Messages

1

General Computer Support / Re: .VHDX files

« on: February 03, 2021, 10:56:25 am »

I've sorted it - I managed to merge the unallocated partition into C: Drive so that's ok.

Thank you for all your help, Tom

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General Computer Support / Re: .VHDX files

« on: February 03, 2021, 10:15:44 am »

OK, nearly there. One more thing though......screenshot shows the empty partition, marked as Unallocated. I had previously tried emptying it. However, now when I right click it there is nothing that allows me to delete it. So, what do I do to remove the partition and combine it with D ??

Barry

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General Computer Support / Re: .VHDX files

« on: February 03, 2021, 05:15:59 am »

Hi Tom and thanks for your detailed assistance.
Aaah, you may well have found the problem. I just checked my Restore points settings and they seem to be set at 10% for C drive and 25% for D drive.

If I understand correctly System Restore points are for saving only System settings ???. So what should I set the C drive to. I have reduced the D Drive to 5% (41 gb) but do I need anything at all on D drive as I only have data on that drive, no system settings.

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General Computer Support / Re: .VHDX files

« on: February 03, 2021, 04:06:19 am »

just added a last paragraph on posting re. Shadow Storage Images

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General Computer Support / Re: .VHDX files

« on: February 03, 2021, 02:54:36 am »

Thank you so much for your reply. I have followed what you said and now know that the .VHDX files found in the WinDirStat scan refer to Windows System Image files that I already know about, so that's OK - I need them.

Next I went into Disk Management as suggested and found a partition that I have not seen previously (see screenshot). Can I use any program to delete the third one down (Disk 0 Partition 3) as I don't know how or why it's got there. It is certainly not needed and I am not sure which drive to then expand as I don't know which drive it is part of . Do I use something like Easeus or MiniTool to delete partition then expand the rest of the relevant drive??

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General Computer Support / .VHDX files

« on: February 02, 2021, 12:16:47 pm »

I run Windows 10 and I suddenly seem to be getting short of space on my hard disk drive. Firstly I tried defragging it and the available space mysteriously went down more after doing that. I have now run one of those WinDirStat analysing programs and I have seen that there is a type of file extension at the top of the usage table - it's a .vhdx file called Hard Disk Image and accounts for 238 gigabytes !!

So, a) Can I safely delete this file - is it needed for anything ?
      b) If I can delete it, where do I find it and how to delete it ?
      c) Would there be any files/folders under "Hidden Items" in  File Explorer that I should look to delete ?

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated as I can't understand why my HDD is reducing

Lastly, my D drive shows a size of 830 gb. Disk Management says I have 141 gb free space. But I have totalled up all the individual directories on the D drive and they only total about 36ogb. So, surely I should have around 450 gb free space. Why the discrepancy?? I have read about Shadow Copy Storage taking up space and I attach screenshot showing Shadow storage on both C & D drives. I can understand it being on the C drive but I cannot understand what the 231 gb on the D drive is for?? Any ideas?

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General Computer Support / Third party Backup programs for Windows 10

« on: January 10, 2021, 01:19:52 am »

I'm currently using an old backup program to backup my files to an external disk drive. I would like to find a newer third party program that is a) Free  b) can do incremental backups and c) has the function to remove files from the backup that have since been deleted on my main drive (is that called "file synchronisation") ?.

Can anyone recommend such a program that meets those three criteria??

Thanx.

8

General Computer Support / Re: External hard drive - problem reading unused space **SOLVED**

« on: October 02, 2014, 12:55:31 am »

Thanks Shane for all your help. I have adjusted my System restore settings and, from now on, will know what to do to delete them from ext hard drive.

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General Computer Support / Re: External hard drive - problem reading unused space

« on: October 01, 2014, 08:03:24 am »

Jraju - you are indeed a genius!! I followed the links re Shadow Copies, took my chances deleting what the program found and, YES. My external drive now shows 104 gb of available space. All that space must have been used by shadow copies. Now they are gone.

This is indeed an answer that would probably help most people who have the same problem with ext. drives. All that backing up must make immense amounts of shadow copies.

Thanks again to you and all those who replied to my question. You really helped me.

Barry

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General Computer Support / Re: External hard drive - problem reading unused space

« on: October 01, 2014, 02:08:06 am »

Re uninstalling driver, the thing is that Windows DOES recognise the ext drive plus all the data on it. It's just the available space that's the problem. Is there a risk in uninstalling the driver??

