The software problems and solutions on the PC Buyer Beware! website
TPM chassis intruded BIOS fatal error message appears at system startup preventing boot The image above shows an error message that an American Megatrends (AMI) BIOS has brought up at system startup. Until the user fixes the problem, the computer won’t boot. The message is at the end and says: Intel CPU uCode loading error…
High-end AMD motherboard and Ryzen CPU PC freezes due to automatic BIOS overclocking set by default The lock-up/freezing problem A high-end desktop gaming PC randomly locks up – freezes – several times a day. The system builder, with decades of experience, tested the PC thoroughly before shipping it to the buyer. The solution – Automatic…
PC freezes: My desktop/laptop PC keeps freezing every 15 minutes requiring a reboot PROBLEM – PC freezes regularly My elderly desktop PC runs Windows 7 SP1 64-bit version with 4GB of RAM and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Socket AM2 processor. Of late. The PC freezes regularly, about every 15 minutes, which requires a restart…
Best not to install the Win10 version 2004 May 2020 update – until further notice May 2020 – Microsoft has begun rolling out its latest big update for Windows 10 – very slowly. It is a big download – almost 4GB – so requires a fast Internet connection or your computer left to download it…
PROBLEM: Why do some of my programs freeze for up to 2 minutes? Problem: Programs freeze for up to 2 minutes My desktop PC is experiencing a very annoying problem. Several times a day some of my programs freeze – Outlook, MS Word, the Firefox web browser, etc. – for between about 30 seconds and…
Does using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) protect your privacy from hackers and legal invasions such as the UK Snoopers Charter? A brief introduction to Virtual Private Networks – VPN The image above provides a simple illustration of how a VPN service works. A VPN tunnel is protected by data encryption. The Internet uses IP…
What data encryption is and what you need to know about it Data encryption is a system designed to encode (scramble) a transfer of data or a web connection so that if it is intercepted it cannot be read or viewed by anyone who doesn’t have the decryption key that unscrambles it back into its…
How to get Win10 free and use it free any time after the July 29 2016 deadline for the free offer Note that Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 product keys have always been able to activate Windows 10, You must use the standard activation process and the version of Win7/8.1 must match the version of…
Switch to free Linux Mint to enjoy a fast, secure operating system that has all of the free software that most users need A Linux distro that works out of the box During my investigations into computer problems, I came across reviews recommending the Linux Mint operating system (Wikipedia page) as a Linux distro that…
Samsung updates – Does Samsung update all of its Android phones and tablets to the latest version? The installation of Samsung updates of phones and tablets running on Google’s Android operating system is a hit-and-miss affair. It is simply impossible for Google to release a new version of Android that works on hundreds of different…
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