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Interesting information has come out from Microsoft, Windows 11 dark theme will include a different sound theme from its standard light one. When in dark mode on Windows 11, the system sounds generally become softer, and they echo a bit, creating a more soothing experience that matches the overall look and feel of the dark mode. Flipping back to light mode brings the system sounds back to their normal level. However, even though the light model has slightly louder sounds than the dark mode, Microsoft has taken great care to make sure the audio is more soothing, according to a report from CNBC. The designers of Windows 11 took inspiration from an approach called calm technology. Microsoft’s Christian Koehn and Diego Baca wrote about calm technology in a post on Medium. In it, they said, “Windows 11 facilitates this through foundational experiences that feel familiar, soften formerly intimidating UI, and increase emotional connection.” According to a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to CNBC, “The new sounds have a much rounder wavelength, making them softer so that they can still alert/notify you, but without being overwhelming.”

Bluetooth troubleshooting, I believe firmly that each one of us who has Bluetooth sooner or later had some issues with it, after all, it seems that it is in nature of radio transmitters to from time to time due to nature of signal and nature of Windows loose communication between them and can cause device which seems to work properly but can not establish the connection. Most of the time Bluetooth issues are like that, the signal gets lost, the connection is broken, and establishing it again can be sometimes real pain, luckily for you, we have experience in this field and are here to help you and provide you with tips how to solve Bluetooth connection issues based on our own struggles.

1. Check if BlueTooth is ON

   Yes, this seems stupid and sounds a lot like is it plugged in but here me out. Due to lost connections and different power plans setting inside your Windows, your Bluetooth receiver might be actually turned OFF thus preventing your other device to find your computer. Checking to see if Bluetooth has been by some accident turned OFF and switching it back ON should be the first thing to do and this could be a simple solution for your problem.

2. Restart the BlueTooth device.

   Yup, another of these have you tried turning it OFF and turn it back ON advice which seems like tech cliche but in the case of Bluetooth, this can actually solve your problem. Radio signals and radio connections are not the same kinds of beasts like cable ones and sometimes Bluetooth device remembers certain information and can cause conflict. Turning it OFF and then back ON will clear its memory and cache and you will be ready for a new start hopefully solving your issue along the way.

3. Check power supply

   If your Bluetooth device does not have a battery indicator, it would be wise to check on the battery status of the device. Sometimes we forget to charge batteries, sometimes someones have drained them. Checking the battery or just checking if the power supply is working properly should not be overlooked and it definitely should be on your to-do list of quick solutions.

4. Restart PC

   Sometimes most simple solutions work and if restarting your Bluetooth device did not work, maybe restarting your PC will. When you restart the PC, you clear the cache and many other things that could potentially be the reason for connection issues.

5. Checks BlueTooth device distance from computer or interference from obstacles

   The Bluetooth device operates via radio waves, and like wi-fi, if the distance from the computer is too large or you have some thick walls in between signal will degrade and be almost useless. Be aware that your PC might catch device waves and detect them but the signal itself could be too weak for the connection to work properly. Take the device and move it closer to the PC to see if the problem will go away, if it does issue was in distance or walls.

6. Reinstall or update device drivers.

   Sometimes the issue could be in Windows update and old drivers, make sure that all of your drivers are updated with the latest version and that Windows itself has the most recent update in it. Trying to reinstall device cold also solve some the issue.

7. Remove and Pair deice again

   if you tried all previous steps, try removing the device from Windows and then pairing it again. This could solve the issue since Windows itself could have mistakenly saved it like something else and can not recognize it.

8. Use Windows troubleshooter

   If everything else failed, right-click and go to troubleshoot. Windows troubleshooter will try to find the issue and direct you to a solution.

If sadly none of these things do work, you should contact the device manufacturer since it is a very good chance that the problem is one of a hardware nature.

