A slow PC isn't an annoyance, it's an affliction. The upgrade to Windows 10 has been simple for some, but for others, the upgrade has led to serious problems. Some even report the upgrade to Windows 10 has slowed down their computer. A slow computer is also a tough problem to troubleshoot. Many websites that claim to have the "best trick" or "top tips" to speed up your computer are peddling registry tweaks or cleaners that have no real effect. Instead, use these tried-and-true methods to instantly speed up your Windows 10 PC. 1. Windows Boot No one should suffer from a slow startup. Now, you don't have to. Windows 10 has a Fast Startup feature, which reduces the Windows boot time. It functions in a similar manner as Hibernation. In Hibernation mode, Windows saves the state of your computer, open programs and all, to the hiberfile. Then, it activates that state again when you power on. Fast Startup works by pre-loading your Windows kernel and installed drivers before your computer turns off. Powering on your PC normally reloads your Windows kernel, taking a longer time to start your computer. To activate Fast Startup, you first have to enable hibernation mode. To do so, right-click the Start Menu or press Windows key + X to launch the Power User Menu, select Command Prompt (Admin), and copy and paste the following line into the command prompt: powercfg /hibernate on Return to the Power User Menu (Windows key + X) and go to Control Panel > (System and Security >) Power Options > Choose what the power button does > Change settings that are currently unavailable. Here set a checkmark for Turn on fast startup and click Save changes. Fast Startup should now be activated on your computer. Warning: When Fast Startup is enabled on your PC, your computer will not shut down as it normally does. This may lead to update issues. If you want to update your PC, or need to shut down your PC entirely, turn off Fast Startup, manually shut down the computer via the Start or Power User Menu (Shut down or sign out > Shut down), or perform a common restart. Restart is unaffected by the Fast Startup feature. 2. Boot Performance Configuring which programs start up with your computer is a vital step in speeding up your PC. You can configure boot in many different ways. One is through your Windows 10 Task Manager. Right-click on your Taskbar and select Task Manager. You can also reach Task Manager using the keyboard command CTRL + SHIFT + ESC. Head to the Startup section and check to see which programs you'd like to activate or deactivate. The rule of thumb with startup programs is simple. If the program isn't used every day, disable it. If the program is not for a hardware component like a keyboard or printer, disable it. Third-party software like CCleaner also features a startup configuration option. Open CCleaner and head to Tools > Startup. This feature will also allow you to enable or disable various startup programs. Most users stop their startup configuration at these two programs. Some tools, however, reveal additional startup programs. Microsoft's Autoruns program -- part of their official Sysinternals toolkit -- does just this. Autoruns' Logon tab showed double the startup programs as CCleaner's startup feature. To disable a startup program in Autoruns, uncheck it. It's that simple, and controlling your startup programs will undoubtedly speed up your computer. To finish optimizing your startup, make sure you disable the Background Applications present on Windows 10. You can access these settings in your Privacy window. Press Windows key + I to launch the Settings app and head to Privacy > Background apps (at the very bottom). Turn all of these applications off, except for your Settings. 3. Optimize CPU Usage Certain programs love to hog your CPU power. These programs slow down others, or may prevent them from working altogether. It's difficult to troubleshoot every single program that may hinder processor usage. A few, however, are readily avoidable. Certain unnecessary system processes hinder CPU performance. One such process is OneDrive. OneDrive syncs in your background, which is an issue when you're not a OneDrive user. To disable it, open your Local Group Policy Editor. Press Windows key + R to open the Run menu, enter gpedit.msc and hit Enter. Head to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > All Settings > Prevent the Usage of OneDrive for file storage > Enable. Show me tips about Windows is another Windows process to avoid. It may seem harmless, but this process scans your computer to give your tailor-made Windows tips at the cost of performance. To disable, head to Start > Settings > Notifications & actions > Show me tips about Windows > Off. This small tweak offers a surprising performance boost for some users. 4. Optimize RAM Usage RAM is a large factor in computer speed. Unfortunately, certain system processes hog RAM speeds and increase the amount of time it takes to open files. Such processes, like your default Windows 10 appearance settings, may have been dragging you down since installation. You can optimize your RAM usage by lowering the visual quality of Windows. Access this option under Windows key + X > Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced system settings > Advanced > Performance > Visual Effects. Click on Adjust for best performance. Switch to the Advanced tab. Under Adjust for best performance of select Programs. After that, click Change... under Virtual memory. In the Virtual Memory window, uncheck Automatically manage paging file size for all drivers. Select Custom size and enter the Recommended number in the Initial and Maximum size entries. Click OK and your programs should open and run much faster. 5. Explore Files Faster For the average user, the default Windows File Explorer works fine. For the power user, the Windows 10 File Explorer simply doesn't cut it. Even more so with work that requires modifying multiple file types in multiple folders. You can use a custom file explorer to speed up the amount of time it takes to explore and manage your files. My personal favorite is Clover -- a Chrome-like file explorer that allows you to open folders in tabs, rather than using multiple windows, or middle-click a folder to open it in a new tab. This tip won't turn your computer into a speed demon, but I don't know how I managed files without it. 6. Delete Bloatware Congratulations, your new Windows 10 operating system is ready to go. Wait, what's this? Unfortunately, Windows 10 is not free of bloatware. The issue with these types of programs isn't just that they take up drive space. They also update on a regular basis. Some may run in the background, hindering your computer's performance. You can use the default uninstall program on Windows 10 to remove these programs. To open the default uninstall program, Windows key + X > Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a program. If you see a toolbar or widget program, uninstall it immediately. If you don't know what a program does, research it online to confirm or rule out its necessity. I would recommend Revo Uninstaller as a third party option, which does a thorough job of uninstalling programs. It also has a Hunter Mode feature. If you have an annoying popup on your computer, activate Hunter Mode and click on the icon. Revo Uninstaller will find the program and uninstall it within seconds. Don't downplay the importance of uninstalling bloatware because those programs are a potential source of malware. 7. Faster Shut Down There's no end to speeding up Windows 10, including shutdown and hibernate speeds. Some PCs take a while to shut down because the running processes close slowly. To fix this issue, create a shortcut to quickly shut down your computer. These shortcuts not only allow for quick access to the shut down function, but hibernate, restart, and advanced startup as well. If your computer is taking too long to shut down, right-click on your desktop and select New > Shortcut. Choose an action from the list below, copy and past the respective command (excluding the hyphen) in the following prompt, and name the shortcut after its corresponding action. Shutdown - %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe /s /t 0 Hibernate - %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -h Restart - Shutdown -r -t 00 Advanced Startup - %windir%\system32\shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00 Would you like to access these commands even faster? Create keyboard commands to activate these programs. Right-click your file, select Properties, and place your cursor in the Shortcut key field. After clicking the entry, tap a key on your keyboard and Windows will create a CTRL + ALT + [Letter] command. I've chosen CTRL + ALT + H to activate the Hibernate feature, but you can use whatever key you'd like. You can also hide these programs so they don't clutter your desktop: Right-click on Desktop, choose View, and uncheck Show desktop icons. 8. Consider an SSD / SSHD No tweak you find on the internet will match the speed gained by switching from a hard disk drive (HDD) to a solid state drive (SSD), period. SSDs takes full advantage of a faster type of memory called flash memory, similar to random access memory (RAM). Unfortunately, SSDs cost three times more on average -- per gigabyte of storage -- than HDDs. If the high price is an issue and you'd only like to run a couple of gigabytes on your lightning-fast SSD, solid state hybrid drives (SSHDs) allow for a large amount of HDD space and a smaller amount of SSD space in a single package. (Old Model) Seagate 1TB Gaming SSHD SATA 8GB NAND SATA 6Gb/s 2.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive (ST1000LM014)BUY NOW ON AMAZON Transferring your files or an entire Windows installation from an HDD to an SSD is a simple process as well. If you doubt it would make a difference, let me tell you -- as a recent convert from HDD to SSD, I haven't had a startup that took longer than a couple of seconds in months. Don't Settle for a Slow Windows 10 Experience You shouldn't have to settle for a slow Windows 10 experience, ever. Although there are certain habits you can pick up which ensure your computer is running optimally, implement the tips above for a drastic, one-time performance boost.

Windows 10, the last version of Windows ever, introduces a new feature called RAM compression. This new memory management routine improves system responsiveness with added computational overhead. This article answers three questions: How does RAM compression work? Can you turn it off? Does it impact performance? 1. How Does RAM Compression Work? The more RAM is installed on your computer, the greater the number of programs that can run in the background. Whenever RAM runs short, Windows saves the content of RAM to a page file. Reading, writing, or resizing the page file can impact performance, so the less Windows requires it, the better. RAM compression offers a novel solution by compressing, or crunching down, little-used elements stored in RAM and decompressing them whenever needed. This reduces the burden of the page file and significantly increases RAM available to the operating system. Gavin touched on RAM compression in his article on how to troubleshoot Windows RAM problems. Keep in mind that this is a gross simplification of a far more complex chain of processes which lead to RAM compression. Here's a schematic from Microsoft on how Windows 10 compresses RAM: According to Microsoft, apps compressed in RAM take up 40% of their original size. On top of that, Windows 10 now uses the page file 50% less. The compressed portion of RAM shows up in Windows Task Manager as System and compressed memory. To a casual observer, it appears as if Windows consumes an extraordinary amount of RAM. The impact on performance -- particularly on systems with 4 GB of memory or less -- should be dramatic: The method isn't experimental or unique. In the Linux world, ZRAM offers an analog. For example, Android employs ZSWAP and ZRAM to great effect. It's been reported that compression can improve performance on multicore systems. OS X since Mavericks has also used RAM compression. The biggest difference is that Windows might allow users to toggle RAM compression on or off. 2. How to Turn RAM Compression Off or On RAM compression is handled by a process known as Superfetch. Unfortunately, turning off Superfetch may substantially impact system performance. However, for those without any other option, you may need to disable the service. Doing so requires little effort. How to Disable RAM Compression This method of disabling RAM compression comes from Reddit user koukouki. Special thanks to MakeUseOf reader Bilateral for the tip. First, press the Windows key + X. Then press R. You should see the Windows Run dialog. Type "Services.msc" (without the quotation marks) into the text field and press enter. You should see a list of all Windows services. Locate Superfetch and right click on it. Then choose Properties. Next, click on Stop. Then choose the field for Startup type. Choose Disabled. Finally, click on OK. Both RAM compression and Superfetch are now disabled. If you experience a reduction in performance, however, you'll want to turn Superfetch back on. How to Enable RAM Compression Follow the same instructions as above, but instead of setting the Startup Type to Disabled, choose Automatic from the context menu. There were initial reports that RAM compression sucked up a significant amount of CPU resources. Microsoft issued a patch, so there shouldn't be any more performance issues. However, this requires testing. 3. Impact of RAM Compression on Performance RAM compression shouldn't impact system performance as it doesn't run continuously in the background. But does enabling RAM compression take a significant chunk out of your computer's processing power? I ran a benchmark using PassMark's PerformanceText in order to find out. After disabling RAM compression, I benchmarked (5 free benchmark programs) the computer (a Dell XPS 13) with PassMark PerformanceTest 8.0. The results weren't surprising – RAM compression doesn't seem to impact system performance in the slightest. Although, keep in mind that compression only runs when it detects that there are idle apps stored in memory. Note: The higher the number, the better the performance. Should You Use Windows 10's RAM Compression? Absolutely. Reducing the amount of times that Windows reads or writes to the page file, system responsiveness should improve substantially – particularly with 4 GB or less of RAM. On top of that, there's no noticeable decrease in system performance whenever it's enabled. On the other hand, those of you with 16 GB or 32 GB of RAM probably won't even notice the difference, since your system rarely (if ever) touches the page file.

