Windows 8 Crashing? How To Easily Troubleshoot Blue Screen & Other Issues

 Windows 8 shouldn’t blue-screen as frequently as Windows 98 did, but it isn’t perfect. Most blue screens and application crashes aren’t even Windows’ fault — they’re often caused by faulty hardware, buggy hardware drivers, and other problems with third-party software. These tips will help you identify exactly what’s wrong with your PC and fix it.

Get Information About the Problem

The blue screen of death (BSOD) is simplified on Windows 8, with most of the confusing text eliminated. The most important piece of information — the error code — is still available here. This code will help you identify and fix the problem, so be sure to note it when a blue screen appears.

By default, Windows automatically reboots after the blue screen of death occurs. You my come back to your computer and find it rebooted without you getting a chance to see the error message. Windows creates memory dump files with information about the blue screen of death, but it isn’t easy to view them with the tools included in Windows.

We like NirSoft’s BlueScreenView for this. Download and open the utility to see a list of previous blue screens. The “bug check string” is the most important piece of information here.

If no blue screens appear here, you’ll need to configure Windows to create error dumps when blue screens occur. To do this, open the Control Panel and navigate to System and Security > System > Advanced system settings > Startup and recovery settings. Ensure Windows is set to create memory dumps when a system crash occurs.

You can also prevent Windows from automatically restarting when a BSOD occurs from here. This will allow you to see the blue screen and error message, even if you were away from your computer when it occurred.

If you’ve encountered a particularly bad problem, your computer may actually be blue-screening every time you restart, preventing you from using Windows normally. If this is the case, you’ll likely see the Advanced startup options screen when you start your computer. Select Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Settings and enter Safe Mode to identify and fix problems with your computer.

You can often find information about blue screens and application crashes in the Control Panel’s Action Center. Open the Action Center and you should see some information if errors have been occurring. Click View archived messages to view other recent messages if none appear here.

If you’re just dealing with application crashes or other system problems that don’t result in blue screens, you can find information about such errors in the Windows Event Viewer. Press Windows Key + X and click Event Viewer to open it. You’ll find information about application and system problems under the Windows Logs section.

There will likely be quite a few error messages in here even if your computer is working properly — that’s even part of the “Windows tech support” phone call scam. Check for error messages that occurred around the time you had the crash or system problem.

Find Help With Your Specific Problem

If you’re having trouble with a blue screen and want to identify the root cause, you should head to a search engine like Google or Bing and search for the error code from the blue screen. This error code is the clue you need to identify your problem and find more information about what’s causing it and how to fix it.

This tip doesn’t just apply to blue screens. Perform a search for various app crashes you’re encountering and you should find help, too.

The Windows Action Center will theoretically help here. In addition to displaying information, it can check with Microsoft online and inform you if a solution is available for your problem. Unfortunately, this tool doesn’t seem to do much. The Action Center usually doesn’t find a solution in our experience. It’s worth a try, but don’t expect it to fix your problem.

Troubleshoot and Fix Your PC

If you can’t find any information online that relates to your specific problem, you should try these general troubleshooting steps. These tips will help fix almost any problem you encounter. If you can’t use your computer normally, try booting into Safe Mode before performing these steps. Use Startup Repair to fix Windows if it won’t start up at all.

Ask yourself whether you’ve recently installed any hardware drivers or other software. For example, if you install a new hardware driver and your computer is blue-screening, that hardware driver may be causing the problem. Boot into Safe Mode and try uninstalling the hardware driver or software package you recently installed from there.

If the problem started recently, try performing a System Restore. The System Restore feature will revert your Windows system files to a previous point in time. If system files are corrupted or there’s any other problem with them, System Restore can get them back to a working state. The System Restore feature won’t erase or roll back any of your personal files, just system files.

Performing a malware scan is also a good idea. Use an antivirus tool to scan your computer for malware and remove anything it finds. Even the Windows Defender antivirus included with Windows 8 can help here, but you may also want to try using another antivirus.

A bootable antivirus tool like a BitDefender Rescue CD or an avast! Rescue Disk can also be useful. These tools will scan your computer from outside Windows, preventing malware from interfering.

If it’s an application crash — or even a blue screen caused by a hardware driver — try updating the affected software by downloading the latest version of the software from the developer’s website. If it’s a hardware driver, visit your hardware manufacturer’s website and download the latest driver version for your specific hardware. Updates can fix crashes and other problems with software.

If you can’t fix the problem at all, Windows 8 makes it easy and fast to get a clean system. Refresh your PC to keep your files but get a fresh operating system — this is basically a quick way to reinstall Windows. You’ll just need to reinstall and set up your desktop programs afterwards. This gives you a fresh system to start out with, free of malware, corrupted files, and buggy software.

Some blue screens are caused by failing hardware. For example, if your RAM is faulty, your CPU is overheating, or any component inside your computer has a hardware problem, blue screens may occur. If this is the problem, you won’t be able to fix it by messing with your computer’s software. You’ll need to replace the faulty component.

