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What would anyone here do? Control Panel



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 23rd 14, 05:36 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Bill[_40_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 346
Default What would anyone here do? Control Panel

A friend across the country has a fairly new machine that came with W8
64-bit and has been upgraded to the latest 8.1.1 in 2 stages.
The machine has been scanned for viruses with Avast, AVG and MSE and is
clean. He is a sucker for buying magazines that tell him to run various
cleaners and speeder-uppers to keep Windows working well. The writers of
these articles should be taken out and shot.

If he tries to go into several programs, nothing happens. For example
hitting Control Panel gives him a blank window that cannot be closed.

I can access his machine using TeamViewer and have checked that the
actual Control Panel programs are still there and can be used. Event
Viewer shows errors.
If he runs sfc /scannow, it does nothing, just sits there with a cursor
showing (ie doesn't go back to the prompt).

I have loaded onto his machine three bookmarked tabs that combine into
the procedure for downloading the iso and then doing a repair install,
but I've only found 8.1, not 8.1 upgrade 1.

He has looked at these and panicked. He is in his 80's, and is now
talking of buying a new hard disk or SSD and having me visit him to
reinstall 8.0 from scratch and then do the updates on the new disk.

I'm now at the stage of thinking what a shambles all this is. It really
ought to be easy to connect to Microsoft, enter your activation code and
download or have sent a dvd that matches whatever incarnation of 8 that
you have.

I suppose I can try to cobble together the 8.1.1 iso here if I can find
the image on the MS site. Then we could try a repair install which might
or might not work. Can anyone point me at the 8.1.1 image? Does it
matter that most of my machines are still 32-bit? Would the download
auto-detect bits?
--
Bill
Ads
  #2  
Old September 23rd 14, 06:11 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Ken Springer[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,817
Default What would anyone here do? Control Panel

On 9/23/14 10:36 AM, Bill wrote:
A friend across the country has a fairly new machine that came with W8
64-bit and has been upgraded to the latest 8.1.1 in 2 stages.
The machine has been scanned for viruses with Avast, AVG and MSE and is
clean. He is a sucker for buying magazines that tell him to run various
cleaners and speeder-uppers to keep Windows working well. The writers of
these articles should be taken out and shot.

If he tries to go into several programs, nothing happens. For example
hitting Control Panel gives him a blank window that cannot be closed.

I can access his machine using TeamViewer and have checked that the
actual Control Panel programs are still there and can be used. Event
Viewer shows errors.
If he runs sfc /scannow, it does nothing, just sits there with a cursor
showing (ie doesn't go back to the prompt).

I have loaded onto his machine three bookmarked tabs that combine into
the procedure for downloading the iso and then doing a repair install,
but I've only found 8.1, not 8.1 upgrade 1.

He has looked at these and panicked. He is in his 80's, and is now
talking of buying a new hard disk or SSD and having me visit him to
reinstall 8.0 from scratch and then do the updates on the new disk.

I'm now at the stage of thinking what a shambles all this is. It really
ought to be easy to connect to Microsoft, enter your activation code and
download or have sent a dvd that matches whatever incarnation of 8 that
you have.

I suppose I can try to cobble together the 8.1.1 iso here if I can find
the image on the MS site. Then we could try a repair install which might
or might not work. Can anyone point me at the 8.1.1 image? Does it
matter that most of my machines are still 32-bit? Would the download
auto-detect bits?


Hi, Bill,

I don't have any solutions for the problem, but rather than go there,
have him mail the computer to you if it comes to that. A lot cheaper
than you going X miles across country.


--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 25.0
Thunderbird 24.6.0
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"
  #3  
Old September 23rd 14, 06:23 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Keith Nuttle
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,844
Default What would anyone here do? Control Panel

On 9/23/2014 12:36 PM, Bill wrote:
A friend across the country has a fairly new machine that came with W8
64-bit and has been upgraded to the latest 8.1.1 in 2 stages.
The machine has been scanned for viruses with Avast, AVG and MSE and is
clean. He is a sucker for buying magazines that tell him to run various
cleaners and speeder-uppers to keep Windows working well. The writers of
these articles should be taken out and shot.

If he tries to go into several programs, nothing happens. For example
hitting Control Panel gives him a blank window that cannot be closed.

