Q and A with the Tech Diva - BSOD and COA
Q: Sometimes I get a blue screen when I turn on my computer, what is that?
A: I have said for years "Computers are like people, sometimes they lose their minds", and most often this is evidenced by what we call BSOD or the Blue Screen Of Death. And YES it is indeed blue. and YES this is a computer crash, it does not mean your data is lost, but can mean a reinstall of your operating system is needed and with that undoubtedly you will lose programs. There are many reasons a crash can occur, memory errors, hard drive errors, even a bad power supply, but more often than not it is caused by viruses.
Some people may be able to recover from a crash without running to the repair shop for help. Here are some steps you can do first before you need the expert.
First and foremost write down all the information shown on the screen. This will help you later on if you do need to take it to the shop.
Then simply attempt to reboot (turn off and then back on) your machine. If it starts up normally, you are good for now and do a complete virus scan to find the culprit.
If the computer fails to boot and just does the BSOD, then you can try Safe Mode, this is a diagnostic mode of your operating system. To enter Safe Mode, turn off the computer then turn it back on and continuously press the F8 key then choose the Safe Mode option from the advanced options screen. This starts up Windows without the extra drivers and programs that usually load during startup. If this works then immediately scan for viruses.
One other option is to use the System Restore Utility, this will only work if it is hardware or software related, not in the case of viruses. You have to be able to boot to at least safe mode to use this option. Click on Start in the lower left side of your screen, then All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. The program will walk you through taking your computer back to an earlier, usable state. Using a restore point rewrites the computer's internal systems, so any programs installed after the last restore point will need to be reinstalled in order to work.
If none of this works for you, take it to a professional for further diagnostics.
Whatever you do, DO NOT turn your computer on and off like a light switch. Repeatedly powering up a machine with a bad drive, will only magnify the problem and you can and probably will lose your data permanently.
Q: I took my computer to a shop and they had to do a reformat, they saved all my data but when I got my computer back Word and Excel were gone and they said they could not install that without a coa or the original disks. What is a coa and why do they need this?
A: Coa is a Certificate Of Authenticity. This is needed to ensure the software is legit and not pirated. Without the COA, it is simply illegal to install the software. Some people may break this law and do it for you anyway but they risk losing their Certification and you and them may face some hefty fines if and when caught doing this, and you or they will eventually get caught. Many "techs" do not care because they are not Certified anyway. In the Tech Diva's opinion if someone is willing to break the law this is not someone you should want repairing your system, especially if you are a business owner.
