If you have a Dell Latitude E6410 and install free fall protection, expect to see a text file on your hard drive with the following content.

3-1-2018, 19:09:54: ————————————————————-
3-1-2018, 19:09:54: ST Microelectronics Free Fall Protection Installer
3-1-2018, 19:09:54: Version: 2.00.10.34, OS: Unknown OS
3-1-2018, 19:09:54: Mode: Complete 2.00.10.34
3-1-2018, 19:09:54: Continuing with installation…
3-1-2018, 19:09:54: Done
3-1-2018, 19:09:54: ReturnCode: 0

Description: ST Microelectronics Free Fall Sensor
Version: v2.00.10.34 (A11) September 10, 2012
File Name: Chipset_Driver_RCHTX_WN_2.00.10.34_A11.EXE

I thought that it would be difficult but it is very easy to create an EFI Partition on a USB Flash drive using a Windows PC for a Hackintosh. These are the steps that I found worked without searching for additional software.

Instructions
01. Plug in the USB Flash Drive under 8GB into an available USB Port on the Windows PC.
02. Press and hold the Windows Key + R to launch the Run window.
03. Type in CMD and press the ENTER key to launch the Command Prompt.
04. Type DISKPART and press the ENTER key to launch the interface.
05. Type LIST DISK and ignore DISK 0 as this is usually the hard drive where your Windows OS booted.
06. Type SELECT DISK 1 (sub 1 for your actual USB) press ENTER.
07. Type clean and press ENTER. (You may receive an error)
08. Type clean and press ENTER. (You should be successful)
09. Type create partition EFI size=200 and press ENTER.
10. Type format quick and press ENTER.
11. Type assign and press ENTER.
12. Type Active and press ENTER. Ignore any error message
13. Type exit and press ENTER and close the CMD window.

You can now copy your Clover files, eject the drive and test but before ejecting, call the volume name EFI.

I had the opportunity to get my hands on a Dell Latitude E6410. The seller mentioned that they could look at the BIOS and see POST or and get to the Command Prompt on a bootable CD but the Graphical User Interface (GUI) for Windows would not show up.

Pre Inspection
I thought this would be a corrupted video driver which I could attempt to repair or replace and at the most, reinstall Windows 7, 8 or 10 but I would come to learn that this was not so and was a hardware problem that would require the motherboard to be replaced.

Post Inspection
I’m not sure what happened but the USB port on the right was damaged and one (1) of the four (4) pins was touching metal so when the POST completed and it was time for the OS to take over, it crashed when support for the USB was granted. Thankfully, this could be bypassed with an option disabled in the BIOS.

Temporary Fix
To save replacing the motherboard, I disabled the USB port in the BIOS. This allowed the me to install Windows 7 and upgrade to Windows 10.

Permanent Fix
A few weeks later when I had some time, I opened the unit and straighten the pins and was able to enable the USB ports settings in thee BIOS.

Bonus
With the E6410 working perfectly, I can now run make it into a Hackintosh to run Windows, macOS and Ubuntu.

If you find that you can’t Play YouTube Videos on a Windows PC after doing so the previous day, I may have a simple fix for you.

No Playback
The first troubleshooting tip is to trying to do a sound test from the Windows Taskbar. While doing the sound test, if you receive a message informing you that your device is already using the audio, please save all your open documents and restart the computer. When you attempt to replay the video again on YouTube, it should work now. If not, you have also confirmed that your sound drivers needs to be reinstalled.

Green Playback
If the video playback is green and sound can be heard, follow the tips based on the browser being used at the time.

Website Message
Keep in mind that to interact with YouTube.com, you will need one of the supported browsers for YouTube to avoid error messages. If you have it, update it or download a competitive version.

It took a few months but I finally ran into the Trojan.Emotet malware on a client’s computer. They were happy that I discovered it as they had McAfee Antivirus installed on the computer and it failed to catch it and is now wondering if it slipped in through email (a most likely choice for Human Resources employee reviewing resumes) or their USB Flash Drive.

