If you suddenly encounter an error message saying, “ File Record Segment is Unreadable ” on a blue screen while booting your PC, it means that your hard drive is in an error state. This particular blue screen of death error might have a lot of bad sectors or might have reached its end.
The workarounds you can try to resolve the issue is by locating the bad sectors or checking your hard drive for any discrepancies in the mapping and fix them. Follow the detailed instructions laid out below for these workarounds.
Option 1 – Try to check for any bad sectors and wrong configurations in your hard drive
The first thing you have to check is the boot files on your PC. As you know, your PC boots from these files and if there is anything wrong with any one of them or if one of them ends up getting corrupted, you will most likely see the blue screen of death error or a prompt with an error message saying, “File record segment is unreadable”. According to some users who reported this issue, new hard drives aren’t exempted from this error. That’s why it is recommended that you carry out this solution no matter what kind of scenario you are in. You will have to launch the Command Prompt in recovery mode and see if you can fix the problem by executing the check disk commands.
Upon booting, restart your PC and tap F11 to go to the recovery environment then select Troubleshoot.
Next, click Advanced from the given options and select Command Prompt.
After opening Command Prompt, execute the commands listed below, and don’t forget to hit Enter right after you type in each one of them and if you have installed Windows to some different directory, you must replace “C” with the name of the drive you’ve installed Windows with.
chkdsk C: /r /x
chkdsk C: /f
Note: The Chkdsk function might take a while before it finishes its operations so you need to be patient and wait until the entire process is completed. And depending on the situation, it might even take a day at most so patience is really the key here.
Option 2 – Try connecting the hard drive to a different computer
If option 1 didn’t work for you and you’re still seeing the error, you can try connecting the hard drive to a different computer and then copy the data first. Make it a priority to salvage the data just in case the hard drive won’t make it in the future.
After replicating your hard drive, you can then try running the chkdsk commands that are listed in option 1 above in the new computer you’re connecting your hard drive to and make sure that you key in the correct drive letter that’s assigned to the hard drive you’re using. After executing the chkdsk commands, plug your hard drive back into the previous computer and then check if you can now boot it without any issues.
Option 4 – Replace the faulty hard drive
If none of the options provided above really worked out then maybe it’s time to consider getting a replacement for your hard drive. In about 50% of the cases about this error, some unfortunate users were left with no choice but to replace the hard drive since the problem is with the hard drive itself. Hard drives have a complex running mechanism which includes a head and the disk that rotates accordingly so you can check if the cables connected to the hard drive are connected properly and if it is in a correct position or not. In addition, you also have to make sure that the SATA adapters where the hard drive is connected are working properly.
If the drive is showing problems in the I/O operation, there is little chance for you to use it as a normal hard drive. If the hard drive is in warranty, get it checked and replace it. If not, you might consider taking it to the service center for the specialists to take a look into it.
Overwatch has taken the world by the storm, it introduced new mechanics in gameplay, colorful characters, various game modes and it is constantly updated with new content for free. If you have friends to play with this game is even better but sometimes errors occur and the game loses connection to the game server making it unplayable since it requires a constant internet connection to the server to function.
Keep reading and try provided solutions as they are presented to fix this issue and continue gaming.
Recently, a number of Windows 10 users reported an issue wherein they try to print from their PCs but were unable to and got an error message instead that states, “Port in use, please wait”. However, no matter how long they waited, nothing changed and they were still unable to print from their computers.
On the other hand, when some of the users attempted to print wirelessly from their mobile devices, the printing continues which indicates that there is some issue between the computer and the printer. So if you are one of the users who are currently facing this problem, then this post should help.
To fix this issue with your Printer, here are some possible fixes you can try that might work.
Option 1 – Run the Printer Troubleshooter
The first thing you can do to fix the “Port in use, please wait” error is to run 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 “msdt.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.
Option 2 – Try updating the Printer drivers
You might also want to try updating your printer drivers. All you have to do is locate the USB Composite Device. For complete details, follow the steps below.
First, click the Start button and type “device manager”.
Then click on the “Device Manager” from the search results to open it.
From there, look for the USB Composite Device option and right-click on it, and select the Update Driver from the options.
Restart your PC and then click the “Search automatically for updated driver software” option.
Note: You also have the option to download the latest version of your Printer from the manufacturer’s website.
Option 3 – Try selecting the correct port for your Printer
If the first two options given above didn’t work, then maybe it’s time to select a correct port for your printer since the wrong port has been selected which is why you’re getting the “Port in use, please wait” error.
