Computer Hell

We've all been there. The error messages. The blue screen of death.

I've been working with computers since Commodore 64. The most important thing they have taught me is patience. 

I hate patience. It takes way too long to learn. -sigh-

God loves me. He keeps trying to teach me.

This is why I feel bad about all the cussing I've been doing the past few days.

Yes. I bought a new hard drive and I said I'd just clone my old one. I actually said, "Easy peasy." NEVER let me say things like that!! It tempts the fates!

For at least three days I've struggled with this drive. It is a new fast 4096 sector drive. The problem is my old drive is a 512 sector drive, and the new drive is all uppity and the old drive is stubborn and full of itself and they are refusing to play nicely together...much like all my friends and family after the recent presidential election.

Story of my week.

I've tried different software programs. None worked. I reinstalled Windows from disk and Microsoft refused my product key!!! Something to do with the free Windows 10 upgrade I did.

I cloned. Wouldn't boot. I cleaned the disk and migrated. Wouldn't boot. I cleaned and formatted and partitioned and  tried installing Windows 7. Error.  Then I forced a Windows 7 installation to finish via DOS using the msoobe.exe file, but I know the drive really needs another driver that I may end up having to find. -sigh- But the cloning software seems to like the drive now, so cloning again.

Fingers crossed!!

Note: Clone=8 hours time

Patience. Ugh.

To be continued....




UPDATE: Didn't work. Reinstalled Windows 7 Pro from disk again. Got it to accept my Product Key this time, but it still will not reinstall my free Windows 10 Pro. Working on it.

I hate computers right now.


I'll have to reinstall all my software and re-copy all my old hard drive files back to the new drive after all the windows issues are fixed. At least it boots now and I have learned a lot of new things.

I hope I love it by Christmas! I'll let you know.

PS: I will have to break down and buy a new computer someday. Just hopefully not today.

---

9:00 PM Sunday UPDATE: I have a very active and passionate LOVE/HATE relationship with Microsoft. It is leaning more on the HATE side today. UGH!!!!

FINALLY got the stupid thing to reinstall my Windows 10 FREE Upgrade. Just in case this ever happens to you, here is what you have to do:

1. Reinstall the original Windows you had when you upgraded.  You will need the disk and the Product Key.  In my case, I had Windows 7 Professional before the upgrade, and I still had the disk, but....
2. Windows 7 Pro would NOT install on the new large and fast hard drive!  It hung up on the very last step and said it could not install on my hardware.  Here's how to fix that:
   -When you get the error screen, hit SHIFT F10 to open a Command Prompt.
   -Navigate to:
    C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\OOBE
   
   Then type MSOOBE and hit ENTER.
   
   It will let you finish the install. 
   
   Now.  I ask you.  Is that intuitive?  NO!!!!!
3. To finish the install you will have to use your Windows 7 Product Key...NOT the Windows 10 Product Key your old hard drive has installed.  Took me FOREVER to find my stupid Windows 7 Pro Product Key.  Don't ask.  Finally found it and installed and activated Windows 7 Pro.
4. THEN you have to download the Microsoft Media Creation Tool.  Do a Google search for MediaCreationTool.exe. 
   
   NO!  That is also NOT intuitive.
   
5. THEN install and run the Media Creation Tool.  Do NOT do the .iso install.  Do the Install to this machine option and wait...and wait...and wait...and wait...and finally it will install and re-activate itself!!!
6. Now I still have to reinstall all of my old programs and copy all of my old files to the new hard drive, but at least I have everything and everything is working again.  I really wish it would have just cloned though.  I really do.  I understand about the 512 and 4096 sector problem, but I still wish it would have cloned.

Yes.  I know a clean install to a new hard drive is probably better, but if the clone had worked, it would have been great!  Still...now I have two bootable hard drives, so I have a true backup of everything, and I'm going to buy an external drive as an extra back-up and copy all my files from my old hard drive to the new one using the external drive.  After these past few days of Computer Hell, I sure don't want to end up losing my stuff. 

All is well in Aliceland again.  For now...NEVER let me say things like that!!!!  It tempts The Fates!

Windows 10 Anniversary Update Is NOT My Friend: How to UNDO the Update

A few weeks ago, my computer decided to suddenly update itself to the new Windows 10 Anniversary Update.  I clicked the NO!!! DO NOT DO THIS!!! (or equivalent) button, but the stupid PC did it anyway.  -sigh-

I decided to go ahead and try it.  I really loved some of the features and really hated some of the features, as was expected. 

The very MOST HATED "feature" of all was the freezing of my computer causing me to have to hard boot constantly by holding down the power button or removing the battery of my laptop.  

