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Windows 10 Downgrade: Revert Back to Previous Windows 8 or 7

January 20th, 2016 by Admin

Microsoft offers Windows 10 as a free upgrade for Windows 8 and Windows 7 users. You only have one month to decide if you want to keep Windows 10 or not after upgrading from Windows 8 or 7. If you find out some things don’t work properly or the new OS is not suitable for your taste, you can downgrade or revert back to your previous Windows 8 or 7 system.

How to Revert Windows 10 Back to Previous Operating System?

  1. Press the Windows key + I to launch PC Settings app. You can also open it by clicking the Start button at the bottom left of the screen and then select Settings.
  2. Click Update & security.

    pc-settings

  3. Select the Recovery tab from the left side. If you’re eligible to downgrade you should see an option that says Go back to Windows 8.1 or Go back to Windows 7. If you see it, click Get started to go through the downgrade process.

    windows-10-downgrade

  4. The whole process should not take longer than 10 minutes or so, and your system will be just as it was before Windows 10.

If you don’t see this downgrade option, that’s possible because it’s been too long since you upgraded to Windows 10. Windows 10 will automatically remove these installation files after 30 days.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8

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3 Ways to Change Computer Name in Windows 10

January 19th, 2016 by Admin

How can I change the name of my Windows 10 computer from Command Prompt? Whatever the reason you want to rename your computer, here’s our step-by-step tutorial on how to change computer name in Windows 10, from Control Panel, PC Settings and Command Prompt.

Method 1: Change Computer Name from Control Panel

  1. To begin, you have to open the Control Panel. Simply press the Windows key + X to open the Quick Access menu and click “Control Panel“.

    open-control-panel

  2. Set the View by option to Large icons. Click on System.

    control-panel

  3. Scroll down to the “Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings” section, click on Change settings.

    system-info

  4. The System Properties screen will open with the “Computer Name” tab already selected. Click on the Change… button.

    system-properties

  5. Now type the new name you want in the “Computer name” box and click OK.

    change-computer-name

  6. A restart will be required to complete the name change, and after that, you’re all set!

Method 2: Change Computer Name from PC Settings

  1. Click on Start to access the Start Menu. Select Settings.

  2. When the PC Settings app opens, click on System.

    pc-settings

  3. Go to the About section and then click on “Rename PC“.

    about-system

  4. Type the new name you want to use and click on Next.

    rename-your-pc

  5. You will be prompted to restart your PC to apply your new settings, click on Restart Now to proceed.

Method 3: Change Computer Name from Command Prompt

Looking for a way to change Windows 10 host name via command line? Here’s how to rename Windows 10 computer name from Command Prompt (cmd):

  1. Press the Windows key + X to open the Quick Access menu. Click on Command Prompt (Admin).

    command-prompt-admin

  2. In the Command Prompt, you can use the WMIC computersystem command to change your computer name easily, assuming you know the current computer name.
    WMIC computersystem where caption='current_pc_name' rename new_pc_name

    Replace current_pc_name with your current computer name, and new_pc_name with your desired new computer name.

    rename-pc-name-from-command

  3. After running the command, you need to reboot the computer to make the changes effective.

This method works on Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP and Windows Server 2012/2008/2003. This command can also be used from a batch file to rename any Windows computer, including domain-joined machines.

Besides changing the name of a local computer, you can also use WMIC command to rename a remote computer on the same network. For example, if want to rename a remote PC named Jon-Laptop to Jon-Tech and you know the login credentials, then type this command in the Command Prompt:

WMIC /node:"Jon-Laptop" /user:Admin /password:password123 computersystem call rename "Jon-Tech"

The value following /node: indicates the name of the remote computer on the LAN. The value following /user: must be an admin account on the remote computer.

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2 Options to Rename “This PC” Back to “My Computer” in Windows 10

January 19th, 2016 by Admin

If you’ve just upgraded to Windows 10, you might probably notice that the traditional shortcut “My Computer” is renamed to “This PC“. While this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, you can change it back to “My Computer” to feel more comfortable with Windows 10. Here are 2 simple ways to rename “This PC” back to “My Computer” in Windows 10.

rename-to-my-computer

Option 1: Rename This PC from Windows Desktop

If you’ve configured Windows to 10 display “This PC” on your desktop, you can rename it directly from the desktop. Just right-click on “This PC” icon and select “Rename” from the drop-down context menu, then type a new name “My Computer” and press Enter.

this-pc-rename

Of course you can rename This PC to My Computer or anything else you see fit.

