Category: COMPUTERS & THE INTERNET

I have kept an old HTPC to use to play around with for installing programs and other things that I do not want to do on my main computer.

I wanted to install a video editing program called “Kdenlive” on Windows  and I will write about it on my next post. However there were problems with my old HTPC so I decided to do a “Reset This PC”. I started with the reset that keeps your files but it stopped part way so I started again but used the full wipe and restore. However it again stopped part way and when I tried to reboot a notice came up saying that an OS could not be found.

Originally when I  built this PC,  Win 8 pro was installed and later upgraded to Win 10 using the free upgrades. I still had the Win 8 Pro disc and Product key and I recalled reading somewhere that you could do a clean install of Win 10 using a valid product Key from Win 7 on.   In fact it was here on Paul Thurrott’s site.   

So I went to the Microsoft site https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/windows10   

Naturally, you need another PC to do this if the target PC won’t boot. Follow the instruction under “Using the tool to create installation media (USB Flash Drive , DVD, or ISO file) to install Windows 10 on a different PC” to create the Win 10 Installation Media, then boot from the USB (or DVD) and use the Win 7/ 8.x  Product Key when prompted. 

It worked without any problems and I now have an activated Win 10 back up and running. 

This time I made a system image – All Settings / Update and Security / Back Up / Go to Back Up and Restore Windows 7 / Create a System Image – and saved on another drive just in case.

I complained about Apple in my last post so I suppose it is only fair that I now address issues with Microsoft.

Before I start, I want to make it clear that I really like my Surface Pro 4. The only slight hesitation I might have is whether or not I should have bought the Surface Book.

My SP4 is light and small, yet still a powerful PC. I use it as a tablet, laptop and as a desktop when connected to the Dock and keyboard. I really like having a touch screen, issuing voice commands to Cortana and I am almost unable to do without the sign in via face recognition.

The thing I use least is the pen, but I hand write my sticky notes just so I can say that I use every feature.

So it pains me a little to complain. However two recent problems were annoying particularly as they were associated with updates.

About a month ago, Cortana started having issues with opening programs / applications. Everything else seemed to work OK, but instead of opening an app or program, it diverted to a Bing search. This problem occurred with both traditional programs and the new store apps, even apps like Mail that come with the OS.

I tried the on-line suggestions including installing chrome with Google search as the default browser, all to no avail. Even after a “Reset this PC” the problem persisted until one day I noticed that it needed a re-boot to finish installing one of those big system updates. I recalled the the problem started following a previous similar update. So, after the re-start and  with some trepidation, I said, “Hey Cortana – open Excel” and she was back to her old helpful self.

I can’t say for certain that updates caused this but I was using the computer normally when it started after an update and it fixed itself following a later update.

The second problem occurred recently and there are plenty of reports on line linking it to an update. The Widows Hello log in via face recognition just stopped working with the following notification: “Couldn’t turn on the camera. Please sign in with your PIN.”

Then to make matters worse, “Sign In” options in All Settings / Accounts was showing : “Windows Hello isn’t available on this device”.

Once again, I tried the various remedies like updating drivers, but when nothing worked, I again resorted to “Reset this PC”. This time it worked and the problem was fixed. BUT, after going to all this trouble, I read this https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/microsoft-surface/132340/microsoft-fixes-windows-hello-issue-surface-pro-4

GRRR!  It is not that a “Reset this PC” is an onerous task, but it still takes time with a slow internet to re-install programs like Office 365. Even some store Apps like “Photo Shop Elements” are large time consuming downloads.

This time, when I got it all set up, I imaged the drive using the tool that can still be found under Control Panel / File History/ System Image Back Up. Restoring from an image like this only takes a few minutes as opposed to “hours” to download and re-install the various programs.

I note that Paul Thurrott said on Windows Weekly that this tool is being “deprecated” but I hope it hangs around long enough until we get the NBN so that a fast internet solves the problems I currently have with downloading and re-installing programs after a re-set.

But “all’s well that ends well” and Cortana “obeys” me and my computer signs me in after “seeing” me and I don’t have to go to all that “trouble” to type my PIN!!!

Just as I was getting over the loss of Windows Essentials, Apple has decided to take away another one of my favourites – the iPod Nano.

See https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/07/apple-just-killed-the-ipod-nano-and-ipod-shuffle/

Going by the comments on this article, I am not the only person who will miss these small handy music players. They are the ideal size and weight to carry with you when exercising and far better than a bulky iPod Touch and especially an iPhone.

I like to listen to podcasts, music and occasionally FM radio when out walking or running and my Nano is the ideal solution. It is quick and easy to load via iTunes and the battery lasts – I don’t know how long. Just plugging it into the computer to sync Podcasts seems to always keep it charged and I can’t remember having to charge it outside of this.

