Windows Security Centre

Topic

New Reply

Not sure whether this should be here or under Security, but it seems to be a Windows problem.

Friday (18.04) my desktop was updated to Win 8.1, yesterday I noticed a message from Action Centre telling me to turn on Windows Security Centre – although it may have appeared Friday and not have been noticed. Clicking ‘turn on now’ produces a pop-up saying it can’t be started, and the troubleshooter is unable to find anything amiss.

As it’s only labelled as an important message rather than critical, it may not be vital, but I would like to know.

To my mind there are two prime suspects, Win 8.1 itself – which has apparently caused problems for many – and my firewall Online Armor. With all major installs OA presents a series of requests to allow or block, which come in such quick succession and are too small to read properly without a magnifying glass that I tend to allow all, except those with a red background, until such time as I get fed up and switch OA off.

Both AM and OA were switched off for the 2.5 hours it took to download and install Win 8.1, during which time I may have been infected, but scans with MBAM, SAS and Emsisoft have found nothing. However, Windows update had four patches for W8.1, all of which failed initially, and had to be installed one at a time. This time OA was left on, I was deluged with requests to allow or not, and suspect I may have blocked one of the red ones when it is required.

Studying the few blockages since the download, explorer.exe seems the most likely to be needed, but it seems that once blocked it is impossible to change, so there seems no point in examining the others.

I would greatly appreciate any guidance as to whether Windows Security Centre is really necessary, and if it is, how to resolve the problem.

George

Reply | Quote

Replies

George,

The easy way to deal with new installations or Windows Update is to put OA in learning mode until the installation is completed. You will get no warnings and any programs and components will be recognized without issues.

Now, regarding blocked programs, you can handle those easily from Configuration->Programs, right click and Delete the offending line. OA will ask for any such programs again and you will have the chance to allow them. You can also choose to get OA in Learning Mode and reboot the machine, after the deletion of blocked programs. Now, OA wouldn’t block explorer.exe on its own, if it is a legitimate explorer.exe, that strikes me as rather strange. If you try and run File Explorer, does it actually run?

I think any blocked programs need to be checked and you get Security Center back, after unblocking the needed ones.

P.S.: I didn’t turn off EAM during the Windows update process and didn’t have any issues. I had OA in Learning mode, though and it worked fine (no prompts, either).

Reply | Quote

Thanks Rui,
I just made another attempt to open Windows Security Centre, this time the troubleshooter found and fixed two errors:
Potential Windows Update Database error 0x80070490

Windows Update components must be repaired.
However, my hopes were dashed and the problem is still unresolved.

Yes, File Explorer is working. For the sake of brevity I omitted to mention in #1 that whilst trying to allow Explorer in History the page changed to Autoruns, where Explorer was shown as allowed. Just one of the mysteries of computing!

Apart from Explorer two other items from the target dates are blocked, vwifimp and wsqmcons.exe, both of which appear to be genuine MS apps.

Unfortunately, right clicking the blocked items on this PC still only offers two options, Find (other instances) or Copy to Clipboard. Following your reply I have tried right clicking each part of the entry, Name, Date, Blocked symbol and Blocked itself, also the wide gap in the middle, but without any success.

I gather from your reply that the Security Centre is important, so it looks as though I need to restore the last image before the Upgrade to W8.1 and go through the whole upgrade again. Apart from putting OA in learning mode, do I need to switch off Emsisoft? Is it impossible to attack a PC whilst it’s downloading and installing new software?

PS. Before restoring a Win 8.0 image, I’ll try deleting and reinstalling OA, as it isn’t working the way you say it should.

Reply | Quote

I wouldn’t go and restore anything for now. Are you on the right place? Blocked programs can be removed from Configuration, Programs:

36826-CaptureOA11

You can either right click an item or just click it and use the buttons at the bottom of the window.

Reply | Quote

Rui,
Am I looking in the right place? Yes and no.

There were only two items blocked in Programs, an Open Candy downloader, which I certainly don’t want and xb’BVf!!!!!!!!!!MKKSKPTTFiles> then a long string of letters and numbers. A search omitting everything after the > indicates it as part of Office 2010 or Publisher. This morning I have removed the block, but security centre is still closed.

