Derek891

Hello Arturo and welcome to the forum. If I were letting other people use my machine, I would only allow CCleaner to be run from the administrator account. This is because there are some features of CCleaner, such as drive wiper, uninstall programs, delete system recovery points, changing/deleting system startup items, and so on, that can cause serious problems if they are used by someone who doesn't understand how they work. If you are not familiar with all of these features yourself, I suggest reading the user documents found here: http://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner

Thanks Alan. I wasn't aware of that feature when using Macrium. In my case I wanted to shrink the 900GB+ factory partition down to 200GB and the Windows Partition Manager refused to go any lower than 380GB or so. The next time I use Macrium I'll see what it can do.

I'll be the first to admit it: it's not a quick way to do it, nor is it easy. And anytime someone uses partitioning software carelessly there is a potential for disaster. But if you absolutely, positively have to shrink a partition and preserve the data on it, it's the only way I know.

Special, there's a way to do it, I've used it in the past to shrink C: drive in order to install a second operating system when the Windows Partition Manager won't let me go far enough. Install the portable version of Mini Tool Partition Wizard to a USB thumb drive. It's the only partitioning software I know of that allows you to resize a partition while maintaining the integrity of it's data. You won't exactly be moving the data at the end of the partition all the way to the front, just towards the front, and you'll have to defragment when you're done since it doesn't move the data in an orderly manner. Don't try to go too far when resizing, I use 2x as rule: if there's 50GB of data, don't go any less than 100GB for the partition's new size. When you're done, you can bring the partition back to it's original size with either Windows Partition Manager or Partition Wizard.

I doubt their website is using tracking cookies to figure out who users are, since they could easily be erased by the user. They are probably identifying you by your I.P. address. The headers on the individual packets tell the tale my friend, and just like your fingerprints, are not easily altered. And using a proxy will more than likely fail since they probably have a blacklist of all the proxy servers people have tried in the past.

How to receive notifications is explained here: http://forum.pirifor...1&HID=22&hl=how to follow a topic I'm trying to understand what you mean by "looping", because there are only two situations that I'm aware of: 1.) You start a drive wipe and let it run to completion - no problems that I know of when you do this. 2.) You start a drive wipe and cancel it before it completes - not a problem if you have chosen to make a single pass (just zeroes), but risky if you have chosen to make 3 passes (alternating writes of 0,1,0) or 7 passes (alternating writes of 0,1,0,1,0,1,0). This is where if you cancel, you run into problems and find you have a drive with little or no freespace left. I'm not going to explain the Gutmann method, which involves 35 passes, but you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia..../Gutmann_method If you do have a problem, start by checking the option to show hidden files, then look at the root of C: drive, or whatever drive you were wiping. That's where you will find an enormous file with a nonsensical name that's filling your drive. Take another look at this example: http://tinypic.com/v...=6#.UoEOFZAo45s Also: Go into the power options in control panel and make sure that any options to put your machine to sleep are disabled before you begin, because wiping a drive using a single pass takes a very long time. Multiple passes take what seems forever.

This might be the thread you're looking for. It is old (2009) and long (3 pages): http://forum.pirifor...wtopic=20866= lost freespace wipe&st=0 Look for the post by molumen - #24 - on the second page. Edit: Here's another link explaining where to look for the file: http://tinypic.com/v...=6#.UoEOFZAo45s

I just got home after checking out the Lenovo. And what a huge disappointment it was. Apparently his idea of pristine and my idea of pristine exist in two separate universes, much like matter and anti-matter. The case had several large scuff marks, and I was willing to overlook that, since it is a used machine, and I value function and reliability over looks. Then I noticed that the right side Shift key and the Enter key seemed slightly out of alignment with all the others, a sign they had been removed and replaced at some time in the past. Or that something was amiss underneath them. I was tempted to look further, but didn't want to risk popping them off and not being able to get them back on. Or worse, breaking them. The screen looked like it had been cleaned regularly with a fine grade of steel wool. The decal on the battery revealed it was made in 2009, so it is already at or very near the end of it's life. And an quick inspection with my Mini Maglite revealed the insulator was missing from one of the three USB ports, leaving the four contacts dangling. My research on Lenovo's user forum revealed that is a common problem, and it paid off in this case. So I didn't even ask for him to boot it, or to make an offer. I just said thank you and left. There are plenty of others out there, I'll just have to keep looking. BTW, I found out that the T430, the current version of this machine, retails for about $850 US. http://www.directron.com/23426qu.html#caption

