Tag: Windows 10

Print Screen Not Working for Windows 10 (FIXED)

On By Michel McDonaldIn ComputerLeave a comment

 

2018-11-06 (2)

Update: I’ve actually discovered new information. You see the image above? You see the double cloud icon on the left in the task tray next to the network icon? You want to right click on that and go into settings, then click the settings tab and click Start when Windows starts, otherwise you will have to go through this every day…

I have a Logitech MK520 keyboard mouse combo. It has a Print Screen button located above the arrow buttons just below the volume buttons. You press that button and it brings up a window (above) saying a screenshot was saved to your OneDrive. In the past when you took a screenshot, it went into your clipboard and you had to hurry and go into your paint program to paste it so you could save it, and with Windows 10 you can now enjoy all your screenshots all the time with no extra effort.

The last few days has been hell for me because I haven’t been able to take a screenshot. I Googled for the answer and I couldn’t find one. I just figured it out, and here is the answer.

So, when you press that Print Screen button it saves your screenshots to OneDrive, right? If your OneDrive suddenly isn’t letting you see pictures you haven’t already downloaded, then it’s because you probably aren’t signed in to your OneDrive anymore. I went to the Microsoft OneDrive website and clicked Download, then the next page let me know that I was already running OneDrive so I clicked Start OneDrive and another page opened and I got a pop up window saying Open Microsoft OneDrive, so I clicked it and got this image. Basically, just type your email address and it signs you in. I’m sure there is an easier way, and I’m sure you will find it. Just basically sign in to your OneDrive and press your Print Screen button and see the glorious screenshots being saved once again.

I hope this helps someone.

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Update: Ok so I seem to have new information. I discovered that OneDrive has given me this issue daily. Every day when I turn my computer on I have to go through this and I have discovered that at some point it

Xbox One Controller for Minecraft PC

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Minecraft PC.png

I was feeling good about this Xbox One controller to play games on my Windows 10 PC. I was able to play Terraria with no problem, I played Lego World’s, both from Steam, and I was even able to play Minecraft Windows 10 Edition Beta with no problem. Well, I was having one problem, the problem was getting Minecraft Windows 10 Edition Beta to load. The darn game just wouldn’t load properly.

So I thought ok, what now? I mean, I do have Minecraft PS4 and Minecraft PS Vita, and I even have Minecraft Pocket Edition on my Nook HD+. Now I have Minecraft Windows 10 edition, which is basically a mobile version of Minecraft, but I couldn’t play it, so I thought screw it, I wanted to buy the PC edition anyway, so I bought it and wouldn’t you know the Xbox One game controller wouldn’t work. How frustrating is that?

joy to keyI went to Google and asked how I can play Minecraft PC with a Xbox One controller and the first couple things that came up were videos. One said to install the Xbox One drivers, which I don’t need to do since my computer recognizes the controller immediately. I have yet to feel a rumble, so perhaps I will need to install that anyway. Next they said to downloaded JoyToKey and the guy had all the commands in the description for his video. It didn’t have every key correct though, so I was able to find the keyboard/mouse command so I could fix that problem. Now the Xbox controller works perfectly, except for the inventory. I can go into the inventory, I just have to use the mouse to craft with, but that’s fine. My only concern was that I was able to use the game controller to play the game.

Now, the only other problem is how slow this game is on my computer. Minecraft Windows 10 Edition Beta is much faster to load and gameplay is a fast as on my PS4 and PS Vita. I’ve already adjusted some of the settings so some of the graphics aren’t too high of a quality, but it’s still slow as hell. Perhaps one of these days I will reformat my computer (ugh) so I can reinstall games again so my computer will be faster. One of these days…

UPDATE: Ok so installing the Xbox One driver was an extremely bad idea. I think the driver is specifically for people who want to use bluetooth. The Xbox One logo on the controller is normally lit, but after I installed the driver, that light turned off. It’s a button, so I pressed the button and the light would blink on and off for probably a minute, then it would shut off. I loaded Terraria and the controller was non-responsive. I went into the Device Manager and uninstalled the driver, then rebooted my computer, and waited with anticipation for that light to come on. I actually started to panic when it didn’t come on because I thought great, now I have to reformat this thing, but then the light came on and I played Terraria and it was fine. WHEW!

