3 stubborn PC problems you can fix

Ever notice how each PC has a personality of its own? Or maybe even multiple personalities? In the course of a week, your computer may act friendly, moody, and sometimes downright mean.

However, don't take a hammer to your PC just yet. The following is a list of common symptoms and treatments to help even the most troublesome PCs. You don't even have to be a psychologist (at least not yet) to deal with your PC's neuroses.

Windows 7 and Windows Vista usually manage this automatically, but overall you'll find that these tips work for all versions of Windows, from Windows 95 to Windows 7.

1. You keep getting a "your system is running low on virtual memory" message

Perhaps you're more than familiar with this scenario: You're working on your PC and notice performance getting gradually slower and slower. Programs become harder to open and close. You wait forever for Web pages to be displayed. And then, you get some serious-sounding "virtual memory is too low" message, like the one in the following graphic.

Don't worry: This message isn't as scary as it sounds.

Virtual memory low message

Virtual memory is the space your computer uses when it's short of RAM (Random Access Memory), which is the memory used when running programs like Microsoft Office Word or Microsoft Office PowerPoint.

So what can you do to correct this problem and prevent this message from coming up in the future? The following are some solutions to keep your computer from displaying the "virtual memory minimum is too low" message.

Solution 1: Bump up the virtual memory size on your computer

The first solution is to increase your computer's virtual memory settings. To do so, you first need to determine how much RAM you currently have.

Windows 7

Solution 2: Add more RAM to your computer

If you keep getting that dreaded "Your system is running low on virtual memory" message—even after you increase your computer's virtual memory—then you may need to buy more memory for your computer. To really work well:

• Windows 7 needs at least 1 GB of RAM to run. See more system requirements for Windows 7.
• Windows Vista needs at least 512 MB of RAM to run, but for some applications (like gaming) 1 GB or more of RAM is recommended.
• Windows XP needs a minimum of 256 MB of RAM.

The more RAM you have, the better.

Find out how much RAM you have in your computer

If you're at work, contact your company's IT administrator before updating the memory on your computer. They may have some memory available and can help you install it.

If you do need to purchase some more memory, stop by your local computer shop. You can probably buy memory from them, and they'll probably install it for you. Or, you can buy memory online.

2. Your windows slide off the desktop—and you can't grab them

We're all familiar with moving program windows around the desktop. You can click-and-hold the window's title bar to move it around. But what do you do when you accidentally move a window's title bar off the desktop so you can't grab it anymore? The window is stuck in that inconvenient position.

Solution: Use your keyboard to help move your window

The trick to moving these stubborn program windows is to use your keyboard.

Use your keyboard to move a window:

3. Your taskbar has disappeared

The taskbar is that horizontal bar at the bottom or your computer screen that displays open programs on your desktop. The taskbar also contains the Start menu, which allows you to navigate to various programs installed on your computer. In many ways, it's your command central.

Thus, there's nothing more frustrating than going to start a program, only to find the taskbar gone. A computer without a taskbar will bring you to a grinding halt.

The good news is that the taskbar never disappears—it just hides. It may be hiding behind other open windows, or at the top or side of your screen. You can also (unintentionally) make the taskbar so thin that it seems invisible.

The following are possible reasons why your taskbar has vanished, as well as solutions to keep your taskbar from ever running away again.

Solution 1: Find your taskbar behind other windows

Solution 2: Find your taskbar elsewhere on your screen

Solution 3: Thicken your taskbar

Where to find more help

This article covers three common PC problems. But if you're still unable to find the solution to your particular PC problems, check out the Microsoft support page. There, you'll find various self-support and assisted support solutions. You'll find answers to cure even the most disturbed computer.

Microsoft Windows HPC Server 2008

New to Windows  HPC Server 2008 ?

get acquainted.

A Competitive Advantage

High Performance Computing gives analysts, engineers and scientists the computation resources they need to make better decisions, fuel product innovation, speed research and development, and accelerate time to market. Some examples of HPC usage include: decoding genomes, animating movies, analyzing financial risks, streamlining crash test simulations, modeling global climate solutions and other highly complex problems.

More Accessible Than Ever

In the past, the most common way to apply multiple compute cycles to a complex problem was to use specialized supercomputing hardware – a solution with a very high cost of entry and technical complexity.

However, recent software and hardware advances have made it possible to leverage existing IT skills and create an HPC environment using off-the-shelf servers and high speed interconnects. These systems can deliver industry-leading computing power with more efficiency and at a significantly lower cost of entry and ownership.  This form of HPC is called a commodity HPC cluster. 

Basic Architecture of an HPC Cluster

A cluster consists of several servers networked together where each server in the cluster performs one or more specific tasks.  Cluster components include Head Nodes, and Compute Nodes, Job Scheduler and Broker Nodes (for SOA enabled clusters.)

Head Node

The single point of management and job scheduling for the cluster. It provides failover and controls and mediates access to the cluster resources.

Compute Node

Carries out the computational tasks assigned to it by the job scheduler.

Job Scheduler

Queues jobs and their associated tasks. It allocates resources to these jobs, initiates the tasks on the compute nodes; and monitors the status of jobs, tasks, and compute nodes.

Broker Node

Act as intermediaries between the application and the services. The broker load-balances the service requests to the services, and finally return results to the application.

