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Where is product key located in Windows 7 files ?  The key on the laptop base has BECOME illegible ! Some program files are corrupted - there's no internet connection - otherwise Microsoft could locate it for me. That means it's in there SOMEWHERE, doesn't it?   But where? does anyone know     
You will have to ring Microsoft - they have a free phone numberMagical Jelly Bean Keyfinder.Or, SIW - System Information for Windows.  or Belarc Advisor


http://www.belarc.com/free_download.htmlhere's two more LINKS with more info on the key recovery, check out the following:

1. 13 Free Product Key Finder Programs

2. How To Request a New Windows Product Key

Hi,

I have more than 100 rtf files in a folder on Windows 7.  I'd like to print them out from the command line.

I have some code which will open a given rtf file in Word, print it and close it.  Unfortunately, printing the the rtf files that I have must alter the files, since Word brings up the Save dialogue box when I try to close the file.  So I have to manually close the file, obviously making it not as automatic as I'd like it.

Here's the command:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\winword.exe" test1.rtf /q /n /mFilePrintDefault /FileExit

This works fine, exempt for the prompt to save or not save the file.  I'm looking for a command to discard all changes and close the file.

Any help would be appreciated.Have you tried this method using Foxit which is a lightweight Free PDF app ? ?No, I haven't tried Foxit.

Unfortunately, the place where I work locks down my computer, so I am not able to easily ADD new applications to it.  I should have mentioned that in my original post.Since Foxit Reader is a PDF reader and since you said nothing about PDF in your original post, I don't see that Foxit has any relevance here. 

Regarding Word, if you were normally opening a Word file and made a CHANGE and then, when exiting, did not want to save the change, you could simply Click No when Word asks whether you want to save the changes.  Can you do that via your command line?  Hi,

I am definitely looking to print rtf files, not pdf files, at this time.

If I understand your reply, you are suggesting that I "click no" from the command prompt.  Unfortunately, I don't know how to issue a "Click No" command from a command prompt.  Is this possible?

Quote

I don't know how to issue a "Click No" command from a command prompt.  Is this possible?

I just did this with a file called document.rtf and Word opened the file, printed it, and quit without asking me if I wanted to save it.

Code: [Select]"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE" Document.rtf /q /n /mFilePrintDefault /mFileExit
Obviously I had to adapt the path to WINWORD.EXE for my system, so the question arises why does Word bring up (I presume) the Save As dialog?. This can happen from the Word Print button if the printer is not configured correctly, so I would check that out.

1 is only called Program files and other is called Program files (x86)......when I install a network adapter-driver it goes to the one with the (x86), why and what is the difference....I have W7 Ultimate x64

Specs: AMD ATHLON 64, 2.02Ghz, 3200+, 3Gb RAM, both W7 and XP on C:\ in own partitions... the Program files (x86) is where 32-bit applications are stored. 64-bit windows has a lot of funky redirects to make sure stuff still works.

For example- "C:\windows\system32"- when that folder is accessed by a 32-bit program, windows silently accesses C:\windows\SysWow64 instead. the "real" C:\windows\system32 actually contains 64 bit dlls and executables. (I know, it's weird).

same with C:\program files, except the redirection isn't quite so blatant: x64 programs get "C:\program files" as the environment variable, x86 programs get "C:\program files (x86)".


cool, yes it sounds weird, but hey its Microsoft...hahahahahahaha....but it works great...thanks for the good explanationwell, the only thing that is a real bugger, is the fact tha my old drivers do not WORK ANYMORE, they are 32 bits and not 64 bits and W7 really let you know!!!!!! fortunately the PRODUCERS did realize that and I have found them all, quite fresh as well as f.i. 031109....lol (for americans: 110309)Yes, it's not a secret. You MUST use 64 bit drivers for a 64 bit OS

At the mo, have got XP Home and am dual booting with W7 to try it out.
Everyone SAYS go for it as the main OS and dual boot if necessary with XP.
Never used Vista (yuk) but W7 SEEMS a tad similar with more whistles and bells.
Anyway, my question -
With XP, the max IE is version 8. On IE8's toolbar, the google search BOX is , l suppose, 100cm in length, which is great to see what you are typing in.
Now with W7 and IE9 the google search box is sort of non existant, ie. 15mm at most.
Can this be extended, or can l / should l revert back to IE8.
Regards

ok not quite SURE what has happened but computer FROZE up on me and when i restarted i got a message stating "DIOGR compressed press cntr alt del to RESTART". I am new to windows 7 and have never seen this type of error before, can some one please start me in the right direction to fixing this problem, i dont have my install cd otherwise i would just reinstall windows and bypass all the problemsWas your main DRIVE over 90% full? According to this Microsoft MVP:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-system/oekiu-is-compressed-press-ctrlaltdel-to-restart/5e14cca8-eeb9-4067-a69e-f8864440879b
Quote

Compressing your system drive is a BAD idea. Here is a recipe that I picked up somewhere else. I have not tried it myself but it is supposed to fix this problem.
1. Start your computer from the Windows 7 installation DVD
2. Select Repair your computer.
3. Load driver.
4. Go to Computer and right click drive where Windows 7 is installed.
5. Select Properties and uncheck "Compress drive to save disk space".
6. Close and restart the computer normally.

Hi
my labtop runs WIN7 Home basic. I tried to create NEW partition but I am prompted with the message shown in attachment 2, and when clicking yes I get message 3. what can I do?

[regaining space - attachment deleted by admin]Because you have the maximum 4 primary partitions already.

This extremely similar topic answers how to do this in full: HTTP://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/143876-partitioning-problem.htmlBasically, you need to remove one of the partitions and create an extended partition, then you can create LOGICAL partitions within that.Hello there,
 
    I do think u r creating this partition as we do shrink volume, that is why it is showing like this. so that means you are trying to create this partition in C drive. I can make this partition as a usable partition but in future if something wrong happen to your c drive and that time u would like to get data from ur drive u r going to create, but in that time u can not get this data, coz this is the partition we can create inside the C drive, otherwise take backup of DESKTOP and fromat your system and create partition from there. if u do not want format ur system leave massage again I ll tell u this trick, right now I am suggesting u to do not create partition from here coz u have only partition that is C. Ignore the above post.

I have Toshiba's laptop with window 7. I am facing some problems.
1. I can not install fox-pro in window 7
2. Can i install two VERSION of windows on my L top.and is it easily removable other version.
3. My Toshiba reel-time application has stopped working. if yuou have enough hard drive space on the laptop you could ALWAYS  create a new partion for windows xp leaveing your windos 7 untouched

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/8790/dual-boot-your-pre-installed-windows-7-computer-with-xp/ this TUTORIAL should show you how to dual boot your laptopIf u have enough space then u can complete this task. do one thing u just make 3 partition in current O/s then WHATEVER data u have I 2ND partition TAKE full backup of that and save it in other partition, then turn off your laptop and also put O/s DVD or CD in the DVD drive, and from boot make It first boot able device and Install This O/S on that partition which is fully blanked, after u Installed the O/S, while U will be Opening your system It will show U both The option weather U want log in on win XP OR win 7. I hope It will be helpful for u.  Which version of Windows 7 do you have? Quote from: skm2012 on December 19, 2011, 08:34:44 AM

If u have enough space then u can complete this task. do one thing u just make 3 partition in current O/s then whatever data u have I 2ND partition take full backup of that and save it in other partition, then turn off your laptop and also put O/s DVD or CD in the DVD drive, and from boot make It first boot able device and Install This O/S on that partition which is fully blanked, after u Installed the O/S, while U will be Opening your system It will show U both The option weather U want log in on win XP OR win 7. I hope It will be helpful for u. 

I  just installed Win 7.  Prior to doing anything I saved my Outlook 2007 address book to DISC.  Now I cannot FIGURE how to reinstall it.  Any TIPS are welcome, please.
Eddie460
Your address book? Don't you mean the entire .pst file including all account SETTINGS? Quote from: eddie460 on NOVEMBER 10, 2009, 03:48:41 PM

I  just installed Win 7.  Prior to doing anything I saved my Outlook 2007 address book to disc. 

Hi GUYS!

I have a PROBLEM with IE, in that it will not open some INTERNET pages for some reason and gives me the ERROR screen??      I have just been surfing for watches with no problem until I tried to get to see the close up of the item, I just kept getting this 'Error page' .. any of you FELLAS know what the fault is please?What is the error message ? ?Will have to get back onthis one mate, had to re-install windows so the problem may have gone now thanks tho.