When I discovered this problem at the weekend, and not really finding anything in Programs, I turned to History in search of anything around the relevant date. It was there that I found the following blocked:

explorer.exe
vwifimp.sys ……………… Windows Wifi Miniport Driver
wsqmcons.exe …………….. Windows SQM Consolidator
Firewall automatic decision many entries

Right clicking on any of them offered the choice between Find and Copy to Clipboard, as already mentioned, but the file appeared again at the bottom of the list, and clicking opened Autoruns where they are all shown as allowed.

A new discovery probably changes the situation. Scrolling further back in History there are 4 pages of entries for Friday, mostly at a time when AO was switched off, or should have been. At 00.10.14 Service stopped (when I closed AO), 02.10.04 system reboot and service started again. During the next 6 minutes masses of entries, the majority blocked, until I pulled the plug. After having breakfast and switching on there is a block of red – mostly vwifimp.sys and firewall auto decision, then the blockages taper off until the three mentioned above later in the day.

It would appear that AO switches itself on after a reboot, so I must make do with learning mode in future for MS updates. It looks to me as though the entire update has been corrupted, although the PC is working reasonably well, so perhaps a reinstall is called for.

Thanks for all your help.

Reply | Quote

AO needs to have the option Launch Online Armor at next startup (in Options) to start after a boot, that’s all it needs.

Have you checked if you have any further updates? Temporary blocks should not affect anything, really. If anything relevant had been blocked, I would expect the update to fail.

Anyway, maybe an image restore and installing 8.1 again may solve the security center situation. You can also try the advice here and see if it helps: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2519899/en-us

Reply | Quote

Rui,
There are no updates outstanding.

I don’t know how you found the link, when troubleshooter couldn’t find it for me. However, it didn’t get me very far. When I reached Security Centre and selected automatic (delayed start) or just automatic, the options start, stop, pause etc. were all greyed out. Attempting to log on access was denied. So it will involve a reinstall of W8.1 after all, probably tomorrow.

Thanks for your help.

Reply | Quote

The security center service depends on the Remote Procedure Call and Windows Management Instrumentation services. Are those running too?

Reply | Quote

The security center service depends on the Remote Procedure Call and Windows Management Instrumentation services. Are those running too?

No, as I haven’t the faintest idea what to enter there. Who am I supposed to get a call from? Microsoft?

Reply | Quote

The security center service depends on the Remote Procedure Call and Windows Management Instrumentation services. Are those running too?

The two services that Rui cited need to be started in services.msc and the Remote Procedure Call will be listed as RPCSS http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/12411-services-start-stop-disable-windows-8-a.html

Reply | Quote

They need to be running, just set them to auto start.

Reply | Quote

Thanks for the extra clarification. You are rapidly building a good reputation in the Lounge.

Using services.msc Windows Management Instrumentation is shown as running, there were two entries for Remote Procedure Call, the first,listed as RPSCC was shown as running, the other, with just a long description of what it does was set to Manual. I changed that to Automatic (delayed start), although the last stage of confirmation could not be found. However, after a reboot they are all shown as running, but the Security Centre still will not open, so I must assume the problem lies elsewhere with the upgrade to W8.1.

I shall reinstall this evening and hope for luck.

Reply | Quote

Thanks for the compliment – I try to help where I can.

The second Remote Procedure is default set to Manual and Stopped but as you are going to reinstall, that will be academic.

Reply | Quote

I am at a loss as to what to do next and need help.

Win 8.0 didn’t get reinstalled yesterday as planned. I have been handicapped with a bad back since attending an art gallery on Monday, which seems to be making me tired, and I slept for about two hours yesterday evening.

Consequently it was fairly late when I turned my attention to the task in hand. Realising that something needed to be done about my emails, many were deleted and the others forwarded to Yahoo for retrieval later, then I searched for directions on Macrium on how to restore an image, having only done so once before. Finally, the M rescue disk was inserted, but two attempts with F12 and one with F2 all booted to the normal start. At that point I gave up and went to bed.

