USB License Key (security dongle) to unlock the software is failing and it is an old program the company no longer supports. I'm worried the flash drive will fail and that will stop my access to the program. It must ve plugged in to run and simply copying the files to a new drive doesn't work. Not sure what to do, any advice? I'd be willing to send it to a reputable copying to get a copy that runs the software.

Bought a desktop PC last year or so, to which it has not moved from that spot in my house since then. I went digging around through some settings tonight and found the Known Networks list, which contained a variety of networks; My home network, my old home network, a network from a friends house who I haven't been to in years, and a seemingly random one which I've chalked up to most likely be a school internet connection.

Are the Known Networks saved to my Microsoft account and brought from PC to PC? I'm not sure how else these networks could've ended up on there otherwise, but I can't find anything from Microsoft themselves that may indicate this is the case.

I bought a new laptop of Dell and in it's specifications it said that I'll get MS office home 2024+ microsoft 365 for 1 year but now when I opening my excel or word it's not letting me create any document and the product says unlicensed product.

Can anyone please help me.

This is in fact a pc issue I believe, so I just found a random second monitor I could use, tried finding a second hdmi port on my motherboard and then I randomly found an unused hdmi port that still have the cover inside and that port is not working. I know in fact both of the hdmi cables work because I’ve tested them and I believe the problem is the pc’s second hdmi port just doesn’t work because both cables I tried plugging in there said the display has no signal or whatever. And when I go to Display, detect there’s absolutely nothing also, I have a I5-9400F cpu btw but it should still work with that I believe.
What is the fix to this, is there a certain cable I can buy that I can plug to a regular plug in pc that is a hdmi cable at the other end, would that work? Because I tried everything and the second port just won’t and doesn’t work!

Hello! So, I was playing a game with my friends when suddenly i hear a click, and everything went silent. The game, discord, I couldn’t hear anything.

I contacted microsoft support, and they updated all my drivers and yet.. still no audio. They said what I could do is contact the manufacturer of my pc and ask them to update the drivers on the website lmfao.

I don’t know what to do. I’ve updated what I can, I’ve restarted my PC. I’m at a loss of what I can do to fix the issue.

I have a prebuilt Omen Obelisk, if that helps at all. Feel free to ask me questions, feel free to help me out. I could really use my pc rn.

This has been driving me insane for months now.

It happens with some games, while with a few select ones it runs fine.

Balatro or Stalker gamma run perfectly fine; but ace combat 7 for example, it starts blinking as soon as I launch the game and then either it crashes, does the blinking again, or minimises the window.

I'm on a ThinkPad p16v gen 1 that had previously no issues running any game in my steam library, the screen works perfectly fine in every single other scenario, I have my drivers up to date, I'm on recommended scale and resolution settings; I have tried absolutely everything to try to fix this and I just cannot. I can't find anyone with this issue either.

I have a video of the glitch but I can't attach it due to community settings or whatever.

Please help, I am very frustrated.

Hey guys,

Looking for some advice.

I started getting a captcha when I opened google chrome incognito tab, saying it wanted me to prove that I was a human and due to getting a lot of traffic from my IP address.

On a whim, I did a full scan and windows defender picked up on this:

Trojan:JS/EtherHiding,CX!ams

The affected items all (3) had similar pathing:

User\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\UserData\Default\ServiceWorker\ScriptCache

Been really stressed as I’m not sure what it actually means, but the threat was removed and I’ve wiped my chrome’s cookies and data from all time, and also changed all passwords from another device.

Has anyone had a similar issue or have any advice?

Any further actions I should take like fully resetting my laptop?

TIA

Hi guys, my wife turned her PC off last night and it started an update cycle. This morning she turned the PC on, but there was no internet connection. I troubleshooted that it was neither cable nor router that were the problems.

I've surmised it also can't be a hardware issue on the mobo as the NIC lights come on, and when scanning in device manager the generic Ethernet Controller and Network Controller items appear.

It just cannot find the driver on its own, and I cannot seem to install the driver for this mobo from the manufacturer's website (the installation runs but doesn't do anything).

The motherboard is a GIGABYTE B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 (Rev. 1.x). And she is running Win 11.

