Windows 10: What's going on here?

My computer, a Dell XPS 8700 was made in July, 2015. It came with Windows 10 home edition pre-installed. I never had much problem with it until the past few months when it has just shut itself down for no reason. Then when I restart it says "no operating system found". Both times it's done that I was able to fix it using DOS For Dummies and a lot of luck.What I'm trying to determine is whether there could be any connection between Win 10 and the way my computer has started acting. If it's just a hardware thing that's started failing, I'll replace it with a new computer. But if it's a Windows thing that won't solve the problem.The drive has been checked using check disk and no problems were found. The only reason I would even suspect the problem to be with Windows 10 is my experience with it since I first bought this computer. This has been the most unstable version of Windows I've used going back to Win 95. (Perhaps time has blurred memories of more hassels from back then.) I'd appreciate some advice from the experts about what's going on here. Thanks.

:)

 

Cant set a Default Browser

I have a slightly different version of this problem. I have Edge, Firefox, Chrome, etc. loaded on my machine, however I have no default chosen. I can see all of the browsers as choices in system settings but I will not let me chose any of them, including
Edge. When I click on one of the browsers nothing happens.

 

I can't find IE in Default Programs so that I can make it my default browser

It’s taken me awhile to figure this out. Most of the instructions I’ve seen don’t seem to mention that there are two ways to set default programs—one works the other doesn’t do much of anything. Plus it appears that your defaults are sometimes changed
with Windows 10 updates.



To make my default choices stick you should consider running n w10_stop_reset_fileasso, which can be downloaded from

http://techdows.com/2016/02/prevent-windows-10-resetting-file-associations.html. This is optional but it supposed to prevent Windows updates from resetting your defaults.



Then it gets confusing. When you type in “Default Programs” as instructed most likely you will get only one hit for default programs and it will have a white gear in a blue box. This is the default program under “Settings” not “Control Panel.” If you
have ever used Control Panel to make changes to defaults your search should yield two “Default Programs.” In the attached image the one on top (highlighted in blue) is default programs under “Control Panel” and the bottom one is default programs under “Settings.”
You need to use the one under “Control Panel.”







If you can’t find it by searching you can get there following the following path:

Control Panel>Programs>Default Programs. Once there you should see four choices:

• Set your default programs
• Associate a file type or protocol with a program
• Change AutoPlay settings
• Set program access and computer defaults

The first option should allow you to make all the changes you need. Besides changing your default browser you can make Adobe Acrobat the default app for pdf files instead of Edge (another irritating default). Not all defaults can be changed here, for example
you can’t change the folder to which stuff is downloaded; that requires editing registry files. Easy to do but not for the faint-hearted.



After selecting “Set your default programs” Windows will build a list of all the programs on your system.





Select the program (I used Outlook as an example) you want set as the default for something and you should see a blurb about the program appear on the right hand side. Underneath this there should now be two selections” “Set this program as default” and
“Choose defaults for this program.” Select “Choose defaults for this program.”





Make sure all of the various items (extensions, protocols, MAPI, etc.) are the correct ones you want to use this program as the default for. Check and uncheck the choices as appropriate and then select the save button in the lower right hand corner. This
should take you back to the previous screen where you should select “Set this program as default.” Now if you made all the correct selections in the previous step your default should have changed to whatever you chose.

Voil !

 

The "no operating system found" part does suggest a hardware issue, could be an imminent failure of the HDD/Hard Disk Drive or maybe the drive controller circuitry on the motherboard or perhaps a data cable or power cable to the drive.

 

Also check data and power cables for disk, change place where it plugs in the MB.

 

While I'm having some troubles with another thing as of right now, yesterday I had the same issue. If you have a Windows installation media like a DVD or USB, use it to access the "Repair computer" options. Navigate through "Troubleshoot>Advanced options>Start-up Repair". It fixed this one problem for me and hope it does so for you. Good luck man!

 

Do any computers still come with a copy of the OS on separate media? My last computers didn't. But I made a repair DVD last April which did help restart the computer when I got a "drive set to read only" message recently. Twice, after fixing the start up issue, my external drives had their drive letters changed. That mainly just messes with shortcuts which no longer work. It also messes with my memory since I had learned what was on which drives, but that was no longer true.One bit of advice I'd offer is that if you have a complete power failure at your home unplug your system from the wall outlet until power has been restored. I have expensive surge protectors so I thought I was protected but when the power came back on I discovered that the contents of one drive had been scrambled. What the FAT pointed to was no longer reliable as to what the file actually was, plus a lot of the content was simply gone and recuva wasn't able to put humpty dumpty back together again.

 

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A couple of things, first is No, separate media for reinstall is no longer being provided but some OEMs include a program for making it.

Second, a surge protector doesn't protect from power failures, for that one needs a UPS/Uninterruptible Power Supply, also known as a Battery Backup.

I've seen where a power failure [of any type or duration] changed an External USB HDD from NTFS to RAW, difficult to deal with.