Infographic: How To Speed Up PC Startup

So you just have turned your computer ON only to find out that your device which was working perfectly yesterday is not working anymore. This situation can be very stressful and disappointing but do not despair, before you toss your device through the window know that this kind of behavior can be traced back to a software issue. In this article, we will give you hints on what to do and where to pay attention when something like this happens so you get the device back in working order.

1. Check if it not a hardware malfunction

   To save yourself time and unnecessary frustration with juggling through Windows first inspect the device to be sure that indeed it is working properly, check all led lamps which could indicate that the device is working and receiving power, and if it is an internal device try opening the case and visually check if there are signs of working like rotating fans or led lamps on it.

2. Check Cables

   If it is an external device that has stopped working try checking power cables and cables which go to your computer, see if they are tightly connected. If it is an internal device also check cables, nudge them and if possible disconnect and clean them.

3. Disconnect and reconnect the device

   Try this solution to see will Windows register the device again and start it.

4. Update Windows

   If there is a Windows update not installed, install it and see if the device will start working.

5. Update device drivers

   Go to device manager and update the device driver to its latest version or go to the manufacturer's site and download the latest driver version.

6. Reinstall the device

   In the device manager, uninstall the device driver and reboot Windows. When Windows boots it will recognize the device and install the necessary drivers for it.

7. Disable antivirus and firewall

   Sometimes antivirus can prevent certain devices from working properly, especially if they rely on some system files to which antivirus or firewall has cut access. Try disabling your PC protection to see if this will resolve the issue.

8. Use dedicated error software

   Use DRIVERFIX to automatically search and fix driver issues.

There are a lot of home users that often get a computer that comes installed with the Windows 10 Home. And since Windows 10 Pro offers more features and utilities compared to Windows 10 Home, a lot of users also prefer to upgrade their Windows 10 Home computers to Windows 10 Pro. However, while doing so, a number of users reported that they encountered error 0xc03f6506 and they were not able to proceed with the upgrade. If you are one of these users, when you encounter error 0xc03f6506, you will see the following error message on your screen:

“The last product key you entered can’t be used on this copy of Windows (0xc03f6506).”

This particular error tends to occur when you go on to activate Windows 10 although it can also appear during the upgrade process. In such cases, you will see the following error message:

“Unable to upgrade your edition, We can’t upgrade your edition of Windows. Try upgrading your edition of Windows again. (0xc03f6506).”

To fix the Activation Error Code 0xc03f6506 in Windows 10, use the options provided below as references but before you proceed, make sure that you create a System Restore point first.

Option 1 – Try to use the Registry Editor

If you have already upgraded from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro and you’re having trouble with its Activation, then you might want to apply some registry tweaks to fix the problem. How? Refer to these steps:

• Tap the Win + R key combination to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type “Regedit” in the field and click OK or tap Enter to open the Registry Editor.
• Next, navigate to this registry key: ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersion
• From there, look for a DWORD named “EditionID” and once you found it, double click on it and change its Value data to Windows 10 Professional.
• After that, look for another DWORD named “ProductName” and double click on it to change its Value data to Windows 10 Professional.
• Once you’re done, restart your computer to apply the changes made successfully.

Option 2 – Try to use Command Prompt

If the registry tweaks you applied didn’t fix the Activation error, then you can try using Command Prompt instead. Note that you can use this option in both scenarios pointed out above.

• First, you have to insert a bootable drive of the Windows10 installer.
• Next, tap the Win + X keys and select Command Prompt (Admin) from the menu.
• After opening Command Prompt as admin, navigate to the root location of the bootable drive inside the Command Prompt command line.
• Once you’re already there, type the following command and tap Enter:

setup.exe /auto upgrade /pkey <YOUR WINDOWS 10 PRO EDITION PRODUCT KEY>

After entering the command, check if it was able to fix the Windows Upgrade or Activation error 0xc03f6506. If not, refer to the next given option below.

Option 3 – Try to disable the Network Adapter

Just like the second option, you can also use this option for both the given scenarios above.

• Tap the Win + X keys and select Network Connections from the menu.
• This will open the settings for your network and on the left side panel, click on the “Change adapter settings” link. This will open Control Panel.
• From there, click on the network your computer is connected to, and then right-click on the Network Adapter that you are using and select Disable.
• After disabling the Network Adapter, try to switch to the edition of your copy of Windows 10 again and see if the problem is now fixed and don’t forget to double click on the disabled Network Adapter to get back on the Network.

