As you know, Windows 10 has a complicated mechanism for Activation which helps in the verification of a genuine copy of Windows 10. However, there are times when you might encounter some errors during the activation process. One of these errors is the error code 0xc000f074. This kind of error could be due to the Key Management Service or KMS which is unreachable by the client computer or if the key used in the SLSetAuthenticationData function call is incorrect.
This kind of error mostly affects surfaces on computers that are upgraded from either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. In such cases, you may encounter any of the following error messages:
“Windows is unable to reach your company’s activation service. Please connect to your corporate network. If you are connected and continue to see the error, contact your system administrator. You can also click on the error detail to find the exact error. Error code: 0xC004F074.”
“Activating Windows(R),
(Key hash)…
Error: 0xC004F074 The Software Licensing Service reported that the computer could not be activated. No Key Management Service (KMS) could be contacted.
Please see the Application Event Log for additional information.”
“Error 0xC004F074, SL_E_AUTHN_MISMATCHED_KEY, The Software Licensing Service reported that the key is mismatched.”
To fix the Windows 10 Activation error 0xC004F078, you have to use the correct key for your type of Windows copy or use Command Prompt to reinstall the key or you could also try running the Activation troubleshooter.
Option 1 – Try running the Windows 10 Activation Troubleshooter
The first thing you can do to resolve the Activation error code 0xc000f074 is to run the Windows 10 Activation Troubleshooter. To do so, follow these steps:
Go to Settings and then select Activation.
After that, click on the Windows Activation and then troubleshoot. This will help you address most of the commonly found activation issues in Windows devices.
The Windows 10 Activation Troubleshooter will determine if your license key is a valid Windows 10 digital license for an edition that is not currently installed. If it turns out that it’s not, then the troubleshooter will show you how to install the correct edition.
Option 2 – Try to use the correct key for the type of Windows version you have
If the Windows Activation troubleshooter wasn’t able to resolve the error, then you can try using the correct key for your type of Windows version. All you have to do so is check the type of your Windows copy if it’s OEM, retail, or volume. And make sure that you have the correct, valid product key for your operating system.
Option 3 – Try to use Command Prompt to reinstall the key
In the Start Search, type “command prompt” and right-click on Command Prompt from the search results, and then select “Run as administrator”.
After that, execute this command to uninstall the existing key: vbs /upk
Next, you need to install the KMS product key by executing this command: vbs /ipk <The KMS Product Key>
Once you’re done, you will see a prompt that’ll tell you whether the operation was either successful or not.
To active, the KMS product key online, use this command: vbs /ato
Use this command to activate the key using the telephone: exe 4
After you’ve activated the KMS product key, restart the Software Protection Service. You can also verify the Activation Status to check if your fix was successful or not.
Option 4 – Contact Microsoft Support for assistance
If you’re at your wits’ end in trying to upgrade your computer, you should consider contacting Microsoft Support for help as they can offer you various options that would make fixing Windows Activation error code 0xc000f074 a lot easier and faster.
This post will walk you through fixing the rtwlane.sys Blue Screen error. This kind of BSOD error belongs under the category of the “DRIVER IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL” Stop errors. If you encounter this kind of Stop error then it means that a kernel-mode driver tried to access pageable memory at a process IRQL that was too high.
The main issue with the rtwlane.sys Blue Screen error has something to do with the Realtek PCI-E Wireless LAN PCI-E NIC driver. In other words, it has some issues with the wireless card of your computer which is built by Realtek. And since it this error concerns your wireless card, you might also experience some connectivity problems with your computer as the wireless card refuses to find any network connections and even randomly disconnects. To resolve this problem, you need to refer to the given options below.
Option 1 – Run the Blue Screen Troubleshooter
The Blue Screen troubleshooter is a built-in tool in Windows 10 that helps users in fixing BSOD errors like rtwlane.sys Blue Screen error. It can be found on 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.