If your Windows 10 laptop suddenly turns off when you unplug its power cord, then you’ve come to the right place as this post will guide you on how you can fix this issue. One of the most common causes for this kind of issue is that there is some problem with your laptop’s battery. It is possible that it might have gone bad or has been damaged. However, this couldn’t be the case especially if the laptop is new. The problem could have something to do with the system settings, connections, laptop hardware, and so on. To fix it, there are various suggestions you can check out such as follows:

Option 1 – Perform a hard reset on your laptop

This option works in most cases when the laptop with a removable battery is charging slowly as it is plugged in constantly. Refer to the steps below to do a hard reset on your laptop.

1. Switch off the power of your laptop.
2. Disconnect your laptop’s charger and then remove the battery.
3. Tap and hold the power button for at least 30 seconds – doing so will discharge the capacitors of the motherboard and reset the memory chips that were active constantly.
4. Plug the battery back and then charge the laptop again.

Check if the problem is fixed, if not, proceed to the next option below.

Option 2 – Try to change the Power Options

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run utility.
• Then type “powercfg.cpl” and tap Enter to open the Power Options window.
• Next, go to your selected power plan and click the “Change plan settings” option to open a new page.
• From there, click on the “Change advanced power settings” option. This will open a new window where you can see various power consumption options.
• Now on the next window that appears, click on “Change advanced power settings”. This will open another window where you have to expand the Processor power management > Maximum processor state.
• Then change the value for On battery mode to 25% and enable Adaptive brightness.
• Now shut down your computer and try to boot it with the power cord unplugged.

Option 3 – Try to run the Power troubleshooter

The next thing you can do is to run the Power troubleshooter. To do so, follow these steps:

• Go to Settings and navigate to Update & Security > Troubleshoot.
• After that, look for the “Power” option from the given list of built-in troubleshooters and click on it.
• Next, click on the “Run the troubleshooter” button to run the Power troubleshooter.
• Once the troubleshooter is done identifying the problems, follow the next on-screen instructions to resolve the problem.

Option 4 – Try to run the Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report

You could also try to run the Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report to fix the problem. This tool is helpful and will help you analyze the status of the battery but note that this can be quite overwhelming especially if you’re not well-versed in this matter.

Option 5 – Try to uninstall or reinstall the Battery driver

You might also want to uninstall or reinstall the battery driver as it can also resolve the problem. But before you start, you have to shut down your computer and remove the power chord as well as the battery. Once you’re done, follow these steps:

• Plug the power cord and restart your computer.
• Once your computer has restarted, tap the Win + R keys to open the Run utility and type “devmgmt.msc” in the field and tap Enter to open the Device Manager.
• After that, look for the “Batteries” driver from the list of drivers and expand it.
• Then right-click on the “Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System” driver and click on the “Uninstall device” option.
• Once it’s done, restart shut down your computer and remove the power cord and then attach the battery.
• Now attach the power chord again and restart your computer to automatically install the driver.

Option 6 – Try to update the BIOS

Updating the BIOS can help you fix the problem 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.

There are times when you may encounter some glitches on your Google Chrome browser in your Windows 10 computer. One of these glitches is when the connection status of Chrome keeps on saying “Waiting for cache” which is displayed at the bottom-left side of the browser in the Status bar. At the time of writing, it isn’t clear yet what could be causing this problem. Although it is possible that it’s caused by browser cache, some extensions in the browser. On the other hand, it could also be caused by the browser profile or due to some fragmented files or that the SSD is occupied. Whatever the cause is, you can check out each one of the given options below to fix the problem.

Option 1 – Try clearing browser cache

There are times when some data in the browser is conflicting with the loading of the website and triggers some problems like “Waiting for cache”. And so you can try to clear your browser’s data. This might be a very basic solution but oftentimes it works in fixing this kind of error in Google Chrome. Follow the steps below to clear the data in your browser.

• Open your Google Chrome browser.
• After that, tap the Ctrl + H keys. Doing so will open a new panel that allows you to delete the browsing history and other data in your browser.
• Now select every checkbox that you see and click on the Clear browsing data button.
• Then restart your Chrome browser and check if you can now open any website or not.

Option 2 – Try to disable writing of Cache files to the SSD

You can also disable the writing of Cache files to the SSD to stop Google Chrome’s dependency on the SSD to gather all the cache files.

