Microsoft Support & Discussions

* Original Title: No Sound Surround OK. I have had this problem a few years ago when running Windows 7 but have forgotten out of all the changes I made, what cured it!! (Must be an age thing!!) I have now upgraded to Windows 8 (NOT 8.1!) and it has reverted back to only playing out of the front 2 speakers! (very frustrating) My HTPC Windows 8 & MediaBrowser running through a Radeon HD card to a Sony HD A/V with 5.1 surround, Samsung HD TV, all connected through HDMI. Codec is by Shark007 I have tried installing WMC and stopped MB running to see if that corrected things, but it is exactly the same, just the 2 speakers. When I try the speaker T…

I upgraded from WIN7 to WIN8, and restored my backed up files from Carbonite, BUT, THERE IS NO 'WORKS' PROGRAM IN WIN8!! And, I used 'WORKS' to create many documents! They are ALL there, but in the WPS format. I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING TO OPEN THESE DOCUMENTS! NOTHING HAS WORKED! CAN ANYONE HELP ME??? PLEASE???? thank you! Continue reading...

Help my Toshiba laptop is not working. Laptop comes on I get an automatic repair message then screen turns gray and after 5 mins screen turns blue with automatic repair error message and laptop will restart. Purchased recovery USB but can't get it to boot. Continue reading...

Nothing will work with windows 8. Not my printer, not my CD player, nothing. What a waste of $500 for a new computer. Headed to the landfill with this and will go back to my old way of life. Totally upset. Can't get any intelligent help with this. Why will nothing work on Windows 8? Continue reading...

Sometimes when I am playing online games, my whole computer will freeze and when sound is enabled, then it makes a very annoying buzzing sound (similar to the sound you hear in movies when a movie starts and it makes that buzz noise). Control+Alt+Delete won't work, Esc key won't work, nothing. I have to force shut down my laptop and then start it up again. How can I fix this? LAPTOP specs Toshiba Satelitte S50-A028 Notebook bought on October 5th 2013 OS: Win8.0 64-bit CPU: Intel Core i5-3230M @2.6Ghz GPU: Nvidia GeForce GT 740M 2Gb With Optimus + Intel HD 4600 Graphics RAM: 4GB If anyone could help, that'd be great, thanks Continue reading...

I currently use a Microsoft Wired Desktop 600 set and I use the software mentioned for customizing buttons. I am going to buy a Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 set and want to know that will my current software work with them or will I have to re-install or update them. (I already have the latest version). Thanks Continue reading...

Hi!I recently decided to format my computer. It's not the first time that I did it and I never had a problem. I did it with the use of recovery disk it has. It's default operating system was Vista, but I was given win7 to install. I did all the updates and the computer seems to work fine. However if I decide to put it in hibernation, when I log in again I get the blue screen. I think I managed to upload the file to skydrive. Any help would be appreciated. Continue reading...

I am continually getting a blue screen saying DRIVER IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL on my laptop when running some programs. I have a windows 7 home edition. thanks in advance. Continue reading...

Original Title: Windows update Windows keep trying to install updates for internet explorer 10 & 11 but my computer won't accept them. How do I stop this from happening? I don't think my computer has enough memory to support them. Continue reading...

I have a HP laptop about 3 years old. I did not get the disks with it to reinstall. I have having trouble booting up. Best Buys geeksquad says to reinstall windows 7. If I can get on the internet can I reinstall from the Microsoft website for no charge or do I have to go buy windows 7. If I have to buy would I be better off buying windows 8? Continue reading...

I just got a new computer with Windows 8. It came both with Norton for trial and Windows Defender. Windows Defender is turned off (won't even allow me to open). How can I turn on Windows Defender and uninstall Norton? Thank you in advance Continue reading...

Original Title: PLEASE HELP I only have one question does norton blocks windows defender when norton is on or am i having some issues with the windows defender? Continue reading...

I have snapdo on my computer and cannot get rid of it. I have downloaded the products to detect and remove malware from my computer and it does not detect it. How do I get rid of this? Continue reading...

Very recently, all files, with any extension (.jpg, .doc(x), .xls(x), .ppt(x), .png, .pdf, etc.) have been altered to have the extension (.normalextension).enc.rtf, and to be Read-Only. When you open any one of these files, it opens to a Word document saying the following: [EN] The file is encrypted To decrypt the file, follow these steps: 1. Disable antivirus (and firewall) installed on your computer 2. Enable internet connection 3. Unpack the archive C:\Documents and Settings\Computer User\Local Settings\Application Data\BRzrloEv\MiEBEMYl.zip (or archive with the same name on your desktop). Password fjjucsQJ 4. Run the unzipped qARErmSs.exe 5. Ent…

How do I get rid of the above file? This keeps giving popup advertising. Continue reading...

