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2 Ways to Export and Import Local Security Policy in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

May 13th, 2019 by Admin

How can I backup local security policy or transfer all policy settings from one system to another? In this tutorial we’ll show 2 simple ways to export and import local security policy in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

Method 1: Export and Import Local Security Policy with GUI

The Local Security Policy Editor comes with the import / export feature, making it much easier to migrate or replicate the same local security policy settings across multiple computers.

Export:

  1. Press the Windows key + R together. When the Run dialog box shows up, type secpol.msc into it and hit Enter to open the Local Security Policy Editor.

  2. Right-click on Security Settings in the left-side pane, and you can then select “Export policy” from the context menu.

  3. Browse to the location where you want to save the security settings file (.INF), give it a name and click on Save.

  4. Open the .inf file with your text editor. As you can see, it contains all your local security policy, including your account lockout and password policy.

Import:

  1. Open the Local Security Policy Editor as before, right-click on Security Settings in the left pane and this time choose “Import policy“.

  2. Browse to the location where you saved the security settings file, select the INF file and click on Open.

  3. Reboot your computer to apply the new local security policy.

Method 2: Export and Import Local Security Policy with Command Prompt

To export the local security policy settings to a file (for example, security-policy.inf), open the Command Prompt as administrator and type the following:
secedit.exe /export /cfg D:\security-policy.inf

When you need to import the local security policy settings from the .INF file, simply run this command:
secedit.exe /configure /db %windir%\security\local.sdb /cfg D:\security-policy.inf

This method is very useful especially when you’re using the Home edition of Windows which has no Local Security Policy Editor.

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

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3 Ways to Change Screen Buffer Size in Windows Command Prompt

May 6th, 2019 by Admin

How can I increase the screen buffer size of Command Prompt? The screen buffer size of Command Prompt is expressed in terms of a coordinate grid based on character cells:

  • The width is the number of characters that are displayed on a line in the Command Prompt window. The larger the width size, the more characters will show in the same row before wrapping.
  • The height is the number of lines that are stored in the memory.

In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 simple ways to permanently or temporarily change screen buffer size of Command Prompt in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

Note: Screen buffer size set using Method 2 and Method 3 will only be temporary and as soon as you close the Command Prompt the changes will be lost.

Method 1: Permanently Change Screen Buffer Size of CMD in Properties

  1. Right-click on the title bar of the Command Prompt window, and then select Properties from the context menu.

  2. Go to the Layout tab. Under the “Screen Buffer Size” section you can set the desired width and height. If the screen buffer size is greater than the Window Size, then scroll bars will be displayed as required.

  3. Click OK to apply.

Method 2: Temporarily Change Screen Buffer Size of CMD Using Mode Command

  1. When the Command Prompt window is open, you can temporarily change the screen buffer size by typing this command:
    mode con:cols=Width_Size lines=Height_Size

    Substitute “Width_Size” with the value you want for the screen buffer width size and “Height_Size” with the value you want for the screen buffer height size.

  2. As soon as you hit Enter, the current Command Prompt window will resize to apply your new screen buffer size.

Method 3: Temporarily Change Screen Buffer Size of CMD Using Batch / Script

If you need to change screen buffer size from a Windows batch script, just add the following lines:

@echo off
cmd.exe /k "mode con:cols=100 lines=3000"

This will change screen buffer width to 100, and set the height size to 3000. You can make any adjustment you like for the width and height value.

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

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How to Enable Quick Removal Policy for USB Drives in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

April 28th, 2019 by Admin

Do you really need to safely eject a USB drive before pulling it out of your computer? Windows has two different policies you can select for each individual USB drive:

  • Quick removal – This will disable write caching on the USB device, and your data will be written to physical drive in real-time. So you will be able to disconnect your USB drive even without using the “Safely Remove Hardware” option.
  • Better performance – This will cache the write operations to optimize performance and your data will be written to physical drive at a later time. Before unplugging your USB drive, you have to click the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon appears in the system tray to tell Windows to write all the cached data to disk.

If you don’t bother with safely removing USB devices before unplugging them, follow this tutorial to enable Quick Removal policy for USB drives in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

How to Change Removal Policy for USB Drives in Windows

  1. To get started, you need to open the Disk Management tool. If you’re running Windows 10, just hit the Windows key + X together and you can then select “Disk Management” from the menu.

