Messages

176

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: October 13, 2015, 09:50:13 am »

Hi Rick,

Thanks so much for responding. I am VERY cautious, that's why I was asking for consent from the forum.

As the changes will apply to disks D: and E: and I have all Windows operating files on C:, my logical thought was that nothing could hamper the operating system. On D: are my personal files and on E: my music files.

Do you still think it's dangerous? And do I understand correctly that you're suggesting a total re-installation? That's a LOT of work. :-S  I could also do nothing at all. The desktop PC is functioning fine. I still don't know what the downsides of dynamic discs are.

What do you think?

Kind regards,
Lady

177

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: October 13, 2015, 02:23:56 am »

Hi Shane,

I TOTALLY understand about fried brains. I had to distance myself from repairing my PCs for a while just now. Have cooled off again. Hope you have too.

I still would like to change the partitions to standard. I reread my posts and most questions are still valid for me, so if you would like to take the time to answer them, I'd be very pleased.

I got so confused about the volume on C:. I understand better now. When taking volume off of C: I had forgotten about the SSD part there and just happily went along, hahaha. Then when I remembered about the SSD I got scared I did something wrong and got totally confused. Then finally I thought about the Gibibyte thing. And I found this about an SSD of 128 Gb (as I have):

There have been some comments regarding the fact that this phenomenon has to be explained with the discrepancy between advertised space, stated in GigaBytes (e.g. 128x 10^9 Bytes) versus the GibiByte value the operating system shows, which is—most of the time—a power of two, calculating to 119.2 Gibibyte in this example. (...) While I certainly can’t state which exact algorithms need most of that extra space, the calculation stays the same. The manufacturer assembles an SSD that indeed uses a power of two number of flash cells (or a combination of such), though the controller does not make all that space visible to the operating system. The space that’s left is advertised as Gigabytes, netting you 111 Gibibyte in this example. (from: http://superuser.com/questions/747244/why-do-ssds-have-weird-sizes)

He mentions 111 Gibibyte!! That may mean that my PC itself indicated the 111 Gb as the lowest possible size I could play it down to. I don't remember as it's been a while. If this is true then my C: now is only comprised of the SSD. Would this be correct, Shane? Then I have no problem there at all. Pffff. Thank God the PC was smarter than me. This time then. Hahaha.

Please take your time with this. It has no real priority, although I'd like to get the desktop in perfect shape as well. Good news: my laptop is just SHINING from being so healthy!  With a LOT of thanks to Boggin!

178

General Computer Support / Re: (Solved) Problems with Lenovo bloatware

« on: September 25, 2015, 11:47:24 am »

Well, to each his own!

I know a lot of people, and I don't mean to include your son and daughter in law, don't feel like putting in all this effort and don't really care about their privacy issues or the risk of getting infected and so on. But Superfish and the Lenovo Search Engine were seriously bad, so it might be a good thing if they checked and removed at least those.

And, don't forget, if I had a father like you standing right behind me, I'd be REALLY laid-back about my computers!! Hahahaha

179

General Computer Support / Re: (Solved) Problems with Lenovo bloatware

« on: September 25, 2015, 05:36:30 am »

Both Lenovo programs are not in msconfig Services or Start-up. I did find in Services: Lenovo WiFiHotspot Service. Is that okay? Doesn't Windows have its own WiFi connection program? I don't know anything about WiFi and laptops. At home I use LAN-cables (much safer ). If I'd take my laptop with me on an Expotition I wouldn't even know how to connect to a WiFi spot but I'll see about that when I get there. So I'll just leave those last Lenovo programs alone. Thanks, Boggin, for the advice! Do you realize we're REALLY done now with all the Lenovo crap and how much effort that took? Shame on them. 

I didn't give you that last karma point. If I remember correctly I gave you the karma point that made 21.

Now I'll defragment the discs (I use O&O Defrag Free) and do all the cleaning/virus scans/malware scans and the sfc /scannow again.

Is it okay if I send you a personal message? I'll explain why in it.

180

General Computer Support / Re: (Solved) Problems with Lenovo bloatware

« on: September 22, 2015, 08:01:03 am »

I downloaded IOBit. With a new pc I'll use your trick with Revo Pro. 

Your link to the Superfish uninstaller was wonderful! Thank you. Although I have Classic Shell installed and couldn't find the certificate manager, I found it thru typing certmgr.msc into the Search box (Googled that). I did the manual instruction. Superfish wasn't found as an application anymore, nor in the certificates for Windows, Firefox and Thunderbird. Good news!

