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BobO'Link

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Since I'm "tech support" in my house I insist my wife's computer runs the latest OS I've officially approved. " :)
Ha! If I actually did that mine would be running XP! JK - I actually grew to like Win7 and, shocker, am getting used to 10 but absolutely don't like many aspects of that OS. I have my wife on 7 Pro right now (I think - I rarely have to touch hers as she finally started listening to what I say about proper use and safety). She also uses Firefox (portable), which, IMHO, is more secure and stable than the other browsers.
 

Chris Strnad

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We also just found out that the wife's computer has been fixed and she'll be getting it back shortly. There were a ton of errors on her Windows. Just have to reinstall her browsers. She's sticking with Windows 8.1 for the time being, though.

CHEERS! :)

Not recommended.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/microsoft-mainstream-support-windows-81/

Since I'm "tech support" in my house I insist my wife's computer runs the latest OS I've officially approved. " :)

http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/computing/windows-7/windows-7-support-end-11364081315419

It should also be mentioned that even though the advertised free upgrade to 10 has been expired for some time, it is still possible to perform one (for how much longer is anyone's guess.) Just run the Media Creation Tool on the target PC, or run the Win10 setup.exe from a USB key or CD created elsewhere...
 

Tony Bensley

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Not recommended.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/microsoft-mainstream-support-windows-81/

Since I'm "tech support" in my house I insist my wife's computer runs the latest OS I've officially approved. " :)

Seeing the Mrs reinstalled Windows 8.1, minus the Classic Shell Task Bar "compromise," reminded me just how inconvenient an OS it really is. For all of its own headaches, I much prefer Windows 10, and also appreciate the seamless re-installation, via the USB setup. By comparison, Windows 8 is rather annoying, in my opinion.

Ha! If I actually did that mine would be running XP! JK - I actually grew to like Win7 and, shocker, am getting used to 10 but absolutely don't like many aspects of that OS. I have my wife on 7 Pro right now (I think - I rarely have to touch hers as she finally started listening to what I say about proper use and safety). She also uses Firefox (portable), which, IMHO, is more secure and stable than the other browsers.

I never did get to use Windows 7, which a lot of users still rave about, in regards to its user friendly setup. Aside from general outdatedness, Windows XP suffers from the inability to reinstall with the option of keeping personal files and/or apps.

While Google Chrome seems to function OK on my hand me down HTC Android Devices, it simply doesn't play nice with our Acer Laptops, and will never again be installed on either one of our PCs, if I have anything to say about it. Uninstall/Reinstalls get old really fast! While Firefox isn't without its annoyances, I've never had to resort to uninstalling and reinstalling this browser, either!

CHEERS! :)
 

Tony Bensley

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http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/computing/windows-7/windows-7-support-end-11364081315419

It should also be mentioned that even though the advertised free upgrade to 10 has been expired for some time, it is still possible to perform one (for how much longer is anyone's guess.) Just run the Media Creation Tool on the target PC, or run the Win10 setup.exe from a USB key or CD created elsewhere...
I think that Microsoft painted themselves into a corner, in offering Windows 10 as a free upgrade to begin with. If/when they do finally start charging Windows 7/8 users for the Windows 10 upgrade, I see it turning into something of a PR nightmare. Just my opinion.

CHEERS! :)
 

Dennis Nicholls

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I'm sure that MS would like to get all users over to Win 10 so they don't have to waste time supporting "heritage" systems anymore.

The free offer was probably just bait to kickstart the adoption of Win 10.

I only wonder why they didn't make the offer to Win 6 (Vista) users. Maybe the Vista drivers weren't compatible going forward or something.
 

Tony Bensley

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I'm sure that MS would like to get all users over to Win 10 so they don't have to waste time supporting "heritage" systems anymore.

The free offer was probably just bait to kickstart the adoption of Win 10.

I only wonder why they didn't make the offer to Win 6 (Vista) users. Maybe the Vista drivers weren't compatible going forward or something.
Based on everything I heard about Vista, even Microsoft regretted that OS! :D

CHEERS! :)
 

Tony Bensley

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We also just found out that the wife's computer has been fixed and she'll be getting it back shortly. There were a ton of errors on her Windows. Just have to reinstall her browsers. She's sticking with Windows 8.1 for the time being, though.