I can access his machine using TeamViewer and have checked that the
actual Control Panel programs are still there and can be used. Event
Viewer shows errors.
If he runs sfc /scannow, it does nothing, just sits there with a cursor
showing (ie doesn't go back to the prompt).

I have loaded onto his machine three bookmarked tabs that combine into
the procedure for downloading the iso and then doing a repair install,
but I've only found 8.1, not 8.1 upgrade 1.

He has looked at these and panicked. He is in his 80's, and is now
talking of buying a new hard disk or SSD and having me visit him to
reinstall 8.0 from scratch and then do the updates on the new disk.

I'm now at the stage of thinking what a shambles all this is. It really
ought to be easy to connect to Microsoft, enter your activation code and
download or have sent a dvd that matches whatever incarnation of 8 that
you have.

I suppose I can try to cobble together the 8.1.1 iso here if I can find
the image on the MS site. Then we could try a repair install which might
or might not work. Can anyone point me at the 8.1.1 image? Does it
matter that most of my machines are still 32-bit? Would the download
auto-detect bits?


First it is my understanding that 8.1.1 will not appear anywhere on an
updated windows 8.1 computer. At least that is the case on my computer
and I know it is current in its updates. In the list of installed
updates, see below, there is no mention of 8.1.1, though I know they exist.

Second how is he accessing the Control Panel? While it can be accessed
from the Modern interface, the easiest way to access it and all computer
functions is from the Desktop Interface. Right click ON the MS icon at
the left end of the Desktop Taskbar, you can access the Control panel,
and others.

The most useful function from the MS icon is the System. This tells all
about the computer, and the operating system.

By clicking Windows Updates from the lower right corner of the System
Screen, and then Clicking Installed Updates from the lower right corner
of the Windows Updates screen you can see all of the updates installed
on the computer.

In this same screen (Windows Update) in the upper right corner there is
"View Update History" This screen tells you all of the updates applied
to the operating system whether they are important, optional, etc. and
whether the update was installed successfully or not.

While this is not meant to discourage, there are some things that can
hid from the standard means of detecting them. I just had a piece of
maleware, that was not picked up by McAfee or Malwarebytes. I spent two
days, going through directories and the Window's registry to get it off
of my computer.



  #4  
Old September 23rd 14, 07:03 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18,275
Default What would anyone here do? Control Panel

Bill wrote:
A friend across the country has a fairly new machine that came with W8
64-bit and has been upgraded to the latest 8.1.1 in 2 stages.
The machine has been scanned for viruses with Avast, AVG and MSE and is
clean. He is a sucker for buying magazines that tell him to run various
cleaners and speeder-uppers to keep Windows working well. The writers of
these articles should be taken out and shot.

If he tries to go into several programs, nothing happens. For example
hitting Control Panel gives him a blank window that cannot be closed.

I can access his machine using TeamViewer and have checked that the
actual Control Panel programs are still there and can be used. Event
Viewer shows errors.
If he runs sfc /scannow, it does nothing, just sits there with a cursor
showing (ie doesn't go back to the prompt).

I have loaded onto his machine three bookmarked tabs that combine into
the procedure for downloading the iso and then doing a repair install,
but I've only found 8.1, not 8.1 upgrade 1.

He has looked at these and panicked. He is in his 80's, and is now
talking of buying a new hard disk or SSD and having me visit him to
reinstall 8.0 from scratch and then do the updates on the new disk.

I'm now at the stage of thinking what a shambles all this is. It really
ought to be easy to connect to Microsoft, enter your activation code and
download or have sent a dvd that matches whatever incarnation of 8 that
you have.

I suppose I can try to cobble together the 8.1.1 iso here if I can find
the image on the MS site. Then we could try a repair install which might
or might not work. Can anyone point me at the 8.1.1 image? Does it
matter that most of my machines are still 32-bit? Would the download
auto-detect bits?


How about a Restore Point from System Restore ?

That might work if System Restore wasn't disabled.

System Restore includes a snapshot of the Registry file set,
which is why it has some value.

*******

System Restore operations can be reversed (as long as not
done from Safe Mode). But I prefer that a "victim" do a backup first.

You can install Macrium Reflect Free on your own machine, prepare the
Macrium Reflect Free boot CD on your own machine, then send him the CD.
That allows making backups of OSes which are broken (to an extent). And
since you're using TeamViewer to get into the machine, there can't be that
much wrong with it. The file system is intact enough to be
backed up.