Their last line was: "NOTE: There are benign additional files and registry entries which will remain after this procedure. Although they are harmless, the Superfish Removal Tool will remove them." So I did the automatic Removal Tool after all and, guess what, it did remove some registry entries! Yoohoo! I'm happy now.

My VERY last actions regarding the Lenovo crap will be these:

I want to remove two remaining Lenovo files in Program Files (x86) that are only visible in Explorer: the IMController and the MetricCollection one. But IOBit doesn't see them nor Programs and Features. Can I just remove them? See screenshot. "Bestandsmap" means "File directory". This is what I finally found out about them. Not very clear to me, but I think they can go.

MController: Optimize your day-to-day detailed planning using short-term simulations based on current order data.

policy.1.0.lenovo.metriccollectionsdk35.dll file information:

This file is part of unknown product process designed by unknown company, This file not necessary for your system, Keep this file running unless you suspected that this file cause problems to your system

Then the last two programs that I'm still not sure about whether they can or should go: the two driver packages. See screenshot.
They are not spotted by IOBit but are in Programs and Features, so I can delete them there. If you say so. 

I'm soooooo glad these are my last actions with the Lenovo crap! Afterwards I'll make a new SIB. And I'll try to get clean OS disks of W8.1 from Lenovo Netherlands. Who knows? We Dutch have a saying that goes: if you don't shoot, you'll always miss. 

181

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: September 22, 2015, 12:20:41 am »

My dear guys, I'd like to say this.

Over the last few days I realized that the more I read about IT stuff and the deeper I dig into my PCs, the more questions I have, simply because I only have a very limited knowledge. It's not a good thing, it's becoming too much for me now. I feel I'm getting overwhelmed. There's always something new, you know. Although I find it highly interesting, it takes up too much of my time and energy and now of my well-being.

Forget about my last post. I guess it's all alright, otherwise my desktop would not be functioning, right? LOL

If someone can approve of my plan to fix the partitions, then that will be one major problem less. Please give me some reassurance I can do this. Such an Expotition is serious business, you know. 

182

General Computer Support / Re: (Solved) Problems with Lenovo bloatware

« on: September 21, 2015, 04:14:48 am »

Boggin, I just now understood your trick of using Revo Pro over and over again for free. Could I in some way get the trial verson again without them knowing who I am? I threw the download away and cannot use Revo Pro without buying the licence. You mentioned using IOBit Uninstaller but when I clicked on the link you gave me earlier in this thread, MBAM blocked a malicious website (www.reimageplus.com). I thought MajorGeeks were clean? Can I still download the IOBit? I'd prefer to have Revo Pro though, 'cause I'm used to it and am very tired now of trying to find out how a new programme works. Hope you understand.

Then: I just checked to see if I got an answer on the Lenovo forum on the Search Engine. Nothing. But I clicked on a related article about Superfish and got a bit scared reading thru the comments. Apparently you can uninstall Superfish but it leaves hackable traces in the root certificates (?) and the registry. How do I know I still have those? If you read through the comments, people are pleading for clean OS disks. The last comment on page 2 by Fuzzilla is interesting but I'm not fully understanding all that is being said. Could you take a look and see if there's anything I should or could do to further secure my Lenovo laptop? And maybe get a clean recovery install set?? To refresh your memory: Superfish had been detected and removed by both MBAM and BullGuard the minute I opened up the laptop. 

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z-series/Removal-Instructions-for-VisualDiscovery-Superfish-application/ta-p/2029206/show-comments/true

183

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: September 20, 2015, 11:42:45 pm »

Guys, I just found out something which might pose more problems with the partitions.

In my desktop pc I have a 128 Gb SSD and a 2 Tb internal HD. The pc shop had made the partitions C:, D: and E:. You know, the dynamic discs. BTW, I spoke to the head of the tech dept. and he admitted there must have been made a mistake during installation. He said: "just change them back to standard discs, it's easy". Okay, the words "just" and "easy" I would not use.... 

Two things (in my Obama voice which sounds nothing like him): 

Recently I changed the volumes of the partitions around. I needed some more space on D: and E: and took that off of C:. I don't remember its volume before I decreased it. Still left quite enough on C: (capacity now 111 Gb, unused 46 Gb). Then somebody told me to not defragment C: as it was the SSD. I use Wise Disk Cleaner and have done the defragmentation of C:, D:, E:, F: and G, the last two being my two external HDs. Yesterday I downloaded O&O Defrag and that did give a warning message to not defrag C: as it was the SSD.

Question 1: did I make a mistake by defragmenting C: with Wise Disk Cleaner?

