Archive for the ‘Tips & Tricks’ category

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How to Disable or Uninstall Internet Explorer in Windows 10

January 10th, 2017 by Admin

With Windows 10, Microsoft introduced a new browser called Microsoft Edge, and Internet Explorer becomes an optional component that you can uninstall it from Control Panel. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to disable / uninstall Internet Explorer in Windows 10. After uninstalling, you can reinstall Internet Explorer again using the similar steps.

How to Disable or Uninstall Internet Explorer in Windows 10?

  1. Open the Control Panel in Windows 10. This can be done by pressing Windows Key + X and selecting Control Panel from the menu.

    open-control-panel-via-winx

  2. Once Control Panel is launched, set the View by option to Large icons. Click Programs and Features.

    programs-and-features

  3. On the left side, click the link called Turn Windows features on or off.

    turn-windows-features-on-off

  4. In the Windows Features window, uncheck the Internet Explorer 11 option and click OK. (If you want to install Internet Explorer later, just check that option again).

    uninstall-internet-explorer

  5. You will get a confirmation dialog that says: “Turning off Internet Explorer might affect other Windows features and programs installed on your computer, including default settings“. Click Yes.

    turn-off-internet-explorer

  6. When the uninstallation is done, you’ll be prompted to restart the PC.

    windows-needs-reboot

    After rebooting, you should be unable to open Internet Explorer in Windows 10.

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How to Change Active / Inactive Title Bar Color in Windows 10

January 10th, 2017 by Admin

Don’t like white title bar in Windows 10? By default, the title bar is white for both active window and inactive window. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to change the active / inactive title bar color in Windows 10.

Part 1: Change Active Title Bar Color in Windows 10

  1. Right-click on any empty space on the desktop, select Personalize from the context menu.

    personalize

  2. When the Settings window opens, click Colors on the left side.
  3. On the right side, pick an accent color and turn on the “Show color on title bar” setting.

    show-color-on-title-bar

When it’s done, Windows 10 will display your selected color for the title bar of any active window. But inactive title bar remains white as usual.

Part 2: Change Inactive Title Bar Color in Windows 10

Unfortunately there is no option to change the color of inactive title bar in the Settings app, and you have to change it using this registry hack:

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

    regedit-via-run

  2. Once the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
  3. Right-click the DWM key on the left side, select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value from the context menu.

    registry-new-dword

  4. Name the new DWORD value as AccentColorInactive. Then double-click on AccentColorInactive on the right side. In the popup window, type the RGB value of the color of your choice under Value data box and click OK. You may need to google the RGB value of your preferred color.

    AccentColorInactive

  5. Close Registry Editor. You’ve successfully changed the title bar color for inactive window.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

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How to Reinstall Windows 10 Mail App

January 9th, 2017 by Admin

Can’t open the Mail and Calendar app in Windows 10? Is it constantly crashing or freezing? Mail is the built-in email client that comes with every Windows 10 installation. If your Mail app stops working, you can consider reinstalling the “Mail and Calendar” app in Windows 10.

windows-10-mail-app

Part 1: Uninstall “Mail and Calendar” App Using PowerShell

  1. To get started, open PowerShell in administrative mode. You might need to click Yes when you see the User Account Control (UAC) prompt.
  2. When the PowerShell prompt opens, paste the following command and hit Enter.
    Get-AppxPackage *windowscommunicationsapps* | Remove-AppxPackage

    uninstall-windows-10-mail

  3. This will remove / uninstall the “Mail and Calendar” app within one minute.

Part 2: Install “Mail and Calendar” App from Windows 10 Store

  1. Launch the Store app from Windows 10 Start Menu.
  2. Click the Search box in the Store’s upper-right corner, type “Mail and Calendar” and open its page. Click the Install button.

    install-mail-and-calendar

  3. Once the app is installed, you’ll see the “This product is installed” message below the description of the “Mail and Calendar” app. Now you can access the Mail app from Windows 10 Start Menu.

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How to Add Email Account to Windows 10 Mail App

January 9th, 2017 by Admin

Windows 10 comes with a built-in Mail app (known as Mail and Calendar). The mail client supports all popular mail services, including Outlook, Exchange, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, iCloud and other POP/IMAP account. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to set up an email account in Windows 10 Mail app, which makes it easier to keep track of your email.

How to Add Email Account to Windows 10 Mail App?