Learn more. Check out this glossary of key HPC terms and acronyms »

Basic Cluster

Microsoft Windows SteadyState

Windows SteadyState

Share computers, not headaches

What state is your shared computer in at the end of the day?

• Hard disk filled with downloaded files?
• Strange options configured?
• Programs installed that you don't want?
• System infected with viruses and spyware?
• Computer bogged down for unknown reasons?

Windows SteadyState, successor to the Shared Computer Toolkit, is designed to make life easier for people who set up and maintain shared computers.

An easy way to manage multiple users You can manage whole groups of users as single user accounts. The new Windows SteadyState console makes it easier than ever to create and modify user profiles.

A locked-down platform for stable shared computing Not every computer user should have access to every software capability. Your system can be more stable and consistent when you limit user access to control panel functions, network resources, and other sensitive areas.

Set it and forget it Once you have everything set up the way you want it, you can share the computer and rest easy. Any changes a user might make to the configuration or hard disk can be undone by simply restarting the machine.

Microsoft Security Compliance Manager

Microsoft Security Compliance Manager



The Microsoft security experts on the Solution Accelerators team are working on a free new tool to help organizations plan, deploy, operate, and manage security baselines for Windows® client and server operating systems, and Microsoft applications. Check out this new video about Security Compliance Manager from the dev team; then tell us what your favorite feature is!

Overview of Remote Desktop Web Access

Overview of Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access)

New Feature  from Microsoft

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access), formerly Terminal Services Web Access (TS Web Access), enables users to access RemoteApp and Desktop Connection through the Start menu on a computer that is running Windows 7 or through a Web browser. RemoteApp and Desktop Connection provides a customized view of RemoteApp programs and virtual desktops to users.
Additionally, RD Web Access includes Remote Desktop Web Connection, which enables users to connect remotely from a Web browser to the desktop of any computer where they have Remote Desktop access.
When a user starts a RemoteApp program, a Remote Desktop Services session is started on the Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) server that hosts the RemoteApp program. If a user connects to a virtual desktop, a remote desktop connection is made to a virtual machine that is running on a Remote Desktop Virtualization Host (RD Virtualization Host) server.
To provide users access to RemoteApp and Desktop Connection, you must configure RD Web Access to specify the source that provides the RemoteApp programs and virtual desktops that are displayed to users. You can configure RD Web Access to use either of the following:

• Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker) server
  
• RemoteApp source
  

An RD Connection Broker server provides users access to virtual desktops hosted on RD Virtualization Host servers and to RemoteApp programs hosted on RD Session Host servers. To configure the RD Connection Broker server, use the Remote Desktop Connection Manager tool. For more information, see the Remote Desktop Connection Manager Help in Windows Server 2008 R2. For more information about RemoteApp and Desktop Connection, see the Remote Desktop Services page on the Windows Server 2008 R2 TechCenter (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=143108).
A RemoteApp source is an individual RD Session Host server or a farm of identically configured RD Session Host servers on which RemoteApp programs have been configured. You can specify multiple RemoteApp sources. To configure RemoteApp programs on an RD Session Host server, use RemoteApp Manager. For more information,

Deploying RD Web Access

You must install the RD Web Access role service on the server that you want users to connect to over the Web to access RemoteApp programs. When you install RD Web Access, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) is also installed as a required component.
After you install RD Web Access, you must specify whether to use an RD Connection Broker server or a RemoteApp source as the source that provides the RemoteApp programs and virtual desktops that are displayed to users through RemoteApp and Desktop Connection. For more information, see Configure the RD Web Access Server for RemoteApp and Desktop Connection.
If you want users to access the Web page from the Internet, you can use RD Gateway to help secure remote connections. For more information, see Checklist: Make RemoteApp Programs Available from the Internet.
For more information about RD Web Access, see the Remote Desktop Services page on the Windows Server 2008 R2 TechCenter

 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=140437).

Emotional intelligence, leadership, management, teams, team building

Emotional intelligence, leadership, management, teams, team building

Intel Labs announces Single-chip Cloud Computing experimental chip

Intel Labs announces Single-chip Cloud Computing experimental chip

Cluster Computing

Cluster Computing

A computer cluster is a group of linked Computer  working together closely so that in many respects they form a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast LAN. Clusters are usually deployed to improve performance and/or availability over that of a single computer, while typically being much more cost-effective than single computers of comparable speed or availability.

Cloud computing

Cloud computing logical diagram

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like a public utility.

It is a paradigm shift following the shift from mainframe to client-server that preceded it in the early '80s. Details are abstracted from the users who no longer have need of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them.^[1] Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources as a service over the Internet.^[2][3] It is a byproduct and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet.^[4]

The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on the cloud drawing used in the past to represent the telephone network,^[5] and later to depict the Internet in computer network diagrams as an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it represents.^[6] Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online which are accessed from another web service or software like a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.

A technical definition is "a computing capability that provides an abstraction between the computing resource and its underlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks), enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction."^[7] This definition states that clouds have five essential characteristics: on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service.^[7]

The majority of cloud computing infrastructure, as of 2009, consists of reliable services delivered through data centers and built on servers. Clouds often appear as single points of access for all consumers' computing needs. Commercial offerings are generally expected to meet quality of service (QoS) requirements of customers and typically offer SLAs.^[8]