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How to Make Windows Clear Pagefile at Shutdown for Added Security

April 24th, 2019 by Admin

Pagefile is a hidden system file used by Windows to swap data back and forth between RAM and physical drive. When your RAM is insufficient to hold every running program, some of the program’s memory (including sensitive data and passwords) will be moved to the pagefile.

Pagefile is well protected while Windows is running, but the data within it persists after a shutdown. A malicious user who has physical access to your PC can extract sensitive data from the pagefile by booting a Live CD. To prevent such potential security risk, you can configure Windows to automatically clear the paging file on every shutdown.

Method 1: Make Windows Clear Pagefile at Shutdown Using GPO

  1. Press the Windows logo key and the R key simultaneously. Once the Run dialog box is opened, type secpol.msc into it and click OK.

  2. Navigate to Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options. On the right pane, double-click on the “Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile” policy.

  3. Select the Enabled radio option, and then click on Apply and then OK.

  4. Restart your computer to make sure the changes take effect.

Method 2: Make Windows Clear Pagefile at Shutdown Using Registry Editor

  1. Open the Registry Editor and browse to the following key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

    Next, double-click on a 32-bit DWORD value named ClearPageFileAtShutdown in the right pane.

  2. Change the current default value from 0 to 1. Click OK to save the changes.

  3. Restart Windows to apply your changes. Whenever you shut down your PC, Windows will automatically clear the pagefile for added security.

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

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3 Ways to Cancel Print Jobs in Windows 10

April 23rd, 2019 by Admin

Print jobs are stuck in queue and you need to clear the print spooler? How can I prevent further documents from being printed? In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 simple ways to cancel a stuck or accidental print job from the queue, saving you lots of time and paper.

Method 1: Cancel Print Jobs Using Control Panel

Open the “Devices and Printers” applet in the Control Panel. Right-click on the printer that is being used and select “See what’s printing” from the context menu.

This shows a list of print jobs that are in the queue. In order to cancel printing a document, just right-click it and select Cancel.

Method 2: Cancel Print Jobs Using the Settings App

Open the Settings app and click on Devices.

Go to the Printers & scanners tab. On the right side pane, select your printer and then click on the “Open queue” button appeared beneath the printer name.

Now, you can right-click on any print job and then click Cancel to clear it from the print queue.

Method 3: Cancel Print Jobs Using Command Prompt

Open the Command Prompt as Administrator. Run the following commands to delete all .shd and .spl files from C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\PRINTERS and restart the Print Spooler service.

net stop spooler
del /F /S /Q %systemroot%\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*
net start spooler

The print queue on your Windows 10 PC should now be cleared. Of course, you can create a batch file to execute the above commands, so you can cancel all your print jobs with just a single mouse click!

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

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Use GPO to Automatically Save BitLocker Recovery Key in Active Directory

April 17th, 2019 by Admin

As a system administrator, you may find it’s difficult to keep track of BitLocker recovery keys for all computers in company network, especially when number of machines is more than 100. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to set the group policy to automatically backup BitLocker recovery information to Active Directory, so you can centrally manage the recovery keys/passwords in one place.

How to Configure GPO to Automatically Save BitLocker Recovery Key to AD

  1. Click the Search icon in the taskbar and type “group policy“. You can then click Group Policy Management to launch it.

  2. Now in the left pane of Group Policy Management, right-click your AD domain and select “Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here…” from the menu.

  3. In the New GPO dialog, give the GPO a name and click OK.

  4. Right-click the newly-created GPO in the left pane, and select Edit.

  5. Browse to Computer Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> BitLocker Drive Encryption, and then double-click the policy “Store BitLocker recovery information in Active Directory Domain Services“.

  6. Set the policy to Enabled. Make sure the “Require BitLocker backup to AD DS” option is checked, and select to store both recovery passwords and key packages.

  7. Next, expand BitLocker Drive Encryption in the left pane. You’ll see three nodes: Fixed Data Drives, Operating System Drives, Removable Data Drives. Just select Fixed Data Drives and double-click the policy “Choose how BitLocker-protected fixed drives can be recovered“.

  8. Set it to Enabled. Check the options “Save BitLocker recovery information to AD DS for fixed drives” and then click OK.

  9. Go to the “Operating System Drives” node and turn on the similar policy “Choose how BitLocker-protected operating system drives can be recovered“. Afterwards, go to the “Removable Data Drives” node and enable the policy “Choose how BitLocker-protected removable drives can be recovered“.
  10. When any client PC retrieves the policy changes, BitLocker recovery information will be automatically and silently backed up to AD DS when BitLocker is turned on for fixed drives, OS drives or removable drives.

