FreeCat

Thanks, nukecad.

MAIN SYSTEM: Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate - mouse or explorer.exe hands up system completely odify Hi - You guys helped me some time ago with W7 crashing on this machine. Thanks for that. Now, the MAIN machine has not had that problem but recently the mouse (or maybe it is explorer.exe) freezes the system. What I mean is that the mouse and keyboard become unresponsive and whatever programs are funning just stop processing. I installed a new Logitch driver and Setpoint thingie, but they have not helped the situation. Sometimes, I notice it when I I grab window to move it to another part of the screen. Or, sometimes when I select some text in a window to copy it. It drives me nuts as I loose work that I need., plus wastes time, etc. I reboot and then is it good for a day sometimes several days, but I have no idea what is causing it. My W7 is up tto date with updates. Thanks in advance for any ehlp.

On my SECONDARY SYSTEM: I used CCcleaner and now Windows 7 is not genuine. What to do about this?

Thanks, Alan, for you comments on 2013 09 20. Very helpful. sorry that I did not thank you when I read it. Happy New Year!

Thanks, nukecad. I will go there. Did not know they had a forum. So, what exactly does CCleaner do?

[Windows 7 64b Ultimate on Dell T7500] I ran MalwareBytes (machine became very SLOW) and found 627 PUPs. One of them was flagged as serious malware I only choose this PUP marked serious and told MalwareBytes to quarantine it. MalwareBytes said restart of machine necessary to complete job. I rebooted. And, after that on restart Windows "desktop" came back but it is totally black. Mouse moves around screens. Did restart a second time. Same thing. So, I restarted in Safe Mode. Same thing. Mouse moves. Black desktop. So, John_C told me to do F8 "Use last known good configuration". I did this and now have my machine "usable" again. But, now, I have a program called ByteFence (which I did not consciously install) telling me to run scan and fix computer. So, I am worried that I have a crippled machine with malware that has to be removed What reliable software can I use to fix my machine?

Hi again - I am not sure what size I will change to with the re-partitioning yet. But, I was poking around my C drive and was wondering if someone can tell me if I can delete (or is there a program to do it) any of the attached files in SYSTEM VOLUME INFORMATION folder that are older than the date of my last reboot. I used Ztree for this list and sorted by size and then by date. Thanks again.

Thanks much for all the great information Alan_B and eL_PuSHeR. I really appreciate it, very, very much. Best to you both.

OK - thanks dvdbane and Derek891 - I understand that defrag will not help me. Maybe you know of a way to identify what is out there so I could take it off independently and, then, make my image. I can not really zip things as this is OS volume and contains only OS and programs. I have already deleted all the temp Internet, etc stuff. - Thanks for your help.

Hi - I have a C drive (Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit) that has only 435 used Gbytes on a 2 TB drive. I am attempting to use an image backup to restore to a 1 TB drive. But, after defrag, the image is still over 1 TB. How can i shrink it further so I can restore to 1 TB drive? Thanks.

Hi Haxelnut, login123 and Alan_B I am learning (sort of) Linux Mint Olivia, and, as I said, I like it. But, I have noticed that Olivia 15 will only be supported until Jan 2014 and Maya will be supported until 2017. I am wondering if I should switch to Maya and what I would be missing if I did. In February 2014 would I have to do a new install of LM 16? I am not a typical male and do not look forward to changing my woman each year. I would appreciate any thoughts And, BTW, I got over the boot problem,etc. with help from "programming is hard blog" and I have described it here: http://forum.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=137297 And, thanks Hazelnut, Alan and login for your suggestions. (gedit good 4me

Howdy Alan_B, Thanks for the suggestion. I will add it to my list and definitely check it out. My list is long and I want to shorten it before I waste peoples time with my blather. Thanks again.