Open “Devices and Printers” from the Start search.
Next, look for your printer from the list of devices and right-click on it, and then select Printer Properties.
Now go to the Ports tab under the newly opened Properties window and make sure that the port type matches the connection on the list of ports currently in use.
Note: If your printer is using a USB connection then the port should have a USB or DOT 4 in its description but if your printer is using a network connection then it should have the following description:
WSD
Network
IP
And if you notice that there are several listings for the same type of port, you have to change the selection to a different one and then click the OK button to save the changes made.
Windows 11 is a good-looking operating system but people love to make things personal and to their liking so we decided to help you in this mission with small customization of changing default system fonts inside Windows 11.
Since there is no really easy way to just switch the font windows is using for itself we will have to tweak a registry a little so before we start please do make a backup of the registry file and follow the steps as they are presented in order to avoid any errors and break the system.
So, if all precautions are made and you are ready to change your Windows appearance let's dive right into it:
Find and/or install the font that you wish to use
There are vast free font sites on the internet where you can find fonts that you like and wish to use but be very careful with your desired font selection. The font that you choose needs to be a complete typeface, meaning that it has to contain all glyphs, large and small font sizes, all special characters, etc or you will experience that in certain areas nothing will be displayed.
Once you have found the font that you like and made sure it is a complete font, install it on your system (you can skip this step if you just want to change the system font with one already installed on your system)
Create REG file
Open notepad or a similar plain text editor in order to create a file that will apply changes directly into the registry and create a new file. Inside the file paste this text:
All the way to the bottom where it says: "Segoe UI"="NEW-FONT", change NEW-FONT with the font name that you have chosen or installed in the previous step. For example: "Segoe UI"="Ubuntu".
Now go to File > Save As and name your file however you want but give it REG extension so it looks like: my_new_windows_font.REG
Apply changes
Now that you have your registry entry saved, locate it and double-click on it, at this stage Windows warning will probably pop up, you can just ignore it and click on YES since you wrote the file and know what it is. After registry entry is applied reboot your PC in order for changes to take effect.
Rolling back
If you want to change the font to another one, just repeat this procedure again. If you want to roll back to using the default Windows font, repeat the process but with this code instead of the one provided in the REG file:
What is Out of Memory error while copying files? As you know, both the hard drive and RAM play a major role in performing any operation on a computer since every process or task that takes place in the system requires some RAM storage as well as hard drive storage to be executed. However, there are times when you may receive the following error messages when you try to copy files from one location to another:
“Out of memory or system resources, Close some windows or programs and try again.”“There is not enough memory to complete this operation – copying files.”
These errors are caused by the Desktop Heap limitation when there is no longer enough memory to complete the operation while copying the files. If you encounter any of these errors, you will be guided in this post with the help of some potential fixes that can increase its limit and will hopefully fix this error on your Windows 10 computer.
You may try to close all the open windows and programs and then try copying the file again and see if that helps. If not, then proceed to the instructions given below. But before you do that, make sure that you create a System Restore point first. This way, you can undo the changes you’ve made any time in case there are some unwanted changes you want to reverse. After you create a System Restore point, refer to the steps provided below.
Step 1: Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run utility and type “Regedit” in the field and tap Enter to open the Registry Editor.
Step 2: Next, navigate to this registry key: ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerSubSystems
Step 3: Now double click on the DWORD named Windows to modify it.
Step 4: Change the values for SharedSection in the Value Data field. It should be in the format of “SharedSection=aaaa,bbbb,cccc”. Note that you have to change the value of “bbbb” and “cccc”. So in case you are using an x86 operating system, set the value of bbbb to 12288 and then set the value for cccc to 1024. On the other hand, if you are using an x64 operating system, set the bbbb value to 20480 and the cccc value to 1024.
Step 5: Exit the Registry Editor and restart your computer to successfully apply the changes made.
Note: The bbbb value in the SharedSection registry is the size of the desktop heap for each interactive window station while the cccc section of the SharedSection value is the size of the desktop heap for each non-interactive window station. In addition, you must keep in mind that setting the value of bbbb to more than 20480 KB is not really recommended.
On the other hand, there is another tool that could help in resolving the Out of Memory error. This tool is called the Memory Diagnostic tool in windows can help resolve the Out of Memory error by checking and automatically fixing any memory-based issues. To run it, refer to these steps:
Tap the Win + R keys to open Run and type mdsched.exe and hit Enter to open the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool.