Want to beef up your Windows PC? You can boost software performance and storage reliability with two technologies: Redundant Array of Independent Drives (RAID) and Microsoft's Resilient File System (ReFS). The only requirement is, at least, two spare drives. Are you wondering whether ReFS performs on par with the aging NTFS? This article compares the performance of Microsoft's new file system to RAID1, RAID0, and single disk performance. And we'll discuss the possible uses for RAID1-ReFS. Getting Started With RAID Creating a RAID volume is now really easy using Windows Storage Spaces. Users just type Storage Spaces into the Search bar and launch the program. After launching Storage Spaces, you'll need to select the Change settings button. You will then create the storage pool. Select Create a storage. Then choose two spare drives to add to the array. It's important to note that adding or removing a drive from the volume will destroy all data on the disk, so exercise caution. You will then see configurable options for creating the storage pool. The two parts you need to pay attention to are: (1) Resiliency type and (2) File system. Resiliency type with two drives is limited to either Two-way mirror (RAID1) and Simple (RAID0). Partition type includes NTFS and ReFS. If you choose Simple, your only option is NTFS, as ReFS is designed for two or more drives. After creating a RAID volume and assigning a drive letter, the partition functions in a similar manner as a hard disk. Users can share a drive over a network, move files to it, or configure video or photo editing software to write cache data to it. In the last capacity, RAID can improve the performance of many commercial applications, such as Adobe Premiere and Photoshop. As indicated, different kinds of software RAID exist, each with advantages and disadvantages. Within the Windows Operating System (OS), three primary types of consumer RAID exist: RAID1, RAID0, and RAID5 (there are a lot of other RAID variations). On top of that, there are two common ways to format RAID: NTFS and Resilient File System (ReFS). ReFS arrived in Windows 8.1 and while still evolving, it offers reliability and performance. Windows RAID Types RAID0: RAID0 is technically a misnomer. It uses two drives, but nothing about the arrangement is redundant. Each drive holds half of the data installed on the assembly. Rather than providing redundancy, RAID0 provides pure performance. RAID0 can't be formatted in ReFS so it's pretty much stuck with NTFS. RAID1: RAID1, or mirroring, requires two drives. Its drawback is that it provides the storage capacity of only one drive. Data is copied equally across both drives, which provides redundancy if anything happens to one of the disks. RAID1 also speeds up disk reads, which can lead to faster launching programs and faster reads from cache. RAID5: I won't cover RAID5 in this article. It requires three drives at least, but provides a larger amount of available storage capacity than RAID1. Windows File System Types The two important file systems (what's a file system?) in Windows 10 are Resilient File System (ReFS) and the time-worn "New" Technology File System (NTFS). NTFS is the standard file system on Windows, but if you have two or more (identical or very similar) spare hard drives, consider using ReFS. ReFS reduces bit-rot, making it ideal for formatting storage systems. And it yields similar performance as an NTFS-formatted RAID1 partition. While ReFS is relatively new and potentially suffers from bugs, my experience with it has been superb. The RAID Benchmarks Drive performance can impact a lot of different computing tasks on Windows. In particular, browsing the Internet oftentimes reads and writes data to a browser cache. If the cache resides on a slow disk, the browser feels less snappy than if it inhabited a fast Solid State Drive (what's an SSD?), which is why we benchmark hard drives. To determine what kind of array and file system is fastest, I threw together a test machine with a SATA dock and plugged in two moldering OCZ Onyx SSDs. I benchmarked four RAID configurations: RAID1 (NTFS), RAID1 (ReFS), RAID0, and as a single NTFS-formatted drive. I used AS-SSD for all synthetic benchmarks and compared them against CrystalDiskMark, as a secondary means of validating AS-SSD's results. Finally, I ran several "real-world" tests using 7-Zip and Handbrake (5 uses for Handbrake). A test using Android Studio as a compiler failed completely. Random Reads and Random Writes (4KB) RAID arrays don't handle short queue depths very well (which most users require). Therefore, I'd advise not using RAID for browsing or office productivity. There's a ~9% advantage to using a single drive for random reads over other disk configurations. For write-speeds, RAID0 dominates on its competition. It's nearly 50% faster than competitors. This makes sense, considering that both RAID1 and single drives simply copy data equally across all the drives, whereas RAID0 splits writes up between both drives. Sequential Reads and Sequential Writes (4KB) Sequential read-speeds are generally indicative of disk copying activities. Whenever you move files around, better performance should translate into faster transfer of files. RAID1 dramatically improves on sequential disk-reads over single disks and RAID0. In theory, RAID0 should also improve sequential disk-reads, but for some reason the synthetic benchmark did not bear this assumption out. Sequential reads and writes are emblematic of file copying. As expected, RAID1-ReFS performs the worst because it performs checksums on copied data. However, the performance hit isn't very significant. Conversely, RAID0 performs far below expectation, although it's slightly faster than a single drive and RAID1-NTFS. Random Reads and Random Writes (4KB, 64 Queue Depth) Benchmarks using a deep queue depth, combined with random reads and writes, should predict server performance and other commercial applications. In theory, RAID0 should (and does) offer the fastest disk performance out of the four kinds of disk arrangements. But RAID1 comes very close in terms of read speed and it offers data redundancy. If RAID1 is formatted in ReFS, it loses very little read speed, compared to NTFS. For write performance in a deep queue, RAID0 dominates. And both RAID1-NTFS and RAID1-ReFS suffer from an insignificant performance penalty because of overhead associated with maintaining the array. Real World Performance In terms of real-world performance, the results are far less interesting. In both Handbrake encoding and 7-Zip (unzip), RAID0 had roughly a 2-3% advantage in performance. For zipping a large, 300MB folder of photos, all the arrays performed worse than a single drive, with a difference of 7% between a single drive and RAID1-ReFS. Unfortunately, I had to throw some data out. For example, compiling from source code resulted in a tremendous performance advantage in favor of RAID1-ReFS. The difference was so large that I am relatively certain that my methodology is seriously flawed. RAID1 performed almost twice as fast as a single drive and RAID0 offered about a 20% performance increase over a single drive. I'm not including a chart as I need to rerun tests to confirm. It may be that there's something wrong with my build environment or test methodology. Possible Applications for RAID in Windows Based on the benchmarks, suitable applications for RAID are as follows: Cache/scratch drive for photo and video editing. Creating a network storage drive with data redundancy and bit-rot protection. Software storage drive. Cache/scratch drive: Intel's Rapid Storage Technology (RST) drivers allow users to designate another drive as cache drive. In this capacity, lots of reads and writes are made to the drive. A RAID0 array offers -- on paper -- the biggest advantage. Although the real-world benchmarks indicate that a single SSD would probably offer the biggest gains in performance. Network Storage Drive: The obvious use for ReFS is as a storage drive. Its data integrity properies combined with the large read-speed buffs make it great for streaming media over a fast network (why you need 5GHz). Software Storage Drive: In this arrangement, users simply install software to the RAID1 partition. Because of its read-speed advantage, data redundancy, and bit-rot protection, RAID1 formatted with ReFS is a big upgrade over RAID1 formatted with NTFS. Although it takes a minor hit in performance relative to RAID1-NTFS, the gains in data integrity far offset its shortcomings. And in a production environment, the data-integrity buff might be worthwhile. RAID1-ReFS Is Really Good A RAID array formatted in ReFS only incurs a small performance hit over NTFS -- which is clearly worth the tradeoff. While I don't have the number of disks necessary to test other RAID configurations (such as RAID5), the results for RAID1 are encouraging. I assume ReFS would perform at least as well on other kinds of arrays. My opinon: While not advertised as ready for production environments, in my experience ReFS is most optimally used in storage systems and as a software storage drive. It could also make for a halfway decent cache drive.

Fiddling around with network settings is no one's favorite PC activity. Besides the fact that it's not the easiest or most engaging task, there's always the possibility that you might make the wrong tweak and interrupt your Internet access. However, if you're faced with a situation that requires you to change your MAC address, the good news is that it's a relatively quick and easy procedure — so long as you know what you're doing. Here's a complete guide on how to change your MAC address on a Windows PC. What is a MAC Address? A MAC address is a crucial element of both wired and wireless networking. In order to feed the correct data to any given computer, there has to be some way of identifying that device; because its completely unique, the MAC address assigned to your hardware makes sure the right information is beamed to the right place. Network adapters are assigned their unique MAC address during manufacturing, and as such some companies opt to place an alphanumeric sequence at the beginning of the address as an identifier. Despite being closely linked to IP addresses, the fact that MAC addresses don't change makes them a useful tool for network administrators when they're attempting to diagnose a problem. Of course, while the address won't change of its own accord, it is possible to change the twelve-digit code if you have the necessary knowledge. Why Change Your MAC Address? There are many reasons why you might need to change your MAC address. For instance, if your ISP or system administrator limits Internet access to certain MAC addresses, you might find that you're unable to connect, once you replace your original network adapter. It might take a while for the administrator or company to remedy the situation by amending their records, but you can switch your MAC address to have the problem solved in minutes. Privacy also comes into play. Security experts have raised the question of whether MAC addresses might pose a security risk, but changing the address tied to your hardware makes it a little more difficult for prospective hackers to track your movements. Of course, there are some uses of MAC address spoofing that would be considered illegal in many countries. Changing your MAC address is legal in of itself, but using the process to carry out illegal acts can still land you in trouble with authorities. How to Change MAC Address on Windows 10 To get started, type Device Manager into the search bar and click the Control Panel section that pops up as a result. From that window, navigate the Network Adapters section and find the connection that needs a change of MAC address. Since the wired and wireless networking components of your PC are separate, they'll have different addresses, so make sure to pick the correct one. Double-click on the desired device and you'll open a new window pertaining to that specific component. Head to the Advanced tab and scroll down the list of options under the Property heading until you find Network Address. It might also be referred to as Locally Administered Address. Change the radio dialog from Not Present to Value and type in your new MAC address in the corresponding field, then press OK to apply. To check your work, you can open a Command Prompt and type in "getmac" to return all addresses tied to your system. How to Use a MAC Address Generator Sometimes, a network adapter won't let you use the simple method above to change your MAC address. In these cases, the best course of action is to use a MAC address generator, sometimes referred to as a MAC address changer. NoVirusThanks MAC Address Changer is a free utility that can change the MAC address of your network adapter to either a specified string, or a randomized result. It's got a nice, clean UI that's free from clutter — the focus here is doing one straightforward job well, so it's a great option for anyone who's not completely confident with this kind of task. Alternatively, more well-versed users might find that Technitium MAC Address Changer is a better solution. Its extra options might look a little intimidating, but they all have their uses, and don't distract too much if you're just looking to make a quick address switch. Changing Your MAC Address Is Easy The MAC address is an often neglected part of your digital identity. But as we've demonstrated above, it's easy to control.

Did you know that each piece of hardware connected to your home network has its own identity? Just as each device is assigned its own IP address to communicate with the Internet and local network, each piece of hardware also has its own unique network identifier. This is known as a MAC address. MAC stands for Media Access Control, and the address is vital to your Ethernet based network. At certain times you may need to provide your MAC address to a network operator during configuration, to successfully complete a new network installation, to filter certain devices on your network, or simply figure out which device is which on your local network. Finding your MAC address is an easy task, and we'll show you exactly how to do it. What Is a MAC Address? MAC addresses essentially help us connect to most local networks we encounter. Each network adapter is assigned a unique MAC address, usually by the Network Interface Controller (NIC) manufacturer. Data is transmitted across your network in packets. Each packet contains a "sent from" and "going to" MAC address. When your network adapter receives the data packet, it immediately compares the destination address to its own address. If they match, the data packet is processed. Otherwise, it is discarded. Now, you might ask how this works with packet routing. There is no direct routing based upon a MAC address. Rather, routing is taken care of by the Internet Protocol (IP) address. Your router receives all the packets for its own MAC address, but with a different target IP address. The router then checks for access to the destination IP address and, if available, delivers the data packet. Using the Command Prompt The quickest and easiest method for finding your MAC address is using the Command Prompt. Open the Command Prompt by pressing Windows key + R, typing CMD, and hitting Enter. Windows 10 users can choose to right click the Start Menu and select Command Prompt from the context menu. Type ipconfig /all and press Enter. The Command Prompt will now display the network information for your current device. If you have multiple network connections installed on the same machine, you'll note the same MAC address is listed for each adapter. This is because the MAC address is usually assigned to the network interface controller (NIC) by the manufacturer, and is stored in the adapter's firmware. We are looking for the Physical Address, as highlighted below. Getmac There is another command you can use to find your MAC address. Once the Command Prompt is open, type getmac and press Enter. It should return a list of all available MAC addresses. If you only have one Physical Address installed on your system, that MAC address is all the command will return. I have a couple of virtual machines installed on my computer and the getmac command returns a MAC address for each of those network adapters, be they virtual or not. Using Network Connection Settings You'll also be able to find the MAC address by looking at your network adapter properties, found in the Network Connections folder. Open the Start Menu and search for network connections. Select View network connections. It should be top of the list. If you'd like to manually navigate to this location, head to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network Connections. The folder should display your installed network adapters. Right-click your network connection, select Status, followed by Details, as highlighted below. This will open a new window containing your network connection details. The value for the Physical Address is your MAC address. Changing Your MAC Address Your network adapter should let you set a custom MAC address, though support for this type of customization can vary between manufacturers. Open the Start Menu and search for device manager. Locate Network adapters, and select the adapter you'd like to modify. Right click and select Properties, followed by the Advanced tab. My adapter doesn't offer support for a custom MAC address, but if yours does, Network Address should be listed in the Property list. The editable value will be displayed to the right. MAC addresses are not completely randomly generated. The first half of a MAC address is assigned by the IEEE standards specification for an individual manufacturer, with the second half acting as an individual identifier to ensure no two NICs share an address. However, for home networking practices you should be able to generate and use a twelve hexadecimal character string, using this MAC Address Generator. However, it is unlikely the average user will need to alter their MAC address throughout the lifetime of their device, and those that need to will understand and have a legitimate reason to do so. You've Found Your MAC Address Now you've found it on one computer, you'll be able to find it on almost any other when required. I would strongly advise leaving your MAC address alone, unless you do have a specific reason to alter it from the manufacturer assigned hexadecimal value, and if you have to do so, please proceed with caution.

