Windows won't sleep

My Windows 8.1 PC suddenly decided it no longer wants to go to sleep. If I explicitly put it to sleep then it stays in sleep mode, but it doesn't obey the power plan setting to go to sleep after 30 minutes.

• Power plan (in Power Options) is Balanced


• powercfg /requests repots "none" for all categories



• I've disabled streaming in Windows Media Player


• Just to be sure, I've gone into Power Options > Power plan settings > Advance power options > Multimedia settings > When sharing media and selected Allow the computer to sleep

Any suggestions what else to fiddle with? Is there anything I can look for in Event Viewer that might shed some light on the problem?

modern ui - Windows Metro Apps Minimize themselves when Launched

After installing the Microsoft January 2015 Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 8.1 Pro x64, I have noticed some strange behavior with my computer. For one thing, my task tray icons, which I am OCD about having in a particular order, have been rearranged, and rearranging back to the way I like them does not keep the settings after I restart or shut down. The second problem is that I am unable to open any Windows Metro app. Whenever I launch the app, the splash screen will appear and the app will immediately minimize itself and attempting to reopen the app window leads to it minimizing again. Below is a poor-quality GIF demonstrating the problem with the Windows Store, although this is an issue with every metro app I have installed on my computer.

Additionaly, the following Metro Apps are missing their icons:

• Adobe Photoshop Express


• Calendar


• Calendar Tiles


• Food & Drink


• Games


• Help + Tips


• Mail


• Maps


• Minesweeper 3D


• Money


• Music


• News


• People


• Skype


• Sound Recorder


• Sports


• TeamViewer Touch


• Travel


• Video


• VLC


• Weather

I have tried using the Windows Store Apps Troubleshooter to resolve the problem, and it does resolve the problem until I shut down or reboot, at which point the problem returns again. I have also tried resolving the problem using sfc /scannow, but this also did not warrant any results.

Update: I have found that if I restart the Explorer program in Task Manager, my task tray icons are organized the way I want them to be, and Metro apps work just fine. What is causing this?

Answer

I actually found solution and it worked for me.

1. Open Registry Editor using regedit.exe.


2. Right click on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.


3. Click on "Permissions" and in popup click on "Add".


4. In 2nd Popup click on "Advanced".


5. In 3rd Popus click on "Find Now".


6. In "Search Results" click on "All Application Packages" and then click "Ok".


7. Now in 2nd Popup "Select Users or Groups" click again "Ok".


8. In Permissions select under Allow "Read" and Click "Ok".


9. Close the Registry Editor. No need to restart.

Metro apps works again and never more minimize!

hard drive - Reallocated bad sectors cause my HDD to slow down?

I've just used several utilities to check whether my HDD drive is really failing - I've come to a conclusion that it's the hard disk drive that causes unusual slow downs as my system almost freezes sometimes (HDD light on my laptop is lit all the time when it happens).

It appears that everything is healthy except for "reallocated bad sectors" being at 11. This is the only warning that disk check utilities give me. What does it mean? Is there anything I can do? My drive is running at DMA 5 mode, so that is not a problem.

Tracking down random BSOD on windows 7

I have gotten a computer running windows 7 handed to me that randomly, several times a day, bsods with a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (50) or WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124). Crashes happens regardless of load. I am running out of ideas for how to track this down.

1. Analyzing the minidumps shows the crash to be in ntkrnlmp.exe/WMIADAP.exe


2. System has plenty of power (600w)


3. Ram checks out fine using memtest86+ over a weekend.


4. System is clean inside. No dust build up. Temperatures stay low.


5. As far as I know (and reliability history shows) no new drivers were installed for several months before the problems started. All drivers are now up to date.



6. sfc /scannow reports the system as clean.


7. CHKDSK reports the disks as clean


8. Removing the AV (Avast) has no effect.

Any more things that should be tried on windows 7 before I start replacing the hardware?

Edit: The system is custom built but not over-clocked. The major parts are:

• MB: MSI P6N Diamond


• CPU: Core 2 Duo E6850


• GPU: Raedon 5850


• PSU: Corsair HX620


• Memory: Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5


• HD: Intel SSD X25-M G2

Edit: Crashes comes in groups and seems to have settled on the page_fault now. Here is the last bunch, including the driver causing them:

10-04-22 16:01  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA ntoskrnl.exe    ntoskrnl.exe+70600
10-04-22 09:03  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA ntoskrnl.exe    ntoskrnl.exe+70600
10-04-22 02:27  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA fltmgr.sys  fltmgr.sys+16df
10-04-21 22:29  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA Ntfs.sys    Ntfs.sys+b3293
10-04-21 17:32  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA rdpbus.sys  rdpbus.sys+1f0a790
10-04-21 16:02  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA serenum.sys serenum.sys+29fae00
10-04-21 15:00  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA rdprefmp.sys    rdprefmp.sys+3ae8790
10-04-21 12:59  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA cdrom.sys   cdrom.sys+2b12790
10-04-21 11:22  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA rdpencdd.sys    rdpencdd.sys+289f70
10-04-21 10:43  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA Msfs.SYS    Msfs.SYS+5b68760