The only reason I'm suggesting something that extreme, is installing
Macrium directly into the OS, may not be working at the moment, due
to the other problems. Maybe no executable works worth a damn,
including freshly installed ones. The nice thing about the
boot CD approach, is there isn't a dependency on the health
of the OS itself. Since the OS used, is the one on the CD
(WinPE based).

Once he has backed up the system, you can use a Restore Point.
Take it back a week, to a point where he knows it was working.

This is the window for choosing a System Restore date to use.
The dialog is copied from the tutorial link that follows it.
You can certainly look in this now, to see if this is even possible.
If there are no Restore Points, then this option isn't going to work.

http://www.sevenforums.com/attachmen...em_restore.jpg

Tutorial on restoring with System Restore point, which contains
a copy of the Registry. Unlike WinXP, automatic restore points
are taken less frequently on the more modern OS, which means
you may have fewer choices for dates in there. In WinXP, this
panel looked more like a calendar.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...m-restore.html

This covers the converse case, of manually making a Restore Point,
before "doing something dangerous". It covers some of the associated
settings. I'm only showing this, for reference purposes, not to
act on any thing in here.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...nt-create.html

*Do not* change any settings on System Restore, until the machine
is normal again. For example, if you adjust the size of the space
used for System Restore, it can cause Restore Points (some of them)
to get deleted. If you turn System Restore off and on again,
it deletes the contents, and then you've lost them. There are many
ways of shooting yourself in the foot, which is why I'm recommending
an OS partition backup for "safety first". There's no particular reason
for a System Restore to go wrong, but then again, you're not sitting
in front of the machine, either. "It's a long walk, if you make a mistake."

Paul
  #5  
Old September 23rd 14, 07:19 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Bill[_40_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 346
Default What would anyone here do? Control Panel

In message , Keith Nuttle
writes
On 9/23/2014 12:36 PM, Bill wrote:
A friend across the country has a fairly new machine that came with W8
64-bit and has been upgraded to the latest 8.1.1 in 2 stages.
The machine has been scanned for viruses with Avast, AVG and MSE and is
clean. He is a sucker for buying magazines that tell him to run various
cleaners and speeder-uppers to keep Windows working well. The writers of
these articles should be taken out and shot.

If he tries to go into several programs, nothing happens. For example
hitting Control Panel gives him a blank window that cannot be closed.

I can access his machine using TeamViewer and have checked that the
actual Control Panel programs are still there and can be used. Event
Viewer shows errors.
If he runs sfc /scannow, it does nothing, just sits there with a cursor
showing (ie doesn't go back to the prompt).

I have loaded onto his machine three bookmarked tabs that combine into
the procedure for downloading the iso and then doing a repair install,
but I've only found 8.1, not 8.1 upgrade 1.

He has looked at these and panicked. He is in his 80's, and is now
talking of buying a new hard disk or SSD and having me visit him to
reinstall 8.0 from scratch and then do the updates on the new disk.

I'm now at the stage of thinking what a shambles all this is. It really
ought to be easy to connect to Microsoft, enter your activation code and
download or have sent a dvd that matches whatever incarnation of 8 that
you have.

I suppose I can try to cobble together the 8.1.1 iso here if I can find
the image on the MS site. Then we could try a repair install which might
or might not work. Can anyone point me at the 8.1.1 image? Does it
matter that most of my machines are still 32-bit? Would the download
auto-detect bits?


First it is my understanding that 8.1.1 will not appear anywhere on an
updated windows 8.1 computer. At least that is the case on my
computer and I know it is current in its updates. In the list of
installed updates, see below, there is no mention of 8.1.1, though I
know they exist.

Second how is he accessing the Control Panel? While it can be
accessed from the Modern interface, the easiest way to access it and
all computer functions is from the Desktop Interface. Right click ON
the MS icon at the left end of the Desktop Taskbar, you can access the
Control panel, and others.

The most useful function from the MS icon is the System. This tells
all about the computer, and the operating system.

By clicking Windows Updates from the lower right corner of the System
Screen, and then Clicking Installed Updates from the lower right corner
of the Windows Updates screen you can see all of the updates installed
on the computer.

In this same screen (Windows Update) in the upper right corner there is
"View Update History" This screen tells you all of the updates
applied to the operating system whether they are important, optional,
etc. and whether the update was installed successfully or not.