Windows has some great features, but like any operating system, it brings its share of issues with every new version. Windows upgrades are tricky business. It's tough to predict how your PC will behave after it has gone through one. We can't guarantee that these upgrades will change your Windows experience for the better, but we can help you make the best of them. The Windows 10 November update — aka Threshold 2 (TH2) or Version 1115 — got here in early November 2015. Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft has not pulled it, but had to fix settings changes and meanwhile has been rolling it out slowly. With Version 1155 as the backdrop, let's take a look at some common issues that surface for many users with every Windows upgrade. We'll also discuss a few fixes available for them. Note: An upgrade is different from an update. An update modifies existing features and files in a program. An upgrade adds new features and replaces existing system files with new ones. It usually makes significant changes to your PC. Microsoft is referring to the November release as an update. But it's actually an upgrade that replaces your Windows 10 installation with a newer version, specifically Version 1511, or Build 10586. The Installer Hangs The Windows installer can appear to get stuck at various points. Usually it's just taking time to copy files or download them over a slow network. If you leave it alone and check back later, the installer would have proceeded to the next step. Even if the installer is stuck for hours, it pays to be patient and let the upgrade continue overnight. Otherwise, you'll have to start over and that just means more waiting time. If the installer hasn't responded even after letting the upgrade continue overnight, it is stuck and you need to take action to nudge it along. For example, in the case of the November update, several users have reported a couple of common points at which the installer stops responding: 25% - The solution is to unplug any DVD or Blu-ray drive connected to the system and restart the upgrade. 44% - Removing the SD card before installation solves this problem. You can reinsert it after you have completed the upgrade. If you're using the SD Card for the upgrade, switch to a bootable USB created using the Windows Media Creation Tool. As a general rule, it's best to keep all peripherals disconnected during the upgrade. Once the upgrade is complete you can reconnect them and find appropriate drivers for them. You can also use Windows Update to find the latest device drivers before you upgrade. Some Features/Customizations Have Vanished Windows 10 users who went ahead with the November update have reported that Microsoft has managed to sneak in yet another nasty surprise. During the upgrade, it uninstalls various programs without so much as a warning. What's more, it even replaces your favorite programs with Microsoft tools as the system defaults. Sure, you can fix these two problems, but you shouldn't have to, and Microsoft belatedly agrees: Recently we learned of an issue that could have impacted an extremely small number of people who had already installed Windows 10 and applied the November update (Version 1511). When the November update was installed, a few settings preferences may have inadvertently not been retained for advertising ID, Background apps, SmartScreen Filter, and Sync with devices. This issue has been fixed in the update that accompanies KB3120677.~ via Microsoft Support This is not the first time Microsoft has let users down or tampered with an excellent feature. All we can say here is that you're dealing with Microsoft. Act accordingly. Expect them to use underhanded tactics and/or leave at least a few things messed up. Be sure to recheck your privacy settings after you upgrade. The System Is Unstable Are you experiencing post-upgrade glitches like Wi-Fi failure, system crashes, or a malfunctioning printer? In such cases, the culprit is almost always an incompatible driver. Ensure that the hardware that isn't working has up-to-date drivers. You can download the latest ones from the vendor website. If the drivers are already up to date, try uninstalling and reinstalling them. If the device malfunction persists, here's what you can do. Run a Belarc Advisor test to get the make and model number of that piece of hardware. Use that information to search for solutions on the web and to consult the experts at the MakeUseOf. Want to make the process of updating drivers stress free? Install an all-in-one driver updater like IOBit Driver Booster. System Performance Is Pathetic If you're having problems with poor PC performance even before the upgrade, the post-upgrade scenario won't be any more promising. That's why you should focus on giving Windows a performance boost before upgrading. For starters, recover disk space and defragment your hard drive. While you're at it, look for and remove malware from your computer. This won't necessarily improve your system's performance, because malware slowing down your computer is a common myth. But you should still aim for a clean, safe PC to keep your data protected. Note: Skip the defragmentation bit if your PC has an SSD. Once your computer is in better shape than before, you can opt for an upgrade, after backing up your data of course. Go for a clean install if you suspect continued malware infections. Performance issues can crop up after the upgrade regardless of precautionary measures. For example, users have reported issues like 100% CPU usage, slow boot processes, and choppy videos post the November update. In such cases, you might have to adopt a trial-and-error method to fix the problem. Begin with this classic piece of technical advice: reboot your computer. The number of issues that this step can fix will surprise you. If you haven't updated the audio and video drivers, do so now. In many cases, this simple tweak can bring a laggy system back to normal. Are you running a special, location-specific edition of Windows, such as Windows N or Windows KN? If yes, a broken Media Feature Pack could be causing the lag. Updating the pack to the latest version — the November 2015 version at the time of writing this — should resolve the issue. If your computer's fans are functioning at full speed, even when you don't have any programs running, read our guide on fixing high CPU usage. Ready to give up and contact tech support? Keep your PC's serial number handy. You Don't Know what Went Wrong, but "Something Happened" If you encounter the "Something happened" error message, you'll wonder why Microsoft even bothered to put it there. With a vague message like that, you'll again have to fall back on a trial-and-error approach get to the root of the problem. Here are a few reasons you might see this ambiguous message during an upgrade: 1. The Language Settings and Locale on your computer are different from the ones in the Windows Setup files. Fix: Go to Control Panel > Clock, Language, and Region > Change Location and switch to the Administrative tab. Then click on Change system locale…, set English (United States) as the current system locale, and hit OK. Next, click Copy settings… and on the next screen, check the boxes next to Welcome screen and system accounts and New user accounts. Hit OK to apply the change and then exit the Region dialog. Now restart the system and run the upgrade tool again. 2. You haven't run the Media Creation Tool as an administrator. Fix: Rerun the Media Creation Tool executable by choosing Run as Administrator from its right-click menu. 3. Your antivirus program could be blocking the download of the files required for the upgrade. Fix: Disable your antivirus program till you finish the upgrade. You're Getting Indecipherable Error Codes Several errors that you might come across while upgrading will come with error codes and descriptions that don't mean a thing to you. Don't despair though. You can search for the error codes on the web to figure out what they mean, what's causing them, and how to fix them. Here's Microsoft's own list of Windows 10 upgrade error messages and fixes. Note these two common errors that many Windows users have reported seeing: 0x80200056 - The upgrade process got interrupted, most likely due to an accidental reboot. Check if your PC cable is secure and in no danger of getting disconnected, and then start over. 0x800F0922 - Your PC can't connect to the Windows Update servers. This could be because of a VPN service you're using. Try disconnecting it and then upgrading. Limited space in the System Reserved partition can also bring up the same error. You can resolve it by expanding this partition using a third-party disk partitioning tool. Take a Deep Breath and... Upgrade Microsoft will force-feed you Windows upgrades sooner or later. We recommend timing them right. Wait till major bugs get fixed if you can, but don't leave it too late and risk losing support. Ensure that you have enough time to back up your data and prep your PC for the upgrade. Do note that if you have upgraded to Windows 10 in the past 31 days, you won't see the upgrade option at all. You'll have to wait a month longer to get the automatic update or you can do a manual upgrade using the Media Creation Tool. Your upgrade experience can vary based on your PC's hardware and the Windows version you're upgrading to/from. The issues you experience on the new installation might be different from the ones listed here. The good news is that with Windows being a popular OS, you'll be able to find a fix (or at least an explanation) for almost any problem that you face post an upgrade.

The Windows registry is something of a mysterious subject for most PC users. It's obviously an essential part of the system — but most of us would rather avoid it altogether for fear of messing up our computer. It's true that wading into the registry without knowing what you're doing can be a direct path to a broken PC. That being said, if you take the time to educate yourself on the subject, you might find that you can nip in and out without causing any lasting damage. Follow these tips and you should have an idea on what you should strive to avoid when working with the registry. With any luck, you should be able to fix your issue without causing an even worse problem. Registry Maintenance It's not unusual to find computer advice on the Internet that recommends diving into the registry to "fix" it — but there are certain scenarios where you risk doing further damage by fiddling around. Instead, it's best to get into good habits when carrying out processes that can affect the registry, so there's no need to fix it later on. Errors like orphaned entries, duplicate keys and a fragmented registry might sound serious, but in reality they're unlikely to cause problems, unless they accumulate in great numbers. To avoid this, make sure you're using trusted, professional software because freeware and sloppily programmed applications are more liable to leave potentially dangerous remnants of their code on your computer. Properly uninstalling applications is another good practice. In Windows 10, you can do so by accessing the Settings menu and navigating to System > Apps & features. Click on the desired program and select Uninstall to remove it from your computer for good. It's also worth trying to cut down on system shutdown errors as much as possible. If you're using a laptop, this might simply mean ensuring that it doesn't shut down due to a lack of power on a regular basis — you can also make a quick tweak to your settings to prevent a poorly placed power button from shutting down the system erroneously. Making a Typo Make a typo in Microsoft Word, and you'll be able to fix the problem with little more than a simple spellcheck. However, a typo while editing registry files can cause some serious issues that aren't so easy to respond to. The best way to cover yourself in this scenario is to keep a close eye on every change you make; check your work more than once. Everything from installing new software to opening an application refers to the information contained in the registry, so you can quickly affect a great deal of processes with a relatively minor slip. Deleting a Key One method of dealing with malware and other viruses is by deleting the registry key associated with the problem. However, this solution can actually cause far worse problems than the initial complaint without the proper precautions. Registry keys — particularly those higher up the hierarchy — can wreak havoc on your system if they go missing. The absence of a crucial registry key can turn your PC into a paperweight quickly if you're not careful, so it's best to double-check what you're doing any time you access the registry editor. Remember that the miscreants creating computer viruses want to make it as difficult as possible for you to remove the unwanted code. If there's a key in the registry associated with the virus, make sure that it isn't connected to any legitimate content or functionality that might render your system useless if it's deleted in error. Removing Malware It can be a great weight off to remove malware from your computer — but, in some cases, the damage might already have been done. A tool that removes spyware, trojans or other unscrupulous code can easily damage your computer's registry if the offending files have taken root there. The best way to avoid this problem is not to end up with malware on your computer, as it's often far more difficult to remove than to avoid. These are some good habits to get into: Avoiding untrustworthy websites Making sure never to use an infected USB drive with your PC Questioning the source and developer of any software you install Not clicking links circulated in phishing emails However, if the worst happens then there are still methods of safely removing malware without damaging the registry. Make sure that the method you're using for malware removal is up to par, as slipping up here is a quick way of causing lasting damage. Failing to Back It Up It's easier than you might think to cause registry problems, if you're editing or deleting a key. However, you're better prepared to fix these problems, if you have a working copy of the particular key that you've amended stowed away, so knowing how to back up these files is a must. To get started, open up the Registry Editor — you will likely need administrator privileges to gain access to the tool. Find the key that you're going to be working with and click on it. Then, navigate to File > Export. Choose a sensible name and location for the file to be saved in, and then transfer a copy to a flash drive — this will ensure you're covered in case there are problems with accessing your computer's hard disk. Now you can edit the key with the knowledge that you can replace it by double-clicking he backup if necessary, although caution is still recommended whenever you're making changes to these files. While a single backup is better than nothing, particularly meticulous users might want to set up a regularly scheduled backup using Windows Task Scheduler. To do so, first open up the application and choose Create Basic Task from the Actions menu on the right hand side of the screen. Give the task a sensible name and a brief description if necessary and continue through the wizard. A monthly trigger is likely as regular as you would ever need to make this kind of backup, but the choice is yours. Choose Start a program on the Action page and then select your preferred backup software in the Program/script field on the next step. Check your setup on the final screen and, if everything is in order, click Finish to put your scheduled backup reminder into action. If you're more comfortable with Windows Task Scheduler, you can even set up the program to open and run your backup automatically. Do you have a tip on the best practices for working with the Windows registry? Have you had registry issues in the past and managed to resolve them? Do tell us how you did it in the comments section below!

It is a cruel world, and the demise of the Control Panel leaves me wondering "is nothing sacred to Microsoft?" So while users new to the Windows experience may rejoice in the new Settings panel, what of us older generations brought up with the Control Panel? Will we find accord for the new Settings app, or be left yearning for the familiar Control Panel interface? Let's look at what's new, what's changed, and what's yet to happen. Why Is It Changing? Windows 10 has brought about a massive amount of change to our computers. Streamlining access and boosting productivity ran central to the design philosophy of the operating system, and it can be seen in abundance with new Windows shortcuts, automated smart-files, and of course the ongoing restructuring of core Windows features. The Control Panel is no different; reformation and issue resolution are found in every nook and cranny of Windows 10. What's New in the Settings Menu? A fair few things, actually. First off, a new shortcut: Windows + I. This brings up the Settings app. Otherwise, head to the Start Menu. It should be nestled between "File Explorer" and "Power." Either way, you'll notice a stark difference to the traditional Control Panel. The Settings menu is now a sleeker set of nine-menus, along with the vastly improved Find a Setting search feature in the top-right corner: In fact, having scrutinized both the Settings app and the original Control Panel, it would seem that the difference is in the functionality. Meaning that the new Settings menu isn't the finished article yet; that the Control Panel is set to leave us, as soon as Microsoft decides how long to offer the legacy feature for. Notably, a number of Windows 10 features are well integrated into the Settings app: Cortana: the Windows 10 personal assistant Tablet Mode: for toggling your device between tablet and desktop mode Storage Sense: similar to Computer, but gives a detailed overview of the disk space on your device Battery Saver: toggle battery saver settings and app permissions Maps: edit settings for the integrated maps application, or choose an alternative default map application Of equal note are the trickle of disappearances from the Control Panel itself. Access the Control Panel by right-clicking the Start Menu and selecting Control Panel from the context menu. There are no longer Control Panel entries for the Action Center, Location Settings, or Windows Update, all having migrated to the Settings app. However, many users have noted that following the transfer the options available to users have decreased, and indeed in the case of Windows Update changed altogether. The Control Panel will slowly but surely become a ghost panel, devoid of any meaningful system settings. Or, and a more likely assumption would be of an accessible Control Panel for any legacy features, such as drivers. Why Is the Control Panel Changing? The original Control Panel appeared way back in Windows 2.0. That's 1987. I hadn't even arrived in the world, yet! Its longevity as a central Windows tool has come under fire in our touchscreen-centric age: it simply doesn't do the jobs it needs to when there are sausage-fingers involved. The new Settings panel is the opposite of this. Large buttons, single toggles for most important features, a questionable reduction in potential options for new users, and a somewhat easier-to-learn experience for those with new touch-enabled hardware. While I haven't used the Settings app on a touchscreen device, the UI design screams touch-functionality, delivering users an intuitive experience with clear options, less clutter, more relevant information in a universal package. It would seem the Control Panel is destined to become a mere legacy tool. Or, it will fall into the same bracket as the Run command, and the Command Prompt itself: only used by those in the know, or those users that could be bracketed "advanced." If and when the Control Panel is stripped for further parts, you could always resort to God Mode and create a folder to give you access to all of the administration functions you could desire. So, Control Panel Is Dying? Well, yes. Really slowly. Gabe Aul, Windows and Devices Group Vice President alluded to this in a recent Tweet: Windows 10 is designed to please literally everyone, and as such features like the Control Panel were always going to receive some Windows 10 treatment. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. Once the entire spectrum of Control Panel features and settings makes the transition to the Settings app, I think it could be an excellent feature that should encourage more regular users to interact with their system settings. Now each setting comes with a superior description (vs. Windows 7, 8, 8.1 etc.), an easier-to-navigate layout, and the all-important search tool, Microsoft may well be onto a winner. Remember when categories were introduced in Windows XP? There was a whole pile of fuss around those changes, too. But eventually they became integrated into the Windows experience, and many people embraced those. Given time, I'm sure the many will embrace the Settings app, too.

Nothing surprises me about Microsoft anymore. They've always approached doing business in a very underhanded way, foisting products upon people, whether they like it or not. And they don't seem to be very friendly towards users using third-party products, a point proven by their latest stunt. Recently, a very big update to Windows 10 was released, which brought with it some nice improvements. But what was not publicized in Microsoft's fanfare was that the update very quietly reset your privacy settings, and reset the default apps back to Windows Store apps. Gee thanks Redmond. Why, Microsoft, Why!? Finding out that your customizations have all been wiped out will be particularly galling, if you have spent a great deal of time and effort getting your PC just right. And it is especially annoying, if you had absolutely no clue it had been done in the first place. Well, now it's time to put things back the way they were. There's no guarantee however that it won't happen again with future patches. Privacy First Bring up your Start Menu (Windows key) and type Settings. Then when the box pops up, go to Privacy and then General. The first thing you will notice (if you previously turned it off) is that your "advertising ID" has been turned back on again. Since this means information is collected from you to feed you targeted ads, I always switch this off. Nice try Microsoft, trying to sneak that one past me. Go ahead and turn that off again, but note that you will still see ads. Opting Out of Personalized Browser Ads Next, look to the bottom of that box and click on Manage my Microsoft advertising and other personalisation info. This will take you to this page, where you will perhaps notice that these have all been turned on, too (if they were previously off). Again, changing them back is as simple as clicking them off with the mouse. Default Apps OK, now go back to your Settings box and click on System. There, you will find an option for Default Apps. You will need to look here to see if Microsoft has changed the default apps back to their own Windows Store products, as many people are suggesting on places such as Reddit. Indeed, my Skype was replaced by something new called "Skype Video". My music and video player was changed to Windows Media Player, the email set to the Email app, and of course it goes without saying, the browser was set to Edge. At that point, I was so ticked off that if a Microsoft representative had come to the front door, I would have chopped them up for dog food. So go ahead and click on each one, and change them back to your preferred settings. If you want to really analyze all of your file associations to see if any have changed, then at the bottom of that box, is something called Choose Default Applications By File Type, and that will allow you to see if anything else has been discreetly altered to "Groove Music". The other one, Choose Default Applications by Protocol, lets you see what will open various web standards such as your FTP program, your VOIP program, and so forth. And it was then that it hit me right in the face. A month or so ago, I removed all the installed Windows Store apps from my PC, using CCleaner. I didn't want them, I didn't need them (except for Solitaire - that isn't going anywhere!). The new version of CCleaner allows you to remove unwanted Store apps. But now, Microsoft had reinstalled them all! So here I go again, removing them all. Sigh, I have better things to do with my Saturday. Like watch reruns of the Muppet Show with my dog. Drivers Have you manually installed any drivers on your computer? If so, you may find that Microsoft has overwritten them with their own. This just gets better and better doesn't it? Open a Command Prompt (WIN + R) and type driverquery. This will then give you the entire list of drivers installed on your computer. Now type driverquery /v >c:\temp\driver.txt and this list will be copied to a text file. If you don't want it in the c:\temp folder, then you can change that to anywhere you want. Maybe the desktop would be more convenient? Having the text file makes it easier to search, and you can see if any specific drivers have been altered. The Printer Yes, I know, printing something is very antiquated. But some of us are antiques who like to do things the old-fashioned way. If this describes you and you have a printer attached to your computer, it's time to see if Microsoft has been fiddling around with THAT too. Seemingly they have been tweaking things so that, if you have more than one printer, it sets the last used printer as the default one for the next time you need to print something. If you have multiple printers on a network, and the default one keeps getting changed everytime someone prints something, it won't be long before chaos reigns. But there's an easy solution. First, open up that trusty Start Menu and type printers and scanners. When the box opens up, you will see this: Just switch the default printer option Off, and you're peachy. Keep an Eye on This... As I said before, there is no guarantee that Microsoft won't do this again with future patches. So you need to keep careful watch on these things. By doing this stunt, Microsoft has proved that it can't be trusted. Keep this page bookmarked, and when future patches appear, double-check that your preferred settings are still there. If not, this page will be your guide, or alternatively you can use a portable app called Default Programs Editor, which you may find easier to use.

