Remove CalendarSpark Browser Hijacker

CalendarSpark is a browser extension developed by MindSpark. This extension allows an easy way to print or view calendar templates and make schedulers for a day/week/month/year.
This browser extension hijacks your browser home page and search engine, changing them to MyWay.com. While the extension is installed it monitors your browsing activity and collets visited websites, clicked links, and sometimes even personal information, which it later uses to display targeted unwanted ads through your browsing sessions.

While browsing the internet with this extension installed you will see additional sponsored links, ads, and sometimes even pop-up ads on websites that are not supposed to have any of these. Several anti-virus scanners have detected this extension as a Browser Hijacker, and due to its data collecting behavior, it is not recommended to keep it on your computer.

About Browser Hijackers

Browser hijackers (sometimes called hijackware) are a kind of malware that modifies web browser configuration settings without the computer owner’s knowledge or permission. These kinds of hijacks are raising at an alarming rate across the world, and they could be truly nefarious and sometimes harmful too. Browser hijacker malware is created for a number of reasons. These are generally used to force hits to a specific site, manipulating web traffic to generate ad revenue. However, it’s not that harmless. Your online safety is jeopardized and it is also extremely irritating. In a worst-case scenario, your browser could be hijacked to open up your computer system to a host of additional attacks.

Indications of browser hijack

When your browser is hi-jacked, the following could happen: your home page is reset to some unknown webpage; you get redirected to sites you never intended to visit; The default search page of the web browser is changed; unwanted new toolbars are added to your internet browser; you’ll find random pop-ups start showing on a regular basis; your internet browser starts running slowly or exhibits frequent errors; Inability to navigate to certain websites, particularly antivirus as well as other security software sites.

Exactly how browser hijacker finds its way onto your PC

Browser hijackers can enter a PC by some means or other, including via file sharing, downloads, and e-mail as well. They could also be deployed via the installation of an internet browser toolbar, add-on, or extension. A browser hijacker can be installed as a part of freeware, shareware, demoware, and pirated programs. An example of some well-known browser hijacker includes Conduit, Anyprotect, Babylon, DefaultTab, SweetPage, RocketTab, and Delta Search, but the names are regularly changing.

Browser hijackers could interrupt the user’s web surfing experience significantly, track the websites visited by users and steal sensitive information, cause problems in connecting to the net, and then finally create stability issues, causing programs and computers to freeze.

Removal

Some kinds of browser hijackers can be quickly removed from the computer by deleting malicious applications or any other recently added freeware. Regrettably, most of the software applications used to hijack an internet browser are intentionally designed to be difficult to remove or detect. Furthermore, manual removals require in-depth system knowledge and therefore can be an extremely difficult job for novice computer users.

What you can do if Virus Stops You From Downloading Antivirus?

Practically all malware is inherently dangerous, but certain types of malware do much more damage to your computer than others. Some malware sits in between your computer and your internet connection and blocks a few or all websites that you would like to check out. It will also block you from the installation of anything on your PC, especially antivirus applications. If you’re reading this article now, you might have perhaps realized that virus infection is the real cause of your blocked net connectivity. So how to proceed when you want to download and install an antivirus application like Safebytes? Although this sort of problem can be tougher to circumvent, there are some steps you can take.

Download the software in Safe Mode with Networking

In Safe Mode, you may change Windows settings, un-install or install some program, and eliminate hard-to-delete viruses and malware. In case the virus is set to load immediately when the PC starts, switching to this mode can prevent it from doing so. To boot into Safe Mode, press “F8” key on the keyboard just before Windows logo screen appears; Or after normal Windows boot up, run MSCONFIG, look over Safe Boot under Boot tab, and then click Apply. After you reboot into Safe Mode with Networking, you could download, install, as well as update the anti-malware program from there. At this point, you can run the anti-malware scan to eliminate viruses and malware without hindrance from another application.

Obtain the antivirus program using an alternate web browser

Some malware only targets particular internet browsers. If this sounds like your situation, utilize another browser as it may circumvent the virus. The best way to avoid this problem is to choose a browser that is well known for its security features. Firefox has built-in Phishing and Malware Protection to help keep you safe online.

Install and run anti-malware from the Thumb drive

Here’s yet another solution which is creating a portable USB antivirus software package that can check your system for malicious software without the need for installation. To run anti-virus from a USB drive, follow these simple steps:
1) Use another virus-free PC to download Safebytes Anti-Malware.
2) Plug in the flash drive to a USB slot on the clean computer.
3) Double-click the executable file to open the installation wizard.
4) When asked, choose the location of the USB drive as the place where you would like to store the software files. Follow activation instructions.
5) Unplug the flash drive. You may now use this portable anti-malware on the affected computer.
6) Run the Safebytes Anti-malware directly from the flash drive by double-clicking the icon.
7) Run Full System Scan to detect and clean-up up all types of malware.

SafeBytes Anti-Malware Benefits

If you are looking to install anti-malware software for your PC, there are numerous tools on the market to consider but you cannot trust blindly to anyone, irrespective of whether it is free or paid software. A few of them are great, some are decent, while some will harm your computer themselves! You need to select one that is dependable, practical, and has a strong reputation for its malware protection. While thinking about the dependable software programs, Safebytes AntiMalware is certainly the strongly recommended one.

SafeBytes anti-malware is a trusted tool that not only protects your computer system permanently but is also very user-friendly for people of all ability levels. Once you’ve got installed this software, SafeByte's sophisticated protection system will make sure that absolutely no viruses or malicious software can seep through your personal computer.

SafeBytes has a plethora of amazing features that can help you protect your PC from malware attacks and damage. Listed below are some of the great features included in the tool.