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General Computer Support / Re: External hard drive - problem reading unused space

« on: October 01, 2014, 01:10:02 am »

Well, I ran the full chkdsk from Command prompt. Among all the info at the end, these figures came up

244 gb total disk space
0 Bad sectors on disk
53 gb in use by system
23 gb available on disk  (this figure should be about 80 - 90 gb available!)
61 gb total allocation on disk
6 gb allocated units available on disk

So, I'm no further on to reclaiming my disk space. To summarise Windows says I have used 210 gb total on drive. I reckon it's only 140 gb used.
Somebody posted about reinstalling the driver. I don't have a driver, ony a file called Seagate Launcher which is a Seagate setup file that is on the ext hard drive at the moment. Should I use that??

Or, any other suggestions - this is baffling me. (I defragged again but no difference)
Attached photo shows screenshot of scan using program WinDirStat. Any clues there??

Since posting I used a Drive Wiper to clean the free space on drive but it also only found 23 gb to wipe. I know there's more space on the drive!!!! So far both Windows and two other programs have only recognised 23gb available. So, what next???

Thanks for your input.

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General Computer Support / External hard drive - problem reading unused space **SOLVED**

« on: September 30, 2014, 02:05:42 am »

External hard drive - unused space problem

 I have a Seagate GoFlex 250 gb ext. hard drive. I have backed up about 140 gb of data onto it but it currently shows only 23 gb of unused space remaining!! Even allowing for the true storage being about 232gb, that cannot be correct.
I have tried defragging the drive, have run "chkdsk" on it but still says 23 gb remaining. I really do not want to reformat the whole thing so what can I do.
Also, I looked with Windows Disk Management (see attached screenshot) and it shows the F drive to be healthy (active, primary partition etc). The only thing is that it does not pick up whether it is NTFS or FAT but I have had it for over two years and it's never been a problem backing up to it.
What can I do to check or restore unused space -  avoiding reformatting if at all possible

13

General Computer Support / Re: Com+ System Application will not start - Windows 7

« on: May 01, 2013, 01:57:43 pm »

Hiya Shane and also Jraju

Well, since last posting, what with all the downloads and fix attempts, I really butchered my whole OS. The result was that even I couldn't get W7 to boot up at all and I had to send pc for repair. I have only just got my pc back tonight.

The result is that he reinstalled a new Windows 7 OS which means....wait for it.... that not only do the problems not exist with COM+ etc, but also the System Restore is back working (for how long is anybody's guess!!)

So, with problems gone for the moment I want to thank you both for all your assistance and help. Really appreciated it. However, now I have got it all running sweetly again, I will obviously not muck around if not needed..

Regards

Barry M.

14

General Computer Support / Re: Com+ System Application will not start - Windows 7

« on: April 28, 2013, 11:50:22 pm »

Hi Shane - OK, before I jump in at the deep end here, please just answer the following so I know what I am doing...

1) Attached screenshot shows that I apparently have quite a few versions of .net framework from 1,0 to 4.xxxx

2) If I use the cleanup tool that I have now downloaded (dotnetfx_cleanup.exe) , will it remove all of the .NET versions on my drive and if so, is that OK ??

3) I have found MSoft's latest version .NET 4 and downloaded it. After the cleanup operation with the "dotnetfx" , do I just install the latest version of .NET or do I have to download and install v 1, 2, 3, and 4 as well??

I won't do anything till I have heard from you as I need to be sure what I am doing before I potentially bugger up the whole lot!!!

Also, as a side issue, I have been trying to install a new USB printer and it will not install. Could the .NET problem be affecting this as well??

Cheers, Barry

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General Computer Support / Re: Com+ System Application will not start - Windows 7

« on: April 27, 2013, 11:29:19 am »

I have a thought.....  is it possible to partition my 320 gb hard disk (currently unpartitioned with OS and Data both on one single partition) and then do a clean install of Windows 7 onto a newly created partition??

Would I then have the choice of which OS I boot into?? If I could do this I could see if all functions work properly on the new version and then I could possibly delete the old version and unpartition disk again. Is this technically possible?? Obviously a complete single reformat of disk and install is the very last option I would consider.....

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General Computer Support / Re: Com+ System Application will not start - Windows 7

« on: April 27, 2013, 08:59:31 am »

tHE DOWNLOAD FROM MEGA.CO.NZ NEEDS A CODE ENTERED JUST TO DOWNLOAD IT!

