Plastic Nev

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. That error is usually associated with a hardware fault, this could be a USB device plugged in, if there is something plugged in try it without. If nothing is plugged in, then quite often the fault is the hard drive has failed. From what you have tried, the results you have now got, and considering that it seems that safe mode cannot be obtained now, I do suspect the hard drive. Further checks of the hard drive can be performed, however that will require removing the hard drive from the faulty laptop and also another computer to perform those checks. Also any one of three things will also need to be bought if doing the checks yourself, the three things are either an adapter to connect via USB, the cheapest option, or an enclosure or caddy for USB connection or a docking station. Any one of those will be needed. If willing to go that far yourself, please let us know what model number of Toshiba Satellite it is so we can advise how to remove the hard drive, and possibly find out what type of hard drive, which will be either the earlier IDE type or the later SATA. Nev.

Hi Ray, the file types are standard DVD files, however the video itself is contained within the VOB files, these can be played by possibly Windows media player, or most definitely by the VLC player. They can also be converted, (May be some loss of quality in converting) with say AVC video converter to a more usual AVI or WMP file. If requiring to burn a copy to another DVD leave the files as they are and burn using a burning program such as Nero or similar. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. This sort of shut down can be due to overheating so the first thing to check is the fans and heatsinks are clean of dust or fluff. which will be preventing a good enough flow of cooling air. I assume this is a desktop, so you will need to go inside the case to clean it. Turn off the power at the wall socket, then remove the side covers and using a small none nylon brush, remove dust from fans and cooling fins, a can of compressed air used in short bursts will be of help with that. Do you see any quick flash of a blue screen with white text when it shuts down? Let us know if you do, I can describe how to keep that blue screen so you can write down any messages shown. Nev.

Hi Louise, until some else gets back to us, I have found a written tutorial for using and finding files with Recuva, here :- http://www.guidingtech.com/2154/recover-deleted-files-recuva/ Another here :- http://data-security-freeware.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/recuva-recover-deleted-files-for-free.html And a video here :- I hope those help you wade through the thing. Nev.

Hang on there Louise, I have asked our other staff if someone with experience of it can help. Nev.

Hi Grandad, I can't help with the Outlook as I don't have any Microsoft Office stuff and use Open Office and Kingsoft Office. Because of that I use the other Microsoft alternative which is the Windows Live mail. Just wondering if a change over to Windows Live mail might be a work round for you. Nev.

OK Louise, at least it is good to know that whatever you find is at least all yours. Having never used Recuvva myself, I can only wish you all the best, and hope someone else sees this who has used it and can offer more advice. Though it does come with a good reputation from those I have seen in the past. Nev.

Hi Louise, this Windows 8 machine I assume is one you borrowed, is it a used one that someone else had previously? If so, a lot of what it found will be stuff they deleted. Be careful of it unless you know the person, and even then you might find a file you didn't expect. Nev.

Hi Louise, although I haven't used any of these recovery programs, I do know they take some time as they scan the entire drive. Once finished they then show you what they have found, bearing in mind, there will not be a name as that is the bit that is totally deleted, the rest of the file for each will have to be looked at to determine if it is the ones you want. Also part of a file may be missing if some other file has been written over the physical space the original was on. Depends really on how much was added since the original deletion. Nev.

Hi Louise, providing nothing else was stored or written onto the Windows 8 machine after those E Mails were deleted, it may just be possible to recover at least some of them using a downloadable free tool called Recuvva, this will scan the hard drive and find them. http://www.piriform.com/recuva Just click on the green download button for the free version, you shouldn't need the paid for pro version. The only thing to realise that being a new installation in itself, it may just overwrite a small number of deleted files in doing so. Nev.

Hi Louise, if E Mails are still on that Windows 8 machine, unless they have been deleted there, then they will still be on that machine within the Windows 8 machines E Mail folders whichever type of folder it is. If they are there, the safest thing is to open a word doc on the Windows 8 machine and copy and paste the E Mail content into the doc. That doc can then be copied or moved to a USB drive to transfer to your new Windows 7 machine. and saved as a word document. If however they have been fully deleted on either machine, (Not still in the deleted mail folder), sorry but they are likely to be gone for good. Nev.

