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I’ve used DesktopOK for years. I keep a lot of shortcuts on my desktops, and have saved myself many hours not having to rearrange them when they get scrambled.

Sorry, but I don’t follow you. How does what you write have to do with my problem?

I think it is worth posting my problem in the General forum where there may be help from those who do not look at the Hardware forum. Thanks.

@RetiredGeek, I copied and pasted the script as you directed. It puzzles me that when I pressed enter, nothing happened. But I do not use PowerShell, so perhaps I did not do it right. Maybe there is something you could explain to me?

Yes, I have that check box and it has not been checked at any time. Yet Ctrl+Shift+V always has worked fine on all three keyboards. So has Ctrl+C. But Ctrl+V does not. Very strange.

I downloaded ListHotKeys.zip from @alejr and ran the vbs. It shows only one hotkey combination, Alt+Ctrl+K, having to do with my Amazon and Kindle accounts. I got the same result using the GitHub .vbs version. So, this indicates there is nothing conflicting with Ctrl+V, right?

NirSoft shows this one as well as other expected ones, i.e. Alt+Ctrl+Delete etc. And it shows Cntl+V. Doesn’t this mean it is registered and should work? This is where my thinking goes off the rails. I must be doing something wrong (as usual). Ideas?

I switched from Firefox to Vivaldi a couple of months ago. I wanted a browser that gives me some things that Firefox does not have — like side-by-side vertical bookmarks and tabs panels so that I can easily move items between the two. I am impressed by how much control I have over the settings to configure it the way I want. Like others have mentioned, I also keep other browsers in the rare cases I need them; Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox.

The more I use Vivaldi the more I like it. There is a learning curve to deal with, but it is worth it IMO.

I have been using CopyQ for years. Take the time to set it up properly and learn to use it. You will be glad you did.

Paul, this is just what I need for Phase X of my adventure. I am leaving to go out of town and it will be several hours before I can start trying this.

I spent hours trying to track this down. I could not get internet service working. That is a problem because when I tried my own boot drives, the install process asked which Windows version to install, but did not list Win8 as a choice. The selection has to match the edition of the laptop’s product key. (BTW, I finally found its product key.) When I tried to select a Win10 version (an upgrade, right?) that failed as I got the “incompatible” error message I posted about earlier in #2428244. If you don’t select the correct edition, Windows won’t activate. So now I will have to burn Win8 on my computer and hope it works. Tomorrow, right after another cold shower.

Random information: Booting via Herin’s BootCD PE, Control Panel > System shows Enterprise but that’s Herin’s Vista-based OS it is reading. This confused me earlier. System Information shows 8.1 on the laptop. No drivers for the Bluetooth controller, no drivers for some other devices. SW environment shows no startup programs.

Task Manager shows it is not running networking It shows only System Information, Computer Management, All Control Panel Items, Admin CMD, Windows Recovery and Windows System. No Users. No tasks. And so forth. Programs like WMplayer, Moviemaker, Wordpad and more do not work (“.dll not found”). Why? Hyberfil’s fault!

Thanks to you all for hanging in here with me. We must love a good puzzle.

Paul T: I am not sure about your reply. You seem to be telling me to do something that I think that I already have done multiple times, using USBs created by Macrium Reflect or Windows Media creation Tool or Rufus. Aren’t those called Windows boot disks? I had serious problems with my own (new) computer last year, during which I created multiple boot USBs and kept them all rather than overwrite just one. I seriously am wondering if I again am misinterpreting you and others here.  Would you please tell me if I am off base about what you are advising me to do?

Yes, burnt using Media Creation Tool, Rufus, etc. I tried two of those without success. They started the Windows Setup process, but failed the Compatibility Report, “The upgrade option isn’t available if you start your computer using Windows installation media.”

Yes, burnt using Media Creation Tool, Rufus, etc. I tried two of those without success. They started the Windows Setup process, but failed the Compatibility Report, “The upgrade option isn’t available if you start your computer using Windows installation media.”

I used Hiren’s utility Aomei Backupper to back up to my external drive. I am not sure what you mean by booting to a Windows installer. Isn’t that a bootable USB? If so, those did not work.

Absolutely it should be upgraded. A clean install certainly is an option. I already unsuccessfully tried to use Windows boot USBs. How can I do a clean install under these circumstances? I do not want to mess up again.