Not everyone can recite the MAC address of their PC's network card or the driver version for their graphics board (not even me). More Internet advice: To give your Internet connection a goose, see "Internet Boosters." And to prepare for the times when your connection gives up the ghost, check out "Five Quick Fixes for Video, and Gaming," which has tips for tweaking the data transmission speeds of your wireless network. For more, see our story "Optimize Wi-Fi for VoIP, Very handy-using it keeps you from bothering coworkers or members of your buddy list.įixes for Wi-Fi woes: If you use Wi-Fi, turning your router's Quality of Service (QoS) settings on will definitely help with some applications. Type a Web site's URL into Down for Everyone or Just Me? (a smartly named site, no?), and it will give you the scoop. But this site is quicker to get to than DSLReports, and it has an oh-so-nifty interface, the kind you want to show off when friends are in your office. : You'll see pretty much the same results from broadband speed testing at. Make sure to register and log in when testing-that way you can compare results months apart. If you're worried about your connection while gaming, use the site's Line Quality test to look for packet loss and excessive latency. You'll obtain a good average by testing with two try one close to home and another across the country. You can test your speed by using any of six servers in different locations. The Speed Test has a cool car-dashboard-like interface that watches your upload and download speeds. Just kidding-instead, make sure you have the current version of the Flash Player if not, download and install it.ĭSLReports: The granddaddy of online testing, DSLReports gives you a stack of tests to try. Quick tip: If any of these online tests don't work, give me a call for help. Determining whether one of the sounds means trouble can be, well, troublesome. But drives don't know the rules, and they often make weird sounds, emitting thuds, screeches, knocks, or whining. The program costs $30, but you can download a 15-day trial version of Hard Drive Inspector to get a feel for the tool.ĭataCent's Hard Drive Sounds: You shouldn't hear more than a low hum from your hard drive. You can view a summary health report, which typically has enough information for most users the S.M.A.R.T. If the drive gets too toasty (I have mine set for 120 degrees Fahrenheit), the program can send you an e-mail alert-or, better, automatically put the computer in Standby mode. It displays the hard drive's temperature in the system tray. Hard Drive Inspector gives you technical data, including the drive model, firmware version, and serial number, all things you'll need to know when calling for warranty support. Hard Drive Inspector: This utility is always on guard, monitoring all your drives for spin rate, seek time, and almost 20 other potential problem spots. Here are a couple of helpful services and programs. The more you know about your drive-the brand-specific idiosyncrasies and the diagnostic sounds that drives produce-the better prepared you are for the inevitable crash. Hard drives are about as stable as the stock market. The best way to find out what's wrong is to take a proactive approach: Check under your PC's hood with the following mostly free diagnostic tools, and see if anything is amiss-before disaster strikes. Or maybe you remember the last time your Internet connection was down (and I don't mean just a little depressed). Think back to when you heard a kerklunk sound coming from the hard drive.
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