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How to Create a Printer Shortcut on Windows 11 / 10 Desktop

June 24th, 2022 by Admin

How can I create a desktop shortcut for my printer? If you need to use printer frequently, it’s advisable to put a printer shortcut on the desktop so you can see the pending jobs with ease. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 methods to create a printer shortcut on Windows 11 / 10 desktop.

Method 1: Create a Printer Shortcut on Windows 11 / 10 from Control Panel

  1. Open the Control Panel in Large icons view, and then click the “Devices and Printers” category.

  2. Right-click on your desired printer in the list, and then choose Create shortcut from the pop-up menu.

  3. A pop-up dialog will open and ask whether you want to place the printer shortcut on the desktop. Click Yes to confirm.

  4. This will immediately add a printer shortcut to your desktop.

Method 2: Create a Printer Shortcut on Windows 11 / 10 from Desktop

  1. Right-click the blank area on your desktop and then choose New -> Shortcut.

  2. Enter the following in the shortcut location bar, and click Next. Make sure you replace printer_name with the actual name of your printer.
    rundll32.exe printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /o /n "printer_name"

  3. Give a meaningful name to the shortcut and click Finish.

  4. Now, you have successfully created a printer shortcut on the desktop. If you want to change the shortcut icon and make it recognizable at a glance, right-click your printer shortcut and select Properties. Click the Change Icon button and choose a printer icon from the SHELL32.dll icon folder.

That’s it!

Configure Windows Terminal to Always Run as Administrator

June 23rd, 2022 by Admin

Starting with version 1.13, Windows Terminal comes with a new feature that can launch Command Prompt and PowerShell as administrator by default. If you use Windows Terminal regularly with admin privileges, just follow this tutorial to configure Windows Terminal to always run as administrator by default, and it will save you a lot of time and hassle.

How to Configure Windows Terminal to Always Run as Administrator

  1. Right-click the Start button on the taskbar and then choose either “Windows Terminal” or “Windows Terminal (Admin)” from the list.

  2. Click on the down-arrow icon from menu bar at the top, and then select Settings.

  3. On the left sidebar, we can see different profiles for Windows PowerShell, Command Prompt, Azure Cloud Shell under the Profiles section.

  4. Click each profile from the left sidebar, and then turn on the “Run this profile as Administrator” option on the right pane.

    If you want to make Windows Terminal launch new profiles you’ll add later as administrator, just click “Defaults” under the Profiles section and turn on the “Run this profile as Administrator” option.

  5. Click the Save button to make the changes take effect. From now on, no matter which method you use to launch Windows Terminal, it will automatically run Command Prompt, Windows PowerShell and other profiles as administrator by default.

Whenever you need to stop Windows Terminal from always running with elevated privileges, just undo the changes you have made in the above steps.

4 Easy Ways to Find MAC Address on Windows 11 PC

June 22nd, 2022 by Admin

IP address can change periodically while MAC address never changes on their own and it’s hard-coded onto your network adapter. If your PC has both Ethernet adapter and wireless adapter, each adapter has its own MAC address. In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 easy methods to find the MAC address on Windows 11 computer.

Method 1: Find MAC Address Using Windows Terminal

  1. Open Windows Terminal (Command Prompt or PowerShell) and execute the following command:
    getmac /v

  2. It will display MAC addresses for each adapters installed on your PC, including virtual network adapter.

Method 2: Find MAC Address Using System Information Tool

  1. Press the WIN + R keys together to bring up the Run box, type msinfo32 and press Enter.

  2. When the System Information tool launches, use the left sidebar to navigate to Components -> Network -> Adapter.

  3. From the right side pane, you will see a list of adapters, along with detailed information for each. The Name field can help you quickly identify the adapter you’re looking for, and the MAC address is shown in the “MAC Address” field.

Method 3: Find MAC Address Using Settings App

  1. Press the WIN + I keys to open the Settings app. Select Network & internet in the left pane. On the right pane, click either Wi-Fi or Ethernet depend on which adapter you’re connected to.

  2. If you’ve clicked Ethernet, scroll down to the bottom of the next window and you can see the MAC address of your Ethernet adapter.

    If you’ve clicked Wi-Fi instead, proceed to click the “Hardware properties” option in the next window and you can find the MAC address of your wireless adapter as well.

Method 4: Find MAC Address Using Network Connections

  1. Press the WIN + R keys together to launch the Run box, type ncpa.cpl and press Enter to open the Network Connections window.

  2. Right-click your currently active network adapter and choose Status from the pop-up menu.

  3. Click the Details button.

  4. In the “Network Connection Details” window, your MAC address is displayed beside the “Physical Address” field.

That’s it!

How to Set Default GPU for Desktop Apps in Windows 11

June 15th, 2022 by Admin

Is there any way to set Nvidia GPU as default for a specific program? By default, Windows 11 will use the integrated graphics card as the default GPU for power saving. For GPU intensive applications, it’s better to use dedicated graphic card as the default GPU to accelerate computing. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps to set default GPU for desktop apps in Windows 11.

How to Set Default GPU for Desktop Apps in Windows 11

  1. Press the Windows + I on your keyboard to open the Settings app. Choose System from the left pane, and then click Display on the right pane.

