Archive for the ‘Others’ category

Windows 10: Create and Use A USB Recovery Drive

February 26th, 2016 by Admin

A Recovery Drive is a bootable USB drive that can be used to repair or recover your computer, in the event it won’t start normally. Like its predecessor, Windows 10 also lets users create a bootable USB recovery drive easily. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to create and use a Windows 10 USB Recovery Drive.

If you are creating a basic Recovery Drive, you can use a 1GB USB flash drive. However, if you choose to include the system files, which allows you to use the Recovery Drive to reinstall Windows, you’ll want at least a 16GB USB flash drive. Note that a Recovery Drive prepared on a 32-bit version of Windows 10 can’t be used on 64-bit Windows 10 and vice versa.

Part 1: Create A Windows 10 USB Recovery Drive?

Press the Windows key + X to open the WinX menu. Click Control Panel.
Select the View by option at the top right of the Control Panel. Set it to Large icons. Next click Recovery.
Select “Create a recovery drive“.

Click Yes when you see the User Account Control prompt.
The Recovery Drive Creation Wizard should open. Make sure the “Back up system files to the recovery drive” option is checked if you want to use the Recovery Drive for reinstalling Windows. Click Next.
Select the connected USB drive before clicking Next. Once again, we want to remind you that the selected drive will be completely erased.
When you see the confirmation screen, click Create button and it will format the drive and begin copying files to the drive.
If you’re creating a basic Recovery Drive, the process will take just a few minutes. If you create a dedicated Recovery Drive including the system files, it could take as long as an hour.
When the process is complete, click Finish to close the Recovery Drive wizard.

Part 2: Use A Windows 10 USB Recovery Drive

If your computer fails to boot, stuck on automatic repair loop, unable to restore or reset your PC to factory defaults due to forgotten password, you will need your Recovery Drive to fix it.

Insert your previously-created USB Recovery Drive into your computer and restart. Your computer should boot from the Recovery Drive automatically. (If it doesn’t, you may need to change its boot order.)

Once booted to the Recovery Drive, you can access to the Advanced Startup Tools. From here, you can do several things to help troubleshoot your computer, such as perform a factory reset, reset / refresh Windows, restore from a system image, launch a command line tool to repair your losing system files or fix the boot issues, etc.

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Hide / Clear Most Used Programs in Windows 10, 8 and 7 Start Menu

February 1st, 2016 by Admin

My frequently used programs are missing from the Start menu. Can this be corrected and if so how? Thanks in advance.

By default, Windows keeps track of programs you use frequently and puts them on the Start menu (or Start screen) for convenience. For privacy purposes, some of you may want to clear the most used programs from the list. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to hide / clear the most frequently / recently used programs in Windows 10, 8 and 7.

The first part is for Windows 10 users and the second is for Windows 8 / 8.1 users, so you will have to scroll down if you use Windows 7 – the last part is for this operating system.

Part 1: Clear Most Used Programs from Windows 10 Start Menu

Press the Windows key + I to bring up the Settings app. If you’re using a tablet without a keyboard, click the Start button and then select Settings.
Click on Personalization.
At the Personalization window, click on the Start tab on the left-hand side. On the right pane, you’ll see a few options for configuring what is shown on the Start Menu and how the Start Menu is displayed.
From there, set toggle button under “Show most used apps” to Off in order to make Start menu hide the apps you use often.

Part 2: Clear Most Used Programs from Windows 8 Start Screen

Right-click on an empty space on the Taskbar and select Properties.
Click on the Jump Lists tab, uncheck the “Store recently opened programs” box.
Click Apply and then click OK.

Part 3: Clear Most Used Programs from Windows 7 Start Menu

Right-click on an empty space on the Taskbar and select Properties.
Click on the Start Menu tab, uncheck the “Store and display recently opened programs in the Start menu” box.

If you also want to hide your recently opened documents/files from the Start menu, uncheck the “Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar” box as well.
Click Apply and then click OK.

