Archive for the ‘Windows 10’ category

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How to Create System Restore Point in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

September 7th, 2016 by Admin

System Restore has been around since Windows 7. It’s very useful feature of Windows that helps you to restore your computer to previous working condition. If your computer gets messed up, corrupted or becomes unbootable, you can revert the operating system back to the recent restore point created. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to enable system restore and create a system restore point in Windows 10, 8 and 7.

How to Create System Restore Point in Windows 10 / 8 / 7?

  1. Right-click on This PC (or My Computer) icon on your desktop and then select Properties from the context menu. For Windows 10, you might need to configure Windows 10 to display This PC icon on the desktop.

    right-click-this-pc

  2. Click the Advanced system settings link on the left side of the screen.

    advanced-system-settings

  3. Click System Protection tab. Make sure Protection is turned on for your system drive (most of the time it’s C:\ drive).

    configure-system-restore

    If protection is turned off, select the system drive and click Configure, next select Turn on system protection option in the resulting dialog.

    turn-on-system-protection

  4. To create a restore point manually, click on the Create button.

    create-restore-point

  5. Enter a name or description for your new restore point, and then click Create button again.

    name-restore-point

  6. Restore point creation are fast, it shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes.

    creating-restore-point

    Once the restore point is created, you will see the “Restore point was created successfully” message.

The above process is very simple to create a restore point in Windows 10, 8 and 7. Afterwards, you can use System Restore to restore Windows to your created restore point when your computer becomes damaged in future.

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How to Turn Off Safe Mode without Logging into Windows

September 5th, 2016 by Admin

“I tried to restart my computer into Safe Mode using msconfig without thinking. Now I can’t log in because I couldn’t remember the Administrator password. How can I disable Safe Mode and start my PC normally?”

Stuck at Windows login screen but your computer keeps booting into Safe Mode? Is there a way to turn off Safe Mode without logging into Windows? If you could log into Windows, you can easily disable Safe Mode using Msconfig or Command Prompt. What to do if you forgot the Safe Mode administrator password? In this tutorial we’ll show you how to turn off Safe Mode by booting your PC with Windows installation disc.

How to Turn Off Safe Mode without Logging into Windows?

  1. Boot your computer from Windows installation disc and press any key when prompted. If your computer still boots into Safe Mode, you need to enter into BIOS and change the boot sequence to CD/DVD first.
  2. When you see Windows Setup, press the Shift + F10 keys to open a Command Prompt.

    windows-setup

  3. Type the following command and press Enter to turn off Safe Mode:

    bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot

    turn-off-secure-boot

  4. When it’s done, close the Command Prompt and stop Windows Setup.

    cancel-windows-setup

    Reboot without installation disc, and your computer should boot in normal mode by default. This method works with Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7 and Vista.

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4 Ways to Uninstall Updates in Windows 10

September 4th, 2016 by Admin

If you installed an update that is causing severe issues with your PC, you probably want to uninstall or remove it. So here we’ll show you 4 ways to remove & uninstall updates in Windows 10.

Method 1: Uninstall Windows 10 Updates from Control Panel

  1. Open the Control Panel in Large icons view, and then click Programs and Features.

    programs-and-features

  2. Click View installed updates in the left pane.

    view-installed-updates

  3. This displays all updates installed on the system. Select the update that you want to remove, and then click Uninstall.

    uninstall-windows-updates

Method 2: Uninstall Windows 10 Updates from Settings

  1. Open Settings app by pressing the Windows key + I hotkey, or clicking Settings from the Start Menu.
  2. Click Update and security.

    update-security

  3. Click Windows Update on the left side, and click on the Advanced options link on the right side.

    advanced-update-options

  4. Click the View your update history link to see all updates installed on your Windows 10 PC.

    view-update-history

  5. Click the Uninstall updates link.

    uninstall-updates

  6. This opens the Installed Updates window of Control Panel. Locate the problematic update and click Uninstall.

    uninstall-windows-updates

Method 3: Uninstall Windows 10 Updates Using Command Prompt

  1. Open an elevated Command Prompt by pressing WIN + X keys and select “Command Prompt (Admin)” from the Quick Access menu.
  2. At the Command Prompt, type the following command to view all installed updates:
    wmic qfe list brief /format:table

    view-updates-via-cmd

  3. To uninstall an update, you can use WUSA (a built-in Windows utility for managing Windows updates). For example, to uninstall the update KB3172729, you can type this command line and press Enter.
    wusa /uninstall /kb:3172729

    uninstall-update-via-cmd

  4. When you see the Windows Update Standalone Installer dialog box, click Yes to confirm and it will uninstall your selected update.