• I've done a Network Reset.
• I've done SFC and DISM.
• I've tried to create a bootable Win 11 USB and tried to repair the installation (didn't work).

I'd preferably fix this without having to reinstall Windows entirely if possible, but will do it only if all my options are exhausted.

I was trying to reinstall Windows, deleted all partitions, let setup complete, and now when I try to boot any device, nothing happens at the bios screen.

For example, here's a video: https://youtu.be/U7Zruhw7cY4

I have disabled secure boot, but no idea how to proceed since I can't even boot from a USB anymore.

I came to my pc and I couldn't hear anything from it just to see all my playback devices showing not plugged in. I've tried to fix it myself watching and taking advice from videos but nothings worked. I checked the audio input and output on device manager and the name for the audio output that would've been there is gone and I'm assuming it's been uninstalled because it just doesn't show up on hidden devices. Anyone have any advice that can help maybe? My monitor is an old tv so and I don't have any speakers I can use to replace the tv speakers either.

​

Specs:

CPU: Ryzen 7 5800X3D (tested two different units)

Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite V2 rev 1.5, BIOS \[version\]

GPU: \[brand\] RX 9070 XT, bought mid-August 2026

RAM: 32GB DDR4 (originally G.Skill Ripjaws 3600, now a different replacement kit), running at 3200, XMP off

PSU: \[model, wattage\] (already replaced once, previous: \[model\])

OS: Windows \[10/11\], AMD Adrenalin \[version\], installed clean with DDU

The problem

Hard reboot with no BSOD. Event Viewer shows WHEA-Logger Event 18, Error Source: Machine Check Exception, Error Type: Cache Hierarchy Error, Processor APIC ID different every time, followed by Kernel-Power 41.

Battlefield 6 reproduces it reliably within 10 minutes.

Apex Legends and CoD: they used to crash too, but have been stable for days since I set LLC to Medium (see below).

Other symptoms: one DEVICE_HUNG driver crash in Apex (fixed after DDU + driver reinstall), monitor occasionally goes black for a second at idle, and a USB controller once showed Code 43.

History: the same motherboard was fully stable with a Ryzen 5 5600X + RX 6700 XT. Problems started after upgrading to the 5800X3D + 9070 XT.

What I've tried

CPU: two different 5800X3D units, same crashes (the first one was sold and works fine for the buyer).

PSU: replaced, no change.

RAM: replaced the kit. MemTest86 passes, XMP off (3200 JEDEC).

BIOS: loaded defaults, PBO off, Core Performance Boost off, Global C-State Control off, PCIe forced to Gen3, SoC voltage 1.10V → 1.148V (no difference), CPU Vcore LLC + SoC LLC set to Medium (helped Apex/CoD, not BF6). Resizable BAR/SAM currently off.

Stress tests: OCCT CPU and OCCT Power (CPU+GPU) for \~25 min with zero errors. Only gaming triggers it.

GPU: reseated many times, clean driver install with DDU. \[Separate PCIe power cables / no daisy-chain: yes/no\]

\[Registry: MPO disabled (OverlayTestMode=5) + TdrDelay=10 / TdrDdiDelay=20: done / not yet\]

\[FreeSync off: done / not yet\]

\[Adrenalin power limit -10%: result\]

\[FPS cap at 60 in BF6: result\]

Planned next tests

Moving the GPU to the second (chipset) PCIe slot to rule out the primary slot / CPU lanes.

Clean Windows install on a separate drive.

My questions

Has anyone with a 9070 XT (or 9060 XT) on AM4/B550 seen WHEA 18 that only shows up in BF6?

Since CPU, PSU and RAM are ruled out, does this point more to the card or to the motherboard/PCIe?

Anyone with the B550 Aorus Elite V2 running a 9070 XT stable in BF6? Which BIOS version?

Any fixes I've missed before I send the card in for RMA? I can't easily test it in another PC, and I'd rather not ship it without being sure.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, I'm having trouble launching Call of Duty: Black Ops III on Steam.

Context:

This issue started happening right after I installed my new NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti. Previously, when playing with the integrated graphics on my Ryzen 5 5600G, the game launched and ran fine.