So I am on a network with port security and I was made aware a little while ago that there was a known issue with Win 7 having a hard wired "spoof" that it did with the MAC address that tripped port security. Well, I let one of the younger techs take the lead on it, and for the better part of a year now, we have had no issues. However we just installed a new Cisco switch to GIVE us some additional capacity, and there were a few different systems that were moved around during the install, but everything was well documented and put back where it came from. Now, however, port security has tripped on a lot of these systems, on my bosses 3 seperate times (which is why I'm now in charge of taking care of this.) CURRENTLY I've disabled port security to allow everyone to work, but that is not a viable permanent solution. My question is, does ANYONE here know how to fix the underlying cause of the issue in that Win 7 likes to send out SPOOFED MAC addresses?Perhaps this will help: http://www.oxid.it/ca_um/topics/configuration.htm

Hey all, My computer has been rebooting only while PLAYING Call of Duty Modern warfare 4. After about 20 Min's of play time and I do not think its a heat problem cause Speedtest has very low readings nothing overheating. I Installed a nividia 560Ti graphics's card about a MONTH ago and updated my ram to 8MB from 4.    Not sure If this is a hardware or software problem? Any ideas? thanks, Specs are listed in Computer specs . Quote

I do not think its a heat problem

I am getting the following crash REPORT when accessing webpages

Faulting application name: iexplore.exe, version: 8.0.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5bc69e
Faulting module name: RASAPI32.dll, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5bdad7
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000017e9
Faulting process id: 0xdc0
Faulting application start time: 0x01ca60fd1f90c785
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\RASAPI32.dll
Report Id: 601142c8-ccf0-11de-84ca-00269e158335

Can anyone help From what you've given us we'd need to be a mind-reader 

More information would be helpful, like, when did it start happening / any updates done / got antivirus/antyspyware software installed?  You know, minor things like that 

Alan <><  So you can't access ANY site or just some sites? Does this happen with every browser or just IE? Has this always happened or did it just start? If it just started, what is different from the last time things worked PROPERLY?I have Nortons 360 3.0 with spyware doctor 6 whic are all compatible with windows 7.

With regards to what i was doing it is hard to say however in general i created a new tab, new window and even opened the browser via the event log to send the error to Microsoft.

It does not happen every time but it does happen at LEAST 3 times a day.

I am only using IE8 and I even have reset it via the windows FEATURES section and no luck,

At this time I have msconfiged for disable load startup items and disable non-microsoft services and it seems to be holding at least while it replied to the post.

hope this helpsYou answered one of my questions.Not a bad average considering the tooth is in the SHOP this week...I have the pliers.

ok well since yesterday morning i can no LONGER launch my windows media player without instantly getting the BSOD. its the DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error.now i have trawled the net and have so far established i have no new hardware or software installed recently which coul ???da messed it up so that eliminates that 1.i have also performed the full DSKCHECK nothing wrong there a RAM diagnostic again no errors.checked with speedfan my temperatures are fine not overheating.its got me at a loss because if i click a music file singerly it will play it in windows media player its just if i go to the main library its BSOD.i really need this fixed its xmas tmmrw and this is my only source of music (i have about 50,000 tracks) i really need this working for tmmrw.just need 1 cleverclogs who can tell me what i need to do.i will include a brief summary of my machine if that makes any difference im unsure never used a computer forum before

Windows 7 Ultimate
Processor :  AMD Phenom(tm) 8450 Triple-Core Processor 2.10 GHz
Installed memory (RAM) : 3.00 GB (2.75 GB usable)
System type : 32-bit Operating System

here is a BlueScreen report also...

Dump File         : 122311-23228-01.dmp
Crash TIME        : 23/12/2011 18:05:27
Bug Check String  : DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Bug Check Code    : 0x000000d1
Parameter 1       : 0xbe1e8000
Parameter 2       : 0x00000002
Parameter 3       : 0x00000000
Parameter 4       : 0x93723c54
Caused By Driver  : aswebr.sys
Caused By Address : aswebr.sys+2c54
File Description  : NDIS IM Driver
Product Name      : Microsoft? Windows? Operating System
Company           : Microsoft Corporation
File Version      : 5.2.3790.2075
Processor         : 32-bit
Crash Address     : ntkrnlpa.exe+415fb
Stack Address 1   : aswebr.sys+2c54
Stack Address 2   : aswebr.sys+2db8
Stack Address 3   :
Computer Name     :
Full PATH         : E:\Windows\Minidump\122311-23228-01.dmp
Processors Count  : 3
Major Version     : 15
Minor Version     : 7601
Dump File Size    : 156,2561. TRY Winamp
2. No need to SHOUT for help. It doesn't make it happen any quicker.
3. Have you got decent virus protection?
4. When did you last do a scan?
5. Have you been visiting any torrent or pirate download sites?
Did you recently install or update your anti virus app (Avast or AVIRA)?well when it first happened my antivirus (microsoft security essentials) needed updating which i did but nothing has changed Try uninstalling MSE and see if you still get the same error. If you do, reinstall MSE. If not, try installing another AV. Either way, do not run without a resident av for longer than the test period.

Hello. Problem: Today morning turned comp on 1st time, LOUD fan(?) noise, got all the way to opening Interent Explorer then just shut down. 2nd try, loud noise, got to Windows startup SCREEN, then just shut down.



Background: --For a few weeks now any online streaming video has been going super choppy.

--Yesterday opened up computer, and found massive amounts of dust. Cleaned up power supply fan and cpu fan.  After that comp worked a lot more quietly than it had in the past few years (?). I thought the comp might be slightly faster too, is that even possible from dust cleaning?

--Comp seemed to always have memory usage spikes up to 70-100%, just with internet Explorer on.



--On side of comp it says

HP Pavilion a6228x pc

AMD Athlon 64 x2

Dual core procesor 5200+

---Inside comp from what I remember

4g installed mem

2.2g "usable"?? I dont know...?

3g being used or working or something like that I think. sorry.



Okay, that is all the stuff I know, can anybody help me please? I tried to read up on this and PEOPLE say cpu fan or heat sink or actual cpu damage?

Please help.
DLoad install and run SpeedFan...
Post your temps here...With the ? do you just assume it is the fan or can you tell specifically where the loud noise is coming from and can you describe the loud noise.  Hard Drives get noisy when they are about to beat the dust. Hello, I noticed my heatsink and fan were loose (I guess after the massive dusting). I applied thermal grease and reset it properly. Then used the PROGRAM SpeedFan. When I turned on internet explorer the cpu usage just spiked, nothing else running but this speedfan prog.  Also the computer seems like it is running slow. These are the results:


Iowamrs. I assumed it was the fan/cpu area, it sounded like it came from there.After being on for 30 minutes, I did another reading and this is what it was.


Quote from: elper on December 19, 2011, 11:27:14 AM

Comp seemed to always have memory usage spikes up to 70-100%, just with internet Explorer on.

I'm working with window 7, 64 bit PC, MS excel2010.
my sheet has multiple cells with conditional formatting. some cells react immediately on input changes. others only show a small band at the edge of the cell with the NEW format. when i enter the cell for editing, and leave the cell without changing anything, the cell will react to the new format. also if i copy sheet to another workbook, all cells react immediately to the conditional formatting. can SOMEONE tell me what COULD be wrongHas this always been a problem with your MS Excel formatting or did it just start?

Might try looking for something here.

http://www.excelforum.com/excel-2007-help/774185-conditional-formatting-cells-that-contain-formulas-not-working-as-intended.htmlits is an excel97-2003 file that worked fine on my old windows XP pc. but on my new windows7 with excel2010 in the compatibility mode, the problem showed up.
thanks for the advice, i will LOOK into it

I installed Windows 7 last week (which has been great except for this one problem) and have had one issue arise. The screen brightness randomly darkens every couple of hours. This never happened when using Vista, so this MUST be some sort of Windows 7 problem. Has anyone else has this issue and does anyone know how to fix it?

Here are the specs:
Manufacturer: Acer
Model: Aspire 5810t
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
CPU/Ram: 1.3 GHz / 3001 MB
Video Card: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express
Chipset Family
Sound Card: Realtek High Definition AudioDesktop or laptop?
Did you try different monitor?It is on a laptop. I haven't ever tried it on another monitor before. It happens only at random times so I am not sure how I would check it on another monitor without keeping it attached THROUGHOUT the day. Quote

how I would check it on another monitor without keeping it attached throughout the day.

Are you sure it isnt a power setting to dim the display after X amount of time of inactivity?  To check, click the little icon of the battery on the taskbar on the bottom of your computer, and click "more power options"(I think this is what it is calld" and see how many minutes it says it will dim/turn off your monitor.

i have a dell desk top with windows vista operating system.  does microsoft allow me to go to xp without paying for another version?

                               THANKS
How are you intending to 'go to XP' ??

If you want to go from Vista to XP, you'll have to buy a version XP. Quote from: wiz98 on January 01, 2012, 05:52:21 AM

i have a dell desk top with windows vista operating system.  does microsoft allow me to go to xp without paying for another version?

                               THANKS

No

If you want to go from Vista to XP, you'll have to buy a version XP.

If you can't live with Vista, why not buy a Windows 7 upgrade disk rather than go backward to XP?

I agree, i've never understood downgrading, Windows 7 is excellent.