Detection of Trojan.Emotet
I was able to detect Trojan.Emotet thanks in part to the free version of Malwarebytes which I had just installed on the user’s Windows machine. I personally use Malwarebytes (including the paid version) as added protection for all my Hackintosh systems.

Protection from Trojan.Emotet
If you are in Human Resources, have potential employees fill out an online form available on or through the company’s website rather than email in a file which could compromise the security and data on the PC and network. Another option is to have the resumes faxed in. We use the fax feature as the incoming fax is converted to PDF by our telecommunication systems.

Second, any device that is connected to a network or the Internet should be scanned at least once per week while the detection scanner updated daily.

I have found a great way to block YouTube Advertisement and I find that it work with all browsers and operating systems that is capable of viewing YouTube.

What You Will Need
– An Internet Browser with Tabs
– Knowledge of Bookmarks and Shortcuts

Preparation
Create a bookmark or desktop shortcut for Bing Search as Bing will be used later on as your YouTube player. It will be required for publishers with a channel over 10,000 views.

Removing The Ads
When you need to see a YouTube video, copy the URL of the YouTube video you want to see into the Bing Search box that you you have open in another tab. When it is found by Bing Search, select the ‘Click to view on Bing’ link. The YouTube video will start to play and without any pre-roll ads as Bing’s servers are filtering them out. While the video is playing, be sure to right click and disable annotations so that any popup banner ads will not show/float over the video. Ads or promotion that are recorded directly into the video (sponsors for the video) will always show and you will need to fast forward around these.

Supporting the Video Channel
If the video was useful to you, you can then open the video in a new tab so any ads will show. It will also give you the chance to comment on the video should comments not be disabled or download any attachments the publisher linked to in their description. Be aware that those links can be monetized as well with AdFly.

I was about to grab some lunch when a client called in frantically that they had a COM Surrogate warning message that popped up on their screen.

Since I setup their Windows 8.1 Professional machine for them years ago when the Operating System got released from Microsoft, I knew they should not have any codec problems as being mentioned on the Internet or viruses as well as I have also install the Barracuda Malware Tool on their system for added protection.

When I arrived at their location, I saw the COM Surrogate message that they mentioned (coming from Windows Photo Viewer) stating that COM Surrogate is not responding and if you close the program, you might lose information.

To make matters worse, the client could not get the COM Surrogate warning message off the screen because clicking the “Close the program” option or “X” on the windows did not work. After taking a screenshot to add to their support ticket, I was able to get rid of the warning by finally hitting the Esc key that is located on the top row of their keyboard.

A Q&A Chat with the client led me to find out that the client trying to view and delete photos through the delete option in Windows Photo Viewer that was being stored on their USB Flash Drive and was also still compressed in the .zip file that was shared with them through a public folder on DropBox.

If you have a .zip file with photos as my client and need to remove some of the photos or files, you must first unzip the compressed file, delete the unneeded files and then compress it once again when you are done so that you can share the edited version. Failure to do this will let you get the same COM Surrogate error message as well.

Note: I have not tested this situation but if you receive the files on a CD, DVD that is not rewritable, please assume that you will have a similar issue unless you export the files to your computer for editing.

While installing a DYMO LabelManager PNP Label Maker for a client in their office, I noticed that .Net Framework 3.5 was required. I felt this was not a problem as I can enable .Net Framework 3.5 in the Control Panel of the Windows 8.1 Operating System or download it from Microsoft’s website.

Neither of the above worked until I remember that I am in an office environment and WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) might be a cause of the client and myself not being able to install the programming infrastructure to operate the labeler so I switched over to the local Administrator account on the computer, and proceeded to execute gpegit.msc from the Command Prompt.

To get to the below settings, navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair setting window as shown below.

If you receive a Script Error message when surfing with Internet Explorer, try the following.

Clean Up
The first method that you should try is by clearing cache and cookie info from the machine to see if it resolves the issue.

