Replies

I have 4 internal Samsung SSDs and a external 500GB T7. I have found occasionally when doing large writes that the drive(s) will slow down. Usually that can be fixed with a Trim. I am looking into Trims on my machine right now. Win 10 doesn’t seem to be doing them automatically.

If you have one of the cheaper Samsung SSDs (QVO or EVO) they may have a limited cache. On a large transfer if you overrun the cache then the transfer rate will slow down on these drives. Samsung Magician (their drive management software) has some benchmarking and tests of the drives. It will also indicate if your drive firmware needs updating. If you haven’t got it then you need it. Samsung also suggest that you leave about 10% of your drive not allocated for files at the end of your drive. That might possibly affect performance if you don’t have it. See the image of the allocations on one of my drives.

Bob

Here is one that Susan didn’t mention. Gmail is very good for spotting spam and bad emails. I run multiple email addresses through a Gmail account to clean them up before I read them. It isn’t perfect but it is very good. It’s also very flexible in that you can tag an email as spam and Gmail remembers it for next time. Also if you need to block an email sender it’s very easy to create a filter to auto delete their emails.

I struggled with Screen Capture for years, before I finally realized that Windows has had that feature for….like….forever.

It’s the Screen Print key, (PrntScrn) on the top right of the keyboard.
Get what you want on the screen, then press the key. The entire screen is transferred to the Windows Clip Board.

If you hold the Alt key when pressing PRNT SCRN then it only captures the active window. This can sometimes save a bit of cropping later in many cases.

I replaced the boot drives in one desktop, one laptop, and one notebook recently. I used Samsung 840 EVO and Pro drives about 250GB in size. Samsung provide migration software and drive setup software on a DVD with each drive. It makes for an easy conversion. The two portable machines were a bit sluggish but now they fly. These drives are 7mm thick.

EDIT
One extra point is that the more storage an SSD has then generally the quicker it runs. In my opinion, a drive of about 250GB is a good compromise. Get larger if you have the need for the storage but below 250GB SSDs run significantly slower. This is due to the physical structure of the SSD electronics.

Bill,

I installed Win 8.1 with update as a totally new install. I checked my Start screen apps and there were only two without Pin to Taskbar. They were Desktop and This PC and it would not be logical for either of those to be pinned to the taskbar from the Start screen. This PC opens desktop Windows Explorer. I don’t have a Power button on my Start screen. My Start screen is original. I don’t use it, I just ignore it.

You don’t have the update installed yet.

I was still a Microsoft TechNet sub until end of April so I got the Win 8.1 with update as a full download. Sure makes it easy when doing a clean install. I also have Office 2013 installed and I am dismayed at the size of the updates for that. Nearly a gigabyte in April and again in May. I am fortunate that such a download is only about 11 minutes.

I am concerned about the size of the updates. Many people I know get their internet via cell modems and the size of the updates can quickly run through their data allowance. The other thing that happens is that they don’t ever bother with the updates because they can’t afford them.

This problem is a social problem rather than a technical problem. Certain people will fall for any good story and women are more likely (IMHO) than men because they want to be friendly and not cause conflict by hanging up etc. I have had to educate a few of my friends about this problem. It is more general than just your computers. Many people call up, come to the front door and send snail mail and what they want is to try and sell you something but they ask you questions first to get you talking. I have (I hope) educated my family that anyone who comes or phones without being requested is not entitled to any information at all. Also that answering yes or no to questions is giving out information that could be used against you later.

There are a few ways to handle calls like these: hang up without saying anything, say you don’t own a computer or if you are more confident just say that Microsoft doesn’t do that. A friend used to just leave the line open and put the handset on the bench for a while. Another way is ask them to hold while you go to the toilet or the chip pot on the stove is smoking and just let them hang for a while.

In the case of this scam, the person calling asks you to run the Windows Event Viewer with some filters. I’m not sure exactly how they do it because I blow these calls off but one way to do it is Win Key + R and then key in EVENTVWR and click OK and once you do that you are hooked. They show you a pile of errors which are always there and usually harmless and by that time you are horrified and reaching for your credit card and the rest is history.

The following is an addition to the registry which allows you to Take Ownership of a resource by Right Clicking. Paste it into Notepad and save it as a .REG file. Then double click it and load it into the registry. To use it navigate to folder you wish to own, right click and select Take Ownership. If the folder has a lot of files then make yourself a coffee while you wait. I got these from somewhere but I can’t recall where now.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellrunas]
@=”Take Ownership”
“NoWorkingDirectory”=””

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellrunascommand]
@=”cmd.exe /c takeown /f “%1” && icacls “%1″ /grant administrators:F”
“IsolatedCommand”=”cmd.exe /c takeown /f “%1” && icacls “%1″ /grant administrators:F”

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellrunas]
@=”Take Ownership”
“NoWorkingDirectory”=””

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellrunascommand]
@=”cmd.exe /c takeown /f “%1” /r /d y && icacls “%1″ /grant administrators:F /t”
“IsolatedCommand”=”cmd.exe /c takeown /f “%1” /r /d y && icacls “%1″ /grant administrators:F /t”

and here is the undo for the previous .REG file. It removes it from the registry.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellrunas]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellrunas]

These recent imaging apps usually handle image restoration to a different sized disk or partition without any issues. I don’t know EaseUS, but Acronis does it without any problems whatsoever.

Yes, Acronis is quite flexible in that respect as long as the data fits in the intended destination it will restore it.

During the installation of win 8.1 you get to a panel where it almost forces you to have an online login to continue. On that panel, down the bottom in small print is an option to create another account. That may not be the exact words but will be close. Click that and the next panel will allow you the option of creating a local user account (again down the bottom in small print).

Another way to go to get a local account is to disconnect from the internet (after the download) for the install and you will be offered to make a local account. This is not the best because it means that the installer cannot look online for drivers and updates.

I have a fix for this problem. It is called Windows 8.1 Professional and IE11. I am using the 64 bit flavour but that is probably irrelevant. I think it is IE11 that matters.

I just installed it on my laptop and it didn’t add Ask search to either IE 10 or Chrome’s list od search providers.

Jerry

Sorry, I didn’t explain it clearly. In PDF xchange viewer there is a toolbar with a search function. This invokes an external searcher (Google, Bing, ASK etc.). In Edit > Preferences > Search Providers , change the order (and the default) or “Switch off all search providers”.

I created a system image by taking a snapshot of the entire computer with the side panel removed (Canon A590 @ max. resolution). However, this is not helping me to get my Windows setup running again. What am i doing wrong here?

You have to take photos with both side panels removed. We all know that.

The free version can be found on this page:
http://www.tracker-software.com/
Look for the “Get Free PDF-Exchange Viewer” icon at the upper left.

Jerry

When you install it you will find it has an online search function. One of those search providers is ASK.com. You should adjust the order of these so this one is at the bottom or turn off that function completely.

Woody,
In your article you said “Windows 8 and 8.1 have two types of accounts – Microsoft and local – and choosing one over the other isn’t especially easy.”

I’m about to build a new PC and I plan to install Win 8.1. It will be my first Win8 machine. My account choice is “local.” How exactly do I specify that? Does it ask during installation, does it ask later, do I need to know some trick?

Thanks!

In win 8.1 Microsoft does not make it easy to “go local”. They only present you with the Microsoft option. You have to ignore that and select Add Account on the same page. Follow that through and you will be asked what sort of account and then you can select local. If you select Microsoft then “you are all the way with the NSA”.