Windows 8 failed


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So long story short, i'm not a complete amateur. Windows 7 for me was perfect and knew all that i needed to with recovering, dual booting, and all the customizing i felt it needed.

My current problem is my brother bought round his windows 8 laptop saying it wasn't working. Had a look and it gets to the point where the start screen starts to load but the taskbar never shows up and it'll just flicker from that screen to a blue one over and over. Only way around it is getting into the task manager and shutting down from there.

Thought, ok this can't be that bad, just get a windows cd and try a recovery to a couple of days earlier. Thats where things got difficult, obviously the digital river site no longer hosts windows stuff and don't know if it ever did for 8. Then thought i'll make a recovery iso instead, sadly this option and the full media that can do a recovery need either a working windows 8 or a serial number, which in this toshiba laptop serial numbers weren't given.

Then thought stuff this i'll just chuck win 7 on using the serial from one of my old desktops. Which will then get rather complicated trying to find drivers for the hardware that probably don't exist for win 7, so ruled that option out too.

So basically i'm at the point now where i'm considering pulling the hdd, chucking it in my desktop backing everything he needs up on there and trying to do a fresh install and hoping there's a way of making it work legally.

Is there any option here i haven't looked into other than getting a dodgy torrent iso or taking it to a computer shop who will have recovery disks handy.

Cheers for any help

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On that system at a command prompt you could try

 

Dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth

 

Then if it says it needs fixing

 

Dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

 

Then

 

sfc /scannow

 

If you do have to download it .. Might try that.

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only

 

If that doesn't work just search for this

 

A8B5DF0B0816280AE18017BC4B119C77B6C6EB79

 

and compare the hash to what ever you download. Make sure they match.

 

As far as finding the Windows 8 / 8.1 key you can use the Windows 8 key finder in the zip at the bottom of the post. Open it and check the box and it will show you the Embedded product key.

 

If the machine came with 8 and you are installing an 8.1 iso you will need to use a generic keys just to get past the install. Once in windows you can activate using your embedded key.

 

Core: 334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VPT
Professional: XHQ8N-C3MCJ-RQXB6-WCHYG-C9WKB
Enterprise: MNDGV-M6PKV-DV4DR-CYY8X-2YRXH

 

If the computer came with 8.1 and are installing using an 8.1 iso it won't even ask you for a key.

Windows 8 Key finder.zip

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Cheers for the help.

Inbetween explorer restarting every 3s or so i managed to run that command but seems to come up as saying the scanhealth option is unknown.

Then got the iso using the given hash. Downloaded and installed using the option to keep all user data thinking it was more than likely just some corrupt windows file maybe from a update gone wrong. But upon starting it it does the same thing, not quite as quickly and isn't completely continuous, seems to change with what is being done, and taskbar is still unresponsive.

Could be a virus in his downloads/ documents maybe? Haven't been able to run the antivirus so can't be sure without pulling the HDD. Thinking thats probably the next step.

Or does this behaviour sound more hardware related?

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If the issue you are getting is the desktop is flashing from explorer restarting, I recently saw that issue with Norton 360. So if he has that, try removing that.

 

if you reinstalled, but kept the documents even if there was a virus in the documents folder it would have been opened to reinfect the computer. Or did you do a repair install?

 

You might want to backup all of his stuff onto an external hard drive and do a clean install.

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Interesting, it does have norton 360, choosing the keep documents option carried over apps aswell. I'll try getting rid of that first and then maybe an install wiping everything.

Did a full install but kept all his data, settings and apps

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Interesting, it does have norton 360, choosing the keep documents option carried over apps aswell. I'll try getting rid of that first and then maybe an install wiping everything.

Did a full install but kept all his data, settings and apps

 

I bet your issue will be gone by the time the 360 uninstall is finished

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Hmm, didn't fail for me. PEBKAC?

 

It's norton. While not 100% sure, i'm pretty sure. I just saw this same exact issue in my office on a Windows 8 computer last week.

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Welcome to the world of paid anti-virus. 

Thats not the most intelligent comment Ive ever heard...

A little shocked coming from you ...

Maybe it is just the wrong paid AV ?

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Have you tried a system restore? Boot off the Windows DVD and select repair, advanced options, system restore. You can then select from different restore points based on the last time it worked properly. If you don't have the install media, you can get to system restore by pressing F8 during boot.

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Tried doing restore from within windows but kept saying the data from previous restore points was corrupted. Not having a windows dvd and struggling to find one online legally was the other issue. Made restoring/repairing harder than it should have ever been.

Good news is getting rid of norton 360 solved the issue!

Good call on that one warwagon.

Always been a fan of nod32 myself but just chucked avg free on his for now and see what he wants to do

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Ah, yeah Norton is awful. Really the best AV is Windows Defender which is built into Windows 8. If they insist on something 3rd party, Bit Defender is the best imho.

