You need to care for your iPhone. After all, they cost a lot of money. You probably want to avoid splashing out on a new one every 12 months. To prolong the life of your iPhone, you should to perform some regular maintenance tasks---both for the hardware and software. Physical iPhone Maintenance Tips Let's begin with some physical maintenance tips that'll help keep your iPhone looking great and working well. 1. Clean the Charging Port If you're having difficulty charging your phone, something as simple as a clogged Lightning port is often to blame. To dislodge the gunk, your first port of call should be a toothpick or the SIM removal tool that came with your phone. Take care to act very delicately. Make sure you don't damage the contact points with over-zealous actions. If this doesn't work, you can try a can of compressed air. Apple recommends against using canned air and other cleaning products, but a quick blast might help dislodge particularly sticky debris. Hold the can close to the charging port, but don't put the nozzle inside. And if you still can't charge your device, you might have a hardware issue. Contact Apple Support for assistance. 2. Clean the Speaker and Microphone Cleaning an iPhone's speaker and microphone is important. Failure to do so can affect call quality, music playback, and your ability to control Siri. To begin the cleaning process, grab a soft-bristled toothbrush and (very) gently rub it over the two openings to loosen the debris. Next, grab a piece of tape and gently press it over the area to collect the dust and lift it away. Do not use compressed air. The powerful force can damage the speaker and microphone's membranes. 3. Clean the Phone Phones are dirty and germ-ridden because we carry them everywhere. You need to give your device a bit of a polish every so often. Apple recommends that you use a soft, damp, lint-free cloth. Avoid getting water in the various ports, buttons, and other openings. And never use anything that's abrasive, as iPhones are coated in a fingerprint-resistant oil repellent. It's natural to see it wear down over time, but heavy cleaning could prematurely remove this. 4. Clean the Headphone Jack If you own an iPhone 6s or earlier, your device still has a headphone jack. You should clean it out regularly to prevent a buildup of dust and fluff. To clean the headphone jack on an iPhone, use the same compressed air method as described earlier. A cotton swap can also prove useful. If you're not having any luck with those, you can use a toothpick as a last resort. iPhone Software Maintenance Tips The four physical tips we discussed cover the basics, but there's a lot more you can still do. (Check out our guide on how to clean a dirty iPhone to learn more.) Now it's time to cover some other virtual and software-based iPhone maintenance tasks you need to do regularly. 5. Manage the iPhone Battery Often, people's biggest gripe with their smartphone is the battery life. If you're a heavy user, it's a struggle to make your battery last all day. The situation only worsens as your battery ages. One way you can alleviate the problem slightly is to recalibrate your iPhone battery on a regular basis. The process can help the battery drain more slowly and increase its overall lifespan. The iPhone also comes with a bevy of battery settings. Fiddling around with them can help you squeeze out a bit more juice. To learn about these and more, check our complete iPhone battery guide. 6. Create More iPhone Storage Space The high price of top-tier iPhone models leads many to settle for one with less internal storage. That storage fills up quickly, especially if you take a lot of photos and receive constant messages from friends and family. You don't want to hit your storage limit in an inopportune moment, leaving you unable to take photos or download new apps. Therefore, it's wise to spend some time pruning your phone's data every now and again. In addition to media files, you can clear out browser data, delete apps, and remove offline files. We've written a guide on how to create free space on iOS if you'd like more information. 7. Back Up Your Data It's impossible to overemphasize the importance of backing up your data. I speak from personal experience after putting my wife's iPhone through the washing machine a month after the arrival of our new baby. Goodbye, precious photos. There are two primary ways to back up iOS---using iTunes or iCloud. You can also use a third-party option. We looked into the pros and cons of each approach when we explained how to back up your iPhone or iPad. 8. Restart Your Phone "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" is the oldest advice in the book. It's also surprisingly apt for smartphone maintenance. How often do you really restart your phone? If you don't let the battery run out, the answer is probably "never." Rebooting your iPhone has a ton of benefits, including fixing memory leaks, freeing up RAM, preventing crashes, and improving battery life. 9. Update Your Apps Image Gallery (2 Images) This one is a no-brainer. However, it's amazing how many people let dozens of updates sit without taking the trouble to download and install them. Updated apps bring new features, better security, and a more stable user experience. You can see if you have any app updates pending by opening the App Store and tapping on the Updates tab. We recommend turning on automatic updates. To enable automatic updates on iOS, go to Settings > [Name] > iTunes and App Store and slide the toggle next to Updates into the On position. 10. Check App Settings Apps' settings menus change over time. Thus, you should occasionally run through menus to ensure that apps are still set up in the way you want them to be. You might even find some settings that let you use less mobile data. This is especially true for social media apps, which have a nasty habit of automatically opting you into their privacy-eroding "new features." Learn How to Tweak Your iPhone If you follow the tips discussed above, you'll be well on the way to a smoother iPhone experience. For a more secure experience, stay up to date on news about iPhone vulnerabilities. And if you want to improve your experience further, there are lots of other tricks for this. We've explained the best tweaks all iPhone users should make.

A dead or stuck pixel on a TFT, OLED, or LCD screen is incredibly annoying. You can't help but stare at it for days on end, wondering how long a repair or exchange might take. All that grieve over something as unimportant, yet highly irritating as a "dead" pixel, that might be easy to fix. Before you run the item back to the store though, try whether you can fix the dead pixel yourself! This, if done carefully, will not hamper your warranty and might save you a lot of time and worries. So, let's see how you can possibly fix dead pixels on your screen. Test New Screens for Stuck or Dead Pixels Yes, you should test any new LCD, OLED, or TFT screen for dead or stuck pixels. You can simply run your monitor through a palette of basic colors, as well as black and white in full-screen mode. We'll show you tools to do that below. Is It a Stuck or Dead Pixel? So what if you spot an odd pixel? Is what you're seeing just a stuck pixel or is it, in fact, a dead pixel? A stuck pixel will appear in any of the colors that its three sub-pixels can form, i.e. red, green, or blue. In a dead pixel, all sub-pixels are permanently off, which will make the pixel appear black. The cause could be a broken transistor. In rare cases, however, even a black pixel may just be stuck. So if you're seeing a colored or white pixel, you might be able to fix it. And if you see a black pixel, chances are low, but there is still hope. Let's turn to the methods to fix a stuck pixel. How to Fix Dead or Stuck Pixels Unfortunately, you can't fix a dead pixel. You can, however, fix a stuck pixel. And as I explained above, it's hard to tell the two apart. Either way, these are the methods you can try: First, identify dead or stuck pixels by viewing your monitor in different color palettes. To fix a stuck or dead-looking pixel, use a third-party tool to flash the pixel with multiple colors. We recommend UDPixel (Windows) or LCD (online). Finally, you can try a manual method that involves rubbing the stuck pixel with a damp cloth or a pointy, but soft item, like the rubber/eraser at the end of a pencil. Let's look at these methods and tools in detail. 1. UDPixel UDPixel, also known as UndeadPixel, is a Windows tool. It can help you identify and fix pixels using a single tool. The program requires the Microsoft .NET Framework. If you're not on Windows or don't want to install any software, scroll down for the online tools below. With the Dead pixel locator on the left, you can easily detect any screen irregularity that may have escaped your vision until now. Should you spot a suspicious pixel, switch to the Undead pixel side of things, create sufficient amounts of flash windows (one per stuck pixel) and hit Start. You can drag the tiny flashing windows to where you found odd pixels. Let them run for a while and eventually change the Flash interval. 2. LCD LCD is an online tool that lets you find and eventually fix stuck pixels. It packs many options into a single tiny window, but once you have an overview it's easy to use. Note: This website requires Flash. If you're on Chrome, click the Get Adobe Flash Player button and when Chrome asks you to Run Flash, click Allow. To test your screen, go through all of the colors---green, blue, and red -- and check our screen. Additionally, you should check white and black. Press the ? and i button for background information. Should you discover a stuck pixel, click the Fix My Screen button and let the color flashing graphic run for a minute or two. By triggering each pixel's different sub-pixels, the graphic may massage a stuck pixel back into life. 3. Dead Pixel Buddy The online tool Dead Pixel Buddy can help you run a quick dead pixel test, but it can't fix an affected pixel. Dead Pixel Buddy offers 12 colorful tiles to test for dead or stuck pixels. Click one of the tiles to fill the entire browser window with the respective color. Press F11 to go full screen, then cycle through the colors using the left and right arrow keys. When you've tested all 12 colors, press F11 again to leave full-screen mode. If you do find a stuck or dead pixel, use UDPixel (above) or JScreenFix (below); those are tools that can fix a stuck pixel. 4. Online Monitor Test This is a very thorough test not only meant to identify bad pixels but also powerful enough to test the quality of your monitor. You can choose between three different modes to test your screen. This tool either requires flash (online version) or you can install it in the executable mode. What you will need to just test for stuck pixels is the HTML window. Again, you'll need to allow Chrome to run Flash. Toggle full-screen by hitting F11. Here is what you should see: Move the mouse to the top of the test window and a menu will appear. There is an info window that you can turn off with a button in the top right corner of the menu. Then click on the Homogenuity test point and move through the three colors as well as black and white. Fingers crossed you won't discover anything out of the ordinary. In the unfortunate case that you do, you may find the following online tool helpful. 5. JScreenFix JScreenFix won't help you find a stuck pixel, but it can help you fix it. Just click the Launch JScreenFix button at the bottom of the page. The tool will load a black browser window with a square of flashing pixels. Press the green button in the bottom right to go full-screen. Drag the flashing square to where you found the stuck pixel and leave it there for at least 10 minutes. Manually Fix Stuck Pixels Should none of these tools resolve your stuck or dead pixel issue, here is one last chance. You can combine any of the tools and the magic power of your own hands. There is a very good description of all available techniques on wikiHow. Another great step by step guide can be found on Instructables. But let's go through one technique real quick: Turn off your monitor. Get yourself a damp cloth, so that you won't scratch the screen. Apply pressure to the area where the stuck pixel is. Try not to put pressure anywhere else, as this may trigger the creation of more stuck pixels. While applying pressure, turn on your computer and screen. Remove pressure and the stuck pixel should be gone. This works because, in a stuck pixel, the liquid in one or more of its sub-pixels has not spread equally. When the backlight of your screen turns on, different amounts of the liquid pass through the pixel, to create the different colors. All Pixels Report to the Screen Should all of these approaches fail to fix your dead pixel warrior, at least you'll now know it's not simple to fix and the screen may indeed need to be replaced.

If your iPhone isn't charging properly, and you've already tried swapping out the charging cable, you might need to clean the iPhone charging port. It's one of the first fixes Apple's technicians will try when you complain about your iPhone not charging. You don't need any special tools or training to do this---just a steady hand and a few household items. If cleaning doesn't solve the problem, you might need to pay for repairs or swap out the charging port yourself if you're feeling brave. The Problem With Charging Ports Since there's no flappy cover on your iPhone's charging port, it's a magnet for dust and grime. Pocket fluff, dust, skin, hair, pet fur, and all manner of other unwanted gunk will build up in your iPhone's charging socket over time. Each time you plug a Lightning cable into the iPhone's port, you're compressing the unwanted grime. Eventually, it can build up to a level where the charging contacts are obscured. This prevents the iPhone from making a proper connection with the cable, and can cause it to stop charging altogether. The latest iPhones are able to charge wirelessly, which will help cut down on this issue. It's also worth keeping your charging cables clean. Periodically check the contacts for signs of gunk or wear. What to Use to Clean Your Lightning Port If your iPhone charging port is filthy, you can clean it yourself. You don't need special cleaning kits, nor do you need compressed air. Despite many tutorials online recommending it, Apple tells customers to not use compressed air or aerosol sprays of any kind when cleaning their iPhones. This is likely due to the high pressure at which air escapes from the can. This pressure could damage the iPhone internally. It could also jeopardize the water-resistant assembly on newer iPhone models. Fortunately for the task at hand (removing dried on and sticky gunk) compressed air isn't much use anyway. I once had a problem with my iPhone 5s refusing to charge. It was still under AppleCare warranty, so I took it to Apple for investigation. The Genius who addressed the issue solved it by cleaning out a lot of gunk from the charging port. For this task the technician used a plain old iPhone SIM key, which is normally used to release the SIM tray. Since then, I've had no trouble using a SIM key to clean my iPhone. I've applied a fair amount of force to the SIM key while scraping out the port, and never damaged it. The Genius who cleaned my old iPhone was careful but thorough. If you'd rather use something a little less metallic, a thin toothpick or wooden skewer will do the job just fine. You could use a paper clip or another thin pin, but always take a little more care when using a sharp metal object for this task. Get a tissue or a piece of paper towel to wipe down your cleaning tool as you remove gunk. Finally, get a small flashlight ready. You'll need this to check in the port before and after cleaning so you know when you've done enough. How to Clean Your iPhone's Charging Port First, turn your iPhone off. While cleaning, keep away from the power button so that you don't turn it on again by accident. Safety first! Check inside the charging port for signs of gunk using the flashlight. You will probably see buildup on the contacts at the very end, but also in the grooves that run along each side of the port. Grab your toothpick, SIM key, or other thin object. Insert it into the charging port and scrape as much grime out as you can. It's best to scrape the port, wipe down the toothpick or SIM key, then scrape again. It might take a while to loosen the dried-on gunk. Keep checking with the flashlight till you can see the contacts at the end, and the port looks significantly cleaner. Be careful not to apply too much pressure, even if you're using a toothpick. You don't want the toothpick to break and cause a bigger problem. You also don't want to damage the contacts by applying too much pressure with a metal tool. Note: If you have an old iPhone, iPad, or iPod that uses the 30-pin connector, you should take extra care since there are a lot more pins to damage. Get a Professional to Clean Your iPhone Don't trust yourself to do this properly? You can get a professional to clean your iPhone's port, for a fee. Whether this is worth it or not depends on how confident you are performing the steps above. Your best bet for a deep iPhone clean is to visit a repair shop that specializes in smartphones. These vendors often offer services like screen and iPhone battery replacements, with or without genuine Apple parts. Image credit: Chris Malcolm/Flickr Remember that even though these technicians have a set of tools and relevant experience, they're going to use the same method as described above. They won't take your iPhone apart to clean the charging port, since there's no benefit to doing that. Consider Replacing Your Lightning Port If you've cleaned out your Lightning port and still have problems, you might want to consider replacing the port entirely. There are two ways you can go about this: fixing your iPhone yourself, or paying someone else to do it. If you're considering doing it yourself, you'll need to find the right Lightning connector for your hardware, plus get a set of tools. You'll need special tools to even open the iPhone. Once you're inside, there are a lot of screws and other components you'll need to remove to access the Lightning connector assembly. If you're not sure if you're up for it, check out the video above from repair specialist website iFixit. This demonstrates how to access the Lightning connector on an iPhone 7; other models require a similar procedure. The video only shows how to remove the connector, so keep in mind that you'll need to perform the process in reverse to fully fix the iPhone. To find detailed instructions, search iFixit for your particular model of iPhone. iFixit also sells the replacement parts and tools you'll need. The Lightning connector is relatively cheap at around $50, plus the set of tools required to conduct the repair. If your iPhone is under warranty then you should take it to Apple, who will conduct the repairs for free. Another other option is to head to your local smartphone repair center which will be cheaper, but may not use first-party Apple replacement parts. Out of warranty and want the best quality repair? You can pay Apple for the privilege. An Apple technician will use first-party parts and are highly trained, but this also costs considerably more than third-party repair shops. If your iPhone is pretty old, you might want to put the money toward a replacement (make sure you know the best time to buy a new iPhone) or opt for a cheaper technician. Now Clean the Rest of Your iPhone Your iPhone is probably filthy, because you take it almost everywhere with you and constantly touch it. That's why you probably need to clean it more often than you do. Check out our full guide on how to clean your iPhone without any special equipment needed