In a nutshell here is my problem, as reported in questionnaire submitted after visiting here: If you have trouble understanding it, I had a word count limitation on the questionnaire. So, I'm also testing the clarity of my report. Subject: MSE behavior allows for possible re-infection. Text of report: I had an issue where MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) was not able to remove an old file (SmitfraudFix.exe), which is a trojan; I was unable to delete the file because MSE had locked it. It simply stated that the file had been removed; however it had not. I was able to confirm that the file persisting after the scan and delete was the same fil…

How do you get rid of websteroid. Even Control Panel does not get rid of it. How comes MS allows this sort of s/w into a system and using uninstall cannot get rid of it? [Original Title: websteroid] Continue reading...

So consider this to be a bit of self indulgence as I give my own eulogy at windows XP's funeral. Windows XP was my first full time operating system, and as it ends its support cycle its time for me to do some fun looking back on one of the computing worlds biggest successes and how it all went so terribly wrong. Now how can one of the biggest successes in the computing world be in itself a failure? Well lets take a look at what Windows XP offered. Firstly XP was the first OS to become popular overall to the masses , sure Microsoft had successes with 95 and 98 but XP was the first true mainstream system that brought many to the wonders of the home computer. This is …

Hardware: Laptop NB MSI GT780DX-406US RT I'm trying to use the built-in wireless card because i couldn't get my wireless adapter to work (TP-LINK TL-WN823N - chipset RTL8192CU) So here's how i'm trying to do it: - I use VMware v9 with Backtrack 5 - I launch the virtual machine, then start X, then activate the network card device inside vmware - To enable the wireless card i need to type in the konsole /etc/init.d/wicd start - At this point, internet is working inside backtrack (i can browse the web with firefox and konqueror) I'm trying to follow this tutorial here: rafayhackingarticles.net/2011/10/cracking-wep-key-with-backtrack-5.html Quote: First Logi…

I have Installed Mint on a 120GB flash drive and on a 60GB SSD - for details see here. Unfortunately you can only define a maximum of 4GB of persisitent storage. That is not a lot if you want to install a lot of stuff. I have already helped myself by defining a data partition in all of that remaining free space which I use to store my user data - that helps. What I am looking for is a sure way to extend these 4GB of persistent storage. I tried a few schemes that I found on the internet but none of them worked. They either did nothing or they bricked the system. If you know how to extend this persistent storage, please let me know. Continue reading...

For those who are inexperienced and have come here for help and for those to gave me help when I first came here a few months ago--it CAN be done!! I have a netbook (Samsung N148) with XP and an added complication of NO multi-language pack with the original language being Chinese which I do not read. I bought it in China in an emergency about 6 years ago, and I use it only when traveling (which I do for up to half a year each year). Furthermore, it has no DVD drive. Although I've used computers since the days of unix (before Windows), I am not proficient at the technical aspects. After reading the responses I got here, researching online, and following the step-by-step…

An email from Steve Jobs to the 2010 incarnation of the Apple 100 gathering — their annual, confidential strategy meeting — outlines pretty much what you'd expect to see as discussion points for a next-generation Apple TV. Apps are front and center, as is a version of the Safari web browser, and a 'magic wand' that likely refers to a gesture based remote control (think Wii-mote). The Verge: "Where do we go from here?" says one of the bullet points, followed by "apps, browser" and "magic wand?" as possible options. However, those suggestions could be just be riffing. In testimony in a San Jose court earlier today, marketing chief Phil Schiller noted that items from t…

Leave a single comment below telling us where you live and how iTunes compares to Amazon in your country and you'll be entered to win one of three (3) Apple TVs for free! I can't get Amazon's new Fire TV in Canada. That's not a surprise since I can't get Amazon MP3 or Amazon Video in Canada yet either. I can get a Kindle Fire in Canada but it costs much more than it does in the U.S. and — wait for it — doesn't offer Amazon music or video! While people sometimes complain about Apple having a vertical lock on content, Amazon's horizontal lock is just as frustrating for those of us outside the U.S. Apple, on the other hand, offers more content in more places than anyone e…

If you regularly jailbreak your iPhone, you are no doubt familiar with Auxo. If you don't use it, you've at least heard of it. The original version of Auxo brought with it multitasking that was actually usable in an iOS 6 world. Auxo 2 is now available for iOS 7 and takes the multitasking game to an entirely new level. When you launch Auxo 2 for the first time, you'll immediately notice that it has become a fusion between iOS 7 multitasking and Control Center. This new view is what Auxo 2 calls Multi-Center. It can be triggered by swiping up from the bottom of the screen or by double tapping the Home button. If you prefer to not have Control Center and multitasking mer…

Earlier this week Amazon launched their much awaited streaming media box for the big screen, Fire TV. Android Central has done a Fire TV review and iMore has already put the Fire TV vs. Apple TV head to head, and it's been compared to Roku as well. Most people seem to agree there isn’t anything too special about what Amazon has done … at least not yet. Media-wise, the FireTV gives you lots of good options including Amazon Instant Video, Netflix and Hulu Plus. But Amazon didn’t just release a streaming media box. They’ve also turned the Fire TV into a pretty cool casual gaming platform. This is all possible because they’re running a forked version of Android, FireOS "Mo…