    333

Method 4: Uninstall Windows 10 Updates Using a Batch File

If you want to uninstall multiple updates silently, you can create a batch script (.bat) to run the WUSA commands in the background, by adding /quiet and /norestart option. Change the KB number as needed.

@echo off
wusa /uninstall /kb:3172729 /quiet /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3074686 /quiet /norestart
END

This will run the uninstall without any open windows, and will not prompt for a reboot. After all updates have been removed, you can restart the system manually, or set your computer to reboot automatically by adding the shutdown -r command to the end of the batch file.

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Revert Windows 10 Updates by Going Back to Previous Build

September 2nd, 2016 by Admin

Windows 10 keeps freezing after installing the Anniversary Update? Just upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and the login screen doesn’t accept your original password? If you face new issues with your PC’s hardware or software, you can roll back to a previous build of Windows. This tutorial will show you how to revert Windows 10 updates and go back to previous build from Windows 10 login screen.

How to Revert Windows 10 Updates by Going Back to Previous Build?

From Windows 10 sign-in screen, click on the Power button at the bottom right. Hold down the SHIFT key and select the Restart option.

windows-10-login

When the blue Choose an option screen appears, click Troubleshoot.

troubleshoot

At the Troubleshoot screen, click Advanced options.

advanced-options

Click Go back to the previous build.

go-back-to-previous-build

Select the Administrator account that you use and know the password of.

choose-an-account

Enter the password for the selected account and then click Continue.

enter-password-for-this-account

Click on Go back to previous build.

restore-previous-build

The computer begins restoring your previous build of Windows. The roll-back process can take as short as a few minutes to about half an hour depending on the speed of your computer.

roll-back-to-previous-build

When it’s done, you can check the build number of Windows by pressing the Windows key + R and typing winver in the Run box. In my example, the build number changed from 10.0.14393 to 10.0.10240.

windows-build-number

Note that once rolled back, you might have to reinstall some apps, and some of the settings may also be lost.

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3 Ways to Run App as Different User in Windows 10

August 29th, 2016 by Admin

How can you run a script or application as another user? In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 ways to run apps as different user in Windows 10.

Method 1: Shift + Right-Click Context Menu

Open File Explorer and browse to the executable file you wish to run as different user. Simply hold down the Shift key and right-click on the executable file, select Run as different user from the context menu.

shift-run-as-different-user

Next you have to enter the user name and the password of the user which we want use to open the application.

enter-user-credentials

Method 2: Run as Different User via Command Line

Runas is a very useful command in Windows. This command allows to run applications under a different user account, even as an Administrator. To use the Runas command, you need to provide a different user’s credentials and the full path of the application you want to run.

For example, if you want to open Notepad as your Windows user Bob, the command line would be as below.
runas /user:Bob “C:\Windows\notepad.exe”

runas-cmd

After running the above command, you will be asked to enter the password of Bob account. After password validation, Notepad will be opened with the specified account credentials.

Method 3: Run as Different User via Start Menu

If you want to run apps as different user from Start Menu in Windows 10, you need to tweak the Group Policy setting.