Warming up to Windows 10

On By Michel McDonaldIn App, ComputerLeave a comment

Windows 10 logoI wasn’t happy with Windows 10 when I installed it because it took hours to install, then everything took forever to load. I couldn’t get the Start window to come up, and when it finally did come up, it would go away because I was clicking the Start button too many times in frustration. I also hated the new Start window because when I would try to move things around, the icons would disappear, and then there would be huge gaps with no icons, so I took out ALL icons and just added them again in the order I wanted to see them, like this…

win10startThe first couple of days using Windows 10 was a learning experience, and things have gotten a lot faster since I started. The Start window comes up immediately now and when I click All apps, the list of apps comes up right away, although, there are times when it takes a few seconds longer, but I’m patient.

Now the only thing that still concerns me is Microsoft Money. Someone tweeted me a link to a blog that tells me that all I have to do is go into my Registry and change something, which isn’t always the best idea, especially coming from a stranger. Oh sure stranger, I’ll screw things up even more, thank you. And the sad thing is I went into my registry and looked for that string, but it wasn’t there. I’m actually glad I didn’t find it because it would’ve been a disaster if I screwed things up and had to start over again. I hope Microsoft comes up with an update to fix this issue so I can use MS Money again.

This is the error message I am getting when I load MS Money.

money needs ie6When I started using Windows 8.1, I wasn’t using the browser to use Facebook, Facebook Pages Manager or Twitter, I was using the Windows apps instead. Gradually those apps stopped loading quickly until they just stopped loading at all. Eventually I had to go back to using the browser.

When I installed Windows 10, those apps load quickly, and in a small window. In fact, all of the apps, including Windows Edge, their new browser, all open in a small square window. I have a widescreen monitor, not a square one, not that Windows really cares. But still, when I use Edge, I have to stretch it on both sides to see everything on the website. When I close the website and Edge reloads when I click a link, it opens in that square box again. Not that that is a real issue for me, I don’t really care about that. I’m not bitching about anything, I’m just saying this is what’s happening when I open Edge.

I had mixed feelings before installing, and I was outraged after I installed, but I’m warming up to the new version of Windows and believe it or not, I’m happy I installed it.

For anyone who just installed Windows 10 without burning it on a DVD, you should probably think about downloading the ISO file for both 32bit and 64bit and burning them to a DVD or putting it on a USB drive. They give you both options. You’ll regret not doing so if/when the day comes when you have to reformat or even if you buy a new hard drive and you have to reinstall Windows 8.1 and then upgrade back to Windows 10. After a year, you won’t have the option to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. It’s just a suggestion, and trust me, you will thank me later.

Windows 10

On By Michel McDonaldIn ComputerLeave a comment

Windows 10 logoI love change. Whenever there is something new, I’m usually one of the first on the bandwagon to try it, that is if I can afford it. It took me 14 years to finally upgrade from Windows XP, only because I couldn’t afford Vista, then Windows 7. I only upgraded to Windows 8.1 because I was forced to by Microsoft threatening “If you don’t upgrade, you will get a virus.”

A few people have told me how much they absolutely hate Windows 8.1 and that I would hate it too based on the fact that I still had Windows XP. Well, they didn’t really know why I was still on XP, read the paragraph above if you forgot. I actually loved Windows 8.1.

When Microsoft announced they were giving away their new upgrade Windows 10, I jumped on the bandwagon. I knew it would be different and that they took away the Start window and replaced it with a more compact one, which I actually don’t mind that much, although I did prefer the bigger start menu that took up the entire screen.

Okay, so here are my complaints. First of all, I couldn’t even install it because I had too much crap on my computer, so I uninstalled a bunch of things and believe it or not, that didn’t even put a dent in it. The programs with several gigabytes were gone, but the gigabytes were still used somehow. I backed up all of my pictures and documents onto 4 DVD’s, and it’s a good thing I did because OneDrive is gone. It’s nowhere to be seen. I am so glad I backed all that stuff up. Where did OneDrive go? After I backed everything up, I went to do all the Windows Updates I could because it’s been giving me crap for months. Every night it tells me to either shut down and update or restart and update. I never just get shut down or restart. When it does do the updates, it starts up saying it couldn’t complete the updates, undoing changes. So I let it do all the updates even though they said it couldn’t complete them.

I finally started the upgrade at 9pm and it finished at 1:30am. I never thought it would take that long to upgrade. I thought at the most I’d be finished by 11pm and then I’d have a few minutes to check it out before going to bed, but that wasn’t how it worked out. I did stay up until 2am checking it out, and discovered how much I actually hate it because of how slow it was.