Damn you Apple – but I still went out and bought a spare. Apple might have withdrawn both players from their store, but all of the retailers around my place still have plenty of stock. Sales might have slowed, but one reason for this is that they last for a long time. Most people don’t know about it, and, by the time they are looking for a replacement, there will be none left in the shops.

Windows Live Essentials

If you are not aware, the suite of programs under Windows Live Essentials stopped being available from Microsoft in Jan 2017. If you already have them installed, they will keep working. However, if you have to re-install Windows then you will not be able to download them again.

This was an excellent group of programs and it is a pity that they are gone. These are some alternatives:

NAME	Alternative for Windows 7	For Windows 10
Windows Live Mail (WLM)	Mozilla Thunderbird https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/ CARE! Hotmail/Live/Outlook Email accounts no longer work on WLM If your have G Mail , Yahoo Mail, or Hotmail / Outlook / Live, you can always log in via a browser.	Win 10 Mail App comes with Win 10 &, while not as good as WLM, this App is being continually improved. Mozilla Thunderbird will also run well on Win 10.
Windows Live Writer (WLW)	Open Live Writer (An “open source” fork of WLW) http://openlivewriter.org/	Same as for Win 7  This post was written and uploaded with Open Live Writer.
Windows Live Photo Gallery (WLPG)	Paint.net https://www.getpaint.net/ OR MORE ADVANCED Free “Open Source” program called – The Gimp https://www.gimp.org/	The Photos App that comes with Win 10 will do everything and more than WLPG did (Apart from a Collage) Use The Gimp for a Collage and other advanced editing.)
Windows Live Messenger	Skype messenger but there are plenty of others.	Same as Win 7
Windows Live Movie Maker (WLMM)	Loss of WLMM is a disappointment & is the hardest to replace unless you pay for a program. Adobe Premier Elements is probably the best but it is expensive AUD $130 A cheaper “paid” option is Sony Vegas Movie Studio – COST USD$50 http://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-movie-studio/ There are good reviews for the following free “open source” program: “Shotcut” https://www.shotcut.org/	A video editor called “Story Remix” will be a part of the Photo App in Windows 10 . It is due later this year. However, this looks like it will be like the old “Photo Story” but with videos as well as still photos. Until then the alternatives under the Win 7 column will also work on Win 10.

It has been a year since I last wrote on my blog so I though that I would update my experiences with both consoles.

In March last year I stated that I was slightly in favour of the PS4. However, since then X Box One has been updated to a greater extent and my preference now tips towards X Box One.

Progress with the 7 items mentioned in my previous post is as follows:

No 1 Voice messages – No progress and this remains the one remaining disappointment on X Box One.

No 2 Game Install Times – X Box One has fixed this by providing a choice about updates at install time. If you have slow internet like me, always select the install later option. Both PS4 and X Box one are now about the same.

No 3 – Compulsory Game Install to Hard Drive. Same on both consoles and this is not going to change but is mitigated see 2 and 6.

No 4 Media Extender.

X Box One fixed.

How to:

• Install the free Media Player App on X Box One (from the Store)
• On your computer, make sure that picture / music / video files are shared and in their respective libraries
• Ensure that the X Box One is ticked as “allowed” in Control Panel / Network and Sharing Centre / Media Streaming Options

This app will play all files including the Media Centre Recorded TV .wtv files.

No 5 Playing videos on external drives.

X Box One – fixed. Plays .wmv and .mp4 (will not play .wtv files – but see “4” above.)

PS4 – I plugged in a USB 2 and USB 3 thumb drives with .wtv .mp4 and .wmv and did not see the drives.

No 6 Hard Drive size.

X Box One has mitigated this issue by allowing an external Hard Drive to be attached and added to the storage space.  I now have a 2TB USB 3 External Hard Drive plugged in at the back of the console with this drive fully integrated into the console’s storage space. (Set this up in Settings / System / Storage.)

PS4 has not changed in that you can install a bigger (internal) drive.

I could not get my PS4 console to see either a USB 2 or 3 thumb drive but according to “the internet” you can attach an external drive for video and music storage but not saved games. It must only work with a powered drive.

No 7 Access to Videos / pictures / music over home network.

X Box One – now works just like X Box 360 – See No 4

PS4 – No progress but said to be coming in 2015.

OTHER

• Both consoles now support 3D Blu ray
• X Box One has a basic media remote but there is no official media remote for PS4 (I want media remotes like the 360 and PS3 had.)

CONCLUSION – UPDATED

With updates, the X Box One now has only to get voice messages to have everything that the X Box 360 had. I see that you can also get a Free to Air digital tuner for X Box One (for Australian Channels) so that you can use the Kinect voice controls to watch TV. I have not bought one and it still cannot work with Foxtel like it does with cable TV in some other countries.