The issue:

When I click Play, Steam changes the button to "Stop"(as if it's running), and immediately a pop-up appears saying:

"The game did not close properly last time it was run. Do you want to run in Safe Mode?"

I've tried clicking both "Yes" and "No", but in both cases the game fails to launch, closes itself, and Steam goes back to showing the "Play" button.

What I've tried so far:

• Trying both Safe Mode options (Yes and No).
• Setting the dedicated GPU (RTX 3070 Ti) as primary/priority in BIOS.

Has anyone experienced something similar after changing GPUs or knows how to fix it? Thanks in advance!

Title says it all; bluetooth headphones work tho, but I don't wanna use bluetooth since there's always an awful audio delay associared with that, which makes anything gaming/game dev related pretty impossible lol

I've already tried restarting, reinstalling drivers, restarting windows audio related services, and checking additional sound settings (basically every solution you can find on the internet on this issue) with no avail.

I’m on my third G.Skill kit in this PC, and before I file another RMA I want to make sure the computer isn't killing the RAM.

1. Has anyone had their PC kill RAM? Any idea what caused it?
2. Is there anything else I should be testing? The PSU is budget and 6 years old so I wonder about that.
3. Has anyone else had repeated failures with this or a similar kit?

Specs (everything bought in 2020 except the RAM)

• Ryzen 5 3600
• Gigabyte B450 AORUS PRO WIFI
• Sapphire Pulse RX 5700 XT
• Thermaltake Smart BX1 550W Bronze
• Windows 11 Home
• RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws V F4-3600C16D-32GVKC (2x16GB 3600 CL16, 1.35V), upgraded in 2025

Kit 1 (bought 2025): Memory crashes started early this year. In July, memtest86 found one bad stick, failing at stock 2133 with XMP off. RMA’d.

Kit 2 (label date July 2026): Crashing within about two weeks (0x1A MEMORY_MANAGEMENT). One stick failed memtest on the same bits in two different slots, and the other stick had a few errors too. RMA’d.

Kit 3 (label date Aug 2026): Passed 4 full memtest passes when it arrived. About a week later it started failing (note: I was using the computer more heavily than normal during this period). It kept getting worse until Chrome tabs were crashing constantly and I was getting crash screens about memory.

In memtest, the failing bits are different between kits.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

not sure where to ask so i'm gonna crosspost a little bit. anyway essentially title. i'm using an iphone SE running iOS 26.1 with a t-mobile plan. two days ago, my phone died and when i charged it again it wouldn't connect to my cellular data. i did all the troubleshooting i could find (powercycle, cycling airplane mode, switching sources) but nothing let me connect. i went to t-mobile today and (to my best understanding) the associate tried to set up an eSIM and then replaced my physical SIM. they told me i could leave and that the eSIM would cancel and the new SIM card would kick in. as of writing, i left the store around 3-4 hours ago, and my settings show i have two SIMs: one reading "on" but providing no signal, and one reading "activating..." and also providing no signal. the top-left signal display shows two bands with no connection and SOS only.

can i do something to restore my signal/activate my sim?

My computer keeps typing "]" for some reason. Ive tried a fresh windows install, multiple different keyboards, corded and Bluetooth. I've tried using my wife's razor keyboard, my keychron k10 and k4 both in cable mode and Bluetooth with no success. It will type the ] regardless of whether a keyboard is connected or not but not all the time, sometimes I can restart it and be fine for a half hour or so until it starts up again.

My monitor keeps flickering the brightness up and down between two levels, and it's so annoying.

Monitor is AOC OLED (2560x1440 120Hz), with an ASUS Zephyrus G14 (RTX 5070ti + Ryzen AI 9) connected (HDMI). The flickering is ONLY happening on the monitor screen, not the laptop screen. It doesn't change the set brightness in windows, on the monitor settings, or the secret third setting of flicker-free dimming in Armory Crate.

So far, it's mostly (if not only) happening in my browser (edge), and I've gone through what feels like every setting on the planet to try and stop it. I've checked Microsoft settings, Armory Crate, MyASUS, NVIDIA app, and the OSD settings for the monitor. And nothing. It screws with the saturation too.

