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For me, there is one critical setting in Windows Updates, that will totally prevent any problem, EVER, with Windows Updates. That is “Disabled”.

I’ve gone along with some Service Packs, over the years, that were of great benefit, like SP3 for XP. And, SP1 for Windows 7.
But for the monthly updates that come out of MS….. Forgetaboutit! They do more harm than good.
And, just a few nights ago, I had to re-install Windows 7 on one of my PC’s, and before I could stop it, Auto Update started a download of 229 updates. So I figured “Oh what the heck, let it finish”. Well, when the download finished, my PC would no longer boot up.
So I unplugged the LAN cable and did a complete RE-Install of Windows 7. Then I made dang sure that I had Auto Updates turned OFF, before I re-connected my LAN cable.
Windows 7 is running beautifully, without any updates at all.

And when an OS is on it’s last legs, like XP was, several years ago, MS Updates were trashing computers all over the place. That seems to be happening all over again, now, with Windows 7. I really like Windows 7, just the way it comes out of the box….it don’t need no stinking updates.

I lost track of just how many service calls I got where the complaint was “I got a Windows update and now I can’t boot up my PC!”. So I’d answer the call, and once I got the PC working again, I’d “Disable” all MS Updates and then never have another problem.

Cheers Mates!
The Doctor

Many small companies, are still running programs that were written over a decade ago, and the companies that wrote them are no longer in business. They run just great on Windows XP, but not on the newer OS’s.

So if it still works……..

I really did myself in here. I created a password for my laptop just before I fell alseep and now I cant remember it so i cant login in to my laptop, i don’t want to reinstall windows 7 due to there are many important files on it, so is there any other ways that can reset my forgotten password? Thanks!

Every respectable Computer Tech,will have a copy of “PC Unlocker”, or something similar, that quickly and easily removes passwords. So take your laptop to any good PC Tech and have them remove the password for you. They may or may not ask you for proof that you are the legal owner of the Laptop.

I would! And yes, I AM a PC Tech, and I do have the “PC Unlocker” program.
And every time someone brings me a PC to repair and they fail to give me the password, they get their PC back with NO password on it. I don’t have the time to deal with that BS.

Then NEVER put a password on any PC unless you’ve already written it down. In most homes, a password is not even needed.

Good luck Mate!
The Doctor

I’m on win 7 64bit running on a SATA hard drive right now but want to move on to my SSD and need to format it to start a new clone.

I plugged it into my win 7 and as soon as I go to disk management — it had a heart attack and everything froze up, so I did a force shut down and un-plugged it, everything is back to normal in win7.

Is there another way to format this SSD drive?

A GOOD cloning program copies the boot sector and everything else from the original drive to the receiving drive, (Clone) and there is absolutely NO NEED to do anything to the clone drive before actually performing the CLONE operation.

Sounds like someone does not have a good grasp on just what Cloning means. Eh?
Every BIT on the original drive is copied over to the receiving drive, and that includes the format, because that’s just another part of the data on the drive. If the receiving drive is formatted, that will just be overwritten during the cloning process. So formatting a receiving drive is just a gross waste of time and effort.

When I bought my first SSD last summer, I used my “Ghost 11.5” program to clone my 1TB Seagate drive to my new SSD. The operation went off like it was supposed to, and in less than 1/2 hour, I had an exact copy of my spinner on my new SSD, with partitions adjusted to fit on the SSD. And I regularly do a clone of my SSD to a spinner as a full disk backup.

Don’t take something so simple and try to make something difficult out of it.

Good Luck Mate!
The Doctor

Similar path?
That would be like me following an alligator into deep water. NO THANK YOU!

I still use the same program (albeit a little later version) that I started using in 1997 when the original authors released it on the US. That is “Ghost”. I use the last DOS version, (Ghost 11.5) that was released in about 2005, that runs from any DOS boot disk or Flash Drive. It worked great on Windows 95 and still works great today on Windows 10, 32 bit or 64 bit, makes no difference.

You can’t buy it anymore, so I keep a dozen or more copies around the house, just for safety sake. I have it on both CD’s and Flash Drives.

I’ve checked several times and “Ghost 11.5″ is still out there floating around on the WWW.

With Ghost, I can backup just my C: partition with No compression, Fast (medium) compression, or HIGH (maximum) compression, which is ideal when backing up to DVD’s. And I can save the Backup Image File to any media with enough space to contain it. I’m currently using either a 1TB USB 3.0 drive, or a 3.5” standard 2TB hard drive, as my backup media. A directly connected SATA III drive is always the fastest.

I also use Ghost 11.5 for all my disk cloning needs, even going from a spinner to an SSD.
Or from an SSD to a spinner.

I tested Macrium Reflect several years ago, and found it seriously lacking, like several other so-called backup programs. And considering all the complaints I read concerning it, , , it’s not gotten any better.

Good Luck!
The Doctor

All my WLM contacts were deleted/or locked out in the last Win 7 & update. Don’t have a WLM account so cannot recover there. Any suggestions

Welcome to the forum, and the “MS Zone”.
Windows updates have been messing up peoples computers for years. Nothing new.
But today the conspiracy theorists are saying that MS is deliberately putting out bad updates to try to encourage (force) people into upgrading to Windows 10.

