Run Windows Updates from Command Line

After you fresh install Windows 10 on your computer, it allows you to set up a PIN just before you can start using it. However, a number of users reported that the Windows 10 installation gets stuck on the “Set up a Pin” phase. If you are one of the users who experience the same thing, then read on as this post will walk you through fixing the problem. As users start to use their newly installed Windows 10 computer, they reported that the screen is still stuck even after they enter the correct PIN twice and there is no way for them to go forward or backward. Note that this is a part of the account setup and that your computer must stay connected to your internet connection before you finalize everything. And even though the PIN works when the computer is offline, the account setup still needs an internet connection, at least for a fresh installation. The solution for this kind of issue is quite easy and there won’t be any problem even if your computer shuts down or restarts since the installation is already complete and all that’s left is the account setup. To fix this problem, follow the steps given below. Step 1: The first thing you have to do is to turn off your internet connection or disable all connectivity from your computer. Note: If you are using either an Ethernet cable or a Wi-Fi switch to connect to the internet, you have to disable or remove them. But if you don’t have any options, just completely turn off your internet connection. Step 2: The next thing you have to do is to force your computer to shut down and then restart your computer. The setup process will eventually pick up exactly where it left off. The only difference is that there is no connection to the internet and your screen will no longer be stuck on the PIN setup screen so you now have the option to skip it and wait until you’re logged in for the first time. Step 3: Once you’re done, you can then you can choose to Setup Pin later on and turn your internet connection back on or connect your computer with an internet connection.

RAM drive is basically a hard drive made of your RAM memory. Altho this kind of drive can not and is not available to save any data when the computer is shut down its advantage is lightning fast speed since the application is installed in RAM itself, it is loading from there and executing from there. Creating this kind of drive which will use your RAM memory, well part of it can not be done natively in Windows, you will need some kind of application for this task. Luckily there is a free open source application for this kind of task. ImDisk, you can download the application here. ImDisk Toolkit is an application for managing virtual drives. It also includes a utility that allows the creation of RAM drives. Download the application and install it, make sure that you select all components on the installation selection screen. After installation is finished double click on icon labeled RamDisk Configuration. Once the application is running adjust the disk size in the box at the top of the window for your RAM drive. Click “OK” at the bottom of the window. This will create your RAM drive, which is just a virtual disk that’s assigned to your computer’s RAM. The process happens transparently, so there’s nothing you need to do. If you get a warning about shutdown settings, click on the “Shutdown Settings” button. Then unlock the settings pane with your administrator password. Finally, uncheck the checkbox next to “Turn on fast startup (recommended)” and click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the window. Your RAM drive is now ready for use. Fast Startup speeds up the process of turning on your computer by saving a system state between completely off and hibernation to your hard drive. This happens when the computer writes the contents of your RAM to a stable hard drive. As you may guess, this could mess with your RAM drive’s ability to preserve and track its data. With Fast Startup off, boots may take slightly longer, but it’s doubtful that you’ll notice much. Disabling a fast startup will satisfy the warning window, but let’s consider why. This will also allow ImDisk to save your RAM drive’s data to an image file when you shut down your computer. If you don’t, the contents of your RAM drive will be erased completely every time, with no saved image storage. It would also disable the RAM drive’s ability to load the previous content. Basically, the drive would act much more like RAM and much less like a disk. Depending on your use case, that may be disappointing or unusable. You can access and use it just like any normal hard drive. It shows up in Windows’s file explorer just like any other drive. However, a Ram drive is exponentially faster than traditional types of storage. And we mean exponentially. Whereas an SSD might offer 300 to 500 MB when reading from the disk, a RAM drive can offer more than 5000 MB, even on mediocre memory sticks.

The number of Hertz is the number of how many images your screen draws in one second. So monitor with a refresh rate of 60Hz will draw 60 images each second on your screen. To most users, this will look fine and enough but actually, if you would place them in front of a 120Hz screen difference will be visible right away.

Benefits of higher refresh rates

In most simple words just looking at a screen that has a higher refresh rate will produce a more natural feel of things, although some people would argue that flickering can not be seen on 60Hz monitors and that should be enough, I would argue that they never watched the movie, played the game or used high refresh rate screen when they can state something like that.