I think it's computer manufacturers fault for scraping the bottom of the barrel for system components

Anyway, I've heard that XP will be an abandonware in less than three years.
Updates ends in 2014.

Anyway, I've heard that XP will be an abandonware in less than three years.Updates ends in 2014.

I don't think any Microsoft product has ever become "abandonware" in the sense of becoming copyright-free, if that is what you meant.

Correct.

Except maybe "Bob"....

I have a Dell Vostro 3550 laptop with Windows 7 installed. For whatever reason whenever I close the lid for a while and then open it up again, without EVER having shutdown, the laptop will not "turn on". I used to be able to just touch the on-off switch and it would "power up" again. Has a setting been inadvertently been change?? What steps must be taken to get it back to where once having lifted the lid up it will be where I left off??

THANKS,
PeterCheck the power OPTIONS in control panel to see what happens when the lid is closed (sleep, hibernation, nothing)HI Allan,
What should the correct setting be?
I switched from sleep to "Do Nothing" Is that a bad setting for the laptop? Would it be better set at "Hibernation"?

Thanks for your quick response,
PeterThere is no "right". Whatever works for you is fine. Personally, I'm not a fan of either hibernation or sleep.Thank you Allan!
You being the genius I will go with the "do nothing" option.

PeterAnother consideration might be that while the lid was closed, the battery died.I have seen this before, with Dell desktop models actually. It seems the sleep and hibernation settings shutdown all I/O interfaces in certain Dell models, making it quite literally impossible to "wake" the machine from hibernation. Something about the way Dell builds their hardware doesn't agree with the Windows Power Saving settings. Not sure what it is, but I do know this is not an isolated problem.

This problem is intermittent to some degree. After booting to desktop, and clicking the Mozilla icon to log-on to home page it will say not found. Sometimes it will log on with no
problem. The hard drive activity lite is flashing and the activity lite on the modem like something is being downloaded. I have a program called game booster which is allowing me to shutdown a lot of stuff that runs in the BACKGROUND. That seems to help with the log on problem some of the time.
My computer is an Acer AM1100-B1410A, AMD BE-2350 dual-core 2.1MHz, 2Mg ram, 320 GB H.D.D. WINDOWS Vista Home Premium, Mozilla 3.0.15
I have stopped windows upgrades to the extent that it notifies me when one is available. I am sure that other upgrades are taking place when they want to and I don't know how to find which ones are the culprits. I do have AVG Internet Security 8.5.425
That has 11 features, anti-everything imaginable. I am not an expert on Windows, but I have built computer from parts, and installed the drivers from floppies, and Cd's in the past. I will appreciate any and all help. BTW I found this site mention in Readers
Digest yesterday at the eye doctor's waiting room. Thanks for reading LynnWith Windows Updates set it to notify of new updates only...
In AVG Control Panel you can schedule both the updates and a daily scan...i have mine set for 4 and 5AM respectively...which means it updates 1st...then scans.
And i'm usually asleep.

That or you could spend an afternoon getting caught up on all Windows updates...Thanks for the quick and relevant reply. I happened to check in the AVG User Interface
this morning and discovered it was indeed scanning, and trying to update. So I will do
as you suggested, schedule them to update and scan while I am asleep.
There is just one other issue and that is I have to reset the SpeedStream modem quite
frequently.Do you have DSL filters on all the phone lines in the house ? ?
Who is the provider and has it been this way long ? ?YES I have filters on all the phone jacks. The provider is ATT. It has been this way since
I got this new ACER computer with Vista on it. I had a HP computer with XP on it and it
worked ok. I am having a problem setting the updates on AVG to work during the night.
I just upgraded to AVG 9.0 this evening. It is supposed to work in low POWER mode but
it hasn't worked for me. This computer is about 1 and a half yrs old. It was new and it
was when Vista had been out a year if memory serves me. So I guess Vista has been
out about three years now, correct. Time flies so I am not as sure as some that know.
Thanks for the follow up. Lynn B.
Notice I consider this scenario solved. I have been manually updating AVG when I boot
the computer. It is working great with no more problems. Thanks to "Patio"

hi,

my friend facing a problem when opening a file with certain program. after clicking on the program choosed suddenly ALMOST all the other files and program is changed. eg : the YAHOO messenger turns out to be the realplayer, the icons on the dekstop also changed to realplayer..why is this happens and how do we solve this problems. hoping for a replies SOON. What program did you use to open your file with? The program MAY have been a virus...wrongly hit the adobe reader..suppose to open mp3 with realplayer..

My inquiry has to do with iTunes. Not too long ago I performed the update from 10.5.1 to 10.5.2. After the update, everything went to *censored*. I cannot access iTunes 10.5.2 in ANY way without it freezing my computer to the point where I have to force shut it down. I cannot uninstall it, OPEN it or reinstall/install an older version. Revo did nothing to help either because of it attempting to access the built-in installer.

 I finally booted up in safe mode and USING Revo to just remove ALL registry entries and folders related to iTunes. My computer has been progressively slower since the whole incident started (even though RAM consumption is no higher than usual and disk SPACE is more than plentiful).

I've contacted Apple several times and they keep on insisting all my problems can be solved with their miracle quick-help. Yea right... 

So, in a nutshell I can't even install iTunes again without the whole thing happening all over. I can't do a SYSTEM restore or factory reset either. Reasoning behind this is that I shouldn't even have to! A simple iTunes update did this?! Also, I don't have an external or online service to back it up. I don't want to reset my machine unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Unless it's the ONLY ultimatum.

at the TIME i just start the pc it says "BOOT MGR not present"

what should i do for itInstall a boot manager!  What's the history of this PC?  New HARD drive?yup....its a brand new hdd installedHave you put anything on that hard drive...?Please proved a COMPLETED and detailed explanation of what is going on, what you did, and what led up to the problem. One sentence posts are not helpful and END up wasting everyone's time. Thank you.

Hi All,

I am having issues with my Windows 7 system shutting down - on average 2-3 MINUTES.

Msconfig has been run and I currently have 51 processes running (currently with IE8, Event Viewer and Task Manager open)
The system is only really used for software and web development so it's a scaled down unit. 2GB RAM and Dual Core.

In my Event Viewer you can see a whole list of shutdown error warnings (image 1 below)

I've run CCleaner and a Registry Cleaner, but they haven't made any difference.
I've not installed anything new recently, certainly not prior to having this issue.

Details for these errors are not very enlightening (images 2 & 3 below)

Performance during use is fine, and nothing hangs or crashes. just the shutdown times that take ages.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks.

[Saving space, attachment DELETED by admin]1) Make sure "clear pagefile at shutdown" is not enabled:
start - run - regedit
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]

Set ClearPageFileAtShutdown value to 0


2) Start - Run - Regedit
Navigate to the following Registry key:
HKEY CURRENT USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Double click on the AutoEndTasks entry and replace the 0 with a 1 in the Value data text box

For the next two, if the dword value indicated does not exist, create it:

Double click on the WaitToKillAppTimeout entry in the right pane and change the Value data to 2000

Double click on the HungAppTimeout entry in the right pane and change the Value data to 1000

Reboot

3) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
Right-click on WaitToKillServiceTimeout and change it to 2000Thanks Allan,

ClearPageFileAtShutdown was already on 0
AutoEndTasks was already 1

I changed the following:

WaitToKillAppTimeout to 2000 (it was on 5000)
HungAppTimeout to 1000 (it was on 5000)
WaitToKillServiceTimeout to 2000 (it was on 5000)

After rebooting to put the changes into place my system takes 2mins 59 secs to shut down - with no applications running, and after having only just booted up.

I don't normally play around in the registry, but would it kill my system if I just set them to 20/10 instead of 2000/1000?The computer will not recognize anything below 1000 (1000=1 second)I haven't checked any of those specs in the registry on my wife's laptop running Windows 7, but I did notice Win 7 to be a bit slower on shutdown than Vista was on this same unit (and not noticeably faster on start-up, even after finding and editing the start-up programs allowance list - that was a pain to find in Windows 7!)

On our Desktop running Vista however, I did notice a huge difference in all aspects of performance when I upgraded from 2 GB to 3 GB of RAM.  It seems to me that the posted RAM requirements for Vista and Win 7 are a bare-bones minimum, and that even 2 GB for either is kinda paltry these days.

This laptop has 4 GB RAM; an Intel Dual core 2.1 GHz; and runs either Vista Home Premium 64-bit, or Win 7 H.P. 64 bit - so comparing it to our desktop with Vista H.P. 32-bit ain't really apples to apples, but it still starts-up and shuts-down faster than the desktop (which has an AMD dual core 2.1 GHz).

Something else I've found, is that both are horrible about having processes still starting-up minutes after the "desktop is ready for use" . . . COULD this be an issue with shut-down times if one had just restarted their computer? Quote from: jpirate78 on December 05, 2009, 05:09:12 AM

Something else I've found, is that both are horrible about having processes still starting-up minutes after the "desktop is ready for use" . . . could this be an issue with shut-down times if one had just restarted their computer?