Hi login123, Thanks for the comments. Backup and Protection: Well, what I have been doing for a long time was having a RAID1 C drive and a RAID1 D drive. For protection, I use 4 Hitachi 2TB Deskstars (same drive model that I have been using in my Synology NAS [ for"]http://www.synology....+&lang=us]��for almost 6 years with no problem); and for backup I had been using MS Image Backup that works with stand alone MS boot disc. I (half-ass) tested it once by adding a 5th drive and watching the restore perform. The 5th drive then booted up. I was (dumbly and ignorantly) happy. So, for years after that first test that was my plan: Have the RAID1 in place if case of HDD failure and in case of corruption have last weekend's image backup ready to restore. Not so much smart. Before I decided to set this up, I was told that this will restore all the programs and settings would be backed up; I would get the complete system back. What I failed to do in my test was use the 5th drive restored system to see if all the programs were there and worked. I still do not know if there were there, but I heard earlier this year that they were not; that this plan was bogus. So, after I finished biting my nails (something I never do) I asked around and heard many people (in the trading world) swear by Acronis. So, I listed to the Acronis sales person, compared by browsing and bought it. I really, really liked the incremental backup every night (that was FAST) and the good feeling that at worst I would only loose a day if corruption occurred. I normally keep all data on NAS (that has all drives RAID1 with Create Synchronicity [http://sourceforge.n...-synchronicity/ ] replicated to a Dell 840 (which I wish was not here in this building). But, on with my tail (as I am a cat): All OS and programs and "data" (artifacts not cleaned off my desktop) use 435 GB of space on my C drive. The D drive before any backup was blank --- kept that way so it could be used only for backup. So that (435 GB) is about the size of the MS backup image on D. After installing Acronis, I kept the last MS image backup, " just in case," and the Acronis put the first full backup down and took up about 220 GB more the the D drive. That brings the total to 655 GB used. So, Acronis, began making incremental backup until it filled up the drive. During this time, I inserted a 5th drive to test Acronis: Message "Restore Successful" but it would not boot. Acronis support (3 calls --- several different people) said more or less, it was my problem and I should talk to the computer manufacturer. Now, I asked and re-asked before I purchased it: "Can I boot from the restored drive?: Yes, Yes, Yes, I was told by several people. Then after another week or so Acronis filled up the D drive and after a technical support call I was told how to turn Acronis backup off, but not how to re-cycle the oldest backup so I could continue making backups. [still waiting for that answer.] Acronis support is Indian based so support is hard to understand at times. In the meantime, I called main office (I actually purchased it from a small consulting company [Acronis "partner"] run by two nice and very helpful guys Andy and Chip who did their best they could to get me answers; but, they were not Acronis and they were not technical on Acronis). The main office put me on with some "executive" with a fancy name who really knew nothing but the rules and played by the rules. “Only a scheduled conference call is allowed to talk to the god of Acronis configuration.” She setup a call with this god of Acronis configuration over another week into the future. The weeks of these problems kept slipping by. On that call I spoke to Robert (god) who gave me the warm and fuzzies and told me he would send me written procedure on how to do everything I wanted. I felt good. I felt very good, in fact, until I decided that this is the guy to ask about my VirtualBox plans. He answered my questions and then the "executive" who was on the call chimed in and began with talk about my having a $erver. Dollar signs were flashing in her eyes as now my Acronis would have to be upgraded to a $2,000 or $3,000 version. And there would be a surcharge for each VB guest. And, maintenance each year would be $200 or $300. I can not remember the exact figures because my mind went into a tailspin at the time. I would up receiving an email written by the executive that was basically gibberish attempting to describe the procedure god said he would send. My English is not that good, but hers was 5 levels below mine. Apparently, god, warm and fuzzy as he is, delegates sometimes. Well, that is ---more of less --- where I am now on backup, except that I will be UN-installing Acronis and emailing Andy and Chip to get the money returned as it has been a week since we spoke and they said they would get back to me on all these issues. It is not their fault; it is clearly the fault of Acronis on whom they depend on and who may have a good product for big crony businesses [who can be put at the top of the support list] but not for me. This tail (sic) will continue as I have found some other backup systems that hold promise and that look good today; and, I will report once they have/have not panned out.

Great to see hazelnut, Alan_B and login123 are following and interested in what the future holds for my quest. I have not yet gotten into application comparing, etc. In addition to this forum, I have to say the Mint forum is fabulous also. It is really, all of you people. I owe it all to you. Thank you, peoples, one and all! FWIW, you might like to know I am doing this on two levels. Level 1 - Dell Optiplex - Mint and VB installed and working with first guest XP pro 32 bit SP2 Since the Optiplex has COA for XP I have contacted MS to use that COA for the XP guest; they say no problem --- nothing to buy; they are calling me back zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Then I am taking a hard drive copy of the big machine W7 U 64b and installing it as additional drive in the Optiplex to work on visualizing that. FWIW, here is the template I am using: https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=33356 - Theoretically, I have 30 days of use before validation will stop this guest from working (as it is currently being used by T7500). Level2 - In that 30 days time I will do a lot of testing and I should know if I have confidence to ditch W7 on big box and do all that I just did on the Optiplex on the T7500. And, of course, if I want XP as a guest on the T7500, I will have to purchase another copy of XP (should be cheap, no? . I know very little, but I will keep you posted on progress in case it will be of any help to others.

