Sam is an IT Project Manager who has purchased a large batch of Windows 7 Enterprise licenses without consulting her bosses. They don’t want to move from XP and now her job’s at threat! She needs your help as an IT Professional to convince the board that Windows 7 is worth deploying.

To enter you need to create a video, or series of videos across the whole competition justifying Sam’s Windows 7 purchase on a series of different criteria.  Fir the first entry period it’s productivity.

The prizes in this competition are really excellent and include…

Acer Aspire ICONIA TAB W500 Windows 7 Tablet
Sony 32″ LCT TV with Samsung BluRay Player
Lenovo IdeaCentre B320 21.5″ Multi-Touch All-in-One Desktop PC
Seagate 4Tb NAS drive with Sonos Play:5 and Sonos Bridge
Dell Inspiron Q15R Laptop
HTC Titan Windows Phone

In addition, the first 250 entrants will receive a limited edition mug.  Then there are two final prizes for the most watched videos over the whole period.

Samsung 32″ 3D TV
Panasonic SD90 HD 3D Ready Camcorder with 3D conversion lens

The entry periods for the competiton are…

- Entry Period 1 (19 September 2011 – 03 October 2011)
- Entry Period 2 (03 October 2011 – 17 October 2011)
- Entry Period 3 (17 October 2011 – 31 October 2011)
- Entry Period 4 (31 October 2011 – 14 November 2011)
- Entry Period 5 (14 November 2011 – 28 November 2011)
- Entry Period 6 (28 November 2011 – 12 December 2011)

You can enter in each of the six entry periods but only once each time and, if you have a webcam and can record a video, up to three minutes long direct to YouTube, or if you have more professional video editing kit these prizes will make entering well worthwhile.  It’s important to note here that professionalism isn’t necessarily a guarantee to success.  What you say in your video is just as important, but don’t forget the already Excellent Windows Live Movie Maker can be downloaded completely free as part of Microsoft’s Windows Live Essentials Suite 2011.  This software contains some great and simple to use tools for snazzing up your entries.  As for your entries for the very first entry period, Microsoft say…

All you have to do is share your tips on the features of Windows 7 that make it easy to use. Sam says the board are worried that users will have trouble adapting to Windows 7 and that they’ll see a drop in productivity. She needs to know, what features and improvements are included in Windows 7 that will help the business’ users to be more productive?

The competition is only open to UK residents and full terms and conditions and links of where you can enter can be found HERE.  You can see my first entry on this link with the promise that if this wins the first round, I’ll be giving away the prize, an Acer Windows 7 Tablet PC worth around £600, in a free prize-draw to a lucky follower.

The ultimate, in-depth reference for troubleshooting Windows 7 — from the inside out! This supremely organized book delivers hundreds of prevention tips, troubleshooting techniques, and recovery tools, with a companion ebook and additional content online.

You’re beyond the basics, so dive right into troubleshooting Windows 7 — and really put your PC to work! This supremely organized reference describes hundreds of prevention tips, troubleshooting techniques, and recovery tools in one essential guide. It’s all muscle and no fluff. Discover how the experts keep their Windows 7-based systems running smoothly — and challenge yourself to new levels of mastery.

• Take control of essential Windows 7 maintenance and security features, such as the Action Center and User Account Control
• Master quick fixes to the most common problems using expert tips and step-by-step repair guides
• Implement best practices to help prevent and combat viruses, malware, and identity theft
• Apply advanced troubleshooting techniques by understanding how Windows 7 works
• Diagnose hardware problems and work safely with your PC
• Develop a recovery plan to restore your system and data in the event of a disaster
• Know when to use power utilities for advanced performance, maintenance, and diagnostics

You can enter as many times as you like as long as you don’t spam people.

This competition will run until the end of Tuesday 25th January 2011 and the winner will be notifed by private message on Twitter or Facebook by Thursday 27th January 2011.  Please allow 28 days (or so) for delivery of the paperback book.  If you are the winner you will need to be able to provide your full mailing address (PO Boxes can’t be accepted, sorry).

Good luck to all, but there can only be one winner!

