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Alan_B

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Posts posted by Alan_B

    slow analysis start-up

    in Defraggler

    Posted

    I then read a question in this forum from someone who had the same trouble as myself (Kcash), and saw he got no help at all with his problem.

    Apparently Kcash received his first answer within 12 hours of his posting,

    and you gave up waiting for further answers and installed an alternative product during the next 7 hours

     

    If your problems are so urgent then you can pay for direct support by the developers.

    CCleaner causes Skype to crash...

    in CCleaner Bug Reporting

    Posted

    Can anyone send me a link to the latest "WinApp2.ini" file, please...

    Please note that I was NOT suggesting that you use WinApp2.ini to fix your problem.

    The purpose of WinApp2.ini is to increase free space by removing files which us forum amateurs think you do not need,

    and there is a slight danger it will cause a problem,

    but I have never heard of it fixing a problem.

    My mouse doesn't work after the scan

    in CCleaner

    Posted

    CCleaner can do no harm if you the Analyze button.

     

    CCleaner is normally harmless if you click "Run Cleaner".

     

    Under the Registry page is "Scan for Issues" which is also harmless.

     

    BUT the "Fix Selected Issues" can give beginners a bad experience,

    which you may be able to repair by restoring the registry backups that would have been suggested when you chose to Fix.

    I never "Fix Selected Issues" unless I have identified those issues and their consequences and am satisfied that the advantages outweigh the dangers,

    and when those dangers actually strike I have a Perfect backup of my system ready to to repair everything in 5 minutes.

     

    Sorry, I only know English and do not know the names of the buttons in your language.

    Hot Swapping SATA Drives

    in Hardware

    Posted

    Free downloads for either Boot CD or Boot Flash

    http://www.partition...ootable-cd.html

    http://www.partition...lash-drive.html

    With those you can plug your SATA HDD into the PC and boot into a partition manager without Windows being aware of the "foreign" HDD.

     

    Hot plugging drives onto an active Data + Address + Power Bus would be way outside of my comfort level.

     

    For me the only possible (and potentially valuable) use of this software is that it promises to safely remove eSATA external drives as easily as Windows Drive Manager can deal with USB.

    I am using Zentimo xStorage Manager and that is an easier way to remove USB2 drives,

    but it cannot remove eSATA - If I use eSATA for an external backup I can disable it but cannot remove it until I have shut down.

    Google went dark for 2 minutes

    in The Lounge

    Posted

    What is "4:37pm Pacific Time to G.M.T."

    http://www.worldtime...o-gmt-converter

    That shows PDT or PST, but no PT - Pacific Time "is neither Fish nor Fowl"

    My best guess is 23:37 GMT,

     

    About 22:00 GMT my Browser was running with Gmail on one of its Tabs,

    but it was in the background whilst I tested some software when my computer crashed and shut down.

    I restarted and launched my browser and restored the previous session which brought back all the TABs that had been open - apart from Gmail.

     

    I clicked my bookmark shortcut to launch Gmail and enter my account,

    and each time Gmail refused to even recognise that I had an account - but It recognised my wife's account.

    This would have been around 22:37 GMT ( give or take half an hour)

     

    I feared that either my Windows installation or my browser profile was corrupted, and called it a night.

     

    This morning I powered up and as I hoped but really doubted,

    after an overnight shut down and start up all was well again,

    and Gmail was working again.

     

    Conclusion :-

    Either Google went dark at 22:37 GMT,

    or about 1 hour before Google went dark there were problems with Gmail,

    and either there was a cascade of servers falling over and taking down their neighbours,

    or

    Google phoned Technical Support and they asked

    "Have you tried switching off and switching on again" :lol:

    Recover directory structure on second attempt?

    in Recuva

    Posted

    If Recuva doesn't alter the disk where it is trying to recover data, then why is it that the initial scan showed the original pathnames, but now they're gone?

    The loss of original pathnames suggests that something has written to drive F:\.

    This could be due to :-

    A mistake when you quickly clicked that set the destinations as F:\;

    A mistake in the external connections / hardware such that the data intended for your destination drive ?:\ happened to also hit F:\;

    Automatic operation of backup / archiving software that was independent of your actions and happened to use F:\ as its destination;

     

     

    What version of Recuva ?

    (specific number please - "latest" is a variable I do not trust)

     

    How were your external drives connected ?

    (eSATA, USB2, USB3, etc.)

     

    What was the drive letter that you intended as the destination ?

     

    What was the format of both the source and destination drives ?

    ( Using Windows Explorer select a drive and right click and choose properties and it will show you )

    A slow but steady loss of freespace?

    in Defraggler Bug Reporting

    Posted

    1.) The drive in question is C: drive and has a capacity of 902 GB. You might think I'm quibbling over 6.5 GB out of 902 total, but my real concern is

    how fast this happened.

