Recent Posts

751

General Software Discussion / Re: PSA: Woe to Thee Who Performs a Windows 10 Clean Install

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 08, 2015, 09:48 AM »

Our IT department is currently at about 20 - in production - Win 10 upgrades. So far all "failures" have been non Win 10 related; hardware issues, malware, and customer site wireless network performance issues causing a 2 hour stall getting install updates.

More on-topic-er:
  I have noticed a tendency towards aberrant behavior on older (e.g. mine) machines. Currently the jump list for - pinned to the taskbar - IE has vanished ... for IIRC the third time. Actually, on this last trip...the IE icon itself vanished from the taskbar. So I had to manually chase it down in PF and staple it back to the TB *Shrug*

...Mind you this particular OS instance has been in existence since 2006; starting life as Vista, then upgraded to 7, and now 10. So the fact that it runs at all is probably some sort of F***ing miracle.

752

General Software Discussion / Re: PSA: Woe to Thee Who Performs a Windows 10 Clean Install

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 08, 2015, 07:58 AM »

Now ^That^ is funny.   Especially after spending the last few days staring at that exact screen...wishing it would do something interesting before I fell asleep (on site..).  

753

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 06, 2015, 01:09 PM »

Option is available regardless. Settings-->Windows Update-->Advanced Options-->Get Started Button asks for (MS account) Insider login

-Stoic Joker (August 04, 2015, 08:21 PM)

Odd...on my system logged in with a local account the "Get Started" button is greyed out.

-Innuendo (August 06, 2015, 12:23 PM)

Even stranger yet (while home machine worked fine), the GS button on my comp here at the office is greyed out...yet both were upgrades with the same x64 MSDN.iso Now the other guy here in IT has an active GS button...he too upgraded with the same x64 MSDN.iso - All machines mentioned are Pro Ed. domain members.

754

Living Room / Re: Want to backup your music collection? Tough...It's illegal.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 06, 2015, 11:46 AM »

This is simply proof that the zombie apocalypse is real, because we're all being chased. nagged, and bleed to death by the zombified walking corpse of the music industry as it existed back in the (as said before) "Vinyl Age". Their time of vampiric reign is long over and they need to all collectively fuck off and get on with dying..

755

General Software Discussion / Re: PSA: Woe to Thee Who Performs a Windows 10 Clean Install

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 05, 2015, 06:54 AM »

What's the model number?

-Stoic Joker (August 04, 2015, 08:16 PM)

It's an Epson WorkForce WF-3540....but get this. I totally uninstalled all the Epson software from my system in preparation of waiting for Epson's official fix, but just a bit ago, I noticed an Epson printer monitor hanging out in the system tray. Hmmm...should not be there as every other indicator is that the Epson software should be cleansed from the system. I right-click on the icon & I see a Software Update option. I love to poke bears so I clicked it. Predictably, it told me that the software update software was not installed. Unpredictably, it then proceeded to connect to the internet, download the software, and configure the printer, scanner, and fax.

What the....? It's all there and working now, down to the skeuomorphic printer icon that looks like my printer in Printers and Devices .

-Innuendo (August 04, 2015, 09:57 PM)

That's actually not as completely shocking as you might think - It also might not be Epson's fault. While XP started the auto install (and sucked at it) Windows 8.x started being really good at auto installing any print device it found on the wire all by itself...And 10 is even better at -(or worse about)- the completely uninitiated surprise device installations. Being that we're primarily a printer/MPS company there are frequently upwards of 50 print devices on the wire at any given time ... Which is why I had to stick the service department onto an isolated subnet to keep all of the transient customer printers from showing up everywhere.

Basically if the device is new enough to have/feature/announce its WSD capability...Windows will go after it all by itself.


I currently have 20 printers installed on my workstation - god damn it.. 

756

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 04, 2015, 08:21 PM »

I've had Windows 10 for almost a week. In that time I 've gotten 3 Windows Updates, not including Windows Defender Definition Updates.  Is this the slow ring and is Windows Insider the fast ring?

-Arizona Hot (August 04, 2015, 12:15 PM)

Unless you log in with a Microsoft account, I believe you are on the slow ring. Once you log into Windows with your Microsoft account you can go to Windows Update settings and select if you want to be on the slow or fast ring.

