Windows 10 / 8.1 / 7 / XP

Contents of the pages on the PC Buyer Beware! website devoted to Windows 10/8.1/7/XP

The CONTENTS of the pages on Windows 10/8.1/7/XP appear below the following information.

Microsoft Support Lifecycles [for all of its products] –

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/gp/lifeselect

Windows lifecycle fact sheet – Applies to: Windows 10 – Windows 7 – Windows 8.1 –

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853

Windows 7/8.1/10 problems and solutions

The Windows 7/8.1/10 problems and solutions section of this website deals with all kinds of problems that afflict Windows and PC hardware components, software and peripheral devices.

Hold your mouse pointer over the PC Problems and Solutions heading on the main menu on each page to view the categories.

POST: How to get Win10 free and use it free any time after the July 29 2016 deadline for the free offer

Get and use Win10 free and use it free after July 29 2016


Windows 10 – Contents

  1. What has changed and what is new in the major Windows 10 Anniversary Update
  2. How to choose the best ways to recover Windows 10
  3. Important information you need to know about the free Windows 10 Upgrade
  4. The free upgrade to Windows 10 from versions 7 and 8.1 has ended
  5. What to do to clean-install the Windows 10 upgrade
  6. How to set your privacy settings in Windows 10 and what to do to close a Microsoft account
  7. Windows 10 no longer creates a Repair Disc, it creates a USB Recovery Drive
  8. Windows 10 Automatic Maintenance tool, Task Scheduler and Reliability Monitor
  9. Windows 10 Administrator and other user accounts explained
  10. Where to get an ISO image used to create a Windows 10, 8.1 and 7 installation DVD or flash drive

Windows 8.0 and 8.1: Clean install, upgrade, recover, repair Win8.0/8.1

CONTENTS

  1. Upgrading Windows XP/Vista/7 to Windows 8.0 and Windows 8.1
  2. Creating a system recovery disc or USB flash drive and the recovery options they provide
  3. How to boot into Safe Mode at startup and from within Windows 8.0/8.1
  4. Using Refresh, Reset and Advanced options, System Restore Startup Repair to recover Windows 8.0/8.1
  5. Where to get an ISO image used to create a Windows 10, 8.1 and 7 installation DVD or flash drive

How to clean install, upgrade, repair and recover Windows 7

CONTENTS

  1. Introduction
  2. Installing Windows 7 – clean and upgrade installs
  3. Product Activation
  4. How To force Windows XP/Vista/Win7 to boot/start up in Safe Mode from within Windows
  5. System Restore and Restore Previous Versions (RPV) of files and folders in Windows 7
  6. The Restore Previous Versions (RPV) feature of System Restore in Windows 7
  7. Windows 7 startup – Pressing the F8 key to bring up the boot menu – the Windows 7 troubleshooters – Repair your computer options – and how to use the Win7 installation DVD to run Startup Repair
  8. Accessing the Windows 7 boot menu by pressing the F8 key at startup
  9. How to perform a no-reformat, non-destructive, in-place repair installation/install of Windows 7
  10. How to use the System File Checker (SFC) tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files in Windows Vista or in Windows 7
  11. How to use Backup and Restore in Windows 7
  12. Windows 7: Backing up to a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device
  13. Where to get an ISO image used to create a Windows 10, 8.1 and 7 installation DVD or flash drive

Windows XP: How to Troubleshoot and Fix Shutdown, Restart/Reboot, Powerdown and General PC Startup Problems

CONTENTS

1. – Shutdown and restart (reboot) problems
2.How to troubleshoot PC startup problems – Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7
3. – Windows XP shutdown hangs or shuts down immediately on startup
4.Excessively long Windows XP shutdowns
5.Force a shutdown in Windows XP and other useful shutdown information
6.Sundry causes of a shutdown or powerdown problem
7.Hardware causes of shutdown and reboot problems
8.Windows XP shutdown is incredibly slow
9.Windows XP produces a STOP error message at shutdown
10.My Windows XP Professional PC reboots whenever I try to go into Standby
11.My computer has failed to start up, its power LED, case and processor fans, and the reset button don’t work. Is this caused by a motherboard failure?
12.At startup the Windows XP logon screen does not appear and the computer continuously restarts
13.How to use the Bootcfg /Rebuild command in the Recovery Console to recover from “Missing or corrupt HAL.DLL,” “Invalid Boot.Ini,” or “Windows could not start…”
14.What to do if Windows XP won’t boot and you don’t have an XP installation CD and you don’t want to use the Recovery CD provided by the PC’s manufacturer
15.My PC reboots by itself and warnings have appeared asking me to run Chkdsk, the Windows XP hard-disk-drive diagnostic utility
16.My PC constantly reboots 10 to 20 minutes after being switched on