Fix 0xc00d36cb error in Windows 10

So you have just got home from that new computer store with your fancy and all-new mouse, screen, keyboard, etc. You plugged in your new component, Windows detected it, installed drivers for it and it is working like a charm. A few months later down the road and the computer starts little by little to slow down. Plug and play is a great concept, and automatic detection is even greater but how time passes old unused stuff piles in your hard drive and in Windows itself thus slowing down your computer and taxing it more and more as new components and software are added. Old drivers from old components sadly are not removed from Windows itself and over some larger period of time they can pile up and slow down your daily operations on the computer or even cause some problems in it. This guide will teach you how to manually remove old unused device drivers from your Windows so it is fresh and like new again.

Making old devices visible

In order for us to remove old drivers, the first thing we must do is make them visible in our device manager, old drivers are hidden and will not show up, we must make this happen. We do this by pressing WINDOWS + X keys on your keyboard to bring up a hidden menu in Windows. Once the menu appears, click on Command Prompt (admin) Once the command prompt with administrator privileges comes on-screen type in it following string: The device manager will open, go to view > snow hidden devices in order to show unused devices.

Removing old device

Open any category and if there is a device that was once used and still has its drivers in the system it will be shown as faded out. Right-click on the device and click on uninstall device to remove it completely from your system. Please always be careful when removing devices so you do not remove the device which is being used by mistake and always double-check that you are removing something that you used to have on your system. This method will show all hidden devices even ones that are hidden but crucial to the system working properly.

Stable Diffusion is a machine learning model developed by Stability AI to generate digital images from natural language descriptions. The model can be used for different tasks like generating image-to-image translations guided by text prompts and upscaling images.

Unlike competing models like DALL-E, Stable Diffusion is open source and does not artificially limit the images it produces. Stable diffusion was trained on a subset of the LAION-Aesthetics V2 data set. It can run on most consumer hardware equipped with a modest GPU and was hailed by PC World as "the next killer app for your PC".

Since Stable Diffusion is run locally and not in the cloud, as mentioned there is no limit to the number of images that you can produce but in order to use it you will have to get down a little dirty with setting your PC environment for it since it is not really an application, it is a command line text based descriptor that will use python to generate your images, so there is no install nor GUI.

In this guide, we will show you how to both install and run Stable Diffusion on your local PC so you can start producing some cool images all by yourself.

Hardware and software requirements

Make no mistake, Stable Diffusion will not run on a potato PC, in order to harvest the power of AI-generated imagery this is what you will need:

• A GPU with at least 4GB of VRAM
• 10GB of hard disk space
• Python and libraries (Miniconda3 installer will install everything you need)
• The Stable Diffusion files
• Git
• Any OS (Windows, Linux, macOS)

Installing components

For this tutorial, we are covering the installation and running of Stable Diffusion on Windows PC. The steps presented here are presented in a way that installation can be performed on any operating system but precise instructions will be for Windows OS.

GIT

The first thing to do is to install GIT. It is a tool that will let you easily maintain and install repos from the internet. to install it go to: https://git-scm.com/ and click on download. Follow the instructions for your version of the operating system. If you are a developer you are familiar with GIT and if you already have it installed you can skip this step.

One thing that is important when installing GIT locally is to select to use it via the command line (the second option that says "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software").

Miniconda3

Now when we have GIT installed, next thing is to use Miniconda3 to install python and all required libraries that are needed. Get the installer at: https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html

Miniconda3 is basically an easy installer so you do not have to install tons of stuff manually from different websites and sources, it is nicely packaged in the installer that will take care of everything.

Stable Diffusion

After the previous two steps, we are ready now to actually install Stable Diffusion. Go to https://huggingface.co/CompVis/stable-diffusion#model-access and install the latest library (as of the writing of this article currently it is stable-diffusion-v1-4-original, the last one on the right), the library is almost 5GB in size so be prepared for big download.