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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

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“.
Set the View by option to Large icons. Click on System.
Scroll down to the “Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings” section, click on Change settings.
The System Properties screen will open with the “Computer Name” tab already selected. Click on the Change… button.
Now type the new name you want in the “Computer name” box and click OK.
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

Click on Start to access the Start Menu. Select Settings.
When the PC Settings app opens, click on System.
Go to the About section and then click on “Rename PC“.
Type the new name you want to use and click on Next.
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):

Press the Windows key + X to open the Quick Access menu. Click on Command Prompt (Admin).
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.
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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Tags: change computer name cmd change computer name command line change network computer name change windows computer name rename computer rename computer name rename windows computer

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:

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.
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

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.
Once in the BIOS, select the Main tab. click on “F12 Boot Menu” to set it to Enabled.

Switch to the Boot tab, rearrange the boot priority order and set USB HDD as the first boot media. Save your changes and exit.
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.
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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Tags: acer aspire laptop password reset acer aspire switch password acer laptop password reset acer windows 10 password reset reset windows 10 password

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.

Insert the USB drive into the USB port of your computer.
Launch the ISO2Disc program. Click on Browse to select the Windows 10 ISO file.
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.
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.

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

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.
Download and install the free LiveUSB creating tool ISO2Disc, which allows you to create a bootable USB drive directly from a CD image.
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.
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.
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:

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.
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.
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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Tags: boot linx with usb linx tablet password linx windows password reset linx password reset windows tablet password

Make Windows 10/8 Show All User Accounts on Login Screen

January 8th, 2016 by Admin

How do I make Windows 10 always display all user accounts on the login screen when I turn on or restart the computer? By default, Windows 10 or 8 will display only the last logged-on user on the sign-in screen. If your user doesn’t have a password, the system will automatically log in to that user account even if you haven’t enabled the automatic logon feature.

show-windows-user-list

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to make Windows 10 / 8 show a list of all user accounts on the login screen, rather than just the last logged in user. The procedure requires you to use Task Scheduler to run a batch file.

How to Make Windows 10/8 Show All User Accounts on Login Screen?

To have Windows 10/8 display all user accounts on the sign-in screen, all you need to do is access the following registry key and set the value of Enabled to 1.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\UserSwitch

UserSwitch

However, the system will automatically restore the Enabled value back to 0 when a user logs on. To force Windows to always show all user accounts, we have to create a scheduled task that changes the Enabled value to 1 at logon. Here’s how:

Before getting started, we need to create a batch file. Just open Notepad, copy the following command line and paste it into the file, next save the file as UserSwitch.bat.
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\UserSwitch /v Enabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box. Type taskschd.msc and hit Enter to launch Task Scheduler.
When the Task Scheduler window opens, click the Create Task link in the Actions panel.
On the next dialog, go to the General tab. Give your task a Name so that you can identify it among other if when you decide to make some changes later. Click the Change User or Group button.
On the Select User or Group window, type Administrators in the object name box and click OK.
Now you’re back at the General tab. Check the “Run with highest privileges” check box. Tick the Hidden checkbox and select your operating system from the “Configure for” drop-down box.
Next, switch to the Triggers tab. Click on the New button on the bottom left of the window to define trigger details.
The New Trigger dialog box should open. Select At log on from the Begin the task drop-down menu and select the Any user option. Leave all the other settings as they are and click OK.
Back on the Create Task window, switch to the Actions tab and click the New button.
When you see the New Action dialog box, select Start a program from the Action drop-down menu. Click the Browse button and locate the ShowAllUsers.bat file we have created previously. Click OK.
You don’t need to change anything on the Conditions or Settings tabs, so just click OK to close the Create Task dialog box and your task is ready to run.
Log off and then log back into your user account, this task will automatically run and change the Enabled registry value. The next time you reboot or start your computer, you will always see that all user accounts are displayed on Windows 10/8 login screen.

Note: If your task is created correctly but the login screen only displays “Other user” that requires you to type username and password, it’s likely that you’ve enabled the group policy “Interactive Logon: Do not display last username“, and you have to disable it.