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.

Although the Windows Updates do bring in new features and improvements, there are times when they also introduce issues as well. The main cause for these arising bugs is the incompatibility between the old and new software components. One of the issues brought in by such bugs is Clock is missing, invisible or black This problem was experienced by users after they recently installed a feature update. This particular bug can make the Windows clock in the taskbar appear to be black or invisible which makes it hard for users to read the time on their computers. According to experts, this bug has something to do with the Windows Themes and Aero styling. To fix this issue, here are some suggestions that could help but before you get started, you have to restart Explorer first and see if it can help in resolving the problem – if it didn’t, follow the options given below carefully.

Option 1 – Try to disable Custom Theme

It could be that the reason behind the black or invisible Windows Clock can be an old or an incompatible theme. You might have a custom theme in place and it became incompatible after an update. Thus, you can try switching to one of the default themes and then recreate your custom theme afterward. To do so, follow the steps below.

• Right-click on your desktop and select Personalize.
• Next, select Themes from the left menu and then select Windows 10 as your theme.
• After that, you can delete all the other custom themes and create them again from scratch. This should fix the black or invisible Windows 10 Clock.

Option 2 – Try to edit your existing themes

If you don’t want to get rid of your existing themes, there is an alternative solution you can try to fix the missing Windows 10 Clock albeit it’s a bit of a complex one. Follow the given steps below to modify the existing themes and fix the missing or black Windows Clock.

• First, you need to save your existing theme. Just simply right-click on your desktop and select Personalize and select Themes from the left menu.
• Next, click on the Save Theme button below your custom theme to save it. You can name the theme anything.
• After that, you can now modify the saved theme by going to C:/Users/UserName/AppData/Local/MicrosoftWindowsThemes.
• From there, look for the file with the theme name you just saved, and then right-click on the file and open it with notepad or any other text editing app.
• Now you have to look for the line that says, “Path=%SystemRoot%resourcesthemesAeroAeroLite.msstyles” and change it to “Path=%SystemRoot%resourcesthemesAeroAero.msstyles” and then save the file and rename it with some other name.
• Afterward, go back to themes and select the new theme you’ve created. This should resolve the Windows Clock issue as well as other Themes and Taskbar issues.

Option 3 – Try disabling the small icons in Taskbar

This option should help you fix any Windows Clock cases. So if your Windows Clock is nowhere to be found, you can try to disable small taskbar icons on your Windows 10 PC.

• Go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
• From there turn off the toggle button for the “Use small taskbar buttons” option. Note that this solution is only a temporary one and it may or may not work in some cases.

There are times when the WMI Repository gets corrupted which results in the Provider Load Failure. To resolve this issue, you need to repair or rebuild the WMI Repository in your Windows 10 computer. In this post, you will be guided on how exactly you can do that. In case you don’t know, the WMI which stands for Windows Management Instrumentation is a set of specifications from Microsoft to consolidate the management of devices and applications in a network. The WMI is a database that stores meta-information and definitions for WMI classes. Using only these, the conditions of the systems can be known. You can find the WMI Repository in %windir%System32WbemRepository. It provides end-users with the status of the local or remote computer system. Keep in mind that you must not use this on the Server 2012 Cluster machine. Although there are command-line tools that can fix or restore the Windows Management Instrumentation repository. However, Microsoft suggests that it’s better if you verify if there is corruption. Here are a list of errors as well as permission issues you might encounter:

• Unable to connect to root default or rootcimv2 namespaces. It fails with the error code “0x80041002” pointing to “WBEM_E_NOT_FOUND.”
• 0x80041010 WBEM_E_INVALID_CLASS
• When you open Computer Management and Right Click on Computer Management (Local) and select Properties, you get the following error: “ WMI: Not Found” or it hangs trying to connect
• Trying to use wbemtest , and it hangs
• Schemas/Objects missing
• Strange connection/operation errors (0x8007054e)

To verify if there is corruption, you can try running the following command in an elevated Command Prompt:

winmgmt /verifyrepository

 After you enter the command, if there is a response saying, “repository is not consistent”, then the repository has an issue. If not, then something else is causing the problem. Since you are certain that corruption exists in the WMI repository, then here are some suggestions you need to check out to repair or rebuild the WMI repository.