The PS 4 has fallen a little behind in the terms of the items mentioned above. But it remains that if you want to play one line with your friends you have to retain or get the same console as they are using.

Otherwise I think that X Box One just might be ahead at this time.

I have both and I now rarely play on 360 or PS3. Also I have to say that the best game I have played on either new console is “The Last of Us” which is exclusive to PS4. On the other hand “Far Cry 4” which I have on X Box One is also very good.

The Last of Us

This is a great game but I played it through twice before I realised that there is not enough of the pills or machine parts to max out Joel’s abilities and his weapons. It was only after reading some of the “walkthroughs” on line that I realised that you have to restart as the “continued” game so that you retain your pills and parts from the previous play through and can max out everything on the second play through. I must be getting old!!!

While I was watching a 3D Blu-ray movie on my PS3, I discovered that Active Shutter 3 D Glasses don’t work when the XBox One is turned on.

I am guessing that the new XBox One Kinect is the culprit. Even though none of this stuff works in Australia#, the Kinect has an inbuilt IR blaster which probably interferes with the infrared signals being sent to the 3D glasses by the TV.

In any case the problem goes away as soon as the XBox One is switched off.

This is going to be an issue if or when XBox One is upgraded to pay 3D Blu Ray.

# I have read that the the Australian free to air (FTA) channels will not provide their EPGs to Microsoft. (By that I assume it means they will not allow Foxtel to extend use of FTA EPGs already in in Foxtel / Austar STBs  for use on X Box One.) Reports that FTA channels won’t co-operate come as no surprise. After all, these people can’t even tell the time. (I am talking about advertised program starting and finishing times.) And don’t get me started with the irrational chopping and changing of programming schedules. I remember when the Sopranos was being shown on FTA. It was almost impossible to keep track of broadcast times and I gave up trying to watch Fringe for the same reason.

Foxtel has also not yet allowed use of its EPG (with or without the FTA component). You can get Foxtel Play (for a fee) via the X Box 360 (as well as PCs and other devices). Foxtel Play is a way of getting Foxtel over the internet without a STB. So, unless I am missing something, it doesn’t appear that being able to plug the Foxtel/Austar STB into the XBox One would harm Foxtel Play.

In any case, it seems that Foxtel and MS are having “discussions”.  See http://mmgn.com/xboxone/news–why-theres-no-foxtel-on-xbox-one

 

 

This article – Windows 8.1 Update Leaves OEM Owners With Broken Restore Function describes a problem that I have encountered on all of my home built computers – AND it is bloody annoying.

In summary if you use the free app to upgrade an OEM Win 8 system to Win 8.1, the very handy and useful “PC Refresh” and “PC Reset” functions no longer work.

Quotes from this article:

Microsoft made a huge blunder that could leave you in a bind should you ever need to use the Refresh or Restore recovery tools after you upgrade.

AND

Amazingly, Microsoft is aware of the problem and doesn’t seem to care. IT did not apologize, nor does it have any plans to release the ISO, or seem to have any interest in fixing the problem

There is further information here:

http://www.neowin.net/news/some-windows-81-users-dont-have-any-reset-or-refresh-options-but-theres-a-solution

And information on how to download the 8.1 iso with a Win 8 key here:

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-download-windows-81-iso-windows-8-product-key

I have not tried to download the iso yet and frankly I don’t see why I should have to go to all this effort.

Suffice to say that I am not a happy camper.

My work around is to create a system image (using the very useful old Win 7 system image function that can still be found in 8.1.)

In my opinion this is the best solution in that you can image the drive after you have set it up and installed and activated all of your programs. Even with the less destructive PC Refresh you lose traditionally installed programs / activations including Office.

In my case I used up my last remaining Foxit activation when I was trying to solve the problem caused by the 8.1 upgrade. I thought I had done something wrong and went back twice to do a fresh install from the Win 8 install DVD.

All of the time that I wasted on this was bad enough but I am really more annoyed that MS did not put a warning in the 8.1 upgrade app that this might happen particularly as I completed the upgrade on my 2 computers plus another home build from a friend before I became aware of the issue.

Anyhow, if the reports that Microsoft doesn’t care are accurate, there is little use in whining.

My MacBook is now a few years old and, even though it still works well, when the time comes to upgrade, it will definitely be another MacBook not a PC. (That’ll teach them to annoy me!!)

THIS IS HOW TO DO A SYSTEM IMAGE:

Find a place for the image to be recorded – either on a separate HDD in the computer or on an external drive. (Try to avoid burning to DVDs.)

Go to Control Panel / File History and click on “System Image Backup” in the bottom left.

Follow the prompts – it is easy.

IMPORTANT _ after you are finished you have to make a new USB Repair Disk or recovery drive. NOTE! a Repair CD/ DVD made for Win 8 will not work. You have to make a new one for 8.1 and it can only be on a USB Thumb Drive – not an optical disk.