Optimum AntiMalware Protection: Using a critically acclaimed malware engine, SafeBytes provides multilayered protection that is designed to find and eliminate viruses and malware that are concealed deep in your computer’s operating system.

Live Protection: SafeBytes offers a completely hands-free real-time protection that is set to observe, block, and wipe out all computer threats at its very first encounter. It will inspect your computer for suspicious activity regularly and its unparalleled firewall shields your computer from illegal entry by the outside world.

Faster Scan: SafeBytes Anti-Malware has got a multi-thread scan algorithm that works up to 5 times faster than any other protection software.

Website Filtering: SafeBytes checks and provides a unique safety ranking to each and every site you visit and block access to webpages known to be phishing sites, thus safeguarding you from identity theft, or known to contain malware.

Light-weight: The program is light-weight and will work silently in the background, and will not impact your computer efficiency.

Premium Support: For any technical inquiries or product assistance, you could get 24/7 professional assistance via chat and email.

Technical Details and Manual Removal (Advanced Users)

To get rid of CalendarSpark manually, navigate to the Add/Remove programs list in the Windows Control Panel and select the program you want to get rid of. For browser extensions, go to your web browser’s Addon/Extension manager and select the add-on you intend to remove or disable. You will probably also want to reset your internet browser.

In order to ensure the complete removal, manually examine your hard disk and computer registry for all of the following and remove or reset the values accordingly. But bear in mind, this is a tricky task and only computer professionals can carry it out safely. In addition, certain malicious programs are capable to defend against its deletion. Doing this malware-removal process in Safe Mode is suggested.

Files:
calendarspark.dl.myway[1].xml
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\CalendarSparkTooltab
chrome-extension_apfkjcjglfhoemadfobgcacfkdhapiab_0.localstorage-journal
%LOCALAPPDATA%\CalendarSparkTooltab
http_calendarspark.dl.tb.ask.com_0.localstorage-journal
http_calendarspark.dl.tb.ask.com_0.localstorage
Calendarspark.exe 310,048 602097e5efa71f01dca1ad60ba108730
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\lacjhcgjigifchcapcccoippjdnkbagj
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\lacjhcgjigifchcapcccoippjdnkbagj
www.calendarspark[1].xml
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Extension Settings\lacjhcgjigifchcapcccoippjdnkbagj

Registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\CalendarSpark
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\LowRegistry\DOMStorage\calendarspark.com
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\LowRegistry\DOMStorage\calendarspark.dl.myway.com
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\CalendarSpark
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\PreferenceMACs\Default\extensions.settings, value: lacjhcgjigifchcapcccoippjdnkbagj
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..Uninstaller
CalendarSparkTooltab Uninstall Internet Explorer

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Fix ERR_SSL_VERSION_INTERFERENCE on Chrome

If you encounter the ERR_SSL_VERSION_INTERFERENCE error on your Google Chrome browser then this means that the browser is trying to load a website with SSL protocol but is not able to do so. This error can occur for many reasons and in this post, you will be given potential fixes that could help you in resolving the problem. But bear in mind that these potential fixes are not that straightforward forward so if you encounter an option you don’t understand much, just skip to the options you have the knowledge of. There is no direct fault in the browser for the ERR_SSL_VERSION_INTERFERENCE error as there are issues with caching the website data locally on your computer. Moreover, this kind of error can also appear when a website is coded incorrectly or if there are conflicting browser extensions installed in the browser that prevents the website to function properly. Refer to the suggestions given below to fix the ERR_SSL_VERSION_INTERFERENCE error in Chrome on Windows 10.

Option 1 – Try clearing browser data

There are times when some data in the browser is conflicting with the loading of the website and triggers errors like ERR_CACHE_MISS. And so you can try to clear your browser’s data. This might be a very basic solution but oftentimes it works in fixing this kind of error in Google Chrome. Follow the steps below to clear the data in your browser.

Open your Google Chrome browser.
After that, tap the Ctrl + H keys. Doing so will open a new panel that allows you to delete the browsing history and other data in your browser.
Now select every checkbox that you see and click on the Clear browsing data button.
Then restart your Chrome browser and check if you can now open any website or not.

Option 2 – Try disabling TSL 1.3

If clearing the browser data didn’t fix the problem, you can also try to disable TSL 1.3 in Chrome. To do so, refer to these steps:

Open Google Chrome.
Next, type in “chrome://flags/#tls13-variant” in the address bar and tap Enter.
After that, you should see the experimental features page for Google Chrome where you can set TSL 1.3 to disabled.
After disabling TSL 1.3, restart your computer and check if the problem is fixed or not.

Option 3 – Reset Winsock, TCP/IP & Flush DNS cache

Resetting Winsock, TCP/IP, and flushing DNS might help in resolving the ERR_SSL_VERSION_INTERFERENCE error just follow these steps:

Right-click on the Start button and click on Command Prompt (administrator) so you can pull up an elevated Command Prompt.
After that, execute each one of the commands listed below. And after you typed in one after the other, you have to hit Enter.

netsh winsock reset – type in this command to reset Winsock
netsh int ip reset resettcpip.txt – type in this command to reset TCP/IP
ipconfig /flushdns – type in this command to flush the DNS cache

Next, restart your PC and check if the problem’s fixed.

Option 4 – Get rid of any conflicting browser extensions

Open Chrome and press Alt + F keys.
Go to More tools and click Extensions to look for any suspicious browser extensions or toolbars.
Click the Recycle bin and select Remove.
Restart Chrome and press Alt + F keys again.
Proceed to On Startup and mark Open a specific page or set of pages.
To check if the browser hijacker is still active, click Set pages, if it is active, overwrite the URL.

