command prompt

Infopackets Reader 'Lorraine' writes: " Dear Dennis, Not too long ago I reserved my copy of Windows 10, but then I canceled it a few days later. I have followed your guide on how to cancel Windows 10 reservation , but now every two days or so I get ... an incredibly annoying pop-up window asking me to start the Windows 10 upgrade, or postpone for a later time (which is usually 2-3 days later). When I click on Windows Update I keep seeing a message stating 'Your upgrade to Windows 10 is ready' - and I can't download any other updates. It's almost as if Microsoft is keeping my computer hostage! I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sam T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have clicked on the 'Get Windows 10' app in my tray bar and it still says it's reserved. I read that I can force the upgrade by using entering 'wuauclt.exe /updatenow' in the command prompt -- ... however, I keep getting a message that Windows 10 Upgrade Failed, with error code 80240020. I searched for 'windows 10 upgrade failed 80240020' on Google and have read a number of posts, but I can't seem to figure out how to make this work. I keep getting an access denied error. Can you help? " My response: Many ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Terry C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am trying to run the command 'sfc /scannow' (system file checker) through the Windows command prompt to repair corrupt Windows files, but every time I try and run 'sfc /scannow', it stops at 42% ... and gives the error message 'Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.' Therefore, the 'sfc /scannow' does not complete and I can't repair my corrupt Windows files. How can I fix this so I can finish running the scan and fix my files? " Update 20200116 : I'm getting a lot of ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sam G. writes: " Dear Dennis, My Windows Update won't update. It happened when I upgraded to Windows 8.1; I had over 100 updates to download. I managed to download most of them but there were a few that failed. Windows Update says ... the error code is 8007045B on the failed updates . I did a search for 8007045B in Google but the information is conflicting, confusing, and for the most part all the articles I've read go around in a loop. I also came across an article on PC World which says to do revert my restore point - but that didn't work, either. Apparently ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Dave T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently installed Windows 8.1 on my netbook and downloaded all the updates which took almost 2 days to complete. Towards the end there was a slew of failed updates which did not install; one of ... them which was a cumulative patch for Internet Explorer. I read that to fix the issue I need to open a command prompt as Administrator user and then run 'sfc /scannow' to fix the failed updates, but I cannot seem to run cmd.exe as the Administrator user. When I try and run 'sfc /scannow', I get the error message that 'You must be an administrator ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Cliff H. writes: " Dear Dennis I can't seem to figure out how to remove Spotify from my computer (it's best known as a music streaming app commonly used on smartphones, though I'm using it on my Windows PC). Online forums suggest ... I am just one of thousands enraged by the behavior of Spotify, which insists on launching in my web browser whenever the PC is restarted. It seems there is no way to uninstall Spotify, even though I've unchecked Spotify from the Windows Startup. I have tried third-party startup solutions such a ccleaner, etc, but nothing has ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Craig D. writes: " Dear Dennis, In the past I've used the msconfig utility many times to clear items from the Windows Startup. However, recently I tried to run msconfig and Windows reports that msconfig has stopped responding and ... my PC freezes. This is very frustrating! Any ideas why my msconfig stopped working? " My response: This is a very common problem, though you didn't say which Windows operating system you're using. As such, I'll provide solutions for Window XP and onward because most likely other users are having the same problem. Here are ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Fred J. writes: " Dear Dennis, I had to reinstall Windows 8 on my machine, and I wanted to download the Windows 8.1 update afterward. But when I try, that I'm told I must have all the current Windows 8 updates installed. So, I ... looked at the updates for Windows 8 and there are over 150 of them. I requested that they all be downloaded and installed, and they did. However, when the installation and configuration starts, I get the message that there was a ' Failure Configuring Windows Updates; Reverting changes ', and then Windows Update fails. Now I'm ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Bob T.' writes: " Dear Dennis, I am trying to reinstall Windows on my computer but I can't seem to find my Windows DVD anywhere. In fact, I'm not even sure if my computer came with an install disc. Should I download Windows from ... a torrent website? Can I use a DVD or USB drive to reinstall Windows? What do you suggest? " My Response: You can download a copy of MS Windows 7, 8, or 10 for free from Microsoft and install it from DVD or USB, though the steps for installing from USB are a little more involved for Windows 7. At the time of writing this ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'mg_barrett' writes: " Dear Dennis, Is there a way to show a list of running processes (programs) in Windows? Also, how do I determine if a process is active or not? " My response: A process is said to be active if there is CPU or ... memory activity associated with the process. The opposite is also true; if there is no CPU or memory activity reported by a process, then it is considered to be an idle process. Process activity can be determined using various utilities mentioned below. How to View Active and Idle Processes in Windows You can use Windows Task Manager to view all ... (view more)