Bloatware is a scourge for technology owners. Manufacturers fill your shiny new laptop, phone, or tablet with pre-installed applications to put an extra dollar in their pocket. You are left with bundles of oft-useless programs taking up the already limited storage space. Microsoft is no stranger to bloatware. Windows 10 might look the part, but behind the scenes, there are a plethora of programs you simply don't need. Luckily, you can rid yourself of the bloatware. Let's look at how to ease the pressure and debloat Windows 10. How to Remove Windows 10 Bloatware Windows 10 does come with a reasonably large amount of bloatware. In most cases, it is easy to remove. There are also a few different removal options, too: using the traditional uninstall, using PowerShell commands, and third-party installers. Bloatware doesn't feature within the System > Apps & Features list you would normally use to uninstall a program. Why would it? Microsoft and other manufacturers who deliver products with bloatware stand to profit from your using them, so making it easy to uninstall isn't in their best interest. If you're considering removing the bloatware due to space concerns, find out how much space you really need to run Windows 10. Uninstall Windows 10 Bloatware Apps Some of the Windows 10 bloatware is easy to remove using a regular uninstall. This appears to work for several apps included in the Windows 10 installation package, such as Money, News, Sports, and a few others clogging up your Start menu. (Here are some more Windows programs you should consider uninstalling!) Find the application you want to remove, right-click, and select Uninstall. Microsoft has made it simple to remove the more cosmetic items within Windows 10. But you will quickly realize that Microsoft doesn't consider all apps equal. Indeed, those apps that Microsoft considers part of the core Windows 10 experience require you to use PowerShell commands to hide or remove, or third-party uninstaller (more on both of these below). Others, such as Cortana, simply cannot be 100% removed from your system. Just be careful to avoid bloatware when installing new Windows software. Using PowerShell to Remove Bloatware PowerShell is an important part of Windows system management. While some compare PowerShell to the Command Prompt, at their core they are different beasts. However, PowerShell is a command and scripting language that gives you greater control over your Windows installation. In this instance, you can use a series of PowerShell commands to either hide or remove Windows 10 bloatware. First, open the PowerShell command line. Type PowerShell into your Start menu search bar. The best match should be Windows PowerShell. Right-click and select Run as Administrator. This ensures you have control over the entire system. Next, you need to decide what to remove. The PowerShell commands can remove any packages ranging from the Zune Music Player to Bing Health and Fitness, to the Microsoft Windows Calculator. Hide Apps Using the "Remove-AppxPackage" Command Entering the following code into the PowerShell will hide each application you enter. Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.ZuneMusic" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.Music.Preview" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingTravel" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingHealthAndFitness" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingFoodAndDrink" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.People" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingFinance" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.3DBuilder" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsCalculator" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingNews" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.XboxApp" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingSports" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsCamera" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.Getstarted" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.Office.OneNote" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsMaps" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.MicrosoftSolitaireCollection" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BingWeather" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.BioEnrollment" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsStore" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.Windows.Photos" | Remove-AppxPackage Get-AppxPackage -name "Microsoft.WindowsPhone" | Remove-AppxPackage Hiding a pre-installed app has the advantage of obscuring it from your view without actually deleting it from your system. If at a later date you realize that you do require the app, you can relocate it. Deleting Windows 10 Bloatware With DISM Want to truly obliterate every piece of bloatware from your system using PowerShell? There's a different command line tool for that: DISM. DISM stands for Deployment Imaging Service and Management. The DISM command is relatively powerful and can be used to service a Windows system in many different ways. In this case, we'll use it to remove the additional apps from your system. Deleting the apps works a little differently to hiding. First, check to see the entire spectrum of system bloatware using the following command: DISM /Online /Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages | select-string Packagename You should now see a complete list of installed apps. We can now use the package names in the list to begin removing them. To remove them, use the following command: DISM /Online /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName:PACKAGENAME Where PACKAGENAME is taken from the list we previously generated. As you can see in the below image, I've chosen to remove the Microsoft Zune Video package. Once the operation completes successfully, you'll need to restart your machine for the code to take full effect. Delete Using Windows10Debloater PowerShell Script Of course, it wouldn't be a MakeUseOf article if you didn't learn how to automate the process. The Windows10Debloater is a PowerShell script developed by Sycnex. It removes almost every additional Windows 10 package from the operating system, stripping it bare. Within that, however, it also removes apps you might find useful, such as TuneInRadio, PowerBI, or the Windows Netflix app. You can find the Windows10Debloater here (along with the full list of apps for deletion). On the GitHub page, head to the top-right corner and select Clone or download. Select Download ZIP from the drop-down menu. When the archive downloads, right-click and use your favorite tool to extract the folders. There are two versions of the main script: Windows10Debloater: This version is silent and gets on with business. Windows10DebloaterGUI: This version has a basic GUI with a few removal options, as well as the Revert Changes options. The PowerShell script automates the process you went through in the previous section. As a bonus, it also removes the associated Windows Registry entries for the bloatware apps after removal. Regarding the removal of apps you want to keep, you have two options. One is to head back to the prior section and manually remove the bloatware. The other is to re-enable and install any apps after running the script. Either way is slightly time-consuming, so it really is a personal preference. Why Delete Windows 10 Bloatware Apps? While the Windows 10 bloatware doesn't take up much physical space, it is more about exercising control over your system, especially before using a new computer. Many consider the default apps included in the installation to be "garbage" and while this author would agree in some cases, there are some others I cannot see the point of removing. Whichever way you feel, you now have the tools to remove each piece of bloatware yourself. Happy obliterating. And if you want to get rid of OneDrive or disable the Microsoft Office Upload Center, we've figured that out for you, too.

You've finished work for the day. The only thing left to do is stick the files onto a USB flash drive. Then you get this message: "The disk is write protected. Remove the write protection or use another disk." You immediately pull your hair out. This is your USB stick; you should be able to read, write, and do whatever you want with it! Okay, you didn't pull your hair out. You stayed nice and calm. But you definitely need to get your USB drive fixed. Luckily, there are a few simple steps to fix write protection on a USB drive. It's just technology. You can fix it. 1. Check the USB Stick for Viruses Every time you plug a USB drive into your computer, you should be automatically scanning it for viruses---especially if you have used it on a computer that you don't own, or a public computer. Viruses often act in a manner that will fill your USB drive with nonsense files and this can make your USB drive respond with the Write Protected error. Depending on your antivirus software, you may be able to configure it to automatically scan a USB drive when first plugged in. If not, you can navigate to the USB drive in Windows Explorer, right-click, and force a manual antivirus scan. If you do find a virus, eliminate it using your antivirus software. At this point, I would advise performing a full system scan after updating your virus definitions. If there is one virus lurking on your USB drive, you never know what might be propagating on your main system. 2. Check the USB Drive Body Normally I'd make something this simple the first step. However, I'd rather see you protected from a virus, instead of starting with the simpler fixes. Some USB sticks have a mechanical switch on them that puts them into Write Protect mode. This can be a very small slider switch which may have caught on something in your pocket or computer case. If this is the situation, then simply move the switch to the unlocked position and try to copy files again. Luckily, there aren't a lot of newly manufactured USB sticks with these locks on them anymore. 3. Check to Make Sure the USB Stick Isn't Full You may see the Write Protected error message if your USB stick is full. Open Windows Explorer, and browse to My PC. This gives you an overview of all drives connected to your system. Right-click your USB drive and select Properties. You'll be presented with a delightful donut-chart (what was wrong the venerable pie-chart, Microsoft?) displaying your current drive capacity. As you can see, I've got room to spare. But if your USB drive is completely full, it can return a Write Protection error message. 4. Remove Individual Files With Write Protection Sometimes a single file can upset the balance. Perhaps one file is marked "read-only," and refuses to be deleted from the drive. This causes an entirely different error message, but it can be off-putting, nonetheless. Browse to your USB drive, and locate the offending file. Right-click, and select Properties. At the bottom of the panel, under Attributes, ensure Read-only is unchecked. Sometimes single filenames become corrupted. In addition, long filenames are an inherited Windows feature, ingrained in the MS-DOS architecture. The long and short of it is that if a filename exceeds 255 characters, you're going to have a bad time. Saikat Basu has explained exactly how to delete files with long filenames. Check it out, save yourself some bother, and fix your USB flash drive. 5. DiskPart Command Prompt Utility Are you familiar with the Command Prompt? Well, you're about to familiarize yourself a little bit more. Don't worry, it really isn't scary, and is the next logical step in our effort to fix your USB stick. Hit Windows key + X, and select Command Prompt (Admin) from the menu. Type diskpart, and press Enter (1. in the below image). Next, type list disk, and press Enter. You should see a list of currently mounted disks, like so (2. in the below image): Make sure you can see your USB drive. Mine is Disk 4. Make a note of your disk number. Now enter the following command: select disk [your disk number] Once selected, enter the following command: attributes disk clear readonly You've cleared any remaining read-only file attributes from the USB drive. 6. Clear Write Protection Error in Windows Registry If none of the previous steps have solved your Write Protection error, don't worry. We've still got a few more tricks in the book. Next, we're going to edit the Windows Registry. If you're not comfortable editing the registry, I understand. You can skip to the next section---how to format your write protected USB drive. If that step is a little too drastic, I'd advise giving this option a try. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialogue. Type regedit and press Enter. Now, navigate to the following registry location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies Look for a key named WriteProtect. If it exists, double-click it. This will open the Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value box. You can now set one of two values: 0 or 1. 1 means "Yes, write protect my USB storage devices." Conversely, 0 means "No, don't write protect my USB storage devices." Set the value to 0, and then press OK. But There's Nothing There? In some cases, there is no WriteProtection registry entry. In this instance, we can create a registry key of our own. Check out the short video I've made below: (Something gone wrong? Reset the Windows registry to default.) 7. Format the USB Drive Warning: Make sure that you back up all the files and information from your USB drive to your computer. All data will be lost once you format the USB drive. Formatting the USB stick is a last resort. However, it should make your USB drive able to be read and written to. Prior to formatting the USB drive, determine what kind of file system it already has -- NTFS or FAT32. Normally the file system that it already has will be the file system that is best suited for the drive. Open Windows Explorer, and browse to My PC. This gives you an overview of all drives connected to your system. Right-click your USB drive and select Properties. Close the Properties window. Now, right-click the USB drive again, this time selecting Format. The Format window contains several customizable options, such as the aforementioned File system, the Allocation unit size, the Volume Label, and the Quick Format option. Change the Volume label to something memorable. As we are dealing with a potential hardware issue, uncheck the Quick Format box. That will force the format to do more than just erase files. For instance, if there is a bad sector on this USB drive, the "full" format will return an error. Formatting won't take long, but the larger the drive, the longer you'll have to wait. Assuming there is no physical problem with the drive, your USB drive will be formatted, cleaned and ready to go. 8. But I've Got an SD Card Luckily, the majority of the USB drive Write Protection error fixes listed work with SD cards, too. Unlike regular USB drives, SD cards still tend to come with a physical write protection switch. Ensure this is toggled before you panic. SanDisk 64GB Class 4 SDXC Flash Memory Card, Frustration-Free Packaging- SDSDB-064G-AFFP (Label May Change)BUY NOW ON AMAZON USB Write Protection Errors, Solved Sometimes, the problem is simple. Sometimes, the problem is difficult. Hopefully, we've found you a solution, in either case. If your USB drive issues persist, it could be that something more significant is afoot. In those cases, such as a deleted Partition Table, third-party software like TestDisk can save the day.

Most Windows users reinstall their operating system at some point, but this isn't as common a step for Mac users. While there are less invasive ways to make an old Mac feel like new, reinstalling macOS can prove useful in some cases. Whether you're having a major problem and want to start fresh, or plan to sell your Mac and need to reset it, reinstalling macOS is a relatively painless process. We'll walk you through it. Note: I performed this process using a mid-2012 MacBook Pro running OS X 10.7 Lion and ended with macOS High Sierra. The process may look slightly different on your machine. Before You Start: Back Up! Presumably, you've used this computer for some time and have personal data on it. Reinstalling macOS will wipe everything on your system, so it's vital that you back up first. Before you back up, you might want to free up space by getting rid of old files you never use. The easiest way to back up is using Apple's built-in solution, Time Machine. We've covered how to use Time Machine to back up your Mac; you'll need an external hard drive to take advantage of it. If you don't want to use Time Machine or don't have an external hard drive, you can look at alternate Mac backup solution. Some of these offer cloud backup, so you won't need any extra storage handy. However, cloud backups almost always require a paid subscription. If you only have a small amount of files, you might look at syncing your most important files to Google Drive or other cloud storage. Another alternative is copying your vital folders to a USB flash drive. Whatever you choose to do, remember that this process will erase everything on your Mac. Sign Out of Apps Before you proceed, you should also take the time to log out apps on your computer. Services like Adobe Creative Cloud limit the amount of installations you can use, so you should sign out to avoid wasting one on a non-existent system. Sign out of iTunes by opening it and choosing Account > Sign Out. You can sign out of iMessage by opening Messages and choosing Messages > Preferences. Choose your account on the left sidebar and choose Sign Out. Finally, sign out of iCloud by visiting System Preferences > iCloud and choosing Sign Out. Step 1: Boot Into Recovery Mode In the old days, you could reinstall the OS through the DVD that shipped with your Mac. But since new Macs don't have an optical drive, we'll use the built-in Recovery Mode to do so. This will work on any Mac running OS X 10.7 Lion or later. Shut down your Mac. Hold the Cmd + R keys (one of many Mac startup key combinations) and turn the power back on. Continue holding these keys until you see the Apple logo. After a moment, you'll see a macOS Utilities (or OS X Utilities) page with several options. If this doesn't work (perhaps your computer freezes at the Apple logo as mine did), you'll need to start the internet Recovery mode instead. This runs the recovery environment from the internet instead of a partition on your hard drive. Hold Cmd + Option + R at startup to access this. You'll see a spinning globe instead of the Apple logo. Connect to a Wi-Fi network if you're not already. Then wait a bit while your computer downloads the recovery environment. You'll need to select your language to enter Recovery mode proper. When using internet Recovery mode, the system may reinstall a different version of macOS than you were using. Mine installed Mavericks, even though I was running Lion to start with. Step 2: Erase the Disk Note that if you want to simply reinstall macOS without losing any data, you should skip this step and jump to "Reinstalling macOS" below. To properly reinstall the OS, you'll first need to erase the disk. To do this, select Disk Utility from the menu. Next, select your internal hard drive (usually labeled Macintosh HD) from the left sidebar. Switch to the Erase tab on the right side. Make sure the Format is set to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The default name of Macintosh HD is fine, unless you prefer something else. Click Erase and confirm the operation. Once it's done, you're ready for a fresh install of macOS. Press Cmd + Q to quit the Disk Utility. Step 3: Reinstalling macOS Back on the macOS Utilities menu, choose Reinstall macOS (or Reinstall OS X). Click Continue to proceed; Apple will verify your computer's eligibility to install the OS. You may see a prompt to enter your Apple ID as part of this process. Accept the license agreement, then click your hard drive to select it for installation. Click Install to start the process. Depending on your computer's specs (and internet connection speed if using internet recovery), this will take some time. Once you see the Welcome screen, your Mac is back to factory defaults. If you're selling or giving away your Mac, you can press Cmd + Q at this point. You'll get a prompt to shut down your Mac; the next owner can proceed with setup later. If you're keeping your Mac, we'll guide you through the setup. Step 4: Set Up macOS Anew Choose your region on the Welcome screen and click Continue. Next, confirm your keyboard layout and hit Continue again. You'll then need to connect to a wireless network (you can skip this for now if needed). Continuing on, you'll see the Transfer Information to This Mac screen. Here you can select From a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk to import the data you backed up earlier. Choose Don't transfer any information now to skip this; you can go through the process later. Your Mac will then prompt you to sign in with your Apple ID. Enter your credentials here to sign in, or choose Create a new Apple ID if you don't have an account yet (check our Apple ID FAQ for more). If you want to use a local account, choose Don't sign in. However, this will prevent you from using the App Store, FaceTime, and similar. Accept the terms and conditions, then create your computer account if you didn't sign in with an Apple ID. From here, give your computer a moment to set up, and you'll be greeted with your desktop. Step 5: Update macOS (If Applicable) You should check for macOS updates at this point. Open the Apple Menu in the top-left and click Software Update to open the App Store. You'll see any updates that are available for the current macOS version on the Updates tab, but you should also check on the Featured tab (or search for macOS) for the latest version of macOS available. After you prepare your Mac for an update, click Get on the new version and walk through the steps to initiate the update. Depending on how old your Mac is, you may not be able to update to the newest version. I was able to upgrade to macOS 10.13 High Sierra on the machine formerly running Lion. If your Mac experiences a slowdown after the update, try these tips to speed up the newly updated system and improve performance. A Clean Install of macOS: Done! Now you know the steps to back up your Mac's data, erase your hard disk, and install a new copy of macOS. You shouldn't need to do this as a troubleshooting step except in the most dire of circumstances. (Here are a few reasons why you might want to reinstall macOS.) But it's important if you're selling or giving away your computer. If you're keeping your Mac and like to play games, check our tips for maximizing gaming performance on a Mac. Alternatively, if a factory reset didn't fix your issue, check out how to troubleshoot your own Mac.

