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3 Ways to Disable Clipboard History in Windows 10

January 3rd, 2020 by Admin

Is there a way to turn off the clipboard history feature? Starting with Windows 10 October 2018 Update, the clipboard can save multiple items (text and images) that were copied and sync them across devices. This may inevitably cause your sensitive data appear in the clipboard history. In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 easy ways to disable clipboard history in Windows 10.

Method 1: Disable Clipboard History in Settings App

Open the Settings app and click on the System category. Under the Clipboard tab, toggle the “Clipboard history” option to Off. This should disable clipboard history immediately.

Method 2: Disable Clipboard History Using Group Policy

Open the Local Group Policy Editor and browse to: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> OS Policies. On the right pane, double-click on “Allow Clipboard History“.

Set the policy to Disabled. Click OK and reboot your computer. This will turn off clipboard history for all users on your system.

Method 3: Disable Clipboard History Using Registry Editor

Open Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System. Right-click on the right pane and select New -> DWORD (32-bit Value).

Name the newly created DWORD as AllowClipboardHistory. Give it a value of 0 and reboot.

When you try to turn on the clipboard history option in Settings app, you’ll find it is grayed out. Whenever you need to enable clipboard history, just navigate to the same registry location and delete the AllowClipboardHistory entry.

That’s it!

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How to Make Windows 10 Play Shutdown Sound

December 26th, 2019 by Admin

Windows 10 shutdown sound not playing? Starting with Windows 8, sounds for the logon, logoff and shutdown events have been disabled completely, but the sound files remain in the system location: C:\Windows\Media. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to make Windows 10 play shutdown sound using Task Scheduler.

How to Make Windows 10 Play Shutdown Sound

  1. To get started, open Task Scheduler and click on the Create Task link in the right Actions pane.

  2. When the Create Task dialog opens, give the task a proper name like “Play shutdown sound“. Choose “Run whether user is logged on or not” and check the “Run with highest privileges” option. Next, click the “Configure for” drop-down and select Windows 10.

  3. Switch to the Triggers tab and click on the New… button.

  4. Select On an event in the “Begin the task” drop-down. Click the Log drop-down to select System, enter 1074 (user initiated shutdown) in the Event ID text box and click OK.

  5. Move to the Actions tab and click on the New… button.

  6. Set the action type to Start a program. Type PowerShell in the Program/script text box. Copy and paste the following command into the “Add arguments” text box. Click OK.
    -Command "(New-Object Media.SoundPlayer 'C:\Windows\Media\Windows Shutdown.wav').PlaySync()"

  7. Go to the Conditions tab, uncheck the option “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” and click OK.

  8. You will be prompted to enter your current Windows password. Once it’s done, Windows 10 will play a sound every time you shut down your computer.

If you don’t like the default shutdown sound which comes with Windows 10, you can change it to any other WAV file located in C:\Windows\Media. That’s it!

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How to Make Funny Folder Name with Emoji on Windows 10

December 23rd, 2019 by Admin

How can I create a folder or file with funny name? If you get bored with using letters and numbers to name a folder or file, here’s how to use Emoji to rename a folder or file on Windows 10.

How to Make Funny Folder Name with Emoji on Windows 10

Open File Explorer and browse to a folder (or a file, program shortcut) you want to rename. Highlight the folder and hit F2 key on your keyboard, or right-click it and select Rename.

While renaming, press the Windows key + . at the same time to open the built-in Emoji panel. Click on the emojis you want to use for naming your folder. You can now name your folder with any combination of emoji, letters, and numbers.

Once you’re done entering emoji, press Enter to save the new folder name.

That’s all. You can go ahead and use this tip to rename all your folders, files or desktop shortcuts with funny emoji names.

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2 Ways to Run a Windows Program in Compatibility Mode

December 19th, 2019 by Admin

Your old program doesn’t work properly or can’t run at all after upgrading to Windows 10? To get some older programs to run on a modern version of Windows, you may need to turn on compatibility mode. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 simple methods to run a Windows program in compatibility mode.