Ok.  Been working all day to repair my OS.  I cannot do a fresh install because I need the data on there.  I want to do an in place repair install.  So here is the problem.  I am an msdn user.  I installed some version of Win 7 on my system back in 2009.  Not sure which one.  My CD rom is not working so I have been USING WintoFlash to create a bootable image on my usb drive.  Everytime I go to the repair it says, "This is not COMPATIBLE with this version of Windows. Find a compatible version and try again."

I have tried Win 7 Home, premium, enterprise and some N versions.  All say the same.  I am downloading Pro and basic now

So what I need to be able to do is retreive the version of windows I have like you do by right clicking the hard drive when you are in windows. Problem is I am not in windows and the recovery console I can get to a command prompt but it is the X: drive version of windows and it will only show that version with a command like systeminfo.  Killing me smalls.  I need some help here from the pros.

Thanks

ToddYou cannot "retrieve" an installed OS from a system...this is by design...
WinToFlash needs the full .ISO image to be able to work.

I suspect the reason it is saying wrong version is because SP1 was installed on that 7 installation therefore you would need to find a Win7DVD w SP1 in order to run a repair install.

As long as you have your activation code on the machine for Win7 you can borrow anyones DVD to do the repair as long as the versions match...i.i. Home to Home Ultimate to Ultimate etc.

The other option of course would be to contact MS with your liscense code and they may either send you the DVD or direct you to their PORTAL where you can DLoad the .ISO and use it to build your DVD...

Let us know.Thanks for the reply.  There is more to the story.
I BOUGHT it with Vosta installed.  I did a complete wipe of it and installed Win 7 myself with an ISO file.  Problem is I cannot remember which version.  I do not need to retreive the software, I have an MADN account and therefore have access to any version.  I just need to know which version I have on my computer that will not boot.  Is there a file that stores that information where I can command prompt into it and view a ini file or something that says which version of windows I have on there.
It could also be the Win7 RC or Beta; or any of the various editions of them, too.

With WinXP you could determine the edition by looking at "c:\windows\system32\prodspec.ini".

Vista and Win7; open the "C:\windows\system32\license.rtf" file.So it is Home Premium but there are a lot of different versions.  If my system is all up to date then it should be the one with SP1 on it correct?  Also I think it is x86 but is there a way to tell if it is 64 bit from the command prompt?
Quote from: stratoboy on December 30, 2011, 02:10:41 PM

So it is Home Premium but there are a lot of different versions.  If my system is all up to date then it should be the one with SP1 on it correct?

think it is x86 but is there a way to tell if it is 64 bit from the command prompt?

i have a COMPUTER:
i3 dual core 3200hmhz
mb: msi h55m-e23
8gb ram 1600
windows 7 ultimate 64bit
cpu:intel R core tm i3 cpu 550 3.20ghz

my problem:

few weeks back i got blue screen  with this errors:
bccode: 9c
bcp1:0000000000000000
bcp2:FFFFF80000BA8BB0
bcp3:0000000000000000
bcp4:0000000000000000


back then i did a memory check with memtester and it went pass10,so memory was good,i check cpu temp was okay,hdd test was okay,
so i did restore the hole pc fresh and it was fine for about a week,and after installing some stuff  yesterday i start getting the same error and codes...

now i cant read the dump files what they mean or with what to open them but i suspect maybe a software is doing this...

today i run the pc in safe mode and is not shutting down,hmmm...

i also attached 2 files:
-WER-32479-0.sysdata
-minidump

if you can read it,and see what the problem is.

any help on this will very much appreciate!

thanks
happy holidays!

bosanci28

(sorry if i have asked in the wrong section)

[year+ old attachment deleted by admin]Code 9C means that it is a hardware error causing your crashes.
MemTest says the RAM is good... the HDD shouldn't be the culprit here... and that leaves only the CPU. Stress-test your CPU and RAM with http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program on Standard and see if it BSoDs.well,
as of right now ,i  try to re install the windows again and at the start of install it freezes up and the  blue screen comes up with a error then shuts down,

so i purchased new  memory ,dvd drive,and power supply ,swaped with a working hdd,still no luck

same problem freezes at first step  at re install ing the windows,

so i guess  the problem is something to do with cpu or mother board.

is that program from that link good  or able to run from dos to do that test?

i even try installing WIN xp same problem,,so right now i still have warranty till about jan 6-2012 on the hole system,as i purchased from tiger direct dot com and is a msi product,i may call them tuesday to

have the do something about,because ,i think cpu or mb is defective,

is there any test for cpu or mb to find out if defective? from dos,

thanksIntelburntest is very reliable-Stresses the CPU even further than Prime95 or Orthos does.
It only runs in Windows.. though...
Well since you can't boot into Windows... would it be possible to boot a Linux LiveCD and then run Prime95 Linux version to test your CPU?sorry to ask,do you have any direct link where to get those to programs?
and do i  put the linux live cd in and then take  out and put the other program?
DONT know exactly how it works,sorry,and thanks for any help!.No problem
I found a very nice tutorial here:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080130082037AAWJnj1

Download this:
http://damnsmalllinux.org/download.html (only 50 MB)
Burn it to a CD/use http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multi if you want to USB boot and then boot it.
Quote

open a terminal session and type:
$ mkdir prime;cd prime

$ wget ftp ://mersenne.org/gimps/mprime266.tar.gz
(you should see some output and "mprime266.tar.gz" saved)

$ tar xvzf s  mprime266.tar.gz
(you should see some filenames as output )

$ ./mprime -t -d
(you will see some output of the prime95 test)

Open up another terminal and start another session similiar to above, so you have one session per core. For dual-core open up one session, for quad three more.

My quad-core has this output in a "top" session (running in a fifth terminal

top - 12:14:42 up 20:50, 7 users, load average: 3.89, 2.35, 1.01
Tasks: 110 total, 5 running, 105 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu0 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 74.8%ni, 25.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.2%si, 0.0%st
Cpu1 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 75.1%ni, 24.9%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu2 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 75.0%ni, 25.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu3 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 75.1%ni, 24.9%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 1033560k total, 473860k used, 559700k free, 60604k buffers
Swap: 3096568k total, 0k used, 3096568k free, 297952k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
7348 user 39 19 15164 10m 388 R 100 1.1 2:37.46 mprime
7345 user 39 19 15164 10m 384 R 100 1.1 2:37.42 mprime
7346 user 39 19 15164 10m 388 R 100 1.1 2:37.32 mprime
7347 user 39 19 15164 10m 388 R 100 1.1 2:37.24 mprime

Check the outputs after several mins and see if you have errors.

- When i close the laptop lid, it freezes
- Startup REPAIR cannot FIX the problem
- At Random Points, Every Program Being Opened, CRASHES
- Thermal Shutdown Is The Order Of The DAY
- Want to free up HDD

please helpSell it...reinstall WINDOWS

I have an ASUS laptop, running Windows 7, and recently I've started having a minor problem closing my laptop. As far as I recall, it started out of NOWHERE. I have my power settings configured so my laptop is supposed to sleep when I close it, but instead it shuts all the way down. When I start it back up again, I get that message telling me there was an UNEXPECTED shutdown. Does anyone know what's up with this?Lately, I have been googling a lot about the sleep functions with Windows 7. And what I have discovered isn't very promising.  I have changed various sleep settings to get my computer to "stay" asleep until I wake it up and haven't figured out how yet.  It randomly wakes up in the middle of the night and has nothing to do with updates.  One post on this forum, person has windows 7 going to sleep and she has it set to never go to sleep.  So unless SOMEONE posts who has won this battle I guess we will just hope for the best.  Sounds like it is a glitch with WIN 7 sleep functions. One option is to look in your BIOS settings

Quote

Usually, you must press a key (such as F2, F12, Delete, or Esc) or a key combination immediately after you turn on your computer before Windows starts. For more information, check the information that came with your computer or go to the computer manufacturer's website.

Hi, I need advice. I am running IE9 on Windows VISTA 64 Bit. I have Comcast Xfinity high SPEED internet service. For the past month, Windows routinely stops working and closes and I get the Data Error Prevention notification, message saying it will search for solution and then it reopens the page I had been looking at. This happens repeatedly when I am on the Internet regardless of what site I am at. I never had this problem when I used Comcast Xfinity high speed internet in Georgia but now I am in Florida it is a constant and annoying problem. I would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you. Personally, I disable DEP on all system. I just find it too intrusive. If it's something you want to try, look here: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/120778-dep-enable-disable.htmlThank you. I will give it a shot.I don't think you'll have any negative reactions.I don't think I've ever SEEN a DEP DIALOG on any of my SYSTEMS. I just double-checked my desktop, and it is enabled...
For the most part you won't know it's there. But if it doesn't like something it lets you know - frequently.