Option 5 – Reset Google Chrome

Resetting Chrome can also help you get rid of the error. Resetting Chrome will restore its default settings, disabling all the extensions, add-ons, and themes. Aside from that, the content settings will be reset as well and the cookies, cache, and site data will also be deleted. To reset Chrome, here’s what you have to do:

Open Google Chrome, then tap the Alt + F keys.
After that, click on Settings.
Next, scroll down until you see the Advanced option, once you see it, click on it.
After clicking the Advanced option, go to the “Restore and clean up option and click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” option to reset Google Chrome.
Now restart Google Chrome.

CHKDSK cannot open volume for direct access

One of the most useful built-in tools in Windows 10 is the Check Disk or CHKDSK utility. It is the one that maintains the integrity of the disk that’s connected to a computer which can be launched using the GUI or graphical user interface and using the command line. There are a lot of things that warrant the running of this built-in utility and one of these things is the readability of the disk. Recently, a number of users reported that they encountered an error when they tried to run the CHKDSK utility – the error states, “Cannot open volume for direct access”. This kind of error in CHKDSK appears each time the command line is launched according to the affected users. As per the users who encountered this issue, they receive the following error messages when they tried running a ChkDsk command:

“C:WINDOWSsystem32>chkdsk /f g: Cannot open volume for direct access. C:WINDOWSsystem32>chkdsk /f f: The type of the file system is NTFS. Volume label is 0529357401.”

To fix the “Cannot open volume for direct user access” error, here are some suggestions that might help. Follow them carefully.

Option 1 – Try running the CHKDSK utility on Boot

On the other hand, you can also try to run the CHKDSK utility on Boot so you can fix the error and recover any damaged segments of the drive.

Open an elevated Command Prompt and enter this command: chkdsk /x /f /r
After that, you will a message that says, “Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)”
Type Y and tap Enter to schedule a CHKDSK scan once your computer reboots next time.

Option 2 – Try to run the Primary Hard Disk Self Test

The next thing you can do to fix the problem is to run the Primary Hard Disk Self Test by following the steps below.

You need to boot your computer into the BIOS first.
After that, go to the Diagnostics tab and select the “Primary Hard Disk Self Test” option. Note that it may be different depending on the motherboard with different manufacturers but they should imply the same thing.
Now, wait until the test is completed, and then boot your computer normally.

Option 3 – Try to check the hard drive’s health

The next thing you can do to resolve the issue is to check the health of your hard drive using the WMIC utility in the Windows Command Prompt. This utility will check if your hard drive has any problems which resulted in the “Cannot open volume for direct user access” error.

Option 4 – Try to disable various restrictions on your hard drive

You might also want to disable the various restrictions on your hard drive since it is possible that it is encrypted or restricted which explains why you are unable to perform any operations in it and throws the “Cannot open volume for direct user access” error instead. For instance, if you have BitLocker, you can try to disable it and see if it fixes the error or not.

Option 5 – Try to uninstall or disable the Drive Locking feature on your hard drive

You could also look for any Drive Locking feature on your hard drive that tricks disk changes as it might be the root cause of the problem. Thus, if you find one, you need to either uninstall or disable it and then execute a check disk command to resolve the problem.

Option 6 – Try to disable the application service

Disabling the application service can also help you fix the problem. How? Refer to these steps:

Tap the Win + R keys to launch the Run utility and type “services.msc” in the field and then hit Enter to open the Services Manager.
Next, scroll down among the list of services and look for the service related to the security software or disk checker software.
Once you find it, right-click on that service and select Properties.
After that, change its Startup type to Disabled and click on the OK and Apply buttons to save the changes made.
Now restart your computer and don’t forget to enable the service back once the disk check is completed.

Option 7 – Try to use Repair Volume via Windows PowerShell

You could also try to use the Repair Volume using Windows PowerShell. All you have to do is open PowerShell as admin and type the “repair-volume -drive letter <DRIVE LETTER>” command and then tap Enter to run Repair Volume. This should resolve the error.

Make FLASH content available in your browser

Hello and welcome everyone, just a few years ago we had FLASH video content on the internet, we had FLASH games, full FLASH website experiences, and more, but then flash was shut down mostly due to security reasons meaning that in just a few months we have lost most of FLASH web content. However, there is still FLASH content on the internet even today, there are still FLASH videos and flash games, but we can not play any of that content since browsers do not support FLASH and you can not get the FLASH plugin for browsers. So what might be the solution for this situation?

Ruffle and FLASH emulation

Emulation of course. We will not be able to get the flash player working, well at least not the original and official one, but we can make flash content playable again inside our browsers. The first thing is first, we need to get an emulator package from the internet in order for this trick to work, one we will be using is RUFFLE. It is lightweight, it is free, it is open source and it is reliable, everything we need. Download RUFFLE from its official website here. For Chrome and Edge download the ZIP package, for Firefox, go to the Firefox section of the tutorial. There is also a desktop version of RUFFLE there so if you are keen on playing your flash content on your desktop computer you might well grab that as well, but for the sake of this tutorial where we are enabling flash in our browsers, we will not focus on that part since it is pretty straightforward. Now once you have downloaded the RUFFLE emulator, please extract it to the desired folder somewhere on your computer. Once it is extracted, start your browser of choice and follow instructions.

FOR CHROME:

Navigate to: chrome://extensions/
Turn ON developer mode in the top right corner
Click on Load unpacked
Navigate to the folder where you have extracted RUFFLE

FOR EDGE:

Navigate to: edge://extensions/
Turn ON developer mode on the bottom left corner
Navigate to the folder where you have extracted RUFFLE
Turn RUFFLE ON

FOR FIREFOX:

Go to the RUFFLE download page, we can not use the zip package we were using for Chrome and Edge
Right-click on the Firefox download link
Save link by clicking on Save link as...
Navigate to about: debugging
Click on this Firefox
Click Load Temporary Add-on
Select the .xpi that you have downloaded

BONUS:

If you want to enable FLASH content live on your website use: <script src="path_to_ruffle/ruffle.js"></script>

How to Fix Error Code 0x8024002e

Error Code 0x8024002e - What is it?

