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Messages - Washbush

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26
Right, I am making reference to something much different.

When I go to the start button, and on the page with the Quick Start Menu, there is a link called "All Programs".  In the past, it has always been a listing of all of the installed programs on the computer.  For me, it was the main go-to when I wanted to open something that I didn't use very often.  Or, if I wanted to make a shortcut for the desktop.  Since I installed Vista on this computer, I don't have any of that.

What I do have is a listing of folders, all of which look to me like something that Windows would have put there.  I have Accessories, Administrative Tools, Maintinance and StartUp.  Administrative Tools and Startup are both empty, however. 

When I go through the the Control Panel, and I select Add/Remove Programs, I find a list of installed programs as long as my arm.  Every time I install something new it shows up here, but almost nothing shows up on the ALL PROGRAMS list.  Well, there is one exception.  I took all of the programs that I have downloaded from you and put them in a folder called "Tweaking.Com".  Guess what?  That folder is the only other thing, other than folders that look like Windows installation folders, that show on the list at all. 

Consequently, it is an annoying little search to go the long route through Computer/Drive C:/etc. to get to the executable file for everything I want to open that isn't on a shortcut somewhere. 

It wouldn't be so bad if there was a way to open a program from the Add/Remove Programs list on the Control Panel.  But, I don't know of any way to do that, if there even is a way.

Do you have any suggestions?

John

27
I am still playing with this old DELL Dimension 8250.  With the help of your Advanced and Simple Tweaks, (I have started to call them "Big Tweaks" and "Little Tweaks"), the old critter is doing much more than I expected.  It is strong enough that I spent a few bucks on eBay and bought enough additional memory to run it up to 2GB.  Next I want to increase the video memory too.

The obvious glitch to all of this is on the Start Menu under "ALL PROGRAMS".  The list is very, very short.  It looks as if nothing has been added to the list since the original installation of Vista.  Do you have any suggestions as to what might be responsible for that? 

Otherwise, all is well and I am having a good time with this machine.  I am going places and trying things that I never would have done before knowing that even if I make a big mistake I haven't lost anything valuable and I have Big and Little to come to the rescue if I need them. I am really getting to like this stuff.  Thanks again for all of your fantastic work.

John
 :confused:

28
General Computer Support / Re: A white screen of death?
« on: April 04, 2014, 06:47:09 am »
A quick question re: Ubuntu ...

I am totally in the dark re: Ubuntu.  Once it is running, will any of the Windows applications run in it?  Or, is there a basic set of applications for Ubuntu such as browser, etc. 

Your suggestion is a good one for two reasons ... it will give an irrefutable picture of the situation, and, it gives me a nice little push to look into Ubuntu for the first time.  So, thanks for that. 

Anything else I need to know before I jump in with both feet?

John

29
General Computer Support / Re: A white screen of death?
« on: April 01, 2014, 08:41:33 pm »
I just got home from inspecting Sherry's computer and I can report that the patient is no better after fiddling with it for a couple hours.  It seems like it is always waiting for something, no matter what I tried to do.  Both sizes of green round circles pop up all the time.  They just come and go and nothing happens.  I can shake the computer "loose" with a quick Con-Alt-Del but all that does is present the same problem over again.  I ran all of your stuff.  I ran System Mechanic.  I ran her Dell Discovery stuff and some fix-it stuff from Dell.Nothing changes.  Lots of "...not responding," "... not connecting," and "can't find the server for ...".  It looks really funny to see that it can't find the server for "google.com".  I ran your Mr. Big and it took over an hour to complete.  At the 15.01 minute mark, I went to change from "repair info" to "the log" and ... BANG ... it froze up, gave me the White Screen of Death and the bigger green circle and then just sat there.  Con-Alt-Del made it get up and go, it finished fine.  And, as I said, nothing yet has turned up any kind of a problem.  All the hardware has been DELL checked twice. 

So, there you have it.  I sent myself copies of all of the printable results and, when I got home, I started to go through them all.  I did find something that made me smile.  Her computer has only 750MB of Memory.  There are four docks, and she has two 125s and two 250s.  So, I am going to nose around eBay tonight and see what I can find.  I very quickly found a pair of 500s for $45 and I would have bought them if they were anywhere else in the world other than Hong Kong or China.  I have already contributed enough to the Chinese economy and so I think I will just not do that anymore.  I will take a good long look in a few minutes. 