I operate windows 7 64-bit and this morning  my laptop (dell inspiron 1545) was absolutely fine, but now if i try to open any files I just keep on getting error messages. If i try opening documents or IMAGES I just get the same error  messages "class not registered". Any music files I just get "no such interface supported" and that is the same with any video files. Also I cannot open many of my programs including all of microsoft office. In addition I can't uninstall programs or install new ones. I have tried running registry cleaners and running "sfc scannow" for example, deleteing tons of files that could be mildly dodgey and of course tried restarting my laptop numerous times, but not being a techie i have no idea what to do! please help and post any and all solutions you may have, but please post things step by step. Thank you in advance!

note: 6gb ram, 640gb HD, genuine windows 64bit, AVG 9.0, microsoft security essentials, everything should be pretty up to date!Here is a COMPREHENSIVE article re "class not registered" error message. Please read it through to understand the causes that can CREATE this message. Then further down in the article it will explain 2 methods that can be used to fix the problem. Let us know your results after you have tried the suggested remedies or if you need additional assistance.
http://www.pcmmc.com/what-does-class-not-registered-mean.php
truenorthThanks, but I can only manage to access a cached copy of that webpage, and then none of the links in it work either. I have now tried restoring my system but I can't even restore it, in the control panel the "back up and restore" just does nothing when clicked, and even when I try starting the system image from the drive its saved on to, i am getting the same "class not registered". I really have no idea what is going on here and i really don't fancy re installing windows! Is there anything else you could suggest?  nh2323, Would you please clarify that you were not even able to read the narrative contained on the web site i linked above. If that is so i can copy/paste the COMPLETE article (which includes the 2 methods of repair) and include it in a PM to you. I would normally prefer that the dialogue on an issue remain within the thread for the benefit of all. However given that it may only be you that cannot access the page then to allow you that opportunity i see no issue to offer that. We can then resume the discussion via the thread once that hurdle is overcome. Respond here on your decision re the PM and i will act accordingly. truenorthThanks true north but I have now just completely reinstalled windows onto my laptop and all seems fine, I spoke to a computer technician who seemed to think that the extent of the issue was too severe to be resolved, and so I reinstalled windows and RESTORED it from a system image. But thank you for all of your help!Your very welcome--glad to see that your up and running again. In the probably unlikely event that the same issue may return (probably will be something very different however) i suggest now that you have full functionality that you travel to the web site i posted and print out the instructions on the repair (should be able to get it all on one page).truenorth

Hello,

I have done a LOT of research on this and will continue but have yet to FIND an answer.

Seems that Reg Query works mostly with the right pane in the registry.  I need to do the left.  Specifically, I am trying to get a listing of all the Restricted Sites currently set in IE.  I know it is here
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domainsbut the sites are all listed on the left.  When I try a query
reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains" /sI get
...
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\008i.com
    *    REG_DWORD    0x4

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\008k.com
    *    REG_DWORD    0x4
...
The sites 008i.com and 008k.com are just two of the many sites.  I also understand that the 0x4 means this is a Restricted site (as opposed to a 0x2 which is a TRUSTED site).

I also USE
findstr /C:"    0x2" to parse the information about these Restricted sites.  That part works fine, but all the information I am asking for is in the right pane.

Is this just not possible or am I using the wrong TOOL?  Please keep in mind I am not a programmer.

Thanks for the Help.

Vista SP2 Home Basicthe registry doesn't have "panes".

it has Keys, and those Keys contain More keys, as well as a list of values. A conceptual model could be to think of keys as folders, and the values as files within those folders. This is pretty much the metaphor regedit is going for.


the "Right Pane" of regedit is the listing of values. The  Left pane is the listing of keys.

I'm pretty sure the switch you are looking for is /k, not /s.

I have Windows Vista and use I E with ATT mail.  MY SCREEN blinks  HelpThe FAQ SECTION is not for posting ISSUES so i moved this...
What exactly do you mean by blinking ? ?

the other day a friend of MINE ASKED me to clean the dust out of his pc so i agreed to do so, i remove all the compoents from the case to clean it, when i put it all back togethere i was am now getting this error on boot 0xc000000f it SAYS hard drive is in acessable and with the disk it dose not allow the hard drive to be picked up

Its a start-up error, but WITHOUT knowing the Operating System, i cant help you further!i jsut changed the sata cable and every thing works fine now and the os is windows 7 ulitmate 64 bit THANKS any ways guys

Hi, all.  need some help; not really sure where to start so I'm going with the software side first.  I have a desktop that is just dragging whenever I try to do SOMETHING (takes 3-4 minutes to load firefox, coming out of sleep is a 10 MINUTE ordeal, etc.).  Here's the specs to start with:
- Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit
- 2 GB ram
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core processor 5000+ 2.60GHz


Right now, as I type this, I have the windows task manager open.  It is cycling around 10% cpu but is at 1.04GB RAM (59% of total).  BROKEN down, it says 1790 total, 963 cached, 59 free.  Kernal memory is 295 total, 232 paged, 62 non-paged.  If I hop over to processes, I see that there are 11 svchost.exe (I assume this is windows) for a total of 220 MB or so.  Firefox is using ~100MB, mcshield is taking in ~45 MB and rounding out the top five are dwm.exe (23 MB) and explorer.exe (16 MB).  This totals to 400 MB.   the REMAINING 75 processes shown are all under 10 MB each, and most are below 1MB.  by my count, I'm only showing half a gig being accounted for.  I suspect this is where I'm getting killed on performance.  I can add more RAM (that is my plan at least) but short-term it seems like I should have a better response than I am currently getting.  Any suggestions on what could be the drag and how to find/fix it?  Thanks!! As a general rule, the more ram that is being utilized, the more efficiently the system is running. That's not your problem.

If the system is "running slowly" it can be any number of things including malware. Have you run full system scans with BOTH your anti virus app and with MalwareBytes? If not, please let's do that now.I have ran both the McAffe scan and a Malewarebyte scan.  both showed up with no issues found.1) What is new or different since the last time everything worked properly (ie, new hw, new sw, virus, error, etc)?

2) Let's try a selective startup and see what happens: Open msconfig and on the General tab choose "selective startup" (uncheck all three items) and reboot. Does the problem still occur? If not, start adding items back to msconfig one or two at a time, rebooting after each change, until the problem reappears and you'll have identified the offending process. This is clearly a time consuming procedure, but it is the best way to determine if some process loading with the system is the cause of your problem.

After you've isolated the cause, do not use msconfig to permanently disable the process. Instead, if it is a service go to START - RUN and type: services.msc (then press enter) and disable the service OR, if it a program, you can download & run a simple app such as Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel (http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml) to enable, disable, or otherwise manage startup programs.
hmmm, good question.  it's been like this for a while.  I'll do the selective startup and see what flashes.  although, as I was struggling through windows writing this, another site wanted me to update my Java.  now, this is just off the cuff, but it sure seems like the whole system is a lot smoother right after I did that.  So, based on what I find from the selective startup, I suspect that perhaps some housekeeping is in order.  stupid Java...Please stick with one support site or the other - your choice which. Without knowing what you're doing one of us can give you bad advicesorry, meant that I was uploading some stuff and that webpage needed me to update my Java.  I'm going to do the selective startup today and see what that flags.

Hi all I tried to search here and didnt find much about this, google gives 1000's of unresolved posts so this is a common problem somehow.

I working on a friends computer when it is turned on it boots up fine, shows the initial WINDOWS loading and then goes blank. No mouse curser or anything can be seen. It is not the monitor and the computer boots and works fine in safe mode. I disabled the Desktop Window Manager Session Manager as suggested on microsoft forums but that didn't help either. I assume it is not a hardware error as safe mode wotks. I could pull the video card but I wasn't SURE windows 7 would function with on board gfx.

Thanks in advance.Hi there! If your computer is working in safe mode but not when booted normally chances are a corrupt service or startup process that does NOT load when implementing safemode is the problem.

To resolve this you may go about it two ways:

A. Implement system restore and select a restore point prior to the problem first turning up

B. Use the MSCONFIG UTILITY to turn off all unnecessary startup processes and services.

There's LOTS out there on system restore so I'll skip to MSCONFIG.

Hit your start BUTTON, select "RUN", type MSCONFIG, select the startup tab and disable EVERYTHING.
Next, go to the services tab, (and this is important!) Select "Hide all microsoft Services" and ONLY THEN uncheck EVERYTHING.
If you don't select "hide all microsoft services" it will break Windows.

Now select apply or OK and attempt to restart the computer normally.

If the unit does NOT start, than my guess was wrong and you should undo the changes.

IF the unit does start then you should quickly download anti-virus and anti-malware (or update your existing products) and scan the machine.
After this is complete you should experiment a bit, start by turning all the services back on and see if the computer still boots, if not systematically determine what service caused the problem.

