DIGITAL SANKALP

Change the Boot Order on Your PC

<div class="content-wrapper" style="margin:0px;padding:10px;border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;border-bottom-style:none;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> <div class="article-content" id="contenttype-html" style="margin:0px;padding:5px;border:0px"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px"> When your PC is first starting up — also known as booting up — it looks for the operating system. Should you need to troubleshoot, it is helpful to know where it looks and in what order. Depending on the problem, you may need to change the order. The boot order is the sequence of storage devices that the computer'shardware checks to find an operating system. As luck would have it, an operating system can lurk in several places: Hard drive: This is the main storage device for most PCs. More than one hard drive may be in your computer, and those hard drives may bepartitioned into separate, logicaldrives. The master boot record(MBR) on the primary hard drive holds a map that indicates where the operating system can be found or provides a boot menu to select an operating system. SSD: Eventually, the solid state drive will replace the hard drive as the PC's primary storage device. Internally, the SSD is composed offlash memory, just like a thumb drive or media card, but with a much higher capacity (and price). Externally, an SSD works just like a hard drive with an MBR and partitions. Optical drive (CD-ROM/DVD): Even when you don't choose the optical drive as the primary boot device, many PCs automatically detect a bootable disc in the optical (CD orDVD) drive. When that happens, an option is displayed on the screen, something like Press Enter to boot from the CD or DVD. Press the Enter key to direct the computer to start from that disc on the fly. Network (Ethernet): Rather than load an operating system from the PC's own (local) storage devices, the network option directs the computer to load its operating system from the network. On start-up, the network adapter requests an operating system to load, which it then downloads from the server. USB device: The USB device can be a thumb drive, a media card, or an external disk drive. This option is useful for laptops that lack optical drives, allowing you to install orupgrade your PC's operating system. You set the boot order in the PC's Setup program. Generally, the steps go like this:<ol class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px"> <li>Restart or turn on the computer.</li><li> Press the key or keys to enter the Setup program.As a reminder, the most common key used to enter the Setup program is F1. Ensure that you press the key to enter the Setup program or menu. Do not press the key to enter the boot menu, which is a different item. </li><li>Choose the menu option or options to display the boot sequence. The option may not be obvious from the Setup program's main menu, not to mention that the Setup program is in Text mode. Various computers I've researched display the menu that changes the boot order in these ways:<ul class="level-two" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px"> <li>Startup→Boot</li><li> Boot→Boot Device Priority</li><li>Advanced BIOS Features→(various priority submenus)</li><li> System→Boot Sequence<img alt="image0.jpg" height="400" src="http://media.wiley.com/Lux/58/290258.image0.jpg" style="vertical-align: bottom; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: auto !important;" width="517"></li> </ul></li><li>Set the boot order. Use whichever keys or techniques are required in order to set the sequence in which the hardware searches the storage devices for an operating system.</li><li> Save the changes and exit the Setup program.The computer restarts with the new settings.</li></ol> You might see other options in addition to those that set the boot sequence search order. For example, you might see a way to exclude certain devices from being searched. This might be a good idea for USB media cards or for legacy floppy drives. </div></div></div>

Change the Boot Order on Your PC

When your PC is first starting up — also known as booting up — it looks for the operating system. Should you need to troubleshoot, it is...

8:19 am

Change the Boot Order on Your PC

Change the Boot Order on Your PC

When your PC is first starting up — also known as booting up — it looks for the operating system. Should you need to troubleshoot, it is...