Reset The Browser
Resetting the Internet Explorer browser is one way of solving the Script Error message. Do this only if other free Internet browsers that are installed on that machine is fine or if Internet Explorer is operating normally on other computers located on your network as this will prevent you from eliminating local browser settings when the issue is on the website itself.

If you have a corrupted Segoe UI Symbol font, it can cause an annoyance with the Windows Operating System. Why? Well, the font is used to display icons (such as a power button) on the logon screen and without a stable font, you will see vertical rectangles in its place.

Repairing the Font
To repair the font, you will need to navigate to the fonts folder in the Control Panel (Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Fonts) using a local or network account that is a member of the Administrator group and then paste over the corrupted seguisym.ttf font aka (Segoe UI Symbol Regular) with one that is not corrupted.

Operating System Version
Do not worry if the you do not have the same Windows OS available. The troubled PC that I was fixing for a client was Windows 8.1 Professional and I was able to take the font from my Windows 10 Professional and copy it to their computer to fix the problem. All you need to make sure is that the font is not corrupted and is a current or later version.

Segoe Font Version
* 5.00 – Windows 7 [download]
* 5.90 – Windows 8 [download]
* 6.23 – Windows 10 [download]

Donate storage space to me by registering here for free.

Note
A restart of the troubled Windows PC is not required but you will need to logout to see the changes on the logon screen after you have uploaded the font. If you do not have access to another Windows PC, you could try to ask a friend, coworker or search the Internet but make sure it is from a source that you can trust.

Are you wondering how Web Companion Pro got installed on your computer? Well, If you were to download FileZilla from filezilla-project.org, it will be bundled along with the install.

Ad-Aware Web Companion Pro detects and blocks harmful websites, defending you against malicious threats such as malware, phishing sites and browser hijacking.

This is the reason why I always encourage users to read before they click and also to use the custom options when installing all software programs.

A bundled program could be useful but it can also have a old program that is not patched against exploits and this can be harmful to your system and information.

Are you considering using Shell Fork Bomb Protection? You should as it is helpful for the sites on your server. To configure the status between enabled and disabled, you need to navigate to Home > Security Center > Shell Fork Bomb Protection in WHM. Experienced users can try the Command Line access from cPanel.

When To Enable Shell Fork Bomb Protection
To prevent users who have terminal access (SSH/Telnet) the ability to use all of the resources on the server, you should enable Shell Fork Bomb Protection.

perl -I/usr/local/cpanel -MCpanel::LoginProfile -le ‘print [Cpanel::LoginProfile::install_profile(‘limits’)]->[1];’

When To Disable Shell Fork Bomb Protection
If you have a WordPress or similar site, you should know that Shell Fork Bomb Protection can conflict with certain caching plugins (like W3 Total Cache) so if you have any caching plugins installed and running on your sites go ahead and disable the protection to prevent issues.

perl -I/usr/local/cpanel -MCpanel::LoginProfile -le ‘print [Cpanel::LoginProfile::remove_profile(‘limits’)]->[1];’

If you have no access to Webmail from your home or office, log into your cable modem and see if these settings are enabled. If they are, then you have discovered the cause and will need to lower the blocking settings permanently or temporary when you need to connect to Webmail.

LAN-to-WAN: Allow as per below.
HTTP and HTTPS (TCP port 80, 443)
DNS (TCP/UDP port 53)
NTP (TCP port 119, 123)
email (TCP port 25, 110, 143, 465, 587, 993, 995)
VPN (GRE, UDP 500, TCP 1723)
iTunes (TCP port 3689)

WAN-to-LAN: Block all unrelated traffic and enable IDS.

If you have no access to WHM from your home or office, log into your cable modem and see if these settings are enabled. If they are, then you have discovered the cause and will need to lower the blocking settings permanently or temporary when you need to connect to WHM.

LAN-to-WAN: Allow as per below.
HTTP and HTTPS (TCP port 80, 443)
DNS (TCP/UDP port 53)
NTP (TCP port 119, 123)
email (TCP port 25, 110, 143, 465, 587, 993, 995)
VPN (GRE, UDP 500, TCP 1723)
iTunes (TCP port 3689)

WAN-to-LAN: Block all unrelated traffic and enable IDS.