Windows 10 error code 0x8024002e is related to the Windows update service. When you see the error code displayed on your screen, it means that the Windows update service has been blocked or not working. As a result of this error code, your computer might lag and the system may freeze while performing normal operations. The error may read as follows:

“There were some problems installing updates, but we’ll try again later. If you keep seeing this and want to search the web or contact support for information this may help: (0x8024002e)”.

Common symptoms include:

Slow computer performance
System freezes while performing normal operations or freezes while multitasking
BSOD error is showing
Some unwanted files get opened automatically
Updating is not possible

Solution

Error Causes

This error code appears because of the following reasons:

Incomplete installation of the Windows operating system
Incorrect registry entry
Corrupt or damaged system files
The computer has come under a virus attack
Miscommunication between the computer and the Windows Automatic Update service

The decline in RAM or outdated Hard Disk Drive

Further Information and Manual Repair

Method 1:

Remove any external media connected to the computer
Crash reboot your PC 2 to 3 times.
Now check if you are still having the problem.

If the problem still persists, try the following methods if you are able to boot to the desktop and check for the problem.

Method 2:

Changing Windows Update property to automatic: You might see this error if your Windows update property is set to manual. Follow the steps below to change it to automatic. Open Task Manager.

Click on the Services tab. Find “Open Services” at the bottom of the window.
A new window will pop up. Scroll down and find “Windows Update” from the list. Double click on the Windows Update. It will open its properties.
Select Automatic for ‘Startup Type.’ Click Apply, Start, and OK.

Now, try the Windows Update and check if you are still getting the error message. If the problem isn’t resolved, reboot your PC for the changes to take effect and then try again.

Method 3:

Disable Antivirus program: If you have any antivirus installed on your PC, you might need to disable it first and see if that helps. Although, most of the antivirus makers have made changes to work smoothly with Windows 10, it is a new Operating System and some antivirus may cause conflict. Disable the antivirus and check for updates to see if it is preventing you from updating your system and displaying the error code 0x8024002e.

Method 4:

Run inbuilt Windows update troubleshooter. Follow the steps given below:

Press Windows + W keys on your keyboard to enable the search option.
In the Search box type Troubleshooting.
Click on View all
Click on Windows update and follow the prompts to run the troubleshooter.

If the issue persists, try Method 5

Method 5:

Run the System File Checker tool (sfc.exe):

Open Command prompt.
Type sfc /scannow and hit Enter.
The sfc /scannow will scan all protected system files and replace corrupted files with a cached copy that is located in a compressed folder at %WinDir%System32dllcache. The %WinDir% has the Windows Operating System folder. For example, C:\Windows.

Do not close the Command prompt window until the verification is 100% complete. The command prompt will show the scan results when it is done. After it is done, you may receive one of the following messages:

“Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.” This means you do not have any missing or damaged system files.

OR you may receive a message saying:

“Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.”

To resolve this problem, run the System File Checker in safe mode and make sure that the PendingDeletes and PendingRenames folders exist under %WinDir%WinSxSTemp.

OR you may also receive a message saying, “Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. Details are included in the CBS.Log%WinDir%LogsCBSCBS.log.” OR you may receive a message saying, “Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log%WinDir%LogsCBSCBS.log.”

Fix update failed to install error 0xca00a000

This post will show you how to fix the Windows update error 0xca00a000 which you can encounter during the installation of Windows updates. Here’s the full error message of this Windows Update error:

“Updates failed There were problems installing some updates, but we’ll try again later. If you keep seeing this and want to search the web or contact support for information, this may help: 2018-07 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1803 for x64-based Systems (KB4345421) – Error 0xca00a000”

This kind of Windows Update error pops up when Windows has missed installing one of the cumulative updates needed or when there is some problem with the driver that won’t let the installation of the updates push through. There are also instances when the system files are modified with incorrect permission that may result in the Windows update error 0xca00a000. Thus, you need to fix the trusted installer permission as well as resolve the issue with the driver. To do these things, you need to follow the options laid out below.

Option 1 – Run the Windows Module Installer

The Windows Module Installer is a built-in service in the Windows operating system that could help you resolve the Windows update error 0xca00a000. You need to make sure that this service is Started and that its Startup type is set to Automatic – you can do this via Services Manager or by executing the command given below in an elevated Command Prompt.

Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Then type “command prompt” in the field and hit Enter to open Command Prompt.
And in the elevated Command Prompt type in the following command and hit Enter:

SC config trustedinstaller start=auto

After executing the command successfully, you should see the “[SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS” message on the Command Prompt window.

Option 2 – Try manually installing the updates

As mentioned, the error might be because Windows missed installing a particular update which is why you are not able to proceed with the current update. So to resolve the issue, you need to install the update that wasn’t installed by downloading it from the Microsoft Update Catalog website. You also have to make sure that you didn’t turn off the Windows update or have it delayed.

Option 3 – Delete the files from the Software Distribution folder

The Software Distribution folder in the Windows operating system is a folder that can be found in the Windows directory and is used to store files temporarily which might be required to install the Windows Update on your PC. Thus, it is required by the Windows Update and maintained by WUAgent. A lot of users tried deleting the files in this folder to fix the problem and so far it has worked. Like them, you can try clearing the Windows Update cache by simply deleting the contents of the folder named “SoftwareDistribution” since Windows apparently can’t clear and re-download the update contents once they are corrupted. Thus, deleting the contents of this folder will make Windows download the contents again which will fix the problem. To do that, follow the steps below.