Manually Backup BitLocker Password to AD with PowerShell

If you have enabled BitLocker prior to configuring the above GPO policy, you can use PowerShell cmdlets to manually upload the BitLocker recovery key to Active Directory. Follow these steps:

  1. When your BitLocker-protected drive is unlocked, open PowerShell as administrator and type this command:
    manage-bde -protectors -get D:

    What you need to take note of is the Numerical Password ID.

  2. Next, type the following command to backup your BitLocker recovery password to Active Directory. Remember you have to use the Numerical Password ID obtained on the previous step.
    manage-bde -protectors -adbackup D: -id {CAF6FEF0-7C98-4D6A-B80F-7BE63C033047}

  3. When that completes, you will receive the message “Recovery information was successfully backed up to Active Directory.“

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Posted in Active Directory Password, Others, Tips & Tricks

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3 Ways to Clear Clipboard History in Windows 10

April 12th, 2019 by Admin

When you use Ctrl + C to copy text, images or other information in Windows, your data will be stored in the clipboard temporarily so you can then paste it somewhere else. Clipboard works as a temporary repository for data during copy-and-paste operations. In this tutorial we’ll show you different ways to clear clipboard history in Windows 10.

Method 1: Add An Empty Item to Clipboard History

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box, then type cmd /c “echo off | clip” and hit Enter.

This command will add an empty item to the clipboard history so you then can’t paste anything anywhere. This method could also be used to clear clipboard history in Windows 8, 7, Vista.

Method 2: Clear All Clipboard History Data from Settings App

Open the Settings app and navigate to System -> Clipboard. On the right pane, you can turn off the “Clipboard history” toggle switch to prevent Windows clipboard from saving multiple items. In this case, only the last item you copied into the clipboard will be saved.

When the “Clipboard history” feature is turned on, you can click the “Clear” button to manually clear all history items from the clipboard.

Method 3: Clear Specific Item in Clipboard History

Just press the Windows key + V in any application, a Clipboard panel will appear where you’ll see a list of items (such as text and images) that you have recently copied from different applications.

Click on the three dots icon on the upper-right part of the clipboard item you want to delete. When the pop-up menu appears, you can select Delete to clear it.

That’s it!

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

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Windows 10: Hide or Unhide Folders / Files Using Command Prompt

April 11th, 2019 by Admin

Is there a way to hide important files to prevent accidental deletion? In this tutorial we’ll show you how to hide or unhide folders / files in Windows 10 using Command Prompt.

Hide Folders or Files

When you’re going to hide a specific folder or file, open up the Command Prompt and type:
attrib +h "your_folder_or_file"

This command will assign the “Hidden” attribute to your target folder or file, and make it disappear from the File Explorer view.

If you need to hide all files and subfolders in your target location (for exmaple, D:\demo), run this following command:
attrib +h "d:\demo\*" /s /d

List Hidden Files

If you need to list hidden files and folders while in Command Prompt, use the CD command to change your working directory and then type:

dir /a:h

This will show all hidden folders or files in that location.

Unhide Folders or Files

When you need to unhide a specific folder or file, execute this command:
attrib -s -h "your_hidden_folder_or_file"

In order to unhide all hidden files and subfolders under a location (e.g. D:\demo), type this command:
attrib -s -h "d:\demo\*" /s /d

That’s it! The built-in option to hide folders/files is pretty easy but it’s not secure because anyone can unhide them the easy way. If you need to hide sensitive files from prying eyes, it’s a good idea to use third-party softwares (for instance, Protect My Folders) to hide and lock your folders/files with a password.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

How to Fully Shutdown Windows 10 Instead of Hibernating It

April 10th, 2019 by Admin

By default, Windows 10 enables a feature called Fast Startup (Hybrid Shutdown) that can shut down and boot up your PC much faster than Windows 7 or previous versions of Windows. When you shutdown Windows 10, you’re actually performing a partial hibernation.

If you prefer to have your PC completely shut down, you can either turn off Fast Startup feature or use the following methods to fully shutdown Windows 10.

Method 1: Perform a Full Shutdown Using Shift Key

We’ve covered many different ways to shutdown Windows 10 in the past, but you might not realize that Windows 10 is just doing a hybird shutdown by default. If you would like to perform a full shutdown, simply hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard and then click the “Shut down” option in the Start Menu, or on the sign-in screen.

Method 2: Perform a Full Shutdown Using Command Prompt

Just open an elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell window, type the following command and press Enter:

shutdown /s /f /t 0

This will immediately close any open applications without prompting to save your work, and completely shut down your PC.

