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computer help

I've run Win 11 trouble free since July but a recent update disabled the Win 11 screen recorder which can be accessed by holding down the Windows key and pressing the G key. All the buttons were 'greyed' out and would not respond. Eventually got it working by editing the Registry and changing a value from 0 to 1. I've sent 'feedback' to Microsoft saying that users should not have to use Regedit to get a feature to work.
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I use it to record my flights (and crashes) in a flight sim and also useful to record any on-screen happenings.
 
I like to print family history information because when my old PC crashed I lost a great deal of it. My husband uses refillable cartridges on our Canon and it's fine for my needs.
rosie.
 
Rosie, not aimed at you at all, but to everybody, and thanks for reminding me. From an old keyboard warrior, who remembers when keys were round and slid from side to side in a wooden frame. Backup.
Get a portable hard disk, USB connection, at least as big in capacity as your computer drive, preferably double that or even more. They are cheap nowadays.
Plug it into your computer. If the disk comes with its own backup software, ignore it, it is often a cut down version of something free, and it will eventually bite you somewhere as it fails to keep up with updates. Format it if necessary.
Let Windows use it as a backup for its own backup scheme, which tends to function across versions and updates.
The first time will take a while. You only really need to include your 'my documents' folder, anything else can be reinstalled if necessary.
Subsequent backups will be quicker, they will only record changes.
When the backup is done, unplug the disk and put it somewhere safe. This means that there is the shortest possible time that a PC crash can harm the disk. Don't be tempted to use it for anything else.
For home PC use, doing this once a week would be plenty, once a month sort of OK, longer than that is juggling with chainsaws. Depends on what you use your PC for, not just on how often you use it.
If you take time to learn how to do this, you will be in a better place.

This is minimum, others may agree or disagree. It doesn't cover restore verification, 3 disk rotation and other points that nerds will appreciate, but it could be that in 2 days or 10 years time, you will be glad you started it.

Lecture over, happy Christmas and prosperous new year to all. Off now to make sure the chimney is clear and mince pies are out ready for tonight.

Andrew.
 
How can i get an ethernet cable to work? I`ve disconnected the wifi & enabled the ethernet but it`s not working. TIA.
 
How can i get an ethernet cable to work? I`ve disconnected the wifi & enabled the ethernet but it`s not working. TIA.
i get the name of the ethernet card off device manager when i do a scan then search and load the driver off the www.
or i leave the wifi enabled and enable ethernet as well then re boot win 10 finds the driver and i then turn off the wifi after the lan has enabled.
 
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i get the name of the ethernet card off device manager when i do a scan then search and load the driver off the www.
or i leave the wifi enabled and enable ethernet as well then re boot win 10 finds the driver and i then turn off the wifi after the lan has enabled.

It doesn't often happen these days, but in the 'old' days, some kit needed a crossover ethernet cable to avoid transmit talking to transmit, and receive to receive on each end. Modern kit can work out whether to be a talker or listener and alter its ethernet socket internally to suit. Older multi port switches tended to suffer from this. A last resort if Petes suggestion above draws a blank.
Andrew.
 
i have a few rs 232 x over leads as well
And 9 - 15 - 25 pin adapters, male and female. And gender benders. Mine have been in a box for a long while now.

I have a sat dish installers set up box. Battery powered, LCD screen etc. Shows channels, signal strength and lots of other nearly useful things. It needed an update, and all it has is a 9 way D connector. No current computer with RS232 now, so I had to dig out my USB - serial dongle, and a suitable cable. Worked OK. Bits now back to sleep in the cables box.
Andrew.
 
And 9 - 15 - 25 pin adapters, male and female. And gender benders. Mine have been in a box for a long while now.