In general all startup processes that are not your anti-virus may (and should) remain off, but services should be turned back on (except whatever one(s) is/are broken or malicious). 

Hope this helps!

Some guy worked on my computer today and changed some of my theme settings. What I am looking for is when you click the desktop background and drag it, it highlights blue. Well, now it is the old windows xp style with the grey dotted outlines. How do you change it??? Please help. Thanks.Step one:

1. First, properly chastize whoever it is took the liberty to change your user preferences.

(XP style would be a alpha-filled blue box; I'm not really sure what your OS is...)

Vista/7
1. Windows Key+Break to open System control panel.
2. ADVANCED System Settings
3. On the Advanced TAB, choose the "Settings" button in the "Performance" frame.
4. ADJUST as needed The DEFAULT ("Let windows choose what is best") is probably what you are after.

XP: pretty much the same thing, EXCEPT opening the system control panel takes you to step 3.

Also, you might need to toggle the relevant option (in your case, "use translucent selection rectangle" off, apply, and then toggle it on and apply.Thank you so much for your help. Wouldn't have found it without you.

I recently bought a BUFFALO  EXTERNAL  USB  DVD  RW ;  I am unable to use it with my COMPAQ  MINI  110-1100 DX LAPTOP  Product  Number : VM146UA#ABA . My mini Laptop does not have an inbuilt DVD RW.
Will  somebody please guide about as to how to use this External DVD to install any software CD on to my Laptop ? Also, how to see & listen to a DVD using this DVD RW ?
Can I use this DVD RW with my Desk-Top PC also ?
Please guide in details and help me. Many thanks in advance.  What is the model of your Buffalo DVD-RW drive? Your laptop should automatically detect the drive when you plug it in via USB. Your drive will definitely work with your desktop, too.
In the rare case that drivers NEED to be installed for your DVD drive, you would want to go to the official Buffalo site to download them.Thanks TRANSFUSION VERY MUCH FOR VERY QUICK ATTENTION .  Following is the Model NO: of my BUFFALO  EXTERNAL usb dvd rw --PORTABLE dvd : DVSM-PC58U2VB  Technical  Specifications  : 
Number of Ports --1
Port type --------   USB 2.0
Power Consumption : Max  7.5W
Client OS  Spport : Windows  7
                               Windows  XP
Sir, will you now guide and help me in making use of this DVD RW ?  Kindly give me step-by-step guidance.  Thanking you !What happens when you connect the External  USB DVD to your computer?  Have you tried different USB ports?  Can you tell whether the drive is powering up when you connect it to the computer?

I'm currently using 8GB RAM on my desktop and I was wondering if I need a page file more than 400MB to allow my PC to run optimally.

I don't use a SSD so if my OS decides to use the page file automatically then it could stop my computer running like it could.

400MB is the minimum (to allow error info to be kept safe in case of a problem) and 16MB bare minimum the PC will let you use.

I know people who say they run without a page file at all, is this really the height of performance?IG should be more than adequate...
Hint set the min and max #'s to the same value.IG?One Gig.Windows can do some really weird things without any page file at all. The often given advice of 2.5 times your RAM size is no better or worse than any other. Better if it is on a different physical hard drive than the system drive. The only way the size of the page file will make the PC's performance less than "optimal" is if you make it too small.
Would it be safe to turn the page file off and see how my computer runs?  Would I just check tic the "no paging file" line and click "OK?"  Why are you even asking this? Windows was designed to use virtual memory. Where did you get the idea that it would run better without a page file? Your computer will not instantly break if you disable the page file, but be prepared for plenty of crashes. Some people have the over-simplified idea that the page file is REPLACEMENT for RAM that the computer has not got, and, now that PCs have some "large" amount - 4, 8,16 GB or more, people might as well stop using it. The truth is more complicated. Many programs are written to use a pagefile, and consider this: most programs when requesting memory request much more than they will ever need (a program like WMP might request as much as 300MB for example). This requested memory often doesn't get get used, and so it gets flagged as "can go in pagefile" but because you probably never use it there's no performance penalty.

However, if you have no pagefile, this requested memory has to be fully allocated in RAM. So WMP suddenly needs 300+MB of RAM allocated to it (and therefore not to other programs) even though it might not be being used. At this point 8GB becomes very small if you're trying to play a game and leave itunes/azureus running in the background because "I've got 8GB, I can multitask". A bigger program like Photoshop will request gigs of RAM at a time.

The big problem with DISABLING your pagefile is that once you've exhausted the available RAM, your apps are going to start crashing, since there's no virtual memory for Windows to allocate—and worst case, your actual system will crash or become very unstable. When that application crashes, it's going down hard—there's no time to save your work or do anything else.

In addition to applications crashing anytime you run up against the memory limit, you'll also come across a lot of applications that simply won't run properly if the pagefile is disabled. For instance, you really won't want to run a virtual machine on a box with no pagefile, and some defrag utilities will also fail. You'll also notice some other strange, indefinable behavior when your pagefile is disabled—in my experience, a lot of things just don't always work right.

For this reason, a pagefile of a few hundred MB is as pointless as no pagefile at all.

Windows 7 includes a file caching mechanism called SuperFetch that caches the most frequently accessed application files in RAM so your applications will open more quickly. It's one of the many reasons why Windows 7 feels so much more "snappy" than previous versions—and disabling the pagefile takes away RAM that Windows could be using for caching.

Leave it set to 1.5 - 2.5x your RAM. If you want to play around with it, fine by me, and I'll even apologise for posting crap if you show me a single benchmark that shows any benefit whatsoever from doing so.

The point is, the point: Windows is simply not designed or optimised to run with a tiny/without any pagefile.


Are you short on disc space? If not, just leave it alone.In addition to what ST notes, not having a pagefile also changes a bunch of assumpions made by the Memory manager. I forget the specifics but I recall it changes the minimum size of a commited piece of RAM from 4KB to something ludicrous like 64K.

A lot of this "run without a pagefile" nonsense was started by JEFF Atwood in his typical "I messed around with it so now I'm an expert" style.
 

Basically, what running without a pagefile is it effectively makes every single allocation of memory become the functional equivalent of having been had  VirtualLock called on it. VirtualLock() is called by an application to say "OK, this piece of memory is important to me, so don't swap it to disk". Of course if you don't have a pagefile than every single piece of memory allocated can't be swapped to disk anyway. On the other hand, as ST also notes many applications will allocate larger chunks of space. These are allocated using VirtualAlloc() (or a functional equivalent)

Basically, what you get is this:

Application: "Hey, Memory manager, could you toss me a pointer to 500MB of memory?"
VMM: Sure, here you go.

At that point, the memory isn't really "allocated"; that is, the VMM hasn't comitted it; it's just reserved space in that applications Virtual Address space for the RAM. the memory doesn't actually get consumed unless the application uses that memory, at which point it get's committed; and if other applications are switched to and used more, that page could get swapped to disk to make room for another applications memory.
Of course, without a pagefile, all allocations of memory are commits to physical memory. The Virtual Memory manager is specifically designed for fact  that All Applications are basically "given" usually 2GB of Virtual Memory. Windows let's it do what it pleases in those 2GB and like a caring mother will PUT away the toys when the application hasn't been using them. Then when the application goes back to it "I wanna play with that piece of Memory at Virtual address 0x3566313!" the VMM, again, like a caring mother, takes that piece of data out of the pagefile and puts it back into physical memory, so the application can play with it. Of course where in physical memory it puts it doesn't matter since it just maps it into the processes virtual address space. Without a pagefile, you basically end up with a harried mother who has nowhere to put away the toys when the kids are done with them, so you end up with a giant mess.


Additionally, you have two things, the Paged and Non-paged pools (info). Basically, the conclusion one ought to reach from the post is that Page files are a necessary part of any modern Protected-mode operating system, in that they prevent depletion of the page pool, which contributes to a faster system.


Also: Don't Throw those paging files away.


Again, though, I find it interesting all the crap I found while trying to google for references Naturally, the results were overrun by crap postings and blog posts by Mr.Tim the expert PC repair technician offering his expert opinion on a subject he is clearly ignorant on, which is somewhat typical when it comes to things like this. It's unfortunate that they seem to top the search results, too. Quote from: patio on January 06, 2012, 09:20:49 AM

IG should be more than adequate...
Hint set the min and max #'s to the same value.

We can argue til the cows come home...

Yours is based on nothing.

Erm, gents, let's not be presumptuous here.  We're all trying to help.  Differences of opinion can be handled graciously, surely.