Got a slow Windows computer? The problem often originates with user-installed, auto-starting programs. A handful of these you need. The majority you don't want. Some love hogging system resources and phoning home with your data. Others do so with malicious intent. Killing startup apps requires just a few simple steps. My own experiences with auto-starting apps emerged after owning a Dell XPS laptop for a year. The Dell didn't start off with memory problems. It developed RAM anemia over time. In that short period, I found myself constantly running out of memory. So what caused the problem? The slow deterioration in performance originated from memory hogs, like Steam and Samsung Magician. But because most methods won't locate and remove all startup applications, the best option is to use as many options as possible. Kinds of Startup Programs You can detect and remove auto-starting programs using several different approaches, although none of them will catch all startup applications. The top methods: Optimization programs: CCleaner and Revo Uninstaller offer powerful optimization tools. Unfortunately, this method doesn't get all auto-starters. Windows Startup Folder Windows Task Manager Configuration within the application: This method removes auto-starting apps by configuring startup capabilities within the application. This removes most auto-starters, but fails to remove certain apps. Windows Task Scheduler: This gets the sneakiest auto-starters, but still doesn't get them all. Here's a quick guide on how to use each method: Remove Startup Apps with CCleaner We've written about using CCleaner for optimizing system performance. It's also available on Android (which I highly recommend). CCleaner offers, by far, the best tool for removing startup bloatware from your computer. Unlike the other methods listed in this article, CCleaner covers all the bases (except registry optimization during uninstallation). It removes programs that were scheduled as tasks, those residing in the Windows Startup Folder, and those which start based on registry entries. To begin, install CCleaner and run it. Click on Tools in the left pane and then choose Startup from the center pane. You'll then see a menu in the center pane with multiple tabs. Here you can eliminate five different categories of apps which automatically start: Windows, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Scheduled Tasks, and Context menu. Apps that launch at boot are classified under the Windows category. Apps that launch with your browser are classified under Internet Explorer and Chrome. Apps launched using Windows Task Scheduler inhabit the Scheduled Tasks tab. Apps that you can execute by right-clicking are listed in the Context tab. You can remove any of these items by right-clicking on them and selecting Disable. If you are absolutely certain that you don't need the program launching, then you can choose to delete it. Although some programs will automatically re-enable their startup capabilities after running them. Malware notoriously does this. CCleaner is amazing software, although Danny Stieben prefers IOBit Advanced System Care over CCleaner. I beg to differ. For removing auto-starters, CCleaner offers more options. Remove Startup Apps with Revo Uninstaller Removing an automatically starting application with Revo Uninstaller doesn't take much effort. Simply install Revo Uninstaller and run the program. From the main interface, click on Tools from the tabbed options. Then select Autorun Manager. You can disable any startup item by unchecking the checked box next to its name. Revo also possesses the ability to remove applications, along with their Windows registry entries. This oftentimes catches software elements that enter into memory, even after uninstalling the application. Remove Startup Apps with the Windows Task Scheduler The Task Scheduler has been used as a means to sneak a lot of different software into the Windows operating system, without their entry showing up in optimization scans. Users can access this by using Windows Search to locate Schedule tasks. The Task Scheduler can also be located from the Control Panel, under Administrative tools. Once inside the Task Scheduler, from the left-pane, choose Task Scheduler Library. Then, from the center pane, pick the startup item that you want to disable. Finally, select Disable from the right-pane. Remove Startup Apps with the Windows 8 Task Manager In Windows 7, users can use msconfig.exe to remove auto-starters. In Windows 8 and above, users use the Windows Task Manager. To remove apps, just launch the Task Manager by hitting and holding CTRL + ALT + Delete (holding all button down at the same time). Then choose the Startup tab. You'll see a list of all the startup apps on your system. To disable any auto-starter, just right-click and select Disable from the context menu. Remove Startup Apps from the Windows Startup Folder This method is functionally identical to using the Windows Task Manager. You can simply navigate to this folder to remove the offending apps. Both CCleaner and Revo Uninstaller can do this as well, but in case you want to manually remove them, there's two directories in which Windows 8 and above stores auto-starters: C:\users\*your user name here*\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup For apps that start for all users, you'll want to check the following folder: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup Windows 7 and earlier builds allow users to access the startup folder through the command line. Simply typing shell:startup into the Run program (Windows key + R) launches the Startup folder. Once you're in the Startup Folder, you can delete items as if they were files. Deleting any item will remove it as an auto-launching program. Configure Apps to Not Auto-Start at Boot Most legitimate apps allow users to prevent them from automatically launching, although it's not always straightforward. My favorite example is Samsung Magician, which is a Solid State Drive (what's an SSD?) optimization tool for Samsung drives. Samsung Magician uses the Schedule Tasks feature to automatically launch itself, without placing an easily detectable entry in the Windows registry. This allows it to skirt around many system optimization software, like Revo Uninstaller. However, Samsung made disabling it ridiculously easy (although not really straightforward). Just right-click on the Samsung Magician icon in the Windows System tray (located in the lower-right of your screen), then select Remove from Startup. What's the Best Method for Killing Startup Programs? The best method of removing auto-starting applications -- and therefore optimizing your Windows machine's performance -- revolves around using a multi-spectrum approach: CCleaner offers the single best tool for removing startup programs and Revo Uninstaller can remove many of the residual registry entries, without damaging your operating system. Neither program offers 100% efficacy, but in concert with one another, the efficacy increases several-fold. I also recommend performing a manual sweep of the Windows Startup folder for maximum benefit, using either of the two methods mentioned in this guide. However, keep in mind that if your system suffers from serious performance issues, the problem might relate to malware. We recommend taking 10 malware killing steps, if removing startup items doesn't help performance. Also consider reading our malware removal guide, which includes such necessary steps as performing the malware scan from within Windows Safe Mode (how to boot into Safe Mode?).

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani discussed cryptocurrencies at the most recent meeting of the government’s Economic Coordination Board and told participants that regulatory policy is needed to protect consumers. Rouhani believes the Iranian government should “communicate the necessary laws and instructions” as soon as possible so dishonorable crypto businesses are avoided. Regulation Necessary to Keep ‘Unprofessional’ Entries Out of Crypto Sector, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Says On Tuesday, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani made comments toward the cryptocurrency industry gaining ground in Iran and also warned retail investors about the possibility of “unprofessional” entries into this space. Overall, Iran has been friendlier toward crypto-assets and businesses like bitcoin mining than most countries. There have been some issues with electrical consumption, but one study indicates that Iran is leveraging bitcoin mining to lessen the effect of economic sanctions against the oil-rich nation. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani spoke about the cryptocurrency sector on Tuesday. Tuesday’s meeting of the government’s Economic Coordination Board shows Rouhani is concerned about the cryptocurrency space. Rouhani detailed that Iranian regulators need to monitor the ecosystem and further stressed to the country’s retail investors the risks involved with dishonorable crypto businesses. Rouhani “For legalizing the activity of cryptocurrencies and protecting people’s capital in this area, we must think of a solution as soon as possible and lay down and communicate the necessary laws and instructions,” Rouhani remarked at the Economic Coordination Board meeting. Iran’s Love and Hate Relationship With Bitcoin Mining Last May, Rouhani instructed mining operations in the country to shut down until September 22. At the meeting, the Iranian president noted that authorities need to “cooperate with the media and cyberspace in the field of information, education and public awareness about this phenomenon and its instructions and laws.” Two years ago, Chinese miners found extremely affordable electric prices ($0.006 per kilowatt-hour) but regulatory guidelines have seen miners deal with fluctuations. In mid-July 2020, Iran licensed 14 bitcoin mining farms and cut the electricity tariff. Following the licensure, power plants in Iran were authorized to mine crypto assets. Not too long after the authorization, the country gave bitcoin miners exclusive access to energy from three power plants. Things have been up and down in Iran in regard to bitcoin mining in the country and Rouhani’s recent statements could be seen as neutral. Rouhani has served as the president for eight years and faces a chance of losing his seat in the near future.

An asset management firm with nearly $160 billion in assets under management, Victory Capital, has announced that it is entering the cryptocurrency market. The firm has established exclusive agreements with Nasdaq and asset manager Hashdex. Asset Management Firm Entering Crypto Market Victory Capital Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: VCTR) unveiled its plans to enter the cryptocurrency market Wednesday. Victory Capital is a diversified global asset management firm with $157.1 billion in assets under management as of April 30. The firm provides specialized investment strategies to institutions, intermediaries, retirement platforms, and individual investors. The company said that its wholly owned investment adviser, Victory Capital Management Inc., “has established exclusive agreements” with Nasdaq and asset manager Hashdex Ltd. in advance of plans to enter the cryptocurrency market, adding: Victory Capital will be the exclusive sponsor of private placement funds and other vehicles for U.S. investors, based on the Nasdaq Crypto Index (NCI), a multi-coin crypto index co-developed by Nasdaq and Hashdex. Victory Capital plans to launch a private fund for accredited investors that will track the NCI. It will also offer private funds that track the Nasdaq Bitcoin Reference Price Index and the Nasdaq Ethereum Price Index. Sean Wasserman, vice president and global head of Nasdaq’s Index and Advisor Solutions, commented: We have seen a developing maturity in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Our work with industry partners such as Victory Capital and Hashdex furthers the innovation in the digital asset space.

Berkshire Hathaway, the company led by CEO Warren Buffett, has invested $500 million in a pro-bitcoin digital bank. Nubank says it will offer bitcoin investment following its acquisition of brokerage firm Easynvest which offers the trading of Brazil’s first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Berkshire Hathaway Invests in Pro-Bitcoin Digital Bank Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has invested $500 million in the parent company of Nubank, a Brazil-based bitcoin-friendly digital bank, the South American company announced Tuesday. This is part of the bank’s Series G funding round which began in January. The bank said it also raised $250 from other investors. Founded in 2013, Nubank says it has 40 million customers, making it the largest digital bank in the world in terms of the number of clients. With the new investments, Nubank has become “the most valuable digital bank in the world and one of the largest financial institutions in Latin America,” the announcement details. Reuters noted that the new investments give Nubank a $30 billion valuation, which is only slightly less than Banco Santander Brasil SA, Brazil’s no. 3 bank. The publication previously reported that the bank is planning a U.S. stock market listing as soon as this year. The pro-bitcoin Nubank has repeatedly said it will be offering bitcoin investment to customers following the acquisition of Easynvest, a brokerage firm that offers a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Nubank received authorization from Brazil’s central bank to purchase Easynvest in May. Last week, the bank rebranded Easynvest to Easynvest by Nubank. The bitcoin ETF offered by Easynvest is QBTC11 by QR Asset Management. It was the first bitcoin ETF approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil (CVM). It is listed on the B3 stock exchange, one of the largest stock exchanges in Latin America and the second oldest in Brazil. Nubank said Tuesday that it plans to use the money raised to fund its international expansion to Mexico and Colombia, launch new products and services, and hire more employees

After years of development, Concordium has unveiled its permissionless blockchain and MVP that is designed to meet the needs of enterprises by delivering transparency and governance, all with an orientation towards protecting user privacy. Identity-Centric Network to Promote Broader Business Adoption Although blockchain’s novel characteristics are not in dispute, corporate adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT) has remained sluggish due to bad actors diminishing trust via the anonymity promised by many existing chains. Besides these relevant concerns, some enterprises are wary of embracing the technology due to regulatory requirements. Since 2018, Concordium has endeavored to overcome these obstacles and now has revealed its answer to these challenges. With its Concordium mainnet now live alongside its corresponding GTU cryptocurrency, the organization is pioneering a new decentralized, public blockchain model. Instead of providing the anonymity features that define other chains, Concordium has focused on delivering a rule-based system that will appeal to enterprises by safeguarding their interests through increased transparency, improved governance, and privacy. Most importantly, the blockchain is purposefully built with regulatory compliance in mind. Much of this rests on its approach to onboarding new users through its built-in user identification methodology at the protocol level. This ensures that an individual’s identity is confirmed, kept private, and verifiable in transactions. Besides adding to the trust quotient the blockchain aims to offer, the value of this degree of compliance directly supports enterprise adoption. The success of this system will rest on its zero-knowledge proofs, which ensure that two parties can interact, transact, and exchange value in a trusted manner without having to expose a counterparty’s identity and compromising their privacy. This embedded form of KYC and AML will go a step further towards wooing the enterprise clients that have shied away from leveraging blockchain’s capabilities. Given this fresh approach to blockchain technology that conforms to more rule-based global business demands, especially in regulatory compliance, Concordium aims to spark more widespread corporate endorsement with its network. These valuable attributes, combined with its secure, high-throughput, low-cost architecture, ensures that services like data sharing, storage, and more, meet the rigorous demands of enterprise operators, opening the adoption floodgates.

