What's going on ?

My new 2 month old HP 20 All in One desk top has been operating more or less OK but with the usuaLbumps and grinds typical of lots of activities. Up until yesterday.

I logged on but slowly. Then tried to open Internet Explorer. Didn't want to open. Finally after lots of manouvers I got it open. Then it wouldn't open my E-mail. Again after lots of steps I was able to open it in other places by other means.

One event that occurred was quite a few Windows updates early when I booted up. Then things went haywire. I tried several remedies and then called my annual contract Gurus, officially sanctioned Microsoft tech support. Didn't fix it, said it was a MIcrosoft problem. So I called back, Same. Called back a third time and got rather testy so they said OK. They fixed alright --------- !!

* My big blue E IE logo on desk top is now opening Adobe business cards files. I changed that to open in Work.

* My big blue E has now disappeared from the desk top. *( The littel blue E in task bar is still there and works ).

* When my MSN home page opens it is no longer the apparent Windows 8 Metro style. It is the old traditional.

* I have a 3 computer LAN. I opened home page in Vista Home Premium on one and it looks just like the page on the new computer.

* I went to another computer with Win 8 Pro and it is still the Win 8 Metro style. So the Windows update apparently didn't change the home page. Or did it ?

* Presently I'm installing Windows 8 Pro 64 bit on the new HP which came with Win 8 *( Regular OEM ). This is the disc I store bought. I had installed it on computer #2 which had suffered a hard drive crash and which had a new Seagate installed. That was a clean install on a bare hard drive. This current install on the new HP is actually an upgrade from Win 8 reg OEM to Win 8 Pro. Much to my surprise it is installing with no problems or questions. I find that surprising ! Hasn't asked for a product key or challenged a second install ! YET ! It's only 73% complete and taking it's good old time so I'll know latertoday if it cures the missing E on my desktop and remedies the MSN Metro style home page.

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a). A couple of days ago I got the flash message - "Your computer will restart in 2 days". I had read here before that it happened to posters too. But mine flashed off again.

b). Recently I have been getting stuck in a continuous restart cycle and had to switch off the surge proterctor to break it. Read that here too.

c). I have been getting a blank screen, maybe not th BSOD - mine is white not blue. Again switched off the surge protector. Read about that here too to others.

d). I've found 9 defects in Win 8 myself on my own that are unresolved still. I posted on the Microsoft professionals tech forums and didn't get answers! I read that there is a major fix coming soon for over 52 problems.

It's really very difficult to sift out the wheat from the chaff. It could be defects, it could be MS downloads, it could be attackers, hackers, invaders. It could be the very advanced and high tech aspects of the newer, bigger, better computers and components and the advanced software.

Ugh. Not pretty. Of course, I know that you know that you could go back to factory fresh if you wanted. And, I assume you are not ready to do so. Here are the things that come to mind (focusing only on your HP 20 for now):

1. scan for all types of evilware;

2. roll back the latest updates using control panel > windows update > view update history > installed updates;

3. do a system restore to an earlier point where everything was working OK;

4. run sfc /scannow (may need to run multiple times--say 3); and

5. try creating a new user account of the same type with which you typically login. Copy everything you will need to the new account (from C: > Users > Old User Account) if the new account works. Then, delete the old account. You can go back to the original user name similarly. Before you do so, make sure that deleting the original user account also deleted that user's folder in C: > Users. Sometimes this folder does not get deleted. If not, then going back to the original user name creates a minor only superficial "problem." To delete the folder, you may have to take ownership. I would not go back the original user name using any other procedure.

Of course, you don't have to do all the above unless things continue to not clear up sufficiently. And, if the listed things, in toto, don't clean things up sufficiently, then we could get serious.

Znod:

Thanks. As time permits I will do.

To update Win 8 Pro has successfully installed, that is - updated factory installed Win *( Regular OEM ) HP took over and spent a great deal of dwell time doing something, Not sure what.

* My Big E Internet explored in desk top is still missing?

* MY MSN homepage is NOT the Metro style as before.

Quite a surprise and disappointment.

No doubt I'll eventually uncover the right settings to fix these things. I do have lots of professional help to call on. It takes time and patience.

I really appreciate your responsiveness
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The Win 8 Pro install over the Win 8 was quite an interesting experience. I don't think I have ever observed anything quite like that before.
.

Pinned

UPdate:

IE 10 is now pinned back in to the start menu.

But it still NOT reverted back to it's original configuration in Metro.

I agree with znod. Scan your pc for malware, evilware, spyware etc. Reading your post gives me an unpleasant feeling that there may be more installed onto your pc than you might want to be......

Good luck!!!

Thanks

Update:

Yesterday my computer #2 with a new hard drive and Win 8 Pro that I installed went into a Windows 8 update session that was quite extensive. This morning I checked and it still had the Metro style on my MSN home page. So it was not the updates that changed my MSN home page on computer #1.

All is working OK on #1 so far as I can tell yet. Snappy opening, good home page EXCEPT it is still the old style, like Vista Home premium, and not Metro Win 8. Too I still don't have the big E back on the desk top but haven't worked on it.