macOS has a deep and nested folder structure, and a default macOS installation has many unfamiliar-sounding directories. The majority of users don't ever need to touch these files. Apple keeps certain folders hidden for a reason. Messing with these directories could result in an unstable system, loss of data, or worse---prevent your Mac from booting up. We'll show you the places that most users shouldn't touch in the macOS file system. 1. Language Files and Folders Mac apps come with language files for every language they support. When you switch your Mac's system language, the app will change to that language immediately. To see the language files of an app, right-click it and choose Show Package Contents from the context menu. The path will look like this: AppName.app/Contents/Resources/Lang.lproj Removing the language files for third-party apps is easy through Terminal. But for the default macOS apps, you need to disable System Integrity Protection which we don't recommend at all. Although there is a lot of advice on the internet recommending that you delete language files to gain disk space, the amount of space you earn is not significant enough for the risks involved. A quick scan with CleanMyMac shows that my Mac will gain about 520MB of disk space by deleting these files. The result might be different in your case, but it's highly unlikely that you'll gain more than a few gigabytes. Also, you must redo these steps after every major macOS upgrade. When you remove language files, you can't predict which apps will crash or freeze. In the worst case, you'll have to reinstall the app. Plus, old versions of programs like Microsoft Office and Adobe apps may not work properly or update. Therefore, it's best to ignore the language files and folders. Check out our tips for freeing up space on your Mac for better ways to do this. 2. Hidden /private/var Folder macOS creates several user and system-related cache files to speed up the system. The cache and temporary data located in /Library/Caches is under your control. You can manually delete this cache without any third-party tools. But the ones in the system folder are entirely managed by macOS. They're not even visible to you. Sometimes items in these directories can take up vast amounts of disk space. Thus, you might wonder whether it's safe to delete the contents of /private/var/folders or not. Location of /private/var/folders The simplest way to find the /private/var folder is through the Finder Go to Folder menu. Press Cmd + Shift + G to bring up the Go to Folder box and enter /private/var/folders. A new Finder tab will open immediately. To open the location of system cached and temporary files, launch a Terminal window and type the following: open $TMPDIR You'll see a two-character folder name with long, seemingly random subfolders. As you navigate the folder tree, explore these three folders. The C folder represents Cache, while T is for Temporary files. User files live in the 0 folder. Issues With /private/var/folders A quick scan with OmniDiskSweeper shows that the size of /private/var/folders is 1GB and that of /private/var is about 4GB. The size of these folders can vary between system, but shouldn't be too large. If these directories take up more than 10GB, then they're a concern. You should not attempt to manually delete files from any of the /private/var directories even if they're large. Doing so might damage core macOS files, corrupt document data, and prevent your Mac from booting or behaving as expected. You'd then be stuck reinstalling macOS from scratch. To safely remove these files, quit all apps, and choose Apple Menu > Shut Down. When you reboot your Mac, you trigger the built-in cache clearing mechanisms. This deletes the unnecessary contents, caches, and temporary items in /tmp, /private/var, and /private/var/folders. If for some reasons these files don't clear, then reboot your Mac in Safe Mode. macOS deploys additional built-in mechanisms to get rid of caches and temporary files in this mode. Then reboot into normal mode as usual and recheck your available disk space. Other Important Folders in /private/var Concerning disk space, there are few more folders which you should not touch: /private/var/db: Includes a bunch of macOS configuration and data files. They include Spotlight database, network configuration files, and more. /private/var/VM: Contains swap and sleep image files. If you hibernate your Mac, this directory will occupy more than 5GB of disk space. /private/var/tmp: Another temporary file directory. 3. System Library Folder The macOS filesystem contains multiple Library folders. This is by design, and while many similarities exist between the contents of the Library folders, each folder has a different role to play in the macOS filesystem. You'll find three Library folders: /Library /System/Library ~/Library The main and System Library folder have a global scope. Their contents support every aspect of the system. The System Library folder contains the files that macOS needs to operate. Only the OS has the right to modify its data, and only system-level events should affect them. There's no reason for you to touch anything in this folder. 4. User Library Folder The Library folder inside the home directory is your account's personal Library. Here, macOS stores system, third-party support files, and preferences. It also includes Mail settings, Safari bookmarks, history, calendar data, and much more. The Library folder also include folders that need occasional cleaning. However, not all folders are safe to touch. ~/Library/Application Support In this folder, both system and third-party apps store support files, usually in a subfolder named after the application. They contain registration data and even store saved app data used in a particular session. Do not delete contents of the Application Support files directly. Instead, use an app called AppCleaner to delete support files along with the app. ~/Library/Preferences This folder contains all the preference data for default and third-party apps. Again, don't delete the contents of the Preferences folder; otherwise an app will revert to its default state or might crash. AppCleaner will take care of preferences while uninstalling an app. ~/Library/Mobile Documents This is the actual location of the iCloud folder. Documents, application preference files, iOS app data, and more lives in this folder. You should not move, rename, or delete it. It's also a folder that takes up lot of disk space if you use iCloud. Delete the files you don't need from iCloud Drive to reduce its size. ~/Library/Containers This contains support files, cached data, and temporary files for apps you've download from the Mac App Store. Since apps on the App Store are sandboxed, they cannot write data anywhere on the system. Again, don't delete the contents of this folder. If the Containers folder takes up lot of disk space, reinstall the affected app. Another folder you'll find in your Library is the CoreServices folder. You can check out more details on that folder here: 5. Hidden Folders in the Home Folder When you press the Cmd + Shift + Period keys in the Finder, you'll see plenty of files and folders in the Home directory which are typically hidden from view. Different macOS technologies and apps store their data in these folders for the smooth working of your Mac. You should not modify or delete any of these folders: .Spotlight-V100: Spotlight metadata for each mounted volume. The mdworker processes use this metadata to update Spotlight search. .fseventsd: A log file of FSEvents logged by the fseventsd launchdaemon process. It monitors file system events, such as file creation, modification, deletion, and more. Time Machine uses this data to process backup in the background. .DocumentRevisions-V100: macOS versioning database used by apps to save and retrieve different versions of a document. .PKInstallSandboxManager: Used for software updates and sandboxing. .PKInstallSandboxManager-SystemSoftware: Used for system software updates. .Trashes: Trash folder in each mounted volume. Take a Backup to Avoid Data Loss Messing with these folders is risky, as doing so might corrupt your apps, documents, and macOS. While most Mac users don't have to worry about these folders, you might be tempted to start exploring these folders when disk space becomes an issue.

Seeing the 0xc0000225 error in Windows 10 when you try to start your PC? This common error is a huge pain because it prevents your PC from booting into Windows at all. Thankfully, you can usually fix this error with a bit of work. We'll show you how to fix error code 0xc0000225 on Windows 10. What Is Error Code 0xc0000225? You'll see this error code when you try to boot your PC. Windows displays it with a message saying Your PC needs to be repaired and the vague An unexpected error has occurred. Sometimes it also says A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed. Windows throws this error when it can't find the correct system files for booting. This vital information is known as Boot Configuration Data, or BCD. When you turn on your PC, BCD tells Windows how to boot properly. This error is more common on disks that use the newer UEFI specification with the GPT partition scheme than older setups. Windows' message about it is a little vague, so we'll need to put on our troubleshooting caps to solve it. What Causes Error Code 0xc0000225? Since this error deals with corrupted system files, it often pops up after an OS upgrade, such as upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10. It might also pop up after you install a major Windows 10 update. Error 0xc0000225 can also occur if your PC shuts down during an important update, from malware attacking system files, or even from faulty hardware. Follow the below steps to hopefully fix the issue, no matter the cause. Step 0: Create a Windows 10 Install Disk Like other boot errors, you can't troubleshoot this problem from inside Windows. Thus, you'll need to have a Windows 10 install disk handy so you can run repair tools from there. Follow our guide to creating Windows 10 installation media to obtain the needed disk. You'll need a flash drive with at least 8GB of space, or a DVD. Note that creating the Windows 10 disk will erase everything present on the drive, so we recommend using a blank flash drive or DVD. Once you've created your install media, insert it into your computer. Press the appropriate key to open the boot menu, and load the Windows 10 recovery environment from your external device. Step 1: Run Through Windows Automatic Repair First, you'll want to try Windows 10's built-in troubleshooter. This has the system automatically check for issues and attempt to fix them on its own. Hopefully, it will repair your corrupted BCD so you can get back to work. After booting from your Windows 10 install disk, wait until you see the Windows Setup screen. Confirm your language options, then click Next. When you see the Install now screen, click the Repair your computer link in the bottom-left instead. You'll see a menu of options; select Troubleshoot, followed by Advanced options. From the Advanced options menu here, select Startup Repair. Let the process run, then restart your computer when it's done. Try to boot normally again. If error code 0xc0000225 doesn't pop up, you've fixed the issue! Step 2: Run Manual SFC and Check Disk Scans If the automatic repair that Windows offers didn't work, you can try a few important system scans yourself. To do so, repeat the above process to open the Advanced options menu, but don't select Automatic Repair. Instead, choose Command Prompt to open a command line interface. First, run the System File Checker (SFC) command, which checks for corrupt or missing Windows system files and tries to repair them. READ MORE:What Is The Difference Between CHKDSK, SFC, And DISM In Windows 10? Use it with this command: sfc /scannow After this completes, run the Disk Check scan to check for errors on your hard disk. Use the following command, replacing c: with the letter of your main partition if you've changed it: chkdsk /r Once you've run both of these scans, reboot and try to load up your PC normally again. Hopefully, the error won't pop up anymore. Step 3: Rebuild the BCD If you're still having problems, the next step you can try is a command to rebuild the BCD. Since this is often what causes the error, recreating it might be the trick that fixes the problem. Again, boot from your Windows 10 installation media and open the Advanced options menu. Select Command Prompt this time, too. Run the following commands, one at a time: bootrec /scanos bootrec /fixmbr bootrec /fixboot bootrec /rebuildbcd The first command scans your disk(s) for compatible installations, which can help it find your "missing" Windows installation. Commands two and three write a new MBR and boot sector to your disk. The final command scans again for Windows installations after the fixes. Reboot your computer once more and hopefully, this will clear up the error 0xc0000225 message. Step 4: Set Your Active Partition Windows allows you to change the active partition so you can tell the system where to boot from. If this somehow becomes incorrect, you can change it to point Windows to the correct partition. Go through the above to open a Command Prompt from your Windows repair disk once more. Type the following commands one at a time to open the Disk Partition tool and list your available disks: diskpart list disk Depending on how many drives are connected to your system, you'll see a series of entries labeled Disk 0, Disk 1, and so on. Your internal hard drive is most likely Disk 0---using the Size, you should be able to tell them apart. Type the following one at a time, replacing the X with 0 or whatever the number of your primary storage drive: select disk X list partition That second command will show all partitions on your internal drive. Your main partition will be marked as Primary—it's Partition 4 in the below example. Then enter these commands, replacing the X with your partition number: select partition X active Exit the Command Prompt, reboot, and see if your issue is fixed. This marks the partition you have Windows installed on as the one Windows uses to boot. If that somehow changed and resulted in the 0xc0000225 error, doing this can put everything back the way it was. Step 5: Check for Faulty Hardware At this point, you've done a good amount of the software troubleshooting needed to fix this error. If you still can't boot into Windows due to error 0xc0000225 , you should consider checking your hard disk for physical issues. Check to make sure the drive cable isn't damaged, and reseat it if possible. Depending on your computer manufacturer, you also may have some built-in diagnostic tests that can check for drive issues. Follow guide to diagnosing a bad hard drive for some tips. If you've confirmed that your hard drive is healthy, you'll have to move to last-resort steps. Step 6: Try System Restore or Reinstall Windows If this problem started recently, you can try a System Restore from the recovery disk to go back in time. Boot from your install media again, navigate to the Advanced options menu, and select System Restore. Pick a recent restore point and Windows will return to that point without affecting your personal files. If you don't have any restore points or the system restore doesn't fix the issue, it's best to reinstall Windows to replace the broken system files and get everything else refreshed. This is time-consuming, but it's your best bet if you've gotten this far and still haven't fixed the problem. You'll find a Reset this PC option under Troubleshoot on your recovery disk menu. Follow our guide to resetting Windows 10 for more information. Error Code 0xc0000225 Fixed! Hopefully, one of these methods will clear up error 0xc0000225 on Windows 10 for you. Whether this was caused by a botched upgrade or hardware error, you thankfully have options to patch it up. Meanwhile, there are separate fixes to try if your Windows system boots slowly, even after fixing this problem.

Computers aren't perfect. Parts can, and do, break---and when something goes awry, it's a frustrating experience. MacBooks are no exception. Users complain about everything from broken Mac trackpads to poor performance when running on battery. But even more common than both those issues is a malfunctioning keyboard. It's also a more exasperating problem. With a broken battery, you can run off external power. If your trackpad isn't working, you can use a physical mouse. But if your keyboard breaks? It's off to your local computer store to buy a Bluetooth device. Or is it? Don't grab the car keys just yet. You might be able to fix it. Keep reading to find out more. The Butterfly Mechanism in MacBook Keyboards Back in 2015, Apple reinvented the keyboard. Or at least, that's what the company claimed. In practice, it didn't come up with a revolutionary new keyboard layout or a different way of typing; it just altered the physical mechanism under the key. As is the logic behind so many Apple design decisions, the change was made to save space. It allowed Apple to make its MacBook thinner than ever. The new design is known as the "butterfly" mechanism. Theoretically, it reduced each key's travel distance and paved the way for a more stable, less error-strewn typing experience. In practice, it's prone to jamming up and not functioning. You can see the difference between Apple's butterfly approach and the more conventional "scissor" approach in the image below: The Problem With Butterfly Keyboards So, what's the problem? Why are the MacBook keyboards so prone to jamming? In a word: dust. Unlike scissor keyboards, Apple has designed its butterfly keyboards to be exceptionally good at preventing dust from getting under the keys. Again, in theory, that's a good idea. But dust being dust, it can get into the tiniest spaces imaginable. No matter how good the design is, it's an inevitability that gunk will eventually work its way under the keys. On a scissor keyboard, that's not an issue. A good blast of air will clear it out again. On the MacBook, less so. The space between the key and the laptop chassis is so small, even compressed air might not be able to budge it. The problem is especially apparent on the space bar. If you've got a steady hand and good eyesight, you might be able to pop off the other keys, clean them out, and replace the button. However, users have found that the space bar is particularly fragile. It's incredibly difficult---if not impossible---to remove the space bar and replace it again without damaging either the butterfly mechanism or the key itself. To protect the keyboard from dust as well as general wear and tear, you might want to consider getting a keyboard cover for your MacBook. Apple's Free Service Program In June 2018, Apple finally listened to the growing chorus of discontent from its customers and took steps to remedy this problem. If you're suffering from one of these three keyboard symptoms, you might be eligible for a free repair: Letters or characters repeating unexpectedly. Letters or characters not appearing onscreen when pressed. Keys not responding in a consistent manner. However, Apple is only offering repairs on the following models: MacBook (Retina, 12-­inch, 2015) MacBook (Retina, 12­-inch, 2016) MacBook (Retina, 12-­inch, 2017) MacBook Pro (13­-inch, 2016) MacBook Pro (13-­inch, 2017) MacBook Pro (15-­inch, 2016) MacBook Pro (15-­inch, 2017) If you meet both the prerequisites, take your computer to either an official Apple store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. The technicians will assess your machine and try and fix it in-store. If they can't fix it, they'll send it away and replace the entire top part of your laptop, including the whole keyboard. If you don't meet the requirements and you're not covered by AppleCare, the replacement keyboard will set you back an eye-watering $700. How to Fix a Jammed MacBook Key Yourself Warning: All MacBook keys are fragile; proceed with extreme caution. If you don't fancy handing over $700 to Apple for something that's not your fault, you can try to use a can of compressed air. Sounds simple, but it's an Apple-approved method. Office Depot Cleaning Duster, 10 Oz, Pack of 3, OD101523BUY NOW ON AMAZON Before you start using the compressed air, there are a couple of notes to keep in mind: Always use the supplied straw so you can control air flow. Keep the end of the straw at least half an inch away from your machine. Never turn the can of air upside down. Spray the first bit of air away from your machine in case there's liquid in the nozzle. Try to maintain a steady airflow throughout the process. Ready? Great. Now follow the step-by-step instructions below: Pick up your laptop and hold the keyboard at a 75-degree angle. Move the straw over your keyboard in a steady left-to-right motion. Rotate your keyboard to the left so it's vertical. Again, hold it at 75 degrees. Steadily blow the air in a left-to-right motion. Lastly, rotate your keyboard to the right. Blow the air left-to-right. Other Common MacBook Keyboard Fixes If jammed keys aren't your problem, there are a few other fixes you can try. If you have a wired or wireless keyboard, we've covered the most common Apple keyboard fixes in great detail. But if the problem is with your built-in keyboard, you can try some of these six solutions. 1. Create a New User on Your MacBook You need to establish whether the problem is isolated to one user or computer-wide. To make that test, you'll need to create a new user. Here's how to make a new user on your MacBook: Go to Apple > System Preferences. Click on Users & Groups. Click the Plus (+) icon below the list of users. Select the type of account you want to create. Enter the name and password. Click on Create User. Now log in to your computer as the new user and see if the problem has gone away. 2. Reset the PRAM and SMC Resetting a Mac's PRAM (parameter random access memory) and SMC (system management controller) is a common troubleshooting technique when something isn't working as it should. It's easy to reset them both, but the exact approach varies depending on the Mac model you own. Luckily, we've got you covered. Check out our guide to resetting your PRAM and SMC for more information. 3. Make Sure Slow Keys Is Disabled Slow Keys is a Mac accessibility feature. It's designed to help people who struggle with repetitive keystrokes, as it changes the delay between when you press a key and when it's activated. If you've enabled it by accident, you might think your keyboard is unresponsive. To check Slow Keys' status, navigate to Apple > System Preferences > Accessibility > Keyboard > Slow Keys and make sure the Off checkbox is highlighted. 4. Ensure Mouse Keys Isn't Turned On Mouse Keys lets you control your on-screen pointer using your keyboard. It's useful if your trackpad is malfunctioning or when you don't have a mouse handy. To make sure it's not turned on, go to Apple > System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad. 5. Disable Speak Selected Text As the name suggests, you can make your Mac read any selected text aloud by pressing a user-specified key. You might have accidentally enabled the feature so that it overrides a key's primary function. To make sure it's not turned on, you'll once again need to head to the accessibility settings. Go to Apple > System Preferences > Accessibility > Speech and unmark the checkbox next to Speak selected text when the key is pressed. 6. Boot in Safe Mode MacBooks let you boot your computer in safe mode. Doing so will prevent most drivers and caches from loading at startup. Put your MacBook into Safe mode by rebooting your machine and holding Shift until you see the login screen. If your keyboard starts working, you will need to re-enable each driver individually until you find the guilty party. And If All Else Fails... If you can't resolve your MacBook keyboard issues using some of the tips we've outlined, it might be time to seek professional help.