After installing stable diffusion's latest library it is time to update it to the newest version. You can download ZIP from GIT HUB https://github.com/CompVis/stable-diffusion

Once downloaded click on the Windows start button and type in Miniconda3 and click on open. Create a folder and name it how you want on a drive of your choice. For this example, we will install it all in disk C under folder AI_art, follow the instructions below but use your own names and destination instead. Do not close Minicoda3 after typing commands!!!

cd c:/
mkdir AI_art
cd AI_art 

Extract GitHub files that you have downloaded into your new folder and get back to Minicoda3 and type the next commands:

cd C:\AI_art\stable-diffusion-main
conda env create -f environment.yaml
conda activate ldm
mkdir models\ldm\stable-diffusion-v1

Let the whole process finish, some files are large and it might take a while. After the whole process is finished and completed, copy the checkpoint file that you have downloaded into: C:\AI_art\stable-diffusion-main\models\ldm\stable-diffusion-v1

After the file is copied rename it to model.ckpt and you are finished.

Running Stable Diffusion

The created environment is needed in order to actually use Stable Diffusion to create images. Each time you want to use it you will have to run it, so go into Miniconda3, and inside it type:

conda activate ldm
cd C:\AI_art\stable-diffusion-main

after we are inside the folder call the script with the parameters:

python scripts/txt2img.py --prompt "TXT DESCRIPTION OF IMAGE THAT YOU WANT TO CREATE" --plms --n_iter 5 --n_samples 1

and that's it, your image is created and it is located in C:\AI_art\stable-diffusion-main\outputs\txt2img-samples\samples

Steam Deck release is almost upon us and more news comes to light. The Latest officially confirmed technical detail is that the user will have access to device's BIOS and that dual booting will be officially supported. This, of course, means that you will be able to have both Proton and Windows on your device letting you play anything that you wish if the hardware is strong enough. Valve also said that you can launch OS from an SD card! This of course will save space available for games themselves, especially for entry models with less than one available. All of this information really pushes Deck into the territory of a handheld PC and not just another console and I must admit that this announcement left a smile on my face.

Recently, some users reported not being able to boot up their Windows 10 computers. And during the startup phase, at some time, the bootup sequence is halted with a Recovery error along with an error message saying, “Your PC/Device needs to be repaired” with an error code of 0x0000605. This kind of error message indicates that Windows was not able to verify the digital signature for the file as the signing certificate or it could be that it has expired. To resolve this error, you can follow the potential fixes given below and see if you stumble upon a fix that might work out for you.

Option 1 – Change the Date & Time settings in the BIOS

Some users reported that they were able to fix the error by changing the Date & Time settings in the BIOS. Upon checking, they saw that in their BIOS settings, the date was off several years. As a result, the incorrect date and time settings end up ticking the system into believing that the Windows build has expired long before the actual expiration date. You can check if the error pops up due to the same reasons by accessing the BIOS settings. To do so, you have to tap the Boot key that’s associated with your motherboard manufacturer during the initial startup phase. After that, you can search for a particular boot key online or you can also tap keys like F2, F4, F8, F10, F12, and the Delete key. Once you’re able to access the BIOS settings, locate the Date & time or anything similar, and then check if the date is correct or not. If not, you need to change the date to the actual date and then save the changes made and restart your computer and then check if the issue is now fixed or not. Just remember that if the actual date is past the expiration date of the build you have, you need to change it to an older date. If your Windows 10 PC is able to boot back up, you have to update it to a stable Windows build and then go back to the BIOS settings and change the date to the current one else you will definitely encounter Windows update errors in the future as well as security alerts.

Option 2 – Perform a clean install of a stable Windows 10 build

If every system boot fails accompanied by a BSOD error with error code 0x0000605 “A component of the operating system has expired” and you’ve already followed every instruction on option 1, then it’s most likely that your current Windows build has already expired. Remember that almost all the Windows 10 Insider Preview builds (98xx) are created along with an expiration date and when your computer reaches the expiration date, you won’t be able to boot your computer up. Note that the exact expiration date varies based on the build number. And prior to the expiration date, the operating system will start to display some error warnings telling you that the build will expire and urge you to update the most recent build available. And so once the computer reaches its expiration date, it will begin to reboot every three hours until it no longer boots up which is about 2 weeks approximately after the license has expired. Once the expiration date is up and your computer no longer boots up, you need to perform a clean install and then install the latest Windows 10 build to resolve the issue once and for all.

