WebUser – 04 April 2018

Findmoresolutionsto PCandwebproblemsatforum.webuser.co.uk 4-17April 2018 67

AsktheExpert

so we can’tgivepreciseinstructions,

butsomerouters link to this information

from theirhomepage.

To scan forconnected devices, usea

free tool such as Advanced IP Scanner

(www.advanced-ip-scanner.com). Click

Scan to seealistofthe devicesonyour

network. Oftenitlists manufacturer

names, so you’ll have to matchyour

deviceswiththeir entries.

HARDWARE

HelpaPCshutdownproperly

Q

When Itry to switch offmyHP

laptop,amessagetells me that a

program is preventing Windows from

shutting down.There’sabuttonIcan

click to shut it down anyway,but it

won’tshutdownbyitself. Ihave to click

‘Shutdown’ on theStart menu,waitfor

themessageand click this button.

Neil Taylor,via email

First, trythe easy way. Loginto

Windows withanadministrator account,

right-click theproblemfileand select

‘Giveaccess to’, then ‘Specific people’.

This showswho hasaccess to thefile,

andgives youthe option to add people.

Clickthe arrownexttothe Addbutton

and select Everyone. ClickAdd to

remove alllimitations from thefile.

If that doesn’twork, you’ll have to try

thecomplicated way. Right-click thefile

and select Properties from themenu.

Select theSecuritytab and click the

Advanced button.Click theChangelink

next to Owner at thetop,then click

Advanced in thenextwindow. Clickthe

Find Nowbuttonand alistofaccounts

appears. Select Everyone andclick OK,

then OK againtoreturn to the

Advanced Security Settings window.

ClickAdd at thebottom, then ‘Selecta

principal’inthe next window. As before,

click Advanced,then Find Now, select

auser(such as Everyone)and click OK,

then OK again. Tickall theitems in the

‘Basic permissions’ list, select Allowat

thetop and click OK at thebottom.

NETWORKING

Findoutwho’s onyour

network

Q

Howcan Ifindout whichcomputers

and devicesare connected to my

homenetwork? CouldItellifsomeone,

such as aneighbour, wasusing it?

Ashley Morris,via email

A

To seethe devicesconnected to

your network, youcan either check

therouter’slogs or scan fordevices.

Checkingthe logs is morereliable

because scanningonlydetects devices

that arecurrently connected,whereas

logs include details of past connections.

Type therouter’sIPaddress into a

browsertoviewthe homepageand log

in.The passwordmay be in the

documentation or on asticker on the

baseofthe router.Look forthe section

that showsdevices and IP addresses.

Differentrouters have differentmenus,

Q

Iuse Chrome to browse theweb,

butIrecentlygave Edge atry to

seeifithad improvedsince Ilast used

it.Unfortunately,itcrashed,and now

Ican’t open it at all. This isn’ttoo

muchofaproblembecause Iuse

Chrome butI’d like to know what

went wrongand,ifpossible,fix it.

Paul Fox, viaemail

A

We can’tsay what caused the

crash–itmay have been an

incompatibility withawebsite or even

malware. Microsoft is awarethatsuch

problems canoccur and although you

can’tuninstall Edge anddownloadit

again, youcan repair or resetit.

PressWindows+i to open the

Settings appand click Apps. Select

‘Apps&features’ on theleftand wait

forall theappstoappear, then find

Microsoft Edge in thelistand click it.

Clickthe ‘Advanced options’ link and

you’ll seetwo buttons: Repair and

Reset. ClickRepairand restart

Windows.IfEdgestill won’topen, try

Reset. If nothingelse works, thenext

Windows update mayfix theproblem.

Repair or resetEdge

BROWSERS

If Edge isn’tworking properly, repair or

reset it

A

Onepossible solution is to remove

or update theprogram that stops

Windows shutting down.The next time

it happens,makeanoteofthe name.

If it’s aprogram that appearsasanicon

on theright-handsideofthe taskbar,

right-click it and select Quit or Exit

before shutting down Windows.

Seeifthe program hasanoption

to checkfor updates,ortry the

developer’swebsite.Ifit’sadriver,

checkthe device manufacturer’s

websiteorright-click theStart button

and select Device Manager. Expand

thesection containing thedevice,

right-click it and select ‘Updatedriver’.

Sometimes, pressingthe power

button to shut down thePCworks

better than selecting‘Shutdown’ on the

Startmenu.OpenPowerOptions in the

Startmenu andclick ‘Choose what the

powerbuttons do’onthe left.Set

‘When Ipress thepowerbutton’ to ‘Shut

down’. Afterthat, ashortpress is allyou

need to poweroff thecomputer.

This fortnightRoland’sotherhalfhas beenaway,sohehas beenplayinggamesnon-stoponhis PC andphone.

Youcan change whichusers have

permission to accessindividual files

Routerslist all thedevices connectedto

them andtheir IP addresses

Setthe powerbuttontoshut down the

computer when pressed