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I have a regular backup regime. I always do a full image of the boot drive every 7 days with differential images every day. This has allowed me considerable flexibility. I have installed new operating systems and then backed off very quickly. I have also recovered from some stupid but apparently unfixable bugs by recovering back until the bug disappears. Essential to this is to get your data off onto another drive so that if you recover back a few days your data losses are minimised.

Woody, in your article today about Win 8.1 you mention Foxit and junk apps during the installation. I have another one which I think is very bad. I have been a long time user of Avira Antivirus Pro (paid) and now released a couple of days back as Avira Antivirus Suite 2014. Unlike earlier versions this one is OK for Win 8.1.

During installation you are asked if you want to install a fancy toolbar with some supposedly useful function. I always decline and that is the end of it. The reality is that this toolbar is put out by the AskPartnerNetwork aka APN and http://www.ask.com. Like always I declined to install this toolbar. However at the end of this installation I was asked to activate the toolbar on IE11 despite refusing to install it.

As I pointed out to Avira, I consider that this toolbar is close to being spyware. They did not comment except to point out how to uninstall the toolbar. It is possible to uninstall it by just going to Control Panel ==> Programs and Features and doing a conventional uninstall. It removes the program folder but does leave a couple of registry entries around but since they refer to the program folder (now gone) they seem to be harmless.

I find it hard to believe that Avira would install this toolbar after being told not to. It is a considerable risk to their reputation as a security vendor. When renewal comes around I will be looking for a new AV supplier.

A quote from Fred’s article 2013 09 12 on Clean Slate install for Win 8

Don’t forget the updates! As you continue to set up and customize your new Win8 system, allow Windows Update to download and install whatever patches and updates the operating system requires. You can let this happen in the background, but it might take days to complete. If you’d rather get updating over with as soon as possible, run Windows Update (Control Panel/System and Security/Windows Update) manually. Click Check for updates to get all patches more or less at once.

It is important that you should continue to run update until no more patches and updates are available. Some updates don’t become available until others are installed.

A little more on the subject. An Exception Code: c0000005 is an Access Violation.

I have disabled all add-ons and that does not help.

I tried the advice from Roderunner and unticked IE10, rebooted, reticked it and rebooted and IE10 almost did not know it had been gone. Unfortunately the suggestion was no help. IE10 still crashes when doing an attachment using webmail.

I also have a win 7 Pro x64 machine that has IE10 installed and it crashes too when trying to attach a file to webmail. However, the attachment actually shows as attached before IE10 falls over. IE10 also shows some crash info which may be useful to the more technical people here. See it below.

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: IEXPLORE.EXE
Application Version: 10.0.9200.16576
Application Timestamp: 515e30fe
Fault Module Name: MSHTML.dll
Fault Module Version: 10.0.9200.16576
Fault Module Timestamp: 515e45ac
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 009bf787
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 3081
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

I did not try uninstalling IE10 on my Win 7 machine.

I have this problem with IE10 on win 8 Pro x86. In this case I am using Gmail and as soon as I select the file for attachment I get a message from IE10 informing me that it has an error and must close. It does a recovery restart and I am back exactly where I was except for the attempted attachment. I get around the problem by using Outlook 2010 to do the email composition and send.

I will try the suggestion by Roderunner and report back in. The problem is 100% reproducible so testing is easy.

If you are able to install XP Mode on Win 7 Pro then there are no licensing issues with XP in this case. Microsoft are giving you a copy of XP virtual for free. If you use Virtual Box or VMware then you will need an XP license because any copy of XP installed this way will need to be activated.

re: the downloaded .ISO won’t burn to disk

The file may be blocked. This is a security measure to stop you downloading a file and then (without further thought) exposing your machine to possible nasties.

In Windows Explorer:

[*] right click your file and select Properties
[*] if necessary, click on the General tab
[*] if the file is blocked, there will be a Security section at the bottom of the window. It will explain why the file is blocked and give you an Unblock button to fix it.

Typically, software that is only going to read the file will not be bothered by a Block but software that will edit or do other potentially hazardous behaviour will choke. Unfortunately many programs do not present a useful message. Later versions of Office will present a useful warning and suggest how to fix the problem.

I have already installed IE10 for Win 7 sp1 on two machines. It’s an easy install and it retains your previous IE9 settings where relevant. The big warning, for those who have win 8, is that Adobe Flash is just another add on and needs to be updated separately. It is no longer integrated as it is in IE10 for win 8.

Susan, I have my PCs (several win 8 and several win 7) set to Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them. The win 7 machines do that very well but today I am reminded again of the seeming inability of my Win 8 Pro (the $40 download) machines to even check for updates when on this setting. The last time that the check for updates was done always shows as Patch Tuesday or two weeks later.

I have the same trouble with Adobe Flash on the Win 7 machines when on a similar setting. It almost seems like an intent to ignore the machines when they are set like so. The thing that reminds me is that the Australian government has a notification service for updates and nasties. I should probably raise this in one of the general forums but I thought to let you know to see if you have any knowledge of update problems on Win 8 machines.

Edit
sorry I realised after posting this that it related to IE10 on win7. I will leave it but I will understand if the post is killed or moved.

That Ask icon is not the toolbar and is provided along with a list of 7 other search providers which are listed in alphabetical order. You can disable all searching by an Option setting. If having the Ask icon showing offends (I changed it) then click the dropdown arrow and select another. That adjustment is sticky. You can also change the order in which search providers are listed in the Options. I put Ask last. It is bad that the installer has the Ask toolbar selected for installation. Still if you want free then you have to be on your guard and never take the easy install.

I’ll back up Henry S Winokur’s suggestion for PDF X-Change Viewer. I gave up on Adobe several years back and I have been using Nitro PDF Reader since then but they have seemed uninterested in the free product and it was becoming slow to load so I changed recently to PDF X-Change Viewer and it has been all positive.

Does the computer need to be in sleep mode to wake? It will NOT wake from a normal shutdown.

The computer cannot be wakened from a normal shutdown by the task scheduler. If you want that then you may be able to achieve that with BIOS or UEFI settings. See the manual for your machine or motherboard.

I know this thread is almost half a year old, but I’m resurrecting it. I’m having the same problem, but haven’t found it discussed or answered anywhere else on the net.

neither have I and I still have the problem. I get round it by turning preview on when I need it and off again when it annoys me.

Yes it is 32 bit, and yes regular WOW will let some 16 apps run. Test carefully, Some 16 bit apps will crash the system if they try to directly control hardware! I recommend NEVER trying to run a 16 bit app as a virtualized window app.

what is “regular WOW”?

Being able to get access in the xpmode box is surprising enough.

not sure what you mean here