5 Windows 10 Upgrade Errors

The recently released Windows 10 captivated the mass but its rollout, polished as it might have been, proved everything but seamless. Surf the Internet and you’ll get the gist. People are complaining and they need assistance. Assistance with what you might ask? Many have attempted to make an upgrade but failed after encountering various strange combinations of letters and numbers. These are none other than error codes. If you’ve tried and failed, feast your visuals below as you might encounter one of these 5 Windows 10 Upgrade errors.

Error Code 0x80073712

Encountering error code 0x80073712 in no way implies that you need to throw out your computer system and acquire a new one. Not at all! This error code simply means that a very important file to Windows might have gone missing or corrupted. This file is crucial to Windows update so without obtaining this file, you won’t be able to proceed with the update.

Error Code 0x800F0923

Likely, there are many programs and drivers installed on your computer. They all play a vital role. However, if you’ve received error code 0x800F0923, it might be time to consider or turn your eyes to installed drivers on your system. Why? Error code 0x800F0923 means that there’s a driver or driver on your current Operating System that’s not compatible with Windows 10. There’s clearly a dilemma here.

“We couldn't complete the updates. Undoing changes. Don't turn off your computer.” Or “Failure configuring Windows Updates. Reverting changes”

That’s a pretty odd error but I will say it's slick… That Windows 10 upgrade error is straightforward. Microsoft is just letting you know that they won’t be able to complete the update to Windows 10 and so they are putting your computer back to where it was. How nice of them.

The error messages above are pretty generic and will manifest when the upgrade fails for one reason or the other. To resolve this issue, you’ll most definitely have to decipher what error code was presented. Identifying that will provide a glimpse into exactly what steps you need to take.

The Update Isn't Applicable to Your Computer

I don’t know about you but I strongly believe Microsoft is subtly letting you know that your computer system is old and needs to be thrown out. Also, this update could imply that your PC needs to install important updates to rev you up to the requirements. All relevant updates to your computer must be installed before you can get past this stage.

Error… “Something Happened”

This Windows 10 upgrade error has been the talk of the Internet. In fact, users of Windows OS have been making it a mockery. Clearly, not many have had success after encountering this error. Obviously, “something happened” but it’s just not easy to decipher what went wrong. Microsoft is still trying to figure it out.

Solution

In today's world any professional, whatever be design, print, web design or similar is using one or more Adobe programs. Adobe has cemented itself as a must-have software for any kind of serious and even amateur work. Sadly in the latest Windows 11 adobe software in some instances can slow down your computer and put some hard load on the CPU. If you are one of these unfortunate users, keep reading because we have a few things you can do to solve this.

1. Run SFC scan

SFC scan is a built-in Windows tool aimed at diagnosing and repairing system files inside Windows itself. Running an SFC scan usually solves most issues of these kinds so we will try that one first.

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open the Search bar and type in cmd
2. Select command prompt and on the right side click on Run as administrator
3. Inside command prompt type in: sfc /scannow and press ENTER
4. Wait for the whole process to finish and reboot your system

2. Update Windows

Windows updates are designed to fix issues and solve problems, check to see if a new update is available to install.

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + I to open the Settings app
2. Click on Windows Update in the bottom left pane
3. On the right check visually if there is an update pending and if there is, install it

3. Temporary turn off antivirus and firewall

Antivirus and firewall can interfere with adobe applications and background services, try turning your preferred protection software temporarily off and check if your CPU is still under high load.

4. Reinstall Adobe suite

Uninstall and install a clean version of the adobe creative suite or individual applications that you are using. Check your CPU load after reinstallation.

5. Uninstall Adobe CEF Helper

This is not a really advisable course of action but if non of the previous solutions have produced results then this might be the only option if you would like to keep using the software. Open File Explorer and paste the following line in the path box on top: C\:Program Files>Adobe Systems>Adobe CEF Helper or Adobe Creative Cloud >Adobe CEF Helper_uninstall.exe. Double click on the file and uninstall the CFT helper.