Conclusion

The Fast Startup feature can make your computer boot up faster, saving valuable seconds every time you turn on Windows 10. However, if your Windows 10 was installed on a speedy solid-state drive (SSD), Fast Startup don’t actually make any difference and a full shutdown is recommended.

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Create Windows 10 bootable USB from ISO on Mac without BootCamp

March 21st, 2019 by Admin

How can I make a bootable Windows installation USB on Mac OS X? After upgrading to macOS Mojave, you may find that Boot Camp Assistant is no longer supported and thus creating a bootable USB turns out to be a little bit challenging. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to create Windows 10 bootable USB from ISO on Mac, by using the Terminal or third-party software like UNetbottin.

Method 1: Create Windows 10 Bootable USB on Mac Using UNetbottin

UNetbootin is a free, open source utility that allows you to create bootable USB drives on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. If you’ve downloaded Windows 10 ISO image, here is how you can create a bootable Windows installer USB on Mac using UNetbootin.

  1. Plug a USB drive into your Mac and open Disk Utility. Select your USB drive from the left panel and click on Info button. Note down the device name since we will need that later.

  2. Next, download and launch the UNetbottin utility. Select the “Diskimage” radio button, click “…” to select a bootable ISO image.

  3. After locating your Windows 10 ISO file, click on Open.

  4. Choose Type as USB Drive and select the device name of your USB drive (you probably would’ve noted it down earlier, so refer to that). Click OK to start installing to the USB drive.

  5. This process takes several minutes or longer, depending on the size of your selected ISO image.

Method 2: Create Windows 10 Bootable USB on Mac Using Terminal

Of course, if you prefer not to use third-party software, you can still use the excellent Terminal app, which is a little bit more involved, but no additional software needs to be installed. Follow these steps:

  1. After connecting a USB drive to your Mac, open a Terminal window and type diskutil list to display all the disks attached to your machine. You have to figure out the disk identifier of the USB drive you need to format. In my example, my USB drive is mounted as “disk2” and it’s about 32GB.

  2. Next, run the following command to format your USB drive and name it “WIN10“, where # is a placeholder for the disk identifier of your USB drive.
    diskutil eraseDisk MS-DOS "WIN10" GPT disk#

  3. Now, mount your Windows 10 ISO image with the command below, assuming it’s saved the Downloads folder. In my case, it is mounted as a volume named “ESD-ISO“.
    hdiutil mount ~/Downloads/your_windows_10_image.iso

  4. Finally, run the following command to copy all the files from the mounted ISO to your USB drive.
    cp -rp /Volumes/ESD-ISO/* /Volumes/WIN10/

    This command will take a while, and once it finishes, you can disconnect the mounted ISO with this command:
    hdiutil unmount /Volumes/ESD-ISO

  5. Now you should be able to boot from the USB to install Windows 10 on your Mac or Windows machine.

Conclusion

These should be the easiest ways to create a Windows 10 bootable USB from ISO on Mac, without using Boot Camp Assistant. No matter which method you prefer, be sure that you backup any important data on your USB drive, as the procedure of creating bootable USB will delete everything on it.

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Posted in Free Software, Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

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How to Securely Delete Files in Windows 10 without Third Party Software

March 18th, 2019 by Admin

When you delete a file, Windows only marks the file as deleted and it continues existing on your hard drive, even after you empty it from Recycle Bin. The deleted files can be recovered using data recovery software until they’re overwritten. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to use Microsoft’s command-line utility to securely delete, shred and wipe your files in Windows 10, so they can’t be recovered.

Part 1: Securely Delete Specific Folders or Files

To get started, download the SDelete utility from Microsoft’s website. After extracting the download file, copy the resulting .exe files to the System32 directory: C:\Windows\System32.

Open the elevated Command Prompt and you can securely and permanently delete any folder or file by running this command:
sdelete.exe -p 3 -s "your_folder_or_file"

By default, SDelete will overwrite the given file only once. You can use the –p option to specify the number of times to overwrite the data.

Part 2: Securely Wipe & Overwrite Free Space on Entire Drive

How can I overwrite the files that have been previously deleted without using the SDelete utility? To securely wipe all files and folders you have already deleted, simple run the following command to overwrite all free space on your drive. Replace D with the drive you want to clean up.
sdelete.exe -c:D

This command will only wipe the free space to prevent recovery of deleted files, and it won’t affect any files on your drive, so it’s safe. There is a similar built-in console tool called cipher.exe which also lets you wipe the free disk space, but it’s much slower than SDelete.
cipher /w:D

Conclusion

Using the SDelete utility you can securely delete files and wipe free space in Windows 10 to prevent any sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands. Despite SDelete does not have a graphical user interface, it is still easy for anyone to use.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

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