[Rick Corbett]

Larry98765Ottawa wrote:

No. In fact, I am amazed how little I use the optical drive.

I asked because having an optical disk inserted prior to booting slows the boot time enormously whilst Windows checks boot-capable devices… one of the issues that your device appears to be experiencing apparently.

[Rick Corbett]

There is no information on the Killer site about any keyboard shortcuts, not does a Google search reveal any.

I saw a number of comments advising deletion/uninstallation. It does not look particularly popular… which the Killer website recognises. See How Do I Remove The Killer Control Center?, particularly the first option of a driver-only installer.

If that doesn’t appeal then you can either disable the service or prevent it running from startup. Try this:

1. *Right*-click your taskbar.

2. Click on Task Manager.

3. Click on the Startup tab.

4. *Right*-click on Killer Control Center and choose Disable.

5. Restart your Dell.

Killer Control Center will remain installed but won’t run from Startup.

Hope this helps…

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BobStr

[Rick Corbett]

@Larry98765Ottawa – I noticed 3 ‘critical’ issues in the last 7 days of events:

2020-03-24 5:14:18 PM – “System maintenance detected issues requiring your attention.”

2020-03-24 8:47:36 AM – Windows boot time took an unusual long time
2020-03-26 10:55:03 AM – Windows boot time took an unusual long time

Unfortunately there’s no further info available. Do you have a CD/DVD disk in any optical drive when you boot?

[Rick Corbett]

Rick Corbett wrote:

Wow, those are *big* files.

Sorry but I cannot use the last 3 files uploaded to your Dropbox. I opened the smallest, the .XSLX file, and found it showed *every* event from the last 7 days… and only the last 7 days.

Windows is notoriously ‘gobby’, which is why it is so important to filter the events before extracting them… otherwise the file dumps are enormous.

1. Please re-upload a .CSV and/or .XSLX file after making sure the following filters have been set in Advanced Options:

Event Levels (shown as a in screenshot) – Make sure that only the first 3 checkboxes are ticked. (The last 3 checkboxes are the ones responsible for the enormous file sizes.)

Date/Time range (shown as b and c) – Change the dropdown so it shows Show only events in the specified time range (Local Time) then change the *From* date/time below to 24th Feb 2020 at midnight. (It doesn’t matter about the *To* date/time ‘cos that will automatically be the current date/time.)

2. Click the OK button for the filters to take effect. It may take a minute (or two) before the listview repopulates.

3. Use CTRL+a (to ‘select all’) then CTRL+s (to ‘save’) to create a Comma Delimited Text File (.csv) and/or Excel (.xlsx) file.

Let me know when new upload is ready and I’ll have another look.

Hope this helps…

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cmptrgy

[Rick Corbett]

Larry98765Ottawa wrote:

So I have uploaded 3 versions of the log

Wow, those are *big* files. I’ll ignore the 162MB .TXT file and, instead, have a look at the .CSV (47MB) and/or compressed .XLSX (8MB) files.

In the meantime, I reduced (temporarily) the 2020-03-26 Local reliability report.XML file from 3,623 lines to a more pertinent 22 lines showing *just* the dates/times of critical hardware errors.

To summarize, there were 22 critical hardware events in the 4 months from Oct. 2019 to January 2020. Unfortunately, the Reliability report does not show *what* hardware was involved. However, this does seem to tie in with your original post that the issues began ‘In the last few months…’.

Given the number of hardware errors, IMO it’s more important right this moment to identify the hardware involved rather than look at the many, many software issues you are experiencing. It might help determine whether to next look at your PC’s performance (RAM, processes, file I/O, etc.) or to look at possible issues with the filesystem. (I don’t think we yet have enough information to best advise us of the troubleshooting direction to take.)

I’m going to have a play at my end to see if I can write a script to extract more information about the hardware errors from the Event logs or a commandline argument to automate Nir Sofer’s FullEventLogView. I’ll post the results as soon as I’ve made any progress with either of them.

In the meantime, I’ve listed the 22 ‘critical hardware error’ date/times below in case they jog your memory or show a recognizable pattern to you. (The ‘T’ in each line below is just the ‘Time’ delimiter).

