Windows 11

[TheForce]

Cloning a corrupted or tired OS makes absolutely no sense at all.

Agree! When I was working on mission critical projects with deadlines, I made a habit of cloning weekly to three separate SATA disks and dated them with each clone. So when the day came and I needed to fix it, I started with the most recent clone and then the prior one and then the prior one to that. I never got past 2 disks because I discovered the most recent one was corrupted too. Didn't bother to figure out what went wrong, just proceeded to the clone so I could get back to work.

I also have a very small C drive. For speed of cloning and safety all my work files are on three external drives and current project build is on a fast m.2 1Tb drive. big enough for 3 premiere Pro hour long projects. My C drive on this new Dell is only 120GB.

But I am glad force's pay-per-clone is working to his liking.

What I have is not pay per clone. I'd never purchase that. It's pay for lifetime activation code that is limited to 2 Personal PC's for the non technician level. They have a Key for someone like you but it is very expensive and offers little more features that I would never use. The annual renewal was $50 and Lifetime was $69. I think if cloning is what any amateur computer user wants then EaseUS Partition Master will do the job. There may be others but for now I'm happy with this. If cloning from M.2 to M.2 you will need a way to attach the destination to the M.2. I bought one of these and it just plugs into my USBB 3 port:

Amazon product ASIN B09S323JBP
View: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09S323JBP?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

[TheForce]

The Dell 3020 has space for one HDD which I mounted a 4TB HDD inside as my D drive and keep records on it.

Then I added a separate case that holds 5 additional 4TB drives but currently only use 3 trays. Easy to swap out.
Amazon product ASIN B07MD2LPNW
View: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MD2LPNW?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
I see they dropped the 30% discount. I didn't pay $166.

 

[harshness]

A Kasperskey boot cd does a great job of cleansing your pc offline. And Hirens has tools also.

There are USB "toolkits" that put both of those utilities (and many more) on a single USB thumb drive using Ventoy. Medicat and Sergei Strelec's WinPE rescue "distros" are quite popular because they include dozens of tools for Windows and Linux on a single drive.

If you're picking up viruses and trojans on a regular basis, you need to review your e-mail and web browsing policies as you seem far too paranoid to enjoy using computers.

 

[harshness]

The Dell 3020 has space for one HDD which I mounted a 4TB HDD inside as my D drive and keep records on it.

I recommend archiving to just about anything but floppy or a Windows-based machine. I have a Linux-based NAS that I use as well as a few M Disc Blu-rays that are rated for 1,000 years.

 

[Foxbat]

I’m surprised that we haven’t broached the whole VM world yet. Why clone when you can just copy a vdisk file?

 

[TheForce]

I have a Linux-based NAS that I use

I have been using a NAS for quite a few years as well but mostly it is working with "Time Machine" backup for my wife's iMAC. Plus I keep some permanent files on it such as old tax records that are encrypted. It uses two 2TB hard drives where the same files are stored on both in a RAID duplicate configuration. Rests on my ethernet.

Why clone when you can just copy a vdisk file?

How is that better than a 13 minute full recovery that I now am using with a clone?

 

[harshness]

I’m surprised that we haven’t broached the whole VM world yet. Why clone when you can just copy a vdisk file?

VMs typically aren't the solution to hardware-banging applications like video editing and their insular nature doesn't always lend itself to multitasking the day-to-day stuff.

 

[TheForce]

For you Surfshark users:

I've been using Surfshark for awhile now but have one oddity I can't seem to understand. Hopefully one of you can explain this.

When I reboot my computer Surfshark doesn't connect until I tell it to. So I have it connect to what it determines as my fastest connection, usually somewhere in FL. The next step is I launch a browser and it tells me I have no internet connection. Same whether I use wifi or ethernet. I launch the network windows troubleshooter and it says "DNS server unresponsive." So I disconnect Surfshark and get my regular IP back. Now I launch any browser and it connects just fine.

However, if I first launch a browser right after rebooting, and connect. Then I connect to Surfshark VPN, fastest connection, and now use the browser again. It works fine with fast connection and the new VPN IP.

So, now everytime I reboot the computer, I load the browser first and connect. Then launch Surfshark VPN second so it connects to the internet. The only time I still have trouble is if some financial web sites require no VPN to log in. All mine use 2FA and the IP verification is not used but I have seen reference to some that do.

 

[harshness]

There are two relevant settings in Surfshark. One is firing the Surfshark client when Windows starts and the other is making the VPN connection when the Surfshark client starts (Auto-connect).

Surfshark will not auto-connect if it detects that some other VPN is already running.

As to why your browser is being stupid, I'd have to guess that there is indeed a different VPN setup that is launching before Surfshark; perhaps through one of your Windows "security" solutions.

 

[HipKat]

For you Surfshark users:

I've been using Surfshark for awhile now but have one oddity I can't seem to understand. Hopefully one of you can explain this.

When I reboot my computer Surfshark doesn't connect until I tell it to. So I have it connect to what it determines as my fastest connection, usually somewhere in FL. The next step is I launch a browser and it tells me I have no internet connection. Same whether I use wifi or ethernet. I launch the network windows troubleshooter and it says "DNS server unresponsive." So I disconnect Surfshark and get my regular IP back. Now I launch any browser and it connects just fine.

However, if I first launch a browser right after rebooting, and connect. Then I connect to Surfshark VPN, fastest connection, and now use the browser again. It works fine with fast connection and the new VPN IP.

So, now everytime I reboot the computer, I load the browser first and connect. Then launch Surfshark VPN second so it connects to the internet. The only time I still have trouble is if some financial web sites require no VPN to log in. All mine use 2FA and the IP verification is not used but I have seen reference to some that do.

