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Table of Contents
Websites and Tools
The Help Center depends on internet web sites and software tools. If you are curious then this page may be helpful. If you are looking for answers, the content of this page might create more questions, not answers.
Web Sites of interest:
Sites/subdomains that appear within the sctexas.org domain.
The Computer Club web site contains several interesting SIG (Special Interest Group) sections. I really wish the “Search” feature on the Computer Club web site was more functional. There is a lot of information in the SIG sections. A lot of time was invested by volunteers to share their knowledge and experience.
Windows SIG Some of the history of the Windows Sig is contained in the web site sctxwindows.com, created by Bill Buppert, one of the earlier participants in the Computer Club and a significant contributor to the evolution of the Help Center. Bill chose to require you to register to look at the content of his site. The site is a good resource of knowledge and experience. You may find the Tutorial section helpful.
Security SIG As relates to Windows security, John Jenkinson has been maintaining a BLOG about security issues. KrebsOnSecurity may open your eyes about internet security.
Mac Users Group (MUG)
Sites that are not part of the sctexas.org domain.
Google search is a valuable resource. Keep your search simple.
The Windows Club, All kinds of Windows stuff. However… Be CAREFUL. I have found plenty of “clickbait” on this site
Note that the link above goes to the www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10. If you are interested in other software downloads start at this link: Microsoft Software Download. Downloadable versions of Microsoft office are here: Microsoft Office . You will need the product key to complete the download.
Software tools
This is the beginning of a list of tools that are frequently used in the Help Center.
Windows Task Manager Windows Task Manager is frequentlty the first tool/progam, used to start the process of, “understanding ” what a computer is doing. If investigation gets really complicated, then Sysinternals Procmon can provide more details.
Malware Bytes Free Malwarebytes, the free version, can be used as one of the steps used to clean up malware. Cleaning up infections frequently starts with MalwareBytes.
Gsmartcontrol More information about what and why of gsmartcontrol is here.
Hirens Win_PE This site offers two versions/collections of software. Apparenlty the original creator of Hirens collection ceased to provide updates, so a community continued the process. The last version of the original Hirens is available as is a more current release. If you download and burn the latest ISO, you will discover a lot of utilites. Here is the download link for the 1.3 gb iso. You can use Rufus to create a bootable thumb drive.
Produkey is a Product Key Finder. It is able to extract product keys from multiple sources including the boot drive or an alternate drive.
System Rescue is a bootable (from CD or Thumb Drive) Linux. Why is it here? At least two reasons. 1st, it can act as a litmus test for the condition of a PC. If Windows will not boot, but System Rescue will, you probably have a software and/or Hard Drive problem. 2nd, it contains the “chntpw” program. If you forgot your Windows password, chntpw can clear the password. Clearing the password will let you logon to Windows (with a local account ) without a password.
Windirstat Windirstat allows you to see the size of the things on your disk drive in graphical and tablular form. MiniTool Partition Wizard provides similar functions and many more features.
MiniTool Partition Wizard , the free version, provides multiple features aimed at disk management. One of its features is similar to the capabilities of Windirstat. Please note that many of the features of MiniTool can lead to “Oh NO”, if you do not understand what MiniTool can do for, or TO your disk drive.
SysInternals Programs of interest in the sysinternals suite are: autoruns, procmon and ProcessExplorer.
Yumi A tool for putting multiple ISO images on one thumb drive. Facilitates booting any of the ISO's . With the size of todays thumb drives, Yumi is a tool that allows almost anything you want, to be on one thumb drive. My thumb drive contains mutiple versions of Windows, Linux and many of the tools identified on this page.
Discussion
I want to signup for the Electronics Recycling Opportunity next week. I have attempted phone calls, visits to help center and website all unsuccessful.
Michael F Welsh, a member 302 Lake Sommerville Trail Georgetown, Tx 78633 847-373-2464Bold Text
I need a home visit to remove my former ZOOM modem/router and replace it with a new Arris Modem, a new Lynksys Router and hook up the existing Cell phone Booster and new netgear gigabit ethernet switch (new equipment purchased at Best Buy). I have tried it myself and called my provider for help (no luck) and tried using Arris help - again no luck. Any suggestions or visit by someone who can do this would relieve my tech stress!
Thank you.
Hi. My desktop changed suddenly a few days ago and now I have all the tile there and none of the desktop items like Citibank, etc. that I used to have. I have to go to a drop down screen to access Google vs. an icon right on my lap top. There has also been a change in how to manage taps which are now 'Set aside“ vs. minimizing. There are often no min. or max to click on.
I don't think I did anything inadvertently to make this happen and when I did a restore to an early date, it didn't fix the problem.
Thanks for any explanation, etc. Carol