Today I woke up and turned the computer on and for some reason decided that I needed to add a bunch of receipts in my pocket to Microsoft Money, but I got this message.

money needs ie6Ugh! Windows 10 doesn’t have Internet Explorer anymore, they’ve switched their browser to Microsoft Edge. So that screws things up for me. I use Microsoft Money every day instead of a check register because at least this program calculates my balance every time I enter a purchase. Now what do I do? And I have a feeling I’m going to have trouble with a lot of programs that may require Internet Explorer to be installed.

When I click the Start button, sometimes it takes a few minutes to bring the start menu up, and when I click an icon, it darkens and nothing happens. The app or program may take a few minutes to load and then the icon goes back to normal, or the icon may go back to normal and the app or program still never loads.

I know I’m complaining, a lot, but I mean come on, if you’re going to put out an operating system, make sure everything works lol. Then again, perhaps it did work on their brand new computers. And perhaps some people who installed the upgrade may not be having the same issues I’m complaining about, but then again there may be some people who are having a worse experience than I am having. Everyone has a different experience based on their system, because like fingerprints, we all have something different. A different video card brand or model, a different motherboard brand or model, a different ram size, brand or model, a different hard drive size, brand or model.

It would be awesome if everything worked the way it should, but if it doesn’t, well, you just have to either deal with it, or go back to the way things were when everything worked right. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Windows 10 for FREE

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

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It took me 15 years to decide to upgrade from Windows XP, and I only made the decision because I was forced by Microsoft to buy the latest operating system, or allow my computer to be infected with thousands of parasitic viruses that would probably eat away at every microscopic section of my motherboard and all my other hardware which would then force me to have to buy a new computer. I decided I was due for a new operating system anyway, so I figured what the hell, I’ll buy Windows 8.1 full install. I didn’t buy the upgrade because I didn’t want to have to install Windows XP then upgrade to 8.1 every time I reformatted or had to buy a new hard drive.  I figure if I’m going to install an operating system, I’d rather install the one I’m going to use immediately and for a long time instead of having to go through 2 installations, which could take an hour each.

The start window for 8.1 looks awesome to me. Everyone said I would hate it, because they assumed I refused to upgrade because I hated the 8.1 start window, but that simply isn’t true. I’m cheap as hell. No seriously, I’m living on a low income disabled budget, which has absolutely no budget for a new $100 operating system. It just so happened that I had a bulk sale for tassels, and that was what helped me buy Windows. See, that’s why I have a Etsy shop. If I need to buy something, I can count on people to buy keychains or earrings if I beg them to lol. My sales are usually nothing every month, so those occasional sales are awesome.

The Start window for Windows 10 looks a lot smaller, to say the least lol. I quite enjoy the 8.1 Start window because when I’m watching TV, it is a dark enough screen that it doesn’t bother me when I’m watching my shows. If the screen is bright from Facebook or if I have a bright desktop image, then it hurts my eyes to look at the TV and have the bright computer screen in the corner of my eye. I hope they have given us an option to choose this smaller window, or a full screen start window. If the image above is our only option, well, then I guess I’ll have to just deal with it.

As with all new operating systems you want to give it a few months before installing just because you may have to live without your printer or your webcam or any other external hardware you might have if they were sitting on their thumbs when they should’ve been making new drivers. There is also a chance that your favorite MMORPG isn’t compatible. You might have to miss raiding for quite a while. Of course I would find out if they have support for Windows 10 before installing it because they may have a version specifically for Windows 10 all ready to go.

I love new things only because I get bored easily, but I’m quite content with what I have for now. I say I will wait to make sure everything works, but I’m sure there won’t be too many issues. I have a Microsoft webcam and a Kodak Printer, which I’m sure will be ready long before Windows 10 is downloaded. I’m sure my keyboard and mouse work since I trust Logitec will have it ready to go. I don’t usually have to worry since they are plug and play.

So if you are one of those people who panic at the thought of something new, take a chill pill and give it time, but don’t miss out on reserving your FREE copy of Windows 10. They are giving you something for free, so take advantage of it while you can. You don’t have to install it immediately, I’m sure you can burn the installation files onto a cd or dvd and install it when you are ready. If you have panic attacks at the thought of issues, then just check to see how other people are dealing with them before you take the leap.

I actually look forward to the new Windows 10 that I just may buy a bigger hard drive and start over from scratch so I have a FAST new experience. We will see in another 7 weeks.