  1. Click the Start button. When the Start Menu appears, click the Mail icon.

    windows-10-mail-app

  2. Once you launch the Mail app, click the Settings icon in the lower left-hand corner. Select Manage Accounts from the Settings menu appeared in the right side.

    windows-10-mail

  3. Next click Add account.

    add-mail-account-in-windows-10

  4. When the “Choose an account” window appears, choose the type of email account you want to add. For example, click Yahoo! Mail option if you want to add a Yahoo! mail account.

    choose-an-account-in-mail

  5. Simply enter your email address and password if prompted. Click Sign-in. This sign-in procedure is different based on the type of email account you chose in the previous step.

    type-mail-address-and-password

  6. Once the setup procedure is complete, you’ll see the All Done message. Now you can send and receive email from within Windows 10 Mail app.

    set-up-mail-account-done

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How to Show Previous Logon Activity on Windows Welcome Screen

January 5th, 2017 by Admin

How to view users logon activity in Windows? Do you need to know the time of the last login? In this tutorial we’ll show you how to deploy a GPO in Windows to display information about previous logons during user logon. This feature works on all computers running Windows 10/8/7, Windows Server2008 or later.

Method 1: Show Previous Logon Information with Group Policy Editor

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

    gpedit

  2. In the Local Group Policy Editor, drill down to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Logon Options.

    windows-logon-options

    On the right panel, find the “Display information about previous logons during user logon” policy and double-click it.

  3. Select the Enabled option. Click OK and restart your computer.
    display-previous-logon-in-windows

  4. The next time you log into Windows, after entering your password, you will see the following screen that shows you the time of last successful logon and unsuccessful logon attempts. Click OK and it takes you to the desktop.

    windows-previous-login-activity

Method 2: Show Previous Logon Information with Registry Hack

If you have a Windows Home edition, you need to use the following registry hack to enable the “Display information about previous logons during user logon” policy on your computer.

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

    regedit-via-run

  2. When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
  3. Look for the REG_DWORD value DisplayLastLogonInfo in the right panel. If it doesn’t exist, right-click the empty space and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value DisplayLastLogonInfo.
  4. Double-click DisplayLastLogonInfo and then change the value from 0 to 1. Click OK. (If you don’t want Windows to show previous logon information after sign-in, just change the DisplayLastLogonInfo value back to 0)

    DisplayLastLogonInfo

  5. Close Registry Editor and restart your computer. The next time you log into your Windows account it will display last interactive logon information on the welcome screen.

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

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Windows 10: Change Default Location Where New Apps will Install

January 3rd, 2017 by Admin

When you download an app from Windows Store, it just downloads the app without asking where you want to install it. By default, Windows 10 stores all apps in C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Local\Packages. If you find yourself always on the verge of running out of disk space on system(C:), you can change the default location where Windows 10 saves and installs new apps.

How to Change Default Location Where New Apps will Install?

  1. Open the Settings app. You can either click the Settings icon from Windows 10 Start Menu, or press the Windows key + I keyboard shortcut.

    open-settings-app

  2. Click on the System option.

    system-settings

  3. On the left-side, click Storage. On the right side under Save locations, select the drive you want New apps will save to and click Apply.

    new-apps-save-location

  4. Close the Settings app and restart your system. Now whenever you install a new app from Windows 10 Store, it will be installed in a newly-created folder named “WindowsApps” under the root path of your new default location.

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How to View or Restrict the Number of Connections in SQL Server

December 30th, 2016 by Admin

SQL Server allows a maximum of 32,767 user connections. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to find out the number of connections to a database in SQL Server, and restrict the number of connections to a SQL Server instance.

Part 1: View Total Number of Connections in SQL Server

Need to check the number of active connections for each database? This can be done easily using the following script. The script displays the databaseName, the number of connections and the login name:

SELECT DB_NAME(dbid) as DBName,
loginame,
COUNT(dbid) as NumberOfConnections
FROM sys.sysprocesses
WHERE dbid > 0
GROUP BY dbid, loginame

If you’re running SQL Server 2012, 2014 or 2016, run this script instead:

SELECT DB_NAME(database_id) as DBName,
login_name,
COUNT(session_id) as NumberOfConnections
FROM sys.dm_exec_sessions
GROUP BY database_id, login_name

Part 2: Restrict Concurrent Database Connections in SQL Server

To configure the maximum user connections, open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to your database, then follow these steps:

  1. In Object Explorer, right-click a server and click Properties.

    sql-server-properties

  2. Click the Connections node on the left page.
  3. Under Connections, in the Maximum number of concurrent connections box, type or select a value from 0 through 32767 to set the maximum number of users that are allowed to connect simultaneously to the instance of SQL Server.

    max-connections-in-sql-server

  4. Click OK. Restart SQL Server to apply your changes.

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5 Ways to Open Run Command Box in Windows 10

December 30th, 2016 by Admin

The Run command box provides the quickest way to launch programs (for instance, Registry Editor, Group Policy Editor) or open folders and documents. In this tutorial we’ll show you 5 ways to open Run command box in Windows 10.

run-command-box

Method 1: Open Run Command Box by Pressing WIN + R

Just press the Windows key and the R key at the same time, it will open the Run command box immediately. This method is the fastest and it works with all versions of Windows.

