Error trying to create virtual machine on Windows 8 – Failed to add device Microsoft Synthetic Ethernet port

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I received the following error message trying to create a Windows 7 virtual machine on Windows 8:
Failed to add device ‘Microsoft Synthetic Ethernet port’

I found people saying to disable your anti-virus which I did and still received the error.
On a whim I renamed the title of the Windows 7 virtual machine from Windows 7 to Windows7 with no space.
For some reason that fixed it and it created the virtual machine.  Weird, but easy fix.

Turn off Defender on Windows RT

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The Surface tablet includes Windows Defender as a service which causes a slight performance hit.  Not major but it’s something that doesn’t need to be running (in my opinion).

To turn it off:

1. Open regedit. Find HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Defender
2. Take ownership of the key and add write permissions to yourself (Right click Windows Defender key, click Permissions, click Additional settings, click Owner, type your username and accept. Now on the Permissions window click Add, type your username and check Full Access and click OK)
3. Change the value of DisableAntispyware to 1
4. Reboot

 

Stop Firefox from scanning files at the end of a download

I don’t like the pause that occurs at the end of a download in Firefox.  It’s some sort of security or virus scan but it’s annoying.
I have anti-virus installed and running all the time so I don’t need it.  It’s never actually stopped anything anyways.

To turn it off type about:config in the address bar.
Answer yes to the question warning you about messing up your computer.

In the search bar type “browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone”Change the setting to false and there you go.  No more pausing.

Security is such a pain sometimes.

Windows 7 logon screen changer

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This is not a new item, but I wanted a copy on my website so I could just download it from here.

The original can be found here at Tweaks.com.

Wallpaper – Lizard

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Click image for 1920 x 1080 version.
You may use this image for personal use only.
Please contact me for business use.

Current Book – Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova

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Swimming Pool Wallpaper

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You may use this image for personal use only.
Please contact me for business use.

Force Windows Update check from command line

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Here are a few commands for running the Windows Update Agent from a command line:

Force detection of updates:
wuauclt /detectnow

Force reporting status to an Windows Update Server:
wuauclt /r /ReportNow

Stop and start the automatic updates service:
net stop wuauserv
net start wuauserv

To help troubleshooting here’s where the log is normally.
%systemroot%\WindowsUpdate.log

Some more documentation on Microsoft’s Technet site.

Spring sun

Spring has sprung

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