When searching on the web, it seems that Conduit community toolbar is the root of all problems. This toolbar gets installed when we install some program and then even after uninstalling conduit toolbar, the search engine does not gets removed. For e.g. there’s a search bar placed next to address bar in Firefox. When we search on this search bar, Google search engine is used. But after installing this Conduit toolbar, the search is performed using Conduit. Now this is really a strange and nagging problem. Why would anyone want to search with this Conduit engine, when we can use Google, right?

Lets remove this Conduit Community Toolbar. Click the “Start” button and then select “Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs”. From here, try to find the toolbar name and uninstall it. The toolbar name may depend on programs name for e.g. Bittorent toolbar. Find and remove the toolbar.

Now check your browser again. Is that nagging software removed? If not, then read on.

For Chrome Users
Start Chrome and enter this in address bar: chrome://extensions/. Find the toolbar name and click on “remove”.

For Firefox Users
Start Firefox. Click on Tools > Options. From the General tab and under Home Page, make sure that Conduit is not set as your home page. If so, remove it and set some other website as home page.

To set your default search engine, click on small down arrow in search bar. This should open a small drop down menu. Click on “Manage Search Engines”. If you find Conduit there, then select it and click on “Remove” button. Set a new default search engine and click on OK. Does this solve your problem? If not, then continue with below steps.

Steps to Remove Conduit Search Engine

Please follow the below steps only if you’re using Mozilla Firefox.

1. Start Firefox, and go to Tools > Add-ons (shortcut key: Ctrl+Shift+A). From the plugins and extensions section, remove anything related to Conduit. Restart Firefox and check if the toolbar and conduit search engine has been removed. If not, then proceed to step 2.
2. Now in the address bar, type about:config. You’ll be presented with a notification box.



3. Click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
4. In the filter bar, type “conduit“.
5. From the preference name field, locate this: CT1060933.TBHomePageUrl and double click on it to modify the value. Change it to:

   http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=

6. Now locate another preference name field, keyword.URL , double click on it and change the value to:

   http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=

7. After making these changes, restart Firefox.

How to protect yourself from these toolbars? A simple solution would be to be careful when installing programs. Make sure you “uncheck” the option to install the toolbar. They don’t just install toolbar, but also change default search engine and also change the home page.

This post - How to Remove/Uninstall Conduit Search and Toolbar is originally published at: Technostarry

Here is the solution for this problem:

1. Windows XP users, click on Start > Run and type regedit and press Enter.
   Windows Vista and Windows 7 users, click on start and directly type regedit
2. Navigate (Expand) to the following registry key (Please take utmost care here, as the changes made cannot be undone, until and unless you have taken a backup of registry files) :
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE – Software – Microsoft – MSLicensing

   Right click on MSLicensing folder and click on Delete. The problem should now be solved.

Now restart the computer and try again to connect to the remote server. If you again get an error such as “The remote computer disconnected the session because of an error in the licensing protocol”, then don’t worry, here’s the solution again.

Right click the “Remote Desktop Connection” icon and click on “Run as administrator”. That’s it. The issue should now be fixed.

This post - Solved – “The remote session was disconnected” issue while connecting to Remote Computer is originally published at: Technostarry

There can be different solutions when computer time and date keeps changing, but it depends upon the cause:

Changing CMOS Battery:

One possible solution to solve this issue is to replace the CMOS battery on the motherboard (mainboard). This battery maybe in its last stages or may be dying. That’s why it needs replacement. This CMOS battery is a small battery mounted on the motherboard. It looks like a watch battery, and about the size of dime.

If you’ve ever opened your PC before then this may not be a hard task for you. Just carefully remove that battery, insert a new one and voila, its done.

Note: Do this carefully, as you may also damage some other critical components of motherboard. If you think that this may give a hard time, then you can take the help of your friendly neighborhood computer guy.

Synchronize Computer Time:
Another possible solution is to synchronizing Computer Clock over the internet. The time can automatically be synchronized over the internet at regular intervals or it can be done manually also. The only problem with this solution is that computer must be connected to the internet. So if you’re connected to internet, then follow the below steps:

Click on Date from the Desktop and then click on “Change Date and Time Settings”. Date and Time options will open (You can open date and time options from Control Panel also). Now click on Internet Time and then on “Change settings”.

