Computer experiences.

[Mad Dilys]

I don't want to spoil other threads, so welcome to Computer Experiences.

I have at the moment a Hewlett-Packard laptop that I can't get into because I have no password and no CD with the password.

I popped into a local repair shop yesterday to discuss the problem - of course he's going on a week's holiday today. But this is his advice.

There are ways of getting in and restoring it to factory status, but losing three years of data and access to many applications and about 4G of photographs. Fortunately it is also possible to save the data.

It is 3 years old Windows 8.1 heavy, outdated and apart from having 1.5T and a fairly big screen to watch TV on doesn't have much to recommend it.

I could have the hard drive removed and fitted as a USB, which I used to do with my old ones and buy a new one.......

I think in the short term I will try to revive my old Windows 7 netbook, at least it has a keyboard and hopefully I can do simple stuff saving everything to a USB. It isn't suitable to be upgraded unfortunately nor can it play my favourite game.

An expert could possibly save the data, but my most used app is a game called Secret Society, Hidden Mystery which I am hooked on being at level 180+ after 2 years on this device - each device can only have one game and they can't be downloaded or transferred I believe

I have it on Kindle as well and last year lost that game when my Kindle died. It's a strange game, when you start you have no idea how complex and challenging it will become, the time available to play free is limited by your status - the higher the level the more playing time. You can help and be helped by anonymous but real fellow players but it's an entertaining and challenging pastime when you've got past the lower levels.

Guess it's back to Real Life.

[Horus]

MD, I am surprised that your computer guy cannot hack past the password problem for you. There are available several ways that are available in such circumstances, they are a bit on the technical side, but someone with the Laptop in his hands should be able to do it. Unfortunately there are so many factors involved that it is not possible to give you one solution and it will depend upon the prevailing circumstances of your own Laptop such as who is the designated ‘Administrator’ or can certain things be accessed as the machine boots up. There are people online who offer a program to do just what you need by retrieving the password or by resetting it to another one, quite how effective they are I do not know as I have never tried one, but your guru should know. I suspect as he was off on holiday he probably just brushed you off with some quick answers, so maybe worth another visit when he gets back again. One solution that you have already touched upon is to have the hard drive replaced and then buy a small ‘caddy’ something like this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/ORICO-Drive-En ... usb3+caddy
and use it to fit your old drive into it then you should be able to access it via a USB connection as just another drive, that should work, but discuss it with your techie guy first,

[Mad Dilys]

I actually spoke to him 10 minutes before he was due to shut - so he did give me 20 minutes of his time, but I hadn't got the device with me (I was early for Pilates next door and thought I'd pop in on the off chance.)

I have had 4 hard drives taken out and use as USBs but they of course along with all my records and archives are in store in Kent.

I'm writing this on the old netbook, again it was very difficult to get in. I entered the password, the "welcome" message flashed up and I was back to enter password.

All I had to do in the end was press f7 repeatedly then highlight and open "Windows 7" and the very first try the very first password I had tried before worked.

Seems strange to have such warmth on my lap, the more modern models run so much cooler.

[Grandad]

@Horus When MD started this thread H, it reminded me of a problem that I had with a hard drive. A couple of years ago when I got a new computer, I removed the drive from the old one with the intention of checking to see if there was anything that I did not have backed up.
I bought the necessary connector leads to connect the drive to my computer via USB. When I made the connections I was expecting the computer to recognise a new devise but that didn't happen.
The leads I have are a multi pin with USB at the other end, and a mains connection lead that plugs into the 4 pin end. I set the jumper to 'master' as instructions that came with the leads.
The instructions also said that XP and above do not require drivers.
As the drive does not show on 'This PC', I can't check to see if a driver is available on Seagates site.
Any suggestions please?
These are images of the drive.

Thanks H

[Horus]

That is a very old IDE drive Grandad, whereas today your drives will be of the SATA type or better.
Does the thing you purchased look like this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AKORD%C2%AE-Dr ... reader#Ask

If it does, do you have a separate power supply to the hard drive? Or have it powered via a Molex 4 pin connector off your PC Power Supply? As the USB will not have enough power in its own right to power a 3.5” drive.

In theory it should just work as another drive that you can read, although I will say that it may take a while for it to be read by your own PC as it will not work as fast so you need to wait a few minutes before trying to access it. A much better bet would have been something like this as they are independently powered and have the correct docking pins, plus they are useful for other things. You could also try configuring the drive to be a ‘slave’ rather than a ‘master’ because it is not going to try and boot from that drive anyway.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sisun-Docking- ... ive+reader

[Grandad]

Thanks for your response H This is the connector set that I got from ebay


It includes a mains lead that plus into the 4 pins on the drive. Perhaps, as you suggest, i will change the jumper to slave and leave it for a while because it may take some time to read. It would help if there were some lights to inicate when something is happening.

