Archive for the ‘Windows 10’ category

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How to Fix Keyboard Input Lag in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

December 14th, 2020 by Admin

Does your keyboard have input lag of about 0.5 second? If your keyboard responds too slowly, you may end up with missing letters unless you type really slow. If your keyboard responds too quickly, a keystroke may produce multiple letters. To fix such problems in Windows 10 / 8 / 7, you have to adjust the keyboard character repeat delay and rate.

How to Fix Keyboard Input Lag in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

  1. Open the Control Panel and switch to “Large icons” view, then click on Keyboard. It will open up the Keyboard Properties dialog.

    Another way of accessing the Keyboard Properties is to press the Windows key + R and then type “control keyboard” in the resulting Run box, and hit Enter.

  2. Under the Speed tab, you can move Repeat delay to Short and Repeat rate to Fast if you want to get the least input lag. You can use the text box with the caption “Click here and hold down a key to test repeat rate” to test the changes that you have just made.

    • Repeat delay: Configure how long you need to hold a key down for before it starts repeating.
    • Repeat rate: Configure how quickly the letter repeats itself once it starts.
  3. Click Apply and then OK.

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

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Stop Windows 10 from Automatically Switching to Tablet Mode

December 9th, 2020 by Admin

How can I disable automatic tablet mode on Windows 10? Starting with the October 2020 Update, Windows 10 will automatically switch to tablet mode when you remove the keyboard from your convertible PC, and it doesn’t ask you before switching. If you want to change this behavior, here are 2 methods to stop Windows 10 from automatically switching to tablet mode.

Method 1: Disable Automatic Tablet Mode on Windows 10 Using Settings App

To get started, open the Settings app by pressing the Windows key + I on your keyboard. Click on the System category.

Select Tablet on the left. Now in the right section, click the drop-down list under “When I use this device as a tablet” and select either “Don’t switch to tablet mode” or “Ask me before switching modes.”

  • Don’t switch to tablet mode – This will keep your PC in desktop mode when disconnecting the keyboard.
  • Ask me before switching modes – You’ll get a prompt that lets you decide whether to switch to tablet mode when disconnecting the keyboard
  • Always switch to tablet mode – Windows will automatically switch into tablet mode when disconnecting the keyboard.

Method 2: Disable Automatic Tablet Mode on Windows 10 Using Registry Editor

Open Registry Editor and navigate to the following location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell

In the right pane, double-click the 32-DWORD value ConvertibleSlateModePromptPreference and change the value data to 0 or 1. If it doesn’t exist, you need to create it manually.

  • 0 = Don’t switch to tablet mode
  • 1 = Ask me before switching modes
  • 2 = Always switch to tablet mode

Close Registry Editor. Now Windows 10 should not automatically switch to tablet mode without asking for your permission.

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How to Uninstall or Reinstall Notepad in Windows 10

December 7th, 2020 by Admin

How can I uninstall Notepad? Notepad is missing after upgrading to Windows 10 v2004? Since Windows 10 version 2004, Notepad becomes an optional feature and you can uninstall it with ease. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to uninstall or reinstall Notepad in Windows 10.

Part 1: Uninstall NotePad from Windows 10

  1. Open the Settings app by pressing the Windows logo key + I on the keyboard, then click on Apps.

  2. Under the Apps & features page, click on the Optional features link in the right-hand pane.

  3. You can quickly locate the Notepad app using Search. When it’s found, select it and Click on the Uninstall button.

  4. Notepad will be removed from Windows 10 after a while. When you open Notepad using the Run command box, you’ll get the following error message.

Part 2: Install Notepad on Windows 10

  1. Open the Settings app and navigate to Apps -> Apps & features. On the right side, click on the Optional features link.

  2. Click on the Add a feature button.

  3. Enter notepad in the Search box. Check the Notepad option from the search result and click on Install.

  4. After the installation is complete, you can access and use Notepad again. Additionally, you can also download and install Notepad from Windows Store.

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How to Disable Calculator Graphing Mode in Windows 10

December 2nd, 2020 by Admin

Graphic mode is a new feature of Windows 10 Calculator, which is quite useful for students who want to learn linear algebra and plot equations on the graph. By default, graphic mode is turned on by default. You can disable Calculator graphic mode in Windows 10 using either group policy or registry editor.

Method 1: Disable Calculator Graphing Mode Using Group Policy

  1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor and browse to: User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Calculator. Next, double-click the “Allow Graphing Calculator” policy on the right-hand side.

