIOS password yourself. They include:

Using a manufacturers backdoor password to access the BIOS

Use password cracking software

Reset the CMOS using the jumpers or solder beads.

Removing the CMOS battery for at least 10 minutes

Overloading the keyboard buffer

Using a professional service

Please remember that most BIOS passwords do not protect the hard drive, so if you need to recover the data, simply remove the hard drive and install it in an identical system, or configure it as a slave drive in an existing system. The exception to this are laptops, especially IBM Thinkpads, which silently lock the hard drive if the supervisor password is enabled. If the supervisor password is reset without resetting the and hard drive as well, you will be unable to access the data on the drive.

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Backdoor passwords

Many BIOS manufacturers have provided backdoor passwords that can be used to access the BIOS setup in the event you have lost your password. These passwords are case sensitive, so you may wish to try a variety of combinations. Keep in mind that the key associated to “_” in the US keyboard corresponds to “?” in some European keyboards. Laptops typically have better BIOS security than desktop systems, and we are not aware of any backdoor passwords that will work with name brand laptops.

WARNING: Some BIOS configurations will lock you out of the system completely if you type in an incorrect password more than 3 times. Read your manufacturers documentation for the BIOS setting before you begin typing in passwords

Award BIOS backdoor passwords:

ALFAROME ALLy aLLy aLLY ALLY aPAf _award AWARD_SW AWARD?SW AWARD SW AWARD PW AWKWARD awkward BIOSTAR CONCAT CONDO Condo d8on djonet HLT J64 J256 J262 j332 j322 KDD Lkwpeter LKWPETER PINT pint SER SKY_FOX SYXZ syxz shift + syxz TTPTHA ZAAADA ZBAAACA ZJAAADC 01322222
589589 589721 595595 598598

AMI BIOS backdoor passwords:

AMI AAAMMMIII BIOS PASSWORD HEWITT RAND AMI?SW AMI_SW LKWPETER A.M.I. CONDO

PHOENIX BIOS backdoor passwords:

phoenix, PHOENIX, CMOS, BIOS

MISC. COMMON PASSWORDS

ALFAROME BIOSTAR biostar biosstar CMOS cmos LKWPETER lkwpeter setup SETUP Syxz Wodj

OTHER BIOS PASSWORDS BY MANUFACTURER

Manufacturer Password
VOBIS & IBM merlin
Dell Dell
Biostar Biostar
Compaq Compaq
Enox xo11nE
Epox central
Freetech Posterie
IWill iwill
Jetway spooml
Packard Bell bell9
QDI QDI
Siemens SKY_FOX
TMC BIGO
Toshiba Toshiba

TOSHIBA BIOS

Most Toshiba laptops and some desktop systems will bypass the BIOS password if the left shift key is held down during boot

IBM APTIVA BIOS

Press both mouse buttons repeatedly during the boot

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Password cracking software

The following software can be used to either crack or reset the BIOS on many chipsets. If your PC is locked with a BIOS administrator password that will not allow access to the floppy drive, these utilities may not work. Also, since these utilities do not come from the manufacturer, use them cautiously and at your own risk.

Cmos password recovery tools 3.1
!BIOS (get the how-to article)
RemPass
KILLCMOS

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Using the Motherboard “Clear CMOS” Jumper or Dipswitch settings

Many motherboards feature a set of jumpers or dipswitches that will clear the CMOS and wipe all of the custom settings including BIOS passwords. The locations of these jumpers / dipswitches will vary depending on the motherboard manufacturer and ideally you should always refer to the motherboard or computer manufacturers documentation. If the documentation is unavailable, the jumpers/dipswitches can sometimes be found along the edge of the motherboard, next to the CMOS battery, or near the processor. Some manufacturers may label the jumper / dipswitch CLEAR – CLEAR CMOS – CLR – CLRPWD – PASSWD – PASSWORD – PWD. On laptop computers, the dipswitches are usually found under the keyboard or within a compartment at the bottom of the laptop.
Please remember to unplug your PC and use a grounding strip before reaching into your PC and touching the motherboard. Once you locate and rest the jumper switches, turn the computer on and check if the password has been cleared. If it has, turn the computer off and return the jumpers or dipswitches to its original position.