Method 1: Enable Compatibility Mode for a Program in Properties

Right-click your program’s shortcut or the .exe file, and then select Properties from the context menu.

Under the Compatibility tab, check the “Run this program in compatibility mode for” option, and then choose which version of Windows you want to use.

For example, if your program doesn’t run properly on Windows 10 but did run properly on Windows 7, then select “Windows 7” from the drop-down menu. This will force the program to run in Windows 7 compatibility mode.

Method 2: Enable Compatibility Mode for a Program Using Command Prompt

First of all, you need to know which compatibility mode you want your program to run with. The following tables show the values for different compatibility modes.

Description Value Data
Windows 8 WIN8RTM
Windows 7 WIN7RTM
Windows Vista SP2 VISTASP2
Windows Vista SP1 VISTASP1
Windows Vista VISTARTM
Windows XP SP3 WINXPSP3
Windows XP SP2 WINXPSP2
Windows 98 WIN98

Next, Open an elevated Command Prompt and run the following command. Replacing "D:\PSTools\PsExec.exe" with the full path of your .exe file, and “WIN7RTM” with your desired compatibility mode.

reg.exe Add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers" /v "D:\PSTools\PsExec.exe" /d "WIN7RTM"

Once this is done, your program will run in compatibility mode by default.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

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How to Enable Print Logging in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2012

December 16th, 2019 by Admin

How can I keep track of all printing activities that take place in different applications? Windows Event Viewer allows you to track all print jobs in one place. By default the print logging isn’t turned on. Here is how you can enable print logging in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2012.

How to Enable Print Logging in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2012

  1. Press the Windows key + R together to open the Run dialog, type eventvwr.msc and hit Enter to open Event Viewer. In Windows Server 2012, you can access Event Viewer from Server Manager -> Tools.

  2. When the Event Viewer window opens, navigate to Applications and Services Logs -> Microsoft -> Windows -> PrintService. Right-click on Operational item and select Properties.

  3. In Log Properties dialog, check the “Enable logging” option. You can change the maximum event log size or enable Overwrite events as needed to only keep recent events.

  4. From this point forward, all your print activities will be logged by Event Viewer and you can see the event logs under Applications and Services Logs -> Microsoft -> Windows -> PrintService -> Operatinal.

    The most interesting event for printer usage tracking is event 307. Double-click on each 307 event and it tells you which document was printed, how many pages or copies were used, as well as the printing time.

Enable Print Logging Using Command Prompt or PowerShell

Additionally, you can also enable Windows print logging using the built-in wevutil utility. Just open an elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell, and run the following command:
wevtutil.exe sl Microsoft-Windows-PrintService/Operational /enabled:true

That’s it!

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How to Move the Desktop or Document Folder to Another Drive in Windows 10

December 11th, 2019 by Admin

Every version of Windows comes with a series of default folders (such as Desktop, Document, Downloads, Pictures, Videos, and Music) for each user account. If you’re running out of space on your primary C: drive, you can move those folders to another drive to free up space. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to easily move the Desktop or Document folder to another drive in Windows 10.

How to Move the Desktop or Document Folder to Another Drive

  1. Open File Explorer and browse to your user account’s folder. If your user account name is Tom, you’ll find the Desktop and Document folders at C:\Users\Tom. Right-click the Desktop or Document folder you want to move, and select Properties.

  2. Go to the Location tab, and click on the Move button.

  3. When the folder browse dialog shows up, select a new location where you want the folder to be moved. Finally click on Select Folder.

  4. The new location is now shown in the Location tab. Click OK to apply the change.

  5. Afterwards, click Yes to confirm moving all your files from the old location to the new folder.

Whenever you want to restore the Desktop or Documents folders to its original location, just right-click on the folder and select Properties, then click on the Restore Default button under the Location tab.

That’s it!

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How to View and Change Default Download Location in Microsoft Edge

December 9th, 2019 by Admin

How do I view where Edge downloads are saved? You have no idea what you set your default download folder to? This tutorial will show you how to easily view and change the default download location for Microsoft Edge in Windows 10.

