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Enable Multiple Remote Desktop Connections in Windows Server 2019 / 2016 / 2012

May 18th, 2020 by Admin

By default, Windows Server allows only a single Remote Desktop session. When the limit is reached, you should get one of the following warnings:

“The number of connections to this computer is limited and all connections are in use right now. Try connecting later or contact your system administrator.”

or

“Another user is signed in. If you continue, they’ll be disconnected. Do you want to sign in anyway?”

Sometimes you may need to increase the number of simultaneous remote connections so that multiple users are allowed to connect via RDP at the same time. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to enable multiple Remote Desktop connections in Windows Server 2019 / 2016 / 2012.

How to Enable Multiple Remote Desktop Connections?

  1. Press the Windows key + R together to open the Run box, type gpedit.msc and hit Enter to launch the Local Group Policy Editor.

  2. In the left pane, navigate to: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Remote Desktop Services -> Remote Desktop Session Host -> Connections. On the right, double-click on the “Restrict Remote Desktop Services users to a single Remote Desktop Services session” policy.

  3. Select the Disabled option and click OK.

  4. Next, double-click on the “Limit number of connections” policy to modify.

  5. Choose the Enabled option and you can increase the “RD Maximum Connections allowed“.

  6. Once it’s done, reboot the server and the group policy changes will automatically apply. Now your server should allow multiple users to connect via RDP at the same time.

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3 Methods to Stop Sharing a Folder in Windows 10

May 13th, 2020 by Admin

How do you delete or remove a shared folder that you no longer want to share? File Explorer lets you share a folder or file to other users on the local network using SMB protocol. In this beginner’s guide, we’ll show you 3 methods to stop sharing a folder in Windows 10.

Method 1: Stop Sharing a Folder Using File Explorer

  1. Open File Explorer and browse to the folder which you want to stop sharing. Right-click on it and select Properties from the context menu.

  2. Go to the Sharing tab and click on the “Advanced Sharing” button.

  3. Uncheck the box “Share this folder” and click OK.

If you want to delete many network shares at once or you can’t remember where your shared folders are, the following methods can come in handy.

Method 2: Stop Sharing a Folder Using fsmgmt.msc

  1. Press the Windows + R key combination, type fsmgmt.msc and hit Enter to open the “Shared Folders” window.

  2. In the left pane, select “Shares“. On the right, you’ll see all shared folders on the local system. Right-click on the folder you no longer want to share, and select “Stop Sharing“.

  3. The selected folder will disappear from the list.

Method 3: Stop Sharing a Folder Using Command Prompt

  1. Open the Command Prompt or PowerShell as administrator.
  2. Run the “net share” command to list all folders you’re sharing over the local network.

    In the first column it shows the name of the share, while the second column shows the actual location. You need to find the name of the share you want to disable.

  3. To stop sharing a folder, enter the following command and hit Enter.
    net share your_share_name /delete

    If you want to disable all shared folders at once, use this command instead.
    net use * /delete

That’s it!

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How to Export a Directory Structure in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

May 11th, 2020 by Admin

How can I print the hierarchical structure of a particular directory so I can share it to other people? Printing a directory listing sounds so easy, but Windows doesn’t provide a straightforward way to do this. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to use Command Prompt or PowerShell to export a directory structure in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

Method 1: Export Directory Structure Using Command Prompt

  1. Press the Windows key + R to launch the Run box. Type cmd and hit Enter to open Command Prompt.

  2. You can run the “tree” command to export the directory tree of any folder to a text file. In our case, the “d:\demo” is the folder we want to export the directory tree, and the result is saved in a plain text file (*.txt).

    tree d:\demo /a /f > d:\list.txt

  3. Open the text file using Notepad and the entire directory tree is listed inside, and you can print them out.

If you look for a way to export the directory structure in .csv format so you can open it with Microsoft Excel, proceed to the next method.

Method 2: Export Directory Structure Using PowerShell

  1. To get started, you need to open the Windows PowerShell window. If you’re running Windows 10, press the Windows key + X together and select “Windows PowerShell“.

  2. Enter the following command and press Enter. Make sure you replace “d:\demo” with the folder which you want to export the directory structure.

    Get-ChildItem -Recurse 'd:\demo' | Select-Object FullName, name | Export-Csv -path d:\list.csv -noTypeInfo

  3. It will generate a .csv file which lists all files and sub-folders in your target directory. But it doesn’t show you the hierarchical levels like the Method 1 will.

That’s it!

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Prevent Windows 10 from Changing Screen Brightness Automatically

May 9th, 2020 by Admin

Your Windows 10 laptop keeps adjusting the brightness constantly? The screen becomes dim when the AC adapter unplugged? How do I disable auto-brightness/auto-dimming? On most modern computers, Windows can automatically adjust the screen brightness based on the light of surroundings, your power plan or battery life. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to prevent Windows 10 from changing screen brightness automatically.

Part 1: Disable Adaptive Brightness

If your computer monitor has an integrated light sensor, Windows can adjust the screen brightness depending on the amount of light around you. To turn off adaptive brightness on Windows 10, press the Windows key + I keyboard shortcut to open the Settings app, then click on the System category.