8:19 am

How to change boot order

<h1 style="border:0px;margin:0px 0px 5px;padding:0px;font-size:26px;color:rgb(40,50,127);font-family:'Open Sans',sans-serif">Use this tutorial if your computer starts Windows when rebooting with the WipeDrive CD (or Floppy) already in the computer. It will show you how to change the boot order of your computer to boot from the CD first rather than booting from the hard drive which is sometimes the default. </h1>WipeDrive and WipeDrive Small Business are wipe programs that run before your operating system starts (Windows, Linux, etc.) When your computer first boots up it needs to know where to start (i.e. Hard Drive, CD-ROM, Floppy), this is called the boot order. The boot order must be set to start from either the CD-ROM drive or the Floppy depending on whether you have a WipeDrive CD or Floppy. The boot order is a setting found in the computer's BIOS. The BIOS is a small hidden program run by all computers when first powered on. <h2 style="border:0px;margin:0px 0px 5px;padding:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(53,53,53);line-height:24px;font-family:'Open Sans',sans-serif">Step 1</h2> The exact process of how to change the boot order differs slightly based on how your computer accesses the BIOS (setup). The BIOS is essentially a configuration tool allowing you to determine how your computer boots. Turn on your computer and then look on the screen for some text that says something similar to "Press 'X' to Enter Startup", where X is generally the F2 key or the DEL key. Press this key repeatedly as soon as the computer has been turned on. If you see the Windows Logo appear, then you are too late; restart the computer and try again. If you are using a USB Keyboard and cannot get into the BIOS, you will need to use a standard PS/2 Keyboard.<h2 style="border:0px;margin:0px 0px 5px;padding:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(53,53,53);line-height:24px;font-family:'Open Sans',sans-serif"> Step 2</h2>The first BIOS screen will show many computer settings. The mouse will not work in this screen. Navigate the menus using the arrow keys on the keyboard. Typically, the bottom of the screen will show the keys for navigation, and changing the settings. <h2 style="border:0px;margin:0px 0px 5px;padding:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(53,53,53);line-height:24px;font-family:'Open Sans',sans-serif">Step 3</h2> Look for a setting that says Boot Order, Boot Sequence, First Boot Device, Boot Management, or something similar and select it. In the BIOS example, the option for 'Boot' can be found at the top right of the screen.<h2 style="border:0px;margin:0px 0px 5px;padding:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(53,53,53);line-height:24px;font-family:'Open Sans',sans-serif"> Step 4</h2>The screen will show a list of devices that your computer can boot from. You need to change the order of these devices so WipeDrive will run. Change this setting to have either the CD-ROM or Floppy drive as first in the list, depending on whether you are using a WipeDrive CD or Floppy. Note: Some computers have a feature that can enable and disable the boot devices in this boot order list. Be careful not to disable either the hard drive (C: Drive), the CD-ROM (or Floppy) drive that you intend to use to run WipeDrive or WipeDrive Small Business. <h2 style="border:0px;margin:0px 0px 5px;padding:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(53,53,53);line-height:24px;font-family:'Open Sans',sans-serif">Step 5</h2> Once the Boot Order has been changed, save and exit the BIOS screen. Most computers will use either the F10 key or the ESC key. When asked to save the changes and exit select 'Yes'<h2 style="border:0px;margin:0px 0px 5px;padding:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(53,53,53);line-height:24px;font-family:'Open Sans',sans-serif"> Step 6</h2>Once you have saved and exited out of the BIOS, insert your WipeDrive or WipeDrive Small Business CD or Floppy Diskette into the computer, and reboot. The program will start immediately and show an options menu; follow the on-screen instructions to wipe your computer clean.

How to change boot order

Use this tutorial if your computer starts Windows when rebooting with the WipeDrive CD (or Floppy) already in the computer. It will show you...

8:12 am

How to change boot order

How to change boot order

Use this tutorial if your computer starts Windows when rebooting with the WipeDrive CD (or Floppy) already in the computer. It will show you...

