Archive for the ‘Windows 10’ category

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3 Ways to Turn off Windows Defender in Windows 10 or 8

July 5th, 2015 by Admin

Windows Defender is a built-in antivirus software comes with Windows 10 and Windows 8. While Windows Defender provides very baseline protection, it slows down your PC considerably. Users who prefer using third-party security solution like Kaspersky, McAfee or Norton might want to completely disable Windows Defender. Here are 3 ways to turn off Windows Defender in Windows 10 or 8.

Method 1: Permanently Turn off Windows Defender with Group Policy

  1. Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box. Type gpedit.msc and hit Enter.

  2. In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to the following location:
    Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Defender Antivirus -> Real-time Protection

    In the right pane you will see a policy labeled “Turn off real-time protection“. Double-click on it to modify.

  3. Select Enabled. Click Apply and then OK.

  4. You have to restart the computer to allow this policy to take place. When you try to turn on real-time protection again in Windows Defender, you’ll get a message that saying “This setting is managed by your administrator“.

Method 2: Permanently Turn off Windows Defender with Command Prompt

  1. Open the Command Prompt as administrator. Type the following command and press Enter.
    reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Real-Time Protection" /v DisableRealtimeMonitoring /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

  2. Restart your computer to apply the changes, and then Windows Defender should now be disabled.

Method 3: Temporarily Turn off Real-time Protection from Windows Defender

  1. After opening up Windows Defender, navigate to Virus & threat protection tab. Under the “Virus & threat protection settings” section, click on the Manage settings link.

  2. Turn off the Real-time protection toggle switch.

  3. Windows Defender will disable its real-time protection temporarily. The next time you restart your computer Windows Defender will re-enable automatically.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 8

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How to Show Hidden Files in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7 and Vista

July 1st, 2015 by Admin

One accidental deletion of a single system file can render your computer unusable. By default, Windows hides certain system files from view in Windows Explorer. This protects important files from being accidentally deleted, modified or altered.

But there are times when it’s necessary to view the hidden files and folders when coming to troubleshoot Windows problems. Here’s how to show hidden files in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7 and Vista.

How to Show Hidden Files in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7 and Vista?

  1. Open up a Windows Explorer window, choose Organize -> Folder and search options.

    win7-folder-options

    In Windows 10 or 8, click on the View tab at the top of Windows Explorer, and then click Options.

    win8-folder-options

    In Windows 11, open File Explorer and click on the See more button (three dots) on the right side of the toolbar, and then select Options.

  2. From the opened Folder Options box, go to View tab.
  3. Under the Advanced settings section, click to select “Show hidden files, folders, and drives” radio button. If you are trying to get into the Windows directories, you might want to also remove the checkbox from “Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)” as well.

    show-hiden-files

  4. When you are done, just click Apply and OK, and your changes will take effect immediately.

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

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How to Enable or Disable Windows 10 Upgrade Notification

June 25th, 2015 by Admin

The final version of Windows 10 will release to public on July 29, 2015, and all Windows 7 and Windows 8 users can upgrade to Windows 10 for free in the first year of launch. To make the upgrade process easier, Microsoft has released a new update KB3035583 that will install a Windows 10 upgrade notification tool called “Get Windows 10”.

windows-10-upgrade-notification

If you click on the small Windows icon at the right end of the system tray, it will launch the “Get Windows 10” app and you will be able to reserve your free copy of Windows 10. However, for some reason this icon isn’t appearing on all systems, or you might want to remove the annoying upgrade notification. In this tutorial we’ll explain how to enable or disable the Windows 10 upgrade notification.

Part 1: Enable the Windows 10 Upgrade Notification

If the “Get Windows 10″ upgrade app icon is missing in taskbar, how can you get it to appear in Windows 7 or 8? The “Get Windows 10” app is delivered through an optional update and you need to have patch KB3035583 installed.

The first thing to try is make sure Windows Update is set to automatically install all updates on your PC and that your system is fully up to date. That alone might be enough to get the Windows 10 upgrade notification icon to appear.

Part 2: Remove the Windows 10 Upgrade Notification

But there are also many people who want to stick to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, the “Get Windows 10” app and its icon present in taskbar notification area might become annoying. To remove the upgrade notification completely, you have to uninstall the update KB3035583:

  1. Open the Command Prompt with Administrator privileges. In Windows 7, right-click on the Command Prompt icon and select Run as administrator. In Windows 8, simply press the Windows + X key to bring up the Power User menu and then select “Command Prompt(Admin)”.
  2. Type the following command in the Command Prompt and hit Enter.
    WUSA /UNINSTALL /KB:3035583
  3. Follow the on-screen prompts, and when complete type exit to close Command Prompt. Restart your computer and the Windows 10 upgrade notification will go away permanently.