After that, it will give two options such as:
Restart now and check for problems (Recommended)
Check for problems the next time I start my computer
Once your computer has restarted, perform a basic scan or you could also go for the “Advanced” options such as “Test mix” or “Pass count”. Simply tap the F10 key to start the test.
Note: After you select your preferred option, your computer will restart and check for memory-based issues. If it finds any issues, it will automatically fix them.
The GDI32.DLL is a DLL (Dynamic Link Library) file that was developed by Microsoft. It is an essential file of the Windows OS as it contains instructions and information for exe files to follow.
These DLL files also use to store the various procedures and codes for the Windows programs. It is considered an essential component of Windows because it ensures that all the programs on Windows are operating properly.
So, if the gdi32.dll not found on your computer, then it can negatively impact your computer and the associated programs. Though DLL files used to be so efficient and convenient, they are extremely vulnerable to errors and issues.
Perform SFC scan
Press ⊞ WINDOWS + X to open the Windows menu
From the menu choose command prompt (admin)In command prompt type sfc /scannow and press ENTER
Leave the computer for the operation to be completed and Reboot your computer
Run DISM
Press ⊞ WINDOWS + X to open the Windows menu
From the menu choose command prompt (admin)in command prompt type: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and press ENTER
wait for the process to be finished and Reboot your computer
Update device driver
Go to your manufacturer's website and update drivers for your components with the latest versions.
Update Windows
If you have an update ready for Windows, update it and see if this will remove the error
Scan computer for malware
Perform a full PC scan for malware to see if this is causing issues with the GDI32.DLL error.
Download file
One solution is to download a file from the official site and place it in the corresponding folder.
Perform System restore
Rollback system restore before the issue happened and your Windows will be working as intended
Mapi32.dll is a Windows Messaging Application Programming Interface that enables Windows to perform various email functions and launch messaging programs like Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office. The inability of the interface to execute email functions properly results in the Mapi32.dll Outlook Error.
This error occurs mostly when you are attempting to upgrade the operating system to a new version.
Solution
Error Causes
The common causes of the Mapi32.dll Outlook Error during the OS upgrade are:
Damaged or Corrupt Outlook user profile
The software is overwritten by some other program
Outlook PST file corruption
The Mapi32.dll Outlook Error message is displayed in either of the following forms:
Mapi32.dll is missing
Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Mapi32.dll is corrupt or the wrong version.
Mapi32.dll was not found
Mail is not installed
Further Information and Manual Repair
So, what if you experience this issue and how do you fix it? Well, first there is no need to panic as Microsoft has recognized this issue and provided adequate solutions to fix this problem in no time.
However, to ensure the Mapi32.dll Outlook error is a quick fix, you must first understand the cause of the issue and the message displayed on the screen.
Let’s say the errors occur because your Outlook profile is corrupt. In this scenario, the best solution is to create a new Outlook profile. Regardless of whether you have Windows Vista or XP, to create your new Outlook profile, first, you will have to click on the Control Panel, then User Account, and then Mail. Once you click on the Mail tab, the mail set up dialog box will open. In this dialog box there will be a ‘Show Profiles’ tab, click and then click the Add tab that appears next. Now type the name for your new Outlook profile and then click ‘OK’. After that, add an email account to go with the profile.
If Mapi32.dll is missing or corrupt, you will have to run ‘Fixmapi.exe’ to resolve the problem. It is located in the System32 folder inside the Windows directory in Windows Explorer.
Therefore, first start Windows Explorer and then locate the following folder on your computer: C: /Program Files/Common Files/System/Msmapi1033
Now find Fixmapi.exe and double click it
After that locate the Mapi32.dll file and rename it to MSmapi32.old and press enter.
Restart your computer when finished.
A word of advice for computer users is to scan for viruses with an antivirus program or a registry cleaner regularly to prevent the Mapi32.dll Outlook error from occurring in the first place. Viruses often latch onto .dll files and corrupt them.
It’s always best to have a forward-looking approach.
Things have stirred lately with Chinas ban on crypto mining and many used GPUs will flow the market probably. But should you buy a used GPU?
Short answer: NO, long answer: keep on reading to find out why.
GPU shortage and its cause
As you all know by now, we live sadly in a world struck by a global Pandemic. Due to this awful disease and measures taken against it, many people are either working from home or are at home making the manufacturing of new chips problematic while demand on the market has raised.