My NVIDIA driver is up to date, so is my windows system. I've reinstalled the most current driver, and reset my entire monitor (unplugged everything, left it for like a day) and its still happening.

Maybe the newest driver update? One of the fixes says, "Intermittent flicker may be observed in browsers when navigating to certain websites". Does that mean it's supposedly been fixed from previous installments, or that it's a known bug with the newest driver? It does not matter if I switch websites, it happens on everything; youtube, canvas, google, here, etc.

Another suspicion (and issue) is that my graphics is running on dedicated GPU constantly... I have NVIDIA set to optimus so it should only be running on integrated if I'm not gaming or something (right?). It worked fine before, but for some reason its stuck running on the dedicated GPU? This might've correlated to when the flickering started as well, possibly with the driver update. I don't know how to switch to integrated graphics, NVIDIA settings are locked for some reason (

Driver bug? Setting I can't find? Refresh rate issue?

I've recently had my wifi router upgraded (Xfinity) and am no longer able to use certain games (like online MMORPG games and also some of my online schooling) or apps without it eventually kicking me off and saying I'm no longer online. I've tried to forget my password and re enter, I reset and power washed my Chromebook and router.. I've factory reset the Chromebook as well. Went into the settings and also tried to change the DNS or whatever it was called and also didn't work. I feel like I've tried everything. Went on Xfinitys app and tried changing the advanced security.. nothing. My YouTube wouldn't even work there for a hot minute. I just recently bought this Chromebook no more than 6 months ago. Anyone think they can help me out? 🥹

hello! while browsing a trusted site on chrome, I tapped on a link to download something, and instead it redirected me to a somewhat official looking pop up saying my iPad got detected with a Trojan virus. obviously I was suspicious, but in my panicked state, I downloaded the app they offered, especially since I’m not good at all with tech and believed it all looked official. after browsing a bit, I noticed it’s probably a scam and deleted it immediately after. will my device be affected, though? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.

WizTree shows an ota-artifacts folder on my Windows 11 laptop (RTX 3050) which is huge.

C:\ProgramData\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA App\UpdateFramework\ota-artifacts

It contains a grd folder, including post-processing. NVIDIA App shows no update in progress.

Can I safely delete this to reclaim the 7 GB without affecting my installed driver or future updates? Why doesn't NVIDIA clean them up automatically? Is there an official cleanup method?

I Googled and most people say it's safe but I want to be sure.

My computer keeps crashing, faster than my meager skills can investigate. When it fails, screen turns black and the error message says "stop code: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE (0x9F)"

As far as windows help goes I should be programing with debug tools, trying to solve by disabling "power saver", or it may have to do with driver or device failures... I have A LOT of peripherals, but no matter what or how many, I unplug, it seems to persist. Power saver has already been disabled, and all drivers are up to date according to both first and third part software.

What can I do to quickly (as there is limited time before device failure on boot) to diagnose and solve this issue?

Can I have some assistance I got hacked and I’m trying to regain control I’ve changed all my accounts but now I’m fixing my pc and it’s saying I’m not an admin when I try to run task manager or my registry editor how do I fix all this

My extremely un savvy grandma uses AOL (yes lol) for email on google chrome with a very old iMac (~2010?). She is encountering an issue where the AOL tab will continue copying itself until she asks me to close them. The only solution I have been able to provide is to just close the tabs which she struggles to do. I have not been able to observe this happening, I sometimes here the computer chime but I believe that is just the sound for a new email. I was watching the computer and heard the chime but iirc no new tab opened. Is this a fixable bug that anyone knows of or just a quirk of a very old computer?

I have an ELAN Clickpad that has a slight delay in moving the cursor and in being able to tap using the touchpad. I would like to disable this so that it would be easier to do gaming. I located the TP Rejection settings in the ELAN Touchpad Settings, which I brought up by searching for it in the Windows search bar. I was able to disable the delay on moving the cursor using the touchpad after a keystroke; however, it did not disable the delay on being able to tap things using the touchpad after a keystroke. Any solutions to this problem?