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Removing the CMOS Battery

The CMOS settings on most systems are buffered by a small battery that is attached to the motherboard. (It looks like a small watch battery). If you unplug the PC and remove the battery for 10-15 minutes, the CMOS may reset itself and the password should be blank. (Along with any other machine specific settings, so be sure you are familiar with manually reconfiguring the BIOS settings before you do this.) Some manufacturers backup the power to the CMOS chipset by using a capacitor, so if your first attempt fails, leave the battery out (with the system unplugged) for at least 24 hours. Some batteries are actually soldered onto the motherboard making this task more difficult. Unsoldering the battery incorrectly may damage your motherboard and other components, so please don’t attempt this if you are inexperienced. Another option may be to remove the CMOS chip from the motherboard for a period of time.
Note: Removing the battery to reset the CMOS will not work for all PC’s, and almost all of the newer laptops store their BIOS passwords in a manner which does not require continuous power, so removing the CMOS battery may not work at all. IBM Thinkpad laptops lock the hard drive as well as the BIOS when the supervisor password is set. If you reset the BIOS password, but cannot reset the hard drive password, you may not be able to access the drive and it will remain locked, even if you place it in a new laptop. IBM Thinkpads have special jumper switches on the motherboard, and these should be used to reset the system.

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Overloading the KeyBoard Buffer

On some older computer systems, you can force the CMOS to enter its setup screen on boot by overloading the keyboard buffer. This can be done by booting with the keyboard or mouse unattached to the systems, or on some systems by hitting the ESC key over 100 times in rapid succession.

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Jumping the Solder Beads on the CMOS

It is also possible to reset the CMOS by connecting or “jumping” specific solder beads on the chipset. There are too many chipsets to do a breakdown of which points to jump on individual chipsets, and the location of these solder beads can vary by manufacturer, so please check your computer and motherboard documentation for details. This technique is not recommended for the inexperienced and should be only be used as a “last ditch” effort.

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Using a professional service

If the manufacturer of the laptop or desktop PC can’t or won’t reset the BIOS password, you still have the option of using a professional service. Password Crackers, Inc., offers a variety of services for desktop and laptop computers for between $100 and $400. For most of these services, you’ll need to provide some type of legitimate proof of ownership. This may be difficult if you’ve acquired the computer second hand or from an online auction.

You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening?

1. Hardware conflict

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device.

For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself.

If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. The way to check if your computer has a hardware conflict is through the following route:

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager.

Often if a device has a problem a yellow ‘!’ appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer (in the Device Manager) and press Properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer. If the IRQ number appears twice, two devices may be using it.

Sometimes a device might share an IRQ with something described as ‘IRQ holder for PCI steering’. This can be ignored. The best way to fix this problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.Sometimes you may have to find more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A good resource is www.driverguide.com. If the device is a soundcard, or a modem, it can often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard (be careful about opening your computer, as you may void the warranty).

When working inside a computer you should switch it off, unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any static electricity.

To be fair to Mcft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs.

2. Bad Ram

Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.

Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two types, as this can be a cause of trouble.

EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked to old Dos-based programmes.

3. BIOS settings

Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.

Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to.

A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer’s display.

Mcft Windows is better at allocating IRQ numbers than any BIOS. If possible set the IRQ numbers to Auto in the BIOS. This will allow Windows to allocate the IRQ numbers (make sure the BIOS setting for Plug and Play OS is switched to ‘yes’ to allow Windows to do this.).

4. Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter

This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler.

The Task Scheduler should be one of the small icons on the bottom right of the Windows opening page (the desktop).

Some lockups and screen freezes caused by hard disk problems can be solved by reducing the read-ahead optimisation. This can be adjusted by going to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System Icon-Performance-File System-Hard Disk.

Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space.

Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk

Otherwise assign the Task Scheduler to perform this operation at night when the computer is not in use.

5. Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors

Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.

These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings

Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the colour settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.

If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager

Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.

The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics

Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).

Look up your video card’s manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

6. Viruses

Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs

Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.

A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.

An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( www.symantec.com).

7. Printers

The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer’s performance.

If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer’s default settings and you may be able to carry on.

8. Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don’t do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message “Starting Windows” press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn’t work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

9. Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heatsinks are available from www.computernerd.com or www.coolit.com

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

10. Power supply problems

With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut.

If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.

It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost.