windows

Infopackets Reader Steve F. writes: " Dear Dennis, I will be upgrading my computer to the new AMD Ryzen 1700 CPU (which has 8 cores and 16 threads!) at a fraction of the price of Intel CPUs. I have searched online but I can't seem to find the answer ... - can you please tell me: after I install the new motherboard and CPU, can I continue to use my existing Windows installation or do I need to install Windows again? Also is my Windows 10 license still valid or do I need to purchase Windows 10 for my new motherboard and CPU? " My response: Short answer: It depends on the type of Windows you own and ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am trying to convert my Macrium Reflect disk image backup into a virtual machine by using the 'Macrium ImgtoVHD' utility. The problem is that ImgtoVHD aborts every time, telling me ' The vhd file ... could not be created or written to '. The backup I'm trying to convert is from an old machine which died and I really need to get this working so I can export data from a program. Can you please help? " My response: I have had this problem before and the solution (in a nutshell) is to create a blank virtual machine, then restore the backup onto the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Scott writes: " Dear Dennis, I'm thinking of turning on disk encryption for my Windows 10 computer. I've never done this before. Is there anything to be concerned about or to be aware of? " My response: This is a good question. ... The truth of the matter is that if you encrypt your entire C drive using Windows BitLocker or a third party utility, it's going to slow your system down quite a bit. The reason for this is because every single file written to the drive must be encrypted, and then decrypted when read - including your operating system files. Constantly encrypting and ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Barry P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have an HP computer running Windows 10 (previously upgraded from Windows 8), and it's running very slow. I'd like to reinstall Windows - but before I do that, I want to back everything up onto ... external hard drive. I want to keep the backup as small as possible - as such, I noticed that I have a 'C:\System Recovery' folder with 'C:\System Recovery\Repair' and 'C:\System Recovery\Repair\Backup' subfolders. The 'C:\System Recovery' folder is taking up 40GB of data and I'd like to know if it's safe to delete. I have another machine here and I ... (view more)

Microsoft has started public testing on the next major update for Windows 10. Many of the new features are for the Edge browser, but tweaks to security and usability are also on the way. The changes are now available to members of the Windows ... Insider program that allows users to act as guinea pigs and try out new features and fixes, albeit with the risk that not everything will always work perfectly. It appears the new features will be rolled out to the general in the spring as part of a major update. Initially it appeared that update, codenamed "Creators Update" or "Creative ... (view more)

Microsoft has warned that scammers are trying to trick users with a fake "Blue Screen of Death" error message. The idea is to fool users into calling a bogus 1-800 tech support hotline. The Blue Screen of Death is an unofficial name given to a ... particular type of error message which appears when a Windows computer suffers a serious malfunction. In most cases, once the screen appears the only option is to reboot the computer, usually by switching it off with a physical power button or by resetting the machine with a reset button (if it is available). The idea of the screen is to give ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ray F. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a problem with Google Analytics tying up my web browser with a 'waiting for www google-analytics.com' messages every time I visit a site. It shows this message in the action box on the lower ... left of the browser as the page loads. This goes for about 20 to 40 seconds and will not let me pass it; I have to wait for it to complete before the page will fully load. How do I get rid of this? Thanks for a great website and newsletter. " My response: This is a good question. The reason why the analytics is there is so that the website operator ... (view more)

With smartphones and tablets gaining extreme popularity thanks to low-cost production and ever-increasing CPU speeds, many users are looking at alternatives to Windows when it comes to being able to compute on the go. One system in particular is the ... ChromeBook (laptop) which is based on Google's Chrome operating system. Many major manufacturers produce Chromebooks, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung. As of September 2016 there were at least three dozen Chromebook models on the market. What is Chrome OS? Chrome OS is a somewhat similar, but separate operating system to Android ... (view more)

At Infopackets we're often asked to recommend security software and tools or give our opinion on specific products. While every product has its pros and cons, as the old saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. With that in mind, I ... thought I'd run down the actual tools I use in my day to day life rather than when we're testing out products. That means trying to find the balance of staying protected without taking up too much time and attention or computing resources. Permanent My main anti-virus software is Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows 7. It's ... (view more)

" Dear Dennis, I work in an office on a desktop PC. If I am away from the PC, anyone in the office can hop onto my computer and access my emails because the 'offline access' to my emails feature is enabled. I have no idea how to turn it off! How can ... I prevent others from accessing my emails while I'm away? " My response: The quick and short answer is that disabling offline access to emails depends on the application or service you're using - most likely somewhere in your user account settings if you're using something like Gmail, or possibly in the "Tools -> Options" menu if you're using ... (view more)