Windows

Diane's laptop did an automatic update of Windows 10 and she got a Blue Screen of Death. Leo suggests that with her laptop being about five years old, there's a good chance that her hard drive has died. It could also be a motherboard failure or memory failure. But it's definitely a hardware issue. Leo suggests taking it in to IBM as a laptop that old could be at the end of the line. She should find out how much it costs to fix it, and if it's more than a few hundred, it's time to buy a new one.

Sarah accidentally spilled wine in her computer, so she's ordered a new one. She's borrowing a computer from a friend in the interim. She has a variety of email accounts though, and she wants to access those, but she doesn't want to leave her account information saved on that computer. Sarah should create her own account on that PC. Then, before she gives back the computer, she can just delete that account. Sarah can just go into Users section of Control Panel and make a new account with administrative privileges. Then log out of her friend's account, and log into that account.

Kyle is having trouble updating Windows 10 to the Spring Creator's Edition on his HP PC. HP has had problems with the Spring Creator's Update and Leo has a hunch the fall update will have similar issues. Leo says not to force the update. Microsoft will only offer the update when the machine is ready to receive it. It locks up after about 35%. Leo says to get it as a stand alone update and update it that way. He should download it directly as a file and install from a thumb drive. If that doesn't work, he can try the latest update from Microsoft with the media creation tool.

Al wants to install Windows on his second computer. Can he do that? Rich says that his license for Windows is only good for one computer. He could install it, but it won't activate. He'll have 30 days to use it, but then it will require a license key. So he'll have to bite the bullet and buy another copy of Windows.

The left speaker on Steve's computer stopped working. He replaced the speaker, replaced the cables, updated the drivers, and even used Linux on a USB stick. None of that worked. What's left? Rich says to try plugging a headphone into the jack to see if that works. Steve thinks that besides the drivers, he thinks that it's still a software issue. He should look at the speaker settings, and should try a different USB plug.

Todd has a Dell laptop running Windows 8. He recently upgraded to Windows 10 and now he's having issues with the laptop crashing and he can't restore it. It won't even do a factory reset. Dell also no longer has Windows 8 discs that he can restore the OS from. Rich says that getting a clean install of Windows is the most important thing. He recommends getting a Windows 10 disc, like downloading the media creation tool and using that from a friend's computer. Then install that. He could also buy Windows 8 on eBay. It's also best to format his hard drive first.

Gary got Windows 10 and didn't like it, so he downgraded to Windows 8.1. If he buys another computer, can he use the image ID of Windows 8 on it? Leo says he really won't want to do that. Ultimately, he'll have to go to Windows 10 and it's pretty much the same, anyway. It sounds to Leo like Gary didn't have his Windows 10 machine properly set up and he couldn't find anything he needed. Microsoft used to have a free utility called Easy Transfer Wizard, but they've killed it and now he would have to buy one from Laplink.

Michael wants to know how he can connect an old hard drive to his new computer to get the data off it. Leo says he can get a temporary hard drive connection kit to do it. Newertech is the company that makes them. It's called the Universal Drive Adapter Kit, and costs about $45. It may be cheaper on Amazon.

Lou wants to re-partition his hard drive so he doesn't have his data sharing the same drive as his OS and programs. Leo says that with modern operating systems, it's not really necessary anymore. But it is good drive "hygiene," and he won't run the risk of wiping out his data when updating or reinstalling Windows. It's also easier to back up his data that way.

Joseph built his own gaming PC but every once in awhile it reboots itself. Leo says it could be updating itself. But it also may be that a component isn't working well when it's cold, but when it heats up, it will work just fine. So an errant solder could be the culprit. It sounds like a hardware issue. Joseph should keep in mind that when he builds his own PC, he is his own tech support. He should check out the motherboard manufacturer and see if there's a recall.