Starbuck

Let's hope that everything will be ok now. I've had 2 friends, plus my son that suffered from the Fall Creators Update. All 3 have had to reinstall Windows after it broke their systems. Not the best thing that M$ have come up with.

That's good to hear Bob Thanks for letting us know.

Just butting in here. Bob is running Win10 now. He did have some problems with Win updates and recently had to reinstall Win10. This problem with cd/dvd drives not being recognized seems to be quite common in Win10. Especially after an upgrade or reinstall. These may help. 6 Best Ways to Fix CD/DVD Missing or Not Showing Up in Windows 10 How to Fix a DVD or CD Drive Not Working or Missing in Windows 10 Butting back out now :)

Have a great Christmas Ray.

It's not quite as simple as that with Win10. There is no way to turn off the updates if you are running Win10 Home:mad: If you have Win10 Pro you can defer the updates for 7 days.... but that's as good as it gets I'm afraid.

Hi Richard, Looking into this, I see a lot of people are having the same problem. Everyone seems to have little workarounds that work for some.... but no definitive answer. Most seem to agree that removing the Fall Creators Update solved the problem. It's something to consider... How to Rollback and Uninstall the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

That's good. (it's always best to be prepared ) My laptop was already set to boot from usb, so you may not need to change anything.... just depends on how the manufacturer sets the system up. If you need any advice in the future, you know where we are.

Sounds like you are all set to go then. I run the 'WindowsImageBackup' about once a month to keep it up to date. ( some only run it every 6 months) If you re-run it at anytime, the old image will be over written with the new one.... but you don't have to re-run the usb recovery drive option. Now if you ever have problems due to a dodgy windows update, malware, ransomware etc you have nothing to worry about.... just run the image backup and away you go again. Just a couple of things to point out.... The USB recovery drive ( the 16gb usb ) can be tested to make sure it's going to work for you. Just plug the usb drive in and then reboot the system. If the computer is set to boot from usb, the system will boot into the Recovery Advanced Options screen. If it doesn't, you will have to alter the boot settings in the bios. Always best to know and set this before you actually need it. If you decide to test it, here's a tutorial that will explain the Advanced options screens etc. How to Access and use Advanced Startup Options in Windows 10 (or 8) Another point worth knowing.... The Usb recovery drive is not exclusive to your system. So if your system is Win 10 64bit Home ( which is the standard) this usb recovery drive will boot any Win 10 64bit Home system to the recovery advanced options settings. So if you had another system, you wouldn't need to make another usb recovery drive. Glad I was able to help. Safe surfing. http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/033/b/3/Computer_addict__by_Sinister_Starfeesh.gif

Sorry about that, seems I forgot to add that part to the tutorial. Obviously the external hard drive came formatted to fat32. Ntfs is the native file structure for windows now. Fat32 was the old windows system. Ntfs allows for file permissions and larger single files. It's easy to reformat the external hard drive. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.howtogeek.com/58953/how-to-convert-a-hard-drive-or-flash-drive-from-fat32-to-ntfs-format/amp/#ampshare=https://www.howtogeek.com/58953/how-to-convert-a-hard-drive-or-flash-drive-from-fat32-to-ntfs-format/ This will explain.

Hi Ray, You can view the contents in the same way that you view the contents of any usb device. It doesn't give as much info as you'd think though. You'll basically see 2 folders.... https://i.imgur.com/0Ka9xKA.png Clicking and viewing the Configuration folder just shows: https://i.imgur.com/nDnGK1n.png Clicking Data will give..... https://i.imgur.com/NVW8dc7.png $OF .... will give you a few numbered folders..... nothing readable. C .... if you open this and the next few folders, it will show what personal folders have been backed up.

The fall Creators update is a very big download and is being rolled out gradually... so not everyone gets it at the same time. That's right. Windows Defender has to be turned on first and then MalwareBytes. For some reason Windows Defender detects MalwareBytes as an Anti Virus program and won't run with it. Leave that turned off. The reason being.... when turned on it will increase the scan time considerably because of the extra deep searching it does. Only turn this on if you have reason to believe there's rootkit activity on the system.

I use a 1Tb external drive for the image backup and a 16Gb usb stick for the 'Recovery Drive'. That said, you don't actually need an external drive that big. A 250Gb drive would do. My last Image is only recorded on the drive as 17.7Gb (the image backup will be compressed ) If your laptop has Usb3 as well as Usb2 sockets (most modern systems have) I'd recommend that you go for a Usb3 external Drive. It'll be a lot faster than Usb2. If your not sure if you have a Usb3 connector on the laptop.... the inside is usually blue in colour Something like this will work well: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sonnics-250GB-2-5-USB-3-0-Portable-External-Hard-Drive-for-Computers-Black-New-/292235756691 Yes, the external drive will plug into a usb port. It's basically a large usb stick. If you buy usb3 ... it's backward compatible with Usb2. So Usb3 will plug into a Usb2 or a Usb3 port. Usb2 will not work in a Usb3 port. An optical drive is not a necessity as long as you have Usb. Just a quick word about the Usb recovery drive. When you create it, you will have the option of using an 8Gb stick or a 16Gb stick. The 8Gb stick will be ok if you just want to boot into the advanced options section. The 16Gb stick will be handy if you have problems with the image and need to reinstall 'Windows'. I always create one of each and keep them in the case with the External drive.