Option 3 – Delete the User Profile in Chrome

You can also try deleting the User Profile folder in Chrome. To do so, follow these steps:

• You need to first end every single process of Google Chrome. To do so, right-click on the Taskbar then select the Task Manager. And if the Task Manager is not responding, you can just use the Alt + Ctrl + Del keys and then select the Task Manager.
• After opening the Task Manager, under Processes, look for Google Chrome’s process which would most likely be named “chrome.exe”.
• Right-click on Google Chrome’s process and then select the End task option.
• Next, tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialogue box.
• Then copy and paste “%USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalGoogleChromeUser Data” and hit Enter.
• From there, look for a folder named “Default folder” and then copy the folder to another drive as a backup.
• After creating a copy of the folder, delete the Default folder.
• Next, open Google Chrome again and go to Settings > Advanced > Reset.

Option 4 – Reset Chrome

Resetting Chrome can also help you fix the error. This means that you will be restoring its default settings, disabling all the extensions, add-ons, and themes. Aside from that, the content settings will be reset as well and the cookies, cache, and site data will also be deleted. To reset Chrome, here’s what you have to do:

• Open Google Chrome, then tap the Alt + F keys.
• After that, click on Settings.
• Next, scroll down until you see the Advanced option, once you see it, click on it.
• After clicking the Advanced option, go to the “Restore and clean up option and click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” option to reset Google Chrome.
• Now restart Google Chrome.

Option 5 – Try to clean reinstall Chrome

There are instances when programs leave files behind after you’ve uninstalled them and the same thing can happen to Chrome so before you reinstall Chrome, you have to make sure that you have deleted the User Data folder. To do so, refer to the following steps:

• Hit the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Next, type “%LOCALAPPDATA%GoogleChromeUser Data” in the field and hit Enter to open the User Data folder.
• From there, rename the default folder and name it something else, e.g. “Default.old”.
• After that, install Google Chrome again and check if the issue is now fixed.

What is Mscomctl.ocx?

Mscomctl.ocx is a Microsoft library Windows Common Controls file. The Mscomctl.ocx error occurs when this file is either lost or gets corrupt. The error is displayed on the screen when the user tries to run a program that is dependent on this file. It appears as:

“Component 'MSCOMCTL.OCX' or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid”

Solution

Download Available to Completely Repair the Error Mscomctl.ocx

Error Causes

Installing and then uninstalling a large number of applications on the Windows operating system often corrupts or unregisters the Mscomctl.ocx library. This message will continue to appear on the screen until you re-register the library file again on your system.

Further Information and Manual Repair

You don’t need to have the sound technical knowledge or call a professional to resolve Mscomctl.ocx error on your PC. The Mscomctl.ocx error is easy to repair and can be fixed in a couple of minutes. Here are 2 solutions to repair the Mscomctl ocx error code on your system:

Cause: Error occurs because the Mscomctl ocx file is unregistered

Solution:

1. Go to the start menu and type ‘Mscomctl.oxc and press enter
2. Copy the ‘Mscomctl.ocx’ file and paste it in "C:WindowsSystem32" folder
3. Now click the start menu again and type ‘CMD’ in the search box. This will open your computer's command prompt.
4. Once this opens, type either of the following commands and then press enter. If you have a 64-bit operating system, then type: Regsvr32 "C:WindowsSysWOW64MSCOMCTL.OCX” and if you have 32-bit operating system, then you should type ‘Regsvr32 "C:WindowsSystem32MSCOMCTL.OCX"

By doing this, you will be able to register the Mscomctl.ocx file on your PC and then you will no longer receive Mscomctl.ocx error code.

Cause: Error code occurs because the Mscomctl.ocx file is missing

Solution:

1. First search for MScomctl ocx on your local drive to see if it is missing.
2. If the file is missing, then download the MScomctl.exe file from a reliable website.
3. Now extract the file to your C:WINDOWSsystem32 directory
4. Then click start and run.
5. Now type ‘REGSVR32 MSCOMCTL.OCX’ and press enter

Please note to implement any of the two solutions stated above, you will need administrator rights. If you have the administrator rights then only can you make the above registry changes. Therefore to make the following changes you will have to access the PC using the Administrator account. Simply follow the instructions given above to repair this error code problem right away!

