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Category: Windows
Microsoft Windows Operating Systems
System Rescue Tools
- SystemRescueCD
- Memory Test
- Wipe Drive
- Reset Windows Password
- Recover data from unbootable drive
- Quick Disk Test
1. SystemRescueCd is based on Xfce (cholesterol free Linux) OS provided as a bootable CD or USB for administrating or repairing desktop systems after a crash. It aims to provide an easy way to carry out admin tasks, such as creating and editing the hard disk partitions,
Use Windows Check Disk to Repair Your Drive
Sometimes, your computer is noticeably slower or programs “hang” when you access certain files or upgrades fail or programs just won’t run. This odd behaviour might occur because there is corruption of within the files system on your hard disk drive.
You can troubleshoot the problem by using the Windows Disk Check tool called CHKDSK. Check Disk can identify and automatically correct file system errors and make sure that you can continue to load and write data from the hard disk. You can use Check Disk in all versions of Windows not only for local hard drives,
Windows Image Backup
Insert your portable USB drive into a free USB port. If you have USB 3 port (marked SS Super-Speed and blue inside) use this in preference to a USB 2 port to get a much faster backup.
Windows 10
Click Start button (Bottom LH corner) and select Settings Cog just above Power icon. In Settings select “Update Security” > “Backup” > “Go to backup and Restore (Windows 7) “. This will bring up the “Backup or restore” window below.
Windows 7
Click the Windows 7 Start button (bottom left corner) and type “backup”
Windows “Checking for updates” never ends
After installing a new copy of Windows 7 SP1 the first Windows Update can take several hours “Checking for Updates…” and appears to be hung. However, don’t give up. It is processing over 200 updates! The time it takes to complete depends on the speed of your Internet connection and computer. Times can be up to 1 hr.
To avoid the frustration of waiting try to run this first update overnight. Ensure you have set Disk Sleep to “Never” within Control Panel | Power Options to avoid it sleeping mid-way through.
Backup using FreeFileSync
FreeFileSynch (FFS) can be directly downloaded and installed from the author’s site: http://www.freefilesync.org/. FFS is a free Open Source application for backing up and restoring user files and folders on Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems. One of the major benefits is that once the first backup has been completed only changes are backed up making subsequent backups faster. Also it supports USB backup drive names, e.g. [My Passport] as targets rather than relying on a drive letter which can change depending on which port the USB cable is plugged into,
Disable Avast Email Signature
Using the Avast User Interface (Avast UI) you can disable options such as: insert note into out going mail; audio notices; social networking; pop-ups and others.
Open the Avast UI
Navigate to the Avast icon 
in the Windows notification area. This is to the right of the Taskbar at the bottom right of the screen. If not visible click on the arrow head to the left of the notification area to reveal hidden icons. Right-click on the Avast icon and select Open Avast UI.
Transform Windows 8 to Windows 7 with Classic Shell
To have a Windows 7 desktop like the one above on your Windows 8/8.1 desktop or laptop follow the steps below:
Install Classic Shell and Windows 7 Desktop data Files
- Download Classic Shell 4.1.0 or later from http://www.classicshell.net/ and install with the default settings.
- Download [filedownload file=”downloads/Classic_Shell.zip” style=”color:#0000EE;”]Classic Shell.zip[/filedownload] This contains Windows 7 desktop background; Start Button images and Classic Shell “Menu Settings.xml” file with the following custom settings:
- Enable Category View for Control Panel
- Disabled all Active Corners
- Replace Start Button using Windows 7 Start button
- Skip Metro desktop on boot or login
- Metro Apps.
Windows Clean-up Steps
Check Drive Hardware
- Install and run Western Digital DataLifeGuard Tools
- Select drive and run Quick Test to check the drive for hardware faults
- If drive fails test image backup drive if possible and replace
Check Drive File System Integrity
Launch COMMAND window as Administrator. Run check disk with repair option at next boot
CHKDSK C:/F
Substitute “C:” with Windows system drive letter
If CHKDSK reports errors and successfully fixes them repeat command to double check to see if runs without error.