Option 2 – Try to update or rollback your Network driver
If you have updated the driver software as of late and you suddenly got this BSOD error, you might have to roll back the device driver – in other words, switch back to the previous working version. To do that, follow these steps:
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 Network Adapters and expand it.
From the list of Network Drivers, look for “Realtek <Model> Wireless LAN 802.11n PCI-E NIC” and then right-click on it and select Update Driver.
Restart your PC and see if it helped in fixing the BSOD error.
Note: If you see any of the following entries under the Network drivers, you might want to download their latest available versions from each one of their manufacturer’s websites.
Realtek High-Definition (HD) Audio Driver
Realtek Card Reader Driver
Realtek Local Area Network (LAN) Driver
On the other hand, if updating the Network driver didn’t help, you can also try to roll back to its previous version.
Open the Device Manager again and then look for Network Drivers.
Next, select Realtek <Model> Wireless LAN 802.11n PCI-E NIC from the list of Network Drivers and then 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 Realtek driver.
Now restart your computer to successfully apply the changes made.
Option 3 – Try running the System File Checker Scan
The SFC or System File Checker scan could detect and automatically repair damaged system files that could be causing the Netwtw04.sys failed BSOD error. SFC is a built-in command utility that helps in restoring corrupted files as well as missing files. It replaces bad and corrupted system files with good system files. To run the SFC command, follow the steps given below.
Tap Win + R to launch Run.
Type in cmd in the field and tap Enter.
After opening Command Prompt, type in sfc /scannow
The command will start a system scan which will take a few whiles before it finishes. Once it’s done, you could get the following results:
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
Steam is one of if not the largest online store for the digital distribution of games on the PC platform. The game gets downloaded to your PC when you are planning to play it and its saves are synched in the Steam cloud. They get automatically downloaded when you install the game but you can also get your saves by directly downloading them from Valve's website in your browser.
If Steam isn’t automatically downloading your old save games after you install a game, ensure Steam Cloud is enabled for that game within Steam.
Locate the game in your Steam library, right-click it, and then select Properties. Click the Updates tab and ensure the Enable Steam Cloud synchronization option is checked for the game. If this option isn’t checked, Steam won’t automatically download your cloud saves.
If you don’t see a Steam Cloud option for a game here, that game doesn’t support Steam Cloud. Not all games on Steam do, it’s up to each game developer.
Download the Files in Your Web Browser
Valve lets you download your Steam cloud save files via a web browser, too. You can download just your saved files without re-downloading the entire game.
To find your saved files, visit Valve’s View Steam Cloud page in your web browser and sign in with your Steam account. You’ll see a list of games using your Steam Cloud storage. Locate the game in the list and click Show Files to see all the files for a game. Each game has a page showing all the files it’s storing in Steam Cloud, as well as the date they were modified. To download a file, click Download. Download all the save files for your game, and you’ll have a copy of its save games. This feature is especially useful for multi-platform games that don’t automatically synchronize save files between platforms.
Diablo 2 resurrected has hit official release and servers seem to be finally taken care of and everything seems to be running smoothly now. The game also received great praise from gamers and attracted old players of the original Diablo 2 game.
Speaking of old players of old Diablo 2, they can transfer their old characters into remaster and continue playing them within this new great HD environment. There are some steps and requirements but we are here to help and transferred characters will bring full stash, inventory, and equipped items with them.
Requirements
There are not many requirements for this transfer to occur but they must be respected in order to be successful. The first thing is a minor requirement and somewhat annoying but it needs to be done, firstly fire up Diablo 2 resurrected and create a character, any kind of character with any kind of name, any kind of class. This strange requirement is to actually create a character folder and register it inside D2 resurrected so we can copy old ones there.
The second requirement will be that characters that you wish to be transferred must be offline characters. Old battle net online characters cannot be transferred at this moment and probably will not be in the future as well. So for all of you that wish to transfer online characters, bad luck, for the rest of us casuals playing offline single-player mode, we can enjoy our characters.
