Archive for the ‘Tips & Tricks’ category

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Fix: Windows 10 Requires Username and Password When Session is Locked

February 19th, 2018 by Admin

When a Windows 10 session is locked, it requires the username and password to unlock it. Previous versions of Windows only required the password. How can I change it to only ask me for password? Luckily there is easy fix that can get rid of the need to click or enter username, so you can unlock a locked Windows 10 session by entering password only.

Fix: Windows 10 Requires Username and Password When Session is Locked

  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run prompt. Type secpol.msc and press Enter.

  2. In the left pane of Local Security Policy Editor, expand Local Policies and click Security Options.

    Next, double-click the Interactive Logon: Display User Information when the session is locked policy in the right pane.

  3. Click the drop-down box to select “User display name, domain and user names“.

  4. Click Apply and then OK. You need to restart the machine for the change to take effect.
  5. After signing into your account, press the Windows + L to lock your session. The lock screen will now show your locked username so you can simply enter your password to unlock it.

If Local Security Policy Editor is not available in your system, you can also fix that issue with a registry hack: How to Hide User Name from Windows Lock Screen.

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Fix: Windows 10 Thumbnail Cache Keeps Deleting Itself at Boot

February 4th, 2018 by Admin

When you open a folder containing images or video files, Windows will automatically create the thumbnail images for each file and store them in the cache, so that it can show thumbnails without any delay the next time you open the same folder.

Since Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, the thumbnail cache keeps deleting itself after a restart or a shutdown, and the system has to recreate the thumbnails again for the same folder. Luckily, there is registry trick that can stop Windows 10 from automatically deleting the thumbnail cache at boot.

How to Fix: Windows 10 Thumbnail Cache Keeps Deleting Itself at Boot

  1. Press the Windows key + R shortcut to open the Run command box. Type regedit and hit Enter.

  2. Navigate to the following registry location, and then double-click the Autorun DWORD value in the right pane.

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Thumbnail Cache

  3. Change the value from 1 to 0, and then click OK. Just close Registry Editor and restart Windows to allow the changes to take effect.

  4. Now you have stopped Windows 10 from auto-deleting the Thumbnail cache on reboot.

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How to Clear the Thumbnail Cache in Windows 10

February 2nd, 2018 by Admin

Windows 10 thumbnails messed up? By default, Windows automatically creates thumbnails for every documents, videos and images on your PC, which gives you a preview of a folder/file before you open it. When Windows 10 doesn’t properly display thumbnails or the thumbnails are corrupted, here’s how to clear and rebuild the thumbnail cache in Windows 10.

Where does Windows 10 store the thumbnail cache?

The thumbnail cache is hidden and you can find it in the following location:
C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

Here you will see a lot of files like thumbcache_2560.db. If you were to be able to delete them, Windows 10 will automatically re-create new thumbnails when required.

Method 1: Clear the thumbnail cache using Disk Cleanup

  1. Open File Explorer. Right-click on your system partition (C:\) and select Properties from the context menu.
  2. Under the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button.

  3. Locate and check the Thumbnails option, and then click OK to delete / clear the thumbnail cache.

Method 2: Clear the thumbnail cache using Command Prompt

  1. Open the Command Prompt as administrator.
  2. Before clearing the thumbnail cache, you need to close File Explorer. Open Task Manager and switch to the Details tab, right-click on explorer.exe and select End task.

  3. Get back to the running Command Prompt. Type the following command and press Enter to delete all the thumbnail cache files.
    del %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\thumbcache_*.db
    start explorer.exe

  4. Now you should be able to browse files and folders on your computer with thumbnail images showing up correctly.

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How to Turn On / Off High Contrast in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

February 1st, 2018 by Admin

How can I remove High Contrast mode? Windows comes with several themes that provide high contrast and make it easier to read screens in bad lighting. This feature is really useful for users with visual impairment. Here are different ways to turn on / off High Contrast in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

Method 1: Turn On / Off High Contrast Using Keyboard Shortcut

This keyboard shortcut (left Shift + left Alt + PrtScn) can be used as a toggle to turn a high-contrast theme on and off. If the keyboard shortcut is not working on your Windows, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Control Panel in Large icons view, and then click Ease of Access Center.