Open the WinX Menu.
From there, open Command Prompt as admin.
Then type in the following command – don’t forget to hit Enter right after typing each one of them.

net stop wuauserv net stop bits

After entering these commands, it will stop the Windows Update Service and the Background Intelligent Transfer Service.
Next, go to the C:/Windows/SoftwareDistribution folder and get rid of all the folders and files thereby tapping the Ctrl + A keys to select them all and then click on Delete. Note that if the files are in use, you won’t be able to delete them.
Once all the contents in the Software Distribution folder are deleted, restart your PC and then go back to Command Prompt and input the following commands again.

net start wuauserv net start bits

Since the folder has already been flushed, it will be populated afresh the instant your restart your computer and open Windows Update.

Now Open Settings and check for Windows Updates. Windows 10 should begin the download right away.

Option 4 – Install the updates in a Clean Boot State

You might want to try putting your computer in a Clean Boot state and then install Windows Updates again without any trouble. During this state, you can start the system with a minimum number of drivers and startup programs that will surely help you in isolating the root cause of the issue.

Log onto your PC as an administrator.
Type in MSConfig in the Start Search to open the System Configuration utility.
From there, go to the General tab and click “Selective startup”.
Clear the “Load Startup items” checkbox and make sure that the “Load System Services” and “Use Original boot configuration” options are checked.
Next, click the Services tab and select the “Hide All Microsoft Services” checkbox.
Click Disable all.
Click on Apply/OK and restart your PC. (This will put your PC into a Clean Boot State. And configure Windows to use the usual startup, just simply undo the changes.)
After that, try to install the Windows Updates or upgrade again.

Option 5 – Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter

Running the built-in Windows Update troubleshooter could also help you resolve the Windows update error 0xca00a000. To run it, go to Settings and then select Troubleshoot from the options. From there, click on Windows Update and then click the “Run the troubleshooter” button. After that, follow the next on-screen instructions and you should be good to go.

Option 6 – Run Microsoft’s online troubleshooter

Running Microsoft’s online troubleshooter might also help you fix the Windows update error 0xca00a000. This online troubleshooter is known to help in fixing Windows Update errors, it scans your computer for issues that might be causing the problem and then fixes them automatically.

How to share games on Steam with someone

Sharing is caring, an old saying says. I completely agree and that is reason enough for this article filled with sharing goodness. Holidays are coming and I hope that the holiday spirit is strong with you, that you will spend them in peace and with loved ones. All that being said wouldn’t it be great if you can spend some joy with close ones and share some of your games on their account so they can enjoy them as well? steam library

Well, you can and it is not complicated as well. Follow this easy guide to see how can you get someone’s account up and running with some of your games.

The steam Family sharing feature

The family Sharing feature inside Steam will let you share your games to another account so owners of that account can play games that you have purchased without the need to buy themselves. You can allow up to 5 accounts and 10 devices to play your library games, and owners of these accounts will have their own achievements. Be aware that enabling this option will place your entire library on the share, you will not be able to choose which games you would like to share and therefore any kind of parental controls are not applying here. Also know that once the game is running on one device, others will have to wait for one playing to finish before they can get a spin on it. Only the owner of the game can play whenever he wants as a priority but others will have to wait for the game to be not run by someone else.

How to Share Your Game Library

In order to share your game library have a person, you wish to share games with at his device on ready to go and enable steam guard on your account. To enable steam guard login into your account and on the top left corner click on Steam and then on Settings. Inside settings click on the Manage Steam Guard Account Security button. Choose the way of authentication either by mail or steam guard mobile app. Check Get Steam guard codes by email radio button and re-login into account.

Sharing Games on another Steam account

Now that Steam Guard is enabled on the primary account let’s share some games!!! Inside client again, in the top left click on Steam and again on settings. In the left panel choose and click on Family. Inside Family section check box beside Authorize Library Sharing on This Computer. Log out of your account and login into the client user account credentials you wish to share your library with (this is your friend or cousin account, they need to log in to Steam client on your computer but with their credentials). After they have successfully logged in, log them out and re-log with your account again. Now go again into Steam > Family and now you should see an account in the box at the bottom with the user name or your friend or relative. Confirm that this is an account that you wish to share the library with by clicking on the checkbox next to the name. Now let users login into the desired device with their credentials and they will have access to your entire library. Happy gaming!

Fix Print Spooler Service Error 1068

There is one service in the Windows operating system that is responsible for managing all the print jobs as well as handles the interaction with the printer. This service is known as the Print Spooler service. However, if it stops running, then you won’t be able to print anything on your computer. In such a case, you can try to restart the Print Spooler service, and to do that, you have to open the Windows Services Manager and look for the Print Spooler Service. Once you found it, right-click on it and select Restart. If it isn’t running, select Start and if the Service starts working again, then good but if not and you got an error message instead that says, “Windows could not start the Print Spooler service on Local Computer, Error 1068, The dependency service or group failed to start”, then read on as this post will give you a couple of suggestions you can try to resolve the issue. The reason why you could not start the service is most likely because the Print Spooler service is dependent on other services which might not be properly running. If the following services are not running then it’s no wonder why you’re getting the error.

HTTP Service
Remote Procedure Control (RPC) Service

You might not see the RPC service which means that the Print Spooler Service does not recognize its dependency on the RPC service. In such a case, you have to manually configure the dependency by following the options given below.

Option 1 – Try configuring the dependency via CMD

The first thing you have to do is to configure the dependency using CMD. Refer to the steps below to do so:

Open an elevated Command Prompt.
Then type in “sc config spooler depend= RPCSS” and hit Enter.
After the command has been executed, restart your computer and then check if it fixed the problem. If not, proceed to the next given option below.

