Doctor Bob's Tech Support House Call - Comments Page 1

It is the lack-of-satisfaction that really killed the cat, only because that kitty was not curious enough. Inquisitive readers, on the other hand, would possibly like to know 1) what magic Speccy used to fix this ailing Win7 system, and 2)Why the "Doctor" did not FREE upgrade this family's OperatingSystem to Win10, which may have been a better future 'vaccination' Rx?

had a printer issue Friday. The system had a printer installed network but not on the server, instead direct. Had to remove it using the registry, and sort of back and forth. Finally got it to split in the printer list and was able to delete the direct network install. Left the (name) on (server) entry. It worked fine. Also had to make acrobat dc default as edge was (seems to do that with major updates now). User is happy and printing just fine now.

I wish Bob was MY neighbor!

Meanwhile we will continue to read the newsletters and search for solutions on askbobrankin on a regular basis.

As always, thank you Bob.

I have 2 highly functioning computers with W7. A friend who seems to be at Bob's level of knowledge will install a 2 TB hard drive in the desktop (the 1T drive is 2/3 full) and install W10 Pro. He'll also upgrade the W7 laptop (Thinkpad) to W10 Pro. Will you do that for your friend, Bob? Great story about how you whipped that machine back into shape. Thanks for sharing.

Can anybody tell me what is a very fair number to pay my friend?

Haha. That all sounds like you have very long lunch breaks. Anyway, proves that you are a good friend. It is nice to know that there are people like you around

Bob, your story is frightening.
Unless I missed something, the only therapy you applied was to restart the machine several times. But the gremlin is still in there.
The next time the machine goes berserk, I advise opening the case and poking at components and connectors with a stick. With any luck you will provoke a crash.

Great article, Dr Bob! I especially like peering over your shoulder and being privy to your thought processes as you investigated the Blue Screen Mystery. I'm going with the It's also true that computers instinctively fear me, and tend to behave better when I'm nearby answer.

Bless you for helping this family keep their older computer setup functional. My older computer didn't support an upgrade to W10, so I really empathize with those freeze-ups, blue screens, and random acts of frustrating behavior. I eventually used your Best Buy solution when that computer died; sometimes it's the most feasible option.

I would have also checked what was loading on startup and what was running in the background?

5 stars for fixing the problem; 100 stars for being a good friend, which is refreshing to see at this time in our history. Thanks on behalf of your friend, and thanks for putting a smile on my face.

I'm an electronic engineer with degrees from MIT and USC, and almost fifty years of experience in circuit design and software engineering. I've designed and built special purpose microprocessors along with their instruction sets. As such I am a very rational person with regard to computers, totally lacking in superstition.

That being said, my wife has this aura which can knock out street lamps and cause all manner of electronic devices to fail. Her computer regularly experiences strange behavior and failures. Of course when she starts cursing and I have to come running to try to fix the problem, the problem will cease to occur and I can never find anything wrong. My presence has the same effect as a TV repairman.

Then she'll start talking about Yin and Yang, which I just tune out and return to my own computer.

Unless I missed something, you didn't mention the neighbor's operating system. A check of the last known configuration feature and/or a SAFE mode trial, or earlier check on a RESTORE point might have had positive results. Then, maybe trying some of your other suggestions. Just thinking.

Oh, you're in good company. There was a real (MD) Dr. Bob, who had a great friend in a Bill Wilson, a few years back who we4re both instrumental, along with a few others, in creating Alcoholics Anonymous, with chapters worldwide involved in saving the lives of thousands of recovering alcoholics. So, Dr. Bob, stay well, and don't drink responsibly :-)

Bob, If you happen to be in the neighborhood... Got a once or twice a month, sometimes hour, video tearing and lock-up issue that requires a reboot to fix. Win 10 Intel I7 O-C 3.5 to 3.8 like...forever, on-board graphics, Intel drivers updated. It's a HTPC, so frustrating when it crashes before a recording is be made, else it wouldn't bug me all that much.

I use two more programs that were not mentioned here:
1. Unchecky (Unchecky.com)
Description. Unchecky is a free program that will help you to uncheck unrelated offers when attempting to install software that uses third-party software bundles (also known as PuP - Potentially Unwanted Programs).For example, Cnet is notorious for trying to instal PUP's.

2. Patch My PC (Patchmypc.com)
Patch My PC Home Updater is a free, easy-to-use, portable program that keeps over 300 common third-party applications up-to-date on your PC. Let us take the tedious work out of installing and keeping your apps up-to-date to and stay more secure!

Bob,
I remember you when it was known as the Tour Bus.

For those that recommend going to Win 10:

Not all computers will support Win 10. I had an Intel motherboard that really hummed with Win 7, and when 10 came out I attempted an upgrade. It ran, but every update that came along gave Microsoft another chance to wipe out a bunch of needed drivers. Then I found that Intel tagged this MB as not supporting Win 10. I rolled it back to 7.

I since have migrated to Ubuntu on a new MB, and that is great. That installation can dual boot into Win 10 upon demand, but I use that only for the rare situations where I must have a Microsoft OS for some rare program.

Thanx for all the advice and tips
If every falls and before opt for a Special try
spray Doom on the hardware board and let it dry
before switch power on.

Thank you for sharing and I love your writing, its both entertaining and uplifting! And thank you for helping your neighbor, more of this is needed in our time of turbulence:)

Dr. Robert ("he does everything he can...he helps you to understand")
As usual, an interesting an helpful article, and I'll probably need to refer back to this when I have to clean up my wife's work PC.
I'm curious about the lack of mention (and use, apparently) of CCleaner. I still find it to be one of the most helpful tools when investigating PC issues.
Any reason for the omission?
Thanks.

Love it. A man with compassion and a sense of Justice.