If you have no access to cPanel from your home or office, log into your cable modem and see if these settings are enabled. If they are, then you have discovered the cause and will need to lower the blocking settings permanently or temporary when you need to connect to cPanel.

LAN-to-WAN: Allow as per below.
HTTP and HTTPS (TCP port 80, 443)
DNS (TCP/UDP port 53)
NTP (TCP port 119, 123)
email (TCP port 25, 110, 143, 465, 587, 993, 995)
VPN (GRE, UDP 500, TCP 1723)
iTunes (TCP port 3689)

WAN-to-LAN: Block all unrelated traffic and enable IDS.

Are you having problems with your HP OfficeJet Pro 8740 All-in-One Printer? Please see if any of these troubleshooting tips below will help in troubleshooting and repairing your device.

Recommended Items
– Gaffer Tape
– Mailing Label
– Permanent Marker
– Surge Protector

Optional Items
– Dust Rag
– Extended Power Cord

Power Button is Illuminated
If the power button is illuminated and pressing or holding it in does not power it off, you will need to disconnect the power cable that is located in the rear of the device (left looking from the front, right looking from the back) or from the wall outlet. Once the power cord is disconnected, keep it that way for at least thirty (30) seconds. If you have to do other tasks (such as answering the phones, door, etc.) use the gaffer tape that i mentioned above and secure it to the wall or surface that the device is laying on so that it will not fall down and into a crevice that will be difficult for you to get to. After thirty (30) seconds has elapsed, firmly reconnect the power cord and power up the device.

Power Button is Not Illuminated
A power button that will not illuminate means the device is not getting power. If this is the first time the device is being turned on, check once again and make sure that the power cord is pushed in firmly at both ends. If it will still will not power on, try switching to a different outlet as these go bad at times. If you find the outlet to be bad, cover it up with gaffer tape so that you know to avoid and look into repairing/replacing it soon as the outlets often die in pairs.

Screen is Illuminated
If the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen appears to be on and is missing the icons to control the functions of the device, powering it off for a few seconds will help. If the power button is not responsive as I mentioned above, disconnecting the power cable for thirty (30) seconds will help.

Screen is Not Illuminated
If both the power button and LCD screen remains off, please check and make sure that all the cables are connected properly. When shifting the device, the cord at times become loose from the back. If that is the case and happens frequently, an extended power cable will help.

Sending a Transmission
After powering up the device, it may take up to three (3) minutes for the device to get a dial tone so that it can send and receive faxes so be patient. If after three minutes you can not send faxes, please make sure that you have placed the RJ11 connectors on your telephone cord into their proper jacks in the rear of the device. In a rush, I have plugged into the wrong jack by feeling with my hands.

Receiving a Transmission
Call from a phone to see if the line rings and also to see if the device answers. If the line rings forever, check in the settings to see if it is set for auto answer. On a dedicated fax line, this will not be a problem to set as it will not pick up voice calls.

If you notice that your email is stuck in the Outbox of Microsoft Outlook for you Microsoft Exchange account, you can do a few test to see what is the root cause of the issue.

Outlook Web Access
Using one your installed free Internet browsers, navigate to the Outlook Web Access URL (ie. http://mail.example.com) that is used for remote email access and try and login and then send an email to yourself. By sending an email to yourself, you will confirm if your email password is expired or network account is disabled or the issue is with the installed Microsoft Outlook itself.

Quick Fix to Send Emails
To get the stuck emails out if your received the test email, return to Microsoft Outlook and move the emails to the draft folder. Once those stuck emails are in the draft folder, return to Outlook Web Access session (ie. http://mail.example.com) in the Internet browser and navigate to the draft emails folder. You can then open each draft email and send them off to your contacts.

Temporary Fix to Send Emails
Continue t send email from the browser until you or your IT Department can find a permanent solution and the root cause of the emails being stuck.

