Anyone still running Windows 7?

Just boot up the PC using any old bootable disc you've got lying around and wipe these two folders out:

C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy
C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicyUsers

Benjamin King2 said:Just boot from any recovery disk and wipe these two folders:

C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy
C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicyUsers

I'll give it a shot and let you know how it goes... thanks.

I managed to sort out the issue by using ERD COMMANDER.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../ee460909.aspx

Why on earth does my PC decide to reboot itself when I’m not even using it?
I'll leave the thing alone for an hour or two, and suddenly it restarts, only to claim it can't find the hard drive.
If I actually put it to work, it runs perfectly for days on end.
Wouldn't it make more sense for a computer to crash under a heavy workload rather than while it's just sitting there idling?

It could potentially be an issue with the hard drive itself—you should probably check its "health" by downloading

http://crystalmark.info/software/Cry...o/index-e.html

Once you get it installed, just paste a screenshot here on the forum so we can take a look and see if there are any actual problems with the drive.

Larry Ortiz5 said:It might be an issue with the hard drive itself. You should check its "health" by downloading

http://crystalmark.info/software/Cry...o/index-e.html

Once you have it installed, just paste a screenshot here on the forum so we can see if there are any underlying issues with the drive.

Well, most likely this hard drive isn't exactly the healthiest piece of tech in the country, but the only error SMART is reporting is a reallocation sector count, which has hit three over the last six months.
It really shouldn't be acting up because of that.
Still, it feels somewhat nonsensical that it starts glitching while idling, yet remains perfectly stable when I'm actually working—no matter how demanding the task might be.
But fine, it's not exactly a catastrophe. In the worst-case scenario, I'll just call a local plumber to check for leaks in the basement.

So, here’s the deal: I’m running into an issue where my screen just freezes during login after the PC wakes up from Sleep. Sometimes you can actually hear the Windows login chime, but the screen stays pitch black. It forces a hard restart every time. Usually, once I reboot, everything works fine on the next attempt, but it's annoying.

I'm trying to pin down why this freeze happens right at the login stage. I did some digging online and saw some mentions of using System Repair,

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...startup-repair

Has anyone actually tried that, or does anyone have a better suggestion?

Can someone help me out? I took my laptop to a repair shop to get Windows reinstalled, but about a month later, I started getting this "Windows is not Genuine" notification. It’s asking for some kind of product key, but I honestly have no clue what to do about it. If anyone knows how to fix this, I'd really appreciate the help. Thanks...🙂 beta

Did your laptop come with an original version of Windows when you first bought it? Check underneath the machine for a Windows sticker; it should display the specific version and the product key.

Can someone give me a little hand here? I have absolutely no clue how I managed to do this, but my taskbar somehow migrated to the top of my monitor🙂I honestly don't even know how it happened😁, and now I'm just sitting here laughing at myself. Does anyone know the command or setting to get it back down to the bottom where it actually belongs?

Just grab it with your left mouse button, drag it down toward the bottom of the screen, and let go.

steeleagle152 said:Can anyone help me out? I took my laptop to a repair shop to have Windows reinstalled—standard stuff—but about a month later, this "Windows is not Genuine" notification keeps popping up. It's asking for a product key, but I honestly have no idea what to do. If anyone knows the fix, please let me know. Thanks...🙂 beta

Like someone else mentioned earlier, there are really just two ways this plays out, but one thing is certain—your Windows isn't licensed properly and needs activation. Here’s the deal:
1) If you bought this laptop pre-loaded with Windows and they sold it to you as having a legitimate license, head back to the store where you bought it and demand they get it activated—it should have been ready to go from day one. If they give you the runaround, you could always file a complaint with the Department of Inspection or even contact Microsoft directly... let them deal with the headache.
2) The more likely scenario is that you bought the laptop without an OS, and maybe a friend installed Windows for you but didn't actually activate it. There are ways to handle the activation, but I can't post specifics about that here since it's against the rules. I can send you some pointers via private message though.😉

analogscout15 said:There might be a way to activate it here too, but I guess it’s against the rules to talk about that on the forum. Maybe I could give you some pointers via private message 😉

So, I bought this laptop with "Free DOS" pre-installed. I ended up having some issues with Windows, so I just took it to a local repair shop. They reinstalled Windows for me, but now it's acting up. If you don't mind, maybe you could shoot me a PM with some advice? Thanks! beta

Joshua Garcia3 said:Just hit it with the left mouse button—hold it down, drag it toward the bottom of the screen, and then let go.

It’s not working for me. And honestly? Who cares? I actually kind of dig it just the way it is.😉

So, first you just right-click on the taskbar and uncheck the "Lock the taskbar" option. After that, click and hold the bar with your left mouse button, drag it down to the bottom of the screen, and let go. Once it's where you want it, just right-click again and check "Lock the taskbar" so it stays put at the bottom of your desktop.

Joshua Garcia3 said:So, first you just right-click anywhere on the taskbar, go to the badges, and uncheck "Lock the taskbar." Then, grab the bar with your left mouse button, hold it down, drag it to the bottom of the screen, and let go. After that, just go back and check "Lock the taskbar" again, and boom—it'll stay stuck at the bottom of your desktop.

Thanks man, works like a charm now. You can even snap it to the side if you want—pretty cool, actually.😉

Good morning!

So, who exactly asked me to make a mess of these threads? Here’s the actual issue: after uninstalling everything and reverting to the Windows 7 defaults, none of my programs show any icons in the Open/Save dialog boxes. Icons in Explorer look perfectly fine, though. I’ve tried just about everything, and it’s getting so frustrating that I’m considering a clean reinstall. Does anyone know how to fix this? I would truly appreciate the help!

Hey everyone! I was wondering if anyone could help me figure out the actual difference between Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate??? 😕
I guess I'm curious which one you guys would recommend... 🙂

If I'm already logged in as an administrator, why am I still getting prompted for permission just to delete certain folders?

(My UAC settings are set to "Never Notify"

Hey everyone,

So I've run into a bit of a headache here, haha. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and just grabbed that new Mortal Kombat Complete Edition that dropped a few days ago. But whenever I try to fire it up, I get hit with this error:
'' The application has failed to start because the side by side configuration is incorrect please see the application event log or use the command line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail '' Can anyone actually explain what the hell that means?
I've been digging around online and some people are saying I need to mess with Visual C ++... so I went ahead and installed the 2008 and 2010 versions, obviously the 64-bit ones, but still nothing. It’s not happening with any of my other stuff, so the game itself clearly works fine and my rig is definitely powerful enough to handle it, which means there's gotta be some tiny little program or something missing somewhere... thanks for the help!