Need to boot your PC from a USB stick, or optical drive, to install or try out a new operating system? Maybe you've run into a common problem: even though you've inserted the USB drive or CD/DVD, the computer won't boot from it! To fix this, you'll need to change the boot order for your system, setting the preferred device as the primary boot drive. Sounds complicated, but it isn't. Here's what to do. Why You Might Want to Change Boot Order There are various reasons why you might want to change the boot order. For instance, you might have added a new hard disk drive and want to use it as your primary boot device; changing the boot order will enable you to install your operating system. Alternatively, you might have problems booting Windows. Setting an optical drive or USB drive as the primary device will allow you to use a disc, flash storage, or external HDD to provide assistance to recovering data or repairing the operating system. Solutions for these problems include installing Windows from a USB drive, or using a multiboot USB device to install a new operating system. Understanding Your PC's Startup Procedure What happens when you start up your PC? In most cases (and putting it very simply), after the power switch has controlled the flow of electricity to the motherboard and the fans have started up, your hard disk drive will be initialized and start reading the boot sector. From here, the operating system will load in from the hard disk drive to RAM. If there is no operating system, or the OS has been compromised, then it'll need to be repaired or replaced. Neither option is possible, however, without a bootable operating system installer. To use an alternative boot device, you need to tell the computer that you have changed the boot drive. Otherwise it will assume you want the usual operating system on startup. To change the boot device, you'll have to access the boot menu in the BIOS. How to Access the BIOS Screen There are different ways for you to access the BIOS screen. You need to be quick with your fingers, be close to the keyboard when you switch the computer on, and make sure that your monitor/display is already switched on, otherwise you might miss the instruction! What happens is that a short line of text---usually across the bottom of the screen---will indicate which key you need to press to launch the BIOS screen. This is often the Delete key, but might also be F1, F2, or one of the other function keys. In some cases you may need to reset the computer if it progresses through to loading Windows too quickly. We would advise waiting for Windows to load (assuming you're not experiencing any Windows loading problems) rather than pressing the reset button, as this can cause problems later on. Note that if you have a password set on your BIOS, this will be required before you can access any of the menus and options. How to Access the BIOS Boot Order Menu Once you have logged into the BIOS, you will need to find the Boot menu. You'll find this labelled Boot on older BIOS screens, but it can also be found as a sub-menu under System Configuration, and is accessed by navigating with the left/right arrow keys (these and other controls are usually displayed as a legend at the bottom of the screen). It doesn't matter whether your system uses traditional BIOS or UEFI (here's how to check), the Boot menu can be accessed in generally the same way. In the Boot order menu, you will need to use the Up and Down arrow keys to select an item and probably tap Enter to select it. This might open up a secondary menu which you will again use the arrows to navigate and Enter to confirm your choice. Note: In some BIOS menus, there may be no option to select. Instead the Page Up/Page Down keys will be used to cycle the boot item up and down through the list. Once again, check the legend at the bottom of the screen. Once you have changed the boot drive, you will need to save the change. You should see a menu option labelled Save and Exit, so navigate to this and use the arrow keys and Enter to save the changes. Many motherboards offer a keyboard shortcut for this command, often F10. With this step completed, the computer should restart, allowing you to access the chosen boot device. Alternatively, Use the Dedicated Boot Menu Increasingly, computers are being shipped with an additional menu that lets you change the boot order without accessing the BIOS. How to do this will differ depending on your PC or laptop's manufacturer. However, the correct command (typically Esc or F8) will be displayed when your computer boots, along with the BIOS message. Once this screen has opened, all you need to do is highlight the device you wish to boot from using the arrow keys, then Enter to select. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons Once you've made your choice, use the arrow keys to select your USB drive, apply the change, and reboot. Your computer will then restart, and boot from the USB device. Note: On Windows computers, once the BIOS POST screen has closed, the F8 function is disabled and used by a different function: the Windows Advanced Boot Menu. How to Boot From USB in Windows 10 Keeping everything above in mind, if you want to boot from USB in Windows 10, the process is simple. Begin by connecting the bootable USB drive, then in Windows 10 open Settings (Windows key + I), then Recovery. Find Advanced startup and select Restart now. In the next screen, select Use a device, and when you see your USB drive listed, tap or click this. Your computer will then restart, and boot into the environment (or installation wizard) on the USB disk. Easily Change the Boot Order in Windows 10 Now you should be able to change the boot order of your PC without issue. While it might seem an unfamiliar environment, it's a simple five-step procedure: Insert the bootable USB drive. Restart the computer. Tap the key to open the BIOS or boot order screen. Select the USB device or whatever other boot drive. Save and exit.

On Sunday, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk tweeted that when there’s “confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.” However, there’s a big problem with this goal, as nobody knows exactly how to measure 50% clean energy usage let alone precisely where miners are geographically located. Can Elon Musk’s 50% Clean Energy Goal Be Met? Elon Musk and a number of billionaires have a lot to say these days and it seems Musk can move the price of BTC with a single tweet. It surely was the case when Tesla first accepted bitcoin (BTC) for electric car purchases at Tesla. After that announcement, BTC’s price jumped by $10K seeing one of the largest daily candles in its lifetime. Then when Musk tweeted that bitcoin wouldn’t be accepted and Tesla cited environmental concerns, the price dropped significantly. Sunday’s tweet boosted BTC prices by 9% and the price has inched past the psychological $40K region. Despite the good intentions, it’s hard to say how Musk will accomplish his goal of figuring out whether or not the bitcoin mining ecosystem is using 50% clean energy. Some studies indicate the goal could be already met as researchers have been looking into the number of miners who leverage renewables for quite some time now. Musk may want to read the report published by Coinshares in June 2019, which shows 74.1% of the bitcoin mining industry is “heavily” driven by renewable energy sources. Additionally, Coinshares published a report on the same subject the year prior, and found the percentage of renewable energy-dependent miners was around 77.8%. Bitcoin Mining Data Discrepancies Everywhere Global asset manager Ark Invest Management explained in mid-May that concerns over the Bitcoin network’s energy consumption are “misguided.” Even John Lennon’s son detailed that Bitcoin’s use of energy was a silly argument compared to the carbon footprint that’s tied to consumerism. Moreover, Bitcoin.com News is still asking: Where are all these environmentalists getting their electrical data from anyway? Well, it seems most critiques have been leveraging data derived from Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) and the index provided by digiconomist.net. Both metrics show large discrepancies (between each site) to this very day and in December 2020, Bitcoin.com News was told at the time the “CBECI map hasn’t been updated for some time now.” These discrepancies and the notation that data wasn’t (at least in December 2020) being updated regularly, could be problematic for analysts. The reason this discrepancy was highlighted in the first place by the CBECI representative was because of the website’s claims that 65% of the hashrate was located in China. This data point was disputed in July 2020, when research from Bitooda noted that only 50% of the global hashrate stemmed from China. Despite all the increased hashrate in North America and all the Western countries purchasing thousands of mining rigs over the last six months, on June 14, 2021, CBECI data still shows 65.08% of the BTC hashrate is in China. Pool statistics further show Foundry USA has captured a lot more hashrate in recent times, gathering 4.3% of the global hashrate on Monday. How much hashrate is located in China has been contested for a while now and in mid-April 2021 this fact was highlighted by the cofounder of blockchain data aggregator Coinmetrics.io, Nic Carter. On April 21, Carter further explained how hard it is to estimate hashrate percentage drops. Hard-to-Track Data Points Are Kind of the Point of Decentralized Verification System Meanwhile, Microstrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor has been discussing the Bitcoin Mining Council on Twitter and noted the group will meet this week, on Wednesday. Despite the good intentions for this idea, people are still skeptical of the concept and wonder if it even matters. “On Wednesday, you are all invited to meet with members of the Bitcoin Mining Council to discuss the latest on bitcoin Mining, the energy debate, network dynamics, China mining policy, North American mining developments, tech trends & industry outlook,” Saylor tweeted. North America may have around 10% to 15% of the global hashrate, but that’s awfully small in contrast to the majority of miners worldwide. However, the latest crackdown news stemming from Beijing may push the global industry of miners toward renewable consumption anyway. Lastly, there are lots of miners worldwide and we do have a few maps published by Coinshares and others that show some locations where mining facilities are located. Some mining operations are very open to publicly disclosing where they are located, while others are secretive and will not disclose such information. If one cannot truly estimate where all the bitcoin miners in the world are located, then how do we know if 50% clean energy is being used? If we trust the reports, studies and information we have today, the 50% mark may be already met. Although, with the number of discrepancies and hard-to-track data points mentioned in this article, we may never know the exact number of miners using clean energy or know exactly where they are located.

Cyberthreats related to cryptocurrencies have increased with rising demand for the digital assets, a study has concluded. Russia, Thailand and Peru are the most affected countries by malicious attacks designed to exploit the heightened interest in decentralized money, the authors point out. Booming Crypto Markets Bring Out Cybercriminals Despite the ongoing Covid pandemic still leading the headlines around the world, the topic has lost some prominence in the cyberthreat landscape since the beginning of this year. At the same time, threats related to cryptocurrencies have increased alongside rising crypto prices over the past few months, shows a recent report by ESET. Mainstream acceptance, including by celebrities and executives like famous American rapper Snoop Dogg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has also contributed to the growing appeal of crypto assets. “Booming cryptocurrencies bring out cybercriminals,” the company emphasized in the study, released earlier this month and quoted by RT on Monday. Crypto-related threats started to grow in the second half of 2020 and continued to increase in the first four months of 2021. This particular malware category expanded by 18.6%, with two spikes related to cryptocurrency miners in February and April. Noting that major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) have reached their all-time highs during the period, researchers commented: The upward trend comes as no surprise, since recent months have seen cryptocurrencies dramatically increase in value, becoming much more tempting for cybercriminals. The Russian Federation is the country that has suffered the most from cyber threats related to cryptocurrencies this year, accounting for 8.9% of all attacks. G7 leaders recently called on the government in Moscow to identify those who abuse cryptocurrency in ransomware attacks, as Bitcoin.com News reported. Russia is followed closely by Thailand, with 5.6% of the detections, and Peru comes in third with 5.3%. Miners Drive Growth in Crypto-related Cyberthreats Cryptocurrency mining software has been the driving force behind the growth of cryptocurrency threats, ESET said. According to the cybersecurity firm, this type of malware, including cryptojacking attacks, increased this year by 22% compared to the last four months of 2020. Meanwhile, the share of crypto stealers dropped by 28%. Malicious software in this category often targets the biggest, most established cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH), the mining of which is not as profitable anymore. ESET has registered a significant increase in attacks involving ETH. Cybercriminals spreading mining software usually target smaller coins that have only recently become popular. According to Igor Kabina, ESET Senior Detection Engineer, crypto-related criminality in the cyber space remains closely tied to ransomware as well. The increasing value of cryptocurrency, which the expert says is the go-to means of payment in such attacks, motivates perpetrators to create more ransomware. “This is because the relative anonymity offered by the cryptocurrency trading market enables threat actors to increase their profits without taking unnecessary risks,” the cybersecurity expert elaborated.

Bitcoin remittances to El Salvador jumped more than fourfold in May from the previous year, according to data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Last week, El Salvador passed a bill making bitcoin legal tender in the country alongside the U.S. dollar. The monthly bitcoin transfers of under $1,000 to El Salvador totaled $1.7 million in May, representing more than a 300% increase from $424,000 the previous year, Reuters reported, citing data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. The monthly bitcoin transfers to the country peaked in March at $2.5 million. While remittances using bitcoin have soared, they are still a small portion of total remittances to the country. According to the World Bank, remittances using traditional money totaled nearly $6 billion in 2019, and about 95% of total remittances in the first quarter of this year came from Salvadorans working in the U.S. El Salvador became the first country in the world to make bitcoin legal tender when its congress passed President Nayib Bukele’s bitcoin bill last week. The country is now focusing on bitcoin mining using energy from volcanoes, which aims to be “very cheap, 100% clean, 100% renewable” and with “0 emissions.” Several organizations have voiced concerns over El Salvador’s move to make bitcoin legal tender, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which warned the country of legal and economic issues last week. Ratings agency Moody’s said last week that El Salvador’s bitcoin law “carries risks for the financial system, the stability of the country’s monetary regime and signals a lack of a coherent economic framework.” Meanwhile, an official with the Bank of International Settlement (BIS) called the bitcoin law in El Salvador an “interesting experiment” but said it did not change the bank’s approach to cryptocurrency. The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, similarly said the ECB’s policy is unaffected by El Salvador’s bitcoin law.

Docker, a popular cloud computing integration solution, is making changes to its free-tier service due to cryptocurrency mining abuse. The service discontinued its “autobuild” feature due to misuse by bad actors, using it to mine cryptocurrencies in their servers. This is a modus operandi that is now affecting several cloud continuous integration platforms, including GitHub, GitLab, and Microsoft Azure. Docker Forced to Make Changes to Its Free-Tier Services Docker, a popular CI cloud service, is making changes to its service policy due to crypto mining abuse. The cloud computer continuous integration service announced last week it will no longer provide its autobuild features to its free-tier service. Docker announced this in a blog post, stating the attacks have grown in recent months, affecting their paying customers. The team declared: In April we saw the number of build hours spike 2X our usual load and by the end of the month we had already deactivated ~10,000 accounts due to mining abuse. The following week we had another ~2200 miners spin up. Docker is an immensely popular piece of software that allows applications to run in compartments. This means that a package possesses all the libraries needed to run the app. This new restriction will affect some users that leveraged the autobuild feature for free. The Docker team stated that while this was not an easy decision to make, it was the only measure they could take to mitigate the abuse. Although Docker is a notable platform affected by this new kind of attack, it is by no means the only one. Several continuous integration cloud base providers are now facing similar attacks, and are also studying countermeasures. Cloud Computing in the Crosshairs These attacks are also affecting companies like GitHub, GitLab, and Microsoft Azure, which offer cloud computing services. The attackers hijack the continuous integration services adding code to the apps that change their original function. The virtual machines spawned to compile apps are repurposed to mine cryptocurrencies for their lifespan, affecting the performance of these services. But the problem goes beyond free tiers. An engineer from CodeShip, a cloud platform, stated in an interview given to The Record that: Sometimes they pay the small fees for our accounts, which are way cheaper than renting on AWS directly, and mine cryptocurrency at maximum capacity. While the problem persists, bigger companies can afford to cope with the added performance hit. Small companies, however, will likely be forced to fight these attacks with countermeasures such as the one Docker executed.

Twice as many European startups have achieved unicorn status in 2021 compared to last year. Despite the negative effects of the ongoing Covid crisis, young companies on the Old Continent, including several crypto unicorns, have managed to attract a record high amount of VC capital. European Unicorns Collect €32.5 Billion in 2021 This year alone, 23 companies in Europe and Israel have become unicorns (startup companies valued at over $1 billion), beating last year’s total of eight, according to a report by financial data and software firm Pitchbook. European startups have managed to attract a staggering €32.5 billion (around $39.3 billion) since the beginning of 2021. This year’s capital inflow could easily surpass the €37.6 billion raised in the whole of 2020. Of the total, 20 companies are based in Europe, including several crypto startups. The U.K. accounts for most of these unicorns, with London-headquartered Blockchain.com currently valued at $5.2 billion after securing $420 million in two funding rounds earlier this year. Germany is next with digital wealth manager Scalable Capital, valued last week at $1.4 billion after raising over $180 million in a round led by Chinese tech giant Tencent. French crypto security startup Ledger became the latest to join the bunch with $380 million in new funding last week. The Old Continent is now home to almost 12% of the world’s unicorns with over 50 active companies, the published data revealed. The capital attracted by these entities has continuously grown over the past five years and the 2021 total is expected to reach a record high. The term unicorn, used to describe startups valued at over $1 billion, was coined by venture capitalist and angel investor Aileen Lee in 2013. It alludes to the rarity of such successful ventures. US Capital Drives Up Startup Valuations Across Europe European decacorns, or companies worth over $10 billion, have also performed quite well this year. Swedish fintech startup Klarna, for example, was valued at $31 billion in March, becoming the continent’s most valuable VC-backed firm. Klarna was leading the board already in September 2020, at $15 billion, but was replaced by Checkout.com in January of this year, when the online payments company gained a $15 billion valuation, Pitchbook detailed. According to the authors of the report, the growing participation of U.S. investors has been a major factor in the investment increase in Europe. Almost half of the unicorns’ top 10 backers, such as Accel and Insight Partners, are based across the pond. Pitchbook also emphasized: U.S. firms have been actively targeting Europe’s tech startups, which tend to have lower valuations than their U.S. counterparts, offering more opportunities for higher growth rates. The financial data firm believes that the effects of robust investment into unicorns based in Europe could create even larger valuations in the future. “We expect transatlantic capital flows to continue to increase and strengthen valuations in Europe, as cash-rich U.S. investors seek new companies showing strong potential that could be introduced to the U.S. market,” said Nalin Patel, private capital analyst at Pitchbook.