If you suddenly encounter an error saying, “Something happened and this app couldn't be installed. Error Code: 0x80244018”, when trying to install apps on your Windows 10 computer, then you’ve come to the right place as this post will help you in resolving the problem. It’s not just you that’s experiencing this problem right now as several users also reported getting this error they try to apply a Windows update or download and install the application from Microsoft Store. There could are several reasons why you’re getting this error. It could be caused by a third-party application, or it could be that the update is blocked by your VPN or proxy server, or that the BITS service is disabled. In addition, the error could also be due to some glitch in the component services or it could be that the system files are corrupted. Whatever the cause is, you can fix the error by following any of the given options below.

Option 1 – Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter

Running the Windows Update Troubleshooter can help in fixing Error Code 0x80244018. 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 2 – Put your PC in a Clean Boot State

It could be that some third-party application is the one that’s causing the problem so it’s best if you put your computer in a Clean Boot state. During this state, you can start the system with a minimum number of drivers and startup programs that will surely help you in isolating the root cause of the issue.

• 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” 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.)
• After that, try to install the Windows app again.

Note: If you are able to install the app without any trouble at all then it means that the error is caused by some third-party application on your computer. You need to look for the culprit and uninstall it once you found it.

Option 3 – Restart BITS

The Background Intelligent Transfer Service or BITS is a part of the Windows Update service and is the one that manages the background download of Windows Update, as well as scans for new updates and so on. And if Windows Update is experiencing some problems, you can try restarting BITS but make sure that you have admin privileges to do so.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Next, type “services.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open Windows Services.
• From the list of Services, look for the Background Intelligent Transfer Service and double-click on it to open Properties.
• After that, you need to set the Startup type to “Automatic (Delayed Start) and click on Apply.
• Now click the Stop button to stop BITS and then click the Start button to restart the service.
• Click OK to save the changes made and then restart your PC.

Option 4 – Disable the Proxy server

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type “inetcpl.cpl” in the field and hit Enter to pull up the Internet Properties.
• After that, go to the Connections tab and select the LAN settings.
• From there. Uncheck the “Use a Proxy Server” option for your LAN and then make sure that the “Automatically detect settings” option is checked.
• Now click the OK and the Apply buttons.
• Restart your PC.

Note: If you are using a third-party proxy service, you have to disable it.

Option 5 – Try disabling the VPN

As mentioned, if you are using VPN, this could be the reason why you’re getting Error Code 0x80244018 so the most obvious thing to do is for you to turn off the VPN and try to run the Windows Update once more. And if you use a VPN software that works using their software, you can just completely exit or log-off from its account. On the other hand, if you are using a built-in Windows 10 VPN, you can simply turn it off or delete all the settings you have created there. Although it’s understandable that you might have to use a VPN connection to connect to the work network, you really have to disable it at least after you’ve successfully installed the app.

Option 6 – Reset Windows Update components

• 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 7 – 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 that might be the cause why you’re getting the Error Code 0x80244018. 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 PC.

Option 8 – Run the DISM tool

You can also run the DISM Tool as it helps in repairing the Windows System Image as well as the Windows Component Store in Windows 10. Using this built-in tool, you have various options such as the “/ScanHealth”, “/CheckHealth”, and “/RestoreHealth” which could help in fixing the Error Code 0x80244018.

• Open the Command Prompt with admin privileges.
• Then type in the following commands and make sure to hit Enter right after you type each one of them:
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
  • exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
• Do not close the window if the process takes a while as it will probably take a few minutes to finish.

We couldn’t update system reserved partition” - What is it?

Customers will most likely encounter the “We couldn’t update system reserved partition” error when upgrading to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. This error may also come with error code 0xc1900104 or error code 0x800f0922.

Solution

Error Cause

“We couldn’t update system reserved partition” Windows 10 upgrade error is normally caused by too little space on the System Reserved Partition (SRP). The System Reserve Partition is an additional small partition created by Windows, which stores boot files. The SRP can be filled up with security apps and third-party anti-virus. Once this partition has insufficient space, the system will not be able to upgrade to Windows 10.