Option 2: Rename This PC from File Explorer

Press the Windows key + X to open the Quick Access menu. Click the “File Explorer” option to launch Windows Explorer. On the left-hand navigation pane, you can see the “This PC” shortcut. Right-click on This PC to open its right-click menu and click “Rename“. Enter “My Computer” without the quotes.

rename-this-pc

This will also make the “This PC” shortcut on your desktop rename to “My Computer” as well. If you don’t see the change immediately, press F5 to refresh the desktop.

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How To Block Specific Updates in Windows 10

January 18th, 2016 by Admin

After installing some defective Windows 10 updates, you might experience a system hang or blue screen error. If you find out your computer problem is caused by a specific update, you can configure Windows update to block it from installing, without having to turn off automatic updating. Luckily, Microsoft released a standalone troubleshooter tool which allows users to hide or block only unwanted updates in Windows 10.

How To Block Specific Updates in Windows 10?

  1. Download the troubleshooter tool from Microsoft’s website. When you click on the download link, you will be prompted to open or save the wushowhide.diagcab file (about 45.5 Kb).

    show-or-hide-updates

  2. Double-click on the wushowhide.diagcab file to launch the troubleshooter. Click Next to proceed.

    troubleshoot-and-help

  3. The Show or Hide Updates tool will scan your system for updates.

    detecting-problems

  4. Once the scan is completed, you will see the following screen. Select Hide updates.

    hide-updates

  5. Now you can see all updates available for your system. Check the updates you would like to prevent installing, and then click Next.

    select-updates-for-hiding

  6. It will disable the selected updates and show the information to the effect. These selected updates will not be installed on your Windows 10 PC.

    hide-updates-success

If at any later time you decide to re-enable the previously disabled updates, then you have to re-launch the tool and select the “Show hidden updates“, select the disabled updates and proceed. These updates will now be automatically installed by Windows 10 Update once again.

show-hidden-updates

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How to Fix “Windows 10 Safe Mode F8 Not Working”

January 18th, 2016 by Admin

After upgrading to Windows 10, you might find out that you’re unable to access the Safe Mode by pressing F8 key during startup. Windows 10 has removed the F8 boot menu to improve system boot time. In previous posts we’ve covered ways to add Safe Mode to Windows boot menu or access Safe Mode from Windows login screen, but those ways are still not straightforward than the F8 key.

In this tutorial we’ll show you a simple way to fix the “Windows 10 Safe Mode F8 not working” issue, get the F8 key to work with Windows 10 again.

How to Fix “Windows 10 Safe Mode F8 Not Working”?

  1. Press the Windows key + X to open the Quick Access menu. Select “Command Prompt (Admin)“.
  2. Copy the follow command and paste it in the Command Prompt:
    bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

    boot-menu-policy

  3. Once you’ve executed the command, restart your computer. Repeatedly press the F8 key on your keyboard as soon as your computer is powering on, you can then see the Advanced Boot Options. From there you can select the Safe Mode.

    win10-safe-mode

If you want to disable the F8 Safe Mode Boot Menu again in future, you can open the elevated Command Prompt, then type this command:
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard

That’s all! Feel free to share your feedback or ask any question regarding this tutorial in your comment.

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Reset Windows 10 Lost Password on Acer Aspire Switch Laptop

January 16th, 2016 by Admin

Forgot Windows 10 password on your Acer Aspire Switch laptop and have no idea how to reset it? How to bypass the password login screen without formatting your hard drive? The Acer Aspire is a secure boot system based on the the latest UEFI BIOS. In this tutorial we’ll explain how to create a UEFI compatible USB drive and boot off it to reset Windows 10 lost password on Acer Aspire Switch laptop.

Part 1: Create A UEFI Bootable USB Drive

Before resetting Windows 10 password, you need to prepare a UEFI compatible bootable disk, which can be done from another computer you have access to. Here’s how to make such a disk:

  1. Download the utility PCUnlocker Enterprise and save it to your local hard drive. PCUnlocker Enterprise comes in two architectures: 32-bit and 64-bit. If your Acer Switch laptop comes with Windows 10 32-bit, please use the 32-bit version of PCUnlocker Enterprise. Otherwise you have to use 64-bit version correspondingly.
  2. The downloaded file comes as a .zip file. Decompress it and you’ll see two files: pcunlocker.iso and ReadMe.txt. Use the freeware ISO2Disc to burn the pcunlocker.iso file to your USB drive. Make sure you choose the “GPT (required for UEFI boot)” option as ISO2Disc will partition your USB drive with GPT partition table.