The Master Boot Record (MBR) is a special type of boot sector found at the beginning of your system partition. The MBR informs the boot process as to what is about to follow, such as partition layouts, sizes, file systems, and so on. An MBR also traditionally contains a small piece of executable code that passes the boot process to the operating system proper, landing you within Windows. Unfortunately, the MBR isn't infallible. It can become corrupt, damaged, or simply disappear, for several reasons. This makes Windows 10 installations prone to errors. Luckily, there are several ways to fix the master boot record in Windows 10. Causes of Startup Failure in Windows 10 How will you know when your MBR fails? There is a very strong chance your system will fail to boot into Windows. Instead, you will meet a screen with an error message stating "Missing operating system," "MBR error," "Error loading operating system," "Invalid partition table," or similar. A master boot record corruption can happen for a number of reasons. Drive failure and damage is a very common cause. In recent years, certain ransomware variants attacked the master boot record to force victims into paying to secure their system. Thankfully, this ransomware practice is rare, though numerous other malware examples directly alter the MBR for maximum damage and irritation. That said, there are several effective ways to fix the Windows master boot record. If one fix doesn't work for your system, try the next. 1. Startup Repair via Windows Automatic Repair When you first boot your Windows 10 system, it should detect that there is an issue and enter Automatic Repair mode. The screen reads Your PC did not start correctly. From here, select Advanced options > Troubleshoot > Startup Repair. The Windows 10 Startup Repair tool is completely automated. It does, however, take a long time to complete, but it should fix your Windows 10 MBR issues. 2. Command Prompt via Windows Automatic Repair If the Windows 10 Startup Repair process doesn't fix your MBR issue, or you simply prefer a faster, more direct approach to fixing your system, you can use the Command Prompt via Automatic Repair. When your system detects there is an issue and the Automatic Repair screen appears, select Advanced Options > Troubleshoot > Command Prompt. You are going to use the bootrec.exe tool to repair the corrupt MBR. Bootrec has a range of commands designed to recover the boot process from issues and is already on your Windows 10 system as part of the base installation. Type bootrec.exe /fixmbr and press Enter. Then type bootrec.exe /fixboot and press Enter. You should see The operation completed successfully underneath each command. If you don't see the operation completion message and instead receive an error, enter bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd and press Enter. The "rebuildbcd" command attempts to rebuild your system Boot Configuration Data (BCD). Unfortunately, this doesn't always work the first time around. In this case, Microsoft suggests exporting the BCD store (the place your boot data is kept) and completely rebuilding from scratch. Sounds scary, but it only takes a short moment. Enter the following commands in order: bcdedit /export c:\bcdbackup cd boot attrib bcd -s -h -r ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd The export and rebuild process should completely repair your MBR issues. Those users still working with Windows 7 or an earlier version can also use the bootrec.exe /scanos command. This command scans for and repairs legacy BCD settings. If You Can't Access Command Prompt via Automatic Repair Some users will find that Windows 10 Automatic Repair doesn't appear at the desired moment. In this situation, you need to use your Windows installation media to boot into repair mode. Unfortunately, if you don't have your Windows installation media to hand, you need to find a working Windows system you can use to create the media. However, there is one more workaround you can attempt if you do not have a Windows installation USB drive or disc lying around. You can trick your system into thinking there is a boot failure by powering it on, then powering it off again when the Windows logo appears. After you repeat this process three times in quick succession, Automatic Repair will trigger. Please note that this will not work for everyone, depending on your system status. 3. Fix MBR Issues in Windows Using GParted Live GParted Live is a bootable Linux distribution with a focus on partition management. However, it also allows you to work on your Windows partitions outside the operating system, meaning you can attempt to fix and restore your MBR issues. To complete this part of the tutorial you need a functioning alternative system. Download GParted Live First, you need to download GParted Live. There are two versions. If you have a 32-bit system, chose the i686.iso version. This version works on both 32 and 64-bit systems, albeit with a few limitations. If you have a 64-bit system (and you are certain it is a 64-bit system!) download the amd64.iso version. Write GParted Live to Bootable Media Next, you need to write the disc image to a bootable media type. I'm using an 8GB USB flash drive, but a smaller drive will work, as well as a suitable disc. You must also download UNetbootin. Open UNetbootin. Select Diskimage at the bottom of the panel, then hit the three dots icon to browse to the GParted Live ISO. Select the ISO and press Open. Then select the USB flash drive you want to write GParted Live too and press OK. Once complete, remove the bootable media and shut your system down. Booting Into GParted Live Insert the bootable GParted Live media into the system with a corrupt MBR. Power on the system, pressing the boot process shortcut key for your system to bring up the boot device selection menu (for instance, F11 on my PC and laptop). You should spot the GParted Live media as a potential bootable source. Select it and let the media load. You will have to make a few minor selections, such as the language and operational mode. Using GParted Live and TestDisk to Fix the MBR Once the GParted Live environment loads, open a Terminal window, type sudo fdisk -l and press Enter. This command will list all drives and partitions currently available on your system. Now, open a new Terminal window, type testdisk, then select No Log. Next, it will ask you what disk you want to fix. Select your drive, then Proceed. Now, select the partition table type. In this case, select Intel/PC partition, and press Enter. Select Analyse, then Quick Search. TestDisk will scan your drive to find any existing and previously deleted partitions. The scan process can take a few minutes depending on the size of the drive. Eventually, it will identify your primary system partition. It does look a little confusing, but you want GParted Live to list all of your system partitions. We are looking for the partition with an "*"---this is your Primary bootable partition and is where the corrupt MBR is lurking. If the scan doesn't show all your partitions, chose Deeper Search. Furthermore, GParted will give you a short list of information if there are any errors. If all of your partitions appear with the correct flags (such as bootable, extended, logical) then (and only then!) Write to the partition table. If the flags are not correct, toggle them using the arrow keys. For instance, in the following screenshots, the first image shows a drive with a duplicate second partition ([Partition 2]). Scrolling over the partition and pressing P shows the files found on that partition. The first duplicate partition is corrupt, as evidenced by the Cannot open filesystem. Filesystem seems damaged message. The second duplicate partition contains the list of file folders and therefore is the correct partition. The flag for the first duplicate partition is then set to D for Delete, while the second duplicate partition is set to L for Logical, restoring the partition and its data to the drive. When you arrive back at the TestDisk menu, choose MBR Code to write a standard MBR to your disk, and confirm. Whew! You're done. You can close the Terminal windows, log out of GParted Live, and shut your system down. Remove the GParted Live bootable media, and reboot your system. 4. Fix MBR Issues in Windows Using Boot Repair Disk Boot Repair Disk is another extremely handy Linux distribution you can use to fix Windows 10 MBR issues. In fact, the Boot Repair Disk includes a copy of GParted, just in case. However, it simplifies the MBR restoration process into a single program with easily toggled boxes. First, download the 64-bit or 32-bit version of Boot Repair Disk, depending on your system. Like the GParted Live image, the 32-bit version only works with 32-bit systems, while the 64-bit version works with both. Write Boot Repair Disk to Bootable Media Next, you need to write the disc image to a bootable media type. I'm using an 8GB USB flash drive, but a smaller drive will work, as well as a suitable disc. You must also download UNetbootin. Open UNetbootin. Select Diskimage at the bottom of the panel, then hit the three dots icon to browse to the Boot Repair Disk ISO. Select the ISO and press Open. Then select the USB flash drive you want to write Boot Repair Disk too and press OK. Once complete, remove the bootable media and shut your system down. Booting Into Boot Repair Disk Insert your Boot Repair Disk media into the system with a corrupt MBR. Power on the system, pressing the boot process shortcut key for your system to bring up the boot device selection menu (for instance, F11 on my PC and laptop). You should spot the Boot Repair Disk USB flash drive or disc as a potential bootable source. Select it and let the media load. Using Boot Repair Disc to Fix the MBR Once the Boot Repair Disk environment loads (Boot Repair Disk uses the lightweight Lubuntu environment), select the LXTerminal from the taskbar. Type fdisk -l and press Enter to list your current drives and partitions. Next, select the B logo in the bottom-right (where the Windows Start menu lives), and head to System Tools > Boot Repair. The program will scan your system, then you can choose an Automatic repair session or view the Advanced Options. First, try the Automatic repair option. Automatic repair fixes the vast majority of boot issues straight away. If that doesn't work, open the Advanced options and head to the MBR options tab. Cross-referencing with the list of drives and partitions in the earlier created LXTerminal session, locate your Windows boot partitions. Boot Repair Disk does mark them out a little clearer than the basic GParted Live commands! Once you are sure, press Apply, then restart your system. 5. Fix MBR Issues Using EaseUS Partition Master This final fix requires you to remove the physical drive from the system in question. Once you remove the drive, you can connect it to another system and use EaseUS Partition Master to fix the MBR. Download and install EaseUS Partition Master, then connect the drive. Select the external drive. (It will have an MBR label.) Right-click the drive label, then select Rebuild MBR. Head to the top-right corner and press Apply, then let the process complete. Remove the drive, then reinstall in the original system, and reboot. Windows 10 Master Boot Record Repair Complete! These five options represent the best and fastest methods for fixing a corrupt or damaged Windows 10 MBR. Better still, many of these fixes will work on older Windows versions, too (sections two and three, particularly). Just remember to take your time, and work your way through each Windows fix.

Organizing the files on your computer can be tricky. If you're not careful, your files and folders could become a sprawling mess that is difficult to navigate and find what you need. That's why we've put together these Windows file management techniques. There's no perfect way when it comes to computer file management, but these tips will help you create order from chaos. 1. Clear Away the Trash Chances are, you have lots of data on your computer that you don't need. Your first step should be to find and delete these since there's no point in organizing unwanted files. It's also good to clean up your drive to make way for new data. Our guide to cleaning Windows 10 should come in handy for this task. If you delete something by accident, you can always recover it from the Recycle Bin. 2. Group Files in Folders Folders are the backbone of a good organizational structure. They let you group files into logical collections. By default, Windows comes with libraries like Documents and Pictures that you can use as a jumping off point. In File Explorer, right click and choose New > Folder to begin creating. It might help to plan out your folder structure on some paper before you get cracking. For example, do you want to split your Pictures folder by event, people, place, or something else? Do you want your Documents separated by life and work? You can also create folders within folders. That said, try not to make the hierarchy too deep, else you'll end up constantly clicking through folders when trying to find something. 3. Create a Consistent Naming Convention It's best to have a consistent naming convention for both folders and files. It should be clear what's inside without needing to open it, but it should also be relatively concise. Don't forget that File Explorer can show you lots of great metadata. In the Ribbon, go to View > Add columns. Here you can add columns like Date modified, Type, and Authors. This means that you don't necessarily need to include this information within file names. Some general tips: When using sequential numbers at the start of names, precede with zeros (e.g. 001, 002) to aid in sorting. Ensure your spelling and grammar are accurate so that they correctly appear in any searches. Don't use abbreviations. They might make sense at the time, but you'll probably forget what they mean. If you need to rename lots of files in one go, use a tool like Bulk Rename Utility. 4. Access Folders and Files Quickly It's great to organize your files into structured folders, but you don't need to navigate through this structure every time you want to find something. Windows has a powerful search. Simply open the Start menu, start typing, and it will scan everything on your computer. Here are some Windows 10 search shortcuts and tips to know. You can pin often-accessed folders to your Start menu. Right click and select Pin to Start to do so. Also, drag a folder onto your taskbar to pin it there. Then, right click the File Explorer icon and it'll appear within the Pinned section. Finally, you can adjust File Explorer to get a better overview of your data. Switch to the View tab in the Ribbon. Here you can choose different Sort by methods, enable the Details pane, change the Layout, and much more. Fiddle around with these options until you land on something that works for you. You can change them per folder too. For example, a Large icons layout is good for a folder of photos, while a List works better for documents. 5. Use Cloud Storage Providers If you often collaborate on files with others or move between devices like a laptop and desktop, it can be a real pain to keep sending files back and forth. You'll also likely end up with multiple files in different places, like your documents and emails. A great way to overcome this is to use a free cloud storage provider. These services give you multiple gigabytes of space to store your data and sync it across all your devices. Decent services, like OneDrive or Google Drive, will integrate directly into File Explorer so you can manage all your files from the same place. 6. Remove Duplicates and Use Shortcuts Having multiple copies of the same file is a dangerous game. Not only is it a waste of storage space, but any changes won't sync between them. This could lead to having different versions of the same document, for example. Duplicates can happen by accident and can be a pain to manually hunt down. That's why it's best to use a program like dupeGuru, which will scan your computer for duplicate files---in file name and contents, including a "fuzzy" search for similar files---and let you remove them. Copies of files often arise when they are saved in different places. Don't do this. Instead, use shortcuts. Within the folder, right click and choose New > Shortcut and follow the wizard. 7. Use Note-Taking Apps If you're the type of person who often needs to jot down notes or thoughts, don't leave stray text files across your computer. Think about physical sticky notes; they are designed as temporary mementos, not a permanent storage solution. The same goes for your digital life. Consider using a note-taking app like OneNote, Evernote, or a lightweight note-taking alternative. Most of these apps let you store locally and online. They are primarily designed for scraps and have their own organization tools. It's far better to use these and keep everything in one place. 8. Archive Old Files if Necessary Some people like to create an "Archive" folder on their computer and dump old files into it, but that's just like sweeping everything under the rug. A proper archive is designed to store files that you no longer need regular access to but still need to keep. It's generally kept separate from your main drive, and you can also use slower and cheaper storage solutions. To find out the history of a file, right click it and select Properties. Here you can see when the file was Created, Modified, and Accessed. It's simple to quickly group together files based on their modified date. In File Explorer, click into the search box at the top right and then use the Date modified dropdown on the Ribbon. You can tie this parameter together with other search strings. For example, you can search for DOC files last modified in 2019. Generally, you only need to archive if you're low on storage space on your main drive. Otherwise, there's no harm in keeping the old data providing it's organized properly. 9. Stick to Your Organization Plan Don't waste all your organizational work. Stick to your plan. It can be very tempting to save a file quickly by naming it randomly and chucking it on your desktop. There are lots of better ways to store your files than the desktop. If you don't keep it up, you'll end up back in the mess of files that you began in. When creating or saving a new file, take a moment to give it a good name, and place it in the right folder. Your future self will thank you. Automatically Organize Your Files These tips are sure to help you lay a great foundation for organizing your files. The days when you can't find something you need are long gone. You'll know exactly how to locate the file you want.

A fresh installation of Windows 10 produces different user folders that are meant to house things like downloads and documents, as well as organize content like music and photographs. However, you might want to customize things to your own liking. Whether you're looking to move these folders to an external drive, or just place them in a different location on your PC, it's not difficult to change things up. That said, it's worth taking stock of how to move user folders to another drive in Windows 10, as certain methods can have some seriously undesirable effects. Why You Shouldn't Move Your Entire User Folder Before we get started, here's a warning: don't move your entire user folder. While there is a way to move your whole user folder in Windows 10, it requires users to implement a deployment tool known as Sysprep. Microsoft states with no room for misunderstanding that this process should only be carried out in a test environment. Do it on your primary PC, and you're liable to lose data, if not access to your system. Fortunately, there are a few alternatives. It's relatively easy to move individual user folders, like Downloads and Documents, without running the risks associated with transferring the entire user folder itself. This way, you can move user folders to another drive, all while avoiding the potential for disaster. Before you start moving things around, it's a good idea to look over our Windows 10 data backup guide. This way, you don't accidentally lose an important file. Method 1: Relocating User Folders Relocating your Documents, Pictures, or Downloads folders is a good way to get around moving your entire user folder. It's a simple process that should only take a couple of minutes. Better yet, you can be sure that you won't lose any of your important files! To get started, open up File Explorer and navigate to the user folder that you want to move. Right-click it and select Properties. Head to the Location tab. Click Move and choose the new location for your folder. From here, click OK to make the change take effect. You can repeat this same process for all of the individual folders that you want to move. It's important to realize that if you choose an existing folder, you'll simply reassign that as the folder you're making changes to. It's better to create a new folder entirely if you want to start afresh. This method makes the transition quick and easy. You'll even see the updated location of your user folders automatically in the Quick Access bar. Method 2: Replacing User Folders Moving user folders using the above Microsoft-approved method shouldn't cause any problems. However, if you're really feeling cautious, you might want to consider replacing your user folders instead. This technique doesn't actually change the location of your existing user folders. Instead, you'll simply use new ones. Since you're not tinkering with the folders that Windows 10 expects to find in a certain place, there's no way it can interfere with the operating system. By default, your photos, documents, apps, pictures, maps, videos, and music all save to the corresponding folders in your user folder. When you want your files saved to a location outside of your user folder and into a separate drive, you'll have to adjust a few settings. Ready to learn how to change the default location of user folders in Windows 10? First, hit the Start menu and navigate to Settings in the left menu bar. Click System > Storage, and then select Change where new content is saved under the "More storage settings" heading. In the next window, you can change where your apps, documents, music, photos, videos, movies, and offline maps will save. Select the dropdown menu under each file to choose an alternative drive. Unfortunately, you can't save new files to a specific folder of your choice. When you select a new drive to save your files on, Windows will automatically create a corresponding folder in the new drive. For example, if you want your document files to save on a different drive, Windows will automatically create a new Documents folder on that drive. Method 3: Changing Your Downloads' Save Location The process of replacing your Downloads folder is a bit different when compared to your other user folders. To begin, go to File Explorer, select a new location for your downloads, and then create a new folder at that location. After that, you'll have to move the default save location of all the content you download from the internet. This means you'll need to open your web browser and select a new Downloads destination. Here, we'll go over how to change your Downloads save location for Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Firefox. Microsoft Edge In Microsoft Edge, click the three dots in the right corner of the browser, and select Settings from the dropdown menu. Navigate to Downloads in the left menu, click the Change box under the "Location" heading, and select the folder of your choice. Google Chrome Google Chrome has a very similar process to Edge. Simply click the three vertical dots at the top right corner of the browser, and then click Settings. Click the Advanced dropdown menu in the left menu bar, and hit Downloads. From here, click Change next to the default folder location, and then select your new Downloads home. Firefox For Firefox, click the three horizontal lines in the top right corner of the browser, and select Options. Scroll down the page until you see the "Downloads" heading. Next to the selection that reads Save files to, hit Browse. You can then locate and redirect downloads to your newly-created folder. Don't Forget to Optimize Your New User Folders If you really want a sense of organization on your computer, you'll want to specify the type of content that's going to be in your new folders. Right-click the folder of your choice in File Explorer, select Properties, and open the Customize tab. Depending on whether you're storing documents, images, music files, or videos, making this tweak will ensure that the folder is properly optimized. Lastly, you'll want to customize your Quick Access menu and add your new user folders to it. This is as simple as right-clicking the folder and hitting Pin to Quick access. Just don't forget to right-click any out-of-commission user folders, and select Unpin from Quick access as well. Move User Folders in Windows 10 and Save Storage Space Moving your Windows user folder to optimize space may seem like a relatively innocuous change, but it can easily cause some major problems. Whenever you tinker with settings related to the foundations of your operating system, there's a possibility that you might cause some real damage. Microsoft makes tools like Sysprep for enterprise use in very specific situations. While expert users can employ them to great effect, there's a thin line between getting the results that you want and breaking something important, especially if you're trying to make space for storage in a hurry. Sometimes, it's best to be a little cautious. This is especially true when it comes to the Windows install process or manipulating system files.

