Computer Problems :-(

 

Not so much a post as an aide memoire but I have spent the last week, around 5 hours each day, trying to sort out my computer which at one point wouldn’t even let me log in!

As with most computer problems I’m not certain what caused it or what cleared it hence this post to log what I think happened and what I think sorted it. 

I think what triggered the problems was the latest Skype upgrade.  After deferring the upgrade a few times – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it – I was persuaded by the security warning.  However the upgrade failed for some reason.  No matter, everything was still working and when the next loading of Skype brought up the same request to upgrade I again left it for a day or so.

Later I attempted the upgrade and again it failed but this time because it said it was already installing it.  Then a massive batch of Microsoft security update arrived; I OK’d them for install and………… nothing much happened.  The computer just hung on the install screen.  Just in case it was a large file I left the computer installing overnight.  Come the morning it was still trying to install the first update.

From then on the only way to shut down the computer was with the power button – never a good sign.  Occasionally I could get one of the Microsoft updates to load by trying them one at a time but eventually that failed too.  Even unselecting all of them failed as Windows always seemed to have something to install at shutdown.

So where to start:  By this time I was having difficulty logging in as well, one time it hung on the log in screen and the power button was again needed.  System Event was showing an apparently random collection of service fail errors so first up was a clean boot.  No change, then scheduled error checking followed by start up repair, ran a full virus scan, loaded into Safe Mode both with and without networking.  The computer ran a bit faster but still wouldn’t load whatever was the update it was trying to load.  So I turned my attention back to Skype.

Skype download doesn’t contain an uninstall routine so it relies on Windows/ Programmes and Features.  I uninstalled it that way and then re-installed it only to be told on the install that another installation of it was running and therefore no go.  So I now had a programme that refused to install because it said it was installing already, the install wasn’t working and I couldn’t uninstall because as far as Programmes/Features was concerned, wasn’t there anyway!

I still had Internet access so much searching ensued.  There were reports of some of the Windows Updates causing computers to hang but none of the updates were on the list I was trying to install; this list was now up to 28 important and critical updates.  There were also a lot of reports of the latest Skype causing problems so hours were spent reading through forum threads finding if anything matched what was happening with my computer, whether it was a current thread, (a lot were from months to years ago) and then, after assessing the safety of following the instructions, a long period of trial and error began

First up, I discovered Microsoft Fix It.  I was relatively happy to download and use these and I came across one that was for problems with the installer – by now I was thinking that the installer programme was corrupt.  I could only run the Fix It in safe mode but it found and sorted a problem with Skype.  But there was no change with the computer, it still hung and it still wouldn’t let me re-install Skype.

Needless to say, many hours were wasted repeatedly running the Fix It’s ( yes plural as I found that there appeared to be more than one for the same problem); as far as Fix It was concerned the installer was fine.  I did discover two things though; first up was the reason Fix It wouldn’t run in normal mode was the virus checker so had to suspend that to run any of the Fix It repairs and two a slight change in the wording of the search string brought up different Fix It’s.  I originally searched for “hung on install” which gave me the first Fix It, I then used “hung on 50%" install” and that led to another Fix It which actually did a registry patch.

All these little victories still didn’t solve the problem.  I gave up on Skype and started trying to get the security updates in, just in case one of them was a patch to this problem. I selected them one at a time and occasionally one would load but on the whole it was no change.

There were two large updates on the list for .NET Framework and on a whim I did a search on them.  That pulled up a couple of complaints about it being corrupted.  I also found some very interesting rants by people very unhappy with the latest Skype upgrade and what it had done to their computers and how they too were in no mans land, unable to uninstall or re-install.  That discussion pointed to a programme called Revo Uninstaller. 

I have an aversion to the plethora of programmes out there claiming to help clean up your computer etc.  I don’t trust any of them but by now I was desperate – the thought of having to re-install Windows and what it might or might not do to my data was a big worry – I decided to give it a go.  With fingers, toes and anything else I could cross, crossed I dragged the hunter mode cross wires to one of the Skype icons still on the desktop and set it on its way.  It founds loads of files and registry updates and deleted them.  With great trepidation I restarted the computer:  It still worked and was working even faster but… it still wouldn’t run the updates!

I then turned to  .NET.  The discussion I’d found about that led to another Fix It.  Virus checker suspended, I downloaded and ran it.  It too found a problem and effected a repair.

I tried the installer again with one of the smaller Office updates waiting to go in.  It worked.  I tried another, it too went in.  I then worked my way through the remaining five Office updates and that brought me to the remaining two updates, both for . NET.  Gingerly I kicked the first one off and went outside to do a bit of work.  It was a large download and I didn’t want to sit and watch it – I’d done enough of that over the preceding week.  When I came back in to my great joy it had worked.  I kicked off the second .NET update and that too worked.  Not only that, after the final restart, I now have a computer that runs fast and isn’t stuck on trying to install something or other.

The day after, I gingerly re-installed Skype with the new version and after a few anxious moments plus remembering to un-tick all the pre-ticked boxes that install all the ‘features’ that you don’t want, that too was up and running again.

Now I just have to catch up an the weeks worth of real work I should have been doing while I sorted the computer – I reckon it is around 35 hours – but it does mean I have a backlog of Guardian quick crosswords to work through during coffee :–)

Anniversaries

Not only was yesterday my daughter’s birthday but it also marked the start of my third year here. I can’t believe how fast time can pass, two years working on the farm I can cope with but my little girl now able to apply for a driving licence; that’s just unbelievable.

