Windows Tips

Infopackets Reader Fred P. writes: " Dear Dennis, My Windows 10 computer rebooted yesterday because it downloaded some updates, however kb3116900 failed to install, with error code 0x80071A2D. I tried to find this update using the Windows Update ... Catalog but Firefox says it is an untrusted connection. I tried Internet Explorer and was able to connect. I downloaded the update, but it failed to install again. What can I do? This update says it's a Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3116900). Can you help? " My response: I had the exact same problem on one of ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Nigel S. writes: " Dear Dennis, Today my Windows 10 computer rebooted to finish installing updates, but then I received an error message that update KB3122947 'failed to install', with an error 0x80070643 - whatever that means. I ... clicked on the More Info link that didn't help me fix the problem. Can you help? " My response: Based on what I've read online, update KB3122947 has failed to install for many people - in fact, it failed to install on one of my systems. There is, however, a workaround and it involves using the administrative command line. Unfortunately the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Kim H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded to Windows 10 and my screen shrank with a big black border around it. Previously I was running Windows 7 and the screen fit fine on my monitor. I read your article, " How to Fix: ... Windows 10 Black Border (Shrinking Screen) ," where you detailed how to manually adjust the video scaling options for Radeon video cards, so that the screen stretches all the way properly onto the monitor's edge. I have an Nvidia video card and was wondering if you had a similar fix so I can make Windows 10 fit properly onto my entire screen? " My ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve C. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks again for your wonderful website and for the ongoing coverage on Windows 10. I was wondering if you could tell me where is the Solitaire and other games for Windows 10? I use to play ... Solitaire for Windows 7, including Hearts, Spider Solitaire, and Minesweeper but I cannot find them in Windows 10. The only alternative I've seen is to pay for them. Why would Microsoft get rid of Solitaire and these other great games after including them for so long? I hope you can help! " My response: In Windows 10 if you want to access the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Tom H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I'm currently running Windows 7 and would like to upgrade to Windows 10. However, the one thing I'm greatly concerned about is how Windows 10 will track and share my information online. In your ... opinion is Windows 10 worth it or should I stick with Windows 7? " My response: That's a good question, and there a number of things to consider. Updates for the Life of the Machine In my opinion, it's definitely worth the upgrade to go from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10 simply for the fact that you will be running the latest operating system from ... (view more)

Infopackets Read Sammy K. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded to Windows 10 and I have been using the Edge browser for a few weeks. One thing I don't understand, however, is how to change the default download location in Edge? I do a fair bit of ... downloading online, but Edge only wants to download to my 'Download' folder which is located in c:\users\my user name. With Internet Explorer or any other browser, I could choose my download location. Can you help? " My response: Microsoft Edge is a much more basic browser in comparison to Internet Explorer (or any other browser, for that matter), ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Frank T. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks for your ongoing coverage on Windows 10. My question is: how can I download the Windows 10 Fall Update (version 10586) to my machine? It downloaded automatically onto my laptop, but not my ... main PC. I searched online on how to download Windows 10 Fall Update but came across conflicting reports, some of which worked and some that don't. Can you help? " My response: I also did some research on this as I was having the same issue. My server PC downloaded Windows 10 Fall Update but none of my other PCs did, even though everything was ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sheila P. writes: " Dear Dennis, How do I disable my Windows 10 password so I can log into Windows 10 automatically? Ever since I upgraded to Windows 10 I have to enter in my email address and then a password. Before using Windows ... 10, I was using Windows 7 and the system booted straight into the desktop. I want to do the same thing with Windows 10. Can you help? " My response: It is possible to login to Windows 10 without a password, but doing so is a very poor security policy. If someone were to gain access to your device (whether it was by remote or locally), they could ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Marilyn' writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded to Windows 10 and almost all of my desktop icons are missing. I can only see three icons on my desktop and they are spaced out with 1 huge line at a time. When I select 1 icon, the ... entire row of my desktop gets highlighted. I have never seen anything like this before. I read your article on ' How to Fix: Windows 10 Desktop Icons Missing ', and have ensured that my system is not in Tablet Mode, so I don't know why my Windows 10 desktop icons are missing. Can you help? " My response: Admittedly, I was perplexed Marilyn's ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a RAID 1 set up with 4 hard drives in a mirrored array. Recently my RAID software reported that one of the drives was dropped from the array and has since been marked as 'rebuilding', ... however, during the rebuild process I keep receiving RAID controller errors that data could not be synced / written to the drive. I'm not sure what to do from here. Is there any way for me to independently check the drive for errors? I understand that if the drive is bad I should replace it, but I'm not even sure which drive is which. " My response: This ... (view more)