You’re beyond the basics, so dive right in and troubleshoot Windows 7 — from the inside out!  This supremely organized reference packs hundreds of prevention tips, troubleshooting techniques, and recovery tools. It’s all muscle and no fluff. Discover how the experts keep their Windows 7-based systems running smoothly — and challenge yourself to new levels of mastery. 

• Use quick and simple guides to prevent problems such as data loss and identity theft
• Get the very best out of the built-in features
• Make your own quick fixes to the most common problems
• Handle viruses and other threats, and get tips to help protect against cyber-crime
• Learn advanced troubleshooting techniques by understanding how Windows 7 works
• Use step-by-step guides to diagnose and repair system and hardware issues
• Recover and restore the operating system — and your files — in the event of a disaster
• Use power utilities built into Windows 7 for performance, maintenance, and advanced diagnostics
• Get a companion ebook and additional content online

So many things can go wrong with Windows because every single PC is unique . It is highly unlikely, especially outside of a business space, that another PC exists with exactly the same hardware, installed software specification, and updates as yours . Your PC will contain a unique mix of software and hardware components, and there would be no way for any person or any company to ever test all of the possible combinations for stability . There are logo certification programs for Windows hardware and software, and a great many vendors do indeed put their products forward for testing by Microsoft . All that these tests prove, however, is that on a basic Windows system, they will be stable and not cause the system to crash . What can’t be tested is how a certain piece of software or hardware will interact with other software or hardware on your machine, some of which might not have been submitted for certification .

Keep Things Simple

The sheer number of software packages you have installed or the number of hardware devices you have plugged in can also cause problems on your computer . I always keep my Windows systems simple and uncomplicated . When it comes to hardware, I like multifunctional devices such as printer/scanner combinations, and I avoid unnecessary USB devices, such as USB attached speakers . Your PC already comes with audio out jacks that are perfectly good .

I also try to avoid installing all the software that comes with a new device . Wi-Fi adapters and printers are common culprits for loading your PC with bloatware . You may also find, if you have a new PC, that it came preloaded with lots of software that you don’t need and will never use . The software packages that come bundled with hardware devices broadly fall into the following categories .

• Trialware Software that will expire after a period, normally 30 days . If you do not intend to buy the software after this time, you should uninstall it because it might, especially in the case of trial anti-virus software, leave programs and services running that can slow down Windows 7 or cause other problems .

• Dupliware Programs that duplicate Windows features, such as Wi-Fi connection software, media players, or CD/DVD burners .

• Craplets ‘Useful’ utilities that your PC supplier might have preloaded onto your computer . They are intended to simplify certain tasks, such as writing notes or accessing media files . They will always run when Windows launches at startup, although you will probably never use them . 

Don’t Install Programs that Duplicate Features in Windows

Why would you want to install a software package that simply duplicates Windows func­tionality? By default, the operating system can burn CDs and DVDs (including audio discs and ISO image files), play media (video, TV, and audio), display photos and images, and much more .

Although a few Windows functionalities available in Windows Vista have been removed from Windows 7, such as the Calendar and Email software, a great many functions still exist . (Note that these programs have been moved to the excellent Microsoft Live Essentials Suite, which you can get from http://download.live.com .)

The more software you install on your PC, the more problems you invite . If at all possible, avoid having software packages installed that duplicate functionality that’s already in Win­dows . CD/DVD burning software is a good example . You should need these only if you have a Blu-Ray burner in your machine .

What Are the Causes of Common Problems?

It’s very rare for Windows 7 to fail . Windows will fail on its own only if something disastrous happens, such as a power surge or a sudden reset while Windows is modifying a critical system file . Problems are more commonly caused by something outside of Windows, such as software, updates, and drivers . Physical hardware almost never causes problems in Win­dows . (But I will talk about diagnosing hardware problems in Chapter 19 .)