I have a sat dish installers set up box. Battery powered, LCD screen etc. Shows channels, signal strength and lots of other nearly useful things. It needed an update, and all it has is a 9 way D connector. No current computer with RS232 now, so I had to dig out my USB - serial dongle, and a suitable cable. Worked OK. Bits now back to sleep in the cables box.
Andrew.
i had to buy a usb-rs232 9 pin dongle for this dell. so i can program my portable radios. i have a pc with 232 but its like me now old and slow:grinning:
 

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Windows 10 is good at providing a driver for most 'extras' you fit, certainly enough to get you up and running. What does the windows network trouble shooter say when you open it up. If its a driver issue more often than not it will tell you.
 
i have one like this.USB 3.0 dongle soon as i plug it in win 10 finds it and loads the drivers...simples
 

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Long shot but have you tried a different ethernet cable? I've recently been caught out by a faulty cable (see post #86) and ethernet cables do have a habit of losing connections in the plug.
Very good point. I have had cables faulty from new, and also some drop connection after a good period of working fine. I try to wire as much as possible in preference to WiFi, and in a few cases had to make up my own cables. I invested in an ethernet cable tester in one of A*****n cheap offers. That has 2 parts, that can be separated to go on each end of a long run, and cycles through each wire showing good or bad on LEDs. Maybe over the top normally, but only cost about the same as 2 medium length replacement cables at the time. I am retired now, but the time saved using it at my 'working' rates would make the cost a no brainer.
Andrew.
 
Yes i have tried a different cable, still no joy. My pc is quite old so maybe that`s the problem !
should not be .mine is a right old clonker. does device manager find the lan ok?and have you try'd uninsalling driver and re in stalling it the re booting?
 
We need get this sorted for our own serenity. Can you share your PC model and what you are trying to connect ? You have the best brains on the forum at your disposal all sat on the edge of our keyboards. :cool:
Andrew.
 
Hi Smudger,
When you connect an ethernet cable do you see the icon under the arrow in the pic below ?
ethnet.jpg
If you do, then Windows thinks you are connected (it can see the cable connection to the router) but the ip settings need to be altered because they are not correct.
If you don't see the icon then other things need to be done ... :)
 
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We need get this sorted for our own serenity. Can you share your PC model and what you are trying to connect ? You have the best brains on the forum at your disposal all sat on the edge of our keyboards. :cool:
Andrew.
HP pavilion, AMD A8-5500 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics 3.20 GHz,AMD A8-5500 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics 3.20 GHz,212CB38D-FA06-4CEB-AC9C-6F35A30CBF2A,64-bit operating system, x64-based processor. Bought 2nd hand off ebay several years back, always been reliable.
 
Hi Smudger,
When you connect an ethernet cable do you see the icon under the arrow in the pic below ?
View attachment 167324
If you do, then Windows thinks you are connected (it can see the cable connection to the router) but the ip settings need to be altered because they are not correct.
If you don't see the icon then other things need to be done ... :)
Yes i did see that icon. I disabled the ethernet & then enabled it. Still no good.
 
Yes i did see that icon. I disabled the ethernet & then enabled it. Still no good.
The icon shows that the computer is connected to the internet but appears to have problems with ip settings with ethernet while the ip settings are ok with wifi. This needs actions in the Terminal (Admin) window. with commands similar to 'ipconfig flushdns' etc. I had similar problems some years ago on an old computer and it took time to get it right. Have a read through the following websites


https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...s-recognizes-connection-via-ethernet.3360280/
 
The icon shows that the computer is connected to the internet but appears to have problems with ip settings with ethernet while the ip settings are ok with wifi. This needs actions in the Terminal (Admin) window. with commands similar to 'ipconfig flushdns' etc. I had similar problems some years ago on an old computer and it took time to get it right. Have a read through the following websites


https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...s-recognizes-connection-via-ethernet.3360280/
Thanks oM, i think i`ll buy a better ethernet cable. The ones i`ve tried are cat5 & cat 5e.
 
Thanks oM, i think i`ll buy a better ethernet cable. The ones i`ve tried are cat5 & cat 5e.
Your Windows seems happy with the cable because it shows the connection icon. Ip settings can be quite tricky to set up as I remember. On one computer I had to use Google's DNS 8.8.8.8 instead of those provided by my internet provider. As a last resort you could reinstall Windows ...
 
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