Further Information and Manual Repair

Caution: The following steps are complex and need to be done by experienced users especially using the command line. Once an error is made in entering commands, there’s a chance that your device can be put in a no-boot situation, or data stored on the device can possibly get lost.

To upgrade to Windows 10, your device needs to have at least 15MB free space on the System Reserved Partition. Follow the procedure below and then try upgrading again.

First, know if the System Reserved Partition is whether in GPT or MBR partition style:

1. Open the Run window by pressing the Windows key + R. Type msc in the window then press Enter.
2. Right-click on the Disk where SRP is located then select
3. Click over the Volumes
4. On the Partition Style line, you’ll see which partition style your device is using, either Master Boot Record (MBR) or GUID Partition Table (GPT)

Second, determine which method you will need:

Depending on what partition style your device has and whether you’re currently on Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1, there are various methods you need to do.

Method 1: Windows 7 or 8/8.1 with GPT partition

1. Click on the Start button and search for cmd. In the results, right-click on Command Prompt then choose Run as administrator. The command prompt window will appear.
2. Type mountvol y: /s at the command prompt then press Enter. This command will add the Y: drive letter where you can access the System Partition.
3. Type taskkill /im explorer.exe /f then hit Enter. Afterward, restart explorer in Admin mode by typing exe and hitting Enter.

NOTE: While in Admin mode, some apps like OneNote will not run.

4. Open File Explorer then type Y:EFIMicrosoftBoot in the address bar. Hit Enter.
5. Choose the language folders you want to permanently delete. Language folders are named with four letters split with a hyphen. For instance, you want to delete the German language: choose de-DE.
6. Optional: You can also delete unused font files for more space. Type Y:EFIMicrosoftBootFonts in the address bar then press enter.
7. Once you permanently deleted the unnecessary files, reboot the device to return to explorer.exe to normal mode and remove the Y: drive letter.

Method 2: Windows 7 with MBR partition

Doing this method will make a permanent, but small increase in the free space of the device’s SRP.

1. Delete language folders

a. Open the Run window by pressing the Windows key + R. Type diskmgmt.msc then hit Enter. b. Select System Reserve partition then right-click on it.

c. Choose Change Drive Letter and Paths then select Add.

d. Type Y for the drive letter then click OK.

e. Click on the Start button and search for cmd. In the results, right-click on Command Prompt then choose Run as administrator. The command prompt window will appear.

f. Type Y: at the command prompt then press Enter.

g. Once you’ve switched to drive Y, type takeown /d y /r /f . then hit Enter.

NOTE: Ensure that the space and period after “f” is included in order for the command to work properly      

h. Type icacls Y:* /save %systemdrive%NTFSp.txt /c /t then hit Enter to back up the permission to the drive.

NOTE: Ensure that all files are marked as successful and that no files are marked as failed.

i. Type whoami then hit Enter. Record the username that appears. Afterwards, type icacls . /grant <username you got from whoami>:F /t then press Enter.

NOTE: Ensure that there’s no space between the username and “:F” or the command will not work.

j. In the File Explorer, open the SRP drive and select the Boot folder. Choose the             language folders you want to permanently delete. Language folders are named      with four letters split with a hyphen. For example: de-DE is the German language          while en-US is the U.S. English language.

2. Truncate the NTFS Log:

a. Open the Command Prompt then type chkdsk /L Y: to check the size of the NTFS Log. If the NTFS Log size is less than 5000KB, you need not truncate the file.

b. Type chkdsk /L:5000 /X /F then hit Enter to truncate the NTFS Log.

c. Return to Disk Management window. Select Action menu then select Check if the device’s SRP now has a larger amount of free space. Once there’s enough space, right click the System Reserve Partition then select Change Drive Letter and Paths. Choose Y: then select Remove.

3. If there’s still not enough available space after truncating the NTFS Log, resize the USN journal:

a. Open the command prompt then type fsutil usn queryjournal Y: to display the size in hex value. Convert the hex value to decimal then divide it by 1048576. The result you will get will be in MB. If the journal size is 30MB or more, proceed with truncating the file.