Process of diablo 2 character trasfer
The process itself of transferring characters when previously mentioned requirements are met is just a simple and copy operation. If you have somewhere backed your characters go into your backup folder and copy files in c:\users\*current user*\saved games\*diablo 2 resurrected folder*
If you do not have characters backed up and just have old Diablo 2 installed and playing it, you can go to c:\users\*current user*\saved games\*diablo 2 folder* and just copy all characters files into c:\users\*current user*\saved games\*diablo 2 resurrected folder*
Your old characters end with .d2s extension, grab all that you want to transfer, and copy them into D2R. Take note that copied characters cannot be brought back into Diablo 2, once they are copied into Diablo 2 resurrected all further progress on them will be tied to the new game.
Conclusion
That’s it about the transfer process and requirements for it. Fire up the new game version and enjoy.
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.
Replace broken keyboard with the new one
Yes, the best and most expensive solution, just bite the bullet and buy a new working one.
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.
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.
The Windows 10 operating system supports the logging in of multiple users at the same time. Aside from that, it also allows administrators to create a Guest Account that has limited rights. However, there are some instances when you could encounter an error when you use the Guest Account.
The error may state:
“Shell Infrastructure Host has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Please close the program”.
This error indicates that the Shell Infrastructure Host or SiHost.exe process that is used for handling graphical elements, has crashed. And to fix this error, there are several options you can check out. You can try to reinstall the Microsoft Redistributable Packages or run a System File Checker scan. In addition, you can also use a new Guest Account or troubleshoot the problem in a Clean Boot State.
Option 1 – Try to install or repair Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2013
A corrupted Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package or the absence of it can trigger the “Shell Infrastructure Host has stopped working” error – so if you do not have this package yet, you have to install it but if you already have it, follow the steps below to repair it.
Open Control Panel and proceed to Program and Features.
Under Programs and Features, look for Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package among the list.
Then right-click on it and click the Change button.
Next, you should see the Repair option – click on it to repair the installation of the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package.
The process may take a couple of minutes before it finishes so once it does, you have to restart your PC.
After doing all these steps and you still encounter the problem, you might have to uninstall this package and download it directly from Microsoft’s website. However, if you are using Windows 10, you might not be able to do so since it only supports Windows versions up to Windows 8.1 so just proceed to the next option below.
Option 2 – Try to run a System File Checker scan
In the Windows Start Search, type “command prompt” and right-click on Command Prompt from the search results, and then select the “Run as administrator” option.
After opening Command Prompt with admin privileges, type the “sfc /scannow” and tap Enter to execute it.
Once the scan is finished, restart your computer and see if the Windows Script Host error.
Option 3 – Try using a new Guest Account
You might want to use a new Guest Account as it could help get rid of the error. All you have to do is have your admin delete the old Guest Account and create a new one and see if it helps in fixing the error.
Option 4 – Try troubleshooting the problem in a Clean Boot State
Setting your computer in a Clean Boot State can help you diagnose and later troubleshoot the problems in your computer. During this state, the system will start with a minimal number of drivers and startup programs that help in isolating the problem with the interfering software. To put your computer in a Clean Boot State, follow the given steps below.
Log onto your computer 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” check box 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 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.
Sometimes you may experience QTCF.dll error on your computer either during installation or while upgrading applications like iTunes and QuickTime. This error indicates that the installation or the upgrading of the desired application was unsuccessful.
The QTCF.dll error is recognized by the Apple Support Community and they have provided a solution to fix this error easily.
Solution
Error Causes
QTCF.dll error occurs because the computer overloads with too much data which corrupts and damages registry files. And therefore the desired program fails to download and start on your PC.
When this happens you see a pop up on your screen and the QTCF.dll error message that is usually displayed as:
QTCF.dll not found
QTCF.dll file is missing
Such message display hinders your ability to use iTunes or QuickTime applications on your PC. Furthermore, it also slows the performance of your system and you may encounter startup and shutdown problems.
Therefore, it is advisable to repair the problem and fix the QTCF.dll error right away.
