Windows windows

A couple of handy little things that make handling windows easier in Windows 10. I use multiple screens quite often and it's handy to be able to switch applications between one screen and another. Try this:

Make sure the window you want to move has the focus, ie click the mouse in it anywhere. Then hold down the Windows key and use the arrow keys to move the window around. Right and left arrows move it to right, left and middle of the screen, and across to the next screen if there is one. Up arrow maximizes. Down arrow restores or minimizes.

Next - if there is a particular size or placement that you want an application to adopt when it opens, get it how you want it, and then close it with the X button, whilst holding down the CTRL key. Next time you open that application, magic! It will be in the same place and the same size as last time.

Microsoft Office - Old Versions

Many of us don't need any new fancy features in our Office programs, and are happy to keep using older versions. But everyone should be aware that there are security risks attached to older unsupported versions of Office. Support for Office 2007 ended in 2017 - this means that it no longer receives security updates. Using Office 2007, you are now vulnerable. Today I received an email from my bank, relating to my incoming BACs documents. Except it wasn't really from my bank, it was just made to look like that. And there was a Word document attachment. Not good - standard antivirus software doesn't protect me from attacks such as this, and there are known vulnerabilities in Office 2007 that this attachment can exploit.

Configuring an access point

I recently bought a lovely new network access point for someone. It worked straight out of the box. Except that the wifi signal that it produced was unsecured. The instructions stated that the default state would be a secured network (which it wasn't) and that the SSID and passphrase would be printed on the label (they weren't). And that I could log in to change settings by typing the default IP address into my web browser (this didn't work). Here is what I had to do to gain access and get the wifi encryption turned on:

1. Disconnect the access point from my router
2. Connect a PC to it, but have the PC disconnected from my network
3. Go into the network settings of this PC.
4. Change the IPV4 settings from automatic to "Use the following IP address" and set the IP address to an IP address within the same subnet as the default IP address of the access point. Change the default gateway and preferred DNS server to the same.
5. Connect to the access point by putting its default IP address into the address bar of a web browser.
6. Log in using the default username and password.
7. Set the access point's IP address to an unused one which is within the subnet of my home network.
8. Set the default gateway to point to my router,
9. Set the preferred DNS server to point to my router.
10. Set the alternate DNS server to 8.8.8.8.
11. In the wifi section, turn on encryption and set a password for both frequencies.
12. Save the changes and log out.
13. Connect the access point back to my network.
14. Log into the access point using its altered IP address.
15. Change the username and password for the access point.

Help! Wifi has stopped working

Everything was OK until Wednesday. Now I have lost my wifi connection!!

This story has been repeated many times this week. Luckily you can fix it quite easily.

1. Open the device manager (in Windows 10, you do this by right-clicking on the Start button and selecting Device Manager. In Windows 7,  click the start button type "dev" the search box, then select Device Manager).

2. Click the small triangle next to "Network adapters" and then find the wireless adapter in the list.

3. Right-click on it and select "Uninstall".

4. Restart the PC.

5. After restarting, the go to the wifi symbol near the clock, select your wireless network, and connect using the password.

XCOPY bug

I have used XCOPY as a command line tool to back up machines that won't boot. A Windows 10 machine will give you access to a command window where you can copy any files you need to keep to a USB drive.

But I have been getting "Out of memory" errors, which then cause the copy operation to crash. The message is misleading - all it means is that the copying has come across a source filename which is too long (more that 128 characters).

The simplest solution is just to use ROBOCOPY with a syntax like:

ROBOCOPY /E C:\users\user\Documents G:\backups\person\Documents

If you want to copy a single file, name it:

ROBOCOPY C:\Windows\System32\Config\ G:\backups\person\ SOFTWARE

Windows Tablet - Forgotten Password

I did the classic thing - set up my new Windows 10 tablet with a local password and then promptly forgot it! After trying a few hundred random passwords I set about hacking back in. The business with booting from a separate copy of Windows 10 is required because a normal Windows reset or access to the command prompt on booting requires knowing the user password.

