12 |^ |^ August 2019
Fix hardware issues
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H
ardware problems come
in all shapes and sizes,
but many common
issues are annoying
rather than critical. This
step-by-step guide
reveals how to quickly resolve glitches
ranging from dead screens to sound
problems. We’re also going to examine
two common areas of concern caused
by hardware – read on to discover how
to resolve glitchy Wi-Fi performance and
various issues with your hard drive, from
a lack of storage to predicting (and
avoiding) potential drive failure and
data loss.
Resolve Wi-Fi problems
Struggling to get a decent signal on
your home Wi-Fi network? Start by
eliminating possible causes of
interference: ensure the router isn’t near
other wireless devices like microwaves,
cordless phones or even some wireless
mice. Next, use a tool like WiFi Analyzer
from the App Store to check for
overlapping Wi-Fi networks – if any are
found, try changing the channel number
to the recommended number using
your router’s configuration utility –
typically 1, 6 or 11. Also, if you have an
802.11ac router, make better use of the
less-congested 5GHz channel by
switching those devices to it that are
closest to the router. Doing so will
reduce demand on the 2.4GHz channel
and hopefully improve performance
all-round.
Another major problem is with ‘dead
zones’, areas in your home where your
router’s Wi-Fi signal can’t reach. If
you’re unable to reposition the router
and adjusting its antennae (try placing
one horizontally and the other
vertically) has no effect, invest in a
Wi-Fi extender.
If you’re already using a HomePlug
network to extend your wired network
between rooms, add a WiFi HomePlug
adapter to your setup. Just plug it into
the room where there’s no signal and
you’ll instantly gain a strong signal to
rival that at the router. Check your
existing equipment and choose a model
from the same manufacturer, such as
the Solwise PL-1200AV2-PEW (around
£57, http://www.broadbandbuyer.com).
If you don’t have a HomePlug
network, purchase a straight Wi-Fi
extender – preferably from the same
manufacturer as your router – and
then position it halfway between your
router and the dead zone, moving it
closer to the router if the signal
remains marginal. These tend to becheaper – the TP-Link RE200 AC
Wi-Fi Range Extender costs £30 from
http://www.argos.co.uk for example.Fix hard drive problems
If you find your hard drive is running low
on space, open Settings and select
System > Storage. The Windows 10 1903
update provides a handy summary of
your drive space and what’s taking up
the most space. Click an option like
‘Apps & Features’ or ‘Temporary files’ to
access tools for managing related files to
free up space. Alternatively, flick the
Storage Sense switch to on, then click
‘Configure Storage Sense or run it now’.
If you’ve recently updated Windows and
don’t want to switch back, free upgigabytes of space by ticking ‘Delete
previous versions of Windows’ before
clicking ‘Clean now’.
If you need to go even deeper when
cleaning out your PC, use a tool such as
IObit Uninstaller (www.iobit.com/en/
advanceduninstaller.php) to remove
programs and apps (including those
pre-installed with Windows) more
thoroughly from your PC. Or push the
envelope further and try a trusted
third-party cleaning tool like PrivaZer
(https://privazer.com/en) to find more
files to remove – make sure you untick
any options related to Registry cleaning,and review all files carefully to ensure
you don’t delete anything useful.
Worried about hard drive health?
Monitor its health using Speccy (www.
ccleaner.com/speccy/builds) – select the
Storage section to run through each
drive’s SMART attributes. If any show
warnings, replace it. Non-physical
problems can usually be resolved by
running the disk check tool – right-click
the Start button and choose ‘Command
Prompt (Admin)’. Type $ chkdsk c: /f/r
and press Enter (assuming your system
drive is drive C). Press Y to schedule the
check on your next reboot and then
restart to let Windows perform a deep
scan of the drive and repair any non-
physical issues.“If you’re unable to reposition the
router and adjusting its antennae has
no effect, get a Wi-Fi extender”
WiFi Analyzer is an
essential app for anyone
with a Wi-Fi network- use it to avoid
network interference.
The latest Windows 10 update makes it easier
than ever to spot what’s taking up drive space.