Computer Disaster Corner

[walpurgis]

The only W10 PC I have is the one I set up for the grand kids. No issues with that so far.

[spendorman]

This is a Windows 10 free house!

[walpurgis]

Well I'm a Windows 10 free user. I'll let the others here use it.

[spendorman]

Is she or isn't she ----- using Windows 10?

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8109/28719649684_94e6f2c054_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/KKRHgS)Tiddles helping----.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/KKRHgS) by A60man (https://www.flickr.com/photos/41679262@N02/), on Flickr

Actually, no, pic taken well before Windows 10 was released.

[walpurgis]

I feel an O/S reinstall coming on. I've a few little glitches on this PC. Latest one is a delay in carrying out commands. It seems to be buffering briefly before doing what it's told. There are no bugs on it and all clutter has been removed. I'm suspicious that the latest Windows updates may have caused this.

[struth]

I left a pc on last night and I think it updated to the new version

[walpurgis]

Mine is still playing up. It's not a big problem, just an annoying lag of a second or two before it responds. Everything is up to date and I've not tinkered with anything.

[spendorman]

Mine is still playing up. It's not a big problem, just an annoying lag of a second or two before it responds. Everything is up to date and I've not tinkered with anything.

Annoying when a computer lags like that. System restore?

[struth]

Mine is still playing up. It's not a big problem, just an annoying lag of a second or two before it responds. Everything is up to date and I've not tinkered with anything.

toolwiz?

[walpurgis]

It does it whether I use toolwiz or not. I've done a system restore, but for some mysterious reason the only restore date available was for the most recent Windows update.

As I said, I think the time has come for a W7 reinstall. But I just don't have the patience for spending half a day doing it and reinstalling all my third party software etc., right now :).

[spendorman]

Glary Utilities is not bad, might be worth trying: http://www.glarysoft.com/

[walpurgis]

Glary Utilities is not bad, might be worth trying: http://www.glarysoft.com/

Had it on here. I found it less useful than toolwiz and the constant reminders to upgrade to the paid version were annoying. I also have slimcleaner on this PC, it offers the same 'one click' scan and cleanup, but I seldom use it. Got Ccleaner too.

Funny thing. I'm not experiencing lag right at the moment. Maybe it was a Windows update that caused it and has been corrected. Toolwiz timefreeze is on by the way.

[spendorman]

Yes upgrade nags can be annoying, I have the paid for version.

Perhaps just install, see if it fixes, remove.

[struth]

Latest win 10 update allows more linux use

http://pureinfotech.com/suse-linux-servers-opensuse-windows-10-download/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Pureinfotech+%28PUREinfoTech+ Newsletter%29

[walpurgis]

Installed Glary Utilities again and ran it. The only thing I noticed was that the PC refused to start properly and went to the start options screen. But it does that occasionally anyway. No idea why.

It was doing it before the last O/S reinstall as well. I've run startup repair recently and reset bios defaults, but it still happens.

Could be it needs a bios update, but there are several choices of update available from the manufacturer (Acer) and installing the wrong one could be a disaster.

[spendorman]

I think I remember posting something about W7 not starting, the repair screen and something else. I'll have to look back, can't quite remember exactly what it was.

[spendorman]

Found it:

"I was playing around with a spare machine with Windows 7 on it, accidentally knocked the IEC mains connector and interrupted the mains. On restarting the machine got the Window repair screen. Let it run, it said it could not repair the system. I have had this situation several times with W7, XP seems more resistant to power interruptions.

I have found several times with W7, if power is interrupted and the repair screen does not work, just going into safe mode and then normal boot, seems to put things right."

[walpurgis]

I've had the startup repair fail to work. So I just reboot and select start normally. As I say, It doesn't fail to start all the time.

[spendorman]

Just a thought, how is the BIOS battery?

[walpurgis]

Thought of that and changed it a few months ago.

[spendorman]

But is it a good one? Voltage?

[spendorman]

An old machine that I put together using new parts about 2007, now sometimes gets a corrupted BIOS and won't start, resetting the BIOS seems to work - for a while.

[walpurgis]

I reset all bios defaults the other day, while I was removing the 'case opened' warning in bios after defluffing the processor heatsink.

[spendorman]

Resetting the defaults won't do it on my machine, need to use jumper to reset.

[walpurgis]

Strange. PC is behaving perfectly now. I think the glitches must have been from a Windows update error that they have put right.

[spendorman]

Strange. PC is behaving perfectly now. I think the glitches must have been from a Windows update error that they have put right.

Windoze

[walpurgis]

Google have revamped their 'Google News' page. I don't like it. It now takes longer to scroll through and the content is less easy to home in on. Why is there this incessant need to 'improve' things constantly.

https://www.blog.google/topics/journalism-news/redesigning-google-news-everyone/

They even show the old layout in comparison to the new here and call it improved. Not for me it isn't. When I first saw it, I thought the page was not loading properly.


ebay do the same. You get used to the layout and function and then they change stuff, not usually for the better.

It generally seems to be for steering various marketing ploys towards the viewer.

[struth]

just tried it for first time. it worked ok but was hardly awe inspiring

[walpurgis]

just tried it for first time. it worked ok but was hardly awe inspiring

It's a handy compilation of reports from numerous news sources. If you use the chevron to expand each news report, it lists other related items from different sources. It's certainly more comprehensive than going to the ITV News or BBC News websites.

The BBC News homepage is a real hodgepodge mess, with stuff scattered about all over: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news.

[walpurgis]

Looks like Photobucket are holding users to ransom!

The risk of sudden of withdrawal of a free internet service is always a possiibility.

I wonder, is there an other way to post photos than using a hosting service?

[struth]

Looks like Photobucket are holding users to ransom!

The risk of sudden of withdrawal of a free internet service is always a possiibility.

I wonder, is there an other way to post photos than using a hosting service?

Cubedownload have a new service that is free. Seems good and no resizing by them so you need to size b4 you upload. Works quickly at moment.....oh and free so far

[walpurgis]

Linux anybody?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3203405/linux/all-about-debian-9-stretch-the-linux-distro-that-just-works.html

[walpurgis]

Flippin' cheek! I was halfway through making a post here and my PC decided to switch off and reboot in order to configure Windows updates. It's never done that before.

[struth]

unusual for a non win10 one. mine will tell you but it does it out of user hrs

[walpurgis]

What could have been so crucial that immediate updating was required, a new and severe security threat?

[struth]

could be... worth doing a security scan maybe

[walpurgis]

I'll do one in a bit.

Just downloading 'Tails' 64 bit to a stick.

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6518-tails.html

It boots from the stick. No need for O/S on PC at all.

[walpurgis]

Just downloading 'Tails' 64 bit to a stick

That was a fat lot of good. It won't boot. May put it on DVD and see it that works.

[spendorman]

That was a fat lot of good. It won't boot. May put it on DVD and see it that works.

Tried Tails a long time ago, can't remember what I thought of it!

What software did you use to install it on the stick? I usually use:

https://unetbootin.github.io/

or

https://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

[walpurgis]

I used the browser downloader. No doubt that was the problem. Didn't realise there was another process. May give those a whirl.

[spendorman]

A few years ago I messed around with lots of distros and several USB installers, found that:

Some USB memory sticks, although working normally otherwise, just would not boot when installed with Linux.

Sometimes, a particular USB installer would not work with a particular machine or distro.

Some machine just don't like to boot to a Linux stick.

[walpurgis]

To save messing about I ordered a DVD of TAILS 3.0.1 64 bit. At £1.75 it won't break the bank!

Need a 32 bit now.

[spendorman]

Good value hybrid drive, have this mode in my desktop, works pretty fast, good for laptop too:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toshiba-500GB-SSHD-2-5-Hybrid-Internal-Hard-Drive-MQ02ABF050H-/282567854970

[struth]

with the latest windows update the screen ow dims to a red hue at 9pm, getting redder as time goes. this is to help eye strain. Quite like this automation

[walpurgis]

Not sure I like the sound of that. Presumably it's optional.