Permanent Fix to Send Emails
Sometimes, an Outlook profile will get corrupted so one option is to visit the Control Panel and create an additional profile (without deleting the bad profile) for the account that is causing problems. Creating a new profile for Outlook is also helpful for times when you cannot start Microsoft Outlook and receive Safe Mode error messages. If the alternative profile that you or the IT Department just created works, import any archive folders and setup rules from the bad profile. This is why it is important not to delete it the bad profile but leave it disabled.

Password Has Expired
Another cause of emails getting stuck is the network password being expired or the account is locked. If you lock the PC instead of logging out, you will not know that you need to update the password. If you had the Caps Lock on when entering your password, this could cause your account to become disabled. Please print this article out now so that you can review the following steps below.

Quick Fix
After printing out this article, save all your programs and documents and log out and then try to log in. If the password is expired, you will be prompted to change it and it will need to meet the policy set by your System Administrator. Once you get in, Open Microsoft Outlook and see if you can send emails normally.

Permanent Fix
If there is a message saying that the referenced account is locked, then you will need to take a walk over to your IT Department to speak with HelpDesk since they will often not reset it via phone for security reasons but will often unlock it. You can still get into your system by removing the computer’s Ethernet cable so that you can log in with your cached password but note that you will not have access to your shared drives and email until your network account is fixed by the IT Department. This is one reason why you must replace the hard drive when you have a virus as it can contain a password stealer and snatch the saved password.

Are you buying a domain name that has already been registered? Check out the blacklists to see if you will have any problems emailing from the domain or will be blocked by visitors security filters.

I bought two used domains and one is blocked by schools as it was used for a proxy while the other is banned from AdSense for the content that it had.

* Google Safe Browse
* McAfee Site Advisor
* Phish Tank
* Zero Spam
* Dan
* DNSRBL
* Kempt
* Mail Spike
* McAfee DNSBL
* Blocklist.de
* DNSBL Chile
* aupads
* Backscatterer
* UCE ProtectL3
* UCE ProtectL2
* UCE ProtectL1
* Spamcop
* Wordfence Threat Defense Feed
* Spamhaus
* SORBS
* Pedantic
* Spamrats
* MegaRBL
* Interserver
* Realtime Blacklist
* abuseat
* Spamikaze
* Spam Cannibal

If Windows Update is stuck (especially on 0%) for at least 30 minutes, it is possible that your Windows PC has insufficient hard drive space to complete the updates. To determine this, you will needs access to a second hard drive or a second computer.

Second Computer
With access to a second computer, you can place your hard drive that is having the issue as a slave or secondary drive inside. Do not worry if the motherboard does not support adding a second hard drive as you should be able to use the data and power cable for your optical drive temporarily so you can see the capacity of the troubled hard drive in Windows Explorer.

Second Hard Drive
If you can not get access to a second computer, the next best thing is to get your hands on a second hard drive with the same OS and matching Legacy or UEFI firmware setting and boot it with your troubled drive as a slave or secondary hard drive. If you have a mirror copy of your hard drive, this will be perfect as it will save you up to an hour installing the Operating System and programs and all you need to do is upload your data.

Before powering up your backup drive, please remove the Ethernet cable so the computer can not go online to check for Windows Update. If you get the message of a hard drive not found when booting the hard drive, you will need to check your setting in the BIOS and cables once more.

Prevention
Run Disk Cleanup on your hard drive frequently. Windows update files are removed after 30 days to give you the chance to roll back but this also eats up your hard drive resources so put it on your calendar of things to do.

In Microsoft’s quest to provide more screen real estate when surfing the Internet and Intranet, they went ahead and hid the Menu Bar in Internet Explorer and most people do not notice this until it is time to print the page.

When they need to print the web page and notice that the menu bar is no longer around to complete their tasks, my phone rings to find out what on earth I did to cause it. Thanks for that, Microsoft. Fortunately, it easy to help them fix it over the phone and with this article, I can now have them do it via email as well by linking to this tip while responding to their ticket.