  1. Press the Windows + R key combination to bring up the Run box, type gpedit.msc and hit Enter.
  2. In the Local Group Policy Editor window, navigate to:
    User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar
  3. In right-side pane, double-click on the policy called Show “Run as different user” command on Start.

    run-as-different-user-gpo

  4. Set the policy to Enabled, then click OK to save your changes.

    show-run-as-different-user

  5. Reboot your computer. Right-click any application on the Start Menu, you’ll see a new option “Run as different user” for quick access.

    rus-as-user-via-start

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How to Change or Restore Desktop Icons in Windows 10

August 28th, 2016 by Admin

Do you want to customize your desktop icons and make your PC uniquely yours? Or all desktop icons were messed up and want to restore them to default? In this article we’ll show you how to change or restore desktop icons (such as This PC, Network, Control Panel, Recycle Bin, and your user profile icon) in Windows 10.

restore-desktop-icons

Part 1: Change Desktop Icons in Windows 10

  1. Right-click on any empty place of your desktop. Select Personalize from the context menu.

    personalize

  2. From the Personalization window, select the Themes tab on the left-side menu, and then click Desktop icon settings.

    desktop-icon-settings

  3. Select the icon you wish to change. As shown in the picture below, I want to customize the icon for “This PC” shortcut, so I choose the This PC icon and click the Change Icon button.

    change-desktop-icon

  4. In the Change Icon window, you can see a list of built-in system icons. If you don’t like them, you can click the Browse button to find the icon you’ve downloaded or created by yourself. Click OK once choosing your new icon.

    choose-desktop-icon

  5. Click OK and then Apply. You will see the new desktop icon that you have chosen on the desktop.

Part 2: Restore Desktop Icons to Default

  1. Right-click on any empty place of your desktop. Select Personalize from the context menu.
  2. From the Personalization window, select the Themes tab on the left-side menu, and then click Desktop icon settings.
  3. Select the icon you wish to restore, and click the Restore Default button. Here you can restore all your desktop icons one by one.

    restore-default-icon

  4. When it’s done, click OK and then Apply. Now you’ve successfully reset your desktop icons to default.

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How to Change & Reset Default Apps in Windows 10

August 27th, 2016 by Admin

Windows 10 comes with a number of built-in apps such as Mail, Groove Music, Photos, Movies & TV, and Microsoft Edge. When you double-click on a video file, the system will open it using the default video player – Movies & TV. How can I change the default video player or email client? In this tutorial we’ll show you the simple way to change & reset default apps in Windows 10.

How to Change & Reset Default Apps in Windows 10?

  1. Press Win + I keys together to open the Settings app. You can also access it by clicking on Start button and selecting Settings.
  2. On the Settings window, click on System.

    settings

  3. Click Default apps in the left pane. From the right pane, you can pick which email app or application to use by default, which maps app to use, which music player to set as your default, and much more.

    change-default-app

    For example, I want to change the default video player from Movies & TV to Windows Media Player, so I click Movies & TV and pick Windows Media Player from the app list.

  4. The default type of apps you can change includes
    • Web browser
    • Email
    • Music player
    • Video player
    • Photo viewer
    • Calendar
    • Maps

    reset-default-apps

    Simply clicking Reset button will restore everything back to the default recommended by Microsoft.

  5. If you just want to set the default app for a single file type, just click the “Choose default apps by file type” option.

    default-apps

  6. Here you’ll be greeted by a two-tiered menu, the first containing every file type that Windows 10 is designed to handle, and the second with the list of apps you currently have installed on the machine.

    change-default-app-by-filetype

    For example, if you want to open .asmx files in Notepad, just scroll down to “.asmx” on the left, and once selected, choose the application on the right that you want to set as the default. That’s it!

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Enable or Disable Adobe Flash Player in Microsoft Edge

August 26th, 2016 by Admin

Windows 10 comes with Adobe Flash Player built right into the operating system and its Edge browser. Users cannot uninstall Adobe Flash Player but there is built-in option to enable / disable Adobe Flash Player in Microsoft Edge. Here’s how:

  1. Open the Edge browser. Click on the More actions button (three dots) in the top right corner and select Settings.

    edge-settings

  2. Scroll down the settings and click on View advanced settings button.

    edge-advanced-settings

  3. In Advanced settings, scroll down to Use Adobe Flash Player. Turn the toggle On/Off (blue toggle means On). From there you can also set Edge to block pop ups too if you wish.

    use-adobe-flash-player

  4. Reload or Refresh the web page to apply the settings.

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How to Turn On or Off Quiet Hours in Windows 10

August 26th, 2016 by Admin

Get annoyed by app notifications popping up in the lower-right corner of your screen? If you do not want to be disturbed or interrupted by notifications, you can enable the Quiet Hours feature while keeping the notifications open. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to turn on or off Quiet Hours in Windows 10.