1. Plug a USB hub into the USB port
2. Plug in a keyboard and mouse
3. Plug in a bootable memory stick with Windows 10 on it
4. Hold down the Shift key whilst clicking Reboot
5. Select Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> UEFI Firmware Settings, then Restart
6. Use the keyboard to navigate to Security -> Secure boot menu and turn off secure boot, then Save and Exit
7. After reboot, hold down the Shift key whilst clicking Reboot
8. Choose Use a Device -> UEFI:Removable Device and select the memory stick
9. In the Windows 10 install dialogue, select Repair your computer
10. Click Troubleshoot -> Advanced Options -> Command prompt
11. In C:\Windows\System32 rename utilman.exe to utilman.bak
12. Rename copy cmd.exe to utilman.exe
13. Reboot and click the Utility Manager icon on the login screen
14. In the command window, reset the password (net user <username> <password>)
15. Test the login
16. Repeat steps 3-6 and reset the filenames in C:\Windows\System32 (delete utilman.exe, copy utilman.bak to utilman.exe)
17. Make a note of the password!!

Windows 10 Activation

Once activated for the first time, Microsoft databases relate the copy of Windows to your computer's hardware. That means that, if you reinstall the PC, it should remember the association and automatically reactivate Windows for you. It usually does just that. But not always...

I did a "reset" on a PC that was not behaving very well. Resetting the PC replaces all the Windows files and it should activate itself automatically afterwards. Being cautious, I extracted the Windows product key and stored it - just in case.

1. After the reset, Windows was NOT activated.
2. I typed in the key that I had saved - activation failed.
3. I ran "slui.exe 4" which instigates phone activation.
4. I phoned the Microsoft number provided and went through the weird and long-winded process of phone activation - a robot commands you to input 9 6-digit numbers from your computer screen, and then gives you back 8 numbers to type in before submitting this to activate Windows - it failed.
5. The robot then offered to connect a Microsoft technician, and after a bit of a wait, I got someone whose English was not too great on the phone.
6. She tried to do phone activation on my behalf, asking for the 54 digits again. It failed.
7. She then offered to connect me to a Microsoft Technical Team member - but the call failed.
8. A repeat of the long-winded phone activation led me to being offered a Microsoft technician again.
9. The second technician also tried phone activation for me, and again it failed.
10. He then offered to connect me to a Microsoft Technical team member. The phone was on hold for many minutes but eventually someone answered.
11. This technician tried phone activation for me (for the fifth time) but when it failed he offered to remote control my PC and look at the problem.
12. I had to provide personal details - I suppose to put off anyone who was trying it on - which included full name, postal address and email address.
13. He then ran slmgr.vbs - a license management utility - with various arguments, to clean out the existing license, and then used it again to install a new license key and activate it.
14. Two hours later - bingo!! An activated copy of Windows 10!

The NickWorks Reversible Computer

When a computer is used to carry out calculations, energy is consumed. That’s why a desktop PC, a laptop or a tablet computer all require a power source – either a mains power supply or a battery.

But what is less well-known is that the entire process can be reversed. By carrying out sufficiently complex calculations, power can be generated at the CPU and harnessed to power an external device. For normal calculations, the amount of power generated is too small to measure, but NickWorks technologists have found ways to present increasingly demanding calculations which in turn have yielded significant amounts of power.

In the NickWorks demonstration below, a normal mains voltage desk lamp is powered directly from a computer’s CPU. This was achieved by presenting the machine with a particularly taxing prime-number calculation, visible on the screen.

Help! My Windows PC keeps shutting down!

There are a few things you should rule out:

1) Overheating.

Install the open hardware monitor from http://openhardwaremonitor.org/downloads/ and run the .exe file. It will monitor the CPU temperature – check that it’s not high (less than 70C  is OK).

Open the computer case and physically clean out all dust, concentrating on fans, grills and heatsink. Replace and re-check temperatures. It’s surprising how often this can make a difference.

Stress test the PC whilst monitoring CPU temperatures. Play a demanding game – or run the Prime95 torture test from http://www.mersenne.org/download/ - see if that causes any overheating problems.

2) Memory fault

Check the memory (run msched.exe).