Another notable event of yesterday was that I now have for the first time since I moved in reasonable telephone and Internet connection. I’ve been more or less unable to keep an Internet connection for more than 10 minutes lately and once lost it often wouldn’t let me connect again for a few hours. I was beginning to think it was the modem playing up but telephoned France telecom anyway to report that I could barely hear people on the ‘phone line due to the crackling.

Yet again they said there was a fault and that they would have an engineer out to look at the line in the next 48 hours. The deadline passed and there was no change in the line – I didn’t really expect there to be, anyone living in France will tell you the same. But then, yesterday while I was working outside I spotted a telecom van moving post, to post towards the house. As they approached I could see they were replacing the line up to my house.

Back in the mists of time during an earlier problem with the line an engineer had been sent out and he’d told me my line needed replacing but nothing was done and I let it drop as I did get a connection again. But this time they changed it – I was really surprised as there is over half a kilometre of line that is solely used for me.

All of a sudden I have a stable Internet connection and a telephone line with practically no background noise. I’m over the moon.

Dried Eggs

While I’ve not been able to post for a bit due to my Internet connection giving up the ghost – I do wonder if France Telecom/Orange France will ever be able to provide anything like the service I had in the UK – I luckily had looked on the web earlier for information about drying eggs. So unable to waste time surfing I set about putting what I’d learnt into practice.

I decided to start with 5 eggs; the idea being to get a thin layer in the dehydrator otherwise it takes too long to dry the egg. As it is, the tiers in my dehydrator are slightly tilted so the egg at the outer edge was deeper than the inside edge.

The eggs were beaten well and then poured onto the lightly greased tray. They were then dried for a bit over 5 hours at the highest setting, around 60°C. One of the posts I read said that this heat and time were essential as this in effect pasteurised the egg as well as drying it.

Because of the difference in thickness across the tray I set the original time to 4 hours and then stirred the mix, then continued dehydrating until all the egg was dry.


Once all the egg had dried I then ground the egg to a powder in an electric grinder and transferred the resulting powder to an airtight jar for storage.


Other ways described to store the egg is in the freezer, vacuum-sealed or in zip lock bags. Once I’ve got my Internet connection back I’m going to do some more research into the storage but for the moment the jar is going to live in the fridge.

To reconstitute the egg, it’s one tablespoon of dried egg to one tablespoon of water and that’s equivalent to one egg that can be used for cakes, omelettes or scrambled eggs. The next job is to try it out.

Catch-up Time Yet Again

I didn’t post yesterday for a couple of reasons. The first being that it would have be a rewrite of Sunday’s post on the rain. It wasn’t quite as bad but again the field was flooded. The second reason was much nicer; it was ‘Ladies Night’, when a group of us get together for a meal at one of our houses. Last night’s meal was one that really gelled and we didn’t leave until after midnight.

It went downhill after that though and I then spent a further 2+ hours trying to sort out my AVG virus upgrade. I’ve been a fan of AVG for years now and in the last month or so there has been a pop-up announcing that they would be withdrawing support for the old version at the end of this month and therefore everyone needed to upgrade to the new version. So upgrade I did.

In the words of the Italian captain from ‘Allo, ‘Allo, “What-a Mistake-to a Make-a!”

Having read through a lot of web chatter today on the upgrade it seems that the pop-up isn’t telling the truth and Grisoft (AVG) will support the old version until December. The consensus is that the new version is slow, overcomplicated and bug ridden and is really only a very bad Beta version that users, such as myself, are supposed to test.

I am very definitely not amused, I now have a virus scanner that slows my system, continually shows an icon telling me my system is not protected, will not let me repair it, will not let me re-install it and will not let me un-install it and worst of all will not let me update the virus database. In a word, useless.

So today’s project was to install another virus programme; AVG have lost my loyalty and I am now running avast

Last night’s late night means I’m feeling far to tired to sort out the photos for today’s post so that will all have to wait until tomorrow when I have news of two new arrivals at the farm and oh it seems that my posting of the demise of Super Mouse might have been a bit premature. As I said I’ve been setting the trap as there is always more than one mouse and couldn’t believe it when going back to check it and found that the bait is being removed from the spike and the trap not triggered. This has now happened twice and I’ve set the trap to be as sensitive as possible. This time I’ve tried Gouda cheese as I can get that to stick onto the spike. It won’t surprise me though if it is gone tomorrow and the trap not sprung.

April Showers.

The rain has come as promised, so clearing the orchard has had to be postponed yet again. The ground is also too wet for me to continue with the weeding so I am holed up inside and wondering what to do.

I can’t plant any more seeds as my tiny greenhouse space is already full, I can’t get on with the kitchen as the plumbing work isn’t finished and I can’t get on with putting stuff away until the kitchen is finished!

So it’s time to go through my expenditure over last month. Keeping out of the shops and then tallying what I do spend has really helped curb my spending. I still have days when the shopping bill is high but at least it’s down to one or two a month, not one or two a week. Having the goal, and expense, of getting the paddock fenced in the next month is also helping me concentrate my effort on cost cutting as well.

I would really like to change my telephone and Internet provider, currently I’m paying around 50€ a month, excluding calls which are extra. I could get an all in package with another provider that would give me free calls as well for about 30€ a month. So why don’t I do it…well, my neighbour has done that and has been without telephone or Internet for about a week and a half. Before that it wasn’t working in the evenings. When I got this connection it took nearly 6 weeks to get it up and running. Add to that, here in France they charge you a disconnection fee to leave a contract and the oft repeated problem of leaving France Telecom, which is the state provider, to go to someone else usually results in FT throwing toys out of the pram and your line (which they own) failing and not being repaired very quickly – hence my neighbours problem.

Still I might have a go after my summer visitors have left. Planning on when a 2 month break without Internet or telephone is not the easiest of things to do when you are an Internet addict like me.