Question 2: isn't it true that it's impossible to move flash memory to D: and E: on the HD, as that is a different type of memory? So where did that go? And shouldn't I change it back to its original size of 128 Gb and stay clear of this whole SSD?

But......it gets even better (or worse): I don't remember the exact volumes before I changed them. But the weird thing is that I added at least 200 Gb to E: for my music files as E: tended to get filled up. The same with D:. I didn't just add a couple of Gbs to it, also more like 100 Gb. I do remember a large overcapacity of C:. And from 128 (SSD size) tot 111 Gb is only 17 Gb. That would mean that C: wasn't just comprised of the SSD alone but of HD memory too. Is that possible and normal?

Even weirder, but maybe an ignorant observation on my part: if you look at what data Speccy gives under Storage, the Kingston SSD: "speed: not used". To me that doesn't sound good, but maybe this is perfectly fine. Is it?

Speccy mentions the disk letters C: and F: and G: but not D: and E:. Is that normal?

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/ozuNekRLhA5gqgBTV1w61d1

These Speccy things might not be a problem at all. My main concern is the defragmentation and decreasing of volume of C: that I did and its possible impact on the SSD.

184

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: September 20, 2015, 05:14:22 am »

Can somebody approve my Partition Expotition Plan, so I won't get lost in the Hundred Terabyte Wood? 

185

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: September 19, 2015, 01:35:39 am »

Thanks, Shane! 

Only positive karma from now on! 

186

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: September 18, 2015, 04:55:53 am »

Okay, starting out on my second Partition Expotition! 

This is what I am going to do.

In Minitool I will delete the volumes of D: and E:. (All data are backed-up.) Then I will use the option Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic.  Then I must get the two parts of E: glued together again somehow. And finally I'll put the data back on.

Does that sound right to you guys?

I guess a system restore point is of no use here?

Interesting question: why doesn't my SSD-drive of 128 Gb show in Minitools with all the other HDs?

187

General Computer Support / Re: (Solved) Problems with Lenovo bloatware

« on: September 17, 2015, 04:25:16 pm »

I just did.....

You guys are SO SWEET!!!

<3<3<3

188

General Computer Support / Re: (Solved) Problems with Lenovo bloatware

« on: September 17, 2015, 04:07:28 pm »

Yeah, I just saw the one point!!! But now I have two!!! I don't know how I get those. Is that for working so arduously on my computers? ))

If I continue like this, I'll be joining you guys in answering questions, hahahahaha.

No, I'm not trying out the cables. Have so much on my plate right now. The partition thing is really BIG. Did you read my post about that? You're a Brit, you might have laughed out loud about the joke I just made there about my Partition Adventure! 

189

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: September 17, 2015, 03:21:03 pm »

[Second post]

Hey! I got one karma point!!! My first! Yoohooo!

Errr.....how exactly did I get that?

190

General Computer Support / Re: (Solved) Problems with Lenovo bloatware

« on: September 17, 2015, 03:09:24 pm »

Alright, no problem then.

I'm working on the partitions first because if that ends in a total crash, then I don't have to worry about a WR and scans/repairs etc.!

Hahahaha

Still laughing now.........

191

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: September 17, 2015, 03:02:03 pm »

Before you put your energy in explaining your suggestion, let me try to get in touch with the head of the tech dept of my pc shop where I bought the custom-made desktop pc. I asked them to partition the internal HDD into C:, D: and E:. I'll ask him why they did that. I have no idea what your suggestion is like, sounds pretty far-out to me (sorry), but I prefer to get it all back to 3 basic partitions.

I always have all my data of D: and E: backed up at least twice, so nothing to worry there. So if deleting E: means interference with D:, that's okay, because D:'s volume has to be deleted as well for it to be turned into a basic disk too. So my idea was to delete both volumes of D: and E: and change them back into basis disks and add the data again. Wouldn't that work?

Actually, the longer I'm on this Partition Adventure (or Partition Expotition as Winnie the Pooh would have said, hahaha), the more I think it's gonna be a breeze.  What's the worst that could happen? A total crash? C: won't be touched, so......Or am I being overconfident? 

And I still don't know what's so bad about having dynamic disks. All I read was that advanced users could do more things with them.

192

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: September 17, 2015, 01:35:37 am »

Julian, can you give me the green light to what I suggested? It's rather a scary thing to do, you know.

Maybe I should use Minitool instead of Windows Disk Management?