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL - What is it?

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error is a type of blue screen of death (BSoD) error. It is a typical Windows PC error that occurs even in the latest Windows versions. The IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error occurs on the computer screen when a memory address triggers unauthorized access. This leads to the suspension of your login session. The computer screen turns blue.

Solution

Error Causes

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error occurs due to several reasons. However, the most common causes for this error code include:

• Incompatible device drivers
• The poor device driver installation
• Faulty hardware
• Disk fragmentation
• Registry issues
• Viruses and malware attack

Blue screen of death error codes like IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL is critical. If not resolved timely, this error code can pose serious threats to your PC. It can lead to system crash and failure, due to which you can also lose your valuable data stored in your system. How to Fix IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Error Code?

Further Information and Manual Repair

Here are some of the best and easy DIY methods to resolve this error code on your PC:

1. Roll Back Drivers

If the underlying cause of IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error is poor driver installation, then try this method to resolve the issue. This can be done by simply clicking the start menu. Once you click on it, go to the control panel, then double click the system icon and locate the System Properties window. After that, click the hardware tab and then the device manager button. Now locate the device you recently installed. Double click on the recently installed device driver, click the driver tab, and then the rollback driver button. This will take a while, so wait for the process to finish.  After that, reboot the system.

2. Run Hardware Diagnostic

The IRQL error may also be triggered by faulty hardware. To identify which hardware is causing the error to pop up, you will have to run a hardware diagnostic.

• For this, go to the start menu, type Memory Diagnostic in the search bar.
• Now access this tool and click on Diagnose your memory problems. As you click it, it will ask you to perform the check by either restarting the PC immediately or on the next restart.
• Select the immediate one to get going. The system will carry a scan on the memory and show you the list of problematic errors detected during the scan. To resolve this error then all you have to do is replace the piece of faulty hardware.

Nonetheless, if no faulty hardware is detected, this means the error is related to memory. If so, try method 3 to resolve.

3. Disable Memory Caching

To fix the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error, try disabling the memory caching option. This is called BIOS memory caching. This can be done by restarting your PC and pressing the BIOS setup keys to enter the settings screen. Mostly it is an F2 key, however, it may be different in some computers as the motherboards of different makes have their own respective keys. Once you enter the BIOS settings look for options stating memory settings. Access these options and disable the memory caching feature.

4. Scan your PC for Malware

As mentioned above this error message can also result due to the intrusion of malicious software like malware, viruses, and spyware. To detect and remove them from your PC, download an antivirus and perform a system scan. Remove the detected viruses and malware to resolve. Please note, antivirus installation may lower the speed of your PC.

5.  Repair Registry and Fragmented Disk

Due to poor PC maintenance, you may experience registry issues. The registry stores all the activities performed on the PC including the unnecessary pieces of information like junk files, internet history, temporary files, cookies, and other flies. Such files take up a lot of disk space. When there is not much space on the storage device, the new data is saved in fragments. This is called disk fragmentation. When this file becomes fragmented it takes time to rearrange the data and reunite it to run the fragmented file on your PC. If not resolved, this leads to registry issues and thereby generating various PC error codes including IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL errors. The best way to clean the registry and repair the fragmented disk is to download Restoro. This is an advanced and multi-functional PC Fixer. It is embedded with multiple system repair utilities including a powerful registry cleaner that detects all registry issues in seconds, removes and wipes out unnecessary files cluttering the registry, cleans and repairs the registry and the damaged files. Other utilities include an antivirus that detects privacy errors and all types of malicious software infecting your system. It also functions as a system optimizer which means by running this software on your PC you won’t be compromising on your system’s performance. The system optimizer utility boosts the speed of your PC. This tool is safe and efficient. It has a user-friendly interface and is compatible with all Windows versions. Click here to download Restoro and resolve the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error code right away.