Yes, 60Hz might be enough to look at the web page or read some documents but long exposure to 60Hz can have a tiring effect on the eyes in the long run. 120Hz and above just feel more relaxed and it is far less demanding on the eyes. Watching movies also is much better on a higher refresh screen, with way much less motion blur in fast scenes giving the overall experience a greater natural feel.

Gaming is perhaps an area where a refresh rate of 120Hz and above will show its best. Having a higher refresh rate will be easier on your eyes and can even give you a competitive edge. When for example you have twice more images per second on your screen than your opponent his movement will be more fluid and predictable because of that and overall precision will be much higher when moving the cursor in the game since more frames per second means more precision and smoother movement.

The dark side of high refresh rates

After all the positive things that were said about the advantages of high refresh rates, it is just fair to look at some negatives or in this case only negative one and that is Computer power. As said in the previous section having a 120Hz refresh rate means having 120 frames displayed on the screen per single second. Having even higher monitors like 360Hz means even more frames per second and in order to actually see all of that frames you will need to have enough computer power to back it up. Having for example screen with a refresh rate of 240Hz means nothing if your GPU and rest of the computer are able only to push 150 frames per second, in this case, you will still have 150 frames in one second despite the monitor being able to go to 240.

Conclusion

Generally and with all of my heart I would recommend moving away from 60Hz monitors, yes they are cheaper and more affordable but at the end of the day if you are someone like me who spends most of his daily time in front of the computer you would be grateful to have higher refresh rate screen and save your eyes, and after all, why not enjoy some smoother and better movie and game experience as well as saving your eyesight.

Microsoft has released Windows 11 as a public beta release for all the people that are not willing to be in the insider program. Beta release as of this moment is identical to Insider Preview build 22000.100. and updates will not roll so fast as in insider preview and it is marked as unstable release, same as insider build. I would not install Windows 11 beta on the main PC since some drivers still have issues and may lead to some blue screens. Be aware that the beta build will have all Windows 11 system requirements including TPM 2.0. This is a big difference from insider build which can be installed on systems lacking official requirements. So basically if you have a spare PC that could run Windows 11 install it so you can see what it brings and feel it so you can make a decision will upgrade once it is released later this year.

Call of Duty is a fun and good game, a great time killer with a squad of friends, however sometimes the game crashes, and fun is interrupted. In this guide, we will address and solve this unpleasant issue.

1. Scan game files

   inside launcher choose options and under them, choose scan and repair game files This process can take 5-30 minutes, as the game is 60GB large. This will look through all your game files and make sure they’re all valid and that none are corrupted, which may cause crashes. When it’s complete, you’ll get a notification that the game is now playable. Try again and see if your crashes continue.

2. Update drivers

   Keeping drivers updated is crucial for the game to run smoothly, GPU drivers are possibly important. Go to your GPU manufacturer's website and get the latest drivers.

3. Lower graphic settings

   Intensive graphic requirements can overload GPU and cause crashes, try lowering details in-game and see if this will fix the issue.

4. Disable overlays

   If you’re using a program like Discordthat has an overlay, you’ll want to disable it as it may be causing the graphic error

Error 0x800706be is a Windows error code that pops up when a particular system file is having some issue. This error pops up on other Windows-compatible software as well as driver vendors. This error signifies a misconfigured or corrupted system file so you might encounter this error in different instances. For instance, this error might pop up when you click the audio icon from the system tray or when the Windows Upgrade or Update has failed. Needless to say, this error can be caused by different factors. Anyhow, this post will show you what you can do to fix the problem when the error pops up during a Windows Update or Upgrade. If you are seeing this error when you try to install the latest Windows updates, it will show a Windows Update failed message and you obviously won’t be able to update your Windows 10 PC until you fix this error. You will keep seeing this error even when you try to reboot or update it a couple of times. As mentioned, the error code 0x800706be appears when there is something wrong with your system files – they are either corrupted or misconfigured. This error is most likely caused by the corrupted Windows Update Components. Corruption of these files is not unusual and it could happen anytime. So since the Windows Update files or components are corrupted, you won’t be able to successfully install the latest Windows Updates. Here are some options you can try to fix the problem.

Option 1 – Try running the Windows Update Troubleshooter

Running the Windows Update troubleshooter is one of the basic things to do when facing any kind of issue with Windows Updates. As long as it can it will detect the issue and automatically solve them so that there will be no need for you to do more technical steps to resolve the issue.

