I recently had my laptop in for service and they were able to resolve a video display issue I was having with the tile apps. As part of their effort, they changed my User settings to include a PIN for my PC. I guess this is something new in Win 8 (at least I was not aware of it) and it allowed them access to my PC without having to share my Microsoft ID and PW. After picking up the PC I noticed that the User choice was no longer available in PC settings. For all I know, other choices may also be missing. A Microsoft system scan was done to repair anything in the system- no issues were found. I can use Computer Management to set new users or change passwords but do not see an option to modify or update PINs.
I can take the laptop back to the service center, but they already had it for the last few days and I was hoping to be able to resolve this on my own. Some research into the issue has indicated that I would need to do a system refresh, which requires that I reload all installed programs. I would like to avoid that, if possible. One other piece of info- this was a Win7 machine I upgraded to Win8. I did NOT do a clean install. I was told by a tech that may be part of the issue, as older Win7 components/drivers may still be in the OS. A refresh would clean this up. I was also told that if the refresh did not help, the next option is to re-install Win8 cleanly- so I would lose everything on the laptop. I do have a backup, but again, would like to minimize what I need to do. Help...
Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 8 Pro with Media Center, 64 bit
Processor: AMD Turion(tm) II P540 Dual-Core Processor, AMD64 Family 16 Model 6 Stepping 3
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 3834 Mb
Graphics Card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Series (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM v1.1), 320 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 458601 MB, Free - 124205 MB; D: Total - 18032 MB, Free - 2601 MB; F: Total - 99 MB, Free - 88 MB;
Motherboard: Hewlett-Packard, 144E
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Disabled
This is an HP Pavilion dv5-2135dx laptop. Thanks.
Mark
I can take the laptop back to the service center, but they already had it for the last few days and I was hoping to be able to resolve this on my own. Some research into the issue has indicated that I would need to do a system refresh, which requires that I reload all installed programs. I would like to avoid that, if possible. One other piece of info- this was a Win7 machine I upgraded to Win8. I did NOT do a clean install. I was told by a tech that may be part of the issue, as older Win7 components/drivers may still be in the OS. A refresh would clean this up. I was also told that if the refresh did not help, the next option is to re-install Win8 cleanly- so I would lose everything on the laptop. I do have a backup, but again, would like to minimize what I need to do. Help...
Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 8 Pro with Media Center, 64 bit
Processor: AMD Turion(tm) II P540 Dual-Core Processor, AMD64 Family 16 Model 6 Stepping 3
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 3834 Mb
Graphics Card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Series (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM v1.1), 320 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 458601 MB, Free - 124205 MB; D: Total - 18032 MB, Free - 2601 MB; F: Total - 99 MB, Free - 88 MB;
Motherboard: Hewlett-Packard, 144E
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Disabled
This is an HP Pavilion dv5-2135dx laptop. Thanks.
Mark