On the heels of the SpaceX announcement that the company accepted dogecoin as payment, an apparel store on Brooklyn’s colorful Flatbush Avenue took the jump as well into the deep, cold Doge waters. Brick-and-Mortar Is Another Brick in the Crypto Adoption Wall Crypto adoption has been widely and thoroughly discussed in the media and on social networks, as both an investment vehicle and a payment method. Companies large and small have declared their willingness to accept this or that cryptocurrency in return for their services or products; some companies have even reversed such decisions. While bitcoin has attracted most of the attention in the adoption debate, not far behind it is turned-serious dogecoin. In Cryptwerk’s Dogecoin Directory there are “1300+ places, stores and services accepting dogecoin” though only a handful are physical stores. Bitcoin cash has quite a few locations around the world where it is accepted as well, including many brick-and-mortar locations. Still, even among the most enthusiastic advocates of cryptocurrencies, the experience of strolling down the street, entering a store or a cafe and paying with crypto as an everyday occurrence, remains largely unrealized. Enter Ragga Muffin on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, which recently started accepting dogecoin. The clothing and footwear store that has been open since 1992 has decided to accept the trendy crypto “because young people are all about dogecoin,” says the store owner, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Dan. Many of our young customers are excited about cryptocurrencies in general and specifically about dogecoin so I wanted to be the first store in Flatbush to accept Doge, to attract more customers. Dan himself owns dogecoin, and ethereum. His investment philosophy isn’t compatible with the prevailing hodl gospel. He is a hands-on trader, chasing the dips and tips to turn quick profits. As a testament to that, his aspirations for dogecoin weren’t for $1, but rather for $0.35. Dan was reluctant to disclose sales figures generated from his recent business endeavor, but seemed very pleased with his decision to accept crypto in his store.

It doesn't take long for a drive to be full of data, which can be a problem when you want to upgrade to Windows 10. We're here to offer some advice on how you clean out your system to make room for Microsoft's latest and greatest operating system. If you're already running Windows 10, but are finding yourself tight on storage space, we've delved into the features that the operating system offers to help you free up your drives and make room for the data you actually need. If you had a problem upgrading to Windows 10 due to lack of space or have your own tips to share to free up space, please let us know in the comments section. Upgrading to Windows 10 To install Windows 10 on your system, Microsoft recommends that you have 16GB of free space for the 32-bit version and 20GB for the 64-bit version, with the actual download itself coming in at around 3GB. Theoretically, you shouldn't be offered the upgrade to Windows 10 if your system doesn't have enough disk space, though there are methods to force the upgrade. If you lack adequate room, you'll receive a message during installation that Windows needs more space. You're given two options from the wizard. The first is to Use Disk Cleanup to free up space, which will launch the native windows tool to free up space. This will guide you through removing things like temporary Internet files, temporary folders, and your Recycle Bin. The second option available is to Choose another drive or attach an external drive. If you're always going to have the external drive attached to your system, this is a possible choice. But it's wiser to install Windows 10 on an internal drive to guarantee that you always have access to the operating system, because you won't be able to run your system without it. Other methods can help you clear up space for your Windows 10 installation. You could remove duplicate files and move some data to the cloud, for example. Check out our guide on how to free up disk space or how to maximize your space on a tablet. Clearing Space on Windows 10 Windows 10 is great in showing you how much storage space you have, breaking it down into sections, and offering quick steps to actually free up the disk. To begin, press Windows key + I to launch Settings, then click System, and select Storage from the left menu. This screen will show you what storage devices you have attached, both internal and external, along with the default storage locations for things like new apps and documents. Though it won't initially free up space, it's worth looking at the Save locations section if you have multiple drives. For example, if you've got an external drive with loads of available space, then you might want to consider storing new music and videos to it - use the drop-down menus on each section to make the change. When ready, click a drive beneath the Storage header to see what is occupying the space. The icon with the Windows logo on it designates that your operating system is installed to that drive. If this is your first time accessing the Storage usage breakdown for the drive, then you might have to wait a short period while it calculates everything. To update the analysis, click the circular arrow at the top. You'll be presented with a list of everything on your drive, broken down into specific categories. Each category has has its own colored bar to show usage amount, which is then amalgamated into the bar at the top, giving you a quick glance at which sections are taking up the most amount of space. Let's go through each in turn to explore the options. Firstly, click System and reserved. System and Reserved Of these, System files and Virtual memory aren't alterable. Third on the list is Hibernation file, which takes up around 6GB of space (dependent on your system memory). Although you can't action it from this screen, we can disable Hibernate mode completely. To do so, do a system search for cmd, then right-click the result and Run as administrator. This will open the Command Prompt, so input the following to instantly disable and the Hibernate mode and remove the file from your system: powercfg -h off Returning to the storage page, the final entry is for System restore. This is a useful function that will rollback your system state in case of disaster, but we can edit its settings to make it more efficient with storage. To begin, click Manage system restore. This will open up a window that shows you all available drives and whether the system restore is enabled on each. Select the drive you wish to free space up on, then click Configure.... This window allows you to adjust how much of your drive space you want to allocate to the system restore function. The more space you allow, the more restore points will be available. As new ones are created, the older ones will be deleted to free up space. Adjust the slider to change the percentage of your drive that you want to allocate to system restore. You can click Delete if you want to remove all restore points for the drive. You can also click Disable system protection to turn off the feature altogether. However, neither of these options are particularly advisable, unless you have another recovery solution in place. There's no point risking data loss for the benefit of some storage space. Apps and Games Navigating back to the storage usage screen, the next category to select is Apps and games. This will list all of the programs installed to your system. By default, the list will be sorted by size, but you can use the dropdown to sort by name or installation date instead. You can also search for a specific app and switch between drives. Typically, you'll find that games will dominate the upper half of the list, simply because they pack in a lot more data than a program. The file size of games continues to increase, with recent releases like Titanfall, Batman: Arkham Knight and Grand Theft Auto V all taking up around 50GB or more of hard drive space. If you're a big gamer, it's easy to see how quickly a hard drive can get full. If there are any apps or games that you don't use any more, you should remove them to free up space. To do so, simply click it on the list and then select Uninstall. You can also click Manage optional features at the top, where you can uninstall things like additional language packs. If you want to see the more traditional presentation of this list, which in my opinion presents the information in an easier to read way, do a system search for programs and features and select the relevant result. Documents, Pictures, Music, and More Many of the categories on the storage usage page relate to personal data. These are Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Mail, OneDrive, Desktop, and Maps. Clicking into these sections will then let you navigate to the folder on your system where the relevant data is stored. It's not up to Windows or this guide to dictate what personal data you should remove, but you could sort your folders by creation date to see if there's anything old that you don't use anymore. Alternatively, you could consider archiving data to an external drive - that way you're not removing it permanently, but it's not clogging up your main drive. Temporary Files The Temporary files section will let you clear out your temporary system files, your downloads folder, and your Recycle Bin. Make sure there's nothing you want to keep in your downloads or Recycle Bin, but generally speaking it's safe to clear up these three sections. Just click on the corresponding button to begin the process or navigate to the folder containing the data. If you're running Windows 10 and upgraded to it, rather than performing a fresh install, you might also see a section for Previous version of Windows. A month after you upgrade to Windows 10, you have the option to rollback to a previous version of Windows. This is made possible by a folder that sits on your system called Windows.old, which we can remove to clear space. If you're desperate for the space and are certain you won't be returning to an older version of Windows, you can go ahead and click Delete previous versions to get rid of this folder. Otherwise, wait a month from your Windows 10 installation date and the system will automatically remove it. Other The final category to check out is Other, which contains the largest folders that Windows wasn't able to categorize. You can click the folder to open it up in File Explorer. Be careful in this area and only delete data that you're certain you don't need. My list showed system and driver folders, both which are necessary for my computer to function. Free Up Space The storage devices available on the market continue to grow in capacity as their prices drop, so if you've cleared out everything you can and still find yourself pushed for space, then it might be time to look into buying a new drive. Of if you're on a Windows tablet, make use of SD cards. You don't have to be stuck with multiple hard drives if you don't want to or if your system doesn't support it. All you need to do is buy a large capacity drive and then clone the old drive to the new one.

What if a software error corrupts a vital file on your computer? What if your office catches fire, taking your servers with it? What if you suffer a catastrophic hardware failure and lose all your data? What if your ISP has technical issues, and you lose Internet access for a few days? It's safe to say that these are all uncommon, extremely undesirable outcomes. But it's important to prepare for any possible eventuality, no matter how unlikely, so that service doesn't get disrupted. The way we do that is with something called 'redundancy'. What's the Difference Between Backups and Redundancy? Redundancy is frequently confused with backups. Indeed, the concepts are relatively similar, albeit with some important differences. Whilst 'backup' is commonly about creating copies of data in preparation for a catastrophic loss, redundancy refers to more than just data storage. It focuses more on the ability to provide a continuity of service, no matter what happens. In terms of data, it's done by ensuring that data is stored in multiple, disparate locations. There's also network redundancy, where a network is configured with multiple alternate systems to ensure that no matter what happens, there's still a continuity of service. So, how does it work in the real world? Let's find out, starting with data redundancy. Data Redundancy Everyone - businesses and end-users - have quite rapidly become incredibly data driven and computerized. For businesses and companies, everything they know about their customers and clients is recorded, stored, and recalled from computers, to the point where any loss or disruption can be disastrous. Indeed, according to the National Archives and Records Administration, 93% of all companies that lose access to their data center for 10 days or more ultimately go bankrupt within one year. For businesses, data redundancy isn't optional. It's a mandatory, essential business expense. It's vital that should data be lost or corrupted, it becomes possible to reconstruct or recover it as quickly as possible, and resume normal service. There are a number of ways businesses ensure data redundancy. Each come with their own advantages, in terms of speed, cost-effectiveness, and management. Perhaps the most basic form of data-redundancy is off-site tape backups. Here, a complete bit-for-bit copy of a storage volume is taken and stored on reels of magnetic tape. These are then collected and moved to an off-site storage facility, where they can easily be retrieved in the case of a catastrophic failure. Magnetic Tapes Are Still Around Magnetic tape is an incredibly old data storage technology, but one that's still has its place today. Not only is it highly cost-effective, but magnetic tape can store incredible amounts of data. Sony, for example, has built a magnetic tape technology which can theoretically store up to 185 TB of data. Above all, magnetic tape works no matter how fast your network connection is. Cloud Backups Another popular approach at ensuring data redundancy is with versioned, online or cloud backups. The online storage sphere is one that's becoming increasingly crowded, with offerings from Google, Microsoft and Rackspace. Despite that, there's only one service that's worth talking about - Amazon Web Services's Simple Storage Service (S3). Amazon S3 allows you to cheaply, quickly and easily save your data to the cloud. It's a service that has a number of potential applications, and one that's increasingly being used by companies aiming to affordably store off-site backups. Thankfully, it's a task that Amazon's S3 has managed to excel at. That's largely due to the fact they've got an incredibly attractive pricing model. Instead of charging a flat fee, like other cloud storage providers, customers are charged by the gigabyte. They also have a compelling service level agreement, where they guarantee a near-perfect availability and reliability. How Amazon Web Services works at a low-level is still somewhat of a mystery. But what we do know is they have data centers in almost every single continent, and all of their servers are configured to be highly redundant, with data stored across multiple systems. This ensures that even if a machine fails in an Amazon data center, your data is safe. But no matter how you store your redundant data - be that with tape, the cloud, or (not recommended) on a flash drive buried under your garden - the point remains the same. Important data must be duplicated, and kept on a separate storage medium, where it can be easily accessed in case of emergency. Later, we'll talk about how you can use data redundancy at home, with an emphasis on RAID. Until then, let's talk about network redundancy. Network Redundancy The network infrastructure we all use on a daily basis is incredibly fragile. It's all too easy for a freak accident - like someone driving their car into a FTTC cabinet, or a router burning out - to result in a prolonged period of network downtime. Businesses mitigate against this by ensuring that their networks have adequate redundancy to cope in the case of an emergency. At its most basic level, this means ensuring that no one failure can take down a network. This is accomplished by having multiple network devices (like routers, switches and hubs) that are configured to take over when one fails. There's also ISP redundancy. Here, a network gateway is connected to two separate ISPs, with one taking over should the other fail. Whilst both ISPs are functioning normally, traffic can be shared between the two of them, reducing network congestion. This is commonly known as load sharing. Later, we'll talk about practical ways you can add network redundancy to your home. Redundancy At Home At this point, we've talked extensively about redundancy within the context of how businesses operate. But what about ordinary home users? First, let's talk about data redundancy. Many of the options available to businesses are also available to regular consumers. Take, for example, Amazon S3. For their standard pricing tier, they charge $0.03 per gigabyte under 1 terabyte. To put that in context, that's about $3 per month to store 100 gigabytes. Amazon S3 can also be easily accessed and controlled from the dedicated OS X, Windows and Linux applications. If you're looking for data redundancy without having to store your files elsewhere, you can also build a RAID array or a network attached storage. What's RAID? The acronym RAID stands for "redundant array of inexpensive disks", and works by combining multiple hard drives into a single logical unit. This has the advantage of providing data redundancy and improved access times. There are many different types of RAID array, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. James Bruce previously published an article explaining RAID storage and how it works. The biggest advantage of RAID is that should one drive fail, no data is lost due to the redundancy. Since two or more drives are required for a RAID setup, the remaining drives run the show. The damaged drive should be replaced to keep the RAID array going. So, what about network redundancy? Admittedly, this is something that companies spend thousands setting up. It's also something that large corporate networks lend themselves favorably to, due to their massive size. Whereas, home networks tend to be significantly smaller, and provide less opportunities for establishing redundancy. With that in mind, you're probably better of just replacing a component when it fails, rather than take the effort to manually configure a redundant router. However, you can ensure you're never without an Internet connection by purchasing a mobile WiFi hotspot, or by ensuring you can tether your phone to your laptop. Avoiding SPOFF The acronym SPOFF stands for "Single Point Of Failure". It means that should one part of a system fail, the entire system becomes rendered unusable. This is, of course, incredibly undesirable. The way we avoid creating a SPOFF is through redundancy. By ensuring no one thing can stop a system from working properly.

