errors

Infopackets Reader Carol G. writes: " Dear Dennis, Since last week, my Windows 10 computer keeps showing a constant spinning blue circle instead of a white pointer. The spinning blue circle will appear for minutes at a time, then switch back to the ... white pointer for a brief second, then back to the spinning blue circle. Most of the time I can't click the Start button (or anything, for that matter) because the spinning blue circle won't let me click on anything. Even if the white pointer appears, if I click on something it takes 5 minutes for anything to happen. It's maddening! I've tried ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bob G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Windows 10. Last week my system attempted to perform a major upgrade (to version 1803, April Creators Update), but the update failed and it rolled back to version 1709 (Fall Creators ... Update). Now when I try and sign into Windows 10, it says: 'Preparing Windows', then it says ' We can't sign into your account . This problem can often be fixed by signing out of your account and then signing back in. If you don't sign out now, any files you create or changes you make will be lost'. I then get a notification near the clock that says ' ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Phoebe A. writes: " Dear Dennis, Today I tried to free up some space on my C drive by moving files over to my external hard drive, but Windows gave me an error message, stating that 'Error during copy: the request could not be ... performed because of an I/O device error'. I've also tried using 'TeraCopy' to copy files over, but it keeps freezing on the same files. Can you help? " My response: If you receive an error that says "the request could not be performed because of an I/O device error" when trying to copy or move a file, that usually (but not always) indicates bad ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Terrel W. writes: " Dear Dennis, I installed Windows 10 on my laptop about 2 months ago. Just recently the laptop has been extremely slow; whenever I click on anything, the cursor will spin for literally 3 to 5 minutes before I am ... able to do anything. Any action I take on the computer - whether it's a right click on the desktop, or launching the browser - results in the same spinning. This is not normal behavior! I have tried the Windows 10 Reset but it gives me an error. Can you help? " My response: I asked Terrell if he'd like me to connect to his system using my remote ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Lee' writes: " Dear Dennis. I have done a clean install of Windows 10 and downloaded all updates; however, I keep getting a blue screen error message that "CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED". Prior to that I was running Windows 7 - but also ... had the same error CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED. I have done several clean installs, but no luck. I've run chkdsk (check disk) and did a memory check - but neither report any errors. I did the 'sfc /scannow', but receive an error that 'windows resource protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them'. Can you please help? " My response: ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a RAID 1 set up with 4 hard drives in a mirrored array. Recently my RAID software reported that one of the drives was dropped from the array and has since been marked as 'rebuilding', ... however, during the rebuild process I keep receiving RAID controller errors that data could not be synced / written to the drive. I'm not sure what to do from here. Is there any way for me to independently check the drive for errors? I understand that if the drive is bad I should replace it, but I'm not even sure which drive is which. " My response: This ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bill S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded to Windows 10. Every time I boot my computer, I receive an error message that says 'Windows Command Processor has stopped working'. There are at least 3 of these notifications ... whenever I sign into Windows 10, and they only happen after I login. I have searched high and low to try and figure out why I keep receiving this error message but I'm completely stumped. Can you help? " My response: This is a good question. When I first upgraded to Windows 10, I also received the error message that 'Windows Command Processor has stopped ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Craig D. writes: " Dear Dennis, In the past I've used the msconfig utility many times to clear items from the Windows Startup. However, recently I tried to run msconfig and Windows reports that msconfig has stopped responding and ... my PC freezes. This is very frustrating! Any ideas why my msconfig stopped working? " My response: This is a very common problem, though you didn't say which Windows operating system you're using. As such, I'll provide solutions for Window XP and onward because most likely other users are having the same problem. Here are ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Fred J. writes: " Dear Dennis, I had to reinstall Windows 8 on my machine, and I wanted to download the Windows 8.1 update afterward. But when I try, that I'm told I must have all the current Windows 8 updates installed. So, I ... looked at the updates for Windows 8 and there are over 150 of them. I requested that they all be downloaded and installed, and they did. However, when the installation and configuration starts, I get the message that there was a ' Failure Configuring Windows Updates; Reverting changes ', and then Windows Update fails. Now I'm ... (view more)