3) Driver problems

Look at the the crash dump record (it’s easiest to use a Blue Screen Viewer eg http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html)

This will give a clue as to the cause of the crashes – it might be a driver problem, which may be resolvable be reloading a device driver.

Windows 10 installation

Windows 10 became available yesterday. Here are some notes on the NickWorks findings so far:

(1) As a free upgrade to most editions of Windows 7 and 8, Windows 10 does not have an expiry date set (unlike all previous versions of Windows, which all had a defined life-cycle, forcing users to upgrade to later editions). This is seen as a GOOD THING.

(2) Most versions of Windows 10 have Windows update enforced. You can't opt out of updates, or turn particular updates off. This is seen as a BAD THING for 2 reasons
  (a) If an update causes problems on a particular system, there is no way to stop it being applied.
  (b) In future Microsoft could look at charging for parts of their service and users might have no way to keep Windows working without paying.

(3) Installation of Windows 10 is not difficult - it is an upgrade to Windows 7 or 8 only, and you need to start from a licensed working machine with an eligible copy of Windows on it. Your programs (which you now have to call "apps") and your personal data are preserved by default.

 Most eligible users are being offered Windows 10 through a forced update which is placed in their system tray. Clicking on this allows you to start the update process - or check that your PC has suitable specification, and see which of your apps will be compatible.

(4) It is still possible to start the install without this, by visiting https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 - but you only need to read on if you did not get the automatic update offer.

There are two media creation tools available, 32 and 64 bit, so check your PCs architecture (to do this type "msinfo32" into the Run box and look at the entry "System type". x64 means a 64 bit system...X86 means 32 bit).

When you download and run the media creation tool, it allows you to choose whether to upgrade the current PC (in which case you don't have to tell it more about the system) - or to create the media for upgrading a different PC. If you choose the second option, you then have to tell it what options you want: Language, Windows 10 edition, and architecture (32 bit, 64 bit or both). The likely edition choices are Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro...the Pro version is for users upgrading from Pro and Ultimate editions of Windows 7 or 8. The "N" versions have no media player etc included.

 If you are downloading for the upgrade of a different machine, you get the choice of "ISO file" or "USB flash drive". If you choose "ISO file" it will download the Windows 10 installer and save it as a .iso file which you would then have to burn to DVD, then using this bootable DVD as your install medium. If you choose "USB" it will require you to plug in a USB drive with at least 3GB free and any old content will be erased. You can then use this drive as your install medium by booting the target PC from it.

 If you have chosen the "easy way" and run the media creation tool on the target PC, it will move on from downloading Windows 10 to doing the install. There is a choice of "what to keep" - the default is to keep personal data and apps. There may be a warning about the display language being reset.  It then checks that there is enough disk space - and off it goes - my test took 40 minutes to do the upgrade after downloading finished.


 

Website forwarding down

Fasthosts inform me that all users who have BT or Virgin as their service providers will fail to see sites that have been forwarded using the Fasthosts website forwarding service. This means that a number of sites that I manage are suffering. They can all be accessed by going directly to the address where they are hosted.

nickbarber.net -> http://nickworksremote.wix.com/nick
azzurrostringquartet.co.uk -> http://nickworksremote.wix.com/azzurro
deborah-allon.co.uk -> http://debswebs.byethost16.com/index.html
englishrebellion.org.uk -> http://www.englishrebellion.co.uk/
louiselathamstrings.org -> https://sites.google.com/site/stringcourses/
malcolm-allison.co.uk ->  https://sites.google.com/site/malcolmallisonviolin/
reclaimedyorkflags.co.uk -> https://sites.google.com/site/dovestonesreclamation/home

Web promotions - a great way to get a good deal??

We are told that the internet has opened up wonderful new ways of shopping. At the touch of a button we can source our product, compare all the deals, and pick a good one. So when I saw a promotion from an online printing company for "Club Promoter Packs" I thought something good was heading our way.