Option 1 – Try to reset WMI Repository

• Type “command prompt” in the Start Search and right-click on Command Prompt from the search results and then select “Run as administrator”.
• After opening Command Prompt with admin privileges, type and enter this command: winmmgmt /salvagerepository

The command you entered is used when the winmmgmt command performs a consistency check. So if an inconsistency is detected, it will rebuild the repository.

• Next, execute this command to see if the WMI repository now comes back as consistent: winmgmt /verifyrepository

This command will perform a consistency check on the WMI repository.

• If it states that the WMI repository is not consistent, then you need to type and enter this command: winmgmt /resetrepository

This command is used to reset the repository to its initial state when the operating system was first installed.

Option 2 – Try to force recover the WMI Repository

The WMI Repository comes with a built-in self-recovery process so when the WMI service restarts or detects any corruption, it will automatically trigger the self-recovery procedure. This can happen in two ways:

• AutoRestore: This will use the backup images if the Volume Shadow copy or VSS backup is turned on.
• AutoRecovery: The rebuilding process will generate fresh images of the WMI repository based on the registered MOFs. The MOFs are available in the registry located at HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWBEMCIMOM: Autorecover MOFs

Note: Autorecover MOFs is a key so double click on it to check its value. On the other hand, if the self-recovery procedure does not work, you can try to use the force-recovery process instead. How? Refer to these steps:

• First, you need to check the reg key value is empty or not under this registry path: HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWBEMCIMOMAutorecover MOFs
• If the reg key value is empty, you have to copy-paste the reg key value from another computer. Just make sure that it’s from the System which is equivalent to the computer in question.
• Next, type and enter this command: Winmgmt /resetrepository
• After you enter the command, if you get an error that says, “WMI repository reset failed. Error code:0x8007041B. Facility: Win32”, then you have to stop all the Dependency Services on the WMI service by running the following commands:
  • net stop winmgmt /y
  • Winmgmt /resetrepository

This should fix the problem.

What is Error 0x80010108?

Error 0x80010108 is a Windows Live Photo Gallery error. This error prevents the Windows PC user from viewing photos. The error code is often displayed in the following format:

‘An error is preventing the photo or video from being displayed’ Error code 0x80010108

Solution

Error Causes

The error 0x80010108 occurs due to multiple reasons including:

• The issue in Windows Live Essential Settings

This error occurs while using Windows Photo Gallery but it is actually related to the Windows Live Photo Viewer within the Windows Live Essentials software.

• Viral Infection
• Registry Issues

To view the photos on your Windows PC, it is advisable to fix the problem right away. Furthermore, you should also not delay in fixing this problem especially if the underlying causes are related to the registry or viral infection. These can pose serious system and security threats including system failure, crash and data breaches.

Further Information and Manual Repair

To resolve this error on your system, you don’t always have to hire a technical expert or be a technical whiz yourself. Here are some easy and effective methods to resolve error 0x80010108 on your PC immediately:

Method #1

To repair Windows Live Essential Software Settings, go to the start menu and then click the control panel. Now in the control panel go the option Programs. In the programs click the tab programs and features and then select Windows Live Essentials and click repair tab. Once the settings are repaired, restart your PC to activate changes.

Method #2

Go to the start menu and type regedit.exe and then press enter. Type the following key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT WindowsLive.PhotoGallery.bmp.15.4 shell open DropTarget then right-click DropTarget and then Rename. Prefix a hyphen so that it becomes “-DropTarget”. Now type the following for each GIF/ICO/JPG/PNG/TIF file types: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTWindowsLive.PhotoGallery.gif.15.4 shellopen DropTarget HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT WindowsLive.PhotoGallery.ico.15.4 shell open DropTarget HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT WindowsLive.PhotoGallery.jpg.15.4 shell open DropTarget HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT WindowsLive.PhotoGallery.png.15.4 shell open DropTarget HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT WindowsLive.PhotoGallery.tif.15.4 shell open DropTarget

Method #3

Download Restoro on your PC to scan for both registry issues and malware. Restoro is a multi-functional PC Fixer embedded with utilities like a powerful registry cleaner, an antivirus, and a system optimizer to name a few. The registry cleaner scans and detects all registry-related issues. It removes all unnecessary files damaging the registry and corrupting the registry settings. Simultaneously, the antivirus removes all kinds of malicious software affecting your PC including spyware, viruses, and Trojans. The system optimizer feature ensures that your PC works at the optimal level and does not slow down during and after the cleaning process. Restoro is efficient and safe. It has a user-friendly interface and simple navigations which makes it quite easy to operate. It can be downloaded on all Windows versions including. Click here to download Restoro to resolve error 0x80010108.

