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We have all experienced Windows errors over time and that can range from simple ones that will do very little to no harm and can be even system breaking making us lose our work or completely making the PC unusable. No one likes them but they happen, and usually, they happen once we least expect them.

No matter how frequent and unpleasant they might be there are ways to keep them at the minimum and even avoid them.

We will discuss steps that you can take in order to do this, simple tips and guides on how to keep your computer in top form and eliminate not just Windows, but any kind of errors altogether.

Keep your hardware clean

Believe it or not, some serious Windows errors like the dreaded blue screen of death can come from hardware issues not from the software at all. It is very important to keep your computer clean and with enough air flow so it can function properly.

Not so far ago we had an article about cleaning your hardware detailing what and how to do it. Here is a link to the article: https://errortools.com/windows/cleaning-your-pc/

Do not keep applications you are not using

Keeping applications on the drive might seem harmless but sadly that is not the case. Some applications have a certain impact on the system itself after all most of them are tweaking registry entries in Windows and sometimes having too many applications means an increased possibility of conflict over certain resources even when they are not running.

Some applications like adobe creative suite, for example, will have certain services always running in the background, and more of these kinds of applications you have, more services, more places for unexpected errors when they collide. Some of them will also install certain dependencies that could be problematic.

The general idea is: if you are not using it, uninstall it and you will be safer and more resilient to errors inside OS.

Do not use pirated or cracked software

Besides moral and law implications that using pirated or cracked software might bring you there are also certain other things that might be problematic. Certain "free" software might come packet with some problematic malware, for example, it is not uncommon for attackers to use some popular software to pack their malicious application with it.

Other things might be wrong and incomplete tweaking with application in order to bypass security and thus bringing some instability due to scripts needed to run in order to achieve this goal.

Keep your drivers updated

Errors can also come from old drivers or bad drivers, device manufacturers are not all-knowing and perfect, and sometimes drivers can wreak havoc on the system. Having updated drivers can minimize any kind of unexpected behaviors inside the operating system making it more stable and reliable.

You can check your driver version in the control panel inside the Windows OS and then compare it to the ones found on the manufacturer's site, if there are newer available it is recommended to download and install them,

Keep software updated

Applications can have bugs, and bugs can lead to certain errors both in the system and when using the app as well. It is in your best interest to get the latest patch or newer version of the software in order to avoid these unpleasant experiences.

Also, certain codecs and extensions that are installed directly in Windows can also have some unpredictable behavior, updating is the best solution to keep them in line.

Keep Windows updated

Same as with drivers and applications, Windows itself is not immune from bugs and some unpredictable issues. Luckily Microsoft is always working on fixes and features of Windows but in order to actually have benefited from that work, you will need to keep Windows updated. Sometimes a bad update can introduce some errors but you can always roll back to the previous and wait for them to fix everything and then download them all.

Check the health of your hardware regularly

Hardware components have their life cycle, more quality ones tend to last longer but eventually, they will reach the end of their lifecycle. There are a lot of testers for various components in your computer that can check different things and provide you with information about the state of your components.

If you are on Windows 11, Microsoft has included a basic health app inside OS, just type PC health check in search and start the app. For some more detailed information and advanced checks, you will have to use a custom application. There are plenty of them specialized for single components like RAM, SSD, etc. A simple google search with providing you with top results and most of them are free for personal use.

Remember, a faulty component or component that is reaching its life cycle can produce many errors inside the operating system.

In case you don’t know, Driver Verifier is a built-in utility in the Windows 10 operating system. It is the one that ensures the integrity of all the drivers in the system. It can detect any suspicious behaviors of the drivers and if it finds the driver signature of some suspicious activity during runtime, it stops the suspected action by triggering a BSOD or Blue Screen of Death error and one of these Stop errors is the DRIVER_VERIFIER_DMA_VIOLATION error. When you encounter such an error, you will see the following message on your screen:

“Your PC ran into a problem that it couldn’t handle, and now it needs to restart. If you’d like to know more, you can search online later for this error: DRIVER_VERIFIER_DMA_VIOLATION”

There are several ways you can fix this error. You can try to disable the Driver Verifier or run the Hardware troubleshooter. You could also try to update, roll back or uninstall the drivers on your computer. For more details, refer to each one of the options provided below.

Option 1 – Try to disable the Driver Verifier Manager

The Driver Verifier Manager is another tool in Windows that could help you fix driver-related issues.