  2. Click the Set up High Contrast icon.

  3. select the “Turn on or off High Contrast when left ALT + left SHIFT + PRINT SCREEN is pressed” check box. Click Apply.

Method 2: Turn On / Off High Contrast from Windows 10 Settings

  1. Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app, click Ease of Access icon.

  2. Select the Color & high contrast tab. Under Choose a theme, choose a high contrast theme from the drop-down menu, or select None to disable high contrast.

  3. Click Apply.

Method 3: Turn On / Off High Contrast in Windows 8 / 7

  1. Right click on an empty part of the desktop to bring up a menu and then select Personalize.

  2. Scroll down to the “Basic and High Contrast Themes” section and choose the theme of your choice. If you want to turn off high contrast, choose the theme under either “Aero themes” or “Basic themes”.

That’s it!

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How To Enable or Disable Night Light in Windows 10

January 23rd, 2018 by Admin

Night Light, also known as “Blue Light”, is a new feature introduced since Windows 10 Creators Update, which makes your display use warmer colors at night to help you sleep better and reduce eyestrain. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to enable or disable Night Light mode in Windows 10, even when the Night Light setting is greyed out.

How To Enable or Disable Night Light in Windows 10?

  1. Press the Windows + I keyboard shortcut to open the Settings app, and then click on the System icon.

  2. Select the Display tab on the left side. You can then toggle the “Night light” button to On to enable it, or Off to disable it.

  3. If you enable the Night Light feature, you can configure it further by clicking the “Night light settings” link under the toggle.

    There, you can adjust the color temperature by dragging the slider, and set Night Light to kick in when the sun sets and it will automatically get disabled during sunrise. When it’s done, you can click the “Turn on now” button to immediately enable the Night Light feature.

Can’t Enable or Disable Night Light?

Night Light settings is greyed out and you can’t disable or enable it? Here is a quick workaround to resolve this issue. Follow these steps:

  1. Open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CloudStore\Store\Cache\DefaultAccount
  2. Expand the DefaultAccount key, then right-click and delete the following two subkeys:

    $$windows.data.bluelightreduction.bluelightreductionstate
    $$windows.data.bluelightreduction.settings

  3. When you’re done, close Registry Editor and reboot your computer. Open the Settings app and you should then be able to turn Night Light on or off.

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How to Change Input Language Using Keyboard Shortcut in Windows 10

January 22nd, 2018 by Admin

Unable to change keyboard language in Window using hotkey? Is there any way to set keyboard shortcuts to quickly change to a different language / keyboard layout? Here’s how to enable a keyboard shortcut for changing the input language in Windows 10.

How to Change Input Language Using Keyboard Shortcut in Windows 10?

  1. Open the Control Panel. Switch it to Large icons view and then click Language.

  2. Click the Advanced settings link on the left sidebar.

  3. In the next window, scroll down to the “Switching input methods” section and click the “Change language bar hot keys” link.

  4. This will bring up the “Text Services and Input Languages” dialogue. Select the “Between input languages” action and click Change Key Sequence.

  5. Select the keyboard combination you would like to use for switching between languages, and click OK.

That’s it!

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Find If Your Drive is SSD or HDD in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

January 17th, 2018 by Admin

How can I know whether a disk is a solid-state drive (SSD) or hard disk? Is there a way to check if I have a SSD or HDD without having to open the laptop itself to see what’s inside it? Here are 2 easy methods to find if your drive is SSD or HDD in Windows 10/8/7, without using third-party software.

Method 1: Find If Your Drive is SSD or HDD Using Disk Defragmenter

Simply press the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run box, type dfrgui and press Enter.

When the Disk Defragmenter window is shown, look for the Media type column and you can find out which drive is solid state drive (SSD), and which one is hard disk drive (HDD).

Method 2: Find If Your Drive is SSD or HDD Using PowerShell

Open the PowerShell as administrator, and type the following command and press Enter:

Get-PhysicalDisk

The command will list all physical disks connected to your computer. The MediaType parameter can help you identify what type is your disk drive, HDD or SSD.