Option 2 – Fix dependency via the Registry Editor

You can also resolve dependency using the Registry Editor. How? Refer to these steps:

Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Then type “Regedit” in the field and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
After that, navigate to this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesSpooler
Next, right-click on the “DependOnService” entry located on the right pane and select Modify.
Now change its value data to “RPCSS” and click OK to save the changes made and then exit the Registry Editor.
Reboot your computer and see if the issue is resolved.

Option 3 – Try running the Printer Troubleshooter

Another option you can check out is the Printer Troubleshooter. This built-in troubleshooter in Windows 10 can help you fix most print issues. It checks if you have the latest printer drivers and then tries to fix and update them automatically. Aside from that, it also checks if you have connectivity issues or if the Print Spooler and the required Services are running fine. To run it, follow the steps below.

Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Next, type “exe /id PrinterDiagnostic” in the field and click OK or hit Enter to open the Printer Troubleshooter.
Then click the Next button and follow the next on-screen instructions to fix the issue with the printer.

Network License NotAvailable15.570.0 Autodesk

If when trying to start Autodesk applications you receive a Network license not available error then please keep on reading, this guide is for you:

Causes of the error:

The license on the License Server is invalid.
The port for Autodesk Network License Manager is blocked.
The client computer is configured with incorrect license server information.
The license request is timing out on the client's computer before the license is obtained.

Solutions for the error:

Verify that the Autodesk License Server is setup with the correct license file.

To set up a license server for Windows, perform the following:

Download and install the Network License Manager for Windows:
Open LMTools and access the System Settings tab. Make a note of the "hostname" and "ethernet address" of the license server.
Generate a Network License File in Autodesk Account.
On the Service/License tab, select Configuration Using Services and LMTOOLS ignores license file path environment variables.
On the Config Services tab, enter a name for the new service in the Service Name field.
Fill the following fields, using the Browse buttons:
- Path to the lmgrd.exe - Navigate to this file: C:\Autodesk\Network License Manager.
- Path to the License file - Navigate to the new Autodesk.lic file, typically placed in: C:\Autodesk\Network License Manager\Licenses.
- Path to the Debug Log file: C:\Autodesk\Network License Manager.
- If no file is present, create a TXT file in Notepad and rename it “Debug.log.”
Make sure the "Start Server at Power Up" and the "Use Services" boxes are checked. Then click Save Services.
On the Start/Stop/Reread tab, click Start Server.
On the Server Status tab, click Perform Status Enquiry.
Licenses should display as active.

How to set up the Autodesk Network License Manager on a Mac.

Note: The Autodesk License Server Manager (version 11.16.2.0) is supported only on the following Mac operating systems:

Apple macOS High Sierra 10.13
Apple macOS Sierra 10.12
Apple Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11

Download Autodesk Network License Manager version 11.16.2.0 for Mac
- Download the nlm11.16.2.0_ipv4_ipv6_mac_universal.tar.gz file to the Desktop.
To install the Autodesk Network License Manager:
- Double click on nlm11.16.2.0_ipv4_ipv6_mac_universal.tar.gz to unpack the installer package.
- After unpacking nlm11.16.2.0_ipv4_ipv6_mac_universal.pkg, will be /Downloads/adlm/FLEXnet folder.
- Double click on nlm11.16.2.0_ipv4_ipv6_mac_universal.pkg to start installation and follow the installation wizard.
- The license server will be installed in /usr/local/flexnetserver/ directory.
Change permissions for /usr/local/flexnetserver/ directory to 777

Open Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal) and enter the following command:

sudo chmod -R 777 /usr/local/flexnetserver

Note: Administrator password may be asked. While typing no characters are shown, just type out the password and hit return key.
Note: To start the license server only with elevated permissions (using sudo command), change permissions to 755 instead of 777.

Create /usr/local/flexnetserver/licenses directory for network license file location

sudo mkdir /usr/local/flexnetserver/licenses

Find the license server Host Name and Host ID.
Generate the Network License File in the Autodesk Account
- Once the license file is generated, make sure it has a .lic extension (e.g. adsk_license.lic) and is in a plain text format and place it in /usr/local/flexnetserver/licenses directory

Note: In this article we will refer to adsk_license.lic as network license file name. Feel free to change the actual name of the license file, but make sure to reflect the new name when using the commands below.

Create a debug.log file in the /usr/local/flexnetserver/ directory using the following command:

touch debug.log

To start the Network License Server use the following command:

/usr/local/flexnetserver/lmgrd -c /usr/local/flexnetserver/licenses/adsk_license.lic -l /usr/local/flexnetserver/debug.log

Note: If folder permissions for /usr/local/flexnetserver/ are set to 775, then use sudo command to start the server. For example:

sudo /usr/local/flexnetserver/lmgrd -c /usr/local/flexnetserver/licenses/adsk_license.lic -l /usr/local/flexnetserver/debug.log

To obtain license server status enquiry:

/usr/local/flexnetserver/lmutil lmstat -a -c /usr/local/flexnetserver/licenses/adsk_license.lic

To stop the license server:

/usr/local/flexnetserver/lmutil lmdown -q -force

Alternatively, run ps command to obtain process ids for lmgrd and adskflex and then kill those processes:

ps -ax | grep lmgrd
ps -ax | grep adskflex
kill -9

(provide process ids obtained by previous commands individually)

How to set up the Autodesk Network License Manager on Linux.