I have an hp pavilion g7-1219wm. It was a good computer. Key word: was. I have been having all kinds of problems lately, too numerous to describe. Plus, I do not know much about computers. I have decided to return this computer for a full refund and just get a new one. I have about a week to do this before I can no longer return it. What I would like to do is totally FORMAT/erase/wipe my hard drives and memory before I turn it in. I googled it and a few sites came up that offer this service for free. What I would like to know from you professionals is what is the best free program to use to do this? Currently, I have CC Cleaner on my computer and have used that to supposedly clean up the problem I was having, but it didn't work. A few weeks ago, I was getting a blue screen. Now today when I went to restore my computer to an earlier time, I got the error: 0x80070005. I think something is really wrong with my computer. It's not just those errors, but I think my secondary email account (not the one I use for this site) may have been compromised. I just want to totally erase everything from here and return it. Please help. Thank you. Please keep in mind that I am a total beginner and require step by step instructions. Peace.Boot to your Windows disc and format.I hate to contradict Allan, but typically an O/S installation disk will not securely erase the contents of a hard drive.  Personally, I would run DBAN first: http://www.dban.org/Rob, no problem - but the word "securely" does not appear in the original post. The QUESTION was how to format / erase the drive. And of course as you know, there is NOTHING short of a hammer that will insure the data cannot be recovered.

Additionally, and on a completely different note, it's very possible (perhaps even likely) that whatever problems the OP is having can be addressed without his returning the SYSTEM.Sounds like the machine is infected.

0x80070005 is the HRESULT for an Access Denied error. Typically, that will only occur when permissions have been borked, which is something some forms of malware will do, particularly as they try to force themselves into system restore (via the "System Volume Information" folder). And there is of course the fact that your other E-mail was compromised, which pretty much proves beyond a reasonable doubt that your machine is heavily infected.

Chances are that it won't matter if you get a new computer, because if you use the same habits that you did with this one you'll just get infected again.

And, barring all that, since the machine is so badly infected it's highly likely that far more unscrupulous people have access to a lot of your personal information than the people you would be returning the machine too, who are more likely to just use the recovery software to recover it and then sell it as a refurbished machine, without looking at any of the existing data or snooping around. This in contrast to the at least one other person who has now gained unauthorized access to your secondary E-mail. change the password to that on another machine, by the way.That was my thought too - and it was reinforced by the need to make sure the drive was erased Quote from: Allan on January 04, 2012, 07:07:26 AM

And of course as you know, there is NOTHING short of a hammer that will insure the data cannot be recovered.

Recoverable memory of old data? All data is still there, it's simply overwritten by newer data. Theres LOTS of software that can dig down and retrieve old data. And law enforcement agencies (especially federal) have software sophisticated enough to retrieve data at virtually any level. Whether or not you've heard of it, it exists.

Nah, I've yet to hear any convincing evidence that a randomised magnetic platter has any sort of recoverable "memory" of old data.  There was a report doing the rounds a while ago that some sort of electron microscopy could retrieve it, but that was subsequently debunked. 

A DOD wipe (Department of Defense) is 7 passes of a format and zero writes to the entire HDD...

I would think they wouldn't take such measures without having just cause to protect sensitive data....

I'm quite sure they know alot more about computer forensics than the average User...

The basis of this belief is a presupposition is that when a one (1) is written to disk the actual effect is closer to obtaining a 0.95 when a zero (0) is overwritten with one(1), and a 1.05 when one (1) is overwritten with one (1). Ths is false and in fact, there is a distribution based on the density plots that supports the contention that the differential in write patterns is too great to allow for the recovery of overwritten data. The argument arises from the statement that "each track contains an image of everything ever written to it, but that the contribution from each "layer" gets progressively smaller the further back it was made". This is a misunderstanding of the physics of drive functions and magneto-resonance. There is in fact no time component and the image is not layered. It is rather a density plot.This is of prime importance to forensic analysts and security personel. The time needed to run a single wipe of a hard drive is economically expensive. The requirements to have up to 35 wipes [12] of a hard drive before disposal become all the more costly when considering large organisations with tens of thousands of hosts. With a single wipe process taking up to a day to run per host through software and around an hour with dedicated EQUIPMENT, the use of multiple wipes has created a situation where many organisations ignore the issue all together – resulting in data leaks and loss.

The inability to recover data forensically following a single wipe makes the use of data wiping more feasible. As forensic and information security professionals face these issues on a daily basis, the knowledge that a single wipe is sufficient to remove trace data and stop forensic recovery will remove a great deal of uncertainty from the industry and allow practitioners to focus on the real issues.

Because of the misconception, created by much older technologies (such as floppy drives) with far lower densities, many believe that the use of an electron microscope will allow for the recovery of forensically usable data. The fact is, with modern drives (even going as far back as 1990) that this entire process is mostly a guessing game that fails significantly when tested. Older technologies used a different method of reading and interpreting  its than modern hard called peak detection. This method is satisfactory while the peaks in magnetic flux sufficiently exceed the background signal noise. With the increase in the write density of hard drives (Fig. 3), encoding schemes based on peak detection (such as Modified Frequency  odulation or MFM) that are still used with floppy disks have been replaced in hard drive technologies. The encoding of hard disks is provided using PRML and EPRML encoding technologies that have allowed the write density on the hard disk to be increased by a full 30-40% over that granted by standard peak detection encoding.

Additionally, hard disk drives use zoned bit recording which differs from floppy drives and similar technologies. Older technologies (including floppy disks) used a single zone with a write density that is several orders of magnitude larger than that used with hard disks. We have not tested recovery from a floppy disk using these methods, but it would be expected that the recovery rate would be significantly greater than with respect of that of a hard disk platter - although still stochastically distributed.

The fact is many people believe that this is a physical impression in the drive that can belie the age of the impression. This misconception is  commonly held as to the process used to measure the magnetic field strength. Using the MFM in Tapping Mode, we get a topography image that represents the physical surface of the drive platter. The magnetic flux density follows a function known as the hysteresis loop. The magnetic flux levels written to the hard drive platter vary in a stochastic manner with variations in the magnetic flux related to head positioning, temperature and random error. The surfaces of the drive platters can have differing temperatures at different points and may vary from the read/write head. This results in differences in the expansion and contraction rates across the drive platters. This differential can result in  misalignments. Thermal recalibration is used on modern drives to minimize this variance, but this is still results in an analogue pattern of magnetic flux density. One of ways used to minimize the resultant error has come through the introduction of more advanced encoding schemes (such as PRML mentioned previously).
Rather than relying on differentiating the individual peaks at digital maxima,magnetic flux reversals are measured by hard drive heads and processed using an encoding process (PRML or EPRML) that is based on determining maximum likelihood for the flux value using a digital signal sampling process. Complex statistically based detection algorithms are employed to process the analog data stream as it is read the disk. This is the  "partial response" component. This stochastic distribution of data not only varies on each read, but also over time and with temperature differentials. This issue has only grown as drive densities increase.

Though I firmly hold that if you need to securely delete anything you're either paranoid or a criminal, or an LY (Linux Youth). Possibly both.

Win 7, both 32 and 64 bit machines.

Have had cords dangling everywhere - I have 3 WD external drives, an 80MB, a 160MB, and a 2TB. I got tired of the cords dangling everywhere and bought a four-port hub.



When I plug the hub into my machine, it takes about 20 or 30 seconds before the first of the three drives appears, and about 90 seconds total for all three.

What up with that?

And what do I do to speed it up?Please contact Staples customer service team
http://www.staples.com/sbd/content/help/contact/index.html

I wouldn't put up with that delay!You have a lot plugged into that hub, and based on what you posted it's not a powered hub.  My first guess would be that you are exceeding the power limitations of the hub or the USB port it's plugged into.

I had a bad experience with a powered hub several years ago that only had a flash drive plugged into it and some thing shorted out and melted the hub and the flash drive.  Never figured out which one shorted out, and it wasn't worth the effort or money to figure it out.

Be careful how much stuff you plug into a hub, there are limitations.

It *IS* a powered hub, which is why I thought it was screwy. (Naturally, they're all powered drives, as well).

Of course, I bought this thing like eight weeks ago and took it out of the blister pack, and only installed it MONDAY night. So I'm sure Staples will be less than helpful! The joys of being on the road...

Is there a good alternative? That is, higher priced=better quality?

Why not move one of the HDD's to an internal ? ?
Or do they all need to be accessed outside the PC ? ? Quote from: rjbinney on November 30, 2011, 08:04:40 AM

Is there a good alternative? That is, higher priced=better quality?

Is the OP talking about thumb drives?

So - bottom line: It should take as long for the drive to appear when plugged into the hub as when plugged directly into the machine, +- 1 second or so?

Ive just purchased an Asus note book with WIN7 home PREMIUM pre installed, can i download WIN7 to copy to DVD for emergency ive got the code number on the bottom of the laptop.
Thanks for any help jhaddHere is a link to an Asus Manual.  SINCE I don't know what model you have this is just a general manual.  You should probably have an Asus manual and can look for the same information.  I think you can only do this on selected models.  You might have to search to see if your note book is one of those selected models.

Creating the Recovery DVD starts on page 19


http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/G73Jh/G73Jh_1229-b.pdfI have done this on several laptops using the link below and activated using the original PRODUCT key on the WINDOWS label on the bottom of the laptops.

