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Dial-A-Fix


TheWizardsBear

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We had an end user in South Carolina, actually bring us his computer to see on earth was wrong. He had loaded XP Pro on it and could not get rid of the constant messages that there were updates that were not loaded.

We were going to recommend him to a Commercial end program that would be a pretty good Do-It-All, however, he had said that he had tried Dial-A-Fix from the Net, and it seemed it worked for most people and wanted us to see if we could figure out....what was wrong with the Program.

On getting the system set up, we IMMEDIATELY noted that what he had indicated was true..105 updates that would not load. So we tried running the Dial-A-Fix and had the same results. BUT when we went back to check his installation of XP Pro, we found that he had set partitions on his hard drive in such a way, that he had XP AND XP PRO BOTH loaded and as can be expected there were a couple of address errors and a pretty confused system.

We set him up on XP Pro, said goodbye to XP and had him re-try the Dial-A-Fix. (Mind you, we HAD to watch him MOST CAREFULLY, as we had located VERY DETAILED directions on the web site he gave us...yet he just was about to punch everything and let fly).

On his system, after we had guided him through the directions, then the Windows update and 927891 install, we found that on re-start numerous programs loaded as advertised, however, there was a block that failed...our less than patient owner immediately pointed out a problem... one that didn't even exist. On his sytem, the block that had FAILED to update, were because a RESTART was required for the other upgrades to post before they could update.

On the second go around, we watched as he sat there waiting...waiting...waiting....after again several had updated.....and we realized that he had NO CLUE the YELLOW BOX was telling him it had paused awaiting his attention...he was ready to turn the system off...(egad)...IE 7 was wanting to post and needed his input.

Well we made it through that trial, and rather than look at the screen, when it popped up with update failed to install...he was ready to shut the machine off in frustration..in fact did so before we could point out there was ONLY 1 item in the box.

After calming him down and restarting his system, the Update Shield installed and the user was a happy camper when he flipped the RESTART and there was NOTHING there.

After Mr I.M.Smarter Dan N.E. Machine, left, we played with the Dial-A-Fix Program, and found that it actually EXCEEDED in several areas, the ease and speed of some of the Commercial end products we were or had tested and had on hand to put them Head-to-Head. (We DID tell him, he ought to Donate to the Developer!)

This is an EXCELLENT example of working IN THE BOX..getting the most out of what is available and scratching for better ways to make things work and fix things that are wrong.

When we get questions and inquiries in the future on update problems such as this, rather than recommending a Commercial end product, we will send them to Dial-A-Fix.....and tell them TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS...CAREFULLY!!!!

GREAT PROGRAM LIZARD!!!!!!

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No problem! Mind you, what commercial programs exactly are able to do what Dial-a-fix does? All I've ever seen are fake RAM "optimizers" and registry "cleaners", which are mostly crap. None of the PC "repair" programs I've ever seen or tried could actually fix anything.

Also, it is indeed completely safe to let Dial-a-fix run its entire gamut of options. It's interesting to do this on a system where it's gone berzerk and you don't know why - if you get any errors, you at least have something to start working with (or against, in the case of DLL dependency problems).

Do not ever forget to run proper RAM and HDD diagnostics before attempting anything in Dial-a-fix. Very subtle hard drive problems (like a single bad sector) can sometimes cripple Windows, and if you start writing to a failing HDD (by way of using Dial-a-fix, for instance), it begins to fail faster and harder, and it might make someone think I broke their machine. See also: https://wiki.lunarsoft.net/wiki/Dial-a-fix#Known_issues

Finally, Dial-a-fix is about half of what it actually could be, were it that I had the drive or time to continue its progress. My to-do list of new fixes is extensive, and eventually, Dial-a-fix would have actually looked like a commercial product in the end (by this I simply mean polished and professional). I hope to find someone to partner with that will allow the next Dial-a-fix to see light of day.

Anyway, glad you enjoyed the program. Enjoy your stay at Lunarsoft and be sure to take advantage of our Add Reply and New Topic buttons whenever possible.

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