Note: The Autodesk License Manager (11.16.2.0) is supported only on the following Linux distros:

Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 7
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
SUSE Linux Enterprise 12
SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

See System Requirements for the Network License Manager

To configure the license manager use the following steps:

Download Autodesk Network License Manager v. 11.16.2 for Linux from this link
- Download the nlm11.16.2.0_ipv4_ipv6_linux64.tar.gz file to your desktop.
To install the Autodesk Network License Manager run following command as root.
- tar –zxvf nlm11.16.2.0_ipv4_ipv6_linux64.tar.gz
- rpm -vhi nlm11.16.2.0_ipv4_ipv6_linux64.rpm
- The license server will be installed in /opt/flexnetserver/ directory.
Find the license server Host Name and Host ID

To obtain the license server system hostid run the following command

/opt/flexnetserver/lmutil lmhostid From the command output note the hostid in quotes, if the system has two active NIC cards, select the first MAC address. lmutil - Copyright (c) 1989-2018 Flexera. All Rights Reserved. The FlexNet host ID of this machine is "000c297949e0"

To obtain the license server system hostname run the following command

/opt/flexnetserver/lmutil lmhostid hostname From the command output note the hostname of the license server. mutil - Copyright (c) 1989-2018 Flexera. All Rights Reserved. The FlexNet host ID of this machine is "HOSTNAME=Centos7.localdomain"

Generate your Network License File in Autodesk Account
- Once the license file is generated, make sure it has .lic extension (e.g. adsk_license.lic) and place it in /opt/flexnetserver/licenses directory. If the directory doesn't exits, create it with this command: sudo mkdir /opt/flexnetserver/licenses

Note: in this article we will refer by adsk_license.lic your network license file name.

To start the Network License Server
- /opt/flexnetserver/lmgrd -c /opt/flexnetserver/licenses/adsk_license.lic -l /opt/flexnetserver/server_log.log
To obtain license server status enquiry
- /opt/flexnetserver/lmutil lmstat -a -c /opt/flexnetserver/licenses/adsk_license.lic
To stop your license server service
- /opt/flexnetserver/lmutil lmdown -q -force
- alternatively you can also run ps command to obtain process ids for lmgrd and adskflex and then kill those processes
  - ps -aw | grep lmgrd
  - ps -aw | grep adskflex
  - kill -9 (provide process ids obtained by previous commands individually)
To start the license server automatically after the system reboot
- Open /etc/rc.d/rc.local script as root and enter license server start up command in it.

touch /var/lock/subsys/local /opt/flexnetserver/lmgrd -c /opt/flexnetserver/licenses/adsk_license.lic -l /opt/flexnetserver/server_log.logNote: To ensure that the script will be executed during boot, run following command as root. chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.local

Make sure that all necessary ports are open:

lmgrd.exe needs ports 27000 to 27009.
adskflex.exe needs port 2080.

Note: Errors may occur if the network license file is corrupt or in the case of a combined network license it has incorrectly combined licenses. To learn more about combining licenses, see Combining License Files for Multiple Autodesk Products. Use the License File Parser to verify that the license contains the appropriate products and FLEXnet feature codes and does not display an error

Verify that TCP ports (2080, 27000-27009) used by Autodesk Network License Manager are not blocked by Firewall.

The FLEXlm® based version uses the following incoming ports:

TCP ports 2080 (for the adskflex vendor daemon)
TCP ports 27000 to 27009 (for the lmgrd master daemon, which uses the first open port in the range)

Note: If these port addresses are restricted by a router or firewall software, users on the remote side of the router will not have access to licenses controlled by the Network License Manager.

Verify that the client computer is configured with the correct license server name or IP.

Windows:

Clear license server information from the system registry.

Type regedit in the Windows Search box and hit Enter key.
Select the following registry key

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\FLEXlm License Manager]

As the key is selected, in right panel ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE will be visible.
Right click on the key and delete it.

Specify the license server in ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE system variable

Go to Start > Control Panel > System and Security > System.
Select Advanced system settings.
On the System Properties dialog, click Environment Variables.
Under System Variables, click New.
Enter ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE for the variable name and 2080@SERVER_NAME _OR _IP for the variable value.

Note: the license server information most often is recorded in LICPATH.lic file and can be verified there too. ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE system variable supersedes LICPATH.lic. Thus, setting the system variable is preferable when this error is seen.

If the license server is on a VPN or a remote network set the FLEXLM_TIMEOUT environment variable:

Go to Start > Control Panel > System and Security > System.
Select Advanced system settings.
On the System Properties dialog, click Environment Variables.
Under System Variables, click New.
Enter FLEXLM_TIMEOUT for the variable name and 5000000 for the variable value.
Click OK to save the setting.

Note: if needed the variable value can be increased to 10000000.

Mac/Linux:

Specify the Autodesk Network License server information in $HOME/.flexlmrc file.

Use a text editor to create a flexlmrc.txt file and save it in Plain text format (In TextEdit on Mac: Format - Make Plain Text) on desktop. The file content should look like this, except with the name or IP address of the license server.

ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE=@SERVER_NAME _OR _IP

If the license server is on the same machine as the Autodesk software, use localhost as the license server name. Thus, the content of flexlmrc file could look like this:

ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE=@localhost

Note: On firewall restricted network or when accessing the license server via VPN, need to include TCP port/s (usually 27000 or 2080) into Autodesk License Server service as follows: ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE=2080@SERVER_NAME _OR _IP

Once flexlmrc file is created move it to user's $HOME folder as follows:

Open a Terminal window
Type open ~ (Mac) or nautilus ~ (Linux) to open $HOME folder
Drag and drop flexlmrc.txt file from Desktop to the home folder.
To make the file a configuration file, rename it to .flexlmrc (please note . [DOT] in front of the file name) by running the following command:

mv flexlmrc.txt .flexlmrc (Mac)
mv flexlmrc .flexlmrc (Linux)

Verify that the license server information registered with the product is correct (versions 2020 and later only)

In versions 2020 and later, the license server information is registered with the AdskLicensing service running locally on the workstation. When changing to a new license server, the old server information may still be registered with AdskLicensing and result in the error above, if this is not appropriately updated. See the below steps to solve this:

Click the Start menu and type cmd.
Right-click on the Command prompt and choose "Run As Administrator."
In the Command prompt, run the following command, followed by ENTER:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\AdskLicensing\Current\helper\AdskLicensingInstHelper.exe" change -pk PRODKEY -pv VER.0.0.F -lm "" -ls "" -lt""

Note:

Replace PRODKEY with the product key correspondent to your product(s). See Look Up Product Keys for the full list.
Replace VER with the version you are using. E.g. 2020 for AutoCAD 2020.
Repeat this step for each software you need to reset.