Select the Display menu on the left. On the right, uncheck the “Change brightness automatically when lighting changes” option.

If the above option is missing or you’re using an old version of Windows, open the Power Options window from the Control Panel and expand the Display item, you can turn off the “Enable adaptive brightness” setting.

Adaptive brightness is available in Windows 10, 8 and 7, but it is only visible if your computer has an ambient light sensor.

Part 2: Disable Auto Screen Dimming While in Battery Saver

Windows 10 includes a new feature called Battery Saver that can extend battery life of your laptop or tablet. When the battery falls below 20%, Windows will automatically lower the screen brightness, which helps reduce battery consumption. To disable this behavior, just open the Settings app and navigate to System -> Battery, click the checkbox next to “Lower screen brightness while in battery saver“.

Part 3: Disable Power Saving for Graphics Card

If you’re using Intel graphics adapter, just download the Intel® Graphics Control Panel app from Microsoft Store, which lets you adjust most power management settings with ease. After starting the app, go to the “Power” section and look for a feature called “Display Power Saving Technology” and disable it.

NVIDIA also has a similar app named NVIDIA Control Panel so you can disable power saving mode too. For AMD users, the AMD Radeon software is also now in the Microsoft Store.

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How to access and use Voice Recorder app in Windows 10

April 25th, 2020 by Admin

How can I record my own voice from a Windows 10 computer? Windows 10 comes with a built-in Voice Recorder app which lets you record audio from a microphone or headset. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to access and use Voice Recorder app in Windows 10.

Part 1: Open Voice Recorder App in Windows 10

Click inside the Search box on the lower left side of your screen, and type “voice recorder“. Then you can click the app to open it.

You can also access the Voice Recorder app from the Start Menu. Just click the Start button and scroll to the letter V, you can find the app and launch it quickly.

If the Voice Recorder app is missing or somehow disappears on your system, you can open the Microsoft Store. Search for Windows Voice Recorder, and click the app in the search result to install it.

Part 2: Use Voice Recorder App to Record Sound

Once the Voice Recorder launches, click the Record button or press Ctrl + R to begin recording audio.

When you are finished, click the “Stop” button and a new window will appear showing the audio recordings you have created. You can listen to the recording or right-click it to rename, delete or find your voice recorded files.

The voice recorded files are saved as .m4a format, and you can find them under the folder C:\Users\user_name\Documents\Sound recordings. If you need to convert them to mp3 or other audio formats, Video Converter Assist can be of help.

That’s it!

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Fix: UAC YES Button is Gone or Grayed out in Windows 10

April 21st, 2020 by Admin

When you try to open a program as administrator, the User Account Control (UAC) dialog will pop up as normal but the Yes button might be missing or greyed out.

This problem usually happens when there is no other administrator account exists in the system and your account no longer has the admin rights. In this tutorial we’ll show you an easy way to fix such UAC privileges problem.

How to Fix: UAC YES Button is Gone or Grayed out in Windows 10

  1. Open a Command Prompt window without admin privileges. Type the following command and hit Enter.
    SHUTDOWN /R /O -T 00

  2. The computer will log you off and bring up the Choose an option screen. Click on Troubleshoot.

  3. Select Advanced options.

  4. On the next screen, click on Startup Settings.

  5. From the Startup Settings window, click on Restart.

  6. Once Windows restarts to the Startup Settings screen again, press 6 or F6 to choose “Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt“.

  7. Although the built-in Administrator account is disabled and hidden, it will still show up on Safe Mode login screen. You can click it to login without a password.

  8. Once logged in, the Administrator Command Prompt will open. To fix the problem of “Yes button missing or grayed out in UAC”, type the following commands one by one to change your password, prompt your account to administrator and make it active.
    net user YOUR_USER_NAME YOUR_NEW_PASSWORD
    net localgroup Administrators YOUR_USER_NAME /add
    net user YOUR_USER_NAME /active:yes

  9. Reboot your computer as normal and everything should be good to go.

If you have previously set a password on the built-in Administrator account and you can’t remember it, the above method won’t work and you can use PCUnlocker to reset your password and account settings, which will also make the “Yes” button in UAC dialog become accessible.

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2 Ways to Prevent NTLM Credentials from Being Sent to Remote Servers

April 14th, 2020 by Admin

When you try to access a web page which contains a file hosted on a SMB server, Windows automatically sends your user name and NTLM credentials to authenticate. Although the credentials are not sent in clear-text, the attacker can crack them to recover your Windows password. To avoid leaking your account credentials, you can block NTLM (allowing only Kerberos) so Windows will no longer send your NTLM credentials to remote servers.

Method 1: Restrict Outgoing NTLM Traffic Using Group Policy

  1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor and navigate to: Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options. On the right pane, double-click the “Network security: Restrict NTLM: Outgoing NTLM traffic to remote servers” policy.

  2. Select Deny all from the drop-download list, click Apply and then OK.

  3. Reboot your computer and Windows will no longer automatically send your NTLM credentials to a remote server when accessing a share.
  4. If you need to add some remote servers to a whitelist, double-click on the “Network security: Restrict NTLM: Add remote server exceptions for NTLM authentication” policy.