Part 2: Acer Aspire Switch Password Reset

  1. Use an OTG USB adapter to connect the USB drive to your Acer Aspire Switch laptop. When it’s powered off, press and hold the Volume Up button, then press the Power button. Release both when the laptop starts. Now you’re in the BIOS menu. Another way to access the BIOS is repeatedly press the F2 key when powering on the machine.
  2. Once in the BIOS, select the Main tab. click on “F12 Boot Menu” to set it to Enabled.

    acer-switch-uefi

    Switch to the Boot tab, rearrange the boot priority order and set USB HDD as the first boot media. Save your changes and exit.

    acer-boot-order

  3. Now the computer will reboot from your plugged USB drive. After loading, the PCUnlocker program will launch and you can see a list of Windows accounts for your system.

  4. Choose a local account and click on Reset Password. It will quickly unlock / remove your forgotten Windows 10 user password. If the local account is linked to your Microsoft account, the program will automatically switch your login back to local account so next time you can log in to Windows 10 without a password!

You can also use this method to reset lost Windows 10 or 8 password on the other brands of computers running with UEFI secure boot.

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Create UEFI or Legacy Bootable USB Drive for Windows 10 Setup

January 14th, 2016 by Admin

New Windows 10 computers use UEFI firmware instead of the traditional BIOS. As you probably noticed when using a MBR-partitioned Windows installation USB drive on a new Windows 10 PC, UEFI will not recognize it as a boot media. UEFI-based computer can only boot from GPT-partitioned USB drive. Luckily, for backward compatibility most of the UEFI systems can also be configured to disable UEFI secure boot and instead revert to legacy BIOS boot mode. In this tutorial we’ll explain how you can easily create a UEFI or legacy bootable USB drive for Windows 10 Setup.

Requirements:

  • A USB drive (a microSD, SD card or memory stick) with the minimum capacity 4 GB
  • USB creation tool ISO2Disc
  • Windows 10 ISO image, which can be downloaded from Microsoft’s website using its Media Creation Tool

How to Create UEFI or Legacy Bootable USB Drive for Windows 10 Setup

If you have the Windows 10 ISO image on your PC, you can choose to make a Windows 10 bootable USB drive with UEFI or legacy bootloader. 64-bit UEFI PC can only boot 64-bit version of Windows 10, while 32-bit UEFI PC can boot 32-bit OS only. So if you want to install Windows 10 with UEFI mode, you have to download a correct version of Windows 10 ISO image.

Before get started, make sure you backup all important files stored in your USB drive. The process of creating a bootable USB drive will erase all data and re-partition your USB drive.

  1. Insert the USB drive into the USB port of your computer.
  2. Launch the ISO2Disc program. Click on Browse to select the Windows 10 ISO file.
  3. Now you have two options: make a bootable CD or USB drive. We’re explaining how to create a Windows 10 USB installer, so click on “Burn to USB Flash Drive” and select the drive letter of your USB disk from the list.
  4. Choose the partition style that is suitable for your target computer. If you want to install Windows 10 in UEFI mode on UEFI-based PC, choose the “GPT (required for UEFI boot)” option.

    iso2disc-uefi

    Otherwise choose “MBR (for legacy BIOS / CSM boot)” for BIOS-based PC, or UEFI computer running in legacy BIOS/CSM mode.

    iso2disc-legacy

  5. Click on Start Burn. It will now create a Windows 10 USB installer. After creating, you’ll find out that a UEFI bootable USB drive was formatted as FAT32 because NTFS is not supported for external boot media under UEFI.

Of course, there are also some other USB creation tools available on the net, such as Rufus. It also allows you to create UEFI or legacy bootable USB installation drive from Windows 10 ISO image.

rufus-uefi

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How to Get Microsoft Edge Not to Save / Remember Passwords

January 13th, 2016 by Admin

Like its predecessor Internet Explorer, the all-new Microsoft Edge browser in Windows 10 also allows users to save web credentials (including website URLs, logins and passwords). The problem is that Microsoft Edge doesn’t have an option to set a master password to prevent others from easily seeing the stored passwords.

For security reasons, you might want to stop Microsoft Edge from prompting you to save website passwords. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to get Microsoft Edge not to save / remember your passwords in Windows 10.

How to Disable Password Saving Feature in Microsoft Edge?