CHEERS! :)
I finally upgraded her to Windows 10 last night. The mere thought of having to download Classic Shell to give her a Start button, along with Windows 8 being a general PITA, I decided that enough was enough!

The early verdict is the Mrs is happy with the changeover, lucky for me! ;)

(Just kidding. This did have her OK!)

CHEERS! :)
 

Tony Bensley

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Last week, I chose to delay the latest major Windows 10 update, which had shown up in my Windows Update settings, until May 16.

As of today (May 17), that update notification STILL isn't showing up on my PC! Can anyone explain why and what may have caused this apparent glitch? This is very annoying as I had picked the May 16 date for a reason!

CHEERS! :)
 

Tony Bensley

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Does anyone know if Windows 10 just had a recent update?

I ask because this morning, I discovered that on my Acer Laptop, which I've been keeping turned on, the screen was black. Repeated attempts to start again eventually lead to the black screen (After the Acer Logo.), where it remains. I've tried booting into safe mode, but the Acer Logo pops up immediately. It's currently on Scanning and repairing drive (C: ): 0% complete, where it has been stuck for a good 45 minutes. Previous attempts to bypass the repair disk scan simply lead to the same black screen.

I'm really hoping that it's a corrupt file that's causing the above issue, and not the main hard drive having actually failed. As it stands, I haven't been able to locate my Windows 10 installation files (Although I do have Windows 8.1 on an SD card.), and I'm not sure I have them anymore, either. :P

Any thoughts? Otherwise, I fear that I may be seriously stuck in this current predicament! :(

Update: The scanning just reached 1%, so perhaps there might be a bit of faint hope? :blink:

Update 2: The screen went from 1% complete to a black screen with the spinning dotted circle. Seriously hoping this leads to the login screen, or at least to some useful Windows 10 repair options!

Update 3: After another lengthy interval, the spinning dotted circle disappeared, and now it's back to the completely useless black screen! FML!!!!
 
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Tony Bensley

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Does anyone know if Windows 10 just had a recent update?

I ask because this morning, I discovered that on my Acer Laptop, which I've been keeping turned on, the screen was black. Repeated attempts to start again eventually lead to the black screen (After the Acer Logo.), where it remains. I've tried booting into safe mode, but the Acer Logo pops up immediately. It's currently on Scanning and repairing drive (C: ): 0% complete, where it has been stuck for a good 45 minutes. Previous attempts to bypass the repair disk scan simply lead to the same black screen.

I'm really hoping that it's a corrupt file that's causing the above issue, and not the main hard drive having actually failed. As it stands, I haven't been able to locate my Windows 10 installation files (Although I do have Windows 8.1 on an SD card.), and I'm not sure I have them anymore, either. :P

Any thoughts? Otherwise, I fear that I may be seriously stuck in this current predicament! :(

Update: The scanning just reached 1%, so perhaps there might be a bit of faint hope? :blink:

Update 2: The screen went from 1% complete to a black screen with the spinning dotted circle. Seriously hoping this leads to the login screen, or at least to some useful Windows 10 repair options!

Update 3: After another lengthy interval, the spinning dotted circle disappeared, and now it's back to the completely useless black screen! FML!!!!
The aspect of this problem that really has me worried, is that no matter what I do to attempt to bypass the Acer Logo screen, whether it be to go into safe mode or access any boot files (Or really ANYTHING!) from other USB connected/ disc drive sources, that bloody useless ACER logo pops up IMMEDIATELY! I've even tried holding down the appropriate safe mode buttons BEFORE pressing the laptops power on button. NOTHING WORKS!!!!

:unsure:*********HELP!!!!*********:unsure:
 

BobO'Link

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OK... sounds like you may have had an update go awry. If you've not let it sit in this state for at least an hour (MS says sometimes it can take several hours. I *have* seen it take 45min to 1 hr on some of our servers. It's quite disconcerting when a server does that!) then wait, have some coffee, read the paper, wait some more. Then...