While this is not meant to discourage, there are some things that can
hid from the standard means of detecting them. I just had a piece of
maleware, that was not picked up by McAfee or Malwarebytes. I spent
two days, going through directories and the Window's registry to get it
off of my computer.

Well, the first problem is that he has installed one of the start menu
programs, so he doesn't have the MS icon. He has Control Panel in the
list that comes up from his start menu button. This, and the other ways
of accessing Control Panel all just bring up the totally blank initial
CP window.

Then, in

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...indows-8-a.htm
l

item 4 refers to W8, 8.1 and 8.1 update. I assume this last is 8.1.1. Is
this correct? If it is, that is what I can't find.

He has a history of reading magazines then downloading and running
programs with disastrous results even back to XP days. This is a machine
he has only had for a few months. It really is more likely that he has
removed some vital file or registry entry than that he has picked up
malware, but I can't be sure, of course.

The major problem is that he is still able to use the machine to submit
work to various places, so he is reluctant to send it to me. It's also
why he was thinking of starting again with a second HD, so that he could
swap back if we didn't get it finished.
--
Bill
  #6  
Old September 23rd 14, 07:47 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Bill[_40_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 346
Default What would anyone here do? Control Panel

In message , Paul writes
Bill wrote:
A friend across the country has a fairly new machine that came with
W8 64-bit and has been upgraded to the latest 8.1.1 in 2 stages.
The machine has been scanned for viruses with Avast, AVG and MSE and
is clean. He is a sucker for buying magazines that tell him to run
various cleaners and speeder-uppers to keep Windows working well. The
writers of these articles should be taken out and shot.
If he tries to go into several programs, nothing happens. For
example hitting Control Panel gives him a blank window that cannot be
closed.
I can access his machine using TeamViewer and have checked that the
actual Control Panel programs are still there and can be used. Event
Viewer shows errors.
If he runs sfc /scannow, it does nothing, just sits there with a
cursor showing (ie doesn't go back to the prompt).
I have loaded onto his machine three bookmarked tabs that combine
into the procedure for downloading the iso and then doing a repair
install, but I've only found 8.1, not 8.1 upgrade 1.
He has looked at these and panicked. He is in his 80's, and is now
talking of buying a new hard disk or SSD and having me visit him to
reinstall 8.0 from scratch and then do the updates on the new disk.
I'm now at the stage of thinking what a shambles all this is. It
really ought to be easy to connect to Microsoft, enter your activation
code and download or have sent a dvd that matches whatever incarnation
of 8 that you have.
I suppose I can try to cobble together the 8.1.1 iso here if I can
find the image on the MS site. Then we could try a repair install
which might or might not work. Can anyone point me at the 8.1.1 image?
Does it matter that most of my machines are still 32-bit? Would the
download auto-detect bits?


How about a Restore Point from System Restore ?

That might work if System Restore wasn't disabled.

System Restore includes a snapshot of the Registry file set,
which is why it has some value.

*******

System Restore operations can be reversed (as long as not
done from Safe Mode). But I prefer that a "victim" do a backup first.

You can install Macrium Reflect Free on your own machine, prepare the
Macrium Reflect Free boot CD on your own machine, then send him the CD.
That allows making backups of OSes which are broken (to an extent). And
since you're using TeamViewer to get into the machine, there can't be that
much wrong with it. The file system is intact enough to be
backed up.

The only reason I'm suggesting something that extreme, is installing
Macrium directly into the OS, may not be working at the moment, due
to the other problems. Maybe no executable works worth a damn,
including freshly installed ones. The nice thing about the
boot CD approach, is there isn't a dependency on the health
of the OS itself. Since the OS used, is the one on the CD
(WinPE based).

Once he has backed up the system, you can use a Restore Point.
Take it back a week, to a point where he knows it was working.

