Long gone, but now back… sort of. :)
Win10’s built-in Windows Defender has matured into a top-ranked anti-malware tool, based on independent testing (e.g. AV-test.org info). But several of its default behaviors can be downright irritating. Here’s how to tweak Windows Defender with a few buried settings and a Task Scheduler change. Plus: Does Adobe Flash Player really need as many updates as it claims?…
Exactly 28 days from today — on January 14, 2020 — Microsoft will end 10 years of support for Windows 7. Win7 will continue to boot and run after that date, but will no longer receive security updates, making it vulnerable to new hacks. If you’re still using Windows 7, it’s way past time to…
A subscriber (requesting anonymity) wrote a very succinct note asking for help with a nonfunctioning file-recovery tool. “My PC’s ‘Restore previous versions’ is always empty, and it has been since I bought this Dell laptop two years ago. How do I get it turned on?” An RPV failure is annoying in itself, but also and…
(Answer requested by Chris Blood-Smyth) You mean all at once, on the web? Nope. You can delete your local copies of passwords, if you’ve stored them on your system (e.g. you can uninstall or delete or zero out your password manager). But you cannot automatically delete your passwords from all the sites you’ve logged into….
Executable program files (EXEs) are the beating heart of Windows and most applications. So when Windows 7, 8.1, or 10 can no longer properly run files with the .exe extension, it’s serious trouble! AskWoody subscriber Colm Brangan’s PC somehow ran into those deep weeds — and now he can’t find his way out. (Colm’s PC is running…
(Answer requested by Kacey Mae) Can it? I suppose. But it would be extremely difficult to pull off at all; and nearly impossible to pull off in a way that would fool anyone who was paying attention. The usual way to run a full 32-bit OS inside a full, operating 64-bit OS is to use…
(Answer requested by Luis Fuentes) The most-certain way is to boot your PC with an external, self-contained (a.k.a. “portable”) anti-malware tool, such as one contained on a flash drive or DVD. (Examples.) These self-contained apps don’t rely on the installed operating system, and can instead examine your entire hard drive — including the boot sectors…
Talk about frustrating! AskWoody Plus subscriber Marvin Moss has an app he can launch only once! If he wants to run it a second time, he has to totally reboot his PC. His specific issue is with Firefox, but the same kind of problem can happen with any complex piece of software — and the solution likewise…
(Answer requested by Mridul Mohta) It depends on what killed the drive: An electrical problem? A mechanical problem? Pick up the (unpowered/fully off) drive and gently shake it. Is there loose stuff inside the housing? If you hear pieces rattling around, you may have broken one or more of the disc platters (disc platters are…
Windows 1.0 was released 34 years ago, in November 1985. It wasn’t much: Just a standard DOS setup (on a single 5.25″, 1.2MB floppy disk) wrapped in a simple point-and-click interface and displayed in CGA 640×200px resolution or Hercules monochrome green or amber. This combination of OS and “shell” was primitive, but it could run…