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Rollo - good old Hiren has dug me out of a hole on more than one occasion (even if it does show as a false positive on some scans, which seems to confuse and panic some folk).
As you well know I would, of course, advocate the linux route but I think I may confuse things if I go into that here. Incidentally, if memory serves correct there can be sometimes issues on Dell machines when trying to boot into safe mode
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for Errol
the fix on DELL machines which refuse to boot into safe mode is somehow linked to the keyboard and sometimes the mouse - yeah go figure. Using a non-DELL kbd does not help. One fix is to keep jabbing at the Esc key during boot.
Another one is to use an old PS2 keyboard.
If the machine is connected to a LAN then set it to boot headless with no kbd or mouse in the BIOS then sort it out over the LAN.
Up until about 2008 DELL boxes had a big problem with out-of-spec Chinese capacitors which tended to overheat, swell and even burst spilling electrolyte. This was most acute with the SFF and USFF boxes which had poor cooling and ran hot. Most of them are now dead but if you find one the early stages of capacitor death can give rise to all sorts of funnies including the current topic of no graphics on boot. I think by revolution resolution is meant ... if you were really out of luck one or more of the caps would split in the external PSU which could then catch fire. The costs of a few of these were built into the class settlement.
The CoreDuo towers are not immune it just takes them longer to die. DELL lost a class action and had to fork out shedloads of money. M.D. is a real *** if you have never met him be thankful. Worse than Amy's Bakery.
If you are really, really mean and can use a soldering iron then replacing the caps. is fairly easy - they are cheap or you can get a whole set for around $ 10 US + shipping. I am lazy so only fix dead or dodgy caps. The USFF machines have v limited graphics options but were/are popular with public service or maybe not popular but foisted on them by low bid contracts. Just like cockroaches really.
At a guess the wilder reaches of Pluto will be better known to people on these boards than linux. Cool when you consider that Apple OS is built on BSD Unix and Android on Linux ... Why plugging in a Ubuntu boot DVD and running the OS off it brings people out in spots or a sweaty rash I have no idea.
Too much Yorkshire tea maybe.
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teehee...
...and people wonder why I have such an inbuilt hatred of Dell machines - and love of Linux (I've just dual booted a machine with 10 and linux but guess which I will use mostly).
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I meant the cost of a few fires were inc in the settlement not a few caps ;-)
The terms of the settlement have an NCD so it is not known for sure whether anybody was deceased on account of the fires.
The difficult of dual booting with Windows 10 lies with the BIOS replacement called Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (or UEFI) which, if the OEM has used it, can make dual booting linux a real tough proposition. The OEM decides whether or not to turn off UEFI (not the end user) and it is not even an option on Win10 tablets or mobile. So no jailbreaking then. UEFI does not usually affect people UG machines hitherto running LX or Windows.
Ubuntu, Mint etc have developed workarounds but they are problematic.
As some EU countries notably Germany mandate linux for govt contracts EUFI could get interesting. UKGov nearly always use Windows delivered through the same handful of companies that have been screwing up to the tune of billions for the last 20 years ( eg NHS, DWP ). Why I have no idea. Schools are discouraged from using linux. So far LEA's do not seem to have sussed that the Raspberry runs linux still less its powers of disruption.
fwiw I reckon that Win10 is the end of the line for the classic monolithic general purpose OS. Same thing for desktop linux except that linux can morph and Windows can only do so slowly like a lobster casting its shell.
The idea that you have to go to where yr data is, whether home or office block, is a nonsense concept rooted in available technology. It has been the biz model since the days of the East India Coy. It has created the mad land use patterns of (especially) London and the SE and is generating such white elephants as HS2. Given universal high bandwidth ( which will come like it or not ) data can be served up where and when it is needed to those who need it. Don't tell me that it will break the security model the current supposedly secure govt and corporate databases are routinely hacked.
Must try harder.
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I used to have Dell a few years ago. Dell almost seemed to have a default to, 'buy a new one'!!
I have Apple hardware, the old Dell in the office (only used to download stud) but love my Acer which is getting on a bit, two years old in December
I used to replace the Dell(s) about every 1-2 years....no more
Also the consumables for Dell were so expensive that they gave you a free printer with any dt purchase
Edit: When I said 'stud', I meant stuff!
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I think we know what you meant ;-)
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