In the running of small clubs, orchestras etc we often want to promote an event by creating a set of flyers, posters etc all bearing the same image but in different sizes. The "Promoter Pack" offered 1000 A6 flyers, 10 A4 posters and 5 A3 posters. Perfect! Except we would like a package that uses A5 flyers, not A6.

No problem, we will google "Club Promoter Pack" and see who else has a similar product. The search produces a list of around 40 different printers ALL OFFERING EXACTLY THE SAME PACKAGES. They haven't even bothered to write their own text. All say "we don't farm out our print to other companies" and "some of the most competitive lithographic prices in the UK!" ...but as all are offering exactly the same wares and options, I rather think the printing is also coming from one source.

So there's your wonderful range of choice offered by the web.

Drivers

If you have ever reinstalled a Windows PC you will know the scenario. Windows is installed, but certain devices aren't working yet because you can't find the right drivers for them.

First, look in the Device Manager and find the device which is not installed. Right-click on this, and select Properties, then Details. The "Hardware Ids" will allow you to establish the Vendor code (VEN_) and the Device code (DEV_).

Look these up in www.pcidatabase.com and you will find out the manufacturer and device names.

Go to the manufacturer's website and search for the driver for the device that you located above - remembering that it is probably operating system version specific!

The websites that offer to find and supply the driver for you are generally useless - the will want to charge you, enroll you or fill your PC up with malware (or all these things!).

Windows 8 trap

I you have a newish Windows PC it probably has Windows 8 installed on it. And when it was new, you probably saw messages about creating recovery media, and about doing backups. Keen to get started, you probably dismissed these as quickly as possible.

But watch out. When Windows is installed a Product Code is needed to activate it. If your machine needs to be reinstalled, this code will be needed. It's not written down anywhere, just stored in an encrypted form on the disk. If the disk fails, the code has gone...and if you didn't generate the recovery disks then there will be no option but to buy a new copy of Windows for around £80!

Older versions of Windows always carried a paper sticker with the code on it

Windows Activation saga!

Reinstalling a Windows machine is normally a reasonably predictable job. The reinstall is quick, then you have to apply service packs, then you spend quite a while allowing the machine to do Windows updates. You hardly notice that the Windows product key has to be applied to the installation.

If you're in luck, the required key is on a Microsoft sticker applied to the machine - but it is always a good idea to use a utility like Produkey to get a record of the product key before starting a reinstall.

Sometimes things aren't quite so smooth though, as my last machine highlights...

(1) Machine won't boot. Nor will it boot into the manufacturer's recovery partition.
(2) Booting from a Windows 7 install DVD and attempting recovery from there fails.
(3) There is no way forward but to reinstall the machine.
(4) First the user's data must be backed up - remove the disk and access it from another machine.
(5) Because permissions have to be reset on each file, and the user has a very large number of data files, this proves impossibly slow.
(6) Back to booting from the Windows install DVD, then going to the command prompt option, connecting an external disk and using xcopy with a few suitable commend-line options to copy the user files to the disk.
(7) Copy the file which contains the product code (C:\Windows\System 32\config\software) to the disk and access it from a Windows XP machine to allow the product key currently in use to be recorded with Produkey. This key does not match the key on the Microsoft sticker.
(8) Then attempt to reinstall Windows. It can see the disk, but fails to install to it, even when the advanced options are used to remove existing partitions etc.
(9) Replace the disk with a used one.

(10) This disk is already installed with the same version of Windows, so attempt to use it - but Windows is not activated, and the activation fails using the product key that it used to have.
(11) Activation also fails using the product key from the old disk.
(12) Phone activation fails - this involves making a long call to Miscrosoft and typing in a 54-digit number and receiving a different one back.
(13) Speaking to a real person from Microsoft leads to the conclusion that the code is counterfeit or blocked for some reason.
(14) Reinstalling Windows to this disk leads to the same activation problem - but this time the phone option is not presented..
(15) Running the command cscript.exe "slmgr.vbs" -dlv > %userprofile%\desktop\act.txt gives a text file that contains the 54 digits required for phone activation. 
(16) c:\windows\system32\sppui\phone.inf lists the required phone number.
(17) But again the code is rejected as blocked.
(18) Note the code on the product key sticker. This is so worn that it is almost unreadable. Using a strong light, a magnifying glass and a bit of guesswork, get the code.
(19) This code succesfully activates Windows!
     