Hello Warlock. I'm sorry to hear about your problems. I recently had a software related problem, and the solution was time consuming but simple: I re-installed Windows. Replacing components is both expensive and time consuming. I'd say that if you're very concerned about heat, and trying not to stress your system too much, don't even bother to defragment at all. Just run it and leave it at that. The small gain in performance is not worth the stress you're putting on the system. I am a little surprised at the difference between the Windows analysis and Defraggler's analysis. I would expect them to be within 1 or 2 percent of each other. If you feel that you must defrag, keep one thing in mind: Do not start off with one, then stop and switch to the other. The Windows version and Defraggler will only be fighting each other, and you'll gain little or nothing in the process. Another thing to consider: You can pause Defraggler whether you're using the Defrag or Quick Defrag mode. Using Windows, you are stopping the defrag and then starting the process all over. And last, from my experience, using the Quick Defrag mode of Defraggler is the fastest way to go, it's just not as thorough as the normal mode. And it gives you the option to pause it. Access the Quick mode by hitting the down arrow on the Defrag button. I use the Quick mode for at least 3 to 4 weeks, then use the normal defrag. Good hearing from you and good luck.

Thanks to both of you for your replies. I don't have a specific model number yet, just a few technical details. Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.53 MHz, 4 GB DDR3 RAM @ 1066 MHz, and a 320 GB SATA hard drive. The only downside is the fact it has Windows XP installed, but that's not the end of the world, since I was planning to use it with a Linux OS anyway. From what I've learned from their own website, Lenovo offered some models of the T400 with Fedora installed, so I don't see any real problems using Linux. The owner is asking $200 US, and claims it's in pristine condition. I'm going see it tonight, and if it is indeed pristine, then I think it's worth it. If not, I can negotiate from there.

Has anyone on the forum owned or used the Thinkpad T400, or any of the T series laptops? I have a chance to get a used one at a reasonable price, I've done some online research and found they have a good reputation, but I'd like to hear from someone with some first hand knowledge with this machine. I appreciate any comments, good, bad, or whatever. Thank you.

And so begins the exodus, and it is a shame. Sourceforge once had integrity and a stellar reputation. And now we get to witness it's slow deterioration and eventual demise at the hands of it's new owners. In a way it's sad, but that is the way of the world.

I think the hardest lesson this young man may learn is how to breathe when he finds himself tied to a chair with a plastic bag over his head secured by duct tape around his neck. I only say this because the first question I asked myself when I read the story is "who would trust an 18 year old kid with over a million dollars?". The answer is either a group of people who are completely naïve, or a single entity like organized crime. He should pray that it is the former and not the latter in his situation.

Hello Danto and welcome to the forum. I haven't had Defraggler get hung up when analyzing a drive, but I have had it get hung up when defragmenting. It could be one large file or a group of smaller files that have become extremely fragmented. Start Defraffler, and let it run until it hits the point where it stalls out. Take note of which block it is on the display. Stop Defraggler, then click on that particular block. The lower panel will display all the files in that block. Click "Fragments" at the top of the second column and re-sort the files, bringing the most fragmented to the top of the list. Then tick on the most heavily fragmented ones, one at a time, and defragment them individually. This will remove the bottleneck. It has worked for me in the past.

Hello Jimdot Don't be too alarmed by what Speccy is reporting. I have a laptop with an AMD processor/graphics package and had a very exaggerated CPU temp being reported by the last two versions of Speccy. I installed both Core Temp and AMD Overdrive to give me more info, and they both agreed that my CPU temp was ranging from 40-65C depending on the processor load. At the same time Speccy was showing anywhere from 50-105C. It's not that Speccy is driving up your hardware's temps, it's a matter of calibration, it's way off. I reported this over a month ago, and one of the devs did contact me and ask for a snapshot from Speccy. It is being looked into and will probably be addressed in a future release. Nonetheless I'm glad you posted, you and I will have to keep bugging them to debug Speccy.

