Microsoft Windows Archives - Page 20 of 32

How to find drivers for ‘Unknown Devices’ in Device Manager

Posted on January 23, 2014

microsoft-windows If you have ever had to re-install or upgrade Windows on a PC, chances are you have had to deal with “Unknown Devices” in the Device Manager.

These unknown devices are easy to spot because they are labeled with a small yellow shield that’s stamped with an exclamation point. In some cases they will even be labeled with the words “Unknown Device”.

We end up with unknown devices after completing a Windows installation if Windows failed to recognize one or more devices and install drivers for them. And unfortunately, this happens fairly often.

Oddly enough, Windows will sometimes recognize the device and install the driver if we ask it to perform a re-check. Here’s how to do it: [Read more…]

Microsoft is reportedly getting ready to announce Windows 9

Posted on January 13, 2014

windows-9 The guys and gals at Microsoft won’t tell you this, but it appears that they’ve grown weary of trying to rehabilitate the miserable reputation of Windows 8. And I believe in hindsight they know that miserable reputation was well-earned.

According to reports coming out of Redmond, Microsoft is planning to announce Windows 9 during the Build 2014 developer conference that’s coming up in April. [Read more…]

Q&A: Why do my folders freeze up when I first open them?

Posted on December 28, 2013

Question from Lisa: Whenever I click to open a folder on my laptop it will open up, then freeze for a LONG time. And it’s very annoying to say the least.

A little green bar will crawl across the top of the window, and when it finally makes it all the across the folder “unfreezes” and I can use it just fine.

How can I stop this from happening?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I upgrade a bootleg version of Windows 7 by buying the Windows 8 Pro upgrade?

Posted on August 25, 2013

Question from Aaron: The hard drive crashed on my Dell Inspiron 14z laptop so I took it to a guy I know who works on computers. He replaced the bad drive and installed a bootleg copy of Windows 7 since I didn’t have a set of recovery disks.

My question is if I buy a Windows 8 Pro upgrade will it make my Windows installation “legitimate”? I’m not out to rip off Microsoft, just get my laptop back “legal” with a fully working version of Windows.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I determine the total up time for my PC since I bought it?

Posted on August 17, 2013

Question from Ron K.: Rick, this might seem like a frivolous question (and I admit that it is), but is there any way to determine the total number of hours and minutes that my Dell desktop computer has been powered on since I bought it in May 2008? No biggie if there isn’t, I’m just curious.

Rick’s answer: That isn’t a frivolous question at all Ron. Now you have me curious about how long my PCs have been powered up as well.

To answer your question, I don’t know of any way to use Windows itself to determine the total uptime of a computer, but I do know of a way to get a fairly accurate estimate: [Read more…]