-Innuendo (August 04, 2015, 06:27 PM)

Option is available regardless. Settings-->Windows Update-->Advanced Options-->Get Started Button asks for (MS account) Insider login

757

General Software Discussion / Re: PSA: Woe to Thee Who Performs a Windows 10 Clean Install

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 04, 2015, 08:16 PM »

Assuming the Epson uses a typical driver, pick the bottom option (Add a local or network printer with manual settings).
Select Create new port, and pick Standard TCP/IP port. It will probably auto configure with the most common Protocol=RAW Port=9100 options.
Then hand feed it the driver and you should be good.

-Stoic Joker (August 03, 2015, 06:53 AM)

Well, it's an all-in-one. I can choose the driver and the printer will work, but that doesn't fix the scanner or fax portion of the equation. It's okay...I have other systems in the house I can use to print if need be till Epson gets their crap together.

-Innuendo (August 04, 2015, 06:24 PM)

What's the model number?

758

General Software Discussion / Re: Beware: A Dangerous Windows 10 Ransomware Scam Is Spreading Online

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 03, 2015, 04:49 PM »

Well, tbh, when it comes to this...As far as I am aware, they don't e-mail you shit to click to download - They just download it to your PC if you pre-ordered via the annoying popup, then it will give you an annoying popup to tell you it's done doing whatever it did.

It does specifically say, in that stupid popup, that when it is ready, that window will let you know - absolutely nothing about "We will e-mail you"

-Stephen66515 (August 03, 2015, 02:35 PM)

dont be too quick of the mark there Stephen - I got asked when I 'reserved' my copy, if I wanted email notification.

-tomos (August 03, 2015, 03:05 PM)

Bingo! Combine an old scam with a new confusion and the fun ensues promptly at click here. Sure, I get where he's coming from...but folks need warned to think before they click.

759

General Software Discussion / Re: Beware: A Dangerous Windows 10 Ransomware Scam Is Spreading Online

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 03, 2015, 11:08 AM »

It has sweet-FA to do with Windows 10 - It's just randomware...

-Stephen66515 (August 03, 2015, 09:31 AM)

While basically true, the reality is it's leveraging the confusion surrounding the new-fangled Windows 10 upgrade delivery system to get people to launch it.

760

General Software Discussion / Re: Beware: A Dangerous Windows 10 Ransomware Scam Is Spreading Online

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 03, 2015, 11:05 AM »

Anyone want to summarize a "magic bullet" method of separating the fake ones from the real ones?

-TaoPhoenix (August 03, 2015, 09:24 AM)

The fake one has a .zip attachment.

761

General Software Discussion / Re: PSA: Woe to Thee Who Performs a Windows 10 Clean Install

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 03, 2015, 06:53 AM »

On to the printer...Epson's wonderfully archaic software, which they insist is Widnows 10-ready *but* was released in 2013, will not detect my Wi-Fi printer for anything. I tried numerous things, Googling, and no dice. When I went back to Epson's web site not even 15 minutes later, I received a message stating their web site was down for maintenance. Was the Universe trying to tell me something?

-Innuendo (August 02, 2015, 10:39 AM)

Welcome to counter intuitive land - I got burnt there once too

I'm guessing you went for the 'The printer that I want isn't listed-->My printer is a little older. help me find it' options. I tried it with a LaserJet 4050 and 24 hours later it still hadn't seen the damn thing (but the search ground on..).

Assuming the Epson uses a typical driver, pick the bottom option (Add a local or network printer with manual settings).
Select Create new port, and pick Standard TCP/IP port. It will probably auto configure with the most common Protocol=RAW Port=9100 options.
Then hand feed it the driver and you should be good.

The key is to get the driver installed and the printer object created...then you can fiddle with the port configuration if/as necessary.

Worst case, you'll have to use another machine to see what the Epson uses for the port configuration. But generally when you do create new TCP/IP port it will find the correct settings on it own.

762

General Software Discussion / Re: Can I safely delete all these drivers now?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 03, 2015, 06:35 AM »

It looks like a folder that contains DELL drivers. To be more precise, the installers for drivers. If you have room for these on a portable hard disk or something, I would move these to it. And if you do not have the room or a portable hard disk, you can throw them away. Driver installers are not necessary for the operation of your system.

-Shades (August 02, 2015, 10:44 PM)

Yes, and assuming it's a Dell computer, that's where Dell always puts the driver installation backups.

763

General Software Discussion / Re: Beware: A Dangerous Windows 10 Ransomware Scam Is Spreading Online

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 03, 2015, 06:24 AM »

Well that didn't take long.