Hello Sarah Since your drive hasn't failed yet, now is the time to plan and prepare for it. As mta and I have said, your first priority should be saving any important data on your drive. Start by opening your browser, I.E. or whatever you use, and export your bookmarks to the Documents folder. Save any desktop wallpapers and the avatars you use to the Pictures folder. Then save the Documents, Music, Pictures, and Video folders to a USB stick. Double check to see if you have any files stashed elsewhere. All your data will then be off the drive and safe. Your second priority should be saving your operating system. And this is going to depend on which operating system you have installed. If it is WinXP, be aware of the fact that Microsoft support is ending April 2014, and saving it may or may not be worth the effort. If you have Win7, then it is definitely worth the effort. I don't know exactly what you already have for installation or recovery options. My guess is that since it is a netbook, you have no DVD drive to work with, correct? That means no installation DVD was included when you bought it, correct? Samsung has probably installed a recovery partition on the drive itself, labeling it D: drive, correct? If your answer is yes to all three questions, your options are limited, but here's what you can consider: Install Macrium Reflect and save an image of all your partitions to a USB stick. This will preserve your operating system and your data as well. Perhaps Alan_B can offer some advice at this point since he is much more familiar with using Macrium than I am. But first you should inform us of what operating system you have and whether or not you wish to keep using it. Third, last, and most important: what are you willing to spend? You have to consider the cost of a new hard drive, the memory upgrade you mentioned, and, if you need it, the cost of a new operating system. The hard drive can range from $50 to $120 U.S., depending on the capacity and who makes it. The memory upgrade will be $30 to $40 U.S., I know this because I recently installed 2GB of memory in my HP Mini, a machine similar to yours. And if you consider the cost of a Windows7 or 8 upgrade on top of all this, from $95 to $140 U.S., you are talking about a total cost ranging from $175 to $300 for everything. This is your choice, the things you really need and what you are willing to spend is up to you. On the low end, it is probably worth it. On the high end, it might be better if you put that money towards the purchase of a new machine. Again, that is up to you. Don't let me influence you one way or the other, I'm only offering advice based on what I know. Post back if you need any more help. Follow up: I've done a little research and it appears your little laptop is popular enough to have an owner's forum. The link is here: http://www.sammynetb...N140-N310-Forum And there is a pinned topic dealing with the recovery process and saving both the system partition and the recovery partition to DVD and then re-installing them to a new hard drive (This assumes you have an external DVD-RW drive available). The link is here: http://www.sammynetb...overy-Partition If you don't have a DVD-RW drive to use, then use Macrium Reflect as I've already described to create and save an image on a USB stick.

If you want a real eye opener, Google the phrase "HP laptop recovery failed". One person will start a thread on the HP support forum complaining about this, then another joins in, and another, and so on. Before you know it, there are a dozen or so people, all with the same problem. And that's just a single thread. There are dozens and dozens of threads like this. I guess I should consider myself lucky that it has worked for me without a glitch.

Back on Oct. 16, I had a big problem with Windows 8. It was not the first time Windows had failed me. Most of you on the forum are aware of this. And I swore that would be the end of it, no more of Windows 8 on my machine. So I began an odyssey to find a Linux based OS to replace Windows 8. I learned a lot about several Linux distros, their own quirks, their problems with UEFI and Secure Boot, networking, dual booting, and so on. And they all seemed to share two common problems: an inability to resume after suspend, and the inability to detect my Wi-Fi device from a cold boot (after a re-boot it would work). I scoured their respective forums looking for the solutions to these two problems, yet it seemed no matter what I tried, I could never get things to work right. And then on one forum someone mentioned the one thing I had never considered: BIOS. And it seemed to make sense, why would three different Linux operating systems all behave the same way? So it was off to the HP support website, and there I found it: On Sept. 30, HP had released version 2.3 of my BIOS. So for just over two weeks, while I still had Windows 8 installed, the HP support assistant software had failed it's primary purpose, to notify me of this important update. There was only one problem: to install the new BIOS, I would have to re-install Windows. So last Wednesday I did. Then I updated the BIOS. And so far, things are going smoothly, none of the glitches of the past have occurred. And so I've decided to give Windows 8 another chance. And now I would like to apologize to the members of the forum, the moderators, and the developers in particular. I realize that the success of Piriform's products depends upon the success of Microsoft's product, Windows 8. I am sure I've caused a certain amount of dismay and angst by bad mouthing Windows 8 on this forum. The only excuse I can offer is this: I have some degree of knowledge of how to diagnose problems with Windows, and no knowledge of how to diagnose problems with BIOS. I can only work with the settings that are offered, assume that BIOS works as is, and that my problems must lie elsewhere. Again, my apologies, and I hope to make amends by offering a more positive attitude in the future.