[struth]

Yes you can switch it off. I like it. Does make it eye easy

[spendorman]

My email is down, Talktalk, been so for a few hours, what a nuisance.

http://downdetector.co.uk/problems/talktalk

[spendorman]

Talktalk email working again!

[struth]

Tapatalk not posting pics either, well not for me. Probably the latest update being a cockup

[walpurgis]

Bloody internet! Broadband is dropping out, probably the rain. It has a habit of affecting service. And ebay searches are saying zero results, 'maintenance' again I expect.

[struth]

my spare laptop, an acer has been updated to win10 and just got the creators update. working well and just installed jriver23 on it. surprisingly fast for an old vista machine

[walpurgis]

I've got a tiny Acer Veriton N281G doing nothing. It's so small, it doesn't even have a disc drive (got a USB plug in one though). Not sure what to do with it. It runs W7 at the moment. Don't want W10, but may try Linux 'Tails' with it (just got a DVD copy). Of course, I don't even have to install this, I can boot off the DVD and save anything I want to keep on memory stick.

[walpurgis]

Actually. The above has reminded me of a computer conundrum. Quite a few external CD/DVD drives come with an install disc for the drivers. If you are buying an external drive, it is likely because the PC has none, so how do you install the drivers from the disc?

[TazSob]

Actually. The above has reminded me of a computer conundrum. Quite a few external CD/DVD drives come with an install disc for the drivers. If you are buying an external drive, it is likely because the PC has none, so how do you install the drivers from the disc?

You can usually download drivers from the manufacturer website. Try searching the make and model and you'll no doubt be given a dozen sites to get them from.

[struth]

Actually. The above has reminded me of a computer conundrum. Quite a few external CD/DVD drives come with an install disc for the drivers. If you are buying an external drive, it is likely because the PC has none, so how do you install the drivers from the disc?

You have to buy a cd drive. Lol


You could copy it on to a stick maybe

[walpurgis]

You could copy it on to a stick maybe

Only if you have a DVD drive to play it.

And drivers for Chinese products are often impossible to track down I've found.

[struth]

i meant copy it or image it onto a usb stick with another pc like you would with a linux program, or clone it... some cd/dvd drives come with a stick

[spendorman]

Been using Adblock Plus in Firefox, Chrome and other browsers for several years, it's been good.

Lately, it's not been working quite so well, just tried Ublock on all browsers and it seems better, faster and blocks more stuff.

[struth]

Yeah i noticed that too. Got another one but went back to ad plus

Will try that

[spendorman]

Yeah i noticed that too. Got another one but went back to ad plus

Will try that

Ublock working well on two machines, several browsers on each.

[struth]

seems to bee good so far :)

[spendorman]

Excellent

[walpurgis]

Internet is slow today. Happens every time we've had heavy rain.

[willbewill]

Internet is slow today. Happens every time we've had heavy rain.

Get your provider to check your line, ours did the same and it turned out water was getting into a connection somewhere down the line.

[walpurgis]

Get your provider to check your line, ours did the same and it turned out water was getting into a connection somewhere down the line.

I did last year and it was as you suggest, a connection at a telegraph pole a couple of hundred yards away. It's better than it was, but has never quite been right.

[spendorman]

Internet is slow today. Happens every time we've had heavy rain.

Satellite links and copper cable slows in bad weather.

[walpurgis]

Tinypic, "upload failed". I'm repeatedly getting upload failures with Tinypic image hosting. I've tried with various browsers amd rebooted, it makes no difference. Is this upload failure just a ploy to gain time to thrust even more advertising at us? Sometimes Tinypic works faultlessly for weeks and the goes through a virtually unusable phase for another couple of weeks. I managed to upload one image yesterday and then it stopped playing ball. I know there are other hosting options, but I'd like to keep using Tinypic if I can.

[spendorman]

This might be a disaster http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1Pcs-Fake-iphone-6s-Shape-Electric-Shock-Surprises-Joke-Prank-Toy-Gadget-Toy-/262927341226

[walpurgis]

This might be a disaster http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1Pcs-Fake-iphone-6s-Shape-Electric-Shock-Surprises-Joke-Prank-Toy-Gadget-Toy-/262927341226

Could be illegal in UK.

[spendorman]

As a child I remember making a shocking machine and trying it on my schoolmates

[walpurgis]

As a child I remember making a shocking machine and trying it on my schoolmates

I had one too. A small magneto that I put a crank handle on. :)

[southall-1998]

Anyone remember the chewing gum prank?.....Ouch!

S.

[walpurgis]

You can still get those.

[spendorman]

I had one too. A small magneto that I put a crank handle on. :)

I think I used a door bell vibrating contact system in series with a step up transformer that I wound, it was battery powered.

[struth]

would think them illegal to sell now

[spendorman]

500GB USB 3.0 portable drive, looks to be good value, not bought one though: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-High-Speed-M32-USB3-0-500GB-External-Hard-Drive-Portable-Mobile-Hard-Disk-/263152536694

[spendorman]

As a child I remember making a shocking machine and trying it on my schoolmates

Just seen this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDJp2tHmEQo

[struth]

Just a heads up for Mac users, Malwarebytes for Mac is out. MWB is a superb bit of kit with windows so should be tops for Macs too. More and more Macs are getting targetted.

[spendorman]

I think I need a Malwarebytes for my brain.

[spendorman]

Tonight, a friend brought here her old Del 610 laptop. It was absolutely crawling with Win 7 on it.

I tried to clean things up a bit, but to me it was stll excruciatingly slow.

Decided to put Linux Mint on it, everything recognised, runs nicely, friend is delighted.

Was certainly easier that re-installing Win 7, various drivers, Office etc.

[walpurgis]

Yes. I've got a slow W7 PC here that could do with a dose of Linux,

[spendorman]

The machine was so slow that I was beginning to think the hardware might be faulty, so a Linux stick was tried and it ran quite well, so then installed Linux to the internal hard drive.

Forgot to mention that my friend uses a mobile USB dongle to get internet, either the dongle had drivers on it, or Linux automatically installed the required drives, excellent.

[walpurgis]

Bugger. I was looking for some images on the PC and realised that the 'My Scans' folder has vanished. Done a search and it's not to be found.

Rapidly approaching a Win 7 reinstall I think. A number of glitches have been occuring lately. That'll be half a day of my time to get set up how I like it! :rolleyes:


(no, I don't want to hear about Linux, I have that available if I want it :))

[spendorman]

That's very strange, was the folder on the desktop?

[walpurgis]

No. In Pictures.

Even a system restore didn't bring it back and I know it only vanished in the last day or so, 'cos I'd used it. Good job it only contained scans of stuff I have as hard copies. Annoying though.

[spendorman]

The reason for asking is, I think that very occasionally, I have had stuff that was on the desktop vanish when I have done a system restore.

I still clone my drive at least once per week to a second HD inside the machine. This drive in normal use is disabled, except when cloning, using Device Manager. I also clone to an external HD occasionally.

For cloning I use either Maxblast of Diskwizard, and do this before going to bed, leaving it to auto shut-down on completion, takes just over an half an hour.

[walpurgis]

The reason for asking is, I think that very occasionally,I have had stuff that was on the desktop vanish when I have done a system restore.

Can't recall losing stuff from Desktop after system restore.

I do no back-up. As I keep nothing crucial on the PC.


Just about to do the obvious, which I should have thought of. I'll do a scan and see where the PC wants to save it to. Maybe that will find the missing file.

[struth]

Have you tried this in Windows Explorer:
Click on Tools
Click on Folder Options
Click on the View tab
Under Hidden files and folders click in the circle next to "Show hidden files, folders, and drives"

If the files are just hidden and not deleted you should see them. If they are hidden there is a way to unhide them.

failing that a file recovery program might find them.

worst scenario might be if a part of the disc has been classed as faulty and it contained that folder. Disc check might help there

[spendorman]

The folder might have moved, be it unintentionally by you, or some other way, perhaps do a search on a file name that you know to be in the folder.