• Type in the keyword “Verifier” in the Cortana search box to search for Verifier in Windows 10.
• After that, select the option “Create custom settings”.
• Make sure that you have checked everything except the options “DDI compliance checking” and “Randomized low resources simulation”.
• Next, select the option “Select driver names from a list” option.
• Afterward, you have to select all the drivers from any unofficial or third-party provider. To simply put it, you have to select all the drivers that are not supplied by Microsoft.
• Then click on the Finish button.
• Open Command Prompt as administrator and execute this command – verifier /querysettings
• The command you just executed will display the Driver Verifier settings so if you see any of the flags enabled boot your Windows 10 PC into Safe Mode.
• Open the Command Prompt as admin again and run this command – verifier /reset
• The command will reset the Driver Verifier. Once the process is done, restart your PC and check.

Option 2 – Try to reinstall or update device drivers of recently installed hardware

If the first few options didn’t work for you, then it’s time to either update or roll back the device drivers. It is most likely that after you updated your Windows computer that your driver also needs a refresh. On the other hand, if you have just updated your device drivers then you need to roll back the drivers to their previous versions. Whichever applies to you, refer to the steps below.

• Open the Devices Manager from the Win X Menu.
• Then locate the device drivers and right-click on them to open the Properties.
• After that, switch to the Driver tab and click on the Uninstall Device button.
• Follow the screen option to completely uninstall it.
• Finally, restart your computer. It will just reinstall the device drivers automatically.

Note: You can install a dedicated driver on your computer in case you have it or you could also look for it directly from the website of the manufacturer.

Option 3 – Try running the Blue Screen Troubleshooter

The Blue Screen troubleshooter is a built-in tool in Windows 10 that helps users in fixing BSOD errors like DRIVER_VERIFIER_DMA_VIOLATION. It can be found in the Settings Troubleshooters page. To use it, refer to these steps:

• Tap the Win + I keys to open the Settings panel.
• Then go to Update & Security > Troubleshoot.
• From there, look for the option called “Blue Screen” on your right-hand side and then click the “Run the troubleshooter” button to run the Blue Screen Troubleshooter and then follow the next on-screen options. Note that you might have to boot your PC into Safe Mode.

Note: You could also run the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter as it could also help in fixing the DRIVER_VERIFIER_DMA_VIOLATION error.

Option 4 – Try running Microsoft’s online Blue Screen Troubleshooter

If running the built-in Blue Screen Troubleshooter didn’t work, you can also try running Microsoft’s online Blue Screen Troubleshooter. All you have to do is go to Microsoft’s website and from there, you will see a simple wizard that will walk you through the troubleshooting process.

The new thing from Mozilla is not a browser, it is a VPN!

Besides Firefox, Mozilla offers now Firefox Relay, an app helping you to mask your email and phone number, and a new Mozilla VPN.

Mozilla has recently announced a new subscription model that will let you use all products together for $6.99 per month. Although this is a little more expensive than the competition that goes around for $5 per month note that with this subscription you are having access to all services, not just VPN.

VPN will not only hide your IP address but will also make sure websites cannot access your real location and it encrypts all of your network activity. Relay will give you protection against spam, serving as a shield for your email and limiting spammers from access to your real email address and phone number. With Mozilla subscription will let you use both services.

In the Windows ecosystem, MS Surface laptops are among the best laptops on the market, they are regarded as equivalent to Apple MAC laptops but for Windows. Microsoft Fall 2022 Event will be held on October 12th at 10 AM. The event itself will be held right before it kicks off its annual, developer-focused Ignite event in Seattle from that same day through October 14.

This event is the first in-person event that Microsoft has held since the beginning of the pandemic. We expect the launch of the Surface Pro 9 and the Surface Laptop 5, and maybe Surface Studio 3 as well. There are also some rumors about products themselves like choices between an ARM or x86 CPU but nothing is confirmed so far, we can just wait and see.

Error code 0Xc004F074 - What is it?

Did you previously use Windows 7 or 8 but decided to run with the latest Windows 0S, Windows 10? An early error message encountered was activation error code 0Xc004F074. Error code 0Xc004F074 is manifested when the user fails to activate Windows directly after the installation of Windows 10. This occurs if the previous operating system on your computer was Key Management Service (KMS) activated.

The KMT provides a more seamless operation when users are activating volume license editions of Microsoft Windows and Office. This process tends to be clear to end-users of the system.

Symptoms of error code 0Xc004F074 include:

• Windows is unable to reach your company’s activation service.
• The Key Management Service is unavailable.

