Highlights

Friday, June 12, 2015

SOLVED! Acer Windows 8 Laptop Very Slow, Disk Utilization 100%

For months, my new Acer Windows 8 laptop has been running very slow. It just doesn't make sense that everything is slow for such a new Core i3 laptop...until today, when I have to time to check it... and reported by the Task Manager and found that Disk Usage is 100% by the "System".



  1. Go to "System Properties", then go to "Advanced" tab. 
  2. In "Performance", press the "Settings" button. 
  3. Go to "Advanced" tab, in "Virtual memory", press "Change..." button.
  4. Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drivers"
  5. Select "Custom size", set the "Initial size (MB)" and "Maximum size (MB)" to be the same. Make the size double of the amount of physical memory you have. For example, if your computer has 4GB RAM, you may set the virtual memory initial and maximum size both to 8096. 
  6. Press the "Set" button, OK to finish.

After a while, observe the disk utilization, if it goes down. Congratulations! You have the same problem as me and now is fixed!!



Saturday, April 4, 2015

SOLVED! Importing Bookmarks from Chrome to Internet Explorer

This is a not commonly known feature, that IE can actually import bookmarks of Chrome. It's simple:


  1. Start Internet Explorer (IE), press Alt-F to bring out the File menu.
  2. Select "Import from another browser", press Next button
  3. Check "Chrome", press Import button.


Where have the Chrome bookmarks been imported to?
In your IE's favorites, Chrome bookmarks are imported to "Favorites Bar" by default. You can then drag and organize them again in IE.


I've a second profile in Chrome. Even after an import, IE didn't show those bookmarks.
Here's the trick. Chrome's bookmarks are placed in this folder, by default:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default

Notes: If you cannot see the "AppData" folder, you need to enable view hidden files in Windows Explorer.

If there's a second profile, you will also see a folder with the name of your second profile. Rename the Default folder to like: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\-Default. 
Make your second profile's folder to be the "Default". Now, go back to IE and do an Import again. After import, you should also see the bookmarks of your second profile imported in IE.

For example
If you have a second profile named "profile2", this should be what you see:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\profile2

Rename them to like:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\-Default
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default

Then, do the import again.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

SOLVED! Uninstall Chrome, BUT Cannot Find in Programs and Features

Just handled a situation, a number of computers have Chrome installed in C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application, but Chrome or Google Chrome didn't show in Windows's "programs and features" or when "uninstall programs" using Windows control panel tool. Instead of using a 3rd party tool to do the uninstall, you may try this approach

Steps:

  1. Download the Chrome MSI file from Google - https://www.google.com/work/chrome/browser/
  2. Double click on the MSI file to install Chrome
  3. Now, uninstall it - Right click on the MSI file and select "Uninstall", or simply use the normal way to uninstall in Control Panel.


That's it. Just a note that you have a choice of downloading a 64-bit MSI or a 32-bit MSI file for use, they're different. If your Chrome's application is in C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application, choose the 32-bit version. If the Chrome is under C:\Program Files, choose the 64-bit version.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

SOLVED! Group Calendar Disappeared after Updated Outlook Android App

Recently, my Android Outlook app was upgrade, and after the upgrade only my personal calendar can show on the calendar app. Go to my Android device's "Setting" cannot find the sync settings of calendar under "Accounts".

Microsoft has moved the setting to within the Outlook app. Run your Outlook app and go to "Settings", tab on "Calendar", then you got the options to switch on your various available calendars.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

SOLVED! Hotmail or Outlook (Live) Calendar Failed to Sync to Android

In the past, Outlook or Hotmail app will also sync your live.com calendar. However, recently new installation of the Outlook.com app seems failed to support it.


Here's something I recently found from Microsoft, yet with some modification...to manually setup the synchronization:


On your device, tap Email (or go to Settings), then tap Add account.

Enter your Outlook.com email address and password, then tap Manual setup.

Under What type of account is this? tap Exchange (or Corporate).

If there is a Domain field, leave it blank. If there is a Username field, enter your email address.

Enter your password (or, if 2-step verification has started, you have log in your email account andcreate an app password from your account management).

For Server name enter s.outlook.com.

Make sure the Use secure connection (SSL) checkbox is checked, then tap Next.

Choose your account options and tap Next.

To finish setup, tap Done.

Reference:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/outlook/to-go

SOLVED! Hotmail or Outlook Contacts Failed to Sync to Viber

In the past, Outlook or Hotmail app will also sync your contact list. However, it seems that now a different way of sync contacts is necessary.

Here's something I recently found from Microsoft, yet with some modification...to manually setup the synchronization:


On your device, tap Email (or go to Settings), then tap Add account.

Enter your Outlook.com email address and password, then tap Manual setup.

Under What type of account is this? tap Exchange (or Corporate).

If there is a Domain field, leave it blank. If there is a Username field, enter your email address.

Enter your password (or, if 2-step verification has started, you have log in your email account and create an app password from your account management).

For Server name enter s.outlook.com.

Make sure the Use secure connection (SSL) checkbox is checked, then tap Next.

Choose your account options and tap Next.

To finish setup, tap Done.

Reference:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/outlook/to-go