[walpurgis]

No tools option shown in windows explorer.

Just did a scan and the PC wanted to save it in documents. No 'My Scans' folder shown.

Not to worry. I'll reinstall windows (when I can be bothered :)). It's overdue. Must be couple of years since it last became necessary.

[walpurgis]

The folder might have moved, be it unintentionally by you, or some other way, perhaps do a search on a file name that you know to be in the folder.

:) Can't remember exactly what was in it or what the folders might have been named, but I searched for insurance certificate scans and only stuff in documents is coming up.

[walpurgis]

Checked stored earlier copies of disc C at restore points back to 1st Sept and it's not on those either. :scratch:

[struth]

wrong pc?

[walpurgis]

wrong pc?

Nah. :)

I have two others, but hardly use them.

[spendorman]

One of those Windoze mysteries

[walpurgis]

One of those Windoze mysteries

Well it's baffled me! :D



The annoying thing about doing the impending W7 reinstall, is that the PC will be running slow for a day or two 'cos W7 will want to download masses of updates, 'cos it's an old O/S.

[struth]

was just reading the cc cleaner has been hacked. it seems to be affecting the 32 bit version

[spendorman]

Well it's baffled me! :D



The annoying thing about doing the impending W7 reinstall, is that the PC will be running slow for a day or two 'cos W7 will want to download masses of updates, 'cos it's an old O/S.

Could be time to start doing backups/ clones. I just copied C: to two external drives.

[walpurgis]

was just reading the cc cleaner has been hacked. it seems to be affecting the 32 bit version

Yeah. Saw that. Mine is old and 64 bit.

[walpurgis]

Could be time to start doing backups/ clones. I just copied C: to two external drives.

Got a spare external drive. Never bother with it though. Suppose I could bung Linux on it (or even a few Linux distros :)).

[spendorman]

was just reading the cc cleaner has been hacked. it seems to be affecting the 32 bit version

Funny, just reading that Avast is the parent Company

[struth]

Funny, just reading that Avast is the parent Company

lol, yes that terrible avast :eek: "apparently"

[walpurgis]

Just couldn't summon the will to reinstall Windows this morning :rolleyes:.

Might do it later. That'll be me 'off air' for a few hours. Unless I can rig my KVM switch up and run two PC's.

[spendorman]

I don't blame you.

[walpurgis]

That's soaked up about 12 hours of my computer time today. Been saving documents and images to a memory stick, prior to reinstalling Win 7 tomorrow (hopefully). Don't recall it taking anything like this long before for about 8gb of files. Mind you the PC is somewhat stuffed at the moment. Hence the O/S reinstall.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Just couldn't summon the will to reinstall Windows this morning :rolleyes:.

Might do it later. That'll be me 'off air' for a few hours. Unless I can rig my KVM switch up and run two PC's.

Really why bother, a bit like clinging to the sinking ship I suppose. This is far far better, https://www.linuxmint.com/

[walpurgis]

Really why bother, a bit like clinging to the sinking ship I suppose. This is far far better, https://www.linuxmint.com/

Dunno why you keep telling me each time I moan about Windows. I've got Linux if I want it! So there!! ;)

Anyway. Back online after fun and games spending most of the day installing and then reinstalling Win 7, then fun with browsers. Got I.E 11 working and tried five installs of Maxthon before I was happy (sort of). Still got a few other third party software downloads to go. At least everything seems to be working OK now.

[spendorman]

I can understand that you don't want to use Linux, but all that trouble to reinstall everything could be easily avoided with a backup of some sort.

If my main machine OS failed and I had to reinstall everything, it would be a horrible job, probably take me thee days. With a backup it would only take me minutes to get going again.

[spendorman]

I usually Radiosure to listen to internet radio, it's quite good and free. However, this looks interesting, nothing to install, easy to use: http://www.internetradiouk.com/

[CageyH]

Not really a disaster, but in the search for a near silent PC, I have just fitted a water cooling kit to my PC.
There is a substantial reduction in noise now, and it is superb as a media server as the noise distraction is much less.

[spendorman]

I've thought of water cooling, but not been brave enough! I just use an old but upgraded business machine, they are usually pretty quiet.

[struth]

What is it anyway?

[CageyH]

It's like a car cooling circuit.
The engine is the processor, so you add a pump, reservoir, hoses and a water block.
It runs about 10 degrees cooler than air cooling the processor, and as I said, it is almost silent.

The downsides - the cost, the fact that you could "spring a leak" and the amount of space it takes up in the computer case.

[walpurgis]

Got the PC running nicely. Boots much quicker now. I've only installed the minimum of third party software.

Took me a while today. Had to install W7 twice, I.E. wouldn't run properly. Then I couldn't find the version of Maxthon Browser I'd been using previously, so I tried several versions before settling on the latest version of Maxthon Cloud Browser. Very nice to use.

I go for Maxthon 'cos it's the only browser I can find that opens a new tab immediately when I click on an item in the favourites bar. That's feature I like a lot.

[spendorman]

All's well now, excellent.

Since fitting a hybrid drive to replace a conventional one, boot time has not only decreased massively, but is more consistent over time, also PC responds much faster, and again consistently.

I also use Maxthon, but also Chrome, Firefox, Pale Moon and Vivaldi.

[prsjnb]

I've thought of water cooling, but not been brave enough! I just use an old but upgraded business machine, they are usually pretty quiet.

With current multicore processors (which are now seriously over-specified for most mainstream computing tasks) , half-decent (i.e., non-stock) CPU fan with PWM control and case fans from the likes of Noctua it is not difficult to purchase/build/modify a PC that is essentially 'silent-running'.

Not infrequently problems with noise can be resolved by removing accumulated dust and detritus from inside the case and fans (including those in/on the graphics card and PSU), improving the air-flow in (careful cable managment) and around the case and by not situating the PC close to a source of heat. Water-cooling is only really worth considering once these issues have been attended to and then only if one is contemplating some seriously hard-core over-clocking.

My current PC build (based around an Intel Skylake Core i7 6700 CPU with 16 GB RAM, M2 PCIe Gen. 3x4 NVMe SSD, SATA-III SSD, SATA-III HDD and AMD Radeon Firepro W5000 graphics card; which, I confess, is massively over-powered for my needs) resides in the same room as my audio kit and is essentially inaudible in use, even when listening to music with quiet passages at modest listening levels.

[walpurgis]

I keep I.E. on the PC, but Maxthon is the default. I also keep SRWare Iron Portable browser on a memory stick just in case. It comes in handy if I want to give XP a spin, as the packaged version of I.E. in XP is non-functional, so another means of accessing the net is required.

[CageyH]

Water-cooling is only really worth considering once these issues have been attended to and then only if one is contemplating some seriously hard-core over-clocking.

My current PC build (based around an Intel Skylake Core i7 6700 CPU with 16 GB RAM, M2 PCIe Gen. 3x4 NVMe SSD, SATA-III SSD, SATA-III HDD and AMD Radeon Firepro W5000 graphics card; which, I confess, is massively over-powered for my needs) resides in the same room as my audio kit and is essentially inaudible in use, even when listening to music with quiet passages at modest listening levels.

I forgot to mention that my i7-6700k is seriously overclocked, as is my graphics card.
It is overkill for 90% of what I use my PC for but the 10% where I need the power it works quite well.

[spendorman]

I've been using Outlook 2007 since about 2009, no real problems, yesterday, I sent emails to a couple of friends without attachments. They asked my what the attachment was. I had not intentionally attached anything, but they got winmail.dat attachments. They are not using Outlook, when they returned the email I see no attachment.