You have to make sure it’s the same version as originally installed on your machine otherwise it won’t activate.
Be aware that you will only get the o/s and not the bloat ware installed by the machine manufacturer.


http://www.mydigitallife.info/download-windows-7-iso-official-32-bit-and-64-bit-direct-download-links/
Thanks for the replies sorry for the LATE response not been at the computer for a week.
jhadd

I'm new to the forum. last night we had a power outage, when the power CAME back on the computer would not boot. the power is on, but nothing happens. any idea what might be wrongHard to day. Some systems are set to stay off after a power failure.

Check to seen if there was obvious damage. Smoke, or signs of burning at the WALL outlet. Did ANYBODY change the wiring in you office? ( Not a joke. Some places have both 120 and 240 volts outlets in the same room.)

If the power outage did not alter anything, and it is back to normal, recycle your PSU by TURNING off the switch at the rear and unplug the cord from the wall outlet. It should only take a short time to reset the thing.

Plug it it, ,turn it on and it should work again.

There is a black toggle switch on the back of the PC which is for the PSU...
Unplug the PC and toggle it 3 or 4 times...remember to put it back in the original position...wait 20 seconds and plug in and power up.

I have a few films in my documents, which i am trying to get onto the videos library and then onto WINDOWS media player library. I followed the instructions from help & support but when i try to move any files into the videos library it just KEEPS saying, the folder could not be included in videos...can any one help PLEASE?All you have to do is RIGHT clik the FILE and select Open with...then select Media Player...the file will then play...
As far as moving it right clik and select "send to" and select the folder you want it moved to from the drop down list...thank you...

Hello all.

So, I finally got a decent laptop from my friend Jennifer, she obviously used her name as the last registered owner. I fixed this in the registry and now winver says the name is no longer "Jennifer", but "MNH" which is what I wanted.

Here is my problem: I still see that name. Jennifer appears in MS Word and some other programs, but in others, like my PDF reader, it displays MNH as a default. Did I botch my name change or do some products get their default name from a different source, i.e. registered owner of the MS Word software vs. Computer Owner? I am lost and I'd appreciate the help thanks Oooops. I forgot to add the details:

Using a Dell Laptop

Windows 7 x64 bit

MS Word 2010 (biggest problems occur in MS Word)The name and initials of the user are in MS Word - Options
The options page says it's set to Nicole Hansen (my wife) and the initials are NH. But, when I go to. MS Word >> Insert >> Quick Parts 

The first box uses the letter J and the box below it uses the name Jennifer. These are my hidden reminders and I want them gone. Thank you for your help though.  From my understanding it pulls that information from the registered information.
You've stated that you have indeed tried to change who the system is registered to in the registry, then it's possible that the information has been pulled and stored in Offices own table.
Uninstalling Word, then installing it again making sure no values are left over could be a solution, or if you go into the Building Blocks Organizer for quickparts you'll be able to edit or remove the general auto fields.

Hope this helps.

 This does WORK for MS Word, kinda. The gallery >>> auto-text still inserts Jennifer, just with MNH as the label above it.

I can't re-install, the previous owner still has the disks.

Is there a way to completely remove this name? I still OCCASIONALLY see it in file paths too. Is this because they are old paths and didn;t get redone when I changed the owners name?

Thank you GUYS for all your help THUS far...Is it possible to have it re-install MS Word without the keys and the disks, without getting some hacked version? I don't do the hacked thing, so please don't post links to them. Quote from: Hannibal on January 03, 2012, 01:20:04 PM

Is it possible to have it re-install MS Word without the keys and the disks, without getting some hacked version? I don't do the hacked thing, so please don't post links to them.

I go to run then type the REGEDIT, where should I go there.

I dont have the product key in my cd sticker or any packaging or unless I will reinstall it.. I cant reinstall also because my cd ROOM is not working...

Anybody can help to locate my product key, I need the microsoft office for ODESK.. I need a job...

Thank youCall Microsoft...they have an 800 #...thanks, can you give me their number, complete contact numberCalling them wont help you because they cant VERIFY you own the copy.  One quick question just to make sure, did you physically buy it or buy it DIGITALLY, it sounds like you physically BOUGHT it but just making sure.  If you bought it digitally go to where you bought it and the CD key should be saved.

Your only really option are key finder software programs http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/ is one that a friend of mine uses (yes you have to buy it but its a lot less than another copy of windows, and then there is http://recover-keys.com/ which I bought over Jelly Bean (I honestly can't remember why).

There are advantages to  having them because they scan your registry and pull a ton of cd keys for you.  I keep a copy of it in a few different places that way I always have them.

EDIT: So I decided just now to reinstall recover keys and it is no longer accepting  my registration key, I went to cnet and saw other ppl with the same issue so I would go with jelly bean if you go that route.

how to REPAIR User_Feed_Synchronization is CORRUPT HTTP://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/task-scheduler-not-saving-changes-to/d0afdc41-1cdc-4e69-9ff5-a947e7776406

Hi, I need to be able to establish without any doubt the manufacturer of compact flash cards to avoid purchasing fakes.  A lot fakes can be established just by looking at the labels, however, some are getting rather good and I understand that the TRUE manufacturer is stated in the root directory.  How do I read this in win 7?  Thanks for any help Quote

I understand that the true manufacturer is stated in the root directory.

Then don't sell any under 2G's...

if you are going to be a re-seller ... research your sources and find out what exactly your providers are selling you...

If i were going into business doing this that's the approach i would take...

Clone Win 7 + XP -How?
I put the Win 7 RC on my XP DESKTOP. Each has its own partition.
Now Windows 7  CONTROLS the boot and not BOOT.INI as before.
I have tired Norton Ghost, older version, and it did not work.
Tired Windows 7 repair and it WIPED out XP clean.

Is there a way to do a Forensic Clone? 

i've been havin this problem for a while now.
i bought my desk top as a factory assembled COMPUTER it came with core duo e4500 2.20 ghz, 2 gig memory, running vista OS.

i was havin a few problems and had a few bsod, i solved all problems but was LEFT with it randomly freezing.

since then i have up graded my system,

windows 7 OS
4 gig of ram
sound blaster card
nvidia geforce 8400 gs
and a new Hitachi hdd 500 gig.

i made an assumption that by up gradin the lot, it would take care of the freezing problem but it hasn't.

I've run memory tests with no problems, I've run a compatibility test and all was fine, I'm STUCK as where to go from here.

any advice would be appreciated and thankyou in advancePlease describe EXACTLY what happens and when it happens.

Also, when you "upgraded" the OS did you do a new install with format or did you run an in place upgrade?when i up graded the os it was on a brand new hard drive, i installed windows 7 home premium.

when it froze the other day all i had running was skype , facebook, and vlc player, it happened 3 or 4 times in a row after i turned it off and back on again.

for the most it runs fine its complete random freezin, although it does seem to happen more when on youtube or other sites where you are streaming

thank you for your time allanAfter installing W7 did you download and install all of the correct drivers starting with the chipset driver?

Please open Device Manager - any yellow or red symbols?yup when i did the os i downloaded all that needed to be  and when you go into device manager there are no problems thereOkay. Please open Task Manager to the Processes Tab. Sort on the cpu column with highest usage at the top. Next time the system freezes see if one of the processes is spiking. If not, I suggest a selective startup. It's going to be time consuming, but it will help us determine if something loading with the system is causing the problem.

To run a selective startup test, open msconfig and on the General tab choose "selective startup" (uncheck all three items) and reboot. Does the problem still occur? If not, start adding items back to msconfig one or two at a time, rebooting after each change, until the problem reappears and you'll have identified the offending process. This is clearly a time consuming procedure, but it is the best way to determine if some process loading with the system is the cause of your problem.

After you've isolated the cause, do not use msconfig to permanently disable the process. Instead, if it is a service go to START - RUN and type: services.msc (then press enter) and disable the service OR, if it a program, you can download & run a simple app such as Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel (http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml) to enable, disable, or otherwise manage startup programs.
allan

lets start back at the beginning.

it would appear you are right firstly with the chipset drivers, i just assumed that when i hooked it all up and went online that it would just update itself,i've spent all night so far LOOKING for the said drivers on my computer with no look, would you be so kind as to point me in the right direction for these please.

my computer is a packard bell i media j2412
version pb80x19701

when i bought it it was runnin vista os
with 2 gig ram
internal sound card
nvidia geforce 8400gs

when i did a reformat on that, that is when i started to have the problems of it freezing, but like i say its completely random, theres no one thing that makes it freeze.

could you help me please to locate drivers for this and all bein well that might just sort it out.

many thanks



There are a couple of things that you can do to find the drivers.  One is go to the packard bell website, find the system that you purchased and see if they have a help system with a list of the drivers.  There are also a couple of different software options that scan your pc and let you know whether the drivers are out of date.  I have had mixed feelings about all of these so maybe there is one here people can recommend.