I saw something similar when Windows XP was expiring and MS wanted people to upgrade to Vista.
The solution then was as it is now….. Fix the immediate problem and then, SHUT OFF automatic Windows Updates.

If I had the same problem as you have, I’d first do a System Restore to a time before the update, and if that failed to solve the problem I’d do a restore of my last total hard drive backup. That always fixes everything, but may cause you to loose your latest data files and/or pictures.

The total solution to your problem would be to Back up your entire C: drive at least once a week, and back up your data files to an external drive, whenever that data changes.

Sorry, but, you really do yourself a disfavor by operating your computer without having any kind of Backup scheme.

Good Luck!
The Doctor

The solution is very simple…..

Just set up your wife’s account on “OE Classic (FREE)” email program. Once you put in the GMail name and password, the program will set up the ports, etc, by itself.
Her account, at Google-Mail, will have to be set to use POP-3. No biggie.

I’ve done things like that for many of my customers over the years.
Then you will have your way of getting your email, and she will have a separate way of getting her email.
The two should never interfere with each other.
Peace in the family!

Cheers Mate!

The Doctor

Hi Bill, Happy 4th!

I ask out of curiosity….. where does iDrive store your backups?
And, how do you access those backups, to restore your computer to original condition when your hard drive crashes and can no longer boot up your computer?

I know how I deal with that scenario, but how do you?

Cheers Mate,
The Doctor

Yes, that is what I used, and now know it is up-to-date. However, I may have already had the latest version installed, but with no way of checking it had to download again. Unless they install an update option it would appear to be necessary to repeat this every week.

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It may seem that way, but it’s NOT. If it’s run correctly and completely it does not need to be run again.
It would be nice, if it would run all of its modules automatically, but it doesn’t.

What I’m sure many people will not understand is that just installing the program does practically nothing.
The user will have to go down through all the options, to shut down all the different functions of GWX.

A much simpler program that does it all, automatically, is “Never10.exe” from Steve Gibson (GRC.com).
I’ve used many of Steve’s programs for many years and I find his programs to be quick, simple and very intuitive.
Give “Never10.exe” a try.

Good Luck!
The Doctor

It really doesn’t matter! Junk is Junk and should be removed on a regular basis. All temp files are JUNK!

I run a temp file remover every day, from my Startup folder and once a week I run Disk Cleanup in Extended Mode, to get even more ‘Junk’ files. “Minus crud is cool!”

When you take out a trash can, do you go through it and itemize everything in the can?

Surely you have something better to do with your time than itemize garbage. Eh?

I sure can’t tell you what changed, as I have Windows Auto Update turned OFF for Windows 7.

But I do have to ask…. “Have you ever heard of “Take Ownership”, or “Grant Admin Full Control” ??
‘Grant Admin Full Control’ is like ‘Take Ownership’ on steroids.

Once you install G.A.F.C., you can Right Click on any file or folder and become the Owner of it.
It’s one of the first programs that I install, on any new install of Windows. (7, 8.1 or 10)

Good Luck,
The Doctor

Reading about GWX Control panel on several different forums, it appears that it’s a bit much for many casual users.
Many bloaks just can’t handle anything with more than one option. :rolleyes:

For those who really need something simple….go to ” GRC.com/never10.htm ”
( https://www.grc.com/never10.htm ) and download ” Never10.exe “.
It’s simple, straight forward and Very Effective.

It’s really much simpler than the GWX Control Panel.
Thank you Steve!

Cheers mates!
The Doctor

Years ago, I tried Eudora because a friend suggested it, but….
no more than I had it installed, my Anti-Spyware program deleted it. Hmmm!

Well, of course I didn’t want Spyware on my PC, so I went back to Outlook Express. NO Problem!

Has it even dawned on anyone, that any Backup and Restore program that runs on your C: drive is 100% busted, when that drive squalls, howls and smokes? (also known as CRASHING)
It would seem, NOT!

I’ve set up backup/restore systems for casual users, businesses, Corporations, and even Govt agencies and in every case, my Backup/restore program was on a bootable CD.
And the location for my backups was a separate hard drive, just to keep it close, and quickly accessible if needed.
You can’t access the “cloud” when your PC has crashed. At that point, you can only boot up from a CD or Flash Drive.
(after replacing the crashed HD, with a new one)

I keep my own “Ghost Backups” on both an internal 1TB HD and an external 1TB, USB 3.0, hard drive.
And, I make a new backup of C: at least once a week. My data files are backed up daily, using a batch file and XCOPY.

At least twice a year, something gets into my PC and makes a mess of my OS, , , , then it only takes me about 15 minutes to restore my last Ghost backup of my C: drive, to put things right again.

Good Luck y’all!

The Doctor

Once the After Market programmers (Hackers) got a hold of Windows XP, they started creating all sorts of XP permutations.
XP stripped to the bone and XP Black were just two that comes to mind.
I think that somewhere in my archives, I have at least six different versions.

But that’s all ancient history now. Maybe some day they’ll be worth as much as the original Spider Man comic book.

But having said all that, I still have two of my 20 PC’s that are happily running Windows XP.
It doesn’t stop running, just because it’s getting old. In some ways, I still prefer it.

Cheers mates!
The Doctor