Looking this up the winmail.dat attachment contains formatting info specifically for Outlook, so it is redundant if the recipient is using another client or webmail.

I've tried some of the fixes that are posted, nothing working. There is a fix that involves altering the registry, but I don't fancy that.

Any ideas?

Later tonight I might try a backup of the whole system done a few days ago.

[walpurgis]

Not heard of that issue.

[spendorman]

Seems fairly common, but I've not been able to fix it - yet!

[Edward]

Seems fairly common, but I've not been able to fix it - yet!


Change your Outlook settings to never allow messages to be sent in RTF instead only to be sent in either HTML or Plain Text formats. Also make sure that any RTF messages are converted to either HTML or Plain Text formats.

Job done.

[spendorman]

Change your Outlook settings to never allow messages to be sent in RTF instead only to be sent in either HTML or Plain Text formats. Also make sure that any RTF messages are converted to either HTML or Plain Text formats.

Job done.

Thank you, tried that earlier, but no luck.

[Edward]

Thank you, tried that earlier, but no luck.

Oh dear! :scratch: It is the standard fix. Something unique with your setup?

When you go back into the relevant settings is it reverting to the status quo ante?

Did you restart Outlook? Try change settings in Admin mode?

[spendorman]

Setup should be pretty standard

Yes, I checked the settings, they stayed put.

And I did restart Outlook.

Not tried admin mode, but I ran diagnostics, nothing found.

However, when an email was sent to one friend just now, he didn't get a winmail.dat attachment, but when I sent the same email to my Talktalk webmail, I got an winmail.dat attachment.

All very strange.

[Edward]

Oh ok. Sorry my help did not work out. Hope you found a solution.

Edward

[spendorman]

Thanks Edward, I gave up, I had a backup of the whole system just a few of days old, used that. Things seem back to normal.

[struth]

came across my flatbed scanner today so have set it up. went on the epson site and got software and driver and away we jolly well went.:lol: damn good scanner this although i might not be needing it it did do good slide work too.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171106/136f2f30a6ff44ed584aa8c62906f27b.jpg

[walpurgis]

My 'El Cheapo' HP all in one jobbie printer/scanner does a surprisingly good job on photos and docs. Ink isn't dear either.

[struth]

this one does film and slides as well as photos and docs and has ice to clean them up. Sure i still have the slide and film carriages somewhere too. nice to know it still works.

[Edward]

came across my flatbed scanner today so have set it up. went on the epson site and got software and driver and away we jolly well went.:lol: damn good scanner this although i might not be needing it it did do good slide work too.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171106/136f2f30a6ff44ed584aa8c62906f27b.jpg

That reminds me - I have an Epson V500 scanner tucked away and I promised to do my late father-in-law's slides (about 2 thousands worth) that he shot over decades. Did several hundred which went down well. If I do get around to it I think I will this time skip the landscapes taken in distant countries and just stick with strictly family shots. That gets rid of 95% of the slides. :)

Originally got the scanner to do 6x7 negs I was shooting.

[struth]

That reminds me - I have an Epson V500 scanner tucked away and I promised to do my late father-in-law's slides (about 2 thousands worth) that he shot over decades. Did several hundred which went down well. If I do get around to it I think I will this time skip the landscapes taken in distant countries and just stick with strictly family shots. That gets rid of 95% of the slides. :)

Originally got the scanner to do 6x7 negs I was shooting.

similar scanner. think yours was the replacement for mine and used led. v700 was next one up.

[struth]

Found the film and slide rails.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171107/afd6ce0376187367679c61c840bd0373.jpg

Great stuff.

[SquireC]

I have a 3490 PHOTO still going strong. Good scanners the Epson's.

[Edward]

I have a 3490 PHOTO still going strong. Good scanners the Epson's.

Did any of you guys ever try wet scanning? I thought of doing so but so far have not got round to it. Apparently the results
can be amazing.

[struth]

Did any of you guys ever try wet scanning? I thought of doing so but so far have not got round to it. Apparently the results
can be amazing.

Ive heard of it but never tried it. can see the advantages but mine tbh are not good enough that its an advantage for all the work involved. the film is held between to layers of fluid i think.

[walpurgis]

I see ebay have been tinkering again.

My ebay summary page on which I have items I may be interested in, was set to show the list in 'ending soonest' mode. Now it gives me 'most relevant' and won't let me set it back permanently. I have to change it each time I visit the page. Bloody annoying and pointless too.

I missed a couple of purchases because of this, as I'd not noticed what they'd done immediately.

Yes. I've been through the preferences settings and there's no solution.

[struth]

just checked mine geoff and it is still on ending soonest

[walpurgis]

Hmm. Wonder if it's a browser issue? I'll have to check.

[spendorman]

Mine seems OK too.

I have just had some strange things with latest update of Maxthon, fortunately, I use Firefox, Pale Moon and Chrome more that Maxthon.

[walpurgis]

I see ebay have been tinkering again.

My ebay summary page on which I have items I may be interested in, was set to show the list in 'ending soonest' mode. Now it gives me 'most relevant' and won't let me set it back permanently. I have to change it each time I visit the page. Bloody annoying and pointless too.

I missed a couple of purchases because of this, as I'd not noticed what they'd done immediately.

Yes. I've been through the preferences settings and there's no solution.

My ebay summary page has corrected itself and is now displaying items in the 'ending soonest' manner again. Nothing I've done. Dunno why it changed in the first place. Weird! :scratch:

[struth]

wonder what it was

[walpurgis]

No idea.

[walpurgis]

My PC monitor packed up yesterday. Fortunately it was only the mains fuse, but I realised that without it I'd be completely stuck until I sourced another. Not something I'd worried about, as there was another PC and monitor in the house, but my daughter snaffled those when she moved out. I'll have to look around for a cheap spare monitor as a back up.

[Edward]

Geoff

Suggest you enable remote desktop on your PCs, so if you ever need to get to a PC without a monitor simply access it via the other PC in your house.

[walpurgis]

Geoff

Suggest you enable remote desktop on your PCs, so if you ever need to get to a PC without a monitor simply access it via the other PC in your house.

Not possible. As I said, the daughter has pinched the other PC. :)

I suppose I could rig one of the TV's up as a last resort, but I don't really want to do that.

[spendorman]

Geoff

Suggest you enable remote desktop on your PCs, so if you ever need to get to a PC without a monitor simply access it via the other PC in your house.
That's a good idea, I have Teamviewer.

[Edward]

Not possible. As I said, the daughter has pinched the other PC. :)

I suppose I could rig one of the TV's up as a last resort, but I don't really want to do that.I have a spare monitor in the garage. Assuming it works would you like it foc?

But getting a spare from PC World or Amazon or somewhere like that is the better bet as they are so cheap these days. Unless you want a 4k or something like that.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[walpurgis]

I have a spare monitor in the garage. Assuming it works would you like it foc?

Thanks for the offer Edward, but no need. I'll scrounge one off a pal who has a few knocking about. :)

[spendorman]

Another offer of a free spare one here if you wish.

[walpurgis]

Another offer of a free spare one here if you wish.

I should be OK. Thanks.

[spendorman]

New Hybrid hard drive, good price: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222774136786

[struth]

Very good

[cpjvej2012]

If anyone has any Tech problems give me a shout, my business supports Businesses with IT so we do a bit of everything!! :)

Would be glad to help!

[walpurgis]

If anyone has any Tech problems give me a shout, my business supports Businesses with IT so we do a bit of everything!! :)

Would be glad to help!

Handy to know.

Is that you in the avatar? You could pass as Elvis. :D

[cpjvej2012]

Handy to know.

Is that you in the avatar? You could pass as Elvis. :D

Negatvie lol, would you believe?

But I am a big fan!

;)

Any probs, tech wise, Give me a shout!! :)

[spendorman]

Check for your processor vulnerability to Spectre and Meltdown


https://www.grc.com/inspectre.htm

My old Core 2 Duo e8600 fails.