• Tap the Windows and R keys on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type in “control.exe /name Microsoft.Troubleshooting” in the field and tap Enter to open the Windows Update Troubleshooter.
• After that, click Windows Update and follow the next on-screen instructions.

Option 2 – Try resetting the Windows Update Components

This is another basic thing to do in fixing the error 0x800706be. It is also one of the solutions that mostly worked for users who also got this error when trying to install Windows updates. And since the problem is caused by corrupted Windows update components, the most logical thing to do is to delete old files and reset components. To reset the Windows Update components, follow the given instructions below carefully.

• Tap the Windows key once.
• Then in the Windows Start Search, type in “command prompt”.
• From the search results displayed, right-click on Command Prompt and select the “Run as administrator” option.
• After that, type in “net stop wuauserv” and tap Enter.
• Next, type in “net stop cryptSvc” and tap Enter.
• Then type in “net stop bits” and tap Enter.
• Type in “ren C:\Windows\Software\Distribution Software\Distribution.old” and then tap Enter.
• Afterward, type in “C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\Catroot2.old” and tap Enter.
• Next, type “net start cryptSvc” and tap Enter.
• Then type “net start bits” and tap Enter.
• Finally, type in “net start msiserver” and tap Enter.
• Now close Command Prompt and then try updating Windows once more.

The Volsnap.sys is a Windows operating system file that is related to the Volume Shadow Copy Service or VSS. It is known to cause a Blue Screen of Death error. The main cause of the Volsnap.sys Blue Screen errors include conflicts with the RAM, issues with the hard disk, incompatible firmware, corrupted drivers, malware infection, and many more. Despite its many possible causes, its fixes are quite straightforward so won’t have any problem following them. The Blue Screen errors that are related to the Volsnap.sys file are:

• KMODE EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED
• PAGE FAULT IN A NONPAGED AREA
• SYSTEM THREAD EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED
• IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL

You might want to try performing System Restore as it could resolve Blue Screen errors like the ones related to the Volsnap.sys before you proceed with the troubleshooting tips given below. To run System Restore, follow these steps:

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• After that, type in “sysdm.cpl” in the field and tap Enter.
• Next, go to the System Protection tab then click the System Restore button. This will open a new window where you have to select your preferred System Restore point.
• After that, follow the on-screen instructions to finish the process and then restart your computer and check if the problem is fixed or not.

If System Restore didn’t help in fixing the Blue Screen error, now’s the time for you to resort to the troubleshooting tips provided below but before you get started, make sure that you create a System Restore point first.

Option 1 – Check if the Volume Shadow Copy service is running and restart it

The first thing you need to do is check if the Volume Shadow Copy service. To do that, refer to the following steps:

• Click on Start and type “cmd” and right-click on Command Prompt from the search results.
• Then select the “Run as administrator” option to open Command Prompt with admin privileges.
• After that, type “net stop sdrsvc” and hit Enter to execute the command in stopping the Volume Shadow Copy service.
• Next, type the “net start sdrsvc” command and hit Enter to start the service again.

Note: You can also restart the service using the Windows Services Manager.

• In the Cortana search box, type “services” and click on the Services icon to open the Services Manager. Alternatively, you can also tap the Win + R keys to launch the Run prompt and then type “services.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open the Services Manager.
• From there, look for the Volume Shadow Service (sdrsv) from the list of services. Its Startup type should be set to Manual by default.
• Restart the service and if you don’t encounter any error while you turn it on, re-run the backup service and see if the backup process runs successfully.

Option 2 – Try checking the Memory for the Errors using Memory Diagnostic Tool

The Memory Diagnostic tool in windows can help resolve the Volsnap.sys Blue Screen 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 and if there’s no issue found, then it’s most likely not a memory-based issue so you should try the other options given below.

Option 3 – Try to update or rollback your device drivers

If the first option didn’t work for you, then it’s time to either update or rollback 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 go to the section of IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers as well as Storage Controllers 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 4 – Try to run the CHKDSK utility

Running the CHKDSK utility might also help you resolve the Volsnap.sys Blue Screen error. If your hard drive has issues with integrity, the update will really fail as the system will think that it’s not healthy and that’s where the CHKDSK utility comes in. The CHKDSK utility repairs hard drive errors that might be causing the problem.