If your computer is still under warranty, you should contact your computer manufacturer, inform them of the problem, and ask them to fix it for you. They’ll likely ask you to troubleshoot your computer by refreshing your PC before they’ll take it back and fix or replace it.

These tricks should help you troubleshoot and fix nearly any problem you find. There are a huge number of different problems you could encounter, so be sure to read up on the exact error you’re seeing.

7 Ways To Improve Battery Life on Windows 8 Tablets & Laptops

Windows 8.1 offers many of the same battery-saving features found in previous versions of Windows, but they’re often in different places. These options will help you make your tablet or laptop’s battery last as long as possible.

1.Disable Bluetooth

Your Windows 8.1 tablet or laptop probably comes with Bluetooth support that’s enabled by default. If you don’t use wireless Bluetooth devices, leaving the Bluetooth radio running will just drain battery power.

To disable Bluetooth if you’re not using it, swipe in from the right or press Windows Key + C to access the charms, select Settings, and select Change PC settings. Navigate to PC and devices > Bluetooth and toggle Bluetooth off. If you’d like to use Bluetooth, you can easily re-enable it from here.


 

2.Adjust Display Brightness
 

Your screen’s backlight uses quite a bit of power. Reducing your display brightness will save that power. Windows 8.1 uses automatic brightness on devices with brightness sensors, but you can also adjust the brightness setting yourself.

To access the brightness slider, open the charms bar and select the Settings charm. Tap or click the Screen icon and adjust the brightness slider.


 

3.Choose a Power Plan

Windows 8.1 still has standard Windows power plans, which are basically just groups of settings you can change all at once. For example, the default power plan is Balanced, but you can select Power Saver to save some power. In most cases, you’ll want to stick with the default Balanced setting. Power plans also expose additional options to you, so you can dig into this dialog and adjust a variety of power settings to control how your power-saving settings work. We don’t necessarily recommend changing the more advanced settings unless you know what you’re doing.

To modify power plans, open the desktop Control Panel by pressing Windows Key + X and clicking Control Panel. Navigate to Hardware and Sound > Power Options and select your power plan.


 

4.Adjust Display and Computer Sleep Times

While you probably won’t want to get too deep into the power plan options, you may want to adjust the “turn off the display” and “put the computer to sleep” times. Click the Change plan settings links in the Power Options screen to access these settings.

You can control what happens when you step away from your computer or set it aside and stop using it from here. To save battery power, you’ll want the computer’s display to turn off as quickly as possible and to put the computer to sleep as quickly as possible. With the display off — and especially with the computer asleep — you’re using less power.

Of course, everything you adjust here is a trade-off. If you set the times too low, the computer will turn off its display and sleep while you’re still using it. You can also save power by putting your device to sleep when you’re done using it instead of waiting for it to time out and go to sleep on its own.


 

5.Unplug Devices

Devices you have plugged into your computer use power. For example, if you have a USB mouse plugged into your computer, that USB mouse is drawing power through your computer’s USB port so it can run. It’s not a huge amount of power and you shouldn’t fret if you’re actually using the mouse, but you’ll want to unplug devices you’re not using if you really want to save power.

Some USB devices use more power than others, of course. A tiny USB stick won’t use as much power as a mechanical external hard drive, for example.


 

6.Use Airplane Mode

Airplane mode will disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and any mobile data connection. if you don’t need network access, this is an easy way to squeeze some more battery life out of your device by disabling the wireless features.

To enable airplane mode, click the wireless icon in your desktop system tray and toggle the Airplane mode slider. You can also open the charms bar, tap Settings, and tap the Wi-Fi icon to access this menu.


 

7.Disable Automatic App Updates

If you’d prefer updating apps manually, you can prevent Windows from updating “Store apps” automatically. To do so, open the Windows Store app, swipe in from the right or press Windows Key + C, and navigate to Settings > App updates. This won’t save much battery power, but it will allow you to update apps when you choose to update them.



Windows RT and some full Windows 8.1 devices with Intel Atom processors also support a new feature called Connected Standby. The device can go into a low-power mode, waking up regularly to fetch new updates and emails — just like smartphones, iPads, and Android tablets receive emails and messages while sleeping. This does use additional battery power, as the device isn’t really asleep when it’s asleep. Unfortunately, there’s no way to disable Connected Standby that we know of. However, putting the device into airplane mode or just disabling Wi-Fi before putting it to sleep will prevent it from waking up to download new information.

AOC 16″ USB Monitor Review and Giveaway

We’re all used to connecting monitors to our computers via connections such as VGA, DVI, and HDMI. But USB? Monitors with a USB connection are rare and often provided lackluster performance – but the technology has moved on since then. Are they now a viable option? Today we’ll find out.

We’ll be taking a look at the AOC E1659Fwu, and at the end of this review, you’ll be able to enter for a chance to win one!

