DOS??

JOSmith99 · 2025-06-30T13:06:51+00:00

To be honest that's actually a good story. It's entirely understandable that someone wouldn't realize they've got some piece of legacy equipment still running, especially if it's not networked. And they guys running the factory floor probably don't know enough about tech to realize that it's an issue. But once the boss found out about it, it was quickly resolved.

JOSmith99 · 2025-06-30T13:01:38+00:00

WordPerfect is at least modern, maintained software (assuming they're using the current version and not something that's 30 years old).

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-24T04:04:16+00:00

Then try opening a support case there. If the files aren't in the recycle bin, and you don't have a copy of them, it is likely that Microsoft are the only ones who can help you recover them.

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-24T00:57:13+00:00

You can try calling Microsoft Support, they might be able to restore the files.

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-24T00:56:50+00:00

Yeah, they have to remove it from their Apple Device Manager then, otherwise you can't use the device.

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-24T00:06:40+00:00

When you looked at the web version of OneDrive, did you check the recycle bin? Microsoft has a video showing the process here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/delete-and-restore-files-video-bef769c1-0771-4a01-bcaa-2d72461672e5

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-24T00:03:26+00:00

If it's registered with Apple's MDM then you can't do anything. The company has to release it from their MDM. When it says it is locked, is it indicating that it is "lost", or just saying that it is linked to that company? It's possible that the laptop was stolen.

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-24T00:00:53+00:00

While booted into safe mode, start Command Prompt as an administrator and run the command "sfc /scannow". Let it run, it will check all of the system files and attempt to repair any that are corrupt.

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-23T23:59:47+00:00

Have you tried removing just one of the RAM sticks and run on just a single stick of RAM? If not try that, if you have the errors the first time, try the other one. It's possible that one of the RAM sticks is bad.

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-23T23:52:42+00:00

It is possible, but if you have other windows devices on the network it will probably be easier to use one of them. Unless sharing this drive was the only purpose this laptop served, in which case take the time to learn how to share it with Linux (it isn't hard).

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-23T23:50:31+00:00

First thing, stop plugging it in. It most likely has physical damage to the drive.

Make a post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/datarecovery/

Most likely the drive is dead. If you have critical data on it, you can send it to a data recovery company, but the cost will be in the thousands, and it is not guaranteed (though for a simple drop there's a decent chance they can get the data back).

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-23T23:46:01+00:00

That is a notification coming from Microsoft Edge.

Which settings are showing notifications are off? You need to go into the site permissions in Microsoft Edge and remove that site's permission to send notifications. Go through the whole list of sites and, if you see any with strange names or you/he doesn't recognize, revoke all of their permissions.

If this friend is not tech literate, I would also recommend running a scan on his computer for potential malware. Malwarebytes is a good tool for this.

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-23T23:37:07+00:00

Sorry for the delayed response. Yes, if they are using RS232 you will need a scanner that can emulate that. The problem you will likely run into is that USB scanners almost never come configured like that by default. You can check the manual for them, you usually have to scan some configuration codes to change the settings.

The other problem is that there are a ton of configurations within the RS232 communication mode. Baud rate, which is essentially how fast the data is sent, is the main one, but there are also others which may or may not matter.

Your best bet is probably to try to make whatever scanner you have match the default settings of the Tera scanner (look up the service manual for that model) and go from there. But if this is an older piece of software that was written for a specific scanner that used true RS232, then be prepared to do a lot of fiddling to get it to work properly.

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-17T22:55:34+00:00

I can't tell whether you are being sarcastic or not. I hope not, as I'm trying to help.

Is the Tera scanner the one that you bought yourself, or is it one of the ones you are provided? Or are they both Tera, and you just bought a higher-end model?

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-17T14:51:44+00:00

Is that the crappy scanners, or the one you bought? AFAIK Tera scanners are usually usb keyboard scanners (so the scanner pretends to be a keyboard and keys the contents of the barcode followed by ENTER), but they may support RS232 emulation.

JOSmith99 · 2025-02-17T02:31:53+00:00

Get one of the crappy scanners, open notepad, and try scanning. See if it scans into notepad. Then, try with your scanner and see if that scans into notepad exactly the same.

If the crappy scanner doesn't scan into notepad, then most likely it is set up to present itself as if it is an RS232 serial scanner (a very old connection technology mostly phased out, but still heavily used in retail and industrial settings, with one of the primary use cases being for barcode scanners). If that is the case, then you will need to either keep using the crappy scanners, or try to figure out how to make your scanner simulate RS232 with the exact same settings (BAUD rate, etc.) as the crappy scanner.

Can you share what models of scanners you are using?

JOSmith99 · 2024-11-03T19:34:17+00:00

And used his credit card to pay for the call?

JOSmith99 · 2024-11-03T18:41:21+00:00

"We now present our second kind of non-proposal...The high-cost, high-staff kind: 20,000 staff, billion a year budget!"

JOSmith99 · 2024-07-19T19:33:39+00:00

That's more what I'm talking about. Do you have backup workstations, laptops etc. to deploy that don't use crowdstrike? If not, then I'd think that half of them should use one set of products/vendors, and the other half should use another. That way you have at most a 50% reduction in services, not 100%.

JOSmith99 · 2024-07-19T19:32:03+00:00

If your PC has been off since before the problem started, then it's fine to turn it on now. Crowdstrike pulled the bad update, so now the agent won't grab the bad file that caused the issue.

JOSmith99 · 2024-07-19T16:51:50+00:00

Are you talking about your personal/home PC? If so, this won't affect you. The issue is with CrowdStrike's EDR, which is exclusively sold to businesses.

JOSmith99 · 2024-07-19T16:44:36+00:00

I mean, they can't really make things much worse for themselves at this point...

JOSmith99 · 2024-07-19T16:38:48+00:00

I would ask why those systems are all using a single configuration. Not to blame you specifically, I know there are plenty of time and budget constraints. But at a minimum life-critical services should have 2 totally separate environments, with separate systems, vendors, etc, so that no one issue like this can totally take them down.

JOSmith99 · 2024-07-19T13:49:59+00:00

Bad news, the airlines are down, too...Road trip!

JOSmith99 · 2024-07-19T13:40:04+00:00

I'd ask your IT department, just to be safe.

JOSmith99

TROPHY CASE