That’s it!

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5 Ways to Open Disk Defragmenter in Windows 10

January 16th, 2018 by Admin

Over time, files on your hard drive get scattered and they are spread to discontinuous clusters. This can increase the time required to read / write files. To have your computer run more efficiently, you can defragment the hard drive that will rearrange the files so that they occupy contiguous clusters. In this tutorial we’ll show you 5 ways to open Disk Defragmenter in Windows 10.

Method 1: Open Open Disk Defragmenter via Cortana

Simply type defragment in the Cortana’s search box. You can then click the “Defragment and Optimize Drives” search result to open Disk Defragmenter.

Method 2: Open Open Disk Defragmenter via Run or Command Prompt

Press the Windows key + R shortcut to bring up the Run box, type dfrgui and press Enter to launch Disk Defragmenter.

You can also access Disk Defragmenter by running the dfrgui command at Command Prompt.

Method 3: Open Open Disk Defragmenter via Start Menu

Click the Start button, then select All apps -> Windows Administrative Tools. Now choose Defragment and Optimize Drives.

Method 4: Open Open Disk Defragmenter via File Explorer

Open File Explorer. Right-click the drive you want to defragment, and then select Properties. When the Properties dialog opens, select the Tools tab and then click the Optimize button.

Method 5: Open Open Disk Defragmenter via Control Panel

Open the Control Panel in Large icons view. Click Administrative Tools.

You can now click the Defragment and Optimize Drives shortcut to start the Disk Defragmenter utility.

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Set up Assigned Access to Restrict Local User to One App in Windows 10

January 15th, 2018 by Admin

Assigned Access is a useful feature in Windows 10 that allows you to restrict a local standard user to use only a single app that you choose. This makes it easy to create an Assigned Access app for use in a kiosk computer scenario. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps of setting up Assigned Access in Windows 10.

How to Set up Assigned Access to Restrict Local User to One App in Windows 10?

This feature is available only in Windows 10 Pro, Education, and Enterprise. To set up Assigned Access, you must be logged into Windows 10 using an administrator account.

  1. Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app. Navigate to Accounts > Family & other people. Click the Set up assigned access link at the bottom of the right pane.

  2. When you see the Set Up Assigned Access screen, you’ll be prompted to choose an account and an app. To begin, click Choose an account.

  3. Select the standard account for which you want to set up Assigned Access.

  4. After the user account is selected, click the Choose an app option.

  5. You’ll see a list of built-in apps or third-party apps installed from Windows Store. Just pick a single app for Assigned Access.

  6. When you’re done, restart your computer. After you log in with the Assigned Access account, the app you assigned to that account will start automatically in full-screen mode. You’re unable to switch or close the app. To exit the account, simply press Ctrl + Alt + Del and you’re out.

That’s it! When you no longer need Assigned Access on Widows 10, just bring up the Set Up Assigned Access screen again and click the “Turn off assigned access and sign out the selected account” link.

How would you use Assigned Access? Let us know in the comments section below.

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3 Steps to Change DVD Region in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

January 13th, 2018 by Admin

“I just bought a DVD movie. When I tried to play it on Windows 10, I received a warning that the DVD was purchased in region 2, my computer DVD player was set for region 1, and I needed to change the region. I’ve never come across this before. Please help!”

Most commercial DVDs have a region code that ties the DVD to specific regions of the world, as a measure of copy protection. If a DVD’s region code doesn’t match the current region code of your DVD player, you’ll receive a warning that you need to change regions in order to play the DVD. The following tutorial will show you how to change the region code of your DVD player in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

Note: The region code for a DVD player can only be changed five times. The fifth time you change the region, your DVD player is permanently locked to the last region you set.

How to Change DVD Region in Windows 10 / 8 / 7?

  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type in devmgmt.msc and press Enter.

  2. When the Device Manager window opens, expand DVD/CD-ROM drives. Right-click on your DVD player and then select Properties.

  3. Click on the DVD Region tab. Select the region in which you want to change to and click OK.

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