How to Turn On or Off Quiet Hours in Windows 10?

In the right side of the taskbar, right-click on the Action Center icon (looks like a speech bubble) and select “Turn on quiet hours“. To Turn off Quiet Hours, make a right click on the Action Center icon once more. Click “Turn off quiet hours” this time.

turn-on-quiet-hours

You can also turn on/off Quiet Hours through Action Center. Just press Win + A keys together or click on the Action Center icon on the taskbar, the Action Center panel will open up from the right side of the screen.

action-center

From there, click on the Quiet hours button to turn on/off Quiet Hours in Windows 10. That’s it!

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Fix Operating System Not Found When Booting Windows 10 / 8

August 19th, 2016 by Admin

While booting Windows 10 or 8 computer, you might receive the following error message:

“Operating system not found. Reboot and select proper boot device.”

This issue can be caused by various reasons, such as MBR (Master Boot Record) or DBR (DOS Boot Record) is damaged, the BCD (Boot Configuration Database) is corrupt, or your system partition is not active. In this tutorial we’ll guide you how to troubleshoot the problem of operating system not found / missing in Windows 10 or 8.

Solution 1: Enable / Disable UEFI Secure Boot

Most Windows 10/8 computers come with UEFI firmware and Secure Boot enabled. The operating system installed on a GPT partition can only be booted in UEFI mode. If you configure a UEFI system to boot in Legacy mode, you’ll get the error message that saying operating system is missing or not found. If you installed Windows 10/8 on a MBR disk, it also cannot boot in UEFI mode.

When you get the error message “Operating system not found or missing” during boot, try to change the boot mode from Legacy to UEFI, or turn off UEFI and Seure Boot, it might fix your problem. To learn more about how to change the boot mode, please check these articles:

Solution 2: Fix MBR/DBR/BCD

To fix the corrupted MBR, DBR or BCD, you just need your Windows installation DVD. Follow these steps:

  1. Start your problematic PC, insert your Windows DVD and hit a key when you are asked to to boot from DVD. It is possible that you have to change the boot order in your BIOS to boot from DVD.
  2. After a few minutes, you’ll see the Windows Setup screen for specifying your keyboard and language settings, just click Next.

    windows-setup

  3. On the next screen, click “Repair your computer” in the lower left.

    repair-windows-10

  4. When the Choose an option screen appears. Click Troubleshoot.

    troubleshoot

  5. Click Advanced options.

    advanced-options

  6. Click Command Prompt in the Advanced options screen.

    command-prompt

  7. At the Command Prompt, enter the following commands one after the other and hit Enter after each:
    bootrec.exe /fixmbr
    bootrec.exe /fixboot
    bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

    fix-os-not-found

  8. Reboot your computer. This should hopefully make your problem go away!

Solution 3: Mark Windows Partition Active

When the computer is turned on, the BIOS will look for an active partition to boot. If your system partition is not marked as active, you’ll also receive the error message “Operating system not found or missing”. Here’s how to make your Windows partition as active:

  1. Boot your computer from Windows installation DVD. Open the Command Prompt again by the above method.
  2. At the Command Prompt, type diskpart and press Enter. Then type list disk. You will see the list of disk currently attached to your computer. Now type in select disk n, where n is the disk number. In my example, I would type select disk 0.

    diskpart

  3. Now type list volume to get a list of all the partitions on your selected disk. Find the partition where your Windows is installed and type select volume n, where n is number of your Windows partition.

    list-volume

  4. To mark your selected partition as active, just type active and press Enter.

    mark-volume-active

  5. Close the Command Prompt and reboot your computer. Hopefully your problem has been resolved now!

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