Using the Mouse/Touchpad
1. Make sure that Internet Explorer is open and not minimized.
2. Move the mouse to the top of the Internet Explorer window.
3. Right click on Internet Explorer window.
4. Wait for the menu to appear.
5a. To enable, left click the Menu Bar option.
5b. To disable, left click the Menu Bar option.
6a. If it was hidden, confirm the that the Menu Bar is now showing.
6b. If it was showing, confirm the that the Menu Bar is now hidden.

Using the Keyboard
1. Make sure that Internet Explorer is open and not minimized.
2. Press and release the ALT key on the keyboard to activate the Menu Bar.
3. Next press and release the V key.
4. Now press and release the T key.
5a. To permanently show the Menu Bar, click the M key.
5b. To permanently hide the Menu Bar, click the M key.
6a. If it was hidden, confirm the that the Menu Bar is now showing.
6b. If it was showing, confirm the that the Menu Bar is now hidden.

If you have a fault light on a HUE-800S Ethernet Rail Switch, you need to see if PWR1 and PWR2 lights (or LEDs) are illuminated. If one is not, then you need to bridge PWR1 and PWR2.

Thanks to the HUE-800S Manual, I discovered that the electricians hired to do the configuration missed this vital part and was no longer being blamed for physically damaging the switch or making Ethernet cables by hand improperly to cause the issue.

I have had clients complain about their ability to watch videos online as the video playback is green in the many free Internet browsers that they have tried. If you are reading this, I hope that you will be fortunate to have it resolved as well.

Edge by Microsoft (Microsoft Edge)
I have only received a limited amount of requests to troubleshoot Edge as the browser is avoided due to issues with UAC (User Access Control) in Windows 10. I used it personally for online banking in the past but after the constant pop ups and news feed on the home page, I have ditched it for an alternate browser. If you develop a problem watching videos, please try switching between a window and full screen using you Win+Shift+Enter keys.

Chrome by Google (Google Chrome)
I have received a few requests to troubleshoot Chrome and those users did not close their browser in a awhile so it did not get the chance to update so check to see if the browser has updates that needs to go through. An indication on the browser menu will show that updates are pending.

Internet Explorer by Microsoft (Microsoft Internet Explorer)
With Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, there is a high chance that you need to have Microsoft Silverlight installed on the computer if the video is being streamed from a Microsoft website as it is their alternative to Adobe’s Flash. Since changes to the browser affects all local and domain users of the PC, be sure that you have local Administrator rights or have the password credentials for an Administrator account ready to enter when prompted. Before you attempt this solution, please check your GPU rendering setting under the Advanced tab of Internet Options as this has help users on Windows 8.1 using Internet Explorer 11.

Firefox by Mozilla (Mozilla Firefox)
I only need to use Mozilla Firefox with one website and that site is YouTube. It helps avoid most advertisements due to the plugins available plus play music in the background on mobile devices for free instead of subscribing to YouTube Red. Also, since I am not signed into YouTube or Google Account on Mozilla Firefox, my recommended list stays clean so I am not bombarded with videos that is always monetized by the publisher. If you are on YouTube with Mozilla Firefox and your video playback is green, try lowering your video playback setting to the lowest that it can go. If the video playback is no longer green and returns when you go to a higher video playback, please right click on the video and disable hardware acceleration from the Settings options.

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Are you in need of Microsoft’s Windows 7 Service Pack 1? Before you can install Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 7, you will be informed that you need Windows 7 Service Pack 1 on your system if it is lacking.

1. Go to the download page on the Microsoft website.
2. Select Install Instructions to see which packages are available for download, and make note of the one that you need.
3. Select the appropriate language from the drop-down list, and then select Download.
4. Select the packages you need to install, select Next, and then follow the instructions to install SP1. Your PC might restart a few times during the installation.
5. After SP1 is installed, sign in to your PC. You might see a notification indicating whether the update was successful. If you disabled your antivirus software before the installation, make sure you turn it back on.