  2. Find your USB drive in the lower section of the Disk Management window, right-click its name and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

  3. Switch to the Policies tab and you can change the removal policy to Quick removal. Click OK to save your change. Note that This change only applies to this specific USB device.

  4. That’s it! Whenever the activity light on your USB drive is no longer blinking, you can directly remove the device without bothering to click the Safely Remove Hardware notification icon.

Updates: In earlier versions of Windows the default removal policy applied to USB drives was Better Performance. With the release of Windows 10 version 1809, Microsoft has changed its default policy to Quick Removal.

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

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How to Change Local / Domain Admin Password Using Windows PowerShell

April 25th, 2019 by Admin

Need to write a PowerShell script for changing a local account’s password? We’ve covered various ways of resetting Windows password in the past, but this tutorial will teach you how to change the password of either local account or domain account using Windows PowerShell.

How to Change Local / Domain Admin Password Using PowerShell

  1. Open Windows PowerShell as Administrator.

  2. First, you have to convert your new password to encrypted string by running the following command. Be sure to replace P@ssw0rd with the new password you want to set for your account.

    $NewPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString "P@ssw0rd" -AsPlainText -Force

  3. Next, type the following command to change your local account password. Substitute Tom in the command below with the actual user name of the local account that you want to change the password of.
    Set-LocalUser -Name Tom -Password $NewPassword

    If you need to change domain user password, run the following command instead:
    Set-ADAccountPassword Tom -NewPassword $NewPassword –Reset

  4. After completing the above steps, reboot your computer and you can log in to your local / domain account with the new password.

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

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How to Make Windows Clear Pagefile at Shutdown for Added Security

April 24th, 2019 by Admin

Pagefile is a hidden system file used by Windows to swap data back and forth between RAM and physical drive. When your RAM is insufficient to hold every running program, some of the program’s memory (including sensitive data and passwords) will be moved to the pagefile.

Pagefile is well protected while Windows is running, but the data within it persists after a shutdown. A malicious user who has physical access to your PC can extract sensitive data from the pagefile by booting a Live CD. To prevent such potential security risk, you can configure Windows to automatically clear the paging file on every shutdown.

Method 1: Make Windows Clear Pagefile at Shutdown Using GPO

  1. Press the Windows logo key and the R key simultaneously. Once the Run dialog box is opened, type secpol.msc into it and click OK.

  2. Navigate to Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options. On the right pane, double-click on the “Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile” policy.

  3. Select the Enabled radio option, and then click on Apply and then OK.

  4. Restart your computer to make sure the changes take effect.

Method 2: Make Windows Clear Pagefile at Shutdown Using Registry Editor

  1. Open the Registry Editor and browse to the following key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

    Next, double-click on a 32-bit DWORD value named ClearPageFileAtShutdown in the right pane.

  2. Change the current default value from 0 to 1. Click OK to save the changes.

  3. Restart Windows to apply your changes. Whenever you shut down your PC, Windows will automatically clear the pagefile for added security.

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

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What is difference between a BIOS password and a Windows password?

March 12th, 2019 by Admin

Can’t get past the password screen while the computer is booting? When you ran into this situation, it’s possible that you forgot the BIOS password or Windows password on your PC. In order to determine which type of password it is, you need to know the differences between a BIOS password and a Windows password.

BIOS Password:

BIOS (or UEFI) is non-volatile firmware used to perform hardware initialization before calling the boot loader to start the OS. BIOS has a setup utility which provides the ability to view and manage your computer’s hardware settings, such as changing the boot order or enabling CPU virtualization.

Through the BIOS Setup Utility, you can set up two different types of passwords:

  • Setup password: The computer will prompt for this password only when you are trying to access the BIOS Setup Utility. This password is also called “Admin password” or “Supervisor password” which is used to prevent others from changing your BIOS settings.
  • System Password: This will be prompted before the operating system can boot up. This password might also be called “User password” or “Power-on password” and it can stop someone powering up your computer.

If you forget any of these passwords, the reset process can be difficult or impossible. Depending on the motherboard of the computer in question, you can clear a lost BIOS password through jumper settings or removing the CMOS battery.