NOTE: To convert the Hex value to Decimal, open the Calculator app in Windows then choose View menu. Select Programmer then choose Hex. Type the Hex value then choose Dec.

b. Type fsutil usn deletejournal /D /N Y: then hit Enter to delete the journal. Type fsutil usn createjournal m=1500 a=1 Y: to recreate the journal having the new log size value.

4. Restore permissions

a. Type icacls Y: /restore %systemdrive%NTFSp.txt /c /t in the Command Prompt. Check if the files were successfully processed before proceeding. If you see a message saying some files failed while processing, this is normal since some of the files have already been deleted before performing a backup. However, if there are no successful files indicated, the command was not properly executed.

b. Type icacls . /grant system:f /t then hit Enter to adjust the ACL back to System. Now, you can set the owner of the drive by typing icacls Y: /setowner “SYSTEM” /t /c then press Enter.

c. Check if the device’s SRP now has enough free space by going back to Disk Management and refreshing the data. If the SRP already has sufficient space, you can now remove the drive letter. Right-click on the System Reserved Partition then choose Change Drive Letter and Paths. Select the Y: drive then choose Confirm deleting the drive letter by clicking OK.

Method 3: Windows 8/8.1 with MBR partition

This method makes a larger, but temporary, increase in the SRP free space.

1. Be sure you have an external drive having at least 250 MB free space and formatted as NFTS.

2. Open Run by pressing the Windows key + R. Type mscthen to choose the Recovery Partition. Right-click on it then choose Change Drive Letter and Paths.

3. Select Add then type Y for the drive letter, click

4. Click on the Start screen then type cmd in the search bar. In the results, right-click on Command Prompt then choose Run as administrator. The command prompt window will appear.

5. Switch to another drive by typing Y: in the command prompt. Once you’re in the drive Y, type takeown /d y /r /f .

NOTE: Ensure that space and period after “f” are included in order for the command to work properly.

6. Type whoami then hit Enter. Record the username that appears. Afterward, type icacls . /grant <username you got from whoami>:F /t then press Enter.

NOTE: Ensure that there’s no space between the username and “:F” or else the command will not work.

7. Once the command is completed, type attrib -s -r –h Y:RecoveryWindowsREwinre.wim then hit Enter.
8. Open File Explorer and check the drive letter of the external drive you’re using (In this case, let’s assume F: is the drive letter of the external drive so when you see F: for the rest of the steps, this means the drive letter of the external drive you’re using).
9. Type mkdir F:RecoveryWindowsRE in the Command Prompt then hit Enter. Afterward, type xcopy Y:RecoveryWindowsREwinre.wim F:RecoveryWindowsREwinre.wim /h
10. Type C:WindowsSystem32Reagentc /SetREImage /Path F:RecoveryWindowsRE /Target C:Windows to map the new path
11. Verify if the copy was successfully done then type del Y:RecoveryWindowsREwinre.wim /F
12. Return to Disk Management window. Click on the Action menu then hit Check if the device’s SRP now has a larger amount of available space. Once there’s enough space, you can proceed with the upgrade.
13. Upon completion of the upgrade, move back the wim file to the Recovery Partition. At this point, you can re-map now the location by:
    1. Open the Command Prompt then type xcopy F:RecoveryWindowsREwinre.wim Y:RecoveryWindowsREwinre.wim /h and press Enter.
    2. Type C:WindowsSystem32Reagentc /SetREImage /Path Y:RecoveryWindowsRE /Target C:Windows to re-map to the original path.
14. Return to the Disk Management window. Right-click on the Recovery Partition then choose Change Drive Letter and Paths. Select the Y: drive then choose Remove.

Method: Download a Powerful Automated Tool

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Blinking or Flashing Desktop After login - What does it mean?

Upon updating to Windows 10, some users might encounter a blinking or flashing desktop after logging in. This will result in a repetitive restarting of explorer or you won’t be able to make the start menu and shortcut keys work. In addition, the network icon might not appear in your taskbar as well. Other Windows 10 error messages include error code 0xc000021a.