193

General Computer Support / Re: (Solved) Problems with Lenovo bloatware

« on: September 16, 2015, 02:40:36 pm »

Boggie,    you gotta stay with it! We're still working on the desktop pc now. With Windows 7. The laptop (W8.1) is all done! It's the scanning and repairing you showed me after I did WR on the laptop that gave me the idea to do the same with the desktop. Since I had so much trouble with it in the beginning. Maybe we can fix it to a tee now.  And after that, I'm ALLLLLLL done! And I'm going to enjoy the pc and the laptop for fun and regular things ONLY!!   

Oh, apart from the partition problem I'm having. [See my other topic.]

Oh yeah, I remember the button in WR now. I think I used it and it was easy. I'm just always scared to get it back into normal mode again but if I remember well, the pc returns to normal mode after reboot by itself, right?

The hub's USB cable is replaceable. Does that make it less reliable? I have two hubs. Both with replaceable cables, one with power chord.

194

General Computer Support / Re: (Solved) Problems with Lenovo bloatware

« on: September 16, 2015, 11:04:22 am »

BTW: I said it wrong: the portable HDD is 1 Tb, not 500 Gb. I forgot. :S  But it contains all backup data from the laptop, the biggest being my music file of over 400 Gb. That's why I was worried about all these Gbs of a SIB. But with 1 Tb it's no problem.

So it seemed the SIB on the portable HDD had failed. I got a hunch. [Hey, I'm a woman. ] I removed the SIB that was on the portable (there were files missing and the volume of the HDD didn't increase after removing it, so it had failed). With the first attempt I had connected the HDD to my desktop via a USB hub and I have had trouble with transferring data via one of my hubs before, so I decided to disconnect one of my Big Boys HDDs which are both directly on a 3.0 USB port and I put the portable on that port. Closed all applications and tried again. It was done in no time and the volume decreased with 53 Gb. Only the MediaId file contains 4 Kb, the rest 0 Kb. So it worked! Not sure why it didn't work in the first place as it should have worked with the 512 sector. Didn't want to do any fix with my beautiful little blue HDD either.  We solved another issue!! Hurray for us!

So..............big sigh...................let's continue, dear Boggin. This is where we left off. Is this the correct way to go about it? If so, please remind me how to do the safe mode again. I can look it up but my eyes are squared now. :S

But I feel it's time to do some cleaning again. Would you mind helping me out again?

So the first step should be doing a Windows Repair All In One, right? I run all kinds of scans regularly, like MBAM and my BullGuard Antivirus programme, and ESET Online scanner, so there is no malware to be seen in miles around!! Or do you have any other suggestions to do first?

The Repair All In One should be run in Safe Mode if I remember correctly. I'm always scared of doing that, but I think I'll just pull myself through it again. :S

195

General Computer Support / Re: (Solved) Problems with Lenovo bloatware

« on: September 16, 2015, 06:43:02 am »

My desktop OS is Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1, 64 bits.

My external HDDs, both Seagate 2 Tb, were bought in August 2014 and February 2015 and are permanently connected to my desktop pc and have been performing flawlessly since they were attached. I use them daily for backing up files manually.

I read the article and ran the command for each HDD and they both have a 4K sector size, both physical and logical, so they're 4K native. I don't understand much of all kinds of related articles I read but I gather there is no solution if they're 4K native, only if they have a 4K logical and a 512-byte physical sector (Advanced Format). I looked on the Seagate site but they just say: use software that is 4K-aware.....which for the backup programmes is Windows 8 (my laptop has W8, indeed no problem with the SIB). I tried to make a SIB on my 500 Gb Seagate portable HD that I have for my laptop, but that didn't work either, although this HD has 4K physical sectors and a 512 logical sector (error code there was 0x80070015, searched on that code but nothing.) I guess I have to use the fix that is available for the Advanced Format HDDs, but I don't really want to use the small HDD for this SIB, it takes up more than 66 Gb.

Do you still follow me? 

So, I wasted a lot of hours reading difficult stuff and as far as I know now, this cannot be solved. Seagate points at Microsoft and Microsoft only made a fix for the Advanced Format HDDs. Western Digital seems to have made a fix for their 4K native HDDs......

I hope this is all correct what I'm stating. Well, I suppose I can live without the desktop SIB. :S  (See how often this smiley comes in handy, hahaha. The emoticon for "confused" looks the part, but it shouldn't be meaning confused, it's more like: oh, bummer.)  In case of a total crash, I just re-install the old-fashioned way.

Or can you come up with any ideas, Boggin?

196

General Computer Support / Re: (Solved) Problems with Lenovo bloatware

« on: September 14, 2015, 10:39:08 pm »

Second post:

To be clear: i'm now trying to make a SIB of my desktop pc.