2019-10-14T21:31:21.170
2019-10-15T21:50:16.110
2019-10-16T07:45:52.848
2019-10-28T21:57:25.629
2019-11-02T14:48:41.208
2019-11-02T15:25:07.521
2019-11-03T08:23:19.819
2019-11-03T20:52:01.982
2019-12-17T17:29:26.922
2019-12-29T23:23:15.781
2019-12-31T17:00:35.565
2020-01-01T17:08:37.114
2020-01-02T21:52:03.643
2020-01-03T18:19:59.673
2020-01-03T18:40:25.311
2020-01-03T21:03:50.894
2020-01-04T09:29:18.826
2020-01-04T14:31:07.719
2020-01-05T08:15:10.752
2020-01-06T09:13:40.352
2020-01-06T16:55:16.935
2020-01-06T17:20:00.381

Hope this helps…

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cmptrgy

[Rick Corbett]

OscarCP wrote:

clearer for those that might not be very good at reading things written without using bold fonts to mark the key words

I use the ’emboldened keywords’ technique all the time ( 🙂 ), ever since I was taught it 35 years ago whilst studying for my PGCE Adult Education Teacher Training qualification here in the UK.

Before getting into discussion of the psychology involved, the tutors demonstrated the technique beforehand by getting the class to read several paragraphs of text (without any bold formatting) on a board  then several more paragraphs with some emboldened keywords on another board. We were then sent out on a distraction break and – on our return 20 mins later – asked to reconstruct both blocks of text without being able to see the boards. Guess which was more accurately reproduced.

I’ve dumped my course notes but – if I remember the details correctly – it has nothing to do with reading skills, comprehension or intelligence. It’s just how adults’ brains have been proven to work in conjunction with their other senses in assisting retention of information… in this case the brain’s ability to successfully reconstruct often abstract notions from a few emboldened keywords that catch one’s eyes.

(This effect of ‘eyes to brain’ correlation and its effect on retention of information is similar to the reason why certain fonts are rarely, if ever used, for large blocks of texts aimed at adult readers. Basically, the brain doesn’t retain what the eyes subconsciously reject. Long blocks of Comic Sans appears to create more eye strain and fatigue in adults than other fonts like Garamond, Times Roman, etc. [Google ‘why is comic sans bad‘] So, if there’s some information that you *don’t* want adults to remember, just use Comic Sans [… call it another font exploit 🙂 ]).

(Apologies for going off-topic.)

Hope this helps…

1 user thanked author for this post.

DriftyDonN

[Rick Corbett]

RetiredGeek wrote:

Sorry, can’t let a challenge go.

There you go… I had every confidence in you. 🙂

(And I know exactly what you mean… I had a similar boss. Darn those NLP courses he went on…)

[Rick Corbett]

Unfortunately Windows’ built-in Event Viewer cannot view multiple logs at once. We could use PowerShell but constructing PS queries is more RetiredGeek’s forte, not mine.

Try this:

1. Download/unzip Nir Sofer’s free/portable FullEventLogView. The download links are close to the bottom of the page, just above the translation info. Note that there’s both 64-bit and 32-bit versions so make sure you get the right one (or just use this direct link).

2. *Right*-click on FullEventLogView.exe, choose Run as administrator then accept the User Account Control prompt by clicking on the Yes button.

3. Let the listview populate then select Advanced Options from the Options menu.

4. Change the options shown at a, b and c in the screenshot below then click on OK to return to the listview:

5a. When the listview finishes filtering (it may take a while) have a look at the events from 24th Feb and see if any critical events show a pattern.

5b. Alternatively, use CTRL+a (to ‘select all’) then CTRL+s (to ‘save’) to create a Comma Delimited Text File (.csv), zip the file and attach it to a post.

In the meantime, I’ll try making some more sense out of the 2020-03-26 Local reliability report.XML file.

Hope this helps…

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cmptrgy, Vincenzo, Larry98765Ottawa

[Rick Corbett]

Larry98765Ottawa wrote:

I have created a limited access Dropdox folder where I have put the 4 files

The screenshots of the Reliability Report show an apparent unblemished reliability record up to and including 16th Feb. 2020… then multiple issues afterwards.

However, the 2020-03-26 Local reliability report.XML file tells a different story. Whilst the Reliability History‘s graph shows errors from 24th Feb 2020 (line 2937) I can also see intermittent critical hardware errors (e.g. 28th October 2019 – line 5858) over a much longer period of time.

