Your questions answered
Expert solutions for everday problems.
Backup and reinstall
I would like to know how to make a backup of my entire computer. Also, I would like to download a brand-new install of Windows 10 64-bit. My version was previously one downloaded by an employee of Office Depot. Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy – this could be a problem if my computer crashes, as I’ll have nothing to show for it. Please advise.
Jerry Yaron
TechLife responds: Go to www. macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx to download and install Macrium Reflect Free. Once installed, open Macrium, and, assuming that Windows, your apps and all your personal files are on a single drive, choose “Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows,” then follow the prompts to create a recurring backup to your hard drive. Choose the “Differential Backup Set” template for a sensible backup regime, involving daily “differential” backups to keep the backup size down. Choose “Other Tasks > Create Rescue Media” to create emergency bootable media on CD or USB flash drive so you can recover your backup if Windows becomes unbootable.
You can create your own Windows installation media by downloading the Media Creation Tool from www.microsoft.com/ software-download/windows10 – use this to create a bootable USB flash drive, which you’ll be able to
use to reinstall Windows from scratch on your computer, should the need arise. The key thing is determining what kind of Windows 10 license is on the computer – if you log into Windows 10 using your Microsoft account username and password, then it’s a digital license. What this means is that you can skip the prompt for a product key during installation, and Windows 10 will automatically reactivate after you’ve set things up from scratch.
Online ticket tips
I frequently book tickets to events that tend to sell out quite quickly – sometimes in a matter of seconds. The usual process is to press Enter and then get an option with available tickets, but when I select them and hit Enter again, the ticket is frequently no longer available, and I have to repeat the process – either getting inferior tickets or sometimes nothing at all.
Therefore, I’m trying to set up a dedicated internet approach to maximise my responsiveness in these situations. My computer is an older PC with an Intel i7 processor and connected to my cable internet connection via a Gigabit Ethernet cable. OS is Windows 10 Pro and is up to date.
I currently use Firefox, which is perfectly satisfactory for day-today browsing. I have many bookmarks and it’s probably quite full up with browsing history, and so on. I’ve been reading that there are several settings that can be changed to increase Firefox’s “speed” but I’m reluctant to mess around too much in case I inadvertently worsen its overall performance.
I also recently read that Vivaldi would be a faster browser so I may install Vivaldi for this one function – then it would not be saddled with the inevitable accumulation of history and so on. I’d appreciate any guidance you can provide – for example, would it help to shut down unneeded programs while trying to book a ticket? Also, any settings I might change in Firefox or Vivaldi if that seems the best route?
Gord MacDonald
TechLife responds: Perhaps the issue here is that you’re reduced to taking part in the general melee that occurs whenever tickets go on sale to the wider public. If an event is particularly popular, you might want to consider a different approach: look for presale offers, such as joining a fan club or signing up for a specific credit card when an event is due to go on sale. Not only do you get the jump on the great unwashed, you’ll unlock better seats in the process. Also, see if you can source the tickets elsewhere – try the venue directly, for example.
Otherwise, you might want to consider whether your computer is actually the best platform to buy those tickets on. Ticketmaster’s mobile app is considered faster and more efficient than sitting on your web browser, for example.
If you’re going to stick with your PC, though, there are some other considerations: is your internet connection fast and stable enough? Once you’ve selected your tickets you should be able to complete the checkout process without losing them or your place in the queue, but if your connection drops or is too slow, then you’re back to square one. The quality of your connection is determined by its signal levels – see tinyurl.com/APC493SPD for a generic guide, using your router’s administration tool (accessible by typing its IP address into your browser) to measure your current settings. If you see problems, talk to your ISP.
We also like the idea of trying a different browser, but not necessarily for the reason you’re thinking. He’s wondering if ticket websites are optimised for
Chromium-based browsers over Firefox’s Gecko engine, for the simple reason that they’re far more popular: Chromium browsers cover Vivaldi, Edge, Opera, and of course Google Chrome. With this in mind, you won’t lose out by trying it.
CAPTCHA tests are another bane of anyone attempting to jump through ticket sales, so if you find yourself losing valuable time to these checks, try a browser plugin that can safely disable them— many like AntiCaptcha ( https://anti-captcha.com) charge a small sum ($1 will cover 2,000 images) but can circumvent most CAPTCHA tests pretty quickly. If you want to try a free service, then Buster ( https://github.com/dessant/buster) is one to try. Test this on an event that’s less likely to sell out to see whether it has any positive effect on your ticketpurchasing process.