Method 2: Open Run Command Box from Start Menu

Click the Start button (the Windows icon in the lower-left corner). Select All apps and expand Windows System, then click Run to open it.

open-run-from-start-menu

Method 3: Open Run Command Box Using Cortana Search

Type the word run inside Cortana’s search box in the taskbar, and then click Run from the search result.

open-run-via-cortana-search

Method 4: Open Run Command Box from Power User Menu

Press the Windows key + X keyboard shortcut (or right-click on the Start button). When the Power User menu appears, click Run.

open-run-from-winx-menu

Method 5: Open Run Command Box from Command Prompt

Open a Command Prompt in Windows 10. Copy and paste the following command and press Enter.
explorer.exe Shell:::{2559a1f3-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}

open-run-from-cmd

It will show the Run dialog box immediately.

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Fix: “User must change password at next logon” option greyed out in Windows

December 29th, 2016 by Admin

When you try to change or reset the password of a user account, you might find the checkbox “User must change password at next logon” is greyed out, so you can’t choose this option.

user-must-change-password-next-logon

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to enable the “User must change password at next logon” option that is greyed out for Windows local or domain user account.

For Windows Local Accounts:

Open the Computer Management. Expand System Tools, then Local Users and Groups, then Users. Right-click on your local account and select Properties from the context menu.

local-account-properties

This will open the Properties dialog box. Uncheck the “Password never expires” box and you’ll then find the “User must change password at next logon” option is enabled. Click Apply and then OK.

windows-password-never-expires

For Active Directory User Accounts:

In Windows Server with Active Directory installed, open the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in (start->run->dsa.msc). Right-click on your domain user and select Properties.

domain-account-properties

Click the Account tab. Under the Account options section, uncheck the “Password never expires” checkbox and click OK.

domain-password-never-expires

Now you should be able to reset the password and force the domain user to change it at next login.

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

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3 Ways to Change Network Location to Public or Private in Windows 10

December 27th, 2016 by Admin

The first time you connect to a network, you’ll be prompted to turn on sharing and connect to devices. Turn on this settings will set your network location to private. A private network makes your computer discoverable to other PCs. If you don’t want to share musics, pictures, videos or even printers with other PCs on the network, you should set the network type to public. In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 ways to change network location to public or private in Windows 10.

network-location-type

Method 1: Change Windows 10 Network Location Using Group Policy

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

    secpol

  2. When the Local Security Policy window opens, click Network List Manager Policies in the left pane. Double-click on the name of the current network connection in the right pane.

    network-list-policies

  3. Click the Network Location tab at the top. Under the Location type, you can choose either Private or Public.

    private-public-network-location

  4. Click Apply and then OK to save your change.

Method 2: Change Windows 10 Network Location Using Registry Editor

  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and press Enter.
  2. In the left pane of Registry Editor, navigate to the key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Profiles
  3. Expand the Profiles key in the left pane. Click on each subkey and have a look if the ProfileName matches the name of your current network connection.

    network-profile-name

  4. If you have found the right subkey, double-click the Category in the right pane and edit the DWORD to the value you want. Public: 0, Private: 1, Domain: 2.

    network-profile-category

  5. Reboot your computer to apply the new network location.

Method 3: Change Windows 10 Network Location Using PowerShell

  1. Open PowerShell in Administrator mode.
  2. Type or paste the following command in the PowerShell and press Enter. It will list the name and properties of your active network connection. In my example, the network name is TLRouter.
    Get-NetConnectionProfile

    get-network-profile

  3. Type the following command and press Enter to change your network location to private. Replace TLRouter with your network name.
    Set-NetConnectionProfile -Name "TLRouter" -NetworkCategory Private

    change-network-location-via-powershell

    If you want to change the network location to public, type this command instead:
    Set-NetConnectionProfile -Name "TLRouter" -NetworkCategory Public

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