Open Registry Editor (Start > type regedit > ENTER).
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\FLEXlm License Manager.
On the right-side, verify of the ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE key exists. If yes, remove it (right-click > Delete).
Run the software again.
Select Multi-user in the Let's Get Started screen.
Follow the steps to connect to your license server.

Fix Tile Database is corrupt Error in Windows

As you know, the Start Menu in Windows 10 is quite a stable experience. However, there are times when it can encounter some issues as well like getting corrupted. If your computer is going through the same problem, you’ve come to the right place as this post will guide you on how you can fix the “Tile Data is corrupt” error. This kind of problem is actually quite common among a lot of Windows 10 users. This kind of problem prevents the Start Menu from working properly and no amount of clicking the keyboard keys or mouse will resolve the issue. Fixing it is important since the Start Menu is required for the operating system to function properly and even though there are several ways to get around in using the Start Menu, it can get quite problematic. Even if you manage to open the Start Menu, the ability to click on apps to open them is out of the question and you need to fix the problem. Worry not for the potential fixes provided in this post are not hard to follow. You can try to run the Start Menu troubleshooter or run the DISM tool. You could also reset the folder for Tile Database or re-register the Windows 10 Start Menu. For more details, refer to each one of the options provided below.

Option 1 – Try running the Start Menu troubleshooter

The first and basic thing you can do to fix the problem is to run the Start Menu troubleshooter as it can help you fix the problem automatically. Since this is not a built-in troubleshooter, you can download it from the official website of Microsoft. After you download it, run it and wait until it’s done identifying the problem and automatically fixing it.

Option 2 – Try running the DISM tool

You can run the DISM tool as well to help fix the “Tile Database is corrupt” error. Using this built-in tool, you have various options such as the “/ScanHealth”, “/CheckHealth”, and “/RestoreHealth”.

Open the Command Prompt with admin privileges.
Then type in the following commands and make sure to hit Enter right after you type each one of them:
- Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
- Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
- Dism(.)exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
Do not close the window if the process takes a while as it will probably take a few minutes to finish.
Once it’s done, check if it was able to fix the corrupted Start Menu or not.

Option 3 – Try to reset the Tile Database folder

First, you need to restart your computer and log into another user account where the Start Menu works.
Next, navigate to this folder location, C:/Users/<userX>/AppData/Local/Tile/DataLayer.
From there, copy the “TdlData.xml” file and save it to another drive.
Once done, restart your computer and log into the user account where the Start Menu is corrupted.
After that, navigate to this folder location, C:/Users/<userY>/AppData/Local/Tile/DataLayer.
Now paste the TdlData.xml file you copied earlier and navigate to this location, %LocalAppData%MicrosoftWindowsShell.
Afterward, copy the DefaultLayouts.xml file from the user account that’s working fine to the user account where the Start Menu is corrupted.

Option 4 – Try to re-register the Windows 10 Start Menu

Tap the Win + X and select the “Windows PowerShell (Admin” option from the menu.
After opening PowerShell, execute this command: Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers |Foreach{Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml"}
Wait until the command is executed and then see if it fixed the problem with the Start Menu or not.

Update cannot currently check for updates

If you receive an error message saying, “Windows Update cannot currently check for updates because updates on this computer are controlled”, while trying to change the Windows Update preferences or manually update, then read on as this post will guide you in fixing it. You can mostly encounter this error in managed systems where an Administrator controls the permission on the operating system. The reason why you are not able to modify the Windows Update preferences or manually update your system is that a group policy prevents you from doing so and that the only user who can do these things is none other than the administrator of the system. Troubleshooting this kind of problem is the same as when you troubleshoot an error message that says, “Some settings are managed by your organization”. In such cases, you need to check both the Windows Update Group Policy and Registry settings. If you’re just a standard user, you have to contact your system administrator regarding this issue and if you are the administrator, you can make adjustments to the system settings via the Registry Editor and the Group Policy Editor. Refer to the instructions given below for detailed instructions.

Option 1 – via the Registry Editor

If you are using the Home edition of Windows 10 and you want to change the policy for non-admin users on your local computer, then you can use the Registry Editor for that. Here’s how you can do it:

Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Then type “Regedit” in the field and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
After that, navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows

From there, look for the key named “WindowsUpdate” in the Windows folder and if it does not exist, you can just right-click on the Windows folder and select New > Key.
Now name the new key “WindowsUpdate” and create a new sub-key under the newly created key and input “AU” as its name.
Keep AU selected and then right-click anywhere in the right pane and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Then name the Value as “AUOptions” and right-click on AUOptions and select Modify.
Next, change the value of the Value data to “5” and click OK to save the changes made to the settings. Note that the Value Data of 5 refers to the policy to allow the local admin to choose the setting.
Now restart your computer once you’re done and check if non-admin users can now modify the Windows Update settings or update Windows.

Option 2 – via Group Policy Editor

Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and then type “gpedit.msc” and hit Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.
Next, navigate to this folder: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update.
Now look for the “Configure Automatic Updates” policy on the right pane and double click on it to open its Properties.
After that, shift the Radio button to “Enabled” and from the drop-down menu for Configure automatic updating, select option 5: Allow local admin to choose the setting.
Then click on Apply and OK to save the changes made to the settings.
Restart your computer and check if the problem’s fixed or not.

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