8:12 am

7 quick tips for holding a successful Twitter chat

<div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;line-height:21px"><div style="border-top-width:1px;border-top-style:solid;border-top-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);margin-bottom:20px;overflow:hidden;padding:5px 0px;font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px"> </div></div><img alt="" height="263" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/04/dell_tweetchat-100033417-medium.png" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="300">I was involved with Dell in this Tweet chat about improving computing. A Twitter chat is an awesome way to engage an audience, increase your brand's social visibility, and connect with an audience in a new way.I've hosted and participated in several Twitter chats over the last few years. My number of Twitter followers has increased each time, as have the Twitter follows of the other participants. Plus, I'm able to connect with others in a way that's different from a traditional webinar or video chat. A Twitter chat happens in real time. It's defined by a moderated posting of questions and answers on Twitter over a certain period of time, often one hour. Participants joining the conversation use a hashtag (say, for example, #pcworldtalk) to tag each tweet. Everyone who wants to follow in the live, online discussion can click on that hashtag to bring up a list of tweets containing the same hashtag. Before you throw together an impromptu Twitter chat session, follow these steps below.1. Be prepared Don't do a Twitter chat on a whim. Instead, give some thought to who the audience is, who will be a part of the discussion, and what the questions and answers might be. Decide on a clear, short straightforward hashtag. You can research potential hashtags at<a href="http://www.hashtags.org/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">Hashtags.org</a>. 2. Communicate with chat participants<img alt="" border="0" height="119" src="http://images.pcworld.com/images/article/2012/06/new-twitter-logo-thumb180-11371265.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="180"> During the Twitter chat, keep in touch with the host and guests via another means of communication. Be on the phone together or use a separate chat system, such as Skype or GChat. It's important to speak with each other about what to post, and what to retweet and so forth during the Twitter chat. I've found the best way to do this is on the phone with my fellow participants. 3. Retweet a lotIn life the best people are givers, and the same is true in a Twitter chat. Retweet the tweets of other people who are engaged in the Twitter chat. The more you retweet, the more people will want to share your tweets, too. 4. Post a Twitter chat summaryAfter your Twitter chat, consider writing a summary of the key tweets. This is a great way to extend the Twitter chat beyond the dynamic, real-time conversation. One popular tool for<a href="http://www.storify.com/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">archiving social events is Storify</a>. 5. Use clear agenda markersIn your Twitter chat, use indicators such as "Question 1" or "Answer 2" so that your audience knows where you're at in the Twitter chat. 6. Promote the Twitter Chat ahead of timeOne indication of a successful Twitter chat is the number of attendees you have and how often they are asking questions, answering questions, and engaging via email with you. To achieve these results, promote the Twitter chat at least several days ahead of time. Ask your customers, business associates and others to promote the chat to their Twitter followers and beyond. Use Facebook, email and whatever other outlets are at your disposal. 7. Keep things livelyThere's nothing worse than hosting a Twitter chat without anyone chatting. Ensure that those on the Twitter chat are comfortable with Twitter, and that they know their roles and how the conversation should flow.

7 quick tips for holding a successful Twitter chat

I was involved with Dell in this Tweet chat about improving computing. A Twitter chat is an awesome way to engage an audience, increas...

6:10 am

7 quick tips for holding a successful Twitter chat

7 quick tips for holding a successful Twitter chat

I was involved with Dell in this Tweet chat about improving computing. A Twitter chat is an awesome way to engage an audience, increas...