• Open Command Prompt with admin privileges.
• After opening Command Prompt, execute the following command and hit Enter:

chkdsk /f /r

• Wait for the process to be completed and then restart your computer.

Option 5 – Run the System File Checker Scan

System File Checker or 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:

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.

• Restart your computer.

Option 6 – 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 Volsnap.sys. 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.

A number of users reported lately that their Windows 10 PCs automatically boots into the BIOS whenever they start their computers. And when they tried to exit the BIOS and restart their computers, it still boots into the BIOS. If you are one of the users who experience the same problem, worry not for this post will walk you through what you can do to resolve the problem. Each time a Windows 10 computer boots, it goes through a lot of processes and one of them is where it checks the computer for any hardware issue such as hard drives, peripherals, as well as external devices. So if it finds some issue, the computer will halt the boot process and will boot into the BIOS. To fix this, there are several suggestions you can try. You have to check if you’ve pressed any key, especially the F2 or F12, or Del keys. You also have to check the peripherals and external devices in your computer or update the BIOS or reset it. For more information, make sure to follow each one of the options laid out below.

Option 1 – Try to check for any pressed key

The first thing you can do is to check for any pressed key. This might not make any sense but a pressed key can actually cause this problem. So you have to check if you have the F2 or F12 or Del buttons pressed since these are hardware keys that are usually set by the OEM to boot into the BIOS.

Option 2 – Try checking the physical device connections

You might also want to try checking if there are other devices that are connected to your PC. This is because the configuration of the BIOS or UEFI might be configured in a way that any external device connected to the computer has a higher boot priority compared to the hard disk.  And if it’s really the case, the externally attached disk might be the drive your computer is trying to boot into and not the hard disk. In such cases, Pen Drives, USB storage devices, CDs, DVDs, and so on, are included in this category of physical device connections.

Option 3 – Try to set a proper boot device

If the Boot Manager wasn’t able to locate a proper boot device, then it could be the reason why your computer boots into the BIOS when you turn it on. Thus, you have to check if there is an available proper boot device. You can usually find it under the Boot priority section. However, if you’re unable to locate your hard drive or SSD under the Boot device, then you have to change the hard drive but you have to check first if it is properly plugged in and that it works on other computers. If it works on other PCs, then the problem lies in the motherboard of your computer, and in that case, you have to consult its manufacturer.

Option 4 – Try to update the BIOS

Updating the BIOS can help you fix the issue but as you know, BIOS is a sensitive part of a computer. Even though it is a software component, the functioning of the hardware depends on it largely. Thus, you must be careful when modifying something in the BIOS. So if you don’t know much about it, it’s best if you skip on this option and try the other ones instead. However, if you are well-versed in navigating the BIOS, then follow the steps below.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Next, type “msinfo32” in the field and press Enter to open System Information.
• From there, you should find a search field on the bottom where you have to search for the BIOS version and then press Enter.
• After that, you should see the developer and version of the BIOS installed on your PC.
• Go to your manufacturer’s website and then download the latest version of BIOS on your computer.
• If you are using a laptop, make sure that you keep it plugged in until you have updated the BIOS.
• Now double click on the downloaded file and install the new BIOS version on your computer.
• Now restart your computer to apply the changes made.

Note: If updating the BIOS didn’t help, you might want to consider resetting it instead.

Option 5 – Try resetting the BIOS/UEFI configuration

You might also want to reset the BIOS configuration which will lead to arranging the boot configuration since it is intended by the manufacturer. Note that this will get rid of any blockage in the boot process. All you have to do is take out the CMOS battery for a couple of seconds and then put it back again. After that restart, your computer and will be booted directly into Windows. Resetting the BIOS would also get rid of any password set for BIOS and you need to change your CMOS battery in case it didn’t work.

Socket Error 10060 - What is it?

Socket Error 10060 is a typical Outlook Express error. This error often occurs when the connection to the server fails. It specifically refers to a timeout while communicating with the email providers servers. The vast majority of all emails use SMTP for outgoing mail. Socket error 10060 in most instances is related to the SMTP settings for the user’s email. The error message is sometimes displayed in the following format:

Outlook Express Socket Error10060 - The connection to the server failed Account:’ your account’

Another thing you must know about this error is that it only stops the user from sending emails. This means that you can only receive emails, not send them.

