Web User - UK (2019-12-11)

Diagnose your PC’sproblems

Discuss fixing PC problemsat http://www.facebook.com/webusermagazine 11 -26December 2019 49

older,theybecomeslowerandless
responsive.Ifyoufindyourlaptop
spendsmoretimepluggedintothe
mainsthanoperatingfreely,your
batteryisprobablyonthewayout.
Youcantellbycomparingitscurrent
capacitywiththecapacityithadwhen
itlefttheproductionline.
ClickStartandtypecmd,then
right-clickCommandPromptinthelist
of resultsandchoose‘Run as
administrator’.Attheprompt,type
powercfg /batteryreport.This
command analysesyour batteryand,
asitsnamesuggests,writesareport.
Toopentheresult, launchyourweb
browser, pressCtrl+Otoopenalocal
fileand navigatetoC:\Windows\
system 32 \battery-report.html.
Scroll downtothe‘Installedbatteries’
sectionandcomparethe‘Design
capacity’and‘Fullchargecapacity’
results.Thesecondwill belessthanthe
first,butifthey’rewithin 25 %ofeach
other,we’dbeinclinedtowait awhile
longerbeforesourcingareplacement.
If youdoneedtobuyanewbattery,
beawarethatyouneedtobesurenot
onlythatthebatteryfits,butthatits
capacityisappropriateforyourlaptop.
If possible,employtheservicesof a
professionaltohelpyouchooseand
installone.
Theonce-standardadvicetofully
dischargeyour batterybeforetopping
it upisnowoutofdateandcan,infact,
shortenthebattery’slifespan.Ideally,
pluginyourlaptopbeforethebattery
dropstoofar below20%anddisconnect
asyoupass 80 %.Avoidspendinglong
periodswithyourlaptopfullycharged
butstill running onmainspower.
If you’rebuyingasecond-hand
laptop,askthesellertogeneratea
batteryreportandsendyoutheresults
soyoucanseetheconditionofthe
batterybeforeyou handoveryourcash.

Isyourmemory

failing?

We’vealreadyexplainedthat

SSDsfailovertimesoitshouldbeno

surprise,giventhesimilartechnological

roots,thatthesameistrueofmemory

–orRAM.Fortunately,thisisoneofthe

easiestcomponentstotest.

ClickStart,typeWindows Memory

Diagnosticandclickthetopresult.

Allthe memorydiagnosticsoftware

we’vecomeacrossrunsoutside

Windowsand,despiteitsname,

WindowsMemoryDiagnosticisno

different.

Click‘Restartnowandcheckfor

problems’ tolaunchthetest.YourPC

will rebootintoawhite-on-bluetext

mode.Thetestitself iscompletely

automatedandyourPCwill restart

again–thistimeintoWindows–once

it’s finished.ClickStartagain,type

Event Viewerandclickthetopresult.

ClickthearrowbesideWindows Logs

intheleft-handsidebar,thenclickthe

System headerthisdisplays.

ClickFindintheActions panel on

therightandtypeMemoryDiagnostic

intotheFindbox(makesurethereis

nospacebetweenthetwo wordsand

boththeMandDarecapitalised,with

everythingelse lowercase).ClickFind

Next,thenreadtheresultofthereport

onthelowerpartofthemainwindow.

If thereportsaysanythingotherthan

“TheWindowsMemoryDiagnostic

testedthecomputer’smemoryand

detectednoerrors”,there’saproblem

withyourmemory.Bookinwitharepair

shoptoinvestigatefurther.

Windows’built-intoolshowsyouhowmuchyour
battery’smaximumcapacityhasdegraded

WindowsMemoryDiagnosticrebootsyourPCintotextmodetocheckthatyour

RAMisperformingasexpected

Eventhebestdisplays

sufferfromstickypixels

–isolateddotsonthe

screenthatdon’t

change colour.The

resultcould be ared dot

in themiddleof your

document, ablueblob

on aphoto or atiny

patchofgreen that

shouldn’t be seen.A

smallnumberof theseis

to be expected,but they’llmultiply

overtime. They’redifficult to spot, so

they’reunlikelytointerfere in regular

screen use, butinspecting your

monitor everycouple of months and

notingwheretheyappear will help

youtrack itsslow, inevitable decline.

Youcan onlydothiseasilywhen

youget ridofscreenclutter, so clean

your displaytoremove anyspots of

AREYOUR PIXELS GETTINGSTICKY?

physical debris, then visitthe

LCDTechdeadpixelssite at bit.ly/

pixels490.Click‘Start test’and the

screenwill go completely white.

Checkoverits surfacefor anypixels

that don’tconform,then pressthe

spacebartoswitchtoblack and

checkasecondtime. Repeat this test

threetimes,pressing thespacebar

to switch to red, greenand blue.

Dead pixels are hard to spot but ifthey’r emultiplying

rapidl y, your displaymay be showingits age