About The AOC E1659Fwu

The AOC E1659Fwu is a 16″ USB DisplayLink monitor that only needs a USB connection to function. There’s no conventional VGA, DVI, or HDMI port, nor is there an additional power cable used to power it. The USB connection does it all. While it works best using the available USB 3.0 connector, there is also a USB 2.0 connector that can be used with older computers.

The monitor is easily installed – all you need to do is install a driver and then plug it in.

The underlying technology is called DisplayLink. With this tchnology, the CPU and GPU are used to create the images that need to be sent over to the monitor. It then compresses the images, sends them over the USB connection, and a chipset in the monitor decodes those images and displays them.

Competitors
Surprisingly, there are still only a few USB-powered monitors available that can be considered as competitors. These include the Philips 221S3UCB and the DoubleSight DS-90U. Out of these, the AOC E1659Fwu has the smallest price tag, and sits in the middle of the pack in terms of screen size.
In The Box

In the packaging, you’ll find the monitor, the USB cable with both 3.0 and 2.0 connectors, a protective pouch, and a CD with drivers. You should ignore the CD, however, because it’s always best to download the latest drivers from the Internet anyways.

There’s plenty of styrofoam that keeps the monitor protected, so it can definitely take a beating in the box without getting damaged.

Design
Once you take it out of the box and take off all the plastic wrapping, you’ll see that the monitor is very simple. The 16″ display comes with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, which is somewhat mediocre, but most likely a trade-off with performance.

On the front, there are no buttons whatsoever. Neither are there any on any of the sides, but you will find two rubber feet on two different sides. This enables you to use the monitor in either portrait or landscape orientations.

In the back, you’ll find a stand that you can pull out to keep the monitor upright in both orientations, and there are holes which you can use for a standard VESA mount.

Build Quality

The build quality isn’t something to brag about. The device is sturdily put together, but the plastic components feel very cheap in your hands, and there is definitely some creaking around the edges. It is a cheaper option compared to the competition, so that’s not a big surprise.

Installing Drivers
Installing the drivers is a simple affair. Just download the latest version from the AOC website, and install them by following the setup instructions. This will only install the bare driver – there are no additional utilities.

AOC expects you to use your system tools to configure the additional monitor. This method makes setup easier as it’s likely that you’ll already be familiar with your system, but it lacks any advanced features. However, this monitor isn’t intended for power users who like to tweak – it aims to be a simple additional monitor which you can plug-and-play.

The monitor supports both Windows and Mac OS X with downloadable driver packags for each. Unofficially speaking, there’s supposed to be support on Linux for the monitor as well since it uses DisplayLink technology, but I tried and wasn’t successful.

Performance

As mentioned, the 1366 x 768 pixel resolution was probably a conscious decision for the sake of performance. Even when using USB 3.0, the performance was decent but not fantastic. AOC claims that the monitor supports up to 60 Hz, but playing videos or simply moving the mouse around the desktop showed that it wasn’t buttery smooth. There’s a very slight stutter that isn’t really annoying or a problem, but it’s obvious that it’s not as silky smooth as your main display.

That being said, performance is good enough for videos and movies which don’t go over 30fps anyways. The only downside to the monitor, once again, is that with the supported resolution you can only play 720p videos. 1080p videos are playable, but they won’t look any sharper than 720p ones.

You can in theory play video games on it, but it’s only acceptable for casual gaming. Frame rates are unlikely to go past 30fps – so in other words, Solitaire should be no problem, but Battlefield 4 needs a better monitor for sure.

The monitor can be used as the primary display if you’d like. It just falls under the same performance restrictions — in other words, it’s still better for productivity rather than gaming even if it’s the only active display.

If you use the USB 2.0 connection, expect the performance to decrease even more. I didn’t have any USB 2.0 ports to test it out with, but I’m sure that it won’t perform nearly as well as via the USB 3.0 connection.

Display Quality

The display quality isn’t great either. The colors are faded (which isn’t surprising considering it has a 500:1 contrast ratio) and each pixel is clearly visible without having to get extremely close to it. Everything is identifiable and text is legible, so the quality isn’t horrid – but if you’re looking for accurate representation with vivid colors and deep blacks, you’re not going to get that at all.

Additionally, you can’t change the display brightness of the monitor. There’s no way to control this via the operating system (besides the main display if you’re on a laptop), and there are no buttons on the monitor either. Somehow, I found this to be a major flaw that I wish could be fixed. AOC says that the brightness averages to about 200 cd/m^2, which means that it’s pretty bright – approximately 3/4 of the maximum brightness of most monitors.
 

Conclusion

The AOC E1659Fwu is best described as acceptable, but not recommendable except for certain scenarios. It isn’t bad for something that only needs a USB cable to run, but it’s still not great. Primarily, this monitor might be ideal if you simply need a quick and simple monitor on-the-go and don’t have any major expectations out of it. I do enjoy the fact that you can power and use it using a single USB connection and nothing else. But otherwise, you’d be far better off with an actual monitor that uses a VGA, DVI, or HDMI connection as a second display for a home setup or some other semi-permanent or permanent solution.