A great many of the problems with Windows are caused by poorly written software or hardware drivers or by having too many devices or programs installed on or in your PC . In my experience, the most common problems within Windows are caused, in order, by:

• 1 . Device drivers

• 2 . Poorly written software

• 3 . Poor security

• 4 . BIOS corruption (See more information on resetting the BIOS in Chapter 7, “Hardware”)

The Domino Effect

Some problems can cause what is called a domino effect, where one event sets off a string of other events, so it’s always advisable to diagnose and repair problems as early as you can after they first appear . One unchecked problem can then lead to others, because a malfunc­tioning process, service, or driver can cause other programs or Windows functions to fail, since these processes, services, or drivers are often shared by several applications or Win­dows components . For instance, you might have a problem with Internet Explorer crashing repeatedly . This could be because a component Internet Explorer shares with another Windows program, such as Windows Explorer, is corrupt or because another program or process is causing it to crash . I’ll cover the sometimes complex process of repairing Internet Explorer in Chapter 15, “Advanced Repair Methods .” The point is that the source of a prob­lem is not always obvious; a failing program may not be the root cause of the issue . In these cases, you can use more advanced diagnostic methods and tools to diagnose an issue . I will cover these in Chapter 14 through Chapter 16, “Windows Problems Demystified .”

Have You Tried Turning It Off and On Again?

If you’ve ever called an IT support department, the first question the support person prob­ably asked you is, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” This is a running joke with IT support professionals, because you might be amazed how often it fixes problems!

It might not be a permanent fix if there is something more serious happening, but for odd occasions when a software package suddenly crashes, restarting the PC will often fix the problem . Software crashes are common, and just because a program crashes once does not mean it will continue to do so . Crashes can be caused by freak conditions that are unlikely to recur, such as two programs trying to access the same file simultaneously.

With all IT problems, be they hardware or software, this is a good thing to try . You should also restart all external hardware devices attached to your PC when you restart the com­puter by manually switching them off and on again when you restart your computer.

The Blue Screen of Death

The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is notorious and, although not frequently seen in Win­dows 7, is still feared by many Windows users . The BSOD is the ultimate sign that Windows has died . However, the BSOD can provide some very useful information when you are troubleshooting problems that have caused it .

Figure 13-4 shows an example of a BSOD . I have marked two useful messages within the screen . The top one is the error type that caused the critical stop, in this case a PAGE_ FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA, indicating a memory problem .

The Perpetual Restart

Figure 13-4 The Blue Screen of Death

The second callout, located in the Technical Information section of the screen, is the actual error code, in this case STOP: 0×00000050 . A BSOD may also provide additional information . The BSOD in Figure 13-4 indicates the Windows service that has failed: SPCMDCON .SYS .

If a BSOD provides this type of information, you can use it to search online for more infor­mation on the error . In this case, SPCMDCON .SYS is a “mini command console,” which isn’t the most useful description, but a search for the error code reveals that there are several problems with Windows 7 that can cause this specific error . You can search through the results to find a fix that works for you and your PC .

By far the most common cause of BSOD in Windows is a hardware driver error, especially from unsigned drivers that have not been tested and certified by Microsoft . On occasion, other issues, such as a poorly written piece of software or even a power drop, can cause the dreaded BSOD .

The Perpetual Restart

Sometimes Windows 7 will automatically restart when it encounters a critical error . This can cause terrible problems, with a PC constantly restarting and never loading the desktop .

You can disable automatic restart on the boot menu shown in Figure 13-5 . To access this menu, press F8 on your keyboard after the BIOS screen disappears but before the Starting Windows logo appears .

Figure 13-5 Disabling Windows automatic restart on system failure

Select Disable Automatic Restart On System Failure from the options list, as shown in Figure 13-5 . At the next critical stop, Windows will display the error message on the BSOD instead of automatically restarting . You may discover (unless you’re having an extremely bad day) that after making a note of the stop error code, you can start your PC in Safe Mode .

Summary

Honing your troubleshooting techniques is one of the most useful computer skills you can develop; every person will find a method that works best for him or her . Because comput­ers are so complex, using a step-by-step approach and attempting to eliminate first what a problem cannot be, will ultimately help you to identify the source of a problem . This is by no means the only way to troubleshoot a PC . You should never forget that sometimes you need to take a step back and sleep on a problem, or you may never find it .

The prizes here at gHacks.net are…  3 copies of the book in paperback and 10 copies of the eBook.  PLUS!  Every winner and runner up will also receive a copy of Mike’s Windows 7 Power Users Guide as an eBook.

