The Windows/PC support thread

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Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Tuesday 27th October 2020
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clockworks said:
Unfortunately the "settings" options don't work, nor does the taskbar search box
You going to need to enable "God Mode" then - God mode then try the restore in the security and maintenance section.

clockworks

5,292 posts

144 months

Thursday 29th October 2020
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I've got god mode working, but can't see any options for restoring or backing up

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Friday 30th October 2020
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clockworks said:
I've got god mode working, but can't see any options for restoring or backing up
Under the section "Security and Maintenance" select "Review your computer's status and resolve issues" - recovery options should appear in the new window.

clockworks

5,292 posts

144 months

Friday 30th October 2020
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Jinx said:
Under the section "Security and Maintenance" select "Review your computer's status and resolve issues" - recovery options should appear in the new window.
Unfortunately that section doesn't appear anywhere on this laptop, either when booting normally, or with god mode active.

I dragged out my own old Windows laptop and had a poke around - Security and Maintenance section shows up.
Nothing at all on my neighbour's laptop.
Looks like it'll have to go to the shop for a reload, as I seriously doubt that she created the recovery disks.

clockworks

5,292 posts

144 months

Sunday 1st November 2020
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I've given the laptop back to her, and explained that it'll have to go to a shop for a reload. As I suspected, she didn't make any recovery disks.

She's going to find out how much it will cost to get all her data off, Windows reloaded, and put her stuff back on. I recommended that buys a portable HDD and keeps backups.

I also suggested that she might be better off selling the laptop as requiring a reload, and just buys a Chromebook or tablet.

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Thursday 5th November 2020
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clockworks said:
I've given the laptop back to her, and explained that it'll have to go to a shop for a reload. As I suspected, she didn't make any recovery disks.

She's going to find out how much it will cost to get all her data off, Windows reloaded, and put her stuff back on. I recommended that buys a portable HDD and keeps backups.

I also suggested that she might be better off selling the laptop as requiring a reload, and just buys a Chromebook or tablet.
Sometimes the nuke from orbit is the only solution - sounds like there was something seriously broken in that windows install. After she has pulled off what she needs, then a USB stick with https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/... would get the machine back up and running.

clockworks

5,292 posts

144 months

Thursday 5th November 2020
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ash73 said:
Moral of the story don't give your PC to a Mac user to get it fixed, they know even less than you do.
I've got a couple of WHS2011 servers that have been running without problems for quite a few years, and Win10 partitions on both my Macs, again with no issues. I've not had to tinker with any of them, and I make sure that I've got a backup incase the worst happens.

The last time I did any serious tinkering with Windows was with XP, so I'm a bit rusty with the Microsoft way of doing things.

My Macs "just work", which I find suits me better these days.

Jader1973

3,942 posts

199 months

Friday 4th December 2020
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I’ve just bought a cheap notebook which has Windows 10 S. I’ve not used 10 before (my PC and my work laptop are running 7) so I’m learning as I go.

Am I right in thinking there is no downside to converting it to Windows 10 Home? I’m thinking change it over and bung on Firefix, Norton etc and it should be fine?

Or am I missing something?


Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Friday 4th December 2020
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Jader1973 said:
I’ve just bought a cheap notebook which has Windows 10 S. I’ve not used 10 before (my PC and my work laptop are running 7) so I’m learning as I go.

Am I right in thinking there is no downside to converting it to Windows 10 Home? I’m thinking change it over and bung on Firefix, Norton etc and it should be fine?

Or am I missing something?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2017/05/0...

Depends on the specs of the notebook. Win10 S is a lot less resource heavy so will run on weaker hardware. Also how much hard disk space does the notebook have? Win 10 home will take up more space and require more for updates.

Jader1973

3,942 posts

199 months

Wednesday 9th December 2020
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Jinx said:
Jader1973 said:
I’ve just bought a cheap notebook which has Windows 10 S. I’ve not used 10 before (my PC and my work laptop are running 7) so I’m learning as I go.

Am I right in thinking there is no downside to converting it to Windows 10 Home? I’m thinking change it over and bung on Firefix, Norton etc and it should be fine?

Or am I missing something?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2017/05/0...

Depends on the specs of the notebook. Win10 S is a lot less resource heavy so will run on weaker hardware. Also how much hard disk space does the notebook have? Win 10 home will take up more space and require more for updates.
Thanks for the response (sorry I didn’t come back sooner).

