Useful Windows Computer and Other Technology Tricks and Techniques

[Roccus7]

Can't believe we haven't got a thread like this, considering we have so many mundane ones of limited practical value.

After 15 or so tries to load a legacy program, MS Digital Image Pro Suite, on a new computer, I came upon an amazing work around that may help many of us from pulling out those now very sparse hairs.

Problem: When trying to load a legacy, 32-bit program that looks for other 32-bit Windows support programs on a 64-bit Windows computer, you come up against the dreaded, "I can't load this program on a 64-bit machine".

Solution: YOU JUST SKIRT THE ERROR MESSAGE!!!, but you'll need to use this cute trick!!

Explanation: There are many tools in the newer versions of Windows that let you load and run even "ancient" 32-bit programs, and hopefully none of you will ever need to use them. In my specific case I had exhausted these, high-level tools and was about throw in the towel on this program, one I like because it's basically Photoshop "Lite". My full-blown version of Photoshop from Adobe is a powerful tool, but too complicated for quick and basic photo editing,. For quick, day-to-day projects I prefer my 16-year old version of MS Digital Image program.

• When I started to load the program I got the message that Digital Image needs Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Tools loaded, and will do so during the install IF these programs are not on the computer. Suffice it to say IE 6 and the accompany Tools programs are NOT on a Windows 10 machine, although the "gist" of these programs are embedded in the OS.
  
  When you get a message like this, just click install.
  
  
  
  
  
• Eventually the install program will want to load IE 6, and the version on the CD will be a 32-bit one and it will "not compute". You'll see this message:
  
  
  
  DO NOT CLICK "OK"!!!!
  
  
• Time to fool the Installer program. Tap that Windows key on the lower left corner of your keyboard, go up the left corner until you see your Avatar if you actually use one, or the default Windows one and click on that.
  
  
  
  
  
• An option to SIGN OUT will pop up, Click on that. You'll be taken to a Blue Screen that will warn you if you sign out, the Install program, along with any others running will be stopped. Now click on CANCEL
  
  
• You'll be back to your Sign In screen, go ahead and sign in, and the install you were working on will resume!!! Easy Peasy!!

 

[Roccus7]

Instead of starting a new thread like some here who like to see their "Name in Pixels", I've changed the topic of this thread today to include ANY technology gone amok. For some reason, I've been spending an inordinate amount of time screwing around trouble shooting the home tech the past couple of weeks and hope to spare folks the pain.

 

[Roccus7]

TURBOTAX 2020 UPDATE WINDOWS 10 BRAIN FART: Here's one that a fellow Geek solved. I was running TurboTax and got the usual "New Updates Available". When the update started the Popup Screen, and the program froze. Tried a couple of times with the same result. Went to the TurboTax website and they were basically clueless, suggesting the old uninstall/reinstall.

HOWEVER, a very astute user, who got no joy from TTax "suggestions" found the solution. He was using a computer with a pretty common 1920 x 1080 resolution, was able to sort things out, and was good enough to get the solution out on the internet.

SOLUTION: If your using 1920 x 1080 resolution for TTax and you get the "Updates Available", before you start the updates, change your screen resolution to 1360 x 768. The updates will load fine, then you can go ahead and change your resolution back to 1920 x 1080.

AND THE CLOT THICKENS!! Armed with this new knowledge, I was seeing issues with GARMIN EXPRESS when I got a Popup Screen that locked up as "blank". I tried the adjusting the resolution, and the blank screen was properly filled in. However, the boxes that I needed to input info into were still inoperative. Garmin is working on the problem.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE: It seems that some programs' Popup Screens are having issues with the current version of Windows 10's video subroutines. Of course Microshaft will blame the specific software company, who will blame Microshaft. On the other hand, it might be a video controller software issue, so we have a third party joining the finger pointing party.

 

[Roccus7]

ROGUE VIDEO SYSTEM REMOTE CONTROL: I'm proud of this one, saved me big bucks. While taking my morning walk the other day the Admiralty signaled with an SOS, "What the hell did you do with the Sunroom TV today, I can't get it to work????" I went through the quick, and obvious solutions which were well-within the abilities of the Admiral, but nothing worked, rendering me to the "Go use the Great Room TV, I'll deal with it when I get home."

Walked in the house and was totally fogged in. All the remotes (TV, DirecTV, Harmony, FireCube) were totally worthless. But what was more troubling, when I turned on the TV via the buttons on the TV, all commands were ignored. The TV would go on with the volume at max. If I tried to turn the volume down, it would keep going back up. WTF?????

• Since modern TVs are never really "Off" unless they're unplugged, I pulled the plug and while the plug was out, held down the POWER button on TV for 30 seconds to drain any electricity from the system. Then put the plug back in, but TV still inoperative.
  
  
• Disconnected all TV inputs to see if any of those were the problem, but still no joy, the isolated TV was the issue.
  
  
• Tried to see if I had the latest Firmware, but I couldn't get the TV's Menu screen work using the buttons on the TV itself. Well, I've been looking for an excuse for a new TV, so I started measuring the TV's dimension so I could run out and buy a new one.
  
  
• As I was measuring, I "found" the TV's remote control IR sensors and then it struck me, "Could the issue be with one of the remotes and not the TV?" I took a piece of duct tape and covered the sensors and turned the TV back on, BINGO!!! The TV was responding to instructions from it's attached buttons. Turns out I had the latest Frimware.
  
  
• To verify it was the remotes, I moved all of them into another room and took the duct tape off the TV's IR sensor. Brought the TV remote into the room, it checker out fine, the same with both the DriecTV and Harmony ones. However when I brought the FireCube remote into the room, the TV immediately maxed out the volume; the FireCube remote was locked into an "INCREASE VOLUME" loop!!!!
  
