remove 'share with skype' from Windows Explorer context menu

Right clicking a file in explorer opens context menu with "Share with skype". This can be removed:

If Skype installed by download

1. Open regedit.
2. Open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\ShareWithSkype
3. Delete 'ShareWithSkype' folder
4. done.

If Skype was installed from Store

1. Open regedit
2. Open Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PackagedCom\Package\Microsoft.SkypeApp_15.65.78.0_x86__kzf8qxf38zg5c\Class\{776DBC8D-7347-478C-8D71-791E12EF49D8}

3. Double click DLLPath
4. Put hyphen '-' at start of value.
5. done.

Windows 10 Security & Privacy

Leaks

1. Run gpedit
2. Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Error Reporting
(also in user configuration)

a). Enable "Do Not send additional Data"
b). Enable "Disable Windows Error reporting"
c). Disable "Send Additional data when on battery power"
d). Disable "Send data when connected to restricted network"
e). Disable "Automatic send memory dumps for OS errors"
f). Enable "Configure error reporting" set everything to "Do not"

3) Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/System/Internet Communication Management/Internet Communication settings.

Enable some things in here.

HP 5185-1212 PS/2 Mouse wiring pinout diagram internals

 

Works on windows 7 x64 bit.
Worked 100% on Microsoft drivers already packaged with Windows 7, no additional driver or downloads needed.
Make sure your PS/2 port is enabled in BIOS

Leave a message if you get yours working on Windows 10.

Wacky colours in Chrome solution 2

I previously blogged about wackly colours in Chrome being fixed by turning off hardware acceleration, which is a crap solution but I came across a new solution which allows hardware acceleration to stay on.

For example the google logo wrongly appears like this:

And should appear like this:

The solution:

1. open a new tab
2. browse to: chrome://flags/
3. search for "color"

4. set Forced color profile to sRGB

5. click relaunch

Check hardware acceleration is on:

1. open new tab

2. browse to : chrome://settings

3. click Advanced on left side menu

4. click system on left side menu

5. enable "use hardware acceleration when available"

Windows 10 Stop USB power when shut down. Enable Sleep & Network connection while in sleep.

Issue: Power to USB port stays on while shut down.
Solution:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Power Options
3. Choose What Power Buttons Do
4. Activate Settings Currentlly Unavailable
5. Shutdown Settings
6. Disable Activate Fast Start

Issue: Sleep does not appear in Shut Down Menu
Solution:

1. For windows 10 Pro (and home if GP installed)
2. press Win key
3. Type: gpedit.msc
4. Press return
5. Group Policy Editor opens
6. Click Computer Configuration
7. click Administrative Templates
8. click Windows Components
9. Click File Explorer
10.Click power options menu
11.Double-click Show sleep
12.Select Enabled
13.Click OK

You may also need to enable sleep in power options:

1. Control Panel
2. Power options
3. Choose what the power buttons do
4. Change settings that are currently unavailable
5. Enable: Sleep
6. Save Changes

To keep network alive during sleep:

1. open regedit
2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power
3. Set CsEnabled to 1

Make USB bootable Acronis True Image 2015

Problem: Rufus and other software cant burn Acronis CD ISO to USB
Issue: The ISO is for CDFS image, not USB.
Solution: Make a recovery USB and copy across the CD ISO files.

1. Download Acronis True Image (I used the Crucial release for my SSD)
2. Run Acronis True Image,  "create bootable recovery media" to make a Recovery USB.
i) "Choose creation Method:" select Advanced
ii) "Choose the bootable media type:" select Linux
iii) "Choose media destination:" select your USB
iiii) click proceed

3. Delete everything on the USB, but keep:
bootmenu.exe
bootmenu.xml
bootwiz.cfg
bootwiz.sys
SPL1.exe
4. copy Acronis true image 2015 ISO ".\Recovery Manager\*" folder contents to USB root.
5. Open bootmenu.xml for edit.
6. Keep the first "<aml:item" section, remove the others. Remove line with ".png".
7. Open bootwiz.cfg
8. In the first [C1] section,
i) set INITRO to remdisk.dat
ii) set KERNEL to kernel.dat
9. remove the other [C?] sections.

Now you have a bootable USB with Aconis 2015 32 Bit.

Further notes:
1. the 64 Bit kernel and ramdisk are there too if you want use them instead
2. Apparently Acronis 2018 ISO can be burnt direct to USB, (you may wish to get that instead).
3. I'm not sure if SP1.exe is needed. 