After a couple more failures today, it dawned on me that I should be booting to the UEFI flash drive, not the Windows boot – stupid me! It seems that a restore takes more than the 10 minutes often quoted in the Lounge. Near the end, the following appeared:

reflect.exe – Application Error.
The instruction at 0x4016bb1b referred to memory at 0x02e11c08. The memory could not be read. CLICK OK TO TERMINATE.

Expecting a complete disaster, it looks as though Win 8.0 has been reinstalled. My bank and diary files end at 13/04, the day before the image was created, System Info shows Windows 8, the last batch of photos downloaded from my camera after 14/04 are absent (fortunately copied to a flash drive) and the Windows Secrets on the desktop is issue 428 and contains only Best Practises and most of the Lounge, being the sections unread when the image created. And there’s no message about Windows Security Centre being closed.

Much seems to be in order, but obviously something is missing. This leaves be undecided between whether to push ahead and make another attempt to upgrade to W8.1, hoping that whatever is missing is not vital and will not wreck the PC. On the other hand, should I use the image from 17/03, which may be more reliable, but a lot of data will be lost?

I really need an informed opinion here.

An afterthought: Initially there was a message about a driver for the Network Controller might be needed to restore an image. However, I seem to recall this always appears, and was not necessary last time.

Reply | Quote

I would probably start by trying to figure what kind of error is that, maybe even resorting to Macrium’s support. That could mean that you may even try a restore of the same image, if the issue was not the image itself.

Also, Macrium allows you to access files within images, yes? If so, even if you find the need to restore the older image, you should be able to recover most of your files.

Reply | Quote

Are you using a Cloud storage for the images and do you have any unusual (Unknown) items or yellow alerts in Device Manager ? http://clientportal.softwaresecure.com/support/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/288/0/windows-8-how-do-i-access-the-device-manager

Reply | Quote

No, I do not use the cloud for anything. As for Device Manager there are no yellow alerts, and I clicked each item to see if there were alerts on the sub items. There was one unusual item – at least to me – namely Human Interface Device, a silly name for what appear to be USB sockets.

I have sent a message to the Macrium forum, as they appear not to have a support department, so no great expectation of anything useful. My present inclination is to attempt an upgrade to 8.1 from the existing setup, only the fear of making things worse deters me.

Thanks anyway

Reply | Quote

Cloud storage was the only thing I could think of that could produce the Network Controller alert.

Run Farbar which is Win 8’s version of MiniToolBox and may show up something in the errors.

You may get a red Smartwall warning that it isn’t normally downloaded – click on Action then on More Options in the lower left corner of the next window and select Run Anyway.

Reply | Quote

Cloud storage was the only thing I could think of that could produce the Network Controller alert.

Run Farbar which is Win 8’s version of MiniToolBox and may show up something in the errors.

You may get a red Smartwall warning that it isn’t normally downloaded – click on Action then on More Options in the lower left corner of the next window and select Run Anyway.

Farbar lists just about everything on the PC, which seems pointless. There were about two pages of obscure errors, with no indication of what to do about them – very discouraging. Many refer to things in Services, one that caught my eye, because it also appeared when I ran chkdsk was ‘winword.exe will not start’ but I have no problems using Word. There was also something, unable to remember what, that said I should fix it in Action, which seems to be missing in my copy of Farbar.

Fortunately, there was no red Smartwall warning – I assume the rest of your 3rdsentence only applies if it appears.

With regard to #20, after clicking show hidden devices there was no entry for Non-Plug and Play Drivers.

Reply | Quote

Have you validated the image, George?

Reply | Quote

Have you validated the image, George?

Yes, if validation is the same as verification in Macrium. Verified after creation of the image, and again before restoring it. Or perhaps you mean validating the restored image, in which case I’m not sure. When problems arose I remember looking for a way to verify the restoration, but unable to remember if I found one.

Reply | Quote

Forgot to mention when checking Device Manager, click on View/Show hidden devices and then you can check Non-Plug and Play Drivers as well, as that contains some Services Dependencies which need to be running.

Reply | Quote

I had a reply from Macrium forum saying that the problem probably occurred when the restore had finished, which would explain why the PC was running normally. He suggested running chkdsk.

After it had been running some time I noticed it had completed 27%, the same point as when I had looked earlier. An hour later it was still 27%, so I began composing a reply to Macrium asking whether to abort, and what to do next.