You’re beyond the basics, so dive right in and troubleshoot Windows 7 — from the inside out!  This supremely organized reference packs hundreds of prevention tips, troubleshooting techniques, and recovery tools. It’s all muscle and no fluff. Discover how the experts keep their Windows 7-based systems running smoothly — and challenge yourself to new levels of mastery.

• Use quick and simple guides to prevent problems such as data loss and identity theft
• Get the very best out of the built-in features
• Make your own quick fixes to the most common problems
• Handle viruses and other threats, and get tips to help protect against cyber-crime
• Learn advanced troubleshooting techniques by understanding how Windows 7 works
• Use step-by-step guides to diagnose and repair system and hardware issues
• Recover and restore the operating system — and your files — in the event of a disaster
• Use power utilities built into Windows 7 for performance, maintenance, and advanced diagnostics
• Get a companion ebook and additional content online

So here’s how you enter!  We want to hear Your best Windows 7 troubleshooting tip.  Send your suggestion by email us at giveaway[at]ghacks.net.  Though tips such as “install Linux” and “buy a Mac” will be treated with the contempt they deserve  :P

There’s no limit on entries, you can enter this competition as many times as you like.  What’s more you can also enter the competiton at www.Windows7News.com and double your chance of winning!

COMPETITION RULES (Please Read carefully)

1. Make sure you include your name, address and phone number (Microsoft Press must have these for posting a paperback copy to you), also include your email address in the body of the email.  Please allow 28 days or so for delivery of the book, some international winners may face a further delay.
2. Winning entries may be included in any 2nd Edition of the book, please indicate if you are happy to allow this (a credit in the book will be given). 
3. Entries must be emailed to giveaway[at]ghacks.net, entries posted as comments on competition posts will not be accepted.
4. The closing date will be Monday 25th October 2010, winners will be announced by Thursday 28th on www.gHacks.net.
5. The judges decision is final and no correspondance will be entered into.

To mark the release of Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out from Microsoft Press, that has been written by Mike Halsey, one of the editors here at your favourite tech website gHacks.net, we have a fantastic competition in conjunction with our sister site www.Windows7News.com and a massive 52 prizes to give away!

The prizes here at gHacks.net are…  3 copies of the book in paperback and 10 copies of the eBook.  PLUS!  Every winner and runner up will also receive a copy of Mike’s Windows 7 Power Users Guide as an eBook.

You’re beyond the basics, so dive right in and troubleshoot Windows 7 — from the inside out!  This supremely organized reference packs hundreds of prevention tips, troubleshooting techniques, and recovery tools. It’s all muscle and no fluff. Discover how the experts keep their Windows 7-based systems running smoothly — and challenge yourself to new levels of mastery.

• Use quick and simple guides to prevent problems such as data loss and identity theft
• Get the very best out of the built-in features
• Make your own quick fixes to the most common problems
• Handle viruses and other threats, and get tips to help protect against cyber-crime
• Learn advanced troubleshooting techniques by understanding how Windows 7 works
• Use step-by-step guides to diagnose and repair system and hardware issues
• Recover and restore the operating system — and your files — in the event of a disaster
• Use power utilities built into Windows 7 for performance, maintenance, and advanced diagnostics
• Get a companion ebook and additional content online

So here’s how you enter!  We want to hear Your best Windows 7 troubleshooting tip.  Send your suggestion by email us at giveaway[at]ghacks.net.  Though tips such as “install Linux” and “buy a Mac” will be treated with the contempt they deserve  :P

There’s no limit on entries, you can enter this competition as many times as you like.  What’s more you can also enter the competiton at www.Windows7News.com and double your chance of winning!

COMPETITION RULES (Please Read carefully)

1. Make sure you include your name, address and phone number (Microsoft Press must have these for posting a paperback copy to you), also include your email address in the body of the email.  Please allow 28 days or so for delivery of the book, some international winners may face a further delay.
2. Winning entries may be included in any 2nd Edition of the book, please indicate if you are happy to allow this (a credit in the book will be given). 
3. Entries must be emailed to giveaway[at]ghacks.net, entries posted as comments on competition posts will not be accepted.
4. The closing date will be Monday 25th October 2010, winners will be announced by Thursday 28th on www.gHacks.net.
5. The judges decision is final and no correspondance will be entered into.