As far as operating systems are concerned, Windows is perhaps the least reliant on the command line. In fact, most of us have managed to get this far without ever once using it. But with Windows 10 around the corner, maybe it's about time we learned. But before you jump into it, there's one significant difference that you need to understand, and that's the difference between Command Prompt and PowerShell. They look pretty similar on the surface, but in practice are vastly unlike each other. Here's what you need to know about the two. The Command Prompt Came First Starting with Windows NT and beyond, Windows came equipped with a command line interpreter called cmd.exe, better known as Command Prompt. With it, users could interact with the operating system using text-based commands and parameters. But while Command Prompt came first, it wasn't the first. Previous versions of the operating system (Windows 95, 98, and ME) had a more primitive command line interpreter called COMMAND.COM, better known as MS-DOS. It goes without saying that Command Prompt was a huge improvement over the outdated MS-DOS interpreter. Despite the graphical nature of Windows, the command line has never been -- and will never be -- obsolete. It offers a degree of power and flexibility that just can't be achieved with point-and-click interfaces (such as batch scripting), and depending on your proficiency, you can get things done faster using Command Prompt. For example, here are some common tasks made easier by Command Prompt. In addition, there are several basic commands every user should know in case you need to troubleshoot an issue and all you have is command line access. If you're an absolute command line virgin, we recommend checking out our beginners guide to Command Prompt. It's easier than you think and well worth knowing. While Command Prompt is more than adequate for the average user, some people want more -- which is why command prompt replacements, like the open source Console, exist. Fortunately for us all, Microsoft had a better answer in store: PowerShell. PowerShell Took It to the Next Level If Command Prompt is like a 2004-era Motorola Razr, then PowerShell is like a 2015-era Motorola Moto X. It can do a lot of the same things and more. PowerShell may not be the best command line interpreter available, but it's certainly powerful enough to satisfy power users. The seeds for PowerShell were planted in 2002 when Microsoft began working on Microsoft Shell, also known as Monad, which was designed to be extensible by users. Monad went public in 2005 and was eventually renamed to PowerShell in 2006. At the same time, it became integrated into the operating system itself. But what does all of this mean? Simply put, PowerShell allows you to create your own commands and scripts using the C# programming language. Both PowerShell and C# are integrated with Microsoft's .NET Framework, meaning you get access to a lot of preexisting functions and tools to help you create better commands and scripts with less overall effort. PowerShell has a lot of advanced features -- like remote execution of tasks, background tasks, task automation, command piping, and more -- that make it a better choice than the archaic Command Prompt when you have a lot of system administration and maintenance to do. Should you use PowerShell? Well, the average user doesn't really need all of these bells and whistles. Administrators and power users, on the other hand, will likely love what it can do. Get started with these basic PowerShell commands to get a taste of its potential. Note: PowerShell has a bit of a learning curve, so don't expect to grasp it right away. PowerShell Improvements In Windows 10 As useful as it is already, PowerShell will be receiving several improvements when Windows 10 is officially released. Here are some highlights that you can expect. PackageManagement: A package manager is a convenient way to manage all of the software that you download, install, and remove. Instead of hopping from website to website, you just browse packages with PackageManagement (formerly known as OneGet). By subscribing to different repositories, you can pick which packages are available to you. OneGet is technically available already for Windows 8.1, but only if you install Windows Management Framework 5.0. When Windows 10 comes around, PackageManagement will be integrated with the system by default. Secure Shell (SSH): Secure Shell has long been a staple protocol for establishing encrypted connections between remote systems. Without SSH, it's easy for outsiders to intercept data as it's being transmitted. Until recently, SSH on Windows required use of a third-party solution (e.g. PuTTY), but the PowerShell team announced that they would be implementing SSH support on Windows. It took a while, but it seems like Windows is finally catching up in this area. PowerShell Features: With version 5.0, the language of PowerShell itself is being enhanced with new features like: classes and enums, new built-in commands, expanded features for existing commands, syntax coloring in the console, and more. For in-depth details, check out the What's New in PowerShell 5.0 article by Microsoft. Hopefully you now have a better sense of the differences between Command Prompt and PowerShell. If you've gotten this far and you're still confused, don't worry: PowerShell is for power users and Command Prompt is good enough for everyone else. In fact, you can get by without knowing either.

Do you have the habit of NOT saving your files in multiple places or cleaning out all the old stuff? What about those update reminders, do you have the habit of ignoring them? Good habits can sound like common sense, but when it comes down to actually doing them, we opt not to. Most of the time it isn't because we don't care, but rather we think it's too much work or maybe we don't understand the importance of the task. I've laid out the essential habits you need for having the best Windows experience possible. And with Windows 10 coming out soon, this would be a great time to create new ones and brush up on things you may have become a little lax in. Update, Update, Update Windows Update First and foremost, let's get the most basic of habits out of the way. We're all guilty of not updating. Whether it's Windows updates, driver updates, or software updates, they can seem like a nuisance–"I have to update again? But I just did that the other day!" You might face a few different scenarios. One is that you are completely oblivious to the need to update or how to update. Another is that you are unaware that updates are present and need your assistance to be completed. And lastly, you are apathetic and don't care since your computer has been working "just fine" so far without them. This last scenario can often be triggered by a failed update that you have been unable to successfully troubleshoot. This is perhaps the most frustrating one because you want to solve the issue, but can't. There are, however, many things you can do to make Windows Update less annoying. We aren't going to get super in depth here because we've covered much of this already (see our article on everything you need to know about Windows Update). If you aren't sure how your computer is updating, just search "Windows Update", launch it and see if there are any new important or optional updates. If you aren't certain whether you should ever install an update, do a quick search online to see if there are any repercussions by installing that update. Note that in Windows 10, you won't have much control over Windows Update and updates won't be optional. On the bright side, this means your system will always be up to date. Driver Update Updating drivers isn't an every day task, but it is something you should be in tune with. We've published a recent guide on finding and replacing outdated Windows drivers. It goes into how to use the tools on your computer and third-party software to ensure you have the most up-to-date drivers. Software Update Software updates, specifically third-party software, is another big one that often goes unnoticed. Some software will automatically prompt you or at least have a function for you to check for new updates, though you still have to be mindful and attentive to updating them. Other software leaves it in your hands to search online for a recent update. It can be cumbersome updating so many programs manually though. One great option is Ninite.com. It is mostly viewed as a bulk software installation website, but can just as easily be used to update your currently installed software. Just check the boxes of the programs you know you have and run the installer. If any of those programs are out of date, the newest software version will overwrite the current one. The method I most often use is FileHippo.com's App Manager, which scans your computer for any outdated software. FileHippo has a vast database of free and commercial third-party software and should cover most of the programs you have installed. Setting reminders to check for updates using a conditional tool like IFTTT, a note app like Google Keep, the Windows Task Scheduler, or a task management app can help as well. Lastly, Secunia PSI is another free solution that we have recommended in the past. Set Up Automatic Backups We always hear about backing up. But has it become so constant that we ignore it? Ask yourself: "If my computer, phone, tablet and any other devices all were destroyed at once, would I still have everything?" Is it stored on external hard drives and in the cloud? Do you have multiple backups or just one backup of everything? I ask these questions as someone who is guilty of not consistently backing up or putting it off for later. It can be easy to think you're the exception, but when was the last time all your important files, videos, pictures, and other information was securely stored away? The key to ensuring this happens regularly is setting up automatic backups, both to the cloud and to an external hard drive. With each new operating system, Windows has made strides in making backing up easier and quicker with features like automatic File History in Windows 8, comparable to Apple's Time Machine. In addition, OneDrive is a great tool and we've covered some ways you can customize and improve it in Windows 8.1. You don't need third-party software to back up your files as there are many free file sync and backup tricks available in Windows itself. However, if you do want want to use non-Microsoft tools, check out some of the free and paid programs we recommend in our guide for the 6 safest ways to backup and restore your files in Windows 7 and 8. Watch What You Download This isn't a Windows-only tip. This applies no matter what operating system you use. Paid software doesn't mean it's necessarily good software on today's Internet. And just because someone recommends a free program, doesn't mean it's clear of bloatware–we'll get to that in a bit. Always be sure to do your own research on programs before downloading them. Getting software from a trustworthy source is crucial. MakeUseOf has a large inventory of tested software we recommend. Other good places to download from are the aforementioned FileHippo.com and Ninite.com. In addition, always be skeptical of email attachments, ads, pop-ups, and other potentially harmful sources of malicious files. Pay Attention When Installing Software Similar to watching what you download, it's important not to continuously click Next while installing a program without regard to what you're clicking "Next" to. By clicking Next, you are agreeing and saying "yes" to whatever is in that window. This is how you end up with random programs, browser toolbars, and other junk on your computer that you have no idea what it is or how it got there. I've shared this practice in countless articles because it still is such a prevalent bad habit. For more information, please refer to the simple checklist to safely installing free software. You may not have installed some of this junk software yourself though, and that is what we call bloatware. It gets packaged with your new computer and can be confusing whether you need it or not. You don't. Refer to our guide on removing bloatware from your new computer. A great takeaway from that article is to "read the sales pitch" and spend a bit more money. For uninstalling software we highly recommend the free third-party tools, GeekUninstaller (our GeekUninstaller review) and Should I Remove It? (our Should I Remove It? review). Set Restore Points Restore points are essential for any time you install new updates, programs, or make system changes to your computer. Should something go wrong, being able to revert back to the last known working state is extremely useful. And the sooner that restore point has been made, the better. We have published a thorough guide on everything you need to know about restore points–what they are, how to make them, and why you should use them. For those of you using Windows 8, it's not a bad idea to know the difference between a system refresh, reset and restore. Use a Non-Admin User Account for Daily Tasks This is something I have been guilty of not doing. As a "tech guy", I want the most control over my system and perhaps you feel the same way. But using your main account with elevated administrative privileges can result in significant damage should your system's security become compromised. This security measure is even relevant with the new Microsoft accounts. It's better to be safe than sorry. Create a second user account with admin privileges and reduce your primary account to a standard account. Now you can have the best of both worlds, with better Windows security without giving up control. Dump Unnecessary Maintenance Tools Registry Cleaners I feel like we are finally starting to overcome the way of thinking that we need to clean the Registry and defrag hard drives. We're our own enemy in this one as many of us who first recommended tools for registry cleaning have now been saying for years that they aren't as good as we originally thought. So please stop buying into their hype and refrain from using them altogether–they're a myth. I recommend researching what the Registry really is, which is a scary place. I think after you discover that, you'll be a bit more hesitant to just let any program access your computer's brain. Disk Defragmenters You don't need third-party disk defragmenters either, especially if you're running Windows 7 or higher. The default disk defrag tool works just fine. Also, all Windows operating systems from 7 on up defragment automatically, so you shouldn't even worry. If you do happen to notice that fragmentation is exceeding 10%, you can run a manual scan. Defragging too often, however, definitely falls into one of the many ways we can overzealously clean our computers, ultimately breaking them. Note that solid state drives (SSDs) should not be defragged! Clean Up Old, Irrelevant, and Temp Files What does help keep your computer running smoothly is removing old, useless files. These can be duplicates, temporary, or just files you no longer need. Using a program like CCleaner (our CCleaner review) to scan for these can be useful. In addition, finding what on your hard drive is taking up the most space, so that you can slim down those areas, can be done with a tool called WinDirStat (our WinDirStat review). This may seem overwhelming, but many of the things you can do to clean up your hard drive can take 10 minutes or less. SIDE NOTE: Clearing temporary files, such as cookies, too often can have adverse effects, since your computer utilizes those to speed up processes. But in general, if you're noticing your computer being sluggish, check out how much space is left on your hard drive–you may need to do some weeding and reorganizing of files. Start Managing Your Files Better Speaking of reorganizing files, start managing your files better! Stop spending time looking around for where you stowed away that document or picture. Clean up your desktop, create a file management system, and start enjoying the perks of using a computer. After all, a computer is supposed to help you do things faster, but you can't do that if you don't know where anything is at! Reboot Your Computer More Often It may seem like a hassle to restart or shut down your computer. We're in an age of now and we don't want to wait for it to boot up. But occasionally restarting it can fix many issues. Have you ever noticed after your computer has been on for days and weeks that it gets slower and slower? Not to mention those updates that require a system restart to install completely, which takes us right back to tip #1. Just try to be more mindful of restarting your computer more often–you may be surprised the difference it makes. A good compromise may be learning how to restart your computer like a pro to speed up the process and make it more accessible. What Good Habits Do You Have? I'm confident that if you dedicate yourself to integrating these habits into your daily workflow that you will have a much better Windows experience the rest of this year.

