Recent content by IceWolf

I've been running W8.1 - 64 bit on an Asus m3a78 motherboard for about 10 years with no problems. AMD processor. Up until now, my ISP provided me with "up to" 100 Mb - no problems there. I now have an "up to" 500 Mb fiber service. The wired speed tests all read around 80-90 Mb up and down, day...

Well, I had what I consider to be a normal startup this morning without extended full bore drive activity for the first 10 minutes while W8.1 gathers information to send to Microsoft. And, I might add, without any announcements or indication of what task is running that prevents any program...

I haven't done anything with catroot yet. Today, the same startup hogging is coming from the program \System 32\appraiser. This is all about collecting and sending data for the Customer Experience Program. Even though I do not download Customer Experience Program updates in Windows Updates...

Update. By using Task Manager, I see that the process that hogs the drive and memory is in \System32\catroot. Searching this topic, catroot and catroot2 have something to do with Windows update and cryptographic services to name 2 things. Some articles recommend deleting the contents of these...

I see lots of posts about how long various tasks take. In my case the daily Windows Maintenance seems to take up to 10 minutes to be done. Disk activity is maxed, CPU activity is High and it seems like no other computer functions will work until the maintenance is done. This behavior...

Iman, Thanks for posting your solution to the enable/disable network. I'm truly impressed, but it is far beyond my ability. I will say that it is interesting if you look at the actual registry key that appears on a standard network device shortcut. In my case, the shortcut points to a DSL...

I have a shortcut to a control panel item that sits on the desktop. The target of this shortcut is a registry key that looks like {BA126ADB.......}. Is the key considered to be a "file" by W8.1? Can I substitute a hard link to this registry key by using MKLINK? thanks!

Updated Information A better description of a non-working desktop shortcut in Win 8.1.... Network connections to my wired DSL modem work fine, internet connection fine. As administrator, I have made a desktop shortcut to the Control Panel\Network Connections\Ethernet Network. The context...

Update on original trouble After re-installing Win 8.1 64-bit and leaving well enough alone, I was able to install the cumulative update (referenced above) without experiencing crashes and strange error messages. I am currently up to date and none of the more recent updates causes trouble with...

Since I now keep an image drive of my latest working installation, I will install it again and see if there are any further clues. Thank you, IW

The latest 8.1 64-bit update - KB2919355 - is a cumulative update for 64 bit systems. It is nearly 1 Gb of data. After installing this update I began to notice that certain 32-bit programs would not start, producing error messages like this: "The program is not completely installed, or it...

Thanks for trying it out. If the shortcut is working normally for you, I'm not sure what differences there might be. I tried creating the shortcut that you suggested. It takes me directly to the Control Panel\Network Connections window, but does not list the enable/disable choices. Again, I...

Strange behavior on my Win 8.1 desktop with a shortcut to Control Panel\Network Connections\Ethernet Network. After a system startup, (as administrator) the shortcut can "Disable" the network connection by right clicking the shortcut and selecting "Disable". Later, when the shortcut is right...

Dear Friends, I think I'm fighting a network permissions problem, but I'm stuck. I have reliable connections to my DSL modem and to the internet. I would like to enable/disable my network interface, in this case the ethernet connection to my DSL modem, (not the DSL modem connection to the...