My Dell Dimension E520′s DVD-RW drive (TSSTcorp TS-H653A) used to sometimes randomly disappear from “My Computer” and the device manager. If I were to reboot the computer, the drive would reappear and I could then read CDs and burn DVDs successfully.
My first thought was that perhaps either the data or power cable from the drive to the motherboard had come loose, so I opened the case and ensured that both cables were secure. Even after doing so, the problem continued.
This post is a supplement to the main article, Speed Up Your Computer.
Over time your computer has probably become loaded with programs that you don’t use, some of which launch unnecessarily every time you boot your computer. It takes time for the computer to load these programs into memory (RAM), plus they clutter your system tray and desktop. Many of these programs can be harmlessly disabled, making the boot process more efficient and saving system resources. In this post you will learn how to identify nonessential programs and disable them.
I was recently helping a friend who was unable to view YouTube videos in Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP. Whenever she tried to view a YouTube video the following error message would appear:
“You either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe’s Flash Player”
She had already re-installed Adobe Flash player several times before calling me for help. Obviously the problem wasn’t that she had an old version of Flash. I confirmed that she had the latest version by having her access Adobe’s Site .
Sometimes this problem can be caused by misconfigured security settings in Internet Explorer.
To restore IE’s security settings to their default, access “Internet Options” from the control panel.