I fixed that issue by going into my Network settings and there was a new connection for Surfshark. Tha twas some years ago and I dropped using it when I Switched to Linux but I believe I set the original connection back to the default or disabled the Surfshark connection. Something in there.

 

[TheForce]

I fixed that issue by going into my Network settings and there was a new connection for Surfshark. Tha twas some years ago and I dropped using it when I Switched to Linux but I believe I set the original connection back to the default or disabled the Surfshark connection. Something in there.

Windows 11 has a VPN profile in the network settings but I didn't set it up and just use the Surfshark app. I'll have to study up on how to do that. Maybe that's what I need to do.

 

[harshness]

Tha twas some years ago and I dropped using it when I Switched to Linux

Surfshark works just fine with Linux.

 

[harshness]

Windows 11 has a VPN profile in the network settings but I didn't set it up and just use the Surfshark app. I'll have to study up on how to do that.

Earlier versions of Windows (as far back as Windows XP) had built-in VPN support. The problem is that they don't support the much more efficient protocol that Surfshark makes available: Wireguard. Surfshark also supports OpenVPN (the most versatile in odd situations) as well as IPSec (the method Windows provides for).

If you are looking for a great source of frustration and humiliation, feel free to set up an IPSec VPN through the built-in Windows facilities. There's a reason that people choose other methods given pretty much any other choice.

 

[TheForce]

Earlier versions of Windows (as far back as Windows XP) had built-in VPN support. The problem is that they don't support the much more efficient protocol that Surfshark makes available: Wireguard. Surfshark also supports OpenVPN (the most versatile in odd situations) as well as IPSec (the method Windows provides for).

If you are looking for a great source of frustration and humiliation, feel free to set up an IPSec VPN through the built-in Windows facilities. There's a reason that people choose other methods given pretty much any other choice.

So you suggest using the Surfshark app and the process I found works as opposed to any attempt at to have win 11 in the settings. Not a big deal as what I have to do seems to work everytime.

I thought there was a setting in Surfshark to have it connect automatically, but on my old obsolete computer in win10 I found it a problem with a couple websites that did verification of IP so I switched to manually connecting and disconnecting since that experience.

 

[HipKat]

Surfshark works just fine with Linux.

True and not necessary. I don't go on nefarious websites or open attachments, not to mention ly Linux install is on an isolated drive. If anything ever happened, a reformat and reinstall would take me an hour

 

[TheForce]

True and not necessary. I don't go on nefarious websites or open attachments, not to mention ly Linux install is on an isolated drive. If anything ever happened, a reformat and reinstall would take me an hour

My problem has been that I can't tell what is a nefarious website. Obviously I stay away from porn and illegal marketing of bootlegged software.

Recall when I was in search of a Photoshop replacement? I ran into more sites that were flagged by Malwarebytes and AVG antivirus protection during that search. That's why I rely on reputable protection that doesn't slow down my computer significantly. Several years ago someone hacked my unique login credentials right here on SG and published them on the dark web. I don't go on the Dark web and don't even know how, but I have Lifelock that monitors it for me and I was pretty surprised when they notified me of the exposure. All these preventive protection measures are not cheap but like good insurance, the disaster is more expensive.

 

[harshness]

So you suggest using the Surfshark app and the process I found works as opposed to any attempt at to have win 11 in the settings.

I recommend using the Surfsharik client. I do NOT recommend using the Windows VPN clients.

I thought there was a setting in Surfshark to have it connect automatically, but on my old obsolete computer in win10 I found it a problem with a couple websites that did verification of IP so I switched to manually connecting and disconnecting since that experience.

There is most certainly both an auto-start and auto-connect feature in the Surfshark client as I made abundantly clear in a previous post.

The caveat is that if you already have some other VPN set up, the auto-connect feature won't work. Given all of the security utilities that you run, you should confirm that none of them is providing VPN services.

 

[harshness]

I don't go on nefarious websites or open attachments, not to mention ly Linux install is on an isolated drive.

VPNs aren't about avoiding malware (unless they also provide DNS filtering of evil sites). VPNs are about keeping Big Brother (including your ISP) from capturing information from your Internet activity. That privacy is every bit as important in Linux as it is in Windows, ChromeOS or any other OS platform.

 

[TheForce]

KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT HANDLED error

I've experienced this on the new computer a few times since day one. Did some research and discovered this is a bug in windows but can be caused my a number of issues, mike memory errors and Device drivers. I checked 73 drivers and all are up to date. I just dis a Memory diagnostics and it found nothing wrong. Not sure what to check next. But I was wondering if inadequate RAM could cause the problem. I have 16GB and was planning to upgrade to 64 if I need. It appears to show up when I launch a new tab for another website in Chrome, or when I have 3 apps loaded and go to add a fourth. I've never lost any data or the cache in my Browser.

Any thoughts?

 

[primestar31]

KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT HANDLED error

I've experienced this on the new computer a few times since day one. Did some research and discovered this is a bug in windows but can be caused my a number of issues, mike memory errors and Device drivers. I checked 73 drivers and all are up to date. I just dis a Memory diagnostics and it found nothing wrong. Not sure what to check next. But I was wondering if inadequate RAM could cause the problem. I have 16GB and was planning to upgrade to 64 if I need. It appears to show up when I launch a new tab for another website in Chrome, or when I have 3 apps loaded and go to add a fourth. I've never lost any data or the cache in my Browser.

Any thoughts?

Is this a Desktop machine, AND did you add any hardware devices to it? If so, try removing that certain hardware, and see if the problem goes away. If so, it's some conflict with THAT devices drivers.