That's it from southern Indiana, the Duck Dynasty capital of the world.  That junkyard, by the way, is literally a 15 or 20 minute drive from my front door.  I have to admit that those guys are about as real as they can be ... and, there are lots and lots more of them in case you want to come and visit.  I went out "to the forest" for a 4th of July picnic two years ago.  There was a huge cast iron pot hanging over a wood fire and I still don't know for sure exactly what went in it, but it sure was good.  Home made biscuits, a scoop of stuff from that pot and some homemade "lemonaid"... all of it as good as you might have heard it is.  I was told later, but third hand, that it probably was rabbit, squirrel, possum and deer, half a dozen different kinds of veggies. two bottles of homemade "wine" and two more of homemade beer, a half dozen lemons, some mystery spices (sure) and a bar of dark chocolate. After we all had enough to eat, we watched our host show off his new pistol by shooting the lights out in his pole barn.  Eight shots, eight light bulbs and 8 holes in the roof.  But, easy to fix, I heard. 

How did I get off on that? Maybe I need more sleep.

JW



30
General Computer Support / Re: IE 9, your not Fine;
« on: April 01, 2014, 12:44:06 pm »
Right.  I have become quite a solid Firefox User.  There are a couple situations where Chrome seems to work better, and running streaming video is occasionally one of them ... at least here at my house.  For me, finding and using the Firefox add-ons is what pushes it over the top for me.  Lots of choice, so far zero problems that can't be handled with a click to turn them off, and they seem to be made in a more mature, logical way.  Back to Chrome, the thing that bothers me the most about Chrome, and all of Google for that matter, is that they are encouraging me to turn over every single bit of information I have about me.  That even includes where I am, where I want to go and how I am going to get there ... much less all of my personal (and psychological) data.  That is just too much for me.  I still will back away from just about anything that I think looks like it could compromise my privacy. 

31
General Computer Support / Re: IE 9, your not Fine;
« on: April 01, 2014, 11:11:50 am »
A question for me:  Is there a way to use any version later than IE9 with Vista SP2?

John

32
General Computer Support / A white screen of death?
« on: April 01, 2014, 11:08:17 am »
Hi gang ...

I have been bragging up the great help I have had here at Tweaking.Com and so I have become a computer expert. 

An email from a friend last night ... the question:  My computer just stops in the middle of whatever I am doing.  Nothing moves except sometimes the mouse pointer will move a little but it is very jerky.  Usually the top line says "google.com - or whatever I am doing - not responding" or something like that.  If I click the mouse a couple times, or tap enter a couple times, the entire screen goes to an opaque white and now everything is stuck.  When I get tired of waiting, I shutdown and then restart.  It does not want to respond to "reboot" in that situation either.  I know I have been having trouble with my ATT U-verse (internet only) connection, and I have always felt that it was very slow.  But, they say it is OK.  Could it be my ATT service is slowing or stopping, or could it be the computer itself?" 

I told her I would post a message and then tonight I will go over and help her get Simple and Big installed and run.  Any hints from anyone?

Thanks for everything ...

John


33
General Computer Support / Re: Is my hard drive really failing ... ?
« on: March 12, 2014, 07:31:05 pm »
OK ... I got it.  I saw on one report that this hard drive has something like 15,000 hours on it.  I have decided that I will start shopping for a USB HD now, and then a replacement internal HD later.  I will keep you posted when anything changes ...


Thanks a million ...


john

34
General Computer Support / Re: Is my hard drive really failing ... ?
« on: March 12, 2014, 10:02:36 am »
Hi Shane ...


I did install a SMART reporter.  As near as I can tell, everything is OK and well within limits, including drive functionion, EXCEPT for the fact that the temp goes up.  Drive performance is at 98%, everthing else is OK, the drive is 47% empty, but the temperature is going up.  It did the same yesterday until it reached the max.  Last night I took the computer apart, took the drive out, the keyboard out, and blew out the case.  I was surprised at how clean it was inside. 


Later today I will take a small fan and blow it into the air intake port on the bottom and see what happens.  I have no way to telling if the computer's fan is running or not.