If you want to avoid Windows installing this update again, you will need to block the patch by opening Control Panel –> Windows Updates and checking for updates, then right-click the update KB3035583 and choose to hide it.

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

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FAQs for Password Reset Disk in Windows

June 22nd, 2015 by Admin

A password reset disk allows you to change lost Windows user password from Windows login screen, without needing to know your old password. In one of my previous posts we’ve covered how to create and use a password reset disk in Windows 7. Here we’ll try to answer the frequently asked questions about password reset disk in Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP.

The use of password reset disk has actually protected many users against forgetting their logon passwords. And Microsoft recommends you to always create a password reset disk immediately after setting up a new user account. If you have a lot of users and do not wish to create a reset disk for each one, then you should at least create one for the administrator account on that computer. You can then use that administrator account to change any other user’s password.

FAQ: I’ve created a password reset disk for account A, can I use it to reset the password for account B?

No. Password reset disk is unique to an account (good from security point of view). That’s to say, even if you create a password reset disk for account A of Windows machine A, you cannot use it to reset the password for account B of Windows machine A, and you’ll got the following error message:

password-reset-error

FAQ: Can I create a password reset disk after forgetting my Windows password?

It’s too late to create a password reset disk. You have to create a password reset disk before you forgot the password. If you’ve already forgotten your Windows password and don’t have a password reset disk, you need to take use of the third-party live CDs such as PCUnlocker.

FAQ: Do I have to re-create a password reset disk after changing the password?

Your previously-created password reset disk will continue to work. No need to re-create the disk every time you change your user password.

FAQ: Can I create multiple password reset disks for one account?

Only one password reset disk can be created for per account. When you try to create another password reset disk, you’ll get the warn message “There is already a password reset disk for this user account. Creating a new one will make the old one unusable. Do you want to continue?”

replace-reset-disk

If you click Yes, the previous password reset disk automatically expires, and Windows no longer recognizes it when the user tries to use it to reset the password. This is integrated in the operating system for security purposes.

FAQ: Why Windows say “this disk is not a password reset disk”?

A password reset disk is actually a USB drive that contains a single file named userkey.psw in its root directory. userkey.psw is an encrypted backup version of your password.

password-reset-disk

If you try to reset password using a USB drive that doesn’t contain the userkey.psw file, Windows will warn you that it’s not a password reset disk.

not-password-reset-disk

FAQ: Where should I store the password reset disk?

A password reset disk in the wrong hands could be used to reset the account password for whichever computer and user account for which it was created. Therefore it’s imperative to keep your password reset disk in a secure location, preferably away from the computer it was created with.

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Posted in Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

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How to Enable BitLocker Encryption without TPM Chip

May 17th, 2015 by Admin

BitLocker is a useful hard drive encryption feature in Ultimate and Enterprise versions of Windows 10/8/7/Vista, which allows you to encrypt an entire fixed drive. If you try to enable BitLocker on an old computer without TPM chip, you will receive one of the following error messages:

“A compatible Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Security Device must be present on this computer, but a TPM was not found. Please contact your system administrator to enable BitLocker.”

or

“This device can’t use a Trusted Platform Module. Your administrator must set the “Allow BitLocker without a compatible TPM” option in the “Require additional authentication at startup” policy for OS volumes.”

However, not all computers include TPM and you can’t add a TPM chip to a computer. Luckily there is a group policy that allows you to configure BitLocker to work without a TPM chip. Here’s how:

  1. Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box, type gpedit.msc and hit Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.
  2. Go to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > BitLocker Drive Encryption > Operating Systems. Double-click on “Require additional authentication at startup“.

  3. In the radio buttons at the top, select Enabled. Check the box marked “Allow BitLocker without a compatible TPM“.

  4. Click OK and close out of Local Group Policy Editor.
  5. Now we will need to force the policy to take effect on your PC, to do this press the Windows + R key combination. When the Run box opens, type gpupdate /force and hit Enter.

Now you can use BitLocker to encrypt your system drive without having a TPM chip in your computer.

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

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Parallels Desktop: Reset Lost Windows VM Password

May 16th, 2015 by Admin

If we forget the Admin password for a Windows virtual machine running on Parallels Desktop, is there an easy way to reset it? With PCUnlocker you can reset lost Windows password and regain access to your Parallels VM. This is considerably faster than destroying and rebuilding your VM.