If you have multiple keyboards, things can get quite tricky. There are times when the keyboard language changes on its own since the keyboard changes while you are typing. The thing is, the keyboard changes because sometimes we accidentally tap shortcuts like Win key + Space key or Alt + Shift or Ctrl + Shift which changes the keyboard pairs or language. Thus, if your keyboard language changes on its own, there are two ways to resolve it. First, you have to make sure that Windows 10 does not add keyboards without your permission. Second, you have to make sure that the shortcut keys don’t change the keyboard language. This second option is what we’re going to discuss in this post. You need to first set a different input method for each app window. To do that, you have to disable the change in layout. Refer to these steps:

• Go to Settings > Language and input.
• Next, type “switching input methods” to open the Advanced keyboard settings with this option inside.
• After that, select the checkbox labeled as “Let me set a different input method for each app window” and then click the Save button.
• Restart your computer.

Now that you’ve disabled the change in layout, you now have to find the keyboard settings. Just go to Settings > Devices > Typing > Advanced Keyboard settings. From there, you have the option to select which keyboard is going to be used for any app. When you change the keyboard every time you use an app, usually, Windows remember it so that you won’t have to set it up all over again. In addition, the Advanced keyboard settings page also allows you to override the default input method which could be different from the first one in your language list. Aside from that, there is also a Language bar option that comes in handy as you can quickly switch between keyboards. And if you removed it, you have the option to restore the language bar back as well. Now all that’s left for you to do is to change the Language Settings under the Administrative tab. A user from a forum that came up with this solution, reported that the issue occurred when he started typing in some program with non-Unicode characters which caused Windows to use the default system local language to interpret these characters even though the language is unavailable in the Language bar. To change the Language Settings under the Administrative tab, follow these steps:

• Go to Settings > Time and Language > Language > Administrative language settings.
• After that, click on Copy Settings under the Administrative tab.
• Now make sure that all the Display language, Input language, and Format are English (United States) or any language you prefer.
• Then mark the two checkboxes in “Copy your current settings to Welcome screen and system accounts & New user accounts”.
• After that, click OK and then exit.

Note: You also have the option to disable those shortcut combinations which can change your keyboard settings accidentally.

There are times when you suddenly encounter a Blue Screen error like DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE error when resuming from Sleep or right after you shut down or restart as well as switch from Hibernate mode. This kind of Blue Screen error is due to some issue with the driver state. Moreover, the bug check “0x0000009F” in the error also indicates that a driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state. The DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE Blue Screen error usually occurs during events that involve power state transitions like shutting down, moving in or out of standby mode, or hibernate mode. To resolve this error, you can check out the suggestions given below.

Option 1 – Update the Device drivers

The device driver installed in your computer might be incompatible with your operating system which is the reason why the DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE Blue Screen error occurs. To fix that, you have to update your device drivers.

• Reboot your computer into Safe Mode with networking support.
• Tap the Win + R keys on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.
• After that, type “msc” in the field and hit Enter or click OK to open the Device Manager.
• After opening the Device Manager, update all the outdated Device drivers on your computer.
• Next, right-click on all the driver entries that are appropriately labeled, and then click the Update driver option.
• Now restart your PC and check if the BSOD error is fixed or not.

Option 2 – Uninstall any faulty device drivers

• Tap the Win + R keys on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.
• After that, type “msc” in the field and hit Enter or click OK to open the Device Manager.
• From there, look for any device driver which has a yellow exclamation mark which indicates that something is wrong with them.
• And then right-click on each one of them and click on Uninstall.
• Once you’re done uninstalling the faulty drivers, restart your computer and allow your computer to reinstall the drivers you just uninstalled.

Option 3 – 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 4 – Try to remove external hardware

If there is any external hardware plugged into your computer especially the new ones, you can try removing it and then check if the Blue Screen error persists. If the problem gets solved, you might want to update the driver of that particular hardware. On the other hand, if you’re still getting the error, then proceed to the next given options below.