The prizes here at gHacks.net are…  3 copies of the book in paperback and 10 copies of the eBook.  PLUS!  Every winner and runner up will also receive a copy of Mike’s Windows 7 Power Users Guide as an eBook.

You’re beyond the basics, so dive right in and troubleshoot Windows 7 — from the inside out!  This supremely organized reference packs hundreds of prevention tips, troubleshooting techniques, and recovery tools. It’s all muscle and no fluff. Discover how the experts keep their Windows 7-based systems running smoothly — and challenge yourself to new levels of mastery.

• Use quick and simple guides to prevent problems such as data loss and identity theft
• Get the very best out of the built-in features
• Make your own quick fixes to the most common problems
• Handle viruses and other threats, and get tips to help protect against cyber-crime
• Learn advanced troubleshooting techniques by understanding how Windows 7 works
• Use step-by-step guides to diagnose and repair system and hardware issues
• Recover and restore the operating system — and your files — in the event of a disaster
• Use power utilities built into Windows 7 for performance, maintenance, and advanced diagnostics
• Get a companion ebook and additional content online

So here’s how you enter!  We want to hear Your best Windows 7 troubleshooting tip.  Send your suggestion by email us at giveaway[at]ghacks.net.  Though tips such as “install Linux” and “buy a Mac” will be treated with the contempt they deserve  :P

There’s no limit on entries, you can enter this competition as many times as you like.  What’s more you can also enter the competiton at www.Windows7News.com and double your chance of winning!

COMPETITION RULES (Please Read carefully)

1. Make sure you include your name, address and phone number (Microsoft Press must have these for posting a paperback copy to you), also include your email address in the body of the email.  Please allow 28 days or so for delivery of the book, some international winners may face a further delay.
2. Winning entries may be included in any 2nd Edition of the book, please indicate if you are happy to allow this (a credit in the book will be given). 
3. Entries must be emailed to giveaway[at]ghacks.net, entries posted as comments on competition posts will not be accepted.
4. The closing date will be Monday 25th October 2010, winners will be announced by Thursday 28th on www.gHacks.net.
5. The judges decision is final and no correspondance will be entered into.

Defending all of our interests in cyberspace is a relatively small cadre of talented and highly skilled public sector and private sector cyber security professionals,” said Baroness Neville-Jones, Minister of Security.

Lady Neville-Jones said the pool of available professionals had to grow and the Cyber Security Challenge was an “innovative” way to attract people to take up the profession.

The UK has fallen behind in recent years in computing expertise which has angered many who remembered the country as the birthplace of the modern computing revolution where programmers were sat in every front room and bedroom on their Sinclair Spectrum, BBC Micros or Commodore 64 only thirty years ago.  Since then, other countries have stolen the lead in expertise because they have put much greater emphasis on the appropriate skills during schooling than British governments have done.

A virtual competition takes the form of a treasure hunt that will involve looking for flaws on a dummy website and answering questions about what was found. The challenge will take about two hours to complete with will be run on several dates between September and December.

The face-to-face challenge will see teams taking over a simulated network and defending it against a series of attacks carried out by security professionals.

The winners of these initial competitions will go forward to the UK Masterclass at which they will work with others to defend a different simulated network.

If you fancy yourself as a computer security specialist and would like to enter the competition you can do so here.

The stories have to be written in (good) English, have not been published before, are the creative work of the author who send them to me and need a minimum length of three paragraphs with about 2-3 sentences in each. Images are fine as well as are other goodies such as videos. The competition will run for the next three weeks starting today. Finished articles can be send to my email address which is ghacks@mysega.de

Accepted stories will be published on Ghacks and the author of the story will have the chance to win one of the prices listed below.

I first thought to create “special” prices but since it is a bit difficulty to ship certain items worldwide I thought it would be better to offer cash to the winners instead. The cash will be send to your Paypal account.

The authors of five stories that will be published will each receive $10. They will get the chance to write regularly for ghacks if they have the desire to do so and will receive a fair share of the earnings of their writings.