This is the window for choosing a System Restore date to use.
The dialog is copied from the tutorial link that follows it.
You can certainly look in this now, to see if this is even possible.
If there are no Restore Points, then this option isn't going to work.

http://www.sevenforums.com/attachmen...684574-system-
restore-system_restore.jpg

Tutorial on restoring with System Restore point, which contains
a copy of the Registry. Unlike WinXP, automatic restore points
are taken less frequently on the more modern OS, which means
you may have fewer choices for dates in there. In WinXP, this
panel looked more like a calendar.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...m-restore.html

This covers the converse case, of manually making a Restore Point,
before "doing something dangerous". It covers some of the associated
settings. I'm only showing this, for reference purposes, not to
act on any thing in here.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...nt-create.html

*Do not* change any settings on System Restore, until the machine
is normal again. For example, if you adjust the size of the space
used for System Restore, it can cause Restore Points (some of them)
to get deleted. If you turn System Restore off and on again,
it deletes the contents, and then you've lost them. There are many
ways of shooting yourself in the foot, which is why I'm recommending
an OS partition backup for "safety first". There's no particular reason
for a System Restore to go wrong, but then again, you're not sitting
in front of the machine, either. "It's a long walk, if you make a mistake."

Paul


Thanks, Paul. For some reason, I hadn't thought of Macrium Reflect even
though I use it frequently here.

I'll try all this when we next both feel up to having a Teamviewer
session and after I have posted him the CD.

He has multiple backups of all his data files, so it's all more of a
pain than critical.
--
Bill
  #7  
Old September 23rd 14, 08:28 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
R. C. White
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,058
Default What would anyone here do? Control Panel

Hi, Bill.

Well, the first problem is that he has installed one of the start menu
programs, so he doesn't have the MS icon.


Even with that menu installed, Win+Break should work. Modern keyboards
play hide-and-seek with key labels, but any Windows keyboard should have the
Windows logo key. And, somewhere there should be a Break key, although it
might be hidden. On my keyboard - and many others - it is labeled Pause,
and it might require pressing it twice or pressing the Fn (Function) key or
some other keyboard gymnastics, but it almost certainly is there somewhere.
It often is referred to as Pause/Break.

Pressing Win+Break should cause the System Properties screen to pop up
on the monitor. And it should work from any program that might be running.

item 4 refers to W8, 8.1 and 8.1 update. I assume this last is 8.1.1. Is
this correct? If it is, that is what I can't find.


Yes. Microsoft's remarkable naming crew is at work again. :( MS never
called it 8.1.1, but that is the nickname others have applied to the 8.1
Update. My full-updated Windows edition is identified as "Windows 8.1 Pro
with Media Center".

Has he visited Windows Update recently? Does that show any pending or
available updates? I keep mine up to date at least weekly; a check just now
says "3 important updates are available". They are KB2990967, KB2998527,
and the daily-or-so Definition Update for Windows Defender, KB2267602
(Definition 1.185.941.0). (I'll install those as soon as I send this post.)

It really is more likely that he has removed some vital file or registry
entry than that he has picked up malware, but I can't be sure, of course.


Has he tried the System File Checker (SFC /scannow) yet?

Good luck to you and your friend. (I'm much younger than he is; I just
turned 79 in July.)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2012 (Build 16.4.3528.0331) in Win8.1 Pro with Media
Center


"Bill" wrote in message news
In message , Keith Nuttle
writes
On 9/23/2014 12:36 PM, Bill wrote:
A friend across the country has a fairly new machine that came with W8
64-bit and has been upgraded to the latest 8.1.1 in 2 stages.
The machine has been scanned for viruses with Avast, AVG and MSE and is
clean. He is a sucker for buying magazines that tell him to run various
cleaners and speeder-uppers to keep Windows working well. The writers of
these articles should be taken out and shot.

If he tries to go into several programs, nothing happens. For example
hitting Control Panel gives him a blank window that cannot be closed.

I can access his machine using TeamViewer and have checked that the
actual Control Panel programs are still there and can be used. Event
Viewer shows errors.
If he runs sfc /scannow, it does nothing, just sits there with a cursor
showing (ie doesn't go back to the prompt).

I have loaded onto his machine three bookmarked tabs that combine into
the procedure for downloading the iso and then doing a repair install,
but I've only found 8.1, not 8.1 upgrade 1.

He has looked at these and panicked. He is in his 80's, and is now
talking of buying a new hard disk or SSD and having me visit him to
reinstall 8.0 from scratch and then do the updates on the new disk.

I'm now at the stage of thinking what a shambles all this is. It really
ought to be easy to connect to Microsoft, enter your activation code and
download or have sent a dvd that matches whatever incarnation of 8 that
you have.

I suppose I can try to cobble together the 8.1.1 iso here if I can find
the image on the MS site. Then we could try a repair install which might
or might not work. Can anyone point me at the 8.1.1 image? Does it
matter that most of my machines are still 32-bit? Would the download
auto-detect bits?