One FINAL question, I promise.  The computer came with XP installed.  I upgraded to VISTA and than upgraded again to Windows 7.  Since my copy of Win 7 is an upgrade, can I just install it again right over the existing Win 7?  Will that correct any repairs that are needed?  And, will that reinstall the "AUTOCHECK" that seems to be missing?


What is the worst thing that can happen if I try that?


John

35
General Computer Support / Re: Is my hard drive really failing ... ?
« on: March 11, 2014, 07:26:05 pm »
Oh, nuts ........... !

A quick question ... the drive seems to be working error free but its operating temperature is elevated.  Since I an almost deaf, I can't tell if the fan is working or not.  Could this be a fan failure?

36
General Computer Support / Re: Is my hard drive really failing ... ?
« on: March 11, 2014, 07:24:04 pm »
That error is from Windows and it is reporting that the smart status on the drive is reporting it is in bad shape. The hard drive does need to be replaced. :wink:

Shane

Problem seems to be the drive is running hot.  Any chance that the fan has failed and caused the drive to overheat?

37
General Computer Support / Re: Is my hard drive really failing ... ?
« on: March 11, 2014, 03:26:56 pm »
Oh, nuts ........... !

38
General Computer Support / Re: Is my hard drive really failing ... ?
« on: March 11, 2014, 02:10:49 pm »
Here is my follow up about 24 hours later and after I read your reply ...


The laptop is still clicking along just fine.  I have run all of your stuff one more time with no mention of a HD problem.  I bought the anti-malware program you recommended and I ran it.  It found 100+ items, they are now gone and it is happy.  I have updated all of my drivers, removed some old software, dumped some files of ancient videos, and have the HD at almost exactly 50% capacity.  So, just like the Girl with the Curl in the middle of her forehead, when the computer is good, it is really, really good.  However, every so often it gives me the graphic on the screen warning me that I should start my back up before it is too late.  I did make an observation though, that warning appears EXACTLY every 15 minutes and I have seen it no less than 10 or 12 times just today.  You can set your clock on those 15 minute intervals.  What the significance of that might be, I don't know.  I'll see if I can get a screen shot of it the next time it comes up.  Also, I have run chk dsk twice and it says that all is well.


But ... when I run your Quick Tweak, there are some entries that I see flying by that say "failed" and twice or three times there is a band of red in the window that suggests it is fixing something.  But, it seems to go unfixed as it looks like it is doing the same thing every time it is run.


Do you know of a way to disable the indexing?  Would that give any performance benefits (other than searching, I mean)?
What is "shadow copy service" and do I need it?
Can I turn off the backup function all together?  - presently it is set to back up to a partition called D:\.  I have a 32GB chip from a camera.  I would like to try to use that chip in a USB adapter and try to backup to it so I can remove that little 6GB D:\ partition.  Is there a way to tell the computer that I don't ever want multiple backups?  All I ever want is the most recent one. 


Finally, do you think it would help if I opened this computer up and to see if it is dirty inside?  Would that cause this kind of a problem.  I am running your HD activity indicator and it looks perfectly fine to me.


I just had a chance to make a screen print and so it is attached also.  That somehow just does not look like a "very serious message" from Microsoft or HP either. 


Thanks for everything.


John
 

39
General Computer Support / Is my hard drive really failing ... ?
« on: March 10, 2014, 12:04:58 pm »
Greetings Everyone ...


Over the last week or so, I have spent a lot of time with almost all of the Tweaking.Com products.  If I could buy Tweaking.Com a drink, I would.  You, Tweaking.Com, have taken an almost abandoned HP Presario 2212us lap top and restored it to pretty darn near new performance.  The only way I can tell you how impressed I am is to simply say "I AM impressed".  So, Thank You.


At no time during that week, did your software give me any idea of a failing hard drive.  I did mention that I had seen the rotating blue circle more than I though I should.  However, whenever I asked for it, Windows had never failed to run ckdsk successfully and send me off for another day in the digital sandbox. 


Until today, that is.


This morning I went through the entire rig-a-marole that comes along with Windows trying to alert me to the fact that the death of my hard drive is just seconds away. It was very hard to follow, especially since a person would tend to be a little bit anxious at that moment anyway.  I made the decision that since the old lap top didn't have much on it that I couldn't live without, I made a quick DVD with my good stuff and decided to let the issue play itself out and see what happens.  The blue indicator light that shows HD activity is blinking away just like it always did. I see nothing at all, but, from time to time, even my typing slows down.  But, then it speeds right back up and, so far, so good.  The HP is clicking along like a warm spoon in a bucket of strawberry ripple.