Hello tdl There are two options to wipe your drive using CCleaner. The first is as you describe, run CCleaner to delete the files, then go to "Tools" and select "Drive Wiper". Here you can select the partitions you want to wipe, then select how many passes you want to make. Be sure you have Free Space Only selected before you begin. The second way is to wipe the drive as you clean it. Go to "Options", then "Settings". Here you can select between Normal deletion (the default) and Secure deletion (slower). Again, you can select how many passes you want to make. Just be aware of one thing: Wiping a drive is a very slow process, made even slower by the number of passes you choose to make, as well as the size of the drive itself. A very large drive can take what seems forever. So here's a tip: Use CCleaner to clean the drive first. Then run a defragmenter, either the Windows version or Defraggler. (If you use Defraggler, make sure that you DO NOT have the "move large files to the end of the drive" option selected!) Then use the Windows Partition Manager to shrink your partition as far as it allows. Then use the drive wiper of CCleaner to wipe the partition. When this is done, you can then resize the partition to whatever size you wish. This way you will only be wiping the portion of the drive that actually contains your data, and not the portion of the drive that is empty to begin with. I hope this helps you out.

A humorous take on the new anti-google glass device: http://xkcd.com/1251/

Hello Sarah and welcome to the forum. Almost all modern hard drives employ S.M.A.R.T. (Self Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) to analyze drive performance and predict hard drive failure. Software like Defraggler taps into this data and displays it on the chart you see when you see when you hit the "Health" tab. (Note the ID number on the left side, I'll get back to this.)** Manufacturers like Western Digital, Seagate, and the others have their own software available for analyzing this data as well. A Google search should lead you to it. There are also third party utilities available. One that has been around for a while and has a good reputation is Acronis Drive Monitor. It is freeware and works on Windows 7 and earlier. The link is here: http://www.acronis.c.../drive-monitor/ I would suggest using the S.M.A.R.T. analysis software offered by your drive's manufacturer, as well as Acronis, to give you better information of what may or may not be wrong with your drive. Here is a link to Wikipedia's page explaining what S.M.A.R.T. is, it's history, and most importantly, what the ID numbers** mean: https://en.wikipedia.../wiki/S.M.A.R.T. If you scroll down this page far enough, there is a chart explaining what each ID number refers to. Note that the ones highlighted in pink, like 05,10,184,188, and so on indicate the more serious problems. I would say that if Acronis and the drive manufacturer's software both agree on the same ID numbers, and they are the problem codes, you may want to back up your important data now while you still can. That way, if you do have a drive failure, you can buy a new drive, re-install Windows, and then move your data back to your new drive. Post back if you need any further advice on this topic. Edit: Try this first: Some laptops, like my HP, have a hardware testing utility built in. If I press Escape immediately after boot, then press F2, I can access a full range of test utilities for the system hardware, including the hard drive. Read your owners manual to see if your machine has a similar feature.