You'd love to get more speed out of your PC, but don't have a ton of time to spend. Some of the most important speed benefits, like upgrading your hardware, can take hours to shop, ship, and physically replace. That's why we want to show you quick tricks to speed up Windows in no time at all. Here are 10 different ways to squeeze a little more speed out of your system without investing hours of your time. 1. Remove Some Startup Programs (5 Minutes) One of the easiest ways to improve your PC's performance is removing unnecessary programs from running at startup. Many apps, like Skype, Spotify, and Chrome, run by default as soon as you log into your PC. If you're not using them right away, this wastes resources at boot and throughout your session. To view what programs run at startup on Windows 8.1 or 10, right-click an empty spot on the Taskbar and click Task Manager. Select the Startup tab to review everything. On the rightmost column, you'll see the Startup impact of each item. Windows determines this and it isn't always accurate, but it gives you an idea. Windows 7 users can access the Startup menu by typing msconfig into the Start Menu and selecting the Startup tab. Go through the list and if you see anything that doesn't need to run at startup, right-click it and choose Disable. Don't disable vital programs here, like your antivirus or backup software. Review our list of some items to remove from startup if you're not sure. Once you take a few off the list, your computer should boot up faster. 2. Disable Windows Visual Effects (2 Minutes) On all but the weakest machines, Windows includes a bunch of fancy effects that make using it more pleasant. These include animations when minimizing or maximizing windows, fade effects, and font smoothing. Disabling them will free up extra resources for performance instead of eye candy. To do so, type performance into the Start Menu and select Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows. You'll see the Performance Options window with several options on the Visual Effects tab. Read through them and decide which ones you want to keep, or just select the Adjust for best performance option to disable them all. Click OK, and Windows will apply your changes. Of course, disabling these will make Windows rougher around the edges. But after a few days of it, you probably won't even notice. 3. Check Your Power Plan (3 Minutes) Windows includes several power plans that let select how it uses energy. On a laptop when you're trying to conserve battery life, an energy-saving plan makes sense. But on a desktop where you don't have to worry about power consumption, it's silly to limit your PC's performance with this. To check your power plans, open the Settings app and navigate to System > Power & sleep. Select the Additional power settings link to open the Power Options entry in the Control Panel. Here, check to see that you're using the Balanced plan. Windows, by default, also offers a Power saver plan and High performance option under the bottom drop-down menu. The Balanced plan is the best option for most users, as it automatically adjusts power usage based on what you're doing. Selecting the High performance plan doesn't really provide any additional benefits. Click Change plan settings if you'd like to tweak any of the options, like how long your PC waits before it automatically goes to sleep. 4. Uninstall Old Apps and Bloatware (5-10 Minutes) Uninstalling programs won't make your computer faster on its own. However, removing unnecessary apps can have a positive effect on performance if those apps are running in the background, accessing the internet, using Windows services, etc. This is especially true for bloatware programs that nag you to buy their premium product. To review your installed software, open Settings, select the Apps entry, and scroll through the list of programs you have installed. When you find an app you haven't used in forever (or a program you don't need), click it and choose Uninstall. Follow our guide to easily removing bloatware for specific tips on those programs. 5. Clean Up Your Hard Drive (5 Minutes) Like uninstalling programs, cleaning up old files doesn't instantly speed up your computer. But if you have tons of files filling up your hard drive, giving it some breathing room can indeed improve performance. You don't need to install any new software to clean up old files. Type Disk Cleanup into the Start Menu and let Windows scan for unnecessary data. To find more files, select Clean up system files once you see the Disk Cleanup window. Take a look through here to see what you'd like to remove and how much space this can free up. Most of them, like Temporary files and error logs, are safe to remove. However, you should think carefully before removing the Previous Windows installation and Windows upgrade log files entries. When you upgrade to the latest version of Windows 10, Windows saves your old installation in a folder called Windows.old. If you decide you don't like the new version, these files make it easy to roll back in just a few clicks. However, if you delete Windows.old from this menu, you'll have to manually downgrade -- which is more time-consuming. Thus, we recommend waiting until you're sure that you have no issues with a new Windows 10 Update before cleaning these options. 6. Replace Some Software (5-10 Minutes) Perhaps it's not Windows that's slow, but the software that you're using. You should first check for updates in your most-used apps to take advantage of new features and speed enhancements. Further, we've looked at the most efficient software in several categories if you want to get the most out of your PC's resources. Replacing a few programs with lighter alternatives could increase performance. For example, removing the bloated Norton Antivirus and letting the lightweight Windows Defender take over is a great idea. Chrome is known for gobbling up RAM, and you don't need Adobe Reader when there are lighter alternatives. 7. Check Your Internet Speed (5-10 Minutes) While we're discussing potential solutions that aren't related to Windows itself, we should also mention your internet connection speed. Even a powerful computer can slow to a crawl when browsing on a slow network connection. To improve this, you can implement some fixes to speed up your home network, as well as tweak Windows to correct internet problems. Just ignore the myths about boosting internet speed. 8. Let Windows Look for Problems (5 Minutes) Did you know that Windows includes built-in troubleshooting tools? While they're not always successful, these can scan for and detect common issues, like problems with Windows Update. To access the performance troubleshooter, type Control Panel into the Start Menu to open it. In the upper-right corner, change the View by entry from Category to Small icons. Select Troubleshooting and under System and Security, click Run maintenance tasks. You'll see the troubleshooting window pop up. Select the Advanced link and make sure the Apply repairs automatically is checked. Also, choose Run as administrator so the tool can fix additional problems. Then click Next, and give the tool a few moments to run. If it detects any issues, you'll see a summary of them at the end. 9. Scan for Malware (10 Minutes) If your PC drastically slowed down all of a sudden, you might have a malware infection. Install Malwarebytes and run a scan to find any threats. Once you've confirmed your system is malware-free, make sure you're using the right security software to prevent issues in the future. 10. Restart! (2 Minutes) Don't forget that one of the easiest ways to give your PC a boost is restarting it! When you haven't shut down your system in weeks, Windows has more performance problems and feels sluggish. A simple restart of your system can fix issues and give you better performance with little work. Note that thanks to Windows 10's Fast Startup feature, which makes booting up from scratch faster, shutting down and rebooting isn't a proper restart. Make sure to select Restart from the power menu to do it correctly. How Do You Speed Up Windows? These 10 methods let you speed up Windows without investing a lot of time. These software tweaks won't speed up the system as much as installing an SSD, but they'll certainly help. You can try these next time you have a few minutes, and most of them don't require installing any new software.

Disasters happen. Unless you're willing to lose all your data in the blink of an eye, you need a good backup routine. Agree but haven't gotten around to it yet? Then you've come to the right place! By the end of this guide, you'll know everything you need to know to regularly back up your PC: what to back up, strategies for backing up, and which tools to use. Here's an overview of what you'll learn: In this guide: What Are Backups and Why Do I Need One? | Types of Backups | The Master Backup Plan | Which Files Should I Back Up? | How Often Should I Make Backups? | Backup Strategies | Backup Tools | Where Should I Store My Backups? | How Do I Back Up and Restore My Operating System? 1. What Are Backups and Why Do I Need One? A backup is a copy of electronic data that gets stored separately from the original files. If the original data gets corrupted, damaged, deleted, or lost, you can recover and/or restore the data using the backup. In short, a backup minimizes the risk of permanently losing data. Backups are necessary because data has value. Whether the data is sentimental, commercial, or legal, backups act as a way to secure sensitive details. In a world where most information is traded digitally, nearly all data carries financial value (e.g. purchased music or ebooks). And for files that don't have monetary value, they likely have time value. If you can afford to lose your files, then you don't need to waste time or effort on preparing backups. In fact, there's an entire industry that depends on people who don't make backups: the data recovery industry. Should your hard drive break down, there's a good chance that your files can be recovered. However, that expert service comes with a high price tag whereas self-made backups can be done entirely for free. This manual will guide you through the process of setting up and maintaining regular backups in Windows 10. The concepts can be adopted for nearly any other operating system, though the exact steps may differ slightly. 2. Types of Backups Before choosing a backup strategy, we must understand the different types of backups. Full Backup A full backup is a 100 percent copy of the original files. It is typically saved to a fresh folder that carries a timestamp. This is the traditional way to back up files. Since every single file is copied, the full backup is the slowest of all backup types but most reliable when restoring. Differential Backup A differential backup tracks all files that have changed since the last full backup. This means it adds all new and updated files to an existing full backup. If other backups were made in the meantime (i.e. another differential backup), files that were backed up during these sessions will be backed up again, since differential backups are not full backups. This is the most convenient way to back up files because differential backups are fast and allow you to revert to previous versions of a file when necessary. Incremental Backup Like a differential backup, an incremental backup backs up only changed files. The difference between the two is that the incremental backup simply backs up files that were changed since the previous backup, no matter whether this was a full, differential, or incremental backup. This is the fastest way to update an existing backup. Syncing Technically, syncing is a form of backup. The difference is that it works in multiple directions. For example, if a file is synced between two computers and gets edited on one computer, the latest copy is synced to the second computer. That synced copy acts as a backup in case the first is lost. As you may have guessed, this method is interesting and worthwhile if you regularly access and edit files from different locations (e.g. your home computer and your work computer). 3. The Master Backup Plan Throughout this guide, you'll learn how to organize your data and which tools to use for backups. But since this topic can be overwhelming at first, let's start with a master plan before diving in. This is a simplified overview of the steps you need to take to create a simple and automated backup routine: Get an overview of your files and where everything is. Move all personal files off the system partition. Decide which files to back up, how often, and where to. Decide which tools to use and set up scheduled backups. If the tools you picked do not provide scheduling, create a scheduled task. (Optional) Back up your operating system in case you need to reinstall. Seems straightforward, right? Now let's have a closer look at how to make this all happen. 4. Which Files Should I Back Up? As a general rule of thumb, you should back up all personal files, media files, downloaded files, system customizations, office documents, records, and statements. Common locations for backing up include, but aren't limited to: C:/ProgramData C:/Users C:/Windows/Fonts Custom folders where you store files Other hard drives or partitions with data If you find that your files are all over the place, be sure to check out the "Backup Strategies" section for ways to better organize your files and folders in a smart way. For a deeper dive into all the different kinds of files you should back up (and should NOT back up), plus reasons for why or why not, see our article on choosing what to back up in Windows 10. Tip: Hidden files! Some of the listed folders may be hidden. To view them, open their respective parent folders, go to Organize > Folder and search options. In the Folder Options window, switch to the View tab. Under Files and Folders, select Show hidden files, folders, and drives. Click OK to apply to the selected folder only, or click Apply to Folders to apply to all folders. 5. How Often Should I Make Backups? In one word: OFTEN! Well, the truth is there are files you don't need to back up every day or even every week. For example, large data collections that barely change only need to be backed up every other week or month, depending on how often you add to them. Files you change daily or weekly (e.g. emails or work documents) should be backed up at least once a week or every other day. Important files that you access and edit daily, even from different computers, can be stored in one folder and synced with online storage space. You can automate this process so you don't even have to think about making backups. Let me repeat that you need to run backups regularly. The frequency depends on how often the files change and on how important the changes are. Rule of thumb? The more frequently the file changes and the more important the file is, the more often you need to back it up. Learn more about this in our overview of basic data backup facts. 6. Backup Strategies You can either back up everything, or you can revert to smart backups using differential or incremental backups (revisit the "Types of Backups" section). A smart backup saves time, hard drive space, and preserves energy. The smart backup strategy is to create different types of backups depending on what you are backing up, and creating automatic schedules that will help you not to forget or skip backups. Personal vs. System Files My first and most important advice is to organize your files so that your personal data is NOT stored on the same drive or partition as the operating system. This strategy has several advantages: Your personal data will be safe if your system fails. Nothing to worry about! Your personal files will live in one location. Simple to back up! When reinstalling your system, you have to restore less data. Faster setup! To move personal files from your system drive, you either have to install a second hard drive or create an additional partition on your primary hard drive. The latter option is completely free and can be done at any time without installing additional tools. Re-partitioning a hard drive is generally safe but can go wrong. Don't attempt it unless you've already made a backup of your data. If you do decide to re-partition, make sure to allocate at least 20GB for the operating system (more if you install a lot of software or games). You should always have at least 5GB of free space for smooth system performance. Learn how to do so in our guide to resizing hard drive partitions in Windows. Online Backup and/or Sync Backing up files online has the advantage of being able to access them from anywhere, provided you have an internet connection. Since the servers that store your data are generally backed up themselves, this is also the safest way to back up your files. Server space is expensive though, so you should only back up your most heavily-accessed files online. What keeps many people from storing data online (or "on the cloud") is the misconception that cloud-stored data is easier to hack, copy, and abuse. But for the most part, professional servers tend to be better secured than the average home computer. Media Collections For large media collections (i.e. music and movies), you only need to keep one full backup that you update regularly. For this, I would recommend setting up a weekly or monthly incremental backup that runs on a set schedule. Remember that if you edit the original collection, any deleted files will still be present in your backup. Hence you should make a full backup after removing files or folders from the original copy. Seasonal Backups We recommend seasonal backups for files and folders you don't change often. For files you never change and rarely update, once a year might even be okay. For example, when you return from vacation you probably upload photos from your digital camera to your computer and sort them into respective folders. This is when you should run an incremental backup to add these files to your backup. You can do the same for music or movie downloads and run those backups whenever you deem necessary. 7. Backup Tools The good news is, there's no lack of high-quality backup tools for Windows users. The operating system itself comes with a File History feature for backups, but you'll find an abundance of third-party alternatives out there as well. Whatever your needs, one of them is sure to deliver. Windows File History Windows 7 had the Backup and Restore feature, but it was replaced by File History in Windows 8.1 and 10. This is the operating system's built-in method for backing up data, and it uses an incremental backup technique that can save changes in real-time. To launch the File History feature in Windows 10, open the Start Menu and search for backup. From the results, select Backup settings and hit Enter. If File History isn't set up, you'll see this: Click Add a drive and it'll start scanning for connected drives. I'm using a USB flash drive in this example, and that's fine if you want to as well, but for long-term backups you'll be better off with a full-blown external drive: Once a drive is selected, File History will turn on. If you don't care about automatic backups and only want to do them manually, disable the Automatically back up my files toggle: To customize File History settings, click More options. You'll arrive on the Backup Options page. Here you can change the automatic backup frequency and how long backups should be kept, and you can click on Back up now to initiate a manual backup: Scroll down a bit to see the Back up these folders section, where you can select and/or remove which folders to include in the backup. Click Add a folder to add one, or click on an existing folder then Remove to remove one: Scroll further down to see the Exclude these folders section. If you've selected a certain folder for backups but want to skip over one of its subfolders, this is how you mark it to be ignored: To change to another drive, click Stop using drive at the bottom. This lets you go back and choose another drive when clicking Add a drive. Local and FTP Backups: Cobian Backup Cobian Backup has been my personal tool of choice for many years. It offers advanced features while still being easy to use for day-to-day backup purposes. When installing Cobian Backup, install it as a service rather than as an application. Go to Help > Tutorial for an explanation of why this is important. For this guide, we'll walk through the steps for creating a monthly incremental backup. Backup jobs in Cobian Backup are called Tasks. Click on the clock icon or navigate to Task > New task in the menu to create your first backup job. The new task window launches with the General tab open. If you create separate backups with a timestamp, you can select how many copies to keep (bottom left). If you set up a differential or incremental backup, you can choose how often a full backup should be prepared (bottom right). The Dummy option opens the respective task on schedule, but doesn't run it. This is handy if you simply need a reminder (e.g. to run a backup once you no longer need the computer). If you don't want a task to run for a while, you can uncheck the Enabled box: In the Files tab, specify both the files and folders you want to back up (Source), as well as where you want to back them up to (Destination). Cobian Backup also supports FTP server backups (to and from). Setting up multiple destinations is practical if network letters for your external hard drive sometimes change. Or you can make a backup to multiple locations. Cobian Backup lets you drag and drop files and folders, which I find very convenient: The Schedule tab is straightforward with no surprising or complicated features. This tab also completes the basics that are required for a proper backup: Under Archive, you can set up file compression and encryption and password protect your backups. I prefer to run my backups with neither: Likewise, I don't use Exclusions or Inclusions. However, it's an interesting feature if you have an older backup made with another tool and would like to back up only newer files. You can also discriminate by size, file, or directory: If you want to back up application profiles, you may want to look into the Events tab. Here you can let Cobian Backup run events before and after the backup (e.g. close and open programs or shut down the computer after the backup concludes). If you run Cobian Backup as an application, you should always close programs if you intend to back up their profiles. However, you can also install Cobian Backup as a service and simply log off your user account before the backup starts. Under Advanced you can run the task as another user and set other preferences: Cobian Backup does not offer a restore feature. However, to copy files back to the source, you can use a reverse backup task or a command-line option like robocopy. Online Sync: Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive If you decide to back up data on a cloud storage service, your three main options are Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. They all work in pretty much the same way: a designated folder that syncs in real-time whenever you add remove, or change files. All three options offer the same core features, including cross-platform support for mobile devices and the ability to access your files from anywhere using a web browser. So why choose one over another? Two reasons. The first depends on whether or not one of these services has an advanced feature that you really want (e.g. File History in OneDrive). The second depends on how much space you need. For free users, Google Drive offers the most space (15GB), followed by OneDrive (5GB), then Dropbox (2GB). Learn more about the differences in our comparison of Dropbox vs. Google Drive vs. OneDrive and in our guide to backing up a Windows PC to the cloud. Automatic Backups With Scheduled Tasks If you end up using a backup solution that doesn't provide a scheduling option, or you don't want to keep apps running in the background all the time, then you can use Scheduled Tasks in Windows. Use these to automate the backup process, or if that isn't possible, then at least remind yourself to do it manually. Open the Start Menu, search for schedule, then launch the app called Task Scheduler: Click Action > Create Basic Task: Enter a Name and Description if you want, then click Next to move on to the Trigger tab. Pick your schedule preference (e.g. weekly) and enter the details (e.g. every Monday at 1am): In the Action tab, select Start a program, then click Next. On the next page, click Browse and navigate to the application's EXE file. In our example, we're launching Cobian Backup: Click Next, review the task details, and click Finish to complete. Now your backup tool will automatically run according to schedule! Learn more in our overview of Windows Task Scheduler and in these nifty examples of Scheduled Tasks. 8. Where Should I Back Up To? You can back up your files in many different ways. The most common backup media include CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, hard drives, flash drives, and online server space. They all have advantages and disadvantages, which are reviewed below. Tip: Hard drives vs. solid state drives! When choosing either an internal or external data drive, your first decision will be what kind of data drive to get. Learn the differences by checking out our articles on what to know about hard drives, what to know about solid state drives, and lifespan differences between the two. Which backup medium should you choose? First of all, it's important to realize that different backup media are better (and worse) for different purposes. The more important your files are, the more reliable the backup medium should be (e.g. CD, DVD, Blu-ray). Frequently-changed files should be backed up to a medium that allows frequent rewrites (e.g. hard drive). If you want to access files from more than one location, you should consider backing them up online or to portable media (e.g. USB flash drive). Life or Business Documents Since you're going to save very important files on an ultra-portable backup medium like a DVD, Blu-ray disc, or a USB flash drive, you can easily store them away from your computer. Keep them in a fire-proof safe, give them to someone you trust, put them into your drawer or locker at work or school, or hide them in your car. If these documents contain sensitive information, be sure to encrypt the backup! Learn more about why you should encrypt files and how to encrypt files on Windows. Personal Files Photos, scanned documents (i.e. digital backups), emails, address books, and other personal files that you cannot retrieve once lost should be stored as safely as possible. Consider storing them online or back them up to an external drive that you store away from home. Media Collections Whether music, videos, or movies, it's easy to hoard hundreds of GBs worth of data. You should store these files on a portable hard drive. And if you have the chance, store that drive in a different room or somewhere else entirely. If your house burns down, you'll wish you had been smart enough to keep the external drive away from your computer. 9. How Do I Back Up and Restore My Operating System? At this point, your data should be safely backed up. However, you can go one step further and back up your entire operating system. While installing an operating system can be simple, it still takes a lot of time. Below we propose two strategies that can save you the hassle of setting up your entire operating system from scratch if you ever need to reinstall. System Restore Points With system restore points, Windows provides an easy solution for undoing changes made to the operating system. You should create restore points before every major Windows Update, driver update, or change to system settings. When things go wrong, you can easily return to a working version of Windows without wasting hours on troubleshooting or even reinstalling the system. Learn more about how System Restore and Factory Reset work as well as how to create a System Restore point. In Windows 10, you can also entirely roll back a Windows Update. Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery and under Go back to the previous version of Windows 10, click Get started. However, this is not a backup and the rollback option is available for 10 days only. Drive or System Images Another option is to clone your hard drive, which creates an "image" of everything on it, including the operating system. This drive image (or system image) lets you immediately restore the state of the system on a different hard drive or computer. If you keep a fresh and clean image, you'll never have to reinstall Windows from scratch again because you can just use the image to restore the entire system. Drive images should contain a complete setup of the system, including oft-used apps and system settings, but no personal data. If you followed the advice from earlier in this guide, personal data will be kept on a separate drive. Learn more about how to create an image of a Windows system. Now You're a Windows Data Backup Master Bad things happen, and the best you can do is be prepared. Backups are an easy way to secure your work, but they can only help you if done regularly and stored safely. This guide outlined all the essential steps required to keep your data safe from system failure and other events that threaten data loss. You should now have a good understanding of the options available to you. While some of the procedures may seem complicated and tedious, they don't require a lot of maintenance once they're set up.