At that stage my wife came home, we discussed a few matters, then I completed the reply,
went to the Macrium site, had some difficulty finding my thread – it all looked different on the laptop – read another reply suggesting I had no option but to try to restore the image again, pasted in my reply, was about to send, but decided to turn round first and see if there had been any further progress with chkdsk. In this 15 -20 mins since my wife’s return the chkdsk had completed, or aborted, and the PC had rebooted to the splash screen. The PC booted as normal, but no sign of any report.

Consequently I added a PS asking what to do. Some time later there was a rather confused reply stating it was somewhere in Event Viewer, probably in winit or winlogin. Then followed a depressing period looking through dozens of entries which were beyond my understanding, but becoming increasingly dismayed by the number of warnings and error messages. Things like ‘dirty shutdown and

‘Windows detected your registry file is still in use by other applications or services. The file will be unloaded now. The applications or services that hold your registry file may not function properly afterwards.’

Eventually I came across what appears to be the relevant report, as follows:

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is OS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)…
267776 file records processed. File verification completed.
3987 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)…
334350 index entries processed. Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned. 0 unindexed files recovered.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)…
Cleaning up 2067 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 2067 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 2067 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is compacting the security descriptor stream
Security descriptor verification completed.
33288 data files processed. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal…
34788096 USN bytes processed. Usn Journal verification completed.

CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)…
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 49832
of name WindowsSystem32DRIVER~1FILERE~1PRNCAC~3.INFAmd64CNBJ2530.DPB.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 60838
of name WindowsWinSxSAM7F7F~1.163tctree.dat.
267760 files processed. File data verification completed.

CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)…
103762291 free clusters processed. Free space verification is complete.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.

Windows has made corrections to the file system.
No further action is required.

471872511 KB total disk space.
56315956 KB in 149969 files.
123572 KB in 33291 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
383815 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
415049168 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
117968127 total allocation units on disk.
103762292 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 16 04 00 e6 cb 02 00 7e 53 05 00 00 00 00 00 ……..~S……
9c 05 00 00 2b 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ….+………..
00 00 40 ca b5 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ..@………….

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.

This would seem to mean that the system is now OK, despite all the previous warnings and my conviction it would be necessary to restore the first image I created on the PC. However, having lost confidence in the M forum, I would appreciate a lounger’s opinion as to whether it is safe to proceed from here to upgrade to Win 8.1, or would it be advisable to have another go at restoring this image.

Apologies for the length of this post.

PS Had not seen the last 3 posts, will look into them tomorrow, but must go out early and will not be home until the evening, so don’t expect a response until Sunday.

Reply | Quote

You can run chkdsk in read-only mode by entering that command without any parameters which is much quicker and you won’t have to go hunting for its report, as it will be displayed in the command window.

This will confirm that everything is okay for you to go ahead with the upgrade to 8.1 but from the various threads/posts – that may not exactly be a walk in the park as some drivers may not be Win 8.1 compatible while being compatible for 8.0.

Have you run the Win 8.1 advisor http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-8/upgrade-to-windows-8

There would be no point in restoring with an image as that would take you back to pre-chkdsk repairs and would confirm what Rui had suggested about it being a bad image.

Should you need to view a chkdsk report again in Event Viewer – click on Windows Logs – wait until they’ve loaded – click on Applications and do the same then right click on Applications and select Find.

In the Find box type chkdsk or wininit – OK – then close the Find box to read the report.

Reply | Quote

There would be no point in restoring with an image as that would take you back to pre-chkdsk repairs and would confirm what Rui had suggested about it being a bad image.

Thanks Sudo,

Running chkdsk in read only mode very useful to know, but are you saying that if I run it again and everything is OK – very unlikely in view of all the errors that seem to be present – upgrading could then proceed?

I followed your link to Win 8.1 Upgrade Assistant, but didn’t find it very useful. It listed 28 apps that will work under W8.1, but unlike the original W8 Upgrade assistant, not those that may not work. Checking through the 1001 things in Windows, deciding which are apps or devices, then comparing it with their list would take hours, if not days. I notice the software Canon Utilities My Printer is compatible, but the actual printer is omitted.