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General Computer Support / Re: Com+ System Application will not start - Windows 7

« on: April 27, 2013, 04:05:41 am »

Yes, but my point is:  only v4 is listed so if I remove that and reinstall only the v. 1.1 on the MS website, what will be the result.? I would not have version 4 from anywhere?

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General Computer Support / Re: Com+ System Application will not start - Windows 7

« on: April 27, 2013, 03:22:26 am »

can I just use Revo Uninstaller to take off the v.4. that seems there? Only v4 shows up on the Revo uninstall program although Windows Explorer shows other versions as well (see screenshot attached)

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General Computer Support / Re: Com+ System Application will not start - Windows 7

« on: April 26, 2013, 11:59:52 pm »

So, before I decide to try this operation, can I be clear on something.

The download link from MSoft seems to be for .NET Framework 1.1 
I have versions 1 to 4 on my pc so, if I use the cleaning tool you described, will that only cleanse the v. 1.1 and then do I reinstall the new downloaded version 1.1 ???  Or, does having v.4.something make a difference to what I do??

20

General Computer Support / Re: Com+ System Application will not start - Windows 7

« on: April 26, 2013, 02:18:04 pm »

Shane - this all looks like a can of worms to a non-tech like me... a little above my competence level. I am afraid I will do some damage if I try following this cleanup tool instructions.

I just checked on my pc and I seem to have 5 different .NET installations from v.1.0 up to the latest (on my system), v.4.3.30319. I am afraid that if I start messing around with any of these I'll do more damage that I won't be able to roll back!!

Also, I looked at the "help" advice on Microsoft Knowledge base and it might as well have been written in Swahili for all I can understand of it!!!!

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General Computer Support / Com+ System Application will not start - Windows 7

« on: April 26, 2013, 12:04:50 pm »

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate edition 32 bit and have a problem with the COM+ System Application. It is showing as stopped but when I go to start it I get a message "error 1053" about not starting in a timely fashion. I do not know what to do to get this app started but I think it is causing my system restore utility to malfunction. The Com+ Event System is OK , so is the Volume Shadow Copy ok.

Any ideas on how to fix/replace the COM+ Sys App??  (I have already tried a Repair Install from my Windows disk but made no difference)

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General Computer Support / Re: System Restore problem - Windows 7 (yet again!!)

« on: April 26, 2013, 01:07:51 am »

I'll wait for someone to post the Ultimate solution for my Windows 7 Ultimate edition problem!! Does anyone know how to fix this COM+ Sys App problem ?? As I have said before, I cannot start it without getting the "error 1053" message - so If anyone can tell me how to fix that, it may solve the SR problem - no??

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General Computer Support / Re: System Restore problem - Windows 7 (yet again!!)

« on: April 24, 2013, 11:33:59 pm »

Thanks Jraju - I tried that rstrui.exe but, unfortunately, made no difference. Still got a failure message. I am pretty sure that it's my COM+ Sys App which will cannot be made to start (error 1053 appears when trying to start). If I could get that fixed then I might have a chance.

Meanwhile, I hereby accept defeat by Microsoft. They have produced an error ridden utility, tens of thousands of unhappy users who experience this fault, and NO fix or answer to it. They might as well leave out the System Restore altogether if it's so prone to crashing!!

I will now retire form this particular discussion - thanks to all those who have attempted to assist. I'll keep looking at this thread in case anyone suddenly comes up with a "miracle cure"

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General Computer Support / Re: System Restore problem - Windows 7 (yet again!!)

« on: April 24, 2013, 11:56:35 am »

One last thought before I give up and learn to live without System Restore -

Apparently there is a file called dllhost.exe in the Windows\System32 folder that controls all the Com+ functions etc. Supposing mine was somehow defective or just corrupted - can I download a copy of dllhost.exe for my Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit version. I have searched the Windows program disk that I had but I cannot locate that file.

Could this file be causing problem and can it be reinstalled?? (if so where do I get a copy)

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General Computer Support / Re: System Restore problem - Windows 7 (yet again!!)

« on: April 24, 2013, 06:18:10 am »

OK - I created new user profile, tried everything...all still the same. No Sys Restore and also still cannot start COM+ System application.

I think I may have to rely on System Images and just do them a bit more regularly to keep up with any program additions/changes etc. unless you can think of anything else to try.

BTW I really appreciate your assistance in trying to help me.

Barry