Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader Mike B. writes: " Dear Dennis, I run a Windows Server 2003 box that has been fine until two days ago. Now, my CPU usage is 100% with multiple 'Update_Windows.exe' processes running. I've deleted the Update_Windows.exe tasks in ... Task Manager, but it keeps propagating. I did a virus scan, but it did not find anything; Malwarebytes antimalware also is not reporting anything. Prior to the infection, I installed the emergency May 2017 update to avoid the Windows SMB exploit / WannaCry ransomware infection . I understand Windows Server 2003 is no longer supported by Microsoft and ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Dan L. writes: " Dear Dennis, I imagine that you might soon be hearing from your users about Roboform having suddenly lost its toolbar feature in FireFox. If not, here's the answer: starting with the recently issued Roboform ... 8.3.7, the RoboForm extension will no longer include a full static toolbar above the content pane of Firefox . Instead, you get a button with a message that reads ("Click this button to show RoboForm commands") with a vertical menu, similar to how Roboform works in Chrome. I found an article at RoboForm that explains the changes - and it seems that ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve V. writes: " Dear Dennis, I came across your post on screenconnect.com, entitled ' Mono eating too much memory (Linux) ' and am having the same issue. It seems that ScreenConnect is uncontrollably eating memory - for ... example, when I click on client previews, the mono process eats 300mb+ of RAM and will continue to do so for each click. Surely this is not right! At this point I receive 'Internal error' on my ScreenConnect browser control panel (where I can view my clients). Ultimately, /var/log/messages reports 'Out of memory: Kill process xxxx (mono) score xxx or ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ian S. writes: " Dear Dennis, Recently I noticed through Task Manager that I have very high CPU usage, even with the computer idle. I looked at Task Manager and it says that 'IAStorDataMgrSvc' is eating 25% of my CPU constantly. I ... read that this is an Intel program and that my computer's BIOS may not be set up properly, which is causing the problem. I also read that if I set the BIOS improperly (in order to correct the issue), my computer may get stuck in a blue screen loop. I am afraid to make any changes for fear that it may screw something up. Can you help? " My response ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Gail S. writes: " Dear Dennis, On April 26, 2017 I received an email about the new Roboform 8 release. I have been running Roboform 7 (desktop) for a few years, and have only paid a single fee to register the program. I did not ... want to upgrade to Roboform 8 because I wasn't sure if it was free or not. That said, the following week I received a notification from Roboform 7 that an update was available - I chose to download it. During the setup I was warned that the update was irreversible. Afterward, I realized that I had actually installed Roboform 8! I clicked 'Help -> ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Howard N. writes: " Dear Dennis, In regard to the WannaCry Internet worm which can infect all Windows PCs that have not yet been patched using Windows Updates - how can I make sure that my Windows Update is operating properly, and ... that I am receiving my updates automatically? I enjoy your newsletter - please keep it up and have a nice day! " My response: Generally speaking: you should be able to go to the "Windows Update" service within Windows, and it should tell you when updates were last received. If you haven't received any updates for a while - or if you have your ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Beth R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am using Windows 7 and the USB 'Safely remove hardware' icon in my tray bar seems to have disappeared. I understand that USB drives need to be 'safely removed' or they can corrupt, which I would ... like to avoid. What can I do to fix the USB 'Safely remove hardware' so it comes back? " My response: There are a few things you can try in order to fix the USB "Safely remove hardware" icon - I'll explain a few approaches below. The fix below will work on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10 . How to Fix: USB 'Safely remove hardware' icon missing The ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Peter M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a very strange issue. I recently put together a new computer build and installed Windows 10. Everything was working fine for the past month or so, then all the sudden, Windows 10 won't boot ... into the login screen - it simply freezes at the swirling dots. Surprisingly, I can remote desktop into the problematic machine from another, but the system stability doesn't last and eventually it freezes up on me. I suspect I have a hardware problem - perhaps the video card. I've managed to run 'msconfig' and specified Safe Mode with Networking, ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sam R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Windows 10 and I have installed RDP Wrapper (per your previous article). This allows more than one person to use the same Windows computer via remote desktop - this is very convenient if ... you have a 'server' computer and want to use it for multiple purposes. I have a question: I would like to be able to hide the remote desktop user accounts I want to use on the server from being displayed on the Windows 10 login screen. Do you know how I can do this? " My response: It is possible to hide user accounts from the Windows 7, 8 and 10 ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sam T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently upgraded my motherboard and CPU to the Intel Core i7 7700k processor which is very fast! I loaded Windows 7 onto the machine and everything was working great - that is, until I went to ... check for Windows Updates and I received the error: ' Unsupported Hardware / Your PC uses a processor that is designed for the latest version of Windows. Because the processor is not supported together with the Windows version that you are currently using, your system will miss important security updates.' Is there any way to prevent this 'unsupported ... (view more)