Your Master Boot Record got damaged? This message sounds really pretty scary, but if your hard drive is still intact then don’t worry at all. In most of the cases you can fix this type of problem by following simple procedures to repair your Master Boot Record (MBR). Whenever you start your computer it looks for the MBR, which tells to the BIOS which partition of the hard drive has OS installed.

If the MBR is damaged, it means your BIOS can not identify the OS and then it will give a message like Error loading OS or Invalid disk partition table or Boot Failure. But fortunately you can recover or repair the Master Boot Record by using either the Spotmau Powersuite 2010 CD or the Windows XP Recovery Console.

How to fix a damaged Master Boot Record using Spotmau Powersuite 2010:

By using Spotmau Powersuite 2010 tool you can easily fix the problem of Master Boot Record (MBR) or Disk Partition Table in a safer way compared with the Recovery Console of Windows XP. Just insert your bootable Spotmau CD in the drive and restart. The system will boot from the Spotmau CD and provide you with an easy-to-follow menu with options to fix your Master Boot Record with a few clicks. The images below illustrate a few screen shots of Spotmau Repair CD for fixing Windows MBR.

How to fix a damaged Master Boot Record using Windows XP Setup CD:

In Windows XP setup CDROM you can find the Recovery Console. By using this Recovery Console tool you can repair a damaged MBR or Disk Partition Table or boot sector. The following steps will help you to start the Recovery Console and fix your damaged Master Boot Record.

• After Inserting Windows XP Setup CD in CDROM drive restart your PC
• If your computer is prompting like press any key to start the booting from CD then do it immediately. If you not press any key, then it will try to boot from the hard drive.
• After Installing few files it will prompt like press R to start Recovery Console.
• Whenever this Recovery Console starts, it will ask you to enter the partition number that you need to repair in Windows XP. Most of the cases the number is “1.” After entering this number and pressing the “Enter” key it will continue with the setup. If you have not entered any number and pressed Enter then your computer will restart immediately by quitting from the installation of Recovery Console Program.
• After finishing that installation it will ask to enter your Administrator password. If you are not entering right password, you cannot continue for further.
• After entering right password it will open the Recovery Console command prompt, here type fixmbr command and then press Enter to continue the process.

At this point, the Recovery Console will create a new MBR and replace the old one. After finishing this repair, you can reboot your computer normally. In very rare cases you should repair the boot sector or disk partition table in addition to the MBR. If still you PC does not work properly then repeat those steps mentioned above and type fixboot instead of fixmbr command.

NOTE: If you are using the XP Recovery Console procedure, then it will assume that you have only one OS in your system. But, if you have more than one Operating System in your PC (e.g Windows and Linux), then you need to search for additional information to fix the problem of Master Boot Record or Boot sector by using the commands fixmbr and fixboot respectively.

Having computer problems? I know that trying to figure out and fix your computer when it’s not working right can be frustrating. There are so many help tools and web sites out there geared towards experienced computer users who have an expert understanding of how their system works. But what is the average computer user like you and me to do when something goes wrong with their computer? Tech support and computer maintenance can be very expensive, and like your car mechanic, you are dependent on the technician to be truthful with explaining what’s wrong and what needs to be done to fix it.

One option I use for learning about problems with your system is the integrated Windows help files. These help files will assist you in pinpointing the problem with your system and help you find a solution. However, I’ve found that the integrated help files often do not provide the level of detail needed to accurately diagnose a problem, especially if it is something outside of Windows that is causing the problem.

Another option I rely on is Microsoft’s knowledge base on their web site. The knowledge base is a compendium of known issues that users have reported to Microsoft and solutions for these problems. Depending on the issue you are having, the solutions could be quite technical and complicated, and making any mistakes could compromise your system further.

Finally, you can turn to online forums and message boards that offer solutions to various operating system and hardware issues. However, I have found that many of these sites are not closely moderated, and you could end up downloading what you think is a program to fix your problem that ends up being a virus or malware, making your situation even worse!

If your computer is so compromised that it doesn’t run at all, accessing the help options provided above is impossible if you do not have access to another healthy computer. If your computer is in this state, your only solution is to have a bootable disk that you can use to get your computer started. Windows allows you to create a recovery disk, but it does not provide you with the tools to diagnose and repair all of the potential problems your computer may have.

Luckily for average computer users like you and me, Spotmau’s award-winning software PowerSuite Professional provides users with a new, innovative computer maintenance option. PowerSuite Professional goes above and beyond a standard recovery disk, providing you with a complete solution for all of your computer maintenance needs, including:

• Boot up any computer
• One-click PC health check – find out all your PC’s problem one time
• Install Windows or fix problems with Windows
• Optimize your system performance
• Clean up your web browser history
• Recover lost data and passwords
• Partition and format your hard drive
• Clone or backup your system
• Select which programs to run when you start Windows

This simple CD has helped me solve some big problems with my computer, letting me get back to work fast.

For more information on SpotMau PowerSuite 2010, or to order your copy of this ground-breaking CD, please visit http://www.spotmau.com.

The new Release Spyware Doctor 2010 is Here

PC Tools Spyware Doctor 2010 is here-The best of the best just keeps getting better! Spyware Doctor and Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus already offer the most powerful antivirus and antispyware protection available. Now the new and improved features in the Spyware Doctor 2010 release will make this product even more compelling to Windows computer users wanting to have the best protection available for their system.

• NEW! Advanced detection intelligence delivers powerful protection using a diverse range of technologies to detect and block threats.
• NEW! Behavioral technology, powered by ThreatFire™ – next-generation technology to stop new threats faster than traditional signature based methods.
• NEW! Multi-layered browsing protection to protect against web-based attacks including phishing, rogueware scare tactics and drive-by downloads.
• IMPROVED! State Awareness Modes intuitively detects the state of the user’s PC when they’re playing games, watching movies, in presentation mode or using their laptop unplugged to automatically reduce impact and interruption.
• NEW! Support for Windows 7 – Spyware Doctor and Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus are fully certified as Windows 7 compatible.

Spyware Doctor and Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus also give the user the freedom to choose automated protection or an interactive and advanced approach.

• Install, set and forget with default settings that are automatically set for maximum protection, or;
• Tweak away with settings for each IntelliGuard™, history logs and more;
• Automated real-time protection, smart updates and scheduled scans all ensure maximum protection with no down time;
• Help whenever needed it with 24/7 customer support.

Spyware Doctor is a top-rated malware & spyware removal utility that detects, removes and protects your PC from thousands of potential spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers, spybots and tracking threats.

It is especially effective against scareware rogue antivirus programs which after infecting your computer they demand money to remove themselves from the system.

The new ThreatFire detection technology, which is a TradeMark of PC Tools, uses an advanced behavioral based mechanism for identifying threats. This is a much better way of detecting malware and viruses since it is not strictly based on “virus signatures”, thus it is able to identify “zero-day” threats as well. Zero-Day threats refer to new emerging viruses and other malware that they appear on the Internet and conventional antivirus/antispyware programs (i.e signature based) are not able to detect them (until they update their signatures).

You can Download Spyware Doctor for Free and perform a scan to evaluate its capabilities. The Free download version is just for scanning. If you need also to clean any found viruses and spyware, then you must register the full software version. Download the program below from the official PC Tools Website.