Insert a Thumb Drive – a 500mb one is more than enough. Even though you don’t have to, I format it as NTFS and label it “Win 8.1 64 (or 32) bit recovery”.

Open Control Panel / File History / Recovery (bottom left) / Create a Recovery Drive – At this screen you will see (if you have the problem) that you cannot click on the option to “Copy the recovery partition”. If you can click this box you probably don’t have this problem.

Follow the prompts. It only takes a minute or so.

TO RE-INSTALL YOUR WIN 8.1 SYSTEM IMAGE:

1. IMPORTANT – If your computer has more than one internal HDD, make sure you know which drive is your (imaged) C drive – Either look at “This PC” in Explorer for the size of the disks (usually a good way to tell) or go to Disk Management for full details. You will need to know this when you get to No 10.

2. Boot from the USB recovery drive . The option to boot from USB HDD worked for me.

3. After allowing a few seconds for the USB Recovery to load, choose your keyboard layout. In Australia we use US keyboard – you have to use the mouse to click on more options to get to “US” at the end.

4. Now click on “Troubleshoot – Refresh your PC or use Advanced Tools”;

5. Click “Advanced Options”;

6. Click “System Image Recovery”;

7. Click “Windows 8.1” (this should be the only option);

8. The next screen asks for the location of the back-up image. Find / choose where the system image is located – usually the default “last image” will be the one;

9. Click “Format and re-partition” and then click the “Exclude” box;

10. IMPORTANT – Make sure you click to exclude all drives except the C drive to which you want the image to be re-installed. – See No 1;

11. Follow the prompts. When it is finished, remove the USB Recovery Thumb Drive and re-start.

The whole process is quick and painless and will restore your computer to the date that the image was made. I just did it on the computer I am now using (my HTPC) and it finished in 10 minutes. (Although my C drive only has 40 GB of stuff on it.)

Everything will be “as it was”, activations included. IMHO this is by far the best restore option. You can easily update the image but be sure that your computer is up to date and free of problems before you do.

Failing this, if PC Refresh / Restore does not work, you have no choice but to start over with a re-install of Win 8 from the original disk or source.

Windows 8 has  some new features to make it much easier to  restore the OS.

In previous versions of Windows, to fix major problems with the OS you really had little option but to do a fresh install either from the disc or the hidden partition or ,if you were lucky enough to have one, from a system image from before the time that the problems occurred.  

Windows 8 has changed this and now has 2 “Push Button” functions – “Refresh your PC” and “Remove Everything and Reinstall Windows”.

“Refresh Your PC” retains your files but re-installs the OS and “Remove Everything and Reinstall Windows” wipes everything out and starts over.

I decided to try the “Refresh Your PC” and here is what happened.

You Find these functions  in Charms / Settings / Change PC Settings / General.

When you click the “Refresh your PC Without Affecting Your Files” -  “Get Started” button you get this warning:

Take notice particularly of the second last dot point.  I did not really pay attention  to it and, as someone who still lives mainly in the Desktop, I paid the price.

First, the good news – It is very easy and quick and did exactly what it said it would do. It kept all of my files plus all of the Tile Apps from the Windows store with their settings.  (e.g. the Weather App was put back with all of my personalised settings etc.)

Windows is restored as ‘activated’ and a check of Device Manager did not show any problems with drivers. My printer is on the network and it remained in Devices and Printers as the default printer. (I printed a test page to make sure that it still worked. It did.)  The network settings did not change but I have a wired connection to the router so I can’t say if things like WPA pass words need to be re-input.

About the only setting that it did not restore was my PIN sign In option. However this is no big deal and easy to reinstate and I now realise that this is what the second dot point says.

Also Windows Update needed to run again to re-install all updates.

The bad news (for me) is that it did exactly what it said it would do in terms of in the second last dot point. It removed all of my traditionally installed programs. Things like Chrome, Firefox, Paint.net, TrueCrypt and so on. It also removed MS Office which, to be fair, is not from the Windows App Store so I should have expected this as well.

In regard to MS Office, I note that it did retain the .pst file from Outlook (that I had started to set up but abandoned in favour of Live Mail).

I have gone to the subscription model of Office ( Office 365), so putting it back was painless. However, I will have to restore all the other programs.

I will do this over time and also take this opportunity to first try to use any alternative Win 8 Apps -  like the PDF reader instead of installing Adobe Reader or Foxit etc..

In summary this is an excellent feature and is much better than how it had to be done in previous Windows versions.

But be sure to first do a back up of your data (just in case) and make a list of the traditionally installed programs and ensure that you have the install discs and / or the activation codes for any programs that you have installed/ purchased. Or better still, try to make more use of the Tile interface/ Windows App Store.