Now to the main point, quoted above. You seem to be implying that chkdsk has carried out repairs, but it does not say it has done so. I have never used chkdsk before, but understand that its purpose is to find faulty sections on the hard drive, and mark them not to be used in future. I am unaware whether it is able to retrieve data from faulty sections and move them elsewhere, or whether they are lost permanently.

If it has carried out some repairs, I can understand the case against reverting to an older image, although I suspect the root cause is the firewall switching itself on again after the reboot and messing up the installation. Rui always switches off Online Armor when installing anything from MS, and I thought that switching it off meant it stayed off until that was revoked.

Reply | Quote

I think the errors in Farbar are date stamped but from the chkdsk report I would say that you are good to go for the 8.1 upgrade.

With MiniToolBox you can select what you want it to display but that isn’t Win 8 compatible.

If you look through the programs it lists that you have installed, can you see any foreigners that you don’t recognize ?

If you look at the chkdsk report that you have posted, you will see that it has carried out some repairs to bad clusters and states that no further action needs to be carried out.

It also says 0 KB in bad sectors which means that your HDD is also fine.

I cannot answer for your printer, but the best bet for that would be to go to Canon Support to see if there are Win 8.1 drivers for it and if you are unable to find any, contact Canon for advice.

If you are still okay, see what you can do about making a new full system image and then try the upgrade, but for the time being I think you should uninstall your security programs for the duration of the upgrade and enabling Windows Firewall to prevent any conflict.

Reply | Quote

Sudo,
Noting your comment about the Farbar errors being date stamped I’ve had another look and see that the majority occurred between 3 am and 6 am on 25/04 when it should not have been possible. The PC was manually closed about 2.30 when it had reached an impasse and I held the on/off button until it closed.

Switching on again after breakfast a message said ‘Trying to retrieve installation’, and in due course rebooted and it was back to W8.0. Presumably Windows was able to switch itself back on and solve the problem – which if I remember correctly was a refusal to accept my log on password. But a lot of errors appear around 3 am. Could it have rectified these without saying so?

There were another load of errors in the afternoon, being repeated failures to install W8.0 patches, finally resolved by installing one at a time, w/o firewall or AM, and rebooting after each.

There were also a series of system and app errors in the early hours of the preceding day, 24.04 and a few on the 12th. I could copy the report if it’s of any interest.

There are a few programmes which mean nothing to me:
CVE-2014-0322 (HKLM…{25408f0a-987b-4ab0-a5ac-2ddb89ff22cf}.sdb) (Version: – )

Dell Wireless Driver Installation (HKLM-x32…{451517F1-7E41-400B-AA36-FB7E2563526D}) (Version: 10.0 – Dell)

DSC/AA Factory Installer (Version: 3.4.6299.48 – PC-Doctor, Inc.) Hidden

Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader (HKLM-x32…{96AE7E41-E34E-47D0-AC07-1091A8127911}) (Version: 6.1.8400.30136 – Realtek Semiconductor Corp.)

PC Doctor in particular definitely was not installed by me.

I also ran Memtest 86 as advised by Macrium forum but it found no errors.

You know more about computers than I ever will, but I must question the wisdom of making an image of a system that appears to be full of errors, and then making another attempt to install 8.1 from there. Even if the problems were caused by OA messing up the installation, would it not be better to try again from a clean base, or better still, ask Dell if they can supply an ISO in order to make a clean install right from the beginning, which is beginning to seem more appealing.

Finally, if I do follow your suggestion, are you sure Windows Firewall will not cause problems, might it be better to close AM and firewall completely, now that I know how to prevent OA from restarting at the reboot stage? Reading Susan Bradley today it was reassuring to read that switching off AM and FW for the duration of an install should be safe. Presumably that applies to W8.1 as well as 8.1 Update.

Many thanks for all your help, it is much appreciated.

George

Reply | Quote

If you have space, taking a current image doesn’t cost and it will give you more options – in a worst case scenario, you can get back to the devil you know. I would do it, then would probably go back to the image previous to the 8.1 migration and then try the upgrade from there.

Reply | Quote

From the time stamps on your posts, Farbar pre-dates the chkdsk so any errors would have been corrected by the chkdsk /r.