As a result I don’t advise any re-install of Windows until the cause of these hardware errors is determined. It could be as simple as the intermittent insertion of a USB stick with a faulty chip controller… or an indication of bad RAM… or something else entirely.

IMO the next step is to get more info, not just about the events from 24th Feb. when reliability nosedived but also about the critical hardware errors.

Are you ready to do some digging into the event logs or do you want to return to the PC tech you visited?

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Larry98765Ottawa

[Rick Corbett]

I’m not sure it’s a bug… more a stupid (and terminal) implementation of a safety mechanism to prevent use beyond the expected MTBF.

(Hanlon’s razor – Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity…)

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CADesertRat

[Rick Corbett]

DriftyDonN wrote:

Deleted a lot but then hit a batch that says need system permission.

The primary reason is that they are currently in use. An easy fix is just to reboot and try again (whilst disconnected from the internet in  case the process holding them open is an uploader).

Alternatively, use TechNet/Sysinternals‘ Process Explorer to search for the process/thread holding the file open and close its handle. (See the Dealing with Locked Files or Folders section in this How-ToGeek article for more info.)

The secondary reason is that, whilst not in use, you may need to take ownership of them or, alternatively, run Explorer with higher privileges than an account in the Administrators group or even the (normally hidden) Administrator account itself, i.e. use System or even TrustedInstaller (the most highly privileged account). There are several third-party utilities (e.g. Winaero‘s ExecTI or ) that let you elevate to these giddy heights… not that I recommend any of them unless you know what you’re doing, have backups (that have been tested for successful restores) or have no problem having to start again from scratch with a repair install/clean install of Windows.

Another alternative is to make a note of their location then delete them offline, either by removing the SSD/HDD and mounting it in another device/USB caddy or booting into another OS like Linux running from a USB stick or CD.

Note that whilst these workarounds will indeed work, when you get to this level of recalcitrant .ETL files then – unfortunately – even if you *do* delete them, a lot of them (most) will just immediately come back again… because the same system processes that created them will be up and running again.

Using the law of diminishing returns, my advice is to delete only the .ETL files that you can easily on a regular basis by all means… but leave the ‘difficult’ ones to another day when they may not be in use. If you’re still determined then have a look at this article for more info: How to delete files that won’t delete

Note also that this info is about deleting .ETL files, and *only* .ETL files… not any other system files which could lead to you mucking up the OS to such an extent that you have no option but to start over.

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DriftyDonN

[Rick Corbett]

Looks like the bridge of Starship Enterprise. Envious… 🙂

[Rick Corbett]

Kathy Stevens wrote:

He then goes on to review how to disable the operating system’s tracking and other settings to improve your privacy.

Unfortunately the article barely scratched the surface of what you need to do to improve privacy. To be fair, the article title did mention it was about ‘Settings’… and Win 10’s ‘Settings’ app was what it concentrated on.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Michael Austin

[Rick Corbett]

Surely the question you should be asking is… if it all worked fine up until a few months ago then what changed?

The PC tech apparently said there are no hardware limitations. It’s not clear whether this means there are no problems… a different concept. What exactly did the tech check?

If the hardware is indeed fine then why not spend a bit of time diagnosing the OS before suddenly deciding on carrying out a clean install?

For a start, have you checked Reliability Monitor? Just press the Windows key+r key together to open the Run dialog then type perfmon /rel and press Return/Enter. In a few seconds it will show you a graphical overview of critical issues and warnings over a timeline. Change View by: Days to Weeks to show even more information.

Have you checked Resource and Performance Monitor to get an overview of system diagnostics showing identified issues? Use the Windows key+r key together again but this time enter perfmon /report and wait 60 seconds for the report to be displayed.

These 2 checks are really quick and will show you if you have any critical issues. If all looks good then I would suggest the next steps would be to determine what processes are running, what the state of the event logs are and whether your PC is experiencing any thermal protection, e.g. CPU being slowed deliberately to prevent overheating. First though, post back what the 2 checks above report.

Hope this helps…

2 users thanked author for this post.

Elly, Larry98765Ottawa

[Rick Corbett]

I bought all of Jack Dunnings’ books – a bundle including A Beginner’s Guide to Using Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey.

I fell at the first hurdle…  🙁

… so don’t hold your breath! ROFL

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