    Actually I looked up your machine and saw it came with a large HDD,

    and thought that either you had a supplementary small SSD for your operating system,

    or that you had only a small Windows partition and a much larger data/Documents partition,

    or possibly you were like myself and afflicted with O.C.D. :)

     

    I am like you and hate the way Free Space is used up,

    and when I used Win XP I would often mount last month's backup image of C:\ and compare with the current state of C:\

    and obsess over every new file in-case it was malware that had invaded,

    or even worse - a Windows Update that had forced itself through.

    Windows 7 is so much worse that I have given up worrying.

     

    So far as Pagefile.sys is concerned, I have it set to a fixed size on my 64 bit Windows 7 and this is good for me.

    I do not know what is suitable for Windows 8.

     

    N.B.

    Last night I happened to stumble across a Win 8 bug in this article

    https://windowssecre...-for-windows-8/

    Search for the phrase

    On my Win8 PC, File History saves a new version of every file every night, which quickly uses up all of my backup space.

    This could also cause you grief, either now or in the future

    A slow but steady loss of freespace?

    in Defraggler Bug Reporting

    Posted

    Welcome to the forum.

     

    Try this freeware version of Treesize

    https://www.jam-soft....80&language=EN

    That gives you options of a 3.2 MB installer or 2.5 MB Portable (which is my preference.)

    That will allow you to see where the space hogs are,

    and by either taking screen shots or using Treesize "Print" you can capture each day and then compare and see what is growing.

     

    For me the worst space hogs are Browser profiles and caches and C:\Windows\Winsxs\.

    C:\System Volume Information\ is also a space hog for people who have not disabled "System Restore" (or whatever Win 8 may call it..)

     

    Alternatively

     

    Desist from defragging for a week - nothing will die.

    I have not defragged for a year and my computer still runs.

     

    If your used space continues to grow when you are not defragging then you have some other issue,

    and my best bet would be software updates,

    either Microsoft Updating (sometimes without warning)

    or applications (especially from HP) automatically updating.

     

    How large is the partition you are defragging, and is it system partition C:\ ?

    How can I determine the speed of my PCI Express interface ?

    in Hardware

    Posted

    Try running GPU-Z. It will report the PCIE bus type and usage.

     

    As for the original topic: You can use a USB3 external drive with USB2 ports. My mainboard doesn't have USB3 either. You will lose some speed though.

    Thanks for the link, now downloaded and ready to use.

     

    I have quite a few 8 GB Flash Drives with significantly different speeds.

    The most recent is USB3 because I wanted to achieve speeds limited by the USB2 host and NOT be inferior Flash technology that could not achieve USB2 LIMITS.

    so I considered it worth paying an extra 10% for whatever boost that could give at the time,

    and also for use in the future (which is now scheduled for next week).

    I was disappointed to find that the fastest of the USB2 flash drives was a few percent faster than this USB3

     

    I am using a PCIE graphics card.

     

    I will look into the availability of a non-express PCI USB3 interfact card.

     

    Regards

    Alan

    How can I determine the speed of my PCI Express interface ?

    in Hardware

    Posted

    Sol I would be confident in saying that setting them back to factory defaults to overcome anything you may do Alan will not make anything worse :)

    I accept that it should still work after setting back to factory defaults,

    but my son now manages the I.T. department of a college after working up through the ranks when he configured / set up all the computers for the technology classes,

    and if I undo his enhancements and cannot restore back to his settings then my system will be degraded until :-

    He next makes a 600 mile round trip to visit ;

    or TeamViewer gives him remote control of my BIOS settings ; :rolleyes:

    or I risk my sanity trying to understand the unpredictable world of Windows Computers. :wacko:

    How can I determine the speed of my PCI Express interface ?

    in Hardware

    Posted

    With the ones that let you save to a file (and I haven't seen these for a while) from memory it gives you the opportunity to type in the name to save it as.

    Thanks, I will investigate.

     

    Chances are that it will let me save to a file on the HDD,

    and then allow my to make a mistake in the BIOS so that the BIOS can no longer access the file :angry:

     

    Us longtime time users of Windows never expect an easy life. :wacko:

    How can I determine the speed of my PCI Express interface ?

    in Hardware

    Posted

    You can always revert changes done in BIOS. Most BIOSES have an option to restore factory defaults. Don't be afraid to do that if yo need it. It's weird, my Gigabyte board has got the same chipset than yours and it support PCIE 2.0 without needing to change anything in BIOS.

    Thanks

    Do you happen to know :-

    What settings are applied to your ports ?

    and / or

    The difference between "Autonomous Switch" and "Auto" ?

     

    This morning I found that by default all my ports were set as Auto, and had the alternatives "Disabled", "Software Switch", and "Autonomous Switch".

    n.b. Either Asus.com FAQ has a spelling mistake or Windows could not do a proper copy and paste when I posted "Automonous Switch".

