Run Web Searches from the Start Menu

Now, you can also start Web searches from the Start menu. The Start Menu became a lot more handy with the launch of Windows Vista. You can search your PC and run applications with just a few keystrokes. But you can do even more in Microsoft Windows 7. You can run Internet searches from the Start menu after fine tuning the Group Policy Editor.

Follow these steps to make it happen:

1. To run the Group Policy Editor, type gpedit.msc in the Start Menu search box and press Enter.
2. Navigate to User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Start Menu and Taskbar.
3. Now double-click 'Add Search Internet link to Start Menu' and then choose 'Enabled' from the screen that appears.
4. Now click 'OK' and exit the Group Policy Editor.
In order to start the search, just type a search term in the Start Menu Search box and the search box will provide you a Search the Internet link. Now, you need to click it to run the search in your default browser using your default search engine.

Microsoft Windows 7 Search uses the index whenever you use the search box on the Start menu – in the Search Home folder, in libraries, and in locations that are part of a homegroup.

Microsoft Windows 7 Search seems so very handy. It requires Group Policy Editor to enable the Web searches from Start menu and it will not work in the Windows 7 Home or Basic editions.

Read rest of entry

How to Troubleshooting a Computer

Computer problem troubleshooting is the source of persistence of the customer support technician and end-user. Troubleshooting starts when computer software or hardware have errors or do not perform well. It may be due to user's fault.

The first step in computer problem troubleshooting is to cover the basics. Is the computer software or hardware installed properly? Whether it is configured properly by setting the computer parameters? Maybe you changed some settings in your computer which caused this problem?

If it is a new software and you have installed it for the first time on your Windows computer then trouble lies in the installation process, specifically in the case of hardware. Hardware requires a device software which is also called a driver that acts as a point of communication between the hardware and the Windows computer. The hardware will not be able to communicate properly with other computer components if the hardware driver fails.

If the driver fails then the corruption of the driver software might be the cause of failure of that hardware. Most of the computer software problems are solved by reinstalling the software or updating the driver might also solve the problem. Sometimes reinstalling the hardware component after extracting it solves the issue.

You can troubleshooting computer problems in Windows with the help of Device Manager and Help menus. A yellow exclamation mark next to a hardware component in the Device Manager points out a computer problem.

Read rest of entry