Further Information and Manual Repair
The good news is that you don’t need to go to a professional or be an IT expert in order to fix the QTCF.dll error. Since this error means that the installation or the attempt to upgrade the system was unsuccessful therefore you need to reinstall the fresh copy of the application.
Here’s how you can easily fix the problem by yourself and install a fresh copy of the application:
Step 1: First close all the applications running on your computer.
Step 2: Now uninstall the application that you were trying to install such as iTunes or QuickTime. To do this, go to the start menu, click on settings, control panel, and programs. Now click on the application you want to remove.
Step 3: Once the application is uninstalled and removed from your computer, then restart it again.
Step 4: Now download a fresh version of the application (iTunes or QuickTime) from Apple’s official website
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/.Step 5: Run the installer.
If reinstalling doesn’t work, then it is advisable to download the QTCF.dll repair tool. This repair tool will scan your PC for errors in seconds. Once the scanning is complete, click on the ‘fix all’ button to repair your computer.
Once the error is fixed, restart your computer and then try reinstalling the desired application one more time.
A Word of Advice
For regular PC users, it is advisable to install an anti-virus and malware scanner and run it every time you use your computer. This helps you keep informed about the viruses or errors that your computer might be exposed to.
And you can take timely actions before you experience file corruption and damage.
Finally upgraded to Microsoft’s newest OS, but the performance is a bit sluggish? Here are a few useful tips you may not have thought about that could significantly transform your experience!
How to speed up Windows 11?
1. Disable startup programs
There are many programs that launch right on startup that really aren’t essential. This, in turn, causes your PC to launch and run more slowly.
To check which programs are enabled on startup, go into the Task Manager and select the Startup tab. Find every program that doesn’t need to launch immediately, right-click on it and press ‘Disable’.
This will not shut down the program in that instant. It’ll just prevent it from running automatically as you turn on your PC. You can always launch it manually when you need it.
2. Expand your memory and storage
If you want your PC to run super smoothly, you need to have enough memory to support that. This is especially significant for those of you who love to multitask. Upgrading your RAM gives your PC more space to store the temporary data it needs to complete processing tasks. In other words, processing takes a lot less time.
Your long-term storage is equally important. Hopefully at this point you’re already using SSD over HDD, since this type of storage offers a faster boot time.
Credit: Marc Pezin on Unsplash
In any case, we recommend expanding your storage capacity. The more files and data you store, the more there is to load, significantly influencing your PC’s speed. Larger storage capacity means new data and essential updates can be stored comfortably, preventing any strain on your PC’s performance.
3. Clean up disk space
If you aren’t willing to upgrade your storage just yet, the least you can do is clean up your storage right now.
Aside from manually deleting stuff you no longer need, you can also get rid of temporary files that clutter up your storage and eat up performance for no reason. To get to them, click Windows + X and select ‘Run’ (or just type it in the search bar).
A small window will pop up, where you need to type %temp%. This will take you to a whole folder full of all the temporary files you can remove without thinking twice.
For those who upgraded from Windows 10, there’s a neat trick to get rid of potential leftover files you don’t need on your brand new iteration. Only do this if you’re 100% sticking with Windows 11, though. Go to System > Storage > Temporary files. Make sure to only leave ‘Previous Windows Installation’ and ‘Windows Update Clean-up’ checked and click on ‘Remove files’.
Lastly, make use of Windows 11’s fantastic Storage Sense feature. Turning it on will enable your PC to constantly watch out for junk or unused files to optimize your PC’s performance to the maximum.
4. Install pending updates
This one should go without saying, but pending updates can be detrimental to your Windows 11 performance. The longer you leave them untouched, the more bugs the outdated programs and patches can cause. So, make sure to regularly check for updates and install them as soon as they’re available.
5. Disable visual effects
As cool as visual effects, animations, shadows and transparency are, they can also put quite a toll on your computer’s speed. On a newer setup this generally shouldn’t be a problem, but if you do notice a drop in performance, definitely consider turning off some of these settings.