  2. Scroll down to the “Related settings” section, click Graphics.

  3. You’ll see a list of installed Microsoft Store apps which you can change graphics card settings for. To add your desired desktop app, click the drop-down list under “Add an app” and select “Desktop app“, then click the Browse button.

  4. Select the executable file of your desired program, and click Add.

  5. Your selected program should now appear on the app list. Just click the app and then click Options.

  6. Select the “High performance” option, then click Save.

  7. Now you’ve successfully changed the default GPU for your desired program. Restart your computer and open your program to enjoy high performance.

That’s it!

3 Ways to Open Credential Manager in Windows 11 / 10

June 14th, 2022 by Admin

Credential Manager is the built-in password manager utility in Windows which lets you store usernames and passwords for accessing websites, network resources and apps. You can also use it to view, delete or backup your saved credentials. In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 easy methods to open Credential Manager in Windows 11 / 10.

Method 1: Open Credential Manager from Run or Command Prompt

Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box, type one of the following commands and press Enter. It will launch Credential Manager immediately.

control.exe keymgr.dll
control.exe /name Microsoft.CredentialManager
rundll32.exe keymgr.dll, KRShowKeyMgr

You can also execute the above commands from Command Prompt to access Credential Manager, or create a desktop shortcut for quick access.

Method 2: Open Credential Manager from Control Panel

Open the Control Panel and set the View by option to Large icons. You can then click the “Credential Manager” icon to start the Credential Manager utility.

Method 3: Open Credential Manager Using Windows Search

Click the Search button on your taskbar and type in “credential manager“. From the search results, you can click the “Credential Manager” shortcut to open the Credential Manager in the Control Panel window.

That’s it!

How to Skip 3 Security Questions When Creating Local Account in Windows 11

June 13th, 2022 by Admin

When you create a local account during Windows setup or from the Settings app, it requires you to choose 3 security questions and answer them. If you’re not going to use security questions to reset forgotten Windows password, you can skip them. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 simple methods to skip 3 security questions when creating a local account in Windows 11.

Method 1: Skip Security Questions by Leaving the Password Blank

When you come to the step of adding an offline local account, just leave the password fields empty and the boxes for 3 security questions will disappear automatically, you can proceed to finish creating your local account.

After signing in to Windows 11 with your newly-created local account, just open the Settings app and navigate to: Accounts -> Sign-in options. Under Ways to sign in, select the Password option and you can then see the Add button.

Click the Add button. The pop-up window will let you create a password without needing to choose security questions to answer.

Method 2: Turn off Security Questions Using Group Policy

Just open Local Group Policy Editor and browse to: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Credential User Interface. In the right pane, look for the policy “Prevent the use of security questions for local accounts” and double-click it.

In the pop-up dialog box, select the Enabled option. Click Apply and then OK.

Restart your computer to make that policy take effect immediately. The next time you try to add a new local account using the Settings app, it will no longer prompt you to select 3 security questions to answer.

Conclusion

The above methods should be the easiest ways to skip 3 security questions when creating local account in Windows 11. Actually, you can also skip the security questions by creating local account using Command Prompt, PowerShell, Netplwiz, lusrmgr.msc, or set up a Microsoft account first and then switch to local user.

2 Methods to Remove Shadow from Desktop Icon Text in Windows 11

June 10th, 2022 by Admin

How can I remove text shadows on Windows 11 desktop icons? By default, all desktop icons have a drop shadow under the text label. Sometimes, the shadow can make the icon label blurry and difficult to read against the desktop background. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 simple methods to remove shadow from desktop icon text in Windows 11.

Method 1: Remove Shadow from Desktop Icon Label via System Properties

  1. Press the Windows key + R together to bring up the Run box, type sysdm.cpl and press Enter to open System Properties dialog.

  2. Choose the Advanced tab at the top, and then click the Settings button under the Performance section.

  3. In the Visual Effects tab, uncheck the “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop” option and click OK.

  4. You must reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. The next time you sign into Windows, the drop shadow of each desktop icon label should be gone.

Method 2: Remove Shadow from Desktop Icon Label via Registry Editor

  1. Open Registry Editor and navigate to the location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced. Double-click the DWORD ListviewShadow on the right side pane.

  2. In order to disable drop shadows for desktop icon labels, change its value data from 1 to 0, and click OK.

  3. Close Registry Editor and restart your PC to apply the changes.

That’s it!

Turn off Touchpad When Mouse Plugged in to Your Windows 11 Laptop

June 9th, 2022 by Admin

If you prefer to use a mouse instead of touchpad, you can configure Windows 11 to automatically disable touchpad when an external mouse is plugged in. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the easy steps to turn off touchpad when a mouse is connected on your Windows 11 laptop.

How to Turn off Touchpad When Mouse Plugged in

  1. Press the Windows key + I to launch the Settings app. Choose Bluetooth & devices from the left navigation pane, and then click Touchpad on the right side.

  2. Click the down arrow next to the Touchpad toggle switch.

  3. Uncheck the “Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected” option.

  4. Once you completed the above steps, Windows 11 will automatically disable your touchpad when a mouse is plugged in, and automatically enable your touchpad when a mouse is unplugged.

That’s it!