PC was refusing  to update to creators edition of Windows 10 giving error 0xc190020c – lack of enough HDD space left. I used a great free tool Minitool Partition Wizard free and was easily able to extend my C partition using free space from my D partition

Follow the instructions here

Merge/Extend partitions

My existing vigor 2820 is showing its age and he wireless has become increasingly flaky. After being nagged by the children I found out that the config of the 2820 series can be backed up and imported into a new vigor 2860! With a rather complicated existing network setup I thought this would save me loads of hassle. And it did. It took less than a couple of minutes to import the 2820 config settings into the new router and everything worked first time. The 2860 has a built-in vdsl modem so that is the next challenge to remove the crappy BT vdsl modem and configure this instead. Well done Draytek for making it straightforward!

My mini laptop starting freezing recently to the point of being unusable. Seems an update to the AMD graphics driver has caused the issue and i’ve managed to fix it using the guide below – thanks to user LutherGaylord

The problem is the new AMD graphics driver, which gets installed automatically by Windows Update.

It is not compatible with Windows 10 on this laptop; it makes the computer utterly unusable.

But there is a solution:

(1) Tell Windows to stop installing hardware drivers along with updates.

Control Panel —> System and Security —> System —> Advanced System Settings —> Hardware —> Device Installation Settings

“Do you want to automatically download manufacturers’ apps and custom icons available for your devices?”

Select “No” and then click “Save Changes”.

DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP, or Windows will re-install the rogue graphics driver after every reboot.

(2) Uninstall the current graphics driver.

Device Manager —> Display adapters —> AMD Radeon HD 8250 —> Properties —> Driver —> Uninstall

(3) Install AMD graphics driver 15.200.1060.0 (17 Aug 2015)

Here is a direct link:
http://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/Driver/VGA/VGA_AMD_15.200.1060.0_W10x64_A.zip?acerid=635753732668194923&Step1=NOTEBOOK&Step2=ASPIRE&Step3=ASPIRE E5-521&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=ACER&SC=PA_6

After some trial and error I have a startup batch file with a delay to map my network drives

For folders WITH NO spaces in the name use this format

net use m:\Server01\myfolder /USER:mynetwork\Administrator Mypassword /persistent:yes

For folders WITH spaces in the name use this format (notes the quotation marks " " either side of the path with spaces in the folder name

net use "m:\Server01\my folder" /USER:mynetwork\Administrator Mypassword /persistent:yes

Daughter managed to disable her iPad. Could get into recovery mode but unable to restore due to repeated network errors (code 3259) ended up multiple times getting part of the 1.66Gb downloaded then it froze and reset. Finally solved by manually downloading the ipsw file from iOS 8.4 repository then following the instructions here with the critical bit of info being to hold down the SHIFT key (windows8) when clicking the restore option to get the popup box to point iTunes to the downloaded ipsw file 🙂

The other top tip is to use firefox to download the ipsw file as if it freezes you can rt click pause and the resume and it doesn’t reset the download back to the beginning 🙂

There is a little reset routine to remove the toner low warning light on some Brother printers after replacing the toner cartridge

Reset brother 2250dn toner low warning

1. Power Unit off
2. Open front cover
3. Press and hold GO and turn power on
4. When all 3 lights lit release and press GO twice
5. All lights turn solid
6. With all solid, press GO 5 times
7. Ready light goes red
8. Close door

Windows 8 continues to frustrate. The update to 8.1 was a nightmare to do and ended up in a boot loop. Finally sorted it but still get annoyed with basic things like trying to shutdown and not using the win 8 apps which it defaults to. Roll on 8.1.1

Further details to follow but here is a little bit of advice on how to help a sick win8 install to boot

Boot from a Windows 8 Recovery Media…

Trouble Shoot -> Advanced Options -> Command Prompt
CMD> bootrec /scanos
CMD> bootrec /rebuildbcd
CMD> bootrec /fixmbr
CMD> bootrec /fixboot

Reboot.

I installed the Windows 8.1 upgrade that went without a hitch, or so I thought. I tried to use my ebanking that uses Java and while I could login and transfer funds I couldn’t get the final approval screen to popup to actually complete the transfer. It turns out that IE11 out of the box is incompatible with some of the java plugin helpers in the most up to date java version :(. One solution is to use Firefox that worked fine, but eventually I sorted out how to make IE11 work with Java

In IE11 go to Tools –> Internet Options –> Advanced –> Scroll to Security –> Uncheck “Enable Enhanced Protected Mode*” –> Close IE and reopen.  Go to Manage add-ins and the 2 java helperSSV  plugins should now be enabled rather than ‘incompatible’

My ebanking works again as it should 🙂

I’m looking around for a free solution for multiple monitors so the taskbar is extended across both displays. looking so far at zbar and the free version of multimon