I get an error message indicating there's something wrong with the I/O devices. See attachment. It's in Dutch, I'll translate:

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Making a system image backup

The backup failed.

One of the backup files cannot be made (0x8078002A)

Additional info:
The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error (0x8007045D)

-----------------------------------------------------------------


The backup failed for both my external HDDs with the same error message. I looked up the codes and different solutions are being given, like chkdsk for the external HDDs, but I don't understand. These HDDs are fairly new.

My intuitive feeling is that I first should do an overhaul of my desktop pc like I did with my laptop, remember? I wanted to do that after I cleaned my laptop as I have been feeling for a while that the desktop is not functioning properly anymore.  FYI: after I bought this desktop I had MAJOR problems with bluescreens and all kinds of nasty stuff. That's how I came here. Somebody told me to do a Windows Repair. And after a year of trying everything in the book on another forum and I was near a meltdown again as you can imagine, everything was solved after the Repair. I mean, Shane is my HERO now!

But I feel it's time to do some cleaning again. Would you mind helping me out again?

So the first step should be doing a Windows Repair All In One, right? I run all kinds of scans regularly, like MBAM and my BullGuard Antivirus programme, and ESET Online scanner, so there is no malware to be seen in miles around!! Or do you have any other suggestions to do first?

The Repair All In One should be run in Safe Mode if I remember correctly. I'm always scared of doing that, but I think I'll just pull myself through it again. :S

197

General Computer Support / Re: (Solved) Problems with Lenovo bloatware

« on: September 14, 2015, 10:00:34 pm »

Thank you, that was very informative. 

Yes, I did that with Revo Uninstaller Pro until this friend of mine, the head of the tech dept. of my pc shop, told me to use the portable version which was freeware. But then I got into trouble as I didn't know that version only finds the 32-bits programs as you told me. So back to the naughty routine. 

I thought we were finished, Boggin, but now I just found out I cannot make SIBs of my desktop pc. I'll make a new topic.

THANK YOU for all your help with this thread!!! <3

198

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: September 14, 2015, 09:54:30 pm »

Alright Julian, that post of yours is just all Chinese to me.....

I read some about dynamic and basic disks but couldn't find what is actually the problem or risk of having dynamic disks. Can you tell me?

I have a bit of a problem with asking my friend, the head of the tech dept of my pc shop, to fix this because sometimes I get doubts about his expertise. I showed HIM a few tricks or solved something he couldn't. Minor stuff, of course, but still... I'm gonna test him with this new knowledge I have about the disks.    Just to say I'd rather do this myself. With you guys.

I found this piece of info. Do you think I could work with that? Because there are special programs for it but I read people having problems with them.

From:  http://incisiveradar.com/how-to-convert-dynamic-disk-to-basic-disk/


Converting Dynamic disks to Basic Disks in Windows:

Before converting the dynamic disks into basic disks in Windows, I would recommend you to create a recovery media of your operating system and move the other important files into an external hard drive. Once you are ready, you can use the following steps to convert dynamic disks to basic disks.

Step 1: Open the Run dialog box by using the hot key combination Windows Logo Key + R

Step 2: In the Run dialog box type in diskmgmt.msc and hit enter.

Step 3: Now in the Disk Management window look for the dynamic disk you want to convert into a basic disk.

Step 4: Right click on each volume of the corresponding dynamic disk and click Delete Volume for each volume on the disk.

Step 5: When you have completed deleting all the volumes, right click on those disks and select Convert to Basic Disk.


 
Since my E: only contains music files I assume I don't run a real risk of getting into problems systemwise. Is that correct? It would be similar to making a new partition, wouldn't it? Just back up the files (which I already have, twice, on my 2 external HDDs), delete the volume, convert them to basic disks, paste the two E: disks together with Minitool and put the files back.

Piece of cake or what? 

199

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: September 13, 2015, 06:38:25 pm »

Julian, did you see my post before my last?

I just got an idea. I'm attaching two screenshots from the Windows Disk Management, which is in black and white mostly. It's in Dutch, so you have to be a little creative, haha. "Schijf" means Disk.

The only colors I see are on Disk 0, which is an olive-green, meaning basic volume (?, translating).
And Disk 1 and 6 and 7 are dark-blue, meaning primary partition.

Is that helpful?

200

General Computer Support / Re: Managing partitions of the internal HD

« on: September 13, 2015, 06:00:47 pm »

Hey, I just noticed I'm not a newbie anymore but a Jr. Member!!! I'm higher up the ladder. That's similar to earning karma points.

But I fooled you, guys. I'm just asking a LOT of questions. Hahaha.