My computer screen went totally black!! -- A note regarding vgasave

This post is by contributor Arzath, who recently experienced a technical difficulty with his computer.

My computer screen went totally black!!

I could hear the sound of the windows booting up and HDD "clicking" like it normally would on a start up, but I simply could not see anything.

Based on the above observation, I assumed it was caused by the video driver conflict and booted windows in safe mode. Screen came back alive - I could see everything normally.

So I proceeded to check out the display driver... instead of the accustomed 3rd party driver I'd always seen, it only showed "VGASAVE", below it, the start up option was set to "System".

Since I had no idea what this is and why my 3rd party driver is not showing up, I set the option from "System" to "Disable" in hopes of eliminating the display driver conflict --- a move that some experienced users would think, as reading up to this point, a totally BAD IDEA... Yeah, it was one, for I could not load into safe mode nor my screen would come back on normal mode.

To revert the system and have the display come back normally, here's 2 possible solutions:

1: Without Recovery Console:

a. Boot windows NORMALLY.
b. hit window key after windows finishes loading.
c. hold shift + R
d. type "devmgmt.msc" (without quotes)
e. hold alt + V and then hit V key
f. hold alt + V again and this time hit w key
g. hit tab once and then hit V key
h. hold shift + f10
i. hit down arrow key and hit enter.
j. reboot your system and you should be able to see the screen.

2. With Recovery Console (windows xp)

For this method to work, you need Windows Recovery Console. Here's the link on how to install Windows Recovery Console: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058 or you could use the windows boot disk. In the Recovery Console, simply type: Enable vgasave SERVICE_SYSTEM_START

MS Paint - Free Tips and Tricks

MS Paint may be under powered, but it does have its uses. I've done hundreds if not thousands of screen shots using MS Paint. Most of the screen shots I use for my blog have been done using MS Paint, including the one for this post. So why do I use MS Paint when there are so many other better editors out there?

When it comes to a program that is available on any machine, you can't beat MS Paint. Since most computer users are on a Microsoft OS, its built-in. Since I've learned the basic MS Paint Editing functions - copy, paste, cut, resize, crop, etc... I can make quick simple changes anywhere. Plus, if you are on a machine with no internet access or the ability to download anything with more features that's all you have.

Shortcuts, Tips and Tricks:

• Use Alt+Print Screen or just Print Screen key to get a screen shot.
• Ctrl + V to paste clipboard contents to MS Paint
• Ctrl + Page Down - Zoom In
• Ctrl + Page Up - Zoom Out
• Ctrl + Z - Undo (very handy, this key combo works in most windows apps)
• Use the erasor tool to replace primary color with secondary color, check out this YouTube video for a demo
• (Rubber) Stamp tool: Select what you want to be a "stamp",using the selection tool, hold the Ctrl key and move your mouse to where you want the stamp, then left click to make a "stamp".
  

Many more tips and tricks can be found via a google search for MS Paint Tips or MS Paint Tricks . I've learned a good number of MS Paint tips and tricks from these sites: Tricklife, DeviantART, AlbinoBlackSheep, and YouTube.

Most average user editing can be done using MS Paint once you learn the very basics of MS Paint. I'll recommend something a little more heavier duty and still free, in a future post. Do you use MS Paint? If so, what do you use it for? Would you like to see more ms paint posts?

FreeDOS

This post is more for nastalgia than anything else. When I first started with computers and tech support, I worked in DOS (Disk Operating System). That was the Microsoft standard then. Recently I was writing an update to my post about What Do You Use Your PC For?, and went from the best buy link to a dell link, which led me to another link about FreeDOS still been sold with Dell machines.

I could not believe DOS was still being sold on new machines. I know DOS is still out there in some "ancient" applications, but to see it actually still being sold got me curious. So i did a search on Google and found FreeDOS. See a video of it being installed below.



While you're at it, get yourself some Free DOS games from DOS games or Download Full Games for some frugal entertainment. If that's not enough, search Google for free DOS Games. FreeDOS provides some resources for DOS applications and other links as well.

Do you still run DOS applications? If so, what do you use it for?