How to View and Change Default Download Location in Microsoft Edge

Open Microsoft Edge browser and click the Menu button (three horizontal dots) from the top right corner. Choose Settings from the popup menu.

Under the General tab, scroll down to the Downloads section and you can view the current default download location (e.g. “C:\Users\Your username\Downloads”). If you want to save your downloads in another folder, click on the Change button.

Choose your preferred folder and click on Select Folder.

From now on Microsoft Edge will automatically save your downloads to the new default location.

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How to Pin Control Panel or Settings App to Windows 10 Start Menu

December 2nd, 2019 by Admin

Is there a way to pin a particular Control Panel item to Start Menu? Pinning frequently used Control Panel items to Start Menu can improve your efficiency. In this tutorial we’ll show you an easy way to pin any Control Panel item and Settings app page to the Start Menu in Windows 10.

Part 1: Pin Control Panel Items to Windows 10 Start Menu

  1. Open the Control Panel and set the View by option to Large icons. Right-click on any specific item you want to pin on the Start Menu.

  2. Choose Pin to Start from the popup menu.

  3. That Control Panel item will appear on the right side of the Start Menu.

Part 2: Pin Settings App Pages to Windows 10 Start Menu

  1. Open Windows 10 Settings app and navigate to a specific settings page. On the left, right-click any settings tab you want to pin on the Start Menu. When the “Pin to Start” popup menu appears, click on it.

  2. Next, click Yes to confirm the action.

    Now you’ll find a new tile for that setting on the Start Menu.

That’s it!

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4 Ways to Check Your Computer Uptime in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

November 26th, 2019 by Admin

Have you ever wondered how long your PC has been up and running? How can I find out when Windows was last restarted? In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 simple ways to check your computer uptime in Windows 10 / 8 / 7. This is useful when troubleshooting problems or checking the last boot time due to a power outage.

Method 1: Check Windows Uptime Using Task Manager

Press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut to start Task Manager. Go to the Performance tab and select your CPU device. You can see system uptime located toward the bottom of the window.

In the example above, my computer has been running for over three days.

Method 2: Check Windows Uptime Using PowerShell

Open Windows PowerShell and type the following command:
(get-date) – (gcim Win32_OperatingSystem).LastBootUpTime

Once pressing Enter, you’ll get the uptime information on a list format with the days, hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds.

Method 3: Check Windows Uptime Using Network Settings

Press the Windows key + R together to launch the Run box. Type ncpa.cpl and hit Enter to open the Network Connections window.

Right-click on an active network adapter and then select Status from the popup menu.

Look for the “Duration” field which indicates how long the network has been connected for, and that’s equivalent to your computer uptime.

Method 4: Check Windows Uptime Using Command Prompt

Open Command Prompt and run this command to check your system’s last boot time.
systeminfo | find "System Boot Time"

You can subtract the last boot time with the current time to determine the number of days, hours, and minutes the computer has been running.

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How to Turn off Windows Installer to Block MSI Package

November 20th, 2019 by Admin

Is there a way to prevent users from installing .msi package? Windows Installer is a background service that manages installing and uninstalling MSI-based programs. To block MSI installer, you can turn off Windows Installer using group policy or registry tweak.

Method 1: Disable Windows Installer Using GPO

  1. Open Local Group Policy Editor and expand Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Installer. Double-click the policy named “Turn off Windows Installer” in the right pane.

  2. Select Enabled. Click the “Disable Windows Installer” drop-down list and select Always.

  3. Click OK and restart your system to apply the changes. The next time you try to run any .msi package, you’ll get the error message “The system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation.”

Method 2: Disable Windows Installer Using Registry Tweak

  1. Open Registry Editor and browse to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer. If the Installer subkey doesn’t exist, you have to create it first.
  2. Double-click the 32-bit DWORD DisableMSI in the right pane, and set the value to 2.

  3. Close Registry Editor and reboot Windows to make the changes take effect. If you need to enable Windows installer again, just set the value of DisableMSI to 0 and you’re done.

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