10-04-21 10:34  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA Msfs.SYS    Msfs.SYS+5aea720
10-04-21 10:18  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA fltmgr.sys  fltmgr.sys+16df
10-04-21 04:19  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA rassstp.sys rassstp.sys+1e72760
10-04-21 04:11  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA Msfs.SYS    Msfs.SYS+4ce9330
10-04-21 03:16  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA cdrom.sys   cdrom.sys+2a5ae00
10-04-21 03:03  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA raspptp.sys raspptp.sys+2150420
10-04-21 02:12  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA ntoskrnl.exe    ntoskrnl.exe+70600
10-04-21 02:03  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA TDI.SYS TDI.SYS+163cb90
10-04-21 00:45  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA ntoskrnl.exe    ntoskrnl.exe+70600
10-04-21 00:13  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA VClone.sys  VClone.sys+2138330

10-04-20 23:20  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA fltmgr.sys  fltmgr.sys+6033
10-04-20 21:01  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA raspppoe.sys    raspppoe.sys+399d250
10-04-20 20:47  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA umbus.sys   umbus.sys+2921760
10-04-20 15:09  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA cdrom.sys   cdrom.sys+6c97760
10-04-20 15:03  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA cdrom.sys   cdrom.sys+4245760
10-04-20 14:57  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA cdrom.sys   cdrom.sys+16a2f70
10-04-20 13:10  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA rasl2tp.sys rasl2tp.sys+ff46f180
10-04-20 11:47  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA raspppoe.sys    raspppoe.sys+21ff790
10-04-20 10:26  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA ntoskrnl.exe    ntoskrnl.exe+70600
10-04-20 09:57  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA fltmgr.sys  fltmgr.sys+16df

10-04-20 09:27  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA raspptp.sys raspptp.sys+1fae790
10-04-20 05:21  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA hal.dll hal.dll+101bc
10-04-20 03:23  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA ks.sys  ks.sys+27d2760
10-04-20 03:17  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA ntoskrnl.exe    ntoskrnl.exe+70600
10-04-20 03:04  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA csc.sys csc.sys+390f480
10-04-20 01:12  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA peauth.sys  peauth.sys+91d760
10-04-20 01:04  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA NDProxy.SYS NDProxy.SYS+28a7760
10-04-20 00:57  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA USBD.SYS    USBD.SYS+240c7c0
10-04-20 00:51  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA ntoskrnl.exe    ntoskrnl.exe+70600
10-04-20 00:44  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA rassstp.sys rassstp.sys+1567790

10-04-20 00:38  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA usbohci.sys usbohci.sys+1e20760
10-04-20 00:32  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA wfplwf.sys  wfplwf.sys+3cb8760
10-04-20 00:26  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA cdrom.sys   cdrom.sys+21e0570
10-04-20 00:10  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA cdrom.sys   cdrom.sys+2ef0a10
10-04-20 00:07  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA HIDPARSE.SYS    HIDPARSE.SYS+2600760
10-04-20 00:01  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA ntoskrnl.exe    ntoskrnl.exe+70600
10-04-19 22:47  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA kbdclass.sys    kbdclass.sys+2aba760
10-04-19 22:41  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA cdrom.sys   cdrom.sys+baf4010
10-04-19 20:37  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA Ntfs.sys    Ntfs.sys+bb16c
10-04-19 20:21  PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA cdrom.sys   cdrom.sys+b12da0

Some quick statistics on which driver causes the crashes doesn't make me more certain. Sure, the kernel and cdrom shows up at top, but the rest seems to be more or less everything in the OS:

cdrom.sys     9
ntoskrnl.exe  8
fltmgr.sys    4
raspptp.sys   4
Msfs.SYS      3
Ntfs.sys      2

raspppoe.sys  2
csc.sys       1
hal.dll       1
HIDPARSE.SYS  1
kbdclass.sys  1
ks.sys        1
NDProxy.SYS   1
peauth.sys    1
rasl2tp.sys   1
rdpbus.sys    1

rdpencdd.sys  1
rdprefmp.sys  1
serenum.sys   1
TDI.SYS       1
umbus.sys     1
USBD.SYS      1
usbohci.sys   1
VClone.sys    1
wfplwf.sys    1

Answer

Although a driver may be up to date, the hardware it manages may have become flaky and cause it to abort.

You may try BlueScreenView to analyze the dumps:

BlueScreenView scans all your minidump
files created during 'blue screen of
death' crashes, and displays the
information about all crashes in one

table. For each crash, BlueScreenView
displays the minidump filename, the
date/time of the crash, the basic
crash information displayed in the
blue screen (Bug Check Code and 4
parameters), and the details of the driver or module that possibly caused the crash (filename, product name,
file description, and file
version).
For each crash displayed in the upper pane, you can view the details of the device drivers
loaded during the crash in the lower
pane. BlueScreenView also mark the

drivers that their addresses found in
the crash stack, so you can easily
locate the suspected drivers that
possibly caused the crash.

windows 7 - How to run game that needs administrator privilege as a standard user?