After my computer freezing constantly for at least two weeks, I decided enough is enough. 

I looked for a solution to the problem.  Nope.  Microsoft does not have a solution.  Yup.  Microsoft is fully aware of the problem. They are calling it a "freeze-inducing bug" that is affecting thousands of users.  No patch though...no workaround.  (Makes me crazy.)  Ugh.  Their suggestion?  Roll back your computer to an earlier build of Windows 10.

How many of you just know how to roll back your computer from the Anniversary Update to a previous version of Windows 10?  Really?  That many? 

It is NOT intuitive. Just in case you are like me and weren't born knowing such things, here's how to do it:

Restart your computer if it is completely frozen (as was my case) and then do this OR just do this if you're already in your computer:

On the screen that comes next select Troubleshoot. Then choose Advanced Options.

The Advanced Options screen will look like this:

When you get to this screen click Go back to the previous build and wait.

This will reset your computer to your original Windows 10 software.  You will not lose any files, so don't worry about that. 

There are other fixes you can try if you'd rather stick with the new Anniversary Update, but, if you are like me and don't have time to troubleshoot right now, this will fix it.  You can always research the problem and reinstall the update when you find a real solution.  

At present, I'm too irritated at Windows to care about keeping the update.  

I am irritated at computers a lot.  -sigh- 

I'm pretty sure that Bill Gates is the anti-Christ.  (jk)

Computers are EVIL

Early this morning I was trying to access my Google account to update my blog. 

My computer decided that I was presently located in Boston, Massachusetts and Google decided that a hacker had my password and was trying to access my account.

No.  I was NOT trying to hack my own account.

No.  I was NOT in Boston, Massachusetts.  In fact, I have NEVER been in Boston, Massachusetts.

No.  A hacker was NOT trying to access my account.

-sigh-  So frustrating.

I jumped through all the hoops to get into my account.  I answered all the questions.  I asked Google to text me a code to get into my account.  The text never came.  I then asked Google to email me a code to get into my account.  I entered the code they emailed, and they locked my account anyway.

Seriously Google?  Seriously???!!!

So...I signed into Google via my cell phone and turned off Google's location access.  Then I cleared my Google account's location history.  Next I rebooted my computer and cleaned off all the cookies and all the temporary files.  I ran highjackthis and removed anything suspicious.  I cleaned the registry.  I rebooted another time for good measure and tried again.

Success!!

But then Google made me go through another process of telling them the Boston sign-in attempt was me.  There was no option to tell them that I really was NOT in Boston.  They just assume they never make mistakes.  Any mistake made is due to user error, of course.  UGHHHHH!!!!

Software that is so secure that you can't actually use it yourself, even when you enter the correct username and password and then enter the correct access code they email you, is useless and FRUSTRATING!!!

Sorry.  I'm too frustrated to write a normal blog post today.

Have I ever mentioned that I don't even like computers?

Ugh ugh ugh.

This has basically been my life for decades now.  A major part of my job is software training and troubleshooting computer problems. Not fun.

Have I mentioned I am really looking forward to retirement?  Nine months to go! 

I. CAN. NOT. WAIT.

Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows PCs

Aren't computers fun?!  NOT!!!

Well, computers are really good when they work, but they can be a real  headache when they're not working correctly.  This is why I believe it is always best to know more than one way to do anything on a computer.

When I do software training workshops, I compare computer knowledge to driving directions.  It is always best to know more than one route to where you are going.  There may be a wreck that has traffic tied up for hours, or a bridge can be under repair, etc. Knowing a detour is very useful information.  The same is true when you're working on a computer.

That is why I've decided to share the most useful shortcuts I use when working on a computer.  These work with most Windows programs.

First of all, I use right-click a LOT.  Oftentimes if I highlight something and right-click on it, I will get an option that I need, but when that doesn't work, I try these (Just hold down the Ctrl key and press the appropriate letter. Don't press the + unless you are doing the Zoom one.):

Ctrl + B	Make text bold
Ctrl + I	Make text italics
Ctrl + U	Underline text
Ctrl + L	Align text left
Ctrl + R	Align text right
Ctrl + E	Align text center
Ctrl + X	Cut
Ctrl + C	Copy
Ctrl + V	Paste
Ctrl + Z	Undo action (My personal favorite!)
Ctrl + Shift + Z	Redo action
Ctrl + A	Select all
Ctrl + +	Zoom in
Ctrl + -	Zoom out
Ctrl + 0	Reset Zoom
Alt + F4	Closes the application
Ctrl + Alt + Del	Restart the computer immediately
F5	Refreshes a webpage immediately
Ctrl + F	Find
Ctrl + P	Print

I hope you find these useful!