It looks like it is fine for memory but HDD would be tight I think. Given I’m only going to use it for Office stuff then I think I’ll just leave it as is.

jingars

1,091 posts

239 months

Friday 11th June 2021
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Mate has asked if it is possible to re-prep his F-I-L's "all in one" PC... awaiting details of make, model, etc. Apparently running Windows 7.

Question: Assuming the Windows 7 licence currently installed is legit, does anyone know if the free upgrade to Windows 10 is still in place, or is he looking at a cost?

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Friday 11th June 2021
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jingars said:
Mate has asked if it is possible to re-prep his F-I-L's "all in one" PC... awaiting details of make, model, etc. Apparently running Windows 7.

Question: Assuming the Windows 7 licence currently installed is legit, does anyone know if the free upgrade to Windows 10 is still in place, or is he looking at a cost?
Win 10 upgrade still free
TLDR - yes it is still free to upgrade.

jingars

1,091 posts

239 months

Friday 11th June 2021
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Thanks for the response - will see how things go thumbup

_Rich_

966 posts

171 months

Sunday 20th June 2021
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How the bloody hell do you install windows onto a new hard drive?

Work upgraded all the PC's. I had one of the old (still good) Dell PC's to take home minus the hard drive.

I've bought a fresh copy of windows 10 on cd and a new hard drive. But how do i install it? i've tried multiple things i've googled, gone into the bios changed from Legacy to UEFI. Changed the way it boots up. But getting no where.

In the olden days when I used to do this I had a thing called a floppy disc that would boot up and then install windows 98 or xp.

By the looks of it I need a USB flash drive with media creation tool?? I'm lost rolleyes

Funk

26,254 posts

208 months

Sunday 20th June 2021
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_Rich_ said:
How the bloody hell do you install windows onto a new hard drive?

Work upgraded all the PC's. I had one of the old (still good) Dell PC's to take home minus the hard drive.

I've bought a fresh copy of windows 10 on cd and a new hard drive. But how do i install it? i've tried multiple things i've googled, gone into the bios changed from Legacy to UEFI. Changed the way it boots up. But getting no where.

In the olden days when I used to do this I had a thing called a floppy disc that would boot up and then install windows 98 or xp.

By the looks of it I need a USB flash drive with media creation tool?? I'm lost rolleyes
CD/DVD hasn't been a 'thing' for some time now. USB with Win10 installer on it is the way to do it - much easier than a DVD and faster too. Just download the media creation tool from Microsoft, it'll be the latest version and will save you loads of Windows Updating once installed.

_Rich_

966 posts

171 months

Sunday 20th June 2021
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Funk said:
CD/DVD hasn't been a 'thing' for some time now. USB with Win10 installer on it is the way to do it - much easier than a DVD and faster too. Just download the media creation tool from Microsoft, it'll be the latest version and will save you loads of Windows Updating once installed.
Genuinely didn't believe it would recognise USB without an OS (i'm very out of touch these days). I'll order a flash drive and download the creation tool (assuming i can via mac) and go from there.

Only wanted the pc to be able to play old microsoft games like age of empires wobble

Funk

26,254 posts

208 months

Sunday 20th June 2021
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The laptop should look (and fail) to find a bootable OS on the SSD (you did get an SSD, right...? biggrin) and will then go through other devices and find the USB with the installer on it. Run it and it'll create the various partitions it wants on the new drive and set about installing.

How to create Win10 installer on Mac: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-make-a-windo...

What's the laptop? If it's the usual Dell/HP/Lenovo, head to their support site and download the latest manufacturer's drivers for everything - this often adds functions that generic Win10 drivers might not, eg. touchpad features, shortcut buttons on the keyboard etc.

_Rich_

966 posts

171 months

Wednesday 23rd June 2021
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I had a look through my pile of things that 'I should've have thrown years ago but kept'. Found an old external dvd writer so connected that up via USB and hey presto its now installing.

Proves my theory- hoarding is defiantly a good thing! biglaugh

shopper150

1,576 posts

193 months

Tuesday 24th August 2021
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I'm trying to copy lots of files from one external USB drive to another.
I am getting the error 'The File Name Is Too Long for quite a lot of files.
Both source and destination drives have the same file system (exFat).
Is there any way to resolve this?
Typically a search suggested renaming the files. However, this is not ideal as there are so many. Also, the dialog box doesn't state the full patch of the file and hence its difficult to quickly locate and rename these files.
The only option is to skip copying!

Funk

26,254 posts

208 months

Tuesday 24th August 2021
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Not tried it myself but it seems you can get around it by using PowerShell rather than Windows' inbuilt copy. A quick Google should yield some results...