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Tags: show all users at windows logon windows 10 show all users at login windows 8 show all users at login windows show multiple users on login screen

How to Hide, Disable or Uninstall Cortana in Windows 10

January 4th, 2016 by Admin

Just like Apple’s Siri, Cortana is Microsoft’s digital assistant integrated in Windows 10. Cortana is capable of composing emails, setting reminders, finding apps & files on your computer and performing web searches. After installing or upgrading to Windows 10, you’ll find that Cortana appears as a search bar in the taskbar that says “Ask me anything”.

cortana

But not all Windows 10 users will take kindly to Cortana. In this article we’ll show you how to hide, disable Cortana or even completely uninstall it in Windows 10.

Update: If you’re running Windows 10 version 2004 or newer, Cortana could be uninstalled or reinstalled with the new method.

Part 1: Hide Cortana

In Windows 10, Cortana is shown as a search box in the taskbar, right beside the Start button. If you want to hide Cortana, right-click on search box/icon in the taskbar, select Cortana and then Hidden.

hide-cortana

Cortana will now remain inactive and immediately disappear from the taskbar.

Part 2: Disable Cortana

Here’s how to disable Cortana in Windows 10:

Click on the search box/icon on the taskbar to open Cortana.
Click on the Notebook button in the left-hand menu. From there, click Settings.
In Settings, the first option “Cortana can give you suggestions, ideas, reminders alerts and more” is a simple slide bar. Slide it to off to disable Cortana. Once disabled, Cortana will revert to the traditional Windows search feature.
To clear everything Cortana knows about you, click the link “Manage what Cortana knows about me in the cloud“.
Microsoft Edge should open and take you to the Bing Settings page. Click the Clear buttons in the “Clear personal info” and “Other Cortana data and personalized speech, inking and typing” sections.

This will clear your personal info from Microsoft’s cloud servers.

Part 3: Uninstall Cortana

In Windows 10, there is no option to uninstall Cortana. If you want to completely uninstall / remove Cortana from Windows 10, you can use the uninstall script provided by WinAero. Here’s how:

Download the Uninstall Cortana ZIP file (provided by WinAero).
Extract all files from the ZIP archive you downloaded to your desktop.
Right-click the Uninstall Cortana.cmd file and select Run as Administrator.
It will begin uninstalling Cortana.

When it’s done, restart your computer. Cortana will no longer work, respond, or collect information. After uninstalling, it’s good to hide the Cortana button/icon to reclaim wasted space on your taskbar.

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Move the Entire User Profiles to Another Drive in Windows 10, 8 and 7

December 30th, 2015 by Admin

There are times when moving Windows user profiles off the default location is necessary, especially if there is no enough space on the system partition. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps of moving the entire Users profile directory (for example, C:\Users) to another drive in Windows 10, 8 and 7. This method will also change the default profile location so any new users that’re created later will have their profiles located under your new location.

How to Move the Windows User Profiles to Another Drive?

Before getting started, you need to create a temporary administrator account, which can be deleted after moving the user profiles.
Log in to Windows with the temporary administrator account. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the root path of your system drive. Right-click on the Users folder and copy the entire folder to the new location (e.g. from C:\Users to E:\Users).

During the copying process, there are some temporary files that are locked and would not copy. Just skip those files.
Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and hit Enter to launch the Registry Editor.
In the left side of Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
In the right pane, we need to modify the value for these entries: Default, ProfilesDirectory and Public. Replace %SystemDrive%\Users with your new profile directory, such as E:\Users. After modifying the values, it should look like as the following screenshot.
Expand the ProfileList node at the left side, you’ll see several subkeys (starting with ‘S-1-5-‘) that are named with the SID of your user accounts. Open each subkey and check the ProfileImagePath entry. If it’s pointed to your old profile folder, change the value to the new user profile location (e.g. C:\Users\Tom to E:\Users\Tom).
Now close the Registry Editor. Restart your computer and log in as your usual user. Everything should be working correctly except for programs that use a hardcoded user profile location.
Now you can then rename or delete the original user profile and remove the temporary administrator account. From now on, any new user that logs to this computer will also have his/her profile stored in the newly specified location.