Throw into that mix crypto mining which has raised in popularity and you have, well today's market where we have GPU shortage.
Now with the latest news that China has banned the mining of cryptocurrency, there is to be expected that at some point in time mining cards used there will fit the market in the whole world.
Sadly even with a large quantity of GPUs that will become available, the overall price of cards will not be much lowered I am afraid since demand is still very high and many people would not want to purchase used mining cards and neither should you.
Be prepared for the worst scenario
Although this sounds very pessimistic and in most cases, it will not turn out to be true, you should always prepare yourself mentally that you might be in that lower percentage that will end up with a really bad GPU.
What has come up to be absolutely true when considering GPU that were mining is that if anything at all can be done to GPU in order to increase performance, it has been done. Miners want to optimize and almost every GPU if could be overclocked, it was overclocked.
Extensive mining also means that thermal paste has been dried and it is pretty useless at this point and there is a very high chance that fans and heat sinks will need much cleaning or even replacement raising the price of the card itself for mentioned paste, fans, and heat sinks.
There's no way to tell what the previous owner might have done with a graphics card when you're shopping online, so our advice is to assume the worst. Don't trust the seller to give truthful information. Any listing that says it was "never used for mining" at this point is probably a lie.
Age of the GPU matters
Date when GPU itself has manufactured really matters. Newer cards even if used extensively have been used for a much shorter period of time and are not so damaged were ones produced a few years ago have seen a lot of action.
Let’s say that you get RTX 3060, In the worst-case scenario it has been mining since late February of 2021 and basically, it is still under warranty so it should behave OK and put some good work in gaming even in that state.
On another hand, if we take for example GTX 1080Ti which is 4 years old GPU things start to change drastically. 4 years GPU could be worn out even if it was used just for extensive gaming sessions let alone for mining.
No return policy and seller rating
Most of the time you will run into a product that cannot be returned or no refunds policy. This should bring a red flag right away and deter you from purchase.
Sellers with the highest ratings are more trustworthy since many of them will not want to destroy their reputation but these will probably not even have these kinds of merchandise in their store.
Buying with a poor rating seller and no return policy on a product is just asking for trouble. And although some stores do have arbitration and will stand on the customer side there is no guarantee for that and it will take too much time to process.
If you really must buy a second-hand GPU
Of course in these troubled times sometimes due to malfunction or any other reason, there would not be another choice than to buy a second-hand GPU.
In this case, if there is no other option consider sellers with many positive ratings. If you can buy locally that would even be better or the best-case scenario would be if you could visually see and inspect GPU itself in order to see in what state it is.
Look for warranty stickers to see if they are thorn and the card has been tampered with. Also take a good look at screws, if they have scratches card has been opened, probably to replace fan or heating sinks which means that it has worked a lot.
Conclusion
It is very difficult to give the best possible advice on this situation since of GPU shortage, but I would much prefer a new GPU with lower performance than a hi-performance one which was mining.
The NVIDIA Control Panel is a useful tool for users who have NVIDIA graphics on their PCs as this tool allows users to how the graphics card is used on the computer using several controls that come with the graphics card from NVIDIA. Thus, it can be quite inconvenient when it suddenly crashes all of a sudden for some reason. This kind of problem could be due to the toggling of Output Dynamic Range is limited, or there could be some issue with the integrity of the Power Supply for the graphics card, and many more. So if you are using NVIDIA on your computer and its Control Panel keeps on crashing on your Windows 10 computer, then you’ve come to the right place as this post will guide you in sorting the problem out. For more details, refer to the guidelines laid out below.
Option 1 – Try to toggle the Output Dynamic Range
The first thing you can do to fix the problem is to toggle the Output Dynamic Range by following these steps:
Navigate to this path: Display > Change resolution.
Next, scroll a bit on the right-side panel until you see the Output Dynamic Range drop-down.
After that, select “Full” from the drop-down menu.
Apply the changes you’ve made and see if it is able to fix the problem with the NVIDIA Control Panel.
Option 2 – Try changing the Power Management and Vertical Sync settings
The next thing you can do to fix the problem is to change the Power Management, as well as the Vertical Sync settings.
Open the NVIDIA Control Panel and go to this path: 3D Settings > Manage 3D Settings.
Next, set the Power Management to be “Prefer Maximum Performance” for your processor located on the right-side panel.
After that, set the Vertical sync setting off and then click on the Apply button located at the bottom-right portion of the window and check if it is able to fix the problem or not.