Solution

Error Causes

Your blinking or flashing desktop after logging in might be the result of problems with the bushell.dll shell extension, which is a part of the Norton Security Suite. Another possible cause for this annoying problem is an issue with your display driver since not all systems will use the same display driver and will depend on what graphics card you use.

Further Information and Manual Repair

In fixing the bothersome blinking or flashing desktop after logging in problem, you can do a manual repair method to address the root problem. You need to be familiar with the Windows command line to successfully go through the process. However, if you are not knowledgeable or confident enough to do this on your own, it would be best to seek help from a professional. Or, you might want to consider using an automated tool to solve the issue.

You need to identify first what’s causing the blinking or flashing of your desktop after login to properly address the issue. The following methods can be done if your issue is caused by bushell.dll shell extension issue:

Method One: Forcefully Terminate Process

1. Press on Ctrl+Alt+Del then select Task manager
2. Start a Command Prompt as an administrator by choosing the File menu then Run New Task.
3. Type exe. Make sure to tick the checkbox “Create this task with administrative privileges.”

NOTE: Text input is most probably affected by the explorer restarts so you might need to repeatedly type some letters or to carefully input texts.

4. In the Command Prompt, type taskkill /f /im explorer.exe. This will stop the blinking or flashing.
5. Type cd “Program Files” afterward, type dir /s bushell.dll to locate where the dll is. (For example, purposes, use c:\program files\Norton Security Suite\Engine6422.5.2.15 as the location)
6. If the dll file is not found, you can try repeating step 5 but this time, use “Program Files (x86)” However, you can proceed with the next step if you already located where the bushell.dll is.
7. Type cd ”c:\program files\Norton Security Suite\Engine 6422.5.2.15” to change the name of the directory you found the dll in.
8. Type ren bushell.dll bushell-crash.dll
9. Restart now the system by typing shutdown /r /f /t o in the command line.

Method Two: Uninstall Programs

1. Log out then go to the sign in screen
2. Press the Shift key as you simultaneously click on the Power button on the screen.
3. Continue pressing on the Shift key as you click
4. Continue pressing on the Shift key as you wait for the Advanced Recovery Options menu to appear.
5. Once the Advance Recovery Options menu appears, click on Troubleshoot then select Advanced options.
6. Click on the Startup Settings then select
7. Boot on Safe Mode by pressing 4 on your keyboard.
8. Log in then press Windows key + X.
9. Select the Device Manager then expand Display Adapter.
10. On your Display Adapter, right-click then select
11. Exit Device Manager
12. If in case you also have an older Antivirus utility, you should uninstall it as well.
13. Restart

NOTE: You might need to download the latest Video Driver on a working computer. Save it in a thumb drive then copy and install it on your computer. If in case there is no native Windows 10 driver, you can also download the latest Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 video driver. Afterward, install it in compatibility mode.

Method Three: Use Microsoft System Configuration Utility

1. Log out then go to the sign in screen
2. Press the Shift key as you simultaneously click on the Power button on the screen.
3. Continue pressing on the Shift key as you click
4. Continue pressing on the Shift key as you wait for the Advanced Recovery Options menu to appear.
5. Once the Advance Recovery Options menu appears, click on Troubleshoot then select Advanced options.
6. Click on the Startup Settings then select
7. Boot on Safe Mode but this time, choose 5 to start in Safe Mode with networking.
8. Check if your problem is present or not in Safe Mode. If not, then you are on the right track.
9. Press on the Windows key + R then type msconfig to start up your exe file.
10. Click on the Services tab then choose Disable All. Afterward, click on
11. Once you’re prompted to reboot your computer, go ahead and reboot in Normal Mode. Check if the issue is still present.
12. If the blinking or flashing desktop after login is gone, then you can just do a process of elimination.
13. Start-up on your exe again then begin bringing up services a few at a time.
14. You can turn on all other services except for the following which causes the blinking or flashing desktop after login problem: Problem Reports and Solutions Control Panel Support •Windows Error Reporting Service.

What Is 0x80004001 Error Code?

0x80004001 is an error code that Windows users encounter quite commonly.