  
• Pulled the batteries out of the FireCube, which were the original ones that it came with so I replaced them with fresh ones. TV working fine and Admiralty satisfied. No assignable cause to the remote going FUBAR, but at least know I've got another troubleshooting Factoid in the bank.

So the urgency of buying a new TV was gone, which I consider a "Happy Problem" for a couple of reasons. This TV is 12 years old, back when they still mounted decent speakers on the front of the TV so the sound is directed forward. The new ones have the tiny, crappy speakers shooting out backwards, so sound bars are almost mandatory. At this time of year I'd rather funnel disposable income funds into getting the boat ready and kitted out for launch, including new tackle and gear, instead of having to buy a new TV and a decent sound bar.

 

[Roccus7]

Here's one that may be helpful for those of you that have FIBEROPTIC INTERNET, which may mean FIOShis is "one of those".

Our fiberoptic internet went out late yesterday AM which is only the second time it's happened in 7 years!!. Called our local company and got a quick, "Yes, we have an extensive outage!" We had things to do and figured by the time we got home all should be good.

Got home from running errands around 16:00 an still no internet, so I called and talked Geekese to a very harried tech named Russ. He told me that they're weren't exactly sure what was going on, but it was a "software issue", not hardware and they didn't have a clue when it would be fixed. I said, "OK, hang in there and I won't yell at you because it must really suck to be you today." to which he replied, "Not yelling at me, that would be a first for today, thanks"

Just after 18:00 I got a call from my ISP and the man said, "Hi, Russ asked me to call you. Is your internet working yet?" It still wasn't so we went through the long list of normal things like shutting down and repowering all the hardware: the MUX (connection box), my router and my LAN switch with no joy.

The odd thing was he could "see" my router, so it was connected to the internet, but I wasn't getting out. I asked him if I should go into the advanced router settings (Kids don't try this at home) and check the internet details, to which he said, "Couldn't hurt." When I checked those setting I saw there was a "lease" which he noted was a pre-crash IP address. We both figured to try to RELEASE and RENEW THE LEASE and BINGO the internet was back!!!

Turns out their root problem was their servers screwing up assigning leases and my router was still under the impression it needed to be using the "Old Lease." We both laughed and said, "Well that's a new one!!"

The other "laugh" is that as I did the normal, "The internet isn't working" steps, the Admiral wanted to watch to learn. When I finally got it to work she said, "So what did you do?" "Nothing that can't be done easily so this one is way above your pay grade." There were no arguments to that...

 

[jpd]

Disconnect your Western Digital My Book Live storage if you have one.

MSN

www.msn.com

 

[Roccus7]

Disconnect your Western Digital My Book Live storage if you have one.

MSN

www.msn.com

And folks wonder why I NONE of my backup devices are connected to the internet, don't use any clouds, and refuse "Smart Home" technology.

 

[Roccus7]

Had a real spinchter tightening moment this past week. On Wednesday morning when I walked into the room where I left my laptop on and charging overnight, I noticed a faint whiff of plastic, but thought nothing of it. I plopped my laptop into my lap and noticed it was quite warm, not screaming hot, but certainly warmer than usual. There was no scorching nor distension of the case so I was concerned, but not freaking out just yet.

Thought I had left it on, but no life from the screen. Held down the power button for a good 30 seconds and then hit it again and nothing. Pulled the plug out and repeated the power button trick, no life. Tried a different power supply hoping that it was the problem, but still no joy.

Panic started to set in. It has been sitting on a pile of magazines overnight and I wonder if it had overheated due to poor airflow and was now fried, but was puzzled in that I had forced it into sleep mode so it shouldn't have been generating any heat. Put it on the granite kitchen counter, opened in a "V" upside down so it could cool down. After a 30 min cool down, still no life and still a little warm. Plugging it in didn't show the "I'm charging" light go on, and now the visions of lithium battery fires that we've all seen on the news started to pop into my brain.

Had to go to Boston for the day and those fire visions had me freaking as to where I'd keep this thing lest it spontaneously ignite and burn the house down. Normally, I'd have put it out on one of the firepits, BUT was forecasted to be pissing rain all day, so I took an empty lawn furniture cushion container, which is relatively watertight, dragged it well away from the house so it could burn down without any threatening the house, and did the inverted computer Vee storage there.

While in Boston I assumed that at a minimum my battery was toast, as it was 3 years old and that's a normal laptop battery life, so I started to get all the info on a new battery. I was willing to risk $40 instead of having to immediately to buy a new ~$600 computer if the unit was just plain toast.

When I got home 9 hours later, I retrieved the laptop from the storage container and plugged her in. After a brief, maybe 1 second delay, the "I'm Charging" light came on!! Boy that moment seemed to be around 3 hrs, but it wasn't. Turned the computer on and it fired up, albeit with a totally depleted battery.
Right after it booted up, I decided to switch locations and power supplies, so I powered it down to move. When I told it to shut down it asked, "Do you want me to load the update and then shutdown?"

SON OF A BITCH!!! GD Micro$haft had forced the computer to do an update the night before and the update must have gotten in a endless loop, causing the computer to overheat and go into a "coma"!!! I needed to totally run down the battery and/or cool down before it would function.

After that update and move to a new location, the computer fired up fine, battery charged and all seems normal, although I'm shutting her down and not charging over night for at least the next few days.

It was time for some single malt and spinchter relaxation...

 

[jpd]

I always turn off the auto-update and set for manual prompts, also randomly check anti-virus and VPN manually for updates in case they weren't done automatically.

My Lenovo laptop has a good setting, you can have the battery max out at 60% charge when plugged in - which it usually is.