Windows Tips

Wed
19
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: VMWare 'Taking ownership of this virtual machine failed' Error

Infopackets Reader Paul K. writes: " Dear Dennis, We use VMWare Workstation 14 at work as the hypervisor for a number of virtual machines that run on our server. A few days ago we lost power on the server while our database virtual machine (VM) was ... running. I have since tried to start that virtual machine, but VMWare Workstation keeps popping up with an error message that says ' This virtual machine might have been moved or copied (pic). In order to configure certain management and networking features, VMWare Workstation needs to know if this virtual machine was moved or copied. If you don't ... (view more)

Mon
10
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: Can't Uninstall or Update Avast (Win10)

Infopackets Reader Steve P. writes: " Dear Dennis, Recently my computer updated to Windows 10 October Update (2018). Since then, Avast antivirus reports that ' You are unprotected '. I have tried disabling and re-enabling Avast, but it doesn't help. ... I have also tried to uninstall Avast (in hopes of reinstalling it), but the uninstall hangs near the 99% mark and will not progress. When I abort the uninstall, it says ' You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Avast '. I have already verified that my user account has administrator access. I have tried updating avast but received an error ... (view more)

Fri
07
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: Excel Stdole32.tlb Error (The Easy Way)

Infopackets Reader Paulina K. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007. Whenever I run Excel, it displays an error message 'stdole32.tlb' and nothing else. MS Office then launches the Microsoft Office installer ... (inside of the Excel window), which takes about 5 or more minutes to complete. Eventually I can start using the program, but the next time I run Excel I get the same 'stdole32.tlb' error message. I have tried to uninstall and reinstall Office but it doesn't work. I also tried to repair Office but that gave me the same stdole32.tlb error message. Can ... (view more)

Fri
30
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: Uninstall OneDrive Permanently (Win10 Home, Pro)

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)

Mon
26
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: Asus Xonar Won't Play 5.1 Surround Sound (Win10)

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)

Fri
23
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: Can't Play Games in 5.1 Audio Surround Sound

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)

Mon
19
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: Acronis 2016 Won't Validate Backups, Show Progress

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)

Fri
16
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: ChkDsk Volume Bitmap, Shadow Copy Error

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)

Fri
26
Oct
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: Activation Key Damaged (Scam)

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)

Fri
19
Oct
Dennis Faas's picture

Explained: How is My IP Assigned / Determined (IPv4)?

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)

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Windows Tips