So, I would like to ask you help with two things that might show this problem to be what it really is.


First, at some time in the past, before I put this laptop into retirement, I did some HD clean up.  I removed a lot of stuff.  It looks now like one of the things I removed is something that windows wants to run during bootup.  At every boot up I get this message ... "  *** ".  I am sure that I removed this by mistake.  So, the first question is, "How do I put it back?"


Second, at the moment the only access I have to the Internet is wireless.  I have ATT Universe service that is supposed to be 6 mbs and the only outlet in the entire apartment is behind the desk in another room.  I have this lap top in the kitchen operating off the modem that ATT provided.  Is there any possibility that an irregular signal or an irregular modem/router would effect the computer enough to see the spinning blue wheel or provoke the HD problem routine from Windows. 


While I am thinking about it, could it be a virus that is mimicking a Windows message trying to trick me into thinking I need to buy something?


I am going to post this, and then run both the Quickie and the Full Boat fixes and I will let you know what happens.


Thanks all ...


John Washbush
Bloomington, Indiana








40
General Computer Support / Re: Greetings Everyone ...
« on: February 26, 2014, 04:34:12 pm »
Just a quick reply ... I am very pleased to join the group.  I do like your work very much.  I am starting to use the Cloud more and more so my HD will have less and less on it as time goes by.  Is it silly to think that I could move all the files, etc., off this HD and run it with only the OS on it?  I just checked and I have 90 processes and 90 services running. 53% of memory. No wonder it's slow.  That is with only one program running but that is Chrome.  The bad news is that I haven't a clue what most of those process and service things are!  I have never paid any attention to them before now.  As I look at them, I have nothing but questions and most of them are "What the heck is that?"

For a long, long time this computer would boot up in an acceptable amount of time but it took 20 minutes to shut down.  I would go nuts every time I saw "reboot and this will run during start up." I fiddled and somehow managed to get it almost back to normal, about a minute or two.

I am an old retured guy and now I live alone.  I have a nice MacPro in the other room but I don't want to forget what I know about Windows.  After my wife died, I moved into a Senior Citizen apartment and I am the official computer fixer for our little piece of heaven here but I don't get involved in mechanical repairs other then very simple things.  I intend to take both your Simple and Full and put them on a jump drive and cut down on the time I spend playing with someone elses computer.  The Seniors here where I live are not well off, and they live very simply.  But, this past Christmas found many families chipping in to get Grandma her first computer or maybe a tablet.  So, it looks like I may have a full time job that will earn as much for me as yours does for you! 

Thanks for your care.  I am really looking forward to learning as much as I can about this entire subject.

John 

41
General Computer Support / Greetings Everyone ...
« on: February 26, 2014, 09:40:01 am »

Greetings Everyone ...

I may be the newest newby onboard.  I did the installation yesterday, ran it for the first time last night, and followed up with a second full run this morning.  Absolutely no problems at all.  I am sure that I will have lots of questions as I go along, but, as of now, the OK ... that's Old Klunker ... seems to be noticably more perky at the moment.  So, thank you for that.  The OK is a seven year old HP Presario 2400us laptop with 2GB of memory.  Otherwise, it is as it came out of the box, except for software.  Even though I am supposed to have lots and lots of problems, I seem to be successfull (in my opinion) running Windows 7 Home.  The OK is at the end of a wireless connection, and the only real complaint I have has to do with streaming video.  I have the start/stop, jerky, stand still and balk problems.  Try and watch an auto race under those conditions.  The Olympics were impossible. My hopes are that by tweaking as much as I can, I will be able to reduce that to bare minimum.  Also, I seem to be getting the BCF (Blue Circle of Frustration) much too often, and recently for a longer amount of time, in addition to the fact that it seems to want to run as slow as molassis off and on.  If I can clear up some of these issues and keep it usable but less annoying, it will save me the cost of another unit, which, when the time comes, might just be an iPad. 


I'd like to hear from anyone near Bloomington, Indiana. 


Keep up the excellent work.  I am very impressed so far.  The GIU is terriffic.


John


Oh, I can tell already, I am going to learn to hate that Verification Nonsense very quickly.   :-\

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