California's Department of Fair Employment & Housing has widened its anti-discrimination lawsuit against Activision Blizzard and claims the publisher has been shredding vital documents relevant to the ongoing investigation. A recent report from Kotaku described the department as offering poorly paid, highly insecure positions, with a culture of hostility towards LGBTQ+ testers. The DFEH's rewording of "employees" to "workers" now hopes to take these contractors' experiences into account. "As a contract employee, I feel there's a lot of pressure to excel, impress, and move through the ranks as fast as you can before your contract ends and you're forced to go 3 months without income or find another job," Axios reports one worker saying. "I take pride in what I do, but it feels like it's never enough." Activision's contentious hiring of union-busting third-party law firm WilmerHale "directly interferes" with its own investigation, it says. By going to WilmerHale, Activision appears to be claiming that all work related to the investigation is privileged and can't be shared with DFEH. The suit also claims that Activision HR shredded documents related to "investigations and complaints", against its legal obligation to retain them during the investigation. The relevant parts of the updated lawsuit were shared by Axios reporters Stephen Totilo and Megan Farokhmanesh, the former also noting that the DFEH "fixed their misspelling of Bill Cosby's name". "DFEH is also informed and aware that documents and records have not been maintained as required by law or by the DFEH's Document Retention Notice," the complaint reads, "including but not limited to documents related to investigations and complaints were shredded by human resource personnel and emails are deleted thirty days after an employees separation."

Speculation and answer from Activision Blizzard

Blizzard employee Jessica Gonzalez suspects that the costs of fines associated with destroying these documents may have been an easier blow for Blizzard to take than any penalties drawn from their existence in helping the lawsuit go through. In an email to Kotaku, Activision denied the shredding allegations and issued a statement outlining steps it had taken to improve company culture—including the ousting of high-level executives like Blizzard president J. Allen Brack. The full statement reads: "Throughout our engagement with the DFEH, we have complied with every proper request in support of its review even as we had been implementing reforms to ensure our workplaces are welcoming and safe for every employee. Those changes continue today, and include:

•     Several high-level personnel changes
•     Revamped hiring and recruiting practices requiring diverse interview panels
•     Greater transparency on pay equity
•     Expanded and improved training and investigative capabilities for human resource and compliance staff
•     Created investigation teams outside of business units to support greater independence
•     Restructured divisions to support greater accountability
•     Enhanced review processes to include evaluation of managers by employees
•     Clear boundaries on workplace behavior with a zero-tolerance approach to harassment and other actions that diminish or marginalize.

"We strive to be a company that recognizes and celebrates the diverse talents and perspectives that lead to the creation of great, globally appealing entertainment. We have provided the DFEH with clear evidence that we do not have gender pay or promotion disparities. Our senior leadership is increasingly diverse, with a growing number of women in key leadership roles across the company. "We share DFEH’s goal of a safe, inclusive workplace that rewards employees equitably and is committed to setting an example that others can follow."

California and RIOT

Beyond Activision Blizzard, California's DFEH has also probed into League of Legends creator Riot Games, accusing the studio of dragging its heels over sexual harassment allegations dating back to 2019. Riot denied the allegations, telling us that it "will never retaliate against anyone for talking to any government agency".

Mapping network drive has many benefits in terms of speed and ease of access of files via network. It lets you access the hard drive over the whole network like it was the hard drive inside your PC case. In order to easily and quickly map a folder as a network drive follow the guide below.

1. Open File Explorer
2. Click on the three dots icon in the Toolbar
3. Select Map Network Drive
4. Click the Drive drop-down menu
5. Select a driver letter that you wish to assign as a network drive
6. In the folder field enter network device and share name (click on browse to see all devices on local network)
7. Check the box beside Reconnect at sign-in if you wish to automatically connect to a network drive on Windows startup
8. Check Connect Using Different Credentials if you wish to connect to a network drive using different credentials that one used to login into Windows.
9. Click Finish

After finishing setting Windows 11 will try to connect to the network drive and if successful drive icon will appear inside File Explorer and the drive will open up to see its content. If for any reason it cannot connect try checking user credentials, cables, network adapters, etc.