Solution

Error Causes

Various factors might incite error code 0Xc004F074. A primary cause is a discrepancy or difference between the KMS client and the KMS host machine. The host computer could possibly be operating a Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008, while the client runs on OS Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. To supplement, the computer’s time might be a contributing factor. The time on the host machine and client might show a difference (Usually the host time exceeds 4 hours).

Further Information and Manual Repair

To rectify error code 0Xc004F074, users are advised to try various methods. These methods include:

1. Method 1: Update Your KMS Host 9 (Windows Server 2003)

Are you running later versions of Windows Server? Use an update that fixes or installs KMS on your computer. The update is available on Microsoft’s website. Keep clearly in mind that the update is only for Windows Server 2013 Service Pack 1 and later versions of Windows Server 2003.

2. Method 2: Update Your KMS Host 9 (Windows Server 2008)

This step is similar to the aforementioned. However, it applies to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. This ensures the service is extended to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

3. Method 3: Update the Time

It was previously mentioned that the time reflected on the KMS host and client might cause error code 0Xc004F074 to manifest. A simple fix to adhere to is to always ensure that the time between both is updated. To Resync the time on the client, execute the following command.

w32tm /resync

4. Method 4: Uninstall the Existing KMS

For this method to be successfully deployed, you’ll need to have in your possession an activation key or KMSpico Key. As you cannot apply the new key with the existing one, remove or uninstall the initial key. To perform this step, open the command prompt. This should be done while the computer is in admin mode. Then, run the command

(slmgr.vbs /dlv)

It should be executed without the brackets and before you have removed the existing key.

After executing the command, you’ll encounter the description:

Windows(R) Operating System, VOLUME_KMS_WS12_R2 channel

Move along with the process by applying the slmgr.vbs /upk to uninstall the existing KMS key.

After the old key is uninstalled, you’re ready to apply the following:

slmgr.vbs /ipk <NewKMSProductKey>

To check if things are in place and complete the process, follow the steps below: PC Settings >Update and Security > Activation

5. Method 5: Download an Automated Tool

If you wish to always have at your disposal a utility tool to fix these Windows 8 and other related issues when they do arise, download and install a powerful automated tool.

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.

Each year Steam makes a couple of large sales, and each year there are speculations and leaks on the date when the sale is going to happen and when it is starting. It seemed that Steam has become aware that these leaks will not stop and that store really cannot hide that kind of important date from the public so in the latest news Steam Purley has just given the date of this year's big winter sale. Probably tired of even trying to hide it, Steam has released that this year's big Steam Winter sale is officially starting on December 22nd, 2021, and closing on January 5th, 2022. So if you have someone to buy a gift or just want to drop a few great games in your library at a low price this is the time when you should do it.

Having any kind of hardware malfunction is not a pleasant place to be. Even a minor malfunction like a broken key on a keyword can introduce certain bad feelings, frustration, and difficulty in working. So, what are your options when the dreaded key on the keyboard breaks? From my point of view, there are three options that could be accomplished in order to continue working.

1. Replace broken keyboard with the new one

   Yes, the best and most expensive solution, just bite the bullet and buy a new working one.

2. Replace key with another key

   So you broke some key, if you can replace it with another key which you do not use, this option will work only tho if the broken key is not Space bar, enter or similar with specific shape and size.

3. Remap key

   use Windows power tools to remap key function to another working key

There you go, three options to continue working with a broken key on the keyboard.

Why Can’t drag and drop files or folders happens? In case you don’t know, there is a feature in Windows 10 called drag and drop that can help you move or copy files or even folders from one location to another. This feature is useful and can help you move or copy folders and files easier and quicker. However, if you encounter some problem while using this feature, worry not for this post will guide you on what you can do to resolve the problem. There are several suggestions you can check out to fix the problem. You can try to simply tap the Esc key or you could also troubleshoot the problem in a Clean Boot State. Aside from that, changing the drag height and width or disabling the User Account Control via Registry Editor might also help. For more details, refer to the instructions laid out below.

Option 1 – Try to tap the Esc key

According to some users who experienced the same dilemma, by simply tapping the Esc key, they were able to resolve the problem. All they did was tap the Esc key before they drag and drop the folder or files. Thus, you can try doing the same thing as it might also work for you. After you tap the Esc key, you have to check all the background applications and if you see some that could be related to the hotkeys or keyboard, you might have to disable or remove them. Once done, check if the problem is fixed or not.

Option 2 – Try troubleshooting the problem in a Clean Boot State

There are some instances that some conflicting programs installed in your computer might be the reason why you’re having trouble using the drag and drop feature in Windows 10. To identify which program is causing the problem, you need to put your computer in a Clean Boot State. To do so, follow the steps below.