From brand new functions like pairing your phone or customizing video playback, to improvements on existing ones like Gaming and Windows Update, Settings has seen some great improvements. If you're looking to upgrade, see our article on things to do before installing the Fall Creators Update. If we've missed anything that you think is worth pointing out, head to the comments section and let us know. Quick Tip: You can easily access Settings at any time by pressing Windows key + I. Below we've listed some new features of the two most recent Creators Updates, along with where to find them on the Settings overview page. Fall Creators Update (1709) 1. Storage Sense Storage Sense was a new feature in the Creators Update, but some new options have been added. Access it via System > Storage > Change how we free up space. You can now enable Delete files in the Downloads folder that haven't been changed in 30 days and also Delete previous versions of Windows. The latter is used after an upgrade to Windows 10, though note that these will be cleared automatically after 10 days whether you're using Storage Sense or not. Simply slide Storage sense to On and tick what you want. Click Clean now if you want to free up space immediately, rather than when you're low on disk space or when 30 days passes (depending on what options you've set.) 2. Phone The new Phone section allows you to link your iPhone or Android phone to your Windows 10 PC. Click Add a phone to get started and follow the wizard. You'll need to verify your phone number and download the app it sends you. This feature is still in its infancy. Currently, you can use your phone's share feature to select Continue on PC. This will then send the supported content, like a website link, straight to your PC. If you're on Android then you can also use the Microsoft Launcher, which will reskin your phone. Swipe right to get a feed of events, news, and favorite apps. The Microsoft Launcher is better than what Windows Mobile used to offer, but I still prefer stock Android. The Phone feature will undoubtedly be improved in future Windows 10 updates. Previously, Microsoft talked about receiving incoming call alerts and a Timeline tool to load up previously launched apps. Sadly, these didn't make the Fall Creators Update. 3. People You may have noticed the new icon on your Taskbar, near the tray. This represents the People feature and lets you pin contacts to your Taskbar for quick access. You can click the icon in your Taskbar to get going. It hooks into applications like Mail and Skype, though you can also add friends and family manually to the People application itself. To edit its behavior, go to Personalization > Taskbar and scroll to the People section. You can turn it off entirely with the Show contacts on the taskbar or customize notification settings with Show My People notifications and Play a sound when a My People notification arrives. 4. Video Playback Some applications, like Edge, Movies & TV, and Netflix, use Windows 10's video platform. You can now customize the settings for this by going to Apps > Video playback. If your monitor supports High Dynamic Range (HDR), you can slide Stream HDR Video to On to get the most out of it. You can also choose to allow Windows to Automatically process video to enhance it and Allow video to play at a lower resolution for those needing to save bandwidth. 5. Sign-in Options Found via Accounts > Sign-in options, beneath Privacy, you'll find a new toggle called Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device after an update or restart. This is turned On by default. After an update to Windows or a supported app, where your system has to restart or shut down, it'll automatically sign you in so that it can complete the process. Once done, it'll then log you out. 6. Gaming The Gaming section of Settings was introduced in the previous Creators Update, but some new abilities have been added. In Game DVR, you can now choose to Record game audio only. Similarly, in Broadcasting you can Broadcast game audio only. This means it won't pick up things like your voice or system sounds when recording or streaming. TruePlay is a new feature, though in typical Windows 10 fashion it doesn't properly explain what this does. Essentially, it's Microsoft's anti-cheat tool. Supported games will run in a protected process to mitigate against attacks. The game will also be monitored for cheating, with that data then analyzed and sent to the developers if a cheat is found. Elsewhere, the Xbox Networking page gives you information about your connection status, performance (latency and packet loss), and Xbox Live multiplayer compatibility (NAT type and server connectivity). If problems are found, you can click Fix it to try and automatically resolve them. 7. Ease of Access A few of the tools in the Ease of Access section received new features. First, Magnifier now gives you the choice to Invert colors and Enable bitmap smoothing. This latter option aims to make things look clearer when zoomed in at a high level. You'll also find a list of keyboard shortcuts for controlling the Magnifier. Click Show all keyboard shortcuts to expand the list. Second, Ease of Access > Color & high contrast used to just be called High contrast. Those settings are still here, but there's now the addition of Color filters. These help those with color sensitivity or color blindness to see the screen more clearly. Slide Apply color filter to On to enable it. You can then use the Choose a filter drop#down to change between options like Greyscale, Invert, and Deuteranopia. 8. Cortana All the Cortana settings are now grouped together in Settings. Cortana > Talk to Cortana lets you set how Cortana is activated, whether through speech, a keyboard shortcut, or the lock screen. Permissions & History collects together what Cortana is allowed to manage on your behalf. A new setting here is Windows Cloud Search, which you can switch On or Off to determine whether your cloud content is shown in Windows Search. You can also click Manage the information Cortana can access from this device to be taken to a different page. Here you can change the Location, Contacts, email, calendar and communication history, and Browsing history permission settings. Going back, Cortana > Notifications gives you the option to enable Send notifications between devices. This will mean Cortana will tell you when your phone's battery is low, or if you miss a notification. 9. Windows Update Those with limited bandwidth will be pleased to know that this update adds greater fidelity for Windows updates. Go to Update & Security > Advanced options > Delivery Optimization > Advanced options. Here you can limit what percentage of your bandwidth is used for downloading updates. The sliders only offer 5% as the lowest, so you can't entirely block the updates. If you've opted in to upload Windows updates to other computers, you can also set the bandwidth percentage for this. Additionally, you can set a monthly upload limit, which once reached will stop your device uploading to other PCs. Creators Update (1703) Windows changes quickly these days. Curious what changes the previous Windows Update brought? Here are the most important settings that were new to you when you upgraded from the Anniversary Update. 1. Night Light Third-party apps like F.lux have been around for a while, claiming to help improve your sleep habits. Now Microsoft has integrated the feature into Windows 10. Accessible via System > Display > Night light settings, the Night Light functionality will change the color temperature of your screen. Click Turn on now and use the slider to adjust to your liking. You can set your own levels or schedule it to your local sunset by sliding Schedule night light to On. 2. Storage Sense If you find yourself often struggling for free storage space, or just want to keep things tidy, you'll like the new Storage Sense feature. Find it in System > Storage. Beneath Storage sense, slide to On to enable the feature. Then click Change how we free up space. Here you can choose to enable and disable particular functions. At the moment it only deletes temporary files that apps aren't using and files in the recycle bin for more than 30 days, but let's hope it expands in a future update. 3. Shared Experiences This feature launched with the Anniversary Update; you could begin a task on one device and continue on another. It originally only supported Microsoft devices but has now been extended to Android too, though the number of developers supporting it is minimal at the moment. It's enabled by default on System > Shared experiences and here you can also choose who you share or receive from. My devices only is more limited, while Everyone nearby will allow those in the vicinity to connect to your computer. 4. Themes This isn't an entirely new feature per se, but the Creators Update has given it an improved interface and the nice ability to easily save your theme and switch between custom ones. To get started, head to Personalization > Themes. Here you can click elements like Background and Sounds to customize them. Once satisfied, click Save theme to do exactly that. You can also click Get more themes in the Store to browse the growing collection of downloadable themes. 5. Installing Apps You can now choose where you download apps from. Microsoft claims that installing only apps from their official Windows Store will keep it running smoothly. This feature is likely most useful for those of you with multiple people using your computer. To adjust this setting, go to Apps > Apps & features and use the Installing apps dropdown. Allow apps from anywhere is the default, but you can also switch to Warn me before installing apps from outside the Store and Allow apps from the Store only. 6. Dynamic Lock Dynamic Lock is a feature that will automatically lock your computer when it detects that your phone has moved away from it. To get started, go to Devices > Bluetooth & other devices and then click Add Bluetooth or other device to pair your phone. When done, go back to Settings and go to Accounts > Sign-in options and tick Allow Windows to detect when you're away and automatically lock the device. 7. Gaming The Gaming section is brand new and has a whole host of customizable features. Some of this was available in the Xbox app previously, but now it's more easily accessible via Settings. Game Bar allows you to enable the in-game overlay, along with changing the keyboard shortcuts to perform certain actions like taking a screenshot or turning your microphone on and off. Note, however, that the Game Bar can slow down your system. If you're struggling with performance issues, try to disable this feature. Game DVR lets you turn on background recording so that you never miss a great gaming moment, along with the ability to change how long this runs for and the capture quality. Finally, Game Mode lets you enable the self-titled feature, which supposedly helps improve your game performance. We've tested Game Mode to analyze those claims, so check that out to decide if you want to use it. 8. Windows Update Accessible via Update & security, some of the functionality here has been tweaked. If you use active hours, which stops your system restarting during a specific time period, you can now specify a range of up to 18 hours. If you click Restart options you can also choose to Show more notifications so you get a warning that the system is about to restart. Finally, there's a great new Troubleshoot section which will help you resolve all sorts of issues that you might be having with your system, like blue screens or network problems. Click the relevant troubleshooter and it'll launch to try and automatically fix any issues. Evolution of Windows 10 Settings Windows 10 is an ever-evolving operating system and the Settings pages are going to keep changing. It's a good idea to check in after every big update to see what new stuff is available. For more information, check out our ultimate guide to controlling Windows 10 via Settings, which goes into full detail on every section. What is your favorite new Settings feature? Is there something you'd like to see Microsoft add?

What's wrong with your computer? Has your PC stopped booting, or does your laptop crash after an hour or so every single time you switch it on? Perhaps there's a problem with the power cable, or maybe your mouse isn't working properly -- or worse, you've spilt coffee on the keyboard. The default option for most people is to get on the phone and call a PC repair shop. Or to contact the vendor for some expensive support. But in the vast majority of cases, you don't need to rely on these services. Just make sure you know what you're about to face before you start fixing it. These DIY fixes will show you just how straightforward it is to repair your computer or laptop yourself. 1. Computer Won't Boot: Check Your Power Cable There are many reasons why your computer won't boot. It might be a problem with the operating system, or the hard disk drive. The motherboard might also have an issue. But if you've checked all of these things already, there is another common issue that many people overlook. Desktop PC power cables -- that connect the computer's power supply unit (PSU) to the mains electric -- can simply fail. Perhaps your cable has been bent, causing one of the internal wires to break. If you're in the U.K., it might be that the fuse has blown. Either way, many PC issues can be fixed with relative ease by simply switching the power cable. 2. Slow or Hanging Computer A common problem for laptops and desktop computers is slow performance. This is often blamed on things like a hard disk drive that needs defragging, or a slow processor. And if you're running an older computer (say, 5-10 years old or more) then this can be the case. But the main reason for a slow computer, especially when the processor (CPU) is a highly rated one, is a lack of RAM. Memory is vital for the smooth running of a computer. The CPU uses memory constantly. While a CPU with a larger onboard cache will improve overall performance considerably, adding sticks of RAM to your computer is the next best solution. Before you head out and buy some new RAM, make sure you know you're buying the right thing. Memory has evolved over the years, with different configurations and connectors used. Laptop RAM isn't compatible with desktop motherboards, for instance. Check our guide to upgrading your computer's RAM. Do you have some left over? Try one of these RAM recycling tips! 3. Spilled Coffee on Your Laptop? Try This! Accidentally pouring liquid over your keyboard is a common occurrence, especially in offices around the world at 8am. Hot or cold, liquid with a heavy water content doesn't mix with electronics. If you're using a desktop computer, it's a relatively trivial matter to attach a new keyboard and carry on working. But what if you spilled coffee on your laptop keyboard? Under the keyboard of your laptop are the workings of the computer. The processor, RAM, motherboard, storage, and the battery! None of this is watertight. So how do you repair your laptop? The first thing to do is remove the power cable, then hold the power switch and turn the laptop off. Then, using a paper towel, remove excess liquid, using a dabbing action. Don't wipe, as this will spread the liquid. Swiftly follow by carefully turning it over, keeping the base section horizontal when you've done so, and removing the battery. The focus now should be on drying the laptop. You might do this with a can of compressed air, or a hairdryer on its lowest setting (held around eight inches away). When you think it's dry, it probably isn't. You'll need the insides to dry out further before the laptop can be connected to the battery or a power supply again. Stand it in an inverted-V shape in a warm room or cupboard, but not on or near a radiator. Do not place the laptop in direct sunlight. You may consider using the rice trick for a smartphone or tablet to absorb the remaining moisture. Leave the laptop for at least 24 hours, preferably 36 hours, before checking to see if it works. You'll probably find that a new keyboard is required. 4. Regular HDD Failure Hard disk drives can fail, taking your data with them. Recovery is possible, but it can be a massive obstacle to getting on with the job at hand. It's possible to tell if a HDD is about to fail, just as the imminent death of an SSD can be predicted. But is it really death? Corrupted data, bad sectors, a slow PC with regular freezes and the dreaded BSOD can all indicate that your HDD is about to stop for good. But it's always worth checking whether or not the problem lies elsewhere. After all, if there's a chance you can save money on the cost of a new HDD, you might want to take it. While SATA cables are pretty reliable, their predecessor, the IDE cable (also known as PATA), were less so. Similarly, Molex power cables for older HDDs (and optical drives) are also prone to failure. It's not unheard of for an individual wire to come loose from a Molex plug. In short, before you cast aside your failing HDD, check how it runs with some new cables. You might be pleasantly surprised. Meanwhile, if your laptop is running out of storage space, consider replacing the CD-ROM/DVD drive with a second HDD. 5. Overheating PC or Laptop Poor ventilation will increase the heat in the processor, pushing your computer to work harder, and increasing heat. Eventually, the computer will stop. An overheating PC (or laptop) can be avoided by ensuring the vents are kept clear, that the fans are working, and that the inside of the computer isn't clogged with dust. You can avoid PC overheating issues by increasing the airflow through the case, from the in fan through to the out fan. Reducing obstacles to this flow (e.g. flat IDE cables) is a great fix here. If your motherboard and drives support SATA, that's even better. If you're still relying on IDE/PATA hardware, switch to the type that use a tubular cable rather than the flat "ribbon" variety. Our guide to installing a new fan in your computer case can help here. 6. Battery Drains Too Quickly Noticing a quick reduction in battery time on your laptop? Sadly, battery cells don't last forever, and sooner or later you're going to find yourself unable to take your laptop anywhere without a power cable. But is the battery really dead? Many laptop batteries can be recalibrated, as demonstrated above. If that doesn't help, then it's time to buy a new battery. Replacements can often be bought cheaply, but they're often knock-offs. Wherever possible, stick to a genuine battery from the original manufacturer. Before you get to the stage of having a "dead" battery, you can monitor its health and hopefully spot issues before they occur. 7. Poor Graphics? Upgrade Your Graphics Card Poor graphics can be a big problem, especially when gaming or editing video. Frame rates will drop, slowing either experience to a treacle-wading borefest. One way around this is to add a graphics card. They're not cheap (although a decent one can be bought for around $100), but will improve your experience considerably. What if you already have a good graphics card installed, but the performance has dropped? This could be related to what is discussed in #5, but if cleaning the dust from inside your computer doesn't help, you have two options. First, upgrade your computer's PSU so that it can cope with the graphics card. You'll need to refer to the documentation of your motherboard and the graphics card (and any other devices with high power requirements) to help you find the right device. However, it's also worth checking whether the GPU's fan is up to the job. If not, you might consider adding a replacement. 8. Let Your PC Grow We've already seen how positioning and regular cleaning can keep your desktop computer healthy. But sometimes, it just isn't enough. Could it be that your case is just too small for the hardware inside? If this is the case, the best option is to migrate the contents to a new case. This is particularly wise if you wish to add storage, expansion cards, or even a new graphics, card. With multiple fans, and increased power requirements, your new case will need to be able to comfortably accommodate the new GPU, along with a larger PSU. With the right choice of PC case selected, you'll need to set aside at least half a day for this. First timers should view many videos like the one above. 9. It's Just So Noisy! A noisy computer can be a real problem. It's typically the reaction of the fans to having to expel so much heat. (You can address this by checking the maintenance tips below.) One thing you can check here is the BIOS. However, that isn't the only reason for a noisy fan. Sometimes, they're just made that way. The hard surface of the computer case might be amplifying the sound of the fan, for instance. It's possible to apply some physical fixes to the fans to keep them quiet. Such fixes include oiling the fans, or adding foam to cushion the vibration between the fan and the case. You might also opt for a completely fan-less case, perhaps utilizing water cooling, for instance. 10. Can't Get Wireless internet Getting online still seems to be a problem for a lot of people. One of the biggest issues is wireless internet. If your laptop or PC has built in Wi-Fi connectivity, then this shouldn't be a problem. Often, however, that is not the case. The first thing you should consider here is the position of the computer in relation to the router. Is there a direct, uninterrupted line of sight? Do you get a better signal when the router or computer is moved? Our tips on wireless feng shui should help here. However, you should also consider using a powerline adapter if the internet issue is really bad. TP-Link AV600 Powerline Ethernet Adapter(TL-PA4010 KIT)- Plug&Play, Power Saving, Nano Powerline Adapter, Expand Home Network with Stable ConnectionsBUY NOW ON AMAZON All desktop computers (and some laptops) ship with an Ethernet port. Connecting this to a powerline adaptor plugged directly into the wall near your computer, with a similar device at the router end, will overcome any wireless internet problems you're encountering, all without laying cables across the floor. 11. Tower/Case Cleaning Keeping your desktop computer case (sometimes known as a tower) clean and dust free, inside and out, will improve performance considerably. As noted above, dust and heat combine to reduce airflow, slowing your computer right down. Use a compressed air can and vacuum cleaner to deal with this. 12. Clean Your Mouse and Keyboard Whether you use an old-fashioned ball mouse, a track ball, or a laser mouse, you'll need to clean it regularly. Sweat and grease from your hand will gather, finding its way into the mouse. Eventually, you'll find buttons aren't working properly. Don't want your congealed skin grease and sweat to make your mouse unresponsive? Keep it clean! You should also keep your keyboard dirt free. Thanks to the hammering a keyboard gets, this is best done daily or weekly. Tipping upside down and lightly tapping or shaking is one option. You might also try an adhesive removal putty to collect dirt from the keyboard. Cyber Clean 25055 Home & Office Pop-up Cup - 5.11 oz. (145g)BUY NOW ON AMAZON 13. Smart Positioning Related to airflow, it is important to keep your computer in a sensible place when switched on. For instance, a carpet in a house with animals is not a sensible place to stand your computer. Similarly, any zone where fresh, cool air cannot reach your PC or laptop should be avoided. There should be space for fresh, cool air to flow into the computer, and space for the warm air to be pushed out. Don't let rubbish accumulate around your computer. Not only is this a great fix to minimize the dust in your computer, it's a preventative measure that everyone should use. DIY Fixes Will Save You Money As useful as these DIY fixes are, they're not always practical. If your computer is leased from work, for example, you might need to rely on your corporate IT department for repairs as part of the arrangement. Similarly, if the computer is bought on lease, you may have to check with the vendor before taking action. Perhaps you're concerned about how much making DIY repairs is going to cost? Well, you'll often need to buy new hardware, but the cost of this can be kept to a minimum. And then there are laptops. Desktops are far more configurable than laptops, making repairs simpler. In many cases, laptops cannot be repaired, only replaced. Keep this in mind when considering a repair!

