When you first buy a computer it’s like heaven. It runs fast, there are no problems like crashing or error screens and you’re left alone to do what you want. It’s bliss. However after a few months you begin to notice things. Things like:

* A Slow Computer

* Cryptic error Messages

* Random shutdowns and restarts

Things that not only annoy you but can cost you time and money. Sometimes the best way to resolve these problems is through a a complete restore to factory settings. This process will wipe your computer and reinstall the original software and operating that came with your computer. Usually it’ll be like having a new computer.

Unfortunately there is a downside. By restoring your computer to factory settings you’ll be forced to backup all of your stuff. All of your files and videos, pictures and documents. It’s a big job. And in the end you’ll still need to reinstall all of your programs since restoring to factory settings will wipe the computer clean.

Before I tell you how to wipe your computer I would like to recommend an easy to use tool that can fix those problems for you….without the need to loose all of your programs and files!

The software is called ReImage. With a few simple clicks you’ll be able to fix almost any software or virus problem you’re computer may have! Here are a few highlights:

ReImage can:

Repair damaged operating system

Refresh native OS drivers

Eliminate pop-ups

Remove viruses, trojans and spam

Fix registry keys

You’re using your shiny Apple iMac or MacBook and you go to check on your. You click on the Mail icon and low and behold the thing freezes and doesn’t respond. What to do?

Well there are a few things you can do to fix this problem.

Run Apple Update and Restart your computer.

The issue could have already been fixed by Apple with an update or just may need a simple reboot. Try these steps first. You never know when they’ll work and save you hours of headache. Try these steps first for all computer problems.

Your Mail preferences file may have become corrupted.

The Mail preferences file stores- well, your preferences! It’s probably the first file that Apple Mail loads when it starts up and if somethings gone wrong with that file (corruption and so on) the Mail application will just freeze. The easy way to fix this issue is to simply delete the Mail preferences file. This will delete some simple settings but will leave your email intact.

Here’s how to delete the preferences file for Apple Mail:

1. Restart your computer and DO NOT open Mail.
2. Open a Finder Window.
3. Select your User Name folder.
4. Select the Library folder and then the Preferences folder.
5. Find, in the list that appears, com.apple.mail.plist. Drag it to the trash.
6. Open Mail. It should now load.

Hopefully now your Mail app will stop freezing. However if the above didn’t solve your problem read on.

There may be a “corrupted” message on the server.

There may be a “corrupted” message that’s giving Mail pause. Mail tries to either download or open this email and freezes up because it doesn’t know what to do with it. What you need to do is open your email account through a web-based email client. For example if your email comes through a .Mac account you can login here: www.mac.com.

If your email comes through your Internet Service Provider you can try calling their technical support line and asking them to flush the emails waiting on the server. While this will make you lose all of the emails you have not read yet the faster you do this the less emails you’ll lose.

You can also try downloading and setting up your account in another email client such as Thunderbird. Thunderbird is the same thing as Mail only by a different company. It may be able to download the corrupted messages so Mail doesn’t have to.