Installed Virtual Box and it is going very well. And it is all thanks to Hazelnut and login123! Thanks very, very much . The story and steps are here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=137297&p=732419#p732419 [link will not bring you to the page unless you have logged into that forum]

OK, got around the GUI problem - Machine ahs two VGA outputs so I went to the main one. Before that I tried all the stuff I found on hazelnut's link but it did not hyelp - maybe it was me - dunno But I have it up on the stand alone machine nwo and it is nicer and easier to use tan on the W7 machine. I joined the Mint forum. Nice. Tried gedit, installed it but couldnot get it to execute - I woul like to make it my default RTF editor but can not figure that out either. Working on installing VirtualBox tomorrow. )))

Login123 - Thanks, I checked out the live USB (http://www.linuxliveusb.com/) and was about to make one, but they only do Mint 15 in 32 bit. If you run across anything like this that does 64 bit, please let me know.

Thanks login123. Very happy to find the Mint forum and I will try gedit and tomboy. The info re USB stick will be something I will try also right now to get around this problem. Re booting VB / Mint from Windows, I am making note of this also as I will do a good deal of experimenting. However, the main thrust of my journey into Linux/Mint/VirtualBox is to get away from using any MS product whatsoever, especially Windows. That is why I want to use Mint as a base for VB; then, I will find other apps that will replace as many as possible of my W7 apps running in another Mint within the VB [along side of W7]. Now, I know that some apps I will always use will never convert from Windows and I have accepted that fact and will always have one W7 running in my VB for that. But, the feeling of freedom in being away from W7 (as much as possible) will be great and make up for all the sidestepping I have to do to be free. Windows [from the very beginning when BG gave the idea to SJ ] was a rat's nest of code that has-been/is so broken that it can not be supported without agony on the part of users. [speaking from my experience. If I were brash, I would impugn the motives of the chief pusher behind windows and use words like arrogant and ignorant and greedy and dishonest and uncaring-of-others; but I am not going to do that.]

Hi Hazelnut! Thanks for your getting me started on Mint I have question for you or anyone who knows: When you first told me about Mint I had just loaded Ubuntu 11.x onto a blank box (Dell Optiplex 620 4GB RAM 500GB C drive). I looked at Ubuntu for about 30 minutes before downloading the Mint. Since I saw that Mint could be loaded in W7, I loaded it on a W7 machine closer to my desk and so I got to play with it for several hours (mostly just exploring apps.) But, on Friday I got serious and wanted to install it to the box with Ubuntu on it and tried several times, but could not get the graphical interface to work. I booted up the DVD that I made from the ISO and it booted ok but there were several erros. Anyway I got it loaded and was at a command prompt. I am not yet ready for a command prompt --- don't know enough commands, yet. The errors were about the "X" interface. I know it has to do with graphics (GUI), but I do not know where to get the fix and how to use it. I went to the Wiki.x.org but could not do or understand much there. I have" Welcome to Linux Mint 15 Olivia (GNU/Linux 3.8.0-19-generic X86-64)" then the command prompt. ERRORS: "Failed to start the X server (your graphical interface). It is likely that it is not set up correctly). Would you like to view the X srver output to diagnose the problem?" YES brings: x.Org X Server 1.13.3 Release Date: 2013-03-07 Build Operating System: Linux 3.2.0-37-generic x86_64 Ubuntu Current Operating System: Linux mint 3.8.0-19-generic #29-Ubuntu SMP Wed Kernel command line: file=/cdrom/preseed/mint.seed boot=casper initrd=/c Build Date 17 April 2013 10:43:13PM xorg-server 2:1.13.3-Oubuntu6 (for tehnical support please see http://w Current version of pixman: 0.28.2 Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org to make sure that you have the latest version. Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting, (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational, (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown. (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sun Jun 16 21:07:38 2013 (==) Using system config diretory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d" Initializing build-in extension Generic Event Extension [i see Kernet and xorg-server lines seem to be incomplete; but, that is all that is on the screen.] In viewing the detailed X server output, more of less the same lines appear. After that I get: "The X server is now disabled. Restart MDM when i it is configured correctly." Past that, I get the Welcome to Linux Mint message with the "mint@mint ~ $ " command line; and, the screen has a whole bunch of "U" on it, but I can issue commands and get a response, but at this point I do not know what I am doing. Can you give me some guidance? Also, is there a Mint forum; I was on the Mint site but can not see a forum. Also, is there a very fast RTF editor. I use RTFs like paste it notes and want something fast and simple like Wordpad in Mint (LIbre is OK but slow with a big frame arounnd it taking up screen space.)..