  2. Choose the Disabled option. Click Apply and then OK.

  3. Close Local Group Policy Editor and restart your computer. You’ll find the graphic mode is greyed out in the Windows 10 Calculator app.

Method 2: Disable Calculator Graphing Mode Using Registry Editor

  1. Open Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies. Right-click on the Policies key in the left-hand side, then select New -> Key.

  2. Name the new key Calculator, then right-click it to create a 32-bit DWORD value called AllowGraphingCalculator. To disable Calculator graphing mode, leave the value data to 0.

    Whenever you need to enable Calculator graphing mode again, just change the value data of AllowGraphingCalculator to 1.

  3. Close Registry Editor and reboot Windows 10 to apply the changes.

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How to Stop / Restart Print Spooler Service in Windows 10

November 25th, 2020 by Admin

How can I restart Print Spooler if it crashes, hangs or stops? Print Spooler is a built-in service in Windows that temporarily stores print jobs in the computer’s memory until the printer is ready to print them. If your documents get stuck in the printer queue or your system has difficulty sending a print job to a printer, you may need to stop or restart the Print Spooler service manually. In this tutorial we’ll show you different ways to stop, restart or disable Print Spooler service in Windows 10.

Method 1: Stop or Restart Print Spooler Service from Service Manager

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box, type services.msc and hit Enter.

In the Services window, scroll down the list of services and right-click on Print Spooler, you can then select either Stop or Restart option from the pop-up menu.

Method 2: Stop or Restart Print Spooler Service from Command Prompt

Open the elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell, run the following commands to stop or start the Print Spooler service.

net stop spooler
net start spooler

Method 3: Use a Batch File to Stop or Restart Print Spooler Service

Create a blank text file and rename the extension from .txt to .bat, then open it with Notepad and paste the following:
@echo off
NET stop spooler
NET start spooler

When it’s saved, right-click on the batch file and select “Run as administrator“. It will restart the Print Spooler service immediately.

Method 4: Enable or Disable Print Spooler Service from System Configuration

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box, type msconfig and hit Enter.

When the System Configuration utility launches, select the Services tab. To disable Print Spooler service, uncheck the box next to Print Spooler. Or check that box to enable Print Spooler service.

Click Apply and then OK. Restart the system to apply the changes.

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Fix: “Single-click to open an item” is Greyed out in Folder Options

November 20th, 2020 by Admin

How to disable single click to open folders / files in Windows Explorer? Can’t change single click to double click? In order to change the behavior to open files with a single click or double click, you have to open the Folder Options. But what to do if you find the option “Single-click to open an item (point to select)” is greyed out? To fix this issue, you have to turn off Classic Shell group policy for Windows Explorer.

Method 1: Turn off Classic Shell Using Group Policy

  1. Open Local Group Policy Editor and browse to: User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components, then click on “File Explorer” (or “Windows Explorer” for Windows 7/Vista/XP).

    In the right side, double-click on the “Turn on Classic Shell” policy to edit it.

  2. Select either Not Configured or Disabled. Click OK.

  3. Exit the Local Group Policy Editor and restart Windows. After that you can open Folder Options and enable single-click or double-click for opening folders / files.

Method 2: Turn off Classic Shell Using Registry Editor

  1. Open Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. In the right pane, locate the DWORD ClassicShell and right-click it, then select Delete from the pop-up menu.

  2. Use the same method to delete the ClassicShell value if it also exists under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
  3. Close Registry Editor and restart your computer for the changes to take effect. You should then be able to select or deselect “Single-click to open an item (point to select)” setting in Folder Options.

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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 Fix a Bug Causing Windows 10 v2004 to Forget Saved Passwords

November 16th, 2020 by Admin

Windows 10 forgetting the saved passwords for installed apps including Outlook after a reboot? Microsoft is aware of this bug and has posted a new support article about Outlook on November 6th:

“After installing Windows 10 Version 2004 Build 19041.173 and related updates you find that Outlook and other applications do not remember your password anymore.”

According to some reports, the problem happens when certain scheduled tasks enable the “Do not store password” option in the Task Scheduler. It can cause Windows 10 to forget passwords saved in Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Outlook, OneDrive and Office 365. Thankfully, Microsoft has come up with a workaround to resolve this issue before rolling out a patch.

How to Fix a Bug Causing Windows 10 v2004 to Forget Saved Passwords

  1. Open Windows PowerShell as administrator. Copy and paste the following command into PowerShell and hit Enter:
    Get-ScheduledTask | foreach { If (([xml](Export-ScheduledTask -TaskName $_.TaskName -TaskPath $_.TaskPath)).GetElementsByTagName("LogonType").'#text' -eq "S4U") { $_.TaskName } }

    It will list any tasks that are configured with the “Do not store password” option in the Task Scheduler. Note down the task names you see in the PowerShell output.