[spendorman]

Interesting new(ish) browser, just trying it:

https://www.brave.com/

[Shovel_Knight]

I’m getting increasingly frustrated with Windows 10. At this point I’m used to Microsoft constantly moving things around, but the latest batch of updates broke my preferred method of keyboard layout switching. Also every time I restart my PC, the default audio output resets itself to DisplayPort (my monitor can accept audio via DisplayPort and output it to headphones but I use a USB DAC instead). Seriously thinking about getting back to Windows 7 which may be ancient, but at least once setup it stays setup the way I want it.

No such problems with my MacBook Pro, obviously, but I need a PC for some stuff which is not available on macOS, including decent games :D

[Edward]

I’m getting increasingly frustrated with Windows 10. At this point I’m used to Microsoft constantly moving things around, but the latest batch of updates broke my preferred method of keyboard layout switching. Also every time I restart my PC, the default audio output resets itself to DisplayPort (my monitor can accept audio via DisplayPort and output it to headphones but I use a USB DAC instead). Seriously thinking about getting back to Windows 7 which may be ancient, but at least once setup it stays setup the way I want it.

No such problems with my MacBook Pro, obviously, but I need a PC for some stuff which is not available on macOS, including decent games :D

Agreed. Remember we are no longer Microsoft's customers instead we are their products that they are selling to their real customers (advertisers) and Microsoft are not in any way embarrassed about this.

Every time there is a big Redmond update I run privacy repairer (https://www.securilla.com/privacy-repairer) on the various Windows machine here. Amazing how the Redmond updates change the privacy updates.

Having said all that I do find Windows 10 to be much better than Windows 7 (or 8) - faster, leaner, smoother and easier to get around.

[struth]

Don't really do anything worthy of their interest if they have any

[spendorman]

Don't really do anything worthy of their interest if they have any

I do on-line banking, this worries me slightly. yesterday I put Linux Mint 18.3 on an old pc (with a new hybrid drive), just for banking, it really goes very fast.

[struth]

going to be changing my broadband next week. my new router arrived there and, surprise, it has a usb3 on back so i will hopefully be able to put a usb onto it and share it throughout my kit. not done it before so will have to see if it works easily or at all

[spendorman]

going to be changing my broadband next week. my new router arrived there and, surprise, it has a usb3 on back so i will hopefully be able to put a usb onto it and share it throughout my kit. not done it before so will have to see if it works easily or at all

My 2 year old Talktalk router has a USB 2.0 port on the back, but I looked in to using it, it didn't seem simple. Lets hope yours is more straight forward.

[struth]

My 2 year old Talktalk router has a USB 2.0 port on the back, but I looked in to using it, it didn't seem simple. Lets hope yours is more straight forward.

Yes I hope so but don't know. Usb3 and I have a small one I could pop in initially with music and pics etc.

And yes it's talk talk I'm going to. Am with plumber and their pricing is getting silly. Was up to 38 pounds. When I phoned them they said they would reduce it to 26 if I resigned and. Cancelled talk talk. But my speed has also been dropping and I don't like cancelling. They were told if my price had been kept competitive it wouldn't happen.

[spendorman]

Yes I hope so but don't know. Usb3 and I have a small one I could pop in initially with music and pics etc.

And yes it's talk talk I'm going to. Am with plusnet and their pricing is getting silly. Was up to 38 pounds. When I phoned them they said they would reduce it to 26 if I resigned and. Cancelled talk talk. But my speed has also been dropping and I don't like cancelling. They were told if my price had been kept competitive it wouldn't happen.

Been with TT about 10 years, their service has got better, well, let's face it, it couldn't have got much worse! They have a "Loyalty Section" and seem to do me a good price.

[struth]

daughter has been with them for a while. dont know if she has had trouble. dont think so. will get free tt to tt calls so can call her for nowt

[spendorman]

This may be of interest. I was a bit scared of making the router inoperative by fiddling with settings, so left it alone.

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Computers/USB-Port-on-TalkTalk-Router-DSL-3780-Networking/td-p/990150

[spendorman]

daughter has been with them for a while. dont know if she has had trouble. dont think so. will get free tt to tt calls so can call her for nowt

Used to be free TT to TT for four hours.

The "Anytime" I think, add on may be worth considering.

[spendorman]

daughter has been with them for a while. dont know if she has had trouble. dont think so. will get free tt to tt calls so can call her for nowt

It was about 2007 I had quite a lot of trouble. They gave me a fixed IP to improve matters, I believe was really for business use. This worked fine until they enforced a router change. Internet would cut off after a few min. They changed me back to a dynamic IP address, and all was well, has been for some years.

[RobbieGong]

Morning gents, on this very cold day in London - Brrrrr !!

My question is, is t ok to have Avast Cleanup Premium and CCleaner on my pc at the same time ?

I installed the Avast Premium yesterday and have kept the CCleaner (free edition) on the pc as well......

[walpurgis]

My question is, is t ok to have Avast Cleanup Premium and CCleaner on my pc at the same time ?

Yes. You can keep as many maintenance utilities/apps as you like on your computer (but too many is pointless). The only thing you have to watch is using more than one anti-virus suite. Most may clash with others (but not all).

[RobbieGong]

Thanks Geoff, that's helpful, reassuring and much appreciated.

Everything seems fine thankfully

All the best
Rob

[walpurgis]

Hmm. My broadband died at 9.45 this morning. Phoned the provider (yes, phone still works fine) and after a few tests, they said it was probably the router, so they're sending me a new one. But now the old one has started working again. All lights are on again, they weren't earlier. Beats me :scratch:. But I'm not complaining.

[spendorman]

Sounds like the service provider just turned you off for a bit, accidentally or on purpose.

Still, a new router is worth having.

I had one a couple of years ago and replacement had better Wi-Fi

[walpurgis]

Sounds like the service provider just turned you off for a bit, accidentally or on purpose

They turned the service on and off a few times while they were testing. Anyway, I'll be leaving the current iffy router on 24/7 until the new one arrives. It's due tomorrow PM.

[walpurgis]

The new router arrived yesterday. It's now connected and has configured itself without any input from me. As the old one has decided it now wants to work, I'll leave it on the other PC. Sorted! :)

[spendorman]

I don't quite follow, you have two routers on one line?

[walpurgis]

Not yet. But I will. They won't be in use together. I'll look for a switch box for the phone line.

[spendorman]

What advantage will this give you? I would have thought it might cause problems.

[Edward]

Having two routers can be useful if you wish to extend your WiFi coverage and/or want to have more ethernet ports. There is a bit of one off faffing around but once done it just works.

Via Tapatalk

[spendorman]

Having two routers can be useful if you wish to extend your WiFi coverage and/or want to have more ethernet ports. There is a bit of one off faffing around but once done it just works.

Via Tapatalk

My new router has far better Wi-Fi coverage than the old one.

[walpurgis]

I don't think so. I've had both routers working on both PC's this morning with no issues. Not both at the same time though, that won't happen.

[walpurgis]

Having two routers can be useful if you wish to extend your WiFi coverage and/or want to have more ethernet ports. There is a bit of one off faffing around but once done it just works.

Not tried that. WiFi is OK anyway.

[Edward]

My new router has far better Wi-Fi coverage than the old one.Yes that is most likely especially if the old one is a few years old.

No what I have in mind, and what I do, is if there are dead spots on your house. With a simple cable run and using the old router (with DHCP turned off and a couple of other settings) dead spots can be cured ad well as providing extra ethernet ports).

But for most folks just getting an extender or WiFi home plugs may be easier.

