I have a strange issue with my computer where every time I boot into Windows 10, I immediately get a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) with the error code ‘System Thread Exception Not Handled’. So after tinkering around with my BIOS settings, I realised that the BSOD error does not appear when I disable all USB functions from the BIOS. But this means that I can’t use any USB devices with my computer since all the ports are blocked off. How do I fix this issue? 

— Mr T

Dear Mr T, 

This error can be caused by two issues, either your system has a driver issue or your system is experiencing some hardware issues. If it’s a hardware issue, you can fix it yourself but if it is driver related, your system might need some kind of replacement for it to function well. Since you said the system boots up fine when you disable USB functions, boot the system up in this setting and open up the device manager (run command: devmgmt.msc). Here uninstall all drivers for your USB hubs and restart the computer with USB functions turned on. Let Windows reinstall the USB drivers and see if this helps fix the BSOD issue. If it doesn’t then try to install USB drivers from your motherboard manufacturer and see if this works for you. Also perform some basic troubleshooting steps like cleaning your computer with CCleaner and scanning your system files with the code, ‘sfc /scannow’ command on the elevated terminal window. Also perform a full virus scan, both with an anti-virus software of your choice and Malwarebytes as well. But if you’re still getting the BSOD error even after conducting all of these troubleshooting steps, you might want to try and perform a clean-install of Windows to see if that helps. If it doesn’t, you’ve narrowed it down to a hardware issue, which would mean that you’d have to replace certain elements of your system to get it to function well. 

I have an old 2009 MacBook Pro and recently the laptop has started to feel sluggish. I want to perform a clean install of the OS but since macOS is not as install friendly as Windows, I’m wondering if I can re-install macOS once I format the drive. How do you suggest I go about this?

— Rikma Shrestha

Dear Rikma,

macOS are pretty well-built and you might not have to re-install the OS if you just want to make it feel fresh. Try creating a new user profile and test how fast the computer reacts, if it’s fast enough, you might just have to clean up the bloat from the OS. If it’s still slow, don’t format your computer. Rather restart your laptop and press the CMD button and R at the same time. This should open up the recovery mode and from here you can completely reinstall the OS that came with your laptop without having to download the OS anew. You will have to update to the latest OS once you reinstall but that’s better than downloading an entire operating system. This also saves you the hassle of going out and purchasing a macOS DVD for re-install. 

I accidently installed this application called Hamachi on my Macbook and now I can’t get rid of it even after uninstalling the software. How do I go about completely removing the application from my computer?

— Sarad Bisunkhe

Dear Sarad,

To remove this software you might have to re-install the software and install an app purging tool such as AppCleaner to completely remove the application and all entries registered to it. Once you uninstall the application with the help of App Cleaner, check system folders like LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons and see if any files related to Hamachi have remained in these folders. If they are, delete them manually and restart your computer. This should completely remove the app from your computer.