Sometimes you may find yourself formatting and reinstalling the operating system on a computer because there is a bluescreen error that will not quit.  I’m talking about the kind of bluescreen error that won’t let you boot up (not even in safemode).  At this point you have a few options: backup your data, proceed to reinstalling your Operating System of choice, and/or just take a baseball bat to your beige 1995 no-name desktop PC because it’s time to invest in a computer made in this decade.  

For those of you interested in the latter, here’s a helpful tip from the tech room that will allow you to keep the same computername you original had:

While you are backing up your desktop items, favorites to all your online links, pictures from grandma’s 80th birthday, and all the music you’ve collected in your lifetime as an itunes member, double-click on over to this folder** on your computer:

1.  Navigate to C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication DataMicrosoftDr Watsondrwtsn32.log

So once you’ve double-clicked the file, drwtsn32.log, a notepad with a lot of text will open.  Although the Dr Watson shell is rarely used anymore for it’s original purpose which was to gather information about your computer when an error occurs with a program, it does still hold some important data about your machine.  

2.  Press Ctrl+F on the keyboard, and then type: computer name

This will take you to the first hit, with your computername following the colon(:).

If by some miracle of Bill Gates that you do not have a Dr Watson file, try going to C:WindowsDebugNetSetup.log

There should also be a machine name listed in this log too.

Until next month, enjoy the snow, and surf the internet wisely and safely.

*Tips from the Tech Room are presented by James Keel

**note: You’ll have to unlock your hidden files first by right-clicking on My Computer, and selecting Explore.  Then click on Tools from the menu bar, Folder Options, the View tab, and move the radio button over to “Show hidden files and folders“.  Be sure to click Apply to All folders and then OK.