I LOVE this Linux Mint. I decided on Cinnamon. Thanks much hazelnut! I did not try Slitaz; it seems hard to believe that anything could surpass Mint --- plus Minta is VirtualBox "conscious.".. Who could ask for more? and I am trying to stay focused. I am wondering if you can direct me to the best video (and other-ways) tutorials on Linux and especially Linux Mint. I have collected dozens of links and many are disappointing in their ability to get through my thick head. My background is that I know Windows pretty well going back to version 1 --- the version in which BG gave the Windows idea to Steve Jobs .. I knew CPM and DOS before that but I see none of that is relevant as Linux is a different Universe. Any help would be appreciated. I have a lot to learn about Linux and Mint.

OK, I have spent all day on links browsing and comparing Linux OSes and now I got so much in my head I feel very weird. Can anyone who has an opinion give me the answer to two questions for two distinct Linux OSes. 1 - I need a Linux that is totally fast and stable which I will use to put the VurtualBox on (I have plenty of RAM).. 2 - I need a Linus that is totally friendly (maybe with some kind of basic file sharing) with desktop tools, easy to operate, etc that willo be a guest inside the VirtualBox. I would appreciate ANY ideas you experienced people have for 1 and then for 2. FWIW, my server where I keep all my data is a Synology DS1010+ with a 510x extension. It is a Linux server; I do not know much about it except that it has been running for five years and has never had a problem; I just booted it up and plugged in my CAT5 cable (more or less). Thanks. (BTW, I have Ubuntu 11.3 going just for experimenting with loading the VirtualBox --- my next task. But, I am prepared to throw all this breadboard experiment away and reformat the drive as soon as I feel I have gained some experience with VirtualBox.)

login123, Nergal, Alan and hazelnut - Thank you all for your suggestions. I will try them all and report my progress back here

Grateful for those links, Alan. Do you have a link for the linux CDs also? I only have DVD links. Thanks.

Howdy Nergal and hazelnut - Thanks for your suggestions. I did not know I have to purchase another copy of W7. OK, well maybe I will only have 2 W7s going in this box (main and stable for new installs and updates); but, in the long run it will be well worth it Because: Last year I spent a little over a week (plus plus) with W7 machine repairing. I was repairing what MS could not repair; and, this year, I spend two weeks (plus) without a machine connected to Internet or NAS until I found OMGtechhelp.com who worked with me and called me back over a dozen times till W7 was fixed and updated. That is well over three weeks of my life I will never get back [not to mention the frustration and getting very little sleep those weeks]. Bottom line is this is all due to some Windows update and some Apple crap that I installed. I have Malwarebytes and I understand it to be highly rated over e-set and all the "free" anti-virus programs; but .... dunno. Here I am long winded again, but I feel I have to respond to what you all said. Sorry, I will get to the point. I have had great difficulty downloading these live-DVDs. Download happens for a while then cuts off sometimes at 10% and sometimes at 70%. I finally got something from a Russian site (steel linux) that downloaded completely, but I have not been able to make it boot-able. I use BurnAware for this, but have not gotten any help on what is wrong. I tried some other burning programs, but all I wind up with is one giant ISO file on a DVD. I am new at this ISO image stuff. So, help would be appreciated. I am not stuck on SUSE or OpenSUSE or anything. I just want something onto which I can place regular office tools, picture tools, audio tools and run with a GUI like MAC or Windows. Any suggestions here are fine also. I have no trouble paying for these if price not unreasonable. I do have a spare machine (actually two - both Dell - blank hard drives) with 4 GB RAM that I can use as a test machines. Re: V-box. The only V-Box I know about is a car testing box. http://www.velocitybox.co.uk/ Surely, you do not mean that. So any suggestions on which virtual box to use would be good. I understood that the VirtualBox software has to have a linux system under it; but, maybe I am incorrect. Best to you all.