One of the worst parts of using a computer is just how mindlessly repetitive it can be: searching hundreds of folders for that one file, or typing the same bit of text day after day, or cleaning up and organizing a thousand different files... We can end up wasting a LOT of hours this way. Fortunately, we aren't alone! Others have suffered just as much as us, if not more, and some have even taken great lengths to create tools that ease these pains -- then released them for free. By adding a few of these utilities to your arsenal, you'll be able to reclaim time that would've otherwise been lost to manual repetition. 1. Search or Replace Text in Many Files Have you ever needed to find a particular text file or document containing a specific word or phrase, but just couldn't locate it? You thought you knew where you put it, but it isn't there, and you're positive you didn't delete it. That's when you need grepWin. It's inspired by the grep tool found on Unix systems, which allows you to search entire directories for files based on text content. But grep is a command-line tool, which wouldn't sit well with Windows users. Fortunately, grepWin is a GUI tool. You lose a bit of flexibility having to deal with GUI options, but not much. I find it much easier to handle overall and the results are clearer to navigate. Note that grepWin only works on Windows Vista and later. Download: grepWin 2. Type the Same Text Over and Over Whether you're responding to emails, typing up reports, filling out forms, or even programming, there are certain phrases (or even sentences) that you could end up typing hundreds of times per day. What a waste of time, right? A text expander like PhraseExpress can really come in handy for this. Text expansion is simple: you type a few letters, press the key you've designated for expansion, and it magically expands into whatever full phrase you've configured it as (e.g. lki could expand into I'll look into it and get back to you!) PhraseExpress starts with a 30-day trial of the professional version, then turns into the freeware version. Both versions are identical, the only exception being that the freeware version can only be used for non-revenue-generating activities that don't involve client-server environments. Download: PhraseExpress 3. Rename Files in Bulk Imagine you've accrued 10 years worth of digital receipts and financial statements from dozens of different services and institutions. What a mess! The worst part isn't getting it all organized, the worst part is renaming all of those files in a way that makes organization even possible. Unless you have Bulk Rename Utility, a free-for-personal-use tool that lets you rename files (and folders) in bulk using flexible rules and filters. You can replace and/or increment numbers, insert text and/or timestamps, recursively handle infinite subfolders, and more. Two features I'd like to highlight include renaming photo files using EXIF data and renaming music files using ID3 tags. You can view a preview before renaming so you always know what you're going to get before executing. Download: Bulk Rename Utility 4. Edit or Remove Music ID3 Tags in Bulk With today's abundance of music streaming services, most people have moved on from downloading music to streaming music -- but not everybody. Maybe you've considered the pros and cons of streaming vs. downloading and decided that local digital files are better for your needs. If so, music management can be a burden. I only stream music these days, and I'm so glad that I no longer have to edit dozens of ID3 tags every time I download a new album. But if that's still you, then be glad for tools like ID3 Remover (to strip all ID3 tags from multiple files) and MP3tag (to edit ID3 tags in multiple files at once). Download: ID3 Remover Download: MP3tag 5. Convert Media File Formats in Bulk We've covered media converter tools before, including separate tools for converting images, audio, and video. But there's one nifty tool that can handle all three media types and convert between dozens of today's most popular formats. Media conversions can take a long time, especially if you regularly need to convert huge movie files or entire music albums. But with Format Factory, you can bulk convert all kinds of media files, and you don't have to have three or more different tools installed just to handle different media types. But a word of warning! Format Factory comes with bundleware, so pay careful attention when installing it. Be sure to uncheck any checkbox that looks like a special offer, and decline any terms that aren't specifically for Format Factory. Download: Format Factory 6. Uninstall Many Apps at Once I never go more than a few days without testing new software, and some days even involve testing several different applications. Installing all of that software is a pain, but uninstalling everything is even worse. That's why I rely on methods for uninstalling apps in bulk. The best tool I've found so far is Bulk Crap Uninstaller. It scans your entire system, finds all installed software, and lets you mark a checkbox next to all the ones you want removed. It also supports "quiet uninstallation," which handles all of the removals without needing any input from you. What's nice about this tool is that it also identifies orphaned installations -- apps that were "removed" in the past and no longer show up as installed on Windows 10, but still remain on your system in some form. Download: Bulk Crap Uninstaller 7. Repeat Keystrokes and Mouse Clicks At some point, you may need to repeat the same exact keystrokes or same exact mouse clicks over and over again. There are actually many ways to accomplish this, but one of the simpler and easier tools is Do It Again. Once you launch the app, you can create different "tasks" where each task is a sequence of keystrokes, mouse actions, or both. To start recording a new Task, click Create a New Task. Once you're done, press Scroll Lock then give it a name. Once the task is made, you can set it to repeat and how often. Do It Again was created for Windows XP but still works for Windows 10 as long as you run it as Administrator. Beware that you'll hear music the first time it launches. You can disable it in the menu at Options > Play startup music. Download: Do It Again Other Ways to Automate Tasks in Windows If you don't want to use any third-party tools, you can always use the built-in Windows Task Scheduler app to create repeatable, schedulable tasks. To learn more, check out these examples of automating tasks with Windows Task Scheduler. If you want to get really advanced and technical, you can create automation scripts using a third-party tool called AutoHotkey. AutoHotkey can control keystrokes and mouse actions, among other things, and can handle complex logic through its scripting language. Learn more in our overview of AutoHotkey.

We all spend a lot of time on the go. And these days, a laptop is a vital part of anyone's travel kit. Squeezing those last precious ounces of power from your portable lithium cell is a defining battle of the 21st Century. But how do you do just that? One eternal question relates directly to the battery. Does running your laptop on AC power damage the battery? Furthermore, should I remove the battery to increase its lifespan? Read on to find out the answers, and a few more useful laptop battery life tips. How Does a Laptop Battery Work? Before we consider whether removing your battery is the best option, let's consider exactly how your laptop battery works. There are two main types of laptop battery: lithium-ion, and lithium-polymer. Nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal hydride laptop batteries have all-but been phased out by this point, replaced by their more reliable and efficient lithium cell counterparts. Lithium-ion and lithium-polymer function very similarly, despite being technological differences. They both have different strong points and weaknesses, too. For instance, a lithium-ion battery will generally have a higher power density but suffers from compound degradation (the liquids inside the battery). Conversely, a lithium-polymer battery is more robust but generally stores less power. In both batteries, there are two truths: The battery cannot be overcharged. If you leave your battery plugged in all of the time, it won't "overcharge." When it hits 100%, it will cease charging, and won't start again until the voltage falls below a certain level. Fully discharging the battery will damage it. Unlike older Ni-Cad batteries, lithium-based batteries do not have a charge profile. Deep discharges could permanently damage the battery. How a Battery Generates Power In lithium-based batteries, lithium-ions are loosely embedded in the porous carbon of the anode (the negative electrode). When you flick the power switch, the ions flow from the anode to the cathode (the positive electrode) through the electrolyte (generally a lithium salt in an organic solvent). This process releases energy and results in the discharge of the battery. When charging, energy is applied to the device, and the ions flow in the opposite direction, reversing the process. Thus, we end up with the ions back at the anode, ready for use. Should I Remove the Battery? Yes, with a "but." Let me explain. Modern batteries are vastly superior to their older counterparts. They don't overcharge, and they don't suffer from charge profile issues. However, they are still susceptible to some of the same issues. Heat is a particular issue. During an intensive session, a plugged-in laptop potentially generates more heat. Overheating a lithium-based battery is one of the top causes of long-term damage. In that, if you're going to be using the laptop plugged into a power outlet for a long period while gaming or video editing (or other prolonged resource-intensive activities), it would likely be best to remove your battery before proceeding. Here's the "but." You need to decide when it is worthwhile taking your battery out, and when there just isn't enough time to do so. When to Remove the Battery Like I said, if you're going to use your laptop for an extended amount of time while plugged into an outlet, removing your battery is a great idea. But when you're just stopping in a café for an hour to send some emails, I would leave the laptop battery in. Grabbing some extra battery power might actually be really useful, especially if you're on the move throughout the day. Another reason to remove your battery is during a prolonged period when you will not be using your laptop. If you're not going to be using the laptop for a few weeks, remove the laptop battery. Battery experts suggest charging your laptop battery to 40%, then remove the battery for storage. This gives the battery sufficient charge to remain stable, without damaging the chemical composition of the lithium cell. (Others also suggest storing your battery in the fridge during an extremely long period of inactivity, but this has its own set of issues that can damage your laptop battery.) Lithium-ion Batteries Can Age Lithium-ion batteries are a central element in the continuing boom of portable consumer electronics. They're in almost every smartphone you've ever owned, your iPad, your laptop, and so on. But they're not indestructible, and over time the power generating ions become less efficient. In practical terms, a battery has a limited lifespan. The ions get trapped and no longer flow effectively from the anode to the cathode, in turn reducing the battery capacity. In fact, lithium-based batteries start aging as soon as they're produced, from that very first charge (many consumer electronics now come with at least partial charge). Lithium-ion batteries charge to 4.20V/cell, amounting to a 100% charge. This amounts to around 300-500 charge/discharge cycles, although most manufacturers offer conservative estimates. Capacity loss is usually expressed as a percentage of capacity after a certain amount of cycles and is referred to as the Depth of Discharge. The Battery University has a pretty handy general discharge table to gauge charge/discharge cycles to overall capacity: Once the depth of discharge reaches 10%, there will be up to 15,000 discharge cycles available -- but your laptop will barely function due to the extremely limited battery life. What Causes Lithium-Based Batteries to Age? Several things can degrade your lithium-based battery. Higher voltages. While modern laptop batteries cannot overcharge, keeping them in a permanent state of full charge introduces another stress factor. Letting the battery discharge at a normal rate (but not to absolute empty!) is part of healthy battery use. Temperatures above 21°C/70°F promote chemical reactions in your battery. If you store your battery in or exposure your battery to a high-temperature environment, it will lose capacity. Low Temperatures. Temperatures between 0-5°C/32-41°F can damage battery components, reduce capacity, and cause significant issues when attempting to charge. Prolonged Storage. A lithium-ion battery will discharge at approximately 8% per month when stored at 21°C/70°F. This rate only increases at higher temperatures. Long periods of storage can lead to a state of deep discharge (battery specific, but modern batteries usually have a cut-off between 92-98% discharge). Physical Shock. Batteries are tough and are usually contained within your laptop. But they are fragile, and can physically break. Can I Increase My Battery Lifespan? You cannot actually "increase" the lifespan. As I mentioned earlier, a lithium-based battery is degrading from the moment of its first charge. But you can (and should) take active steps to protect your battery capacity and quality. Here is a summary of how to best use your lithium-based battery. Never a state of deep discharge Always partially discharge, then recharge Avoid extensive exposure to high temperatures Charge at a lower voltage (if possible) Remove the battery during prolonged AC power connections Only use partial discharge cycles -- 20% to 80-85% is ideal When storing for long periods of time, charge to 40%, and periodically recharge the battery If you do choose to keep your battery in the fridge, use an airtight zip-lock bag to keep moisture out. Furthermore, allow the battery to return to room temperature before attempting to use it. Lithium-based batteries are everywhere. One of the biggest irritations of the 21st century is a smartphone or laptop whose battery is dying (check out these 7 laptops with excellent battery life!). Take these tips on board, and you'll be able to use your laptop manufacturer issued battery for years to come.

You've probably heard of the "Registry" a lot, particularly when it comes to tweaking Windows features and troubleshooting system issues. But if you're like most, you don't actually know what the Registry is. And even if you do know what it is, there's still so much mystery around how it works and why it's important for Windows operations. By the end of this article, you'll know what the Registry is, why it's important that Windows saves it, when Windows saves it, and how you can save it on your own if you ever need to back it up. What Is the Registry? The Registry is essentially a massive database. This database is built into the Windows operating system and is used to store all kinds of system-level configurations: kernel options, driver settings, run-time details for services, user interface options, etc. Windows also uses the Registry to track where apps are installed, installation timestamps and versions, and launch options for each app. Third-party developers can choose to store data in the Registry if they prefer, and many do, but portable apps don't use the Registry at all. You can think of the Registry as a hierarchy of folders (called "keys") that contain files (called "values"). A key can also contain subkeys. That's why Registry key references look like file paths (e.g. "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows"). Why and When Windows Saves the Registry When people talk about "saving" the Registry, it can be a bit confusing because there are two broad meanings: When you save the Registry, you're applying unsaved changes and altering the current state of the overall system. When you save the Registry, you're exporting the current state of the overall system into a file to be used as a reference. To avoid confusion, we like to reserve the verb "save" for meaning #1 and use the verb "back up" when talking about meaning #2. Since meaning #1 is extremely basic and self-explanatory, we'll mainly address meaning #2 over the remainder of this article. (In case it wasn't clear, Windows immediately "saves" the Registry to disk whenever a change is made.) So when does Windows automatically back up the Registry? To understand that, we have to first understand System Restore. System Restore and the Registry System Restore is a Windows feature that creates a partial backup of your system (called a "restore point") and allows you to revert the state of your system back to what it was like in the past. These restore points act as references for what your system looked like back then. When a restore point is created, Windows saves the following: critical system-level files, certain program files, local but not roaming profile data, system-level configurations, and of course, the Registry. Windows only creates automatic Registry backups with restore points. So to fully understand when Windows automatically backs up the Registry, we have to know when Windows creates restore points: before installing a new app (if its installer is System Restore-compliant) before installing or updating a driver before running Windows update before restoring a restore point every 7 days after the last created restore point In order to restore a system back to the state of a restore point, that restore point must contain a snapshot of the Registry. Remember, the Registry includes system-level configurations that are necessary for proper operation. How to Manually Save the Registry Although Windows tries to back up the Registry before important changes are made to the system, it isn't perfect. For example, Windows won't automatically back up the Registry when you attempt to make changes by hand. So before you do something risky -- whether editing Registry values, cleaning out the Registry, installing a dodgy app, or whatever else -- it's always smart to back up the Registry yourself. Fortunately, this is very easy: Press Windows key + R to open the Run prompt. Type regedit, press Enter, and click Yes for UAC permission. In Registry Editor, scroll all the way to the top and select Computer, right-click on it, then select Export. Navigate to where you want to save the backup, give it a name, then click Save. We recommend naming it with a timestamp at least. This creates a REG file that contains the entire status of your system's current Registry. You can also create a partial backup if you select a specific key in the Registry, right-click on it, then select Export. This partial backup would only contain that particular key and its subkeys. If you ever need to restore a Registry backup, it's just as easy: Press Windows key + R to open the Run prompt. Type regedit, press Enter, and click Yes for UAC permission. In Registry Editor, select File > Import... In the Import Registry File dialog box, navigate to the REG backup file you created, select it, and click Open. Note that your system's current Registry will be overridden by every key in the backup file, and if a key exists in the file but doesn't exist in your Registry, it will be created. Always be careful when restoring a Registry backup. Other Tips for the Windows Registry While there's no need to be afraid of the Registry, you should exercise caution any time you plan on modifying it. One bad tweak, even something as innocent as a typo, can accidentally mess up Windows. Furthermore, think twice before running a Registry cleaner app. They rarely live up to their claims to boost performance, and you can't trust that they won't make a bad change that affects system operability. In fact, Registry cleaning is one of several ways in which overzealous cleaning can harm Windows. But as long as you know what you're doing, tweaking the Registry can be productive and rewarding. See our tip on jumping to any Registry key instantly, and if you ever make a mistake, you can always reset the Registry to default.