This tutorial will take you step by step through resetting a Windows login password inside a Parallels Desktop virtual machine running on your Mac.

How to Reset Windows VM Password on Parallels Desktop?

  1. Click here to download and save the PCUnlocker self-extracting Zip file on to your Mac. Once the download is complete, double-click on the .zip file and Archive Utility should appear and automatically extract your files. Open the folder you extracted to and you can see a CD image: pcunlocker.iso.

  2. Start Parallels Desktop but do not start your virtual machine. Right-click on your Windows virtual machine and choose Configure.
  3. In the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog, choose the Hardware tab and select CD/DVD 1. Make sure that Connected option is checked. From the “Connected to:” drop-down list, select “Choose an image file” and locate the pcunlocker.iso file you downloaded in step 1.

  4. Go to Hardware tab and click Boot Order. Move CD/DVD to the first place in the Boot order.

  5. Start your Windows virtual machine and it will boot directly to the PCUnlocker program which lists all user accounts on your Windows system.
  6. Select a user whose password you would like to reset and click on “Reset Password” button to clear the user’s password. The program should now alert you that the password was cleared.

  7. You can now power off your virtual machine. Be sure to go back to the Virtual Machine Configuration and change the boot order back to hard disk. Start the VM and you should be able to log into Windows without typing a password!

Besides resetting Parallels Desktop password, you can also use PCUnlocker to bypass the passwords for Windows virtual machines running in Parallels Workstation, VMware Workstation, VirtualBox, Hyper-V, Virtual PC, ESX/ESXi, and other virtualization software.

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

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Extend Windows 10/8/7/Vista Trial Period from 30 to 120 Days

May 14th, 2015 by Admin

During Windows installation, you can skip the product key screen to continue installing the OS for evaluation purpose. By default, you can use it for 30-day trial period. If your trial has run out before you’ve decided whether or not to purchase a license key, you can extend the trial period from 30 days to 120 days.

In this article we’ll show you how to renew the trial period once it has expired with just a simple command. This method works regardless of what edition of Windows you’re running, including Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and Windows Server 2012, 2008.

How to Extend Windows 10/8/7/Vista Trial Period from 30 to 120 Days?

  1. Open up a Command Prompt in Administrator mode.
  2. Type slmgr.vbs –rearm at the Command Prompt, and press Enter. In Windows 10 or 8.1, use slmgr.vbs /rearm instead.
  3. After a couple of seconds it will show you the message window that the command has completed successfully.
  4. Restart your computer and you can use the trial version for another 90 days for free. If you want to enjoy exact 120 days, run above mentioned command on the last day when your Windows trial period is going to expire.
  5. You can check how many days are left in your trial period, by running slmgr.vbs -dli in the Command Prompt.

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

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How to Install Windows 10 or 8 without Product Key

May 14th, 2015 by Admin

Unlike earlier versions of Windows, you can’t install Windows 10 or 8 without a product key. Microsoft has made it compulsory to provide a product key before proceeding with the installation. But what if you want to install and trial Windows 8 before purchasing? Luckily there is a workaround to bypass the product key screen during Windows installation.

windows-8-setup-product-key

Note: Skipping the product key doesn’t means you get a fully activated Windows installation. Once you skip the product key, your Windows installation will be limited to a 30 days trial period and you will have to purchase a genuine product key in order to activate your Windows 10/8 installation.

How to Install Windows 10 or 8 without Product Key?

  1. Follow this guide to download a official copy of Windows 10 / 8.1 directly from Microsoft’s servers.
  2. After you’ve downloaded the Windows 10 or 8 ISO image, burn it to a USB flash drive with the freeware ISO2Disc. It is easiest if you’ve created USB installation media, as you can later edit the files directly on your USB flash drive. If you created an ISO file, you’ll have to modify the files inside the ISO image before burning it to disc.
  3. Open your USB installation drive and navigate to the /sources folder. Look for the ei.cfg file and open it in a text editor such as Notepad. If the file doesn’t already exist, create a new text document and rename it as ei.cfg.
  4. Copy and paste the following text into the ei.cfg file and then save it. Make sure that anything that already exists in the file should be cleared first.

    [EditionID]
    Professional
    [Channel]
    Retail
    [VL]
    1

    ei_cfg

  5. That’s it. Now go ahead and boot from your USB installation media. This time you will see a Skip button when you are prompted to enter a product key during Windows Setup.

Once you have successfully installed Windows 10/8 through this method, you will then have 30 days to activate your Windows installation.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 8

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