Via Tapatalk

[walpurgis]

Microsoft W10 updates cock-up again. Wonder how they'll fix this one? Can they send a repair patch if the computer freezes?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/04/windows-10-april-2018-update-bug-locks-machines-running-chrome-cortana

[struth]

not had it...yet

[spendorman]

Thank goodness I decided never to use Windows 10

[spendorman]

Windows 9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzSSidHU54g

[struth]

Have to say ive not had any issues with win 10 on any of my pcs

[struth]

My laptops down. Been sitting in a major update. Think I will just leave it and see if it resolves itself.

Time for bed soon anyway. I go before my grandson now. Lol

[struth]

that was the big april redstone 4 update delivered in late may.lol. changed quite a lot of things, some i, not so happy about. no more connecting between pc's on my network it seems for one :steam:

[spendorman]

My neighbour just brought me his relatively new Lenovo laptop with W10 on it. It failed on him recently during an update. Windows begins to load, then a message that the desktop is not available.

I normally steer clear of W10, but said I'd look at it.

My first thought was to try Windows Restore, but I can't get the desktop.

Next idea is to try to get into Safe Mode, then try restore.

However, it seems that the things are not set to enable me to get into Safe Mode. I cant get at them cause I can't get in to Windows, Doh!

Next idea I'm downloading a W10 ISO, and will use Rufus to make a bootable W10 stick. Then I should be able to get to some tools.

[Edward]

that was the big april redstone 4 update delivered in late may.lol. changed quite a lot of things, some i, not so happy about. no more connecting between pc's on my network it seems for one :steam:

Open Services.msc, scroll down to "Function Discovery Resource Publication" set to Delayed Start and also 'Start' the service.

It seems that MS mucked up big time when they deleted (the much hated) Homegroup function not realising Network discovery would be impacted.

[Edward]

My neighbour just brought me his relatively new Lenovo laptop with W10 on it. It failed on him recently during an update. Windows begins to load, then a message that the desktop is not available.

I normally steer clear of W10, but said I'd look at it.

My first though was to try Windows Restore, but I can't get the desktop.

Next idea is to try to get into Safe Mode, then try restore.

However, it seems that the things are not set to enable me to get into Safe Mode. I cant get at them cause I can't get in to Windows, Doh!

Next idea I'm downloading a W10 ISO, and will use Rufus to make a bootable W10 stick. Then I should be able to get to some tools.

Booting W10 from a stick will get you to the Troubleshooting area. But also if Windows does not boot up several times (I think it is 3 times) you get to the same Troubleshooting area. Booting from a USB is cleaner, but one has to make a bootable USB drive.

I'd highly recommend in any event once you get to the troubleshooting area you open a command prompt and take a backup of your friend's data files (just in case). You will need an external drive of sufficient capacity. An alternative is to image your friend's drive (using a tool such as Macrium). Good luck.

[struth]

Open Services.msc, scroll down to "Function Discovery Resource Publication" set to Delayed Start and also 'Start' the service.

It seems that MS mucked up big time when they deleted (the much hated) Homegroup function not realising Network discovery would be impacted.

cheers.. was in there yesterday switching off windows search and the graphics shadowing to help my old pcs run faster.

done that and seems to be picking up one pc anyway

[Edward]

cheers.. was in there yesterday switching off windows search and the graphics shadowing to help my old pcs run faster.

done that and seems to be picking up one pc anyway

Sorry, I meant to say you will need to do this on each PC you have upgraded. Each PC needs to broadcast its presence to the LAN. That's how discovery works.

I'm often having to work with old PCs. By far the biggest improvement is to install a SSD, then reinstall of everything (OS and all programs), then RAM etc.

[struth]

Sorry, I meant to say you will need to do this on each PC you have upgraded. Each PC needs to broadcast its presence to the LAN. That's how discovery works.

I'm often having to work with old PCs. By far the biggest improvement is to install a SSD, then reinstall of everything (OS and all programs), then RAM etc.

just switched the other one, but although they see each other its saying i dont have share rights etc although i went back in and switched them on. odd, even the public folder

[spendorman]

Booting W10 from a stick will get you to the Troubleshooting area. But also if Windows does not boot up several times (I think it is 3 times) you get to the same Troubleshooting area. Booting from a USB is cleaner, but one has to make a bootable USB drive.

I'd highly recommend in any event once you get to the troubleshooting area you open a command prompt and take a backup of your friend's data files (just in case). You will need an external drive of sufficient capacity. An alternative is to image your friend's drive (using a tool such as Macrium). Good luck.


Thank you, Windows has failed to boot to the desktop more times than 3, perhaps 10 times, yet I don't get the troubleshooting area.

Just looking for a USB stick about 8GB size, then I'll make the bootable stick. Fortunately, there are no files of real value on the HD. I have used Macrium before, but generally use Seagate Diskwizard, a cut down version of Acronis.

[Edward]

Hmm [emoji848]

Did you reboot machines?

Whilst I love the ease and flexibility of W10 I despise all of Microsoft when things don't go well.

Via Tapatalk

[spendorman]

Hmm [emoji848]

Did you reboot machines?

Whilst I love the ease and flexibility of W10 I despise all of Microsoft when things don't go well.

Via Tapatalk

Thank you.

Many many times!

Next question is, on a Lenovo Z51-70, how do I boot to a USB stick?

[Edward]

Thank you, Windows has failed to boot to the desktop more times than 3, perhaps 10 times, yet I'm don't get the troubleshooting area.

Just looking for a USB stick about 8GB size, then I'll make the bootable stick. Fortunately, there are no files of real value on the HD. I have used Macrium before, but generally use Seagate Diskwizard, a cut down version of Acronis.Sounds like you are good to go on this.

Whilst you can use Rufus you can just as easily use the windows version. When you download the iso you will be asked if for the computer you are on or a different computer. Use the second and then from there you can directly download to the USB card and make it bootable in one step.


Via Tapatalk

[spendorman]

Sounds like you are good to go on this.

Whilst you can use Rufus you can just as easily use the windows version. When you download the iso you will be asked if for the computer you are on or a different computer. Use the second and then from there you can directly download to the USB card and make it bootable in one step.


Via Tapatalk

Thanks, I did see that option, but thought I'd use Rufus, as I've had success with it before, at worst, I've still got the ISO.

[struth]

just switched the other one, but although they see each other its saying i dont have share rights etc although i went back in and switched them on. odd, even the public folder

got it working in one direction... not sure why its not going the other way.. will have to look again at the other pc shares etc

[Edward]

Thank you.

Many many times!

Next question is, on a Lenovo Z51-70, how do I boot to a USB stick?

Hah, you responded to my message I aimed to Grant. No Matter.

Not had a Lenova laptop but (having now looked that model up) you need to press F2 rapidly as it boots up. But possibly the Function (fn) key and F2 at same time. But you need to be quick as Lenova don't seem to have provided much leeway. Alternatively there seems to be a button on the left hand side (Novo button?) of the laptop. Ether way you need to get to the BIOS. From there set the boot sequence to have USB Bus to take priority.

[spendorman]

Hah, you responded to my message I aimed to Grant. No Matter.

Not had a Lenova laptop but (having now looked that model up) you need to press F2 rapidly as it boots up. But possibly the Function (fn) key and F2 at same time. But you need to be quick as Lenova don't seem to have provided much leeway. Alternatively there seems to be a button on the left hand side (Novo button?) of the laptop. Ether way you need to get to the BIOS. From there set the boot sequence to have USB Bus to take priority.


lol! typical me. Thank you, I'll try that. Never played with a modern computer that has the replacement thingy for BIOS.

[Edward]

got it working in one direction... not sure why its not going the other way.. will have to look again at the other pc shares etc

How frustrating. When I encounter this and can't sort it I go for the nuclear option of deleting all the adaptors under Network in Device Manager. (but not the underlying software), reboot and then Windows will freshly install the adaptors. But take care, don't delete any soft adaptors (such as VPN or Virtual Machine adaptors), only ethernet and wifi. Mostly this sorts things - but sadly not always. YMMV. :)

You tried the troubleshooters?