  2. Now, you need to disable those tasks you found from the above command. Open Task Scheduler and expand the “Task Scheduler Library” folder, right-click on each target task and select Disable.

  3. Reboot your computer. You need to re-enter the missing passwords one more time for Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Outlook, OneDrive and Office 365. The saved passwords should no longer disappear every time Windows restarts.

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How to Backup or Reset Taskbar Toolbars in Windows 10

November 13th, 2020 by Admin

How can I backup taskbar toolbars before reinstalling Windows? Is there a way to reset taskbar toolbars to the default settings? Windows allows you to add Address, Links, Desktop and custom folders to the taskbar for quick access. However, if your toolbars are removed or become cluttered, you have to add or rearrange them again from the beginning.

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to backup, restore or even reset taskbar toolbars in Windows 10.

Part 1: Backup Taskbar Toolbars in Windows 10
Open Registry Editor and browse to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Desktop. Right-click on the Desktop key in the left side and select Export.

Your taskbar toolbars settings will be saved in .reg format. Select the desired location and enter a file name, then click on Save.

Part 2: Restore Taskbar Toolbars in Windows 10

Just double-click on the .reg file that you saved earlier. Click Yes when UAC asks for confirmation.

A confirmation box will open and ask if you want to add this reg file to the registry. Click Yes.

Last but not least, in order to make the changes take effect, you need to restart File Explorer rather than rebooting Windows. Just open Task Manager and select the Users tab. Click the small arrow next to your current account to expand a list of all processes.

Choose the “Windows Explorer” process and click on Restart.

After a while, your taskbar toolbars will be restored successfully.

Part 3: Reset Taskbar Toolbars to Defaults

If your taskbar toolbars are messed up, you can reset them to system defaults with ease. Just open Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Desktop.

On the right pane, right-click on the binary value named TaskbarWinXP and select Delete. Restart File Explorer and your taskbar toolbars will be restored to system defaults.

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How to Encrypt Your Hard Disk or USB Drive Using VeraCrypt

November 11th, 2020 by Admin

What is the best way to protect sensitive data from being stolen? Can’t enable BitLocker without TPM? VeraCrypt is a good alternative to BitLocker, which lets you create a virtual disk image for securing your sensitive files with password. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps of encrypting files on your hard disk or USB drive in Windows 10 using VeraCrypt.

Part 1: Download VeraCrypt

VeraCrypt is a free open source software for real-time disk encryption, which is available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. Just download VeraCrypt (about 34.5Mb) from its official website. The installation is as easy as clicking Next a bunch of times.

Part 2: Create a Protected Virtual Disk Image

  1. When you open up VeraCrypt, you’ll see a listing of unused drive letters. To start, we need to create a protected virtual disk image (aka “encrypted file container”). Click on the Create Volume button.

  2. Choose “Create an encrypted file container” and click on Next.

  3. VeraCrypt supports two different types of encrypted volumes. Here we select “Standard VeraCrypt volume“.

  4. Next, use the “Select File” button to pick a name and location for the virtual disk image you wish to create. This image can be stored on a local drive or an external USB drive.

  5. Choose your encryption options. The default settings of AES and SHA-512 are good enough for most purposes.

  6. Enter your volume size. It must be large enough to hold your sensitive files.

  7. Enter a volume password which will be later used for mounting this virtual disk image.

  8. Select what file system you want to use. It is recommended to choose NTFS so you will be able to use files bigger than 4GB. In order to generate strong encryption keys, simply move your mouse randomly until the blue bar reaches the end. Click on Format.

  9. Once the volume has been successfully created, click on Exit.

  10. Your volume is actually a disk image file which you can view from File Explorer.

Part 3: Mount the Virtual Disk Image

  1. Open up VeraCrypt again, select an unused drive letter and click on “Select File” to locate your protected virtual disk image, and click on Mount.

  2. Enter your password and click OK.

  3. Your protected virtual disk image will be mounted as a new drive. Open File Explorer and you can move your sensitive files onto that drive.

Part 4: Dismount the Volume

Don’t forget to dismount the VeraCrypt volume when you no longer need to work with it. From within the VeraCrypt interface, select the drive letter of your mounted volume and click on Dismount.

Your VeraCrypt volume will be automatically dismounted after you restart or shut down your computer, so your sensitive files will remain protected.

That’s it!

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