Starting with Windows Vista, the built-in Windows Administrator account is disabled by default. This account is separate from administrator-level user accounts, although both have the same privileges. Since that's the case, is it best to ignore the Windows Administrator account? Well, yes and no. Windows operates fine without it and most people will never really need to use that account. However, it does offer a bit more power and flexibility than a regular user account---at the risk of reduced security. Let's take a look at the Windows Administrator account so you can fully understand what it's for. What Is the Windows Administrator Account? In Windows XP and prior versions, every installation of Windows had a special account called Administrator enabled by default. This account has the highest permissions of any profile on the computer, and thus can do anything with elevated administrator privileges without requiring confirmation. It's akin to the "root" or "superuser" accounts in other operating systems. The Administrator account posed a security problem in past Windows versions. By default, the password for it was blank. This meant that unless you set a password for the account, anyone with a bit of know-how could log into the Administrator account and gain full access to the system. And since the Administrator account has no protections, using it daily is dangerous. If you mistakenly installed malware, there would be nothing to stop it from infecting everything on your computer. This, combined with introducing more flexible account security options, is why Microsoft disabled the Administrator account by default starting in Windows Vista. The Windows Administrator Account and UAC In Windows Vista and beyond, every normal user account has to deal with User Account Control (UAC). UAC shows a window with a security prompt whenever you want to perform an action that requires elevated privileges. Such actions include installing a program for all users, editing the Registry, opening a Command Prompt as an admin, and similar. When prompted by UAC, standard user accounts must enter the credentials for an admin account (username and password) to proceed. On the other hand, administrator-level user accounts only have to click a confirmation button to continue. Even as an administrator, this can become an annoyance, especially if you have to confirm dozens of UAC prompts every day. The Windows Administrator account bypasses all UAC protections, because it has no limitations or boundaries. There are other ways to bypass UAC prompts in Windows without resorting to the built-in Administrator account, but they aren't particularly convenient (since the feature is built to keep your PC safe). Should You Use the Windows Administrator Account? As mentioned, Windows 10 and other modern versions keep the Administrator account disabled by default. However, it's still there; you must manually enable it before you can start using Administrator in modern versions of Windows. We don't recommend this in most circumstances, however. Using the Administrator account can open up several security risks on your system. Not only will malware have free reign if you run it under this account, but you also won't have a layer of protection from making mistakes. For example, say you mistype something in the Command Prompt and mistakenly enter a command that would end up deleting a lot of files. You won't get a warning under the Administrator account—the command will run as entered. Thus, you should only enable the Administrator account if you know what you're doing and can accept any potential consequences. It might be necessary for troubleshooting deep system-level issues in some cases, but if you do enable the account, it's smart to disable the Administrator account again as soon as you're done with it. How to Enable or Disable the Windows Administrator Account Across Windows 10, 8.1, and 7, there are up to three ways to enable (and disable) the Windows Administrator account. They're all equally effective, but the Command Prompt method is the only one that works in Windows Home versions. It's also quick, so give that one a try unless you really prefer another. Once the account is enabled through any method, you can sign into the Windows Administrator account just like you would any other account. Pick it from the account selection screen when you boot into Windows, or click it from the list that appears when you click on your profile picture on the Start menu. Method 1: Command Prompt First, you'll need to open the Command Prompt (CMD) interface. A normal CMD window does not have administrator privileges, which is required for this task. Thus, you'll need to run the Command Prompt as an administrator. This kind of terminal window is called elevated. See our intro to the Command Prompt for more basics. Elevating the Command Prompt is easy. Open the Start Menu and type cmd into the search bar. When the results show up, right-click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator. If a UAC prompt shows up, click Yes. Now that the prompt is open, type or copy/paste the following command and press Enter: net user administrator /active:yes To disable the Administrator account later, simply swap the yes part for no: net user administrator /active:no Method 2: Local Users and Groups If you don't like the Command Prompt, you can enable or disable the Administrator account with a graphical method: the Local Users and Groups window. This is handy for system admins in a business setting, but you've probably never dealt with it as a home user. Don't worry, though—it's not difficult to understand. Keep in mind that this only works in Professional (and above) versions of Windows. If you have Windows 10 Home or another Home version, you can't open this panel. Use the Command Prompt method above instead. READ MORE:Windows 10 Home Vs. Pro: Do You Need To Upgrade? To start, open the Run window by pressing Win + R. In the box that appears, type lusrmgr.msc into the field and click OK or hit Enter. This opens Local Users and Groups. Inside that window, click Users in the left pane, then right-click on Administrator and select Properties. Under the General tab, you should see a box labeled Account is disabled. Deselect this option, click OK, then close the window. Now the Administrator account is ready to use. To disable it later, repeat these steps and check the Account is disabled box again. Method 3: Local Security Policy Another approach to enable the Administrator account, if you don't like the first two for whatever reason, is to use the Local Security Policy editor. It's the most complicated option of the three, but it's still straightforward enough. Like the option mentioned above, this only works in at least Windows Pro. If you have Windows Home, you can't access this menu. Start by opening the Run prompt again, using Win + R. Type secpol.msc into the dialog that shows up, which will open the Local Security Policy interface. Here, expand Local Policies in the left pane, then select Security Options in the hierarchy under it. In the right pane, find Accounts: Administrator account status and double-click it. This will show a new window. On the Local Security Setting tab, switch to Enabled, then click OK. Now the Administrator account is ready to use. To turn it off in the future, just repeat this and choose Disabled instead. Add a Password to the Windows Administrator Account Once you've enabled the Administrator account, it's a smart idea to add a password to it. By default, the admin account doesn't have a password, so anyone with access to your PC could use it to get full control. With the Admin account open, open the Settings app with Win + I and head to Accounts > Sign-in options. Select Password > Change to add a proper password to the account. For more convenience, you might wish to change the account's password using the Command Prompt instead. Once you change it, don't lose the password. If you ever need the Administrator account in the future, you'll run into problems if you don't have the password. Renaming the Windows Administrator Account Now that the Administrator account is enabled and secured with a password, there's one more point to consider. Hackers and malware distributors are always finding new ways to gain access to the Administrator account, since it's so powerful. With it enabled, you'll be at greater risk. To reduce your vulnerable surface, we recommend disabling the Administrator account as soon as you're done using it. If you feel the need to keep it enabled for long periods of time, though, you can change the account's name to something that doesn't stick out as much. This won't provide any real protection from attacks designed to exploit the Administrator account. But in case an attack only checks for an account called "Administrator," or you're worried about someone with local access noticing it, this can help. You may want to change it just for fun, as well. To rename the Administrator account, launch an elevated Command Prompt again as above. Then type or copy/paste the following, replacing NewUserName with the name you want to use: wmic useraccount where name='Administrator' rename 'NewUserName' The Administrator account will be renamed to whatever you inputted. This method should work on Windows 10, 8.1, and 7. And in case you don't want to use the Command Prompt, there are graphical renaming methods to use instead. If you're on a Professional or above version of Windows, follow the steps in #2 above to open the Local Users and Groups panel. There, right-click on the Administrator entry and choose Rename, which will allow you to type a new name for the account. On Windows Home, you can rename the Administrator account with another graphical method, as long as you've already enabled the account. Open the Run dialog (Win + R) and enter netplwiz. In the list of accounts, double-click on Administrator and you can change the User name there (as well as the Full name if you like). Master the Windows Admin Account Now you know everything there is to understand about the default Administrator account in Windows. And though we've said it several times, it's important to emphasize: unless you absolutely need the Windows Administrator account for a very specific purpose, do not use it.

Have you ever needed to know your computer's CPU or memory details, serial or model number, or installed software versions, but weren't sure where to look? With just a bit of simple code in Excel, you can extract a whole library of your Windows PC information. Sounds too good to be true? Well, that's Windows, if you know how to use it. You may need to get your hands a little dirty, but in this article we'll provide you with all of the code you need, and how to put it into Excel and make it work. Once you're done, you'll have an Excel sheet that, every time you open it, tells you everything you ever wanted to know about your computer system. Note that this will only work with the desktop version of Excel, which you can get with a free trial of Office. The Magic of WMI On any computer running a Microsoft operating system, you have access to a powerful set of extensions called Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), which provides you with a very powerful and extensive method to access information and specifications about your computer, operating system, and installed software. Best of all, the WMI is accessible from programming languages like VBA, available in nearly all Microsoft Office products. Setting Up Your Automated Spreadsheet First, create your new Excel workbook and call it something like MyComputerInfo.xlsm (Macro enabled). Open it up, skip Sheet1, and rename the next 11 sheets as follows: Network LogicalDisk Processor Physical Memory Video Controller OnBoardDevices Operating System Printer Software Accounts Services These will hold all of your computer details, and will get updated every time you open this Excel spreadsheet. Next, go to the Developer menu item and under the Controls section click View Code. If you don't see the Developer menu item, click on File > Options > Customize Ribbon, change the Choose commands from dropdown to All Tabs, select Developer and press the Add>> button to add it to the Customized Ribbon side. Make sure the Developer checkbox on that side is selected once you've added it. Once you're inside of the VBA code editor, all you have to do is add the scripts below to a module. These scripts will do all of the heavy lifting. You don't have to write this code yourself, just copy and paste them in as shown below. Once you're done copying and pasting using the code in the next section, all you have to do is add a bit more code to load up your sheets, and you're done. Okay, ready to copy and paste? Let's get to it. Building Your WMI Modules The inspiration for this code comes from a fantastic Google Sites resource called Beyond Excel. The example shown there is a subroutine called WMI(), which passes all of your computer's network information to the debugging area of the Excel programming environment. Of course, it doesn't do us much good there, so I've modified the code to instead output all of the details to one of the sheets that you created in the first step of this guide. In the coding navigation area, you'll also see a section called Modules and a component under called Module1. Double click on this to open it. If you don't see the Modules folder, expand Insert from the menu and select Module. This area is where all of the subroutines will be that will use WMI to pull all important information about your computer, and load it into the sheets you created. Place the following lines at the very top of the code window all by itself. Public oWMISrvEx As Object 'SWbemServicesEx Public oWMIObjSet As Object 'SWbemServicesObjectSet Public oWMIObjEx As Object 'SWbemObjectEx Public oWMIProp As Object 'SWbemProperty Public sWQL As String 'WQL Statement Public n It should look like this when you're done: Paste the following code into Module1 underneath the lines you just created: Sub NetworkWMI() sWQL = "Select * From Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration" Set oWMISrvEx = GetObject("winmgmts:root/CIMV2") Set oWMIObjSet = oWMISrvEx.ExecQuery(sWQL) intRow = 2 strRow = Str(intRow) ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("A1").Value = "Name" ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Cells(1, 1).Font.Bold = True ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("B1").Value = "Value" ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Cells(1, 2).Font.Bold = True For Each oWMIObjEx In oWMIObjSet For Each oWMIProp In oWMIObjEx.Properties_ If Not IsNull(oWMIProp.Value) Then If IsArray(oWMIProp.Value) Then For n = LBound(oWMIProp.Value) To UBound(oWMIProp.Value) Debug.Print oWMIProp.Name & "(" & n & ")", oWMIProp.Value(n) ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("A" & Trim(strRow)).Value = oWMIProp.Name ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("B" & Trim(strRow)).Value = oWMIProp.Value(n) ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("B" & Trim(strRow)).HorizontalAlignment = xlLeft intRow = intRow + 1 strRow = Str(intRow) Next Else ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("A" & Trim(strRow)).Value = oWMIProp.Name ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("B" & Trim(strRow)).Value = oWMIProp.Value ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("B" & Trim(strRow)).HorizontalAlignment = xlLeft intRow = intRow + 1 strRow = Str(intRow) End If End If Next 'End If Next End Sub Now, you're going to create an identical function to this for every sheet you created in the first part of this guide with some minor differences. For example, next you would copy that code above for NetworkWMI(), paste it underneath the end of that code, and then replace "NetworkWMI()" with "LogicalDiskWMI()" There's only a few sections you need to change so that this code fills in the correct sheet. Change this: sWQL = "Select * From Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration" To this: sWQL = "Select * From Win32_LogicalDisk" Change these four lines: ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("A1").Value = "Name" ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Cells(1, 1).Font.Bold = True ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("B1").Value = "Value" ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Cells(1, 2).Font.Bold = True To this: ThisWorkbook.Sheets("LogicalDisk").Range("A1").Value = "Name" ThisWorkbook.Sheets("LogicalDisk").Cells(1, 1).Font.Bold = True ThisWorkbook.Sheets("LogicalDisk").Range("B1").Value = "Value" ThisWorkbook.Sheets("LogicalDisk").Cells(1, 2).Font.Bold = True Change these two lines: ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("A" & Trim(strRow)).Value = oWMIProp.Name ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("B" & Trim(strRow)).Value = oWMIProp.Value(n) To this: ThisWorkbook.Sheets("LogicalDisk").Range("A" & Trim(strRow)).Value = oWMIProp.Name ThisWorkbook.Sheets("LogicalDisk").Range("B" & Trim(strRow)).Value = oWMIProp.Value(n) And these three lines: ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("A" & Trim(strRow)).Value = oWMIProp.Name ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("B" & Trim(strRow)).Value = oWMIProp.Value ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Network").Range("B" & Trim(strRow)).HorizontalAlignment = xlLeft To this: ThisWorkbook.Sheets("LogicalDisk").Range("A" & Trim(strRow)).Value = oWMIProp.Name ThisWorkbook.Sheets("LogicalDisk").Range("B" & Trim(strRow)).Value = oWMIProp.Value ThisWorkbook.Sheets("LogicalDisk").Range("B" & Trim(strRow)).HorizontalAlignment = xlLeft Now, you're almost finished! Repeat the above for every tab in your workbook. The functions will be as follows: "ProcessorWMI()" for the "Processor" sheet. "PhysicalMemWMI()" for the "Physical Memory" sheet. "VideoControlWMI()" for the "Video Controller" sheet. "OnBoardWMI()" for the "OnBoardDevices" sheet. "PrinterWMI()" for the "Printer" sheet. "OperatingWMI()" for the Operating System sheet. "SoftwareWMI()" for the "Software" sheet. "ServicesWMI()" for the "Services" sheet. The special "Win32_" objects you need to use to access this information about your computer are as follows: Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration - All of your network configuration settings Win32_LogicalDisk - Disks with capacities and free space. Win32_Processor - CPU Specs Win32_PhysicalMemoryArray - RAM/Installed Memory size Win32_VideoController - Graphics adapter and settings Win32_OnBoardDevice - Motherboard devices Win32_OperatingSystem - Which version of Windows with Serial Number WIn32_Printer - Installed Printers Win32_Product - Installed Software Win32_BaseService - List services running (or stopped) on any PC along with the service's path and file name. Finish copying/pasting and tweaking each of those functions in the Module1 area of the code. When you're done, move on to the next section of this guide. Remember to save your code in the VB view! If you initially saved your workbook with the .xls file type, Excel will now ask you to use a Macro enabled file type, such as .xlsm. Automatically Loading the Workbook Now that you have all of those powerful functions created, all that's left is to run them every time the workbook is opened. Doing this is really easy. In the left object browser, under Microsoft Excel Objects, you should see ThisWorkbook. Double click on that object to open it. At the top of the code area, there are two dropdown boxes, change the left one to Workbook and the right one to Open. You'll see a function automatically generated for you called Private Sub Workbook_Open(). Inside here, type the following lines of code so the function looks like this: Private Sub Workbook_Open() NetworkWMI LogicalDiskWMI ProcessorWMI PhysicalMemWMI VideoControlWMI OnBoardWMI PrinterWMI SoftwareWMI OperatingWMI ServicesWMI End Sub Now, every time you open the workbook, each of your newly created functions will get called, pull all the data from the computer, and load it into the appropriate sheet. To see it in action, save the code, close the code window, save the workbook, and close that too. Re-open the file you just closed, and you'll discover that every single sheet holds volumes of data about your computer. Since the workbook contains Macros, which can be disabled for security reasons, you might have to click Enable Content at the top of the sheet for data to be collected. Warning - it collects a LOT of data, so expect to wait a few minutes for it to load when you first open the file. Collecting Computer Information The amazing thing about using WMI for this is that the data above is only the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds more WMI classes available containing information about every aspect of your computer system. If you were adventurous and wanted to take this a step further, you could turn the first sheet of the workbook into a dashboard, and use the data from the other sheets to feed that dashboard. The bottom line is that using this new tool, you'll be able to collect and display more information than most IT experts even realize is available about a computer system, and you'll be able to do it in a fraction of the time those same experts spend digging through the control panel and Administrative areas searching for those details.

