Web User - UK (2019-12-27)

Ifyoudon’tactivateWindows,somepersonalisationfeaturesareunavailableandyou’ll

seeawatermarkinthebottom-rightcornerofthescreen

Find moresolutions atwww.facebook.com/webusermagazine 27 Dec 2019-7Jan 2020^67

Askthe Expert

thestartuptoautomatic.Theyareused

bybackupsoftware.

Windowshasasimplebackuptool

calledFileHistory,whichisaccessed

fromtheControlPanel.Itonlybacksup

files,soitcan’trestoreadamagedor

replacedharddrive,butatleastyou

won’tloseyourcontent.Justturniton

settingwhen Iquit the BIOSinterface.

TheWindows7backup-restoretool

works,but it’svery userunfriendly.Why

can’tWindows10 haveasimplesystem

backupand restoreprogram?

PeterKaldor,viaemail

A

Thebestwaytorestoreusingany

Windowsbackupsoftwareisto

createarecoveryCDorflashdrive.

AllitneedsisasmallUSBmemorystick

costingjustafewpounds.ThePCcan

thenbootfromthistorunabackup

restoreutility.

It’snotnormallynecessarytoenter

thecomputer’sBIOSsetupprogram

whenyouwanttobootfromanother

deviceandthereareother,simpler

methods.OpentheControlPanelin

‘Smallicons’viewandclickPower

Options,then‘Choosewhatthepower

buttonsdo’ontheleft.Click‘Change

settingsthatarecurrentlyunavailable’

andcleartheticknextto‘Turnonfast

start-up’andclick‘Savechanges’.

Thecomputernowstartsmoreslowly

but,whenabootabledevicesuchasa

CD/DVDorUSBflashdriveisavailable,

thecomputershouldautomatically

detect it and displayanoptiontoboot

from it on thescreen.Itm ight only

appearforafewseconds–then thePC

will startint he normalwayify ou don’t

select anything.

Another possibilitywith slowbooting

is to usethe function keys. Thereare 12

on astandar dkeyboardand oneof

them –often F10or F12–when pressed

just afterpowering on thePCopensa

bootmenufromwhich youcan choose

an exte rnal drive, fl ashdrive or CD/DVD.

It’s odd that both AOMEI’sand

EaseUS’s backuptools don’ tworkfor

you. Pres sWindows+R and enter

services.msc,then look forthe

Microsoft Software Shadow Copy

Provider and VolumeShadow Copy

services.Double-click them andset

Q

IknowKodi(kodi.tv )is

much maligned these

days,but Istill find it useful

forlegitimateusessuchas

playinggamesand watching

oldmovies. However,

followingarecen tWindows 10

upda te from Micros oft, Iam

unable to load Kodi.Ikeep

gettingthiserror messag e: “Kodi:

unable to create GUI. Exiting.”

Inever hadany prob lems with

Windows 7. Do youhave anyadvic e?

GrahamReeves, viaemail

A

Thiscould be aproblemwith the

graphics driver an dthe Windows

upda te mayhave installe danewer

onethatisi ncompatible.Click Start

and enterdevicemanager,then

click it in thesearchresults.Expand

‘Display adap tors’,right -click each

item and sele ct ‘Updatedriver’.Ifno

newerdrivers areavailable,double-

click each item andselectthe Driver

tab. If‘Rollbackdriver’ is availabl e,

click it to restorethe previous driver.

Nowrestart Windows and tryrunning

Kodi again.

Windows’own graphicsdrivers may

notbecompatible with Kodi,but

those of th egraphics-card

manufacturer mightbe. UseDevice

Manage rtos ee themakeand model

of your graphicscard, then goto the

manufacturer’s websiteand look for

thelatest driverstodownloa d.

Make sure th at your versionoft he

Kodi softwareis thelatest version,

as it is freq uentlyupdated.Some

people have foundthatadd-ons

causeproblems.Press Wi ndows+R

and enter%appdata%,then open the

KodiuserdataDatabasefolder,delete

theAddons27.db file and tryrunning

Kodi again.Finally,try uninsta lling

Kodi andinstal ling it again. Uninsta ll it

from ‘Programsand Features’ in the

Control Panel,then press Windows+R

and enter%appdata%.Delete any

Kodi foldersthatare left over.

Fixcompatibility

betweenKodi

andWindows 10

GENERALPC

Update thedrivers foryourgraphicshardware if

thesoftware won’tworkafter Windowsupdates

and sele ct aUSB drive. Backupsofy our

files aremade everyhour.

Paragon Backupand Recovery ( bit.ly/

parabu491 )and Macriu mReflect ( www

.macrium.c om/reflectfree )are twofree

alternativ es that arealso worthtrying.

GENERALPC

Whyactivate Windows?

Q

CanIgotothe Mi cros oftwebsite,

download Windowsand legally use

it with outbuyingalicence?

Robin Davies,via email

A

Yes, it’s both possibleand legal.

When Windows is insta lled andrun

on aPC, you’re askedtoenter the

licencecode, butyou have always been

able to putthisoff untillater an dan

option is provided to continue your

installationwithoutone. Sooner or later,

youwill be required to enteralicence to

activate Windows but, forashorttime,

theoperatingsystemwill installand run

withoutone. However,somefeatures

maybelimitedand youmay seea

watermarkonthe desktop.