Don’t worry about those items down to the Realtek Card Reader and PC Doctor is part of Dell Diagnostics so it would have come with the OEM install.

With chkdsk giving you a clean bill of health, it would be the best time to create a new full system image should the upgrade to 8.1 not work out – have you checked Canon Support for compatible printer drivers ?

You could turn the security off but wouldn’t have thought that Windows Firewall would cause a problem as it’s indigenous to Windows, but if it’s advised to disable all security, then try it like that.

What is AM ?

Edit – Is your computer clock showing the correct time ?

Reply | Quote

Sudo,
AM refers to antimalware, i.e. Emsisoft.

The time shown on my PC is correct, but what appears on postings in the Lounge often seems to be wrong.

Incidentally, the advice from Macrium was Type ‘chkdsk c: /r /f’ and press enter. Does the extra f alter your opinion of what needs to be done.

Canon list a driver for Win 8.1, I have sent an email asking whether it is also good for the 8.1 Update.

Meanwhile I shall make another image, as you and Rui suggest, but another attempt to upgrade must wait till tomorrow. We are going to the ballet this evening, and by the time we get home, have a meal and watch the news it will be rather late to start a 120 – 150 minute download and install. Also the reply from Canon my alter my mind.

Reply | Quote

Incidentally, the advice from Macrium was Type ‘chkdsk c: /r /f’ and press enter. Does the extra f alter your opinion of what needs to be done.
[/quote]
Using /R implies /F, so checkdsk /r /f is no different from chkdsk /r.

Canon list a driver for Win 8.1, I have sent an email asking whether it is also good for the 8.1 Update.

I think 8.1 Update didn’t really change anything driver related, so a driver for 8.1 will be ok for 8.1 update.

Reply | Quote

The time will look different on the posts when you haven’t logged in when you are in a different time zone to the US (which is where I think the forum is based).

You would only need to include the drive letter if you were running a chkdsk /r on a drive other than C: and there’s no need to add the /f as /r has the attributes of /f so when running a chkdsk /r – it will move what files it can to good areas when it finds bad sectors and repairs as well.

If the driver is good for 8.1 then it should be okay for 8.1.1 but there are a couple of discussions going on about the 8.1.1 update in the Win 8 section of the forum if you have any problems with its installation.

Didn’t realize Rui had already answered as I just used the email notification link which took me to your last post.

Reply | Quote

Another attempt to upgrade to Win8.1 made last night, using the suspect Win 8 version that has run chkdsk and Memtest86 recently. There were two changes from last time:

1. Thanks to Rui I knew how to prevent Online Armor switching on at the reboot stage – the probable cause of the previous failure,

2. Classic Shell was uninstalled in accordance with Susan Bradley’s advice last week when referring to the Win 8.1 Upgrade.

The download was started at 23.50 and at 01.47 reached the point where it failed last time, i.e. entering my local password. After entering it four times, and being rejected on each occasion, I had to forcibly shut down.

This morning another repeat of last time, it began by trying to retrieve the installation, accepted the password and eventually Win 8.1.1 opened. So far everything seems to be in order, with no warning about Windows Security Centre not starting. Keeping my fingers crossed.

It may not even be necessary to install a new driver for the printer, yet alone follow Canon’s detailed instructions about disconnecting the printer first and only reconnecting after installing the driver. I tested with one of my emails, tickets for National Theatre tomorrow, which wanted to be sent to One Note – lacking an option for the printer I chose Foxit PDF printer and printed from there. It printed OK, except for the bar code. Returning to the email, I tried again, intending to check whether the bar code appeared in Foxit, but this time it printed directly from the email. A later attempt with a different email was also successful, Canon now seems to be firmly re-established as the default printer.

Now busy restoring the folders most likely to have been added to between the last W8.0 image and the first installation of 8.1, which were burned to DVD. Then everything saved on a flash drive since this cropped up.

Many thanks to Rui and Sudo for staying with me during this whole exercise, which is really apprciated.
George.

Reply | Quote

It may have seemed uphill at times, but it’s always a satisfying feeling when you finally get over the top.

Glad things have worked out.

Reply | Quote

I am glad things seems to be working, George :).

Reply | Quote

Solved

Reply | Quote