Howdy - OK, I have a need/dislike relationship with MS Windows, and I see there is so much more to explore out there in computer-world and applications-world. I need MSW for some software vendors I use. This handful of vendors will NEVER convert away from MSW. I dislike MSW due to the rat's nest of code that it is --- with problems that take weeks and months to fix even with paid support from people who can't really know it all. I am not going to say anything about the vulnerability of the OS or MS apps. I am not going to say anything about the mismanaged, micro-managed, top-down run organization or about the overcharging for products or about the pointed headed ownership's progressive politics that thinks it knows how to run your life better than you. These things would be irrelevant to my point. MSW is very dis-likable by itself. The real point is that, although I have purposely kept my head in the sand for a long time, I have taken it of the sand for a breath every couple of years to be aware that there is a big, beautiful world of Linux (and other environs) out there that I must explore. To do this I must loose Bill's heavy Mother's Club, Lakeview shackles that limit and bind me while keeping a thin tether-line to those apps that can only breath MSW air. Here is my half hatched plan: My current Dell Precision has W7U-64b and a good deal of installed software that I really do not want to install again (will take months). Dell is better on support than most with limited problems and decent support. Side note: Until about 10 years ago I would only use a machine if I "built" it --- bought all the best CPUs and stuff and put it together --- "my" machine. lol. But, I got tired of all the spec changes, part availability with new CPUs and gizmos changing all the time; it was exhausting! I switched to a pre-made and supported machine and was able to get work done instead of being having my head in a machine most of the day. HP might have been just as good, but I choose Dell and I am sticking with them. Plus: Support in the US from US speaking people that I can understand without slowing them down all the time. Back to my plan: I just bought a Precision T7500 with dual quad 5570 chips at 2.9 GH, 64 GB RAM, 4 2TB Hitachi Deskstars and two graphics cards to support 8 monitors. This will be called my "new" machine. Yes, the T7500 is a few years old, but to get a brand new box with a dubious 20% improvement and this amount of RAM would have cost 500% more dollaros-bearos. Current machine: W7U64b with the c and d drives as RAID1 so each has only 2 TB. C only has W7 and d is for backup. No data on C --- only OS and programs; all data on NAS, things inadvertently placed on desktop are swept into NAS as night to save housekeeping. I had been using the MSW backup (c drive OS and programs is about 435 GB so the d could take a cycle of 4 backups to the d drive), but about a month ago I tried the Acronis image backup for about a hundred bucks; but, so far the restoring to a boot-able 5th drive that I added for the test has not worked; so I may not stick with Acronis. Plus, there may be some other things wrong with Acronis and my plan which I will get to later. I have not yet installed W7U64b on my new machine yet, as I want to work out and desk-check-test that my plan is solid using some older machines that I have around. For instande. I may replace the c drive with a SSHD (hybrid) which has 8GB of solid state memory. Right now it is about $120 for a 1 TB. Might improve speed a good deal. It arrived today and is waiting in the box for me to develop my plan further. So, where is the "away from MSW" world I was talking about? In Summary, a base linux with VirtualBox running W7 (maybe several) and a main linux OS (maybe several) with ALL the MS Office-like software than runs in linux --- plus every other product that I can use that runs on linux (transferring data from W7. In looking over the possibilities, I have picked SUSE Linux (not sure about the open version --- paid version sounds better with support since --- today --- I know zero about Linux). On that SUSE, I am planning to put VirtualBox. And, on that VB I am planning to put my main W7U64b and XP and SUSE plus another other OS that I want to play with or explore. And, on one of these Linux instantiations I intend to put an entire suite of office and desktop tools and pick the best ones to wean me off of MS Office and all the other MS dependent apps that I have. OK, that's the plan. Poke holes in it it you will. Any suggestions are welcome. I am open to learn where my thinking is "weird". Right now I am still trying to get SUSE installed. I intend to post my progress and the main things I learn here.