For normal surfing, Windows Defender will be good enough. One thing you can do to make it more secure..... Turn on the new anti-ransomware features in the Fall Creators Update MWB is far better than SAS... so need for a replacement if MWB is installed. Also, to save yourself a lot of hassle in the future, this tip may be beneficial to you: How to create an image backup in Windows 10 and restore it, if need be

The first thing that I would do is to remove McAfee from the system. I did this with my laptop. Experience with McAfee is not always good. Remove McAfee and then download and run the McAfee Removal Tool This will help to clean up all of the leftovers that McAfee leaves on the system. Before trying to remove McAfee you may find it's best to turn off Protection first. Right click on the McAfee icon on the taskbar and disable all protection from there. When McAfee has been removed.... then turn on Windows Defender. Windows Defender on Win10 is a lot better than it used to be and will be fine for most day to day surfing. Security Essentials is not compatible with Win10. SAS isn't what it used to be, so I wouldn't bother with that anymore. Malware bytes is still good.... but you need the latest version (Version 3 ) MalwareBytes 3 After the 14 day trial, it'll revert to the free version. If you decide that you only want to run the free version: install complete and then..... From the Dashboard click.. Settings >> My Account >> Deactivate Premium Trial. http://i.imgur.com/S2iTuhP.png

Hi Bluegreen, Sorry but I can't for the life of me understand why you ( or anyone )would want to install such an old outdated and insecure Operating System. Microsoft don't support it anymore and a lot of vendors have dropped support for it as well. If you really want to install such an ancient Operating System...... That stop error was quite common with XP. The problem is usually caused by AHCI/RAID mode of SATA controller. You need to enter the BIOS, go to "Integrated Periferals" or something similar where you can find the "SATA Mode" option and change it from AHCI to ATA or IDE. Resolved Blue screen error This is the link to your Packard Bell EasyNote TM86/TM87/TM89 Series Service Guide This will explain about how to enter the bios and make any changes. Below is an extract... Or why not just run the recovery and return the system back to factory settings. The system should have a recovery partition if the OS was preinstalled. return Packard Bell Easy Note to factory settings If you are not going to install at least Windows 7, I'd suggest that you go for something like Linux Mint. You can even try it before installing..... just in case you don't like it. If you decide to give this a try, I suggest you go for the 'Cinnamon desktop' version.... it's the closest version to Windows and is very good for beginners to Linux. It'll be a lot more secure that XP or Win7 for that matter. I've been trying it for a few weeks now and had no problems getting to grips with it. How to Install Linux Mint Just a suggestion.

If you buy a genuine Win7 CD, it will come with it's own product key. So you wouldn't need the one that came with your system.

Yes. The folder you are working from (on your phone) and the destination folder (Desktop) have to be both showing... it's a lot easier this way. Connect your phone to the PC. From Windows Explorer, open the phone. Select the folder that contains the picture or video you want to copy over. Select the picture by RIGHT clicking on it.... holding the click in, drag the file to the Desktop. When you release the right click, a menu will pop up.... select copy to copy the picture over ( this still leaves the original file on your phone) or Select move (this will move the picture to the Desktop and will remove it from your phone) Use whichever you want. A quick video I made to show how easy this is..

Hi Ray, Good to see you again. If you want to scrub the whole Ext Hd and start again it couldn't be easier. Plug your ext hd in to the PC. Open up 'Computer' ( or My Pc which ever version you have) Right click on the ext hd and select 'format' from the list. Just go with the defaults it gives you and click quick format. This will erase everything on the ext hd and give you a nice fresh drive to start with. https://i.imgur.com/4GHU8EW.png

It's easier to watch a video, than try to explain.... but it is very easy. Probably best to move anything from the phone to the desktop. It's easy to move stuff from the desktop to the required folder afterwards ( music,Documents, Videos etc ) Btw: I get this as well sometimes, but I have no problem in rotating them. If you copy or move them to the PC, you should be able to rotate them. If you are just viewing them on the PC ( with the phone connected) then it may not let you do that.

Have always used drag and drop for file/videos etc. This isn't something that copy/paste was designed for. When moving pics/films between my pc/phone/tablet, I connect the 2 and then work from the pc screen. Open folders from both... onto the PC screen. Right click on the file to move.... hold the right click in and move to the destination folder. Release the right click on select copy or move from the menu (which ever you want to do ) That won't make any difference. It's not actually a BluRay ..... it means that it was copied from a BluRay. Chances are it'll be an Mp4 or an MKV file format. Like this... https://i.imgur.com/5ORxebH.png It says BluRay, but the file format is Mp4.

Hi Jimmy, You mean 5.52MB ( that's what is showing to me ) Admin can remove the attachments for you if you wish. Currently I see 28 attachments going back to 2013. Do you want 2013 - 2016 removed and leave this years? Or do you want them all removed?

Hi Jimmy, Setting windows to create a restore point everytime the system starts is definitely overkill. About once a week would be normal. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/how-often-is-a-restore-point-made/f7cd7917-9167-4067-92c6-aacc2f13ddbe?auth=1

Hi Jimmy, AS Ken said, check that link for instructions on enabling system restore first. If that doesn't correct the issue, we can look at other possibilities.

That's good to hear. FRST can now be removed: Right click on the FRST icon and select delete. Right click on any fixlog.txt or fixlist.txt files and select delete. Navigate to: C:\frst and delete the frst folder. Safe surfing. http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/033/b/3/Computer_addict__by_Sinister_Starfeesh.gif

Most of the time I get the same problem. Notification emails go into my spam folder..... even if I mark it as not spam and move it to the inbox, the same happens next time. Glad to hear there's been an improvement. What did you do regarding: Trusteer Endpoint Protection ZoneAlarm Security