764

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 02, 2015, 04:59 PM »

Why it has decided to pull this shit I haven't a clue, but it's a - Microsoft Listed Windows 10 Compatible - Asus Commando motherboard with the latest BIOS installed (it was a condition of computability) a few weeks back to be sure it didn't flake on its own (which it didn't).

Sure it's a bit of an antique...but it's all I got to work with at the moment.

-Stoic Joker (August 01, 2015, 07:43 PM)

Well, my motherboard *is* an antique...a Gigabyte running an X58a chipset. I have no idea if it's on Microsoft's special list or not, but I just checked. My 6 GB of RAM is being reported correctly.

-Innuendo (August 02, 2015, 10:06 AM)

Apparently I just needed to RTFM ... It was a legacy setting that had gotten reset when I flashed the BIOS a few weeks back.

765

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 01, 2015, 07:43 PM »

I've been through all those, and they only control whether or not the notifications show up in the Action Center. No combination I could think of - even after an Outlook restart - would result in the old style informative behavior.

-Stoic Joker (July 30, 2015, 06:29 PM)

Have you tried lengthening the popup interval time in Outlook to something crazy long like 10-20 seconds?

-Innuendo (August 01, 2015, 05:52 PM)

I hadn't thought to try that, but I strongly suspect the behavior is by design to showcase the all new - Whoop-De-Do - Action Center.


At any rate, I've managed to encounter a more pressing and completely baffling issue after upgrading my home machine to 10 this afternoon. It seems that for some delightfully insane reason the system has chosen to report that only 3 of the 4 GB of RAM in the 64-bit machine are "usable". Why it has decided to pull this shit I haven't a clue, but it's a - Microsoft Listed Windows 10 Compatible - Asus Commando motherboard with the latest BIOS installed (it was a condition of computability) a few weeks back to be sure it didn't flake on its own (which it didn't).

Sure it's a bit of an antique...but it's all I got to work with at the moment.

766

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 31, 2015, 06:10 PM »

OS upgrades are always extra tough when the user has a lot of customizations

-Nod5 (July 31, 2015, 05:26 PM)

Quite true. I was using EmEditor as the default for viewing source in IE on my office workstation before the upgrade, and now when I try to view source in Edge the damn things just freezes. I've not a clue why/how the two are related...but it seems rather apparent that they are..(hehe).

767

Living Room / Re: [SOLVED] Boot problem/s

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 31, 2015, 06:03 PM »

but I'm not clear if this can be restored to a non partitioned or differently partitioned drive....

-tomos (July 31, 2015, 03:41 PM)

Yes, it can.

I had to do it last year on a Server 2008 R2 Domain controller. The OS was on a (Dell OEM Install much like yours) single disk, and needed to be moved to a mirrored RAID array. I took a backup on the OS, and restored it to a newly created partition on the Array. Then ran through the below commands which I pasted here from a .doc file I made for myself to use in the future.

MS Boot Configuration Data Editor
For When Boot Fails Because the OS is Missing!
The following procedure is used to completely rebuild the Windows Vista, 7, 2008 boot configuration when it has either been badly damaged, or when restoring the OS to different hardware with a different disk/partition configuration (however it doesn't hurt to run all of them...as long as it's done in this order).

1.   Boot from appropriate OS media.
2.   Select the current Windows installation if available.
3.   Choose Command Prompt and run the below commands (some may be optional):
bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootrec.exe /fixboot
bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force
attrib -s -h -r C:\boot\BDC (this one can be skipped if it's gone)
del C:\boot\BCD (this can obviously be skipped if it's gone)
bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd
bcdboot.exe C:\Windows /S C: /L en-us (this one is very critical - Specifically the language switch - adjust accordingly if you're not using English)

(This part is here only for reference)
Diskpart can also be used to mark a partition as active from the Windows RE.
Diskpart
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK (followed by the number of the disk – most likely 0)
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION (followed by the partition number – most likely 0)
ACTIVE
EXIT
(end of just for reference.


Windows startup recovery should now work ... If it doesn't, boot to the OS install disk and run:
x:\sources\recovery\StartRep.exe

Startup repair launched this way is a bit more aggressive about getting the deal closed than the other GUI launched startup repair - I have no idea why...I just know that it is. I have however - recently with a (virus devastated) Win7 laptop - had some success with using the GUI based startup repair, but only after the above commands were run.

768

General Software Discussion / Re: Question regarding Win10 upgrade

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 31, 2015, 04:55 PM »

40!!! Good to see ya man!!!