  5. Add the remote servers to the list of exceptions, click Apply and then OK.

Method 2: Restrict Outgoing NTLM Traffic Using Registry Tweak

  1. Open Registry Editor and browse to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\MSV1_0. Right-click on the MSV1_0 key, select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.

  2. Name the newly created DWORD RestrictSendingNTLMTraffic, then double-click it to set the value data to 2 and click OK.

  3. If you want to add certain servers that you wish to whitelist, use the similar method to create a new DWORD named ClientAllowedNTLMServers. Double-click it and add remote servers which you allow sending NTLM credentials to.

  4. Reboot your computer to apply the changes. You can continue accessing files on remote servers which are whitelisted while stopping Windows from potentially sending your NTLM credentials over the network.

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4 Ways to Turn Off / On Thumbnail Previews in Windows Explorer

April 7th, 2020 by Admin

Is there any way to disable video and image thumbnail preview in Windows 10? Thumbnail previews are useful since they let you preview Windows files without opening them, but it might slow down folder navigation process. In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 ways to turn off or on thumbnail previews in File Explorer on Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

Thumbnail previews are enabled:

Thumbnail previews are disabled:

Method 1: Disable or Enable Thumbnail Previews via Folder Options

  1. Open Windows Explorer. Go to the View tab and click the Options button in the Ribbon menu.

  2. Click on the View tab and check the option “Always show icons, never thumbnails” to disable thumbnail previews, or uncheck it to enable thumbnail previews.

  3. Click OK to save your changes.

Method 2: Disable or Enable Thumbnail Previews via Performance Options

  1. Press the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut, then type SystemPropertiesPerformance in the Run box and press Enter.

  2. The Performance Options window will open. Uncheck or check the “Show thumbnails instead of icons” option under the Visual Effects tab, and click OK.

Method 3: Disable or Enable Thumbnail Previews via Registry Editor

  1. Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced. On the right pane, double-click the DWORD value IconsOnly to modify.

  2. Change the value data to 1 to hide thumbnails or 0 to show thumbnails, and click OK.

  3. You only need to refresh your File Explorer to see the changes immediately.

Method 4: Disable or Enable Thumbnail Previews via Group Policy

  1. Open Local Group Policy Editor and browse to: User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> File Explorer. Double-click the “Turn off the display of thumbnails and only display icons” policy on the right pane.

  2. Select Enabled to turn off thumbnail previews, or select Not configured to turn on thumbnail previews. Next, click OK.

  3. You can see the changes by refreshing your folder in Windows Explorer. No need to restart Windows. After disabling thumbnail previews with group policy, it’s impossible to enable thumbnail previews using other methods above until you set this policy back to Not configured.

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How to Disable “Low Disk Space” Warning in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

March 29th, 2020 by Admin

When any drive on your computer has less than 10% free disk space, a “Low Disk Space” warning will pop up at the bottom right side of the screen constantly. If this warning is not about the system (C:) drive and you want to get rid of it, here is a registry tweak to disable the annoying “Low Disk Space” warning in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

How to Disable “Low Disk Space” Warning in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run command box, type “regedit” (no quotes) and press Enter.

  2. This should open the Registry Editor window. Navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

    Right-click the blank area on the right pane and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.

  3. Name the value NoLowDiskSpaceChecks and double-click it to modify. In the Value Data box, type “1” (no quotes) and click OK.

  4. Close Registry Editor and restart your computer, Windows will stop giving you low disk space warnings. If you want to turn on the low disk space notifications later, just right-click on the NoLowDiskSpaceChecks value and delete it.

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How to Add or Change Slide Number in PowerPoint 2016 / 2019

March 25th, 2020 by Admin

Is there an automated way to add slide numbers to your PowerPoint presentation? Numbering your slides can let you know which slide you’re currently on. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps to add or change slide numbers for PowerPoint 2016 / 2019 presentation in Windows 10.

Part 1: Add Slide Number to PowerPoint Presentation

  1. To add slide numbers, open your PowerPoint presentation. Select the Insert tab on the ribbon, click the “Header & Footer” button.

  2. The “Header and Footer” dialog box will appear. In the Slide tab, check the box next to “Slide number“. If you want to disable slide numbers on the title slide, check the box “Don’t show on the title slide“.

  3. Click on “Apply to All“. PowerPoint will automatically add slide numbers to each of your slides in the bottom-right corner.

Part 2: Change the Starting Slide Number

By default, PowerPoint starts the slide number from 1. Here is how to change the slide starting number to 0 or any number of your choice:

  1. Select the Design tab on the ribbon. Click the “Slide Size” button and then choose “Custom Slide Size” from the drop-down menu.

  2. The Slide Size dialog box will open. You can change the number in the “Number slides from” box from 1 to a different number.

  3. Click OK. The slide numbers will update immediately.

Conclusion

So that is how you can easily add slide number to a PowerPoint presentation or change slide numbers to start with any number. If you want to show the total number of slides on every slide (such as “slide 2 of 16“), there is no automatic method and you have to do it manually by following this article.

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