Also suggest you reboot your router - things may have got confused there with NAT. Especially if you set fixed IPs for your machines in the router. Do the IPs in router match the ones on your machine?

Another also: try pinging the IP address of the machine that has issues. Sometimes that will give a clue.

[struth]

thought i'd found issue but no.it lets me in to programs oddly but not into users or public even tho the permissions are there. just comes up no permissions...doh.

[Edward]

thought i'd found issue but no.it lets me in to programs oddly but not into users or public even tho the permissions are there. just comes up no permissions...doh.

I added some stuff to my last message to you. Have a read.

[struth]

will investigate those. thanks ed. 3rd pc is up...lets me into public but not into c..crazy network.

[struth]

computer kept switching the shares back off.. crazy, just crazy :doh:

[spendorman]

Hah, you responded to my message I aimed to Grant. No Matter.

Not had a Lenova laptop but (having now looked that model up) you need to press F2 rapidly as it boots up. But possibly the Function (fn) key and F2 at same time. But you need to be quick as Lenova don't seem to have provided much leeway. Alternatively there seems to be a button on the left hand side (Novo button?) of the laptop. Ether way you need to get to the BIOS. From there set the boot sequence to have USB Bus to take priority.


You are correct, F2 + Fn gets me in to the 'BIOS', but I can seem to change the boot priority to USB. Give me old fashioned BIOS!!

[spendorman]

Managed to boot to USB by changing to Legacy Boot

[Edward]

Managed to boot to USB by changing to Legacy Boot


:cool: :goodluck: with restoring the desktop.

[spendorman]

Thanks

I've got to Advanced options, which are System Restore, Start-up-Repair, Go back to the previous version, Command Prompt, and System Recovery Image.

Unfortunately, all but Command Prompt don't work, and I'm not very good at using Command Prompt.

Blooming new type computers and Windows 10.

[Edward]

Thanks

I've got to Advanced options, which are System Restore, Start-up-Repair, Go back to the previous version, Command Prompt, and System Recovery Image.

Unfortunately, all but Command Prompt don't work, and I'm not very good at using Command Prompt.

Blooming new type computers and Windows 10.

Hmm. Does not sound good. Something obviously hosed. Alex, from what I recall you said the machine is not booting up. If that is so then perhaps you need to rebuild the master boot record (MBR). Have a look at this link (https://pureinfotech.com/repair-master-boot-record-mbr-windows-10/)for the steps that are required.

But to be honest if I was you and my friend was ok I would simply do a complete new install. This will have the benefit of a much faster response from the machine. Of course all programs and data will need to be installed again. You said there was not much user data but still would be worthwhile getting this copied over to external media (for instance bookmarks, favs, contacts etc). As to programs hopefully your friend knows what programs he has and also has relevant installation files and serial numbers. And only install programs that are actually required. I'm always amazed how much stuff we install and then never use - or used in the distant past.

[spendorman]

I give up, for tonight, anyway.

Got the machine to boot to a Linux Mint USB stick, works perfectly on that.

The neighbour might be happy with that installed instead of W10.

He already has a very old desktop machine. which I installed Mint on about four years ago, that has worked faultlessly.

[Edward]

Yeah Mint is lovely - easy to use, fast, slick etc. Always recommended if one wants a machine for basic stuff like internet, word processing, music, vids, Skype etc. But I've veered away from Mint (or other Linux distros) as I'm heavily into files based audio over the LAN and WAN and find Windows more flexible.

[spendorman]

Hmm. Does not sound good. Something obviously hosed. Alex, from what I recall you said the machine is not booting up. If that is so then perhaps you need to rebuild the master boot record (MBR). Have a look at this link (https://pureinfotech.com/repair-master-boot-record-mbr-windows-10/)for the steps that are required.

But to be honest if I was you and my friend was ok I would simply do a complete new install. This will have the benefit of a much faster response from the machine. Of course all programs and data will need to be installed again. You said there was not much user data but still would be worthwhile getting this copied over to external media (for instance bookmarks, favs, contacts etc). As to programs hopefully your friend knows what programs he has and also has relevant installation files and serial numbers. And only install programs that are actually required. I'm always amazed how much stuff we install and then never use - or used in the distant past.

Thank you. The machine seems to be booting but failing to load all of the desktop, a few of the icons are there, but they don't work, and an error message that says it can't load the desktop.

Running Linux from the stick, I can see in to the windows installation, there are very few personal documents etc., I could easily copy them over to an external drive.

The Fix MBR procedure for W10 is similar to doing the same thing in XP, so I'm familiar with that.

Need a cuppa now!

[spendorman]

Yeah Mint is lovely - easy to use, fast, slick etc. Always recommended if one wants a machine for basic stuff like internet, word processing, music, vids, Skype etc. But I've veered away from Mint (or other Linux distros) as I'm heavily into files based audio over the LAN and WAN and find Windows more flexible.

Agreed!

There is someone that used to post on this forum that ran Windows, not being very computer literate, he had trouble all the time. A few years ago I sent him a Linux CD? DVD? and gave him a bit of help over the phone to install it, he's had virtually zero problems, very happy with it.

[struth]

sounds like there has been an update issue and the program has been damaged. I had a similar issue with win 8.1.. ended up scrubbing the whole thing and putting mint on it... then later put win 7.. then updated it to win 10... works well now.

[spendorman]

Technically, it's broke!

[struth]

Bump 7 on it for him if he likes windows

[Edward]

Alex

If you can boot up but not getting full functionality try a clean boot and then from there try to work out what the issue is. Probably a driver or software conflict.

see:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

[spendorman]

Alex

If you can boot up but not getting full functionality try a clean boot and then from there try to work out what the issue is. Probably a driver or software conflict.

see:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

Thanks, but It seems to require being able to get into Windows to do this.


"Windows 10


From Start, search for msconfig.
Select System Configuration from the search results."

[spendorman]

Bump 7 on it for him if he likes windows

That is an option, possibly some drivers needed, Office and a load of other stuff.

Put Mint on and it's all there (usually!)

[Edward]

Thanks, but It seems to require being able to get into Windows to do this.


"Windows 10


From Start, search for msconfig.
Select System Configuration from the search results."

Sorry, I thought you mentioned it boots but the desktop does not load fully. If it partly boots but you can't see the search area hit Windows button and R and then type in msconfig.

But lets pick up on this tomorrow.

[spendorman]

Sorry, I thought you mentioned it boots but the desktop does not load fully. If it partly boots but you can't see the search area hit Windows button and R and then type in msconfig.

But lets pick up on this tomorrow.

Good thinking, I'll give it a go.

[spendorman]

I got into MSconfig, was able to select safe boot, rebooted machine, and this time when it booted I did not get the error message on the desktop, however, machine still not working properly.

I went into MSconfig again and under the tools tab, selected System Restore, however this did not work.

Meantime, a friend reminded me that some months ago that he told a problem with Lenovo machines where the C drive was not really big enough for W10 + updates. This causing a crash.

The machine I'm playing with has an 8 GB SSD and a 1TB, I presume, mechanical drive.

I looked up the requirements for W10.


"Hardware requirements
The presentation “Minimum System HW Requirements & Compatibility for Windows Platforms” (PPTX) details what is needed to run Windows 10 on both desktop and mobile. It doesn’t disclose everything you need to know, but screen size, memory, storage, graphics, and firmware are all mentioned.
Here are the desktop requirements:

This is clearly aimed at computer makers. It’s thus worth adding that the Windows 10 technical preview has these requirements:
• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
• RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
• Free hard disk space: 16 GB
• Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
• A Microsoft account and Internet access"

This might be the problem, lack of space.

I'm not doing any more today, going to suggest tomorrow to the owner, that I install W7 or Linux Mint.

[struth]

my current version of windows is taking up 12.5gb on drive. plus 4.5gb of old stuff from last update. You could be right.

[spendorman]

Thanks Grant, that is useful info.