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Ah, yeah Norton is awful. Really the best AV is Windows Defender which is built into Windows 8. If they insist on something 3rd party, Bit Defender is the best imho.

 

:huh: Did they totally revamp it or something ?  I dont mess with Win8, but in the past - it was pretty much non-existant.  I hear Bit Defender is good, dont know personally.

Everyone has their favorite.

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Tried doing restore from within windows but kept saying the data from previous restore points was corrupted. Not having a windows dvd and struggling to find one online legally was the other issue. Made restoring/repairing harder than it should have ever been.

Good news is getting rid of norton 360 solved the issue!

Good call on that one warwagon.

Always been a fan of nod32 myself but just chucked avg free on his for now and see what he wants to do

 

Norton and McCrappy suck man. I use Nod32. I have a coworker who hates AV software so much he doesn't run it and claims his firewall makes him secure. lol.

:huh: Did they totally revamp it or something ?  I dont mess with Win8, but in the past - it was pretty much non-existant.  I hear Bit Defender is good, dont know personally.

Everyone has their favorite.

 

No MSE lost its certification as it is nearly useless and just a scanner really. But people swear by it as it doesn't slow down performance. I will never run it as it can allow like %60 of malware in and just sit there.

 

I use Nod32 because it has game mode and I used it at my university back in the day. Yes it will slow things down a little but that is the price to pay for running Windows.

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what 

 

Norton and McCrappy suck man. I use Nod32. I have a coworker who hates AV software so much he doesn't run it and claims his firewall makes him secure. lol.


 

No MSE lost its certification as it is nearly useless and just a scanner really. But people swear by it as it doesn't slow down performance. I will never run it as it can allow like %60 of malware in and just sit there.

 

I use Nod32 because it has game mode and I used it at my university back in the day. Yes it will slow things down a little but that is the price to pay for running Windows.

 

how about Kapersky? I've heard they have a pretty good reputation unless my sources, (word of mouth) are wrong.

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This is venturing off into another topic, but it really boils down to this:

The person @ the keyboard will  be the #1 determining factor of whether or not a system gets infected.
There are good programs out there -
NOD32 - good rep
Bit Defender - popular
Webroot Secure Anywhere (my favorite for last 3 years)
Kaspersky - been a couple years since I have messed with it - used to be good...

I think the problem lies in the fact most people simply regurgitate what they were told, and know next to nothing about A/V security.
Many times, people comment on things in which they have no business doing so - you can see evidence of this on any website with product reviews.

Most LEGIT AV reviews dont include webroot because it is different - it is cloud based.
The LEGIT AV reviews that do include webroot's Secure Anywhere - it wins hands down.... much of the time.
I emphacize LEGIT because when you google "best antivirus 2015" you get a plethora of those www.best-antivirus-website-review.com types that are nothing more then advertising vehicles for a particular brand - they are totally and completely bogus.  And they are usually the top sites on Google.

Without starting an AV war on a thread about something else - I'll just say a smart user is your best bet - when that is not an option - dont rely on the freebies -  there is my 2 cents.

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Yeah, people swear by a Defender which is why I suggested it. I've used AVG, Nod, and now BitDefender which is the best of the bunch.

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This is venturing off into another topic, but it really boils down to this:

The person @ the keyboard will be the #1 determining factor of whether or not a system gets infected.

There are good programs out there -

NOD32 - good rep

Bit Defender - popular

Webroot Secure Anywhere (my favorite for last 3 years)

Kaspersky - been a couple years since I have messed with it - used to be good...

I think the problem lies in the fact most people simply regurgitate what they were told, and know next to nothing about A/V security.

Many times, people comment on things in which they have no business doing so - you can see evidence of this on any website with product reviews.

Most LEGIT AV reviews dont include webroot because it is different - it is cloud based.

The LEGIT AV reviews that do include webroot's Secure Anywhere - it wins hands down.... much of the time.

I emphacize LEGIT because when you google "best antivirus 2015" you get a plethora of those www.best-antivirus-website-review.com types that are nothing more then advertising vehicles for a particular brand - they are totally and completely bogus. And they are usually the top sites on Google.

Without starting an AV war on a thread about something else - I'll just say a smart user is your best bet - when that is not an option - dont rely on the freebies - there is my 2 cents.

That was true in 2005. Don't click on ###### and have a firewall. You don't need av etc.

That user at work who spewed he didn't run av software and no updates and how he had a Cisco firewall ... well he had 3. Haha

Today all you have to do is open a Web page and BAM!! Infected through flash or java by an infected ad network.

Shoot on a fresh win 7 reimage I opened IE and the default MSN page had a javascript exploit that turned on my cam and spied one???! Had to reimage and now put on av software on all updates before I dare open IE to download another browser!

Best av software is adblock as this is how infections get on. I used an av certification institution avcompare or something like that to review. Not an advertising site.

I use Norton dns too to filter out bad domains too.

Defender is worst of the bunch and next to useless while a decent one will block 97% of malware or higher.

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