MS has, for a change, a fairly good troubleshooting doc for such issues:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...ubleshoot-black-screen-or-blank-screen-errors

Select the option "I see a black screen before signing into Windows 10"

You may want to try the early steps but I suspect you'll want to jump to "Option 5" which is a "clean boot." That doesn't wipe anything - just starts Windows with basic drivers.

Here's another site with a fairly comprehensive troubleshooting list/steps:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-fix-black-screen-problems-windows-10

If that doesn't work, use the troubleshooter (like you've already done to get into "Safe Mode") and select the system restore option. You should be able to select a restore point that was created before the, hopefully, update broke things. If you can't find the system restore option yell and I'll give you the steps.
 
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Tony Bensley

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Thanks, Bob!

I think unplugging the Acer Laptop for a few extra minutes did do something. On my Acer Logo screen, it now says "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete," which I interpret as a decided improvement over the previous logjam. I'll be sure to keep you posted!

CHEERS! :)
 

Tony Bensley

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Thanks, Bob!

I think unplugging the Acer Laptop for a few extra minutes did do something. On my Acer Logo screen, it now says "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete," which I interpret as a decided improvement over the previous logjam. I'll be sure to keep you posted!

CHEERS! :)
Well, it's now been almost 4 1/2 hours, and the Acer Laptop is STILL on the same Acer Logo screen, with the SAME "Repairing disk error" message displayed. I'm beginning to fear this exercise may ultimately prove fruitless. Just how long is too long for this type of action? :unsure:
 

Tony Bensley

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OK, I now have Windows 10 installation files on a usb.

However, I STILL seem to be unable to do anything with it on MY system. This is getting really frustrating! :(

I think I'm going to have to contact Acer's Tech Support Team about this, argh!
 

B-ROLL

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OK, I now have Windows 10 installation files on a usb.

However, I STILL seem to be unable to do anything with it on MY system. This is getting really frustrating! :(

I think I'm going to have to contact Acer's Tech Support Team about this, argh!
Late to the party... (as usual) were you able to get into the CMOS/boot menu and set it to boot to the USB drive?
 

Tony Bensley

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Late to the party... (as usual) were you able to get into the CMOS/boot menu and set it to boot to the USB drive?
Apart from the Acer Logo screen (And subsequent blank black screen!), I haven't been able to get into anything. My system seems to either be "ignoring" anything that's hooked up externally, or else anything connected (IE. My Windows 10 installation USB!) to my Acer Laptop is now causing its normal boot functions to lock up, instead of boot up. I was having to disconnect my peripherals while powering on in about the last month or two before I encountered my current situation this morning, if that offers up any further clues regarding my plight.

Not feeling too cheerful at the moment, I'm afraid.
 
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DaveF

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Sorry to hear about the PC problems, Tony! I forked up my registry and boot drive last Fall and had to do a reformat and reinstall. I’ll try to find my notes on it. Windows recovery from a backup is inexplicably harder than it should be, at least compared to macOS.

Hopefully, you do backups with something like Macrium Reflect. I used my backup and then CloneZilla and maybe WinPE to recover. Now, if your boot drive is dead, you have to replace it first.
 

Tony Bensley

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Sorry to hear about the PC problems, Tony! I forked up my registry and boot drive last Fall and had to do a reformat and reinstall. I’ll try to find my notes on it. Windows recovery from a backup is inexplicably harder than it should be, at least compared to macOS.

Hopefully, you do backups with something like Macrium Reflect. I used my backup and then CloneZilla and maybe WinPE to recover. Now, if your boot drive is dead, you have to replace it first.
I just spoke with Acer out of warranty tech support. After several failed attempts with the F2 key on my Laptop, he concluded that main hard drive is the very likely culprit, and would need to be replaced. Apparently, that has to be functional to be able to boot into the gui screens. Can't afford to replace any hardware at the moment, let alone any other potentially costly servicing. That's the difference between PC Laptops and Towers, so I guess I'm sol, in this case. :(

Thanks to you and Howie for your input.

CHEERS! :)
 

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