     

    The thing that really ticks me off about the BIOS is that I cannot click the link to the asus.com web-site and read the magic incantations to the BIOS god,

    but first I have to sacrifice some wealth to renew the ink in my printer so that I can diligently follow the instructions

    You need to enable PCI-E 2.0 support in BIOS. Please go to Advanced --> Chipset -->PCI Express Configuration--> Port#02~Port#12 --> Gen2 High Speed Mode, and set this option to "Automonous Switch".

    Port#02 represents first PCI-E X16 slot.

    One further aggravation is that when I exit from the BIOS then Windows punishes me by enumerating my drives wrongly,

    and Windows Disk Management and Minitool Partition manager are all told the first Disk is my WDC HDD (spin up delay of 5.1 seconds),

    followed by my OCZ SSD (??? delay ???), followed by my Samsung HDD (spin up delay of 8.1 seconds)

    and this has in the past caused glitches in the real-time drive performance records kept by my Disk monitor.

     

    N.B. I know that in theory I can get back to the BIOS and change it again,

    but whether I can repair my mistakes depends on finding the piece of paper on which I may have noted down what the pre-mistake settings were :(

     

    Regards

    Alan

    How can I determine the speed of my PCI Express interface ?

    in Hardware

    Posted

    @ Hazel

    Thanks - the last item shows me 5 Gbps which I compute as 625 MBytes per Second, but perhaps they really mean 5 Gtps (including "transaction" overhead bits for each byte)

    I do not know for sure, but I assume this is per "bank".

    I have a little more research to do - I will check out their forum.

     

    @ eL_PuSHeR

    Thanks

    That tells me

    4 x PCIe x16 with ATI CrossFireX™ support, @ dual x16; tripple x16 / x8 / x8; or quad x8 modes

    2 x PCI 2.2

    Support PCIe 2.0 / 1.0 Architecture

    It leaves me with a little doubt about whether this capability existed at the time when my motherboard was built.

    Alarmingly, when I look at the FAQs I read

    M3A32-MVP Deluxe supports PCI-E 2.0. But PCI-E 2.0 support is disabled by default. You need to enable PCI-E 2.0 support in BIOS. Please go to Advanced --> Chipset -->PCI Express Configuration--> Port#02~Port#12 --> Gen2 High Speed Mode, and set this option to "Automonous Switch".

    Port#02 represents first PCI-E X16 slot.

    http://www.asus.com/...61-B0E802C46D52

     

    I do so hope I can avoid changing the BIOS - "Dragons Be Here" :o

     

    I will look and think a bit more before making my purchase.

     

    I am happy to consider any other options

     

    Regards

    Alan

    How can I determine the speed of my PCI Express interface ?

    in Hardware

    Posted

    I wish to use a USB3 External HDD and believe my only way is to add a PCI Express Card in my long x16 socket.

     

    Tech. Support of the original seller of the motherboard will sell me a "long" card that uses the entire length of the x16 socket,

    and assured me that it would give me the full benefit of the 5 Gbps capability of USB3,

    and warned me that any smaller card that can fit into an x1 socket would give me only 2 Gbps,

    and he quoted the small table on the right near the top of

    http://en.wikipedia....iki/PCI_Express

     

    I have now read all the above and have read

    In 2003, PCI-SIG introduced PCIe 1.0a, with a per-lane data rate of 250 MB/s

    PCI-SIG announced the availability of the PCI Express Base 2.0 specification on 15 January 2007.

    The PCIe 2.0 standard doubles the transfer rate compared with PCIe 1.0 to 5 GT/s and the per-lane throughput rises from 250 MB/s to 500 MB/s.

    followed by

    PCI Express 3.0 Base specification revision 3.0 was made available in November 2010, after multiple delays.

     

    The motherboard was supplied around May 2011

    so I HOPE the supplier achieved 2.0 standard in those 40+ months.

     

    Is there any freeware that can positively identify the PCIe version of my motherboard,

    or do I have to pay the extra for a large card or attempt a "sale or return" on a cheaper small card.

     

    According to Speccy :-

    Motherboard
Manufacturer	ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Model	M3A32-MVP DELUXE (CPU 1)
Chipset Vendor	AMD
Chipset Model	790FX
Chipset Revision	00
Southbridge Vendor	ATI
Southbridge Model	SB600
Southbridge Revision	00
 PCI Data
			Slot PCI-E
				Slot Type	PCI-E
				Slot Usage	In Use
				Bus Width	Unknown
				Slot Designation	PCIEX16-1
				Slot Number	0
			Slot PCI-E
			Slot PCI-E
			Slot PCI-E
			Slot PCI
			Slot PCI
				Slot Type	PCI
				Slot Usage	Available
				Bus Width	32 bit
				Slot Designation	PCI-2
				Slot Number	5

    Regards

    Alan

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