In the server settings, type down time.wondows.com, press Update Now and click on OK. Windows will automatically sync with the server and date and time would be corrected.

So thats it. Hope this helps you to solve time not saving issue in PC.

This post - Troubleshooting – How to Solve Computer Clock Losing Time Issue is originally published at: Technostarry

The Scenario:

The whole hard disk had a lot of viruses. So the last thing I could think is to format it. So I inserted Windows XP’s CD in it, deleted all the partitions and then selected “Format and install Windows on C:” The problems became worse from here. During the formatting process, the PC automatically shut down. I didn’t know the reason why this happened, but I knew that now I am in deep trouble.

The PC just powered OFF automatically because of voltage fluctuation, I think. Now after switching it ON again, I am unable to see any screen after booting from CD. It was just pure black. All I can do is, I was just pressing any key to boot from CD and then the screen just went’s black. So let’s learn how to trouble shoot this problem.

Even after trying for some 5 times, I was not able to see any screen. I kept on restarting the PC, and in the stage where it was written that “Press any key to boot from CD”, I pressed some key and then again the black screen. I was worried very much, as I thought that the Hard disk went kaput, because of the abrupt shutting down of the PC. Then I thought of this new “innovative” idea.

Solution:

I connected this Hard disk to another working Computer. I connected this drive as SLAVE. That working Computer already had a MASTER Hard disk with installed OS. So I connected this Hard disk as SLAVE and then formatted it. After connecting that faulty Hard disk, I could see all it’s partitions, so I right clicked it and then clicked on “Format“. After the formatting is complete, I took that Hard disk out and then installed it on that PC and then I was able to install Windows XP. That black screen problem’s now gone.

So sometimes we have to think of some new ideas to make things work. I hope if you ever face this problem, you apply this method. If you are unable to install Windows even after booting from CD/DVD, then simply take out this faulty hard disk, connect to other working PC and format it. The problem’s now gone.

This post - Troubleshooting: Can’t Install Windows After Booting From CD/DVD is originally published at: Technostarry

If your PC keeps restarting after loading Windows, then the problem could be Virus, Spyware or system file corruption. Sometimes this problem could even appear because of some driver problems. To trouble shoot this problem, first try the recovery console. Restore it to a previous date. If you think that the problem could be a virus, than scan your PC with the help of a bootable antivirus CD. I recommend using Avira AntiVir Rescue System. Download it from here. A quote from the official site

The Avira AntiVir Rescue System a linux-based application that allows accessing computers that cannot be booted anymore. Thus it is possible to repair a damaged system, to rescue data or to scan the system for virus infections

If you are facing BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), then the problem could be of a hardware malfunction also. Check your RAM first. Sometimes, you will also need to swap your PC parts from other working PC’s.

This post - Troubleshooting: Help, My Computer Keeps Restarting is originally published at: Technostarry

So, I hope you clearly understood the problem. To tackle this situation, all we have to do is to restore our beloved “GRUB bootloader”. Follow the below steps to recover GRUB bootloader:

1) Boot from the live CD / DVD of Ubuntu

2) Open the terminal, now type “sudo grub”

3) Type “find /boot/grub/stage1” (Do note that there is a space after “find”)

4) After our previous command, it will show you the linux boot file location. e.g. (hd0, 6).

5) Now you need to type “root (output of the above process)”. e.g. root (hd0, 6)

6) Also type “setup (hd 0)”

That’s it. Your GRUB bootloader will get restored if you followed this process properly. Do note that linux is a space sensitive and case sensitive language. You can follow this process if you have installed Windows XP or Windows Vista or Windows 7 and you are unable to boot to other operating system’s. For those who want to know the full form of GRUB, it is “GRand Unified Bootloader”. So, happy restoring GRUB.

This post - Troubleshooting: Help, my GRUB bootloader is gone after installing XP/Vista/7 is originally published at: Technostarry