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How To Fix Your Windows 8 Master Boot Record (MBR)

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openHarddrive

If you’ve been playing around with Linux or some other type of OS installation on your PC and you want to go back to Windows, but you get a MBR (Master Boot Record) error, then don’t worry there’s hope. This error can also happen for other reasons like a virus but the fix is usually the same.

The problem is just as the error message states, you have a problem with your MBR. The MBR contains important information about partitions and files that are needed to boot up your PC. Without an intact MBR, your PC will fail to boot properly and therefore it’s important that you get it back in working shape.

Here’s a step-by-step process on how to fix your MBR:

  •  Find your Windows 8 DVD and insert it into your computer.
  • Make sure your computer is set to boot from the DVD drive first ( You may need to enter the BIOS for this, See your PC’s documentation).
  • Boot your computer from the Windows 8 disc.
  • The first screen that will popup after the DVD boots your machine is the Language selection screen, click “Next”.
  • On the “Install Now” screen go to the lower left hand section of the window and click “Repair Your Computer”.
  • Now Click “Troubleshoot”
  • Click “Advanced Options”
  • Click “Command Prompt”
  • You will now see a black command window, type  BOOTREC /FIXMBR and then press enter.
  • After you press enter you should see the message “The operation completed successfully.”. Now you can type  EXIT and press enter. Now you can select “Turn off your PC”.

Once you turn your PC back on you should see that your issue has been resolved!

Google Goes Down For A While

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Some people went into a state of shock today as many of Google’s services including Gmail, Drive and just about everything else went down. All of this happened early in the afternoon today and as of 9 PM PST there doesn’t appear to be any official word on exactly what happened earlier today. Google did however post information stating the they were aware of the issue and working quickly to get it resolved.

Gmail Logo
Gmail Logo (Source:Google)

Google has gone down in the past but this was a pretty good punch. Social media sites like Twitter were blowing up with tweets about the outage and it felt kind of like the internet had disappeared.

It’s a strange feeling when things “mess up” on the internet that aren’t supposed to. Not to long ago Godaddy.com went down and so did many of the websites that depend on Godaddy to operate. Server errors were handed out to millions upon millions of users and it seemed that for a short moment the world had suddenly come to an abrupt stop.

Our dependency on the internet is substantial and when it’s not functioning, neither are we. It’s kind of a scary thought and it’s a thought I have discussed before, we really need to continue to improve the reliability of the internet and continue to improve web-security. Even though Google was able to quickly resolve most issues, it still shows a giant vulnerability in our system.

When a team of divers enter underwater caves, often referred to as “blue holes”, they tie a rope to rocks as they go deeper into the cave. This rope leads back to the entrance of the underwater cave and acts as a life line for these underwater explorers. Our modern world relies so heavily on the internet and our safety line is getting thinner and thinner as many of us move away form doing things offline. Many companies, including banks and utilities have encouraged us to go to paperless statements only to find that when their site goes down, your essentially helpless. If the service goes down for hours or in some cases days, it can be difficult to get through busy phone lines to make sure issues get resolved.

Now imagine loosing it all and things begin to get very serious. I laugh as I begin to recall a particular South Park episode in which the internet goes down. Google seems to be back on it’s feet and as soon as we see an official explanation we will let you know.