So, this is not only the chance to win $10 but only the chance to write regularly for Ghacks. Good luck to everyone, if you have questions let me know and I try to answer them.

Nick’s idea received 46% of all votes followed by Tash’s with 28% and Todds’s with 11% of all votes. Nick will receive a free domain name of his choice and a webhosting account paid in advance for one year. Nick if you are reading this contact me with your paypal address. I might introduce a new competition soon, stay tuned.

1. (Tash) – I’ve been thinking about starting a blog. Mainly tech related. Gaming, security/linux, new gadgets and other interesting stuff. I just don’t have enough extra income to support one right now (I just moved into a new apartment and haven’t found a job here yet)
2. (Pendorcho) – I would use it to host a website about the project i am working on.
   It’s a remake of the Monkey Island series and is based on the AGS engine.
   We’re actually using a free hosting but i’m afraid is not enough.
   The web is www.monkeyzero.com.ar but there’s not much to see until we release the beta version.
3. (Todd) – Anyways, I plan on making a graphics site with the domain and hosting prize you are offering. I’ve been to other graphics sites and I just can’t stand the way they run thier site. They do things that makes it hard for someone that knows nothing about graphics to start learning. I want to make a site like that. I’ve had little experience running a site so I could handle what they did and make a way better site than thiers. I pretty sure it won’t be a waste, I;m thinking of a carrer in graphics so this will really help meout. I’m just starting a job now so I don’t have money to pay for hosting and domain names so this would really help me out.
4. (Amanda) – I’ve wanted to be able to have a small blog that also offers hosting for people who apply and are accepted. It offers an FTP account. I don’t want a very big network at all. Just something for visitors to pass through and read what’s on my mind. It would be a very easy-going site with a little bit of entertainment.
5. (Sridhar) -I want to create a community for web masters where discussions on various scripts like CMS, blogs, galleries, project management can be discussed.Importantly, it will have tutorials and code snippets to help web masterscustomize the scripts and do simple tasks like changing logo, adding AdSense.
6. (Najeeb) -about the website content, am thinking of creating a website just like ghacks, but in Arabic, since Arabic readers still dont have a website like ghacks thatcover such an interesting technology reviews, so i would create an almost an Arabic version of Ghacks.
7. (Nick) – If I had a domain, I would create a site in which people could, for free,search the internet for sheet music. I would (first asking permission ofcourse) integrate it with the many small sites out there that contain
   repositorys of sheet music, so that a person could search virtually the entire internet of sheet music, then be given a link to the pages on which matchingresults appear.
8. (Alay) – I’d like to use the hosting for a section publishing my toughts about some basic creative things to make, and a section for my interest in software and web designing issues or some nice galleries.And for sure i’ll upload my hundreds of bookmarks so it’ll be useful not just for me.

Voting ends 20. February 2007.

The only requirement would be that you have a paypal account because I will send the money for all the expenses. I will aid the winner if he should run into troubles. Advice on rising traffic levels and monetizing will also be given to the winner of the competition. You may add your ideas by replying to this article or sending me an email using the contact form at the top navigation bar.

Write an article for ghacks.net

Write an article that has a minimum of 200 words and submit it to my email address (will be listed at the end of the article). The article that you submitted will be posted on ghacks.net if it meets the guidelines (no spam, illegal, gambling, sex and the like). I will contact you asap if the article was rejected and will state the cause.

If the article gets approved it will be immediately published, full credits will be given to the author at the end of the article. This is a great way to promote a website as well. I post your name and a link to your website if you have one on my site.

I will select the three best articles who will receive each 50$, 30$ and 20$. The money will be transferred using paypal because this is the system I´am using. I can also send it to you by snail mail, highly insecure but nevertheless a solution if you are not using paypal.

The competition ends 02.10.2006, one day before the first anniversary. Winners will be named on the day of the anniversary. Everyone else will be thanked for their contributions as well. That is, if I receive more than three, hehe.

email to send contributions to: ghacks (at) mysega (.) de

If you have further questions or need advice on an article feel free to contact me at the same email address.

Let the Games Begin.