Anyone still running Windows 7?

You haven't given me quite enough to go on here. It could be anything—just some dust buildup inside the case, a malware infection, who knows? First off, could you walk me through exactly what you're doing on the PC? Also, have you tried running a scan with something like Malwarebytes yet?

driftingbadger17 said:Why is it shutting down? You got a virus?

No, it’s not that. It’s just those automatic power settings. I knew how to fix it before, but now I’ve completely blanked on where the setting is hidden.
Basically, if I walk away from my computer for a few dozen minutes without touching anything, it goes straight into sleep mode. It drives me crazy. I really just want to set it so it stays awake for at least a few hours.

Here’s a quick video tutorial—honestly, you won't find an easier way to do this 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3t1FDPtT7I

So, how do I actually shut down those annoying pop-ups that just won't stop jumping out at me?

Are you talking about those annoying ads that pop up while you're browsing the web? If so, you might want to just grab an adblocker—it makes life a lot easier. As for those Windows pop-ups that hit you every time you launch a program—you can actually tone those down. Just click on that little flag icon by the clock, open the Action Center, and then head over to where it says "change User Account Control settings."

Alright, thanks!

So, here’s the situation: I had my old rig running Windows XP with the printer all set up and working perfectly. Now, I’ve upgraded to a new machine running Windows 7, and for some reason, it refuses to accept the printer installation. Everything is legitimate software—I even have the original driver CD right here.

What do you guys think is causing this headache?

😕

What do you mean it won't accept it? You gotta tell me what’s actually going down during the installation process—like, where does it hang up? And which printer are we even talking about here? Are the drivers on the disc specifically for Windows 7?

Benjamin King2 said:What do you mean by "won't accept"? Tell me exactly what happens when you try to run the installation. Also, which printer are we talking about here? Are the drivers on the disc specifically for Windows 7?

Thanks for the help. I grabbed the drivers for Windows 7 and everything is working perfectly now.

How can I see detailed wireless network data—specifically MAC addresses and signal strength—within a week? Ideally, I'd prefer seeing actual numbers instead of just those little signal bars. Any software recommendations? Thanks.

inSSIDer

Thanks!

What kind of software should I be looking for if I want a dock for my apps?

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=152m...5#.RocketDock

Justin Rogers59 said:What software should I use if I want a dock for my programs?

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=152m...5#.Url9G9LuJsg

RocketDock.

My Windows crashed because of this
http://superuser.com/questions/45171...ed-use-any-way , and then my entire C: drive just vanished—I couldn't even see it when I tried accessing it through Linux. It’s a relief that I use my D: drive for most of my storage, but still, it is incredibly irritating.
The installation DVD actually showed me the C: partition, but...

Now I’m running into issues with the actual installation,
First off, it got stuck on "expanding files" for hours during several attempts; I tried different DVDs and even made a bootable USB,
then I went looking for AHCII settings. I simply cannot find that setting in the HP BIOS on my Pavilion g7 laptop—it is so obscure! It’s such a pathetic BIOS with hardly any settings I can actually tweak. I eventually just clicked "default settings"—supposedly AHCII should be enabled by default if what I read on a forum is correct—and it finally started moving,
but it has been running for three hours now and it's only at 95%.

If my memory serves me right, a Windows installation should be much faster than this...

What else could cause the "expanding files" stage to hang, besides overheating, AHCII issues, or RAM problems?
If the memory were faulty, wouldn't Linux have frozen up too?

Apparently, if you move away from Windows 7—which seems to have this specific issue where the expansion hangs and the installation fails—and try Windows Vista or something similar, they don't run into these exact same problems. BUT, it really gets under my skin knowing that this machine worked perfectly fine on Windows 7 for two years without a single hiccup, and now suddenly I'm stuck like this.
I would honestly just switch back to Windows XP, but I heard support is ending in April 2014.

edit - it's sitting at 100% now

EDIT 2 - It restarted and has been on "completing installation" for about 15 minutes now.
I stumbled upon an interesting link that offers a few more potential solutions
https://social.technet.microsoft.com...w7itproinstall
As for the stuff about floppies or HT in the BIOS, I don't recall having those options at all. At this point, I'd feel terrible interrupting the installation since it has already come this far...

Nothing seems to be working—I’ve tried installing Windows Vista and even Windows XP,
but I’m starting to wonder... is there any way to install Windows using a Linux Mint live USB? You know, the kind where you just run it off the thumb drive without actually installing the OS first?

Amanda Lee42 said:What else could cause those files to hang during expansion besides overheating, AHCI issues, or faulty memory?

Grab a Microsoft bootable disc and run some disk diagnostics—it’s probably the easiest way to see what's actually going on. While you're at it, just run MemTest to rule out the RAM entirely. The thing about Live OS environments is they use next to nothing when it comes to memory usage; it's totally possible your RAM is "fine" enough to boot a lightweight live environment, but fails miserably once you try to load anything substantial.

So, I’m downloading this—if my memory serves me right—Microsoft comes packed with a whole bunch of different tools,
but which ones would you actually suggest? Specifically, if there are several different options for running hard drive diagnostics,
it's been quite a while since I last messed around with it,
though the last time I got hands-on was when I managed to bypass a neighbor's admin password using some online tutorial...

But first, I'm just waiting for a friend to drop off an external drive so I can move all my files over from the D drive.
Who knows how this whole situation is going to play out.

Every manufacturer builds their own proprietary toolkit—so honestly, just pick the one made specifically for your drive.

So, I spent all this time tinkering with my PC thinking I had everything dialed in perfectly, but I woke up today to a weird little glitch. I'm running Windows 7, and whenever I pull up a window—like My Computer, for instance—and try to drag it left or right, it feels super off. It’s like only the outer frame moves while the actual content just stays stuck in place. It’s not breaking the computer or anything, but it's definitely annoying because it used to glide smoothly before. The only thing I actually messed with during the overhaul was using a Microsoft tool to merge some partitions. I already uninstalled it, but the issue is still hanging around like it never left.
Anyone have a clue how I can get things back to the way they were?
Thanks