6:10 am

Become a QuickBooks power user in 11 simple steps

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="largeImage imgId100031527 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt3.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/04/qbpro_2013bs-100031527-large.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="presentedBy" href="http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/12309-189045-1105-2?mpt=%%CACHEBUSTER%%" style="color:rgb(51,51,51);float:none;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:10px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;background-image:url(http://csmb.staticworld.net/images/ads/DellLogo-Blu-54px.png);display:block;width:300px;height:30px;text-align:right;padding-right:30px;vertical-align:middle;line-height:30px;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat">PRESENTED BY</a><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/business-marketing" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px">There's a reason QuickBooks remains the most popular small business accounting software. Intuit has spent 13 years honing its features, after all. Because there's a new version every year, however, you might not be up to speed on everything you can do to make QuickBooks easier and faster to use. </a></div>Whether you're building reports or seeking shortcuts to summon key information, these tips will save you time and keystrokes. Each tip is labeled with the QuickBooks edition year in which it first appeared, going back to QuickBooks 2010. Anything older is simply shown as pre-2010. <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Make QuickBooks follow your preferences</h2>QuickBooks offers a huge number of options in its Preferences window, which you access from the Edit menu. For each Preference item, you get tabs for personal and company options. The personal options apply only to the current user, while company options appear to all users. It's worth clicking on both tabs to see all of your customization choices. 1. Choose your desktop (QB2010)<img alt="" border="0" height="371" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/04/desktop-view-copy-100031508-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580">Desktop view The default flow chart that appears when you first fire up a new copy of QuickBooks looks like something from an accounting class, but fortunately you're not stuck with it. In Preferences, Desktop View you can opt for another startup screen, such as the popularCompany Snapshot, by going to the window you'd prefer and then clicking the Save current desktop radio button. Alternatively, you can have QuickBooks simply save the windows you're working in when you shut it down by clicking Savewhen closing the company. In this same window, you can also choose between either the default option, keeping multiple windows open when you work, or the only one at a time option (when you open a window, the previous one automatically closes). 2. Speed up searches (QB2012)<img alt="" border="0" height="371" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/04/search-index-100031515-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580">Search QuickBooks' search feature lets you find items in either your company file or the program's help files. By default, a search field appears in the top icon bar (summoned in View, then the Topicon bar), but under Preferences, Searchyou can remove it, and also specify whether you want a company or help file search. (By default, QuickBooks lets you choose from a drop-down menu below the search filed every time you initiate a search.) In the Company tab, you can also specify how often QuickBooks should index your company file so that searches will reflect recent entries. QuickBooks recommends indexing at 30-minute intervals, but since indexing can slow down the program, you might want to opt for longer stretches. When you do need to find a recent transaction, you can always click the Update Now button in this window. 3. Find old messages (pre QB2010)QuickBooks by default has a bunch of reminders that you can turn off by checking a do-not-show-this-message-again box in the message. But if you want to bring them back, just hop to the General preferences window and click the "Bring back all one time messages" box. Here you can also have QuickBooks use the Enter key to tab between fields, show (or suppress) clipped text in ToolTips, choose between using today's date and the date of the last transaction for new transactions, and much more. The 2012 and later versions give you the option of running QuickBooks in the background in order to speed up its launch. <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Work better with data and reports</h2>4. Add or edit multiple list entries (QB2011) <img alt="" border="0" height="361" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/04/add-or-edit-multiple-list-entries.-100031505-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580">Multiple list entries Say you need to update a QuickBooks list, anything from customers and vendors to services and parts. The Add/Edit Multiple Entries under the Lists menu item provides several handy ways to do so. By displaying list data in a spreadsheet-like grid format, it allows you to insert, remove or move around columns and paste copied Excel cells, in addition to simply typing in new entries. A Copy Down command that appears when you right-click a cell will fill out the rest of the column with the contents of the cell. However, use carefully as it will overwrite any previous contents. 5. Modify a report before it runs (pre QB2010)<img alt="" border="0" height="420" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/04/modify-report-before-running-it-100031509-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580">Modify a report QuickBooks makes tweaking reports super easy, but you don't have to wait for the report to open before making changes. Go to Preferences, Reports, and check off Prompt me to modify report options before opening a report. From then on, when you choose a report, you'll get a window with its options before you run the actual report. If your data sets are large, this can be a real time saver. 