Windows Tips

Infopackets Reader Fabian A. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a very old Dell Windows 2003 Server with a PERC RAID card set up for storage. We are trying to convert this old server into a virtual machine, then migrate to Windows Server 2016. I tried ... using the utility Disk2VHD to image the C drive into a .VHD file, then run the .VHD file using Oracle VirtualBox. Unfortunately, I keep getting 'a disk read error occurred' every time I try to boot the virtual machine. I have read your credentials and am very impressed with your knowledge, and was wondering if you could help us convert this server? ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sal S. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks so much for helping me fix the remote desktop 'another connection is in progress' error ! I have another question. As I mentioned, we use VMWware Workstation extensively for running virtual ... machines on our Windows 10 'server' computers. I recently installed Oracle VirtualBox on the same system running VMWare Workstation, and now my network is not working on any of my virtual machines. I cannot connect to the Internet on any of the virtual machines, nor can remote desktop into any of the virtual machines. I have tried uninstalling and ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sal S. writes: " Dear Dennis, My company runs a network of computers. Some of the computers run Windows 10 with 64 GB of RAM and VMWare Workstation (which run virtual machines). I use Windows Remote Desktop (RDP) to manage these ... 'Windows 10 Servers' remotely. Recently I had to install Oracle VirtualBox on the main Windows 10 server, and now I cannot connect to it using RDP - I have to use TightVNC instead. When I try and connect using remote desktop (RDP), I get an error message: ' Your computer could not connect to another console session on the remote computer because you ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Stephen B. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently installed 'Ace Player HD' to play p2p video streaming. Everything was fine for a little while, but now Windows 10 keeps popping up every few seconds saying that ' An app default was ... reset . An app caused a problem with the default app setting for .3gp files, so it was reset to Moves ... (view more)

Has this happened to you? Infopackets Reader Dave C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have been completely locked out of my Windows 10 machine! I tried to uninstall Avast Antivirus using Safe Mode (as this was recommended), and now Windows is asking me for ... a password, when before I was using a PIN number. I have NO IDEA what my password is as I have been using a PIN for the last two years. I've tried rebooting without Safe Mode but the option to use a PIN is no longer there. I am desperate! Can you help? " My response: There are a few ways to reset your Windows password - whether you ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running a Windows 10 PC, which I share with my daughter. Lately I have begun receiving Facebook notifications / popups on the lower right corner of my desktop. These notifications appear every ... few minutes and it is literally driving me insane. I cannot figure out how to shut this setting off. Searching Google for 'windows disable facebook popups' isn't of any help because I am getting different answers. One says to disable the Facebook app, another says it's a Facebook setting. I have no idea how to do either because I don't even use ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ramona A. writes: " Dear Dennis, Recently My Windows 7 laptop kept popping up with ' Windows has detected that your computer's performance is slow ' error messages. I disabled the color scheme to fix the issue (as recommended) but ... the popups kept coming every 3 minutes or so. I suspected I was infected with malware, so I downloaded Malwarebytes Antimalware and did a scan. MBAM found over 1,700 'threats' - one of them was a rootkit. I quarantined all the items, then rebooted and things are much better, however - now the 'mbamservice.exe' is constantly causing high CPU load ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bob P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Windows 10 and I have thousands of cab_xxx files in my c:\windows\temp directory. Many of the files are 135 megabytes each, while some are 0 bytes. They keep generating themselves ... throughout the day, and I can't seem to stop it! The problem is that I am almost running out of disk space. You've fixed my computer using remote desktop support before so I am more than willing to have you look at it again. Thanks! " My response: I connected with Bob using my remote desktop support service and found some very interesting things. ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader William C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I'm have a problem with my sound after the latest Windows Update in Windows 10 (version 15063.540). If I use System Restore to roll back the sysetm (which then uninstalls the update), my sound ... works perfectly fine. In my Device Manager I have: a 'High Definition Audio Device' with yellow exclamation point warning, and two 'Realtek High Definition Audio Device' with no warning. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the Realtek audio drivers to no avail - the sound will simply not work! My system is connected to a TV via HDMI cable. If I use ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader John B. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Windows 10 and every once in a while I receive a popup notification from ' Smart System Care ' that I have errors on my PC and I need to remove them. It then says that if I want to ... remove the problem I have to pay money. I realize this program is most likely a scam, and I tried to remove it from my system but it is nowhere to be found. I have researched the problem using Google however there are so many posts and many steps, and it seems very convoluted. Can you please help? " My response: I asked John if he would like me to ... (view more)