First it is my understanding that 8.1.1 will not appear anywhere on an
updated windows 8.1 computer. At least that is the case on my computer
and I know it is current in its updates. In the list of installed updates,
see below, there is no mention of 8.1.1, though I know they exist.

Second how is he accessing the Control Panel? While it can be accessed
from the Modern interface, the easiest way to access it and all computer
functions is from the Desktop Interface. Right click ON the MS icon at the
left end of the Desktop Taskbar, you can access the Control panel, and
others.

The most useful function from the MS icon is the System. This tells all
about the computer, and the operating system.

By clicking Windows Updates from the lower right corner of the System
Screen, and then Clicking Installed Updates from the lower right corner of
the Windows Updates screen you can see all of the updates installed on the
computer.

In this same screen (Windows Update) in the upper right corner there is
"View Update History" This screen tells you all of the updates applied to
the operating system whether they are important, optional, etc. and
whether the update was installed successfully or not.

While this is not meant to discourage, there are some things that can hid
from the standard means of detecting them. I just had a piece of maleware,
that was not picked up by McAfee or Malwarebytes. I spent two days, going
through directories and the Window's registry to get it off of my computer.

Well, the first problem is that he has installed one of the start menu
programs, so he doesn't have the MS icon. He has Control Panel in the
list that comes up from his start menu button. This, and the other ways
of accessing Control Panel all just bring up the totally blank initial
CP window.

Then, in

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...indows-8-a.htm
l

item 4 refers to W8, 8.1 and 8.1 update. I assume this last is 8.1.1. Is
this correct? If it is, that is what I can't find.

He has a history of reading magazines then downloading and running
programs with disastrous results even back to XP days. This is a machine
he has only had for a few months. It really is more likely that he has
removed some vital file or registry entry than that he has picked up
malware, but I can't be sure, of course.

The major problem is that he is still able to use the machine to submit
work to various places, so he is reluctant to send it to me. It's also
why he was thinking of starting again with a second HD, so that he could
swap back if we didn't get it finished.
--
Bill

  #8  
Old September 24th 14, 11:20 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
mechanic
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,064
Default What would anyone here do? Control Panel

On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 17:36:35 +0100, Bill wrote:

A friend across the country has a fairly new machine that came
with W8 64-bit and has been upgraded to the latest 8.1.1 in 2
stages.


There's no such thing.
  #9  
Old September 24th 14, 12:01 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Bill[_40_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 346
Default What would anyone here do? Control Panel

In message , R. C.
White writes

Pressing Win+Break should cause the System Properties screen to pop
up on the monitor. And it should work from any program that might be
running.


We are going to try Paul's suggestion here. I have posted him a Macrium
Reflect CD, and will try your suggestion via Teamviewer after he has
made his image.

item 4 refers to W8, 8.1 and 8.1 update. I assume this last is 8.1.1.
Is this correct? If it is, that is what I can't find.


Yes. Microsoft's remarkable naming crew is at work again. :( MS
never called it 8.1.1, but that is the nickname others have applied to
the 8.1 Update. My full-updated Windows edition is identified as
"Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center".

Thanks. The problem now is that there Microsoft don't say whether the
8.1 image on their sites have the major update or not, but the repair
instructions that I pointed to earlier indicate the versions have to be
matched.
Has he visited Windows Update recently? Does that show any pending or
available updates? I keep mine up to date at least weekly; a check
just now says "3 important updates are available". They are KB2990967,
KB2998527, and the daily-or-so Definition Update for Windows Defender,
KB2267602 (Definition 1.185.941.0). (I'll install those as soon as I
send this post.)

That's actually very interesting. I have a W8.1.1 machine here which
says 3 updates needed, 2 of which match the numbers you give above. When
I then go to the actual update, it says "Not needed:3 updates 3important
updates selected", and doesn't have the actual install option.

I think, but may be wrong, that Windows update is one of the programs
that the friend can't get to run.

It really is more likely that he has removed some vital file or
registry entry than that he has picked up malware, but I can't be
sure, of course.


Has he tried the System File Checker (SFC /scannow) yet?


Yes, it doesn't work. It appears in the list of services running, but
the command window just sits there. This is in some ways similar to his
Control Panel window. Just a window - no text or pretty pictures.