Option 3 – Try updating the drivers from the official site of NVIDIA
If both the first and second given options didn’t work, you can also try updating the drivers from the official NVIDIA website. And in case you don’t know the type of Nvidia graphics card that your computer is on, follow the steps below:
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Next type in “dxdiag” in the field and click OK or hit Enter to open the DirectX Diagnostic Tool.
From there, you can see what type of Nvidia graphics card that your system is on.
Take note of your graphics card information and then look for the best drivers for your operating system. Once you’ve downloaded and installed the file, restart your PC.
Option 4 – Try to roll back the driver to the previous version
If updating the NVIDIA display drivers didn’t work for you, then it’s time to roll back the device drivers. It is most likely that after you updated your Windows computer that your driver also needs a refresh.
Tap the Win + R keys to launch the Run window and then type in the “MSC” command and hit Enter to open the Device Manager window.
Under the Device Manager, you will see a list of drivers. From there, look for the NVIDIA Drivers and expand it.
Next, select the driver entries that are labeled appropriately.
Then select each one of them and double click to open a new mini window.
After that, make sure that you’re on the Driver tab and if you are not, just navigate to it then click the Roll Back Driver button to switch back to the previous version of the NVIDIA Drivers.
Now restart your computer to successfully apply the changes made.
Interesting information has come out from Microsoft, Windows 11 dark theme will include a different sound theme from its standard light one.
When in dark mode on Windows 11, the system sounds generally become softer, and they echo a bit, creating a more soothing experience that matches the overall look and feel of the dark mode. Flipping back to light mode brings the system sounds back to their normal level.
However, even though the light model has slightly louder sounds than the dark mode, Microsoft has taken great care to make sure the audio is more soothing, according to a report from CNBC.
The designers of Windows 11 took inspiration from an approach called calm technology. Microsoft’s Christian Koehn and Diego Baca wrote about calm technology in a post on Medium. In it, they said, “Windows 11 facilitates this through foundational experiences that feel familiar, soften formerly intimidating UI, and increase emotional connection.”
According to a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to CNBC, “The new sounds have a much rounder wavelength, making them softer so that they can still alert/notify you, but without being overwhelming.”
The Snapping feature was introduced as an essential part of Windows 11 and I like it very much, it lets you organize your opened windows much faster and with more control. However, some people do not like the feature, worry not because you can turn it off, or if you prefer you can just remove the showing layout option that is shown when hovering over Minimize/Maximize button.
Removing options all together
To completely turn off Snap layout in Windows 11 follow these steps
Open Windows 11 settings by pressing ⊞ Windows + I
Select System on the left part of the screen
In System options select Multitasking
At the top of Multitasking Click on the switch next to Snap Windows
Close settings
Changes will be automatically applied and you will no longer have Snap layout functionality.
Removing layout graphic from Snapping feature
If you like the snap Layouts feature but are not very fond of the layout graphic that is popping up each time you hover over Minimize/Maximize button do not worry, there is an option to turn just that off and keep the feature itself.
Open Windows 11 settings by pressing ⊞ Windows + I
Select System on the left part of the screen
In System options select Multitasking
Click on the Snap Windows menu
Deactivate Show Snap Layouts When I Hover over a Window’s Maximize button
Close settings
Now you will be able to use the Snap Layout feature without layout graphics showing. If you want to reverse any of these options and go back to standard-setting, just follow the steps and turn features ON.
From the menu choose command prompt (admin)
In command prompt type sfc /scannow and press ENTER
Leave the computer for the operation to be completed and Reboot your computer
GPU shortage and its cause
Interesting information has come out from Microsoft, Windows 11 dark theme will include a different sound theme from its standard light one.
When in dark mode on Windows 11, the system sounds generally become softer, and they echo a bit, creating a more soothing experience that matches the overall look and feel of the dark mode. Flipping back to light mode brings the system sounds back to their normal level.
However, even though the light model has slightly louder sounds than the dark mode, Microsoft has taken great care to make sure the audio is more soothing, according to a report from CNBC.
The designers of Windows 11 took inspiration from an approach called calm technology. Microsoft’s Christian Koehn and Diego Baca wrote about calm technology in a post on Medium. In it, they said, “Windows 11 facilitates this through foundational experiences that feel familiar, soften formerly intimidating UI, and increase emotional connection.”
According to a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to CNBC, “The new sounds have a much rounder wavelength, making them softer so that they can still alert/notify you, but without being overwhelming.” 
Removing options all together