[Edward]

I got into MSconfig, was able to select safe boot, rebooted machine, and this time when it booted I did not get the error message on the desktop, however, machine still not working properly.

I went into MSconfig again and under the tools tab, selected System Restore, however this did not work.

Meantime, a friend reminded me that some months ago that he told a problem with Lenovo machines where the C drive was not really big enough for W10 + updates. This causing a crash.

The machine I'm playing with has an 8 GB SSD and a 1TB, I presume, mechanical drive.

I looked up the requirements for W10.


"Hardware requirements
The presentation “Minimum System HW Requirements & Compatibility for Windows Platforms” (PPTX) details what is needed to run Windows 10 on both desktop and mobile. It doesn’t disclose everything you need to know, but screen size, memory, storage, graphics, and firmware are all mentioned.
Here are the desktop requirements:

This is clearly aimed at computer makers. It’s thus worth adding that the Windows 10 technical preview has these requirements:
• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
• RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
• Free hard disk space: 16 GB
• Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
• A Microsoft account and Internet access"

This might be the problem, lack of space.

I'm not doing any more today, going to suggest tomorrow to the owner, that I install W7 or Linux Mint.

Alex, the Lenovo uses a hybrid drive which uses Intel's Rapid Storage Technology (RST) whereby the SSD (of only 8gb) is used effectively as a cache and the 1tb drive for installation of the operating system, programs and data. Install the latest RST drivers/software from Intel -hopefully that cures the problem. It may be that Intel have not yet released an updated RST driver for the latest Windows update - but I doubt that as Intel and Microsoft works very closely together and anyway the inner ring testers should have come across this by now (I would have thought!).

If things do not work out you can always roll back the update as the old windows installation will be in a folder called windows.old.

Once again good luck.

[struth]

There's a 10 day limit on roll back. You can extend that using some code easily

[spendorman]

Alex, the Lenovo uses a hybrid drive which uses Intel's Rapid Storage Technology (RST) whereby the SSD (of only 8gb) is used effectively as a cache and the 1tb drive for installation of the operating system, programs and data. Install the latest RST drivers/software from Intel -hopefully that cures the problem. It may be that Intel have not yet released an updated RST driver for the latest Windows update - but I doubt that as Intel and Microsoft works very closely together and anyway the inner ring testers should have come across this by now (I would have thought!).

If things do not work out you can always roll back the update as the old windows installation will be in a folder called windows.old.

Once again good luck.



Thanks, that is most useful.

The desktop that I'm using I put a hybrid drive in, Grant has at least one or more SSHD's! I got the impression (wrongly) that the Lenovo was two separate drives.

Just looked on the cardboard box that the Lenovo came in, you are correct, it's a SSHD.

[spendorman]

Bit of an update

The bootable W10 USB stick booted OK, but none of the tools worked.

The laptop owner's son came here today, (he's a BBC Electronic Engineer) he did not want any other operating system, other than W10 on the machine. I'm sure his Dad would have been fine with W7 or Linux Mint.

While the son was here he tried various things to get W10 working, but no success. He said that he would have another go at his home.

Many thanks to Edward, Grant and everyone else for your input.


Just in case anyone is interested, the machine, Lenovo Z-5170 ran fine on a USB stick loaded with Linux Mint 18.3 "Sylvia" - MATE (64-bit)

[struth]

Might be the fancy boot system in it. My win 8 one had that and it caused a lot of trouble at one time. Thi loading and bios were causing havoc lol

You did ur best

[spendorman]

Incidentally, about 12 years ago this guy joined the BBC, he had not heard of LS3/5a etc. He said that they mainly used Genelec monitors. He had a good listen to some of my speakers and bought himself Rogers LS3/5a. He then bought some JR149's, and about two years ago he rescued a pair of very tatty LS3/5a's from a skip!

[Edward]

computer kept switching the shares back off.. crazy, just crazy :doh:

Grant, did you sort out your network shares being seen but not accessible?

I saw this issue on one of my machines and, yes, it was a nuisance. Turned out that the problem was that I had, within my router, identified the name of the machine with a friendly name which did not correspond to the actual name of the machine. Thus there was a conflict when the router was translating to the internal IP address resulting in 'network path not found'. I made the names correspond and all is well. Your issue may be different but have a look anyway.

Speaking of computer disasters (name of this thread) do you know what happened to AoS when it went offline for about 15 hours the other day?

[struth]

Grant, did you sort out your network shares being seen but not accessible?

I saw this issue on one of my machines and, yes, it was a nuisance. Turned out that the problem was that I had, within my router, identified the name of the machine with a friendly name which did not correspond to the actual name of the machine. Thus there was a conflict when the router was translating to the internal IP address resulting in 'network path not found'. I made the names correspond and all is well. Your issue may be different but have a look anyway.

Speaking of computer disasters (name of this thread) do you know what happened to AoS when it went offline for about 15 hours the other day?

yes and no.. it works on some. i have one where it kept wanting to cancel my changes. not got back to it as ive not been well... the outage was at the server.. was a number of sites went down. was down to a farmer digging a trench i think.:doh:

[Edward]

Farmers huh! :rolleyes:

Sorry about being ill. :(

Hope you now feeling better. ;)

[spendorman]

Bit late here, only just noticed that Linux Mint 19 is out.

Downloaded and installed it on a USB stick.

Booted fine and worked really well. It even found drivers for my obscure Wi Fi card, something earlier versions did not.

Must install it on a proper hard drive.

[struth]

Was messing around this morning and got my windows 10 laptop display working on my tv wirelessly. Very handy for music programs like spotify, jriver and even my rpi ... pretty much anything on my pc screen should appear.
Using airparrot2 via my apple box. Nice and steady pic

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180729/2b904d7e49d81a45e46587f94d400514.jpg
Standard jriver

And

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180729/4c7499ab9981020f176248a5415b9068.jpg

Theatre view

[Gazjam]

Best way to browse your music imo, looks great Grant.

[Edward]

That looks like a nifty piece of software Grant. Whilst lots of software casts to TV and other end points the airparrot2 software looks like it can fill in the missing pieces.

Good find and certainly not a computer disaster. :)

[struth]

not expensive either. $13.

[struth]

Another app I use is file browser.
This is excellent and let's my phone for instance connect with my pcs router files (like Nas etc) and even volumio2 and cloud services pull the music to your phone.

Some screen shots

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180810/39ea0f37bba9a3c0f16e2c576da2774c.png

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180810/bba4175a50b4faaae9d3a12d763ed5cf.png

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180810/e1e13adf983f73e7b9b03b313ced5248.png

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180810/284bcc5ba5df5c4efa6b1b7524aeef67.png

Plays flac

I did try to get it to connect via a program called zero tier which is supposed to work with it. A sort of tunnel vpn so i could use it in car etc, but I'm thick and couldn't work out how. Probably easy but not for me but handy as long as I'm on home network.
Oh and it casts to chromecast and airplay and volumio. Damn good software

[struth]

After many attempts Ive cracked it. Streaming flac from my pc hdd to my iphone from anywhere i may be YAY!!

[Edward]

After many attempts Ive cracked it. Streaming flac from my pc hdd to my iphone from anywhere i may be YAY!!

Port forward? How did you cope with dynamic ip or do you have a fixed ip?

[struth]

Port forward? How did you cope with dynamic ip or do you have a fixed ip?

the app seems to handle it all.. yes a static would probably be wise in long term. just took time for me to get my head round the order and exactly what i had to do. ip etc is not my field

listening to branford marsalis off pc via data link and cast to my apple tv box and on to my actives. seemlessly at moment.
just to see if it worked but main idea was to be able to access my music if out via phone into headphones or car stereo

[walpurgis]

I wish my internet would make up its mind what it's doing. All day, it's been working OK for a while then dropping out for a while. I've noticed there's a lot of noise on the phone line too. I guess it'll sort itself out, it has before. This is not the first occasion.