I understand there's also a directory containing the downloaded update for 10 that can be removed to prevent it from happening, but I don't know what that directory is. Or if that will fix Windows Update to start showing Win7 updates again.

-40hz (July 31, 2015, 04:38 PM)

[hidden] C:\$Windows.~BT\

^My Guess, because that's what all the Insider Update upgrades used.

Are they really sure they don't want the upgrade?? Because it looking to be a really nice OS ... I'm already starting to roll it out at the office, and at one of our new clients. I'm using it at work, and on my laptop ... I'll also be upgrading my - 2006 era - home flagship workstation this weekend..

It does seem like there was a cancel reservation option somewhere...but damn if I can remember where it was (sorry).

769

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 31, 2015, 06:26 AM »

Posting from Edge in Windows 10.  No problems upgrading from the upgrade wizard. 

-wraith808 (July 30, 2015, 09:41 PM)

I hope posting from the edge is more fun than living on the edge.

-MilesAhead (July 31, 2015, 05:48 AM)

That depends entirely on what you're living on the edge of..

770

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 30, 2015, 06:29 PM »

In my experience, Windows 10 has a balloon/slider which shows for a second or two and then disappears to the Action Center where you can view it if you missed it.

-Deozaan (July 30, 2015, 04:46 PM)

With Office 2010 on Windows 10 yes, you do get a balloon. But not with Office 2013 and Windows 10.

Try Settings -> System -> Notifications & actions and see if you can enable notifications for Outlook somewhere in there.

-Deozaan (July 30, 2015, 04:46 PM)

I've been through all those, and they only control whether or not the notifications show up in the Action Center. No combination I could think of - even after an Outlook restart - would result in the old style informative behavior.

Anyone else experiencing apps opening (minimized to taskbar) when logging in from lock screen?

-Deozaan (July 30, 2015, 05:59 PM)

Haven't seen that one, but I have noticed that Edge can be a bit "shy" at times, and will periodically disappear only to show up again later minimized (all session tabs intact) in the task bar.

771

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 30, 2015, 04:39 PM »

I ran into an interesting annoyance with the combination of Office 2013 and Windows 10 today. Normally I keep Outlook running but minimized so I can see the popup -(was a balloon from the tray, but in 2013 is a slide out in the top right corner)- notice of incoming mail that showed the sender, subject line, and (space permitting) a snippet of the body content.

With the new 13/10 combination, these messages are relegated to the 'Action Center' exclusively so nothing shows when mail comes in...until I interrupt what I'm doing and manually click on the Action Center which then gives a list of (all the) newly arrived mail. Which IMO totally sucks, because I now have to leave Outlook visible just to see what came in to decide on its relevance.

Anybody know how to get the time saving balloons back?

772

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 29, 2015, 05:58 PM »

I finally got Windows 10 to install...

-Deozaan (July 29, 2015, 05:37 PM)

I suspect you may right about the symlinks causing the issue, as I had a few in my main workstation's configuration also and the upgrade handled them very badly. They still work...just not quite as intended. So it's making a real mess out of my OneDrive, which was linked to appear as being part of the Documents folder hierarchy.

773

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 29, 2015, 05:06 PM »

It really is a weird feeling being unable to find AppData

-Curt (July 29, 2015, 04:20 PM)

Use either of these:
go to: C:\Users\[username]\AppData

or from anywhere just put %AppData% in the address bar, hit enter and you're there.

I typically use the first one for remote machines, and the second one locally.

774

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 29, 2015, 05:01 PM »

By the way, Windows 10 seems to come with P2P updates built in. I'm not sure if the default is to have you serve downloads for other users over the internet or if I changed the setting to over the network sometime when I didn't realize what it means, but...

-Deozaan (July 29, 2015, 01:11 PM)

On my fresh upgrade, the final option ("PCs on my local network and PCs on the Internet") was selected.

-ayryq (July 29, 2015, 01:19 PM)

That sounds like bad news for people who have data caps set by their ISPs.

-Deozaan (July 29, 2015, 01:29 PM)

I believe that is mitigated by the Don't do X over a metered connection setting. I forget the exact name, and everything is at the office now. My laptop's upgrade was a complete catastrophe. I was trying to image to a new drive to sidestep a space issue and the operation just kept freezing ... So that one - which has all the engine tuning software for my bike - will be a brick level rebuild on the far side (shit..).

775

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Stoic Joker on July 29, 2015, 01:33 PM »

First domain member upgraded can't connect to anything on the domain after upgrade.