WIndows 7 Starter Edition

Dear User,

You know when you got that new computer, and there was all this stuff about creating backup media, that you ignored? Well when your machine runs Windows 7 Starter, it's best to make sure you don't ignore it.

Windows 7 Starter edition is not available for download or purchase. The manufacturers are required to supply you with the means to reinstall Windows - and they do that by adding a recovery partition to the disk. Sadly, if this fails, or becomes corrupted, you NEED the recovery media that you didn't make....

Malware city

16,812 infected objects on the PC I'm working on - I think that's my record! Nothing serious, just plenty of free offers, strange toolbars and programs that threaten to "clean" and "speed up" the PC!

Reinstall checklist

If you are going to reinstall a machine, most of the problems relate to preserving things that are already there. The actual reinstallation of Windows is quite a minor part of the whole job! Here is a typical checklist for someone doing a reinstall:
 

1. Record the Windows and Office codes using a utility such as ProduKey.

2. Record the Outlook account details (use mailpv).

3. Make a list of installed software that will need reinstalling.

4. Check that user data is all backed up.

5. Locate and back up Outlook .pst files.

6. Record Outlook server settings.

7. Make a note of hardware devices.

8. Get drivers for Ethernet controller if non-standard.

9. Reinstall Windows.

10. Install Ethernet controller.

11. Install other hardware devices.

12. Update Windows.

13. Install Microsoft Security Essentials and other basic software.

14. Install remote access software.

15. Install Microsoft Office and activate.

16. Put back pst files and set up Microsoft Outlook.

17. Reinstall other specialist software.

18. Restore user data.

19. Activate Windows.

Windows backup - why can't I see any files?

If you choose to use Windows backup, you will be prompted to set it up to make backups to another partition, preferably a removable disk.

Once you have made a backup, you will notice that the free space on this device has gone down, but there don't appear to be any files there! The backups are all hidden within a single object on the disk, which will bear the name of your computer. You can spot this object easily, as its icon will be a Windows backup icon - a picture of a disk with a green arrow next to it.

If you double-click on this object to attempt to open it, it will start trying to do a Windows restore...but you can see what is within it by right-clicking, and then selecting "Open in new window".

A simple (free) backup regime

So you've read the NickWorks notes (see http://nickworks.co.uk/faq.aspx) and you want to back up your data to a safe location - not to another disk in the same room, because you know that a fire or a burglary might result in the loss of both. Below is a nice simple set of steps you can take to get free online data. There are other ways, of course, or if you are prepared to pay a few pounds per month there are much neater solutions, but this is a starting point. You get 15GB of data space for free.

1. You need Google Chrome, and if it is not already installed that is the first step. I am assuming you are a Windows user.

2. Set up a Google account. It's best to avoid using any account you already use for anything else, so let's set up a brand new one.

• Go to http://gmail.com. If you're already logged in, sign out
• Click Add account, then Create an account
• Fill in the boxes. In my example, my company is called "spoffin" and the username is "spoffindata". There will be an email account created, spoffindata@gmail.com
• Birthday and gender can be set to anything, and you don't need to include a phone number.
• You need to fill in an existing email address, but don't worry, it will not be bombarded with spam.

Below is what it looks like, all filled in:

3. Once this is set up, you will arrive at an email page. Click the symbol that looks like this:

 and select "Drive". This is the web interface to your online documents. Using this is a bit clumsy, as files are converted to a Google format when they are uploaded. But there is an item "Install Drive for your computer" and if you click in this it will install a local interface to Google drive for you.

4. Now you can access your google drive data directly. A dialogue will open which introduces you to Google drive and asks you to log in. A Google drive item will appear in your Documents folder.

4. If you work from this folder your files will be secure. You can copy files into this folder, save them directly there, create subfolders, and generally treat it like a local folder.

5. If you want to share data from several computers, go to gmail.com on each computer, log in with the account created above, and repeat "Install Drive for your computer".