To do this you can go to the Control Panel, System Properties and click the ‘Advanced’ tab. In the Performance section, choose Settings. If you’d like a quicker way to get to the dialog (Performance Options) with Visual Effects, you can also type sysdm.cpl in the search bar.
Once there, you can either have your PC choose what’s best, choose the best appearance or the best performance. The other option is to manually toggle the effects off and on. The biggest obstacles to speed are taskbar animations, window shadows, control/element animations and animations upon minimizing/maximizing.
Credit: Windows on Unsplash
In the same vein, you should go to Settings > Personalization > Colors and disable Transparency, to prevent your computer from doing overtime just to hit the aesthetic appeal.
6. Get rid of bloatware
Bloatware is one of the biggest culprits of slow computer speed.
Pre-installed software that’s pretty much useless but takes up valuable system resources has been around since day one. No matter which device or platform you’re talking about. Luckily, a lot of it is removable, making it easy to lighten the load on your device.
To boost your Windows 11 computer, go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps.You’ll probably see a bunch of apps you don’t want or need. Click on the three dots next to each one you want to remove and press ‘Uninstall’.
Aside from helping optimize performance, removing bloatware has another great benefit. Unfortunately, often this pre-installed software is quite vulnerable, exposing you to great risk of cyberattacks. So, removing it definitely improves your device’s security and gives you at least some peace of mind.
Summary
These are a few of our fastest tips for boosting performance. There are other, more complex and time-consuming ways, of course. If you’ve tried these quick ones and still need advice on how to improve your PC’s speed, feel free to reach out!
If you have a dual monitor setup on your Windows 10 computer and you mostly use the second screen when you are presenting something, this makes the Taskbar completely unnecessary and is not really required. So if you are using your computer generally and do not want the taskbar on your second screen, read on as this post will guide you in disabling Taskbar on your second display.
The good thing is, Windows comes with a built-in feature to disable Taskbar on your second screen or projector connected to your computer. In this post, you will be guided on how you can hide or disable the Taskbar from the second monitor in Windows 10. This post is coming in handy especially if you are using projectors or multiple displays.
Refer to the steps given below to disable Taskbar on the second display in Windows 10.
Step 1: Go to Settings and click on Taskbar from the left menu.
Step 2: After that, scroll down to lo look for Multiple Displays.
Step 3: Next, turn off the toggle labeled, “Show taskbar on all displays”.
Note: After completing the steps given above, it will disable the Taskbar on all the secondary displays. Bear in mind that these settings will work only if you are running a second screen in Extended mode. Contrariwise, if you are in the Duplicate mode, this setting will not work but you can always set your Taskbar to Autohide so that it won’t be displayed.
On the other hand, if you are facing some issues in finding which screen is primary and which one is secondary, refer to these steps:
Step 1: Go to Settings and select System.
Step 2: Next, from the left menu open Display.
Step 3: From there, select the desired display and make it the primary one as required by your setup.
RocketDock is one of the most popular app launchers as it has been used excessively back in several windows versions. This was modeled based on the Mac OS X launch bar and offers an animated response when you hover the mouse over the apps gathered on the Dock. This is perched at the top of your screen, and you can easily drag your favorite app icons to have them in one place. The dock keeps all your most favorite shortcuts intact for faster and easy access. Like other apps, you can easily customize the dock with skins and other add-ons.
If you would like to read more helpful articles and tips about various software and hardware visit errortools.com daily.
If by any chance your search result in Windows is misleading, missing, or incorrect then it is a high probability that your search index is out of date. To repair this issue follow this guide step by step.
Please take note that rebuilding the whole search index can take a long time on some systems depending on the size of the index itself, CPU speed, HD speed, etc. Sometimes it can take even hours on large drives.
First, press ⊞ WINDOWS + R to open the run dialog and type in it Control panel to open the control panel.
Once you are in the control panel, switch your view to large icons and locate Indexing options.
Inside indexing options, click on advanced.
In advanced options click on the rebuild and confirm.
Leave your computer to finish and your searches should be working fine now.