Windows Tips

Infopackets Reader Jeff W. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am having a problem with Windows 10 not updating - it keeps telling me that KB4058258 and KB4074595 won't install. It will attempt to install the updates, then when I check Windows Update again ... those two updates are there again. KB4058258 is a cumulative update for Windows 10 whereas KB4074595 is a security update for Adobe Flash update. Can you help? " My response: I asked Jeff if he would like me to connect to his system using my remote desktop support service , and he agreed. I have been receiving a lot of inquiries about this lately and ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Stuart G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and everything was fine for a few days - then all the sudden Windows 10 got stuck in a reboot loop. The error message is VIDEO DXGKRNL FATAL ERROR . ... The error is displayed on a blue screen for a few seconds, then the computer reboots and does the same thing ad infinitum. I have researched VIDEO DXGKRNL FATAL ERROR on Google and came across websites that suggest doing a malware scan or 'sfc /scannow' to fix corrupt operating system files, or downloading a utility to repair drivers but I can't ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jennifer G. writes: " Dear Dennis, When I first started using Windows 10, I set up an email account using the 'Windows Mail' app. Unfortunately the Windows Mail app doesn't always work. I often get error messages stating it can't ... sync my account; when this happens I can't access my emails. I have installed Mozilla Thunderbird to replace the Mail app (and it works great!), however, the Windows 10 Mail App is keeps alerting me every so often that I have new email. I have no idea how to shut off these alerts. Can you help? " My response: There are a few ways you can disable ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ted G. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thank you for your pearls of wisdom! I have a question regarding VMWare Workstation . I recently virtualized a friend's PC which was facing numerous blue screens - I suspect his PC has a hardware ... error. After virtualizing the machine I mapped his drive in Windows Explorer; when I try to access c:\users\jim (his user folder), Windows keeps giving me an ' Access denied ' error. There does not seem to be any way to access his files using this method. For the record I have tried copying the files by networking his virtual machine to mine but it is ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Emmy-Lou' writes: " Dear Dennis, I am having trouble accessing eBay. The error message I get is: 'This site can't be reached. The connection was reset.' Other times, it is 'This site can't be reached. eBay unexpectedly closed the ... connection'. On the page with the error message, it says to: 'Try: Checking the connection, checking the proxy and the firewall, and Running Windows Network Diagnostics'. The official error message is ERR_CONNECTION_RESET (but sometimes it is ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED ). Can you help? " My response: Troubleshooting this error message can be rather ... (view more)

In regard to last week's article on the Spectre and Meltdown CPU exploits, which affects 100% of all computers made since 1995, user 'rep' had the following question to ask: " Dear Dennis, [Being that this is a hardware exploit], am I right in ... thinking that any passwords, etc, which are stored in the CPU's memory are lost when the computer is shut down? If so, could I simply shut off the computer and reload it every time I want to use Internet banking and would that keep me safe from these exploits? " My response: I posted my original response in the comments section of Friday's article, but ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve P. writes: " Dear Dennis, There has been a whirlwind of news on the Internet regarding the 'Spectre' and 'Meltdown' exploits that affect all microprocessors (CPUs) from 1995 and on. I am afraid my computer is at risk but I ... don't understand all the tecno-talk. Should I be worried? " My response: The short answer is: yes and no, mostly no (once patches are released). At the end of this article I'll offer advice on what you can do to stay protected. What does the Spectre and Meltdown Exploit Mean? I have been following the news for the last few days and here is what I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Barry S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I read with interest your article on how to shut down Mozilla Thunderbird gracefully using a series of 'taskkill' commands. The issue I have is that Thunderbird eats an enormous amount of memory if ... I leave it running over a period of 24 hours or more. When I try and send an email, the words in the email window (as I'm typing them) come out in spurts. This drives me crazy as I am a fairly quick typist. I tried setting up a batch script to run (using Task Scheduler) to gracefully close Thunderbird and restart it every 24 hours, but for some ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jerry K. writes: " Dear Dennis, I've read that the Windows 10 free upgrade ends at the end of this year. I have Windows 7 on my main PC and and my wife has Windows 8 on her laptop. In all, I find Windows 7 easier to use. Can we ... continue using Windows 7 and 8 indefinitely? Can you give me a few good reasons why I should get the free upgrade? " My response: I have been receiving a lot of questions lately similar to this, so I will try and answer this as best I can. First let's address your first question: no, you cannot continue using Windows 7 or 8 indefinitely (at least, ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Greeshma N. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have an external hard drive that has worked fine for years. Now the hard drive won't show up in My Computer, though it shows up under Devices and Printers - very strange! I have tried ... initializing the disk from Disk Management, but it won't format and I keep getting ' The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error '. I have tried cleaning up the disk by deleting items but it shows 0 bytes free and keeps giving me 'The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error'. What can I do to make this work? " My ... (view more)