Hi Woodbug. I have found the full manual for your computer, it is a PDF file so may be best to download onto another computer or device with a big enough screen, have a look at chapter 6 on it here :- http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02481106.pdf It says there that you can download to a flashdrive the full recovery, scroll down to :- Downloading and extracting the Disaster Recovery utility It explains the process and gives the website address and code required to download all that you should need. Nev.

Hi guys, if needing to use a laptop or other device in bright sunlight and using a glossy screen, you can get anti glare sheeting. Various types here on E Bay. http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/anti-glare-screen-protector-15-6 Probably be able to get it from most computer retailers as well. Nev.

Hi Louise, I don't have the Microsoft office as I am using one of the free ones, so can't help with that, the last time I used any of the Microsoft was Works Word in XP, and a long time ago at that. So maybe Ken will know more, however, I am wondering if the line spacing is connected to the font size, try different sizes is just a guess though. Most other things in Windows 7 I can help with, unfortunately not the office software. Nev.

Indeed these things can be a nuisance, even though it is a windows own sound, my E Mail notification sound can sometimes be too loud and the only control of that is the main volume. The only other way is to record a custom sound at low volume and put that into the Windows sound scheme. However even that isn't an option with the facebook sounds as they are external. If an app can be created, no doubt many folk would be grateful of that too. Nev.

Thanks for the update Ray, I can mark this as solved now for both Ray's. You may now find that the room is a bit cooler now as well, without the heat from the old CRT monitor. Nev.

Once removed from the XP laptop and put into an enclosure, it can then be connected to your new Windows 8 laptop, as the connection is USB. However I have just looked at the Dell Inspiron maintenance manual and it is a little more complicated than I hoped as it does require the keyboard to be removed, so maybe best to let a technician do it for you, hopefully he won't charge too much for that. Nev.

In most cases, removing the hard drive from a laptop is quite easy and involves no more than one or two screws to remove a cover underneath, please tell us the make and model and we can probably find the relevant details for you. Nev.

OK, firstly do you have an icon on the bottom task bar like this one? http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/plasticpig/Explorericon_zps4fa2fc8c.png That is the Windows explorer icon and useful to have it on the bottom task bar as one click opens it. If it is already there as it usually is by default anyway with Windows 7, click on it to open the explorer page. You should then have a listing on the left hand side, and maybe the libraries will already be opened, if not click on the library and you should then see the main folder for documents. Double click that to open it and you should see on the top tool bar a button for new folder. That will create a folder which you can then name as for example "Letters" If you do not have the icon on the bottom task bar, click the start orb, you should see documents, pictures, music etc, on the right hand side any way. You can open the documents folder from there any way. You can also create a desktop icon for your documents with a right click on documents as I explained earlier. Nev.

The only really major difference from XP is the Windows explorer, unlike XP which was connected to Internet Explorer, the new Windows explorer is a separate entity. It is though very easy to work with once used to it with the libraries for each section, Documents, Pictures, Music, and Video. By all means ask for any help with anything you have a problem sorting out. A hint for creating desktop icons, right click on a program or even a folder, such as "Pictures", go to "Send to" and click on "Desktop (Create short cut)" and you will then have an icon on the desktop. Nev.

I don't think you can turn the volume down, only turn it off as the sound is not a part of your computers sound scheme, it is direct from facebook from what I can find out about it. Either turn it off as that article tells you how, or have it on, I am afraid it looks like there is no half way point. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. To save our malware guys some time, can you please follow the instructions on this page here :- http://extremetechsupport.com/threads/15547-Before-posting-for-Malware-Removal-help-Windows-8#.UySOxoVXu7Q Once you have the logs as requested, please post them here on this thread. If you have any problems with downloading, installing, or running any of the programs asked for please let us know. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help Chris. Good to see someone on our side of the fence. Nev.

OK Louise, I hope all goes well and he builds a good machine for you. Any questions, please ask and one of us will help, which is much better than struggling with something and maybe not getting it right. Nev.

It isn't too far away from the old XP in a lot of ways, so you shouldn't have too much trouble. Just be glad you aren't stuck with the Windows 8, that is a different story altogether. Nev.