Good luck to you and your friend. (I'm much younger than he is; I just
turned 79 in July.)

Thanks for this. I'm not far behind in age.
--
Bill
  #10  
Old September 24th 14, 01:03 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Keith Nuttle
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,844
Default What would anyone here do? Control Panel

On 9/24/2014 6:20 AM, mechanic wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2014 17:36:35 +0100, Bill wrote:

A friend across the country has a fairly new machine that came
with W8 64-bit and has been upgraded to the latest 8.1.1 in 2
stages.


There's no such thing.

There was an update that rumor called 8.1.1, that when installed did not
change the basic version number. With this rumored 8.1.1 installed the
computer will still show being at 8.1
  #11  
Old September 24th 14, 01:16 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
mathedman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 144
Default What would anyone here do? Control Panel

On 9/23/2014 11:36 AM, Bill wrote:
A friend across the country has a fairly new machine that came with W8
64-bit and has been upgraded to the latest 8.1.1 in 2 stages.
The machine has been scanned for viruses with Avast, AVG and MSE and is
clean. He is a sucker for buying magazines that tell him to run various
cleaners and speeder-uppers to keep Windows working well. The writers of
these articles should be taken out and shot.

If he tries to go into several programs, nothing happens. For example
hitting Control Panel gives him a blank window that cannot be closed.

I can access his machine using TeamViewer and have checked that the
actual Control Panel programs are still there and can be used. Event
Viewer shows errors.
If he runs sfc /scannow, it does nothing, just sits there with a cursor
showing (ie doesn't go back to the prompt).

I have loaded onto his machine three bookmarked tabs that combine into
the procedure for downloading the iso and then doing a repair install,
but I've only found 8.1, not 8.1 upgrade 1.

He has looked at these and panicked. He is in his 80's, and is now
talking of buying a new hard disk or SSD and having me visit him to
reinstall 8.0 from scratch and then do the updates on the new disk.

I'm now at the stage of thinking what a shambles all this is. It really
ought to be easy to connect to Microsoft, enter your activation code and
download or have sent a dvd that matches whatever incarnation of 8 that
you have.

I suppose I can try to cobble together the 8.1.1 iso here if I can find
the image on the MS site. Then we could try a repair install which might
or might not work. Can anyone point me at the 8.1.1 image? Does it
matter that most of my machines are still 32-bit? Would the download
auto-detect bits?



safe-mode , system restore
  #12  
Old September 24th 14, 06:49 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18,275
Default What would anyone here do? Control Panel

mathedman wrote:
On 9/23/2014 11:36 AM, Bill wrote:
A friend across the country has a fairly new machine that came with W8
64-bit and has been upgraded to the latest 8.1.1 in 2 stages.
The machine has been scanned for viruses with Avast, AVG and MSE and is
clean. He is a sucker for buying magazines that tell him to run various
cleaners and speeder-uppers to keep Windows working well. The writers of
these articles should be taken out and shot.

If he tries to go into several programs, nothing happens. For example
hitting Control Panel gives him a blank window that cannot be closed.

I can access his machine using TeamViewer and have checked that the
actual Control Panel programs are still there and can be used. Event
Viewer shows errors.
If he runs sfc /scannow, it does nothing, just sits there with a cursor
showing (ie doesn't go back to the prompt).

I have loaded onto his machine three bookmarked tabs that combine into
the procedure for downloading the iso and then doing a repair install,
but I've only found 8.1, not 8.1 upgrade 1.

He has looked at these and panicked. He is in his 80's, and is now
talking of buying a new hard disk or SSD and having me visit him to
reinstall 8.0 from scratch and then do the updates on the new disk.

I'm now at the stage of thinking what a shambles all this is. It really
ought to be easy to connect to Microsoft, enter your activation code and
download or have sent a dvd that matches whatever incarnation of 8 that
you have.

I suppose I can try to cobble together the 8.1.1 iso here if I can find
the image on the MS site. Then we could try a repair install which might
or might not work. Can anyone point me at the 8.1.1 image? Does it
matter that most of my machines are still 32-bit? Would the download
auto-detect bits?



safe-mode , system restore


With the caveat that you can't undo an attempt to use System Restore
that way. If you use System Restore from regular running mode,
you can revert the System Restore attempt. That's supposed to be
one difference in behavior.

Paul
 




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