Solution

Error Causes

The cause of this error code is hard to narrow down typically because there are many causes that can trigger the socket error code 10060. Some of the most common causes of this error code are:

• Issues in email settings
• Authentication settings
• Firewall settings
• Malware

Though this is not a critical error code it is advisable to fix it immediately without any delays. This error can hamper your communication via email and slow down your work productivity especially if you use Outlook for communication across the organization.

Further Information and Manual Repair

Here are some of the many methods to fix and resolve this error code. To help you resolve this issue, we have selected and listed down the best, quick, and easy do-it-yourself methods. Try them and repair Socket error code 10060 all by yourself without any professional assistance.

Method 1 - Check the Names of POP3 and SMTP Servers

To begin with, first check the names of the POP3 and SMTP servers to ensure that they are correct. Then check the outgoing SMTP port. Contact your email provider to determine the correct settings. Sometimes email providers change this value more than any other in their individual settings. Get it verified. Change the settings if needed.

Method 2 - Outgoing SMTP Server Requires Authentication

Sometimes the error code may occur due to authentication issues. If this is the reason then, don’t worry it is easy to fix. Simply go to the settings options and check the box ‘My server requires authentication’. Once you check the box, try sending the email again. This is most likely to resolve the socket error 10060 on your PC.

Method 3 - Disable Firewall

Your Firewall security may sometimes be the reason for socket error 10060 too. Therefore if after trying method 1 and 2, the error still persists, then it is advisable to disable firewall. Once you disable it, try sending an email using your Outlook account. If it works, the error is resolved.

Method 4 - Scan for Malware

There is a possibility that the Socket error 10060 is popping on your PC due to malware infection. If so, then it is advisable to download Restoro. This is a highly functional and a user-friendly PC fixer deployed with a powerful antivirus and several other scanners. Run it on your PC to scan for malware. It detects and removes all types of malware including Trojans, viruses, adware, spyware, and more in seconds. Click here to download Restoro to resolve socket error 10060 on your system today.

If you are starting to get into the “wonderful” world of coding there is a high chance that you have heard of GitHub or Git for short and there is a slight chance that you might be confused about what exactly GitHub is. If this is the case, we are welcoming you to go through our article and find everything about it and why it is so popular and used all around the world.

What exactly is GitHub?

If we want to go all technical and just point the obvious we could say that GitHub is basically a WEB site and cloud service used for storing and managing code in all languages. But to truly understand why you should use GitHub and not Dropbox or any storage service instead you need to understand concepts like Version Control and Git.

Version Control

Version control is meant to help developers to work separately on different parts of codes and update is separately not breaking the original one. Take note that this option is meant when there is a big project and has more than one coder working on it. If you are a solo coder on your personal project this might not be anything groundbreaking for you personally. But let’s now assume that you are part of a team and that your task is to edit only one function of a project and other people working will also have their tasks. With version control, you could take only part of the code and work on it and once you are finished merge it back into the main repository. All changes in the main code are automatically tracked and can be easily reverted back if needed. The good stuff is that rolling back can be used only let’s say on a code you submitted and other changes made to the source can be kept. As you can see this makes a very good and efficient working space and a good coding environment.

Git

Git itself is a specific version control system, an open-source version control system to be more precise created by Linus Torvalds in 2005. It is a distributed version control system, which means that the entire codebase and history is available on every developer’s computer, which allows for easy branching and merging. Currently, over 87% of worldwide developers are using Git on a daily basis.

So GitHub is?

GitHub is a profit company that offers a cloud-based Git repository hosting service, in other words, it automates and makes it easy for everyone to use Git for version control and collaboration. It focuses on user interface and ease of use so even beginner coders can use it right away without any large confusion and using command lines and setting it themselves manually. GitHub also has a free personal plan in which you can host a public code repository completely free. This option placed GitHub very popular with open source projects. If you are a company you can purchase a plan to have a private code repository shared only to members of your team or company.

Conclusion

As stated almost every developer on a planet uses some version of Git, many of them are on GitHub and there is a lot of open source projects on it. Some employers even ask to see your GitHub repository when deciding if they want to employ you, think of it as a portfolio for coders. There is not a single disadvantage and not a single argument against using it, especially it has a personal free option. So if you want to look better and more professional in the coding world go, make an account and place some code on it, share it with the world, and see how it goes. You might even get some help on projects from other coders if you need it.