My Guruaid didn't apparently mess anything up, *( They never do ) and they "fixed" but not exactly as I expected.,

I ran the "free" download scan mentioned above by me. It found tons of problems, tons. But the only thing free was the download. The "fix" costs a purchase. Typically the come on.

I also ran Spybot and Norton scans. Found some stuff and fixed it.

I'll be speaking to HP today about issues. Actually it is they who are responsible for the Win 8 problems *( As the OEM ) and not Microsoft.

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Der Snoober:

What does Snoober mean ? Translation please.

Bet you know where Overejissel is. But how about Bentheim ?

Any Tibbe's around you ?

Notice.

Just passing along info received in my E-mail this AM from official sources.

Warnings about significantly increased cyber attacks.

This JIB has actionable information that is comprised of several sections covering malware indicators, network traffic, tool indicators, hostnames, and IP addresses known to be associated with ongoing malicious activity.

wetibbe said:

Update:

"I ran the "free" download scan mentioned above by me. It found tons of problems, tons. But the only thing free was the download. The "fix" costs a purchase. Typically the come on."

Any Tibbe's around you ?

Click to expand...

In my experience any "tool" that charges you to fix problems that it finds is completely bogus!! They have the incentive to "find" things and scare you in paying them yo "fix" the problems. These "problems" are nonexistent or they flag harmless cookies as "dangerous malware", when in fact, the malweare is the scanner itself...

Progress

Update:

Pinned MSN home page to the desk top but with the MSN butterfly logo. It opens my MSN home page.


But not happy. Still don't have the original big E and MSN style Metro.


Spoke to HP. I voided my warranty when I installed Win 8 Pro. It's now Microsoft's problem.


Not a problem for me I love this XXXX!

Absolutely correct.

In my experience any "tool" that charges you to fix problems that it finds is completely bogus!! They have the incentive to "find" things and scare you in paying them yo "fix" the problems. These "problems" are nonexistent or they flag harmless cookies as "dangerous malware", when in fact, the malweare is the scanner itself...

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Totally 100 % correct.

That's why I never recommend software.

I learned a very expensive lesson with them. Not only didn't fix but crashed my computer.

I agree with znod. Scan your pc for malware, evilware, spyware etc. Reading your post gives me an unpleasant feeling that there may be more installed onto your pc than you might want to be......

Good luck!!!

Click to expand...

In addition, turn off Autorun to avoid malicious spywares, viruses to spread into your PC

Win+X -> Run and type gpedit.msc

Administrative Templates >Windows Components > Autoplay Policies , double click "Turn off Autoplay", Next is click Enabled, and then select All drives so that you can disable Autorun on all drives.

To learn more about autorun, Please read this article:
Is autorun really that evil, and if so, how do I turn autorun off?

wetibbe said:

Der Snoober:

What does Snoober mean ? Translation please.

Bet you know where Overejissel is. But how about Bentheim ?

Any Tibbe's around you ?

Click to expand...

"Der Snoober" is just a nickname of me. It's a degeneration of my real name, which is Rover ==> hence the avatar .

And ofcourse I know where Overijssel and Bentheim are. It's the province next to Gelderland, where I live.

Sorry, don't know any Tibbe's. But I suspect that you, or your ancestors are Dutch people from Bentheim?

Yep

You got it.

In addition, turn off Autorun to avoid malicious spywares, viruses to spread into your PC

Win+X -> Run and type gpedit.msc

Administrative Templates >Windows Components > Autoplay Policies , double click "Turn off Autoplay", Next is click Enabled, and then select All drives so that you can disable Autorun on all drives.

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Acknowledged with thanks. I'll get to it in due course and later comment.

Great site, great people.

Merci,infiniment !

topgundcp said:

In addition, turn off Autorun to avoid malicious spywares, viruses to spread into your PC

Win+X -> Run and type gpedit.msc

Administrative Templates >Windows Components > Autoplay Policies , double click "Turn off Autoplay", Next is click Enabled, and then select All drives so that you can disable Autorun on all drives.

Click to expand...

What's the difference between this approach and going into Control Panel, selecting Autoplay, and unticking "Use Autoplay for all media and devices"? (Which is what I did, with a gut feeling that Autoplay was bad, but not being aware of the gpedit option.)

Friends

Sorry to be the bearer of good tiding but;

With all due respect, if my esteemed colleagues here thought they could resolve my problems ................................

My Guru professionals phoned me today to follow up from yesterday ..................

To reiterate my two problems were:

#1. Big E disappeared from the desk top.

#2.My MSN home page lost the Metro format.

Guruaid is my contract annual professional officially sanctioned Microsoft tech support. I pay them $169.99 annually. I just re-upped the contract for another year. Worth every penny !

They got my big E back on the desk top and got my Metro style home page MSN back too ------------------ after 45 minutes of effort.


All OK so I can close this with a - resolved !

What's the difference between this approach and going into Control Panel, selecting Autoplay, and unticking "Use Autoplay for all media and devices"? (Which is what I did, with a gut feeling that Autoplay was bad, but not being aware of the gpedit option.)

Click to expand...

The difference is gpedit will globally set for all users, unticking Autoplay is for individual Login.