matches your symptoms, click the button
to apply it. Failing that, the LoadingCrash
tab offers more tools, including shortcuts
to Windows tools like System Restore and
System File Checker, as well as some
of Lazesoft’s own, such as the Registry
Recovery tool. This latter tool will attempt
to detect and fix Registry corruption.
Some programs may need reinstalling if
this succeeds, so use it as a last resort.
Windows Recovery helps steer you
towards the appropriate solution for your
symptoms. If the one-click option has noeffect, take the time to select each tool
and read its description, which includes
a guide to the types of symptoms the tool
can remedy. After all this, if you’re still
unable to get Windows to work, it’s time
to bite the bullet and look to repair or
reinstall Windows. See the box for details.FIX COMMON
WINDOWS PROBLEMS
Most issues with Windows
are less severe, so let’s take a
look at a selection of common ones beforeresorting to more generic troubleshooting
tools and techniques. First, what happens
if Windows rejects your password or PIN
when trying to log in? These days, virtually
everyone will be logging on using their
Microsoft Account, however, if you’re still
using a local account, then one possible
option is to use the Lazesoft Recovery
disc’s Recover My Password tool to clear
the account password and start from
scratch with a new one.
If you’re logging in with a Microsoft
Account, then to go https://account.live.
com/password/reset and follow the
prompts to reset your password. Once
done, you should hopefully be able to log
into your Windows account again. As a
side note, if you’re trying to troubleshoot
a problem in Safe mode, but Windows
keeps rejecting your password, it may be
because you changed your password after
installing Windows on that PC, so you’ll
need to try and remember your original
password and use that instead to log in.CAN’T SLEEP,
WON’T SLEEP
Does your PC struggle
to stay asleep? Open an
administrative command prompt by
right-clicking the Start button. Choose
Windows Terminal (Admin) in Windows- Type powercfg /lastwake and hit Enter.
This will tell you the last thing to wake
your PC, which can form the basis of your
troubleshooting following our advice
at the end of this feature. If you’d like to
see which services, apps, or drivers can
wake your PC, try powercfg /waketimers
followed by powerfg /requests.
You can also use powercfg to provide a
detailed report of your energy and power
usage, including potential problems using
the ‘powercfg /energy’ command. After 60
seconds, open the C drive and look for a
file called ‘energy-report.html’, which you
can also examine for clues to diagnose
your wake-related problem.
USB ISSUES
Sleep-related issues can
often be traced to an errant
USB device, which leads us to
more generic USB issues that can cause
problems. Some of these involve your
USB chipset drivers, which vary according
to your motherboard. Right-click Start
and choose Device Manager, then expand
the Universal Serial Bus controllers.
Double-click each Host Controller in turn
and switch to the Driver tab to identify the
controller and its current driver version.
By default, Windows will install its
own set of drivers for these controllers
where possible—in most cases, thatREPAIR OR REINSTALL?
Sometimes, you can’t fix
your Windows problem
following any number of
tools or steps. At times
like these, it’s tempting
to reach for the ‘nuclear’
option and reinstall
Windows from scratch,
but sometimes you can
get away by ‘upgrading’
your Windows
installation by installing
a fresh version over the
top of your current build
without wiping data,
settings, or applications.
This ‘repair’
installation requires
you to create Windows
installation media—you
can download the tool for
burning a DVD or writing
to a spare, unused 8GB
flash drive from https://
http://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/software-download/
windows11 or http://www.
microsoft.com/en-us/
software-download/windows10 depending on
your version of Windows.
Alternatively, Windows
11 users can download
the ISO file directly, then
double-click it to mount
the file as a virtual DVD
in File Explorer.
From here, open the
drive and double-click
setup.exe, then follow
the prompts to start
the installation process
including downloading
any updates if they’re
required. After
everything is ready,
you’ll be prompted what
type of install you wish
to perform. Make sure
‘Keep personal files
and apps’ is selected
before clicking Install
(if necessary, click
‘Change what to keep’
to select it). From this
point on, Windows will
reinstall itself, rebooting
when necessary toeventually return you to
your desktop, with the
problem hopefully fixed.
If you’re looking for
a more drastic fix, but
one that doesn’t involve
losing any personal
files on your system
drive, you can also
reinstall Windows via
Settings – navigate to
System > Recovery >
Reset this PC. You’ll
see there’s no option to
preserve settings and
apps, so only consider
this if Windows is falling
apart at the seams and
you’re unable to take
final backups of data and
your system using tools
like Macrium Reflect;
otherwise, update your
backups one last time
and consider wiping the
drive clean and starting
completely from scratch
using your newly created
installation media.You can install
a new Windows
version over a
current build
without wiping
files or apps.save our systems!
42 MAXIMUMPC FEB 2022