If you manage to reduce the steps further then leave a comment.

Chome Browser - Delete cookies for one website (not all)

1. Click "Settings", 

2. Click "Site Settings"

3. Click on "Cookies".

4. click "See all cookies and site data"

5. enter the website you want in "search"

6. cookies for the website will appear if they exist

7. delete them

Windows 10 firewall blocking finding Add Printer or Scanner.

No printers found when clicking "Add Printer or Scanner". 

Try disable Windows 10 firewall, is it found? if yes and you want to keep firewall on then create these rules:

1. Open windows firewall.

2. create two rules (UDP and TCP)

3. Program %SystemRoot%\System32\dasHost.exe

4. Allow

TCP rule

enable following ports:

80, (to find brother printer)

3911 (to find HP printer)

Other ports you may need for your printer: 5357, 631

Remote IP's 

192.168.1.0/24 (local subnet)

(you could lock this to your printer IP instead)

UDP rule

3702 (to find brother and HP)

Other ports you may need for your printer:

3289, 10004, 22222, 

Scope:

Remote IP

239.255.255.250 (UPNP, device discovery)

Other IP's you may need for your printer:

255.255.255.255

192.168.1.0/24 (local subnet)

Windows 10 Missing bluetooth icon on tasktray

Windows 10

1. Click Start
2. Type Settings and open it
3. Click Devices
4. At the right of the Devices window, click More Bluetooth Options
5. Under the Options tab, tick 'Show the Bluetooth icon in the notification area'
6. Click OK. The icon appears on tasktray

static IP on TD-W8960N

Enter router web portal (see gateway IP using ipconfig in windows command prompt )
Goto advanced setup
Goto Lan
Under Enable DHCP shows "Static IP Lease List", click Add.
On the "DHCP Static IP Lease" page:
Enter MAC (using format XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX)
Enter IP
Click save.

Note find your PC's mac using ipconfig /all in windows command prompt.

p8z68 error beeps

1. Power Light is ON, "One short beep" from speaker but nothing shows on monitor

One short beep from the speaker means the device boots normally. Please confirm the monitor is working and correctly connected to the device.

2. Power Light is ON, "No beep" from speaker

Please check that the CPU and memory are installed correctly and there's no oxidation on the connection parts. If there is any oxidation, please try to wipe the oxidized part with an eraser. If it still cannot be turned on properly, please clean it with contact cleaner and re-install.

3. "One long and two short beeps" from speaker

An anomaly is detected in memory. Please confirm that the memory is correctly installed.
Please refer to the Motherboard manual for related instructions about memory.

4. "One long and three short beeps" from speaker

An anomaly is detected in the graphic card. If the graphic card needs an extra power supply, please ensure the power supply can provide enough wattage.

5. "One long and four short beeps" from speaker

An anomaly is detected on CPU Fan Error or CPU  Over Temperature Error or CPU Over Voltage Error

Please ensure your CPU and CPU Fan is installed correctly, if still fail, please enter BIOS to load default BIOS or clear CMOS to try again

Visual Studio 2010: Very slow debugging

1. goto Tools->Options->Debugging->Symbols
2. Unselect Microsoft Symbols Server

Note PC is offline which causes loading symbols from server to time out, causing the slow down.

Android: Turn off google assistant "Hey google"

There are 3 ways to accomplish turning off/on googles assistant:

Method 1
open Settings App
tap Google (Google settings)
tap Account Services
tap Search, Assistant and Voice
tap Google Assistant
tap the Assistant tab
scroll down to Assistant Devices
tap "Phone"
tap Google Assistant button off.

Method 2
open Settings App
tap Google (Google settings)
tap Account Services
tap Search, Assistant and Voice
tap Google Assistant
tap Voice
tap Voice Match
tap Hey Google button off

Method 3
open Settings App
tap Google (Google settings)
tap Device Connections
tap Android Auto
tap "Ok Google" detection
tap Hey Google button off

windows 10 "could not connect to all network drives"

To stop the "could not connect to all network drives" notification appearing:

1. open regedit
2. go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider
3. create a key:
name: RestoreConnection
type: DWORD
value: 0
4. restart windows.

value options:
0 Disabled
non existant Enabled.

Microsoft Store error 0x800706D9

Situation: Microsoft Store errors(0x800706D9) when trying to download Apps.
OS: Windows 10

1. Open Services (windows key, type services, return)
2. Find Storage Service (type storage )
3. Double click on it
4. set startup type to Automatic
5. Open Microsoft Store and start download