Windows Tips

Infopackets Reader Jean S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Windows 10 Home and I want to disable OneDrive permanently . I have reviewed many so-called guides online and it seems that you need to have Windows 10 Pro or higher to disable One Drive ... from reinstalling using the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc). Therefore, the only option for Windows 10 Home users is to uninstall One Drive manually - however, each time Windows makes a major update, OneDrive comes back and starts sucking up my data bandwidth, and slows my machine down. Is there any way to uninstall OneDrive permanently? " My ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Fred W. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks for your article on how to play games in 5.1 surround sound . I own the Asus Xonar DX (same as you) and when I first set it up, I could play games in 5.1 surround sound using my optical ... (toslink) cable. I knew this was true because my Harmon Kardon 144 receiver would say 'Dolby Digital' along with each speaker box activated on the display. This meant the receiver was receiving a true 5.1 signal. Recently, Windows 10 updated and now the only sound signal I get on my receiver is Dolby Pro Logic, which is a 2 channel signal up-converted to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bob J. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently built a new computer with the Ryzen 2700x CPU (8 cores, 16 threads) and it's screaming fast. I also purchased an EVGA Nvidia 2080 video card to play games. Everything works great, however ... the games are not playing in 5.1 surround sound. I have researched this issue online and can't seem to find a straightforward answer. Can you please tell me how can I play my games in 5.1 surround sound? " My response: I have dealt with this before and there are two main approaches to resolving this issue. How to Fix: Can't Play Games in 5.1 Audio ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am use Acronis 2016 with Windows 10 to backup my system. Recently I tried to restore my C drive, but the backup failed in the middle of the restore operation. I subsequently tried 3 more backups I ... made earlier in the year but they also failed. This makes me think there is something wrong with the backup drive. I ended up having to reinstall Windows clean on my system to get back up and running. I tried running 'chkdsk' on the backup drive, and it reported that the volume bitmap was incorrect. I followed your guide on ' How to Fix: ChkDsk ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Paul D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have an external drive I use for backups. The other day I went to restore from backup but it aborted, stating the backup was corrupt. I have since run chkdsk (check disk) on the external drive and ... chkdsk reported that ' The Volume Bitmap is incorrect ' and to 'run chkdsk /scan to find the problems and queue them for repair.' I did that, but chkdsk says ' The shadow copy provider had an error ... A snapshot error occured while scanning this drive .' I have searched the Internet for an answer to this problem but can't figure out how to get ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jack F. writes: " Dear Dennis, My Edge web browser randomly displays a security alert stating that 'The server www[dot]mariopullmesdas.info is asking for your user name and password. The page reports an error code of 0x80070424, ... then says that my 'Activation key is damaged'. To fix the problem I need to call the Microsoft Help Desk at (855)-684-9323. A computer generated voice says that my computer will keep restarting every few minutes if I don't fix the problem and that my personal data is at risk. What do I do? " My response: This is a web browser fake tech support scam ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Izzy M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am trying to figure out how IP addresses are assigned using IPv4 (IP addressing version 4), but can't seem to find a straight answer online. My question: is there a certain number that my IP ... address has to be? Is there any correlation between my IP address, subnet mask and default gateway? How is my IP address assigned or determined? Thank you in advance! " My response: I think the reason you can't find an answer to this question is because this is an extremely broad question. To put this as simple as possible: the answer to your question ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bob S. writes: " Dear Dennis, ... [I run an accounting firm and was recently hit with a ransomware attack which encrypted over 70,000 of my files . I nearly lost everything, though I was finally able to overcome this and recover ... my data through your help] ... What I need is a comprehensive backup solution that will allow me to automate my backups - which means having the backup drive attached to my system 24/7 - yet, the backup drive must be protected such that ransomware cannot spread to the drive and encrypt my backup data. If that were to happen, my backups would be ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Tina A. writes: " Dear Dennis, I've been reading articles on the Internet about cyber criminals breaking into computer networks, encrypting files and then demanding a ransom. I've also read that if I leave my computer connected to ... the Internet, I could be susceptible to ransomware. I don't know what to believe. So my question is: is ransomware a threat? Is ransomware malware? Should I be worried? " My response: This is a pretty big question to answer. The simple answer is that: yes , ransomware is a threat, and yes you can get infected with ransomware just by having your ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently upgraded my OpenVPN from version 2.3.2 (back in 2014) to the latest version 2.4.6, but now my OpenVPN server is broken. I checked the log files and it says ' SSL ... routines:SSL_CTX_use_certificate:ca md too weak ', followed by 'Cannot load certificate file /path/cert.crt'. I have tried embedding my certificates inside the server.ovpn file (rather than having it point somewhere externally), but that does not help. It simply won't load the certificate. I've researched this issue for days and keep coming across a forum post on the ... (view more)