Windows Tips

Infopackets Reader Jesse T. writes: " Dear Dennis, A friend of mine told me that the new version of Firefox is a lot faster, but requires special configuration changes in order to get the speed boost. Do you know what she is referring to? How can I ... make my Firefox faster? " My response: Your friend is correct - the latest edition of Mozilla Firefox (version 48) includes a major overhaul to allow for multi-processor support, though it may not be enabled by default on some systems. That is because some systems may use older add-ons that may interfere with the multi-processor support feature, ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bob T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded to Windows 10; unfortunately the Windows 10 upgrade corrupted my Start menu and tray bar, so I decided to do a clean install - which also means I have to reinstall all my programs. I'm ... now trying to install MS Office 2010 on the machine, but the MS Office setup.exe program keeps telling me 'Error 1317: Setup Cannot Create Directory C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office', and then rolls back and cancels the installation. I have tried using my original MS Office disc, and have also downloaded MS ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Davide' writes: " Dear Dennis, I have 7 of the exact same PCs with exact same displays: a Dell 2330 All-in-one (AIO). Some of the Dell 2330's upgraded to Windows 10 just fine; others would give me an error that 'Windows 10 will ... not work on this PC' because the display is not compatible with Windows 10 . Can you help me fix this error? " My response: I have been asked this question numerous times, though I have not have had the opportunity to connect remotely to someone's computer (via my remote desktop support service ) in order to troubleshoot this problem. That said, I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Frank C. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks so much for helping me fix my broken start menu and task bar [which required a complete reinstall of Windows 10 32-bit] using your remote desktop support service . After you reviewed my ... laptop's hardware, I am taking your advice and wish to upgrade my system to 8GB of RAM. I understand that once I upgrade to the 8 GB of RAM, I will also need to upgrade to Windows 10 64-bit, because Windows 10 32-bit can only see a maximum of 4GB on my system. My question is: how can I upgrade from Windows 10 32-bit to Windows 10 64-bit? I downloaded ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Mary L. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just installed Windows 10 on my laptop, but I'm having a problem with the screen fading so dark I can hardly see it. I've tried adjusting the screen brightness manually on the laptop by pressing ... the FN (function) key + up arrow key, but the screen brightness won't say - it keeps going dark automatically on its own. The screen goes dim whether or not I have the laptop plugged into the power outlet, or if it's running on battery. It also seems to happen immediately as soon as I login to Windows. I have tried changing the Power Settings (via ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Gord F. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am trying to upgrade from Windows 7 to 10 but every time I run the upgrade, it fails with an error message: '0x8007002cf - 0x4000d - The installation failed in the second_boot phase with an error ... during migrate_data operation,' then reverts back to Windows 7. I have tried upgrading 3 times but it keeps failing. I don't know what to do. Can you help? " Update 20200116 : I'm getting a lot of emails from folks asking for help with this problem now that Windows 7 has officially reached its end of life as of January 14, 2020. If you need help ... (view more)

How to Fix: 'Your Power Plan Information isn't Available' Infopackets Reader Cindy G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Windows 7 Pro and I'm trying to defrag my hard drive. I'm using Piriform Defraggler and it says that it will take over a day to ... complete. That's fine - however, every time I shut my monitor off and leave the computer to do its work, it keeps going to sleep. I have gone to the Power Options in the Windows Control Panel, but all I see is a message stating that 'Your power plan information isn't available'. I am completely perplexed by this as I have a Windows 7 laptop and my ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sam T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have an HP computer, which has 4 hard drive partitions: the System partition, the C drive, the factory image partition (which includes a backup of Windows), and the 'HP Tools' partition, which ... contains BIOS information in case a BIOS flash fails and I need to restore my BIOS. My question is this: I used MiniTool Partition Wizard to shrink my C drive, which then created unallocated space. Normally I can right click the unallocated space and create a new volume, however, I receive an error message that says: 'Partition Wizard cannot create a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Mike R. writes: " Dear Dennis, Oftentimes when I visit Facebook.com, there are several ads on the right side of the screen such as 'The Top 10 Highest Paid Soccer Players', or 'The Funniest Billboards Ever', or something along ... those lines. Whenever these ads are displayed, the web browser locks up and I receive an error message that there is an unresponsive script on the page. I have three options: 'Debug', 'Continue', and 'Stop Script'. Why do I keep getting the 'unresponsive script' error? I use Firefox. " My response: This is a very good and frequently asked question. ... (view more)

" Dear Dennis, I work in an office on a desktop PC. If I am away from the PC, anyone in the office can hop onto my computer and access my emails because the 'offline access' to my emails feature is enabled. I have no idea how to turn it off! How can ... I prevent others from accessing my emails while I'm away? " My response: The quick and short answer is that disabling offline access to emails depends on the application or service you're using - most likely somewhere in your user account settings if you're using something like Gmail, or possibly in the "Tools -> Options" menu if you're using ... (view more)