Computer repair

Problem:

File shows up in a folder, but any attempt to delete, rename or move it results in : “Error Deleting File or Folder – Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source file or disk“.

If it’s a folder, no hidden files are inside it. You can read and write to it. No permissions error, and the file/folder is not set as hidden or read only in properties.

Dropping down to a DOS prompt and trying a DEL, DELTREE, or RN return the same error.

Solution:

This is caused by an invalid character in the file name. Possibly a dot or a space (Spaces are really hard to spot – they’re invisible. But try a rename and just use the arrow keys in the rename box. If there’s a space at the end, the arrow key will find it and move one character past the last letter). Normally Windows will not let you create something with an invalid character in the name, but it can happen if you’re in a system remotely and the connection gets cut off, or if there’s corruption on the Hard disk, or if the file was created by a Mac and then some how transferred over to the system.

I ran across a couple of possible solutions from the command prompt, but if your file has a space in the name, especially in the middle of the name, you won’t be able to run them.  Tried a couple of tools, “Killbox” returned a similar error – that the file dosen’t appear to exist. Finally came across “Unlocker”. This app will force a delete of the file. Start up the program and use it’s interface to browse to the file / folder in question (local or network drive, it doesn’t matter. as long as you can browse to it, the application can work with it), and from the actions list select “Delete”. File is immediately deleted. There’s also a “Rename” and a “Move” option. if your trying to preserve the file.

Problem:

When yo uclick on My Documents or music ect…you get the error Documents.library-ms” is no longer working

Solution:

you need to delete the misbehaving library first.  Deleting a library does not delete the content of the folder.  To fix this problem, open Windows Explorer, right-click on the corresponding library and choose Delete. Click Yes when asked for confirmation.

Then, in the navigation pane of Windows Explorer, right-click on Libraries and click Restore default libraries.  This recreates the library that you just deleted. This option will only restore the default libraries that came with Windows 7.

Problem:

You want to figure out which folders are using the most space, ex: Windows is using 14 GB, Program files is using 20Gb, My documents has 10GB

Solution:

There’s no trick to this one, I’m actually just going to recommend an app! The app is WinDirStat. This is a little freeware marvel that I use on a regular basis. You may remember a previous article about Acronis creating temp files that blow up your HDD, well the way I find those files is by using WinDirStat. It breaks down drive usage by folder and file type and can help you see what’s clogging up your drive at a glance. Check them out over at https://windirstat.net/

Problem:

Post rootkit removal windows may not boot and display 7B stop error. This CLI command set can rebuild files necessary for windows 7 to boot

Solution:

>bcdedit /export C:BCD_BU
>C:
>cd boot
>attrib bcd -s -h -r
>ren C:bootbcd bcd.old
>bootrec /rebuildbcd

Problem:

If security center service is missing or damaged, or antivirus software is not installed and current, Outlook 2010 will not allow sync with other apps without prompt.  Eg. Commit.

Solution:

You could try adding the following key to the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftOffice14.0OutlookSecurity

In this key add the following value:
ObjectModelGuard, DWORD =2

The values 0, 1 and 2 correspond to the options in the Programmatic Access Security settings in the Trust Center.
0 = Warn if Anti-Virus is out of date (recommended)
1 = Always warn
2 = Never warn

Problem:

No printers show up in the printer section of control panel. This is a result of the print spooler crashing. if you go in and manually restart the print spooler it runs until you try to do anything related to the printer then crashes again.

Solution:

Usually this is the result of corrupt print drivers (possible virus infection causing the corruption. Make sure to run a quick malware scan). You may need to uninstall print drivers completely – including the registry entries.

If it is a local printer (My Computer), go to the following registry keys and delete the respective entries:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPrintEnvironments Windows NT x86 DriversVersion-2

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPrintPrinters
If it is a network printer (network printer server or \), go to the following registry keys and delete the respective and entries:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERPrintersConnections

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPrintProviders LanMan Print ServicesServers\Printers

After the registry edit, you need to stop and restart the spooler service. At this point, you’ll be able to reinstall the printer driver correctly.