Option 5 – Try resetting Windows 10

To fix this BSOD error, you can try resetting Windows 10. Doing so won’t get rid of any file in your system – instead of erasing all your media files and documents, this reset option resets all the system settings and files.

Option 6 – 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 DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE Blue Screen 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 to 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:

1. Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
2. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
3. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.

In case you don’t know, there is a feature in Windows 10 computers that allows them to function a lot better. This feature is called Full-Screen optimization and it is enabled by default for several applications such as games and video players. If enabled, the Full-Screen optimization feature enhances the video playback and gaming by simply putting the CPU and GPU process as a priority. However, there are times when it can also result to a drop in the frame rate or FPS while in full-screen mode. And of course, the obvious solution to this dilemma is by disabling the Full-Screen optimization feature which is why Microsoft took action and removed this feature themselves in the recent Windows 10 Update releases. However, there is another way for you to enable it back or disable it yourself if you haven’t installed the recent updates yet and there are plenty of ways you can do both. All you have to do is follow the options given below carefully.

Option 1 – Try using Windows 10 Settings

If you haven’t installed the recent updates yet and all you have are the earlier releases, then this method would suit you.

• Open the Windows 10 Settings app.
• Next, navigate to System > Display > Graphics Settings or Advanced graphics settings.
• From there, uncheck the “Enable Fullscreen optimization” option if you want to disable the feature, else just keep it checked.

Option 2 – Try using the Registry Editor

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and then type “Regedit” in the field and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
• Afterward, if a User Account Control or UAC prompt appears, click on Yes.
• Once the Registry Editor is pulled up, navigate to this registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSystemGameConfigStore
• Next, right-click on Explorer and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and then name it to “GameDVR_DSEBehavior and tap Enter to save it.
• Now double click on the newly created GameDVR_DSEBehavior DWORD and set its value to “2” if you want to disable it, or “0” if you want to enable it.
• Once you entered the value, close the Registry Editor and restart your computer to successfully apply the changes made.

Option 3 – Try running the application in Compatibility Mode

If the first two options didn’t work, the next thing you can do is to run the application in a Compatibility Mode. Follow the steps below to do so:

• Go to the location of the application or game on which you need to disable or enable the Full-Screen optimization feature.
• After that, right-click on it and select Properties.
• Next, switch to the Compatibility tab where you can see the “Disable fullscreen optimization” option to disable the feature and vice versa.
• Now click on the Apply and OK buttons to apply the changes made in the application’s settings.

Kernel32.dll Error - What is it?

To understand Kernel32.dll error properly, here’s what you need to know first: in the Windows operating system, the system32 directory plays a vital role. Inside this directory, there is an element called Kernel32.dll. A DLL (dynamic link library) is a library that contains codes and data that are used by more than one program at the same time. The role of the Kernel32.dll file is to handle memory management and I/O (input and output) operations. Malfunctioning of this file results in a Kernel32.dll error message which leads to program or application failure.

Error Causes

Kernel32.dll files can be attributed to several reasons like:

• Missing or damaged Kernel32.dll files
• Registry corruption
• .Dll files misconfiguration if programs are installed or uninstalled.
• Viral infection or malware attack

It is advisable to repair the Kernel32.dll error immediately to avoid inconvenience and serious computer damages like program lockouts, system failure, freeze, and crash.

Further Information and Manual Repair

All causes for the Kernel32.dll error are linked with the registry. The registry is the major database of your system that stores all the activities you perform on your system. It saves both important data and unnecessary files in the RAM (Random Access Memory) including the junk files, temporary internet files, and obsolete files such as files of the deleted/uninstalled programs. These files accumulate a lot of memory space. It leads to disk fragmentation, data overload, missing and damaged DLL files, and eventually registry corruption. Other reasons for registry issues that trigger Kernel32.dll errors on your system could be malicious software like viruses, adware, and malware. These also corrupt the registry and damaged DLL files.

Kernel32.dll Error Solutions

There are two ways to resolve the Kernel32.dll error on your PC, one is to install two separate tools registry cleaner and an antivirus and run them individually to scan your system and repair it. This option is time-consuming and besides if antivirus software is notorious for slowing down systems. So by downloading a separate antivirus you may have to sacrifice your system’s speed.