Windows Password:

Windows allows you to create separate accounts for different people to share a single PC. Each person can set a unique Windows password for their accounts to prevent unauthorized access.

If you forgot your Windows password and can’t log in to your PC, just boot your PC with PCUnlocker Live CD or USB and you can remove the password with ease.

Conclusion

BIOS password adds a hardware-level layer of security and locks the early stages of the startup process. After the BIOS passes the control to OS, you’ll see the Windows logo displayed on the screen. When your PC boots to the welcome/lock screen, you can click on the user name and sign in with a Windows password.

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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 Stop Firefox Quantum from Updating Automatically

January 8th, 2019 by Admin

How can I disable automatic updates in Firefox Quantum? It could be frustrating for Firefox to push the update notifications and interrupt what you’re reading.

Starting with Firefox version 63, Mozilla has removed the ability to disable updates completely. When you click on the Menu button at the top right corner and select Options.

Scroll down to the Firefox Updates section, you’re left with two options: Automatically install updates, Check for updates but let you choose to install them. The option “Never check for updates” is no longer available.

If you don’t like Firefox frequently installing the updates, here is a simple way to prevent Firefox Quantum from updating the version automatically in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

Part 1: Stop Firefox Quantum from Updating Automatically

  1. Open Windows Explorer and type %appdata%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profile in the address bar and press Enter.

  2. The name of your default profile folder should start with eight random characters and end with .default. Just open the Firefox profile folder, then right-click on the prefs.js file and select Edit.

  3. Add the following line to the file and save your changes.
    user_pref("app.update.enabled", false);

  4. Now, Firefox Quantum should never download and install updates automatically.

Part 2: Install Firefox Updates Manually

After disabling automatic updates in Firefox Quantum, you can decide how often and when you want Firefox to install updates. Here’s how to install Firefox updates manually:

  1. Open up Firefox and click on the Menu button in the upper right hand corner, and then select Help from the drop-down menu.

  2. Click on About Firefox.

  3. You can see the exact version number of Firefox you’re running. If a new version of Firefox is available, you can click on the “Check for updates” button to download and install it.

That’s it!

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

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2 Ways to Find Your Firefox Profile Location in Windows

January 7th, 2019 by Admin

Firefox stores all your settings (including home page, bookmarks and passwords) in a profile folder that keeps your personal information separate from the Firefox program. When Firefox keeps crashing or your PC can’t boot, your information won’t be lost (at least your Firefox saved passwords could be recovered). In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 ways to find your Firefox profile location in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

Method 1: Find Your Profile Folder When Firefox is Running

  1. After opening Firefox, click on the Menu button (the icon with three lines) in the upper right side of the address bar, and then select Help.

  2. Select Troubleshooting Information.

  3. When the Troubleshooting Information tab appears, click on the Open Folder button under the Application Basics section.

  4. This will launch Windows Explorer and display your current Firefox profile directory.

Method 2: Find Your Profile Folder without Opening Firefox

  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run command. Type the following and press Enter.
    %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox

  2. After Windows Explorer opens to that directory, double-click on the profile.ini file to open it with Notepad or other text editor.

  3. You can view the relative or absolute path for all your Firefox profiles. But there is only one default profile. In my example, the default profile is located under the directory: %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\einxo22v.default.

That’s it

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

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Quick Way to Copy Full Path of a Folder / File in Windows

December 13th, 2018 by Admin

Is there a quick way to copy the file path instead of typing it? Just right-click on your selected file and select Properties from the context menu. The path is shown next to the Location header, and you need to append the file name at the end to get the full file path.

However, this method has inherently low efficiency, especially if you need to frequently copy the file path and paste it into a tool like Command Prompt or PowerShell. In this tutorial we’ll show you the fastest way to copy the full path of any folder or file in Windows 11 / 10 / 8 / 7.

Steps to Copy Full Path of Folders/Files

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the files or folders whose path you want to copy. Once you are there, hold the SHIFT key and right-click the desired folders/files, then select “Copy as path” from the context menu. If you’re running Windows 11, you don’t need to hold down the SHIFT key.

Next, you can paste the full location of the selected folders/files anywhere including NotePad, Command Prompt or PowerShell.

That’s it! Hope you found this tip useful.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows 7, Windows 8

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