This error usually occurs when users try to update an old Windows application or attempt to run a certain application. When this error appears on the screen, the system automatically restarts to stop further processing. The error results in a blue screen after the system boots.

This blue screen is known as the Blue Screen of Death.

Error Causes

There are different files in the Windows operating system responsible for its smooth functioning. Sometimes problems like viruses or incorrect register entries corrupt or damage these files. This is when this 0x80004001 error appears.

Simply put, some of the most common causes that trigger 0x80004001 error are listed below as follows.

• Corrupt or damaged EXE, VXD, DLL files of Windows
• Incorrect entry of registry files
• Presence of viruses or malware in the system
• Corrupt or damaged system files
• Unfinished application installation

Irrespective of what causes this error, it is of utmost importance to troubleshoot it as soon as possible.

Further Information and Manual Repair

While there are several ways of troubleshooting this error, the two most useful approaches have been listed below as follows.

• This solution is for advanced users. Start your system and log on to it as the administrator. Click on the Start button. Now select All Programs->Accessories->System Tools. Finally, click on System Restore. In a new window, select the option “Restore My Computer to an Earlier Time”. Now click on Next. A list of restore points will be displayed. Choose the most recent restore point from this list and click “Next”. Now click next on the confirmation Window again. Once the restoration is finished, the computer will restart itself and you will observe that the error no longer appears.
• This solution is for beginner or novice users. Download a 0x80004001 error repair utility available online. Install this program on your computer and use it to scan for the error in your system. When the scan completes, find if any feature allows you to fix errors. If yes, click on it. Now restart your computer again. You will notice that the virus has disappeared. It is a good idea to use error repair utilities because they scan the system, diagnose the error and then perform the repair.

Use any of the methods listed above to get rid of the 0x80004001 error once and for all.

Error 504 - What is it?

Error 504 is a type of runtime error that occurs on Windows PC. A runtime error is a bug that causes software or hardware problems thereby preventing programs from working on your PC correctly. This error may occur during the execution of the program.  It also slows down your PC performance.

Solution

Error Causes

Error 504 can be triggered by many causes such as:

• Incompatibility between 2 software programs
• Malicious software
• Missing DLL files
• Registry issues

Further Information and Manual Repair

Whenever you experience the error 504 on your system, it is advisable to resolve it immediately, typically because runtime errors like error 504 can lead to system failure and valuable data loss which is more than often hard to recover. To resolve this error code, you don’t necessarily have to hire a professional for the job. In fact, here are some solutions that you can try to fix by yourself, even if you are not a computer programmer.

1. Get the latest updates for Windows and for the program showing the error

This is a quick way to resolve runtime error 504 on Windows PC. To update the latest updates for Windows and for the program causing the error, open Windows Update by going to the start menu. In the search box type ‘update’ and then in the list of results click Windows Update.  In the left pane click on check for updates, wait while Windows looks for the latest updates. It will show you a list of updates available select the important updates that you want to install. Then click ok and then click install updates. After the updates are successfully complete, restart your PC and try running the application. If the error still persists, then try the solution given below.

2. Scan For Malicious Software

Sometimes the runtime error 504 may occur due to viral infection and malware. So, to resolve it download an antivirus. However, the antivirus can also slow down your PC performance.

3. Scan for Registry Issues

Another way to resolve it is to scan for registry issues. The registry and DLL files get damaged when it overloads with too much data. This particularly includes irrelevant and obsolete files. Registry issues trigger runtime errors like 504. The best way to resolve it is to download Restoro. This is an advanced and multi-functional PC Fixer embedded with multiple utilities like a registry cleaner, an antivirus, and a system optimizer. The registry cleaning utility resolves registry issues by removing the unnecessary files completely and repairing the damaged dll files. The antivirus module scans and removes all kinds of malicious software on your PC like viruses and Trojans, thereby resolving the runtime error 504 in seconds. As for speed, Restoro also functions as a system optimizer which boosts the performance of your system significantly. Restoro is safe and bug-free software. It has simple navigation and a user-friendly interface which makes it very easy to operate and workaround. It is compatible with all Windows versions. Click here to download Restoro and resolve error 504 today!