Open Microsoft Edge browser. Click on “More actions” button (This is a button with three dots … at right side on address bar).

microsoft-edge

Click on Settings from the drop-down menu.

edge-settings

Scroll down to click on View advanced settings button.

edge-advanced-settings

Under the Privacy and services section, move the “Offer to save passwords” switch to the left to disable the password saving feature. Turn off “Save form entries” if you’re worried someone else will use Edge and get information you’ve typed into forms.

disable-edge-saving-password

That’s all. Now Microsoft Edge will no longer prompt you to save passwords.

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How to Block Windows 10 from Asking You for Feedback

January 13th, 2016 by Admin

After installing or upgrading to Windows 10, you probably see notification balloons frequently pop-up near your system tray, which ask you for your feedback. If you click this pop-up message when you see it, the Windows Feedback app will appear and ask you to rate a specific feature or experience.

win10-ask-for-feedback

If you consider the feedback pop-up notifications annoying and you want to get rid of them, follow this tutorial to find out how to block / stop Windows 10 from asking you for feedback.

How to Block Windows 10 from Asking You for Feedback?

Click on Start, and then select Settings.

windows-10-settings

When the Settings app opens, click on Privacy.

privacy-settings

On the next screen, select the Feedback & diagnostics tab from the left-hand navigation pane. On the right pane, scroll down to the Feedback frequency section, click the “Windows should ask for my feedback” drop-down list and select Never.

windows-feedback-frequency

That’s all! The feedback notification will not disturb you anymore.

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How to Reset Linx 7 / 8 / 10 Tablet Password with A Bootable USB Drive

January 12th, 2016 by Admin

Forgot Windows user password for your Linx 1010 tablet? Linx is one of the cheapest Windows tablet we’ve seen yet, and it can boot in UEFI mode only. You might have no luck getting the tablet to load some traditional password resetting Live CDs, because it doesn’t support legacy BIOS boot. In this article we’ll explain how to reset Linx 7 /8 / 10 tablet password by booting from a UEFI compatible USB drive.

Part 1: Create A UEFI Compatible USB Drive

Before resetting Linx password, you need to create a UEFI compatible bootdisk (a USB flash drive or USB memory stick) from another computer you have access to. Here’s how to make such a disk:

  1. Download the 32-bit version of PCUnlocker Enterprise (trial version) and save it to your local hard drive. Extract the downloaded .zip file and you’ll see two files: pcunlocker.iso and ReadMe.txt.
  2. Download and install the free LiveUSB creating tool ISO2Disc, which allows you to create a bootable USB drive directly from a CD image.
  3. Launch ISO2Disc, and click on Browse to select the pcunlocker.iso you just extracted. Click “Burn to USB Flash Drive” and select the drive letter for your attached USB stick.

  4. Set the partition scheme to “GPT (required for UEFI boot)” and click on Start Burn. The program will format / erase your USB drive with FAT32, create a GPT partition table and copy the contents of the ISO file to your USB drive.
  5. When the burning process is complete, you can take the USB drive to reset your Linx tablet password.

Part 2: Boot Linx Tablet from USB

As the Linx tablet doesn’t come with a full-size USB port, you need to connect your created USB drive with a USB OTG adapter. You will have to access the BIOS (UEFI) Setup and modify the boot sequence. Here are 3 ways to access the BIOS Setup:

  • Press and hold the F7, DEL or ESC key while powering on the Linx tablet, if you have a physical keyboard.
  • Hold down the Power button and Volume+ at the same time. This will load up a screen with various options.
  • Access the BIOS from Windows 10/8 login screen: Hold down the SHIFT key and click on the Power icon on the screen, then choose Restart option. Next click Troubleshoot -> Advanced Options -> UEFI Firmware Settings -> Restart.

After getting into BIOS Configuration Utility, use the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the Boot tab. Under Boot options priority, set your USB drive as the first boot media. Save your changes and the next time your tablet will boot from USB drive instead of hard drive.

Part 3: Reset Windows User Password

After booting from USB, the touch screen might not work and you have to operate with a USB keyboard or mouse. Here’s how to reset your lost user password:

  1. Once booted to the PCUnlocker program, you’ll see a list of local accounts for your Windows installation. If you use a Microsoft account login, there should be a local account that is linked to your Microsoft account, with your email address displayed under the “Description” column.

  2. Select a local account and click on “Reset Password” button, it will remove your password in no time. If your selected account is associated with your Windows Live email, the program will also switch your Microsoft account to local account.
  3. When it’s done, reboot your tablet and disconnect the USB drive. You can then log back into your Linx tablet without a password!

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 8

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