I have a Windows 7 32 bit PC. Since my small kids use it, to prevent them from changing the Registry or anything dangerous like installing games containing malware, I've created a "Standard user" for them and kept an administrator account for me (protected with a password).

• I also disabled many settings for them (standard user) like accessing registry editor.




• Everything works fine but I installed a game for them "Red Alert 2"; this game needs Administrator privilege. Which mean whenever I try to open it from a standard user session it doesn't open and no message I get. Also if I right click on it and select run as administrator It asks me the credentials of Administrator's account but after entering the credentials it still doesn't work.




• I also set it in compatibility mode, but it still doesn't work.




• The thing that matters me is not just running this game which needs elevation from a standard user. Also I wonder Why I am asked to enter an administrator password after all the administrator wants to keep the password secret???!!!!




• Also I need some way that I save the Admin credentials for that application in a way the standard user can run it without knowing the Admin Credentials. Thank you!

Answer

Oftentimes programs, especially games, will ask if the installation is for just one user on the system it is being installed on or for all users. If you installed the game when you had one account, then added another account later, the game might not recognize the later account as an authorized user, even with admin credentials. The way to overcome this is to resinstall the game and make sure the "all users" option is checked if it asks.

networking - puzzling DNS behaviour (ubuntu)

(All IPs and names have been censored, hopefully)

This morning we had some connectivity problems in one of our servers. It turns out that changing our connection configuration to be IP-based (not preferable) solves this, but surprisingly DNS did not completely fail.

What happens is that the DNS sometimes (within a range of seconds) manages to translate the given url to the corresponding IP and sometimes doesn't (unknown host).

What could be causing such behavior? What steps can I take to make sure this is handled well? Other

badumtsss@02-02-02-02:~$ ping dingding.badumtsss.com

ping: unknown host dingding.badumtsss.com

badumtsss@02-02-02-02:~$ ping dingding.badumtsss.com PING
dingding.badumtsss.com (01.01.01.01) 56(84) bytes of data.

64 bytes from ec2-01-01-01-01.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com
(01.01.01.01): icmp_req=1 ttl=43 time=18.7 ms 64 bytes from
ec2-01-01-01-01.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com (01.01.01.01):
icmp_req=2 ttl=43 time=18.5 ms
--- dingding.badumtsss.com ping statistics --- 8 packets transmitted, 8 received, 0% packet loss, time 7010ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev =

18.523/18.721/18.815/0.147 ms

badumtsss@02-02-02-02:~$ ping dingding.badumtsss.com

ping: unknown host dingding.badumtsss.com

badumtsss@02-02-02-02:~$ ping dingding.badumtsss.com PING
dingding.badumtsss.com (01.01.01.01) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes
from ec2-01-01-01-01.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com (01.01.01.01):
icmp_req=1 ttl=43 time=18.5 ms 64 bytes from

ec2-01-01-01-01.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com (01.01.01.01):
icmp_req=2 ttl=43 time=18.7 ms ^C

--- dingding.badumtsss.com ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 1001ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev =
18.586/18.681/18.777/0.166 ms badumtsss@02-02-02-02:~$ ping dingding.badumtsss.com PING dingding.badumtsss.com (01.01.01.01)
56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from
ec2-01-01-01-01.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com (01.01.01.01):
icmp_req=1 ttl=43 time=18.6 ms 64 bytes from
ec2-01-01-01-01.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com (01.01.01.01):
icmp_req=2 ttl=43 time=18.6 ms ^C

--- dingding.badumtsss.com ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 1001ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev =
18.612/18.616/18.621/0.136 ms badumtsss@02-02-02-02:~$ ping dingding.badumtsss.com ping: unknown host dingding.badumtsss.com

performance - Windows 7 Loading speed

I have installed Windows 7 64-bit about two week ago. Since then everything was working alright, but yesterday Windows started to load much slower. Main delay comes while Windows logo is glowing -- it used to be around 10-15 seconds and now it's around 2 minutes.

As far as I remember, I have only installed Microsoft IntelliMouse driver recently and removed it today. Unfortunately I found out that I have switched off System Restore some time long ago, so can't even test if the problem can be fixed by restoring old version.

How can I troubleshoot the problem? Can I somehow find out what's causing the delay?

P.S. Please don't suggest to reinstall Windows. I know that will help, but reinstalling all software and settings is a pain and requires a lot of time.

Edit: I have also noticed that Windows Explorer is behaving strangely. It stopped showing icons for some files and folders and constantly hangs up (so that I have to restart it using Windows Task Manager).

Edit: Seems like the problem was that Windows went nuts completely -- slow loading was just the introduction. Later explorer started to hang up constantly, Skype conversation quality went totally bad. I couldn't even copy a file, since explorer was not working. I've reinstalled windows afterall.

Answer

You could try running the System file checker and see if it helps. Windows key + R, type "sfc /scannow" without the quotes, reboot.