...to Windows 8. On Monday morning, it let me down for the third and final time. I went to boot and got the Automatic Repair message, then a restart, and then the same message again. After the seventh or eighth cycle I realized it was a hopeless cause and did a hard shutdown. So I went into Recovery and found the Command Prompt, entered "bootrec /fixboot", and waited for it to finish. Tried another reboot with the same result as above. So back into Recovery I went with the intention to re-install, making it the third time in just over four months. And then there came a moment when I stopped and asked myself, "What the heck (not exactly the word I used) do you think you're doing? Asking for more of the same?". It did not take long to make my decision. I already had a two USB sticks made up, one with Partition Wizard, the other with openSUSE 12.3. A little over an hour later I had a new operating system. This has been in the making for quite some time. I've grown tired of dealing with one problem after another, some minor, and others catastrophic. I had actually been researching how to install a dual boot system with Windows 8, which is complicated by UEFI and Secure Boot. And I spent some time on Sunday planning my new partitioning scheme. Then I realized that any future problems with Windows 8 would mean re-installing Windows, re-partitioning, then re-installing the second system, meaning twice the work. So I ditched that idea. I do have my Windows 8 recovery on a USB stick if I ever want to go back, but I think I'm thinking of giving openSUSE a fair chance, at least a couple of months or so. This is not a goodbye to everyone on the forum. There are some people I really like here, along their willingness to help others, and their sense of camaraderie. I'll be popping in from time to time to see how everyone is doing, but just a little less frequently than before. So until the next time, take care everyone.

Hello Kender and welcome to the forum. Instructions for keeping cookies are here: http://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner/ccleaner-settings/choosing-which-cookies-to-keep Also, you can right click on the empty space on the right side (cookies to keep), click "Add", and manually enter the domain name. See if that works for you.

Hello darkluX I see you've been busy, and I'm glad you read the link I provided, but I think we need to re-boot this entire thread. In your first post, you made no mention of dual booting between Win7x64 and an unnamed Linux OS. I had assumed that Win7x64 was the only OS on your machine, and offered advice based on that alone. In light of this new information, I think it would be wise to start all over again. 1.) The make and model of your machine. And specifically, does it support UEFI/EFI boot? Does it support both UEFI boot and Legacy boot in BIOS? (Some mfg's refer to Legacy boot as CSM Mode) 2.) Did your original Win7x64 installation (prior to installing Linux) boot using UEFI enabled in BIOS? Or did you use Legacy boot? 3.) Were you successfully booting Win7x64 and Linux prior to this problem? Or did it occur after you installed Linux and tried to boot for the first time? Or do you think that enabling boot time defrag using Defraggler is where your problems first appeared? 4.) Your situation now is: You cannot boot either Windows or Linux? Or you cannot boot Windows but can still boot Linux? 5.) Which Linux OS are you using? I ask because there are some that are 64 bit but do not work well with UEFI boot. (I found this was the case with Vector Linux for example.) Trying to install any of these could create the problems you're having. 6.) **Skip this-go to #7-I got ahead of myself here** You are aware of the difference between MBR and GPT partitioning, as well as how it relates to setting up the boot partition, correct? Here's an article to read that explains it far better than I can: http://rodsbooks.com...sk/booting.html Read every article you can find written by Rod Smith. He is one of the best references when dealing with UEFI boot and dual boot problems. http://www.rodsbooks...ders/index.html 7.) You mentioned trying the bootrec command, but I think there's more to using it than you describe. Try it again, but read this carefully before using: http://pcsupport.abo...ore-windows.htm I'm sorry to hear that using Startup Repair didn't work out for you. I'm guessing that your priority is to get Windows up and running(#7), then attempt to get your Linux OS to boot as well(#6). The info from Rod Smith is a big help there. Post back once you digest everything I threw at you and figure out some of the answers. Don't give up hope, at least not yet.

@Andavari Thanks for your reply. I was having trouble keeping my eyes open last night, so I waited until today to get back to you. zzz 1.) I probably reboot 2-3 times a day, so I doubt that's a factor. 2.) I did reset my Wi-Fi modem this morning, I'll keep that in mind if I have future problems. 3.) My upload/download speeds seem normal, I tried 4 different locations on speakeasy.net/speedtest. 4.) About 3-4 weeks ago, Verizon assigned me a new I.P. address, and when I contacted them I was informed that I had been assigned to a new node (their terminology for "hub" I presume?) due to problems/complaints from customers in my area. It did improve my upload/download speeds slightly. @Nergal Thanks for your reply. Followed your instructions, and I have one question. If I have "DNS Cache" enabled (checked) in "System" under the Windows tab in CCleaner, then I'm doing the same thing? (y/n)?