If all else fails, try Googling “Ticketmaster tips” or whichever ticket website you’re trying to get tickets from – you’ll find plenty of tips and tricks that may improve your chances going forward.
Gateway all-in-one upgrades
In this time of low supply and high cost of PCs, I am trying to get by with a Gateway ZX6971-UB2OP. I would like to upgrade some components, to make it more usable. One thing I know about this device is none of the components are easily accessible like a laptop. Based on my experience with opening laptops, I will take it to a shop to install the new parts.
My issue is getting the right parts ahead of time. With Gateway being out of business, and their support site very small, it is hard to know what I need. I want to add more RAM, yet some resellers say I can use two sticks of 4GB DDR3 RAM while others state 2 x 8GB. I also want to swap out the HDD for an SSD. I’m sure it only supports 2.5-inch drives, but not sure what brackets will be needed. Also, one of the fans is very noisy, and therefore likely at the end of its life, but again, not sure what sizes to get. Any ideas where I can find all this information?
Al Howarth
TechLife responds: We saw your query on Reddit, which elicited just the one response – one that directed you to a YouTube clip that appears to cover disassembling a different model. However, searching YouTube for “ZX6971” reveals numerous disassembly videos that will probably reinforce your decision to get someone else to fit the upgrades for you.
The videos made it difficult to work out if the existing drive is 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch, but that doesn’t matter – the SSD can either be screwed into the existing metal cage, or simply secured to the chassis using double-sided tape. Your PC’s SATA-II interface limits you to 3GB/s transfer speeds, so don’t break the bank looking for a performance-driven SSD, you’ll still benefit from much faster transfer speeds.
In terms of upgrading the RAM, we took a trip to Crucial ( www. crucial.com) where we were able to select your exact model from the memory-finder tool. This recommends no more than 8GB in total (2x4GB). Sadly, all available modules were listed as out of stock; however, it reveals you’re looking for DDR3L-1600 SODIMM laptop memory (specifically PC3-12800, CL=11, Unbuffered, NON-ECC, DDR3-1600, 1.35V) and can redirect you to www.staticice.com.au: you’ll find that a 4GB module currently costs around $25 (so $50 -$60 in total for an 8GB upgrade).
Finally, we had to dig deep to track down the replacement fan you’ll need. Go hunting for the following part numbers: BUB0812DD-BD88 or 1323-00DY000 – the fan fits several models, including Acer All-in-One machines as well as Gateway. Expect to pay around $40 for the fan.
Possible laptop hack
Our laptop has been hacked: The Windows 10 admin password has been changed, as have two Excel spreadsheet passwords. Now the only way I can log into the laptop as an admin is using the fingerprint scanner.
Larry
TechLife responds: Larry also followed up with another email saying that his laptop takes 8-15 minutes to fully boot, and that the hard drive runs continuously. All of this is probably related, which means we’d recommend you disconnect it from the internet, and then take steps to run full security scans with both your existing security software, and then using a series of third-party tools, which you should download on another, clean computer before transferring across to your infected laptop.
Two tools you can run directly from Windows as portable scan-and-remove apps are Emsisoft Emergency Kit (get it from www.emsisoft.com/en/software/eek/) and VIPRE Rescue ( www.vipreantivirus.com/ vipre-rescue-virus-removal-tool. aspx) if EEK doesn’t work. Failing that, try a free bootable rescue disc such as Kaspersky Rescue Disk 18 ( https://support.kaspersky.com/krd18). If nothing is found, and you can still install software on your infected laptop, download the free version of Malwarebytes AntiMalware ( www.malwarebytes.com) on your clean machine, then transfer it across and install it to run a deeper scan for other potential infections.
Assuming it finds and removes any infections, you’re left with the clean-up process. If you log on to Windows using a Microsoft Account, then visit https://account. microsoft.com to verify that the password has been changed, and then take steps to recover your account (go to https://account.live.com/password/reset if necessary).
For your Excel passwords, you’ll need a tool like Excel Password Recovery ( www.thundershare.net/ free-excel-password-recovery/) – use the free version to determine if it can guess the password, then purchase a single personal license for US$39.95 to unlock the files for use again.