• 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” check box.
• Click Disable all.
• Click on Apply/OK and restart your PC. (This will put your PC into a Clean Boot State. And to configure Windows to use the usual startup, just simply undo the changes.)
• From there, start to isolate the problem by checking which one of the programs you installed recently is the root cause of the problem.

Option 3 – Try changing the drag height and width

The next thing you can do to resolve the issue is to try changing drag height and width by following these steps:

• Tap the Win + R keys to launch the Run utility and type “Regedit” in the field and then tap Enter to open the Registry Editor.
• Next, navigate to this registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop
• From there, choose to modify both the “DragHeight” and “DragWidth” located on the right pane.
• After that, change the value to a very high number. Note that these values are nothing but pixel size to drag and drop folders or files.

Option 4 – Try disabling the User Account Control or UAC via Registry Editor

• Tap the Win + R keys to launch the Run utility and type “Regedit” in the field and then tap Enter to open the Registry Editor.
• After that, navigate to this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem
• From this path, modify the value of “EnableLUA” from 1 to 0. This should disable the UAC in your Windows 10 computer.

As you know, Microsoft is consistent in pushing updates to its supported versions of the Windows operating systems in order to make it better and defend it from different kinds of vulnerabilities. And pushing billions of active Windows computers every now and then is really not an easy thing to do since it calls for a complex Windows Update delivery module. These complexities often give rise to various errors like the Windows Update error code 0x80004005. When you encounter this kind of Windows Update error, you will see the following error message on your screen:

“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 0x80004005.”

This kind of Windows Update error occurs due to an issue while either installing or downloading an update. There are several ways you can fix the problem. You can try to replace the dpcdll.dll file, reset the Windows Update-related services, run the Windows Update troubleshooter or manually install the Windows Updates. For more details, check out the options given below.

Option 1 – Try to replace the DLL file with a trusted source

The first thing you can do is to replace the dpcdll.dll file with a trusted source.

• First, you need to get the new dpcdll.dll file from another computer with preferably the same file version number as your computer.
• After that, you need to boot your PC into Safe Mode and navigate to the paths listed below and then replace the file using a USB drive or other external storage devices.
  • For x86: This PC > C:/Windows/System32
  • For x64: This PC > C:/Windows/SysWOW64
• Next, type “cmd” in the Cortana search box and right-click on Command Prompt, and select “Run as administrator” to open it with administrator privileges.
• Now type the “regsvr32 dpcdll.dll” command and hit Enter.
• Restart your PC and check if the error is now fixed.

Option 2 – Try to reset the Windows Update components

If by any chance that the third option didn’t work, you can also try resetting the Windows Update components as it could also help you resolve the Windows Update error. How? Refer to the following steps:

• Open Command Prompt with admin privileges.
• After that, type each one of the following commands and hit Enter after you key in one after the other.
  • net stop wuauserv
  • net stop cryptsvc
  • net stop bits
  • net stop msiserver

Note: The commands you entered will stop the Windows Update components such as Windows Update service, Cryptographic services, BITS and MSI Installer.

• After disabling WU components, you need to rename both the SoftwareDistribution and Catroot2 folders. To do that, type each one of the following commands below and don’t forget to hit Enter after you type one command after the other.
  • ren C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
  • ren C:WindowsSystem32catroot2 Catroot2.old
• Next, restart the services you’ve stopped by entering another series of commands. Don’t forget to hit Enter after you key in one command after the other.
  • net start wuauserv
  • net start cryptsvc
  • net start bits
  • net start msiserver
• Close Command Prompt and reboot your PC.

Option 3 – Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter

You might also want to run the Windows Update Troubleshooter as it could also help in fixing Windows Update error 0x80004005. 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 4 – Try downloading and installing the Windows Updates manually

Windows Update Error 0x80004005 might be due to a Windows Update that has failed. So if it is not a feature update and only a cumulative update, you can download the Windows Update and install it manually. But first, you need to find out which update has failed, and to do so, refer to the following steps:

• Go to Settings and from there go to Update and Security > View Update History.
• Next, check which particular update has failed. Note that Updates that have failed to install will be displayed under the Status column which has a label of “Failed”.
• After that, go to the Microsoft Download Center and look for that update using its KB number and once you find it, download and then install it manually.

Note: You can also use the Microsoft Update Catalog, a service from Microsoft that provides a list of software updates that can be distributed over a corporate network. With the help of this service, it can be easier for you to find Microsoft software updates, drivers as well as fixes.