6. Auto-refresh reports in Excel (QB2012)<img alt="" border="0" height="360" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/04/update-report-button-in-excel-spreadshet-copy-100031516-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580">Update reports automatically. Many QuickBooks users like to export report data to an Excel spreadsheet, where they can make tweaks ranging from format changes to adding formulas. QuickBooks some time ago made creating the spreadsheet easy by putting an Excel button at the top of reports, which brings up a window with exporting options. You can even set some Excel options before exporting the data by clicking the Advanced button. The problem with this in earlier editions is that refreshing the tweaked spreadsheet with new data from QuickBooks could be messy. Formatting changes, for example, were not applied to the new data. The 2012 edition of QuickBooks upgraded the Excel export functionality to address at least some of these issues. Once you've created an Excel workbook with exported data, QuickBooks creates a menu item in Excel that lets you update the spreadsheet without even running QuickBooks. The process still isn't perfect: QuickBooks even adds a sheet in Excel workbooks created using the export feature to explain some of its limitations. However, it can make life easier if you like to massage QuickBooks data in Excel. <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Find shortcuts and menu customizations</h2>7. Play favorites (QB2011) QuickBooks has so many standard reports that finding the ones you use regularly from its menus can get annoying. You can avoid menu surfing by designating reports as faves by clicking on the heart icon underneath any report—standard, memorized, or contributed—in the Report Center. After that, it will show up in the Favorites tab in the Report Center, and there's even a Run favorite reports command for getting all those reports to update with a single click. 8. Customize the icon bar (pre QB2010)<img alt="" border="0" height="338" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/04/customize-the-icon-bar-100031507-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580">Don't just take the icon bar as it comes! The standard QuickBooks interface is loaded up with icons to items you may never need, and sometimes the ones you want are missing. You can make the icon bar more relevant to the way you use QuickBooks by adding or removing icons in the Customize icon bar window by choosing View, then theCustomize icon bar. Or, create new icons by clicking the Advancedbutton in that window. 9. QuickBooks product info (pre QB2010)<img alt="" border="0" height="566" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/04/quickbooks-product-info-100031513-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580"> The QuickBooks product information window provides a wealth of statistics and other details you may need for tech support or other issues. Among other things, you can find out when you installed your copy, the exact release number, license information, details about the number of users and list items, and much more. Access it by pressing the F2 key on your Windows PC. 10. Pop-up calculator (pre QB2010)<img alt="" border="0" height="371" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/04/pop-up-calculator-100031511-large.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="580">Pop-up calculator If you need to do some quick math on the fly while creating an estimate, a sales order or an invoice, there's no need to exit the QuickBooks form. With your cursor on any dollar amount field, simply click one of the +, -, * or / keys (for addition, subtraction, multiplication or division), and a tiny calculator window will appear. 11. Lots of keyboard shortcuts (pre QB2010): People who prefer keyboard shortcuts to clicking around graphical menus and windows have lots of options in QuickBooks, many dating back to its DOS origins. For example,CTRL-F summons the detailed Find window for tracking down specific transactions; CTRL-R produces the register associated with the current transaction. There are also tons of context-sensitive shortcuts that only apply for specific data types—for example, if you're working in a date field, hitting Y changes the date to the first day of the current year. To see complete <a href="http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/pages/inproducthelp/core/qb2k12/contentpackage/core/miscellaneous/info_keyboard_shortcuts.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">lists of keyboard shortcuts</a>, start by going to the QuickBooks help page on this topic. From there, you can access lists for all shortcut categories: General, Dates, Editing, Help Windows, Activities, and Moving Around a Window.

Become a QuickBooks power user in 11 simple steps

PRESENTED BY There's a reason QuickBooks remains the most popular small business accounting software. Intuit has spent 13 years honing...

6:06 am

Become a QuickBooks power user in 11 simple steps

Become a QuickBooks power user in 11 simple steps

PRESENTED BY There's a reason QuickBooks remains the most popular small business accounting software. Intuit has spent 13 years honing...

6:06 am

Boot discs explained: An overview of booting your PC from something other than your hard drive

Boot discs explained: An overview of booting your PC from something other than your hard drive

When you boot your PC, it generally loads an operating system (such as Windows) from a hard drive or SSD. But you can bypass this proces...

6:00 am

DIGITAL SANKALP

Change the Boot Order on Your PC

Change the Boot Order on Your PC

How to change boot order

How to change boot order

7 quick tips for holding a successful Twitter chat

7 quick tips for holding a successful Twitter chat

Become a QuickBooks power user in 11 simple steps

Become a QuickBooks power user in 11 simple steps

Boot discs explained: An overview of booting your PC from something other than your hard drive

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