Windows Tips

Infopackets Reader Steve T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am trying to backup my Mozilla Thunderbird emails using an automated backup schedule. The problem is that Thunderbird is always running on my computer and there does not seem to be a way to ... gracefully close the program so that the backup can start. Without closing the Thunderbird before the backup, I run the risk of having corrupt backups due to files being in use. Can you please tell me if there is a way that I can gracefully close Thunderbird (without terminating the process unexpectedly) so that I can complete my automated backups? " My ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Carl S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am frequently on the road with my laptop and need to access my files at home on the PC. I have installed FileZilla FTP Server (version 0.9.60 beta) and it works fine at home but when I am remote, I ... get the error: ' failed to receive directory listing ', and then it disconnects. I am currently using Port 21 to host the FTP and have added it to my firewall, but I don't understand why FileZilla server can't retrieve the directory listing by remote. Can you help? " My response: I asked Carl if he would like me to connect to his system using my ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jenna R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I installed Google Drive on my system a while ago but it stopped working; I reinstalled the program only to find that Google Drive has been replaced with ' Google Backup and Sync '. Now when I plug ... in a USB thumb drive to my computer, I see this annoying popup message in the lower right hand corner of my screen asking if I want to backup my photos. This also happens when I plug in my smartphone. Despite clicking ' Remember my choice for this device' and 'Not now' (pic), it never remembers that I don't want to use this feature. It's incredibly ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Paul E. writes: " Dear Dennis, I read with interest John Lister's article on the WPA2 exploit (KRACKs) , which explains how hackers can break into any WiFi network. I have 4 TPLink routers in my home that I use as 'hot spots' in ... various locations. As per your suggestion, I have visited TPLink's website for firmware updates for my routers, but there are none available. I am worried that someone is going to break into my network and steal my financial information. What can I do? " My response: I own a few TP Link routers as well and what I've done is flashed the routers using ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jean K. writes: " Dear Dennis, Recently my Firefox web browser updated to version 56.0.2. When I go Tools -> Add-ons , I see most of my addons are marked as ' Legacy '. I read online that when Firefox 57 is released, it will ... use ' web extensions ,' (also spelt " WebExtensions ") which will make the current addons incompatible. This is a big problem! I have been using the ' Tab Groups ' addon by Quicksaver for a while now (which groups my web browser tabs into categories) and cannot imagine life without this incredibly helpful addon. Unfortunately the developer ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Pat C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have been using Microsoft Outlook for a number of years as it is my go-to email client. Every so often I need to reinstall Windows for various reasons; when this happens I have to reinstall Outlook ... and create a new Outlook .PST file, which stores my Outlook data including emails and calendar. The problem is that I have 8 .PST files from each time I've had to reinstall Windows over the years, as Outlook simply - will not - allow you to continue using the same .PST file from where you last left off. From what I can tell, each time the .PST file ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a question regarding the Microsoft policy to have Windows 10 reboot after an update automatically. Oftentimes the automatic reboots cause me to lose my work (example: open documents, open ... tabs on my browser, certain folders open, etc). I would prefer to have it so that Windows 10 doesn't reboot on updates. I understand the policy to reboot on update is forced Windows 10 users but can this be prevented? " Update 20200701 : The script below now works with Windows 10 1909 and Windows 10 2004 branches. My response: You can stop Windows 10 ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jerry C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I took your advice on antivirus and tried to install Avast! using minimal settings, but the install fails with an error message ' Avast cannot be installed into the folder you entered (directory not ... empty) '. I have searched for the answer to this but no one seems to know the answer. Can you help? " My response: I asked Jerry if he would like me to connect to his machine using my remote desktop service and he agreed. I have not seen this error message before, and tried running the "Avast Uninstall Utility" to clean up any left-over remnants ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am using a Windows 10 PC. This past weekend, my grandchild made some changes to my PC and now every time there is sound, the screen flashes. I have searched and searched how to fix this but I am ... cannot seem to find a solution. Can you tell me how I can make windows 10 stop flashing on sound? " My response: I have not heard of this issue before but suspected it may have something to do with the "Ease of Access" mechanism which has been built into Windows as far back as Windows XP. According to Microsoft, Ease of Access "helps make your PC ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Harlen W. writes: " Dear Dennis, I own a Dell PowerEdge T110 server, which runs Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation and is equipped with a Dell Perc 300 RAID card . We have 3 x 250 GB hard drives in RAID 5 format attached to the ... Perc 300 RAID card. According to the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator (which we use to manage the RAID via the browser), the 'Alert' log file is reporting ' Device failed: Physical Disk 0:1 Controller 0, Connector 0 '. I would like to hire you to help me fix this problem, including testing the failed hard drive . If it passes, I want to put it ... (view more)