Microsoft recently activated the Get Windows notification on eligible Windows 7 and 8.1 devices. Some users don't see the notification, despite running Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1, both of which qualify for a free upgrade to Windows 10. If that's you, let us show you how to enable the Get Windows 10 upgrade notification. We'll also show you how to cancel the upgrade in case you changed your mind. Are You Eligible for the Upgrade? Only specific versions of Windows are eligible for the free upgrade to Windows 10, including genuine versions of Windows 7 (Starter, Home, Professional, and Ultimate) and Windows 8.1 (Phone, regular, Pro, and Pro for Students). If you are running Windows 7, be sure you have installed SP1. Windows 8 users have to upgrade to Windows 8.1 Update. In both cases, install all the latest mandatory updates and reboot your computer. If you are running a different version of Windows and would like to upgrade to Windows 10, you could try to get a cheap Windows 7 or 8 license. Did You Install Optional Updates KB3035583 & KB2952664 / KB2976978? The Get Windows notification is delivered through an optional update, which was considered adware by some users. To check whether the optional update KB3035583 and KB2952664 (Windows 7) / KB2976978 (Windows 8.1) were installed, access Windows Update via a Windows search or the Control Panel. If necessary, apply the updates, then reboot your computer. You might also see a Windows 10 is coming soon announcement in the Control Panel. Once you successfully reserved Windows 10, you should see what's shown below under Windows Update. Note that if your computer belongs to a domain and/or is administered by someone else within a school or business network, chances are they didn't clear Update KB3035583 to be installed on computers within the network. Speak with your IT department to see whether you may upgrade to Windows 10 and what the procedure is. Run the Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser In response to users who didn't see the upgrade notification, Microsoft community moderators compiled a list of reasons why it may not show up. One of the reasons is that your PC was determined to be incompatible with Windows 10; in that case you won't see the Get Windows 10 app until after July 29th. For those of you who might not be seeing the notification in error, they also compiled a script which will ensure your device meets the conditions for running Windows 10 and then will turn on the Get Windows 10 app. Briefly, open Notepad, and copy & paste the code below. REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\UpgradeExperienceIndicators" /v UpgEx | findstr UpgEx if "%errorlevel%" == "0" GOTO RunGWX reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Appraiser" /v UtcOnetimeSend /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f schtasks /run /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" :CompatCheckRunning schtasks /query /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" schtasks /query /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" | findstr Ready if NOT "%errorlevel%" == "0" ping localhost >nul &goto :CompatCheckRunning :RunGWX schtasks /run /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Setup\gwx\refreshgwxconfig" Here are the original instructions from Microsoft Answers: Click File, and then Save As In the File name box, change the file name to ReserveWin10.cmd Then click the dropdown next to Save as type, and select All files (*.*) Select the folder you would like to save the file to. For this example, let’s choose to save the file to the C:/Temp folder. Then click Save. Open an elevated command prompt. (From the Start screen or Start menu, type Command Prompt in the search box, and then in the list of results, right-click Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator.) Finally, run the file from the location you saved to in Step 6. In this example, you would type the following in the Command Prompt window and hit Enter: C:/Temp/ReserveWin10.cmd Alternatively, and at your own risk, download the script provided by Bradley Hughes via Dropbox. Below are the instructions from Microsoft Answers: Go to Dropbox and download the file [No Longer Available]. Copy the win10fix_full.bat file to anywhere else like desktop. Right click the file and click run as administrator. Follow the screen instruction until you come to main menu screen. On main menu screen do step 1 first and check if you have all updates installed and and then press any key, which will take you back to main menu. Now do step 2, which only takes about a second and should have the icon in the Taskbar. The script can take up to 30 minutes to complete its scan. As mentioned earlier, make sure that you have installed the required Windows updates, otherwise the script will fail in an infinite loop. Also note that the above code and the Dropbox script only work for the English language versions of Windows. The Microsoft community moderators provided an alternative script for non EN versions, see link above. How to Cancel the Upgrade So you reserved your Windows 10 upgrade, but changed your mind? Maybe you don't want the installation files to take up space on your hard drive or you'd rather wait on the installation until it's clear that Windows 10 will be a stable operating system. Keep in mind that even if you have a reservation and the files have been downloaded, you won't have to install Windows 10 on launch day and it won't happen automatically. If you'd still like to cancel the reservation, open the Get Windows 10 app from your system tray, click the hamburger menu in the top left, navigate to View confirmation, and click Cancel reservation . If you want to also get rid of the Get Windows 10 app, we have covered that in detail. The Upgrade Reservation Is Optional! Don't fret if you have no way of activating the Get Windows 10 app. It is not necessary to reserve your free upgrade! Eligible users will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free until at least July 28th, 2016. The reservation ensures that you will be able to upgrade on July 29th, 2015 by pre-downloading installation files and thus avoiding server overloads on launch day.

ATI may be a thing of the past after being bought out by AMD back in 2006, but their graphics cards are still used in older systems. If you're having trouble hunting down the drivers or getting them to work, we've got you covered. In fact, the ATI branding was only officially retired around five years ago, so it's not as uncommon as you might think to find ATI cards in use. Nevertheless, even if you're running a more modern AMD card then you still might find some of the tips below useful. Have you been having driver issues with your ATI card? Please let us know how you managed to resolve it in the comments after you've read the article. Detect Your Driver If you want to know whether your driver is updated to the latest version, or if you just want to know what you're running, then you can find that information out easily. First, perform a system search for dxdiag and select the relevant result. This will load up the DirectX Diagnostic Tool and it'll provide you with an overview of your system components. Switch to the Display tab and check out the information provided in the Drivers section on the right. The Version will be the number of your driver and the Date will be when that driver was published, rather than when you installed it. While it isn't necessary to update your drivers if you're not having any problems, you might find that newer versions have some performance enhancements, especially for gaming. Remove Your Driver If you've jumped between graphics cards or have installed multiple drivers, it might be worth removing everything and starting from scratch to avoid them all clashing. This is especially recommended if you're actually having display problems. If you have the AMD Catalyst Control Center installed then you can use this utility to remove your drivers. Search your system for uninstall a program and select the relevant result. Now find the AMD Catalyst Control Center from the list and click Change from the list's top bar. On the wizard that opens, click Next and then Express Uninstall ALL AMD Software. Follow the wizard through to the end and it'll remove all your display drivers and the software itself. This is one method of doing it, but for my money it isn't actually the best, so don't worry if you don't have the Control Center installed. Instead, check out a piece of software called Display Driver Uninstaller. This works for NVIDIA too, but we'll be using it for AMD/ATI drivers. This program will ensure that nothing gets left behind on your system, like stray folders and registry keys. To begin, download the latest version of the software from the website, extract the download and then run the application. It'll ask if you want to boot into safe mode, confirm that you do, and your system will automatically reboot and load up Display Driver Uninstaller again. It should have detected that you're using AMD/ATI drivers, but if not then select it from the dropdown. When you're ready to uninstall, click the Clean and restart button and let the program do its thing. Your system will restart and you'll now be without any video drivers installed. This means that we can go ahead and install the latest and clean versions of the drivers to your system and hopefully resolve any issues you might have been experiencing. Install Your Driver When it comes to any driver, you should always go direct to the official source if you can as they'll be safe to download. In this case, head to the AMD website. You can download a utility that will automatically detect your driver, but we can also use the information we learned from the DirectX Diagnostic Tool earlier to do the manual selection instead. If you do go for the manual selection, make sure you're selecting the legacy ATI drivers rather than the recent AMD ones. You'll find that XP is the most modern operating system that is named on the OS dropdown, but these drivers should work up to Windows 7. However, don't worry if you can't get them functioning or if you're on Windows 8 or above. Install the driver regardless, do a system search for device manager, and then select the relevant result. Open up Display adapters, select Properties and then switch to the Driver tab on the new window. Now click Update Driver... and select Browse my computer for driver software. Now choose Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer. You will then be presented with a list of drivers. Your selection at this stage will vary on your specific ATI graphics card, but ideally you should be able to select one without the Microsoft Corporation naming. If that's not available and it isn't clear which driver you should opt for, you may have to try them all out in turn (ensuring to uninstall after each). Select the driver, click Next, and let the wizard work its magic. With thanks to Jon Gibbins for his guide on this particular tip. Closing Comments ATI cards might be old compared to more modern AMD offerings, but they'll work just fine in most systems. It might take some tinkering with the drivers to get everything up and running, but hopefully the advice above helped you and resolved any issues. Be sure to check out our guide on how to find and replace outdated drivers across your whole system, not just for your video card. It's always good practice to keep your drivers up-to-date, especially when you're suffering system issues.

Windows Update is a handy feature that provides users with updates not only from Microsoft, but also from third-party providers. However, it's not entirely perfect and some errors can stop updates from installing at all. One such error is Code 646, which comes about when trying to install an update for Microsoft Office. If you're encountering this and are at the end of your tether, worry not! There are solutions on hand that will clear this error up and get your system updated. Windows Update errors happen to a lot of people, so be sure to head into the comments afterwards to share your own stories about them or any advice you have on overcoming the errors. Method 1: Microsoft Fix It This is the easiest and fastest way to resolve the Code 646 error. All you need to do is run this Microsoft Fix It file and then follow the wizard through to the end. That's all. Once you've finished with the wizard, try running the update again and it should go through without a hitch. If that doesn't work, try the other methods listed below - they require a little bit more effort, but are still relatively easy. Method 2: Windows Update Troubleshooter Perform a system search for find and fix problems and select the exact result. You'll be launched into the Control Panel. From here, click Fix problems with Windows Update. When the wizard pops up, click Advanced and then select to Run as administrator. Finally, click Next to progress. If any fixes are possible, they will be applied automatically, after which you'll need to head back to Windows Update to see if Code 646 has been resolved. Still no luck? Keep trying with the next method below. Method 3: Edit the Registry First of all, a word of warning. This method involves editing the registry which, if done incorrectly, can cause serious issues for your system. You'll be fine if you follow the instructions exactly, but if you're not comfortable in doing so, then you might want to seek the assistance of someone who is. This method is the manual version of the first one listed in this article, but that doesn't mean it's not worth attempting. Sometimes, performing a fix manually can achieve better results than an automated tool. To begin, perform a system search for regedit, select the relevant result and the Registry Editor will load. In the left-hand pane, expand the folders down through the following structure: HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders Now, on the right-hand pane, double click the AppData entry in order to open the Edit String window. In the Value Data box, input the following: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming Click OK and run Windows Update again to see if the issue is resolved. If not, try editing the same registry strings from the following two structures, inputting the same Value Data as above: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell FoldersHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders Successfully Updated Windows Update can be annoying, but it provides an incredibly useful function. It's even capable of updating old hardware with drivers that are near-impossible to find yourself on the Internet. Errors do happen, some more serious than others, but Code 646 is a relatively easy one to resolve and is commonly a problem with a Microsoft Office update file.

Most users will get through life without ever tinkering with the BIOS, but when trouble comes calling and you need to tweak a setting, will you know how to do it? What the heck is the BIOS, anyway? Is it really that important to know? We think so. Using a computer while ignoring the BIOS is like buying a TV without ever accessing the options menu or installing a new router without ever visiting the settings page. You don't need them 99% of the time, but there will come a time when you do, so it's better to be prepared than sorry. Fortunately, the BIOS is not complicated. It's actually pretty easy! Here's what you need to know. What Is the BIOS? The BIOS, which stands for Basic Input/Output System, is the very first piece of software that runs when you boot up your computer. It's stored in a special section of the motherboard, which means that it runs even before any other hardware component is detected -- including the hard drive. You can think of the BIOS as the conductor of the boot-up symphony. It makes sure that all of the connected hardware components are operational and is capable of running diagnostic tests to help troubleshoot certain hardware issues. Once everything looks good, it begins loading the operating system. Most BIOSes have a configurable boot order. This order determines the order of devices that the BIOS will check when looking for an operating system. By changing the order around, you can boot from devices other than the usual hard drive -- for example, a bootable USB stick. As for accessing the BIOS, it's easy though slightly inconvenient. Since it's the absolute first thing that runs, you'll need to restart your computer. Then you should repeatedly press the appropriate BIOS hotkey for your system, which should be stated in your motherboard's user manual. Can't find it? The most common BIOS entry keys are F1, F2, F10, and DEL. However, it really depends on the manufacturer and model of your computer, so you may need to do a bit of experimenting to find the right key. Check this page for more common BIOS entry keys. The Difference: BIOS vs. UEFI UEFI, which stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, is the successor to BIOS firmware, acting as an interface between hardware components and the operating system. Despite being meant as a replacement, most UEFI configurations provide legacy support for the BIOS. The most notable difference between UEFI and BIOS is the graphical display. While modern BIOS implementations still rely on an ASCII text-based display, UEFI uses advanced graphics that are more appealing to the eye and more comfortable to use. Not only that, you can also use your keyboard and mouse with UEFI. Other features include advanced tools for diagnostics and repair, detailed boot order configuration, faster boot times, and increased boot security. The Secure Boot feature prevents the system from running malicious code in case the UEFI is infected. Long story short, you can think of UEFI as a new-and-improved version of BIOS. Starting with Windows 8, computers that come with Windows already installed will have UEFI instead of BIOS. 5 Tips When Using the BIOS Finding the BIOS Version There are several ways to find your BIOS version, some ways more complicated than others. Our preferred method is to open the Run window (Windows key + R) and type in msinfo32 . This opens the System Information tool. In the System Summary, scroll down to BIOS Version/Date and you'll find what you're looking for. It will also tell you the SMBIOS version and whether you're operating in BIOS or UEFI mode. Knowing the BIOS version is important for... Updating the BIOS Occasionally, manufacturers will release BIOS firmware updates that can fix bugs, improve performance, or even add new features. Compare your version to the manufacturer's latest version (which you should be able to find on their website) and make a BIOS upgrade if necessary. Important: Whenever you update (or "flash") your BIOS, make sure you follow the manufacturer's instructions without any deviation. Done properly there shouldn't be any issue, but a mistake could render your system inoperable. Be careful! Setting Hardware Passwords If security is a big concern for you (which it should be), then you should consider password protecting your BIOS. This prevents anyone from tampering with your BIOS settings without your knowledge. You can also set a password on your hard drives through the BIOS. One word of caution: there's no easy way to recover, reset, or remove a password that's been set like this, so only proceed if you are absolutely sure that this is what you want. Power Management Features Most modern BIOSes have one or more features that deal with power management, which is typically done through CPU scaling. The terminology differs between manufacturers, but it should be called something like "CPU Frequency Scaling" or "Demand-Based Scaling". Regardless of what it's called, this feature will change the speed of your CPU based on how much processing needs to be done. If you're playing a game, for example, your CPU will operate at 100%. If you're idling, it'll scale down accordingly. It's a good way to save power, particularly for laptops. However, if you intend to overclock your CPU, you may want to skip over this feature as it may give undesirable results. Reset to Factory Settings Worst case scenario, you can always reset your BIOS to default values. It'll be called "Reset to Default" or "Reset to Factory Settings" or something along those lines. Regardless, it'll be straightforward and hard to miss. No More Fearing Boot-Up Options Over the years, Windows users have been conditioned to flinch whenever they see a blue screen. As understandable as that is -- I still flinch sometimes myself -- there's absolutely no reason why you should fear the BIOS. It's a different beast than that other blue screen. The BIOS is a tool. Once you know what it's capable of doing and how to make use of it, you'll be able to maximize your computer's performance and get it to do things that once seemed confusing or beyond reach.