I will try again and thanks for your suggestions.

[Horus]

Try all the variants Grandad, but let me first clarify that 'Master' is the usual setting. Are you sure that there is no power indicator light on the device you have purchased? if not its unusual. Also sometimes these 'universal' adapters can fit more than one pin configuration on the drive, in other words is the plug in the correct place on the drive? can it be moved to the left or right? A last tip is that you can usually feel the hum of the drive as it is being read if you put your finger on the top of the drives cover. Personally I always think that the dock type I gave you a link to is the better option.

[Mad Dilys]

This is my first post with my new computer. I don't know whether to smile or cry really.

I think I'll smile I must say that this is the most comfortable laptop keyboard I have ever used, fits my hands a treat. The non-glossy screen is very comfortable to use too, surprising how much better it is all round so far - even though I allways said that I wouldn't have Windows 10.

I could cry with frustration though, about my old machine - so far no one can open it but I got a recommendation from the taxidriver that took me to PC World about another computer workshop quite near where I live, so I'll keep trying.

Thanks again for your interest and help Horus.

[Mad Dilys]

I'm getting on with Windows 10, but it does seem over complicated to me. For example, why is Adobe Flash automatically blocked, and yet there is an icon prompt in the toolbar if I want to use it?
I've been using it for years, was I wrong? If I use it now will I be taking a risk and if so why am I allowed to use it anyway?

On the other hand, I've noticed that on computers themselves there is now very little to identify what model they are or what "special" things they contain. Take this laptop for instance.

A discrete HP on the lid and on the bottom of the screen. Just below the keyboard an almost invisible, very small PAVILLION. One tiny sticker on the right hand side reveals I have Intel Core 13 -7th generation . That's it, except on the underside half a dozen symbols the only one of which I recognise is CE and 4 lines of tiniest of writing in a 1x5cm approx. engraving. Goodness knows what it says 'cos I can't read it.

I think this laptop itself is the most comfortable and user-friendly I've had.

I'd like to tell you what I'm writing on, all I know is that it is a HP Pavilion the name is the same as my last device, but the similarities are comparable with and Elephant and a Gazelle.
Love it.

[Horus]

Does ot look anything like this?
http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Produ ... ilion-x360

And the reasons that some players like 'Flash' are not allowed by some OS is that they can be seen as a source of vulnerability due to how they work

[LovelyLadyLux]

That is not my laptop by any stretch but that is now what my desk top looks like.

[Mad Dilys]

Does ot look anything like this?
http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Produ ... ilion-x360

And the reasons that some players like 'Flash' are not allowed by some OS is that they can be seen as a source of vulnerability due to how they work

No Horus, thanks for looking - I'll see if it's got on Amazon etc yet and post a link.

Aha! Battled past Bing and think I've got it:-

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing ... display~RR

[Grandad]

If I have a problem with my computer, tablet, or mobile phone; I tend, after trying all fixes that I know, to 'Reset' to original factory setting. NOT THE WISEST THING TO DO BUT I SOMETIMES RESORT TO THAT ACTION WHEN ALL ELSE HAS FAILED.

I have loads of Apps on my phone that I never use and my theory was that they are taking up memory. When I tried to uninstall them I was denied this action. Assuming that there was some glitch in the software, I reset to original settings. I quickly learned that all my contacts were on the phomrs memory and not on the SIM as I thought, AND the damned Apps come with the original loaded software and cannot be removed.

So I spent several hours at the weekend rebuilding my contacts files and re-establishing all my auto loggins for social media, E4U etc. Will I ever learn

[Ruby Slippers]

I too was the recipient of computer woes today. I've had no internet all day and tried everything! DH went out to get me a new router but the salesman seemed to think that it wouldn't answer the problem. In desperation I phoned DIL and got her to check for outages in our area and she said there were quite a few complaints about it, so when DH came back from PCWorld, I got him to plug everything back in again and voila! we have Internet! It brought it home to me just how reliant I am on technology though.

[Mad Dilys]

Last night while I was using the new laptop suddenly the text on the machine itself, instruction, word excel etc changed to white on black.

I looked at various remedies online and all seemed complicated, so I thought I'd leave it until DD had gone home. Any way she wanted to do some study and asked if she could use my laptop. ........... and before I knew it she had found a very simple remedy, had got rid of Bing to all intents and purposes tweaked various bits and pieces and made life much more enjoyable.